tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40422401515201577032009-12-24T17:18:31.953+02:00Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.comBlogger367125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-89176714301412346962009-12-13T22:36:00.003+02:002009-12-13T22:38:40.093+02:00

It is so good to be here. Even if it makes me realise how I have missed it over the past two and a half years.Details when I am back in Joburg, I promise. Any Cape Town bloggers keen to hook up? Mail me at doodles of a journo at gmail dot com.

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-32203786849119427852009-12-11T08:45:00.000+02:002009-12-11T10:20:31.552+02:00

Although I probably will ;-)

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-39570332141093590802009-12-10T09:01:00.004+02:002009-12-10T12:37:06.220+02:00

I got a lot of stuff done at home yesterday - finished off that freelance project, did some web copy for another client, wrapped my dad's Christmas present from my mom (long story), had Boss Chick and Roo over for tea and ordered a wedding gift from here for friends getting married soon.Then it was off to visit Louisa to drop off her baby shower present. I figured we would pop in for a little

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-46024200130895869772009-12-09T08:23:00.004+02:002009-12-09T08:37:02.730+02:00

We have our first booking for the World Cup next year! Yup, TSC and I are renting our spare rooms out and we've had a booking confirmation and request from three folks in the USA. For me, this will be a way of actually getting involved with the whole event. Up till now it's felt like it's been over my head. I'm excited to host guests and show them some of amazing South Africa (have always dreamt

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-73370392904141426622009-12-08T08:48:00.005+02:002009-12-08T09:44:49.814+02:00

Last night, having finished up with my freelancing for the day, I chucked together a hasty jambalaya for supper and TSC and I dashed to Cedar Square to see Julie & Julia, which I've been wanting to see for ages.We both really enjoyed it. Meryl Streep as Julia Child reminded me a bit of my late grandmother for some reason. And it was really interesting to watch a movie where blogging features so

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-9415326404742695852009-12-07T09:06:00.004+02:002009-12-07T12:05:00.788+02:00

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Holiday in Cape Town with amazing best friends!CANNOT. WAIT.The weekend, in short, was exhausting and emotional. On the plus side, I discovered these amazing homeopathic drops for mild depression, grief and tearfulness that will be my new best friend in encounters of the in-law kind. Magic stuff!I also made enough money at my open day to buy TSC's Christmas

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-48700430146152331602009-12-04T08:56:00.004+02:002009-12-04T11:14:28.646+02:00

I actually have very little desire to post today. Too much nonsense going on with the in-laws.Here are some photos instead, taken at our sushi course.

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-33482851741993613582009-12-03T08:47:00.004+02:002009-12-03T10:15:41.598+02:00

Description:Personal storm cloud hovering over head, short temper, twitchy, bags under eyes... kinda like a zombie with Tourettes syndrome, actually.Causes:Rampant PMSInsane last-minute freelance job with huge workload and ridiculous deadlineHaving a host of guests for a year-end life group braai who only left at 11.30 last night (not that it wasn't an awesome time - a blast was had by all)Having

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-23942444624744159412009-12-02T09:14:00.004+02:002009-12-02T10:41:28.626+02:00

This year, I'm making a little effort to have a greener Christmas. And it really is that - a little effort. But it still makes a difference. Here's a few small tips I'm trying out to make less of an impact on the environment this festive season:Switching my fairy lights for LED ones. They use less energy and, IMO, they are prettier.Not buying wrapping paper. I am re-using wrapping paper, gift

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-11415052491706367762009-12-01T08:54:00.003+02:002009-12-01T11:19:55.557+02:00

Not really, hey. If anyone had to pay for content here, I'd be out of business. I have no illusions of tackling Google. See, I'm not Rupert Murdoch.But that is neither here nor there. What is here, are two topics in one blog post.World AIDS Day. It is today, people. And in the spirit of occasionally providing worthwhile and useful content, I have found six little known facts about HIV/AIDS for

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-46207470482839689682009-11-30T08:53:00.008+02:002009-11-30T12:36:04.272+02:00

*but it's more here for my memory's sake than for your reading pleasure. Sorry.I feel like the weekend skipped me. That tends to happen when you spend the majority of your weekend in a car, I guess.It all started on Friday afternoon. Remember I said I was going home early, having worked late the day before? Well, our genius *sarcasm* gardener, let's call him Special K, left the pedestrian gate

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-90294941597964060682009-11-27T09:20:00.005+02:002009-11-27T11:16:54.426+02:00

TSC and I watched dvds again last night to give me some time to make more jewellery. We saw The Hangover and Management. Meh. Management was ok. It was sweet but nothing special, IMO. The Hangover was daft. And long. I still have no idea why everyone told us it was so awesome. I was expecting TSC to enjoy it, but he reckons it was stupid.I spent some time playing Free Rice, the vocab game,

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-46667519172796164102009-11-26T10:17:00.003+02:002009-11-26T11:49:23.702+02:00

Good grief this week is dragging on! Maybe it's because it's been so unproductive. The morning job is quiet at the moment, and although the freelance stuff carries on, I'm waiting on info from one or two clients, so my hands are tied on some projects.At least I've been making lots of jewellery for my Christmas open day on 5 Dec (eeep - so close now). I'm starting to get nervous about that. I just

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-33529629286520310532009-11-25T08:54:00.003+02:002009-11-25T10:05:38.138+02:00

Our family has been blessed to have to most amazing live-in domestic worker since just before I was born. Her name is Evelyn, but my brother and I have always known her as Gogo (the Zulu word for grandmother).She first knocked on my parents' door when they were living in Ladysmith, a small town in KwaZulu-Natal. She was looking for work as her employer at the time was abusive. My mom couldn't

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-12597948390779377192009-11-24T09:29:00.004+02:002009-11-24T09:46:48.241+02:00

The carols concert was, IMO, totally awesome. Between the cute kids in the church children's band doing a punk version of Silent Night (I was super impressed with the kids playing electric guitar, drums and keyboard) and Colin, the lead vocalist, impersonating everyone from Louis Armstrong to Michael Jackson, it was a blast.Colin broke his foot doing the show last week (jumping off the stage as

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-67815533822523030762009-11-23T09:10:00.003+02:002009-11-23T10:33:12.774+02:00

What a weekend!Friday night we had some friends around for supper. Sadly, the vegetarian and partner couldn't make it as they were both feeling sick, but everyone else seemed to enjoy the roast veggie lasagne and warm chocolate pudding.On Saturday morning, we went for our sushi-making adventure. My folks gave me a voucher for two for my birthday, and this is the first chance I've had to use

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-65546277650444792772009-11-20T11:09:00.003+02:002009-11-20T11:45:27.703+02:00

I'm sure this freak cold front got lost on its way to Russia or somewhere that is meant to be cold at this time of year. I mean there's snow on parts of the Drakensberg. In November!!! According to Google, Johannesburg is nine degrees Celsius today (48 degrees Fahrenheit). Usually at this time of the year it's about 25 degrees Celsius! Thankfully for Cape Town, the city seems to be enjoying

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-48967697793868995452009-11-19T09:02:00.007+02:002009-11-19T13:00:39.343+02:00

TSC and I have been spending the cold evenings (what is up with this freak cold front?) watching DVDs in bed while I make jewellery stock for my Christmas open house event. This means that we occasionally find beads or crimps in the bed (not fun), but at least I've been able to enjoy some onscreen entertainment and stay warm while I work ;-)On Tuesday night we finally got around to watching The

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-2936970568569555342009-11-18T08:46:00.001+02:002009-11-18T09:49:45.945+02:00

...A photo post. I keep promising to show you pictures and then I don't. So consider this a catch-up of sorts.Absolutely ages ago (sometime in July), I promised I'd show you pics of how we transformed our spare bedroom. So here it is before (at this stage we had moved the furniture out, done a test patch on the wall and covered the floor with drop sheets): And here it is after. Those pictures

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-87939851820166290662009-11-17T09:39:00.003+02:002009-11-17T09:51:11.981+02:00

I was going to blog about the beautiful Christmas present my mom found for my dad, but then I realised that since my father is now an occasional lurker here, I'd better not. Hehehe, my mom says he's always been a bit of a lurker ;-)I can picture him laughing at that line if he reads it. He thinks the blogging language I use is hilarious... Lurking, blogoverse, blogosphere, blogoversary, trolls,

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-11731073599509822192009-11-16T09:48:00.004+02:002009-11-16T11:13:12.684+02:00

In the tradition of this lovely blogger's weekend posts, I give you a list:Sometimes people will let you down. This is especially true of possible interviewees for magazine stories, who have a tendency to fall off the planet just before the deadline.Really special memories can be made anytime, anywhere.The blueberry cosmopolitan cocktail at Bottega Cafe in Fourways Crossing does wonders on a

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-90928165787653672822009-11-13T08:39:00.003+02:002009-11-13T09:45:16.082+02:00

My mother has asked me for a list of possible gifts for TSC and me for Christmas, which she wants to distribute to the wider family. This is a very organised way of doing things, even if it does take the surprise out of what you might find under the tree on Christmas morning. It may, however, mean that for the first time in three years, I stand a chance of getting something other than hand towels

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-38941758402801943802009-11-12T09:15:00.007+02:002009-11-12T10:24:00.345+02:00

Last night I made my easy-peasy fairly healthy vegetarian cannelloni baked pasta dish using fresh spinach from my garden. That pleases me on some deep level. I'm not quite sure why.In fact, it's quite bizarre and even disturbing how much I love my veggie garden. I rush outside in the mornings before work to check on my seedlings and I want to cry when I see my baby Asian greens have been the

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-79616943231018527672009-11-11T08:43:00.003+02:002009-11-11T09:19:52.116+02:00

My car is in for a service today. Back in the day, that used to be something I dreaded. Mainly because I had an awesome little 2001 Ford Fiesta called Ziggy that I had to take to the most awful Ford service centre in Cape Town.It was a dirty and sloppy place and because I was but a poor student, the folks there never took me very seriously. I always had to find my own way back to my flat or

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4042240151520157703.post-2979813045756531182009-11-10T09:43:00.003+02:002009-11-10T09:54:03.270+02:00

Seriously - internet marketing can be super powerful. It can also crash and burn super impressively. Example... Yesterday I got this email: It’s your opportunity to experience the difference! I am proud to announce that our Gary Rom Hairdressing brand, my signature salon group, has taken up the opportunity to be a part of Edgars’ “Top Fabulous Brands” flagship store, which recently opened its

Tamarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13875207633073348136noreply@blogger.com11