Marshmallows & Merlot

transition is complete . I have crossed over to the green side and completed my very first gardening  project. As the self-confessed anti-gardener (years of cutting, weeding and mowing on freezing days during my London stint left me with frost-bitten fingers rather than green ones) no one is more surprised by this confession than me. It all began innocently enough, with a casual stroll through the picturesque little town of Clarens, the jewel of the Free State. Why was this Sandton girl meandering on a Sunday in the Free State of all places? Well, hubby and I were enjoying a romantic weekend getaway on a little guestfarm at the foot of the Drakensberg mountains and decided to see what the town, famous for its abundance of art galleries and antique stores had to offer. About thirty minutes and six quaint little shops later I fell in love with an old, rusted (verging on 'buggered')  pennyfarthing  leaning up against a shop's entrance.  Me: "Love, look at this! Isn't

in the Free State of all places. Every now and then something happens that puts everything in perspective and shifts your focus to where it should be – heavenward...  Exhibit A Exhibit B Driving to the Clarens on Saturday afternoon, hubby and I encountered the most perfect rainbow. I say encountered, but it was far more confrontational than that... we turned a corner and there it was sitting perfectly in its entirety within our field of vision – just begging to be gawked at. The pics shot shakily with my blackberry camera while driving, hardly do the spectacle justice. It was a full rainbow, launching out of the ground on the left, arcing magically over the landscape showing off all seven of its colours in electric clarity and plunging back into the Earth on the right. If there were a pot of gold we may well have known exactly where to look for it.

Yesterday I set foot in my gym for the first time in 2010. Not because I've been avoiding exercise and overdosing on The Style Network, but because I've been getting my heart rate up and my muscles tortured outdoors for the past few months... If you're a regular reader of my blog then you'll have followed me through the trials and tribulations of deciding to  train for the Two Oceans Half Marathon, finding out (to my shock and horror)  that I actually quite enjoy road running, dealing with  the disappointment  of not being able to enter the Two Oceans, making another plan, and entering the Knysna Forest Marathon with my ever fabulous little sister. The next progression on this journey has been and realising that I've got more out of pounding the pavement in a couple of months then I ever got from years in the gym dodging the steroid-pumped pretty boys in the free weights area and silicone enhanced 'yummy mummies' in the changing room. Yesterday, my  running

Exhibit A ( On the 18th of February I sent out this email): "Ladies we've been challenged... to join my fabulous, party-animal, 18-year old cousin (a.k.a 'Junior') for a night out on the town. Ever since she moved in with Justin and I in January she's been trying to get me out with her during the week and I've run out of excuses. So, if I'm going to get dragged out mid-week to a place where I'm the oldest person by about 5 years then I need back up. So...  throw off our sensible ballet flats and put on your dancing shoes to have some fun on a weeknight *gasp*! Let me know if you're keen... and before you make up a lame, boring excuse in the name of responsibility and 'acting your age' just remember – there was a time when dinner and a glass of wine wasn't the whole night out, it was just the beginning of it" Exhibit B (after several of my 'senior citizen' crew had declined the invitation) 'Junior' sent this email to