After the lights went out

Even though you wouldn't know it by looking at the picture above - that is our living room. See the little specks of light? Candles. You ask, what happened? What was I doing in my living room with candles? Romantic candlelit dinner? Nope. I was studying for an exam. Why? Powercut. I felt like a Charles Dickens novel.

Most of my time recently has been taken up by exams, but I'm reaching the end ( 2 to go ) so I have a little more free time. Over the weekend I went to Benjamin's second birthday party and actually got sunburnt! Wow! Me? A colour other than talcum-powder-white? It's true, I swear. It was a super-cute party - with a sandpit and a pool and a vividly coloured bug-shaped birthday cake. Awesome. I miss being 2.



In other news I recently started dieting again. In my endless quest to drop a few pounds I've decided to try a few diets to see how they work. This month: GI Lean.

About GI Lean

It's basically a low-GI, low saturated fat eating plan with a few pills thrown in. First few days is a detox ( you have to take awful tasting effervesent tablets three times a day, drink loads of water and eats loads of fruit and veg ). The rest of the diet is a 3 meal, 2 snack eating plan and some fat burner type pills in the morning. I modified the eating plan a bit ( buying the food as recommended would cost about R2500 a month for two people ( yipes! )) but all the meals are from the book. I just cut some of the really expensive ones and there is a bit less variety.

So far: It was tough getting used to drinking all that water again, and I had a bit of a headache for the first few days. Cutting down my coffee has also been hard. On the upside: I haven't really felt hungry ( Darius has been quite ravenous though ) and the prescribed meals mean I'm not really tempted by other stuff ( I just don't have a choice ). On the really upside: I lost 2.7kgs in my first week! If I felt more hungry I would be worried, but I'm not, so I guess I'm okay. First week losses are always big, so I'll see how next week's weigh-in goes before I start getting excited.

My cat tried to kill me and make it look like a suicide

So, not much is happening at the moment..mainly studying for exams.

Highlights of the weekend:

I got a lot of strange looks from people at my exam on Friday because I had a bandage around my wrist...obviously they thought the exam stress had got to me.



I bought The Sims 2: Glamour Stuff and The Sims 2: Pets. Probably not a good idea with so many exams hanging over my head - well, tough.

Me? A Sims Nut? All I'm missing is a Pets Prima Guide.

And so the curse lives on ...

For those of you who had any doubt that D and I are cursed:

 

We got rear-ended this weekend. Again. Less than a week after having our bumper repaired after the last time. This time it's not just the bumper though - we need to replace the light, get a panelbeater AND fix the bumper.

 

Not a good omen for the week ahead. Bugger.

Past Bedtime

I finished my last exam for the week earlier today ( 3 down, 7 to go ) so I figured I'd take some time out for a quick update.

Friday

Went to work. Went home. Went out and got very, very drunk at Jude's Chemistry Department Fundraiser. Had dodgy potjie. Went to sleep.



Saturday

We'd been dreading this day for some time, but it had to happen eventually. The Engagement Party. My mother has been flapping over this for weeks - Choosing menu options. Making arrangements so that all 5 parents could be there ( no mean feat I might add ). Trying to convince me to let someone make a speech ( NO! )
All in all, it went well. Food was good. Yummy cheesecake. And almost all my cousins were there - Raewyn sent her regrets from Dublin that she couldn't make it ( I'll forgive her - this time ). My dad came down from Pretoria, which was great. We even got presents! Neatest gift: We got one of those brulee sets with the itty-bitty flame thrower thing.
My aunt, who does digital scrapbooking, even made a page for us. See it here.



Afterwards we drove Darius' mum to Durban and drove back just in time for....

ALL NIGHT MOVIE MARATHON!

We had a quick bite to eat at Milky Lane ( savoury waffles - yum! ) and then went up to the movies. They gave us a free lanyard and a couple of cans of Power Play energy drink - it tastes like oranges - really, really sweet oranges.

We saw:

She's the Man. (10pm-12am) Best bit: The tarantula.
Little Man.(12:15am-2:15am) Best bit: "God gives us a precious gift, but sometimes he has to wrap it in a hurry"
Imagine Me and You.(2:30am-4:30am) Best bit: "Not that there is any sex. Those men are so old it would be like playing snooker with a rope."
The Covenant. (4:45am-6:45am) Best bit: Nothing really, concept was good but very poorly executed. D for effort.
The Guardian. (7am-9am) Best bit: Impossible to choose. Movie rocked. Go see it. Now.

Overall a really fun evening. Best line from one of the staff while giving out prizes: "In the spirit of affirmative action, I'm gonna give it to the white guy..."



After the marathon, D and I went off to the mall to have breakfast and do some shopping. When did we finally get to bed? 1pm Sunday. That's 31 hours without sleep. Needless to say we slept all of Sunday afternoon.

So far this week it's been mainly exam writing and craming. Looks set to continue into mid-November, so I don't think I'll have much news for a while.

All Night Movie Marathon: Fun - Yes, Smart move - Hell No!

I got out of bed 8:30am Saturday.

 

It is 9:35am Sunday.

 

I haven't slept yet. I am now going to do some errands. I have my first exam tommorrow ( I haven't studied ). Need I say more?

My Car is Buttless!

Some lady from D's school bumped into it. Oops. So now the bumper is in the shop.

Oh well.

Christmas, boredom and piratey madness

Darius and I housesat Jude's place in Hilton over the weekend. My gosh, I thought Pietermaritzburg was the land of the dead until we spent the weekend up there. The video store is dismal, the drive to PMB puts you off going into town unless it's really necessary, and the Spar is, well, Spar. So glad I don't live there. It was quite nice to get some uninterrupted study time. And their garden is really pretty.

Other than that - I saw my first in store Christmas display on Wednesday when I was in Durban for a product launch. 3 months ahead. That means one quarter of the year is spent gearing up for a one day holiday. It's a good thing I love Christmas - it would drive me nuts otherwise.



And my first Ebay purchase arrived! I can't play with it yet (haven't bought a new Playstation), but soon I will be deeply involved in piratey madness!



Finished my last Book of the Week. It was very basic assertiveness / non-victim thinking, interesting but not exactly groundbreaking stuff. Also seemed to be of the opinion that niceness and weakness are the same thing, which is total rubbish. The new book is more practical, written by the lady who does Organizedhome.com.

Did a bunch of studying over the weekend. Not long to go until exams.