Ballons by the Sea...

In the past two weeks my life became consumed with Psychology assignments, physics, kids, exercise and a lot of STRESS. I cannot remember a period in the past where I have ever felt under so much pressure or had so much to get done at the same time. This lovely period of my life just happened to take place just before easter, one of my best friends birthdays, my dads birthday and my own birthday. 

I managed to gain a lot in these past two weeks, including a really painful mouth ulcer. Being so busy and stressed has managed to teach me a lot about myself and one important lesson I learned is that stress changes you, it alters your personality to a certain extent. You begin to take things too seriously, you can't relax enough to have fun, you constantly run through everything you have to do and cannot give yourself any time off as this makes you feel WAY too guilty. Despite the stress and the workload it is really important to take time off in these stressful periods to see ones friends and to just chill out, do things that get your mind off all your stress. This will preserve your real personality, the real you that gets hidden underneath the mask of stress.

I have applied and received my new passport and so I am ever closer to finally getting to watch the Blackpool Dance championships in May this year. My Physics is going alright, I am ahead of schedule and so I feel more confident about my upcoming test on the 16th May. 

As a little bit of relaxation amongst all the stress I managed to watch a rugby game at the stadium, hosted a Pizza evening for my friends, visited my favourite place on Earth, Kommetjie and had a photo shoot with my mother. 

After the crazy week I got to enjoy the most incredible Mexican food at Chad's house for his birthday. My dad's birthday went superbly well, it followed the usual tradition of him loving the clothes I brought him and wearing them for the rest of the day and him crying when reading my card. This year, however, we started off differently, with a cycle :) 

My birthday snuck up on me, I had hardly any time to think about what it was that I wanted to do. I knew that I wanted my best girls with me, and they were. I had a crazy idea that it would be magical to all get dressed up, looking and feeling pretty and take photographs at he seaside in Kommetjie. This idea was magical although my birthday fell on a day with rain and a cold wind. This, however, did not stop us. 

Although we were freezing and ended up looking like drowned rats, we had a blast and the photo's turned out more beautiful than I expected them too. In life, it really is true that it doesn't matter where you are or what you are doing, all that matters is who you are doing it with. I had the best company. 

So, April is drawing to an end and I have gained a year to my age. I have learned a lot this month. I have continued with all my physical activity, I have finished my final two assignments for my first two psychology modules. I have gotten one step closer to getting to Blackpool, continued to spend time in Kommetjie, gone to visit my favourite teachers at school, continued saving for my laptop and had my monthly dinner party. Not to mention the photo shoot that I was involved in. Despite all the stress it has been a superb month and I look forward to the many adventures that I know next month holds. 

Now that the kids are on holiday...

I must admit to being disappointed with my blogging efforts lately. Sadly time has not been on my side and so 'The Gap Year' took a back seat in my life. I hope that this is the last time I will be saying that this year and that from now on my blog will remain constantly updated and informative. 


In the blink of an eye the month of March came to an end and I failed to do all the things I should have done. The Argus cycle tour was the biggest highlight this month, it was one of the biggest and most important things on my list and the fact that I accomplished that this month makes me forget about all the things little things I didn't get round to doing.


I have continued to go to gym, although admittedly not as often as I would like, this I hope to change this month. I've started running again, which is very important as I am running a half marathon in less than 3 months and the Milkwood running race is in just a few short weeks. Yoga is still a huge love of mine and this month I have really started to grasp how important yoga is for me, especially when I am involved in other forms of exercise. 


I have finally started my physics. Mechanics is the first section I am looking at. It is definitely not going to be easy to learn the entire syllabus in just a few short months and do well, but ultimately I need to keep focused on what my goal is and if that means becoming the biggest nerd with no life outside a science book, then so be it.


Things at SACAP have been going pretty well, I have gotten my first 2 assignments back and I got 73% for Interpersonal Communication and 75% for Counselling Methods 1. Not too bad, got 2 more assignments coming up though, which I have yet to have started. 


I didn't manage to have a cup of coffee with my favourite teacher last month or enter the lottery, but I have promised myself that these are things I will most definitely do this month. 

I did expand on my cooking abilities this month, Ariadne, Cath and I made a peanut butter and chocolate cheesecake. The first cheesecake I have ever made and it was superbly delicious. 
My dinner party was not a party as such, but I made dinner for my friends digs. Chicken, bacon and mushroom pie was for dinner with chocolate souffle for desert. They loved it!!! 

Another Major highlight this month was having dinner with the Stormers rugby players. It amazed me how much better looking rugby players are in person. I suppose it makes sense since on tv they are sweaty, bloody and have a mouth stuffed with a gym guard. The Stormers players were great to look at and since that dinner I have developed a stronger appreciation for rugby. 

I finally went to the kirstenbosch summer sunset concert. The last one - aKing. Yet another thing I can tick off on my list. It was really wonderful, it made me sad for having missed all the others and I hope that next year I attend more. The music was good and so was the company. Thanx Ariadne and Jo :) 

April is always a month packed with birthdays and I am looking forward to the many celebrations. My kids are finally on holiday and so with my week off I have promised myself that I will work on a lot of physics, finish at least half of my next Counselling Methods 1 assignment and keep up with my exercise routine. 


It amazes me how we can go through things in life and end them for good reasons, but after time all we can remember is the good times and so naturally we reach out because the good times at the time were great. No matter what, the bad times will resurface, always. The wisest thing to do is to not reach out again. Things ended for a reason and that reason will always exist. The truth is always that your current situation and your current good times are so much better than the good times in the past, you may just need something to remind you of that. People don't change. 


One of the best feelings in life is making a new friend and becoming better friends every time you spend time together. Finding out the things you have in common, laughing, talking and doing things together that you both like. I have one more friend of superb quality. I'm looking forward to everything we'll share in the future :) 

Until next time, I'll keep busy :) xoxo

The Cycle Tour and Britania Bay:

So, at last the day arrived... The Cycle Tour. I had mixed emotions, I was so nervous, but at the same time extremely excited. I really wanted us to get a good time. My dad said we would be lucky if we got a sub 3hours 45 minutes, but I really wanted us to do a 3hour 15 minute time. 

The morning of we woke up at 04h20. We got dressed, ate a small breakfast and headed to the race. Before we knew it, it was 06h40 and the gun went off for our group D start. For some reason the start killed me. I thought that I seriously might not make it, but then we went past UCT and I saw all my wonderful and most beautiful friends and suddenly I felt stronger... until Wynberg hill. We raced so hard, we pushed ourselves to our limits, but I had the most amazing race. We had perfect weather conditions and it made me realize just how beautiful our country really is. In the end we did the race in 3 hours 13 minutes and 57 seconds. We were thrilled!!! 

This last week has been really tough for me, the reality of everything I have got to do is finally hitting me and for this week I really buckled under the pressure. I have gotten through it though and it will keep getting better, I just have to work really hard and keep remembering what my goals are. 


One more thing on my list is complete. And I have continued spending time in kommetjie, been working hard toward my SACAP qualification and been taking my camera to capture moments. 

For the long weekend The family went to Britania Bay. It is so beautiful and relaxing and I had the most wonderful time with my family. It is the times like those that make me really appreciate everything I have and make the things I don't have seem truly unimportant. 

This week ahead is going to be busy and as far it it looks, so is this entire year. It's not always going to be easy, but I'm up for the challenge!

Bubble toes*

So, the month of February has ended and I must admit that I lost a bit of focus this month. I have kept up with my exercise routine going to yoga, going to gym, running and cycling weekly. The Argus is next week and I couldn't be more excited. I am going to give it everything I have, I have been working so hard for it and it deserves me to give it everything. Besides, its only 3 hours and a few minutes of everything.


Everything is still going well at SACAP, I have my first assignment due next week and another the next week. These I have not started yet, but I plan to get on it today.

Work is going well. I still love my kids and really enjoy the responsibility and keeping busy. It gives me a purpose and those 2 kids make my day, everyday. 


My Physical Science stuff still has yet to arrive in the post, it is supposed to arrive this week and then my Physical Science will at last commence. 


I have spend a lot of time in Kommetjie this month, visiting gran, going there for Valentines day and for the 21st. I even plan on going there today. I need Kommetjie to sort out my mind, its the only place that can. 


I did not get to see my favourite teacher this month for coffee, but we did have a chat. I plan on seeing her for coffee very soon. 


I have just purchased the new Nigella Lawson "Kitchen" cookbook and I look forward to diving into it. Nigella is the woman I always seem to turn to when I feel crushed. She always helps to pull me out. 


My saving for my Mac Laptop is going according to schedule. 
I did not enter the lottery again in February, but i plan on most definitely doing it this month. 

No. 51 on my list was achieved in February. It was magic... for me at least. 

It was Lisa's birthday on Wednesday and it was a perfect evening. I love driving with them, eating ice-cream and sushi with them, but most of all... I love taking photographs with them. I hope your day was magical Lisa* 

Sometimes, no matter how hard, you need to let it go...

It turns out that my little taste of magic was confusing. My little taste of magic didn't go anywhere. I don't really understand what happened. The date he took me on was magic once again, it surprised me how relaxed we were in each others company, how natural everything was with us. There was talk of other things we needed to do together, other dates we would go on, but after goodbye things changed.


I didn't anticipate it at all. To me, everything was more perfect than I could have expected it to be. Every detail keeps running through my mind as to what I did wrong, why he doesn't seem to like me enough to want to get hold of me, to want to see me again as much as I want to see him.


The worst part of it all is that I thought I had finally gotten lucky. I thought that after all the trauma and heartbreak I had been through with guys that I had finally gotten lucky and found a great guy that treated me how I had always deserved to be treated. And now there is nothing and I am left so confused and worse off than I was before I had met him. 


I guess the lesson I learned is that magic, no matter how beautiful, is still a sacrifice. The sacrifice is to let every fear you have go and just enjoy the magic, but sometimes magic doesn't last as long as you think it will and you need to let it go, no matter how impossible it may seem. It's difficult to let something go when in your mind there is not enough reason to, when you still cling on to a tiny string of hope that things will suddenly change. The hardest part, is letting go of the hope.