One Year of Living in Cape Town and a Giveaway!

Hello! 

I can’t believe I’ve lived in this beautiful, challenging place for a year now. It does feel like “home” to us. We’ve come a long way, literally and figuratively.  I thought that I’d list some of the highlights and milestones of our life in the last year.

Our first home here.

•           We arrived at 11:30 at night. My very first impression was that it was windy and hot.
•           I learned pretty quickly how much my visa status affects my civil liberties. No bank account for me!
•           We explored a little of the western cape and saw penguins, baboons, eland, tortoises, eagles and many other animals.
•           We learned how to drive on the left side of the road, manual transmission. Not that hard, really.
•           We learned how to use Rand instead of Dollars- I still have to do a conversion in my head every time.        Here is the conversions list I developed.

Our second home here.

•           I’ve learned that I have too much stuff. Too many books.
•           I’ve made my peace with washing dishes, but the bathroom and floors are my dreaded enemies.
•           We learned how to ride Segways.
•           Our dogs have made life bearable, even on the toughest days.
•           We’ve become better cooks.
•           We eat out less.
•           We are healthier and value exercise and fresh foods.

Beautiful wine farms.

•         We learned how hard it is to keep in touch with even the people you are closest to. Sometimes, it is “out of sight, out of mind.”
•           I’ve learned a new skill- Beadweaving.
•           I’ve learned a new way to move- belly dance.
•           We have both developed our skills of patience.

Beautiful beaches.

•           We are learning how to communicate better. When you only have each other…you need to be open and honest about your needs and goals.
•           We’ve learned that friendships can come in all shapes, ages, and abilities.
•           Living here has helped us clarify our priorities in life.
•           We celebrated one year of marriage, and are over half way towards our second year! After eight years, he’s still my best friend and light of my life.

Scenic vistas.

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This list could go on and on. But I’ll spare you.

Our new theme for the year is “to make this year better than the last.” It shouldn’t be that hard, now that we have a year “under our belts.” We are more confident here and are learning how to navigate the Rainbow Nation. What a challenge and privilege we have gotten to live through. 

We are ever grateful for the life we have together.

So in celebration of our one year Cape Town-aversary, AND this being my 100^th post, I am having a giveaway!

I’m giving a pair of spiral earrings away. Something like these here:

Really Easy Rules of the Giveaway:

All are welcome! Friends, family, followers, or potential followers, worldwide!

Here’s what you do: 

·  Please leave a comment for me, saying what are your top 4-5 favorite colors, and I’ll make you a custom pair of earrings! 

·  If you don’t have a blogger profile, make sure you leave an e-mail address so that I can reach you if you are the winner! (If you’re worried about spamming, you can write your e-mail address to look like this: “withoutcomplexities at gmail dot com.”)

·  For extra ballots: become a follower through Google Friend Connect (it you aren’t already) of Lovely Light, Google Plus me, and/or follow me on Facebook and let me know in a comment here (a separate comment for each one). 

·  This means that you have up 4 chances (via three comments) towards winning a beautiful handmade pair of earrings! I will use a random number generator to pick the winner.

·  If you are the winner and do have a blog, I’d love it if you gave me a little “shout out” and picture on your blog. No expectations though!

·  The giveaway will be open for two weeks, closing on Friday, March 2nd. I'll announce the winner a few days after.

Good Luck!

Song of the Post: The Weight by The Band. This is hands-down, one of my all-time favorite songs.