Monthaversary Three: A mishmash of thoughts.

Hmm, let’s see what has been going on for the last month. I’ve gone to the gym so much, it is definitely part of my routine. I usually start at 9:30 for a cardio class, and then stay for the next one, then spend some time weight lifting and then stretching. It does vary though, but it is at minimum an hour a day. I have hurt my knee a little bit, I think due to moving incorrectly in Zumba. I don’t feel it every time I move, just when I squat or lunge (two moves I hate anyways!). I have been giving it rest, but every once in a while, I still feel a twinge. I keep going back and forth about going to the doctor- what do you think?  

Camps Bay view from Lion's Head.

We bought new Polar hart rate monitors (mine is the FT7 and P’s is the FT80) to help us get points on our Discovery Vitality membership. The points add up to 20 percent off (or more) airfare on certain airlines, so we are very motivated. Going to the gym gets us points, using the heart rate monitor gets us points, buying healthy groceries, and having certain preventative doctor check-ups all add up to more points!

The Eye at night.

We got our things. Mostly a good thing, but I’ve already found items that got packed that should have stayed in Arizona. Luckily I can fit them in suitcases when we come back for visits. We really have only unpacked our clothing and our electronics because of potentially moving any time between now and August 15th. I still have too many clothes. It’s hard when you’re someone like me, thinking that the shirt has sentimental value/memories or has “ideas about how I can re-fashion it,” to give clothes away; it is also hard not to want pretty new things that you see in the store. Really, I’m not trying to impress anyone but my husband. So, I don’t think I’ll be buying much clothing for a while unless something vital is needed. P unpacked all of his work-related books into his work office. Anything that I need, I can pull out of a box and put back. Most of our camping stuff were not in boxes, but wrapped in heavy brown paper (which the movers took) so all of that stuff is out in the open. 

Brown packing paper. Etta is in the background.

We as still looking for a house or flat to live in. After coming home from seeing the one I wrote about here, we decided that it was not exactly right for us. Plus, the owners never called us. We just looked at a house on Sunday that was rent-to-own, so I was really excited to see it. It was kinda far, but was across from a golf course- it was so peaceful with the birds chirping and such. Parts of it definitely needed fixing-up, but it had a huge work shop space for P, or it could be converted into a granny flat. The realtor showing it basically told us that (if she were us) we should wait a while and then decide if we wanted to buy a house here. I was a bit surprised that she was trying to get us to wait. Oh well. It is good advice. But the peacefulness; so different from where we live now. There is so much traffic on our little residential street!

Reeses' tongue.

How has your month been?

We miss you all!!

P.S. -Don’t forget to check out P’s blog!

Song of the Day: You and I Both by Jason Mraz

P.P.S.- I participating in these blog hops.

Monthaversary Two: Getting our feet wet.

     In the last month, I have gone to the gym 20 times, gone hiking once, and probably averaged two small bags of Cheese Naks a week (see previous post here). We went to Hout Bay, Kalk Bay, Muizenburg beach, we went to the tip of Cape of Good Hope, drove on Chapman's Peak Drive, and we hiked Lions Head mountain. We went to two different wine estates, Lourensford and Spier, learned how to ride Segways, and enjoyed tasting eleven wines with fine cheeses. We are finally comfortable driving on the left side of the road and navigate the tiny lanes and pedestrians with ease. I drove by myself to a place I had never been in town and did not get lost.
     We have watched the first seasons of Rome, Six Feet Under, and seasons one and two of The Wire. We have watched three movies in the theater and rented 10 movies. Still have not watched any television except while at the gym (they offer CNN, Sky News, VH1, cartoons, sports, sports, and more sports). I have written eight blog posts and received ten comments. I finally got to 555 blog views today! I attempted to use Photoshop and after much frustration, realized how hard it is! I met up with someone from an NGO and will start free counseling at an underprivileged primary school in the next two weeks. We looked at three homes, and drove past others, and decided to pass on them all as either too far, too dangerous, or too small.
     We did not have many social engagements this month, I guess our newness has rubbed off! However, we are becoming more adventurous on our own and are getting our feet wet!


Here are some pictures I took when we were at Muizenburg Beach:

Muizenburg Beach is known for its colorful dressing huts.

P.S.- Don't forget to check out my hubby's blog at http://pedroinafrica.blogspot.com!

Song of the Month: When the Fire is Low   by Freshlyground. It is a song by a South African and it’s on the radio a lot and I dance to it in Zumba.

I Spy: Neighborhood

Hello, I'm gonna start doing something that littlemissmomma started a few weeks ago, an I SPY segment. I really like her blog and crafts; I have to make myself only look at it a couple times a week. I took most of these pictures today while driving to the gym and back. It was very cloudy this morning, but it cleared up nicely by the afternoon!

Devil's peak at the intersection of Lover's Walk and Grotto.

Here, they put electric fencing on as many places as they can.

One of my favorite houses in the neighborhood; it has a bubbling fountain and is 3 stories high.

St. Paul's Anglican Church, just off of Main.

View from my dining room. Gray morning, no rain.

UCT campus, Table Mountain, in the background, is covered by the "Table Cloth" of clouds.

View from my street. Lots of cars parked on the street because we are so close to UCT.

This is a house on the corner of my street, it's name is Dyffryn (it reminds me of Harry Potter!)

It should just be called Rondebosch Video (it is a video and convenience store, not a cafe!)

This is the intersection of Main and Grotto; the gray building holds the Pick N' Pay that we do a lot of our grocery shopping at.

A man selling hand-carved wooden spoons and ostrich feather dusters.

"Happiness Unlimited" is actually very limited- the store is much smaller inside than it looks.

Mini bus taxi- can you see all the bodies in it? (This is a much newer van than what you would normally ride in.)

This is the Claremont Mercedes dealership, I really like the architecture.

Table Mountain with the "Table Cloth."

P.S.- Sorry for the bad photos.
P.P.S.- Uploading these took forever because I use a pre-paid wireless modem for internet!


Song of the day: Like a Prayer by Glass Cake. It's a cover of Madonna's hit song. What do you think?

Health and Fitness.

Health: We are starting to come out of our (partial) survival mode when it comes to food. For breakfast we either have cereal or fried eggs and bacon or sausage (don’t judge!). We have tried to make pancakes out of crumpet mix, but they are not the same. My parents used to make pancake mixes from scratch- do any of you have a home-made recipe we can use? Sandwiches are quick and easy for lunch, and often better than what P finds on campus. We are starting to make a few more creative dinner dishes at home and are experimenting with some different cuts of meat on the braai (barbeque). We have tried making our own white sauce for pasta; the first time we added a cheese that did not melt or integrate well, so we made sure that we had the right kind of cheese for our second time, was much better.

(Source)

Unfortunately, we have also been choosing what is easy. Because our schedule keeps adjusting to new pressures, we don’t always have what we need to cook or the evening is fast approaching and time is of the essence. We have ordered pizza here more than we normally would in Tucson, and we have also baked some frozen ones as well. The pizzas here are smaller, thin crust, and have less cheese on them, so they are not as bad as they could be! Little saving graces, right?  

One interesting thing is that my cheese addiction has morphed into a Cheas Naks addiction, which is probably worse. Those of you who know of my cheese addiction would be surprised that I have only had it on the pizza and in sandwiches. For the uniformed, Cheas Naks are the closest approximation to Cheetos that I can find. Posers such as Nik Naks need to disappear because the texture and taste is all wrong.

And chocolate... We share a chocolate bar almost every day. Why? Because we need to know which are the best ones here in SA. The only brands that are familiar are Snickers, M and M’s, and Kit Kats. We really enjoy the Cadbury brand's chocolate bars: Fruit and Nut and Cashew and Coconut are the best. I have never been much of a chocolate eater, but I’m having fun finding an excuse to partake several times a week. If we don’t have chocolate for dessert, we will have some vanilla ice cream with fresh mango or frozen raspberries. Yummy!

(source)

Fitness: Because our Discovery Health insurance began at the start of the month, we were able to join the Virgin Active gym at a deeply discounted rate through their Vitality program. We paid the start-up fee and from now on, only have to pay 20% of the monthly fee that most members have to pay. This gym is amazing. It is not too far away and has an incredible view of Devil’s Peak (the background picture on P’s blog shows it nicely). The gym has an olympic-sized indoor pool and cool machines like the Power Plate and Kinesis, neither which I have tried. One of the things that I have enjoyed most over the last three weeks has been the fitness classes- they have the most of any gym I have ever seen! I have not always attended gym classes regularly in the past, but I’m liking the ones I have gone to. I have tried several times the yoga, Pilates, intermediate step, Zumba, and belly dancing classes and have had fairly good experiences at them. I now realize how important the instructor quality is to the success of a class. The step class I went to last Saturday sucked so much because the teacher (whom I will not name) would not do the routine with us and we would get lost without his visual cues; he then yelled at us and stopped the music half-way through to berate us! It was so unprofessional and I will never take a class from him again. However, my Zumba teacher, Elroy, is AMAZING. I was speaking with someone after class and they told me that he has a “following” and I’m guessing it’s not only because he is a good instructor…he is hot! His moves are effortless and smooth, he indicates when he is transitioning to a new move, and he smiles like he is having fun. I think that I am now part of his following...sigh. My belly dancing teacher, Natasha, is also very striking and I enjoyed the 90 minute class this week so much that I decided to go to hers every week! And I’m also contemplating a 55 minutes that she has tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. Me getting up to exercise before 9:00 a.m; is that not a testament to how fun it is?!

Conclusion: Overall, we have actually lost weight since being here, contrary to your conclusions after reading the Health section of this post. We are eating less food than we used to and are going to the gym more regularly than we have been for the last few months. I have sometimes gone twice a day! That’s what a housewife in my position does, you know.

Also, Virgin Active is piloting a new “big brother” type program, at our location only, that helps you track your fitness indicators. They have machines that weigh you, do your blood pressure, and calculate your body fat percentage. They also give you suggested nutrition plans and workout schedules for your goals (of losing weight, getting healthy, or building strength). It’s pretty cool to use, when the machine is working.

Finally, I have also started keeping track again on The Daily Plate through the Live Strong website. You can set a goal weight and it will use your current weight, height, and activity level to calculate how many calories you should ingest a day to reach that goal. It has a huge database of store-brand foods and restaurant foods and it will break down what you ate and show what percentage of it was calories, fat, and protein. You can also log your fitness activities and adjust how many calories you have left that day to eat to stay within your goal. It is time intensive, but really opens your eyes to some of the things you eat. I've started paying attention to portion sizes and asking myself, is it worth it? You should check it out.

Peace out!

Song of the Post: Ice Cream by Sarah McLachlan.