March 13: Kate Spade

There really aren't words needed for this, except to say my sister found a steal of a deal at TJMaxx on a Kate Spade purse (see it in the back of the picture, yep, I'm good).

January 20: Gold Level

It's official.  I've renewed my gold level status at Starbucks for another year.  In order to keep gold status, one must purchase 30 drinks (or items) over the course of the year.  My gold level expires August 29th, 2014.  Thus, I needed to make 30 purchases by then to keep the reward level.  Clearly, I made it with time to spare.  The disadvantage of making it to gold level early, is that the drinks I get between now and then don't count for gold level status for the next year.  But, I will still get my free drink ever 12, and the other perks.

January 12: 5&10

I learned something new.  The famous 5&10 has a bar (Hugh Acheson from Top Chef owns/cooks there).  Mallory is moving next weekend, and I'm going to miss her being so close.  She has been such a dear friend these last three and a half years.  Wow, I can't believe it's been that long.  Her friendship has been a God-send.  From sharing life through breakups, classes, writing retreats, snowpocolyspe, surgery, and so many other memories, I am incredibly grateful for Mallory!

We went to the 5&10 bar for drinks.  It was a wonderful time catching up and talking about the next stages of life.  Ohh, and the drinks were great too.

October 17: Taqueria Del Sol

I love Mexican food. And I love all kinds of Mexican food, real authentic and less authentic like Taqueria Del Sol. Their food is yummy but far from authentic Mexican.  However, they have this absolutely delicious shrimp corn chowder.  Thursday was rainy and the perfect day for some chowder.  CJ and I met up with Ginny for dinner & drinks.  We had a nice time visiting and I'm glad they got to meet each other as they both play significant roles in my life. 

Education (Week 4)

Here is the rundown of week four in Cape Town.

Monday: Robben Island

Robben Island was a place originally used for exile for those with leprosy, however, during Apartheid, it was used as a prison for political prisoners.  We started the tour at the Jetty 1, which is where the prisoners and visitors/guests would have left from in order to visit the island. 

 Some of the prisoners & guests who left from Jetty 1

 Robben Island was a prison only for Blacks and Coloureds

 This was the last group of political prisoners to be released before it closed.

 Dumisani was our tour guide and a former political prisoner

 The rations for Blacks & Coloureds were different

 Nelson Mandela's cell

 The ferry is 45 minutes with beautiful views of Table Mountain. I can't imagine the sheer joy upon returning back to Cape Town and the end of Apartheid and seeing Table Mountain in a different light.

 The V&A waterfront. This is where you catch the ferry & where the museum is located.

Tuesday: Class/Green Market

After class on Tuesday, we headed for the Green Market.  This is a place off long street where vendors set up shop every Tuesday-Sunday (10-4pm).  There are gadgets & gizmos galore.  

 Charly's Bakery is a few blocks down from the Green Market and one of Oprah's favs!

 The delicious chocolate cake. I couldn't wait til we were hope to try some.

Wednesday: Wine Tour

We took a tour of a winery in Franschhoek. On the bus ride, I gave the students the history of Franschhoek and of wine is South Africa.  Did you know there are over 4000 (wine) farms in South Africa?!

The walk up to the winery was absolutely beautiful.

 Bob and his mom own/run the winery.  One of the wines is named after Bob: the Gentle Giant.

 At the winery we had a competition to make the best wine.

 Our team didn't win, but we made a valiant effort.

 Our named & labeled wine

The group (Stormers!) after the tour

Thursday: Stellenbosch

Mallory & I went to Stellenbosch, the primelands for wine in South Africa. Stellenbosch was only about an hour away by train, and R15 (less than $2), so we set out on an adventure!  The train ride was fairly uneventful, minus a Rastafarian man who moved throughout various cabins. After his parade through, the door to the outside wouldn't close.  This made for a chilly ride.  Oh, did I mention it was pouring rain as well?! It was.

When we arrived at the train station, Mallory had reserved a shuttle to drive us around to the varying wineries.  On any given day, the north or south route is open.  For us, we were on the northern route which included a seller tour (so neat!).  Each route includes six wineries with varying specialties..

 At one stop they gave us golf umbrellas for the tour, that was nice!

 Our guide/driver was wonderful. He gave us suggestions on where to go for lunch, which places to skip, and what to see.  The first two were spot on...wonderful experiences, the third left something to be desired.  This was in part due to the woman serving the tastings.  She was clearly preoccupied with other things.  One of her preoccupations was with a tree that had fallen in the road.  She mentioned to everyone in the room that we were all stuck until the tree was removed.  After spending a long time waiting, we were cold, and wet, and ready to move on. 

 However, when we tried to leave, we realized just how big a tree was blocking the road.

 

Thus we headed back to the restaurant to indulge in some coffee (for me) and malva pudding (traditional South African dessert).  Delish.  And they gave it to us for free since we were stuck!

Friday: Off

Friday we were suppose to head to Cape of Good Hope & Cape Point, but the weather was iffy so the group decided to go on Sunday instead, giving us a day off.  Chase, Lori (Chase's wife who joined on Wednesday!), Mallory, and I headed to Canal Walk. It's a very large ritzy mall.  It was an experience.  Something else to note, in South Africa, they have grocery stores IN the malls.  Thus, you'll see people pushing carts of groceries through the mall.

Sunday: Cape of Good Hope, Cape Point, & Boulder Beach

Cape of Good Hope is a rocky part of the shoreline once believed to be the southern most tip of Africa.  It's not.  The actual southern most tip is Cape Agulhas.  However, Cape Point is the location where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet.

The Cape of Good hope is written in English on one side, and Afrikaans on the other (with the coordinates in between).

We then hiked from Cape of Good Hope to Cape Point (45 minutes); beautiful views of the coast!

Olivia is one of the students I felt I connected with (along with a handful of others).  Unfortunately, she's a gator and goes to Florida.  Luckily, she made good friends with Sarah Elizabeth (also a keeper) and she'll come visit.  On a side note, it was wonderful to connect with students again!  For the last two years, I've done more administrative work and I've missed working with students more closely.  I'm grateful for the opportunity to connect with so many students on this trip, and doubly grateful that many of them are here at Georgia! 

 The light house at the top of Cape Point

As we were getting ready to leave this baboon was walking around (baby on back) and walked right behind this man.  You should click on the photo to enlarge it.  I think it's hysterical.  He finally realized the baboon was there and it was as if they were having a staring contest.  Ps. Baboons are fierce creatures, and that man was way to calm!

 We then headed to boulders beach to see the African penguins!

 Look, they're cuddling!

 The penguins were so stinkin' cute! Too bad I couldn't take one home...I tried...kidding.

More updates coming (especially now that I'm back in the states and can upload pictures in the blink of an eye)!

Magnificent Massage

After a long academic year, I knew I needed a break, and I had been talking about getting a massage for awhile.  I looked into many places.  The health center would do an hour massage for $50...great price, but not the experience.  For my first massage, I wanted the experience!  So then I began looking for day spas.  These massages began to run $90-100.  The price made me more convinced that I wanted my money's worth.  I found the Chateau Elan.  It's a local winery with a hotel and separate spa. I was sold when I found out that when you get a service there, you can use any of the facility for free.  

The options included:

a workout facility 

fitness classes

hot tub

robes & sandals

pool with jets for swimming

steamroom

sauna

afternoon tea and snacks

showers with all the necessities

lockers

and all the little extras that made it special

The massage itself was wonderful...although with the way my back was hurting she could have spent the entire time on my back and I would have been a happy camper.  The room was softly lit, quiet instrumental music, the bed heated from beneath me, and after the massage I sat in a quiet reflection room with dim lighting, flickering candles, wonderful lounge chairs and warm blankets.

I made a day of the experience and it was lovely.  AND just what I needed, a day of quiet relaxation and pampering.  I wanted to go around and take pictures of the place but thought it would be odd, so I took a few when I could. ;)

The grounds were beautiful and overlooking a small lake.  It was a much needed day.  Although I will probably supplement my experience with some trips to the health center, I will return and treat myself to another day of pampering!

Bucket List...of sorts

Awhile ago I began thinking about what all I wanted to do, or things I hand't done before I left Texas. A couple weeks ago during a candidate dinner, a few of us were chatting about the list. They began deeming the list...the bucket list. Someone kindly reminded them I wasn't dying, but rather leaving Texas. I suppose some die hard Texans would equate those two. Anyway, here is a list things I want to do before I leave this grand state.

Take pictures in the blue bonnets (check)

Take pictures around Baylor (I really want to create the word remember from pictures of things around Baylor that will remind me of these last 5 years...if you've ever seen these done, they're pretty neat)

Tortilla tossing

Visit Independence, Texas

Eat in Brooks College Dinning Hall (I haven't done that this entire year)

Visit Mozarts...again

Picture with the random gorilla on Austin Ave

Picture with the catfish truck on MLK

Eat at Viteks, although I don't know that I can do a gut pack...eeeewww

Kayak the brazos

Paint a coffee mug at practically pikaso

But I'm also taking suggestions...anything else I should add to my list?

Waco's Best

Although there are many things I miss about California and the west coast, I have come to appreciate my Waco home. Some call this the Waco 'suck' factor. When you first arrive in Waco, it sucks! But then, it kind of sucks you in. I never, ever, in a million years, thought I would be staying in Waco for a 5th year. I mean, there is no ocean, no mountains, no big city, no true theatre, and frankly, not much to do after 8pm.

So what is great about Waco?!

1. No traffic/smog

2. Great people!

3. Cameron Park (2nd largest in city park in the nation, Central Park being 1st)

4. Altos de Jalisco (favorite Mexican food place in the area)

5. Diamondbacks (great desserts/happy hour)

6. Fireflies!

7. Lake Waco

8. Suspension Bridge (1st suspension bridge west of the Mississippi)

9. Close to Dallas & Austin

10. Woodway Park (newest favorite!)

Although these things are all great, many of them aren't things to 'do' or at least not things you can't do frequently. However, Woodway Park challenges this idea. It's a park located right off Lake Waco and offers a couple trails for hiking/walking/biking and probably the best place in Waco to watch the sunset.

One advantage of not having mountains is the fabulous sky scenes we get in Texas. Last night, I went to Woodway Park to journal and watch the sunset. Just as the sun was setting, I was joined by Meredith. Here are some pictures of the sunset we enjoyed!

After watching the sunset, we headed to the trail to find some fireflies. As we walked, Meredith inhaled a bug. Literally, she was walking and began coughing. I was laughing so hard. Mostly because this same thing had happened to Meredith the day before when she was walking the bear trail. Two bugs, in two days.

In her honor, I began singing this little jingle (modified from the musical RENT)

Goodbye bug, goodbye bug

Just came to say goodbye bug goodbye

Just came to say goodbye bug, goodbye bug

hello... disease

I'm sure if you eat too many bugs, you'd catch something.

Anyway. As we were walking, we saw a little cotton tailed rabbit. So being the late twenties young women we are, we followed the bunny. As we followed it down a trail, I began to laugh again. It wasn't long ago that we were watching Alice in Wonderland/Alice and the Looking Glass and commenting if we would be stupid enough to follow a rabbit down a hole. And look at us, what we were doing?! Meredith and I got a good laugh out of it as we joked about the Jabberwoky coming for us :)

As we approached a bridge on the trail we stopped to take in the beauty. There were hundreds of fireflies lighting up around us, about 30 every second. It was unreal. I got out my camera to take a video. After many attempts, I got the video below. Although it does not do justice to the scene, I thought I'd post it for a glimpse of what we experienced. You can only see about 7 in this video. I'm not sure how to get a video that does these fireflies justice, and maybe, again, this is just one of the things in life we are meant to experience once (or twice, or as many times as I decide to visit Woodway Park) :)