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Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Marcus & Celia's


This evening Jaco & I went to visit his best friend & their family. Marcus & Jaco worked together in Kimberley & became close friends. Marcus decided to specialize in Anaesthetics & his work has brought him to Cape Town. He & his wife have 2 beautiful boys, Joshua & Micah.

We enjoyed a fantastic dinner outside in the front yard & unfortunately Marcus got called to work, so we didn’t get to visit with him as much. But after the boys were asleep, Celia, Jaco & I had a great visit.

I’m very sad that we won’t get to see them again for another 4 months, but I’m looking forward to the next time we do! I’m sure the boys will have grown so much more!

Here are a few photos I snapped of them in the front yard.

xxxxMaria





































Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Day 550 - Warmer At Home

Wow. It was a stormer last night! It was so windy & rainy I thought the roof was going to lift off! I woke up a lot through the night thanks to the rattling wind hammering away at the building. 


And it is officially warmer in Canada than it is in Africa! How rude! In fact, I heard 4º mentioned on the radio today! Yikes! No snow yet, but they did talk about snow on the mountaintops potentially! Crazy! I'm going to have to get some warmer clothes! Tank tops & yoga pants aren't going to cut it!


This afternoon found us back in Cape Town at Dr. Singh's again. I must say, this guy is good. Even Jaco didn't bat an eyelash! Usually (not always), when I would include Jaco in some of the other 'Doctors' appointments, he would scoff & criticize what was said. But not with Dr. Singh. 


He's incredibly knowledgeable about so many areas surrounding health. I mean, that's why we picked him, but I guess we're getting more than we expected, which is always a bonus! He reviewed Jaco's bloodwork, which showed a few deficiencies. I think Jaco was surprised & I am hoping that will make him that much more eager to comply with Dr. Singh's suggestions. 


Dr. Singh suggested a one month detox for us both, using only 4 products & of course, gulp, a strict diet. After that, he uses only 4 supplements. It will be wonderful to have such a simple program! No injections, crazy juices, dash of this & splash of that... Of course, I already KNOW my biggest hurdle will be the commitment to the diet. No self-sabotage allowed. However, one of the best things I think anyone has ever said to me, I heard today. Dr. Singh said I would have to eat an alkaline diet 80% of the time. 20% of the diet would be acidic. Now, I'm sure he would strongly encourage me to eat a *healthy* acidic food vs. a slice of pizza, but he did say, if I did eat something acidic, I would have to balance it out by eating a much larger portion of alkaline food. No, I'm not looking for a loophole to allow myself to eat rubbish. But the idea that I can live & eat without feeling guilty about not attaining perfection may just be the missing link in all my quests for health. 


I don't have to throw in the towel because I caved & had a bit of chocolate? I don't have to feel guilty because I ate some chips? I'm not a failure because I just had some nachos? What a concept! Of course, I think I'm going to have to tattoo 'Will this harm me or heal me?' across my head & hands so I'll see it every time I look in the mirror or reach for food!


Wish me luck - it will be a challenge, no doubt. 


After our appointment with Dr. Singh, we headed to the Waterfront. Or at least we tried. It was meant to take 20 minutes. With Jaco's interpretation of the map, 58 minutes later, we were there. I was very excited, as we were meeting Marisa & her fiancé, Neill. I worked with Marisa on ships back in 2005/2006 & I haven't seen her since 2009, the last time I was in SA. At that time, she'd only been dating Neill for a short while. 


I'm pleased to report that, in my humble opinion, she's chosen wonderfully! Neill is handsome, charming, a gentleman & affectionate. Not to mention, he's a VERY lucky guy, as Miss Marisa is GORGEOUS, incredibly talented & her smile matches her stellar personality! 


We had a wonderful night catching up on the past two years, wedding plans, life, friends, food & everything else in between. I'm hoping we'll see each other again before the end of May! In fact, we miss their engagement party by a mere days! Boo!


We went out for dinner & enjoyed a wonderful Thai meal, followed by Italian desserts. Mmm... gelato! 


What a great day! (albeit chilly, but great...) xxxxMaria


Dr. Singh & Jaco. In case you missed Dr. Singh, he's 6'8"!!!
 Delivery truck - SA Style. Wait 'til I catch a photo of their tow trucks!
 Clouds rolling in.
 Neill's a better photographer than I am. I'm retiring. He took this photo.
 As good as I could get it!
 Hot cocoa & Amarula
 Melon Sorbet
 The newly engaged couple! Yay!
 Good times!
 Being silly!
 Love you girl!
Cape Town's version of the London Eye

Friday, March 11, 2011

Day 504 - Curaçao

Humming right along with my sprouts, I planted the wheatgrass, peas & sunflowers. The other sprouts continue to be rinsed & some will be ready by tomorrow night! I don’t have the proper trays & I couldn’t get stockings to cover the trays with, so I’ll attempt to use the spray bottle again this time around. Hopefully I won’t get any mold & will get a nice even growth. I sprouted more seeds than previously, although I did spread them out over 1.5 trays apiece. Here’s hoping!

Jaco & I went out in Curaçao today. He had never been ashore there, so I was happy to show him around, although we only had 1.5 hours. He had always looked out from the ship & didn’t think there was much to see. Truthfully, in town, unless you’re shopping or going for a meal, there isn’t a whole lot to see. Out of town, there are plenty of beaches & great diving! Sadly, we didn’t have time for that! We walked past the new hotel that has gone up since I was here in 2007. There are plenty of typical ship shops – Diamonds International, Columbian Emeralds, etc, etc. We then walked into the Old Fort, with more shops & little cafés – it has a nice ambience to it.

Exiting the Fort, we came to the swing bridge, but it was closed to let ships pass by. We waited for quite some time & finally took the ferry across – about the time the bridge swung open. We visited with one of the locals, took a quick stroll down the main pedestrian street & a few souvenir photos before it was time to head back to the ship! Jaco had a hankering for ice cream, so after we’d walked across the swing bridge we stopped for ice cream in the Fort.

We made it back with 3 minutes to spare! Here’s hoping we can get off a little sooner in Grand Turk! We were both commenting on how hot it was & how nice it would have been to be in the water today!

I went up to the gym (day 2!) & decided to do yoga out on deck. Bad decision. I used to do yoga outside all the time when I was on the Sun Princess. This is a sister ship, so the layout is pretty much identical. Well, something must have changed. I was in the exact same spot as I used to be & it was disgusting. There were bits of carpet, hairs, dust, dirt, passenger receipts & paper towels whirling around in a wind tunnel in the exact spot where I’d chosen to do my workout. Gross. I blew the bits off my laptop about 6 times when I finally decided it might just wreck my laptop, so I went inside. I had to compete with the loud dance music playing in the gym, but I managed to fumble my way through the remainder of my workout. I’m pretty out of shape. My poor arms were buckling & shaking like crazy on a few of the poses. My balance is also a little lacking. It will be a few weeks before I can handle crow pose – that’s for sure!

This evening, I had the pleasure of dining with Larisa in the pizzeria. I met Larisa when I sailed with Jaco on the Star Princess in South America. She is a Photographer from England & has a passion for travel. So much so that she only spent 9 days at home on her last break! That’s impressive! She’s making plans to travel to Costa Rica, Barbados & Thailand for this holiday coming up. We had a wonderful visit – in fact, we were talking so much that I didn’t even realize we were the last two left in the restaurant! Whoops! I haven’t laughed that much in a long time!

She recently took up running, so I took the pleasure of introducing her to Lululemon. When we came back to the cabin, I showed her half my wardrobe. I think I’ve piqued her interest! She’s also an avid diver & was my buddy last cruise in Dominica. She’s leaving at the end of this cruise & I’m going to miss her terribly. I’ve really enjoyed seeing her again! But that’s the beauty of ships. It’s never goodbye. Only goodbye for now. You always bump into each other again somewhere down the path.

Jaco was already in bed by the time we came back to the cabin, so we didn’t visit for too long. I’ll see her again before the end of the cruise…

But for now, it’s bed time. Tomorrow is a sea day & Jaco has asked me to join him for the Captain’s Circle Luncheon. I’ll fill you in shortly!

xxxxMaria











 Swing Bridge

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