Shark Attack!... or wait... no, ummm...

This is astonishing, and tragic - So hectic, it doesn't even fit into my blog page.

What is wrong with me?

Something is wrong with me.

I have been back at work, after December holidays, for a week and a half. The first week is always a breeze, as many people are still on leave, and most schools still closed. However, I found myself very frustrated, especially getting to work within 40 minutes, when the trip usually takes me an hour and ten.

Due to the lack of traffic, I would not have had a moment to drink my coffee, so would arrive at work, far too early, coffee piping hot and untouched in it's travel mug. I would end up having to drink my precious coffee... at my desk in from of my computer. Horrors.
I would arrive to work, (far too early, I must reiterate) having only listened to half the music I had hoped to hear. Now that is a horror, if ever there was one.
I just felt so.... unfulfilled. Empty.

So yesterday, all the schools were back, most people are back from their holidays and dragging themselves out of bed at ghastly hours to go back to work. Picture it, a groggy Monday morning... roads were treacherously congested, there was an accident, a breakdown, a knocked-down pedestrian (she was ok by the way) and some traffic lights out.

Then there is one portion of road that I usually sit in traffic, for around half an hour, creeping along at 15 km/h. This road runs through the last remaining countryside before hitting the outskirts of Joburg city. I love it.

I wind my window right down, and hang my arm out the window, to feel the cool air.
I make sure I am listening to something truly wonderful on my iPod.
I look at the trees and note how their leaves have changed.
I watch birds and cyclists.
I peer into my review mirror regularly to see what my fellow traveler is doing... usually nothing.
I keep a look-out for my favourite motorcyclist, a man who wears khaki shorts every day, wears a grey BMW Compaq motorcyclist jacket, and rides a BMW. I move over for him and it really makes my day if he waves at me in return.
I sip my coffee. Slowly. Savouring every tongue-scalding sip.
I feel the sun on my skin and breathe in the fresh outside air.

Aaaaah.... Chaos and normality.

Female vocalist P!nk puts it so beautifully in her cheerful new song "Good Old Days". We habitually reminisce the good ol' days, pining after our youth, after the way things once were. Well, P!nk's right: THESE are the good old days. Today may be one of those days we longingly reminisce about in years to come.

Thing is: some things you can't change. The challenge is to adapt. But something truly magical happens when you manage to go beyond adapting, and you find the strength within you... to embrace what you can't change. I love my morning traffic, most of it anyway. I even missed it. And that is why there is something wrong with me.

Or maybe right...?

Happy 2013 Fellow Inhabitants of the Road, it's so very good to have you back! See y'all on the tarmac.

GRATiAE: Manicure in a box... and Organic too!

Every now and then, I stumble across something that I feel I must tell the world about. Yesterday was such a day, and so here I am. As with Kutai Raw Chocolat and Soya Body Bars, I simply must share it.

I made this discovery yesterday morning while browsing Clearwater Mall. You know how it is at this time of year: the malls hire out their extra spaces to stall-holders, who will try to sell all manner of products to unsuspecting by-passers. One needs to maintain absolute focus when passing these stalls, and work very hard at giving the appearance that you are either too busy and important to stop, or that you are the grumpiest human on the earth, and won’t take kindly to being disturbed. I’m usually very good at the latter, having inherited a face from my father, which can look extremely serious when I need it to.

So yesterday, I saw a stall that was obviously selling beauty products of some kind, and I managed to skirt around the stall without being noticed. Phew! Off I went to do my shopping and my browsing, which happened to bring me full circle an hour later to the same spot. This time however, my head was in the clouds, as it so often is, and I found myself staring at a middle-aged man, who was receiving a facial at this beauty stall.

Come on, you would stare too, right? A middle-aged man, having a facial?  Before I knew it, it was too late, and a salesman had descended on me like an eagle on a field mouse with it’s head in the clouds.

“Excuse me,” he called out to me. “May I ask what you use for your….?” I completely missed the last few words, but I suspected he was asking after my skin. My skin hasn’t been in great condition of late – I blame stress and hormones – so I was immediately feeling a little self-conscious. Anyway, I stopped walking. I couldn’t lie to him and say that I don’t have the time for this, and it was too late to apply my grumpiest-human-on-earth expression to scare him off. Besides, I’ve always been a sucker for people with strange accents, and this one sounded mildly French to me.

Darn my curiosity! Darn it, darn it, darn it!

Having asked the salesman to repeat himself, he asked, “What do you use for your…?” Again with that last word… Legs? Did he ask me what I use for my legs?? What on earth is he selling??? He definitely gestured to my legs… Gosh, how do I tell him that I just use whatever lotion I’ve received for Christmas this year? He’ll be mortified I’m sure…

“What do you use for your nails?” He repeated the question, this time taking hold of my hand and inspecting my fingertips closely. 

Oooooh, my nails. I don’t use use anything on my nails, not a single thing. I’m very hard on my hands, so I don’t colour them, not even with clear paint. For the most part, I use nail-clippers on them (How horrifying!) but I have been trying to be more disciplined about using a nail file rather to shape them properly. In all my life, I have had one French manicure, which barely lasted me 24 hours before I chipped it all off. And I’ve had tips applied twice, which both times ended in my nails nearly being buffered right off my fingers when having the tips removed.

I could have rambled off at him with this whole history, but between my legs and my skin I was already feeling like a bit of an ugly duckling, so I just told him I use nothing on my nails.

He asked for twenty seconds of my time, during which time he began to demonstrate how his unique nail buffer block will transform my nails. Now I’ve used nail buffer blocks before, but this gentleman informed me that his blocks are ‘medicated’, and he even ventured to call it ‘a massage for your nails’. I wasn’t quite sold on the idea, and was preparing to make my getaway. However, having noted by my wedding ring that I am married, the salesman asked me how old I am. Not in the least bit offended by this question, and still trying to determine the origins of his accent, I blurted out only too gladly that I’m 27 years old. He looked me up and down, eyes huge, and told me that he thought I was 18 years old.

I’ve often heard it said that flattery will get you anywhere. I can hereby confirm that there is some truth in this statement. I immediately felt only too glad to spend a few more moments with this wonderful stranger, to allow him the time to finish his demonstration and, if he so chooses, throw in another compliment or two.

Darn my vanity! Darn it, darn it, darn it!

In only a few moments, the gentleman had finished buffering my one nail, and he urged me to compare it with my other nails. Woweeee, what a difference! It was as though I’d received a full French manicure in under 30 seconds. So shiny. So pretty. So professional-looking. So shiny…

Must have nail buffer block.

Need it.

Must have it.

Must buy from man with strange accent.

What? Two-for-one special? Buy one, get one free?

Must buy from man with strange accent right now.

Two year guarantee on buffer block?

Must buy nooooooww.

The GRATiAE products, like Kutai Raw Chocolat and Soya Body bars, are organic products. The GRATiAE Beautifying Nail Kit, which is what I purchased (and got one kit for free), contains the following:

•  A nail file
• The GRATiAE Cuticle Therapy (cuticle oil)
• A GRATiAE buffer block (with a two year guarantee)
• The GRATiAE Hand and Nail cream (apply once a day, and smells absolutely divine!)

In the 2^nd Century, a Roman Emperor by the name Hadrian discovered a hidden thermal spring in the mountainous region near the Sea of Galilee in Israel. He found that the spring’s water had rejuvenating qualities, and so he named it after a Roman goddess, Gratiae, goddess of “The Three Graces” – youth, beauty and charm. 

Now, centuries later, theses springs are still being utilized, and science has given us the tools to harness the qualities found in these waters, as well as other resources from the Sea of Galilee. This is the origin of GRATiAE – Israel. And, remarkably enough, the origin of Rave (pronounced Rah-veh), the charming salesman whose accent I mistakenly thought was French. (way off there, sorry Rave)

GRATiAE not only provides nail care products, but also organic skin care products (which, in light of my recently difficult skin, I may just try out). One can read more about GRATiAE on their website: www.gratiae.il. If you’d like to find out more about the GRATiAE stores – in Menlyn and in Sandton – you can send an enquiry to info@nunaturals.co.za.

While it is such a pity that organic products tend to be priced so much higher than other products, there is without a doubt something superior about them. I can’t help but begin to realize that nature really does know best, and to recognize that the Lord has placed so much goodness into this earth, which we are only now learning how to use… and to protect.

Here’s to Orgaaaaaah-nic, fellow inhabitants of this earth – you know how I love it!

Haunted: Breaking Dawn

As was mentioned in last week's post, we went to watch Breaking Dawn Part 1 on Sunday night. After sufficiently building up to the movie by watching the three previous movies last week, hubby and I sat in the cinema, in anticipation...

So, it's taken me four days to adequately form an opinion. Four days of chewing on the storyline, mulling over how the characters have developed. Four days to consider the way that they interpreted Bella's attitude toward her circumstances. Four days to decide that the only thing I didn't like about the movie was the corny background music in the first ten minutes of the film, which made me feel like I was watching a badly contrived episode of Seventh Heaven. Which is only fine, if you are watching a badly contrived episode of Seventh Heaven. But mostly, it's taken me four days to digest the soundtrack, which for me, is just as important as the movie, if not more so. 

I've been listening to the soundtrack since Sunday, trying to take it in. It is so drastically different from the previous 3 soundtracks, that it was somewhat of a shock to the system. This soundtrack is mellow. No, you don't get it, it is m-e-l-l-o-w. Like... Super. Duper. Mellow. 


Of course, it has the hit-track by Bruno Mars, "It Will Rain", which is just exquisite, but my current favourite is something a little more different. A little bit abstract even. Something I didn't like at first, until I heard it at a million decibels in the solitary confines of my car, at a moment when I was feeling more than a tad vulnerable. 


This track, "Cold", by Aqualung and Lucy Schwartz, is possibly the most haunting song I have heard yet. I'm still trying figure out what it is about, and probably never will, but I encourage you to put on your ear-phones and really listen to this. Turn it up, until it is resonating in your soul. Listen to it when you are alone, and can let your guard down. Close your eyes. This song gives me such shivers, that it feels as though my hair follicles are turning inside out.


If you find that you are not at first impressed, turn it up and just wait a little longer. When the track reaches 2 minutes and 30 seconds, brace yourself for a crescendo of intertwining harmonies, so gloriously breath-taking that your whole body will be overcome with chills. Ironic, for a song called "Cold".





Wow. 


And for the record, I loved the movie. Just loved it!


"No measurement of time will ever be long enough with you... So let's start with forever." ~ Edward Cullin

Midnight ponderings about beauty and war

It's almost that time of year... the time where much of the world unites to commemorate the horrendous attacks on the Twin Towers on 9/11. I know, I know, this subject has become somewhat taboo over time, but I was watching a few minutes of a National Geographic documentary on the event, and I can't help myself. I know there must be millions of 9/11 blogs out there, all lamenting this same thing: how horrific and cruel that day was to the thousands of people who lost their lives, and their loved ones. This should never be taboo.

After a few minutes of National Geographic's disturbing documentary, I decided to retire to bed. As you can tell, I can't sleep, because here I am, lamenting about 9/11, like a million other people. Maybe nothing will ever erase this day from those of us who remember it, or remove the haunting feeling of loss - loss of life, loss of innocence, loss of safety. But I know that what I really need tonight, to get to sleep, is to know that beauty still exists. To know that all over this planet, there are still beautiful things among all the many atrocities.

To know that that there is still love...

And peace...

And innocence...

Unmarred beauty...

Commitment...

Laughter...

Small blessings...

And dreams...

And of course, beautiful music. Daniel Bedingfield sings one of my all-time favourite songs, Honest Questions, which without fail brings a tear to my eye.


Yes. There is still beauty in this world. While remembering the tragedy of 9/11 ten years ago, may you rest assure that all over this wondrous world, there is still beauty!

x Sleep tight x