South African Scenes

A sign at the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg
Jesse next to an anti-poaching rhino in Mandela Square. Poachers get $100,000 per tusk. Heartbreaking and disgusting!

A mama monkey and her baby

Bourke's Luck Potholes (or as we call them, a giant canyon)

Jesse and I at Bourke's Luck Potholes

Two giant mangos and an entire bag of lychees for less than $3. I love traveling to countries that have summer when we have winter!

An elephant asleep on a tree at Kruger National Park

Lions at Kruger National Park

Baby warthogs at Kruger National Park

A field of giraffe at Hluhluwe Game Reserve

Cape buffalo at Hluhluwe Game Reserve

Zebras at Hluhluwe game reserve

A male giraffe at Hluhluwe game reserve

A hippo during our estuary cruise in St. Lucia

The view of Cape Town from the top of Table Mountain

A rock hyrax that lives on the top of Table Mountain

Jesse and I at the top of Table Mountain

Baboons hanging out on the side of the road (there had to be at least 100 of them!)

The District Six Museum in Cape Town. This is on the floor. It's a map of where people's homes used to be before the government tore them all down during apartheid to make room for white people's homes, though they never built anything. The District Six area remains empty to this day.

Langa, the largest township in Cape Town

The V&A Waterfront in Cape Town

The beach in Cape Town

African penguins at Boulder Beach in Simon's Town

Cape of Good Hope

Lima, Peru

Forgive my absence here. I just got back from Lima, Peru for a work trip. Here are some pictures:

The Mercado del Indio, or "Indian Market", full of handicrafts.

This woman was doing a traditional craft of carving into gourds to make decorations, necklaces, earrings, etc. They were beautiful!

Lucuma (a fruit native to Peru) juice. Mmmm.

Parque Kennedy.

Pisco sour!

A dessert made with chirimoya at La Mar.

Now it's off to Maine for Thanksgiving! Have a great holiday!

November Intentions

I'm a few days late on these because I've spent all my free time connected to my heating pad and in bed with a bad back. November is going to be very hectic for me. Keeping that in mind, my intentions are to:

-Spend quality time with my family this weekend and enjoy my godson's christening on Sunday

-Get back into an exercise routine, even if it is just walking (pending orthopedist approval today)

-Make a list of holiday gifts to get for family and friends.

-Volunteer again with The Lost Dog and Cat Foundation.

-Soak up as much as possible during my work trip to Peru from November 13-19

-Enjoy every minute with J's family in Maine during the week of Thanksgiving

-Prepare for our trip to South Africa: read the guidebooks, make a list of places to see and things to do, find veg-friendly restaurants, make a packing list, purchase travel essentials.

-Use my yearly performance evaluation as a way to have space to reflect and a chance to find ways to grow in 2012.

-Journal lots.

-Take life one day at a time.

{Image from pen3ya}

The Big Reveal: South Africa!

Remember how I told you earlier this year that I had won two round-trip tickets anywhere in the world from my employer? Well, after months and months of agonizing and countless trips to stare blankly at the travel section of Barnes and Noble to get ideas (let's be honest--pretty much everywhere in the world sounds amazing!), we have reached a decision: from December 8 to December 20, we will be in SOUTH AFRICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seeing a zebra in its natural habitat has long been on my bucket list. I am head over heels in love with their beautiful and crazy stripes. Every time I see one I am amazed that something like this exists in nature. And now I will get to see them in South Africa!

We are doing a tour with Gate 1 Travel, which includes: two nights in Johannesburg, where we will take a tour of the apartheid museum, a few days at Kruger National Park for the game drives so we can see the animals, a day spent sightseeing in Swaziland, where I am told there are some amazing handicrafts to be had, an estuary cruise in St. Lucia to see the alligators, and a domestic flight from Durban to Cape Town, where we'll spend four days seeing wineries, Robben Island, the Jewish museum, and so much more. If you like to travel, I highly recommend that you sign up to get emails about Gate 1's travel deals. They are really well priced and several people that have traveled with them loved their packages. I can also give you a referral code for $100 off your trip!

We decided on South Africa after it was suggested by many friends and co-workers who said it was their most favorite place in the world and because several people said to take a trip that you would never do once you have children. Voila! South Africa. Vetoed places included the Greek Islands (not the right time of year--but we will get here one day!), Argentina (cheap enough that we could do this on our own later and could take kids here), Peru (altitude sickness is a factor for Macchu Picchu but it also fits in the "cheap enough we could do this on our own later" category) and Thailand (sounded good in theory but we realized we weren't all that in love with the idea later on). South Africa fit all of our criteria, plus it just sounds amazing!

I am excited to spend the next few months planning, reading and gathering information!

Recipe for a Relaxing 4th of July

1 part poolside sitting after a fantastic pedicure

Plus one part giggling baby

Plus one part raspberry cosmopolitan (er, maybe two parts)

Plus one part scrumptious veggies (Jersey corn, I love you so much!)

Plus one part breathtaking sunset.

Also add in a dash of each of the following: brunch with a 39-week pregnant best friend, listening to the rain pour outside the window, acquiring a new art journal, playing blackjack with the family, finishing up a new book, a mid-afternoon nap on the couch and watching the Phillies play. There really is nothing like summertime in New Jersey. Weekends like this past one make me miss it lots.

Blog revival!

Last weekend I ran into Valerie of City Life Eats, Katie of Quick Cook Rice and Gena of Choosing Raw in the parking lot of a vegan restaurant in the DC area. Seeing them together inspired me to revive my blog! I'm going to spend some time getting you up to speed and then I promise to be much better about posting here.

The most exciting thing I did while I was gone? Jesse and I took a trip out to San Francisco and Sonoma County in California for a few days in late May. Here are some of the highlights:

"Tree Hugging Dirt Worshipper". Welcome to California. We first spent time in Santa Rosa, Sebastopol and Sonoma, visiting friends of ours from college and their adorable little boy, taking winery tours and enjoying the beautiful scenery.

A leisurely walk around Muir Woods. Those redwoods are breathtaking!

A tour and tasting at Benziger winery. This sauvignon blanc was amazing.

Sonoma is so pretty!

The Japanese tea garden in Golden Gate Park. So serene.

Like a postcard.

The very overwhelming Chinatown.

We rode one and decided once was enough. Still cool, though!

A definite dinner to remember at Millennium. So gluttonous and so worth it. Sadly, the pictures taken inside came out far too dark to see the food. I'm still thinking about the cornmeal-crusted oyster mushrooms!

Gorgeous. I love it here.

A trip to the Moma that ended with their Mondrian cake. Art you can eat!

The Castro

Murals everywhere! This is the outside of the Women's Building.

Purple house? Yes, please.

Ended our trip with quite possibly the best vegan meal I've ever had at Gracias Madre in the Mission.

Sweet potato quesadilla

Zucchini-filled enchilada "mojado style"