The Reminiscing Continues - England

I was in England for the 1st  half of 2008 and then between June 2009 and October 2011. I have so many fond memories of the different places that I visited and stayed and not to mention the wonderful friends that I made. I can see myself heading back for a visit pretty soon. There is so much that I miss. I must say most of my adventures were in this interesting country. There will be quite a number of posts from my stay in England so brace yourselves.
One of my favorite places in London is the Portobello Market which is a large antiques market which attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world. It is found in the Notting Hill District of London (remember the movie Notting Hill?). The place is a hive of activities and it is just not possible not to enjoy being there. Anyway here are a few pictures.

Let the music roll.

Who can resist street musicians?

 

For foodies like me, it was an unforgettable experience which got my taste buds tinging.

Antiques of all kinds everywhere.

 

 

Look its old cameras (looks like so anyway).

There was quite a crowd going, I bet its always like that. I can understand why. Makes for a good day out.

Hello there. This market is best enjoyed with friends.

A Day At the Zoo

We had a work team building exercise at the local Zoo a day after my birthday. Since my birthday was very uneventful I took it as an opportunity to celebrate. The team building was over by 13.00hrs and so had the rest of the day to tour the Zoo and what an experience it was.

My colleagues decided to do a little something for me a week after my birthday. We are just 3 in our department so it was lovely to share these bites and the cake, which I must say was delicious.

Woolies cakes are some of the best.

Anyway back to the zoo. Here are a few pictures.  There was so much to see and it was a fun day out.


Arriving at the Zoo.

The white lion was gorgeous.

They say that the rhino has one of the toughest skins together with the elephant and the hippo.

We stayed for quite a bit watching this elephant eating. It seemed he was enjoying the attention as there was actually a bit of a crowd watching.

Then there was the crocodiles. I failed to take a good picture so have this poster instead. There was one crocodile who had his mouth open for over 10 minutes without moving. My friends and I actually had a debate as to whether it was a fake or a real croc - then he snapped his mouth shut and opened it again.

Mesmerizing - he/she was a real show off.

I bet you can tell the tigers were my favorite. We stayed here the longest. There were three or was it four of them in the confinement and I captures 2 of them on camera. 

The defining moment when one of the tiger swam right to the glass panel where we were standing and started clawing. Ummm I wonder if he was salivating watching all of us - damn the glass wall.

The Twelve, Bosses and Shoes

Sometimes life can be stressful, crazy and exhausting such that laughing becomes a distant memory. I enjoying laughing and hence am always on the look out for funny things which can make me laugh and be relaxed. Here are some jokes and pictures I came across and found too funny not to share.

A modern day take on Judas's betrayal. So funny!

Oops to think that I had got away with it. 

One can never have too many shoes. That's our story and we are sticking to it. 

Wednesday Inspiration

Powerful words indeed. Because I want amazing things to happen in my life I refuse to lounge around in my comfort zone. 

The Story of My Story

In this post  I shared my love for reading, well... it doesn't end there I also have go a wild imagination which I use to write stories. So far I have written quite a number of stories which I have shared with just a few people because I have not been confident enough to share with a lot of people. When I come up with a story idea I write and write until I am all out. I get transported into the world of the story am writing and to be honest its one of the things I enjoy most about writing.

Anyway, a few months ago came across a story competition online and I decided to enter one of my stories. Last week I found out that I am one of the finalists. I am super excited. I don't know how it will all end, whether I win or not but I am so happy that someone read my story and liked it.

I hope, I hope, I hope. Let's see what happens end of month.

14 April!!!!!!

Today is my birthday! There I have said it.

Here is the thing - I used to enjoy celebrating my birthday and I actually used to look forward to it but not so much anymore. What changed? Probably its the thought of getting older and realizing that time is definitely not on my side as regards a number of things.

Any how, here are a few things that happened today which surprised me:

1. Two of my bosses who are based at our company head quarters sent me birthday messages - I was surprised they even knew the day of my birthday.
2. My good friend (e-pal) Nathalie also sent me a sweet birthday message. She is such a lovely person and again I was surprised she remembered my birthday.
3. Another colleague who I hardly speak to and works in one of our satellite offices asked me, 'It's your birthday today right'. Again I was surprised that she even knew the date of my birthday. 

So the common thread here seems to be that people actually know more about me than I think. Lesson to remember: never to think that I am invisible, people are watching and observing - either silently or in the background.

I don't know what the rest of the day holds but I am grateful for the gift of life. I might fantasize about being young and my younger days- what could have been but never was (yeah right!) but it is a blessing to have lived for so many years, not everyone got the chance. Thank you Lord. Here is to many many more years.

Loving April

April is my favorite month. One may argue that I am biased because it is the month of my birthday. True. But that is not the only reason why I love this month of the year. Here are some of the reasons why I love this month:

1. Just the name itself is beautiful (mmmmm I might just call one of my children April).
2. I love the fact that it is usually the month when we celebrate Easter - a time that means a lot to me in my faith as a Christian.
3. Usually good things happen to me in April. I can be expectant and I am rarely disappointed.
4. Quite a number of my friends have birthdays in April lets see - about 8 of them. So that means a lot of celebrating.
5. April falls in my favorite season - Autumn. I love the way the leaves start changing colour to brown-yellow and how the leaves begin to fall off trees as we approach winter. In April the weather is just right - not to hot and not too cold. It has the perfect in between weather. 

Look at the gorgeous colours. Simply breathtaking.

 I look forward to you April. You rarely disappoint me.

Sprouting Seed

I came across this Mexican proverb and I couldnt help but marvel at its meaning. It made me think about Jesus. When he died and was buried on the cross darkness thought it had truimphed and that He was dead, buried and defeated. Little did the devil know that it was just the beginning of greater things - he didn't realise that Jesus was a seed who with His resurrection was going to spout with the most amazing results. His burial breathed forth an everlasting victory, a victory which man kind is privildged to partake of. I Iove this man of Nazareth. I celebrate Him this Easter time for all that He has done for me, all He is doing and all that He will continue to do for me.Watch out devil I am just like my Lord and Saviour - you might try to bury me but I am a seed, burying me will only make me sprout and grow into better things.