New Beginnings and Adventures - Cheers to 2016

The ending of 1 year and the begnning of another is always an exciting time for me. One of the things that I like doing is taking stock of the good things which happened and plan and pray about the things which I intend to achieve in the following year. 2015 was a good year and God blessed me abundantly. So many amazing things happenned so there is much to celebrate and be thankful for. Some of the things which came to pass where things on my life's to do list:

1.  We were blessed with the cutest nephew - the 1st grandchild for my parents.
2. I was blessed with a new job. I have been praying for a specific kind of job and this year it finially came. 
3. In May a friend treated me to a pampering at a massage parlour. Yes I had never gone to a parlour for a massage and it was on my life's to do list.
4. I finially got my driver's licence in September. This was something on my life's to do list which I have been itching to tick off. 
5. Visiting America has been one of the things which has been on my life's to do list. End of October I went to Washington DC.
6. This one is a two in one happening. In December (a few weeks ago) I went to Joburg threatre and watched Sleeping Beauty. So I watched a play, Broadway like show and it also had ballet so in a way it was a ballet play (life's to do list).
7. In December I became a partner to a certain marriage focused ministry. I watch their programme and I made it a goal to become a partner so as to help save and build marriages all over the world (another thing from my life's to do list).
8. I travelled to 2 other countries I had never been to before- Ghana and Kenya.

2016 I am looking forward to you and all that you have to bring my way. 

A Picture of Love

I love this picture. It is one of my nephew (in the blue) and Junior the baby of one of my good friends (who is now a family friend). My sister had gone to visit our friend and the two babies were playing and then this happened, I am so glad she was just in time to capture the moment.

No one expresses love like children. Their love is so genuine and so pure - just like God's love. As we celebrate Christmas I cannot help but appreciate God's love for me and the whole human race. He loves us unconditionally and was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice by giving up His Son to die for our liberation. Fully knowing that we were sinners and we would sin in the future He still went ahead so that we might fall under his grace and righteousness. I love this God of mine. He is the best. Thank you Lord for loving me with all my faults and shortcomings, there is no greater love than yours.

Sleeping Beauty - A Theatre Story

I have always wanted to go and watch a Broadway like show but for one reason or another the right moment never seemed to come my way. I decided to make the right moment because I realized if I didn't make the effort it wouldn't be happening any time soon.

I chose to go last Friday (11 December)after work to Joburg Theater to watch Sleeping Beauty - this is going to be my first of many visits to the theater I must say. The show was absolutely brilliant. It was entertaining, well put together, humorous, quirky and they even told jokes about President Zuma struggling to read numbers and songs like Hello by Adele, Haven't met you yet by Michael Buble and You cant hurry love by Phil Collins were sang. Ok, time to share a few pictures:

The Fairy Tale Begins

The king Sleeping Beauty's father making a narration

Guess what? There was a minion in the play. And two nice who were brilliant and danced so well. Here they had the audience up on their feet to do what was called the Panto Nae Nae dance. Yes, I joined in the fun.

Really loved these two mice. Were one of my favorite characters.

Look at that -the two love birds before they met when he kissed her into life. At this state he was a figure of her imagination - the 'man of her dreams'. I am a sucker for romance.

Right after the prince had kissed her back to life after sleeping for 100 years

There was lots of danceing of course. This was at the wedding of the prince and princess.

More dancing and celebrating at the wedding.

This was right at the end of the show. That is the evil fairy who places a curse on the princess.

 It was a beautiful experience, enchanting and fun. I had good night out.

Lala Salama

November was a very interesting month for me because I travelled with work to Kenya 1st and then Ghana the following week. This was just after coming back from Washington DC. I might just be warming up to the idea of flying. So here are some pictures. The ones from Kenya I was still using the not so good camera but the ones from Ghana I had replaced it (yippee!!!) so they are much better. Here goes:

Kenya
The traffic is Nairobi is something else. The day we arrived we were stuck in a horrible traffic jam from the airport. I have experienced traffic jams before but this one was something else. I also had a bit of drama in Kenya as I searched for a hospital where I could get a yellow fever shot because South Africa  requires it and would not allow me to enter with out it. At one hospital I was told I had to wait for 10 people because the vaccine was dispatched as a batch, I finally was able to get a shot on my 3rd day at Aga Khan hospital.

I really loved the hospitality we got in Kenya. They have this thing of giving you hotel towels before eating. I was pleasantly surprised when we checked in on the 1st night to find someone approaching with the warm towels and a drink at reception.

Stuck in another traffic jam on day 2 as I tried to find a hospital so as to get a yellow fever shot. At one point my taxi driver almost got arrested for attempting to make an illegal turn. I would have  been left stranded in the middle of Nairobi since the taxi had been hired for me by the organization where we were doing some training and getting another one would not have been simple.

Kenyatta University is where we were doing the training for YALI Fellows.

Do you see that color? The greenness in Kenya was good for the eye especially considering that in Southern Africa we are experiencing a drought. I was reminded how beautiful it can get when the rains are good. 

Hope for tomorrow. That's the Swahili words I remember :).

Ghana
Ghana was hot and humid. As we got off the plane I was hit with a wave of hot and humid air. There were no traffic jam incidences here. To my delight our hotel was right next to the beach. On entering the hotel to check in we were greeted by cool air - thanks to the good air conditioning. Inside all was well it was only on going outside that one was met by the unbearable heat.

Guess who I met whilst in Ghana???

Bono for the band U2!!! Of course I had to get a picture with him.

It was an honour to sit in the same room with 1 current president, several former presidents and many dignitaries.

Winner of the Mo Ibrahim governance prize for 2014 -  the former president of Namibia Hifikepunye Pohamba. My goodness this man can talk - the moment he went on for 10 minutes just making acknowledgements we knew we were in trouble. One thing that touched me though was that he was quick to invite his wife on stage and thank her for the support. I think they really love each other because they kissed when she got on stage and he kept her close and they kept looking at each other. It was beautiful to watch. But my goodness his speech was really long, he had to be politely cut off in the end.

Bono wasn't the only rock start present. The Grammy award winning Angelique Kidjo was present. This woman can sing and she is so full of energy. By the 2nd song she had people out of their seats dancing.

See what I mean - people on their feet. She is a natural perfomer.

Labadi Beach Hotel is where we stayed. It was a beautiful hotel. Loved it.

Also got a chance to laze around the pool...

And go to the beach which was just behind the hotel.

Love love love the beach. This one was a sandy beach, liked the feel of sand on my feet.

Look at those palm trees.

Taking pictures of my feet after the water had washed back into the sea.

I did a bit of writing on the sand but the sea was not willing to let it stay.

This guy was very persistent in offering a ride on his horse. He kept waiting and wiating willing me to change my mind. I took his picture instead.

After a long walk along the beach in the scrotching hot sun. I finially settled down on one of the deck chair for more relaxation.

Went to this market near Kwame Nkurumah Museum to get some soveniors. It was at this market where I was stalked by a certain necklace. Funny story really. When Carla my friend and I entered the market I expressed an  interest in a certain necklace but decided not to buy it. As we went around the market the necklace kept appearing with different messengers asking me to buy it. Right till the point we left the market the necklace was still following me. That was persistance right there on the part of the seller.

Ok that was the update on my Kenya and Ghana trips - two lovely countries. I am looking forward to doing more travels next year. Let's wait and see what the future holds.

Washington DC

My trip to Washington was a whirlwind. I arrived on Monday evening and left Thursday afternoon. Tuesday, Wednesday and part of Thursday I had meetings. Actually I had to leave the last meeting in order to go to the airport. Talk about a tight schedule! I wish I had been given more time to see this amazing city - I felt as if I was robbed of that chance. To make matters worse the camera I had did not take very good pictures so I was not able to capture much. Despite all the up and downs I made the best of my time there and I am still glad I took the trip. Anyways here are some of the better pictures from the ones I managed to take. 

Stayed at the Hotel Monaco which is right next to the Spy Museum, which I hope to visit next time. 

The weather forecast and a treat from the hotel. 

Yes, I managed to rush to the White House, there was no way I was leaving without going. 

I think this is the Treasury Building which is right next to the White House.

Waiting to board the plane. Flying is a necessity which unfortunately  I cannot avoid. Hoping I will warm up to it. My return trip was a direct flight and it was a long 20 hours or so.

Jolly good show!

Jolly good show indeed! The title of this post is a quote from Pops one of the characters from my idée fixe of the moment - the Regular Show. I am crazy about this cartoon and I always have a good laugh when watching it. My favorite characters got to be Rigby and Benson. Rigby is mental and Benson - you should see Benson when he is upset.  Remember some of my favorite cartoons I have shared before? Courage the Cowardly Dog and Phineas and Ferb make part of the list and now this show has made it into the list
I wonder if I will ever outgrow cartoons.