april showers bring clean cars

today I am very pleased and grateful that the rain has washed my car of the pollen that pervades nova with a thick yellow layer of dust. the last weekend my car got a very good thorough washing...and it was already yellow by the middle of last week. my car is shiny black not yellow! so I begrudgingly paid the $20 on saturday to wash her again in an effort to save her paint and my sanity. but pollen never sleeps and had already began its slow but steady scatter over everything. then came the rains.... and now the car is squeaky clean once again :)

I am also grateful for the rain because it means that we do not have to worry about water shortages or drought here....not that this is ever an issue in the wet mid Atlantic. but having grown up in much drier climes, and having travelled to and read of countries where water is in very short supply, I feel blessed to live in an area of water abundance. never complain when it rains, you never know who is fearfully praying for it!
plus it makes every living thing glow a bright neon green and makes the land seem to burst with life and beauty.
saturday was the most gorgeous day this year so I biked down the mount Vernon trail and almost died over the perfectness that surrounded me as I followed the banks of the Potomac. the water was shinning in the sun, green and turquoise. trees were full with young leaves. flowers popped up here and there in the wild brush or hung down from vines that climbed high limbs. I live in the most beautiful place! you could even smell the lilac from the trail. heaven.

I am also happy today that I am sore....I know what you're thinking: I'm crazy. but if I'm sore it means that my body works! it means that I am able to move, run, bike, dance, and do my kicks/push ups/sit-ups/lunges/planks. it means that new muscle is being formed and tomorrow ill be able to use that muscle (if it's not hurting still). it means the miracle of the human body continues. I love my body!(of course sometimes it plagues me with pain and illness because it is not perfect...yet! but still is amazing)

the celebrating continues today with color. how wonderful is color? could you imagine a world/life without colors? ----sometimes I see it in the clothing and decor of my fellow government workers,... haha(...i laugh but it is so true) I love that spring means the return of bright colors into all aspects of life. (even tho not everyone gets the memo :) ) my challenge to everyone: bring more color into your life! wear a yellow shirt or change your sheets to bright blue or...wear an entire outfit that has no black in it. gasp! you'll be glad you did I promise. :)

random gratitude:
thank goodness for big black security men who pray
thanks to the metro drivers for being super chipper of late and making me smile during my commute
thank all the powers that be that I have a secure job which I can reliably count on to pay me twice a month
thank goodness that the job is not super stressful on days like today when I have no energy whatsoever :)

miracles and blessings

things I am so happy about/grateful for today:

ballet flats....adorable, office appropriate and very comfy what more could you ask for?
apples...and eating the whole thing-skin and all, my mom would be so proud
daily walks on the mall during lunch
sunshine!! spring has returned to the mid Atlantic coast today after a brief hiatus during which we renewed our acquaintance with winter
the Book of Mormon...I read 8 verses of a chapter in 3 nephi and gain more insight and joy in my day than a whole website full motivational quotes. best. book. ever.
talking with mom for 1.5 hours last night
talking with sister for 2 hours the night before
ponytails that somehow turn a late morning into a cute hair day
self motivation....sometimes when I feel overwhelmed by the craziness of my life I tell myself things like: I can do hard things, or sing "He will feed those who trust Him, and guide them with His eye" ...and if those don't work I pray. a lot. but somehow I always feel less stressed and like I can take on the world again.
laughing....at myself when I do things like tweak my back again. haha

and of course I'm always very grateful to know that things work out. they always have and always will. even if I have no idea how I'm going to get everything done or pay all my bills or have the energy to last the day, I always make it. Heavenly Father gives me miracles every day. and I know it's all Him since I'm still human and imperfect. Amazing isn't it?

changing something every day

this week I have been reflecting on how much stuff I have and my own materialism. I never have thought I was very materialistic, then I went to South Africa and lived out of a suitcase for 3 weeks and wore the same clothes over and over for those 3 weeks. and you know what? I actually didn't mind it nearly as much as I thought I would. I actually liked the simplicity that it afforded. it's amazing how simple your morning gets and how quickly you can get ready when you only have like 3 outfits to choose from. similarly the people in Africa have nothing compared to us in America and yet are just as, if not maybe more, happy. take this photo for example- this girl from Zambia was asked to show her favorite toy, she said she just likes playing with her friends outside so this is the picture that came out:

isn't she adorable?! and so incredibly happy! I love it. so my goal is to be like this girl - extremely happy with anything and everything I have, and not worry about having the latest fashion or technology.

also- I have the best mom ever! she sends me chocolate, and not just chocolate, but mint with chocolate whenever possible because knows how much I LOVE mint and chocolate together. I am so grateful for my awesome mom.

quirky South Africa

the toilets spew water up to flush
parking lots have big umbrella like coverings to shield cars from the sun...I had never seen this before and asked someone why this is-the response was because the sun is so hot...I laughed a bit to myself, thinking how much hotter the sun is in Cali and Utah...they don't get much extreme weather here
people here have no concept of privacy or boundaries
they eat so proper. I feel like a barbarian sometimes when I'm eating
along with the proper eating is drinking wine all the time...I now very much dislike even the faintest smell of alcohol
they don't believe in deodorant...everyone should believe in deodorant in the summer, don't you think?

CAPE TOWN

both Friday and Monday were public holidays here in South Africa, so what did I do? I took a short plane ride down to Cape Town. And I absolutely LOVE Cape Town. I mean, it's a gorgeous, lively, diverse city on the coast with a year-round Mediterranean climate...of course I loved it. It was like a Eastern hemisphere version of LA. which meant more Muslims, more Dutch and German influence, less Asians, no Latinos, and throw in the African part of course. haha. but it did boast many palm trees, beaches, piers, open air markets, colorful houses, laid back attitude and balmy sunshine just like Cali, oh yeah...and GREAT shopping. :)

The most prominent and distinctive feature of Cape Town is Table Mountain. Capetonians, as they are called, are extremely proud of this landmark. It was on my must do list, but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. From the moment I touched down in Cape Town on Friday night there was this fierce wind thrashing everything in the city. It seriously woke me up every hour or so while I slept. It was insane and I didn't really understand what it really was. I thought that, like in LA which has similar strong winds from the ocean, it would subside in the morning and all would dawn clear and peaceful. I was so mistaken....

Table Mountain covered by the "tablecloth"

V&A Waterfront

  I stayed in this adorable B&B owned by a couple, Leah and Shane. The little 3-story home has 5 rooms and I occupied the attic room, which was small but just perfectly cozy for me. The house was built in 1909 and was painted bright coral, and all the rooms had been painted other bright colors- my little room was a perfectly pale, yet cheery yellow. It was fantastic with single-paned windows and a skylight. Leah and Shane were the best hosts and served breakfast every morning in their garden...can someone say paradise? yep.

My hair taking over my face from the wind

So anyhow, back to the wind...this extremely old, but cute, house swayed a bit in the wind I swear. I seriously thought it was going to topple everything over in the night. I thought this was a very rare and strange occurrence  a wind this crazy that lasted all through the night and was still going in the morning...nope. It happens ALL the time there. In fact, it continued through the entire day on Saturday. for 24 hours straight. No clouds, no crazy storm. Just insane wind. I cheerfully and playfully put up with it for the first few hours, finding humor in its strength. But by the end of the day, after being thrashed by its force and whipping my hair in my face all day, I was tired of it.

Castle of Good Hope

I was planning on going up Table Mountain, the have a cable car that takes you all the way to the top. But the crazy weather closed the mountain. Yes they closed the entire mountain (the whole thing is a national park) because of the wind and the large flat cloud that covered the top of the mountain due to the wind. So I adjusted my plans and instead took an open-top bus tour through the city. My first stop was the Castle of Good Hope. Really its just the first fortress built in South Africa by the Dutch, but they call it a castle and really like calling it a castle. haha. I then stopped through Green Market, which is an open air craft and artisan market. had some fun there haggling with the locals over teak wood bowls and hand dyed tablecloths. (pet peeve from this experience: I understand that people see America as a place of wealth and opportunity and I am grateful to have been born in the US, but just cuz I am American does not mean I am rich! I may make more on a daily basis than the majority of the people who live here, but it is also more expensive to live where I live. But people hear my accent and automatically assume I am made of money and take advantage of that stereotype. so I even adopted a South African accent at the market and told everyone I came from Pretoria. seriously it was better. not going to lie, I'm a bit tired of people taking advantage of me cuz I am American. the end of my rant)

Camps Bay

After collecting the rest of my South African souvenirs at the market, we traveled to Camps Bay, where I braved the fierce wind to lunch on fish and chips overlooking the beach. It was gorgeous and perfect...deceptively so as the wind whipped all around me once I ventured out in the open.
Of course no seaside city is complete without a lighthouse! I gleefully spent quite some time at the Green Point lighthouse. :) And ..... finished my day doing what else when I can't go outside in a great city? shopping on the Victoria and Alfred waterfront.

I was very relieved to wake up the next morning to a brilliant sun and crystal clear skies...but it didn't last long. A couple hours after leaving the Lodge the clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped. Oh well, I thought, it can't be completely perfect right? :)
I started the day weaving around Table Mountain to the Kirstenbosch botanical gardens. It looked like I was in a tropical jungle. The mountain actually has its own biome. bottom line: beautiful.
The route followed a valley behind the mountain where we passed by a shack township and bird sanctuary before ending at Hout Bay. The water was a pretty blue-green with white sand lining the half-circle coastline. I then returned to Sea Point and soaked in the sea breeze at the causeway. I was in heaven.

Hout Bay

And thus ended my wonderful weekend in Cape Town.