The Home Stretch

It’s hard to belive that there are only 3.5 more days until Michael arrives here in South Africa. I’m not sure I’ve anticipated anything more than I do that moment when I see him again. The time has gone quickly and slowly at the same time. You know what I mean – on the one hand I feel like it has gone by in the blink of an eye, but on the other I feel in a way like I’ve always been here.

I’m not gonna lie, last week was tough and I’ve felt myself slipping into some serious negativity. Between food poisioning, sheer boredom at the office, being treated like a servant at the holiday party (that story may need to be told in person), and getting stranded in some random part of Pretoria after visiting a horrible bridal boutique – part of me just wanted to give up on this place and hide in my hotel until next Thursday.

But slowly, and inevitably, I’ve pulled myself back up. As my body recovered from its illness I’ve been able to get back to the gym, which is a blessing because it’s the one constant in my day that I look forward to. I was a bit disappointed by my regression in the running department after being ill. Two weeks ago I had that incredible 6-mile run outside, and yesterday I huffed and puffed through a 60-minute treadmill run, barely at a 10-min mile and only a 0.5 incline. Luckily I didn’t miss a beat with the weights. Although I’m probably imagining it, I swear I see results already from the strength training. This could however be results of having a tan, which I’ve been working on at the pool every weekend. I just hope I can keep up the training when I get back home. The only way I can conceive of doing that is to continue with the early morning workouts. This is a bit of a long shot back in Atlanta, especially in winter – and without a partner. If anyone out there is interested in 6 a.m. workouts 3 days per week, please get in touch!

I’ve also been able to make up for a less-than positive office experience with my out-of-office activities. On Friday, as I mentioned, Marie-Luise and I went on an adventure in wedding dress shopping, venturing out to the Siberia of Pretoria so I could try on one dress that I saw on a Web site. Let’s just say the dress didn’t look as flattering in person – if only we could have taken pictures inside, you would have died laughing at the sight of some of these dresses. After finally getting a taxi that would come pick us up in Siberia and take us back to our part of town, we relaxed at our favorite smoothie restaurant (I will truly and deeply miss the Mango Citrus smoothie, I’ve had it at least 3 times in the past 4 days alone.). Later that evening I headed over to Kathy’s for a girls night – pizza and a chick flick. I love being at Kathy’s house, it’s very warm and inviting, especially compared to the vast empty whiteness of my guesthouse.

On Saturday I woke up way too sore to consider a workout thanks to Kathy’s killer lower body workout on Friday morning. I settled for a few hours at the pool and the best pedicure I’ve ever had. Then met up with Patrick and Marie-Luise for a movie (2012, not a big fan) and late dinner. On Sunday I forced myself to the gym despite the fact that my legs still felt too tight to walk. The treadmill was an effort but it did loosen up the muscles a bit. More of the pool, then tagged along with Patrick and Marie-Luise on a little drive out to the nearby Hartbeesport Dam, which I hoped to have photos of for this post but will have to put them up later. It was  amazing to get out of the city and see some of the scenery that makes this country the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. I hadn’t realized how much I had been craving open spaces until I saw the mountain range, plains, and beautiful lake. We had to cut the visit short to go pick up Patrick’s colleagues at the airport in Johannesburg. Of course their flight was delayed, so by the time we got them, had dinner, and got back to Pretoria, it was 11 p.m. – and my alarm was ringing for the gym at 4:45 a.m. Of course I couldn’t sleep either, who knows what time I finally did. But the workout (upper body since my legs still hurt so bad) was wonderful and my energy should maintain until at least lunchtime.

In the meantime I’ve got to find a way to make it through these last 3.5 days of work until Michael arrives and we head to Cape Town on Friday. Again, I’m not worried about the after-work part of the next few days. I already have plans to help Kathy with her Christmas tree tonight (I know right, I figured I might as well do something Christmasey) and I will force myself to go out and run after work this week if it kills me! I’ve also been reading some fantastic books so that keeps me very occupied in the evenings. I just finished Zorro by Isabel Allende, highly recommend it for a fun read. And now am in the midst of Beloved by Toni Morrison – this book takes a while to get into but man, once you do, you know you are reading a Nobel Prize winning piece of literature. It is spellbinding.

So, wish me luck in surviving the home stretch of my solitary adventure!

A New Thanksgiving Tradition

Breakfast bliss at Mangwanani.

I’ve been very tardy in relaying the events of my and Marie-Luise’s new Thanksgiving tradition: Spa Day.

Here’s how it began: my good friend at work sent me a few spa packages that featured unbelievable prices for select days of the week. I had never before done a spa day, in fact had never done anything more than an hour massage, once, because I’m just not the type of person to splurge on spa days. But, this spa day, as I said, was unbeatable, and I had the advantage of having the day off on Thanksgiving when the rest of South Africa had a normal workday. So, I, my coworker Beth, and Marie-Luise signed up for a full day package that cost about $140 each, including tip. The ladies out there will faint to read what we got for that money.

We arrived at the general pick-up location, a nearby mall, at 8 a.m. that morning, along with several other women. The first thing the Mangwanani (name of the spa) staff did when the shuttle bus pulled up was pop open a few bottles of champagne and proceed to mix us mimosas for the 20-minute drive. It was then that I knew it was going to be a good day.

Upon arriving at Mangwanani, we were escorted to the changing room where we changed into our bathing suits and loose, light white cotton robes and slippers. This was to be our only attire all day. We then made our way to the restaurant for breakfast, which consisted of coffee/tea, scones, and yogurt with fruit and muesli. Oh, and of course, more mimosas. The restaurant and attached large deck looked out on a beautiful landscape of green plains with a lake, small pool, and comfortable lounge chairs. There were probably about 100 people, mostly women, at the spa that day.

During breakfast, the hostess assigned to us introduced herself and our upcoming day. We were to undergo a total of eight different treatments with short breaks in between (to get more mimosas) as well as lunch, snacks, etc. Each treatment had its own little designated area at the outdoor spa. Picture large, open-air rooms with thatched roofs and comfortable chairs or beds, each looking out on some type of beautiful landscape, whether it was open plain or a little deeper down the spa’s bath into a small forest.

• Our first treatment was a shoulder and scalp massage. This to me was the best of all eight treatments, but perhaps that’s because it was the first. They used some sort of palm oil for our scalps, so we walked around for the rest of the day with shiny, oily hair (which was just A OK with us!)

A toast before the shoulder and scalp massage.

• The second treatment was an African facial, which consisted of your basic toner, exfoliator, masque, etc., along with a luxurious and lulling face and chest massage.
• Next for us came the full body exfoliation. That’s right, full body. We chose between three different types of scrub- all three of us chose the salt scrub because it helps dry skin and open pores. We were led into a small room and told to lay on our stomachs, where our entire bodies (or most of them) on both sides were scrubbed with the salt. There was a shower in the room where we rinsed off after. My skin has literally never felt so smooth!
• (Did I mention that the mimosas kept flowing? But by this time I had switched from OJ and champagne to mango juice and champagne – when in Rome, right?)

Happy, happy day

• Thank goodness by now it was lunchtime as we were famished from all the pampering. The lunch was simple and delightful – bright green salad, delicious chicken, and sumptous desserts. The Mangwanani staff danced and sang to us while we ate, including to the three of us specifically as a welcome to South Africa.
• After lunch was our jacuzzi time. By this point our hostess had realized that it would be most efficient if she simply brought us an entire bottle of champagne along with our mango juice…needless to say, life was good.

I wish I had gotten a shot of the full champagne bottle...

Could it get any better??? Yes, yes it could…

• …Hand and arm massages were next….
• …Then the full body massage with hot stones…

Pre-full body massage...ahhh

• Now we FINALLY had some downtime before snack time to doze off on the comfy lounge chairs by the pool. When they called us for the snack (thank goodness!), I simply wasn’t sure if I could move! The snack consisted of yummy cheeses and crackers and chicken fingers.
• Our final treatment was the foot and leg massage, which also competed for the top of my list.

At the finale of all this goodness, we changed back into our clothes and closed out the day with a small bar of gourmet chocolate and a shot of Amarula. For those of you who haven’t heard from me about Amarula, it’s a South African liquor that tastes a bit like Bailey’s, only better.

The three of us sobbed as we walked back to the shuttle bus, begging the staff to let us stay forever. But it was not to be. The shuttle took us back to the mall and to reality. When I got home I literally walked in the door, washed my hair (only my hair because I didn’t want to lose the luxurious way my skin felt), and got in the bed. It was 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 26, 2009. A new Thanksgiving tradition had been born…

A Bump in the Road…

Well, it couldn’t all go perfectly smooth right? But I was hoping…

I may have mentioned in the past few posts that I’ve been feeling quite fatigued. As opposed to my recent prowess in the gym and on the pavement, this weekend I was sluggish, barely able to complete a 30-minute run outside. I thought it was my heavy dinner on Friday night, but perhaps it was something more.

I spent a lovely day with Patrick and Marie-Luise on Sunday, starting with breakfast at their 5-star hotel followed by a leisurely drive into and through Johannesburg and walk around one of the city’s nicest areas, Sandton. We ended the day with a nice sushi meal (ugh, can’t even write that word without feeling queasy now) and then headed home. Within an hour of being dropped off at my house, I became violently ill. I’ll spare you the detail, but essentially it lasted for 12 hours, during which I didn’t sleep and could barely function. The next morning left me dehydrated, weak, and with body aches and headache like I’ve rarely experienced. It took extreme effort to move from one room to the next, or to make my way downstairs for water or the bowl of oatmeal that took me 12 hours to eat. The fever, though, had broken, and the “violently ill” piece had stopped, so I just stayed home from work and tried to rest. I thought it was likely food poisoning, but still not quite sure.

Now, 36 hours later, I’m still not myself. I can’t eat much more than a few bites of bland substance at a time, but I have managed to rehydrate and have some of my energy back. I came into the office late this morning, more from a need to get out of my house than anything else. I had 2 site visits planned for yesterday and today which sadly I didn’t make. So the things that have made the time pass quickly for me – these site visits, the gym and being out and about – have suddenly disappeared. And in their place the homesickness and loneliness have tiptoed in.

I will see Michael in ten days. That’s not long at all, especially considering that I’ve already made it 30. But this last bit of time is stretching out long and bleak, at least from my frame of mind right now. I can only hope that I’ll bounce back from this sickness/weakness as quickly as possible. The key is going to be food, but therein lies the challenge.

I’ve also been feeling frustrated that I can’t get started on wedding planning. Marie-Luise and I went dress shopping on Friday and it was so fun. I found a general style that I think I want to go with. But wouldn’t consider buying here in South Africa, the markup was ridiculous – the dress I liked the most was a U.S. brand, and from what I can discern online it would cost about $600+ more if I bought it here – not counting shipping! Between that and not being able to choose a place and date, I’m going crazy with inactivity in terms of the wedding. Part of me just feels like choosing the location without seeing it. All the things I have to do in January are starting to build up in my mind and stress me out as I sit here in South Africa, not really doing much good for myself or anybody else for that matter!

Let’s hope that my positivism comes back soon…perhaps I should try to eat some soup now, I’m even scaring myself. I promise to write a happier post tomorrow…

Nadine Goes for Under 2 in 2010!

It’s been a while since I’ve written – sorry about that, I think I’ve hit a wall fatigue-wise here in the last few days, can’t seem to keep my eyes open…BUT, I do have updates on Spa Day Thanksgiving and dress shopping, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, I just wrote a post for the Girls on the Run blog about my training goal for the ING Georgia 2010 Half-Marathon. I’ve copied it below. As most of you know, I’ve signed up to train for this race while raising money for GOTR Atlanta. The great thing about this fundraising effort is that I don’t have to raise an insane amount of money. If I get every close friend to donate between $5-10, I will easily make my goal of $500. And, if you do decide to give $20 instead, I’ll guarantee you a finish time of under 2 hours. Check out my fundraising page and please consider a small donation to a world-class organization that has changed the lives of many young girls.

From the “Why We Run” blog:

It’s about time for me to begin thinking about my training schedule. For the third year in a row I’ve signed up to run the ING Georgia Half-Marathon in March. This year, however, I’m doing things a little differently:

1. I’m running the half as a GOTR SoleMate to raise money for Girls on the Run of Atlanta.
2. I’ve set an actual goal: to complete the half in under 2 hours (even if it’s one second under 2).

It’s not that I didn’t have goals during the other half-marathons. It’s just that those goals were all the same: completion. I ended up completing them both with great times for me: 2:04 the first year and 2:02 last year. So you see where I’m going with my desire to get under 2 in 2010…

The problem is, as we all know, it’s not as easy as it sounds. I don’t  know exactly how I shaved 2 minutes off my time last year. I think it was a combination of factors. While I didn’t train as hard as I did the first year, I had a much higher fitness baseline at the beginning of last year’s training season. In addition, I did my long runs on early and freezing Saturday mornings with West Stride’s Strider Support Group. For those of you who don’t know about West Stride’s routes, those hills make downtown Atlanta look like the flat plains of Middle America…

This year I’m planning to have all of these advantages plus some. My fitness baseline is even stronger than it was last year – at this point I can very easily run 6 miles at any given time, which is not a bad distance to start with given the race is still about 5 months away. And, my plan is to continue those Saturday long and hilly runs with West Stride. On top of these things, I’ve recently become a convert to the idea of interval training. Since being in South Africa, I’ve done a lot of strength training interspersed with short and intense bouts of cardio. I wasn’t convinced that this could be effective until I went out for an outside jog last weekend and easily completed a 10K despite that I was running at a much higher altitude than I’m used to and hadn’t run 6 miles for almost 2 months. I really want to continue this type of training when I return to the U.S. – it’s stimulating to me, and I’m seeing serious results after less than a month on this type of program.

On top of this, I found an article today on Active.com that provides some excellent tips on pushing past those last brutal miles of a race. For me, this is the key. I seem to go really strong for the first 10 miles of a half-marathon, then peter out right around Juniper St. (in the case of the ING Atlanta at least). As it turns out, I may just not be pacing myself enough early in the run. Check out the article, it’s short and simple but I imagine if you take the time to plot out a strategy and set a pace it could be very effective.

You may be saying, – “well Nadine, it sounds like you’ve got under 2 hours in the bag based on all of these progressive strategies.” Not quite my friends. I’ve got a few barriers to this kind of training, this year in particular. First, I’ll be planning a wedding during this time frame. Second, I’ll be starting a new job that could very well be the most time intensive that I’ve ever had. And three, tennis, not running, is actually my priority sport. Having spent 2 months in South Africa for work during November and December, I have a lot of catching up to do in the tennis department – I imagine the majority of my spare time will be spent working on my tennis game. So, how am I possibly going to fit in tennis, wedding planning, working, strength and interval training, and a weekly long run, into my days? (while also trying to sleep, hang out with friends, and maintain a relationship with my soon-to-be-husband?)

Frankly, I don’t know the answer. Only time will tell. I welcome any thoughts, comments, or suggestions you have on how to achieve the ultimate balance between achieving a major training goal and the rest of daily life…

Thankful

Tom Petty is the wisest man alive. I could find Petty lyrics for any and every scenario in life.

Well, even though it’s 80+ degrees and I’m going on a spa day tomorrow, I suppose it is still Thanksgiving. It’s also a good exercise to periodically take a step back from life and reflect on what we’re grateful for. So here’s my list, in a nutshell:

• (Duh) Michael. He is essentially perfect and I’m quite undeserving, so this is probably my greatest thanks to give this year and every year. Speaking of, T-2 weeks and 1 day until his arrival…as Tom Petty says, “the waiting is the hardest part, every day you get one more yard, you take it on faith, you take it to the heart, the waiting is the hardest part.”
• My family – old and new.
• My friends. About 3 years ago this time I was in South Africa for the first time, and I lost several friends who I thought would be lifelong. I didn’t really lose them, rather I think they never really were true friends to begin with. This time around I think I may have gotten it right. My old and new friends keep in great touch, from helping to plan my wedding, to Skyping, to drunk Skype chatting (you know who you are, and perhaps I will thank you later! , to reading and commenting on my blog, etc. Not to mention the new friends I’ve met here in South Africa, one in particular who I imagine I’ll always know. She has invited me into her life and routine, stretched me beyond my previous limits, and just simply been there to talk to when no one else in my life could possibly understand. I am truly blessed and hope I am deserving of such friends.
• The opportunity I am currently experiencing, to spend several months working in a foreign country and getting paid for it. While I have been quite depressed lately about the slowness of the job pace, I am thankful that I’ve had the chance to experience a CDC field office and to learn as much as I have. I really think it will help in my career moving forward, at least I hope so although I suppose it depends on where my career will go.
• You knew it couldn’t get too far down on the list – South African wine – always cheap, never bitter.
• The fact that I don’t have to worry like everyone else about eating too much turkey and fixins this year at Thanksgiving. That’s 1-2 pounds of weight gain SAVED!
• That somehow I’ve managed to get up before dawn pretty much every weekday since I’ve been in South Africa to go to the g ym. It’s shown me a side of myself and the world that I never knew existed – could it be that I’m becoming a morning person? I doubt it  – we’ll see if it continues when I get home.
• Summertime in November!

This is just the tip of the iceberg, but I’m so tired and spa day starts early tomorrow. Oh yeah, that’s one more thing I’m thankful for – Spa Day tomorrow!!

A Non-African Weekend

I haven’t written all weekend. Very unlike me. There are a combination of reasons for this: a) I’ve been quite busy all weekend b) I’ve had a spell of “computer screen fatigue”, and c) the uncharacteristic cold and rain here in Pretoria had gotten me down…really down. Part of it this was also caused by the slowdown at work late last week. Despite that this is Africa, it’s still Thanksgiving and people are gearing up to gear down for the holidays. My boss is actually out all week next week, so it will be very slow. For many this seems like a good thing, but not for me. The last thing I like to be is bored at work. I have a few small and random assignments, but knowing me it will take as long to complete those as it would to complete ten complex and challenging assignments…

This weekend I had the unique chance to get to know my future sister-in-law. We literally spent almost the entire weekend together. Of course we’ve met before, including the 2 weeks that Michael and I spent with  her and Patrick in Cote d’Ivoire a few Christmases ago. But this was the first chance we’ve had to hang out just the two of us. This and the (finally!) improvement in the weather conditions really perked me up. Friday was slow and cold, just a going-away party for a colleague after work, and literally in the bed by 7 p.m. just trying to stay warm (that’s how depressing life was as recently as Friday).

But Saturday was a lot better, got up early to go on the Cullinan Diamond Tour organized by the Embassy, along with Marie-Luise and my coworker and neighbor Beth, as well as 20 fellow USG workers. The tour was pretty interesting, I didn’t realize that the mine we visited produced the largest diamond ever found, part of which now resides in England’s Crown Jewels. The tour culminated in a visit to the mine’s jewelry shop…and wow did they have some nice, and completely unattainable, jewelry there! We’re talking 0.3 karats for $5,000, etc. You get the picture.

After the tour we headed to South Africa’s favorite hot spot – the mall. For coffee, smoothies, and a dull romantic non-comedy starring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. Did I mention that I essentially couldn’t walk at all due to the torture that my friend Kathy the personal trainer put me through in the gym on Friday morning. As I bent for every torturous deadlift I chanted “wedding dress, wedding dress,” and that’s what got me through. So needless to say, Saturday was a rest day in terms of exercise.

Sunday however, I realized the huge benefits of heavy, steady strength training. I’ve literally run not more than a 5K on the treadmill since I arrived. Yet this morning ran for an hour straight outside with barely a struggle. It was amazing and I’m completely jazzed for tomorrow’s 5 a.m. alarm and another bout of early-morning strength training. After the workout Kathy took me to the Super Spar, which was essentially Mecca to me after the meager pickins at the local Pick N Pay. They even had mangos!!!! Then Marie-Luise came over and we did the town – uh, you guessed it, the mall. And a little sunning by the pool – yes, in late November. And finally, headed over to Kathy and Charlie’s for some home-cooked food and good (as always wine).

So as you can see, nothing too exciting in the great scheme of things but quite active for me these days. I’m afraid this was kind of a boring post but I’ll try to be more exciting this coming week. The most exciting thing for me is that the true countdown to Michael’s arrival begins this week! T-2.5 weeks!

Brief Reflection and my “Non-Holiday Season”

I just read a quote that really captures my feelings about God, as well as (sort of) explains my love for Africa. From Barbara Kingsolver’s “The Poisonwood Bible:”

“When I want to take God at his word exactly, I take a peep out the window at His Creation. Because that, darling, He makes fresh for us every day, without a lot of dubious middle managers.”

On another note, my Thanksgiving 2009 is going to be quite unique. So far, here’s what’s on the docket:

• Gym at 5:10 a.m. (Just because I have the day off doesn’t mean I want to miss my friend  Kathy’s amazing body conditioning class. Besides, it’s not a South African holiday, so when in Rome…)
• Appointments with Marie-Luise (future sister-in-law, yay for me finally having siblings!) at a few bridal boutiques in Pretoria
• Half-day spa treatment! (I know what you’re thinking, Nadine, your per diem…but seriously, this place is so inexepensive and frankly I deserve a treat for being so far away from home on a holiday!)

If you think my Thanksgiving Day looks odd, check out the tentative plans for Christmas Day: rafting down the Zambezi River (i.e. Victoria Falls!) Those of you who know me best are thinking that this holiday season is turning out just like I always dream about. I’m practically getting to skip them completely! This is just another piece of evidence that my Year 27 is the best year ever!!

Getting a Little More Excited about the Wedding…

Dear friends and family, I’m pleased to report that there is hope for me yet: I am getting slightly more excited about planning the wedding. I know it’s easy to say that as I sit one hemisphere away, basking in the glory of a quiet evening that’s too rainy to make me guilty about doing nothing, sipping on Pinotage and eating takout sushi. Far far away from the stresses of planning. Not to mention that the one recent and stressful planning extravaganza – my and Michael’s trip to Cape Town and Stellenbosch – is now checked off the to-do list!

BUT.

I think we may may may have found THE place. I can’t say with 100% certainty for two reasons. The first is that I’m not there to see it with my own eyes. The second is it’s not even done being built yet so even Michael can’t see the actual building (although he’s seen the grounds and likes them) right now.  BUT, I have photos of what it will look like when it’s completed at the end of the year – and it looks utterly perfect. Nevertheless, it’s looking like it will be January before I’ll know for sure and get a date nailed down, etc.

Regardless, it’s made me more excited. First of all, I can’t do anything about my situation right now. I’m in South Africa and that’s where I’m going to be until the end of the year, period end of story. So no sense in moaning about it. What do you think readers – do I dare book a location that I haven’t seen with my own eyes but about which I have a strong instinct???????????? Please send comments.

In the meantime it’s gotten me thinking about dresses and flowers and music and all that crazy stuff I never thought I’d care about. It almost makes me laugh – no offense to all my beautiful brides, but whenever I went dress shopping with them I thought – so many of these look the same! But in searching today online I see the unique beauty of so many pretty dresses and I want them all!!! Luckily I know my strengths and weaknesses so have already picked out the most flattering style for me. I may even be doing a little dress shopping this weekend in Pretoria with my future sister-in-law Marie-Luise!

The back of my mind still freaks out about the costs – why in heaven would I spend so much money on this one day?? But dangit, if I’m doing it I want to do it right!

Please send comments on your best practices for having a killer wedding at a bargain price. I’ve got 2 amazing friends working the bargain angles for me, but more insight is always needed and appreciated. I’m willing to think outside the box; all the traditions are not for me. For example, do I really need a wedding cake when I could have…a chocolate fountain? Do I really need save the dates when I could have a harpist instead? It’s all about priorities folks, and I’d love to hear how you balanced your’s out!

A New Take on Baking

So as most of you know, I’m not really into cooking – much less baking. Here in South Africa so far I really have not cooked much at all, save for a few pieces of chicken cooked on the stovetop until they’re pretty much charred because a) I have no cooking oil and b) I’m paranoid of salmonella. As I’ve mentioned in my previous posts, I’ve pretty much subsisted off of cereal for breakfast and boxed soup for lunch – and invested my dollars and calories into gourmet dinners.

This week I decided that I needed to make a slight change. The one problem with eating so little during the day is that I don’t have much energy after work for a run, or really anything at all other than eating (not necessarily a bad thing). So I filled my grocery list with carbs this week, deciding that I should have a little more substance for breakfast and lunch. One of things I decided that I wanted was bagels – for bagels with cream cheese and my favorite, egg and cheese bagel sandwiches. During my Sunday morning grocery shop at the local Pick N Pay, I first picked up eggs, sliced cheese, and cream cheese (Philadelphia, what a treat!). By the time I got to the breads aisle, I was committed. Which is why I was so dismayed to find that the only bagels they sold there were uncooked pieces of dough shaped like super thin bagels.

Hmm. What to do? I thought – “I can bake!” Why not? I’ll get them – after all, it would have taken too much effort to return the rest of the associated items to their respective spots (and if Michael has taught me anything it has been that I must return items to their proper places in a store!). So I took the plunge and purchased the bagels (way overpriced by the way, as are all non-African delicacies).

I got home from work this evening with nothing to do thank God – been so busy lately it was nice to think about relaxing. What a perfect night to experiment with baking my bagels!

The first problem: no baking sheet. Easy solution – my coworker and neighbor Beth has a much nicer guesthouse than I do, so I called her and sure enough she had a sheet for me to borrow.

Second problem: preheating the oven. Instead of your simple “Bake” or “Broil” instructions, the oven dial has about 5 different settings, all with various nondescript illustrations on them. Solution: guesswork and careful monitoring.

Third problem: the instructions called for brushing the bagel dough with beaten eggs. While I had the eggs,  I did not have a brush, and with six bagels to coat, it would have taken a lot of egg to simply bour the beaten egg onto the bagels. The solution I came up with is one of my most genius innovations to date. I went upstairs, dug through my makeup bag for a brush, washed it out with soap, and proceeded to brush my bagels with an eyebrow brush! I’m not too modest to say it worked like a charm! Ten minutes later I had golden brown (okay, not quite golden, more like glistening pale) bagels ready to eat! Scrambled up an egg, placed a slice of delicious gouda on top, and voila! Nadine Ray at your service!

I’d like to acknowledge Lindsi for teaching me everything I know about cooking – hopefully I have been able to impart a small bit of wisdom to you for future use when you get in a pickle with raw bagels. And of course, Michael for teaching me to stay calm and think through a problem before getting stressed out.

After writing this I realized it might have added a little punch if I had photographed the bagel sandwich. Too late, oh well…

Engagement Photos!

I mentioned in an earlier post that Michael was supposed to have sent me a few photos from our engagement day in D.C. Since he didn’t send them when I asked, I took the liberty of posting in their place a nice embarrassing photo of me and Michael in a mudbath in Costa Rica. Lo and behold, he has since sent me the engagement photos! I’m posting them here, but note that I am also not removing the mudbath photo…

…Please note the beautiful ring. It’s funny, I was so sad to have to leave the ring at home and the simple silver band I have in its place just didn’t seem good enough. Yet today I misplaced the silver band when I took it off at the pool, and I was frantic to find it, just as if it had been the diamond. I guess there’s a lot to be said for sentimental value.

On another quick note, my weekend was fantastic. Lots of exercise, pool time, saw a movie, ate good food with friends, and……..PLAYED TENNIS!! I met someone at the gym who plays tennis and we got together today. I was a little rusty but picked it back up again pretty quickly. More than anything, I finally felt fully like myself again. Didn’t realize how much a part of me tennis really is until I had to go without it for so long. I look forward to playing more while I’m here, my new friend is hooking me up with a whole group of people who play. Yay!