Finishing off with a cuppa Mint Tea

The one thing I really don't like is when the blogger I follow stops updating their blog. And now It seems I have become my worst kind of person.

Please accept my humblest apologies. My only excuse is that my life is a little boring somedays.

Today was however terribly interesting. MrT organised tickets to Rammstein. I was a touch offended by the response I got from some people along the lines of Why do you want to go to Rammstein??... I can enjoy german pyrotechnic heavy metal? In truth I love electric guitar...

And Pyrotechnic it was... I had a solidly awesome evening... Eyebrows perhaps a little burnt and ears ringing a little and my hair smells like fireworks and I may have arc-eye from the blow torch show. But solidly completely a way way way wicked awesome great night spent.

And to finish it all off I am sipping on some mint tea bought far away and snuck home past customs...
This is the stuff of memories :)

Cookie Fail

I tried to make cookies with Jelly Senties. I have make cookies with Jelly Beans successfully so I figure this would be no less problematic...

I was wrong. Senties spread like crazy when they are baked. I shall now research how to get burned jelly sugar off of my oven and baking trays.

What a tragedy, and they smelt DELICIOUS!

Boyhood

I saw this quotation and liked it. I also like this method of blogging quotations with images. So this is my first attempt. I think it turned out pretty well. (It's a bit early for a fonts and typography discussion)

H(MB)NY!

Happy (Much Belated) New Year!

Now that my big adventure of independence is sadly over, I can finally settle down into the start of the year activities - buying more stationery that I don't need, pack away Christmas presents, start preparing for Brownies for the year and ponder over some New Years resolutions.

So, to be cliched, as to New Years resolutions:

Travel: I am rather uneasy about climbing onto an aeroplane for another long distance flight. I have had enough of that for a while. Perhaps some more local exploring, The Cape maybe Namibia if my passport is lonely. MrUK has finally arrived in the country and so he'll be a good excuse to do a little wandering about the country.(as time and budget allows)

Budget: I am finally settled into the swing of living on my own and being an adult in an adult world (well most of the time). I want a new car next. One with air-conditioning and unsqueeking parts. So The Plan is to save for another 6 months and try not spend the extra money that my annual increase has allowed. If I can afford to not spend the extra, then the extra can become a car installment. (yeah I am totally going to laugh at the naivety of this idea in a few months)

New Skills: So I am become a proficient cook and baker in 2010, but I have decided this year I want to attend a course on basic photography skills. I do not think I have a particularly large amount of raw talent and every second person and their cousin (yes really both my cousins) seems to be a semi-professional photographer with an SLR in hand. I like my small pocket camera and I enjoy capturing pictures for me to look at. I want to go on a photography course purely for the pleasure of the activity itself.

Old Skills: I convinced MrT to find me some old computer games and the good man came up with Dungeon Siege and Diablo II. Imma gonna be letting the inner gamer-nerd out of the closet for a bit. (It is a little sad that I am so excited about this - I wasn't ever that much into gaming in the first place)


And so while I enjoy the last 4 days of freedom before I go back to work for the year, I wish you all my new and old blog readers a Good 2011 marked by memorable high points and forgettable disappointment.

Morocco in pictorial summary

This collection is by no means a full summary of all items of the tour, but I thought 9 pictures to show the 9 days of the trip was a nice way of representing things. (Note: since I arrived a day late on the trip, the day numbering of this entire travel blog exercise is not the same as the day numbering of the trip itself - I am not particularly bothered if this bothers you)

I picked some of my favorite snaps and the ones that bring back good memories for me. Have fun identifying pictures to stories!

Day 1 - Marrakesh, outside the market, looking at the Mosque at sunset

Day 2 - The glass doors in the Hassan II mosque in Casablanca 

Day 3 - The Roman Ruins, now inhabited by storks

Day 4 - The citrus fruit on a classic Moroccan ceramic plate after lunch and shopping in Fes

Day 5 - Leaping in the air in the Sahara - I have a silly face on but this will be a favourite photograph for a long time to come

Day 6 - Lunch at the home of the Tour Leader - simple and oh so delicious.

Day 7 - Henna tattoos with my buddy Jenn

Day 8 - A very old mud brick town on the way back to Marrakech

Day 9 - The fabulous Yves St Laurent gardens in Marrakech

Frankie's Travels - Last flight then Moroccan adventure's over.

{cue: tears and sad face} sigh holiday's over...

I am event too tired to shop in the Abu Dhabi Duty free with my left over money.

The ring I haggled for yesterday makes me a little bit less sad. it is one pretty ring :)

See you in the morning Joburg! I have a lot of showing off to do!

Frankie's Travels Day 8 - Last Day in Morocco

It is my last day in Maroc. :( I would gladly do the entire tour all over again. Not quite homesick enough yet...

Today I slept in a little then said some good-byes over breakfast. We then set off on foot to the Yves St Laurent Memorial garden which was filled withal lot of plants that I have seen in my grandmothers garden. The structures were all painted cobalt blue and the plant pots were all painted sky blue, buttercup yellow and bright orange. So fabulous and really great on the eyes.

Then we walked to the medina and went shopping!

I purchased a few last gifts and a really pretty ring for me (I bargained like a champ for it) and then we walked all the way back almost to our hotel for lunch.

After all the walking today my legs are feeling all zingy and quite tired.... At least I got the circulation going before sitting on a plane for almost 20 hours tomorrow.

The airport taxi is coming at 3am so Ill take a cat nap then dinner then repack my suitcase. I plan to stay up all night and sleep on the aeroplane. (9 hours from Casablanca to Abudhabi should do it)

Zoom zoom zoom in T minus 11 hours!