tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22011649601858501232024-03-13T08:30:35.122+02:00Practical CookieNot just a female engineer...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.comBlogger195125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-45907105404119649282016-04-13T22:40:00.000+02:002016-04-13T22:40:27.625+02:00Goodbye Blogger<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A few days ago I mentioned that there were some changes coming up and I'm really very excited to be able to share with you that one of these changes is ready.</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You will have noticed that I haven't been posting quite as much on Practical Cookie recently. It's taken a while but finally I can share the reason with you! I'm very excited to announce that the reason for this was because I've been working on a new web site! Many of you will know that I love to take online courses and after taking an online course on Web Development, I decided to put what I had learnt into practice and actually build a web site. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While deciding on a website name, I thought of a name that I absolutely fell in love with as it pretty much sums me up. This means that the new blog and website will have a new name. However, the essence of my stories and blog posts won't change - I'll still share a bit about my general life, share my pictures and share what it's like navigating the world as a female engineer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's been a fantastic time blogging and learning about the blogging world with Practical Cookie. After 2 years and 9 months of blogging here, it's been a wonderful journey and I hope you've enjoyed reading my posts as much as I enjoyed putting them together! I will be leaving all of my posts as they are here,for now, so you'll still be able to see the old posts. For the new posts, however, you'll need to look somewhere different.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is most likely my last post on Practical Cookie, but I really hope that you'll follow me across to my new website <a href="http://breaking-the-mould.co.za/">Breaking the Mould</a>! It's been a long time in the pipeline, but now it's time to take the plunge, spread my wings and try something different, so enjoy!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For updates, you can also follow me on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/breakingthemouldZA/">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/btm_za">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/breaking_the_mould/">Instagram</a>!</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-55820109131264246962016-04-10T15:16:00.003+02:002016-04-10T15:17:33.744+02:00Change is in the Air<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Hello strangers! Blogging has certainly taken a back seat this year, but that's not to say that life hasn't been interesting. In fact, these first few months of 2016 have been incredibly busy and exciting. As I mentioned in my last post, change is very definitely in the air and I'm really looking forward to sharing these changes with you - they're almost ready so watch this space! You'll soon understand where all my blogging time has been going recently!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In the mean time, it seems like the only time I get to blog these days is when I'm in another country! I've just finished off a work trip in Singapore and I must say, it's great to be home! I don't think I've had a chilled weekend at home since we got back from holidays in January - it seems like every weekend we've had exciting, fun things to do (work travel, weddings, the Grape Escape, road trips and showing foreigners around Cape Town). It's all been a lot of fun but after almost 3 months of non-stop busyness, the introvert in me is crying out for a few days where I don't have to see anyone (bar those closest to me), make polite conversation or plan anything. Once I've done that I'm sure I'll start to feel slightly more normal again!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">With all this travelling I've been doing, I thought I'd share a few of my favourite things about travelling:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Sunrise or sunset from the air.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The "stars" in the Emirates overnight flights.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Being exposed to new people and new cultures.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And getting exposed to new ways of looking at the world and seeing how people from other countries solve problems differently.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Getting to see (and photograph) fun new things.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Here is a sneak peak of some of the pictures from my Singapore trip - keep an eye out for the full range of them coming soon.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_8ApXlNdRZEicOMAm-oS_2yI03V915yhCrx-sor1ZDZcs2FukhM_yAldQ5Q2KFjtAz88vPQQg4YaNgsFyf3b42txpE9yMWB5GquqwFwNpNiwP99DK8SypxvMzwBVYyOK5ecU-dhZJGWom/s1600/Singapore1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Sunset from the airplane" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_8ApXlNdRZEicOMAm-oS_2yI03V915yhCrx-sor1ZDZcs2FukhM_yAldQ5Q2KFjtAz88vPQQg4YaNgsFyf3b42txpE9yMWB5GquqwFwNpNiwP99DK8SypxvMzwBVYyOK5ecU-dhZJGWom/s640/Singapore1.JPG" title="Practical Cookie" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sunset from the air.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT9oSWT_H-YG254ogmEf1wRS1UkmPsHp_50VX1A0tMmDigGFG9MfHdHZSFvNJr1OOPi7Sq-M-6W-ZQKhMzhTeVZW_udhOTBY1fsBz5PmHGopI4yqe2hD4GPmnza-R1RpaodaGo5PeBFUyd/s1600/Singapore2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Marina Bay Sands Hotel at night" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT9oSWT_H-YG254ogmEf1wRS1UkmPsHp_50VX1A0tMmDigGFG9MfHdHZSFvNJr1OOPi7Sq-M-6W-ZQKhMzhTeVZW_udhOTBY1fsBz5PmHGopI4yqe2hD4GPmnza-R1RpaodaGo5PeBFUyd/s640/Singapore2.JPG" title="Practical Cookie" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Singapore trip - Marina Bay Sands Hotel.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij47UjfrJoP3T_cI-czVYT0dsKEK4siZZswl-bAfruzowRlq39fYgwlCZswwBnravtbmKTXECLroo4tjPMzNdUgVyqYl64lGybqTCdfbC7wmOqsf6CPU6oz0bBoUN-Io0jk3j_O1ZhAPOR/s1600/Singapore3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Bridge lit up at night with rainbow lights" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij47UjfrJoP3T_cI-czVYT0dsKEK4siZZswl-bAfruzowRlq39fYgwlCZswwBnravtbmKTXECLroo4tjPMzNdUgVyqYl64lGybqTCdfbC7wmOqsf6CPU6oz0bBoUN-Io0jk3j_O1ZhAPOR/s640/Singapore3.jpg" title="Practical Cookie" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Singapore trip - Bright bridges at night.</span></td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-22317565098288055742016-03-04T22:48:00.001+02:002016-03-04T22:48:49.569+02:00Happy (Belated) Leap Day!<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I started writing this post on Feb 29th but as you can see, I didn't get around to finishing it. However, I thought I'd finish it off and share it anyway, as it's been a while since my last post!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">February 29th - not a date that you bump into in the course of a regular year. However, this year is special, so happy (belated) Leap Day everyone - and happy birthday to all you February 29th babies!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This year is gearing up to be a fun year with lots of celebrations, planning and new beginnings and as such, I think it's extra appropriate that 2016 is a Leap Year. It's the type of year that comes around once in a while. The type of year where you look at the special times the lie in wait for you - time with family and time with friends, planning and celebrating and enjoying life together and you wish you could set your life on pause, just for a few moments, to savour everything that has happened and look forward to things that have yet to pass.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Earlier in February we went to the wedding of our friend's Chez and Heiko. It was such a privilege to be there with them and celebrate with them as they start out life together as newly-weds. It was such a special, joy filled weekend and made even more amazing by the fact that even though this particular bunch of friends is scattered around South Africa, we were all able to be there to celebrate together. We spent the weekend at a place called <a href="http://www.platboslogcabins.co.za/">Platbos</a>, these wonderfully cosy cabins on the edge of a dam. A weekend surrounded by friends who all just click and celebrating the wedding of two of our group was enough to make my heart feel all warm and fuzzy! Thanks guys, for a wonderful time - can't wait for the next one!</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh35JlHLWM7CTOrel9srLLK8DcHYfMd1VkojgpPUlizl0uCyOx7pbqtWGsg0P-Y2MoYYyaBEmPr5bsew66EuKZzjmP7_hddkiXlS5qXaw8n-1Uikk4_iQdpFuh6emDjlApu_AWNdTNNXJdA/s1600/PC_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Platbos Log Cabins" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh35JlHLWM7CTOrel9srLLK8DcHYfMd1VkojgpPUlizl0uCyOx7pbqtWGsg0P-Y2MoYYyaBEmPr5bsew66EuKZzjmP7_hddkiXlS5qXaw8n-1Uikk4_iQdpFuh6emDjlApu_AWNdTNNXJdA/s640/PC_1.JPG" title="Platbos Log Cabins" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Our log cabins at Platbos</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0kvOsyuSKe-_8-RMKFIplaeAgLpW_lDIJaUAGgxEpf37_CXjkdAPwg5J4wEvRW07kqvCKNPzP7_WVEUuxKzy9TszkbVzwLExcSMOVXME-WLml_eo-lEtLR2r6Mzk3XSNysGMxuMOOq0rE/s1600/PC_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Platbos Log Cabins" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0kvOsyuSKe-_8-RMKFIplaeAgLpW_lDIJaUAGgxEpf37_CXjkdAPwg5J4wEvRW07kqvCKNPzP7_WVEUuxKzy9TszkbVzwLExcSMOVXME-WLml_eo-lEtLR2r6Mzk3XSNysGMxuMOOq0rE/s640/PC_2.JPG" title="Platbos Log Cabins" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Our log cabins at Platbos</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUXYT_6f6vSE6f7EaDgvJabfBO0rIV_RdG4McSky5u5xGC9pLbt7bWROXQcaiP7e3pg5zvIPbBUmw7UwlATn1uPF2s_2sLdCZ9MatihvdIpeQJ_f89Y8ihJruWF7TYung2VEBf1vDkviU5/s1600/PC_3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUXYT_6f6vSE6f7EaDgvJabfBO0rIV_RdG4McSky5u5xGC9pLbt7bWROXQcaiP7e3pg5zvIPbBUmw7UwlATn1uPF2s_2sLdCZ9MatihvdIpeQJ_f89Y8ihJruWF7TYung2VEBf1vDkviU5/s640/PC_3.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Frosty and I before the wedding.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguffITrPlF2H1tyNmWkRMxlEvSV-xAB_pau772tvDJ5UlJsWiNiA_YP8War4297IK2MwAMcQ7EbE3FK_Ex3N3Y8xzkWg5GeC5TyvaDYsGGIbNR06nS8WqWO-vXRG8pf9crc3fyX2F_2SOT/s1600/PC_4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguffITrPlF2H1tyNmWkRMxlEvSV-xAB_pau772tvDJ5UlJsWiNiA_YP8War4297IK2MwAMcQ7EbE3FK_Ex3N3Y8xzkWg5GeC5TyvaDYsGGIbNR06nS8WqWO-vXRG8pf9crc3fyX2F_2SOT/s640/PC_4.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Zel, me and Izzy before Chez and Heiko's Wedding</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheTBf5w5YEB93bCCVzY0idPCTNDl5hvN2LIs693BEKeScqvi49kO2iKRdwcw1oWrmcEPxSCx4EbrLLUKTxcHuDWo-OKMsQOy5htgy2MkHy2LpcIAJpLTKsYCQubiUf8dnNCmYCNYiOWaE1/s1600/PC_5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheTBf5w5YEB93bCCVzY0idPCTNDl5hvN2LIs693BEKeScqvi49kO2iKRdwcw1oWrmcEPxSCx4EbrLLUKTxcHuDWo-OKMsQOy5htgy2MkHy2LpcIAJpLTKsYCQubiUf8dnNCmYCNYiOWaE1/s640/PC_5.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Special friends!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeyAKuozVxlAHbLVuDzXK8PgsIqFu5MIUY-VYKKcPiMwR8xPFz07H9SKfpZdhXEbnnq4J_dmRCILtdpsFDF8zdwfhdR6zd8v4reG3UwIHduKT2xUVOs-ZOEiTmJbc7xKS9xA1c3BUhmlOT/s1600/PC_6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Night time photography in the mountains " border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeyAKuozVxlAHbLVuDzXK8PgsIqFu5MIUY-VYKKcPiMwR8xPFz07H9SKfpZdhXEbnnq4J_dmRCILtdpsFDF8zdwfhdR6zd8v4reG3UwIHduKT2xUVOs-ZOEiTmJbc7xKS9xA1c3BUhmlOT/s640/PC_6.JPG" title="Platbos Log Cabins at Night" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Night time photos at Platbos </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0OxiVYDgY154GoWE5-pZb-4cJH_u0Ldx5VL6ti7Zwslcok1lvwvuse7KbplNBuh7ChUZDsg0EGwR-l7ojivKQJbH33D6E8y5UA01SYG0rFBY293qRjq2hD7DPRHDpZJ1orzeaTpMORsXH/s1600/PC_7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Night time photography in the mountains at Platbos Log Cabins" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0OxiVYDgY154GoWE5-pZb-4cJH_u0Ldx5VL6ti7Zwslcok1lvwvuse7KbplNBuh7ChUZDsg0EGwR-l7ojivKQJbH33D6E8y5UA01SYG0rFBY293qRjq2hD7DPRHDpZJ1orzeaTpMORsXH/s640/PC_7.JPG" title="Platbos Log Cabins" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Another night time shot</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUdRGrcoG2MYD5w9k5BKU8s6ojxehbmz5zzJ_XMuRPVNuRLK2_Qi_5i-ZkOtBaK_3G7CPE-8ZfVBtYovLEI4fqvmgmJvVNGFlOQqwbCEpN6fhtUFcNI1_zTzlXZxTAbpTAiuWnZVmRW8aJ/s1600/PC_8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Night time photography and painting with light" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUdRGrcoG2MYD5w9k5BKU8s6ojxehbmz5zzJ_XMuRPVNuRLK2_Qi_5i-ZkOtBaK_3G7CPE-8ZfVBtYovLEI4fqvmgmJvVNGFlOQqwbCEpN6fhtUFcNI1_zTzlXZxTAbpTAiuWnZVmRW8aJ/s640/PC_8.JPG" title="Platbos Log Cabins" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Playing with light and night time photography - I set things up and pressed the button while Frosty shone the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">torch like a pro to give us some of these shots!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Enjoying the water at Bainskloof Pass.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">More special friends!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSGb2nXvGSKJmiySkoGYg87Sn306WVlXNysaHQh8LkQHxGXyUat_Eu63Z0EB60e4pewoBSE5DyM-3x8_ki5RrHtiT3Me8g3YTo4ESoR6blweh1iCIKdF_A01tCQNerKN_Tn4fwEAKBCOEG/s1600/PC_11.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSGb2nXvGSKJmiySkoGYg87Sn306WVlXNysaHQh8LkQHxGXyUat_Eu63Z0EB60e4pewoBSE5DyM-3x8_ki5RrHtiT3Me8g3YTo4ESoR6blweh1iCIKdF_A01tCQNerKN_Tn4fwEAKBCOEG/s640/PC_11.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And more special friends!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I've got a few exciting things happening over the course of the next few weeks and months. Some of the exciting things are obvious, such as wedding planning! Other things are currently a bit more secret and I'm really looking forward to sharing these with you, however right now they're still a work in progress. I'm hoping that the first thing is going to be ready in a few weeks and once it's ready, you'll be among the first to know, so watch this space! It will definitely explain why I've been a bit quieter than usual on my blog, but that's all I'm saying for now!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-86978956276566543772016-02-13T20:40:00.002+02:002016-02-13T20:40:53.086+02:00Happy Valentine's Day!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know that this post is a bit early, but since I'm in the airport with not a lot to do (apart from some bug-fixing, writing some postcards and shopping to while away my 7 hour layover), I thought I may as well also write a post and wish all of my readers a happy Valentine's Day! My Valentine's day is going to start off in Dubai Airport, which isn't so bad. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So far, I've had a Valentine's Cupaccino, and it isn't even Valentine's Day yet - although it's getting closer and closer!</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have to say, the thing I'm looking forward to most this Valentine's Day is getting back to Cape Town and knowing that I'm home for a while and, most importantly, getting to give my </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.84px;">fiancé (I'm still getting used to calling Frosty that!) a big Valentine's Day hug and celebrate 7 years of being together! I don't know what the rest of the day will hold once I'm back in Cape Town, but to be honest, as long as I'm with Frosty I'll be happy!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.84px;">And so - happy Valentine's Day to all of you and I hope that you have a wonderful day celebrating with loved ones!</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-15049266048499518812016-02-10T19:40:00.001+02:002016-02-10T19:40:35.189+02:00My Phone Is Gone...<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sho, it seems like I've spent my life in airports recently - </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">in the last month I've spent 3 weekends in transit at airports all over and next weekend will be the 4th weekend in a row! </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It will also hopefully be the last weekend for a while where I spend the majority of my time travelling (yay!). With all this </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">travel, it's been a few busy weeks. So, last Friday when Frosty and I got home, we decided that we'd go to a movie at the Waterfront.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To cut a very long story short, somewhere between arriving at the Waterfront, watching a terrible movie (The Hateful Eight, for those who want to avoid watching a terrible movie)</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, getting some delicious cinnabons and paying for parking at the Waterfront, I very strongly suspect that my phone got pick pocketed from right out my handbag! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On any day, I would have been upset. Since this happened the day before I had to fly out to Italy, I was incredibly frustrated and upset. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have had a cell phone since the age of 12 and this is the FIRST TIME EVER that I have had my phone disappear on me. I don't remember </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">taking my phone out of my handbag between arriving at the waterfront and getting back to the car after paying for parking. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My suspicion that I was pick-pocketed was made stronger when we tried calling my cell and it was off. It was made even more stronger when we found a very helpful </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">waterfront security guard who asked if we had called the phone, and when we said we had, but it was off, he mentioned that that was bad news.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And so - at 11:30 <b>the night before I had to fly out to Italy</b>, I was not a particularly happy chappy. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Luckily, I was able to get a pay as you go sim from Vodacom at the airport </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and I am now using a spare phone of Frosty's which will do the job until I get back home next week and can sort out a sim swap back onto my current number. And until I can get back, the most I can do is make sure I enjoy Italy :)</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-mxp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpt1/v/t1.0-0/p206x206/12642790_10156464243855023_2216070237042954868_n.jpg?oh=fe957cdcd65733938a833afe2e6e4bc5&oe=573870B0" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Snow covered landscape as viewed from a plane" border="0" height="426" src="https://scontent-mxp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpt1/v/t1.0-0/p206x206/12642790_10156464243855023_2216070237042954868_n.jpg?oh=fe957cdcd65733938a833afe2e6e4bc5&oe=573870B0" title="Practical Cookie" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The view from the plane as I was flying in to the Czech Republic almost 2 weeks ago.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-26646963509726987472016-01-31T16:24:00.003+02:002016-01-31T16:25:12.387+02:00Happy 2016!<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Hello everyone and happy 2016 to you! I had such high hopes that I would maybe get time to blog a bit during the festive season, but as you can tell from my silence, that didn't happen. Instead, I had a fantastic holiday, celebrating Christmas with family and visiting Frosty's farm and hiking in the berg over New Year and spending some time at Hole in the Wall in the Transkei.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOooYTGpFfl3nXIlMhdVCxuYz96Amn0vB0svzGjr33RaoqG_99SjG2u0CJ6FSBCVeVNtQxr0MlkOkwntr4p6eMfnMbB6hoZ93wXxfhBAcRAeIWhNN-6ZkXN7IiZUY6pVJpyC-xW8m9Y5Vw/s1600/Engagement_09_01_2015_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Mpame, Transkei" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOooYTGpFfl3nXIlMhdVCxuYz96Amn0vB0svzGjr33RaoqG_99SjG2u0CJ6FSBCVeVNtQxr0MlkOkwntr4p6eMfnMbB6hoZ93wXxfhBAcRAeIWhNN-6ZkXN7IiZUY6pVJpyC-xW8m9Y5Vw/s640/Engagement_09_01_2015_1.JPG" title="Transkei" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At Mpame in the Transkei.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">While all of these things were fantastic, there was something even more exciting that happened the Saturday before our holiday came to an end. Most of you will have heard some version of the story, but here it is for those of you that haven’t.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I started the day off with a trip to Durban with my mum to go and celebrate the baby shower of one of my best friends from school. Since we live so far away from each other, it is always an extra special treat to see her and even more of a treat to see her as a mum-to-be*! While we were catching up, Jen asked me when I thought Frosty and I might be tying the knot and I replied that it was likely to be in the next year or two probably and we weren’t in a rush. With all the chatting and catching up with everyone at the baby shower, the time seemed to fly by and all too soon we started off on our way back home. I was so sad to have to say goodbye, especially since we were leaving before the end of the party, but mum was keen to get going back home and since she had mentioned that she wasn’t feeling so good earlier I didn’t put up too much of a fight.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The entire way home, mum kept on commenting on how she hopes we get back before the bad weather set in, so that I could go birding with Frosty that afternoon. She usually doesn't mind what the weather is like, but that day she was particularly concerned that we get back before the rain. I thought it was a little strange and thought that <i>something</i> must be up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now, to put you in the picture, while we had been at Hole in the Wall, the one morning Frosty and I went for an early morning swim with my folks. My dad got out of the water quite quickly after getting in and soon after that I saw Frosty heading out after him. “Ahhh, he’s gone to keep my dad company and be friendly, what a good guy”, I thought. Eventually mum and I returned to the beach and dad then asked me to take a walk back up to the cottage with him. I waited the whole walk for dad to say something profound and deep, as he’d sounded like he wanted to chat with me all by myself. By the time we had reached the cottage, dad still hadn't said anything. I started getting a bit suspicious at this point, as I guessed that if dad hadn't wanted to talk to me about <i>anything</i>, then that must mean that Frosty had wanted to talk to my mum (and dad) about <i>something</i>. I started having a few suspicions about what that <i>something</i> was, but decided to not get too hopeful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Anyway, mum and I arrived back to Hilton safely and I organised for Frosty to come collect me so that we could go birding. He’d asked me the day before if I’d like to go birding at Hilton College, as there were lots of birds there and I might be able to tick off some new birds on my bird list. I started getting a bit more suspicious at this point, but again decided not to get my hopes up in case it really did turn out to be just a trip to go and see some new birds...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So, off we went to Hilton and Frosty chatted nicely the whole drive there. We had never gone birding at Hilton together before and so he pointed out all the places where he had crashed and where he had gone exploring and where Willie had beat him in a race uphill even though he (Willie) was using only one leg and Frosty was allowed to use both! We (Frosty) decided to go to Beacons lookout point as it was a place that Frosty used to visit often while he was at school and he went birding there quite often. Along with all the stories he told me during the drive, he also mentioned that his grandfather’s ashes had been scattered at Beacons. The entire drive there I was listening, and the important stories all stood out to me (I had heard a few before luckily), but in the back of my mind I was wondering if this was the time that Frosty was going to ask me <i>something important</i>. I decided to just take the afternoon as it came and made up my mind to not be too disappointed if all we ended up doing was going birding. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOiW_0Ajf9O9DgeX3h5rRbgcwvvLCY7G1GH4I_PwUJ_UBdhRXEegzk85e-_BgwCf2GDgwgxZBEZThHWL_m-wHZjsDTh3wJEzbO7anCvL8oOo3_3_k2iovy25nd0QbKFXucNxTiEhmIwMFP/s1600/Engagement_09_01_2015_8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="View from Beacons Lookout Point, Hilton College" border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOiW_0Ajf9O9DgeX3h5rRbgcwvvLCY7G1GH4I_PwUJ_UBdhRXEegzk85e-_BgwCf2GDgwgxZBEZThHWL_m-wHZjsDTh3wJEzbO7anCvL8oOo3_3_k2iovy25nd0QbKFXucNxTiEhmIwMFP/s640/Engagement_09_01_2015_8.jpg" title="Hilton College" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">View from Beacons Lookout Point</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We got to Beacons and were treated to a view of overcast skies, cloudy and moody above Albert Falls Dam. It really was a beautiful sight and after admiring the view, we decided to try and get to the actual beacon - a few minutes and a sighting of a rather mean looking fence later, we decided to rather take a walk along one of the forest paths. We tried really hard to find some birds, but the incoming bad weather had ensured that all the birds were hiding...All this time I was enjoying the birding but also watching Frosty carefully to see if he was acting strangely. He seemed to be sighing every now and then but otherwise he was his usual self, so I still didn't want to get my hopes up that <i>something</i> was up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">After finding a few brave birds who had ventured out into the forest, we turned back and again spent some time standing on top of rocks, looking for birds at the Beacons viewpoint. It was while we were standing, just admiring the view, that Frosty went down on one knee and asked me to marry him and just like that, we were engaged!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As we sat chatting, overlooking the valley and just enjoying being together, I asked Frosty how long he'd been planning this whole thing and who was in on the plan. It turns out that while I was travelling in Rio he used the time to start looking into rings and talking to jewellers and for those few months, the only people other than him that knew his plan were his folks. It turns out my suspicions that Frosty has been asking my folks <i>something</i> at Hole in the Wall also turned out to be correct (my folks and his folks did such a good job at hiding their excitement over that time that I started to second guess myself at that point). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Anyway, a glass or two of champagne and some snacks later, we made our way back to Hilton where as many of our family as possible had gathered to celebrate our engagement with us, which was just the best end to the day! Frosty and I were both so excited and thankful to have our family join us in celebrating our first evening as an engaged couple and it means so much that we were able to celebrate with them! Thank you family who were able to be there and those who weren't there were missed!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We're engaged!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The following day we had some more celebrations with family and friends who lived close by and one of the best treats of the day was getting to see my special friend Jen for the second day in a row! Since most of these friends live far away from us, it was again, an extra special time and one that I won't soon forget!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNoLs2AZIvu97uB2SiPW3HRRqxUVnYzhKlnIoYGa9L_a134w1i4t9j3ff0z2jvD2EyoKb_pydH4NjDVj8-ZDz7BINdRhCMs1oNlQbcEXSfBObsPt8bopvG9rK9DrJoiXc58YRKBKxbhzsi/s1600/Engagement_09_01_2015_123.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNoLs2AZIvu97uB2SiPW3HRRqxUVnYzhKlnIoYGa9L_a134w1i4t9j3ff0z2jvD2EyoKb_pydH4NjDVj8-ZDz7BINdRhCMs1oNlQbcEXSfBObsPt8bopvG9rK9DrJoiXc58YRKBKxbhzsi/s640/Engagement_09_01_2015_123.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Special families! (Thanks <a href="https://cherievale.wordpress.com/">Chezie</a> for putting on your photographer hat!)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoJPzoG4Ueh-WfyLjlw6Or0NlB8WUcm3ESVU199vFE_ycj4EH9Fpq5f-x8TCZeXkjF2bR9bTH4nIGyRJKFAw_I_Iz5sawx6WrXK8wHggGFm8Xogge1CLpdLeDNU1RgwqyfwgMzr1NIcvWk/s1600/Engagement_09_01_2015_142.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoJPzoG4Ueh-WfyLjlw6Or0NlB8WUcm3ESVU199vFE_ycj4EH9Fpq5f-x8TCZeXkjF2bR9bTH4nIGyRJKFAw_I_Iz5sawx6WrXK8wHggGFm8Xogge1CLpdLeDNU1RgwqyfwgMzr1NIcvWk/s640/Engagement_09_01_2015_142.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The jong-span (thanks mum for getting these pics!).</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It's now been 3 weeks since we got engaged and in that time a lot has happened - we got to celebrate with my Cape Town family, work started off with a bang and I've just spent a week in the Czech Republic doing a workshop for a new project, which is really exciting! I have to say that I'm really looking forward to planning a little something to celebrate with our Cape Town contingent, who we haven't had much of a chance to see yet.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It really was the most fantastic way to end off the holiday and so, here's to a new year, a new adventure and a new </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.84px;">fiancé</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> - I think 2016 is going to be a good year!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">*She and her husband recently welcomed a baby girl into the world, yippee!</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-49937516051893304982015-12-21T13:26:00.001+02:002015-12-21T13:27:41.506+02:00'Tis the Season<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It's less than a week until Christmas - can you believe it? At the beginning of last week, my manager mentioned to me that support was all under control and I didn't need to come in to work on Monday and Tuesday next week if I didn't want to and would I like to take those two days off as well. After thinking about it for a while, checking what is coming up and what I need to prepare for next year, I decided that since I had some extra days of leave saved up, I thought I might as well take them and I'll just work extra hard to get as much as possible done before I head off on Friday (best Christmas present ever - 2 days of extra holiday!).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I always love this time of the year, it's probably my favourite holiday and so, I thought I'd share some of my favourite things about Christmas:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Decorating the Christmas tree (with Christmas Carols as background music).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Finishing off Christmas shopping and then spending an afternoon or two wrapping presents (while listening to Chrismas Carols).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Time spent catching up with family and friends - since we live so far away from home, any family time is extra-precious.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Swimming costumes and long summers days spent at the pool or beach.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Ice creams, watermelon, G&Ts.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Christmas carols - the old stuff, the new stuff and Carols by Candlelight.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Delicious food (my folks make the best Christmas ham you'll ever eat!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Having a bit of time to just chill and think and reflect.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">What are some of your favourite things about Christmas?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8KZi8Uk03_t-tcXUYjHcu_F5oNKgUsZrSsG4hyH7hCFupzYMnjReBaI6lYnrmOr_8gNjtGuzCLLdChQqSP6gM0jC8HT0s8XPsVzZkkA0v2Rd6U9r3wclRRIQTxIGwC4QfnGZ8Ea5T96TN/s1600/PC_Christmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8KZi8Uk03_t-tcXUYjHcu_F5oNKgUsZrSsG4hyH7hCFupzYMnjReBaI6lYnrmOr_8gNjtGuzCLLdChQqSP6gM0jC8HT0s8XPsVzZkkA0v2Rd6U9r3wclRRIQTxIGwC4QfnGZ8Ea5T96TN/s400/PC_Christmas.jpg" width="224" /></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-23430242928032154312015-12-16T08:30:00.001+02:002015-12-16T08:30:57.260+02:00Quote #13: It Is Better To Believe<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Some of you may know that I've recently spent 2 weeks in Rio working on a project. Now, in my field, you don't often find yourself among other women and it's almost unheard of to work in a group that contains only women, but during my first week, this was my reality. Myself, our client technical lead and two of the engineers in Rio spent our first week finalising items for our project and tying up loose ends in preparation for the plant go-live. It was such a privilege to work almost exclusively with a group of ladies for the first week and it coincided with me reading a very interesting book on women's confidence (<a href="http://theconfidencecode.com/">The Confidence Code</a> by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I really enjoyed this book for a number of reasons, but the main reason is that it has made me aware of differences between the way that men and women approach their jobs. I think the most important thing that it's made me aware of is that, women on the whole are much more risk averse and much less willing to jump into something that they have minimal skill/exposure/experience in. In other words, us ladies will only jump into the deep end when we've learnt how float and then how to swim, when we've learnt all the different swimming strokes and when we're sure that we need to be swimming free-style and not butterfly. On the opposite end of the scale, men on the whole are much more likely to jump into the deep end without any idea of how to swim, they'll somehow learn doggy paddle in order to keep their heads above water and then they'll improvise their style until they're swimming free-style with everyone else. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">At this stage of my career and for so many other young, professional women out there, I think it's really important to know that often, in order to move to the next position, we don't need to know exactly how to do the job. Instead we need to be willing to jump into the deep end without knowing how to swim. We need to remember that we're not the only ones in the pool/dam/sea and that there are people and things out there that will help us to swim as we go along. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you're interested in reading the Confidence Code, click <a href="http://www.exclus1ves.co.za/books/Confidence-Code-Science--AuthorKatty-Kay~AuthorClaire-Shipman/000000000100000000001000000000000000000000000009780062414625/">here</a> (it's worth the read, I promise!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Finally, I hope that for the ladies out there who are wondering whether they're ready for that next role, this has inspired you to just go for it and dive into the deep end. And for the gents out there who are reading this - please keep in mind that you may need to give some extra encouragement to your girlfriends, wives, female friends or female colleagues to jump into that next role even though they don't feel quite ready for it.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYsEXshl5JdZjqKc12crYX_P211OrssnIH6ufga82oN7DcTEjM-OuvtrURI2gyJw4_OHEs40drYPjWuNYvCpcYtI4AOC207bVisDIExNdPgri_pXw-SltlF91-GCD0eZyxs91uru1mNzYI/s1600/PC_Quote_Week13.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Albert Einstein Quote" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYsEXshl5JdZjqKc12crYX_P211OrssnIH6ufga82oN7DcTEjM-OuvtrURI2gyJw4_OHEs40drYPjWuNYvCpcYtI4AOC207bVisDIExNdPgri_pXw-SltlF91-GCD0eZyxs91uru1mNzYI/s640/PC_Quote_Week13.png" title="Practical Cookie Quote Week 13" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-23002317411575768682015-12-09T08:47:00.000+02:002015-12-09T08:47:16.766+02:00The Reality of Work Travel<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4fdPddM37LeLD5r2H8r8oWRlZaI8G58tuHt9Ye8BuegsMTMLZGR3dYW_SBz-Lx7DvwETb_LYchjIR20G1u2_XiDQ_cgfx2XPrxksqLhsLl6WcjgQDwuU2M2hcSCi5iPzaFJnnCpuCQ0I0/s1600/cath_pics_148_SMALL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Reflections of cars on the street in the building opposite me." border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4fdPddM37LeLD5r2H8r8oWRlZaI8G58tuHt9Ye8BuegsMTMLZGR3dYW_SBz-Lx7DvwETb_LYchjIR20G1u2_XiDQ_cgfx2XPrxksqLhsLl6WcjgQDwuU2M2hcSCi5iPzaFJnnCpuCQ0I0/s640/cath_pics_148_SMALL.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Reflections in Buildings" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Reflection of cars in the building across from my hotel.<br />I thought this pertinent since we had a +- 1 hour commute from out hotel to the pant every day.<br />And the same on our way back.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So, you've been working for a while and you find out that you're going to need to do some travelling for work. You find out you're going to an awesome location and start getting exited, imagining sunning yourself on the beach after work or walking along snow-brushed cobblestone streets admiring the architecture and having time to sightsee. Your friends are all jealous and wish that they could come along in your suitcase to have fun with you.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This, my friends is a myth, reserved for holiday travel and is very definitely not what work travel is all about. I've been incredibly lucky to travel to some amazing places in the last little while for work and so I thought I'd share my experiences of what work travel is really all about - it's fun as long as your expectations are not the same as that of holiday travel!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The probability of early mornings and late nights is high, especially if you're not the only one staying at the hotel.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You're going to spend 70-90% of your time inside. Most likely the same office.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You're going to spend 60-80% of your time in that same office, with the same people.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You're going to eat a lot of restaurant food, which is delicious, but you will grow to miss a simple home-cooked meal.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you have people hosting you, they'll be able to advise you on some typical meals and drinks of the area - so you'll get to taste the "real" food of the place that you're visiting and not some tourist equivalent.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you're lucky, you will be able to squeeze in some sight-seeing between travelling to and from the office - an hour here and there to catch the main tourist attractions of the area, squished in between leaving the office and going out to dinner. </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Most of your touristy photos will be from those squeezed-in-sightseeing-tours.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you're an introvert like me, you're going to get home and go into hibernation-mode and not want to socialise with anyone other than the people you live with for a few days.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you're working in a place that doesn't speak your language, you'll be excited to get back home to hear people speaking in your home language(s).</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You're going to, most probably, get to interact and chat with colleagues/clients that you've talked to over the phone a lot - so you will finally be able to put a face to a voice and name!</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Most of your pictures with colleagues will show you either in the office working, or at a restaurant eating.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You'll get a chance to build relationships, make new friends and get to know people outside the office. It will be fun, just a different type of fun to holiday fun!</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLLZjkxLgWAUBEaOHwCQzLW1d-Vh5pQ5sBMFpW9nBjb3-7Q5nEKFA9QBBKyOATQ4XqxDY0iDuYSyW7jVDGWUdOWyIu-xSExzqu3EaQe-HJPnaQY80qV1dzRmFGHiZw-lWO28Ek3prjetl5/s1600/cath_pics_111_SMALL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Lunch at a restaurant outside the Rio Botanical Gardens (Jardim Botânico)" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLLZjkxLgWAUBEaOHwCQzLW1d-Vh5pQ5sBMFpW9nBjb3-7Q5nEKFA9QBBKyOATQ4XqxDY0iDuYSyW7jVDGWUdOWyIu-xSExzqu3EaQe-HJPnaQY80qV1dzRmFGHiZw-lWO28Ek3prjetl5/s640/cath_pics_111_SMALL.jpg" title="Lunch at Rio Botanical Gardens (Jardim Botânico)" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is me, on the <i>only</i> completely sunny day we had in Rio.<br />Luckily, it also happened to be a Saturday - so this is me,<br />doing some fun touristy things in Rio.</span></td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-62121694254067527952015-12-02T17:47:00.001+02:002015-12-02T17:57:11.494+02:00Quote #12: Opportunities are Usually...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhddxu-tSsnGVTK9iVoBKSAzQACciZGtKMo97YSkLIUno0vAplmfXiKgMZ0oPKtLAky2UeGhR2z85ZnvURareRzZ_72MSsswgcp4U5zsM7YsKl-Py6nd7_ekwyQRE3W5gtuPihMSrksmJze/s1600/PC_Quote_Week12.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Practical Cookie Quote Week 12" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhddxu-tSsnGVTK9iVoBKSAzQACciZGtKMo97YSkLIUno0vAplmfXiKgMZ0oPKtLAky2UeGhR2z85ZnvURareRzZ_72MSsswgcp4U5zsM7YsKl-Py6nd7_ekwyQRE3W5gtuPihMSrksmJze/s640/PC_Quote_Week12.png" title="Practical Cookie" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Years ago I was recommended a great book to read. It's called <a href="http://gladwell.com/outliers/">Outliers</a> and is written by a chap called Malcolm Gladwell. I had high expectations for this book* and I wasn't disappointed when I finally got around to reading it. I think that one of the most important messages Outliers delivers is that success doesn't just come to people - success is a combination of circumstance, experience and hard work. People who grab those opportunities (and who have a bit of luck on their side by being born at the right time, in the right year, or having the right cultural background) and work hard at making the most of these opportunities </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(it's said that around 10,000 hours of practice makes you an expert at something) </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">are the ones who become successful. If you get a chance to read this book, definitely give it a try!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">* I have also read a book called The Tipping Point by the same author, which is also another interesting read!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-39762282135341317642015-11-18T08:33:00.000+02:002015-11-18T08:33:03.584+02:00Quote #11: The Secret of...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEpMPHWy0pAOaY9yXW5NEgC-C5oiXFkt5fnfWJvIn4D4juDzlyl1ibGMbIoSUzLk8EvY2lhkIsDSTQrrf8vYl390j7-mb6oshGStw0SfrFXc2okFhzuzj3GK20-qYUx3PyZuSGp3iWoiAu/s1600/PC_Quote_Week11.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Quote Week 11" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEpMPHWy0pAOaY9yXW5NEgC-C5oiXFkt5fnfWJvIn4D4juDzlyl1ibGMbIoSUzLk8EvY2lhkIsDSTQrrf8vYl390j7-mb6oshGStw0SfrFXc2okFhzuzj3GK20-qYUx3PyZuSGp3iWoiAu/s640/PC_Quote_Week11.png" title="Practical Cookie" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I read <a href="http://jamesclear.com/paper-clips">a great article</a> a while ago about a stock-broker who joined a company based in the middle of no-where and within months had grown his portion of the business so substantially that people were taking notice of him. The secret to his success? Paperclips. He started every day with 2 jars and 120 paperclips. One jar was empty but every day, he would make telephone calls and after each call he would move one paperclip into the other jar until his original jar was empty. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It seems like such a simple thing to do, but he did it consistently and without fail, every single day. Often we see successful people only once they have already become successful. We don't see the months (or years) of consistent work that went in before the success came about. Instead, it seems as though people become successes overnight, which is not an accurate representation at all. In terms of blogging, over the years I've learnt that the blogs who do well and keep growing do one thing right - they post consistently. It's something I'm trying to get better at, one blog post at a time. And so, here's to those who work consistently, who work with purpose and who keep the end goal in mind!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">PS - Instagram and Layouts let me create the background for this quote and I think I'm going to be using more of this concept in future posts, so keep an eye out for new improved images! It's amazing what mirroring an image can do and what pretty patterns you're able to create - give it a try!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-82573189087164509822015-11-13T11:43:00.001+02:002015-11-13T15:26:57.656+02:00A Hike and Some Flowers<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A while ago Frosty and I had an awesome weekend hiking up Table Mountain and then we took a family drive to try and find some flowers in Darling with his brother and brother's girlfriend (it was overcast and there weren't many flowers out), but we did manage to find a stunning orchid farm and spent the morning walking around. And we had the cutest puppy join us for our day out - here are some pics.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="View from hiking up Table Mountain" border="0" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipBsY7ol_JuvO8TAQiVXx_j5K3CO7nzmt_xyBiNxi3va3tdR0hcvSBlvIVPThpghfYJYGJI8jD0FY5b0G04td0-qfiMMZh2RQcysLmXaZnotQqW7nTGz5jaNuchMM69pTNHjdvs1kojaZq/s640/Hike_And_Flowers_2.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Practical Cookie" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">View half way up Table Mountain</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWuoIvs16nhsrZrt-osOjPMdmFbPe6pJYPZF8_WI0XjAywFS_vIwB2N0yomvAobLy4ypdIYc_o8VTfYXNxAKAexJe4msn8N7xPqOlrlxsz_FbmP0Fomo4KOsSWGL3CoipRdTKjA3Bt_F_u/s1600/Hike_And_Flowers_4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="View of flowers and sea from the top of Table Mountain" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWuoIvs16nhsrZrt-osOjPMdmFbPe6pJYPZF8_WI0XjAywFS_vIwB2N0yomvAobLy4ypdIYc_o8VTfYXNxAKAexJe4msn8N7xPqOlrlxsz_FbmP0Fomo4KOsSWGL3CoipRdTKjA3Bt_F_u/s640/Hike_And_Flowers_4.JPG" title="Practical Cookie" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Pretty scenes at the top of Table Mountain.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTiK4ZM2COIa6G0SNcTeLXbpzpUw27ciSrc2PKLWaENPmOqhpccX7_UbGd-tAG1f8jqS4IxVPje214cL9SVJBvHDtKQYt-56L5jgFBeX1T3J1X7Kf6ZD48D_sEm0LCYB6LazS5AvgimXRQ/s1600/Hike_And_Flowers_5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Yellow flowers (Conebush Protea) on top of Table Mountain" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTiK4ZM2COIa6G0SNcTeLXbpzpUw27ciSrc2PKLWaENPmOqhpccX7_UbGd-tAG1f8jqS4IxVPje214cL9SVJBvHDtKQYt-56L5jgFBeX1T3J1X7Kf6ZD48D_sEm0LCYB6LazS5AvgimXRQ/s640/Hike_And_Flowers_5.JPG" title="Practical Cookie" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Conebush Protea (I think).</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2H9nHbl6LjnIyI6Dz5tn8IFhs6IMO_d3cSxGreS093D1iuUgD2EWmnGxh3Nvi-1Q1e8u5U7J5twvayJfEwwe-uLlODmKuJc9plJJP6EUoATW_VdvNdvBn-mE2x_iwvjB-knu1445O8Ao3/s640/Hike_And_Flowers_11.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Practical Cookie" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Frosty at the to of the mountain</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNL7JxTxJCxo6qPcyzvDk4g3lJPDXQw5lgGnxW8zRmUrp3K_8jHAFZOz3cnmTdsuP-iB5iMSiFBu78ds2j7ExpEylv9Ue5BEjYsIP4kcz-vA9jQfqytf0UnCM1wsJt0y3DcCJQPcKSpI-F/s1600/Hike_And_Flowers_13.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Karoo Prinia near Table Mountain" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNL7JxTxJCxo6qPcyzvDk4g3lJPDXQw5lgGnxW8zRmUrp3K_8jHAFZOz3cnmTdsuP-iB5iMSiFBu78ds2j7ExpEylv9Ue5BEjYsIP4kcz-vA9jQfqytf0UnCM1wsJt0y3DcCJQPcKSpI-F/s640/Hike_And_Flowers_13.JPG" title="Practical Cookie" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Karoo Prinia</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpewKmqZOba9cCrzZ2088naiGpdJweL0tpIaSzxWZk6Te1LVnQx2ZiAB1oPioSqC0KXQcF0c1U0bxQScBrmd1kjCDf2va2cbInyqThtUn9mkWYwkTVO2w0MPJcL9qowfisPXT-eBv9Jrxs/s1600/Hike_And_Flowers_14.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Karoo Prinia at the base of Table Mountain" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpewKmqZOba9cCrzZ2088naiGpdJweL0tpIaSzxWZk6Te1LVnQx2ZiAB1oPioSqC0KXQcF0c1U0bxQScBrmd1kjCDf2va2cbInyqThtUn9mkWYwkTVO2w0MPJcL9qowfisPXT-eBv9Jrxs/s640/Hike_And_Flowers_14.JPG" title="Practical Cookie" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Karoo Prinia in black and white</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCP8jXGa2iUko0cG8k0Ug9UyvjL0a0z2WglEyoVbcn3lnB3-rL9r_N2btVdP0AmC1UNbpdtqPJYPj_134isR9keH36aP_NBYyAOtpq0mBBfwmSTfyW5vsStG3lnClZHCtCPXBb2Vyb6JAA/s1600/Hike_And_Flowers_18.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="White Orchid from Duckitt Nurseries" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCP8jXGa2iUko0cG8k0Ug9UyvjL0a0z2WglEyoVbcn3lnB3-rL9r_N2btVdP0AmC1UNbpdtqPJYPj_134isR9keH36aP_NBYyAOtpq0mBBfwmSTfyW5vsStG3lnClZHCtCPXBb2Vyb6JAA/s640/Hike_And_Flowers_18.JPG" title="Practical Cookei" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Orchids from Duckitt Nurseries.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd-Oq3ygnufRCNkB7DPiAspjMhGydCCVjVVA5vRpak2wBzV4fAiH4LEOVsdIPuVeDnq3h-9uMPkMZwKdN2O7ftpLKp2K4DePS0EaGHy3eCWKoEmWJh961GX_98NzFHjSqqpoHYA9AorUAT/s1600/Hike_And_Flowers_22.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Purple orchids from Duckitt Nurseries" border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd-Oq3ygnufRCNkB7DPiAspjMhGydCCVjVVA5vRpak2wBzV4fAiH4LEOVsdIPuVeDnq3h-9uMPkMZwKdN2O7ftpLKp2K4DePS0EaGHy3eCWKoEmWJh961GX_98NzFHjSqqpoHYA9AorUAT/s640/Hike_And_Flowers_22.JPG" title="Practical Cookie" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Orchids from Duckitt Nurseries.</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7VsZmloLlk_YM0UgXWCNhJfGSXr3zRFtb84TNGj9Xhm8FMMV8hgiKpqWgijyfrbBjgWyqDnQm73j9p2WLAr2rORmy1jgeI00qIk2MSk30LeGY-VC-kxAdEjnOQEmUJx7mSz0Q0Kjdwbm1/s1600/Hike_And_Flowers_24.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Yellow orchids at Duckitt Nurseries" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7VsZmloLlk_YM0UgXWCNhJfGSXr3zRFtb84TNGj9Xhm8FMMV8hgiKpqWgijyfrbBjgWyqDnQm73j9p2WLAr2rORmy1jgeI00qIk2MSk30LeGY-VC-kxAdEjnOQEmUJx7mSz0Q0Kjdwbm1/s640/Hike_And_Flowers_24.JPG" title="Practical Cookie" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Orchids from Duckitt Nurseries.</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihTRRckUgNci7x7__wG5_py5kAc5HQsZglR4mugmWSryoHpCuuSU458Xwa-L1HUZDq4VwHXuRc9tPIzfgy1kvSsNu9AL21mYQWKLc_2kIqZO6OBwKqc2VER8FY0M4dh3WhHbQyX8UKzO5C/s1600/Hike_And_Flowers_26.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Orange-y orchids at Duckitt Nurseries" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihTRRckUgNci7x7__wG5_py5kAc5HQsZglR4mugmWSryoHpCuuSU458Xwa-L1HUZDq4VwHXuRc9tPIzfgy1kvSsNu9AL21mYQWKLc_2kIqZO6OBwKqc2VER8FY0M4dh3WhHbQyX8UKzO5C/s640/Hike_And_Flowers_26.JPG" title="Practical Cookie" width="416" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Orchids from Duckitt Nurseries.</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdPJlLjFWcllty1j2xUzBlUoT867qIVd7ak9nYUnPD7KBNCeq_h33Eopq_Rj9bXl50RTYyL0QZh52CiMcFUUXjP66-I19-woMURM4_e7VBFomFSI0iMAD5evhBetSsPkBUZ9aFdXS_n6cH/s1600/Hike_And_Flowers_36.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdPJlLjFWcllty1j2xUzBlUoT867qIVd7ak9nYUnPD7KBNCeq_h33Eopq_Rj9bXl50RTYyL0QZh52CiMcFUUXjP66-I19-woMURM4_e7VBFomFSI0iMAD5evhBetSsPkBUZ9aFdXS_n6cH/s640/Hike_And_Flowers_36.JPG" title="Practical Cookie" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Having some fun at Duckitt Nurseries.</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4JbjRIYGIQag7haXb89pHMSErzlK14IZBvw3tN436B2ehhHKQz1Yjz4WX9BshxRCdBiZTOy3fn1nqm-sKF23wdFfGGKGQUkxDsiLgqs058TLoWgfCwvEGHVnyro6cnocjLAGDzqEm2OEU/s1600/Hike_And_Flowers_38.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4JbjRIYGIQag7haXb89pHMSErzlK14IZBvw3tN436B2ehhHKQz1Yjz4WX9BshxRCdBiZTOy3fn1nqm-sKF23wdFfGGKGQUkxDsiLgqs058TLoWgfCwvEGHVnyro6cnocjLAGDzqEm2OEU/s640/Hike_And_Flowers_38.JPG" title="Practical Cookie" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Having some fun at Duckitt Nurseries.</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCpCxJdc8fJ48YLjxDOvk12aX0FSS6MlgyI5IMSQpR-FSaZbVSk_Kuu6CtMyQagBGisVQhHB8cFwt4ZTfdhyDd7DZon9cNNkEwElYLVDKUbKN6livw1IgC0et9kaowXJ3luTCNzFNk2HTl/s1600/Hike_And_Flowers_56.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Puppy running through grass" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCpCxJdc8fJ48YLjxDOvk12aX0FSS6MlgyI5IMSQpR-FSaZbVSk_Kuu6CtMyQagBGisVQhHB8cFwt4ZTfdhyDd7DZon9cNNkEwElYLVDKUbKN6livw1IgC0et9kaowXJ3luTCNzFNk2HTl/s640/Hike_And_Flowers_56.JPG" title="Practical Cookie" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Happiness is... running through long grass so fast that your ears stream out behind you :)</span></td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-39517692971734216122015-11-11T08:44:00.000+02:002015-11-11T08:50:22.869+02:00Quote #10: Experience is One...<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I found this quote amongst my images just now and I can so clearly remember thinking that this is quote was incredibly applicable to my life in the week that I created it. And now I can't remember why I thought it was applicable to that week - so instead I'm just going to let you enjoy the quote! </span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-44250174912394684922015-10-27T21:14:00.000+02:002015-10-27T21:15:29.292+02:00Life Lately<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You may have noticed that I haven't had a chance to blog much recently, but I finally managed to put up the rest of my pictures from my <a href="http://practicalcookie.blogspot.co.za/2015/10/germany-in-pictures.html">trip to Germany</a> and I'm hoping to get around to editing and getting through some of the other pictures that I've taken this month, so watch this space in case I find a few more good pics to share. Since I haven't had much of a chance to blog, I thought I'd update you on what's been happening in my life lately.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Basically my life has been a whole lot of work since I got back from Germany. Not overtime work, just busy-every-day work. It feels like I'm finally getting on top of everything that I need to do which is a really exciting feeling! In between work, the weekends have also been rather busy - for the last two weekends Frosty's folks have been in Cape Town and so we spent some wonderful times with them - chilling in Stellies and exploring Babylonstoren this last weekend and visiting Kagga Kamma Nature Reserve the weekend before last. Then the weekend before that, some very special friends of ours got married in Elgin and we had a fantastic party at the wedding reception and a lovely weekend away re-connecting with friends who we hadn't seen for a while. I always underestimate how busy October gets - the last two years it's probably been my busiest month of the entire year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Exciting news on the work front is that in just under a month I'm going to be heading off to Rio for work (I definitely landed with my bum in the butter with the project I'm working on and this is the third awesome place that I get to go to for this project!). One exciting thing that I have learnt is that South Africans don't need a visa to go to Brazil. However, we do need to have updated Yellow Fever vaccines. They have to be done no later than 10 days before you leave, so I'm going to be getting mine either this week or next week.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In between all of this business, I've followed the student protests against fee increases last week with interest. I've read a bunch of articles, read status updates of students and wondered if I would have been part of the protests, either getting involved or watching from the sidelines, had I still been at UCT...I'll never know, but one of my favourite bloggers wrote <a href="http://wearethewildflowers.co.za/this-is-what-i-felt/">this piece</a> after attending the protests in Stellies on Friday, which is so beautiful.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3I5Wb2gK1WJtixRiVOOVj1lz_oD6q9wRqRF-Wj5MJ-FIekdXClGpGU2GCEPfaO9855-OmRIH0vOnK_5er3odPGFaUfNO3-Py80qjpLdKKWkAAV5cDQzquBAaFibRUStYtGAga_obW8irM/s1600/PC_Hike_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3I5Wb2gK1WJtixRiVOOVj1lz_oD6q9wRqRF-Wj5MJ-FIekdXClGpGU2GCEPfaO9855-OmRIH0vOnK_5er3odPGFaUfNO3-Py80qjpLdKKWkAAV5cDQzquBAaFibRUStYtGAga_obW8irM/s640/PC_Hike_1.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-44153088042860011442015-10-22T21:52:00.004+02:002015-10-22T21:53:12.610+02:00Germany in Pictures<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wow, I think it's been almost a whole month since my last post. Not for want of trying, I have a few posts in draft that I've been trying to finish, as well as trying to get through a bunch of photo's that I've taken and want to edit a bit (to add a bit of polish) before posting!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyway, here is a second round of the rest of my Germany photos, now that I've finally found an evening and finished editing them! To round the rest of my trip up in a nutshell - I had a busy week with our client, first giving some training and then testing the software in preparation for using the it in the "real world". After finishing up on Friday, I caught a train to visit my friend in Regensburg. My 5 hour train ride turned into a 7 hour ride due to delays along the way (where is that German precision when you need it?!) but eventually I got there and it was lovely to be in a smaller, student town.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Even though it was early Saturday morning when I got to Regensburg, there were still a lot of people out, walking along the cobblestone streets all kitted out in the lederhosen and dirndls! Some of the highlights of my weekend were walking around the city and playing tourist, going up to the tops of churches to get views of the city and going to the dult (like a mini Oktoberfest) where I got to meet a bunch of Kim's work colleagues, who were a melting pot of languages and cultures and all very friendly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I spent my last day and a bit in Munich. By this time, the weather had turned bad and I spent the day walking the mizzly streets, trying to find my way to Marienplatz. I'm happy to say that I was in time to see the Glockenspiel play from a crowded doorway where people were trying to get out of the rain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have got so many good memories tucked away, but I think, for this post, I'm going to let my pictures do the rest of the talking for my second post on Germany.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-72286872182091428732015-09-27T16:11:00.000+02:002015-09-27T16:12:37.757+02:00Germany Trip: Cologne<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hi everyone, I'm sorry I've been so quiet lately! As you may know, I recently got back from a work trip to Germany and so I thought I would share a few of my pics and experiences in a few posts, starting off with my trip there and my weekend in Cologne.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I left work at lunch time of Friday afternoon and after a quick stop at home to drop some things off and meet Frosty, I got dropped at the airport a little earlier than I had expected. But that's fine by me, since I much prefer arriving somewhere early as opposed to screeching in at the last minute. It gave me a chance to get all checked in and, since I really did have quite a bit of time to spare, I decided to use the chance to get a haircut! There's nothing like a haircut to make you feel better and a few days before my hair had reached that I-need-to-get-cut-yesterday phase, so it was a great way to pass the time!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitXeFvbyKzvJ9DV4jonoJN1SG-e45rathohtAmlO_xxyClEF_PwzgLzFg7qsgUpC_u7BWHtAAyDXEu6ZDoSu0pAo73mAOz90pEkdoFM4mXkxDIMWNIzok62gcU_D9uUVfK1REeFiFn8g5X/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitXeFvbyKzvJ9DV4jonoJN1SG-e45rathohtAmlO_xxyClEF_PwzgLzFg7qsgUpC_u7BWHtAAyDXEu6ZDoSu0pAo73mAOz90pEkdoFM4mXkxDIMWNIzok62gcU_D9uUVfK1REeFiFn8g5X/s640/PC_Germany_2015_1.jpg" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ready to fly after a new haircut.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A quick fight later and I had landed in Joburg with a few more hours to kill. This time I found myself a quick snack and then took a browse around Exclusive Books. I had been looking for a good book to read for ages and when I caught sight of Sheryl Sandburg's book, <a href="http://leanin.org/book/">Lean In</a>, I knew that that was the book that I would be taking along with me. I think the fact that I had completed more than half the book before I had landed in Cologne is indicative of how good a read this book is - I'll hopefully be sharing a bit more about my thoughts on the book later, as it deserves a post all of it's own.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I sat next to a lovely lady on my way there and she was the perfect seat mate - friendly and chatty for a little while and then quiet when it was time to be quiet. For a while after take off the weather was quite stormy and lightning-y and not particularly nice and I thought I'd try to photograph lightning - in between black screens of pictures that didn't catch any lightning, I caught one or two pics where the lightning is catching the clouds which I'm pretty excited about! This one below is probably my favourite one and with a bit of editing, it's come out really nicely - don't you think?</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaNK6LPv8I7oFuJh7-_0Z5Ce0jPjyLylmxaB2BvG3wDlRO70Ldf5sGkKu2vdmRDCbOqKabUDCKLnMobr28ieYW0c_mGL46BTOh2_QqIwChe3P6lJwBu0UmNzOSaEqm3W8DNPl2YlMET9Bg/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Lightning in the clouds taken from an airplane" border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaNK6LPv8I7oFuJh7-_0Z5Ce0jPjyLylmxaB2BvG3wDlRO70Ldf5sGkKu2vdmRDCbOqKabUDCKLnMobr28ieYW0c_mGL46BTOh2_QqIwChe3P6lJwBu0UmNzOSaEqm3W8DNPl2YlMET9Bg/s640/PC_Germany_2015_2.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lightning and clouds from a plane - I was contemplating whether I should go through the effort of<br />taking my camera out to try and get some pics of the lightning and I'm really chuffed that, in the end,<br />I decided to get my camera out!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My investment in one of those awesome neck pillows also really helped and I think I got about 4 hours or solid sleep in, which is a record for me as I don't usually sleep comfortably on a plane! We arrived in Munich in the early hours of Saturday morning and I loved seeing how green and "farmy" the countryside around Munich was, as we were descending to land. I had a quick layover in Munich and then an hour flight to get to Cologne, which had a more "foresty" feel to it when we were flying in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the things that first struck me about Germany is that it's a really beautiful country and it immediately appealed to me for a reason I can't quite pinpoint. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the best things about being able to travel is meeting up with friends who come from, or who have moved to, different parts of the world. When I went to Italy I was able to meet up with my "Italian sister" which was a really special time. This time I was able to meet up with a friend from varsity who had moved to Germany a few months before. Kim and I both used this opportunity to see a bit of Germany, she got to come and explore a bit of Cologne with me over the first weekend I was there. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX_nj-z0iAt0d24sXa2-9IQTsWstXE7W1VcjLrvDiMS5eRLjhGTPxFaIOUV7iHtbnpnWmq6Txu_EZvtX_wgP-p-pQLPiSWSOHTIoJb0KdjYFzpnbVDldj8as0DuoHw34v-9rJboYsuJF2w/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Black and white cow in green field" border="0" height="404" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX_nj-z0iAt0d24sXa2-9IQTsWstXE7W1VcjLrvDiMS5eRLjhGTPxFaIOUV7iHtbnpnWmq6Txu_EZvtX_wgP-p-pQLPiSWSOHTIoJb0KdjYFzpnbVDldj8as0DuoHw34v-9rJboYsuJF2w/s640/PC_Germany_2015_3.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">German countryside.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5YQOOphDi586ikk0W0_6sMaCeQzJAWqSTLBWEzFVTemNat2_59rVL4zIPglocBpbZyQd1fiBqFb7uJXaDtu_5AlG7G5zXZSBiLKLhHkCKEaJnbWQ8jG3Nfr6lFdvcrY3Eav45mDg7OseO/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5YQOOphDi586ikk0W0_6sMaCeQzJAWqSTLBWEzFVTemNat2_59rVL4zIPglocBpbZyQd1fiBqFb7uJXaDtu_5AlG7G5zXZSBiLKLhHkCKEaJnbWQ8jG3Nfr6lFdvcrY3Eav45mDg7OseO/s640/PC_Germany_2015_19.jpg" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kim and I - great to catch up with friends in foreign cities!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We spent two happy days exploring Cologne. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 22.4px;">Kölner Dom (aka Cologne Cathedral) is one of Germany's biggest tourist attractions and it really is an amazing sight! I had the most incredible view of the Dom from my hotel room and waking up and going to sleep with the Dom as a view was an incredibly special thing! Inside they have some beautiful stained glass windows, some of them older and some slightly newer. Kim and I both really enjoyed the window that was made up of hundreds of identically sized squares of different coloured glass, that are meant to represent pixels. This, of course, appealed to the engineer in both Kim and me!</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp7CLADrCzSolIZLviWvc24_6GUcQ_5QC2HQetL7qcQEhLKZB0vzVX_kZrudM_6hYtvcHJzINje8GHGb9PB1PJSk841RwffNp70w-56nqCE22uJpV4sV88ziqTg8Zv8iO9RMdijlk8YIMz/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Inside the Kölner Dom" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp7CLADrCzSolIZLviWvc24_6GUcQ_5QC2HQetL7qcQEhLKZB0vzVX_kZrudM_6hYtvcHJzINje8GHGb9PB1PJSk841RwffNp70w-56nqCE22uJpV4sV88ziqTg8Zv8iO9RMdijlk8YIMz/s640/PC_Germany_2015_4.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Inside the Kölner Dom - beautiful arches.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsEHZTgYuAcPSMCU_M2H1yWvOzNUti1hIWRRQH5hvlmfrxRhETBc-Yb2ZKJot9JUgpA6yjCvwl4lK89lZN2-WPcWzEqh4f0GsCA9UN4DtxmQ3f68DJty00mi5nHC-zt0a_ZUtEsXYKPAj4/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Inside the Kölner Dom - Stained Glass Windows" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsEHZTgYuAcPSMCU_M2H1yWvOzNUti1hIWRRQH5hvlmfrxRhETBc-Yb2ZKJot9JUgpA6yjCvwl4lK89lZN2-WPcWzEqh4f0GsCA9UN4DtxmQ3f68DJty00mi5nHC-zt0a_ZUtEsXYKPAj4/s640/PC_Germany_2015_5.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There were beautiful stained glass windows everywhere.</span></td></tr>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU5S8Jr8hPu1ZBB4QCDA_JwkdX9-5zu6KwrREJ_i29-SOYHXwf2MRHX0UUogo3tPL_ZGqqrpZZNbI07vJr_PecA92cAqZbgBWWpbjko2I4aN2f083pREZaikybYgL-IShyBqYZAdemSz_3/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Inside the Kölner Dom" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU5S8Jr8hPu1ZBB4QCDA_JwkdX9-5zu6KwrREJ_i29-SOYHXwf2MRHX0UUogo3tPL_ZGqqrpZZNbI07vJr_PecA92cAqZbgBWWpbjko2I4aN2f083pREZaikybYgL-IShyBqYZAdemSz_3/s640/PC_Germany_2015_6.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="408" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Inside the Kölner Dom - modern stained glass windows that look like pixels.</span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxTmnxlCdUwvzw2ZGecc_5j5EVAMGp5HGFJDhj1j8yIFwSfEt88V1uroY8P8oEWc95TbkvKaqjFVxE0zecExrURMD7aYjZJUzGXL8AOtILxlojb2FTxmitzOMPUKyx8TI9LyN13ljYlEcd/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Inside the Kölner Dom - Candles" border="0" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxTmnxlCdUwvzw2ZGecc_5j5EVAMGp5HGFJDhj1j8yIFwSfEt88V1uroY8P8oEWc95TbkvKaqjFVxE0zecExrURMD7aYjZJUzGXL8AOtILxlojb2FTxmitzOMPUKyx8TI9LyN13ljYlEcd/s640/PC_Germany_2015_7.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I always love seeing the beautiful candles that get lit within churches and the Dom was no different.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After walking across a bridge filled with Love Locks, we decided on a whim to try and get to the top of a building that had a stream of people walking around it. We managed to find the building and </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">28 stories higher up, we got to the top of a cylindrical building and had a wonderful panoramic view of Cologne. Even though it had started to rain by this stage, it was lovely to see </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzFrupngB8o4DYjUi5T0qOiLkDmj01zTW5E6WBBfc88vmtZMl6Kr37fNeQ9hxLxd7WUllE9sVaAOoIhTA2o5qqy0ZjVhS91-I2nA70_0av7ggdLUI6Os5t5Vw1ijsUN8f5Qiif8Oje6_GL/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Köln" border="0" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzFrupngB8o4DYjUi5T0qOiLkDmj01zTW5E6WBBfc88vmtZMl6Kr37fNeQ9hxLxd7WUllE9sVaAOoIhTA2o5qqy0ZjVhS91-I2nA70_0av7ggdLUI6Os5t5Vw1ijsUN8f5Qiif8Oje6_GL/s640/PC_Germany_2015_8.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Strolling along the Rhine in Köln.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLceSwt5pdsR8J07QDCXqYTAxY32fuK1hMd4yEgx3h3pDfbsh5pYa8BhR7X17SosTSjoJXBfh42pH0doJjun5WOn41JKQzFkAOIau_UW738weLmkK5kZ6emZFe7YgrBrb2JmpNWYgtXRhb/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Love Locks Bridge in Köln" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLceSwt5pdsR8J07QDCXqYTAxY32fuK1hMd4yEgx3h3pDfbsh5pYa8BhR7X17SosTSjoJXBfh42pH0doJjun5WOn41JKQzFkAOIau_UW738weLmkK5kZ6emZFe7YgrBrb2JmpNWYgtXRhb/s640/PC_Germany_2015_9.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="512" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Love Locks in Köln.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisYsk7cr1eokDnhh9kPeiW5pgzoCIOg-Goqc-DsAD8N3O5ez1hRZWLMKzGdjkCMQxiP4quctgFEr2bmQV_qOgTTXB7qGKDMO_CAI6hkYf6fxSOwq51wPUd9_e3LwNrDr78l0doXcv6-aXH/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Köln Love Locks" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisYsk7cr1eokDnhh9kPeiW5pgzoCIOg-Goqc-DsAD8N3O5ez1hRZWLMKzGdjkCMQxiP4quctgFEr2bmQV_qOgTTXB7qGKDMO_CAI6hkYf6fxSOwq51wPUd9_e3LwNrDr78l0doXcv6-aXH/s640/PC_Germany_2015_10.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In France, they apparently removed <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32960470">45 tons worth of Love Locks</a> from a bridge <br />where people followed a similar concept - the weight of the locks hadn't <br />been factored in to the design of the bridge and they were starting to affect<br />the structural integrity of the bridge!</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKm7mndF1C6XLxC3QQjQyKxq7KhdLr9OkL5Sk2u9xSaAATR8MAN9ftdpbjpsDDp4hyphenhyphenkjC8RxPkYmDhHFy3y48efd0ttkqliTGfgPxEablQrzE53N-KQVGvW9Uvk_ueHOJ_fFICxMlg2GuQ/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_11.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="View of the Dom from 28 Stories Up in Köln" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKm7mndF1C6XLxC3QQjQyKxq7KhdLr9OkL5Sk2u9xSaAATR8MAN9ftdpbjpsDDp4hyphenhyphenkjC8RxPkYmDhHFy3y48efd0ttkqliTGfgPxEablQrzE53N-KQVGvW9Uvk_ueHOJ_fFICxMlg2GuQ/s640/PC_Germany_2015_11.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="408" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">View of the Dom from 28 stories up.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOLa2kIY5fFHtXzymmcB6GT6PXt6dcXj3qszCNV532dCULPxxh9SGuu6eDO7lyRaCt6hK-rXfdfnby4I01tpISDM-I6EgOsDOuJAOFht14JmeMIWGV7yeCOFCOW8HkKkCl4mLdSMVLHUbH/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_12.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Köln Panorama" border="0" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOLa2kIY5fFHtXzymmcB6GT6PXt6dcXj3qszCNV532dCULPxxh9SGuu6eDO7lyRaCt6hK-rXfdfnby4I01tpISDM-I6EgOsDOuJAOFht14JmeMIWGV7yeCOFCOW8HkKkCl4mLdSMVLHUbH/s640/PC_Germany_2015_12.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Getting creative with rain.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When we got back to the hotel on the first evening, after stopping at the shops to get a bite for dinner, we set up a picnic inside our hotel room and had a really great time taking pictures of the most breathtaking sunset. It just kept getting better and better!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizc4CYzaNFguJSbW_-6S3BnQEp91i7tttHEO3u32nVYx-4BmB-3_ke4zw0y77-tZRmqxZINmRiu6iQTOtzWJ9EI_4oSbXp_ABcZv-hxi2oEdLKH_rLpvqPwMmUOiJZQTKw0baRxFseQJTm/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_13.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Sunset and reflections in puddles on a roof" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizc4CYzaNFguJSbW_-6S3BnQEp91i7tttHEO3u32nVYx-4BmB-3_ke4zw0y77-tZRmqxZINmRiu6iQTOtzWJ9EI_4oSbXp_ABcZv-hxi2oEdLKH_rLpvqPwMmUOiJZQTKw0baRxFseQJTm/s640/PC_Germany_2015_13.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Reflections on a roof top.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikpesTdmLIyfHQ8QV05M_crghKTYWM3AFTDf_unBy0OKavWyBzr4ugq-tMDoILfl3-J8ySOTvQ6KXOaJYGqleSo-lSK1yAoXV1v6TFTAzifCVmSwyujOiK_mQjeS_-rgzWMZFWtO3HDdJz/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_14.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Distant view of Köln" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikpesTdmLIyfHQ8QV05M_crghKTYWM3AFTDf_unBy0OKavWyBzr4ugq-tMDoILfl3-J8ySOTvQ6KXOaJYGqleSo-lSK1yAoXV1v6TFTAzifCVmSwyujOiK_mQjeS_-rgzWMZFWtO3HDdJz/s640/PC_Germany_2015_14.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">View of Köln from a distance - you can see the Dom on the right.</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtOm5jm0jACHprpISNNndBTZn3nJJY3Ym1p8EP9Ft7z6erQN-yhJ8Wz_LbyDKLIEAOhESxXcYGcMzmbiSV1I92IVnPmyTrHVxzgIVub_nYo9DDQzL-Yt8q90qUrYJryk_jThfNkBmickpB/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_15.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtOm5jm0jACHprpISNNndBTZn3nJJY3Ym1p8EP9Ft7z6erQN-yhJ8Wz_LbyDKLIEAOhESxXcYGcMzmbiSV1I92IVnPmyTrHVxzgIVub_nYo9DDQzL-Yt8q90qUrYJryk_jThfNkBmickpB/s640/PC_Germany_2015_15.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kim at sunset.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpRK3Ex9Jv-ksv5irVzJ3_PAgyQgmeqPR12ujLoQfHIkaPYfdK_Pgvjrj1O8gF0UzOFxo275a3uRMYOilv6mr_JKJM_Rs93AiK72gjDBe5hCAo61caDTCjjrUu6eo-r-nZkKwYE8QeAj16/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_16.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="View of a city at sunset through leaves" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpRK3Ex9Jv-ksv5irVzJ3_PAgyQgmeqPR12ujLoQfHIkaPYfdK_Pgvjrj1O8gF0UzOFxo275a3uRMYOilv6mr_JKJM_Rs93AiK72gjDBe5hCAo61caDTCjjrUu6eo-r-nZkKwYE8QeAj16/s640/PC_Germany_2015_16.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Getting creative with framing my pictures.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgplHy4Wsf6VVcidt9Y-FwI9iXQJQhgJFAhiJCXHGfzniHcEWmBMFpFmOuFuF_SKLJsYocfWJQK0lHneCXtGp5rRL__qwhTcoeOvgL9XYLok5n7YWMg96xzj0Tch5qumDuSuUfYcLAK_Wqw/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_17.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgplHy4Wsf6VVcidt9Y-FwI9iXQJQhgJFAhiJCXHGfzniHcEWmBMFpFmOuFuF_SKLJsYocfWJQK0lHneCXtGp5rRL__qwhTcoeOvgL9XYLok5n7YWMg96xzj0Tch5qumDuSuUfYcLAK_Wqw/s640/PC_Germany_2015_17.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Me and my reflection taken by Kim.<br />Thanks Kimi! </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixcQYQbBIP0Ru7Qvckp24uZpU-AYrMIkixGTTon3o8FTvxTQbUOxBxPLOkw8dfykOgdwFrN69RYkcMHxb60LRmszOpRetabSFDBSduW4Vs8dj2Nv0FHu3frBpF8FHcpGxuAfB2jAtIOi4U/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_18.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Red and gold sunset with cityscape" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixcQYQbBIP0Ru7Qvckp24uZpU-AYrMIkixGTTon3o8FTvxTQbUOxBxPLOkw8dfykOgdwFrN69RYkcMHxb60LRmszOpRetabSFDBSduW4Vs8dj2Nv0FHu3frBpF8FHcpGxuAfB2jAtIOi4U/s640/PC_Germany_2015_18.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This sunset just kept getting better and better!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the highlights of the weekend was a visit to the Lindt Chocolate Museum on the Sunday! One thing that was really great about both the Museum and the Dom was that they had information available in English! It made a huge difference being able to read the pamphlets and information boards in English (and gave me a chance to brush up on my German, with an easy translation of English right next to it!). I'm sure the question on everyone's mind is "so, did you get free chocolate at the museum?" the answer to which is "YES!". The museum really was fascinating and covered a huge variety of subjects from chocolate packaging and marketing to the process of obtaining cocoa beans to making chocolate (complete with machines) to packing chocolate and finally, the history of chocolate. Oh, and did I mention they also have a small hot-house where they grow actual cocoa trees?! AND we got to see first hand how they make those hollow figurines. All in all, a very worthy visit!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As a final activity on Sunday afternoon, Kim and I met up with one of her classmates who was studying relatively close by, which was also great. Even though I had only spent two days in Germany, hearing a South African accent in amongst the chatter of people was a very welcome thing indeed!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivVTqXmpdvkchpSLVUs8_RjE6RhwKwn4H7rJyE3J06I3LqUXjBqDPJC2EEiAd9KosyYjXuhqPBKVuwK4cbp5ZM2FrQ7EX-1c2PuJzAY0Z8gj0xGNjMX8HpxaN5GHYdmlyOENvhirOxEuQQ/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_20.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The Lindt Chocolate Museum in Köln" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivVTqXmpdvkchpSLVUs8_RjE6RhwKwn4H7rJyE3J06I3LqUXjBqDPJC2EEiAd9KosyYjXuhqPBKVuwK4cbp5ZM2FrQ7EX-1c2PuJzAY0Z8gj0xGNjMX8HpxaN5GHYdmlyOENvhirOxEuQQ/s640/PC_Germany_2015_20.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="412" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kim outside the Lindt Chocolate Museum in Köln.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwZnUyDe_Y7V04pcRDsQwRK6rVq2VfkyXy993QFKn9L1RRsz65fF5Aw_QT2wfA_3YfNmOdtm1vijDWQS_EWA5g6u5QCFYf0YvbjCp1Z0BQuHDgHvj8gazVCFjEqGGBCPGjwyroxygPak8y/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_21.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Lindt Chocolate Museum in Köln" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwZnUyDe_Y7V04pcRDsQwRK6rVq2VfkyXy993QFKn9L1RRsz65fF5Aw_QT2wfA_3YfNmOdtm1vijDWQS_EWA5g6u5QCFYf0YvbjCp1Z0BQuHDgHvj8gazVCFjEqGGBCPGjwyroxygPak8y/s640/PC_Germany_2015_21.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="416" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Me outside the Lindt Chocolate Museum.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWCQwbxixG3nxtzimo08ZhgbiWKTZbzsth_9LBS_OFX77W0uAl_phtGHLu4ncKFkHk63DECNUAi-w1Ja2eqwMv_OGmNd8-ja2xpYHEHcw9hWyICL27uVvsfOxZWmHTsTVCdAD33_GQXkoR/s1600/PC_Germany_2015_22.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Learning how hollow chocolate figurines are made in the Lindt Chocolate Museum" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWCQwbxixG3nxtzimo08ZhgbiWKTZbzsth_9LBS_OFX77W0uAl_phtGHLu4ncKFkHk63DECNUAi-w1Ja2eqwMv_OGmNd8-ja2xpYHEHcw9hWyICL27uVvsfOxZWmHTsTVCdAD33_GQXkoR/s640/PC_Germany_2015_22.JPG" title="Practical Cookie Germany 2015" width="412" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To make the hollow figurines, chocolate is put into moulds and the<br />moulds are then put into these heads. The actual heads rotate in a circle<br />and then so does the entire 'X' shape, ensuring that the chocolate is<br />distributed evenly while it is setting. In the 'olden days' the chocolate figures<br />were put into metal moulds, but plastic is much cheaper and easier to recycle!</span></td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-309871134757506382015-09-17T17:06:00.002+02:002015-09-17T17:07:35.285+02:00Quote #9: The Secret Of...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhem5TfPnOs3GquUSPmmYxhiVQ2rOuz_3R0p6Leeic17wyBsQEQx91k7HtuJMJpNFfVPHPkCYgQ3gOmsPq0wy4pR0Wzp1b3Xd8g3ECDJDbjy9hzXJKbPRVZ08FfeHE0HBqw2Tzf7Kovd-PS/s1600/PC_Quote_Week09.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Practical Cookie Wise Words Wednesdays Week 9" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhem5TfPnOs3GquUSPmmYxhiVQ2rOuz_3R0p6Leeic17wyBsQEQx91k7HtuJMJpNFfVPHPkCYgQ3gOmsPq0wy4pR0Wzp1b3Xd8g3ECDJDbjy9hzXJKbPRVZ08FfeHE0HBqw2Tzf7Kovd-PS/s640/PC_Quote_Week09.png" title="Practical Cookie Wise Words Wednesdays Week 9" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This week the quotes in my diary focus on starting. Something. Anything. A big project or a small activity. And the quote above is one that really appeals to me. The project that I've been working on at work started out as this seemingly massive thing where the amount of work we had to do and the time it was going to take us seemed like a stretch. But here we are, 9 months after starting development work and we're putting the finishing touches on the software and getting ready for the software to be used in a production environment (ie with real-life people and real-life situations).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think this is one of the benefits of the way that engineers are taught to think. We break a big, complex, impossible-sounding problem down into smaller manageable steps. This approach to problem solving allows us to achieve the seemingly impossible. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you can break an impossible task down into a bunch of completely possible pieces and you complete all the possible pieces successfully then, surely your impossible task just became possible by virtue of completing all the smaller possible pieces... Try this approach next time you have to solve a problem and see if it helps!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-60410157222922422332015-09-11T10:01:00.002+02:002015-09-11T10:01:34.585+02:00Quote #8: We Must Use...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ogqgdwde8xn5C6OO5VUUGEpcNmZX2A9-tSgxL4xZWmQM5I3sEHVPChzO8rm-k7zINrj3s6Ij0lzt4lVcHTauHC2Auf8KnbFcqO-Gw01EhVJgic3mJxv86aBWUUiw1SEYkdmJMuFk_cR6/s1600/PC_Quote_Week_08.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Practical Cookie Wise Words Wednesdays Week 8" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ogqgdwde8xn5C6OO5VUUGEpcNmZX2A9-tSgxL4xZWmQM5I3sEHVPChzO8rm-k7zINrj3s6Ij0lzt4lVcHTauHC2Auf8KnbFcqO-Gw01EhVJgic3mJxv86aBWUUiw1SEYkdmJMuFk_cR6/s640/PC_Quote_Week_08.png" title="Practical Cookie Wise Words Wednesdays Week 8" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This week has been a really busy week (seems like they've all been really busy recently, I guess that's the joy of projects work). I have had the most incredible time in Cologne, Germany. I'll be sharing a few more posts on this a bit later I'm sure, but here's a quick summary for you.I first met up with one of my friends and spent the weekend exploring and then this week we have been training users on our software and then getting feedback from them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My quote today focuses on the importance of time. When I was looking through my diary to find a quote, I saw this one and immediately thought of the Cologne Dom (which is the background of the picture above). The construction of this beautiful building started in 1248 and was halted in 1473 and once the work had restarted in the 19th century it was finally completed in 1880. For those who are too lazy to calculate, I'll summarise for you - from start to finish, this Cathedral took 632 years to build! That is an incredibly long time, can you just imagine the number of generations that helped to create and build this masterpiece? And can you imagine the project management of something this huge?!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I then started thinking about this in more depth and thought about how applicable this has been to me and my team in the course of our project. As we don't all meet in person very often, we have sometimes had to be very creative in terms of our time usage (such as having meetings and performing tests in parallel) in order to maximise the time we spend together and get the most benefit out of it. In some cases we have succeeded in managing our time creatively. In other cases, we have not been particularly creative in managing our time together, but hopefully we have learnt from it and can improve it at our next face-to-face meetings. I think the biggest learning from this trip is that as a project team, we need to insist that users have their days completely dedicated to performing the User Acceptance Tests and ideally we want the users to sit in the same office as us so that we can assist and clarify information when needed. If users sit in their own offices, there is a high probability that they will be distracted from testing with other plant issues that inevitably crop up and need urgent attention.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Feel free to share any suggestions for using time creatively below, I'd love to hear them!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-69948659160156921252015-09-03T15:20:00.002+02:002015-09-03T15:21:46.883+02:00Quote #7: All Communication Problems...<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjROMApyDXH9-8_OyWaTuYw2OLVwJrpbh09vAesrdrHZ3RG9OH5NTNgJd1XB0Wu9ciWdijLsK3AiB28rg47iWbwQG7036E9GmDxImBJLmyG8EE7mPJts2u8XLQkvhBPulPJEWiowhhkZLlk/s1600/PC_Quote_Week07.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Practical Cookie Wise Words Wednesdays Week 7" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjROMApyDXH9-8_OyWaTuYw2OLVwJrpbh09vAesrdrHZ3RG9OH5NTNgJd1XB0Wu9ciWdijLsK3AiB28rg47iWbwQG7036E9GmDxImBJLmyG8EE7mPJts2u8XLQkvhBPulPJEWiowhhkZLlk/s640/PC_Quote_Week07.png" title="Practical Cookie Wise Words Wednesdays Week 7" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This photograph is one that I took of one of <a href="http://www.brickartist.com/">Nathan Sawaya</a>'s Lego Statues from when we visited </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://practicalcookie.blogspot.co.za/2015/01/art-of-brick-cape-town.html">The Art of the Brick in Cape Town</a> earlier this year.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This week has been a hectic week, getting prepared for my trip to Germany (I can't believe I leave tomorrow!). Part of those preparations have involved making sure that our software is getting translated into German and displaying in German, instead of English.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the beginning of the week, our German contact kept on feeding back that she was not seeing the majority of our translations appearing on her screen. And we kept on feeding back that all the provided translations have been incorporated and everything* should be displaying in German. The same message passed between us about 4 times with each of us standing their ground.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Eventually, we managed to get to the bottom of the issue, where we needed to change one small setting and then the translations displayed correctly and everyone was happy again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've definitely used this as a learning curve and I have a few ideas now of what to ask for in case something similar happens again so that instead of listening to reply, I can listen to understand and hopefully resolve things without each side having to repeat the same message over and over before figuring out the cause/problem. I think the most important thing about listening is listening actively and being able to ask questions that clarify things completely, rather than just accepting things at face value. It's something that I know I need to work on, but I hope I'm getting there!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">* Barring small errors for spelling and/or missed translations</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-74983334350411405182015-08-31T18:29:00.000+02:002015-08-31T18:34:00.694+02:00Lately August 2015<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's been such a crazy last few weeks that I've hardly had time to think about where my next meal is coming from, let alone plan more blog posts. But things are finally starting to wind down and it's just hit me that in <i>less than 1 week </i>(5 sleeps, to be exact)<i> </i>I am going to be heading off to Germany!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ok, granted it's mainly for work, but still! I've managed to organise to spend the weekend before I start in Germany and I'm going to be meeting up with a friend who moved there recently and is going to come and spend some time exploring Cologne with me. And then, the weekend after I'm going to go and see where my friend lives in Regensburg. I've been doing a little bit of research into the places I'm going to be visiting and I'm really looking forward to it! In between the weekends I'm going to be training and then testing the software we've spent the better part of 6 months customising to suit our client. It's a tough life when you work on a project that sends you to cool places like Italy (see <a href="http://practicalcookie.blogspot.com/2014/07/italy-cinque-terre.html">here</a>) and Germany!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Since most of this month has been taken up with work, it feels like I haven't really done much, especially around the first half of the month. Although, that being said, we did manage to spend a wonderful afternoon at <a href="http://www.spiceroute.co.za/">Spice Route</a> the other weekend with some friends. And one Saturday I went to a morning <a href="https://www.premiumconnect.co.za/bookings/">Nikon Camera Course</a> for my D3100 and <a href="https://instagram.com/nathanbezuidenhout/">Nathan Bezuidenhout</a> taught us some awesome tips for using our cameras (after having it for a few years, there was still extra stuff that I could learn, which was great!) and then in the evening we went to a friends birthday party. And we made good use of our <a href="http://www.tablemountain.net/content/page/cable-card">Table Mountain Cards</a> and used them to catch a lift down after hiking to the top of the mountain one morning. And this last Sunday I went to a great market out near Darling on <a href="http://www.grootepost.com/do.aspx?DOID=741&CLIENTID=3069">Groote Post Wine Farm</a> with a friend. We may have come back with a boot full of wine and delicious toffee from <a href="http://darlingsweet.co.za/">Darling Sweet</a> (think red wine and chocolate flavours, or honey and salt)...So scratch the idea of not managing to do all that much this month, considering we worked two weekends this month, we definitely made full use of the other two weekends! </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXK5K4FGZdUWsjfUJxiOtU7C9r9wstdxF1uwXdA21RMgX6aqJuKj3Qr_i3uWSQFZZaSNR_JDmQVce7N2kAG2VhC9MfNEmLXg8aN6cjHv7E4QB08VVQo9eLF-BgyByvNEpPy2yG3brI14nZ/s1600/Practical_Cookie_August_Update_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXK5K4FGZdUWsjfUJxiOtU7C9r9wstdxF1uwXdA21RMgX6aqJuKj3Qr_i3uWSQFZZaSNR_JDmQVce7N2kAG2VhC9MfNEmLXg8aN6cjHv7E4QB08VVQo9eLF-BgyByvNEpPy2yG3brI14nZ/s640/Practical_Cookie_August_Update_1.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the Nikon Camera training, we learnt how to take those cool pictures where the subject is in focus and the<br />background is blurred, this was the best one I got of my hand while I was playing around.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibqERMlGTSZ1ae5DbJdlj64fAGjOtha6kRpRUdVofIIHktFj1NX2GKpdsTmCdXy6pkSb4maGl3XIgipSOY_I8oBh3oVl9ism5aRAt2zWgOnldVST_eohQE-rjBX7dlcxFdrcnJgQPtY5Br/s1600/Practical_Cookie_August_Update_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="80's Themed Party" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibqERMlGTSZ1ae5DbJdlj64fAGjOtha6kRpRUdVofIIHktFj1NX2GKpdsTmCdXy6pkSb4maGl3XIgipSOY_I8oBh3oVl9ism5aRAt2zWgOnldVST_eohQE-rjBX7dlcxFdrcnJgQPtY5Br/s640/Practical_Cookie_August_Update_2.JPG" title="Practical Cookie August 2015" width="462" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Me and Frosty at our friends awesome 80's themed birthday!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSTNsNra1mJTyeNsR_Z9xhe8uhcRceN8HSZtQTFEqg5sCR_6Gu_1REtK0pG5MczkPnrn_DcUcxBRoIOiMsDTpVWr-K0hoOpEf07pLaoGeWflZ-M5ykrNFD5P4t4wsi3HtlcD1xkR89TaqX/s1600/Practical_Cookie_August_Update_3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Chocolate cake with multicoloured heart in the middle" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSTNsNra1mJTyeNsR_Z9xhe8uhcRceN8HSZtQTFEqg5sCR_6Gu_1REtK0pG5MczkPnrn_DcUcxBRoIOiMsDTpVWr-K0hoOpEf07pLaoGeWflZ-M5ykrNFD5P4t4wsi3HtlcD1xkR89TaqX/s640/Practical_Cookie_August_Update_3.JPG" title="Practical Cookie August 2015" width="506" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How incredible is this cake? I wish I could claim I made</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">it, but unfortunately I cant :(</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsJjXihu8SNQpIDKrS7EorrrdYMAHTS2lnB9xj1jQk7tRh81IR5nt6ezrT8G3DU0F-JaWRPtbxnZ1SYcsz3CPeJcoqcprmGbsKUd-sTJtNs17IpWY7lasfiatz8UuCgWCXu6p0yBXYeFjx/s1600/Practical_Cookie_August_Update_4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="View from Spice Route Front Lawn" border="0" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsJjXihu8SNQpIDKrS7EorrrdYMAHTS2lnB9xj1jQk7tRh81IR5nt6ezrT8G3DU0F-JaWRPtbxnZ1SYcsz3CPeJcoqcprmGbsKUd-sTJtNs17IpWY7lasfiatz8UuCgWCXu6p0yBXYeFjx/s640/Practical_Cookie_August_Update_4.JPG" title="Practical Cookie August 2015" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Beautiful view from the front lawn of Spice Route.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp70KkTpVqY9QrbDCFPE8cfAuCOhU_l7uqbVlO55vjlw77d5FaavhTmxS7n4aWhK3y_kMHqJJhMyUhZb3MZXqMslEsLG4SINu4roNOPPOOsKcPFVQLir6Uyn23iqfqsSlEEYsRTsY44aO7/s1600/Practical_Cookie_August_Update_5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="View from Spice Route Front Lawn" border="0" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp70KkTpVqY9QrbDCFPE8cfAuCOhU_l7uqbVlO55vjlw77d5FaavhTmxS7n4aWhK3y_kMHqJJhMyUhZb3MZXqMslEsLG4SINu4roNOPPOOsKcPFVQLir6Uyn23iqfqsSlEEYsRTsY44aO7/s640/Practical_Cookie_August_Update_5.JPG" title="Practical Cookie August 2015" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We were so lucky with the weather on that day - probably one of the best day's we had in August!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfaWN82ah2K14boTOQeucwlY6be6vsVMZb_0JlBJdFXHYp6KN0g87-rueJWj3oHa63iBde2PqociGt8A4ot9ErXZPczY-2nF57GFPsFdM7WHKKfTuYRy0X7yn_SJTPBYKq-IJd4vBc-gxI/s1600/Practical_Cookie_August_Update_6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Orange breasted sunbird being inquisitive" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfaWN82ah2K14boTOQeucwlY6be6vsVMZb_0JlBJdFXHYp6KN0g87-rueJWj3oHa63iBde2PqociGt8A4ot9ErXZPczY-2nF57GFPsFdM7WHKKfTuYRy0X7yn_SJTPBYKq-IJd4vBc-gxI/s640/Practical_Cookie_August_Update_6.JPG" title="Practical Cookie August 2015" width="448" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I can't get enough of the Orange Breasted Sunbirds on top of Table<br />Mountain. This little guy was extremely interested when we started playing<br />his call using the Roberts App!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEMhIsIJ38lLnf-hoa4pnDvhqUywPNTKU1DsLXg6y2wTgtMtwQBlRJAU2uSJfWBzu1ZbNvpFlAEgwc799lYD33AeeMPMOSKxiufMVwvz6WzwZwRtVTHp5nDD_r4_it02Ux5uIklC2R_Y_0/s1600/Practical_Cookie_August_Update_7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Orange Breasted Sunbird on top of a red hot poker aloe on Table Mountain" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEMhIsIJ38lLnf-hoa4pnDvhqUywPNTKU1DsLXg6y2wTgtMtwQBlRJAU2uSJfWBzu1ZbNvpFlAEgwc799lYD33AeeMPMOSKxiufMVwvz6WzwZwRtVTHp5nDD_r4_it02Ux5uIklC2R_Y_0/s640/Practical_Cookie_August_Update_7.JPG" title="Practical Cookie August 2015" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Looking regal on top of a red hot poker aloe</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-14822617048660118792015-08-28T15:21:00.002+02:002015-08-28T15:26:52.792+02:00Quote #6: Gratitude<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Shew, I'm a bit late with my quote of the week this week, but better late than never!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Gratitude. Isn't it interesting how sometimes we forget to be thankful and instead focus on what we don't have. I love that this quote cuts to the chase and makes us realise that if we are grateful for what we have, we see that we actually don't need all that much...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I also read an interesting post on gratefulness (<a href="http://cleverbirdbanter.com/2015/07/29/be-grateful-today-for-the-things-you-want-to-have-in-your-life-tomorrow/">here</a>) which I think fits in quite nicely with this theme. And since there was a challenge at the end, here's what I'm grateful for:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>My Family</b>: they were the people who knew me before I knew myself and helped to mould me into the person I am today. Although most of them live far away, we always have great fun when we're together.<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Frosty</b>: the guy who gives the best hugs, has his own type of logic (Frost Logic) which he uses to teach people complex ideas, who adventures and explores with me, who challenges me and lets me challenge him. My friend and my favourite place.<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>My Friends</b>: from the adventure time family who are mainly in Cape Town to those who I don't see often and wish I could see more of, new friends and old friends and everyone in between. Whether it's a reason, season or lifetime, all of you bring out a different aspect in me and for that I am so grateful.<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>My Work:</b> I have learnt so much from my two different jobs - what I like and what I don't like. What I'm happy doing and what I will do my best to avoid. Qualities to keep or discard in the workplace. The opportunity to travel to cool places within my work and to interact with people from all over the world.<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>My Privilege</b>: the food that keeps my tummy happy, the roof over my head, the home that I live in, being able to drive to work in my own car and having enough money in my bank account to be able to do fun things every now and then.<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>My Education</b>: going to a wonderful co-ed junior school, earning a scholarship to a prestigious all-girls high school and then off to a university class where I was one of few girls and getting a degree that has allowed me to find well-paying jobs. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to learn skills that are incredibly valuable in this day and age.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, those are a few of the things I'm grateful for...what are you grateful for? Feel free to tag me on Instagram or leave a comment below, I'd love to hear from you!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvUkL1szVWl52wTNf_u9zZvdBw_HR7uYGu4sTvQu9ihCNik5YDWLaAvUJ9M-1pFIlcphoHm29tS43Xoo1NfxOifD4L41-7A-3zjWSWBFmoMj8M6BIO-5GDkNTkLYsK46ayqgSs5sRSCz5U/s1600/PC_Quote_Week06.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Practical Cookie Wise Words Wednesdays Week 6" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvUkL1szVWl52wTNf_u9zZvdBw_HR7uYGu4sTvQu9ihCNik5YDWLaAvUJ9M-1pFIlcphoHm29tS43Xoo1NfxOifD4L41-7A-3zjWSWBFmoMj8M6BIO-5GDkNTkLYsK46ayqgSs5sRSCz5U/s640/PC_Quote_Week06.png" title="Practical Cookie Wise Words Wednesdays Week 6" width="640" /></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-44377107725175178082015-08-24T19:22:00.001+02:002015-08-24T19:25:01.992+02:00Tea Time Win<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A few weeks ago I entered in a competition run by <a href="http://www.melissalouise.co.za/happy-birthday-zomato-a-giveaway/">Melissa Louise</a> and <a href="https://www.zomato.com/">Zomato</a> to win a tea experience at <a href="http://www.oways.co.za/">O'ways Teacafe</a> in Claremont. I promptly forgot all about it, but a few days later, my day was made when I found out that I had won one of the vouchers!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On a free Saturday morning, Frosty and I headed off to go and use up my voucher and we decided that since it was close to lunch, we may as well order lunch as well. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Neither Frosty nor I are big tea fans (we both usually prefer coffee), but t</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">he tea-making ritual was so peaceful and unhurried and it definitely left me thinking that I could become more of a tea drinker, just to partake in that ritual a bit more regularly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the things that we both noticed over the course of our meal and tea was that service was a key factor for O'ways. The staff were well trained and pleasant and the owner took her time at each table and mentioned just how important service was to them when she came to deliver our bill to us. As both Frosty and I spent some time working at a Four Seasons (which is a hotel chain renowned for it's service and attention to detail and where training is important for all staff), we often notice that South African restaurants are lacking in this department. However, O'ways impressed us and when we get a chance I'd like to go back to test out some of their other teas (and maybe some coffee too!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thanks Melissa Louise, Zomato and O'ways Tea Cafe, it was awesome to take part and win a competition and I'm sure we'll be back to visit O'ways soon!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyyZf6bCmEnT7PSZKPW_htqM8WUr2-pxfbyqxlYBxxKHE0mKWkml779-6meklIQUhrhv0Be9olTqItWzfZZAwmMs4Id5nMPa5CP0CAz7sBePajkbH3OkkJbeOpdgjvWpfQZ15IT_FDi7np/s1600/PC_Oways2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="O'ways Tea Cafe Tea Pot with Tealight Candle Underneath" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyyZf6bCmEnT7PSZKPW_htqM8WUr2-pxfbyqxlYBxxKHE0mKWkml779-6meklIQUhrhv0Be9olTqItWzfZZAwmMs4Id5nMPa5CP0CAz7sBePajkbH3OkkJbeOpdgjvWpfQZ15IT_FDi7np/s640/PC_Oways2.jpg" title="O'ways Tea Cafe" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If I remember correctly, I got the Rooibos and Ginger tea</span> </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4GLCj9tTEFg0AVjkRE2CZ_ZX4OXG9u9mWVg89Y0Qc88cohyphenhyphenLJW9icGWk3qMsQrYEqa-QjiWQe47FLuSWxTkG7fflmr3ktzSgi3phBfMohH0Qv3qsI10oaWTVPDVZJqjarOHpNNYrO1O8Z/s1600/PC_Oways3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="O'ways Tea Cafe Tea Pot with Tealight Candle Underneath" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4GLCj9tTEFg0AVjkRE2CZ_ZX4OXG9u9mWVg89Y0Qc88cohyphenhyphenLJW9icGWk3qMsQrYEqa-QjiWQe47FLuSWxTkG7fflmr3ktzSgi3phBfMohH0Qv3qsI10oaWTVPDVZJqjarOHpNNYrO1O8Z/s640/PC_Oways3.jpg" title="Practical Cookie visits O'ways Tea Cafe" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We discovered the meaning behind the term <i>Tealight Candle!</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLw8I85UUdlPgieVj26lXH4ZeyK3vLKW0aVdu2CakDGElpWTzg3x9DZOfhMRdmLx11GEKw3dgQbU6pB9G5n_1L0afHI7dcoeTyB9UdDr_JzIyA6TCnr8a4oPWrEQude5K1j5ftuCwSGQ7U/s1600/PC_Oways4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLw8I85UUdlPgieVj26lXH4ZeyK3vLKW0aVdu2CakDGElpWTzg3x9DZOfhMRdmLx11GEKw3dgQbU6pB9G5n_1L0afHI7dcoeTyB9UdDr_JzIyA6TCnr8a4oPWrEQude5K1j5ftuCwSGQ7U/s640/PC_Oways4.jpg" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Frosty got the Kenyan Black Tea</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6IV49YOvh0oI4AcIEnNsC9PzZoY9-oHKnjyP1ihxyw8HlcuZnxFRzZK43v7IExN0OGStntiiZf8NnOxiF95bhah9homrdTf-grsTaE4GSSAbI6EW2zeQwqkAjsyuLcQipxmLFa4FIVXhs/s1600/PC_Oways5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Peasant Food - Lunch at O'ways Tea Cafe" border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6IV49YOvh0oI4AcIEnNsC9PzZoY9-oHKnjyP1ihxyw8HlcuZnxFRzZK43v7IExN0OGStntiiZf8NnOxiF95bhah9homrdTf-grsTaE4GSSAbI6EW2zeQwqkAjsyuLcQipxmLFa4FIVXhs/s640/PC_Oways5.jpg" title="Practical Cookie visits O'ways Tea Cafe" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We got some nibbles before our main dish arrived, they were delish!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-inPs-fWZg-_rmaPKsfy-2THIG03qAYb3mcm1IjDNfo14xAYLoM2IrgCxzoBbdtkqWhT-uoMX_PE3BDUsj9xz0nOB2DPhpPkaQ-mfbdL7vfj3wTKAdLI0WQOVdZQnrJstqDAEn9JRjiqz/s1600/PC_Oways6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Gnocchi and Pesto - Lunch at O'ways Tea Cafe" border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-inPs-fWZg-_rmaPKsfy-2THIG03qAYb3mcm1IjDNfo14xAYLoM2IrgCxzoBbdtkqWhT-uoMX_PE3BDUsj9xz0nOB2DPhpPkaQ-mfbdL7vfj3wTKAdLI0WQOVdZQnrJstqDAEn9JRjiqz/s640/PC_Oways6.jpg" title="Practical Cookie visits O'ways Tea Cafe" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Frosty got the Gnocchi with Pesto and it was scrumptious.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_uSsv5AHL0wpKQBcWS21dIYOH07MpRv76WXPuzLEyC0yw_OznFSk5zucHT1ReplmsqraIzg7ggVnv5sLuSvzaTeNpcdXSvhCA-oj_dLUq2qjuxBLbg_6khMO4csCqOhh4XRLEEb4iE-Yn/s1600/PC_Oways7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Peasant Food - Lunch at O'ways Tea Cafe" border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_uSsv5AHL0wpKQBcWS21dIYOH07MpRv76WXPuzLEyC0yw_OznFSk5zucHT1ReplmsqraIzg7ggVnv5sLuSvzaTeNpcdXSvhCA-oj_dLUq2qjuxBLbg_6khMO4csCqOhh4XRLEEb4iE-Yn/s640/PC_Oways7.jpg" title="Practical Cookie visits O'ways Tea Cafe" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I got the Peasant Food - a hearty meal of a Veggie-soup type dish with a freshly baked roll - yum!</span></td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-46508142003769328942015-08-19T09:50:00.000+02:002015-08-19T09:50:19.171+02:00Quote # 5: Our Ultimate Freedom...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Isn't it interesting how, so often, we let situations beyond our control affect us in horribly negative ways without actually realising it? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I love that this quote reminds us that we have the power to choose how to react to situations and that we can choose to feel frustrated or annoyed or disappointed at certain things, but we equally have the power to choose to process these situations, learn from them and then try to let them trickle away, like water off a ducks back.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-73288154388632233702015-08-12T10:00:00.002+02:002015-08-18T20:18:51.177+02:00Quote #4: I Hated Every...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On Monday and Tuesday of <strike>this</strike> last week, I attended First Aid Training Level 1 with <a href="http://www.medicaleducation.co.za/">MEC</a> in Pinelands which I really enjoyed. It was great being able to learn some new skills and get out of the office for a few days, but as you can tell from my lack of posts last week, I've had a busy last two weeks or so...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyway, part of the training was allowing us time to practice the things that the trainers were teaching us. And it wasn't just 5 minutes to practice after they had demonstrated something. They gave us a good hour of practice for each demonstrated thing and then at the end of the day we had a practical "exam" where we had to demonstrate the activities again. This got me thinking on the importance of training.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All those hours, spent practising the same thing over and over again. It sometimes get monotonous. But it also starts to hard-wire those activities into our brains so that, when the time comes and we need to perform that activity in real life, we can do it automatically, without thinking and with speed. Pretty important when you're dealing with an emergency situation... It's an important lesson to learn, but definitely a worthwhile one, I think!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16985712688653946828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201164960185850123.post-42671524951286016712015-08-02T10:22:00.000+02:002015-08-02T10:22:26.904+02:00Numeric Math Camp Fun<div dir="ltr">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A few weeks ago, some of my colleagues and I got to spend a morning at the <a href="http://www.numeric.org/">Numeric</a> Math Camp which was held over the course of a week at UCT. We got to interact and chat to learners from Gr 6 - Gr 8 and really had a fun time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Numeric is an after school program which uses <a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/">Khan Academy</a> to expose learners in low income areas to maths and aims to improve maths scores in those areas by focussing on the basics and letting learners go at their own pace. To find out a bit more about Numeric, click <a href="http://www.numeric.org/about/">here</a>. This maths camp gives some of the top learners in the program a chance to gain some more exposure to maths in a fun and engaging environment and find out why maths is relevant later in life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I gave a fun talk on </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"My Maths Story", where I shared my maths journey. Starting from the age of 16, I explained the impact of Maths and Computer Science on my life and how Maths enabled me to pursue a career in Engineering and Software Development. I also explored the various careers I was interested in over the course of my schooling, illustrating how Maths was required in order to study all of the degrees I was interested in. I explained one or two simple engineering concepts that require maths and finished off with a few maths tips that I have learnt along the way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's always a bit nerve-wrecking standing in front of a lecture hall (probably the engineer in me coming out) and I often find that it takes me a few minutes to settle into my presentation and get comfortable in front of a big group of people, but by the time I had established that the majority of these kids knew about the CSI and NCIS TV programs, I had got into my stride and really enjoyed giving the rest of my presentation, you should hopefully be able to click through my presentation below*. The rest of the morning my colleagues played some fun maths activities with the learners, teaching them about binary numbers, the basics of image processing, sorting logic and ordering. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Numeric also put together a video of their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-T2AhMnV3Y">2015 Math Camp</a> - see if you can spot me!</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="400" id="iframe_container" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://prezi.com/embed/isxu9_-yz7ty/?bgcolor=ffffff&lock_to_path=0&autoplay=0&autohide_ctrls=0&landing_data=bHVZZmNaNDBIWmlSa1k1MmNRK3VoaXFhTktOYzU5Ynl1M2d3RmxIcTEya1lPR1VNQkE3VFByVTFQcDNrYmNYTnRCYU9oNkpMRGNkN2E4OXhaNVZCWUxtUWt2aUpHVjNVZjBTaHZLWjJqNTUyN1RyblEyNm5QMHNpWFhvQ1BJZkZhZC9qZ0JZNHdsRmQ3QT09&landing_sign=vmOKGKH7YWuFpBjC6BaCG5RsvD03RQc2Glr5DxD0Zew#" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="550"></iframe></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">* I used <a href="https://prezi.com/">Prezi</a> to create this presentation, it's a great alternative to Power Point!</span></div>
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