Can you still be vegetarian if you eat Wacky Wednesday every week

So, this year I gave up eating meat. I still eat fish and seafood. But no meat. And I was doing pretty well until last month when suddenly the cravings for a solid 100% beef burger started to drive me crazy. So...um...I caved and succumbed to the ultimate beef burger. KFC? I could hold off. McDonalds? No problem. Spur? Easy peasy. Steers Wacky Wednesday special - two glorious 100% beef burgers for the price of one? Mmmm

So I suppose the question 'can you still be vegetarian if you eat Wacky Wednesday every week? Answer: No, probably not! But dang, this burger, both these burgers are worth it.


Image: www.steers.co.za

If you can't stand the heat...

...get out of the kitchen?

Great saying, but not really possible when the heat isn't limited to the kitchen. It turns out that I may not be fully ready for summer after all. Monday and Tuesday were both incredibly warm days, and I refused to stay down. Running around town to meetings, working up a storm from a non air conditioned home desk meant that I ended up passed out on the bed before 5pm yesterday. Exhausted and drained. Probably my own fault for not sticking to the 2 litres of water a day advice. The good news is that I awoke at 5am sharp this morning to a much more refreshing day (never thought I'd see the day when I'd describe cloud cover as refreshing!) and was rearing to go. Now, if only my clients were at their offices at 5am....

What to do when its 29º?

Go to the beach of course. Woke up to the most beautiful day - warm wind wafting through the house...I knew it would get uncomfortable very quickly. So I packed a beach bag and cheapo umbrella (the only one left in the shops at the end of last summer!) and headed to the beach. Was going to make it all the way to Fishhoek but was distracted by the idea of all the sexy surfers at Muizenberg. Architecture also swayed me - I love the old retro buildings in and around Muizenberg, St James and Kalk Bay. Conjures up memories from when I was a kid...and thankfully quite a few of the old buildings are still standing. I wonder how long for though, seeing as developers are swarming in to 'save' these buildings by putting up huge sheets of glass and modern facades. It's a pity. All in all, there's no better city to play tourist in your own town in than Cape Town.

Could I have done this if I worked 9-5 at an office job? No way....at least not without a lot of lying and cheating and crying and pleading and extreme guilt on Monday morning. And that, my friends, is just another reason why being a freelance graphic designer in Cape Town is the bees knees!!!

The freelance life can get a little lonely

Sometimes you find yourself wishing you had office colleagues - that annoying yet comforting ambient sound that used to disrupt any serious 'zoning' attempts. There's plenty that one can do to distract oneself - make a cuppa tea, fix lunch, put on the telly....Judges Judy & Mathis are dangerous resorts though, call a friend. All things that reinforce the procrastination on the latest project you should be working on.

And now I have a new one. Online dating. I got so bored today I actually signed up for not 1, not 2, but 3 online dating sites. Granted, 2 & 3 were only a result of learning that 1 was not a free service. Not a simple process either I have to add. Find cute, accessible, sexy photo of oneself....mmmm, none available so will need to whip out handy iPhone and organise a home photo shoot. And this was probably the hardest part of the entire experience. Eventually, after perching on the couch arm facing a mirror to check the preview on the iPhone I am proud to say that I managed to take a half decent, half sexy, boobs out, hair tossled, sunnies on indoors to maintain anonymity photograph. Minimal photoshoppping needed. Just a little colour added to the lips.


And then I proceeded to regurgitate the most inanely cliched attributes which I was prompted to input in an attempt to hook a man.

A complete waste of time? Definitely! But the unexpected reply to my ad within 5 minutes of posting (I'll give the credit to the major boobage photo and not my witty intelligent comments) was a HUGE boost to my bored ego....and the second reply, and the third reply....pity none of them had any reciprocating pics :(

Verdict after the first day? I still prefer meeting my guys the good old fashioned way - can I buy you a drink?

When your clients are younger than you!

These were a great group of guys who needed a new brochure for their company. I had loads of fun with them. An A3 folded to A4 brochure. What was quite different for me is that they had very definite ideas about what they required and so a large part of the project was me actioning their requests. At least I know that they're happy with the end result.

My only problem is that they work so hard I couldn't find a way to make friends with them to absorb all the genius...

The company I (thought I) always wanted to design for

An interesting project. My housemate works for the the client and I'd always been more than eager to show them what I can do. So I eventually got my chance. Stress, tension, apprehension, all of those endearing emotions which drive you to nicotine and the initial feedback was actually positive. Whoo hoo...but then the brief changed. And the design needed to change to fit the new brief and eventually the original designer was put back on the job. A little bit of nastiness? I cannot believe what he submitted...I wasn't going to add this work to my portfolio. But after seeing the final artwork, I couldn't resist a not so subtle pat on my back.