Annie and I ventured out to ikea again on Saturday for (what I hope, pray and believe to be) the last shop. We took the free bus out to Jersey and arranged with John to rent a pick-up truck and collect us 4 and a half hours later. Now by this time we know how painful ikea is on a good day. Too much to buy, too many things you realize that you actually cannot live without, too many screaming kids and too many scared dads. But boy are their things nice!

Annie and I walked the upper level, placing the orders for the larger furniture pieces we were buying and then ventured downstairs to the smaller items section. The kitchen department received our full attention and we carefully selected our items – mine more stark and Annie’s more ‘country’. We moved on to the fabric / curtain section and spent a good 40 minutes weighing up different options before finally deciding on the fabric for our lounge curtains – which I started sewing today (not by hand this time!).

When we were ready to move onto ‘Carpets’, Annie started looking for her trolley (with handbag, shopping and order notes in it). Gone, missing. No cellphone reception in the store, so we couldn’t call her phone and we both started running around, peering into different people’s trolleys to see if they might have stolen Annie’s. Alas. The announcement came that they’d found a handbag. Yes…one of the highly efficient ikea staff members found Annie’s abandoned trolley and UNPACKED all her carefully selected goodies before turning the handbag in to management. (Not much chance of either actions happening in SA, right?)

This reminded me of a previous ikea trip where John was with me. We were in the bedding section, just past ‘Candles and Vases’ when I looked into the trolley and spotted a huge ugly candle lying on top of the other things. Very diplomatically I asked John why we were getting that candle. I thought you selected it, he said. On further investigation, there were more things that weren’t meant to be there! Turns out John had stolen someone else’s trolley and had left ours abandoned in the candle section. We rushed back with the swopped trolley and found the frantic owners hovering about and peering into everyone’s trolley in similar fashion as Annie and I did when hers went missing. They were very reliefed to get their ugly candle back!

So, another big shop later, we are now nearing completion on the Sjolund/Moolman household. I promise to post pics ones the curtains are up. I know, I know…I promise!

In South Africa when you buy a small chicken to roast, you generally can feed one couple, with a little bit left over for lunch the next day. Not here. I ordered a small one to roast in the oven, thinking that John and I could eat a little meat and have a chicken sandwich for lunch the next day. When this chicken came delivered (dead, plucked and cleaned, thank goodness) it was absolutely HUGE!

This monter filled the fridge and looked much more like a turkey than a normal roast chicken…

I roasted the giant with some baked potatoes and vegetables (it was absolutely delicious), and we fed three grown men, two women and had enough left over for a full lunch for both John and myself. It’s crazy.

We place a large order through Fresh Direct about twice a month and the chicken breasts they deliver are big enough to feed a small army from. I have tried to convince John that we need to start ordering organic and antibiotic-free. It’ quite a bit more expensive though, so until we start rolling in it, I am keeping a close eye on John’s chest in case that third nipple decides to make an appearance!

The thing with New York is this: You are thoroughly in a very fast rat race. It’s never quiet, it’s never not busy, it’s never like Cape Town is on a Sunday afternoon. Never. Constant sirens, hooters and what I now know as ‘grey noise’ makes for a situation where the only real quiet time is when you have your ipod plugged into both ears, native songs blaring at the highest setting. It’s crazy.

This morning when I wanted to leave the house I realised that my ipod’s batteries were out, so I had to leave it at home. By this evening I thought I was going mental. It’s so noisy! Granted, I did walk around quite a bit, but still…Is one minute of absolute silence too much to ask for?

Also, two months ago I had moments of feeling bored and slightly out of sorts. No longer. The schedule is full and up and running! Never any downtime. Weekends are planned a full week ahead and weeknights are a juggle with trying to get a bit of tv or reading fitted inbetween social engagements, eating out, art class and going to kickboxing. How did life get this busy?

Still…I’m in one of the biggest cities in the world and with that comes all the benefits. Getting a fully loaded burrito at 2am, or going shopping for a dress at 10pm. It rocks.

Now if only I could have some peace, quiet and a little time to myself…

John celebrated his birthday on Sunday and his parents has been visiting from Sweden this past week – it was great to finally meet the in-laws and we have been thoroughly spoilt with dinners, a Broadway show and even a trip down memory lane to Greenwich (Connecticut) – where John grew up – yesterday.

Probably the most difficult challenge that exists in any boy-girl relationship is the buying of the perfect birthday gift. This situation did not prove any less difficult as John is notoriously ahead of the techno-gadget game and pretty much makes a plan to own what he really wants to own. Enter Susan, the non-tech-junkie lover of all things pretty. The planning, research and searching in the quest for the perfect gift was just horrible. Ulcer-inducing horrible, I’ll have you know!

Firstly I decided to organise a surprise party for John for Saturday night. I did the research – ABBA disbanded in the year that John was born, so the theme for the surprise party would be an ABBA-themed fancy dress. Karaoke. (Because we know how much John likes to sing!). I contacted all John’s friends via Facebook, searched for the perfect karaoke venue and even liaised (secretly) with his parents to ensure that the evening would be kept free. Well, to make a long story short, only 2 people RSVPed – both not able to attend due to other plans. Ouch. Not having friends is still something to get used to!

So after the cancellation of the surprise party, I started searching for the perfect sugar-free birthday cake. This is New York – OF COURSE I was going to find a sugar-free birthday cake for John. I finally found a bakery about 25streets north of where we lived and carefully planned Saturday so I could walk up there and back, put the cake in the fridge and then be on time to get in the car to drive to Greenwich with John’s parents. So yesterday morning I left the apartment at 8.30 to get to the store in time for its 9am opening. They brought the cake I had booked out from the back and my face just dropped… I was going to pay USD30 for a 5cm high slab of chocolate mousse which is about 13cms wide. No icing, no decorations, no cookie base…just the slab of chocolate mousse… I calculated the cost of a Charlie’s cake (best cake in Cape Town) compared to what I would have to pay for this horrible dissapointment, and decided NO. So (again – this is becoming tradition for me in New York!) I turned on my heel and left the store.

John got woken up with sugar-free snow pie and strawberries this morning!

Next problem was the gift…Friday afternoon at 4.30 I still hadn’t decided what to give him. Macy’s (not yet Meisie’s) is your friend… I got him a couple of little titbits, but the ultimate piece de resistance is a super-sized George Foreman grill! We had our first meal on it this afteroon – hotdogs, saurkraut and Diet Coke – the ultimate birthday lunch!

Tonight we’re being treated to dinner at Nobu – one of the hottest Japanese restaurants in town! Watch this space… Oh, and happy birthday John!

A long weekend in Houston Texas went by in a whirlwind of beer, gay cowboys, ribs the size of dinosaurs’, line dancing and fat people. It was awesome!

I’ll try my best to capture what was one of the best weekends since we left sunny South Africe to come on this adventure.

1. Get up at 5.15am on Friday morning to catch a cab to JFK at 5.45am. Arrive at JFK – flight delayed by 4 hours.
2. Arrive in Houston to be picked up by John’s friend (originally from illinois, but they met while studying in Durban a couple of years ago) Mark, who spent a lot of time and effort putting his outfit together to give us a real taste of Texas. (The cowboy boots, hat and Texas shirt were all borrowed…or so he says).

3. Eat Mexican food
4. Arrive at Mark & his wife Rochelle’s fabulous house – not only can 6 of our apartments fit into their house, but they have a backyard, with a barbecue grill! Am v jealous.
5. Drink Lone Star beer – Anything else would be treason

6. Don cowboy hat (NOTE: Hat not to be removed for the entire weekend.)
7. Go to WILD WEST – a real country western bar where the men wear cowboy hats, cowboy boots and Wrangler jeans so tight that they have no choice but to walk bow-legged
8. Drink more beer
9. Play some pool
10. Watch fat people
11. Drink more beer

12. Go for a 12pm pork sandwich at a local diner (Healthy, I know!)
13. Decide that for the entire weekend, whenever John or I cross the road, it has to be done in galloping-style, slapping your ass and screaming Hee-Hah! (Persist with this style of crossing the street for the entire weekend)

Saturday
1. Go shopping at Fiesta – a true Mexican shopping complex where you can buy at least 50 types of beans in a can. Lovely.
2. Prepare breakfast – oats and fruit
3. Prepare a guicamole to kill for – total avocados used: 10
4. Don cowboy hat (naughty to have removed it during the night!)
5. Eat breakfast
6. Pile into car and drive to Texas brewery
7. Drink so much Texan beer (USD5 buys you 4 beers), eat guacamole and chips.

8. Get really tired…
9. Snooooooze

Saturday afternoon
1. Braai ribs
2. Prepare potato salad and, you guessed it, beans
3. Drink more beer
4. Eat ribs
5. Eat more ribs
6. Check status of cowboy hat – still on head – good.
7. Eat more ribs – yum!
8. Decide to go check out the Gay Cowboy bar in Houston
9. Dress accordingly
10. Convince boyfriend to change his shirt as gay cowboys are definitely more subtle
11. Try to convince Mark to get out of his wife’s jeans (for added tightness). Not successful.
12. Go to gay cowboy bar (You won’t believe what it’s called – check out the pic below!)
13. Stand amazed at gay cowboys (wearing full cowboy gear) close-dancing, and ultimately, line-dancing
14. Drink more beer
15. Go home & snoooooooooooooze

Sunday
1. Go to world-famous rib restaurant
2. Eat ribs (yum)

3. Have a pedicure & manicure (I know!)
4. Phone mom for mothers day
5. Feel sick from eating so many ribs in 24hours
6. Catch a flight back home
7. Flight delayed
8. Arrive home very late

In a nutshell, the most fun two outta-towners could possibly have. And I’m sure that once I’ve detoxed my way through the amount of red meat and beer in my system, the memories will be around for far longer than the additional 5kg’s I brought back on my hips! Heeeeeeeeee-Haaaaaaaaaa!

I’ve never been a gardener – in fact, those who ever came to my house in Cape Town only had to walk in the door to see how over/under-grown the three plants I had were (RIP to them, dearly departed potplants). So I’m not exactly sure where this latest craze has come from. First the instant fake lawn on the balcony, and now this…I have purchased a mini greenhouse and sown basil, mint and parsley seeds – which I am carefully monitoring for growth. I even talk to them. Yes. I know.

Part of the appeal of starting this greenhouse effect is the absolute instant, no mess, no fuss-ness of the process. We bought this tray, complete with these dry pellets already included. All you do to ‘activate’ your growth process, is pour a couple of cups of hot water over it. Instantaneously, your pellets expand into full-on soil. It’s crazy. Check out my basil, mint and parsley-to-be below. After all, this is America.

It seems that New Jersey is the capital of bargain shopping (it’s also the embroidery capital of the world, but more about that another time) and we ventured out West to the neighbouring ‘burra’ again today. Again in a bus. Again to shop. But this time, the shopping was of the more optional kind…

The Atmosphere team launched SA’s first retail outlet shopping village a couple of months before I left and the concept is based on a US phenomena – the likes of which I experienced for myself today. Basically, all the stuff that has to move out of the high street stores to make space for new stock, gets discounted (30 – 70% off the original price) and sent to these retail stores. Now not to be snooty or anything, but the entire SA one (Sable Square) could probably fit into the food court of the one we visited today. It is HUGE (as, it seems, all things American are)!

I literally spent the first hour in a daze, on the verge of tears. The choice was just too much. Where to start? I had allowed myself USD100 to blow on shoes (most important part missing from current wardrobe – hey! I was only allowed 25kgs onboard my flight – 3pairs of boots, 1 pair of flats and 2 heels are just not going to cut it for this girl…!) and other wardrobe must-haves and didn’t know where to start. I’m happy to report that 4 hours later (of which John spent 40 minutes sleeping (!) in the ‘lounge’ area with the other bored men and hysterical children) I managed to spend my USD100 wisely. Two pairs of shoes (including the latest style Croc – I know…it’s way better than the originals, trust me!), a long-sleeved top from Banana Republic and two undergarments from Calvin Klein. I’m way chuffed with my purchases. I only wish I had my camera on me to capture John’s absolute boredom! He insists that the only thing that kept him sane today, was the fact that he had Howard Stern’s latest show blaring into his ears the entire time – he couldn’t hear the cash registers, the blaring store-music or hysterical fathers and bored kids.

I think next time I’ll take a girlfriend, but I’m definitely going back.

While all friends and family were enjoying the longest long weekend of the entire year, for the Americans it was work as usual. That sucks. The yanks clearly pay no attention to public or religious holidays at all – being the work-a-holic-slave-drivers that they are. So, while you were all lounging about, sleeping late, going shopping, having late night parties and sorting out your closets, poor John was up (and dragging me along) – as per usual – at 7.15 for breakfast, packing lunch, getting dressed, applying make-up (just me, not John) and leaving for work to be there by 9am. I hope you feel guilty! Luckily I got to crawl back into bed as he left – the joys of being a ‘kept’ woman.

John and I received the sweetest card from his friend Anna (who lives in London) to welcome us to our new home – thanks Anna! This made me realize that I had been promising some photos of the apartment, and have yet to keep that promise. So…I promise to put an effort in this week to present you with pics of the Sjolund/Moolman home!

If you’d like to send us postcards or letters via snail mail – they are much appreciated and will get a place of honour on the fridge, next to Anna’s. Promise. Pop us an email and we’ll send you the address details.