coming soon:

more pictures and details from my recent trip to Denverrrrr with the Kyles!!

one more birthday post!

Because I thought this was pretty special...and still think it's pretty special, I wanted to share a video of my team singing 'happy birthday' to me on top of Table Mountain the day we hiked to the top! You'll have to be patient through the first 0:25 seconds at the beginning of mild-craziness, but then it gets to the really special part.

day twenty-two: my birthday (!!!)

Not everyone can say they've celebrated their birthday - on Thanksgiving day, no less - in Africa. But I can! The whole day...on my birthday... in Africa, ah!... I kept thinking about how surreal and awesome it was to be celebrating there (and I've had 25 years of celebrating birthdays in a pretty special way). Not only did I get to celebrate in one of the most picturesque places in the world, I got to see the most beautiful landscapes and views I had ever seen, go to a really neat market, go to the beach (which has never happened before, since my birthday is in November), have a cookout (!!) and wear a sundress  (rainbow, at that)...all on my birthday!

I will admit, I was nervous before I left about why I had agreed to go to Africa over my birthday and Thanksgiving instead of spending the time with my family. Instead, I got a new type of family who loved and cared for me in the most special ways and made me feel so terrific on my special day. It was better than I could have ever imagined.

I should also mention that thanks to the encouragement of my team members, I decided to celebrate my birthday from the time it began in Cape Town (7 hrs ahead of New York time) until it ended in Alabama (my home state), so effectively my birthday was a whopping 32 hours long this year!

my special birthday breakfast: triple layer mousse cake from Mugg & Bean

spending a few hours at the BEACH on my birthday! you couldn't find a happier person.

these signs were posted all around my room at the hostel when I woke up!

birthday celebration at the braai!

Lindy and I celebrating our birthdays together at the braai!

In addition to celebrating my birthday on Thanksgiving, our team also got to celebrate Lindy's birthday the next day! (You'll see tomorrow what we did to celebrate Lindy's birthday.) It made it even more fun having another 'birthday girl' to celebrate with while on the trip. 

milk tart for birthday cake

birthday girls!

This birthday will go down in history, for sure...

speechless.

I don't even know what to say about this! so.much.rainbow. Would make a wonderful piece of art.

[from The Berry via my friend Dana]

day twenty-one: thanksgiving braai

Instead of a traditional turkey dinner, we had a Thanksgiving braai! (The word means "grilled meat" in Afrikaans, so it's how South Africans refer to a cookout or bbq.) And since it was summer there, it was the perfect time for a cookout. It included many South African traditional staple dishes such as pap and boerewors (in my opinion, very similar to grits and sausage). It was delicious, and a very fun, unconventional way to celebrate Thanksgiving. I've definitely never had a birthday dinner like this before! I would do it again any day...

boerowers and grilled chicken

pap

There were so many people there to celebrate our "American holiday", there weren't enough seats. Good problem to have!

sounds about right.

I snapped this at Urban Outfitters recently. I'd like to hang this up! Good reminder.

day twenty: the market

After we climbed Table Mountain, we went for a lovely afternoon at the local market in Cape Town. (I was so thrilled!) It was a festive place with beautiful things. If you don't believe me, take a look for yourselves! I love these colorful bracelets that Amy captured.

This baby's name was Courage. Adriana asked his mom if she could have him!

president's way

In honor of president's day today, I love this picture I took at the Smithsonian this past summer in Washington DC. Hope you are enjoying celebrating our presidents today as much as I am!

happy president's day to you!

Sitting on the steps of the Lincoln memorial, gazing into the distance at the Washington monument.

day nineteen: thanksgiving turkey

Because we were in Capetown on Thanksgiving day (and, because we had just hiked a gigantic mountain), we wanted a little turkey - even if it was just luncheon meat - to celebrate our American holiday. So, we ate turkey! Albeit one slice each, I felt like I had adequately celebrated!

day eighteen: table mountain

I like to think of myself as a hiker. Intermediate, if I was forced to choose. (In reality, that may be a stretch.) But, no doubt, I can hold my own going up a mountain... as long as the mountain isn't too difficult. But in this case, I ate (only) a huge slice of triple chocolate mousse cake for breakfast (yes, breakfast. but don't judge...it was my birthday! post on that coming later) before starting the hike, plus something about an altitude difference, lots of wind and mildly strenuous rock climbing and this birthday girl wasn't too sure about what she had signed up for with this Table Mountain hike (aka, Turkey Hike in honor of our Thanksgiving Day). There were a few times I wondered if I was going to live to see 26 years + 1 day. Nah, I'm mostly kidding... but kinda serious. However, I kept plugging and chugging and when I made it to the top, I knew why I had pushed forward: I unknowingly was surging ahead to the most beautiful views my eyes had ever beheld. See for yourself.

(fyi, this is what Table Mountain looks like: click here. It's literally flat on top, like a huge table.)

a sign posted at the top of the mountain

a dassie

is that beauty or what?!

day seventeen: camera pics

On my camera alone, I came back with 1,065+ pictures. 

We all shared pictures, and from the most I can tell, here is a count of *some* of the others' photos:

Bethany: 600+, Liz: 275 ish, Kara: 390+, and Adriana: who even knows, but a lot!

From just the four people I listed, that's over 2,300 pictures! I'm lucky my computer hasn't totally crashed yet, and here's to hoping that it won't. Nevertheless, we had a great time snapping pics of the breathtaking scenery and landscape (and people!) we saw while we were there. We also had a fun time taking lots of pictures of us taking pictures (?). It seems odd, yet I like to think it's 'artsy'. As I looked through the thousands of photos when I returned, I couldn't believe how many we had of our team members just posing with a camera! I love it.