The Kreativ Blogger Award

My good friend Lori Otto nominated my blog for the above award! My first blog award.  I could be all self deprecating, but I'm not going to be.  I'm just gonna say THANKS LORI, and then follow the rules for receiving this prestigious nomination.

And look how pretty the logo looks on my blog!



Rules for the Kreativ Blogger Award:

1. Thank the person nominating you for the award. Check
2. List ten things about yourself. Check - See below
3. Nominate six blogs you think deserve the Kreativ Blogger Award. Check - Also below

Ten things about Nikki:

1. My given name is Nicole. But nobody calls me that.
2. I have an MA degree in Heritage Management.
3. I used to dance. I got my Pre-elementary certificate in ballet. There were pointe shoes involved.
4. I enjoy birdwatching.
5. My first job was behind the counter at a fast food joint.
6. I am the baby in my family. Last child and last grandchild.
7. My favourite colours are blue and yellow.
8. I don't hate my feet.
9. I got my first speeding ticket a month after getting my drivers licence. In my yellow beetle.
10. I can restore ceramics. And I really enjoy it!

My six nominations:
http://authorlorilotto.wordpress.com/
http://kristenstewartwantsit.wordpress.com/
http://earplugsnotincluded.com/
http://thebookhookup.com/
http://louisvsrick.com/
http://www.twikiwi.blogspot.com/

Thanks again to Lori for nominating me. Go check out her blog and books here, and listen to the playlist for her Emi Lost and Found series, right here on my blog, on the right! ----->

PROJECT 367: Part 7

We are heading into winter here and things are getting chilly. Expect to see pictures of socks and warm drinks and blankets and snuggly things in general.  I do not like the cold.

Day 53: Downward spiral

A staircase at a hospital. Why was I at a hospital? Because PopHaw is a stubborn bugger who refuses to look after himself properly. GAH! Lets not talk about this.

Day 54: The very centre of the city of Pretoria.

I have it on good authority that it looks just like downtown Philadelphia! We don't have 'downtown' and 'uptown' here. It's kinda sad. If I had to say to someone, 'let's go downtown' they'd probably think I was singing the lyrics to a song.  If I was lucky.

Day 55: Doggy bathtime.

Shilo LOVES to bath.  He loves water any way he can get it.  He just jumps in the bath and sits and waits for me.  Penny is still not so sure, but it's great having a happy go lucky guy like Shilo as an example.  This time I decided to see if Penny would jump in too.  So after saying "jump in!" to Shilo, and him doing it, I said the same to Penny and she did! She DID jump in. Then she jumped out again, and we had some fun and games getting her back in, but still.  Now her favourite game this week is 'lets jump in the bath willy nilly.'  She's gonna get a shock if she does it and the bath is full.

And, predictably, a few hours after this photo was taken, Shilo had rolled in sand again and was brown.  And I dunno, he some velcro fur or something coz sand just stays on him.  It's bad in winter because it's so dry here (we are a summer rain region) so there is just sand and dust everywhere for him to roll in.

Day 56: My garden is citrusy...

This is supposed to be portrait not landscape.... Oh well.  So there is fruit growing in my garden! This is one I can identify.  Well, half identify.  I mean it's some sort of citrus fruit... Can't wait to try them, but they're still a bit green.  There's some other weird stuff that grows on a palm tree looking plant in summer.  No idea what that is.

Day 57: Winter bloom.

Another incorrectly orientated photo. Aaargh Blogger!!!  After a very brief google search, I think this is a type of double poinsettia.  I originally thought it was a coral tree, but I was wrong.  It's pretty, and adds lovely colour to the winter garden at the museum.

Day 58: Today's place of work.

The DITSONG National Museum of Cultural History.  Say that three times fast!

Day 59: New pyjamas

I probably have more pairs of pyjamas than I need.  But I don't really care.  A change of season means you need new pyjama's, right? RIGHT?  And doesn't that cow look so happy.

Day 60: Vintage driving.

Driving MaHaw's Beetle today, while PopHaw uses my car.  I love Beetles.  I had a yellow one for my first car.  It got stolen outside the university.  I then got a beautiful blue one, but nothing can replace your first eetle.  And they have their own smell!

Love ya.

PROJECT 365: Part 6

This is going to be a looooong post.  I've been a bit sick so I haven't really felt like blogging and the photos have piled up. 

The last few weeks I've tried to take photos from my everyday life as Dangrdafne requested and not just abstract things, so I hope I've managed.  There is still some everyday stuff to share so that should come up soon.

However, I don't lead a terribly exciting life, especially when I'm home sick, so this has resulted in not terribly exciting photographs.

Day 36: Hi ho, hi ho it's off to work I go

This is one of my more seldom used routes to work.  Although I have used it far more over the last few weeks.  I think it might be because of the waterfall on the other side of the hill on the left.  That waterfall is in the photo from Day 9.  It kind of makes me feel that I'm somewhere else, on holiday.

Day 37: Where I live

I live on church property.  Yep, I really do.  Fortunately the church does not insist that you join them in order to rent from them.  This is good.  It's a funny church and while I do consider myself spiritual, I have not yet found a religion that suits me completely. Yet.  Anywhoodle, my house is one of five, all joined like townhouses or cluster homes, but it's just the five.  They were originally supposed to be for the pastors but I dunno what happened to the pastors.  I originally stayed in Flat 4 (as far as I can make out 'flats' are like 'apartments'), a one bedroomed, one bathroomed, small kitchened, small living roomed, small gardened bit of perfection for someones first 'on their own home'.  After 2 cats, one puppy and an ever growing collection of books and music I decided if one of the bigger flats became available and was affordable, I'd get it.  I also wanted to get Shilo, my dog, a companion.  Flat 1, where I am now, has a big kitchen, huge living area (for me), 3 bedrooms (now 2 bedrooms and one study), 2 bathrooms, a big backyard, a big front courtyard AND a separate laundry.  It also has cockroaches.  But I don't want to talk about that.  Also the garage has been converted into another room, so while my car has to live outside, I now have somewhere to set up a proper ceramic restoration studio.  If I ever actually get around to that.  In this photo, my house is the first one on the extreme left.  Each peaked roof you can see is the garage for each of the five houses..

Day 38: Where I work

I've taken a few photos of the Kruger Museum already.  This is from the street.  Currently restoration work is on hold while we wait for a permit.  The brown plastic sheeting you can see on the edge of the roof is there to protect unfinished work on the gables.  It's all very frustrating.

This small Victorian house was the official home of the president of the Transvaal Republic.  Quite modest, no?

Day 39: My shop around the corner

This is not where I do my monthly grocery shopping.  It is, however, where I stop many evenings after work, to get the odd essential or not so essential.  This centre also has my video/dvd rental store and a pizza place that makes most excellent vegetarian pizza's.

Day 40: My giant cupcake birthday cake

Yes, 4 May was my birthday.  And it was an extra special birthday thanks to all you tweeps and your ducky avi's.  That TwiKiwi is a sneaky birthday avi organiser, I tell you!  So this was the birthday cake my sister made me.  She bought an actual cake baking pan that looks like a cupcake!  It was delicious.  The two old fogies you can see in the background are Pop- and MaHaw.  Oh, and my candle sang Happy Birthday to me!!! Confused the hell out of Shilo and Penny.

Day 41: Birthday lunch with family and friends at my sisters house.

The day after my birthday, my sister invited my best friend, the HawFolks and one HawAunt for lunch.  She made the best chocolate cupcakes in the world.  And there was so much other yummy stuff.  She really went to a lot of trouble.  For lunch we had a braai (more commonly known as a barbecue) and everyone ate way too much.  Going around from the left is: The male half of CheeseHaw, lets call him DHaw, then MaHaw, AuntHaw, SisHaw, bestfriend, bestfriend's husband (between them somewhere is their four year old pixie daughter), and ending with the PopHaw's pip.

Day 42: Autumn leaves

Yes, it is autumn in the southern hemisphere.  And getting too chilly for me.  This was taken in my backyard.  As you can imagine the dogs are having a great time running through the leaves.

Day 43: A pretty birthday present

A scarf from my friend.  It is very pretty.  The other half of her present was Disney on Ice!  She's taking me and her four year old to see Disney on Ice on 30 June.  It's easy for her coz whatever her daughter will like I'm sure to like, toys included.  Although.... the daughter is in her Disney princesses phase. Me? Not so much.

Day 44: Fizzy green juice aka cream soda

Hi, my name is Nikki and I'm a cream soda-holic.

Day 45: The driveway

It is a long driveway.  This is heading towards my house.  In spring/summer these trees are full of purple flowers.  You'll see, I bet I take a photo of it later in the year.  The property is situated a ways out of town, and all around are small holdings, plant nurseries and churches (I don't even know).  A few kilometers down the street is a busy well known road, full of shopping malls and every kind of shop you can think of.  So I have the best of both worlds: civilisation down the road while I'm living in the complete peace or the African bush.  The bird life is amazing and I've even seen a small antelope on the property once.  And I'm sure I hear jackals at night.  The downside is....there are ticks.

Day 46: Another pretty birthday present

This tiny flower arrangement came from AuntHaw.  Don't you just love getting flowers?  It's such a frivolous gift, as they don't last, but there is something special about it.

Day 47: A lovely cup of Milo before bed

Hi, my name is Nikki and I'm a Miloholic.




Day 48: Back to bed

I mentioned I've been sick.  I've been spending a lot of time here.  Good thing it's so comfy.

Day 49: My bedroom door at my folks house. Teenage artistic urges at their best.

Somewhere around 14, I decided to this.  My friend and I got some poster paint and some illegally smuggled alcohol and created this masterpiece.  It has been added to over the years and stuff has also been taken away.  The black smudges are where I spray painted over boys names who were no longer.... desirable.  Spot the Penny!

Day 50: The Haw House



Ah, the old family homestead.  And yes, I have been known to answer the home phone like that.

Day 51: Reaper, the museum cat.

Reaper just wandered in one day.  He is very used to humans, although he does smack me every time I walk past him.  He actually spends most of his time in my boss's office, but sometimes he graces me with his presence.  Like when my boss isn't at work.  My boss's son named him Reaper after some video game.

Day 52: One corner of Church Square in Pretoria

Church Square is a very well known tourist spot in Pretoria.  I wish I could get more of it in the picture.  Maybe I can another time.  This square was the centre of Pretoria a hundred years ago.  The old Council Building or Raadsaal  is the reddish building on the left.  That is where the seat of the Transvaal government was.  I think it is still used as government offices today, but my present-times knowledge isn't that good.

That's it for this round.  Tomorrow I'm off to the farm museum so hopefully I'll get some interesting photos for all y'all.