Book: French Women Don't Get Fat, Mireille Guiliano

A fun, easy read. It's not a diet or a recipe book. It does however focus on healthy eating habits, eating more fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables and eating smaller portions of tasty food. Drinking enough water and moving is also a key to a healthier lifestyle [these are things we all know, but the reminder is good!]. There are some really easy and delicious recipes that are shared. Personally I find that the amount of lemon juice used for some of the recipes are a bit heavy handed, but now that I know it, I'll change it the next time round. 

Book: What the dog saw and other adventures, Malcolm Gladwell

Interesting stories, some more interesting than others. Particularly enjoyed the chapter on criminal profiling. An easy read, with food for thought. 

Book: Aesop's Fables, Aesop

Must admit that I did not realise that all these famous fables were written by Aesop. Each moral shared is still very relevant today

Book: Murder On The Orient Express, Agatha Christie

Fabulous, classic "WhoDunnit".

Race: Old Mutual Two Oceans Half Marathon

Number three done and dusted! Admittedly not my best time, I could give a million excuses, the long and the short of it is that I really had not trained enough (at all) for this one. Each year I say that I need to be better prepared and then alas, before I know it I'm standing in the seeding pen wishing I had put a bit more effort in.

Love the 'gees' it really is quite a fun race.

Above: Started in the same seeding as Jana, her first, she did incredibly well!

Above: my favourite part of the race is coming over Wynberg Hill, terrible photo taken on the trot.

Super proud of us all!

Book: The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4, Sue Townsend

What an incredibly fun book! Am still on my mission to catch up on "classics". This book reminded me of all the anguish and agony that you go through as a teenager. Keen to read the read of the series.   

Book: Out of Africa, Karen Blixen

During a recent trip to Nairobi, Kenya, I took the opportunity to visit Karen Blixen's house. To be honest, I really did not know her story as I had fallen asleep every time I attempted to watch the movie "Out of Africa," and also always confused it with "Born Free." 

Now I have a much better understanding; my goodness Karen Blixen had an incredibly sad life. 

It is quite a sad and poignant take on the life in Kenya in the early 1900's. A very different time of hunting wild animals; interestingly giraffes were illegal to shoot and lions were fair game. 

Was super happy to find a copy of the book in the gift shop. 

The driveway leading to Karen Blixen's home.

Karen Blixen's home

Karen's favourite piece of machinery used to work the 6000 hectares of the coffee plantation she had.

Remains of an ox wagon used to transport the coffee; it needed 16 oxen to pull it!

Photo of Karen Blixen in her room

Dining room

Where her writing magic happened.

Outside lawn.