tree and the gang.

in hindsight it probably wasn’t the best idea to send the one person who has never ever pitched a tent before to go to reforestfest early to pitch all the tents for our group. yes, that person was me. but since someone pitched my tent for me last year and i was the only one who could leave work early, i didn’t want to argue too much. good thing i had convinced my friend warwick to come down for the weekend and managed to bribe him with a lift from the airport in order to be my slave knight in shining armour. so off we went in my little car which was so stuffed i was glad i hadn’t offered anyone else a lift; when carpooling with a 9-people tent there is little wiggle room.

despite our best efforts we got there when the sun was already gone and were faced with the scenario we had tried to avoid: pitching tents in the dark. luckily i am a magical unicorn (warwick calls me that, i would never call myself something that cutsie) and unlike last year i have my own magical pink unicorn headlamp these days. magical properties, headlamps and some amounts of drink were indeed needed. have you ever tried to pitch a 9-people tent? if you don’t really, really have to, i recommend, you don’t. tell the two people who will share the 9-people tent to get a tent appropriate to the number of people who will actually share the tent. since i was supposed to be by myself sleeping in a 4-people tent i couldn’t do that.

in the end we managed somehow and thus i give you highlight no 1:  my first pitched tent ever.

i do apologize for the crappy picture, but in my defence my hand was still shaking with excitement that i just pitched a tent.

many more highlights followed, one of them being that we ended up building homes for 3000 little treelings instead of the originally planned 2000. yes, we were the kind of annoyingly happy tree huggers who preferred to plant another 1000 trees after reaching the planting goal earlier than anticipated instead of kicking it back with a g&t in the shade. i’m usually that much of an overachiever or one to pass up a g&t, but in this case something was different and also i didn’t bring any gin. but in this case i didn’t want to be left out. remember in high school when the cool kids would hang around the corner where no teacher could see them smoke? and you longingly stared at them from afar, wishing for one of them to invite you over so you could be cool too and do silly things. well, at platbos all the cool kids were planting trees. and the more they plant, the cooler they are and since the more people there are, the more trees can be planted unlike high school they will want to invite you over to get down and dirty.

nobody said cool can’t be dirty and we took our dirty faces back into the fairy lights lit forest camp after genie and francois, the forest owner (awesome title!) had planted the 3000^th tree. of course the only appropriate thing to do after planting 3000 trees is having pasta dinner and red wine by the camp fire as well as a tiny crush on the musician. and how could i not if he is singing lana del ray with a very raspy voice that made me wonder how he will sound like after a night of women, whiskey and cigarettes? since i look let’s call it, eh, unfortunate after a night in a tent and i had to share my mattress already (thanks, mate, for keeping me warm!) i didn’t explore that option further. instead we instigated a little zambian reunion and hopped around like crazy people danced the night away. i did so on a tree stump which i managed not to fall off of somehow and at this point in the evening i considered that a highlight in itself.

i remember last year i kept on going on and on about yoga in the morning under the old milkwood tree afterwards so i am a bit sheepish to admit that i didn’t manage to get out of the tent in time this year. on sunday however we did manage to be up and about for a forest walk led by francois. francois is a proper tree man and leader of the gang. he is witty and only a bit stern looking, knowledgeable and you know he shares your believe in magic when you hear him talk about trees.  if you are in the area, just do yourself a favour and go to platbos; ask him to give you a tour and explain to you how trees speak to each other and how a golf course makes for an excellent fire repellent. do say hello to our 3000 baby trees and please report back to me if they are happily growing after a first rainy shower today.

if you ever want to play with the cool kids too, check out greenpop’s website for weekly planting activities or join the übercool ones in zambia this july.  

Treetime.

These days I am having too many things swirling around in my head that I should/ could do and as a result I am basically getting done not much of anything. I stopped to beat myself up about it last week when I had an upset stomach. It provided me with the best excuse ever for doing absolutely nothing. It lasted for one day only though (lucky me – really I don’t do well on crackers and tea) and so my good excuse of laying low was out of the window in an instant. This weekend I was battling with a cold. Again good excuse there. But quite frankly I am tired of the good excuses, I’d rather get stuff done and stop having the attention span of a fruit fly. Do you know the feeling? Can you imagine how long it took me to write this post?! Well, not the actually writing part, but to get it posted? How many times I checked Twitter. And then Facebook. And then Twitter again, because mind you, something life altering may happen while I write this post and I would miss it. Then what? When people ask me where I was while the life altering thing happened, I would have to admit I wasn't watching it live online, because I didn't check Twitter that instance, I was just sitting here writing a little post. Can you imagine?!

 Apparently it is not just me though. I came across a post by Mike Stopforth yesterday (yes, on Twitter and no, the irony is not lost on me), describing how most of us feel like we don’t have enough time in our day to do the things we deem worthwhile. How an easy change on how we should allocate time priorities can make all the difference and it doesn't mean that we need to learn how to function on 3 hours of sleep (which is my biggest fear whenever someone mentions time management or making more of your day or such). Obviously I have not mastered this art quite yet, after all there is a discussion on Twitter going on about the proper spelling of the name Shioban and wouldn't I need to know all about it! But he eloquently put a finger on something that got me thinking and I think I need to address in my own life. I realized when reading it, that I do have a problem with time. As a friend and I once discussed - we are lazy socks (German expression, don’t ask!) and I don’t like it. It hit me when my friend sent me a link to help out with a NewKidz project and I wondered if I could spare the time to do it. Just to put it into perspective: we are talking about 3 hours on a Saturday, spent with my friends, helping homeless kids, while my work is off season and I spend about 5 hours at the office tops. And yes, I still thought I might be too busy. Luckily I started to feel a bit ashamed of myself, which made me realize how silly I am with my time, that I have plenty, I just need to find focus and shift some priorities around. So yes, I signed up. A first baby step on the road to have more time to do more things that actually matter.

On the note of things that matter… I think I may have promised that I will never ask you to vote for me when competing for president/ favourite yoga teacher of the year/ bestest giraffe blog ever and I will keep my word. However I will ask you for money.

Please buy me a tree for Greenpop’s Reforestfest!

You can also buy 2.5 as my friend Deniz did last year, but mind you, the trees we planted were still so little, you could count them as half trees. Either way it just means a tree is R 100/ EUR 10/ $8, but you can donate as much or little as you can want to afford. Do it easy peasy here (follow the link, secure credit card transaction or EFT if you are in SA), instant gratification of making the world a better place and if you insist I will dress up as a forest fairy again, pose with your tree  and send you a picture.

When there’s no elf in sight…

… look for a blogger for help.

I’m in awe of bloggers who manage to not only write regularly, but also have a full time job, a house, a gym routine, and/or copious amounts of kids to distract them from blogging. I’m even more in awe of them at this time of the year when they manage to put together a lovingly and carefully selected lists of gifts appropriate for various budgets, friends, family, and enemies alike. Give me one full time job and I’m not only just barely managing my own Christmas shopping, I barely survive. Can you tell I’m sick? Yes, perfect timing, I know. Adding to this that I have readers on three continents (fancy that, huh?!), I just think that compiling a Christmas shopping guide will just throw me over the edge and in the end prove useless for everybody involved. And yes, I am way too late anyhow according to more organized people, who know better.

So instead I will just give you 2 little gift ideas for 2 really tricky categories which I happen to have in my own family. Just in case you have them too and are getting stuck (and probably slightly crazy by now):

The nephew.
What is it with boys and them being so darn tricky to please? I have tried it all: from roaring and walking dinosaurs, which got eaten by a T-Rex within a week, to Ngami Ngami surfer necklaces, which went, probably appropriately for a river god, down the drain while brushing teeth. Nothing sticks with them. All gifts for boys ultimately get boring, broken, or lost.
This year I decided to have none of it and my two nephews are getting something useful. Sorry, boys! I’m getting both of them a copy of The Lorax because a) they can learn English with it b) it teaches about trees and c) it’s awesome. In addition I’m buying them each a tree through Greenpop (contact robyn@greenpop.org for details if you are keen too). They are getting a certificate with their names and the GPS coordinates where the tree will be planted, so they can go visit the tree if they ever come to Africa.
Yes, I am fully aware that something plastic which makes noise might be more appealing, but in all honesty, I don’t care…trees matter and boys should know! 

The sister-in-law/ friend*.
*Who also works in fashion and has extremely picky intricate taste…
… and then tells you she wants an African top or dress. Whatever this may mean. Ja, right. That is so not happening. You guys know my opinion about SA fashion. It would just be a fortune spent on a piece ending up in the closet/living in a box/being given to the maid’s daughter. If you have similar problem case in your circles, I suggest heading to Merchants on Long or straight to the incredible Tammy Frazer. Though buying a fragrance for someone can be a bit tricky, I decided that her solid fragrances were worth the risk taking. If I were to be wrong I’d be actually quite happy as I would just keep the Chapter No 3 which I bought for my sister-in-law for myself. Then again how can one go wrong with a locally sourced coffee and orange blossom smell packaged in a locally crafted wooden box?

So there…hope I could help. If you were to ask me for a parents shopping guide, I have to bail. I’m blessed with parents who don’t want presents and mean it and, since I usually ignore this sentiment, are ridiculously happy with soap and pictures of me. Seriously, you want my kind of parents when Christmas shopping!

Tree, rainbows, and one party bus.

I bought a travel blanket for Zambia and Morocco. Well, actually it is more a shawl or a throw and I just couldn’t resist and needed a reason to purchase thus called it a travel blanket. Two weeks after returning home the blanket still smells like a mix of fairy tales and adventures. Actually the smoke from the campfire is still sticking to it, but since I don’t do campfires in real life it just equals the smell of Zambia for me.

As you know through bits and glimpses now I went to Livingstone for a week to plant trees with Greenpop at the beginning of the month. The idea came up after I managed to survive the weekend at Platbos, realizing that maybe it was time to face two of my biggest ‘fears’: Camping and sharing close quarters with someone I don’t sleep with or who is not on my top ten friend list. I was fortunate enough to never have to share a room with a sibling and the only time I had to team up was for one year in the dorms. That went alright till my roommate decided to pick up a stranger in a bar one night and take him home. I was greeted by his sight in her bed the next morning from across the room. Awkward to say the least and I am still wondering till today if a stranger admired my uncovered butt at some point during the night. After that it was no more room sharing for me so the prospect of sharing a tiny tent, well, to call it even worse would be an understatement.
Though this time I didn’t even think about it too much, I just really, really wanted to go to Zambia and plant some trees. It helped to be overly well prepared, as I usually am, and to take a sleeping bag the size of a toddler (I am still surprised the airline didn’t charge me extra to take it…), but I can proudly report I was the only person not cold! Also a big thank you right here goes to Micah, my tentie for the week, who made it cool to share a tiny tent and who just overall rocks.

What can I tell you from my trip? I kind of don’t know where to start as there was just so much… stories experienced, stories told, newness which became daily life overnight, sunburned shoulders and a fat Labrador doing yoga, Nshima for lunch and the pleasure of a slice of orange on a hot day, lions touched and elephants ooohed and aaahed over… little things coming together in one big bubble like a dream when it happened and still like a dream now that it’s over.

Excuse this story for being a bit incoherent, but I find it hard to wrap such week with so much here and there, this happened and then that happened, into one neat package. I’d rather tell you how I remember it. The little bits. Like the one time when we took the bus to the Victoria Falls to see the lunar rainbow, which I didn’t even know existed. How lucky did we get that there was a full moon when we were there! Or that day when we came to a school that gets frequent visits from elephants passing by and we had to ‘hide’ the banana tree saplings from their view.
Then there was the afternoon we went to play soccer at the local club and all ended up dancing like crazy people, which sort of didn’t stop when on the bus back to camp. Then the bus broke down. But that was another night and it wasn’t the same old crappy, but beloved party bus, it was the fancy one. Go figure.

New friends were made immediately after I managed to get through immigration despite my expired dollar bills. More on the first bus ride to camp and then each day after that. Muscles popped up we didn’t know existed, greeted with joy the first time around and cursed when they started to ache.
Lots of talking. From early mornings till late at night, in the showers, overlooking the crocodiles, on the bus, off the bus, during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Even I talked in the morning though not before 7am. Baby steps, people, baby steps. As you know I am more of a sit around the camp fire (yes, the campfire is a new addition to the routine), drink whiskey and then talk – in the evening/at night – kind of girl. There was plenty of that too. Which would explain the adventure smell on the blanket. There was also lots of dancing by the campfire. Also applauding for various reason or just because we could and hurrahing too.
Of course there were trees. Baby trees and grown-up trees, magic trees and thorny trees, leafy trees and painted trees, trees on the bus, trees on my lap, trees in the ground. Mr. Shorty and Mr. Tall tree and their neighbour the honourable Mr. Annika Bran tree. Tree stories were followed by tree songs and skits, often funny, always smart, and sometimes a tiny bit sad.
Then there were the people from Zambia we met. The kids who showed us naughty dances, the boy who declared “I’m the handsome one in the class” only to be met by roaring laughter from his classmates, and Philippa who went mulching with me and called me her daughter. There was uncle Benge who draws the best warthog ever and Kebby who has planted 9 million trees in his life. New friends who immediately became old ones. Stories, handshakes, and laughter shared while we all gave little trees a new home.

So now you see how it was impossible for me to try to put such a trip into a nutshell, right? I don’t need to tell you that it was probably one of the best weeks ever. Or how grateful I am to Greenpop for making it possible and being all around awesome. Or that if you laugh at the picture below, I shall never ever speak to you again. Right?

Do not judge! I was really hot and probably severely dehydrated and didn't know what was happening to me.

The handsome one. But which one?

Just another ordinary rainbow.

The capes are not a money making scheme. You will need one or other.

Baby banana tree.

Trees riding shotgun on the party bus.

Good yoga motto.

Dangerous lions to be found everywhere.

A question on paper.

As I tend to be quite outspoken when something is amiss at a shop or restaurant in ‘real’ life, I don’t like to talk about it on this blog for the most part (and since men are not a shop or a restaurant so they are excluded from this rule). Yesterday though something came up while I was shopping and now I do want to talk about it here and maybe just get an idea of how everyone else feels about it.

I am the first to admit that I am no green fairy. Yet ever since I got involved with Greenpop I am at least becoming more conscious of the environment and what could or shouldn’t be done to live a bit greener. I think after getting blisters on my hands and cracking my back by planting trees, I just get really irritated when I see paper being wasted. It seems to make my blisters and hurting back simply pointless. I have realized in the last couple of weeks that companies make it incredibly difficult for one to save paper. Take my Click’s Card for example: it comes with a little magazine every three months via mail. I have never ever opened the magazine, but just taken my reward points and tossed everything else. I eventually decided to call them and ask them to send me the points on their own. What did they tell me? That it wasn’t possible. How can that be and why would a company want to waste paper = money on me if I won’t make use of it? After a long back and forth and speaking to a manager, I am now able to get my points and updates via email. Thank you very much and why was that so difficult?

Two weeks later I found a big glossy magazine from Greeff Properities in my mailbox. It contained a mix of properties in the area and general lifestyle articles. I wondered whether they have done any research as to whether I am even interested or eligible to buy. Upon emailing them to ask (and complain … yes, yes, that’s me) they wrote that the system of dropping unsolicited magazines into people’s mailboxes apparently works well for them. Mh, great. And good for them, but the waste of paper, judging by the bin overflowing with Greeff broschures in our building, still irks me. Especially when combined with the line “People who don't wish to receive a hard copy often request an online version and provide their email addresses for this purpose”. Well, I wasn’t asked if I want to receive either version.

Yesterday I wanted to indulge my sweet tooth and as it comes out rarely I allowed myself a little tart and a macaroon (alcohol something, hazelnut something, funny name – to die for, get one now!) at Cassis. Before I continue let me say that I adore Cassis’ purple boxes. Over the years I have received and given many little birthday cakes in a purple box and I think they are perfect for a special occasion. I also love the fact that one isn’t being charged extra for them if such an occasion arises. Yesterday was different though. Please just put them both in a little paper bag. The sales girl puts the macaroon in a clear plastic bag. Um, or both in the plastic bag. She starts folding a little card board box and is about to put the tart in it. NOOO! Can you please just put them both in the plastic bag? At this point I get a blank stare from her and start to feel like a bitch as I obviously don’t let her do her job. She looks at me like I am a crazy person, but very slowly complies and I just wonder why that was so difficult. Am I not the customer who can decide how my overpriced treats are packed? Unlike her I know that I am so starved for something sweet, it will take me less time to eat tart and macaroon than it took her to wrap it all up. There is no time or reason to make it pretty and to waste a box on it. Considering that I am not paying for the box that should also be in Cassis’ own best interest? Non?

So all I want to know – is it just me being silly or are companies making it extremely difficult to save on paper and packing materials when it should be in their own best interest to do so to - read slowly – S-A-V-E M-O-N-E-Y??

I dare me!

Yesterday I decided I would take after Flourish in Progress and dare myself a bit. Dare myself to be a nice person for a week. Be one of those persons who usually annoy me. Why? Well, I thought in order to make my life better, I might have to make myself a better person first. I am not convinced it will work, but for some reason it popped into my head yesterday that I should at least try. Just for one week. I shall give a progress report.
Today did not start well. I was woken up by blaring sounds, which cannot be called music, from the downstairs parking lot, actually set up straight and yelled out loud: What the f*** do you think you are doing? Obviously I yelled the entire f-word.
Then I remembered my dare, but it was too late. Luckily a part of it is to also being nicer to myself, so I didn’t beat myself up over it.
The rest of the morning went by just fine. I don’t think my super was ever greeted this friendly in his life.
Facebook and Twitter are becoming a challenge though. A lot of stupid interesting people are saying a lot stupid interesting things and my urge to reciprocate is almost too great to bear it. Like this tweet:

Gotta love the #USVisa application: 'Do you seek to engage in espionage, sabotage or any other illegal activity while in the US?' Duh!

I know a lot of people think the Americans stupid. I happen to be not one of them. I don't have any problems with them, at least not any more than I have with citizens of the UK, Germany or the rest of the world. Someone may not agree with my sentiment and that is fine, but then please don’t travel there. So that is my first problem with this tweet. Secondly I believe that actually most countries these days, which require you to get a visa, ask these questions, silly or not.
This is what I wanted to say to this person, but in accordance with the dare I decided not to and just bitch about it here. Please don’t judge - for me that is a big step in the nicer direction.

To my delight I can tell that it is already working a bit too. I just got confirmed that I can teach a yoga class right by the Vic Falls, which seems like the über-location to do yoga and I am silly excited. In case you don’t know yet, yes, I am going to Zambia to plant trees with Greenpop in addition to Morocco vacation in August. Just putting this on (digital) paper makes me realize it is really working well already…

A treemendous* thank you.

I like the idea of a gratitude diary, but lately I just don’t feel like it though I do have a lot to be grateful for and I know it. So instead I want to share my gratitude here and just share my thank you with you. A big thank you to the universe in general and a bit more concrete for an amazing weekend to…

The most amazing sponsors of 30.5 little treelings:

Amazing Spaces. Cape Royale Luxury Hotel. Cora. Deniz. Flash. Ian. Location Gallery. Lolo. Marc. Marcia. Marie. Mark Shakey Shaw. Melanie. Papa. Thekla.

Thank you for letting me annoy you as I did and buy the forest some new inhabitants!

Thank you to Sabina and my wonderful company for sponsoring me to go plant them.

Thank you Gareth for driving and having an iPod with great music ready.

Thank you Claire for being an amazing friend, bringing us all together and showing me how to break down a tent.

Thank you King Steve for setting my tent up in the dark.

Thank you Mark for the loan of camping plates, head lamp, prayer flags, and all the priceless camping advise.

Thank you Catherine, Laura, Fionna, Gerhard, and Sebastian for the planting and dancing companionship. I guess a special one to Gerhard for taking all the big hole digging off the girls’ hands.

Thank you Jax for truly inspiring yoga sessions under the tree and for teaching me to let my hair down and just breathe.

And last but not least…the biggest thank you to Greenpop – Misha, Lauren, Jeremy, and Charlotte – for caring enough to bring us all together for this amazing experience. For your kindness, patience, energy, and the never waning smiles on your faces. I think you guys rock - Thank you that and for making the world a bit greener at the same time!

*No, that isn't my creation - Greenpop came up with it and I just had to borrow.

The story of 2001 trees.

I’m still seeing a bit green and haven’t quite come back into the real world completely. So I will keep my Reforestfest recap brief and just tell you that instead of the originally announced 1000 trees, we planted 2001. Though the 2001. was a bit of a mistake as it was supposed to be 2000. But when the time came around to plant the final tree there was 1 little tree extra and everyone thought we may as well put it into the ground too so it wouldn’t feel left out, and voila we had planted 2001 trees.

It was simply the best weekend ever and full of exciting firsts for me…

I volunteered to sleep in a tent. And loved it.

I wore a head lamp, felt like the last unicorn, and was quite upset when I lost a battery within an hour of our arrival. These little buggers are very useful on a dark camping sites. Luckily I had some chaperones and a bright moon to show the way.

Call me a girl, but pink bubbly is appropriate anywhere.

I ate porridge with butter, brown sugar, and cinnemon for breakfast and think it is the best thing ever!

I danced in the forest at night.

I got down and dirty and planted a tree. And another one. And then some more.

A bit of a mad smile, but I was in fact enjoying myself.

I saw a big mole snake. Yuk. Exciting in the not so nice way.

I did yoga under a 1000 year old Milkwood tree with my hair down (Can you imagine? Me – doing yoga without my bun? Unheart of, but I loved every moment of it…)

Yoga mats warming up by the fire, getting ready for class.

I shared a mug of hot tea and milk with some friends and realized the act of sharing something makes it so much better.

I smiled for 2 days straight, but did not shower.

I learned how to break a tent down.

Shoes chilling in the forest.

A thank you to the sponsors will follow tomorrow. I’m still a bit lost in the forest today....

A good place to be a bit lost.

Forest fairy.

In Germany we have a saying called Holla, die Waldfee! I guess the closest I would get to explaining it even in German, is to say it is an exclamation of surprise. I was trying to find an adequate translation, but other than Waldfee being a forest fairy and Holla an old word for elder flower, I didn’t get far. It all came down that apparently one has to be nice to elder trees and fairies as an old English saying goes:

Elder be your lady´s tree,
harm it not or cursed ye´ll be!

I still like the idea that it is more a surprised greeting. Imagine you walk in the forest and you were to see a fairy. Wouldn’t you be rather surprised, maybe squeak a little, and exclaim something like Whoopsie, a forest fairy! 

Anyhow… it all just popped into my head yesterday while I was packing…random thoughts.

This little forest fairy, I mean me of course, has all the essentials and is off into the woods!

Forest Fairy essentials: fairy wings, gum boots, pink bubbly.

Smelling Joey.

I think you all enjoyed my little rants last week. At least that is what the stats are telling me. Unfortunately my health and my heart don’t agree, so my life is about to change. For the better or for the boring. It already started this weekend and it was beautiful and relaxed. There was a golden birthday cake, truffle fries (which I can still taste on my tongue, slightly concerning at 9am) and thanks to loads of cocktails on Saturday night, a walk in the park yesterday. I woke up early and the world was no fun. Instead of the usual anti-hangover cure of greasy breakfast, drawing the blinds shut, and at some point a little hair of the dog, I decided to try something new and to get myself a good dose of fresh air at Company Gardens instead.
With my recovered vacation pants - don’t ask, long story - camera, and big sunglasses I went off into the green. There I literally stopped and smelled the roses. Not quite proper trees and already a bit rough around the edges, but still worth a few shots:

This one was called Just Joey:

Not sure where that comes from, but quite awesome if you ask me. I thought all roses would have stuffy English names. Joey didn’t smell of much, but this one did:

In fact it smelled so much like the rosewater in my buttercream the other day, that I thought someone must have sprayed it with fragrance. I actually looked around to find the hidden camera.

I was lucky to manage this one picture as my battery was dead. Like the universe was saying Dude, you can’t capture the smell in a picture. I took it anyhow, because now you can take this picture on your fancy iPhones, go to Company Gardens, find the rose and smell it yourself! Believe me it will be worth it…

If you prefer trees to roses and you haven’t done so, only 4 days left to buy me a tree for Greenpop. Please follow the link and click donate: http://www.givengain.com/activist/76000/projects/2652//

Treepressions.

Quite a few donations came in after my offer to show you pictures of the bum/penis palm tree to those who bought a tree. Most came from my Dad, which is slightly concerning to me, wondering if the bum/penis palm tree picture may have been his motivation.(Just kidding! He bought one tree for each member of our family. Thank you, Dad!)

Regardless of anyone's motivation though, I can unfortunately not keep my promise, because I realized that I was only very little interested in the palm trees in question. Thus pictures I took never made it into my final selection folder from the trip. Therefore they are still stuck on my old iBook, which died. I have yet to retry computer CPR to get them off. If you want to see the palm bums, though they are not photographed by me, have a look at this link. Alternatively I will offer you some more of my favourite shots of greenery* from my trip which are not PG13:

Trees dipped in silver water.

Trees with THE view.

Just another tree, just another beach.



Light on a leaf.

Shipwrecked.

Should you be bored of all the "green" pictures by now, no worries, I am writing a story about models, cocaine, and charity for you as we speak. It’s going to be like Gossip Girl, but better!

 *I do realize they actually mainly black and white, but I am sure you can use your imagination and I am just feeling sort of black and white-ish today.

Pastaholic eats a tree.

On Saturday something happened which has never happened to me before. I am still quite flabbergasted. Julia and I had bought all ingredients for a beautiful dinner including a nice big chunk of proper Parmesan cheese, because otherwise why bother? I made Caprese salad, fillet, and some pasta with a creamy mushroom sauce. After all we had just done some very hot yoga, felt we deserved a treat, and a lonely bottle of Pongraz rosé and a bottle of Alphabetical just wasn’t gonna cut it.
So we happily ate away, almost literally licking the plates clean (okay, in my case there was no almost involved, I licked the plate…). Right after the last bit of mushroom had disappeared from my plate, I realized the unbelievable: we had not put any parmesan cheese on our pasta! Never, ever in my life! We didn’t even miss it!

Apparently I make a mean, creamy mushroom sauce…

I know, I know for most of you this is all neither here nor there, but to us it was quite astonishing and unheard of. It also partly explains why I had pasta again* last night though I had mentally prepared for salad. The other explanation, which I have to validate the amount of carbs, is that I decided it was time to show a pastaholic’s take on trees.

 Of course coming to think of now in the bright light of day, a salad would have probably made for a better tree. But as it is, I spent the weekend asking myself what does my soul require and as you can imagine my soul has no problem requiring pasta two nights in a row. Once ingredients where laid out and photographed, I felt bad sending them back into the box/fridge/packet. So no worries, nothing was wasted, the pasta tree landed, if slightly disassembled, on my plate after..
If you think this girl, I mean me, should stay away from the pasta for a change and rather have a real tree, go here and get me one: http://www.givengain.com/activist/76000/projects/2652/

*And now owe Julia a new piece of Parmesan cheese.

Live from the forest.

I actually wanted to write about how strange this past week has been. About twenty-four hours of bliss, how it all fell apart, the aftermath of it, which has been my week, and how hard it is to actually follow my gut feeling.

While I started to write about it I realized, I actually can’t. It seems to have knocked all wit and sarcasm out of me. The list of things I have learned is long, but I haven’t quite figured out yet whether it was all worth it. There is nothing to tell and nothing to share.

The one thing that gave me joy this week is the tree gathering for the Reforestfest. So tough luck for you instead of getting juicy details of my not so lovely life, I shall annoy you more with the greenery…

I took this picture at the Vallée de Mai in the Seychelles. In case you don’t know about it, it is a forest and a Unesco heritage site (in)famous for their Coco de Mar palm trees. These are trees that actually sport something that looks like, well, a penis on their males and coconuts in the shape of a bum on their females. True story. Alas, I preferred the picture of this little fellow making its way to the light. You probably want to see the tree with the penis and the bum. Fair enough.

Here are your choices:

a) Google

b) Buy me a tree first, feel great about your charity work prior to any weekend debauchery, and enjoy the pictures I shall post on Monday as a thank you.

If you pick b) go here: http://www.givengain.com/activist/76000/projects/2652/

Have a treemendous weekend everybody!

Tree hugger.

After Thekla made the start this morning, my wonderful friend Deniz from New York just donated 2.5 trees and as she wrote me, she did it because she loves me and trees. Which is the sweetest thing someone said to me all week. Fear not though as this is no pre-requisite for anyone to buy me a tree. Right now, I don’t actually care if you love me. Or even like me. I don’t even mind if you are not particularly fond of trees in general. As long as you buy one, keeping in mind you don’t have to get your hands dirty at all.

I don’t envy my Mum, having raised a child like I was. I always knew what I wanted and I made sure to get it. When I wanted something I could be very persuasive. Some people would use the word annoying. I think my Mum usually just gave up out of sheer expiration or not even start the argument, because she wanted to avoid being annoyed to death yet again by her toddler/child/teenage daughter. I am still being told that this was a mistake on her behalf. She thinks saying no more often would have benefitted my character… 
She is probably right. I can be very, very annoying when I want something. That’s usually not okay, I know, I know. But for this it is and so I shall annoy all of you into a coma till you get me a tree:

http://www.givengain.com/activist/76000/projects/2652/

Come now, be a tree hugger, buy me a tree!*

*And if you don’t, I shall annoy you with further tree posts for as long as it takes to reach my tree goal. Just imagine that…no more yoga, no more stories about boys, no pasta recipes…just trees. You better hug quickly…

Green fairies.

Whenever something bugs me I find it a good idea to take a walk in the forest. As my aunt Kathy says trees gobble up any negative energy. I like the idea of gobbling little green fairies who make me feel better. Even if you don’t believe in that admittedly slightly esoteric concept, you can’t deny trees are good. This is why I like Greenpop and was very excited to meet them through Jai one day last year. Ever since we have been in touch either on the yoga mat or on one of their numerous fun fundraisers.

Their newest project is called Reforestfest and though I am not a camping fan as you know, the idea of music, yoga, and tree planting in the Platbos forest got me ridiculously excited. My company, Magic Mountain Productions, and some friends of my boss Sabina were immediately keen as well so we are going tree planting all together in May.

Now all we need is trees and I would like to take lots. Have look at my little fundraising page and in your wallet. Maybe you find R 100 and can sponsor me a tree?! I shall not ask for any Christmas presents this year. Promised! I shall also send pictures of me planting the tree you sponsor or alternatively doing a tree pose for you in the forest. And no sorry, not a naked one. I leave that to others…

Fundraising page: http://www.givengain.com/activist/76000/projects/2652/ - just click 'donate' and follow instructions. One can either do an EFT or use a credit card, so it is super easy for locals and internationals!