focus on: south africa (part 1)

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We are moving to South Africa for a year, so I thought I'd do some regular posts on the country. I know very little about it and will be doing a lot of research in the upcoming weeks, so this will be a good place for me to share what I've learned. Wikipedia, Google, and Pinterest here I come!

South Africa (officially called the Republic of South Africa) is located at the southernmost point of Africa and is the 25th largest country in the world by area. The countries that border South Africa are Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Swaiziland. Losotho is an enclave surrounded by South African Territory.

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General Info:

• More than 51 million people live in SA - 80% of the population is of black ancestry
• 11 languages are nationally recognized; Most people speak English, but the most popular languages are Zulu, Xhosa, and Afrikaans
• Currency - South African Rand (ZAR). The current exchange rate is 1 USD = 9.1797 ZAR
• Mining - world's largest producer of platinum (hi honey, are you reading???!!!!!) and chromium
• Winters occur between June and August, so we'll be going right into another winter. Hello, self tanner!
• Johannesburg is the largest city, followed by Soweto and Cape Town
• Food is diverse but highly meat-based. Braals, or barbeques, are common social gatherings
• The country has become a major wine producer and has many vineyards
• The most popular sports are soccer, rugby, and cricket
• Kruger National Park has the greatest diversity of wildlife on the continent
• South Africa supplies 2/3 of Africa's electricity
• It is home to the second highest waterfall in the world, Tugela Falls
• There are more than 2,000 shipwrecks off the coast of South Africa dating back 500 years
• 80% of the population is Christian
• You can drink the tap water unless you are in rural areas
• There are three major airports

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Politics:

• There are three capital cities
• Cape Town - legislative capital and seat of Parliament
• Pretoria - administrative capital and seat of President and Cabinet. *considered true capital
• Bloemfontein - judicial capital and sea of the Supreme Court of Appeal
• It is a democracy, where the President is both head of state and head of government but depends heavily on the confidence of Parliament. Elections are every five years. The current president is Jacob Zuma, who has been sworn in since May 2009
• The highest law of the land is the Constitution, which was "born" on February of 1997. It is regarded as an example to the world 
• There are 13 political parties in Parliament
• Until 1994, the country was known for apartheid (which is basically when the white minority ruthlessly controlled the vastly larger black majority. This was a very dark time in the country's history)

Part 2 coming soon...

trying to be healthy monday

This weekend was a blur of big decisions, errands, movies, and unhealthy food. My husband and I are preparing for a big move and we have been very stressed trying to make arrangements. Everyone handles stress differently, but I tend to bee-line for the fridge. Most of the time I choose healthy snacks (trail mix, smoothie, pretzels, etc.) but I allowed myself one "really bad" weekend of being totally unhealthy.

No workouts + pizza + tacos & nachos + cupcakes + chocolate chip waffles = time to get back on the healthy wagon.

I sat down this morning to make a grocery list and my weekly meal plan. I usually cook 3 or 4 nights a week and rely on leftovers for the remaining days. This week I decided on...

• Salmon with sriracha sauce using this Gwyneth Paltrow recipe
• Spinach salad with turkey, apple, avocado, almonds, and dried cranberry with this amazing salad dressing
• Tortilla soup with avocado using this recipe
• Ground turkey taco salad with avocado and tomato. No recipe, I just throw this together

By the way, I love my inov-8 shoes. If you are looking for a new athletic shoe, consider giving them a try.

Here are a few recent photos of my life lately:

{new Kate Spade watch}

{french toast breakfast at Casa Laguna in Laguna Beach}

{cool shot of giant wave crashing over a rock}

{Potter, the cutest golden retriever puppy in the world}

{whale fluke seen in Dana Point, CA}

mammoth lakes, california

Hi! Have you been to Mammoth Lakes, California? If not, you should! The air is crisp and clean, the views are stunning, and the people are friendly. It's basically a lazy ski town. What's not to love?! My husband and I love hiking and the outdoors, so it was a perfect weekend getaway for us.

We hiked Mammoth Mountain for a total of 6 hours to an elevation of just over 11,000 ft. on a snowy trail. Luckily it was slushy and not icy!

We were only planning to hike half of what we ended up doing, but we met two hikers along the way who suggested we make the trek to Duk Lake. Why not? We were almost there. Wrong! It look another 1.5 hours of hiking to get there. But, it was absolutely worth it. This is what we saw:

If you are looking for a great place to hike, head up to Mammoth Lakes. You won't be sorry!