So we have been in our new home for almost a week today. Are the boxes all unpacked? Ummm, no. (sorry Jonathan). Are the dogs settled in? Kinda. Have we let the cat out the house yet? Once. For about five minutes and she ran straight up a tree and over the garden wall and we screeched and grabbed her and haven’t let her out of our sight since. It was all very traumatic. Is there a lot of work to do? Hells, yes. My goodness. If you love painting, sanding, sewing or gardening and will do it all for free wine – call me. Did I cry? Yes. A lot. In the shower, in my bed, in the car… moving stress combined with monthly hormonal madness does not a sane-minded individual make. Do I want to run back home to my mommy and daddy? No. Well, not yet. Although, I have some devious schemes to get them both to move down here eventually (it starts with “grand” and ends in “children”). I miss the space and freedom my dogs enjoyed on the farm, but they aren’t hard done by here at all either. Also, I managed to get my cellphone upgraded at the MTN store at the Waterfront yesterday in under an hour and without having to wait in a queue! They even had the exact colour and type I wanted and I left the shop with my new phone in hand. On the same day! Angels sang and I hummed along as I bounced down past Mitchell’s to meet my man.

I won’t lie – we were off to a bumpy start as the previous owners had neglected to do a number of things they had promised to do before leaving – and so we hit the road running. Well, Andy did. I mostly complained and huffed and puffed. To my delight, the old owners had even removed and taken the light fittings with them. Have you tried unpacking by candlelight? It takes some work and let’s just say that the head lamp I bought at Cape Union Mart yesterday is not only for all the early morning trail runs I’m doing (lol). Luckily, in the midst of all the madness, my lovely friend, Jackie, rescued me for a day and we headed off to a yummy lunch at The Restaurant on one of my favourite wine farms, Newton Johnson. Chef Eric Bulpit served up some delicious vegan fare and we got to taste a bottle of Newton Johnson’s Alba, a new grape varietal to SA, which tastes to me like a delicious mix of Chardonnay and Viognier, and is something that will definitely be a feature at our dinner table in the future. We had such a great time chatting to Bevan Johnson and then catching up over our a long, lazy lunch which included the most decadent vegan coconut cocoa tart. I picked up a ton of tips from Bevan on places to visit in our new area code once the dust settles properly. We were the last to leave and as we drove home down Sir Lowry’s Pass, the sun was setting a shimmering sea over False Bay, and I had a feeling deep down in my half-tipsy lazy bones that despite the lack of light fittings and all of the disorganised chaos, everything was just as it’s supposed to be.