If we were meeting for coffee at our favourite spot here in Grahamstown… It would be a decadent hot chocolate for myself and a mocha for you. I know what you like! We would try to find a place in the sun, to warm our bones – the last few days have been chilly! As we missed a week, there is a lot to catch up on. So let’s get started.

But where to start?

Well, firstly I’d tell you that I finished the April A to Z Blogging Challenge. Yay! What fun it was, and in the end, I was delighted with my theme and how it panned out. I want to send a big thank you to everyone who visited, liked or commented on my posts. You can read all of them here. The experience made me re-think my blog and its focus and I’m making a few changes as part of a blog spring clean, with new posts for certain days of the week and so on. I do hope you’ll like the changes! Let me know what you think.

If we were meeting for coffee… I would excitedly give you an update on my upcoming travels. Firstly, my trip to Namibia (Swakopmund to be precise) happens next weekend. Already! As I’ve mentioned before, I have been invited to do a number of presentations at their Annual Maths Congress. This week I needed to finish the prep for those and I did, thank god. It was a big job, and I have put it off until the last minute, again. I’ve lived in South African for just over 18 years and I have never been to Namibia. So it was a no-brainer when I decided to extend my stay on either side of the conference dates by a few days so that I have some time to explore. And I have a few things in mind that I want to do. But I will tell you all about those when I get back, as I don’t want to spoil the surprise.

The second big event is a trip to New Zealand, again for a conference. I heard this week that my paper for the conference had been accepted. So now it is all systems go – booking flights and accommodation, sorting out visas and so on. As this is a trip of a lifetime for me, and the flights are paid for, I am taking the opportunity to spend about 9 days after the conference doing a whirlwind tour of New Zealand. I am happily planning that at the moment too! As a big Lord of the Rings and Hobbit fan, one place I will be going is the Hobbiton Movie Set!

Source: Tourism New Zealand https://www.tourismnewzealand.com/markets-stats/sectors/film-tourism/

If we were having coffee… its time for me to pause for a breath and take a sip of my hot chocolate before it gets cold. What about you? What have the last two weeks treated you?

If we were chatting over coffee, I would say that in the last two weeks, we’ve had two more public holidays (Freedom Day on 27th April and Workers Day on 1st May) here in South Africa, the country with possibly the most public holidays in the word! I made the most of the free time, by writing blog posts and starting a new theme for my May 365 project. More about that soon.

There are obviously lots of other things I could share – about work, about family and friends, but let’s keep it to the highlights for now – there’s enough there to keep us chatting for ages!

What has been the highlight of your week? I’d love to hear from you. Until next weekend, take care and don’t forget to take time to stop and smell the roses.

Part of the Weekend Coffee Share hosted by Eclectic Ali #weekendcoffeeshare