Bridget McNulty

Day 3: Samballoons

// July 3rd, 2010 // No Comments » // Cape Town, Inspiration, Life (and the living of it), Love

(And, coincidentally, my favourite day of the year).

We went to watch the (thrilling) quarter-final at the Cape Town Fan Park, and I handed out these cool samballoons (filled with shaky stuff) to a couple of very happy kids.

I have had the BEST day! Birthdays are so wonderful, aren’t they? One day that reminds you how lucky you are to have such special people in your life, to be so loved, to get so many presents

It’s been a day of warm sunshine, abundant messages and phonecalls, chocolate cupcakes (that appeared as if by magic) and great fun. And it’s not over yet! Time to dress up to the nines and go to Madame Zingara for a Love Magic show. Yes please!

Celebration and sadness:

// May 28th, 2010 // 4 Comments » // Life (and the living of it), Love

So here it is: the reason I’ve been such a slack blogger of late.

Two reasons actually, one lovely and one sad.

First the lovely (because all the pictures relate to it).
Last weekend my man and I had our engagement party. It was wonderful! Such a celebration. We had a garden party at our dear friends’ house, and served all kinds of cake, and mojitos. The sun shone, loads of our friends came (some from Durban!) and my whole family was there (half of them imported from Durban for the weekend). Three dear friends stayed with us over the long weekend, and we ate pizza and picknicked in the forest and laughed. A lot.
The night after the engagement party, the three girls came home, changed into our pyjamas, rented a stupid-funny movie and ate take-out. Fun fun fun.

It was a really wonder-full weekend.

The sadness comes in because at the beginning of the week we found out that the girlfriend of one of my man’s best friends committed suicide. Only now they can’t find a cause of death, so it’s possible it might have been a really severe asthma attack. So so sad. She was only 22, but she was bipolar and had had a really hard year. Still, to have life snatched away (or given away) at such a young age just makes my heart ache. As much for the people who are left behind as for the poor girl herself (I didn’t know her that well, I know him really well). And there’s just nothing you can say, you know? No way to make it better. It’s really just a matter of letting time heal.

So it was an unusual week: so full of happiness and so full of sadness. It’s taken me some time to process all of it.
What I’m left with, though, is this feeling of gratitude for so many things in my life. When I first found out that she had killed herself, I thought, “What about ice cream?” What about sunsets and cups of tea on the verandah and long walks in nature and really funny TV and going to the movies and fresh avo on toast and bear hugs and waking up next to the one you love and long silences and laughing till you cry and the quiet of early morning?

But of course, if you’re severely depressed you’re not thinking of these things. I get that.
But it has made me reassess how much I love in my life. What do you love?

Let’s eat cake and speculate!

// April 30th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Competition, Inspiration, Love, Tea Parties, food

It must be said, Cape Town is a really lovely place to live. I’m a Durban girl at heart, and always will be, but Cape Town really is rather delightful.

This hit me, suddenly, again, when I discovered The Sidewalk Café in Vredehoek this week. It’s the kind of café you dream of…. The kind of café that Amelie would go to if she lived in Cape Town. Full of all kinds of quirky knick knacks that they’ve picked up from Milnerton Market (another reason to love Cape Town), staffed by really friendly waiters, and with the kind of atmosphere that makes you want to linger as long as possible over your meal…

And then there’s the food! I have one word: yummy. We were invited to go and eat cake and speculate (over what will soon be revealed) and I had THE most incredible chocolate brownie with homemade ice-cream. Wow. I couldn’t finish it (obviously, being diabetic, would you look at the size of it?) but it was so supremely delicious that I couldn’t stop smiling the whole time I ate it. Mark had an incredible-looking apple and berry crumble (I don’t do cooked fruit).

Anyhoo, the reason behind us eating cake and speculating is that Madame Zingara is coming home! Madame Zingara is a Cape Town legend – a circus-like extravaganza of magic and colour and amazement. I can’t tell you any more, because I’ve never been (much to my dismay – they went overseas just after I moved to Cape Town and somehow I’ve never been in the right place at the right time to go).

This time I will not miss out. I can’t WAIT! And as a special treat, I’m going to be giving away two free tickets to the show! So if you’re in Cape Town, watch this space. And if you’re not, perhaps it’s time for a visit?

The show starts at the end of May, but in the meantime you can visit the Sidewalk Café for a free cup of tea or coffee to go with their amazing cake. They’re giving away a thousand cups of tea and a thousand cups of coffee! Incredible, no? It is an extremely popular spot, though, so if I were you I’d head over there this weekend…

If you want to find out more about the Sidewalk Café, visit www.sidewalk.co.za
It might just be the coolest South African website I’ve ever seen.

(Photos, throughout, are by the very talented Mark Peddle. Yes, he’s my fiancé. Isn’t that lovely?)

The simple things in life.

// April 5th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Inspiration, Life (and the living of it), Love

I haven’t been talking much about our incredible six months of travelling, not because I don’t want to share stories about it, but because it actually feels like a long time ago… And then every so often I’ll remember something and think, “No way! That was only 3 months ago.” Or less – we’ve only been home for 6 weeks. I suppose it’s the kind of thing where stories will leak out of me slowly.

There is one moment I distinctly remember, though:
We were on top of this mountains in Java, Indonesia, staying at a charming little place where the whole village focuses on a 3am wake-up call to jeep up to this lookout point and watch the sun rise over the Gunung Bromo volcano. Incredible stuff. Once the sun is up, you walk across the field of ash surrounding the volcano, and up to the rim, where you can look into its sulfurous heart. It was a completely extraordinary morning.

But I remember that afternoon, sitting in the garden of this hotel in Java, listening to the village going about its business, breathing in the crisp air scented with woodsmoke, and thinking, “There is just as much beauty in the simple things in life.” We were nearing the end of our fourth month of travelling, and I had an acute sense of how wonderful it would be to drink a cup of tea (a real cup of tea!) slowly on the verandah of my own home. To prepare a really delicious meal for the two of us to eat. To spend time with my family. To watch my niece playing. To talk about everything and nothing to my mom on the phone without having to worry about the cost of the call.

And now that we are home, I’m happy to say that I still think these are wonderful things.
We just had a four day weekend, and I spent it eating with family and friends. Pretty much the whole weekend. Just eating. On Friday we had my man’s parents and grandpa over for tea and cake; Saturday we went for a beach picnic with friends in the morning, and a braai with other friends in the afternoon; Sunday we had a long, lazy lunch with my brothers and their lovely ladies; and today we went to the incredible Strandloper seafood restaurant with my brothers and a whole heap of friends (seven courses of seafood dished up on the beach… Wow.)

I suppose it’s also a novelty because I now have two brothers living in Cape Town (how lovely!) so I’m able to spend real family time without having to fly home to Durban (although I’ll still want to do that to see my other brother and my parents). Maybe it’s just the glow of having returned home so recently. But I think it’s as simple as this:

Life offers us a bouquet of moments that we can either appreciate or let slip through our fingers. They don’t last – most bouquets don’t – but if we can taste them fully as they are happening, I think that’s as whole and rich and wonderful a life as we can hope for.

What do you think?

Photo: Praziquantel

We’re ENGAGED!!!

// December 29th, 2009 // 8 Comments » // Decisions, Laughter, Life (and the living of it), Love

I am SO happy! I can’t even tell you. I’ve been grinning nonstop since yesterday evening (yes, all through the night – I hardly slept a wink!)

So here’s how it happened…

Yesterday around 6pm Mark told me he had a surprise for me, and that I had to meet him on the beach in half an hour… We’ve been staying in a charming little fishing village called Amed, on the North coast of Bali (in Indonesia) for the last five nights, and we’ve loved every second of it. Not at all touristy (unlike the rest of Bali), fantastic scuba diving, incredible snorkelling, and superb grilled prawns and Indonesian delicacies eaten right on the beach. Divine.

So I head down to the beach and there’s a part of me that’s thinking, ‘Is he about to propose?’ because it was all so mysterious. But I had a feeling he might propose on Christmas Day and he didn’t, so I didn’t want to get my hopes up.

I walk to the restaurant where he said he’d meet me, and what do I see? No Mark. But the waitress was all clued up, handed me two fresh mango juices (our favourite, unbelievably sweet and fresh and yummy) and told me to wait a few minutes.

Less than two minutes later, I see Mark heading towards shore on a local fisherman’s boat. Looked something like this:

I climb on board and off we go, on a ’sunset cruise’, he tells me. So we’re sitting out there soaking up the view (a volcano, an island fringed with palm trees, an endless horizon in the other direction, the clouds streaked pink with sunset just around the corner, a half moon starting to rise) and sipping our mango juice.

Dusk is my favourite time of day, the ocean is my favourite place to be, I have a thing about endless horizons. And Mark’s all fidgety and looks nervous, so of course I’m wondering what’s up. Then he pulls out a dozen candles and lights them and I start to feel like I know what’s coming up…

After many more minutes of a really magical slice of my life, Mark turns to me and says, “Will you marry me?”
I was so happy I couldn’t even speak – crying and laughing at the same time, honestly it’s the best feeling in the world! But of course I said yes.

And then he gave me my ring – a bamboo ring he’d found in Thailand (and been carrying around for the last four months!) with strips of silver that he’d had a local silversmith in Gili Air (the island we were on last week) put in. I love it! It’s just perfect – I told him once that I wanted a ring I could swim in the sea with. It’s so me.

And now we’re ENGAGED!!! And we are both on Cloud Nine. It’s a lovely place to be.

Returning to old places.

// June 6th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Laughter, Life (and the living of it), Love, travelling

So I spent most of this week in Lancaster, the small city where my lovely college, Franklin and Marshall (check it out at www.fandm.edu) is. I was a little worried that it would feel haunted… that I’d wander around feeling like I’d stepped back in time, and not in a good way.

I was wrong. It was so so wonderful to be back, like visiting an old home that is still very familiar and dear. Here are the best moments from this week…

LANCASTER HIGHLIGHTS:

* Catching up with old professors and friends (often the same person) and realizing that although 4 years is a long time, it condenses really quickly when you’re real friends.

* Seeing my college campus (which looks incredible! I’m jealous), and walking around it again… I felt like I was back in school, and on my way to class, quite uncanny!

* Fabulous conversations about life, love, relationships, books, and other scintillating topics.

* Waking to a 2am thunderstorm.

* Waking to a 6am thunderstorm.

* Going to Harrisburg (45 minutes from Lancaster) for my first ever American radio interview, and having a lot of fun doing it! Also figuring out the whole train / taxi thing in a foreign town – I’m actually pretty savvy. Who knew??

* Hanging out with Eva – the coolest 9 year old I know – and her American Girl dolls. I want one! (We did a photo shoot – see below).

* Freshly baked pound cake with whipped cream and fresh farm strawberries… on a warm, muggy evening, outdoors.

* Visiting the new Ice Cream Parlour (heaven in a room!) not once but twice.

* Breakfast at the new Creperie – yum!

* Going to the famous Shiny Diner for lunch.

* Wandering around the city and having it feel like a second home.

* Visiting all my old haunts and having them smell exactly the same.

* Eating superb food at a girl’s night out and realizing that age and distance don’t matter when you really love people.

* Laughing. So much.

International First Love Day!

// May 15th, 2009 // No Comments » // Blogs, Love, Writing

Today, the 15th of May 2009, is the first official International First Love Day. A day to celebrate first loves, innocence, what it is we first fell in love with, and the beauty of love in all its forms.

Are you ready for a large helping of love?

Check out these blogs from all over the world for their International First Love Day contributions:

* Mold-a-Rama-Rama – http://moldarama-rama.blogspot.com/

* Reluctant Runner – http://www.reluctantrunner.net

* Awesome Fabric from South Africa – http://awesomefabricsfromsouthafrica.blogspot.com/

* The Misinterpretation of Dreams – http://amandasaunders.blog.com/

* Bianca Baldi – http://www.biancabaldi.net/blog.php

* Naturally Nina – http://www.naturallynina.com

* La Vie a Vernelle – http://vie-vernelle.blogspot.com/

* Brendan McNulty – Web 3.0 – http://www.brendan-mcnulty.com/

* Kathleen Ingraham – http://www.kathleeningraham.com

* Being Brazen – http://www.beingbrazen.com

* The Naked Redhead – http://www.thenakedredhead.com

* Rumble – http://rumble.sy2.com/stories/blue_afghan.html

* Sprig – http://sprig.co.za/

* Bridget McNulty - http://www.bridgetmcnulty.com

My First Love:

// May 15th, 2009 // No Comments » // Inspiration, Life (and the living of it), Love

When I think of my first love, I see snapshots of very specific moments. Care to look through them?

In this one, I’m sitting at the Steers restaurant at Musgrave Centre, the local shopping centre, on a Friday night, with four guys – Jono, Gerard, Steve and Anton. A bitchy girl from my class at school comes up to me, looks around the table (counting the ratio of 4 to 1) and asks me who else is joining us. “Oh no, it’s just me,” I say, with a smile, and she stares at me in shock.

I was sixteen. I was wearing stripy knee-high socks. I thought I was hot stuff.

Then, fast forward a few weeks, to this one: just me and Jono, sitting in the office at his parent’s house, playing a computer game (‘Jones in the Fast Lane’, I still remember it) and holding hands. My heart is pounding so desperately hard I struggle to appear calm.

Three days later, Jono moved to Cape Town with his family. I was devastated.

But a month or two after that he is back on holiday. I see us, in the Durban Art Gallery on a Friday night for the monthly Red Eye art event. Jono and I sit on a bench surrounded by a swirling mass of creatively (or crazily) dressed people, holding hands. And then he kisses me, and the swirling mass quiets, just for a moment.

I was in love. I lost my appetite, and the need to sleep. I was boundlessly full of energy.

And then a few days later, the last snapshot: we sit under my tree (my favourite tree, the tree I sit under every night that sixteenth year) and he tells me that we can’t be together because there’s someone else, someone in Cape Town, someone he’s in love with.
And I slap him.

Feisty for a sixteen year old, don’t you think?

I left for Tanzania the next week, on holiday with my family. We spent three weeks traveling around Tanzania and Zanzibar, and a week staying at my aunt’s convent. Slowly, painstakingly, I started piecing together the pieces of my broken heart. I couldn’t imagine ever feeling like that about anyone ever again.

Ten years later? A whole new heart.

Giveaway time!

// May 12th, 2009 // 10 Comments » // Love, Strange Nervous Laughter

I’ve never done a giveaway on my blog before, but then I’ve never had a book published in the USA before, so this is obviously a day for firsts!

If you’d like to win a copy of the very cool, very hardcover Strange Nervous Laughter US edition, leave me a comment below… something about love, methinks.

The most creative comment (as judged by an impartial third party!) will win a copy of the book.

International First Love Day – this Friday!

// May 11th, 2009 // 8 Comments » // Blogs, Love, Strange Nervous Laughter, book launch

Are you a blogger? Have you ever been in love? Do you want to take part in International First Love Day this Friday, the 15th of May?

You might not know it, but this Friday is International First Love Day.
As part of the celebrations surrounding Strange Nervous Laughter being released in the USA (tomorrow!) I thought it was time we had a First Love Day. Strange Nervous Laughter is a book about love, you see. About what love does to us, and how we are changed by being in love, out of love, or on the brink between the two. So I thought it was time we talked about love a little.

This Friday is the first official International First Love Day. It’s a chance for all of us, together, to tell about our first loves, in words or pictures or images or photos. It’s a day to commemorate first loves.
And there’s a logo to go with it! (Isn’t it pretty?)

If you’re interested in taking part in International First Love Day, please RSVP (either in the comments or by email)  with your name and blog address, so that I can compile a list of the blogs who are involved, and post it for all to see (on my blog / Facebook / Twitter etc). If you have any friends you think might like to get involved – forward this to them! International First Love Day is a day for everyone.

And make sure you check back on Friday to see the list of International First Love Day participants!