Jeaunes

How times flies

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

I cannot believe that the first month of 2009 is almost over - 5 days and counting. It amazes me how fast the time goes by. i know time goes by quickly when you are having fun, but by the looks of things, time goes by even quicker when you are busy, irrespective of whether you are having fun or not.
Things have been a bit busy at the office and at home. And the worst of all I have not been able to do any scrapbooking for 3 weeks. It is really depressing.
I started with ballet clasees again, after about 2 years of not dancing. And the best part is that I still enjoy it. I never realised how much I missed it. I'll be doing my Grade 8 (last graded exam) in May. After that I have 4 advanced exams left, then I have finished all the exams and I qualify for my teachers. I honestly do not know whether I'll ever teach, but at least I'll have it. JYB (Johannesburg Youth Ballet Company) also started this past Saturday, so now everything is up and running again.
So between work and ballet, I have not been able to scrapbook a lot, but I have been doing some tidying at home. I am looking at doing some redecorating as time goes on. The first room that I want to do is the guest room. I want to hang some kiwi/dark lime green suede curtains with white crushed voile; for the bedding I saw a nice white set with similar green patterns; I want to add some black to the room by getting tiebacks and scatter cushions in black. So in the end it will be a green, white and black room. I reckon it will look quite nice. I am a bit hesitant about the black, but if it does not work, I'll just go for the green and white.
My husbad and I are off to the spa on Friday evening, for a relaxing spa session and overnight stay. I cannot wait!!!!
To finish off with here is a little something about women that I received the other day:

A Woman has strenghts that amaze men.

She can handle trouble and carry heavy burdens.

She holds happiness, love and opinions.

She smiles when she feels like screaming.

She sings when she feels like crying,

cries when she's happy and laughs when she's afraid.

Her love is unconditional!

There 's only one thing wrong with he:

She sometimes forgets

what she is worth...

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Our server at the office was off from Monday morning until yesterday, which meant that I was unable to do ANY work. And of course it is Murphy’s Law that when you have tons of work to do, the server will be off.

We had an uneventful weekend. I had lunch with a close friend after work on Friday afternoon, went home with the idea of doing some sorting of the guest bedrooms, but fell asleep with Zorro and only woke up when my husband phoned at 6 to say he is on his way home. We were going to go out for dinner and some ten-pin bowling on Friday evening, but in the end we stayed home, got some pizza take-away and watched Eli Stone. On Saturday I got started on the sorting and cleaning out – but once again I did not get very far. I went scrapbooking in the afternoon where I finished a layout I started about 2 months ago and finished another layout. Both these layouts are of our honeymoon in Mauritius. In the evening my husband took me to dinner at our local Chinese Restaurant. Sunday we just hang around the house watching TV and I made supper for my parents, since they arrived home from their holiday late yesterday afternoon. I also attempted some crumpets – which was a big success for my first attempt.

I have not had a chance to upload the layouts I did over the weekend nor those I did over the holiday. But I reckon I might be able to upload them tonight.

I read a very nice book over the holiday called Dewey. The book is about a kitten that is found in the local library of a small town in Iowa. The story then unfolds as the kitten grows older and how it then changes the life of the people in the town. It is a very sweet but sad book in the end – since Dewey dies. But then again, nobody can live forever, not even a cat. I also started reading Photo Freedom by Stacey Julian over the holidays.

At the moment I am reading 2 books; the one The Appeal by John Grisham; and the second book it The Tales of Beatle the Baard by J.K. Rowling. Both books are very nice. I started The Appeal over the holidays once I had finished Dewey, and by now I am about half way through. But then when I walked into Exclusive Books the other day I found the new book by J.K. Rowling, and since I am a big Harry Potter fan, I just could not leave the book. It is a thin quick reading book, so maybe by the end of the week I’ll have that finished, then I will return to my Law thriller. What is also nice about The Tales of Beetle the Baard is that it consists of 5 short stories of a few pages, and each of these stories is independent of the other. So I can read a story a night, which is nice, since I do not always have the energy for reading a lot of pages once I get to bed at night.

Quote for the day: “Don’t ever take a fence down until you know the reason why it was put up.” – G.K. Chesterton

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

We finally arrived home from our December holiday on Sunday.

My husband and I travelled to St Francis Bay where we have a beach house. We were there for 2 weeks, and I honestly wish I could say that it was long enough. But unfortunately, it never is. I always wonder why that is. But then again, if we don’t work, then we won’t be able to go on holidays such as these. So either way it’s a catch 22 situation.

After leaving at 5 in the morning with both Zorro and Luigi in the car we arrived safe and sound at the coast on Friday 19 December at about 19h00. The first 2 days we did not do much. We went to the beach once or twice, if the weather was nice. My husband went fishing with my dad while I either sat in front of the TV, on the patio reading my book or behind the scrapbooking layouts.

I took this picture the one day while the men were busy gearing up for the fishing. The fishing rod was standing against the wall, and

Just before we left for the coast we received news from a close friend of mine that her baby boy was born on the 17th of December. He was 53cm long and weighed 3.8kg. He is too cute for words, and looks exactly like his dad.
We had a very quite Christmas Eve, with just my parents, my sister, my husband and me. We had a nice dinner, and opened gifts at 00h00. Even though it was a relaxing evening, there was definitely not a shortage of gifts for everyone. Even Zorro celebrated Christmas. I bought him a blanket for the winter and made a bowl with goodies and toys in. I placed his prezzie in a gift bag, which he then climbed into to get to everything - very sweet really.

On Christmas Day the whole family (on my dad’s side) had lunch at my Gran’s house. That was just as much fun and a big success. We had lovely food, but ate too much, as usual. And once again there were tons of gifts.

My husband and I bought Boyds Bears’ Christmas decorations for each person. After they received their gift we decorated the tree, and in the end it turned out really nice, and everyone enjoyed it.

I went to a local scrapbooking shop near our beach house during the holiday. They have a lovely shop with tons of stock. But in the end I was not that impress with the class. I arrived and left about an hour and a half later with a finished double layout. Yes I know it is quick, but the problem is that with tehe exception of sticking the paper pieced and my pictures I did nothing. They did all the cutting everyting, they even painted my chipboard letters. Well I at least got to choose the paper. The rest was all their doing. Luckily I did not have to pay any class fee...

Between Christmas and New Year my sister's boyfriend joined us as well as my cousin. Shame, she wrote matric this year, and while she was staying with us she received her results. She was so stressed while waiting, but in the end all her results were very good, and everyone was very pleased.

On New Year's Eve my parents, my husband and me had a braai at one of my close friends that stay in St Francis. It was a very nice and relaxing evening. There was no need to wait for food, or having to stand in a queue to get something to drink. We did however have a bit of an upset when we arrived home - one of the dogs had ran away. The poor dog is terrified of fireworks, and once it started he got scared and hit the road. We got into the car and went looking for him, but unfortunately we could not find him. Luckily when we woke up the next day he had come home by himself. The only drawback was that he had hurt his feet with all the running on the tar roads. But luckily his feet are recovering very well.

On New Year's day my dad's family came over to our place where we once again had a lovely lunch and ate too much. We also celebrate his one brother's birthday which was on the 2nd of Jan. We got him a cake with candles that can not be blown out. So he was huffing and puffing, but without any luck.

In the end we had a wonderful day but we were very tired.

All and all we had a wonderful holiday and I took tons of pictures, and unfortunately we had to come home.

Quote for the day: "Who has begun has half done. Have the courage to be wise. Begin!" by Horace

It's a new year with new beginnings. I can not believe that 2008 has come, gone and bought us 2009 already. It feels like yesterday that my husband and I were getting ready to get married, but now we've almost be married for a year (6 weeks to go). It is really scary!

What is even scarier is the fact that we all make these new years resolutions, but no know ever keeps them. I have not really made any resolutions, that way I can not break them. What I have done is thought about things I would love to do during the year. And what's nice about that is that if you do not do them, it's alright, I guess. I haveno't really thought about it a lot, but there are some things that I can put on paper so long:

I want to organise the bedrooms in our house and redecorate them.
I want to go on the New Year's cruise (2009-2010) to Mauritius.
I want to organise my scrapbooking stuff (the reason for this is that I have started reading Stacey Julian's Photo Freedom over the holidays. I got really inspired by that book to get my pictures and scrapbooking organised.

That is all I have so far - but as time goes on I presume, no I know, the list will get longer.

Quote for the day: "Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better" by Richard Hooker.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Some one sent this to me the other day. Some of it is so true... Enjoy!

Aspire to be Barbie - the bitch has everything.
If the shoe fits - buy them in every colour.
Take life with a pinch of salt... A wedge of lime, and a shot of tequila.
In need of a support group? Cocktail hour with the girls!
Go on teh 30 day diet. (I'm on it and so far I've lost 15 days).
When life gets you down - just put on your big girl panties and deal with it.
Let your greatest fear be that there is not PMS and this is just your personality.
I know I'm in my own little world, but it's ok. They know me here.
Lead me not into temptation, I can find it myself.
Don't get your knickers in a knot; it solves nothing and make you walk funny.
When life gives you lemons in 2009 - turn it into lemonade then mix it with vodka.
Remember where ever there is a good looking; sweet, single or married man there is some woman tired of his bullshit!
Keep your chin up, only the first 40 years of parenthood are the hardest.
If it has Tires or Testicles, it's gonna give you trouble.
By the time a woman realises her mother was right, she has a daughter who thinks she's wrong.

Good friends are like stars... You don't always see them, but you know they are always there.

Remember yesterday, dream about tomorrow, but live for today.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

As you know by now, I am a huge cat fan. And funny and cute, or for that matter any pictures of cats I love.

I received a number of pictures the other day, and decided to share them.

Enjoy!

Hope you enjoyed this, since some of them are really cute!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

I received this email the other day from a friend. I thought it would be nice to put on my blog.

Put the items you've done in bold.

Started you own blog
Slept under the stars
Played in a band
Visited Hawaii (maybe some day soon)
Watched a meteor shower
Given more that you can afford to charity
Been to Disney World (twice, and I'll definitely go again!)
Climbed a mountain
Held a praying mantis
Sang a solo (lots, while I was still at school)
Bungee jumped (maybe one day I'll have the guts)
Visited Paris
Watched a lighting storm at sea
Taught yourself an art from scratch
Adopted a child
Had food poisoning
Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (just rode past it on a ferry boat)
Grown your own vegetables
Seen the Mona Lisa in France (definitely on my to-do list)
Slept on an overnight train
Had a pillow fight
Hitch Hiked
Taken a sick day when you're not ill (my conscience would bother me)
Built a snow fort
Held a lamb
Gone skinny dimpping
Run a marathon
Ridden in a gondola in Venice (not yet, but have been to Venice twice)
Seen a total eclipse
Watched a sunrie or sunsest
Hit a home run
Been on a cruise (want to go again)
Seen Niagara Falls in person (on my to-do list)
Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
Seen an Amish Community
Taught yourself a new language
Had enough money to be truly satisfied (I do not think you can ever have enough money)
Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person (still want to go to Pisa)
Gone rock climbing
Seen Michelangelo's David
Sung Karaoke
Seen old faithfull geyser erupt
Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
Visited Africa (other that the fact that techincally I live in Africa, I have been to Zimbabwe in the good old days)
Walked on a beach in moonlight (on our honeymoon in Mauritius, for the first time)
Been transported in an ambulance
Had your portrait painted (at the hobby-ex last year)
Gone deep sea fishing
See the Sistine Chapel in person (definitely something I WANT to do)
Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (have not been to the top, but have seen it up close)
Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (again on our honeymoon)
Kissed in the rain
Played in the mud
Gone to a drive-in theatre
Been in a movie
Visited the Great Wall of China
Started a business
Taken a martial arts class
Visited Russia
Served at a soup kitchen
Sold girl scout's cookies
Gone whale watching
Got flowers for no reason (lots of times, my husband believes that buying flowers should be a spur of the moment thing)
Donated blood, platelets or plasma
Gone sky diving
Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
Bounced a check
Flown in a helicopter
Saved a favourite childhood toy
Visited the Lincoln Memorial
Eaten Caviar
Pieced a quilt
Stood in Times Square
Toured the Everglades
Been fired from a job
Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
Broken a bone
Been on a speeding motorcycle
Seen the Grand Canyon in person (to-do still)
Published a book
Visited the Vatican (definitely want to visit the Vatican)
Bought a brand new car
Walked in Jerusalem
Had your picture in the newspaper (as a little girl)
Read the entire bible
Visited the White House
Killed and prepared an animal for eating (do not think I'll have the guts to ever do this)
Had chicken pox
Saved someone's life
Sat on a jury
Met someone famous (Dana Winner, Kurt Darren)
Joined a book club
Lost a loved one (my Gran at the age of 12)
Had a baby (if you count my kitten Zorro)
Seen the Alamo in person
Swam in Great Salt Lake
Been involved in a law suit
Owned a cell phone (no offense but who hasn't got one?)
Been stung by a bee
Read an entire book in one day (Harry Potter)

Enjoy!

Instead of just going straight hom eyesterday afternoon I met my husband at our local shopping mall. There we did some shopping since I had to get stuff to finish the calanders I am making for the office.

Finally after 2 hours, a few drinks and lots of money spent, we went home.

We bought some nice Wii games - Monopoly, Wii Music (where you play musical instruments) and a fishing came (with a real rod and casting, etc.)

We had this amazing sight last night. We could see the moon and 2 of the brightest planets - Jupiter and Venus, on either sides of the moon. Who else was able to see it?

I finally made a dent in the calanders this morning. The first 12 has already been sent off. So I only have another 22 to go... Not so excited to them as I were in the beginning, but oh well. They are almost finished.

I also have only 6 days left at the office before we are on holiday (3 days this week and 3 days next week). I can not wait. Then I can do whatever I want, i.e scrapbook the whole day. We are leaving for the coast on the 19th, so actually I only have a week or so to scrap in Joburg, before we leave.

I am off to a scrapbook class on Saturday morning held by Louise Eichner. She will be showing us how to make christmas door wreaths, garlands and swags, and lots more decoration ideas. I cna not wait!

I should probably be off to try and make some more calanders.

Till later then :-)

Monday, December 1, 2008

Zorro fell out the window about a week ago.

It is a terrible feeling. I woke up on the Saturday morning, quite early, not to find him in the room. I immediately started looking for him. But I could not find him. Needless to say, 3 hours later I found him hiding in one of the bushes in the garden. With exception of his mouth that was full of blood, he looked fine. He went to the bathroom and had some water. He was very concerned about the leg, and he walked a bit funny - almost with a stiff leg. But other than that he was fine.

Later the afternoon I took him to the vet. There they explained that the reason his mouth was all bloody, was because it must have broken his fall. His jaw was not broken and the spine was fine. He also did not dislocate or break anything. Which was a great relief to me. I took him home that night.

I took some pictures of him, when he got back from the vet on Saturday.

He was not really that impressed with me.

I also took some pictures of what his mouth looked like. I felt so sorry for him. But lucky for him, he could not eat his proper food, so he got very nice soft food, which he really enjoys alot!

I kept a good eye on him and he was fine really. He just could not climb the stairs nicely, and he could not really play. But he was improving and drinking his antibiotics, with trouble, but we got them down...

Then on Thursday morning, he started moaning and he could not go to the loo, and he could neither stand nor walk on the right back leg. He would sit and cry and moan, and I could not do anything. I felt so helpless! So when the vet opened I took him in. The submitted him and I could pick him up again at 17h00.

When I arrived at 17h00, he was fine. They took some x-rays, and it showed that a piece of his pelvis had broken off. That is why he could not walk and go to the loo, since it was too sore. Shame the poor baby, I felt so sorry for him. They gave me more medicine for him and I could take him home. They told me to keep him still and no jumping and playing. Now, try telling a nine month old kitten he is not aloud to jump or do anything.

They had to put him under anesthetic in order to take the xrays. So they had to shave his front leg for the drip, shame my poor baby!

But he is doing better now. He is taking his medicine, and looking a whole lot better.

He sat with me yesterday afternoon while I was scrapbooking. I bought some nice new boxes for my scrap paper. He decided to climb in, and that is where he lay while I was scrapbooking.

He was not very impressed with me when I took this picture, since he was trying to sleep!

But by the time I took this picture he was up and ready for more mischief!

I am still really worried about him, but by the sounds of things he will be ok.

What a weekend

The weekend started off with me dreading it. We were suppose to go away for the weekend to a spa. But my husband hurt his knee and our kitten got hurt (will tell you later what happened).

So when I got home, I waited for my husband to arrive. We then went grocery shopping. Just as we were walking out the store, my dad phoned and invited us to go with them to see Lionell Richie.

Me waiting outside the Coca-Cola Dome, where the show was held, to go in.

Pierre inside the Dome.

We had VIP tickets. So our dinner and drinks were all included. We also had terrific seats - row M - that is like 13 rows from the front.

Oh my word, what an awesome show it was. I actually do not have enough words to describe it to anyone.

Lionell Richie at his best - behind the piano.

He was on stage for nearly 3 hours. He was really excellent! I will go to his show anytime!

Needless to say, we only arrived home at 1h30 on Saturday morning...

Saturday we didn't do alot. Pierre work in the garden and I did some scrapbooking. One of close friends is gonig to London, so I am making him something to remember us by. I also started on our honeymoon album. Have not really done much yet.

I finished one layout of our honeymoon and I started the next one.

On Sunday, Pierre's Action Cricket Team (TWP) decided to play an outdoor game. They had 2 games. The first game started at 10h00, they played 25 overs and won. The second game started at 14h00, then they only played 20 overs (due to time constraint) and won again. The first game they made 144, and the second game they made 168.

Here is Pierre on his way in to go bat.

He was a very relieved but proud man after he batted.

The team coming back after the first game's fielding.

The final score of the first game. TWP made 144 runs, while their opponent only made 133.

I took some very nice shots, especially of my husband. I now want to scrap them for him. But I decided that instead of making a double layout, I'll make a chipboard album. That way, I can put in more pictures, since there are so many!

So in the end the weekend was not as bad as I anticipated it to be on Friday!