Wednesday 29 August 2012

Wedding bells :)

Sorry for being quiet over the last little bit :) we took a trip to celebrate the wedding of a very special friend :)
 
It was a wonderful opportunity to catch up and spend some meaningful time with people we do not get to see very often :)
Here's the beautiful bride after getting her make up and hair done!
 
 
Sarah and Brad choose a really awesome venue with a 'shabby chic' kind of vibe that matched them too a tee ! the whole wedding went off without a hitch and was very special:)
 
(the ceremony... My hubby took these as I was a bridesmaid )
 
 
their Grand Entrance:)
 
Sarah (and company :) ) hand decorated all the bottles with natural elements like twine and burlap and she order bunches of 'Fynbos' (wildflowers unique to South Africa) and proteas from a local farmer which we separated and put into the bottles! It was really effective especially when all the candles were lit :)
 
 
the Bride and Groom opened the dance floor with Jack Johnson's Better together
 
 
this was actually the inspiration for our gift to them :) Using a combination of the method from my Pinterest Challenge Post and Wordle I made them a piece of Art that I hope they will enjoy and will always remind them that it's always better when you're together!
 
 
          

Tuesday 21 August 2012

New Blog Series :)

I'll be trying something new as from next week :)

I'm launching a new series called

The Basic Premise of this idea is to get people who are 'Guru's' in their particular field to share some of their knowledge and passion with us:)

A guru doesn't neccesarily need to be someone formally trained in a specific field , it is someone who love's their craft and is willing to share their craft with others to help them develop skill's they might not have had before:)

If you would like to be a 'guest guru' please feel free to contact me

looking forward to learning together :)


Friday 17 August 2012

deal of the year!!


I've never been afraid to admit I'm cheap frugal ;) I love a good deal and have scored some great deals over the years by shopping in place's where other might not or finding a deal in a sale rack like I mentioned in this post. But what I'm about to show you might just be my score of the year (or even Score of my life!).

The Children's home where I work often gets donations. most of the stuff (that isn't broken beyond repair) gets distributed among the different houses in the village and when we can't use it here gets sent to the local schools and community... yesterday a whole stack of stuff came in including some broken mirrors and frames that had lost their glass... They were going to be thrown out so I asked if I could buy them and take them , I figured I could use the broken Mirror's for Mosaic and the frame had a decent mat that could also be reused...


After Picking them up and realising they were pretty solid I turned them around and saw they still had prices on:

I know the picture isn't very clear but they were from boardmans  and were marked at N$ 699.99 (for my American friends that's about USD 85) which is more than I would have ever spent on them. When I went to pay for them ,they only charged me N$10 for all three frames (about USD 1.5) ... that works out at something silly like 3.33 for each frame!

the best part was today another batch came and there where two more mirrored frame mirrors which I can also buy :)
that's N$ 2799.96 worth of frames for about N$ 15 , I can replace the broken mirror for a little bit of money and they'll be good as new PLUS i get a whole bunch of mosaic supplies as a bonus (and those little broken bits of tile can add up )

i can't wait to see how they turn out in our new home :) I'm thinking Either they'll become bathroom mirrors or I'm going to try something like this:


or

till next time :)


     
mop it up mondays feature

Thursday 16 August 2012

the best laid plans!!

As I mentioned before we've been waiting on tender hooks to see if the plans for our new 'house' have been approved. In typical African fashion there were delays but I am happy to report that yesterday we got this

Along with that wonderful stamp all over our building plans we also got all the paperwork and permits needed to begin :)

I'm very excited (as if you couldn't tell ). To make it even better we got an offer on our house !! After almost three weeks with nothing we called in some agents to come in and help us and literally half an hour after they had left we got a call asking to come and look and they made us an offer on the spot... We're still kind of reeling with all the information especially after being told by our conveyancing attorney that the transfer could go through within 4-6 weeks!!!!

It feels like everything is happening very fast (especially after it took so long to get going )
you can read more about our journey here or see some of my inspiration for the new house Kitchen and Bathroom

here's hoping it all keeps going smoothly :) next up confirming a builder :)



                                                   

mop it up mondays

Wednesday 8 August 2012

back in the game

I apologies for my lack of posting over the last week and a bit. There were lots of things going on and my access to internet was intermittent leaving me unable to blog:( (or read my favourites!!) but I'm back and hopefully will be a bit more regular again :)

Well as I mentioned I started a new Job last week Wednesday at a children's home here. I was put straight into action in a management training workshop for my first three days and on the second day had a crisis intervention to deal with regarding a ill mom and 7 children (yes you read that right)  to attend to While mom got better... Everything worked out just fine but how's that for being thrown into the deep end :)

i would highly recommend starting a new job on a Wednesday :) it gives you enough time to get settled without making you so exhausted you want to die come weekend time :) 

Speaking of the weekend ... we took a trip back to our student days (and dragged all of our awesome friends with us :) )


We went to see a band called Heuwels Fantasties , who are a South African based Afrikaans outfit that we love!! 

We also got to see a (Heavy metal) band called "out of Nowhere"who opened for them. The band was a bit heavy for my taste but I could appreciate the musicality (if that makes sense ). It was LOUD and I realised that we are definitely NOT students anymore where loud music in confined spaces didn't phase us at all... 


there were a surprising amount of people there but none the less it was a great experience :)
I'm listening to the CD as I write this and reminiscing ;) 



you can check out the music video to one of there English tracks here



Oh and we called Monday (as instructed) to find out the status of our house plans .... The Lady at the municipality said some adjustments were needed on the plans and then couldn't find the file to tell us what they were (Typical hey :) !), she then said we should call our draughtsman as they sometimes will send it directly back to them to fix... well He didn't have them and after going there and making them look again they eventually located it and said we were missing paperwork (which was actually there).... Anyway the man handling it said he'd look into it and we'll hopefully get a final answer tomorrow !!!!! Hold thumbs :)


mop it up mondays