marching on

Our house is progressing at quite a pace now which is quite nice after the initial setbacks . All the Foundation walls are now in place and (in my very limited building knowledge) I think the next step is compacting the sand that they dug out back in and casting the floor slab.

 

It currently looks like this

 

 

To make it easier to understand the layout I've labelled it

 

 

exciting times :)

Wish we could just Snap our fingers and jump to the fun part, but I'm satisfied with the pace things are moving. We probably aren't going to meet our (hoped for) deadline of December to move in but things are progressing and it's exciting to see ! I've always been a fan of things where you can see your progress (hence I tend to do only small 'instant gratification crafts) , and every time I get home from work somethings changed back there:)

 

also welcome to all my new followers :) thanks for joining us on this adventure

 

Concrete never looked so good!

I'm sure you remember the tree stump I've been cursing discussing over my last few posts

Well the darn thing eventually played along and moved! Here's a picture of it buried under the rest of the sand from the foundation.

 

 

Its sitting at the moment where our garage should be but because it was so big and heavy they just moved it out of the way to carry on with the foundations and once all the dirt's been put back where it needs to go the hope is to just drag it out and send it on it's merry way :)

 

The progress at the moment looks like this (as of yesterday)

 

 

The foundation inspection was done on Tuesday afternoon and they started pouring the concrete on Wednesday. They left it to cure for yesterday and laid out some bricks to mark where the walls will be.

 

 

They also moved piles of bricks closer to where they will be needed to be in order to build.

 

 

We're super excited and hoping that the walls go up quickly! they're going to start on the boundary wall first so our neighbour has her privacy back and go from there :)

 

       

chaos reigns supreme

No pictures today, just a quick update to show I'm still alive... remember in my last post how i mentioned we were trying to get rid of a tree stump to pour the foundation and were hoping it would get done before the weekend?

Well in true building fashion, that didn't happen!! They eventually managed to get the Monster out yesterday (about 4 days after they thought they would be able to) so now the foundation digging continues with a hope for inspection today and a foundation pour tomorrow....

 

I wouldn't hold you breath but please keep all fingers/toes crossed that this will happen and we'll be back on track :)

 

Strong foundation

So far so good on the daily Photo of house building that I mentioned I'd be doing in my previous post. I even got a tip on how to combine them into a movie (thanks Jacky) :).

 

Our builders are plugging along with digging the foundation. They are having trouble removing the last bits of the two trees that used to be in the yard and seem to have a root system as deep as they were tall! I'm looking forward to seeing if they managed it today!

 

We've progressed from nothing...

 

 

to foundations marked out in the sand for the outside...

 

 

to Foundations dug for (most) of the outside...

 

 

To Foundations for outside and most of the interior walls :)

 

Sorry for the bad photo

 

 On Friday the plan was to try and have to foundations ready for inspection by tomorrow so they can pour them and start building. Needless to say this would be FANTASTIC but as I already mentioned we have some super stubborn trees to contend with !

By the way for anyone wondering about how small things look, I have been told that the digging the foundations make things look smaller than they actually are .

 

Here's hoping they're right :) 

 

 

Guest Guru : Engagement Photo Shoots

 

 

In keeping with the theme of photography ,in honour of my new camera:) ,this weeks guest Guru Post is by Genevieve, one part of the amazing team that is BLAW Photography.

 

 

I'm on the right , Gen's in the Middle and on the Left is Sarah (who also used Blaw to take her wedding pics :) )

 

 

Gen is a Long time Friend of Mine . My university flatmate,friend and also behind (half) of my Beautiful Wedding pics :D. I can recommend her whole heartedly for any one in SA looking for a wedding photographer :)

 

Take it Away :

 

_______________________________________________________________ 

As a Photographer and even as a Bride-to-be I think there is so much information and tips I'd like to impart to people about weddings, photography and brides but I think its safest if we sort of start some where in the beginning.

 

Copyright Blaw Photography

 

I thought an engagement shoot is a good place to start. engagement shoots are my favourite, its like a wedding but less stress, time constraints and defiantly not highly strung emotionally.
This is where as a photographer I like to have fun, and even try some crazy Photography thingy's out.
:)

If you have booked or are still going to book your wedding photographer, make sure you go for an engagement shoot. It breaks the ice, you get to know how the photographer works, and most of all you get comfortable in front of the lens. This translates well on your wedding day, and means you will have one less thing to stress about.

I send all my brides to be, doing an e-session with me this little E-session tips page.

 

Copyright Blaw Photography

 

(You can download the tips page by Right Clicking on the Picture and selecting Save Picture as) 

 

 

 Its just small, but very effective tips that will help make your e-session that much more amazing, and help insure some spectacular photos that will last a lifetime!

 

keep smiling
 Genevieve
BLAW Photography

  

__________________________________________________________

 

Copyright Blaw Photography

 

Check Out Blaw Photography's Website Or Facebook Page . They are currently running a competition for a free e-shoot session .

 

 

 

Thanks For Sharing your Knowledge with us Gen!

 

 

Back again (with a building update)

 

After a crazy few weeks with many issues and travelling I'm hopefully back now to more regular posting. Remember when I posted here about how awesome my Husband is? Well he proved it again by getting me an awesome new camera :)

 

(me in the bathroom at work ... classy ;) )

 

Its a Fuji Film Fine Pix S2995 and is whats known as a bridging Camera. Meaning It doesn't have the option of changing out the lenses and stuff like a more advanced Camera would but its got more features than your ordinary point and shoot plus the option of shooting totally on Auto or switching to Manual settings and many other options in between :)

Here's hoping I can figure out how to take more professional Pictures :)

 

The one really amazing feature the new Camera has is the ability to shoot a Panorama Shot. You just Line everything up and it gives you a nice guide as to where to turn the camera too and it combines them automatically.

Which Leads me to my next point...

as Our builders arrived yesterday (can I get a hallelujah!!!!!) I thought it would be fun to take some progress shots while we move through the Building process  :)

 

This is what the yard looked like before we started

 

 

and this is what it looks like this morning !

 

 

 

 

Its got to get worse before it gets better right?

 

Regardless it's very exciting!! We'll keep you up to date with the progress! I think I'm going to take a series of pictures from the same spot and when we're done try combine them somehow into a stop motion video (Any tips anyone?). It'll be fun to see how it all evolves :)