who doesn't like a bit of tmi first thing in the morning?

While the blogger's block has had me firmly locked in it's jaws...
And about a hundred years ago, Tenille of Nine Years in the Making tagged me, and I meant to respond, really I did.

Tenille said:
This is kind of like the 25 things - except there are pre-decided questions and it's about you and your spouse, not just you. Come on, play along - inquiring minds want to know! ;-)

♥ What are your middle names?
Neither of us have any... Thanks parents!

♥ How long have you been together?
Very nearly three years now. (Crikey time is FLYING by!)

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
Three months.

♥ Who asked who out?
It started with us seeking each other out at parties of our mutual friends... Then I invited him and a few other friends (for cover - I just wanted to see him!) out, we ended being the last two at the bar and he sweetly, yet confidently, stated his interest. Aw.

♥ Whose siblings do you see the most?
Mine, in a social context. But we see his siblings and parents together a lot more, visiting as a family.

♥ Do you have any children?
No.
And that's all I have to say about that right now, lovely yet persistent Mother-in-law and aunt-in-law plying us with baby-makers!

♥ What about pets?
None. We travel for long periods of time, quite a bit. We go away for weekends, very often. We go out, all the time. I would like to have a little fishy or two though!

♥ Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
Lately, different social needs. I.e. I want to 'socialise' all the time and till late (who are you calling a lush?!) and he... doesn't. (Who are you calling a bore?!)
Not sure who changed? Think both of us, in opposite directions.
(Oops.)

♥ Did you go to the same school?
No.

♥ Are you from the same home town?
No.

♥ Who is the smartest?
Ha. Trick question!
Probably Werner, because he has language AND maths aptitude. But don't tell him I said that! We have scrabble death matches and are about even in trivia & general knowledge.
I rule at rock, paper, scissors though!

♥ Who is the most sensitive?
I am, by miles.

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Breakfast favourites like Liquorice&Lime in Kloof Street.

♥ Who has the craziest ex?
Haha, debatable. Fortunately, our exes don't really feature.
Unless you count the (numerous) girls in our extended circle of friends that he's snogged before?
Hi girls! (Refer: Question #26 below - no jealousy, for real.)

♥ Who has the worst temper?
Werner. No, don't you even dare try and argue!

♥ Who does the cooking?
The Chinese place around the corner.
(Pine Garden, Buitenkant Street: awesome Thai Red Curry!)
The Italian place next to the Chinese place.
(Narona: Delicious pastas and oddly, burgers!)
Beluga, Prestwich Street, Green Point: Blue Plate sushi special: heaven.
And then about twice a week, when I'm overtaken by guilt over my lack of culinary effort... I do. Kicking and screaming and cursing and producing lacklustre, though highly consumable atoms arranged in the guise of 'food'.
Werner makes all the coffee and strong, sweet, milky tea a girl could need, a mean breakfast and loves to swoop into the kitchen at the last possible moment of my cooking efforts to steal my 'thunder' by making things taste better, mostly through the vicious abuse of Wellington's Hot Sweet Chilli Sauce.

♥ Who is more social?
I thought he was, but that seems to have been a side-effect of bachelorhood. Now, it's definitely me. (Refer: Question #8 above, things that are hard.)

♥ Who is the neat-freak?
ME! Now go tidy your blog!

♥ Who is the more stubborn?
Werner.

♥ Who hogs the bed?
Werner. I was shocked and in awe the first time I woke up from an elbow in my eye. There was Werner, all stretched out diagonally across the bed, arms behind his head, king of his castle. I'm still shocked when awoken in this manner, but not so much in awe anymore...

♥ Who wakes up earlier?
Werner.

♥ Where was your first date?
Reuben's in Franschhoek. Brilliant food, super romantic ambience, surprise gifts... Very cheesy - perfect.

♥ Who has the bigger family?
Well, they are 6 kids. Who do you think?

♥ Do you get flowers often?
Not often, but in bucket-loads when I do!

♥ How do you spend the holidays?
Driving between his family's Stilbaai beach house, my family in George (Mom) & Langebaan (Dad) and ex-pat friends visiting in Cape Town. Luckily, I love driving.
(No, I don't, I fricking hate it.)

♥ Who is more jealous?
Neither.       

♥ How long did it take to get serious?
Not very long at all. 18 July (express romantic interest in each other) till 28 August (asking me to 'be his girlfriend cause he didn't want me kissing other boys' till 27 October (engaged!) Aw again.

♥ Who eats more?
Well. Surprisingly, and quite possibly against all laws of physics, metabolics and/or biology, we share most meals 50/50. This doesn't seem fair or accurate, considering we have quite a substantial height and weight difference. He's a big, very tall guy and I'm a slim-ish, slightly tall gal. Where does it go??????????..........   

♥ Who does/did the laundry?
Our cleaning lady. When she comes. Which isn't very often lately. So then I do. But if I scream-cry when it starts raining on my washing drying on the line, Werner will run out and take it down very quickly, while I carry on cursing the clouds who are "out to get me".
Aw, true love.

♥ Who’s better with the computer?
Uhm, mr. Apple Gadget-freak... When we met I'd just bought my first PC and had dial-up internet installed, whoo-hoo! But I taught myself to blog in html code till Werner got tired of my swearing and pointed out the 'compose' button, which means you compose posts using wysiwyg. See, I'm smart too!

♥ Who drives when you are together?
Werner. (Refer: Question 25 above, I really, really hate driving so thankfully we live in the city where I can walk (almost) everywhere, yay!)

Tagging people seems to have gone out of fashion, so do this if you're stuck for something to write or if you too love sharing inappropriate amounts of information with strangers over the internet! And then let us know that you did. xx

guess what? i'm absolutely fabulous!

I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself. I just found this little time-waster via this newly discovered and enjoyed blog. And they told me my style is:

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS

There's no such thing as OTT in your book: why settle for average when you can have full-blown, va-va-voom GORGEOUS? In some homes, the result is a riot of carte blanche camp, but expressed more subtly, the glamorous look can be the dernier cri of sophisticated city living. It's all a question of how you combine colour and texture with attitude even if, secretly, you know that sometimes less is often more!

Now who wouldn't like to hear that? And in my dreams, it is all true. Yay for finding fun home stuff to do... It's the next level for me!

framed

Last night we attended a little blogger bash here in our Neighbourhood. It was my first ever social with fellow bloggers. I won't lie to you, it was weird. And I was nervous. And shy. It's so strange to meet someone for the first time yet know more about their thoughts and feelings than you ever would without this wonderful sharing-is-caring tool.

Over the past few months I've become exceptionally well acquainted with a wonderful girl going through a terrible break-up. She found some comfort and promise in my Beautiful Boy story and we started e-mailing a while back. It all culminated in meeting each other at the top of the stairs at 8.30pm last night! DT blew me away with her gorgeous, bubbly vibe and from there things went swimmingly. She introduced me to the lovely, sincere Roxilla, the vivacious Dolce, gregarious Kyknoord and smoothie Blade. There were other bloggers and friends there too but I just didn't manage to chat to everyone, being nervous and shy and all.

DT and Rox also had a purpose to the meeting, and some selfless reaching out and honestly making a difference is on the cards. Which is really amazingly karmic, as I've been feeling a seriously philanthropic urge to spend my blessed free hours on this earth to better avail...

But the point of this post is the frames. The red frames. The sexy red frames. Or rather the lack thereof. I mean, the blog is named after them! Yet they do not appear on any of my wedding photos, they aren't visible on my profile pic and I wasn't wearing them at the bash last night either. The thing is, I am not supposed to wear contact lenses, but I do, when vanity/insecurity/necessity prevails. And just to prove that the frames are real, not some imaginary spectacle or a false facade, some pictures for you. I love my little red ones, I really do!

random things: a meme from being brazen & DT

Word for the week in my head is Party!
Wednesday lunch reunion party, Wednesday dinner family party, Friday night Birthday party, the bridal party, cupcakes and music and sparkling wine for the biggest party of my life.

Thought for the week in my head is remember the wedding reception is just a big Party.

Thing for the week in my life is bubbly and lots of it!

Song for the week in my head is RELAX: Frankie goes to Hollywood.

Food for the week in my belly is the usual mix of sushi, Indian, pizza plus incredible cuisine from Ginja… around the world in a meal or two.

Colour for the week in my life is multicoloured prints. Especially the burnt orange / mustard / lime green swirls of my second favourite dress in the entire world, a birthday gift from my Future Parents in Law. (DANKIE!)

Smile for the week on my face is due to excitement at impending parties and Bombshell arriving home from Denver!

Blessing for the week in my heart is the tangible love and good wishes from my wonderful family and friends.

Here are the rules:
1. Link back to the meme creator (cathjenkin)
2. Link back to person who tagged you (brazen) and (DT)
3. Share your random thoughts list.
4. Tag as many people as you like.

I'm making this a free tag... Do it if you want to!
(See, bad at delegating.)

books & values: a meme from broke-ass bride

I've been tagged by my favourite broke-ass bride, so here goes.

First off is the "Bookworm Award".

The rules are as follows...Pass it on to six other bloggers, and tell them to open the nearest book to page 56. Write out the fifth sentence on that page as well as the following few sentences. The CLOSEST BOOK, NOT YOUR FAVORITE, OR MOST INTELLECTUAL!!

Gone With The Wind: page 56. Fifth sentence.

"These people, drawn from many different places and with many different backgrounds, gave the whole life of the County and informality that was new to Ellen, an informality to which she never quite accustomed herself."



Why miss Scarlett, that dress would do me just fine as my wedding gown!

Now we have the "Kreativ Blogger Award".

The rules are to list 6 things you value and 6 things you don't and then pass this award on to 6 people!

6 things I value:

1. Loyalty. In love, in friendship, in business, in life. I've taken some hard lessons in this field.
2. Diplomacy. I don't see why it's necessary to hurt people with truths that aren't revelant.
3. People who laugh easily. I mean, why on earth not?
4. Siblings. A relationship fraught with complexities, but if you get it right so ultimately rewarding.
5. Saying please and thank you gratuitously. It doesn't cost you anything.
6. A good haircut. I had one, once. It was fantastic.



I'm sooo tempted to go this way after the wedding!

6 things I don't:

1. Gossip.
2. Winter. You lovely winter brides make a very good case for it, but I can not be swayed!
3. TV. I've discovered I can live without it! Just don't take my internet away...
4. The postal service in SA. Where are the missing invites, huh?
5. Ex-girlfriends. Still struggling with this one just a tiny little bit.
6. Hot pants. I guess I'm just too old.



Great picture though!

Now I tag:

That [engaged] girl
Dance Floor Tragedy
Baby, picture this
Eight years in the making
Hey, no one's perfect
London Bride

four things: a meme from peacock feathers and diamond rings

Today I have:

1. been sitting at my computer all day long

2. been feeling guilty that my lovely housekeeper cleans so nicely around me while I just sit at the computer

3. arranged to take BB's car in for service/repairs tomorrow

4. traded e-mails with my two best friends whom I haven't seen in weeks even though we live in the same city!

To do:

1. decimate decorator's budget down to a quarter of quote, without crying for all the beautiful details lost in the process (sniff)

2. write ceremony and vows (easy peasy japaneasy...)

3. pay make-up artist/life saver deposit (at least that's a positive step)

4. get venue to return call confirming menu tasting this Sunday (this has been on the list for weeks...)

Guilty Pleasures:

1. reading blogs

2. staying in my pj's till 3pm

3. having a housekeeper (it's only once a week, okay?)

4. gofugyourself

Random Facts:

1. i only really discovered the internet this year (aaaaaaaaahhhhhh! heavenly choir exclaims)

2. i had typing as a subject at school (very useful)

3. i lived in japan for a year

4. i live next door to a real live SA celebrity

I LOVE SOUTH AFRICA

This is a meme I'm very passionate about, 5 reasons why I love SA. Unfortunately I don't know that many fellow Saffer bloggers yet, so we're gonna go international! Firstly, here's my list of 5. I could go on and on...

1. Braai

I've been to tailgates, barbeques, picnics, spit roasts and many other kinds of al fresco cooking around the world, but nowhere did I find such culture built into the act. I'm not even a big meat-eater but just imagining the ritual and ceremony of braaiing gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. The machoism and hierarchy around starting the fire and grilling the meat, the girls gossiping and making salad in the kitchen and then everyone coming together to feast. I don't even necessarily agree with the male/female stereotypes depicted here, I just adore the sense of tradition. Don't forget tomorrow is Braai Day! See what I mean, a Braai Day?!

2. Afrikaans

I love my language. I miss its picturesque simplicity when I'm speaking English. A little lamb just doesn't sound half as cute as a klein ou lammetjie.

3. Our Political Resilience

'94 came around and we were cautious and fearful, threatening to emigrate. The transition happened peacefully, we accepted and embraced Madiba with a passion. Mbeki was appointed and we were cautious and fearful, threatening to emigrate. He wasn't that bad so we stuck it out and embraced the new South Africa with a passion. Zuma is looming and we are cautious and fearful, threatening to emigrate. Already I hear my peers saying, well at least he fights for the man on the street and we'll have to give him a chance...

4. Vetkoek

Oh my word there is nothing in this world I love more. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of good vetkoek in Cape Town, are strongly urged to come forward. I'm a terrible cook and I have an unstoppable craving!

5. My view














Okay - now I tag: Peonies GS Charlie Em Jules Insight Melissa Cyd

1. Link back to the meme creator Caz
2. Link to the person who tagged you DT
3. Link back to the originator of the positive SA blog movement Cheap Thrills
4. Give 5 reasons why you love your country
5. Tag at least 5 people