Charlie's Bird
living the dream with Charlie and Thandi and chirping all the way back to the nest.Archive for December, 2011
We wish you…
…a very blessed festive week! I hope you all get what you were hoping for, and not socks (unless that is what you were hoping for!) Charlie, Thandi and I will be heading to the beach for a few days, so forgive some radio silence, I’ll pop in rather erratically.
Whirlwind days!
..after a lovely evening on Tuesday, and a very good sleep from Thandi (thanks girly!), Wednesday started with a bang, my mom was admitted to hospital, feeling terrible after a bad night, she is a long standing cardiac patient and whenever she gets wobbly everyone gets very excited and she gets ECG’ed, XRay’ed, blood tested and dramadrama admitted! Anyway, after figuring out that there was nothing seriously wrong, and her doctor agreeing with me, I was so relieved that it was minor, and probably a complete overreaction to have admitted her. Anyway, after a better night, an improvement in her symptoms, she is on her way home again this morning. Let the holiday begin – please!
Tuesday evening we had a lovely celebratory dinner at the barking bistro, all rather delicious, and toasted with some Krone Borealis Rose Cuvee Brut, yum! A slow relaxing evening of reconnecting, sharing and loving… Thanks my angel!
So today I work my last day of the year, I am so looking forward to the break. I intend to try to finish christmas shopping today – blegh, the shops will be chaos, but needs must, fortunately my excursion will be a strike mission, and a bit in and out, and we will be done! Then it’ll be wrapping and sorting out the house! Come on Christmas!
I do
…and I keep doing, love you, my Charlie! 3 years ago, we got married, and in a flurry of love, we’ve had quite a ride, and now we have begun a whole new journey together, from husband and wife, to mom and dad. Thank you for being by my side through these 3 years, you have made the hard times bearable, and the sweet times even sweeter. so many happy memories – road trips, singing bad 80’s tunes, sharing the couch, laughing and loving… and meeting our Thandi girl. If this is 3 years, bring on eternity! In the words of the inimitable Buzz Lightyear, ‘To infinity and beyond!’ Love you!
Christmas is coming!
…and the geese are getting fat, please put a penny in the old man’s hat!
Ok, I have to admit, the excitement of Christmas has arrived. It was a good weekend, restful, peaceful, succesful, just lovely!
Thursday night saw us at the office party, which was actually very pleasant indeed. On the menu was a warm Caprese Salad, Prawn Vindaloo and Turkish delight ice cream – washed down with Raka Biography Shiraz, all very delicious! Home for an early night, and then a friday of chores, but actually quite pleasurable chores, groceries, and then some preparation for saturday’s planned chocolate making. After 2 failed attempts, I finally got a praline right, which got ground up into a praline paste, almost like peanut butter on steroids – seriously yum! I also made a delicious mint cream and vanilla creme fraiche filling. Then it was onto supper, a 3.5kg chicken (!) got roasted for supper, with all the trimmings, which we shared with Angel and her family. A lovley casual evening, with friends, just what everyone needs on a friday night!
Saturday we chocolatiered! The mighty Don is in town, so she joined us (that is me and the neighbours), with her piping expertise – what a legend she is! It was super special catching up with her, celebrating our friendship. Wow, I thought our plans for the chocolates were ambitious, but I thought we’d be busy for a couple of hours, maybe 4, when 8 hours rolled by, and I couldn’t take the thought of anything sweet passing my lips, I couldn’t quite believe it. But what a success! A few false starts, but once we got going, all went exceptionally well! Our production line produced about 420 choccies or so, so lots of time, energy and effort, and all worth it!
Sunday was a casual relaxed day, I got into some baking (for fun, you know!), some choc chip cookies, and some christmas biscuits got produced, and we just chilled around the house. We finally watched the last episode in the Harry Potter story, and did enjoy it, those filmmakers had a blast! And then it was an early night all round, for today I work! (pictures will follow tomorrow!)
Let the crazies begin
…the world really does go a bit crazy at this time of the year! Parties, presents, socializing, eating… too much of it all!
Tonight is our annual staff party, I am in charge of the staff gifts, and have discovered that I am 1 gift short… hmm… Back to the shops for me, bugger! This year though, I am off the hook for the decor of the event, yay, one less thing to worry about. Should be a nice evening, and an interesting meal, we’re heading to the new incarnation of the old Burning Budgie, which when we last ate there was awful, completely not up to the usual standard. We were quite embarrassed, having taken some out of town friends there for a lunch, the husband of the couple being a restaurateur himself. My ‘beer battered fish’, was decidedly over grilled with no basting/flavour/sauce or even decor on the plate other than a few limp and dry oven chips, and that should have been an easy one, grilled with a touch of olive oil, some herbs, and bob’s your aunty… So tonight we will see if it was a one off, or a recurrent problem, and then we’ll forget all about it.
And now I must work!
Wordless Wednesday
…well, you know me, a few words only. Some photo’s from the ever awesome MJ, at Studio 8, Thank you, you’re a star, and Thandi is a supermodel!
Seasonal fatigue
..this year, despite having a child to introduce to the season, and despite the snow falling on my blog, I am struggling to get into the joys of Christmas. I’m not sure if it is just because it’s been a busy year, or if the magic is wearing off… Ai, I hope that before next weekend I rediscover it. I’ve been trying to work it all out, and I guess, for me, christmas came early, on about the 24th of May, or something like that… and I do know that the Reach for a Dream dinner did suck the life force out of my dinner party gene, and each of my partners taking 2-3 holidays each since I came back from maternity leave has left me rather overworked and tired… Oh well, time for my break at the end of next week, yay!
Christening weekend
…and what a head wetting it was! Wow! After I worked tirelessly on saturday, prepping, decorating, tidying, Thandi had a great sleep, woke earkly for a snack and a bit of playtime, and then after a quick nap, it was into her birdie uncles’ and mom’s christening gown, for off to church we went! And how sweet she was! She looked and behaved like an angel. Sogood, and she sat qietly with mom and dad during the service, and then it was time for the head wetting! Our priest is delightfully unconventional and invited our friend’s children p, to help with her baptism, so she had the hands of the good rev, and Zoe, Luke and Jake to welcome her into the family of the church. So precious! She did give a little wail at the silly people messing up her hair, but it was soon all forgotten, and then she was quite happy and smily again! After the service, it was back home for tea. Strawberry cupcakes, strawberries dipped in chocolate, sandwiches, sausage rolls, and the saved top tier of our wedding cake were on offer, and all went down well! And now for some shots of the day…
the table (please note the gorgeous bunting that MJ made!)
smily girl!
in my mom’s christening gown (and my uncle’s, it’s 50 years old, you know!)
It’s Friday again
…let the good times begin. I just have to get through this work day, and then the weekend begins, and it is sure to be a busy one. On Sunday, Thandi is being christened (baptised/dedicated – whatever term you prefer), wearing her mom’s and uncles’ old christening gown. There is a lot of preparation to do, since our friends and family will be joining us for tea afterwards, and the service begins at 08h00! Oy! Early start for me. We have kept the top tier of our wedding cake, which has slowly been defrosting since Wednesday, and looks great, so that will be quite something to share with friends and family. I am planning some strawberry cupcakes; scones served with my strawberry jam, some fresh strawb’s and some savouries (sandwiches and the likes), so lots of kitchen time for me tomorrow, but all good therapy for a long year! There’ll also be some decorating, I’ve borrowed some bunting from MJ, loads of fresh flowers, some old vases and things from my birth, a nice vintage occasion. Sunday should be fun, now if the weather will cooperate, it’ll be perfect!
And what are you all getting up to this weekend?
And she’s off
..and away, with this crawling thing! And our woes begin now! She’s been making tentative advances for a while now, but yesterday there was coordinated forward motion, and Charlie’s and my hearts rejoiced before briefly sinking, Thandi is a busy girl, and she is sure to keep us on the go after her. Hehe! Fun and games. I’ll try to catch some video, and post it sometime, my gorgeous and clever mobile girl!
Charlie's Bird 