Planning a special Instax Valentine's Day

"A Special Valentine’s Day with Instax"

It's Valentine's weekend. We have the Instax Square SQ1 that we are busy reviewing. This weekend is the perfect opportunity to capture all the special memories with family and loved ones. I look forward to Valentine's Day, and I love all the Instax products. Nothing beats the instant gratification of a keepsake photo in hand! We have a special weekend planned with friends and family. All outside, because it's glorious summer, and very safe! (Take that, Covid!) 

Fujifilm Instax has some awesome suggestions on how to make Valentine's Day even more special.

Valentine's at Hard Rock Café at Menlyn Park Shopping Centre

Entrance to Hard Rock Café at Menlyn Park Shopping Centre

February is the month of love. This sucker loves all the schmaltzy Valentine's hype. Menlyn Park Shopping Centre went all out with an unforgettable Valentine's Day experience for 100 lucky couples, with dinner and The Muses entertaining at Hard Rock Café on February 14th.

“This month is a very special time for Menlyn Park Shopping Centre, and we are thrilled to have offered such an amazing experience to our loyal customers. We always encourage families to spend time together and as part of this we wanted to be a special moment in celebrating their love for each other,” said. Olive Ndebele, General Manager at Menlyn Park Shopping Centre

We had the most epic date night, but now we have #parentguilt

We had an epic date night last night. We were invited to Menlyn to Hard Rock Café for a show featuring The Muses. Who can say no to that? It's Hard Rock Café, which we love, and it's THÉ Muses. It was perfect for Valentine's Day.

Last night: Instagram @karentoittoit - #MenlynSA #ValentinesDay (print screen)

We don't get to do date nights that much. It's the budget, and it's Miss Fine... Surely we should grab the opportunity when it presents itself?

Aunty Merle The Musical - Top Notch

Aunty Merle (Marc Lottering character)

Joburg finally gets a chance to meet up with Aunty Merle from Belgravia Road, one of the oldest characters created by Marc Lottering.  She's all the hype and the SKINDER (gossip) worthy! Who does not know an aunt like her who knows everybody's business, and helps fixing where she can?

Aunty Merle the Musical is lots of laughs, some crying, family dynamics mixed with rich cultural diversities. Social commentary and politics are lightly interwoven, and we walk out of the Mandela Theatre with a beat in our step and a lighter look at our social political landscape. Four Fleur Du Cap Theatre nominations are well deserved.

Mom's the Valentine!

This Little Valentine gave us an uphill battle this morning in getting her into a kind of red and white outfit for a Valentine's Day at school.

We already had the clothes picked out last night, but today she was not happy with the red leggings and the hair was not done the way she wanted it! I don't know what the idea of the wings are, but as long as she is happy and and we can get out of the door... We go!

Little Miss is extremely fussy with what she is wearing and how her hair is done!
She only wears about 1% of her clothes, and the rest always have some sort of an issue.
Scratchy, or too warm, or too cold... (That "sensory issue" thing needs to be checked out?)

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On Valentine's:

We always love to get into the excitement of a theme.
As long as it is fun, fun, fun... Why not?

Little Miss does not have a special someone yet (so she says!) , and she gets very upset when I suggest that we buy something for a "boyfriend"!
She already bought a Valentine's flower for her mom, which she hid away yesterday. (I caught a glimpse of it...)

She of course bought it with her tuck shop card at the school. This tuck shop card has been the absolute highlight of the year. We have to limit her to only one day a week, because she will go back and back.
Yesterday she was only supposed to buy one thing, but she also bought a small something for her best friend, and of course the flower for me, and a biltong snack, and... (if pressed, she usually confesses in buying more stuff).
But, if the R100 for the month is finished, it will be finished!
It will be a good lesson with the finances!

She was sent to school with some hard cash today, because they have an entrepreneurs market at school.
I can't wait to see what she is going to buy with it...
(I did suggest a present for Dad, as well as for Big Sister!)


Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow!!
What will you be doing?

I would love to go out with Hubby! (*HINT!*)
Big Sister is even coming home for the weekend to baby-sit tomorrow night.
But the finances are low...

- Photo by Dad this morning!

Ode to My Valentine!

‎

A Valentine

that brings me flowers

and Ferrero Rocher's 

AND a Pandora charm

Who stays at home with a sick Little Missy

Who dresses her in her chosen Valentine's dress

(not an easy task)

and combs her hair

with her chosen hairstyle for the day

An ode goes out to you

who has brought us so much joy!

Who shows our daughters how a man should treat all girls and ladies

(You are making it a tough act to follow!‎)

We have ‎your masculine DIY skills on call

while enjoying your Masterchef (as Missy likes to say)‎ dishes

(It is true!)

Thank you

For YOU!

You are worthy a much longer ode with more 

Oomph than mine...

You are my lucky Valentine!

(Photo by The MM)

We got ourselves a weekend with a Mo

The Twitter message that made him a #Movember winner

Especially for Valentine’s…

Last year we had a whole Movember of moustache, but it was worth it in the end.
Hubby won the Crowne Plaza Rosebank Hotel competition for the best/worst (?) Mo.

The competition was “tough”, as can be seen on the Crowne Plaza Pinterest board. (Hehe!)
But that does not take away the prize! A whole weekend in a hotel. He also got a whole stash of Gillette goodies. (It is going to take a while to work through it!)

We have fantasies of long dinners and a choice of movies at a cinema where the age of a four-year old won’t have to be considered!
Not that we don’t like going to the movies with our little one! But we have only seen Skyfall, for us, in the last few (6?) months!

On Valentiner's we usually say to each other that we won’t buy anything for each other, but in the end there are usually cards, and chocolates, and eating out. This year we are going to have at least two dinners and at least one leisurely breakfast over the weekend for Valentine’s! Not bad!

I got two bunches of flowers yesterday, of which one was immediately claimed by the Missy! Luckily I could convince her to keep it in the living area as well, and not in her room!

She was very happy this morning to go off with a little rose for her teacher!

Valentine's flower for my teacher!

I loved this article yesterday from Psychology Today about Sweethearts in training.
It gave me some insights in how to include our children in Valentine’s, and not only on the 14th of February.


What are you doing on Valentine’s?

A less-than-perfect Valentine's Day!

This Valentine's Day could easily have been called a Super Bummer!

- We had empty purses!
- We bought each other a kitsch Valentine's present!
- The Toddler got the Influenza virus, and she was booked off for the rest of the week.
- I struggled with a sick toddler the whole day who only wanted to sit with me, and who didn't want to eat anything...
- There was no time to put on fancy clothes for a date night!
- We went to sea the early movie, and after we came out of the cinema, the restaurants were packed. I did not think of placing a booking, and we ended up at Juicy Luicy. (We were thinking in terms of sushi...)
- The movie made me bawl my eyes out, and I looked even worse!
- The food was crappy as well!

But it did not matter in the least!

- Hubby bought me flowers as well!
- The kitsch Valentine's presents are a tradition we are going to keep!
- We had a good date night in spite of the fact.
- The movie, The Descendants, was a great movie!
- We had a good laugh sitting at Juicy Luicy and watching all the people in their "Valentine's" outfits walking past in the mall.
- The Toddler enjoyed her stay at her grandparents, and she was asleep when we got home. Huge bonus!

I realized how lucky I am to have such a great friend in my husband, and that we do not have to have a perfect evening to enjoy each others company!
I declare Valentine's Day 2012 a success!

What did you do on Valentine's Day?

Valentine's art work to parents

The toddler with the very creative art work for Valentine's Day! The teacher put in a lot of effort. I love the hand prints!

Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you!

To the Love of my Life - on Valentine's Day

Love you!

Hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!
I am a sucker for days like these!  A card or a flower is enough to make my Love Day... But Hubby really went the extra SPOIL!

Enjoy! All of you! (Big smile!)

What did you get, and what are you doing today?

LOVE and Bling

Jenna Clifford Fine Jewellery

Maxabella inspired me with her Bling on Love post about jewellery and LOVE. Especially since it’s 14 February on Monday next week! I am linking up with her and Felicity of Gifts of Serendipity.

I tried to take nice photos with my BlackBerry, but unfortunately this is the best I could get! I was trying not to get too much of the wrinkles on those hands, but getting a clear picture of the ring. Not very successful on both counts, but what the heck! You get an idea of the rings! The blur takes away the wrinkles, at least... (Wink smile!)(And I still love my BB! And I am not a photographer...)

When Hubby and I got engaged he was still a teacher, and did not have a lot of spare cash going around. So we settled on a small gold and silver ring with a small diamond. The “silver” lasted only for a month, when it started to wear off! So I have a small gold ring, which I now wear on my right hand.

We are both in agreement that I am still waiting for that special ring. So this is not a “hint” post, because Dries knows what I want. It is a specially designed Jenna Clifford ring, something like the rings on the photo. I am not that into diamonds, and would love a tanzanite or topaz white gold or platinum ring!

I am now wearing a silver ring, with bling stones, as well as another plain silver ring. The combination works well. I luuuurv my bling for the time being… Especially since it was given by my Hubby! Because it was given out of LOVE!