15 years anniversary - Can you believe it?

Date night at Chicago's Piano Bar

We both can't believe it's been 15 years. It was just the other day we got married and started with our adventure together. We have been looking through our photos, and reliving all the good times. There's been more good times than the bad one's. We can definitely say we can weather the storms by now. 

14th Anniversary - we are still having fun together

"Love You to the Moon and Back"

Thank you, dear Hubby! There is nothing like an anniversary of taking stock of your relationship and of what is important. We celebrated our 14th yesterday. It really goes by too quick (*sic*). Life feels a bit harsh at this moment, but we can still go home to each other and our home, and slay life from our protective family nest.

WE are still having fun together (check the Instagram photos), and laughing together!

13 years - That's seven bags of salt!

The 1st of May was our 13 years of marriage yesterday! Every year we love the fact that our day is on a public holiday! We have an in-built Break, a long anniversary weekend,  every year to celebrate our anniversary!

There is an Afrikaans idiom "Om sewe sakke sout saam op te eet" (Translated: "To eat seven bags of salt together"). The idiom started as eating one bag of salt together (experiences and difficulties shared together), which changed to seven bags! I would love to know how it changed, but most probably because of certain songs that influenced the colloquially. (?)

It feels like seven bags of salt, but luckily we have each other! It's great to have a Partner, a Friend, a BFF, a Husband, you name it... All doing this together!

I am lucky to have found him!

Thanks for 13 years, Hubs! It has gone by in a flash!
I am looking forward to many more!


Photo by The Eldest!

Ten ways to love your man

Relationship advice

It's September, and it's a great new season to start afresh with relationships.
Hubby and I do not even find the time for date nights anymore...
Checking my calender right away! Even though the budget is tight, we can still make a plan?

I needed to hear this today!
Maybe also you?

Janice Windt from Working Mothers Expo has great advice:

We know what it's really like. When you have young kids, a job to hold down and a house to run, it's not easy to find the time or energy to love your man...

But the truth is that we believe the most important thing you can do for your kids is love your man. And we mean LOVE. We mean look up to him, build him up in your children's eyes and let them see love modeled in your relationship. They will not see it anywhere else. They are more likely to experience the exact opposite in the world, their friends' homes and lives, everywhere really.

         Love is hard to find and hard work to keep... so let's get started.

Ten Ways To Love Your Man
1) Tell him he is awesome...

 Read more: 10 Ways to love your man 



The Working Mothers Expo, in partnership with MiWayLife, brings together everything working mothers need under one roof. It will be from 4-6 November 2016 at the Sandton Convention Centre.
The MCs are Elana Afrika and Claire Mawisa.

The Working Mothers Expo Tickets are available at Computicket now!




Disclaimer: I will be getting tickets to attend The Working Mothers Expo in November.

10 Things that make me Happy

I was tagged on Instagram by Moipone Islam at ferocioushaven

Here is mine:

10 Things that make me happy!

(Not necessarily in this order)

1. Happy is a choice! I choose Happy!

2. My Eldest. When she’s happy, I am happy! It is so-so-so GREAT that everything is working out this year for her. She is finishing up with her studies, she got a REAL job, she is madly in love and she’s got a car!

3. My Youngest. She makes us happy every day! (Sometimes crazy, but mostly happy!) Just being her! So glad that she is in our lives!

4.  My Husband!  He’s our rock and showing us each day what a good husband, father and provider he is! He is the best chef as well!!

5.  The extended family that cares about us

6. Friends that care

7.  Our dogs (Hubby won’t agree on this one! ;-) )

      8.  Coffee/Red wine (equally happy!)

      9. Books/reading.

      10. Blogging

What makes you happy?

It's his birthday!

This time of the year always hits us with a bang!

And before we realize it is Hubby's birthday again!

I hope it will be your best year and day today!

You are much loved and appreciated in our lives!

It was difficult to find something special for him. But I found Bain's Cape Mountain Whiskey (as suggested on Rattle and Mum) with an extra power bank included at Makro yesterday. (Totally worth it!) 

Coldplay released today, but I could send the iTunes gift today. And Mark Haze's latest could also only be found on iTunes. 

What do you buy for your special man?

How do you know that you are caught in a domestic violence situation?

The month of October is a month where we reflect on domestic violence.
There are always ALWAYS other options available to us!

You don't have to live like this!!

Sometimes we ignore the signs, and we say to ourselves that it is not so bad!
He's sorry and he won't do it again!
Until the next time when it's worse...

Please! You are worth more than he makes you feel! You are worth getting out of there, and living the life you  planned for yourself!


If you answer YES to any of these questions, you are a domestic violence victim.

* Has your partner or ex-partner ever hit you or physically hurt you?

*Has he ever threatened to hurt you or someone close to you?

*Does your partner ever try to control you by threatening to hurt you or your family?

*Has your partner ever forced you to have sex when you didn't want to? Has he ever refused to practice safe sex?

*Has he/she ever tried to restrict you freedom or keep you from doing things that were important to you? (like going to school, working, seeing your friends or family)

*Does your partner frequently belittle you, insult you, and blame you?

*Do you feel controlled or isolated by your partner?

*Do you ever feel afraid of you partner? Do you feel like you are in danger? Is it safe for you to go home?

*Is your partner jealous? Does he frequently accuse you of infidelity?



You don't have to stay a victim. You CAN get out of there!!

A long long time ago in a different lifetime I also could say yes to many of these questions!
I got out of there, and I have never looked back!
I now know that I was only one who could change things!
Nobody else could help me before I decided I wanted help!


I found the questions here: Womanspace: Screening Questions
(There are tons of websites on the Internet)

Word cloud: Wordclouds

11 years of fun

I cannot believe that eleven years have passed so quickly.


Thank you to a wonderful husband

- Being there for us.

- Being a wonderful husband to me.

- Being a great dad to our daughters.

- Doing your share in everything that's needed to be done. All the mundane nitty gritty that needs to be done to keep a family afloat!

- Thanks for the great food you make every day! (It deserves a special mention!)

- Taking the stress for all of us.

- For taking us on adventures, and being always game for new ones!


You make me looking forward to the next eleven years!
Thank you!

I am the lucky one!

10 years of happy!

We celebrated our 10 year anniversary on Thursday last week!
It is really genius to have the 1st May as our  anniversary, as it is Worker's Day in South Africa and a public holiday. We are guaranteed a yearly public holiday to celebrate our anniversary as well!

I can't believe that it has been 10 years! It has been so much fun!
"Effortless" is the word that comes to mind!

Although, when we look at our selfies, it definitely looks as if  10 years has passed! (Hubby's food is to blame! Definitely! - That's why there is a shadow selfie!)

Thank you my dear Husband for the person that you are, and the way that you are treating us! The girls and I love you very much, and we appreciate all that you are doing for us!

It really has been a joy to have you in our lives!

We had a lovely breakaway at Glenburn Lodge which is only 30km from Johannesburg. It was especially great that we could fetch the children the second day and that we could spend some time together.

(I will do another post about our stay because most of my photos have already been downloaded on my home computer.)

I just wanted to say thank you to a great partner!
I "know" that it is not always as easy as this! (From a previous nearly forgotten life!)

I am the lucky one!

Working parents juggle it!

I got a Whatsapp message from the teacher today. Little Missy was complaining about her cheek, and the teacher thought it was a tooth!

I was in a conference and asked Hubby (also by IM) to phone the dentist to hear if they had an opening for the rest of the week for me to be able to take her.

He followed up, but they were fully booked.

In the meantime I was texting the teacher to ask her to give the little one a bit of Panado.

Then the dentist phone Hubhy again to inform him that they had an opening immediately. 

I must mention the following: Hubby started with a new job today! But off he went to fetch the Little Missy and to take her to the dentist.

I was texting him and the teacher, while trying to follow the conference proceedings...

She has a teeth that needs to be fixed, but not a big issue! In the meantime we will have to get her to sit still! (Not sure when that will happen?)

Hubby had an appointment with his new boss as well. He rocked up with Little Missy in tow, and apparently it wasn't a problem. (We hope!)

She got a little bit difficult in the end, I was told.

And her water bottle leaked all over Hubby's tablet and work papers. 

All in a day's work!

Thanks to my wonderful husband who did not hesitate to fetch the Little Missy, and who took her to his workplace on the first day of his new job!

That's how working parents juggle it!

Feeding the elephants at Glen Afric

We have been looking forward to do this for quite a while. It is only on Sundays that they bring out the elephants at Glen Afric.

Hubby is celebrating his birthday this week, and we treated him with a Sunday buffet AND the elephants.
It was a treat for everybody! Little Missy loved it!

A cool down in the pool afterwards

It was a lovely Sunday!

Hope you had a great day as well?


Related post:

Glen Afric - a place to go for a bush outing

Gautrain from Rosebank to Hatfield

We celebrated 9 years of being married yesterday!
It has been so much fun, and I love how I still enjoy going home at night! We enjoy each other's company, and we love doing stuff together.
Thank you for being the perfect mate and pall and life partner! I am so lucky to have you in my life!

Yesterday we finally did the Gautrain trip to Pretoria. We got on at Rosebank, and stepped down in Hatfield. Little Missy loved it!

When the first train arrived, I could not see a "perfect spot" for us to sit, and we stepped out of the train.
Big mistake! You can't take your time getting on. We had to wait another 30 minutes, and I was not very popular!

The train ride to Hatfield just takes long enough for us to enjoy. About 30 minutes!
We could also step out and walk to Hatfield Plaza and Square where we found Cappellos to have lunch at. The service was not that great, because they forgot to put in Little Missy's order, but for the rest it was perfect!

This was definitely a great way to spend our anniversary!


Related posts:

Gautrain train trip - The Toddler's first

Movie Clip Monday #10 - Toddler on the Gautrain

Wordless Wednesday #177 - Waiting for the Gautrain

Posted with Blogsy

Wordless Wednesday #177 - Waiting for the Gautrain

A weekend at the Crowne Plaza Rosebank

We got ourselves a weekend with a Mo, and we just loved it! (Of course!)

It was worth all of the moustache of Movember last year!

We still had to do the weekend run of tiny gymnastics, and had to pick up the student, AND had to worry about a broken-hearted student, but we had two evenings to ourselves! (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!)

I felt like stepping out of the rat race, and just go into spoil mode! 

We loved the hotel and the décor and the friendly service, and going to the movies and dining out!

*Sigh* A weekend is way too short!

We would love to do this regularly! (Hint-hint, Universe!!)

Fresh Restaurant

Sparkling wine and a view! Perfect!

Deluxe Room

Swimming pool area

Circle Bar

The lobby

Interesting art work

I had to restrain myself not to Instagram every photo of the weekend, but I added some to the collection: Instagram

Hope you also had a good one?

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?

10 ways to get your husband to do what you want around the house

I had to smile at this title, and it made me read the list.

I am one of the lucky women whose husband does his fair share.
So far so, that he sometimes complains he is working his ass off in this house...

I don't have to ask my husband to help me. He just does! (Thank you!)

I wonder if these tips would really help in getting the man helping with all the mundane chores?
It seems to be a bit patronising?


But here it is for a good giggle on this Friday afternoon. The article was suggested from Housekeeping, and it can be read here:

10 ways to get your husband to do what you want around the house


1. Incentive 

2. Tit for Tat 

3. Logic 

4. Hysterical Tears 

5. Bribery 

6. Guilt Trip 

7. Work Together 

8. Ask the Right Way 

9. Make a List 

10. Go on Strike 

A very important day

To a very important man in our lives!

40 Forty four O The Big 4

My wishes for you!

- That you will have many more adventures!

- That you will reach your ultimate goals in life!

- That you will have many lucky surprises in your life!

- Lots of Joy!!

- Happiness!

- Peace!

- Love!


Thank you for being a true millennium man and showing our daughters how a dad / husband / man should be!

We are extremely lucky to have you!

May you have a wonderful day / year / life!!


From your happy wife!

(Finally we share the same decade! ;-) )

Eight years of adventure

We celebrated it with a canopy tour in Magaliesburg yesterday!

It was my first time sliding over the tree tops from the cliffs.

The guides know their story and before we could even think of getting scared of the heights, we were sliding down 10 different sets of slides from cliff to cliff!

Thanks to my Hubby for always being game for new adventures...

Thanks to eight years of being married to him, and 10 years of knowing him!

We are having so much fun!

What next? ;-)

Keep calm and do not send the angry sms

The Significant Other is in Mauritius for the week.

He phoned me on Tuesday from a colleague's phone after they had arrived on that side.

Since then I haven't heard from him...

You would think that he would have send me a short sms/email/whatever...
You would think that he would make a plan to contact us...
(We have technology nowadays!)

But nothing!

I need one of those "Keep Calm" posters now!
I am very tempted to send an angry sms to the colleague's phone!


KEEP.CALM.AND.DO.NOT.SEND.THE.ANGRY.SMS.

He is coming back tomorrow!


Related post:
Partner at conferences and team-buildings

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?