These are the last of the photos that I took while in Badplaas. Thank you for your indulgence while I was exploring my creative side.
Droplets on Grasses
Bent Grass with diamonds
Beautiful pastel colours
Wild Mushrooms on the Fairway
Heavy Mist at the foot of the Mountain
It has been raining quite a lot at Badplaas recently. Not great weather for children to be playing outside. So you can imagine that when the sun eventually did come out (just barely), it was all systems into overdrive to get little legs some exercise.
My boy had a wonderful time expelling excess energy and I used the opportunity to practice panning and focusing “on the go”
Round and Round we go
Into the River
Splashing in mud puddles
On Friday morning, after much stressing, worrying and frustration at having to wait longer than anticipated, I finally got my engagement ring. Mr “Diamaond Merchant” delivered it to me around 11h30. I was so excited, and couldn’t wait to get to Badplaas so that I could officially “get” my ring and wear it. You see I am rather old fashioned that way. In my mind the ring actually belongs to Mr Wonderful until he gives it to me and puts it on my finger.
When I arrived there, my darling fiance was working on the golf course as usual. He met us at the club house to unload the restaurant supplies and club car batteries that I had brought with me. I tried to give him the box with the ring, but he was on a mission to get all the other things off loaded. Once that was done he eventually took the box from me and inspected the ring while I went and parked my car. As I got out of my car he was walking towards me, all hot and sweaty from working in the sun. Then takes my hand, stares deep into my eyes and says “My Skat ek is BAIE lief vir jou, sal jy asseblief met my trou?” Of course I said yes and he put the ring on my finger. This may not sound like much romance to you, but it meant the world to me. The fact that he actually asked me to marry him is a BIG DEAL. And to wrap up this momentous occasion, he then kissed me, tossed the empty box in my car and said “Kom ons gaan drink ‘n dop, ek is f@kken dors”.
That evening we had our own little cheese & wine snack party. I drank the entire bottle of champagne because he does not like it. It was a most wonderful evening. Here are a few photos.
For those of you who were guessing on a previous blog post as to which ring I’d chosen, this is the “Olivia” style ring. Well done to Jeanette, Angel and Catherine who got it right.
So getting engaged is exciting, right? I mean, you get to choose the ring of your dreams, go to the manufacturer and design it with them, decide how big the stone should be (while praying Mr Wonderful agrees to the expense) and then it is just a matter of waiting for them to make it and deliver it as promised. Right? Nope – wrong!!
Well I did get to go to the manufacturer and choose my ring. We had a wonderful conversation about diamonds, how to choose the best one suited to your budget and then we talked design. My head was spinning and I had a huge headache at the end of it all, but it was wonderful, so exciting. What made it even more REAL and exciting was the sms notification of payment that I got that evening when my Mr Wonderful made an internet payment for the full amount to the dealer. This was it, I was actually going to get the ring of my dreams in 2 weeks time. I struggle to find the right words to adequately express my joy and excitement.
So the two weeks was up on Monday. I was promised that they would deliver the ring on Tuesday. When I called Tuesday morning to confirm a time I was told that the ring was only arriving Tuesday afternoon and they would deliver it on Wednesday. Ok so that isn’t too bad, I can wait another night. So on Wednesday I call and they can’t give me a time because they are in meetings all day but will call me later. Eventually I get a phone call saying that the lady who was supposed to send the ring had been in hospital and no one else in the office had done it, so there was a delay in it getting to Johannesburg from Durban. I’m a kind and patient (well I like to think so) person and had sympathy for the sick lady so I didn’t make a scene.
This morning I had to drive to Kempton Park to fetch batteries for the club cars and thought that I would just fetch the ring myself since I would be in the area. I called and told them that I was on my way. That is when the owner of the company calls me citing all manner of excuses and apologising for the delay but promising me I would have the ring tomorrow. Needless to say I flicked in. No more nice, kind and patient me. No more! I had a choice, do the “girly” thing and burst into tears of frustration or explain to them in no uncertain terms, that I am tired of being messed around and being given lame excuses. I WANT MY RING! What really made me laugh in this whole process is that when I told them I am actually 5 minutes away and will see them in their offices shortly, they told me they are not there! I wonder why they are afraid of a girl?
So, now what? Well, the last story explanation I got was that the owner would fetch my ring from the diamond centre first thing tomorrow morning. Then he says will drive the 275km to Badplaas to deliver the ring to us there.
Mr Wonderful is fuming and ready to drive through to speak to them personally and explain his dissatisfaction at the way everything is panning out.
In the meantime I remain engaged without a ring 
Over Valentines weekend I was in Badplaas with my beloved @rorieg. The previous week @andrevr was in Pretoria on business. He missed his flight back to Cape Town because of all the conjestion and traffic on the highway to the airport. @pinkhairgirl sms’d me and asked if they could visit for the day. I suggested they sleep over rather, since it is a fair distance to drive for one day, and I know that kids don’t really enjoy long car journeys.
And so the first official Badplaas Tweet-up happened. It started on Friday night and ended about Sunday lunch time. I’m guessing this might be the longest ever Tweet-up too 
Here are some photographs from our weekend.
Blue Face from Angel's cupcakes
Blue Face from Angel's cupcakes
Blue Face from Angel's cupcakes
@andrevr bringing sustenance for "The Queen" and "Ms Pink"
You can view the rest of the images on my flickr photostream here.
Ok so I’ve finally succombed and decided to do a “Blog Challenge”. This one is from Laura on Female2Female. I need to write down 10 things, any 10 things. If you don’t do soppy then stop reading now 
10 Things that make me happy beyond words
My Son in the middle of one of his all consuming laughs
This morning @pinkhairgirl and I went through to Kempton Park so that I could try and decide on an engagement ring. We headed off this morning with all 3 kids squashed into the back of the car. Fortunately they get on quite well otherwise it could so easily have turned ugly – space was severely confined.
Anyway, so my GPS takes us directly there. Only problem was the numbering was off so we thought we were lost. I called the guy & he didn’t recognise the name of any of the buildings I saw in the area. We ended up driving another 20km round trip and landed up about 100m from where we were the first time!
Jewellery boy made us coffee and his dad starting educating me on the art of choosing a diamond. I must say that I really learnt a lot. I was very nervous. This is a big decision and it has to be the right one. Kind of like choosing a tattoo, it’s a permanent commitment so you best be sure you make the right decision. We discussed general design ideas. Once he had an idea of what I liked he suggested stones. Here we got into size, clarity and colour.
He went onto a website and found some designs. From there I made my decision. Sally and I agreed instantly that the choice I made was the right one for me. It will suit my hand, my lifestyle and my personality. The ring will take about 2 weeks to make.
I am so excited. This is the ring of my dreams. Although if I’m honest, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever have a ring like this. Below are some of the designs we looked at. We found them here.
For now I’m keeping my choice a secret. I will post photos once I have the ring and he has officially given it to me. I’m an old fashioned kinda girl that way.
Just for fun, why don’t you post a guess as to which of these I have chosen? I will let you know who guessed correctly once I have the ring and can post a photo of it on my hand.
No 1
No 2
No 3
No 4
No 5
Today was the “High Tea with the Queen” Tweet-up at Irene Country Lodge. There were a few cancellations, but those of us who were there had a fabulous time well into the afternoon.
Thank you so much to @AngelsMind, @glugster, @louisabouwer, @pinkhairgirl and @jenty for making the effort. It was wonderful having you all there. It was the first time I’d met @louisabouwer and her gorgeous baby girl. @AngelsMind brought along my birthday cupcakes, which were absolutely divine as always and thoroughly enjoyed by all. @jenty had a newborn shoot in the morning but still made the effort, for which I am very grateful.
The kids all had a wonderful time running around and feeding the swan and geese. Here are a few pics from our morning
One of my Birthday Cupcakes, baked by the fabulous Angel
Wonderful People
The kids feeding the swan & geese
Louisa's gorgeous little girl
Jenty totally rocking her new do
Connor loved his cupcake
Ms Pink looking so pretty
So my blogging has been shamefully lacking recently. And with this post I’m afraid it isn’t getting any better. Here is a short insight into my crazy life at the moment.
And with the most horrible unreliable awful signal there in Badplaas, blogging and tweeting is not a luxury I can enjoy. Let’s hope Vodacom come up with a solution soon. I also ordered my new pc today. I hope they build it quickly so that my download and editing times can significantly decrease. I desperately need more sleep at night.
Here is a photo from @acidicice maternity shoot – one that she has approved for public viewing
#Babyice was born 24 hours after this shoot
It has been a while since my last blog post. So much has been happening and I’ve been struggling just to keep up. I will keep you updated as I go. But for now let me backtrack.
On the 30th January 2010 I photographed my cousins wedding in Cape Town. I cannot share any photos of that event with you yet as she requested that I post nothing to the web without prior approval from her.
What I can share with you are photographs of my Tweet up and of @acidicice’s maternity shoot. There are quite a few photographs that I will share and so I will divide it up into 2 separate posts.
So for now here are some photographs of HRH @queenofcomplex having dinner with “her subjects” in Cape Town. I must tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed meeting each and every one of you. You are even more awesome IRL and I’m so honoured that you made the effort to come out and meet me. From the bottom of my heart I’d like to say THANK YOU for your time, your kindness and caring. You are an incredibly special bunch of people and I’m extremely pleased I joined Twitter and met all of you.
Enjoying my first #pinkdrink
Oh and I’m really sorry that I have to mention this – but since I tout myself as a photographer I cannot have sub standard work on this blog and take credit for it. I allowed @andrevr to use my camera (Canon) to take photographs of me with all the great Cape Town folk. Sadly it appears that his excellent knowledge of Nikon did not prepare him for the complex and superior workings of Canon – hence the blur and “extra ambiance” in some of the shots. “Jammer Koosie, maar dié taak het jy gepluk”. But in all fairness, let me point you to his most awesome and incredible work as a landscape photographer. I learnt bucket loads from him regarding landscape photography and am truly honoured to have worked with “the master”.
You can see the rest of the photographs from the tweet up here on my flickr stream.
