Heritage Weekend

Saturday was Heritage Day in South Africa; it was also our National Braai (bbq) Day!
The weather was very good to us; it was a beautiful summer’s day in Cape Town.

We spent the afternoon at G’s parent’s house sitting outside in the sun, braai’ng and eating way to much food.  It was a lovely relaxing day!

Sunday we were blessed with a second glorious day, G unfortunately had to work so I spend the day doing little things around the house.  It turned out to be quite a productive day.

I went to our local nursery; they had a sale so I really had to restrain myself from coming home with loads of exciting things for our garden...  I was very good though, I bought some herb’s to add to my current herb garden.

I found a Mint Chocolate herb, have you ever heard of that?  I hadn’t!  The best part is that is actually smells like mint chocolate, it’s glorious. That of course was not on the list but made it into my herb garden, somehow... ;)  I am still not sure what I am going to use it in, so if you have any recipes or ideas that call for Chocolate mint, please let me know.

Last year I bought a strawberry bush but for some or other reason it died, G and I love strawberries and apparently they are supposed to be really easy to grow so I’m giving them a second chance to prove that to me. 

I have also added some chives to my garden, I found this really cute watering can a few months ago and wasn’t sure what I wanted to plant in it so my chives are now standing proud in their watering can.

After tending to my herb garden I started supper, stuffed chicken breasts (stuffed with fresh herbs, of course and feta) and a roasted butternut salad.  I have made the chicken breasts plenty but the roast butternut salad was a first time concoction, it was yummy!

While supper was in the oven I grouted G’s mosaic tissue box and then started on my next project.

After supper G and I took a drive to Camp’s Bay to watch the sunset, it was magnificent.
There was mist on the ocean, so you looked out and saw the mountains with the beach, ocean and then this thick cloud hovering on top of the ocean.  I have never seen this before, it was really beautiful.

Our evening was finished with vanilla ice cream and some tv before bed!

I felt really satisfied at the end of Sunday, knowing that I had such a productive day!

Till next time,
L

September Already?

I can’t believe that we are in September already, where has this year gone!

Since work has picked up considerably for me, I have decided to start planning Christmas!  I know, I know it’s only September but we will most likely have in the region of 15 people for lunch and since I only have 13 weekends to plan I decided to get cracking!

I love planning these sorts of things!  I have taken out all of my old November and December magazines to look for ideas and of course Google is my best friend to find pictures and designs, etc.

I have put a Christmas bauble on the invite, so I am going to stick to that theme.  I found instructions in a magazine to make this lovely glitter bauble, with string and looks relatively easy so I am thinking of making a whole lot of those incorporating them somehow in my decor.

I’m trying to find some ideas for the table decor; I don’t like anything to big and bulky on the table.
Everyone knows how annoying it is to have a massive centre piece in front of you, well most people anyway!  I would like to stick to that this year, not too much but something.
I made these cute fabric Christmas trees last year, I was thinking of doing something along the same lines, maybe another Christmas tree but a different design – any ideas will be welcomed!

G and I have a lovely fibre optic Christmas tree, so we have never put any decorations on it.  We thought the lights were just so pretty and we don’t have any children yet so we didn’t really see the need but this year I have decided that I want to decorate our tree.  I might not load it with decorations as they can be quite expensive so it might be a process of buying / making a few decorations every year, obviously I will have to incorporate the bauble into our decorations on the tree!

I would also like to try making a few stocking filler gifts this year.  Every year I say I am going to make Christmas presents and every year I don’t so I am going to try changing that this year.  Maybe just make one or two to ease myself into it.

I love Christmas, I love giving and sharing and being with family and the traditions and I’m really excited to be hosting Christmas at our home again this year.

Do you start planning Christmas this far in advance?

Till next time,
L