Tag: flowers

Luxuriating

luxuriate
/lʌɡˈʒʊərɪeɪt,lʌɡˈzjʊərɪeɪt,lʌkˈsjʊərɪeɪt/
verb
gerund or present participle: luxuriating
To enjoy (something) as a luxury; take self-indulgent delight in.
Synonyms: revel, bask, delight, take pleasure, wallow, indulge oneself, enjoy, relish, savour, appreciate, lap up.

 

April 15th –

Our last morning in Johannesburg.

We packed up all of our things, including the freshly washed and ironed clothing that our hosts did that morning, before enjoying one last breakfast together, served in the open patio area.

We were truly served like royalty during our time at their home 💕

Before being taken to the airport we stopped at a ‘biltong’ shop…which translates to jerky 😉
There was meat hanging to dry from a good portion of the ceiling and Mike was almost too tall to walk under it 🤪🙈
We got to taste test many different flavours and meat mixtures and we did leave the store with some vacuum packed pieces in hand 👍🏻 Continue reading “Luxuriating”

DIY Floral Home Decor

A super simple DIY to create your own flower decor piece.

When I began making it, I thought it would grace my wall but after it was completed I ended up disliking it there and it has actually become a perfect coffee table decoration.
The low profile makes for what I consider to be a nice pop of color without being too much or blocking ones view 😉

 

 

(If my home was more tropically inclined on the outside, I’d totally use it as a door wreath at some point though 😏)

 

 

So, as for what you need:

 

A macramé ring or a wooden embroidery hoop, found on amazon or your local craft store.

If you’re using the wooden hoop, you can also get spray or craft paint in your preferred color.

I obviously chose gold 😜

Fake flowers… I suggest one bigger bloom with a few smaller flowers that also have ‘buds’ and one bunch of greenery.

Hot glue.

 

 

What to do:

 

It’s pretty straight forward and I trust any one of you’s could do this, without this instructional bit, but I’ll explain it anyways 😉

If you’re going to paint your hoop, do that now.

While it dry’s you can begin taking apart the fake flowers, removing the blooms from the stems.

Lay out your flowers to get a semi idea of how you want them applied before beginning.

Using one larger bloom as a centre and typically an odd number of smaller blooms on either side.

Attach using hot glue.

 

 

 

Hang, lay or display however and enjoy your handy work 😉

And tag me if you do it 😉🌺

Adaptability And Sisterly Bonding

Pictures may or may not appear, as I am up at the lake with little to no service at the time being

 

 

 

Wednesday Aug 2nd –

 

 

Mike and I had a house to clean, him working on the windows, cupboards and then walls, while I scrubbed the main, daily living areas and fridge thoroughly.

It took a decent chunk of our morning but having someone else around while working was nice 🙂

Mike then had a never before task ahead of him, refinishing a lowbed trailer 😳
The whole thing needed new, wooden slabs fit in and he had been hired by the family sawmill, to be the one to do so.

As I waited for him, I pondered the slightly changed, but still very much ‘Mike’, Mike.

He was up on a large truck, wearing work clothes, using a chain saw and hammering large, wooden boards in place, with a sledge hammer.

A fair chunk different from the months before, when he was casually driving his car to an office or maybe even working from home, dress clothes and leather shoes on all day, laptop bag in hand.

Neither are good or bad… just broadly different and as I watched, I was proud at his ever willingness and adaptability, to excel in his current situations 🙂 Continue reading “Adaptability And Sisterly Bonding”

Meeting Mothers Wishes📝

Thursday March 9th –

Unfortunately I couldn’t sleep in for some reason, so I tried to catch up on blogging while the other two slept.

I began hearing noises from their rooms and I couldn’t leave my morning, coffee-less, any longer (we have a loud coffee grinder so I didn’t want to wake them) so some was brewed and soon shared with them ☕️☕️☕️

Mom and I had #AlphaGetToKnowMe prompts to catch up on writing/illustrating so our morning/afternoon was spent with a fair bit of that.
For those of you who aren’t sure what that means, check out my ‘Instagram’ or wait for a later post explaining it better ☺️

I ALMOST napped, but I didn’t… so I’m considering nap rehab I guess 😋
Instead I made lunch for Mom and I and Mike had some leftovers.

My new favourite way to cook Gnocchi, fried, joined by some canned sauce with a few other random stuff things thrown in 👌🏻🍴

Mike left to go do some things and I began making a large pot of soup, having fridge and freezer ingredients to start using up as much as possible before we leave for South Africa.

Farmers sausage from Canada was fried up and ALMOST thrown into the pot but after a warning from Mother about a slightly off smell, it was tasted… and thrown out 😏
Farmers sausage pack #2 was thawed and fried and found to be much better tasting 😬👌🏻 Continue reading “Meeting Mothers Wishes📝”

Flower Of The East 🌺

Thursday Oct 6th –

 
Good thing we had saved that frozen pizza because it was required for breakfast 😏

 

As we ate our poolside pizza, a car pulled up and out came a person of oriental decent, holding a map and having a floppy sun hat upon her head.
She walked past us towards the house (having clearly seen us) and then turned back pointing to her travel plans and saying they got the villa.
Mike in turn pointed to the time it said they got it at, which was 2:00 pm not the current 11:00 am 😳

She walked away and her and her companions stood confusedly for a few moments before we got the free entertainment of watching them try to back up, turn around and leave 😏

Some nicknames of Zakynthos include ‘the flower of the east’, seemingly fitting by the blooms found just around the villa.

 

There was also a lemon tree and a pomegranate tree but neither were quite ready.
There were a few grapes left on the vine as well but those were mostly overripe 😋🍇

Continue reading “Flower Of The East 🌺”

Time Is Messing With My Noggin

Thursday Aug 11th – Friday Aug 12th

 

(I won’t be separating these two days due to time change messing with my noggin.)

 

Goodbye day 😔

I didn’t fly until 3:00 pm so it was at least a decent flight time and the morning wasn’t rushed.

Mom helped me pack, because who wouldn’t get a helping hand when filling a suitcase if it’s available? 😏


Travel necessities : Blanket, notebook and pen, cash kept in my handy dandy coin purse, headphones and jewellery close to my heart 😁💕📓🖋💸 

I technically didn’t need the carry on for packing space but I needed it in the event that we travel somewhere and do require a carry on sized piece of luggage.
The solution? Fill with salt and vinegar chips 😎

Mom made Dad and I pancakes and bacon for a brunch before we left for the airport.
I drowned a stack of those in cherry syrup and savoured every bite 🍒😊

Goodbye time came… I don’t know if 8 weeks has ever felt so fast.
The summer spent at home was a good one.
Full of family time, sunshine, love and laughter ☀💕👫👫👫👫👭👫💕☀️

Goodbyes don’t get easier.
I know that from having said them multiple times to Pro and the girls (Josh too;) but I now know it personally as well.
No need to go on and on about how many tears were shed and hugs shared but it’s sufficient to say, many 😁

As I said on an Instagram post, ‘How Lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard – Winnie the Pooh’, and that is very true.
I feel so blessed to have grown up with the family I did and I’m already counting the days until I see them again.

As far as travelling goes, my flights and baggage were all surprisingly on time.
I think it’s the first time I’ve ever had a whole travel experience without some small form of delay, mishap, missing luggage or grouchy airport staff.
Speaking of airport staff, it’s getting bad when you recognize some of the people working in the airport…you know you’ve traveled to much wheeeen 😏
(Of course you have the all on time, swell flights when your headed back to real life and not on the way to the actual fun bits 😜)

I had a three hour stop over in Minneapolis  and no stop there is complete without eating at chick-Fil-A and getting a caffeine helper 😁


 It was then a 7.5 hour flight to Amsterdam, where the hubster greeted me with roses and macaroons.

Not an awful way to be welcomed back into Holland 😘💕

I attempted to stay awake during the one hour drive back to John and Inge’s but I don’t know why, it was a futile attempt since I hadn’t slept a wink since 6:30 am, Thursday morning 😜

Once at the house I went to stretch out on the bed and that’s where I stayed until… I don’t really know until when.
It all gets foggy about what was done, when and I think the most accurate thing to say would be that I slept a fair bit, or was trying to sleep when I wasn’t yet asleep 😁

3:00 am: Hunger and jet-lag strike.
Thank goodness for the muffins Mike has bought that morning incase I’d felt like breakfast and also good thing that I HADN’T felt like breakfast 😜