I can see my house from here

I discovered Google Earth on Friday afternoon. Needless to say the rest of my day was a write off. I spend a fair amount of time on the internet yet I find my self asking how is it that I have only discovered this fabulous little bit of technology now.

Once downloaded, Google Earth pulls up satellite imagery, maps, terrain and 3D buildings which allows the user to drill down to literarily a couple of thousand feet above ground.

Its way cool!

January stats

* 2 engagements (no, not mine)
* 1 new baby
* 1 night spent getting smashing with the miners
* 1 weekend spent with the parentals in Maritzburg
* 1 orphaned kilogram given up for adoption
* 3 months remaining of age 29

Emily Spring

Babies babies babies ... it feels like I am surrounded by the little critters. Young Emily Spring arrived earlier than anticipated but with much excitement all around. Yay for me, I get to become a Cool Aunt again!

Cintsa

We were very fortunate to spend the most amazing holiday with the Davidsons at their magnificent home in Cintsa. For those not in the know, Cintsa is a 25 minute drive, Transkei side of East London. 10 days of sheer bliss. It was great just being on holiday. Loads of sleeping, reading, drinking, eating … you get the picture. Now if we could just afford to buy some property there!

What was also great was that I was able to spend quite a bit of time with Ev’s and her hubby Bass. Ev’s is one of my bestys and currently resides in the UK. Team Williams are on a sabbatical at the moment and magically happened to be in the Cintsa area visiting Bass’s parentals at the same time as Muz and I were around.

I am also quite proud to note that I didn’t suffer the tommy tourist error of over doing the sun on Day 1. In fact, I now sport a caramel coat as opposed to my normal gecko white one (it enforces my theory that tanned chubby girl looks much nice than a white one). You realise that you really need to get out more when you get excited about such niceties.

Happy New Beer

I am not a fan of the proverbial New Year’s Eve celebration. Perhaps it’s the forced spontaneity (nice oxymoron there Schmeezy) of the whole event. Nonetheless, I am always amused by 2 things which, without fail, occur on New Year’s Eve.

The first thing is the inevitable boisterous call of the Cracka on the stroke of midnight of “Happy New Beer” whilst I gaze up at him adoringly waiting ever so patiently for the virgin kiss of the new year. He is always so chuffed with himself after that. Bless.

The other thing which amuses me is how complete strangers now feel the need to kiss you and wish you all the best for the forthcoming year. Don’t get me wrong, I am an enormous fan of kissing but I generally prefer it when I get an option in deciding whom I kiss.

Cynic? Me think perhaps so.

Festive season stats

* 3 engagements (no, not mine)
* 1 confirmed pregnancy (no, not mine)
* 3 wedding anniversaries (no, not mine)
* 2 additional orphaned kilograms adopted (mine)

The pressure continues to mount ...

December in a nut shell

December came and went without so much as an utterance from me on my blog. Diabolical indeed. I do however feel that it would be remiss of me not to recant some of the more notable events. Please bear with me on this account; this is more for my alzheimers than for anything else:

1. The Ushering
This is without a doubt one of my favourite events of the calendar year. Held on the first Saturday of December, a group of us get together and proceed to ‘usher’ in the festive season (read: get maggotted under the trees in the warm afternoon sun whilst togged up in an array of festive headgear).

2. Christmas Wine Club
Cracka and I joined his sister and brother-in-law’s wine club during the year in an attempt to become more culturally enlightened about the fabulous wine our country produces (read: get maggotted under the auspices of knowledge enhancement). We hosted the final Wine Club of the year which turned out to be a great success especially since everyone had to dress up as some sort of a Christmas theme. Oh and I tore the ligaments of my right ankle (again) whilst dancing up a storm in the lounge. Doesn’t make for an interesting war story does it?

3. Brett Prece
Much excitement – I unofficially became Cool Aunt Schmee. Mel popped out a little boy on Sunday 17th December.

4. Motor vehicle licensing
Definitely a notable event … I managed to renew the licenses of both our company Isuzu’s in less than 45 minutes.

5. George’s 70th
Cracka’s dad celebrated his 70th birthday in style with a lunch bash at their house in Bedfordview. What was supposed to be an intimate function ended up being a serious patsy as nearly 100 family and friends arrived to make merry with the old codger. Nice one Mr M.

6. Christmas eve
This year marked a change in tradition for the Smiths as we decided to eat ourselves silly on Christmas eve instead of the usual Christmas day. Hugs, Kev and Chrissy pulled in from Maritzburg and the old duck from the UK. I could definitely get used to opening presents a day earlier too!

7. Christmas day
Christmas lunch was spent with the immediate Murray family where we ate and drank yet again.

Looking back at December now, I can concur that is indeed the season to be jolly .. tra la la la la la la la la