good lord a lot has happened since the engagement!

1st.  We went to Cape Town - crayfish diving
2nd. We moved house to Port Alfred for the December/January holidays
3rd. I spend Christmas in Umtentinrtwenitweenie or something odd like that
4th.  2 of my best friends from school joined me for new years in Port Alfred
5th. Spent a week playing golf at Fancourt
6th. Wedding planning and dress shopping started end of January
7th. We went to some parties and cooking etc
8th. We spend a pre-wedding stress free week at Pezula golf resort
9th. I played in my first ever Grahamstown Ladies Golf open..probably came stone last or somewhere around there.
10th. WE GOT MARRIED
11th......I'm back and some photos will follow this post!

what about a lovely glass of champagne...the impossible has happened!

A while back I wrote about the things that I'm enjoying about my life and more specifically my life with Sean.  A man who came into my life rather unexpectedly, I fell in love with rather unexpectedly and then a week ago he proposed VERY unexpectedly...shockingly unexpected...still cant believe it.  I can promise you now there is NOT a more happier girl at this very moment on this earth!  I feel like I'm dreaming....and this is why.

Everyone always tells of their engagement..."well we'd been speaking about marriage for a while now"...."we've been together for 7 years it was time"...."we were looking at rings and I showed him what I like"...."we'll get engaged after our travels" ....

now Sean and I have NEVER discussed marriage, weddings or how serious is our committment...it was more like life was just flying by because we were enjoying ourselves so much.  For those of you who do not know in order to understand my story, Sean is 19 and half years older than me.  When ever I said "gosh ill never wear a puffy dress to my wedding" he'd tease:  "what, who you gonna marry muffin?"...I mean he'd even tease when I referred to him as a boyfriend he'd say "I didnt know you had a boyfriend"...so anyway I have never looked at jewelry never mind rings, I've never said what I like cause quite frankly I didnt like anything.  We decided to go play golf in Knysna on the weekend after my school Christmas Market to relax and rejuvinate.  The weather was forecasted to be terrible in Knysna and we decided to rather stay home in Grahamstown where it would be sunny and warm...I felt disappointed as I was keen to get away.  Now Sean always does everything 100% and we always do fancy things and drink champagne (kind of like dont wait for the special occassion, everyday is a special occassion).

He told me we would go to Kwandwe Game Reserve, 30min out of town.  We arrived at lunch and enjoyed a stunning lunch and some crisp white wine over looking the Great Fish River, we had time to kill before our game drive at 4pm and since it was boiling hot I was keen to go chill in our private plunge pool at our room.  Sean popped some champagne (like I said nothing unusual) and we sat chatting me in the pool and him on those sundeck tanning chair things...and I (probably all the booze speaking) start a heart felt speech about how this is the life I always dreamt of having, and now I'm living my dream, and I'm just so grateful to have him in my life etc etc.  A few minutes later he says ..."come here"...me thinking he wants a refill of the glass of champagne he just downed (now that was unusual as he never downs alcohol)...so i walk on over, he takes my hand pulls me down beside him and says:
"this is the life hey?"...."and I want you to be a part of my life forever"...I was like WHAT? what the hell is going on with you? have you gone mad? "You make me very happy and I love you lots and lots and I want to marry you".....WHAT? What's going on with you? Are you serious or joking? whats going on? I dont understand what you saying....then he whipped out the ring and said "will you be with me forever?"....for a split second I still thought it was a joke and for a split second I thought it was a lucky packet ring..then I saw that diamond sparkle and I burst out crying...it was real...he was proposing...an event I was 100% sure would never happen and I was fine with that. 
Then some how in all the commotion I cut my lip open on the ring and said "YES" through a bloody lip..haha....hell..I still cant believe it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  See Sean is an older man, set in his ways and just not the wedding cushy type....its was the most unexpected thing...I would have been less surprised if I was pregnant hahahahaha. 

Here's the list I wrote a long time ago about what I love about my life with Sean:

Happiness is…

Having unconditional love from your dogs

Support from your partner

Laughter around the dinner table

Champagne on a rainy day

Encouragement

Unexpected hugs

Walks on the beach/mountain

Dancing

Singing

Cooking together

Watching your favourite sport together

Listening to stories

Sharing jokes

Making tea in bed

Playing nurse

Sharing wine

Playing Jenga on the veranda

 

 



Delicious Mauritius

Entrance/view from reception

 Welcome drinks

Our little pandok 

 

Swimming pool in front of our room

 our first evening there..i couldnt stop taking pictures, i was like "this is exactly how it is in the magazines!!!"

Dinner on the beach

 

Calming, relaxing, breath taking sunsets and scenery



 

Very friendly people...I became very good friends with this beach comber..he said he's name was "babalas"...obviously too many South Africans visit Mauritius

Fishing boats docked for the evening (is "docked" even the right word?)

My first supper, sea urchants, muscles, oysters, mushroom milkshake, pineapple and mangos

 beach bums

 

 

I am now officially over talking about Mauritius and photos etc that I actually cannot carry on with this blog post..I had a fabulous holiday thank you very much.

xxx



whether the weather be good whether the weather be bad

Since we got back from Mauritius it has been raining, cold, windy, grey, misty miserable.  Cant believe we almost in November and I am currently wearing: a vest, a top, a long sleeve top a jersey a jacket and a pashmina, 2 pairs of tights and wooly boots! WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Some pics of the floods:

didnt see too much in Gtown but Port Alfred and PE were quite bad

 

My beautiful strong loving mom

She was just the most amazing woman in my life.  The kind that should have written a book.  I cant begin to tell you about her life, but I need to tell you about my life with her in it and why the road ahead seems so hard without her.

 

I dont know how to express what I am feeling.  My chest pains when I think of the good times with her.  They begin in the early days where I would spend hours around her feet in the pecan nut lands.  She told me then that I was her best friend..I was 5.   Setting heaps of leaves alight, getting paid to shake the trees, chasing our socks down the flowing cannals.  Our trips to swimming galas all over the country, singing our lungs out on the long road...her smoke never bothered me then. 

When my legs used to pain in the middle of the night she climbed into bed with me and held my paining leg.  She always held my hand and said I had the softest hands.  Ag I so badly want to hold her hand again. My heart is so sore remembering all these things.  She came to my graduation and made me feel as though I had won an Oscar, she had no difficulty in expressing her pride.  She always only wanted the best for me.  I saw her one last time when she drove through the night, 700km alone, to come say goodbye to me before I went overseas.  She was tall and strong, but when I hugged her she was soft.  We had a good time together and we danced on Sunday afternoon.  When she left on Monday how would I have ever known that would be my last hug, I somehow can still see and feel it.  I was standing at the car door, it was HOT in February and our skin was sticky against each other.  I thought she was so brave driving back alone and I admired her as she drove out of the yard...

 

The thing is I still need her in my life and I just cant understand what has happened.  All I can do now is live my life according what would make her proud and be the woman she always saw in me.  She always said to me: it doesnt matter how poor you are as long as you are neat, clean and friendly you will get far in life.  Her last card to me ended with "and always stay true to who you are". 

The last phone call I made was to confide in my mother, I needed to hear her words of wisdom, to feel her love and support, we spoke about playing golf together...I wanted her in my life more than ever.

My hero

 Our last photo together - February 2012

 love