look

In the words of my darling daughter...look

I just adore this picture of Lily and Kristian sitting in the church courtyard in covent garden last Sunday

because I neeeeeed it

When you move far away from the country that is your birth place and home you miss things. People mainly ,but also things. I miss food.

I am on an endless pursuit searching for South African produce and products. I miss it all so. there are some things that just don't taste the same. Number one on my list are these babies

Ina Paarman seasoned salt. the mainstay of my cooking. You must try the olive and rosemary one . Its amazing on sandwiches but I really like it in Mash. the lemon pepper is a new one that was picked up by fellow saffer (as we are called here) Jenny, in Putney in the south African shop.

I was overjoyed that the South African shop finally stocks the stuff. Now I don't have to lug it all back in my already bulging suitcase.

Then we have the melon preserve. Kristian , my future husband (yippeee), is mad for the stuff. he has it with the stinkiest blue cheese and hovis yum! but also, not light darling

I miss so much that I cant get here like those honey and mustard pretzels and ostrich steak.Nothing like proper chutney and Savannah. I love love love it ( but apparently cant spell it for the life of me) sometimes in Sainsburys if you are lucky they put out about 12 bottles at 2 quid a pop. then all the saffers , like me , rush for them and within minutes they are gone.

Why do these products taste different , why must we move heaven and earth to get them. I cant answer that but when I have a south African product on my shelf I just feel better about the world.

monkey business

Last weekend we went to Bournemouth to visit Kristians mum, Michele, my future mother in law and Lilys nana. On our second day there we all trundled out to monkey world ,its between bournemouth and Dorchester. It is a monkey sanctuary and its founder ,who has since passed away, saved monkeys from all around the world and brings them to rehabilitate here. All of them have not had an existence in the wild and many have been saved from testing labs. It was so wonderful o see them all playing and swinging around in their massive areas they are given. They have silver backed gorillas, chimps , orangutangs and many more diffrent breeds.

We were all smitten. Lily was a little wary at first but when she saw the chimps were sleeping with muzzies (muslin clothes-her blankie) she saw them as kindred spirits .They had a few amazing play grounds for kids of all ages as well and lily found a bouncy horse that was a hit.

On a different note I have spent the day in bluewater shopping centre minus child. It was quite nice actually as when I arrived I just got out the car locked it and walked inside. I ate my lunch with no breaks and all in all had a lovely time. I was looking for some wedding bits as I leave in 2 weeks!! I needed shoes for Lily , something for my mum to wear , and spanx pants for me.

I just tried on those spanx. they are full support underwear. breathing is optional but holy moly they lift your bum and slim your thighs. breathing is so overated anyway.

the perfect jean pant

Do any of you have this problem finding jeans? I seem to have this huge bum that lowers the back of the jeans way lower than the normal person. then said bum and panties are not contained. sigh

I don't really want to wear jeans that skim my chin but what choice do I have, I cant have my arse displayed.

Gap used to do this pair called flare. perfect jean pant height in my opinion. then what did they do? discontinued them!!

So I appeal to you all , if you know of any jeans that have the perfect crotch /waist measurement and are not 10 cm too long on my short legs do tell.

Welcome

Welcome to the world Sarah. After the rollercoaster that was Veronicas pregnancy , Steven and Veronica were very blessed when their daughter was born yesterday morning at 9:37 . I am sure an announcment will follow I just wanted to say how happy I am that she has come into the world and her op went well last night. We will all continue to hope and pray for her recovery and that her mommy recovers well too.

We love you already Sarah and cant wait for a little cuddle of our own
xxx
Love Aunty Wendy , Uncle Kristian and Lily

those boot were made for......?

I tragedy of the shoe kind has occurred. You always think it will happen to someone else but then the shoe gods come down and disagree that you should have 35 pairs of shoes (or something like that)
I was minding my business downstairs yesterday whilst Kristian and Lily were upstairs running the bath. I heard some crying and a bit of a fracas and thought nothing of it. However upstairs an awful . heinous thing had occurred.
Upon reaching the landing I heard Kristian say in a sort of scared voice " lily put all your shoes in the bath"
The part of me that's true Carrie Bradshaw screamed and withered to the floor. Lily was still upset at her daddy shouting at her for throwing said shoes in the bath. She was at this point sitting in the middle of the crime scene. When she saw me she tipped her head to the side and summoned her most endearing smile before saying sweetly..." hello"
What can you say? how can you resist that.
So I made it clear that future shoe wetting would not be tolerated and then I went and sobbed into the puddle where my shoes lay. boots , patent leather heels, silver ballet pumps , one red wedge, 2 brown slip ons. all lay there sodden. I swear my silver pump was crying. I saw a tear!!
Beware mothers out there. hide your shoes from little girls especially If I come to visit with Lily in tow.
And there ends my sad shoe story. No ,they are not Manalo Blahniks (shoe gods are you listening!!!!) but they are ever so pretty and I love them.... sob

I can make you rich

On breakfast television this morning Paul Mckenna was on. He is a well known and respected life coach and hypnotist. He focus's very much on uplifting yourself which , as you know ,is a modern day obsession.

He has written a book entitled " I can make you rich". my ears immediately perked up and I turned up the sound, ignored my child who wanted her breakfast, and listened.
He claims everyones perception of what would make them rich is very different as wealth is not money alone. We all hear this but we don't believe it really!!
He then did a little test with the presenter. answer these questions
If you came into a large amount of cold hard cash. What would you change?
would you change your friends?
would you change your family?
would you change your job?
would you change where you live?
what car you drive? you get the drift here. If there is something you would change then it is an unhappiness in your life and is holding you back from being truly rich in life.
He claims we should all have a code of conduct. a manifesto to live by. If every day you have say had a good thought about somebody , tried to help somebody , smiled at somebody and that is the manifesto you live by, then you have had a good day.

This got me thinking. You see I have been a little down lately. I have so much to look forward to but I feel like everything around me is changing and my head is spinning trying to catch up. First and foremost my 4 year anniversary came and went on 2 June. I have lived in England for 4 years. I wanted to do two but now its four and it all seems a bit hopeless. How will I get out of here. the longer you stay somewhere the more difficult it is to leave. You get well paid jobs and furniture and soon you may have a child in school. I feel quite desperate as the first thing I thought of when Paul Mckenna asked that question was.... I would move home, straight away, within the week.
Of course this shows us all that I am unhappy in my current position and of course my wealth is being depleted by the day!!!
But I am in a relationship and that takes compromise. We cant always have what we want ( mores the pity). If one more person tells me that there is more opportunity for me here I will explode. Maybe there is , maybe there is not.
To me life is not about opportunity and money. its about living and happiness and family and friends. those are things I would never change, not for all the money in the world.

23 years later

After 23 years of staying in Bournemouth Kristian's grandad, John, returned to visit London where he was born , grew up , married and had children. I just could not believe he never returned to his beloved London for that many years.
Now that his wife and Kristian's nan has passed he wanted to visit places they had been together and places that he had memories of with her and when he was a child . He went with his daughter and his grandson on Monday ( the hottest day of the year so far) and walked around holborn and Russel square. He took them into pubs he played the accordion in until Joan had to come and get him and bring him home more than a bit pickled. He showed then a boutique where he had proposed to the lady who owned it and was turned down! he showed them the house he was born in. he showed them the shop Joan went into every week. A lifetime of memories relived in one day.

He had a pizza for the first time in 15 years (imagine that 15 YEARS without pizza) and he loved it. he had 3 pints of bitter as well. He marveled to me as to how the trains were so quiet and smooth running. His last train travel there were no carpets and the trip was so bouncy you kept the lid on your coffee until a station and then downed it in one go.

all in all what a wonderful day for him to have and for his daughter and grandson to experience with him.

Lily

this is her blog really . Yes its been an outlet for me and I love posting all manner of things here but initially I set it up to document her life for everyone we were far away from. I recently went right to the beginning of lilyland to read my entry. I had just been plunged into motherhood!!

One of my favorite things to do is go through my pictures of Lily and relive all her little stages. She will be 2 in August so I am going to do a little month by month in photos of our life with the lilster. If you will forgive my self indulgence here is her life so far in my favorite photos.

13 August 2006 at 1:36AM Lily Grace Humble came into the world after I was induced on the 12th. Kristian told me all along that she would be here on the 13th as 3s are his obsession but when I began pushing at 10pm on the 12th I believed him to be wrong. but no ....

lily and her daddy. just hours old.

she came home to our flat in Hervey road and we began to get to know each otherBy the September of 2006 my mum had gone home and I had to learn to cope with just Kristian and I . Life returned to normal and Lily and I created our own little routine. It was not a good time for me but I look back at the photos with such fondness. they are part of our history

Lily has always loved bath time!!

In the October my brother and Lily's uncle Drew came to visit us in England. She was coming up 10 weeks. We had a lovely time with him even tough I seemed to be very sleepy most of the time. Lily had started to smile and was interacting with us a bit. I started to love motherhood. Lily's first laugh was when Andrew was visiting which I think is so apt as anyone who knows my brother knows hes all about the laugh.

November came and then December. Lily was being just divine . sleeping through the night and quite placid. She started to play with her rattle a bit and grasp things. Her first Christmas came and we were smitten. we went to Harrods to see father Christmas . it was the best day!

By February 2007 Lily was 6 months old already. It was a cold February in London and we had snow. I love this photo of her and Kristian. It was still snowing when we went out and her little down hood slipped down so the snow was in her hair a bit and resting on those long eyelashes.In March of 2007 we had our first trip to Cape Town. Just Lily and I. We had the best time and all of our special people got to meet Lily for the first time.

the next 6 months passed in a blur as we had planned another trip to Cape Town for Lily's first birthday. But she started eating proper meals and crawling at 9 months. she began pulling herself up on the table and cruising around a bit as well. Her speech was coming along and her mama and babas were getting clearer and more frequent.Her Nana fi came to visit and her mummy turned 30. Her personality was shining through and we would spend hours talking about her after she went to bed. still do!

Then it was time for another holiday and our little miss turned 1. We all had a wonderful time that holiday . 2 weeks after we came back to England Lily started to walk. All my Capetonians were so upset they had been coaxing her along for weeks and then they missed it.

After returning to England (again) Christmas was on our doorstep and we went to Holland on a little break in December. Winter set in again and Lily was walking beautifully. Now time for her to concentrate on her talking.

By this stage Lily was coming on 18 months and an absolute joy. We went to cape Town again this March and she really interacted with everyone there. She still talks about them every day. Her memory now is amazing and she can recall things you told her weeks before. We go to her nana in Bournemouth every few weeks as well which she loves..

since we returned after our august holiday Lily has started talking . She copies every word you say. Its only been 3 months but the rate she is learning how to talk is quite alarming. her current favorite thing to say is " oh dear" and "naughty di (fly)" (she hates flies) she has started saying 2 or 3 things together now like bye bye daddy. She never stops talking for a minute. Cute as a button as well with all her ringlets tumbling down her back and those big blue eyes. butter would not melt.
here's my current favorite taken on Wednesday in manor park. In 2 months my baby will be 2. What a ride its been. a joyous , wonderful , emotional ride , and its just the beginning. I cant wait for the rest.

outdoor antics

This is what we do in the british summer time

This is what we do when we have just woken up and have the novelty of a garden and some sun. Don a jersey , sunhat , slippers and zebra

this is what you do on an evening in summer when sex and the city is at the cimema. Go to the west end!

lunch at the new table

you know how I love just putting photos up and seeing how people react but the last time i did that i got into trouble as everyone thought Sandi was pregnant when actually I stuffed a pillow under her top so
Kristian went to his cousins bachlors hence the fab facial hair!!

longhurst road

I live here now. Its not been without a few tears though and my lack of blogging is because I just feel so overwhelmed at the moment. I have arrived here and cleaned everything within an inch of its life all the time wondering if we have made a massive mistake moving into an older house. I love quirky but I am not sure if I love old.

Its been a huge adjustment and my taurean nature is not really coping all that well. Lily is not really playing ball either as she perhaps feels my " taurean nature" and has decided now would be a perfect time to be 2. whining , crying , waking up through the night. I cant really blame her though she only a little thing and she just got her own room and big bed for the first time

So we will continue to settle ourselves here. we did some painting over the weekend to neaten up everything and yesterday Lily and I planted some containers for the front sills. We had a ball and got covered with mud. Lily loves water and will play with it for hours. It all ended in a monster tantrum when we had to go inside for a minute and her bike could not come with us. Please tell me this all passes!!

On a decidedly fabulous note I travelled by train into central London on Tuesday night to see Sex and the city movie. What a fabulous film that was. girls all the way. I went with my friend Jenny and we had a little pasta beforehand and a little more wine. Then in the cinema a little more wine as they let you take it in ,Yippeee. I laughed , I cried and I had a lot of fun. Just what a stressed mummy needs.

Its all my attention focused on my Cape Town trip now though and I am making lists all over the place but getting very little done , probably as I am running around trying to placate my whinging daughter who I love dearly. So anyone keen to babysit.? i wont be gone long...promise