Tails’ Blography

So my new girls are getting settled, but they’re still not in the big cage with Macro since they’re still small enough to fit through the bars, the sneaky buggers! They’re so cute and feisty, where even Macro allows herself to be flipped and groomed by them (on the couch only, in the big cage, she squashes them like bugs!). There has been little fighting, so intros have gone smoothly but I’ll still only have Fats in the smaller cage with the babies when I’m around to supervise, just in case.

Today I’m assisting photographer, Moira West, on a wedding which should be fun! Its an eight hour wedding, so I’ll be home after 10pm lol Its my job to shoot the groomsmen at their getting ready location, which is something a little out of my comfort zone, having not really had much experience at shooting the them (they intimidate me a little, esp the serious ones) but that’s what assisting is all about, learning! And even though I have my own photography business, one is never too old or too experienced to learn.

Then tomorrow, my bestie and her bf are coming over to meet the new bubs and see our new kitchen Feature Wall (we painted it red). That should be fun, cos we haven’t seen them in ages

Another friend of mine moved into the flat opposite and one floor above me, so its been nice being able to pop on there, chat, and on weekends play dominoes with them (chicken feet is an awesome dominoes game!!). We play it a little differently to these rules, but there they are to get you started.

And get ready for a blog theme overhaul….gonna start looking for a new theme as this one feels boring to me now. Its been my theme since Sept 2008 so I think I’m allowed to change it up a bit now

Oh, and I need a new poll….any suggestions??

This weekend I’m finally doing something I’ve been waiting for since March 2011 for! I’m going Wedding Dress Browsing!

My sister (who is my Maid of Honour), my best friend (who is my bridesmaid), my mom (who is awesome) and a good friend (who never got to dress shop for her own wedding) are all coming along to assist!

The shop we’re going to is by appointment only, and we’ve booked the package which includes a bottle of of champagne, some cheese, crackers and 5 dresses to try on, and afterwards we’re having a braai at my place to continue on the festivities. The guys are going to hang out at our place while we go off and do the dress thing.

Its the first real weddingy thing I’ve done thus far, except view some venues. Oh, speaking of venues, we’ve booked ours! We chose a lovely winery which is so picturesque and perfect! We also booked our honeymoon suite which is 4 star accomodation and includes a Honeymoon turndown service with champagne, chocolates, cheese, and biscuits as well as breakfast the next morning as well as a complimentary wine tasting and cellar tour! So much awesomeness!

I’ve had a bit of trouble with my rats recently, Iso has a growth/lump on the side of her face. So I took her to the vet, got a week’s dose of Baytril and Prednisone and went home. The meds helped a little but she’s still got the lump, so I took her in the following Saturday and then again on Monday for a biopsy.

She came home with stitches on her cheek, poor thing, and I’ll get the biopsy results hopefully by Friday. If its a tumour, at least I’ll know. Anyway, so yesterday morning I had them out on the bed and next thing I look, there’s Macro grooming out all Iso’s stitches! GRR! So now the wound is open, bar one stitch, so I took her through to the lounge to glue it shut with superglue! (the vet does this all the time) It worked and I then decided to keep them separate until the wound is healed, which I should have done in the first place, but didnt because I felt bad that they were both alone in their respective cages.

Ok so next weekend is also a first for me! My first photoshoot! I won an engagement photoshoot from Hearts in a Shutter and we’ve booked for the following weekend! As you know, I’m normally always the one behind the camera, so this is rather daunting for me. I have no idea what to wear, but I’m sure I’ll figure something out (I’d buy something new but the vet bill set me back R800 this month and still R371 to go!). We chose a nice earthy theme and picked a forest to do the shoot in, so I’m looking very forward to it, in amongst the nerves haha.

And then the following weekend after that one, we’re meeting with our wedding photographer to sign on the dotted line! She is an amazing photographer and I’m so lucky to be able to secure her for our wedding! I always knew the photography was going to be the toughest decision for me because I’m a photographer, but she made it so simple!

And that, my dear readers, are my next few weeks in a nutshell….

So this weekend is going to be pretty busy for me, but also nice and relaxing. Got Skyrim so going to install and play that this weekend, heard its quite good. Actually, it was likened to crack by two clients of mine because its really addictive. I’m a fan of role-playing games, so I’m keen to see what all the hype is about with this game. I havent played Oblivion which was the game before this one, but apparently they dont need to be played sequentially.

Then, the Kenaf rat bedding I ordered should be here by now, so I’ll be collecting that at the post office tomorrow. Then its off to drop off the photos from my latest wedding for print, and then to Tygervalley to get my sister’s Christmas gift. Cant tell you what it is, as I’m not sure if she follows my blog, but I can tell you its super cute, and I ordered one for myself as well! If it wasnt so expensive, I’d order more, but they’re limited edition so the price is a little steep.

Then, lastly, its off to see my best friend who I havent seen in AGES! Could almost be months, easily. Her work hours and mine dont match up, so we rarely get to see each other. It’ll be nice to see her again, and her rats, and fish, and kitty. We also decided to do Thanksgiving again next year, for the first time since her sister’s death, which is nice. Even though I’m not American, I miss celebrating Thanksgiving. I’ll handle the turkey side, since she’s vegetarian of course. It’ll be nice, myself and her and our respective partners. And by Thanksgiving next year, it’ll be 4 months until my wedding!

On the wedding front, nothing really has been done, but I have booked an appointment to view Zevenwacht, which looks like a pretty stunning venue. They’re on the higher side of our budget, but if they’re worth it, we’ll make a plan.

Going to PE this Christmas, so going to miss my family, but at least M will be able to see his family, which is just as important to me. Going to try and also pop through to EL as well to see some friends of mine who I havent seen in ages, but they’ll also be in CT early this Dec so all is not lost if we dont see them during Christmas. They recently bought a house, so it would have been nice to see it along with them, but we’d have to borrow the in laws’ car to drive the 3 hr drive, and they dont really seem keen to lend it to us, which sucks, but I guess its their call.

So, thats about it from my side. Will check in probably next week.

Oh, one last thing. One of my hard drives crashed. Yes, its horrible to even type it. All my design items were on there. I am one sad puppy and I literally mourned for a day. Didnt get out of bed and I just slept. M is going to try and work some magic, but for now, I’m screwed.

Hmm, I cant end on that bad note, so I’ll mention I’m going to a girls night with some colleagues in a fortnight. We’re doing all you can eat sushi and chinese. I think its going to be fun, and it’ll be the third time we’re trying to organise it, so here’s hoping it actually pans out this time haha.

I’ve made my first wedding decision! Yes. Yes I have!

Its not official, of course, since no money has been paid (still early days) but I’m definately certain this makes the top 3, if not the Top itself: I’ve found my baker!

Only, they dont know it yet.

Confused? Ok, let me help. It was the Boss’s birthday today, so as per our awesome company custom, we get cake. Well, usually its cupcakes. But because it’s the Boss’s birthday, we get cake. Decadent cake.

It arrived on the plate. I’d heard rumours of this “yummy cake” we get on “The Boss’s Birthday”. I was, as most sweet-lovers are, skeptical of this Yummy Cake. It couldnt be that delicious, could it? I mean, I’d had Spar’s Chocolate Mousse Cake, which even people in surrounding suburbs know of. And I’ve had Mugg & Bean’s Chocolate Mousse cake, which is also darn mouthwateringly good. So how yummy could this Yummy Cake be?

It arrived on a tray. I saw it from afar. When it was placed on my desk, alongside a smaller pastry, I marvelled at its rich, dark colouring, the edible gold dust glittering in the florescent lighting. I took up the plastic spoon and slowly pressed it into the cake. It was spongy. I good sign (probably meant it was fresh). I scooped up a chunk and tasted it.

If you’ve seen Ratatouille then you’ll remember the scene where the food dances in his mind (or mouth) in a swirl of colours. This is how this cake was for me. It was rich (but not too rich…I know this because most chocolate things make my teeth ache for the fillings they need), it was spongy, it wasnt dry, and it had layers of chocolate fudge in between the sponge. Not just one thin layer, but two layers! And the icing was thick on top (I heavily dislike skimping on icing!). It was Heaven.

And then it hit me: I love this cake! I almost felt like I was in the shop having a tasting. This was perfect! I quickly phoned one of our management team and found out where they bought it from.

Hmmm Taste and Flavours.

To me, there’s nothing hmmm about it. Its more like Ahhhh Taste and Flavours. But nontheless, these guys will make my wedding cake. How awesome that they do Cheesecake too! I heart cheesecake!

Call me silly, but I just had to phone my fiance (who works with me in a different dept and yell excitedly, “Have you tried this cake! This is our wedding cake!!!”) and then my mother to tell her about my first Wedding Decision. Such a small thing caused me much glee because its at least one thing semi-crossed off my list of things to organise. Yay!

I’ve been in two minds about posting this, but after much thought I decided that this blog is essentially about documenting my life experiences, so one day perhaps I can look back on them and hopefully smile.

So, with that thought in mind, here is my blog about my visit to the “Wizard of Oz”. Aka, our ring designer! (I’m not telling my friends yet until I’m actually engaged, so when I FB about it, I refer to her as “The Wizard of Oz”)

It was last Monday, when the bf and I were driving to work (we work at the same company now) together, when I mentioned about seeing a designer. We’ve been having these discussions for a while now, and during that 20 min drive to work, he agreed that we should visit a designer together, and we could do so on the upcoming public holiday (last Thursday).

So we arrived at work, and excitedly I began Googling for ring designers in our area when a website that caught my eye came up in the top search results. She described herself as inpired by organics and nature, and explained that she does custom designs. Pleased by this, I looked through her portfolio and found a few designs I liked, as well as the craftmanship. So during the day, I showed the bf her site, he approved and set up an appointment for that Thursday. I grinned like a loon.

Thursday came (not soon enough!) and we ventured out to her studio and arrived at 3pm. Now apart from her being inspired by nature (me!), and being the first site I found online (fate!), she also drove a Getz (like me!). Surely this is everything lining up?

Her building was nice and rustic, which really appealled to me, with a gravelled front area where we parked, and had teracotta pot plants filled with herbs like basil and thyme out on the balcony. She let us in and we made our way up the concrete stairway. She led us through the heavy doors which opened up on the main room, which had a rustic looking table that reminded me of a trestle table, a display cabinet which held some of her jewellery, and some rustic framed photos on the wall.

I apologise for describing everything as “rustic”, but it all was!

We sat down and we started chatting about our ideas for the ring. Then she asked me to sketch the design I had in mind…talk about being thrown in the deep end! I sketched a rather unproportioned design of the ring I had in mind, and we chatted about various settings we could use for the diamond.

Oooh! Diamonds!

We chatted some more, and while I was drawing, I apologised for the shakiness of it (I explained I was hungry as I hadnt eaten all day) and after a few more minutes of discussing settings, she asked me, “Do you eat nuts?”. I answered with a yes, thinking she was barmy and whatthehelldidthishavetodowithmyengagementringdesign? she promptly got up and returned with a bag of trail mix.

It was such a thoughtful gesture, as she neednt have brought out anything (it was a free consultation after all), but she saw I was peckish and brought it out for me to nibble on. A thoughtful designer. Another indication of Our Chosen One, perhaps?

So I nibbled, we chatted, I nibbled some more, we looked at photos of her previous works, I paused in my nibbling (didnt want to look greedy), and we listened to her professional opinions and suggestions about the design, and I finally nibbled a little more while her and the bf discussed budget.

Yup, you read correctly, I’m involved with (part of) the budget. Some might think this is something I should not be a part of, and while I agree to an extent, I’m happy to be involved with the initial budget as I would feel uncomfortable if the ring were to be too much money.

After two hours of chatting, we discussed diamonds again, and she said she’d source some diamonds from her, well, sources and get back to us. Well on Tues morning we got an email saying that she had a selection to show us, which she would be getting hold of in the new year. She explained costings and sizings and so far so good! Everything is lining up perfectly!

What has almost clinched the deal for me using her services is that she’s willing to send photos of the stages of the ring’s creation for us to see! There will also be one fitting before everything is finalised and then I’m out of the picture until the bf proposes!

I wont know when the ring is finished, I wont know the final cost, I wont know when he’s collected it, and hopefully I wont know when he’s proposing hehe.

I’ll update as we go along, but I’m keeping mum on the design until I cant hold it in anymore (presumably when the photos come in!).

Disclaimer: this blog is probably about to get very wedding-related. It will be an outlet of my bride-to-be excitement so I hopefully dont drive my bf and my family nuts! Apologies if wedding blogs make you gag, I’m sure it’ll resume to normal in a year or two haha!

PS: no that isnt my design at the top, just a random image I found on the net