The Jar

Growing in my fam, we had this jar with lots of bits of paper with ideas to places to go to and things to do on the weekend. We would try explore our city (Cape Town) and create new brilliant memories of us spending time together as a family. 

When my dad mentioned two weekends ago that they still do the jar with my younger brother, I decided it would be a good idea for us W's to keep family tradition alive and make our very own. 

So 2 FHE's (Family Home Evening's held on Mon night) ago we wrote tons of ideas on blue slips of paper of things to do on the Saturday's we don't have any pending plans. This past Saturday was the perfect opportunity to put our jar to use. J pulled out the slip declaring movie day - whether at the actual cinema or at home. Whilst I was at an informative Relief Society meeting on Saturday afternoon, J did the research of what's showing at our theaters (a wonderful selection of 4 movies...). Upon arrival home, J rushed us out the door to pick out 2 films at Videoland and a pit stop at Checkers for the necessary snacks (popcorn and chocolate of course). 

Even though one of the films (New Years Eve) was mega cheesy and super predictable, we enjoyed the time snuggled close together.  A perfect ending to a Saturday. :)

The DIY skills of Mr. W

2 weekends ago we J decided to complete the job our 'table maker' was supposed to do - varnish it. We were tired of the white marks that slightly resembled drug powder that surfaced on the table after a few days at a time. So, with a brush and a tin of varnish we scored for cost price from an associate of J's, he sanded that sucker down and gave it 3 coats of shine. Now it is beautiful, powder free, and waterproof. Looks like J could teach 'table maker' a thing or two!

Ramblings from a 23 year old...

On the 26th of November I, Lauren, turned 23! To celebrate, Jarom did his utmost best to make me feel incredibly special and loved by spoiling me rotten (although I hope people don't describe me as rotten)! Leading up to said day, J kept inquiring what I would like as a gift. Seeing as my dear husband will never purchase a Chelsea shirt, the only other thing I desired was to decorate our home to make it feel, well, homey. Yo. So after cleaning up after the painters (oh yes, our flat has been painted beige) J took me to Vincent Park, handed me a certain amount of bucks and set me loose in Mr. Price Home! Dream come true! After searching that store high and low for suitable decor, we settled on assorted sized frames for our wall, a clock and 3 blue and silver pillows on clearance for R50. When the pillows rang up at the cashier it registered as R25 a pillow! What a sign! Thank you birthday luck! We dashed home to hammer some picture hooks in wall and scatter the pillows to spruce up the place. Check it out, our haven is slowly but surely coming together!



Looks better yes? To be added: pic of JHB Temple.

 Thinking the awesome day to be over, J suddenly took me off to Tasty Thai for the best Thai food ever, which we took to-go, and ate overlooking our pretty city at the lookout point in Beacon Bay. After which, J whisked me off to his final surprise of the evening to watch the latest HP movie! The entire day was brilliant! I have the best husband in the world! Thank you J for being the man you are! The best of the day was being able to spend it together.

P.S) Thank you family and friends for the birthday cards, emails, sms', etc. You all added to the joy of turning 7 years away from 30. :)

Eating like grown-ups

Anyone who lives in South Africa knows that if you were to purchase a  dining room table you'd have to sell your house first in order to afford it. We have spent the past few months visiting almost every furniture store in East London trying to find a dining room table not made out of chipboard, and one that will last more than two years, for a fraction of the cost than what shops are selling them for. Tall order? Maybe, but we were determined to find our dream table. We finally decided to visit the antique shop around the corner from us in Berea to see what they had to offer. And lo and behold the brilliant owner makes tables out of real solid oregon pine. He offered us a deal and half, which we snapped up and now folks, we are eating like grown-ups at our very own 8 seater dining room table that will last a long long long time. :)

Please take this as your official invitation to dinner!

Prettying it up

So, you've seen the pictures of our home. We live a minimalist lifestyle - meaning 1 piece of furniture per room and that's it. But lately, whilst L should be studying for her very difficult examinations, she has been getting her craft on and hanging up frames to make our home look a little more like people live in it everyday rather than once a year.  Oh if only the craft and blogging temptations were not so strong, L would probably get 100% for every exam. sniff.


Top Pic: J got this from a lady he baptized on his mission!
Bottom: "Wherever we are together that is Home" ah bless!

The Minimalist Life

This is it. The new home post. Finally eh! We thought we had a lot of stuff until we moved into here, lol. It sure is easier to keep clean and tidy though! So here's the grand tour...

The kitchen:

The lounge:

Our bedroom (comes with a walk in closet, what a bonus!):

The bathroom:

The hallway that leads to our room and the second bedroom (which is not photographed as its currently known as the 'dumping ground'...you can imagine):

The Study, complete with LOTS of cupboards - a novelty for us! (we also just got the 2 desks for a bargain and a half!):

And the best part of our new place is that we get to keep our beloved forest view:

Its a work in progress of course, but we're enjoying saving up for new furniture. Until then, this is how us minimalists live! Also notice there are no burglar bars in this place as we have an alarm system! So now that we're growing up and growing into our new home, please start planning a trip to stay with us! (Its a good excuse to clear out the dumping ground!)

Farewell 19 McJannet!

On the 1st of July we packed up our belongings and moved...down the road. It was a little sad saying goodbye to our first home together as a married couple.

Here is what we'll miss:

1) The view of the forest from the deck

And that's about it!

This is what we will not miss:

1) Unfinished air vents 2) lack of air and space 3) mould on the bathroom wall & ceiling 4) the smell of mould hitting you in the face each time you enter the flat! lol!

We went to visit our favorite neighbors last Friday and we saw our landlord has just put in 3 new windows into our old home. eish. But after all is said and done this little home served us well, we met some great friends (who loan us Andre Rieu DVD's) and Paul our landlord was a star!

PS) Please do not post anything to 19 McJannet Dr anymore.