January 2022 - December 2022

So here we are again time for another post in our Annual Walsh Whereabouts blog... 2022 has been a year taking us back to normality and getting us out and about again!

My Motto for the Year was "You're never too old for anything! - Betty White" ... so I tried to keep that in mind. I sometimes struggle with the concept of getting older as it sounds quite negative at times - as well as can be quite depressing to see how our parents and loved one's lose their independence, health and quality of life - and there is no turning back or stopping the clock on aging!

I was looking for a positive spin on getting older and I think I recently found it... 

I am not old, I am a Queenager! .. What is a Queenager? A mature woman (probably over 46) with the wisdom and experience of years but with the will to be active and have fun like a teenager!

Some 2022 Highlights:

13 Jan - First day of holiday care for Grace at her new after care called Jungle Tots - Owned & run by Silvana. The after care has worked out really well as they collect her after school and do her homework which is fabulous for us! If all goes well, then Grace will continue here for the rest of her primary school hopefully.

19 Jan - First day of Grade 1 for Grace. She is in Grade 1E4 at Panorama Primary with Teacher Colleen Clarke. It has been an amazing year at school and in this Sunflower class. This year Grace has taken up Athletics & Netball as her Summer & Winter sports. Played her first netball matches at school and away at other schools so also her first bus ride from school to the other schools. 

She also continued with swimming lessons. 

She started and attended Gymnastics for the year - and received 3 gold medals for the 3 competitions she competed in. Also ended up with a trophy at the end of the year as best Gymnast in her Level 1 category.

She continued with cooking classes with Mother Ted and loving this!

 

6 Feb - Happy Birthday to Grace who turned 7 years old. She had a Flamingo themed party at home.

16 Feb - She also moved up from Teddies to Brownies this year. Grace enrolled as a Brownie!

7 - 23 Mar - Jordan and Annaissia arrived for a holiday. Beautiful couple and lovely to see them so happy! We even managed to get a picture of Grace & Jordan after a delicious meal cooked by Annaissia. Yummy!

18 - 21 Mar - Annual Panorama Witzenberg camping weekend.

11 May - I hardly ever get sick and definitely need to be seriously sick to take a sick day off work, so when I came down with a serious fever I thought it very strange! We confirmed it was Covid and I stayed in bed & away from work for a full day! The next day the fever had subsided and luckily I was working from home and resumed work again while still isolating for 10 days.

6 - 12 Jul - Road trip to Wilderness, Outdshoorn & Knysna with Elsa, Jack, Sam & Grace to support Elsa at the Knysna half marathon on the weekend. We stayed in a gorgeous house at Brenton on Sea. 

31 Jul - Grace started her first Catechism class with Teacher Diane at the Milnerton Catholic Church. She also started dancing in the Liturgical Dancing group at church - and danced her first one in the group on 19 Nov at 3pm at the First Holy Communion.

9 Aug - Total sports 10 km fun run, ending at the Grand Parade. It was fun and proved that it's still possible with little training... probably would be better with a lot more training though:-)

28 Aug - 28 Sep - Jordan arrives for a month holiday. Whoop whoop!

8 Sep - Happy Birthday to Mike. We went to a fabulous steak restaurant to celebrate, called Turn n Tender - their fillet steak with the black charcoal rub is to die for!

10 Sep - Rugby Sevens at the Stadium - attended with Mike, Jordan & Grace.

18 Sep - Went back after 21 years to our wedding venue, Suikerbossie, for their Sunday lunch buffet. Divine! The place has not aged one bit ... it is perfection!

5 Oct - Our pets usually live with us for life or pass on naturally after a long life anyways... Unfortunately, there was one who stayed for a short period only... We adopted 2 love birds in Oct 21 name Yoshi & Bean. We took them to the Exotic Animal Hospital to have them checked and wings clipped and only Yoshi returned. Bean stayed as she had pneumonia, so had to be treated in an oxygen tent. Unfortunately there was no improvement after 2 days and she did not make it. I am hoping that she is flying freely and happily in another life. Rest in peace, Beanie.

20 - 23 Oct - Our annual ladies scrapbooking weekend at Simondium where we eat, drink and be merry all weekend. Always fabulous!

12 Nov - Grace's first swimming gala at Durbanville High School. Also my birthday so we went for my annual crayfish spoil and lunch at Burger & Lobster in town. Whoop Whoop! 

30 Nov - Made use of my birthday voucher: Cobra 8 hour self drive car experience. We drove along the coast and ended up at Bistro 1682 for lunch and then at Chappies Hotel for their legendary calamari. Epic trip! Next time, I think I'll ask for a quieter exotic car, maybe a Ferrari or Lamborghini:-)

17 Dec - Friends Christmas Dinner at our place with 29 people attending. Plenty of food and merriment to go around! Thanks to all our amazing friends for all their contributions and presence.

18 Dec - Uncle Willy's Christmas party... It's only up to age of 9 years that Father Christmas delivers gifts and Grace is turning 8 this year. I think this might have been our last one... let's see if she still believes next December:-)

General:

I attended a few Tjhoko paint workshops. So easy to refurbish old furniture with this option.

Joined a new breakfast club. Thanks to Jemima for the invite:-)

Also continued with:

- KKC

- Monthly Dinners

- Moms Night Out

- Edgemead Bootsales - the decluttering is endless, but have not lost hope of having a minimalist house sometime again:-)

My motto for 2023:

"Think like a Queen. A Queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness." - Oprah

I recently saw this wish and sharing it with you: "May the tears you cried in 2022 water the seeds you planted for 2023." May 2023 be a year of new and happy beginnings for all of us.

PS. I think I need to add an overseas trip to this year's goals as I miss the travel so much!

January 2021 - December 2021

So here we are again time for another post in our Annual Walsh Whereabouts blog... Another unpredictable, unprecedented & unexpected year! 

My Motto for the Year was "Slow and steady wins the race" and it helped to keep me focused one day at a time. Small incremental daily steps amounts to much at the end of a year - especially when faced with another COVID year! 

Some 2021 Highlights:

04 Jan - We started off the year on an AIM 30 day detox program. Basically the focus was eating more raw, following a vegetarian lifestyle, eliminating all preservatives and adding more delicious smoothies. It's the first time that I went vegetarian so probably the longest that I have been so healthy! Well worth it! We are still focused on what we eat, and eat healthier now but not so clean as we did in Jan!

Oh and I discovered a gem of a Supplier & she has been a game changer for us: Gisele's Healthy Kitchen. We order her salads &/ meals weekly for delivery. In fact, we hardly ever cook - do yourself a favour and check her out here: www.giseleshealthykitchen.co.za.

23 Jan - Grace has built her first model aeroplane, a spitfire. Mike has taken the model aeroplane building hobby quite seriously this year and Grace seems to have taken an interest in it too, either as his assistant or with building a model of her own.

27 Jan - First day of Grade R for Grace at Panorama Primary with Teacher Ansune & Teacher Nolene. It has been an interesting 'school' year as the first half of the year, the kids went back to school on alternate days so it was quite something to keep track of. Luckily, they are now back to going every day.

6 Feb - Grace turns 6 years old and had a Unicorn Party at home with a water slide and a few of her besties to celebrate & make it a day to remember!

12 - 14 Feb - Friends camping weekend at Panorama Witzenberg (other side of Ceres). It's always such a special time to camp with our besties! It's just such a pity that we don't do so as often as we used to! Grace loves the outdoors so we need to make more of an effort going forward.

18 Mar - We started a Monthly Mom's Night Out for some of the Mom's of Grace's friends. This is a much needed breath of fresh air and so cool to keep on the same page especially for our girls as they grow up together and share in many playdates. Thanks to Sasha for starting this up!

20 Mar - We attended Carla-Anne & Gareth's wedding at Simondium. What an amazing wedding and so privileged to share in their special day!

16 May - My Mom's 80th Birthday celebrations at Neighbourhood Cafe at Ramasibi. So blessed to be able to celebrate with her and family & friends.

17 - 20 Jun - Scrapbook & Hobby Ladies Weekend away at Nicole's place in Yzerfontein. Much needed food for the soul!

2 - 16 Aug - Jordan arrived home for a 2 week holiday. So good to have him home again! Love & miss you lots xx

22 Aug - Went to our first Theatre show in a very long time: The Unlikely secret Agent at the Drama Factory in Somerset West. So good to get out and watch a live show again and our friend, Erika Marais, was brilliant as always!

8 Sep - Happy 50th Birthday to Mike. He was away flying for a month so we celebrated a month later.

16 - 30 Sep - I had to take some 'use it or lose it' leave so although Mike was away, I used the opportunity to do a few day trips with some besties so all worked out well and most enjoyable to explore a few local spots.

Ana Rita joined me for a day trip to  Riebeek Kasteel & we found a lovely spot for lunch called Eve's Eatery. Fabulous mussels & bubbly at this spot!

Janine joined Grace & I for a visit to the Ostrich Farm off the N7, the one that has the 'No hooting, ostriches getting laid' sign. We also did another day trip to Wellington Wines for a cupcake & wine pairing, Redemption Leather is a definite stop if you are in the area for leather footwear / slippers & then a stop at the Stone kitchen where we had lunch at a table under the guava trees!

Liezel joined me for a trip to Muratie for chocolate & wine pairing & Delheim for cupcake & wine pairing followed by a delicious lunch!

9 Oct - Happy 50th Birthday party for Mike at Neighbourhood Cafe at Ramasibi. Awesome party with live music. Axe played some of Mike's best & heaviest music!

Note: This is also the day that we rehomed Stony. He is a cross toy pom & maltese, such a loveable & good natured 'old' dog. He is 13 years old and is quite at home with us already. 

3 Nov - Tia Adelina passed away. This is my Mom's sister in America.

7 Nov - Tia Maria Jose passed away. This is my Mom's sister in Canada.

12 - 14 Nov - My birthday weekend, so we took time out and went to Langebaan and stayed at Poseidon Guesthouse with Robyn & Rebecca. Grace & Rebecca loved all the swimming. Thanks to Vaalie for the accommodation & bubbly and Thanks to Robyn for the magnificent food and best lemon meringue ever!

We found 2 new spots in Langebaan that are well worth the visit: Kokomos restaurant on the beach front and Shark Bay Coffee bar for drinks & ice creams & a magnificent view!

18 Dec - Thanks to Linda & Shawn for hosting our Friends Christmas dinner. Always great fun with our awesome friends!  

19 Dec - Visit to the Le Bonheur Crocodile Farm. Thanks Janine for organising this trip!

General:

Grace continued with Teddies this year and has graduated & moving to Brownies next year.

Grace also continued with her swimming lessons as well as gymnastics and is doing a great job on both of these too!

We have continued with our Monthly Dinners which we have now settled on Monthly Lunches and on outdoor venues... and although over COVID times we have not been able to go monthly, we have still managed to get to a few great lunches, the last one being Ayama Wines. The wine tasting and food was fabulous!

I have continued with a stall at the monthly Edgemead boostales as we still have lots to 'declutter' and sell... will continue to do so &/ donate what doesn't sell to charity. I have connected with such a great bunch of friends at the bootsales too. Love it!

... So here we go into 2022, my motto for the year "You're never too old for anything" - Betty White. She was 99 when she passed so there are no excuses, live your life with no limits... Live and treasure each moment, for one day these will be your treasured memories! 

Much love & blessings to all of you. May 2022 be good to all of us!

January 2020 - December 2020

So here we are again time for another post in our Annual Walsh Whereabouts blog... I can't believe another year done & dusted - and what an unpredictable & unexpected year it has been! 

My Motto for the Year was "Be Generous" and I tried to keep this thought in my mind throughout the year so that whenever there was an opportunity to be generous that I indulged and helped where I could. 

Some 2020 Highlights:

10 - 12 January - Camping weekend with friends at Panorama camping - Agter Witzenberg.

28 January - We rehomed an adult female dapple Dachshund named Art (due to the patterned colour of her coat). We later renamed her Luna meaning moon in Spanish / Latin as it was more apt as her coat resembled the silver shimmer of the moon. She was very skittish when she arrived but she has now settled in and we are happy to have her as part of our family.

06 February - Happy 5th Birthday to our Princess Grace. Grace had her Birthday Party at home this time, on Saturday 8th February with a waterslide and Mermaid theme. 

10 - 23 February - We travelled to USA: New York  (Manhattan) and New Jersey (Secaucus). Grace loved the Museum of Natural Science which she called the Dinosaur museum.

26 March - COVID-19 Pandemic and South Africa's Lockdown was announced. 

I was able to work from home for the full duration of the lockdown and will continue to do so until further notice.

23 June - Happy 1st birthday to our Tortoise, Shelly. 

1 August - We now have a baby tortoise in our garden too. Her name is Sheila. It's a complete miracle that she appeared as we only had 1 tortoise in our garden previously (for about 1 year) but Google seems to think this is possible: "It is believed that tortoises can lay fertile eggs up to four years after mating."

24 - 27 September - Camping weekend with friends at Doringlaagte in Montagu. 

22 - 25 October - Girls Scrapbooking Weekend at Simondium. Fabulous as always & such an annual treat for us: Carol, Vanessa, Fiona, Amie, Claudia & myself!

3 November - Celebrated our 19th Wedding Anniversary at Belly of the Beast restaurant in Town. What an exceptional tasting experience & superb 5 star service! This remains one of our favourite places to visit for a special occasion!

12 November - My 50th Birthday!! I am so grateful to have reached this huge milestone and so very blessed to have so many special peeps in my life. We had a picnic lunch at Loch Lynne wine estate to celebrate with friends and family - and it was certainly one that I will always remember!

25 December & 31 December - Spent the days quietly at home. Mike was not well on the 24th so we cancelled Christmas lunch so as not to risk family. We were still in lockdown and back to Level 3 as announced by the President, Cyril Ramaphosa (adding his name in case in years to come I have a senior moment and forget it) since our COVID-19 numbers are on the rise again... this means we're on 9pm - 6am curfew as well so no NYE parties allowed.

Other things we continued with...

Monthly Dinners - We had to take a break during lockdown but we have added a few visits to some open air places: https://monthlydinnerclub.blogspot.co.za/

Kit Kat Club - Always great to catch up with the Ladies. We had a few zoom meetings during lockdown and we embarked on 2 new hobbies... 

(1) Rock Painting which is now very popular as rocks get hidden and then found to keep or rehide again. There is even a Facebook Group that one posts the rocks that are found with the hashtag so that peeps can see where their painted rocks have travelled to. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/CapeTownRocks/ 

(2) Diamond Dot Painting (DDP) - There is a Facebook page for this as well else have a look at this website. It's basically a paint by numbers but with small crystal stones. I just finished my canvas and with with a width of 142 dots and 211 rows, that makes it 29962 dots... no wonder it took me 2 months to finish that one! Now, to frame it and find a wall to add it to:-)

https://diamonddotpainting.co.za/

Edgemead Bootsales - Due to lockdown, the bootsales are on hold... However, my decluttering is not and the garage is full of stock for when we are allowed to trade again. Hopefully, it is before I decide to declutter the garage and donate the stuff elsewhere:-)


My Motto going into 2021... well I don't yet have one and I also have a blank 2021 goals page too!

Wishing you much happiness and laughter in 2021. May you be pleasantly surprised many times over with unexpected blessings. May you love and be loved always. Big hugs xx 

January 2019 - December 2019

So here we are again time for another post in our Annual Walsh Whereabouts blog...

I am starting to think that there is truth to the quote "Life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer you get to the end the faster it goes!" ... I think this year I will need to investigate how to slow this roll down:-)

My Motto for the Year was "Be Enthusiastic" and I think the Enthusiasm Theme I manifested successfully at work. Not so much at home though so I think we can improve here:-)

Some 2019 Highlights:

02 January - 1 year work anniversary as a Support Manager at Opencollab. Still loving the job!

09 January - Grace continued her 2nd year at Rocking Tots. Still loving it here too! She also took part in Gymfants at the school this year and has progressed really well. After school on a weekly basis we continued with Swimming Lessons with Helen which Grace loves! ... and Grace attended a few Cooking classes with Mother Ted too.

20 - 24 January - Epic MSC Cruise to Walvis with the Girls! It was our lucky cruise as we scored an extra 2 days as the ship couldn't get into dock due to weather conditions.

06 February - Happy 4th Birthday to our Princess Grace. Grace had her Birthday Party at Kids Gym at Sable Square with the Frozen Theme. She loves Elsa, Anna & Olaf and it remains her favourite for the year! She has a favourite Elsa Princess Dress that she wears often. This December we went to watch Frozen II in 3D which was another highlight for her.

10 February - Dad Walsh arrived and is now settled and living with us. Grace loves her Grandpa and keeping him on his toes & active for his retirement years!

14 - 28 April & 29 July - 31 August - Jordan arrived for a holiday in SA. He is doing really well & still enjoying the French Foreign Legion.

6 May - Grace was enrolled as a Monte Vista Teddie. She is loving all the tasks & projects that Mother Ted and the club are introducing her to. She has earned a few badges already. Well done Teddie Grace!

24 May - My Mom was not well and had to be admitted to Milnerton Medi Clinic, mainly with a UTI but with the Elderly this can cause havoc as we saw! We are very grateful that she has made a full recovery now.

30 June - Happy 80th Birthday to My Dad.

14 July - Grace attended her first Disney on Ice Show at Grandwest with Mom & Aunty Nadine. Her favourite characters were Elsa & Sven, The Reindeer.

09 - 11 August - We went for a Friends weekend away and stayed at Kanierus. It included our obligatory wine tasting trip. NUY was the most memorable for their bubbly & best oysters ever!

6 September - Received the saddest news ever - Chester passed away from a heart attack! Heaven has gained an Angel for sure! We miss him terribly. Maria, Ryan, Matthew & Chloe our thoughts are always with you!

10 - 13 October - Girls Scrapbooking Weekend at Simondium. Fabulous as always & such an annual treat for us: Carol, Nadine, Fiona & myself!

3 November - Celebrated our 18th Wedding Anniversary at On The Rocks. They have had an upgrade and interior is now more modern & clean lines with the white decor. Food & Service were great too!

12 November - Celebrated my birthday lunch at Blowfish with Mike this year for my annual Crayfish spoil!

27 November - 04 December - Annual Holiday with Mike & Grace to Greyton, Swellendam & Witsand. In Greyton we stayed at The Potters Inn which had a pool so a great option for Grace. Greyton is such a quaint place and each night we would walk the main street to try dinner at a new Restaurant. The best one being the last place: The Abbey Rose Restaurant. In Swelledam, we stayed at a perfect Airbnb called The Barn - all styled in Chabby Chic. Perfect spot for sure! Then we went to Witsand to meet up with Kevin & Rita and stayed with them at their spot. Thanks to them for hosting us - Loved it!

5 December - We took Grace to Oom Piet's Christmas Party. Lindy & Oliva joined us too. The girls had a party in the hay and watching the characters at the party. They loved the Fairy & Father Christmas when he arrived.

14 December - Our Annual Santa for Seniors Project. We collected & delivered 623 gifts this year. Thanks to all for the donations for the Seniors. They appreciated every little bit of it!

15 December - We hosted our Friends Christmas Dinner. Thanks to all for contributing to the catering - the bring & share worked out perfectly. A further highlight was the Secret Santa Gift and a chance to steal a Gift when it was your turn.

25 December - We hosted our family Christmas lunch at home this year. Plenty of food & over indulgence as usual.


Other things we continued with...

Monthly Dinners - Tried some awesome new places: https://monthlydinnerclub.blogspot.co.za/

Kit Kat Club - Always great to catch up with the Ladies

Edgemead Bootsales - We have just finished a major decluttering effort at home so have some more to sell again ... so we have & will persevere with these for a bit longer.


My Motto going into 2020 is to "Be Generous" ... so sending you best wishes for a very Generous Year. May 2020 be the Year of Plenty for all of us!

January 2018 - December 2018

So another year gone just like that and time for another post in our Annual Walsh Whereabouts blog...

My Motto for the Year was "Let It Go" and I think this one served me well! ... we 'decluttered' in many ways this year both physically and emotionally so even when faced with negative stresses that were outside of our control it reminded me to let those go too!

Some 2018 Highlights:

02 January - I went back to a full day position as a Support Manager at Opencollab. Very excited to be back at work and working in a great Team and in IT again!

Also received news that Diesel our Dachshund who was with a Foster found a permanent forever home. We were very happy to hear that!!

08 January - Grace started first day at Rocking Tots.

06 February - Happy 3rd Birthday to our Princess Grace. Grace had her Birthday Party at Tessa's on Saturday the 3rd February. It was a Ladybird & Butterfly Theme. Cupcake making was the activity for the morning.

11 May - Happy 21st Birthday Jordan. We hired the Tako Kombi and hosted an Epic Birthday Party for Jordan. We were very happy that he was home from France so that we could celebrate with him.

02 July - Moved my parents into Fontaine Bleau Retirement Village. This was after several months of decluttering and selling the contents of their 4 bedroom house in order to move them into Fontaine Bleau. It was stressful at the time but well worth it as they are very happy and much healthier now in their new home!

8 September - Celebrated Mike's Birthday at 'The Belly of The Beast'. Amazing food & service. Such a brilliant spot for a special night out!

15 September - We had our 30 Year Matric School Reunion which we hosted at The Cape Pillars Hotel & Guesthouse in Durbanville. It was a fabulous event and everyone agreed that we shouldn't wait another 10 years to do the next one. We are going to try to make it an annual event going forward.

11 - 14 October - Girls Scrapbooking Weekend at Simondium. Fabulous & productive weekend away!

3 November - Celebrated our 17th Wedding Anniversary at the Fat Greek Restaurant for an early dinner. Fabulous food! Grace loved the Grilled Sardines - had to order 2 portions of those!

11 November - Celebrated my birthday lunch at Die Strandloper in Langebaan with Mike, Jordan, Grace, Robyn, Craig & Rebecca. Delicious food and crayfish!

12 November - Spoilt with a Motorised Paragliding Trip for my Birthday.

23 - 25 November - Camping on the Breede River with Russell & Farzana as a test run for our 8 day camping trip at the end of the year.

30 November - Took Grace & Julia to Uncle Paul's Christmas party.

9 December - Tattoo:  ✔

25 December - Family Christmas Lunch at Maria & Chester. Lovely time with family and friends.

27 December - 04 January - 8 Day Camping Trip at Algeria in the Cedarberg. First time we have camped for longer than a long weekend. Weather was very hot so most days were spent at the watering hole swimming or under the umbrella. Grace loved every minute of it!
PS. We did go wine tasting for 1 day to the Cedarberg Wine Farm and we did also do an early morning hike to the Waterfall from or campsite.... Amazing break away!!

Other things we continued with...

Grace's Swimming lessons - She has amazed us all with her swimming confidence now!

Monthly Dinners - Tried some awesome new places: https://monthlydinnerclub.blogspot.co.za/

Kit Kat Club - Always great to catch up with the Ladies

Bootsales - I still have lots to sell from our decluttering efforts so have continued selling at Edgemead / Monte Vista Bootsales ... made some amazing friends here too.

Facebook Marketplace - Found this little gem & using it to buy & sell, much easier than Gumtree.

Smartypants Products Business & Mommy Mall Administration - Continued with this part time but received very little focus this year.


Wishing you a Phenomenal, Abundant and Enthusiastic New Year! 
May 2019 be your best year yet!

January 2017 - December 2017

So here we are, time for another post in our Annual Walsh Whereabouts blog...

At the start of the year myself and a few girlfriends decided to start a Gratitude Jar which meant that each time I was Blessed and Thankful, I would add a note to the Jar.

Here are some Highlights from my Gratitude Jar:

06 February - Happy 2nd Birthday to our miracle baby, Grace... We are blessed and thankful each day we have & spend with her. Grace & I visited Butterfly World with Avó and Avô.

11 February - Grace had a Fabulous Farm & Butterfly 2nd Birthday Party at Plaaswerf. She loved feeding the animals and celebrating with her friends.

Some other things about Grace this year:
- We attended Toptots, Little Professors, Clamber Club, Kindermusik
- We started Swimming Lessons with Helen & Kerryn
- She is busy Potty Training
- Grace joined the Library in July. She loves reading her Library Books.
- Recently started working the DVD player and watching movies like Frozen, Monsters Inc
- Loves her Trampoline
- Favourite Phrase: My Goodness Gracious Me
- Had her ears pierced

14 February - Valentine's Day Scootours Trip with Mike... ok, we don't really celebrate Valentine's day but we had been gifted a voucher for this trip so decided to use it on Valentine's Day... it was a thrilling day and trip :-)

17 February - First week at Happy Hearts for Grace. She loved her play school this year! Thanks Nazlie, Kelly & Cathrine for making it so special for the girls.

11 March - We re-homed our 2 Dachshund males and Vegas is as at 17 August in a permanent home while Diesel is still with a Foster and we're hoping that he will find a forever home soon too! Tequila, our female, is living happily indoors as our family dog and getting much attention now!

21 April - Launched my Smartypants Products Business which supplies unique, practical and clever products for Moms with Toddlers. I also joined Mommy Mall as an Administrator - and use it now as first port of call as Trader and Shopper.
http://mommymallsa.co.za/smartypantsproducts/

https://www.facebook.com/smartypantsproducts/

21 May - I went to the shooting range with Vaughn & Louise. The shotgun is definitely the coolest weapon to shoot!

27 May - Went for a Harley Bike Ride with Friends. What a thrilling day out!! It just reminded me that my Harley purchase is still on my Bucket List.

30 June - Attended the Celebration of Life service of our friend, Kika Morton. So sad ...

10 July - Attended a JT Foxx Seminar and bought a 90 day Wealth Workout Course.  This is work in progress as I am still to complete the 90 days but luckily there is no end date or expiry date on the course:-)

13 July - Jordan arrived back home safely for a holiday in SA. He has been in France for a year and a half now working in the French Foreign Legion! We miss him terribly but so glad that he is happy and enjoying his work overseas. We are very proud of him!

25 August - Attended our first Murder Mystery Dinner. What a fun evening!

04 September - Bought 4 Bitcoin Mining Contracts!

08 September - Took Mike for a surprise Birthday Supper at Homespun. Oh my word - what a delight, the best restaurant that we have eaten at since forever!!

24 September - Family Outing to the World Of Birds in Hout Bay. Haven't been here in years, such a lovely day out and an experience to awaken the senses. Be warned, you need at least 3 hours there to see everything.

12 - 14 October - Girls Scrapbooking Weekend at Simondium with Carol. Loved every minute. I think this will have to be an Annual event for sure!

14 October - Our Bestie, Janine, has left for a job opportunity in Canada. We know it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and that she will make a huge success of it but life will not be the same in Cape Town without her!

15 October - Family visit to Le Bonheur Crocodile Farm. Grace just loves reptiles!

3 November - Happy 16th Wedding Anniversary to us. We had a lunch at Burger & Lobster in Town. Huge & Tasty Burgers & great service too.

12 November - Happy 47th Birthday to me! Still Alive, Healthy & a Happy Mommy! Celebrated my Birthday with some special girlfriends at Petits Fours for a Birthday Brunch.

20 November - I was offered a full time job in the role of Support Manager / Project Manage and will be starting on 2nd January.

25 November - Weekend away at Pikkewyntie in Paternoster. Nice weekend getaway, although not as many quaint shops as I remembered from the previous time we visited.

8 - 10 December - Grace & I went on a Camping Weekend at Dwarsberg Trout Hideaway near Rawsonville with Friends. Mike was away in Zurich. Grace loved the camping so we will be doing this more often!

15 December - Grace's first visit to Uncle Willy's Christmas party.

25 December - We went to Jose & Bronwen for our Family Christmas lunch this year. So thankful that we still have close family and friends to spend Christmas Lunch with!

General
- We are on a major de-cluttering mission at our house as well as my folks as they will need to downscale to a smaller place soon, so I have been booking a stall at the Monte Vista & Edgemead Bootsales in order to sell some of the pre-loved items. I am actually enjoying this and love to de-clutter! Making space for new things now...

We continued to attend our Monthly Dinner Club dinners and have had a memorable time at most of them, I'm thinking particularly of our last one at Gate69 - Just Fabulous Darling!
If you would like to join our dinner club please let me know to add you to our mailing list.
Here is our blog for past reviews: https://monthlydinnerclub.blogspot.co.za/


May 2018 be a year of exciting new beginnings for all of us - and don't forget to be Awesome!

January 2016 - December 2016

So another year done and once again time for another post in our Annual Walsh Whereabouts blog...

Many of you use Facebook to document your achievements for the year, right? Well, I have decided that our Annual Blog is where I record these events as it is all in one place and serves as a reminder for me while my memory is not as sharp as it once was so I don't do this for your benefit but for mine - and maybe one or two of you who are interested to read it anyways:-).

I didn't think there was much to post about this year as many people are happy to see the back of 2016 but as I review the year, I am feeling very blessed as we have had a pretty good year!

Here are some of our highlights:

(1) January - Grace and I joined TopTots in Edgemead and made some wonderful and lasting friendships. We attended the weekly Tuesday classes until June. We had a break while I worked on a 6 month Project Management contract and now look forward to starting up again in 2017.

(2) February - 6th February - Happy 1st Birthday to Grace.
Milestones:
At 9 months - 1st tooth appeared,
At 10 months - Started crawling & standing,
At 13 months - Started walking,
At 14 months - Started talking with words like Mama, Dada, Tata,
At 16 months - Sucking juice from a straw,
At 18 months - Grace's 1st plane trip on the Sovereign
At 23 months - First swear word :-)

In February, I also sold my Curasoles business which I had for almost 5 years - and happy to report that I am confident it will go places with the new Owner who has the network in place to make a success of it.

(3) March - 27th March - Jordan left to join the French Foreign Legion. A stressful time for us as we had no contact with him for over 3 months so had no idea how he was! Once he had passed the initial training and selection criteria he was able to make contact. He is enjoying the opportunity and we are very proud of him and what he has achieved. Only 10% make it past selection, so he has really done us proud. Well done, Jordan. We love and miss you tons!

(4) June - I started a 6 month Project Management contract at Qorus Software. I relieved a PM that went off on maternity leave. It was great to get back into a Project Management role again - and Qorus was a fabulous Company and Team to work with! Loved the experience and very grateful for the opportunity.

(5) September - 9th September - Mike's Birthday celebrations at home. We hired the Tako Kombi Food Truck to cater for us. It was a great evening and received very positive feedback!

(6) October - 29th October - I received an early Birthday present... Mike thought it was time that his wife drove a decent car, so surprised me with an upgrade to my old Toyota RunX... I now drive a BMW 118i and Grace sits in the back in her car seat smiling out the window too!

(7) November - 12th November - Birthdays are for celebrating so we decided to have another memorable birthday bash this year - this time for my birthday of course. We hired the Paella Ladies to cater for us. They cooked delicious chicken and prawn paella in massive paella pans. Yummy!

(8) December - 21st December - 6th January - Finally, we  decided to take up the opportunity that Grace is under 2 years old so would travel for free, as well as the fact that Jordan had some leave over this period so we could meet up with him for an overseas family holiday. We went to Paris, Lyon and Amsterdam. It's quite a challenge travelling with a Toddler and very difficult to pack as light as I usually do but we did it and created some special memories.

General
We continued to attend our Monthly Dinner Club dinners and can truly say that we have tried some amazing places, some are on par &/ surpass those you find overseas! The last 2 we attended are definitely worth a return visit i.e. Brad's Grill and Maria's Greek Restaurant. If you would like to join our dinner club please let me know to add you to our mailing list.


May 2017 be a year of abundance and many opportunities for all of us.

“Opportunity dances with those who are already on the dance floor.” - H. Jackson Brown Jr.