Our Madiba

Wishing so much that I could be in South Africa right now. So sad, regardless of knowing this day had to come.

"To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of  others."


PS: Great news from us! Olivia is home! Our little family is complete, and thankfully my parents are here to help juggle feeding two babes. Phew!

Giving Thanks

On October 10, 2013 my life changed forever: my babies, Olivia Harper and Thomas George were born. It has been a whirlwind seven weeks, and I have not been as exhausted or as much of an emotional mess in all my life! The twins were born nine weeks early; which was a little scary and wonderful all at the same time! Our Liv is a blondie, and looks like her Dad, while Thomas is dark-haired like me, two little opposites and both so lovely. I am so blessed to be their mama.

They both spent two weeks in the Neo-natal ICU at St Elizabeth's hospital in Brighton, where they were born, then when they were bigger they were moved to a Special Care Nursery closer to our home. Tom has since come home and is keeping us busy, while Liv stayed on at the Nursery to perfect her breathing, a fairly typical occurrence with a premature baby. The great news is that we're planning on her being home by the end of next week! So while they will both most likely have some preemie "issues" to deal with as time goes on, they are both doing well and making their parents feel so grateful and exhausted (wait, did I already say that?) this Thanksgiving weekend. We have been so overwhelmed with the love and support our friends have shown us over these last crazy weeks... I know other South Africans overseas and expats will know how much that means.

I leave you with some hurried pics of the completed (3 weeks after the babies' arrival!) nursery, with the promise of some more photos of it, and the babies soon! I'm still on pinterest now and then, as much as my sleep-deprived brain manages, so pop over to see what is catching my eye.

Surprise, Surprise

Well, once again a crazy amount of time has passed since my last blog post - but this time I have a couple excellent reasons!

Firstly, the hubby had ligament reconstruction surgery on his ankle. So, for about 4 weeks he was unable to help out around the house. If you read my blog regularly (or should I say used to!) you'll know I work full time and my little blog is my pet project for after hours. Needless to say, blogging wasn't high on my list of to-do's.

And on top of that, I was really, really tired. All the time. Because I have some amazing news! I'm expecting! We were beyond excited to hear we had our own little bubsy on its way, but the timing was a little, uh, cramp in our style! I really could've done with having the 8 week recovery period for the hubby to be first trimester tiredness-free.

And then, a BIG surprise - we discovered at our 12 week ultrasound that there are two babies!

TWO.

It's now 3 weeks later and we still turn to each other every now and then and say twins. Twins! We are so, so excited! We were considering two children for our family (at some point) but now we will have an instant family - we are already planning first baths, first swims, first stand up paddle boards (there are boards for four year olds - woohoo!) and all that fun stuff. I can't wait to meet these little guys. Or girls. Or one of each. We don't know yet.

And, if you're wondering, it was a complete surprise - no maternal (that's me) history of twins, no IVF. The first thing I did after the ultrasound was google how someone like me becomes a mama to twins. Here, you should know this - if you have those first two criteria (history of twins on the woman's side, or medical help) you are more likely to have twins, but also if you are African American (well, to me as a South African, that means black - there are tribes in Nigeria with the highest multiple birth rates in the world), tall (!?), overweight (!?!), or older. According to one website I found, that meant over 30. According to another, it means over 35. I'm 34. I'm also somewhat tall, but not overly so (5'8"). 

So there you have it! The passed few weeks have been focused on getting through the tiredness, and taking care of the foot. I am now catching up on some projects I promised to help friends with, but hopefully soon I can start some fun stuff, like the nursery! I will be sure to share the details, but also any exciting decor and design news from South Africa, like I usually do. 

I hope you are well, and if you're south of the hemisphere I hope your weather is not too cold, and if you are north, I hope your summer is in full swing!

I'll be back soon. Promise.

Boston

What is there to say about what happened?

We have been in Boston for 10 years, and love this city. I have never feel it so sombre, but also so united. The Boston Marathon was chosen as a target because its an event where people train through the harsh New England winter in order to be ready. An event where people come together to celebrate that dedication. An event where if you're not running as one of the top athletes, you are running to raise money for charity. An event where life is celebrated - the beginning of warmer weather, athleticism, camaraderie, the fulfillment of months of dedicating your body to meet the challenge but also collecting money to help your fellow human beings. Hope.

This will not stop the awesomeness of the Marathon. All those good accomplishments. People will still come from all over the world. Because even as the bad things happen, good people got up and met that head on, and helped each other. That will never change. In this loss we will still run, and sing louder, and use our talents to celebrate life. Because the good things will always overtake the bad.

This guy said it much better than me.

Love that dirty water.

Some Sunshine

And, just like that, a month has flown by.

And here in Boston, it is what the locals like to call "spring" - which is really a torturous mix of days, where a couple are warmer and you can feel the tendrils of summer creeping in, alternating with icy cold days like today, where those tendrils retreat as the cold wind blows and the iciness stays.

But just a week ago I was returning from a little break that the hubby I took down South. We flew to Fort Lauderdale, and drove down, across all the Keys, to Key West. What a good time.

We did some snorkeling (with these guys, and they were great) and did a stand up paddle eco tour of the mangroves, which was simply phenomenal. We went with these guys, and I'd go again in a heartbeat.

There was also plenty of swimming in the hotel pool, reading and naps. Ah, naps. This was the view from our balcony.

We also headed across  to a tiny island off the end of Key West, called Sunset Key, for breakfast. The entire island is a hotel, and it is just blissful. On the way there, we passed by a pirate ship! If you click on the first pic, you'll see it (my zoom isn't quite that sharp)

But what was a real treat, was the architecture....

... and the floor at Sloppy Joe's.

So, would I recommend Key West? Yes!

Back to regular programming tomorrow.

Mama Afrika and Google

You should make a point go to google.com to check out the Miriam Makeba google doodle, as today would've been her 81st birthday.

Here's a bit more about Miriam, and here. A great example of how to live by your convictions and make stand.

Snowstorms, Skyfall and Bottega Veneta

Well, if you've seen the news lately, you'll know there's a wicked bad storm (as we locals in Boston like to say) heading towards Boston! I'm at home, the office is shut, and working on some illustrations for a project I have. Later, we're planning to finally watch Skyfall, because we missed it in theatres and its now on-demand through cable. Yay! Hopefully the anticipated hurricane force winds won't bring down any trees near us so we don't lose power... I've bought us some French macarons to enjoy after some indulgent pizza. Its going to be a lovely night!

Meanwhile here's a little something I've been oohing and aahing over - a dress from Bottega Veneta.

Of course it looks phenomenal on models on the back of InStyle magazine and on the runway, but what about a real person? You know, an every day person like 007's wife? Almost everyday... Rachel looks gorgeous, now if only I could afford the dress!

Giraffe

 You know you are truly alive when you’re living among lions. Karen Blixen, Out of Africa

Giraffe Neck by wwarby on flickr

Beach Simplicity

Thinking of friends in far off places, down under, today, so to celebrate - a bach (beach house) in New Zealand.

Pic from Dwell.

Out in The Cold

I feel like a bit of a weather service right now, but things are busy and the most exciting thing I have to share with you is the insanity of the weather in Boston. This morning, where we live a bit west of the city, it was a balmy 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Which is -12 Celsius. Plus with the wind chill it was 6F, or -14C.

I try not to think in Celsius anymore.

So here's something interesting - when I first moved to the States we stayed with my husband's grandparents out in beautiful Wisconsin, near Lake Superior. The awesome thing about that is in the winter it get so cold that condensation forms above the water (maybe because the water is warmer than the air? Hmm, need to look that up!) and it is magical. Here's a couple of pics of what that looks like from a blogger out there. It's called sea smoke.

Have a great day - hope it's a warm one!

Tomorrow

What do I love about New England winters? The sun will come out tomorrow.

Snow Day

I woke up to a beautiful world of white this morning... although Boston winters can be a long (especially for an African girl like me!) the snow definitely makes it worth while. Here's some shots taken on my way to work, and around work's parking lot (my workplace is out in the suburbs, with some woods surrounding the building. Just in case you were wondering where in Boston this is!)

 

My Home: Season's Greetings!

Well, you just saw my living room... and here it is, ready for Christmas day! It's going to be a good one - we have a little bit of snow forecast for tomorrow. Can you imagine? A white Christmas! Magical!

I absolutely LOVE decorating for Christmas - what a wonderful excuse to brighten up the dark winter days, and to make things cozy and warm! This year I restricted my tree decorating to only ornaments that are red, white, glittery or wood. I love how my new ornaments (starfish and sand dollars, again my little sea-inspired theme, with Milagro hearts) mix so well with wooden snowflakes from a Christmas market in Germany, a beautiful angel from Bolivia, guinea fowl feathers from South Africa along with my glitzy bear and partridge from a big commercial store here in Boston.

I also have a new pysanky snowflake egg in the Ukrainian tradition, thanks to my wonderfully talented friend Andrea, and a shell from my family visit to Maine earlier this year. I love ornaments that remind me of people and places that I love.

And of course, I have the same Christmas angel on my tree that my Mom has, and my Grandmother.

So Merry Christmas and season's greetings to all of you, I am always humbled and inspired by your visits to my blog, and just love being able to share my life with you,  and my passion for South African art and design. Best wishes for 2013, I have a feeling it's going to be an awesome year!

My Home: Living Room

So we started at the entrance to our home, and also checked out the loo. Now, onto the living room, or as we say in South Africa, the lounge, if you'd like to see.

If you read more blog regularly, you'll know my husband and I lived downstairs in the same house before moved up into this apartment. It looks exactly like the apartment we're in now except all the molding is painted white, so I was worried all the warm wood would feel busy. I still kind of feel that way but it look much better than I thought it would and we've settled in...

We also got an extra floor when we moved upstairs (woohoo!) so we could space things out (no more guest room - office - game room) so the arrangement in the pics above is pretty much the same as downstairs. But on the other side of the couch is a bit different - we could move our bookshelf into the adjoining dining room, and in its place we put a table. A gorgeous table that we found in the basement! And our landlord was kind enough to lend it to us (actually, I think the truth is that he had forgotten it was down there!)

There a few little spots around the room I'd like to share with you - my re-covered floor cushions that act as extra seating when we have children visiting, or I use them to sit next to my husband when we check things out on his laptop, and my little locust that I bought last time I was in South Africa (from Julian Decor in Parkhurst, Johannesburg, if I remember correctly)

When we buy our house one day, I have ideas about some curtains (maybe like this) with bamboo blinds underneath but I can't be bothered to spend the time and money on a rental. I like where everything is now, it feels comfortable and like home... of course I would always love a new couch and I would love to have it look a little like this, which I think is a pretty perfect living room.

But because its Christmas, things look a little different today! These pics are from November. Check out my next post for what it really looks like today.

Christmas Spirit

It's that time of year and so I'm loving the festive feeling in this Tennessee cabin from Country Living

But my favourite room? The bedroom - the mix of colour and texture (and stripes, of course!)... and the perfect cherry on top - a Skinny Malinx cushion.