10 things I learnt this weekend

1. Working on a Saturday really messes up a weekend
2. I am really in need of a few more early nights to bed
3. I love eating ice-cream, especially on cold wintery nights
4. I can be quite creative in the kitchen even conjuring up delightful dishes from leftovers
5. I love pancakes with sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice, but I always forget that too much cinnamon on a pancake can bring on an asthma attack
6. Sleeping in on Sunday morning is the best time for cuddles
7. I am really in need of a holiday or an extra long weekend
8. Grocery shopping at the end of the month in the middle of the day is a nightmare
9. Winter has hit Joburg with a crisp bang
10. My internal thermostat is broken – I am extra cold when sitting next to the heater, but boiling hot under two duvets at night

*Picture credit

How I Met Your Father

Continued from part 2…

A recap…
His Sexiness had finally asked for my number and I found myself with my phone glued to my hand awaiting his next message. I was smitten! I had to go away that first weekend for a manager’s conference for work and couldn’t wait for the trip back because it meant I’d be closer to His Sexiness.

I arrived home early on that Sunday afternoon in the January of 2008 and was so excited to be home and closer to His Sexiness. As memory serves I took the plunge and invited His Sexiness over to my place to chat and get to know each other better. (I was still living with my parents so this was quite a plunge for me…)

It seemed to take forever for His Sexiness to arrive… I paced up and down, checked and rechecked my hair, checked and rechecked that I still smelt sexy, checked and rechecked there there was nothing in my teeth… And then I heard the doorbell! And my heart went into overdrive while an excited smile plastered itself onto my face!

There was a small amount of awkwardness when we said hello but I brushed the feeling aside and took him through to the kitchen to get us something to drink. We then spent the afternoon on the couch chatting! We were amazed at the amount of mutual friends we discovered we had, and the amount of things we had in common. I was thrilled that we were getting along so well and had so much to talk about!

His Sexiness met my parents in the kitchen when I told him he just had to stay for pancakes. I think he was a bit overwhelmed with having met the parents just after starting to get to know me.

After the delicious pancakes, my parents went to bed (thank goodness they realised I wanted some privacy), and we went to sit on the couch again. After some more wonderful conversation, the time came when a first kiss was imminent – the conversation had quietened down and there was a tense excitement in the atmosphere. That moment seemed to last forever! I was wondering if he was going to make a move. I was wondering if he actually liked me and wanted to make the move. I was wondering whether he was biding his time until he could leave without seeming to be rude. (Great self esteem I have right?!)

Right then and there I made a decision…

I leaned over and kissed him! I made the first move! I gave in to my intuition and planted a big fat one on his lips! And boy was it amazing! I’m not sure how long that kiss lasted for because the rest of the world just fell into darkness while His Sexiness was in the spotlight.

Continues in part 4 soon…

*Picture credit

Blogger Love

Wow! I’m so excited to receive more blogger love! A big hug and thanks to Gina and Cazpi who awarded me this:

Now for the rules… I need to tell you 7 things about myself you may not know, and then pass the award on to 10 blogs I have recently discovered and found to be deserving.

So, 7 things about me:
1. I love tea! Like really LOVE tea! But none of the herbal ones, only five roses!
2. I secretly love being sick because it means I get a lot of TLC and looking after…
3. But I also feel more guilty when I’m sick because I’m not used to not doing things for myself and getting looked after.
4. I used to drink my tea with no sugar, but recently I’ve started having one teaspoon per cup.
5. I love milk! And I find it’s the best thing to drink when I’m really thirsty.
6. I love baking but since I moved in with Gary I’ve not baked once since I haven’t bought any of the baking goodies needed (ingredients, baking trays, cake tins, etc) because there have been more important things to spend the money on…
7. I am in desperate need of a trip to the hairdresser but I just haven’t had the chance to pick up the phone and book an appointment, let alone actually make it to the place!

And now to nominate some other deserving blogs, I know it’s not 10 but hey…
The Jackson Files, Cath, Alet, Heather, Gillian, and Madi.

An inheritance of sorts

Quite a few weeks ago I was given the heartbreaking news that my grandfather had passed away. The news came to me on my second day at my new job and luckily I was super busy at the office otherwise it’d have been difficult to keep my emotions in check.

My family organised to go to my grandfather’s cottage one Wednesday evening so we could go through his things and see if there was anything we’d like. It was wonderful going through things and remembering… I picked up a set of hard placemats and immediately remembered dinners at my grandparents’ flat where I only used to sit at a place where I thought the placemat was beautiful enough. (I put these in ‘my’ pile to take…) I picked up a particular small glass with a yellow and orange design and immediately remembered that being ‘my’ glass. The special glass that only I was allowed to drink out of. (I would have taken this too but it was badly damaged – chipped and cracked…) And then I found things that I can’t remember making – Christmas and birthday cards with the cute hand-writing of a little one learning to write. (I have these safely hidden to ensure no-one gets their hands on them, so no blackmail there… wink wink) Of all the things I looked through and put one side for me to take home, the most awesome thing I got to take was my grandparents’ dining room suite. (It helps being the youngest with the least amount of furniture…)

We were finally able to pick up the dining room suite this weekend after a few weekends of failed attempts. I was super excited when Saturday morning arrived and it was time to collect my company’s delivery vehicle (I asked to borrow it for the move), go to my aunt’s house to collect the furniture (my grandfather’s cottage was built on her property when my gran passed away), and go home to put everything in place. It was a bit of a rush getting everything done and we ended up only putting everything in place after coming home from the rugby, but I was super excited that everything was safe in my home.

The dining room table with the six chairs:

The sideboard:

Now all that’s missing are some fake flowers in all the vases, because anyone who knows me knows that I can’t keep plants alive for long…

Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles

P.S. The greatest, happiest part of having ‘inherited’ this furniture is that every time I see part of the set I think of my grandparents… Love and miss you Granny and Grandad…

Understanding Women 110

I have a serious guilty conscience. Seriously!

I remember this one morning… I was making the bed and as I was shaking out the duvet when a corner pushed Gary’s iPhone off the bedside table. It crashed onto the floor and the screen cracked. I was horrified because I know how much Gary loves his iPhone, and worried as to how he’d react. He said he wasn’t angry with me because it was just an accident, but I couldn’t help feeling guilty. If only I hadn’t shaken the duvet so vigorously. If only he’d moved his phone or kept it in the charging dock. If only I’d done something differently so it wouldn’t have been such an expensive accident…

I am also easily coerced into doing things when made to feel guilty. (Not peer pressure type things, or life endangering type things…) I often say yes to people because the thought of their disappointment if I say no is guilt inducing enough. This saying yes thing also isn’t helped by the fact that I do find it difficult to say no, and because I’m a born people-pleaser.

So all in all, I’m a yes-saying people-pleaser with one hell of a guilty conscience… Nice to meet you!

Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles

*Picture credit

How I Met Your Father

Continued from part 1…

So, first a recap…

An amazing night of partying was had in the December of 2007 but I left feeling disappointed that I’d not been approached by His Sexiness for my number. I was left thinking that I’d blown any chance of getting to know him further because I was too flirty-flirty with my friend J.

A couple weeks after that wonderous night in December 2007, N and I packed our bags and headed to the Natal South coast for a couple weeks holiday of rest, relaxation and sun-tanning! The weeks flew by and before I knew it, we were back in Johannesburg and enjoying the last few days of holiday before having to go back to work.

N and I decided to go partying at Billies once more on the weekend marking the end to my holiday. We spread the word to our friends hoping for another night to remember. The night arrived and we dolled ourselves up as normal and headed out. And that night I bumped into His Sexiness again! I was thrilled…excited beyond belief! And I was hoping and wishing and keeping fingers crossed that he would make a move! And boy did he make a move to remember!

N and I were standing at the bar ordering another round of drinks, and without me knowing, His Sexiness came to stand behind me. He planted a soft and sensual kiss on my shoulder and I melted! Shivers were sent down my spine and my knees went weak! Right then and there I knew I had to get to know him!

The rest of the evening we danced and flirted, but alas, the end of the evening came and still he had not asked for my number!

So I began work that Monday with a heavy heart. The office was without internet and emails and I found it quite difficult to keep myself busy and keep myself from thinking of him. Until Tuesday came… Until the internet was back up and running…

I happened to log onto facebook that fateful and wonderful Tuesday and I saw a circled ’1′ showing that I had a new message in my inbox. I clicked on it without knowing how my life was about to change. There, dated the night after we met for the second time, was an unread message from His Sexiness requesting my number! I was beyond thrilled! I immediately responded in a flirty sexy manner with my number. (Not quite sure how sexy I came across seeing as I was just giving him my number, but anyhoodle…)

I can’t remember the first sms His Sexiness sent or when it was, but I’m sure it was funny and charming as we continued to sms each other…a lot!

Thursday arrived marking my departure on a Manager’s Conference to George. I was super excited to have been invited considering I was still a newbie at the company. But bleak that I’d miss out on getting to know His Sexiness more. So away I flew for 4 days of conferencing and no cellphones allowed… Well, no cellphones allowed during conference times! And thank goodness for that, because my phone was on at all available times so I could chat with His Sexiness. I found out that his birthday was that Saturday and that I was missing out on a wonderful night out. But I promised him that he’d get a kiss when I got back – 1. to apologise for not being there and 2. to act as my special birthday present. My trip home could not come sooner…

Continues in part 3 soon…

365

Wow! It’s already 365 days away…

365 days until the big celebration…
365 days until I marry the man of my dreams…
365 days until my surname changes…
365 days until the start of the rest of my life…

I’d better get cracking on the wedding planning considering I only have 364 days left…

*Picture credit

How I Met Your Father

Dear future kidlets, I want you to take a seat while I tell you the story of how I met your father…

Back in the December of 2007… I had spent my first year working as an event manager and trying to put the things I’d learnt at university into practice. I hadn’t had much time to party during the year what with all the events and trips, so when December rolled around I was ready for a good party! My party partner in crime was a good gal-pal from varsity, N, who stayed just around the corner from me. This was really advantageous as it meant we could always go in one car, and when it came to home time, home was just a minute away from dropping one of us off.

So…one night, N and I went to our favourite party place – Billy the Bums in Fourways. We dressed up to the nines! #SexyShoes for me, a gorgeous pair of jeans, and a strategically made top to show off my make-the-boys-go-crazy décolletage.

We arrived and strutted our stuff into Billies and straight to the bar. A vodka, lime and lemonade was the order of my day. And once the music started, we headed to the dancefloor to shake our hips to the beat and sing along to the songs. But first we needed to find ourselves the perfect dance spot. It needed to be close enough to the bathrooms and bar so we didn’t need to push past other partyers to get a new drink or to visit the bathroom, but also close enough to the outside area so we could breathe in some fresh air every now and then.

So we’d found the perfect spot – positioned closely to the DJ booth so we could request songs, close enough to the doors for fresh air, and close enough to the bar and bathroom – when we spotted a mutual guy friend from varsity, J. And J had brought a few friends with him… *Cue giggle and happy look*

N and I beckoned J and his friends over to join us and that’s where the real party started. Now J was always known for his flirtatiousness, so it goes without saying that N and I would each dance with him. And apparently I gave off the ‘he’s not my boyfriend but I’m so into him’ vibe from the way we danced together. N and I giggled and whispered talked loudly to each other so we could hear but not too loudly to be heard over the music by our little group. I told her I had my eye on one of J’s friends and she told me that she thought he was into me too. I spent the rest of the night glancing his way, trying to dance next to him so I could chat every now and then, and trying to figure out if he was indeed into me.

N and I left later that night after a fantastic party with some fantastic people. I left disappointed that the guy I was keen for had not asked for my number nor shown much interest in me. I left thinking that I’d blown things by being so flirty-flirty with my friend J…

Continues in part two soon…