Thank you so so so much for organising the most sensational day. We were blown away by how beautiful everything was and so were our guests. You guys totally rock!

When I get a little note like this after a wedding, it makes the months of planning and organising, the countless phone calls and email correspondence (with the bride and suppliers), the stress (and tears) all worth it.

As an aside, there was one home we viewed in the middle of “Dodge-ville” that left us wanting to scrub the house off of us it was so disgusting! The carpets looked like they had never seen a vacuum cleaner. And the owners/tenants had AK-47′s and other guns on the wall. Uhm…ya… But now there’s an estate agent wanting to show you around. And you feel the need to say “Ooooh! What big rooms!” even though they smell of wet dog and look like a cat threw up in them.

So now that we’re over the drama that comes with buying a new home, For Sale signs now mean something else entirely!

Our neighbour must have recently met with an estate agent because late last week we saw the For Sale signs going up. This is a great thing considering these neighbours have zero security and live at their Vaal Dam home for most of the month. And as my mind is wont to do, I have thought up all sorts of elaborate things as to what will happen when we get new neighbours…

Like they’ll be a young couple, also recently married, and we will become the best of friends. And then they’ll have kids close to when we do and then our kids will grow up being good friends.

Or like the new home owners will be big on security and will approach us to get the boundary walls made taller (for more privacy) and to ask if they can put electric fencing up (without us having to ask or even pay towards it).

Or, the best idea of all, my sister and her family move next door and then I’ll get to see them all the time!

I know that these are all the ideal situation. I know that we may be forced to live next door to people who are loud or who’s dogs bark all the time. They may not even want to be friends or neighbourly. Perhaps you need to tell me your horror neighbour stories so I can get myself ready and prepared…

The Sunday Roast buffet lunch costs R170.00 per person and includes a welcome drink (we had the option of sangria, champagne, or cranberry juice) – all other drinks would be for your account.

We started off with a delicious creamy tomato soup and the most amazing bread rolls. We followed that with a serving from the Mediterranean anti pasta table – cold meats and seafood, cheese and crackers, salad items, cold veggies (the butternut was divine). Then we took a little break before heading over to dish up our main course. I had roast beef with gravy, more butternut, yummy potatoes, and a mini pizza.

Our table was set up close to the dessert station. Eyeing the desserts available ensured I had smaller helpings of the “proper” food and kept space for the delectable yummies awaiting me. See what I mean…

I had a chocolate nut brownie, some lemony-creamy dessert, and some strawberry ice-cream. And OH-MY-WORD that ice-cream was delicious! If I had had any more space left in my tummy I would definitely have had seconds!

I really had such a great time and would definitely go back and take my family with me. If you’re looking for a fabulous Sunday lunch (available between 13h00 and 15h00) at a very reasonable rate, then call and make a booking (011 367 4367).

When you’re in the business of planning weddings sometimes things can get confusing!

We deal with the same preferred suppliers for each of our events and it has become necessary to be sickeningly specific when being in touch. For instance, whenever we send an email to a supplier, the subject line states the wedding and the date like so: Jane Smith wedding > 1 February 2012. This means that whenever we correspond, we are both on the same page as to the wedding we are talking about.

Now this year is more confusing than ever as we have a bunch of Sarah’s and Nicole’s/Nicola’s getting married. I’m not sure if there is something in the air this year but I may lose a few brain cells working on these projects and remembering who is who.

The Sarah’s…
We had a Sarah B in March.
We have a Sarah H in July.
And we have a Sarah B in August.

The Nicole’s/Nicola’s…
We have a Nicola in May.
Followed by a Nicole the week after.
And then another Nicole in December.

The movie is narrated by a little girl who has moved from foster family to foster family. She is finally adopted by a family in a small town in Iowa only to discover that the town is a little mad about their butter… The town has an annual butter carving contest which has been won by the same man for the last 15 years. She discovers a hidden talent for butter carving when she finds herself competing against a very ambitious local woman (played by Jennifer Garner).

I wouldn’t have ordinarily picked this movie but it’s one of those films that once you’ve watched it, you wonder why you hadn’t watched it before. It’s a feel-good, warm-your-heart movie that reminded me of Little Miss Sunshine.

If you’re still not sure you want to watch it, just take a look at the trailer below…

For those of you that don’t know, 5 Gum is a chewing gum brand by Wrigleys. Every few months (or so) they have a concert experience where they bring in a well-known artist to perform. You aren’t able to buy tickets to the experience, you can only win them. And best of all…the venue is kept a secret until the very last moment! And last week’s experience was no different!

So last Friday was rainy and cold and generally miserable but the thought of going to watch The Kooks (as VIP ticket holders) drowned out the bad weather and stay-at-home-on-the-couch tendencies. As we were told it was an outside venue but covered, I decided it was necessary to dress warmly. I put my knee-high winter socks on under my jeans. I put two vests on underneath a long-sleeved top and then piled on a sleeveless bomber jacket and finally another warmish jacket.

We stopped for dinner along the way and happened upon an Instagram picture someone had taken at the Top Secret Venue. It looked like the concert was taking place under a bridge somewhere in town so we headed to a place we thought it may be. It was like we were on a hunt for lost treasure and this made our experience even more exciting! So we drove around town a bit and went to the places we thought it could be, but alas there were no bright lights and no loud music. DAMN! Now what?!

Well we decided that since the event details said to meet at the Oriental Plaza where we could park and then take a designated bus to the Top Secret Venue, that we would go to the plaza and then just follow a bus to the Top Secret Venue. And we tried! But those blasted buses escaped us by using the cruel invention of bus lanes. And so we did the next best thing! We found someone at the Top Secret Venue and asked them to send a screen shot of a map showing where they were. SUCCESS! We now knew which direction to head to…

We took a gamble and found a parking on the street nearby and ran through the rain to the Top Secret Venue (narrowly missing a few very deep puddles).

Getting inside was easy and we were quickly fitted with our VIP tags before entering the hustle and bustle. The vibe was awesome! I must say I was extremely appreciative that we were in the VIP area that had a stretch tent over as it kept the rain run-off from wetting us considering it was coming through from the highway above us.

Despite the cold and the rain, we had a great time! It was an awesome experience and something I would not have ordinarily done. If you want to keep in touch with what may be happening at the next 5 Gum Experience, head on over to their Facebook page and wait for more details.

And now for a few pics from the event:

So last night I headed out to be entertained by their Variety Drag Show and took Tamarin and Tanya along with me.

Although I had booked for us, the guy who handles the bookings had been off sick and our booking hadn’t actually been captured. Luckily there was still a table available and it turned out to be quite close to the stage so we had a great view of the show later on. We were introduced to our waiter Sasha who really was a breath of fresh air! Not only was he attentive, polite and happy, he really showed me what great service is about. (I think we’ve become so accustomed to poor service that what should be the norm now turns out to be exceptional.)

We started off with some milkshakes and mine was absolutely amazing and really lived up to its delicious name – choc chip brownie. We then had a serving of nachos to share. I’m not sure if I was just really hungry but their nanchos are divine, in fact the best I have ever tasted! Next up we had a main course each and I chose the “Magic Mushrooms” which was big black mushrooms, topped with cashew nuts, goats cheese with a basil and garlic pesto, topped with cheddar and mozzarella and finished off with a balsamic reduction. My tastebuds are still going overboard!

Considering we arrived at 7pm and the show was due to start at 8:30pm, it was quite a feat to get our drinks and meals so quickly after ordering (we were finished by about 8:20pm). Especially considering they were fully booked for the evening!

As mentioned the show was due to start at 8:30pm but ended up starting around 9pm. It was hosted by Miss K with variety song performances by Miss Molly and Holly Diamond. In total the show lasted about 40 minutes which isn’t bad considering the ticket cost was R60.00 per person.

I’m really excited to book for their Tuesday’s “Bitchy Bingo”, their Thursday’s “The Dreemz Drag” and their Sunday’s “Boylesque”. If you’re interested in going sometime, take a look at their weekly schedule here.

I got two things out of the video:
1. Live life to the full even if you’re about to peg.
2. With each new dawn comes new opportunities.

As stupid as it sounds, this clip really has had me thinking. Do you see yourself as the little guy that is just about to peg but chooses to spend the last few moments with someone special? Do you live each day to the maximum and await new exciting possibilities tomorrow? Or is the clip just a random story that has nothing else to it? Take a moment to watch and let me know what you think.

QUICK LOOK
- 4-inch retina display
- 8MP iSight camera with panoramic feature
- Uses a Nano sim
- New EarPod earphones
- New Lightning connector for charging
- LTE technology

The newest iPhone was announced last year and clearly created a stir. I patiently waited for South Africa to get their stock so I could lay my hands on one of them and call it my own. What I was most excited about (besides getting the newest iPhone before my Apple-crazy husband) was trying out the new charging connector, and seeing whether it really was lighter and thinner compared to the iPhone 4 and 4S.

Click here to read my full review…

So we started things off last night by hosting Gary’s parents for dinner. And given my sweet tooth, I was put in charge of making dessert!

Gary made a gastronomic main course! A pesto sauce topped with cheese-infused polenta, stacked with grilled mushrooms and baby carrots, accompanied with a phyllo triangle of chicken and bacon. This was all topped off with a microherb salad.

I must say that my dessert paled in comparison with the feast that Gary put out. I made a chocolate lasagne which included a layer of crushed oreo biscuits, a layer of cream cheese, a layer of chocolate pudding, and finally a layer of cream topped off with chocolate chips.

Here’s to Terry and Anton hosting the next dinner for Ross and Andrea! Will you be able to better us?!

Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles