Which colour makes you feel happy?

yellow does it for me

These pics were taken at a baby shower I attended.

Is this lemon meringue pie not BEAUTIFUL?! Not only is it gorgeous to look at, but was delicious too :)

Does anyone know how to rescue fudge?

I've been very good, which means I buy 3 pieces of fudge every week and make it stretch :)

Then I got the bright idea to make my own. Just call me Frugal Barbie!

I followed the recipe on the condensed milk can and the bit of fudge I dropped into the glass of water wasn't setting into a "soft ball" so I boiled it for another 45 minutes. The original recipe said 40 - 45 minutes.

It kind of set after that so I thought all was well.

Um, no.

It is now a consistency like toffee and goes even more gooey when I leave it out of the fridge.

It tastes yummy - it's just not fudge!

Any ideas on how to fix it?

Small things like self-care make all the difference

28 weeks pregnant

Due to the growing bump, I haven't been able to reach down to touch my toes or even easily cross my one leg over my other.

So a few weeks ago I removed my nail polish on my toes and resigned myself to boring toe nails for the rest of this pregnancy.

Well, a strange thing happened - I started resting more (as per the doctor's orders "Marcia, we want to keep those babies in there as long as possible") and amazingly enough, instead of feeling more like a granny, I feel much more flexible.

After a day or two, I noticed I could pick up things from the floor much easier than before so I decided to paint those toe nails a lovely, bright red.

And do you know how cheered up I am? Every time I'm in the shower or getting dressed and I see those lovely, bright nails, I smile :)

Which just goes to show, small things make a big difference.

Now what can you do to cheer yourself up?

Do you have an open door to your dreams?

I've blogged before about my love of doors.

These pics were taken on this recent trip to Dublin, Ireland.

I want to get something out there - with the whole pregnancy thing, I've been thinking more about what I want my life to look like, especially after the babies are here.

At the moment I couldn't stop my full-time job because the uncertainty about money would stress me out way too much which is not good for me or the babies.

But then I thought, "what about going part-time at work?" which is a lovely compromise to the security and freedom thing.

So I made some enquiries, got a huge shock at how my salary would drop but then calmed down and started working the numbers.

I started asking, how can I make this work?

And the quickest way is for me to get more 1:1 coaching clients. I have to sell a WHOLE lot of ebooks or product for what one coaching client pays me, so it's a time saver too.

My clients are all wonderful people because I've identified my ideal client and they energise me, rather than drain me.

I wrote this down on my big, juicy goals list and began setting an increasing income goal that is actually double what I need to have (there's that security thing again) by the end of the year when my maternity benefits run out and I need to return to work.

And you know what?

I've reached it all but one month this year. Two of the months before and after that month were super-fantastic though where I exceeded the goal by FAR!

So it looks like I opened the door to my dream by setting the intention and am getting there without too much hassle.

Do you have an open door to your dreams?

Do you ever cheat on your hairdresser?

I have a confession to make.

Not only do I have 3 desks, but I also have 3 hairdressers. It's a long story but first let me show you the hair saga :)

My hair in its natural (very curly) state looks like this...


and I want it to look like this...

Hairdresser 1 is actually my favourite but she's a lot more expensive so I only go to her to have a wash and blow dry. Also, she really chalks up the points in my book because she works quickly (and beautifully) so I need exactly 30 minutes, and you know how I am about wasting time...

Hairdresser 2 is actually Dion's ex-hairdresser. She is the cheapest of the lot and I get my hair coloured (well, I get the grey covered) with her. The problem is she takes forever and our appointments take at least 2 hours every time, and I don't always have the time.

The reason Dion stopped going is because she keeps you waiting even if you have an appointment and he has very little patience. And you thought I was bad! :)

Hairdresser 3 is Dion's current hairdresser. Very similar in style to hairdresser 1, she is extremely punctual. Sees you at exactly your appointment time and you're out promptly too. I go to her if I need my hair trimmed because she does EXACTLY what I want, which is to neaten it up but not take any of the length away.

Of course, having 3 hairdressers means you have to organise your hair visits really carefully.

Hairdresser 1 works at a salon about 2 minutes' drive from my house. Early in the pregnancy, when I was severely fatigued, I'd literally be in the shower and feel like my arms wouldn't even hold up to let me finish washing my hair. So I'd get out, phone her and pop right over for her to wash and blow it dry.

Which is great but has made me very lazy - I looked at the shampoo and conditioner in the shower this morning and realised I probably haven't even washed my own hair for at least a month, if not 6 weeks!

But enough about me - how many hairdressers do you have?

Apparently I'm obessed with food.

When we got back from Ireland, my mother in law came over for tea to hear all about the trip.

Well, about half way through I realised that we hadn't stopped talking about food the entire time.

Which is not surprising because we are food people. Not snobby food people, but we do like our food.

Anyway, getting back to the point.

Kristin commented on my travelling light post and I went over to say "hi" to her too. She wrote about how surprised she was (on her holiday to Ireland) to find them putting a fried egg on the burger.

Is this not normal?

Don't people do this around the world?

Apparently not.

In South Africa you can get an egg burger which is a hamburger with (you guessed it) a fried egg on top of it. And it is yummy! Especially with the soft yolk...

The weirdest burger I've ever had was in Australia where they put slices of beetroot on their burgers. Beetroot on foods is an Ozzie thing because that burger (at McD) was called a McOz :)

What's the weirdest burger you've ever had?

My pregnancy update at 25 weeks

For those of you who are interested, here we go with a pregnancy update.

• We're having twins - a boy and a girl - and because they're twins, the average gestation period according to my doctor (so this could be a South African thing) is 36 weeks 3 days.
• Which puts my due date at around 5 August (my birthday's on the 6th so this will be a lovely birthday present for me) if we get there.
• The doc has said that our goal is to get to 36 weeks. I'm good with a goal :) and hopefully the babies are too!
• I'm still going to Preggi Bellies but must confess I hadn't been for 4 weeks but have just gone back because apparently exercise is the best cure for fatigue. Sounds crazy to me, but I'm not the expert.
• I have only put on 8kg which puts me almost exactly on track for a single pregnancy, let alone a twin one. Clearly it's all in the belly.
• Last week at our 24-week ultrasound scan, the babies weighed 647g and 649g. They are both perfect!
  
• The babies' room is progressing very, very slowly but we have now ordered the cots so we're getting there.
  

And here are the pics!

20 weeks

22 weeks 1 day - Wicklow, Ireland

24 weeks

If you have any questions, let me know in the comments and I'll update the post. Someone asked if I minded sharing - the answer's definitely not! I just forget that other people may be interested in hearing these details.

Tea and scones in Dublin

doing one of my favourite things in the world - eating tea and scones, and talking!

lovely, cold weather - notice the belly!

that's the Spire at Henry Street in the background

Oh, so because the Mozambique thing didn't work out...

Dublin, Ireland

We decided to go to Dublin, Ireland.

Yes, I’m crazy! Although...tell me if you don’t think this is inspired...

Our friend whom we stayed with in Ireland last year emailed me and said something along the lines of...

“Why don’t you guys come over for a last pre-babies holiday? We can go to restaurants, hang out around here and just relax?”

I replied back and said something like, “you are CRAZY lol” but when I got home, I mentioned it to Dion and suddenly we both went quiet, looked at each other and said, “you know, that’s really not a bad idea...but NO, we need to be responsible”

Well, the next morning, I decided to check flights on http://flightcentre.co.za and saw that there were specials on Etihad Airlines flying from Jhb to Dublin.

I phoned up our travel agent and while we had to pay a bit more for the Abu Dabi – Dublin leg of the journey, it was still VERY reasonable.

So then I phoned Dion who does NOT like sudden decisions (something I excel at J) and after checking our finances, told me to check with the doctor.

I emailed the doc who got back to me the next day and told me IF I wear orthopaedic stockings (to prevent varicose veins) and walk up and down during the flights, THEN it would be okay.

I checked with our friend again if he was serious and sure he wanted us there …he was :)

And that was all I needed to properly book and pay for the flights.

I’ve already reserved window and aisle seats on all four legs of the flight with a customer service rep from Etihad Airlines called Justin who was OUTSTANDING on the telephone.

So we are flying out on the 26^th April. Can’t WAIT!

There's no sign of autumn in Johannesburg

We've had unseasonably warm weather in Johannesburg, so much so that I'm still wearing short-sleeved T-shirts in APRIL!

This is unheard of - I usually have my winter clothes well worn-in by now and my electric blanket on every night.

My love of winter is very well-known but this weather's been very pleasant so I'm actually enjoying it.

This afternoon after arriving home from work I couldn't help going into the street to take a few pictures.

Our neighbour opposite's beautiful Bougainvillea. At our previous house our entire driveway was framed with this stuff - gorgeous! but a huge schlep when those beautiful pink flowers fall on the driveway and have to be constantly swept up (as you know I hate a mess).

looking down the street

and up the street

And then I had to stop because the security guard was giving me funny looks.

Is it really that weird to take pics of the blue skies and the light?!