Tuesday, March 13, 2018

February 2018 Moments



Hello lovely people of the inter-web. How has a whole month moved on and we are already in the middle of the next?

February wasn’t too exciting to share a lot, it was mostly busy with me having to work in a few weekends. But I thought I would post a few February moments:

Of course, the 1st of February my beautiful niece Rachel was born. You can read about that day right HERE. I would say that was the best way to start off the month.

can we just take a moment to appreciate her onesie 

Leroy’s Ouma passed away and sadly we had to say goodbye to a loving Ouma, I haven’t known her long but I am truly blessed that I have been able to have met her. I love hearing the stories Leroy has too share about his childhood days with his Ouma.

Leroy and I have been Married 3 months. I get asked a lot (apart from when are we having a baby) how is married life, and for me it’s no different as we have been staying together for a while before anyway but I will add that I do still love that man more and more each day and each month we celebrate another anniversary I thank God for blessing me with a great man and a happy marriage.



I was fortunate enough to take maternity pictures of my beautiful friend and her husband. We woke up early and went to my wedding venue and took some pictures. Here is a few for you



And then later that day we celebrated her Baby shower, I helped her get dress up all fancy 😊. It was a beautiful fun baby shower and I cannot wait to meet to meet my Friends little princess.


We also had our Diablo boy neutered, it was a hard choose between him and Luna but he won the rock paper scissor game and had to go. It was so cute how he remembered his vet and had his boody all shaking until he realized we are putting him in a cage, not fun anymore mommy. The next day when his operation was done the vet called that we can collect him and I told them unfortunately I can only go after work and she begged that we try go now as he is breaking down their cage. Luckily Leroy was off and could go collect him.  So Sadly no Diablo Babies in our future, not sure i could handle more of him now any way. 

One Sunday afternoon I got to look after Rachel for a few hours, Mia had no idea what this little human was doing in the house. I will be honest I was a little out of my element. But once I got her in my arms fed and changed laying on the couch and singing to her while she gives me the look stop singing woman I was more relaxed. 
Such a sleepy princess


As you can see February was not a so interesting month. But it’s always nice for me to look back on.

Till next time

Sunday, February 11, 2018

I'm an Auntie


Hello lovely people of the inter-web.

Welcome to another month and another Blog post. Today I would just like to share a little story and I hope you would enjoy it as much as I have when I experienced it.

On the 31st of January 2018, my mother, brother, his girlfriend and myself ventured off to Volksrust where we were to soon welcome my Niece into the world. Anzél checked into the hospital at about 16H00. With the visiting hours done the rest of us went to our accommodation and waited. We visited her again at 19H00. The nurses gave Anzél medicine to start the process of natural birth but it was nearly going no where slowly. That night back at our accommodation it was hard to really go sleep as we weren’t sure when she would call with news to go to the hospital. My brother Jaques took the advantage and slept while he could, while on the other hand my mother and I spend most of the night outside talking till around 2am that morning. Needless to say, we were kind of tired the next day.

On the 1st of February, we went back to the hospital during visiting hours at 11H00. Were we heard yet nothing has happened and the Dr is opting for a c section at 17H00.  With time to spare till 15H00 we ventured off to see some Volksrust beauty, and then went to Newcastle for lunch. 





From 15H00 till 19H30 it was basically a blur of events it went so darn fast. At 17H00 Anzél and Jaques went through to give birth. 





My mother and I basically begged the one nurse if we could wait close by. As we waited down by the passage way we saw a nurse start to come down with the baby it was the fastest we jumped up with tiers in our eyes and shaking like crazy we got to greet the precious new baby into our family. The cleaner was looking at us like we were crazy.


On the 1st of February Rachel-Elizabeth Anne was born, on the 1st of February I became an Aunt to the most beautiful, precious little Girl ever.


I thank God for blessing my Brother and Anzél with a healthy baby and having everything go so well, even though it didnt go as planned. And i am so grateful that i was able to be there with Jaques and Anzél.

I am looking forward to watching Rachel Grow up and experiencing the milestones moments she faces. Rachel is defiantly one loved little Girl.




Till next time.

Saturday, January 20, 2018

For-Fork Sake: Urbanologi



Hello Lovely People of the Inter-web

Welcome to another blog post. Today is the first of my For-Fork Sake series. Where I share our experience with a new restaurant we tried. Leroy and I Love trying new places and new Foods. Leroy normally goes on the website Eat out, you can check it out here. And then we plan our next trip with that restaurant.

So, in today’s post I will be sharing Urbanologi:

It is in New Town of Johannesburg, they have won restaurant of the year a few times now and going there you can see why. When you walk in, it has this open rustic feel, you feel welcome and you can’t stop from looking all over the place.

The meal portions are small but o my goodness so flavourful. Leroy read up that you need to take a few dishes and we share that. So of course, that is what we did.

Firstly, we had Pickled Chokka Wings that was served with coriander pesto, orange puree and turnip spaghetti.


 I love Wings I have this thing of I would love to try as much wings from different restaurants as possible, and I thought this was those kinds of wings but when the waiter told us it was raw our minds were a little bit worried.
When the dish came it looked so beautiful with the colours and how it was plated, having the first bite I was honestly so surprised it was so good. It was squid that was raw and pickled. Defiantly something you should add to your list when you go.
Then we had the Pork Dumpling that was served with a citrus broth and Asian vegetable salad in the broth.


I love dumplings and this one was out of this world that broth complimented it so much.
We then had the Crispy dropped black pepper pork belly that was served with tamarind dressing, butternut puree, cucumber and smoked peanuts.



I saw almost every table was getting this dish and I was hoping we somehow ordered it too, and thank Goodness, we did. This was by far my favourite dish and the dip sauce that comes with it was mouth-watering good. Just thinking of it now is making me hungry all over again. I would suggest you don’t get this dish to share 😊
We then had the Teriyaki poached sweet potatoes that was served with yoghurt & pilsner honeycomb.

 This dish was plated beautifully and tasted good, but from what we had this one was just a little bit to plain.
Yes, there is more, lastly for the main we had Spider Steak that was served with pickled shimeji mushrooms and okra salt.

The steak was perfect medium rare, it’s like that moment you just take a good steak off the braai and eat a bite and the mushrooms was so good with it.
For our dessert, we tried the Ginger Malva that was served with Lime leaf ice cream and popcorn soil.

That was good too, we were worried what they meant by the popcorn soil but relieved to see it was just bits of popcorn, although to my opinion it could do without the popcorn soil.
I would defiantly recommend this place to anyone who is willing to step out of their comfort zone and try new dishes. Don’t forget if you do plan on going to make a reservation you won’t be disappointed.

If you have any other suggestions for us please feel free to leave them in the comments below.

Till Next time.

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Wedding Wednesday: Our Wedding Day


Hello Lovely People of the Inter-web

After nearly 2 years of planning our big day has finally come and sadly gone. Everyone tells you how fast it goes and I have been a backseat witness to that on my cousins wedding when I was fortunate enough to be a bridesmaid. But you have that tiny bit of hope that it will grace you on your day and slow down. Read that speed limit and stop for a second.  

Today I will share my first Wedding Wednesday post: Our Wedding. Just a bit of here and there. I will go more into detail of each section in other posts.

We got Married on the 18th November 2017. We chose a little farm just outside our town Kriel. We fell in love with the chapel church look and with the space. Bonus points was that we could bring in a lot of our own things that we either made or specially bought for our big day.









My Bridesmaids, mother, the flower girls, ring bearer and myself all got ready in the honeymoon suite at the Windpomp accommodation in Kriel. It was a full house that day but so much fun.






The men Got ready at an aunt’s house. According to me they had it easier, less craziness. I mean Leroy Even got his nails taken care of.






Being a bride, I was a bit late to our wedding, but as my brother drove me, my father and my two bridesmaids to the wedding emotions were running high and my girls had to help my wipe without damaging my makeup the tiers that were starting to form. I think was the excitement of its finally happening kicking in. 

Walking down that Aisle I didn’t look at anyone because I knew if I saw someone crying that would be it for me and apparently me and my dad walked a bit too fast down the Aisle.






how precious is my mothers face in this picture, I love it.

So, a few minutes in and I start being so hot I can feel the sweat start to drip. (Side note I get hot so darn fast.) besides the fact that the woman marrying us was calling me Ilana and not Elena by the time I realized I was getting so hot that was the last thing on my mind. Then our pastor said that she won’t take too long as she can see the Bride is starting to get hot. Might I add that I have then been looking around to my bridesmaids and parents to turn the darn AC on. The ceremony was stopped so that the smallest man-made fan could be placed in front of me which did nothing. It was crazy.

Either way I survived and we were officially Mr and Mrs Swartz.

Once we got outside our guests threw us with confetti, we got two confetti bombs for my cousin and maid of honours fiancé to pop as soon as we get out. Of course, there would be some people that couldn’t get the streamer loose and they just threw the whole thing as is.



After we took pictures we had a few minutes alone for me to change my shoes, take selfies and for Leroy to make it for really official on Facebook ha-ha. Cause it’s not official till its Facebook official, right? It was also nice to just talk to each other a bit hear what he did and what he thought.

The Reception was so much fun, from the speeches,
Our MC's

Playing the Shoe game

My Maid Of Honour

The Groomsman

My Husband

My Brother 


to the dance me and Leroy set up and for being able to share a dance with my dad.


to the kids running on their sugar high.

We cut into our beautiful cake that a special friend made for us with the cupcakes showing our life timeline.







I threw my bouquet which my beautiful friend from work caught and Leroy had to blind folded search for the garter and of course my brother caught it. (side note it’s a thing at weddings now of him and his Girlfriend catching it both). Our MC’S made them share a dance which was so much fun to watch.


poor man needed help with all those layers






But the biggest hit was the candy station it was like for a second or two the adults became kids as they helped themselves to our wide range selection of handpicked sweets.







Looking back there isn’t much I would change on the day, we had so much fun and for friends and family to call and say that they enjoyed the wedding so much means even more to us. It was really the best day of our lives.

Hope you guys enjoyed this blog Post 



February 2018 Moments

Hello lovely people of the inter-web. How has a whole month moved on and we are already in the middle of the next? February wasn’t...