It's Valentine's

In honor of the day of love, here is a collection of images of my handsome husband and me.  Valentine's Day is totally cheesy and silly, but it is always good to remember to tell the ones we love how much we care about them and how important they are to us.  

ALEX, you are such a cool cat and I am so glad you are mine!  Let's keep on having fun and being goofs until we die, K? K!  I've loved you all over the world and I'm not going to stop loving you.  :)

 Hain's Point, Washington, DC

 Hyde Park, London

 Athens, Greece

 Santorini, Greece

 right after we got engaged--the Shenandoah Mountains, Virginia

 we got our marriage license--all ready to get wedded up!

our wedding day!  photo by Holli B Photography

our home and our Jozi in Johannesburg, SA

 Cape Town, South Africa

Namibia

Hotel Room Tour #5

Happy 2013!!  Alex and I started the year in Chicago--our new home!  But more on that later.  First, let's head back to the week before Christmas when Alex and I finally celebrated our HONEYMOON!

I had always dreamed of going to the Maldives for my honeymoon.  White sand beaches, blue water, ocean villas...it's the stuff romance is made of, right?  However, it was looking like the Maldives was going to be cost prohibitive until our move to South Africa!  (one of the benefits of our short tenure overseas)

Flights were cheaper from Johannesburg to Male, and then we found a deal for an all-inclusive hotel on Jetsetter!  Jetsetter is a discount travel site that is powered through Gilt--the designer fashion flash sale website.  I highly recommend you try it out if you haven't already.

We flew on Emirates (fantastic airline!) through Dubai to Male, and then caught a seaplane to get to our hotel.

The Maldives is an archipelago of 1,199 islands with about 300 of them being inhabited.  Tourism is a huge industry in the Maldives, and after a visit there I totally see why.

Our hotel, Constance Moofushi, was an all-inclusive resort that was amazing.  While the food was nothing out of this world, it was good and there was plenty of it.  (You have to remember that any food has to be flown in, so we cut them some slack.)

Here are some photos of our fabulous over water villa with access to the Indian Ocean.

View of the water from our deck.

 our amazing little deck from the back of our villa

 view of the water villas from the sea plan dock

the sinks had mirrors that you could pull close or pull open to see through to the water 

 steps from our deck leading straight into the water.  And a little shower to rinse that salt water off.

 half indoor/half outdoor shower.

the throne.  Notice the little kitchen sink sprayer like item...fantastic invention called the 'bum gun' to clean off after a #2  (too much information?)

 AppleTV and better internet in the middle of the ocean than we had in one of the largest cities in Africa.  hmm...

our super cozy nest!

I'll post some more about our trip later.  And our move to Chicago, buying a house, job hunting...got a lot going on right now!

xoxo

IG Update v. 2.0

What's been happening lately through the eyes of the iPhone camera.

Sister comes to visit Alex and I in South Africa!  This was on her first night here at a very weird Indian restaurant/cocktail bar.  Laura and I are both sporting the new hair fad, the sock bun!

 Look at that sweet weim face!

 The many faces of my handsome husband.  This is halfway through Movember, aka No-Shave November.  

We celebrated my dad's birthday from afar, and I reminisced on this fun night we had in Norman!

 My sister told me there was such a thing as baby cologne, and I refused to believe her.  Then, while shopping for a baby gift for one of Alex's coworkers, we came across this little jewel.

 Alex and my first Thanksgiving as a married couple.  Some South African sparkling wine and a homemade pumpkin pie (made with fresh pumpkin!)

Jozi dog on her first Thanksgiving.  She is still confused what Thanksgiving is--next year she will be introduced to Thanksgiving in AMERICA!I baked some cookies for a baby shower for Alex's co-worker.  I wish I had had some baby themed cookie cutters, but I had to make do with what I had.  It gave me a good reason to practice doing letters in icing.

 Our Thanksgiving celebration with a group of Americans (and some non-Americans) in Pretoria.  There were four turkeys and an amazing amount of delicious food.

The hazards of being an au pair....a flaming heart tattoo and a chipped manicure from playing with Legos.

Alex before he shaved off his Movember mustache.  He claims he won't be participating next year.

 I'm going to miss the wonderful clinic where I volunteered.  VACCINATE!

It was our sweet niece Tali's 2nd birthday, so naturally we put Jozi in a party hat to make a birthday card for her.  (Tali loves dogs almost as much as we do.)

We leave in less than 48 hours for our big move back to America.  Jozi had her vet appointment for her medical clearance this morning and Alex is at the government vet getting the papers endorsed now.  It's back to cleaning and laundry for me!  Can't wait to be stateside again.

xoxo

Hotel Room Tour #4

Alex and I once again utilized the fabulous last minute safari lodge website, mtbeds.co.za and went for a wonderful weekend to &Beyond's Ngala Safari Lodge.  We knew we wanted to take a trip to Kruger, and when we saw that &Beyond had a lodge on MTBeds, we knew we had to take it.  (It was still a little expensive, but it was a great deal and our last hurrah in Africa.)

Ngala was no let down after our amazing experience with &Beyond in Namibia.  Ngala had the feel of an old time safari lodge, and again every couple had their own little bungalow to stay in.  The food was buffet style, which may turn off some, but it was a buffet like I've never had before.  Roasted chicken and pork belly carved in front of you, amazing fresh, unique salads, freshly baked breads, cheese boards, the list goes on.  And, in true &Beyond style, the service was EXCEPTIONAL.  Alex and I remarked to ourselves one afternoon wondering if they find the nicest people in the world to work at &Beyond or if they train them that way.

On our first two game drives we had the pleasure of getting to know Craig and Kelli, who were two former employees of &Beyond celebrating their first wedding anniversary.  (Craig was a head ranger and Kelli was a manager)  They had worked at &Beyond for 12 years and said it was a wonderful company for which to work.  They spoke of all the things they do in the communities where they are located and how well they treat their employees.  So it is pretty great to know that a place you enjoy also takes care of the people who work for them.

Without further adieu, here is a shot at the little bungalow Alex and I called home for the weekend.

from the outside, we had a little porch and a cafe table.  This was much smaller than the room in Namibia, but on a game reserve space is rather tight.

 super cozy bed.  Like sleeping on a cloud.  And the bed seemed huge, especially without our sweet grey weim taking up 3/4 of the nest.

 Small little sitting area.  I love the thatched roof!

 Waterfall shower.  &Beyond has the most wonderful bath products made especially for them with African herbs.  They smell heavenly.

I had an amazing little soak in this tub with a candle lit and bath salts and bath oil.  Oh laa laa!

We leave for our HONEYMOON to the Maldives on Sunday, so stay tuned for another hotel room tour in a couple of weeks!

xoxo

Safari Time

With our time in Africa quickly coming to a close, Alex and I decided we needed one last HURRAH before we set sail for home.

Alex took his last remaining day of vacation for the year, and we headed north towards Kruger National Park to stay at Ngala Safari Lodge (more on that later) and go on an absolutely amazing safari in Nagala.

Our guide, Dyke, and our tracker, Zup were out-of-this-world.  The knowledge these men had was beyond me--there wasn't a question we could ask about the animals, the flora, the birds, the history, anything that they couldn't answer.  And Dyke's four-wheel driving skills would easily make him the winner at an Jeep Jamboree, anywhere.

Within our first two game drives (we went on a total of 4), we saw the big 5!  For those of you who don't know, the "Big 5" got their name from being the five most dangerous animals for a trophy hunter to hunt.  They are elephant, lion, leopard, cape buffalo, and rhinoceros.

I could say so much more about all the animals, but I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Male lion, 2-3 years old.  He was recently kicked out of the pride and will roam on his own until he is 5-6 years old when he will find his own pride.

 male lion, approximately 6 years old.  He wasn't with his pride, and we were able to hear him calling for them.  I even recorded it on my iPhone.  It was so neat.

 rhino!

Sadly, rhinoceros are quickly on their way to extinction.  Poachers are very actively killing rhinos as their horns fetch a high price on the black market.  It's heart breaking.

 Momma Leopard

 and her tired son

 sweet baby elephants

LOOK AT THOSE EARS!

 We were lucky enough to see this herd of Cape Buffalo as we drove back to camp.  They were taking their sweet time crossing the road.

 Momma Hyena and her two babies.

 the babies were about 2 weeks old.

 1-2 month old hyena pup.  They are so cute!

Those are just a few of my favorite images from the trip.  If I posted more I'm afraid my computer would explode.  I am so sad that there won't be any more safaris for Alex and I for quite a while...but I am SO EXCITED to be getting back to the States.  The packers come Thursday, wahoo!

xoxo