Need your advice...

Normally I don't show you guys my Xmas photo's till the end result is finished.... but I am in a dilemma about 2 of the pictures. So I would like your advice! Please let me know which one you like best. I find it hard to choose!





Even if you don't comment normally, please DO this time!! I really appreciate your input! Before I print 150 cards...

Have a lovely day,
Mireille

It is supposed to be SUMMER here in South Africa!! But it is fr#@king cold!! Normally we have temperatures around 30C/86F and now it is 10C/50F, and not only is it COLD, it is WINDY and RAINING. It feels like I am living in Holland!!

But as my friend Heidi said: at least this is the weather we usually have during the Thanksgiving weekend!! So we will have a Thanksgiving dinner this weekend (since next weekend most people are away) in style... with cold weather!!

Although it is cold, windy and raining it doesn't affect my beautiful day! I will have a fitting today... we finally found a team of designers/tailors who used to make clothing for the catwalk here in Joburg and they are making skirts, dresses and blouses for us from our new African fabrics. We bought meters of Woodin fabrics they had left over from the Woodin store in the Soweto mall that is closed down and now they belong to us; my friends Dunke, Candice, Martha and Tehmina... I am sure she is going to buy today as well!!

Last week the tailors came to our house and we gave them examples, so they could copy our designs with our new fabrics. I am so excited to see my 2 new skirts, a blouse and 4 dresses I ordered for the girls. How fun is it to live in a new country and find all these new goodies?? I LOVE IT!!

I am sure my girls will love the new dresses they are getting soon!



I read this phrase, and wanted to share it with you, on this website where you can buy the most beautiful African fabrics.

"Nowhere in the world is street life as staggeringly colourful as in the markets of Africa. A dazzling mix of rich and vibrant colours is a feast for the eyes.
Clothing in Africa is certainly not intended to cloak one's personal feelings. In Africa you wear your heart on your sleeve.
Passion, meekness, unbridled joy, deep sorrow, pride, admiration, impassioned protest - clothing reflects all these expressions."

LIFE IS GOOD, even when it is raining, windy and cold!!
Have a Fabulous Friday!!

Mireille

Glass beads making

So yesterday after I picked up the photo's from JJ & Jezz's photo shoot in Pretoria for the Xmas card I am making (more about that another day), I was meeting my friends who where creating some glass beads at a studio nearby.
They still had 1 hour to go, so I joined them in the class and tried for the first time to make my own glass beads. They are using the ancient technique of lampworking (melting glass and shaping it over a gas flame).

So you have a tube of colored glass and with holding it in the flame it goes back to its molten state and then you form it around a kiln and you start to create your own glass bead. Applying vibrant colors and forming interesting shapes you can create the most gorgeous beads! Well mine, they had the weirdest shape, not that I wanted that... I was more looking to create a round bead. And you can go from that weird shape back to round again by holding it longer into the flame to take it back to a round bead... if that is what you want!

Since I only had 1 hour, normally the class is 3 hours, I only made 4 beads, and believe me it looks so easy when the teacher does it, but then you have to try yourself and it aint easy at all!!

You have to wear these funky glasses to see the flame better and to protect your eyes! And you keep the glass rod in one hand the kiln in the other, both you have to keep them turning around in the flame. A steady hand is needed!!



Then if you are really good at it, this can be the result... I definitely need to practice more. I will add my beads later, they are not as pretty as these ones!!



Well, now I understand why these handmade glass beads are so expensive! They can go up to $50 for a set of 4-6, but it takes you at least 15 minutes to create just a single bead!! The more colors and dots on it the longer it takes!!

I enjoyed learning yet another new skill, but I think I will just stick to making my own jewelry and just buy the handmade beads from another artist. That way we both keep in business!

Today I am off to go to an Art & Jewelry show, all handmade arts & crafts, I LOVE it!! What are your plans for today??

Have a Terrific Thursday!
Mireille

Busy learning more about photography...

I am in the middle of all my photography lessons, and Wow it is intense!! I am doing at the moment a course named: Photographing with Impact, Basic Photo shop, although it is not so basic anymore to me! and yesterday I started People Photography.

I am very impressed with the lecturers, they are great! Knowledgeable, inspiring and motivating!! Love to go to class! Yesterday I did 2 classes, each 3 hours and for each class I have to drive 45 minutes one-way, so my whole day was swallowed with Photography. So for anyone who is living in SA and want to do some Photography lessons, go to the College of Digital Photography in Saxonwold! Here is their website.

A few more weeks and then I'll have a break, will start again next year. I need that break to practice all the tips and tricks I am learning now. It is one thing to see your teacher do it, now I have to practice, practice, practice myself!!

Below some shots I did for my last lesson: I call it Macro in the kitchen and added some extra blue and red lights to make it more interesting.... I am not impressed with my own work yet. Was kinda running out of time and totally not inspired... got interrupted the whole time with telephones, people visiting etc... not good for my concentration! But that is the thing, I have to do this in between my life and working with deadlines isn't always easy... But hopefully I will look back in one year and see the improvement I made, that's why I am posting these, so I can look back soon and think: Wow I am so much better now... can't wait for that moment :-)

In all the shots I added a blue and red torch light, to give it an extra dimension. And these are not done with a Macro lens, unfortunately I don't have one... so just my regular lens Nikon D80 18-135mm. But I just went as close as possible.









This is actually the only one that I like; a shot from my kitchen drawer. I tried it with different lighting, with and without the blue and red torch light, see the difference?





Can you guess what this is? Photography from different angles...



Well, I hope to improve a lot more, but I can tell you already that I am looking different at things, more from different angles, thinking about lighting, so at least I am improving in that way... now just waiting for the results to happen :-)

Are you looking different now to your kitchen items after seeing my shots??

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!
Mireille

Twilight

Jasmine is totally hooked on the movie Twilight, she has seen it at least 15 times! When we were in NYC in July, that same weekend Robert Pattinson was there, and she was hoping that we would run into him.

Of course... we didn't.

But then later when we saw news clips from him in the City and he was mopped by people, Jezz told me, that he doesn't like that because Edward is really sensible mama!..... she means sensitive, because that is what she heard in another interview where Bella talked about her co-star being sensitive!!

How cute is that! She is really concerned about him!! I guess you can talk about the first celebrity crush here... :-)



Soon New Moon is coming out here, and Jasmine can't wait to see it!! Of course I need to see it first to check if it is OK for her to see it, that's what I did with Twilight... I don't mind... not a bad job, he is rather easy on the eye! LOL

How about you? Do you have a crush on Edward??

Have a great day y'all!
Mireille

African fabrics with a twist

As maybe some of you know, I LOVE fabrics. I have a hobby room in my house where I have hundreds, but I mean hundreds of meters of Vintage, Western, Asian & African fabrics. When I lived in the USA I started collecting them from all over the world, with the idea of starting a small business in children's clothing with vintage fabrics. Well... I am getting closer to that dream, since I am learning more to sew.



Today is my second attempt here in SA for sewing lessons. I mean I can sew the basic things, but I want to be better at it before I start selling.

I was already very interested in African fabrics and love the ShweShwe fabric and also love the West African fabrics, so when I met my friend Dunke who is from Nigeria she taught me more about the West African wax print that I like so much and now I am even more into it!!

What I like to do is give the African fabric a twist and make something with it that is not the usual, like these examples from Tokyo-based designer Serge Mouangue who was born in Cameroon. Look at his gorgeous website: Wafrica. It is such a cultural blend, I find that is just plain brilliant!! An African Kimono! How gorgeous is that?!



Not that I am going to do something that intricate, but you get the idea, a typical African fabric but then a girl's dress say in A-line, or a skirt with a mix of different fabrics. My dream is getting closer! I am working on it, yes, on a slow pace (because I am doing already so many other things ;-) but it will happen some day!!

However, to me it is more than just a beautiful fabric. It's the mix of cultures that are represented in these works of art. Saying out loud to the world that it is OK to mix and match. Giving our children the message that every culture is beautiful, worth exploring and above all excepting each other as they are.

So for me it goes deeper than just a beautiful fabric, and that is the same for Serge Mouangue; he is African, his wife Australian and he lives in Japan. As his children and our children, what do you tell them what they are? Dutch, Thai, American... it is a question hard to answer, so with giving them a sense of belonging through food, fabrics/clothing, festivals, cultural upbringing I hope that my girls grow up knowing who they are but more important embracing every culture they will experience by living as an expat child!

So today I am going to create an African apron, a simple design to start with but soon, if I practice in between lessons I can create a little bit more fun stuff!!

Watch out this site, it's coming!!

Have a Marvellous Monday, and tell me what are your hobbies, secret dreams you want to become a reality? Share it with me!!

Ciao Bella's!
Mireille

Happy Bday to my sweet hubbie!

Congratulations to my dear husband!! Dirk turned 42 today!! And he just arrived from a business trip from Europe, so we have all the time to celebrate!!

Here he is as a little typical Dutch boy of 3 years old, with his white blonde curls... aww.. even sweeter than now ;-)



I am not very big on mushy words, but he is my best friend, confidant for 18 years now. We have traveled the world together, seen our ups and downs, but he has stuck with me through thick and thin, for richer or poor! He is the best and sweetest dad to our twin girls, let's me shop till I drop... almost without a limit LOL!!!

I love him very much!! And I hope he will have a grand day and even a better year ahead of him!

Let's go for sushi Dicky D, since the girls have a sleep-over party!
See you later alligator!
Mireille

They have chosen their favorite!

When Winter, our rabbit, was pregnant I promised the girls that we could only keep 2 out of the litter, one baby each. Since I had no clue how big this litter would be I thought I better keep it safe ;-)

So now out of the 5 babies the girls have chosen each their favorite bunny. And I mean after just a few days, about 8-9 or so when the fur started to set in and you could recognize that these small little animals were indeed bunnies the girls immediately took to one. I still can't see the difference between all 5 but the girls can!

So Juliet took this one; his/her name is Thumper, after the old Thumper we had.



And Jasmine chose Scratchy, because he/she scratches her chest all the time when he/she tries to climb closer to her face when she holds him/her.



And here they are both with their favorite!



I told the girls that they have to give equal attention to all FIVE of them, because otherwise the others feel left out! So when they go and play with the bunnies, they pet the other ones for a short time and then they take their favorite out of the cage and play with them ;-) .... not really equal attention, but hey.. the other ones will go to one of their friends and I am sure they will get all the attention they want... just a bit later! Because at 8 weeks we can give the other 3 away, this will be about 2 weeks before Xmas. So hopefully we will find a good home for them!

And then I have to go with the 2 we keep to the vet, to make sure what kind of sex the bunnies are. If these are boys we have to 'snip' their little balls otherwise we will end up with many bunnies and that is not what Mireille wants!!

PS: I normally don't buy the same outfits for the girls anymore, but these shirts I bought in Thailand when they were 3,5 years old. It is size 4/5, but now at age 7,5 it fits them! JJ and Jezz didn't like the Tweetie face on it... and I can imagine by now... but they still wore it to school that day... just to please their momma ;-) Such a sweet girls!

Dirk is gone to Switzerland (business) and the Netherlands (partying) for 10 days and we really miss him, but on Friday he is coming back and it will be his Bday as well, so double the happiness!

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!
Mireille

November; National Adoption Month

November is National Adoption Month in the USA, a month set aside to raise awareness about the adoption of children and youth from foster care.

This years theme is "Answering the Call - You don't have to be perfect to be a perfect parent. There are thousands of teens in foster care who would love to put up with you."

The main focus of National Adoption Month has been and continues to be foster care adoptions. There are approximately 129,000 children in foster care in the United States waiting for adoptive homes.

There is a strong need for adoptive families for older children, teens, children of color and sibling groups. The 2009 focus is more toward the African American community.

So if you are thinking about adopting and just need a bit of a push, I just tell you GO FOR IT!! It is one of the greatest decisions in my life. It is so rewarding to love a child, to hold and promise her a forever bond, love and dedication to make sure her life will be fine... and even if things don't go always the way you have planned it, it will be fine because you have each other forever!

It is such a win-win situation, my life got so much richer with my 2 little angels in it. They are the true love of my life! My life would be so much different if on that day... July 27, 2002 I would have said no. My life would have been so much emptier, I can't even think about living my life without these 2 beautiful, sweet and precious girls. But also, how would their life turned out? Think about it, and give another child a chance of a loving family life! It's worth it for both sides. You will receive so much love and you will have so much love to give!



So open your heart to another child who is waiting out there for you!
Go for it, it will enrich your life... I'LL PROMISE YOU!! You will find there is enough space in your heart for another child that desperately wants to belong to a family like yours!

And if you still are contemplating, check out this link and maybe that is the push you need to make that call!

Email me if you like to talk privately about adoption, it's a great thing!

Have a Marvellous Monday!
Mireille

into the studio today...

School is out early on Fridays, and today we are going into the studio to take some pictures for our Xmas card project. Every year I have a theme and the next year I have to come up with something different. A few months ago I already saw something that caught my eye for my inspiration.

I hired a make-up artist and we go and take some shots of the girls... then we do some photo shopping, add some text and go to the print shop and print our cards... hopefully we will find some matching envelopes and then the project is finished and we can send it out, at least 3 weeks before Xmas so that it arrives on time at your house!

It takes much more effort here in South Africa to do a project like that, you don't have a Target or Walmart where you just drop off a nice picture and this machine prints out the chosen Xmas design, or order at Shutterfly... no we have to do each individual step ourselves... but at least I like to do these kind of things, so that helps!

Here a hint of what I am going to use, although only parts....



Remember my card from last year? I really liked how it came out, so I have to find something that is at least so much fun!



Are you thinking of Xmas cards and decorations already?? It is only 7 weeks from now!

I am sure that in the USA it is Xmas everywhere... in the shops, malls, restaurants etc..
See here in SA you don't get bombarded with that. Even the children have no clue what they want for Xmas, since they don't see much TV and there is not much commercials in between the programs, no toy flyer's or huge Toys R Us catalogs... the kids have no clue Xmas is coming soon... such a different world out here! Although they celebrate it, but the marketing for it you can't compare to the USA. And in a way I am glad about that... it's not so much about the stuff but more about the celebration to be together, have a nice meal, mostly a braai=BBQ since it is mid-summer.

But I still have to work on my project :-)
I will keep you posted.

Have a Fabulous Friday!
Mireille

Macro shots from Botanical garden

As you know I am doing several photo courses this year. I've started with the Fundamentals, now I am doing Photographing with Impact, Basics Photo Shop and this month I also start People Photographing. So a few different modules to learn more tips and tricks to take better pictures.

I really enjoy it! There is still so much out there that I don't know about Photographing, taking my old hobby to a new level. And I get a lot of inspiration from the people around me who are giving the courses and the other ones attending it. The different view/ideas others have about a subject is just inspirational.

So last Sunday we went with the whole class to the Walter Sisulu Botanical gardens here in Joburg and the plants, trees and shrubs are just amazing. Very different than I am used to and especially when you look at them from such a close distance. We were there at 6am to take advantage of the better light. What also makes it more attractive is that there is still dew on the plants and leaves, much more vibrant and alive that way!

See here some of my pictures I took that morning.





















These are taken with my regular lens; Nikon D80 18-135mm, so not a macro lens, otherwise I could have gone even more close-up and then the results are more spectacular, it becomes more abstract which I really like, so maybe I am going to try that next.

Which one do you like best?

I am giving an Indonesian cooking class to some of my friends today, so have to rush off and start preparing! More about that another day!

Have a Terrific Thursday!
Mireille

Juliet and her bunnies

Both the girls are totally in LOVE with our newborn bunnies. Here Juliet wanted to tell us about her new favorite little Thumper, she named him/her? in honour of the Thumper that died a few months ago.

She also shows us the mother Winter with her 5 babies, that all look alike to me, but NOT to the girls!! The spots are SO different mama!! Well... I don't really see it, to me they are identical quintuplets!.... wow, twins and quintuplets in the house... that is asking for trouble! LOL.







How cute are they?!

Have a great day,
Mireille :-)

I ♥ Faces, week 43 ~ "Balloons"

My friend Suzy and I just planned to start working together as a photographic team, she would do the photography and I would do the ideas, styling & make-up. (Little did I know that 4 months later I moved to South Africa!) So to make a fly er and to get some promotion for our new small business we had the idea for a Valentine shoot. Who else than the girls we could use ;-)

We let the girls play with balloons, run around the yard, jump on the trampoline, let them blow the balloons and then let the air out in their faces, we got some cute shots while doing this photo shoot and I even did a few try-outs with my camera as well... since I am a budding photographer... still learning and loving it!

Jasmine and Juliet are almost 6 years old here. When I look back now, and it is only not even 2 years, but they look already so much older!





Go to the I ♥ Faces website and see all the other entries for this week!

Have a Marvellous Monday!
Mireille

Halloween '09

We had so much fun this year with Halloween, first the party at school which was fun, creative, hot and lots of kids in great costumes!! They had all kinds of activities planned and of course a parade with trick 'r treating at the end. They even got a toothbrush and toothpaste sponsored by Colgate, how thoughtful is that!

Then on Saturday we first went to the Theatre to see CATS! Wow, that was so much fun, the show was amazing and the girls just LOVED it!!

Then in a rush we got dressed and went to my friend's house where the kids did their rounds of trick 'r treating with the nannies/maids and the adults had fun at the house with all kinds of international food and drinks, since we did a potluck party while in the meantime lots of kids entered the house to get some treats.
Dirk joined in later with the Halloween fun, he first went to a Rugby game in Pretoria, they even do tailgate parties before, but here they call it a braai with Boere rol and steak. And the Bulls won, so he was a happy camper as well!

Juliet's class


The girls only


And the boys


Juliet in action, filling a pumpkin with popcorn as fast as possible


Jasmine's class


2 of her friends, Emma & Jeongwoo


Jasmine in action as well


The nice thing about celebrating Halloween in a warm country is that you don't need layers underneath your costume, makes it a lot more fun! I was wearing a funky dress and my 'infamous' purple wig, went as a Wacky Woman! Unfortunately have no picture ;)

Do you celebrate Halloween? And how did you enjoy it this year, were you dressed up?
Enjoy the weekend!
Mireille

Halloween at school

The girls woke me up at 5:30 am this morning, too excited to wait any longer! By 6am they were getting ready to be transformed as a Pirate!!

Halloween at school today and the girls have this amazing pirate outfit that a very talented seamstress Val Daly made for us! I just printed a picture from the internet, bought the fabric I wanted and she made these for us, without a pattern! The workmanship on these outfits is extremely well done! The body/corset is made from original African ShweShwe fabric and can be worn from both sides, it has gold coins on the rim. The skirt has a satin liner with tutu fabric on top and the blouse has sparkles all over. Then Val found me these eye patches and earring to go with it, the girls look like real pirates :-) and are very happy to go to school looking like this!









They have to look serious, since Pirates don't smile so sweet as Princesses! is their theory :-)

Have a Fantastic Halloween y'all!
Mireille

Update on our bunnies

Living in Africa is not always easy, I had to do without a telephone and internet connection for 5 days!! But the line is fixed and I am glad to catch up on blogs I have missed, and keeping up with my own!

The bunnies are getting cuter and cuter, at least they start looking liking a bunny now!! So here are some pics from the last week.

Here they are 8 days, still most of the day under the mother's fur and in their nest. Don't come out yet, although 1 is trying today! The skin is still a bit pinkish and they eyes are not open yet, or maybe a bit.



8 days old, it is hard to tell that it is a bunny, could easily be a baby kitten if you see them all together in their nest. One is trying to crawl over to the mother for some milk, but has a hard time standing up.



But then it is by the mother and gets a helping of milk, while the mother waits patiently for her baby to finish.



Today they are 15 days old, and look how much they have grown in just 1 week! One is getting milk from the mother.



You can clearly see that they are bunnies, the ears have grown and they eyes are completely open. They all 5 look about the same, black and white, so cute!!
They don't stay much in their nest anymore and kind of play around a bit in the cage.



They will stay another 6 weeks in this cage, because the big hadedas birds that come to our garden would probably pick them to death if we would let them loose in the yard. Here they are safe and protected. The girls can't wait to touch and pet them, but that is still not allowed!

Well, have a wonderful week!
Mireille

Watching TV ~ Thai style ;-)

It is not that I have a comfy couch in the house, we actually have 3 living areas on the downstairs level where the girls can sit comfortable on a chair or couch, but no! They prefer to squat on the table! Here they are watching TV, and if I would let them watching TV for so long, they would sit for hours and be relaxed. But they will aslo do it when they are playing with their barbies or reading a book. It must be in the Thai genes, because they don't have any examples around who sits like that :-)

Have a Fabulous Friday! I am having a dinner party at my house, so I am off to cook!
Mireille

How do I look?

Tatjana, a friend of mine has to fill her portfolio for her photographic course with all kinds of pictures. One of the subjects is 'Children around the World' so last weekend we went to her studio and took all kinds of photos of the twins. At the end we promised them they could paint each others face and have fun with it. This is the result :-)

Have a Terrific Thursday!
Mireille

We have baby bunnies!

Jasmine & Juliet are so excited! Winter our female rabbit gave birth last week to 5 or 6 baby bunnies (hard to see since they are all on top of each other and under a protective layer of fur). Everyday when the girls come out of school, the first thing they do is go outside and visit Winter and her babies. They are deaf and still have there eyes closed and no fur. So we are not allowed to touch! Otherwise the mother will reject them if there is human smell on the babies.

But the girls are so tender taking care of the mother... it is so cute! It is their task to feed, water and clean the cage every morning before the school bus comes at 6:50 am! At first I was a bit worried, she was not sitting with them and feeding the babies at all, but then I did some research and it seems that rabbits only feed 5 minutes a day (their milk is very rich) and this happens at night. So no wonder I don't see that!

They are a week old now and the babies have almost doubled in size. Only a bit of fur but still very bald. JJ and Jezz can't wait to touch and play with them, but Winter and the babies are safe in a cage and we don't let them out yet. They need to stay with the mother for 2 months.

Winter, nice and plump 2 days before giving birth.



She plucked her fur to make a nest for her babis, look how skinny she is now.




The nest with the babies~2 days old, all naked with their eyes closed.



And our other rabbits, the black one is Veenil and Spots; father & daughter.



Mother Scamper & daugther Spots.



A great learning process about life, growing up, taking care and mating has this project been so far :-) But I will make sure that we don't have another pregnant rabbit soon!!

More pictures will follow!
Ciao, Mireille

Week 41 @ I ♥ Faces "Pink Week."

A new week, a new day, a new challenge at I ♥ Faces! And since it is breast cancer awareness, I definitely want to join this week by submitting my photo.
This one was taken last year in Holland when me, my mom and the twins went to an International street parade. More than 70 countries participated, and this one was the one of the most colorful outfits for that day. I believe they came from Brazil. How pink is that?!






Check out the other pink pictures over here at I ♥ Faces.

Have a wonderful week ahead!
Mireille

THANK YOU!! ~ Dankie! ~ Ngiyabonga! ~ Khap Khun Kha!

Today I am on post #300! My blog is in the 'air' from January 31,2008 (my birthday). And I want to reflect a moment on my blogging life.

Some of you have followed me from the beginning and start to know quite a bit about me, Dirk my husband and our twin girls Jasmine & Juliet. 300 posts in 20,5 months of blogging and a staggering 28.370 visitors from 159 countries!! Did you know that there are only 195 countries in the world? That means that there are only a few countries left that haven't been visiting my blog. That is just AMAZING to me!!

That means about 1385 visitors/visits in 1 month or 45 visits/visitors a day! There are a lot of blogging friends out there in so many countries that I would like to THANK. It is so much more fun to write a blog if you know people are actually reading it!!

I've become friends with a few of you, and even met in real life! All of you have enriched my life in some way and I am very humbled by the fact that the inernet can create such a beautiful, precious, amazing connections!

That I am sitting here in South Africa in a different time zone and even in a different hemisphere and season to most of you and still can connect on a daily basis with you all. Most of my postings are blogged in my PJ's in the early morning, just after I have put my daughters on the bus at 7am. Knowing that most of you are still sleeping or having lunch/dinner or just turning in. Isn't that just amazing? Who could have thought about that say 10 years ago??

I really appreciate all of you, the lurkers who come once in a while and never comment, the people who by accident came onto my blog, the ones that saw a picture on google image (if you type in funky doodle donkey or the names of the girls on google image you see quite a bit of me), the other ones that know me as a friend in real life or a family member, blogging friends who I connected with through the wonderful journey of adoption, people from Thailand, the Netherlands, USA, Spain, Greece, South Africa: all the countries I have lived in and talk about in my posts... through the search engines they knew how to find me!

But above all the friends who come back regularly and give comments those are the ones I appreciate so much! (And you know who you are) I see them as my personal friends, not only blogging friends anymore. And I hope sincerely that if we haven't met YET, that we will find an opportunity to meet one day. Because I FOLLOW you as well! I read about your lives, your journey you are going through, I see your children grow up, I read about your ups and downs... just like you do mine. And all that from a long distance, but I don't feel that distance at all! I can see your faces, sometimes even hear your voices (when you post a mini movie) and that is something that I am thankful for and amazed by!!

So here a list of Thank You's in hopefully all the languages that have visited my blog! Sorry if I've missed yours... (but you can always give me a comment and I will add yours :-)

AFRIKAANS dankie
ALBANIAN faleminderit
ALSATIAN merci
ARABIC chokrane
ARABIC (ALGERIAN) saha
ARABIC (TUNISIAN) Barak Allahu fiik
ARMENIAN chnorakaloutioun
AZERI çox sag olun / tesekkur edirem
BAMBARA a ni kié
BASQUE eskerrik asko (southern basque) / milesker (northern basque)
BELARUSIAN Дзякую (dziakuju)
BENGALI dhanyabaad
BOBO a ni kié
BOSNIAN hvala
BRETON trugéré / trugaré / trugarez
BULGARIAN merci / blagodaria
BURMESE (thint ko) kyay tzu tin pa te
CATALAN gràcies
CEBUANO salamat
CHECHEN Баркал (barkal)
CHICHEWA zikomo
CHINESE xièxie
CORSICAN grazie
CROATIAN hvala
CZECH děkuji / díky
DANISH tak
DARI tashakor
DOGON gha-ana / birepo
DUTCH dank u wel / dank je wel
ENGLISH thank you
ESPERANTO dankon
ESTONIAN tänan / tänan väga (thank you very much)
EWÉ akpé
FAROESE takk fyri
FIDJIAN vinaka
FINNISH kiitos
FRENCH merci
FRISIAN dankewol
FRIULAN gracie
GALICIAN gracias / graciñas
GEORGIAN დიდი მადლობა (didi madloba)
GERMAN danke
GREEK ευχαριστώ (efharisto)
GUARANÍ aguyjé
GUJARATI aabhar
HAITIAN CREOLE mèsi
HAWAIIAN mahalo
HEBREW toda
HINDI dhanyavad
HUNGARIAN köszönöm
ICELANDIC takk
INDONESIAN terima kasih
INUPIAT taiku
IRISH GAELIC go raibh maith agat
ITALIAN grazie
JAPANESE arigatô
KABYLIAN tanemirt
KANNADA dhanyavadagalu
KHMER akun
KIKONGO matondo
KINYARWANDA murakoze
KIRUNDI murakoze
KOREAN kam sah hamnida
KOTOKOLI sobodi
KRIO tenki
KURDISH spas
LAO khob chai (deu)
LATIN gratias ago (from 1 pers.)
gratias agimus (from X pers.)
LATVIAN paldies
LIGURIAN grassie
LINGALA matondi
LITHUANIAN ačiū
LOW SAXON bedankt / dank ju wel
LUXEMBOURGEOIS merci
MACEDONIAN blagodaram
MALAGASY misaotra
MALAY terima kasih
MALAYALAM nanni
MALTESE niżżik ħajr / grazzi / nirringrazzjak
MARATHI aabhari aahe / aabhar / dhanyavaad
MONGOLIAN bayarlalaa (Баярлалаа)
NORWEGIAN takk
OCCITAN mercé / grandmercé
PAPIAMENTO danki
PASCUAN mauruuru
PASHTO manana
PERSIAN motashakkeram, mamnun (formal) / mochchakkeram, mamnun, mersi (informal)
POLISH dziękuję
PORTUGUESE obrigado (M speaking) / obrigada (F speaking)
QUECHUA sulpáy
ROMANI najis tuke
ROMANIAN mulţumesc
RUSSIAN спасибо (spacibo)
SAMOAN faafetai lava
SARDINIAN gratzias
SCOTTISH GAELIC tapadh leat (singular, familiar)
tapadh leibh (plural, respectful)
SERBIAN хвала (hvala)
SHIMAORE marahaba
SHONA waita (plural: maita)
SINDHI meharbani
SINHALA stuutiyi
SLOVAK dakujem
SLOVENIAN hvala
SOBOTA hvala
SPANISH gracias / muchas gracias
SWAHILI asante / asante sana
SWEDISH tack
TAGALOG salamat (po)
TAHITIAN mauruuru
TAJIK rahmat
TAMAZIGHT tanmirt
TAMIL nandri
TATAR rahmat
TELUGU dhanyavadalu
THAI ขอบคุณค่ะ (kop khun kha) - woman speaking
ขอบคุณครับ (kop khun krap) - man speaking
TIGRINYA yekeniele
TURKISH tesekkur ederim, sagolun
TWI Medase
UDMURT tau
UKRAINIAN дякую (diakuiu)
URDU shukriya
UZBEK rahmat
VIETNAMIEN cám ơn
WALOON ("betchfessîs" spelling) gråces / merci
thank you very much : gråces (merci) traze côps, gråces (merci) beacôp
WELSH diolch
WEST INDIAN CREOLE mèsi
WOLOF djiere dieuf
XHOSA enkosi
YIDDISH a dank
YORUBA o sheun
ZULU ngiyabonga (literally means : I give thanks)
siyabonga (= we give thanks)
ngiyabonga kakhulu (thanks very much)

I am planning to continue to blog about our lives and I am looking forward to even meet more new friends via this medium.

So please comment on my blog and start a new connection in life with a friend that is living here in Joburg and looking out for you!



Have a wonderful Friday and weekend ahead!
Mireille

From 2002 to 2009, JJ & Jezz over the years

I made a huge photo album on Facebook featuring Juliet & Jasmine from 2002 to 2009, but it has 200 pictures in it. So I can't do that here, but what I can do is take a picture from each year, so you can see how the girls developed from itsy bitsy babies to cute toddlers to small little ladies :-)

Below are the girls in all their cuteness from the year they were born in 2002 to today. As you can see I sometimes call the girls by their nickname and sometimes in their full names. Since we got the girls before the adoption was finalised and I didn't want to jinx anything we started calling them by their nicknames... everybody in Thailand has one, so the girls needed one too. Juliet Janelle became JJ and Jasmine Isabel became Jezz. We only used the nicknames till the adoption was finalised 13 months later! Nobody knew their full names yet, till the paperwork was done.

July 2002, the week JJ & Jezz arrived at home! They were 3 months old. They couldn't sit up yet, so I had to push them against each other, but they were tipping over the whole time. This photo took me a while.. :-)
Little did I know that photographing twins is REALLY hard, but at that point I had no clue whatsoever about raising twins or the road ahead of us. Oblivious is bliss! Jasmine left, Juliet right.



December 2003. After the adoption was done, we moved to the USA. Dirk was already living there and we went from a hot country to Connecticut where a lot of snow falls. So we needed some warm hats. I found this cool Dutch website who makes recycle design, re-creates pieces of other pieces of clothing. These hats used to be sweaters. The girls didn't smile a lot those early years it looks like. JJ left, Jezz right.



November 2004. Here some other hats from Flobberdewotsky, these are made of scraps of fabric, cool or what? We had a lot of remarks on those hats and the girls just look adorable in them. Jasmine on the left, Juliet on the right.



February 2005. I just cut the girls bangs/fringes. We are trying to grow the hair and get a nice model in it, till now it was just growing in all directions. In 2 months the girls turn 3 years. JJ left, Jezz right.



December 2006. As you can see I love hats, the one JJ is wearing (right) is from Oilily. I just love that shop and we had an outlet close by because I am not paying $70 for a hat! That was indeed the retail price... I bought it for $12.



July 2007. The girls are 5 now and really into fashion, hairdo's and all the accessoires that go along with it. Here I had to braid their hair when it was wet and they slept one night with the braids... and voila the result. So proud they were, they want curls all the time!



September 2008. We just moved to SA. And the girls are having International day at school. Proudly wearing their Thai dresses. Juliet left, Jasmine right.



March 2009. The girls are almost 7 and we are out for lunch. Juliet left, Jasmine right.



Jasmine and Juliet are the biggest blessing in our life! We enjoy these 2 little princesses so much. And when they were young I always thought this is the cutest and best stage... but then they grow older and I think that THAT is the nicest age. But you know what, each phase is their life is exciting, fun, adventurous and a gift to us! We truly are thrilled to be their parents!

If you like to see my photo album on Facebook, just make a friend request (but tell me that you read my blog, because I don't let anybody become my friend on Facebook) otherwise I will ignore the request.

Have a Terrific Tuesday!
Mireille

Funny Faces

The girls are off from school and yesterday I had some assignements to do for my photographic course and was fiddling with my camera a bit. The girls were making funny faces at me while I was looking through the viewfinder... so I shot a few of these silly faces.



But I can't withold you this funny face, even sillier than the girls!



My photographic course is really interesting and I am looking forward to learn a lot of new things! There is always space for more improvement, and in this field there is so much that I don't know yet. But the next year I will be busy learning and showing you some results... hopefully good ones ;-)

Have a terrific Thursday!
Mireille

Safari at Nungubane, Welgevonden Game Reserve

We are back from our safari at Nungubane (which means porcupine) and we've have seen the 'Big 5' again and so many other beautiful animals. Except the buffalo, we couldn't just find them. Searched for them a few times, and were close but just no luck this time.




I have never seen so many weaver birds in 1 tree!


The big 5 are referred to the Lion, Elephant, Buffalo, Black Rhino and the Leopard. The phrase Big Five game was coined by big-game hunters and refers to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot.
We even saw the Leopard! This is a hard to spot animal, and we were so lucky to see one immediately when we drove into the game park, but before I took out my camera he was gone... so sad to not catch it on my camera! He was sitting so nicely on a rock for us, and so close by but then when I moved my hand to take out my camera he was gone... :-(

The shadow of our Jeep while we were on a Sunset drive


When you go on a safari, you do 2 game drives of 3-4 hours. One at sunset and one at sunrise. Since then the animals are most active and easier to spot. During the day mostly they will sleep in the high grass or under some bushes, so then you can't see them. The drive happens in an open Jeep, so you are a lot of times really close to the animals. But as long as you sit in your Jeep you are farely safe. Although we met an Elepant bull, a huge one that was really nasty and chasing our Jeep and another one, picture below. We had to back up so if he would turn around we could escape easily. Elephants are fast runners and can be aggressive!



In between the game drives we relax at the lodge, have great lunches and dinners, but most of your days consist of game drives. The fun of these game drives is that you never know which animals you will run into. You can drive for an hour and not see anything and then suddenly you are eye to eye with a huge group of elephants, buffalo's, zebra's, wildebeest or impala's. It makes it so much fun! It's not like going to a zoo where you know what you will see in the next cage, no this is 42.000 hectare of nature and you just cruise around in the hope to see as much as possible. So these drives are very very exciting, worth doing at least once in your life time!!
Also nature is so pretty!



So here some pictures of the animals we have seen.


Wildebeest


And the remnants of a Wildebeest after the lions ate it... a skull!


Water bucks


Warthog






And now they had enough of us, so they showed us their nicely formed behind.. LOL









Kudu


Impala's, the fast food of the Bush... do you know how they call a baby Impala? a Happy Meal! LOL. Easy prey for most preditors












We had a great time with Phil our ranger, he could imitate most of the animals which made it fun, because he would call them and they would look up in our direction, and that makes a great picture!

The rest of the week the girls have still vacation, but we are just hanging around the house. The weather is nice, so they can go for a swim, play with the bunnies or just do some arts & crafts or play dates with their friends.

Have a wonderful day!
Mireille

We are going on SAFARI

The girls have a week off from school next week, mid-term, so we are taking a little trip and going on safari. We are hooked on safari's so each time we have a break we are exploring the different game reserves around us. Preferably the ones in malaria-free areas. I don't want to pump the kids full of malaria medication, so this time we are going to Nungubane Private game lodge in Limpopo province. Me and the girls have been in this huge game reserve already, in the beginning of this year when we went with my mom (maybe you remember, when we got attacked by the baboons). So we are going again, this time with Dirk. Same game reserve, different lodge. In January we were here.


Nungubane welcomes a maximum of ten guests in an atmosphere of intimate luxury. Guests are accommodated in spacious chalets, which command majestic views over the reserve from their individual decks.


Nungubane is known for the warmth of its welcome, the friendliness of its staff, and for its highly commended cuisine. Especially the cuisine I always look for! Lodge food is so superb, but some lodges are better than others. So I always choose the ones that mention their cuisine, because then I know it will be extra special!


The lodge is situated in Welgevonden Private Game Reserve. Which is one of South Africa’s most prestigious game reserves consisting of 36 000 hectares of pristine bushveld bordering on the renowned Marakele National Park.

Welgevonden is an International Biosphere Area. And is committed to maintaining the diversity of plants and animals through the conservation of biological resources, development of environmentally sound economic growth and the support of research, monitoring, education and information exchange related to conservation. Vegetation within Welgevonden is classified as savannah i.e. wooded grasslands. The Savannah Biome is home to a diverse range of plant and animal life with over 5500 plants endemic to Southern Africa.

Sounds good or what? I can't wait to hop on that open jeep and start exploring the reserve. Looking into the eyes of an wild animal, be one with nature, get pampered at the lodge and get some adrenaline pumping through our bodies when indeed you are eye in eye with a huge elephant, buffalo, rhino, see a flock of zebra's or a journey of giraffes.... can't wait!


I will of course show you some pictures next week!

Enjoy your day!
Mireille

Out of Africa

Life is fascinating!

Have a good one,
Mireille

The smaller things in life...

that keeps the girls fascinated! Like a little snail that was gliding on our doorstep this morning when we went out to catch the school bus.





After putting it safely back into some green shrubs the girls were happy to go to school! According to Jasmine, she wanted to come and visit us here in paradise.




Paradise you think, well.. I have to tell you this conversation I had with her 2 weeks ago. We whisked our bunny Winter away from our garden and brought it to the local pet store, so she could mate with a male bunny. We left it there for 1 week to make sure she is really pregnant. But Jasmine was a bit worried and sad to leave her behind in the pet store. Because she told me that Winter would miss 'Paradise' (our home and garden where the bunnies live freely). I said to her that Winter will come back soon and then she has babies in her belly and we can give even more bunnies a life in Paradise.... she thought about it for a moment and then her face cleared up! Jasmine and Juliet will have to take care of a litter of baby bunnies in about 2 weeks, they can't wait!! Luckily gestation time for a rabbit is only 28 days.

So now we have another pet that lives in 'Paradise'... our newly made friend the snail ;-) Little things that make kids happy!!

Have a Terrific Tuesday!
Mireille

I ♥ Faces, Week 38: "Blue' photo challenge

At I ♥ Faces this week the challenge is Blue. This can be a color or a feeling/mood, as long as it is prominent.

This is a picture I took when visiting Lesedi cultural village here in SA, about half an hour from our house. Different tribes from South Africa live here. These woman are Ndebele women and are always very colorful dressed, just like their houses. All the primary colors are used in their dress and paints. But the blue comes out to me, in their necklace and skirt of the lady on the left. Juliet and Jasmine are a bit unsure to sit in between them... so funny!






Check out the other contestants at I ♥ Faces, there is a lot of blue!

Have a Magnificent Monday!
Mireille

More pictures from Tatjana's shoot

Here are some more pictures my friend Tatjana took of us last weekend. I am starting soon to study Photography as well. At first I wanted to do the same course my friend is doing, but decided that a full-time course is hard to combine with my family life and all the other things I already am involved in. So now I am starting on October 6Th at the College of Digital Photography These are part-time courses and I can adjust them to my schedule. I am starting with the Fundamentals of digital photography (mandatory) and then I will do the more advanced photography like Photographs with impact, people photography, outdoor photography, creative photography and studio photography. I don't think I will do the wedding photography, but who knows I decide later to add that as well. And on top of these photography courses they also have basic and advanced Photoshop that I will add to the mix.

So enough classes to follow! Each subject has 3-5 classes. In total this will almost take 1 year to finish, with my vacations in between for sure. But I am looking forward to start on October 6Th and I will show you some of my results while I need to do my assignments an I like you to be my judge and give some feedback please!!

In general there is a rule, your face in or out of the shadow, but not like JJ's face here and her moving hand, so Tatjana cropped this picture and just showed Jezz, but I still like JJ's sweet face in this, so I kept it like the original :-)


Jasmine


Juliet


And all of us


I like the different angle in this picture, not so traditional



So soon some work of mine!
Enjoy your weekend! Dirk flew off to Europe and is gone for 9 days, I need to entertain myself! Probably end up beading a lot... need to show you some of my work, soon!
Love, M

SA Heritage Day 2009

South Africans across the country will celebrate their rich and diverse culture today, Thursday 24 September, the country's national Heritage Day.

During September, in line with the Heritage Month theme of "celebrating South African craft", the Department of Arts and Culture has been paying tribute to the crafters, many from rural areas, who have contributed to the development of the country's rich heritage.

South Africa's crafters have over the years produced a vibrant craft legacy using natural resources and recycled products such as plastic bags, paper, cardboard boxes and wire.











Although the craft industry has moved from being an expression of artistry to entrepreneurship, practitioners still lack protection from exploitation.

The main Heritage Day event will take place in the rural village of Moroke in Tubatse, which falls under the Greater Sekhukhune District in Limpopo province.
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe will join the people of Limpopo when they kick-start the day's activities with a cleansing ceremony at Tjate Heritage site in Sekhukhune.

The cleansing ceremony takes place every year as part of the festival, which commemorates the legacy of King Sekhukhune I, who resisted British colonialists on the battlefield at Tjate in Ntsoaneng village in 1878.

The celebrations became an annual event in 2004, when the statue of King Sekhukhune I was unveiled in Ntsoaneng, where women and children used to seek refuge in times of war.

During the annual ceremony, the Kgoshikgolo (supreme king) slaughters a goat and the elders come together to pay respects to the Sekhukhune ancestors.

The cleansing ceremony will be performed by both traditional leaders and healers.

The girls have still school, since the American International school follows the American holidays and not the SA. However, Dirk has a day off, so we are going to play a round of golf before he leaves to make a trip to Europe for the next 10 days.

Have a Terrific Thursday!
Mireille