Cliffy's in hospital

Our Dalmatian was not well yesterday. Well, more than not well. We suspect he was poisoned, which happens this time of the year, a precursor to affimative shopping. We took him to the vet and they couldn't find any blood parasites (tick bite fever ruled out) so they're going with poisoning. The vet said that because we left it for longer than 24 hours, that he might not recover from it and we have to face the chance of him not coming home. We couldn't tell the boys that and they kept asking when Cliffy was coming home. I just don't have the heart to tell them what the worst case scenario could be. We'll just pray that he makes a recovery and that he'll come home in the next few days.

Fingers crossed that he comes home.

Sunday night / Monday morning

So, that was the weekend. And a long weekend - NOGAL!

Mommies don't have long weekends, or holidays for that matter. Especially when daddies go on roadtrips and camp out with their friends to a live concert in the bundus. Not that I'm complaining... I've seen UB40 twice already and he doesn't get out with his friends (work APPARENTLY doesn't count as getting out, he says) and I enjoy not having him around for a day or 2. The house stays tidier when he's not around, which is strange coz I always thought it was the 4 and 6yr old who were responsible for the constant state of unrest. This is a very recent and shocking discovery.

So he's home and snoring next to me: comforting and annoying at the same time. Thank God I don't PMS coz I might have been widowed by now. There are a few women sitting in jails in the US coz they just got gatvol of their husbands' snoring. I'm totally sucking this out of my thumb, but it sounds credible, right? Anything is possible in the USofA!

I don't know why I'm awake at this ungodly hour of 12:18am. The only way I usually keep my eyes open at this time of the night is with Red Bull cans. The boys wake up too damn early for me to even contemplate sleeping in, so it's generally a good idea to get some decent shut-eye from 11pm coz you've gotta sleep with one eye open from 5am onwards when they start their day. I really hope they keep up this early morning routine when they start school. We're usually late getting to preschool, but that's because it's not real school. Next year will be a totally different story. Summer's ok coz it's impossible to sleep past 6 o'clock anyway, but winter. Oh how I hate winter! This is going to a trying time for me. The true test of motherhood!

I'm just rambling on about absolute rubbish now. Let me share some pics that has made my weekend enjoyable...

Meet my new obsession...

Her name is Sharryy and she's available from www.stevemadden.com.

I don't know if she's available in South Africa yet, but I will be visiting the Sandton City store tomorrow morning to see if she's there and what the damage to hubby's budget is going to be.

Sharryy has a younger, naughtier sister...

Vippper, also at www.stevemadden.com.

I don't know so much about this one, I may just bring her home too. It's more winter than summer, don't you think? I prefer more open shoes in summer, like...

Julia is available from www.plum.com.es.



I think she's gorgeous, just the right height, open enough for summer, closed enough to make your foot feel secure. Good thing I didn't see her at Bulhafi when I picked up my Courtneys on Saturday coz I may have brought her home too. Wait, why's that a good thing...?

I need to get more flats. I buy all these heels and can never wear them coz I don't have a life to go with the shoes. They're usually reserved for date nights, which will only happen from February again when my brother's back. Or maybe we can take advantage of the mother-in-law when she comes up in Jan. MMmmmm.

The cheaper obsession, nails... I took off the blue and glitter on my fingers and replaced it with matt white (not my favourite finish, it looks like Tipp-Ex) with a blue, frosty looking glitter polish. Very chic. It takes the edge of start white nails.

Tomorrow, Sandton City for The Smurfs (I'm a Smurf freak and I'm using the kids as an excuse to get a picture with Smurfette, Clumsy and Pappa Smurf) and a pop in to Steve Madden, and if the kids will allow it, a pop in to Zara. I also need to track down a Christmas tree coz the real live one we had last year is real dead now. Hubby wants to get a plastic tree, I'm thinking real live indigenous tree that can be planted on the 12th day of Christmas. 2 birds... I bought Christmas tree decorations at Woolies last year for 50% off in the week before Christmas. I'm hoping I'll have the same luck this year and add to the collection. I also want to start a tradition of buying one exquisite/funky/different tree ornament and have the kids each make one every year. We've not done this previously, the tree was a first last year coz we always said that we'd decorate the tree outside that looks like a Christmas tree, but never did.

Ok, I've hit writers block. I'll add on to this if I remember in the waking hours of today. Otherwise I'll just add another title. I've been wanting to write about my attraction to certain types of people and discovering why I have the attraction. The person I'm thinking of right now is Johnny Clegg. Yes, I see you raising your eyebrows, but it will all become clearer when my head is clearer and I put finger to keyboard in the daylight hours.

Summer is fun, skin cancer is real.

The arcade I'd prefer my kids to hang out at

Sci-Bono is the type of place I wouldn't mind my kids spending hours at. In fact, you don't even realise that you spend hours there coz there's so much to do. And it's perfect for my 6 and 4yr olds because there are enough activities for their short attention spans.

It's a science discovery centre and there are, what seems like hundreds of interactive stalls/displays for them to play with. Much of it is above their level of understanding, but they're interacting with science so when they're ready to digest the scientific concepts, they will have a better understanding of it because they have experienced it already.

They also have exciting, interactive workshops from time to time, and once a month host "Speak2aScientist" for older kids and adults.

Worth checking out if you live in the Joburg area. See http://www.sci-bono.co.za/.

Rowan Atkinson

I have a huge crush on Rowan Atkinson. Not Mr Bean, or Jonny English, Rowan Atkinson. I can't tell you what it is... It may be the very English accent, the lankiness, the rather large hands...

I also love Top Gear, so imagine my delight at stumbling upon this clip on youtube.

Mmmmm

The cheaper obsession

And while I have a minute (aka while the kids are asleep), my other, cheaper obsession: nails. Or more specifically, nail polish. Also something that I found a fondness for in the last year. I figure the reason I'm getting so "girly" is because I'm surrounded by testosterone. Other than my husband and 2 sons, we have my brother living with us while he's studying, and we have two tenants renting our out buildings who are also not chicks. So by painting my nails, doing my hair, buying (not necessarily wearing) makeup and buying (not necessarily wearing) high heels I'm metaphorically peeing out my territory.

ANYWAY, I'm liking glitter polishes. I always thought they were too Barbie-peel-off for a woman, but the colours and varieties are fun for summer and can add an edginess to big-girl nail polish. The first glitter polish I used was a free gift with the November/December 2011 Marie Claire. I got the champaign glitter colour and I wear that more than one day a week, which says alot because I usually change my nail colour every day. It has fine, shimmery glitter and longer confetti-type pieces in it as well. And two coats gives you good coverage. It pops with a coloured base coat.



Another colour I'm more than likely going to put on my nails tonight is LA Girl's Rock Star in Overdose. I have it on my nails on it's own, but I'm thinking a baby blue base coat will make it stand out more. I'll post pics later, but below is from the LA Girl Cosmetics website. It really doesn't do the colour justice.

I'm not fussy about the nail polishes I buy. I usually buy one Essie colour per month and any cheaper brands during the month. My cheapie favourites are essence available at Clicks, LA Girl available at Dischem. I also have a few Avon colours, one or two Woolies nail polishes and a few of those really cheapy nail polishes you get in the bins at Dischem with their beauty extraveganzas.

Some of those colours last surprisingly long. Sometimes they last longer than an Essie colour. This is one of the reasons I change my nail polish every day because I can't stand chipped nail polish. Being a stay-at-home mom and not having a maid, I do all my own housework, and that's the ultimate test for staying power of any nail polish. I had a Revlon Charlie colour on my nails on Friday-Saturday and I did dishes, cleaned bathrooms and floors and the nail polish didn't budge. And that was without a base and top coat. Essie doesn't last that long. It could be in the application and could need a base and top coat, which I don't do. But then I get bored easily and have so many colours to choose from that I prefer to change my nail colour from day to day. It's also dedicated me-time. I can't do anything coz "my nails are wet", which annoys my husband to no end. You can imagine why...

I'll post some more pictures to this post once the monsters are down to sleep tonight. They just woke up from their afternoon nap so they'll be hounding me for stuff in about a minute.

This is too much for facebook and I don't know if I want to bore my friends with it.

So the title basically sums up why I thought I'd start this blog. I often have new experiences that I think I'm going to obsess about and only because my friends don't share my interests or I don't get to see them often enough to gush over my latest find. That's what I do, obsess. I especially obsess over something I can't find. I get so into it that it's all I can think about for a while. Especially shoes. I have become, at the ripe old age of 35, a shoe girl!

So anyways... the reason I decided on this blog today is because I've finally found the shoe that I've been obsessing over for the last, I don't know, 4-5 months. And it's gorgeous. More gorgeous in real life than on the laptop screen. It's...

Meet my new best friend, Courtney*. I haven't fallen in love with a shoe as much as I have with Ms Courtney. Partly because I couldn't find her for the longest time and partly because she's a beautiful, simple, understated, yet high impact shbootiege (that's shoebootiewedge). In time you'll see that I love simple, unfussed styles.

So, how did I finally meet my gorgeous Courtney? I had an appointment at my optometrist and had a few minutes to kill as I was early (that in itself you'll see is divine intervention). So I see there's a new shoe shop 2 doors from the optometrist and who do I see smiling at me sweetly in the window... So I go inside, find her, fit her on and it's that full circle moment. She fits perfectly, she's light, comfortable and most importantly, GORGEOUS!

But now I need to rush off to get my contacts fitted (first time user), go home for 3 hours, come back for another consultation and obviously go back to see what other friends Courtney's brought with her to her new showroom. And as it turns out, she's brought some of her besties too.

The Bron* Sisters



Ang*

And a whole lot more that you'll find on the Plum Delicious website, that I'm just too lazy to post (Well, not really lazy I just have some other things to do but I really would prefer to look at beautiful shoes all day).

The shop is Bulhafi and they can be found... (I don't really want to post this, I want to keep it all to myself, but I can't sustain their tenancy, so I suppose I have to tell you) at Woodmead Value Mart, shop S, Tel 011 656 4088, in between New Balance and The New EQ Factory Outlet. I think they will be seeing a LOT more of me in the weeks to come. Only problem is, I need a life to go with these shoes as I'm a stay-at-home mom and part-time student and wear flats 99.9% of my life. Not that that's going to stop me from filling my closet with these babies...

*I didn't name these babies, they belong to Plum. Pictures are swiped from the Plum Delicious website.