Last week in my blog I mentioned how calm I have been on this new client project. I had attributed it to emotional growth, but then those voices I have in my head  started again to tell me I am not clever enough, educated enough, young enough…….just not enough. Those voices reminded me that I am now medicated and the meds have probably had enough time to take proper effect, so maybe that is to account for my new found sense of confidence and peace? Either way, whatever the root cause I am happy with the outcome and will not question it.

On Monday the client still had not given us access to data or any documentation so my colleague and I were told to leave at 1pm. I stopped to collect Norman and we went to Allegria Cafe for a late lunch. It was a lovely day so we sat outside in the shade.

As it was warm Norm and I both decided to order salads. They had a crumbed chicken salad on special and I ordered that with extra avocado. The avocado was creamy and perfectly ripe.

It was really delicious and fresh. Allegria do one of the best chicken schnitzels in Hout Bay and they did not disappoint me that day.

After we finished our lunch we headed over to try and find the things I still needed for my Operation Shoebox Christmas boxes. I chose 2 little girls aged 2 years. On the weekend Norm and I bought the clothing and toys and on Monday we bought the other bits we needed. 

Both little girls said they love baby dolls so we got them both the same doll as it was cute and small enough for the box. I think it is important for the development of a child’s identity to have a baby doll they can relate to in appearance. It was really difficult to locate a black baby considering we are in Africa. She has a dummy and a teddy and her outfit can come off. I think the babas will love it.

One little girl also said she loves Peppa Pig and we tried to find her a few things with Peppa Pig on them. She will get a Peppa Pig hat, a long Peppa Pig shirt which could be worn as a nightgown, and finally a colouring book with stickers which are Peppa Pig.  The other girl has a cute unicorn on her long t shirt but the other items are the same. In addition both girls get a facecloth, a bar of soap, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a packet of sweets, crisps and a juice box. The sweets are jelly pink princesses.

Both girls will get a peak cap, a white vest T shirt, a turquoise ‘skort’ which is a skirt with shorts underneath, and a sleeveless T shirt dress. All items are in colours which will blend to mix and match. One girl likes red and her dress is primary coloured stripes, the other girl’s dress has cartoon dinosaurs on it.

I always use plastic boxes instead of the cardboard shoe boxes as the kiddies or mom’s can use them for storage. As the kiddies are both toddlers it will make a nice little box for their personal treasures. I gave them the left over stickers too.

I also went to Woolworth’s and they had several things in my size so I bought a casual maxi dress, a wrap around dress in a gorgeous bright blue and a black skirt with a funky hem. All can be worn to work or for casual events.

We also shopped for food so on Monday night Norm cooked chicken sausages, sweet potato rounds and sweet corn on the cob.

On Tuesday morning I still had no access to the data at work but we finally got our identity cards so we could leave the office without having to knock to be let in if we had to go to the loo! To celebrate my new found access freedom we decided to go down to get a cooked breakfast for a change instead of my usual morning fare of a trough of milky cappuccino. My colleague and I both chose bacon and egg rolls and took them back to our desks. I took off my long sweater and bit happily into the roll to find that the yolk of the egg leapt out of the roll, shot across my cheek, skittered across my forearm, dropped down to my keyboard and decorated the Z to the V in sticky yolk. What a bloody disaster. I cleaned it all up, finished my breakfast and carried on. About midday I reached up to push back my hair to discover that the side of my hair was stuck together with yolk which had hardened into a crust. It brushed out luckily, but how had it looked until then?!

On Monday night I had put a beef, mushroom, onion and carrot stew into the slow cooker and left it overnight. It was absolutely divine the next night! We served it with cauliflower mash. The meat was tender and the sauce full of flavour.

The next night we tried a new recipe for cooking brussel sprouts in the air fryer. We converted incorrectly from Fahrenheit to Celsius and ended up burning them to a crisp. OK, me it was me. Norm left me in charge for 10 minutes.

We had kassler chops, fried mushrooms and the rest of the corn on the cob. Next time we will succeed with the sprouts I am confident. (i.e. Norm will do it)

Norm had meetings on Thursday so we had takeaways and I chose sushi from K1 Sushi in Hout Bay. 

I had salmon roses, bamboo roses topped with prawns, prawn roses and a salmon and prawn nigiri. It was delicious.

On Friday Lily came down for the weekend and we chose to have Chinese food for dinner that night. We ordered from Blue Lotus and we both had the crispy chili chicken and Lily ordered spring rolls and I had the prawn dim sum and we shared them.

The food was great, the only thing we could complain about was the spring rolls. They had a strong almost mustardy flavour which put us both off. They were also a bit soggy. The chicken was perfect as was the dim sum.

Caitlin came around early on Saturday to collect us as we were off to the northern suburbs for wedding dress shopping. For the first booking we went about an hour drive away to Durbanville.

It was a lovely salon, the sales attendant was also very good.

That is not her, that is a dummy. Just FYI.

My mom happened to be awake so we video called her so she could participate in viewing the dresses Lily tried on. Caitlin and the attendant faffed around while I sat holding the phone for Mom.

There were two dresses I loved but one was too fancy for the boho beach vibe of Lily’s wedding venue, but the other one has made it to our top three list.

We went onto a third bridal shop but it was horrid. We did not have an appointment as they would not answer the phone but as it is a large mall type shop we risked it. They managed to find an attendant but she was not very attentive. Caitlin had to join Lily to help dress her as the attendant buggered off. All of the dresses looked a bit cheap but the only one we liked was tagged at R15,000 so they only looked cheap. The music was horrid there too, it was a mix of trance music and Indian bollywood style. I could not wait to get out of there.

On Monday Lily and Caitlin have an appointment to try on the top 2 dresses again at a wedding fair and if they buy one at the fair it could save up to 10% off which is great news.

After we finished with wedding dresses we headed over to Sable Square to China Town to try and find fans and sun umbrellas for the wedding guests to cope with the heat. First we went for sushi as we were starving. We went to Saki Sushi which have a conveyor belt and an all you can eat special. We got seats around the conveyor belt and quickly got stuck in. We all ate until we almost felt nauseous. Oink. Then we had a wander around china town looking for the things Lily wanted just to give her an idea about costs. I bought a black shredded lace tutu for Halloween. It appears that I am not going out this year but it will be worn next year. Caitlin bought a necklace and Lily bought a very cute shirt and 2 cute hippy type hats. It was a lovely day but we were knackered and headed home after China Town. Caitlin stayed to chat a few minutes then was off as we were meeting early today.

We had plans to meet up at the Penguin exhibit in Simons Town at 11.30. We were meeting Caitlin and Wes as well as Calum, our nephew from Scotland.

The queues and crowds were hectic and reminded me why we never go there. We had a wander all around the penguin areas but it was very hot in the sun, very windy by the sea and I was hungry, so as soon as I could I steered them all off to the harbour.

It was nice to spend time with my girls.

It was a stunner of a day but the wind was a bit hectic.

It was lovely however.

The penguins are too cute.

We agreed to meet at Bertha’s which is right by the water and has a lovely view.

However the outside patio was packed so they found a nice table inside for us all.

Looks like we exhausted poor Calum.

I woke him up.

The boys all had Hake and calamari but the girls and I all had prawns.

On the way home we came across Chapman’s Peak which is so stunning. I filmed it for you guys. Between all of the curves and my crappy filming skills I hope it does not make you nauseous.

It has been a brilliant weekend with family, fun and excitement. I hope you all had a lovely weekend too.

I wish you all a happy week ahead. Until next time, Kisses from the Kitten xoxoxoxox