School holiday fun

Posted on July 19, 2015 by Bo

My niece loves visiting us during the school holidays and we make sure we spoil her rotten! With no kids of our own, we squash as much as we can into the time she’s with us – movies, eating out, Box Office, junk food; you name it! (okay, so maybe we’re the ones who enjoy it more!)

I took a couple of days off work during the July holidays so that I could spend some quality time with her and it was really great! We had such fun! She’s 13 years old and makes me laugh with her views of the world around her. I seriously can’t remember having such big opinions about world events as she does. But it’s awesome for me to be able to chat to her, to watch her grow and to spend some really ‘girlie time’ together.

Some of my favourite moments …

Breakfast at Knead – I love this place! And so did Dom with the biggest* strawberry milkshake. It didn’t stop her from ordering a large slush 30 mins later at the movies!

Fun at Bounce, Waterfall Estate (and yes, even I put my socks on & gave it a try!) We were both bushed afterwards and headed to my mom for some afternoon relaxing and lunch.

Making chocolate memories at the Cadbury’s Marvellous Creations pop-up shop. Pure evil! But I just love the two new flavours.

The house is always very quiet when she goes home. Thanks for a wonderful time Dom! We love you lots!

Mid-year life appraisals

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Bo

Mid-year appraisals are under way at work. Amid all the stress and deadlines and noise, it affords you the opportunity to stop, to breathe and re-assess where you’re at with your goals and projects.

It’s a case of looking at what you committed to do, your progress, feedback from stakeholders and sometimes a re-negotiation of the goals and deadlines.

It’s a good idea to do a similar review of your personal life too which is what I’ve started to do. Here’s a brief assessment of two things which have stood out for me:

Home: Work life balance is nowadays easier for me to get right than KK. He has started working Saturdays and will bring work home to do almost every evening. I get it, I do. So what we’ve done is committed to having ‘date nights’ and spending quality Sundays together. Even if this means chilling at home and taking long naps after a braai on the couch. It’s ‘us’ time and a compromise. As long as we find the time to connect, that’s what matters.

Sunday braai’ing with KK and the girls

Running: Everyone knows that I hibernate during Winter and don’t run. But this year has been different. I’ve surprised myself with my discipline in getting to track during the week and forcing myself to wake up on Saturday and Sunday mornings to train. It’s been hard and I’ve hated some days! But so far, so good! You know that cheesy saying that Summer bikini bodies are formed in the Winter. This better ring true for running bodies!

Random pics snapped by Graham Block at the Sunday Harriers long runs – Thanks Sharon and Tamryn for the company!

It’s almost Spring and one of my good Twitter friends, Lucy, has posted a photograph of jasmine flowering in her garden in Knysna! I love jasmine. It signals a turn in the seasons for me. This gives me goosies! Things are always different when Summer arrives. They are! And so far, I’m on track with all my goals to deliver some great results!

Here’s to the strong ones. #womensday

Posted on August 10, 2014 by Bo

It was pure co-incidence that my sister and niece visited me on Women’s Day. But what better excuse than to head out to celebrate a fabulous girlie lunch together!

I’m always reminded of the strength, guts and determination of single moms when I hang out with my sister. They really have it tough and yet she always has a positive attitude and often makes me feel bad for complaining. Happy Women’s Day Gwynn! Dom is growing up to be a beautiful girl! I love you both *this much*!

12 year run

Posted on September 15, 2013 by Bo

When I met KK, I was not a runner. In fact I could think of nothing worse than to put myself through “that kind of torture”. I never even belonged to a gym. Yet when we met, we just clicked. I would often go with him to the road races, but always take a pillow with and snooze on the back seat of the car. It was bliss. It never seemed to bug either one of us that our weekends were so unmatched.

Just out of the blue, I decided that maybe I should give running a try. I hated it. Those first few kilometres were absolute hell and there were days when I questioned why I was actually trying it. But I hung in there. Starting with 4km runs around my neighbourhood, then a 10km and finally managing to do half marathons.

This weekend, KK and I celebrated our 12 year wedding anniversary. Time has flown by so quickly and I’m amazed at just how much we’ve both changed and also grown closer. I truly believe that the fact that I started running has meant we are able to share our time together more often.

I’m sometimes asked if the fact that we both run makes our relationship stronger. Yes and no. A part of me always thinks back to those early days and remembers that even though I never ran, I still supported KK and knew how much it meant to him. I was still there. And even though we might not run at the same pace today, the fact that I now also wake up at ungodly hours on a weekend to go run a race means a lot. To the both of us.

It shouldn’t really matter what each other decides to do in life, as long as we do it together.