I’ve had a good birthday today.  Quiet… but good.

The stuff list on my other blog was just the trick, and I got a whole host of things from the list Because I didn’t get up to much apart from shopping and kids stuff and having dinner at my parents’ house, I thought I’d make today’s blog post with photos taken everywhere I went (apart from the shops)

My birthday actually started last night, when Madelein and her clan came over and we ordered take-away pizza from Colcacchios… that has to be the BEST take-away pizza we’ve ever had… and we managed to order wheat free pizza too!

I got so many compliments today about this perfume… even Connor told me that I smelt really nice

I finally, finally have something from Le Creussett

Oh and I just love these tulips that I got from my mom yesterday… and I just discovered the macro function on my new lens!!

I went to the opening of Tranquil Body Therapy at their market stall in Lifestyle Garden Centre… definitely buying stuff when I go there again tomorrow as I’ve discovered that Leigh-Ann’s (she owns it) kids creams are made without sulphur and sulphates!!   And the mens range looks quite good too.

Then it was dog walking time in the most beautiful golden light

And finally my mom’s famous chocolate cake…

See the full set of 2010 photo-a-day photos on my Project 365 Flickr Set.

I went home a little early yesterday afternoon because of the kids, and used the opportunity to take the kids and puppies for a walk in the park.   There was the most amazing light, and even though I didn’t manage to get good photos of the dogs, I couldn’t resist grass and sunset shots!  The dogs were not easy to photograph today, as there was another husky taking a walk… and they just wanted to play… which is not the easiest thing in the world when you’re juggling dog on leash, and camera, and child.

We really do have beautiful sunsets at this time of year.

See the full set of 2010 photo-a-day photos on my Project 365 Flickr Set.

The sunset this evening was particularly spectacular, so I HAD to stop on the way home to take a photo.  I know, the setting sun seems to be a theme for me this week

You can see the light glinting off the cars in the road on the first one.  I considered cropping it out, but it looked unbalanced without it.

See the full set of 2010 photo-a-day photos on my Project 365 Flickr Set.

I just LOVE the sunsets at this time of year, and I was in the perfect spot in the traffic this afternoon to stop at the park where we take the dogs walking to get these photos.  And to top it off, I managed to get the cabbage tree silhouetted… and they’re my favourite indigenous tree that grows in the area.

I can’t wait for the “Day After” shoot I’m doing on Saturday in the veld

See the full set of 2010 photo-a-day photos on my Project 365 Flickr Set.

We planned this weekend months ago with our friends Madi and Pierre.  You see Lance turned 40 last weekend, and Pierre’s 40th birthday is next weekend. It was the perfect excuse to go away for a night to Forum Homini in the Cradle of Humankind.  Yes, we’ve been there before, and we enjoyed it so much that we had to go back again

One night only, because it’s expensive… and your stomach would never cope with eating that amount of excellent food for 2 days in a row!

And on the subject of food… it was good, very good! Dinner was a 6 course affair with wine teasers chosen for each dish, and included a honeydew soup with truffle foam, deep fried risotto, rooibos smoked beef fillet and ended with blue cheese ice-cream with honeycomb.   Oh and then breakfast of course was just as filling with 4 courses including a frozen yoghurt and poached fruit with chocolate shavings… and then salmon frittata… before a full English breakfast.

Because it was their birthdays, when we got back to the suite after supper, there was an enormous bunch of roses on the table, and the bed had rose petals on it… very romantic

Pierre and Madi while we were sitting on the deck having drinks in the afternoon.

We took a walk in the late afternoon…

We were so very lucky to see the resident hippos! You get warned not to go walking after sunset because the hippos come out the water, and last time we went we didn’t even see them. We saw 3 this time… and they were watching us pretty closely so we didn’t want to get too close to them… I could have done with a longer lens actually.

This is the hotel, as taken from the bridge… the dam with the hippos was behind me at the time. Just beyond the small dam, you can see little pieces of wall… those are the suites that we stayed in… the hotel is built to blend into the environment and veld/grasses have been planted on the roof of every building.

Oh and then my favourites… the sunsets… the sky was absolutely magnificent last night!!

See the full set of 2010 photo-a-day photos on my Project 365 Flickr Set.