Christmas is the time for giving...

Merry Christmas everyone! May you have a blessed time with your families and may 2010 be so much more than you bargained for!!!

This year my wonderful husband, Werner, decided he will use the wonderful talent God gave him, and paint something for the family for Christmas gifts.

I am so proud of my darling!

This one is for my sis, Christal...

...a black & white vase for Shani & Charles....

...leafs for Skoonma Annette & Skoonpa Manie...

...and a beautiful flower for Pa Ristoff & Evelyn.

And the Christmas gift he gave me? A baby!!!!!!! Yes, I am pregnant and super excited!!!

Lots of love,

Marika =)

Odds & Ends before Christmas...

Good Morning!

I have to tell you a story regarding this frame I made. Remember the "SWEM" I made for Susan, and her little angel loving it so much, and calling it Fantasties? Well, she loves seeing herself in the mirrors, so I made this mirrored daisy for Annabelle. Cute, huh?

Madre is spoiling her colleagues with pot stands for Christmas....

...one for Alida...

...and one for Zelna.

Shani ordered this chocolate brown keyring holder with white polka dots, and cake-forks bended so you can hang keys, or dishcloths, etc.

These are some of Tekkies' projects. Super nice!!!

That's all for now. Enjoy your Christmas!

Marika =)

SWEM! dis somer!

Halloa!

Susan het die mooi letters gekoop vir by hulle swembad, en gevra dat ek dit moet mosaic met spieëltjies. Selfs haar 3 jarige dogtertjie, Annabelle, het gesê dit lyk "fantasties"! So cute! =)



Ek het ook hieruit inspirasie getap en my nuwe besigheidskaartjies ontwerp en laat druk. Hierdie is die voorkant:

Europe Trip - Rome (24-26 Oct)

Saturday, 25 October 2009

We arrived in Rome, took a shower, and headed out the door. The Metro station was on the same block as the hotel, and for the first time this tour, we not only had a double bed, we had a queen size bed. Naaaice!

Werner was feeling sicker by the minute, but we still wanted to go get that first pizza! And with that I had home made Tiramisu, and Wer his first Gelato.

This church was right outside our hotel, and we actually went in on the Monday - beautiful - nothing like our churches here! The pizzeria was at Piazza del Popolo.

I sent Wer to bed after lunch, as he was really not feeling well. That evening we had dinner as Pastarito. OMG! What an amazing place! The have 21 different pastas, and about 15 sauces. So you mix 'n match the pasta with the sauce you want! Their pizzas are amazing as well! True Italian food, and of course, every meal had to be finished by Gelato!!!

Sunday, 26 October 2009

Okay, so I was very disappointed when I found out that the Vatican is closed on Sundays and that we will be arriving too late on the Saturday to make it. But, fantastic news!!! Every last Sunday of the month, the Vatican is open & free! So guess what - we went to Vatican City! A country within a city.


































Some artwork inside the Vatican, including the Greek Roman Goddess. In Rome they call her Diana of Ephesus, and in Greece they call her Artemis. She is the daughter of Zeus, and what made Werner pose with her for this photo, was the fact that she has many breasts! Somewhere in Rome, she was made into a fountain, and the water comes out of, well, her nipples...






























































































The Pope & I.











Werner with St Peters Basilica in the background. We later "stumbled upon" the Basilica, as we couldn't find it to get blessed by the Pope! :(













There were so many priests inside the Vatican, and finally I asked one for a photo! I did all these hand signals, thinking that he was Italian. After the photo was taken, he said in a very clear English: "God Bless You". Like Wer also said - it meant a lot coming from him! So at least we got blessed by someone that day!








And then, out of nowhere, I saw one of my "bucket list" items! A Swiss Guard in the original uniform! They are supposed to be the best guards in the world, and protect Vatican City.










After our wonderful Vatican experience and seeing the Sistine Chapel, and actually seeing the Creation of Adam, or as we call it, the Finger of God, we had some lasagna and headed for a sightseeing tour.

We saw Piazza Novonna and the Four Rivers Fountain by Bernini.

The Pantheon was another one of Werner's favourites!



At the Trevi fountain we saw this little devil, and then stared at the wonderfulness of the fountain, and of course, donated a few coins!






































I guess no trip to Rome is complete without seeing the Colosseum!






























Monday, 26 October 2009








We didn't do much today, but we did manage to get some stamps, and mail the last postcards!











We walked around a bit, and saw this old nun, and naturally I wanted a photo with her! She was so kind and couldn't understand a word English, but we managed to tell her we are from South Africa, and she was very 'thrilled', to say the least!









After that we had lunch at Pastarito again, and took a taxi to the airport. Rome has a massive airport, and we didn't have nearly enough time to enjoy all the duty free shops! After a truly terrible flight, it was finally home sweet home! Thanks to Pa Manie for playing taxi!


Well, folks, that it - our vacation in a nutshell!

Watch this space - I have some more orders for mosaic, and will be posting them shortly!

Marika (",)

Europe Trip - Paris (20-23 Oct)

Tuesday, 20 October 2009

When we arrived in Paris, we had to turn our watches on an hour, and was now back on SA time. After dinner we took a Contiki bus tour of the City of Lights. The photo here was taken at Napoleon's Tomb. There are 10kg gold on the roof...





















Wednesday, 21 October 2009

We overslept!!!!! We forgot to correct our cell phone's clock, so we woke up an hour late.... We missed the group photo, for which we already paid EU11.00, but luckily Sarah bought the photo from us... And, I am very sad to admit, but we also missed Palace Versailles. If I ever go back to Paris, I will definitely go to Versailles.

Instead, we took advantage of a "free" day in rainy Paris, and went to see what the Louvre has to offer. And don't let anyone tell you the Mona Lisa isn't as spectacular as everyone makes it. When you see her, you will understand what all the fuss is about!

And I got to see, touch, smell and lie on the underground pyramids - which I've always wanted to do since I've read Da Vince Code.









Some of the Paris Metro entrances are very beautifully made up. This one has all these silver & coloured decorations. Near the Louvre.











That evening, I fell in love with Orangina!!! A wonderful orange soda drink, but comes nowhere near Fanta, which, by the way, is yellow in Europe, and not orange...






Thursday, 22 October 2009

We got an early start and went to a French Perfume House. Very impressive. Traffic on the way there was just terrible...


























The sun was out today, and we stopped by the Louvre again to take some pics.















After that we went to the Arc de Triomphe, took some photos and a video, which still amazes us. If you see the way the French drive, you understand why every car has a dent or scratch!





























We stopped by the Eiffel Tower, but was a bit too scared to go up, and the line was ridiculously long...
























As this was our last night in Paris, Mark, the tour manager, organized the bus to take us to Montmarte. The Sacre Couer cathedral is there, and a wonderful view of Paris and the Eiffel Tower.

We had some Spaghetti Bolognaisse, just a pity it was in the "wrong" country! :)

Friday, 23 October 2009

Notre Dame. Ahhhh! I can hear the angels singing. And to think we nearly missed this as we thought we won't have time! This is the most amazing building. The architecture, statues, soul & feel to the place, just makes this worth visiting.













































































Scale model of the Cathedral.
















We had lunch on a park bench right next to the Seine river, with a beautiful view of Notre Dame. Just perfect!

















Later we took a shuttle to the train station, and boarded the train for the 15 hour ride to Rome. This was how small the cabin was. Thank goodness I shared with Wer...