The Real Jenty

There are a few questions I haven’t answered yet, so here goes…

Angel asked: Before you started taking pictures, did you have a hobby of some kind?

I did fabric painting (I’ll post a few photos of what my work) and decoupage and cycling… I’ve cycled the Argus twice, and the third year we were going to do it, I broke my arm by falling off my bike… and then I fell pregnant so that was the end of that.

Angel asked: How do you manage to fit in parenting, work, and your photography sideline?

With difficulty, but I seem to be managing, only just, for now.  I’m not getting enough sleep though.  And I’d like to fit in some exercise as well, but there are just not enough hours in the day. I’m actually considering getting an admin person or someone to help with editing for a few hours a week

Laura asked:  WHEN are you going to stop doing what you dont want to and start doing what makes you happy? (workwise)

Funny thing is, I like what I do during the day, so it’s not that easy   I like the people I work with, I’m learning LOADS, and my thoughts are valued (this point is the biggest point of all).  I’d like to at some stage reduce my hours at my day job, but that won’t happen this year, because I’m working on a monsterous project or two.  I’ll explain a bit about what I do in another post tomorrow.

Cat asked:  1.   What dress did you wear to the launch and show it?

I’ll take a pic the next time I wear it, but it’s a satin dress/tunic and flowered leggings

2. Are the puppies being good and did you train them?
No to both, they desperately need training.  Kimo is worse than Kitara, and still takes stuff from the house to chew… he still loves clothes and toys of any shape or form.  One of my summer tops has a new hole in it thanks to him, and I’ve only worn it twice!

3. Is Lance happy in the new job?

No, he was very very unhappy, so much so that he has yet another job and started yesterday.  Hopefully this one is better.

I got 3 questions posed about treats etc, and thought I’d answer in one post

Sharon asked: What makes you happy? Something that puts that silly grin on your face and you cannot wipe it off because it has made you happy from deep within your soul?

When someone loves something I’ve done.  Like this morning, when Beauty got her prints, and she had tears in her eyes and told me “that you know just how to shape me, and I’m not fat. I was thinking about why I bother dressing up when I come to work in the morning, but you’ve made me see myself differently”
That made me cry, and smile all the way to work this morning.

Tara asked: I dare you to share 3 guilty pleasures. Like, that chocolate you buy at the shops and then scoff before getting home (not that I do that. Much.)

1. Putting on the TV for the kids, so I can read some blogs
2. Plant shopping at Lifestyle cos it’s just so nice, and I should rather spend the money on the kids. I haven’t had much time to do that recently.
3. Buying new lingerie every few months… I just love it.
Seriously, if I buy myself a chocolate to have on the way home from the shops, I’ve normally bought some for the kids and Lance too.

Laura asked:  What is your favourite sweet?

Definitely chocolate, as long as it’s not Beacon.  I hate Beacon.  My favourite chocolates are Crunchies, and Cote d’Or Noir chocolate.  I love a good dark chocolate.  Or Caramello Bears, now those are also yummy!

Laura also asked: If you had just R150 to spend on YOU – what would you spend it on?

Only R150? That’s tricky. Probably a pedicure, summer is coming.

When Exmi asked me a few months ago to participate in a new secret blogging project, just for girls, I was intrigued, and of course I said YES!

How could I not?  It sounded like such a cool idea… a bunch of girl bloggers from all walks of life, at varying degrees of technical proficiency… all reviewing the latest and greatest gadgets from a chicks point of view.  Brilliant plan!! Plus the fact that I like them all, and we get together every so often to talk about the gadgets and have wine… like a book club just better!!

Anyhoo, Girl Guides is finally live… in a beta version…

Check it out, and let us know if there are any issues with it

Oooh and also read my review of the Macbook Pro… which is why I bought it in the end

I can’t wait to play with my next gadget actually!

I’m about to go shopping, I need a bit of a break, and I had the following thoughts…

I need to go shopping to get new printer cartridges.  This is a necessity.

I would like to look for new shoes while I’m there, because I need new shoes of course, what girl doesn’t?  I have no qualms buying shoes, but will try and not walk into Aldo’s or Nine West, because I can’t justify their prices.

I’m currently earring-less, because I realised this morning that for some reason, I only put the one on… the other one is now in my car.  Weird.  Second time this week that I’ve done that.  I would like to buy another pair of nice earrings because mine are a little old and sad. But again, I wonder about whether I should spend that money.

I’ve finished a bottle of perfume.  I would like to get another bottle, yet I wonder about the waste of money.

However, get me wandering onto a camera site like Orms or SACamera or a new site to me CameraQuip, and I have no qualms about spend x times the amounts mentioned above on a new lens, and I immediately start scheming about how to justify the cost of buying a Canon 5D Mark II.

Or, take me into a kids clothing store, and I have no issues with filling bags with clothes and shoes for the boys.

Another example, is this morning, when I was trying to work out whether I should buy a new car, just because my back gets sore in my Jazz! And you know how I am about new cars!

Is it just me?  Maybe it’s the fact that the things I ponder about are for me personally.  I immediately think it’s a waste of money, and can think of hordes of other things to buy instead.

Oh hell, enough of this thinking, I’m going spending!

Finally got a Macbook Pro… now I just need to set it up…

YAY!

… can’t think of anything else to say… I’m too tired… goodnight

You know the bed I blogged about over the weekend?

My oath it’s a large bed! Connor can barely climb onto it because it’s so high.

The king size duvet is dwarfed by the bed.  WTF now?  Can you get extra width duvets?  That’s gonna cost a fortune I’m sure.

But I must say… the sheets from that Time and Again collection from Mr Price are divine… 400 thread count and OMG so soft

Right… I’m off to do the big test… the comfort test… I’m exhausted and need to sleep

I have the day off work tomorrow… and I’m going to hopefully find more linen… and have coffee with my mom… before a photoshoot

**update** the bed was awesome and the duvet size wasn’t a problem because the bed is so wide

Apart from photoshoots, and meeting Angel at the venue for her wedding next week and my dad’s 60th birthday today, I actually did do something about the house for a change this weekend… we bought a new bed.

We’ve been threatening to get a new one for the last 2 years… seriously 2 years… we’re sad that way.  Every time I’ve given it some thought, there have been more important things to buy with the ludicrous amount of money that bed cost.

In fact, until yesterday, I must’ve been living in lala land about the cost of beds!

Anyhoo, yesterday morning, I threw all my toys out the cot when I got squished in bed yet again by the small “monster” aka Connor… and decided that we needed a King sized bed… today… another day was not going to go past without something happening.

So off we toodled, and bought the bed, which is being delivered tomorrow.

And that resulted me (with Bradley in tow) in traipsing through Cresta, World Wear centre, Lifestyle Crossing and Retail Crossing centres looking for duvets, linen and blankets for our new bed (because our old bed is queen sized).  And that was all done between 9:30am and 11am this morning. Poor kid was exhausted

OMW, what crud in the shops!! My first port of call was Woolies - NOTHING interesting (apart from the duvet inner which I bought there because they were better quality and cheaper than @Home).  @Home actually had beautiful grey embroidered duvet covers by Margaret Muir (and I had a 20% off voucher from a magazine that I’d bought)… but no sheets… so that was USELESS!

Eventually after going to 3 Mr Price Homes, 1 Woolies, and 2 @Home stores I bought one set of Time and Again plain duvet covers from Mr Price Home… so now I’m on the hunt for another set.

As for blankets and electric blankets… that was a fruitless search… I couldn’t find any.

At least I have some linen for when the bed arrives tomorrow.

1. Connor thinks that my dad needs to get Bakugans for his 60th birthday which is coming up soon. LOL!! Can you imagine?
2. I arrived 10 minutes early for a meeting… the person made me wait on the street outside their house until the allotted time. LOL! How weird is that?!
3. I made a HUGE blunder by going to meet a prospective client…. without my portfolio!! LOL! I’ll be surprised if I get that wedding
4. I didn’t take a photo for my 365 day challenge… just never had the time
5. The Mac specialist at the Incredible Connection store in Fourways looked at me blankly when I said that I needed an adaptor specially for the Macbook Pro… dude had never noticed that the 2-prong plug on the machine is non-standard. And then promptly told me that they didn’t sell them… seems useless to me… how can you sell a machine without selling the thing that’s going to allow it to work properly!
6. Prolabs is driving me nuts… this photobook I ordered is taking forever and no-one can seem to tell me for certain where the hell the book is!! They better find it by tomorrow! To say that I’m annoyed is an understatement. In fact, the book was supposed to be the subject of my photo for the day.
7. I still haven’t found the time to collect my new Moo card shipment from the post office.

It was one strange day…

I’ve been feeling like going on a shopping spree for a few days now… and haven’t managed to leave the office.  In fact, yesterday, the feeling was so bad that I contemplated buying a new car!!

LOL, I have to also tell you that after I tweeted about it, Williams Hunt responded asking whether they could help me.  How cool is that! I like that they’re watching… even though I don’t like Opels

Today, I was determined.  I had to get out the office for a bit!!And OMG I spent way too much again!  The aim of my shopping trip was to buy a gift for a friend and a jersey for Lance… I got them… but in that hour I also got…

• 2 dresses from Big Blue
• underwear from La Senza (it’s on my Stuff list ok!)
• 3 jerseys and a shirt for Lance at Woolies
• If I’d had some time I would have bought some boots from Woolies too!

Not bad for one hour hey?

Sleepy Jane posed a question on her blog:  What, for you, would be a really great day?

My great day would include:

• being able to sleep in late and not have to clean the kitchen from the doggy doo’s
• kids not fighting once
• going shopping for a new Macbook and new wardrobe without having to worry about budget
• having lunch with friends at a nice adult food restaurant with a fabulous play area with fantastic service and a brilliant kids menu too (now that’s a mystical place… there isn’t a place like that in JHB especially with the service!)
• taking photos of friends and family without them running away
• going to bed early without having to edit said photos

I can dream…