Back in Amsterdam after SA for 6 months....

So much has happened since I last wrote. I'll try sum it up and add some pics.... We were in Amsterdam till end of November. I had a glorious 10 days in HK spending time with Josh, Sal and Marius. Josh was gorgeous as ever and it was horrific leaving. We then went to SA for 6 months. The first month was spent travelling down from Durbs (our base camp) to Kenton for cuz Beth & Colin's tremedously beautiful and fun wedding. We had 2 weeks there in a gorgeous house at the river mouth. Jas and Sez came and joined us for a few days for Trace and Dalli's wedding, which we unfortunately missed. We had a ball and then packed up and trekked southwards in convoy with Gorts and Gen to her folks' amazing spot on the St Francis river (name??) It was beautifully quiet but unfortunately we had to move on after only 1 night... to Knysna where we stayed with Iain and Tanya and the boys in their awesome family spot at the heads, on the water. Oysters and champers, sunsets and swims...idyllic. We then moved on down to Hermanus to see the family and stay for xmas. We had a night out in Franschoek to see the now-married Trace and Dalli and back to Hermanus with Lee's folks in tow. A great xmas with both sets of parents and a seafood extravaganza. It was fantastic. From there we went to cpt for a while before heading back to Durbs to settle into our home and get it all ready for a sale. We painted and broke a wall down and semi-furnished it... till someone fell in love with it and bought it. Meanwhile we tried to do some training for the Argus... didnt really succeed in training too hard, but the Argus went surprisingly well and we managed just over 3,5hrs!! We were both chuffed. Although Lee was a bit bummed about the cramps! :-) Another whirlwind trip in CPT saw us back in Durbs for a surprise anniversary trip to the Hydro in the midlands and a flight for Lee to Amsterdam and one for me to Hong Kong to see Sal, Marius, Josh and the latest angel.. Amy. She is gorgeous! So while Lee was setting up home in our lovely apartment in Amsterdam, I was having fun playing silly games and reading stories to Josh and getting smiles from and feeding Amy. They're goegeous- and Sal is just as gorgeous as ever too, and makes motherhood look seriously easy! Now I'm back in Amsterdam with Lee and had an interview for work... now I wait and see.. and hope and pray I get a job soon. Have joined the gym- I never thought I'd ever do a spinning class in a different language- its challenging believe me!! I'll try upload some random pics from the last 6 months. S xxx

dads visit

we had a super time with dad here but it didnt start withou a small bang! we got to schipol nice and early for dad's train arrival from paris/ brussels. we waited and waited and eventually realised that the train had been rerouted to amsterdam central because of a fatality on the tracks.... panic started to seap in as i wasnt sure if dad had our details... but then- there he was! casually chatting to a passerby sharing some world cup humour... dad had been clever enough to a- listen to the announcements and b- understand the dutch, so he had changed trains in a one-horse town to reach schipol in time. fabulous! so the next 10 days we spent having home-cooked meals & argentinian steaks, wandering through the canals and red light district and having uitsmijters and kroketten in little canalside cafes. Dad lucked out and had me as tour guide for two days due to a terrible flu that kept me from work...... and we visited Edam (cheese market town), Volendam, Marken, Gouda, den Haag, Scheiveningen.... and of course Belgium for the week end. We had a night in Brugge and a day in Ghent- was lovely... especially Lee and dad trying all the different beers! It was sad to say goodbye again after having such a fun time- but we knew it wouldnt be long. Lee and I get to SA on 28th November for 6 months of FUN, seeing family and friends and travelling! We'll be based in Umhlanga and we're both very excited. We also had an incredible week end with Dax and Trups in Champagne, France. We all jumped in the Beast and drove over to France at Friday lunch time. We had an interesting trip there- plus a blow-out on the french highway, but the boys were superbly impressive and we were back on the road in no time. We managed to upset our guesthouse hostess with the late arrival and she was very rude to us for the rest of the week end - to our amusement. Bluddy freansch! We tasted champagne all week end and laughed and laughed. It was a great week end- and ended with a great indian curry in amsterdam central on sunday night! This week end we are driving to paris to enjoy the ambience of the world cup and we'll try to get some tickets- although we're pretty sure it will be somewhat out of our budget! I will update after the week end- with some pics hopefully! Love to all xxx

Amsterdam saga continues...

Amsterdam is becoming more and more a part of our lives and the cultured, laid-back lifestyle is also becoming more appealing by the day. We love it here. We have flitted between Amsterdam and London a few times, seeing friends and having great parties. The last big party, was spent celebrating the wedding of Amanda and Martin in the Lake District. Its was a stunning setting. Neither of us had been to the lake District before and we were speechless. It was so wonderful to be standing at the foot of a great big mountain (we’d call it a hill in SA- but compared with flat Cayman and Holland….. these were gigantic mountains!). The odd week end that we have been here in Amsterdam, we have cycled down to the big market and packed Lee’s bike full of fresh veggies, fruit, lamb from the Halaal butcher and huge bunches of flowers… of course! What a laugh to see Lee wobble on his little dutch bike with back-pedal brakes dodging trams and other more-experienced cyclists! We had Ange pop over and stay for 2 nights this week- so great to see her again. We had an impromptu dinner in Edam, a little village that still makes the Edam cheese- it’s a beautiful spot with loads of character- a firm favourite with the visitors. Bronnie came to visit for the week end while Lee was in London- so great to have a girlie week end again. It meant spending a few hours in Zara (of course) and stopping off at little local bars and restaurants for snacks and drinks… We had loads to catch up on and thus had two seriously late nights. It was fantastic! And besides, I now have 2 super sexy stiletto heels…. Thanks Bron! This week end Dad arrives and we cannot wait to show him around and spoil him a bit. We have all sorts of things planned- even a trip to Belgium. Will update asap. xxxx

Amsterdam here we come!

So much has happened since I left Cayman to come be with Lee in Amsterdam. We had an incredible birthday week end in London, we got to see many mates and partied to the early hours at Henley Regatta. I had a small birthday dinner and Beth & Colin and Jason & Sarah joined us (call it a family meal rather!) and then we jetted off to Dutchmanland. Our first apartment (yay we moved!) was rather interesting to say the least. It was spacious and with luxurious fittings... and lets not forget the sunbed (in working order) over my side of the bed! It was rather eclectic and must have been the bees knees in the late 70s, with faux suede wall paper and brown-tinted mirrors lining the walls! So..... we moved. As it happened, I had developed really bad hayfever and so Lee made the call to ABNAMRO and asked for us to be allocated a new property. Phew. The new flat is amazing. I love it. Bright and airy and everything is new.... and from Ikea! Yip, it looks like it came off the Ikea showroom, but I don't care... its white and light and neutral and huge windows covered in dappled sunlight and lime green leaves from the Plane trees lining our road. And its even closer to lee's work (lucky bum) and to the Amsterdamse bos entrance. Meanwhile I had a great week long road trip to Ireland with some friends from work in Cayman. We started off at Jill & Johnny's wedding..... boy oh boy. Evrything you have ever heard about Irish weddings is true! 7-30am to bed. And up at 12pm for a 7 hr drive. Nice. We had a super fantastic time touring round and were all sad to say good bye at the airport when we all got on different planes... except for me and Chanel... who I had convinced to join me in dutchmanland for a few days. We had a great time here (I had a job interview) and we went to the red light district and we drove to Belgium for the wk end.. Brussels and Brugge. It was fantastic. Not soon after Chanel left, did I get a call from Citco and was asked to join the Investor Relations Team.... How exciting! So my priority, of course, was to get some work gear.... trousers and super duper high heels, because Lee says i have to wear high heels in the office (bah!). But they're great heels, so I'm happy! So now I have had one week's training and one week's work. Phew. Its been pretty hectic (all these looong hours!)and me concentrating all day. Its definitely a first for me. And now.... I have the flu. Apparently this demanding job (wait till month-end they all say) is trying for my sad little not-so-strong immune system! Oh well... I will persevere. We also had a fabulous Hen and Stag wk end in Bournemouth with Jax and Steed. Us girls wore overalls and went on a party bus and picnicked by the sea... and the guys played paintball, went quadbiking... and then we all met up on Saturday night at about 12am. Was fantastic! Yesterday Lee and I went to the local market and bought the most amazing fresh foods and nibbles.. and managed to get awesome lamb from the halaal butchery. We then had a canalside picnic in the Jordaan area next to a classical concert they have once a year. It was like a Kirstenbosch sunset concert, but the stage was floating on the canal and we were sitting along the canals with our nibbles and vino. It was incredible. Everyone had their boats out and the canal was chockers.... we then headed to a house party in the one cobbled street where they invited a famous folk singer (young and trendy) and he sang to the crowds while leaning out of the first floor window. (a mate's lounge)Very different to what we're used to. And then......... we had to cycle home! Which is another story. (Lee came off his bike on the way there and fell into the road... shame his second wipe in a month!) Hope you're all well, S xxx

Steph's trip to Ireland

I had a wonderful trip through Ireland with some mates from the school where I worked in Cayman. Meredith, Chanel, Jen and I went to Jill's super wedding and then did a little tour through the ring of Kerry to Galway and back to Dublin. It was superb!! Then Chanel came over to Amsterdam with me and we did a trip to Brussels and Brugge and some dutch towns nearby.