My hen party

So its been over a month now since I last updated my blog. And wow, what a month its been! Our last guest just left this Saturday and today I started working again, so life is officially back to normal. Which sucks.
My hen party was the Saturday before the wedding, on May 14th. My sister, Mandy, planned and executed the whole thing so well - she is an event organiser extraordinaire!
Benedikt's stag do was at the same time, so most couples arrived together then went their separate ways. The boys went off in a bus. While all of us ladies gathered at the sundowner deck in our compound which was perfect as it meant no driving for us (Mom, Nicola, Tina & Mandy) and we could easily carry things there. And it was close enough to the main house for Tina to look after her kids still.
(Tina is Phillip's wife. Phillip was Benedikt's best man. Tina is AWESOME. They have 2 gorgeous little boys too.)
(Nicola is my future sister in law)
So first my sister dressed me up in a crazy outfit. Of course. Then we played the question game. Benedikt had answered a whole bunch of questions from my sister... these in turn were given out to all the ladies there. I had to then guess Benedikt's answer. He of course answered with silly and embarrassing answers so I had to drink a good few times. Then I opened all my AMAZING presents, guessing the whole time who they were from judging on the riddles. Wow, I got some really cool underwear and other super nice goodies. I really didnt want people to give me loadsa stuff - I feel too spoilt these days.

As it turned to evening my sister taught everyone some dance moves... and us die hards then went out. We first went for dinner, where we ate my penis cake, that my darling mother had made, and I did some of the tasks that were laid out for me. I think at stage I did the following:
Hug a bald guy
Blow kisses to a stranger
Wink at a guy and lick your lips

We met up with a cool couple of girls that we knew from before while at dinner so our party grew... and then we hit the night clubs of Nairobi! Which was a first for me actually. We started at Havana which was ok, but not rocking. Then went on to Gypsies which ROCKED. They played awesome music and had a great vibe. Us 10 ladies went straight to the dance floor and didnt leave it. I completed a couple more tasks while there:
Collect 3 guy's numbers (I got 2)
Get up on a table and dance (and it was a v high bar table)
Pinch a guy's ass

And there were other tasks... like 'remove your bra without leaving the party' and 'collect a pair of mens boxer shorts' that I didnt dare do...even in my state!
Which was a good job as the boys joined us at Gypsies at about 1am. We then all partied till 4am! A good innings for an old biddie like me.
It was TONS of fun to be on the dance floor like that. I hadnt done that in ages. So much so that Benedikt and I just want to go out and do it again! Now we know Nairobi has this awesome night life, we are keen.



And finally, check out the invitation my sister made here

Testing emailing blog entry

I am just testing this functionality so that I can post to my blog from the beach!

Its almost wedding time and I def do not have time to post these days

Easter long weekend at the beeeeeech

So we flew to Diani on the South Coast for Easter. We stayed in the Pinewood hotel as its right next door to Mike and Sabine's place so that we could bother them all weekend.

Nic got sick before we went though - he got a chest infection which turned into laryngitis. So we had a very squeaky baby for the duration of the holiday - at least we didn't get woken up by his screaming.... poor thing couldn't even get a wail out! He was quite bad at one stage though and we were worried... but our doc had assured us that it would pass. And that there was nothing we could give him except saline nose drops and calpol. He said the humid sea air would be good for him. Nic was still in a good mood for most of the holiday - bless his cotton socks!

So we'd eat breakfast at our hotel and let Nic have his 9am to 10am sleep, then we'd mosey over to Mike and Sabines for the day. Elena and Kiki are just great with Nic - they would take him walking all round the house and garden. Then they'd entertain him on the beach... then we'd all go swimming in the pool. He had his lunchtime 2 hour sleep in Julia's room... friends who were staying with Mike and Sabine. They have a 3 year old and a 6 year old. So we used their cot - perfect! At 6pm we'd go back to the hotel to bath Nic and give him his bedtime bottle. Let him fall asleep then we'd shower and change etc then carry the sleeping angel back over the Mike and Sabines so we could enjoy dinner and wine with them! Nic slept perfectly, upstairs on the big bed surrounded by pillows. Then we'd carry him back again at the end of the evening. I don't think there is anything as special as carrying your sleeping child. I just loved that!

On Easter Sunday, other friends joined us at Sabines' - so there were 11 kids and just as many adults. It was a bit chaotic with all those kids, especially as they were mostly girls who all wanted to hold the baby. There was a one and a half year old girl who was a nightmare- her screaming kept making Nico cry!
We had a very festive Easter dinner though with loadsa laughs, we have such great friends here. And boy do we love the Kenyan coast.


We took LOADS of photos as usual...

Birthday parties

So Nic went to his first birthday party last friday. A friend of mine's little girl, Siara, turned one. It was also my first birthday party where I had a kid of my own.
I did it in true kenyan style too and took our nanny! Ha ha!
I would never have taken her but she REALLY wanted to go cos her best friend (Debbie's nanny) was going to be there.
So it was a lovely party spent drinking mojitos with the other relaxed moms! Gotta LOVE africa!


Then on the Saturday night we had everyone around to our house for our birthdays... Benedikt turned 34 on Saturday. Unfortunately I am still older than him.
We had such a cool group of people here and everyone drank plenty thanks to my excellent hostessing skills. Benedikt cooked up a storm like he always does and everyone had a REALLY good time. Nicolas slept like an angel above us, not bothered by all the noise! Bless.

Ok so like our wedding is only 6 weeks away. Yikesarama! We are very busy planning all the smaller details.
Dress is done. Waiting for veil. And trying to find shoes - this is proving to be very difficult.
I've found a DJ. And lady to make our cake. And our caterer is now booked and we're VERY happy with him. Flowers, table decorations and name cards are planned. Lighting is taken care of. Flight and airport logistics are almost sorted. (Boy this is going to be one FULL house!)
Hen and stag party plans are going full steam. And drinks have been purchased.
SO not worried about things though. With MR SUPER DUPER organsied as my fiance, plus all the family thats going to be around, everything will get done I know it.
Its going to look beautiful and be SUCH a fun day. I cant wait!

Its my birthday!

So its my birthday tomorrow. I will be thirty bloody five. When did I even become thirty four?
I'm sure I will get LOADS of calls and messages to make me feel very loved. AHEM! Benedikt and I are going for dinner on Friday night and we're having a mini party on Saturday night at our house with about 2000 friends. Its Benedikts birthday on Saturday.

We went to our good friends, Hem and Paul's, party last weekend. And boy was it debaucherous... the guys are still recovering. So our party will probably be quite tame. I don't think I've ever seen Benedikt that drunk! And Paul had to be carried home legless and vomiting!
Thank goodness Nicolas slept through the night that night - or perhaps he didn't and we just didn't hear him.

Speaking of whom, I've renamed him to Cabbage Patch Kid. See the similarity?











We were avidly following the Cape Epic last week... Man it was exciting. I was SO happy that Burry and Christoph won. Good show. We had 2 very good friends from here that did it too.... boy did Alex suffer! Can't wait to hear his tales. Benedikt and I were very happy to be watching from the couch and not slogging away up the sandy rocky climbs all day in the unrelenting heat.

So I've had no car for the last 3 weeks which has been fun. Not. The fuel pump packed up again and I have to wait for a part from Dubai. So I'm cycling everywhere! Been cycling to yoga and to the gym and to the doctors (for vaccinations) and to the shops. In the beginning it was a novelty but now its getting tiresome. I want my car back dammit! I miss taking Nic swimming too.
At least I am getting LOADS of work done.

Breaking news: I now weigh under 60kgs! 59.9 to be exact ;-) I haven't weighed under 60 for at least 2 years! I'm so bloody excited. Except my jelly belly is still bloody there would you believe it. Guess I only have myself to blame for eating all that chocolate when I was pregnant and putting on 20kgs and stretching my mid section to hell and back.
I'm pretty sure I am losing weight thanks to running (and cycling everywhere!). A lovely friend of mine is now running with me and she needs to train for Lewa which is a tough 21km race in June. So together we are upping our mileage each week. I also run to the forest and back which adds on an extra 4kms so I do between 15 and 20kms 3 times a week.
Also being vegan now I don't eat any more cakes or biscuits. Even most sweets have gelatin in them which is made from animals bones... although I have found some candy which is animal product free THANK GOODNESS. I love sweets too much.