I am back in the land of the living!

Thank you for all your happy anniversary messages! What a nice surprise to come home and see them all on my blog! (hugs!)We had a wonderful weekend away, worth every minute! IT was wonderful to be just a wife, a friend and me for two days, instead of a mother, a cleaner, and a cook!We drank a lot of wine, rested, sight-seed and just had a proper rest with lazy mornings and evenings by the fireplace!

Here are a few of my favorite shots-was hard narrowing it down considering I took over 600 photos!!!
Here is the bedroom. To the left it had a little dresser and chair, in front a cupboard and a chest of drawers with a TV and leading off a en-suite. A set of doors opening out onto the patio with a little table and chair set which we sat at both mornings eating breakfast. Their was a black pool too which we took a dip in.
In the distance are mountains and vineyards.
From the front door you walk into the lounge and you can see the dinning room which the kitchen leads off. To the left of the photo off the lounge is the other bedroom. and in front of the main couch in the lounge is a fireplace, TV etc.
10 years of marriage, 12 years together.
kitchen. Love it! love the color and the style.

Hubby took this one of me looking at the treesThe cottage from the side.The first door is the bedroom, then the front door.

View from the garden.
View from the patio of the mountain and vineyards. The front vineyard by the wall is right off the garden!!

Another shot of the same mountain from the pond.The same mountain , taking from the top looking down. Straight inline with that dirt road is where we stayed.
The little gate leading off to the vineyard
The patio, this is where we ate breakfast.
The little gate (this is mirrored on each side of the house is a square garden with oak trees, lavender bushes, a small stone wall and a little gate with a gravel path with lavender bushes lining the pathway.

The pond in front of the house, it was alive with geese and ducks and general bird life. We took a little row boat and paddled out onto it. This is at sunset. I hope you enjoyed seeing the photos! I will post some more sometime!
I am struggling with my commitment to have a freebie a day...but trying to fulfill my promise!


Download Forever Friends add on HERE
(Monday the 13th)

And a QP for you...
Download HERE
(Tuesday 14th)

Will be back with the rest of the weeks freebies tomorrow. Have a good day!!!

Friday...True love almost finished

It's Friday.
Today my kids broke up for School holidays. (just till the 6th October)But still, looking forward to sleeping in! (my version of sleeping in is at least till 8am!! I am up at 6am school days. Fortunately I don't have kids who wake up at the crack of dawn on their own!
So for today's second last piece is a single paper...
And underneath is a word art I made..if you look carefully you will see little birds I have drawn in the text.
You can download the paper HERE and the word art, all you have to do is click on it and open it up full size and save as to your computer. Please remember the although the word art is not in a zipped file along with a TOU, the TOU still applies...as in..don't share, claim as your own, re-sell, etc etc.

Snap and Scrap is hosting a cyber crop this weekend.

You can join in the fun anytime! The prizes will be great....I am giving away a prize too! To read more about it, you can see this forum and register here.

Snap and Scrap is also on Facebook now...See here to join

So did you manage to find my sisters blog yesterday? Then you would of found the secret freebie on it! Remember today is the LAST day to send me your link to the template -10 reasons one: the freebie I gave this week-scroll down. If you do, I am picking a winner to win a GC to my shop from all the participants.
So far I have a grand total of ...wait for it...... TADA.......1 participant!!!!
whoo-hoo!! Come on people, give her some competition otherwise she is guaranteed to win the GC! I am thinking: hmmm...either my template sucks or no one wants the GC badly enough cos my designs suck!!!! Come on....please make me feel better and play along!!! lol!

Have a great weekend and the final piece for True love will be given out on Monday-It's worth the wait! Don't forget to grab all the pieces to True love if you are popping between today and Monday as on the 30th I am taking them all down. There are 7 links in total (last one given out on Monday). A freebie a day continues for the whole month of October!!


The winner for week one for a $2 off anything in my store goes to....


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ADRONSCATHERINE!!!!!

Please email me so I can send you your prize!! Congratulations!
Want to win? For the next 5 weeks I will choose one random winner a week-from all those that comment on my blog. As well as other various fun things for the next 5 weeks, freebies, challengs and games! Come join in the fun-what is this in aid of? We are celebrating three things:
1)Friendship month
2) KimB's 19th wedding anniversary
3)my 10th Wedding anniversary

Monday!!! True love continues...

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

It was lovely weather here for a change, after all the rain we have been having! Nice to get outdoors! Saturday we went 4 x 4-we take the car and the rhino (which is 4 x 4 golf cart with a back like a buckie (South African for a"pickup")-amazing suspension! It can go over any terrain!)
Here is me and DH, yes I drove it and have before, but this time I went DOWN steep hills with ditches and roots gutting out and you name it! I panicked but soon got over it and had heaps of fun! My father in law came with, so while at times he drove, the rest of us drove in the 4 x 4. It is an amazing trail that takes you right to the top of the mountains. The views from up there are breath taking. Not to mention the wild flowers, vegetation and birds! (these are more the reasons why I go with!)

Just look at these views! In the background is the back of Table Mountain -Cape Town.



See the little dirt track in the photo below? We came UP that.The first Wotsonia's of the season.




Sunday I worked the whole day in the garden, which was lovely. I had bought the kids each a pair of gloves and they enjoyed themselves working along with me-planting and watering.
This is a view of my backdoor, I have nasturtium and assorted herbs as well as cherry tomatoes and green peppers and another great natural insect repellent -marigolds (nasturtium being another one)My kids were shocked when I picked some nasturtium flowers and ate them! Then my dd tried-needless to say, she did not like the peppery taste! I remember as a child picking the leaves and eating them on buttered bread!


Today I thought it would be great if you could tell me just ONE reason why you love your husband/boyfriend or if you are not seeing someone or are not married...what you would look for in a mate....just for fun!!

Piracy

IF you come across files on 4shared or in a yahoo group marked BvanEsch followed by the kit name etc, please note that these are pirated files. I have made it so that my files do not show up if searched for. I know of two such files on 4shared at the moment that someone has pirated of mine. They were never a freebie, in fact the same file is a kit in my shop. This person did not even bother to change the name, she left it as is. This makes me so mad, even though I try not to let it bother me, if I am honest, it does. I work very hard to design kits and while some others do if for a hobby and for fun, I really need the money I make from it. (as do a lot of designers I know)- I have come to depend on the income.
Edited: I just wanted to add that even if designers do not necessarily need the money and are designing just for the enjoyment, still does not give anyone the right or the justification to come along and abuse the copyright issue.
This person and others alike, that steal these files and then uploads them elsewhere and shares them in yahoo groups are thieves of the worse kind. If the roles were reversed and they were the ones working hard, spending hours on a kit designing it and they came across someone pirating their work-how do you think they would feel? It is only because they are not, that they feel justified doing this. I don't understand why people do this, as most of the time, they are not re-selling the kit, they are merely sharing it for free after I presume they have bought it(or how else would they get the kit?). If they are not gaining anything by doing this-why do it???
Besides the fact what they are doing is illegal, dishonest, disgusting and fraudulent.
All I can say is that what goes around comes around and they will get their just desserts in other areas of their lives, because someone who can do that, can't be a very nice person to start off with....pitiful actually.
Thanks for reading...I needed to get that off my chest.

Name this kit and win it!

The days are getting warmer....finally. For the first time in a few months, I wore sandals today! I had to give myself an emergency pedicure though to make my feet presentable...ha ha.
Yesterday we went for a drive to a beautiful little town nearby called Franschhoek.
Watch the photo gallery in that link-you won't be disappointed!
A little bit of history of this town (if you care to read it, if not carry on further down):

The valley was originally settled in 1688 by French huguenot refugees, many of whom were given land by the Dutch government in a valley called Olifantshoek ("Elephants' corner"), so named because of the vast herds of elephants that roamed the area.

The name of the area soon changed to Franschhoek, with many of the settlers naming their new farms after the areas in France from which they came. La Motte, La Cotte, Cabrière, Provence, Chamonix, Dieu Donné and La Dauphine were among some of the first established farms — most of which still retain their original farm houses today. These farms have grown into renowned wineries.

In 1688, 176 French Huguenot ( French Protestants who were members of the Reformed Church who had to leave France or face prosecution for their religious convictions ) refugees fleeing from religious persecution arrived in this valley, this is where Franschhoek gets its name - translated it means ' French corner'.
Apart from Stellenbosch, this is one my favorite towns. Franschhoek is such a lovely little place. Surrounded by mountains, vineyards, streams, rivers, orchards of cherry, apple, almond and fruit trees.
We went to go and take a look at B&B's and Guest houses for our anniversary on the 10th October. As this year we celebrate our 10th Wedding anniversary! We have never gone away for our anniversary before, but I think 10 years call for a special treat!! Don't you?
So here are some photo's from our journey which lasted about 4 hours.

One of the places we looked at is Lavande La Franschhoek.
Very nice setting, tucked away at the foot of the mountains, nestled amongst the trees. Lavender bushes are in front of the little guest house which must be beautiful when they are in bloom.

Another place is this one-Auberge La Dauphhine
Very pretty place, lovely views of the paddocks and mountains.



I saw this and just love the little blue shutters!Just some cute places we found...I love the name of this one..."Cafe BonBon" so me! haha

Gorgeous orchards in bloom....
I just love the cow grazing....(Dara this one is for you!)
Another place we went to and we like this one the best-has to be the most expensive one hey??
Borgogne Burgandy
It is gorgeous! Each little cottage has it's own name-Rose Cottage, Lavender Cottage and Olive Cottage. Fully equipped Self-catering cottages over looking the dam and the mountains!






And then we also went to look at this adorable place, which I like second to The cottages. It is called Clermont.
lovely little place.
You walk in through this adorable little blue gate. See the stairs? That is where you go up for the room which overlooks the mountains.

This is what you look out onto...Here is where you can sit and have your morning breakfast....






So what do you think?Which place would you choose???

Now for something else....I have this kit...it was a small freebie for a newsletter of mine...I think at the time it only had 6 papers and 5 Elements. Now it if HUGE.
You will get 20 papers and 20 Elements! IT was called "Purple Innocence" but I added some browns and blue's and pink to this kit now, and I am stuck for a name.
Click on previews to view them larger.



COMPETITION: I need a name for this kit!! And hurry, cos I want to upload it to the shop this week. So I am giving it today (11th)and Tuesday (12th) and then I will choose a winner (if I pick one of the names that is!).
So please leave your name, contact email or blog address, a choice of ONLY three names per person please and no repeats-if someone gives a name that you thought of, and I choose that name, I will pick the first person that gave the name.
I will pick a winner who gets the whole kit for FREE !!!!