Auburn and Blue

Mother’s Day Gift

12
May

Today is Mother’s Day. May I wish all mothers – existing and to-be a wonderful day !

I have had a sweet day with my offsprings. How about you?

I got the sweetest gift from my little one today.

It started off with a picture she drew at school……yes – that’s us – even the dog !!

 

It was then converted into a card as well as a necklace – they shrunk the picture at school to fit !!!

 

I thought it was super cool !!!

 

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY EVERYBODY !!!!

Ilze

OPEN HOUSE EVENT

10
May

 

For FULL DETAIL, FUN BITS, SUPPLIERS, PRODUCTS and more about the day itself – go to the  EVENTS page on this blog.

 

 

 

 

 

For more on this event, hosted by Auburn & Blue on May, 30th 2013  – see this page EVENTS.

Ilze

On the Streets

6
May

Were they coming….. or going…. ??

What do you think?

Ilze

Taken Too Soon

4
May

Our plan was to celebrate your birthday today. Send you tons of those facebook messages with good wishes and witty sayings after facebook so promptly would have reminded everybody today on their news feeds, to do so. I know you just recently had a lot to say about that on your own timeline ! A timeline that dissappeared last week with one click of a button.

Our plans don’t always work out the way we want it to….

So many hearts today heavy and burdened….in many places around the world where you had friends and family.

None more broken than those who would have woken you up today with hugs, gifts, good wishes and happy birthday songs and then would have certainly spend special time with you on your special day. Those who would have been there in flesh and not just on facebook.

Instead – just an emptiness without ending…..

Thoughts at random for those who knew you and now mourn the death that came too sudden and a life that ended too soon.

Not even a month short or you would have been 44 today. Now you will be forever young.

Forever in our hearts.

Thinking of you today, Anton. In sadness, in silence and with smiles that bear tears…..but celebrating the person we all knew and who gave so much in the ALMOST 44 years you were here.

Blowing you happy birthday wishes and sending you sparkles today. May you rest in peace and celebrate where you are now.

photo credit: M I S C H E L L E via photopin cc

Ilze

Filled Figs and Fantasies

1
May

I am having a ME day at home. Everybody gone and I am cracking away on things that I have on the MY list.

One thing I would not mind adding to my list right now, are these fabulous Filled Fig treats by Heidi Epling that I found on fab.com.

As she describes them – ‘Boozy, Seductive, Chocolatey”…. ooooh… that would have gone down well with my cup of tea now. What do you think??

Maybe it is because of all the cheese I have already consumed today….just need this FINAL Sweet Fig Fix !!

If you are with me on this one – you can always click the “Like” button at the bottom – this would not only let me know that you are in for a treat too….but I will also know if the button finally works !! How’s that for a double win ?

Fab.com sends me daily temptations to my inbox. Not only by way of sweet treat temptations.

But the saving grace for me has been that they don’t ship to Hong Kong.

Yes, the CEO even wrote to me one day…..promising me they would  – some time in future – (oh dear…that’s gonna rock the wallet !!) .

For now…..in his words:
We currently ship to all 50 states in the US as well as Canada. We also recently launchedhttp://fab.de, which ships to: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the UK, Ireland, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Luxembourg, Sweden, Poland, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, and Estonia, and http://uk.fab.com servicing the UK.

Just go to Fab.de, or uk.fab.com, create an account and we will ship it to you!

So – you might be somewhere where you  CAN get your hands on their products………..so, who am I not to share this good news?!

You can find them here. Yes – please don’t hate me for telling you !!

Oh – go ahead – it’s not all gonna bad for the hips – they have FAB things….. and it can distract you for HOURS !!! I know you are looking for something other than Facebook to lure you into a hour of leisure pleasure !!

But if you are stuck like me, with the shipping thing and a bit bored with Facebook …what else do you do with ME time when you get the chance to have it?

For me, it is almost holidays, which means I can go back to my home and I am already dreaming about all the things I want or wish to do over there ! I have spent hours today already thinking about putting finishing touches to the extension we added last year….

 

So many things…..so little time… so many plans…….so much money….. aarggghhh…..but hey – who says we can’t FANTASIZE on days like these…. at least this option is not making me want that sugar rush……. but it is as satisfying nevertheless !

Can’t wait to get back there and put some details into the decor that I left behind last time I visited.

What do you do on days like these… a public holiday where you have a bit of downtime to think about things that matter to you most !!?

Ilze

Blurry Backgrounds

29
Apr

Sometimes we focus so much on the thorns in the foreground……

 …..that the beauty in the background gets all blurred out.

Trying to look a little bit beyond the thorns right now and hoping to get the beauty back in focus for the future.

Hope you are well.

Ilze

Mukhwas Friends

25
Apr

Taking a spoonful of the Mukhwas at the door of the restaurant as we walked out yesterday, reminded me of our little group that gathered there to celebrate a friend’s birthday. The four of us had  a lovely lunch at an Indian restaurant. We are not Indian – but, we are all from the same country originally. Our group had a certain bond and blend, despite our distinctly different personalities, interests and abilities.

Our conversations were interesting, dynamic, diverse and refreshing but unavoidably we often refer back to our roots during our discussions –  even if it has, in some cases, a darker shade of reality. There is an understanding of the common ground and therefor you don’t have to explain too much when you share details. There is a complimentary variety, and yet a common thread, in the conversations and that is refreshing and soothing. Sometimes we talked about sad things, but I left, still feeling refreshed from being with them.

Just like the Mukhwas. Undeniably you are always reminded of their origin when you taste it. A refreshing combination serving more than one purpose – it is sweet, diverse and interesting. Unique and soothing and completes your meal. A digestive aid – meaning that it makes the parts that can be hard to swallow and process, a little easier on the system.

Do you have a group of friends like that? So different and yet the same. Completing your life meals with their compassion serving as digestive aids. Leaving you refreshed even if you talked about ordinary things. A blend that works well.

Well – then you can consider yourself blessed.

And if you don’t…. I encourage you – step out…. you don’t always have to have people who are exactly the same as you. Dare to befriend somebody who is a bit different – as long as you can somehow identify with their roots…their principals…the originality.  It’s all in the mix – it’s all in the bringing together of different spices in different combinations that makes it a winning recipe !

Find some Mukhwas Friends. It will keep you refreshed, complete and with a sweet taste in your mouth.

Mukhwas, according to Wikipedia  is a colorful Indian and Pakistani after-meal snack or digestive aid. It also freshens breath. It can be made of various seeds and nuts, but often found with fennel seeds, anise seeds, coconut, and sesame seeds. They are sweet in flavor and highly aromatic due to added sugar and the addition of various essential oils, including peppermint oil. The seeds can be savory or sweet-coated in sugar and brightly colored. Plain water drunk after chewing and consuming the fennel seeds contained therein tastes extremely sweet.

Occasionally, this is eaten for medicinal purposes.

The word is an amalgamation of two distinctly different words, mukh meaning mouth and vas meaning smell.

 

 

Ilze

Shut up and ……

23
Apr

Some days it is better NOT to say what’s on your mind…

I could just rant and rave and ramble on and on today about everything that went wrong this morning  – from the bacon at breakfast that was gone before everybody had some ……up to the moment that I dropped off my daughter at school still explaining that a cheque IS “real life money” and it WILL buy a cow in China even though (she believes) the school said to bring CASH in for the Reading project.

Picking a fight with a husband who just got back home and will soon take off again, is also not a good idea. So, I just left it. Peace is a priority on the odd days that he is here.  Even though I did have the undeniable desire to go pull out a poster and walk around the house in protest with the grievances growing inside of me, in big, fat ink ……maybe THAT would have gotten everybody’s attention. Instead you rage inside and repeat a thousand times in your head what you would have said….. not only today or the day before …..but also the day before that….. and the many times before when somebody said something that you really felt deserved a bit of their own medicine back to make it not taste so bad.

So, it is perhaps on this frustrated note that I walked into this meeting this morning ….

I knew that my very valid point would not go down as constructive criticism. But still very tempted to just stand up and tell them all off and say exactly what I think of all the opinions in the room and the conflicts in the organisation it was all about, I had to remind myself of something I saw yesterday – on good old social media.

“Sometimes you have to think what is the prize you will win, when you win this argument.”  And quite frankly there was no prize to be won today. Speaking out would have just made things worse….not only today, but also the other day …. and the other day…and the many days before that day.

So, I had to breath in, breath out….

Go to the gym and let it sweat out of my system.

Sometimes you have to just let it go…. or there will just be no real winners in the end.

Do you have days like that?

 

Ilze

Change

16
Apr

I have wanted to change many things, many times.

Many D-days on which I decided – this is it…a new day, a new beginning…..for many reasons – I needed to, others wanted me to, the doctor said so, society sort of expects you to…..

But I have discovered on my last undertaking to make changes in my life and schedule that….

 

 

I am hoping that this time it will have a lasting effect.

I desire change.

Ilze

Last Words to my Friend – R.I.P Anton

12
Apr

I don’t usually post such personal, emotional stories with real names on my blog, but I made an exception temporarily with this  blog post that I dedicated to my friend who died tragically in South Africa recently.

I wrote it on the day of his funeral as part of me paying my final respect to a special friend whose funeral I could not attend because I was in a different country. I left it here for a short while as part of a process, coping with grief, shock and loss because we are so isolated in our own mourning over thousands of miles and a variety of continents  – without the ability to communicate our losses or express our feelings when losing a friend or family member.  The reality of having a network spread out across the globe where people traditionally used to come together in private and share their emotions, no longer exist for us due to logistical reasons and this blog was a vehicle for me to express those thoughts.

I hope that those who got to read it, got a final glimpse of a great guy who was loved by all and who is sadly leaving behind a family in mourning.

I have now removed this post but will keep on remembering those good times as we all continue our lives in the hope of a bright future that lies ahead of us all.

May you rest in peace, Anton.

* Anton Bidlingmaier  (4 May 1969 – 7 April 2013) was shot and killed in an armed robbery in South Africa when he locked up their business.

Please pray that the violence in South Africa will be addressed and that it will become a safer place where people can live freely and live out their dreams, passions and bear the fruit of their hard work…..and keep their families safe…so they don’t have to leave…..

For those who did not get the link, but understand Afrikaans – here is the news article:

 

Ilze

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