Long awaited update...

The long awaited AND way overdue update.....

What have we been up to? Well, it's been a very longgggggg winter. It feels like it been around forever.

Chris and I went camping equipment shopping a few weeks back, and who would guess, I walked out, no not with a tent, but a new bike. I am sooo excited to go cycling, and managed to get a ride in a few week back. You could feel sprinf in the air, stunning blue sky's and sunny weather....which.... did not last long.

We have had a few snow dumps in the past 2 weeks, the worst being the beginning of this week, on Monday. It started raining and then snowing, which was almost the worst I've seen. The snow was so wet and heavy, it snapped many of the tree branches in our garden, bummer!

Snow storm coming in..
The morning after

Sub-zero temps

Where's the road?

I've been travelling extensively over the past few weeks, seeing customers all of the USA. Phoenix,Detroit,Philladelphia.....

Beautiful old building in Philly

View of the port from my hotel room

Famous GM Building (General Motors), the Head Office of GM in Detroit

The Detroit River, ice floating down the river with the ice-melt starting. By the way, that's Canada on the other side, amazing!

View from my hotel room

San Francisco, view from the SAP San Fran office

Another view from the SAP San Fran office

View from the airoplane on a snowy Denver International runway

Downtown Phoenix Arizona

View of the USS Midway in the port of San Dieo, love San Diego!

This pic was taken at our friends, Fred and Lorraine in Evergreen. This young male deer has become used to Fred and Lorraine and loves hanging around their place.

Chris has also been travelling lately,mainly to New York for meetings, 3 weeks in a row. The first time he went,NY saw a massive snow storm, as you can see the pic below, cars were snowed in and the crews had to work hard to clear the snow away.

But as always, the sun comes out in Colorado. As quickly as the snow arrives, it dissapears with the sunny weather.



Chris and I are off on a much needed break and a birthday get-away for me to MEXICO!! Yay, only 4 more sleeps. This time we are going to Cabo, so look out for an update on our little trip.

Hello There!!!

So Jan was a total blurrrrrr. I mean, where did it go, and now it's Feb!

Unfortunately I have nothing really exciting to report, apart from Work, Travel, Work, Travel, Work, and oh, more travel.

Since the beginning of Jan, I have clocked many airline miles. 1st week of Jan I went to Palo Alto, then San Diego for SAP FKOM (sales kick-off), home for 3 days then off to Seattle, home for 3 and then off to Phoenix. As I type this, I am waiting for my flight from Phoenix to San Francisco.

So what am I actually upto. Well, as some of you may know, I have recently joined the SAP Sustainability Sales Team. The next questions is, so what's sustainability all about.

I must say, it's very exciting. It's all about business's being more profitable while being more sustainable. From a SAP solution point of view, it's encompasses everything from Carbon Impact, Sustainability Performance reporting, product and environmental safety all the way to green IT.

Check out SAP's own Sustainablity Performance Report, which just shows SAP walk the walk, it's not just talk!

http://www.sapsustainabilityreport.com/

I am focused specifically focused on the Utility Industry for North America, hence, all the travelling. But I love it and it's such an exciting space to be in.

Other than that, I want to mention the devastating events in Haiti. I is scary to think that one singular natural disastour can cause such devastation. I'm sure you have all seem what's happening in Haiti on the news, no food, no medical, orphans with no where to go, and not even a proper burial site for the dead.

SAP was involved in an organisation to raise money. They are legit and if you want to donate to the Haiti relief and be confident that it’s actually going to have a direct impact, then Direct Relief is one of those organizations. Direct Relief International is a great SAP customer (and reference customer) based in California. http://www.directrelief.org/Index.aspx . Forbes rated them 99% efficient for the past several years in their fundraising reaching the people in need. For every dollar spent by Direct Relief, they deliver between $21 - $37 in medical material aid to in-country health professionals.

Other than that, not much to report. Until next time.

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010!

I Know, I know, it's been a while...ok, a long while since I blogged. I know excuses, excuses, but it has been very busy time.

After a great Thanksgiving, which we spent with Iwan and Liezl, Flu and a business trip to San Francisco, things just seemed to speed up to fastforward. My folks arrived while I was away In San Fran, for a 3 week visit.

We have really had a snowy and bitterly cold winter, reaching -21C temps. I can without a doubt say, that my blood has not thickened enough for this weather, maybe next year??? The little dam in the neighbourhood had frozen over enough for the kids to skate and play ice-hockey.

Lovely to see.

It was great catching up and we did some great sight seeing. It was Chris's birthday on the 24th December, so I decided to throw him a party on the 23rd. We had a great evening, my mom making her traditional South African curry dish which was a absolute hit!

The next day, we headed off into the mountains, to spend Chris's birthday and our first white Christmas on the ski slopes. We had a great condo in Winter Park, which was close enough for us to walk to the slopes. We had a ton of snow in Denver and some very cold and snowy conditions in the mountains. I think my Mom struggles a little with the cold, but we did all have fun, a great experience. Chris and I got some skiing in, we all went on a snow cat drive up the mountain and wined and dined till the cows came home.

My Mom with her snow board (-:

Christmas Carol singers

The amazing snow cat drive, WOW!

My Mom and her polar bear.

Our Condo Complex

My Hubby and I on his birthday.

The cold weather persisted when we got back, but we still managed to do some interesting things, a trip to downtown Denver, seeing buffalo bills grave, Mount Evans, shopping etc.

Bob and Joni's house, with all their Christmas lights, a treat to see.

Outing to the famous Bass Pro Shop.

Dad having fun at Buffalo Bill's grave Gift Shop

Lunch in Golden, such a sweet little town.

The Big Bear looking through the window at the Denver Convention Centre

Downtown Denver

Lights in Downtown Littleton

Amazing views on the Mount Evans route

Family photo at the frozen lake

Our Christmas Tree

New Years was a quiet one this year. I was personally very happy to see the end of 2009. We had a great dinner at the Rawlins, and played some Wii. Chris now thinks he's the Wii king, I will have to work on my Wii skills to prove him wrong.

On the work front, Chris and I have been working hard. I had a trip back to Palo Alto this week, where, sitting in a meeting, felt a earth quake which registered 4.1. We were luckily sitiing in a new SAP offive which has all the technology to ease the quake, but still a little scary.

I am excited about my new job, being part of something bigger than myself, making a small difference to protecting this earth. It's all about Sustainability in the end!

My folks were supposed to fly back on Wednesday, but due to all the snow and ice at Heathrow, the airport shut down, delaying all the flights. They are only now flying back on Tuesday next week.

Global warming is slowly but surely effecting everyone, all over the world.

Other than that, my best friend, Adele is at the half way mark with her pregnancy. She looks amazing, and up to a week ago, you could not tell she was expecting. She's tiny, and beautiful, and as usual, amazing in everything she does. I can not WAIT to be an aunt. Toni and John's Troy is also so cute and getting big, clearly parenthood fit's the both of them.

2010 will be an interesting year, I am full of hope and excitement, that everyone will achieve their dreams, find health, success and pure joy!

Here's to 2010!