4th July Festivities and two wins

This month just seems to be whizzing past.

So much has happened in the past 2 weeks!

Chris and I have celebrated our 2nd 4th of July in the States now. Wow, and what a different scenario to last year. This time last year, Chris and I went to the celebrations in Clement park, across from where we lived. I remember sitting in our chairs, listening to a local band and then watching the fireworks not knowing a soul. This year painted a very different picture.

Chris got invited to the Rocky's Baseball game at Coors Field, by the Rocky's marketing manager, Billy. We were privileged enough to be in the Rocky's box, drinking wine, eating great food and watching the game. Afterwards, we were lead through the stadium, seeing where the team practice and where their locker rooms are. No ladies, I was not allowed inside, but I did ask.

Front entrance to Coors Field

Stadium packed to capacity - 50,000 people

Te unveiling of the flag, always an emotional feeling when they sing the American Anthem

We were then lead onto the field, to watch the most amazing fireworks display, in front of 50,000 fans. What a experience.

Chris and I on the field in front of 50,000 fans

I even get a hug from Dinger, the Rocky's mascot

Fireworks!

The next day, we spent the day enjoying 4th July celebrations in our own neighbourhood of Coventry. There was a big barbeque, swimming comps and races for the kids, and I even entered the cake baking comp, where I won 2nd prize for the most patriotic cake. It was a cheese cake, decorated with berries in the style of the American flag.

That evening, we went over to our amazing neighbours, Christina and Scott for another barbeque, and the all walked over to our little lake to watch the neighbourhood fireworks.

My winning cake - 2nd plac

All the other cakes entered into the competition

Going to the babeque for some food

The kids having fun at the pool

The Sunday we spent the afternoon at the Golden Gate Reserve, where we had a picnic at the most scenic and serene park. Next to a river, with mountain views, Golden gate is near Golden, and offer hikes, picnic and camping, in the mountains. It's always great to get out of the city.

Chris and I return to do the 4 hours hike, one of many in the area.

During the week, I had to do my speech number 5 at Toastmasters. I was wrecking my brain to think of a good topic to do my speech on. After much deliberation, I decided to speak about blogging, the pro's and con's, my love for blogging etc. And I won! Yes, I won 1st place, my 2nd win of the week. I even inspired a fellow Toastmaster to start blogging about his hiking 14'ner mountains, that he started his own blog and thanked me personally for the inspiration. Thanks Ron. Check out Ron's blog at: http://rockyhiking.blogspot.com/

Other than drinking and eating so much, I have been trying to get into the swing of things for my new career. My licence and business cards should arrive this week, so then I can start doing business and selling some houses.

This weekend, Iwan and Liezl came to visit. We had a braai in the afternon, and later Scott, Christina and little lucy joined us. Iwan, Liezl, Chris and I then went across to the infamous Irish Festival again. The very same one that got me so intoxicated last year. This year things were a little less crazy. Iwan and Liezl stayed over and ts morning we enjoyed an amazing breakfast out on the patio, on a very hot summers morning. I later went and assisted with an open house (same as a show house for the South Africans).

This week is going to be a crazy one, lot's of training, work wise and gym wise. i am back into some hard training and have hd some very sore muscles for the last week. My parents are flying to SA on Thursday, have a good flight guys!

Chris and I are also the very proud Godparents of our little niece Sarah, who's having her Christening this coming weekend. Sarah we love you loads and wish we were there. Big hugs and kisses for you!

I'm Back

Ok, I know it's been a while, but life should return to normal and now I have time to return to my blogging.

So what has been happening in the Seagram's life.

Well, I have decided to make a major career change, and as most of you know, left SAP, and have decided to go into Real Estate. I have just finished completing a 3 week intensive Real Estate Licencing course. I wrote my final State Exam last week and passed with 92.5% on the State Law portion of the Exam and 90.5% on the National Law portion. I have already had interviews with Coldwell Banker and Keller Williams, 2 large Real Estate Broker firms, and have made a decision to join Coldwell Banker. http://www.coldwellbanker.com/
I am very excited about my new career and will keep you all updated on what's happening, time to build those contacts!.

Other than my life being on hold for the past 3 weeks, there have been some exciting things happening. We had Melissa's Bridal Shower at the end of May, where we totally surprised her. The shower was held at Jaclin's house and we had some great fun playing some games, eating and opening gifts. The wedding is in September in Breckenridge, and I am looking so forward to it. I volunteered to make Melissa and Art's wedding invites, because the quote we got was just ridiculous. I agreed to hand make the invites and a 1/4 of the price, and I must say they came out beautifully. Melissa and Art loved them, so I was happy.

Surprise!!

Who's designed the best wedding dress?

The wedding Invites

The invite had 2 layers, invite words printed on the top on sheer, transparet wax paper, and love quotes with Art and Melissa's on hand made paper with feathers.

Joni, a fellow colleague of Chris's, invited us to her house for a private showing of Jonah Werner. We had a barbeque and then all got comfy to listen to Jonah play his guitar and sing. He was brilliant!!! He had just got back from touring Europe, and his music is very different. He sings about his life experiences, half talking, half playing guitar and singing. Check out his web-site: http://www.jonahwerner.com/index2.htm


It is summer here in Denver, and I am LOVING IT! Our garden is growing like crazy and everything is super green. We have had tons of rain this summer, which is a little strange for Denver as we normally have a drought in summer with little to no rain. We spend some great time potting around the garden, Chris mowing the lawn every weekend and me weeding and trying to plant flowers, half of which died, but I'll get there.

Our front garden

The water fountain where the snake likes to hide

My laveder bushes, well the ones that survived anyway.

And with summer and gardens, we have also discovered some other things. While Chris was working on the sprinkler the other weekend, a snake almost slithered right over his hand. We finally found it and killed it, as we did not know what it was or if it was poisonous. We later found out that it is some sort of a house snake, non-poisonous, but not pretty looking either. Since then, I have run into another 4 of them, in the garden, especially around my little water fountain, we leave them now, as they eat rats, mice and spiders but they still freek me out.

We have also had the most amount of tornadoes in Denver this season. The are more toward the East, and rarely come close to the foothills where we are, but I still get shivers down my spine when watching the news, which is then interrupted by a emergency message about some tornado.

Denver, for those of you who are not aware of this, is also a big Rugby place, which one of the largest rugby training grounds in the States. Denver hosted the Churchill Cup, which saw different countries playing against each other. Our SA friend, Jasper, invited us to go and watch, and Iwan and Liezl joined us. It was a great afternoon, chatting to everyone, speaking Afrikaans and watching some Rugby. Not even the tornado siren which went off and sky's turning black deterred us from a good time, eventually the tornado warning expired and then the rain came down, which was toward the end anyway, so we all called it a day.

Jasper and I

Iwan and Liezl

Notice the dark blue sky, yup, tornado weather!

Chris and Jasper

Liezl and I

The final game which Chris went to watch the following week

2 weeks ago we had our neighbourhood garage sale. Every one was up bright and early to see what there was on sale, before the general public were allowed in. Chris and I took a stroll around the neighbourhood, but in the end only bought a cake mixer for $5 and a tennis racket for $5. Later that afternoon, everyone came over to our place for a braai, Chris bought some cup-cakes for the kids, which they totally loved.

Chris did a hike this weekend with the boys at Golden Gate Canyon, and saw some of the most amazing views. He's getting prepared to climb a 14'ner this summer, once the snow melts at some of the peaks, they will be able to climb. I am back at gym, and hopefully getting fit enough to join him and I'm training for the Denver half-Marathon, which I am aiming to run later this year.

Other than that, we have been enjoying the lovely weather, Chris is playing some golf and tennis with the neighbours, and we are planning a camping trip for August.

For those of you who were wondering about my friend Toni, she's doing well and the baby is getting sooo big. The baby is due on the 4th September, so exciting! To get all the details, check out her blog: http://woollamworld.blogspot.com/

Good luck Tones!

This weekend is 4th of Jult celebrations, looking forward to that, with lots of fireworks and fun!

Apologies

Thanks Odette for your e-mail gently reminding me to update my blog. I apologise for the lack of updates, but it has been a little bit of a strange time.

I have started my Real Estate course, now that I've decided to get into Real Estate and start making some money, I need to get a licence for Colorado so I can practice. That should finish up at the end on June, and by then I would have chosen my preferred broker to work with All very exciting.

Other than that, summers here and Chris and I have been working in the garden, we even found 2 snakes, almost like a brown house snake, but a snake never the less, yikes. I have started my running again. I would like to do a few races this summer.

That's s short update before I need to dash out the door, but I promise to update this weekend with lots of new pics.

Cioa

It's been 1 Year!

1 YEAR, can you believe it!

Some days I think, “wow, I can not believe it’s been a year”, and other days I think, “It feels way longer than only 1 year”

Yes, 1 year indeed. On the 1st May 2008, Chris and I took the plunge, boarded a flight to New York and started our brand new lives as US Residents.

I’m not going to lie to you, it’s been a hell of a year, with lot’s of laughs, tears, frustration, joy, amazement, basically, an emotional roller coaster!

1 year ago....

We started our journey in New York..

Were lucky enough to have had Fred and Lorraine to guide us and provide a base and a home in the first days of our arrival....

Fred and I

Lorraine and I

Bought our first car (in the USA)...

Took a 6000 mile road trip up the West Coast....
Decided to settle down in Denver...

Found an Apartment....

I re-joined the SAP world
we bought our 2nd car...
Chris discovered the world of Banking with Wells Fargo

Discovered what Colorado has to offer, hiking, rock climbing, skiing

and experienced our first real snow fall ...
then bought our first house in the USA...

and built our first snow man in our own back yard
and let’s not forget, most importantly, made new friends....

Mel, Jen and I

Me and Tracie

Chris and Steve (far right)

Our first Thanksgiving meal, with Melissa,Art, little Hanna and Kyle

My amazing Canadian friend, Melissa

Our amazing neighbours, Doug and Amy, Chris and I, Todd and Cassie and Scott and Christina

Our new South African friends, Iwan and Chris

Liezl and I

Lastly, I decided to leave the SAP world and join the entrepreneurial world...

Looking back, I am so proud of what Chris and I have accomplished in only 1 year. I am so excited to see what we the future holds and the new experiences awaiting us.
After all, “Life’s a Journey, Not a Destination!”