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!”

Spring is here!!

Finally, it feels as if spring has arrived in Colorado and boy am I ready for it!


There are all sorts of interesting flowers popping up all over my garden and I am so keen to get stuck into it this weekend and get these green fingers of mine working.

We had our last cold, snowy snap last weekend, where we had a few inches of snow, but that too has passed and now we can enjoy the balmy warm spring weather.

We have some work to do in our little garden, Chris needs to airate the lawn tomorrow ,that where you get this machine that spikes the ground, because it's so hard, it needs holes in it to absorb the moisture.
We then need to lay new wood chips down in the flower beds, where the squirrels have pulled up the lining.
I need to plant some flowers and a tree for earth day and arbor day which was this week.

Next week I'm also going to get my little veggie patch going, this year's all about organic and natural goodness.

So, watch for more updates on our gardening project.

Have a fab weekend!

Columbine - 10th Year Memorial

Yesterday, the 20th April 2009, marked the 10 year anniversary of the Columbine School Shooting, in the quiet little neighbourhood of Littleton, Colorado.


10 years ago, on April 20th 1999, the world was shocked as 2 young students of Columbine High School, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, walked into the school, shooting fellow class mates and teachers, unfortunately killing 12 students and a teacher, and wounding 23 others. The massacre ended with Eric and Dylan taking their own lives.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre

Eric and Dylan

This is very real for me as Columbine school is only 3 minutes down the road from where I live. I drive past it every other day on my way to the store. I can not help thinking about the tragedy of that day every time I drive by.

In Clement park next to the school, a memorial has been built for the 12 students and teacher who died in the shooting, which many people visited yesterday and paid their respects. A memorial service was held and many people spoke about their recollections of that day, but many also spoke about hope and the future the youth has to look forward to today.


The Memorial Site in Clement Park

But the one question I keep asking is WHY?
I'm sure many people do. Is it because they were bullied to breaking point. Were they social outcasts or taunted because of their choice of clothing or beliefs? Did this lead to depression?
We all know how cruel kids can be at school, we all have experienced some sort of nastiness at one point or other, but sometimes it can get out of hand.
I do think schools, parents and teachers are more aware of what is happening in schools and the behaviour of children and should continue to be aware.

I also feel very strongly about leveling the playing field at school. Growing up in Johannesburg, South Africa, we all wore school uniforms, and had strict rules on hair, nails, make-up etc. I think this takes out the added stress of labelling kids by what they wear or don't wear, or if they have a cool hair style, make-up etc.

Kid's, be kind to one another, parents, be conscious of what's happening in your children's lives.