Make sure to enter the photoshoot giveaway!

There are still a few days left to enter guys, make sure to enter! {For South African citizens, willing to travel to Gauteng, only}

Gobbolino, the witch's cat

On Monday, a colleague of mine arrived at the office with a box that was spilling over with a brown and black striped blanket. Curiosity was sparked at this sight, but even more so, when the box started making noises.

I was at an event for most of the day, but when I got back in the afternoon, the office was abuzz about the cute ginger ball of fur that was estimated to be about one week old. His or her mother abandoned him/her and her siblings and, while I'm not sure what happened to the other kittens, my colleague would do everything in her might to keep this little thing alive.

The kitten, yet to be named, has made my heart melt! Me, an absolute dog lover! The reason it has not yet been named, is because the colleague is still fearful of his life. He has a little infection at the moment, but she took him to the vet, got him the meds and right food he needs and he gets fed by the hour. That is commitment.

This little critter made me think about one of my favourite childhood stories, that of Gobbolino, the witch's cat. Gobbolino's good heart saw him avoid his destiny as being a magical cat, and unlike his sister Sootica, he did not like doing magic, or turning mice into toads. He goes on a number of journeys, and eventually ends up being stripped of his magic and returning to the farmhouse where he first set of to, to become a normal kitchen cat.

The one thing that both Gobbolino and this little one have shown is the utmost courage. Where Gobbolino had the courage to set out on faraway adventures in search of his one true home, this one has the courage and will to live and fight!

We often take life so for granted and often don't stop to say thanks for what we have! I am grateful that there are people out there that are willing to go out on a limb {in this case, she actually went out on a gutter} to do anything for animals and which inspires me to help where I can.

Do something good this cheery season and perhaps visit a shelter. Even if you can't give any monetary or food donations, just give those poor pets some love! I know I am definitely going to.

Photos were taken by our resident photographer Duane Daws.

Emet Photograhphy {giveaway}

Listen up everyone, you can stand a chance to win a photoshoot, courtesy of Emet Photograhpy! How amazingly exciting is that?!

Look at how excited these two are.

You could win this:

First prize:

Photo-shoot to the value of R600-00 - 2 x Photographer’s

                                                                         1  hour Photo-shoot

                                                                         DVD containing a minimum of 70 hi-quality photos

                                                                         Photo-shoot must take place within the
                                                                         Pretoria-area or winner must pay
                                                                         travelling     

                                                                         costs at R3 per kilometre from Rayton

Digital Photo Frame to the value of R600-00

Second prize:

Photo-shoot to the value of R600-00 - 2 x Photographer’s

                                                                         1  hour Photo-shoot

                                                                         DVD containing a minimum of 70 hi-quality photos

                                                                         Photo-shoot must take place within the Pretoria-area or
                                                                         winner must pay Travelling
                                                                         costs at R3 per kilometre from Rayton

Choose between a couple shoot, a family shoot, a maternity shoot or a newborn shoot. The winner must redeem their prize before the end of February (with exception to newborn and maternity) and must reside in the Gauteng area or be willing to travel to Gauteng for the shoot.

A Babyshower!

Our online team's editor is expecting her first child, a baby boy in January, and seeing as we are closing for the holidays next week Friday - which is followed by our year end function - a colleague and I decided to organise a baby shower for her. I quickly designed an invite to send to the other people in the office and I thought it was quite cute!

Another colleague pitched in and said that she would like to bake a cake, carrying on with the airplane, blue and grey theme, and I was more than excited when I saw the end result! The lunchbreak baby shower was held at Mugg & Bean Bedford Centre and I have to commend them for their excellent service. I approached them the day before and asked them if they would set up our table with some nice balloons, to give it that extra special feel.

The quality of the photos aren't the best, because it was taken with an assortment of phones and I forgot to bring my camera. All in all, it was great and she did not expect a thing, even though I sit right next to her and had a lot of people whispering and coming to my desk more often.

Also, couldn't resist a snap with the balloons. I love balloons.

Owning a Boxer

Well hello all ye' SFL readers!!!!

Maddie from Thriftary here.

I am SO excited to be hanging out with all you friends today. Mostly because I get to talk about one of the cutest and wrinkliest and hyper parts of my day. My little boxer dog, Macey.

My husband and I got Macey about two months after we got hitched, almost 3 years ago. Wow. I can't believe she is almost 3. We picked her up from a farm in Atlanta, GA. She was the tiniest little thing, with a lot of bowel issues. We are very sure that she was not born into a good situation. She was only about 6 weeks old when we got her!

She was immediately a snuggler and super playful, even though she was in pretty bad shape for the first 6 months or so. We were in and out of vets offices, trying different methods to figure out why that poor little girl just couldn't hold it in. It turns out, she has colitis, and had to be put on a very strict food diet at a young age. There were so many times that my husband and I questioned wether we could afford to keep Macey in those early days... And every time we were just brought to tears by her sweetest disposition.

Oh my goodness. All of these old photos are killing me! Anywho... After we got Mace Face's colitis under control... It was all downhill from there. She was super smart, REALLY hyper and the most loyal companion in the world.

So many people told us (those who didn't own boxers) "don't get a boxer!! They are so cute but so hyper and will chew your house to bits." 

Well folks. You are sadly mistaken. I think that most dogs would unfortunately fall under that category if you don't give them the attention they need!

Macey is:

 - The easiest dog to train. She wants nothing more than to do exactly what Ben and I ask

 - If Macey get's chastised, she tends to lean her head really low and crawl away

 - Early on, we taught Macey to "Die" which is a trick where she lays down and rolls over. This is ANOTHER way that she shows us she is really really sorry.

 - The only thing that she has ever chewed is socks and trash. Annoying... Yes. But not irreplaceable.

 - She LOVES to hike and camp and jog. She is definitely in her element when she's got her backpack on and she's on a mission.

 - She has never met a dog she didn't like. Now, some dogs may not like her because she is SO loving (she tends to lick other dog's faces instead of sniffing them, in salutations) but not the other way around.

 - Macey is very protective of Ben and I. Until she realizes that you are not a threat, and then she tends to jump and kiss.

 - Macey would sleep on top of me every night if I let her. However, my husband won't let that happen (though we do steal a couple hours of cuddle time when he works late).

 - Though Mace is about 50 lbs now, she still acts like a lap dog.

 - Macey has the boxer lean, where she loves to sit on your toes and lean on your leg and stare off into the distance. Just to let you know that she is there and she's got it all under control.

All this Macey talk is getting me teary eyed.

Typical of the boxer breed, Mace is a completely playful and adorable addition to our family. We wouldn't be the same without her.

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Check out other breed posts:

- Owning a Staffie -

 - Owning a Golden Retriever -

- Owning a French Bulldog -

- Owning a Bloodhound -

- Owning an Oreo -

Prezzies and parties

 

I'm not going to write a lot of words today, because I had quite a busy day and am now too lazy to type anything. I thought I was going to dread turning 25, after all, it is a quarter of a century, really old! But if you were to ask me my age today, I would probably still say 24. What made it great was that I was blessed with great gifts that had a lot of thought put into them and shared the day with amazing friends! yay! Even though Flip got me an engagement ring just little more than a week ago, he still spoiled me with Bodyshop goodies. What more could a girl ask for?

 

 

This pretty much sums it all up. Random, quirky and a bit weird, just like me!

It's my birthday!

I caught this snapshot at a tri-birthday party this weekend,  more on that tomorrow, but today... 

Let's horse around!