Mail from South Africa!

This is Jo. We have known each other since I was five, she was six, and I got chicken pox just after she'd had it. My mom took us across the road to confirm what she suspected. Her mom said yes, that looks like chicken pox. And although they moved away a few years later, we met up again while studying, much to our surprise, and we've pretty much stayed friends ever since. We even became neighbours for a second time when Jo and her husband bought a house four doors down from ours. But then we left for the UK, and contact has been sporadic, but we're still good friends. We have always shared more than just a name...Jo and I were often likely to turn up wearing the same skirt or blouse, and our love for all things sparkly will always keep us connected! She's a magpie of note, and so often I will see something in our British stores that makes me think of her straight away, and I SO wish they'd move over here!

Here we are on my first day of school - my big sis Andrea, who was in Standard One, Jo, who was in Grade Two, and me, going into Grade One. They've changed the names of school grades now, they just follow on numerically. But we were six, seven and eight years old.

Jo and Alexis got married in Cape Town last year in February, and we flew out for their wedding. Holly was their flower girl (what a treat, she loved every minute of it!). Jo made her wedding cake toppers - aren't they darling?

The whole wedding was themed around sweet little garden birds, from the invitation (see it here), to the bird cages with floral displays, Holly's petals were in a little birdcage, the cake toppers were of course birds, and we even got a pair of wings for Holly to wear!

And yesterday, I got a lovely parcel in the mail from Jo for my birthday! Typically, you can never count on the South African post service, so it took a whole month to get here, but actually, it's quite exciting receiving something out the blue! This protea brooch is gorgeous, it's already on my coat and I have had compliments on it too! The protea is South Africa's national flower, and the springbok is the national animal. This brooch? it's a protea made from springbok skin! I love it, so THANK YOU SO MUCH JO!!!

And then she also sent me this gorgeous bracelet. I took the photo of it on my table lamp, as I couldn't shoot it on my wrist! It's lovely, and I can't wait for summer to be able to wear it and show it off properly too!