hellooo!! goodbye!!

helloooo everyone!  

oh my word so much has happened i dont even know where to start so i will just tell you everything as it pops into my head.  

personally, A LOT has happened!  we have been given an opportunity to shoot a friend of ours wedding in Boston, and the preparations for this started in december last year.  it has been a struggle of epic proportions to get everything prepared for this trip.  i found out that my passport expired so first off i had to apply for a new passport, only to find out that i have to be verified first to get a new passport.  no, i am not sure exactly what that means, but eventually i got verified and eventually i got my brand spanking new passport!  this took a month to sort out so by then the race was on to get everything sorted out.  hats off to the pinetown department of home affairs, they were brilliant.  

after the passport saga, it was time to get our visas sorted.  when you travel on a green passport (south african passport) it is a mission to visit just about any country in the world without a visa.  we even need visas to travel to nigeria and sierra leone..  !!!!!!!!!?????????  anyways, the visa applications were insane.  i have never been asked so many questions about so many things.  to make a long story short, damien was denied his UK visa so the race was on to get his US visa ASAP.  we literally  , after a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears, we received our passports WITH visas to the US yesterday afternooon.  no really.  yesterday afternooooooonn!!!!!  oh yes, i have the gray hairs to show it... wrinkles to prove it....  ;)  

so we are set for our trip!! MAD photography is going global!  i am sooo excited.  

more personal news, damien asked me to marry him!!!! i was soooo super shocked, we have never been ones for the traditional kinda thing, so when he asked me, my first reaction was WHAT??? and then, what are you doing on the floor there??  are you feeling ok??  LOLOLOL!!  so on bended knee, he asked, i had heart failure and we are now engaged.  we are not planning to get married anytime soon, we have always wanted a 'honeymoon' wedding, so that will probably happen in a whole couple of years.  ringwise, i dont wear any jewelery, its just not something i am into, so we are now looking for something suitable to show our commitment to each other.  who knows, vegas wedding, dice ring... (this is for you pamperladies... LOLOLOL!!)

on other scrappy news, i am sure most of scrapland knows by now that we had to close our scrappy 'baby' down.  it has been a tough decision, but in the long run, i think it will work out the best for everyone.  i have been honoured to have worked with my fellow designers, vicki, sara, stacey and laramie.  how awesome it was to learn, love and laugh with each other.  i am not giving up designing, i am selling my designs at my memories at the moment and i am very happy there.  so i will not be gone for good, when i come back, i will have some fabby new designs for you.  stay tuned.  a makeover is also imminent, i have already got some new scrappy 'gear' so see me on 1 july to see the NEW mel hains designs.  very exciting stuff.  so while our store is closing down this month, pop by and grab your favourites.  some of them will be gone for good, i am not going to sell everything at my memories, so grab it now at 50% off.  

so with that, is farewell STI, i will miss you.  goodbye chilly durbs, see you soon soon.  hello adventure!!  hello new beginnings!  

i will see you soon!  if you are on facebook, i will have regular updates there.  

much love everyone,