Where to start when introducing “Us”… It can’t be about “me”, because I am me because of who the “us” is. I’m Mandy Lee Miller, 40+ years old, born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa. I live in the suburbs with my gorgeous, super-smart 10-year old daughter, Charlotte (Charly), partner of 18 years, hubby Brett. We are kept in line by a very clingy boy cat, Barnacles (Barney), and 2 beautiful pups, Pippin and Sunshine.
My parents live a few minutes away, and my mom has “worked” with us since Charly was 2 weeks old… The best granny au pair in the whole wide world. My folks are often part of everything I share, and are a huge part of the “About Us”. Other regular mentions are my exquisite Beanie, aka my niece, Chloe Grace, my sister Tam and her mister, the Brother-person. You’ll also hear about friends, Brody (and his parents who have become family), Miss E, Miss C, and Master J.
Me in the context of “About Us”…
I am one of the OG “mommy bloggers”, starting Pregnant in Cape Town in 2013. I’ve shared a daily photo and post sharing raising Charly every day since she was born, on Instagram. (It feeds through to Facebook too). After a traumatic 2018, my sharing on my actual blog slowed dramatically until eventually dying off. My shares on social media were daily microblogs by then, so I never fully came back to blogging. It feels like a lifetime ago, but I am feeling a huge inner urge to start sharing more completely again.
I’m a communications specialist professionally, having qualified in PR & Communications many moons ago. I have a few select clients keeping me very busy doing all their written and visual communications and brand management. I’m not taking on any more clients at this time.
I created and built the #CarseatFullstop brand, becoming one of two car seat experts in South Africa. CSFS focused on education specific to the SA market, introducing the concept of extended rear facing (ERF) in 2016. I moved the market from a handful of ERF seats from a single brand being available, to every brand offering at least one rear facing toddler seat… And thousands of children safer because of it… I know I made a substantial difference in the safety of children traveling in cars in South Africa. 2020 saw a drastic drop in my work for this cause for a number of reasons. I still help families that find me and sell a few of the safest seats. But I no longer proactively work in this space.
And the most important person…
Charly is everything. She is fiercely intellectually smart, an incredibly talented artist, she loves music, singing and playing violin. Since very little she has loved drama and gymnastics. Sadly, she inherited my weak knees. This means she is a reluctant sportsperson, though she has natural coordination and ball skills. She is an emotional empath, also like me, but has her dad’s fierceness and determination. She’s scarily beautiful, and has suddenly and drastically changed from little girl to tween in the past 6 months. She is a loving, loyal and devoted friend and she is blessed with a genuinely wonderful group of friends. Currently, and for the last 3 years, she has wanted to be an astrophysicist and work for NASA.
That’s it for now! I will hopefully be sharing regularly in the “old school” way of blogging. Diary-style random regular posts about what is happening in our world and in my head.
Sending all the love xxx