Serendipity...

So I really wanted to catch up with this chick-a-dee at my 20 YEAR (YEAR 10) REUNION... record scratch... YES I am THAT OLD :) But I didnt, she wasnt there... THEN this morning I get an email from her. There we have serendipity... ain't life sweet!

I did catch up with two other gals I have known since I was 11... what a bunch of hotties HA! We didnt stay long, I forgot to put my breast pads in after I got dolled up LMAO! That is just SO ME! *grin*

Sunday we went to the airport open day and ended up catching a joy flight down to the coast in support of Breast Cancer awareness, hence the pink plane (SO KEWL). It was so bumpy, but L.O.V.E.L.Y... Josh was so great, didnt bother him at all. He had to wear that little belt, very sweet.

Here is a quick pic of the cutest baby EVER :) Bathtime last night...

SO looking forward to this weekend and catching up with her!!! AND the lovely She too :)

Hugs and Love
Bx

Her face...

When I ask to take a photo of her!! NICE one Missy Moo!

Tho I forgive her because I am sure I could swim in those eyes of hers.

A couple of Mikaelaisms of late:
1. She tells me I am looking FIT, with conviction. I LIKE that :)
2. When she got an icecream headache recently... she called it "brain disease" instead of brain freeze.
3. I sent her to her room as she was being WAY TOO exciteable and making heaps of noise... to which she replied "yes good because I need some peace and quiet"... ah ooooo K!
4. She told me she doesn't like me to refer to myself as "Mum"... she likes to WRITE Mum because its easier :), but she likes to SAY "Mummy" oooiwwww!
5. She refers to herself as "sissie" when talking to Joshua.
6. She has not lost her love for playing with snails... it's been raining the last two days... snails galore to her delight. LOL.

She wrote me this note a few weeks ago:


Translation:
I love you Mum. You are the goodest girl in the family we want you to be but are best. You will be the good mum. I love Josh and Nathan. We will look after you. We love being in our family. You are the best Mum and maybe Nathan thinks you are the best girlfriend.
CUTE AS... she is such a delight.

Or "oh how delicious" to use the phrase of Mrs Henderson (Judi Dench), from the movie of the same name which Nath and I enjoyed last night.

Happy Friday's beautiful souls...
ENJOY your weekends.
Kiss Hug
Bx

A few more layouts...

You know I think I lost my scrapping MOJO for some time before Joshua was born. He, my dear gorgeous boy has certainly made it return with a vengence. I guess its the REALLY QUICK layouts that appeal to me most. With a newborn babe that is the ONLY kinda scrapping I can do. Asides - lets face it - with an ever expanding family, it wont ever get any less crazy around here LOL!! I wouldn't have it any other way *smile*
Here are my latest layouts:





I also made this OTP (off the page) item for Joshua, its to keep all his cards and trinkets in:



Happy Days...
Bx

My place right now...

Looks like this:



No photo of me because I am feeling vain :-) And have not had my morning coffee yet!!!!

I should be in bed still but I just can NOT help myself... at Josh's 6am feed... I MUST get up (usually to the computer)!

AND - I am a bit "pumped" this morning - rather excited - because I am off to a scrapday. Its with CM, they are the only albums I use, aside from my minis, then of course... anything goes. Unfortuately my posse are not attending - due to uni assignments, european holidays and QLD escapes... SO I will be the only FreeStyler freak there!! LOL! Lucky for me I am taking the ulitmate universal LOVE item of a newborn babe... at 5 and a half weeks, this will be Joshua's first scrapday. How cute! Sure to be an even more distracting day then if my posse were there to chin wag with. Hopefully I still get a fair bit done!

I am also a BIT excited that first thing this morning we are off to an open day at the airport... we have not told Mikaela, she is obsessed by planes - cant wait to see how excited she gets LOL! EDIT: Ah... we went out there - tis NEXT weekend LOL!!Better a week early than a week later I say!

Last night we went to the Nara Candle Festival... was lovely!



Anywhooo - just a quick glimpse into my Sunday morning - when CLEARLY I should still be sleeping.

But I am up now... coffee time!
Hugs and love out to you all...
Bx

This is what I see when I walk her to school...

So far today, I have managed to:
* Get my family up, showered and dressed for their days.
* Get Mikeala's hair done - such an issue some days, and a breeze others. Girls!
* Walk Mikaela to school while she rode her scooter.


* Take a few "artsy" photos on the way.
* Do some groceries.
* Post another RAK pack - I posted all the others yesterday... so they are on their way peeps :-)
* Enjoy our neighbourhood.
* Have an SMS conversation with my youngest sister.
* Breastfeed Josh at the local park on the way home, listening to the birds.
* Put the slow cooker on with our dinner - a creamy chicken mushroom concotion.
* Change a nappy or two.
And its not even 11 am. Life is GOoooooooood. Write your own list of all the things you have done SO FAR today, and I am sure you will be surprised with how much you've accomplished. Or not. Maybe its just me - I AM always surprised LOL!

Inspired by my latest InsideOUT magazine, here is a random Q&A...
WHAT ARE YOU...
Buying - as little as possible! May be a first for me LOL! Tho I am always buying scrapping stuff - ATM I am sticking with the bare essentials (my monthly Sissey pack)
Changing - nappies :-)
Drinking - Illy coffee, only two a day - tho usually one.
Doing for dinner - see above
Planning as a Getaway - PalmCove at Christmas time, we have an apartment - its our annual family retreat - we cant wait:-)
Listening to - whatever I have downloaded onto my computer. ATM Crowded House.
Reading - Magazines, mainly house, home and garden ones - they are my FAVOURITE inspiration items. Plus brain can not read a novel just yet LOL! Maybe when on holidays.

If you are interested in playing along, answer the questions on your blog and send me a link, I'll add it to this post. I really like doing these short quick Q&As, its a good snapshot of today and works perfectly as a layout. Actually I have a "Gal Pal" mini album where I got them to answer these questions... MUST finish it and share with you.

Here are few finds from the magazine too - inspiration galore:
DavidMetNicole - a very kewl shop in Surry Hills Sydney - must get myself there, when?? I do not know, soon!
This site - which is all about trend spotting fashion, architecture, food and more.
Will add more later... seriously kewl stuff!

Have a lovely day people.
Gotta Love this life! - Crowded House like!!
Bx

So far, so good...

With the "schedule"... tho the timings were a bit out - I managed pretty well and we had a fabulous dinner I made too!! Mind you I was in bed by 930pm LOL - that is SO unheard of for Nath and I - we are totally night owls.

So I managed to get a few hours studio time in yesterday, with a my little studio mate to keep me company (and totally distracted *grin*)...


These are the layouts I got finished:




They have all been "works in progress" for some time - I lay them out on my table and just add bits here and there when I have a few minutes spare. Then when I assemble them it takes me no longer than 30mins - 1.5 hrs. Most of my layouts are SUPER quick - or I get bored before they are done LOL!!! Layouts that take a long time to finish are not my cup of tea at all! Tedious even!

I have about 100 layouts "organised" and ready to go at anyone time. I will share my organisation strategy another time.

Right now... off to take Kaela to school, today we have opted out of the 2x 1hour round trip in favour of the car as I have a postnatal yoga class to attend.

Happy Tuesday lovelies.
Oh and RAK winners - your packages will be posted tomorrow morning :-)
Bx

EAJC #41, Magic Carpet...

Where would I want a magic carpet to take me to right now???... Italy.

Actually it is ALWAYS Italy! I have loved many places we have travelled to, but my heart belongs in Italy.

I hope one day we'll own a villa in Tuscany. Maybe you'll see us on the LifeStyle channel renovating LOL!!!

Thanks for another great challenge Em.
Happy Monday peeps.
Bx

And the winners are...

ALL OF YOU! (who commented on the RAK post)
If that is **YOU**... please email me your addy so I can get them out to you :-)
Joy joy JOY !!!

I really like Sunday nights... getting organised for another week ahead, I feel that all in our lives is sorted and in order... by Wednesday that feeling has all but disappeared - which is why we have Thursday and Friday to enable us to look forward to the weekend approach! LOL.

I am looking forward to walking Mikaela to school tomorrow... the start of the fourth (and last) term of the school year for us. 10 weeks of a finely tuned routine. BAhahahahaha HA ! I can dream :)

I HAVE actually attempted to put together a schedule of what my day MAY?? look like. How funny it'll be to look at in a few weeks, when the REAL schedule becomes clear!

Just for fun... I share with you this photo of Mikaela and her totally ridiculous manicure she did herself. Whist on the phone to the lovely Lusi recently, Mikaela comes into my studio and says "mmmmm, yeah... not very good" I am distracted and not sure what she is speaking of "what?" I ask. Mikaela shoves her bright red nails (and MOST of her fingers) into my face and asks "are you cranky?" Ah... YES, if I were not so busy laughing!!! Silly girl!

Off to watch some teev with my guy. Not the cricket either!!
I hope you all had great weekends...
Now email me your addy!
Bx

Friday at ours...

Hanging with Kim, Mikaela and Josh in my studio {technically Josh is not actually IN the studio, rather outside the door in his pram}. Listening to Ayo, Ben Harper and Bob Marley...

I created a slightly cleaner studio so that we can get a few things sorted...

Mikaela sorting the threads getting ready for our RAK giveaway! (Make sure you have an entry :-) Dont be shy!! You have until 1124am 13th October to enter) She is really helpful, especially when she is put to task (thanks to Kim... who is the one to get the project underway).
Getting Josh's birth announcement cards done, again - with Kim's help :)
Finishing these layouts...
Happy Friday peeps!
Bx

2am conversation...

With my man went something like this.
N. What time did you last feed Josh?
B. 4.30
N. But its 2am now
B. Yeah, you were asleep!
N. So you fed him....
B. 2 hours ago!
N. Not yesterday afternoon??
B. {realising some kind of brain malfunciton on my part} whatever, shut up, go to sleep!

5am conversation
N. you are like a different person, at 2am you were snapping at me and saying you fed Josh at 430.
B. {both laughing} I know!!

And whoever thinks babies dont smile before 6 weeks is CRAZY MAD. Joshua was smiling at his 4d scan (30 weeks gestation) and this has been proven.

Experts suggest that babies smile heaps in the womb, then the trauma of birth takes them 6 weeks for the smile to return again. Thankfully for Josh, even tho we did not have a "delightful" experience... he was smiling again within days. Admittedly most of it is just "face twitches" STILL OH SO CUTE to see!

He is so cute (Nath says I say this about 100 times a day... can you blame me?)


Happy Days
Bx

Making your dreams a reality...

This is my Wish Jar I created some time ago... inspired by Keri Smith.

Along the same lines as my "dreamboard"... making your dreams and desires tangable and therefore achievable...

In very basic terms, my wish jar contains my list of 100 things I want to do before I die.

Interesting that I find at different times my blogging community are thinking along the same vein, Ali recently posted along this same matter.

I must say... the list IS very powerful. Since I created my wish jar... I have realised a number of wishes, such as:
. Meeting Emily Falconbridge
. Climbing Pisa tower (and let me say my "wish jar" is the ONLY reason I got to the top... otherwise there is no way I would have done it... in fact I was even chanting the mantra "100 things, 100 things" as I climbed, kinda terrified to the top LOL!!!)
. Climb the Eiffel tower (okay...technically not met as we took the lift!!)
. Have a healthy and happy baby in 2007
(there are many more... but I have a baby boy on my boob and dont have the time to elaborate!!

A few of the 100 things still to do:
. Meet Bono and Nelson Mandela
. Meet SARK, Sarbrina Ward Harrison and Keri Smith
. Meet my blogging sisterhood... friends I have made over the years
. Own a villa in Tuscany
. Work in Africa as an aid worker for a year or so
*grin*... loving dreams, we have gotta have them!!

I have more to add to my life list... I will post in its entirety soon.

Oh and please make sure you are part of my RAK giveaway!!

Gotta go change a dirty nappy!!
Peace out...
Bx

Oh My GODNESS....

Look what my FIL just gave me... I am ONE LUCKY GIRL!!!

I think there must be about 400 of the cotton embroidery floss...


Plus another 500 or so of the Tapestry Wool...


When Nath was just a wee-een, his parents owned a hobby store, these threads have been stored in their garage for some years... and now they are mine YAH!!!

SO I MUST GIVE SOME AWAY... make a comment on this post (by 11.24am, my time... 13th October - Joshies 1 month bday). Tell me what it is you enjoy about scrapping classes, or what you'd like to learn in a scrapping class? Even if you are not a "scrapper"... I am sure you have an opinion...

Come on all ya lurkers, I'd *love* for you to "de-lurk" yourself!
Bx

EAJC #40, Not Anymore...

Emily's challenge this week was "Not Anymore", what is not anymore in your life?

For me my NOT ANYMORE is that once upon a time, I did not think of myself as "worthy" to have the life I dreamed of. SoulMates were for other people, my friends... but I would not have one. A job that both inspired AND paid well was not something I "deserved". To have a happy, content and well adjusted family. To really **LOVE** myself was not even in the realms of possibility... these fears and feelings were left over from my childhood, which was pretty traumatic. I grew up in fear. My mother was (and still is today) a herion addict and alcholic. I spent 17 years in pretty awful conditions and the situations that her addictions exposed me (and my siblings) to... I would not wish upon anyone.

That feels like a lifetime ago now to how my life is today.

That is not to say that the scars do not remain, they are there... and every now and again something will trigger me to revisit some of the most violent and terrible times in my childhood. Thats okay. I have learnt it is okay to have had such experiences so long as I do not allow them to define me. I *am* defined by how I have dealt with these experiences, by how I have overcome them. I am the person I am today in spite of my experiences but not because of them. Today I have the strength to be honest about my abusive childhood, it happened, it is real... it is not "who I am" I do not need to feel judged for the wrong doing of adults in my life, especially since I was just an innocent child. The more we talk... the more we can heal and help others...

I came to a point in my life where I realised that I was the one in control. I could not change the past... but I could change and take control of the future... of today. Of my behaviour, of myself. To be a survior and not a victim for the rest of my life. That is all I have ever wished for my mother, but you can not take responsiblitly for others... only for yourself.

That is when my life took a major turn for the better. I became grateful for all my good decisions. I treasured my life and my daughter, my friends, my career... MYSELF!! and things have been on the up and up ever since...

That is why my blog is full of gratitude and all the bits and pieces of my life that make me happy and even proud.

Proud to have broken the addiciton and pain that had been part of my family history for at least 3 generations I know of.

Proud for creating a better *me* and a wonderful, bright future for myself, my family and my children.

Life really is what we make it.
THAT is why I am SO grateful... and why my "not anymore" is that I no longer consider myself "unworthy" to live the life I dream of.

Oh and if you managed to get to reading this.... you deserve to know about my RAK :-)

Love and Peace
Choose Happiness...
I did.
Bx

Joshua's first layout...

I just finished today :-)
He is SO CUTE!!
Bx

EAJC #37, 38 and 39...

Been a while since I had time to get these done... tho I had them in my mind for a while :-) As always I love Em's challenges, and these were no exception...

Emily's challenge #37, Draw Something...

Emily's challenge #38, I wonder...

Emily's challenge #39, Someone Spec...

REALLY happy to just be able to get this small amount of creative fun complete... MAYBE I will get a couple of layouts done soon... all about Joshua of course :-) Go here to see more of our new little man :-) And here if you want birthing details EIK! LOL!

We have school holidays here at the moment... we are off to a major park with some friends... will share later :-)

Love and Joy to you all...
Bx