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

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

Consumed, Enjoyed, Acquired of late ...

Just for fun, thought I'd share a few things making me smile right now:
Firstly, these slippers... warm and snuggly because it IS freezing here!!!

• Breaking and Stealing... I LOVED this movie SO MUCH and totally recommend it. Jude Law is terrific and Robin Wright Penn has always been fabulous, this is no exception.
• AYO's , Joyful... SUCH a sweet discovery, this woman has the most beautiful voice. Some of her songs take me back to the difficult days in my life (and some of our history is similar), which I like... reminds me of how far I have come and how grateful I am to be where I am today. Reminds me of choice and how blessed I am. Some days I need this kinda music! I just LOVE *love* Love her!
• Silver Rain (La Prairie)... OF COURSE one MUST get some perfume DutyFree on the way home (ha, this is the first time)... it is SO yummmmmmy!
• Oilily... A Netherlands brand. The patterns are beautiful. I got a new bag, makeup case and purse for my birthday. I am IN LOVE! The website is gorgeous too!
• Tomato Juice... CRAZY for it at the moment - only because I am pregnant, loved it with Mikaela too - hahaha! Yah for folate!
• Leather gloves and big fluffy & warm scalves are also making me MOST happy in our 6 degree celcius weather!
• Feeling the baby move about heaps, since I am sitting on my butt at my desk *smile* ... instead of my recent activities of cleaning frantically, walking or climbing for hours non-stop... My obstetrician STILL tells me I am big (and so is our baby) LOL! Oh, and for those of you who have been asking, our babe is doing wonderfully and we dont know the gender - we want a surprise.

Still have heaps more to share... my scrap room continues to undergo a major transformation, waiting on some furniture before I can post the before and after impact... its a while away (6-8 weeks).

Plus TONNES of projects which I aim to post tonight. IN FACT... I have SO many projects to share (some I did before we went away)... part of me figures, whats the point??? Only I will feel all outta wack if I dont post em.... mmmmm, how the mind works? LOL !!

So thats about it... we are back to work and school and life continues along as per (mostly) usual ...
Love and Peace...
Bx

Every pregnant woman should own...

One of these... "they" {whoever "they" are} should give them away free..

Seriously I almost didnt even need the massage from my treatments on Friday.... just getting onto this chair and letting gravity do its thing was almost enough.

Amazing!
I wonder if I can hire one... bhahahaha.

We have 9 sleeps until we go on a big plane, tonnes of things to finish, finalise, get done before then... crazy busy times.

Forgive me if I dont blog much... between now and then, and especially forgive me if I dont blog whilst overseas. We leave on 15th May and return 12th June.

Love out
Bx

SuperHERo Bek...

I am officially a SuperHERo now :-)

Kyle took this photo of me yesterday. I actually managed to get three layouts (almost) finished and we had a great day with She and her little ones... SO noisy and SO MUCH FUN!!! Much laughter shared. Lots of goodies shared too... I had gifts for Kyle, she had stuff for me... beautiful!! Including some devine produce... a jar of olive pesto (I almost ate it ALL last night and sundried grapes - both delisious... seriously considering taking them to Syndey with me. Thanks Kyles *smile*

I am off to Sydney in a few hours and will not be posting for a few days.

When I return ... I will have SO MANY goodies to share, class projects, photos of what is sure to be a splendid weekend, and of course all the latest baby news after our appointments today.

FYI... I do have other tops, this is just one of my favourites!

Till then, take care loves!
Bx

Cutiest T-shirt in the world...

Is it not?
My dear and darling friend Kyles gave me this as a gift today.
I, of course, in all my pregnancy hormon-alness ~bawled ~ well not bawled, but I did have a fair teary.

Its just so CUTE I couldnt help it !!!!!!

Thank you SO MUCH Kyle... for such a seriously gorgeous and thoughtful gift... and for simply being one of the best gal pals anyone could ask for! I love you much!

I am blessed.

That is for sure!

So here I am at 15 weeks... we had a checkup today ... all is good. Pretty sure I felt a *flutter* today... so anytime now I will be feeling the babe move a LOT more. Thats my favourite part of the pregnancy.

Tonight we are off to Cirque du Soleil which is sure to be an amazing experience... its a first for all three of us, Nath, Mikaela and I have never been before. We are SO SUPER excited!!

Happy Friday... and have a GREAT weekend loves...
Bx

Goodies...

How exciting... just when I felt I had lost my scrapping mojo!

Tadah!! The universe provides.

Today I received a package from Aussie Dares with lots of Collections items!

For my Art Inspiration entry.....Dare # 9!

I WON! Mind you... it was NOT a competition based on my actual layout, or talent as such... they just drew my name out of a hat so to speak.

How exciting!

I am so looking forward to scrapping with this stuff. SO!

Fits in so perfectly with Ali's latest challenge! I will post my results soooonn.... I can feel my MOJO coming back. NOW just to find the time.

Gotta run.... Nath and I are wrapping Kaela's pressies before I go to my pottery class.

Thanks Aussie Dares!

Bx

Happy Monday....

Our Scrapping sleepover was so much fun!
The girls had a great time... although I think they only scrapped one page.
Both dressed as Princesses... with their "clapping shoes" as Mikaela calls them...
They found GLITTER in Kaela's scrap box.
So now our house is TOTALLY GLITTERED. We're just going to leave it !
{Nath found it most amusing that glitter was all over his side of the bed (and Pillow) Saturday night}

NOTE TO SELF: If, after the event, you are going to be totally relaxed and blase about it, best to be that way the whole time.... I was on the phone to Nath the next morning, insisting we go and buy a super duper vacuum cleaner (we have two rugs in our home to vacuum, thats it.. and the crappy vacuum we have does okay in usual circumstances).

The girls spilled the glitter all over the living room... the couch and rug. AND IN THEIR HAIR (of course).....
They had fun dancing in the living room, with the disco ball and torch.
Harassing the young boys next door.
Running, squealing and giggling in the courtyard and through the house.
Painting their nails...

Di and I just scrapped. Humming, occasional chats... mostly just enjoying the time to relax and scrap.

As all REALLY fabulous evenings do, it ended in tears!!
They were jumping on the bed {we think} and Jasmin fell down and banged the side of her head.
Poor darling has a bit of a bruise and gash... Girls are such little toughies....

I DID NOT get up to do my walk up Red Hill.... since we'd only been in bed for 5 hours, I just couldnt do it!
After a breaky, a bit more scrapping and fun Di and Jasmin went home to do a few things.
Kaela and I went for a pedicure.

Di came back to collect us... we went to a Card making workshop at a her friends {Julie}.
It was a Stampin Up party... I just LOVE their products... YUMMY stuff!
Julie was the perfect host... made delicious food and even gave beautiful gifts.

Saturday night... Nath had returned from his guy weekend in Sydney... and cooked us a PERFECT seafood BBQ. Lovely relaxing evening at home together!

Sunday morning... I got up to do my 4km walk up Red Hill.
Nath and I walked down to the local... got the papers. Kaela didnt walk, she went on her scooter... and she fly's down this hill near our place (scares the crap out of me)!!
We made a great Sunday brunch... mushies, spinach and soft boiled eggs on rye toast.
Kaelas horseriding... then to her Dad's - I dropped them to the pool !

Nath and I went and bought Mikaela her Chrissy pressies.
We got her exactly what she was after.
We know this because.....
A couple of weeks ago the Toys R Us catalogue came with the Sunday papers.
Early on a Sunday morning... like 6am, she comes into me.... pointing to the things she likes.
I tell her to get a pen... and CIRCLE ALL THE THINGS YOU WANT.
I think this will give me a bit more sleep time... you know, like at least half an hour!
Nooooooooo...... my dear child circles TWO things.
Well, she had circled THREE things... # 3 she circled quite a few times in fact !
Then she put a big cross through it.
Now she had my total attention.
Me: So why did you put a cross through this here Kaela?
K: Because its too big...Is it Mum?
Its a Little Mermaid kitchen set... and of course we bought it for her yesterday....

The thing is ... I do not like for Mikaela to have A LOT of toys.
I rather she has a FEW really good quality ones... and then the rest I tend to give away pretty frequently to charity.
I often have a large bag in the boot.... on its way to drop off.
Sometimes it takes a week or so!
It gets there in the end.

Here are a few photos (as requested by Shazz) of some paper mache hot air balloons I made for Mikaela when she was about 3 years old. I have only just put them up in our new home last weekend. And yes... some of them still do not have baskets... sheez!

Oh.. BTW.... I KNOW this is a long and boring post... but I am trying to keep it as I originally intended.

I am saving each month in a word file... and I print them off with each Banner, laminate it as a marker... store in a folder for Mikaela to one day be bored TO TEARS with!

Bahahahahahaa.

Love to you all peeps... have great Mondays!! Bx

Random Monday thoughts...

Kaela fell OFF her horse at yesterday's lesson, first time in two years, so thats a pretty good track record. It wasnt her fault, the horse tripped and fell over with my baby on its back !!! Mikaela didnt cry, she was shocked... I scooped her into my arms immediately. We checked the horse out, it seemed he had injured his knee, though he was more concerned with Mikaela... nudging an apology to her... it was very sweet. She got right back on him. I was holding back tears for at least 10 minutes afterwards.

Nath and I walked up Red Hill again this morning... there were about 5 hot air balloons, it was sunny and beautiful. Now its kinda overcast and blah!

Yest. Nath and I lay on this bed and we are going to have to go and buy it as soon as we can. It was like laying in clouds, or how I imagine that would be. Our body types were tested to provide us with the best bed design for US, together... We tried a few other beds too, but nothing came close, nothing compared. All I know is... that returning to our bed felt like we were sleeping on bricks! Its gonna have to wait a while because we just spent all our bucks on....

a beautiful bedroom suite ( a piccy for my sisters) for Mikaela, bed, bedside table and tall boy. We are going to let her fall asleep in our bed on Christmas eve, then set her room up, put her into her bed... and when she wakes UP.... Eiiiiieeeeee - we are so excited, and delighted with ourselves for conjuring this cunning plan!

Saturday morning... I had my assesment for my photography course, I did a power point presentation... and they accused me of being a VIRGO. I am not a Virgo. Nathan is a Virgo. I think I have Virgo tendencies!

Saturday night... me and my love watched "An Officer and A Gentleman"... all time classic romantic. Heavenly.

Friday I was in bed all day because Nath poisoned me with MSG !! So funny... I was gulping down this beautiful slow cooked soup he had made. He asked me if it tasted okay "because he had added tonnes of stock".....mmmm not good for me! Internal warning bell not working so well.

This past weekend was exactly what I needed to recharge.... LOTS of family time, relaxing time... doing "not much" time. Cleaning and purging time. No scrapping time! Connecting with loved ones across the miles time. Some one-on-one out to dinner time.... Sunday nights, leisurely walking.. outdoor dinning... the BEST way to end a weekend... and get ready to start a new week ...

And today I am just very happy and content. Smiling peacefully. So very in love with him!

EDIT: to top off my most lovely day... my womens circle sister, the goregous and talented Kaylia, sent me a short story about passion, which is just SO YUMMY!! Thank you Kaylia for such a beautiful gift!

Enjoy
Peace and Love
Bx