EAJC #29, define perfection...

Firstly, thanks so much for all the SMSs and emails in my unplanned absence of late. I am certainly feeling lots of love right now :-) Everything here at the ranch is great - I have just been super busy.

Baby is wonderful... infact baby is a big one we are told :) Not long now....

Anyways, in the meantime, I have much to share and so I begin with this little post.

Operation Organisation.... was a HUGE hit - I got 47 layouts prepared, papers and journaling all set to go. PLUS 7 mini albums. Actually I won a gift (a very kewl tote bag) at this weekends retreat for being the most orgainsed... chuffed am I :-)

GreenHills weekend was f.a.b.u.l.o.u.s... I only managed to get about 12 layouts and 3 of the mini - albums completed, all good. Still have lots of lovely stuff for me to play with :) Will share my completed art soon.

So Em's promt for the 22nd July... was PERFECT, to define what you consider to be perfection. Happened to be the same day that Nath, Mikaela and I went to Corin Forest with a number of friends for some bobsleding and snow fun. Here is my card to celebrate what I consider to be perfect: NATH is the PERFECT stepdad, the kind we all dream of {especially for our own child/ren} The kind every child deserves. The very very best kind. Mikaela and I are so blessed to have Nath in our lives... of this I am acutely aware and super grateful for my good decisions and blessings.

Nath is the BOMB!
More to share soon, so come back, I promise I will have updated :)
Oh and to see some more of my work... go here.

EDIT.. this day was also the one year anniversary of the death of my step-bro Brett... you are missed dearly and I know he would have been happy we were celebrating the life we have created for ourselves. Hugs and Love to Bec and Wade.
Bx

Enjoying hanging with Mikaela this week...

NOT so enjoying working at the same time… and coming out to an ALMOST totally demolished house at times LOL! No, not really, Mikaela is pretty good… and I do take her out for lunch dates. She hangs out with me in my studio/office and works on little art projects.

We do get out and about, tho its so cold here that there is not a LOT of outdoors time we can tolerate anyways… a quick ride down to the local shops and we are near frozen!!!

So I am doing a fair few hours, after-hours and my house remains a tad neglected.
Oh well, thankfully the cleaner is coming today. Its all good.

I am also enjoying these new found delights when I get a spare moment or two...
*Nic Howards blog

**Pencil Crayons blog This was in one of Ali's newsletters... I *love* the use of pencils and scrapping... fun fun!

Managed to squeeze in Emily's latest challenge, Goal of the week:
Mine remains "Operation Organisation" for my girlie scrapping weekend, which is only 9 sleeps away... slowly slowly I am getting there!

Not much else to share right now... tis supposed to snow today!!
And my sisters are coming to visit on the weekend... and that is about all.

(hugs) and love
Bx

lots of projects under way...

As Nath said to me as we walked (me a little uncomfortably) to the movie (nice one, I got a free pass in the mail this week :-))...last night "honey, you're on the home stretch" with this pregnancy. I still have a ways to go, thankfully my anxitey has been taken over by pure excitement... basically I am totally obsessed (really?? LOL!) - ALL I can think about is meeting our little babe. That 4d scan made me even MORE obessed than I was before, if that is at all possible, plus lots of other little babes arriving to the world. Its a wonderous time in our lives and we are so very blessed... this I know.
However, it is nice to break away from the obsessing from time to time (or just redirect it)! Thankfully I have tonnes of other things going on to keep me occupied, a couple of which are:

* Mikaela is on school holidays for two weeks... this week she was in a swim focused program, I went with her on Thursday morning - it was so nice to just hang out together for a few hours and limit the gravity pull on my body. Mikaela is getting so big now!! She and Nath are out for their usual Saturday morning bike ride.

* My gal pals and I have an annual weekend retreat at a dormitory style conference centre about half an hour out of town... we are all so excited - scrapping with great friends from 8pm Friday to 5pm Sunday, and they put on some pretty fabulous (okay probably NOT fabulous as such, but I am not cooking.. and for me THAT is fabulous enough :-)) meals... which leads me to the next matter keeping me occupied...

* ""Operation Organisation"" is under way... so far I have about 11 projects conjured in my mind and only 4 of them are "set to go" Last year I got some 43 layouts done in the weekend (all pretty simple). This year my focus is albums and mini albums - and I suspect I am being rather too ambitious, but that is kewl! Once I have them all prepared, they are set to go... and I can do them at anytime!

* My travel journal from our recent Europe/Asia trip remains "a work in progress" and I need to get all the journaling typed up for my 12x12 album (argh!!)... so here are some sneak peaks of where I am at with it so far:

Yesterday I was totally spoilt by my dear friend Kylie, who bought me the latest Basic Grey range, collection pack (Infuse), as a belated birthday gift! She is such a darling :-)

Nath and Mikaela just got back... Nath collected this from our PO BOX... another little goodie for me (Kyle, you will LOVE LOVE too)...

Right now... we are listening to Beethoven for babies (BTW, do you think? If *I* dont like too much beethoven.. the babe wont?? LOL!!)... as Mikaela creates a canvas masterpiece... and I get on with my travel journal!! Nath is off to work for a couple of hours...

Tonight we are having family movie night, watching BarnYard, enjoying popcorn and snuggling on the couch all together.

Tomorrow my gal pal Kim is coming over for a few hours of scrappin time (seems like forever since I scrapped with her)... JOY JOY JOY.

Enjoy your weekends lovelies... I hope your heart is smiling :-)
Bx

Hello Baby...

Can you believe technology today???
I can NOT!!
These are photos of our baby.... STILL IN MY BELLY (you know what I mean)!!!
4D scan images.
Incredible.


So amazing!
Cute too.

So Nath's parents and my Mum, Nath, Mikaela and I ... were put on quite a show last night!
Baby was smiling heaps, sucking his/her thumb, drinking... it was just the most delightful incredible experience.
This past weekend we got the cot, linen, change table, pram, bassinet, car seat... and lots of little clothes. I keep going into look at them... SO CUTE!
Its now just over 10 weeks now until we meet our babe in person... we are all so so so very excited.

For MORE baby goodness, see Yindi and Connor.
Bx

29 weeks now...

Which means:
11 weeks to go! JOY JOY JOY! Things are going really well... we had an appointment with our obstetrician on Thursday... and he laughed (I am pretty sure AT ME) because the baby is 31 weeks in size. Mmmmmm. Men!!

For Shaz and my sweet lil' sis, Lee..... HERE YOU ARE - another photo of me and baby... I guess seeing this I can understand the laughter. Tis rather funny!! See for me... looking down, I dont think I am THAT big *smile* and asides, even if I am... I am only going to get bigger hey! LOL!
Nath's parents have arrived from Adelaide today, and Jean tells me that the clothes I have bought for bubba today are too small. Lucky we are going to buy some more tomorrow... AND begin setting up the "love" room for bubba.

Speaking of LOVE... inspired by the ever-talented Lusi and her love letters box... I have made one for me and Nath:
Thanks Lusi Lu Lu for inspiring me with this lovely project, I had such fun creating this keepsake for us. For more detailed pictures, go here.

I hope you all have a great weekend...
Bx

One of my main life blessings...

is STELLA and her family...
REALLY gorgeous. So sweet. I have known her forever, or since I was 11 years old... so almost forever.
She is one of my favourite peeps, totally full of energy, makes me laugh until I cry... ALL the time, lights up the room (she kinda demands it... its the Leo in her I think :-)) Anyways I just love her and her family to bits!~ !

I am SO SO SO happy to have her in my life... heartbreaking that she lives 800km away, I miss her terribly. Tho when we catch up its as tho we saw each other yesterday... so its all good. Oh... and Mikaela is STILL totally in love with Nicholas!! I MUST "share" the layouts she has done of the two of them together over the years.... yeah, she'd LOVE that!!! Tho Nikki has seen them, so its not a secret!

Love
Bx

EAJC #26, Celebrate Daughters...

Rightly SO... given that Ems just gave birth to another little daughter... this weeks challenge, set by Margie is Celebrating Daughters.

Thanks Margie, most fitting and SUCH an easy one :-)then I guess celebrating anyone you loves, loves loves... is easy, so here's mine...
I "thought" I wanted a son until she came into my life... as soon as I held her in my arms any thoughts of a son vanished. I had "his" name chosen and everything, I would refer to my unborn baby as Ethan for ages... a few months after Mikaela was born I could not, for the life of me ... remember "his" name, took some time before it came back to me LOL!

Mikaela is my dream come true.
For sure.
I am SO blessed to have such a wonderful daughter and so proud to be her Mum.
Love and Peace out...
Bx

We couldn't resist...

Weeeeeeeeeeeeks ago now, when we were in Piccadilly Circus, London... we passed a large group of artists doing portrait drawings. OF COURSE we could not resist getting one done of Mikaela. I have not photographed the entire picture, it says "Mikaela 6 years, London 18 May 2007" and of course the artists name. He was just so talented.

So many talented brilliant wonderful kind artists in our world. He was so sweet and really into his craft, you could tell by watching him how much he enjoyed what he did... and particularly drawing Mikaela.... they giggled and smiled. It was so sweet to watch. Mind you, Mikalea took it all VERY seriously, I have never seen her so quiet, calm and serious for such a long time. LOL!

I need to get a frame for it. Add that to my list of TTD!
Peace and Love out...

Word Up #4, New...

Here is my One Little Word challenge for this fortnight... For more images of this layout, go here.
Nath and I were SO excited yesterday morning... taking apart our old bed, setting up the guest room and jumping up and down when our new King sized bed arrived. Seriously exciting stuff for us. OLW challenge being NEW fit our new bed nicely. My journalling is totally corny and sentimental :-) ... that the best thing about our bed is laying down with Nath every night to share everything... our hopes and dreams, our fears, our lives, our future... you know, all that stuff! The GOOOOOOOD stuff...

Speaking of "the good stuff" here are a few other things making me squeal with delight right now:
** Mikaela had Elise stay over Friday night... naturally they were up for AGES giggling and squealing, very sweet. They took off to the pool with her parents yesterday and had a great day together.
** Having "Creative Friday's" with Kyle... I created this piece. Fun. Kyle made the most gorgeous cauliflower soup... seriously delicious!
** Ayo, Joyful CD... I LOVE so much!
** This piece I found in one of my old Artists Journals recently... This is how I felt when pregnant with Mikaela and how I feel pregnant with our little one now! These products remain on my wish list, pricy... but oh so yummy! Alas all I have is the tear from the magazine LOL!
** Now we have a "guest room" for visitors, the first will be Nath's parents in two weeks.. Whoohooo.
** My oldest gal pal... I have know for 24 years is HERE in Canberra... Oh my THIS had me squealing a LOT last night when we spoke as she was on her way... I so can NOT wait to squeeze this girl. S T E L L A!!!!
** Go here to see the cutiest newborn babe!

Love and Peace out and happy Sunday...
Bx