I am closing this blog down...

Go here to find out the latest with me and mine *smile*
A little surprise awaits!

Oh and to be technically "correct" I am not really closing this blog down, I will keep it "open" for archival purposes... but from now on I am over here.

A new era begins...

Bx

3 more sleeps...

and we have a naming ceremony for this little one...
Right now:
Our little boy is sleeping peacefully.
Daddy is driving across the Hay Plains (be safe honey!!).
Big sister is at school.
Mummy is doing some laundry, finalising some packing, doing some creative 'stuff', listening to Ronan Keating (teeehhheee, I am SUCH a dag) and getting ready for a 4am wake up call. I wont be okay until I know Nath has arrived at his parents safe and well.

EDIT: Nath has arrived safely in the Adelaide Hills. Phew! Thank God!

Happy Hump Day loves...
Bx

Happy Tuesday...

Good Morning *smile*

AMAZING, I have managed to update Joshua's daily photos, HUGE achievement!

We have FOUR (4) more sleeps until Joshua's naming ceremony and it's a beautiful and busy time for us!

So here are a few pics of what we've been up to lately...
Mikaela has tickets to the High School Musical Ice Show (she is OBSESSED by them)...


Mikaela's birthday party:
And cake:

Mikaela's Dad got her these shoes ages ago, they are too small, but every horse riding lesson she SQUEEZES them on...

Kim is amazing with Mikaela's hair and I ***LOVE*** her to bits for it!
I had my pedicure before I collected Mikaela from school, then we went straight back to have nails all spruced up for her brother's special day:



Have a gorgeous day loves...
Bx

Quickly...

I will be posting tomorrow.
Update since the last post in brief is: Valentines was gorgeous, watched Casablanca for the first time {I know that is lame I've never seen it before LOL!}.

Mikaela had her 7th birthday on Saturday, she had an Indoor Rock Climbing party... twas a lot of fun for the kids and adults alike.

Today she had her usual weekly horse riding lesson. Then she and I went on a trail ride, lots of trotting and Mikaela was one happy little girl.

My gal pal Kim came over this afternoon with her two older boys. We watched a movie, I did some ironing, Kim did Mikaela's hair again... while our men were at the pub.
All in all a good weekend.
Bx

Unveiling…

Of this little side project I have been working on for some months.
“Oh Gosh Josh” is a photographic daily diary of our little boy since his birth day, today Joshua is 149 days old.
I have not loaded today’s photo yet, will do later *smile*
Unfortunately I have missed quite a few days here and there, but hey, thats kewl!
I love looking over the blog, it is just incredible how much babies grow and change in the first year... SUCH JOY !

Other JOY... I am still cleaning my studio space in between my real life :)!!

Happy Friday to you and yours...
Bx

This and that on a Thursday...

Notice, I got the day right this time, always a good start LOL!

Can I say NO WAY... I am in Creating Keepsakes, February 2008 issue, page 27 NO WAY, okay... its not really *ME* as such, but the advert for Exquisite Scrapping is in the magazine, and as I am a permanent design team member, one of my layouts is included.... whooo hoooo. Seriously excited. I didnt even know, I knew the same add was running in Scrapbooking Memories but not CK, Nath is the one to have seen the ad and pointed it out to me. I was feeding Josh and he came into talk to me, picked up my latest CK delivery and started flicking through, it just opened up at the ad... he was excited for me, too cute. OH and he saw a photo on the back with Ali and her Mikey ears, he was like "is that Ali?" oh YEAAAAAHHHHH he is IN the KNOW, cute as. Lus's hubs is like that too.... SO sweet!

I am going to be able to share a few published layouts VERY soon. I started to submit my layouts a few weeks after Joshua was born, in October 2007... since then I have had 9 pages requested for publication... it takes a while before those acceptances actually get out to the stands and over the next few months they'll be "out there". I am so excited, its great!! I fully encourage everyone to just give it a go! Oh and DO go take a look at Exquisite Scrapbooking site... we are running a competition for you to win a CRICUT MACHINE. How much JOY would it be to own one of those babies??? MUCH I am thinking! So go for it.

Another few things I am feeling joy about: My friend adorable Lusi recruited as a permanent member and a HUGE role at Scrapbooking Creations, go girl! She is so super talented and I am thrilled for her, ALI and her blog (I make no secret that Ali is my HERO... I **LOVE** her in a "I wanna be her when I grow up" kinda way. Tis serious love!) her Valentines mini album has won my heart !!!

I thought maybe I could do Joshua's naming ceremony books something like those... only I have 36 to do, not one! Ha! Fool... I'd love to be able to do that... but really sleep IS very important so they say!

So I am plodding along with ceremony booklets, doing the graphic design in InDesign and trying not to stress about it and all the other projects I have going on - I have about 12000 words to write for a few projects I have been working on, thankfully I am almost done on that, plus some. Also expecting two kits this week. So I am kinda busy busy bee like.

We are off to Sydney this weekend for four days to show Nena the sights, she is back from Adelaide tomorrow morning and we'll drive up then. Sure to be doing tonnes of fun stuff I'll share next week.

While in Sydney, I am getting my camera serviced too... no more blotches, SO happy about that! Only been almost 2 years since I bought "Ella"... so mayyyyybe time for a wee service!

I leave you with this pic of our boy... I cut off his "wings" (his God Mother kinda insisted :))... I think it makes him look like a little boy now :( GORGEOUS yes... but not so baby as before the trim.

Joy to you...
Bx

Book Share...

So I am up and planning my day while my family sleeps... looking forward to walking Mikaela to holiday program, where she will be off to Questacon today. Honestly, the main thing I am looking forward to RIGHT NOW is my coffee LOL...

Before I do, just quickly, thought I would share a book that I bought at the airport, or a couple rather, this past weekend...

My Body After Baby by Kellie Hush, I have enjoyed reading all the stories from 17+ women on how they felt about their bodies after childbirth. It is true that we have SO many books to arm us prior to birth, and not much for afterwards. I am reasonably happy with my body now (helps that Nath recently bought me a size 12 pair of JAG jeans THAT FIT ME nicely too... Oh the joy of that first pair of NON maternity jeans :)). I have NO intention on going on any crazy diet, that would be impossible for me, trust me!! Of paramount importance to me is that I am breastfeeding Joshua... 100% until 6months and probably 50-60% thereafter for another 6-12months, depending on what feels good for us.

I am however trying to budge off the last few kilos (mind you 10 of the excess were from BEFORE I even fell pregnant, which is the REAL issue)... so I am walking and trying to cut out my excessive sugar intake, I am limiting myself to one lindt chocolate a day. Another reason for this is that we would like to pregnant again in June, I dont want to enter another pregnancy already overweight... seeing the difference of being 10 kgs lighter with Mikaela was tremendous. ALSO really gets me thinking about my book idea of writing womens birthing stories...

The other is Raising Happy Girls... Mikaela is such a dear girl, she has such a loving nature, but there are things that trigger her and I need to understand how to manage and help her through these stages. Her social life is of prime importance... and her relationship with her natural father is also a big influence. We have {again} ceased contact with him, and she is all the better for it. Needless to say he has been given endless opportunity with Mikaela and we just want to protect her from any further abuse from those she is supposed to be able to trust the most.

Having said that... I could improve my skills on dealing with an [almost] 7 year old daughter myself!!

So there you go, two books I am reading right now! Oh and I MUST share this beautiful one that Kim bought for me at Christmas, I finished while on holidays... it touched my heart deeply, it is a beautiful book and poetically written:

Off to have my coffee and chat with my guy before our little'ns are up. My day will consist mainly of finishing up a major project, finalising some naming ceremony "stuff" and hanging out with our little dude.

Hugs
Bx

Monday morning...

1050am... I am in my studio, I walked Mikaela down to holiday program this morning (she was super excited)and I REALLY needed the 1hr brisk walk, Joshua is sleeping, I am listening to some tunes and getting some work finished for Keep'n The Memories...

Pot of Fenugreek tea brewing...

I am looking forward to Nath coming home for lunch and seeing what goodies have arrived in our PO BOX, DanQ tells me to expect something from her, HOW exciting. Maybe even my Sissey pack, that would be nice (and helpful)...

Yesterday I followed the MadeIt (Aussie version of Etsy) link from Dan's blog and found these gems:
Illustrations by My Charlie Girl are just stunning!!!
Ali J also has some gorgeous illustrations and jewellry... oiw!
KJS is clean, simple and really tasty illustrations.
Also loving Dudley Redhead and Yellow Monday.
SUCH talent and inspiration... go have a look-see, you will **LOVE**

Lus, thanks for the call last night, cutie pie pie!

Happy Monday loves...
Bx

Yes, yes, yes...

We had just finished our double spa treatment at Angsana (which in itself is SUCH BLISS). Nath told me to put my rings back on, when I looked down there was an "extra" ring in the dish... OMG!! I was already crying when he asked about 2 seconds later
It is SO SO SO beautiful, diamond and platinum designed by Creations.

I am one VERY lucky chicky indeedy do dah day! I guess people assume since we already have a baby and we've been living together for a few years, oh and the referring to each other as "wife" and "husband"... that we are already hitched. Not yet..

I hope you all had wonderful Christmas and New Years.

Now that I am back I have two days to get our home all spick and span (we still have our live tree up, THAT will be fun to remove LOL!)... then 3 DT packages to collect and work on, plus an intensive French course over the next 3 weeks... AND Nath's cousin is visiting from Serbia.

Busy, happy, joyful times... HAPPY 2008!
I will share our holiday details soon too, such relaxing calming bliss :)
Love
Bx

Imagination rules the world....

according to Napoleon Bonaparte and my "Art Quote of the day" some time ago... over that-a-way -------->

Therefore I am handing it over to **you** my dear reader... ASK ME ANY QUESTION YOU LIKE and I will answer soon...

Or if you dont want to ask a question, let me know what you want to see more of on my blog.

I have not been blogging as much as I like because I dont think reading about changing nappies, or bouts of mastitis are particularly interesting LOL! I want my blogging mojo back... and I need your help loves!

Go on, dont be shy.

Brought to you by: Finally-giving-in-to-brain-clearly-not-functioning-at-optimum-levels-for-interesting-posting! and cool-with-that!!
Bx

Life is tough...

For some *grin* ...
Joshua is such a cool babe... so happy and content. Last night he slept from 1am to 6am... a first! Whooot whoo! Lately Josh has been doing a LOT of squealing and "going off" with the hands and feet discovery.

Here is one of the layouts I did recently for Scrappers Warehouse.

There are another seven layouts and an OTP (off the page) to take a look at here.

A favourite poem of mine I share with you today. I got this from a family friend and put it up in my bathroom (where else??) when Mikaela was a baby. These words got me through LOTs of hard times let me tell you :)

“As you think, you travel; and as you love you attract.
You are today where your thoughts have brought you;
You will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.
You cannot escape the result of your thoughts,
but you can endure and learn…
You will realize the vision (not the idle
wish) of your heart, be it base or beautiful…
for you will always gravitate towards that which you,
secretly, most love.
Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain or rise with your thoughts, your vision, your ideal.
You will become as small as your controlling desire;
as great as your dominant aspiration.”

-James Allen

Love and peace out...
Bx

The reason he is GodFather...

... asides from being Nath's bestfriends since they were about 4years old... he makes me laugh until I cry. He is a funny bastard!

Recently I got this recipe chain mail, basic gist of it is that you pass it on and you get all these recipes back, like 36 or something like that. The ONLY one I got back was this one from Tom, and frankly... it is worth 336, its brilliant - made me laugh SO MUCH. Here is his reply:

Recipes. You’ve come to the right bloke.

You know those times (they happen so often) when you’ve popped out for a quick visit to the country…

The dirt’s red, the roads rough, the road kill is chassis destroying and you realise you haven’t had breakfast.

Don’t stress.

A quick snack can usually be found on your front grill. Particularly in the early afternoon when the sun has heated the metal and cooked the blowies, dragon flies and bees up nice and crunchy. Great meal and that’s why you’ll always find a small plastic plate, a roll of toilet paper and some tomato sauce in my glove box.

Another nourishing dish can be found at the nearest ant nest. Simply pick the little blighters up by their front end and lick their back end. In Queensland, the green tree ant has a strong citrus flavour. In other states, they just taste like ant… but you are still licking an ant’s bum. And isn’t that what a quick snack is all about.

In those instances that you find yourself hungry, but without a car grill or an ant’s nest, simply stand up straight, face west and poke out your tongue. Its common knowledge that prevailing winds scour the nutrient rich top soil from our country, and carry it off to New Zealand. If you stand in the path of these winds with your tongue out, you achieve two things. You’re getting a nutrient rich meal and you’re also stopping any more of our stuff being pinch by the Kiwis (how dare they try to claim ownership of Crowded House and Russell Crowe.) If it’s not a windy day or you find yourself on the coast of Western Australia you’ll need to work a little harder for you meal. You’ll need to get on all fours and lick the ground. Be sure to only lick the nutrient rich parts.

For more tips on how to survive in the bush, feel free to give me an “oi.”


I had TEARS... he is SERIOUSLY funnnnneeeeee!

Tom IS actually a big fan of game food, as am I from time to time... so we're all off to enjoy some at a local resturant for lunch today.

Tom is visiting us from Adelaide this weekend to meet his GodSon, and his GodWife... I mean the GodMother... and sort out dates and details for the Naming Ceremony.

Asides from being funny... he is an all round great guy and a beautiful soul. We are so happy he is going to be Joshua's spiritual guide :)

Life is gooooooooood.
Bx

Tired but happy...

Life is so busy! Now that I have finished another major design project (not yet made public, will share when I can *smile*)... I am taking time to SLOW down before my next series of deadlines comes along, before Christmas mania (LOL!!) ... taking time to B.R.E.A.T.H.E and relax...

Slow living isnt about doing everything at a snails pace;
its about giving weight, time and urgency to those things that require it and relinquishing those things that just cause anxiety.

I love this quote! It is on my dreamboard I created 17 September 2006... and is hung above my desk for me to take in regularly.

What I love about life... is that we CHOOSE, it is a CHOICE how busy we are, or how much time we take for ourselves... for our family, our life. To walk in the grass, to pick flowers... to enjoy this life we create. THAT is such a powerful amazing thing.

I *LOVE* being busy... LOVE it! I love challenges that inspire me. What I don't love is when I get CRAZY busy and it impacts on my mood, my family, my relationships... when I become that "WHOA is ME.. I am SO BUSY!!! " person - I hate being that person! A martar, a person incapable of saying no, of taking charge of their life. I can feel myself roll my eyes into the back of my head when I begin on this treadmill. LMAO! Thankfully I snap out of it pronto.

Whereas some people just live there constantly... we live in a society where expectations of how much we "achieve" depends on how long our "to-do" list is... as opposed to how HAPPY we are WITHIN. Isnt that the REAL achievement of life? I think so and that's what I'm about, what is most important to me.

Perhaps that is because I have always been a "glass is half full" person, always... I have found that with a positive attitude and time to mediate and reflect... we can slow down quite easily. Your to do list may be just as long as anyone elses... but you take JOY in your list... in your life. If your "to-do" list is WAY TOO long - simplify - cull it, or accept it and take joy in doing the things you choose as important. SIMPLE. There it is again, SIMPLICITY and CHOICE... in attitude and action. Life rushes by so very quickly... we owe it to ourselves to live it well... in happiness of our choices. We owe it to ourselves to simplify and to live a slow life.

I think during the silly season, during the busy busy time of Christmas it is important to remind ourselves of all of this. To relax, chill out and enjoy our lives and loved ones because that is really what Chrissy is all about.

Today I choose to simplify and live slowly.
Enjoy your HUMP DAY gorgeous peeps...
Peace
Bx

No flies on me...

When Celine and Damien were visiting, they commented that no-one had told them how many flies there were in Australia. I explained that it is not something we talk about...kinda like childbirth and like childbirth we actually forget. For me each winter I totally forget about Summer=swarms of tiny flies everywhere. I forget. Then as summer approaches, its "ahhhhh, flies AGAIN!!" I dont know how one can forget, I just do, must be like a survivial technique or something!

So this morning, I had tonnes of them and had to giggle to myself at the thought of Celine and Damien's horror. To make up with having to swat at least 20 pesky little flies away every second... my view this morning (he is now into his stroller style carrier during the day)...
And YES, they are tiny scratches on his face, self inflicted because his mother is appalling and doesnt cut his nails every two seconds. Seriously they grow SUPER fast!!

So now we are home again... listening to the best of Elton John and finishing off a couple of design projects.

Doing a little blog surfing... as always totally inspired by Ali, she is just amazing that woman! The STUFF she does. Life. Amazing how much she accomplishes, seriously! Check these out too:
SuperHero - Happy Birthday!!
Nicole - check out her fab mini album, LOVE it!
Wanda... this post in particular I adore!
Oh JOY... TOTAL eye candy as always. YUM! I REALLY have to refrain from licking my computer screen. LOL!
Karen... I just love her photography, such talent... her humor is fab too!
Lusi... super talented gorgeous friend of mine. Lucky ME! She is such a darling soul.
Patty... just an all round beautiful person. She is gorgeous. Simple.

Shout out to Kyles and Jas who both completed a crazy mountain bike race yesterday and did really well!! Superstars.

Also a huge hug and hello to Mattia, my friend from Italy some almost 8 years ago now! Glad you found me mate.

Hoping to see the God Mother today....

Life sure is beautiful... Elton ROCKS!
Happy Monday :)
Enjoy!
Bx

A mixed bag...

WOWSERS... Firstly I want to let you know about the other two DT members for Maya Memories. I am so excited to be working with these ladies... They are REALLY cool... check out their blogs Sheree and Christie.

OKAY... almost a week in review so I start with most recent and work backwards:
**Mikaela got a Certificate of Merit yesterday for an Anti Bullying poster she created. So cool. She is such a great kid!

**Happy 3year anniversary to Kim and Sime... enjoy your weekend escape, especially the Kayaking and twilight horseriding... how romantic :-) xxooxx! LOVE you Kim! This woman is such a shinning star in my life!

**Yesterday I farewelled (for now) my gorgeous house guest and her man. It was SO Wonderful to spend some quality time with her and I am truly blessed to have her as a friend! She is darling, and even did "show-and-tell" for Mikaela and her class at school, which was SO adorable :) Spending time with Celine REALLY cyrstallised the power and meaning of real, true, soul connection friendships. Brilliant! I miss them already!!!!



**Monday my dear friend Tass had her baby shower, which was lovely and I caught up with darling Mary, Stella and her family. I SO miss Stel, she lives about 900km from me. PLUS my super cute younger sister Leanne. They were SO dotting all over Joshua! LOVE that!


**Joshua is doing great, smiling heaps like a little cutie and babbling away *smile* He has his two month vaccinations today :-( Poor little babes!

** Me and my guy have our "date-night" tonight {with our darling love child in tow}... as Mikaela is at her Dads. JOY, we cant wait :-)
Happy Friday peeps...
Peace
Bx

A weekend of...

... in no particular order:
Fun, Gorgeous and Inspiring women, eating out, scrapping, meeting lovely people, enjoying wonderful classes, sisterly lovin', sun and surf, mini mum action, he and he and she! Here are a few pics from the last few days...










We had a wonderful time at PaperCrafts Festival in Sydney this past weekend. Got to spend some time with my lovely gal pal Celine and her man Damien. Also got to catch up with the lovely sweet Lusi. Both their classes were fabulous!! AND another wonderful part of scrapping for me is all the connections we make on this journey... all the beautiful souls we get to catch up with, such as cutiepieMel and Superwoman Beth {who had a baby girl AMY only 6 days prior, WOWSERS!!} both whom I met through Lus at KiwiScraps in April this year. HAPPY to see them. YES! Then there are always NEW people you meet, and at the time you cant quite recall how you know their face, but you do... and later you remember! Always happens to me! Funnneeee! I *did* get to meet and chat with the talented Danielle Quarmby, she's a hoot, has a great sense of humour! I *love* a good laugh, I am sure if we spent more time together there would be much snortage going on!

Its tough trying to balance such a major scrapping event and family. Nath was wonderful helping me get from class to class and taking care of Mikaela and Joshua. I had Josh in a two of my classes, or part there of and he was very cute and very well behaved!

Yesterday we headed down to Sydney, went past DavidMetNicole which was closed unfortuately. We then headed to Bondi, which was so great... we had the best time enjoying the sun and surf. I NEED to touch the sand, ocean and float in the waves as often as I can, its simply one of the best feelings in life!

Now I am home, working on some design projects, buying presents, off to a baby shower this afternoon and catching up with my sister Leanne.
Happy Monday!

OH and GOSH... I just want to say a HUGE thankyou for all your lovely comments about my DT position with Maya Memories... I am so chuffed :-)
Bx

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

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