A WEEKEND OF BIRTHDAY PARTIES

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANELLE (or is it Marilyn) !!?!

What a great night ...

We started with a very busy day on Saturday getting ready for the big 40th birthday celebrations; yes, it is no longer a secret, the words out ... Janelle is 40 !!

Our day started with decorating the hall and table in lots of bright colours to get with the 60's theme.

A huge thanks to Kath, Michael & Pauline for all their help to deliver
the final product and even the kids
came in handy with their boundless energy and never short of puff to blow up a couple of hundred balloons.

Next ... the cake ... WOW! Another of our very very talented and very humble friends, Karen, was the maker, creator, decorator extrordinare of this magnificent cake.
As Janelle is well known amongst her friends for her extensive collection & love of shoes and handbags, the cake was all about just that! The photo really doesn't do it justice; but, all the decorations (or embellishments as we say in scrapbooking) were tiny hand moulded & painted shoes with matching handbags (made from icing). It was gorgeous!! Karen you are a very talented girl and a wonderful friend.

Lots of fun was had by all. Lots of great costumes ... there plenty of hippies, lots of afro hair doos, mini skirts/dresses, long boots and all those other lovely "get-ups" from the sixties.

And of course ... lots of baaad karaoke. Isn't it funny when we add alcohol that we all get a dose of 'dutch courage' and suddenly think we are Kylie Minogue !!!?! Anyway, this also added to the fun and made for a great night.

Last of all (hopefully you are still reading and haven't given up by now), this is the little fold out book I made for Janelle for all the party guests to sign, (I got the idea for the Janelle poppet from a groovy layout that Kim Archer done recently) I stamped "Happy 40th Birthday" along one side of the foldout and all the guest signed, wrote comments etc. and Janelle can finish off the other side with piccies from the party.

Well this much anticipated surprise party (that didn't end up being a surprise) was lots and lots of fun. Happy Birthday my Friend :-))

Have a great week everyone
JULIE xx

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACOB !

This gorgeous little boy is my nephew
Jacob. He turned 2 this week (26/7) and his party was today at Rathmines Park. He was soooo excited and totally overwhelmed by all the presents, kids etc. Unwrapping his presents was classic ... imagine a little two year old commenting when opening presents with " wooooww" ... so cute !
He is totally crazy abouts cars, trucks, diggers & tools at the moment; so considering his presents consisted of little battery operated tools, a mini ride on digger, 2 huge tonka trucks
and a 'Lightning McQueen (from the
movie Cars) ... that is one excited little boy!

He gave 'pass the parcel' as miss (you have to sit in one spot too long), but had a great time participating in 'pin the tail on the donkey'. Even without a blindfold he was little 'off cue' but thought he was very clever to be like the bigger kids!!

What a huge day for such a little person !!

Bring on the Party

I mentioned a week or so ago about the upcoming party for our friend Janelle ... (the one that's turning 40 but you're not allowed to tell anyone) !!?!
Well all the party plans have come together nicely and tomorrow night is party night.
The party is a 60's fancy dress (that's because she was born in the 60's) and all week we have giggled like teenagers about our secret costumes (which we haven't been very good at keeping secret) and how much of a laugh it is going to be.
My husband and i hired costumes (can't tell you what we are going as ... i'll tell you next week and post some pics) and all i can say is "thank goodness we didn't live in the 60's" cause they look hideous!!
No doubt, it is going to be a great night ... great friends, lots of laughs, dancing & bad karaoke !?#@!!
Well better get to bed for some zeds so i am fresh for party mode.
Peace Dudes!
Julie x

CASPER

Today we got a new edition to our family ... this lovely little albino budgie is CASPER!

A few weeks ago Blake was devastated to find 3(out of 4) of the budgies in the avery (which he and his dad built last year) were dead. It really broke his heart and many tears were shed. We have a major problem with Myner Birds (not sure if spelt right) in our yard. They are very nasty, cunning creatures and attack in packs. One pack will go to one side of the cage to frighten the budgies to the other side whereby another group is ready to attack through the wire. My DH originally decided to build the avery thinking it would solve the problem after losing quite a few birds in normal little cages. These dreadful creatures even terrorise our poor dog (I'm not sure whether it's cause their tuff or she's a wimp LOL), they take her food, "take over" the back porch area, soil my washing etc etc. grrrrhh !! If anyone out there has any ideas for deterring these unwanted intruders I would love to hear from you!!

Anyway, after the tragedy, Blake spent some of his pocket money and brought 2 baby quaills (very cuuuute)! These have survived nicely; however, 1 poor lonely budgie (Olive) remained. Today we brought a new budgie and it was Blake's wish to get a pure white one; hence our new albino budgie CASPER! Wow do these pet shops know how to make a killing $$ !

So far OLIVE and CASPER seem to be pleased with each other's company and considering they are male and female Blake is hoping for some baby budgies in the near future ... I'll keep you posted.

I can't believe how fast the weeks come around ... back to the usual weekly routine tomorrow!!

Have a good week.

Cheers,
JULIE x

Happy Birthday Karen

Today is one of my dear friend's birthday ...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAREN :-)))
Unfortunatley this has been a difficult year for her to date but it is amazing how a person who is such a gentle soul can have such an inner strenth to soldier on.
So ... have a wonderful day my friend ... you deserve it!
Julie x

A bit of a Challenge

I consider myself to be reasonably computer savvy, but this blogging business is proving to be a bit of a challenge!! :-/
I must admit, i am having fun working out how everything works ... this probably sounds daft for all those who are "old hands" at it ... I'll get there.
Well nothing very exciting ... just another wet day, another day of work, school, routines etc. etc. But we're all happy and healthy, that's what counts the most.



This is another of the layouts I completed at the Scrapbook Divas scrap day last weekend. These photos were taken of my boy when he was 4 (now 9). I am slowly but surely working by way through all of his photos. It only seems like yesterday ... how time flys. Whilst he is a beautiful boy at 9, i would gladly turn back the clock at the blink of an eye ... I just hate the thought of him growing up.

Well had better move on ... have some paperwork to take care of for the group holiday I have organised to the snow in September. Will tell you more about it later.

Happy scrapping :-))
JULIE x

Another Rainy Day

I know we need it ... but ... i am soooo over this rain. I wish it would move on to the inner country areas that really need it.

Just like any normal Wednesday, today has been pretty uneventful. We are all back into the school and work routine. Can't wait until this school term is over. The next school holidays are the start of a one month holiday for our family travelling the South Coast and Victoria ... can't wait. Lots of photos & scrapbooking!!!

This layout is from one of our recent day trips up through the Barrington Tops. We came across some lovely picnic spots, an old swinging bridge (Blake thought this was just amazing) and in particular a fresh flowing river which was lots of fun hopping across the rocks etc. Nothing better than a day spent in the country.

Enjoy the rest of your week ... try and stay dry.

Cheers,
Julie :-))

A Day of Scrapbooking & Friends

What a great way to spend a Sunday ... a full day of scrapbooking with my friends (one of which is also my sister)!
The photo on the left is of my sister (Karen) and I, the right photo is Janelle & Monica.
We attended a full day scrap at Teralba, hosted by Scrapbook Diva's (thanx Michelle).
Us girls love any opportunity to scrapbook ... I guess you could call it ME time.
We all completed a few pages/projects, had plenty of laughs (as usual) and managed to arrive at the correct venue without getting lost (miracle!).
In a few weeks we will be celebrating Janelle's birthday with a 60's theme fancy dress party ... it's rude to tell a ladies age but four decades is a fair clue!!
Well, this blog thing is a bit of fun but i still don't quite have the formatting of photos downpat ... I'll keep practising.
Off to work tomorrow, kids back to school on Tuesday ... Have a great week
Julie :-))

Catching Up

Well, this is my second blog and seeing as i'm getting a small clue what to do i'm going to "back track" with some photos etc from our Dubbo trip on the June long weekend.
We visited Dubbo for three days and this was our first trip away in our lovely little Jayco van. We had plenty of rain on the first day, a very cold second day and the sun came out for the third day. Our main purpose was to visit the zoo, but we did a few other things along the way (Dubbo Gaol, the movies and KidZoo play centre) which kept us busy and occupied.
Western Plains Zoo is just gorgeous ... I love the atmosphere with the animals in large areas which portray their natural environment. Most of the animals (well, the non dangerous ones) are only seperated from the public by gullies which prevent them from climbing up/out. I have to say my favourites were the giraffes and the zoo's new addition - baby zebra (which was 4 days old). The zoo currently has an offer whereby your entry tickets are valid for 2 days, so when the following day came out lovely and sunny we decided to go back for the morning ... and ... Blake was anxious to take a photo of the meerkats (they were hibernating from the cold weather the previous day).
Dubbo Gaol is a very interesting place also ... plenty to see and experience.
All in all it was a great weekend and we are now planning our next trip in October ... a whole month travelling the South Coast, Great Ocean Road and Victoria!
Cheers,
Julie

No Idea

Well ... here I go ....
Over the past few months I have got into the "blog" thing and enjoy reading other blogs belonging to my friends and others with a common interest.
It has taken me days to try and work out how to get my own blog up and running but i have decided to "jump in at the deep end" and give it a go.
So this is just a practise run for me to see if it works and then I can go full steam ahead and hopefully master the whole thing including photos etc. My trial photo is from a girls weekend away recently at Norah Head. We stayed at the lightkeepers cottage (leased out to the public for holiday accommodation) and this beautiful lighthouse is the view from the side verandah ... make for a lovely atmosphere when it is "champagne o'clock" at sundown !!
Cheers.
Julie x