ENJOYING THE SUNSHINE

A beautiful sunny day at 'The Bay' (Port Stephens) ... it really felt like Christmas Holidays!!



Yesterday, with a few friends, we took the 4WD's onto Birubi Beach for the day.

The men done some fishing ...







the kids swam, dug holes & made sandcastles ...







the girls (that being the wives/mums) got to chatter & relax ... perfect!

Took lots of great photos ... should make for a good excuse to do some scrapping over the next few days before i go back to work!!

Hope everyone has recovered from Christmas!

JULIE x

BOXING DAY BIRTHDAY

Today is my niece Jessica's Birthday ... a big 10 year old!





It only seems like yesterday that we had celebrated Christmas Day and were all staying at mum's when all the excitement began in the wee hours of Boxing Day ... a bit of a suprise cause she came 2 weeks early ... i think it was the craving of milk & choc chip cookies which Karen feasted on at some ungodly hour of the night that done the trick !! (which i happen to have a photo of ... he he!)

Anyway, it's a bit tuff celebrating your Birthday on Boxing Day 'cause everyone is exhausted from all the preparations & celebrations of Christmas Day but our family always makes an effort to keep them very seperate so it feels just as special as a birthday on any other day of the year ....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS JESSICA !!!

ALL OVER FOR ANOTHER YEAR!

There's nothing like the excitement of Christmas (or the madness leading up to it!!).

Blake initially woke at 3am (yes, that is not a typo), came into our room and announced that Santa had been .... i do love the excitement of kids at Christmas but 3am is just a little bit early! I told him to hop into our bed and go back to sleep just for a few more hours .... after the usual "i can't go back to sleep" and the tossing and turning, he did go back to sleep until 5am!!!!

So up we got ....




Santa excelled again this year and the wish list was fulfilled!

We had a great day ... love doing the family thing ... ate way too much food ... and crawled into bed exhausted at about 9.30am last night.

Mark was rostered for daywork today and Blake & I had one of those much needed "chill out" days ... this morning we had birthday cake for breakfast with my niece and then spent the rest of the day at home ... needless to say Blake was totally occupied with all the new toys etc which means i had the plesure of laying on the lounge to watch a dvd (chrissy present) and didn't do much else! Love it!!

Hope Santa was good to you all and Boxing Day was relaxing.

Now to the next celebration of farwelling 2007 and welcoming a happy & healthy 2008!

JULIE x

t'was the week before Christmas ....

I am soooo disorganised this Christmas!
Really looking forward to Xmas Day ('cause i love Chrissy and all) but i just can't get motivated.
It may have a little bit to do with our rediculously busy social calendar (not complaining ... but just a little too chaotic at the moment)!

2 Weekends ago we had 4 Christmas Parties and 1 Birthday Party, last weekend was finishing off the Christmas shopping ... Sunday night we finally put up the Christmas tree (which still doesn't have any decorations on it - certainly hope to have that task accomplished by Christmas Eve!!); in between all of that we have had school Christmas Concert and farewell for our principal. Yesterday i had a Hearing at Newcastle for work, back to the office then back to Newcastle in the afternoon, Yr 6 farewell in the afternoon/evening and DH had his work party .... 3 Christmas social gatherings this weekend ... did i mention that i've been feeling a little tired lately?? But it is all good - i do love Christmas, i do love Christmas, i do love Christmas ...... !!

In all this busyness, i have had no time for scrapbooking :O( but do have a few pics from Blake's Christmas (School) Concert to share (it was a bit dark in the auditorium which made it a bit tricky!).

This group photo is Blake and the main group of his best mates. To the left is our retiring principal (who is a lovely man and will be sadly missed) ... to the right is Blake's teacher from this year - Mrs Mac (as the kids affectionately call her) came to our school this year but is moving on to a new school next year ... Blake has had a fabulous year with this great lady and i think i speak for most parents when i say we were blessed to have the year with her - Blake was quite upset this afternoon and has been for the past few weeks dwelling on the fact that it just won't be the same without Mrs Mac as school next year (even though she probably wouldn't have been his teacher anyway).




Cheeky buggers!




This photo is a little blurry but it says a lot about a principal happy to sit on the stage after the concert and have a chat with the boys.




I'm frazzled and off to bed .... hopefully will be back in the next day or so to share a pic of our decorated Christmas Tree !!

Cheers,
JULIE x

AWESOME !!

It is 1.30am and i have just returned home from a night in the vineyards at the Elton John Concert ... totally awesome!! (My sister and i took Mum as a suprise early Christmas present)!



A thousand+ crowd totally entertained by one man & his piano ... he was brilliant ... pure talent!

Off to bed now for some beauty sleep ... :O)

Soooooooo Excited ......

Just a very quick post (off to Blake's golf lesson) but had to share 'cause i am sooooo excited ....




A lifelong wish of mine ......





Today, we booked our next big holiday ......









Have to go but will share the details later ......

Did i mention that i am soooo excited ...

BACK ON TRACK!

WARNING: This is a huge post ... you might want to bring a packed lunch!

Wow ... 3 weeks since my last entry. 3 weeks of 'jamb packed, flat out, busy busy' !!

* My new office is finished and looks fantastic but the move was rather chaotic (that's a nice way of putting it!). The new phone system had a glich and caused a bit of stress; but the main computer system crashed and caused major stress !#*@?!!
Ok, two weeks later a lot of $$ (and many deep breaths inbetween) ... the phones are sorted and a new computer system is now installed ... all is good! Here are a few pics of building the new office and a pic of the finished reception area.






* A few weeks ago we took Blake and 2 of his little mates to Darling Harbour for the day and went to Wildlife World and the Aquarium [Rewind: we have a little family tradition that on the last day of every school holidays we always have a special family day out where we do lunch & some sort of activity which Blake gets to choose ... because our every waking hour was consumed with fitting out my office, we didn't get to do our little tradition on the last day of the Oct school holidays :O( Blake was disappointed but understood. So, we organised the day in Sydney whereby he could bring a few friends along and this was also a bit of a reward for him given how co-operative he had been over the weeks of 'living at the office'.
So, the plan was to drive to Pymble, then catch the train to Circ Quay, then a ferry over to Darling Harbour; but, they were doing trackwork and the trains weren't operating, so we drove to Circ Quay and then caught the ferry across to Darling Harbour. I love a day visit to Darling Harbour ... such a bright, happening place! We spent the morning at Wildlife World, which i must say was a lot better than expected. I expected that this would be no different to any other animal attraction; however, there were a few different features that made it very interesting. In particular, the butterfly enclosure is gorgeous!! A huge net enclosed area that you can spend time in with hundreds of different species & coloured butterfly fluttering around. They land on your hands, hair etc and it is a beautiful experience. Even 3 little boys were quite taken in by it all!!
We spent the afternoon at the Aquarium ... have been here many times before but it is always enjoyable to walk through. Beautiful colours, walking through the tunnel with sharks, stingrays etc swimming over the top ....










* Last weekend was KIWISCRAPS. i think i was looking forward to just 'chillin out' for the weekend more than the scrapbooking! However, the scrapbooking projects were fantastic, the tutors were great and particularly enjoyed the digi scrapbooking class i done with Renae Pearson - this was a real 'outside the square' for me. In conclusion, i am definately a paper & paste kinda gal, but will be inclined to use digi from time to time and particularly for enhancing photos.
The giveaways were very generous ... came home with lots of bits & pieces. Sorry, haven't taken any photos of any KiwiScraps this time - as i said, was too much in desperate need of 'chill time'.
Had a great weekend, got to meet up with friends and met forum friends IRL for the first time ... Hi to Kellie & Manon :O)
Sunday (after a sleep-in & big buffet brekkie [yum], Karen and i set off to IKEA ... OMG, this is the first time i had been to IKEA ... i love that place. We had a huge shopping spree, the car (a large 4WD dual cab) was packed to the max on the way home ... we looked like we were moving house he he !

* This week has been a 'slowly getting back on track' week and feeling like routines are returning to normal (although sometimes i wonder what normal is these days! LOL!)

* Yesterday, we went to a 'Baby Naming Ceremony' and the parents sprung a surprise wedding on everyone as well! Congrats & hugs to Anne, Shannon & beautiful baby Jorgee!! We had a lovely afternoon catching up with family that we don't see as often as we should ... just 'cause everyone's so busy (mmm ... there's that word again)!

Off now to catch up on some more of my poor neglected housework ...

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

JULIE x

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD !!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful Dad!



He is clever, humble, proud, wise, patient, and all the other wonderful things that make him such a wonderful Dad & Pop!

CRAZY, CRAZY!!!

That is the best way to describe life at the moment ... but i'm not complaining ... i'm exhausted (or maybe i should say WE are all exhausted), but not complaining!

My new office is all but finished and it looks fantastic ... huge HUGE HUGE thanks & appreciation to my family - to my DH & Dad to have spent every waking hour building, painting etc etc; to my Mum for being the backstop and providing an endless supply of meals, babysitting etc whilst we were all so pre-occupied, to my little man (Blake) for being such a wonderful patient little person whilst being 'dragged from pillar to post' for the past two weeks and to my sister for the time she is about to spend getting my computer systems & bookkeeping systems up & running for me ... i realise every day that i am blessed and never take for granted having such a wonderful supportive family!

On the scrapbooking front .....

This weekend is the MEGA SCRAP DAY BREAST CANCER FUNDRAISER being hosted by SCRAPBOOKnBITS ... really looking forward to a day of scrapbooking and meeting new people. It's not too late to join us ... contact/email Karen at SnB!
There is also the 'Advent Calendar Christmas Card' workshop ... a different spin on Christmas Cards to send to family & friends ...



More scrapbooking ....

Have you seen the gorgeous new 'vintage paper lace' at SnB ...



ONLINE VINTAGE LACE LAYOUT WORKSHOP ... Next Wednesday evening (31st Oct). The workshop is FREE, kit can be purchased for $14 (this includes postage) click HERE for more details

I feel like i have rambled and squashed all this info in at once ... but it will probably be another week before i get a chance to blog again so i have to make the most of my opportunity!! LOL!

Have a great week everyone,

JULIE x

DOUBLE JINX

This week i have double jinxed myself ... but it was good jinxing!!

1) Jury Duty - after waiting for instructions for 2 days it was decided that the panel i had been nominated for was not required .... YEE HAH!
2) Pulication submission - although i was prepared for another rejection, i did send in a LO to be considered ... and ... i got a POSITIVE reply!! Another YEE HAH!

Now it just proves that thinking aloud on my blog can be beneficial ....

Dear Blog, i really wish i could win lotto ....

keep your fingers crossed for me !!! LOL!!

JULIE :O)

RANDOM RANTINGS !!

One week of the school holidays gone already ... we love school holidays!

DH is off work this week, so i'm sure there will be lots of boy activities going on ... fishing etc. plus a few 'sleep overs' planned with some of Blake's buddies coming to stay and we're off to the drive-in for the night. With all this planned, i guess the next week will fly by [sigh]!

This weekend has been fairly non-eventful (which is such a nice change in our lives). DH was on dogwatch this weekend, DS was in 'chill out' mode watching a few dvd's and spent time out with some friends today .... and i got some much loved 'me time' for some scrapping!!

I was going to try my luck at submitting for publication consideration; however, rejection is depressing so i will share with you lovely people instead! LOL!

Do these photos look familiar?? Love being able to do LO's using lovely bright colours ... even got out the old mm foam stamps (boy, haven't used them in ages)!


Bit of an 'in house' joke with this title. DH has always been a skiier up until last year when he decided to learn to snowboard. This year for Father's Day he got a new snowboard ... so now he has attitude !



I have almost finished another LO for SCRAPBOOKnBITS which features the gorgeous new VINTAGE PAPER LACE ... mmmm very noice! Have a look HERE

Well, tommorrow is the big "Jury Duty" day .... keep your fingers crossed for me that they decide i am not really a great upstanding citizen and therefore don't require my services ... one can only hope!!

Have a great week everyone!

Keep Smiling :O)

JULIE x

A PINCH & A PUNCH ...

FOR THE FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH!!!

Can you believe it is October???? Another year is flashing before our eyes ... in fact it has been exactly 12 months this weekend that we left for our one month holiday around Victoria, Great Ocean Road, Broken Hill etc last year - oh how i wish we were on our way again!!!

Anyway, the last week has gone fast too ... great to finish another term of school and start the school holidays ... i loooove school holiday! Love the break from routine, uniforms, lunches, homework etc etc.

Friday night i attended a fundraiser scrapbooking night at Lisarow Public School - this was organised by the lovely Alex (whom i met at the SCRAPBOOKnBITS Scrapbooking Retreat earlier this year. Alex runs a business with gorgeous and unique homewares, gifts & things ... there is even a 'spring sale' coming up ... have a peak HERE !!

Here is the one & only LO i completed at the scrapbooking night ... (a bit too much chatting i think!!)



I am slowly but surely getting through all my photos taken prior to scrapbooking which aren't really great photos in a 'scrapbooking sense'; however, i wouldn't part with them for the world ... what do they say ... "you just have to make the best of a bad situation"!! LOL!

Saturday i worked all day - no excitement to report there! Just the usual ongoing saga of keeping the day to day business flowing and trying to get my new office happening ... at this stage, the finalisation date has been set for 17th October ... fingers crossed!

Sunday ... beautiful Sunday! The weather here was just gorgeous so we had a day out in the boat (with a group of friends and some of their friends with their boats etc). We went over to the sand islands near Pelican and set ourselves up for the day (caught up with other people we knew too - very popular place!) It was so nice to relax, have a chat, a few drinks, a lovely lunch; and the kids had a wonderful time swimming, building sand castles, kicking a ball around etc!




We headed home at about 6pm, a quick shower and then all re-gathered again to watch the NRL grand final. Didn't really care who won ('cause we are Newcastle Knights supporters) but a good excuse to socialise!!

Today was a major "wind down" day ... got lots of washing done, cleaned out mine & DH wardrobes (lord knows that is only scratching the surface - intending to go through the whole house), then had an afternoon nap - this is soooo not me to sleep during the day, but i feel great for it!!

Well, here's the start of another busy week, looking forward to doing some 'school holiday activities' as well as juggling the office; but very unsure about next week's activities cause i have been summonsed for jury duty !!! eeeeek! I would be really grateful for any comments from anyone that has done this before - feeling a little nervous!!

Have a great week everyone.

JULIE x

COME & JOIN US !

i will be hosting this workshop at the
SCRAPBOOK'n'BITS "MEGA SCRAP DAY for BREAST CANCER" fundraiser ... details HERE



This will be a fun-filled day of scrapbooking & activities to raise money for breast cancer research ...


Saturday, 27th October 2007 : 10am to 9pm
Wangi Wangi RSL Club (Watkins Rd, Wangi)

Hope to see you there!

JULIE :O)

WE'RE HOME!

THE SNOW BUNNIES HAVE RETURNED!


We had a fab holiday at the snow ... lots of fun, great friends and lots of snow ... just fantastic!

26 of us set out last Friday for our annual pilgrimage to the snowfields!

A few of the kids were beginners but took to snow skiing very quickly; and the others achieved higher levels and skiied many new slopes for the first time including skiing across from one resort to the other.

Blake had a wow of a time and here are a few pics (from the many hundred i took) of him ...




this is one of my favourite photos of Blake ...




DH was like a kid in a lolly shop with his new snowboard ...






The weather was very kind to us and a couple of days were spent in continuous soft falling snow ... this was a real treat!






I am so blessed to have such a wonderful bunch of friends (not all of whom are present in this photo); but to be able holiday with our families for a week and have such a wonderful time, we are very lucky!



Some positive notes from our holiday:

* We sighted 2 famous people on our snow adventures ... Franky J. Holden & Keiren Perkins!
* We didn't lose anyone!
* No broken bones!


One negative note:

* When 26 people live together in a lodge for a week and one person (which happened to be my Blake) gets sick with a 24hr vomiting & diorrhea bug, nearly everyone gets to have a turn ... sigh :(

Anyway, won't keep you any longer and will be back to post soon with some other 'bits & pieces' ... hope you have all had a good week & great weekend.

Talk soon,
JULIE x

Quick Post 'til Next Week ...

Well here i am again ....

It is 12.45am and we are due to leave in about 4 hours for the snow ... looks like i'll have to sleep on the way!

Just a quick post to say "hi" and "bye" til next week 'cause we are off to the snow for a whole week ... 26 of us! WooHoo, lots of fun! and look forward to sharing some pics with you when we get back.

Now, a quick catch-up for the last week ...

Thank you to Julie Love for my 'cutie patootie' little cupcake i received as a RAK ... it is amazing how 'life like' it is! and ... receiving a little cake in the mail inspired me to do some baking.

Blake and i had a lovely time on Sunday afternoon making 'Caramel Baby Cakes'!




These are one of the varieties in the new 'White Wings Baby Cakes' range ... they come in a full kit (cake mix, icing, patty cases & garnish).

They are only tiny but very Yuuuummmmy!

Last night we made another batch (Cookies & Cream Baby Cakes) for Blake to take to school today for his cake stall ... not to mention the few that we saved for after breakfast dessert ... naughty !

Other than baking, i have been working, working, working to have everything super organised so i can have the week off ... phew!

Have managed to do a scrapping project but can't share with you just yet 'cause it will be a little Christmas workshop at the upcoming SCRAPBOOKnBITS Breast Cancer Mega Scrap Day Fundraiser.

Click HERE for details about joining us for a mega day of scrapbooking for a wonderful cause ~or~ if you can't come along to the mega scrap day, join in for the cybercrop ... you might even like to do both ... mmm ... decisions, decisions !! LOL!

Well, so much for the quick post!! LOL!

Thanks for stopping by ... have a great weekend, an even better week ... and as they say ... "break a leg"!

Cheers,
JULIE

A LITTLE BIT OF SCRAPBOOKING

Finally got a chance to do a little bit of scrapbooking ... just a simple LO ... but i absolutely love this photo of Blake & my mum!




Nothing much else happening ... but counting down 'til we go to the snow next Friday ... yipeeeeee!

Really loving Australian Idol but a little surprised at some of the contestants that got through ... but then again, who am i to judge, i can't sing to save myself!! LOL!

Enjoy the rest of your week.

JULIE x