Happy Birthday to Me and much more

What a busy week I have had.

On January 19th I celebrated my birthday with my twin sister. I had such a great day. My fiance sent me the most beautiful bunch of lilies to work and such a lovely note to go with the flowers. I had told him not to buy me anything as we just spent a lot of money on the engagement ring - but I have to tell you, receiving those flowers truly made my birthday. That night all the family got to together for coffee and birthday cake. It was one of the best birthday's ever. I even got to share the day with one of the kids in my preschool class. Her birthday was the same day and her mum made us a yummy chocolate cake to share with all the other kids.

Below is a picture of the beautiful flowers and my sister and I celebrating our birthday.

I also had to deal with a different side of getting older.................... I got my eyes tested and I am now having to wear glasses!!! I was finding it difficult to see things from afar so I got my eyes tested about 6 months ago and the optometrist said I should be fine for another 12 months. My family have been bugging me to go and see another optometrist to get a 2nd opinion, so I finally went. Straight away the 2nd optometrist said that I should have been prescibed glasses 6 months earlier. So here I am, for the first time in a long time, able to see so much clearer now. I was actually surprised at how bad my sight was. I just didn't realise it. Needless to say, I now look so much more like my twin sister who has been wearing glasses for years. No pictures of me yet.......... I am still trying to get used to how I look with glasses.

Today is Australia Day!!! Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi!!

I am celebrating Australia Day by just chilling out at home. I've gone for a couple of swims, done some reading, scrapbooking and just generally taking it easy. For lunch we had prawns - delicious. For dinner we are going to have some yummy Aussie lamb.

That's me for now.

Till next time............

Weddings, Parties, Anything.

So, I have had nothing but thoughts of my wedding on my mind for the past two weeks and we aren't even getting married for another two years!! I know - it's crazy, and I never thought I would be like this but I am really excited and overwhelmed all at once about planning this wedding. My biggest desire is that everyone is comfortable and relaxed - I just want to have a really cruisy and stress free day.

I have asked my two sisters and my soon to be sister-in-law to be my bridesmaids. My twin sister will be my matron of honour. They all seem really excited - my sister's have been great giving me advice. Infact my sister-in-law, Crystal, and I had a great conversation last night and gave me some great advice. My head is exploding with information!!

Yesterday was my nephews 10th birthday!! I cannot believe he is 10 already. He is such a great kid. He has a wonderful, down-to-earth personality. Below is a picture of the two of us at dinner last night. He let me borrow his hat to wear. He looks really cool with that hat on.

My twin sister and I will celebrate our birthday on Tuesday. We are turning................... you don't need to know. I just can't believe I am in my mid thirties already - time flies!! Below is a card I made her. I just bought the stamp the other day.

Infact, funny story about the stamp. I went into the only stamp store I have found on the Gold Coast and the shop assistant would not leave me alone. She was asking me randomn questions that had nothing to do about stamping or card making. She was so annoying it was driving me crazy. Eventually I just gave up and bought the one stamp because she was bugging me so much. I think her manager needs to tell her to back off a little or else she will have no sales!!

Till next time................

A Happy New Year to Me!!!

It is 11:30pm on a Friday night. Everybody in the house is fast asleep and for the life of me I have a million and one things running in my head and am trying to figure out just how to plan a wedding....................... a wedding you ask. Yes, you read it correctly, after 9 years my DH and I have decided to actually get married. Alot of people have presumed that we are already married but we infact are not - we have just been together for soooooooooooooooooo long that it feels like it. But now we have decided to make it official.

So, yes - back to me being wide awake in the middle of the night. Keep in mind that the wedding is two years away - house first then wedding (that is what we both decided). I have been reading other people's blogs about getting married and planning a wedding and I am getting so confused. We know what we want - small wedding with family and close friends, somewhere where it is hot, not sure of location either Australia or somewhere else hot and tropical. Let's see what else do we know - NOTHING!!! Somebody help!!!

Seriously, I know I am just stressing over nothing.................. I have lots of time and we only just decided in the last week. We are heading to a bridal expo (the first of many I am sure) this Sunday so I am hoping to get some great ideas from there. For now, I will try to chill out and just enjoy the ride.

So, when did it happen, I hear you all asking. New Years Morning - I decided to ask him. Yes, you read correctly, I asked him and he said yes straight away. We then went looking for rings that day and I found the one I wanted on the Saturday. Here is a photo of it - hard to see. I am not a very knowledgable person when it comes to rings but I know what I like. It is white gold with a big diamond in the middle and 4 smaller diamonds on either side of the large stone. (I just realized that that totals 9 stones in total - and we have been together for 9 years. That makes it even more perfect to me). So as you can see I did have a Happy New Year and will enjoy planning this wedding with the man of my dreams.

Till next time...................

Summer Rain............

Just wanted to get one more blog in before Christmas.................

It has been another lovely weekend, and we finally got some well needed rain for our poor gardens. Just the perfect kind of weather to stay indoors and be crafty!!!

I finally finished my last couple of projects that I was doing for gifts for my nephews. I made my two older nephews canvases with some great pictures I took of them earlier in the year.

I then made my youngest nephew a shadow box. The photo's are what made these projects - I just love how they turned out. And, of course, I bought all the supplies from Kaiser Craft. I have to say that I was pleasantly suprised by the prices at Kaiser.

Below are some pictures of the projects I made.

I've had an absolutley wonderful week at work. I got to hang out with some of the older kids that are in Vacation Care. We went to a couple of indoor play centres and tomorrow we are heading to the cinema to watch Planet 51. I have also been spending most of my days with the Toddlers too. Just love it in that room. The kids are so cute. I am nearly all ready for my class next year. I forgot how much planning and prepping is involved in organising a room for the new year. Nearly all done though.

My DH has been cooking up a storm these last few weekends and this weekend was no exception. He cooked a chicken rotisserie today with potatoes and vegies. It was so good that I had to take a picture of it to make you all drool.

There's only going to be more of where that came from this weekend. Christmas lunch in our family is serious business!!! My DH is deep frying a turkey, my sister is cooking chickens, my other sister is cooking lamb and bringing prawns, my mum has bought a ham and then lets not forget the potatoes, pasta and salad. Yes, you read correctly, we actually do bring all this food and it lasts for days later. We all know to dress appropriately to make plenty of room for the food.

In other news, by DH's pet owls have returned. If you remember, last year when we first moved back to Australia, we had these two owls that would visit our backyard nearly every night for a couple of months. My DH would feed them chicken necks and then all of a sudden they would disapper. Well, they are back - I gues it is that time of the year when they return for the Summer. My DH took a great photo of one of them tonight. Check it out............

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy and treasure the family time you get at this time of year. Eat lots, drink lots and be safe.

Till next year...........................

A Christmas Miracle!!

You know how people say 'If you pray you will receive' - well I think that somebody has been listening to me and reading my blog.

If you read my blog you will probably have picked up that I am a scrapbooker and a cardmaker. You probably also picked up that since leaving Canada and moving to Australia I have done nothing but complain about the lack of scrapbooking stores we have here. Finally, I now have just found the best scrapbooking store that I think even my North American friends will be jealous of too.

Literally, 5 minutes away from where I live Kaiser Craft have opened up a store selling EVERYTHING Kaiser!!!! Yes you have read this correctly. They have EVERY patterned paper you can imagine, all their paints, rub on's, chipboard, ribbon, etc. I walked into the store yesterday for the first time, saw the lady running the store and told her 'I love you'!! She probably thought I was mad, but it has been a long time coming to find a truly great scrapbooking store here!!

Their grand opening is in the New Year and they will be having classes too. I am just so excited! Later today I will be heading there, of course, to pick up some things to make my last three Christmas gifts for my nephews. I'm sure my DH is just as excited about this too, NOT!

While I was in the store yesterday I was handed one of their idea books - this thing was like an Ikea catalogue!! It is full of their products, page layout ideas, project ideas and some embellishments too. I think this is going to be my second home!!

In other news................ the UFC is finally coming to Australia and my DH and I are so excited. I have been into the UFC for the past 8 years - I actually enjoy watching it. Why wouldn't you like watching cute, strong guys fighting each other!!! Seriously though, we do both enjoy watching it and back in 2007 we went to see UFC 76 in Anaheim live. It was amazing to be there and see the action live. Well............ we are doing it again and got tickets to UFC 110 in Sydney, in February. We have booked a great place right in the heart of Sydney and spending the weekend there. Can't wait.

Now, on more festive news............ the tree is up, I have nearly finished buying all my Christmas gifts, cards will be posted today - only a few days to go till that fat guy in a red suit comes down the chimney. Although, I have often wondered, how does he get into Australian homes - we don't have chimney's here!!

On Friday, I had to host a morning tea at work and will leave you with a picture of the yummy holly cupcakes I made.

Merry Christmas.

Till next time.....................

Countdown to Christmas...........

Is it just me or has the year truly flown by this time round!!! I do feel more organised than last year though. My Christmas cards are all made and I have started Christmas shopping - I'm doing alot better than I did this time last year.

This time of year is busy for different reasons too. There are alot of events taking place in November and December (and January for that matter too).

In November we celebrated my mum's birthday by going to High Tea with all the girls. My sister's, sister-in-law and neices all got together to help celebrate mum's birthday. We had never experienced a High Tea before so it was special to be doing it all together for the first time. We had a fantastic day of shopping after the High Tea - it was great to go out with the girls. Below is a picture of all of us.

My nephew, Liam, peformed with his band for an End of Year concert last week. He plays the trombone and he does it so well. He looked so cute in his uniform - he looks so grown up too. He is 9 but so mature for his age and such a sweetheart. I was a proud Aunty and had tears in my eyes.

My oldest nephew, Christopher, will be graduating from Primary School this week. I cannot believe he is going into High School already. Time surely flies. He seems to be excited to be heading off into High School - he wants his independence so badly these days. I am sure there will be tears, of joy, at his graduation this week.

I have a few Christmas parties coming up in the next couple of weeks. This week is my new jobs Christmas party which I am excited about. My DH will be coming along with me and it will be at my bosses house. Next week my DH has a Christmas Party at the Dojo who goes to. That should be interesting as I haven't really met anybody from his Dojo yet. And finally, my old work is having a Christmas party the week after. It will be good to catch up with the old gang. I do miss them but am much happier at my new job.

As for my new job.............. it is going really well. I just found out I will be teaching Preschool next year and although I was hoping for a younger age group I am really excited about this new adventure. I have so many ideas and plans in my head right now. I just want to get Christmas out of the way so I can prep my room for next year.

Finally............. I have been a very busy little Elf and have pretty much finished making all my Christmas cards. I have kept with my little tradition and made 3 designs - it's easier to replicate the same card 20 times than to think of 60 different cards. Below are two of the cards I made.

Talking about cards - now I have to write them, so I will be off.

But, before I forget, tis' isn't Christmas until you have watched 'National Lampoons Christmas Vacation' at least 10 times. I started watching it for the first time yesterday. Only 9 more times to go. I love that movie.

Till next time...........

Time for a change...............

I have recently made a career decision that I should have figured out quite a while ago. I have realised that I tolerate children alot better than I do adults!!! With this realisation comes news that I am going back to childcare and I cannot wait.

Don't get me wrong - I have actually enjoyed working in the customer service industry. It has made me a stronger person and has also made me respect other people in the customer service service industry, but it is just not me.

In the past 9 years I have worked in the U.S on a cruiseship, I then worked in Canada managing a retail store and most recently I worked in Australia in the banking industry. One thing I learned about all three jobs is that there are rude and ignorant people all over the world and they are never going to go away so you can either take it and crumble or become a stronger person from these negative experiences and learn not to behave this way to other people. I of course have chosen to take the latter experience and become a better person from it but not all people do.

Just this past week at my banking job I had one of the worst customer's I've had ever. She asked me to do something that was against company policy and then decided to go on a tirade about how she used to work for the same company, that I don't know my job, that she knows people in the same company who will do it for her - basically she wanted to belittle me in front of the other customer's. This was somebody who has been in my shoes and knows how our hands can be tied but still she decided to humilate me instead of being understanding. All I could think of was how I would never, and have never, done this to anybody in their workplace. It is not in me to be so rude to people - I know I will have alot of people who would vouch for me there. I just don't understand how some people think they can be like this and think that is okay. People ???? I just don't get them sometimes.

On brighter news - I am back to working with little people at the same kindy I left 9 years when I started my overseas venture. I am so excited to be getting back into childcare and possibly getting back to stuyding again.

Yesterday, my neice celebrated her 4th birthday with a Princess Party so below is a picture of me dressed with my fairy wings and with my face painted.

See, I should be working with children............... sometimes I still feel like one.

Till next time......................