It's been a while.

Yes, it has been months since my last blog. You ask why - well to be honest I can be very lazy but infact, I have been busy, busy, busy, and here's why.

Since my last blog I had been planning my engagement party and we actually celebrated the big event last month. It was a great night, lots of good friends and family and lots of yummy food. We hired a singer to perform on the night and he was awesome. He sang Carribean music and it reminded us of our time working on the ships. It was just perfect. Our good friends made the Engagment cake which was delicious. It was an amazing night.

We have also been househunting for the past three months. Every weekend is spent looking at open homes or setting up appointments with Real Estate agents. In the beginning it was very exciting and fun but now, three months later, I am really just over it and want my own home NOW!!! We have been looking up and down the Gold Coast for a townhouse and there are plenty out there but some in much better condition than others. Through this whole experience I have learned the following:

1. Some people just live like complete pigs and have no shame in showing their sty's the way they leave them. Would it really hurt to clean the bathroom and kitchen and throw away the garbage!!

2. Most people on the Gold Coast don't use their garages for their cars - that is where they store the crap they have no use for anymore. The amount of stuff in some people's garages is amazing.

3. Apparently it's a buyers market out there. Well, somebody needs to tell the people selling their homes at ridiculous prices!!! I am not enjoying the cat and mouse game of making offers and waiting for a response. Who made these idiotic rules for buying a house!!

Hopefully it won't be too long till we find a home. Living with my parents has been great and fun but it would be nice to have something to call our own.

Finally, my DH and I met up with two of the local football players from our local team. Scott Prince and Ashley Harrison play for the Gold Coast Titans. Usually we make an effort to go to a couple of games each season but unfortunately we haven't even had time to do that. We saw these guys at the local shopping centre.

Will try to post more regularly.

Till next time.

Jo

A weekend getaway and a couple of cards

Last weekend my Fiance and I headed down to Sydney to go to see the UFC who had come to Australia for the first time.... and it was AWESOME!!

We headed down on Saturday morning and we were staying in the city at the Radisson which was only a 10 minute walk to the beautiful Darling Harbour. Saturday afternoon we hopped on a train and a bus to Bondi Beach to take a look around. There were so many people on the beach - it was crazy. Here is a picture of what the beach looked like. Bondi was a really nice area but with lots of 'different' kinds of people there!! My fiance and I decided the beaches on the Gold Coast are much better!!

Saturday night we met up with my cousins and their families for dinner at Darling Harbour. We had such a great night and their two little boys were just gorgeous. We don't get to see them very often but the older we get the more we try to catch up when possible. During dinner my cousin Ian started hyperventilating at the table as he saw some of the UFC fighters eating at the table behind us. We were all really excited as we had seen these guys on t.v but not in real life. We finally got the nerve to go over to the table - I usually wouldn't have but they hadn't even ordered food yet and my other cousin really gave us the push to go over. We met Rashad Evans who was sitting at the end of the table and was one of my favourite fighters. Sadly, he wasn't that friendly and didn't really want to talk to us or even take a photo but he actually did take a photo with us. He smiled in the photo which was nice of him but afterwards I had wished I hadn't bothered as he wasn't as friendly as he comes across on the t.v. :(

Later in the evening we went for a walk around the harbour and my Fiance had spotted another fighter from the UFC - Ryan Bader. Now, this guy was just lovely (and very cute too). He was so nice, he took a photo with my Fiance and then when I came back from where I was he took another shot with me in it too. Complete opposite of the first guy we had met. And to top it all off he won his fight the next day - that's Karma for you!! Now I didn't get the best photo of him and I couldn't fix it to be round the right way but I wanted to make sure you all got to see how so cute and big he was!!

Our weekend in Sydney was alot of fun. Sunday was fight day and all the fights were great. It was amazing to be in the crowd and cheer on the Australian fighters. Can't wait till it comes back to Australia. In the meantime, my fiance and I will just have to watch it on t.v.

Now, a quick little post as I promised my very good friend in Canada that I would post pictures of some cards I made at the Kaisercraft store in Robina. Here are two of the cards I made. I loved using the purple paper - I am not a big fan of purple but this paper was beautiful.

Finally, I hope you are all enjoying the Winter Olympic's. Australia has done pretty good if you ask me. It was great to watch the opening ceremony and I can't wait to watch the closing ceremony. I hope all my Vancouver family and friends are having the time of their life. Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi.

Till next time....

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.....................