One month to go ...

... a month today and I will be finally giving my wee niece the biggest cuddles ever - she is now 6 months old and I cannot wait to finally meet her. This is my niece who was born 10 weeks early just before Christmas - she is so cute and I can't wait to meet her in person!
And yes she lives in Melbourne which also means I get to spend some time also crusing the streets of this cool city exploring.
I have been doing my homework and have discovered a Huge Craft & Quilt Fair is on the weekend I arrive - ok so I might have known this before I booked ;)
Also have a list of a couple of other things of interest like a really cool looking cupcake shop and the KaiserCraft factory outlet down in Geelong.
Can you tell I am excited?!?!

In other news, I am so proud of my boy! Finn has grown in confidence over this rippa rugby season and finally scored his first try on Saturday!!! I was standing only a couple of metres away from the corner and saw the look of delight on his face when he scored and the congratulations he got from his teammates - he was soooo excited and happy and looked like he just wanted to burst. In recognition of his effort the parents decided he should be Player of the Day! But being the typical male the story of his try only took 5 minutes to 'grow' - in his words "I just spotted a gap and ran as quick as a cheetah" - LOL! The trophy has had pride of place on his bookcase all week and even went to school for newstime on Monday.

Nothing crafty to show today, have been trying to sort out my messy scrap area, almost done so will get creating again soon!

Winter wonderland!

Yesterday morning hubby went off to work just after 6am but was back home a few minutes later. I am thinking 'what has he forgotten now' - don't laugh coz it happens frequently! So he comes in and says, roads too dangerous everything is covered in snow. I stayed in my cozy bed for a few more minutes before getting up to have a peak past the curtain and sure enough it was definitely winter out there! Schools/kindy's closed for the day! It wasn't so much the snow that was the problem, but the fact with the freezing temperatures any compacted snow was promptly turning to ice. Hubby has skidded through a couple of interesections and didn't want to risk trying the motorway which was sensible and they closed the motorway not long afterwards because of accidents.
So here are a few photos of our day in the snow ... with breaks inside for milo and piklets while sitting by the warm fire ...

And the following photo is one I took at rugby on Saturday morning out at Outram - the fog made for a spectacular sight ...

Now off to get the kids to school, 10am start this morning, snow all gone but lots of black ice so a later start to be safe.

A little surprise ...

... from my friend Beverley in Wellington, some cupcake goodness - just beautiful!

And such a gorgeous box ...
Really brightened up my day receiving the parcel from Beverley - thank you so much!
Been a chilly week down here, lots of frost and fog hanging around, but very beautiful all the same ...

And this afternoon I finally booked flights .... 7 weeks til I get to go and give me wee niece a huge cuddle!

A bit of advertising fun ...

... if you liked the drumming gorilla you might like this new ad which starts tomorrow ...

OUCH!

Finn was playing ball tag at lunchtime on Moday and decided to kiss the concrete in a big way! Got a call from school and was greeted by an upset wee guy with this mess on his face. It doesn't look as bad now, and the bandage is there to protect a large area where lots of skin missing - yuck! Also two skinned knees and scruffed toes on the day old new school shoes!!
Crafty wise - I am almost all caught up on my 365 album, just last weeks photos to print and last two weeks of journalling to do. Had a scrap sunday with the girls at the weekend and managed to get a couple of layouts done.
But am trying to ignore my scrap desk at the moment and concentrate on getting some contract work done - but wouldn't you know it my mojo is back and I just want to play not work - argh!

Whew ...

... hubby found out yesterday that he has his job still! Well there is a restructure so it's one of the new jobs.
To say it's a relief is an understatement, has been in the back of our minds for the past few months ever since the changes were announced. We have tried to stay positive but you are always thinking 'what if ...'
So I think we will celebrate a little this weekend and my thoughts go out to anyone else who is currently going through this too ...

Busy busy

... after a few days with the help of this ...


I am feeling a tad better. Can actually bend over without feeling like my head is going to explode out of my eyes! Germs - GO AWAY! Oh yeah and the dog is sick too - she did a huge vomit by the sliding door on Friday night - yip inside - YUCK! Took her to the vet and she has a bit of a fever so on meds and very bland food for the next few days :(
On the scrapping front a bit of playing and I created this ...



These were some of the photos I took in Central Otago at Easter time. Love how the Cosmo Cricket Happy Camper range just fit perfectly with the colours in the photos.
On Friday I also did a bit of shopping for scrappy supplies at the 24 hour Regent Theatre Book sale - an annual huge book sale held here in Dunedin. These are the treasures I found, a mixture of old novels, music books and dictionaries - just perfect to use on some vintage style layouts. They were a bargain indeed as all books are only $1 each!!! Hence my wee pile :)

My head is spinning at the moment with a lot going on in our lives - jobs waiting to be confirmed, as well as finding a house with HUGE section that we love and the tough prospect of thinking about selling our current home which we still actually love - very tough decisions to be made in the next week. But I am sure it will all end up working out just fine but tough to get my brain around it all as well as keeping control of all the day to day stuff round here. Whew, with that off my chest now I am off to make a cuppa and relax for a bit ...

Rain, rain go away ...

... come again another day! It started Thursday night while we were at rugby practice and pretty much hasn't stopped since! *sigh*
Althought the weather gods did listen to me and we had a rain free Saturday morning for Finn's rugby (my parents were chuffed to see him play) and then it started again at 11.30am that morning.
With the gloomy weather and stuff going on at hubby's work, now add to that I am stuffed up with blocked sinuses, ears, sore throat, dull achy head - normally I am the last one to get any colds but this year I am the first! LOL!
But on the bright side I don't need an excuse to stay snuggled up inside by the fire, doing a bit of scrapping and reading. ;)
So on that note I am off to do a bit of creating while my head feels clear, then looking forward to a pile of cheeserolls for lunch - yummo!

A couple of new layouts ...

... will wonders never cease, I am actually getting a few more layouts done! This one was created last night, I had the photo and a couple of ideas but it all fell into place when I saw Nic Howard's latest layout! So here is my scraplift of her gorgeous layout (with pp dug out of my old stash) ...

(I also had a go with using a template for the leaf that Mrs Fizz kindly scanned for me)
And Layout #2 was one that I started on Sunday at the scrap day with the Dunedin ladies, I used a shped piece of MM paper as a template and cut the Cosmo Cricket paper. Have I told you recently that I love Cosma Cricket? LOL! Added a bit of prima, bit of bling and one of my butterflies and I kind of like the result!

Just in the process of trying to sort my scrap space out. The cupboard I have doesn't have very good shelving so hubby said he would help my put some more mdf shelves in there soon - yippee! Now just have to find some good boxes/baskets/jars to sort everything out properly!
Glad we are all stocked up with firewood - looks like snow on the way this weekend. Perfect scrapping weather although have my parents coming up to stay and they were hoping to see Finn play rugby - oh well it can start snowing after 11am Saturday if it likes! ;)

Another year older ...

Last Monday I had two little cuties coming in to the bedroom early carrying a gorgeous gift bag, and inside I found this ...
I got the tea cup charm and green bead on the bracelet, and have used birthday money from my parents and inlaws to buy the present charm. I LOVE this bracelet and there are sooo many cool charms and beads that I can look forward to buying in the future.
Do any of you have this bracelet - what charms do you like?
Monday was actually that start of a busy week, I had my Mum come up and stay for a couple of days, then we have had an Aussie guy come and stay for a few days also on and exchange with hubby's community group. We ended up hosting a bbq/potluck meal on Saturday night, then hubby and a few others took our visitor up to Moeraki for the day on Sunday. I managed to sneak away for a scrapday with some of the Dunedin ladies, however my day was interrupted by having to go back out home and grab spare keys as hubby had locked his keys in the boot of the car at Moeraki!!!! So the Aussie guest got to see the coast line between Dunedin and Moeraki a second time that afternoon!!
Now a quiet week, kids all eased back into swimming and rugby, hope to get back into my scrap area (this is in spare room so haven't been in there with visitors staying), and to get some creating done.