the midnight scrapper

32 days and counting...

Finally got all our accommodation booked. Can't find big pictures but this is where we are staying in NYC...

  

So the Roosevelt looks OK!

The rooms are "cosy" but then again we are talking New York, and we do have a budget, sort of LOL.

On the Creative escape blog they are giving us daily sneak peeks and teasers and this is adding to my excitement.

My passport arrived today.

My photo looks like a mug shot taken in prison (why oh why can you not look happy????)

I will not be scrapbooking that photo. In fact, I will be lucky if they let me travel. Ha!

happy mail day...

 

I have never been a "kit" sort of girl...until now!

I signed on for a 3 month subscription with Cocoa Daisy and today my first kit arrived. What can I say? I was a happy little scrapper indeed. Lots of fun things in this box and all with a "travel" theme.

WAIT THERE A MINUTE...I think I'm going on a trip real soon. Ha! Should come in very handy.

I love a little AE inspiration.

I love that it is only 37 days till I leave!

And I am loving this kit :)

happy birthday gary...

Today Gary turned 48 (so close to 50, I tell him, that he can almost touch it!!). We did a very quick card & present opening before work and had the big family dinner (all 5 courses - yum) tonight at nana & da's.

On the left hand side of the photo is our present; a mini album (another project from my BPS class) about Gary learning the guitar, and it finishes with a pocket at the back telling him we are buying him an electric guitar and he needs to go pick one out. I can assure you he is very excited about this.

The mini album...

This mini album was super easy (finished in a night) and made by folding 12 x 12 double sided patterned paper (stampin up), rub-ons, photos, shipping tags and a bit of ribbon. The kids wrote birthday messages above their photo on the back insert. A nice little keepsake all about his learning to play the guitar.

Glad you had a great day Gaz, and happy birthday :)

Edited to add: 39 days and counting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the countdown begins...

 ...well what's that? Yes, in a short 40 days I will be on my way to the good old USA. To say that I am excited is an UNDERSTATEMENT!

I am travelling with my sister and we are calling it the "3 S Tour". That would be sightseeing, shopping and...scrapbooking (what were you thinking!!!!). No kids, no hubbies (of course I will miss them), Australian dollar looking very sweet indeed and 3 whole weeks

We fly into Los Angeles - Las Vegas - Minneapolis (visit friends) - Boston - NYC - Washington (get to meet my on line friend IRL) - Phoenix - Los Angeles. Sleep will be optional. Ha!

The scrapbooking bit will be at the end of our trip when we go to Creative Escape in Phoenix for 3 days. So lots of things to be excited about.

In other news...

I have started another class at Big Picture Scrapbooking and have enjoyed the projects so far (the fact that I am up to date on the projects is a miracle in itself LOL)

Soccer is in full swing and our weekends are full of it. Still by mid August it will all be over.

We saw Micheal Buble and he was wonderful, and cheeky and he sang just for us.

We finally hit our stride with the cupcakes. In fact Byron was in cupcake heaven when I agreed to send in 36 cupcakes for the last day of school (can't leave anybody out Mum, and don't forget the teacher). I can tell you from experience that they were very yummy indeed.

Gary and I got to spend a weekend (alone) in Sydney. His work Christmas party is held in July because it is just too busy in December. We had a great time on a harbour cruise dinner, a leisurely breakfast on Sunday, a little stroll around the harbour at Double Bay and a little shopping at Bondi. Perfect.

Byron's greatest wish, besides the cupcakes, joined our house. His piggy bank is officially empty. He made all our profiles and they crack me up...and look just like us. Sort of!

I really miss these guys while I am away. This photo came after a fun day where mama actually got on the quad bike and hooned around the property (best I don't post a picture of that LOL).

So we're all caught up (I'll just ignore my slackness of the past 8 weeks) and I will be crossing the days off with mounting excitement.

May 11th was a very busy day...

The month of May has proved to be a very busy one with a whirlwind of activity taking place on the 11th. You know how that goes...don't do anything for ages and them bam! everything falls in the same week (or in this case day).

I set myself the challenge of entering the Mother's Day Classic Fun Run / Walk. I was so stressed that I would not be able to make the distance that I was having freaky dreams in the lead up to the big day (of course I did the 5km no problems, but my mind has, well, a mind of its own LOL). So at 8.00am on Mother's Day, I was standing around in a sea of pink waiting to give the muscles a good work out instead of being tucked up in bed with breakfast and pressies.

That's me waving with the "what the hell have I got myself into" look on my face! We finished in under an hour and then it was back in the car and off to watch Oscar play the second half of his soccer (soccer does not care that it is mother's day)

Even before the race, we had another very important event - Byron's 12th birthday. So at 6.00am we were up and opening presents and singing happy birthday (luckily we had organised his actual party for Friday night as there is just no way I'm having 8 kids over on Mother's Day).

Lest you think our day was done, think again. After we raced home from soccer it was a quick shower and change and then up to Sydney to my sisters for lunch with all the family. It was a wonderful day and we all took the time to say special things about our mother's; even the kids joined in, which was very sweet and resulted in a few "moist" eyes.

These 2 guys really do rock my world and I adore being their mama (insert big soppy mama happy face!)

We arrived home at 9.00pm and by 9.15pm we were all tucked up in bed asleep...May 11th had finally taken its toll. Ha!

My Celebrity Look-alikes

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.comGet one for yourself.

OK, I know you are LOL as am I!!

I have no problem having my highest match with Janeane Garafalo.

I do have a problem with the fact that 2 of my matches are men LOL

And Meryle Streep is just a tad older than me...just saying!

I do think that the glasses played a big part in my matches!

a trip down memory lane...

As part of my Library of Memories class, I have been sorting things like mad (see earlier post) and now I am in the process of sorting my layouts into albums. Now you know what this means? Yes, visiting your older layouts.

Like the rings on a tree, I can pinpoint what "era" a layout was from because I have a little cluster of layouts that all look mighty similar LOL

Case in point...I give you my " 8.5" x 11"  - multiphoto - button - simple stage"

 

Then I found this little gem (a 2 pager no less) which was part of my entry for the MM competition 2 or 3 years ago:

   

And to finish up there is this from back where it all started. I think we should just go ahead and file that under "I just got my hands on a 1996 issue of CK and look how great my layout looks" Ha!

Do you know how much that tilted photo is bugging me?

I've tried a lot of styles in my time, but I am a simple girl at heart.

Now it's back to memory lane and my time capsule layouts :)

a quick roadtrip, finally saw the bridge & a haircut...

At 4.00pm on friday, byron begged to go to sydney overnight (we stay at my sisters) for one last school holiday adventure. By 5.00pm we were on the road! A good time was had by all (just being away from home is fun LOL) and I got to take a quick stroll round my favourite shops to check out their new displays. Love this shop - Papier D'Amour, and it's only a 5 minute stroll from my sisters house.

For more inspiration check out their windows in my easter post.

Ashamed as I am to admit it, we live about 15 minutes from the new seacliff bridge and I have never, ever driven on it or walked across it (hangs head in shame). Well today, on the way home, we stopped at one end and walked that bridge both ways. As fantastic a bridge as it is...I really needed to be out at sea to get the great photos LOL

And to finish up, oscar had a run in with a pair of clippers. Ha! Well he asked his mama to shave his head just for a bit of a change (and we are a house of boys, so really hair issue do not exist) so I whipped it all off in about 3 minutes flat.

He didn't like it, but it has grown on him (no pun intended).

His nana hated it.

Me, well I think it looks fine and as we girls know only too well...it is hair and it will grow back!

 

I have 1 day left of my holidays and the to-do list is still a long way from completed. I know that I will waste tomorrow away just thinking about going back to work!

school holidays, a frenzy of sorting and cleaning and 101 other reasons why I have been a bad blogger...

I know I have been a very bad blogger and I can practically see the tumble weeds rolling through "the midnight scrapper" but I am here now and that's what counts. Well maybe!!

I was lucky enough to have the second week of the school holidays off, so we have been busy with lots of different projects. We watched "Waitress" for family movie night (which we all enjoyed) and byron and I decided that we needed to make ourselves a pie. Not any old pie, no, we set out to make the "best damn apple pie ever" pie.

After downloading the theme song "baby don't you cry - the pie song" from itunes, we got to work. We made 2 pies and we have to say that they were indeed, the best damn apple pies ever! We gave one to nana & da and they agreed with us, so it must be true LOL.

I have been plugging away at my Library of Memories class and I now feel like I am making progress. I would like it known that I am officially SICK TO DEATH (yes, I am screaming!!) of sorting my photos as the piles do not seem to be shrinking, but I can see light at the end of the tunnel (just a tiny little speck, but it is there!).

I had got to the point that whenever I would go to scrapbook I would have an idea and sort of know which photos I wanted to use. Then I would have to go hunting them out from all over the place and well, I just couldn't be bothered (so much easier to sit and browse bloggy land and look at what everyone else is doing. Ha!)

This new system should put an end to that, and my lovely category drawers are ready to be filled up with photo goodness. The idea is that we divide some of our photos into "categories" with the main ones being:

all about US / PEOPLE we love / PLACES we go / THINGS we do.

Stacy has a book out called "Photo Freedom" which explains this system and it is a good read and makes a lot of sense (well to me it does).

And to finish off, a quick look at my scrappy space. Firstly, I live in a very tiny 2 bedroom house that has very little storage (and I am not one for clutter, let me tell you LOL). I don't have a craft room to call my own so I have to find / make space where I can.

In a moment of sheer genius, I removed half of the hanging rail in the dining room cupboard and put in a book shelf (I had to keep the other half as gary keeps his work clothes in there - you should see how small our bedroom wardrobe is). See how well that worked!

...but if I take a couple of steps back and take that photo again, well it's not such a Martha moment now is it? I think every scrap space should feature a dyson!!

 

The second & third cupboards are shelves that housed all the kids toys and "stuff". They were thrilled when I told them that mama was taking over the top 3 shelves.  The bottom 2 shelves are now home to only the best loved lego and warhammer. Double Ha!

I also have a desk behind the lounge which is where I sit to scrap...right in front of the TV, computer to the left of me, itunes to the right and in winter, the heater at my feet. Can't complain about that now, can I.

Now it's back to the photo sorting once more... 

what happens at the scrap retreat, stays at the scrap retreat. ha!

I have just spent 4 wonderful days away on a farm in Maitland, scrapping with a great bunch of friends. Can I just say...lots of fun!!

Yes, it is indeed a barn, but there is a loft coversion out the side so we had room to put up 4 trestle tables and the computer / printer table and still access the kitchen. We were miles away from civilization although we did have a few trips to downtown Maitland and we did manage to have a little retail therapy in a few very nice shops!

This is pretty much how it looked 15 minutes after we arrived LOL. We also had the TV front and centre and we ploughed our way through at least  a dozen rom-coms so we were all bursting with happiness. The ipod also got a thorough workout and inspired some very "interesting" dance moves (got to stand up and stretch those muscles a few times a day. Ha!)

We laughed, talked, laughed, ate, laughed, ate some more, scrapped, sorted, ate and laughed a bit more. Perfect.

And let me not forget the food. Man did we eat well...and daiquiri hour was also very popular :)

Alas, I have no layouts to show as I spent my time catching up on my LOM class over at Big Picture Scrapping. So glad I did, as I made wonderful progress by working on my assignments for 4 solid days.

Back to work today, still basking in my happy scrappy  glow :)