Layout

OK, I finally think it’s done, after much ado, I present my new blog (and site)! I won’t be making any changes for a while now, AND I will be blogging regularly again, well, I’d better, since I have spent two weeks on this without a night to bed before 2am… several after 4am…. well, I will say, I am tenacious…Please leave me some love and tell me it wasn’t all for naught!

I do know that I have an issue with the header and centring, but when I fix it in Firefox it goes awry in Internet Explorer, so I am aware of it and will attempt to fix it soon!

Some bits….

~ Congratulations…

To my dear friend Megan, who recently achieved her dream of becoming a police officer, I am so proud of you hun, and I know you will be great!

Thanks to Kate, for mentioning my new blog and saying such sweet things about me, right back atchya Kate…. If you enjoy an amusing read head over there, she is wonderful at telling bits about her life in the most amusing manner. Check out a recent one called The Trouble with Double.

And just because I prefer posts with some sort of graphic here is a layout I did a month or so back, my usual, “Embrace The Whitespace” style, hmmm I should coin that phrase… when I looked at these photos I couldn’t get the song from the Milo Ad out of my head, so of course, what better way to get it out, than put it in a layout… so here ’tis…

Update on the Puerto Rico, last time we played, we had 3 games (they are getting quicker now), I won all 3! Very happy indeed.

Hugs to Odette, who recently broke her leg, we are thinking of you babe and hope you are feeling better soon.

Also went to a trivia night on Friday night, it was a fund raiser for the Make A Wish foundation, last year we won (yay) and this year we came second, which does make you wonder about the rumours that alcohol dulls the brain, since last year the end of the evening was quite, shall we say, blurry, and this time we were all, well, much less affected by our drinks, however we only came 2nd, but that, of course, is nothing to sneeze at! So we came home with lots of lovely prizes and knowledge that we are good at, ‘knowing useless stuff’.

Hmmm just noticed I seem to have an aversion to fullstops in this entry, I’ll try harder next time…. put it down to the late hour…

Oh and Lincoln Eddy, yes you, stop nit picking on my blog spelling/grammar/ errors, you’ve had some that I have opted to overlook, and besides, Judy likes the way I type PLease….

Which reminds me! Go and check out the lovely Judy’s blog, she is lucky enough to be travelling around France at the moment and has been updating her blog very regularly, with lots of pictures and wonderful entries about her time there…. go on, go now, leave her some love!

OK check back soon, I have plans to add some pages and stuff, maybe some freebies, some tweaks…. so many plans…..

~ DREAMS ARE ILLUSTRATIONS ~

Had lots of fun making this layout and have always loved that pic of Quinn, I really enjoyed experimenting and what I ended up with, it shows up a little bit light on the compressed version though. I used brushes by Hybrid-Genesis and a mesh brush by Denise Docherty.

Quote Reads: Dreams are Illustrations….from the book your soul is writing about you – Marsha Norman.
CLICK FOR A LARGER VIEW

~ CAMERA ~
Yay I have my camera back!!!! Woohoo, it is perfectly alright with no sign of the muck that was all over the sensor, I am so lucky and feel very very relieved and thankful to have it back….life is good ;-) I took some pics at a pool party that we went to yesterday/last night but haven’t downloaded them yet, must get to that….

~ STRANGER THAN FICTION ~
Went to the movies on Friday with my cousin and my auntie and saw Stranger Than Fiction, I wasn’t overly keen as I really don’t like Will Farrell, not that I have seen him in much, but the sort of movies he is in just aren’t my thing. Thankfully, the movies I had to choose from were narrow as I was time challenged and was going to struggle to get back in time to get the girls from school, so I was kinda forced to see this or nothing. Well what a FABULOUS movie it was, so refreshingly different, sweet, funny and sad all at once. It had some REALLY great actors in it and there was a real potential for Will Farrell to overact, but he didn’t, his performance was beautifully subtle and I think I can safely say, I am a convert. If you get a chance, go see it. Dave, my cousin thought it was the best movie he had seen in the last 5 years, I wasn’t quite there, but was very impressed nonetheless.
ROFL, I just read that back and I sound like I should be on The Movie Show with Margaret Pomerance! hehe!

~ SOME OTHER STUFF ~
Found these links over the last few days, this first one is via a blog link that Lis provided at MAC, not one of those links, but 1 I found via one of those links (boy that was a mouthful, not even sure I know what I mean LOL). Anyway I am addicted, it’s quite fascinating watching all these people tell a stranger about their lives. This man is from England and has decided to meet someone new every day for the next 30 years and ask them 3 questions check out Thirty Year Project.com I’d love to see what you think. It actually reminds me of a show that used to be on SBS a few years back where a guy would just stop people in the street and ask them about their lives. It was amazing how open and honest people were, the name escapes me now and I know it will annoy me for days…if you know the name please put me out of my misery ;-)

Next is a movie poster that was posted at Photoshop Top Secrets.com on the blog there, it is a really great effect on the poster and I am going to try and incorporate something similar in a layout (yeah, sure I am ;-) ). Anyway there is a thumbnail to the left of the poster, you can click for a larger view or go check out the blog.Also found these cute little camera bags on Donna Downey’s website, they are way to small for all my stuff but I thought they were cute anyway. Would be nice to have one for a day trip I guess where you only need 1 lens and no flash.

Anyway that’s it for me, hope you had a great weekend and if the pics are anything special I’ll come back and add them to this post!

~ PARTY PICS ~

And did you notice? There is not a spot on these pics….*sigh*…… thank you Mr Camera Fixer Man :)
BFN!

As a kid, having a birthday on Christmas Day really, well there’s no other way to say it, sucked. Big Time. I only ever remember having one party. And while my parents tried to separate it, Christmas in the morning, Birthday in the evening, there really is no getting away from the fact that you share your special day with everyone else’s special Christmas Day.
The last two years there has been a bit of a turn around though, and while it has been a long time coming, I have noticed a benefit. Mostly, when people find out when my birthday is, they groan and say “Oh no, I suppose you get combined presents?”. Well as a rule I usually didn’t, but the past two years I have and they have both been the BEST presents EVER!
If you are a regular reader of my blog (all 10 of you ;) ), you will know that last year I got a Nikon D70s Digital SLR, no complaining about that! Woohoo, I just love it!

Anyway, this year I got…..

A 30gb VIDEO iPOD!!! Yay. And I am loving it! I have already filled 10gb with music and a good handful of Photoshop TV Video Podcasts, so I can watch them when I do school pick up or take the kids to Tennis Lessons etc etc.

I am already almost half way through my first Audible Book, called Water for Elephants which I am just loving. I thought my mind would wander while listening but I just get lost in a new world! It’s great.

We had a lovely, but very hectic Christmas Day, having both lunch and dinner here. The morning started early, which was OK, because for a change, we weren’t up until 3am wrapping presents. Brian and I have both decided that Christmas should be on a Monday every year. Girls came hurtling down the hallway at 6am, but were coaxed back into bed with us for another half an hour. They got stuck into there presents as soon as we said OK… they had a good day, present wise, a little too good, we think! Both getting, from us, MP3 players, iDogs, Doona Covers, gorgeous Clocks which I bought at Southbank while on the MAC conference, a portable DVD, with two separate screens for the car ( I like this one, because they can’t nag us to watch it, I don’t like them watching too much TV and they can’t really use it unless we go on long trips, sneaky I now), they also got a Netball Ring, a ridiculous amount of clothes from Pumpkin Patch.

From Santa they got an array of things, mostly from the Australian Geographic Shop I think, the elves must pick up stuff from there too…) from, Spyrograph Machine, Kaleidoscope Makings Kits, Fibre Optic Torches, a watch, booklights, even a pedestal fan each for their rooms (Santa obviously likes to keep them cool, fun and practical! LOL), also Squiggle notepads (they are great, think Mr Squiggle), and Nipple Balls The family got a MP3/Stereo radio for the family room, and a Stunt Kite. Brian got an MP3 player and Travel Scrabble too.

So we are a very happy little household here!

As the year ends, and a new one is about to begin, I realise what a big year this has been for us.
I started teaching Digital Scrapbooking classes and had the great pleasure of meeting some fabulous people through that, who have become very good friends.
I started a new and very rewarding job and look forward to developing that in the future as the girls get older.
We moved into our new home, which we just love, and I don’t believe there is a day goes by that we don’t thank our lucky stars for it.
I got to meet the BEST bunch of MAC girls ever, these girls have made me laugh, given me cyber hugs when I needed them and have just been there always, and make they make their presence felt in sometimes copious amounts of emails, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I have felt fierce support and friendship and getting to meet them was a privilege and one that I hope will happen again next year, but this time with the lovely Karen also!
I have met some lovely new cyber friends, especially at Pickleberrypop and via blogs too. This Art that is digiscrapping is a great one and I am glad that I do it, along with all these talented girls, I look forward to continuing these friendships and making more.

Lastly is a list of Movies that Suzy and I saw this year. I know I have missed a few and in 2007 I intend to keep a proper list. Can’t say that any of them was bad, in fact, I really loved them all, in varying degrees. If I had to pick from the list though, I would say that “The Departed” and “Little Miss Sunshine” were the standouts. Although I could barely pick between the two, you could not get two more different movies.

Before I list them, I am putting a layout here so that the big white space is filled LOL.
This layout was done from pics I have wanted to use for ages of Quinn trying to help Bronte climb a tree. Background by me, flower brush, Rhonna Farrer.
Journaling Reads: If at first you don’t succeed, then try, try again. Click on the image for a larger view.

Anyway, here goes.
*Beyond The Sea
The Lakehouse
*Walk The Line
*Capote
Failure To Launch
*Inside Man
Poseidon
*Brokeback Mountain
Kokoda
*Little Fish
Pride and Prejudice
Proof
Pirates of The Carribean 2
The Da Vinci Code
Seperate Lies
*Wah Wah
*The Departed
*Little Miss Sunshine
Thank you for Smoking

OK as I typed, I realised there were some “must sees” in there, I have put an asterick next to them, so try and see them if you can!

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and I wish you a New Year filled with love, laughter and happiness!

Happy New Year!
Edited to add: As you can see, I have done yet another makeover on my blog, the credits are in the side panel! Feedback welcome.

OK, stop razzin’ me, I know it’s been a while! ;-)

This is just a quick random thought, oh and a layout…..
Where do my emails go, when they don’t go to our group??? Several emails have come through to MAC in the last couple of days which were sent by me on the 4th of November, my thoughts are they have been either:

* to an Email Conference
* to a support group for Emails that have lost their way
* drinking Pina Coladas on a South Pacific Island
* got mugged and it has taken this long to get through the red tape at the Email Police
* in a coma
* sitting in the Lost Email Department at Yahoo
* completely distracted from getting to their destination because they went past the Creighton’s abode and were distracted by the dreamy tones of Mr Hot Voice (aka Mad Mick) ;-)
* cracked the sads because it missed out on the MAC conference
* off having a fling with a hot little email, dressed in a tight, red font
* got dragged, unwittingly, into some email scam by an email from the wrong side of the tracks
* got dengi fever in Asia somewhere
* got stopped at email customs and was caught with 2 kg of marijuana in it’s surf board case
* got caught up in schoolies week and fell off a balcony
* got slipped some GHB in it’s drink and woke up on a beach in Surfers Paradise
* inadvertantly got on the same plane as the Primeminister and single handedly saved the day, Bruce Willis style, from a madman, and has since been recovering with the token blonde air hostess that helped save the day….

If you actually KNOW where my emails have been, please tell me!!!

Oh and I revamped this LO too….
Edited to add…Brushes by Anna Aspnes

We had our MAC conference on the weekend, and I met THE most wonderful, fun, caring, happy, special girls and could not have gotten along with them any better. We all got along like a house on fire and I wasn’t at all suprised, after all, we have been friends for a while now, even though we hadn’t met.
Sadly our good friend Karen was unable to make it (from NZ), but we talked of her often and drank to her more ;)

The pics here were taken on Sunday on Southbank, some at the restaurant and some walking around. Unfortunately these pics don’t include Lis and Ruth as they weren’t there on the Sunday, I will do another one of these from the Saturday night when 8 of us were there. The pics also include our own little MAC digi mascot, the gorgeous Deb and the lovely Dr Tax (AKA David, Judy’s DH). We also got to meet the gorgeous Trent and lovely Matt on Saturday when they dropped Lis off, just wonderful, meeting all these fabulous people! Click for a larger view

All I can say is that I am truly blessed to call ALL of these girls my friends and I know they are always here for me and I will be for them. Cheers MAC girls, you are the BEST!

~ WOO HOO ~
Well, as always, we had a blast at work for Cup Day! There is an advantage when you are working and people think you aren’t! Everyone assumes that all banks are closed on Cup Day, but regional branches aren’t. So that usually means a pretty quiet day for us. We always put on a lovely Chicken and Champagne lunch (thanks Ruthy, Shez, Nicole and Helen). It’s a great spread and we put in a measley $8 and the bank puts in a bit too. So by lunch things were pretty happy. We had a few different syndicates going and lots of bets on every race as well as 4 Sweeps. Even though I am no longer a teller the tellers included me in their own little syndicate (I love it that they still include me even though I don’t technically work with them now, but they say they miss me which is lovely). In the tellers syndicate we all put in $5 each and had various bets in the cup, a couple of Quinellas, Trifectas and Each Way bets and also a couple of Mystery Each Ways and Mystery Trifectas. Anyway WE WON!!!! On one of the mystery trifectas all our horses came in! WOOOOHOOOOO!

The Trifecta paid $1100, although we only had half a unit on so that made it $550!!!! We were so excited! I don’t mind losing on the Cup, it’s a great day either way, but to win AND have a great day is, well, just great!!! LOL

~ MAC CONFERENCE ~
2 more sleeps!!! YAY. Nuff said ;)

~ YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE ~
Another layout done last week end. My cousin always says Bronte reminds her of Gretal (I think?) from the Sound of Music. I’ve never seen it so I don’t know, but when I do her hair like this, I think she looks like a Gretal. LOL

Anyway, background by me and the brushes are from the fabulous Jason Gaynor.

~ WORK ~
Oh man it is so busy at the moment, getting ready for a few special things we have coming up. I really really love my job and am so happy that I made the move, and even though it’s busy, I never wish I was somewhere else. Even though I only work with my boss, there are several other great people that work around me and it’s always a laugh and a good place to be! How good is that?

~ LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE ~
Well I have seen two fabulous movies in the last few weeks, I didn’t think the first one could be topped, The Departed, although these movies are poles apart in their stories. Little Miss Sunshine is basically about a dysfunctional family that go on a road trip. Many many cringe worthy moments, with family that we either know or know of. Priceless really. I saw this movie twice in two days, and while I am sure that it won’t be the same with everyone that sees it. I laughed so hard I cried, especially in the first half of the movie. The final scene of the movie had me laughing AND sobbing at the same time. At the end of the movie, I walked out, both times, smiling and just generally feeling great. If you are tempted to see it, the part I laughed at the most, was the car horn and starting the car, if you see it you’ll know what I mean. Every character was fabulous and brought something unique to the story…. just loved it.

Edited to add
I read this a little while ago in a series of books I am re-reading by Diana Gabaldon. This passage is from the first book and has stuck in my head for some reason….

“But just then, for that fraction of time, it seems as though all things are possible. You can look across the limitations of your own life and see that they are really nothing. In that moment, when time stops, it is as though you know that you could undertake any venture, complete it and come back to yourself to find the world unchanged, and everything just as you left it a moment before, and it’s as though…” he hesitated for a moment, carefully choosing his words.
“As though, knowing that everything is possible, suddenly nothing is necessary.”

Have a great night everyone! :)

~ PARTY ~