I'm Back!

Well, after a few blogging probs, I'm finally back and blogging! So what's new? So much since I last posted so let's do it chronologically!

URBAN COUNTRY!

With no-one free and able to come with me I made it to the Keith Urban "Love Pain and the Whole Crazy World Tour" concert at Acer Arena in Sydney all by myself! I was seated in the rafters between two pairs of ladies so I was quite comfortable and I hired some binoculars which was great, because as well as being able to hear the incredible music of Keith and the band I could also zoom in on his rather gorgeous self! He covered all my favourite songs and some besides and the crowd was totally into it! I absolutely loved it!

THE BEAUTIFUL JANNIE!

After Sydney it was straight to the Gold Coast to stay with Jan, my late Uncle's wife and a most beloved member of our family. We had a lovely couple of days, I checked out the local area on foot and dined and chatted with her and her houseguests each evening. Thanks Jan!

SWIG 15

It seems a long time ago now actually, but I had a great time with all my Aussielayouts and fellow Inspirations Team friends at the recent scrapbooking retreat in Margate organised by the wonderful Christine and Beryl from The Scrap Heap. It was a small and fun group, we did some great scrapping, some fabulous shopping and had SO much fun - especially on the Saturday night for our fancy dress - Chrissy, my roomie and dress-up partner, and I met the challenge to dress as a "duo" by dressing up as Sonny and Cher - jeez I make an ugly bloke ROFL!!! Thankfully, Chrissy was feeling better after a horrid day following an allergic reaction that saw her lips swell to Angelina Jolie proportions! So thank you everyone, especially Christine and Beryl, for a wonderful weekend! Here are some of my layouts from the weekend, as well of pics of Chrissy and I with Mandy, and Chrissy and Tess mucking around for the camera too!

MUMMY'S RETREAT

After SWIG, I spent a couple of relaxing nights in Caloundra. THe resort advertised "room service" which suited me as I like to have brekky in bed, dinner in my room and just relax by the pool. Well, the room service was a collect-yourself deal with a limited fish-and-chip-shop style menu, no brekky, and it rained the whole day I was there so no pool either! I grabbed some stuff from the supermarket for brekky, some nice Thai food one night and after a "room-service" schmozzle I got some nice pizza on the second night (took two goes to get it right!). While it rained I took a cab into Caloundra to the movies to see "Spiderman 3" which I really enjoyed.

SORE THROATS & MERMAIDS


It was good to finally get home but it took me a few days to get into the swing of things and the next thing I knew I was bedridden with a horrible case of tonsilitis requiring a jab of penicillin and some super-strong antibiotics to get me back on my feet, just it time as it turned out, to get everything organised for Taylor's Mermaid Magic Slumber Party for her 10th birthday. We went all out, decorating the room with 150 helium balloons and some "undersea" lighting, doorways hung in green streamer "seaweed", huge foil helium fish, seahorse and dolphin balloons and a decorated fishnet stretched across the bookcase. Chris even made a special movie featuring underwater footage from his diving trips to show on the big screen! THe table was all decked in aqua, Tay's favourite colour, with netting and shells and green raffia adding to the theme. The menu consisted of "lil fishies" (fish shaped fish fingers), prawn cocktails, shell pasta, "octopus" hotdogs, garlic turkish bread and a fabulous Mermaid Cake which I was quite proud of! Lots of games, prizes, mermaid face painting, coloured hairspray, a craft session making shell bracelets and a mermaid movie on the big screen saw the last little mermaid drift off about 2am! As you can see, Tay had a fabulous time!


BIRTHDAYS, BIRTHDAYS, BIRTHDAYS!

Well, it seems like there were heaps of birthdays this past week but in reality there was only the two! Wednesday was Tay's big day and she went off to school with a big container of chocolate cupcakes for her classmates and had a taco dinner at home that night. Thursday night we had a big combined "party" with sausage rolls, party pies, fairy bread and "little boys" as it was Dad's last night home before heading off for 3 weeks OS. Friday saw Ronin have his turn taking cupcakes to pre-preschool. Saturday morning we had a poorly-attended soccer session that saw our little tykes being taught a lesson by the Under 5s in some miserable weather! After that we headed to the Mall so Tay could choose a prezzie for Ronin's birthday and then we went to see "Shrek The Third", which was good fun! Finally it was Sunday, and Ronin's 4th birthday, a party with his friends at "Kid City" - another cake! - and his choice for dinner - Pizza! Here he is on his birthday, my big 4yo boy!

FINALLY!

Well, after delays due to the dreadful storms in Sydney and some extra security at the airport, missed connections, and a lot of sitting around Chris finally made it to Penang last night. And I finally got my scrapping room cleaned up enough to actually work in there, so I might even get a layout or two done in the next few days! I'm looking forward to having lots of fun now that things have calmed down, don't forget to keep an eye out at the Scrap The Boys blog where some of my layouts were recently featured, and also on the new Scrap The Girls blog where you will also be able to catch some of my layouts.

Well, it's so cold now here in Canberra, with the snow season just starting last weekend those snow-laden clouds and icy winds are sweeping across our city now, thankfully not as bad as the dreadful storms that devastated NSW last weekend. It's footy season and hopefully that was only a blip for the Pies last weekend (fancy getting beaten by Melbourne!) and they'll put on a good show for Tay and I when we hit Sydney in a week and a half for the split round match against the Swans at Telstra Stadium! Lastly, but most importantly, it is good to know that my lovely Dad is recovering well from his recent op, yucky though it was, it's times like those that I really feel the distance from my family :( Thanks for bearing with me while I catch up this post.

Lots of Love,

Trace xxx