happy birthday to me ...

what a fun week ...

had a ball in Sydney, the event was another success making more new friends and visiting with old ones.

We enjoyed Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar ... heaven! Heidi and i had been there last time to Sydney - so it was a definite MUST on our stop. Emily also found this delicious taco shop ... it was the best burritto i have had ... well, since USA! i was super happy!

Heidi and I went and saw Wikid - the muscial stage show. It was amazing ... we had front row seats ... i think my jaw was just hitting the floor the whole show ... the costumes were incredible. If you get the chance you must see it. It was our birthday presents seen as we were lucky enough to spend our birthdays together ... we are only a week apart. It was really a blessing for me to just be together. Heidi taught at Mystified on her birthday, and i took our American friends to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo on my birthday. My 3 girls got the day off school to come and have fun too ... it was great.

we went across to Caloundra to check out the beach ... i love it. We had dinner at Kings beach ... delicious and a beautiful outlook.

Mother's Day we spent at the lake ... it was a stunning day and the water was like glass. a great way to spend the day. The girls bought cute and thoughtful gifts from the Mother's Day stall at school - they each had $4 each. I love seeing what they pick and the thought process behind it.

I am a lucky mum!

Breaking the drought ...

i am back! GASP!

i know i have been gone for a while ...

most of you all know i started a jewellery business last year, well ... my life has been very busy, progressively getting busier each month. I sort of let blogging go, first due to time ... and secondly as i didn't think i had anything much exciting to share. But i realise (especially with my friends abroad) that its a good way to keep up on what is happening. So i have decided i am totally capable of bloggin once a week. So lets see how i do?

I am in Sydney, with one of my bestest friends ever ... Heidi. And i even got to celebrate her birthday with her ... we got her lamington's to celebrate - a good auzzie cake!

I have been sooooooooo looking forward to seeing her, due to our distance, we don't get to see each other very often. She is down here with Wendy and Emily teaching Mystified Events ... i am looking forward to taking the classes on Saturday in Brisbane and getting a total "how to" on glimmer misting. I always love heidi's classes ... she always motivates me constantly weather its when she sends me new work she's done, or its when i take one of her classes ... i really do need a creative wake up .... as with my new business, i am struggling to find creative time ... i am really missing it. So i am also attempting to scrapbook once a week too ... after heidi's inspirational talk about how important it is NOT to forget the moments, i know i want to savour my memories so i too do not forget the little details ...

Before i came away it was Em's birthday - i made her a jewellery box cake. She is having friends to go ice-skating when i get home ... should be so fun.

The girls have also had dance competitions on - this term is busy with dance competitions, today Katya's tap group won their section from 20 entrants. They have had a great start, with Em's jazz group here getting highly commended, and also third place. Her slow modern group got 3rd tonight too ... so happy for them.

I got to spend some time with one of my bestest friends Suz ... they have a new house, so i loved seeing it (especially as Suz has great interior decorating skills)

So after Mystified in Melbourne, i went to stay with Blair (my little bro) and Lisa, Callen and my newest nephew who is only 1 week old - Cooper. He is the sweetest thing ever ... i loved cuddling him, he is just perfect. You forget how little they are. Callen is such a big boy now ... talking heaps ... it was great hanging out together. Blair had Callen and his little buddy in the trailer yesterday .... so cute.

Gary is holding the fort at home ... thanks babe, you are awesome.

Looking forward to another fun day tomorrow ....

see you again soon (i promise!) :-)

River Fire 09

every year here in Brisbane the city celebrates with River Fire. It is really cool, almost everyone comes out to watch either going into the city or going to a lookout where you can get a great view. It kicks off at 7pm and lasts for half an hour of amazing fireworks all thru the city and off all the bridges, and then finishes with F 111 jet fighter planes doing a dump and burn over the city ... very cool!

This year we went over to my sisters place on the other side of the river, and went (with the rest of her neighbourhood) to a vacant block that overlooked the city ... it was fun!

I really want to be creative, but i am tired. I went for a run this morning ... and honestly, i felt horrible! it was hot, i was hurting ... it wasn't pretty! so i'm guessing my body just wants some rest now. I have all my new scrapbooking stuff out ready to play with and add photos to my projects, but i have had 3 jewellery previews this week ... so i have not had time! maybe tomorrow! :-)

I will share some more photos from my trip quickly tho ... when we got back to Utah, we went the next day into the Temple Square and visited all the Morman buildings. For those of you who didn't know, the Morman's founded Utah - so they have amazing buildings in the centre of the city ... we got to tour thru them and then have an amazing lunch ... honestly, there was ALOT of food ... i was impressed.

Utah is a nice city, i liked it alot. I especially loved the mountains, and can't wait to go back when there is snow on them!

That afternoon we went up to Park City ... i just loved the whole ski town vibe. These are the ski jumps they used for the olympics ... so cool!

Heaps of cool, funky shops line the main street ... fun for exploring.

In NZ they house cows that are used as art throughout different towns ... it was funny to see Moose here ... this one had high heels and jeans on ... so funny!

ok ... thats it for me ... time for sleeping! I will post my LA whirlwind tour next time and hopefully some more creative things to show (oh and also the prize i won at CE!)

Back to Reality ...

i could not be more lucky ... all my prayers were answered. Basically every part of my trip was fabulous .... I was able to sleep for 8 hours on my flight which was my best effort yet ... knew one of the air stewards coming back home who looked after me and made me feel real special ... so it was all good.

It was so nice to have a break from all my normal commitments, just renews and refreshes the spirit! Made me appreciate each one of them so much more, also had time to think about how i can be a better person, and balance my life better.

I managed to get all my projects and purcashes home in one peice. I had to buy a new bag to get everything home (esp after i had a last minute shopping spree at Target)

Here are a few more of the projects we did at Creative Escape .... the first is the 7 Gypsies one ... i love this project, we did the "5" in the technique boutique before the classes started.

The next is Heather Bailey's class ... its a real cute project. I have photos to add ... so will show more once i have added all the pics.

Some of our good friends from NZ arrived to stay yesterday, its been so fun having them here ... we have had many laughs, makes me wish we lived closer. They have 2 girls, and all our girls get on fabulously! They are great friends. We started out the day making the Dad's a nice breakfast. The girls had bought Gary cute gifts from the school "Fathers Day Stall" i love seeing what they pick ... and the reasons behind! We went for a river cruize in the boat ... it was such a nice day for it ...

Just Ordered Room Service ...

food always tastes better when someone else makes it. I have spent today in LA. Unfortunately it was an early flight out, i guess the upside of that was that i have squeezed alot into it. I got here at 8am, and was on a tour bus by 9am ... no mucking around!

I guess it will be better to share todays adventures when i post the photos. I have just had room service, had some Sees chocolates (so yum, thanks Emily for the tip) and am going to do some work real quick before leaving for the airport to go back to my sweet family

so the first photo was in Heidi's class. Totally emotional for me, as my little girls were on the slide show, so when they popped up i totally started balling .... you know, ugly loud crying. I just wasn't in control of it ... i am blaming it on tiredness too ok! so you can see i look a little bit of a wreck in the photos because of the balling! Great class, i loved it ... can't wait to put the photos in when i get home. i did finish all my projects in class, so have to still photograph the rest, so i will share those when i get home ... you will have to keep checking back! After Heidi's class was Heather Bailey's class. She taught a super cute project too ... (same, no photos yet) i love her material, and bought some little kits at the store, so will be sewing when i get home too ... (i am intending on having lots to share instead of my boring track record!) :-( So there was alot to do in Heather's class and it was pretty go, go, go ... but i did love the end result.

After dinner that night Heidi gave a great talk, very inspirational and motivational ... just what i needed to get me out of my creative rut! She was talking about how important it is to scrapbook so we don't forget the details ...

After that was a suprise class ... a special album kit. It did have some sewing on it, and i will be honest the sewing did make me want to go to sleep ... by 9pm i was toast!

Another surprise when we got back to our room (which happened to be 1/4 mile or 400m from the lift) was this cute RAK (random act of kindness) i definitely felt pampered! how lucky! The next day followed starting out with Marra who talk a really cool box with 12 little mini albums inside. So i am looking back and realising that i have completely mucked the orders around ... i guess that doesn't really matter ... i think when i have all the finished projects i will explain the classes ... sorry!

Saturday night they had the final dinner, with huge raffles, and an auction on Heidi and Tim's lamps they had altered to raise money for cancer. We were amazed as Heidi's fetched $8200 and then i was in shock as Tim's lamp raised $29000 .... gasp! Then i was lucky enough to win a lucky door prize, a cool trimmer and tool pack ... i haven't opened it yet. So will photograph that when i get home too!

We had a guest speaker talk after the auction ... i will explain her message in the next post. Its time to pack up and get to the airport!

see you in Brisvegas!

Wow .... emotional and inspirational ....

Creative Escape has just wrapped up ... I am overwhelmed by the experiences I have had here. Its been amazing.
Today was another full day of classes. Both days we have had four classes each day, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. Then last night we had an extra “album” class ... so its been go go go!
We have done some awesome projects, all of them were phenomenal and I love each one. I have photographed each one, and was super happy with myself for finishing EVERY project by the end of each class.
I had heidi’s class today, which totally made me ball out loud, as her project is based around their trip down to Australia for Christmas ... and when the photos of our girls came up on the slide show it was too much and totally I made a scene, crying out loud .... I couldn’t even look at her! So I managed to pull myself together and finish the project ... which of course will hold a special place in my heart. I will photograph them all with the photos once I get home and get them done.
Tonight we had a special dinner, and an auction for Cancer ... Tim and Heidi’s handmade altered lamps were auctioned off – Heidi’s went for $8200 and Tim’s $29000 ... it was overwhelming. I was screaming ... so exciting. I also won, one of many lucky prizes .... I got an amazing trimer, tool kit ... so lucky~!
Then we had a guest speaker talk ... she was sensational. She talked about her journey thru her sister finding out and coping with having cancer ... it was so inspirational, and of course I cried again .. and again ... and again. These girls were awesome ... and we are hoping to keep in touch from here on in.
So now ... its time for me to sleep. I have just skyped with my family and I feel better now I have seen them. They are gorgeous! I have alot of words to get out of my heart ... so I think I will do some journaling tomorrow. So many experiences to remember.
first two photos were my first two classes at Creative Escape, Tim Holtz was first off ... how cute is that little suitcase!

then the chocolate desert which was to die for at dinner last night. They start dinner on Saturday night with desert first! SO PERFECT!

(edited to add ... just adding photos now, have arrived back in Utah ... will start posting photos from the beginning but i will keep it rolling for a few days so you can see as much as possible of the experience! - so keep checking back ... and leave a comment if you drop by, i love to hear from you! :-) ) this photo was taken tonight on the plane after we were upgraded to first class ... yay for us!

Hello from Creative Escape, Arizona .....

(warning .... LONG POST!)

I am happy to report that I successfully arrived in Utah after my flight via Auckland. As I arrived in Auckland my Brother and his family were leaving, and we got to see each other thru the glass for seriously 2 minutes before they left to go home to Melbourne. It was like visiting in jail ... it was hard! Touching thru the glass.
I had a couple of hour stop over before going on to LA. So I planned it out that I would sleep after my dinner. I got a lovely surprise to see one of our best friend’s Dads on the flight, he works as a steward for Air NZ and its been some time since I’ve seen him. He went to so much trouble getting me special drinks, my meals out first ... giving me the first class pack with all the goodies, and even moving me up before we descended so I could get off the plane first – so sweet. I felt like a v.i.p!
Even tho I’m a bad sleeper ... I managed 5 hours sleep. I have decided that my bad sleeping actually works in my favour at the other end of the trip .... I don’t seem to suffer with jetlag, as I’m so dead tired I sleep for ages. So I have not suffered with jetlag ... yay!
I managed LA airport so much better this time, after being there before and being a complete gumby. So it was a smooth transition from intl to domestic ... and I arrived just in time to board my next flight, so perfect.
Utah is such a nice city. It reminds me of Ohakune on steroids ... ha! Ohakune (for those non-kiwis ... is a snow town where we go snowboarding) The mountains in Utah are amazing, just amazing. I can’t wait to come back when there is snow on them. I know Gary would love it.
Has been wonderful seeing my friend and her cute family ... the kids have grown so much since Christmas.
I haven’t many photos from Utah yet. I did have a major shopping spree in the city after we saw a crazy movie with the kids called Shorts. Forever 21 is an amazing shop, and I wish my sisters were with me as they would have been in heaven! So many choices .... lucky we are renovating our wardrobe as I will need more space! Lol!
So we came down to Arizona yesterday to come to Creative Escape. We flew over the Grand Canyon ... oh my gosh, takes your breath away. One day will have to visit for sure.
We had our nails done when we arrived, I have to take a photo as they are all sparkly. Also went to Tia Rosa’s for Mexican ... the best Mexican ever. Met Liz, who is so cute with only 5 weeks to go before having her baby – looks like she has a basketball up her shirt!
So yesterday I went and lay out by the pool ... it was prob 38 degrees, hot! It was so nice tho. Then as I have been sick for a while with this horrible viral infection Labyrinthitis ... I have not exercised in a while, I decided to go do a quick weights workout, well I got over to the gym and they were shutting .... I was so sad, as I was already dressed, so I decided to go for a run .... gasp! I know I sound crazy, but those of you who know me would realise, that I was totally bugged because I had all my gear on and couldn’t do my workout ... so had to get rid of the energy. So with a bottle of water in hand, off I went on this cute track specially made by the resort. I felt a little weary of rattlesnakes, however realised the rustling in the bushes were actually gofers ... little rodents that look like meerkats. They were running off and dashing into their holes ... kinda cute (but apparently a pest here) I will attempt to get a photo. This place is totally like the resort in High School Musical 2 movie ... its funny. Its right on a golf course, with a great pool area. I must tell you that it is ¼ mile walk from the lobby (where I am sitting typing to you) to our room at the other end of the resort. So that converts to 400m ... each way, no wonder I am tired. By the way, although it was kinda hot, I was totally fine running ... it gets super hot in Brisbane in summer and it didn’t feel any worse than that!
This morning started with a chinese tour reunion breakfast. There are 8 of us here that were on the China Tour ... so fun to see everyone again. Cheryl one of the ladies totally spoilt us all and bought us cute gifts, I was so touched. I will take a pic ... she got everything zebra print as that is the them for CE.
From there I went with a new friend Leisley to an AWESOME scrapbooking store called Mystic Papers ... oh my gosh, I loved it so much ... and hurt the budget again! If anyone needed inspiration to be creative that shop definitely does it ... and I am INSPIRED! So cool!
When we came back we registered and got all our bits and pieces ... then it was Technique Botique where you go around and collect bits and pieces for the upcoming classes, get free stuff and do a few creative projects. It was fun ... and I met more great people along the way.
Then it was Trunk Show, which was pretty busy with people, so I must admit I didn’t have a real good look at everyone there, although one of the teachers is an Aussie so I got chatting to her, and even more so because she is from Tassie where my sister lives ... so we are staying in touch, so fun. I did take some pictures of heidi’s stand before the rush as I helped with setting and unsetting. I did love Heather Bailey’s stand too ... only because I am totally drawn to her fabric, and know my friend Fiona would love it so much. I bought some things to make ... so watch out sewing machine (when I get home)
Then was the introduction for Creative Escape ... it was amazing seeing all 700 people in one room ... wow! Made Create 08 look like a little blimp! Lol!
So I have photos to share. To be honest, its been hard getting online ... I am sitting in the lobby to get wireless, so hence the space between blogging. I promise that I will try blog again tomorrow night if possible ... as I kick off tomorrow at 8am with Tim Holtz class – he’s so funny, I am looking forward to it! So check back ....

5 years ago today ....

my baby was born! I can hardly believe its been 5 years ... it doesn't feel like that long ago she was just brand new. I marvel at how much she has grown and learnt in those 5 years. She's the sweetest little girl ... so cute! She has been SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited for this day, for months asking and being frustrated it was so long to go ... even ONE week was a painful wait!

Her sisters have been so sweet, making her cards and taking extra special care ... they are just as excited i think. I mean who doesn't love a party ... especially a "Fairies in the Garden" Party.

So as i write this we have not long woken up and opened presents ... i have to go get Em off to dancing and finish the plans for the party today. There is still quite alot to do ... and of course i need to pack for USA too!

I am attempting to travel light ... which is quite a task for me, as i HATE not having choices. But i am going to try ... i mean, i will just have to buy something if i don't have it? RIGHT?

so will post some fairy party photos before i upload .....

SO ......

i can say that i am TIRED!

its been a busy day!

it is lovely to be sitting down!

I love seeing the photos ... such a fun little party. I am so thankful for my big girls ... they were awesome! Emra totally took control of the games, it was wonderful and Katya was in charge of face painting and did such a gorgeous job!

we had stunning weather, it couldn't have been more perfect.

My family travelled down from Bribie ... i really appreciate that effort so much, they are SO fun!

my grandmother made chocolate crackles ... SO YUM! thanks Nana!

so we have a roast pork cooking ... and i am trying to get motivated to pack my bag ...

i cannot do it yet ... maybe later!