getting organised ....

this was festive dinner last night with our friends Heath and Elisa. They are great fun ... we always have a laugh!

its been a festive, and busy kinda day! We had some good friends for breaky today - a festive celebration. The girls helped set up the table with the christmas table cloth and all the decorations - they are loving it. We had crackers - the works. It was great .... they are both in the police force, and bought the kids this really cool speed "radar" for christmas - so they can clock their speeds on the driveway - classic!

We hung the hammock Gary got for his birthday last year ... hello! Nearly a year later .... its so cool, and I was intending on getting in there this afternoon with a magazine ... however I got on this cleaning frenzy (I think the house has been a bit of a bomb site for a few weeks with all that has been going on I needed to get rid of all the christmas wrapping, ribbons and etc that is everywhere! I am happy tho, as I feel like we are living in organised surroundings again ... YAY! We had Christmas drinks with other friends this afternoon - so it really has been a very social couple of weeks. I love that tho, I love being around people, i think that is what life is all about.

We have a tradition on Christmas Eve ~ we have breakfast together with friends and this year its at our place. I love this, we do presents and have this gorgeouse breaky and its our own little tradition .... so I am already on my way with getting organised. I am going to cook Bill's Hotcakes, I even made the delicious butter up that goes on top ... yum! I was going to make a pinyada, however time has not permitted ... the intention was there!!!!

Its actually quiet late, but I don't seem to be very tired ... i am going to clean up my desk its really really bad ....

advent update ....

as promised the latest pages -

a few people have asked me where I get the photos from I use - to be honest, I have used things from all over the place. I have used ads from magazines, flyers .... just whatever takes my fancy. Its fun using stuff that just shows up unannounced!

makes scrapbooking more fun!

its late, I'm tired .... time for bed!

catching up ....

oh my goodness - this week has been a whirlwind!!!!! I have a love/hate relationship with this time of the year - I love the festivities and catching up with people, the good food and fun times ... however, I don't like the lack and time and the crazy/busyness that goes with it ....

anyways ... its nearly Christmas, and its starting to feel like Christmas as i got a few presents yesterday ... so so so cool! I love getting Christmas decorations, and have recieved some really wonderful ones over the years, I might share a few with you tomorrow (when I have my camera battery re-charged - hello!) This decoration is so so so gorgeous, from one of my friends who is a bad shopping influence (chuckle) on her bag it says " only one shopping day till tomorrow" too cute.

I have made a few gifts for friends too, will share a few recent ones ....

I have been enjoying the festive creations. I must confess that they are ideas I have seen somewhere else tho .... sorry, no original ones!!!!!

The Ribbon Christmas Tree I saw last year on Fiona and Kim's blogs and loved the idea. So I did my one with green and blue.

ok, so I'm really behind with my advent album ... so I'll go do some now, will post again later with the updates. Hope you are all enjoying the festive season, my girls are so excited its nearly Christmas!

P.S. Had such a cool desert out with friends last night .... great company, great food ... what more does a girl want!!!!! (I would put photos of my cool gifts, but my camera is flat .... grrrrrrr!)

gingerbread houses = mess!

i seriously don't know where today has gone .... I am tired! Its been a majorly productive day, with heaps crossed off my to-do list. All my Christmas shopping is done (except for 1 present - and that is under control)

We made gingerbread houses (from scratch - comment needed to be made so you realise why they look a bit dodgy!!!!!!) On Sunday we iced them, WELL .... there was icing from one end of my kitchen to the other .... blimey! We were all eating it, it was full on ... a big sugar rush! LOL!

The tree idea I stoll from Melissa's blog, she did buy her kit - but I thought the idea was cute, so its supposed to be a christmas tree (in case you were wondering LOL)

i saw this idea in the donna hay mag last year and thought it was cute ... and yes it is cute isn't it. Of course they lasted like 5 mins!

I had an interesting weekend to say the least ... I am too tired to tell the whole story now, to cut it short I got severe conjunctivitis in my left eye, it was just really bad that I ended up at hospital on Fri night ... anyway, its all good now and I don't look like an ogre anymore ... lucky we had a quiet weekend on the social front - phew!

ok, i know i'm missing out some stuff .. i am too tired, and off to bed .. here is todays advent page. nighty night!

check this out .....there is a storm about to hit Brisbane very soon, its dark and I can hear thunder. Its been really hot all day .... so thought one was coming. This is like my fav website .... its a radar that shows the storms - Gary calls me a storm chaser, i do love the weather tho, its fascinating! so I am quickly posting before i go watch the storm .... cool! the kids hate it ...they are so loud

I've had a really productive day, got all my washing caught up (finally - its been bad all week) got christmas presents organised to post, cleaned up the spare room (was a disaster since after the girls dance concert) - so i do feel quiet satisfied! Today the advent calender was (pictured) so we went to Chermside for sushi (I think Gianna may be allergic to soy sauce tho, as she had a rash after eating it = yikes, will have to get that checked out)

Robbie was wikid last night. He really can pull the crowd, I have to go read melissa's blog now and see her run down of the night. It was spectacular with fireworks and all sorts of fun things going on. There was a vote on weather you liked Neighbours or Home and Away better, a mexican wave ... very very cool. We had a ball, and I thought I wasn't going to be able to speak today as I screamed so much, the atmosphere was electric - they crowd really just went off!

couple more pages from my album too:

ok, have to fly ... storm getting closer. have a great weekend

I would blog but .....
I'm off to see Robbie ... YAHOO!

page 13 ...

an early blog for me today, but I am out to dinner tonight with some friends ... so have just finished todays page. Its been a busy day (even tho I started off slowly - was still in my pjs at 10.45am - i love the hols) got all my cards posted - yay! and it felt so good to do that. Had to pick up a few other things ... was so so so busy at the mall, just insane actually - took me ages before I could get a carpark! I remember why I don't like shopping in Dec now! LOL!

ok .. will keep moving, have got about 5 loads of washing to fold, before a friend brings her kids for a swim and I go for a run (later) ... gotta fit in as much as I can - ha!

p.s. todays page has to do with the advent calender we have going ...ok i will photograph it quickly now so you get what I'm on about (hang on) ..... ok, i'm back - this is the idea, i used film cases and each day there is a new little note of what we do for that day. Yesterdays one was to give a toy away to charity.

advent album update ....

didn't make it to blog last night, too tired! Had a challenging Monday to say the least ... without going into details - I managed to rise above it and didn't right the whole of my monday off. A friend of mine reminded me that you only get ONE monday a week, so it would be a shame for it to be an unhappy one! I loved those words ... each day we should feel like that, like the day is so precious there is no time for not enjoying it.

Here are the past few days of my album - i really am into doing this project. I feel on a creative roll - i love it when that happens. Am going to have to finish my christmas cards now, have to finish them off and get the overseas ones in the mail for tomorrow - yikes. Time is getting away.

will post my advent calender tomorrow ... its so cute, i love it. I have to get these cards done now ... till then - cherio!

sunday night ...

i love the weekends. And I love the holidays ....

A friend of mine, helped me source these letters - i have been wanting to do this in our room for a while - these things all take time. So she dropped them off today and I painted them straight away and put them up tonight. I love it ... it looks perfect.

we did our family photo today ... used the timer on my camera (hilarious) and even tho it was last minute and I forgot to put lippy on - it will do the trick to pop in our christmas cards

some more advent album pages too ...

have just realised while scanning these in that I need to change my brad to #8 (ops put #9)

we saw Santa today too! The girls were so excited, Gianna felt so at home she took her shoes off - funny! I am taking Emra and Gianna to see the Wiggles tomorrow .... big morning coming up! better get some energy up for that! :-)

last day of school ....

yay .... we are officially on Christmas holidays - yahoo! The girls and I have this little tradition where we go out for lunch (as school finishes at 12) on the last day of school each year. We have a little cafe down the road we go to .... its fun. We order milkshakes and yummy food!

Even this afternoon has been so nice and cruizy ... just going with the flow. Had a chat with a friend on the phone for like 50mins - I never do that, but was just great to touch base and plan a few things. I already have some truely excitely and fun things to look forward to in 2007 - it really will be a year to remember! YAY!

The big girls have always had sleepovers in the holidays, so tonight is no exception - although Gianna being all of 2 decided to be in on the act - too too cute! we trialled it, and even put her cot mattress in on the floor - but it was never going to happen in reality. Now she is back in her room and the other two are trying to wind down and go to sleep (yeh right)

here is the update from my advent album: am really enjoying doing this. I have another cool family project on the go too - its another version of an advent idea - will photograph it tomorrow.

Gary has gone to get us a movie to watch tonight, nice to have a quiet one in together.

no work for me ....

today is supposed to be my work day ... WELL, i just couldn't fire up today! I am still in cruize mode after my trip and couldn't focus on the job at hand. So instead I scrapbooked - I did do some washing tho! I wasn't completely useless! LOL!

I want to share some pics from Sydney. If you look really closely at this pic of the QVC building you will see an enormous christmas tree right up the centre of the building - seriously amazing. It was difficult to photograph - you will see the base of it in this next photo. The whole thing was covered with chrystals - wikid!

this is Elisa (left) and me at the base of the tree

I had to snap these hangers, how cute are they? and then the Christmas windows in David Jones were so cool ... my girls would have loved them!


now onto the shopping .... I spent a fortune in the Lindt shop - my fav! How cute is this babushka doll (sp?) inside there are heaps of lil ones ... too cute for words - an absolutely delicious (as I've eaten 3 today! hmmmm - have to go swimming tomorrow)

I have just finished the LO i started this afternoon. Its a competition for our local Scrapbook shop - i have to drop it off tomorrow. I don't usually post them till after its finished, but I am happy with this one, it was fun to do

Good news - our design team work is up today on the website - this is the link

http://www.craftonline.com.au/design-team01.html

i do have advent album pics to post too ... but won't overload my blog now, will do that tomorrow

This afternoon had to pleasure of joining a friend to toast the new dance studio she has bought. Its so exciting for them - its where our girls dance, so its going to be great to see it evolve!

Gary cooked a roast on the bbq tonight ... I think he was pretty proud of himself - it was delicious - ok thats me, over and out!

seriously fun ....
i am back from Sydney. I love that city! It has so much going on, so much happening ... so many people - so seriously cool! Had a fantastic time. We shopped and shopped. I was very good tho, I really didn't need alot of things and I was happy I didn't buy things just for the sake of it ... good self control for a change. Elisa was in full swing and on a shopping mission. She needed to re-fit her wardrobe so I had heaps of fun helping her - don't get me wrong, I did buy a pair of shoes (1/2 price we love that) and underware (25% off - we love that too) and some sleepware - so i still had fun. I also had a pedicure - bliss. I mean really bliss .... I really lived in the moment with it, enjoyed every minute - it was so worth it and my nails look great!
I took her to Bills for breaky, and guess what Bill was there - too cool. I can't upload my photos, blogger isn't working so will have to wait till tomorrow.
anyways just wanted to share the fun .... so nice to have 2 days break - especially at this time of the year, I feel so blessed. Gary is so awesome, he really is the best father - and he even did washing this time (far exceeded my expectation) its always awesome to come back home to your family - makes you feel so loved and needed - its the best feeling in the world.
Will post photos of advent album tomorrow too ....

off to sydney ...

yay, yay, yay ... i'm off to sydney! Will quickly post these pics then have to go make breaky for my little family (I know they will want hotcakes) and get organised! how cute are my girls .... I was so proud of them - they have both improved so much, and they just love dancing. Katya was sad yesterday that it was all over ... sweet!

here is page 2 and page 3 of my album - I will post 4 and 5 when I get back (and get them finished - LOL) I am using this cool cool cool stamp (thanks K) on each page to have uniformity! (page 3 looks taller, its an optical illusion - its only because the ribbon sticks up above the page)

ok .. its sunday night, and I'm trying to blog - and its not working properly! Not happy! I have my next two advent pages to post and also a pic of the girls ready for their concert! Will try again in the morning!
I am off to Sydney tomorrow with a friend, last min thing (she has to go for work so I'm taggin along for the ride - yahoo!) will be nice to have a couple of days of change! I love Sydney too!
ok .. have to catch some sleep - its been a busy few days
nighty night!

Advent Album ~
its late, I am tired ... its been a big day. We didn't get home till 9.05pm from the dancing rehersal ... man!
I have decided to start (and complete) the idea from heidi from LAST christmas. I had the intention of doing it last year and it didn't happen. Her idea was to create an Advent Album of family traditions you do throughout this season! COOL! So I had my album ready to go - easy. So even tho I'm tired here is my first page - last night we decorated our tree (it counts as day #1)
OK .... seriously have to hit the sack, am so tired and its going to be a big day again tomorrow. Wish me luck! The girls are so excited, I'm so proud of them!