First things first ...

I said that I had started a layout for the Ali Edwards 2007 challenge - "Can you identify a single word that sums up what you want for yourself in 2007?" - well today I collected the second photo for the layout, cropped it and finished off the page. Once again, maybe not the most exciting page ever, but I am glad to have finished it and that marks a commitment to the challenge and to my word "positive". The tags say how I want to change myself to be a more positive person, that my glass is usually half-empty and that this photo of me is the type of person I want to be all the time - happy, relaxed, comfortable, smiling.

Our Year In Pictures

Guess what? I completed a whole album today. I thought I had finished it at the weekend, but I thought of something to add and have now finished it off. All I need to do now is take pictures of each of the double spreads and then put it in an album. I have a double spread for each month with journaling covering something that was important to me in that month - the feelings I had or the main issue that was in my head at that time (or looking back). Each double spread also features the highlight photos for each month and some months were really difficult to limit to just a few! But I really think I have managed to pick just those major moments to remember. I added two extra double pages to feature Canada highlights although our Canada trip will eventually (!) have its own album. And then to finish, I added a double page with pockets to hold some of the key memorabilia from the year. Maybe those bits and pieces that will not make it onto a layout on its own but needs to be kept all the same - such as Elton John concert ticket or the calendars that Cam and Maddie made for us last Christmas!

I have to admit to being really proud of it and while it may have not been the most creative thing I have done so far, I think it is really nice. Of course, using BasicGrey Urban Couture range of papers helped! Aren't they just wonderful!

But it really got me thinking about how our year was. I had thought that 2006 was not so special, that nothing spectacular happened (apart from our holiday of course) but now that I see all the photos laid out and featured along with journaling, it shows me that 2006 was a GOOD year! Not the best ever maybe, but filled with love and happy memories. Nothing sad happened that year and for that I am grateful. Life is good.

And just to give you a sneak preview! Other photos of layouts will be done later on...

Photo of the Day - 10th January

Wednesday 10th January

I love my bedroom. It is minimal, peaceful and quiet. Ralph bought be a bunch of cotton for our 2nd wedding anniversary and I have it in a glass vase in the corner of the room. I love seeing it sitting there. Guess that there is something about that reminds me of our anniversary (which of course is lovely), but also (and don't laugh!), Gone With The Wind!

I look at this cotton every day, but taking a photo every day is making me look around and see things in a different way - things that I take for granted. I have taken several photos just of things in the flat that I might come back to from time to time but for now, I think I will just enjoy the cotton!

Photo of the Day - 9th January

And here is today's winner -

Tuesday 9th January

I finished work this evening at 5.30 and noticed that it was not quite dark yet. The days really are noticeably longer now, less than a month after Winter Solstice - amazing. The sky was very dramatic and I wanted to capture it. In the process, I took this one and was knocked out by all the different colours from different light sources. The quality of the photo may not be perfect, due to taking it on long exposure in such dark conditions but I love it and think it has come out quite well!

Photo of the Day - 8th January

Here is the photo for

Monday 8th January

I started with a new class this morning and a new group often creates a new routine. This morning I found myself with an hour to kill and guess where I went - hence a photo to represent the change that this class brought. First day back at work after the Christmas break and all is well with the world...

Two things ....

... that I just NEED to write about as soon as I can (as in now!)

1. Guess what?!? R and I booked our 2007 holiday on Saturday! That means that we will be having a holiday two years in a row!!!! Can you believe it? We have been planning this trip since Jan 2002 and now it is finally booked. We will travel down to Frankfurt on Monday 27th August, fly to Whitehorse (Yukon, Canada!!!!!!!! what a surprise!!!!) on the 28th and then travel about 3,000 kilometres through Yukon, British Columbia, Alaska, British Columbia (again), Yukon (again), Alaska (again!), Yukon (yet again!), up to the Arctic Circle and into Northern Territories, then back into the Yukon back to Whitehorse to fly out on Thursday 13th September - which means more than 2 weeks and three Canadian states and a US one - is that not the coolest thing ever???? I am SO excited and cannot wait! Now all we have to do is save the money to pay for it... Updates to follow. (I just tried to download some photos off the web to show the beauty but for some reason they will not upload to the page - just this one of some Aurora Borealis which we have a slim chance of seeing but you never know! For more, you will have to wait for the thousands I am going to take!)
2. Other news that needs to be put in writing so that it is not forgotten is that I have decided to enter the Ali Edwards challenge of creating a word for 2007 - "Can you identify a single word that sums up what you want for yourself in 2007?" Yes, I can. And my word for 2007 is...

POSITIVE

Most of those who know me (including myself) would describe me as a negative person, I am a "glass half-empty" type of gal. Well, this is the year to change all that - I want to be a "glass most definitely half-full" person. After all, I live a charmed and happy life, and have SO much to be grateful for. Why be so negative? Part of my nature I suppose although when telling mum about this goal, she said that she thought I was a really positive person. I think this misconception comes from my total pragmatism. I accept things with balance and try to make the best of the situation. But inside I am still pretty cut up about whatever just happened and when I want to do something, I have to battle the negative voices in my head before I can take a step forward. That is NO way to be! I read the Stacey Julian blog where she tells how someone described her as "altogether too happy". No one would ever say that about me - more likely to use some combination of sod, miserable, git and old! I started this last year but was not so successful so I want to try harder. Part of the challenge is to create something to describe and celebrate this word in someway. So... layout to follow when I have managed to get the photos that I have in my head for this one!

So, now it is out in the open (of my private blog!) and now it is written down, it must be followed through.

I have so many ideas of things to do this year, how to record it all, and photos and layouts to portray it all - I really need to make the time for it all.

Watch this space for more to come ...

Resolutions, goals and targets

Wow, so long since I last wrote anything! However, this is all about to change because one of my goals for the year is to update this blog on a regular basis as a reminder of my year.

I don't really know where to start - I still have to finish my write up of Canada, I ought to write up about Christmas and New Year, and now we are already at 7th January so I ought to write about the here and now.

Perhaps it would be best if I list down some of the things I want to achieve this year which will bring in so other topics:

1. Write my blog at least once a week for the whole year - including photos and thoughts and actions
2. Organise once and for all, all our photos - both the actual ones I have lying around in boxes and also the digital ones that seem to be rather scattered across disks, hard drives and some printed out
3. Continue to lose weight - target is 55 kilos by my birthday (the big 40!!)
4. Be more positive - more of a glass half-full type of person (more later on this topic)
5. Scrap more - try to achieve at least one layout or scrap project of some sort each week, including a highlight album at the end of the year, a Christmas project (left over from this year), a monthly review, the Canada 2006 trip album and more on the BOM (not much then!!!)
6. Organise the flat and us - clear the clutter, keep tidy and be a better housekeeper
7. Keep on top of "A Year to Remember" which is a Big Picture Scrapbooking class for the whole of the year by Heidi Swapp. Usually, I join these classes and download all the stuff but do not actually do much with it. This time, I want to actually do the tasks etc each week and keep up with the class. After all, this will be a Year to Remember on many different levels
8. Take a photo a day - obviously, more than one per day but try to improve my photographs and have a record of the year through taking photos every day
9. Stop spending so much money - with the Canada trip later on in the year and my Birthday party in November, this will be an expensive year
10. Do more - do it now - make the time ....


OK, I think that 10 is around 9 too many but some of them link into each other and I wanted to write it all down while I think about it and maybe over the next month, the list might be amended or re-done. But in the meantime, the photo a day goal only started on January 5th which R thinks is rubbish. He says that I should now wait until next January 1st to start this and of course, if I think about the fact that I really want to record my 39th year, then I am really late. However, the DO IT NOW goal kicks in and at the end of the day, it is better to do it, than to constantly put it off and then regret the lack of action. So, January 5th it is! Although of course, if I look back over the days since my Birthday last year, I am sure that there are not many days without photos completely! Maybe I should do that. I am also thinking about moving the blog over to Typepad because they have the possibility of setting up albums and stuff which would be good.

Anyway, here goes with my first photos of the day (so far, I have not really started editing them or enhancing or anything - just a bit of basic improving and some cropping - that will all come later) - comments/feedback gratefully received:

Friday 5th January
This was the day I took down all the Christmas decorations and reclaimed our flat again. I took photos of all the boxes of decorations, the clear and clean flat and the orchids. The orchids won because they are so beautiful to have around at this dark time of the year.
Saturday 6th January
We booked our Yukon adventure. What better to represent the day than the celebratory glass of bubbles that we shared!

Sunday 7th January
We put the tree outside for collection and it looked so sad and forlorn - all neglected and thrown onto the street. I felt a bit sad seeing the pile of trees, used up and discarded. Until next year...

It's time ... to remember

Today is November 8th. It's Grandad's birthday. He would be 89 today.

I just felt that I needed to remember him today, more than usual. I created this page to fulfill this need. I have only good memories of this fun and kind man. Obviously, he was not always laughing but when I looked through my photos, he had that same laughing smile in practically all of them - he was a man who loved life. And we loved and still love him all the more for that. I am glad that I had the opportunity to share so many wonderful times with him.

Things that go bump in the night...

... and that was just because of the fog machine! More of that later!

I am a bit frustrated at the moment because I wrote a long entry about our Halloween party and then it got lost while I was trying to upload it, so fingers crossed that it goes ok this time!

So, then, any of you reading this will no doubt know that I had told R that we would not be celebrating Halloween this year. We had had quite a do last year and I don’t think that it is something we need to knock ourselves out for every year. But having a big child in the family (R!), this was of course not good enough and after being hounded for a few days, I gave in… Like I always do!

R had organised lots of “surprises” as he likes to taunt me with, to which my reply is always, “How much?…” Seemingly, this year he had been quite restrained and had ONLY ordered a fog machine (yes really!!!), a laser light (which was a complete waste of space!) and three costumes for M, himself and me. Unfortunately, he really did not have much luck this time and M’s costume has not yet arrived, the laser light was pretty hopeless, and the fog machine produces real fog effect (he thought it would kind of fall to the floor like dry ice). The fog machine can produce so much “fog” that when he first showed it to me, I opened the living room door and could not see ANYTHING! No exaggeration!

Anyway, more of the costumes later. I bought lots of extra decoration goodies and sweets and chocolates and the room looked really good after it was decorated up. I managed to track down a really big pumpkin (not so easy round here, they are all tiny little ones) and carved it out. However, I realised that I am a really bad pumpkin carver and must try harder next year (or rather the year after because I DO NOT want to do this again next year – famous last words!) R put on the fog machine and just made it a bit spooky with threads of fog hanging in the air – quite a good effect really and over all, the room looked quite cool!

I cooked a fantastic roasted pumpkin and tomato soup, a large lasagne (complete with green cheese bats on the top) and a pumpkin pie, washed down with a welcome “Zombie” and then copious amounts of alcohol!

R’s costumes were great – don’t know if you have seen these before but they are made of nylon and then there is an air fan at the back which fills the costume with air the whole time so that it blows up to ginormous proportions!

R’s Pumpkin was the star of the show – complete with bright orange face paint and the sweetest little pumpkin top hat – simply adorable. He bought me a really flattering witch costume, which was very effective in covering up my weight gain! A rather Sassoonesque hairstyle and a sweep of eye shadow and I really looked rather stylish even if I say so myself!

M was very inventive by first arriving with the “Scream” mask which is rather creepy in itself but then complained that he could breathe, whisked the mask off to reveal slicked down hair, a small little moustache and a, too realistic for my liking, Austrian accent! Way, way, way more scary that the mask – he looked too good for me to be comfortable! After that, he tore off his shirt (complete with pinging buttons all the way across the room) to reveal a Superman t-shirt. Super Adolf? Mmmmm, not sure about that one!

Everyone made a great effort – including the Gs which was great as I know that this is not really their thing – even puppy Lucy turned up with little angel wings on – so adorable! The night was enjoyed by all and we all had loads to eat and drink and it was a very successful evening.


Next year? No way! And I mean it!

Stash alert ....

Once again, I am trying to upload! Spent over an hour the other night with this exact same entry (well you know what I mean, not exactly word for word but the subject matter), and it just would not layout correctly and then I lost the whole bloody thing! 2nd time lucky, hopefully...

So, I really should be getting on with the journaling for the final few days of the Canada tour, not to mention, start writing up London and Bath where we had lots of fun but I don't know... I am a little bit unmotivated and thought I would rather just load up some fun pictures of all the stash I 
got in Canada!We did go a little crazy I think - this is it all over our table - and when it is all spread out like that, I think "OMG!", but once R starting pushing me to really look and take the opportunity, then I just WENT FOR IT!!!!

And I also managed to pick up some cool ephemera while I was in Canada - here are some genuine maple leaves (Fall leaves! Get the pun?) and other bits and pieces. I hope to be able to incorporate them nicely into my pages (reminder to self - Track down some Archival Mist). And of course, I got some local stuff which just made my day. Some Canada flags which are nice and bright and a page of Nova Scotia locations which I was so excited about. Now that I am home and looking at the list, it is lovely to realise just how many of the places we actually got to see!

And just for good measure so that I can scare myself at really how much I bought, here are some details - left right and centre of the table! But I reckon I saved so much. The bag for example would cost nearly double in the UK and let's face it, it is JUST SO PRETTY!!!











I also stocked up on some Canadian/American scrapbooking magazines which are really interesting to see the products that are already available over there but are not yet on our market. And the style is kind of different, so Lib, watch the post for some copies here and there!

Yes, I know that now I really should be using it all up and getting on with sorting through the 1,000 photos I took (not taking into account the 3,500 photos that R took!!!!) and get some pages down but it all seems a bit daunting. Last month I was signed up for Shimelle's "Learn Something New Every Day" course which was interesting and I need to get the pages done for that (6x6 which go SO quickly so will try that later today) and I have also signed up for her new one starting later on in the month "...you think you know me?" which I thought would be interesting for my BOM. At the same time, I am on the lookout for inspiration and time so have also signed up for the Big Picture Scrapbooking's "What's in my Bucket?" and "Darci Loves Doodlebug!" (their products are just so much fun!) so I really have enough to keep me going. The thing is with them, is that you can just download it all and then do it when you have time, you do not really have to keep up with their timetable as long as you get to the virtual classroom in time to download the materials. Of course, these have also made me realise that I still need MORE!!!!!! Not that I need a reason to come up with that thought! I think that these products are just so lovely and wonderful to have that I cannot resist it all and now I need to think about getting a couple of albums (yeah, really "need"!!!)

Not much else is new with me: here alone this weekend so I really want to try and get my a*** into gear and get some stuff done. Here goes...