The Excitement is unbearable….

Firstly, thanks to the lovely Tanya, Pauline, Michelle and Katie for completing my tag. Katie now has her own blog so I’ll be visiting that one too!!

Now that Australia has won the Ashes, Michael has been busily doing all those “delightful” maintenance bits around the house. He’s very vocal about his mistakes but thankfully he now says them much more softly so the boys can’t hear…only me (it’s the spooky teacher hearing thing!!)

Michael is back to work on Monday and this year will be very busy with lots of traveling in the works, and the word is we may be able to join him to the U.S. later. Yay, haven’t been since 1992 so need to catch up on friends past (Michele in SF, you know who you are) and if time permits go all the way to Alicia, Jess and Erica. But we’ll see.

Rainer is back at C&K on Mondays and Tuesdays with SEDU on Wednesdays still (but not til Feb). No word from AEIOU about the intake for this year….so, we wait. At least I had a Plan B if he didn’t get in January’s intake, I would image a lot of families just crossed their fingers.

Have been organising playdates for Mackinley this week before he starts Grade 1 (YAY) and we might have the chance to go to the museum again soon. Looking forward to that. He’s very excited about choosing the contact for his books!! He wants Star Wars but if that’s going to break the budget, we might just go for the book plates instead.

Can’t bring myself to scrap again this week. Just trying to get the family back into a routine again which is really important for Rainer and my sanity (read “control freak” here) and the house cleaned and all the CRAP (and there’s a lot of it) in the bin.

Waiting patiently for the exciting news to be made public at Scrapbook City…..I’ve been offered many bribes but no chance!! If you read this and haven’t signed up to the forum, do it now and get yourself acquainted with the layout of things before it goes ballistic!!!

Won’t be long now and then I’ll be busy again!!! Feel the strange need to paint…don’t know whether it’s the canvas kind or the wall kind.

How time flies ….

I’ve just realised how quickly this year has flown by already (LOL!!)!!!!!!

Many exciting things about to happen at Scrapbook City this year, so make sure you drop by and get hooked on the excitement (can’t say ANYTHING at the moment, but it’ll be big).
I tagged Katie H and I think it made her think about starting her own blog, so in the meantime, here’s a little bit about our newest DT member:
INTRODUCING KATIE HOWARD

A – Available/Single? Married
B- Best Friend? Kirsty and Debbie
C- Cake or Pie? Christmas cake!
D – Drink Of Choice? Baileys
E – Essential Item You Use Everyday? Kettle
F – Favorite Colour? pink
G – Gummy Bears Or Worms? Gummy Bears – I like them soft
H – Home or Homesick? Home
I – Indulgence? Hour long massage—anywhere
J – January Or February? February, cause it is full of celebrations for us!.
K – Kids & Their Names? 2 girls and 1 boy – Niamh (7), Erin (5) and Liam (2)
L – Life Is Incomplete Without? Family and my new camera!
M – Marriage date? 4th February 1995
N – Number Of Siblings? 2, sister – Sooz and brother – Richard
O – Oranges Or Apples? Depends on my mood…right now, neither!
P – Phobias/Fears? Fear of loosing someone I love dearly
Q – Favorite Quote: “There is no try, just do or not do” Yoda
R-Real Hair Color? Brown.
S – Season? Spring
T – Tag 3 or 4 people? 3, but I don’t know many others who have blogs!!! Kirsty, Debbie and Georgie
U – Unknown Fact About Me? I was a teenage headbanger!
V – Vegetable you don’t like? Can’t think of any …
W – Worst Habit? I am a really grumpy sick person….Is that a habbit??
X – X-rays You’ve Had? Just teeth as far as I know…
Y – Your Favorite Food? Anything that someone else has cooked for me!!
Z – Zodiac Sign? Sagitarius
That was a bit of fun! Had to think about some of them though!!

THANKS KATIE!!

Here are some more layouts and presents I conjoured up the last month. A lovely “brag folio for the Out-Laws:

And the inside the gorgeous Maya Road tin I altered for Scrapbook City. I used the tin, some Pink Martini papers, Maya Road ribbon and rub ons and chipboard flowers. Really pleased with the results of this one!!

And more of the new We R Memory Keepers Peasant range and the Technique Tuesday Baseboard, featuring the very sweet but incorrigible Rainer:

and my take on Michelle’s sketch for December, photos are from my birthday at The Zoo (see a previous post) and I used the Technique Tuesday Baseboard to give the layout some dimension:

and lastly, here’s my latest entry into the Scrapboxx Newbie’s Circle Journal. It’s teeny tiny, but the theme was “Firsts” for sarah13 and this one was about our first REAL family holiday to Burleigh last September.

Thanks for visiting. More to come next entry, including my Christmas January sketch for SBC.

xx
Gi

Oops!!

Okay, I’ve just realised that Katie doesn’t have a blog, that I know of, so I’m going to tag Leenie and see if she’s home!!

Full house at the Midnight Crop at the store last night. I started to get set up for the first challenge and got boosted!!! Spent the rest of the night as gopher but it was great to see soooo many people at the store and online too.

Layout to come!!

Belated Merry Christmas oh and my Birthday!!

Christmas came and went without a drama/disaster (which is a welcome change) but full of fun and frivolity (do people still use that word??

My Birthday was extremely low-key but also full-on. Birthday breakfast – FRENCH TOAST … YUM — presents and coffee (of course!)

Mum and Dad took the boys (yes, BOTH) overnight while Michael and I went to Ikea to shop (yay, verily romantic!!) for a new sofa and other things domestic!!

Came home, napped then went to dinner at era at South Brisbane/West End area. It’s the same mob who used to own Circa in the city and they did not miss a beat. Everything was excellent and can’t wait to go back.

We were supposed to go see Casino Royale in gold class but I was hooked on all the snoozing without the kids and nearly fell into my Crème Brule!!! Home and asleep by 9.30pm…..

…. awake at 7.30am NICE!!!!!!!!!!!! Up for breakfast at SouthBank and then we raced across the road for JB. And let me tell you, the new boy? ….not bad at all!! Lunch at Mum and Dad’s and to collect children. Not a bad birthday in the whole scheme of things.

Tonight Scrapbook City have their Cyber Crop and in-store crop Extravaganza Madness!!! Make sure you drop in if you have time to say hello!!! Some very exciting things coming in the new year, so stay tuned!!

Now,

AARGH — tagged by Leish!! Thanks luvvie!!

A – Available/Single? Married
B- Best Friend? Kelly
C- Cake or Pie? Pie – the spicier the better!
D – Drink Of Choice? Pepsi Max .. or a good Red
E – Essential Item You Use Everyday? Broom/Vacuum Cleaner, L.O.C.
F – Favorite Colour? Purple and Green.
G – Gummy Bears Or Worms? Real Confectionary Company Snakes – YUM
H – Home or Homesick? Home
I – Indulgence? Dome Retreat
J – January Or February? I’ll say February because by then the madness is over.
K – Kids & Their Names? 2 boys Mackinley (5), Rainer (3)
L – Life Is Incomplete Without? A good waterproof mascara, lip gloss (Bloom Rose), oh and family.
M – Marriage date? 26th June 1999.
N – Number Of Siblings? 3 sisters – Rita, Nena (Filomena) and Lilly (Lilliana)
O – Oranges Or Apples? Apples, no peeling necessary
P – Phobias/Fears? losing control, grasshoppers (the insect, cocktail isn’t too bad!)
Q – Favorite Quote: “Take it easy, but take it.” Woody Guthrie
R-Real Hair Color? Brown.
S – Season? Winter
T – Tag 3 or 4 people? Katie H, Tanya, Michelle
U – Unknown Fact About Me? My age!!
V – Vegetable you don’t like? Like them all – even brussel sprouts, it’s really how you cook them.
W – Worst Habit? Staying up too late.
X – X-rays You’ve Had? teeth, knee, wrist, neck, toes, heel – more to come, I’m sure!!
Y – Your Favorite Food? Tuna, avocado, olive oil, tomato, fresh multigrain bread, vanilla choc chip.
Z – Zodiac Sign? Capricorn.
Bye for now!
Gi

Quick Update on all things Festive!

Wow, what a night!!! Had a fabulous dinner with the girlies Angela, Cara and Kelly (unfortunately V couldn’t come) and my sis Nena turned up just in time to go to The Zoo.


Saw some great local talent (on stage, that is!!) and it was sooo unreal to be in a venue without being choked by cigarette smoke!! I’m sure it used to make the hangover worse!! Thank God for Tyrone Noonan!! What a voice and what a sweetie. By that time, only Ang and I were left standing (pikers!!) and when he sang “Bastard Son” from the George CD, just about the whole place piled onto the dancefloor!! JUST AMAZING!!

No hangover to report. Just very weary….

Look who’s been continually “trimming” the tree…..

and who helped me make the ice-cream cake today!!

All is still calm and all is still bright. Can hopefully drag Mackinley to Mass tomorrow morning, but you know kids “it’s booooorrrring Mum!!” God love ‘em……

Have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone. Stay safe and enjoy time with your family –or at least try to stay calm.

Love
Gi

p.s. Leish’s tagged me, so stay tuned for that one!!

Yay!! Up and Running…

Well, here we are and what a week it’s been. While I’ve been setting up this blog, Rainer’s decided to help himself to the pantry…

I’ve posted the Christmas Cards and presents and made the tags for them..

and finished the layout from Alicia’s free online class

as well as another for Scrapbook City (unfortunately the gallery is still not letting me upload, so I’ll post here in the meantime)

I’ve got some more great paper from We R Memory Keepers and borders from Technique Tuesday that I’m itching to get to but I’ve also been organising my BIRTHDAY PARTY!! Yep, it’s THAT time of year again, and another year older (and wiser??). I’ve decided to jump the gun and celebrate early this year instead of forcing everyone to be up for it on the actual date (Wednesday, by the way – LOL).

I’ve selectively hand-picked against tough criteria (okay, the only one’s with $$ and time), these 4 girls who are going to “escort” me through dinner in the Valley and a CD launch at The Zoo. Hopefully, we can last past 10pm so I have them all on the Berocca Party Fitness Regime to last them through the night.

I’m looking forward to an awesome night and an exceptional hangover!! Thanks for visiting!!!