This could be interesting...

I haven't done a blog post from my laptop in ages - it's all changed! Ooh, kind of weird...(and apparently I've become very reliant on iPad automatically putting in capital letters after full stops. Oops.)

So, what have I been up to? Not a lot really. Managed to complete A Week in the Life (somehow). I think because I kept it super simple - I'll try and get a photo of it soon now I have the photos back. 

Also, yesterday I met the gorgeous Miss Holly -

Isn't she beautiful?! This was taken as we were leaving - Natalie's girlies of course only taking an interest once the baby was about to not be there anymore. About 30 seconds after this photo was taken Holly's big brother, Owen, barged his way in to make sure that everything was ok with his sister and making sure no-one was stealing her toy, bless! I think that protective big brother gene is well and truly present!
I absolutely love spending time with my friends and their, frankly, gorgeous children (looks and personalities). Wish I had the energy to do it more often, though it does make days like this much more precious.
My lesson for the day? All the names of the characters on Dora the Explorer. Please don't tell Penny that I've forgotten most of them already...eek!
Fingers crossed this posts alright!
xxx

We had snow!

Shockingly. I was stating to think we weren't going to get any but Thursday night it started. Not a lot but definitely some. Thing was I couldn't sleep that night and at about 2am was loving how everything had been covered in white. For some stupid reason though I didn't try to take a photo. By the time I finally fell asleep then woke up at 7.30 fri morning (Eurgh I need sleep!) it had mostly melted, and by dinner time you'd never even know we'd had a flake fall. Sigh. At least it hadn't turned to ice though...
Still trying to kill my Studio Calico kits. Febs hasn't turned up yet so I'm rapidly trying to make space! Currently I'm attempting to 'destroy' the lovely Lawn Party kit from last May. Same as other kits - check out the Doc 2011 pages I made with the kit last year to see if they were finished then make whatever you like! Really need to make sure I absolutely finish my Doc 2012 pages go along this year instead of just putting the pics and papers in the right places and leaving it! Twit!

Jan #5

Finally managed to do another weekly challenge for UKS. It was handy as I managed to combine it with the Magpies mojo prompt that I picked out a few weeks back and promptly forgot all about...oops...
The UKS rules were...new stash (Jan kit from Studio Calico), sketch, journaling, 5 blocks.
The mojo prompt was from Kathy to 3d the photo above the page (it might be hard to see in the pic but I promise both the pics are raised!)
Another one done for my Isle of Wight album too.
Last day of Jan today so I'll be able to make my Jan pages for Doc 2012 tomorrow, yay! I'm looking forward to trying out my printer for the photos, hopefully it'll work! Have already decided what's going where, assuming nothing notable happens today then I'm all set! xx

A million photos later...

Actually, I didn't take as many photos as I thought I would. In fact most of the ones I took are in this post...

But where did I go to take these photos? Magpie retreat of course! Woo!

Dad drove me all the way to fellow magpie Stacey's house (and also picked me up in Cambridge on Fri - isn't he wonderful?! His necks hurting him again though - wish I could have found a way to get there without him doing hours of driving :(

On our way! There was fog & mist all the way, but it's so hard to photograph! Loved this bridge - not only was it a lovely brick one (fed up of all the metal all over the place!) someone had added 'Give Peas a Chance' on the side :) Should give my uncle a shout out for lending us his sat nav - fabulous things!

A beautiful vase of irises were waiting on the table - such pretty colours!

Debbie and Patty on a log run on Sat morning - such strength!

The house - it seems to fit autumn so well I can't imagine visiting at another time of year!

The ground was covered in beautiful red leaves - I snapped a shot on my way to photograph a giant mushroom that Vanessa had spotted on our way off to CTM in the morning.

Check this one out! I was about to photo the one I was looking for when I spotted this next to a patch of little mushrooms (that didn't upload...hmm...) Anyway, it was so surreal I had to prod it to make sure it was actually a mushroom. It was. Very cool!

And here's the giant one. When I say giant, I mean tall. Very tall. Tallest mushroom I'd ever seen - about a foot tall? Maybe taller actually...not great with height guesstimations! Bit wary about the fact that all the grassy bits underneath it had turned black...oo err! Didn't prod this one!!

I brought a stack of papers that I didn't ever see myself get round to using to see if any magpies would like them - thankfully they did! They were all perfectly nice, from kits etc...just not my style. Only brought a few back home with me - yay for some space!

Here's Stacey, our baker extraordinaire! She made our birthday cake (4 years old! We'll be off to school next year!) and, quite frankly, the most delicious chocolate brownies ever. Seriously. We took a poll and we all agreed. Yum.

Check out the ahm-be-harnce - woo!

Yum yum yum - our Christmas dinner was delish! Thank you to all the wonderful chefs this weekend, I think I gained a stone in weight lol

Oh, and something very cool - just as we sat down to tuck in the Coca Cola holiday advert played, this being the signal of Christmas starting of course! How cool was that!? Almost as if they knew...

I hope the other photo isn't as blurry as mine!

We did our page kit, secret santa and an advent swap after dinner. Here's Karen & Emma opening theirs.

Before we left on Sunday we checked out our mojo and twitterings layouts - well...most of us...!!!

*finally* managed to herd everyone together to get the group shot!!! (dad was waiting in the fully loaded car at this point!) Then I was off! Sob! Times like this I *really* wish we lived a fraction closer!!

A couple of shots on the way home. Their were some lovely views but dads windows were showing the brunt of 2 days of long driving and weren't that clear to see through - eww! This tunnel was cool - it was actually tunnel shaped!

And we came out the other end to this view - plane trails, blue skies and a very cool bridge.

The final bit before home - the sun was a lovely colour but oh was it blinding!

Today I feel like hell but oh it was worth it! Such a lovely weekend with such lovely people - crossing all my fingers & toes I can find a way to go next year too!

xxx

Such a busy weekend

Warning - photo heavy post!

The past few days have been exhausting but lots of fun!

The little dude was finally allowed out unsupervised - shock! Mum was cowering in the house once she realised he went on the roof (he's basically sniffing out Pips route). Now, you'd think to get off from there he'd jump onto the bin from the lean to roof? Nope. He decided to 'slide' down the fence panel he climbed up. All I can think is he figured if he can spider it upwards, he can spider it downwards. He couldn't. Ouch! Nice little lesson about gravity there!

After all the mushrooms I found in the woods on holiday this was a fun discovery in the back garden!

Here's one of my focal pages for Oct. Doc. 2011. This is a 99% scraplift of Nicole Samuelsgorgeous DT creation for Studio Calico's October kit, Field Guide. 99% only because the photo was too big to put on the tag and I wanted to add some journalling.

Here's the other focal page - enjoying the bonus summer time that appeared at the end of Sept/start of Oct. This was my layout for the UKS weekly challenge too - full points but I can't remember the rules!...90% patterned paper...bling?...umm...ooh, time! That's why my journalling was about bonus summer 'time'! Genius! This also used the SC Oct Kit - the paper was an exclusive Sass/SC combo - yum!

Here's my attempt at fireworks. Sparklers are about as wild as we get in this house. We've had these hanging around for about 4 years so I finally decided to light them and try and get some photos as it wasn't quite as cold as Bonfire Night usually is. (yes, yes, I could have done them in the summer but I forgot - okay!?)

We used up 4 packs and mum and dad stood outside the back door waving them around for me to get photos - don't I have the best mum & dad ever?!

Today was a trip to the RNLI Lifeboat College for a birthday afternoon tea. See those 3 cake stands? There were actually 4 of them! Originally there were going to be 8 of us but 4 cancelled at last minute so birthday girls hubby brought their 2 gorgeous girlies along to help bump numbers and get all this scrummy food eaten up!

In summery -

Best scones ever.

I do *not* like dill.

The raspberry's were the yummiest I've tried all year.

Apparently coffee is an acceptable substitute for a girl who likes the concept of afternoon tea, just not the actual tea part. And yes that girl was me.

Check out this beautiful sunset we were lucky enough to see -

And I came home to the boys having a bit of a...err...disagreement. Taz is starting to stand up for himself (have I mentioned his name on here yet?...) 'you bop me on the nose just because I want play? Well, I'm going to bop you back!' Yeah...not the best plan little dude!

However, all is forgotten when there's a dish of leftover cauliflower cheese sauce on offer...

Cute!

And now? I think I'll get some much needed sleep!xx

How is it

When you go out shopping for someone else you end buying something for yourself too? I'm sure it can't just be me!

My phone was getting clogged with pics so I dumped a few onto my comp today here's a selection of my month so far -

A trip to Poole to buy for my Secret Santa (which of course required a stop at Starbucks) -

Pussy Cat No Name hiding under the stool while I'm crafting (yup he's still here and still adorable!)

Warning - there's a spider in this next shot! This lady was living on my window for a while then vanished. Turns out she'd moved above my window and tripled in size - super...then she vanished again.

Turns out she moved round the side of the house and built the biggest spider nest I've ever seen. Double super! *shudder*

The day before I took this pic she'd started to cover it up with leaves and bits, there's even a chunk of plastic under one of those leaves - very well protected! But still...shudder!

Here's my stack of holiday/doc 2011 pics with a nice screen grab of Howard from Big Bang Theory. I'm telling you, when you're adding 217 pics to print off it does *not* seem as big as it ends up!!!

Well, wasn't that a nice a boring/pointless post. Can you tell I'm bored!?

Is anyone else ready for Christmas to be here already? I don't like wishing the year away but there's something about the nights drawing in that makes me yearn for twinkle lights and glitter. Sigh. Probably doesn't help with all the Christmas bits and bobs in shops and on TV already. They just showed another one of those sofa store adverts promising that you'll have your new sofa before Christmas - it's October 23rd, I should blimmin' hope it'll be with you buy Christmas! How long do they normally take to deliver!?!

I realised yesterday that I still haven't finished last years Dec. Daily!!! Eek!! Better get that done before it's time to start this years! Still need to decide how I'm going to do it. I still love how my one from 09 turned out so I might try to replicate it somehow (diff. papers and embellies obv!). I'm hoping this year I'll be up to making a bit more of the month/season. I was so ill last year and only left the house twice and that was the 23rd & 24th!

I've eyeing up Studio Calicos kit for the Dec. Daily (they've joined up with Ali Edwards) but for $79.99 I'm not sure it's the best thing for me to do! Particularly when you look how many Christmas bits and bobs I already have...*I must resist...I must resist...*

There you go, rambly photos and rambly words, wasn't that a treat! Must go find something to entertain my brain!

What were you doing last week?

I was sunning myself on the Isle of Wight (can you believe this weather? I know we Brits have a bit of a weather obsession rep. - I don't usually - but seriously, the third hottest day of the year was Oct 1st. Fun!)

Anyhoo, here's some of my week (back to front of course, thank you blogger!)

Pulling in to dock at Lymington-

Slinky little lizards at Ventnor Botanical Gardens -

Quick snap of the fab view through the windshield

Cool beach huts at St Helens

Curious robin at Rylstone Gardens in Shanklin

Mum and dad fed the penguins at Seaview - I didn't yet got wet as I was in my chair and couldn't run when they got a bit carried away! Seriously, you think penguins are cute? Try feeding them! Argh!

This little dude was sunbathing while the watchmeercat was busy keeping his eye on the passing planes and butterflies (so cute!)

There was a bit of a scrap for the leftover lettuce dad threw between this chicken and a guinea fowl - it was hilarious. Chicken went to walk over to it (different piece, this story happened too quick for me to get any pics!) and out of nowhere the guinea fowl stormed in grabbed the lettuce and legged it with the chicken in hot pursuit. Probably funnier to watch than read about!

Baby flamingoes!!!

The mist made it an interesting drive home in the dark...(took this through the car window on the way)

Appldurcombe house - it's in ruins but it appears to be being restored. It's stunning though - part of me hopes they keep at least a bit of it looking ruin-y.

Dad's mission for this holiday - see a red squirrel (in the wild). Ta-dah!

On our way-

So there you go. Fun times! I could have shared about 100 pics but I think you get the general idea - great weather and beautiful things to look at!

Hope you all enjoyed the lovely weather too, thank you for stopping by!xx