Spicks & Specks Of My Life

Busy Busy Busy!!!

2009-08-22T10:50:00.002+11:00

Well term 3 is definitely up & going. I can't believe it is already the end of week 4. The term is flying by! The last couple of weeks have been quite busy at work. Last week my tafe teacher came to observe my workplace performance & chat about how my tafe work is going and she gave me a really good report & is quite happy with how things are going. So that was reassuring to get that feedback from her. Then this week at work has been quite crazy, so I am a bit exhausted at the moment! I don't mind the busy days at work though, it makes the days & weeks go pretty fast at least! And I am looking forward to a lovely day of scrapping today with Mum, Jess & Kristy.

School Album

2009-07-24T18:23:00.003+11:00

Here is one of the projects I have been working on over the holidays. It is an album of my school years, with various pics of me at school throughout the years.

End Of Holidays

2009-07-24T18:08:00.002+11:00

Yep its the last day of holidays. After the weekend it will be back to work on Monday. I have had a nice break though. I got to catch up with two of my close friends, one of whom lives in Orange, so it was great to see her. I went to see the Hannah Montana movie with my cousin Tasha & my friend Jess. I had a scrap day with Mum, Esther & Jess and then another scrap day with our friend Andrea & her family and then Jess & I had a scrap day together just the two of us. I also went to Wollongong on Wednesday with Bella & Camille and last night I had a fun night of Singstar with my bible study friends. So it has been a very good two weeks.

Above are three tins that I have made during the holidays. The first one is a pen tin and then the other two are faith tins to add to my collection of faith tins.

On Holidays!!!

2009-07-12T11:41:00.002+11:00

Woohoo I have survived my first term at Lyrebird Preschool & am on holidays for 2 weeks. I can't believe how fast this term has gone. I am still really enjoying working there, but am also axcited about having two weeks of relaxing and catching up with friends. I have lots of plans for this week, so it should be a fun week. Started my holidays by having a girls night with my friends Bel & Sarah which was a great night of chatting, eating, playing games & watching movies, so that was a great start to my holidays.

Saturday Scrap Day

2009-05-31T15:20:00.002+11:00

Had a lovely day yesterday scrapping with Mum & Esther. We all decided to try our hands at doing some vintage looking canvases. This is the first one I completed. The photo is of mr grandfather when he was a boy with his family.

I then decided to try a bigger canvas, using photos of my grandparents on their wedding day.

I then decided to have a break from vintage canvases & made this one of my friend Bel & I.

I then did a couple of tins. I had a stack of paper flowers sitting around & decided I needed to put them away somewhere, so I made this tin to put them in.

I then finished by making this Faith tin.

Layouts from the Scrapping With Soul Retreat

2009-05-24T15:45:00.004+11:00

Here are the layouts I got done at last week's Scrapping With Soul retreat. The theme of the weekend was "Our Stories" & they had a competition for the best Our Stories layout & I entered the above layout about our Kenya trip & came second.

I entered this layout from our Kenyan Safari in the free choice & was stoked to come first place.

My friend Victoria from the Kenya team on her wedding day which was two weeks after we got back from Kenya.

My family on Christmas day 2008

My best buds Melinda & Amy

Scrapping With Soul Retreat 2008

Cathy, Cass, Tracey & I at last years Scrapping With Soul retreat

Jackson & Isabella

Sarah's 21st Pirate Party

Melinda & Kaitlyn at the beach last year

Mum, Davina, Erin & I in Berry

Scrap Of Faith Retreat

Mike, Michele & Jenny

Girls Night in Wollongong with my bible study girls

It Has Been A While I Know!

2009-05-24T14:24:00.003+11:00

Yes it has been a long time since I've been on here I'm sorry :(
I have been slack, but will try & keep updating more regularly.

Since I last blogged I have started a new job. I finally took the plunge into childcare. I have always wanted to get into childcare, so have finally taken the first step. Two weeks ago I started my traineeship at Lyrebird Preschool, which is the preschool that I went to back in 1991! I am really enjoying it so far. I am starting to settle into the routine of each day & what I need to be doing. And it is a lot of fun, I love being around the kids all day & even the jobs such as cleaning & washing up don't worry me! I started my tafe work this week. It has been hard to get myself into the work, cause it's been so long since I studied! But the work isn't too bad, so I should be right once I get into it.

We had the Scrapping With Soul retreat last weekend which was a lot of fun. Got to spend a lot of time with my friend Jess which I really enjoyed. Then yesterday I spent the morning scrapping with my friend Erin & am looking forward to scrapping with Mum, Jess & Esther next weekend.

So life is busy, but I'm enjoying it :)

Kenya Layouts

2009-03-08T20:40:00.003+11:00

I know I have been a very slack blogger lately. Things have just been so busy. It's even taken me awhile to get back into my scrapbooking groove, but here are some of my layouts of my Kenya trip. This first layout is of our beautiful playground.

This is Lifespring church, which was so much like home to us while we were in Kenya.

The Kenyan guys who helped us build the playground show a bit of good ol Aussie spirit.

Tony & Victoria check out our new swings.

One of my fav photos, of me with a gorgeous girl I met at one of the schools we visited.

A bit of an odd photo, but I just thought these banana plantations looked so lovely.

My roomie Victoria, who became such a good friend to me over the three weeks we spent together.

One of my fav landscape photos from our Safari

Giraffe on Safari

Baby elephants at the elephant orphanage

African sunset

It's A Girl

2009-02-13T18:21:00.002+11:00

Jess, my good frind & scrapping bud, had a baby girl Paige Marie last friday 6/2/09. She is just the cutest little thing. We went to see them on Sunday & got a few cuddles in :)
They went home on Wednesday & are apparently going well & settling in at home.
Congratulations Jess, Gary & Jordan on your beautiful new bundle! Can't wait to see Jess scrapping lots of pics of Paige!

What I've Missed Most This Week

2009-02-02T19:28:00.002+11:00

I have been home for just over a week now. I am so glad to be home with my family & friends, but I am also missing being in Kenya. Here are some of the things I've missed the most:

~The Gang! I really loved hanging out with the rest of the Aussie team & getting to know them all better. They are all really awesome, lovely people.

~ The beautiful weather. Australia is so hot at the moment! We had really nice weather in Kenya.

~ The yummy pineapples. Kenyan pineapples are so lovely & so sweet. They are so much nicer than Australian pineapples!

~ Makena's beautiful singing! We had an adorable two year old on our team who spent more time singing than I did. Can you believe that?!

~ Hearing reggae music wherever you go. I am a huge Bob Marley fan & loved hearing his music around a lot of the places we went.

~ The great devotions we had each day. They were really encouraging & even though I do my own devotion each morning, it's just not the same as having group devotions each day, where you can all encourage & support each other.

~ Hearing people say "Habari" (hello how are you), "Karibu" (welcome) & "Asante" (thankyou). I had gotten so used to hearing them everywhere!

~ Riding in a bus everywhere & not having to wear a seat belt!

~ Mandazis. They are like doughnuts, but not as sweet, but I think they are nicer than doughnuts.

~ Running by Kenyan time! Kenyans are so relaxed, so nothing ever ran to schedule!

New Friends

2009-02-02T19:20:00.002+11:00

While we were in Kenya we spent a couple of days with Pastor William, who works in a slum area. He showed us around the schools he works at & we got to visit some homes.
Here are some pictures of the kids from the primary school. They are all so cute & loved having their photo taken!

This little boy was just adorable. He shook all our hands as we walked past him! Here he is greeting Rob.

They are just all so adorable! We loved hanging out with them for a little while & were quite sad to leave them!

Giraffe Park

2009-02-02T19:15:00.001+11:00

One of my favourite things from Kenya was going to the giraffe park & getting to feed the giraffes. That was pretty cool!

Elephant Orphanage

2009-02-02T07:26:00.001+11:00

On our last day in Kenya we visited the Elephant Orphanage, where they have about 12 baby elephants. They are so cute!

After they took the elephants away, they brought out this baby rhino. He was only 3 weeks old & was just the cutest thing!

The Playground

2009-02-02T07:07:00.002+11:00

Here is the playground we built at Lifespring Church in Kenya. We are really happy with how it has turned out. It took a week longer than we thought it would, but that's ok, cause it has turned out really well & we have heard that the church are really enjoying it & looking at ways to use it to reach out to their community. They are considering building a little resturaunt so the parents have somewhere to hang out while the children play & are thinking about some other little projects as well. So hopefully the church & its surrounding community can really be blessed by this playground.

Still Recovering

2009-01-25T22:08:00.002+11:00

Yes I still trying to overcome my jetlag. I slept for 14 hours Friday night & was still quite out of it Saturday. Today I feel a lot better, but am still felling tired & not wanting to do much. I am so glad tomorrow is a public holiday & am hoping I will be all adjusted by Tuesday.
It is so great to be home, but I am also missing Kenya. I would so love to go back there again one day.
I know I promised photos, but I cannot find the device to transfer my photos to the computer, so will keep looking for it & will upload the pics as soon as I track it down!
Hope you all have a lovely Australian day tomorrow! I am looking forward to our family bbq & probably playing some classic Aussie pub rock!

Home Sweet Home!

2009-01-23T17:34:00.002+11:00

Yes I am now home!
Our flight arrived in Sydney around 7am this morning & we got to the church at 11:45.
I am so wiped! I feel quite sick & very tired. My feet are so swollen from the flight & are quite sore. I want to sleep, but have been advised to wait til a bit later, otherwise I won't overcome the jet lag as quickly. So I will try to stay up for a couple more hours.
So I'm just popping in for a quick message to let you all know that I am now home. I will come back tomorrow & share some of my photos.

Halfway There

2009-01-22T19:08:00.002+11:00

At the moment I am sitting at the airport at Thailand. It is about 3pm here & our flight is not until 5:20pm. The flight from Kenya to Thailand was good, I slept for most of it. So now we are all here at the airport with some time to kill. Makena is currently standing next to me watching me type & playing with my hair! Some of the girls have gone to get massages, while a lot of us are just chilling out.
I think we are all really looking forward to going home. I am so excited that this time tomorrow I will be at home. Yay! I'm not really looking foward to another 9 hour plane flight, but hopefully it will go by as quickly as the last one did.
Our last day in Kenya was fun. We did some last minute shopping & went to the markets for one last time. I quite enjoyed these markets, they weren't as pushy.
It was quite sad to leave Kenya, but I am definitely ready for home!

Almost Time To Leave

2009-01-21T02:14:00.002+11:00

Wow! I can't believe how the time has flown over here in Kenya! This time tomorrow we will be heading to the airport & saying goodbye to Kenya.
It has been so amazing, I really love it here. Today we got back from our four day Safari. It was so awesome. We saw so many animals, such as Zebras, Giraffes, Rhinos, Hippos, Crocodiles, Flamingos, Wart Hogs, Buffalo & lots more. It was really cool. I took so many pics, so will post them all up when I get home.
I am quite sad to leave but I think I am really ready to go home. I am really starting to miss everything about home. But it will probably take a little while to get used to being back home & get back into my normal routines!
And I am really going to miss the rest of the Kenya team. They are all such awesome people & I am going to miss seeing them & hanging out with them each day. It has been so great getting to know them better. Especially Victoria, who has become my new singing partner! She is such an awesome chick & we will so have to keep in touch. She is from Wollongong, so she is not too far away. I have also become good friends with Laura, who is from Orange, so she is not quite as close, but we will definitely keep in touch.
This trip has been so awesome, I am so glad that I came. I have loved it so much.
By the way, Dad, I was very impressed that you posted your very own message! Well done! Tell Feeny & Ziggy I'll be home sson!

We've Finished!

2009-01-15T00:17:00.004+11:00

Yes today, about 2 hours ago, we finally finished the playground! We are so relieved & so proud of ourselves! I will try to get to Rob's laptop to upload some piccies if I can.
It was such hard work, but we are so happy that we have done this for the people of Lifespring church & the community. And it was great to work with some of the Kenyan guys as well.
It is so great how well we have all been working as a team together. We are all so different & all have our own unique gifts & talents, but we have all been able to come together & all work on the playground together, which has been great. And we all feel like we have each accomplished something.
Yesterday while the guys worked on the playground, the girls headed to Amani Yu Juu, a place where women who have been affected by poverty, war, etc. can come & work while being nurtured in their physical & spiritual well being. They make products such as quilts, bags, clothes, toys, homewares, etc. The women weren't there, but we were given the tour & our tour guide Maggie told us all about the project. It was so inspiring to hear all about it & how these women's lives have changed since joining the project. Then we headed to the gift shop, which had such amazing things that the women had made. I think we all may have soent a bit too much!
We had a lovely restful day at Lukenya resort on Saturday, which we all needed so much, to refresh & rejuvenate. It was sooo good.
Then on Sunday we ran kids church at Lifespring. It didn't go as great as we had hoped. The children were very unresponsive as first, but towards the end of the program they connected with us a bit more, so that was good.
After church we had a thankyou lunch for all our host families. My host Grace couldn't make it unfortunately, but it was great to meet all the other host families & spend some time with them.
Then we headed to our next guesthouse, but on the way we stopped at another market. I didn't really enjoy this one, as I was so hot & tired, so I was a bit cranky & the sales people were much more pushy this time, so I just got really annoyed. So I didn't buy much this time, which is probably a good thing!
So I was quite relieved when we left the markets & headed to our destination, Kijiji guesthouse in Karen, which is close to Nairobi. It is quite nice there. It is a very peaceful, secluded place. I am sharing a room with Victoria & Laura. We are there until Saturday, when we head off to our safari. We are all looking forward to that so much, it is going to be so awesome!
So now that we have finished the playground, we will be spending the next two days with Pastor William. I can't remember what we will be doing there, so will have to come back & update with more details at a later date!

We've survived the week!

2009-01-10T21:00:00.009+11:00

Well we have survived our first week in Kenya! It has been so amazing so far. It is such a beautiful country. We all feel so blessed to have the opportunity to come here.
I am so surprised by how easily I am finding everything. I haven't really felt too much out of my comfort zone, which is really good. The roads are quite scary, but I am getting used to them!
We have had an amazing week at Lifespring church. The people there are awesome. We were blown away by how friendly & welcoming they are & how passionate they are about the Lord. We have all been so humbled by their faith. We all had a big chat yesterday about how we have all been challenged so far. They are so many things that we have learned from being here that we all really want to take home with us & continue at home.
I've enjoyed getting to know the team at Lifespring this week but have also loved getting to know the rest of the Aussie team. Most of them I don't know very well & have been enjoying spending time with them & getting to know them better this week. They are such an awesome bunch. I feel so blessed to be roomates with Victoria this week. She is awesome & I have loved spending time with her & getting to know her.
We haven't finished the playground yet. We had hoped it would be finished this week, but knew that it might not be, so we are going back there at least monday & tuesday & then hopefully it will be finished.
I have really loved all the food over here. I haven't had anything yet that I haven't liked. Most of the foods I have eaten have been fairly normal to me. I have tried a few new foods. I love chepatis, which are a flat bread, & mandazis, which are like donuts. Yesterday I tried an ostrich burger, which was really nice.
Yesterday we went to the Massai markets. That was quite an experience! I was so overwhelmed by it all! After the first 15 minutes I was getting so stressed out & not coping with how pushy & in your face the sales people were. So I took a bit of a breather & then decided to get back into it, going at my own pace, rather than trying to keep up with the others. I still wasn't feeling too comfortable with it, but I had a go & did some bartering for all the things I wanted to buy. Most of the items I got for about half of what they initially asked, so I was quite happy with that. It is all such a blur though! Afterwards everyone was saying how much everything cost them, & I couldn't remember what any of mine cost! I know I got some good deals though, so I was happy.
Last night & tonight we are staying at Lukenya, which is a resort about half an hour out of Nairobi. It is very nice here. We are having a chilled back day today, after our busy week.

5 Praise Points For The Week

* Praise God that we have had the amazing opportunity to come over to Kenya & experience life in this beautiful country.
* Praise God that He has kept us all safe so far & that none of us have been majorly sick.
* Praise God for the the friendships we have been building amongst our own team and with the team from Lifespring.
* Praise God for the progress on the playground & how everyone has been working so well together as a team.
* Praise God for the amazing ways He provides for us & how even when things have seemed hopeless, He has provided a way for us.

5 Prayer Points For The Week

* Pray that we will all be refreshed & replenished after our day of relaxing today & all ready for another week of work.
* Pray that all will come together with the playground & that it will get finished on time.
* Pray that our children's program will go well tomorrow & that we will be able to reach out to the children at Lifespring Church.
* Pray that we will have safe travels throughout the remainder of our trip.
* Pray that we will be able to take home what we are learning & be able to put it all into practice back at home.

Missing Pics

2009-01-10T20:38:00.004+11:00

Here are the pics that disappeared from my last post. I am hoping they will stay this time! This first pic is of how the playground is progressing. We are behind schedule but we had prepared for that, so will spend at least two days working on it next week.

The second pic is of me riding on a matatu. They are a lot scarier than riding on a normal bus. The other day our matatu got a flat tyre & we all had to evacuate!
The last pic is of some of the guys we met at Lifespring Church. They are all so friendly & welcoming, it has been great spending time with them this week.

Kenya At A Glance

2009-01-08T22:07:00.006+11:00

Here are a few pics to show you guys a bit of what we are experiencing. 1).This is Lifespring Church where we are building our playground. It is basically a big tent, but it does have solid foundation. There is a railway track right outside the gates, but trains only come twice a day.
2).This is the site where we are building the playground before we started.
3).I took this photo this morning. We are progressing on the playground, though slightly behind schedule.
4).This is me riding home on the matatu. It was a bit scary at first, but it isn't too bad now.
5).Here are some of the lovely guys helping us out at Lifespring. They are all so friendly & welcoming.

Ok, so blogger isn't behaving & I can't get the words to match up with the pics, so I hope you can work out what is what!

So now some of my pics have disappeared! Sorry! Will try & use Rob's laptop again soon & repost them. For now all I have is the photo of the church & the ground before we started building the playground.

A Hard Days Work

2009-01-06T23:36:00.002+11:00

It's day two of our playground project. I've been working hard shovelling & moving rocks. It's hard work & out in the heat, but I am really enjoying it.
This morning we joined in an amazing worship & prayer time at the church. Bethany, Pam, Bec, Curtis, Rob & I helped lead the songs. It was so much fun. The people at Lifespring are so amazing. They are all so friendly & so passionate. Right now I am watching a group doing some dancing. It is really cool.
Kenya is so amazing. I am so loving being here. And am so thankful that I haven't got sick at all yet, in fact most of the team have been pretty well so far, so we are definitely praising the Lord for that. Please keep Laura in your prayers, who is feeling quite unwell at the moment.
Victoria & I feel so blessed to be staying with Grace. She is so lovely & her place is great. I didn't realise how lucky we are to have a working shower, as most of the others don't. Last night we cooked dinner for Grace, which she really appreciated.
I am really just loving this whole experience. It is just so amazing.

Another Quick Update

2009-01-05T23:56:00.003+11:00

Habari! We are currently at Lifespring Church working on our playground. We don't get the timber until tomorrow so we are just digging holes. It is so hot & exhausting, so I am taking a net break!

I have put these top two pics here to show you the contrast in Kenya. There is such a contrast in the way different Kenyans live.

I thought this banner of the Kenyan flag was really cool. There is one over either side of the road as we were driving into town.

The internet on this laptop is cutting in & out, so I will keep my update short today & will come back for a more indepth update next time I get to a cyber cafe.

Day 2

2009-01-05T01:10:00.002+11:00

Well we have almost come to the end of our second day in Kenya. We went to church at Lifespring this morning. I loved it, it was such an awesome service. The worship in particular was just awesome. They are all so passionate & enthusiastic. And such lovely people. Many of them came to introduce themselves & they were so welcoming & friendly.
Then Grace (the lady who is hosting Victoria & I) took Victoria shopping. The shopping centres are just like Australian ones, except they are all much bigger than Nowra Fair! We have just been to the biggest supermarket I have ever seen!
We start working on our big project tomorrow, a playground at Lifespring church.
Having a blast so far, haven't taken many photos yet, but definitely will, just been taking in all the Kenyan sites so far!
Missing everyone down home a lot. Will try to come back & update again soon.xox.

We've Arrived!

2009-01-03T18:49:00.002+11:00

Just a quick post to let you all know that we have arrived In Kenya. It is 10:50 over here & we are out having breakfast. We arrived here at 6:30 this morning, so have only been here a few hours. Haven't seen much yet. We did see a giraffe walking alongside the road as we were driving, so that was pretty exciting! Though I guess it would be the same as someone coming to Australia & seeing Kangaroos jumping alongside the road! But yeah we were all excited! The roads are a bit crazy. We already had one car cut out in front of us & drive on the wrong side of the road! So that was a bit scary! We're all fairly tired from the flight, but definitely excited to be here!

Off To Kenya!!!

2009-01-02T07:16:00.002+11:00

Well todays the day! Wow, it's seemed so far away but now it is here! We are meeting at the church at 10am. I'm packed & ready to go, just need to tidy a few things around here.

This is the awesome team that I am going with. They are all such amazing people & I am looking forward to spending the next three weeks with them.

I will try to visit internet cafes as much as I can to keep my blog updated while I am in Kenya.

Better go finish tidying up.

I almost forgot to say,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Scrap Of Faith Album

2008-12-30T20:04:00.002+11:00

Here are some of the layouts I have created for my Scrap Of Faith Retreat album. This first layout is of Ingeborg, Bev & I with our mocktails at Hogs Breath Cafe

My favourite singing partner Lou

Random pics from the retreat

I love this pic of Nat, Amanda & Sarah

Sal- she is just amazing & did such an awesome job organising the retreat. Love ya Sal!

This layout didn't photograph very well, I was a bit rushed as Mum was yelling at me that dinner was ready!

Bev & I. Miss ya Bev! It was so much fun hanging out with you at the retreat.

The Mess!

I love this Mothers & Daughters pic

Dessert at Hogs Breath. Mmmm, that was some good dessert!

I have a heap more photos from the retreat to scrap. I am having trouble printing the group photos though. The ones I have saved have all turned out fuzzy. Does someone have the original pics that they could email me??

Christmas

2008-12-26T17:45:00.003+11:00

Well Christmas is all over just as quickly as it snuck up on us all this year!

We had such a lovely day yesterday. Mum, Dad, Royce & I headed out to Greenwell Point for a lovely picnic lunch, then we headed to Davina's for a Lucas family Christmas dinner. It was all so lovely. Most of all I just love all the time I get to spend with family.
We finally get an updated family photo!

I love this pic of Davina, Mark & Mum relaxing towards the end of the night.

Hope you have all had a lovely Christmas as we all celebrate the birth of our Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ, definitely a special thing to celebrate!

One Month To Go!

2008-12-07T13:46:00.003+11:00

That's right, this time next month I will be in Kenya. I can't believe it is so close, it feels like we had only just started talking about it & now it is almost here!
Pete & Catherine are heading off this week, so that they can spend some extra time with Pete's family & do some last minute organising from Kenya.
So now I'm trying to make sure that I am organised. I've bought a few little things such as toiletries, shorts, thongs & other little bits & pieces that I want to take with me. There are still a few little things that I need to get, but apart from that I'm pretty well organised.
We had our very last Kenya team meeting last night. The only thing that is still a problem for us is our budget. With the financial situation at the moment our budget is short. So we are all going to have to put in an extra two hundred dollars each, which is going to be hard for a few people. If the exchange rate goes up by two shillings, then the budget works, but at the moment it is at 50 shillings to the Australian dollar. So we are praying that it will go up at least 2 shillings for us.
So apart from that things are pretty organised, though we know that it's not all going to go just as we have planned, but we are prepared for that.
So I'm getting really excited about the trip, a bit scared, but yeah mostly excited. Not long to go now!

Saturday

2008-11-29T17:24:00.005+11:00

Today is a wet, miserable day. So I spent the morning putting up the Christmas tree & decorating the house, to make it look all Christmasy.

We've got a brand new Christmas tree this year, so we decided to buy all new decorations for the tree as well, so we went with some pretty purple, white, silver & a splash of blue & pink.
Feeny wouldn't stop bugging me as I was fixing up the tree! He loves getting into everything! Last year he knocked over the tree three times! But that was when it was a smaller tree sitting on a table & he pulled the tablecloth off! So he shouldn't be able to pull the tree over this year! But he could still cause some trouble, so I kept shooing him away, but he kept coming back! We'll have to keep our eyes on that one!

We had so many decorations, both hand made & bought, that I distributed throughout the house.

Then my friend Jenny came over this arvo & she made Christmas cards while I made some more Christmas decorations. I didn't actually get anything finished, but I had a lot of fun catching up with Jen & we put some Christmas music on, getting fully into the Christmas spirit!

I don't know what I'm going to do with this J! Probably find a nice bible verse or something to put on it.

I was also making Christmas decorations on Thursday when my friend Jess came over for the day. I'm really happy with how this star turned out.

Made some Christmas tins as well.

I started this one last year & never got around to finishing it, so hoping to finish it this year!

One last pic, just cause I think he is sooo cute!

More Layouts

2008-11-22T11:09:00.002+11:00

Here are some of the layouts I have made over the last two weeks, since getting back from Queensland. This first layout is of our last day in Berry before Erin moved to Mackay.

Simone with her beautiful twins Isabella & Jackson. Mum & I had our first gig babysitting the twins last night. They were asleep for the first couple of hours so I spent the time playing ponies with Jhorjie & cars with Dominic. Then the twins did wake up twice & they were still awake when Simone & Greg got home. I was hoping they would be asleep for them, but no it was too exciting having Aunty Gail & Haylee over!

Royce & Meagan at their year 12 formal. Can't believe that was two years ago!

Remy- such a cute puppy, but very naughty too!

I really love this song & wanted to use it as a heading on a layout of how precious God's creation is & how I often take it for granted, but I do hope that we never lose all the beauty of His creation with all our developments & technology.

After Bev's class at the retreat I have been inspired to create my own backgrounds for my layouts. This is my first attempt. I created this whole layout using only pens. It didn't turn out quite as I had imagined, but I'm happy with it. It was an experiment, and hey I had fun creating it!

This last layout is about the Thursday scrapping days we have with Esther & Jess, which are always a lot of fun.

We have the Scrapping With Soul day today. This is the least I have ever been organised for it! I usaully am packed ready to go a few days ahead of time, but I've been so busy this week that I only just packed today! I haven't really organised anything, just threw everything in! So hopefully I'll still get some things done!

Lastly I just want to share I bible verse that I found on Thursday. I was reading the princess book we got at the Scrap of Faith retreat & discovered this verse:

"I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go."

~ Isaiah 48:17

I found this verse so encouraging as I struggle to know what I should do next year, but I am encouarged by knowing that God knows exactly what it best for me & He will lead me in the right direction. I just need to continue to trust in Him & never doubt His ways ;)

Farewell Dani

2008-11-20T17:55:00.003+11:00

I got back to work this week after 1 and a half weeks off to discover that it is Danielle's last week. That came as a bit of a shock! I knew she was leaving, but I didn't think it would be this soon. I am going to miss her sooo much.
We had a farewell dinner for her at Kohli's Indian Restaurant, so that was quite lovely. Eight of us girls went & it was really nice just chatting & hanging out outside of work.

Bel & I. I straightened my hair for the occaision.

My dinner. Tandoori chicken. It was really nice, but i couldn't eat it all, it was so big! (I had rice & naan as well)

Dani opening her present. I love this rubber ducky, it is just so cute! I want one!

The girls.

Still trying to get back into work mode. I am so over my job & after such a lovely break, it just hit me so hard when I got back to work. Still praying that God will lead me to what I should do next year. I'm so torn as to whether to stay where I am, where it is familiar & safe, or whether I should venture into something else.

Layouts From The Scrap Of Faith Retreat

2008-11-17T19:22:00.005+11:00

Here are the layouts I completed at the retreat last weekend. I won the award for Scrapping Machine, meaning I got the most layouts complete. I completed 15 layouts during the retreat.
The theme of the weekend was "His Princess." It was all about celebrating the fact that we are God's princesses. Our father is the most high king. The layout above is my reflection on being His Princess.

This is my fav layout that I got done during the weekend. It is of my two very beautiful friends Jenny & Erin.

Christmas is quickly approaching, so to kick off my Christmas spirit I created this page about how much I love family Christmases.

The first layout I have ever done of Isabella & Jackson. I'm not a big fan of pastels, but thought it was very fitting for the baby theme.

Lusi had done a layout with this title & I thought it was very cool, so I decided to borrow it!

The Kenya Team. What a wonderful bunch of people. So looking forward to going to Kenya with them.

I never have a boring time with Melinda, Heidi & Amy around! We are always laughing!

Sarah & Kyle at Sarah's 21st Pirate Party. I was working on this layout at 1:30 Saturday night (Sunday morning), so my heart wasn't quite in it as much as it could have been.

Another one from Sarah's party. This layout is of Tranye, Dani & I & is about how we used to all be in a choir together & were reminiscing about the good ol' choir days.

Tasha took this photo of me shoving an easter egg into my mouth at Easter & so i did a layout about it. A bit weird I know, but I liked the humour behind the photo!

Davina, Mark & Erin, I created this layout using items out of my goody bag.

My friend Heidi. She is such a free spirit

Me & my cuz Tash

The first couple of days in Queensland I was having a few personal struggles. I was very self conscious of my little quirks & was feeling really embarrassed about them, so was very stand-offish at first. But during the day on Saturday I decided to embrace my quirks & enjoy the weekend. So I created this layout as a way to set myself free from those feelings of self consiousness & self resentment.

This is the layout I made at Bev's class. It was so much fun. You did such an awesome job Bev. I really love how my layout turned out & I love how they all look so different. Everyone put their own spin on them & they all looked really cool.

Double Celebration

2008-11-16T19:26:00.002+11:00

Thankyou so much to everyone who has left me birthday emails/ messages on facebook. Definitely feeling the birthday love!

We've just gotten back from Sydney. We went up there because it is my Great Aunty Glady's 90th Birthday, so we went up there for her party. We share the same birthday. She turned 90 today & I turned 22.

Had a lovely day, but feeling quite tired now. And I have to go back to work tomorrow :(

But I've had such a lovely break. Especially the SOF retreat. Still on a bit of a buzz after that & I'm missing you girls soooo much!

What A Week!

2008-11-13T14:44:00.004+11:00

Wow what a week! I'm on holidays at the moment & I must say, it has been the best holiday ever (s0 far)! Had an awesome day & night in Wollongong yesterday with some of my church friends. But of course the reason for my holiday was the Scrap Of Faith retreat.
We flew up to Brisbane on Thursday & flew back on Tuesday, so we had 5 lovely days up there.
It was so hot for the first two days, but luckily it cooled down after that.

The retreat was just awesome. Most of the girls I had never met before, but they were all just lovely. Not being from the forum, I was a bit worried about how I would fit in, but they were all so welcoming & I loved hanging out with them & getting to know them.

We had a lot of fun & yes, even a few sing a longs!

Thankyou to everyone for making it such an amazing weekend. Especially to Sal & the Design Team for making it all come together, you did an awesome job. And Ingeborg & Bev, my two partners in crime, it was so much fun hanging out with you guys, I think you both brought out the craziness in me!

On Saturday night we had a special Princess dinner & all dressed up in our best princess gear. Here are Mum, Lou & I looking all nice & swish.

Of course, what is a scrap retreat without some PJ scrap time?!

(And still in my Princess jewellery!)

On Sunday & Monday night a group of us were going to stay at a hotel, but were blessed by Sam, one of the ladies from the retreat, offering us to stay at her parents place. That was such a blessing & we really enjoyed it there. Thanks Sam & Tanya for your generosity & hospitality.

We had dinner at the Hogs Breath Cafe & above is Ingeborg, Bev & I with our beautiful mocktails!

Spent some time shopping on Monday. Bev & I went off shopping together & had a good time, though we never ended up getting cupcakes, which we had our hearts set on!!!

So yeah, I had such an amazing time, so definitely count me in for next time!!!

Been Scrapping

2008-11-01T11:44:00.005+11:00

Here are some of my recent layouts. This first one is the girls from work at Neeta's farewell.

Amy at the beach when we caught up a few weeks ago.

Melinda & Kaitlyn catching waves & Kaitlyn getting wiped out by a big wave!

Kaitlyn looked so cute wrapped up in her towel with just her face poking out!

Ziggy doing his fav activity: playing soccer

Tasha not very impressed that I was taking her photo

Balloon fight at Jhorjie's 2nd birthday party, instigated by Tony!

Royce at his year 12 formal

Jhorjie Rock Star

Dominic bouncy away while I'm trying to get a pic of him & Tash

My crazy family

Back at pre school when we got to dress up as fire girls

My kitty Feeny

Jhorjie, Cooper & Dominic creating materpieces

Heidi & I

I'm getting excited coz this time next week I'll be at the Scrap Of Faith Retreat! Yay! So looking forward to that & getting to meet all the beautiful Scrap Of Faith ladies.

23 Years Ago

2008-10-26T15:53:00.003+11:00

Today is a very important day in the Lucas family. It is my Mum & Dad's wedding anniversary & also my Aunty Jeneen & cousin Kaycee's birthday.
Check out this photo of the Lucas Clan, a very colourful bunch to say the least!!

My mum with her mum on her wedding day

Happy Birthday Jeneen!! Hope you've been spoilt by your fam. Lookin very hot in this pic in your pink dress & curly hair. And I really love your necklace.

Happy Birthday Kaycee! Hope you've had a great day.

Check out this very cute pic from mum & dad's wedding. Gotta love the socks with sandals look!

Happy Anniversary Mum & Dad! 23 years of wedded bliss.

My Tins

2008-10-21T19:45:00.002+11:00

Recently I've tried my hand at some tin making. Living with the queen of the tins, it was bound to happen some time! I've really enjoyed making tins & really love how they look.
I love these papers from Stampin' Up!
I made these Twin Tins for Simone. one for Jackson & one for Isabella.
Top View of the Twin Tin
Esther & Jess came over to scrap with us on Thursday & we all made these cases. I love how mine turned out, even though I didn't put ribbon on the top, cause I couldn't get it to work!
Altering tins really is a lot of fun & I know I won't be able to stop now!

Welcome Isabella & Jackson!!!

2008-10-18T18:55:00.002+11:00

My cousin Simone had her twins yesterday. We went to visit them today. They are just so beautiful!
Isabella Rose. She was born first & is slightly bigger than her brother. She is very much a Pignataro. She looks a lot like Jhorjie & Dominic did when they were born.

Jackson William. He is the younger twin & he is such an individual! He looks quite different than the others & has fairer hair. But still so gorgeous.
And Simone was looking so good. Good on ya Simone, you've done so well over the last nine months & now the fun (& harder!) bit is finally here! Just remember, we are only around the corner & happy to come over for cuddles any time!

Two Farewells, A Catchup & A Blast From The Past!

2008-10-13T19:43:00.003+11:00

Well it's been quite a hectic couple of weeks!
Sad news in that my cousin Erin moved to Mackay on Sunday. We had a girls day in Berry on Thursday as a farewell fr her, which was a lot of fun.
I am going to miss her so much, she has always been one of my best friends.

We also said farewell to Neeta, one of our doctors at work, who has moved to Sydney. We had a farewell dinner 2 weeks ago for her with all the girls from work. Neeta is in the middle of the above pic, wearing the yellow jacket.

Gonna miss Neeta so much as well, she is so lovely & used to be my walking buddy!

But happy news in that I got to catch up with my best bud Amy, who lives in Townsville but came to visit a couple of weeks ago. It was great to catch up with her.
I got a blast from the past the other week, when Dad came home with a box full of Gran's stuff & pulled out this altered book I had made for Gran when I was 9. I looked at it & thought this was my very first venture into anything scrapbooking related!

So, if you were wondering where my scrapbooking started, here it is!

A Busy Month

2008-09-18T20:05:00.002+11:00

You may have noticed that I haven't been blogging as much over the last few weeks, and well the main reason is that things have just been really busy for me at the moment.
There have been lots of things happening with our Kenya trip. Getting things organised. We had a bonding weekend away 2 weeks ago, which was a great time to get to know each other better. We had some news last week that our accomodation for our second week had fallen through, but I found out today that 2 places have been found for us, so now we have a choice. Praise the Lord that he has solved this dilemma for us. And I know that He will keep looking out for us through the remainder of the planning and during the trip itself.
Things have been really hectic at work, and I really feel it is time to move on, so I am looking into possible studying next year. I'm interested in maybe studying teaching or childcare, but I really need to make up my mind soon about that.
I am now a part of three bible studies, and am really enjoying the different fellowshipping I am getting from each of these.
And spending more times with friends. Especially loving catching up with Melinda, Jenny & Ruth, and love scrapping each fortnight with Mum, Jess & Esther. In fact Jess & Esther came over today & we all had such a great time. I spent the day making tins! Yep, that's right, TINS! I am branching out & trying some off the page work & really enjoyed it.
So yeah, these are a lot of the things that have been keeping me busy lately. Feeling a bit overwhelmed at times, but really enjoying being more involved in different things.

Kenya Weekend

2008-09-07T22:12:00.003+11:00

Ok, so I didn't actually go to Kenya for the weekend! It was actually a weekend at Waterslea, a local Christian campsite (where we went for the Scrapping With Soul Retreat) for the team going to Kenya next January. It was a weekend for bonding & organising. We got lots of things sorted out & did lots of bonding, so yeah it was a good weekend.
Though it didn't get off to such a great start. My car got bogged & then broke down as I was driving down Kollona Drive toward the campsite. It is a fairly hilly/ rocky road, so breaking down there when it is dark & raining was not much fun at all. But a bunch of the guys came to my rescue. Definitely an interesting way to commence the bonding weekend! But after that, things ran smoothly & it was a great weekend.
Getting excited, coz in 4 months time we will be over in Kenya. It's gonna be such a great experience, I am so looking forward to it!

Scrapping With Soul

2008-08-23T18:04:00.001+11:00

Went to the Scrapping With Soul crop day last Saturday at the church. As always it was a lovely day of scrapping & chatting. I worked on an 8x8 album that doesn't have a theme. I just grabbed some random photos & had a lot of fun playing around with them.

1 Year Anniversary!!!

2008-08-14T18:45:00.002+11:00

Yep today is the one year anniversary of my blog!
I am so glad I ventured into the world of blogs- it is such a great way to catch up with family & I have met some amazing scrappers as well. Thankyou to everyone who visits my blog, I love hearing from you all :)
It is also my brother's 20th birthday.
Happy Birthday Royce!!! Hope you enjoy all your alcohol (yep, my parents gave him heaps of booze!) & can't wait to eat the dinner you are making (yep that's right, he is making his own birthday dinner!) But that was his choice, we are taking him out for dinner tomorrow night.
Looking forward to the scrapping with soul day on Saturday. I spent today planning for it & tonight am off to make cards with some church friends for an upcoming service.
Hope your all having a nice week, love to you all xox

Back To Work

2008-08-10T10:34:00.004+11:00

Yep I'm back to work tomorrow after a very pleasant week and a half off.
It started last Thursday where I had lunch with my friend Melinda, then afternoon tea with my friends Jenny & Ruth.
Friday was my Grandma's funeral, which although it was a very sad occasion, it was quite nice to catch up with lots of people we don't see very often, mostly Dad's family from Sydney.
Mum, Davina, Erin & I headed to Berry on Sunday to have brekky & check out the markets, so that was a lovely day, & I didn't spend too much money, which is good!
Monday was a quiet day at home scrapbooking, then Tuesday I headed to town to sort some things out for Kenya. I now have my travel insurance & passport sorted, yay! Then had afternoon tea with mum before heading home.
Went shopping with my friend Melinda on Wednesday, then had a lovely day of scrapping on Thursday with Mum, Simone & Jess. Friday I spent the day looking after my mum's friend Andrea's daughter Bella, who was too sick to go to school.
Then yesterday headed to Wollongong to buy my brother's birthday present. Then spent a few hours in the arvo making cards with a group of people from church.
Just now Dad & I have just gotten back from taking the dog for a walk. He was being naughty trying to bolt ahead of us, so we tried a new punishment, by taking him home & then going a walk without him. But he found a way of breaking out of the yard & ran to catch up with us, so we brought him home & locked him in his room. He is so naughty! Don't know how we're gonna get him to behave on his walks!

Memories Of My Gran

2008-08-05T17:18:00.002+11:00

Well my Grandma's funeral was last Friday. It was quite a good service, as far as funerals go. I got through my bible reading without any problem and Dad's eulogy was just beautiful & he presented it so well. And we had so many people there to support us. Lots of friends & family, as well as a number of people from Clelland Lodge. As sad as funerals are, I think it's such a great thing to look back over someone's life to see what they've acheived and what an impact they've left behind.
So I went through all my scrapbooks to find all the layouts I have made about Gran, so here is a look at some of them, to give you guys my memories/tributes of my Gran:
Gran & Pa on their wedding day September 1953
Dad and Gran swimming together
Gran & Dad Christmas 2007. We were so blessed to have Gran with us for Christmas last year, because July 2007 she was really unwell & was in hospital for about a month & I really didn't think she would make it, but she made an amazing recovery & then went to her new home at Clelland Lodge nursing home & was still managing quite well until a couple of weeks ago.
I love this photo of us having a family bbq lunch, which is what we often did when Gran came over.

Gran with her good friend Joyce
Pa, Gran & Dad with Pa's mum
I love this photo of Gran & Pa dancing. It was taken on their first date!
These last two are layouts that I made today. This first one celebrates the fact that Gran & Pa were married for 50 Golden Years. It's a shame that we didn;t get a photo of them at their 5oth Wedding Anniversary, but well, I didn't have my digital camera back then, & I really am the only camera mad person in my family!
3 Generations Of Combers. Me as a baby with my Dad, my Gran & my Pa.

Love you Gran & Pa & I miss you both so much. xox

Habari!

2008-08-03T16:17:00.003+11:00

I'm trying to brush up on my Swahili because it has just dawned on me that in five months time I will be in Kenya & am hoping to be able to communicate somewhat! Apart from habari (hello) I don't have much down pat just yet!
And I'm freaking out a little cause I haven't got other things sorted either, such as my passport, insurance, vaccinations, etc. But I'm on holidays this week so I'm going to spend some of that time organising things & learning more Swahili.
So check back in a weeks time to see how my Swahili is going!

Gonna Miss You Gran

2008-07-31T07:33:00.002+11:00

My grandma passed away on Monday night. She died peacefully in her sleep around midnight. Her funeral is tomorrow. Death is always a hard thing to deal with but we had some time to prepare for it, which I think helped a lot. And I got to say goodbye to her. But it's still a hard thing that we all trying to get through at the moment.

Reflections

2008-07-27T09:42:00.002+11:00

My latest album is a mix of reflective & faith layouts. This first layout is the story of my walk with God so far.
The love of my family
My Baptism
This layout is about how sometimes my favourite photo is not about the photo itself but the meaning behind the photo.
Living Waters, one of my biggest things in my life this year.

This layout is about my name: why I was given the name, why the spelling, the meaning of Haylee (which is field of hay, very exciting I thought!).
One of my fav verses Psalm 97:1 which says "The Lord reigns. Let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice."
Another beautiful verse. Psalm 27:1 which says "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?"
Yes the Lord is my completeness. I am just so thankful for all that He has done in my life and continues to do.
Layout about the many things that inspire me in my life.

I find it very thereuputic (ok I can't spell it!) to scrap about personal things in my life. It helps me to step back and see that I am blessed in so many ways, a lot of which I often take for granted. Feeling very thankful at the moment.

My Grandma

2008-07-25T19:16:00.002+11:00

Please keep my Grandma in your prayers. She is not in a good way & we were told today by the doctor that she is rapidly going downhill. She has accepted this, but it is a hard thing to deal with.

It's Been A (Mostly) Relaxing Week

2008-07-21T22:13:00.005+11:00

Yeah it's been quite a lovely week. Apart from work. Work has actually been quite stressful, but life outside work has been quite relaxing.
Tuesday night we had dinner at Davina's which was really nice. We had an Indian themed dinner then played Celebrity Heads after wards. It was a great night, but unfortunately the adults didn't appreciate the beautiful rendition of We Are The Champions that Erin, Kyle, Tasha & I sang.
Wednesday night I went to the movies with some friends to see Mamma Mia. It was such a good movie, just so much fun, but I had to really restrain myself from bursting out into the songs during the movie!
Thursday I met up with my friend Jenny in town & we had lunch together & then did some shopping, then I headed home for an afternoon & evening of scrapbooking with Mum, Andrea, Bella & Camille. Cathy joined us in the evening for scrapping & dinner.
We had Remy stay with us for a few days, which Ziggy was quite excited about. I love this photo of the two of them smooching!

Don't Annabelle & I look just gorgeous in our scarf?! I took this photo last Saturday at Lou's place.
On Thursday the dog washer came over to wash Ziggy & then when he left Royce decided to give Remy a wash two, so he didn't feel left out. How cute & scrawny is he???

Saturday I just had a lovely quiet day at home. Spent the morning scrapping, then needed a break in the arvo, so took Ziggy for a drive & we headed to Currarong for a stroll along the beach.
Ziggy had a ball running & splashing around!

Saturday night I looked after Jhorjie & Dominic. Dominic was asleep the whole time & Jhorjie & I spent our time dressing up & watching The Man From Snowy River. Here is Jhorjie doing her beautiful princess pose!

Yesterday we had a lovely Girls Pampering Arvo. It was so nice hanging out together & having some hand, feet & face treatment. Just a great arvo together.
Loved Davina's hair all poofy!

Simone's beautiful headbanded do!

Kaycee giving Cathy a face massage

Charlee felt left out, so decided she needed some treatment as well! Though she is using the foot spa for the hands!

So overall it's been quite a lovely week. Now to the week ahead...

Been Scrappin' Again (Bet you're all surprised about that!)

2008-07-19T12:40:00.003+11:00

Scrapping with Jess at Scrapping With Soul
Erin & I doing our best diva impersonations
Meagan- she is a crazy little party girl!
Dad mourning over yet another broken wine glass
Ziggy at Greenwell Point

Royce & Meagan Gangtsa Style
Us girls being crazy at Amy's farewell
Ash at her farewell
Royce & I with Jack & Ellen on Boxing Day
I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends is one of my fav songs at the moment, so I decided to use it as a heading for a layout.

Hope you all enjoyed viewing these layouts & I'm sure there will be more coming soon!

8x8 Album

2008-07-17T12:01:00.002+11:00

On the weekend I started work on an 8x8 album of photos from a day I spent at the park with my friends Amy, Melinda & Kaitlyn. It was such a good day & I got some great photos, so I wanted to dedicate an album to this day. Here are the pages I have done so far:

Another Week Gone

2008-07-13T12:02:00.002+11:00

Yep, it is the end of another week. Time is just going so fast, I can't believe it is already the middle of the year. 2009 will be here before we know it!
It's been an interesting week. Didn't start out the best, as I had a shocking day at work on Monday, but thankfully the rest of the week at work was less stressful.
It was a quiet week compared to last week, as I had something one every night last week, whereas this week I was at home all week, cause the bible studies & other activities are having a break over the school holidays. But it was nice having a quiet week at home. On Thursday, my day off we had Charlee over. That was a lot of fun, she's just gorgeous. But the poor thing was so tired, she fell asleep on the rug while I did some scrapping after lunch!
Then on Friday night I went to see Get Smart with my friend Sarah. I loved it, it was such a funny flick.
Yesterday I worked from 8:30-12:30, which was alright. I had two doctors & one of them was on call, so I was expecting heaps of calls from patients of all the doctors in town. But it was so quiet. I mean, I got enough patients to keep the doctors busy, but I thought the place would be filled with patients & the phones would be ringing hot, but it was all fairly quiet, so it was quite a pleasant day. The first doctor left at 11:30 & the other doctor & I left at 12:30. Then I headed up to Bowral for an afternoon of scrapping at Lou's place with Lou, Mum, Tracey, Cathy & Cass (& Annabelle). That was good. I didn't get a lot of work done, but I had a good time, which is the important thing.
So that was my week, overall it was pretty good, now to see what the week ahead will bring!

Sarah's Pirate Book

2008-07-08T21:11:00.002+11:00

On Sunday mum & I headed to the local scrapbooking shop. As I was heading to the counter with my stuff I saw this awesome Pirate book & knew I had to buy it for Sarah. So that was my Sunday arvo project. I painted the front white & the back black & covered the insides with papers, photos & words. It isn't overly decorated, but I am happy with how it turned out & Sarah loved it.

Also, thankyou for your messages after yesterdays post & it was a much better day at work today.

It's Just Another Manic Monday

2008-07-07T20:32:00.003+11:00

Boy is it ever! What an insane day at work. From the moment I got there everything went wrong. First we couldn't log on to the computers, then when we finally got that sorted one of the doctors rang to say he was sick & couldn't come to work. Well, he was fully booked, so I spent hours calling all his patients to reschedule them. And things were just going wrong for me all over the place. I had difficult phone calls, upset patients at the desk & so much more & it was just all a bit too much to handle. I am actually quite surprised that I got to the end of the day without having a break down. But I'm not looking forward to the rest of the week.
Boy what a way to start the week! Let's hope it picks up from here...

Scrapping With Jess

2008-07-03T19:01:00.003+11:00

Mum, Jess & I had a lovely day of scrapping today. It was so nice, scrapping & chatting. I got a fair few pages done, though I haven't taken photos of them yet as night light is not real good, so I will share them at a later date, but here are some of my recent pages.
Treen & I giving Amy a big hug at her farewell

Me with my friends Jenny & Erin
My best friends daughter, who seriously throws tantrums everytime I see her!
Leah & Lily, the dogs of my Dad's best friend Pete (mother & sister of Hamish, who a lot of you have met). Lily has been sick with cancer for a while, so I thought it was so cute of Leah to come over & comfort her mummy. I made this page a couple of weeks ago & then Lil died about a week later, which is really sad. It's been quite hard for Pete. He is not married & has no kids, so his dogs are his babies, so I'm sure he is struggling with this loss.
Charlee, such a gorgeous, happy little thing
A page about the when Erin was living with us last year.

I just love this pic of Jhorjie & have been meaning to scrap it for about 2 years but keep putting it aside, so I finally just did it!
Me & Treen with our new little friend!
Amy at her farewell. Missing her heaps, sniff!
A page that started out about my freckles, but ended up being about accepting who you are
Princess Tiffany- she definitely expects to be treated like royalty!

New Beginnings

2008-06-30T08:14:00.003+11:00

Monday always marks the beginning of a new week, but for me the new beginnings are a lot bigger this week.
Last Thursday I had an appontment with my psychologist & told her that I had relly appreciated her input over the last year & a half, but feel I am now able to take on board all the things she has taught me & no longer require sessions with her. So that was quite a big step. While it is quite a positive, encouraging thing that I realised I no longer feel I need to see her, it is quite scary to know that I no longer have that. But she is still there & she said I can contact her if I ever feel I need to. But I will leave that as a last option, for I'm at a point where I just want to be moving forward.
Another big part of my life came to an end last week. For the last 20 weeks I have been doing a course called Living Waters which is a Christian organisation based around allowing God to enter the broken areas of your life and allowing Him to heal these areas and bring you further through Him. And it has been such an amazing experience for me. Living Waters is another reason that I have made such a transformation this year. So I'm feeling quite anxious now that it has finished, but am trying to focus more on taking on board the skills it has taught me. I also really appreciate the support & friendship I received from the people at Living Waters & am particularly hoping to continue these friendships with Jenny, Ruth & Erin, three amazing women who have inspired & encouraged me so much & who I think are just beautiful women & would really love to remain in contact with them.
So that is the endings, now the beginnings. Over the last few weeks I have been really challenging myself socially & have been getting out there & doing a lot more.
I have recently started going to a new bible study on Thursday nights & am really enjoying getting to know that group of people.
Since the Scrapping With Soul retreat I have remained in contact with Jess & we are now getting together once a fortnight & scrapping together. That has been really lovely, getting to know Jess again. We were such good friends at school, but then lost contact.
I have been going to more events, including the 80s night at church a few weeks ago & Sarah's party on Saturday night (photos in the post below) & really had such a great time at both of those.
Last Friday night I had dinner with Jenny & Ruth from Living Waters & then went along with them to their church. I did this because I wanted to remain in contact with them after Living Waters & am interested in trying different churches, and found it to be a really lovely group of people & definitely think I will go there again.
Then last night Jenny & I went to another church to hear a friend of ours do the sermon, and I felt really encouraged by the number of people who came up to talk to us & I have been invited to a new bible study on Wednesday night, which I think I will need to give a try.
So I am becoming more social. I have something on every night this week, so that is such a big step to me. So heres to new beginnings, new friendships & a big week.
Thanks for reading this rather long post, I better go or I'll be late for work!

A Pirate's Life For Me

2008-06-30T07:21:00.001+11:00

On Saturday night I went to my friend Sarah's 21st birthday party, which was a party theme. It was so much fun & everybody looked so great. Here are a few pics to share:

Stuart's Album

2008-06-26T18:25:00.002+11:00

My uncle Stuart had a heart attack a few weeks ago, as most of you would know (seeing as it's mostly family who reads my blog & almost everyone else is on Scrap of Faith & would have heard through there). Anyway, he has improved so much over the last few weeks. And he is now back at Shoalhaven hospital. It is so great to have him local again. Such a blessing for the whole family. I am so amzed at the progress he has made in such a short time. There is still a long way to go, but we should all be encouraged by how far he has come already & know that he is a fighter. Love ya Stuart xox.

Simone organised a little album for Stuart, to give him something to look at while he is in hospital, so mum & I contributed some pages.
Here are the pages I made for Stuart:

Laughter

2008-06-22T18:59:00.000+11:00

...is the song of the heart.

Charlee & I having a good laugh, though I can't remember why! Had Charlee & Cooper stay over last night. They were both so good & we all had a good time. I think the best part was discovering that Charlee is a big fan of my singing! She got excited each time I started singing! Especially if it was Video Killed The Radio Star. She sang along with me when I did the "Oh wah oh" bit & she clapped along with me when I was singing Mickey.
Good to know I've got at least one fan!!

Happy Birthday Aunty D!!!

2008-06-21T16:31:00.002+11:00

Yesterday was my Aunty Davina's birthday. We had a lovely dinner together. We all had a great night & I think Davina had a very enjoyable birthday, though she did get cranky coz she didn't think I was taking enough photos of her- but here is a nice one that I did get!

Party Time 80's Style

2008-06-17T22:37:00.002+11:00

Went to an 80's night at my church on Saturday which was so much fun. I am such an eighties girl at heart, wish I had've been born 20 years earlier! It was so much fun with all the eigthies muisc, tv & movie clips, trivia, snacks & singstar. We all looked quite crazy in our eighties gear. I grabbed my dad's Cold Chisel jacket & dressed it up with a heap of his collector badges. I can't believe he actually let me borrow the jacket or the badges- he is very protective of all his music memorabilia! Brett, the associate pastor of our church looked fantastic as one of the guys from Milli Vanilli- turns out he's a die hard Milli Vanilli fan!
Amy & Johnno getting into the 80's spirit.
Rob & Jess. Turns out Rob is a bit of an 80's guy, which definitely surprised me!
Kylie & Kathy looking gorgoeus in their outfits.
Anna was very cute in her Madonna outfit.
So yep, it was such a great night. We told Brett that next we'll have to have a 90's night!

Scrapbooking With Non Traditional Embellishments

2008-06-09T19:50:00.002+11:00

After scrapping with Lusi last weekend, I was inspired to try using some non traditional embellishments on her layouts. So this weekend I set to work with a bunch of things I collected from home & work and came up with these ideas. This first layout is about how Lusi has inspired me to loosen up with my scrapbooking. I created my own patterned paper using bingo markers Lusi had given to me & decorated the page using a white paper bag with red hearts on it, an old magnet that says "shock" & a tag from a Rolling Stones t shirt I bought the other week. Then I matted the photo on a celephane choclate wrapper.
This is my fav layout. This is the one that started it all. At the scrapping retreat lasy weekend, my friend Erin gave me a hair net as a joke. Well, I thought it looked cool all folded up, so decided to create a page of me & Erin & use it as an embellishemnt (it is the blue clump underneath the bottom photo). I then grabbed a bottle top, a scrap of material & a buttefly shaped paper from a note book & added some other little supplies & it was done. And I'm really happy with how it turned out.
My mum handed me a postage packet & told me to see if I could use it, so it became a feature on with layout of Dominic & I. I also used an old teddy bear brooch & a clothes tag as embellishments.
For this layout of Melinda & Kaitlyn I created starts out of alluminium foil.
I love this photo of Mum dressed up as Wally, but just didn't know how to scrap it. Then I was inspired the other day & used the poster from a Where's Wally magazine as the background of this layout.

For this layout of Royce & Meagan I just threw things on randomly, such as bread clips, a poker chip, a cherub keyring, a sticky label & the heart from a broken necklace.
The D on this layout came from a promotion pack a drug rep gave us at work. They were just going to throw it all away, but I swooped in and rescued the D, coz I knew I could find a use for it! I also used another celephane choclate wrapper, a badge, a scrap piece of metal & a piece of note paper.
I framed this photo of Jhorjie using the insert of a photo farme, then used the December page from a 2007 diary, a unicorn magnet, a cardboard shoe off the cover of a diary and a piece of shiny wrapping paper.
I embellished this layout of Dominic using an alphabet stencil, dog tag, bottletop & paper fasteners.
Lastly, a layout about the scrap retreat. I used the key ring they gave us & cut out the loveheart & "SWS 2008 Love Is" from the introduction pack they gave us.

Well, I had so much fun putting these layouts together. I'm definitely going to incorporate more playing into my scrapbooking!

Layouts From The Scrap Retreat

2008-06-07T17:17:00.003+11:00

Yep I did actually get some scrapping done last weekend! Here are the layouts I created for my Joy album. This first page is the title page.
Lovin Each Day- well that's what I'm trying to do!
I Love To Sing- as everybody who knows me already knows!
Hanging Out With My Dad
Enjoying the beautiful world God created for us

Spending time with little ones
Sitting by the fire during winter
Spending time by myself with my thoughts
Summer
My beautiful Feeny

My Friends. This page is from Lusi's class. I had fun playing around with her stamps.
Music
Thursday, my day off
Having fun with family
The love of God, which brings me so much joy each & everyday.

I read a bible verse today which has really stuck with me. It's from 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 and says:

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."

A beautiful verse, and very appropriate for the way we are all feeling at the moment. Definitely one I will be keeping in mind.

What a weekend!

2008-06-01T18:46:00.002+11:00

I have just gotten back from the Scrapping With Soul retreat. It was amazing, I had the best time! I have never been on a scrap camp before, but it was sooooooo good. So many amazing ladies, and lots of time for lots of scrapping!
Here we all are. This isn't the best group photo, I'll have to get a copy of one of Rowena's, she got some good ones!
One of the best things about the weekend was getting to catch up with Jess. We went to school together, but haven't seen much of each other since, so it was so lovely spending the weekend with her.
The Scrap Of Faith girls. What a lovely bunch! Half of the ladies I had met before, and half I hadn't, but they are all such beautiful women & it was so great to hang with them all. And I'm not even an official Scrap of Faither!
My gorgeous friend Erin was part of the camp staff who catered for our cooking & cleaning needs. Thanks Erin, you did such an awesome job & I am so glad I got to catch up with you as well!

So yeah it was one of the best weekends I have had in a long time. Thankyou everyone who was there, especially the Scrapping With Soul girls for all their amazing organising, and also to Erin & the other Waterslea staff members for their friendly service.
Can't wait for next year :)

Tasha's Challenge

2008-05-18T15:37:00.002+11:00

My nine year old cousin Tasha set me a scrapbooking challenge, and here is the result.
The criteria was:
* 5 circles
* 3 pink flowers
* Black handwriting
* Letter/ word stickers
* Photos that include me, Tasha, Erin, Royce or Ziggy
* Ribbon, either green, pink or black
* The colours green, pink or blue in the background
Thanks Tasha! I had a lot of fun putting it together.

More To Share

2008-05-18T15:28:00.002+11:00

Yep I've been scrapping again! Not even a sore mouth can slow me down! This first page is from the scrapping day we had in Sydney last month.
Ziggy's First Birthday
My Nan
Heidi tree climbing
Kaityln & Jhorjie at Bounce & Slide

Meagan dressing up
Dominic in Dad's high chair. How cute is the giraffe? I just love it!
My boss Keira at her farewell dinner
My bud Amy & I. We will still be best friends, even now that she's in Townsville. She's only been gone a week, but I miss her so much already.
Just Be. The best advice I could give myself.

Did I Really Get My Wisdom Teeth Taken Out Yesterday?

2008-05-16T15:23:00.002+11:00

Cause it sure doesn't feel like it! I feel fine. I'm not sore at all. The only time I get a bit of pain is when I eat and when I blow my nose or yawn too big. Apart from that I'm fine. I feel great! I did the grocery shopping this morning & then walked the dog and have been doing some scrapping since then. So it's just like a normal day for me. You seriously wouldn't think I've had my wisdom teeth taken out at all! But they're gone now. It's all over & i feel fine, so praise the Lord! Thankyou to everyone that has been praying for me & sending me encouraging messages.

In other news I've just found out that my good friend Jess' boyfriend and his little brother were in a car accident. Rob had a successful wrist operation & is still in hospital with a neck brace, but is doing well & should be able to go home soon. But his brother James had a few more complications, and is flat on his back and awaiting neurosurgery on his vertebrae in two weeks time. He isn't allowed to move his arms or legs. So please be in prayer for these guys & their family.

I'm sore but I'm still scrapping (& singing!)

2008-05-15T14:34:00.003+11:00

I had my wisdom teeth taken out this morning. It went really well. My appointment was at 9 and I was home by 10. He was only going to take out the two on my right side & then I was going to see him again next week to get the two on the left taken out. But the first two came out so quickly & easily that we decided to do them all today. And I am so glad because now it is all over & done with. And I'm feeling quite ok at the moment. Feeling a bit sore, but the anaesthetic hasn't worn off yet, so I'm sure that soon I'll probably be feeling a lot sorer. But anyway, I'm taking things easy. But that doesn't mean I'm doing nothing. I'm sitting here scrapping. And I have cds playing and keep singing along with them, even thought I probably shouldn't. But I can't help it- I start singing without even realising it!

Beautiful People part 3

2008-05-11T09:51:00.002+11:00

My Family

My Workmates. I am blessed to work with some truly lovely people.
My Aunty Cathy- who I don't really see as an Aunty, I see her as a friend. One of my fav people to scrap with.
The Lucas Clan- such a crazy mob, but I wouldn't want them to be any other way! I love them all so much.
My Grandparents. I'm not real happy with how this page turned out, but really it's all about the words. It's all about how I love my Grandparents and how much they mean to me.
Charlie. He was like a Poppy to me. My Poppy died when I was a baby, so I didn't get to know him. But Charlie, who was Nan's good friend, was so much like a Poppy to me. He was definitely part of the family. He came to all family functions, and we would visit him and Nan on the weekends. He was such a special person to me. He didn't replace Poppy, and in no way diminishes the important place Poppy has in my heart, but it was just really special to me that there was still a Poppy figure in my life.

Stop Scrapping Start Socialising

2008-05-02T07:56:00.002+11:00

I had an appointment with my psychologist yesterday and at one point we were talking about how I have replaced my social life with scrapbooking. I have social anxiety & instead of trying to work through it I have given in completely and spend all my spare time at home scrapbooking. Many people have commented that I am a scrapping machine, but the truth is, I'm just lonely. I want to be out there hanging out with people & meeting new people, but I find that all really hard, so I just give in to my fears & anxiety. And now I've gotten to a point with my scrapbooking where I feel I need to be constantly scrapbooking. If I'm at home & I'm not scrapping I feel lazy. If I don't complete at least 5 or 6 pages a day I feel like a failure. And my psychologist pointed out to me how unhelpful this all is. Scrapbooking is not going to fill my need for friendship, and hiding away each weekend is just going to pull me further into depression.
So, I'm not saying that I'm going to give up scrapping. My psychologist also pointed out that it's great that I have a hobby that I love & am so passionate about, but she's helped me see that it has taken over my life, but is not fulfilling all my needs. So I'm going to try to spend more of my free time hanging out with friends & meeting new people. It's not going to be easy, I've already been seeing my psychologist for over a year, & though I can see that I've come a long way, I still get caught up in my social anxiety.
Scrapbooking is important because it is a way to remember & honour those special people & moments in my life, so I'm definitely going to keep at it, I just don't want to be so caught up in scrapping all weekend, or feeling that I need to complete a certain number of pages or trying to do one whole album in a weekend. Now that is going to be hard, seeing as I am going to a 10 hour scrapping day tomorrow! Last time I finished 10 pages, whereas most people did 3 or 4, and that is because I didn't spend any time socialising. I just sat down and scrapped. So this time I am going to try to be less caught up in trying to make heaps of layouts, and spend more time chatting & appreciating the lovely ladies I will be scrapping with.
Thankyou for taking the time to read this rather long post, I just really needed to jot all this down & let it all out.

Gonna Miss Days Like This

2008-04-28T23:08:00.002+11:00

I had the best day yesterday hanging out with my best friends Amy & Melinda (& Melinda's daughter Kaitlyn). It was so much fun. It was just like old times.
It's only two weeks until Amy moves to Townsville & days like yesterday make me realise how much I am going to miss her. I am starting to feel really sad.
I have 4 really close friends, and over the last two years one has moved to Orange, one has moved to Sydney, and now Amy is moving to Townsville. I hope Melinda never moves away, I don't know how I will cope without any of my friends.
I am really happy for Amy that she's making this big change in her life & am so excited for her, but I am just going to miss her so much.

But we did have a great day yesterday. Hanging out, having fun & taking heaps of silly photos. Here is Amy & I on the swing.
Melinda jumping off her swing.
Amy on the playground.
Kaitlyn on the slide.
The shadows of Melinda & I.
Melinda, Kaitlyn & I hiding in the bush.

Beautiful People part 2

2008-04-24T17:01:00.002+11:00

My Year 12 grade. They are all so lovely & I miss hanging out with them so much.
My BESTIES (I said that just for you Cass!)
Meagan, my brother's girlfriend. She is definitely part of the family & we love her so much, she's just gorgeous.
Sarah, my best bud from work.
Andrea, Bella & Camille, close friends of the family.

All About The Boys

2008-04-20T19:44:00.003+11:00

A couple of weeks ago I was looking through my scrapbooking albums & noticed that it was very girl-oriented. There were hardly any male pages. So this weekend I made an album all about the boys. 20 pages all about the males in my life, showing their activites, attitudes & actions. Here are my fav pages from the album.
This first page is of Dominic. He looked so gorgeous in his little camoflage shirt.
Pretty much all the photos I have of Dad are of him pulling faces!

My Uncles: Stuart, Tony & Phillip
I love this one of Kyle. It is such a different style for me. I just threw everything on as I went.
Marcus & Phil the only two guys in our year 12 grade. They look terribly excited at our year 12 formal!
Four of the guys from our school camp. We were otuside their window, so they smooshed their faces against the window for our photo!
Dominic in his car at Bounce & Slide.

Royce playing with cars (aged 17!)
Dad, Stephen, Dylan & Kyle playing cricket at my 21st birthday party.
Cooper being all grumpy on Christmas day.
Yes the animals were included as well! After all, Ziggy & Feeny are my special boys!

50 Years Old

2008-04-18T22:16:00.004+11:00

The chair that is!
We have Dominic over tonight for a sleepover, so Dad got his old high chair out for Dominic to sit in to eat his dinner. Yep this is the high chair my Dad used when he was a baby. My Grandpa made it himself. It is still in really good condition.

Here are some photos I found of Dad sitting in the chair when he was a baby. How cute!

Beautiful People part 1

2008-04-17T11:49:00.007+11:00

Well here are the first pages from my Beautiful People album. This first page is about Karen, one of my best friends from work.

My boss Keira. She left us last week, and I miss her so much already.

Ashley & Hannah, two of the girls from work who are about my age, but have now left. Ashley left us at the end of February to head off to Italy for the year, and Hannah is moving to Sydney on the weekend. Today is her last day at work. I'm kind of glad I'm not there, coz I'd probably be too sad! Hannah is one of my fav people at work, and it definitely won't be the same without her.

My Aunty Jeneen. She is so great. Always so loving, caring & encouraging. It's a shame she lives in Sydney, so I don't get to see her real often. So I am thankful for the internet, particularly blogs & facebook, I love how it keeps you in contact with people.

Erin my cousin who is only 7 weeks younger than me. We have grown up together & she is one of my favourite people.

Emily & Jess two of my school friends who I am still good friends with.

My friend Amy who is one of my best buds, but she is moving to Townsville soon. Sigh!

Stay tuned, more pages coming soon!!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

2008-04-13T22:28:00.002+11:00

Today is my Dad's birthday. We took him out to lunch at Gerroa, where we had a lovely seafood platter. We bought him heaps of licorice & guiness (which is all he ever asks for) and here he is proudly showing off his new panthers shirt.

Lusi's Challenge

2008-04-13T09:29:00.004+11:00

I joined Lusi Austin & friends on her blog last night for a night of scrapping. During the night Lusi posted a challenge, the criteria was:
* the colour purple
* an envelope or part of one
* paper clip, staples or hair clip
* 3 circles
* hand journalling
So I completed the above page. It's a photo from my Year 10 Formal of my best friends from high school and is part of my beautiful people album.
I used a piece of purple patterned paper as the background. I then grabbed a purple striped envelope and stuck it on with the photo poking out of it, and attatched a butterfly hair clip to the seal of the envelope. I then tucked 3 circles behind the photo, and wrote my hand journalling on the circles. I then threw in a few finishing touches and it was finished.
It was a lot of fun. I do love challenges. My favourite challenges are the ones where you are given a list of products/criteria you have to use, that's always heaps of fun.

Last night I mentioned to Lusi the pages I had made from the Paper Crafts Festival we met at last year, and she wanted to see them, so here you go Lusi I've posted them for ya.

This layout didn't turn out quite how I had imagined. I used photos of all the things I bought on the day and stuck all the business cards and flyers I collected on the day underneath the photos. It didn't quite work out, it looks a bit cluttered, but oh well.

I've already posted this layout a while ago, but I've put it on again so that they are all together. The first page of Lusi & I was about how I enjoyed the class and how lovely Lusi is, but this one is all about what I got out of making a grattitude book, and how it made me quite reflective.

Everyone's Leaving

2008-04-12T15:48:00.004+11:00

I got some devastating news two weeks ago. Our practice manager Keira (above left, sitting next to her mum Denise) is leaving us and moving to Wagga Wagga. Yesterday was her last day. A new lady started on Wednesday to take over her place, and she's lovely, but I'm going to miss Keira so much. She is so great. She's only a year older than me, so she's really easy to get along with and very approachable. She's always so great to have around. Things definitely won't be the same without her.
To make matters worse, Hannah, one of the other girls at work is leaving at the end of the week. She's got a job at an eye specialist in Sydney, which she applied to so that she could live closer to her mum. Hannah is one of my best friends at work. She is my music bud. I am going to miss her so much.
I know they are both ready for new adventures in their lives, and I wish them both all the best, but right now I'm feeling quite devastated. I don't cope with people leaving very well, but I know I will adjust after a while.

We all went out to dinner on Tuesday night as a farewell for Keira & Hannah. It was a great evening. It's always lovely hanging out with workmates in a social setting, it's more relaxed and casual. We bought Hannah a cook book, becuase she loves cooking. She's always bringing her creations to work. I don't know how we will survive without that!

We got Keira a digital camera. It is something she's wanted for a while.

To top all that off, Amy, one of my really close friends is moving to Townville at the end of May. Talk about devastation. I'm trying not to think about Amy's departure at the moment, because I really wouldn't be able to cope with it all at the moment.

Weekend Of Scrapping & Shopping

2008-04-06T18:34:00.007+11:00

This has been a lovely weekend. Mum, Cathy & I headed up to Barden Ridge for a scrapbooking day organised by Marion from Scrap Of Faith. We were sitting with Marion Cass (& Annabelle) & another lady from Scrap of Faith, Tracy. It was great. I didn't get too much done, but that's ok. We did leave for 2 hours to check into our hotel & check out a local scrapbooking shop. $260 later I walked out!
Got back to the scrap day & got to have some cuddles with Annabelle.

What a cutie!

Today Cathy, Mum & I went shopping in Miranda fair, where I spent more money! And I got to have my photo taken with Lowly the worm from Richard Scarry books!

Wisdom Teeth Update: My dentist got back to me this week & said he can do them himself. So in May I am going in over 2 weeks (he does 2 at a time) and that will cost less than $800, so that is a much better option. Thankyou for everyone who has been praying that this wisdom teeth thing would work out, even though this is not how I really wanted to do it, I'm actually happy with this.

Mini Book

2008-03-30T16:09:00.005+11:00

I made this mini book last night. It's about me & just has random information about me on each page.

Happy Birthday Ziggy!!

2008-03-30T15:59:00.005+11:00

Our beautiful puppy Ziggy turned one on Tuesday. So he is a big boy now! I can't believe he is one already, that has gone by so fast! He's not our cute little boy anyway, but he's still very beautiful & lots of fun to have around. We just love him!
Mum's friend Andrea came over yesterday with her daugthers Bella & Camille & her dogs Lucca & Remy, and we had a little birthday party for Ziggy. He even got presents! Here is Ziggy & Remy playing with one of Ziggy's new toys.

This is when we were singing happy birthday to the birthday boy!
Ziggy bogging into his cake.

Yep, he definitely enjoyed it!

Why do we have wisdom teeth anyway?

2008-03-29T12:44:00.003+11:00

All they do is cause problems and most people end up up getting them removed.
Three of my wisdom teeth need to be removed. None of them are actually causing me any pain at the moment, but when I went to the dentist for a check up he looked at them & got me to have an xray & said that one of them has a hole, another one is still growing & is growing on an angle which will dig into my gums & the other one is growing in a way that will push against my cheek or teeth or something. So he wants them removed before they cause any problems. Si I saw a specialist last Thursday & it was all set. I was booked in for April 18. So I've asked my boss for the week off.
But now we've discovered that our health cover won't cover it. We've only just joined & they don't cover anything for the first 12 months that your previous insurance doesn't cover. So that means that we need to fork out about $3000 & won't get anything back. That's really not something we can do, particularly since I'm trying to save up for my trip to Kenya in January.
So I rang my dentist yesterday & they have asked the specialist for my xray back so that they can see if it can be done there in the chair, which I didn't really want to do, but it may be my only option. They'll get back to me Tuesday or Wednesday.
So it hasn't turn out how we'd hoped, so hopefully something will be able to be sorted out.

Recent Scrapbooking

2008-03-24T14:21:00.004+11:00

I love this verse from Nehemiah 8:10 which says "The Joy of the Lord is my Strength" and have been wanting to use it on a page for ages.
Another page about my faith. I've been trying to do more of these lately. This one talks about my most important role in life- being a Child Of God.
Another page using photos from my friend Emily's wedding. This will probably be the last one- I think I've run out of photos now!
Ziggy does a little sit down strike when we take him for a walk and we've almost gotten back home, so I decided to dedicate a page to it!
This page is a complete scraplift from the gorgeous CD Muckosky. I love her work, she is so creative. Her work has inspired me to try heaps of different ideas, and here I have shamelessly scraplifted a page using pics of Kyle and Tasha at Greenwell Point.

Page of me & Remy. My heading is "It Must Be Love." I love using song lyrics as my headings. I try to use them as much as possible.
I haven't started my beautiful people album yet, but when I saw these photos lying around the other day I decided I wanted to create a page about these lovely friends of mine, and I end up talking about how beautiful people they are and why I love them so much.
My friend Amy. I've had these photos sitting in my to be scrapped pile for ages, and finally used it on a page!
Ziggy with all his friends. My heading is inspired by an application on Facebook, you can tell I'm hooked on it!
Lastly, a page about myself which says "I am Unique. There is no one like me and I am so thankful for the person that God has made me to be." This is more something that I'm trying to convince myself than something I believe. I have always really struggled with accepting myself for who I am, and am only just really starting to accept myself and just be myself.

Easter Sunday

2008-03-24T14:15:00.001+11:00

We had a lovely time at Davina's place yesterday. It was a great day full of easter egg hunts, a yummy lunch, birthday cake for Kyle and lots of great times catching up with family.

Happy Easter

2008-03-21T14:51:00.002+11:00

I created this page this morning. I was sitting back reflecting on what Easter means to me, so I turned it into a page. My journalling is at the bottom of the page. The main focus of the page is lyrics from a song (which I can't think of the name of it!) But the lyrics I have used are "Death could not hold Him down for He is risen. Seated upon the throne He is the Lamb of God." It is one of my favourite songs that we sing at church.
Mum & I made this Easter Tree this morning. It is now our centrepiece on our dining room table.
We had prawns and oysters for lunch today. Royce arranged his so delicately that I had to take a photo of it!
A close up of Royce's arrangement.
Look who thought he might join us at the table for some prawns!

Hope you all have a lovely Easter. Stay safe on the roads, enjoy time off work & time with loved ones, and join me in celebrating the greatest gift we could ever receive, eternal life thanks to our very loving Lord and Saviour. Love and Joy to all xox

Most Beautiful People

2008-03-20T17:42:00.002+11:00

When walking through Woolworths today I saw a magazine that had on the cover "25 Most Beautiful Beautiful People." And I just thought, what an appearance focused world we live in. I think I can survive without knowing who the 25 most beautiful people are. But after walking away I was struck by inspiration. I am going to start an album of The Most Beautiful People in my life. But I am not choosing people based on their looks, but rather on their hearts. Basically it will be the people who touch, inspire and encourage me most. There are so many beautiful people in my life that I am so blessed by. Thankyou all so much!
Now, to sit down and actually start the album!

What A Weekend!

2008-03-10T19:55:00.012+11:00

The last four days have been so full on, but it's been a lot of fun! On Thursday Mum & I went shopping in Shellharbour. It was a really good day. We stopped at Gerroa on the way home to get a photo of the beautiful beach.

A bit further on we were stopped by roadwork, so Mum took photos of the trees, which I think look pretty cool!

Friday was the funeral of Joy, a close friend of our family. She was the mother in law of one of my mum's best friends. Joy's always been pretty close to our family, so we're all quite sad to lose her. She was the most positive, encouraging, beautiful person I have ever met. I am going to miss her so much & I know that so many other people will as well. She was one of those people that could always light up a room. While I do feel quite sad, I do rejoice that she was a Christian & was so dedicated to the Lord & has now joined him for eternity.

Gonna miss you Joy, can't wait to see you again one day.

On Saturday Mum, Mark, Erin & I headed to Berry for Banoffi Pie. Why else would you go to Berry?!

We then walked around looking at the shops for a while to work off our Banoffi Pie.

We are dogsitting Hamish at the moment, who is dad's friend Pete's Golden Retriever.
Mum's friend Andrea came to visit on Saturday arvo & she brought her dogs Lucca & Remy with her, so we had a yard full of dogs! We wanted to get a photo with all the dogs in it, but I tell ya it was hard work! This is the best we could get- Ziggy is trying to run off & Mum is pulling a face!

I was babysitting Jhorjie & Dominic yesterday, and it was quite a warm day, so Jhorjie, Dominic & I met up with Melinda & Kaitlyn at Greenwell Point for a swim & play in the park.

It was lovely at Greenwell Point. The kids all had a great time.

Kaitlyn & Jhorjie take some time out from playing to feed the birds.

I made this little book yesterday while watching the kids. Months ago Lou gave me this kit to make this little book, & I've just had it sitting around for ages, so I finally made it! I didn't have instructions, so I just made it my own way. I know it's not the right way because there are two little flaps I didn't use, cause I couldn't work out what they were for! But I'm really happy with it. It's just a lovely little book with some great bible verses inside.

21 Years Of My Life part 2

2008-03-08T10:01:00.002+11:00

It's February 29!!!

2008-02-29T19:37:00.002+11:00

I'm a bit excited I know, but it's just weird because today is only the 6th time I have experienced February 29 and I think that's a bit weird! I still don't quite get the whole leap year thing!
Anyway, it was a sad day because it was Ashley's last day at work. She's heading off to Italy for a year, the lucky thing! We're definitely gonna miss her at work, she is so lovely, but she's going to have a great time, what an amazing experience it will be for her. But yes, we're all quite sad to see her go. Gonna miss you Ash

21 Years Of My Life

2008-02-28T15:58:00.002+11:00

I'm working on an album at the moment about the first 21 years of my life. I am dedicating a page to each year. Here are the pages I have done for it so far:

Been Busy

2008-02-24T17:03:00.003+11:00

I don't know what I've been busy doing, but I've just felt very busy this last week, which I guess is why I haven't been on here since last Sunday. So I hope you guys are all doing well!
Here are a few pics from yesterday. It was a good day. My mum's friend Andrea came over with her girls & her dogs. Ziggy had fun playing with little Remy. I love this photo where Ziggy & Remy are both rumbling with Bella.

We spent about 3 hours in the pool. Remy came in for a bit of a surf!
But he decided he wanted to go for a swim instead!

We decided to see if Ziggy wanted to go surfing, but he didn't enjoy it as much as Remy did.
Royce had fun rumbling with the girls. Here he is tossing Bella into the pool.
Last night was my friend Melinda's 21st birthday party. This is Melinda & my other really good friend Amy. Amy & I didn't really know anyone else, but we had fun hanging out together. Cathy & Simone, if you heard loud talking & music last night, it would have been us, we were just around the corner! So, sorry if we kept you up!
This is Melinda's daughter Kaitlyn with a faceful of cake!
Remy & I exhausted after our swim!

Childhood Album

2008-02-17T19:06:00.004+11:00

I've just finished an 8x8 album of photos of my early childhood. It was a lot of fun putting together & reliving all these treasured memories.

You Know You're An Obsessed Scrapbooker...

2008-02-16T10:53:00.003+11:00

...when you see your cat sitting on a chair he is not allowed to be on and your immediate reaction is to grab your camera so that you can take a photo and create a scrapbook page about your disobedient cat and only after you have the perfect photo do you shoo the cat off the chair and scold him for being somewhere he knows he's not meant to be!!!

Scrap Therapy

2008-02-11T19:17:00.000+11:00

Is laughter the best medicine? Or is it love? Or what about chocolate?
Well, I have to say that SCRAPBOOKING is the best medicine for me. Take today for example. I had the worst morning, where everything kept going wrong. There were disasters all over the place and we were under staffed, so I was majorly stressed. I finally made it to lunch & flew out the door, but halfway to the shops I discovered I didn't have my wallet. So I went back to work & my lovely friend Sarah loned me some money, but I was still worried about what had happened to my wallet (turned out it was at home in a different handbag). Anyway, I made it through the day, but was quite miserable. I got home & got straight into scrapping. Though even then things were still going wrong. I put tape on the back of the chipboard swirl I had painted white, but when I turned it around there was some pink spodges on it. Then my pen went crocked as I was trying to draw a black line. But instead of stressing out over these two disasters, I embraced them & made them work with the page. But then I had no idea what to do as a heading & journalling. So I just looked at the page for a while, & realised it made me think about summer, it felt really summery, so I made it all about Summer. I was really happy with how this page turned out, and had totally forgotten about my bad day at work.

We don't like having our photo taken do we?!

2008-02-11T19:12:00.000+11:00

Saturday was a horrible rainy day, so Davina invited us around for a games day. That was a lot of fun. I took my camera along with me, and as everyone knows, I love taken unexpected photos. But Mark ruins that. Somehow he senses that I'm about to take a photo, and he turns around and poses. So I have all these random photos of everyone else, and all these ones with Mark posing! This is one of my favourite ones, Dominic and Mark both posed for this one, and it is so cute!
This one of Jhorjie is gorgeous too. She was telling me a story, and in the middle of the story I pulled my cmaera out, and captured this gorgeous smile!

One Album Finished, On To The Next

2008-02-10T19:03:00.000+11:00

I always get such a feeling of relief when I finish a scrapbooking album. I don't know how you work, but I work through one album at a time. Each album has a theme, and before I start I plan what pages I'm going to do, and what photos I'm going to use. The albums don't always turn out exactly as I imagine, as I always find photos and create spontaneous pages, which means other pages get left out.
This album I've just finished is a random album. I'd previously completed an album of my 21st Birthday party, a Christmas album and a December album, so I felt like doing a random, less structured album, where I just use all different photos from different times.
This photo is of me as a child with one of my dolls, and I talk about how I've always been very passionate about my dream to be married with lots of kids.

This is Nanny when she was in hospital, when she met Cooper for the first time.
I have had these photos sitting around for ages, but just haven't been able to scrap them. Iv'e found it too hard, as they are very sensitive photos, but I've realised that it was a significant time for all of us, and is just as important to scrap as everything else.

These are also photos that I'd planned onscrapping for ages but hadn't got around to it, so I finally dragged them out today & came up with this page.
The following two are the same story, photos I've planned on using for a while, I guess that's my theme for this album, photos that I've been putting off scrapping!

I threw this page together while watching Survivor, but I'm really happy with how it turned out.
I saw a page in a magazine that had this heading, and I thought it was really cool, so I tried it out for myself.

Three Years Ago

2008-02-07T18:13:00.000+11:00

Sorry to sound so cliche, but time really does fly! I can't believe that it was three years ago that I had just finished year 12 and was moving to Sydney to study Music Business at Tafe. It was such a big time in my life, because it was moving on from childhood into adulthood. Getting ready to tackle the big wide world. The thing that was so huge for me was moving away from my parents and living by myself. That was really scary, and honestly I didn't like it, so I moved back home after 6 months. I finished my course, but didn't do the courses that follow. The intent is to complete Certificate 3, Certificate 4 and Diploma, but I just didn't handle being on my own.
But it wasn't all bad living in Sydney. Most of the time I actually enjoyed being by myself and having the house to myself, the main thing was just being so far away from my family and friends. I was quite lonely, which led to me getting my beautiful kitten Feeny. I felt a bit better having another being in the house with me, and he is just so cute. So definitely the best thing about living in Sydney was getting Feeny.
Another highlight was seeing Jimmy Barnes live at Rooty Hill RSL with Natalie. The picture above is us at the concert. It was outside, which I reckon is so much better than being inside, it was more relaxed, and it was just so much fun.
So I don't regret living in Sydney one bit. It was a learning experience, and though I didn't last there long, it has still made a big impact on my life.
Here are a couple of cute pics of Feeny to leave you with:

I can't believe he was so little! How cute! I wish he was still this little and cute, but people and animals grow up, what can I do about it?
Mum says he wasn't cute he was scrawny, and I agree he was scrawny but he was definitely a gorgeous little thing!