Its been awhile............................

Sometimes I have the best of intentions, but have difficulty following through on them.  Does'nt seem to matter what they're about, sometimes they just slip under my radar again.  Blogging is springing to mind!, and I have lots to share, so to make it quicker Im going to bullet point it, otherwise you might turn grey by the time I finish :)

* I had an awesome 5wk adventure travelling to the UK catching up with friends that I used to nurse with.  12yrs is a long time, and it was like I'd never left.  Sightseeing with Michelle in London, staying with Emma and David and their two boys in  their static - its what we would call a mobile home, but very flash and sits in a holiday park year round - in Barmouth, Wales.  Never been to Wales, even though I lived in the UK for four years and its just beautiful.  And then to Drogheda, Ireland to stay with Pheadra and Ritchie and their girls.  All in 3.5 weeks!  It was a whirlwind trip, but thoroughly worth it.

Michelle and I in the gardens of Althorp House

The Memorial to Princess Diana

The NZ Memorial in Hyde Park

Close up of one of the monuments

The closest I got to Downton Abbey :( it was shut for filming

The chinese gardens at Portmeirion in Wales

Part of the village in the Snowdonia mountains, Wales

My friends Emma, David, Matthew and Adam at Harlech Castle in Wales

Pheadra and Caoihme at the Drogheda fire station - her husband is on the fire brigade.

* A week in Sydney on the way home catching my sexpot husband at the airport and some friends of ours to  shop, sightsee and watch Muscle Car Masters at Eastern Creek.

* I applied to join Twiddlybitz DT and have been asked to be a guest designer for them in June, July and August!!!!  Grinned a lot that day :)  This is part of my application, I altered a jewellery stand, hanging a Twiddlybitz chipboard birdhouse from it, which I had painted, stamped and distressed.  The base I created a 'cobblestone' patch using texture paste and brick stencil then inked.

* work has been so busy since I got back, we've had some really sick pts through the unit, and Ive been exhausted going home.  Was so tired one night, that when I got to my car I waved my security tag at it to open it :) lol! You never know it might happen one day :)

* My niece gave birth to my Great-Nephew on 7th October weighing 7lb 12oz  - Luka James Anderson - and hes very cute, not that Im biased or anything :)  My gift to him was a Kaisercraft train, and I filled the carriages, with bootees, little tops, and rolled some nappies up into log shapes and tied them up. I used MME Little Robots range of papers, and Donna Salazar gadget gear dies.

* Forbes's aunty Jenny died last week, the last of the Gourlay siblings.  She was the loveliest lady, so easy to chat to and always had a smile on her face despite what was happening with her.  It was a very sad time for us, and travelling to Oamaru for the funeral we reminised along the way. Im going to miss her a lot.

* My birthday this year, my family all got together and bought me a kindle.  This would be one of the most awesome presents I have received.  I read 8 books while I was away in the Uk - it came in handy on train trips and airports I can tell you! Can you imagine carrying 8 books around in a suitcase?!  I also realised yesterday that I have read 32 books since getting it the first week in august!

* Scrappin Patch Retreat this year was at Glentui again and this time we had the awesome Cindy Porter teaching us.  This lady has so much information to impart, shes like a walking encyclopaedia on all things distressed, ink and stencilled! I learnt so much from that weekend.  Theres another retreat coming in April with no classes at this stage, but that could change, wink :) and a lot of time to create to your hearts desire, can't wait!

That roughly catches you up! Im planning on being back soon with another post :)
Thanks for popping in and not giving up on me!