photostory friday: the e-ticket

well, every picture tells a story and this one's fairly self-explanatory!

in exactly 36 sleeps i'll get to see THIS girl

my best gal pal tara

misses 12 and 13 are fairly excited too

one of them has already started earning money, and a lot she will have to earn as the exchange rate has tanked (77 aussie cents to the kiwi dollar - that sucks!)

one of them will leave it to the last minute then have a big cry because she has no money

it will fall on deaf ears

yep - tough love rulz

we all very excited, and if you hate it when ppl count down to exciting events, then u might want to avoid this blog and my facebook profile for ummm, say - the next 36 sleeps!!!

happy PSF!!!

Hosted by Cecily and Amy

wordful wednesday: ski bunny or space cadet?

i'm struggling with the whole blogging v facebook thing lately

i while back i wondered where all my blog friends were, then i found them AWOL on facebook

NOW i see some of the blogs i read have set up fan pages on facebook

this is a very cool idea for publicising your blog, because it seems every man (or woman!) and their dog is on facebook

excuse me - i just had to get that off my chest

scary mommy jill has even written a tutorial on how to create a bloggy fan page on facebook

once i've replied to my 571 sits day emails i'll get right on that

(cut to me making my own bloggy fan page on facebook)

(name the 'will and grace' cameo!)

back to WW (where i'm going all retro)

this picture was taken in august 2002 when my baby was 4 and a half

 

3 families decided to take 8 small children skiing

no-one owned any ski gear and none of the kids had ever skied before
so we beg, stole (not really) and borrowed ski gear when and wherever we could
(can ya tell?)
this was taken during one of several 'try on' sessions
hysterical.
the trip was a hoot - we hired a very spacious house and had a fantastic weekend.
SOMEWHERE i have a pic of the entire crew of kids.
i'll try and dig it out for next week!

for more wordful wednesday, see angie over @ seven clown circus

photostory friday: anniversaries and blogaversaries

i'm sure that's not a real word, and even if it was - i'm sure i spelt it wrong

so i missed my blogaversary

2 years ago on feb 9 i started this blog.

and never looked back

blogging has changed my life

for the better

in so many ways

it's inclusive, sharing, caring and well, just awesome.

since february 9 2008 i have flown to the other side of the world

TWICE

and met 15 blog friends

FIFTEEN

..and so today's PSF is a tribute to my 15 wonderful [once virtual] and now ACTUAL friends


josh and amanda
amanda's wanted to spend her 30th birthday in new york and issued an open invitation
who could resist?

my madonna concert buddy paula - at princeton

the fall leaves were amazing

new york savvy daryl

baby mumma kelcey - she's having TWINS!!!

these two are originally kiwis, but now reside in oz - so they flew almost as far as i did!

so after my fabulous 8 days flying solo in new york, i flew to KC for a girls' weekend

like i said, girls' weekend

(kristi getting to know donna a little better...)

that's debbie during the yankie swap

the very refined kristi - my FIRST EVER blog friend

zit popper queen kendra

(she's a fiskateer you know)

and here's the whole gang
sherryn, donna, lynette, melinda, debbie, candice, pam and kristi

then last year i flew to london to meet auntiegwen
she didn't listen to her mam's advice and the wind changed

and the lovely sass from the even lovelier whitstable

next trip - CANADA!
(sometime...but a girl can wish, right?)

in other news:

on tuesday i celebrated ONE YEAR at my job

my first [paid] job since re-entering the workforce after 20 years at home

...and today i resigned

...but that's ok

i've been thinking about it for a while

onto better and brighter things

a holiday in oz to see my lovely tara for one

more time to exercise (scratch that) - more time to blog!!! for two

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

wordful wednesday: now all i need is a calendar

again, my new fixed 50 lens captures the utter cuteness of our two new kitties, molly and sid.

they are just so cute together.

i could take pictures of these faces all day

now all i need is a calendar!!!

for more wordful wednesday, visit angie over @ seven clown circus

awol (on facebook among other places)

i remember being supremely surprised when my blog friends went AWOL then showed up on facebook, and now i'm doing the same thing.

what can i say - it's facebook

even though it has the crappiest user interface EVA, it's instant and everyone's always at home when you wanna say hi!

changes are in the works in the scrappy household

nothing i can share for a few days, but it's all good

i celebrate my first year back in the paid workforce tomorrow - and what a year it's been!

whoever said change is good is mostly right, but several times during the past year i wanted to slap the author of that comment!

i've got a 4-day weekend coming up and i plan to pamper myself, load some more trades, get some exercise, and answer some of the 571 emails in my inbox.

the sistas wore me out!!!

check back here on wed for cute kitty pics...

glamping re-visited

we've been back from camping a couple of weeks now, so it's time i shared some pics with y'all!

i took this one using my new fixed 50 lens and there are only TWO words one can use to describe this pic...

CAMPING FEET!!!

camping is a relaxing time for us, and with a couple of musos in the fam, it's nice to sit back and listen to them strum

an arty shot from miss 18

and some cool boogey boarding moves too

exam results became available online while we were camping, and someone didn't want me to photograph her in case it was bad news.  yeah right!

some nights we got the most amazing sunsets

and during the day we soaked up the sun and surf

i just love this pic.  don't ask me why...

2 of our number have birthdays in january

someone turned 12, and someone else turned 51

this is my favourite shot of the holiday

we visited a local berry farm and they make fresh fruit icecreams

this pic mimics a huge photo they have on the wall

i tried several times to get this shot and when all 6 of us ordered icecreams, i would yell "DON'T LICK THEM YET!!!!" so i could take the pic, which was really difficult, as it was so hot they were melting right before our eyes!

we also played relaxing board games

another gorgeous sunset

(maybe i should devote an entire post them - i have enough pics!)

we went for after dinner walked and played wave chasing

fresh strawberries picked by our very own hands!

and there's the jumping pillow

fun for young AND old!

we flew miss 18's bestie up for the last 6 days

here she's balancing turtle island in her palm

do you feel like you came camping with us too?

wow.

you know how you look forward to something, and you know it's going to be great

then it totally EXCEEDS your expectations, and you're left feeling like.....

- i know there's a lot of love in the world, but wow

- i know SITS is brilliant, but wow

- i know the blogging community is an open and genuine loving place, but wow

257 comments

548 emails

3 new facebook friends

30 new followers

...and new readers too

thank you to all of you who left comments

extra thanks to those that read my favourite posts

and thank you to heather and tiffany

i know i said i'd reply to everyone and come visit, and i will

it might take me until 2012, but i'll be there!!!

wow.

welcome SISTAS!!!

like most sits girls, i've waited patiently for my big day, and in the process, i've enjoyed visiting blogs from all over the world, leaving lots of comments along the way.

SITS (secret's in the sauce) is a comment love blog run by heather and tiffany, that has a 'featured blogger' every day.

today that featured blogger is ME!

so, welcome on in. if you're blogging in from the uk or anywhere in north america, you're about as far away from home as you can be, because i'm way down at the bottom of the world in new zealand!

the country that gave you sir edmund hilary, the first country in the world to give women the vote, the all blacks, kiwifruit, the buzzy bee, pavlova, paua shells, and ME!

i'm a part-time events administrator, wife and mother of 4. i recently went back to paid work after 20 years, so the past year's been an interesting one to say the least. we have 3 cats, 2 kittens and 2 bunnies. we're cat people, it's true.

i love to walk, read, watch movies, travel, spend time family and friends, take photos, scrap, stamp and blog. i also love good coffee and good wine. it really doesn't take much to keep me happy...

so without further ado, here's the gang...

this is me!

this photo, taken by a scrapbooking friend, led me to asking santa (aka mr scrappy) for a portrait lens for christmas.  this has to be my fave pic of me in a long time, and i've long believed i don't photograph well, so that's saying something!

here's the girls - this photo was taken in sept 08

everyone was feeling very spring-like and frisky that day!

this is me and mr scrappy in the spring tulips last september

i scrapped this layout in november - it's a lift and i love it!

miss 13 and miss 20

 miss 18 and her bestie before their year 13 leavers' dinner last dec

miss 13 before her intermediate (middle) school leavers' function, also taken in december last year

that's my baby, miss 12.  taken during our recent camping holiday

and these are our new kittens sid (ginger) and molly

our other cats patsy, wednesday and moe were unavailable for photos as they have their noses severely out of joint due to 'new baby' syndrome!!!

the bunnies, oscar and RJ?  well, they look like regular brown bunnies

so that's the gang!

i'm going to try and visit all commenters, so comment away and also enjoy my three favourite posts.
(it was hard to pick 3 outta over 400 i tell ya!)

colourful new york

our team won and we all got wet!

no, i'm not having a mid-life crisis

thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

wordful wednesday: first day

i was going to post one of the posed pics i subjected the girls to this morning

miss 13 off to her first day of college (high school),

and miss 12 off to her last year of intermediate (middle school),

but then i figured that this pic right here more accurately reflects what goes on in a family kitchen ANY day of the year, not just the first day or the last day, or someone's birthday

just a day

making lunch

getting a hug from dad

forgetting to put the milk back in the fridge (my bad!)

so, how was your DAY?

for more wordful wednesday, visit angie over @ seven clown circus