Some more pics... amazingly enough!!!

So, firstly, here are the back to school pics... *sob* my little boy is now in High School!!!!


Blackie was my assistant in this photo shoot - his job was to get Allan to smile! He did it wonderfully!!!


And here's a couple more of that beautiful baby... Harrison David, or as Allan said... Harley Davidson...
With Aunty Jill

With Grandma (my Aunty Gail)



And here's a couple of our cute, lovable, gorgeous cat!
I know this one is blurry... but I just love how he came right up to the camera to check out what I was doing!

What a long weekend!!!

Wowsers - so much happened over the past few days that my head is spinning!!!

Well, I've shown you some of the pics I took at the beach on Sunday - I loved how these turned out! So much so, that I scrapped quite a few that afternoon! Here's what I did... oh, and Em did one too... hopefully you can tell which one is hers... though she's getting quite good!


Then we had the AGM on Saturday, and once it was all over my head was spinning with all the *stuff* we had to get done!!!

But, I really didn't have too much time to dwell on it!

I went out for lunch with Mum and the kids... and then we went shopping all over Rocky getting pretty purple and green stars to decorate the sign on table with... and then ....

My cousin Leesa gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on Friday night - and we just had to go up and have a cuddle and kiss. Leesa is one of 8 children my Aunty had... and when we arrived on Floor 6, the proud Daddy was in the foyer with baby Harrison David Kline, because Leesa was having a shower. Now, at this stage, we (Mum and I) thought we had lucked out, as we seemed to be the only ones there... but then, it seemed, everytime the lift doors opened, out poured MORE relatives. But anyway... here's little Harry:




Then I went over to Ali's for a BBQ to welcome Julie to the hood. It was a lovely night... more so because I drank a bottle of wine... lol... but it was nice just to sit around chatting - and great to see Michael get on so well with the guys... and the kidlets all played pretty nicely together too. Very enjoyable. Made me realise how much I love that my kids are a little older now... cause I didn't have to run after them AT ALL! LOL!

On Sunday I woke up early - too excited - and had to start 'doing' something with the Runaways stuff... so I got in and updated the website quite a bit - and was then able to go back to bed for a nap without it gnawing on my mind while I tried to sleep.

Barb and Leesa came over (the new committee) and we went through all the 'stuff' from the club and sorted it all out, and tried to work out what we were doing and sort out the to do list for the sign on. I spent the night trying to get on top of some of that.

And then this morning the kids started school again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

.... and my big boy started High School... *sob*....

Perhaps I'll post the photos tomorrow.... they're still in the camera for now...

OK... now to get onto the working week!!! LOL!!!

Madame President!

Yes, it's true! Michael is now the First Lady!

We (my netball club) held their AGM on Saturday, with a massive turnout of 7 people!!! I nominated for President and had a couple of other members running with me for the other executive positions.

I was wary because last year I also ran for President, and there was a bit of ugliness about it all. But this year it was simple. We got the jobs.... and the 1/2 dozen boxes full of uniforms, balls, trophies etc!!!

So, you can now call me Madame President... lol...

Seriously though - this is a scary, but exciting opportunity! I've been madly updating and creating our website - which will be, I think, the only one in Rocky.

Pop in and have a look: www.runaways.brightsun.com.au

I've set up a discussion forum which is starting to take shape... all we need now are some MEMBERS!!! That will happen on the 4th... sign on day!

OK... I'm off to fill up the forum so it doesn't look bare before everyone arrives... lol...

At the Beach

Just a quick one to share some photos with you all.. We went to the beach today - fun! Click on any of the pics to see a larger version....

Well, it's been a while, and I've done a lot. Flown to and from Sydney for a meeting - had many flight delays **GROAN** and a thumping headache most of the weekend.

The kids are on their last week of school holidays - thank goodness! Starting to drive me nuts! I took them out to the gardens today for a picnic lunch - thinking I could score some nice pics of them both. Allan was not in a photgraphic mood though - which kinda put a damper on things - but Emily thought she was a supermodel and was striking poses quicker than I could take photos.

Here are some of my favs!



Nope - Allan barely cracked a smile the whole time I was taking photos - BOYS!!!


Isn't this just SWEET? Emily loved having her photo taken up the tree.... well everywhere actually - little poser!


Couldn't resist trying out the macro setting on this cute little daisy.









This weekend will be a big one for me. I've nominated for President of my Netball Club - and the AGM is on Saturday. The sign on for the Association is the following weekend... so that means if I'm elected I will have ONE WEEK to get everything organised!!!!!! OMG!!! Am I MAD????

Oh, and I've also been doing quite a bit of scrapbooking of late - quite a LOT actually! Had a background making frenzy - which has been great! So enjoyed doing that! Going to do some more and use up LOTS of scraps. Nothing fancy - but I'm still very happy with how everything is turning out - especially how quickly they have been to put together.

The secret is I'm trying to clean out some stash so I can justify buying some MORE! LOL!!! Got a bit to go, but having a good crack at it!

More later......

Photos to share!

Well, I finally got my camera later this afternoon, and managed to snap off a few photos (read: A LOT!!!) Here's some of my favourites...


OK... there's quite a lot there... but that aint even a third of them!!!

I did end up getting a f1.8 lens - which takes great portrait with a really short depth of field (nice blurry backgrounds). Had a play with that to get the pics of Allan behind Emily - and did a reverse one (Em blurry and Allan in focus) but Allan always had this peeved look on his face!

The guy at Harvey Normans also gave me this great hard cover book by Canon called 'EF Lens Work III' with all these great images, and which lens, and settings they were taken at... which is great. I think I may just become a lens junky!!!

I've got a LOT more to try, but will have plenty of time to do that... be prepared to be bombarded!!!!

Exciting!!!

OH, and I played netball tonight and had a great game (meaning FOR ME). Got quite a few intercepts, and felt like I had boosters on my shoes - I felt FIT! Umpired the next game too, and that went well as well (hate indoor umpiring - it's very hard to get a good position to see anything!).

Can't wait to get back to outdoor though - I love that game!!!

Bring it on!!!

Here soon...

Oh! How exciting!!!! The paperwork has arrived and we go and sign it at 2pm, and get the cheque for my NEW CAMERA!!! I will have it in my hands THIS AFTERNOON!!!!

Guess who will be taking LOTS of photos tonight!!! ME, ME, ME!!!

I'm going to Sydney on Thursday night, so I will spend the flight reading my manual, and working out how it all works...

So, for about the same price, we ended up with an extra:

• 256MB flash card
• Better bag
• 100 FREE 4x6 prints
• Lens Cleaning Kit
• 5 years warranty

So, it's all worked out quite well! There's still some extras I'd like to add to this, but I can do that later on, things like the remote (which will be great for product photography - I won't have to climb up and down on chairs etc), Flash, and portrait lens (but I think I'll try that out when I pick up the camera)

Exciting... now to wait until 2pm!!!

Weekend Catchup

A quick post to show you all what I've been up to on the weekend.  Got a couple of layouts done, and I'm quite happy with the results.  The first one, 'adored' also used some stamps I designed and Judy from Scrappin' Bug Stamps made up for me... really like how they turned out!

Next is 'Sneak Peak into My Life' which has lots of 'eye' pics and lifting hidden bits... the kids enjoyed looking that this one.

ALSO, on Sunday I went to Harvey Normans to check out a NEW CAMERA!!!!  Golly gee I'm a naughty girl.  I've been aching to get a Canon 400D for SO long - and now I can... so I wanted to check it all out... and there, beside the Canon 400D is the Canon 30D... and I'm having heart palpitations!!!

Stayed at HN for about 3/4 of an hour just playing with the camera, and deciding if I really needed/wanted the larger camera.  No doubts about it, I really WANTED it!!!  But to justify the extra expense I was battling with myself... 'you shouldn't... but... oh, it's so nice... and look at how quick the camera is.... and the lens is better... but you shouldn't'... you know how it goes.  But Michael decided that I should just get what I want... and I kept saying to him 'are you sure?' 'I can get the other one... but... oh, aren't the images NICE'...

Got the phone call today that our finance is approved (also buying furniture as well)... and Michael's been playing off two local camera stores with each other to get the best price!!!  So far, I have a kit that includes:

* Canon 30D with BIG lens (worth $1100)

* UV and Polarising filters

* Hood attachment

* 2Gig flash card

* Bag

* Extended 2 year warranty

I also want to get a macro lens, a remote control, and a big flash... but will have to wait and see how the battle goes with the prices... lol...

Soon there will be MANY, many photos!

Sad....

In the past week I've had a couple of phone calls about friends I've not seen for a long time. The first was Kai Rahnel. Kai came up quite a few years ago and did a 4 day painting workshop that I organised - we stayed in touch for a while, but over the past couple of years, I hadn't really spoken to here... figuring we've both kinda drifted away from folk art to some degree. So it was a real shock when I was asked if I'd heard anything about her death! I didn't think that not hearing would be possible - her book, 'Don't be a Goose' was one of folk art's best sellers, and I thought if something had happened, it would have been through the grapevine very quickly. But, with such an unusual spelling, it's hard to believe that the death notice I found on the net could be anyone else... which just leaves me floored!!! She wasn't that much older than me.... and there was no explanation in the notice....

Then yesterday I had a phone call from one of my painting students.... asking if I'd seen the death notice in the paper of one of my former students...

This student wasn't with us for long, and we knew she'd had cancer, was in remission and had well outlived the time allocated to her by the doctors. We saw her off on an around Australia holiday with her husband, and never heard anything again... until now.

And finally, a good netball friend of mine who is definitely not old, had a heart attack last year that totally floored me. Not a severe one, but she's way too young for all that. The Dr's at the time decided that it must have occurred due to a flu weakening her heart as all the tests came back all clear. But apparently the past couple of weeks she's had a pain in her chest - and her Dr was booked out for a week! So she just let it slide... fortunately, her sister was up visiting and wasn't willing to let it slide and called the doctor who told her to get up to the hospital ASAP. It was her heart again - not a flu - so there is definitely something wrong there, but the good news is that they will be sending her away to find out exactly what it is. Don't want to lose someone else right now....

So, it's been a bit of a sad time. Please, if you're reading this - take care of yourself... if not for you, for me!!!

Oops... a bit MIA

Sorry I haven't posted in a while... no good reason really! Just forgot!!!! Maybe because I have been having so much fun lately...

Last weekend two of my favourite cybercrops were on (why do they always have to clash?) . One at Embellished and one at Scrapbooking Top50. I collected ALL the challenges and promised myself a weekend of fun!!!

Which I had... lol... Here's some of my final layouts - just click on them to see larger images...



You will notice that a couple of these are quite introspective... and that's how I've been feeling lately - but in an excited way. My weight loss is finally becoming much more noticable to me, and for the first time in months, I'm not feeling uncontrollably tired! Starting to feel like 'me' again - which is great!!!!

I'm off to Sydney next week for a planning meeting - which I'm pretty excited about too! I love this sort of thing - and it will be great to catch up on all the new things we'll have going on... new colours... new ranges... fun, fun, fun.... I wonder what our Chemist has been cooking up... lol..

It was also my nephew's first birthday and we went to the Rock Pool Water park. Michael got some pretty decent photos with his mobile phone.... here's a couple of my favourites (have a look at the one of Allan bomb diving - isn't the timing amazing!)



Oh... did you check out my muscles!!!!!

Well, I'm sure there's much, much more to tell you all about.... but that will do for now... hope you're having a great start to the new year!