A new project

Today I was going through blogs and found this on Shimelle's blog http://www.shimelle.com/. Scrap your Day. You take photos on the 25th of each month and make an album of the year's photos. Go take a peek. Looks like a fun project to take on and I'm going to start getting the things I need and will be using the products that I have in my stash. Is anyone else doing this too?

More photos

I've taken a few more photos today. Hugh sat for me before going to work and then I took a couple of Emily on the train on our way up to London to meet Claire, who arrived back from Blackpool.





xx

I've been playing

After talking to Shannon (http://monkeyoranges.typepad.com/ ) I decided to have a go at shooting photos in Manual instead of my usual Programme or Av mode. I've been having fun and although I've still got a long way to go, I'm fairly happy with the results I've been getting. Here are some of my first attempts.

I had told Emily to just ignore me while I played around with settings so she wasn't posing in these.

xx

Our house feels empty

Today Claire and Chris left for Blackpool. Chris was going home after spending Claire's birthday week down here with us and Claire has gone to spend her second week of holidays with him in Blackpool.

This evening, Norma flew back to South Africa after spending three weeks in the UK. We'll miss her but at least this time we know that they are thinking of coming back to live here. By the end of the year she is hoping to be back .... fingers crossed that all goes well.

Norma with her son Kyle, who has lived here for the past six years.

It was also my nephew Max's 17th birthday today. We went round for birthday tea and cakes this afternoon and to say bon voyage to Norma. This coming week is going to feel very quiet!
xx

Eighteen

A couple of days late but I just wanted to share a few photos from my daughter, Claire's 18th birthday, which was on 09 April! I can't believe she is 18 already - doesn't seem that long ago that we were bringing her home from hospital. But then I think of all the things that have happened in the past eighteen years and they've been pretty jam packed!!

Claire has grown into a beautiful young lady. She has become more independent in the past couple of years and we've enjoyed watching her grow in confidence. We're so proud of her and can only hope that she'll go on to achieve her goals and follow her dreams.

Claire with her boyfriend, Chris, who came down from Blackpool for her birthday and to spend a week with us. Tomorrow Chris returns to Blackpool (a 6 hour coach journey) and Claire will be going too, to spend the second week of the holidays with him. Hope you get some decent weather and enjoy your second week together.

Finally, as I've mentioned before, my sister Norma has been over from South Africa since the Easter weekend. Unfortunately, tomorrow she goes home and we're going to miss her! The good news, however, is that she and her husband are looking to move to the UK and soon we hope to have them living in our neighbourhood. Safe trip home Norma and roll on December!!!

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Back to Winter

We had a couple of lovely days when the sun was out and it was really beginning to feel like Spring but today it is cold again!! They are predicting snow for tomorrow - I'd rather have the sunshine. The girls broke up for their "Easter" holidays yesterday and I'm looking forward to not having to get up at 6am for the next two weeks. Norma is still here next week but the second week we're on our own again. Claire's boyfriend, Chris, arrived today from Blackpool and will be spending a week with us before Claire goes up to Blackpool with him to spend a week there. I take my hat off to them, long distance relationships are not easy and they've been going out for just over two years. It's Claire's 18th birthday on Wednesday so she's doubly excited - Chris is here and her birthday! No huge plans - an extended family birthday tea and cakes in the afternoon and she wants a smaller family dinner before going out with friends in the evening (she will be able to get into the pubs and clubs). Seems to be the done thing over here when you turn 18, just to prove you can do it and, if they ask for ID, you're legal ;) I'm off to put on some socks to warm my feet and get dinner started. Have a good weekend. xx PS. Our new router has been ordered and should be here by Wednesday, so I'll soon be able to put photos on again :)

Second Day

Two days in a row, who would have believed it!! I'm amazed that people still look! It's felt very strange here today because Norma is staying with my brother and his family. I've got used to her being here and going out and about with her and the house has seemed a bit empty today. That said, I didn't spend much time at home today. We seem to have been running out of the essentials - ie. bread, fruit, food in general, so I made a trip to Sainsburys straight after dropping Emily at school. From Sainsburys I went into town looking for birthday presents (now I'll find out if Claire reads this - hehe!!) and then up to the Farmer's market. Stopped in at Cafe Nero's for a couple of Chi Soya Lattes before heading round to my friend Alison's to catch up on what's been going on in her life. Felt like I hadn't seen her in ages and it was good to chat. I've been busy trying to download the tutorials I'd missed while the computer was down and am finally about caught up. Now I've just got to print them off so that I've got a permanent record. Not really much to tell today, just an average day! Have done my mini pages and am up to date there as well. Off to make dinner. Hope to blog again soon. xx

It's April already!

Apologies for not having posted anything for ages. Our broadband connection has been down and we are still having problems with it at the moment. Hoping it will all be sorted out by the weekend. Life has been pleasantly busy since my sister arrived from South Africa on 21 March. My brother was also over for the Easter long weekend and it was good to catch up with him and find out what he's been up to. Norma is still here until 12 April and we're making the most of the time we have with her here. Hoping that it may soon be that she'll be living in the UK too and it won't just be snatched holidays. This year we decided to make a mini scrapbook of her stay so that by the time she goes home again she'll have a completed mini album of her holiday. It's only 4" x 4" and each day we print off one of the photos we've taken during the day and stick it in on one page and on the opposite page we write a brief summary of what we've done. It's been such fun to do and I like the idea that it'll be complete the day she leaves. I'll post this now before the computer shuts down on me. No pictures until I'm back on my own computer again. xx