A Room With a View

Retreat - noun : a quiet or secluded place in which one can rest and relax

 This is my retreat - the room at the top floor of

 our new place, fitted out with floor-to-ceiling cupboards, all in white, accented with blue curtains for a splash of colour. There IS a view of the sea, but it is gradually getting obscured...pretty soon the view will be of a high rise...sigh.

 

This is where all my 'stuff' is. This is my office...scrapping room...art studio...library...even a place to nap ( I have put in a day bed which so far has seen occasional use by Andrew)

This is where I creep up to at night when the little one is asleep, the only time I get to scrap nowadays, it seems.

This is where Sarah and I hide out when she has a project that requires that special touch of extra creativity. Usually, this means raiding my scrapbooking or art supply stash ( a current favourite is glimmer mist).

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to spend quite as much time up here as I imagined...in a typical day, I don't often get to sit down for a cup of tea, let alone bring it up to the top floor...and I'm usually accompanied by at least one of the children drawing on the floor, or working at the desk. But that's the beauty of this room, we can all be up there, each doing our own thing,  and it still feels restful.

Those Shades

Looking through our holiday photos, trying to decide which ones to print, it struck me that our not so little girl is truly becoming a young lady. 

For a couple of years now, she's been shooting up, and is almost as tall as I am now, but up until this summer, she was still very much a kid. One that enjoyed going to theme parks, zoos, playgrounds, and was happiest lounging around in her oldest tee and comfy shorts. A kid that always used to run away from the camera cos she was too shy to have her photo taken!

This summer, Emily metamorphosed into a glamorous young lady, helped along in part, by a certain pair of shades that she found in a little store in Stratford-upon-Avon. She wouldn't be parted from them, wearing them in rain or shine; and was frequently caught posing for the camera!

Suddenly, it seemed, going to parks was just too uncool, preferring shopping as a pastime. 

Sigh...I guess this is just the start of things to come...I can see makeup and boyfriends looming in the not too distant future...

Old Friends

The last month has just flown by! Since our return from Manila we've had the usual busy run up to end of term for the kids, moved house ( took us 3 weeks to pack all our stuff...just how much junk can be accummulated in 4 years is unbelievable!), and taken a 2 week trip to England.

The pace has been hectic, so it was really nice to be able to take a break ( we left 3 days after moving in...piles of boxes still unpacked, faulty plumbing and all) and just enjoy having time to ourselves as a family.

The highlight of our trip was meeting up with old friends and just catching up ( with some sightseeing and shopping thrown in, of course). 

My roommate from boarding school had invited us to her wedding and it was fantastic to be able to catch with her, and our group of friends from 20 years ago! The girls were mortified when photos were passed around - th

ey couldn't believe how weird mum and her friends looked at 18 years old!

I also managed to catch up with a couple of my closest friends from University, so it was a trip full of reminiscing about old times, as well as catching up with all we have done. 

We have all moved on, to different parts of the world, added spouses and for some, children, and a few extra pounds...but just for a few hours, it felt like nothing had changed, and the 15 to 20 years since we last saw each other just melted away.

No doubt we will try to stay in touch, but sometimes life just gets in the way...we have our families, routines, jobs...everything that keeps us so busy. But that's ok, cos I know that these lovely people will always be friends of mine, and maybe we'll get to meet up again in the not too distant future.

So Proud

Well, we're back home after the most exciting 3 days of sports!

Our little girl did us proud...

We were a bit worried about her in the beginning...2 days before the team set off to Manila, she had been hit on the head with a T-Ball bat, and had needed stitches...she was bruised and her confidence a little shaken...

But when it came down to actually participating in the Games, she gave it all she got! She ran, jumped, batted, swam, kicked...and was rewarded with 1 silver medal and 4 bronze medals!

We cheered until we were hoarse, and took loads of photos and videos! Now comes the hard part...sifting through all the photos and putting them all in an album...I'm hoping it won't take me another year to get it all done this time.

FOBISSEA Games Again!

So here we are in Manila, eagerly awaiting the start of this year's Games...

Last year we were in Seoul, we took lots of pictures and they were sitting around...yet another project that never got started...until I realised a few

 weeks ago that it was now 1 year later, and we were about to set off on the next trip for the Games! That motivated me to get going on the FOBISSEA album, and I finally finished it a few days ago...just in time, cos I'm sure we'll be taking a whole bunch of photos this year too!

Back to my (art) Roots

Before I started scrapping, I was making cards...and before I started making cards, I was painting...not in a professional capacity, mind you, just something I have always loved, right from when I was a kid.
Sure, I've kept on painting even after Andrew was born ( though maybe not as often as I'd have liked), but the last few months I've really not picked up a brush at all ( except for a foam brush, for a scrapping project or two). Not because my passion for scrapping has replaced my love for painting...rather it has been a case of logistics.
I scrap and make cards in my office ( read bedroom) after the children go to bed, and I'm within easy reach whenever Andrew wakes for a feed. My art studio ( aka little corner, together with a few giant swim floats, a pushchair, and a stack of spare chairs) is downstairs, and just too crowded now ( when did all this stuff take over my art space, anyway???)
This month, I've been determined to make painting a priority again, and reclaimed my art space (well kind of...I banned the swim floats from my space and it's really made a difference!
I've started on not one, but two paintings! Ambitious? Well, I've never been known to do things by halves!

Scrapping Gal

Yesterday was an exciting day for scrappers at Smidapaper...we had a special guest teacher, Kah-mei Smith from Fontwerks, who taught 2 very inspiring and creative classes! The participants made 1 lovely minibook in each class, and there were a couple of hardy scrappers who attended both classes, so they were scrapping all day long!

I had signed Sarah up for the easier of the 2 classes as a birthday gift to her as she is such a keen scrapper, but I must say I had my doubts as to whether she would be able to cope in what was essentially an adult's scrapping class. I have attended such classes before, and I know the pace can be fast and furious...a challenge to even the most seasoned scrapper!

I must say I was very proud of Sarah ...
She had the photo list earlier in the week, picked out the photos she needed, made sure I got them printed in the correct sizes;
She went through the tool list as well, helping me pack all the tools she would need, and labelled them.

Yesterday morning she was up bright and early, raring to go!
At the class she set out all her tools neatly and waited patiently for class to start ( normally she's a little jumping bean in the mornings, but I think she was restraining herself).




Sarah coped really well...she kept up with the pace, did almost everything herself ( just needed a little help with the more difficult techniques) and ended up with a beautiful minibook dedicated to her little brother, Andrew ( 'the best and cutest little brother on the world').
I am proud of you Sarah, you are definitely a great scrapping gal!