she, he and i

updating at last

2010-07-31T18:01:00.000+01:00

Katy and I celebrated the start of the holidays with a three day trip to Cornwall. We bought the girl a board and a wetsuit and she was all set. We had a great time just relaxing, wandering in Newquay and getting to know little Seth.Katy was great company, really well behaved and full of fun.

at seven

2010-04-08T19:53:00.006+01:00

She got a wii from us and her grandparents.
She had to go to school for the first time ever.
She had cake at home on the night of her birthday.

She asked for just a small party this year.
She had eight friends for pottery painting.
She had a giant cupcake and lots of small ones too.

She had a great time!

what's been happening round here?

2010-02-16T21:42:00.003Z

Watching this A LOT! Listening to the soundtrack A LOT!! Great fun TV! Proud to embrace my inner Gleek.

There's something about January and February which brings about almost complete lack of activity around here.

Not that we've been completely lazy. We've set about decluttering, which has left us with a pristine and minmal loft and has caused a lot of trips to charity shops and clothing bins. I also have a huge pile of Katy's better clothes to sell on eBay, which will go towards funding our summer holiday.

Which leads me neatly on to holiday planning. We're booked to return to here

So with any luck, and with good weather we'll be enjoying the sunshine in La Tranche sur Mer for the fifth time. Thoughts of moules et frite, cold beer, bread and cheese will sustain me through the rest of the winter. We looked at endless different options for getting there but decided on the ferry and driving our own bikes to the campsite. Which necessitated us going to buy me a bike, as buying one was much cheaper than hiring one. So since the weekend I've been the proud owner of this baby.I've had a few practice runs, including cycling to work once, and while I found it OK, a bit more fitness would definitely help! Those Harrow hills are killer!

On the return from the campsite, we're planning to spend a night at Puy de Fou, a historical theme park for a bit of a roman viking experience. Should be fun!

So lots of planning but a bit still to do. We've also got a 7th birthday to arrange!

the cut

2010-02-07T23:23:00.003Z

After months of hair traumas we finally took a stand! Every morning we would have tears and crossness when we tried to tame Katy's curls into a pony tail, and what with her habit of twisting her hair into knots and pulling them until they broke off, and of cutting out any hairbands that were the least bit tangled, things needed to be sorted. So she decided she wanted a 'propeer' haircut. And this is the result. Now these photos are following a full blow dry this evening and in reality there is a bit more curliness, but it has to be said that the cut seems to have signalled the end of the curls. And I'm not sure how I feel about that if I'm being totally honest. Don't get me wrong, I think she looks lovely, and the mornings have been bliss. But her curls were part of her. And I'm kind of sad to see them go.

But she loves having hair that doesn't hurt her, which I guess is the main thing.

resurrecting the blog with some Christmas photos

2010-01-10T15:35:00.005Z

Life just got so busy and December especially so. But we had a lovely end to 2009. Here are a few photos to illustrate. Katy has been thoroughly spoiled and loved every minute of it all. We loved being able to spoil her and surprise her too. And most of all we loved having the time to just be at home all together. Happy New Year and a happy 2010!

autumn fun at Chessington

2009-10-31T11:23:00.002Z

For George's birthday day out this year Katy chose (with some help from us as we'd found a discount voucher tee hee) a day at Chessington. We had a blast. It was really quiet so we managed to get on everything we wanted, including some pretty scary roller coasters with Katy.

Not such a scary coaster this time. Although the boat below made me feel quite sick.

I wait with baited breath to see what she chooses for my birthday!

locked out

2009-10-11T09:42:00.004+01:00

For the last two weeks blogger has locked me out. Not that I have much to say, September has been all about getting into the routines of a new school year and coping with the changes in homework levels. With homework and after school activities life has been pretty hectc. Katy is coping well but I am still adjusting.

I've no photos to share but have a bunch of layouts, so here are a few for now.

ch,ch,ch,changes

2009-09-07T18:05:00.004+01:00

September 2007, September 2008, and today, 7 September 2009. Where does the time go? I can now understand why none of her clothes are long enough.

Donegal day 2 photos

2009-08-24T13:41:00.006+01:00

There's nothing quite like a beach in windy weather. We went to Narin beach on our second day in Donegal, and the rain stopped just long enough for us to have a paddle. Katy loved the wide open spaces, and paddling in the sea of course. It wasn't as cold as I expected it to be, which was a blessing as I expected it to be freezing!

photos from Donegal

2009-08-17T16:35:00.004+01:00

The first evening in Donegal was beautiful. We were able to sit out in the back garden until after 10pm, annd the light was perfect for photos. We were so envious of my aunt and uncle's surroundings, all these photos were taken within a 5 minute walk of their house.

Katy had great fun helping John with the lambs, sheep and chickens.

It was such a beautiful place, it was the first time I'd been there since Celine and John moved to Donegal. I will definitely go back.

Not bad for a back garden is it?

back from Ireland

2009-08-16T23:21:00.002+01:00

and for once I took a load of photos. In all the past holidays in Ireland I have taken maybe 10 shots in total, whereas this trip I have somehow ended up with a few hundred. A warm sunny evening and a trip to Donegal helped enormously. These photos are from last Saturday night, when Mum, Katy and I went out for an early dinner and decided to go for a walk after eating along the Strand and into Burgess Park. Katy had new sandals (her 'heels' - they have a 1/4 inch 'heel') so she was happy to pose for a while.

It was nice to be out in the evening and be warm enough for no coats or cardis :)

summer has started at last

2009-07-26T11:55:00.005+01:00

... and once we had our first days off from work and holiday club we headed into London for the day. Katy has a long list of activities she would like to try this summer, and Borough Market and the Tate gallery were our first stops. We bought lots of yummy stuff in the market and had a picnic on the grass beside Southwark cathedral. We finished as the rain started so we wandered along the riverbank by the Thames to the Tate.

Katy did a couple of the free kids activities in the gallery - there is so much good free stuff in London for kids - and got to create and try a range of art techniques. She loves art and food, so a gallery and a farmers market was a perfect day out for her!

day 6 photos

2009-06-28T11:55:00.003+01:00

We went to Epcot today and had booked a lunch with the princesses in the Norway section. Katy really enjoyed this, especially meeting Mary Poppins.

It was wet this day so I didn't get many photos outdoors, but managed to get a couple of the Epcot 'golfball', or Spaceship Earth to use its proper name.

crafty stuff

2009-06-27T12:08:00.005+01:00

I have quite a lot of photos to share this weekend, so I'll start with the crafty stuff. I had a lovely Sunday cropping a couple of weekends ago and got a heap of pages done. I've been enjoying starting on the holiday photos.

day 4 and 5 photos

2009-06-14T18:39:00.004+01:00

On day 4 we were in theory having a rest day. I'm not sure if a full on water park can be considered a rest but it was certainly fun. We went to Typhoon Lagoon, one of the Disney water parks and we all loved it here.

Katy in the lazy river, our favourite part of the park.

We had fun shopping that night at the Premium Outlets, good bargains were to be had.

The next day we went to Hollywood Studios. It was hot!! This photo was taken just as we were leaving, minutes before an enormous storm. As always, Katy was keen to meet characters.

We also watched the HSM show, which she was pulled up to join in with.

More characters.

This was a fun park, we had hoped to return as we only saw about half of it, but the weather got the better of us - gives us more of an excuse to go back!

Day 3 photos

2009-06-07T22:37:00.006+01:00

In lieu of anything more interesting to report, here are day 3 photos. It's starting to feel like a long time ago already. This day was the Magic Kingdom.

Our main aim today was for Katy to meet Tinkerbell and the fairies, so while George and she did some rides, I got in line to ensure we were there early. Apparently the queues to see the fairies hit somewhere near 2 hours later in the day, way way beyond our queueing threshold. We waited 20 minutes which was much more like it.

As this day was mainly about rides and shows I don't have many pictures. Katy enjoyed playing in the fountains in fantasyland. It was really hot so it was nice for her to be able to cool off, and for us to sit down for a while.

Here, Katy is standing on Main Street as we were heading out of the park. We had loads of photos taken of the three of us by the park photographers, but they have yet to arrive so will form another post in a few weeks time :)

Day 2 photos

2009-05-31T18:28:00.007+01:00

We started today at 4.30am! Darned body clocks. We went to Chef Mickeys at the Contemporary Hotel for breakfast and had a great time meeting all the characters.

After breakfast we went to the Aniimal Kingdom, which was lovely. Disney really are good at theming all ther parks so well. The photo below is from the Asia section.

And this is Devine, the stilt artist who walks between Africa and Asia.

This is the Tree of Life, it sits in the centre of the park and has I think over a hundered animals carved into its trunk. There is a close up at the top of this post.

We also rode the Kilimajaro Safari, the pictures below are from this ride. You sit in safari jeeps and drive through a safari range, learning about poaching and the difficulties that rangers have in keeping the animals safe.

We met the guy above and a few of his friends in Africa also.

It was a really beautiful park, with lots of atmosphere, a lot of education and some fun rides. And a few charcters too, to keep Katy happy.

We were hot and sticky so enjoyed the pool that evening before dinner.

Holiday Day 1

2009-05-30T23:18:00.005+01:00

Here is Katy at Gatwick waiting patiently to get on the plane.

The flight was remarkably easy, Katy had enough electrical gadgets and books to keep her happy and she entered the art contest, winning runner up in the under 10 section. We found the villa in Soouthern Dunes after a straightforward drive and were really happy with it; it worked out perfectly for us, espcially given the weather we were to experience later on.

The entrance to Southern Dunes, and driving around the community.

Inside the villa

Above is the spare bedroom, aka shopping storage area.

Our room, which had an ensuite and walk in closet. There was a huge walmart at the entrance to Southern Dunes and lots of food places locally too, so we were really happy with everything. needless to say this night we were in the sack by 10pm after a long day and with an early start the next morning.

We're home

2009-05-28T23:10:00.004+01:00

.......... from a wonderful trip. I'll be back soon with many more words and pictures.

we are still here

2009-05-02T21:52:00.005+01:00

but completely swamped. Easter was fun, sadly the weather was not great but it was lovely having Shelley and Anton here and being able to get them started on their adventure. Hopefully they have survived their first day's work on the bonny bonny banks of Loch Lomond!

I cropped last weekend, got a whole album done from my trip to the US in 1991, and these layouts also.

This is a bit of a nothingy post but as people were beginning to wonder if we were OK, I thought I should turn up with something!

Have a happy weekend.

non photo of the day blogging

2009-04-04T23:23:00.005+01:00

has recommenced. I'm not sure whether to keep up with POTD, I am struggling to get a decent and/or interesting photo. And I think It's affecting my normal blogging.

But I'll think more about that tomorrow. Just wanted to share some photos from the past few days. Firstly, Katy's end of term ballet lesson, which parents are allowed to watch.

We spent today building the Granny's trampoline. Not a trampoline for the Grannies, but one from the Grannies, for Katy's birthday. Although they are welcome to give it a try if they wished.

Not suprisingly it was a big hit!

ending the month with cake

2009-03-31T22:34:00.007+01:00

Just as I started the month.

Another week has whizzed by, here are the pics. Mainly featuring cake, birthdays and views from my car.

A wet Wednesday from my car window.
Thursday: stopped by roadworks again. But I was off work today so wasn't too worried.

Friday: my neighbourhood - I was heading home and liked this cherry tree on the left.

Saturday night saw the start to Katy's birthday celebrations. We went for a meal at our favourite Indian restaurant. To be honest we would have gone even if it weren't Katy's birthday, but she felt spoiled anyway. She enjoyed working on her magazine while waiting for her chicken korma.
Sunday was the big day. We went for lunch and then off to Wemblay to see the Mickey Mouse Magic Show. It was great fun and put us nicely in the mood for our holidays. Afterwards it was home for cake.

Monday: the usual chores, but at least the sun was shining.

And today, more cake! Key Lime Cupcakes for work tomorrow.

Monday and Tuesday

2009-03-24T20:58:00.003Z

... and two photos further along. I had a really mundane day yesterday so my photo is pretty orindary -bedtime for little girls.

Today I was in central London for some legal work stuff, itwas sunny in town today; I always like London in the sunshine. Well, I like it all the time really but especially in the sun as all the buildings look so nice.

Apart from slowly coming to the end of the craziest month as far as work is concerned, things here have been focused on a certain little girl's birthday this weekend. We have a nice weekend planned for her and a few surprises, so we are all looking forward to it.

7 weeks tonight we will be going to bed all packed and ready for our Florida trip!!!

another week has passed

2009-03-22T22:28:00.007Z

Tuesday: St Patrick's Day - the green ribbons were gone but the cheekiness was still there!

Wednesday: 8 weeks until we go and see Mickey Mouse!

Thursday: the sun is out and the tights are gone, hopefully for the next 6 months at least. Katy is loving the good weather.

Friday: A work trip to Swindon today. We were in the historic ares near the railway museum, there were some great old buildings. And a great outlet mall :)

Saturday: This flower bed was FULL of weeds this morning, so I'm feeling very satisfied at the moment.

And today, Sunday: Mother's Day flowers.

Have a happy Sunday!

signs of spring

2009-03-16T16:41:00.002Z

are showing up everywhere. The blossom is starting to grow, and it is positively warm here today - Katy got her legs out for the first time all year and ditched the tights in favour of socks.

Yesterday's photo was just a quick spontaneous moment between Katy and daddy.

a busy week

2009-03-14T20:52:00.005Z

..... with one thing and another, but I managed just about to take photos. Wednesday's was a super quick snap from my desk of the ever expanding magazine pile. On Thursday I was in Berkhamstead, back at the blue school, and played around with some of the old architechture from the car.

Friday 13th was the Big Day. Katy's 6th birthday party. Her birthday is still 2 weeks off but she shared the party with a friend. 45 or so kids in a soft play barn, loads of cake, fun and noise.

We had a great time. Today was spent recovering and unwrapping many gifts. The notice board in my kitchen is in about the same state as the rest of the house - chaotic and full of piles!

still going..........

2009-03-10T22:03:00.009Z

and this is the last week's offerings. Wednesday: signs of spring

Thursday: so so many of these all around here at the moment, grr

Friday: a slice of rural England (another work trip, Staffordshire this time)

Saturday: a splash of colour

Sunday: still at home, I was really tired and lacking energy today so dodn't go far.

Monday: the biggest slice of cake ever.

And today, Tuesday. more roadworks from my car. I like the colour of these trucks though so I'll forgive them for slowing me down.

Getting back in the habit

2009-03-03T19:36:00.002Z

...of uploading my photos regularly. I was in Rutland yesterday and this fellow was welcoming me at the entrance to the school. I had meant to use the word prompts this week but forgot to check them o Sunday night, so it was only last night I realised the word was crowded, ha. I was surrounded by spac and open countryside at this school, it was gorgeous up there.

Today I was a little closer to home, only 20 miles away. I parked outside the school and walked in thinking about what I could make of the word for today - blue. So we have a blue school. Perfect. Must be karma.

still taking photos

2009-03-02T21:04:00.007Z

Monday: the new mosque. I was really far away from this and it was impossible to get straight.

Tuesday: views from my car on the way to work

Wednesday: on the way to work again

Thursday: I have spent a lot of time in here lately

Friday: a castle in the countryside

Saturday: my bookshelf

Sunday: Katy's birthday cake -rehearsal

a week of photos

2009-02-22T23:53:00.011Z

Monday: An old undergrund sign I pass every day going to work, a bit blurred sadly.

Tuesday: pretty girly shoes

Wednesday: a typical sight after school/work: shoes strewn in the hallway.

Thursday: Nelson's Column (my how I love a 10x zoom)

Friday: pretty windows on a really ugly building

Saturday: bathoom

Sunday: still in the bathroom

I will do better at uploading next week :)

weekend photos

2009-02-15T23:43:00.005Z

I managed to delete Saturday's photo by mistake so I'm fessing up -this photo is from Sunday. just me messing with the camera and trying out the fab zoom.
Sunday's photo is a shot of bedtime around here - Katy trying to choose which story she wants. this is after trying to choose which puzzle to do and then whether to do a second puzzle and forfeit one of her stories or have two stories. Agh! It's hard being almost 6!A few photos from tonight. Katy being obliging and smiling for the camera.

And a glimpse into the future, fast forward ten years and the teenager we have to look forward to.

Think she took too long making all those choices and got overtired lol.

Friday 13th

2009-02-13T21:33:00.001Z

My photo for today is to remind me to only have one friend for tea at a time. TGIF!
Some people asked about the fox, yes it was just strolling along the pavement at 9 in the morning without a care - we do have loads of foxes around here, so thay can be quite a common sight.

POTD Feb 12

2009-02-12T18:07:00.008Z

Another sky shot, grabbed on my way to work today. It was so much easier to pull out the point and shoot!

Doing the POTD has made me think about what I see every day; as I work 5 days I see much of the same stuff every day, and as we're in a town, I have very few beautiful scenic shots to rely on. But having the camera out this morning, and being stuck in traffic most of the way to the office, I decided to look little bits of nature around me. It's amazing what you can find when you're looking and with a good zoom lens to crop out the unsightly lol.

I even saw some wildlife :)

POTD Feb 11

2009-02-11T21:05:00.002Z

I have a new camera, I have a new camera, I have a new camera!!!!! I went and picked up my refund and walked straight out of the shop and into another one opposite. I said to the salesman, 'I have £150 to spend and I want to leave here with a camera' or something very similar and after a play with a few, I left with a new panasonic Lumix camera! I am so happy to finally get it sorted.

Feb 10 photo and some layouts

2009-02-10T21:50:00.007Z

Today's photo was a real quick shot as we were heading to swimming. But I for once had my DSLR to hand so I managed to get a pretty good sky this evening. For once it wasn't raining or snowing. The good news is that the camera shop has agreed to give me a refund on my point and shoot - I think it's only fair enough after the third fault with the zoom. So tomorrow I may well go and find a replacement, which will make the photo a day much easier to achieve.

Below are my layouts from the Sunday crop. Just about all are using my Studio Calico kit from last month.

This one is a shot of Katy diligently completing her holiday homework while we were in France last summer - she ended up with a lovely book of memories.

Me and the girls in Pennsylvania, 1993. Happy days :)

This one contains shots taken by our own little paparazzo, once again in France last summer. And below is Katy all dressed up for a night out in the campsite bar. I love these Nadiya stamps from Studio Calico, they work like a dream.

Next is Katy's first loose tooth, also using a SC kit with a few embellishments from my supplies.

And lastly is a wacky page which really challenged me. This was a LRS kit which scared me quite a lot. but having cut into the papers I really like how they work with the colours of the photos. Katy managed to pour a glass of red wine over her beautiful white t shirt and cardigan while dancing to a band outside a restaurant in France. She was soaked and cold so I had to run to the ethnic market to find something to cover her up so we could watch the fireworks (it was Bastille Day and we had been enjoying the streetmusic festival). This technicolour dreamcoat was the very expensive solution. She loved it and still does.

With hindsight I now have a huge list of Joseph-inspired titles I wish I'd chosen for this page.

Feb 9th

2009-02-09T22:13:00.003Z

I went to the coast today for a work meeting. Three hours in the driving rain around the M25 for an hour long meeting and then three hours in the driving rain home again. This was the glorious British weather I enjoyed on the beach today. After the snow and ice last week, we've had constant torrential rain today. Lovely.

Feb 8

2009-02-09T22:10:00.003Z

I went out to a crop yesterday and this church was across the road, a little slice of Britishness and history. I had a great day cropping, I really enjoy my occasional crop days and it is so worth all the packing hassle before I go. As soon as I get some good light I'll post my LOs.

Feb 7

2009-02-09T22:08:00.004Z

Just a bit of everyday life from Saturday. Katy's bracelet came in a party bag from a birthday party today. She has so many!

POTD Feb 6th

2009-02-09T22:03:00.002Z

This is where I spend my days. The office looking very frosty, but clear of snow thank goodness. It's actually seriously warm inside, which makes dressing for work tricky as I have to plan to be warm enough to walk Katy down the school path and cool enough not to expire at my desk.

Friday night saw George and I go out, together, just the two of us. We went to see Slumdog Millionaire. Love love loved it. I got straight onto itunes and bought the soundtrack, which i can't stop singing along to. And of course we have a local interest as the lead actor is a local boy :)

POTD Feb 4, Feb 5

2009-02-05T20:59:00.003Z

I sneaked this from someone at work again, gotta love when colleagues bring props. And today's photo is Katy once again in her PJs - straight into them as soon as she made it through the door. I love how her eyes came out out in this one.

POTD Feb 3

2009-02-05T20:55:00.002Z

We've been waiting for these to open for a while, and they finally have. A little bit of sunshine in the midst of the snow. Another snow day today so Katy and I stayed home. We got a bit cabin fever-ish after a while and headed out for lunch, it was nice to have a day together without too many obligations.

POTD day 33

2009-02-02T19:09:00.008Z

It could only be one thing today -this is what we woke to. We've had a 'snow day' today and have all been home for most of the day (well I did make it in to work for a few hours but am working from home tomorrow).

Katy of course is loving it.

365/ day 32

2009-02-01T21:50:00.002Z

I had to depart from the word today as photo opps were few. Katy and George braved the freezing weather today for a quick bike ride round the park and I caught her as they came back. I was surprised to see her so cheery given how cold it was. It's a typical Katy photo, cheerful and smiley, just as she is almost all of the time.

It's freezing here! It has been snowing tonight, so we're secretly praying for a snow day tomorrow. Katy not so secretly.

POTD catch up

2009-02-01T15:47:00.007Z

I have been having major camera difficulties this week, and my point and shoot went into the shop yesterday for goodness knows how long. So I'll be lugging the DSLR around with me every day until it's fixed. Which could be tricky, but we'll see how it goes. So the photos. Above is Day 31 -orange. my super warm fluffy scarf knitted by my Mum. It's been really used this week.

Day 30:Country -the best I could do living in London is a shot of some country veggies sitting on the counter at work on Friday. I don't even know who they belonged to.

Day 29: texture - my evening bag close up, still waiting to be put away since Christmas!
Day 28: fast - ironic photo, as fast is the last word to describe my weekday journeys usually.

Day 26: arrow. I was amazed how many of these I saw on a one mile trip on Tuesday.

365/ day 26

2009-01-26T21:28:00.002Z

Nothing really special, just me and my girl chilling in the craft room. Me at the desk and she online designing fairies with Tinkerbell. Nothing oficially special, but in fact a really nice, quiet peaceful day. Special in its ordinariness.

photos - days 21-25

2009-01-26T14:44:00.007Z

I was good at remembering to take my photos this week, getting them uploaded was another matter. Looking back at the week, I would just like to say that Katy's PJs were washed, honest! There will always be loads of photos of her wearing her jammies as she puts them on as soon as she gets home from school. So, Wednesday's word was RED. The ever present tomato ketchup.

Thursday was HANDS. Hers are often found feeding herself, she loves her food.

Friday's word was SWEET. I love that she still snuggles her teddies at night.

Saturday was WATER, so here is Shrek, Katy's pet fish.

And yesterday's word was CROOKED. I was really struggling until I saw how Katy had managed to get herself dressed last night.

365/ day 20

2009-01-20T20:38:00.002Z

Today's word prompt was change. There could only be one thing today.

365/ day 19

2009-01-19T17:29:00.003Z

I dream of the day when this gym habit thingy becomes easy.

some layouts, no words

2009-01-18T18:14:00.004Z

365/ day 16-18

2009-01-18T17:59:00.005Z

Day 16 - these have been giving me great pleasure lately, and now I have a place for them I love seeing all their colours brightening up my room.

Day 17 - my little crafter working on her own scrapbook in my craft room yesterday.

Day 18 - this bowl of lollipops has been in our cupboard for months, it was taking up space and getting in the way. So we took it out and are quickly getting through them, needless to say Katy is very happy to have regular access to treats. She has developed a taste for the cola flavour, to the point of expressing interest in trying the drink now. Oops.

We had a busy Saturday yesterday. Katy's drama club had arranged a trip to see Sleeping Beauty, so she and I went along, and really enjoyed it. One of her teachers was the handsome prince; the kids loved seeing him perform. Katy got a real kick from the panto, so we must make a plan to see one next year.

365/ day 15

2009-01-16T07:46:00.003Z

The hairbrush that saved our mornings. Seriously. When you have a child with hair like Katy's, a hairbrush that puts and end to tears and arguments in the mornings is a godsend.

365/day 13 and 14

2009-01-14T20:46:00.004Z

Scary dolls in Katy's room last night, she face painted all of them then left it on, so now they are permanently stained.

And tonight's rather average shot. She really wasn't tired. Or so she said. I'm struggling at the moment as my point and shoot really needs to be repaired or binned but I don't have a free evening to go to the shop so I'm making do with a seriously iffy zoom and wobbly autofocus. But I will not be defeated.

365/ Day 12

2009-01-12T18:41:00.003Z

What could be better than a hot chocolate moustache? Katy was supposed to be having a friend to tea tonight but she's not well, so to cheer Katy up I took her to Starbucks - she's developing an expensive hot chocolate habit, that girl of ours!

365/day 11

2009-01-11T22:31:00.005Z

Katy and I sent Daddy to the supermarket this afternoon while we went for some fresh air to the local park. Katy recently got a new, rather big bike so we wanted to give it a spin. It was cold but lovely out today, really nice to wrap up and get out.
She's slowly getting the hang of this big beast.

365/ days 9 and 10

2009-01-11T11:02:00.004Z

I've been drinking lots of this in an effort to warm up - orange and cranberry tea. The mug is a really old one from a book club I was once a member of, I like the sentiment. Below is Saturdays photos - Katy after we'd told her of our holiday plans - to go to Florida in May.

It was really fun telling her, we went to the Disney store to buy park tckets and told her there what we were doing. She was speechless, I think it took her a good 10 minutes to take it all in and believe it was for real. I have made her a countdown calendar so she can see how long she has to wait.

365/ day 8

2009-01-08T18:32:00.004Z

A photo taken in daylight!! I had a few minutes waiting at the tennis club for Katy to arrive with a school friend to have her ballet lesson. It was so nice to just sit with the car doors open enjoying the fact that it was 7 degrees, so almost tropical in comparison to what we've been having. I really needed the fresh air too after a week of being indoors.

365/ day 7

2009-01-07T21:07:00.003Z

I've found that taking the photos isn't habit yet and consequently many of my pics are taken at the end of the day. Katy was given the giraffe puppet for Christmas and we made it over the holidays. So I took a few photos tonight to include in her thank you letter, she loves giraffes and craft so this was a perfect gift.

365/day 6

2009-01-06T22:34:00.006Z

I had a beautiful pink sky tonight but could I capture it? Not at all. We were late for swimming so I had to leave it and get to the pool. So Katy left me Bobby to photograph tonight - he's going to school tomorrow as 'A Special Thing' and he needs a seam stitching before I go to bed. He's dressed in his Scotish regalia in honour of her Dad of course.

First day back went well, and swimming too, although Katy did announce she was 'exhausted' afterwards.

I have a few layouts that I have yet to share.. The first is using Studio Calico goodies, and is Katy patiently waiting for the Disney on ice show back in 2007.

This one is about Covent Garden, we have had a few really good days here in the past year. This is Collage press from Little Red Scrapbook.

More SC supplies here, with a few odds and ends thrown in from my extensive stash.

365/day 5

2009-01-06T08:09:00.002Z

It's freeezing here! Forecasters are optimistic we'll get up to 1 degree today. London should not be this cold! My day 5 photo was snapped during one of my brief trips outside, the tree looks so sad doesn't it.

365/4

2009-01-04T20:09:00.002Z

This girl needs to go to bed I think :)

top 8 of 2008

2009-01-04T10:52:00.014Z

I was challenged to post my top 8 layouts of 2008. It was hard to narrow these down from my favourites which totalled about 15, but these are today's favourites. I would probably choose a diferent set tomorrow.

This is an early photo of me with a nose in my book.

Katy's habit is to twirl her hair when she's tired, she actually does this less now that she used to so I'm glad I caught it.

A couple of very early photos from Katy's 2nd ever day. I think this is from a sketch but I forget now from where.

Our first of many trips to legoland.

Prima goodies here, I loved doing all the cutting for this one.

My scrap desk before I moved to the new room, I actually got a lot done here.

Not much product on this one but I like the result. There was actually a disaster on this page as I had originally used a grid rub on to the right of the photos but it was a horrible mess, wouldn't come off the backing then cracked and stuck everywhere, so I had to cover it with the swirls. I'm glad it happened!

The last one is much more muted in colour than the others, but I like the softness.

365/day 3

2009-01-03T21:47:00.004Z

I haven't stepped foot outside the front door today, well apart from dragging the dried remains of our tree outside, so I had to look at the closer environment for today's photo. This orchid had all but died but a colleage persuaded me to wait and lo and behold a few months later it bloomed again. So it sits happily inside my front door. Makes me happy to see it there.

introducing 365 days of photos

2009-01-03T10:20:00.005Z

Last year I read about this pretty hefty challenge - to take a photo a day for the whole year, and now that I have figured out how to use my phone camera effectively I thought I'd give it a try. I know my chances of getting a photo onto the blog once a day are slim, but if I uploaad in batches every few days I might do better. It seems to me to be a really interesting way to get the little details of life recorded, and will maybe get me off the auto setting on my camera.

So here are my first offerings

Jan 1st and 2nd

Yesterday's was taken at the station on our way into London, Katy enjoyed looking at the tree and catching up with a friend in Trafalgar Square. Here she is trying out her Christmas present.

Happy New Year

2009-01-02T11:03:00.004Z

We had a lovely Christmas. We're going into London today to see the Christmas Tree in trafalgar Square, so that will wrap Christmas up for us nicely.

a whole month

2008-12-11T18:49:00.010Z

...has gone by in a flash! Where did that go? Well, first was my birthday. For this day out Katy chose the National Gallery, we spent a nice morning there looking at the paintings. Afterwards we wandered to Covent Garden and did some Christmas shopping. There were some great street performers entertaining the crowds, we really enjoyed one of the shows in particular. Dinner was in Belgo, a fab Belgian restaurant where Katy decided she loved moules. She was also partial to the chocolate ice cream.

After dinner we walked up Regent Street admiring the Christmas lights, Katy was particularly enthralled by the Hamleys windows. Who can blame her when they have life size Barbies there.Then December came and the start of the advent calendar routine. Katy gets out of bed and this is the first thing she does. She then scoots downstairs to open the two she has there too! Check out that morning hair! Brushing this is what we fall out over the most.

One day we saw a rainbow....

and another day we bought and decorated the Christmas tree.

Added to that have been 4 performances (2 drama club Wizard of Oz shows and 2 class Christmas shows) and an open ballet lesson. We are so so ready for the holidays now.

Glasgow

2008-11-11T18:46:00.012Z

We had a lovely weekend in Glasgow. The weather was perfect. Here we are in the park, enjoying the autum colours. Katy loves being outdoors and is usually happy to try everything.

I'm getting better at handing the camera over to George.

It was Halloween on the Friday so Katy got all dressed up to trick or treat at Fiona and Stuart's. She had been disappointed that she would miss the chance to trick or treat at home, but as it was she was totally spoiled by Fi and Stuart as always (thanks guys). Here she is as Pirate Katy.

And she also enjoyed this fab park, after getting over her fear of the super high slides.

It was lovely to catch up with family and friends, and to have the chance to spend a weekend with Mike and Sue. We had talked about them coming to Glasgow for ages and I'm really glad we managed to do it.

more crafting

2008-10-19T11:15:00.005+01:00

All these were made using the Confections kit from Studio Calico. Looking at them all together they feel a bit samey - maybe it's the pink felt on each page!

travel layouts

2008-10-14T16:44:00.007+01:00

Just sharing some of the pages I've done using the Via Airmail kit from Studio Calico. I'm enjoying getting some of the photos from our trips finished, this kit was perfect for these layouts. I just need to get some more journalling onto them now.

birthday day out

2008-10-13T22:14:00.008+01:00

We went to London Zoo on Saturday as Katy decided that's what her Dad would really like to do for his birthday.

She loves giraffes and could watch them for hours. Everything else she just sees, looks at and then is like 'OK, next...' but with the giraffes we have to nag her to leave. It was such a hot day, sadly the winter coats we had brought were no more than excess baggage which we were none to happy to carry around all day. Word of warning - there are no lockers at the zoo. Anywhere.

Afterwards we went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner, which was pretty nice. Which was a relief after some of the reviews I'd seen.

At the end of the night George was presented with a bowl of cream (yes really) so that the restaurant could sing happy Birthday to him.

a room of my own

2008-10-05T08:49:00.005+01:00

A year ago it looked like this. Now we've finally settled on what room is what, and the 'blue room' is now my space. I love it.

Since these photos, I've put my sewing machine on this chest of drawers at the foot of the bed, and will maybe put my cricut there too.

Now all I need is a bit more time there.

the great outdoors

2008-09-26T17:25:00.011+01:00

We've been having such lovely weather these past couple of weeks, so one Sunday we decided to get out there and enjoy it. We did the circular walk around Old Redding, which is about 3 1/2 miles. Katy moaned and moaned about doing a lon walk. The she asked if it was like a hike, so we said yes, it was just like a hike. 'Oh, I want to do it if it's a hike' she replied. See, it's all about the packaging!

It was beautiful out there, we all really enjoyed it.

Katy was very excited by the reindeers, thankyou to the kind people for sharing their reindeer food.

And with Aleida in mind, my first in my commitment to get more photos with me in.

And lastly, some layouts. The first two are using the via airmail kit from Studio Calico.

George in Sri Lanka, 1998. And below is our first stop on the Big Trip of 96-97, Sanur in Bali. Those were the days.

The layout below uses the Confections kit from Studio Calico. Love all the bright colours.
And this is using a gorgeous kit from Little Red Scrapbook.

changes

2008-09-14T22:23:00.005+01:00

Looking back from one year to the next; Katy's first day of reception and year one. Look how much she's grown!

Don't you just love those shiny first-day-of-school shoes. Needless to say they are already scuffed.

Been in a thoughtful mood this weekend since those of us who spend time over at Studio Calico learned of the tragic death of Aleida in a car accident leaving a husband and two young children. She was a huge part of the board and was a lovely warm, kind and oh so funny woman. I looked back through some of my layouts yesterday and she had left comments on nearly every one. Recently on her blog she had been thinking about how she needed to make more of an effort to step out from behind the camera and be in more of her photos, that one day she wouldn't be here and there wouldn't be any photos of her with her kids. Apart from giving me mega shivers, that definitely gave me something to think about. And something to work towards.

My mosaic

2008-09-12T22:22:00.004+01:00

My mosaic, originally uploaded by cathann1.

1. Lake Cathrine Panorama, 2. Colorfull Thai Mini Snack, 3. Joan of Arc, 4. ♫ YO Yo yo, there's no place like a green penthouse... so i told the genie i wanted to be well hung. ^o^ ♫ nah... wildlife from singapore♫, 5. armitage, 6. blissful moment, 7. One Night in Bangkok, 8. mango cheesecake, 9. True Mystery, 10. Clumber Bridge, 11. Bairro Alto de Lisboa, 12. 18. Cathann doin' the Somnambulist Twist

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

I've seen this on a few blogs lately and have always fancied trying out a mosaic, so here is mine. I think it's quite 'me'. It's fun to do.

Here's how you do it:

Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr search. Using only the first page of results, choose your favorite image, copy and paste each of the URL’s into the mosaic maker (4 columns, 3 rows).

The questions:

1. What is your first name? (Cathrine)
2. What is your favorite food? (Thai Food)
3. What high school did you attend? (St joan of Arc)
4. What is your favorite color? (Green)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (Richard Armitage)
6. Favorite drink? (cup of tea)
7. Dream vacation? (thailand)
8. Favorite dessert? (cheesecake)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (novelist)
10.What do you love most in life? (katy)
11. One word to describe you. (calm)
12. Your Flickr name. (cathann)

home from ireland

2008-08-24T09:37:00.007+01:00

Mum's birthday party was great fun. Katy stayed on the daancefloor all night and went to bed at 2am! She was so good throughout the night, especially as she was the only child there.

Here she is looking out at the Shannon waiting for everyone to arrive.

After most of the birthday celebrations were finished, we moved the boat back to its marina. Katy hadn't been on 'her' boat for a while and she really enjoyed it this time. I enjoyed it more too as she was a much better age to understand the safety aspects of it all and was really good.

We went up the Shannon and onto Lough Ree, where Katy enjoyed waving to all the other boats and wildlife spotting.

She then had a go at the helm and took the boat through the markers onto the inner lakes. With a little help of course. The inner lakes were beautiful, it was so quiet and calm. We met more family at the marina and went for a gorgeous lunch in Grogans. I had my usual - steak sandwich and my only Guinness of the trip. Yummy.

It's nice to be home now, we have a week of uniform shopping and last minute sorting to do before life gets back into its normal routine.

been here, done that

2008-08-13T10:17:00.005+01:00

I had a great weekend in London with the girls. It was lovely to be a tourist in my hometown for a change.

I had hoped to take loads more pictures but the day we went on the open top bus tour it was too wet to risk getting the camera out so I only managed a few.

But it was great fun to show the girls London, thankfully they really enjoyed it. i have just about recovered from the late nights.

Below are the first offerings from my new and improved craft room.

one for the grannies

2008-08-06T01:03:00.006+01:00

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I've been meaning to do this for ages - here is Katy's first 5 years. Aww. Just click the photo to see the montage.

what I've been doing while the blog was down

2008-08-04T08:43:00.009+01:00

Welcome to the home of wonky photos! I was super busy and productive befoe the holiday. Here's what I was doing.

holiday photos part 2

2008-08-03T09:15:00.007+01:00

some holiday photos

2008-07-31T23:48:00.008+01:00

Blog back in business. More pics tomorrow.

blog grief

2008-06-15T21:36:00.006+01:00

I've been disconnected for what seems like weeks as I have been incapable of remembering my google and yahoo passwords and have been locked out of here all the while. What have we been up to? Well, we've been enjoying the warmer weather, working on the garden (photos to follow soon) and trying to keep up with Katy's social life. This weekend she had a party, a tea date and chatted in church with more friends this morning. We are so glad things worked out with school in the end; she is so happy there. Getting told off for chatting more and more though.

On the crafting front, I've hardly had the chance to get to my desk, so I'm posting some older pages. The top two were made from my Little Red Scrapbook kit. This one below was part of a challenge I took part in on the Studio Calico forum; basically to scrap a photo from another member. I was sent this beautiful photo by Christi and hope she likes it.

This last one is from this month's Studio Calico kit; I loved the colours here. Katy and Daddy in Legoland.

teeth

2008-05-31T19:42:00.006+01:00

are falling out here. Katy's first tooth came out last week and she has another one wobbling. She was thrilled to find the tooth fairy had visited, and very quick to spend the cash!

We are enjoying having Diane here this weekend, Katy loves having family to visit, especially all the extra attention she gets.

loving the sunshine and the snow

2008-05-07T19:59:00.005+01:00

The sunshine must have come as Katy's freckles are well and truly out. We've been doing well here, just plodding along really. Now the weather is better we've made good use of the outdoor pool at the gym, which has been wonderful.

Over the late Easter holidays Katy and I had some nice days out including two trips to legoland. We were lucky that both days it was really quiet so made the most of it and went on some rides many times. We also had a great day out in London, when we went to the National Gallery, Covent Garden and to Hamleys. Katy really loves going into London, she has far more stamina for daytripping than I do.

We also had snow one Sunday in April.

a day of cropping...

2008-04-20T19:28:00.003+01:00

...must be one of the best ways to spend a Sunday, especially when the weather isn't nice enough to do anything else. I had a great time today at the Ickenham crop, very relaxing!

Tonight it's ironing uniforms and getting ready for back to school tomorrow, Katy can't wait. Not sure she'll feel the same in the morning.

more crafty stuff

2008-04-16T13:55:00.007+01:00

Been having a blastcreating lately, here are a few samples.

a very happy mail day

2008-04-03T20:54:00.010+01:00

I had the nicest surprise this evening - my Studio Calico Easter swap package from April came today, and I was blown away by her generosity. Basically the swap was organised by Rebekah, who linked us up with someone else to send a bundle of Easter loveliness to. I was lucky enough to get paired with April. Look at all this stuff!

April had gone to so much trouble, all the little packages were decorated with these lovely handmade tags, all different (which I am soooo using in my layouts!).This was a fab handmade magic box - April if you read this I'd love the instructions for this!

There are two packs of CTMH stamps.

All these gorgeous handmade embellishments,

and a sofa full of paper from so many different companies.

Look at all this paper! April, thank you so much you made my day.

2008-04-03T20:44:00.004+01:00

I think it's fair to say she had a great 5th birthday. Following the party last weekend we had a chilly but very fun day in legoland on Saturday and then dinner in the evening. On the Sunday (having also been to a friend's party at lunchtime) five friends from nursery came for a princess tea party.

Katy was Barbie the Island princess; we also had an Ariel, 2 Belles, Snow White and Cinderella. Considering they are all in different schools now it was as though they had seen each other only yesterday.

Party girl

2008-03-25T22:30:00.006Z

I can't post any other pictures from Katy and Sinead's party as they are filled with their friends' photos. I have cropped as many as I can, and I promise to remember to take more pictures of her on her own over the weekend. But it was a big success, we had 30 children in all and they had a great time. The entertainer was excellent and it ran so smoothly. This was Katy's default expression during the day.

solo fishy

2008-03-12T18:44:00.004Z

OK, so now we're down to one fish. Shrek is all alone in his tank now. Oh well.

Here's some crafting stuff

Donegal photos

2008-03-09T12:12:00.003Z

We had a lovely time in Donegal, and didn't let the weather spoil our enjoyment. It really is a beautiful place, sadly the rain and wind meant I couldn't get many good pictures. The wedding was great fun, it was nice to see everyone.

Katy and I have been ill since we got home, as have our poor fishies. Let's just say we now have 3 instead of 6 fish. But after some quick emergency work, Shrek and the girls are looking better. Edited to add: Shrek and the girl look OK.

it's much brighter in our garden today

2008-02-20T15:42:00.002Z

The now infamous tree looked like this in August

Like this after an hour of work

and like this by lunchtime.

its days are numbered

2008-02-18T08:09:00.004Z

The mammoth tree finally comes down this week, and we will have light. We're cutting it down to the trunk, so it will still be alive, just not wrecking ours and next door's gardens! I'm going to try to take photos of the process on Wednesday.

our new additions

2008-02-17T19:01:00.003Z

After many months of waiting....

...Shrek and Fiona came home. We also have Pinky Pie, Treasure, Valentine and Star, but they're not so easy to photograph.

Princess Fiona:
and Shrek (not the brightest fish in the tank, I must say!):

Thankfully they seem to be happy and healthy in their new home.

where did the month go?

2008-02-07T18:09:00.001Z

It feels like January just flew by and like we didn't do a whole lot, but I guess that's what Januarys are like in general. We had a nice weekend with the Ingles and I had a lovely day at the scrapbooking retreat organised by Sam. But that's really been it, apart from more decorating and quite a lot of gym sessions and slimming world! Again.

I've been very busy crafting this month, here are a few more layouts.

some layouts

2008-01-21T18:58:00.000Z

So little happens in January, I don't have much to share, so here are a few layouts.

start with this......

2008-01-12T13:26:00.000Z

.... a canvas and a bit of paint....

and thanks to inspiration and products from studio calico, end up with a calendar like this...
So this is what I've been doing this week.

Christmas photos

2008-01-03T21:17:00.000Z

A few holiday photos, firstly Christmas Eve

and a very excited girl just before going to bed.

Not too early in the morning
On our bed opening presents

it was lovely

2007-12-26T22:30:00.001Z

hope yours was too

here's what we've been doing

2007-12-23T18:30:00.000Z

Visiting the Christmas House (the caretaker of a local school does this every year to his house, we only discovered it this year - big hit, we've been 3 times already!)

Choosing a tree, decorating it,

and then posing under it for Mummy's camera.

october afternoon mini album

2007-12-12T14:46:00.000Z

it's beginning to look a lot like...

2007-12-12T10:06:00.000Z

Christmas! I've been having a lot of fun with a Christmas project since the start of the month. Shimelle's Journal your Christmas. It involves a short project each day from 1 December until 6th January which encourages you to make note of what is going on, and to notice all the small details that make your Christmas so special. I've really enjoyed it so far and am reasonably up to date with the daily prompts. The album above will store all my pages, I decided to keep it quite simple and am using a 6" ring binder.

Below is the first page, which is a manifesto of sorts. In it I outline whyI'm doing the album, and I promise myself 15 minutes a day to work on the pages.

These are some of the pages. Above is the page about Christmas cards (spoiled the suprise now for everyone on my card list!), and below is a page looking at winter weather.

This page outlines a perfect Christmas for me-he, she, i and lots of food and decorations!

and the prompt for the page below was around counting down the days. Here I used a hambly overlay to show Katy gazing at her advent calendar and behind the acetate is a close up of the tree on which she hangs her ornament each day.

Another prompt asked us to look at perfect and/or not so perfect Christmas past.

Katy and I are going to buy our tree after school tonight so will try to come back tomorrow with photos of that.