BIG DAY OUT

Great day, great inspiration and great company.

Caedence Rose

Welcome

Today was a very emotional and proud day as I watched my second grandchild come into the world (and I am still very teary writing this post) At 8 minutes past one she arrived safe and sound into mummy's arms, Zoe done an amazing job. I am so very very proud. Welcome to the world little one (she has no name yet, but will keep you posted)

A new baby is like the beginning of all things-wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities.

Not An Ordinary Day

• I am not at work -


• Annika Stayed at our house last night


• Annika is getting ready for school at our house


• Aunty Naomi is taking all the children to school


• Zoe has been having contractions since 1pm yesterday


• Zoe is still at home


• We are all waiting to welcome a new baby into the family


• I am so excited

WARNING - No photo with this post - it would have been UGLY

OK so the story goes......... 9 years ago before I met Pete, I was very much in to gardens and would spend whole days in them. Living in the Hunter Valley in a beautiful heritage home I had grand cottage gardens that adorned gorgeous tulips, stocks and Lillie's just to name a few and that's where my passion was. Upon moving to Brisbane, our gardens are very much different, more tropical, don't need allot of work and Pete tends to the needs of our yard. I am too busy spending time with my friends and my favourite past time............ In saying this I spent the afternoon and night with these wonderful women, so Sunday morning, I thought I would help out.

Feeling a little guilty (notice I said little) I noticed the bush in front of our bedroom window needed a little trimming so I said to Pete, I am going to do some pruning this morning...
Pete, no its alright I am just going down the road to get a new bolt and I will do it when I come back.
Lorna - no no its OK I can do it, so he went and got me the trimmers, Lorna starts trimming away, cause anyone can trim a tree - right? and besides I have done it all before, Its just been about 3 years, there were a couple I couldn't cut cause they were a little thick, so Pete went and got the little hand saw and started helping me. I was just happily trimming away.......................

Next thing, trimmers are flying through the air, Lorna's jumping around the front yard holding on to my hand saying a few choice words, over and over and over again. Yep Lorna cut straight through a wasps nest and the bustards got me and where chasing me. Shit they hurt (stop it, I can hear and almost see you all laughing)

Pete thought I had chopped my finger off, the way I was carrying on and that was after he finished laughing and said thank god the dog wasn't near me cause I would have stabbed the poor thing, and shit hours later my hand still hurts like hell, Its still swollen and I'm still whinging (lol)

So, the motto to that story is, stick to the things that you love in your life right now, don't feel guilty and don't do something you really don't need to!

Happy Mothers Day to all the wonderful amazing mothers out there!!

A wonderful weekend in Port Macquarie with great friends and our wonderful family..... thank you for such a great time....love you all.

How Did You Spend Earth Hour?

Normality!!

This past weekend, has left me feeling as though I have finally got some normality back in our life's. After a sudden and rushed trip back to the Hunter, and a few other hiccups through Feb and beginning of March, things are easing, (It has helped having 4 days off) Saturday we took a trip to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary with little miss Annika and JJ,what an absolute great day we all had. JJ done the extreme and tackled the flying fox and absolutely loved the thrill, when we got home, I went off to Flourish and scraped all night with the girls ( I really needed the girlie chat time, thanks girls)On Sunday I slept in, I enjoyed an afternoon nap and watched a movie. mmmmm I haven't relaxed like that for months. Hope everyone is enjoying the week.

Take Care

Moonlighting

Such a wonderful evening spent with such amazing and inspiring women, 16 lovey people attending Flourishes first Moonlighting event and it was a huge success. It was great to see everyone again and I look forward to the next one.....

Take Care
Lorna
xx

Got it all sorted!!

My room that is, I have been so busy lately making so many layouts and stuff for the shop that my scrapping room got very badly neglected,(well it has for he last 6 months) and let me tell you I didn't have much scrapping space left on the table, so after a good day spent sorting and cleaning.

I feel inspired again.......... inspired to make another mess, thought I best take a photo whilst it is clean for 5 minutes.

Take care

xx

Roses are Red

Happy Valentines day to everyone and hope you all had a wonderful weekend............

I woke to these gorgeous flowers and chocolates from my wonderful man, and yes he really is wonderful and in so many ways, too many to count!!

Remember to hug those around you and tell them that you love them.

Take Care

XX

It Got Better

Well after a little setback earlier in the week - re last post and a couple of other little things, the rest of my week got better. Lorraine one of my great work mates left us on Friday, however the celebrations begun on Wednesday - and I am not too sad that she is leaving us, because we are also friends outside of work so we will see each other again. The building Manager and his off sider took us for lunch on Wednesday to Belle Epoque Cafe in the Emporium and let me tell you I had the best Peppered Eye Fillet you can imagine, melt in your mouth moment. check out the link http://www.belleepoque.com.au/ and if your ever in the Valley, its a must visit. Lorraine and I enjoyed it so much that we went back on Friday for lunch on her last day, that was after the scrumptious farewell morning tea we held for her. After work we all headed to the Fringe Bar for Drinks, http://www.fringebar.net.au/ than onto the Lunar Lounge on James http://www.lunarlounge.com.au/ what a great night was had by all, thanks guys for making me laugh, Lorraine its not goodbye its see you later, you are such a wonderful person and I look forward to many many more BBQ's, outings and great times. Hope everyone had a great week and here's to an even better one heading your way.

Lorna

xx

Final Moments

On Tuesday night I received a call to let me know a dear person who I used to work with had died, from a very short battle with cancer. Yep he only found out not to long before Christmas, and it started with a cough, just a simple little cough, that wouldn't go away. My heart immediately went out to the family for their sudden and sad loss. Ray you were a husband, a father, a grandfather, a son, a brother, a cousin, a uncle. Most of all you were a great friend a wonderful person with a great sense of humor, a gentle and caring soul. Ray, you will truly be missed by so many, however you will always be remembered for what you gave.

It really amazes me that there are so many people out there that are struggling to hold on to their life, to their last breath, to the ones they cherish, they have so much strength and courage. Than their are people that just hold on to the small and insurmountable things that at the end of the day, really don't matter really are uninportant and yet they feel the need to squabble and fight over those things. It is at times like this, that always makes us reflect on life, what is important to us, to our families and our friends, what makes us happy and the people around us happy. Take the time to say I love you............its important, and don't worry about the little things. Life is way to short.

My life changing announcement

OK, I know you have been waiting......and the life changing news is.....I'm teaching again, and I feel inspired by the most amazing brand new store, Flourish, ScrapArte Studio. Now ladies if you want to see a shop full of elegance and style, filled with the latest styles and trends, and just waiting for all the new CHA products to come in. Its a must see and I promise you, you will definitely be enthralled.... Friday night 30Th January was the opening night, (see photo overload) the store was filled with 70 wonderful people, champagne, finger food, games and prizes,as talk and laughter rang through the store.
Congratulations Jan and Ruth on your store opening, you should be so proud, you have worked so hard and the store is gorgeous, may you have many wonderful years ahead of you. We look forward to watching the store evolve. it is a wonderful privilege to be apart of the teaching team.
Keep an eye on this blog for an update of my/other upcoming classes which will also be linked through the store,
http://www.flourishstudio.com.au/
And the address to this wonderful store is
3/12 Kenrose St, Carina
(just a couple of minutes from Carindale shopping centre)
Shop Hours - Monday to Saturday 9.30 to 5pm (closed Sundays)

So for all you scrapaholics out there, my Challenge for you this week is to pop into Flourish and have a look, go on I dare you, you won't be disappointed, I promise.

Well Australia day was celebrated at Byron Bay this year and a wonderful day was had by all. Shopping in the morning and beach in the afternoon photo's below. Schools back yeah and my darling boy went into grade 9 with ease and my beautiful Annika started school, why do they have to grow up so fast and she was sooo cute. Something exciting is happening for me tomorrow, that will change my life..again, in a good way though and will update with more detail on Saturday. Until than I hope everyone is enjoying there week.

Take Care

xx

Happy Birthday

To all you Australians out there, Happy Birthday, Hope your day is filled with family and friends, lots of BBQ'S and a few drinks to celebrate. Whatever you are doing today, have a great one

Happy Birthday Australia and Happy Birthday to me........................... (photo courtesy of the Miss Deb)

In the wee hours of the morning

It just came to me,can you believe it, my morning usually starts at 5.40am with the sound of the alarm, this morning was different, I woke before the alarm by the sound of one word. That one word just rang out in my head and woke me up, my eyes popped open.........that's it, that's my word, I couldn't believe it my word woke me up, so without any further ado my word for 2009 is...... Courage. It baffled me all morning, and as I drove to work trying to work out why this word came to me. For every meaning I came up with I couldn't make it suit what I wanted it to,that is until I got to work and looked up the meaning and here it is

Courage(noun)

Quality of being brave

the ability to face danger, difficulty, uncertainty, or pain without being overcome by fear or being deflected from a chosen course of action

That's Perfect exactly what I wanted, I was so excited. This year I am going to have the courage to change my ways, I am always the softie, always giving in (even if I don't want to) and feeling guilty afterwards..........not this year, nope If I can't do or I'm not free, than that's it.......no guilt's, no, well, maybe because you want to.......So its the courage I need to pull this off. (wish me luck) So welcome 2009 and welcome Courage.

Blog..Blog...What Blog??

OK girls I hear you..............Promise to myself this year.............Blog more often!!(think I can do it) So as you may or may not have read, Briohny filled you all in about how I have been on the Greek Isles with my lovely Pete feeding me grapes and wine, Oh and naked of course (lol), Where is that bloody lotto win anyway surely it must be my turn. (dreams are free) Oh and thanks for the tip because seriously I think November and December had fallen off my calendar because they are just gone, no, really, I can't find them anywhere, however we are still in January so I'm safe there. OK,OK for those that I have not caught up with for a while I will go back a little, November and December were both whirlwind months as I am sure everyone felt a little the same way. In November my beautiful Girl turned 18, had her formal and graduated from year 12, extremely proud mum, She is a very talented and inspirational person, love her enormously.

December, well with Christmas parties, shopping and a little more shopping a wonderful day spent with Heidi Swapp thrown in there, catch ups with work and than Christmas...........Christmas was to be a little different for us this year and by no means our traditional year, It was the first Christmas ever I spent away from Zoe and Annika as they went to Melbourne, so we had our family Christmas day at Narrell's on the 21st Dec, a wonderful BBQ feast, we than headed for Port Macquarie, in the wee hours of Christmas eve morning arriving there around lunch time. set up camp (as we camped in Pete's mums back yard) once all done we relaxed for a while, popped over to see my mum and sister as she drove down from Brissie as well, than on to Karen's and back home to a reasonably early evening, woke Christmas morning to open the pressies, bacon and eggs for breakfast, relaxed a little more, went to Pete's aunty's for lunch with all the family, home again for a little afternoon nap.mmmm love naps, than on to mums and the beach for Christmas dinner, chicken, champagne and prawns on the beach whilst watching the kids swim and play was a superb and totally relaxing way to top the day off, absolutely loved it. The next couple of days were filled with a little shopping but mostly the beach, I got to stay a great night at Karen's and yes we drank a little tooo much and there were lots of Christmas cheer that evening. We went on to Cessnock for the next couple of days staying with our old neighbours and visiting wonderful friends. Justin Makes mean homemade pizza's...........yummmo. Than back to Port, packed up the tent and car, beach and headed home for a relatively quiet New Years Eve, which was spent at home with family and friends.

The rest of our holidays were spent cleaning out cupboards, cleaning windows, painting and catching up on all the things you just don't have time to do the rest of the year, we did however put in some little day trips to the beach at Southport, the Botanic gardens and we went to underwater world. It was a great feeling to have everything back in some sort of order and to feel a sense of clean and fresh to start out the new year.

12th of January marked my first day back at work for 2009, and yes I struggled with the concept. I love being at home, I loved the idea of cleaning and throwing (and still needed a little more time) I loved the sound of no alarm, I loved my house always clean and tidy.......oh and the list could go on. If only I could stay at home and still get paid the same.........wouldn't that be great, although I couldn't do it all the time as it would send my around the twist, I like getting out. I like the stimulation, I like the friendships that you make and I like the thought of learning.
So after a week of settling back in (and yes it took a week) I am ready for another year.

Oh and I almost forgot to share my news, my gorgeous daughter got an OP 8 and got accepted and got her first choice at Griffith university to a double degree, Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Business.

And yep I am the proudest mum in the whole wide world.

I am still deciding on my word for this year, I will have it in the next couple of days, so I will share than. So until then, stay safe, stay beautiful and stay tuned.

Looking forward to a wonderful 2009


Lorna
XXX