During our Sydney trip everyday was filled with little things and moments that made it memorable that I don't want to forget.
Here are some :)
Mustaches
Talia is obsessed with mustaches at the moment - it makes no sense to me but I guess they are everywhere in fashion so she likes them. She was so thrilled to see this sign at the Rocks one morning and even happier that I let her take one.
Make a pattern
We took a shortcut most days through to Wynyard station to our hotel which involved a couple of escalators. Sof always wanted us to make pattern with our feet and we had to stand one step apart each escalator we travelled on. I had to get a photo.
High Heels
If you know me in real life you'll know I always wear heels and not just little heels serious heels. After the first night I was fighting an ear, chest and throat infection and my sense of balance was totally off. I fell over getting off the ferry. I lamented to Richard that I was going to have to wear flat shoes if I was going to walk as much as we needed to. We bought some that night in a little shoes store on some street somewhere for $20. A very unusual shot for us - all four in flat shoes
Pie Face
We don't have the chain pieface at home - so every single time they saw the stores they announced PIEFACE and would make a "pie face" I finally got them to stop by promising that they could have a pie at the airport on the way home. Of course when they got their pie they had to make the face that the pie had.
Leaves
The last time we were in Sydney leaves were falling. The girls
we fascinated by this because we just don't have falling leaf trees at
home. Imagine their delight that this time it was the same. We loved
walking through the crunchy leaves each day.
Herbs and Veges
All around the rocks in the streets were mini gardens of veges and herbs instead of flowers. I thought this was so lovely. I never saw any restaurateur pop outside and cut some fresh herbs but I would imagine that is what happens.
We have just returned from a lovely week in Sydney. A few months ago I took the girls for a three day whirlwind tour and we loved it so much that we vowed to return again as a family.
With cheap flights from Jetstar and a deal from wotif we spent exactly the same budget as we usually do for our week away each year on the Sunshine Coast. By paying for the flights first , then accommodation well before we left and then only having our spending money it was actually less of a strain on the budget than our usual trip.
We felt we got far better value and saw and experienced so much more than we do when we travel to the Sunshine Coast. I'm now determined to create more holidays in the same way.
If you follow me on instagram or Facebook you will no doubt be caught up with our week away but if not here's some photos for you.
Over the next few days I'll share some of our favorite haunts and some of the cool cheap or free stuff that we did.
I'd love some ideas on places to travel to next so please feel free to add your thoughts.
Last week I decided it would be nice to have a travel journal for both of the girls to take to Sydney. Even if we don't get photos printed we can add some of our bits and pieces that we collect.
I am also aware that when you travel with children there is the constant - what can we do now - which tends to cost more when you are away!
So my plan is to have some down time each evening where they can work in their journals. I checked out spotlight and Amy Tangerine's cute travel books but really there wasn't a lot to them and I wanted a few more pages and more of a "book". Anything I saw online was starting to add up dollars wise so I decided to just make some.
I cut up a heap of 6 x 8 pages and as I was making my own I realised the girls could easily do their own. So they did.
Now they tell me it was the "funnest" thing they have done these holidays. I have also put together a little pack for in each of their bags with labels and stickers, pens, scissors, glue stapler and washi tape. I'm thinking this should cover all contingencies- oh must add a hole punch too!
Some details.
Pages are 6 x 8 - and we have added in some envelopes and cards and lift up bits. Covers are made from chipboard covered with patterned paper and fabrips down the side and then embellished simply so they stay flat. Holes punched though and rings to hold them all in place.
We are very excited to be jetsetting off this is our first ever on a plane altogether family holiday - YAY!
I am writing this post not to gather sympathy so please feel free not to comment I'm AOK. I'm writing for my own record and as a gentle reminder that there is no such thing as it's all over. Been there done that got the pink ribbon.
Ofiicially I am in remission. I'm in the reconstruction phase and apart from the hiccups with my last surgery I am at the point now where I am being infilled and working towards the final surgery of implants. It's all good.
It's actually rather ouchie and I'm yet to kick the pain killers but in the scheme of all the things I have been through this is bearable.I see the light at the end. This is last hurdle to endure.
Sunday afternoon I went for a lie down. I have been feeling under the weather with a bit of a flu head cold thingy that my lovely daughters share with me. It's turned to asthma and I'm feeling generally blah.
As I lay down I felt a weird twinge in my right breast and thought ouch. And then it happened again. And then time stood still.
It was the exact same sensation I had each time I had a tumour. I have spoken numerous times about how my tumours hurt and pulse. It was so far out of left field that I didn't recognise it at first.
I kept it to myself all afternoon. Then finally before I didn't fall asleeep I told Richard. Who also then didn't fall asleep. I know I'm kind like that.
Monday is a surgery day for my surgeon so while I was able to get an appointment for Tuesday at 2.30 I had a whole day to wait.
Each time it pulsed I stopped breathing.
I knew if it was what it felt like it would be a new primary. That means a new cancer not related ot the the other ones. Because it's in the other side - where I have no breast tissue where it shouldn't be.
I've tried to stay calm. I didn't want anyone to know - especially not the girls. I'm sure friends and family are sick of the what now phone calls. But I do have one friend who msged with me back and forth and we made a whole slew of things that it could be. God bless her.
Finally I had my appointment.
I wish I could say that a weight has been lifted and its all fine but its undetermined at the moment.
My Dr is amazing he always listens and check exactly where I say. He tells me I'm not crazy and that I'm right to check.
We found a pocket of fluid which could be pressing against the expander which has folded in on itself. Its very close to my heart which could be causing the pulsing sensation almost like water ripples. The next few weeks will tell with the fluid being absorbed. The good news was there was no obvious great big black spot appearing on the screen as it has in the past.
So for now we wait. I have put infills on hold and he is happy with that. If it doesn't settle itself then I'll head off for a better scan and MRI. I'm comfortable with that.
So now I go back to planning our holiday and trying not to worry. If only I could shake this cold thingy too - I missed my run this morning!
Later this month we are travelling to Sydney for a week - so excited. Last year the girls and I went for three days and I found we had some down time each afternoon when I just couldn't keep walking seeing doing. It was some of the time we enjoyed the most coming back to our room chatting about what we had seen and planning our evening and next day. I thought this time I'd love to keep a travel journal and get the girls to do one too.
So far I have thought of a little pencil case for each of us with journalling pens washi tape stapler label stickers glue sticks. I'm on the fence about taking my selphy for easy printing or I may just google and see where we can do some printing in the city if its close enough to our hotel.
I have had this pinned on my board forever - so minus the camera - they can use their touches or my phone- but this kind of idea
PROJECT
: A Scrapbook On The Road is simply a small album you put together
prior to a trip that allows you to document your travels as you are
experiencing them.
I love this idea of making something before we go so that we can just pop things in as we go along. OR should I go more traditional and get a Kikki K style one for the girls ???
Last year I was so excited to start project life - I did one double page layout in November.
Then I stopped.
I started my December Daily.
Then I stopped.
Then I did six weeks of project life from January - MINUS the journalling - just printed photos and put them in and left notes on what I wanted to say.
I KNOW I have plenty of reasons not to beat myself up on the why I didn't get on and do it. I really didn't feel creative at all during that time.
That being said I did keep up my blog and taking photos on my phone. I documented my whole cancer journey and the story of our lives as we struggled to keep things as normal as we could.
This year is different. I really want to do PL. I love the concept it's like 'old day' scrapbooking. You can't help but be inspired by the creative team. Their pages are really lovely.
But more than any of that my girls are growing way way way too fast. As much as it bothers me and we truly do not dwell, also flitting through my mind is the unknown of how many more years I'll have to take these photos and tell these stories. Life has a way of throwing me curve balls.
I had a few people nagging at me and my own head saying do it you have everything you need and more. I am realistic enough to know that weeks get busy when I'm back at work and there is still surgery and recovery to come - I also have a marathon to prepare for :) I still waivered.
I googled and pinned and read blogs and procrastinated.
What have I done that has worked? Dec Daily - failed so many times - but this year - Photos on my phone - to my icloud and digital template.
Done.
Chemo cancer blah - photos on my phone - documented either on my blog or more recently on facebook, through instagram.
Done.
So there is my magic formula - this is what works for me. Phone photos automatically saved so no mucking around with uploading. I did however want to play with paper and pretty things so digi wasn't the answer.
Who has pages that I love to look at?
I am inspired by Cathy Zielske ( neat simple everyday stories ) I love the colours of Liz Tamanaha ( cute kids! simple great templates ) But I'm more Marcy Penner in the shabby chic style than Cathy and Liz ( can't cut straight so save my life ) with the exception that I hate my handwriting and I dont have one of those amazing cutters to cut out words etc.
SO I came up with the following process
Iphone pictures saved automatically ( no I'm not ruling out getting out my camera occasionally but mostly it will be phone because I already do that all the time)
Design done digitally - so I can slowly add to it as I do photos
Simple embellishments - shop my stash pop it all in a box and make it work don't go searching for just one more thingy.
Journalling done digitally.
Print it out
If you follow me on instagram or facebook you'll know I'm finished my first week and title page YAY.
I won't gloss - first double page took me hours but that's because I was mucking around with journalling boxes trying to work out sizes and creating templates and then half way through I changed my mind and started again.
It's hard to get a decent photo of pages when they are in the albums - I'll need to work on that so for now here is my digital mock up.
( you can click for bigger if you'd like to read the journalling )
I printed my title page photos on my little Canon selphy - best printer so tiny but the main pages I took my photos to Camera House today and had them printed matte for 19c each. My journalling I printed onto white cardstock from officeworks A4 size on my Canon pixma which I have had for years. As you can see I added no embellishments to my main pages as I had plenty just from photos and stories. Title journalling cards are from Cathy Zielske freebies which I just edited to suit a colour I liked.
Now I am all good I have my formula worked out. Bring on next week I say!
Are you still on the fence - are you thinking you may want to do this but you don't know where to start ?
Like all projects.
JUST START - Don't over think it. Do your title page - print some photos of everyone.
Don't have any you really like ? Do what I did - line them all up (at 9.00pm no light !) no make up no pretty matching clothes and take them one at a time.
Ignore the grumbling.Take your own. Swap them to black and white. Don't forget your furbabies :)
Make sure you put something like 2013 Project Life telling our story or some such somewhere on it. Done.
Other things I have had people say to me are that they are doing
One page a week (instead of two)
One page a month
Only using instagram photos
Just doing it on their blog/facebook
Setting a time frame - like Sunday night (Cathy Zielske does this - she sets a certain time each week to work on it
Setting a certain amount of time and then what's done is done
Miss a week? Skip it do the next week don't worry about catching up.
Making this their only creative thing - this is their "hour or two a week me time"
All I can suggest is make it work for you because it's your life your story your memories. I look back at my attempt last year and I'm genuinely really sad that I didn't get it done. I don't want 2013 to be the same.
I'd love to know if you are joining in :)
I am aware that quite a few of my readers these days don't come from my scrapping days so if that is you and you are thinking what the ?
Run and grab your iphones there is a new app in town that you so can not live without.
1.It's free
2.You no longer have to carry any of your loyalty cards with you!
Spotlight Myers One Everyday Rewards Cine Buzz Katies and many more!
No more fiddly around I think I have it - it was in this purse- I must have lent it to my husband grrrr
Stocard I think originated in the UK and has a version for Australia - Many of our cards are listed and more importantly you can just add your own
Like Cafe Crema :)
Simple to use - find the loyalty card scan the bar code and your cards are all there on your phone - you just open the app and show it as the register.
YAY I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about this. I now carry 35 less cards in my wallet!
##### Edited #### I just had a question about what data the app collects! Good question so I checked it out for you :)
What kind of data does Stocard save?
The safety of your data is very important to us, therefore we do not collect
any data on your purchases. We do collect some anonymous usage
statistics. To optimise our website for a better user experience, we are
running Google Analytics.
There is nothing I love more than new stationery. My daughters have inherited the same gene which is really lovely because its so fun when we have similar likes.
Yesterday we headed out to get back to school shoes and runners and to check out the stationery. They are at a school where all stationery is supplied so it's wonderful I don't have to hunt for obscure size lined books. We just get to do the fun things like buy a cute pencil case and some pretty pens. This year we are on a crazy strict budget so I was really dreading it.
BIG W is our place of choice for school shoes and lunch boxes. I bought the girls "No Name" school shoes there last year for $18 and they lasted all year and the girls liked them. This year we bought size 8 - eeek that is freaking me out I am a size 6.
We tried on these joggers and we have bought them before
But we saw some better ones on special from $30 to $10 so went with those instead. All popped on layby with their lunch boxes and stationery. I did have to get myself some nice new pretties though as I do have some projects on the go.
We flitted from Big W to KMart for stationery and for a grand total of $7.50 here are my goodies.
Highlighters 4 in a pack and pretty colours $2 Big W
Bic pens $2 Big W
Glitter Pencil Case $2 Big W ( for work )
Glitter Gel Pens 50c yes 50c for the whole packet from Kmart
Silver pencils $1
They are all sat ready for a year of crafting and planning.
I don't know about your family but honestly mine drives me crazy with the what can we have to eat during holidays . I know of some families who pack lunch boxes and say that's it. I have seriously thought about it but to be honest I like a good snackage too!
Now that the umm christmas shortbread ( so not clean even though I made it myself - that makes it kind of clean right?) is gone, it's time to start searching up some new yummy healthy stuff to keep my two munching girls happy. On our to try list is
I have had a couple of questions about my snapfish album ( Hi Dee! ).
I have made a number of them over the years and I find that they are simple enough to use and also quite affordable if you find a coupon code.
You can either use their templates and drop all your photos in and edit readily.
Or if you'd like to do what I do and make your own pages then there is a little trick to it.
I usually choose the soft cover ( cheapest one ) and the 20 x 20 cm - because it suits the scrapbooker in me :) So any digital pages that I have created can be dropped straight in.
That being said for my December Daily I chose the 20 x 28 because that fitted the template style I chose.
SO first up create all your pages and save them as jpgs.
Then go to create your book.
Choose your style.
You'll be prompted to upload your photos. Navigate to where they are saved and upload them.
Then choose your album.
Next you'll be asked to choose a theme - if you have already created full pages this is irrelevant so I always stick with classic.
You'll notice that the book already has a preset layout.
On the left hand side is options for layouts. Choose the one photo one.
Now you can click and drag the single one photo to the whole page. Do this through your whole album.
Now you can go back and add your pre made pages.
Tada one completed album.
My last tip is to always google for a discount code - it's pretty rare not to find one that is valid!
Hope that helps - If you get stuck just ask and I'll do my best to solve it for you.
Welcome to my blog, I am so happy you came to visit. I share the stories of my life creating, documenting and loving as a Mumma to twin girls. I am navigating a clean eating lifestyle as I run towards being a breast cancer survivor.
