Another eventful month starting with my Mother's 70th birthday party, which we had at my Sister Hellie's place. We both prepared the buffet lunch on Sunday, and all the family were there along with some of mum's close friends, including her very best friend which she has had since the 60's when she was nursing. Their friendship has certainly stood the test of time. My sister made and decorated the cake (with a little help from a friend), and I organised some hellium balloons which I tied photographs of mum to (at different ages and stages of life). Here are some pics:
Mum with all her grand children:
Mum with her best friend Sylvia - we have always called her Aunty Sylvia - she's also Hellie's God Mother:
Jazz had the pleasure once again of representing the school in the Zone Cross Country Carnival in the 10 year girls category. Luckily it was a nice day:
During the second weekend of May we did a weekend trip down to Sydney and stayed at the Mercure Hotel on Broadway. We spent Saturday shopping - the girls had all their pocket money from last term with them so they were keen to shop - Diva, Smiggle and Pandora are their favourite shops to visit. I also picked up some new jammies for them from Peter Alexander - the girls love going to look at the upside down bed in the new Westfield shop in the Pitt Street Mall. The main reason for our visit however was a trip to Dave's fav restaurant - Braza, a Brazillian restaurant that serves lots of meat. We were also lucky enough to be there for the Brazillian Dancers that night as well:
Michelle and Mark also joined us for dinner with their four boys. I love this picture - we are all having a great time - Jazz is a little pre-occupied with her iPad though!
The boys enjoyed a few too many of these Toblerone cocktails!
Mark likes to use his hands to explain things - I like to think that he is saying "I'm going have this much meat!":
Eliza and Jazz were most impressed with the Brazilian Dancers (as were Dave and Les for some reason - not sure why? Perhaps it was the amount of cheek showing at the back!). Eliza was so impressed with the outfit that she asked me if she could have one. I believe I said words to the effect of "Over my dead body!":
On the Sunday we did the ferry trip over to the Zoo and had a lovely day at the zoo (although it was a tad windy in the afternoon):
Julie with the girls on our walk down to Circular Quay to catch the ferry :
The crew on the ferry:
the girls on the lizard outside the snake exhibit - it was one of our favourites as it was cold outside and the snake exhibit was warm (I'm not a huge fan of snakes but if they're behind glass it's all good!)
The girls always always get their pictures taken behind the ears - I will have to do a layout with all the pictures so you can see the changes over the years!
Daniel our Nephew also celebrated his 12th birthday - once again we joined the Holloways at their place for a family lunch and cake. The girls are never far away, when it comes to the boys (their cousins), especially if there are birthday candles to be blown out. We had to relight the candles for Dan - Eliza was a little fast off the mark.
Poor Dan was surrounded by all his girl cousins:
Photography and Scrapbooking
Firstly - I was very excited this month to have a bit of a feature on the Big Picture Classes blog. As you know already - I do a lot of courses with them (I mean a lot) - keeps me motivated and inspired. So I was very excited to see this post during May.
I am doing a black and white photography class at the moment through Big Picture Classes, taking different types of pictures - here are a couple of the pics I have taken so far this month - and a little explanation of what I was trying to achieve:
Black and White Architecture:
Over exposed parts of the photographs - where they are more white and a little ethereal:
Piano Keys - Photography with Lines:
Repetition:
Texture of Textiles (this one was taken using Instagram on my iPhone):
In Contrast (this one was also taken using Instagram on my iPhone):
I continue to scrapbook. I have at last finished doing all the layouts for the Beginners Classes for work. So now I can relax and do some of my own scrapbooking.
I recently got the girls pictures pack from their School photographs. I like to scrap these as soon as I get them, and this year is no exception. I love how Jasmin has the same sweet smile on her face every year, and Eliza has the same cheeky smile on her face every year. So reflective of their personailities!
Eliza and I came across this photograph last term, when Eliza had to do a talk each week about growing up. The first week was about what they were like as babies. Eliza used to fall asleep anywhere - including in the middle of the playroom floor! I realised I hadn't scrapbooked the photograph, so I did!
I loved these Autumn pictures I took with my iPhone and instagram (with the exception of the main photo which I took with my DSLR). I can't wait for the weather to get warm enough to just go for walks with the girls in the suburb taking pictures and playing at the parks!
I did this really simple layout about Eliza and her not being a morning person. Something I want to remember just in case she changes over time.
Another Cartooning Camp layout - this one on Eliza this time. Love the drawings that she did, I included my favourites in the journalling - I especially like Hello Kitty and Pink Panther. Apparently both girls are keen to do a Drama Camp the next school holidays!
This layout documents the fact that I have more time with my gorgeous girls - now that I work 30 hours a week, I know that I will look back on this time of my life with no regrets! It's great working school hours and being there for my girls before and after school:
Reading
The reading continues, this month I have read:
35. Melissa Marr - Wicked Lovely Book #4 - Radiant Shadows
36. Melissa Marr - Wicked Lovely Book #5 - Darkest Mercy
Must admit I was glad that was the end of that series - I enjoyed the first two books, but she probably could have left it at a trilogy!
37. John Grisham - The Broker
OK read - but not super exciting or rivetting!
38. Jim Butcher - The Dresdon Files Book #1 - Storm Front
The series "The Dresdon Files" was based on this. Not a bad story - but I listened to the audio book of this one and I really didn't like the narrator much at all.
39. E L James - Fifty Shades of Grey - Book #1
40. E L James - Fifty Shade of Darker - Book #2
This is a trilogy, which were recommended as books for mother's day. Not sure I would want my mum reading these though. They are raunchy, lots of bondage etc. A little too much raunchiness, find myself wishing for a little more plot. I am a finisher completer though, so I will endeavour to finish the series (especially since I bought all three books!).
41. Laurell K Hamilton - Cerrullan Sins - Book #11 Anita Blake
Think I'm going to have a long break from these books - getting a bit same-same. Too many other books to read I think!
42. Paul S Kemp - Star Wars Old Republic - Deceived
This is what is essentially another book set in the Star Wars universe. I have read a few of these types of books in my lifetime - however I haven't read on in quite a while. I am actually listening to this one on my iPhone as an Audio Book - and I guess the best thing about it - is not the story, but the special sound effects that they have added - light sabers, wind, space craft, battles etc etc. Quite entertaining. Having said that, I probably won't read any more of these books for a while!
I will admit to starting another book which I got about one third of the way through before I realised I was reading book 3 of the trilogy when I should have been reading book 2! Thought there was a bit of a gap in the plot LOL! So I will start reading book 2 - The Temporal Void by Peter F Hamilton before I read the last two thirds of book three!!!
Cooking and Eating
We have had some many wonderful meals over the last month - but I have to say that a couple of our favourites were an All Day Breakfast - for Dinner (Eliza thought I was a little crazy as we hadn't done this before at home - but she loved it), another favourite was Eliza's dessert which she made - layers of meringue, chocolate, berries and cream. She also cooked a vegetarian pasta that night as well, which we all really liked. Another favourite was Jazz's decision to make cold rock ice-cream one night - she went into the supermarket herself and bought the ingredients while we waited outside, as she wanted it to be a surprise. Such a nice surprise as well!
This month we have probably gone to a restaurant once a week - I highly recommend Braza at Darling Harbour in Sydney - it's $49 a head for adults (half for children) for all you can eat side dishes as well as the meats/pineapple/haloumi/fish they bring around on large skewers and cut off at the table for you (24 in total I think). We also ate at Ban Thai in Goulburn to celebrate one of our staffers birthday's. It is a great little Thai restaurant. We also ate at Alto Restaurant- Black Mountain Tower in Canberra for Dave's Aunty Margaret's birthday. It is very expensive here, small serves - and you need to eat three courses to feel vaguely full - but the food is nice, the plus for this restaurant is the view of Canberra as the restaurant rotates around. We also ate at Zefferelli's in Belconnen after a late afternoon Doctors appointment which didn't finish until after 6pm. A decent Italian feed - the girls shared a rather large lasagne! And lastly, we ate at Belluci's in Dickson - we love eating here.... met Les and Julie for a Sunday lunch before ordering for the Video Shop. I had the lamb shoulder which was beautiful - but it's hard to go past their Salt and Pepper Crusted Beef Fillet!
Well - that wraps it up for this month - hope June is a little warmer!
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