Layout Share

Time for another layout share - I know, I haven't done one for a while (apart from the project life pages).

This layout is of the fun time we had creating a gingerbread house. We bought one from Aldi which we could just assemble, it came with the walls, the icing as well as the lollies to decorate it. Its started off a bit disastrously with the walls collapsing about a minute after we put them up! Jazz made us continue though - she's not to be beaten (whereas I would have just eaten the gingerbread and given up!). In the end we had such a great time, it was well worth it. We had a little left over icing - so why not decorate our faces LOL!

This layout includes pictures from my iPhone as well as pictures of the sights of Canberra taken by Jasmin.  We went out for a day and walked from the National Libary down to the Art Gallery and back. Jasmin had our Nikon D90 and took pictures of all the tourist attractions - she included some of these pictures, as well as pictures she took on a photo walk in March, in a calendar which she gave her teacher as a thank-you present at the end of the year. The teacher loved it.

This page was also added to document Dave's traumatic month of surgeries etc. I document the good as well as the bad in my Project Life album.

We started having family movie nights on Friday nights this year - we have seen so many good movies. Mainly movies that Dave and I have already seen over the years, that the girls are now old enough to watch. Our movie nights normally include copious amounts of junk food!

This layout is for Jasmin's album - and includes a picture of Jasmin and Eliza at Hobbiton in New Zealand, posing in front of a hobbit hole. I did a similar layout for Eliza's album a while ago. The famous oak tree from the movies is in the background. We actually got to go into one of the hobbit holes as well. We will be off to the cinemas at some stage over the holidays to see the next Hobbit movie.

This one is for Eliza's School album - love all the watercolours that match the theme which was rainbow day at school.

 Until next time. Di :-)

November Project Life

I thought I should take a couple of minutes to post my completed November Project Life layouts, before December is over!

As you can see November was a very busy month.

 

Week 43 was a lot of fun - the end of October and beginning of November. The girls went trick or treating for the very first time with friends from school. We live in such a wonderful suburb for doing this! On Friday Fiona and I got dressed up and wandered over to the school for a Halloween trivia night, and on the weekend we enjoyed my sister's birthday - I made her a cake this year - had to pick an easy one, as I'm not so good at the cake making!

Week 44 - The big trip to Sydney for Jasmin's appointment at the Sydney Development Centre. We were so pleased with the results. The brain scan is almost all green with patches of yellow, and she is now measuring within normal bounds - so the memory and concentration sections of the brain have developed nicely. We also get to catch up with Mark and Michelle and the kids for the weekend. Jasmin spent a bit of time playing League of Legends with Liam, and Dave spent some quality time with Mark in the garage playing.

Week 45 - We caught up with some friends this week. Saturday night we caught up with Shane and Leanne and their family, and then on Sunday lunch we caught up with Mark and Ness, as well as their parents. we also tried out the Turkish restaurant on the outside of Belconnen Mall.

Week 46 - A bit of a stressful week this week, with David running around to the optimist, eye specialist and then retinal specialist and being operated on for a detached retina. He was put on the organ critical list so had the operation the same day they discovered it. This week was the start of a long journey for Dave, and a very slow recovery. I still managed to go out with the girls on Thursday night for a dinner, attend Eliza's school assembly, and rearrange and tidy up the activity room. Les and Julie have been great during this time, coming to the hospital to visit Dave and also popping over on the weekend to have lunch with us.

Week 47 - I actually did two pages for Week 47, so that I could fit all the pictures in. Poor Dave went back for another operation, after a visit to emergency with a bleeder on the eye and a very sick boy he went under the knife again to drain the eye of blood. We had a weekend planned in Sydney - Di had tickets to see Grease. We were ready to cancel, but the doctor said he could start walking around for short lengths of time, so we decided to go.  Grease was fantastic, and then we had dinner at Braza with Julie and Les, Mark and Michelle and their boys Liam and Shaun.  Afterwards we watched the fireworks at Darling Harbour. On Sunday we had a lovely day shopping. and got some of the Christmas shopping done.

Well - that's done and dusted. just have to add a couple of pics to the last week of December, and then I will be able to post those as well.

 

 

the best of 2013

So 2013 was a pretty good year overall for us, apart from the last month or so. I thought I would take the opportunity to reflect on the year by doing a best of review of things!

Best thing we did in 2013

Definitely our trip to New Zealand would top this list - we spent a very memorable 3 weeks in New Zealand with the girls, and my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. We saw glaciers, waterfalls, fiords, thermal wonderlands, Hobbiton, snow-capped mountains, stunning scenery, vineyards, Maori Cultural Shows, rainforests, lakes, and more.

Most exciting thing we did in 2013

I think the family would agree that the most exciting thing we did this year was speeding down the canyons in New Zealand on the Shot Over Jet boat, at break-neck speeds.

Best Book Author for me in 2013

I found a new author this year - and have started reading two of his series, the Zombie Fallout Series and Indian Hill.

Indian Hill stars a young man called Michael Talbot who finds himself abducted and on-board an alien space vessel fighting in gladiator type games against other humans to the death - games designed to find out our strengths and weaknesses prior to invasion.

Zombie fallout starts out with people getting vaccinated against the swine flu, only to die and become reanimated. It is a day-by-day recount of the Armageddon that ensues.

The reason I like this author - great central characters, stories told with a sense of humour, twists and turns, his ability to build tension and keep you interested in the story. I also loved the narrator he used for the books - he used the same narrator for both series.




Best Books I read in 2013

It's really hard to pick a best book that I have read this year - so I thought a couple were worth mentioning in addition to the Indian Hill and Zombie Fallout books mentioned above. A really mixed bag here, and in no particular order.


This book was written in the 1950's, but for me it stood the test of time. This post apocalyptic novel is slower moving than the books of today, but it still kept me interested.

Essentially a science-fiction murder mystery. Well thought out, with Peter Hamilton's trade mark themes of space travel, long-life, and a gazillion characters. About 40 hours of reading - another EPIC effort.

Young Adult science fiction - a slightly different take on the alien invasion, with teenagers and children as the main characters.

A fascinating insight into the workings of The Company (aka CIA) during the cold war, really a series of stories covering multiple generations. Once I got past the first hour of reading it was totally engrossing.

I listened to this book in our min-van as we travelled around the South Island of New Zealand. Such a beautiful story told over many decades with intertwining stories of multiple characters. It starts with an inn-keeper in the 1960's on the Italian coastline, when he is starstruck by an American actress.

By the end of this book I thought I was reading a James Bond movie on steroids, with a fairy tale ending.  The book is centred around an on-line fantasy game called T'Rain - where fantasy spills out into reality. If I had to pick one favourite this year, this would probably be it - I gave it 4 and a half stars.

Best Series of Books I read in 2013

I have also continued reading books in series that I had started in 2012 or earlier - I think it's a testament to how much I have enjoyed those series. Here is my short-list:

I started this series this year, and thoroughly enjoyed it. A series of espionage books featuring a CIA super-agent called Mitch Rapp. An action packed and fast paced series.



The second book in the Lunar chronicles. The first book was Cinder (based on Cinderella), this one was loosely based on Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale. The difference is that these fairy tales are based in a world where cyborgs exist, and the monsters from the moon led by an evil queen have devious plans for the population of earth.

I have continued reading the Outlander series with the third and fourth instalments of this historical fiction series with a touch of time travel - fantastic reading.

I finished the WWW trilogy by Robert Sawyer - I really enjoy this series of books featuring a sixteen year old blind mathematical genius. This series was about the emerging consciousness of the world wide web - an entity known as Web-Mind.

I find it hard to put these books down - I have read about five of these this year - the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Very much erotic-romance mixed with vampires and the supernatural. Can't wait for her to write more of these - I've run out!

I read the rest of the Mortal Instruments Series, which of course has now been made into a movie series starting with the City of Bones. There is apparently a sixth book of this series coming out.

The Bloodlines series - a spin-off from the Vampire Academy books. I think I actually like this series better. Features the relationship between an alchemist and a vampire. They are releasing the first Vampire Academy movie in 2014 - but I must say it doesn't look anything like I imagined!

I finished reading Michael Grant's Gone Series - a series of six books. One day everyone over the age of 14 disappears and a dome appears over Perado Beach - this series is the story of the children and their fight for survival against starvation, lies, plagues and more. 

I am very much a Preston & Child fan - have read all but two of the Pendergast novels featuring Agent Pendergast of the FBI.

This book was the third installment in the Steampunk Chronicles. Set in 1897 steampunk version of London, and continuing the tales of a young duke and his entourage;s fight against the evil Machinist and his automatons.

Best Restaurants in 2013

My vote is definitely for Soju Girl in Civic. It's located on Northbourne Avenue and is what I like to call new vogue Asian cuisine featuring Asian tapas dishes. Very tasty and innovative. Dave and I enjoy coming here every school holidays when the girls are in Goulburn, and we have taken them here twice as well. Their desserts are also very special - and we normally order a few of them!

My personal favourite is the Smoked Trout in Betel Leaf with Coconut Chilli Dressing:

Dave loves this one, the Katsu of Chicken with Kimchee and Pineapple Caramel:

 And the girls always eat a whole bowl of edamame beans:

We have also enjoyed two really nice meals at the Thai restaurant - just outside of Belconnen Mall - Chong Co Thai. It's a fairly large restaurant - but the service is quick and the food is fantastic.

As far as Sydney restaurants go, it's pretty hard to go past Braza - the Brazillian BBQ restaurant, where you can eat as much BBQ meat and side dishes as you can fit in. There is a selection of 28 different meats. If you are there on Saturday night, you are also entertained with some very scantily clad dancers and drummers (both male and female). This picture is of a recent trip where we went to Braza with our friends Mark and Michelle, and their boys Liam and Shaun. We also went with Les and Julie of course! Jazz will try almost anything once - this time she tried the chicken heart (one of the 28 meats you can try!)

Best Casual Dining in 2013

Two casual dining places stand out for me this year - Grill'd, who do excellent burgers and are located at all the town centres. The girls also love to eat here, especially Jasmin, who enjoys a good burger.

The second place I would recommend is Guzman Y Gomez - a Mexican joint located in Civic (where they also do slushie Sangria and Margaritas), and now opened in Belconnen Mall. Very nice Mexican food! Once again Dave and I tend to eat here when the girls are in Goulburn, and now when we eat at the food court in Belconnen - we will definitely be eating here.

Best Songs for 2013

Looking back over my playlists for the year I've narrowed the best songs down to the following (this is based on how often both me and the girls listened to these songs in the car):

Hall of Fame - The Script
I Cry - Flo Rida
Skyfall - Adele
Beneath Your Beautiful - Labrinth
When I Was Your Man - Bruno Mars
Crazy Kids - Ke$ha
Feel This Moment - Pitbull
Walks Like Rihanna - The Wanted
Thank You - MKTO
Still Into You - Paramore
Acapella - Karmin
23 - Mike Will Made It
Burn - Ellie Goulding
Timber - Pitbull
Warrior - Havanna Brown
The Monster - Eminem
Hey Brother - Avicii

Best Movies for 2013

The best movie for this year for me was definitely Star Trek Into Darkness. I could watch this one over and over.

Other favourite movies released this year included:

Pacific Rim - LOL - what can I say, I just couldn't help liking this one! Probably made it onto a few worst film lists but I loved it.
Gravity - Yes, I know - what a surprise. Dave and I only went to watch this one as there was nothing else showing. Doesn't have huge rewatch value - but definitely a movie to see on the big screen.
Warm Bodies - Warm and Fuzzy Zombie movie, so cute!
The Wolverine - Got to love the Wolvie!
World War Z - edge of your seat scariness and action.
Now You See Me - I really wasn't overly enthused about watching this one, so it was a very pleasant surprise!
White House Down - my guilty pleasure. Not sure what it was about this one, I just liked it!
Iron Man 3 - loves me a good super hero movie
The Croods - this one made me laugh!







Best TV Shows for 2013

There is so much good TV at the moment, but if I had to narrow it down to a couple, my list would be:

1.  Game of Thrones
2.  Person of Interest
3.  The Blacklist
4.  Almost Human
5.  Arrow




Well I think that sums up my best of 2013 - thought I would leave it just as the best of, don't like to dwell on the worst of things myself.

September and October - Where did they go?

I can't believe that it has been a couple of months since I have updated the blog! Where has time gone? We are now on the countdown to Christmas - there's only about 7 weeks left, and I think we should probably start our Christmas shopping now!

I'll try and keep this post short so I can toddle off to bed at a reasonable hour - I have been suffering with a head cold since Sunday, spent the day in bed on Monday, and I am still recovering today.

So, what have we been doing for the last two months? Quite a bit, mixed in with only a couple of weekends at home to just relax. I think we will make it a New Year's Resolution to stay at home a little more.

So here is the roundup for September:

Week 36

During the first week of September we actually had a couple of really nice days. The girls and I got out some chalks which Eliza got for her birthday - and over a couple of nights we did a seaside mural on the floor of the garage. Once this one wears off we plan to do a haunted house mural (this may take a while unless we hose down the garage floor - as it doesn't rain in there LOL).

Travelled to Sydney on the Friday night, to celebrate our friend's son's 18th birthday on Saturday - the weather was great, food and company was great, Shell made some great food, including lots of delicious desserts (pity I wasn't feeling so good that day and didn't get to try them!)

It was back for our Nephew's 16th birthday in Canberra on the Sunday. He had a Thai-boxing themed birthday, and my sister made another great cake for the ocassion.

Week 37

Another week of fairly nice weather. On Tuesday I took the girls out for a scooter ride around the neighbourhood. They really miss riding their scooters to school, which we used to do on Wednesdays to Fridays when I worked at home. My job has changed so now I go in every day, I have to drop them off in the car. So we try to ride our scooters to the shops and just around the neighbourhood whenever we can.

On Friday night we met Dave after work at Belconnen Mall - and went to dinner at the Thai restaurant just outside the mall near the bus interchange. It was a huge restaurant, and it was absolutely packed! The service and the food were great. We will have to go again.

Saturday we drove back to Goulburn for Annie's birthday - our niece, she turned 5, and then it was back to Canberra for Eliza's school friends birthday on the Sunday. It was at Let's Play, so I managed to squish in the grocerry shopping with Jasmin while Dave stayed with Eliza at the party. Jazz is such a fantastic helper these days, and doesn't mind keeping me company!

Week 38

A few activities at school this week - the girls had Rainbow day, so got to dress up in Rainbow colours to go to school, and Eliza's class also hosted the school assembly. Eliza got to present some of her work at assembly and give a short talk (she never gets nervous and is so loud and clear). She also got to hand out the Principal's awards. During the week we also went over to Belconnen to start organising Jasmin's birthday at Zone 3, whilst we were over there I took them to Goodberry's for the first time, and also went to the mall to pick up a couple of fish, which the girls named Mary Sasquatch and Pluto. Unfortunately Pluto only lasted a week, and we had to replace him :-(

Saturday we took the girls swimming at SCISAC and then to see Percy Jackson at the movies, afterwards we tried another new restaurant outside the mall - the Japanese Sushi Train - the biggest one I have seen yet. The chefs actually make the sushi on preparation tables in the middle of the train.

Week 39

The big thing for this week was Eliza's singing performance with the vocal group at school at Floriade - Canberra's flower festival in Commonwealth park. Both Dave and I took some time from work, to go and watch her, it was such a great performance (even though it was bucketing rain and we had to sit on the stage with the kids). On the weekend the weather had fined up some, so we took the girls to Floriade. Highlights included the rides, the huge fairy floss we got the girls, seeing all the beautiful flowers, and painting garden gnomes - for Dave the highlight was checking out the hand-made shops!

Sunday Jazz had to go to a friend's birthday at the cinema to see Smurfs 2. Not one to miss out on a movie, the rest of the family decided to also go and see it - obviously we sat in a different part of the cinema :-).

October

Week 39 - Mark II

(somehow I managed to put two week 39's in my album - I'll have to backtrack and see where I went wrong!).

Week 1 of the school holidays - and week 1 of our roof renovation (the removal of our roof and replacement of the tiles with colourbond).

The girls went back to Goulburn for most of the week, and stayed with Aunty Julie two nights, Nan Bo one night and their cousins/second cousin's house one night. They skyped us every night- I think Jazz is getting more sensitive and misses us more as she gets older. I thought she was meant to miss us less as she gets older. Whilst the girls were away, we had a few meals out (nothing expensive this time around), including GYG mexican, Grill'd and Smoque (American restaurant in the city).

During the week we managed to catch one movie - Gravity, which we initially did not want to go and see, as it didn't look that good. It got good reviews, and there wasn't a lot else to see that week, so we decided to go and watch it, and it was good. Not a watch-over-again movie, but certainly worth watching on the big screen. On Friday we met back up with the girls and Julie and Leslie at Belluci's in Dickson for dinner.

Saturday we caught up with Mel and Kate for a play date at Let's Play (always good for tiring out the kids and getting a good nights sleep!), and on Sunday we had a family outing to the Arboretum as we wanted to see the Bonsai Garden (which was great).

Week 40

Week 2 of the school holidays. Monday was a public holiday again, so we spent the day at home, and got busy in the kitchen cooking cupcakes!  The girls went to Zoocation on the Tuesday - it was feed the giraffe day. They had a great time, and would probably do it again. That night we went to Soju Girl for dinner (one of our favourite restaurants in Canberra - new vogue Asian cusine - they serve Asian tapas dishes). On Tuesday night's it's two for one night - so costs half the price!

On Wednesday the girls did a junior first aid course - great day, and only cost $54 each to do. They came home and proceeded to practise arm slings and bandages on me. On Thursday they spent the day at their cousin's place - and proceeded to demonstrate bandages on my brother and sister-in-law.  Friday - Dave took an annual day's leave and spent the day with the girls. They caught the bus to the mall to watch Turbo.

On Sunday night we celebrated our friend Kate's 8th birthday at an asian restaurant in Gungahlin. I forgot to take photos though Doh!

Week 41

This year Jazz decided to have her birthday with her school mates at Zone 3 - Laser tag. They all had a great time. For a change we had it on a Saturday morning (it was the only really suitable time I could get, even though I booked about a month in advance!) We supplied the food, as it was too early to do the normal pizza party that you get there. Jazz and I spent Thursday and Friday night making "Minecraft" themed food for the party including creeper cupcakes, the Minecarft birthday cake (Jazz made the icing Creeper and piggie), water and grass blocks made of jelly, and other themed food which we did Minecraft tags up for. All the kids were most impressed. They got to play two games of laser tag, before taking home their Creeper lolly boxes.  After lunch that day, we headed back to Goulburn to celebrate little Oscar's birthday - our nephew. He turned 3 - Jane did a great job of the cake, and we all got to enjoy pizza for dinner.

This week the roof was also completed - it looks great. It even rained - but it was a little disappointing as it was quieter than our old roof. I'm sure this has something to do with the fact that we now have sarcing as well as an extra layer of insulation.

Lately on family movie nights (which we have been slotting in wherever we can - as our normal Friday nights haven't always been available), we have been watching the Harry Potter movies, which the girls have not previously seen. They have been loving them - and now want a wand, magic book, and a broom with instructions please.

Week 42

Sorry for the blurry picture!

It was actually Jasmin's birthday this week, so she woke up to a newly decorated bedroom which is what she wanted for her birthday. Previously it was Paris themed, and she wanted it changed to Japanese themed. So we added a new blossom tree wall decal, three canvas prints of pictures I had taken in Tokyo in 2009, we framed a painting from a Korean artist which we got in South Korea and had put in the cupboard and forgotten about, added a new red cover to her previously pink bean bag, added a new artifical blossom plant to her room, replaced the bed linen with black and silver bedlinen with sequins on it, and added an additional red cushion, and finished the room off with a string of light up lanterns across the top of her window. She loved it. That night she got to pick what to have for dinner - and she choose Tuna Casserole and Lemon Jelly Cheesecake (a recipe we got from Nan Bo many years ago, and it's now everyone's favourite).

Lots of bouncing on the trampoline this week as the weather has been OK most days. I spent some time on Saturday sweeping and hosing out the BBQ area - ready for those summer BBQ's. Sunday Dave was busy fixing one of the business computers, so I took the girls out for a while to Lake Birley Griffen to take some photos (Jazz loves taking photographs), we enjoyed an icecream by the lake, and then went and had pancakes at the Pancake Parlour for lunch (the girls had never been before).

Week 43

Ah Halloween. This year we decided not to have the huge Halloween Party we normally do. It normally costs a lot of money to put on, and we thought we best conserve our money this year in preparation for our holiday to Singapore and Phuket next school holidays, and for the fact that I will be looking for another job in February next year.

Lucky - one of Eliza's friends was born in the US, and they go trick-or-treating each year, and invited my girls along.  They had a ball - and our suburb for the last couple of years has been pretty good, with many houses putting out a Halloween decoration if they welcome trick-or-treaters. They came home with a cauldron of candy each (plus I think they looked adorable in their outfits - Eliza was a little devil, and Jazz a Wolf Girl).

On Friday night - my sister-in-law and I got to dress up and go down to the school for a Halloween themed trivia night. We had a great time - all the tables had 10-12 on them, we only had 4 not sure whether the others on our table just didn't turn up). We managed to win the movie round of the trivia, but lost overall (not by much though). Anyway - it was a great night.

Saturday was a tad busy - we got up, made a birthday cake, drove back to Goulburn to visit Jane and Evan, went over to Julie's to do two months of ordering, and then went out to garb a bite for dinner (and managed to bump into Gen and Dom as well). Sunday was an early morning for Dave, as he had to go down to the shop to put in the repaired computer and install some more software - which basically took all the morning (damn computers!). Lunch was a birthday celebration for Hellie's birthday at her place - I thought our Lady Bug cake looked pretty good! The girls also got to blow out a candle each, since their birthdays were also over the last two months and we haven't had the chance to see my family in that time!  Needless to say we were exhausted by the time we got home on Sunday night.

Reading

Since it's been a couple of months, I managed to read a couple of books, although I have slowed down a bit, just don't have the time at the moment.  I really enjoyed the Vince Flynn books - a series of books about an American CIA Assassin called Mitch Rapp - I made the mistake of reading the second book before the first one though (had a blonde moment). I believe there are about 21 books in the series, so these will take me a few years to get through I think. I also enjoyed the last book in the Michael Grant - Gone series. Always enjoy the J.R Ward books, and have gotten a few friends into these books as well. Managed to also read books 2 and 3 of the Mark Tufo Indian Hill series - love his sense of humour and writing style.  The Drowned Cities- was my second Paolo Bacigalupi book - and although well written, just not my "cup of tea".... just too dark and depressing for me!

Well - that's it for me (so much for going to bed early - didn't think it would take this long!). I will endeavour to update the blog a bit more often (but I make no promises). I'm so tired, I'm not going to check my spelling and grammar tonight - so if you find too many mistakes - too bad :-)