its been wobbling since early july … do they usually take that long to come out?? we could even see the new tooth starting to come thru … but finally, this afternoon it finally came out!! check out that smile!! madi is so excited about the tooth fairy’s 1st visit tonite!!

there it is!

showing dad!

madi’s new gappy smile!

my baby is gowing up!

its been a big week – with stockwork, extra people in the house & a busy homeschool program – so today it was nice to have a lazy morning. we both love a chance to lie in bed with coffee & a good book!

things i’ve been reading lately:

* body & soul – an inspirational read! i particularly enjoyed the articles on conscious eating, learning to love your body & living your dreams. plus there are regular articles by people like jennifer louden & cheryl richardson.

* home beautiful – filled with gorgeously decorated homes! i love the 100 year old adelaide house with its fresh white on white look & the trend towards photos as artwork – b&w photos, framed simply & clustered on a wall. there’s also a section on chocolate recipies that looks positively dangerous – for your waistline!! why oh why does chocolate taste so good!

* the da vinci code – yep i’m probably the 2nd last person in the world to read it! (DH is reading it now!) the truth is that whilst i love reading, i haven’t read a novel in years. i’ve flicked thru hundreds of mags & books (mainly scrapping-related) but i could never settle with a novel – until now! i have to say how much i enjoyed reading this book – it was well written – a real page turner! i read it in just over a day – yep! i was completely absorbed (& not very communicative with my family LOL!) which is probably why i’ve avoided reading novels for so long! now i’m interested to see how it’s translated to the big screen. if you’ve seen it, LMK what you thought!

have a great weekend!

… is the theme at blue bazaar this week. i had a lot of fun creating this one & it was great to use some of the KI products i’ve been hoarding!

materials: paper & stickers from KI memories hopeful line, heidi swapp chipboard letters

journalling is under the photos at the top … the theme made me think about friends who’ve bought houses & how i’ve always said: "i’d like to own a house when i grow up!" … i used to think we’re still young, we’ve got plenty of time to own a home … but as the years tick by & real estate prices have soared – the dream of owning a house is becoming elusive & i worry that we’ll never be able to afford it. what is happening to the great australian dream of owning your own home??

what are your thoughts?

i read this one on loni stevens‘ blog ages ago & it totally cracked me up!

A store that sells new husbands has just opened in New York City. At this store,a woman may go to choose a husband.

Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates. You may visit the store ONLY ONCE!

There are six floors and the attributes of the men increase as the shopper ascends the flights. There is, however, a catch: you may choose any man from a particular floor, or you may choose to go up a floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building!

So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband.

On the first floor the sign on the door reads:

Floor 1 – These men have jobs.

The second floor sign reads:

Floor 2 – These men have jobs and love kids.

The third floor sign reads:

Floor 3 – These men have jobs, love kids, and are extremely good looking.

"Wow," she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.

She goes to the fourth floor and the sign reads:

Floor 4 – These men have jobs, love kids, are drop-dead gorgeous and help with the housework.

"Oh, mercy me!" she exclaims, "I can hardly stand it!"

Still, she goes to the fifth floor and sign reads:

Floor 5 – These men have jobs, love kids, are drop-dead gorgeous, help with the housework, and have a strong romantic streak.

She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor and the sign reads:

Floor 6 - You are visitor 31,456,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please. Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store. Have a good day.

epilogue:

A New Wives store opened across the street for men to select a wife.

The first floor has wives that love sex.

The second floor has wives that love sex and have money.

The third through sixth floors have NEVER been visited.

have a great day!

i captured these photos of madi at trudy & mick’s wedding recently. totally love her smile! even though she’s quite photogenic, for some reason she doesn’t like looking at the camera anymore (hmmm … i’m sure it couldn’t have anything to do with having a camera in her face since she was born! LOL!) anyhooo, when she’s told to look at the camera (like recent school photos) she ends up looking uncomfortable & un-natural! so … you need to be quick to catch shots like this! my baby is growing up!

& in b&w:

since going digital, i’ve been having a love affair with colour! back in my film days, 9 out of 10 rolls were black & white – i just love the classic look of b&w! but i also preferred b&w because colour shots often didn’t have the punch i was looking for. since going digital, colour is the default mode & seeing the work of awesome photographers like tara, audrey & barb (to name a few!) has really inspired me to work with colour … & i must admit its been a lot of fun!

for editing, ATM i’m using PSE3 & a few plugins from:

http://www.cavesofice.org/~grant/Challenge/Tools/Files.html

have a great day!

… steal my youth & vitality … a LO i created last nite for the 1st aussie dare. to explain the title … alot of things have happened over the past 5 years & i find myself wondering what happened to the happy, healthy woman i used to be …  and wanting to find her again!

materials: heidi swapp plastic alphabet, SEI paper, bazzil, MM bookplate, white signo, machine stitching.

plans to be a better blogger! the past couple of months have been hectic & crazy & overwhelming! we travelled 1000′s of km – to melbourne to see DH’s 103 YO (!!!) grandmother, to my dad’s 70th birthday celebrations, to charters towers to see the lovely dorable debbie & to airlie beach for a friend’s wedding. i plan to go back & update my blog over the next couple of weeks.

the thing that takes up most of my day ATM is homeschooling – its a huge commitment! i love working with my DD & its wonderfully rewarding to see how much she’s learnt already. but there have been times i’ve wished that sending her to a conventional school was an option! some days are so frustrating!!! … BUT we’re getting there & i believe we’ve connected & become closer too.

how i admire (& envy!) those people who seem to have it altogether – managing kids & scrapping commitments & homes & blogs & everything!! how do they do it?? i seriously need more motivation, more energy & better time management skills … for starters!! what’s your big tip for staying on top of things?? any & all suggestions welcome!

… is this week’s theme at blue bazaar. i’ve already scrapped my fav. childhood photo, so decided to scrap these photos of madi’s 1st real experience at beach (she’d been there at 8 months – but this trip was truly memorable!). totally love the huge smile on her face & the reflections in the water!

materials: KI & DB bazzill, KI alphabet soup, DB rubons, heidi swapp tape & credit card tab, prima ric rac, junkitz ringz. PS. the blue in the accent was actually cropped off the photo.

was a beautiful perfect day!! congratulations guys i know you’ll be so happy together!! i captured this moment while they were cutting the cake. the lighting conditions were difficult & i didn’t want to use the dreaded flash. but with some adjustments in PSE & the rough pastels filter … ta da!!!!

i think it would look amazing on canvas!