Welcome to my world JanMary

Summer Days in Cape Cod

2010-07-30T02:46:00.000+01:00

We are having a wonderful time here in Cape Cod. Despite holidaying in our cottage near the beach in Northern Ireland we aren't used to sunbathing in such heat and swimming in such warm waters.

Most days we have visited a different beach and spent the morning there. We haven't found one we don't like yet!

We have done some shopping too - Trader Joes and Lamberts for food, Cape Cod Mall has Hollister, Abercrombie and Fitch, American Eagle and Aeropostle, and discovered Pier 1 Imports, the Christmas Tree Shop as well as craft shops and bead shops.

We have ate out most evenings, and are sampling the ice-cream delights of Cape Cod by visiting a different ice-cream shop every night. The Sundae School is probably top, not just for it's name, but also it's hot fudge sauce.

This is the harbour in Hyannis a few evenings ago.

We have enjoyed shopping on Main Street, Hyannis and driving along Route 6a. Tomorrow SOME of us are going whale watching, but a couple of us plan to stay on dry land!

This evening we went to the beach to enjoy the sunset, and some slightly cooler and less humid weather.

More updates coming soon, but in the meantime, have you and recommendations of things to do/stores to shop/things to avoid? Please share.

The Hostess with the Mostess - welcome to Massachussets

2010-07-26T02:44:00.000+01:00

Have you ever been met off a long and slightly turbulent flight (with 3 tired kids and some slightly stressed adults) by the loveliest warm welcome and freshly homebaked cookies, fresh fruit, cartons of juice and the keys to her holiday house? And we had never met before? Welcome to the world of house swapping / home exchange!

This is our home from home for the next 10 days - a traditional cape cod house.

We are delighting in the little things that Americans take for granted - screens on the doors and windows, a of course a basement!

Our house swap hostess is also an interior designer, so I will share some indoor photos later in the week.

The flight was a little bumpy near the end ... it was one of those flights when all the passengers applauded when we landed! Individual screens with movies and games were wonderful, so I managed to enterntain our 5 year old with those and the occasional surprise from my bag including - dinasaours, light up car, magna man, tin box and assorted plastic sea creatures. My husband perhaps had the shorter straw with our 2 older daughters who did not enjoy the journey so much, and all 3 were glad to finally disembark from the plane.

Jet lag is no fun and our body clocks are all over the place - but the breakfast this morning almost made up for it - pancakes, maple syrup, bacon and eggs "over easy". Our waitress was from Cork and was just as delighted to hear our accents as we were with the food.

We found our way to Trader Joes and the Christmas Tree Shop. Definitely returning to both.

We ate lunch here in the back ~~garden~~ yard and the kids cooled off in the outdoor shower.

The heat and tiredness took it's toll, and we had a quiet afternoon, dozing with the aid of fans.

This evening we followed Route 28 (with a few detours) to Chatham and with NO help from our Sat Nav we found the Chatham Light House and beach.

Like mother like daughter - she may have caught the photography bug!

Dinner was pizza slices and cesear salad in Chatham followed by delicious ice-cream in the Sundae School - delicious!

So home again, catching up on some blogging and planning what to do or NOT to do in the next few days - but if our kids get their way there will be some beach, some shopping and lots more ice-cream.

Take care until my next "letter" from the Cape.

I am fine - honestly!

2010-07-23T14:22:00.000+01:00

This morning I had the unpleasant experience of someone accessing my email account, blog etc, and sending out a distressing email to my friends and contacts.

I was allegedly in Spain, having been mugged, and of course I needed you to send me money!

It was spotted quickly, and I was touched by the number of people who contacted me by phone to warn me or check that I was OK - including several international phone calls!! It is lovely to know so many care.

So I am fine, thankfully and a bit unnerved.

Not my usual positive post, but hope that is the end of it.

Midweek Update - how exciting a title is that?!

2010-07-21T20:39:00.003+01:00

I am blogging on my husband's laptop in preparation for our US trip, including NOT using Photoshop Elements to edit and resize all of the photos. We will see how it goes.....

So what has been happening?

Last Friday night we had our annual trip to Barry's in Portrush.....

On Saturday we visited the Dunluce Castle Medieval Fair - however we were a bit disappointed with it this year - fewer stalls, no scheduled demonstrations or entertainment. I still found some characters to photograph though....

and my own wee knight in shinning armour (with the helmet which involved many tears in the making thereof)

the setting and views are stunning

and here are is the family on the way back to the car

After a lovely family meal at the Central Wine Bar in Ballycastle, we headed to Dunserverick Harbour with a plan:

to light a small fire on the beach, have hot chocolate, toast marshmallows and enjoy the ~~sunset~~ evening (we did not stay long enough to see the sunset!)

We were well prepared for the fire, bringing a peat fire log (by Bord na Mona)

although it initially did not look very promising

It took a bit of effort (i.e. I set down the camera and took over!) to get it to light!

But once it got going, it gave out lots of heat.

Add some hot chocolate

Bring out the marshmallows

And enjoy!

Of course I took the opportunity for a few photos of this memorable evening of what will hopefully become a new family tradition.

This week we are preparing for the holiday to Boston and Cape Cod but I do want to quickly share 3 products I was given to the opportunity to review by CSN Stores UK.

This glass triple serving dish (not yet had the opportunity to use it, but envisaging lots of options)

And this Croc Pot slow cooker.

I made my Spicy Sausage Pasta - browned the sausages in a frying pan, then added them and the other ingredients and left it for 4 hours - easy peasy and delicious. (Incidentally this is one of the top searches that arrive at my blog)

Thanks CSN.co.uk - you made choosing products to order and review very easy!

Canvas Wall Art - a review of Canvas Dezign

2010-07-19T18:53:00.000+01:00

I love taking photos and sharing them online or through digital scrapbooking.

I am always on the lookout for different ways to display my photos and was delighted when canvas dezign approached me with the offer of a canvas to review on my blog.

I knew exactly the photo I wanted to use, and the blank wall in our holiday cottage which needed something.

Here it is - some crashing waves taken from larrybane on the north coast of N Ireland.

I got it wrapped with a "frame bleed" (the image goes round the sides) and chose nearly the largest size of 30 x 40 inches- there is a wide range of sizes available, including the classic scrapbooking size of 12x12.

Here is the wall without the canvas

And with

I hope you agree it is an improvement.

Ordering was simple, the site is easy to navigate and I was impressed by the speed of delivery and quality of the canvas.

Although canvas dezign provided me with the canvas to review, the opinions expressed are all mine - I really love it and am already planning my next order.

Have you a photo you would love to see on a photo canvas? Let me know what it would be.

Keep watching the blog and I hope to be hosting a canvas print giveaway very soon.

In other news, we are home from the cottage and packing excitedly for our family trip to New England. We had a busy last weekend on the north coast including Barry's, Dunluce Castle Fair and our very own bonfire on the beach with hot chocolate and marshmallows. Photos coming soon.

I Heart Northern Ireland - top images of Northern Ireland

2010-07-17T10:55:00.000+01:00

Here are my favourite collection of photos I have taken of Northern Ireland.

I struggled to narrow down which images to include, but the finished result includes : Ballintoy, Portstewart Strand, Giants Causeway, Belfast Shipyard (where the Titanic was built), White Park Bay and Dark Hedges.

This week at the photography challenge site I Heart Faces, we are asked to do I Heart My Country, and this is my contribution.

(Blog button for I Heart Faces to follow!)

So see some amazing photography, please visit I Heart Faces.

If you had to choose just one image to represent your country, what would you pick?

Life's a beach - or is it?

2010-07-15T18:48:00.001+01:00

First some pics of my son on the beach the other evening. The weather has granted us the a few opportunities to spend more time there this week, and we try to make to most of it.

It all looks idyllic, doesn't it .... picture perfect perhaps?

I do wonder about how much I share on my blog - too much, too little, too impersonal, too personal? I also don't want to appear to be blogging bragging (with picture perfect photos on my blog etc) - yes, I love my husband and I kids, we are able to spend time at the beach, but I want to assure you my life is not perfect.

I tend to focus on the more positive aspects of life in my blog, sharing things that inspire me, make me laugh etc but that doesn't mean my life is perfect. As a Christian we are not assured of an easy life, free of pain and sadness, but we are assured of HIS presence along the way.

However I also want to keep it real.........we too have bickering siblings, mountains of laundry, sand everywhere, and lots of tears. While I don't want to dwell on these things, I want to assure you that they happen in our home too.

If you blog, how do you find your balance? I am aware I can't please all of the people all of the time, but I hope I manage to please some of you occasionally, and after all, it is MY blog, and expressing myself here makes ME happy :)

I hope some of this rambling makes sense, but it has been on my mind since reading Jen's post on her blog. Would love to hear your thoughts (hint, hint!)

Other random happenings

The hectic-ness that is CSSM is almost over for another year, and once again I am grateful to all the leaders who give up their holidays and enegery to spend time with our kids.

Taking lots of photos, and I have a new canvas print of one of my photos to show to you soon, which I have been given to review by CanvasDezigns. Cant wait to share it with you.

Bought this deck chair at our church auction recently, and I LOVE it - but it still challenges me every time I try to set it up! I was thinking I could put a piece of tape on one part, so I know which end is which.... but where would be the fun in that, and I like a challenge!

I did try to have a lovely photo of George the cat dozing beside said deck chair, but he was either ungracefully sticking a back leg in the air while he groomed himself, or he would immediately walk towards me for a stroke everytime I bent down to take a photo. Just keeping it real!

So this week I am joining in at The Inspired Room, and I am being inspired to keep it real! Are you inspired by anything this week?

That's your lot for now....come back soon.

Red sky at night.....

2010-07-11T22:54:00.000+01:00

There was a beautiful sunset over the headland near our cottage the other evening, around 10pm.

Here are a just a FEW of the many I took! These are straight from the camera, no editing apart from adding my watermark. The second photo was taken just from the end of our laneway, on my way back to the cottage.

Earlier in the evening, on one of those rare occasions when ALL 3 kids were attending different CSSM events in Portballintrae/Bushmills but all at the SAME time, my husband, my camera and I all went for a walk along Runkerry Strand.

It was a beautiful evening, and the light was sparkling on the waves as they crashed to the shore.

I did tweak this beach pic in photoshop just a little, but not a lot!

There has not been much blogging or photography for most of this week as our eldest daughter was not well, but fortunately she has now recovered and we will continue our holiday here at the coast.

There was a trip to the park, lots of CSSM (a kids vacation bible club which runs up to 3 times per day in the local villages of Bushmills and Portballintrae with activities for those aged 4 - 18). It is a highlight of our kids' summer, meeting up with old friends and making new ones. More photos in the next post, but this is your lot for now!

Leave me a comment, pretty please!

Thanks and take care

Wish you were here - Mini adventures Part 1

2010-07-05T21:19:00.001+01:00

Hi all

I (Mini-Mum) am guest blogging on JanMary's blog today, so not only are we house guests but blogging guests too!

Today we went the the beach at Portballintrae - it was sunny but very windy, and we seemed like we would be blown away at any moment.

Family photo

Mini-Max looking over a ~~cliff~~ stone into a ~~deep ravine~~ rock pool!

Exploring the rocks (with a bit of a 'bad hair' day!):

Why is it husbands everywhere insist on wearing their shoes on the beach, with their trouser legs rolled up, and there skinny white legs on show to the world .... or maybe that is just my husband?!!!

Of course the kids insisted on burying Dad up to his neck, and he didn't seem to mind ... MUCH!

And finally, the view:

Settling in well here at the cottage, although slightly wary of George the cat - he is HUGE

Will post again soon with another update of our holiday here in N Ireland.

In the mean time greetings to all our friends at John Crane Toys

Easy to make Teacher Gifts and Growing Up Fast!

2010-07-03T22:42:00.000+01:00

This year we made the same teacher gifts as last year for my son's teacher and classroom assistant.

For each vase you need

a straight drinking glass

about 30 new pencils per vase (more than you think!)

some blue tac

a glue gun (I assume most glues would work, but I like to live dangerously!)

some flowers

the patience of a saint (if you have an enthusiastic 5 year old helper)

Easy to make, as long as you remain IN CHARGE of the glue gun and I find it works better to attach the pencils to the drinking glass using blue-tac first.

Remove 2 or 3 pencils at a time, dab on ~~too much~~ some glue and attach the pencils.

Allow glue to dry, add flowers and water, and maybe attach some ribbon.

So another school year is over, and my first year of having all three at school.

Here are my kids way back in September

And now at the end of June

Eldest daughter was delighted to have missed another opportunity to have her photo taken, especially in her beloved school uniform!

Is school finished where you live?

Finally an item from my www.janmarydesigns.com collection - a crocheted cuff bracelet

These will be available to order soon from £15 with FREE SHIPPING to anywhere in the world!

Take care until next time

Here comes the summer and some house guests!

2010-07-02T09:07:00.002+01:00

Welcome to my world of the school summer holidays. I hope you will join me as I blog ~~daily~~ ~~regularly~~ sporadically about our everyday life adventures.

Regular readers/friends will know we are a family of 5 plus George the cat. So why, oh why, would I agree to have a family of FOUR come to stay as house guests for the entire summer?

Let me explain how it happened....are you sitting comfortably?.....then I'll begin....!

As a blogger you get some strange requests from companies and their PRs. Usually I quickly scan their email, realize my readers have little interest in learning more about incontinence pads or family tax credits on my blog and I move on with my life.
Sometimes however an offer intrigues you and your curiosity gets the better of you....and sometimes you end up inviting 4 strangers to move in!

Of course as those schmaltzy cards say "strangers are just friends you haven't met yet" ( ?!!!)

So let me introduce our house guests

Mini-Mum, Mini-Man, Mini-Mindy and Mini-Max:-

First impressions - well mannered, limited luggage and the kids have definitely been taught that children should be seen and not heard!

I hope you don't mind if I share their experiences this summer as, let's face it, my kids are getting more than tired of mum always wanting to take their photos for the blog....it is SO embarrassing.....and of course taking photos of ~~dolls~~ our house guests is going to be SO much less embarrassing!

Declaration - our guests (the Mini family) previously lived with John Crane Toys and despite having some beautiful accommodation, their main home being this beautiful Marlborough dolls house and having a medieval castle as their holiday home, they wanted to experience life in the real world....

So Mini family - welcome to my world :)

I am linking this post to The Inspired Room - what is inspiring you this summer (and I assume I am the only one who is inspired by wooden dolls!)

Finally - can you guess what this is? I made 2 of them this week. Find out more in my next post!

School's (Nearly) Out for Summer

2010-06-25T20:06:00.000+01:00

Next week school stops for the summer for my 3 kids, so the school runs, homework, packed lunches, mountains of notes and announcements......are all stopping.

Instead we will have ~~lie-ins~~ early morning wakening as usual (my kids don't DO lie-ins..YET!), go-slow days, trips to park and beach, and hopefully this warm sunshine will continue. CSSM will start soon in Portballintrae and for my daughters this is a highlight of their social calendar.

As usual, my blog has been a bit neglected recently, and I know when friends are approaching me at church as asking if I am ok as I haven't been blogging in a while, that I am being missed!

As a blogger I sometimes get the opportunity to review products for companies, so coming soon to this blog will be a review of a product from CSN. CSN Stores has amazing online stores where you can find everything from cookware to lighting to furniture! So watch this blog and see which product I choose to review :)

So what's been happening since my last post:

2 sports days

the essential egg and spoon race:

and the novelty race!

My middle daughter at senior sports day:

TRIVIA QUESTION - can you name the gold Olympic athlete in the above picture?

several BBQ's

lots of jewellery being created and sold (sorry my online store has not been added to recently - everything I make seems to get sold without the need to put it online) but here are a few of my recent creations

catching up with friends before the summer

school projects (I know more than I ever wanted to about African Monkeys)

and whats not been happening:

rain (yes! - June has been an unexpectedly warm, dry month)

blogging

photography - slipping up a bit, my photography always seems to have a purpose these days, but I love taking photos for no reason at all! However I have a couple to share of the ~~weeds~~ flowers in our garden and of my son, a view from ground level!

So what have you been up to recently - do you have a burst of activities and tasks just before the summer?

Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing I hope you will have a great summer (or winter if you live "down under") and hope you will keep in contact through my blog. I know quite a few of you read and never comment, but it would be lovely if you could stop by and say "hi" - thanks.

More about me - cause it's all about me!

2010-06-18T17:24:00.000+01:00

I need to catch up with this blog journal - as most others have actually finished, so bear with me, as I rattle through a few more of the prompts:

What I collect

teddys

clutter (!), beads and jewellery

20 favourite things

1. my faith
2. my family
3. my friends
4. fresh mango
5. diet coke
6. a well-done steak
7. a long undisturbed soak in the bath with a good book
8. the library
9. walking on the beach
10. crunching though autumn leaves
11. Christmas
12. very milky hot chocolate
13, being made a mug of tea the way I like it - very weak and milky
14. the smell of rain after a hot dry spell
15. sunsets
16. the sound of the waves crashing on the beach
17. my camera
18. being creative
19. procrastinating
20. strawberries

Hardest thing I have dealt with

This has to be dealing with post-natal depression (post-partum depression)

I have had most of this post written all week, and finally posting it now! Lots been happening, and I hope to get more caught up soon - promise!

Have a great weekend, wherever you are. I am planning a shopping trip to Dublin tomorrow, and this lovely warm weather is set to last - happy days :)

The Fashion Designer and more of my blogging journal

2010-06-08T09:24:00.000+01:00

Saturday morning I had the opportunity to see some of the creations of Zoe Boomer, originally from N Ireland and now a London fashion designer (yes - how glamorous!). Zoe is the wee sister of a good friend (Hi Sue) and the sisters hosted a fashion and charity coffee morning in aid of Save the Children fund.

It was lovely to see Zoe's designs - her work is amazing, and we even tried a few things on. I bought a versatile wrap in a inky/petrol/aubergine colour, it is beautifully floaty and was shown numerous ways to wear it.

Here is the lovely Zoe

And a few of the items being tried on.

It was much more fun than a typical shopping experience, trying clothes on behind screens in the living room, being able to walk around the house, getting lots of opinions and suggestions from friends. All in such a friendly and relaxed environment, unlike most designer boutiques which intimidate the life out of me!

It was such a lovely warm morning, we were then able to enjoy our coffee and tea out in the garden - all very civilised and all in a great cause - Save the Children Fund.

So .... back to reality! My blog journal.

I am (mostly) enjoying creating this record, but sometimes the topics are a bit more of a challenge. Today I plan to add quite a number, so bear with me please!!!

Day 16 - My Worst Habit

Probably my tendancy to accumulate clutter, and my ability to totally ignore the clutter if I am engrossed with my jewellery making. I'm also very good at procrastination.

If you want to know more of my bad habits you should ask my husband!

Day 17 - Pet Peeves

Unreliability and un-punctuality
Rudeness and disrespectfulness

I think that covers it!

So, over to you - anything you would care to share? You know I love to read your comments.

Blog Journal Day 14 & 15 Where I blog and Bucket List Top 5

2010-06-03T19:21:00.000+01:00

I am continuing with my blog journal, and the first topic is "Where I blog".

I do most of my blogging at my laptop on my laptop shelf in our kitchen/family room.

Sometimes it is a LOT more cluttered than this!

George, the cat, loves to sit on the edge of the sofa while I work here, or sometimes actually on the shelf. If he is feeling very ignored, he will walk across the keyboard and generally get in the way so he can have some attention!

The top 5 on my Bucket List is the 2nd topic for the blog journal.

Confession - I have never compiled a list of things I want to do in my life, but now that I have to for this journal, I am sure some of the following would be included

1. Visit Australia

2. Live abroad with my husband (when the kids leave home!)

3. My kids to grow up happy and healthy

4. Visit Ellis Island (my grandmother was deported from here in 1921! A number of her siblings emmigrated to US, but she never returned to America, instead she married my grandfather, had 5 kids, 18 grandkids and lots of great grand kids!!)

5. Attend a blogging conference

So, over to you - care to share where you blog or go online?

Do you have a Bucket List and if so, what would be in your top 5?

Blog Journal Days 12 & 13 My Biggest Regret and My Ideal Age

2010-06-01T20:49:00.000+01:00

Welcome back - I took a few days off from blogging while we were up at the cottage.

So back to playing catch-up with my blog journal;

Biggest regret

A tough one, and not easy to share because despite the fact that I blog about most aspects of my life I am quite a private person, but here goes....

I probably most regret spending too much of my life worrying about what others thought of me, particularly in my teenage years. I lacked confidence but now realise I am sure they never gave me a second thought!

My other regret is probably not giving up my job sooner to stay at home with our children. At the time I chose to work, but looking back I would have done it differently. However I was fortunate that financially we were able for me to stop when I did, and the whole family has (I hope!) benefited from me staying at home!

Following on from that .... My ideal age... NOW - being in my 40's!

I am happy, confident and I don't care (as much) what others think of me. I know who I am and am happy with my decisions, I have a relationship with a loving God, I have a loving husband and family, stability and security, friends who care and I get to be creative too (blog, photography, jewellery and digi scrapping - all which I really only discovered my passion for in my 40th year)!

So how about you - biggest regret and ideal age?

Finally a photo or two! I may not have blogged over the weekend but I certainly took photos! These photos were taken at Dunseverick Harbour - we have had a cottage in this area of the Causeway coast in N Ireland for about 5 years now, and we are still discovering new places, coves to explore, rocks to climb etc.

For those who regularily visit this blog, you will know that it is very rare to find a picture of me on the blog. After taking some photos of the kids, they persuaded me to let them use my Canon, and here is the result.

This post is part of a challenge to blog daily for a month with different prompts each day. You can see links to the other participants here, and you are welcome to play along at any time.

Blog Journal Day 10 and 11 What I'm Scared of and Where I Live

2010-05-27T11:27:00.001+01:00

What I am scared of:

little things : spiders,mice, rats (can't even watch Ratatouille!),birds and feathers

big things: anyone in my family being seriously ill, my kids not being happy and financially secure when they are older.

but my Christian faith helps me know that God is in control, no matter what happens.

Where I live:

Being the internet, I don't plan on sharing TOO much detail on my exact location, but we live about 10 miles outside Belfast, on the edge of a medium sized town in Northern Ireland. We live in a detached house in a quiet cul-de-sac with friendly neighbours.

We can walk to school, the local shop and a small park with a pond where we can feed the ducks. There are times when we talk about wanting to move into a more rural community, with more garden. However, we spend so much time driving our kids around to events at church and in town, that any further out would mean even longer in the car.

Also, with my new kitchen and bathroom makeovers, if I move anywhere, I would want to take them with me!

We moved to this house over 11 years ago, all 3 kids learned to walk here, went to their first day of school, learned to ride their bikes ..... it may be a modern house, but it is already full of memories.

Here are a few photos to share

So what scares you, and where do you live?

This post is part of a challenge to blog daily for a month with different prompts each day. You can see links to the other participants here, and you are welcome to play along at any time.

Blog Journal 8 and 9 - Romance and Wedding Memories

2010-05-25T22:09:00.000+01:00

WARNING - this post contains excessive and unnecessary gushy emotions, so if you are of a nervous disposition you may wish to look away now!

I am combining two of the Blog Journal prompts tonight, as I am very behind with this challenge so appropriately you are getting romance and my wedding in this post!

What does romance mean to me?

So hard to define....

Knowing looks and shared values
Making me a mug of tea just the way I like it (very weak, milky and sweet!) without being asked
Tolerating my messiness
Supporting my choices
Clearing up the kids vomit (I just can't cope with it!)
Being there for me no matter what

I asked my husband what romance means to him, and he suggested I include the letter he once sent me on my birthday and he was happy for me to share it again on my blog:

We have known each other for 20 years this month, so here are some reasons why after 16 years of marriage why I still love you:

I love the way you are the hinge for our family. A really important central cog in everything the 5 of us do.

I love the way you have built us a home (or 2). It makes us all feel safe and secure and loved and accepted.

I love the fact that you make me feel needed and wanted and valued.

I love the way you do not seem to care about status. You were always very supportive during my career as a junior doctor but you seemed happy to accept wherever I ended up. You are not a traditional consultant’s wife.

I love coming home from work to your roast chicken dinner. Especially the gravy.

I love your creativity. You have done so much to help us remember our favourite family times in photography and digital scrapbooking.

I love the way you naturally share your faith in your blog.

I love the way you talked so openly at the church weekend about your postnatal depression. You spoke brilliantly. I was very proud.

I love the way you are happy to be involved in church when you can, but happiest to go quietly unseen. I love this because it says you do it for the best reasons.

I love the way we work together as a team.

I love the way you can build that bridge after someone has hurt you. You do not hold grudges.

I love the way that you have tried so hard in every part of our life together.

Now I am blushing (again)!

Ok - enough of the lovey dovey.... Now for some more! - our wedding.....

It was nearly 18 years ago that we were married. It was a glorious hot day and for someone who hates being the centre of attention I loved the day. We were just 24, which now seems very young. I have posted these pics previously but here are some again:

If you want to see the rest go HERE

The wedding reception was held at the Culloden Hotel, where we stayed recently, go HERE for lots more photos.

This post is part of a challenge to blog daily for a month with different prompts each day. You can see links to the other participants here, and you are welcome to play along at any time.

Care to share what romance means to you, or a little of your wedding memories or perhaps your dream wedding?

Saying farewell in style - Afternoon Tea at the Merchant Hotel

2010-05-24T22:53:00.002+01:00

Taking a break from the Blog Journal, to get up to date on a few things that have been happening here:

On Saturday a group of 10 friends met to say farewell to our friend Fiona, who has just qualified from Bible College to become a Methodist Minister (pastor). She is not moving too far away, but a church, husband and 3 kids (including an 11 week old adorable baby girl) she will be busy!

Fiona knew nothing of our girlie-day-out-with-no-kids plans (except her gorgeous baby), which started out will us all going out for afternoon tea at the Merchant Hotel in Belfast.

A former bank, it is an impressive building, with delicious food and very grand surroundings. The baby stole the show, but the sandwiches, scones and pastries were amazing. Each tea pot and coffee pot at the table was unique. We even got beautiful blue boxes to bring our left-overs home in!

We later returned to a suitabley decorated house with balloons, signs and embarrassing old photos of Fiona. Some of the entertainment/activities planned included making "dog collars" (the minister's white clerical collar), sharing some gifts (and tears!) and providing some fashion advice on what NOT to wear as a woman minister!

We ordered a Chinese meal for later in the evening, and while Fiona waited for us, we changed and burst into the room, all sporting black tops and our own white collars, singing "I will follow you" from Sister Act! Each of the collars had a unique message for Fiona including :-

And just when we thought we could not possibly eat another bit, we had cupcakes, with a picture of Fiona on the top!

So although we don't have Baby Showers or Wedding Showers here, we sort of had a "Farwell vicar" Shower!

We all wish Fiona and her family well in her new job, with our love and prayers.

Can you spot the rainbow Hama bead cross? Well, you can't really miss it!

Where is the grandest hotel you have eaten in? Have you had any unusual farewell parties? As always - please share!

I am sharing this post with Chatting at the Sky and Unwrapped Tuesday. Please visit and find lots of bloggers celebrating the wee things in life that make it special.

Finally, a quick lesson learned on Saturday morning:

Our son discovered a permanent blue marker at around 6am, and decided to apply some "blue nail varnish" to his fingers and the carpet.

So I learned the following

You can google "how to get permanent pen of skin" on your iphone before you even get out of bed

A combination of baby wipes and facial cleanser for oily skin was the best combination to remove the aforementioned "nail polish", along with a lot of elbow grease.

For more lessons learned visit Julie at From Inmates to Play Dates for What I Learned This Week.

Sorry if there are some issues with the photos in this post - you would not believe the HOURS it has taken to try to upload them tonight!

No post tonight

2010-05-23T23:05:00.000+01:00

Just in case you were wondering - there will be no post tonight. It is 11pm - it has been a glorious sunny day and the church picnic/BBQ was a great success.

Night all :)

-- Post From My iPhone

Blog Journal Day 7 - Senses

2010-05-22T22:35:00.000+01:00

Right now I am.....

Seeing - my laptop (!) and I can still see some of the garden in the dusk outside - still some light in the sky despite is being 10.20 pm, I love the light mornings and late light evenings.

Hearing - the TV on low (the news - I always like to see the news at least once a day), George the cat crunching his cat food, and some birds in the garden.

Smell - sun-cream and left over fruit salad

Taste - iced water

Feel - happy - it has been a lovely sociable day. A church friend is becoming a Methodist Minister (Pastor) and ten of us had a lovely leaving party for her today. We had afternoon tea at the Merchant Hotel (very fancy!), followed by lots of laughter, fun and a few tears. I will do a separate post about it all soon.

This post is part of a challenge to blog daily for a month with different prompts each day. You can see links to the other participants here, and you are welcome to play along at any time.

Finally, I did some digital scrapbooking this week, it has been a while, but I loved the sunny feel of Sweet & Simple #5 by Gina Marie Huff at Weeds & Wildflowers.

Here are 3 layouts I created :

So what has been happening in your world today? Please share.

Blog Journal Day 6 - Favourite Food and Recipes

2010-05-21T21:55:00.000+01:00

Food, glorious food!

My fave foods would include -

Creme brulee
Pasta carbonarra
Christmas Dinner with all the trimmings
Profiteroles with chocolate sauce
Roast Chicken
Apple Crumble and warm custard
Goats Cheese
Fresh mango and pineapple
Steak and Chips

On to the recipes - they all link to recipe posts on this blog

Spicy Sausage Pasta

Home made vegetable soup

My Mum's Florentines

Fifteens

Malteser Crunch Tray Bakes

This post is part of a challenge to blog daily for a month with different prompts each day. You can see links to the other participants here, and you are welcome to play along at any time.

You know the drill - please share some of your favourite foods.

Blog Journal Day 5 - Songs Everyone Should Hear

2010-05-20T20:31:00.003+01:00

This post if brought to you courtesy of my iphone.

Although I tend to listen more to podcasts and BBC iplayer on my iphone, I love having my favourite music so readily available.

The prompt for today is to list my top 10 songs, but of course choosing just 10 songs in next to impossible so I have more than 10 artists and I have added more than one song to some of the artists - but it is MY blog :)

Keith and Kristyn Getty

                          In Christ Alone / Power of the Cross
(I don't listen to a lot of christian artists, but I love the Getty's music)

Van Morrison      Have I Told You Lately / Coney Island

Michael Buble     Home / Just Haven't Met You Yet

Cold Play           Fix You

Eric Clapton       Wonderful Tonight

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole    Somewhere Over the Rainbow
(discovered this version when it was used when Mark Greene was spending his last days on beach in ER!)

Jack Johnson       Better Together
(this just makes me smile)

James Blunt        You're Beautiful / Carry You Home / High

Leona Lewis       Happy

Mika              Grace Kelly / We are Golden

Robbie Williams Angels

Snow Patrol        Chasing Cars

Will Young          Leave Right Now

So would any of these songs or artists feature in your top choices?

Not sure what my eclectic mix says about me!

This post is part of a challenge to blog daily for a month with different prompts each day. You can see links to the other participants here, and you are welcome to play along at any time.

Blog Journal Day 4 - Best Holiday/Vacation

2010-05-19T14:46:00.000+01:00

As with many of these daily blog prompts, it is impossible to choose just one holiday, I have loved so many for so many different reasons.

My Top Romantic Holiday had to be Paris for my husband's 40th birthday

But others would include these before kids :
a villa in Tuscany, Italy
A gite in Dordonge, France
A quaint B&B in Vermont

Before kids a perfect holiday included a beautiful view, some lovely restaurants, quaint shops, a good book and a pool.

And since having kids best holidays would have to include:

Walt Disney, Florida

Disneyland Paris

but really - anywhere they are happy - playing on the beach and exploring the rock pools near our cottage by the sea (and no volcanic ash messing up our flights!)

Ingredients NOW for a perfect holiday
3 happy kids

(a least one chapter of a book and a view are optional extras!)

So where has your best holiday (vacation) been? Can you pick just one?

This post is part of a challenge to blog daily for a month with different prompts each day. You can see links to the other participants here, and you are welcome to play along at any time.

Blog Journal Day 3 - Proudest Moments

2010-05-18T21:15:00.002+01:00

As a wife and mum, inevitably I am most proud of my kids and husband.

My 3 kids, each when they were born :-

(no - not triplets, it was 3 c/sections over 7 years)

You can see how they look now in the latest blog header above.

My husband - he is a my best friend, a wonderful dad and husband and does an amazing job

Other proud achievements

This blog - when I started blogging it was to share my digital scrapbooking. I didn't tell anyone I knew in the real world for months! I was not sure anyone would want to read it, never imagining what a wonderful community of friemds I would discover through the world of blogging. So here I am, 3 years later, still blogging!

Here are are a few of my previous blog headers:

My digital scrapbooking - for something I taught myself to do, I love being creative, making layouts for myself, having others PAY me to do it for them, and getting some of my layouts printed!

A few early layouts

And being published in a REAL magazine, that you can buy in a REAL shop

My jewellery - that I have created a small business which again PAYS me to do something I love.

So what makes you proud?

This post is part of a challenge to blog daily for a month with different prompts each day. You can see links to the other participants here, and you are welcome to play along at any time.

I am also joining in for the first time at Chatting At the Sky Tuesday Unwrapped as for each of these I am proud of, I am also so very thankful for.