A laugh is a smile that burst...

I have just returned from a weekend that can only be described as "awesome"... for so many reasons :)

Good food, great company, lots of laughs and scrapbooking 24/7.... what more could I ask for? Um, well, one more night maybe, but what a fantastic weekend - spent at the Long Point Scrapbooking Retreat. Thanks to Belinda, Sandra and Sarah!

I managed 11 LO's over the weekend but I haven't shared this one of Mason and I that I did at Sar's last week for Anthea's CC challenge over at Scrapbook Savvy....

"A laugh is a smile that burst":

I will be back to share more soon ;)

June 15th Stuck Sketch is up!

Here is the sketch:

....and here is my take "Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful":

So, head on over to the Stuck Sketches Blog and check out what the CT members have created. Get your entries in by the end of the month for a chance to win some scrappy goodies :)

Show and tell....

Finally I have a few LO's I can show... thanks to a crop at Scrapbooking Delights and a scrap and chat day with my besties, Sar and Leesh. I managed to get 3 LO's done at the delights crop including a double, but one isn't quite finished yet. The first one is of my first born, Jared dancing in the red sands on the way to Rainbow Beach in QLD...

This next one is a double of one of the many days we spent in the pool on our holiday to QLD last year:

And a close up:

These next two are my faves. The first is Sar's purple pumpkin sketch for June... My take is of Mason when he was 10 months old:

This one is a gorgeous photo of Jared taken by our friend Loz of Red Door Photography at the Hunter Valley. I love that Jared is cuddling his favourite soft toy, Harold... I scraplifted my bestie, Alicia:

That's it for me.... thanks for looking ;)

Another fun sketch by Stuck?!

When I first saw this sketch by the talented Louise Nelson, I thought I'd have trouble creating something worthy of being put onto the Stuck?! blog... but it was so much fun to work with. Here is the sketch:

...and here is my take... my little Mason helping decorate the christmas tree.



I was quite happy with the result! Head on over to Stuck?! Sketches for a look at what the other CT girls have created...

So my mojo is still there but the time to spend using it hasn't been. However, I was lucky enough to make it to a Scrapbooking Delights all day crop on Saturday and managed to get 4 LO's done! It was great! I will share those soon. Until then, hope you have time to get YOUR scrap on.

Bye :)

Just missed out, but still happy :)

It's been nearly 2 weeks since I ran the 2011 SMH Half Marathon with my training partner, Nella. Although we just missed out on the time that we were aiming for (1hr45), we were really happy with the result: We completed the 21.1km hilly course in 1 hour 46 minutes and 10 seconds. Click here for our stats. Three months of training led up to the run and we trained hard. But it was a big ask to run under 5 minute k's for the entire distance....

We stayed the night in the city and when we got to the start line at 6:15am, it was still dark. And cold. 13,500 people had turned up ready to run! When the gun went, we took off at a good pace and went through the first km in 4:50min... then over the bridge at circular quay, the sound of all the footsteps pounding on the road was just amazing. It kept us going and we flew through the first 5km in 24:20min (4:51min/km pace) well within our target.

Nella and I before the run.

A few drink stations later, we passed the 10km mark in just over 49mins (a PB for me over that distance!). Still going strong and on target to make our dream time. We started to struggle a little when it seemed that every time we turned a corner, there was another hill! At the 14km mark, we decided to have an energy gel - we had made it to this point in 70 mins and were now right on target - but had slowed down substantially. Up until now, it had felt like the kilometres had just flown by. It was now that we would have to dig deep to maintain the pace... and it was hard!! I don't think there was a point where I felt I had hit the wall, but between the 16 to 19km mark was a big struggle. The legs felt heavy, our breathing was laboured. We were tired!

Me and Nella at the 19km mark and rounding the corner at Mrs Macquarie's Chair

After 19km we were on the home stretch and we picked up the pace again. Passing the 20km mark, Nella told me to run on ahead if I felt I could but I was not going to let her give up.... We had come this far together, we should finish this together - and I was just as stuffed as her! So we kept running.... and at the final turnaround point Nella asked "are we going to make our time?" I replied, "I don't know, but lets try!".... and try we did!

We crossed the line together in 1:46:10. Very happy. Very excited. And with even more determination to achieve more running goals!

Finished at last!

That was almost 2 weeks ago and I think I am still recovering from that run! Two days of unbelievably sore legs followed by tiredness. But it was so worth it!

Now onto the next goal.....

No wonder I have no time to scrap LOL!

Oops! Late again...

to show off the May 15th Stuck Sketch:

.... and here is my take "Just us" of me and my gorgeous boys going for a swim on our holiday to Queensland last year. I just love this photo:

Really happy with this LO... sadly, I have no more to share as I haven't had the time to put into scrapping lately. Hopefully that will change soon :)

Mothers Day...

and can you believe I didn't take one photo?! Not one! And I call myself a scrapper.... hopeless! Well now I have that off my chest, I had a pretty good Mothers day, started off with a big smile and "Happy Mothers Day!!" from my big boy Jared... he was so excited and raced into the kitchen to get the book he made me at pre-school. It had a painted picture of our family and he had written "To Mum, I love you from Jared". I also got a book by Ultramarathon runner, Dean Karnazes entitled "RUN!". This was Anthony's idea and probably the perfect present for me lol!


Then, we rushed into Wollongong for the Mothers Day Classic 5km fun run. Such nice weather for it too! Here is a photo of me and my running partner, Nella approaching the finish line thanks to another running friend, Pasco:




Nella and I have been training together for the half marathon that is now only a week away! It has been great having someone to share the training and diet talks and even better that we have pretty much been running the same pace!


Then Anthony had to go to work (not liking this shift anymore....) so the boys and I went to visit my mum with flowers and gifts in hand for coffee and a light lunch. The day ended with a visit to my mother in law for a freshly made pasta dinner - YUM! So now this happy Mummy is going to eat some easter chocolates (yes, STILL some left...) before retiring to bed to start my new book!!!


Oh and before I sign off, I actually broke the 3 week drought and scrapped last night! It was a must on National Scrapbooking Day lol! One LO done... yeh, I know I could do better.... I will post a picture soon :)

Thanks for looking!