Somewhere over the rainbow

busy, busy ,busy

2012-01-26T16:53:00.001Z

that’s me at the moment. Busy doing nothing, really. I mean I don’t have to go out to work. I’m not allowed to clean the house or cook (i do ). But boy, am I still busy all the time.

I’m making the most of it, as my 12 weeks recuperation is nearly up. I go to see my consultant in Feb for an x-ray to see were my back is at.

I have tried coming of some of my daily medication this week. I had already halved it, because of the nasty side effects. WEIGHT GAIN !! So I tried coming of my nightly dose. But I was awake, on and off all night in discomfort and pain. So I am back on them and just having to grin and bare the weight gain. Put it this way. I now weigh over a stone and a half more, than I did pregnant with both my children !!

My physio doesn’t want to see me until after I’ve been to the consultant. I had some increase in my pain from the nerve after seeing her before. So she is too scared to treat me at the moment. So I continue with the 10 minute walks, and 5 hip tips and a few lower stomach tightens and that's about all the exercise I am allowed.

Now if you bumped into me out and about, you wouldn’t guess there is anything wrong with me. In fact even I forget sometimes. But I am still very limited in the things I can do. I mean, hell I’m not even allowed to fly at the moment or even take a bath ! It’s when I want to do something, like plant the flowers I’ve just bought to brighten a planter at the front door. Can’t do. Lay down and take some pictures of Teddy for my shutter speed assignment. Can’t do. Oh well, hopefully one day I’ll be able to do it. I’m intrigued to know if I'll ever be able to touch my toes again. Or even cut my own darn toenails !!!

Anyway here are some photos I have shared with my fellow students over on Karen Russell's photography workshop.

I saw this pair of dogs coming towards me when I was out for a walk. Sadly for Teddy, I’m not allowed to walk him, so he was locked up indoors. Again, it was frustrating as I wanted to get down to their level, but I had to make do with this perspective.

The holly tree outside my house

One frosty morning

leading lines outside The Ritz, London

and a sleepy Teddy, cuddling his little toy dog.

That dog sure loves his toys…..

scrappers block

2012-01-20T10:37:00.001Z

That’s what I seem to have been suffering from for the last two years. My pain and drugs seemed to cloud my brain. But my mind is slowly clearing, and I was able to scrap a bit in the last week. I still fall asleep when I try to read anything. But that could be down to my advancing years. I remember my parents well, crashed out every Sunday as they tried to read the newspaper.

I still have all these books to read, that I sorted out for my convalescence.

It was my first time attending Cambridge Croppers run by Huzaifah Zainon. We had two layouts to complete. I seemed to slow the proceedings down as some people couldn’t scrap and listen to me nattering on for hours ! Hopefully I bought some entertainment to the proceedings

I finished my layouts, when I got home.

I only added a few extra bits to Huzaifah’s wonderful designs. Which is actually quite rare for me.

I loved the birds, I lost one of mine. It either gave flight or I think Ann stole it !

How cute are those little cotton reels. I still have loads left in the rest of the kit.

Then I finished another layout this week. Which, considering how busy I am with Karen Russell's workshop is amazing.

Hilary, kindly donated some supplies to me and I immediately put one of the journaling blocks to good use.

And Sandra, the mini album documenting my pictures from the 2010 workshop was completed straight after the class finished. I wanted to share it with my new peers over on the current workshop.

I am trying to take it a bit easy at the moment. I was told off by my physio that I am doing too much. I have been having some problems with my lower back and hip pain. I have an x-ray coming up to see if the bone graft is taking. So that should be interesting.

Karen Russell workshop scrapbook

2012-01-18T12:26:00.001Z

All you regular readers of my blog, know that all my photography skills I owe to Karen Russell. I took a workshop with her, in the summer of 2010.

I was a TOTAL novice. It was a steep learning curve for me. But as I am a classic A type personality, I threw myself into it with gusto. I was so proud of my development through the course, and some of the images I captured, that I made a little scrapbook album to showcase them. I worked so hard in 2010 and 2011 trying to develop my photography skills and then the editing began. I can now look back at a lot of my photos and cringe, as I see shadows and colour casts. Which I can now correct with the little knowledge I have gained.

I am redoing the workshop in 2012 because I felt it would give me something to look forward to, after my spine operation. I had been toying with the idea of turning pro and trying to schedule a couple of shoots a month. I hoped Karen's class, along with the JinkyArt workshop, would help to reinforce my skills and give me the confidence to go to the next step. But it was spoiling my convalescence.

I don’t like pressure, and take today as an example. Someone wanted me to do a shoot with them today, as they are getting their hair cut and would look at their best. Yesterday was a beautiful crisp, sunny frosty day. Today it’s dark, raining and incredibly murky. The light is totally different. I know I couldn’t create the best photo in those conditions. Imagine if I was getting paid for that, and had other sessions booked in during the week. The uncertainty of the light here in the UK, is too much for me to take my photography to that pro level. I would just worry too much. And I don’t need that type of pressure. No amount of money could reimburse me, for my own piece of mind.

Here is my little scrapbook album containing my assignment pictures for 2010.

I can’t remember the name of the Mamarazi papers and quotes I used. Can anyone recognise it?

I had planned to take the workshop in the Summer months,so that I would hopefully get some sunny days.

It helped that we would also be in Spain on holiday for the first two weeks.

I drove them all mad ,making them sit for shoots everyday.

It made photography so easy having the light in Spain. The one above is for my shutter speed assignment and Tasmin is in a swimming pool trying to catch droplets of water.

My regular blog readers might remember that during that holiday. I got serious respite from my spine pain. I thought I had been cured by the warm weather. But of course within a short space of time the pain came back.

Anna Bowkis was also taking the workshop, and we were both despairing over our lack of light. That summer everyday seemed to be grey and murky. I told Anna about an amazing back drop in a lavender field that we could use. So we went there and practiced for our week 5/6 assignments.

I used all the opportunities that came up, to organise little shoots that could cover my assignments. By this time my kids were sick of having a camera in their faces. So Taya above is my niece. She was having a sulk and a little cry when I took the picture. We thought she had just broken Teddy’s leg, and she had been told off.

The little 3 day old baby below, was my friends brand new granddaughter. I have gone on to use her many times as my model as she is growing up.

You may recognise this recent picture I took of her at Christmas

look how she has grown.

I shared this image I took in Spain, with the new workshop, to show them how easy it is to capture beautiful sunsets and light when you have it. Unfortunately here in the UK that is a real challenge.

I was so looking forward to my holiday in our Spanish apartment in 2011. I would know what I was doing this time, and I could utilise that special light. But, I had to fly home, unexpectedly, when the pain became too bad. Leaving poor Chris, on his own.

I even included the little note Karen Russell sent, with my workshop binder.

These Paparazzi papers were just perfect for this little album. I hope you enjoyed taking a peak at it.

I am looking forward to the JinkyArt workshop I am taking in May. I actually hope it will be grey and murky for some of it. I want to see how Barb , an Australian photographer, will cope with it.

and so it begins

2012-01-12T14:07:00.001Z

Me glued to the internet for the next couple of months. Karen Russell's latest photography workshop has stated this week. I have a LOT to catch up on day and night in the forums. People post just as I think I’ve got on top of it !

I have my own little peer group, but I think some of them are scared of me already, as they are keeping quiet. I have promised to just whisper in my replies to them. I warned them I am a rather loud individual and talk a lot and loudly. Or so some of you tell me.

Every thing we post for our assignments has to be SOOC, no editing cropping or anything. There is much talk about you have to get it right in camera and then editing isn’t needed. Someone said “you can’t polish a turd” . Well here’s an image that shows, you can in fact polish a turd !! Sorry Amelia. it’s just a figure of speech, you’re not really a turd. Just a little annoyingly, quiet sometimes. Only Joking !

Here’s a before and after edited image of Amelia

Not everyone is picture perfect SOOC. I rest my case.

When I took the last workshop I just couldn’t work out why I couldn’t get the pictures I was seeing on the web, and often on the workshop POTD spot. I was doing everything right in camera, but something was missing. I thought it was my camera body and lenses. It was editing. We have very grey light here in the UK. Its very often cloudy and extremely dull. My images are totally different SOOC, when I am in Spain. Full of colour and punch. I can easily get beautiful sunset and backlit images. ( see here) Try that here, and it’s almost impossible.

The other thing that gets my goat during the class, is the camera equipment they all have. I suffered really badly last time with envy of all their cameras and lenses, and this time it’s even worse. The amount of people with Canon 5d MKII and 7Ds is astounding. People think they are blessed here in the UK with a point and shoot ! It’s only professional photographers here, that tend to have the Canon 5dMKII.

I have to keep reminding myself that their equipment is much cheaper in the US, and that they have much more disposable income in comparison to the average Brit. I mean just look at our tax rate 20% on everything, then add in the price of our homes and petrol !!! (insert weeping) ). I know I’m not “the average Brit “ when it comes to income, I’m just plain tight.

I can see myself getting thrown of this workshop if I keep mouthing off. But you know me I can’t keep my big mouth shut !

I posted these as my POTD shots. How did my cardigan know about my bracelets, when it came with this little message ?……..

One bracelet does not jingle : Sometimes more is more.

My thoughts exactly………..

Here’s another image.

and this from yesterdays lunch.

and Sandra, SOOC unedited. Sorry about that Sandra !

The end of Project Life

2012-01-10T11:42:00.001Z

at last.

It was so ingrained in me to carry my camera everyday, so that I can get a shot for Project Life. But when Tasmin and I where going shopping in London for some last minute Christmas shopping, when she saw my heavy DSLR out on the side she groaned. She told me I’m not carrying it for you and you certainly won’t be able to all day. So I reluctantly agreed to leave it in the safe. But I fretted all day without it. Hubby had the small point and shoot in Chicago, so I thought I will just have to go with whatever he shoots. Imagine my delight when I saw a sledge in the middle of Oxford Street, complete with fake snow. I immediately ran over to the girl monitoring an empty queue. She informed me it was free and you got about 3 shots ,within 10 minutes. I grabbed Tasmin and off we posed. 10 minutes later, voila I had 2 photos inside a Xmas card. I used one of the cards as my weekly announcement card and I added some old Xmas card embellishments to the Joy Up.

I added an image of my children's old JMI school. I offered to pick up a friends daughter from school, so it was the perfect opportunity to grab a shot on the playground. These will be the images my kids will be interested in in years to come. It will prompt lots of memories.

The cowgirls were my two lunch partners for the day. I made them wear the hats for an impromptu photo session.

again I pulled the house of an old New Home card, I found whilst clearing out some drawers.

My sister didn’t want me to share her picture on my blog.(It’s a secret, what I photographed )

An insert with some extra pics from the week. When I picked up my friends daughter, I offered a little photo session. I have to take every opportunity to take pictures of little willing subjects.

Then on the back of the insert are two Christmas cards from my nephews. Some of you may already of seen the lovely picture of me with my face stuffed with chocolates on Christmas day (I shared it on Facebook). Not a nice sight , I agree. But funny….

Here’s it again, in case you want to see it closer. No doubt my sister will be saving this for a future Birthday card !

And finally Week fifty two

The couple with the frame, are my friend Hilary's daughter and her fiancé. I did an engagement shoot with them whilst they were down South. I will have to share some images in a later blog.

an insert of some of my favourite images from Christmas Day.

and of the days following the big day.

I included a pocket with the Christmas card my Aunt sent me in 2010. She has since died and I thought it would be nice to keep to remember her and her lovely handwriting.

I have yet to finish the two closing pages. I want to add a family photo and something about my One Little Word project for 2012.

I bought us all a lottery ticket and asked them each to write down what they would do with the winnings. Of course none of us won. It was interesting that they all found it hard to think of what to buy. Property was the main thing. They all wanted to know how much they had to spend, as half a million doesn’t go far on properties here in the UK.

And here is the A4 pocket envelope I added. Both of them in the albums are stuffed.

It includes special cards, an x-ray of Tasmins jaw, the reading my cousin did at my Aunt funeral. A thank you card with one of my images, from a little boy who’s photo I took. A letter from my cousin with a cheque from my Aunts Will. (very unexpected) The Police report from our burglary. A football programme from an important game, Ryan played in.

Oh, and the little note from the stylist from my house magazine shoot. She told me, God told her to write it down and give it to me. It was the least I could do to keep it and pop it in my Project Life !

OLW

2012-01-07T14:41:00.001Z

What the hell does that mean, I hear a few of you ask ?

One Little Word.

To us bloggers, and scrappers, we know what OLW means. No need for resolutions, you can have a word to live by and inspire you for the coming year. In 2010 my word I choose was Capture. I kept to my word all year and learnt how to use my then new DSLR and spent the year “capture”ing,

2011, I choose the word Story. I wanted to continue to tell my story through my blog, and most importantly our families through Project Life.

This year again it was easy for me to choose my word. But to help me this year my son bought me a subscription to Ali Edwards year long class, here.

I don’t think I will be making an album charting my progress, which is a lot of what the class is about. I can’t think of anyone who would be interested in sitting down looking through the album. But I may be tempted to do a few layouts.

I have spent the time to snatch a quick self portrait which was part of this months class.

( my sister will be checking out my eyelids. She thinks I should have a spot of surgery on them . But I bet you didn’t even notice them until I pointed them out to you. Nope, you were too busy noticing my smile, earrings or brown eyes. Am I right or should I book that appointment ?)

Anyway, back to my word for the year 2012. I have chosen my word

Check out my Pinterest board here for some of my inspirational quotes I have chosen to spur me on. Some of them made me cry when I read them. Remembering how much pain I was in, and my trying to stay strong.

This one bought the tears out…….

I remembered the couple of occasions I had to be held, to help me to stand through the pain and to comfort me. The memories are still very clear in my brain. My pain was so bad that even morphine couldn’t take it away.

Maybe you would like to find a word for 2012 instead of New Year resolutions. Listen to the words being said out loud here, it may help one speak to you. I told Hubby I had chosen mine. I let him guess from all the “s” ones. He got mine straight away.

I hope the word will help me to work through all the physio I have to now do. To help me when I return soon to rehab Pilates classes. To keep my mind strong and focused and not to worry that the pain will return. And to try and make my cut stomach muscles strong again.

But an added bonus to my word is it other meanings, here.

Having or showing ability or achievement in a specified field
bold,
brave,
emphatic
and firm

all things I need to learn to help me to say, no. Something I have always found hard.

So I have to stay STRONG, and remember I live very close to the end of the rainbow, as I captured here this week.

Months ago

2012-01-06T17:31:00.001Z

just before my operation I got everyone's Christmas presents in one swoop. All thanks to this ladies blog. She was offering a free memory keepers box at Paper Coterie for all her blog readers. I couldn’t believe it. I had wanted a memory keeper box forever, but they were so expensive to buy and ship here to the UK. It didn’t matter how many times you used the voucher code as long as they were separate transactions. So it worked out a perfect way for me to buy a box with an image I had taken, for everyone in our family. Now it meant I just had to pay for the shipping to the UK which worked out at about £22 each. The poor delivery man had so many big boxes to deliver to my house over 3 days.

Here’s the one I bought hubby. I choose the same dotty design for everyone as it was my favourite. You could choose to include any words on the back.

They are so beautifully made. The picture quality is amazing and the boxes are lined with black linen.

Here's my nieces with theirs.

Taya wasn’t too pleased with the image I choose of her. She wants to be a boy really, so she didn't like how girly she looks.

I did read about a $35 voucher towards anything at Paper Coterie in the last few days, but I just can’t find where I read it. I did a little search on the internet and I could only find this, sorry. But it’s better than nothing.

Project Life

2012-01-06T13:13:00.001Z

At last the end of the year is upon us. 365 days, 52 weeks of photo taking. Everyday! Phew, how did I manage to keep it going?

OhLife a daily email prompt was a great help. Plus, I subscribed to comments in the Big Picture Classes, Project Life forum and quite a few blogs that were taking part.

I’m quite glad I am not fully taking part this year, as Becky Higgins has brought a whole team of scrappers on board for 2012. Some of them, I did follow this year and their work is awesome. That’s why, I wouldn’t want to be comparing my project to theirs and getting all concerned about embellishing everything and it looking perfect.

I am hoping this year to complete a Project Life style book from Shutterfly that has just linked up with Becky. I am sure this will work out a MUCH cheaper option. I can’t even begin to hazzard a guess how much the two massive albums have cost me to complete. It will be in the hundreds I expect. I have had to refill my printer ink LOTS of times and at nearly £60 a go that adds up to a lot! But in a weird roundabout way it kept me scrapping and it certainly kept me photographing. All of which might have gone by the way side as I coped with my back pain issues

Week forty six

The picture at the top right ,is my old Dior make up counter I worked on. It’s weird as I am off there today with my sons girlfriend to see if we can find her a position on one of the counters. This time last year I had Tasmin looking for a job when she left University because she was so unhappy. Now I have Kerri in the same position. She was very unhappy in her job and has handed in her notice. But life is too short to stay at something that makes you unhappy and stressed.

Week forty seven

I couldn’t resist adding that little shot of Chris. It serves him right for pulling a face when I was trying to get a nice shot of him.

Week forty eight

Week forty nine

It was great to put some left over embellishments from my Shimelle Christmas album from a few years ago to use.

A photo collage insert of my girl friends Christmas party. I was unable to join them for the meal last year as I couldn't sit down! I’m pulling that face as I am opening a present as I haven’t a clue what it is !

and Chris was in Chicago this week, saying good bye to his old boss. I was so glad when it unexpectedly happened that he was there. He got to say a proper goodbye to him. Glenn will be greatly missed by our entire family. We will be eternally thankful for everything he has done for us as a family over the past years.

People did groan a bit as the year went on, when I asked for a picture. I didn’t have any problems when I asked relative strangers, such as my surgeon if I could have a picture of them. When I explained to them why, they were always intrigued, and said yes. So I am glad I kept it up and I’m rather proud that I did. It was a lot of hard work, many hours spent at a computer and cursing my printer. Hopefully one day some one will sit down and look through them and be glad I made all that effort.

random musings to start 2012

2012-01-02T14:33:00.001Z

I had wanted to see 2012 in on the banks of the Thames watching the fireworks bringing in the New Year.

We parked up about 5pm, and made our way to a Prezzo restaurant in a quite location we had earmarked. It was empty except for a few couples. We walked in to be asked if we had booked, as they were fully booked !! The place was empty ?? So off we ambled to The Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. I ended up with a portion of chips and Hubby a jacket potato. Mmm. This was followed by McFlurrys a few hours later. He sure knows how to treat a lady !!

I did ask someone to take a picture of us against a perfect backdrop of huge snowman and the big Ferris wheel. I even commented to the person that it made a good backdrop. So he kindly took the picture and cut out the backdrop entirely .Thanks mate ! So I’ve had to make do with an arms length picture, as we went in.

We walked very s-l-o-w-l-y around trying to kill time.

Then we walked very s-l-o-w-l-y across central London, through China Town, around Covent Garden, back to Leicester square and then Trafalgar square. That’s a fair few miles.

We then ended up, where everyone was beginning to be herded into lines to go down on to the Embankment. Chris wanted to wait at the end, but it was right near all the portaloos. His sense of smell doesn’t work, so he hadn’t noticed, but there was no way I was going to wait there. So we pushed our way along a slim tunnel of humans, until we couldn’t go much further. The heat went up a few degrees. I was a bit pissed off, as I wanted to be near to where we were on Millennium Eve. But we had sat that out from 5pm before, not budging. So this spot would have to do. We were hemmed in on all sides, stuck fast.

I moved to try and lift my arm to look at my watch and the man next to me said “,it’s only 9pm! 3 more hours left "

3 hours. stood squashed on that spot. It was far worse that the Millennium night. People were still coming in and pushing through in the little spaces left and then becoming stuck.

Chris said to me, “imagine if people suddenly panic and start pushing. People will get crushed.”

That was it, the thought of me, with my newly fused spine being pushed over, made me decide on the spot to push our way back out and go home. ………

All those hours walking around London wasted. Not really, I had wanted to do something other than just sit at home as usual watching TV and then in bed ,being woken up by fireworks. We had absorbed all the atmosphere. I had sat in prime spot before and seen the fireworks, so I wasn’t really missing out.

So off we walked in the opposite direction to everyone else, except all the mounted police coming out of Scotland Yard. My pace on the way back was significantly slower, it was like someone had let all my energy out. It started to rain on the way back to the car, so we were even more pleased we had decided to head home.

We rang Tasmin in the car and she was laughing, thinking we were stood in the rain on the Embankment. We told her we would be home in 50 minutes and we were. In fact all tucked up in bed by that time. I never heard another thing. I was pooped after all that walking.

So anyway, Happy New Year to everyone.

I’m a bit nuts

2011-12-23T19:46:00.001Z

at the moment.

I can’t help myself…..

It’s caused me to come out in huge spots, but I can’t resist.

I’ve been making caramelised nuts ready for a salad, I’m making as a starter for Christmas Day. The only problem is they are so delicious, I keep eating them.

So I thought I would share with you how they are made, in case you’d like to be spotty for Christmas like me !

Grab yourselves some nuts that you fancy. The pecans are particularly yummy cooked in this way.

I was using pecans and walnuts for my salad and I added some cashews to be made up separately.

Roast your nuts in a moderate oven for about 7 minutes, but keep an eye on them, as they easily burn. The slight roasting really changes the flavour and texture of the nuts.

Then add about half a cup full of granulated sugar to a saucepan. Grab a wooden spoon.

Now you need to heat your sugar and watch it like a hawk. Don’t answer the phone ,stop to break up fights between your screaming brats.

You can whack them later…..

It will start to liquify before your eyes.

Then it will start to turn golden in colour. This is the crucial part and it can easily burn and be ruined.

Just as it starts to turn more golden add your nuts.

Stir around, sprinkle on some sea salt. I added some cinnamon to the cashew nuts as well.

Tip on to a slightly, oiled tray. Have two forks ready, and a willing slave. I have several here, always willing to help me !

separate the sticky nuts, as much as possible and leave to cool.

and then VOILA….

You can then pop them into little pots ready for adding to salads or just munching.

Delicious

The official opening of the Aldrin Grotto !

2011-12-15T18:34:00.001Z

The red ribbon was kindly cut my Mr Snitch the Elf himself. He was in great demand this year, but we were lucky to get him for the official opening.

and then a right Royal bugle salute, played by Mr Snitch the Elf.

some Christmas music tinkling in the background played by Liberace

( or Mr Snitch the Elf)

The following videos were prompted by a comment left by Kim…..

and there’s more !!

and more

and then………. The End.

Well, nearly the end of Mr Snitch the Elf………

someone got jealous !!!!!

Elf contest

2011-12-14T09:22:00.001Z

Now if my son thinks I have too much time on my hands, then he should consider himself lucky I occupy my time in other ways.

Why you might ask ,well hop on over to this blog that has a competition running.

here

I had to share it, it is so funny. Scroll down to the bottom where the entries are. I tell you, you will piss your pants. I am laughing out loud and Teddy is looking at me like I have gone deranged!!

How do these people get so creative ?

Just Added after posting: there is even a Flickr site for fellow saddo’s like me.

here

and yes, I did also include a link to the urban meaning of saddo. I never know what my American readers understand when I use my ghetto speak !

Elf on the shelf, hits the UK

2011-12-13T12:24:00.001Z

Taking a picture of your tree using manual focus and a high aperture, is a great way of finding out all the lights have stopped working in the lower part of the tree.

AHHhhhh

Well, hubby arrived home, laden down with goodies from over the pond. You would have thought,the amount he moaned, that he’d had to carry the bloody suitcase instead of wheeling it everywhere !

Now of course I was most excited to see my new Elf. Well I was so surprised when I saw the size of him, he was huge.

It would seem Santa has been watching me already, and had told the Elf I had been a VERY, naughty girl this year !

He came equipped with rabbit fur, lined handcuffs !!!!!!!!

He had me handcuffed to the Aga, cooking straight away !!!

HELP, please !!!!!

On his first night here, he settled down with the boys and did what boys do.

My son says I obviously have too much time on my hands.

I have no idea what he means, do you?

Elf on the shelf is coming to the UK

2011-12-11T20:41:00.001Z

I can’t say how excited I am…….. He’s nearly home…..

Only one sleep and he’ll be here…… from Chicago

Who is he you might say ?………………………..

Check out his very own website with videos to find out, here.

I will actually have someone to photograph over Christmas now, it’s so exciting.

I actually want him for my Grandchildren !!!!!!!

Yep, I said Grandchildren…………..

My elf is going to be sat on the shelf for quite a few years probably.

Checkout my Pinterest board for Christmas inspiration, here. You’ll see there are some great ideas for my little elf………

It’s that time of year again….

2011-12-05T23:29:00.001Z

Don’t be fooled by his face. He loves to have an advent calendar.

I have been enjoying my rest time immensely. It’s five weeks already since my spine operation. I feel almost normal now. I still wake in the night, but the pain is more a nuisance, than agony like before. In fact I rather like my peaceful hour on the internet. I have been doing more and more around the house. It didn’t help when we saw my surgeon for a check up this weekend. Hubby asked, could I resume the ironing duty? The bloody Dr replied, “ yes, in short 20 minute bursts ".

But on the up side, he said I could start driving again. So today I went out and did a wee bit of Christmas shopping. I am to wean myself of my back brace over the coming weeks and my nerve painkiller drugs. That way we will see if they are just masking any pain.

I wanted a picture at the hospital, for my Project Life and for another photo project I am taking part in. I wanted to cover the gratitude prompt. Because I am eternally, grateful to Mr Lester Wilson for helping in taking my pain away.

No one is ever phased when I ask for a photo. Especially when I explain why. The only problem is I put the camera on idiot proof for hubby. Of course it decided to focus on me only. Oh well ,never mind.

The Dr checked my scar, and I remarked it was a bit wider and higher than I expected. He had previously said it would be 4-5 inches long. So he pulled out a ruler and measured it for a laugh ,and it was spot on. But he did remark he could have done a better job of centering it !

Tasmin has been my taxi lately. She finally passed her driving test ,with no faults ! We bought her a sporty little Renault Clio.

This was me going out for one of her first tries on a motorway. We only nearly got killed once! I kid you not.

We popped out for milkshakes and hot chocolate.

A couple of hours later Tasmin was £250 pounds lighter. We found a little boutique that had just opened. Oh, and one of her eyes is a bit dodgy and has been for the last month. So she’s not great model material at the moment

It’s the time of year, when a lot of scrapbookers take part in one of Shimelles most popular classes. I have put my Journal Your Christmas album out as part of our Christmas decorations.

If you would like to check out my completed album it’s all here.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T19:50:00.001Z

to everyone at Woodward MPC and all you people over the pond.

We had our own little celebration here in the UK and went for dinner at our favourite Indian restaurant, Yuva

Not a very American equivalent I admit, but delicious all the same.

Chris sends his love !!! ( I told him he would regret that pose )

We are truly, thankful for the wonderful people he gets to work with on a daily basis.

We also took the opportunity to look for a little run around for Tasmin now that she has passed her driving test. We don’t want anything too fancy or new, as we have a feeling it may get a few scrapes and bumps along the way.

So, we thought this could be a contender ?

Project Life

2011-11-23T17:45:00.001Z

Somehow I have managed to keep up with my Project Life. It has been hard going the last few weeks. Because I was stuck confined to a hospital bed for 3 days and on strict rest on my return home. I have been cross with myself on numerous occasions, when I have forgotten to pick up my camera when I’ve had visitors. So I have had to use a bit of poetic license to fill my slots.

Sorry, the images are a bit dark and the white balance is crap. But I couldn’t carry the album downstairs to shoot it in natural light. I had to make do with a dark lit room.

Week forty One

some extra inserts from a photo shoot of my nieces .

I have one more to add to this collection of my friends Sandra and Hilary.

Week forty two

Yep, I even took my camera to the chiropodists ! I can’t tell you what bliss it was having my feet looked after. I haven’t been able to reach them for a year and a half. It was £30 well spent.

Week forty three

extra insets for the week.

Week forty four

Week forty five

Week forty six

So, that’s it so far. But I have lots of recent photos I’ve taken to share at a later date. I am so well, I am raring to go with some new photographic shoots. I’ve just got to wait for this dingy, grey weather to disappear.

poor girl

2011-11-23T16:43:00.001Z

at 25 Beautiful Homes magazine has just spent the last couple of hours, asking me questions for the feature on our house.

She sent me the jpegs from the shoot. I was pleased to see, the house looked like our HOME. Readers of my blog will know I was concerned on the day as a lot of my “stuff” was removed, making some of the rooms look soul less to us.( original blog here )

Here's some of the pictures that were taken on the day.

I had written eight A4 sheets of answers to her questions!!

Eight !

You know me, I talk a bit….. I have a lot to say…….always…….

The magazine wanted to know, where I had bought all the items in my home. I was surprised at how many came from Dunelm Mill and Matalan ( they are like a Target ,to you Americans reading this ) I hope it proves that you don’t have to spend a lot to get a unique looking home. I like to mix, one off pieces, with cheap sale items and I keep my eyes open wherever I am. Even in Tesco's.

I do the same with my own personal, fashion style. An expensive bag (here), jewellery with a Sainsbury top with a fur collar added, and a pair of £4 pumps from Primark. That look is actually harder to achieve, than buying everything out of Next. That goes for your home as well as your own personal style. Mix it up a bit, open your eyes to lots of other places that offer something different and unique to you.

Now my penny pinching doesn't stop there. I do the same with food. I LOVE to cook, I rarely just reheat a pre-made meal. I always check out one of the cheaper supermarkets first to see what they have on offer. i.e Aldi or Lidls. Then I do a larger shop in one of the big supermarkets, always just keeping to what is on offer. Morrisons is my current favourite place to shop. I wait and bide my time until something I want goes on sale. Then I do an expensive shop in Waitrose or M & S every so often. Again, keeping to their offers.

I spend about half the amount on food as my friends and family. But I always have a freezer and larder full of food . There are always homemade cakes, Ben & Jerry's ice cream in the freezer and fresh vegetables and meat to hand. I have cupboards full of ingredients to put a Thai meal, pasta dish or cupcakes together at a moments notice.

I remember being shocked once, years ago ,when talking to a friend about the price of chicken. We were living on a VERY tight budget with two young children. I once had, at that time just £8.00 to feed us four, for a week!! But I did it ,with the help of a calculator in my handbag and the knack for putting meals together from very little.

My friend had no idea how much chicken cost. Not a clue. She said she just grabbed something from the shelf, with not a care in the world. At that time I was buying the £1.99 Tesco Value chicken to feed us for a week!! But do you know what I felt sorry for her, not for myself. I could be a lottery winner and I would still be canny with what I buy. I guess it’s just inbuilt. And luckily both of my children seem to have inherited that gene…..

I couldn’t resist including a picture at this point, of my friend Judith when I took her shopping in Aldi this week. A very funny experience, she was a cheap supermarket Virgin.

I popped her cherry good and proper and I think she will be making a repeat visit , but maybe in camouflage next time…..

At, bloody last !!!

2011-11-23T11:42:00.001Z

Tasmin had her FOURTH driving test today. She is always so nervous ,her thinking goes out of the window and she fluffs at the last moment of the test.

So for this one she literally drank a bottle of Rescue remedy. And it obviously did the trick as she PASSED. With no majors or minors.

ZILCH

Apparently the examiner said that only happens 1/15,000.

He sounded great. Tasmin had, had him before and he remembered her. He chatted to her for the entire test,as he could see she was very nervous. He even joked with her whether she had been unfaithful to him and had a test with someone else !!

She did really well seeing's, she has an eye infection and her eye is all swollen.

Some scrapping

2011-11-15T17:12:00.001Z

Before I went into hospital I went to a crop for a few hours. I managed to get a lot more done than I expected. It was a bit pot luck, as I just went with what was already loaded in my crop bag from a previous day.

This layout is from when Tasmin was very brave as a three year old. I never allowed my children to have any dangerous climbing frame equipment in my garden. Mainly because Ryan was such a dare devil, I knew it would only be a matter of time before he injured himself. So I bought a small framework of tubes from The Early Learning Centre that could be made up into different shapes and structures.

But of course Ryan managed to work his wicked way with even that !Tasmin was sat on it. It was only about knee height. He rocked it until she fell of on to the grass. But somehow her funny bone on the corner of her elbow broke off. So she had to go into hospital and have an operation that night to repair the damage. They thought her arm would never grow to it proper length ,but she’s had no problems since, except a big scar as her war wound.

This one is of Tasmins 4th Birthday. I got to use a piece of a birthday card Tasmin sent me for my last birthday. I peeled the Birthday Girl cut out piece from the card and stuck it on the layout with 3D tape.

This one is still waiting for the hidden journaling. The photo was taken during my sisters wedding reception. She organised her entire wedding in about 5 weeks, after we found out my dads was terminally ill with cancer. If your reading this Andrea could you leave a comment as to what date the wedding was. I have forgotten !!

This layout was for my old family history album. It’s of my dad and his twin sister at the front and his two older siblings. Again I have used hidden journaling on a tag, as I hate to see my writing on a layout.

Don’t worry

2011-11-15T16:47:00.001Z

I am still alive after my operation!

The problem is hubby bought me an iPad for my time in hospital and it is impossible to blog from. The iPad was a necessity when I was bed bound for three days. No food or drink for four days. So it was a great asset to have, to keep me occupied. I even got to bore my anaesthetist with images from my blog and Flickr. He came to visit me on one of my long evenings. He stayed for over an hour chatting to me. Just shows you get what you pay for!!

My operation seems to have gone very well. I wasn’t in too much pain from it. The unbearable pain came from me being bed bound for days with pumps on my legs. Because I couldn’t stand or walk about, the pain I get in my left leg was uncontrollable. Morphine wouldn’t even dull it. The surgeon was very concerned by the third day and I was prescribed some new medication to try and dull the nerve. He even mentioned it looked like I would have to have another back operation in six weeks time. My disc space turned out to be very narrow and he wasn’t sure if he had managed to get everything out and away from the sciatic nerve.

But the new medication seems to be slowly doing the trick. I still have to stand up in the night and during the day to walk off the leg pain that starts. It is certainly less than it used to be. The pain down my leg has disappeared on the few car journeys I have had since leaving hospital. So that is a blessing.

I am soooo sleepy all the time, that I spend most of the day asleep. I’m not sure at the moment if it’s my new medication or the result of the operation. But I am making the most of the rest. As I am not allowed to do any housework, it gives me lots of time to rest. I still have lots of ready made meals, I cooked before the operation to get through, so I’m still enjoying home cooking.

I struggled with the hospital food, as I knew I would. I wasn’t allowed to eat or drink for four day as my bowel was paralysed . In fact it wasn’t a problem, as I wasn’t at all hungry. I just craved some fruit pastilles, that were sat in my bedside drawer.When some blood tests came back that my blood sugars were dangerously low, I was allowed to suck one, as they hooked me up to yet another drip. It took me an hour of bliss….

Because there was nothing on the menu I ever ate, I was allowed to order anything I fancied. But when you have no appetite, it’s hard to decide what to order. I would forget what I had put down for the chef to make me. I’d lift the silver dome at meal times and my heart would sink. Uncooked chips, raw omelette or lumpy mash ! The only meal I could ever eat was breakfast.

Do you know what the most annoying thing from my stay in hospital. I didn’t even lose a whole pound in weight. How the hell not ? I even grew in height , but still no weight change? Must have been something in all those darn drips I was on.

Everyone but me seemed to be freaked out by my catheter bag. I wore it as if it was the latest's fashion accessory.

I was allowed home early as I was doing so well. But, I slowly began to deteriorate as I was trying to do too much. I thought I could go shopping in a wheelchair, but I found it too low and soft and I was in pain for the rest of the day. So Chris is glad he never has to push me around in that again.

I now just take it easy and sleep a lot. And leave everything to them to do. (except today. Everyone has abandoned me. So I am fending for myself)

As soon as I had my staples out, I felt a lot more comfortable. I have to wear a huge back brace and it’s tight right across the scar, so that isn’t too great. The scar is twice the size I was told it was going to be and is also in a different place. Maybe I will find out why, when I next see the surgeon. He did say to me it would depend on how easy the access would be in my abdomen.

Anyway, I am taking each day as it comes.

look who we caught up with

2011-10-30T11:01:00.001Z

You may remember we were burgled in June this year.

Well Thomas has been sentenced, and Chris was lucky enough to be able to deal with him in person.

He had aged during his time in prison. It would seem it was his 50th birthday!

It isn’t really Thomas, it’s his doppelganger Dennis. Dennis was one of Chris best mates at school and Dennis was known as second hand man, as he always asked out Chris girlfriends when they split up. The last girl Chris went out with before me, was Cheryl. She was the reason, I said yes to a blind date when Chris rang me out of the blue. I had recently come out of a long relationship at 16 years old, and he had been waiting for me for years. I was very impressed when he told me on the phone he had just split up with Cheryl. She was the IT girl of Stevenage, where we grew up. She was stunningly beautiful. It would seem no one ever asked her out as she was so intimidating. My hubby is never intimidated, so he asked her out. Probably over the phone like me.

I thought, God he must be handsome! So I agreed to a blind date. Meanwhile Dennis had jumped in and asked Cheryl out. They ended up getting married the same year as us and went on to have a boy and girl at the same time.

When we saw the image of our burglar on the internet, it put all our minds at rest to see he looked so like Dennis. He bites his bottom lip just like Dennis always does. He looks the spitting image of Dennis at 22.

Last night Cheryl arranged a surprise 50th party for the birthday boy. I got to boogie on the dance floor until my sleeping tablets kicked in and Chris got to catch up with old friends from school.

I’m all packed

2011-10-26T12:21:00.001+01:00

Well if you know me at all , you will know I have been packed for weeks.

I LOVE packing. The majority of the clothing I am taking to hospital is all brand new. I wanted to wear light, comfy bright nightwear. The nurse on my pre-hospital day advised me to buy /bring front fastening clothes, as I won’t be allowed to lift my arms up. So I had to have a sort through my wardrobe and purchase a few more new things.

I absolutely adore my Longchamp suitcase I bought years ago. It cost an arm and a leg, but it has been all around the World with me, and it always makes me feel good.

A sweet girl bought me the beautiful scarf at the top of the pile. I was so touched that she came with a good luck card and this lovely prezzie. I had remarked on her scarf the last time I saw her and she went out and bought me one. How lovely is that.

I’m taking a few scarfs to brighten up my nightwear.

Some new slippers have had to added to the mix , as the nurse wasn’t happy about me wearing Crocs for the physio sessions I will need.

Some bright loose fitting clothing, for if I am feeling up to getting dressed.

Some reading matter and lots of DVDs I have been wanting to watch for months. My iPod and my daughters iPod touch. And I couldn’t go without my hair straighteners

A book I am hoping to fill great chunks of.

I have another Cath Kidston big bag filled with snacks. A hot water bottle, as I can’t sleep without something warm. Some baby wipes. And I have lots of other things to be added at the least minute. Food may be a major issue for me in hospital. Even in a restaurant , there is rarely more than one thing I can eat. My last stay in hospital I had to be made toast, as I don’t eat sandwiches, fruit or yoghurt that was offered.

I have been told that eating maybe an issue, anyway after the surgery , due to everything being moved to get to my disc at the back. Today is the start of my low residue diet leading up to the surgery. So I may not be eating properly for the next two weeks, until I return home.

I was hoping I could be brought food by visitors, but the hospital won’t allow any meals to be bought in. If I haven’t eaten for days, I may get someone to sneak me a sausage roll in.

21 years old

2011-10-23T20:14:00.001+01:00

I have been busy getting everything ready for my stay in hospital. I spent an exhausting day at the hospital for my pre-op tests. There was so much walking to get from each underground station to the next, it knocked me for six. I was still recovering days later. But at least I’m now aware, there is no way I will be able to do that after my operation. I was planning on traveling by train for my physio sessions, as I won’t be able to drive. But the distances I had to walk to get from platform to platform was ridiculous. So I won’t be doing that again, in a hurry. It took me an hour and a half from door to door.

The nurse didn’t tell me anything about the operation that I didn’t already know. She just reinforced that I won’t be allowed to do anything but rest and walk for months after the op. I was hoping I might be able to sit for a bath in the near future, but she said that will be a long way off. Quite how I am going to keep the old lady grey hairs at bay is unknown. I’m not allowed to lean back or forwards at the hairdressers. She said just leave it for months!!!!.

It would seem I am not allowed to sit down much either after the op. One of the things I was most looking forward to doing. Plus, I have just weighed my beloved laptop and I won’t be able to carry it after the operation either. It weighs too much. So I have borrowed my sons latest iPod touch to have a play. As I may have to resort to buying an iPad.

During my convalescence I want to use the time wisely. I have bought photography books and guides to using Photoshop. I have a wealth of images already and waiting. I think I have found my own style of photography that speaks to me. I like strong eye contact close ups. With striking catchlights. I’m not into groups of people or full body.

Last week I finally got around to learning a technique to edit eyes. So it has made my images even stronger.

I jumped at the chance to ask Luke, a boy I used to childmind if he would like a free photo-shoot with me for his 21st Birthday. I haven’t seen him for about 15 years and I don’t think he really remembers me, but I couldn’t miss the opportunity. He is a struggling musician and was scouted to work at Abercrombie & Fitch in London. As anyone knows they only want lookers to work there. I’m afraid I’m a bit partial to a looker. I can’t be shooting ugly mugs. I’m shallow like that.

I know any images I got from the shoot, would be great for my portfolio. I planned all the locations and poses. But unfortunately Luke's hunger and the rain stopped the shoot.

I’m afraid I think he was a bit shell shocked after the shoot. I had talked to him solidly for over an hour. He is out of work and I was given him advice and trying to boost his confidence.

What you can’t tell from the pictures is that he had a broken arm.We tried to keep it out of the shots.

This one above was a lot of peoples favourite image on Facebook, but mine is this one.

Luke's favourite and the only one he’s sharing on Facebook is this one.

He started the shoot as a reluctant model, but after he saw the photos load on to my computer, he was up for getting all his friends together to shoot for me. The great thing is they are all lookers as well, with a few real models thrown in the mix. So I’m hoping to use Luke and his friends for my assignments in the Karen Russell workshop I am retaking in January.

It’s handy as he is a skateboarder (hence the broken arm) and I always struggle with the action assignments.

I was amazed when I went to cull the images. I only had two with Luke's eyes shut. I have 175 PEREFCT images I had to choose from. He was a pro, either that or he was shell shocked from me talking at him.

Boo…. Am I scary?

2011-10-15T20:39:00.001+01:00

I got this idea for a fun, different looking pumpkin from a Martha Stewart magazine, hubby brought me back from Chicago. The eyeballs are from Sainsbury's.

Luckily there were 3 in the packet. As I was straightening one of his wonky eyes, it popped into his head. So phew, that third eye came in handy.

Tasmin couldn’t resist the maraca shaped squashes, when we went pumpkin shopping.

As I have been feeling so well, and can now sit down for long periods. I booked myself onto an advanced Canon photography course. I got a bit excited when I found out my camera can video with sound. I have no idea why this had passed me by. I knew it could video, but the sound was a surprise to me. The only problem is I can’t work out how to watch them on my computer. They don’t download with the Jpegs ??

I still can’t believe, that before June 2010, I didn’t have a clue what an ISO or aperture was. I can talk, camera talk now, and I even know what I mean. I’m still learning, and I regularly have ah ha moments, when things come together. This day bought it’s own surprises. In front of me sat an amazing wedding photographer, and we are planning to met up. It’s weird how people appear when you least expect it, but you are ready for them. I am excited about the future that is heading my way.

I have booked myself a place as an auditor on my mentors January photography workshop. She taught me everything I now know and I love her style of photography. But this time during the workshop, my Photoshop mentor, Erin is going to join us for the first time. It was a chance I couldn’t miss.

It will be great to redo the entire workshop, when I know I will get loads of new ah ha moments. Things should fall into place this time, now I don’t have so much to learn. I will have months of weekly assignments and pushing myself to achieve. And last time I was a bit of a chatterbox on the class forum, from which I made lots of new lasting friends.

Then for May 2012, I have taken a huge leap of faith and booked myself on my ultimate photography idols workshop, here. I can’t wait to see what an Aussie will do with our (lack of) light here in the UK.

I’m exciting to think what I will be able to achieve after all their help and knowledge, filters it’s way into my brain.

If I can achieve these images, from a shoot this week filled with flaws. Think what I could achieve when I have complete control.

I hope my usual lack of models won’t set me back for the assignments. So hopefully my nieces above, will come to my rescue, along with two new models I shot this week.

Oh and I didn’t win the best photo from the Bishops Stortford photowalk with the image below. Unsurprising to me and Tasmin, Andrew the leader choose his best mates image. You can see it here.

Hey, I’m not bitter. (well, just a little bit ) As I learnt on my camera class this week. Men like pictures of things and views, and us women like pictures of people.

Special

2011-10-15T15:16:00.001+01:00

I wanted to share this amazing voice with you.

I realise that not everyone is as addicted to TV as I am. So you may have missed Drew’s audition on the American version of X Factor.

I just showed it to Chris, who was tucked up in bed when we watched it past midnight last night.

“I don’t think she’s that great” he said, as his lip trembled and tears fell from his eyes.

No, I agree she’s not that great….. She’s amazing….. and she is only 14….

Project Life

2011-10-11T12:15:00.001+01:00

Week thirty seven

Two cards waiting to be filled in by hubby about his time in the States.

Extra scrap layout insert of photo shoot. Of course, waiting for me to ruin it with journaling.

Week thirty- eight

Week thirty-nine

An insert of a photo-shoot I did during this week.

Week forty

I still have to write the journaling card for Tasmins 21st birthday. She was away for her birthday, so I don’t have any images of the day. I included the IOU card I made her, which we gave in lieu of a present. It’s an IOU for a car, if and when she ever passes her driving test !!

I also have to add this photo of Tasmin I entered for the best image taken during the Scott Kelby Photowalk.

Hallelujah

2011-10-09T13:49:00.001+01:00

The pain came back yesterday.

Who would think I would be glad to say that. But after my blog post yesterday, you might understand how being pain free was confusing me. But after a painful evening in front of the TV watching XFactor and then an even more painful sleepless night. It was just what I needed to remind me, I need to do something about my back.

Whilst I was having that well spell, I was able to comfortably sit down for hours on end. So I took advantage and got down to the task of editing some pictures, I took a few weeks ago of a family I met at a party.

I was blessed on the day with the weather, It was warm, sunny but with a nice covering of soft cloud. Just enough to stop any spots of broken light on my scenes I had set up.

I invited Anna Bowkis along for the shoot. She has recently set up as a professional photographer, offering lifestyle style photography. I was talking to friends about the shoot and how challenging it is for a photographer to shoot black skins, and it has been even harder for me to edit them in Elements. They rolled their eyes and gave me “the look " numerous times that it shouldn’t be talked about. It would be seen as been racialist. I see it more as being a realist. I had warned the couple that neither of us had shot black skins before, and it would be a steep learning curve for us both.

We had both posted questions on our respective professional forums we belong to for help. But it would seem we were not alone. Nobody else had dared shoot black skins. So we read as much as we could and got down to the task in hand.

Of course we practised on each other before the family arrived. We discussed white balance and using the reflector. We talked poses and locations. But as always it all went out of the window, when they arrived. I didn’t do one white balance reading !!.

It was certainly a challenge as any shoot with a new-born and a 19 month old toddler would be. I found myself singing the wheels on the bus, VERY loudly. I didn’t even know I still knew the words after 20 years. But hopefully one thing I can do is engage people. With my big mouth its a given.

Tomorrow Farayi is coming to pick up the finished edited images and all of the out takes I didn’t use. I am sure she will be very pleased with them.

I mean they were FREE.

She has loved sharing them with her friends and family on Facebook and some will be winging their way to family in Nigeria. It’s nice to think my hours of hard work will be appreciated and loved.

The only thing concerning me is. These were all edited on my colour calibrated monitor and they look a but wish washy on here.

I was hoping to make her a scrap layout as a prezzie ,but I haven't got time today. I am waiting for my sister to arrive with my nieces as it’s my daughters 21st birthday.

I’m freaking out,here

2011-10-08T10:05:00.001+01:00

really and truly shitting myself.

Its only 3 weeks and 2 days until my ALIF operation on my back (video here). Of course the inevitable has happened. It’s started to feel better. I spent my Pilates class yesterday, contorted in positions, I haven’t been able to do in a year and a half. I’m walking freer,and leaving my stick at home.

Friends have said its psychosomatic. Others, have said it’s a good thing as, I will be in a relaxed state for the op. And I have even toyed with the idea that the bloody magazine stylists healing, may have worked.

Why, did it have to happen now. I’ve waited months for something to be done. Months of pain and discomfort. And now it decides to bloody improve, making me scared of the months of pain I will now go through after the operation.

I spoke to the hospital today, and they said I could always postpone the operation. But I am all packed and everyone knows I am going in. The freezer is packed with meals and homemade cakes. Lots of my old friends have suddenly asked to met me for coffee and lunch. Its like they are all saying goodbye to me. All very weird.

These pictures are from this week alone!!!

I’m freaking out, whether the operation is now the right thing to do. (even though I actually had a bad night and am sat in pain at this mo.) Of course I have been doing that inevitable thing all us internet surfers do. I have been surfing in shark infested waters. Somehow, I always end up on the ALIF back operation forum. I get hooked into the woes of fellow ALIF post op stories. Its freaking me out reading about all the pain and immobility they all suffer from. Some for well over a year after the operation.

I kept reading about the frustration of the BLT on the forum. It took me hours to work out what it meant. Then I realised what it stood for. I am not allowed to Bend, Lift or Twist for months post operative. How the hell do you not do that. You are not allowed to bend as you sit down on the toilet, no bending over the sink when you brush your teeth. And you try getting dressed without bending or twisting or even getting out of bed for that matter.

Poor Teddy won’t be able to be walked by me. How would I pick up one of his little messages. All of these things I have struggled with over the last 18 months. But I don’t want to go back to the time of hovering over the toilet or stuck in a chair or bed. I hated it.

The stomach problems from the abdomen surgery involved, seem to be a major thing post op on the forum. I have problems now from all the past medication, so I don’t want to add even more to the mix.

Add to the fact hubby told me yesterday, the insurance company have already paid out their contribution for the operation to the consultant and anaesthetist. We just have to pay our bit now.

AAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh………………………………..

PS…Whilst writing this. I thought Teddy was with hubby.

Hubby thought he was with me, but in fact he was tucking into a packet of chocolate digestives packed in my hospital bag.

He ate a whole bloody packet !!!

Scott Kelby’s Worldwide photowalk

2011-10-06T15:07:00.001+01:00

I was one of 28,290 people yesterday taking part in in Scott's fourth photowalk.

I joined the Bishops Stortford group, with Andrew as our leader. Andrew was carrying some serious equipment. A Canon 5D MarkII, along with an envious choice of lenses.

He even carried his iPad on the walk.

There were 12 of us, at the beginning. But by the end Tasmin and I were the only women. Tasmin, thankfully decided to join me at the last minute. I was so pleased, as I am not a great landscape photographer.

Our walk took in streets, country paths, a walk along a tow path and some industrial areas. Everyone was interested in shooting different things. But I must say, Tasmin was a great success, as our group model. We had her climbing into trees with a group of photographers snapping away at her.

We even had a dad and his young son, James. I took my chance several times to snap a few images of James. He was a bit shy at first, but after he had sneaked a few photos of me, he didn’t mind at all.

We even walked over a VERY busy train line at one point. We had to dodge three trains.

across some fields.

And along a tow path

That’s the group up ahead.

We all chatted away, you know me I can talk……….

I even got to play around with the big boy that is the Canon 70-200mm lens I covert. Our group leader,Andrew, asked me to take a new portrait shoot of him, with his impressive lens and Canon 5d Mark II. Boy was it heavy. I’m very pleased to see he is using the image already.

Just us two girls joined some of the boys afterwards for a drink. It was a perfect end to a wonderful day.

Here are some of my favourite images from the day.

and my absolute favourite of course is of Tasmin.

Andrew will pick his favourite image of the day to win a prize. That’s why my images are so varied, none of us know what type of image will take his fancy. He’s a bit of a HDR freak. You’ll have to look it up if you don’t know what it is. I couldn’t bloody link anything to the word, so I gave up.

It’s a wrap

2011-10-02T10:16:00.001+01:00

Was the title of a previous magazine article our old home was featured in.

Last week. We went to Columbia Road to stock up on flowers and cupcakes for a shoot that was going to take place at our home.

25 Beautiful Homes magazine were sending this, amazing interiors photographer and a stylist. I was very excited as everyone knows both of these things are my favourite things to do.

I had learnt from my previous magazine shoot that a lot of my things would get moved. But I was a bit shocked quite how much got removed in some of the rooms. After they had finished in our main sitting room. It didn’t look anything, like how I style it. Tasmin came home from work at this point and was sad to see our home stripped of its character.

I had stressed we don’t drink tea/coffee, and that previously I’d had to sit with a mug in hand in the previous shoot. It’s not me. I don’t really drink hot drinks. But yet again, my sitting room was set up as if we were going to settle down with a tray of tea. Not us at all. All my orchids and candles removed.

I had made lots of cakes, scones and biscuits that I wanted used with the cupcakes in a afternoon tea set up in the garden. I knew they would want a picture of me for the feature, and I told them this would be the most authentic setting for me. (Or me baking in the kitchen.) So Linda and I started setting up the shoot area. But the stylist wanted everything as plain as possible. I wasn’t allowed my Anthropologie tablecloth. The table I wanted or my beautifully patterned tea cups. Or even the area of the garden I wanted it shot in.

Even my homemade lemon curd victoria sponge didn’t make the cut. Fingers crossed the shot they took will make the magazine. As they also took some of me sat in the conservatory.

I had a lovely, but tiring, long day. It turned out Maggie, the stylist had written one of my most used interiors books. So she kindly signed it for me.

She was also a devout Christian and had written me something that she said had come to her, that morning from God for me.

She also said she had been praying for me to have a speedy recovery and did a spot of spiritual healing on my problem areas. She assured me I would have a pleasant pain free nights sleep. But unfortunately I was up at 12, worse than normal !!

So hopefully our home will go into a summer edition sometime in 2012.

I’ll let you all know……

I’m a busy bee

2011-10-01T09:28:00.001+01:00

at the moment.

I have had so many projects on the go, I can’t tell you.

Today I am joining my first, and hopefully not the last Scott Kelby Worldwide photo walk. I’m a wee bit worried as my walk only has me and the organiser down for the walk. But as he runs the Bishops Stortford camera club, I expect (hope) the majority of them will be going. I’m not really a landscape photographer, but I am really trying to hone my camera and editing skills. In fact my editing skills are almost non existent.

Recently, I have been asked if I would take some “snaps” for people. How could I say no. I was preparing a disc for the mum yesterday and As I looked back through the images from early September, I was very pleased with myself.

The mum is a teacher and very cleverly, used reverse psychology on her daughter. On the way here, she said to her “Karen's, a very good photographer you know.” To which Amy replied “do you think she would take some pictures of me?” And so that is exactly what I did.

Of course I couldn’t leave her little brother out.

I always let the parents choose their favourites for me to edit. So that way they always choose the image that they feel captures their child. Unfortunely that means they are not always the best composed or lit images. But she was so happy and arrived with a bug bunch of flowers and a card yesterday.

I learnt, I have to really look into how to take an image, when it is backlit and to avoid patches of dappled light.

The family have been putting the images to good use already. As party thank-yous and Jack’s were used as part of a school project about him. His teacher commented to his mum what beautiful pictures.

That's all the thanks I need.

Oh, and she let me in on a little secret yesterday. She is pregnant with her third. So I said ,after my recuperation I will happy to snap that bump and the little new born.

He’s mad

2011-09-23T13:12:00.001+01:00

Yep, my dog is mad. Or as a friend of mine says he has “special needs”.

He was an angel to walk when he was a young puppy. I took him to weekly training, but two years ago when we got him, was the start of my niggle back/hip pain. Because he was sooooo small, the classes used to hurt me having to bend down to reach him. In the class he was a star pupil, but as much as I told the instructor he was a Jekyll and Hyde. She never saw the other side of Teddy. He turns into a different being when he sees his lead and we step outside the door.

It’s so embarrassing being dragged down the street. No one wants to walk him. My in laws find it very trying when they look after him.

Well check out my video of him this week to see what I mean

What I would like to point out at this moment is that Teddy wears an anti-pull harness. Someone forgot to tell him. Do you think I would get my money back if they saw this video?

I’m taking him to the vets in a minute. It’s a long drive around very tight bend lanes. Teddy jumps all over the place, even into my lap. So he’s a crash waiting to happen. The last time I went I bought him his very own seat belt harness. He’s so embarrassing on his monthly visits to the vet. He holds his lead and does the head shake continually whilst we are waiting our turn. All the animals and their owners sit and look at me tutting.

As you can see after my operation at the end of October I will not be able to walk him for a long time to come.

Teddy wants one of these, to join me and Tasmin on the sofas with ours.

But I have told him, he can’t have one until he behaves.

Bunting

2011-09-23T12:54:00.001+01:00

It’s funny how the internet works. You start in one place and hours later you end up somewhere you have no idea how you got to.

Barb of Jinky Art is someone whose photography I really admire. I am not alone in that view. Some of my photography idols have taken workshops with her in the States. One even flew all the way from Holland to California.( see there blogs here and here talking about their experience.)

Last week she announced she is coming to the UK next year. I was beside myself with excitement and I was trying to talk myself into getting a place. I knew she is expensive, I knew the sort of money I would have to pay out. But secretly I hoped it would be less than I expected. Well it turned out to be 2,000 Australian dollars. A LOT. Especially as you have to organise your own accommodation for the duration. I would no doubt be the only non professional there. She is due to talk about business plans and Photoshop. All which will mean nothing to me, as I have neither.

But the crunch that made my decision was hubby returning from the States to be told his wife was thinking of paying out big bucks for a hobby. He thought I was mad.. So it put the doubt back in my mind. Half the places filled up within hours and I am hoping the others will go super fast so I don’t have to ponder anymore.

Of course he could see my disappointment and said “Go on it. We never spend any money.” I could use some of my money from an apartment I rent out. It sits there untouched. But the damage was done. The doubt was stronger, than my yearning to attend.

But whilst I was checking out the workshop I looked up Sarah Wright the photographer who is arranging it. Somehow I also ended up on another photographer, here, with almost the identical name and saw a link to some amazing bunting. It turned out to be her sister. ( here )

The bunting was perfect for my home/garden. So I emailed the lady and over the day it was arranged that some would be sent to me forthwith, so that I could use them in a shoot this weekend and ready for my magazine debut session next week.

I’ve added it to some cheap plastic bunting that I always have hanging in my garden.

It should be great as a background to a shoot I am attempting tomorrow. I am shooting a couple. Their new-born and a young toddler. I have only spoke to them at a party for 5 minutes. A friend of mine told her, she MUST get me to take pictures of her baby when it arrives. No pressure then !!!!

I have invited Anna Bowkis along for the ride and experience. Between us we should get some shots.

Pray for us we need all the help we can get.

A baby in the house.

2011-09-17T21:31:00.001+01:00

Some girls are naturally born maternal, and some are not so much.

We got a phone call. Someone needed our help and fast. My son and his girlfriend were excited to be babysitting their friends puppy, Poppy for the day/night.

They have been talking ALOT about getting a puppy. Dogs aren’t allowed in the apartment block where they live. But it hasn’t stopped their friends from buying Poppy. The poor mite is left all day in the apartment, with wooden floors. Need I say more.

Within minutes of little Poppy entering Ryan's apartment she had done what little puppies do, all over his rug and floors.

So we were called, as Kerri couldn’t clear it up. Ryan was out at football so Tasmin and I came to the rescue. We took little Poppy over and become her mums for the day.

She is super tiny. Yet, she is at least six months old. She is much smaller than Teddy was even at 10 weeks old. She also is extremely timid and obviously gets told off a lot for her puppy mistakes.

We took her for a long walk and because they were scared to have her back in their apartment, we brought her to our house. It was so sad to see her running mad off her lead in our garden. She was like a different dog.

Then we let Teddy say hello.

They loved each other.

We nearly got to babysit her for the evening, but they decided to take her back to her home as she was tired out from her adventures. We were all very sad to have her return to her little lonely apartment.

But the good thing was there now won’t be the patter of tiny feet anytime soon in Ryan's apartment. It was just the wake up call they needed to see that an apartment isn’t fair on a dog and Kerri didn’t like the mucky part. Kerri realised puppies look cute, but they are hard work.

My hair’s got someone a job

2011-09-15T16:47:00.001+01:00

Yep, my hair.

I very rarely get it cut. I always say it is self cutting. I just pull against the ends and they fall off !!!

But a friend of mines step-daughter needed a head of long hair to cut into layers for a trade test in a salon.

So voila, mine was perfect.

I wore my fab new dress I bought in London. I would love to say I found it in a little designer boutique. But it caught my eye as I walked past the stores open door, on my way to Sloane Street.

I instantly went in to try it on. But boy was it tight across my back, because of my fun bags at the front !

I thought I’ll check out its other flagship store on Oxford Street for a bigger size. But it wasn’t the size that was the problem, it was the cut of the dress and my fun bags. So I decided to buy it, and just not try and move my arms whenever I wear it !!!

I also bought several other amazing items of clothing there. One a gorgeous jumper that even gives my newly purchased, half price (£75!!) Nicole Fahri, jumper a run for its money. The shop I bought everything from was Hennes……….. Oh the shame……………

I wore the shift dress with my Parisian ballet pumps and leggings, topped off with my Anthropologie cardi, my husband has admitted he hates.

He probably hates the cardi because it does make me look like a chunky, hunchback. Which is near the truth, seeing's the surgeon wrote in his report I have a defined stoop. Thanks mate. I was trying to stand straight at the time.

I slung on all my bangles and another new bracelet I bought here this week.

( I added the bluebird)

I’m not sure if I have shared with you an image of my new bespoke bangle. It’s on the left hand side and says “Love, always and forever.” Which is what my husband always writes in my cards. I LOVE it and am so glad I commissioned it. I am just waiting for my two, gold bangles to me finished. I have to wait a while as I have asked for them to be sent to London to be hallmarked.

So I now have bouncy, layered hair. Emily had to blow dry it straight for them to check the cut for the second time. I could tell they couldn’t fault the cut. Every section they lifted up was perfect. So I wasn’t surprised to hear they had offered her a job.

Boy, were they handsome in the salon. The man that checked mine was to die for. Then I spotted a hunk sat behind me having his hair cut. He wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Vogue editorial. It made me and Emily quite hot under the collar. It was sad to realise I would have been old enough to have been their mum.

I have taken some more shots of the black squirrel in my garden. He has lucked out with the buy 1 get 10 free walnuts, our garden now has to offer since the hurricane winds this week.

He’s taken to sitting in the crook of the tree, looking out for Teddy. I went and put my longest zoom lens on and he bloody, disappeared. So it’s sat waiting for another days opportunity.

I am also sat here waiting to hear from the hospital concerning my ALIF surgery. Our insurance company want lots of questions answered in relation to the procedure. In fact they were things I would have asked if I hadn’t been so shocked and ill prepared for the consultation outcome.

They want to know:

length of expected stay.

How much will the anaesthetist cost?

Where is the bone graft coming from? (I really want this one answered as well. As it maybe coming from my hip…….)

A bribe was needed

2011-09-11T22:37:00.001+01:00

I have been owed a photo-shoot of my son since Mothers Day. The time was never right for him. So as my time is limited to be mobile, it was now or never. But we had to dodge the rain showers, as the sun started to set. And I had to make them a roast dinner. They are missing my cooking at last.

I have lots from this shoot and hopefully after the massive back log of photos to be edited is sorted, I will get to share more.

Here’s some natural ones we loved.

I can’t wait to play with this one.

It was worth the stuffing I had to cook, to add Kerri to the mix.

He wants nuts….

2011-09-11T21:55:00.001+01:00

Our walnuts…….

and it drives HIM nuts……..

And can you spot a problem with this plant.

Look to the left. Can you see those small black dots on the windowsill. It took some closer investigation, and look what I found.

Believe me it took a LOT of searching, he was so disguised.

I took hundreds of photos today. I was playing about with manual exposure and focus.

My main subject was a wee bit fidgety.

I mean it was windy and he LOVES leaves.

My other subject has abandoned us for sunny shores-California to be exact. He’s obviously limbering up for muscle beach here.

Project Life

2011-09-09T10:15:00.001+01:00

Week Thirty-two

Insert of my sister & sons holiday.

Week Thirty-three

Tasmins boyfriends boxers split from top to bottom. No pun intended. So of course I took a snap of it. He wore them to work like that!

Week Thirty-four

I took a picture of an old friend who is moving to Holland in the coming weeks. It maybe one of the last times I see her. Whilst I was ordering my gold bangle, I walked past the buildings that used to be my Dads printing company. I spent most of my teenage years there. So I took a photo on my point and shoot, I carry in my bag.

Week Thirty-five

I love using the screen save on my laptop to capture images from the internet. It came in useful for the day I got the shocking news from my new back consultant. I completely forgot to take a picture at the hospital, so I used his online profile instead. It’s nice to have a picture of him to always remind me. I wouldn’t have dared ask at the consultation.

Week Thirty-Six

This weeks photos are almost finished. I know that I am going to probably use an image of the TV screen. I have watched Big Brother since it started over 10 years ago. In fact I have NEVER missed an episode. We even used to get someone to video it for us in the old days of VHS when we were on holiday. The opening episode always makes me stop and think about how my life will have changed by the time it ends months later. I have changed careers, moved house and lost a house. Wondered if I will have lost a parent from cancer, said goodbye to my daughters boyfriend after a car crash. This year I will be thinking about my health and hoping that I will be on the mend by the end of the series.

My friend Judith said I will be “as happy as a pig in shit” laid up in hospital settling down to watch the daily episodes, and she is right. I admit it I am a Big Brother addict. I mean who would have thought a gypsy would win a Celebrity Big Brother ( see video here). I love how unpredictable it is.

have you ever tickled a Tapier ?

2011-09-08T12:43:00.001+01:00

I have……….and they rather took a liking to me.

look away now if you are easily offended….

I mean they REALLY took a liking to me……

We were invited to The Paradise Wildlife Park by the Rockall's.

I was to get to meet and chat to the Royal photographer Ian Pelham Turner and at the same time have a little photo shoot session with the Rockall's daughter, Phoebe.

I couldn’t begin to tell you about the laughter we had after the event.

It culminated in a young teenager answering his mobile in full voice, during the poor mans speech.

Priceless……..

The rest of the them laughed when they saw the poor man approaching me in the car park, where I was taking some pictures of Phoebe near some tractor tyres. They pitied him, going to give ME advice !

YES, I knew the light was at the wrong angle. YES, I knew there wasn’t any catchlights in her eyes. And YES I could do with a reflector to bounce the light back at her. But I don’t have one. He then proceeded to move her into a better lit position.

Ergh YES , I knew the light was better at that angle, but he was missing the point. We wanted an urban, style shot with the massive tractor tyres. Not an image of Phoebe in a car park !!

So we had a good giggle about this later after we had tickled a few tapiers….

And I got to take some perfect lit shots near sunset.

I’m still editing lots of the images. It’s a steep learning curve for me editing. But I know practice makes perfect as it is with my photography skills.

What I most liked about the session is that the moody teenager,who liked to scowl into the camera, could see what a difference a smile made to her beauty.

And I snatched a few images of her mum, Judith on the walk back home. Of course she hates them…….as everyone of our age always does. But I LOVE them and she will do to in ten years time, when she looks back at them…. Don’t we always.

How beautiful

2011-09-07T20:46:00.001+01:00

is this garden….

it would be the most perfect place for a photo shoot.

But,sadly it would be inappropriate.

I went there today to capture an image for my Project Life album.

I was amazed how beautiful the gardens where at the remembrance gardens where my parents ashes are scattered. I always seemed to have been there for funerals in the winter. All the trees were tiny when my mum died and it was all just newly planted.

From a young chid I had always wanted to be buried. I even have it written in my will. Crematoriums that I had been to for family members in London were always soulless places. But in recent years I have come around. We are so lucky that we have such a beautiful resting place right on our doorstep.

On a more upbeat note.It’s just typical that I have been feeling so well the last few days. Just as an operation is on the cards. My daughters boyfriend says it’s great when I’m well, as I cook special meals and bake a lot. I’ve made pavlovas, biscuits and even some samosas. The only problem is those scales don’t seem to be going down for the poor Dr.

I even made a very bright, dotty birthday cake for my sister.

I’ve been a very naughty girl…

2011-09-02T20:14:00.001+01:00

I had a lovely day in London yesterday. The weather was glorious.

I went to hopefully order something from the Anya Hindmarch Bespoke shop.

First stop though was Harrods. I headed for all the handbags rooms. I checked out Louis Vuitton first. But I didn’t like anything they had.

On the way down on the train, I thought it might be a good idea to checkout the small bags on offer. I won’t be able to carry anything heavy after my op. So I mean what’s a girl to do ?………..

Somehow I ended up at the Anya Hindmarch stand ?……..

Naughty me. I fell in love with a bag there on the spot. It was PERFECT. It could be used at least four different ways, was small and neat. It had so many compartment I never needed to carry a purse. It had detachable long and short handles.

But wait, I hadn’t been to the bespoke shop yet…..

So off I went………

There was only me in there, along with two snooty, shop assistants. Obviously one look at the weirdly dressed lady, in the spotty crocs, was enough for them to think, we are way out of her league.

So I took my money elsewhere. Their loss.

I checked in at Harvey Nichols. Another look at the PERFECT bag.

Then I hopped on the undergound. It was at this point I thought, bugger it. I am going to treat myself. I have looked for over 15 years for a nice bag that I can wear across me. I NEED that bag.

So I bought it…….. Naughty me……..

Bloody hell

2011-08-31T09:51:00.001+01:00

After being awake in pain since 3am. I finally I finally got back to sleep after 6am. I had to take some of the drugs I keep only for emergencies. The pain didn’t go ,but with the help of two heat pads it lessened, and I dropped off to sleep. Only to be woken at 8am by an almighty noise. I thought some sort of car accident had happened outside.

It was instead the scaffolders reversing their lorry at speed on to our gravel drive and they were wheel spinning.

So that was the end of sleep.

The reason I had so much pain was due to a longer than normal car journey yesterday. I didn’t lay in the back of the car on the way there. I wanted to arrive in the painful state, that I experience when being in a car. But I was in some much shock on the return journey I forgot to lay in the back. And to even take a photo of the hospital for my Project Life !

I’ll have to make do with this shot of me outside Costco with a lovely super, soft body pillow

I had gone to see another back consultant for a THIRD opinion. This time I took no chances, I ensured he was one of the best (see here) in the country. It was lovely to walk into a room where the consultant had already read all my notes and had reviewed my MRI scan. It was straight down to business. As soon as he examined me he said I have no other option but surgery. I am not going to get better without it.

No sending me for another up to date scan, no further epidural. I was not expecting him to say that on our initial visit. I didn’t have any prepared questions. We had to pay £250 to see him and it was worth every penny.

When I started on this journey back in 2010, I never gave it a thought that the consultants I was going to see would not be able to cope with my condition. I never gave it a thought that I, myself had to seek out the best there is here in the UK. It took two opinions, umpteen GP visits and talking to many people who have suffered with the same condition.

I trusted my gut instinct after my first consultant said he would look forward to operating on someone with a challenging disc like mine. I didn’t like him, I didn’t like his manner when I awoke from my epidural and told him I still had pain. He always seemed in a rush and out of his depth. Thank God I never had the discectomy operation he was recommending. I would be in a much worst state now. People thought I was mad to carry on with the pain, but I knew his alternative wasn’t right.

Mr Lester Wilson works at The NHS Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital at Stanmore. The best spinal unit in the UK. The main spine teaching hospital here. He is going to perform an Anterior lumbar interbody fusion!! That means he is going to get to my problem disc at the base of my spine through my abdomen. It turns out it's lucky I am on the slim side. He couldn’t perform it otherwise. (I am going to help him a bit by trying to lose a few pounds before the op.)

I will have a bone graft, at this point I don’t know if the graft will come from me or a donor. He’s told me it will be a long recovery with lots of rehab. I will be out of action for a while. No housework (yah) no shopping or carrying anything ,no bending of any sort and of course it is going to present me with problems from all my muscles that have tightened over the years.

The main problem is I am going to have the surgery at The Wellington Hospital in London. It is a long way for my family to visit me. Add to the fact it has no onsite parking. I could be in for as long as 10 days.

For years I have driven past this iconic building. I have listened to stories from my friend Trish of the time, many years ago she was a nursing sister there. Of having to take sick Arabic princesses out in Rolls Royce's to buy diamonds on Bond Street.

And now I am going to be staying there myself. It will never look the same again.

So I have lots of list making to do. Nighties to buy, and no doubt a few more sleepless nights to contend with.

And at least I got to climb our scaffolding and see the roof and the view from the top.

picture wall

2011-08-25T11:44:00.001+01:00

At the moment I am unable to comment on anyone's blogs. For some reason the Google system doesn’t recognise me. It’s something we have been trying to sort out for the last week. At the moment we have given up, it’s been too frustrating. So I apologise for my lack of comment on peoples blogs. It looks like I will have to write anonymously in the future.

I have wanted to make another photo wall in my house for a while. I had originally thought it would be made up of canvases. But after trying to make one on a site, I gave up. I was worried about how the colour would look and whether it would be an expensive mistake. So I made the decision to print the photos myself and add a few eclectic bits and bobs to a wall upstairs on our landing.

Over a week I bought frames and started to fill them with photos. Tasmins boyfriend remarked to her that he was sad he hadn't made the family wall.

So imagine his surprise when he returned another day to find he had the largest image of the lot of us. Ryan my son has the smallest. That's because I have literally no images of him. I still keep reminding him about his mothers day promise to me of a photo shoot, with no moaning. But for him it seems it’s never the right time.

Anyway –Voila …… here is the wall as it is at the moment. It is something that will evolve over the coming months /years.

I bought the word LOVE from Dunelm-mill. The bluebirds and embroidery hoop are from a fab new shop in Covent Garden.

Sass & Belle

It was tat heaven. My home is so full of tat that I had to hold myself back from buying anymore.

Oh and by the way my sister was sad, she hadn’t made the wall yet . But I couldn’t decide which image of her to use?

All above images courtesy of my sister. Kept by me for future humiliation…………………

oh dear

2011-08-24T18:12:00.001+01:00

I am still struggling to spend my insurance money from the robbery. I thought I had gotten rid of a big chunk of it on the iMac. But of course I took it back and got a refund. So I am back where I started!!

I have commissioned a silver bangle that I am picking up tomorrow from here . They have stamped four words special to me and my husband on to it. My daughter came up with the words, from the message my husband has written in every card he has ever sent me. So it will be a nice piece with meaning to leave behind for my daughter.

From the shop above I also bought some pieces to add to my new Tiffany chain that replaces the one I lost.

We spent a day at Hatton Garden, looking in all the jewellers shops. I found two pieces that I liked. Yet another, diamond cross and a cute small heart diamond ring.

I’ve gathered some of my old gold pieces together. I no longer wear them and my daughter was only interested in a few of the items.

So I have been trawling bloody jewellers trying to get an idea of their scrap value. The prices varied wildly. So in the end I decided to have the gold melted down and made into two gold bangles.

At the moment I have three jewellers wanting to take on the work. So I have to make a decision soon. I would like the word, family engraved in to one of them. As it will be made from 4 family generations worth of gold. Here is one of the shops wanting to do the work.

I couldn’t believe it when I watched the video and it was an old friend of mine having the bangle made.

I would have to pay about £130 for them to make me a bangle out of my 22ct gold, which could be worth as much as £800+ to buy. To me that is a much better use of the gold than the dated pieces sitting collecting dust in a box.

I also picked up a collection of diamond rings from my sister.We inherited them from a Great Aunt many years ago.

I am not into big diamond rings. Especially as my old engagement ring shows our wealth or lack of at the time. So any big flashy rings look silly alongside it. I have always wanted to have some of my Aunts rings made into new pieces of jewellery we could wear. But the problem lays in that we have no idea what they are worth or even if they are real. So tomorrow I am going to a jewellers for an expert to take a look at them.

Them I am left with the problem of what to spend the remaining insurance on? I think a new up to date monitor for me to edit my pictures on is a must and I am very tempted by something bespoke by Anya Hindmarch.

I saw her pop up shop in Selfridges on a recent trip to London.

All the pieces can be made with any inscription on. Even done in your own handwriting.

I kept the little brochure as a reminder and I think a visit to the bespoke shop in the upcoming video is a must. I fancy a jewellery carrier of some sort or a bag with a special inscription. In fact who knows what I would choose. I LOVE it all. She makes beautiful pieces that can become heirlooms.

Check out this awesome video of Anya talking about the bespoke collection.

Project Life update

2011-08-24T11:58:00.001+01:00

My Project Life photo printing has been on hold for over a week. My wiped laptop is taking forever to reload all my old programmes. For the first two days it just continually updated. It has been very frustrating. Especially as I have no idea what I am doing. It took me 5 hours yesterday trying to load just my monitor calibrator programme. It just would not recognise it. I can’t edit any of my hundreds of waiting photos, until I have it up and running. Hubby won’t help me. So I am stuck on a loop trying to fix it myself with no computer knowledge.

I am going to have yet another attempt today.

I have just backed up my 2011 images that I have moved from another external hard drive. That took me 2 hours of pouring over the internet of how to load the drive on to my computer!!!

I am hoping hubby will load my printer programme back on to the laptop tonight, so I can start printing my 6 x 4 for Project Life.

Well anyway no more moaning, here is where I am at with my Project Life album. Or should I say 2nd album !

Week Twenty nine

Again I have tried to include current news items alongside our family happenings. I printed an image from the internet of the last shuttle launch

Week Thirty

I’ve included a small image of a pigeon in one of our trees. The day before I saved it’s chick from a certain death, when it was attacked by a hawk in our garden. I scared the hawk away after it was holding down the chick, only for the poor chick to be pounced on by Teddy! It lay shocked in a bush for hours, but luckily it flew off with a bit of help later in the day. The next day the adult bird followed me all around the garden. I like to think it was her way of thanking me…..

A photo of Tasmins dental x-ray. The original x-ray is tucked away in the document folder I keep with the album.

And yes, Tasmin failed her driving test AGAIN. Check out the book she is reading. Very apt, me thinks.

extra inserts

Some images from my first sunset shoot ever.

I thought it was a good place to include a funny face one of Tasmin, just to keep her grounded. LOL

Week Thirty one

extra insert.

a small scrapbook layout of my son’s girlfriend.

Week thirty two

I had to include the London riots that took place during this week. I printed the heading from a daily newspaper.

This is where I am up to with the printing.

Massive problems

2011-08-20T12:04:00.001+01:00

My computer crashed on Monday. So of I went to buy an iMac desktop, with some of my robbery insurance money. This would keep me going whilst they fixed the problem on my laptop.

BUT I hated the iMac, I found the iPhoto impossible to use the way I like to set up my photos. I couldn’t make collages. Which I do weekly for my Project Life. They are effortless on Picasa. It continually couldn’t log into my printer.

I would have to buy Photoshop Elements to use on the Mac, even though it was free with my Sony laptop. So yet another £70+

Then the last straw was I found out you can’t use Livewriter on a Mac, that was it. I now had a computer that couldn’t do anything that I wanted it to do.

To add insult to injury it continually failed to connect to my wireless internet. The Apple man said BT can come and go in the morning. Well, I never had a problem with my laptop. So all my saved websites would disappear in an instant and I had to continually restart the bloody thing.

Then I found out from the Apple guy that my recently bought colour calibrator for the screen wouldn’t work on a iMac glossy screen. So it looked like I would have to still run two different systems my laptop with extra monitor and a Mac.

So now I had an iMac that really didn’t met my needs or wants. Anything sub standard to what I already had, would cost me £££ from Apple.

So Thank God for John Lewis. We packed the iMac up and returned it last night for a refund.

But that is not the end of a very long and frustrating story. I finally went to pick up my fully, restored laptop. Nothing had been lost they told me. The problem was sorted. GREAT.

So I fired it up in the store to ask him some questions about something's I wanted sorted. Low and behold while he was doing it, it crashed again. Back to square one. Now it was serious. So I had to leave my laptop AGAIN and they wiped everything off it. I mean EVERYTHING.

Now we can’t get anything to work on it. Its like having a new-born baby and trying to teach it to walk.

It’s taken us about 5 hours just to restore livewriter to write my blogs. I can’t write anything on my original blogger account at all .

I can’t look at any of my Google reader accounts I‘ve lost the icon and we can’t access the toolbars to reinstate it.

It goes on and on. We are banging our heads against the wall and I could cry.

So it looks like I will be back in the car for the 5th time in a week to see what can be done.

check this out

2011-08-14T09:16:00.001+01:00

Do you ever wonder what it would look like to travel the world super fast.

No me neither.

But just check out this awesome video put together by quite a hunk of a guy (and his 2 mates)

Here, sorry I tried to embed the video but my blog writer was having none of it. There are 3 videos in total, but MOVE is my favourite. It made hubby feel a bit sick.

Gutted

2011-08-09T10:07:00.001+01:00

I bet my burglar is gutted he was holed up in prison last night.

His area was in chaos and flames last night. The area where he caught a train from to visit our small market town.

An area full of low life, thugs and looters just like him.

He was really missing out on all the “fun”.

I saw a Jessops being looted on TV, no doubt someone now has some great lenses to go with my stolen Canon 7D camera. Sad thing is they won’t have the brains to use them. Their only images will be of the standard gang gun finger salutes.

My poor brother in law is on his way home from holiday today. He will be straight on the streets tomorrow, in his role as a Metropolitan police officer. What a lovely thing to return home to.

We are supposed to be going to London jewellery shopping this weekend. My insurance money has been paid out and I wanted to look for new pieces. It looks like we may have to rethink our plans now . Jewellery, trainers, phones and sportswear are these wankers preferred stolen goods. That’s what gives them kudos in their small insular little World.

My favourite flower market in London is right in the middle of it all. The market is right next to one of the worst housing estates in London. An area ruled by drug dealers and intimidation. People who have and never will work. Have never and will never pay taxes and live off their criminality and benefits. Have no education and see criminality as the Holy Grail. Putting them in prison just keeps them off the streets for a while. It just gives them another badge to brag about. Just gives them even higher status and the chance to learn more criminal skills.

There is no solution. They have nothing they fear. Maybe just letting them continue to fight amongst themselves. Killing each other and shop owners abandoning their areas. Leaving them to live in even shittier ghettos. No go areas. Maybe then they will realise their lives are crap because they made them that way.

no rhyme or reason to it ?

2011-08-03T11:52:00.001+01:00

I had a wonderful few days, last week, with very little pain. It was so nice to remind myself, what it can feel like. I thought maybe I had turned a corner. I was worried that we had just made an appointment with one of the top back surgeons in the UK. But the pain is back again. It started niggley yesterday. But it’s full pelt again today.

So I am pleased I had decided not to go to the South of France with Hubby this weekend. He is off to a 50th Birthday Party. I knew I would put a dampener on things, so I decided to stay here. I am so glad I did, I don’t fancy getting on a plane at this moment. And he will have a much better time without me.

During my good spell, I was able to attend a crop I hadn’t been to at all this year. I managed to get a few layouts done.

Sandi asked me if I was using scanned pictures, but I tend to always use originals. My Mother used to get every photo triplicated or more. So I have boxes full of extra photos. Seeing's I didn’t know what to do with these extra two I did a double whammy layout.

This layout is of my nieces baking with me last January. It was good to use up some old supplies on this. The baking paper I had bought on my first ever Chicago scrap shop many, many years ago.

And this one of my dogs isn’t finished yet. I don’t like the empty space on the right hand side, so when I can next sit down I will have a play with it.

I have so many photos from the last week waiting to be played with in Photoshop. It’s so annoying that I can’t sit down.

We had a family BBQ and I took a few snaps.

The lovers had just be reunited after a week apart. They are so in loveeeeeeeee.

I even got to snatch a few images of my grumpy son and his equally grumpy girlfriend. They were not happy as they weren’t dressed for a “shoot” ?

Teddy was though, he’d had a shower especially.

another day another outfit

2011-07-27T12:33:00.001+01:00

I’ve been pulling out lots of colourful summery clothes this last week. Mainly because it’s so grey and dull here. The clothes make me feel more Summery and at least they will get some wear this year. Otherwise I fear they would be going back into the loft unworn this year.

This week I have pulled out two of my old Whistle cardigans. I used to buy one each month, in a different colour. They were expensive, I can’t tell you how much I have worn them over the years. I love the fact that the buttons are all different , even the colour of each buttons thread is different.

I would have shown you the full size image of me ,buy I looked like a heffalump. It didn't make it any better that everyone who saw me in the outfit remarked on my weight loss!

What did I look like before then ?

A massive heffalump, I suppose.

I wore another of my Anthropologie outfits to the Sunday crop.

It’s so comfy. In fact, I will let you into a secret the dress is actually a nightie. But who cares not me.

I wore it with my £4 Primark yellow ballet pumps. Super comfy.

A wee bit of scrapping

2011-07-26T11:49:00.001+01:00

For some reason my pain is always at it’s worst on a Sunday.

I had a place booked at a crop so I felt I couldn’t let anyone down. It took me 10 minutes just to get the car of the drive, because of the pain. Hubby said he didn't expect to see his car in one piece again.

I didn’t think I’d be able to concentrate enough to do any scrapping. But once the medication kicked in and with talking to keep my mind of it. I got down to some scrapping.

I find it very hard to scrap nowadays, as my artistic flow has disappeared..

But I managed to get 4 layouts done and dusted. I’ve just added the dreaded journaling and put them away in albums.

A layout using an image from our Anniversary afternoon tea party.

A picture of my son taken 14 years ago, that's been sat waiting to be scrapped for yonks'. I’ve tucked a recent newspaper cutting behind the layers.

Another even older one of Ryan when he was too young to join a football team, so he started to play rugby until he was 7. Of course he was the star of the team. He always bloody was.

It got a bit embarrassing as the years went on. It didn’t matter where he was. A golf program, a Centre Parks course, a Council run holiday football program or his team awards ceremony. He always won the main prize. Sometimes I could feel the other mums eyes boring into me. Him AGAIN.

A layout of my son and his previous long term girlfriend. Sadly after over 5 years they have no parted and moved on to new partners. But I am glad I have instilled in my children that ALL photos should be cherished and kept for future memories. I hate to hear about people who ripped all there old boyfriend/spouses photos. I made my Husband keep all his old love letters and images of his old girlfriends and I keep them in a box, along with mine. And all these years later I am so glad I did.

I’m not sure if I have shared this layout before. I made it for my sister. It’s of her daughter as the Carnival Princess.

I used some paper from a collection designed by someone who used to live in my previous village, Amanda Lincoln. She had kindly posted a selection of her collection for 3 bugs in a rug, through my letterbox. They were perfect for this girly layout.

I also used a paper as the background for the girlfriend layout above.

It’s a sign I’m getting old

2011-07-25T22:02:00.001+01:00

I have on my Sky plus, a couple of shows that I have to watch, whenever I am bored.

It drives my family mad.

I must be old. Because the object of my desire is a young, gay man !!

I loved him in a previous programme that he won.

I was super excited to see him taking part in another of my favourite singing programmes.

The anticipation of the Sunday night programme kept me going on holiday.

Yep, I’m old. Popstars to Operastar is one of my favourite programmes. I’m so sad it’s finished, but at least I still have my two saved programmes to watch.

And at full volume.

Over and over again

Tasmin said she’s going to delete them.

I told her she had better start searching for somewhere else to live……

Cheryl was so good in her performance below, she nearly pipped him at the post.

But luckily my 1000 phone votes meant Joe won. I better hide the phone bill from hubby when it comes………..

A picture tells a story

2011-07-24T23:20:00.001+01:00

Just had my first ever chance to shoot at sunset. I have never used the “golden hour” before. Mainly due to the lack of sun here, and a distinct lack of willing models.

But tonight I got to play with my camera .and dragged an unwilling daughter out to the meadow opposite our home. I learnt lots about light and my new camera.

When I returned home I saw these new photography words on Ali Edwards site and I couldn’t resist them for my Project Life.

The story:

Tasmin had just sat on the rug at the very beginning of our shoot. We heard the gate open to the meadow, and in shot a very bouncy, huge black dog. We both took a sharp intake of breath, as we are both scared of dogs. But luckily he was more scared of us.

This turned out to be one of the few unposed images and was my absolute favourite from the shoot.

So thank you huge, bouncy dog for scaring us shitless.

someone is watching

2011-07-24T19:50:00.001+01:00

me.

Teddy likes to keep a check on what’s going on at the front of our house.

It’s just DIY dad, doing what he likes best.

People believe I beat my Husband with a stick to get him to do all the jobs around our house. I have to beat him with a stick just to make him sit down and spend time with us.

He’s enjoyed his weekend by digging up an entire lavender hedge.

It may look beautiful in this shot taken last month. But it is over 20 years old, and had blocks of it that were dying. It was a job we have been putting off for 3 years. But now the house is finished, Hubby is eager to crack on with all the bits and bobs that need doing.

So he ripped up the old hedge, took it all to the dump, in numerous trips.

Then he moved 1 tonne of shingle

and with a bit of help from a willing volunteer !

our new border was planted

It has huge Verbenas, blue grass, spirea and blue and white lavenders.

It will take a couple of years to reach its potential. But fingers crossed we have chosen the plants wisely for a sunny, dry and windy spot. That part of the garden gets everything the weather has to offer.

Does this look like a man who has to be beaten to get a job done.

Or is it a picture of a man who’s glad to get out of a day shopping or being trapped with his wife all day ?

A resurrection of a year in outfits

2011-07-22T09:30:00.001+01:00

taking pictures of different outfits was something I did a long while back. I thought I would start again. As no one around here ever wants their picture taken. It’s a way for me to put my camera to the test and practice with my tripod. I had stopped using my tripod, as the Canon 7D was a bit too heavy for it. I was always scared it would topple over.

As you’ll see from my focus. I need to practise using this cameras meagre focusing a tad more.

I am weird at choosing my outfits,The clothes sort of call to me.Sometimes I end up in something very inappropriate for the day. Plus I often put combinations together that always come as a complete surprise to me. Some work so well that I’m always amazed I had put them together before.

Well yesterday a dress I hadn’t worn for a year was calling me as I was going to sleep/I had no idea if I still fitted in it but due to a recent weight loss it was fine.

This dress cost just £7. Yep £7. It was all on its own during a Tesco sale.Yep Tesco's.

It’s a classic shift dress. I usually wear it with my Chanel pearls,but sadly they were stolen.

I like to wear something to cover my old lady arms, but I always struggle finding a cardigan in my wardrobe to wear with it. I really need to buy a black one. But after trying on several, I settled on my favourite Anthropologie one. I have worn this cardigan to death since I bought it. I added an Anthropologie stretchy belt to give the dress a bit more definition.

Then I added my yellow ballet pumps, just £4 from Primark ! My gorgeous yellow ones from Paris have bitten the dust. I wore them until they died on my feet.

Oh and of course a chignon. I did try a bun, but I have recently lost half of my hair (another story) so it was a bit gappy and I gave up. So a quick twist of my meagre locks and one curved comb, and voila ! A bit messy, but I hate hairspray and the “ helmet ” look.

You’ll laugh at my attempt to “ model “ the outfit

I don’t think the beautiful Peony Lim needs worry about my attempt to replicate one of her poses.

I LOVE her website that I found recently.

She wears some beautiful clothes. But then it massively helps that she is stunningly, beautiful and SLIM.

Oh well, I tried.

A girls dream come true

2011-07-21T22:04:00.001+01:00

Hubby has obviously been reading this little book I got for him. ( I got a small magnifying glass with it, not because he needs glasses and is too vain to get his eyes tested,though )

This passage is very important. I like my own space. I have been sleeping on my own for several years. It is bliss .

But what’s this Hubby has moved out of his bedroom, next to mine.

He’s moved into our son's room. There is no way Ryan's going to be able to move back home now.

Well, the best bit was, he also moved all his toiletries into the rooms bathroom.

That means I get this bathroom all to myself now. Yahhhhhhhhh

I’ve started filling the cabinet already……..

No more toothpaste all over the lid. Marks on the sink and being woken up as he gets ready for work.

A girls dream come true…………

It makes for a very happy marriage………….

If a tad unconventional.

But I know you girls are all jealous out there……………….

Project Life- Week Twenty-three onwards

2011-07-21T09:34:00.001+01:00

It has been hard going not always having a camera and trying to keep up with a daily photographic project.

Luckily I had some emergency reserve photos and we were on holiday for a large portion of the last few weeks, so I had a bit of free license with the images.

Week twenty-three

I added a 6 x 4 photo insert with images from our summer garden. This then follows on from the winter and Spring ones that are in the earlier Project Life.

Week twenty four

I added an A4 pocket with two collages of my nieces taken during the day spent at the carnival.

Week twenty five

yet another insert of ephemera and inames from our stay in Paris. All of my pocket inserts were bought at Scrap Revolution.

I am still waiting for Hubby to fill in the journaling card about his time working in Paris.

I included a copy of the journaling from my blog when I wrote of our time in Paris.

Week Twenty six

annoying, because I noticed I’d missed out a word in my journaling above. Erghhh.

Week twenty seven

The picture of me with the ice cream freaked me out. I look the spitting image of my mum.

Week twenty eight

I love the wild picture Tasmin took after she brushed out, all her curly hair after going to bed with it wet. I think it may turn up on a scrapbook page very soon.

Well, that's my Project Life finally all up to date.

it’s official

2011-07-19T14:47:00.001+01:00

I have a crap body………………………………..

We spent a very wet, damp day in London Saturday.

I was on a mission to find new jewellery pieces to replace my stolen ones.

Our first stop was Selfridges to look in the Chanel boutique, but boy was the queue long. All the Arab ladies and Japs were out in force. So after a quick look at the jewels in Chanel we headed of to the real deal, down in Mayfair.

On route we called into this small jewellery designers I have loved for decades. A necklace I’d been given from there, for my 40th birthday had been stolen. So we went to look at their new collections. They are so nice in the shop and the lady was so upset to hear I had also lost the sleepers to my matching earrings in the burglary. She sent someone down to the work room and gave me a brand new pair free. How kind.

I tried on lots of new pieces that I loved. Bangles. rings and a beautiful long necklace with a bee on it.

We left there to go to Chanel. It was , again full of Arabs, purchasing half the store. I got a snooty, Japanese sales assistant to serve me, who was none too pleased I wasn’t going to be making a purchase today. I wanted to find out the present price for my lost pearl necklace and I wanted to look at the new collection. She grabbed a tray of trinkets, plonked it down and left me to it. So off I take my £4 Primark scarf (LOL) and what should be hanging around my neck, but the bloody bee necklace. I must admit, for a second, I thought shall I keep it. But they were so kind I just couldn’t ,so hubby was sent back to the store. They hadn’t even missed it.

Now I would have kept the Chanel one if the same thing had happened there. Bloody miserable cow it would have served her right.

Off we went to Tiffany and they were also super helpful, even helping to estimate how much a discontinued bracelet that was stolen would be now. I chose some lovely new pieces.

The it was off to the camera shops on Tottenham Court Road. As everyone knows I always moaned about how heavy my previous Canon 7D was. Especially, when you put on my favourite zoom lens. So what should I chose this time?

A lower end body and an expensive Canon lens. Nope that was as heavy as my 7D. Go down a grade in camera body to a Canon 60D. Nope that felt just as heavy. So after much walking about, I choose a Canon 600D body and another Tamron lens.

The salesman kept laughing when I said. Its so hard when you’ve had a good body. (Don’t we know what that’s like girls, getting older !!) But in the process of down grading my body I saved £600 !!! Plenty to buy another lens.

I did lose the 7D’s 19 cross type AF focus points. The 600D has just 9 Af points and only 1 is a cross type. (insert crying)

But hey, I could never get to grips with the wheels and dials on the 7D, this one is idiot proof. So much so that it has all the pre set features my old camera had. So my lot can now take a photo without me having to give them instructions. My 7D didn’t have any easy settings at all.

I am a real glutton for punishment. We had to go straight out to a 50th birthday party, so I took along my 50mm F1.4 and the new body. I had to charge the new battery there. By the time it was charged it was dark and all the rooms were lit with orange glowing, low watt bulbs. I did have a few palpitations that I had done the wrong thing buying a body which struggles with ISO capabilities.( 6400ISO compared to 12,800ISO) But I suppose it wasn’t the perfect situation to try out a new camera.

But so far I am super happy with the weight of it. I even slung it in my handbag today when I went for some blood tests.

We are still negotiating with the loss adjusters the amount they need to pay us out. My pieces of jewellery have shot up in price over the years I have had them. Luckily, I had almost all the receipts and for the one item I didn’t, they still sell it in the States.

I am giving considerable thought to what I am going to spend the money on.

A piece of personalised monogrammed Louis Vuitton luggage……
an iMac computer
an ipad 2
more jewellery ?
or all of the above.

Judith, I think you may have to come shopping with me, to make me part with the money. She’s good at doing that.

Do you know this man?

2011-07-14T15:11:00.001+01:00

A burglary makes you take stock of things that matter in your life.

We now have peace of mind after having an alarm system put in,and a safe for anything, like our laptops we would have been devastated to have lost.

Hubby has talked to the police today to find out about our very own burglar. He had wanted to know his name and wants to go to the High Court when he is sentenced. They said he’s a crack addict who lives in London. Everyday he pops on a train out to Essex or North Hertfordshire and burglars some random house. Then he pops back, and sells his stash for his daily fix. So of course my Project Life photograph for that day, is one of the MANY wanted police images of him.

It puts my mind at ease, as it shows we weren’t targeted or watched. We were just unlucky. The police have finally told us nothing was recovered so we are trying to push the insurance company for a pay out. It is very hard to keep a Project Life album going without a camera. As I am sure you can imagine. I’ve even resorted to buying postcards of my town to use!

I have left my small point and shoot camera in Spain for my daughter. So no doubt she will return home with just a couple of images. Luckily I have kept my on-line Oh Life diary going and I used to take “stock” photos of random things for days when I couldn’t think of anything to capture. I’m hoping to replace my DSLR this weekend and will be window shopping at Chanel & Tiffany to decide if I am going to replace all the jewellery I lost.

One of my concerns from the burglary was the fact that the bugger stole my external hard drive. If he had found my laptop as well, all my digital images would have been lost. I do print lots and have them backed up on CDs. But it started me thinking “what if we’d had a fire?” We would have lost all our albums, and backed up photos.

I have some backed up on the web with Picasa, but there is a limit to how many it will store. CDs are supposed to have a best by date, and can fail. Plus we all know how fast technology has changed over the years and that whatever format we use will become obsolete at some point. I mean remember videos?

So after reading an Erin Cobb blog about a photo site Shutterfly, I have started backing up all my images to their site.The storage is unlimited and free. FREE…. They never delete an image. And for the lucky people in the States, they are one of the cheapest photo labs. It is a tedious job and I spent all day and night organising 2010’s. I am going to put a copy of the link and password in our safe. In that way if anything ever happens to me, everyone will know I have done it and how to access them.

Has anyone heard about this amazing new service that is being offered ?I read an article about it here. Imagine having a recording of a loved one, talking about their life. It’s such a shame it costs £700…

Whilst writing this the door bell rung. It was a police officer with a pile of these signs for my door.

I was so pleased as I had downloaded a sign from here. But these ones are fab. I had quite a chat with the officer, he is an avid photographer. I told him that my burglar is now my picture of the day for Project Life.

And for a laugh here’s a picture of me on holiday wearing my new hip brace. Try and guess which one is me.

congratulations to Judith

2011-07-11T12:40:00.001+01:00

my long-time “ glam ” friend.

She is like a dog with two dicks. Brimming with happiness as she has just secured a job as a fit model.

She has been bored since returning to live from Spain. She toyed with the idea of becoming a cupcake queen, returning to theatre land on the West End stage. But when she was at a loss to find clothes to fit her, more mature figure, I pointed her in the direction of one of my favourite shops.

They are pretty generous with their sizing. This then got her thinking she might be able to return to her old career as a “fit model”. So drastic measures where in order. Severe dieting and much texting/emailing to me. She was sick with jealousy, as I was doing weight watchers and tucking into Mc Flurry's and cakes and losing weight and she was on beans with a stock cube.

But it was all worth it as when she went to be “measured ". It would seem that her bits (thanks to some scaffolding by Rigby & Peller) are now all correct for a UK size 12.

But wait a minute what is a “fit model” ?????

I was asked this very question by another friend of mine who had been talking to Judith..

The definition of the English slang for “fit” (here) doesn’t seem to apply in Judith's case !……………………….

maybe its because she has a “fit” body………….

Oh no whoops that was a picture of me……….

Maybe it is for her physical fitness. I mean she loves ball sports.

I mean its hard to keep up with her sometimes..

It was hard to find a definition of “ fit model” but this was the best I could come up with from the internet.

Fit modelling is about sizing the garment to fit a true size. Fit models possess exact measurements for the size they try on. These models work in the realm of fashion with none of the glam or glory. They stand for endless hours, being measured and pinned, while tailors alter and adjust sizing for the sample garments. The majority of fit modelling occurs within the Fashion Marts where designers have offices and showrooms.

Oh and a little side note: here is the image Judith was referring to in her comment on my recent blog.

Anonymous said...

Bet Chris had a bloody lovely time. Does he have a nude coloured swimming hat on in this photo Karen??? Where is the attractive photo of you in your turban??? We need to see it Mrs Aldrin. xxx Lots of love Mrs R

There you go.

I’m not shy in sharing an image of me, after being in pain for days. I’d forgotten to take any hair things on holiday and I had to use my favourite scarf to keep my naturally fuzzy hair away from my face.

Beware Judith I have lots more images of you I could use…. LOL

lonely male

2011-07-05T11:02:00.001+01:00

seeks lady to apply his suntan lotion to his back.

Must have sense of humour and own teeth, preferable.

I have had to abandon Hubby in Spain. He will be at this moment sat on this beach with a group of Spanish OAPS.

Within days of returning from Paris we flew out for a holiday at our apartment in Spain. I suffered dreadfully with the pain for days. The beds and furniture are too low for me with my disc problems. I had to take LOADS of drugs just to cope , which resulted in me sleeping constantly and then back in pain because I’d laid down.

I tried everything.

But it all became too much for me at 4am Sunday night. I wanted to come home. Back to my normal routine. I can cope at home with the pain, as I have adapted my life here. I don’t think anyone believes me when I say I stand all day. But when you are on a “relaxing” beach holiday, sitting and laying down are your only options. Because of the drugs I found it hard to stand all day doing nothing. But then I couldn’t do much else. The drugs made me lose my appetite and Hubby had to fend for himself.

So yesterday when Hubby woke up I told him I wanted to come home. So that is where I am now. Stood in my home. The flight cost an arm and a leg, but I couldn’t wait any longer. My in laws stayed with me last night and they said I looked drawn and grey when I arrived home. But they assure me I look better today.

So poor hubby is all on his own for a few days until our daughter joins him. But he will get a rest and I didn’t want to spoil anyone's holiday any longer.