Bay Walk

Beau and I got up early on Sunday 5th August and made our way to Leichhardt to participate in the annual Bay Run.

Normally it takes me around 1 hour 15 minutes to complete the walk, but we were in the section of competitors with dogs and Beau wanted to keep up with the other pooches.

We finished in 1:01:35 and Beau had a ball hanging out with the crowd.

Below are a couple of pics from the day ... enjoy the sunshine!

 

"Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.”
~ Anthony J. D'Angelo ~

Pride & Joy ...

Caught up with Jean again in July and managed to get one layout finished. This layout is of my Opa's garden when I visited in 2007 ... amazing what changes in 5 years.  He loved his garden and I loved the beautiful flowers and my favourite meal was always his home grown boerenkool ... met worst ... of course.

"If wrinkles must be written upon our brow, let them not be written upon the heart; the spirit should never grow old."

~James A. Garfield~

Milestone Event

On 9th July my opa who lives in Holland turned 99 years old ... no mean feat in this day and age. I'm not really sure what the secret to his success is but perhaps it's the fact that ... he never owned a car and rode a bike everywhere until his early-mid 90s (exercise), he is an avid gardener and grew his own vegetables (healthy organic food) and he's Dutch so never wants to spend too much money on things like meat (small amounts of protein) ... sound like a pretty balanced way to live ... a long time!  Oh and he got divorced and had lots of ... friends!

My mum and dad travelled over Holland to join in the celebrations with the rest of the overseas family.

PICTURES:
(1) Happy birthday Opa - at 99.
(2) Opa with his 3 children - Sibylla, Johan (dad), Wil - and my mum Heidi.
(3) Mum & Dad
(4) My sister Magda and her man Andre.

Pink Purple Puzzle ATC

I joined a new Yahoo Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BoomerangStampersList/ to stay in touch with what's happening and what's new. Also some of the members are local New South Wales so I get to stay in touch with some creative people.

I joined an ATC swap through the group and the theme was pink, purple, stamped (in pink, purple, black or gold) and the ATC had to have a puzzle piece on it somewhere.  Here is the ATC I created ... it's been so long since I've made one, it felt a little alien.  The puzzle piece is embossing opals ... I'd bought them at a craft show years and years ago and this is the first time I'd used them.

"Mere colour, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways."

~Oscar Wilde~

A weekend in Queensland

Ferg and I travelled up to Queensland for the Queens Birthday long weekend just gone.  It always amazes me how much my niece Alexis and nephew Harry grow up in between visits. The photo's below are when I went to the school to pick Alexis up ... she was very excited to see Aunty Di.  Also lovely (and very rare) family shot of my sister Sylvia, Dave, Alexis & Harry.

I also managed to go to the Scrapbook and Papercraft Convention on Saturday and did a few classes with my friend Pam Prosser.  The classes we did were with the delightful Louise Nelson and Michelle Hartjes ... both very talented scrapbookers and very different.  Of course, I didn't finish my layouts in the class, so it'll probably take me a few years to get them completed (ha, ha).

 

I was a bit star struck when I saw Tim Holtz ... I just stood behind him ... ha ha.

One family member was sorely missed on this trip.  My sister's dog Max was put down since our last visit to Queensland .  His last day was 21st April and he was 17 years of age so had a good innings for a dog.  Nevertheless, he's been a part of the family for a very long time and it was sad that he isn't going to be around anymore.

Enjoy,

Di

45 years ...

My parents celebrated their 45 year wedding anniversary on Friday 1st June. The family went out for dinner to the Bavarian Bier Cafe in Parramatta.  We all had a really nice time ... it was quite the party venue.

“No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married for quarter of a century.”
~Unknown~

On fire!

I caught up with my friend Jean on Sunday last week and we got a bit of scrapping done. It's so nice to craft with others ... bounce ideas off each other and catch up ... perfect!

I completed another 3 layouts - the first one is of my beautiful niece on the day she was born ... she turns 6 in August, so it's taken a little while to finish that one (ha, ha). I did this one from scratch not in a class, the text is on a transparency.

The next one is in London when I visited by dear friend Michelle in 2007.  This layout was done in a Copy Cat class in March 2009 designed by Susan Couzens.

The last layout is of our beautiful dog Beau when he was only 17 months old.  This layout was done in a December 2009 Sketched class with the delightful Lyndal Grant.

Only 48 layouts to go ...

"Champions keep playing until they get it right."

~Billie Jean King first female athlete to earn $100,000 in one year~