Mark's Paper Company

Early in February, the lovely Stacy Marks invited me to Guest Design for her brand new company called *Mark's Paper Company* in the month of May.
At the time there was quite a buzz in the scrappy community about this new company which had a created paper that resembled fabric.


I had only seen images online, but when I received the two lines "Old Fashioned Courtship" and "August", I was suitably bowled over :)
It didn't take long for me to get creating and I have to say that I fell in love with this little company during the process.


A happy addition to my creative process was receiving some darling "Printable Patches" in a MP Co. *newsletter*.
These were the perfect finishing touches to my pages :)


I hope you enjoyed my little sneekies. You can everything in its entirety on the 1st of May :)

Getting Fit, Freezing Rain and (yet another) Possession Date

As some of you may recall, I started a dedicated excercise regime mid-January this year.
Coupled with my 45 minutes on the treadmill, at least 5 times a week, I have tried to adjust the way I eat, and slowly but surely the plan is starting to work.

As of a couple weeks ago I was down 10 pounds.
Yay Me!!!
Of course, that's only a fraction of what I'd like to lose (I'm not saying what the fraction is...hee-hee), but it's a start.

The weather has finally taken a turn for the better. We've had some really warm days, and a lot of the snow has finally melted.
But it looks like while we said good-bye to snow, we have had to dig out the umbrellas and rainboots.

Lots of rain, mainly freezing rain, which makes a heck on a noise when it hits the skylights.
But rain's good...and everything looks so fresh and "new" after a good washing, right?

News on *the house*, we've been given a possession date of the 17 April. It's like the tenth possession date we've been given since last year, but we're feeling hopeful...kinda.
The girls have their Hip-Hop recitals going on next weekend and the following weekend, with rehearsels in between, so we booked a mover for the 20th April.
Cross fingers, toes, eyes, e.t.c for us!

It's been a while since my last post.
The Hubs is back home safe and sound.
Kiddies are happy, but three have been passing around a bug for the past 2 weeks, so it's like a hospital here at the moment.

I saw a happy happy announcement today on the Pink Paislee site.
I won this whack of yumminess (thanks Pink Paislee :):):)):


*drool*, right?

So, I'm going to leave you with a lookie at a page I did not a long while back, full of PP goodness:


Happy Hump Day ya'll!

Self Portraits

If you take most, or all the photos in your family, you already know that's near impossible to find a photograph of yourself anywhere.

So when someone asks to see a pic of you, you resort to drastic measures.

The Self Portrait.

So I set up a little session for myself.
Set the timer on the camera...couldn't find the tripod (probably packed away somewhere waiting to get to the new house), and got to clicking.
Super-model style.

Nah...

This is a sampling of what I turned up with:

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? hee-hee...


Ah! There I am...having a little zone-out from the looks of things...


The must-have kissy-face *mmwwwaaahhh*


Okay that's all folks :)
Have a happy weekend everyone.
We're counting down the days...4 more to go!!!

Update on the House

As some of you may know....okay, as ALL of you may know (hee-hee), we started building a house last year.
February 2008 to be more precise.

Well the house continues to be built, and we're hoping it will be ready in April.
It's gotten frustrating waiting this long, but when I go in there and see the lovely attention to detail, then it all seems worth it (sort of..)

I went over to snap a few pics this morning after I dropped the girls off at school and though I'd share them here.

Our front door, which is actually a double door, so that cool handle is replicated on the other door as well :)


The awsome stone tiled entrance hall above which hangs *the chandelier*


One of the many cool pillars. This one separates the formal dining room from the formal sitting room (green room)


The view from the green room...overlooks a nearby park and the lake, which is frozen at the moment, but still very picturesque


Miss Ara's room, one of the largest rooms in the house, and painted in our princesses favourite colours (the lilac looks a bit electric blue here)


Rea's room, totally her favourite colours


Cai's paint colours. We're getting a red racing car bed to go up against that blue wall...


The bathroom sinks, counter-tops and fixtures


The fabulous bookshelf which was built into a recessed wall, at the foot of the staircase (not the greatest pic since I wasn't using the right lens)


The interior door levers:


Okay, I think I got most of it.
Fingers crossed we get to move in soon :)

Sleepless Nights

So, I'm not a great sleeper when Oshean isn't home.
Even on his call nights, I tend to pace up and down the passage, too restless to even read.

But it's been a week since he's left, so I'm sort of settling down.
Not sleeping a whole lot,
But reading and watching the odd movie here and there...

I have a pile of novels which have been turned into movies to read.
"The Secret life of Bees", "Nights in Rodanthe", "The Kite Runner" and so on...
I havn't watched the movies yet...tend to read and then watch...
Kinda anal that way.

Loved these two movies in particular:

(French dialogue - English Sub-titles)



I even got a little crafty and dressed up an old tin in which we now proudly store our Band-Aids :)

Everything, except the ribbon is Upsy Daisy Designs Product

That's it for today.
Happy Sunday everyone...

Opera Day

The girls' school had the Alberta Opera group visiting today. So to get into the spirit, the staff and students got to dress up as though going to an opera (bear in mind we're still in the minus temps and the snow lies thickly on the ground).
But the Naidoo girls never back down from an opportunity to play dress up and here's how the morning shaped up:

Rea (green sleeve) and Ara (reflected in the mirror), checking on their hair and make-up (just chapstick ;))


Trying to get everyone to look at the camera is a challenge!!!
Poor Cai still had his wonky morning eyes (and hair!)


We even managed to get in a mini piano recital (look how elegant Ara looks)


Okay, elegant from the waist up it would appear...lol


And of course the Grand Finale...(note the cracker in his left hand)


How about that big drooling grin?