day 30 & 31 (plus catch up from day 3 & 4)

Whoo hoo!! I did it!

I am so proud of myself for seeing through the January photo-a-day challenge. I have previously 'fessed up to my pinterest addiction, and this is the first time I have actually done one of the projects I have pinned onto my I could do this (maybe) board. So that's a pretty cool achievement for me.

I know that the idea that came first was project365, but I still can't remember where I first read about that. I am looking forward to kicking on with the February Challenge

If you are looking for a creative challenge you should play along too. My daughter is even inspired to play along. She has been posting some photos onto my instagram, but she has decided to use her DS to take the photos for Feb. (If we can work out how to get the photos off the DS, I might even share some of her creativity - any tips on photo extraction from a 3DS would be appreciated)

I'm thinking that for Feb I'll post a photo-a-day wrap up once a week, and, because life isn't busy enough I will attempt to try more projects from my I could do this (maybe) pinterest board.

So below are my final photos to wrap up January + the missing ones from day 3 and 4...

day 30 - nature

I was really hoping for a koala to photograph for day 30, but I could only find koala poo. That seemed kind of gross, so I decided to go with our gorgeous view over the Adelaide hills. Only problem is I really should have looked ahead to the Feb challenge, because tomorrow's challenge is your view today. I'm going to have to get creative.

day 31 - me, again

day 4 - letterbox

When I was out scouting for koalas, I remembered that one of the challenges I had missed was letterbox. Nice work me. Only one missing photo now.

day 3 - something I adore

I could have gone with someone from my family, but I'd really done enough of them, and our puppy (he's not really a puppy, he's actually nearly 12 and is really an old man now) hasn't had an appearance yet. And I really do adore him. When he isn't driving me nuts wanting to be let in and let out and in and out and in and out.......

day 29 - inside my fridge (plus day 2 - breakfast catch up)

It's home-time today. It's been a beautiful mini-break and I'm not looking forward to returning home to reality. Mum and Dad are staying a little longer, so I guess they are going to be enjoying the blue swimmer crabs for dinner tonight.

inside the holiday house fridge

Dad made us all porridge for breakfast this morning. I thought it was a great chance to make up one of the photos that I am still missing from starting the January photo-a-day challenge late. So here is day 2 - breakfast...

I pimped my porridge with greek yoghurt and figs

day 28 - light

The dog woke me up to be let out at about 6:00am. I was about to go back to bed when I caught a glimpse of the sky and remembered the theme for day 28 was light. (After the something I made debacle on day 25, I've been making an effort to check the next day's theme in advance.)  Perfect! I was just in time to catch the sunrising over the ocean. Dad joined me on the balcony and we enjoyed each others company as I took a photo every few seconds. I love the tiny spot of light as the sun begins to kiss the sky.

I found it hard to choose just one shot for light. Probably because I was narrowing it down from about 80 photos! I posted the top one as my choice for day 28, but I really think the bottom one is my favourite. What do you think?

day 27 - lunch

Lunch today was at Chill Out Coffee Shop, I had the yummiest lamb burger on damper. I'm sure no good can come from eating so much meat, but it was so deliciously worth it.

Thinking about lunch got me thinking about making lunches, and that the school holidays are coming to an end. I'm starting to panic. I'm not ready. I know that other people get over it by the end of the summer holidays, but I really just want one more week. Don't get me wrong, the juggle of working and organising childcare is a hassle, but it is so worth it on the days that I don't work, and don't have to make lunch, and don't have to be on repeat yelling 'hurry up'. I struggle with time management and seem to have passed that trait onto my daughter!

Our aim for this term is to be on time every day. Planning With Kids has a great round up of ways to be organised for school. I have poured through her tips and am feeling slightly more hopeful that we can get our act together this year.

What are your tricks for being organised in the morning?

day 26 - colour

colour of Australia Day

It had to be the colours of Australia Day. We are so lucky to live in this beautiful country, and I am also lucky to have a close family who I love so very much. We spent Australia Day, and then the weekend, at my parents holiday house at Pt Vincent. I read a quote somewhere that went something like Grandma's house is where cousin's become friends, and seeing the close relationship my daughter and nephews have I would really have to say that it is so true.

The day started with a gorgeous sunrise, and kicked on with Dad firing up the BBQ for his signature bacon and egg breakfast. I managed to talk the kids into a photo shoot on the beach with zinced up faces, then we relaxed with a few drinks, an afternoon swim and lamb chops on the BBQ for dinner.

day 25 - something I made

Woah! What a crazy busy day!! I worked all day. Then I arrived home packed our bags and we headed off to the beautiful Pt Vincent to sneak in one last long weekend before school goes back.

The morning had been frantic, no time for making, although I did take some photos of old projects, it didn't feel right to use an old project, (I'm still feeling funny about using one of our old childhood photos on day 10). I did make my breakfast, but I ate that before I thought about what the day's challenge was. I did spend all day kind of making at work, I'm working on our new stationery range. But that didn't feel right, since it was on the computer, not made with my hands. And aside from that, I can't share it anyway until the range is officially launched.

I saw Styling You's photo on instagram and she'd made herself a cup of tea. That would have been perfect, if I had have thought of it first! But I didn't want to copy. I wondered if I could count packing my bag as making something? I didn't even make my lunch or dinner. As we were driving to Pt Vincent the inspiration hit me. I was hanging out to arrive and see my family and especially, finally relax with a glass of wine. I knew what I could make. I could make myself smile, by pouring a big, fat glass of wine.

Isn't it silly how I have all these rules in my head for how I have to play the photo-a-day game? I really could have just used anything I had made, but it had to follow the rules. Adèle and I are always reminding each other at Intrinsic that we make the rules, so we can break them. Do you ever set yourself rules that are restrictive and also unnecessary?

happy, happy me

hello, welcome to my world

This possibly should have been my first post, but I am going with the flow and not stressing about things being perfect. That way there are no excuses to not blog. If you look at my profile you'll see this was started back in 2007. That's 5 years of excuses. It's about time I just started. If thats what I want to do.

all about me
I'm mum to the gorgeous Miss M and step-mum to the also gorgeous (and very big) G.
I have a husband who finds my various crazes slightly amusing, and hopefully a little bit charming.
We live in the Adelaide Hills and I still find the noise that koalas make startling.
I like to run with and chat to and drink wine with my sister (not all at the same time though).
I love to ride my bike, especially downhill with a tail wind. It feels like I am flying.
I love cooking and try to buy and make healthy food and I don't eat sugar.
And my favourite place to be is on holidays at Pt Vincent talking rubbish with my family and staring out to sea.
I play basketball very poorly and I watch a lot of soccer.
I am president of Miss M's school P&F (a slightly crazy, but good commitment to take on)
I like the idea of being organised and punctual, but the reality is that I am not!
I suspect that I overuse exclamation marks!!

I like to draw and cut and paste. I am lucky enough to get paid to do this and I get to work school hours. Perfect Mum Job. I illustrate and design greeting cards, stationery and gifts for Intrinsic. My job is to make Adèle Basheer's words look beautiful. And I love it. Sarah did a great profile on me for our Intrinsic newsletter a few years ago, I still really like it.

I like setting myself goals, normally, I eventually achieve them.

I'm still not sure what the focus of paper sand{ra} life will be, hopefully you'll join me and we can work it out together. Let me know what you think xx

day 24 - guilty pleasure

I was a bit perplexed about what to choose for today's challenge. As I rode my bike to work I tried to think of a guilty pleasure. I don't eat sugar, so if I do eat dessert it is an absolute choice to do it and I don't feel guilty for making that choice. I drink plenty of wine, but I certainly never feel guilty about that! Same goes for coffee. Sometimes I feel guilty when my husband rings to check where I am and I am at my sister's house drinking coffee and wine. But there was no time to visit her for a photo shoot.

So when I saw that the lovely Trish had brought satsuma plums from her mum's garden into Intrinsic to share with us, I had to have one. And the first bite took me back to my childhood and Nanna's garden, and it was absolute pleasure and not a trace of guilt. The plum also matched perfectly with my beautiful angel mug (cleverly illustrated by me!) So how could I not make that my choice for day 24.

Except, when I was riding back from work I remembered. Pinterest. Definitely a guilty pleasure of mine. I love to browse through other people's pins, aimlessly looking for beautiful things, or clever ideas. And its like pringles, you just can't stop at one. Sometimes I sit on the sofa browsing through Pinterest on my iPad while my husband is watching TV and I'll just keep pinning and pinning and pinning until I fall asleep on the sofa cuddled up to my screen.

What's your guilty pleasure? Is yours screen based like mine? Do you ban your kids from using screens, but sneakily use your iPhone (or other technology)?

If you want to find out what the fuss about pinning is, send me an email, sandra[at]papersandscissors.com.au and I'll send you an invite.

day 23 - something old

My nanna's engagement ring and my great-grandma's wedding band were my first choice for something old. I know that they are just jewellery, but I still feel a connection to Nanna when I am wearing them, even though it has been over 10 years since she died. Sometimes, when I feel like I need a bit of extra help, I press down on them with my thumb, close my eyes and ask Nanna to help me out. She usually does.

Do you ever think you get help from your ancestors? Or is it just me being weird?

January photo-a-day day 1 to day 22

Yikes that sounds like an awful lot of photos, doesn't it? I'll start from 22 and work back to 1, so that when I start adding more photos and you scroll through my blog, the order will (hopefully) work. This entry is looking like it will be quite enormous, so please be patient and I promise that there will be more frequent and much briefer posts in the future.


day 22 - shoes 
I love shoes, but today's challenge found me packing up camp after a three day stay at the Tanunda Caravan Park, not the sort of place I imagined that I would want to be wearing fancy shoes. Much to my surprise our stay coincided with the Barossa Valley Hot Rod Club 20th Anniversary weekend. And fabulous rockabilly outfits abounded complete with fabulous heels. What a missed opportunity to style up a retro look, rather than my shorts, t-shirt, thongs camp-site ensemble. 

I've got my camping shoes on, we'd just finished

packing after enjoying a great weekend with

friends.

day 21 - reflection

We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon at Whistler Wines Cellar Door. The weather was hot, but the setting at Whistler is lush and green and surrounded by vines, so we barely noticed the heat. Although I have to confess, that I was much more interested in sampling the lovely, chilled whites, and not quite so interested in tasting the warming reds. The kids enjoyed the cricket pitch and playground and we all had so much fun that we actually forgot to check out the kangaroo enclosure.

the lush outdoor area reflected in the windows
of the cellar door

day 20 - someone you love
After carb-loading on schnitzels and chips at the Tanunda Hotel on Thursday night, the room2move team were up bright and early, and ready to challenge ourselves on the Tour Down Under Community Challenge. My daughter and I took part in the 35km challenge. After the previous weekends whinge-a-thon training sessions, I was expecting my ears to burn trying to complete this distance. But this beautiful girl who I love so very much surprised and astounded me with her determination and positivity. She did not whinge once and whilst we took the escape option and avoided Mengler's Hill King of the Mountain it was an amazing effort and I am so proud of her. 

I was so proud of my girl after she completed the
Tour Down Under Community Challenge 35km ride

day 19 - sweet

After reading Sarah Wilson's blog I began to wonder whether my family and I should be eating sugar. Sarah had reviewed David Gillespe's book, 'Sweet Poison', and the points she drew from it really resonated with me. So much so that I went out and bought the book and  I quit sugar. 

a mango is about as sweet as it gets for me

day 18 - something you bought

I worked on day 18, and didn't buy anything. I was wondering how to complete the days challenge, when it came to me. I was going out for dinner with girlfriends. Perfect! 

yummy wine we bought with our dinner

day 17 - water

I was wishing to be on holidays at the beach, or at the pool for the water challenge. Instead I was at work. On the plus side it was a stinking hot day, so it was nice to be in an air-conditioned office drinking lots of water.

keeping my fluids up at work

day 16 - morning

Quick snaps amongst the morning rush, I'm starting to get the hang of the PicFrame app for Instagram here.  

dishes done, rode to work, coffee drunk,
tea drunk, it must be lunch time!

day 15 - happiness

Happiness day was on a gorgeous Sunday. I went for a bike ride with my girl, and had time in the evening to enjoy the beautiful view from our back garden while I wrote in my journal and enjoyed a crisp glass of something refreshing. Happiness is having a happy and healthy family and beautiful friends.

my happiness image for day 15

the image I should have chosen!

day 14 - something you're reading

I'm not actually reading anything at the moment, so I went with (clockwise from top-left): 

a cheapy cook-book

a book a friend has lent me, but I haven't actually started yet

a book I am always referring back to

& a book Santa left at work for me after he heard that I don't like using public toilets!

(although I should have taken a photo of my iPad, which I am always reading)

books on the side table

day 13 - in your bag

I can't believe that I carry all this stuff around!

note the Intrinsic travel journal (I love it
so much that I use it as my everyday journal)

day 12 - close-up

Up close in the garden.

it was tricky finding a view without weeds!

day 11 - where you sleep

I was too embarrassed to show our un-pinterest worthy bedroom, so interpreted the challenge to be the view from where I sleep (which is much more beautiful than where I sleep!)

lucky we have a nice view

day 10 - childhood

Christmas day in about 1975, opening presents with my sister. Looks like I was more interested in my new truck than having my photo taken. My sister on the other hand was all about looking cute for the camera.

clearly this was not taken by me!
credit goes to either Mum or Dad

I have set myself the goal to complete project365 this year. To complete this I need to take a photo everyday this year. Since I was not the photographer for day 10's photo, I have also included a photo that I did take on day 10. I was channeling inspiration from our gorgeous beautiful angel range at work.

beautiful angel inspiration from Intrinsic

day 9 - daily routine

I was back to work on day 9 after a lovely 2 week Christmas and New Years holiday. So it was back to the routine of get home, cook dinner, organise bath time and bedtime (and aim to be a little earlier than it had been when we were on holidays and enjoying lovely sleep-ins). I'm a little embarrassed to confess that I've actually forgotten what this dinner turned out to be.

something with lots of veggies

day 8 - your sky

The last day of my holidays was disappointingly rainy, although the clouds were kind enough to clear for this photo peeking through the trees. The rain was kind of good for the garden. After being away for 10 days including some stinking hot 40º days, we arrived home to realise we had forgotten to set the sprinkler system going. Oops. Poor garden. 

my sky full of trees and clouds

day 7 - favourite

My husband gave me this for my birthday a few years ago. I love it. My favourite weekend mornings are flicking through my favourite blogs on flipboard on my iPad and drinking coffee that my lovely husband makes for me. hmmmm so happy....

my favourite birthday present. ever.

day 6 - makes me smile

These two always make me feel happy, especially when they are playing and being silly. It makes me smile to think how lucky I am to have them in my world.

my gorgeous people

day 5 - something you wore

I kicked off the challenge on day 5. It seemed kind of tricky at first. We had just got back from our holiday at Pt Vincent, and I was having to unpack, and tidy the debris from Christmas morning. We left for Pt Vincent straight after we opened our presents, so there was stuff everywhere. I spotted this nail polish as I was tidying up and knew that what I was wearing on my toes was how to kick off the January photo-a-day challenge. It was a great confidence booster as I had two people I don't know comment on my photo on Instagram!

Rimmel Double Decker Red 

day 1 - you

This is my catch up picture from day 1. I discovered that our bathroom mirror has beautiful morning light and lovely plain white walls to take my self-portrait.

me!

January Photo-a-day Challenge

I had dinner last night with two of my great friends (and fellow social media addicts), which was awesome. We talked a lot of rubbish, and just generally enjoyed catching up on all the latest news without being interrupted by kids. We all agreed that we should catch up for dinner more often, instead of trying to squeeze in coffees during the week.

I filled Rox and Nat in on my latest project Fat mum slim's January Photo-a-day Challenge. I have been having so much fun challenging myself each day to take a photo relating to the list of topics she has cleverly created.

Thanks Fat mum slim for creating such a fun project!

They both wanted to see what I had been doing, as did the friends I caught up with last weekend!

I have taken this as a sign that it's time for me get my blog on and start sharing properly. I am actually sharing on instagram (an iPhone app) and twitter, but not many of my friends use either of those! But I would love it if you wanted to follow along (my user name is s_gale, very original, I know).

Thanks for reading. What do you think? Are you feeling inspired to play along? I would love it if you left lovely comments for me to know that someone has read this :-)

welcome to paper sand{ra} life... third time lucky

In the spirit of just starting, welcome to paper sand{ra} life. It is not perfect, it's not even close to being perfect. But, I'm pretty sure, just having a go is much more important than just sitting watching other people and thinking "I could do that"


This is not my first attempt at this blog, it is not even my second go. It is in fact my third attempt. However, in what I can only describe as the universe telling me to make a fresh start, I accidentally deleted both of my previous entries! How on earth did I do this? Well, it's like this, I was playing on my iPad, trying to work out how to post from my iPad (I still haven't worked out how to!) and I just meant to delete the first entry, but accidentally deleted both other entries too. That's pretty clumsy isn't it?!


So anyway, here I am with my fresh start.