keeping the dream alive... may photo a day

As I am sure you know by know, I have been playing along with Chantelle from Fat Mum Slim's photo a day challenge since January. I am really proud to say that I am still going strong, and if anything, I am enjoying it more and more. I share my photos daily on the smartphone app instagram, and there is this amazing little community out there playing along too. I have met all these interesting people from all around the world, and Australia just from sharing my photo a day. I think it is a bit like having modern day pen pals.

day 1 peace | day 2 skyline | day 3 something you wore today

This is what happens when I ask my husband for advice...
me: the theme today is peace, what should I do?
mr g: we've got loads of peas in the freezer (pause for anticipated laughter, caused by hilarious wit)
me: (actually laughing) that's funny, I'm totally doing that.
mr g: (falls over in shock that I thought his joke was funny enough to use)

Adelaide city skyline from the perspective of Chesser Street, standing right outside the Intrinsic front door. It is a beautiful old lane way overshadowed by old warehouses and new office buildings and covered with a canopy of vines.

At the hairdressers on day 3 with a head full of foil and feeling super excited to get my wooly head sorted out.

day 4 fun | day 5 bird 

Day 4 was a Friday so that could only mean one thing. Drinks with my sister. I think Roxy was a little to keen for Friday fun and was waiting a the car door with a big fat glass of wine, like all good friends should.

You would think in a garden so full of trees that I would be able to find a bird to photograph! I heard plenty. I'm pretty sure they were mocking me. In the end this was the best I could come up with. An out of focus magpie and a koala's butt. Even the koala was mocking me.

day 6 you | day 7 someone that inspires you 

On day six I went to a ladies lunch raising money for Variety club at the Adelaide Wine Centre. A friend is in the Mad Max team and asked if my sister would put together a table. It finished up being a brilliant group of girls, all different and all fabulous. I feel really lucky to have so many wonderful women in my life.  These two lovely ladies are both friends I have made since having children and are both very special to me.

Following the theme of beautiful people. As you may know I work for Intrinsic. Intrinsic is owned by Adèle and Jamie Basheer. Adèle writes all the inspirational messages that appear on all our products. Her journey is an inspiration.

day 8 a smell you adore | day 9 something you do everyday 

I didn't quite read day eight's theme properly. I thought it was favourite smell. I had cleverly planned to have dinner cooking in the slow cooker and to brag about my cleverness as I walked into the house to the delicious smell of dinner already cooked. Then I read the list again. A smell you ADORE. I think adore is a pretty strong word, and I am not sure that my casserole in the slow cooker is really quite right for it. But I had nothing else.

Everyday I drink my coffee. Then I pick it up just wishing there was just a little more left. As a side note to drinking coffee and this cup being a takeaway cup. I have made a commitment to myself to not buy coffee in a paper cup. I have been spending too much money on coffee and it has to stop. I am still allowed coffee in glass or ceramic, so that means that if I have bought a coffee I am drinking it in a cafe. That's my rule.

day 10 a favourite word | day 11 kitchen | day 12 something that makes you happy

I was feeling very lucky to go to another fundraising lunch on day ten. This time it was the Crows Foundation raising money for Heartkids. I went to work for the morning and when we arrived I was excited to find out that it was champagne o'clock, my favourite word. It was another brilliant function and again I enjoyed spending time with and some people I know and love, and also meeting some new friends. My highlight was hearing Lisa Wilkinson speak. She was the best speaker I have ever heard. She has an awesome story and told it so well. My sister has a giant girl crush on Lisa and was in awe for the whole time. Lisa spoke for way longer than she was supposed to, so she finished speaking and had to leave immediately to get to the airport on time. I grabbed my sister and her phone and we ran to cut her off at the exit. I garbled something about massive fan and photo please. And Lisa was gracious enough to have her photo taken with Roxy, who almost passed out from happiness.

When I was thinking about happiness on day 12 I looked at the flowers that Roxy (unnecessarily) bought me to say thank you, and my heart just filled with happiness thinking about how that little thing I did, that cost me nothing, and was really quite easy, made her so happy.

Oh yeah, day 11 my kitchen. By careful use of cropping and camera angles, my kitchen actually looks tidy, and it also highlights my two favourite features. The view and the coffee machine,

day 13 mum

Perfect theme for Mother's Day. I am lucky to still have my kind and caring mum live close enough for me to see her when I want. (Although it would be nice to be a little closer to see her more often) I am also lucky to have a gorgeous caring daughter and an awesome loving step-son. On Mother's Day I was counting my blessings. That is for sure. It can be a really, really, tough day. I was spoilt with a treasure hunt planned by miss m to find my present. Then, with a little guidance from mr g, she made me pancakes. The boy arrived home with a bunch of flowers for me and a bunch for my mum. He scored so many brownie points with that! We then went up to Mum and Dad's for lunch, along with my sister and her family. My choice for day 13's photo is my mum with the grandkids.

day 14 grass | day 15 love | day 16 what you're reading | day 17 snack

Oops. Forgot to take a photo of grass today. Remembered at 8:00pm. Asked the Instagram community if we could call it moody and atmospheric, instead of oh crap it's 8:00pm and I haven't taken a photo of grass yet. They were very supportive.

This was the little poem that miss m wrote me to test out the notepaper she gave me for Mother's Day. It is really beautiful and made me teary. Then she added a little extra to the back. Turns out I had to pay 50c if I wanted it!

I had been reading a book of slow cooker recipes, trying to find some different things to try, instead of the usual casseroles.

I almost always have raw nuts to snack on at work

day 18 something you made | day 19 a favourite place | day 20 something you can't live without

I made the decision. I would do the Barossa half-marathon again. You can read all about it here.

After yet another busy Saturday I made it to Victor Harbour to spend the night camping with a really great group of adults and kids. I was so happy to finally sit my self down in front of the campfire with a glass of bubbles. Relaxing with friends is always a favourite place to be. The physical location doesn't really matter.

We were so lucky with the weather and mother nature blessed our bleary heads with the most beautiful sunrise the next morning. We can not live without sunlight, so it seemed like an easy solution for day 20.

day 21 where you stand | day 22 pink | day 23 technology

I know I could have actually made a statement about something meaningful. But it was Monday morning, I was standing at the bus stop. It just seemed easy.

So much pink to choose from. I looked around the room and saw the girls sweat bands sitting in the kitchen. I loved that the Manchester United store had so much girl stuff. And so did miss m.

My technology at work. I love my mac and wacom tablet. They make me so happy at work. A cup of tea also helps.

day 24 something new | day 25 unusual | day 26 12 o'clock

A lovely stack of new books from the library on day 24. I love the library, it's so (nerdishly) cool to be able to choose a massive stack of books that look interesting and not have to put any back because it will be too expensive.

Oh so very unusual on day 25 to have a deliciously empty diary to sit myself down with my new books and a cup of coffee and try to understand how I can make my blog look the way I want it to. I still don't understand yet. But I did have a lovely day.

At 12:00 on day 26 I was walking past Mary Martin's thinking about the lovely coffee I would soon be enjoying.

day 27 sweet | day 28 the weather today | day 29 a number

Day 27 was half marathon day and crossing the finish line and taking off my shoes and socks was oh so very sweet.

I wrote about the beautiful weekend we had in my last post, so I won't bore you with it again. But  the weather was cool and cloudy, and perfect for checking out the wineries.

I put my sneakers back on again to play basketball on Tuesday night. I'm number 7. We lost. But I was pleased that I could play at all to be honest.

day 30 your personality | day 31 something beautiful 

This was a tricky one. To visually describe my personality. I decided rubber band, I think my best trait is that I can go with the flow and adapt to last minute plans. So I went with I am flexible. I also have a habit of overcommitting and not really judging how long things will take. I stretch too far. Sometimes I snap, just ask mr g. But I do always bounce back.

I was rushing off to a meeting at 6:00pm on day 31, and crossing my fingers for a beautiful sunset. We pulled over at our local CFS (country fire service) to take this beautiful shot of the sunsetting over Adelaide as the sparkly city lights were coming on. I think our CFS one of the best views in South Australia.

How has your month been. Are you still sticking to your New Year's Resolutions? Would you like to challenge me that your fire service has a better view? Have a great weekend

my week as a disco ball

Andrea at Fox in Flats has done it again... she dared her readers to sparkle from morning to night for seven days straight and like a crazy lady I agreed. Then I realised that I only actually own one top with sequins and only two tops that really sparkly. With an overseas holiday coming up soon (tomorrow!!) there was no chance I could justify buying anything. So I went through my jewellery and then my shoes and phew, it looked like I could do a week of it. So here I am sparkling my little heart out...

It was only day 1 and already I felt like a cheater, the closest I could get to sparkling on my Sunday morning run followed by a cheeky coffee at the most lovely Taylor Blend with my sister was to add an necklace and earrings. It did turn out to be comment worthy. Both my daughter and sister wanted to know what the deal was with the running decorations!

For day 2 I wore a top with silver sparkly thread. I normally only wear this out at night. I had to wear a singlet underneath, it felt a bit too cleavagey for work. But I wasn't so comfortable with the way it looked. I did get a compliment at work though. So thats a win!

I was already feeling stuck and it was only day 3! I added a brooch to my head scarf and popped on my sparkly sandals and was super happy. I suspect that my hair flopped over the brooch, because I didn't get any comments on it, or it just looked crap!

 Out came the big guns on day 4, I bought these earrings about a year ago, and I have only worn them once or twice and only at night. They were just cheapys and I always felt that they looked a bit cheap in daylight! I was definitely not comfortable. But they were certainly showstoppers and everyone at work commented on them. (I'm still not sure that they will get another daylight guernsey)

I wore my only actual sequinned top on day 5. I love this t-shirt, I love the illustration. And the sequins are really quite subtle. I was well within my comfort zone and very happy.

You can't actually tell from this pic, but my top for day 6 has gold thread running through it. I love this top and I added some extra sparkle on my ears and neck, just because I wanted to! This top was also perfect for Fat Mum Slim's March photo a day challenge theme of green. 

I have to admit to being relieved to reach the end of this challenge, for day 7 I was repeating day 3's sandals with some arm sparkles and my favourite love heart necklace. But compared to my daughter I had nothing! 

What I learnt from my week as a human disco ball:

1. I should have thought first before I agreed to this dare
2. But sometimes its fun to be impulsive and let everything sort it's self out.
3. If I could fit into children's size 10 clothes I would have smashed this challenge!

Do you ever jump in with out thinking? What happens when you do? 

PS I'm off on holidays tomorrow, if I can I'll try and post while I'm away, otherwise I'll see you back after Easter xx

day 61-67 (march photo-a-day day 1-7)

In a burst of enthusiasm, tiredness and overwhelmedness (hmm spell check is telling me overwhelmedness is not a word, but I'm keeping it) and following from yesterday's theme of trying to get my act together and stop being so late and disorganised, I have written myself some little goals, and a bit of a schedule. Lets just say that I almost achieved it tonight. But the part I am achieving is that I am designating Wednesday to be the day I share my Fat Mum Slim March Photo-a-day pics with you. And here I am doing what I said I would. Unfortunately I need to type faster, because I told myself that screens have to go off at 10:00pm. So I have 10 minutes to finish. Eek this could finish up being a PB for typos!!

day 67 (March 7) - Something I wore

I got dressed really quickly this morning. I really wanted to get to school before the bell, but I had slept in a little, so was a bit behind from the start. After my shower a quick scan of my wardrobe saw this hanging, calling out to me and I said yes! It is an absolute favourite of mine. I love the colour and pattern and it does not need ironing or hand washing. It is comfy for cycling in and suits layering in winter.

day 66 (March 6) - 5pm

5pm should have been in the middle of Miss M's basketball game, but I was too distracted and excited to be thinking about photo challenges. Our school team has not won a game all season (the season started in term 4) The kids are so good about it and just keep on trying hard and having fun. But we know that they all really want to get a win (and let's be serious the parents probably want it more!!) So anyway for the first time we scored first and managed to stay in front for the whole game. And actually win!! This is Miss M's last game for this season. This photo is actually 5:20pm in the tree outside the stadium. Because why wouldn't you celebrate a win by climbing a tree?

day 65 (March 5) - a smile

A chilly smile. It was a little cold for swimming lessons, but for me, it was perfect for sitting by the pool watching and chatting to a friend.

day 64 (March 4) - bedside

I have discussed my bedroom before and nothing has changed, I really don't like it and I really need to prioritise a bedroom makeover into our budgeting and planning. In the meantime for the bedside theme, I looked down to my daggy fluffy slippers sitting on the ground. They were a Christmas gag gift. There was a funny story that went with the reason why they were given to me. But I have forgotten it! And as it turned out, I actually quite like these slippers.

day 63 (March 3) - my neighbourhood

We are very lucky to live in the beautiful Adelaide Hills. I love it. Except for the buses, or lack of buses. If you are travelling Monday to Friday during peak hours you are fine. But any other time forget about it. During the day the buses are one and a half to two hours apart and there are no evening or weekend services at all. On the plus side you will quite often spot a koala while you are waiting for the bus, and my husband has even seen kangaroos early in the morning.

day 62 (March 2) - fruit

I get my groceries delivered by the very lovely Banana Blue, a local online supermarket. I like the surprise of ordering a mixed fruit and veg box full of whatever is in season. It's not all local, but that's okay(ish) I do love seeing what we receive and the challenge of making sure that I use everything.

day 61 (March 1) - Up

Super excited that I have kept this going now for two months. I am so excited by the idea of having a photo for every day this year. My girl is sitting up the top of the steps posing for me, slightly annoyed because I made her stop watching TV for 2 minutes while I took this. It's a tough life. 

Although day 1 was kind of tough for her. We were back to the orthodontist and she had braces put on her bottom teeth (she already had them on the top ones). Getting braces on can be kind of uncomfortable, so I let her have the afternoon off school and we have a very fun shopping trip to the (now not so new) Zara at Burnside Village. I am not normally at the shops during the day anymore, and I had the disconcerting realisation, as I looked around at all the mums of babies, toddlers and preschoolers out shopping and having coffees, that I no longer have anything in common with them. My girl is now so completely past that stage, that the feeling of camaraderie, seeing mums juggling with dummies and nappie bags and baby wipes and sticky fingers that I used to experience was completely gone. On the plus side I now LOVE shopping with my daughter. She no longer runs away, she can be relied on to wander in a shop and browse with out wrecking stuff, and she will even give me advice on whether something A. looks good on me and B. is my style!

It's now 10:30, so I am half an hour behind my schedule. But that's not too bad. How is your year going? Have you kept on top of your goals or are they dropping away? What do you do to boost your goals when they start to slow down?

day 48-60 (february photo-a-day day 16-29) or how did I get so far behind?!?

It doesn't take much for the house of cards to come tumbling down does it? Even when it is something you love doing it can still fall to pieces. A couple of school evening commitments, a busy week at work followed by a work trip away and next thing you know I am 13 days behind in sharing my Fat Mum Slim February photo-a-day pics with you. For some of these days I had planned a bit more of a story to go with them but as things have turned out I think that would be a little excessive, so I will save those stories and extra pics for a different day and for now I apologise for taking so long and giving you so many pics to look at in one go...

Day 60 (february day 29) - something I'm listening to

It's raining it's pouring, the old man is snoring. Well not really, but it is wet and windy and I am feeling annoyed about it. I have just gotten home from five fabulous days in Sydney, where we (Intrinsic) were exhibiting at the Home and Giving Trade Fair. I ate and drank way too much and am now feeling very podgy! I arrived home late last night and have the day off today. After sleeping a little too late this morning I optioned up on one of Andrea at Fox-in-flats' tips for the school run and threw on my gym gear. I did actually plan to go for a run, but I had a princess moment and the rain put me off. Instead I am sitting here on the computer listening to the rain and hoping it will ease off enough for me to actually run.

Day 59 (february day 28) - money

Money... or lack thereof (it's been a big weekend!)

Day 58 (february day 27) - something I ate

What and amazing Lebanese feast at El-Phoenician restaurant in Parramatta! The food was so good, the waiting staff were super friendly and the company was perfect. The only down side was the contribution this made to my current podgy feeling!! (But I still say totally worth it!)

Day 57 (february day 26) - night

Not sure that I nailed this one! It is the view from my lovely hotel room at the Pullman Hotel in Olympic Park with the room reflected in the window. Hmmm.

Day 56 (february day 25) - green

First day of the fair and when I sat down to have some lunch and flick through Instagram I realised that the theme was green and my spinach quiche and spinach and cous cous salad seemed like it would be my best option for the day. 

Day 55 (february day 24) - inside your bathroom cabinet

I left home for the airport at 5:30am so the last thing on my mind was taking photos. By the time I was thinking about the photo-a-day challenge my bathroom cabinet was inside my daggy old toilet bag that I have had for getting close to 20 years!

Day 54 (february day 23) - shoes

I do love shoes, but continuing my time poor theme of the last week, there was no time for staging some gorgeous shot. Instead these are one of my favourite pairs of shoes and are perfect for powering my ride to work.

Day 53 (february day 22) - where I work

My paid work is at the most gorgeous Intrinsic. We create beautiful greeting cards, gifts and stationery to inspire the world. The Intrinsic studios are located off the charming vine covered Chesser Street in Adelaide.

Day 52 (february day 21) - a fave photo of me

A photo of a photo, I want to say how very post-modern. But I know that just dates me as being old enough to remember a world where photos existed only in albums or in frames. And to get a copy meant taking the negative to the photo processing shop. Anyway this is one of my favourite photos of Miss M and me. It was taken by my lovely sister at Pt Vincent, my favourite place. I did have a couple of runners up for fave photo, but I asked Miss M to help me choose, so of course she chose the one of her looking super cute.

Day 51 (february day 20) - handwriting

My hand-writing on top and I think my Nanna's hand-writing on the bottom. I found the recipe tucked inside a very old edition of the Green & Gold Cookbook. I'm glad that I do have some handwritten recipes. I hope that my grandchildren enjoy reading them, like I enjoy reading old family recipes. I'm pretty sure they won't be pouring through my collection of pins on Pinterest, or looking through my bookmarks on my computer filled with nostalgia. There really is something about handwriting that evokes the presence of that person. 

Day 50 (february day 19) - something I hate to do

I hate tidying. This is the dumping ground that is my office. When we have people coming round I do an emergency surfaces tidy and everything lands in the office. I spent day 19 sucking it up and tidying this disaster zone. By the end it was looking pretty good. Not perfect, but a really good start.

Day 49 (february day 18) - drink

It looks like I spend a lot of time sitting around drinking coffee. And maybe I do! Day 18 saw me back in my favourite Saturday spot with a cafe latte and about to make a very late jump onto The Slap bandwagon.

Day 48 (february day 17) - time

It was time to clear this c**p out of my life. I was inspired by Sarah at A Beach Cottage to just get stuck in and do it. She issued a de-clutter challenge and I put up my virtual hand and said I'm in. Unfortunately, my good intentions were also derailed by my busy week. And I am a beach cottage de-clutter fail whale. But that's okay. I did make a good start and got rid of some stuff that had been hanging around for ages. And I even got $16 for the bottles! What I did do on day 17 that was awesome and I am going to continue was to set the timer for one hour and put as much as I could fit in the car boot and then took it straight to the Salvos. And that felt fantastic.

Phew! That was long. Well done and thank you if you're still reading! How has your February? Did you have good intentions de-railed by other commitments?   

day 38 - button (or feb day 7)

I have been feeling a little podgy since the Christmas holidays. (And the scales are backing me up on that!) Even though I have stopped eating sugar, I still put on 4kg over the holidays. I suspect the fabulous support I give to the Australian wine industry that is the cause of my problems!

I had thought that I would try Feb Fast, good thing I didn't get sponsorship, because I only lasted 3 days. I caught up with my sister after school on Friday and, well, she thought that a cheeky glass of bubbles might be good to settle our nerves. And let's be serious, that can only be a good thing! I thought maybe the rule could be that Friday's don't count. But then on Saturday night I was babysitting my nephews and had got the kids all set up to watch a movie after dinner and really started to feel a bit wine o'clock. I fessed up to my hubby about my Friday afternoon bubbles, and he fessed up to beers at the soccer! And we both agreed that if we felt like a glass of red on a Saturday night we absolutely deserved to have one!

Anyway, the point of that long rambley story is that I like a weekend tipple and my new thing is to cut out bread and pasta to try and ditch my xmas pudding. I made hummus on the weekend and have been having that with salad for lunch at work. When I started eating my lunch I remembered that the challenge for today was buttons. And I had button mushrooms in my salad. How good was that!?

Did you put on weight over the holidays? Have you managed to lose it yet? What works for you?

day 36 - 10:00am (or feb day 5)

10:00am was time for a Sunday morning coffee before going round to my sisters house. I was supposed to have gone for a run, but it was raining and I am not very good at running by myself at the best of times, so it wasn't that hard to stay in my PJs.

I am going to do the Barossa half-marathon again this year. I had said that I would not do it again, because I know how much work it is to train for it. But then our cycling team, room2move, are getting a group to go up and stay the weekend, and, well, it turns out that I am a sucker for a thing! So here goes, back to the training again. Yikes!! But I do love running with friends. I love to chat and catch up with out kids interrupting or listening in. It seems a little extreme to do a half-marathon just to get a private conversation, doesn't it!?!

What lengths do you go to to stop the kids listening in? Or just get some time to yourself?

day 34 - hands (or feb day 3)

I love Fridays. I work Monday to Thursday and I have Friday as my day off. Don't get me wrong I absolutely love what I do, but it is always nice to have a break. Somehow Friday's aren't really a break though. I have a terrible habit of over-committing. I think one of my old uni lecturers summed me up perfectly when he said that I like to bite off more than I can chew comfortably! I always seem to manage, but there is a whole bag of crazy that goes with it.

Anyway, Friday morning I went along to the first school assemble for the year, then had a meeting with the school principal to go through some stuff for Parents and Friends, then quickly back home, before meeting my mum and sister for lunch.

I love my iPhone and all its organising technology, but sometimes an old school palm-pilot note is the best way to remember stuff.

How do you stay on top of things? Do you use high tech organisers, or are you more old school diaries and address books?

my crazy life (or running late again)

You can tell schools back. All my good intentions have gone out the window as the after school activities and Parents and Friends Assiciation responsibilities kick in. I had hoped to have my February photo-a-day pics up today, but after my mammoth day it is just not going to happen!

I'm typing this on my iPad and I can't work out how to post photos from here. (if anyone does know how to do it, could you please tell me?) I can't be bothered to go to the computer right now, just to post photos.

Miss M had art class straight after school (which is great because it means I can stay at work a little longer) I'm illustrating new cards at the moment, and I was a bit too in the zone and I left work late, which meant I was late to get Miss M and she wasn't happy. Then we were off to her basketball. I organised for one of the other mums to take her back to their house, because I had to go back to school for acquaintance night. I'm president of our P&F association (slightly crazy I know) and I had to talk to the year level groups of parents, encouraging them to be part of P&F, and talking up how fun it is!

Then I had to rush off to my basketball. (which we lost, again)

So here I am watching that movie with Sandra Bullock and the cute boy whose name I can't remember where she's a Canadian about to be deported, making excuses for not doing something I don't even have to do. I AM crazy.

So anyway, I promise to put up photos tomorrow.

january photo-a-day wrap up

I've been having such a great time with Fat Mum Slim's photo-a-day challenge, I wanted to have an excuse to compile all my photos together and see how they all look as a group. I am being a bit of a copy-cat, I have seen a couple of other people doing similar on their blogs, in particular Nikki from Styling You and Megs from Glamourhood. So Nikki and Megs I'm really hoping you are imitation is the sincerest form of flattery kinda girls and not get an original idea you shameless plagiarist kinda girls. Fingers crossed.

So, here is what have I learnt from doing the photo-a-day challenge:

1. I really like being creative for myself 
Whilst I am lucky to have a creative job that I love, working with beautiful people who I adore, I actually really like to have my own voice, and now that I have gotten over my shyness, its great know that people from all over the world are looking at my work.

2. My dreams will never turn into reality if they don't leave my head
I first set up this blog in 2007, that's FIVE years ago. I never really did anything with it, I first started talking about getting serious with it to my sister maybe 6 months or a year ago. But it wasn't until these holidays that I started to tentatively mention it to other people. Who were all so encouraging that I had to just dive in and do it.

3. Perfection doesn't matter and something is better than nothing

There are things that I would have like to have had perfect before starting, and they are still not perfect. And that doesn't matter because I am here and I am doing what I have been wanting to do for a long time and it will get perfect one day. Or it won't and that's okay too.

4. Sometimes I wish that I chose a different shot to tag #JANphotoaday

Nobody is perfect and if you aren't learning and growing you aren't truly alive. So there! But I have learnt that my own personal rules say that the photo has to be taken on the actual day. I cringed putting the childhood photo into the grid, and even though I did take a different photo on that day to keep the 365 photo rule going, it still feels wrong.

5. I love positive comments and likes

I love getting comments and likes on my Instagram photos from both friends and strangers. And I especially like how I have the feeling of getting to know some of the strangers from following their photos and commenting on their photos. And I love that I have had comments on my blog from both friends and strangers (or should I say friends I haven't met)

6. January was awesome!

I had such a great summer. Life is good.

Have you been doing the photo-a-day challenge? What have you learn't along the way? Let me know where you are sharing your photos so I can see your interpretation of the challenges?

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.