Today:

Looking across to South Island
Sunset from Houghton Bay, Wellington

It's been a while...must be about time for another Today: post...

I am eating: nothing right now but anticipating the bacon roll I have just asked hubby to make me :-) Ooooh, and he's adding a tattie scone (we made a batch over Easter!)

I am drinking: lemsips yesterday and today. I'm not ill but I'm definitely under the weather and trying to feel well for my weekend away next week.

I am listening: to Mr Mischief talking with hubby in the kitchen. He is also singing the Wheels on the Bus interspersed with 100's of questions!

I am wearing: my PJ's - a grey MailChimp t-shirt and pink PJ trousers with penguins all over them.

I am looking at: the screen as I type, the trees outside the window, the sky trying to decide which way the weather will go today.

I am thinking about: the bloggers connecting conference and what I need to do before I leave on Friday and what I need to pack plus how weird it will be leaving hubby and Mr Mischief for 2 nights.

I am watching: this morning we've had a Thomas DVD on we've borrowed from the library. I am loving Miranda at the moment - only just 'discovered' it in the last couple of months and it's really appealing to my sense of humour. We watched an episode last night and I've added the 2nd series to my (new - just joined this week!) Fatso queue.

I am making: a name badge for my bloggers connecting swap partner today hopefully...if I can get the ideas out of my head into something that looks like a name badge...

I am loving: the crispness of Autumn mornings, being able to snuggle under a blanket on the couch, Mr Mischief's endless questions, singing and enthusiasm.

I am missing: a bath - the place we are living in only has a shower and I hadn't realised how much I love warm bubble baths when the weather turns cold.

I am looking forward to: bloggers connecting next weekend, jeans and boots weather, walks on chilly days wrapped up warm, getting more boxes unpacked.

Here are my previous today posts: October 2010, April 2011, November 2011 and January 2012.

Project Life Catch-Up (Weeks 9, 10, 11 and 12)

I've managed to stay reasonably up to date with my Project Life album which makes me happy :-)
I did end up with a few weeks to do as I had to pack up my supplies to move house but it didn't take too long to catch up. What really helped was keeping a note of what happened each day and picking photos and jotting down which ones I wanted to use a couple of times each week.
I really love this album and already enjoy looking through the early pages to remember what happened each week. Mr Mischief is also a fan and likes pointing things out in the photos.

Here's a look at weeks 9, 10, 11 and 12!

Week 9 was the week we found out we had 3 weeks notice on our rental - cue panic! As you can see from the photos we still managed to fit in some happy times including the beach, cafe visits and a trip to town. The Remember This card is written by my Mum to Mr Mischief and I love that her handwriting and thoughts are featured. I also took a screenshot of the Trade Me Rental Property app as we spent so much time on there looking for somewhere to live!

By the time Friday rolled around we were ready to chill out and me and hubby headed out for a meal and drinks while Mum babysat. It was lovely. Also included is a picture at Scorching Bay, my beach treasures haul, lots of boxes as packing was well and truly underway and a mosaic of 4 photos from a visit to the Aquarium. The orange card is journalling about welcoming Autumn as it's my favourite season.

Week 9 double spread

Week 10 features a cut out from the paper census (I did our forms online but cut-up the paper version to include in the album) and lots of photos of Mum and Mr Mischief together.

On this side we have a photo of the garden of the new place, a road trip to Palmy for a wedding and catching up with coffee group. The little red tickets are from the Esplanade train - Mum and Mr Mischief took a ride while me and hubby were at the wedding.

Confession/Note: I haven't completely finished the Week 10 layout as I need to add an insert for the wedding. I have the wedding invite, a photobooth photostrip of me and hubby and some photos snapped at the wedding. The invite and photostrip are "odd" sizes and I have't quite figured out how to get them into a pocket. I may have to be brave and fight with my sewing machine to make my own sized pockets...we will see. When I figure it out I'll try to remember to blog the insert.

Week 10 full spread

Week 11 features a folded journalling card with the text from this blog post. Also a snapshot of the weather from where Mum was headed back too (she wasn't impressed it was snowing there!) and some screenshots of skype calls with family around the world.

Mum's last meal was fish n chips at Lyall Bay which was yummy! Sorry for all the blanks on this page - there's lots of mention of addresses so I thought it best to blank it all out! Also featured photos of Mr Mischief with me and hubby and Mr Mischief enjoying pancakes for brunch.

Week 11 full spread

Monday of Week 12 was moving day so we were all pretty exhausted by this point. The paper in the 1st 3x4 journalling pocket is cut out from a Metlink (Wellington public transport) leaflet. I saved it for ages as it features some iconic Wellington images and I figured moving within the city was a good excuse to use it!

I mosaic-ed 2 photos of Mr Mischief enjoying orange for this page (his favourite fruit at the moment) and also included the boys playing on the deck, a portrait of the dog, happiness at handing in keys for the old place (a weight was lifted and we could focus on getting the new place unpacked once that was done!), a card from a cafe we visited and an early Easter parcel arriving from the UK.

Week 12 full spread

Phew - well done if you lasted this far! Apologies that the quality of the photos isn't great - it's a grey day here and hard to get decent photos of the layouts.

I finished the Week 13 (last week) layout yesterday and will blog that with Week 14 once that's done.

Are you doing Project Life? If so please leave me a note with your blog address here in the comments so I can come by and visit :-)

Bloggers are awesome...

... in particular - Maria from New Zealand It Is Then!

I am headed to Christchurch in a few weeks for the Bloggers Connecting - Around the Table conference and Maria and her family have kindly offered to billet me during my stay. Maria and I have sent a few emails back and forth getting to know each other and when I explained we were moving house with very little notice and I was a wee bit stressed (that may be a slight understatement!) she asked for my new address so she could send me a little something.

Well yesterday a parcel arrived on the door stop. The first thing that made me smile was the note to the postal service:

"Handle with care, please - handmade gift.

Thank you! A lot :-)"

We carefully opened the parcel (it was a joint effort of Mr Mischief who LOVES getting mail, the dog who has to sniff anything that comes into the house and myself!) and found this gorgeous canvas tucked safely inside....

Isn't it gorgeous? Such lovely bright colours which will brighten up our cream walls wonderfully. Mr Mischief seems to have called dibs on having it up in his room so that's what we will be doing over Easter!

And here's a close-up....

He needs a name I think, I wonder what I should call him?

Thank you so much Maria - you've made the whole family smile and I'm really looking forward to meeting you in a couple of weeks.

And also - thanks to all of the Christchurch bloggers who are being so welcoming before we even get there and have organised what I'm sure will be an awesome event!

We're in!

We found a new place to rent (while Mum was still here) and moved in at the beginning of last week.
We also handed in the keys to the old place towards the end of last week.

So far, the new place is good. 

The dog is happier because there's more of a garden to rummage in out back.

There's also a great deck at the front perfect for racing cars and chasing balls!

We are slowly unpacking boxes and arranging our space.

It feels right and I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders since we decided to settle somewhere for Winter and not worry about finding a place to buy.

Today I printed lots of photos for my Project Life album to get that up to date so hopefully I'll have some pages to share soon.

And I have some crafty things planned in the near future for a variety of reasons (one being the Bloggers Connecting conference which is just two and a half weeks away - eeek!) so you may see a little bit more of me now :-)

A beautiful relationship

Watching my mum and Mr Mischief these last few weeks has been lovely. The relationship between a grandparent and child is a special one. One with lots of love and wonder and less sleep deprivation and all the rushing that comes with parenthood.

I am so glad I took the time to take these photos. To watch the relationship between two of my most favourite people in the whole world. 

By witnessing the love they have for each other it makes me love each of them even more.

I am so grateful to have them both in my life and to have been able to share these last few weeks with all of us together.

My Mum is on the plane back to the UK at the moment and our house feels a little less warm and cosy (and a lot less organised and tidy!) already. Thanks Mum - you have been AWESOME - love you.

This...

(source)

It's been a tough week - we got a bit of a shock that our 6 month lease would not be rolling onto a month-by-month basis and we only have 3 weeks to find somewhere else to live, pack and clean.

So this space may be a little quiet for a wee time while I fill my days with lists, cardboard boxes and all the other tricky things that come with moving a young family...for the second time in 6 months. At least this time it will be across town rather than moving cities! Plus we have my Mum here for a wee bit longer too which is fab :-)

Hope to see you all on the other side real soon. x

Project Life :: 2013 (Weeks 7 and 8)

I'm still up to date with my Project Life and I now have an album to store the pages in too! I pre-ordered the Seafoam binder way back in October but it only arrived in NZ this month and I went to collect it once we got home from Auckland.

Here's a look at week 7 and 8...

Week 7 includes a screenshot of a text conversation with my Mum just before she left the UK to come here, some journalling about being busy, a photo from pancake day, a space filler with a label talking about Mum's upcoming visit, a drawing by Mr Mischief (made at the same time he made a Valentine's card for hubby), the yummy orange cake we baked and a selfie with Mr Mischief in the background in the wash-basket (this was part of a challenge of a Project Life group I'm in!)

The right hand side has a photo of the cute little Crobot I win from Leonie's blog, some journalling on Valentine's and some heart shaped biscuits Mr Mischief made at kindy, crochet blanket progress, some journalling about our Saturday and my race number from AMI round the bays. This is the most AWESOME thing about Project Life in my opinion - I usually collect things like this and they tend to lay about because I have nowhere to store them! I've also attached one of the "shoe bling" we got as part of our race pack and journalled all over the blank space including our race times and place numbers.

Week 7 double spread

Week 8 is all about Mum arriving and Auckland! We have a picture of Mum and Mr Mischief with the Sky Tower in the background, our boarding passes for the plane, us on the plane, the Auckland skyline (taken from the ferry), my FitBit showing more than 10,000 steps and some journalling and a photo from when I met Cat and Leonie.

My first insert for week 8 features lots of photos I instagrammed while we were in Auckland. You can read more about what we did in Auckland here.

That's old Kikki K pink giraffe sticky tape on one side and green crocodile tape on the other (it's always fun to use stuff I've hoarded for a while!). The Auckland title uses Auckland themed scrapbook paper I've had in my stash for more than 5 years (scary! but so good to have used it!)

My 2nd Week 8 insert is all about Centre Port Open Day. We spent most of the day there on Saturday and it was heaps of fun. A wee bit of drama when the tug boat we were riding on crashed into the cruise liner - eeek! but we were all okay!

Week 8 right hand side showing Mum, hubby and Mr Mischief at Butterfly Creek just before we flew back to Wellington, some cake after the tug boat incident! Blanket progress, a cut up Auckland map with a ferry ticket and a train ticket attached (more paperwork that it's great to have a home for!), lunch for me and hubby after more open homes and my attempt at a zebra cake as a belated birthday cake for my Mum with Mr Mischief helping her to blow out the candles!

Week 8 double spread (minus the inserts)

And that's the rather busy weeks 7 and 8. Onto the next.... :-)

You can see all of my Project Life pages here.