The Thread that Binds

I love these girls! I don't often get to London to see them but when I do, it is always worth the trip. My journalling says, "I only know two of these ladies from my time at TKC but it never cease to impress me how we always hit it off with each other, to instantly bond...".

TKC is a boarding school in Malaysia that I went to back in the 80s. Most of my school friends are back home but some of us who live in the UK or are visiting try to keep in touch by meeting up once a month in London.

Christmas Theatre Trip

A theatre trip is turning into a family tradition in our household. A couple of weeks ago we went to see Ghost the musical, in London. It was amazing. Even A who is very sceptical about actors bursting into songs, thoroughly enjoyed it.

In 2010, we saw the Nutcracker at the Coliseum. Do you still remember the weather in 2010 ? We drove down to London in the heaviest snowfall. It was slow going in most places on the M11 but we were fortunate, we got there and back home safely. I have a few photos from our drive, taken from inside the car. It was definitely No Winter Wonderland.

I first blogged about this layout for Sarah's Cards. You can find the instructions to make the layout here.

I hope you like the moose! Are you hoping for some snow this year ? I am enjoying the mild weather right now...I only wish it wasn't so dark.

Remembering 2011

I wanted to make a layout to document the little things that might not have made it on a layout in their own right. I was fretting over photos before finally deciding to do without as the journalling is the most important aspect of my story.

My journalling reads, "According to a Johnie Boden flyer, I probably trudged 20 miles behind a supermarket trolley, found 2 new passions and woke up on the sofa 52 times...at least! I definitely worked hard all year for my piano exam, took up Zumba and woodworking, finished renovating the pool only to fill it up again but most notable of all, spending a lot of time with A whilst doing it."

I have used a lot of items from October Afternoon Miscellany pack from their Sidewalk collection...I love that product from all their collections!

Cambridge Croppers January 2012 Sneak Peek

We are having our workshop this Saturday. These are the layouts we will be working on.

We will be using papers from Studio Calico Memoirs and Authentique Gathering to complete these layouts.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Missing, Lost to C.O.D

My dear son, J, spends a lot of time on the Xbox. What can I say ? At least he is not out at all hours and I know where he is.

If you don't know, C.O.D stands for Call of Duty and the next bit of letters are MW3 or Modern Warfare 3, the latest incarnation of COD which came out early November.

I wrote, "J, this is a photo of you in August, on our family holiday, happy, bubbly and very much part of the family. Then we came home, school started and I was pleasantly surprised. You kept this up. You would come down in the evening to ask if anyone wanted to play a game or watch a movie. Then C.O.D came out in November and we don't 'see' you no more."

Don't get me wrong. I am proud of him and his achievements. He is delivering the results at school ( though Biology leaves a lot to be desired! ), he still plays the piano and he gives some of his time every fortnight to work in a charity shop.

He now has 2 weeks of mock exams for GCSE. Good luck J.

A New Tradition

I hope so but before I get to that, Happy New Year. I hope 2012 will be peaceful, successful, prosperous and filled with lots of love for you all. And may it be a very crafty 2012 too.

We started a new family tradition this holiday. A conversation between A and his colleague, Mr M, revealed that during Christmas, Mr M family always has a family meal where every member of the family cooks a dish. A told me, "What a great idea, we are going to do that!". "But what about the turkey ?", I protested. "Not on Christmas day itself, after all the left over turkey has been eaten...New Year", was his reply.

A proceeded to writing on some scrap of papers and putting them into a hat. I drew Starter and the theme is Mediterranean. Not too bad a theme for our first time, plenty of different cuisines to draw from around the Med.

I made some houmous and roasted vegetables that I served in tortilla wrap.

J drew drinks and appetizer. He made fresh pink lemonade. He intended to make blue lemonade but the blueberries turned the lemonade pink. How would you turn lemonade blue without resorting to colouring ? He also served some Halloumi.

H made pizza including making the dough and tomato sauce for main.

A made a black and white dessert, serving milk pudding and chocolate mousse.

I complained about the lack of presentation so A stuck a sprig of mint on mine.

I would love to hear what you get up to for Christmas but please, only family friendly stories.