haggith's world

album for my sister

At the end of last year I was scrapping my butt off, to get an album finished for my sister. My mom took it with her, she's visiting my sister now.  I made it as a thankyou for letting me impose on her for two weeks.

this is what it looked like. Some photos are a bit blurry, because I took the photos hastily before giving it to my mom.

 

I want to give credit to Dina Wakley for the inspiration. That made it so much easier for me to finish this album in a small amount of time (10 hours).  I sewed all the pages separately and then taped them together.  Lots of spray ink and paint! :)

xxx, H.

white beauty

Even though I'd had enough of the snow already, I decided that it would make for some pretty pictures.

 

xxx, H.

winterwonderland

The snow and ice have now gone. But we had some fun times outside in the snow. We bought some baby-skates for Valentin. He thoroughly enjoyed being on the ice.  Bawled his eyes out when we had to get back inside...mommy was cold! :)  The snow that fell was awesome for making snowmen and having snowball fights. And trying to make an iglo.  Too bad I don't have photos of that.  But here is an impression of our fun in winterwonderland. (although I'm glad it's gone now)

But I would like the sun back!

xxx, H.

kitchen almost done.

Well, the kitchen is almost done. There are a few things left. Like a side panel that wasn't the right size, plastering and painting the walls and ceiling. And adding a long shelf along the wall with lights and sockets.

But to not leave you all in suspence for much longer, here are some photos of what it looks like now.

I'll start with the before:

this is during:

and this is what it looks like at this moment:

pretty, isn't it!!! :)   I'm sooooo happy!!!  And I'm already used to it, which probably means that we made the right choice! :)

Dinner is served!

xxx, H.

I scrapbooked today

I really needed this me-time today. After the last couple of weeks with the kitchenrenovation, it was something that was needed to relax myself.

and this is what I came up with:

made with the January kit from Studio Calico, Whodunit.

sorry, the colors are all wrong on this one. I sewed a transparancy onto cardstock. But it's too difficult to take a normal photo of it. But at least you get the drift.

I got this idea from Jenn Olson from Studio Calico with her layout "Sisters" (kit Orchestra). Thanks, Jenn for the inspiration.  Sometimes it helps to lift someone else to get the creative juices flowing again.

Now I'm off to pick up Dominique from her friend's place and Valentin from day-care.

Have a wonderful evening.

xxx, H.

gala diners

Because Patrick sold his company in July, we had two gala diners this go-round. One in December with the company that bought For All Finance. And one in January with just employees of For All Finance.  I love dressing up for those kind of occassions.

When we got the invitations, I said to Patrick "now I have to shop for a special dress"  His reply: "as if YOU mind!!! "  LOL.

Needless to say I had a blast dressing up.  Too bad I don't have more parties like that.

xxx, H.   

almost new kitchen

our new kitchen is going to be installed in the second week of January. But last week, we got a call that it's almost finished, minus the painting and coloring of the wood. So, of course, we jumped in the car to the workshop where the company builds kitchens (we're having it custom-made).

Here are some sneaks of what it's gonna look like.  And I will post photos of the "real" kitchen. :)

I forgot that it was gonna be THAT big! LOL.

xxx, H.

okay, here goes!

I left for Australia on the 30th of October. For a two week visit to my sister.

(all photos are small thumbnails, if you click on them, you will see them a tad bigger; otherwise I couldn't this many in this post)

This is upon my arrival (well, actually the next day):

my suitcase was 32 kg!!!  luckily I didn't have to pay for overweight. I brought along alot of Sinterklaas goodies...pepernoten, speculaas, taai-taai, licorice, hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles for sandwiches). And of course, lots of presents.  Love doing that.

this is Jiska's house:

Jiska and her daughters live here with a girlfriend, Fiona, and her daughter, Indiana. Mind you, they live in the bush/outback. I was told to watch out for spiders and snakes! :(  The first day I was there, I had a bit of a culture shock. I was of course very tired due to travelling, and emotional due to leaving my hubby and kids behind for two weeks. It then hit me, that if something happened at home, it wouldn't be easy to get back on the dot. The girls have a compost toilet, so I really had to get used to that!!! Luckily with sawdust and some other stuff, it doesn't smell. But you get there by way of the veranda...that is, outside!  I was really happy that they did have electricity!! LOL :)  But after a few days, I got used to being there. And talking to Patrick and the kids, that first day, on the phone,  really helped settle my nerves. And make me happy again. After that, I could only enjoy my whole stay.

these are some gorgeous views I saw, including the views from their veranda (the first three):

going out for a luncheon on Melbourne Cup day. We were all dressed up, up to the high heels and all, but forgot to wear a hat. So we didn't win any prizes of being best-dressed! LOL. But we did have fun. Placed some bets; didn't know anything about it all, so we placed bets on the best looking jockey shirts and the numbers! LOL.  Of course, won nothing.

went to see pretty places, such as waterfalls (Whian Whian and Protestor's Falls), rainforest, Dragon's Tail (the most easternly point of the Australian Mainland) and Bryon Bay:

because Jiska lives in the outback, I was able to see lots of fauna. I saw a walibi, one that visits on a daily basis and is named George :), kangaroes (one with a joey), a goanna (camerabattery dead at that moment, so no proof alas), bush turkey, cicada's,  lots of pretty lorrekeets (sp?) and other beautiful birds, green tree frogs, a small little frog, snake skin (they have a python living in their roof...helps keep the mice and rats away) (and I'm not afraid of a python, just afraid of the poisonous browns) and a Huntsman spider (creeped me out, but Jiska said they were harmless). Jiska and I saw a Southern Right Whale with calve while sightseeing the Byron Bay Lighthouse.

   

going out for pizza:

playing dress up and lipsyncing ABBA:

going to the markets, this one is the Channon Markets:

watching the girls, Roshanna,Serafina and Jiska, do their sports. Roshanna does horseriding and Serafina gymnastics and Jiska does bellydancing:

it also rained while I was there. Actually it was a huge storm. I was sooooooooo happy when the storm passed, I was literally shaking in my bed when the lightning struck.

Sisters:

the beautiful girls, Roshanna and Serafina:

fauna in Northern Rivers Territory:

went to the beach a couple of times:

Jiska drove me up to Coolangatta, a one-and-a-half hour drive, to meet up with Lynette van Barrelo. Because we have been reading each other's blogs for a long time, it was easy seeing her. To me, it felt like we just picked up where we had left off, after not seeing each other for a long time.

this was a familiar sight for others:

evidence that I was there:

our last out, with Fiona and her daughter, Indi, Kate, another dear friend of Jiska's and her daughter, Tashin:

and after being gone for 16 days, I was so very happy to see these three (and of course, Patrick) :)

Jiska, I want to thank you so very much for having me! 

Jiska and I have never, ever talked so much! We talked about everything, good, bad, criticism, laughter, encouragement!!!  It was such an awesome time and I am sooooo happy that I got to take this trip.

(who knows, i might even make it a yearly event....I mean, I lost 5 pounds!!! LOL )

Jiska, I love you and miss you tons!!! Big hugs and kisses sent your way.

xxx, H.

so when I said two or three weeks,

I probably meant two or three months. OOPS.

Anywho.  I had all these photos sorted out and shrunk down to size, so I could fit a ton of them in here.

And then my computer in my scrapspace, where all my photos are on, decided to skip internet.

DARN IT!!!!!

(and I don't have any empty cd/dvd's to copy the photos to, so that I could blog from another computer).

So y'all will have to wait just a few more hours.  I'll get right to it tomorrow.

xxx, H.

I'm blogging

well, I've decided to get back on the wagon.  I'll start blogging and scrapbooking again.

But first I'm gonna go see my sister!!!!

I leave tomorrow for two weeks. My sister lives in Australia so I don't see her often.  Patrick has been such a sweetheart to let me book a flight for two weeks. He's staying home with the kids.

I will miss them desperately, but have a lot to look forward too as well. I've never left my family for more than two nights.  I wonder how Valentin will fare?  But I think Dominique will be the saddest. She gets a little teary eyed already, just talking about me leaving tomorrow.

So when I say that I'll start blogging and scrapbooking again, I mean in two/three weeks! :)

see ya all soon.

xxx, H.