{ I have moved! }

I am in the process of building a website and setting my blog up over there too....come and visit me and leave me some love! I need it, they say moving is the most stressful thing you'll do in your life and I can say it has been stressful!

If you link me, please update your links too :-D

www.theblissfulpixel.com/blog

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{ Puerto Rico Party }

Thought I'd better blog this before Link beat me to it. He is winning the blog war at the moment....

Last night we went to Suzy and Lincoln's and had dinner with our dear friends Mandy and Dave who recently moved to Melbourne. Mandy and Dave are in our inner camping friends circle and since the weather is getting cooler we haven't seen as much of them as we would like. Anyway, we went to Waratah Bay with Mandy and Dave about 6 weeks a go, and while we were there they taught us a game called Puerto Rico , which is ranked as number one game on www.GameBoardGeek.com. After the initial confusion of trying to learn quite a complicated game, we finally 'got it'. And ended up having 3 games in one day, which is quite a feat since the game we had last night lasted over 3 hours.... Any way, Brian emerged victorious and a good night was had by all, it's not an easy game to describe, but it is vaguely like Monopoly in trying to acquire wealth and property, but instead it is setting up a new colony.... OK that doesn't really describe it well at all, but if you like games, this could be worth a try. Mandy and Dave have left the game so we can have a play since, despite it's ranking, it is not easy to get locally. To prove our level of addiction Suzy and Link our coming over shortly for a follow up game.... stay tuned....

I have recently purchased Foto Fusion and have created a few basic layouts with it, the first one below is of a night late last year at Suzy and Lincoln's for a BBQ, so here are all the people that were there Puerto Rico-ing it up last night... Click on Pictures for a larger view.
Below is a layout of our weekend at Waratah Bay with Mandy and Dave. Dave was teaching the girls how to surf. I really enjoyed doing this layou as the photo's made me smile and remember a great weekend, also the kids will remember this forever, they had a ball learning to surf with two of their best friends, Mallory and Odette. They really didn't want to get out of the water, but all good things must come to an end. I think this is something they will try again next summer.



Below is another quick one on our Easter trip to Bright, we stayed both at the caravan park and also at Lincoln's Mum and Dad's house at Harrietville. Brian (Link's Dad) was a wonderful host and we loved being there. The kids had a ball and made some new friends, Claudia and Mitchell who we have arranged to camp with next year.

Just like the divine Miss A, I too did the Smudge course at DAA along with a few other MAC girls, this Smudge I did of Quinn, before I really knew what to do. Scott Deardorf was an excellent tutor, with excellent video and written tutorials and the class was very chatty and full of inspiring people.

Here is the Eagle which was what we all did in the class.


Since Link has told you what he is reading I thought I should. I have had a bit of a reading hiatus lately, due to late nights and also the fact that I have been enjoying audible books on my iPod, but I recently caught up on all the First Tuesday Book Club vodcasts that I had missed on the ABC and it inspired me to get back into one of my loves, books. I went and bought "The Broken Shore" by Peter Temple, which had had a good review on the show and while I was at the book store I picked a book off the shelf called "The Book Thief" by Marcus Zusak, I bought this primarily because it was written by an Australia about the 1st world war set in Germany. Well, what a fabulous read... I like to read books slowly and savour them, but this I read in 3 days, reading the last 1/3rd of the book in one sitting, finishing at 4.30am. I can highly recommend this book, it was written with an unusual style, and was extremely engaging, I can't recommend it enough. Unfortunatley I trued to start The Broken Shore straight after it but the writing style was so different I had to stop, will start it in the next few days.



Lastly, we ended up having a big sleep over here on Friday night, trying to take advantage of having Mallory and Odette visiting from Melbourne. So with six little girls staying in our rumpus room there was lots of, Wii-ing, SingStar-ing and DVD-ing happening, they were of course Angels and looked after themselves pretty much. Also in these pictures is Jesamine (Quinn and Bronte's cousin) and Chantal, who is also belongs to one of our camping families. They had such a great time and here are some pics to prove it....

OK off to Puerto Rico it up now! Have a great day :-)

Updated to add: 5 games... (they ended up staying for pizza...bad I know....

Score
Lee won 2
Suzy won 2
Brian won 1
Lincoln NONE (although he thinks he has a better average because he kept coming 2nd...)

{ Icksnay on the Armcha }

Well that title is a bit ambiguous.... I'll leave it at that I think, suffice to say, it's a little dig, because despite my obvious disadvantage, I got to blog first, what did I get to blog first, well, that I went to see Juno today. Yep Suzy and I have started up our weekly Friday movie again (although we had a non-human gatecrasher today). And what a way to start the movie year... if you haven't seen it, do. Right now...seriously now, the rest of this won't be that exciting, trust me.... Anyway, I intend to rush out and purchase the soundtrack tomorrow, assuming of course, there is one, haven't checked that yet, really loved the quirky bits of music, with some great classics in there too. Anyway, I highly recommend, it really was great and I am sure few films I see this year will rival it, we all enjoyed it immensely, even the non-human amongst us.


OK below, a layout.... tried to personify the amazing Anna Aspnes with the word art here, sadly, it didn't work, but it's the effort that counts.... right? CC welcome.... click for a larger view...



And this one was made for my dear friend Shez, it was made as a belated birthday card...again so sorry I was late Shez.... or maybe we could just say I am amazingly early for your 41st!


And for those who don't know, we finally got a new BBQ and outdoor setting, see below, so we can now finally use our deck for some real entertainment, it's been bare for 18 month now so it's nice to be able to use it, even if we don't have a step! There are no pics of the outdoor setting as it wasn't set up when I took the BBQ ones.

Clinton and Jen, if you're reading this again, we will have you over in the next two weeks or so. There I am locked in now! We look forward to seeing you..... Wow, is this a first? An invite via blogger? I wonder.....



OK, think that's it for now... happy weekend everyone! BFN

{ Fairies and more... }

Fairy-Quinn2, originally uploaded by leequebee.

I did this of Quinn back in November I think, maybe earlier. I took the picture back in April for her birthday party invitations, she was just sitting on the floor and I think she was about to flick her head back, anyway, I loved the unusual shot and wanted to use it, it only took me 6 months to get around to it! I am not sure what you'd call it, not really a layout.... any ideas?

As you can see I am once again waking from my blog hibernation, but for how long, I do not know, I did half heartedly make "blog more' a New Years resolution (along with the usual stuff), but we'll see...doesn't everyone break their resolutions by February?

I have had a fabulous Christmas break and have got to spend lots of time with the girls. We had a lovely 8 day trip to the magnificent Bright, but it was SO HOT there... we didn't have one day under 34, most were around 38-39 and two were 41 degrees... thankfully we camped on a creek, which meant hours of fun for the kids and also that we were able to move our chairs in and dangle our feet while we ate, read, chatted away... Some people had tables in the creek and I also saw a guy with a table and chair working away on his laptop...I'm assuming he was working and if he was, it is definatley great working conditions! Pictures of Bright will follow soon....

Ummm....what else.... I listened to lots of Audible Books while I was away, they are great to walk to and when it was really hot, laying down and dozing too, my favourites were 3 books by Chris Grabenstein, just simple detective stories, kind of modern day Agatha Christie, not great works of literature, but very enjoyable, they are called Tilt-A-Whirl, Mad Mouse and Whack-A-Mole, head over to audible.com if you like audible books....

OK surely you must be bored by now so I'll sign off.... oh before I do, I big hello to Clinton, Jen, Linus and Joey, Clinton, I heard a rumour that you check my blog occassionally... so hello! ;-)

While I was away I thought of a million things I could put on my blog, but my brain has deserted me, so bye for now :-)

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

{ Very Mild Super Powers }

I find this video very amusing.....so much so it's brought me out of my blog hibernation....maybe ;-)

{ Test }

This is a test blog entry.

Angela, I promise you will see a proper one soon! ;-)

(Here is where you would have seen my layout, however it wouldn't let me upload, but check out Judy's kits anyway, they are fabulous!)

If you visit my blog regularly, (then you must be bored), you'll know I rarley use kits, but I couldn't resist this one, made by one of the lovely MAC girls, Judy, of Jude's Digital Scraps, go check out this and other gorgeous kits of hers Jude's Digitalscraps . You won't be disappointed.

Told you, just a test to see how some blog upload software works!

Look out for an update soon!

{ Where Do I Start? }

Man, it has been ages, life is busy, but I hate to neglect my blog, it always makes that first post back harder, since I have been too busy to post and yet, really have nothing to tell.... ;-) And to my blog buddeis, I have also been neglecting my blog reading, sorry and I'll get back to it soon! mwa :)

Work is busy and working 4 days is taking up more of my 'me' time than I had hoped. But in saying that I still love it. It's my 12 month anniversay tomorrow, how freaky is that? It feels like such a short time and I still feel like I am learning everyday.

We went to Bright for Easter, it is truly a little peice of heaven and we can't wait to get back there, but it will be a while, although we'd love to get there over winter to stay on the cabins that they have there. We camped right on the river, which is sadly lacking in water due to the drought, but it was so pretty and the kids had a ball with all the exciting exploring they had to do. We also had to camp without power for the first time in years, but it was no biggie, didn't really effect us at all. Good food, good champagne and good company, all in all a great holiday....pics to come soon....

Ummm, what else? Oh it's Quinn's birthday this friday. I am having my own little crisis about that. I can't believe she is turning 10 and it really seems obvious in the last month or so that she is not a little girl anymore. I am not one to worry about my age, it's just a number, but this is really bothering me. A well meaning friend commented recently that she acts more like she is 12 or 13! That freaked me out too. Anyway, here is a sneak at her party invitations, personal stuff blurred out of course :). I took the pics here at home, and they turned out OK. (CLICK FOR A LARGER VIEW)

Oh and talking about Quinn has reminded me to wish Nic a very happy birthday for the 22nd! Quinn didn't forget, and wanted to wish you all the best :)

Not much news on the layout front, being time challenged at the moment means it has taken a backseat, but here are two more recent ones, that I have done. Click for a larger view

My Digi Scrapping class starts tomorrow night, so I have been madly updating my notes for that. I did just mean to skim over them, but I ended up adding to the first weekes notes, beginning at 5 pages and ending at 15. Now I am only on the second weeks notes, but I'll get there. Looking forward to beginning classs in a new venue, with new computer and a smaller class. Should be good. Looking forward to it.

The wonderful MAC Karen is heading out to Oz soon, so the MAC girls hope to have another gathering then, very excited to meet this lovely sweet person and maybe pick her brains, knowing what a fabulous photographer Karen is, I couldn't let that chance slip by, and I think there will be a few more MAC girls wanting to take advantage of that talent!

I kinda feel like I have more to say but not sure what it is....oh I know, I read a great book recently, if you are a working Mum, it is a fabulous and hilarious read, if you're not, you should enjoy it just as much (although, the non working Mum's I know that have read it, thought it was a bit of a dig at them). I have to disagree, I thought it was a big dig at working Mum's and all the antics that some go through to try and keep their lives, families and careers on track. Anyway, enough babbling, the book is called I don't know how she does it and it's by Alison Perason.

Click on the title to read an excerpt.

My weekly movies have been put on hold due to my partner in crime getting a job! Although she will only be working Fridays for a couple of months so we can resume after that. It has actually worked out well really, I am not sure I would be able to fit them in at the moment anyway.

Oh and a small one. Shez, Tenille (a friend) and myself all joined a camera club recently. It looks like we are going to learn heaps. They recently had a Car Rally, which we had a list of things (I took the whole family) we had to take photgraphs of, whilst driving and looking for clues etc. It was great fun and I took some pictures I would not normally have taken. Here are a few of my faves, sorry the colours are a little over saturated, gotta get my screen calibrated.... Click for a larger view

{ Dreams and more }

~ DREAMS ARE ILLUSTRATIONS ~

Had lots of fun making this layout and have always loved that pic of Quinn, I really enjoyed experimenting and what I ended up with, it shows up a little bit light on the compressed version though. I used brushes by Hybrid-Genesis and a mesh brush by Denise Docherty.

Quote Reads: Dreams are Illustrations....from the book your soul is writing about you - Marsha Norman.
CLICK FOR A LARGER VIEW



~ CAMERA ~
Yay I have my camera back!!!! Woohoo, it is perfectly alright with no sign of the muck that was all over the sensor, I am so lucky and feel very very relieved and thankful to have it back....life is good ;-) I took some pics at a pool party that we went to yesterday/last night but haven't downloaded them yet, must get to that....

~ STRANGER THAN FICTION ~
Went to the movies on Friday with my cousin and my auntie and saw Stranger Than Fiction, I wasn't overly keen as I really don't like Will Farrell, not that I have seen him in much, but the sort of movies he is in just aren't my thing. Thankfully, the movies I had to choose from were narrow as I was time challenged and was going to struggle to get back in time to get the girls from school, so I was kinda forced to see this or nothing. Well what a FABULOUS movie it was, so refreshingly different, sweet, funny and sad all at once. It had some REALLY great actors in it and there was a real potential for Will Farrell to overact, but he didn't, his performance was beautifully subtle and I think I can safely say, I am a convert. If you get a chance, go see it. Dave, my cousin thought it was the best movie he had seen in the last 5 years, I wasn't quite there, but was very impressed nonetheless.
ROFL, I just read that back and I sound like I should be on The Movie Show with Margaret Pomerance! hehe!

~ SOME OTHER STUFF ~
Found these links over the last few days, this first one is via a blog link that Lis provided at MAC, not one of those links, but 1 I found via one of those links (boy that was a mouthful, not even sure I know what I mean LOL). Anyway I am addicted, it's quite fascinating watching all these people tell a stranger about their lives. This man is from England and has decided to meet someone new every day for the next 30 years and ask them 3 questions check out Thirty Year Project.com I'd love to see what you think. It actually reminds me of a show that used to be on SBS a few years back where a guy would just stop people in the street and ask them about their lives. It was amazing how open and honest people were, the name escapes me now and I know it will annoy me for days...if you know the name please put me out of my misery ;-)

Next is a movie poster that was posted at Photoshop Top Secrets.com on the blog there, it is a really great effect on the poster and I am going to try and incorporate something similar in a layout (yeah, sure I am ;-) ). Anyway there is a thumbnail to the left of the poster, you can click for a larger view or go check out the blog.






Also found these cute little camera bags on Donna Downey's website, they are way to small for all my stuff but I thought they were cute anyway. Would be nice to have one for a day trip I guess where you only need 1 lens and no flash.


Anyway that's it for me, hope you had a great weekend and if the pics are anything special I'll come back and add them to this post!

~ PARTY PICS ~

OK So I'm back LOL. These three are my favs. First one is Quinn and then my Bronte Boo and the last is my 'neice' Harriet, how striking are those eyes!

And did you notice? There is not a spot on these pics....*sigh*...... thank you Mr Camera Fixer Man :)
BFN!

{ Chance Meetings }

~ LAYOUTS ~
First a couple of layouts, the first one is my baby, Bronte and I used a song by Van Morrison in this one, which I love, called, Into The Mystic. Love the dreamy look on her face in this pic.
Credits: Textured Overlay from Scrap Artist. I also grunged it up a bit more with standard PS brushes.

Next one is my bigger baby Quinn, this is the pic I posted last time, which I just love. The frame is by C Borgfield, but I am not sure where it is from, sorry, also the brushes are just free downloads from somewhere, but I can't remember where. I wish people would name their brushes so I can give due credit. The background and word art are by me.


~ BREAK ~
Hope you all had a great Australia Day and long weekend. We came back a day early as the weather wasn’t great and was going to get worse. But it was nice while it lasted! Got to finish my audible book and got lots of relaxing in, and a lovely walk along the beach and we also got to sit on the beach, all snuggled up with the girls and watch the comet which was pretty spesh, so we did fit a lot in for the short time we were there!

Also met these lovely people that were camping behind our friends, I was in the van and heard Brian chatting to them, and came out and had a short chat, I thought they mentioned something about lambs and that they were from Thorpdale, so I assumed they were Sheep Farmers, then they went off to cook dinner and we ate ours. During dinner Brian mentioned that they were actually potato farmers, I said that Shez’s parents were from Thorpdale and they probably knew Shez’s family, later on we started chatting again.
I said “I have a friend whose parents are potato farmers in Thorpdale, you might know her family. I can’t remember her maiden name but her married name is Sherryll Ray, do you know them?”
The lady (Joan), said “Sherryll Ray…hmmmm….OH!!!! Sherryll Ray, that’s our daughter!!!!!!!”
ROFL!!!
Then they asked my name, which I said, and before I had a chance to explain how I knew Shez, they both exclaimed “You're Lee!!! You’re to blame for our daughters’ obsession!”
“That’s me”, I say sheepishly! LOL. What a small, small world we live in! They are just the loveliest people, not that I am surprised, their daughter is very special and a great, true and loyal friend to boot!

We are busy today doing more stuff around the house, painting old pots and clearing a few more boxes from the garage, we are also clearing a spot for one of those slimline sheds in the backyard, mainly to house the lawn mower and maybe the bikes, if they fit. I would dearly love to be able to move in our garage, but it is chock full of CRAP! LOL Then we are going to do a bit of plant shopping tomorrow, severely restrained by our budget, we are also in desperate need of a doorbell, all our friends have taken to ignoring the front door and coming straight round the back as we never hear it!! LOL

~ CAMERA CLUB ~
Shez, Tenille (a friend from Brian's work), and I all went off to the Coal Country Camera Club meeting on Tuesday night. It was a great night and I look forward to more meetings. They have field trips and weekends away and best of all, families are welcome on the trips! The level of skill there is amazing and more than a little intimidating, but I just know I will learn heaps and best of all the people were lovely!

~ INTERESTING STUFF ~
Well, at least I was interested LOL. First this blog had me in hysterics http://www.thingsmyboyfriendsays.com/ it could be my sense of humour but I hope you get a giggle too, I should mention that there is some 'colourful' language going on here, so beware.
Also thought this was pretty groovy too, some interesting effects...http://www.typorganism.com/asciiomatic/ . This is a blog I stumbled across, I have no idea how, but I did http://dooce.com/, the interesting thing I liked on this blog was this series of pics here http://www.3situations.com/BillSullivanWorks/MT4.html loved the candid looks on all the faces, wish I had the courage to set up and take pics of random people like this. I found myself wondering about each persons life and where they are going and where they are now...like I said, interesting, at least to me... ;-)

Have a great day and go spread some happiness ;-)

{ Disaster Strikes }

~ ROAD TRIP ~

Let's start with the good stuff first. We had an absolutely wonderful weekend, well Sunday anyway. We went for a drive to Tarra Bulga National Park. First arriving at Bulga and doing one of the beautiful walks across the huge swing bridge, then back in the car and a short drive to Tarra Falls, which is just a scenic stop on the side of the road. All the falls we saw were in a sorry state, but the surrounds were lovely. Then down to Tarra and a lovely stroll into the falls there we we had a yummy picnic on the rocks right in front of the falls. Then we walked out again and started the next leg of our road trip to Agnes Falls which is at Toora. It is a divine place completely hidden in the rolling hills of dairy farms, but when you drive in there is a huge rock gorge with a huge waterfall (just a trickle of water though). It is the highest single span waterfall in Victoria (see top left, not my pic). We can't wait to go back in winter and see it with lots of water cascading down. We also saw the wind farms there too, quite spectacular up close and more than a little mesmerising. We decided not to have our afternoon tea there as the flies were just awful (another good reason to go back in winter). On we drove to Walkerville Beach where we spread out a picnic blanket on the beach and ate Turkish Bread and Dip. Yummy. And then on to home we went. The girls loved it, because they got to do some hiking and they also got to try out their Christmas present too, the portable 2 screen in car DVD player. So between places it was quite peaceful! The next 3 pics were taken on the day. I really love the B & W one of Quinn, the colour one had a terrible green cast to it because it was taken in the rain forest but in black and white it's just divine (at least I think so). :) The next two were also taken on the day, the web is slightly blurry because it was quite breezy, but I am pretty happy with it anyway. CLICK ON THE PICS FOR A LARGER VIEW)

~ A WEDDING ~

Saturday, we went and had a peek at my Day Care ladies, daughters' wedding, (does that make sense). She just looked beautiful. I only got 3 shots of her and I was not in a great spot, but I just love this one. I can't wait to give it to her Mum on Monday! I hope they like it!

~ LAYOUTS ~

Just realised it must look like I am playing favourites, will have to make some more of Bronte before I get into trouble! The first one (Little Ray Of Sunshine), is made with a Rhonna Farrer frame brush and various free brushes. Background is by me. The next one is Seriously Sweet, Seriously Special, again background made by me using a huge variety of free brushes. The last one, Book Worm, uses a frame from Scrap Artist and the rest is by me.

~DISASTER~

OK, now for the disaster. I think my camera is very very sick. Last night a tried to clean the sensor, as I have done before, with a can of compressed air, only

this time, some sort of residue spurted out before the air came and landed on the sensor, I am beside myself! I took straight down to the camera store today and they have sent it into Nikon, but it will be away for at least 4-6 weeks :( I use it almost everyday, so I am not sure how I will cope without it!

Disaster two is our bloody car. Our car heater has been broken for a few months now, so we finally were able to afford to get it fixed, which is a big job as they have to take the whole dash out. We took it in Tuesday morning, they said they would try and get it back that day, if not Wednesday, inconvenient, but sometimes these things happen. Well now it's Friday and it was finally ready today. Except when Brian went to pick it up, they said that they had forgotten to attach the hose and would need it back next week, well that was bad enough, but then on the way home Brian also noticed that the speedo isn't working and nor are the indicators! Man I am ticked!

Not happy Jan!

BBSPF

Oh well, I think next week will be better :). Please tell me it will.....