Catching up with London

Oops, Will reminded me tonight that I hadn't blogged the photos from our London trip at Easter.  Partly because I've only edited about a dozen of them, so I'll share a few of those that are done with you now.

Time for a taxi for the present Government? 6th May will tell if it is or not...

A true British icon. Recognised the world over.

I have big ben in my hand - see it's not so big after all, is it?

They pose because they can!

No, I didn't bribe them to stand together and look all brother and sisterly!

Nelson Mandella's statue in Parliament Square. A truly amazing man to have gone through so much and to have come through the other side without bitterness.

Lloyd George's statue in Parliament Square.

A domineering bronze statue of Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square. One of Britain's finest leaders.

Will, Jacob & Freya under one of the most gorgeous blossom trees in St James' Park.

This young man looks so proud to be serving his country and his Queen. Standing outside Clarence House having his pic taken and being photographed, taunted and teased by lots of tourists and children can't be easy!  The strange thing is that I can see Jacob in this lad's face.  Even Jacob said that he looked like him!  Spooky eh?

This girl is beautiful!

I love this picture of my daughter that I took yesterday with a 50mm lens that I borrowed from Will.  Perfect lens for portraits.  Perfect model to take a portrait of, don't you think?

I can definitely see a scrapbook page being made of this one.

How lucky am I?

I am incredibly lucky to be working on some samples for Kirsty for this new CD that'll be hitting Create and Craft TV on 1st May at 10am.

I'll post some sneaky peeks when I've photographed them.

If you love Kirsty's other two CDs then you are going to be blown away by this one.  Quick and easy to print out (and FANTASTIC quality images).  If you have a little more time on your hands, then why not print out the uncoloured images and colour them yourself?  I love it!

Don't forget to tune in and why not treat yourself to a copy?  I know I would!

My gorgeous children

I'm not normally a lover of phone camera photos but these two of the kids I took yesterday I absolutely LOVE!  I wanted pictures to go with their phone numbers as I am so proud of my two kids and want to see their smiling faces as well as hear their voices when they're not with me.  The quality isn't any where near as good as a digi-SLR but they're not bad at all.  They were taken with my iPhone.

Not a blink of an eye ago, these two were our babies.  They're now growing up so fast, right before our eyes its seems.

If time continues at this rate it'll be no time at all before Jacob's approaching his twenties and Freya's well into her teenage years.

Rosie-D's Challenge Blog #69

Continuing our themes from the lovely Lyn this week, she has set us the theme of

Red and White for St George

She has set a mystery prize this week for the winner, so don't forget to take part and leave us a link to your work so that Mr Linky and Random.org can work together to get the prize out.

I cannot believe I'm sharing this picture of myself with you... but it had to be done I suppose.  In my defense, it was taken in 1992 when curly hairs was the fashion...

If you want to see the whole picture, you'll have to pop on over to Rosie D's Challenge blog where you can also see the ever talented team's contriutions too.

It's confirmed and I'm waiting for my op.

Visited my GP again on Tuesday night to get the official results of the EMG test that I had recently on my hands for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.  He's confirmed that I will need both hands operated on at some point but we can hold off on the left for now and get the right one done first.  Steroid injections won't work on the right hand as it's 'too far gone' and if I have the left one injected it'll only be a short term measure and may in fact make it worse than it is more quickly than mother nature will take on her own natural way.

I have to book my appointment for my right hand to be done and then wait until my left gets worse before that one gets operated on too.

I will need to have the op done just before we go on holiday as I can't afford to take two weeks unpaid sick leave from work.  (The company I work for doesn't pay company sick pay and have you seen how crap SSP is?!)  So guess who's going to have to get totally pampered and waited on this year?  Yep!  MEEEEEE!!!!!  Though Will's not impressed, I have to say.  He'll be chief cook and bottle washer as well as driver, dog poop scooper-upper, caravan king.  It'll be great! HAHA!

Didn't we have a lovely time...

Over the Easter weekend we went down to London for a couple of days.  Lots of walking, sightseeing, tourist stuff and photographs too!

Freya was so excited when we came out of Westminster Tube Station to see the mighty Big Ben in front of her - wish I'd managed to get a pic of her face lit up with awe!

We saw so many sights that she wanted to see... Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, a guard wearing a bearskin hat.   We went on the London Eye (bleugh, gag, cough! I don't do heights/ flying / glass lifts - though there was an awsome view from up there).  We went on a river cruise from Westminster to Tower Bridge and then round the Tower of London where we queued for 90 minutes to see the Crown Jewels - I'm sure that the crown would fit in my head and suit me perfectly if only I were allowed to try it on (and run away still wearing it!)

Both Jacob and Freya got some fab photos while we were down there.  I'll have to get them downloaded and share some of the best with you.

We all had tired feet and weary bodies by the end of the two days but it was worth it!

My claim to fame this weekend comes from the fact that as we were on Horseguards Parade talking to one of the Police officers, did Gordon and Sarah Brown now walk straight past us with their minders and into the back entrance to Downing Street after taking a walk through St James' Park?  If I'd turned round 10 seconds earlier, then I'd have asked for their picture.  I mean - a photo of the outgoing Prime Minister is a coup in my books! HAHA!

Right, I'm off to download some of my pics from this weekend and I'll share some of the decent ones with you later if you're really unlucky!

G'night!
x

Rosie-D's Challenge Blog #68

Wow!  You lot are amazingly supportive of the Rosie-D's Challenge Blog.  Thank you for playing along with us on Brenda's challenges over the last month.

April sees the turn of Lyn to set our challenges for us, and this week she's chosen

Blessings

She's also very kindly offered our winner the prize of a BasicGrey Insignia stamp set.

Here's my little sneaky peek...

The ever talented DT have come up with some gorgeous work.  Please take a moment or two to pop on over to see what they've made.

I hope everyone has had a peaceful Easter!

My Great Aunts

I loved this photo of two of my dad's aunts.  It was taken at my wedding in 1988.  Sadly both Auntie Francis and Auntie Florrie are no longer with us, but these two indominatable ladies will never be forgotten by those who knew and loved them.

Materials:
Cardstock: DCWV.
Papers: K&Company.
Flourish: BasicGrey rub on packaging.
Alphas & Rub Ons: BasicGrey.
Lace, button & flower from stash.