Day 26: Working on some wall decor with my girl.

We are in the process of putting up some wall decor in Izzy's newly painted bedroom.

I love catching photographs of her in the moment like this.

Days 24 and 25: Take a Peek.

I'm gradually going through many hundreds of pictures I took this weekend at a friends wedding. She is away on her honeymoon (I would rather not bother her) so I thought it would be best not to share too many pictures before she gets to see them... I think a couple of bouquet detail shots are a nice peek though.

Once she is back from the honeymoon and has previewed all the pictures I will try to share some more.

Day 23: LB Antique Market Part 2.

A lot of what you come across at the LB markets are sellers that have a good mix of vintage finds. It makes the hunt harder because you have to really have a good eye - especially if you have a stroller and a 5 yr old in tow. But the hunt is actually a lot of fun. I tend to get pretty excited when I find something cool. However, I do love it when I come across the sellers that specialize in a particular item. Like clothes or beads and jewelry. Makes it much easier!

Racks and racks of cool vintage clothes... heaven.

Tables full of yummy beads!!

Vintage clothes are certainly a favorite for me. The beads I love but I don't consider myself much of a beader and cant take on another new hobby just yet (although I would love to). But my favorite thing to hunt for is vintage containers. Cigar boxes, tins and kitchen canisters. Which I will have to round up and do a post on soon. And of course my daughter has a treasure that she hunts for - my little pony's. And the LB antique markets often have many! We have quite the collections going... Of course the things I like and my daughter likes are random and you really have to hunt for.

So let me know if you come across any antique dealers of strictly vintage "containers" or "my little pony's." My daughter would freak out if there were a antire table of ponys, but I doubt we will find that at the markets... We will just have to continue the market treasure hunts!

Day 22: LB Antique Market Part 1.

My favorite antique market is Long Beach. Last time I was there I managed to get a few pictures of some funny things. I was speechless when I saw this Chucky painting. What kind of person painted this? And what kind of person would actually hang this on their wall? More importantly, WHY is it priced at $200.00? Maybe if I was filthy rich I would have one random house that I would fill with stupid things. Just stupid, ugly, nonsense things. It would probably be the guest house for "certain relatives." But I'm not mentioning any names. I would probably buy a lot of etsy items featured on regretsy:

Chucky.

This big tire would probably wind up in the backyard of the stupid house. I would have to find a tree large enough so we could hang it up and use it as a giant swing.

Over sized Tire:

(I'm pretty sure you could fit an entire family in there)

Amongst the strange things I stumbled across (this was a small portion) there was as usual lots of great finds. I will have to post more on those later.



Day 21: Disney Water Show.

The Disney water show. So cool.

That's about all I have time for today. Big week, and a big weekend ahead of us!

Day 20: Baby Shower Love.

Recently I went to a baby shower for my friend Johanna. She knew she was expecting a boy (her 3rd son) and I figured she probably already had plenty of clothes and toys and I knew she would be getting showered with lots more so I decided to give her something a little different. I made her one of my rosette necklaces with five roses. Her new bub is the fifth addition to the family so I thought it was suitable!

Sometimes it seems like its just meant to be because I realized when she opened the gift and put the necklace on that it matched her outfit. Perfectly. I love it when things like that happen.

There is something special about a handmade gift or something that the person being showered wouldn't expect. Actually I just had mentioned Johanna on Day 16 because of the flowers she gave my daughter on her birthday. In addition to those flowers she also included fresh, locally grown strawberries. I honestly think that its the gifts like that, and hopefully like mine, that are the ones that really make an impact. And that the person receiving will clearly remember. Otherwise, mum and bub are doing well. In fact he is almost a couple of months old now! Time just flies way too fast...

Day 19: Simply Adorable.

I recently got these paper bags from Whisker Graphics. Simply Adorable.

So I had to share the adorableness of these for day 19 of The August Break.

Day 18: Should we or shouldnt we?

It looks like we will most likely cut all these blonde locks off before my little one starts kindergarten... I may change my mind (as I have done many times when considering this). But I'm pretty sure that a nice bob haircut will make our morning routine much easier (well the days that daddy drops off)...

So I guess lots and lots of pictures are in order over the next week!!!

Day 17: Take a peek...

Take a peek at our new spare room/craft room/reading room/guest bedroom. Its a work in progress.

Gradually we are getting there. But I'm happy to report that its nearly complete!

Day 16: Fresh Flowers.

Today I will aim to try and post a picture for the August Break twice (because I didn't post yesterday)...

There is nothing quite as cheerful as a bunch of fresh flowers. My good friend Johanna gave my little one these flowers on her 5th birthday. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Day 15: Another self portrait....

For Day 15 I decided to use a self portrait picture I did a few months ago. I was basically trying to take some pictures of my bib necklaces and didn't have a model so I thought I would give it a whirl.... Self portrait pictures are just plain odd and frustrating for me. This was the best one of the batch, but I still had to crop and edit the heck out of it. I edited the picture in picnik with the orton-ish effect and then desaturated it a bit. 

So that's Day 15. Halfway through August Break already! Time sure does fly.

Day 14: Inspiration from other bloggers.

I have been watching my friend Dianne's daily posts for The August Break and was inspired by her personal style and the pictures she has been posting. I'm pretty sure we have the same cactus, although mine is new and I have not seen it flower, but after seeing how pretty hers is, I hope that it does! I don't have a good track record when it comes to taking care of plants so I am hoping that I cant go wrong with a cactus... After I photographed the cactus I decided to edit the picture in picnik using the boost and soften effects:

So today's picture is dedicated to Diane - thanks for the inspiration!

Day 13: Sand between our toes.

This picture pretty much sums up what the summer time consists of for our family.

 Beach days, lots of beach days.

Day 12: Because thats how I roll.

My husband and I recently did a segway tour in San Diego. I was rather nervous as I am not the most coordinated person but I'm happy to report that I didn't eat it. One person on our tour did though. Thankfully he didn't injure himself but it was one of those situations where the person kind of deserved it (for acting like a know-it-all) so it was kind of humorous. Actually to be honest, even now when I think about it, I still cant help but laughing. This guy thought he was some kind of seasoned segway rider because he had done like one tour a few months ago, so when our tour guide allowed us to go a bit faster, this guy thought he would be cool and try and zoom around on some wet grass and man did he take one heck of a fall. He was right behind me and all of a sudden in the corner of my eye I see him doing about 3 flips through the air and the segway go flying. OK I'm chuckling still while writing this. There is always one in a crowd, right? Otherwise it was an awesome day, and an awesome tour. I highly recommend it. Of course I chose the brightest helmet possible:

Here I am learning to segway:

And here is my husband and I in front of the Gaslamp district. When I see pictures like this I understand why my sisters husband refers to my sisters and I as "the big forehead family." Uggghh, it's annoying that he has a good point...

Good wholesome fun. And that my friends - is how I roll.

Day 11: Wasting time at the mall.

On Saturday we did a quick trip to Ikea. As we were leaving we wound up with a flat tire and ended up at a nearby Sears getting it fixed. While we were waiting we wandered the mall and Izzy found these awesome sunglasses.

I was tempted to buy them...

Day 10: I love surprises.

I love surprises. Like this one from my sweet 7 year old niece.

We went to my sister in laws house recently for a bbq and my niece had asked her mum to buy me this orchid as a present. It wasn't my birthday, no special occasion, apparently she simply just wanted to get me this plant. And it made my day.

Day 9: Family portraits at the park.

Today I did some family portraits for my daughters preschool teacher and her family. They hadn't done family portraits in 25 years! I have been wanting more practice photographing families and was though it would be a really special present and way to show her how grateful I am to have had her in our lives and caring for Izzy for such a long time. This was one of my favorite pictures of the day. I'm always drawn to the more natural pictures, "in the moment" style. We did do mostly posed portrait style pictures but this one of her with her grandson just stood out. I took over 300 pictures in about the space of an hour. It was great practice.

I will be sure to share more photos from today's family portrait session soon!



Day 8: Goodluck at Goodwill.

On my way to meet a friend for dinner last night, I decided to stop real quick at Goodwill. I'm still searching for a side table for my hallway, and a few random chairs for our spare bedroom, but of course didn't find what I was looking for. But I did find this pillow $4.99.

Unexpected thrift store finds are the best. Now if I could just find a side tale and some cool chairs...

Day 7: Hairy Creatures.

Today’s picture was actually taken in August of last year. I’m feeling nostalgic because this time last year my daughter and I were back home in Australia visiting family. This picture was taken at one of my favorite places in Brisbane – Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.

I was looking at the picture and thought, that's a whole lotta hair...

Day 6: Self Portrait Disaster.

Today I thought it would be funny to try some self portrait pictures. Yeah, that didn't go so well. But it was good for a laugh.

Maybe I will try again sometime soon. Or not. I might pluck up the courage to show some of the disaster pictures later on for the August Break, but I'm not making any promises...

Day 5: Scorching Hot Summer Days.

My August Break Day 5 picture was actually taken a few weeks ago. It was a recent hot summers day by the beach. It was such a scorching hot day. Although it looks like she is seriously sunburnt, I promise you she was not! Regardless - I love this picture. 

I'm kind of relieved summer is nearly over. Today while at my daughters swimming lessons I finally got to browse through my magazines I mentioned yesterday and was loving all the fall fashion pictures in the Women's Health magazine, so ready for summer to be over!

Day 4: A little bit of reading material.

I hadn't checked the mail in a while so when I looked yesterday and discovered the most recent Country Living, Women's Health and an Ikea Catalog - I was in heaven! Now to find the time to actually sit down and browse through them....

OK, OK, I realize that so far none of my August Break photos have been anything super artsy but I'm not too concerned about that. Although I do want to try and take some really nice pictures soon... I'm more or less just enjoying snapping a picture daily of something I like or that's on my mind. I wonder what tomorrow will be?

Day 3: Cauliflower Crust Pizza.

Tonight was a bit rushed but I did manage to snap a few pictures for the August Break of one of my favorite dinners that I make for my family - Cauliflower Crust Pizza. I'm trying to limit the amount of carbs I eat so this recipe is a great one! The crust is easy, just cook 1 large cauliflower, grind it up in the food processor and mix it up in a bowl with some shredded mozzarella and a few eggs. Then spread it onto a greased tray and cook in the oven for approx 20 mins. Put all your toppings on and then bake for approx another 30mins. Enjoy!

Crust baking:

Top with LOTS of veggies, then add cheese:

Bake and enjoy:

Day 2: Bamboo and Shell Bead Curtain.

We recently hung a bead curtain in the main bedroom to help with our "chi" since my husband was sleeping facing the door to the bathroom. I'm taking this Feng Shui stuff very seriously ok? I was going to hang a fabric curtain up but then my husbdand found this online and had his heart set on it, and although I wasnt really sold on it, I decided to just let him get it. I felt a bit guilty because I want him to be included when it comes to home decor and somethimes I have been known to not consult him with impulse buys...

While its a bit noisy, it looks pretty cool! I have taught my daughter to commando crawl uner the bead curtain in order to reduce the amount of jingles I hear daily, its like giant wind chimes in my home...

Day 1: My Bat Girl at a Birthday Party.

I'm jumping on the August Break challenge a little late, but better late than never! My friend Jenn told me about it the other day and I thought it would be a great way to document the rest of the summer, forcing me to photograph something every day. Today we attended a Batman-themed birthday party. Luckily we already had a batgirl costume from last Halloween! The party was all kinds of awesome and there were plenty of fun games for the kids.

If you haven't heard of the August Break challenge then check it out on Susannah Conway's blog!

Ready to start some new Scrapbooks.

I'm feeling really disappointed with my scrapbook efforts over the past few years. I used to be so good at cranking out pages but over the past few years I seem to have let go of scrapbooking a little. Which isn't good. It isn't terrible either because I know I have worked hard on other creative projects (lots of card-making, mixed-media and wearable projects) but I miss scrapbooking frequently. I'm currently in the middle of "Operation Organize" at home and getting our spare bedroom in order is my priority this week. It's getting a fresh coat of paint and I'm setting it up as an office/art room. While doing some reorganizing this afternoon I started looking back through some old scrapbook albums. I came across some of the first scrapbook pages I created for Izzy. I hadn't looked at these in a while and all of a sudden I felt like a complete failure and tears started welling up in my eyes (I might be PMSing). I think it was a mixture of "oh my gosh I forgot how tiny she was" and "why the heck am I not scrapbooking as much as I used to?" I'm confident that in 1-2 weeks I will have the room in order and ready to create. So in addition to creating something with my Amy Butler fabric as I mentioned in my last post, a few scrapbook pages are in order. asap. I have never been much of a journaler except for holiday scrapbooks, so I need to start journaling more also. Just for fun, here is a look back at a few of my pages from four years ago...

I will be back on the scrapbook subject in a few weeks with some fresh, new pages. Can't wait!