Category Archives: Wedding

March – What a month!

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One post in March…one! I am not so good at keeping my promises am I? I think I know what I am doing wrong though and that is all related to the last time I wrote in March.
How much has changed since then? Not much in terms of my personal health but…I have been absent because I have had to be practicing the ‘for worse’ part of my vows I will be saying next March.
Dave went to Geneva last month to visit a friend and do some snowboarding. There was also some fancy car show on while they were over there so they planned to spend a day there as well. After a couple of days of fun and snow I was called by a distressed Dave to be told he had broken his collarbone and was needing to have surgery to fix it! I was a wreck. I spent the rest of my weekend going backwards and forwards between insurance people and Dave trying to get him home so he could be looked after here. They had told him it wasn’t urgent enough to need to be operated on there so he could come back here and see the NHS for the op. By the time he got back and he saw a consultant at a private hospital (gotta love his work having medical insurance!) they told him the bone was fractured badly, not completely broken, and that he could have surgery or leave it to heal naturally which is the path we decided to take. It has been a long month and hard on us both. Dave has just started working from home and I am grateful for the fact that it was nothing more serious! I am certainly not so keen on holidays apart anymore…this was the first one since we moved here 2 years ago…but hey. Onwards and upwards.

On the emergency evac thing at Meribel

We celebrated (well, noted) our 5 year anniversary in March too. It was a few days after Dave got home so it wasn’t so much a celebration but we took the time to say nice things to each other and get excited that on that day next year we will be getting married!!! :)

Takapuna Methodist - The church where we will be married

I had a fantastic month at work and met my target for the first time which was a great relief to know I could do it! My challenge to myself now is to kick butt again and again until we head off home.

My cousin and her Daughter visited from NZ in March. Her sister lives in Bristol so they spent most of their time there but came up to visit for two days. We saw the changing of the guards, did a cruise on the Thames, went to the National Gallery and a few other touristy things. It was great to see them all and I always enjoy the chance to see whatever I can of London with others because I find it adds so much to the enjoyment. I hadn’t been into the National Gallery or done a Thames cruise so that was nice to add into the mix of the ‘standard’ sights.

My gorgeous cousins and Maddy

It was also my Dad’s birthday so we arranged for a yummy chocolate cake to be delivered which was apparently thoroughly enjoyed.

All in all I can safely say I am glad March is over but it was great that we had things to enjoy and celebrate to help distract us from the rubbish stuff that happened.

Here’s hoping I find some more time this month to keep writing, crafting and resting!!!

Miss Smith’s Blog Hop

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Welcome, welcome!

Thanks for visiting my little old blog on this fine Saturday morning! I hope you are having a fun time seeing all the different creations and hopping along.

This is my first blog hop so I am sort of making up the rules as I go along. You need to start right back at Kirsty’s blog Curiouser and Curiouser and you can then follow along. I will put all the links in at the end of this post in case you are a bit lost. :)

So, after the excitement of getting my little handmade embellies from the lovely Miss Smith via royal mail I decided to get creating. A little background behind the photo –
On a recent trip to Brighton to see my sister and her boyfriend we decided (my sister and I) to jump in a little photo booth and give it a go. We took three shots (and had to navigate through it all in French – thanks sis for pushing the wrong button!) then chose the look we wanted and got two printed. We jumped out of the box to grab the prints and one had ripped and printed lopsided and then it restarted itself! We called for help and the machine was fixed and so we tried again. We took three shots (this time with english narration) and then chose the look we wanted and got two printed. We jumped out of the box to grab the prints and nothing came out!
Oh man…by this stage we were quite over the squishy little photo box but wanted our six pounds investment in some shape or form so we squished back in, we took three shots and then chose the look we wanted and got two printed…and thank goodness we finally got our prints!!! And here is the layout complete with pretty little butterfly embellie:

Sisters in Brighton

Miss Smiths beautiful handmade embellishment

So there we have it! My creation using the cute embellishment is done. :)

Just an aside here if you allow me – I do apologise if you are wanting to comment and can’t – my blog is unfortunately still a little broken but if you feel you want to you are more than welcome to send me your comment via email to lou dot jervis at gmail dot com

And as mentioned previously here is the full list of all the girls participating here today and the next in line for you to visit is Alison – enjoy!

http://journalofcuriousthings.blogspot.com/ <——- START HERE

http://beksynormz.blogspot.com/

http://www.scrapbook-me.blogspot.com

http://youngandcrafty.blogspot.com/

http://thesecretlifeofascrapstashcollector.blogspot.com/

http://katy-itsmyworld.blogspot.com/

http://onemadmoo.blogspot.com/

http://www.funkytales.blogspot.com

http://sugarandscrap.blogspot.com/

http://jsquaredscrapspot.wordpress.com/

http://anounceofcreativity.blogspot.com/

http://scrapadventure.com/

http://www.lou.co.nz/ <—- YOU ARE HERE NOW

http://alits.blogspot.com/

http://www.craftjar.com/

http://all-kindsofwonderful.blogspot.com/

http://ispeakmelsh.blogspot.com/

http://www.jennifersjumbles.blogspot.com/

http://scraphappens-dawn.blogspot.com/

http://emiliesscrapbook.blogspot.com/

http://fromhighinthesky.blogspot.com/

http://aprincessponders.blogspot.com/

http://alisonslife-in-the-slow-lane.blogspot.com/

http://simplyalexa.typepad.com/ <—— THE END

Love and hugs!

I won a free tour!

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As most or possibly all of my dear readers know I work for Flight Centre as a Travel Agent and one of the tour operators we use have a promotion running to win a free tour. Last month one of my clients booked a tour that meant I qualified for a free tour!!!

I am over the moon and so happy to have such an awesome opportunity and we are currently looking through brochures trying to decide which tour we would like to do. I initially looked at about 20 different options which obviously is a few too many…just a few! Tonight I decided that since our aim of moving here was to travel the UK/Europe that we would do a tour in the European area.

The Coach that took us around Europe

We had a great time on our Topdeck tour when we moved over last year so have done most of the Western countries doing that so it really left us with Russia, Turkey and some Egypt combinations. Russian tourist visa’s don’t come cheaply so we shelved that option and are now looking at one of the following three:

1. Turkey Active

2. Best of Turkey

3. Jordan and Egypt Express

I am thinking the Turkey Active one would be best. 12 days, good price for Dave coming along too and a good target for us to work towards to improve our fitness and health! Tough choice but I think now my heart is more and more set on it. Another selling point of this tour for me is the chance to visit Gallipoli which I have always wanted to do. We decided we wanted to go there away from the busyness of Anzac Day on April 25th when we first moved over here so we would have more chance to enjoy it in relative peace and reverence. For those reading this who don’t know what Anzac day is, here is a link to the Wikipedia entry.

And so it seems I have solved my own dilemma on which tour to choose! Thanks lovely readers for all your help.

Jackson at Murawai Beach

In other news I have recruited my lovely friend back home in NZ (see piccie above) to help me fix my blog so hopefully by the time I participate in my first blog hop this weekend you should have the option to comment!!!

Love and hugs!

10 on the…Eleventh…

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Well, I’m a little late to jump on the bandwagon here this month and completely missed last months with a crazy trip to NZ being booked just two weeks prior to our departure and then only being there for 1 week! So this month I thought I would post a few of my highlights of our trip.

1. Dave had a great time windsurfing for the first time since we left last April.

Dave Windsurfing Lake Pupuke

2. Road tripping down to Hamilton where our friends live.

Road trip to see friends in Hamilton

3. A night for free in an amazing ‘bach’ in Matakana

Free accomodation in Matakana

4. Yummy! My fav specialist wine in NZ. Feijoa wine. Yummo!

Lovely feijoa wine at Matakana Markets

5. Orewa Beach lookout – amazing views

Orewa Beach lookout with Lisa

6. Goody goody gumdrops and Hockey Pokey Icecream on Orewa Beach

Icecream on the beach

7. I flew a plane! Was an amazing day and the weather was stunning for us.

Flying to Pauanui Beach

8. An aerial view of Auckland City on our flight

My beautiful home town

9. We had the best 10hr stopover ever in Brunei with one of my best friends and her beautiful 3y-old who calls me ‘Aunty Woo’

Amazing day with Becky and Elias

10. We had a boat ride on the river in Brunei to see the water village and to try and see some Probiscus monkeys – which we found!

Boating on Kampong Ayer

Artsy Crafts post coming soon!

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I have just spent the whole night updating facebook with months worth of photos so all my friends and family back home get to see what we are getting up to over here.

Speaking of what we/I have been getting up to…I went to ArtsyCrafts amazing day course on Friday 25th. I had a lesson with Lin and Leandra and then a restaurant lunch and a …wait for it … class with TIM HOLTZ!!! It was amazing and I am so looking forward to sharing it all with you once I have a chance to go through all the photos!

In the meantime here is a sample shot of one project and a link through to Mel’s blog post about is (who I met there IRL). :)

A wee summary of 2010

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Courtesy of my friend and scrapping inspiration back home, Michelle…here are a few questions she posted on her blog that I liked as a summary of the year that was:

Did anyone close to you give birth?
My cousins girlfriend had a little *huge* boy, called Larsen. It has been fun seeing all the pics of him growing through his first year thanks to the joys of Facebook. They live in Melbourne, Aus.

Did anyone close to you die?
A friend from school, Ayla. She had been battling cancer for a long time with several times of remission but sadly she left us for a better place with God in September this year. It was hard to grieve as I missed the company of all my school friends back in NZ who gathered together and comforted each other but I had the support of Dave which made all the difference. Love you Ayz… xx

What countries did you visit?
Well, now this one I can answer a lot!!! Hong Kong, England, France, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Amsterdam, Belgium, Scotland…What a great start to our O.E!

What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
An enjoyable time being fiance to the love of my life!!!

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Quitting a job that was making me miserable and landing a great job at Flight Centre UK (ok, pun totally not intended!!)

What was your biggest failure?
Thinking that finance in the U.K would be similar to N.Z. It’s not at all.

What was the best thing you bought?
My phone, the HTC Desire. After exclaiming I would never own a smartphone it has been a Godsend in keeping me in touch with friends and family back home due to time differences.

Where did most of your money go?
Rent sadly..this is something we are working to remedy…or at least to make it seem more reasonable. Second to that probably travel and scrapbooking.

What did you get really excited about?
Getting engaged!!!! Dave proposed on Dec 27th in Tarves, Aberdeen on one knee in the snow on a quiet residential street. *melt*

Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder?
Totally happier, in different ways, I was certainly happy last year but this joy is a joy of seeing the many wonders God has created and enjoying a precious and new time in our relationship.

Thinner or fatter?
Fatter. Yes, I have succumbed to the Heathrow Injection. :(

*sorry no photo evidence to share here*

Richer or poorer?
Neither in money really…but certainly richer in life experiences.

What do you wish you’d done more of?
Travelling, but that is for 2011 now!

What do you wish you’d done less of?
Worrying about sticking out a job that was making me miserable.

How did you spend Christmas?
In Tarves, Aberdeen, Scotland. Our first white christmas. We were hosted by the lovely family of Dave’s Grandma.

Did you fall in love in 2010?
Again and again. With Dave more, with the world more and with a new job that is awesome!

What was your favorite TV program?
Any new British show never seen before in NZ. I believe I have relinquished all ability to turn off the tele when crap is on…I like to think of it as a time to appreciate how great my life really is, unlike the dramas of say, Kerry Katona or the kids (adults but you wouldn’t think so…) in “The Only Way is Essex”…

What was the best book you read?
The Red Queen by Phillipa Gregory closely followed by Pride and Predjudice which was a new venture on my phone using the Amazon Kindle app.

What did you want and get?
Travel and a proposal

What did you want and not get?
A Church to call home…maybe I just didn’t want it enough. I really didn’t put in enough effort to be upset by this but it certainly is on my mind.

What were your favorite films of this year?
The Social Network and Eclipse. ;p

What did you do on your birthday?
Worked then got dined at a fabulous expensive restaurant called Charlottes where Dave had the most amazing Chicken and I enjoyed a seafood meal with a side of French butter beans and a karafe of NZ Sav Blanc then home to a cake with candles and two boys (Dave and our friend Gareth) singing happy birthday to me. Oh and a skype call from home and a few lovely parcels of love from family and friends. Chuffed. A great day even though I worried I would be sad I wasn’t!

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Primark. Haha….no fashion really, just cheap plain clothes that did the job.

What kept you sane?
Skype to keep in touch with all my loved ones and the rock in my life, Dave- he is so emotionally stable it makes me unstable just thinking about it!!!!

Who did you miss?
Everyone I know and love in NZ.

Who was the best new person you met?
Natalie, a friend made through similar interests (scrapbooking), similar age (both in our 20s) and our heritage (both Kiwi’s living in London) Yay for that!!! :)

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010:
Sometimes it doesn’t pay to persevere, somtimes it is better just to bite the bullet and do something crazy!

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Now this is hard…mostly because I am not a person who knows who sings what and what that song is called but my latest favourite is this tune from Ministry of Sound because it makes me want to dance and because I am so truly, madly, deeply in LOVE! :) But just in case you wonder…it’s mostly a tune that makes me wanna dance.
Alex Gaudino-I\'m in Love (vocal club mix)

time flies…

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Christmas is nearly upon us! Never have I seen how quickly December goes by than when I am learning a new job, trying to keep up with my family in NZ, running out of money to do stuff here, follow JYC (the christmas journal class run by Shimelle!!
I hope everyone is being able to make the most from the time we have this month to slow down and savour the memories past and present…
I have cropped twice this month and this Saturday Dave and I are going to see The Nutcracker ballet.

credit: http://www.eno.org/see-whats-on/productions/production-page.php?selected_date=18-12-2010&itemid=583

I am so excited! It is the first ballet I will be seeing over here so it will be a special one. I will certainly miss my Mum and sister being with me as normally we go to a few performances a year together but with the obvious miles between us it makes it slightly impractical!!!!

So a few posts ago I made a promise to post more regularly and I am slowly getting there…trying for one a week then upwards from there!

Here is a photo of Dave and I with a bokeh layer from Dave’s recent Work Christmas do. We had a great time and I really enjoyed meeting his work mates who he often talks about.

How are you all enjoying Christmas and the festivities of December?

Journal Your Christmas

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December 1st and we were writing manifestos. I will post a picture further on in the post of my manifesto but I was very inspired by the manifesto Shimelle created and decided to put it here on my blog in addition to mine.

And here is my manifesto:

It reads: this, our first christmas in the UK, just us two, will be a time for new traditions, new family and a cool, white, real winter christmas. I aim to record the moments-from the big to the small-so that in future years we will look back and be able to recall the good and not so good Northern Hemisphere White Christmas.

I am working at a slow pace through this JYC as I learnt through Learn Something New in September that doing a page because I “need to” doesn’t always result in work I am happy with. I would like to think I wont get too far behind as I am feeling quite inspired to keep a record of this christmas away from our family back home and I have/had two crops this month. My usual in Surbiton this Sunday (including yummy xmas dinner!) and one last Sunday just gone with a new scrappy friend Kirsty.

I sat down tonight and finished a non jyc page with some gorgeous Prima products and tried out using my sprays. It is the first page I have ever made just of me and I like it…not yet there with the love it but practice makes perfect right?!


More JYC updates later. : )

x

A nice weekend

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Dave and I are sitting on the couch. He is watching a movie and I am catching up on emails and my class online. We have had a lovely weekend and it seems that now I will be working every second Saturday that perhaps I will be enjoying my time when I do get the full weekends!

On Saturday morning we woke early. I got to chat to my friend’s little boy (who is growing up SO fast!) on Skype before she put him to bed. He calls me “Aunty Woo” *melts my heart* then we got breakfast out while we waited for my friend to come back on Skype. I got about 45mins talking to her before I had to finish up but those precious 45mins were great. We talked about all the things we would have if I had visited her in person (she is still in NZ while I am now in UK) and arranged to try again this week sometime.

After hanging up I walked down to meet my “UK Mum” as I call her. Our families live in the same area back home and I have been friends with her daughter of the same age for a long time.
We were lucky enough to have a few days free acommodation when we first got here with her and her husband.
We had tea/coffee and devoured a rasberry tart each (which was amazingly fresh!) and talked about all the things going on in our lives. She is such an amazing woman and I am blessed to know her and to have such a great relationship with her.

Later through the day we relaxed and waited for a friend to come over so we could all go together to a 30th party. Dave and I had a good night and we ended up home around 2am.

We have spent most of today blobbing and resting after the late night. (Because we are such nana’s now!!!!)

It was lovely and sunny so I suggested we go for a walk to enjoy the sun and explore our area a little more. We discovered some HUGE houses, a pretty little park, several schools and that we don’t actually get lost here anymore! We wandered, turned back towards home and made it back all without using “modern technology!”

I am gearing myself up for work tomorrow now. Going to have a quick clear up and cup of tea then off to bed.

Hope you all had lovely weekends, would love to hear about them!

A kiwi in England

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Hi guys,

I am posting an update to let y’all know how things are going over here and because I am home alone and bored and broke…pay day next week yay!

This week was my third week at work. I am beginning to settle into the daily routine but getting up early still sucks! After not working fulltime for almost 4 months, getting back into things is a bit of a stretch. But I know the cash will help us and as soon as I feel more competent at work I will enjoy it more. At present all I can do is watch and learn. But it is happening.

On the home front, nothing much changes here! Dave and I are happy…I have had tonsillitus this week so the first few days weren’t terribly enjoyable although I have now worked out how to register with a doctor over here!

This weekend I am (kinda) participating in an online crop on www.shimelle.com
which should be great fun. I also really need to try to finish my LYPLYP pages! I decided early on in the piece that I was taking so many photos that I may as well make one page for every sketch that Shimelle released. That’s four per scrapping prompt…which = 9×4…meaning I have 36 pages to make!!!!!!! I have made about 6 I think so far but I have had my laptop out of action for three-four weeks waiting for HP to send me a new charger, but that is another story. Anyway, the end result is that now I have my laptop back and can print my photos I can get out there and finish these pages.

Two weeks ago Dave and I went to see Pendulum and Tiesto in Victoria Park in East London. We had an amazing afternoon/evening and enjoyed catching up with some Topdeck buddies. I have linked in some photos of us here. (The face paint was someone elses idea, promise!)


Next weekend Dave and I are travelling to Bristol to meet Sue who is a relation of my Gran’s (Therefore my relation too…) and to stay with my cousin Fran. I am really looking forward to seeing some family and doing a bit of sight-seeing in Bristol.

Then, the last weekend of this month we are going up to Edinburgh to the Royal Military Tatoo and fringe festival. We are heading up with Topdeck so will hopefully make some more friends that way! (can you tell I am lonely???) I am really looking forward to seeing the show and exploring more of the UK. Photos and progress posts will be uploaded after the events.