Almost There

Avast ye festive lubbers, what the hell happened to December?  I'm still just about keeping my head above water university work wise, normal work wise and Christmas preparation wise, but at the expense of cleaning, scrapping, blogging and relaxing.

I did however want to squeeze in one last post before Friday to say happy Christmas to everyone - I've a feelling it's going to be a really great one actually.  I haven't felt this festive in years (I thought to myself as I sat on my sofa last night drinking Babysham through a straw and eating Chocolate Orange segments) and now all the shopping (food and present) is complete, there's only a this afternoon and tomorrow morning left to do at work and everything is all but wrapped, there's nothing left to do but bask in wondeful relaxing, chocolate-y, amaretto-y, present-y joy of the season.

This is probably the last time I'll be able to check in before the 14th January (when my exam is) so have a wonderful time and I'll see you on the otherside...

It's Going to be a Big One

I know, I know, Christmas isn’t even here yet and I’m already thinking about 2010 but there’s going be a lot happening and am getting very excited about lots of it already. Sorry to do another list style post but ½ my life seems to involved working on one list or another at the moment and I’ve got rather good at them (if I do say so myself) so here goes:

1) After I hand in my assignments in January, there’s only one more set of work to hand in in May and then I’m all done with the teaching part of my Masters. The big dream would be to finish and be able to hand in my dissertation in November and be completely done by this time next year. Here’s to freedom (and qualifications!).

2) Obviously the wedding in September is going to be massive and I’m so excited about that and everything that goes with it, but I also predict that the hen weekend which we’ve been pulling together this week is going to be pretty amazing. However, as it’s going to be a surprise I shall say no more at this time (you’ll get no clues here Miss Harper).

3) Following on from that, it’s also going to be a big year for birthdays with both my best friends catching me up and turning 30. I am obviously (and perhaps selfishly) very happy about this as it means that I won’t feel so old anymore, but it also means that we’ll have lots of practice munching cake and quaffing champagne before September rolls around.

4) Now this one may be slightly sad, but I’m waiting on the edge of my seat for Eclipse (Twilight) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I, both of which will be out next year in June and November respectively.

5) Last but not least, going on holiday *sigh*. We so enjoyed the sunshine in Greece this year, we’re planning to go to France in June and re-visit a campsite I have very happy memories of in the Dordogne to hopefully lie in the sun, eat (not too much) cheese, read lots of books and splash around in the river. I can’t wait, it’s going to be so relaxing.

You see? I told you. It's going to be massive and now we're on the downhill slope towards Christmas (less than 20 days - eeek), it's going to here faster than we can say happy new year!

Ups and Downs

Things have been a bit up and down here on Walton's Mountain lately and I'm starting to get slightly dizzy from all the changes in direction.  I think the lack of chocolate may be getting to me...(see point 5.)

Things I Want to Increase:

1. The length of my hair and nails - I'm taking these Holland and Barrett suplements called 'Skin Hair and Nails Formula' which are huge and taste discusting even when you wash them down with huge amounts of water.  One of these days I'm actually going to throw up on my keyboard so any recomendations for alternatives would be greatly received.

2. How much I understand Travel Demans Analysis - I have an exam on the 15th January and although I'm super organised with my revision timetable, I really don't understand all the complicated equations.  Still haveing to refer to the instructions each time I use my scientific calculator has got to be a bad thing.

3. My bank balance - I completed my Christmas shopping yesterday so I am quietly smug about that, while also being left somewhat financially challenged.  Luckily I have my clubcard vouchers to buy lots of Chritsmassy treats from Tesco otherwise it might be spaghetti hoops on toast on Christmas day!

4. Time for scrapping - Sadly, all the scrapping stuff in the dining rooms has been piled onto the piano to make way for tedious text books and revision cards.  I hope to get a bit in before Christmas, but am finding it very frustrating.

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Things I Want to Decrease:

5. How much I weigh - This is the big focus at the moment and I'm bouncing around on my Wii Fit and scribbling in my food diary everytime I even look at a cake for too long so I will look pretty in my bridesmaid dress next September .  Currently, there are 292 days until the wedding and so I have plenty of time but as I plan to have Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day off, I need to get ahead of myself as much as possible.

6. The amount of clutter in my house - Honestly, I cannot understand how other people manage to keep their houses looking so lovely all the time.  I lurch from one mad panic because visitors are coming to another and I wish that I could have a tranquil organised house to come home to everyday.  I need a cleaner, or even better to give up work and stay home being a house wife.  God, I'd love that.  Truly.

7. How quickly time is passing - Isn't it the end of September?  No?  Well early October then? Oh.  Where the bloody hell has all that time gone?  While I'm not going to go on about the inevitable passage of time inching us ever closer to the sweet embrace of the crypt (although you know I REALLY want to), I'm not quite liking how fast things are passing me by and not quite ready for it to be Christmas (apart from the shopping!)

Early To Bed

My goodness, the time is just flying by at the moment. I feel like I could get travel sickness just by standing still but Alistair's Christmas shopping has been started and so hopefully mine won't be far behind. I'm having a lovely time chilling out at home today in my pyjamas (I know it's early, but I did get properly dressed for a couple a hours earlier but then I went out in the rain and got soaked) after another great but busy weekend.

I saw New Moon on Friday afternoon which was totally amazing, so much better than I thought it would be and even Alistair professed to have enjoyed it. I'm just wondering how long I need to leave it before I suggest going for again, I'm not sure I like my chances. Yesterday I had another flying visit to London to see my homegirls, make exciting wedding plans and begin the hunt for the perfect wedding dress which got off to a strong start.

Anyway, to the important stuff. Check out SBK's fantastic festive blog candy:

And speaking of SBK, here are a couple of layouts I've made with the gorgeous Webster's Pages. The Christmas stuff is particularly beautiful and has a great Victorian look about it which I love so take a tour round their shop if you're interested:

30 Years of Waiting...

...and my time is finally here. Guess what? Never mind, that'll take too long, I'll have to tell you. 

I'm going to be a bridesmaid!

Perhaps even more importantly than than (how self involved would I be otherwise?), this means that Lizzie, one of my very best friends in whole world is getting married to the lovely Jarrad.

Aren't they fab?

There's lots going on at the moment as we get all excited about venues, dresses, flowers, cakes, shoes  and invitations (think the episode of Friends where Monica gets her wedding book out) and so I seem to have got distracted from lots of things which I really should have done. 

I have manged to squeeze  in a couple of layouts though which I'll post as soon as I'm home in daylight to take pictures of them. In the mean time, I'm going to get back to panicking over my revision timetable - I'd better not plan on actually having a life until the 15th Janury.

The Road to Avonlea

Most things have fallen by the wayside yet again this week, but now the Road to Avonlea kit for November has been published over at SBK, I can share my layouts properly - hurrah!

More BfS this weekend, I promise.

Sneak Peaks

I've been hard at work on  layouts using the SBK's travel themed November kit - Road to Avonlea and thought I would share a couple of sneak peaks. I'll post the completed layouts later in the week.