Michelle
Me! Life has been crazy!! Absolutely crazy! I've had no time to even breathe.. much less blog! So much has happened in the past couple of weeks.. so I guess this will be a long post.. :D

What a weekend it has been! On Friday,16th November, straight after work I went to the Holiday Inn for the Stacy Julian and Friends event. Registration kicked off at 5.30pm and I got there earlier than Jo, Debs and Donna. It was quite interesting that a few ladies came up to me... and knew who I am! :D Apparently they've seen my photo from the Kiwi Jack Me Up blog... that was quite cool... got to meet a lot of new people and I got to meet Rae from the Kiwi Jack Me Up team too! :D

Got registered and got given a whole pack of products and my class schedule. After Jo, Donna and Debs finished registering, we went down to Esquires to catch a quick bite to eat before the crop. It was insane at Esquires! Only one guy working there on a Friday!?!?! Ugh.. anyway.. we were really rushed and just barely managed to make our way back to the hotel for the 'mingling' session. It was pretty cool.. we got to meet Renee and her husband Kent and also Stacy Julian and Nic Howard.. sadly I didn't get to see Wendy Smedley...I got a photo with Stacy Julian and Kent took a photo of us girls which he did post on his blog...


Photo courtesy of Kent Pearson - Kelly, Debbie, Jo & me


Stacy and me

After the meet and greet - the Mega Crop started. Stacy started by introducing herself and the other tutors. She went on to commence the Scrap Happy class. She mentioned something about needing volunteers and before she could finish her sentence, my hand shot up! I don’t even know what got into me! LOL! So there were 4 of us.. and she made us dance a little..haha.. for some reason, all inhibitions left me.. I didn’t care if it was embarrassing or not, I had fun! Her Scrap Happy lecture was awesome.. we were given workbooks and a lecture on the how to be happy - things we do that make us happy and things we can do to make us happy.. and then of course there was the synchronized stapling.... totally fun! After the little event, we had a little supper break. When we returned to the room, the 4 of us who volunteered were given cool WorldWin paper swatch... I got Stacy to sign mine. We were also given more freebies and a set of postcards which was the base of another mini class Stacy gave us.

The rest of the evening were spent doing our own scrapping - I didn't get too much done, but did do a page for my This Is Me Journal. I got home near to midnight and got myself partially organized for my class with Nic Howard the next day. I was completely exhausted after printing 2 photos and went straight to bed.

Saturday dawned.. a beautiful sunny day.. it felt amazing! I got all my photos printed and made my way to the Holiday Inn for my class with Nic Howard. Her class is just awesome! We did a clear mini album based on the things that 'represent' us at this moment. I left the class with a 80% complete album! More that I've ever managed to do in any class! So that was fantastic. I went home after hanging out and mingling for a bit.. met Trina at the Fiskars table...


Me and Nic

When I got home I finished up Lies's farewell card using the new Urban Lily secret keeper... I was pretty pleased with it.. :)



Went to the airport with Harridz and Yessy to see Lies off. Her flight got delayed for 30 minutes which gave us all a bit of extra time to hang out with her one last time. It was bittersweet.. she said a few words.. and we were still able to hold our composure. At the boarding gate, she went around hugging everyone and saying goodbye.. and when she got to me... I held on just a bit longer.. I'm going to miss her so much... Off she went to grab her bag.. and she turned around to look at me again... and came over for one more hug.. and that was my undoing... totally and completely broke down.. I couldn't help it.. she's like a sister to me.. and everyone kinda steered clear of me... Laura said she couldn't hug me 'cos she'd break down too.. I completely understood.. we were all very close.

After that, Harridz, Yessy and myself went to CHA for a late dinner and had a great time talking and laughing. It was good to take my mind of Lies's departure. We all went home and called it a night at about 11pm.

Sunday morning was spent finishing up the album from Nic's class the day before. And then I went down to the Holiday Inn to catch up with Jo.. the Christmas parade was on in town too. I got to see most of it as I made my way down to the hotel. When I got there, it was really quite, everyone's in classes. I chatted with Kelly and Rhonda and got to peak at the different classes and I purchased a kit from Nic's Confessions class. When Jo finished, we went downstairs to get a bite to eat and had a great catching up session. When the others finished we went down again to have another quick group chat and then Stacy took a few photos of us (which reminds me I need to email her to get them!) and went home after that.

Now.. everything else after that weekend have gone by in a total blur. So I guess I'll just post highlights...

  • Got a job interview at Victoria University Law School
  • Current employers offered me a very very very good deal to stay for another year.
  • Jay passed his last paper and will be graduating
  • I got sent a bunch of products to work with for the Aussie Scrap Source... my layout will be posted soon
Umm.. I can't even remember what else... LOL! So I'll stop here...

I promise I'll update soon!

Michelle
Today has been a crazy day at work!!!! I felt like I've been running around like a headless chook all day!



Tomorrow is looking pretty much the same!

ETA: A chook is a chicken. :D



P/S: If any of my loyal blog readers are wondering, yes, I'm still doing my daily cards, I'm planning to post them on a separate blog. I'll post a link on my side bar when I do. :D

Michelle
Tonight, after work, we had a girls only evening. It's been a very long time since Laura, Lies and myself got together. It was a wonderful evening. We had a great time doing what we always do together... yummy food... awesome conversations and great laughs! Just perfect!

Michelle
Wow.. the weekend went pretty quick! On Saturday, I had a small get-together with a few friends to celebrate my birthday. A few of my friends weren't able to make it prior to previous commitments.

In the morning, I went out for breakfast with Jay and went to the Asian supermarket to pick up a few things that I needed to make mee goreng. Went home and packed my stuff to take with me to Elvry's since I'd be there all afternoon with food prep and all. Elvry picked me up just before 1pm and we went to get more food. After that, we went back to her place and started prepping food for cooking. I bought a pack of meat for barbequing.. easy way out. So all we had to make was the salad and mee goreng (fried noodles). We cooked, showered, got changed and then Jay got there with his friend. Both the guys did the barbequing.. and then a few more friends arrived. I think we finally started to eat just after 7... it was a really relaxed night.. just a bunch of friends getting together.. eating together and catching up. I really enjoyed it. My friends knew me so well. I got a voucher for my LSS and also some scrapbook papers and embellies. Another friend compiled a CD of mp3s - a lot of my favorite songs and some new ones that he thought I'd like. :D Went home around 11pm after cleaning up with Elvry. Jay left with his friend and I only managed to take of my make up, changed into my pjs, checked my email and practically fell asleep! All in all, a pretty tiring day, but I was really happy my friends made time to come celebrate with me. Unfortunately, there weren't many photos.. and a lot of them blurred due to the dim lightings. :(


My birthday cake that Jay bought for me - yummy black forest cake. :D



Some photo fun... the whole group minus one of Jay's friend.



Elvry & I - this sweet girl offered her house for me to have my little birthday get together... that was so nice of her. She also made yummy tiramisu and helped me prepare the food! Thanks so much girl!



It was a different kind of birthday for me.. usually I'd go out for dinner with friends at a restaurant, but doing it at home was a nice change too. A lot more relaxed.

On Sunday I just had a lazy day at home, scrapped a little and just chilled.
Michelle
I had a pretty great birthday! :D

My bosses bought me morning tea and gave me the coolest present ever! Look at how prettily it was wrapped up? When I opened it, I was totally blown away! They gave me a digital photo frame. What it does is that you plug in a memory stick or a USB that has photos and music on it. Then you use the remote control (yes, it has a remote control! ) to play it. A slideshow of photos with music playing will appear on the screen. You can watch movies (if you have it on a memory stick) and also TV if you have an antenna!! How cool is that?!





After work, Jay and I had an early dinner at Harem (middle Eastern food) - it was pretty good. After that, we took a nice drive around the bays and went to Soi Cafe at Evans Bay for coffee. It was such a beautiful clear and sunny day. The cafe was right next to the water and we even saw seagulls right outside the conservatory where we had our coffee.







We went home after coffee.. I don't like going out late on weeknights, makes me feel really tired. My parents and my brother rang me to wish me Happy Birthday too. :D

All in all, a pretty great day!
Michelle
Today I turn 28!!! OMG!

My 27 years on this earth has been pretty great so far.... I'm in good health.. I'm surrounded by people I love.. I have achieved some of the things I want to achieve in my life.. I've got a roof over my head, I have a job, I'm never without food... So, nothing to complain.

My aunt did this for me (on our family blog).... some photos are pretty old.. some as recent as last Christmas. :D
Michelle...Ma Belle....7.11.07
Happy Birthday...My Gal
Have a wonderful time..
Be grateful..
Be thankful..
and God Bless you always.
Hugs and Kisses
ti Lin and Un keith


My day so far has been fantastic! It's sunny and warm (my favorite kind of weather).
My bosses bought morning tea and gave me an amazing present (will take photos and post later on tonight).... lot of friends texted, emailed and posted birthday messages for me... and at lunch time I went to church for daily mass. This is something I do every year on my birthday, I have to go to church to give thanks and to ask for God's blessings and guidance for a new year in my life.
Back later to update more! Thanks for all the wishes!
Michelle
Wow... today is my last day of being 27.

It has been a great year... I've achieved a few things that I set out to achieve... and it feels great!
Michelle
The weekend just goes too fast!!! Didn't do too much this weekend since Jay has an exam on Tuesday.. so I just stayed home, watched lots of Gilmore Girls and scrapped a little....I love lazy weekends.

Forgot to mention that I have a layout in the November ScrapStreet e-zine. We did a scrap tag and it's really cool to see the original layout and how it turned out at the very end.
Here's mine:



Just a few layouts to share.. this is my bosses' daughter.. got bored of scrapping my own photos.. so I asked them for a few to scrap. My boss (the wife) is a scrapper too, but she's been too busy to scrap, so she's really happy I asked to scrap some photos for her. :D Did this for the Kiwijack that went up this weekend. Go check it out!



DT layouts for OPAAT
October Kit





November Kit






Well... that's all for now...it's Guy Fawkes day tomorrow and there'll be a fireworks display down by the harbour. Not too sure if I'll be go or not, since it's a week night and starts at 9pm, and I don't usually like going out on weeknights. So we'll see...
Michelle
I can't believe that November is here!!

The year has past so fast!

It's my birthday next week! I'm turning another year older! Eeeeeekkk!!!!

This year has been pretty good actually...nothing bad happened... pretty cruisy and happy... as far as I'm concerned.. my 27th year has been pretty darn good! :D

Not sure what I'm doing for my birthday yet.. need to think about that.

Today I finally tracked down the alpha stamps I've been dying to get! So happy! I should be getting it in the mail tomorrow... so excited! :D

Anyway.. that's all for now.. back again tomorrow. I'm really trying to get back in the habit of blogging more.