The one where I stay awake all day!!

Well, at least that is my intention today. 

Having just finished my nine night shifts, I am determined not to sleep through today but to stay awake til bedtime tonight!!! I have to go back in to work tomorrow but am off for three days after that so thought I would try to reset my bizarre body clock and achieve something with my time?!

I do, on occasion stay up for 24 hours or so on the trot - madness I know but sometimes when I go on my little adventures it is necessary as my shifts always seem to get in the way. One recent time was my little day trip to Paris last month. I travelled through the night to get there, spent the day wandering aimlessly with my camera enjoying the city, and the travelled back through the night again. Tiring but so much fun and I did sleep it all off in the garden the next day!!

Here is my first LO from that day. I intend making a mini book of my trip but am still sorting out my photos and need to get them printed properly. Luckily Grannywen came to the rescue and printed off a couple for me so I could get started.

Please excuse the silly much copied but ever-so-scrappbooky humorous photo - couldn't resist it!

Thanks for stopping by

xxxx

The one where I go all patriotic??

Hello there bloggers, are you enjoying your weekends? 

Do you have gorgeous sunshine or just warm and muggy days? I have no idea what the weather has been like here as I am working nights again, and really do sleep ALL day!! It looks quite nice and sunny this evening, but very windy, and it was very cold and dull when I cycled home this morning so who knows???

It another Royal post for me, this is one I made on my mini scrapathon last weekend too, but it seems apt with lots of Royal events here in London at the moment and Trooping of the Colour next weekend. I know they did the rehersals in the wee hours of this morning and I remember how strange it was too watch in the dark and the quiet when I patrolled it many years ago!

Anyway, my LO! 

Despite many protestations that I wanted to get out of London that day, and no interest in the wedding leading up to it, of course on the morning itself when Grannywen woke me up, we all sat glued to the tv to watch the happy event!! It was a lovely day and a major event in history so it was only right that I scrapped it and recorded how I felt at the time.

Ok, off for some breakfast/tea now before I head back into the twilight zone for another night!

Take care , thanks for stopping by

xxx

The one where I actually scrapped!!

 Hello peeps!
Well done if you survived the last mammoth post about all my adventures. Of course I now have a mammoth pile of photos to scrap too - or at least I will have when I finally manage to upload them to Photobox and put in my order! I have been trying all weekend but cant get them to upload at all!!   :(

This LO is about another mini adventure I had that I hadn't got round to telling you about yet. 

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you - yes that is HRH Camilla and she is chatting to little old me!!! She is very interested and a supporter of the specialised work that I do, and held an open evening at Clarence House for us back in March to say Thank you! It was fabulous!

I had a starring role in that I had to introduce all my colleagues and remember not to call her Ma'am as in Marm (like we would our bosses at work), but Ma'am as in ham!!! It was a nightmare, but I managed not to fluff my lines and spoke with my bestest telephone voice!!!

Sadly the photos that were taken of us weren't at all good - and we were NOT allowed to take our own. The photographers wanted to charge a royal amount for a 7 x 12, but to be honest, despite the occasion, I wasn't willing to pay that much for such a poor shot! I did email them - twice, asking for a reduced price for more scrapping suitable size prints but they were far too important to even acknowledge my email let alone reply to it!!  In the end I cheated, and the hidden journalling explains my frustration at having the said photographers watermark across all the shots! Oh well - its the memory that counts isnt it!!

Speaking of royals, her Scrapping Highness, Queen Kirsty of Wiseman had an online crop the other evening that I sat and watched with the twins. Her subliminal messaging must have worked because this LO has a remarkable resemblance to her sketch - I even used doilies!!! Lush!
XXX

MONSTER catch up!!

Ok, so I need to explain my prolonged absence from Blogland.

 Anyone who is my friend on FB will know that I am safe and well and will have seen what I've been up to, but for the rest of you, grab a large glass of wine or cup of tea and a biscuit and make yourselves comfortable - you may be here for a while!!

Due to the glorious weather we had a few weeks ago, many days were spent in my garden loafing or pottering about with my patio, or indeed photographing my wildlife chums.

I enjoyed a couple of evenings just chilling with a BBQ or sat watching the birds fly by, but then I began to get itchy feet, and you know me - I love an adventure or two.....

Firstly I took myself off for a little day trip to Paris

I got to the city very early and had a great day just wandering about with my camera.

Of course I stopped by all the famous spots, but didn't waste time in the huge queues .

The obligatory scrapping style shot just sorta happened -sorry!

and most of the day was spent hanging out in or near Montmartre, my favourite area of the city. One day I will actually see a show there. 

Then lunch was followed by one of these - yummy!

I spent a few hours in the artists quarter, sipping beer and just people watching, but nearly fell off my chair when I got the bill!

I very much wanted to take some art/travel journal style shots which of course there were plenty of.

And no trip to the worlds most romantic city would be complete without visiting the lovers bridge to marvel at all the many love troth padlocks.

A fabulous day was all to soon over and the next adventure was to begin over the bank holiday weekend. Dorset is no stranger to me and I love going home and revisiting all my old haunts - even more fun with a friend in tow.

We went to Hengistbury head and rode the Noddy train down to the seaside

Paddled in the sea, although it was a little too chilly for my chum

and it took a while for our feet to dry off and warm up!!!

I took some more arty farty shots of the beach huts that I love

and then whilst on the boat we caught over to the pub on the quay it started to rain briefly, luckily we had a brolly

After a wander round Christchurch it was time for one of these, there is a theme coming here....

and then off the New Forest so my chum could meet some locals

It was a great weekend but then a few weeks later it was treat time again for me and along with these fab four I had a long weekend in the South of France!!

We stayed in Nice but caught the train to Monaco and gazed in awe at the yachts

Did the tour on the Monte Carlo equivalent of the Noddy train

And found our perfect boat....

I had genuine butterflies the whole time we were there knowing that this was only two weeks away

We even drove the course, although not very fast in the tour bus

the buzz in the air was palpable even though we were trying our best to look very cool and rich!!

Both sides of the harbour were breath taking

and driving the circuit - amazeballs!!!

(I saw this tunnel during the Grand Prix today!!)

I had dreams of finding my 007 and being a Bond girl??

But consoled myself with some chocolat chaud! It was so thick it was like soup!

Yummy!

The next day we popped down to Cannes, and look - paddled in the sea!

(It was much warmer than the last time!!)

We travelled the Noddy Train to get to our place amongst the A listers for the film festival

And chilled out in the Old town.

It was awesome!!

Of course we did visit Nice itself and what a glorious day we picked. It was roasting as we walked along the Promenade des Anglais

and again did out best to look cool and glam!

the old town was so pretty 

and the view from the park on the hilltop amazing! The sea really was that blue!!

A view of the harbour....

but again we needed to cool our feet. Oh where was my cossie when I needed it?

We lazed on the beach in the sun for a while to get a South of France tan

And then explored some more.

We were all very sad to leave as it was such an awesome weekend. As usual I took a ton of photos and choosing which ones to share has been a nightmare and has taken an age and made me very nostalgic for the place. I think its my new favourite!! As I sat and watched the Grand Prix today my fingers got itchy for the keyboard of my laptop and travel websites - I think I may have to go back there and very soon!!

So, what now? A ton of photos to scrap if I ever find the time and back to normality!! I have worked ridiculous hours in between all these adventures as normal, and guess what - I am on night shift all next week!! Talk about back to earth with a bump!

To top it all, its another BH weekend and the weather is now pants - it's a good job I have already sorted out my little space in the garden, not that I am going out in it this weekend!?

Roll on July, when I am off on a little camping adventure..... I can't wait!!

If you have made it to the end - well done! I said it was a monster catch up! 

Where are you off to?

xxx

Missing in action!!

Hello there bloggers!
Sorry - I do seem to have neglected you for some time and not updated you on life in The Zone for about a month now. Have loads to tell and pics to share of my many adventures but one slight problem with my Mac being full apparently and needing to find space to actually get the pics off my camera!!
:(
All is well and we have been very busy, but hopefully normal service will be resumed soon.
Thanks for your patience
Hugs
xxx