Friends

At the weekend, I invited some of my friends over.  While working at my old school I made a lot of friends.  With many I have lost touch.  One of them is now one of my best friends, Godmother to my son and responsible for a lot of the luck I have had this year.

Some of these ladies, I see every few months, some I hadn't seen since I left work.  Several of us have moved on to new challenges in our lives but whenever we meet up, it's like we have never been apart and it does my soul so much good.

Christmas is a time for meeting up, catching up and going out.  This year, I invited this group of friends over so we could catch up properly in a quiet environment with our kids and other halves and it was so worth it - we should make it a regular thing.

I love that women can form such close bonds.  We swapped good news and bad.  It felt good to get things off my chest and offer the girls some moral support as well as celebrate some of the good things that have happened to us lately.  

I remember primary school when you could only have one best friend and it caused so much trouble.  Now I have a wonderful network of friends and they are so crucial to my mental well-being.  From family, childhood friends, school friends and best friends left in England, to colleagues, in-laws and mum friends I have met here, I would not change my support system for the world.

Make it Monday - Project Life Update

It's been a while since I've blogged about Project Life but that's really because I like to have photos for my posts, I don't like to post photos of our children online and my Project Life is basically all about the children now.

I first started this project back in 2012 and I loved it. I'm not really sure why I stopped at the end of 2014 but I am so glad I got back into it this year.

I update my album weekly and I love flicking through from January each week. Seeing the story and development makes it so worthwhile.

I was in England for my friend's wedding at the start of last week so I can finally share a page in this space! While the average week tells its own kind of story, I love when we have something special going on as we tend to have better photos and it's generally easier to make the colours work.

That was really true this week as I could get in some of my favourites from the Seafoam edition to brighten up a really happy day.

If I can keep up the energy on this project, the kids are going to have something really special to look back on one day.

My process:

- Go to Rossmann and print out my favourite photos from the week (phone and camera)
- Place the photos into the layout, cropping where necessary.
- Pick a colour idea for the week and select cards that work, starting with the big date card.
- Journal on the appropriate cards.

Holy Island

After the wedding - a beautiful day and fun reunion with the amazing ladies above, we drove up to Bamburgh and Holy Island. I'd been last summer but it was exciting to go back with friends.

Bamburg Castle

My road trip buddies enjoying the view

Beautiful scenery

The abbey on Lindesfarne

St Mary's Church on Holy Island

An interesting wooden sculpture

Hexham

On our way to my friend's wedding this week, we stopped off for a bit of sightseeing in Hexham.

We arrived at 4pm and looked around the priory including the creepy crypt.

Here are some photos:

Hen Weekend

My train picnic

 Last weekend I flew to England for my friend's hen do. It was my first time away from Joshua which was hard but having some girly giggles was good for me too.

Outside Newcastle station

 I arrived at midnight on Friday night and caught up with another school friend, my roomie for the weekend - Charlotte.

Dressed up with Charlotte

 On Saturday we went to It's a Knockout and competed against another hen do and two stag dos.

Action shot of the bride to be

 It was actually more fun than I expected in the wind and mud.

The whole team

 We came third out of four groups! Then it was back to the hotel for a swim.

The bride to be and her sister on the town

 In the evening we went to Cozy Joe's for karaoke and then a few bars.

The crazy cat ladies

 On Sunday we went to a cat cafe - Mog on the Tyne. The bride-to-be, Rachel, is a vet and cat lover.

Kitten (baby Pete)

 They have ten cats including two kittens. One looks just like Pete and I would have loved to sneak either of them out in my bag.

Kitten number 2

 I had a gluten free panini and juice. We had the place to ourselves for an hour which was lovely. The cats are so relaxed!

Stan after some hot chocolate

 After the cat cafe I headed back to Leeds with Charlotte to see family and friends before my flight on Monday. What a fab weekend.

Photo Wall

This was an idea that Nico had a while ago. I wasn't so keen because I don't like these plastic holders but I've come round to the idea, we did it, and we're all really pleased with the results.

Isabella has had a lot of change lately with nursery friends moving on to Kindergarten and soon there's going to be an even bigger change in her life and we wanted to do something that gives her a bit of reassurance.

She loves photos and people and we've managed to fill over half the photo holder with pictures of friends and family. We've gotten almost everyone in there, though some of the pictures are a bit older.

That's one of the advantages though - the photos are easy to change out over time and soon enough, she'll be able to organise it herself. I really recommend it!

Gratitude

 I've been taking stock lately. Sometimes I still use my diary as a gratitude list, writing down things that I am grateful for every day. I wanted to share some of those things here today.

I'm grateful for...

...friends who are there despite the separations of time and space.

...my health.

 ...this one who is growing so fast and makes me laugh every day.

...the one growing inside me who will take me on this amazing journey called motherhood all over again.

 ...that we have the resources to keep our family warm, dry and fed through winter. Something many of us often take for granted.

...hobbies that give me time for myself.

 ...this amazing man and our six years together. He puts up with a lot!

Make it Monday - August birthday cards

This month I experimented more with the patterned paper from the Mollie Makes magazines to make some nice cards for various ladies (and one man). I was really pleased with the results - they look good with the minimum of fuss.

For the kids I used the felt stickers again - they're good fun and look nice too.

Make It Monday - February Birthday Cards

It felt good to get back into the card making today. I used up some of my stock with some ideas I've used before.

The new one, and my favourite this time is the dark red butterfly one for my friend Charlotte.

I still like using the stars for less feminine styles and the names, while basic, make it personal.

Snail Mail

The first thing I do most mornings is to check my email - reply, act upon, or delete them and then get on with my day.

I still believe, however, that nothing can beat good old snail mail.  I had a penpal throughout my childhood and loved nothing more than receiving a letter in the post.

Today I have another penpal in America and I regularly write to friends and family to keep in touch.  Sometimes, I think I do end up repeating myself as I don't always remember what went into the last letter but it's still a great way to keep in touch and learn new things.

It's also always nice to see a lovely handwritten envelope in the box rather than the usual printed bank notices and official letters.

Driving in Bremen

On Sunday, I took my friend for a driving lesson.

Bremen has a special driving practice centre where you can hire dual control cars by the hour or take your own to practice.

I'd been a little worried about them accepting my English license but in the end they didn't even check it - just took our signatures for the insurance and handed over the keys.

My biggest shock was the hill that we had to drive up to access the grounds.  I hadn't expected to drive myself (especially as I have limited experience with a left hand drive) but was told that I had to drive up there and then swap with my friend.

I was also surprised my how hilly the grounds themselves were.  It's something that I always forget in my time away from England because Bremen just does not have hills.

So even though my friend has had several lessons before, the hills and getting used to the new car made the experience a little more nerve testing than I had expected but we both got used to it and I got back in one piece.

It did make me appreciate driving instructors much more and the first thing I said to Nico on my return - "We are never teaching our own ids to drive."

Board Game Round Up

Quirkle

Last night we had friends over for games night.  With the wedding and holidays, it's been a while since we had one of these and I was looking forward to restarting my Catan campaign, however, when we offered the guests the choice, they went for Quirkle and Monopoly.  Can you believe our friend had never played Monopoly?! 

Of course she had a huuuge dose of beginners luck and won both games, putting the rest of us to shame.  Next time, I'm going for Catan but it was good to change it up a bit.

Rory's Story Cubes

source

My friend Loreto recently introduced me to these little gems when she bought me a set of the original dice (the orange box above).  They are brilliant!  We happened to have them on a training day we were at so got lots of ideas and tips on how to use them with classes and I've already started putting them into practice.

Basically, the pupils or students use the images on the dice to give them speaking ideas.  It can get very creative!

I was so impressed with them, I bought us the green (voyages) and blue (actions/verbs) sets.  Can't wait to use them too.  

My pupils always know when I've been on a good training day because I come back with balloons and new games, I hope they enjoy this one too!

CHarisma

On Sunday, we had dinner with our friends at this lovely little Turkish restaurant in Findorff, Bremen.  We had planned to go to Apanada's at last but they were on holiday.  I also loved that I could make this booking online.  The atmosphere was great and the food was delicious.  I would definitely eat there again.

May Day Fun

This May day (the same as the last one it turns out...), I headed to Thedinghausen for lunch with my lovely friend Loreto and her husband.  Nico was involved in another little project with a friend so I was solo for this one.  I didn't cycle all the way this time but I did cycle to the station and get the train out to Achim.  Ed picked me up in their lovely classic car - an MG - I should have had a head scarf with me.

We had a delicious Spanish lunch followed by a walk in the woods nearby.  It was lovely and we had amazing weather again.  Great start to the month.

Hen Night fun

As I mentioned on Saturday, I now have photos to share with you from the hen night.  I'm so thankful to my lovely bridesmaids for organising such a great weekend.  We had so much fun.

Above, you can see the crazy conditions we set out in!  I'm so glad we made it in one piece!

Our very picturesque hotel, in the snow

The view from our room

Home made buns and macaroons from my lovely cousin and bridesmaid!

Cocktails!

 

The start of the night

My cousin and sister, both bridesmaids

Receiving my lovely gifts

New attire!

Opening the goodies

An emotional moment

My lovely hens

Hayley, best friend and bridesmaid

Ready for dinner

The garter made it from the pool to the evening

Loreto, best friend and bridesmaid

With my Mum

At dinner

Ready for dinner

Fantastic group picture

Games at the table

Dancing on the chairs

More games at dinner - the poor staff!

At the bar

The morning after!