Kim Archer | Mindful Living

Thursday

Yesterday Debbie and her family jetted into Sydney after a three week holiday to the US..

And mum and dad thought it would be fun to hire a 10 seater bus (we do love our fun buses!!) and all travel down to pick them up! Jamison, Capri and I thought it was a fun idea too until the alarm went off at 3.30 AM and we dragged ourselves out of our cosy beds in time for our 4am pick up and I muttered to myself, whose brilliant idea was this!!

Their plane was due in at 6am but by the time we had our breakfast and they went through customs it was almost 7am...my day is usually just starting at that time!

I love this candid photo of mum and the kids at the airport!! They love their Nan!! And look how tall Jamison is getting...my mum is 5'9"...i must measure Jamison as he seems tohave had a growth spurt..!!

And this is WHY my sister doesn't appear in many photos or layouts! As a kid she was the one always missing from our extended family photos. As a kid she was always the one running from the camera. As a kid she was always the one in trouble for not cooperating...And as an adult she's still doing the same!

And if she was embarrassed by mine and mums cameras...welllllll she's just lucky we DIDN'T bring that super sized WELCOME HOME sign we were going to make!

here's the kids outside the airport...

And here's the fun bus!! Loaded up!

It was a BIG morning and we were all worn out! I had to be home by midday for my LIVE online class..and by late afternoon the three of us were all ready for bed!!

Tomorrow is day one of the school hols. And Brandt had his last day in year 11 today! After the school holidays he starts year 12! Oh my goodness!!

HOLIDAY UPDATE PART 2

ok, so I am a little late with holiday instalment #2!!

This week has been crazy trying to get lots of work things done before the school holidays start at the end of the week and my working week will become much shorter as we do school holiday stuff.

So where was I?

We had a sun filled week at Broadbeach. The weather was great! Tuesday we spent the day at Wet & Wild! What great fun. We have done the theme parks heaps of times when we've visited Surfers but had never been to Wet & Wild before!!

And we'll be going again. The kids had a ball.

Not being school holidays meant there were no waiting lines for any of the rides, few people around and we pretty much had the run of the place!!

Here's some of my fave shots from the day!

And this is Jamison..somewhere in that water...

Just one more go mum!

Such a fun day!!

I will add in a few more holiday pics over the next few days..

A quick post..

Just a quick note before I add in instalment #2 of the holiday...

Registrations close TOMORROW AT MIDDAY (and the classroom officially opens) for the Here Comes workshop...

 

So, if you've been thinking about joining in one of our LIVE workshops..here's your chance. Book in and join in the fun!

BUT if you can't make either of the live sessions, you can complete the class at a time that suits YOU as the steps and all information will remain available for some time after the live sessions have run.

Other news..... Roxy is home. Thank you for the comments plus all the get well emails I received plus lots of info on ticks! Much appreciated. She is very quiet. So quiet. But she is making some progress which is good. And its great to have her home!

Holiday pics tomorrow. Promise:)

We're home!

Had a great time at Blossies!

Had a great time at Broadbeach.

We're home from our holidays and straight back into work and stuff again!! Would have loved another weeks holiday up there in sunny Queensland!! But missed Brandt terribly as he had exams on and couldn't come with us. He stayed with my mum and dad for the week! It felt weird having a family holiday without him!

So, it's time for a catchup (for my family)..warning..this is loooong..read on if you can be bothered:)

Headed off late on Friday night and arrived in Coffs Harbour for an overnight stay at the motel next door to the Big Banana, which I must admit, looking at it now as an adult is hardly the BIG banana that I remember as a kid!

Spent the next morning exploring the Big Banana and bought a few things for Brandt including a Big Banana pen and Big Banana lolly pop which are both must haves for all hip and happening teens!

Visited our favourite lolly store and marvelled at the lolly making demos!! Ate some lolly samples. Nothing like lollies at 9.30 in the morning! Plus bought some bags of lollies to take on our trip. And finished with a choc covered banana that Jamison just HAD to have! Which i might add he didn't even end up eating!

Here's a few photos from Coffs...

Arrived at Broadbeach around 3pm and checked into our unit.

We usually stay at La Grande when we visit Broadbeach so I just assumed we would be staying there and not being school holiday time I also assumed that there wouldn't be a problem booking our usual unit! I didn't antiticpate it would be booked out!!! And with only one week until we left for our trip, we didn't have anywhere to stay and I didn't have a plan B!!!

So we ended up at Boulevard Towers, right on the beach and only a short distance from La Grande!! Unit was nice. Spacious. Facilities were great. Kids and Ken loved it but me,..I'm such a creature of habit and missed our usual unit!

Here's our view from the lounge area. Not a great photo but you get the idea..

So..now onto.. Blossies.

Here's Miss Blossie herself..Annette, and me PLUS my beautiful welcome sign.... Isn't she stylish!!! She does have a name and I can't remember what Annette said it was!

Annette's store was delightful! Packed with the latest and greatest and such a spacious and light filled premises! Plus a huge teaching area. The girls were all fantastic. So welcoming. Fun. Friendly and a pleasure to teach. Here's some pics!

And here's the girls from my first class with their finished layouts..

I didn't get photos of the second group with their mini books!!

I also got to meet some of my online girls from both Scrapboxx and my classes!! Very exciting..here I am with Elise, Kirsten and Lorraine from my classes as well as the Boxx..Lorraine and Kirsten travelled THREE hours to come to the classes!!! And they gave me the most beautiful handmade cards!! It was great to meet you girls! And you too Elise!!

And here I am with Lindy, another long time online class girl of mine!!

 

And Gail, another online girl and one of Annette's wonderful staff members!!

I really enjoyed teaching at Blossies!!

And yesterday..i received the MOST BEAUTIFUL THANK YOU PRESENT from Annette and the girls in the mail!!! I will have to take a photo and share tomorrow as it's such a gorgeous and PERFECT present! I totally love it..I received a beautiful handmade card as well as a beautifully wrapped pressie and inside..

was...a hot pink felt covered journal with funky felt flowers stitched to the front and matching photo holder/pencil case from one of my favourite shops..SMIGGLE!! I discovered Smiggle a few years back in Melbourne and Capri and I have been very excited recently about Newcastle's first Smiggle store opening in Garden City BUT I hadn't seen these felt products before..They are gorgeous. Thanks again Annette and girls!

Phew, this is a looong post...and I am only up to day 2 of our holiday...

I will be back with my second instalment tomorrow...

But before I go, just another thing I want to get down here on my blog for my own reference...

Little Roxy, our dog, is very sick at the moment after suffering a tick bite. We had no idea she had a tick until this morning when she could barely walk and was soooo sick. It's been very distressing today as we are all so attached to her! I was surprised at my reaction actually as I have been really upset about the whole thing!! I didn't realise I was as attached to her as the kids are.

She is currently spending the night at the vet hospital and we are hoping we can collect her tomorrow night so she can come home. But because of the location of the tick, right near her eye, she will need extensive treatment for her eye over the next 4-6 weeks.

Thank you to Brandt for being there today for me (he was home as his exams are almost finished..one to go on Friday). He really was a huge support..bless him. Although not so strong when we were in the vet clinic with Roxy and without any warning the vet flipped up Roxy's tail and slipped in the thermometer..Brandt didn't have any warning and no time to look away so he got quite an eyeful!!! The look on his face was priceless!

Holiday instalment #2 coming tomorrow!!!

hello from sunny Broadbeach!!

A super quick catchup! Having a great holiday. Weather's great!! Will do a real catchup when I get home again.

just a quick one...

Two posts in about 2 minutes...a record for me...

A fresh new LIVE class is now up on the @Home website...

Check it out here!

And a flashback class....The Step Back In Time Instant Workshop is now also open for bookings..

It's a class I ran through my blog earlier this year before the website was up and running and due to several requests from people who missed out the first time around, I am running it again. Check out that class here!

MID WEEK CATCHUP..

I'm off to Morayfield, Queensland to teach at Blossies Stamping and Scrapbooking this weekend. Very exciting.

I'm teaching two classes. Our first class is a layout class using a basic old page protector which we are going to turn into a few see through pockets!! Here's a sneak peek..

I'm not sure if there are any spots left in this class as the class was close to the full mark when I last spoke with Annette BUT if you want to book in or ask any questions, email Annette and the girls through the Blossie's website here

And check out Blossie's blog for details on a cool competition to win a place in this class including a full class kit!! Check out the details here!

Our second class is a mini book class. Not just an ordinary mini book though! No!! It's a Secrets Folio with lots of interactive bits and pieces, envelope pages, tags, transparency pages and plastic pockets.

And it's all bound together using the coolest tool around...the Bind It All. Blossies will have some Bind It All tools to use on the day plus some for sale. This tool is GREAT! I love it!! It allows you to custom create SO many different types of mini books with all sorts of interesting pages. You can load in tags, envelopes, chipboard covers, cardstock, patterned paper, transparency sheets, plastic pockets and anything else you can think of and with the tool you can bind it all SO professionally with wire coil binding.

I have made up several fun mini books which I will be giving away throughout this class!!! I also have some prizes for my layout class!!

I've had emails from several of my regular online girls who are coming along to Blossies and I am really looking forward to meeting you all in person. Plus I must say that I have really enjoyed working with Annette and the girls as we prepared for this class. They have all been fantastic!!!

The family and I are then spending the rest of the week on the Gold Coast which will be fabulous!!! Although I have a long to do list before we can get away this weekend. Looking forward to catching up with Rozzie too!!

Happy Father's Day

What a great day!

Beautiful weather here at the moment. We took advantage of the glorious weather and had an outdoor BBQ Father's Day lunch at my parents house..with my sister and her family also.

Capri and Chelsea straightened their hair and were very cooperative when my camera came out!! While it's a novelty for both of them to have straight hair and Capri especially LONGS for straight hair, I prefer them both with their curls!!!

Here's my favourite shots from today..

And some more shots from today...

Happy Father's Day and lotsa love to my Dad and Ken!!