Well??

Who still reads this? Fess up!! If its no one then I won't bother...

Mish Mash

I have been told off by Twinny for not updating my blog regularly enough. I think once a month is pretty poor too, so I think I'll just ramble for a little bit...whilst trying to stay POSITIVE about things! No complaining in this blog, thats the rules!

I believe we have finally decided between the Canon 450d and the Canon Powershot G10. We are going for the G10! Mainly because of cost and portability. Hopefully once the G11 comes out, the G10 will go down in price. I'm still a little miffed that you can buy the G10 in the States for £100 less than you can here. It just doesn't make sense! We've saved up enough Amazon vouchers to be able to not have to spend any money on it though, which is absolutely amazing. I can't wait to take pictures of Baby G when s/he is born.



Talking of Baby G (as always!), I'm 32 weeks pregnant today. Woah. That gives me 8 weeks give or take until two become three! The house is slowly getting ready for his/her arrival, but it still has a long way to go including a whole conservatory build and a bathroom refit. Lord help me! I'm so so so thankful that I have amazing friends and family who are always willing to help. My parents pulled out the decking a couple of weeks ago so that the builders wouldn't have to do it and could just get started on the foundations. My sister keeps offering to come over and do whatever she can to help. Our homegroup from church have offered to have a painting party one Wednesday evening instead of having group, so that we can get the living room painted. ♥ Everyone rocks. I'm glad for all the help though, because the bigger I get, the more helpless I'm becoming! Bless my lovely husband for helping me clean and tidy last night, despite the fact that he is working his socks off and not sleeping too well because of me! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Also my family have been awesome with providing us with things for the baby, like a pushchair and moses basket and cot etc etc etc...



Today I'm thinking of working on our personal website, but I'm considering changing the domain name, as it currently uses our surname as part of the URL. Maybe not the wisest of ideas. I may even transfer this blog over to it, or use this blog for something else but I just can't decide! Its taking me long enough to choose a Wordpress theme for it! Mostly its to keep friends and family updated on photos and everything to do with us - whether people will actually visit the site or not? Who knows?

I was sure I had more to write about than this! I have baby brain!!

Early Morning Thoughts

I haven't blogged since the beginning of July! Shocking! Its a bit of a shame really how my blogging/photo journalling has taken a back seat as of late - maybe I'm just feeling uninspired? All I seem to be thinking about at the moment is the baby/pregnancy and trying to get the house ready for our new arrival. I do miss blogging though. Maybe once I'm on maternity leave (starts Aug 28th!!) I'll get all creative again.

Talking of being creative, last night I met up with some of the girls from church and we got out a load of card making bits and just made some random greetings cards. Maybe thats what has gotten my creative juices flowing! I'm not usually very good with hands-on things like that, I'm much better with a mouse and keyboard. Give me photoshop over glue sticks anyday! But still, I managed to make a passable anniversary card for my brother-in-law and his wife. Sure, I nabbed a few ideas from a good source (hello, Tiny White Daisies!) but at least I can claim that the execution of the project was all mine. Its got me thinking about what kind of birth announcement cards to make. I want to organise that way in advance, but its a little tough when you don't know if you're having a girl or a boy.

See...subject will ALWAYS turn back to Baby G in some way or another! You may have noticed that I'm writing this pretty early. I've been up since 5:30am, not sure why. I think I got woken up by kicks and then I just couldn't get back to sleep again, despite not having gone to bed til 12:40am!! Oops. It's going to be interesting getting through the day today...wow its my last Friday at work!!

Well I might as well make the most of the time I have to get ready this morning, including enjoying a shower which cuts out repeatedly (bring on the new bathroom pleeeeeeeeease!!) and maybe getting to work early?! Shock!!! I shall leave you with my current bump progression. I really should have picked one outfit to showcase Baby G in, but I didn't think that far ahead.

Pesky Critters!

I woke up the other morning and did what I always do, go downstairs to get breakfast and on the way open the living room curtains and check that my plants haven't all disappeared overnight. Usually everything is as it should be, but the other day it wasn't such good news!

Considering this is how it should have looked:

This is how the other side looked:


I was NOT impressed in the slightest. Look at the poor peg pot all filled with soil. I have to clean all of those now! In fact this was a couple of days ago and I can't even bear the thought of going out there to clean it all up because I know half the compost is going to go down through the cracks in the decking. Bah! So unnecessary. I can't wait until we get the conservatory/extension built. Then i'm going to treat myself to new planters for flowers, considering these were left here when we bought the house two years ago and look a little worse for wear. And well done to those of you who noticed the bizarre cat flap that the container full of flowers is hiding. Its only on the outside and not the inside... weird.

Song of the Moment

"Eve of the War" by Jeff Wayne from the War of the Worlds musical

How I heard about this song: Dad has loved the War of the Worlds musical by Jeff Wayne since it first came out in the late 70s! If you haven't heard about the War of the Worlds musical, its basically the story by H.G. Wells set to music. We went to see the stage show at the O2 Arena in London and it was AWESOME.

Why I like this song: Because it reminds me of my childhood and I just love it.

Info on the artist and album: http://www.thewaroftheworlds.com/

Best Estate Ever!

Whoever thought that a new estate in South Woodham Ferrers should have roads named after characters and places from Lord of the Rings is a genius.


View Larger Map

I want to live there! Mostly in "Rivendell Vale". How cool would that address be?!
I'm a geek. And I know it.

Thankfulness, Again

I'm having a bit of a downer day today with very little motivation and a high dislike for anything work related. But of course, I am still determined that my blog should not become a vent for all that is blah, so I shall yet again write a list of things I am thankful for.

♥ I am thankful for Twinny, who has been online during work hours the past week and has kept me sane...literally.

♥ I am thankful for the internet, for which I would not have met some amazing people and learnt so much. (I've just noticed I was thankful for this exact thing the last time! - I think I'm just loving the babycentre boards and the awesome blogs I get to read...)

♥ I am thankful for the roof over my head. We are so blessed to have a house, and I must be grateful even though there is stuff everywhere and DIY projects unfinished.

♥ I am thankful for the beautiful little baby currently growing in me, and thankful that technology means that I get to see Baby G wriggling away on a scan screen - totally amazing.

♥ I am thankful for my husband, who has been incredibly supportive, especially through all my complaining!! ♥ ♥

What are you thankful for?

Song of the Moment

"Open Sky" by Iona

How I heard about this song: My parents bought the album a looooong time ago and I borrowed it for also a very looooong time. Haha! This is the song that inspired the name of my blog and my very first post on it. If you want to hear my fave bit without listening to the whole song, skip ahead to 3:08. I love the virbrato in her voice.

Why I like this song: Because its beautiful, and it calms me and I want to have a voice like Joanne Hogg.

Info on the artist and album: This song is on the album "Open Sky" by Iona. The whole album is pretty much perfect.

Decisions Decisions

Back in April I posted about my technology cravings which included the Canon 450d. We've been diligently saving our Amazon vouchers in order to make such a camera purchase by the time baby comes along. I would love nothing more than to be a prosumer photographer for our little one. However, costing it up it looks like its going to cost a lot of money. The body only is over £400, then there's lenses and a bag and all the other stuff that comes along with it. I reckon it could come close to £1000 knowing us and wanting the best of the best. We really can't afford that now in my opinion, and so we talked to my brother-in-law about it as he is a wedding photographer himself and he has a Canon 5D for his pro-shots. He was saying that he would get a Canon Powershot G10 which is £358 on Amazon.

So...the decision is between a DSLR, the Canon 450D oooooooorrrrr a prosumer point-and-shout, the Canon Powershot G10...





Argh I just can't decide! There are pros and cons to both. The G10 would be much easier to carry around and about, especially when going to the park with Baby or something. But the 450D has a lot more scope for doing interesting things with it, and getting interesting lenses. But then would we really use all the features the 450D has to offer? I don't think we would. I don't know! I need some opinions...like right now!

Photo Envy

Just recently, I have been feeling a fair bit of photo envy. Not many of you will know the story of our wedding photos, and why I have reason to be envious. The short version of the story is that we had a not-quite-so-professional do our wedding photos and we have regretted it ever since. We were shown the photos, on a slideshow and then in one of those cheap books by Photobox and we had so many discussions with the photographer afterwards. Basically half of them just weren't flattering, so he hadn't taken enough shots to get that perfect one, and the post-processing on them was awful. Thankfully hubby's brother is a photographer and he did some post-processing work on them and they look a thousand times better, but they still aren't exactly what we wanted. Its not like we can do it all over again...

When we went over to F&F's (hubby's brother et sister-in-law) the other day, he showed us an album he had put together for a wedding he did a month or so ago. It was beautiful. And I was so envious.

Recently Becka and Nate from Studio222Photography have been posting a lot more on their blog and I absolutely adore their photography. If they had been running their business when we got married back in Sept 2007 (were they? I don't know...) then I would have paid ANYTHING to have them be our wedding photographers. I am envious.

We only had one wedding day, and it was a perfect day. I just feel like the fact that the photography wasn't exactly how we wanted it has marred it a little.

I still love this picture though...one of those captured moments...