Saturday, December 31, 2011

365/365

365/365 by sally_re
365/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Hoorah! I did it!! This had to be the last photo of the year - a photo of ALL the 364 other photos I took this year. Thank you to Clogsilk for introducing me to this wonderful way of journalling my year and for teaching and supporting me in my new photography habit!

I got a tripod for Christmas and a digital photography manual so my pictures in 2012 will be better I hope! I've learnt so much this year and utterly enjoy my new hobby!

Happy New Year to everyone

Friday, December 30, 2011

364/365

364/365 by sally_re
364/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I can't believe it. I've done it. A photo a day for every day of the year in 2011. Tomorrow I think I'll have to do an amalgamation of all of them. But I'm so bloody proud of myself! Can't remember the last thing I stuck to, let alone a resolution I kept all year. And intend to keep again next!

363/365

363/365 by sally_re
363/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
My drug of choice - bubble baths! This has been heavily airbrushed (and someone said it looks like I have bubbles for boobs) but I still like it!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

362/365

362/365 by sally_re
362/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I actually made this yesterday. I was inordinately proud of it. Unfortunately, Toby ate some (under great protest) and then vomited it back up all over himself and the table. (I told you I had a shitty day yesterday). However I am still proud that I made it - it was turkey with chestnuts, leeks, onions and carrot and it's bloody lovely, no matter what Toby does. So I'm making sure it makes the PAD cut and using it for today! I'm also finishing it today for my dinner....

361/365

361/365 by sally_re
361/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Shitty day today - post holiday blues, Mum giving me a lecture I didn't need, hormones......you name it - just shitty. So I made this to cheer myself up - it's cheating cos I took it the day after this but I'm swapping my pics round - tomorrow's pic was taken today and vice versa. So here is my lovely Toby. It's rare that I capture him really laughing. His "smile" he puts on for pictures looks like a grimace. Looking at this sequence makes me forget I had a shitty day.....

Monday, December 26, 2011

360/365

360/365 by sally_re
360/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
We've just slobbed out today - as you should do on Boxing Day! The boys have been playing with their toys and watching endless movies. I've been eating a lot! And wearing my favourite present - from my Mum - she bought them for herself but they were too big so I now have my own pair of Uggs!

359/365

359/365 by sally_re
359/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
We had a wonderful day. Mum hated my present but apart from that, I think we did quite well - I got a tripod and a digital photography guide so watch this space for some more impressive shots next year! I've learnt so much doing PAD this year and have decided to definitely continue into 2012

358/365

358/365 by sally_re
358/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
So excited for Christmas!

357/365

357/365 by sally_re
357/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Inspired by lots of friends on Facebook I decided to bake christmassy cookies! Toby helped - Snickerdoodles are basically sugar cookies rolled in cinnamon and they're lovely

Thursday, December 22, 2011

356/365

356/365 by sally_re
356/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Took this today on my iphone. I love my iphone! It was so mild today we spent over an hour in the park. The light was so bright - love this shot - looks like Oz is trying to touch a cloud....

355/365

355/365 by sally_re
355/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Out for the THIRD night in a row! Off to the netmum's christmas gathering at Sapporo. A lovely evening although the service was a bit slow!

(Can't believe there are only 10 more days to go until I've PAD-ed my way through the year!!!)

354/365

354/365 by sally_re
354/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I went to watch my lovely friend Pearl teach her zumba class at the Christmas party she'd organised. She's utterly amazing. I'd never seen her teach before and she's wonderful. All her class seemed to adore her, she gave everyone such a fun workout - utterly proud!

353/365

353/365 by sally_re
353/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Last Weight Watchers of the year - I haven't been for three weeks and wasn't sure how I'd done...I'd lost 8lbs! Which brings my total to 43. I couldn't have done it without Clogsilk and the gals - between us we've lost about 9 1/2 stone which is quite amazing. We meet in a church which is spotlit and I couldn't resist snapping this as I passed -a triumphant shadow! I'm relaxing from my diet for the next two weeks so bring on the Christmas food!

352/365

352/365 by sally_re
352/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
There's a stall on Greenwich Market that sells old tins, old bottles and bits and bobs. I love old tins! They remind me of my Grandad who used to have loads of old tobacco tins. In fact there was one on the stall that I have, that he gave me. They looked amazing. I bought a tiny blue glass apothecary bottle - Rob is convinced it probably had arsenic in it!

351/365

351/365 by sally_re
351/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Couldn't quite line Mum up - I was driving them to the station. Unfortunately cos I had booked myself to do a birthday party, I couldn't accompany the boys so Rob and Mum took them to see Oily Cart Theatre Company up in town - Ring A Ding Ding was the show. Oily Cart are THE best interactive theatre experience for young children. Toby was supposedly enchanted. Wish I could have seen it.....

350/365

350/365 by sally_re
350/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
The boys have Christmas parties at school today and Oscar and I "baked"...Rocky Road....from a kit - it was simplicity itself but I hope they all eat it!

349/365

349/365 by sally_re
349/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I'd been so looking forward to this! Book Clurb Christmas bash at Riva in Catford. Hannah and I are sporting taches from our crackers! We had a lovely meal, great secret santa gifts and then a boogie afterwards! I was quite merry on Prosecco. Can't believe we've been doing book clurb for nearly a year - it's a great bunch of women and we've read some great books. I've picked next month's - Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (she even replied to my tweet telling her we were reading it!). I highly recommend it if you haven't read it....

348/365

348/365 by sally_re
348/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I didn't have a moment to take a pic today....did the preschool christmas party and it was insane and quite challenging! So this is my Christmas poinsettia - it looks quite big here but it's a mini one!

347/365

347/365 by sally_re
347/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Early to bed...and messing around in the bathroom while waiting for my bubble bath to run! Hoorah for sparkly bokeh!

346/365

346/365 by sally_re
346/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I'm teaching almost every day this week - doing Christmas parties and also birthday parties at the weekend. I'm trying to get festive by painting my nails sparkly!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Wordle cloud!

        My wordle cloud of my blog this year.....
Wordle: Sally

Sunday, December 11, 2011

345/365

345/365 by sally_re
345/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
And yesterday's pic made me think of my Ceramic Santa who sits on our mantlepiece each Christmas - can't remember where I got him from but I love him - tea lights inside make him all sparkly and lit up!

344/365

344/365 by sally_re
344/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
We went to a local primary school fair today - not our school but the closest other one to us - they always have a fab fair - and they had a fab Santa! Toby refused to pose with him but was enchanted - Oz being a star looks wonderful in this pic! I've booked to see Santa at Bluewater on Christmas Eve but might save myself the hassle and not bother!

343/365

343/365 by sally_re
343/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
It was a wonderful day today - Suzanna and I have done the sushi homemade lunch before - and today we did it at Clare's house. We made mixed rolls with pickle, pepper, avocado and crabstick and tons of prawn tempura rolls. I'm much better at rolling than last time. Utterly fab fun with my friends!

342/365

342/365 by sally_re
342/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Last ornament for a while (until I need to fill a day!). I bought this about 11 years ago and initially thought it was a santa ornament but Rob swears it's a wizard and I think he's probably right - so pre-Pottermania, I had a wizard in my house!

341/365

341/365 by sally_re
341/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
And this is perhaps my favourite swap ornament from over the pond - from my dahlin friend Janey - it's a N'Awlins Christmas MardiGras Crawfish - with beads, a mask and a crown. I love it - it's utterly amazingly surreal and bonkers!

340/365

340/365 by sally_re
340/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Another stonecutter swap ornament - and totally appropriate! We're all about shoes and bags and sparkle!

339/365

339/365 by sally_re
339/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
My stonecutter pals and I used to do a regular ornament swap - I haven't participated for a couple of years which I regret - this is one of my swap ornaments - from a darling friend of German origin in Detroit - it's a very German-American tradition to hang a pickle ornament on the tree and the first child to find it will get a treat. I luckily have 2 of them so the boys get to both win!

338/365

338/365 by sally_re
338/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I'm a sucker for a personalised ornament. Near my sister's home in Detroit is a mad place called Bronners - the biggest Christmas (putting the "Christ" back in Christmas) shop in the world. It's utterly enormous and I love it - they do personalised ornaments and I have one for almost every year we've been a family - from one that says Sally, Rob and Pip (the name for my bump when pregnant with Oz) to Sally, Rob, Oscar and TooBee (Toby's bump name) and this year I got this one - it hasn't got the year on it but I loved it!

337/365

337/365 by sally_re
337/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
The first weekend in December always means we put the tree up. And this year the boys did it all by themselves! It was utterly fab and I didn't even need to re-decorate it after they'd gone to bed. I have an utterly eclectic ornament collection - more to come....

336/365

336/365 by sally_re
336/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Toby has been being bribed to be good with lego minifigures! My friend Nick swapped me a clown one for this one - Toby's ultimate favourite - a dwarf complete with doubleheaded battleaxe and full beard....

335/365

335/365 by sally_re
335/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Thanks to Starbucks festive giveaways, I had my first mince pie of the year! It was rather yummy but then Clare worked out how many points it was - oops!

November collage

November collage by sally_re
November collage, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Another month - the penultimate month - and though I fell behind twice, I've managed to catch up!

334/365

334/365 by sally_re
334/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Toby just saw his advent calendar....and realised the countdown is about to begin! He's a bit excited...

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

333/365

333/365 by sally_re
333/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
And here's a selection of the pictures I took on Sunday. They aren't great but each one was a specific exercise in using my camera correctly and NOT keeping it permanently on the automatic setting! I really learnt a lot and recommend Frui if they pop up on a groupon again!

332/365

332/365 by sally_re
332/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I've always wanted to take a picture where the object I wanted to focus on sort of popped out of the background - and now I understand how to do it - this isn't the most interesting picture but it really showed me how to use aperture to draw peoples eyes to the object I'm wanting them to!

331/365

331/365 by sally_re
331/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I went on a fab photography course today that I bought on a Groupon - run by Frui.co.uk it was a beginners guide to DSLR and it was really useful. Our tutor Alex Macro (www.alexmacro.co.uk) is a passionate professional photographer and he was really great at teaching us. We sat and discussed the ISO/Aperture/Shutter speed capabilities and then he took us outside to SHOW us - which I found much more helpful.

So here is Alex demonstrating how important shutter speed is when taking pictures of fast moving things!

330/365

330/365 by sally_re
330/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Saturday usually means park day for us! This is Rob and I in Manor Park

329/365

329/365 by sally_re
329/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
And another one as a bit of a filler...

328/365

328/365 by sally_re
328/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
A photo from my recent trip up to London - love these

327/365

327/365 by sally_re
327/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I've decided to branch out with my singing classes and set up on my own at a restaurant in Catford. They have a fab room under the restaurant where they run a playgroup and as of the 5th December will have me in my new incarnation - I asked for suggestions for names on Facebook and this was the most popular!

326/365

326/365 by sally_re
326/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I went up to London tonight for an acting workshop which was brilliant. I have a strange tradition - if I'm up in town I HAVE to stop by this statue - my favourite - and touch Oscar's hand. He's one of the reasons my son is called Oscar...love him...

325/365

325/365 by sally_re
325/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
This little rose is blooming in our garden. In November....it's rather beautiful but rather wierd to see it in full bloom at this time of year!

324/365

324/365 by sally_re
324/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
For some unknown reason Toby dragged the pop up post office toy down from the playroom and proceeded to entertain us with a puppet show - using our baby einstein puppets that we haven't played with for ages. It mainly consisted of the tiger roaring at the monkey and them both fighting eachother.....

323/365

323/365 by sally_re
323/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Rob has been in America all week for work and came home this morning. The boys were overjoyed to see him and mobbed him on the sofa!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

322/365

322/365 by sally_re
322/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
The infant school has been selling balloons for CIN and this was the launch. Each child's balloon has their name on it and the address of the school - we let them all off and the one that gets the furthest (if anyone actually sends the tag back) will win a giant teddy.

Lovely to have had blue skies for this launch even though it's mid-November!

321/365

321/365 by sally_re
321/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
We snuck off to Bluewater today after dropping off the kids (apart from Claud) to look for spotty boys clothes for Children In Need. James and Toby can wear their own clothes but it's a spotty theme for CIN and have you any idea how hard it is to find boys' clothes with spots on?

We didn't succeed. But we had a nice coffee/smoothie and I played with Hipstamatic, my new camera app to make these pics so purple!

320/365

320/365 by sally_re
320/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
It's the festive season and glitter is everywhere...I saw these shoes in M&S and I covet them.

Unfortunately I cannot walk in any kind of heel (even 1 inch ones) so they can never be mine........

319/365

319/365 by sally_re
319/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
On Tuesday I picked up James from school and then Anne came over with Claudia and Hope and Alice and we had a Mcdonalds Feast. (Well the kids did).

Due to a burst water main, the traffic was insane and poor Anne had to park a few streets away and walk up to mine with 3 girls and 2 sacks of McD's....and it was quite late by the time she got there so we didn't have a huge amount of time to talk!

Oscar was, as usual, was all over Alice and ecstatic that she was there (for about 10 minutes then he started playing his DS)

Alice had a chip and a party ring so she was also ecstatic!

318/365

318/365 by sally_re
318/365, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
After Weightwatchers on Monday we escaped to Sapporo! Since I hadn't eaten all day, Clare and I got there first and managed to polish off quite a lot before the others joined us!

As is becoming tradition, we had to take a cheesy self portrait! LOVE her....