Make-over and more...

Hi all!

Sorry it has been a while but work has been hectic. I think and hope I have solved most of the issues there and everything and everyone is on track now. We're designing a new class or course as we say and it is a lot of work. But we're getting there!

Last month, just after I got back from Greece we had graduation of our students. I work at a school for people who work for local governments and the image of these people is often not so good. They are seen as dull, boring and not very hard workers. Since we know all these organisations inside and out we know the opposite is true. We worked with the stereotype at the graduation and offered free make-overs. Of course I am not a graduate but well... the make-overs were free for everyone! So first I went to the make-up artist and then... the hairdresser. Let me tell you my colleagues were looking at the with their hands over their mouth, it looked like they were in shock but I had fun (of course I didn't loose all of my hear, lol!):

Ok, this was almost a month ago but I just got the photo today... Now on to some photos of my little boys!

Pictures were taken bij Natascha Hogervorst (NH Delooks) and were taken at Daycare.

Aren't they cute? I mean, the boys are cute, they are mine... but the little vehicles!! Love the motorbike... I will never ride one but in the far forgetten past I was on the backseat of a motorbike driving through Switzerland and I will always rembember these times when a see bikes.... Lol... that was 18 years ago....!

No layouts for today... I have made some but I will post them later this week!!

CT Call for Ilona Havenaar

Not much time to write a blogpost but I think you should know this:

layouts, layouts, layouts....

Yes... I owe you some layouts I know...

I have only been at work again for 1 week (I had to think about how long it was... seems a lot longer) but I feel hectic again... do you know that feeling? This weekend was fun and since Thursday afternoon we had only 1 boy or none at all.. First 1 stayed with their grandparents, then both and now again the other one.... Mauro had the Friday off school so he was able to visit his grandparents. Grandpa celebrated his 64th birthday on Saturday so he was able to party! We arrived during the day, had some coffee and cake and left the other boy there too...

In the evening we headed for the town of Weesp, it's a small town near Amsterdam where our friends Don and Ellen live. This town has a gorgeous town hall



I have been inside the town hall for work before... but only now realized how beautiful it is.

The party was fun but we didn't know many people, the music was good though and they had two singers, mainly Dutch music. We didn't get home too late and were able to sleep in this morning because there were no kids to wake us up... :)

In the afternoon we headed for the village of Cothen again... in this month famous for the cherries. June is the cherry month and now we're in July is count down to the last cherries of the season. What is fun is that they are sold straight from the orchards. Look at these photos to get an impression:





They are delicious!!

Now on to the layouts I promised you:



Credits can be found here


Credits can be found here


Credits can be found here



Credits can be found here



Credits can be found here

That's it for today... don't forget to check Petra's blog and her 1st blogversay!!

Hallo hallo...

I am scrapping away, I will post the results soon! Remember Petra's Blog Party this weekend... a little birdie told me she's giving away some great prizes!

Today I found the meaning of my birthday... I think it comes close :)

Your Birthdate: April 29

You have the mind of an artist, even if you haven't developed the talent yet. Expressive and aware, you enjoy finding new ways to share your feelings. You often feel like you don't fit in - especially in traditional environments. You have big dreams. The problem is putting those dreams into action. Your strength: Your vivid imagination Your weakness: Fear of failure Your power color: Coral Your power symbol: Oval Your power month: November

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Greek night at the Sidari Village Hotel.

DSC03346
Originally uploaded by Karen Kool.

Sidari Beach Sunset

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Originally uploaded by Karen Kool.

The boat to visit the caves.

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Originally uploaded by Karen Kool.

Paleokastritsa Beach

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Originally uploaded by Karen Kool.

We drove to this village by car and took a small boat to see the caves.

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DSC03259
Originally uploaded by Karen Kool.

Corfu!

Hi!

Yes we're back from Greece.... It was hot and sunny and very relaxing!!! I will tell you more about it soon and also show you some pictures but first things first...

Five years ago exactly I was trying to survive contractions.... after 9 months of carrying my precious baby.... He is the one that made me a MOM! I remember so vividly at what time it all started, how hubby got home early from work by surprise (really, I hadn't called him to tell 'it started') and how we ended up in the hospital at 5.00 am in the morning.... Ever been in a car with serious contractions?? Hmmm... I remember I did NOT like it!!

But then at 8.04 am my little boy was there, June 28, 2002! It was a c-section in the end because he couldn't get out, turned his nose to my belly and that made it difficult to get out!

Tomorrow he will be FIVE! The first time he can give treats to his friends in school. Sure he did that in daycare and the teachers there always threw him a big party (thank you Petra) but now he realizes it's his birthday!!

One pair of grandparents will join the party tomorrow afternoon because they will leave for vacation the day after... all the other people are invited on Saturday. And then on Wednesday it will be his first Kids Party! He invited four friends (so cute, 3 boys but also 1 girl) to his party and we are going to be Pirates all afternoon (or at least I hope so... perhaps the kids have different thoughts about that).... Well his cake is in style... this picture will be on the cake:

All the elements I used on the photo are from the Pirates Kit by Royanna Fritschmann (Divine Digital). It's an older kit, not for sale any longer I think.

By the way, the photo was taken in Corfu last week! The kids loved the animation team, the girls Laura and Yonneke were amazing! 5 days a week, 4 hours a day they were playing games with them, doing crafts etc. This girls made it possible I read 5 books in 2 weeks! If you are Dutch and have little kids you should try Kidsworld!!

OK... more about Greece very very soon, I promise!!

We're away.... vacationing in Greece... we'll be back in two weeks!

Count down!

Yes, I am counting the nights until we leave for Greece, I look like a little kid! So it's exactly 4 nights away from today! It's one more day at work and then a Saturday filled with parties! My youngest has it's first kiddies' birthday party, his little friend Rosanne is turning four and she invited a couple of friends over, so cute! They have a group of 4 little friends (they boys are still 3, the girls are 4 years old, lol) and they are so great together in daycare! My boy doesn't like Tuesdays at daycare, when they are not there!

And then we have another party... it's Petra's 25th birthday!!! Those who read my blog all know her of course, also known as Milo82!! She's throwing a party and we are invited.... any suggestions for a great birthday gift??

So then it's Sunday and time to pack the suitcases to leave for this place....ooh I love to find photos of Corfu on the net!







Well I have to sort some more things out, hubbie has a job interview tomorrow so I have to print his resume now...

Love!!
Karen

The extension to our attic

Today is the day! At 7.00 am in the morning the workforce was here, they were going to create an extension to our attic today! I have put it in a little album for you! Didn't do much else except taking kids to and from school and taking Mauro to my friend because the kids wanted to play together... Good thing, this wasn't a day to have kids around the house.

Hope you had a good day too, tomorrow will be another day of construction as the interior still has to be finished off!

Karen

Hi all!!

So how are you?? I am doing ok.... I have antibiotics and it makes me dizzy! So I just do very little, try to organize ACDsee (but it shuts down all the time when I try to move stuff), yesterday I did some scrapping and now it's time for some blogging!

Oh and I did some shopping on the internet.... My boys both have crocs and they don't want anything else on their feet so I thought I'd better have them too! And because we're going to Greece in 2 weeks I ordered them online. I couldn't make a choice between flip flops or sandals so I got them both (Petra, don't be jealous.... I have the url for you, lol!).

I also did some layouts yesterday.... here they are:

I mad this layout for the CT of Ilona Havenaar, she sells at Divine Digital. I love the background, looks like fabric! The kit is called Nymphaea. The wordart is by me.

Now of to my Parisian scraps!

Credits can be found here

Credits can be found here

I wanted to tell for a long time that I am on the CT of Royanna Fritschmann, I was really excited when I heard the news but thought she was going to announce it. I think she has to many other things on her mind right now, or perhaps she has announced but I missed it! Of course she's at Divine Digital, but you already knew that, didn't you :) !!

Another long weekend coming up...Whitsunday, we all have Monday off too.... Tuesday I have to work but then Wednesday and Thursday I have to be home because the builders will put an extension to our attic on those days. I will show you photos next week!

Friday we have the annual 'company day out'.... At the end of the schoolyear we 'co-workers' go out for a day and it's always a suprise what will happen on that day. I tried to tease Ines, one of my colleagues to let me in on her little secret because she KNOWS... I got nothing more out of her except that all activities will be outdoors and we will have a BBQ afterwards! Let me show you what I did last year:

That was FUN!! I never learned how to drive such a thing, a real citygirl I guess! I was a bit scared at first but very proud I drove it!

Next time I will tell you about Greece.... we're heading there in two weeks and I just got the tickets today!! Woohoo!!!

Have a good day!!

Hi all!!

So I am back in the digiworld and alive and kicking... ok, maybe not so alive.... My youngest is not feeling really well so he's not giving me the nights I should have :0)... Oh well, that's what a mom's life is all about, isn't it... never enough sleep to get through the day!

My other boy fell flat on the pavement today, I am sorry I didn't take any pictures to scrap but I was busy taking care of his sour knee (ouch mommy, also my lip and my left hand, and ohh my right hand too)... Life is hard when you're almost FIVE!

I did manage to get some scrapping done today, I made two layouts:

Credits can be found: here

Credits can be found here

This last one is for Sara Amarie, I am on her Creative Team as a guest this month but most of this mont my computer was gone, so I wasn't able to do much for her. The kit I used for this one is Naturals Collection Kit: Pacific. I also used some of her Felty Flowers Tinies, all available at the Sweet Shoppe, her stuff is great so I would go and take a look... :)

I am trying to catch up on my CT duties now!

Well, all for now, I am going to get some sleep before someone wakes me up!

Hi!

So I wanted to surprise you after my absence... I have been dying to show you a little mothersday movie.... My little boy learned a song for this occassion in school. His dad is singing along with him!

I also did my first LO on my 'new' computer.... wel it's not new, only the harddisk is, and I put another one in for backup (this girl is getting smarter :))




Credits can be found here

Unfortunately this long long weekend (because it was Ascension day last Thursday) has now come to an end. I have to work again tomorrow... I will try to get the day off on Friday again but I don't know if that will really happen... I want some time to organize my computer!

And I need FONTS... I lost them all! Please, if you have any good free fonts, point me in the right direction!!

So now it's time for the movie!




Have a great week!

My PC is back!

Just a short message to you all to let you know that my computer is back! I picked it up on Friday afternoon... still had to wait for it then because they had to put the backup back on... I lost all of my fonts (never thought of that)... and old e-mails and e-mail addresses... but well.... I will get them back!

I did a scrap last night but it disappeared somewhere in my computer... when I find it you will be the first to know!

Hi, Still no new scraps, still no desktop computer :(... I called the repairshop yesterday and they were still trying to retrieve my documents but didn't know if they were succeeding or not ... Well, I just have to be patient I guess. I really miss the scrapping! Luckily Petra has set up a new little blog community and has gotten me into Kaboodle so I have plenty to do online. And I just got tickets for Symphonica in Rosso at the presale! First I told dh that I didn't want to go. We have been there last year because Marco Borsato did SIR... this year he put it in the hands of Paul de Leeuw, another Dutch artist. Very good but totally different! Marco and I go way back... although he probably won't remember ;), he's now a national popstar!
In 1990 or 1991 when I worked for a Dutch Touroperator, we organized a reunion for the travelers. As they were only young people (teens, early twenties) the organization hired a singer that had just won one of those TV contests that are really popular now (Idols, but then the early nineties version by Henny Huisman, lol).... Anyway, because I had been a rep I also had to do a small performance (the group of reps) so I shared the dressing room with.... Marco Borsato. Can you believe he now sings with the Andrea Bocelli's of this world! Lol... been there, done that!
Anyway, to surprise my dh I did buy tickets this morning.... It's Nov. 3rd so still 6 months away... I have to run now, have a work appointment in Amsterdam! Hope to see you all again soon!

I Kaboodle too!

Have you all read Petra's blog... she's kaboodling! And now I am too, look here at my wishlist:

cloggie68's Wish List by cloggie68

I also made a list of purchased items, I have not put everything in that I got at NSD weekend but I am getting there!

Still no desktop back yet.... I am going to call the computerdoctor tomorrow because I am a bit worried that they haven't given ME a call yet, I really would like to know how my dear PC is doing! Has it really lost all it's data or not?? It's giving me nightmares... but I am soooo happy and relieved that my scrapping stuff and photos are still here!!

Check out Petra's blog, don't forget, she also started a blog circle, she's full of great ideas!!

My computer died... and please vote!

My computer died... or probably my harddisk... On the night before national scrapbookday... when I was looking through all the sales whilst chatting with Petra... it suddenly gave up. I took it to the computer doctor yesterday so hopefully I will have it back somewhere at the end of this week. Until then I can do the shopping but not the scrapbooking. Oh well... I survived NSD, did you?

I entered a totally different contest with digiscrap stuff! Remember I am buzzing Redband Truly, the candies? I scrapped one LO with it and entered it for a creative contest. Can you please vote for me on the Redband Truly Website??
I need a lot of 10s of course :).

Well it's just a short message, I am not as comfortable on the laptop as on my own comfy pc... Hope you're having a great weekend!

Karen