Lifetime ambitions

Saw this on someone elses blog, so thought I'd post my version. Red are things I'd like to do in my lifetime. Green are things I'd like to do this year, Blue are for things I've already done, and Black is things I'll never do…ever!

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with wild dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
8. Said "I love you” and meant it
9. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Surfed the net for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced - kidding!!
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children (or…raising children)
97. Picked up and moved to another city to start over
98. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
99. Gone on an African photo safari
100. Ridden a horse

Plug me in...

Nothing very exciting to post about... unless you're Kermie! I managed to get hold of a new remote control mouse for him at the weekend (he destroyed the last one!), so today I am his new (old) best friend (again)! *sigh* I wanna be a cat. Well, at least a cat in this house! What an easy life!

Virtually yours

It's official! I've just launched the latest step in my career as a self-employed adminstrator - my Virtual Assistant website has been officially launched! Now I just have to promote it and get some work!
You can see the website here: www.ninadouglas.co.uk
And, if you know of anyone who might need some adminstrative help with a small business, please point them in my direction!

Elysium

"Except in the Elysium shades of Richmond
there's no such thing as love & pleasure."

Lady Mary Wortley Montague in a letter to her sister, 1723.

My very favourite place to be. Richmond Hill. Inside the park at Isabella Plantation, to be precise. In May when the rhodedendrons and azaeleas are at their best, it truly is heaven on earth.

This layout was based on Mary Anne Walters' sketch in this months Scrapbook Inspirations. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had three photos which would be perfect for it. And I even managed to use some of this months Scrapping Angels kit!

And here are the layouts I did at the Scrapajack crop last weekend.
This was based on a layout in Cathy Z's book Clean and Simple Scrapbooking: The Sequel:

This one contains hidden journaling written in conjunction with the BPS class:

And here's one I did last night, using papers from the March Sarah's Cards kit:

Am busy trying to get my admin business off the ground at the moment. I am trying to design a professional looking website for myself - and it's proving much harder than I expected!

Taking a break from the PC now though - have to make a couple of cards for upcoming birthdays!

Running with scissors

Well we had a fun ol' day in Droitwich Spa at Scrapajack's fabulous crop. I'm posting Jilly's picture of us all because I haven't got round to loading mine from my camera yet! Anyway, we did have a great time and I'm hoping to get down to crop with all the lovely ladies there again very soon.

I started two layouts at the crop, and put the finishing touches to them last night. I managed to do a decent amount of journalling following the advice from the Big Picture Scrapbooking My Word class. Will post those tomorrow as I haven't scanned them in yet, but I'm too tired to do it now!

And the reason I'm so exhausted, apart from the 5am alarm call yesterday, was that I spent most of the day in the garden planting some bedding plants, seeds and generally making it look even prettier! I really love to spend time out there at the moment. It's exhilarating. Fingers crossed though, that I haven't over-exerted myself and put too much stress on my back. I'm quite enjoying being almost pain-free!

Mum and I have decided to join the Race for Life and will be running, or should I say walking, in memory of Dad. If you would like to sponsor us please click here, or if you prefer not to use online payments, email me.

OK, off to rest my weary bones!

Scrapadoodledoo!

I'm off to Droitwich to meet my team mates tomorrow! Had a fun morning with the Nottingham scrap ladies today too. I'm enjoying this little flurry of socialising!
Got to go and get packed up & charge my ipod ready for tomorrow, but will post when I get back!

New beginnings

It's suddenly beginning to look very springlike. After a slight false-start, the bulbs are finally blooming and the garden is filled with the golden glow of daffodils. Blossom hangs from the trees like snow and the insects are awakening from their winter sleep. I saw a butterfly and bumble bee this week - both still a bit early, but a welcome sight in the garden.

I signed up for the My Word journalling class at Big Picture Scrapbooking, and have enjoyed the first week immensely. Although I like to write, I am always worried that my style is too 'samey', so I thought I'd take this class to try and help me overcome that problem. I suppose writing this blog is another hurdle in that, although I know I'm not very good at updating these things so it may be a phase which burns out very quickly. We'll see.

Going to meet my UKScrappers team mates this weekend at a crop. I can't wait. It will be so lovely to meet all those ladies in person at last.