Sucksville

i was told today that there are going to be loads of redundancies at work. We are all fighting for and competing against each other to keep our jobs. It seems that whenever i get in a happy place something has to happen to ruin it all. Not going to stress about it too much though as i'm sure things will work out for the best whatever happens. Got lots of cool stuff coming up in the next month which i am looking forward to so i'm just going to enjoy them.

Ali & Annie's challenges

Well as i mentioned in a previous post Annie has been posting Ali's challenges on her blog, and i finally managed to get a few more done this weekend. This was for challenge number 5 the 'off centre challenge'. My lubly new BG Gypsy papers {does ANYONE know why they were made to change the name to Romani?!} would have been perfect for this me thinks, but i dug out my old junkitz papers instead, and managed to use some doodlebug flowers in the process. i have accumulated quite a few of these all in orange, which i hardly ever scrap in (who does?!) from various kits. Haven't done colour blocking for a long time, i suppose it's a bit retro, but hey who cares?!?

So i managed to use some old papers and an old technique, dares ya to do the same.

By the way, my toes still feel pretty numb, i don't think that can be good.

Everybodys Changing and i don't know why...

This is something i did just for myself the other day, and i love it! I've scrapped loads this weekend: 3 single pages and 2 double pages! i can't remember the last time i did a double page, i'm talking eons. Usually i like the page that i've scrapped most recently, but this is still my favourite page at the moment and i scrapped it 7 pages ago. i love the stickers from 7gypsies, i got a sheet in my Scrap-room kit this month and i have nearly used the whole lot! The patterned paper is from Sassafrass Lass (from my homegrown kit) and i made the star out of heidi swapp tape. i used my trusty sharpie pen for the journalling. i don't think you can read the quote from the picture, but it's: 'i will do just what i do. Be just what i am, & dance whenever i want to.' A good philosophy to have i think.

Actually, i went out dancing last night. I wore some lovely silver shoes out, but now my toes feel really strange like a mixture of pins & needles and cramp, i think they might have been a wee bit too tight. This weekend has been wierd, i have bumped into loads of people that i haven't seen for years. It's ever wierder that all of them are settling down/buying houses/having babies etc and they are all the same age as me!! eek! Here's me floating around not sure where my life is going, planning to travel the world and then who knows what. All that serious stuff can wait till later (a LOT later) as far as i'm concerned.

On Thursday i went to see Little Miss Sunshine. This is such a good ensemble piece, go see it! I'm loving Justin Timberlake's new album, Lovestoned is my absolute my favourite song on it, go listen! Also finished Time Travellers Wife this week for the second time, it's such an amazing book, go read it! And they are making it into a film, can't wait!

On Saturday my kit arrived from Daisy Bucket Designs
and American Crafts were unable to deliver the flowers and the stickers in time, so they sent a full pack of ribbons and brads as way of an apology. The other stuff will be shipped when it arrives, how cool is that! i have been going a bit mad with buying kits latley, so have been scrapping like mad to ease the guilt a bit. Will upload some more this week.

Parc de Guell

Unfortunatly it was raining when we visited, so we didn't get a chance to see the Parc in its full glory, but it was still pretty amazing. The mozaics were really cool and there were some sweet little buildings that looked like gingerbread houses.

La Ramblas is totally cool. If you get the chance it is worth going just to soak up the atmosphere, there is such a vibe going on and there are just sooo many people. At the top of the street there are mainly flower stalls and further down you get seating for all the cafe's on the side of the road and then you get the newstands and the street performers. There is also a very large market where we bought our breakfast most mornings. It's so colourful and there's loads of wierd fruit and veg that you just never see in your local supermarket. Our hostel was in a fantastic location literally down one of the side streets off of La Ramblas, an ideal base.

i think i am going to try and have a play with photoshop this weekend so i can brighten up the colours in these photos even more.

Not only did it rain...

But it poured! There were some serious thunder and lightening in storms in Barcelona this week and we got drenched. To add insult to injury the check-in guy on our flight home told us they hadn't had rain for 3 or 4 months! And then our flight was delayed because of the weather so we didn't get home till about 5 in the morning. We still had a brill time though and got to see loads of stuff, i'd like to go back in nicer weather sometime. We saw La Sagrada Familia, Palau de la Musica de Catalana, the chocolate museum, Casa Batllo, Park de Guell, Parc de la Ciutadella, Arc de Tromphe and loads more. We got to grips with the metro, but mostly we walked every where so we saw loads of amazing buildings. On the last day we took a bus tour so we got to see everything. A lot of our time was spent in cafe's (pigging out on croissants) and restaurants hiding out from the rain and resting our feet. Barcelona is amazing for shopping! i loved the buzz of the city, there is such a mix of people, and everyone is friendly, such a good atmosphere, but way too many tourists.

A lot of my photos haven't come out to well because of the poor lighting and rain, but i bought a few postcards so i can still scrap everything. Today i have given you some silly pictures, tomorrow you can have some of the good stufff!

Well after saying the other day that i hadn't used any of my Homegrown Scrapbooks kit, i got to work on this. The bits i used from the kit were the beautiful MME paper, the suede ribbon and the Sassafrasslass die cut. i also used a Rhonna F rub-on from Autumn Leaves, Lil' Davis rub ons, Bazzill card, MM pin and the free 'A' stamp that i got from Jean.The picture was taken in the V&A museum when i visited in January, and this piece hangs above the reception at the main entrance, it is very cool, the colours are amazing.

i went shopping with mum this morning to Gunwharf Quays and got some real bargains, mostly clothes for work, including a nice shirt fo 3 quid! Also some very cool reef flip-flops for £6.49! See them here. i was actually looking for some black ones called Anola, but they didn't have them in my size, as is always the way. grr i think i will have a look at gatwick before i jet off to Barcelona to see if they have any.

Friday's are Speshal

If you haven't found it already, then go check out Everyone is Speshal. It's a blog where a bunch of fabbo talented ladies set a new challenge every friday. i''ve had this layout in mind for a while and then their challenge a couple of weeks ago prompted me to actually do it. i knew which photo i wanted to use, but i hadn't had it printed so i've had all the bits layed out for a couple of weeks waiting for my photo to arrive and it got here yesterday, so here's the finished layout.

*A*

A is for alexa. I think i am quite fortunate that i really like my name. i like that it is unusual and that there are not many other alexa's in the world. Lots of people complement me on it, i always thank them, but i think it is really wierd that they are telling me that i have a nice name, when i didn't even choose it. My friends and family call me lex or lexa, but i hate being called alex or alexia or lexi or elektra (yes i have had that quite a few times).

These photos are from my straight hair day. The A is from a kit i got last month from Homegrown Scrapbooks. There was also a Z in the kit, but i doubt i will ever have any use for it. i haven't used any of the kit yet, but i have my fab photos from Notting Hill and my trip to Barcelona next week, which should bring ample photo opportunities.

Straight hair day

Today is a straight hair day, these are very rare. i still won't be seen without a head scarfe though! i feel really different with straight hair, it's a nice change. i feel all special. My freckles have come out to play today. Thanks M for being my personal hairdresser. x