End of Semester

I have come to the end of a busy Semester at school. I enjoyed it a lot and the student's created some fantastic work. I am extremely grateful to have been offered the opportunity to work there again next term and am looking forward to the challenges and inspiring work that is created.

Now I am on to my holiday job at Vacation Care. It has been cold and blustery which is a challenge when you have 60 kids inside a hall who are itching to run around outside and explore the play equipment.

See that ominous sky rolling in, this was taken just before my first shift from the balcony. However (luckily!) there were patches of sun, not many but enough to keep thee leaders and the kids happy.

I managed to catch some of that wonderful sun in the kitchen as I was preparing my lunch. Ah, how I miss the sun. I am off to the museum today which is a blessing as the weather man predicted wind gusts of 100 kilometres per hour! I can just picture a 5 year old being swept off the monkey bars and blown down the street!

show and tell

Adam and I had an excursion to Ikea yesterday. It is an adventure to get there! We felt like we were putting our lives on the line to drive there and arrive in one piece. Crazy drivers were rife! However we came away with all our limbs in tack, the car unscathed and a couple of new treasure. A brand spanking new chair. So comfy and cosy and a perfect place to sit and listen to my old records.
The real reason we went was for the coffee table. It is our very first coffee table and I am so excited. Finally the chaise of the couch will no longer have stacks of paper, magazines and books as now we have a real home for them all.
Oh Ikea, how we love thee. We have a lot of Ikea in our home, I blame the ridiculously reasonable prices- plus I have so much fun putting it together, it is like giant Leggo and I feel so darn handy.

While I was cleaning up today. Cleaning because reports have to be written in a week and doing ANYTHING is better then doing the marking. I found these;




I started this series of paintings based on cages and the act of caging awhile ago. I used watercolours, coloured pencils and ink on watercolour paper. I put them away in a folder at the back of the cupboard with only Adam having ever seen them. Now I decided to bring them into the light of day and share them. I am champing at the bit to do some creating (amazing how it always happens when I am supposed to be marking). I have so many unfinished projects on the go (Mum? Did I inherit that trait from you?) I have a vest which needs its final seams sewn, a mini quilt cut up and ready to put together, a case full of paper and photos to be stuck in somewhere, a painting half done, a ....I think you get the idea.

Hopefully, after a few weeks, when the boring work stuff is out of the way, I will have some more creations to share on here.

First Day of Winter

A very cold and grey first day of winter.

Resulted in hat, mittens, jackets, extra layers and fleecy jumpers...

and the making of warm pancakes...

eaten with very sweet strawberries, syrup while reading the Sunday Paper.

Feeling Blue?

How strange it is that blue is associated with sadness. I was feeling 'blue' earlier this week when there was news from the school that I was teaching at that my contract could not be renewed. I enjoy the job and will be sad to give it up. Today we went on a day trip down the peninsula. We had a beautiful lunch in a winery, we walked on the beach and we visited with family. Today it felt like the whole world was blue. But it was a happy and calming blue filled with possibilities and adventures. I am feeling positive and optimistic about the future and the changes coming up and excited by the possibilities. Enjoy some of my blue.

Like and Dislike

Like:
my new-ish dress. It has pockets which is so handy, I love having pockets. I have worn it out almost every time I go out somewhere even remotely special (and sometimes not even special at all).

Dislike:
marking. Have I complained about that before? I am sure I have, sorry. It is my least favourite part of teaching. I am never one of those people who are organised enough to finish it all straight away. No, not me. I am the teacher who waits until Sunday afternoon to even begin marking. Then, after half an hour, has a computer break and writes a blog post to procrastinate. Yep, I am one of those teachers.

The house is quiet. Adam is in the spare room studying for his exam which is a couple of weeks away. I am marking (or working out every possible way not to mark!). I am looking forward to a weekend when exams and marking are over and we can go on a fun day trip or watch a few good movies. Until then it is back to the salt mines.

Visitor

Mum was down for a few days to visit. Always so nice to host family. I had a blast with her and we walked and shopped until we dropped. I am very tired today but a little less homesick.



Please come back soon Mum.

long time, no post

A long time has gone by since my last post.
So a quick review of the weeks gone by:
::Adam and I past 6 months of marriage (and both forgot on the day!)
::I worked during my term holidays at vacation care ( I don't think I actually ever mentioned on here that I have a new teaching job. Art and textiles at an all girls school). I had a lot of fun sliding down slides, hanging upside down on monkey bars, playing tea parties and sports. However I am thoroughly exhausted and not at all in the mood to go back to teaching straight away!
::I turned 25 years old.
::For my birthday Adam got me tickets to the World of Wearable Art show in New Zealand. We go in September. I am so very excited and grateful.
::I received lots of lovely birthday wishes and gifts.
So there you go. A quick review of the daily goings on in the life of us. I hope you all have been having lovely goings on as well.