Day out at Templempore...

Today was my brother's graduation day from Templemore where he became a fully fledged member of the Garda Siochana. I was so proud of him as he marched smartly in his uniform and all I could think of was how as a small kid he loved watching the movie Police Academy and here he was today living his dream...

An officer and a gentleman!






Minister Willie O 'Dea (who has making the media headlines this week with a €50,000 bet from Ben Dunne to shave off his signature moustache) did the honours at the ceremony which is known as 'the passing out ceremony'. His speech was as long as a thesis on crime statistics, so very long that one of the graduates did indeed 'pass out' while she was waiting in line for him to finish waffling - even as she was escorted to a seat by first aiders in front of him, it didn't deter him. As it was raining cats and dogs and people had to stand there listening to his verbal diarrhoea as it chucked down, I couldn't help wondering if he would have been better off spending time shaving his facial hair for charity!


Nevertheless it was a proud day for everyone concerned. The marching and drillwork was spectacular to watch and there was such a great buzz when the caps were tossed in the air.

Blog Make-Over


Gave my home space a little spring clean today and thanks to Kate I have this lovely new look - thanks Kate;-). I seem to be on a bit of a spring clean this week - 10 bags to Enable Ireland and furniture moving all around the house. I'm a woman on a mission for a fung shui inspired home. The craft room is next!

Annamarie from The Scrapbook Store is running a photography competition - closing date tomorrow 31st July and the theme is holidays- to capture the essence of a place you visited on holidays. You must post 5 photos from your holiday (home or abroad) onto the site gallery so get the camera out and get entering for a great prize. These are my entries taken in Venice late month...

Photoshop Rediscovered...

I have been playing around with CS2 all week because my normal photo editing software has crashed and it's been a total revelation. I've had it for nearly 2 years and I've done a course etc but so far I haven't managed to make friends with it until this week. There are so many free resourses out there to help you understand it better. I have downloaded loads of free actions from various sites but my favourite is www.thepioneerwoman.com as she has some really great free stuff including a brilliant action set. Go and have a look. Here are some of my CS tweaked photos...

SOTC (straight outta the camera;-)) shot


'Popped' using an action


B&W action







Will post some more in a while..

TFL

I've been nominated...



Julie has nominated me for this award. Thanks a mil, Julie!


The rules are that I have to nominate 7 other bloggers whose blogs I admire and visit frequently.
Each award winner must show the award and link seven nominated people from their own blog then post a message on the seven chosen blogs.

I've nominated...(I know some of you have been nominated before but here goes...)

Carrie, Audrey, Annamarie, Tigger, Kiki, Eva

Castleknock crop July Class

We were back at our old favourite hall in Castleknock on Saturday for the July class and this is what we made. It's a slider panel technique which allows you to pull back the photo to reveal another layer. Love those Theresa Collins papaers. Thanks to everyone who came along.

Closed

Open

Afterawards it was a quick dash over to my nephew James's Christening party. I made this before we went - bit of a rush job but I liked how it turned out.


It was also my mum's birthday on Saturday so Fiona and Derek organised this cake for her which was a nice surprise. Happy Birthday Mum - love ya lots XX

You gotta keep an eye on those kids!



This made me laugh - just the kind of mischief my two could and would get into given half the chance! I love the little boy trying to tell his mum and she's going 'yeah yeah whatever...!'

Sneaky Peaks


I'm just putting the final touches to this LO for Saturday's class in Castleknock. We will be using the lovely Theresa Collins papers and theme will suit a wedding/anniversary or just a girly girl photo...


We had a busy weekend as I had my whole family over on Saturday to celebrate my parent's 40th Wedding Anniversary. It's funny when you are younger and you think 40th's happen to old people and now that it's a milestone which has happened, your folks don't seem that old afterall...


Anyway we had a lovely day and we cooked up a storm, enough to feed a small country and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Note that the chocolate mice (aka my little nieces and nephews) got their paws on the cake before I had a chance to snap it! ;-)


I have been planning this for a long time and I was glad it came together with hours to spare. It's a visual family tree on painted canvas and it took hours to complete but the end result was achieved. It's a large project - larger than it looks in the photo, measuring nearly 4ft x 2.5ft.

Bella Italia!



Just got home late last night from 2 fabulous weeks in sunny Italia. While the rain was dancing on Ireland we were basking in mid 30's - total bliss! It was our second visit to the amazing Union Lido Vacanze resort in Cavallino which is a short ferry ride from Venice and we had such a relaxing time. We spent our mornings in the pools, afternoons lounging around the mobile plugged into our ipods with our books while the kids happily played in their brilliantly run kids club. Then we would stroll down to the beach for an hour or two catching the waves. Later after a bbq most evenings we took the kids to the Baby dancing club where they danced their little socks off 'til the sun went down and then we had some yummy Italian ice-cream or a cool glass of vino while watching the many entertainment options provided by the resort (musical production of Chicago, ballet show, gospel singers, string quartets..the choice was endless). I really couldn't recommend this place highly enough - the epitome of chill! So much so that we have booked again for next year!






This year I outdid my record of 1,000 photos so you will have to wait until I do some serious resizing to see how we got on!