So, I downloaded an app called Timehop.

Seemed a good idea at the time.  I opened it today to be presented with a photo that haunts me to this day.

This was the day I had words with my best friend & never spoke to her, or two other friends, again.  It's 3 years ago this week.

This weekend has been one of the hardest in a while, when a few things have amalgamated in me remembering to put those barriers back up.

I think of them often, and never give up hope that they may want to speak to me again one day.

Mr B & I are going through an iffy patch.  I told him only tonight that I know I can be a difficult person to know, as I've lost friends in the past.  I have a heart of gold & care deeply for my friends.  My downfall, is opening my mouth & saying what I think & standing by my morals & values.  I'd hope, now, that I don't say anything to hurt peoples feelings, although I suspect (know) I was guilty of this in the past.

So, this photo is of old Lucie who thought everything was hunky dory in her little world & that she had friends who loved her & would never leave her side.

New Lucie is a lot wiser to her faults & is trying her best every day to be a better person.

Xxx

Tuesday's are the new Monday :(

I have been feeling a bit 'Blah' all of this morning,  

Too much sleep mixed with a little* bit of PMT, a phone call from Anya's school and the boredom that is applying for jobs.

After finishing these mundane tasks, all within 10 minutes, I received an email from my old boss at the Registration office asking me to register for her daughters wedding in August & the post lady knocked the door with a lovely thank you note & voucher from my friend who I took some photos for last week.

I had a little cry.  

You know, whenever you're feeling down, worthless or just a bit 'Blah', remember there are people out there that you do bring a little bit of joy to.

Xxx

*lot

Father's Day x

We have a ritual in our house on a Sunday morning...

....Mr B always goes mountain biking with his pals.  Normally to Cannock Chase.  This morning was no different.  I didn't mind as this meant I could carry on with my Sunday morning ritual....

...the kids getting up in their own time & duly wake me up ;)

The rest of the day went like this...... 

Anya & Nate had a three hour street dance workshop :)

Visited my dad :)

Mr B returned from his biking :)

Washing on the line :/

Photography in the garden - busy bees  & wheelbarrows :)

Father's Day present opening :)

TGI's with The Brady Bunch :)

How I love my Brady Bunch

xxx

Babies, Bubbles & Pegs

What an amazing day I had last Wednesday.

My old school friend, Karen, asked me a few weeks ago if I could take some photos of her gorgeous boy, Thomas & his little friends. Many of the mummies had met at their local NCT group.

I was a little nervous about doing this, but excited at the same time.  I have only ever taken photos of my children, their friends & my friend's children.  To be honest, I could do with learning more about lighting & the many tricks regarding shutter speed.  I was hoping to be able to take the photos outside in a garden or a park.  But the good old British weather put pay to that! Thankfully, my friend, Karen had a lovely big lounge with a huge bay window letting in a lot of light.

One by one, a mummy with a gorgeous babe in arms arrived.  

I crawled around on the floor chasing after them to get just the right angle, or capture a moment of one of them with their mummy.  Pegs were the toy of the day.  Oh how I'd forgotten how easily pleased babies were.  Buy them the most plush toy & they they are happiest with a peg! ;)

In my wisdom, I asked the mums if they wanted a group photo of the babies.  It was just before dinner time & were getting a little grouchy.  Bubbles saved the day! :)

I've just got to edit the hundreds of photos now & I'm hoping they'll all be happy with their shots.

Thank you so much for asking me Karen, I loved every minute.

xxx

Hello Mrs Robin

Today  I met up with one of my Blip pals who doesn't live too far away from me and we visited Middleton Lakes RSPB Reserve.

There is so much to see there, with meadow walks, lakes, bird feeders, a heronry an much more. My friend is the queen of taking butterfly shots.  I like taking macro nature shots.  Here'a a selection from our walk...

 

Half way through our walk, we came across a lady with 2 gorgeous dachshunds.  After admiring them, we noticed she had some meal worms and seeds in the palm of her outstretched hand.  She told us that a robin flies down and takes the food from her hand, but that the robin was a little reluctant today with the dogs being there and would I like to try to coax her down!

Er....would I?! 

Oh my word! She was sussing me out for a couple of minutes & then landed gently on my fingertips & took two of the meal worms to feed her baby who had come to sit on a nearby branch.  She came to me twice more, again, going back to her nest to feed her family before returning.

She was absolutely adorable.

I will be taking the kids there very soon to see if we can find her again.

Towards the end of our walk we spotted two 'Great Spotted Woodpeckers'.  This was a first for me.  I've never seen a woodpecker in the flesh before :)

We ended our walk with cake of course ;)

It's my friend's 40th birthday this week and myself and a few of her friends have put towards a collection for a new camera.  The decision to which camera was left to me! 

No pressure then!

We decided on the FujiFilm FinePix JX560 in red. We bought an SD card too and then we were left with about £7 to get a camera case. So, I thought to myself, 'I can make a camera case.' Eeek! No pressure then! ;)

I flicked through a couple of issues of Mollie Makes to try to find a template, but couldn't find what I was looking for.  I then set to Etsy, where I came across this gorgeous template.

The seller emailed the template and the instructions to me within the hour with a lovely email telling me to contact her if I had any problems when I was making it.

The next day, I chose the fabrics, which I am never confident at doing, and cut out the templates.

I thought it was going to be a big old task putting these together, so thought I'd make a start that night.  The instructions which were sent to me were so easy to follow, that I managed to put most of it together within an hour.

The next morning, I finished off the trim using bias binding.  This took another half an hour of so.

Et voila!

I'm pretty chuffed myself! I hope my friend likes it. ;)

Bye Bye Blipfoto

I have been hooked on the Blipfoto website since an old friend introduced me to it in January 2011.

I have always loved photography.  I was never the best at taking photos, but I think when you're sentimental, as I am, you like to capture that moment 

& remember that time when you look at a photo.

My first photos were rubbish, but as I said, they captured a memory.

After over 2 years, I think my 'eye' has gotten better at taking photos. 

I had my first DSLR last year for my birthday.  I received it way before my birthday as I have the most fabulous husband in the world :)

I know how a lot of the features on the camera work, although I still have loads to learn, and I enjoy taking many different photos including macro nature shots and portraits of my children.

So, why say 'Bye Bye' to Blipfoto?

Back in 2010, when I was 35 years old, 3 of my best friends walked out of my life.  I am not so naive to think I was the innocent person in this scenario.  I must have hurt them for them to throw over 20 years of friendship away, but believe me I would have never have done that on purpose.  I loved my friends, ashamedly more than my husband a lot of the time.  My friends shaped me, they supported me, I had the best times with them....it was the most terrible time of my life.  I'm not being dramatic, it was.  I had never gone through heartache like this.  I was a wreck for a year.  I constantly cried.  

I was a shit mum and a shit wife.

Blipfoto was an escape.  

Until April 2011 when I found these ex-friends were also on Blipfoto.

So, for 2 years, I've bumped into one of the friends lots on Blipfoto.  

I was so hurt, so bitter, I hated seeing her photos & thinking she was carrying on fine without me in her life.

I mellowed.  I thank counselling for that.  My husband was my absolute rock & my new friends were great, but the counselling sorted me out.  Well, as much as it could.

Its still hurts & I often think of my ex-friends.  

I am not prepared to watch her life unfold anymore.  I don't want it to get me down.  

I don't want to be that shit mum & wife again, therefore I am leaving Blipfoto, 

at least for a good few months.

I am a social networking addict, so this is going to be tough, but I can do it! ;)

My last Blipfoto shot.  My beautiful baby girl.

Xxx