Fire and Ice

I know it's been a bit slow around this blog lately but between the holidays, handovers, packing, shopping, and (mainly) not being in the office, I just haven't had a chance to update! So I haven't forgotten but I do know that from now on it will be a little harder to keep this up to date... so I apologize in advance. But know that I will be here as soon as I can to get all the latest rants up, to chat about any new Disney songs I stumble across, to document some of my runs and of course to update you on the new human that I'm working on right now. Until then, have a happy 2009 - may all your dreams come true! Catch you on the flipside...

Continuing on from my series on travels around the world (showcase) today we’re going to Italy ! In Epcot, the Italy pavilion isn’t one of my favourites, I must say. It IS one of the nicest to look at, in terms of architecture and styling, but once you’ve had a look at it, there isn’t much to actually do in there. Even the shops feel quite small and although they sell some gorgeous things, do not tend to make me linger. There isn’t a movie or attraction here and it is a shame because that, together with the open plan layout of the pavilion, make it likely that people will walk on by, as they can ‘see it all’ just by walking past on the promenade. To be fair, there are a number of shows and events at the pavilion, the ones I can remember are the ‘living statues’ and the ‘Renaissance players’ (is that what they are called?). I think there once was an Italian musical group performing there too but I’m not sure. In any case, I think that this pavilion could do with a bit

It's nice that Disney went to these great lengths to celebrate ME!! It's of course all a bit of fun - want your own?

Okay, another one of these 'games' that I generally ignore but this one was a little different. I'm not tagging anyone so if you fancy playing along, please do! 1. Put your iTunes on shuffle. 2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer. 3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS! 4. Tag 10 friends who might enjoy doing the meme as well as the person you got the meme from. If someone says “is this okay” you say? Colors of the Wind – from Pocahontas Not a great start… this just doesn’t make sense! What would best describe your personality? Las chicas no tienen pilila – Los Inhumanos Not much sense here either (this means “girls don’t have…” you know!) but I guess it does describe me at least. What do you like in a guy/girl? El 7 de septiembre – Mecano While I do tend to like guys that have birthdays in September, I can’t make much sense out of this one either. How do you feel today? Cruela de Vil

About a month ago it was Mickey's birthday and today is Walt's - his 107th if he was still alive today. I'm sure lots of people out there will blog about Walt and what he did and do it so much better than I could. So I'll keep it short and celebrate Walt's birthday by sharing one of my favorite (and less known) quotes with you: "All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them." Walt Disney I hope that at least one of your dreams comes true today!

For a while now I have had an idea: why not contrast my experience of the countries in World Showcase with my experience of the real countries? I have visited enough of them to make this relatively interesting… and I even thought that this might make a good scrapbook album but it would make an even more interesting series of blog posts. So we start today, rather arbitrarily, with France . But first of all, some background into my experience with World Showcase as a whole. I seriously can’t remember the first time I went to EPCOT but it was fairly early on – it opened in 1981 and I do recall that we went in 1986 (to celebrate my 15 th birthday!) and I had already been before so let’s say I probably went through those turnstiles in 1983. I remember being dazzled by the architectural varieties as well as the unique shopping and even some of those movies. It definitely was love at first sight and EPCOT quickly became my favourite park. Some years later I applied and

Being pregnant is very, very weird, at least for me. It means that my body does some pretty strange things and I have no control over them – so in a sense it’s a little like being possessed. For example, I have the charmingly named “ restless legs syndrome ” which basically does exactly that. Every evening, when I’ve finally finished all my chores and jobs and I sit down to watch some TV and relax, my legs (in particular my left leg) have other ideas. It is very difficult to describe but basically I can’t just sit there without moving my legs and every minute or so I have to keep wiggling, moving and shaking my legs. Very, very annoying and nothing I can do about it. I’ve also got some weird cravings. Last time I was pregnant I didn’t really crave anything (but I did consume masses of cucumbers and banana nut muffins). However, I kinda knew that those cravings were not really for real ones and I chose to act upon them. This time around, things are different. I really crave terracotta c

Although I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving as they do over in the USA , it is still nice to stop for a moment and think about those things I’m grateful for: I’m grateful that my family and I are healthy and well. It’s so easy to forget that not everyone is so lucky and that we take health for granted most of the time. I’m grateful for my friends, both near and far, because I think that whenever I need someone to talk to I can usually find someone. I am also grateful for the tools that make it possible for me to easily be in touch with people that are physically very far (or that I’ve never met!) but are close to my heart. Almost every day I give thanks for my son, who is (most of the time); a very good boy and I know that he will go far. I hope his sister has the same sweet disposition and gentle personality (or at least isn’t a screaming diva, gosh how I’m dreading that!) I’m thankful because we seem to be doing okay even with all this talk of economic meltdow

I am not scrapbooking as much as I used to lately. But it really isn’t because I don’t like doing it, it’s more because I keep running out of photos! As many of you know, I’ve been doing this for so long that I rarely have more than 3 months’ worth of photos in my To-Do pile and because I like to do double layouts with lots of photos (and do lots at once), I get caught up fairly quickly. For a few months now a combination of factors has meant that I have been taking fewer photos than I used to. Probably the main factor is that as I get bigger, I am less and less inclined to be around a camera, in case anyone dares take a photo of me. A lesser factor is that my camera has taken a few knocks and is slightly limiting so often I am a little disappointed with the eventual results. I have also not had many occasions where I’d want to take photos, but that is a lame excuse as I used to take photos of ANYTHING before. So it’s mainly issues with laziness, perceptions of me and the camera. The e

This is a beach near Bournemouth (UK) in August: Note the grey skies (remember, this is August!), it was actually chilly enough that day for me to be sitting on the beach with a sweater on. It was very crowded as this was the last weekend of summer holidays so people were determined to get out regardless of the grim weather. Also notice those brightly colored windbreaker things: such a weird thing! My thoughts are, if you need those things you shouldn’t be sitting outside… It didn't deter people though - some children were even swimming in the ice-cold seas and of course you can see all these people sitting out in what is pretty ugly weather. This part of Dorset has some of the few beaches in the UK that actually have sand so at least it was soft to sit on, and not on pebbles which is more common. But the beach is pretty small and everyone is crowded on a very tiny space: imagine what it's like on a NICE day! But anyway, compare this to a photo of Miami Bea

Today is Mickey Mouse’s 80 th birthday . On November 18, 1928 “Steamboat Willie” (incidentally, the first short with synchronous sound) debuted at The Colony Theater in NYC. He’s of course gone on to become one of the most famous (if not THE most famous) animated characters as well as the icon for The Walt Disney Company and appears on countless tons of merchandise all over the world. On a more personal note, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have some sort of Mickey Mouse item around me. Even my nursery (which of course I didn’t decorate personally!) had Mickey Mouse images and from that moment on I guess this little mouse and I were lifelong friends. Even though I have gone on to know and love many other Disney characters, it is Mickey that has always remained my favorite (and the one always on my watch, my earrings and/or my necklaces!) So to celebrate the birthday of this little mouse that r oared, and a beloved friend here is the short that started it all –

I was sitting on this very beach yesterday, looking out at the sea, enjoying the breeze and feeling the sun on my skin... I'm back in the UK now and needless to say the view isn't as nice (or warm) as this. I'm very tired, very jetlagged, very depressed by the weather here but cheered up by the memories of a brilliant week in Miami. Even though I always hate to leave when I'm on holiday, it's not because I don't want to come home and this time I really missed my boys so in a way, I'm also happy to be back. I just wish it was at the very least sunny!

Tomorrow is a big day for the USA – and the consequences will ripple throughout the world. It is a privilege and a responsibility to exercise your right to vote so make sure you do, if you are a citizen of the USA . I personally hope (probably like most of Europe ) Obama wins and a new era starts in the White House (not to mention a historic new addition to the Hall of Presidents in WDW!). But as long as everyone that can votes and has his or her vote counted, then democracy has worked and proven the system right. So if you can – VOTE. It's not every day that you get to choose what the new animatronic figure will look like in a Disney attraction.

We've been busy these past few weeks trying to get the Darwin Open University site up and running and it is now live and ready to share! The best bit is the section where you can upload a photo of yourself and then 'devolve' it to see what you would have looked like a few thousand (or million) years ago. This is me as a rather attractive Homo erectus: Cool huh?

If you know anything about me, you know that I think journaling is what differentiates scrapbooking from photo albums. It’s not the pretty papers or the title or even the embellishments: it’s the journaling that tells others why these photos are special or how they make you feel. Journaling is what takes your place when you can’t be around and tell the story in person. I’m glad to see that so many manufacturers are bringing out more and more products that should make journaling easier (I particularly like those little labels that you can journal on and then simply stick onto a layout) but sometimes it seems that journaling is taking a further step back in scrapbookers’ minds. Wherever I look, I find layouts that have absolutely no journaling on them at all. Sure, they look very nice but I am none the wiser as to who is in the photo, why, what they are doing, anything at all! I also think this is more of a British thing as people from this side of the world find it harder to share their

I did something this week that I hadn’t done in a very, very long time – I logged on to a scrapbooking website and bought something! Not only have I not purchased anything from a scrapbook shop (online) in a good long time, I hadn’t even gone on to any sites just to browse. I just didn’t feel the need to! What prompted this purchase was also real need – I am going to a scrapbooking retreat this weekend and I was nearly out of adhesive so I had to order some online. Sure, while I was there I had a little look at the shop but ended up buying some more, practical, things like post extenders (which I also need) and a cardstock pack for a specific project I’ll be working on. It’s been about two years since I decided to stop buying scrapbooking stuff ‘just because it’s there’ and focused more on using what I have. It was a little hard at first (although I have always struggled to spend hundreds in stash at one time ) but now it’s become second nature, so much that I don’t ev