We're Back...

...from a wonderful two week holiday.  We visited two very different, wonderful European cities of Berlin in Germany and Barcelona in Spain.

I can't choose a favourite city - I enjoyed both for very different reasons.  Because we went in the height of the summer holidays, I can tell you that the crowds in Barcelona was a bit much and I imagine if it wasn't for every man and his dog being there I probably would have loved it more than what I did.  (Don't get me wrong, LOVED Barcelona, just not a fan of the crowds.)

I was very happy with my (new) camera - it did the job for me.  Here are some examples of what we saw and what we did.

At a small shopping centre in Berlin

The famous Brandenburg Gate in Berlin

Part of the remains of the Berlin Wall.  The SS Headquarters were behind this section.

East Side Gallery in Berlin.

At a Barcelona Fresh Food Market. 

A square in Barcelona

The awesome Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's final masterpiece.

Gaudi's La Pedrera

At a Park, designed by Gaudi, that over looks the whole of Barcelona

We ate and drank and walked and walked and walked.  Monet did so very well to keep up with her mum and dad, and Lily too for that matter.  However we did have to bribe her an awful lot to get in her stroller as she wanted to walk and walk and walk too.  *heehee*

Stay tuned for our adventures....

Snap...

...What do you do when you are fortunate enough to get a new camera? You get to take photos of your two daughters to test the camera's functions on.

One had just woken from a nap, so wasn't 100% ready to have mummy in her face with a camera in hand....

And the other is a poser from way back, so I could easily get her to do a pose or two.

Off on holiday soon... ;)

Oven Fresh Donuts

We're into our third week of summer school holidays here and in all honesty, we haven't done much. MrL is on, what I call 'Stoopid Hours' (3am till 1pmish), due to the Summer rules they imply over here and last week his car was at the Car Doctors, so he had my car.

Monet has been great, filling in the days by doing art work, playing and drawing and reading with her younger sister.  Lily thinks it is fantastic having Monet at home every day!  So do I.  Well, most of the time.

As a special treat, (and me having my own wheels back this week), I took the girls to Krispy Kreme Donuts yesterday down in the city.  Ooo is there anything much better than those donuts, nice and fresh from the oven and iced?  Me thought not yesterday....along with two little girls.

It was Lily's first experience of those donuts and by the way she hoed into it, I'm pretty positive that she enjoyed ever last crumb.  She had Monet and I smiling at each other as she gobbled it up.

Somehow I think I won't be able to pass that store without Lily wanting more... Oh! What have I done?

Sewing Quarters Update

With some help from MrL, Saturday saw us remove the bookshelf from my 'sewing room' (it's now in MrL's study room on the 3rd level!) which gave me a bit more extra space.  I have been very busy cutting and sewing my skirts and thinking of new ideas.  

I have had great feedback in regards to my 'Abu Dhabi' skirt, so I am hoping it'll be a hit once I have sewn a few more, ready to sell.  

As Miss Lily is usually downstairs with me, she's always in and out of the room, annoying me, being cute, hiding from her big sister, playing etc.,

My little sewing table with, with a few little nick-knacks.  Pretty sure my machine needs a service but I'll try and get my hands on some machine oil first and I'll take it from there.

Since MrL and I removed the bookcase from the room, I now have a clothes rail in there which helps me feel a bit more organised.  Once skirts are cut out they're placed into the correct 'nook', already to be sewn together, then hung (waiting for a buyer to come and purchase her - yes, my skirts are female.)

Here's my latest unveiling too - I know you've seen the skirt with the black camel, but not the black skirt with the tanned colour camel.  I posted this photo n FaceBook and some of my dearest and nearest gave me some ideas on possible having both block colours on the same skirt....  Well, perhaps watch this space. lol

You need a happy, clean, clear space to create.  I think I have found it. 

My Babies In An Ancient Dress

Check this out :-

When I do this, you can really see Monet in Lily.  The dress that they are both wearing was worn also by me as a toddler and pretty sure it was originally owned by my sister Kim too.  Only thing is, for an ancient dress, it is pretty typical of Lily to get blue marker pen down the center of it, (*urgh*) but hopefully it will come out in the wash.

Dress Up Fun

As I was busy in our family wardrobe room (yes, we have one whole room which houses all our clothes in free-standing wardrobes), organising stuff before we head off, the girls were busy in Lily's room, trying to keep out of trouble. I could hear squeaks of delight coming from the youngest and Monet giggling away.

"Mum, where are you?"
"In the wardrobe room...."
"Okay, well here comes Lily..."

This is how Lily presented herself to me.

Cute eh?  Lily the Fairy.

Well, then it wasn't long until I was given a 'dressing up' fashion parade...

I was visited by a Mermaid and Hula Girl...

A couple of Pumpkin Fairies...

And Snow White with her Wicked Step Mother.

(Check out the shoes on that above photo will you!?!)

Fun, funny times.

Framed Words

When Monet gave us this piece of paper the other day, there was no way I could not have put it in a frame.  So I went and bought a frame to put it in.

Yeah, sometimes I get 'engry' (angry) at her.  She is 6 going on 16 after all. ;)

We've told her that whenever she gets angry at us (which does happen sometimes, believe me) I'm going to bring out the framed writing and show her.

You realise that we get lots (and lots) of art work given to us and some take pride on the pin board in the kitchen.  I am considering getting a frame for this piece of work too;

(The skirt she is referring to, is this one.)  I might have to get Monet to have a dabble in helping to design some business cards for me. What do you think?

These are the memories I want to treasure.

Printing Out Fun

MrL and I have discovered a way to keep the girls quiet over the past few days.  Here's what to do; (As I suggest you do this too.)

What you need is one computer, connected to the internet.  You also need one printer.  Go to one of the (hundreds) of children's websites.  The majority of them have pages to print out for the kidlets to colour in.  Young children can find printers fascinating.  See the example below.

And then enjoy your ten minutes of peace and quiet whilst the youngsters colour in the printed pages.

Anyone else have any tips on keeping children aged 1 and 6 nice and quiet for 10 minutes?

Abu Dhabi Skirt

After my so-called success on the Eiffel Tower skirt, my mind overflowed with ideas of what I could sew onto skirts. I've got many ideas but I got excited by the thought of perhaps designing something that represents where I live.  And when people think of Abu Dhabi they think desert, and when people think desert they think camels.  (At least, I do!)

Then when I spotted this colour fabric I thought 'perfect', so I have whipped up a couple of skirts that now look like this; Introducing my Abu Dhabi Skirt.

I'm hoping I'm onto something with this design.  What do you think?  I know a lot of my Facebook friends gave me the thumbs up.  *Love* encouragement.

The Apprentice Makes Pancakes

You may remember last week I got Monet to do some baking and cooking. We have declared 'Tuesdays' the day when she is taught to make something in the kitchen.  She wanted to make pancakes.

Pancakes. Easy peasy with one egg, 1 cup of SR Flour, 1 cup milk and a teaspoon of sugar. Whisked together, left to rest for 15 minutes and then cooked in the frying pan laced with melted butter. I did the cooking but Monet did the pouring and the (attempted) flipping.  During the step of measuring and mixing, my apprentice gained her own apprentice, but the littlest apprentice just got in the way and was only in the kitchen for a minute for me to snap a photo...

Monet served up the pancakes with some yummy and sweet pancake syrup (aka cheap maple syrup)  Ooo delish....  We were most impressed that even Lily woofed her little teeny weeny pancakes up.

And the verdict?  Happiness all round!

Well done Monet.

Production Line

It was 'production-line' central here today. Just a pity my two girls are too young to give mum a helping hand in putting the skirts together, but truth be told, I actually really enjoyed sewing, sewing, sewing.  It is a bit of 'me' time and a good outlet for me.

I whipped up three skirts, all in the same fabric, two size Large, one size Small (though still need to make myself a Medium size pattern, but all in due time!)

I actually found it easy to do the three skirts all in a row - doing side after side, zip after zip, hem after hem.  Very satisfying and did not take me as long as one might expect.  Here is one (of the three) finished skirts, now waiting for an owner.

MrL deemed it 'bright', so did Monet, but I love it.  Just as well one of the skirts were for me. *wink wink*

Tweeting a T

I had some material lying around the place and also a spare white t-shirt.  (The past two t-shirts I have acquired from H&M came with plain white t-shirts and since I don't wear white tops in general, best to do something with them!)

So I laid a big strip of the spare patterned material down the center of the t-shirt.

I pressed the material in place using some 'magic tape' I had purchased from IKEA about 6 months ago.

I then did a straight black stitch along the material edge, a double stitch just to be sure, and here is the final product.   Pretty sure it'll go nicely with my green skirt and actually positive that my mum will love it.  (Not that it is for her, it is mine after all!)

What do you think?  Personally, I think I'm getting a bit too clever. *heehee*

Cup Holder

Do you know how nervous this can make me?

Cheeky chops.

 As soon as we leave the gate to the kitchen open, Lily is in like Flynn, grabs a cup (there is usually one hanging around for Monet to use), helps herself to the water cooler (we don't have the 'heat' section of the water fountain thing on) and proceeds to wander around, cup in hand, sipping as she pleases.  It's not the fact that she can now drink out of a normal cup, it's the fact that she fills the cup up to practically the brim, spills half of it across the floor and then she starts the whole procedure again.

Cheeky chops.

A Bit of Black Goes a Long Way

A few weeks back now, I sewed this skirt;

After I sewed it and wore it, I deemed it was lacking something - probably because it is a pretty bright 'be safe, be seen' kind of blue.

Today I was busy sewing two skirts to put into my pile of skirts to sell. Then it hit me as I sewed a red Eiffel Tower onto a black skirt (like mine here) - how about a black Tower sewed onto the bright blue skirt?.... So that's exactly what I did.

I'm wearing it now and don't feel so "look at me, look at me" in it.  Somehow the black has drawn away from the brightness of the blue.  Worn with a white t with thin blue stripes, I'm pretty sure I will wear it more and I may just make some skirts similar to this to sell.

A Sand Storm, A Butcher and The Three Sheikhs

We took a drive today to the Port section of Abu Dhabi. Of course the store we wanted was closed (we had a sneaky suspicion it would be, being a Friday (equivalent to a Sunday) and also it too being some public holiday (a Prophet?). But anyway, we drove down into the city through a mad sand storm. Disgusting. Not sure what the visibility was today, but surely it was close to no more than 50 metres. Yuck.

Down at the Port, we finally found the 'Butcher' section - yeah, not for the faint hearted I'd say, nor for vegetarians and probably not an ideal place for a woman with two daughters to be.  So I sent MrL in to find a particular South African butcher we had been told about.  And, once again, being a Friday, he was not open so MrL will visit him perhaps during the week.  (Apparently he sells Corned Silverside!)  Whilst we waited in the car, I was fortunate enough to see another butcher/helper/assistant picking his toe nails outside our car. *belch*  I'm actually pretty 100% sure he has nothing to do with the South African butchery so we're on the safe saide there. lol

Hey nice legs reflected in the window. ;P

There is a section of the Port called 'The Mina Center', which houses a few odd stores and a massive Co-Op supermarket, probably the cheapest supermarket in the whole of Abu Dhabi.  One thing I really like about the Center is the massive portraits of the Sheikhs that greet you when you walk into the 'old school' place.

I've been wanting to share with you those portraits for ages and now I have.  They are 'everywhere' in this emirate and I've told MrL that when our time comes to leave, I am buying all three portraits and they will be displayed in our abode back home.  ;-)

The guy on the left (Sheikh Khalifa) is the current ruler of the country and of the Abu Dhabi emirate, the middle guy is his father (Sheikh Zayed) who died quite a few years ago but they say he was the true founder of Abu Dhabi and had the vision of what the city is today, and the guy on the right is Sheikh Mohammed, the Crown Prince. It is really confusing who is who, who does what, who is whose son, who is in charge etc.,  I get confused who is the ruler of the Emirate and of the UAE but I do know I have the names right! lol

Another Friday. ;)