Recent mail and a trip to Maine!

Hi all!  Hope you're all having a lovely weekend!  Our beautiful summer weather continues!  It's been a fairly quiet week for me since I have had a cold.  It started on Monday and just really knocked me out.  I'm still tired from it and slept all afternoon today.  I only have one more week off from school so I need to be in shape because I have a lot to do and organize, not to mention two meetings for Noah this week.  He starts school on Wednesday.  In other news, last weekend I went to visit my friend Molly and family.  We had a wonderful weekend, shopping and also spending a day in York, Maine.  I LOVE Maine and the smell of the sea air.  We had a great day!

Noah and I at the beach.  Yay!  Just watching him play in the ocean I'm convinced he was meant to live by the water.  The boy can't get enough of it!

We also went to York's small amusement park.  The kids had fun!  York has a really vintage quality to it which makes it charming.  I was able to buy candy I hadn't seen anywhere since I was a kid in a store on the street.

Noah and Jadira (in the middle cart) waiting for the roller coaster ride to start.  The funny thing about this coaster is that I think I could walk faster than it actually goes.

Shopping:

I bought some craft supplies by "K & Company" at Michael's, on sale for 40% off.  I also found some Halloween stamps and flowers in the Dollar bin.  I also bought the bear Mrs. Grossmans stickers because I remember them as a child.

We also went to "TJ Maxx" so I could buy some school clothes for Noah.  I LOVE that store!  Low prices and I found some pretty paper goods and a pretty vintage Halloween box.  The bottom pads are by "Punch Studio" and I will give them away for Christmas.  I can't wait to go back to "TJ Maxx" the next time I visit Molly.

At "Target" I found these teacher supplies for my English classes in their Dollar bin.  I was quite happy!  :)

Well, I haven't gotten much mail in the past two weeks except for a few letters and swaps.  Here is a swap of HQ FBs I received from Iris from Hong Kong.

A nice long and interesting letter from my friend Isabelle from Switzerland.

A beautiful "Vintage Travel" ATC as part of a swap and a deco from my friend Marianne from Denmark.

A great letter and photos from my friend Petra from Austria.  The baby photo is her daughter born in July.

And, a lovely letter and postcard from my friend Emma from Sweden.

To end my post, a pretty and delicious dinner I made myself yesterday evening.  I love making pretty dishes for myself when I have the time and the mood strikes me.  I savoured my dinner on the back patio listening to the chirping birds.  :)

A trip to the zoo!

Hi all!  I've been a bit busy the past couple of weeks with an English kids camp I organized for some of my clients.  One of the parents let us use her house for the camp.  The first week I only had her 3 kids but the second week I had a total of 6 kids and it went really well.  However, now I am happy to have two more weeks off before it's back to school.  I have so much to do within the next couple of weeks. Yikes!  Anyhow, it's still summer and a couple of Sundays ago we took a trip to the zoo.  Thought I'd share some photos with you!

Noah and I as we arrived.

Here I am in the South Pacific Pavilion where they have aquariums and also a huge pool with sting rays that you can feed.  It is really nice in this pavilion.

While Noah and Jeffrey went off to the water park I decided to walk around the zoo and take photos of animals.  Here is a black panther who was sleeping and suddenly got up.  He started pacing near the fence because there was a sloth on the other side climbing to the top of a tree.

The panther decided to climb the tree to try to catch the sloth.  The sloth is at the top right corner.  It was quite interesting to watch this little "show".

Here's a Meerkat, one of my favourite animals.

Jeffrey and Noah in the African part of the zoo.  This concludes our visit to the zoo.  It was such a nice day as a family.  I'll be back in a few days with photos from my visit with my friend Molly and family this past weekend.  I was so happy we could go to the beach in Maine.  :)

And mail keeps coming!

Hi all!  Hot, hot, hot is how I can describe the weather this summer.  I can hardly believe it is almost the middle of August.  Time is passing way too quickly!  Last week I started teaching English again and I worked 20 hours which doesn't seem like a lot but when you are on vacation and then start up again it's something.  I was blessed with some great mail though which always makes me happy.

Thought I'd start off with this lovely postcard my friend Molly sent from New Hampshire.

 
More decos I received from my friend Marianne.  I'm swimming in them these days but love them.

I received this great letter and FBs from my friend Astrid from Sweden.

I also received a nice sticker swap.

A nice letter and postcards from my friend Gaby from Germany.

I received this great letter, with postcards, craft supplies in a pretty envelope from my friend Maria from USA.  She also sent the notebook below that she made.  It is so gorgeous!

Two pretty envelopes I received in the mail, above from a swap partner and below from my friend Renata from Germany.

I love this "Back To school" ATC made by a group swap partner.

A letter and photos from my friend Renata from Germany (from envelope above).  She also made me these two beautiful envelopes.  They've certainly inspired me to make some of my own since I have hundreds of rubber stamps.

A letter and FBs from my sweet friend Beate from Norway.

Another great letter and FBs from my friend Ulrica from Sweden.

A fantastic letter, travel report, photos, decos and FBs from my great friend Nicole from USA.

A lovely letter and swap from my friend Judy from England.

Two of the magazines I have recently purchased and read.  I love magazines by Somerset publishing and buy them regularly.  I've been slack with letter writing this week and decoing.  I have a zillion things going round in my head right now because soon it'll be back to school for Noah and myself.  With these zillions of things in my head it's difficult to stay focused and I feel restless.  Hopefully I'll feel more settled in a couple of days.  I hate when this happens because I get nothing accomplished.

And more mail!

Hi all!  It is so incredibly hot here.  Goodness!  It was 38 celcius today and it isn't much cooler tonight.    But, who's really complaining since winter will be here before we know it.  Just the thought...ugh!  Anyhow, this has been one of the best summers I can remember having in a very long time.  I've really been enjoying myself and relaxing.  I'm a happy person.  Okay, and now on to the mail.

I received this beautiful letter from my friend Lone in Germany.  I always love reading her letters.  She also included some decos, pretty crafting papers, photos and postcards.

I also received this lovely postcard from my friend Reiko from Japan.

Here is a lovely deco swap I received.

The same swap partner sent a "Suzy Zoo" deco she made.  It's adorable!

I received more decos from another swap partner.

The same swap partner made this "Vintage Umbrella" deco and sent it to me.

I made this "Vintage Ballerina" deco in June 2011 and it was just returned to me.  Check out the entries below, they are beautiful!

Artist: Manu from Germany.

Artists: Sigrid from Germany (above) and Lone from Germany (below).

Artists: Ludmila from Jordan (above) and Sylvia from Germany (below).

Artists: Marina from Jordan (above) and Merel from Finland (below).

And, I shall leave you with the image of Mustang and Subaru sleeping.  Goodnight!