Week #21 of my NEW52 life ...

I'd been coveting a new lens for my camera since the beginning of the year, but I really couldn't justify the expense as DH had only just bought me a lovely new zoom lens for Christmas ... it didn't feel right to cough up even more money for another lens so soon. That though, was before I knew I was being invited to a friend's wedding in Italy. Once the invite dropped on the doormat in January, all I could think of was, how nice it would be if I could have a 50mm f1.4 lens to take with me ... ~sigh~

I started browsing the Internet and came across Warehouse Express, a UK supplier offering a Nikon 50mm f1.4 G AF-S lens for what I thought was a not too unreasonable cost. The only catch was they had no stock. In fact, everywhere I looked had no stock. Every site said I could place the order, but they didn't know when goods would be despatched. It took a while to figure out why, but then I eventually realised ... it was the knock on effect of the terrible earthquake & tsunami in Japan earlier in the year.

Fast forward to Thursday 26th May at approximately 1:25pm ... my lunch break [at work] was almost over and I was just about to log off my laptop and get back to my day job, when I casually glanced at the Warehouse Express website and ... finally the available stock sign was GREEN ... they had 2 in stock!!!

It took me all of 10 seconds to make my decision! My bank card was whipped out of my purse sooooooo fast, I almost gave myself a plastic cut ... and with furious fingers flying across the keyboard, my order was placed ... and the very next day, this lens would be mine!

I ♥ the depth of field I'm able to achieve
I ♥ that it's easy to use
I ♥ my 50mm lens

I'm still practising using it, but here's just a couple of photos I've taken with it [so far] ...

DH not quite frowning, but not quite smiling either

floral decoration at a recent wedding

So you see, my "new" for this particular week was quite big ... but just wait 'til you read what week #22 had in store for me ... I can honestly say, I lost count of all the "new" things I experienced. I'll be back this weekend to share some of them with you!

Week #20 of my NEW52 life ...

In truth, this happened much earlier than week #20 (it started way back in January when I renewed my driving licence) but it wasn't until the week of 16th May that I finally received the most important card I'll ever own. It's a card that I'll never actually get to benefit from, but one that never-the-less I gladly hold onto in the knowledge that one day, I may be able to help someone who truly needs it.

This is the one card I encourage EVERYONE [in the UK] to carry ...


For more information about the NHS Organ Donor Register, please click here. Thank you.

Week #19 of my NEW52 life ...

New things have been coming along thick and fast over the last few weeks, so much so that I've not really had time to sit down and share them we you ... for which I apologise. But thankfully things have calmed down now and I can spend some "quality time" with my laptop (oh how I've missed it!) and you.

So let's start with week #19 shall we? Let's see, that was the week from 9th - 15th May ... yikes ... was it really that long ago??? My new for this week was a purchase, a total impulse buy but I love them none-the-less ...


I've got a thing for jars. I have LOTS of them in my spare bedroom / scrap space. I have big ones and little ones and I use them to store all manner of embellishments (from my card making / paper scrapbooking days) and although I'm mainly a digiscrapping girl now-a-days, I can't bring myself to get rid of their content, let alone the jars themselves!

But these new jars aren't destined to store pretty, sparkly trinkets or multicoloured grosgrain ribbon ... no siree ... these jars are to be filled with sweet goodies and tasty treats for anyone to dip in to and help themselves whenever they pass by ... yummy!!! I think I'll print a label / tag to hang round them that says "Help Yourself" and/or "You're Welcome". I'll try to remember to take a photo of them once they're filled and share the photos here too.

So that was week #19. What's next? Of yes ... week #20.

Just a glimpse ...

Beautiful isn't it? It's just one of the magnificent views DH and I captured during our recent trip over to Tuscany, Italy. We were there for a wedding (more on that in future posts I hope) and we had a fabulous time. Our only regret is that we didn't stay for longer (we were only there for 4 days and 2 of those were taken up with travelling!). We took 700+ photos during our short visit, most of which were of the wedding we attended, so far we've only uploaded a small selection (just 18) to Flickr, so if you fancy seeing a few more photos of the area, feel free to click here.

Week #18 of my NEW52 life ...

Bear with me friends (and loyal readers) for I'm breaking myself back into the NEW52 habit gently. It's been a number of weeks since my last "new" post, in fact I think I've missed 4 weeks in total ... yikes!!! So for my return to the fold, I'm starting out with a new book ...



I love to bake! And not just sweet cakes and biscuits (though that does tend to be what I bake most), savoury pastries and pies are just as welcome in my oven!

This particular book appealed to me for a couple of reasons; firstly, I'd seen some of the corresponding episodes on BBC2 and therefore seen some of the recipes being made. Now I don't know about you, but I think seeing the dish being made really helps to understand how the ingredients come together, know what I mean? Secondly, the book has a great mixture of sweet and savoury recipes to try out. In particular I'm looking forward to baking the Whisky & Chilli Tiger Prawns, the Cookies & Cream Fudge Brownies and the Pumpkin & Rosemary Muffins ... all of which sound truly scrumptious!

Well, I guess we all know the subject of at least three of my future NEW52 posts ... my attempts at making [hopefully] tasty morsels from this book.

Ladies that lunch (part III) ...

On Thursday, exactly one year to the day from our first "Ladies That Lunch" date and 5 months since our last reunion, I got to meet up with Selena & Lorraine for lunch again ... yeah! It's always fun getting together with this girls, not least because we try to come up with inventive ways of photographing the three of us together. No mean feat when you consider just how camera shy these ladies are (not me I hasten to add, lord knows I'll jump in front of the camera anytime!). Last time is was our feet ...


This time is was our hands ...

I meant to take a photo of us toasting our get-together (& Lorraine's birthday) with the champagne / Kir Royale drinks we'd ordered, but alas I forgot .... so it's water filled tumblers instead!

I never under estimate just how lucky I am to live close by to these ladies and I'm so grateful that we get the chance to meet up a couple of times a year, to celebrate our friendship, our love of all things digi and of course to catch up on all the gossip!

Ummmm, hello?

I wouldn't blame you if you'd given up on ever reading anything here again after all, it's been WEEKS ... and nothing, not even so much as a "hello". Believe me, I'm hanging my head in shame here. I wish I could say that it was because my life is just so full of thrills and adventures or that I'd been whisked away somewhere exotic, but alas that's not the case.

I have been busy, but then again who hasn't? I have to confess that NEW52 has fallen by the way-side, but I remember where I dropped it and I intend to go back and pick it up and start a fresh.

So let's start this new month with a new focus and energy shall we? And talking of fresh new starts, did you watch any of the wedding on Friday? With DH being away visiting his family, I took advantage of his absence and thoroughly indulged my inner fairy-tale princess fantasies. I made Union flag mini-bunting using Angie Hinksman's Cool Britannia kit ...

I'd taken the bunting into my office the Thursday before the wedding and strung it across my monitors. On the actual day of the wedding, I strung the same bunting across my TV at home.


I had a great time watching the wedding, scrapping and Tweeting all at the same time, multi-tasking to the extreme, oh and yes that is a photo of the "first kiss". It's almost like being there ... in fact, I probably got a better shot than most people who were actually there!

Here's one of the LO's I completed during the wedding too, again using Angie's Cool Britannia & Cool Britannia Chrome Alphas kits ...

click here for credits

So there we are folks, I've got tomorrow off work for the May Day bank holiday, then it's back to the office on Tuesday ... but then I'm off again on Thursday and I'm heading into town to meet up with Selena (aka Bush Girl) and Lorraine (aka Neat Freak) for lunch again. Can you believe it's 5 months already since I last saw these girls? Let's just hope there's no freak weather event this time ... a snow storm on Bond Street, I ask you!!!