A little cherry on top!

Happy Sunday.

The weather is disgusting here. Sunny one minute, cloudy and dark the next and frequent showers. I am loathe to put on any winter clothes as I know they won't come off till at least april! ahhh! Hey ho, chin up!!

The other day the very lovely Becky sent me this award

There are five conditions to this award:

• I thank the person who gave it to me
• I put the award on my blog
• List three things about myself
• Post a picture I love
• Tag five people

So... Becky, thank you so much. your sweet comments made my day, and I am thrilled to be recognised in the blogging world!

Three things about me:

I could list some very boring facts that you probably already know, so I'm going to choose three very random ones...

1. I like spiders and have held a tarantula! (ok it was at a zoo but still!) 

 2. I found out the other day that in the last 7 years I have grown a whopping...10cm. yep! that's right. I am rather small! 

 3. I can only wink with one eye (my left if you were wondering!)

Here are my not so random ones, just for the record! (in case you didn't know and therefore don't find them boring!)

1. I am 17 years old but will be 18 next month! ahhhhhhhhh

2. I have an incredible boyfriend who recently described me as "feisty" and told me that he tries to stick up for me but I have normally got there first and stuck up for myself! charming!

3. I am a christian, trying hard to follow God's plan for me!

Hmm.. a picture I love. Too many here..

Probably would have to be this one. I tend to love my most recent photos and this one just sums the two of us up! No my friend isn't trying to swear.. she didn't know how to do a peace sign bless her!

5 People to tag....

That would be Daphne for her incredible and beautiful blog

Mel for her sweet daily pictures

Lizzie for her incredible book binding skills she shows on her blog

Jo for posting lovely stories and making me laugh

Jacky for always posting such lovely comments and being a great crafter!

Hope you enjoyed this little snapshot of me! Thanks for stopping by!

Loves xxxxx

stripy socks and coloured ribbons

Once upon a time there were two 17 (yes 17) year old girls who were wondering what to do as it was raining and cold outside.

As they had been inside for most of the day they were rather hyper. Add this to a camera and a tripod and you have a very silly photo shoot.

They tried on plenty of hats, did silly poses, tried to work the self timer and tied each others hair in ribbons.

The Dad downstairs was then greeted with two girls shrieking with laughter and 30 or so shots of pure crazyness.

The two girls then proceeded to hijkack the computer and on a lovely prgram called picnik edited the pictures to their liking,

The result, a happy few hours, and plenty of new pictures to scrap with as the girl has now gone back home on the train..sob sob!

Hope you like!

Loves xxx

So proud of him!

Happy, Sunny/rainy the weather can't decide, Tuesday!

I'm afraid posts are rather sporodic at the moment! I am frantically trying to squeeze in as many driving lessons as I can before the big T! My mock didn't go so great but hey! it was my first time so I didn't really expect too much.

Another results day in our house. The bigger little brother had his GCSE results today. After a whole day yesterday of doubting he came out with a set of grades that are really great, much to his surprise! He is one of those annoying people who doesn't think he did as well as he could and comes out with amazing grades. Toooo clever!

So.. he got... 4 A*'s and 6 A's which is really fantastic! What made us laugh was that he got A*'s in the subjects he least expected such as chemistry!!!

As is tradition my mum made him a cake with the results iced on top.

She has decided that she will make a cake each time one of us gets A2 results or GCSE results as they are the "big ones"! Bless her!

Very excited tomorrow as this girl is coming round...

Expect plenty of photos of giggling, excited girls. We are heading to London tomorrow to check out some galleries and do a spot of shopping!! Should be great!

Anyway, hope everyone is having a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

Loves xxx

Winners of the giveaway...

Happy Monday all.

So..the winner of the giveaway for my 100th blog post is...

No. 3 which is Jacky who wins the pretty paperchase journal

No 5 which is Mel who wins the pastels, inks and collection of other stash!

If you ladies could send me a quick e mail at abigail(dot)beach(at)hotmail(dot)co(dot)uk

I will send the goodies on to you as soon as I can! Thanks to everyone who took part, it was lovely to receive all your ideas about mini jounrals and my mojo is now returning! Thank you.

I have a driving mock test today, so fingers crossed it will go ok! Thanks for checking by

Loves xxxxx

A bit of this and a bit of that

Hi All

Firstly, HUGE thanks to everyone on the lovely comments about my A Levels. It really gave me a lift to find so many people rooting for me!

Also as several people asked about next year, I thought a quick explanation might be in order. Basically this year in every AS subject there are two modules which get marked on UMS points. You add the two module scores together to get a grade, for example, A=160 B=140 etc. In History I got an A in one module but a B in the other so adding the scores together I got 153 which is a B! (sorry if that is very complicated!)

Next year A2 Marks get added onto the AS marks and make an A level. As I'm close to an A anyway in History, an A overall certainly isn't out of reach for next year which is a big relief!

Anyways..back to more interesting stuff! Life here is continuing as usual, everyone getting ready for school again! suits being bought, diary's being filled and in my case, frequent emails from the deputy head about induction day! Lol!

So, just to fill you in, I thought a quick "right now" would be good.. so...

Right now we are watching the geranium named Gerald! grow. Bit of a story with him. he was bigger little brothers biology experiment. He was taken home, adopted into the family when Dad's remote controlled helicopter had a bit of a detrimental experience with Gerlad and he succumbed to unexpected pruning! 6 Months on he is fully recovered and even has beautiful flowers! ahhh!

Enjoying seeing my Mum knit. She got a beuatiful pattern for a cardigan in America and is knitting it in this tweed wool in blueberry colour!

Right now I am playing this alot. I have recently really got into my flute playing and have an exam soon, so i figure the more I play the better!

I am looking forward to eating this handsome pair!

I am researching uni's like its going out of fashion! My results made me open my eyes a bit and I am expanding my ideas possibly looking at history and Rs together. My wonderful Dad is also getting quite into it and after I got my results, produced a list of possible uni's, courses, open days and what I need to get into them! bless him!

Right now, I have started my America mini book but have lost my mojo a bit so just accumulating ideas!

And finally, I have just finished knitting this scarf. I have knitted it on two different sized needles so it has a lovely texture and should be nice and warm for the winter!

So...a whistle stop tour of my world at this moment.Thanks for stopping by and don't forget the giveaway below. It closes tomorrow night!

Loves xxxxx

Results are in.

Photography:  A  (full marks! he he!)

English Lit: A

Religious Studies: A

History: B

I am gutted about history as it was what I wanted to study at uni so thats a bit of blow.Very annoying as well because i got an A in one module of it and a B in the other so my total mark rounds to a B. grrrr! To put it in perspective though, I am very happy with my results!

Loves xxxx

I'm back and a giveaway!

Happy Wednesday all!

I am back from an amazing week at Soul Survivor week B.
I spent 5 days under canvas, slept little, laughed a lot, fell in love with the boy all over again and most importantly worshiped God with 12,000 other people!

It was incredible chance to focus on God for a week. I listened to an amazing talk by Andy Croft on the Trinity. He explained the relationship between father, son and Holy spirit so well. At soul survivor there are two main meetings a day held in a tent called the big top. The highlight for me was the incredible worhsip and the atmosphere of thousands of young people alive for God.

 For some very strange reason I took very few pictures!!! incredible I know! lol! So here are a very select few:

Pretty wellies. We literally lived in these!

A few new wristbands! he he!

The only other picture I have is one that the boys Dad snapped of me on top of his landrover!

It was an incredible week. it was also amazing to spend so much time with the boy. We talked for hours, worshiped together and generally enjoyed seeing each other again!

As mentioned last week, due to my 100th blog post, I have a little giveaway, in fact TWO giveaways.

 No1:

This is a lovely journal from Paperchase. It has a magnetic closure, thick lined pages and a sweet pocket at the back to store all those notes! I guess it could be used for scrapping, as a diary or just for keeping track from day to day!

No 2:

A selection of new pigment inks in pretty pinks and greens, three little boxes of sequins and a set of never used before oil pastel colours. (I'll also throw in a few blooms and ribbons!)

So..how to be in with a chance to win???! Basically please write me a comment at the bottom of this post saying hello and with a link or tips on your favourite type of mini book or art journal  ( I am trying to compile some ideas to make a mini book of the america trip!)

The giveaway will close this Sunday (22nd) at 7.00pm GMT and I will do the draw on the monday morning. Also, if you are kind enough to blog my giveaway I will put your name in twice!

My AS results come out tomorrow so I will hopefully post some good news (cross fingers!) already very nervous!

Thanks for stopping by again!

Loves xxxxx

Final Holiday Photos

Hi all

The bag is packed, the sleeping bag is checked and the dry shampoo has been bought! Time to go camping me thinks! I cann't wait for tomorrow because I am off to see my Boy and his family! I haven't seen him in about a month so its all very exciting!

So..the final set of holiday photos...

We went back to Washington DC as there were several museums that we wanted to have a look around. We visited the crime and punishment museum which was really fantastic. Loads of hands on stuff and lots to read. We then went to a covered courtyard in the art gallery and ate lunch. the light was beautiful and being one never to miss a photo oppertunity I snapped away!

After another picnic lunch we headed to look at the Norman Rockwell exhibition. He was an artist who's work I had seen around and liked yet never associated to him. The display was brilliant and really demonstrated this incredible artists talent. If you have never seen his work have a google. All the pictures are fun and tell a story yet at the same time are quite simple. This is my favourite work of his just for the comedy value!

We had a walk around China town which was so colourful and beautiful...

This starbucks sign made me chuckle! ( I love capturing little details like this.)

We ended the day with a trip to urban outfitters which my mum fell in love with ha! The next day we headed off for the littlest ones favourite...baseball!

To be honest, I am not a huge fan of baseball! To me it is too much like cricket and really any sport watched live (except perhaps rugby) tends to bore me! It was a treat for the boys though so I settled down to watch with a grimace! It wqas the Washington Nationals Vs the Philadelphia Phillys. (that probs doesn't mean anything to those of u in the UK!) We (By that I mean the boys) were supporting the nationals as we were staying there. Baseball in my eyes is most similar to rounders. There are batters, bowlers and bases. Just slightly more complicated!

All in all it was a good day. In between innings there is all sorts of entertainment like shooting t shirts into the crowd and people spotted on the big screen! the phillys ended up winning but it was a very close game and the littlest enjoyed himself so really thats all that matters!

Our final day was spent travelling to the airport and stopping off at the air and space museum. It was literally huge and very impressive. I am no plane geek but enjoyed this...

The best bit for me was seeing the space shuttle! It is HUGE and yes it is real!

It was a brilliant holiday and nice to just chill out. I hope to make a mini book of all the photos at some point so will share that when it is completed!

Next week I am off camping so a bit of a blogging break, but hopefully will come back with loads of new pictures and stories to share. Hope everyone has a fab week. Thanks for stopping by!

Loves xxx

P.S I am knitting..bunting! Yep! I found a pattern in a magazine at the hairdressers and proceeded to write it down. Got some very funny looks! Don't know what it will turn out like but hey! Thanks for asking!

Holiday Photos 3:

Happy Sunday

I have unlimited blogging time today as the family are watching the boys in a local cricket match. Much as I love them, the thought of watching cricket brings me out in a cold sweat so I am home alone. Me and the computer and scrapbooking...

So..more holiday pictures. I have so many its crazy. My mum also got a new camera for her birthday so between us we have over 300 pictures. (don't worry, I won't show them all! ha ha!)

The next day of our holiday we went to Mount Vernon. The home of Geroge Washington. It was brilliant looking around his home in the beautiful surroundings.

Looking out over the Potomac River

It was such a pretty house!

After visiting there for the morning we headed out to the Potomac Mills outlet centre. I was literally in seventh heaven! Clothes in America are compartively cheap so we picked up a few bargains from the likes of AeroPostale (american brand, bit like Jack wills but far cheaper!), Abercrombie, Hollister and Gap! Good times!

That evening we celebrated my mums birthday with a very artifcial looking birthday cake. For some reason my mum is an avid baker yet loves the taste of bought shop cake so on her birthday insists we buy her a cake instead of make one! Don't ask! (yes it was as sweet as it looks!)

Whilst birthday supper was cooking she also managed to snap a picture of me in the baking hot garden knitting! (ok, i'm a slow knitter so anything I start now will be finished by winter!)

The next day we headed out to six flags theme park. The biggest boy was utterly overjoyed as he is an adrenelin junky and no jokes went on every ride! My Dad, littlest boy and I took it a few rides at a time and my Mum resolutley refused to go on anything! 

It was so nice to cool down on the flume ride and as it was so hot we dried nice and quickly. Theme parks in America are so different to ones in England. For one they are so clean and tidy and for another they are so big that we didn't stand in a queue longer than 20 mins, as a result the biggest boy completed all the rollercoasters within the morning!

From the title I didn't touch this ride..

Nor this one! (the biggest is sitting on the right hand edge of the second carriage from the left)

As well as a theme park there was also a water park on the same location. Again we manged to fit plenty of rides in including this "half pipe" slide.

A fab two days. Tomorrow is the final installment of holiday pics.. There are hundreds more I could share but trust me you would here till christmas!

Oh and a quick plug for lovely Lizzie. The wonderful lady that she is is offering someone a chance to win a place on one of shimelle's classes. The classes are always incredible and if you have never done one before I would encourage you to go on pop on over to her blog and see if you can bag a class. It closes soon though so be quick!

Thanks for stopping by again. Hope everyone has had a great weekend.

Loves xxxx

Holiday photos 2:

Hi All

Hope you are all having a nice today. I have just been out driving with my mum as my test is on the 1st September! ahhh too soon! I am feeling fairly confident. I just hate bay parking and hill starts! grrrr..

Anyway (happy cheery smiles) the second installment of the holiday photos!

On the second day of our holiday we went into Washington DC. Our house was on the end of the metro line so it was quite easy to get in. This day was baking hot, literally I melted! Lol! Oh also,the building in the background is..the capitol (for several years I have thought that it was the white house. Yep english naiviety coming out here! Lol!)

It was a special day as it was my Mum and Dad's 20th wedding anniversary! (bless them!)

We had a picnic in the city centre. We picked up a box of strawberries in the supermarket. No jokes they were all this size! It was like eating something the size of a pear not a strawberry!

We walked fairly close to the Capitol building but as it was so hot didn't get any closer. Its a very impressive sight.

Walking through Washington we came to this really quirky park full of interesting art work. This was one of the weirdest things. Try and figure outwhere the bend in this house is from the shadow. Its a really weird optical illusion!

We sat in a fountain to cool down and looked decidedly british! ha ha!

We then went to the American history museum. It was fantastic. So much to do and see. My favourite display was the first ladies of america's dresses. Even Mrs Obama's is there including the Jimmy Choos! The above picture documents a really surreal moment. My mum and me were standing on a balcony when about 50 people started unravelling this huge flag. The history of the flag was then explained and the national anthem sung. To say we felt awkward was an understatment! Imagine if that happened in England! I love Americans, such spontaniety.  

We finished up the day by gazing at the Lincoln memorial.

Hope you've enjoyed our day in DC in pictures! Have a great day. More pictures will come. Please say if it is boring! Thanks for stopping by.

Loves xxxx