Saturday, 6 November 2010

Celebrating Blog Friendships–Blog Party!

Good Evening All Bloggers!

A big welcome to our Blog Party. This is a Blog Hop, with 29 wonderful people blogging on the subject of “Celebrating Blog Friendships”. You start right here and can follow the links from one blog to another, all the way round the chain, until you will (hopefully) end up at Jo’s blog – Curlyscrapbooker.

As this is a party, I hope you’ll have some fun on the way, perhaps have a little music, cake, a balloon or two, play a game… whatever our friends have in store for you, I’m sure it will be fun!

Every party should start with a little bit of a quiet spell, while everyone has their first little drink (!) and warms up a bit; this is the quiet start, but I hope it will soon get lively! So, pull up a floor cushion, get comfortable, sip your first drink and let’s make a beginning to our evening.

Firstly, a little bit of history… this time last year, many of those taking part in this evening’s Party were starting out on a new online course, created and organised by the ever-fabulous Shimelle (yay!). It was, of course, “Blogging For Scrapbookers” and as a result many of us started our first ever blog, or began to use our blogs on a regular basis, to post about our lives, homes, families, scrapping and crafting. Of course, we also began to read others’ blogs – many of those on a regular basis too.

As always, there was a forum available to all course members, where we could post questions, comments etc and our responses to challenges set by the course. Shimelle dropped in regularly to give support and help. We were encourages to introduce ourselves and to “meet” others who were on the course.
All that was a year ago, starting on 2nd November; but for me, and many others, it has continued well beyond that initial month of BFS. I began to visit other blogs on a regular basis and quickly gathered a list of blogs belonging to other BFS classmates, which I read daily and often responded to with comments. I started updating my new blog on a regular basis too and was so pleased when someone commented on one of my own posts.

And now?

Well, last month I realised that I’d had this blog for almost a year. It got me thinking about the year and how my blog had developed, what sort of posts I’d made, whose blogs I had visited, the enjoyment I had while joining in with the huge Blog World that is Out There.

I mentioned this to Jo, during a bit of a chat we had. We agreed that we wanted to do something to mark the occasion. After all, it’s not every day that you have a “Bloggiversary”, is it?

We chose today as our Official Bloggiversary – or Blog Birthday if you prefer – and a subject of “Celebrating Blog Friendships”, since we both felt that the most significant benefit to both of us, from becoming involved in our blogs, has been the wonderful new friendships we have formed during this past year!

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all Blog Friends who have been with us this past year. Even if you already had your blog, or if you’ve started it since, we want you to know that we appreciate your friendship, we love having you around and it is a pleasure to know you all!

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On a personal note, I want to tell you how very much I personally value the friendships I have begun this year. A number of you – and you know who you are – have become regular visitors to my blog. You read the various rambling waffles that I choose to call “Blog Posts”; you even leave me comments.
Your encouragement when I have posted a tutorial or pictures of my various layouts, craft projects or bookbinding efforts, has been much appreciated; your appreciation of my efforts to please has cheered me and made me happy.

It is great to have people laugh with me, when I post something that I have found amusing, to have someone to tell about my adventures – small or big.

And, really important to me, I have wholly appreciated the wonderful, supportive, encouraging and friendly comments that you have left for me, when my posts have not been about adventures, crafting or fun, but about sad, lonely, dull, frustrating or unhappy episodes in my day-to-day life. I have posted about these things and you have supported me every time. It makes it easier to cope, knowing that other people do care – even though they are people I have never met face to face – even though they may be hundreds, or even thousands of miles away, across oceans and lands I have never seen.

I LOVE MY BLOG FRIENDS!

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Okay, that’s the soppy speech-making out of the way guys….

Shall we liven things up, just a bit? Fancy a few Party Games?

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Pass the Parcel

(the essential game for any serious British Party-goer! )

In case you have never played this and don’t know the rules:

There is a large parcel, wrapped in many layers of paper.

This is passed round a circle of people, while someone plays music (live music is not required, but if someone fancies bringing their guitar to the party, well, hey, we won’t say no!).

The musician (or controller of the cd player) stops the music – whoever is holding the parcel at this point tears off One Layer of paper.

Often there will be a little prize (sweeties?), or a forfeit in the wrapping. Any forfeit must be done straight away, then the music starts again and Pass the Parcel continues.

The final layer of paper will always contain a Prize (and maybe a forfeit too, if the party-host is rotten, mean and likes teasing their friends).

Of course, being a British party game, the person in charge of the music does tend to try and make sure that everyone gets a chance to open a layer of the Parcel. We do like Fair Play!

* * *

So, how can we play Pass the Parcel by Blog?
Easy!
Yes, really!
At every blog you visit in the Blog Party, you will get the chance to open a layer of wrapping. The “Prize” will be a Letter.
?
Okay, bear with me here…

You will get a Letter from the Alphabet. Each letter, in order, will be one more clue to work out a Phrase that will entitle you to have a try at winning the Final Prize in the middle of the Parcel.
(okay so it’s a bit of a fiddle, but we thought it would be fun).

So, has the music stopped? Are you holding the Parcel? If you are, the Letter under the first layer of wrapping is….

“H”!

Umm… I’m getting a bit of Deja-Vue here….

Collect all the letters, keep a note of them in order and when you call at Curlyscrapbooker at the end of the Blog Hop, you will be told what to do next.

Okay?

Good Luck!

* * *

Pin the Tail on the Donkey

Another good, old-fashioned Party Game!

Ever played this? No?

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There is a picture of a donkey, usually side-on, but in any case, it must include the part of the donkey where the tail would go (with me? hee hee…).

Each person in turn is blindfolded. The Person In Charge then spins them round and round, until they are probably dizzy.

They then try to Pin the Tail on the Donkey – ie. they try to attach a “tail” to the donkey’s picture, in the correct place.

The “Tail” can be a sticker, a bit of string on a push-pin, a paper slip with blu-tac on the back….

If the person attaches the tail in the right place they win a prize – OR at the end of the game, the person whose “tail” is judged closest to the correct place will be the Winner! (the second rule is better for older kids – or “grown-ups”!).

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Pin the Tail on the Donkey… by Blog?

Yup! I know, I get madder and crazier every post, but never mind eh…

Okay… this is really a Giveaway in disguise…

All the best parties have Prizes. I wanted to give away some prizes at my party, so I have found some goodies to share.

I have five prizes!

Prize Number ONE

Since this is really a Birthday Party, I thought I would share part of a great Prize that I received recently.

In August, Shimelle held a weekend Inspiration Party, with challenges and ideas posted every hour. Some were scrapping posts and those in between were photo challenges. I won the prize for this Photo Challenge. It included these great little stamps, with a Birthday Theme.

Prize Number TWO

What does Liz do? Liz makes BOOKS! So I had to give books as my other prizes.

This is a pair of notebooks, one A6 size (approx 6x4”) and one A7 size (4x3”). They are tablets of plain white notepaper, which I have covered with pink cardstock and this cute wintery Owl scrap paper. Each book ties with a pale blue ribbon.

I chose the owls because I know Jo loves owls… go on Jo, have a try to win these!

Prize Number THREE

Teeny Notebooks! These notebooks are absolutely tiny, weeny and teeny! You can see from the photo above that they are sooo small!

They are filled with twenty or so sheets of thin notepaper. The covers are stiff scrapbook papers, by Imaginisce. The binding is a Japanese-style stab-stitch in red linen thread.

They would be great for a very small handbag, or a wallet. You could fit one in your pocket and still have room for your door key and a pen.

Or you could make them into scrapbook embellishments – what an interesting way to record your journalling!

Prize Number FOUR

A Christmas Decoration? Not quite… it’s a mini-book.

This is a mini scrapbook, with embellished chipboard covers, pages made from coloured cardstock, with Christmas papers and a book ring fastening, decorated with ribbons.

Inside view…

It’s about 3 1/2” diameter and has 10 pages for you to decorate as you choose. Of course, you could turn it into a real Christmas decoration and hang your completed mini-book on the Tree!

Prize Number FIVE

A pair of pamphlet-style notebooks, measuring approx 6 x 4”. Each book contains 20 pages (40 sides) of good quality sketch paper (stiffer than notepaper), hand-cut and folded into a single section and hand-stitched with ivory-coloured cotton.

They are covered with stiff scrapbook paper – one has a design of Christmas trees on a burgundy background, the other has tiny spots in burgundy, olive and aqua, on a white background. Each book has a wrap-round ribbon which ties on the front cover.

Ideal for your seasonal planning, Christmas shopping or present lists, journalling notes for JYC, collecting quotes, scribbles, doodles and drawings… anything you fancy!

* * *

How to Pin the Tail on the Blog Donkey?

Please leave me a Comment! Simple really! I would love to know your opinions on Blog Friendships. Do you feel they are valuable? Are they “real” friendships, or just something contrived? Do you feel that you have blog friends who support and encourage you, or do you not really want this sort of interaction with other bloggers? Everyone has different points of view in life – would you like to share yours?

and the Number

This was a LizzieMade Production…. Thank You and Good Night!

Saturday, 30 October 2010

Lizzie’s Guide to London – Part Two

Thanks to Stacey and Heather for their suggestion to solve my Blogger editing problems – I am trying Windows Live Writer to produce this post. Let’s see how I get on…

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Firstly, if you're looking for the post about the Celebrating Blog Friendships Blog Party on 6th November, see this post.

Also Jo has published an update post today, with a final checklist of those who said they'd like to join in. Please check her post here, to make sure your name is on the list!

* * *

So, the mini-holiday in London… (this post has a fair bit of writing and lots of pictures – you may wish to go now and get a cuppa & a biccie!)

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Lizzie's Guide to London -Part Two

Sunday 24th October

Day-Trip to Greenwich

(and a night-time adventure!)

We had a strange night. The bathrooms were right across the hall from our room, which made it a bit noisy, as families got their children settled for the night.

Also, the room was a bit warm, so we had to open the window – then there were the usual Saturday night noises to get used to, not to mention the striking of the St. Paul’s bells, on every quarter-hour and the big, “Great Tom” bell booming the time on each full hour. That was nice, but took a bit of getting used to!

Once everyone had settled down, it was about 10:30pm and I started to drift off…

At around 11pm, a group of students came in and started going into the bathrooms. Doors creaking and banging, voices, sounds of teeth-cleaning (they left the doors open so they could chat!)… I thought it would settle down soon, but it went on, and on, and on. The chatting became louder, then there were sounds of thumping, zips and velcro, more chatting… then a man’s voice. I thought it must be the dad from the family room next door, asking them to be quiet – it was after 11:30 by now – but it went on still.

Eventually, after the Clock struck midnight, I went out to see what was going on – by now DS was also awake and I didn’t want him up all night.

An interesting sight… Our room was by a fire door, which led to a sort-of cul-de-sac, with two bedrooms and a shower room. There was a group of about ten or twelve students – mainly girls – sitting around the edges of the cul-de-sac, leaning on the open fire-door, all the way up to our bedroom door. They were in their sleeping bags, with their rucsacs on the floor next to them. They seemed to be camping (!?) and showed no sign of preparing to go to bed.

So I had to ask them to please either go down to the lounge and chat there, or to go to bed and sleep. I was nice, but pointed out there were family rooms next to them, that they had woken us and probably the family next to us and that there were children in these rooms, trying to sleep. They did look sheepish and apologised, then I heard them all going into rooms, or downstairs – whatever. Peace at last! But how weird…

So we were a bit sleepy in the morning, but at least we managed 7 hours or so (and DS went straight back to sleep, so he had about 9 hours). Warm showers woke us up okay and we were hungry enough to forget about bed.

Breakfast photo from tripadvisor.co.uk

We went and ate breakfast. The breakfasts in the hostel were pretty okay. Lots of choice – cereals, yoghurt, ham, cheese, croissants and chocolatines, toast, fresh fruit, hot food – bacon, eggs, sausages, grilled tomato, baked beans, mushrooms… nicely cooked too, choice of fruit juices and also hot chocolate, tea and coffee.

Some girls at our table arrived with trays piled high. I thought they must be good eaters… but they used the toast, cheese and ham to make sandwiches for their lunches! They wrapped them in napkins and had an apple each too – definitely a clever money-saver for students travelling in London!

So, we were ready to go OUT on a sunny October Sunday morning…

St. Paul’s Cathedral, early morning.

From St. Peter’s Hill, up to St. Paul’s…

241010_002a_London_St_Pauls_St_Peters_Hill_to_Bridge

…from St. Peter’s Hill, down to the Millenium Bridge and the River Thames.

Walking across the Millenium Bridge in the early morning

241010_004_London_St_Pauls_Millenium_Bridge_View

Millenium Bridge views to St. Paul’s

We crossed the bridge to the South Bank, because we wanted to catch a river ferry from the pier at Bankside.

The replica Globe Theatre on the South Bank. We planned on going there on Tuesday, for a tour.

HMS Belfast, by Tower Bridge,

Our Thames Clipper ferry, arriving at Bankside Pier. We went down the Thames to Greenwich.

National Maritime Museum – We spent a couple of hours here, exploring lots of interesting Maritime history. There was an exhibition of Toy Boats as well, which was fun. Lunch in the cafe, then a stroll to Greenwich Park.

Greenwich: Old Royal Naval College (now part of Maritime Museum)

Colonnade between Old Royal Naval College and the Queens House

I can imaging ladies and gentlemen from long ago, strolling under the shelter of the colonnade, looking across Greenwich Park…

… there’s certainly a great view from here! View across Greenwich Park, to the Royal Observatory

From the Observatory hill, across Greenwich Park, to the Queen’s House and Maritime Museum. In the background, Canary Wharf – see the tower with the pyramid roof – the Isle of Dogs and other buildings along the North bank of the Thames.

What a contrast, between the old and new!

The site of the Prime Meridian, Greenwich – designated as the point of 0 degrees Longitude and the home of Greenwich Mean Time (which, incidentally, Britain reverts to tonight as British Summertime ends for the winter).

The famous Meridian Line. There was such a queue to stand on this and have your picture taken… we didn’t bother.

Instead, J stood on the Old Meridian Line, just below the courtyard of the Observatory… Standing in two Hemispheres at a time! That stone above his head has an inscription describing the Meridian.

The Greenwich Royal Observatory. This is the rather nice garden. We went into the Camera Obscura, in a little house to the side, where we could see Greenwich Park and the Maritime Museum reflected in real-time, on a white curved table – little people and their dogs walking along, children running, pushchairs and skateboards… All good fun.

241010_020_Greenwich_View_from_Observatory

From the Observatory, the views across the Park and up the Thames are even better. The highest point for miles (which is why the Royal Observatory was sited here, of course!).

After looking round the Observatory a bit, we headed for the Planetarium. This building has replaced the old London Planetarium, which now belongs to Madame Tussauds and has shows about a different sort of “star”!

Photo from waymarking,com

We had tickets for one of their shows and spent half an hour drifting around the Galaxy, learning about other planets in our Solar System. It’s quite exciting actually and they have a brilliant system, which projects amazing images of the sky, photographs of the planets, star maps etc, all onto their curved ceiling, which you view from a comfy seat that is conveniently tipped back slightly, so you don’t have to crane your kneck (v. good for me, who can’t tip my head back!)

We headed back to Greenwich Pier about 5pm and caught another Thames Clipper back to Bankside.

Dinner at Pizza Express, just across the road from St. Paul’s Cathedral. We’re spoilt rotten!

We slept like babies!

Friday, 29 October 2010

Lizzie's Guide to London - Part One

Well, this looks as if it might be successful! I think I have been a teeny bit clever - though I haven't tried to do the writing and publishing bit of this post yet! (Those who are reading this with no idea what I'm talking about - see the previous post, from earlier today, in which I complained bitterly about ongoing issues with the Blogger Editor and loading photos to posts).

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Also, if you're interested in reading my post about our Celebrating Blog Friendships Blog Party, which will take the form of a blog-hop on 6th November, please see this post here.

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Lizzie's Guide to London -Part One

Saturday 23rd October
St. Pauls' and Surrounding Area

Last weekend we took a four-day trip to London. We went up by train and spend three nights in a YHA hostel, at St. Paul's in the City.

I thought you all might enjoy a few posts about the trip (though feel free to do that "oh no, I hate looking at people's holiday photos" thing and go elsewhere for your entertainment!

I think the best way to do this is to just annotate the photos with little stories of our adventures. Hope you like the stories I tell!

By train to London... yes, DS does need a haircut... but it's kind of fuzzy, which is cute!

This is my DH and DS, heading up St. Andrews Hill, on the way to the youth hostel.

Carter Lane, St. Pauls. The building on the left side of the road is the youth hostel.

It used to be the Choir School for St. Paul's Cathedral, but they now have a lovely modern building near Paternoster Square, which is no doubt much easier to cope with and more convenient for early mornings and late evenings, when the staff have to shepherd a couple of dozen boys to and from a sung eucharist or concert.

I ought to have taken a photo of the front of this building - it has some wonderful painting all over it - this is sadly beginning to wear away, with the effects of the elements, but it is still visible and is really impressive - I think it was probably done in the C19th.

There are lots of little nooks and crannies around the St. Pauls area. This is a view into a little corner just off St. Andrews Hill.

An old pub, with its coach-lights and panelling. It was carefully re-painted in old-fashioned style and looked great. There was a sign by the front door, which said "Persons with soiled clothing or dirty boots will not be served". I thought that was great!

Corner of St. Andrews Hill and Carter Lane. If you look at the top of the pale-coloured building - the youth hostel - you will see a long dormer window, which was our room.

St. Pauls area - shops and offices. All rather quaint and old-fashioned. Lovely to stroll about in. However, very strangely, the shops were all closed, even though it was a Saturday lunchtime. We went out to look for something we'd forgotten and couldn't find any shops that were open in the whole area. Even some of the cafes and restaurants were closed. Everything was open on Monday though, so I presume that everyone thinks it's too quiet in the City at weekends to bother with opening. There were cafes open in the tourist areas, but no-where else. Strange, but true!!

Rooftop view, from our window, high above Carter's Lane.

Rooftop view in the other direction! (well, I liked it). See the fab little roof-garden above that cafe on the corner? They even have a tiny conservatory!

And of course, St. Paul's Cathedral itself. We didn't go in on Saturday. There were a zillion tourists about and we thought it would be so busy. Decided to go on Tuesday morning (only we never got there, but that's another story).

So, we went walkabout, to explore. Past St. Paul's and up the road, we got to Fleet Street - famous residence of many national newspapers and magazines (although many have now moved on to newer - and presumably cheaper - locations). ..

... also the home of The Bar and The Courts. The seat of the British Justice System!

View down from Fleet Street, to the gateway into Temple Gardens. The "Temple" in the name refers to "Temple Bar", the central offices of "The Bar", where British Barristers are based. If you qualify as a Barrister, you are "Called to the Bar", which I think means that you go to the law offices and they register you and license you to work as a senior lawyer. A friend of DS' dad is a barrister and goes up to London every day. I guess he must work near here... (the British Justice System is somewhat complicated and confuses me. I really ought to research it a bit more... but not now eh?)

The High Court of Justice. You may have seen this building in various news reports on tv, whenever they report on any high-profile case that has been taken up to the High Court (there are several layers of courts and judiciary centres in Britain, starting with the local Magistrates Courts, then the Crown Courts, then on to the High Court. Only certain cases go up to High Court - they have to be pretty important and serious!)

Here's one I took for Amy! This is Australia House.

Sorry about the white van just passing.. I had a good shot all lined up... duh...

And on to Victoria Embankment, just down the hill from the Courts. We walked back past Temple Gardens, on the pretty side! This is a popular place to take a walk; it extends for quite a way, up into the Town. It's a Victorian innovation, with wide pavement, fancy street lamps and benches, also various war memorials and memorials to famous people. We walked back towards the City though, not into Town.

View from Victoria Embankment, up to Westminster. You can see the London Eye and Houses of Parliament, among other places. The towers are the Parliament buildings - the one on the left is the famous St. Stephen's Clock Tower, home of the very famous Big Ben bell.

View the other way, along the Embankment. The buildings are more modern and all about offices, work etc. Lots of financial offices and head offices of big companies etc. The tall, brownish chimney-thing by the river is the Tate Modern.

The bridge you can see is Blackfriars Bridge, a great Victorian iron bridge. This is the road bridge and behind it is the rail bridge - which is currently undergoing refurbishment. We came into Blackfriars Station on our train (though next month they will close the station for a few weeks, while they complete their work).

A good old-fashioned British Telephone Box! Lots of these in Central London and the City. Elsewhere in Britain they've been virtually eradicated. Some towns and villages actually had to fight to keep theirs - many people like them as they are landmarks and quite attractive (in a box-like, heavy iron, with doors that you can't open kind of way). They are a bit of a rarity therefore. I like to look at them, but I hate having to use the phone inside one of these - I can not open the door, as it's so heavy!

So, we crossed over Blackfriars Bridge, to the South Bank of the Thames.

It really was a lovely afternoon. A bit breezy, but the sun was quite warm and bright. Lovely views from the bridge!

This is what our family calls a "Flakey Stop"! Me and DS both need to eat snacks mid-morning and afternoon, or we become what DH calls "flakey" - ie. weary, grumpy, tired, sad, exhausted, unable to function properly... you get the idea - a nuisance really. We're all so used to it now, that we factor these into our plans. Still, we had considerable trouble finding a cafe that was actually Open!! We could've gone into a pub (!), but DS isn't allowed in the Bar, so we'd have had to sit outside - brrr... Besides, we needed coffee/hot choccy and stuff, not beer...

This was a great little cafe, called Fratelli's. I think there is a chain of them in London - not seen them anywhere else though. There were two great Italian guys there, working hard at cleaning and tidying up; they were charming and helpful, made fab coffee and told us where to look for a big shop that might sell what we needed (remember I said we - I actually - forgot to pack something?)

On the way back across Blackfriars Bridge... St. Paul's in the Sunshine! Lovely picture (the bit at the bottom is the scaffolding / roofing at Blackfriars Rail Bridge/ Station).

Back to our room at the hostel. We had a 4-bed room, all to ourselves. Very clean, recently refurbished and really nice. Obviously, it being a hostel, we had to share the showers and loos, but we had a washbasin in our room and there was plenty of hot water in the showers etc. No complaints really.

A good room in a great location - and jolly cheap! Breakfasts were okay too - plenty of it and a good variety of stuff. Coffee was pretty decent as well, which is important to me first thing in the morning!

Okay... so these are my feet. I was a bit worn out after a busy day with a lot of walking. Needed to put my feet up for a couple of hours, before tackling the nearby posh burger bar, for our dinner!

We had a good day though, with plenty to look forward to on Sunday....

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Amazing... this post appears to have worked okay. After all the stress of the last couple of days, I have managed to sort it out!

Solution? Number my photos in the order I wanted them, then load them in groups of five, starting with the Last photo First! Blogger's old editor slots each photo in above the one it has just loaded... doing it backwards has saved all the stress of trying to pull them around in the editor, to get them where I want them to be.

Hopefully, this will publish okay. I may even try to edit the photo sizes in the new editor, to make them bigger!

Okay, so I tried to make the photos bigger, but it won't let me. Still, the new editor has allowed me to tidy up the post a bit and remove extra line-spaces from between the text blocks. It looks more tidy now.

So, possible interim solution to my irritating problem. Still not ideal, but it did work! :-))

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