A lovely start to 2010

Can you believe we're into 2010 already!?

Did you have a good Christmas? I hope you got lots of presents that you wanted/liked and had a joyous time with your family or friends! How about New Year? Did you celebrate with parties and fireworks or had a quiet night in?

I like the idea of staying up to see the new year in, but I inevitably get tired trying to stay awake and am really far better off sleeping! This year was no different. We dined with friends but retired about 10.30pm and although briefly awoken by firecrackers going off when I assume it was midnight, I dozed straight back off. Still haven't made any resolutions either. Have you?

Of course, my girls' (twins) birthday is New Year's Day and it would be a bit rude to party the night before and not on their birthday. Well, that sounds reasonable at any rate! So, this year, they had a small party hosted by our ex-neighbours who now live on the coast. There were two other little girls who they have known since birth (plus all the boofy brothers LOL). One of the mums bought them all big glittery flower hair clips and I love this pic of them line up waiting to get to the food ... a veritable garden of flowers!!



The best news of all for the past week is that we've had rain, and not just a token sprinkling. But good, decent, soaking rain that went for days! Brown paddocks are already looking green, dams are almost full and the lawn that we had been desperately trying to water to bring back to life a couple of weeks ago is so long that it will be a job and a half to mow it! Our tally for the year's rain is still far below average for 2009, but we've had a nice start to 2010 - let's hope it continues throughout the year! From a farmer/grazier's point of view, it would be so nice to have a good year!! Here is a pic I just snapped from our verandah of our nearest dam... it's almost full :)



For today's pic (top) I don't usually make these, but a client requested some hair vines for her upcoming wedding. Made with swarovski crystals, freshwater pearls and gold plated leaves, I still have a couple of matching hairpins to finish before sending these to her - but she is thrilled with them so far. Someone else who is stepping sideways slightly from traditional jewellery making is Dana who makes gem trees. She has a great pic of a partially made gem tree on her blog. I love seeing the things we get drawn in to - is it by accident or design!?

I hope you're all either still enjoying holidays or recovering well from the partying! Till next :)

Annette