Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Who doesn’t love a photo card?

Do you send out Christmas cards to your family and friends?  I love getting photo cards in the mail (my aunt sends one every year) and I’ve sent a few myself out in the past.  In fact, this was our card last year, courtesy of Shutterfly.Picture2The quality of the card is amazing.  The picture is vivid and bright and the cardstock is thick and great quality.  As someone who spent a lot of time thinking about paper quality for wedding projects I know what I’m talking about.

With so many gorgeous wedding pictures to use, how about sending a gorgeous holiday card like this to our family and friends?Picture1Or this one, that shows our first look in frame by frame detail?Picture2Or how about this card that has a few more pictures to show what else the Husband and I have been up to this year besides getting married?Picture3Or maybe my mom and dad would love an awesome picture mug to drink their coffee out of every morning?  (Because seriously, how cute is my niece, aka their granddaughter?)Picture4Picture5So if you are looking for some fun and unique holiday cards, Christmas cards, gifts or even calendars go check out Shutterfly!

If you are a blogger and you’d like a chance at 25 holiday cards courtesy of Shutterfly, then go here to register by November 11th.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Christmas in Sydney

Thursday – Christmas Eve

On Thursday we flew from Adelaide back to Sydney.  Considering it was Christmas Eve I have to say that this was one of the most stress free flights I’ve had lately.  Speedy check in, a quick zip through security, and then a smooth trip over to Sydney.  We checked in at our hotel then set out to explore a bit.  I got my first glimpse of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, then it was on to Darling Harbour for dinner and fireworks. DSCN2198 DSCN2200Christmas Eve dinner in my family is traditionally fish.  This year, we took seafood to a whole new extreme!  We shared a platter of chilli lobster, cold prawns, oysters, a blue swimmer crab, fried fish, smoked salmon, some salt and pepper prawns and calamari.  Between three of us we were not able to finish all of this, although we did give it a good try!  Just after we finished chowing down the Christmas Eve fireworks went off in Darling Harbour.DSCN2219DSCN2229

Friday – Christmas Day

Running Sydney, AU 25-12-2009 I was up early on Christmas Day and raring to run.  I plotted out a route that would take me past a lot of the important sights around Sydney.  I left my hotel in Darling Harbour and ran north along Kent Street towards Millers Point.  It was probably about 7 am and navigating the street north through town things were pretty deserted.  Until I happened upon two gentlemen collecting bottles…or something…on the street.  One guy was bending over and was clearly oblivious to the fact that his shorts has completely fallen below his rear end.  Ahem, just a wee bit more than I was bargaining for that morning!!  Soon I was right below the Harbour Bridge though, with the Opera House in my sights! DSCN2283As I passed the train station a group of cyclists were out for Christmas morning ride.  Not a bad idea for Christmas morning if you ask me!  DSCN2288DSCN2291After running around the Opera House I passed into the Botanical Gardens for a bit.  Next time I’d definitely like to run around here a bit more.  I ran down Macquarie Street for a bit, past the Parliament buildings, Sydney Mint and Hyde Park Barracks.DSCN2294DSCN2299DSCN2302

And after that it was time to head back to the hotel.  Maybe just over four miles later?  Later in the evening we did the quintessential thing to do in Sydney on Christmas and we headed over to Bondi Beach.  Unfortunately the weather wasn’t that fantastic though as the remnants of ex-tropical cyclone Laurence rolled into town…   Believe it or not, there are actually people swimming in the water behind me!DSCN2327 

Saturday – Boxing Day

Time for something new – I needed to hit up a pool!  I probably haven’t swum in almost a month??  I headed off to the Cook + Phillip Park Aquatic Centre early in the morning, a 50 metre underground pool right in downtown.  Thanks to it being a YMCA facility I even managed to get in for free with my Calgary membership!  They had eight lanes open for swimming – slow, medium and fast, and freestyle only and other strokes.  I had a bunch of workout cards with me, but they mostly depended on using a 25 metre pool, plus various pull buoys and kick boards.  I decided to ignore the swim cards and just swim.  The best thing about a 50 metre pool is that you may be sharing a lane with two or three other people but you feel like you are the only one there.  I just put my head down and swam for almost an hour.  Boy, it felt good to be back in the water!DSCN2333

One thing that I noticed – men here don’t wear your typical jammer style swimsuits.  They tend to favour budgie smugglers instead…  And with that, it was time to leave Sydney!!  We are in the Hunter Valley for a few days, then back to Sydney in time for New Years.  I hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas!

Friday, December 5, 2008

Getting Festive

Last night after I finished my strength routine, abs and stretching I decided it was time to make my place look a little bit more like Christmas. I put the Christmas tunes on and hauled my tree and decorations up from the basement. Yes indeed...I am a fake tree girl... This one is pre-strung with Constant-On lights so that even if a light bulb goes out the entire string continues to work. Yup, that is my kind of tree!
The majority of my Christmas ornaments have a special significance. I've either picked them up on my travels somewhere or they were gifts. A few years back my sister-in-law and I started a tradition of exchanging an ornament every year. This year she gave me the lady with the feathers on the left below, from Cirque du Soleil's Corteo. We went to see the show together back in August and she surprised me with the ornament this week. On the right is cowboy Santa, riding a horse. This was given to me by a good friend before I left Texas, so that I would always be reminded of Christmas in Texas!

This morning I got in 2100 m at the pool. I had a great set involving some work with flippers and it flew by. I'm so glad that I did get that one session in at the pool this week!

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