Family

I don't spend a lot of time around my family, or rather, I don't spend long blocks of time around my family, as I live about 100 miles away from them all. I go home about once a month but only for a day or two so it was nice to have the opportunity to spend a whole week with them all last week.

Not only that I stayed with my Sister for the first time (we used to stay with my parents but since they downsized there's not really room for all three of us) and it was great to have the chance to catch up with her and just chat and relax together.

There were two reasons why I was home, first my elder niece was getting married and second, some Australian cousins were over for a visit. I picked the Aussies up from the Airport at stupid-o'clock last monday morning and after showing off my house and providing lunch I drove them both down to Kent where they were to spend the rest of their week.

I haven't seen the pair of them since my wedding in Athens so it was lovely to be with them and also lovely to see them with Lia as they adored her and, as they were both teachers, were really good at entertaining her and reading with her, etc. She's now going round saying 'no worries mate' all the time.

As for my nieces wedding, it was a fantastic event. I'm sure I've explained before but my sister is 24 years older than me (same dad, different mums) so my niece is only three years younger than me and we've grown up more like sisters. She's mother to my Great-Niece and I was entrusted with babysitting duties for the young lady on the day of the wedding. It was fantastic to see Lia and Luisa getting on so well, now Luisa is a year old she's much more of a playmate to Lia and they seem to love being with each other.

Here's a pic of Lia in her bridesmaid dress, we haven't had a chance to go through our pics yet, this one was forwarded to me by my step-dad...

I'm back at work now and it's a real bummer LOL. I told DH that he needs to make enough money for me to retire and fill my days with fun things rather than boring ones.

I didn't get a lot of crafting done when I was away - some stitching on Happy Haunting and that was about it, but I'm now cracking on with Lavender Hearts to get it finished and framed by 14th September when it needs to be gifted.

I'm aware that a couple of people have nominated me for blog awards, I need to catch up with my blog reading and post responses so will do that asap.