O.o guess what arrived my mailbox yesterday! Or well, arrived my mailoffice 2 days ago - I was just lazy and didn't fetch it until yesterday......but!! The Digital Photography Book, Understanding Exposure and Imperfect Lives are now mine! The two first ones are photobooks (duh) - and I'm so superexcited about these. I mean....with chapters titled "Pro Tips For Getting Real Sharp Photos" (Yo kids! No more blurry pictures cause you don't care that mommy wants a picture or two of you & you just keep running!), "Shooting Weddings like a Pro" (I'm going to a wedding in August!!), "Shooting People Like A Pro" (with a SLR, duh) and "How To Print Like A Pro" (my pet pevee!) ...and with an undertitle like "How to make your photos look like the pro's!" - well.....who wouldn't be excited and stuff....I just hope I'm able to comprehend the content and actually become better too! The latter book is a scrapbooking-book that I've been wanting for a while. I love pretty, sweet and cute pages, it's not that - but I think I have a secret crush for real pages - pages that shows life, your personality, your darker sides....no, I'm not trying to diss these sweet pages - they are part of the real life too and I love creating these...but I'm fascinated that scrapbooking can also be used to show how you really are, how things are/have been, the side that you might not usually tell others kinda because we're all taught to smile and say we're fine even though we may not be. Not necessarily sad pages, but ..pages where you show more of your own personality and share who you are. I'm too much of a chicken to be there yet myself, but it doesn't stop me from thinking such honest pages are fascinating and admiring others who make these and aren't afraid to show others.

Have been planning our very first, real familyvaccay the last few days - driving around in Central Europe with the kids visiting people in both Vienna, Austria and Debrecen, Hungary - and take some time off in both Budapest and Balaton and I'm soooo psyched about it! Been getting lots of great tips from both the ladies at Minneriket and the guys at SR, searching the net for cheap places to stay at and inquiring about prices and availability and trying to plan the whole thing day by day and I really really think it'll be a nice vacation. Even with kids aged 6 and 2 in the backseat. Across Europe. Really! And! Joy! I thought I had to get myself a new passport but I don't - my old one is good for another year! Wohoo! (that's 1k NOK saved mind you!) So just need 3 new passports, not 4!

Anyways. Lots of talk today - adding two recent layouts - one was a scrapliftchallenge from Carrin; I was to lift this layout. I even used the same paper-line. The lettersize one is my contribution to ScrapJack - jackin' Heidi Swapp! Love that girl!

Cheers & have a nice weekend :)

Ps. Have a look at Meme Cats - too funny (ok...a bit "game-language" there making it fun but :p)

Ahh hentet tre nye bøker igår - to fotobøker og en scrappebok - gleder meg skikkelig til å lese de!! De to fotobøkene så virkelig bra ut - krysser fingrene for at jeg skjønner noe og klarer å bruke tipsene i praksis - og scrappeboka - Imperfect Lives - som forresten har en layout fra Malin (aka Boop :) ) med - har jeg hatt lyst på lenge! Jeg elsker søte, fine sider om de morsomme tingene i livet - men jeg fascineres kanskje litt mer av sider der folk virker ærlige om enten seg selv eller om de mindre morsomme sidene ved livet. Mindre morsomme sider scrapper jeg - trass, unger som er lei seg eller slår seg og sånne "enkle" ting -- men å være helt helt dønn ærlig med meg selv og scrappe litt alvorlige temaer om meg selv? Nei, jeg tror ikke jeg tør det - ikke helt enda. Men jeg jobber med saken. Tror jeg. Prøver å nærme meg sånn, litt mer seriøse temaer innimellom. Sånne seriøse...sånne der en åpner litt mer av seg selv liksom. Jeje.

Vi skal på ferie forresten! Er kjempespent, blir vår aller første "ordentlige" familieferie helt alene - sammen! Sånn med unger altså, har vært på ferie alene før vi fikk unger da, men ikke etterpå - ikke der det bare var oss to som var de voksne og ansvarlige liksom...skummelt...og spennende! Skal kjøre nedover Europa til Østerrike og Ungarn! Hihi. Har fått masse hjelp og tips allerede men tar mer enn gjerne imot fler! :)

Layoutene her er forresten en utfordringslift jeg fikk fra Carrin og Heidi Swapp-scrapjack'en :)

Ha en riktig god helg!!