My week away....

3 August 2012

I am home from an wonderful few days away....
I took 5 days and headed off.... all secret squirrel.....to surprise my dear friend Janelle for her very special 40th birthday.

Its impossible to even share just how lovely it was....so here are a few snapshots of my most wonderful week away.
I arrived on Sunday....after Janelles poor hubby Michael did the huge trip to Sydney and back to collect me.
I think we managed to surprise her...even if she had an inkling I was coming....she didn't let on...LOL

I am cranky I didn't take more photos....but for some reason often when I'm really enjoying the moment I forget to take my camera out....so the ones I have.....and the memories in my heart will  be enough.

So what did we do?

We chatted.....and chatted.....
We drank tea....and more tea......and more tea......
We had a lovely morning tea and visit from Kim.... which was such a highlight too.... thank you so much Kim for making the trip to Janelles for a visit....I would have been very sad to go home without having caught up.
It was just like we hang out together every week.... precious friendships are like that.

I went along to class with Janelle and met both her Tuesday and Wednesday ladies.
I felt so welcomed.....and loved meeting them all...putting faces to names....and I wished I could be a regular 'lady' at the table too.

I was there for Janelles 40th.....and felt so honoured to be a part of her special day.... 
The ladies at her class that day were so sweet....they dressed her as a princess.... and she looked beautiful.... tiara... earrings and all.. 

I spent my days at class stitching some dresses for my girls.... and learnt some wonderful tips from Janelle.
Lottie loves her new red number...


...and Grace in the brown..


Janelle gave Gracie a little hair makeover...

 I was there for another little surprise when Emma from Ballarat Patchwork arrived....totally taking Janelle by surprise. There was lots of chat about Blythe....and I was able to meet Emma's beautiful Blythes as well...one of hers caught my eye.....and I haven't been able to shake her from my thoughts.... Emma...you are a bad influence...LOL

Emily and Jasper were such sweeties..... we had lots of laughs.....and I loved hanging out with them too.
Emily very kindly took some beautiful photos of my girls.... including this shot of Lottie using a technique that Emily has mastered called 'free lensing'.... what a talented chicken she is.


Sadly it all came to an end so quickly and it was time to fly on home again.....
We had so many plans.....but so little time....typically.
What I did love was that I was able to share some space with some dear friends....
meet Janelles beautiful family and class ladies...
pop in and out of the Op shop...
and just be there as part of her special day.

8 comments

  1. Oh Mardi... how special and exciting... what a wonderful friend you are... love the pic of the three of you... that is so sweet... and the ones of your 'girls' and their new dresses... sounds like a magical time was had... there is nothing quite like being with beautiful friends... especially when there is something special to celebrate...

    Hugs
    Jenny x

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  2. Dear Mardi, thank you from the bottom of my heart for making my birthday wish come true. Leading up to my birthday, I actually made myself quite sad some days because all I wanted for my birthday was for you to come and visit - so to have you knock on my door last Sunday truly was a dream come true. I LOVED every second we spent together and it was gone in the blink of an eye. I will carry these memories in my heart forever and will look forward to the next time we are together.THANK YOU for your amazing friendship and for all you bring to my life xxxxxxxxxxxx Janelle

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  3. Anonymous11:24 pm

    You are very lucky to have that close friendshp with each other. So glad that you got to spend some qualtiy time together.

    I love that photo of you with Janelle and Kim. It makes me think of the Scrapboxx days when you 3 were all on the Design Team there.

    Have a great week and thanks for sharing xxoo

    From Susan McGuire (smiles1965) :)

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  4. It was such a wonderful surprise for a special girl. Bless you Mardi. xo

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  5. Oh Mardi what a wonderful week for you both!!! it would have been just lovely. It is nice to have friends like that huh. That would be a dream of mine to sit & have lessons on sewing with janelle!!! sigh. You guys are amazing!!!

    Mel xx

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  6. Just priceless. Beautiful girls, so glad you had such a great time together.
    Kate xoxo

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  7. Sounds absolutely wonderful Mardi! How lovely to have such a beautiful friendship with a beautiful lady and that you were able to go and spend a special day with her!!
    I am sure she was truly blessed :-)

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  8. Hi Mardi, just looking back on some old posts of yours. Love those dresses. Where did you buy the patterns? I've just gotten a couple of blythe and Lilly and I want to see some dresses together. I think this style of dress is so sweet!

    Bella and Brooke seem to be enjoying the girls... Any plans on getting more girls?

    Mel

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