Around here - Grab your free PDF Cheat Sheet for turning your digital photos into a Photo Book

Around here it's been extremely hot in Brisbane and the air conditioner has been on night and day.  Last night our power went out for over 2.5 hours so it was pitch black inside and outside and all I needed was 3 minutes to heat up my yummy dinner I had thawed out during the day.

It would have been better if it went off during the day as you could walk around and see where you are walking or mop the floors or clean the bathrooms.  Lucky for me I had charged up my power bank for my phone during the week so I could keep my phone going.

The funny thing was I was chatting to my friend on the phone who lives 2 hours away at the Gold Coast and after about 15 minutes her power went out as well.  Her power came back on not too long after however mine didn't come back on about 8.30 pm when I was able to heat up my dinner and get back to watching Emily in Paris which I have been enjoying.

During the week I created a PDF Cheat Sheet on how to go about making a photo book and getting your digital files off your phones and computer.  In this day and age everybody takes so many images probably mostly on our iPhones and that's where they stay.  If you have taken a holiday, or grown wonderful veggies or cook really yummy meals and have taken photos of them it's worth while making a photo book.

Often we don't know how to get started so this little Cheat Sheet should help you.  It can seem daunting given the amount of photos most of us take these days however just pick one subject or one holiday and go from there.

If you would like my free PDF Cheat Sheet head over to my website Kathy Aylward Photo and subscribe to receive your download.  Feel free to tell your family and friends as the more the merrier to preserve those precious memories, after all you took the photos in the first place to remember the moment.

A few years ago I made a little Photo Book of our first veggie garden at our old house and this garden brought me so much joy.  The kids were so little and my sister came over and we set it all up.  It was the most productive veggie garden just two 1200mm x 1200mm boxes. [4'x4'].  The cherry tomato bush gave us so many tomatoes I used to take them in for the kindy teaches and they said they were the best tomatoes they have tasted.  I love being able to look back through this photo book to these lovely memories.

I've participated in years of different photo projects and here's just a few photo books I've made.  Week in the Life photo books and Yearly Photo Books.

Around here

My daughter turned 17 on Monday and in two weeks time she will get her license and then she'll be out and about more than ever.  Last night her Kindy teacher [from 2010] was messaging me after she saw a post on Sienna's birthday and said it's amazing that these little 4 year olds she taught all those years ago are now young adults.  I find it hard to believe myself that the time has gone so fast and both kids are amazing confident young people.

I can't believe we are in March already so at least it will start to cool down a little and not be so hot which it has been here in Queensland.  I love Autumn and Spring the best if I had to pick seasons.  In a few months we'll be flying back over the other side of the country to go to my Nephew's wedding in June.  It's nice to have a trip to look forward to since I haven't travelled for years.   Here's a few recent photos.

Our local Fruit & Veggie Exchange.

What I gratefully received.

Yummy lunch at home.

Have been making a jar of pickled onions for the fridge and we are all enjoying them.

Have been making popcorn for some afternoon snacks the old fashioned way with a saucepan and lid using coconut oil rather than buying expensive already popped corn from the supermarket.

Made new batch of toilet pods using this recipe.

Around here - Escape to the Chateau Evening in Brisbane

I mentioned back in August how I had booked to go and see Dick & Angel from Escape to the Chateau fame when they were touring Australia and New Zealand.  It was on Wednesday night this week and I loved it.  It was a basically a talking evening with them sort of doing a "This is your life" on their own life with how they came to meet each other and how in real life they their worlds collided to come across each other.  For a start Dick is 19 years older than Angel which today that doesn't look like anything but put a photo of Dick being a 19 year old in the Army and Angel in a nappy as a baby they wonder how they should have ever met.

Angel's parents live in the coach house at the Chateau and they came on tour as well along with the kids.  The kids and Angel's Dad came on stage for 10 minutes at the beginning and then they left with Dick & Angel hosting the talk.

They started out by chatting to the audience about who had visited the Chateau and one lady yelled out.  Then other questions like raise your hand if you have been dragged here tonight with someone which got a lot of laughs.  They then talked about "click bait" and spent quite some time reading out the "click bait" headlines on them and the stories that had been written about them which were untrue and some of them made you laugh.  One recent one that I thought was true was that they had sold the Chateau and they said absolutely not, the Chateau is their forever home and will not ever be selling it.  

So the slide show showed a year and then they had photos of each of their lives and up until they bought the Chateau and then it was intermission.  They searched for 4 years before they found the one and Angel wanted to put a deposit on it sight unseen which Dick put a stop to.  The drive to the Chateau was 4.5 or 5.5 hours [I can't remember] and she didn't want it sold on the drive there.  

The 2nd half of the show was basically a virtual walk through the entire Chateau room by room, floor by floor which was great because we have seen rooms renovated on the TV series but walking in the Chateau so you knew how it all fit together was really great.  They are such entertaining people and seemed really down to earth.   I got my tickets about 8 rows from the stage so was really watching them up close which was great.  After the show finished they did a meet and greet and got photos and signed programs however there was so many people as the Concert Hall at QPAC holds 1600 people and I'm pretty sure it was full.  I decided as since I was so close during the whole show I wasn't going to wait around for 1-2 hrs to get a photo with them although it would have been lovely.  I went to this event on my own as I have watched the series for years and none of my friends are into it.  I had such a great time given I wasn't sure how a talking event with two people would play out but I loved it.

This is how close I was to the stage.

The meet and greet as I was walking past to get out of the building.

Home made focaccia using this recipe.

I made some Hot Cross Buns and while they look great I made the mistake of letting rise in this dish which was actually okay however I should of then transferred them to a large tray so there was space in between each of them for them in the oven.  The ones in the middle didn't cook properly on the inside however had cooked on the top so I had to put them back in and muck around getting the centre ones to cook.  The ones that had cooked first up were nice but it was a simple mistake that could have been avoided.

This is a bunch of bananas that my neighbour grew and gave to us.

You can see the banana tree in the background.

Home grown by my neighbour, so tasty.

Made this yummy chicken recipe.

Around here

Around here I have just come back from my first 9 day holiday in years.  I flew to Perth to visit my sister and meet my niece's first baby who was 4 weeks old when I arrived.  I was staying with my sister so every morning we took the dog for a walk and had a coffee at a local coffee shop and in the evenings we took him for another walk.  In between we went to cuddle the new baby and take my niece out as she couldn't drive for 6 weeks.  I just loved spending time with my sister and her grown up kids.  She moved to Perth about 38 years ago and comes back to Brisbane every couple of years to catch up and we have visited over the years however I haven't been to Perth for 17 years and hadn't been on a plane in over 8 years so it was very exciting for me to go on this trip.  We are actually going back in a few months time as my nephew is getting married.  We were booked to go for my nieces wedding 3 years ago before the world shut down.

We went to Cottesloe Beach and had a swim a couple of days as it was very hot towards the end of the trip and the beginning it was a little windy and cold.  Mostly it was coffees out and family time which I love.  I took a roll of film while I was there so I will need to get it developed next week.  Here's a few photos of my trip and the new baby.

My sister and I at a cafe at Hillary's Boat Harbour.

Toby wondering why I have my camera in his face.... he's so cute.

He's like Billy who we mind for my friend however he has longer legs so is a bit taller.

My niece with her new baby.

My sister is now a Grandmother for the first time.

Not a great photo of this as there was too much refection and the colours aren't true to life but you get the idea.  When my niece was born 31 years ago I did this cross stitch for her and got it framed and took it to Perth to give to my sister for her first baby.  As you know cross stitch takes hours and hours and I only did one for her first child and not the other 2 however my sister gave it to my niece who has now put it up in her own daughters nursery so this cross stitch is 31 years old next month.  So touched she has put it up and it looks great in the nursery.

How beautiful is this bub.

Yummy fish taco's for lunch.

Meeting the baby for the first time.

Happy New Year 2023

Welcome to 2023 and a Happy New Year to you all.  We had a lovely Christmas which I host at my place and my sisters and I have our things we do each year so it makes they day really easy.  We had our usual leg ham, fresh prawns, bread rolls, Asian Noodle Salad and Pasta Salad followed by Chocolate Plum Pudding and brandy custard and coffee and slices.  It never gets old and we do the same thing every Christmas.  My Aunty makes her biscuit Christmas Tree which always looks great and the biscuits have a hole in the centre and then are threaded onto the dowel like this however there are quite a few on the market so just search for Christmas Cookie Tree.

Someone was asking in the Additive Free Lifestyle group today about recipes for bread using a bread maker so I jumped onto Rhonda's blog from Down to Earth and found a heap of blog posts about her recipes she used when she was making bread with the bread maker.

On the 1st January, 2023 my friend and I are participating in a 21 Day Manifesting Challenge with Gabby Bernstein and in fact we have tickets to see her in Brisbane in May this year which is really exciting.  Each day you get to listen to a 5 minute talk and then do a small task, like write out your desires, everyone was making vision boards and it's such a positive vibe.  I love reading these types of books and reframing your mindset and what better place to start than at the beginning of the year.  I'm claiming it now.....it's going to be my best year yet.  This is my vision board that I put together and thought you might like to see it.  I did this in Photoshop however you can do it in a word document, people are using Canva which is free.  I started out with a couple of photos on Saturday and added a few, and tweaked it over a few days and then finalized it on Tuesday with placing the words over the top and now I'm happy.  It makes me happy just looking at it.  I hope you are having a great start to 2023.