Messy Desk Days Blog

Tag: Five for Friday

Five for Friday, face off, SENZ, selling out and rope walls to climb…

"I'm sure I have better things to do" I say to Lucy as we are trudging up the hill with the wind chill at about 5 degrees right in our face this morning. Obviously the thing that would have been better to do would be writing my blog because I forgot yesterday. How does one forget it's Friday when it is Friday? The same way I forgot the kids' Saturday sports games til it was nearly too late this morning.

So without further ado… Five for Friday. (Saturday, but if you are in New York or Hawaii it's still Friday, right?)

Things I have learnt and highlights of the Howard home this week:

1.   Face Off has to be one of the most under-estimated most fun TV programmes EVER.

This programme was a gem that I found at 10.30pm Saturdays on some random TV channel while wishing there was something better on than Geordie Shore. It's a Project Life type scenario but they build costumes and props for movies.. like monsters, aliens, etc, transforming models into all sorts of creatures through the use of art mediums, paints, prosthesis etc. Braden wants to work in animation etc when he is older so he loved this. This series is ending but if you see Face Off advertised again, be sure to record it. I wish it was Prime time for sure.

My favourite episode? When they created real creatures from Dr Suess books.   Awesome!

2. Another scrapbooking event on my calender… SENZ is locked in for July 5th – 7th here in Manukau, Auckland.

I had a booth last year and although I had the BEST time, I don't have a booth and I've chosen not to teach again this year. BUT It's an awesome annual event on the New Zealand calender, circle it if you haven't already, hopefully I'll see you there as I'm wandering the halls! (See the website here).

I truly did have the best time last year, I loved mixing and mingling with everyone, doing make n takes and demos, it was awesome – it's a great event on the NZ crafting calender. Classes open for registration 1st June. I hope I'll catch up with some of you then.

3. The Movies.

I don't go often. In fact it's a bit of a joke that I sleep everytime I go to the movies. I barely see the plot through to the end before I'm curled up fast asleep. I braved the movies twice in the past month though and I have to say I had the coolest time with the kids.

Ever wondered how the Wizard of Oz got to be in Oz?   "OZ the great and powerful" tells you exactly how. Not a bad movie, would have been better with someone like, wait… Brad Pitt, as the leading role because we see a LOT of closeups of the leading guy but overall it was pretty cool. I was only tempted to fall asleep once about 2/3 the way through, I even closed my eyes and the kids outbursts of hilarious laughter woke me. Back in the game plan and I saw the whole movie. *high fives to me*.

My favourite was The Croods though. Anyone else see that?   Not only did I stay awake but I'd go see it again. I know.

Cute guys in it too. In a cartooney kind of a way. Can I say that?

4. I am about to do my first ever obsacle course and I can't wait!

Actually that was just some sort of fake talking-myself-into-it kinda thing, really I can wait. Really actually I might even be a little afraid.

A friend asked me to sign up for ORock (the O stands for obstacles) a few months back. I laughed and said nuuuh I'm not that silly. I hate obstacles and I don't run far anymore.

Then just Thursday another friends had to pull out due to being sick. I was asked to replace her. Paul told me I'd have an awesome time and during the split second that I believed him I also said I'd go in as replacement. Then the split second of believing him was over and panic set in.   Cargo nets.   Wire. Walls. Ropes. WTF was I thinking.

In fact I freaked out so much I went to the school this morning to see if I'd overcome my childhood fear of the fire-pole and rope walls. Clearly it was spur-of-the-moment because I'm in my jeans.

Apparently I have. I can pull myself up an 8 foot wall, don't know about any further and I don't know how I'd get back down though. I also totally aced the fire-pole but those pics weren't so glamourous. I know. More high fives to me, this time for acing the obstacles designed for 9 year olds.

5. Autumn Escape is SOLD OUT.

Our event in April 2014 sold out within 8 days. Eight days.    I can't tell you how happy it is that we have created an event that is obviously enjoyed by so many. It makes all the hard work worth it and it makes the whole crew excited to create yet another totally memorable event.

We know some have missed out because we are getting the emails!   We have a waitlist but we also are suggesting those that miss out might be able to get into our September event, "ArtVenture". This event is shaping up to be exactly like Autumn Escape but it has more teachers, a bigger range of classes, more prizes,and is full backed by a large US manufacturer, Prima Marketing Flowers.   A lot of people think it might be too flowery for them but with teachers like Janine Koczwara, Trina McClune and Louise Nelson, there will be just as much technique, inspiration and creativity as Autumn Escape - including those boy pages! Yay! I did a full blog post here if you want to know more.

Prima ArtVenture still has spaces at the moment but the overflow to Autumn Escape is headed that way.

Alrighty, retreats to brainstorm, rope walls to fret about. I'm sure I'll be tagged on facebook while on the Orock obstacle course, one can't make a fool of themselves an stay untagged these days, can they? Have a good weekend!

Laters.

Related articles

Autumn Escape 2013 – the low-down

Back from a little break…

May 11, 2013
Five for Friday

Autumn Escape has come and gone and I'll be doing a full run-down of the event next week. For now it's Five for Friday, my favourite blog post of the week.

So this week I learnt:

1. There is no limit to the cool apps out there.

This week's cool find, through seeing other people use it via facebook, is an app called Project 365. Download it to your phone, open it up, assign a pic from your photo gallery to each of the day's months and there we go. A month in review, just like that. Send it to your email in hi-res format and it's printable as well.

Yes, there are gaps in mine. Those were the days I was in Taupo, running around like a mad thing at Autumn Escape and then the days I was asleep on the couch afterwards. Thank goodness for school holidays.

2. I don't need paper to be creative.

The April photo above reminded me of that.  Check out what I did with dinner ingedients, some scroggin and a single orange jellybean. This little creative piece was in response to a photo challenge on instagram, I carried on the challenge for 30 days but fully admit there was no day more creative than this one. #MMNZ30days for those of you fluent in hashtag-ese.

Yes the orange jellybean was the first thing I ate when I finished taking the pic. No I'm not in the habit of making pictures with carrot sticks but it wasn't all bad, really, was it?

3. Although I choose that lifestyle, I'd quite like this right now.

Pinterest strikes again. This. looks. Devine. How well would it go with feijoa & apple as a filling?
It's possible I may have to find out.

Thank goodness Jacob is home from school on holiday and thank goodness he is the most amazing cook.

4. My husband is a clown.

Well not literally, but sometimes I do wonder if he missed his calling. This is one of my favourite pics from our family holiday around Rotorua/Taupo after Autumn Escape. This is my family, Lucy's family and Jenni Bowlin & family about to climb aboard the Huka Jet. I asked them all to pose for a pic and Paul was the first to dive on to the ground and pose – love him for his clownliness. And this was even before his first beer for the day.

Christian, Braden, Izzy, Lucy, Tana, Jenni, Jared, Noah
Jacob & Paul in front.

5. I have the best friends ever.

As I said, I will do a full run-down of Autumn Escape next week. But I couldn't resist mentioning how awesome this group of girls are. Although we live all over New Zealand and are rarely in the same place at the same time, we single-handedly (together) organised, planned and ran the most amazing AE Retreat ever. 500 people through classes, 130 goodie bags, 40kg of lollies, hundreds of kilos of shop stock, several vodka-lime-lemonades and even a few toilet-papered rooms.

Lynda, Jenni Bowlin, me, Lianne, Lucy, Tana & her blue sparkly shoes, Rachel, Shelley.

Best crew ever…

Still smiling. Andrea tells us to do our best pose.   We pose, Lucy photo bombs and Shelley is ready to catch her. Love it. Might do it all again in September 😉

See you on Sat (Sun NZ time) for a special NSD blog hop – until then,

laters.

Related articles

Back from a little break…

Easter wishes, a Prima share, and why I fall asleep on the floor

May 3, 2013
Five for Friday

It's not really Friday, it's Wednesday when I'm writing this but as I'm up to my chin in inks, gesso and mixed media goodness at Autumn Escape, so I've got all organised-like and set this to go ahead of time. I know. Such organisation is so unlike me.

So, FIVE for this Friday….

1. My children are not too young to conspire.

How do I know this? Because I caught them whispering at the fruit bowl as they packed their lunchboxes.   "Leave those two bananas because if they go spotty Mum will have to make a banana cake".   Really. Will I.   And so the banana cake conspiracy was born.

2. I have a new i-obsession. It's called Free Flow.

Do not download this app. Do not sit with your important GST tax return open on your laptop screen and play this game until you realise your computer has timed out. Do not put this game down and declare that you are stuck because some 12 year old will pick it up and solve it in 3 seconds.

3. Car batteries are not meant to ooze pretty blue crystals.

Yea so apparently the picture below isn't right. So when most of Pukekohe was yelling "Ford!" or "Holden!" at the top of their lungs and waving chequered flags during fast car fever that took over the whole town last weekend, this Ford was not going anywhere.

Pretty, yes.   Highly acidic and eaten through the entire battery terminal? Yes. Did I learn to check my car essentials more often? Yes.

4. I have a lounge.

We have a huge lounge. I'm not into clutter so there isn't much in it usually. But this past 3 months has seen boxes for Autumn Escape grow so plentiful that we had a walking track inbetween the boxes to the TV to turn it on and off.

I'm happy to report that now everything has been shipped to Autumn Escape, that I have a lounge floor again.   Little things that make me happy.

5. I still scrapbook.

Someone asked me that the other day. "Do you still scrapbook?". Why yes. Here is one of my latest creations – well, a sneak of it – those at Autumn Escape may very well be making a page just like it about *looking at watch on wrist* now.

Here's hoping your weekend is awesome.

I'll be having the best time with 130 of my favourite ladies in one of the prettiest places in New Zealand.  Autumn Escape is happening now so is pretty much over for the year but if you missed out on that, why not join us for the Prima ArtVenture in September? Same thing, more teachers, fully supported by Prima. Sounds awful doesn't it? I wish you could hear the sarcasm in my voice.

(BTW we'll be updated #AEretreats and other related hashtags on Instagram as much as we can over the weekend, follow us there for the weekend to see the fun happening!)

Laters.

Related articles

Prima ArtVenture coming to New Zealand!

Easter wishes, a Prima share, and why I fall asleep on the floor

April 19, 2013
Five for Friday

I missed the Five for Friday last week. This wasn't because there was no Friday, because clearly there was, it was because I was too busy looking for the Easter Egg my husband bought for me. I'm still looking.   Which leads me to believe either a) he hid it really well or b) there is no easter egg. You decide.

Things I discovered during the last week:

1. If you really, really, don't want to win a raffle, don't say "I hope I don't win this" as you hand over $1 and sign your name against a ticket. Yes. First prize winner. No. I didn't eat it. Not all of it anyway.   I do suspect it is the reason my husband didn't buy me an easter egg though. Poor confused man hears me talking about how a basket full of chocolate is the last thing I need and then in the next breath I ask where my freakin easter is.

Glad I'm not a guy.   Girls are so confusing.

The dairy milk one did infact have my name on it. As much as I didn't want to eat it, I felt I had to. You know, to be polite. 😉

2. Clever investments pay off. We saved for these gloves and pads. Jacob is into his boxing, I do a little bit of boxing and this gear isn't cheap. I wasn't sure whether to invest but I'm glad I did because the whole family is loving it.

Do you like my Abs?   Ok so if you thought you were going to see a pic of my rock-hard abdominals *coughcoughsarcasm*, you were wrong – this is my Abs, Abby. You know. Abs is short for Abby.   Anyway. If you've not boxed before, it's seriously one of the best upper body workouts ever.

I especially love this pic below – the one where we can all quite clearly see Abby thinking "Oh my goodness I could totally smash Jacob right now and claim it was a boxing move gone wrong"

Jacob's on to it though – he defended well.

3. Instagram is massive.   And I mean #massive. I'm just figuring it out. I didn't realise how massive it was. It's like a whole 'nother facebook but with pics. It's another online thing to suck time and make you wish your house was tidier, your body thinner and your food yummier. And it has hash-tags. At first I was skeptical. I avoided instagram for a long time but you soon realise it becomes almost a neccessity because of it's marketing potential. And I'm down with the hash-tag thing now, I totally know what I'm doing #sarcasm #Idontreallyhaveanyidea #mykidshelpalot.

For those of you that want to visit me on Instragram, my user name is NicHowardNZ.   I'm currently working my way through a MotivateMe 30 day health/fitness pictorial challenge on there. Throwing myself in the deep end is one way to learn instagram.   #learningfast

On a side note – my kids now 'hashtag' in conversations. Seriously.   Picture this – world war 3 in the back of the car between the kids on the way home from somewhere. Out of the middle of it comes a voice "hashtag family feud". Seriously?

I'm in this photo collage twice, BTW… not a rock-hard Ab in sight though. Actually considering the weight I'm holding with my legs, there might be. Hiding. Somewhere.

4. We have some of the best teachers. Right here. Downunder.

The reaction to the release of our September event Prima ArtVenture teachers was humbling really.   We really do have some of the best teachers right here in little old NZ and Australia.   Visit here to see the teachers and a little bio about each of them.

And I totally forgive the person that emailed me and said "Oh my GOODNESS I hope you won't be offended when I don't take any of your classes, Nic, because Janine Kocz-howeveryouspellit and Louise Nelson are coming to NEW ZEALAND!!!".

it's ok. I understand. #sigh



5. Anyone can do the Harlem Shake. And it's even funnier when you know the people involved. I have spent time with these people and it cracks me up seeing them do this stuff.   I even see the guy I've been organising Prima ArtVenture with. He's cute in a hardhat. I wonder if I could convince 130 ladies at a retreat to do this anytime soon?

.

Love that Finnabair's CHA Artwork joined in the Harlem Shuffle too….

Enjoy your weekend.   Laters.

Related articles

Five for Friday

April 5, 2013
Five for Friday

Starting up Five for Friday again. Because I’m back in my scrap room, because I have photos to share and because I have too much to say.

Things I have discovered this week:

1. I have discovered the best way to make meatloaf.
Thank you Pinterest for the idea to make my usual meatloaf mix and put it in muffin tins. It is easy to make, quicker to cook than usual meatloaf and way easier to make additions such as a sprinkling of bacon or swirl of BBQ sauce on top.   Success. Tick.

Source.

2. A lack of calcium will cause leg cramps at night.
Upon suffering wicked cramps in my calf muscles at night I researched the possible cause – by using the internet, by asking my trainer and by asking fellow fitness friends at MotivateMe. Seems there could be 4 possible reasons. Lack of either water, Potassium, Magnesium or Calcium. I get a whole lot of the first three, but when I’m eating really super clean, I barely have any calcium. About 30% of what I should be. Solution? More pizza, cheese, chocolate and icecream. I wish and if only. Looks like it’s calcium tabs for a while.

3. True Stamp is having 50% off today.   Just today. You are welcome.

(In fabulous True Scrap style these classes are shown live but also recorded so you can have afterwards access – for more info visit True Stamp here… 50% off finishes at Fri 9pm NZ time, midight PST today, so this finishes soon, and you must use the code SWEET at checkout to see the discount.).

4. My 12 year old son has decided he wants to do the Bachelor of Digital Media when he is older.
Contributions to the technology fund in this house gratefully taken. He is already needing technology beyond anything we have here. This kid is clever. He already downloads games, enters through some portal, Ok so he does some computer stuff I don’t understand, and changes the codes etc to make the game suit himself.   And he loves art and drawing. He could really do this.
The Bad news: This is going to cost me a fortune in keeping up with things so he can stay on top of this hobby that might very well become his career.
The Good news: Imagine having a totally capable IT guy as part of the family. Oh yes. Magical thinking.

And my last discovery for this week:

5. Exercising really is good for the soul.
See this kid – he’s my oldest, he is amazing, generous and has the most determined personality. Life doesn’t always serve him the best deals but seeing his trainer for a one-on-one boxing and training session each week is the best medicine ever. Thank goodness for endorphins released during exercise, thank goodness for a kid that is always determined to put in his best and thank goodness for the good people in the world, like Karl – an amazing trainer that always has a plan to make Jacob laugh while getting through gruelling workouts that make Jacob proud.

Laters

February 15, 2013