Autumn has arrived.

Autumn is definitely here. Summer clothes are away, not that they were really used much in Scotland this year, and warmer clothes are out. So here are a few things that I am loving just now.

My fire.I am loving being able to light my fire and snuggle round it at night. It makes the house so cosy and looks so pretty. This time last year I didn't even know how to light a fire so I still fell very proud of myself when I am able to do this!

Hot water bottles. I love going to bed with my hot water bottle! And the other day I was up at 5am to go to work and when I got home at 11am I had a little nap, and had probably the best nap of my life and I think this has everything to do with my pink, hot water bottle.

Crisp cold days. I have a feeling that everyday will be crisp and cold but I am enjoying them just now. It reminds me of our childhood holidays to Mull. We used to go every year, around this time. It makes me want to go for a lovely walk. I am sure there will be lots of those this Autumn.

Wrapping up. I love being able to wear gloves and hats and scraves so this time of year really suits me. I also love that it is no longer summer so I don't feel annoyed about having to wrap up!

Autumn leaves. When I am cycling to work each day, I love to see all the new leaves that have fallen. I just love the beautiful Autumn colours. You really notice it here in Scotland because it is such a contrast from our lovely, green summer.

Long hair. For the first time in 4 years I have hair! I have had my hair short for such a long time that it is crazy for me to have hair below my shoulders. I have tried a couple of times to grow my hair out but never been patient enough to carry it out. I think because I have to tie my hair up for work that it has been easier to grow my hair. I am looking forward to it getting longer before

Christmas. My hair is thick so it is like having an extra blanket to wrap up in!

Baking. I love to bake and so have been doing lots of this lately. I also love to share my baking so I have been treating my work collegues to lots of yummy cakes! I love trying out new recipes too so I have been doing that. I might post a yummy recipe that I tried for a chocolate cake. It is so good and the icing is delicious!!

New friendships. I am pretty blessed to work with lots of different people. I learn a lot from being around these people. It makes me think a lot about the qualities I would like people to see in me. A few of the really big characters have been on holiday for this past week and I was able to spend more time with people that I had never really got to know. There are some real lovely people there and I feel really blessed to have met so many people from different countries.

Countdown to Christmas. I hear that it is only 85 days to Christmas, but who's counting? ME. I love Christmas. I love giving gifts. I love hearing the Christmas story again. I love Christmas hymns. I love our Church nativity. I love Christmas baking and crafts. Not long at all. :)

I am going to finish with what I am loving most of all just now. My Lord. I am really feeling His hand working in my life just now and love that He is in control of my life. I love completely trusting in Him for everything.

One crafty weekend.

Last weekend I had a few days off and was so excited about this. It was really the first time off I had since being back from Calfornia. So I was ready for it. First off, I wanted to rearrange my room. I LOVE how it is set out just now. Don't think I will be changing it for a while. I have a few little projects that I want to do with the furniture still but think it could be a while before I get around to it.

Months ago my mum came home witht his beautiful matierial from a little shop about 30 minutes away from us. Ever since she came home with this material I have been desperate to get to this shop and get some of this gorgeous material for some little projects I have been wanting to do for a while now. I honestly wanted to leave the shop with all the material. Everything was lovely, I was trying to think of more things that I could make because I wanted to get all the different materials! I managed to control myself and get just 7 different kinds!

Aren't they just beautiful? I can't wait to go back again and get even more!!!! And here is what I made the little jems.

It was really so simply to make. For the ruffle I just hemmed each side of the material and then I sewed down the middle of the material and then gathered the material. I tried to make sure that the gathers were equal the whole way down. I had this lovely ribbon left over from a Christmas gift that I made for my sister last year so I used that. I just pinned the ribbon down the middle of the gathered material. Then I used a sewing machine to sew down the middle. I then just pinned that on one side of my cushion cover. And the rest was very straight forward.

I am already thinking about what to make next, so watch this space. I have a few different ideas and lots of lovely material left. And when that material is through, there is a whole shop full of little beauties waiting for me! My friends and family can be expecting lots of different, handmade gifts this Christmas.

Back in the Summer of 2004!

I am finally finding time to sit down and blog about my summer. Sorry it has taken me so so long. It was a pretty exciting summer filled with fun, friends and family.

The first time I went to California was way back in 2004 with my sister. We were invited by friends we met at a wedding in Scotland. Long story short, we met a lovely couple there who invited my sister and I to spend the summer with them. We were very excited about the opportunity to go over there having loved the time that we got to spend with them while they were here. So off we went, I was 15 and my sister was 17. We all hit it off straight away and had a wonderful summer together. The last week we were there we went to their Church Beach Camp. My sister and I were both really, really dreading going to this camp. We had no idea what it was going to be like and didn't really know anyone that was going to be there. Little did I know that this would be a life changing week with lots of learning. It was so hard to leave them when we came back to Scotland. We didn't really know if we would see each other again.

We shared with our Church what we had experienced that summer. We were able to show them the Beach Camp baptism video. This really moved them and they were encouraged by this. We wanted more kids from Scotland to be able to experience what we had. So we pitched this idea to the Elder board and they loved the idea. The Church were happy to pay for the flights for the kids to get over there. In 2006 we were all set to go over, myself and another guy who attended our Church. At the last minute her pulled out so I went over by myself again. Of course, I had another great summer there.

I come from a small Church so for the next few years there really wasn't any kids that were old enough to go over. Until last year, 2009. My baby brother was now 16 and I thought it would be great for him to experience this before he finished school. And a close friend of mine was also in her final year of school. So we got ourselves oganised to all go over. I was so excited that finally I was going to be bringing more students over with me. It was a wonderful summer. They both learnt a lot and got to share their summer with two wonderful families who fell in love with both of them. I was able to go along to Beach Camp with them and help with the childcare there.

This year we were fortunate enough to send another student over again this year. I went over with her and was able to go along to Beach Camp with her. Anna is such a beautiful young girl, inside and out, and it was a real joy to have her there this year. She has a such a sweet spirit about her.

This year I was blessed with a lovely group of girls. They are all such sweet girls and loved having the opportunity to spend each evening with them at Beach Camp.

This summer I was so happy to spend more time with my very special friend. It is very hard being so far away from someone the is so dear to me but I am very thankful for the friendship that we do have. I have so much fun with this lady. She is such a blessing. Love you, boo.

Every year that I return to California I always make new friends. This year was no exception. I was lucky enough to share a tent with this girl as well as LOTS of laughs. She is a close friend of my lovely boo so we were sure to have a great time together. And we certainly did. The Lord definitely blesses us through friendships, and that is exactly what He did this summer. We had a lot of fun together this summer. I miss seeing these lovely faces each day.

For some reason I seem to have NO photos of my dear family over there, The Allens. They know how much they mean to me. They are famly for sure. I was blessed with many laughs, long talks, hugs, grandkids, "taking the mic", delicious meals, and even more special memories made. I love you dearly and miss you lots.

I will leave you with just a taste of what it is like when Karen and I are together. Lots of faces that look like this.

"Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart." Philippians 1:3-4

Sweet times.

Pretty little cakes that I made this week. The beautiful cases are from my lovely, American mother!



Beautiful flowers that were picked from our garden. Making the most of the flowers while they are still here!

I will post more interesting stuff soon.

Remember me...

Yet again, I am writing a post and it has been weeks since my last post. I always say to myself that I will write each week and I still think this as the week rushes past me!

This isn't even a real post as I don't really have a lot of time to write just now and I need a lot of time to fill you in on my summer. But I will leave you with a photo that my American mother took this summer.

Happy Birthday, Sister!

A couple of days ago my sister turned 23! I didn't get to spend the day with her but I did get to spend time with her tonight. I LOVE giving gifts to people so I love to take time to make sure I get something that they will use. My sister and I went to see Julie and Julia when it came out and we just thought it was adorable. So I got her that DVD and it came with some of the recipes from the famous cook book. I am looking forward to watching it with her. I also got her a shirt and necklace, and she changed into it as soon as she opened it. I think that's a good sign!

So here is a photo of my beautiful sister with her birthday cake and wearing her new gifts! She is also wearing another little necklace that mum gave her. It has a heart on one side, and the word "love" on the other. She hasn't taken this off since she got it! Here she is! Isn't she a beauty? I love her!

Sisters.

So, yet again it has been forever since I have blogged. I am going to try and find time this week to update my blog on the past month.

Thought I would leave you with a recent photo of my sister and I after a girly dinner we had a couple of weeks ago. We both have different hair styles just now. I LOVE my sister's new hair, I think she looks great! It makes me want to get my hair cut short again but I am determined to grow it longer. I think that this photo shows how similar me and my sister look, but also how completely different we look. I am so pale and she has a lovely tan. I have lighter hair, and she has much darker. But we do have the same blue eyes