Mini Christmas Swap Sign ups

Hello lovelies! It's time for the mini Christmas swap sign ups. Here are the details...

♥ Send a handmade Christmas card and a little something (feel free to make it a little special)

♥ Sign ups open until the 22 October

♥ Partners will be assigned on the 23 October

♥ Send your little packages by 12 November (if you can - I figure this will give you plenty of time to receive it)

♥ Email me gracienne.nancy{at}gmail{dot}com with your full name, address and 5 words that describe you

I know this is quite early for a Christmas swap but it will be nice to start one early before the real busyness of the season. I hope you have fun :) 

USA Trip Part 4 - San Francisco

Hey lovelies. One day I will get through all these photos of mine. This next part is from San Francisco. I liked this city. There was some amazing architecture and a unique vibe. I want to go back here.

1. At Union Square (we were staying about 2 minutes away from here - loved it!)

2. The 'Painted Ladies' at Alamo Square

3. California Academy of Science - Jason and I loved going to the museums

4. Golden Gate bridge covered in fog

5. The city surrounded by fog

6. On the Golden Gate bridge with our bikes. We rode over the bridge (took longer than we thought and I got a little sunburnt)

7. Finished our bike ride - I definitely recommend riding over the bridge

8. Alcatraz Prison 

9. Alcatraz prison with our headsets that is like our tour guide

10. More Alcatraz Prison. We thought this place was pretty cool to see

11. The beginning of sunset (sort of)

12. With my cousin and her children after going out for dinner

I loved San Francisco. There are so many other things I would have liked to do. We got to see Alcatraz, go to Fisherman's Wharf, went to the Academy of Science, went on bike ride across the Golden Gate bridge and ride a cable car. It's just a vibrant city and I really want to go back.

So my next post should be about visiting a blog friend, Erin in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. A beautiful city. Have a wonderful week. I will also have more information about the Christmas swap.

Christmas Swap Planning

* Ikea Christmas star. I really want one*

Hello hello! So I'm interrupting my USA posts to put an idea out there. Christmas is coming up and I had this thought about a Christmas swap. Just a small one. Maybe a handmade Christmas card and a little extra? What do you think? Would anyone be interested in that? 

Please let me know in the comments and I will have more details soon. The extras would be fun too. You could send postcards, washi tape, tiny prints, stickers etc.

Hopefully my USA posts will be up soon. Have a wonderful weekend.

USA Trip Part 3 - Grand Canyon

Hello lovelies. I'm really looking forward to Christmas. When the weather warms us here I always get excited.

Here's part 3 of our trip. The Grand Canyon...

1. The Grand Canyon is amazing!

2. People walking towards the edge

3. Jason and me (those bright yellow tags are for our tour bus)

4. Jason standing on an edge

5. As close as I would go to the edge. I'm not good with heights so I had to sit down 

6. Trying to show off one of the instax pics I took

7. Reflecting and just soaking in the view

8. Having some mint choc ice cream. Our favourite

This place is breathtaking. It just doesn't look real. Jason and I spent a lot of time sitting on one of walls and just taking in the view. It was brilliant!

Have a wonderful week. 

USA Trip Part 2 Las Vegas

Hello lovely people. I'm having such a hard time getting these posts up. I have so many photos and I don't want to post too many. I'm at home, sick but I will be back to work tomorrow. It's the post holiday sickness/run down feeling.

So this is the first part of Las Vegas. It's such a crazy place. So full of life and energy and I quite enjoyed it. Plus we stayed at the Bellagio which was a real treat for us. 

1. Our hotel room at the Bellagio. I fell in love it was so gorgeous

2. Vegas at dusk. This was from our hotel window!!

3. The water fountain show at the Bellagio. There's one about every 15 minutes at night and set to music. It's quite magical to watch

4. Our first night there and I'm drinking an alcoholic slushie! It's quite dangerous because it's so hot there it really tastes good but then you don't notice the alcohol much. This photo isn't great but had to show how weird it is to drink while walking the streets

5. Our first full day in Vegas outside the Bellagio

6. Jason tossing some coins in one of the fountains (can't remember where it was though)

7. Me outside the Venetian? (so don't remember a lot of places)

8. Outside a fountain near the Venetian hotel

9. M&M world. I loved all the different colours that were available. We got some personalised m&m's 

10. I had room service that night while Jason met up with a friend. I felt so fancy :p

I quite liked Vegas. I definitely felt like I was on holiday there. The whole drinking wherever was a little weird at first and I felt like an alcoholic with a drink in my hand while shopping. Also, it was really hot! We went for a walk in the wrong direction to where we wanted to go, so when we figured it out we cabbed it back because we were too tired and hot. We did spend the afternoon lying around one of the pools and ordering drinks (I swear I hardly ever drink alcohol, this was probably the most I had my whole holiday). It felt amazing to just laze around the pool. I would have happily spent another day doing that. 

The next post will be about the Grand Canyon. I thought that deserved it's own post. 

USA trip Part 1 Los Angeles

Hello lovelies. I've finally started to sort through all the photos we took on our trip. I will just share some on here or then you will be seeing a lot of random photos of buildings and such. 

These photos are from the first part of our journey, Los Angeles. We were quite jet lagged for this part of the trip but we tried to do as much as we could. 

1. Our hotel in LA 

2. Walking around 

3. Pink Taco at Westfield Century City 

4. Madewell - One of my favourite shops 

5. At The Grove 

6. Watching Mario Lopez tape his Extra show at The Grove 

7. More at the Grove 

8. The tour bus driver and Jason. He was such a character and made it fun 

9. The Hollywood sign 

10. At the Chinese Grauman Theatre with the Harry Potter kids handprints 

11. Getting my photo taken with Darth Vader and a Stormtrooper outside the theatre 

12. With Robert Downey Jr at Madame Tussauds. 

The first few days in LA we did lots of walking, a bit of shopping, not so much eating (the jet lag affected our appetites) and a whole bunch of touristy things (we did one of those bus tours which was quite convenient I must say). I was so excited to be there but I also got a little sick on the 2nd day we arrived. Mainly a sore throat and the beginnings of a cold which I had for basically the whole trip. But I definitely still enjoyed myself. 

Part two will be Las Vegas. I'm not sure if you want to see my purchases but I will throw a few of those posts in too. 

Anyway we have to go back to work tomorrow. We are not looking forward to it after 5 weeks off so I hope it all goes well. Have a wonderful week.