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Paris – We’re going in September not July. Basically I didn’t book the flights for July because I got caught up with car buying (and all the costs related to that!) so then when I was ready to start booking flights and a hotel I realized the flights had doubled in price and that we would be paying as much for the flight as the hotel. I didn’t like that. So I said ok don’t panic… We’ll go to Paris in September and Dublin in July. But then I had a panic about money and thought I better save “Dublin Money” to put into the “House Fund – Van Fund – Everything else Fund”. Sooo Paris flights are now booked 10th-13th September which means we’ll be away for my birthday Hotel yet to be booked…

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Craft Fairs – Have I spoken about these plans before? I want to go craft fair crazy during the winter to get as much £££ in as possible (for 2012 Euro travel) when everyone is gift shopping for Christmas. I have my eye on 3 so far (Yes I know 3 won’t get me very far but it would appear the bestest ones are booked up a year in advance and the smaller ones haven’t thought about fairs yet!) There is one in Bath that me n Danny will hopefully check out at the weekend. Then there’s another close by which I just need to gather the money for. And the 3rd one in November I have applied for

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Ebay – I’ve opened my own account there. Yep, I know I’m probably the last person in the world not to have had an ebay account! Maybe I might have a go at selling the photography there one day but in the meantime I’ve gone on a buying frenzy. Packaging supplies and a new set of camera batteries. All so verrrry exciting!

This putting down of food also encourages ratty to make an appearance, plus a fox is making nightly visits. Yep, it’s like living in some kind of nature reserve!! Luckily my cats have caught enough rats in their time for me not to be freaked out by seeing a huge rat in the garden – I call them organic rats since they live in the fields rather than down a sewer.

Now we do actually have a cat here, a stray called Ru or Rufus who has been encouraged to come in and take a nap on the beds. But Ru doesn’t seem to be much of a rat catcher. He will catch and eat rabbits (which is slightly gross) but rats – Nope he doesn’t seem to have the skill like my best boy Lloyd who’s in Crete (if he was here in England he would catch that rat and carve it up within seconds!!).

But anyway – Last week I thought I better try getting some garden critter photos. The crows wouldn’t land while I was out there but the dove and blackbirds seem friendly enough.

They aren’t very good pics, not upto my usual standard if I do say so myself but in theory if I sit outside long enough and am quiet enough and practise enough I will eventually make progress… Although I think Phil the Pheasant will be quite a challenge! He’s usually gone before I even reach the back door!

1. Returned to England (Obviously!)

2. Bought a car.

3. Got paid for advertising another business on Emelegifts.

4.  Sold my first “real life not just print-on-demand” print and got great feedback

5. Visited the New Forest for the Bank Holiday weekend. Pics to follow in the next blog post!

Now 5 things doesnt actually seem that big a deal does it… but… I think it’s more than we have ever achieved in one month before!

I see June and July being rather eventful as well with the possibility of moving + a trip to Paris…

Left to Right: Car Keys! Danny not knowing I’m taking pics of him. and… The Car who hasn’t been named yet.

It’s a Mazda 626, white… Rather old (12 years?) but in very good condition. Thinking about my old tatty VW Polo in Greece which is about the same age the Mazda is like… well, new! There is a patch of rust on the roof.. A small patch around one wheel arch which has been repaired. 4 new tyres. It has all of the MOT and Service history, and passed its MOT without any problems on Monday which I think is rather impressive. If it had needed work doing to pass the deal was we weren’t going to take it.

So it’s rather exciting! We like to go to Danny’s uncles to visit the car… because we have turned into super sad people! Did a spot of dusting inside. Found a pound coin. Cleaned under the bonnet (hood in American?) and around the engine as that was filthy… Yes, yes… I got my hands dirty! We’re treating this car like our baby lol. We have also uhum… been known to sit there listening to the quiet engine. LOL.We may turn into those people who wash their car every Sunday morning.

So we should have the insurance policy popping through the post early next week… which I am on. I need to get used to UK driving once again which I’m a littttle bit scared about. Rules don’t apply in Greece…. Giving way? Nah. Stopping at zebra crossings? Nah. Oh dear… Watch out Wiltshire drivers!

So once the insurance policy arrives we can run down the Post Office and get the tax disk (and part with another large chunk of money) and then get on the road… Hoping we can go on a day trip or two over the bank holiday weekend.

So I know I disappeared for a while there… I meant to blog about what was happening before it happened but never actually got around with it… Too much other stuff to sort out. So let me bring you bang upto date.

My boyfriend, Danny, arrived safely in Crete for his mini holiday to finally meet my Dad and all the cats… It was a bit touch and go the week prior to him arriving due to the “stupid volcano”. I don’t even want to talk about it… Let’s just say I had never ever checked the BBC news site so much in my life – and was soooo relieved when the planes started flying again.

So he arrived… we did a bit of sightseeing. Yes, yes, photos to follow!

He met my Dad – He met Lloyd and Cleo and Van (Warren has gone missing… Been gone for 4 weeks ) Lloyd was a silly cat though – He wouldn’t come in the house while Danny was there but they did eventually make friends in the garden. I guess he’s a sensible cat really with him not trusting strangers since he was born a stray where all sorts of nasty people could have hurt him.

So then on Saturday the holiday was over and we both flew back to England. I’m now sat in bed snuggled under the duvet wondering how I ever thought England would be warm at this time of year!!

After being apart for 7 months when I came back to Crete for the Winter it’s now only 12 days until I see him! He is coming here for a week to meet “everyone” and then we fly back to England together where I shall remain until atleast December I should think. We only realllly have our lives planned out until September with “ideas” for what can / might happen after that. I know one thing though – I’m not being apart from him for longer than a month in the future – Our long-distance relationship days are over!

Now to show you the business cards I ordered from Zazzle.

They are the skinny size and are “ok”. Maybe I’m too fussy and expect too much but I wasn’t “blown away” by the quality.  The printing on the back of the leaf photo is kinda… grainy, which is perhaps my fault for choosing a photo with a fair bit of detail and subtle color change in it?  The front is fine though… Until you take one outa the holder and accidently scratch it to find bright yellow beneath the black… Agghh!

Next time I’ll order the skinny Moo cards to compare quality… It’ll be an interesting experiment! Thankfully I only ordered 1 pack of 25 from Zazzle so it’s not like I’m sitting on hundreds! Hmm also thankfully I don’t sell / make the skinny business cards for my Zazzle gallery – I believe the larger standard sizes are better, no chance of scratching them with the silly plastic holder for one thing!

Shopping Sites:

Etsy – Photography Prints – A small selection of my photographs available as 5×5, 8×8, and/or 8×10 prints.

Etsy – Watercolor Cards - Original Watercolor Abstract Art Cards

Zazzle – Photography – My photography available to purchase on mousepads, cards, tshirts, magnets, keychains and more.

Zazzle – Digital Art – Abstract art and patterns, Christmas designs, floral digital art and more available as a range of gift items.

Zazzle – Watercolor – My watercolor art available to buy as magnets, keychains, cards, U.S postage stamps and more.

Redbubble – An Australian based site printing my photos as cards and  framed and laminated prints.

Social Sites:

Twitter – Tweeting about my life, what I’m upto, what I’m working on and newly listed/created items.

Facebook – Fanpage for my photography – I usually update this once a week so as not to spam everyone!

Flickr – New photos to be added weekly, building it up slowly! If you know of any good groups I should join please let me know, I think I joined all of the major Etsy ones.

Squidoo – Random lenses covering things I know and life such as How to Succeed on Zazzle, Places to Visit in Crete, Cat lover gifts, Favorite Fiction Books and more!

Myspace – Not sure that anyone still uses Myspace since Facebook and Twitter came along but if you do…

Other:

Creative Artists Blog – This is where I promote print-on-demand artists, designers and photographers work, it’s also a great place to browse and do a little window shopping!

Emelegifts Website – Where I attempt to bring it all together but never quite succeed! Maybe one day I’ll go back to selling through this site… Up until last year it was home to my handmade cards and gifts but now I’m no longer crafting it’s more of a portfolio site.

Shutterstock – This is where I liscence my photos to be used on websites and in print for magazines etc – Most are stock images (rather than “pretty scenics”) – The random ones sell well, tiled floor photo anyone?!

Helium – A  freelance writing site where I write on a range of topics some of which get used as website / blog content.