My Nana & Papa

****If you have noticed the new look of my blog it is not because i am feeling "emo"- but rather because a black monitor screen takes a LOT less energy to light up than a white or any other coloured screen does. And i believe in taking small steps to help our world :) To read more go Here, and click "about blackle" at the bottom. ****

On Saturday when i got home from the park Nana and Papa were visiting Grandad. Grandad is my mum's dad, and Nana and Papa are HIS parents, making them my great grandparents. After a lot of pleading i was finally able to get Nana to agree to have her picture taken with my new camera (she hates photos of herself).
I chose my favourites and Lisa of course photoshopped them for me.

When i saw them, i had a few tears, they are so beautiful.


Nana and Papa are both just so sweet, and lovely. I can barely find adequate words to describe how much i love them both. They are two of my favourite people in the world, and I know they would do absolutely anything for me.
Dad says they spoil me- and it's probably true but i don't really mind :)

Papa is such a strong person. He was in the war, and went to places like Egypt. He is so kind hearted and wouldn't hurt a fly. He has only smacked someone three times in his life. He loves birds and has a little avery with lots of canaries. He loves to read- but only non fiction. He loves to watch the tennis and the rugby. He tells me the best stories from his life, that i just LOVE to listen to and must really write down before it is too late. He taught me to appreciate everything i have and to always be grateful for what i have- as i have a lot more than he ever did.

Nana looks a little frail- but is far from it! She is so tough and is such a strong person. She loves to read. She loves to watch the tennis. Her house is always absolutely immaculate and never has a thing out of place. She doesn't dwell on the bad stuff too much and has an attitude of "well it's happened, we can't change it, so lets get on with life". It used to annoy me a lot as a kid- but she taught me something important :)



They taught me how to make a bed properly- with the top sheet and all that tucked in how it should be, a very valuable thing to know :)
They have taught me the value of money, and how to appreciate it. I know i will never get a car loan thanks to them :)
They have taught me that you have to work hard in life. And you can't give up on stuff.
They also taught me that you can't have a dirty house- messy maybe but not dirty.

I am grateful that we were able to live with them for the first year of my life, and live near them ever since. I was heartbroken when they moved out of their house in Golden valley (my favourite place in the world) and built a new one in Devonport. But i like it now, and it's not really that far away :)

I admire their strength and also feel sad for them as they only have one son left out of three. I can't describe how much i love them. The look on Papa's face in the second picture is how i picture him a lot and it makes me smile.

I am going to spend a lot more time with them from now on, and make an effort to call them more. They are just awesome.
I hope i get a lot more years to spend with them.

I love them more than words can ever describe.

I don't have photoshop...

... BUT i have an awesome camera! (And a friend like Lisa who is willing to photoshop pictures when i ask!)
Only one picture in this post has been photoshopped :) it's easy to tell which one!!

I took these on Saturday playing around with my camera.. Digital SLR Canon 450D... I LOVE it!!!! Thanks Mum & Dad!!!!!
We went to the park while mum was in town so i could get some pictures :) We had a situation with Asha in the car when mum got there- hence why he is in the process of getting dressed in this pic =P

Lucky he is super cute!!!


Jory cracked it after a while and didn't want anymore photos! haha... and this one wouldn't go bigger!! grr

This isn't blurry it just pixalated when i resized it for some stupid reason!


We had balloons because we were getting stuff for Jory's party next week and felt like buying some...



A nice man gave Jory some bread to feed the ducks with!


Asha, as always was sad to see me leave ;)






And that was Saturday!

Mum has a blog!!!!

After suggesting to mum a few times that she should get a blog, and then her finally telling me that she has started one on her own without telling me, it has it's first post!!!

I am SO excited! Yippee!!!


If you want to check it out (i highly recommend it!!! :) go to this link:

http://marandagraham.blogspot.com/

Or click on the picture :)

Yay!! =)

On a scale of 1-Makayla Graham how clumsy are you???

There's been all these groups created on Facebook lately that people in my grade have created about things that have happened like: on a scale of 1- somones name how drunk are you etc etc... Just had to explain the title before i continued! :)

Anyone who knows me well will know that i am extremely clumsy. It is quite a problem really. I struggle to even wear heels! I have done a lot of clumsy things in my eighteen years, possibly some of the best being: smashing a glass jug at Jayne Christie's house, tripping Mary over at church on Sunday (she is 2!), and turning too fast in the corridor and tripping over a little boy, trying to correct it and ending up running on his head!!!!!

On Friday i was heading back to my locker from a class, english i think. I was carrying a HUGE folder of books, paper etc, and had my phone in one hand, my folder under my arm and my glasses in the other. Yeah yeah i know- recipe for disaster!

I was walking up the stairs with two of my friends Jasmine & Rachel, and we were chatting away like always. I got to the top half of the stairs where they have recently put new carpet and grip around the edges. I was too busy talking and got excited about something they were saying, and tripped on the new grippy stuff. My brain registered what was happening and i tried to correct it before i fell, unfortunately my shoes got stuck again on the grippy stuff and i went sprawling UP the stairs!!!!

As i went flying forward i stuck my arm out to stop myself and remembered my glasses were in my hand- so i landed on my elbow to save them (You're welcome mum!) ... My knees hit the stairs which just happen to be lined with METAL!
Resulting in one knee being cut open and bleeding and the other swelling up about a fifty cent piece size and going blue & purple!
It hurt so much i nearly cried, BUT as it takes great skill to fall UP the stairs and cut open my knees at eighteen, and the fact that i had an audience of around oh 300 or so people in the corridor, i had no choice but to stand up, keep walking and laugh my head off with Jasmine & Rachel...

Sometimes in life you have to just push through the pain of something and appreciate the funny side of it... :)

I know that I am still laughing about it!! :)

Asha

It sucks living so far away from my family sometimes...
Everytime i come home Asha is SO much bigger and is always doing new things and seeming so much older than the last time i saw him!


He's got beautiful big blue eyes and is finally getting some more hair which is a blonde/red colour...


It is so weird having a little brother who is 18 years younger than me!!
But far out he is sooo cute, i just want to take him home with me!!
Surely i'm not clucky already!?


This video is of Asha the last time i was home a few weeks ago. It is PROOF that his first word really is "Makayla" ... He doesn't get the whole "makay" part of it but says "Lala", clearly trying to say his favourite sister's name!! ;)

(It's so shaky & dodgy coz it was taken on my phone and he was trying to grab it!)

P.S. I got a haircut... Not sure if i like it yet, thinking i should have got it a bit shorter... What do you think??

Shack Trip

On Monday Rachel, Emma and I set off for a trip to the shack. For no particular reason other than we thought it would be fun. Some other friends were meant to be coming along as well, but there were some issues and i am over all the cat fighting and that sort of thing so i said no worries and they didn't come- i get over that kind of thing very quickly!!!
I was a bit bummed because Jasmine had to fly to Melbourne and we were keen for her to come- but we found a look a like on a beach one day- just kidding Jas- i only said it coz i know you always read my blog :)

We left Launceston at about 10am and arrived at the shack at about 12:30, after a few pit stops and a weird ten minutes with a police man deliberately following exactly where we drove- it scared the crap out of us as we were thinking it was like on a horror movie where he is a serial killer dressed up as a cop, following us to kill us!


We dumped our stuff, and went and got some groceries for the few days. We then decided to go fishing- oh what an experience!!! I really think we need a guy with us the next time we go because we had no idea!!!

Photo edited by Lisa.


On the drive down we were planning our trip and knew fishing was a must. I said "Oh damn, we should have brought a knife!!" .. To which Rachel replies "Don't worry i brought one!" and whips out this huge knife! I was driving and glanced over and nearly had a heart attack! I said "Now that's a knife!" which made us laugh the whole time as it reminded us of on crocodile dundee where he says "THAT'S not a knife, THAT is a knife!" and had us saying it for days, whenever we could fit it into a conversation!! Haha.

Rach was probably the best at fishing (NOT!!) as her bait kept flying off into the water, as did her sinkers! At one stage she cast out and heard a thud and was thinking the line was off in the water somewhere, when really it had flown behind her and landed on the jetty! Oh it was a crack up!!!


We skimped out on buying bait and took the stuff from the freezer in the shack, which had probably been there since summer! But we used it anyway.. it was totally gross and we hated touching it, as it was little tiny, slimey fish! THAT is why you go fishing with guys!!!


Needless to say we didn't catch any fish! But had fun talking, eating (what else!?) and taking photos :)


This is my reflection off the jetty, in case you couldn't work it out :)


We were so bummed that we didn't have a SLR camera with us, only mine & Rachel's point and shoots.. Emma has an SLR but her mum needed it, and mine is still on layby. We tried our best to get some decent photos after playing with different settings and angles etc.

Photo below by Emma, edited by Lisa :)


I am particularly fond of this one below that Emma took.. I like to think of it as "the world through makayla's eyes"


The next day when it stopped raining we headed to the beach! :) On the way we followed a sign that said "Airport" as we were very curious... St Helen's indeed does have an airport!! It was quite funny!


We drove to Binalong Bay, and a bit further along to have a look. I don't know what this beach is called, but it is very private and secluded.. It was terribly windy though, and i was wishing it was Summer so badly!!!


We then decided to climb the rocks to see the view, and i went my own way and followed a path, but Emma, having been inspired after watching Man vs Wild the night before, decided to climb the actual rock! Resulting in her getting stuck! I was too busy laughing and taking photos to actually help her- lucky Rach was there =P


The view was magnificent and we stood there for ages getting pictures and taking it all in. When it started raining quite heavily we decided to get back to the car!


We then drove along to Binalong Bay.. It is so beautiful there- even in winter!!!
I just love these next two pictures that Lisa edited for me!
Rachel and I


Trying to get a picture of Rachel & I but i didn't realise the camera was zoomed right in! :)


I absolutely love this photo as well. Even though i had to run like crazy to beat the timer.. i love how the sand is in focus and not us.


It was actually absolutely freezing and we had our jackets, gloves and scarves on! We were laughing because without looking at the pictures closely it looks like we are actually at the snow- not the beach, because the sand is so beautiful and white!


Our nights were spent walking to the park (in between rain downpours!) and playing there. I figure you are never to old to play at the park. Don't freak out mum, we didn't go walking in the dark- it's just so overcast it looks it! It was about 4pm.






We didn't play for long because it started raining again. So we headed back to the shack- and we got absolutely soaked!! Even though the shack is literaly a 2 minute walk from the beach & park!!!

When we had to stay inside because of the rain we played board games, watched movies, read books, talked, ate lots of food (including pop tarts- yum!) and played cards :) All three of us are huge Friends fans so we watched a fair few episodes of that too :)




Showing off my shuffling skills. I can do that thing they do in movies with the shuffling, where you split the deck and flip it back together- that doesn't make sense but i'm sure you know what i'm talking about! It took me ages to learn and i'm very proud of it :)


On the last day we had planned to rent some push bikes and go for a ride.. But it was again raining so we cleaned the shack, packed our stuff, got some lunch and left. As we pulled into Scamander it was SO sunny so we stopped at the beach there for a while to look around. We found a random dog who came up and played fetch with us. As we were leaving it ran up to a man and his little girl who we thought were the owners. The man asked us if it was our dog as they had been playing with it too, we said no and he said it wasn't his either... It was very friendly though and even posed for our picture ;)


The drive home seemed a lot shorter than the way there- which i was glad for because i was the driver and had never driven that far before! My little car held up well. I even checked the oil & water and all that and it was great :)
I DID have to pull over somewhere near Avoca and stop for ten minutes because of a HUGE hail storm that was falling!!! I couldn't see a thing out the windscreen even with the wipers going full blast. Of course in true Tasmanian style the sun came out after it was over, and i even became warm enough to take my jumper off! =P


It was heaps of fun to get away for a few days and forget all the stresses of school and the upcoming exams. It was great to relax and have fun. Especially with no parents!! Just kidding- but not really because it was awesome :)

Frankie

I went to the shack this week with two of my friends just for a holiday, but i will blog about it in the coming days after i edit a couple of photos... (who am i kidding!? Lisa is editing a couple of the photos for me! :) But in the meantime i have something to share:

I have found a new love! Thanks to my friend Jasmine who got me onto it!!!
It is a magazine called Frankie. I absolutely love it! At the top it says: "Art* Fashion* Music* Craft* Life*" ...
On the Frankie website it says this: frankie magazine is a national bi-monthly based in Australia, aimed at women (and men) looking for a magazine that’s as smart, funny, sarcastic, friendly, cute, rude, arty, curious and caring as they are.


It is filled with all sorts of cool things! It has pages filled with thumbnails of all little crafty bits and pieces that Mrs Make it Perfect (who i know is reading this!) would absolutely love. There are a few pages a lot like Etsy... Toni, you would be drooling.




There is lots of cool art filling up the pages that i LOVE LOVE LOVE! (cant make these pics any bigger)



Heaps and heaps of photography that made me think of Lisa and Fiona who would just LOVE the style and look that some of the photographers use!!!

I especially thought of Lisa with this article about cameras, and the photo shoot of caravans...




It's not all about those things though. It also has book reviews, recipes, music reviews, and the most amazing articles about the coolest stuff!!!!

My favourites from the latest issue include:
"everybody has a story" which is about & written by a 21 year old girl with Cerebral Palsy.

"five things your nanna was doing by the time she was your age" which is pretty self explanatory...

"iraq in real life" which is about an 18 year old blogger who lives in iraq (VERY cool!)

I'm a bit sad that it only comes out every second month, but it is also good coz it costs $8.95. But it is very worth it! I love it to pieces and it is a lot more interesting than trashy mags about which celebrity hooked up with who...
Give it a go, if you're into this sort of thing- it doesn't disappoint!!
Thanks Jasmine! :)