i'm grateful for 'charms & travel'

Greetings all,

Thoroughly exhausted after a big term of school.  Finally on holidays, yahoo!! 
So many things to be grateful for this week, like fabulous schools, wonderful teachers, the vouchers i get in the mail from where i buy sneakers, school shoes & uniforms (read: i spend THAT much on these items, they send me $50 sympathy vouchers).  But, this week i'm going to be grateful for an unsung piece of jewellery from my childhood - my charm bracelette, filled with trinkets & memories of my travels.

Now i was one very lucky girl who went on a dozen round-the-world trips with her family before i even started university, i had travel crazy parents - my father in the Australian Navy travelling the high seas & his dream to take my mother back to England to see her family + their love of Asia (on the way to Europe) & always ALWAYS home via America, so we could double the baggage allowance, just in case my mother's holiday shopping couldn't spread over 6 people already??!!
People tell me they chose to have children later in life as they wanted to travel first.  I thoroughly appreciate my travelling childhood - but we also have the 'have children, will travel' attitude of my parents.  I often get strange looks when i say we take our children with us on holidays or board a plane with them - have to say, their best behaviour ever is on the plane, in hotels & the joy or being tourists on a new adventure.  They eat anything & will try new customs, we're pretty thrilled how flexible they are.  They have even worked out who is studying which language at high school so they can travel together - i absolutely love that!! 

 Let me share some of my journeys . . .
Carribean sailing ship, German cow bell, Welsh dragon, some French tower, San Diego zoo dolphin, Cornish pixie, Belgian deer . . .   

 . . . Hawaiian pineapple, Australian slouch hat, Singaporean rikshaw operator (sans rikshaw), St Christopher blue medal - patron saint of travel, Hong Kong lion, silver half frank coin . . . 

 Dutch clog, Hawaiian cultural centre, Chinese san pan, Austrian eidelweiss, New Zealand kiwi, tennis racquet from Wimbeldon, Mickey Mouse from LA Disneyland, mototaxi from Macau, Mexican hat & a royal carriage from London.

 I have more charms to add from additional countries in Europe from two massive European trips since university with my husband (honeymoon & 2nd honeymoon).
I was so thrilled when my non-stop-travelling parents insisted on starting my 3 girls with charm bracelettes of their very own.  They have been lucky to gain charms on their own travels to Hong Kong, China, Macau, Singapore & Disneyland.   

Basically i'm a sucker for charms (like this pretty pendant from Schmooks at Shop Handmade) & i am constantly told how charming my husband is too!!
Happy gratefuls with Maxabella Loves this Saturday, i am promising myself to wear this gorgeous charm bracelette more often & finally add all my charms on (from Switzerland, Croatia, Greece, Italy.)  Love Posie
PS for those of you who visit Shop Handmade in the school holidays - i play full time mummy to my 4 children & only work there during school terms - so sorry if i miss you!!
EDIT: thanks for no comments so far saying i was spoilt - we knew we were very lucky to travel so far & wide & often.  My husband didn't travel until he was 21 & considered me incredibly spoilt & unworthy of EVER having the window seat again.  He often gets upgraded to business class on our family trips & i happily sit in economy with all the children, so who is spoilt now??  I said he was charming!!

a day trip with fabric on my mind

Greetings all,

I have a brother & a sister both born on the same day, many years apart.  Seeing my sister is only 200km away (compared to the birthday brother who is 1000km away) i opted to visit my near by Bowral sibling. 
It's such a lovely trip from Canberra, we stop to get up close with the cows . . .

 made the poor decision to take our German Shepherd . . .

 who sat between/ on the twins in the centre row!!

 But all the while, in the car, i was dreaming of the fabrics which arrived earlier this week.

 I don't think there is a Babushka fabric i have been able to resist!!

 I can not wait to sew with these sewing themed fabrics!!

Have yourselves a lovely wrap up to the week.  We're crusising into school holidays (finally), it's starting to get very cold here in Canberra . . . which reminds me - i need to purchase the Winter uniform for high school.  Kind of dreading the tights part of the ensemble, i constantly ruined my expensive official/  school/ regulation Winter tights, must have driven my mother crazy!!  I remember having to put nail polish on the ladders to prevent them from going the full length of my leg.  Classy but handy.  Love Posie