Sunday, May 23, 2010

My life: now and then

This week I ventured into the city ... alone! *gasp* Yes .. it's true! As part of maintaining my teacher registration I have to do PD (personal development days - 20 hours in 12 months). Not associated with any school this responsibility falls on me to organise and that I did. To the city for a full day workshop on Web 2.0! Fabulous. So first I had to work out how to catch a train into town ... dare I say there used to be people at the actual train station selling you tickets last time I used them a decade ago! Yikes .. I am that old! For you see I did my degree at Melbourne University so for four years of my life I caught the train into town and lived the life of an academic .... *sigh* .... yes those were the days. So on the train I sat and thankfully at the beginning/end of the line I gained a seat for the almost hour long trip stopping all stations. Normally this might be annoying but to me ... it was heaven. An hour of uninterrupted reading! How fabulous was that! And it was nice to see that apart from ipods as opposed to 'walkmans' remember those (bwahahaha!) I was happy to see that most people were still engaged in reading to work. Once arrived there was the buzz of work people and students going about their business and me ... leisurely grabbing a mocha frappe awaiting for my entry to the State Library. The course itself was fabulous - but once again I was sadly reminded of my age as one other member of the workshop a 28 year old teacher ... came up and called me by my maiden name! Yup ... ex student now teaching. We sat together and caught up and remembered the 'good ol' days' as she quoted me verbatim on things I said almost two decades ago. Now I am just scaring myself LOL! The day was held in our Victorian State Library ... nothing special compared to the age of European buildings ... but to us it's old! I opted for a tour at lunch time and had a blast feeling really smart and young again (as opposed to dumb and old - LOL) as in days gone by. So all up .... that was the definite highlight of my week ... a trip down memory lane in more ways than one.




So of course my P52 photo this week had to be from this excursion. And here is some 'art' that is found on the front pavement outside the library.



This week the challenge at PCF we returned to 'Aleida's Challenge'. In brief as Leah so aptly put it at PCF: basically, it enforces the importance of getting BEHIND the camera with our kids, because time with them is so precious and unfortunately we aren't all so lucky to see them grow up. So here is my 'lot' this afternoon and it struck me that this is the me of 'now' as opposed to that girl on Tuesday who was walking down memory lane.
I like my life now. I am blest.



Of course I am always far more amused by the out-takes!

Scrapping pages for this week ... please remember to click on all pages for credits. Next week I have some exciting news .... so one more week until all will be revealed ;) What have I got myself into now ??? !!!???














Have a super week everyone!

11 comments:

Sue said...

Hey Helen,

Sounds like you had a real adventure in the city! It's something I keep saying to myself that I should venture "up town" (to London in my case) more often. So many museums to stroll around, so many places on interest, so many chic little boutiques!

How weird that you bumped into a former student too ... I guess it really is a small world after all!

But hang on ... how can you end your post with a cliff-hanger???? As if I haven't got enough to deal with as LOST comes to an end, now I've got to wait & see what your news is!?!?!?!? You're a cruel woman!!!!

Hope you have a wonderful week ahead ... see you next Sunday.

Hugs,
Sue
-x-

MariaT said...

Your trip to the city sounds like a wonderful time and it is so neat that you saw an old student! Can't wait to see your news next week...

Jodie Redman said...

Sounds like quite an adventure! I too haven't ventured into the city alone since I was working there in the late 90s! Hope everything is going well with your teaching work. Things are starting to settle down here so hopefully I'll get back to some photo taking and blogging soon! Have a wonderful week!

Heather Landry said...

I'm one of those who always enjoy the outtake photos! LOL I can't wait to hear what your exciting news is, and your trip into the city sounds wonderful! I treasure my reading time so I totally understand why it'd be so awesome!

Val said...

helen,

what an expedition LOL. I wish you would go for a plane trip over to iceland... what would be something ! lol
your LO are just wonderful my friend, and pict of 4 of you !!!! love love it.
( I haven't got a single "4of us" picture yet... I have to do it before chris leave to Morocco on friday!!!! ( meeting for 2 weeks : actually 13 slepps)

By the challenge I challenged you on my blog, you should check this out! ;-) ... it is all about " tacking down memories"... as you did with the library stuff sure you gonna like it ;-)

val

Leah said...

Great minds think alike again. I just posted a few hours with my PCF outakes and come over here to see yours and laughed out loud! Totally made my day!

Lucky ducky gets to ride the train and read. *sigh*

Gorgeous scrapping. So glad to see your week.

xoxo

Amy said...

Great wrap up Helen. A little reflection does the mind good!
Lets you appreciate the now even more.
Great photos too!

Jane F. Smith said...

wow a day with no kids and into the city? Wowzers!!!! How cool is that! I love your pages Helen and hope you having a wonderful week!!

A Look Into Nana;s World said...

Wow!!! You had a fabulous and interesting week last week Helen!! I think bumping into one of your former students was incredible!!! And now I understand that fab photo for the PDF for P52...Great family photos too!!

Now what's with leaving us hanging!! just like TV!! HAHAHA!!

((HUGS)) Linda

Amy said...

I found my self reflecting all week!
Seems some reflections are bitter sweet, yet I wouldn't trade a single experience! And we watched WWA too. I'm a major Sendak fan. Even made myself my own Max costume many years ago. I liked the movie, especially because the boys and I could relate to it. Plus "W" talked about sleeping in a big pile with his whole family for about a week. Loved that!

Yummers! said...

I loved reading about your trip into the city. I'm going back to school in the Fall. Taking a course in Modern Russian History. I can't wait... feel like I should have a plaid dress with a white collar and a new lunch box.

Love your photos and layouts... as usual! I love the photos with the word library on them.

I noticed you read the Oprah book. My daughter sat next to her boyfriend Stedman Graham on a flight out of Chicago last week. He was on his way to a book signing party.

Hugs to all,
Grammy J

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