Bittersweet...

I've returned from a week away and have very mixed feelings about how it went. I don't even know where to start.

Originally the purpose of our trip to the east coast was to attend my cousins wedding in Sydney on the long weekend on behalf of my family who could not go. We then tied the trip in with a trade day in Brisbane at Printblocks and a to visit some farmers in Toowoomba. We left on Sunday to go to Perth and on arriving in Perth I visited my brother Dean in RPH. He had been battling a temperature for 4 days and it was not coming down. Later that night (12:30am Monday) he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit with trouble breathing. When we went to see him on Monday morning, the severity of the situation hit me and I fell in a bit of a heap (to put it lightly). We were supposed to fly out at lunch time on Monday but Matt and I felt we couldn't considering the situation. When I saw Dean later on that day he was very disappointed that we had not continued on with our trip but he understood. He then said he would like us to go and that he would be OK. It was the most difficult decision to make but we respected his wishes and left on Tuesday evening which as you can imagine was not easy. The rest of the week was a bit messed up but we did achieve the things we went for. Dean remained in intensive care until after we arrived back in Perth on Monday night. On Tuesday as we were going to see him he was being moved back to the ward and he had improved immensely. Since then he has had a few more troubles and everyday it changes so he is not out of the woods entirely but hopefully he will get better and stronger everyday. My purpose for going into detail is that so many of you have emailed me to see how my trip went and how Dean is going so I thought this would be the easiest way to let you all know. I have a very heavy heart at times and I'm feeling mentally and emotionally exhausted so I'm laying low but as Dean said to me this morning, being anxious wont achieve anything so I'm trying to stay hopeful.

On a lighter note, I attended the trade day at Printblocks last Thursday and it was a very welcome distraction and a great day. I got to shop in the warehouse and see products I had never laid eyes on as well as items i had seen on the Internet that looked much better in real life. I shopped up and have boxes of goodies arriving in the coming weeks. I also pre-ordered some new things that will arrive later in the year. The tutors who taught the trade classes were designers and representatives from the big brands in the USA like Making Memories, K and Co, Imaginisce and Karen Foster Designs. They were fantastic from a business perspective and although I wasn't completely taken by the layouts we did, I was impressed with the products and ideas on how to use them more effectively. I came away with my head buzzing with ideas and inspiration which I cant wait to implement and pass on. I am planning to share all my ideas in the coming months. I just need a couple of days to recover! I didn't get to attend the 3 day convention in Brisbane as we had to go to Sydney but I feel like I've got enough inspiration to go on with anyway. I will show the projects I did over the next week as I finish them.

We met some lovely farmers from Toowoomba while in Queensland and had a drive through the country to check out the farming land etc. This was a great day and we have made some new friends who we hope to get to know better.

Sydney was a madhouse! I cant believe people are game enough to live there! Its all relative though I guess - they would probably never want to live here (Varley) either. We got to see the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Phoebe and Jett got to see Nemo in the aquarium and ride on the monorail which fulfilled their dreams.

Before I went away I started a layout of Jett's facial expressions and I finished it yesterday. I used Sassafras Lass and Pink Paisley papers and a few other bits and pieces. Simple design and the memory is recorded.

Got lots more to show and tell so stay tuned. Thanks for your patience and for visiting.