Another week has passed – and it has been a busy one.

On Friday a bloggy friend Kimberly Geswein (a font celebrity!) arrived for 6 days (en route to assist with bringing 2 adopted kids to US from Ukraine), and it has been lovely having her stay.

On to “Lessons Learned” – this happens every most Tuesdays on my blog.

Lesson 1 It is nervous teaching your first workshop (Mobile Phone Photography Workshop at the Island Arts Centre, Lisburn) – especially when you are waiting for everyone to arrive.

There were 12 students, and together they learned about capturing, editing and sharing images from their mobile phones.

Lesson 2 My son has enjoyed not being the only red-head in the house

Lesson 3 It is lovely to see our wee country through the eye of a visitor (and her iphone).

Even our boring main shopping street is apparently cute!

Lesson 4 It is VERY lovely to have a child-free night up on the north coast with your bloggy friend – we had a lovely meal on Sunday evening at the historic Bushmills Inn
 (more of Kimberly’s iphone pics)

Lesson 5 It is great to have the Giants Causeway and Dunluce Castle practically to yourselves (well it was about 10am on the first Monday in March!)

(my iphone pic this time)

Lesson 6 When you drive via Ahoghill on the way home to deliver a customer order to a shop (Gloonan Gallery), it probably would have made sense to ensure it was open! Fortunately the lovely near-by Nettys Vintage Tea Room (highly recommended for it’s tasty food, warm welcome and lovely knick-knacks!) not only provided us with a great lunch, they also took care of the order for us too, holding it until it could be collected.

These are more of Kimberly’s pics – someone just as obsessed interested as me in iphone photography!

Lesson 7 I learned that no matter how many good intentions I have had to get caught up on my blog posts from our Orlando holiday, I still haven’t managed it! Maybe this week…… maybe…….

So, have you learned much this week? Do share.

For more lessons learned, visit the lovely Julie (From Inmates to Playdates), and tell her I sent you!

I seem to have got into a sort of a pattern here of posting on Tuesdays and Fridays., but I think if I didn’t not sure how much blogging I would actually achieve!

So it’s Tuesday, so I am back with a few lessons learned:

1. Just when we thought the snow had gone for this winter – it’s back! At least it wasn’t so bad on the roads this morning, and it didn’t lie for too long before it thawed.

2. Soon we will be enjoying these glorious temperatures in Orlando (don’t hate me!). Also planning to meet up with a few bloggy friends – can’t wait!

3. I usually hate graffitti but I must admit that this made me smile …. and it matched the red door perfectly….

4. I realise that nearly every picture I put on my blog now comes from my iphone – my DSLR rarely sees the light of day. I am almost considering not taking my DSLR to Orlando – but I know I would regret it! 

5. I had an application to submit for my jewellery, and I had to illustrate the connection between my jewellery designs and Northern Ireland.  This was part of my application

6.  One of the first bloggers I discovered was The Big Mama, the lovely Melanie – I just love her humour and natural style of writing ….. and she has written a book Sparkly Green Earrings – watch this and find out more (warning – you might need a tissue!)

I can’t wait to buy the book – and hopefully I will find my own copy on a shelf in Florida next week! (If not I’ll buy it online when I get home)

7. I learned that I don’t enjoy filling in applications to have my jewellery accepted by various panels – but they are a necessary evil, and well worth it when I am successful…. watch this space!

So what have you learned? Please share!

For more lessons learned from lovely bloggers visit Julie

I am joining in with this “meme” (technical blogger term for a prompted post about yourself, which you link back to the blogger you inspired it)

Addictions: diet coke
Bed size: King size (and an electric blanket)
Chore you hate: cleaning toilets
Dogs or cats: Dogs.  both – but we only have a cat (George)
Essential start of your day: I check my phone before I get up!
Favorite color: Turquoise/ teal/ duck egg. Shades of blue
Gold or silver: Silver.
Height: 5’4
Instruments you play (or have played): I played piano and clarinet as a teen
Jobs titles you’ve had: kids camp leader (in Belgium), bank official, jewellery designer (and blogger)
Kids: they are now 15, 13 and 8
Live: Lisburn, Northern Ireland.
Mom’s name: Jean
Nickname: very sad, but none (that I know of!) – I suppose Janmary is my online nickname!
Overnight hospital stays: a few, primarily with my 3 c/sections!
Pet peeve:  People being late.
Quote from a movie:
Right or left handed: Right handed
Siblings: 2 olderr brothers.
Time you wake up: About 6.45am
Underwear:  – too much info – not sharing that!
Vegetables you dislike: I really dislike aubergine.
What makes you run late: If we are all ready to leave and then Nate poops!
X-rays you’ve had done: Back, legs, hands
Yummy food you make: 
Zoo animal: I think giraffes and elephants are so cute!

It’s that time again, for some more lessons learned.

Since last week, here is what has been happening, and what lessons I have learned

1.  Our cat prefers to stay indoors when it snows (which isn’t often here in N Ireland), but kept a close eye on the snowman building

2. When a friend tells you to only expect 5 – 10 people will come to the meeting where you are speaking, don’t believe her! TWENTY FIVE turned up! (I know she just didn’t want me to be disappointed but I scared me half to death!)

I had kindly been invited to Women@Maze Presbyterian to share a bit about my faith, my digi scrapbooking and my jewellery. Of course I added in some blogging and iphoneography.

If you are new to my blog, having heard me speak last week – you are very welcome! It was a lovely evening, about a dozen ladies made bracelets, and I did a spontaneous demonstration of digi-scrapping to some others.

3. When you share with a church group about your experience of Post Natal Depression for the first time in front of your eldest teenage daughter, expect to be a bit emotional – but it was lovely to be able to chat with her about it after.

4. We don’t cope very well here with snow in Northern Ireland! Yesterday we had a sudden heavy snow fall. To prove it – this photo was taken about 2.50pm, which waiting for the school pickup. At that point there was just some sleet

This was about 15 minutes later on the way home (I was parked safely, waiting for someone while I took this pic – not using my iphone while driving!)

and within a few minutes of this iphone pic, almost every hill in our town was proving too slippy for traffic, and traffic chaos ensued.  Somehow other countries seem to cope!

Thankfully both my daughters walked home, as once I got home with our son, I definitely didn’t want to have to head out again.

My husband took THREE hours to get about 7 miles home from Belfast, and in the end abandonned his car in a side road and  walked the last mile.

5. Unexpected SNOW DAYS are great! Everyone was able to stay home from school/work today – and there has been lots of snowmen built by the kids in our street.

6.When you work from home you don’t need to worry about driving in the snow to commute to work (across the hall to my dining room) to www.janmarydesigns.com. Technically I didn’t have the day off but I have had a lovely snowy view today as I have been sitting making jewellery – stocking up on my popular heart pendants today – which one is your favourite colour?

 

The choices are red, green, teal, purple (a non-heart!) and pink.(all available to purchase)

7. I am learning to accept that the number of comments on my blog is not an indication of how many visitors my blog has, and how long they stay ….. there just seem to be a lot less comments on my blog these days.

8.  Unless of course you count the comments from various “fascinating” websites who are much keener on me to visit their links than to actually read my blog (they rhyme with HAM, but I dont want to include the phrase in my blog!).

These are deleted no matter how flattering they try to be about my blog. I really do wonder does this technique every actually result in worthwhile traffic to any of these websites? I suppose it must or they wouldn’t be paying someone to leave these sorts of comments on blogs.

 Here are a few wee examples from yesterday:

” is there any other website which presеnts suсh datа in quаlіty? Feel free to surf my webpage” – no thanks!

“I read this paragraph completely concerning the difference of latest and earlier technologies, it’s amazing article. My weblog …” – not sure what that means but no thanks!

Rant over …… thanks!

For more lessons learned, join the lovely Julie who hosts “What I Learned this Week”

So over to you – did YOU learn anything this week?