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kristarella.blog

kristarella.blog

Happiness Engineer at Automattic, lover of knitting, crochet, sci-fi and more

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  1. Welcome!

Welcome!

My name is Kristen, aka Kristarella. I’m currently on leave from Automattic with my first child, my son Mark. I have many interests and hobbies (🥋 📷 🧶 🎨 🎸 🎮), some of which you can read about in my blog posts below. For more frequent updates you can follow me on Instagram.

Blog

  • 2020: the year that wasn’t

    31 March 2020

    I have been reflecting on 2019 and how it set me up for this year. 2019 was wonderful, and at times really difficult. Before 2019 I was not a goal-setter; I had this sense that setting goals was an exercise in futility because there is so much we can’t control that can derail those goals.

    Keep reading →


  • Karate kumite

    Karate

    14 January 2020

    Contents Why I love it Focus Awareness Fun My journey Part of my favourite things (🌧🌹) series. A wonderful quote came across my Facebook feed this week, Consistency is what creates a great martial artist, not brute strength. Karate is not for rank, glory, or revenge. It is way of life, a way to protect

    Keep reading →


  • Cooked pizza topped with apple and bacon and cheese

    Apple & Bacon Pizza

    24 October 2019

    Part of my favourite things (🌧🌹) series. I have posted about apple and bacon pizza before, but I’m going to do it again, because I have recently rediscovered this recipe! Maybe someday soon I’ll get a better photo! 😛 Hope you love it as much as I do!

    Keep reading →


  • song.land

    23 October 2019

    I’m starting a short blog series on some of my favourite things (🌧🌹) and I want to start with a friend’s podcast song.land. Jesse is a very talented musician and I could listen to him sing all day (thanks to this podcast I have!). He describes the podcast as ridiculous and the weirdest podcast on

    Keep reading →


Photoblog

  • Gossips
  • In the wood

Craft

  • Finished a pair of socks!
  • Sockhead beanies

Karate

  • 100 Kata Challenge
  • 10 point kata practice

Today was a delightful day. Both Mark and I were a Today was a delightful day. Both Mark and I were a bit more tired than usual because he didn't want to go to sleep at bedtime last night and I had crazy dreams, but we went to Gymbaroo, and picked up a walker trolley, and had a lovely evening. Feeling blessed.#marksymonds
Wonderful day at the park on Saturday! Thank God f Wonderful day at the park on Saturday! Thank God for such beautiful weather, and a gorgeous 1 year old ❤️💙💛#marksymonds
Happy first birthday Mark!He has his first cold Happy first birthday Mark!He has his first cold this week and was rather grumpy about it over the last 36 hours (who can blame him?!). He seems to be a bit perkier this afternoon... Maybe it was the cake 🎂😆His favourite thing at the moment is walking (with assistance), followed by playing with a ball. He's not too bad at throwing for a little feller!He doesn't like lying on his back, that and the cold meant no good photo on the mat!#marksymonds
Happy 11 months to my bubba!He is crawling all o Happy 11 months to my bubba!He is crawling all over the place, and starting to stand and climb (especially mount mummy), and he's still chewing on everything. He has five teeth and is a fan of satay chicken (last video).I thought we had semi-miraculously graduated to sleeping 12 hours at night without calling out for us, but turns out it's a work in progress 🤷🏻‍♀️#marksymonds
Happy 10th birthday Monty! I didn't like you so mu Happy 10th birthday Monty!
I didn't like you so much when you first arrived, peeing on everything, including the carpet and Kaylee rabbit, but you soon became a beloved member of our family 🐰❤️🎉
Second photo is from his first day with us.
Another fun day at the zoo! I was excited to see h Another fun day at the zoo! I was excited to see how great the Vivid displays look during day since I didn't try to see them at night. Mark wasn't quite ready for photos with the gorilla sculptures. He stared at the mummy gorilla for some time and then decided he didn't like it and started to cry 😢 a cuddle with human mummy fixed that 😂
#marksymonds
This cheeky monkey is ten months old today!He h This cheeky monkey is ten months old today!He has 3 teeth out, and that tongue is often out feeling what is going on with those too! He is super close to crawling. He can shuffle himself around and did a couple of alternate knee motions yesterday before slipping onto his tummy again. He doesn't like lying down and sits up at every opportunity. He is rubbish at sleeping (worse than ever), but usually makes up for it with how happy he is during the day.#marksymonds
Final day is stack day for #LEGODisneyHabitats wit Final day is stack day for #LEGODisneyHabitats with @brickfambuilds and @trickybricks!I only made 4 habitats this time, so for a balanced stack I threw in my Magic Kingdom castle and Mickey from last year.I made a couple of small improvements on some of the habitats too: a clock and key for Alice, an extra wall row for Luke and Leia (somehow I made that one too short 🤦🏻‍♀️) and the finishing top rail for Ariel and Eric, which I think goes nicely next to the rabbit hole.#lego #afol #legohabitat #legohabitats #legohabitatstack #legodisney #legodisneyhabitatstack
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