Sunday 26 April 2015

Capturing real life

I have to face it, the Year of Craft has come to a complete and utter standstill as other things have moved in and taken over, mainly because I have to force myself into crafting as it's just not my thing. I think it's probably time I accepted that really. Instead I joined an online photography class, which I think you're supposed to turn into a scrapbook, but that involves crafting, and we all know where that will end. So I was thinking about how I would make it work and I thought, I can totally do an online scrapbook as an alternative and tie it in with the blog as well. And here we are. Let's capture real life.

Week 1: Good Morning - cleanse, tone, moisturise; Good Night - reading myself into slumber



Week 2: Guilty Pleasures - a '99' with a flake and red sauce, best eaten at the beach...


Week 3: Nature - anywhere and everywhere, I love being outside the most!




Week 4: Out-takes - these are always going to be of Wavey, but I love taking photos of him when he's not looking, he always looks so serious! 



I'm going to say right off, that this class is supposed to be done week by week but as per everything else that I do, it's a case of when I have time. So it's capturing real life in probably more than 52 weeks, and it's not in a scrapbook, and some of the photos were taken previously. One day I might just play by some rules...

PS. If you're interested in the class, I bought it from A Beautiful Mess which is one of my most loved blogs ever! 

Wednesday 15 April 2015

Don't go!

Facebook is not happy with my month long detox. I'm only 4 days in and I've had at least 2 emails from them each day telling me how many notifications I'm missing, the huge number of events I've been invited to, the friends I might know that I'm desperately missing out on by not connecting to them...they really don't make it very easy for you to decide to go. 

But fear not, I am holding strong. I ended up opting to uninstall the app from my phone as I went to the settings and switched off the notifications. Seconds later I got a notification. Erm, no. So it's gone from my phone. It's still on my tablet but they are actually honouring my opting out of notifications. 

Am I missing it? Not at all. There's been all kinds of things happening where normally I would have reached for my phone to update the world but instead I have simply kept quiet and gone about my day... (haha, as I'm typing this up I've just got yet another email with people I might know on there)... and I am definitely not missing the irritation that often went with my aimless scrolling. 

So far, so good. I wonder how many emails I will get? Maybe I should start keeping a tally...

Sunday 12 April 2015

A Little Challenge/A Little Chaos

I'm the kind of person who has to think about things for a while before putting them into action. Especially if it's something that might prove hard or will see me challenge myself. For a while I'd been thinking about going Facebook free for a month. A month seemed like a good enough test, it's long enough to see if it's possible to opt out entirely which is my ultimate aim. My little challenge started today. 

Let me explain myself. For quite a while now I've found myself scrolling aimlessly up and down Facebook on both my phone and my tablet, occasionally enjoying the updates but more often than not feeling irritated, even angry, about what someone might have posted. I know there's the unfollow option, which I have used many times, but it was starting to feel like it was something bigger. I'm embarrassed to admit it but I think it was turning into a compulsion. And not just for checking it either. Wherever I was, whoever I was with, I was choosing to record moments of my life instead of just, you know, living them. When I went to Brighton I promised myself that I would be more present, just be, yet I still managed to check in here, post a photo there...and no criticism to anyone here but I wasn't the only one. 

It's so weird, this thing where we share all this information about our lives. Out of all my friends I only know one person who has absolutely no presence on any social media channel. She is always entirely present, never checks her phone when you go out, and just enjoys being somewhere. It's inspiring. I've taken this good example and turned it around on myself. No Facebook for a month. I hope I will make it through. It's only the first day but it feels good. I'll keep you posted...

(Disclaimer: as I have job responsibilities I will be using the Pages Manager element of Facebook - this challenge is for my personal page only). 

From a challenge to chaos. A Little Chaos if you will. Yesterday I downloaded a voucher that entitled me to 2 free tickets to see a preview screening of this film. I love anything that's free and if it's cinema, well cha-ching as cinema visits are expensive! I knew nothing about the film other than that Kate Winslet was in it as she was on the ticket image. Our seats left a little to be desired, being only 3 rows back from the front, but once my neck had adjusted to the weird angle I settled in for the film. 

And what a delightful film it was! The (very) basic premise is that Kate Winslet is a gardener who challenges the 'order' in the French court of Louis XIV to be chosen as the only female gardener to design and create one of the many gardens at Versailles. It's directed by Alan Rickman, his directorial debut, and he also plays the King. I won't tell you too much more in case you decide to go and see it, which I would recommend. It's beautifully filmed, the costume detail is immense, it's gentle, occasionally funny, but the story is sufficiently absorbing to hold your attention all the way through. I really did enjoy it, and so did Wavey. 

There's all kinds of films out at the cinema at the moment so I am planning on many more visits over the next few weeks. Hopefully there will be more free visits as that makes it even better! Any recommendations welcomed below... 

Monday 6 April 2015

Spring is here!

The pox is almost gone, it was a long and glorious bank holiday filled weekend, and the sun came out to play! Glory glory hallelujah! 

We've eaten our own body weight in all the refined and bad for you sugar, we've slept in, we've sat outside, and we've been to the beach. What a cracking start to Spring. 

Come on you sunshine days!





Thursday 2 April 2015

I think burning them might be a bit far, but...

**Spoiler alert** If you are in any way sensitive or offended by underwear (especially bra) talk, turn away now. Anyone left? Proceeding on then. 

One of my very best besties has this thing where she comes home from work and the first thing she does is take her bra off. I just used to nod along when she would say things like, oh the relief, cos I never really understood it. My primary aim when I'm buying a bra is comfort, none of this fancy dancy dressing them all up in lace type thing for me, it's just not my thing you know? Stay with me, there is a point to this underwear talk. Maybe I should get to it now? Good idea. 

With the shingles also came this weird other red rash that was in a place where the underwire of a bra would rub (too much information? Too late!) and so whilst I've been off work, I've been bra-less. And it's been good, like GOOD! I've taken to wearing a vest, a bit like you do between the ages of birth up to whenever you might start wearing a bra, or deciding that a vest just isn't cool. I love a good vest, keeps you toasty and roasty in the winter time and cool in the summer, but that's probably a whole other wardrobe related post. 

Luckily I am not hugely endowed in the boob-age department so this bra-free thing is not that big of a deal, but I'm starting to feel that I could totally get on board with this as a regular thing. There's a lot of people out there who do you know. I follow The Blonde Salad on Instagram and she always seems to rock out without one. Mind you, she is a model and therefore rake thin with teeny tiny boobs but you know, backs my story up. And let's not forget the biggest inspiration of all: 

Charlie Dimmock. Not only is she a gardener and a frizzy red head, she's infamous for going bra-less, even when Alan Titchmarsh and Tommy were digging by her side! If Charlie can, I can too! And the 70s are coming into fashion for summer and I'm pretty sure they burned bras then, so...set them free sisters! 

Wednesday 1 April 2015

Update

I have updated the picture of Dizz and Wavey to be more accurate.


Heehee.