There has been ...

There has been a birthday, my thirty eighth. This year she baked the cake pictured above for me and each piece was a slice of perfection I can tell you. I sat up in bed, blankets wrapped round keeping the cold out. Hiding from the snow once home from school drop off, I steadily ate my chocolate dream whilst working my way through my favourite movies. It started as an indulgent day that led into an indulgent week somehow - my birthday week I kept saying in my head. So much so that in an e-mail to a loved one who was asking for career advice I responded: 'I currently liken myself professionally to the grandparents in 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', so I'm probably not the person to ask!' 

A perfect week-end just me and my hubby, courtesy of my mama offering to have the grandsons for a sleepover. There was walking and hand holding, talking and laughter, coffee and cafes and yes I mean plural. Visiting a gallery, a bookshop, a comic book shop worthy of the scent au fart. Ambling aimlessly through the city. A spontaneous visit to the cinema to watch a film that we knew nothing about, smiling extra smiles for the clever straw trick that the barman revealed when he tucked the bent part of the straw into our old school coca cola bottles to stop them bobbing out. Yes we drank coca cola and it felt like a first date, up until I said 'hey, you're eating all the nuts!' 

There was purchasing of wine and halva and films. There was a comedy situation where a card got declined because someone forgot to transfer money from one account to another and tried to purchase halva and glucosamine because we were walking by and why not get it now when we're free and have no kids and can pop in just about anywhere if we want. Thank you smartphones and thank you online banking and thank you halva, your name serves you well 'sweetness'. Oh how we enjoyed you as we snuggled up watching our films, rambling with wine giddiness and favoring a night in over a night out.

Also this week there has been lots of looking and reading of new treasures, books and an illustration publication. There has been some thinking about how to come up with a clever thing like Wes Anderson always using futura bold in yellow. There has been ignoring of a self imposed deadline. Coveting of cameras and colours and pretty things. There's been looking through old photographs, looking at pictures of the children having fun outdoors on a currently very unusual sunny day. There has been some avoidance, some distraction, rebellion and laziness, yes I admit laziness. There's been some reminiscing of when I turned sixteen and my siblings presented me with the jellyfish swatch watch I'd been wanting for weeks. I received a new swatch for turning 38 and happy I did feel at knowing that walls can hear and if not walls then my boys hear through them. There has been a four way cuddle in our 'is this really a kingsize bed because it doesn't feel like it when they attack' where my eldest boy delivered my favourite line of the whole week: 'Dad your ears look like bacon!' Well, what more can be said ... nada!

Watching 'Moonrise Kingdom' whilst trying to ignore the messy desk in the background

Cameras, polaroids, old school chair, classic font ... what a pretty window display!

More of the pretty window display ... prettiness!

Nobrow publication with front cover illustration by Stuart Kolakovic

Nobrow publication with front cover illustration by Blexbolex

Brilliance in Blogging - facing the fear and doing it anyway!

It is wonderful to receive praise for the things that we do well. This is a fact. Some people are very good at accepting praise and others struggle with it. Recently I was speaking to my youngest boy about how important it is to accept praise, afterwards I felt a bit of a phony since it's not something that I always do very well myself. Immediately, I could think of three or four occasions in recent times when someone has complimented me or my writing or my artwork and instead of a simple 'thank you', I have launched into some stand up act making self depricating jokes as a nerdy response. So when I received a message from my dear friend and fellow blogger telling me that she had nominated me for a Brilliance  in Blogging Award, I decided it was time to gag my nerdy, inner critic self and accept the wonderful compliment she was paying me and share the news of the Brilliance in Blogging Awards with my audience - yes that's you!

I love writing and I love blogging. There is something particularly special about knowing others are reading your words and sharing in your experiences. As an Artist I have long been interested in audience and how people engage with my work and the same can be said of how I think of my readers, my audience, those that visit here regularly to share in my day to day. I am grateful for you! For those of you who would like to, please click on one of the buttons below to nominate me for a Brilliance in Blogging award! You've got until 12th April to cast your vote! There are actually 16 different categories which bloggers can be nominated for, to make life simple I chose two: writing and lifestyle although feel free to choose another category if you prefer. I must admit I do feel a bit sheepish plugging myself and the awards, however in recognition of my word for the year I am taking action ... even if it is out of my comfort zone. As I said at the beginning of this post, it is wonderful to receive praise for the things that we do well and I do like very much the idea that blogging is something that I do well.

   

Paper Dreams ...

I have lots of old shoe boxes and they're filled with images and cards I've found or bought, scraps of paper I like and have collected over the years, stamps, buttons, rubber stamps and handmade paper, beautiful wrapping paper that I've collected over the years (I always make a point of looking in art gallery shops, they always have a quirky/arty selection). Sometimes, these boxes go untouched for months even years but not at the moment. Right now, I'm loving rummaging in those boxes and feeling excited by all the prettiness and all of the possibilities, so much so in fact that just as I was about to fall into bed last night I couldn't help but try out a quick idea to see if it would work. Lots of ideas for cards and brooches and accessories, perhaps some bunting, perhaps with a little nice stitching detail, perhaps, we'll see! Sweet dreams are made of this ...

Like A Pot of Gold

I love keeping letters and cards that I have received and even more than that, I love finding them once more after a time has passed and for the words and sentiments to mean either the same as they once did or for them to have changed as I have over the years. Sometimes the joy of looking forward is found only after you have looked back. It may be just a simple glance and yet this reflecting brings us to a whole new place, no? 

This is my my new 'HOPE' jar, it says 'Thank You' on the front. I'm gonna add a note to this jar each time good things happen and then I'll store them up for those cold, hard days when I need to be reminded that good things happen often. Little love letters that I will read over and over and over and over and over again ... 

My first love letter for the jar: Last night my hubby came home with flowers for me. They perfectly complimented the mood of my painting (see below) and remind me of a happy, happy time we spent somewhere hot and exotic some years back where our only worry was gathering momentum to move from our loungers to take a cool dip in the pool!    

Journaling

My square paper moleskine journal plus some treasured family photographs

There's a time and a place for everything so they say and lately I have taken to writing in a journal once again. I did so all through my teens, through the early years of being married, through university and early baby days. I have some gaps but it is something I normally return to. It has been a while since I've done so since lots of my thoughts I record here.

My current journal contains uncensored, unedited thoughts and snippets of lots of conversations I've had with folks most recently or overheard. Things spoken by strangers or that I could never put names to because I don't believe the individuals would necessarily want that exposure but things that have made me laugh, things that I've considered clever, so very clever and some things rude or inappropriate that others have experienced, caused or witnessed. I'll provide an example, this is a favourite that I recorded a few weeks ago:

Person number one: My dad called a man 'fat' at a wedding?

Person number two: Guffaw ... what do you mean, randomly?

Person number one: Well no, he's a friend of the family and the last time we saw him my dad was pretty disgusted that  ... well in his words 'he'd let himself go'. So, at the venue they'd had to create a specific space for him where he would ...  er, fit!

Person number two: I'm going to start writing these stories down because they only ever happen to you, all these things! So carry on ...

Person number one: So my dad sees him and the first thing he says is 'you're still big then!' 

Aloha

Postcard by Paperchase

I have been absent from here for some time and I have missed this place. It has felt like I have had a job, you know a proper job. I have been showing up at a certain time, day in day out for two weeks and it has been bliss. My brain has been active and still is, it's open and firing all kinds of colours. I am filled with hope and excitement, I am setting goals and developing strategies to remain afloat, finding ways to stay in action. It is all thanks to Jennifer Lee's Right Brainers in Business Video Summit and a great deal of good timing! I happened across a link to sign up to the summit for free to access the basic package and it was just the motivation I needed for my next step. Inspired by what Beth Nicholls says: 'people are happier when they are true to themselves', I am ready. Ready to define my soul mission and ready to face my biggest challenge - Fear! I am fearful but my heart is skipping to a happy, happy beat. Lots of plans, lots to schedule, lots of knuckling down to be done. More to come soon. 

Old work from a journal, my new steps got me thinking about new buds, new seasons!

I re-discovered pages and pages of ideas from an old journal that match exactly what's currently going round in my head!