wagwaan?

(virtual) Conversation with my child

I'm at work and DD is at home. So I'm busy and DD keeps sending me emails... this is the conversation today that made me Laugh Out Loud for real. I do love her :)

Me: I was looking at Etsy and I def want to sell some canvases – you know, big macro pictures of flowers etc.  We have to buy some so we can take some pics, with the tripod. Beautiful close ups. Bright colours.  Can you think about it for me?  Do it even, and we’ll split the profits?

Her: you can be the business manager or something, and i'll take the pictures. i'm crap with business. i'm so screwed for when i want to run my own /:

Me: OK!  LOL  it’ll be R... & Daughter Photographs Limited then…..

Her: We're going to have to rethink that name, if im honest

Me: Well, yeah, you could find something snazzier.   Mariposa Photography

Her: that would only work if we were italian and butterfly buffs. or at least took pictures of butterflies. i'd feel like a big fake. i can see it now;
random person: "so, what does mariposa mean?"
me: "it's butterfly in italian."
random person: "oh really? so you're italian? that's cool..."
me: "um... no, we're not."
random person: "so why are you called something italian?"
me: "we just liked how it sounded..."
random person: "oh my god, that is so low. god, i'm not gonna buy your photos now!" *toddles off*

i have a week off, i'm sure i can think of something halfway decent.

Course, then I had to inform her that mariposa is Spanish. But she made my day, anyway!

What a wash out.

Much as I have loved having another Bank Holiday weekend, it's not much fun when it pours with rain non-stop...  Still, I've enjoyed myself. I finished a little project I had planned: a way of keeping my necklaces from getting tangled. I stuck some buttons to some push pins and painted an old cork board white. And voila:

Yesterday I stayed indoors, did a couple of loads of washing, dragged Claire down to the launderettes to "learn" how to use the driers, and read a bit. I also took some pics of the cats....



Today, Wayne and I went out (in the rain) to town, to buy a few things, and we ended up having a very nice lunch in John Lewis. Expensive but tasty.   I got some more supplies for little projects that I have in mind, and I'm looking forward to getting "crafty" again. Wayne is always saying "you should sell that", so it's filtering through my mind and I'm thinking of getting an Etsy shop. We shall see.

Oh, and I also did a little layout to try out some gorgeous Photoshop brushes I found online at designfruit dot com.

Well, lots to do. Must rush. Nite all :)

What a long week!

Phew!  So glad THAT's over. This week was Board Meeting week, and slightly stressful. In fact, I have had a headache for over 2 days... but on top of that several bits of bad news this week, including my poor mum having to say goodbye to her dog yesterday. The dog that I got her after my dad died. She was 14 - not a bad age eh?   Anyway, it seems it was a rather traumatic passing, but my mum seems perfectly fine about it over the phone. I hope she's ok really. Whisky has been quite a companion all these years. Thing is, I bought a "vintage" fridge magnet for her in Rye, it has a picture of the Black & White whisky advert on it, and the dog was called Whisky for that reason. I thought she'd like it, but it's all the more poignant now the dog has gone.   I also got some Dutch "Droste" chocolate brought over from Rotterdam yesterday, and a video I want to send, so it'll be a little care package for her to look forward to.

The week isn't quite over, but today was a lot better. And I came home to some post!  My moo cards arrived. Very quick, I must say.  I'm dead pleased with them.  Some of them I made with pictures from  Claire's picture folder, so you can see a couple of the gorgeous Jared Leto, and one of pairs of Converse, but the rest are all my own work.  On the back they have my name and email and a quote " Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it".  I love them :)

Anyway, off to bed - I'm cream crackered after a night of migraine and my bed is calling. Peace.

Trying to raise a smile...

Bit of a shit week, to be honest, and I might blog about it later, but in the meantime, this made me smile. At least I'm true to myself. 1988 was the year we were living in Brighton...

You Belong in 1988

Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day.

What Year Do You Belong In?

...long post continued

Had a long day today, because I won another Venture shoot recently, and today we went up to Knightsbridge, opposite Harrod's, for it!  Fun :)   

Anyway, here are some of the pics I took in Rye on Friday. From a distance it looks like those hilltop villages in the South of France, near my sister's place... It used to be a port, but now it's several miles inland.

First, the world-famous Mermaid Street

Half way up, on the left, is the Mermaid Inn

And opposite that is, well, The House Opposite

And the view looking back down the hill

By the church I found this gorgeous little shop (I want to live there), called Forget me not. I  took the lady's card, and might give her a call in a couple of months to order some of those gorgeous pillow cases... Just trying to rein in the spending at the moment!

Turning the corner, I came upon this shop, and stopped for a cup of tea

In the window, some of their delicious-looking cakes, and the multi-coloured things you can vaguely make out are sugar mice.

Continued strolling around in the sunshine, and popped into an "antique" shop where I got two little things, for a few coppers. I don't think the tin is vintage exactly, but I like the antique-y font on it.

The other one is in my pic of the day, here .

So then we piled back in the coach (but first I spied this lovely staircase - look at the date!).

and made our way to Hastings where we got back on the Orient Express.  Delicious, gorgeous meal on the way back, with more champagne, and then back to reality.

On the way out I took this picture of the head stewards and the manager. On the left, Alan, our head steward, and in the middle, Geoffrey, the charming manager. Lovely people!

As I said, a great day!

A chance in a lifetime

(long post alert!)
Today was magical.  For the second time (and some people never get to experience it once) I was lucky enough to be invited on the Orient Express. This time the British Pullman version, as opposed to the French one. 

I'll let the photos do the talking:



This was my waiter, standing at the entrance to my carriage, the Minerva:

The Minerva is a "Parlour Car" built in 1927 (the year my father was born). You sit in armchairs

The tables were laid for breakfast

The walls are decorated in Edwardian-type marquetry

A few close-ups, my obsession. Logos are everywhere:

The letters stand for Venice-Simplon Orient Express





The menu.... Click on the picture to enlarge, read and drool!

I missed out pictures of the perfect fresh fruit salad, and the deliciously gorgeous, fluffy scrambled eggs, smoked salmon and crumpet. Hmmmmmm. Then the fresh yogurt. Oh, and the bellini in the background (that's fresh peaches, liquidised, in champagne. Hmmmmm)

Proof that I was actually THERE and not just taking pictures on a stationary train!  My jacket even matched the armchairs...

We were encouraged to get up and go visit some other carriages. Oh, and I didn't take my camera to the lavatory (yes, that's what it's called, not a toilet), but it had a mosaic floor to rival a Roman bathroom, and all wooden features. Gorgeous!





We got off at Ashford and got on a coach for a visit round Romney Marsh to see all the sheep (LOL) and churches dotted around.

First there is lots of grass -obviously, for the sheep- but then the landscape gives way to a desert of shingle, accumulated over the centuries and creating a vast, unforgiving and barren land. Not helped by Dungeness power station in the distance!  The beach was fine - long, shingle but fringed with a long dune. But then you got to the barren peninsula and it was just weird. Plus, the sun disappeared and it was overcast and grey. Shivers!   The houses are wooden structures, some of them made from old railway carriages. The most famous of them is Derek Jarman's house, Prospect Cottage, a striking black and yellow house with poetry scratched onto one wall. With a gorgeous garden (again, if you click and  enlarge,  you can see it clearly). 

The church we visited, St Augustine in Brookland. It dates from around 1260. The bell tower is the wooden structure next to the church - as this is all marshland, the land is unstable. As you can see when you go inside, as the pillars are all splayed outwards. Very scary!  The church is buttressed up the back to avoid it falling down...

There is a very rare font with astrology signs on it. In the middle you can see Pisces, with Aquarius to the left of it (mine and the OH's signs!).

Some pews are like you'd expect to see - others are "box pews":


A bit of an arty shot (lol)..l

Well, it's getting late! I'll upload the pics from Rye tomorrow.  Hope you're not too bored!

So excited

I'm so excited about the future!  I have so much going round in my head at the moment, all creative stuff. When did I stop making and start being a corporate bod?  My job is fine, I enjoy it, but all day I have to stop myself dreaming about little projects that are bobbing to the surface of my mind. And then when I get home, I'm generally too tired to do anything about it. But that is all changing.  For starters, I really enjoyed making stuff at Christmas and I have loads of ideas of things I want to make. So I ordered some little woven labels yesterday, to stamp my mark on my creations. And at the moment I'm uploading photos to make some moo cards, which I've coveted for so long, but not got around to doing.  Plus, I'm excited about the prospect of this house finally being made to look the way I want it - although that means living in chaos for a while. It's all for a good cause. Can't wait to make the basement into my craft room, too.

Also, there's a lot of talk about "the secret", which I had been meaning to find out about. Today I was reading Kirsty's blog and there was a link on there. When I investigated, I found out it all stems from a book written nearly 100 years ago, so I downloaded it from Wikipedia and read most of it on the way home, and it was like a lightbulb going on over my head. To cut a long story short, the way I see it, it's all about positive thinking. Something my mother said to me all my life. And something she is putting into practice now, since her stroke. She is fantastic!  Lots of little things seemed to fall into place tonight - so I'm on a high. Watch this space, eh?

And tomorrow, well I'm off on a "fam trip" on the Orient Express, including delicious meals and a trip to Rye. Lots of photo opps I hope.

Here's hugs to all those hurting/sick/waiting for test results (special hugs, Amy-Bah!). I'm sending positive vibes to y'all.  Peace.

Trip down memory lane

Got the house to myself again - DD is off giving moral support to her friend's family who have a French girl staying. I have to smile to myself that DD is the one they call for help; she used to be so shy about speaking French, being different, but her friends are all so impressed!  So I'm sitting her on the PC with Yes booming on the loudspeakers. Remember them? My goodness, it takes me right back. I love www.radioblog.com - any time I think of an old song or band from long ago, or even a new song, then I enter it into my favourites and I can enjoy it whenever I like. Well, whenever I'm at the PC that is.  This week it's Yes and Supertramp. And these cool dudes who sampled a Supertramp song in theirs (and have Patrick Stump from Fallout Boy singing the Supertramp sample). They make me laugh and Travis is so cute in the video - but don't let DD hear me say that, she'll think it's creepy! By the way, the dance the little kid does? That's "krumpin'". And I only know that 'cos I saw a documentary on Clownin' and Krumpin'.  Yo - I got the lingo DOWN!:

Cupid's Chokehold Video

Cupid's Chokehold lyrics - Gym Class Heroes lyrics

Gym Class Heroes Music Videos

Music Video Codes by VideoCure

All by myself

Ooh this is the life. Much as I like "chillin' with my homies", I really enjoy spending a day on my own, with no deadlines, no one else to think about, just wandering where the wind takes me.  I got up when DD did, and after she went off to her Saturday job I went downstairs to have breakfast. I needed some buttons for a project, so took myself off to the market. I have had this idea in the back of my head for a while, so watch this space and I'll post a pic when I've done it.  After that it was already lunchtime, so I went to this shop that is a gift shop one side with a cafe at the back, and a newly opened spa upstairs. Heaven!  I sat in a squishy leather sofa and ate my pannini and then had my mocha, watching the world go by. So many babies around! Which reminds me, I handed out a couple of cards to people with cute kids, saying I needed models for my portfolio in return for free photos. The first lady, who was with her mum and a kid in a pushchair, looked very taken aback, bless her!  I also took one to the lady who sold me the cake stands as her granddaughter is absolutely stunning. Hopefully, I'll get a few photo sessions from that.

I went into Laura Ashley and drooled a bit over their homewares, and then had a browse round the charity shops, which luckily are all side by side in the same bit of the high street. I found this gorgeous set of cup, saucer and plate, although I'm not too fond of the gold trim, and a super cake slice going for a song. And usually I hate charity shops LOL

I'm now sitting here catching up on my blog trawling, with a cup of tea and doughnut by my side. Very civilised.

In a minute I'm going on Photoshop to do some journaling spots that I've been thinking about for ages, spurred on by Paula, who got there first ;)

It's the weekend!

Funny how, after working here for over 8 months, I only discovered the riverbank to the west of our building last week. It's so cool!  I knew of Borough Market of course, and the Cathedral, but I didn't realise if you walked along the river, instead of via the hospital and the Tube, then you came across all kinds of interesting buildings and landmarks. Practically the first thing, after going under London Bridge, is this sculpture in front of the Cathedral. I only realised "someone" had changed my camera's setting to B&W a while later...

Then, you turn a corner, and you see the market peeking between the old on the left, and the new on the right.

Here you can see the signpost pointing to some of the interesting landmarks - one of which is the Clink Museum, where the slang for prison comes from. The Clink was one of about 6 prisons in the borough in medieval times, I believe. You can also see that if you keep walking you get to the Globe Theatre, that I plan to visit another time.

Such a colourful display! Well, it was in real life, honest :)

I bought bread and cheese for lunch, and I love this olive stall - even if I dislike olives very very much!! You must believe me when I say that this market is PACKED on a Friday - but I managed to take some pictures with no people in the way. Clever ;)


And all the fruit stalls made my mouth water...

These strawberries smelled DELICIOUS!

I could have stayed and wandered around for hours, but I had to get back to the office.  It was a very quiet but productive day today. AND I got some compliments from el jefe about some work I did for him, in French, so I ended the week on a high :)