wagwaan?

Music Tuesday

My coach, Maia, often links to John Denver songs - and so I've been reminded of a favourite from my teenage years. I love his voice and particularly love the string arrangements. Enjoy.

 

And while I'm down memory lane, how amazing is James Taylor?  He's still got it, oh yes he has!

 

New banner and other stuff

Yes, I finally made a new banner. Something nice and summery, I'm sure you'll agree! In honour of Wimbledon lol. 

I took this picture

and was inspired by its summery feel.  

This morning I spent some time in the garden before the weather turns on us. I spent ages grooming the cat with this special rubber brush I have that literally rips the fur from his undercoat. I tend not to do it indoors because the fluff flies everywhere, but outside, with him rolling around in the grass in appreciation, it's not a problem. In fact I'm pretty sure the birds are happy for the fluff to line their nests with. I'm telling you, I could have knitted a ginger jumper with the amount of fur I got off him today. He must be boiling hot, poor thing. 

Then I thought, I know, it's such a novelty to have laundry on the line, I'll take a picture to document it...

I do love my new "soft grip" pegs - doesn't take a lot to make me happy, eh?

OOh while I've been doing this, Marion Bartoli has beaten Serena Williams!  Go Frenchy!!  It was a great match. She just said to the interviewer "beating Serena Williams is like a dream come true". Awww.

What else? Oh yes, here is a rather wonky picture of my new office space (I just can't get a straight one and I promise I haven't been drinking!).

Over the weekend, Claire helped me to bring my bureau down from upstairs where it was in a corner on the landing and I rejigged all the computer bits and cables to set it up. This way, I'm hoping to switch off properly when I've finished working on the PC, by putting the monitor on top and closing the desk flap. The drawers below are also very handy for putting all my bits and bobs from the various projects I have going on at the moment. It'll  hopefully be much neater than it has been. I've put the modern computer desk on Freecycle and I hope someone wants it, or I'll have to dismantle it and lug it round to the Oxfam furniture shop... which is where I got the bureau a few years ago. I'd always wanted one (my mum has one) and when I saw this I snapped it up thinking I'd paint it. So far it's remained au naturel and I think I might just leave it now. I rather like my desktop picture of an m&m heart that I think I blogged ages ago. And I found the perfect place for my vision board too.  It feels all cosy now!

Right, I'm off for a little rest - after I've rescued the clothes: rain is forecast in about half an hour!

The hottest day of the year?

After weeks of rain and grey skies, today is apparently going to be the hottest of the year. And then I think by Tuesday we'll be back to normal, ha ha!   At least the weather was ok yesterday for our stint on the market. It was rather blustery in the morning but by the afternoon the sun came out and it was quite nice and sunny - just in time for my 2pm shift.  It wasn't very busy but we did sell all our good stuff to some discerning buyers. There's still a home chocolate fountain for sale - a bargain at a fiver, I can't believe it's still there. 

The lady opposite us was selling perennials and other plants, and I couldn't resist buying some to fill up the gaps in my garden. I got a creeping Jenny for the name (and for the fact that it covers the ground so weeds don't take hold so much), a nasturtium, a feverfew because it looks like a daisy and an "everlasting" sweet pea plant. Sweet peas last one season but this one will go on and on, although the flowers don't have a scent.  We were discussing gardens and I told her I had lots of weeds (among which my beautiful poppies) and she said as long as they have pretty flowers, she leaves them, so that's my new modus operandi. Talking of the poppies, this is what they looked like this morning before the sun got very hot:

See that blue sky behind the trees? It's wonderful - not a cloud in the sky.  Perfect laundry drying weather too, and it's been a long time since we had any sheets drying in the sun like today.

Well I'm half way through reorganising my workspace (although I had hoped to do this on a rainy day rather than the hottest day of the year) and this was just an excuse to see that I'd got the PC all plugged in correctly after moving it. And lunch is ready so I'll finish up now. Hope you are having a beautiful weekend where you are. 

Fundraising

Our fundraising stall :)

Friday

Aargh! The tiredness is making itself felt big time here. I know what it is - I get too enthusiastic and overdo it, because I'm fine now, right? And then I end up dizzy, headachey and pooped.  And then I eat sugar and wonder why I don't feel any better. Sigh.  I've just gone back and read previous posts, and surprise surprise, I've said all this before :D 

Anyway, I must rest today because tomorrow I'm helping in the afternoon on our fundraising stall at the Queens Road Summer Market. We collected loads of bric a brac and books, and I made some cute pencil pots - which I forgot to take a picture of before I handed them in. Oh well, I'll just have to post a pic of the makeup brush pot Claire commissioned me to make instead lol.

 

   

Claire wanted plain on the outside and patterned inside (see the little flowered paper there?),
and I added a lace border from my Costco scrapbooking stash

Talking of Claire, she surprised me yesterday with a gift, totally out of the blue. She knows I've been hankering for new cutlery as ours has seen better days, and she has started my new collection with these forks from Laguiole at John Lewis!  I have been meaning to treat myself, but she got there first. Now I'm looking forward to completing the collection ;)

 

See the little Laguiole bumble bee?

She's a good 'un that girl of mine xoxoxo

Getting crafty

I thought I'd share my vision board with you. I'd been meaning to do one for aaaages, but somehow the thought of getting messy meant that I kept procrastinating. I don't know why, because every. single. time. I get crafty or start painting I find it extremely therapeutic and promise myself I'll do it again very soon.  This time was no exception.  Yesterday I treated myself to a day off because I've had so much on my plate (I've been doing stuff every day) and resting Sat, Sun and Monday wasn't enough to restore my energy... Anyway, after spending the morning in bed I got up and decided today was the day I would get on with the vision board. So without further ado, here it is. And it's PINK. Funny that, eh?!

I covered the canvas (from the 99p shop) with pink and white acrylic paint, then used my Décopatch glue to stick down the stuff I'd cut out of magazines. And then, being a scrapbooker I had to fill in the gaps with some embellies and bling. I like it so much, it's hanging in the living room now.  Here are some close-ups:

The pictures are looking less wrinkled now it's properly dry. It's great fun - try it for yourself!

In other news, yes I know it's summer now (already? How did that happen?), but I've not had time to update the banner. I will very soon.  As it is, I know it's summer because Wimbledon is here, and we've been eating strawberries and cream. And it's raining. LOL!!

For Claire - Music Tuesday

 

 I've been trying to find a way to say how I miss you when you leave

Cause I need to get it clear, I'll be ok, I just won't breathe.

If I could keep my arms tight and wrapped around you so you'd feel me there

in the light that shines through your window, I'd be everywhere

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs,

If you can trust yourself when they may doubt you, I'll still be here.

I couldn't love you more than in this moment, so you know, take these words with you, when you go.

A poem I read and loved as a child I am giving it to you

Cause it says it so much better than I could ever do.

Remember me in quiet times you'll feel me there,

I'm in the walls and shadows, I'll be everywhere

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs,

if you can trust yourself when they may doubt you, I'll still be here

I couldn't love you more than in this moment, so you know, take these words with you, when you go.

I'm in the walls and shadows, I'll be everywhere

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs

If you can trust yourself when they may doubt you, I'll still be here

I couldn't love you more than in this moment, so you know, take these words with you, when you go.

 

Written by: JUDIE TZUKE, STEVE ANDERSON; Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

I adored Judie Tzuke back in the (ahem) early 80s. And now I've discovered her daughter's amazing voice. Enjoy (you might want to skip the beginning...)

 

 

 

Stop motion

Claire and I have a bit of a thing for stop motion videos. Here's one that I really love - it's an Olympus ad.  If you have a spare three minutes, take a look:

 

Stuff

Things I'm totally into at the moment:

- Organic, sugar-free peanut butter on wholegrain rice cakes. Yum.

- The Kennedys - such as this and this. I'm loving all the vintage frocks and interiors.

- journaling, which is so powerful and such a learning process. I urge you to try it if you want to learn more about yourself.

- My cheapo navy canvas shoes from Primark. Extremely comfy and easy to wear with a skirt, dress or trousers. I like the blue striped lining and insert - very nautical.

- Brittany from Glee. Love her. She gets all the best lines too.

- The poppies in my garden. I know, they're really weeds, but I love the splash of colour at the back of the garden where they grow. 

What are you into right now?

 

 

Changing your mindset

I was listening to the "Beyond Diet" podcast by Keith Klein the other night, and I found myself thinking how simple it actually is to change your mindset. We over-complicate things, but if we wised up to what we are doing, we'd all be able to transform our lives. 

Keith started by saying that you have to own your actions, i.e. understand that what you have done up until now has brought about your current situation. This is what my coach, Maia Berens, says too, by the way, Wise Fairy Godmother that she is!  Ok, so once you've accepted that, you can start making progress (we are talking about diet here, but it applies to all areas of your life).  

In this particular edition of the podcast, Keith doesn't say you have to give up eating all the things you like, but that small changes, over time really add up to yield huge results.  All you have to do is start by listing 2 or 3 things you'd like to change and start by focusing on one thing one week, then bit by bit you can move on to the others.  

For example, if you drink regular cola you are ingesting 40g of sugar with every can. Do you know how  many spoonfuls of sugar that is?  How can you change if you don't know what it is you are doing?   He explains that to convert grammes of sugar to teaspoons, you divide the number by 4, so that makes 10 teaspoons in one can. Say you drink two cans a day, that's over 1lb of pure sugar in one week. If you  just moved to diet cola, or cut out your cola altogether, that would add up to cutting about 62lbs of sugar from your diet over the year. Can you see how that would add up?!  And that's not saying you can't eat croissants or take-aways any more. If you just did that one tiny thing, and stuck to it (that's the kicker!), then you'd already be taking steps to be more healthy.

I can really feel a shift happening in my mindset, thanks to knowledge like this. I know that I can make small changes and stick to them if I take them one at a time.  When you next have a free half hour or so, go and listen to the podcast and you'll see what I mean.