365: Day 109

Matilda. On stage. It’s wonderful. This mug came home with us, and we all love it. I think it’s my new favourite mug at the moment…

365: Day 95

Tea, fresh air, a view, and The Beatles…what more could I ask for? Hey Jude, don’t make it bad…take a sad song, and make it better…

365: Day 93

I think we can ascertain that there will probably be plenty of photographs of my cups of tea in my 365 Project, don’t you…? Well, cheers, and enjoy your caffeine. Oh, and I’m loving the splash of yellow…

365: Day 92

Sunshine, check. Morning cup of tea, check. Cookie for breakfast, check. Grass, check. Bare-feet, check. Woah, hold it. A cookie, for breakfast? Grass? Bare-feet…? What is going on?! Well, I was naughty, yes, and a little mad, yes, but if you can’t be naughty and mad, every once in a while, then where’s the fun in that? We’re all mad here…

Unfamiliar

Lately, there have been many thoughts rushing through my mind. Different thoughts. Things that I am not used to. They’re not always bad thoughts, just…unfamiliar. Things have been different recently; different good, and different bad. The good: lots of work projects, working with great people, feeling close to the boy, things slotting into place. The bad: detachment from special people, feeling lonely, bad luck hitting those I love. We all know that there is a gentle balance in life, a balance between the good and the bad, and it is down to us how much the bad things take a grip on our lives, it is down to us to pick ourselves up and carry on. This last week has been like that. The last few weeks, even.

At times, I don’t always know who to talk to anymore. Or, rather, the people who were the ones I would always talk to…don’t seem to be here. Sure, one of my closest friends happens to be far away, in India right now…! I miss her. I miss the talks we would have on Facebook, I miss getting notifications from her. Being deaf, I have to find different ways to connect to the people in my life; so although I’ve not always been the greatest fan of Facebook (I went AWOL for half of last year!), it is a great way to keep in touch with some people in your life. So, I am already missing one friend, and when one person is missing, it’s like a chair leg disappearing. Another close friend refers to her friends as her chair legs; she has four, good, constant friends, and they are all her life support, in a way, and, sorry Lizzie, I like stealing that metaphor! Attempting to go through these new adventures in my life, without one of my chair legs? It’s hard. There is so much I want to tell her, so much I want to share…I want to see what she will say…I want to be excited with her. But I also hope that she is having some great adventures of her own in India.

It is unfortunate that another of my chair legs is missing at the moment. Life gets busy. I know that full well. But sometimes it’s good to share that with your friends, to release the burden, to laugh. That is essential. And, right now, that is missing from my life. So, my four chair legs (more or less) are down to two. I am seeing the original chair leg (ha, get it…if you make the metaphor, you are the original…sorry, sorry, not that funny…?) tonight, so maybe I’ll be able to borrow some good words from her. Lizzie is the friend who always seems to be a little older, a little wiser, even though she is only around 6 months older than me. Perhaps it’s because she’s one of my only friends who went away from home for University? When you’re away from home, your experiences shape you, and sometimes you have to grow up a little quicker. That’s not to say that we don’t still have moments when we’re together…when we can be kids again! Just, I know that if I talk to her about anything…more often than not, she will have words of wisdom to make it seem right again. It’s good to have a friend like that. It was Lizzie who told me, when I was being indecisive about staying at Uni, or leaving, to do what would make me happy, because it’s my life. I remember reading that text. I read it in Manchester, in July 2009. It helped. It made me smile.

The boy has said that this week, he has really learnt to value the people in his life. He appreciates all that they do for him. The people we surround ourselves with, well, they are the ones who keep us going. They know what to say. They know what to do. They know how to make you smile again. That’s important, and that is why I feel quite sad, inside, that I can’t do that for some people at the moment. It never does good, in life, to focus too much on yourself, on your own problems, on your own little world, because you’re then forgetting about the other people in your life…and when people genuinely want to be there for you, when they want to be in your life…why shut them out? It will only make you lonely, sad. Friends help to lighten the load on your shoulders, they have the right words (most of the time), they have the perfect ingredients to make you smile, laugh, cry, even. It’s good to cry sometimes. If you’re reading this, I miss you, tiger.

I have been smiling. I have been keeping busy. I have been doing what I love, and loving what I do. I have a feeling that I am going in the right direction. So, even though it may seem unfamiliar…that’s okay. The things that aren’t quite right in my life right now, well, I’m sure that with a few cups of tea, they can be right again. I just don’t know when those cups of tea will be made. Not right now. Soon, I hope. But…for now…I have a (fake) sunflower, pretty pictures, quotes, teacups with candles in them, spider-diagrams, to-do lists, and my own cup of tea…and it’s all in the comfort of my own room. I will make today productive. This will be a good day. My advice to you? Go in an unfamiliar direction, and make it sparkle.

365: Day 65

Wow. 65 days gone, 300 to go. What better way to celebrate than to have a cup of tea? Milky. Two sugars. Thank you very much. I feel like I need to step it up a bit, and experiment a bit more with photography styles and ideas…I do like this photograph though, and the reflection. Don’t you find that with a cup of tea (or coffee…) in your hand, you begin to reflect on this, that and everything? It’s one of the things I love about cups of tea and coffee…the reflections they bring.

365: Day 37

For me, there’s nothing better than a cup of tea at the end of the day…or, well, a cup of hot chocolate…but this night, it was tea. It’s so nice, in the winter, to be able to curl up with a hot drink. That sensation you get, whilst you’re holding a hot cup…the warmth it radiates, it’s like a hug for your hands. Speaking of all this, I think I want a cup of tea…

Afternoon Tea and Cake.

So, if I had the time, I would be eating rainbow-coloured cake, and in my imagination, I’m sipping from a mug that holds a sparkling, technicolour liquid of some sort… Alas, we’re in the real world, so I will eat some lemon drizzle cake and make a cup of tea or hot chocolate. But if we were in my dream world…

 

Alike and Apart.

“And that’s where the whole trouble is. We’re too much alike to understand each other because we don’t even understand our own selves.” ~ Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

These days I find a lot of my inspiration through Tumblr; I find quotes, pictures, typographies, anything and everything, and it all inspires me. Every day I go on and just stroll through the posts, and there’s always something good from those I follow. Then you start to stumble upon other blogs, through the posts that other people have reblogged. That’s what I do, for the most part, I reblog things from others. There is the occasional post that I’ve done myself, but mostly? I just use Tumblr for inspiration. This, here, has always been my blog for everything else. I think it’s a healthy balance though, because on here, as I said in the post yesterday, I feel like I can reveal more, and on Tumblr, although I did do a couple of personal posts in the early days, it’s evolved into what it is now, which means I share it on Facebook. This blog? No! It’s not going anywhere near Facebook

Back to the quote. It makes me think about some people, and it rings true sometimes. Do you ever find yourself in situations where you just can’t work through it, you can’t break through to the other person? Have you ever thought that maybe it’s because you’re too alike? I look back over past episodes, and this could be the reason for some things. When you just can’t get along with someone anymore. I’ve thought of friendship, in the past, as a bridge between two people, and sometimes things get placed on the bridge between you, and it’s up to both of you to decide whether you want to clear the bridge, or leave it on the bridge and let the bridge eventually fall away. Unfortunately, with one particular friendship, she wanted to leave it on the bridge, and we’re no longer friends. Those that like to work through the things on the bridge? Well, I love them a lot.

It can be rare to find a friend that will stick with you for a long time, but I have a handful of them, and that is all you need. All you really need is a small group of friends that you feel close to; I don’t really believe that you can be close to more than 10 people? Of course, there are some people who have lots of friends, and they get on really well with all those friends, but if you want to have friends that you feel close to, well, I think the circle gets smaller, that’s all. It’s a good thing, though, because it means you should have more time to give to those you’re really close to, rather than spreading your time between too many people and not really getting close to any of them. How about you? Do you have a few good friends, or are you really social and have a lot of friends?

Then, sometimes, you may not always see those close friends all the time, but when you do…oh, you have so much to catch up on. And that’s the best. Those long talks where you just catch up on everything, and the conversation can go on for hours, and consume many cups of tea/coffee/hot chocolate…you get my drift. Yeah, I like those times. Having dinner tonight with a good friend that I’ve not seen since the end of August, so it’ll be one of those times; one of those catching up times…but with food. How are you spending your Thursday?

Hope you’re all having a happy Thursday…and keep smiling.

10 Things I Love

Since starting to blog again in September, I’ve been trying to think of ways to keep myself blogging, and feel inspired at the same time. When I blog, I often find that it’s therapeutic and helps me to see things with a clearer perspective. However, I also love to blog about things I’ve found inspiring and the things I love. Sometimes these posts slip on the wayside, and I really want to find a way to make them a big thing here…so, here goes, I’m going to start doing weekly posts on things I love. These post will contain anything and everything; things I’ve stumbled across on the internet, books I’m loving, clothes I’m lusting after, songs I’m playing, blog posts that are inspiring me, photographs I adore…anything and everything, no matter how random! Every week will throw up things I love, so I hope you’ll follow along and discover a few things you love too

It is hereby announced, that 10 Things I Love is born! (Although, I can’t claim the idea as my own, as A Beautiful Mess does her own version of 10 Things I Love, and it was this that inspired me to start my own…you can find her lovely posts here.)

1 ♥ A lovely website that asks people to think of 10 things they love, and to share them with others on the website. I think it’s a lovely idea, and it reminds me of the 31 Days of Happy Moments that I did in October. It’s worth checking it out, so head on over to Ten Things I Love.

2 ♥ I am LOVING this beautiful watch from Liberty. It is so pretty, and I don’t think it would feel like a watch, as you tie it on; I’m not a big watch person, but it would sure be useful…and did I mention how pretty it is?! It is definitely high up on my wish list at the moment…

3 ♥ Cookies! I love cookies, especially if they come with a cup of tea as well…

4 ♥ Cups of tea. They make me happy, and I always love it when someone brings me a cup of tea, it makes me smile, smile, smile. I’m also loving the knitted jumper for the mug below…how cute is it? Might have to try and make one myself…

5 ♥ Re-watching films I love. Watched Grease the other day with the boy, and we were both singing along with the songs…and I possibly sang out of tune a couple of times, especially during Hopelessly Devoted to You…but, oh, who cares, it’s Grease! Also really want to re-watch Matilda sometime soon, and my friend wants to watch A Little Princess…so I think we’re going to have to have a day/night full of re-watching old childhood films.

6 ♥ How to care for introverts – a typography that made me laugh out loud the other day, and yet, parts of it are true, and they may apply to people you know! Not everyone can be a confident and loud person…so tread carefully!

7 ♥ WorkFlowy – a great website that I came across through Alex Beadon’s blog, that is basically one place where you can make lists for EVERYTHING in your mind/life/work…everything! And you can organise those lists into smaller lists, and when you’ve completed something on the list, you can strike-through it…and isn’t it so satisfying when you strike-through something? Or is that just me…? But I love it, and it certainly keeps me a bit more organised, even if I don’t complete everything all at once!

8 ♥ Jo Totes camera bags…they are beautiful! And they look just like normal bags, which means you can carry your camera, and an extra lens, around with you discretely, and still rest-assured that it’s safe. Plus, there’s room in the bag for your other essentials, such as your purse, phone etc… I want one so bad! It might definitely have to go on my wish-list for Christmas. Santa Baby…

9 ♥ Restyle a comfy sweatshirt – a beautiful craft/DIY project that I think I am going to have to try and attempt in the next few weeks, it looks so good. I’m loving so many craft projects at the moment, and there’s not enough time to do them all! But I am determined to do a few…so watch this space! I’ve already restyled a Kurt Cobain t-shirt that I bought at the weekend, so pictures of that might have to be posted sometime soon…

10 ♥ Tumblr – I made a tumblr account earlier this year, but I also stopped blogging over there…and now I’ve started posting again…and I just can’t stop! I mainly use my tumblr for inspiration, so most of the stuff I post are things that I’ve reposted from other people. WordPress will always be my original love though, there’s no way I can depart…but it’s okay to have a little love affair on the side…