L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N

Yep, I know, it’s been ages since I blogged; as in the Noah and the Whale song…Life Goes On…sorry about that. A gentle nudge from Cazz reminded me that I have been neglecting my dear old blog and all the friends who come and visit me here!  I blame work and life and the internet, and all the good and bad things about real life.

So what have I been up to since I last visited my little corner of the blogiverse? Well, lets talk about the fun things since work is too boring to experience it, never mind to relate it to someone else!

Well, I continue with my yoga classes (once a week) and my belly dancing classes (in full practice mode at the moment since we have a month before the next Hafla and I have 3 choreographies to remember!! That is no mean feat, let me tell you, since I am a girl with very little mental RAM – those who know me will understand my poor memory! I’m also doing some Tribal Fusion classes so I’m trying to learn some ATS dance vocabulary – cues and transitions, that sort of stuff!

 

And because a girl can never have too many dance accessories, I crocheted a pretty hip shawl with a beaded fringe.

And you can’t really see, but there’s a lovely silver thread plied through this variegated grey yarn – the beads are a faceted black which catch the light.

I’ve also made a pair of black satin tribal style pantaloons and a few shimmy skirts. I’ll get some photos of those another time…

This has not been all however! I’ve been on a bit of a painting bug recently…. trees have been in my mind alot…I painted this one in the New Year

You can’t really see it in the photo, but there’s a tiny black cat sitting on the hill – well, Pippin had to get in there somewhere didn’t she! The trees have been blown around like that quite a bit this year; it’s been a windy year so far.

Then I painted this as a leaving present for a friend..

It’s actually a pen and ink drawing, on watercolour board, embellished with glitter, tiny jewels and angelina fibres, and then framed.

I also had this next one in mind since my holiday to Lyme Regis last year…

It’s acrylic on canvas with sparkling inclusions.

M and I went to London for the day and did the London Eye, the London Dungeons, the London Aquarium and Platform 9 3/4!

 

 

 

I’ve been out and about Geocaching with the Uberhound (especially now the weather’s got nicer, and I have a fancy dandy gps to help me now – an after Christmas treat!)

 

 

 

And the weather at Easter was so nice that M and I risked an early holiday and took the caravan to Glastonbury for a week! What gorgeous weather we had!!

We visited the Chalice Well gardens…

We climbed the Tor twice (and met a friend up there- what are the chances of that?!)

We browsed the shops in Glastonbury town (and bumped into my mum and her friends – what were the chances of that??!!), we spent a day in the Abbey grounds

We went to Wells for a day,

we did a bit of geocaching, we went to a Medieval Fayre and we visited Stonehenge!

We really didn’t want to come home!

Oh yes, I’m in the middle of organising the Hippy Swap Round 5 on Craftster too….

Anyway, that’s kind of what I’ve been up to…more next time!!

A Happy New Year to you all!

Well, here we are, the start of another year…I hope that your Christmas was a special one, and that your year to come will be happy, and healthy, and as prosperous as it can be in the current economic climate!

I remember that I didn’t show the card that I designed for school; it’s a photograph that I took last year with a bit of Photoshop tinkering. It looks nice all printed up and glossy and it’s nice knowing that all the parents, business associates, etc will have received one this year.

 

I was very fortunate this year to receive a new computer which hooks up to the TV that I got for my birthday so that my little craft and work station is truly multi-functional; I don’t really watch telly much, but I do watch DVD’s, and stuff on the internet more, especially when I’m working. It’s such a cute little PC and it fit's right onto the shelf where all my stuff is stored. Apologies for the wires n stuff, but it’s stashed in it’s home now and I didn’t get a chance to photograph it before it was hooked up in it’s new home of Christmas day. The keyboard is usually stored on top of the tower since I usually use it on my lap.

 

 

I also got a new graphics tablet which hooks up to it and will help my budding Photoshop skills (okay, they’re pre-buds at the moment, but I’m working on it!) The PC came with PS Elements already on it so I can practice with that first. I have the main program on disc somewhere ready to whack on when I get around to it. I’ve also managed to network it with the main PC so that I can access all the files on there, so even when M’s playing a game, I can still get on with work *sigh*

I also received a rainbow maker; a handy little solar powered thingy which you sucker to a window and the mechanism turns the crystal round and reflects rainbows around the room! I already had one, but it’s old and it doesn’t turn anymore, so this one will go in it’s place and give me rainbows again!

 

 

I got a cute dragon incense burner which is guarding the telly downstairs at the moment…

 

 

What’s that he’s guarding? Why it’s our fossil collection…all the fossils we found on holiday this year!

 

 

and a make your own amethyst crystal tree (with free glue gun!)… and some lush bath bombs…

 

 

Even my Secret Santa gifts were awesome this year, I had a bundle of beads (which will always go down well with me!) and a cupcake book (which I am putting away somewhere I can’t see it for a while since it is now time to Watch What I Eat (codeword meaning I gotta shift the festive flab – you know what I mean…all those Christmas dinners…all those munchies…all that sitting around gaming!)

 

I managed to complete SuperMario Galaxy at last and also Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince which I got for my birthday (on the Wii)! I have played Wii Just Dance a few times, but it’s no fun on your own, so I’m gonna see if I can get the girlies together for a girlie night… this will be a mission in itself since both of my best friends work shifts, usually nights and most weekends! This makes it hard to see them at the same time since their shifts rarely coincide, and hard to have a weekend night with them since their days off change from week to week *sigh*   

  

I always try to do a little recap at the end of a year and reflect on what I’ve achieved because it’s really easy to look back and only see the bad things.

So here are some of the projects I’ve done this year!

I’ve learnt Tunisian crochet, I’ve made chutney for the first time, I made elderberry jam from the berries in our garden, I went fossil hunting, I danced in two haflas and I started Geocaching. We bottle-fed some baby lambs, hand fed some deer's, we went to Alton Towers, spent two weeks in Devon and a long weekend in Norfolk, I marshalled at a festival and went to the Rage Against The Machine free gig in Finsbury Park. I’ve organised and participated in some swaps, we eventually had our floor laminated and celebrated lots of birthdays. It’s been a good year!

 

 

Here are some of the photos that I’ve taken over the year that I love!

 

Hope your year has been as good as mine