the road less travelled...

The mornings are getting so dark around here, that most of the journey to work is done in darkness now. I have to confess though to a certain fondness for seeeing the world wake up and the sun rise, even if it is through the windows of the car.

I'm beginning to get my mojo back again and am still enjoying the mondo beyondo course I've started. It's making me realise about the things I want and I realise how much I really want to be a photographer and that I just need to stop procrastinating and take steps to do something about it!

There, I've said it in black and white to make it more real. Only it's pretty scary wondering if I'm good enough or whether I can do it, but sometimes the road less travelled, even if a little bumpy in places is still the place I want to go and it's got to the point where not trying to make the journey has become impossible...

playing...

I'm loving that fact that it's Autumn and my fairy lights have come out to play. I'm currently obsessed with lovely twinkly light.




I'm trying to spend more time doing the things I enjoy, instead of running around like a headless chicken... even if that does mean playing with fairy lights whilst enjoying a cup of tea. Nobody said I couldn't multi-task!!

I started my dream lab course on Monday and I'm excited to see where it leads...

65 miles an hour**...

Somehow; somewhere along the line, I seem to have lost a bit of mojo. I feel like I've been rushing around, holding my breath and forgetting to breathe out again... So this weekend I gave myself a little space to just chill out, listen to some music and quite frankly not do much at all.




** taken with my iphone early one morning at 65 miles per hour, when I was on the way to work

Maybe it's because we're coming into Autumn now, that I feel like I need to stop and take stock of where I'm at. In this frame of mind I've signed up to Mondo Beyondo's fall dreamlab which is just what I'm ready for. I'm hoping it might help to get me back on track again...

opening my eyes...

Sometimes the ordinary day to day stuff is just there in the background and you don't really appreciate it when it's there all the time...

One day recently; on a grey and drizzly day I looked out of my window at work. It was so rainy but there was a little bit of sun peeking through and I switched the settings on the camera to manual to capture the blur...



If you look hard enough, I mean really hard enough, the loveliness is there where-ever you are...

this weekend...

Was all about taking it easy and catching up...




As I've been so busy recently, a lot of things have had to slide - so finding myself with a little spare time I decided to bake bread... rosemary and seed bread. It's one of those things that can't be rushed and has the benefit that you can do other things, (in my case doing a little magazine reading) whilst waiting...

I'm really going to try and make the effort now that Autumn is upon us to get into baking bread again, mainly because it's so difficult to find decent shop bought bread in the Uk and really who doesn't love the smell of bread baking on a slow Sunday afternoon... Hope you've had a good weekend whatever you've been doing...

cozy...

One of the really good things about Autumn, is the fact I can indulge my love of coziness to my hearts content...



Although I'll miss the light of summer, I have a serious love for twinkling fairy lights and cozy duvets. Sometimes it's this inbetween time that's most unsettled; when it's not really full on Autumn but rather something else just giving a glimpse of what's to come...

I'm actually looking forward to this time of year when I can be warm and toasty inside while the weather is foul outside, as there's something so comforting about that! It also gives me an excuse to do all the things I like to do and catch up with myself finally!! Oh and the Toast catalogue makes winter seem like something to indulge in, rather than to despair about. **Though I'm not sure how good it will be for the bank balance lol!

fragments...

This weekend has been all about just slowing down and enjoying my couple of days off..

Some good things...
* lovely mail on Friday kicked the weekend off; a book from Amazon, a Cath Kidson catalogue and a postcard from a friend
* chilling with a glass of something and some nibbles,(the nibbles are most important!) listening to this...
* i downloaded this app which works a treat to chill out to...
* a photoshoot in the park with a lovely couple and some sunshine
* chocolate croissants for a lazy Sunday breakfast - bliss!

Oh how I love weekends! I'm already counting the days to the next one...

three ways...

Soon it will be time to clear the garden of all the remnants of summer flowers but still they keep on growing and adding a little colour to my world...
* and no, these weren't taken with the new lens lol, I've still to upload!!

letting go...

Recently I've had this stubborn idea that Summer was still waiting with all the glorious weather that she brings... This week I've realised this is not the case as a return to heavier coats and boots was needed and the mornings are slowly getting darker...

So I'm trying to embrace this change with a little list of the things i'm loving at the moment and I'm trying to think what I'll gain, instead of what I'll lose...


**Oh and for those who asked about photos from my new lens I've been busy playing so haven't had time to upload any photos yet! Soon I promise!

yesterday's parcel...

Remember when I said there was a parcel waiting for me yesterday?... Well I got home sooo excited, so much so, that I never even bothered to take a photo of the parcel waiting to be opened because I just couldn't wait!!

So...please forgive my very hastily taken iphone photos but here is my reveal... A new lens, *swoon* ...my first ever L lens. Canon EF 70-200mmL USM
Now I know this probably doesn't mean much to those of you who aren't geeky about photography and camera accessories and it doesn't look especially pretty in the way of other parcels but... oh my heart skipped a beat when I opened the box...


*Advance warning*...Expect a whole load of photos once I finally get to give this lovely a workout this weekend!

things...

It's bit of a blah day today - possibly something to do with being at work when the sun is shining and I want to go outside! (I'm actually doing this in my lunch break lol!).

So here are some things that are cheering me up at the moment...
* I came across this first link earlier in the week and thought how fantastic this could be if only it had become reality...
* Truthfully, I've never been a technology geek but how much do I love my new iphone? A world of possibilities has opened up to me when I'm out and about - yay!

It also has the added benefit that I may actually be able to start catching up with you all... :)
* Which leads me onto the next thing... how brilliant are Apps? Though I'm having to reign myself in a little. My favourites are all the photography ones obviously!!

* The fact that although we're just into September we still have some lovely light in the evenings and can pretend to hold onto Summer for as long as possible...

* That I've had a text today telling me that a parcel has arrived at home yay! I'll reveal what it is tomorrow...

part two...

Remember on this post when I explained how I was doing a photo collaboration with Catherine? Well this was part two!

This time it was my turn to choose the theme and I chose the word Harmony. Catherine sent me such a beautiful package and for her; when she thought about the word Harmony, all she kept coming back to was Summer.


Everything about Summer just feels right for her and she sent these photos of the most fantastic strawberries to express that feeling.Even in wintertime the strawberries are a reminder of summer and harmony...


Catherine also sent me the most lovely tea, which is a flower bud. I've been saving it until I could appreciate it fully, in a lovely relaxed manner and I have a 3 day weekend coming up yay! so am going to try it then!

Thanks Catherine! Head over to her blog to see what I sent....

once again...

Here I am after another unintended break. I didn't actually mean to be away from blogging but somehow daily life just got in the way!

One of the things I've been doing recently is decorating. We had dark stained floorboards in our kitchen and sitting room which were perfectly fine until I got it into my head that it would be a great idea to paint them a light grey colour. Obviously this meant sanding all the old stain off before I could even start but still it seemed like a good idea...

The main problem wasn't really the painting but the fact that the paint took 8 hours to dry and oh, did I mention that in my house every room leads onto each other... no hallways which meant a logistical nightmare... but never mind, now that it's done it's all a distant memory which is probably a good thing!


the floor was still a little wet at this point!


after one coat of paint...

Now of course I just need to find some time to sew some new cushion covers using the Kath Kidson fabric I've had for forever!!

garden magic...

I love the garden at this time of year, there's something so magical about the way everything just grows and grows! I'm a big fan of growing plants from seed because how amazing is that. I still can't get over the fact that from a tiny seed you can end up with a huge plant.

On the subject of plants; my sweetcorn in my greenhouse has gone crazy! So much so that we've had to remove some panes of glass from the roof! It is baby sweetcorn so stupidly I wasn't really thinking that it would grow to be the nearly 7 foot that it is at the moment... oh well, won't be doing that again lol!!

Still it's good that we're even getting enough sun in the first place to grow stuff, so I'm not going to complain too much...

lull...

Hello again! I know there's been a bit of a lull around here lately but quite a lot of things have been happening around here... Somehow it got to be nearly the end of July and I'm not quite sure how I got here; seriously it doesn't even seem that long since Christmas!

Anyway, things should be back on track again and my adventures into blogging should be a little more regular again!
Hope you've all had a lovely weekend whatever you've been up to...

story...

A little while ago when I did this list, one of the things on it was to do a photography collaboration. Well the lovely Catherine from Little Glowing Lights contacted me and said she was interested. To make things a little different, we decided that we would take it in turns to pick a word or theme and would each take a couple of photos which we would then send by snail mail to the other person with a little something.

Well at the end of this week, my first parcel arrived in the post - yay! Story was the word for this month and Catherine sent me some beautiful photos of liberty hankies which had been hand made by her mum and a 'story' about how her great grandma used to always give her hankies for Christmas or birthdays. Although she still has some of these they are too precious to be used which is why her mum made her new ones...





I had such a good time doing this and now it's my turn to pick the theme for the coming month...Head across to Catherine's blog to see what I sent...

less is more...

Sometimes you just need to mix things up a little... I realised recently that all of my photos have been in colour and so I decided to play with black and white for a change when I was out for a walk. I just love the way you can really see all the details differently when there is a lack of colour. Sometimes less is more...


I think this pared down vibe must be catching because I am loving simplicity in all things at the moment. I've been listening to this album over and over; just perfect with a little dreamy sunshine...

fresh and fruity...

The brilliant thing about Summer is the abundance of tasty fresh food available.



Although I can't take credit for the items in the above photos,(bought I'm afraid!) I do have a small garden and try and grow some veggies each year. The problem with the UK climate, (especially here in the North) is that we have a pretty short growing season but it's so nice to be able to take something straight from the ground and cook it for dinner. This year I'm growing, potatoes, spinach, kolhrabi, runner beans, french beans, courgette, and in the greenhouse; tomatoes, aubergine, mini sweetcorn, pak choi, rocket and lettuce. Oh and I have an gooseberry, apple and plum trees. Expect some photos and recipes in the coming weeks!...