Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Calming Evening

This is going to be a short photo post, but I just wanted to share one of the photos I took yesterday evening. It was a beautiful evening with a beautiful sky :-)



This photo just makes me feel so calm. I love evenings like this. Enjoy! :-)

Thursday, September 24, 2009

What's On My Bedside Table?

I love blogging. It’s a great way to connect with people from all over the world and also it’s a great way to step back and look at yourself a bit. I’ve been blogging for about eighteen months now and my 200th post is approaching fast. Who would’ve thunk it? (smile) I wonder if I can make it to 300???? (laugh) That’s a thought for a day almost a hundred posts away.

So anyway, I was having a think over the last few days. I was thinking of how I could share more about myself…not that I’m any more interesting than everyone else…cause I am so not. LOL. But, I think the joy of blogging is sharing bits of ourselves with others and then enjoying it when they share things back. I’ve connected with some amazing people over the past eighteen months and I probably wouldn’t have if I hadn’t started blogging.

So I got inspired and I had my camera handy and here’s what I came up with. I’m gonna let you see what my messy (smile) little bedside table looks like right now. (smile) Well it’s how it looked last night when I took this photo. So here’s how my bedside table normally looks. I hope you enjoy peeking into my world for a minute.



As you see, I love my books and that stack changes periodically. There’s usually a novel or two there, along with some kind of writer’s reference book or something about writing. And you see here on top of the stack is a little brown book. Well that’s my date book from 2008 and yet I still have it. I usually make notes of things during the day, so it’s kind of a resource now. I probably need to transfer the notes elsewhere into a newer book, but hey, I figured that once I got past the midpoint of this year I figured I may as well keep it. It’s part of my history now. (smile)

Of course there’s my handy dandy red lamp. It doesn’t look like it gives off much light here in this photo, but it is quite a spotlight when you move it around. It’s very adjustable. Plus, this way, if I want to read on my side of the bed, I won’t disturb Brit Boy. So it works out very well and was only £5. Gotta love a bargain. (smile)

Towards the front I have my moisturizing centre. As I’ve written before, I have a hard time with the cold weather here and what it does to my “used to Georgia weather skin”. I’ve acclimated a lot, but I still get dried out like you wouldn’t believe. So this year I’m getting a head start. I’m starting to use this big jar of moisturizer on my hands before the true cold sets in and they start to crack and get raw. And I’m using this little tin of lip balm too. I usually moisturize anyway, but I’ve found that I need a bit more here. But it’s all good…I’m hopefully just laying the groundwork to have glorious skin when I’m 80. (wink)

You can also see I’m a fan of pens. I usually have a pen and a pad of paper so that I can write down stuff. As I’ve written before, my mind usually comes alive overtime at 11am and 11pm, so when this strikes at night, I write what I don’t want to forget on a pad so that I CAN forget it and go to sleep. I’m a big fan of fountain pens, so my fave one is always nearby along with my regular ball points.

Also you have my earrings here…they usually just get dropped where they land if I’m really tired. But mostly I put them away. Last night I guess I was tired. (smile) And then there’s my pink glasses case. I see fine, but I wear glasses when I’m on the computer…it helps my eye strain when I'm in computer land.

Lastly, standing tall and elegant is my little lady figurine that I named Azalea that I bought for very little at a store here. Don’t ask me why I named her Azalea. LOL. She looked like she would have a flower name. She’s lovely and art deco-like and her skirt reminds me of a vase we had back home when I was growing up. I guess I like her just for that reason…she reminds me of home. (smile) And that thought of home back when my parents were alive, gives me a restful way to go off to sleep. It lets me know that things are gonna be fine and more often than not gives me sweet dreams :-)

So what's on your bedside table?

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Learning the Law and Liking It

It’s been a good weekend around here. We’ve had nice weather and we’re just enjoying the last bits of sun for a while :-) I’ve got some great news. I got my latest assignment back from my teacher and I did very well. For those of you who may be new here, I had to do an assignment for my freelance and feature writing course and it covered the law and how it applies to journalism and writing as a whole. The assignment involved answering several essay questions about different scenarios. I’m by nature more of a creative type, so it was really good to get outside my comfort zone and work my analytical muscles :-) In the end I enjoyed it a lot. It is good information to have.

As I wrote in a previous post, it made me tap into that other side of my brain…the non-creative part. But the good news is…drum roll please….both sides work ;-) … lol.

I really loved these two lines of my teacher’s feedback. It made my day. He wrote,

“Thank you for your latest assignment, which was a challenging one! However, you were very equal to it, with some very solid research.”

I love that! (smile) It's a beautifully simple comment, and it meant so much to me.

So I’m one happy woman right about now. Next, it’s on to more article writing lessons. I’ll keep you all posted on how I’m doing with my course. I just had to share my great news! :-)

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Another Trip Through No Man's Land

I just wanted to share a few photos so you can see what I saw today :-) I went along with Brit Boy to see a client and I snapped these photos as we drove by.

We were down around The New Forest and I caught sight of these beautiful horses that were grazing along the edge.





In The New Forest they are allowed to roam free like this and they are so beautiful and tranquil looking. I love going through there. We were going to a place called Nomansland. It's a real place and I think it's cool that I can say I've been to "no man's land" :-) I wrote about going through there before in a previous post here. Nomansland is within the boundaries of The New Forest. It's a lovely place.

And on the way home, we had to drive by Stonehenge. I know I've shared photos of it before, but one of my favorite games I play is trying to get a photo of it as we drive by at the speed limit. I'm easily amused. LOL. Here's my latest effort.


Monday, September 14, 2009

A Bit of This...A Bit of That

Well, it’s Monday again…time for a new week, but before I go ahead, I figured I’d rehash a few things from around here :-) So this will be a hodgepodge post…a bit of this…a bit of that.

Saturday morning, I finally turned in my latest bit of work for my freelance and feature writing course and I was glad to hit that send button to carry it on its way to my teacher. I love completion :-) It had been a heavy assignment since it was all about the law and I am no law student ;-) But it was interesting. It was all about libel and slander and defamation…all that stuff which is a no-no. It also covered reporting restrictions if you’re covering a court case. I imagine I won’t be wading into this arena, but it was still helpful. Good stuff for a freelancer to know.

There was a lot of reading and I had to reread certain bits of it again in order to wade through the legal stuff that my artsy mind has a tough time with :-) But I think I did a good job on my assignment. This time I didn’t have to write an article or anything, I just had to write lengthy essay type answers to questions about scenarios they gave me. Fingers crossed that I’ll get good feedback.

I’m not that far from finishing the course and it has definitely helped me to feel more confident in article writing since I was more of a creative writer before. So it has definitely been time well spent :-)

I took this photo this morning.




It’s what remains of the gorgeous flowers that Brit Boy gave me on our engagement anniversary three weeks ago today. I’m amazed that there are any left after all this time. There was such a big variety of blooms and they slowly died away bit by bit, but as I told Brit Boy, the love never dies :-) I love that the last ones standing are these sunny little yellow ones. I mean really…what else would be left in a place called the Yellow House. LOL. I imagine that they will fade away this week finally too, but I’ve definitely enjoyed having them around :-) Life’s simple pleasures are the best.

Have a great day everyone! :-)

Monday, September 07, 2009

Saturday Eats and Deals

We had a quiet weekend around the Yellow House. I did some studying and Brit Boy watched his football (soccer). A while back Brit Boy and I came up with a compromise on cooking. He will do the cooking on Saturdays, for two reasons…to give me a day away from the stove and so that he can get some practice in the kitchen. (smile) It’s been working out fine so far. I tell you though, I’m so used to being the primary cook that it has been hard to just relax and forget about meal planning for one day. (smile) I’ve developed this autopilot of running menus through my head for today, the next day, and the day after that. It’s still a work in progress, but I’m getting better at letting that go. I’m really learning to love it ;-) So this past Saturday, for lunch we had potato and leek soup from a can along with a salad and some crackers. It was really tasty. I’ve found that the secret to this soup is mixing the store brand and a name brand and it fleshes it out, so Brit Boy did this when he made it too. Very satisfying. Here’s a photo of Brit Boy’s lovely lunchtime place setting :-) soup and salad We usually have a very basic setup and just have a regular tiny bowl and have the crackers serve-yourself-style and there's no salad usually. But we were excited about our new cheap plates and saucers. LOL. We love a bargain and we're easily amused! So Brit Boy set our table with a couple of our new saucers and nice wide soup bowls. We felt all swanky and stuff ;-) Here’s the thing…we got four pieces each of saucer, bowl, and plate for….wait for it….£3.00!!!!!! We were in the store just buying a few groceries the other day and weren’t looking for dishes at all and we saw these ridiculously cheap plates and things. We figured why not. They aren’t grand dishes, but they are surprisingly sturdy. So we have extras now…can’t be a bad thing. :-)Gotta love those bargains!

Friday, September 04, 2009

A Windy Day

It definitely feels like fall/autumn around here. Even though we didn’t have a particularly hot summer here, the air still feels like it has taken a turn. Autumn is my favorite season, with spring coming second, so I’m loving the change in the air. It always feels like a new beginning, but maybe this comes from memories of school days :-)

Yesterday I went out for a while and got caught up in a bit of a gusty wind. It was both thrilling and startling. The winds are legendary around here sometimes, such as the time when the winds blew down our fence :-) If only I had had a kite yesterday.

When I came inside, I decided to do a bit of moviemaking. So here we have my fourth entry in my mini cam moments series. I didn’t get the impressive wind gust on video...of course ;-) Isn't that always the way? However, you can still see the trees dancing around outside.



The sound on the video is the washing machine chugging along :-) And our yellow rose bush is doing its last bit of blooming. Something has gotten to the leaves in the last couple of days though. All is well though.

It’s rather calm outside today. Think I’ll go outside ;-)

Have a great weekend everyone and to all of you in the USA, Happy Labor Day Weekend!