Goals for 2007

~Sort out a banner for my blog
~Save money
~Explore the world
~Find my focus
~Chase my dreams
~Go to lot's of Gigs
~Try new colours
~Take more photos
~Get on Track
~Make new friends
~Spend more time with old friends
~Improve photography skills
~Drop a dress size
~Be more confident
~Learn to accept a compliment
~Observe more
~Procrastinate less
~Start a daily skin regime & stick to it
~Re-learn how to parallel park
~Wear heels more often

Most of these things are not going to happen over night & are going to require a lot of hard work & personal development on my part. But i'm going to do my best. i want to grow as a person, get a focus on what's important to me & head in a new direction. i am going to make 2007 my year! i hope it is fabulous for you too.

New Years Scrapoloutions

One of the reasons that i scrap (& blog) is because i'm worried that life is slipping through my fingers, that i'll forget all the details, what i was thinking at certain times, what my tastes/favourite things were at different times in my life and that my memories & scrapbooks will be full of just the main events. So i've made a New Years 'Scrapoloution' to scrap more. At the moment i'm trying to observe stuff more & write it down so that when i do find the time to scrap, the ideas will already be there. i've also decided to scraplift more, and that's ok. i did this layout from a sketch by Kim Sonksen on the Pencil Lines blog. Going to try a few more of these, i enjoyed the process.

i've signed up for Stacy Julian's online Library of Memories class, which i'm hoping will help (so excited about this!). Found her Big Picture book so liberating.

Today i was reading Ali's Studio A article in this February's CK and what she said totally struck a chord:

'Adopt a philosophy of “good enough.” For me, this means keeping the focus on the story. “Good enough” means you’ve told your story to your own personal satisfaction. Maybe the design isn’t exactly what you first envisioned. Maybe your handwriting isn’t perfect. “Good enough” is about adopting the perspective that, years from now, people will care most about the photos and the words. The rest is window dressing. '

i spend way too long agonising over layouts, trying to get them just right until i'm super happy with them, but i want to record more memories. So i am going to scraplift more, keep it simple & adopt Ali's "good enough" philosophy. This is the way forward.

i can't believe that Christmas day was only the day before last, it feels like ages ago and i'm back to work already! This Christmas was all about Gerberas, Lindt chocolate, handmade crackers & mum's very special crockery which only comes out for christmas & when the Queen visits.

i got lots of lovely things including a gorgeous green velvet bag (it's all about green at the moment) two Orlando Bloom glasses, bought by two different people who know me too well without each other's knowledge, and this humongous box of Resses Cups, which i am so happy about because they are hard to find around here.

Yesterday i hit the sales. Now i don't really think that shops should be open on Boxing Day, infact i think the country should just shut down for a whole entire week over xmas so we can all just be, but as i said i'm back to work, so i was forced to shop on Boxing Day. And i think that i should get bargain hunter of the year award! i got the new Kasabian album for a mere £5.95, it was on my xmas list & i didn't get it so i couldn't resist. i also got The Editors album for £3.95, not only a bargain, but a great listen. i also got a pink bag for a special party that is coming uo half price in Accessorize, some retro tops for £3 and some half price bits in boots among other things.

i've been trying to find some new mucic to listen to and so far have found The Hours & The Klaxons. i predict big things for them in 2007. You heard it here first.

i hope you had a good christmas.

i truly hope you have a wonderful christmas & i hope you are lucky enough to be with your family.

Had some very upsetting news today, the kind that reminds you how unfair life is and makes you angry at the world. So, i have been prancing around with a tinsel halo on my head & my mum's table runner slung around my neck, trying not to dwell on things, taking pictures of myself in the mirror and stuffing myself with Toffifee in order to cheer myself up. It distracted me for a while anyway.

Lake of lights

Mum & me went to down to Canoe Lake tonight to the Lake of Lights. This was an event held by Friends of Oncology & Radiotherapy (FORT - a local charity based at St Mary's hospital in Portsmouth) in rememberance of those who have been lost to Cancer. For a donation to the charity you were given a candle and all the candles were put on the lake. They weren't real candles, but flourescent tubes which keep shining for up to twelve hours. It was very pretty, i tried taking some pictures, but i'm none too good at night photography & i don't have a tripod so they've all come out blurry. Here's a couple of us freezing our bums off though. It's been very cold here since Tuesday, i woke up to find my car frozen & it's been the same every morning since. i'm not very impressed about this, if it's going to be cold, we could at least have some snow! My sister is home for christmas now, which makes me say yay! i have yet to do my christmas wrapping & i have hardly written any cards this year which is very bad of me. Christmas has snuck up too quickly, i don't feel ready for it to be a new year yet, this one has gone way too fast.

i just went to see Eragon & liked it so much i went straight out & bought the second book in the trilogy.

The decs are up & i've been thinking too much!

This our fireplace, which mum decorated yesterday. We have a couple of traditional christmas decs we put up every year. i made the angel that sits on the top of our tree when i was in nursery & there's a plaster of paris wise man that i made out of a milk bottle and a polystrene ball when i was about 10, which you can just about see in the picture. See, i was always artistic! Me & my sis normally decorate the tree together, but as she's not here i did it on my own. Because i had my own place last year i have loads of decs of my own, which mum let me put on the tree. This made me happy becuase i didn't have to ask, she must have known how i was feeling. We wern't allowed a real christmas tree when Lloyd had his transplant & we haven't had a eral tree since. So last year Alex & i bought a real tree, which i was so excited about, it was just so exciting to have our own place to decorate! i miss my little flat & the happy times we had there, before life got in the way & we started to become invisible to each other.

It's so strange to think how completly different my life is now to this time last year. i'm so happy to be back in Portsmouth & i've made some amazing friends this year & done some pretty cool things i know i wouldn't have done if i had stayed where i was. Recently it has been very draining & frustrating living at home again. i've felt like escaping. i often feel the urge to take off somewhere, not just for a couple of hours but for a while. But there's no place i'd rather be at this time of year.

i've been evaluating my life a lot lately, i suppose that's what birthdays & the end of year does to you. i'm hoping next year will bring lots of new & fabulous oppertunities, but i know i need to make them happen for myself. i'm feeling very trapped at the moment. i'm not sure what i want to do yet, but i know i need to travel. i'm feeling a bit lost, like i need to be discovered. i want to meet new people, see new things, take new directions. i don't think i've done what i'm here to do yet.

Being at home has made me settle back into myself. i think that being part of a couple & living away from everyone that loves me, i started to loose who i was. Moving home & getting to do all the things that i love & spending time with the people that make me happy has made me Me again. But now i'm starting to feel like i need to be challenged. i feel like i need to explore my independance again & experience what there is in the world beyond England so i can figure out who i really am, away from all these poeple. Although i'll miss them dearly.

Yesterday i made the Jake Album for Anna. You can see the whole thing here. It took me about 5 hours. Somehow i find it much easier to make mini albums for other people than to make a single layout for myself! Got some new photos this week which inspired me to do some scrapping, then when it came to it i spent about 3 hours agonising over 1 layout & never even got it completed! Anyway, here's some stuff i made last weekend. i found the little gold frame in Ikea the other week & had to have it! It sits on my side table next to my groovy pink alarm clock. Well, i've got to have something pretty to look at, seeing as there's no handsome man to wake up to!

Last night was my works xmas do. Took loads of pics, but this is my fav. We 4 originally worked together in a team, but were split up in the recent restructure. Love the girlies i work with now, but miss having these ladies in my daily life.

Long time no blog

Hey, so it's been a while since i've had the chance to blog, sorry about that. Let me get you up to speed with my life.

On the 1st December i drove back to Bournemouth with my sister & we shopped till we dropped. Then we went to see the Borat movie, which is hilarious! Then we met Tom for dinner at Frankie & Benny's so i could have some of their yummy cheescake. On the Saturday we went and did a bit more shopping (she is a bad influence on me) before i drove home again. Then i met up with my friends to celebrate my birthday. We went out for a bit of a boogie & i drank far too much alcohol, which i then spent most of Sunday recovering from. Me & Nic went to the Ha Ha! Bar for brunch (well i call it brunch but it was actually 1 o'clock before i got there) and i had eggy bread and it was good. And the rest of the day was spent visiting friends.
On Monday the 4th i went to a gig with Cassie & we had so much fun. We went to see Captain, who were awesome. Love Love Love this band. If you like the mainstream indie stuff that's around at the moment then you'll love them too, go check them out!! i bumped into some old colleagues too which was way cool, was very excited to see them. These pics are courtesey of Miss Cassie Magee. Thanks for a wicked night, you crazee ladee. x x Tuesday the 5th was Josh's 1st birthday, so his mum (my friend Kathryn) had a party for him. i've never seen so many toys in one place!! i have much respect for Kathryn, she's a full time student, a single mum, has a part-time job & supports herself. She's grown a lot in the last year, so very proud of her. Can't believe Josh is one! Crazy stuff.

Wednesday i went to the Union with Katie & Nicola (not my Nicola, Katie's friend Nicola). Having never been a Uni student, it was quite an unusual experience. Everyone looked so young! i know i'm still young, but they looked so much younger then me :(

i didn't do too much over the weekend, i created a few things, watched films, slept a lot. i think my body needed to recover from all the partying the week before.

Monday was Jon's birthday so we all descended upon him.

Tuesday i went for lunch with Cassie & Laura, and had oreo cookie pie for dessert. Amazing.

Last night i went to {Katies} Nicola's infamous christmas dinner. She cooked for about 16 of us. Definately the best cook i've ever met. i feel very priviledged to have been invited. Thanks Nicola! it was yum.

So behind with christmas stuff. Haven't done my cards or even finished all my shopping. We don't have out tree or decorations up yet, so i'm not feeling too christmassy yet. i'm mourning the loss of the coca-cola advert that that signifies that "holidays are coming". You know the one i mean. If you don't then where have you been?!?! You can watch it here. It's not being aired on TV and has been replaced by a far more inferior advert. It just won't be christmas without it.

If you feel as strongly as i do about this then you can sign a petition here to get the ad back on our telly box. Even if you don't feel that strongly about the ad, then sign it anyway, it'll make me happy :)

I am puzzled

And a big kiss for those of you who have listened to me babble on about it in the last 24 hours.