Saturday 26 July 2008

Talked too much!!!!

Just checked my word count for my last post - came up with a target of 300 but I overran at 350! Need to stop blethering so much!!

Playing catch up

Yup that's what I'm doing. Got to get up to date with Shimelle's My Freedom blog prompts, never mind the fact that I haven't done any of the layouts yet!?!?! But I will.

So firstly need to set myself a word count - hmmm, how about 300. Sounds ok.

Secondly, this week has been about exploring/documenting our serious and not so serious sides. So my favourite game as a child? Connect 4, you know getting 4 of the same coloured counters in a row to win. I LOVED it, was really good at it too! Other than that it was rollerskating, I had two fab pairs! First one were leather - red, white and blue with a red stopper and second pair were suede - red, blue and yellow, think the stopper was blue. Really preferred the first pair, they were great.

Back to serious stuff now - my first job. Had a short lived Saturday job at Alloa Library during the summer holidays in 1991. Worked on the main desk, stamped peoples books, returned read books and put them back on the shelves. Only did it for about 4 weeks and it was only for 4 hours on a Saturday morning but I loved it. So much so that when I left school the following year and got a YTS job I ended up being placed in the library which was great.

And lastly what would I like to pass on from my youth to today's younger generation? Enjoy being at school, everyone always says 'school years are the worst of your life' - rubbish. I loved school, I'm still friends with the people I was friends with at school, I was lucky that I had good teachers so I enjoyed the majority of my classes. I didn't want to leave :( Going out into the big bad world was scary. The safety net of school was fine with me. So I would pass on enjoy what you do at the time you do it, and don't try to grow up too quickly, there is plenty time for that.

Friday 25 July 2008

Banished!

I've been banished to the upper half of the house!!!! DH has taken over the lower half for entertaining. So I'm sitting upstairs watching telly. Really need to get on with some creative makings so I'm not really that bothered.

Got lots of things to catch up with this weekend and a few of them involve needing to go outside, which if the weather continues as it has been today then it will be easy. But the forecast is for heavy rain showers both Saturday and Sunday :( Typical, fab weather all week and rubbish at the weekend.

It is the law of the sod as the saying goes!!!!!

Here's a little photo from my last visit to Anstruther last month. I love that little corner of the world.

Thursday 17 July 2008

Inspiring Quirks

Again more from Shimelle's My Freedom class today's prompt is ............

'The things that inspire us are often linked to what we label as quirks in our
personalities: things we like that others seem to dismiss. What quirk could you share with your blog readers to see if they really dismiss this or if it’s something you have in common?'

So what quirks do I have?!?! Some people might say quite a lot, some people might say none! What do I say????

Well, I suppose I have many, the fact that I have 2 names is a bit of quirk! And I don't just mean that my first name is double barrelled LOL It's kinda like having 2 personalities - serious side of me, for work, etc is Elizabeth-Anne. She is very organised, is a bit uptight and anal, takes work very seriously and is very committed. The other side is Biff - she is the 'real' me I suppose, I've been called Biff since I was about 6 months old by ALL my family and it's what my friends know me as. She's more laid back, is messy, doesn't take things too serious, is a little bit creative.

In a way having 'two' personalities is quite a good outlet and is inspiring because I'm not pigeon-holed into one type of person!

Wednesday 16 July 2008

Achievement & Aspirations

Woo hoo!!!!!! My Freedom: Blog prompt 8. (you know what that means! - yup, I'm up to date!!!!!)

Today we were asked to list our achievements in life from birth to July, 08 and then make a list of aspiration from now until ........... well until eternity I suppose!

So I'll start with one of my achievements so far. I am a graduate! I didn't go to university straight after school. I left school in June 1992 and within 2 weeks I started working and I've worked ever since. Which I suppose is another achievement really, I've never been out of work! But anyway I was an 'average' student, never excelled in anything but never failed anything either! So a few years after I started working I did an HNC in Business Admin which I enjoyed but never took it any further. Then in 2002 I decided to do an HNC in Housing as it was related to my job, I enjoyed that and it lead onto doing a Postgraduate Dipolma in Housing at Stirling University. It was hard work, studing and working full time, but I completed it and really enjoyed it. So I graduated in June 2006 with my hubby and dad watching me :)



What do I aspire to do next? There are lots of things I want to achieve from now on. But one thing I really want to do is to be more creative, without feeling intimidated by it. I love making things and want to do more! This is a little taster of what I've done before I'm pretty pleased with it.

Inspiring times

My Freedom, blog prompt 7: Share a list of links to website which inspire you?

Well obviously Shimelle's website is one I find inspiring.
UK Scrappers is another inspiring site I visit daily.
On a photography level, I love Cheryl Johnston's blog and love her classes.

There are quite a few other blogs I check out regularly.

Tracey Hudson
Kirsty Wiseman
PencilLines
One Little Word
Mojoholder

I'm also a regular visitor to myspace.

A little of the same, a little change

My Freedom blog prompt 6: Share an old photo and a new photo of yourself. Then share a little something which has changed and a little something which has stayed the same.

Old photo :


New photo:


What has changed between these two photos? Well I'm about 15 years old in the second one. I've lost a parent, I've changed jobs and now have quite a lot of responsibility so can't be quite as carefree as I once was.

What has stayed the same? I don't look THAT much older, my hair is roughly the same strangely. I still have the same friends as I did when this picture was taken, I still work for the same employer, although in a different job than I did then.

So on one hand lots of things have changed but on the other, everything is pretty much still the same!

Pace of Life


Storm Watching
Originally uploaded by StueyH

My Freedom - blog prompt 5: Storm Watching courtesey of StueyH via Flickr.

I love nature and find extreme weather such as storms exciting, frightening but also very calming. Not matter how crazy, hetic or mad your life is, we have no control over mother nature. So it's best just to stop and watch it all with the respect it deserves.

Inspiring words

Blog Prompt 4 : Ever been inspired by a poem? Share it and explain why you value it.

The first poem which ever really 'spoke' to me was a Norman MacCaig poem which we did at school, it is called 'Incident'.

Incident
I look across the table and think
(fiery with love)
Ask me, go on, ask me
to do something impossible
something freakishly useless,
something unimaginable and inimitable

Like making a finger break into blossom
or walking half an hour in 20 minutes
or remembering tomorrow

I will you to ask it
But all you say it
'Will you give me a cigarette please?'
and I smile and

Returning to the marvelous world
of possibilities
I give you one
with a hand that trembles
with a human trembling

I just love the unspokeness of the emotions, the fact that there are so many things one person wants to say but feels, for whatever reason, unable to say. I've felt like that many times, wanting to say things but unable to get them out.

Travelling Essentials

Blog prompt 3 (I'm on a roll!)

'What's in your suitcase?' List necessities for travel.

Money, passport, tickets, sunglasses ................ erm ................... those are the basics.

What else??????????? Book or two, ipod, suntan lotion, clothes, shoes!?!? I usually end up taking loads of clothes which I never wear but really I need very little. If I do forget anything, as long as I've got the first 3, I can buy the rest.

Travelling

My Freedom - blog prompt 2

'If you could travel in time for just one day, where would you go and what would you do?'

Where would I go?????????????? If I could travel back in time, I'd go back to last September to our holiday in Orlando, we had such a great time and 2 weeks just wasn't long enough!

Freedom

I'm doing Shimelle's 'My Freedom' class during the summer. It's really good, it's making me think about stuff in different ways, intriguing but enjoyable :)

I'll be back with some more interesting bits and pieces! Each week we look at two topics, last week was TIME and TRAVEL. To start off with here is my very posh clock!




Time is something which is very important but also very easily overlooked. I'm always telling myself off for not using my time wisely enough. There is no right or wrong way to spend time. Just do what you do! I will make time for this project, I didn't last week but I've caught up and have found it very thought provoking. I've enjoyed the process so far so I will keep on top of the daily prompts and see where I end up.

Thursday 10 July 2008

Bloggy, bloggy, blogging!

I've got 2 blogs now (2!!!) One is secret! It's all to do with photography. So as a little homage I'll post this



Cos it's nice and it reminds me of our holiday to Florida last year :)

Tuesday 8 July 2008

And relax ...........................

Finally I'm on holiday. After what seems like a billion years, the huge piece of work I was involved in is done and I'm off. Feels weird doing nothing, and not feeling guilty about it :)

Starting to catch up all the crafty things I need to do. Spent 25th taking photos to record my day, just need to get them printed! Made the book for them to go into, and it looks pretty good too, even if I do say so myself. Got a few other projects I need to get up to date with. But I've got the time so no pressure.

Going shopping today to the Swedish wonderland of Ikea!!!! New furniture will soon be sitting in our livingroom, yay! Our deads sofas will soon be gone :) It'll be like having a new room. Wonder what other little goodies will end up in my bag :)