Day 2 done and now the start of Day 3

Well it's done. Day 2 behind me. Didn't do my half an hour rebounding but ran around setting up and doing a photoshoot at Dance Crazy after work so figured I need to catch up.

Didn't have egg for breakfast so was constantly niggly hungry especially after only having a lentil salad with no chicken for lunch yesterday. Going back to my almonds as I love pecans but they don't seem to love me as much. 

Was down on the scale yeaterday but not getting into my awful habit of weighing everyday!  Still haven't measured or taken photos and am happy I gauge my progress by my white jeans for now!

Early morning half hour rebounding which is hard work for a sedentary heading for 50 year old with bad knees and no idea of coordination. Enjoying it and seeing my arms changing withy 1kg weights pumping for the whole time I'm on the tramp. 

This is totally a different way of life for this poor body but looking forward to dropping two more dress sizes. 

Finding I'm loving my water so want to keep up the routine. Weekend are my worst I seem more disciplined at work. 

Scrambled eggs for breakfast and lentil salad and chicken for lunch then a delicious vegetable curry for dinner me thinks. Lentils, sweet potato and chickpea xx

Until later 

Sugar Free September Day 1

Well today I started back on my sugar free journey with Sugar Free September with Rachel Holmes KSFL.   I did a whole month on my own before so I can do this again and hopefully make it last longer than a month this time.  I felt so much better and best of all I lost 8kg!  I also dropped a dress size which was wonderful to be in my smaller clothes.  My even smaller clothes fit but are a little tight so I am looking forward to getting into my old wardrobe from when I was my thinnest post kids.  

It means I will have new jeans –yes – they still have the tags on!  I have about 4 pairs of new work trousers – yes also still with the tags on!  I was aiming to do this slowly over the next few months but think if I really work hard I can reach my goal by Christmas and then enjoy the new me!  So thanks to the amazing power of facebook I saw a post from KSFL about Sugar Free September and joined straight away.  I am now accountable.  The first time it was  in secret!  I have also sent my weigh in weight to my niece in South Africa who will be holding that data.  I will be accountable to send her the details every Monday morning.  Why Mondays?  So I don’t think I have the week after the weekend to be good before a Friday weigh in!  Can you see this has been a constant battle for me for years!  I know all the tricks!  Why my niece?  To inspire her on her journey with a similar battle.  She also kickstarted her weight loss a few months back and also seems to be in limbo after a house move and other change and as we are at similar weights I am hoping that it will be a motivation to get back to her happier place.

I kicked off my last sugar day with home made chocolate mousse – I can’t wait for it to be treat after the next 30 days or more.  It’s the first time I have made it and was so proud of how it turned out.  I have been experimenting a lot in the kitchen lately . . . I prepared my lunches again this week with a lovely lentil salad base.  This week it was green lentils but have to say that last weeks brown lentils were much nicer so roll on the next batch!  The fridge and deepfreeze is stocked.  I am not tempted by the treats for Skyla for school or the fact that there are still two ramekins of chocolate mousse in the fridge.  I have the same resolve as I did when I gave up smoking which can only mean that I am serious this time!  It’s also going  to be fun seeing the difference that exercise makes as over the last two weeks I have introduced some exercise so combined with the no sugar I should be in my next size down pretty smartly!

 

Tricks I found that worked last time around – drink lots of water!  I drink 6-8 pints on good days and feel it when I don’t!  I carry around almonds or pecans in case I need a snack but heard after my first few weeks that you do need to limit to a small handful.

 

My main issues – getting up early in the morning to get my workout complete before work and not pigging out when I get home as I am starving!  To curb that today I came into work later and am going to try a cup of tea just before I leave the office.  Fortunately dinner is cooked and I have a delicious lentil salad mixed up for the next few days so if I am hungry when I walk in the door I am digging into that!

 

 

Well Day 1 is done off to bed for an early night so I can get up in the morning early!

March -Travel

What a month!

Many journeys were made - some new - some old!  Some very serious journeys of the heart!

None as exciting as Mariette's!  Borneo looks exotic and full of LIFE through her eyes - I know it was a journey of the heart too and can't wait for the journal update but for now here are some of her images!

My image was taken a while ago and was a quick fix as so many other things got in the way!  Or should I say I allowed them to get in the way!  But here is Willis - on his travels in Wales. He now lives in England!

Here Willis is visiting Kidwelly Castle with Clara. These collectors Charlie bears filled a part of our lives and became our inner voices to work through some things in our family. We took an interesting journey with them and will forever have them in our hearts!  Sadly needs must and they saved us in a difficult month and found forever homes in the wonderful beary world. I still can't believe I paid £190 for a bear!  Never mind one -5!  I only have a wish for one special handsome bear to join my hug with Clara!  My children thought I was nuts but they too will be glad of their bears one day!

My journeys were not only of the heart this month!  I went to Davies Colour a wonderful supplier right under my nose in Cardiff who willingly tore plenty of samples of their papers for me to decide on the best one for exhibiting my odd images!  Yes - odd!  Who tears pictures in half?  Who shows people in their worst state?  It was a journey to see the beasts, madmen and angels within each and everyone of us!  Such honest words from Dylan Thomas!  Despite a traumatic process in the group exhibition we made it and the opening night went off well on the 11th April at Swansea Museum. Now tomorrow we set up in Cardiff Castle for a week with the banners which form part of the exhibition. So plenty of travelling to museums, castles, framers, printers!

“I hold a beast, an angel, and a madman in me, and my enquiry is as to their working, and my problem is their subjugation and victory, down throw and upheaval, and my effort is their self-expression.”  Dylan Thomas 

How true is that for us all?

I have asked for deferral so will be taking a year off at least as this year has been tough and I need to re-evaluate the purpose of me doing this degree!  The organisation, the people and how they influence me. 

I'm going to be far more active in photography during this time - but on my terms - my projects - my creative process. Another personal journey!

So "Travel" for me is all about journeys!

Bon Voyage!

February 2014

I know February is a short month but when you pack a whole lot into a very short month it goes by ever so quickly.  February 2014 has left me feeling quite sad really.  I seem to have been busy and tired all the time.  Yet I don't seem to have achieved much.  It's all because I spent so much of my energy in work and not with or doing things that I love. I have to ask myself -WHY?  We all have to work and we all know WHY.  

Work - Life balance!

I never knew the words in South Africa. I worked HARD and PLAYED hard.  It's amazing how much you can do when you just do it!  I had a support structure though that allowed me to do it. That made a huge difference in my life. I then went through a transition in Wales. I learnt about doing things with the people I love, I learnt how to laugh again and I felt FREEDOM within my soul for the first time in ever in over 40 years!  It helped me to face challenges and overcome many emotional days when I unpacked my internal baggage!  Then 2012/2013 took it's toll.  I closed myself off in such a way to protect myself. I locked all the doors again and built the walls back but this time even higher than before.  I don't like being in here though,  after feeling such freedom one wants to return to that place!  I want to love myself for who I am and accept myself for who I am right now.  Easier said than done!  One step at a time I want to withdraw from my winter - so it's just as well I feel like that on the first day of Spring!  I have the seasons on my side!  

I have taken my first day at a very slow pace.  I need to focus my energy on achieving a very specific goal in the immediate short-term.  I need a miracle in 48 hrs to turn my academic circumstances around.  I am trusting myself to do what I always do - do it!

I LOVE my HOME!  I really do LOVE the home we are in now.  It's been a home in which so much has happened.  So many people have been and gone in this HOME.  I LOVE the view from my bedroom window.  It may not be quite as beautiful as Dylan Thomas's view from the boathouse.  If I lived there I would spend most of my time at home enjoying the view!  I do spend a lot of time at home. When I am not at work I am home?  It's quieter now. There are not that many people coming in and out. 

We had the pitter patter of little feet taking their first steps in this HOME.  We have welcomed friends new and old, from near and far.  We have giggled, cried, screamed and whispered.  We have had lack and we have had plenty.  In essence, we have memories.  What is so strange about that?  We build memories in all our homes.  Why is this one so special?  I can't answer that. All I can say is we have six months left on the lease and it makes me feel ill when I think we may have to moving. I know in my heart that in order to travel more it would make sense to downscale but I don't see that being a motivating factor. Is it just because I'm comfortable? Maybe the next six months will reveal all?

I did a HOME challenge some time ago and took loads of little details of HOME!  I found myself going to the same things yesterday.  I am only going to say that February revealed WHY I LOVE my dresser so much!

Firstly, I was telling someone -who? The story of when I found her all dusty and scruffy in the Red Cross furniture shop in Llantwit Major.  I stood in front of her and knew that I could not leave without her. She filled my soul with LOVE.  In actual fact - it's a known fact that the Welsh don't inherit property or fortunes they inherit furniture!  Thank you Griff Rhys Jones - Your Adventure in a Wales series was such a pleasure to watch. The series on Welsh dressers tickled me pink.  I now know why Sian and I have always had a passion for dressers!  So now I have a dresser to pass down the generations!  I have a dresser that most people admire - she is a little version of the big Welsh farm dressers so will fit into any home really but I know in this home were I would like her to be if it was my HOME!  For now she is in my dining room.  I find peace when I beeswax her every week or two.  I love her textures and patterns and I love most of what she stores.  Reducing your earthly possessions to move from one side of the world to the other means you change your value of possessions.  You think before you keep or buy or collect.  I know that the dresser will be with me until the day I am no longer here.  No question.

Today is the 1st March. St David's day here in Wales.  It's also the launch of all our marketing activity so for those in the UK you should see Visit Wales' TV ad.  We also have a large amount of OOH and press so you'll see us somewhere.  For the rest of you just check into the Wales page on Facebook and you can see it there too!  It's SPRING!  What better way to celebrate the longer and warmer (not feeling it today!) than with beautiful plants!  LOOK at this pot plant - if I told you this grew in a week would you believe me?  Can't wait to share it with you when it blossoms!

The promise of LIFE, seasons, ups and downs, lying dormant and transforming into LIFE!  Mother Nature is so amazing . . .

My inspiration for this month - Alice Herz-Sommer -The Lady in Number Six -  "Everything is beautiful! Everything."

YES - LIFE is beautiful, YOU are beautiful, I am Beautiful. Every minute of every day is a gift - it's BEAUTIFUL!

My BEAUTIFUL TUM partner is sharing these images for February - can't wait to catch up on her blog - lovely Mariette. I hope my images make sense now!

I am intrigued by gemstones -can't wait to read about these images!

Until next time - LOVE yourself, your body is your HOME, you enter it when you are born and you vacate it when you depart. 

Me

X

January 2014

I am excited to be back TUMming with Mariette this year - of course we welcome Pam, Linda and Andrea along the way!  I am so pleased that it will focus me to update the blog at LEAST once a month!

Here is our list of themes just so everyone knows!

January - Outside
February - Home
March - Travel
April - Pets
May - Liquid
June - Learning
July - Glass
August - Butterflies
September - Nature
October - Flesh
November - Up close
December - Texture

So here goes with January . . .

The start of 2014 - a year that I want to keep track of!  I want to record my memories, in essence slow it down long enough to record it!  January was off to a good start with my gratitude journal - I will be honest I slipped a few days but when I realised I quickly got it up to date.  I found when I was doing it every day it felt like I was more in control of my life, my time, my thoughts and therefore 2014!

Lesson #1 for January - GRATITUDE JOURNAL DAILY

For anyone that knows marketing - campaign time is always busy - my challenge for work is to accomplish TWO direct mails and everything else that goes with the campaign for March.  I had really good days that felt like I was in control and others that ran away with me and my time and organisation!

Lesson #2 for January - EARLY STARTS - 7am at work with a clear head and clear hour to set the tone for the day!

And yes, I am still at uni - currently in my fourth very challenging year!  I have three big bodies of work to complete and have made up my mind to take a gap year after this as it has really taken it's toll!  Compressed hours, a child doing GCSE's, and a mother doing a dissertation in 2014/15 - I don't think so!  I have set up schedules and aim to be better organised but if lesson #2 above is not learnt it's impossible to spend time daily on me degree!

Lesson # 3 - Sometimes decisions need to be made and we need to accept them for what they are and not beat ourselves up about it - I'm not wonderwoman!

And now down to TUM or TUT - this month was very wet!  I have been photographing many things but mostly people!  I am cheating a little . . .  these images from a shoot in December cheered me up immensely -I have been battling with my mojo and was just not getting it right!  Then I did this family shoot and they came out of the camera looking like this . . .

They are OUTSIDE - and they are OUTSIDE the TUT month! 

These are another series I am currently working on for my Creative work.  I love Sally Mann's work.  I loved her series on Proud Flesh.  I loved my Dreamland Series - so for creative professional practise I combined my loves!  They are different - they are OUT of the box!  They are outside of some's comfort zones!

I am really keen to get some feedback on these images - I know for some they are quite disturbing and very different.  What do you read into them?

I think my TUM partner Mariette really nailed it this month - your photography never ceases to amaze me!  I love the depth of field - I love that you chose to turn things into B&W but would like to know why.

These images of Trevor are lovely - they show his true feelings and emotions for what he is doing!  These were taken OUTSIDE in the garage where Trev is working on his sprint car that he will be racing this year - for Mariette is has been wonderful for her to see a part of him return as he knuckles down grinding and welding himself and seeing the pride he has in the quality of his own completed work.

I relate to this so much - it is always wonderful for us to see someone we love return to who they truly are - life throws things at us like immigration, loss, difficulties, change and aging and we sometimes get a little lost - 2013 saw a lot of that in our household - I am looking forward to see us surface in 2014!

These other two are REAL outside photo's - so well done Mariette you did it!  Despite working your butt off in the gym and at work preparing for your year end!  I love your paving and I love the other image for it's depth perception.

Let's make FEBRUARY all about HOME!  I have a few things up my sleeve and will make time to do them this month!  Despite looming deadlines for both work and uni - HOME is were the heart is and I am going to make sure I have lovely memories to write up in my Gratitude Journal this month!

Once again thank you Mariette for getting us going!  Thank you for my lovely gift I have been wearing it OUTSIDE a lot this month!

Handbag . . .

I know I'm late and Someone did exactly what I asked in an earlier blogpost. A gentle kick was all it took. A big THANK YOU to that special SOMEONE who quickly put me on track to make each day count.

Handbags . . . Our partner missing in action chose this theme. Lets hope we did it justice.

Handbags generally belong to women. We learn from a really young age that we need to carry our ladies things in there. Before she turned one Mia was already dragging her Mom's bag around. She has her own bag with her things in.

Sometimes it can become a private refuge. Mine at one stage was the only place in my life that was mine. Not that it held secrets. It was just mine and I disliked it of anyone entered my space.

Both Mariette and Pam took details of the bags. Lovely shots. Can't wait for the stories.

In my series in Sky we had her holding her or should I say our bag! A Kathy designer bag. It just looked so odd. Maybe because it was a bag I bought for me. Then Megs went to SA and borrowed it so it was No longer mine. The. Sky used it for sleepovers. You guessed it its a big bag!

Then she flopped on the couch and I saw her reflection in the metal designer tag. That was my shot even though the light was so bad. It's intriguing.

On our way to Matlock. We are in England! To see my favourite Uncle and Aunt.

Have a good weekend all.



Me
X

and now the Drops!

Loved playing with milk and red wine with a similar TUM theme but had to think out the box with Skyla's portrait. So a drop of foundation it was.

Love Mariettes drop and can't wait to see the rest. Sounds like she's having fun.


I also want to get back to having fun with my photography so apart from a few more portrait shoots this week I am out in nature doing texture shots for my scrapbook kit designs and paper for Clara's Keepsakes - can't wait to launch. So much preparation. So many designs. So many little faces and such a BIG idea! Lists of names and a BOOK!

Pam's image takes it this week. Such intrigue. But most of all I read her blog last night. Such an inspiration. Really need to get my act together.

Love to all xx

TUM Catch up - Clocks and Drops

Hello everyone

I am going to really make time count! And if I go off the wagon yet again I am asking that SOMEONE give me a polite kick up the backside! Today I walked into my office and my calendar was on 20th January. That means from then until now I have not consciously seen in each day and made it count! I turn my dates on my scrapbook annual calendar each day and each month features someone on the cover. To that end could I please have my TUM Partners birthdays as I know two of you aren't in there!!!!! From today I'm back on track. I even sat down now to plan my week and to list the major 'rocks' that need to be crammed in!

Now on to TUM! Despite a bad snow storm Pam features with her clock. Very interesting take.

Mariettes does it for me this week. I love her off the wall broken clock face. It fills me with intrigue! Who owned it, what times in their life did it record. . .

My take - bearing in mind I am recording Skyla's year through TUM - is Skyla with my favourite clock that has featured on TUM before. I loved it in the shop and bought it for myself as a leaving SA gift! She is looking through it so you see more of her face. I promise it is a clock.

Pity I can't insert images in the right place on my phone so they are all below.

TUM Catch up for last week - LOVE

A sneaky catch up as I had a dead PC for over a week and then Lance's died too. May 2013 be the year to convert to MAC! I joined Adobe Creative Cloud on the weekend so have no excuses for uni work anymore and am TOTALLY LEGAL! So Dreamweaver it is for this website project! Converting Lance to the Adobe suite as well. We will start out Indesign class in a book this week I think!

I am blogging on my phone to sneak it in at work so can't load images in order. Please bear with that!

I love Mariettes take such a serene and provocative image. Beautiful.

Mine is capturing Sky's love for Jess!

Lovely to add Pam's take. So lovely to have you back Pam after your lovely visit from family. I'm sure that was love filled too.

TUM - Edge

Today we have a post theme for edge.
And it's come from me who is slightly on the edge!

I absolutely LOVE Mariettes take. This year I too gave up on an orchid. I kill them every year! And was tidying up over Christmas in the laundry and was about to throw it away and low and behold I saw a long new shoot. One that my dear green fingered friend Gerry tells me about. I was beside myself so am now nurturing it and will celebrate when the buds flower. A huge lesson here - we must never give up on anyone or anything! Sometimes they just need to be left alone to regroup until they need you again to nurture them. So TUM buddies. Are you ready for some nurture?

My take was of Sky this morning with her tickets for tonight. Not sure if the nails put me more on the edge. The take was for her on the edge of her excitement. This year TUM will be full of Sky!

Linda's take is of Brad standing on the edge of a step showing the definition of his calf muscles. True boy. Nice to have you back Linda.

Also have a full house for EDGE with Pam's take. Very intriguing image. Well done.

I still have a catch up for LOVE and will get to that today as well.

Love to all my TUM's.

Xx

Back to TUM or TUT or TUF - it's been so long . . .

I met with partners new and old on the weekend and let me say I am inspired to get back on track!  Mariette you are an angel - an inspiration - thank you!  Linda, it's between you and me to get a little more focussed than the pressure of once a month!  Yes, I did do that to my team members - I said to take the pressure off I would only contribute once a month!  Pam et al I am so sorry!  But that is enough begging for forgiveness, it's a new year, it's a new start - HERE GOES!

I absolutely love Pam and Mariette's images for the theme SUGAR!

And for some really good news - like Pam's news of dusting off her camera and thowing away the books wasn't enough for me!  We may be honoured by someposts from Andrea - my original TUT partner!  Happy dance - I am thrilled!

This is the first 2013 post and the last apology!  I will get my blog your heart post for January ready so you can have a big catch up on what happened in my life since . . . October - REALLY, that was the last time I blogged!  Shocking . . .

My Sugar image was a little fun - and as you can see my style for 2013 has been set - see if you can spot it next week!