Five for Friday

a. Warm weather. Says it all.
b. Generous friends and family. Thank you! We love you!
c. Progress on wedding stuff. Big and small.
d. Talking to Lindsay. Makes my day.
e. Music is such a salve for the soul. It makes every day that little bit brighter.

Music: Mumford & Sons, The Avett Brothers, Bombay Bicycle Club, Jack Savoretti, The Middle East, John Butler Trio.

Friday Funday

Hooray for Friday!

1. Girls night tonight.
2. Sewing machines have gone for repair. Should be right as rain by next week. w00t.
3. Growing plants for an awesome summer garden. Excitement.
4. Cheaper, lovelier wedding shoes. I love a bargain.
5. 3 day week. A good time.

in which she muses about the direction of blogging...

I have so many things to write down. Yet it never gets done. I can never get myself organised enough, life gets busy, I get more disorganised and/or unmotivated and then I forget what was so important that I wanted to say. It's a dreadful cycle.

I am troubled by how much I should actually say on this blog. Who reads? Would I want my mother or grandmother to read some of my opinionated rants? There is a fine line that I think I should tread, though I am uncertain where the line is.

Putting very personal and emotional stories out here would be more straightforward. However, most of my family and C's family are not emotional exhibitionists like myself. Again, the struggle with the line. Where is it? If I am giving voice to my experiences and possibly C's as well, does that create difficulty for family (potentially) reading this blog?

It is very unclear where the line is on all these things. That said, I am going to continue with my Friday Fives, and mull over where this blog will be going. If it is going anywhere.

Friday Friday Friday Friday Friday

Five on Friday.

1. C's birthday on Sunday! Pressies and cards prepared. Yay!
2. Listening to HP & the Philosopher's Stone audiobook. Love Stephen Fry as narrator. So relaxing.
3. Tidied flat, in preparation for guests this evening.
4. New, healthy meal plan!
5. Friends who are telepathic, or close to it.


Music: Scr00bius Pip, The Middle East, The Killers, Jack Johnson, The Good Life

Friday, Friday, Friday

Lots of good stuff going on over here. Working on a big post (possibly with pictures, if I can figure that out).

Here's this week's five:

1. Massage. Oh, my goodness. Sweet, sweet relief and relaxation.
2. Cinema during the day with a friend. We both have off Thurs/Fri so are going to make daytime hanging out happen once a week.
3. Evening socialising. I can actually do this, have a nice time, get to bed at a decent hour and function the next day. Who knew?
4. Return to the gym: The asskicking. Week 1 went well. Now on to week 2.
5. Really excited to be actualizing the goals that I made for this year/the next 18 months.

Music: Ignite, Lady Gaga, Missy Elliott, Allo Darlin' and The Levellers

Friday, again.

One of my goals in life is to update this more regularly. One substantial post per week and my regular Friday gig. I'm obviously still working on it.

This week, I feel pulled in a few different directions, both emotionally and viscerally. It is difficult to explain. I feel the need to craft and hibernate with comforting smells and candles. Lots of blankets. At the same time, the snow is going. Will it be back? Probably. I hope.

I am also terribly excited because a lot of things are coming together wedding-wise and it just thrills me that this is going to happen. We are actually going to declare our love and committment to one another, in front of other people. Make it 'real'. As if it isn't real already.

Anyway, this week's five.

1. Love my oldies. At work. They are so funny.
2. Wedding things, hooray! & etsy purchases!
3. Successfully making scary phone calls to strangers. I have a love/hate relationship with the phone.
4. Knitting. I have been procrastinating some projects because I do not want to fail. But how will I be successful if I avoid something?
5. Slowly tackling my list. I should post my lists sometime. It would be amazing.

Friday Five

1. Snow. Again. How much do I love it?! SO MUCH!
2. Girls night tonight. Going to be much smaller than planned, but still going ahead.
3. Work has been really busy and fun. I like being there.
4. I have the best parents and the best life partner. I chose my family well.
5. New books and my library membership. <3

Music this week: Ska-P, Regina Spektor, Xavier Rudd, Soul Coughing, Newton Faulkner

Welcome, 2010!

Already four days into the newest year. Another decade. Where did 2009 go? It seems like a blur.

I feel like I am echoing other blogs I have read in the last few days, but really 2009 was a roller coaster. I shall be getting off now, please and thank you.

I hope that 2010 is a healthy, peaceful and happy year for me and C (and our families and friends!).

Goals for the year:

01. Get organised (clothes and crafts!)
02. Sort out space for crafting
03. Go to the library more.
04. Host a superfun wedding.
05. Fall in love again.
06. Find some good girl-friends.

Friday Five

As you are all aware, I have not had the best of weeks. But, TGIF. Some good things happened in with the bad things I was so focused on.

1. Making brownies.
2. Only the weekend to go, then I'm off to Maryland.
3. Lunch with a friend from my old office.
4. Skype w/ Lindsay. Sweet.
5. New plants in the garden from Chris' mum. She also brought me a beautiful necklace which was her grandmother's and then her mother's. I was really touched.

So yay Friday. Bring on Monday & Maryland!

Back to reality.

After such a wonderful weekend, today was a bit tough to swallow. Even though I love my job.

Mondays are my long day and today was just like other Mondays, with extra assignments and questions to boot.

Some highlights of the fun:

-Whilst doing a 'quiz' with the residents, they were asked to complete the proverb given. I said, 'Every dog...' And one of the women said 'I know!' When asked what the rest of the proverb was she responds, "Every dog has a silver lining!"*

-We made Christmas cards today! It was fun to make a mess, be creative and play with scissors and glue.

-This evening I did a 'creative thinking' exercise based on Ernest Hemingway's short story: Baby shoes, for sale, never used. (Those six words are the entire story...) One of the residents told this story in six words: Car loses wheel, chauffeur takes charge. Another resident's story was 'wrought iron fence supports driver failure.'

And so things improved. When C picked me up, I was even happier. Friends and pub quiz made the night. I am glad that I am in a good spell now! Lots of goings on and laughing. Back to life, it is good.


*The correct answer was 'every dog has his day'. But the combining of 'every cloud has a silver lining' and 'every dog has his day' reminded me of Boondock Saints:

Doc: You know what they say: People in glass houses sink sh-sh-ships.
Rocco: Doc, I gotta buy you, like, a proverb book or something. This mix'n'match shit's gotta go.
Doc: What?
Connor: A penny saved is worth two in the bush, isn't it?
Murphy: And don't cross the road if you can't get out of the kitchen.

Happy Friday the 13th!

Did you know that today, 13 November 2009, is the third Friday the 13th this year? And that three is the maximum number of times Friday the 13th can occur in any given year?

If not, now you do! And if you did, well done, have a hug or a biscuit.

Now for the Friday Five!

1. I have a three day weekend.
2. It has been raining for two days. And I love it.
3. I am planning some really cool things for our wedding and I am so excited about them. And so excited to be marrying C.
4. C and I are so incredibly happy together that it is disgusting sometimes. I wonder how I even got this lucky? I sometimes feel like I am cheating life, because there is no way I deserve this.
5. Maryland in 10! (TEN!!!!) 10 days. So very excited.

Friends.

Do you have a best friend? I'm sure you do. Most people do, even if they don't call them by that term. Maybe your best friend is your sister, brother, cousin or even your significant other or spouse. That person is your go-to person, the person you laugh with, cry with, shout at (sometimes for no particular reason).

I have been so lucky in life, to have grown up with my best friend. I also had a small group of close friends. The five (or six, depending on when) of us were together in some permutation most of the time. Sometimes, I miss those days.

And other days, I blame those days because I know what I am missing in my current 'community' and living situation. How does one make new friends? My partner is a wonderful person and very supportive, but he is not the beginning or the end of my life. I need more friends and a good network, like the one I had growing up.

Damn, I miss those girls. D'you hear me?! I miss YOU!

I get plenty of socialisation at work. The problem is, I need more socialisation with people my own age. For instance, when C is not home or out with his friends, can I call someone or have made plans in advance? Since there are only one or two people to call and they are also busy people, this makes me feel a nuisance. If I had more of a group to hang out with, I would feel less like a bother to the few people I do know.