PostSecret

Like many people who spend far too much time on the internet, I obsessively read PostSecret, and this morning, browsing the new content over a cup of coffee, I found this.

What a beautiful image. I think everyone needs to remind themselves of this every once in a while.

written on walls

Newcastle was completely awesome, and as predicted, unless I decide that the general public needs to see pictures of me spilling Bulmers down my jeans in dilapidated bars, there was no photographs. Apart from this one! It's written on a bridge I walk over most days to get into the city centre, and I only just noticed it. It made me smile!

little green

never forget the 90s

I'm spending next week in Newcastle, visiting my university friends (I miss them!), so I had a farewell night out with my best friend, Hannah. Whenever we go out at night, it's messy. Very, very messy. The kind of night where you need to check your camera to find out what you actually did. Something about eachothers company drives us to the drink, I don't know. The above picture was taken in Babylon, the best 90s bar in the universe. Glow sticks, pink drinks, and the Spice Girls. Excellent. Hopefully I'll return from Newcastle with lots of beautiful pictures to share, but most probably they'll all be of us hunched over pints of cider in dark corners of various pubs. Either way, there'll be pixels to prove it. Have a good week!

Flamingo Pink

No apologies this time, only a promise to do better! I'm away next week, but before then I hope to do a nice big picture post. Until then, a picture from my eBay auctions that I thought was too pretty to not share. Would it be impractical to not sell this skirt and just hang it on the wall?

Link to the auction!

postponement

I'm sorry about the text-only, dear people. Due to exammy and personal turbulence it's been a little quiet around here lately. Funny how I can sit and stare at Facebook, but not do anything blogworthy! I shall leave you with a poem:

Love Poem by David Thewlis

Er....
Yes....
The moon was booked to appear in this poem,
But due to stress
and overwork,
Countless appearances in sonnets and haiku,
It's going to be difficult to express how much
I like you.
It's been holding it's breath
And turning blue,
Once in a while.
Smiling for children,
Styling the tide.
Inspiring sex,
And suicide.
A backlog of allusions to deal with.
Feelings to justify.

It's done very well for a lump of white rock,
With a peak time slot in the night sky,
Sharing top billing with it's straight man, the sun, The best double act
in kingdom not come.

Mystified and delighted
With the interest shown
By painters
And writers
And people alone.
But at the last minute NASA phoned
And bumped up th e residuals,
So your poem's been postponed.
I'm sorry.

full moon

Just one, because the moon is so beautiful tonight. It's a shame I can't go outside and photograph it.

snail mail

If I'm going to procrastinate, I may as well show the fruits of my procrastination. No, I'm not going to show you my hoovered floor, the 'bed peace' sign over my bed, or the 'hair peace' sign over my hairdryer; not even my very organised desk drawers. Although, I should probably share this fantastic potato gratin recipe from Smitten Kitchen. We live three hours apart and though my dear boy is a camera ninja and Nice Man(TM) extraordinaire, he is not made from spinach, potatoes, and cheese.

Today I got a letter from an old friend, Lydia. We met through Girl Guiding and went to high school together, but drifted apart during college. She went to a local Catholic college for very clever people, and I went to sixth form and developed an intense knowledge of Chup-A-Chup flavours. Cola, friends. The best. We were close friends during our jumbo cord bellbottoms and Alanis Morissette phases, and haven't had a musical similarity since. But I think that this may be changing. So what better way to find out (and brainwash) than a mix CD? I named it after a Joanna Newsom lyric and hopefully it will soon be winging its way to her.

I started making this half an hour after I recieved her letter. Seamus Heaney, I like you, but I don't want to write an essay on you, or anyone. I'm sure you understand.

the triumphant (maybe) return

Hello, people of the blogosphere. I'm sorry for my extremely long absence; it's been a rough month. I was unwell for parts of it, and my amazing grandmother had a stroke, was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, and died, all in the space of two weeks. Add funeral, coursework and exam preparation to that, and it's not left much time for my beloved internets. I won't get back to very regular posting for some time, as I still have two essays and an exam (eep) in the next three weeks. But I will try to get some photos and updates on here in that time too. I have some rolls of film from my Holga 135 to develop, so I'll certainly post the results of that.

My lovely Herman has been visiting this weekend, for his 21st birthday. Happy Birthday, Herman! His camera ninjary is much better than mine, so I have some nice photos of Newcastle to show.

first day of spring

It's the first day of spring, and Google is celebrating with a logo designed by Eric Carle. I love some Eric Carle goodness; whenever I need to buy gifts for a baby you can guarantee that there'll be some of his books wrapped up. And what a wonderful thing to begin spring with! I don't know about you, but this image just makes me think of picnics. Picnic season is upon us!

I'm off home for the weekend, so I shall return on Monday with plenty of pictures to share. Or, none, since I will have spent the weekend in a Sky-induced torpor stuffing my face with crisps. We'll have to wait and see.

Heaton Park

Today was gloriously hot, so me and Katy trekked to Heaton for a bask in the park. I'd never been before, but it's utterly gorgeous and at this time of year packed with oodles of crocuses and daffodils. There was a nifty little building in front of the bowling green that I would quite like to live in; what a garden!

farewell to winter

It is time to say goodbye to something that made my winter so much more pleasant - the paper snowflakes on my window. My thirst for spring is making them seem gloomy, instead of whimsical and wintry, so it's time for them to go. I am tempted to keep them for next year, but next year I'll be somewhere completely different, and the cosy ritual of cutting out paper snowflakes for Christmas (and the rest of winter, it turns out) is not something I want to lose. However, I couldn't resist a final photograph.

Perhaps I can replace them with a bunch of daffodils, or a jar of twigs. Something to herald the arrival of spring.

eat a rainbow

Well, why not. Whenever a baker makes something pretty they blog about it, so I feel entitled to show off what I just had for dinner. We have reached the zero protein stage of the week and I used my egg wisely - don't you love hard-boiled eggs? I made the hummus, which was fun and surprisingly easy, but not as yummy as I'd hoped. Next time I'll taste at every step; I think I made it too sweet. I like my hummus chunky and savoury!

Nectarines are the most summery fruit. I pounced on these in Morrisons and they're perfect (unlike the ones I was still optimistically buying in November) and this one was perfectly ripe. Just the smell makes my mouth water and brings back the urge to throw all my tights in the bin and run around bare-legged.

spring cleaning

Waiting for Spring is painfully horrible. Every day leaving the flat in an optimistic cardigan, and scurrying home again huddled against the wind. Spending money I most certainly do not have on bright clothes to stare wistfully at and try on again and again in the warmth of my room. The urge to spring-clean has come upon me and I have organised my wardrobe and cleaned the sink (a big feat), and put unwanted, dark, wintry clothes on eBay (sneaky selling). This pre-spring misery has made me extremely unproductive; not writing or doing much at all. I don't even want to cook, which must be serious.

For now, occasional bunches of daffodils shoved in pint mugs to brighten the room, and the wonderful, sunshine taste of nectarines will have to do.

Do The Deadline Dance

Dear Blogosphere

This is what my life will look like for the next week. These four books and handful of photocopied articles will be consuming me quite thoroughly until 4.30 next Friday.

That'll teach me to start my assignments earlier.

Lake District

So, I've finally recovered from the weekend and my wonderful Wednesday hangover enough to write a blog post. The Lake District was awesome, as it always is. We did a lot of walking, since the house we were renting was right next to Ennerdale Water, so we could walk around the lake. On Monday we walked right around the lake and up Robin Hood's Seat - about 10 miles! We also visited some local attractions in Keswick, a nearby town. I can now saw I have stroked 19 different breeds of sheep and have visited an optical illusion museum.

Last night cooking I burnt my hand, and subsequently spent the rest of the evening with my fingers under the cold tap wondering how I was going to manage to sleep*. Luckily, I've woken up with a few blisters and no pain. I hope you had a good weekend too!
* The answer is with my hand stuffed in a pint glass of cold water, which at some point in the night I knocked over and awoke to think I had wet the bed. Awesome.

lunches and lakes

This was my lunch today. One of my favourite things about university is how close to everything I am, and that I can take the time to have a delicious, leisurely lunch with real coffee while I write postcards for PostCrossers and friends studying at Cambridge.

I will be wandering lonely as a cloud in the beautiful Lake District with my Dad and his old university friends this weekend, so I won't be blogging until Monday or Tuesday. However, I will come bearing lots of pictures of beautiful country landscapes!

celebrate with cake

This is a celebratory cupcake! Today my future housemates and I signed the contract that secures our lovely new home for next year. I can't wait to move in! It's a really lovely house, very bright and modern with lots of old fireplaces.

Rainbow Pride

I'm sure I've mentioned it a zillion times, because I'm so pleased about it, but I have an amazing view from my bedroom window in Newcastle. The Gateshead Millenium Bridge is usually a pretty steady blurple at night, but recently it's been all the colours of the rainbow!

taking pictures of your own feet

I was watching Lost In Translation recently (amazing film) and Scarlett Johansson's character talked about a photography phase all girls go through: "Horses... Taking pictures of your own feet."

And the shoes they live in.

Bread/Hyacinths

'If a man has two coins, with one he should buy bread to feed his body, and with the other he should buy hyacinths to feed his soul.'

Harder Better Faster Stronger

just got into yoga..... - by bubbatea (BUSY) on Polyvore.com

I have, in a previous post, said I have the grace and agility of a loaf of bread. This is very true. Flights of stairs destroy my creaking knees. The hill I walk up each morning to Uni is torture. Sometimes I feel like an 18-year-old trapped in a 70-year-old body. In the spirit of the iCing Transformation Challenge, I am trying to change this. My favourite thing about Gala's challenge is that she emphasises the importance of not beating yourself up if you eat a doughnut or sleep in instead of going to the gym. This is great for me, because my health kicks usually fail because I'm being too strict, and I give in after one failure.

Part of my personal transformation is Yoga. I've wanted to get into it for a long time, but classes are expensive and I'm sometimes (often) just not motivated enough to go to a class. So I bought Beginning Yoga For Dummies, and WOW. It isn't just the yoga, though. I'm swimming and going for long walks, and I feel great. I love that achy, tired-limbs feeling that I get before I sleep. And I love how good I feel inside, as well as outside.

Yoko Ono at BALTIC

I went to a beautiful exhibition today! I wasn't sure what to expect, but the Yoko Ono exhibition at BALTIC was everything I could have hoped for. My favourite elements were the interactive pieces, like this tree:

Olive trees covered in fragrant blossoms, and hung with visitor's wishes on tags.

I thought this wish was genius - who wouldn't want a Nigella-pony?



On the top floor viewing room, there was another interactive piece called Mend, in which visitors broke cups and saucers and put them back together again with the glue, string, and paper provided:

Visiting art galleries always soothes me. This morning was an exciting house-hunt, and I fell in love with the second house we viewed. It could still be taken or disagreed on, and I don't want to get my hopes up, so a walk along the Quayside and a visit to the beautiful BALTIC was perfect to take my mind off it. There was also a Tyneside extension of Miranda July's Learning To Love You More assignments; the photographs, sculptures and paintings were heart-warming and inspiring.

Pretty Pictures

Most of the blogs I read, I read for the clothes and the pretty pictures. So without further ado, the photographs I took on my walk along the Quayside today. I am lucky enough to be able to see all this from my bedroom window!

iCing Transformation Challenge

Currently, I'm taking part in Gala Darling's iCing Transformation Challenge. For the month of February the challengees create a set of goals or daily tasks, that have to be completed or maintained at the end of the challenge. My tasks are many and varied, but in summary:

1. Eat well.
2. Excercise regularly.
3. Update my blog and my written journal daily.
4. Take at least one photograph a day.
5. Find a flat/house for next year.

None of which are exactly magnificent tasks, but I'm feeling optimistic. I have all sorts of little charts drawn out to document my progress (I have a major weakness for tiny charts and diagrams on index cards). And today I booked my flat viewing!You'll probably be seeing a lot of my photographs since my challenge involves learning to edit them properly, so they'll be fit for viewing. Here are the fruits of today's point-and-click efforts:

My desk. Note the little charts drawn out in my Moleskine!

When I got up this morning, I was struck by how optimistic my lovely spring daffodils looked in front of the swirling blizzard outside! At least they got to stay indoors while I battled the freezing trek to Uni.

Bad Blogger! Go to your room.

Dear People of the Blogosphere;

Who knew it was so hard to keep up with one little site? The amount of time I spend at my desk fiddling with the internet should make it extremely easy. But apparently, I am not all as organised as I once thought.

However. I am now back at university, which leaves me with enormous gaps of time to fill with taking photographs, reading, writing, and UPDATING. My local art gallery (viewable from my window) is currently hosting a Yoko Ono exhibition (her first solo in the UK!) so I hope to go and see that, and of course report back. All in all, I will try to be a little more exciting. Toodles!

Home Sweet Home

Turning photographs black and white is the biggest scam in the world. I'm not a terrible photographer, it's 'vintage'! I do wear the same things all the time, yes. This is a H&M skirt and top, with a big chunky Primark belt that I love.

At this time of year, everyone I know is getting sick of their parents and is going back to university. I'm still at home, with a reading week and exam leave, and I for one am getting a little tired of all my friends trashing their homes. I love my home, and my hometown is not without it's charms. So this is my tribute to home comforts.

The last picture is of a baked apple stuffed with honey, cinnamon, and almonds, from a great recipe by Greedy Gourmet. With a nice scoop (or two) of Ben and Jerry's Baked Alaska ice-cream, it was a nice filling, wintry snack.