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!