Spring awakening

In recent months I have definitely been neglecting my blogging ways – which is part laziness (aka winter hibernation) and part lack of internet access…

To make up for it I’m going to sum up the past 5months via the medium of, not dance, but poorly taken photographs from my fair hand.

To start we had some lovely November Brick Lane sunshine

In December I got snowed in… in London!!!

 

Newcastle for Christmas and New Year

 

Several blurry images at gigs were taken back down in London

 

 

 

And with the help of some of my dearest friends the following items have been liberated from various places in the UK

 

 

Sunday Spa Day

This week Mama celebrated her birthday and as a gift/treat we were sent off to a Spa Day at Doxford Hall courtesy of Pops. A very nice way to spend a Sunday I’m sure you’ll agree.

Doxford Hall has gone through an extensive face lift in recent years and is now a place of luxury thanks to the new owners. It’s thanks to my Granny with all her rave reviews of the food that we stumbled across this idyllic retreat as it is just on her doorstep up in Northumberland and has been used as a place to celebrate family Birthdays and special treats for a few years now.

As my first experience of a Spa I was a tad concerned that it involved a mud wrap and all over moisturising massage. The head massage and exfoliation I could handle the thought of but letting someone I didn’t know touch me was a bit nerve-wracking…

But I was a brave girl and succumbed to all the ‘treats’ on offer and boy was it relaxing! I’m a sucker for a head rub/hair stroke at the best of times (just ask anyone) but in the hands of a professional it was exceptional! And as reluctant as I was I did thoroughly enjoy my exfoliation, mud wrap and massage - even if I was conscious that I was practically naked in front of a stranger. Even if I do think it’s slightly self-indulgent getting someone else to moisturise you I did enjoy it as a one-off treat.

I think I may now be hooked.  I think next on the cards will be a hot stone massage – they look quite tempting!

Camera Lust

For years I’ve suffered inferior camera products. I’m forever plagued by blurry snaps, pale faces and rubbish zoomage.

To be fair it’s more likely me not being able to work them that’s the main issue.

But after a master class from a mate when we were away at Glasto I’m now slightly more in control of my camera and the snaps that it produces. Or so I’d like to think. But if I’m honest I’m just not 100% happy with what I think at the time is a master piece and it’s only when I get it home do I realise how rubbish it truly is.

For the past 2 years I’ve had a serious case of camera envy. My little brother – who’s a Photographer – has a snazzy Canon number with God only knows how many extra lenses and posh bits to add to it and always comes home with superior images to what my old camera can ever produce. Again it’s probably more to do with his skill but having a camera that knows what it’s doing is certainly a bonus.

I’ve decided that I no longer want my long-suffering camera anymore. I want something which I can actually make out what the subject of the image is. So I’ve started perusing the web pages of the Canon website in search of something sleek and fancy.  I do feel a tad guilty – almost like I’m cheating on my camera which has been with me for over 4 years. I keep telling myself that it’s survived quite well with all the drops and spills its encountered. And it is getting on a bit… OAP camera…

I’m not going to kidd myself that I want something with lots of flash gadgets and buttons – I honestly wouldn’t know where to start or how to work it! I’m thinking about something along the lines of what my brother has… I vaguely know how to work it and he’s guaranteed to give me some sort of master class (fingers crossed).

So far I’m lusting after this bad lad

The Canon EOS 1000D

It’s beautiful! I just need to convince someone to give me £200…

Image courtesy of canon.co.uk http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/Digital_SLR/EOS_1000D/

The Big Picture

These amazing pics by Alan Taylor of Glastonbury from 2009 have got me and my friends a case of serious excitement for this years festival. I just wish my camera was capable of taking such good quality images!

All Images courtesy of Alan Taylor http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/06/glastonbury_2009.html

We’re only human after all

                                    if ever i push you away,

                                    i don’t really mean to.

when i tell you i don’t want to talk about it

i do, i am just looking for the right words.

give me a minute, and if i can tell you; i will.

i try to be a struggling mix of real and

perfect at the same time.

                   at the moment,

i am working on the ratio.

when i get really quiet sometimes

it is because i have too much to say

i have thought of too many things to tell you

all at once

and i don’t know what to say first.

i get immaturely jealous of anyone

who gets to see you on a daily basis.

                          i miss you really easily.

                          but i also like that we can be

a           p          a          r           t

and we are both okay.              space is good, too.

       i love the way we love some of the

       same things.            and i love how

       we love entirely different things.

my head is a complicated pile of thoughts,

              and fears, and cravings, and dreams,

              and this tangled nostalgia for the

              past and, somehow, the future.

i am flawed and i am human and i am broken and

i am trying. i am one person and i am two

hands and i am one            and i love you.

heart.         and i am so glad you are here.

I forget where I originally saw this but as far as love letters go Ithink this is absolutely beautiful – we are, after all, only human and even the best of us are flawed.