Sunday, February 24, 2013

Dodging Snowballs

It's been a bit over a week.
I've been a bit more than a mess.
But I'm pretty good right now.

The pin board is still rather full but I'm feeling more in control of it after a weekend of nothing but home time, blissful alone time. Sometimes alone time is just far to enjoyable. Perhaps there is something wrong with me. I've become so very independent over the last few years. But at the same time as much as I enjoy my own company I wish to have a few more people around to play with without having to leave my house. I really just wish a few of my sisters could come live with me! In an ideal world...

But yes, after an interesting but awesome time last weekend back home involving much loved family time and a friends 21st which I'm not even going to pretend didn't get very messy indeed and entail copious amounts of vodka and me walking away with an injury of sorts that I couldn't even blame on my sexy 5 inch heels, that has left me feeling like quite the cleverest of a person for the week. Thank god for the amazing friends I have! This somehow resulted in a very messy start to the week as I was almost feeling like I was in the snowy mountains standing at the bottom of a steep hill tied to a tree and there was a massive ball of snow not only growing in size but gaining momentum as it rolled towards me and seemed to hold my doomed fate in it's very cold core... But I think I dodged it... or someone came from nowhere and untied me from the tree.... Not someone visible... someone or something...

But by Thursday I was feeling far better. Got into a bit of Paramore listening which tends to make me feel better in such moods. It's a juggling act that I am trying to master at the moment. And I think it would be something I would have mastered a lot quicker by now if I had my personal matters in order. But as I don't it continues to be a struggle between the two as I try to best prioritise things. It's like I'm having my pre-quarter mini life crisis or something. And I just let it get to far before I finally pulled myself up on it. It's funny though, how at this end of the week I'm trying to work out why I was feeling so horrible on Monday... Life is a funny thing!

This weekend I have been attempting to get through some urgent briefs but it's always a struggle as I get distracted by so many other little projects and things to be done. And it always takes me five times the time I think it will to do things.... you'd think by now I would have compensated for this slight time issue by now! But oh well. I've certainly enjoyed being able to just do whatever at home and not go anywhere. I've got through a bit of stuff and have been half watching movies and catching up on The Carrie Diaries (which I am totally loving! Love watching AnnaSophia Robb and her gorgeous co-stars) all the while. Better get back to it.... will possibly continue on this rant later...

Sundays are the best though. Probably because no matter what is going on I always give myself permission to just take Sundays off. A day off of everything and a very much do whatever I want.

Anyway, for now I shall leave you with a hopefully inspiring quote...

“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”
- Andy Warhol
Swiss Miss

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Pinning

My head is a mess right now.

Maybe not so much a mess as a muddle. A muddle of papers, of lists, of ideas. Like a pin board where things just keep being pinned on top of each other until it's just covered in many different wonderful things but you don't really know where to start un pinning first to get to the stuff underneath.... and I really need to clean off the pin board and get it more organised!

In other news I am more than excited for the new releases of some of my favourite musicians latest works! Justin Timberlake is shortly due to release a new album titled The 20/20 Experience in just over a months time, March 19th. Loving the bight he's given us so far with Suit & Tie! So very catchy and smooth! Paramore are also due to release a new self titled album early in April too. Keen!

I'm also super keen that it is nearly the weekend and am more than excited to go home and see my family! It's been a few weeks now and I'm missing them like crazy!

In the mean time I best attempt to unpin some of those pins...

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Lovely lovely lovely

This weekend I was honoured and thrilled to share in the witnessing and celebrations of the Marriage of one of my lovely friends. There really is something to be said about being part of a wedding, whether you're in the bridal party or simply a guest as I was, especially in the intimacy of a small scale wedding. The atmosphere is just so lovely.

The ceremony was held in a lovely garden in which you simply could not of asked for a better day of weather! Definitely couldn't help shedding a few tears throughout. It was just lovely. The Bridesmaids and Groomsmen were looking rather dashing in electric blue ties and aqua dresses along side the stunning Bride and handsome Groom. It really was just so gorgeous!

Amazing food too! Not only did we have lunch but a dinner was also on the menu. Lunch was massive with the most delish sour dough rolls with chicken, lamb and salad along with this scrumptious little pie type thing that was so good. All of this was also accompanied by brownie, a little cup cake, a little lemon meringue AND some strawberries! Of course I couldn't eat all of this so the desserts went a miss but i heard they were pretty good! Then dinner I had some delicious Salt and Pepper calamari as the entree (why do entrees always have to be so big?!) and then some rather tasty salmon!
So much good food!

Such a lovely occasion to be part of and I felt quite privileged to be there. It's wonderful to see friends in such wedded bliss.

Love Weddings!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Poker Face Breaks

Life is hard. Some people make it look so easy but sometimes I think those people may be the ones that struggle the most.

It's kind of funny but also really frustrating. It's like one big game of cards. Poker. There is an amount of skill involved but a lot of luck comes into play too. To enjoy the game you need to take a bit of humour, be able to relax and enjoy but also bring a serious note to it too. Your here to play aren't you?

Like the addiction you get to winning and you begin to constantly go all in even though you know it's not right. You know it's only bad for you. And you reach that point where you know in your heart that its time to turn back. Time to fold the cards and change the game plan. The hard part is folding because folding feels like a failure. Like your giving up on something. But it is okay to fold and wait for the next hand. Playing that extra hand might just be the end of it all and you wouldn't want the concentration and good fortune to this point to be waisted. So you fold. You fold and wait for the next deal and change the plan. There's no point in losing everything and there is no shame in changing the plan while you're ahead. Even though until this point where you've hit the edge and only have a few chips left on the table in front of you, things seemed to be going well. You know deep down its time to change. Change is hard. It's hard to change. But you know you need it... Sometimes we all need a change.

I've hit this point. Well and truly crashed into it really. It's been coming for a long while. And I've known that deep down. The part of my life that needs to change is my commitment to the gym and my routine. I'm there more than I need to be to the extent that it actually is bad for my health. Physically and mentally. I've let it get out of hand, and I know it. Instead of me running my gym program I've come to let it run me. Isn't it ironic that from working so hard to be as healthy as possible you can actually become unhealthy...

The first step is admitting you have a problem. Not just to yourself but to other people. The next step is doing something about it.

I'm doing something about it. I just need to re focus and get a better balance.

Time for a new game I think... Deal me in!

Saturday, February 2, 2013

The Silver Lining

It's been an interesting week in the life of me. A trying week in some ways. A week of endings and beginnings. Frustration and excitement. Many mixed emotions. On a roller coaster at the moment. But I'll go into that another time.

Feeling quite accomplished today as I finally finished reading The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick which has taken me just under two weeks to read. Pretty good for me as I tend to take quite a while! But not only did I finish the book, I even went and saw the film which only came out on Thursday! It sounds so funny to feel so accomplished over such things but I do! I really do!

It was kind of funny really. I was at work yesterday contemplating my evening ahead and how I'd like to see the film and had about 40 pages of the book left. So I got onto my friend hoping she too would be keen. We arranged our date and I literally read the final pages while I waited to meet her! I wouldn't recommend doing that though because with the book so extremely fresh in your head it is a little harder to take the drastic changes they make to the story in the film. Having said that the film was fantastic. I just love Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper and Jackie Weaver was also brilliant and Robert De Niro is always fantastic.

If you haven't already read about it without giving much away The Silver Linings Playbook is about a Pat Peoples, a recovering mentally ill sports teacher who is trying to be a better person so he can get back with his wife Nikki and end 'apart time'. Meanwhile similarly 'crazy' Tiffany comes into his life with her own baggage but oddly trying to help Pat reach Nikki.

It's kind of funny, as I read the book I imagined some of the scenes being played out because you already knew the cast, in your head you watched your own film as you read the book. My film was quite different to the actual film. I'm going to be hanging out for it to come on DVD so I can watch it again and again to process it better. Right from the start it just goes a bit differently. But I can see why it was altered the way it was. I think one of the big differences to me was in my head it was all so much more serious in the book but the film brings out a lot of comedy (it is classified a rom-com) in it which is fantastic. Many moments where the cinema just burst out laughing. I love that! It's quite a confronting read and watch for some with the issues of mental health being addressed and what it's like living with these issues. We all know someone or have first hand experience of mild or more serious cases of these so it hits home hard on some. So it was good to be lightened up. It was really good. Its funny for the book to be a film because throughout the book Pat, the main man, constantly talks about his life being a movie. I really loved it. The more I think about it the more I like the book and the film for different reasons. Overall very content with both. Props to the screenwriters and director and all involved really. I think it's just brilliant.

Bottom line I give it a 9.99 out of 10. Go read the book. Go see the film. I honestly recommend it to everyone and anyone. Do it in whichever order you prefer because they are quite different. Either way I hope you find it as uplifting as I did.

Every cloud has a silver lining.