7 things - update!

1. USA Picture Wall.
I have a number of photos from my various America trips and inspired by Pinterest (feel free to follow me there!) I've bought black frames and other crafty bits to display them. Just need to do it!

Still do plan to do this

2. Post at least SOME of my rubbish on eBay.
I've cleared stuff out, its all sitting in bags and boxes in the spare room. Just need to actually list it now and get it out the house.

This is taking a smaller priority than the USA picture wall if I run out of time :)

3. Stop being so defensive
This is linked to the post spinning its way around my head. Fairly self explanatory on the surface though.

Hmm....Kinda I think ;)  Although apparently now I'm "soft" - you just cant win sometimes!

4. Do an amazing job at my work event over the weekend
(This is a bit of a cheat as I always pull 140% at my events, but none the less its going to be a long weekend, potentially in the rain so its good to remind myself)

Yup! Succeeded in an awesome event! Knackered but well pleased with myself afterwards. I even held an owl:


5. Eat better. 
Even just a few extra veg, less chocolate - stop eating crap!

Weekend of chips and burgers being the only food available kinda put pay to that. I ate as healthy as I could when I have the choice though.

6. Be amazingly supportive big sis at Jess's art exhibition tomorrow. 
She's been working SOOO hard on her college FMP and I know its going to be amazing, but I want to make sure I take note and comment on every little detail that I can.
Yup! She didnt seem up to hearing it though as she's spent too long on it now and just wanted to be done with it. I was impressed though :)

7. Apply for the thing I sent myself the email about
Sorry that's a bit vague. You can probably work out what "applying" for something is though ;)


I should have done this. However...the weekends event and meeting so many people the charity is involved in has given me a fresh lease of life. At least a couple months worth anyway! 


So all in all not a badly productive week I dont think. 

7 things

Ooh you're getting spoilt. Two blogs in one day and a third brewing away in my head. But that ones a real rambly one that I'm not sure even makes sense and I didnt think you needed that on top of the homesickness one :)

Moving on...

One of my fav bloggers as I have previously mentioned is Louise over on Sprinkle of Glitter. She is really awesome - very down to Earth and positive, I love reading her posts, and watching her YouTube vids - whatever the subject.

Some of her recent blog posts have been on "7 things" - setting yourself 7 achievable manageable targets to achieve in 7 days (or a set time period)

As I have a number of things in my head to do I think this is a perfect thing for me. Although I think I will need help in remembering to do them, which is why I'm loving this group community feel that this post (tag?) is encouraging. Please leave comments reminding me to get off my bum and get these things done, and I will aim to do the same for you (and maybe even borrow some of the more amazing goals I see people setting themselves)

1. USA Picture Wall.
I have a number of photos from my various America trips and inspired by Pinterest (feel free to follow me there!) I've bought black frames and other crafty bits to display them. Just need to do it!

2. Post at least SOME  of my rubbish on eBay.
I've cleared stuff out, its all sitting in bags and boxes in the spare room. Just need to actually list it now and get it out the house.

3. Stop being so defensive
This is linked to the post spinning its way around my head. Fairly self explanatory on the surface though.

4. Do an amazing job at my work event over the weekend
(This is a bit of a cheat as I always pull 140% at my events, but none the less its going to be a long weekend, potentially in the rain so its good to remind myself)

5. Eat better. 
Even just a few extra veg, less chocolate - stop eating crap!

6. Be amazingly supportive big sis at Jess's art exhibition tomorrow. 
She's been working SOOO hard on her college FMP and I know its going to be amazing, but I want to make sure I take note and comment on every little detail that I can.

7. Apply for the thing I sent myself the email about
Sorry that's a bit vague. You can probably work out what "applying" for something is though ;)

Hmm that was much easier than I thought it would be. And I think they ARE achievable. Easily. Now....to begin the work!

Homesickness (belated now non-relevant post)

So...I had a blog post on something quite emotional that I'd been wanting to write for a while. It was actually the one I'd written on my old iPhone and was very upset when it got wiped.

But now, when I actually have an inspirational moment to blog - the emotions have run their course and I'm basically kinda over it.

Nonetheless its been bugging me that I didnt get it out on my blog so I thought "sod it" and I'll do a quick recap of the main points...and a pondering on whats making me feel better about the whole thing.

When I went to New York (see I told ya it'd been up there for a while!) I realised I was suddenly very homesick. And not for London either. Driving through Queens in the cab and seeing all the individual little houses, with their yards and distinctly "American" icons (red wagons etc) I was suddenly very homesick for Colorado. And it didn't get any easier with our day trip to Huntingdon which was SO much like Fort Collins it made my heart ache. (Appropriate I was going to Blue October I suppose)

Homesickness is a weird one, I've never had it before I don't think. In my various travels across the states, school holidays, trips with friends, I never found myself missing the familiar like that, and it hurting so much, thinking that it would only ease when back at home. But all of a sudden, here it was, out of the blue.

Roald Dahl had an excellent quote on this:

"Homesickness is a bit like seasickness. You don’t know how awful it is until you get it, and when you do, it hits you right in the top of the stomach and you want to die. The only comfort is that both are instantly curable."

And it didnt stop in New York either. Coming back there were so many random things that would remind me of Colorado. The rare London blue sky, a song on the radio, heck the smell of the wind would often send me flying back to that small town, with the sun on my back and the mountains in my eyeline.

I think it was the mountains I missed most. There was something so oddly comforting about them.

Of course some people could argue that I was missing the people, the person, the freedom or a combination of these things. "How can you be homesick for somewhere that was never 'really' home?" The short answer is I dont know. But I know at one point I even (randomly) considered taking a trip there - not to see anyone but just to be back there. How crazy is that? 

So there was a whole lot more emotion and stuff I wanted to say tied up in this post, but weirdly, almost as strongly as it came on....it stopped. One day I suddenly realised it was just a place with a lot of good memories that I am sad to know I will not likely go back to, but that's it.

I'm not quite sure where. I have a funny feeling it was somewhere around the time I heard about the awful forest fires raging through the foothills of the town. It was awful and tragic and I was concerned for those I know living there, but at the same time...it was ok. Maybe that was just a coincidence that the timing of that fitted in with something else....

Fort Collins, I love you. I found you quaint, comforting, historical, amusing, beautiful, breathtaking and most of all...home. For a short period in my life, you were a new place in the world, that I could honestly feel safe to come back to - even when so far away from so much of what I knew and loved. It pained me each time I left, but never more so than the last time, knowing I would likely never see those mountains again. Thank you for being there for me, and for hosting a multitude of memories.