Running forwards

This morning I went for a run. The air was cold and icy but the sun was hot and bright. I'm rubbish at running. It makes my lungs scream and my teeth hurt. And I was running for less than one song on my ipod, walked for a bit, ran for another song, walked, then ran all the way back down the jetty. But I love 'having been' for a run. It clears the mind a bit. Boosts your energy, focuses your mind on the day ahead. Which is especially useful as I've been feeling so adrift of late.

Because I had so many weeks of being incredibly busy- bouncing from one job to the next, I was just reacting to where my career was headed. I didn't have to think about anything other than the immediate project. Now that I've had a little while to recover from that I've become lazy and complacent. No real priorities, just bumbling along.

So it's time to start running forwards under my own steam now.

The week that was....

Well, we had a good tidy up and everything is looking much more 'homely'.
This week I have also:

Had two rollerderby practises.
Done roughs for a very complicated illustration job.
Had a day retouching at the Beeb.
Celebrated Steve's birthday and Valentine's Day (although I was at RollerDerby practise for most of the latter).
Bought a Henry hoover (he's so cool!) with Steve's birthday money.
Planted up some more seedlings.
Painted the wood panelling in the hatch area of the boat.
Watched a series of 'Rising Damp'.

This weekend

This weekend has been the best. We've had AMAZING weather which has meant I've hardly spent any time indoors at all. I spent much of Friday on a floating platform painting the waterline of our boat with bituminous paint. This wasn't such a bad job- in fact it was very satisfying to get nearly all the way along in just one day.




As we were spending so much time on deck, we also let Vortex have his run of the place too. He was fascinated by the swans that came to visit.







I also spent a lot of the weekend planting, potting and gardening. There is something about the back end of winter that gives me the urge to grow things. I used a lot of newly sprayed tin cans to pot up the sprouting lettuces. A small trip to the graden centre supplied me with a lovely rosemary bush, some bright primroses, a couple of delightful hellebores and a baby bay tree.
You can see in the photos how we've chopped down a rescued container and I've treated it and painted it a delicious blue to match the deck.









We also took the tarpaulin off the window hatches over the Captain's Cabin to reveal these beautiful skylights.

Hoisting the flag

The flag I made for Team Pink last weekend has found a new home.


Whilst things have been scary, overwhelming, frustrating and hard work since owning the boat, today it all felt worth it. I perched in the wheelhouse with a cupcake, drawing as the sun streamed in, with a friendly cat by my side.


I also forgot to take anything to read on my commute to the BBC yesterday. So I looked out of the window. And you know what? It was captivating! The most beautiful scenery gliding by. And to think I was going to settle with a book!

Lorna Brown lives on a boat.

The past 9 days have been the hardest of my whole entire life.
We set off back from our amazing trip to New Zealand at lunchtime on Sunday 2nd of December (early hours of the morning UK time), and arrived back in the UK at 6am on Monday 3rd. Exhausted and a little low that the holiday was over, we trekked over to our good friend Matt and Clare's (keepers of Vortex) as they very kindly let us stay over until we could move aboard our new floating home.

Monday was a blurr of trying to organise money to go through, and rearranging the skipper.
I slept very little Monday night.

Tuesday involved filling a van with as many of our belongings as possible. We then drove it to Canary Wharf where our new home (henceforth known as Serenity) was berthed. We took possession of the keys...and panicked. What on earth do we know about owning a boat??? What if it sinks?? What if it floats away??? What if we can't afford the repayments??? What if we've made the biggest mistake of our lives???
Tired, hungry and jet lagged, we worked for hours into the night to move our stuff aboard. Never-ending boxes to be dragged down pontoons, heaved on deck and then lowered into the main living area. Just me and Steve. Bleugh.
I didn't sleep Tuesday night.

Wednesday, the skipper arrived and we began our two day voyage from Central London to her new home in Surrey. It was a long, cold journey. With quite an eventful beginning when the first bridge we went under ripped our mast down- narrowly missing us where we stood at the prow. Ignoring the cold, tired, hungry, stress of it all, the experience of cruising down the river was remarkable. I'll load up my photos soon so that you can see.
I didn't sleep Wednesday night.

Thursday evening we finally arrived at our destination. Roped up and were finally left on our own with our new home. This was the point when we realised just how many things we didn't know. It also happened to be very very windy, and before we'd had chance to fender up the sides properly. All night, she banged against her mooring posts.
I didn't sleep on Thursday night. I stayed up unpacking, and feeling very anxious, stressed and sad indeed.

Friday we headed back to North London, where lovely Matt had hired a van to collect the final bits and pieces that were in storage. And to collect Vortex. It took ALL day. Again, we arrived back to the boat when the light had just gone and had to heave everything aboard. There was more stuff than we anticipated, and the job took hours and hours.
I slept for a while on Friday night.

Since then we've been trying to settle in. We've got the internet in the wheelhouse, but just have to bounce it down to the rest of the space. We have patchy mobile phone reception, and feel pretty isolated from everyone. I can't wait to sort these problems out. But today I have an illustration due, and have to dig out my paints.

We'll keep you posted.
xoxox

What happens when you've got such a backup of news and photos that you don't know where to begin?

We are back from our wonderful trip to New Zealand. We are tired out after the gruelling journey, made even more exhausting by having to sort out the completion of our boat buying, moving aboard, and then relocating our new home. It was weird flying back to Britain without a 'normal' to return to. It made the journey more emotionally challenging. I'm looking forward to feeling settled again, and am sure it will all have been worth it.

A quick update...

We are officially homeless. All our stuff has been packed in boxes and put into storage. (With a hefty chunk going to charity shops and the recycling centre!)

Yesterday we paid our deposit and exchanged contracts for the boat and paid our deposit. (which might be a surprise for blog readers who don't know us in real life and haven't had to listen to me harping on about the boat for the past month). It is an exciting time.

We've had a very tough week, sorting stuff out. Physically, emotionally and mentally exhausting. We are now relishing this unusual freedom of sleeping at our very wonderful friends' house (Matt and Clare). Before catching a plane to New Zealand tomorrow.

Vortex has settled into staying here surprisingly easily. He's loving it, in fact. After all the stress and boxes, coming to a lovely home with warm people has turned him in to a cuddle-box.

I have lots of fun photos to show you all, but no way of uploading them at the moment, so they'll have to wait.

Onwards with our journey.

A day as gorgeous as today.

After so many days of 'going in to work', I have a day of luxury today. A day to sort things out. Go for a wander in the sun. Write a list. Think some thoughts. Do some chores. Give Vortex some much needed attention.
The weather couldn't be more beautiful today. Refreshingly cool, still air, with glorious autumn sunshine to warm the back of your head. And long shadows everywhere, don't forget the long shadows.

So much, so much.

So much is happening/nearly-happening at the moment that I just need to write a list:

The process of a future houseboat is moving forward.

I've been hectic and busy working at the Beeb as tip top retoucher/designer. (although I'm looking forward to having my days to myself and my illustration again from early next week).

Our trip to New Zealand is getting closer.

Roller Derby is fun fun fun, and exhausting, but mainly fun fun fun.

Le Weekend

This weekend we drove up to The North. We stayed with Steve's parents. It was like a proper family reunion with his youngest brother coming down from Scotland for a visit with his girlfriend. AND we got to see Pete and Lou's new house and have a big meal and lots and lots of laughing and eating and laughing and having a ball.

I saw lots of things. Here are some of them.

These are things I saw from the car on the way up.

We thought this car looked cool- but the driver certainly wasn't when he nearly took out the side of our car when he cut us up on the motorway without being aware of how long his car with a trailor was. Idiot.







(I never knew that Lion's laid eggs- I do hope they were free-range lions.)

These are some shadows that I saw. (although most of them are pools of light rather than shadows)- I guess you can't have one without the other though.







And some natural things:







On Sunday, Steve and I drove to the moors. I took lots of photos....








Steve took some photos too.


Finally, we headed back to London town on Sunday night.

New Acrylics, a spot of rain, bookcases and a chest of drawers.

It has been raining today. The garden is thankful. The soil has gone a rich mahogany. It was so grey and weary before.



And here are my sparkly new acrylics. I'm so looking forward to using them. I used to paint in acrylic all the time at University, however I liked the range of colours in watercolour best when I left. The selection of 'Liquitex Concentrated Acrylics' was never inspiring. (I don't get on well with thick gloopy acrylics- I like to use them like watercolour). So, when I heard about the new range of Golden Fluid Acrylics it piqued my interest. I've been adding more and more gouache to my work, but always get frustrated that I can't layer over the top of them without them going muddy, so hopefully, the new acrylics will do the trick.






All my favourite books are now easily viewable, which means I should remember to use them as reference and ideas more often.




And Concretin has taken refuge up on the high shelves, because Vortex has taken a special liking to him (he tries to tear his brains out!)


And here is the new chest of drawers. As you can see, we've still not quite finished sorting through things, but we are getting there.


And the bubble blowers from yesterday's service. I was rushing around like a mad person, sorting these out yesterday morning. (that'll teach me for always leaving Soul Space stuff 'til the last minute)





So, anyway, I'm sure you've all notices how much I am loving my Leica Camera. :o) It's funny, it isn't what I expected. I kind of expected an old-styled camera to produce slightly old, quirky looking pictures. And it took me a little while to get used to the settings and controls, as they are slightly different from what I am used to with other compact digital cameras. But I love it so much. It's so quick at focusing and taking pictures, which is a big bonus when you want to snap things on the hoof. And the funky leather case is only off my shoulder when I go to bed- and even then it is on my bedside table.

Steve is off shooting this morning, but we are going to enjoy a wonderful bank-holiday afternoon drinking coffee and eating muffins a little later on.

Happy May Day. :o)

An hour with Lizzie.

Every minute I spend with Lizzie I feel thankful for. She came over for a flying visit whilst in London this afternoon. She's one of those people that makes you feel so alive, like the world is FULL of stuff to explore, and that there is no shame in thinking and dreaming and expressing your creative self. That the universe is bigger than the mundane day-to-day stuff, whilst at the same time its the day-to-day stuff that can lead you to wonderful truths.

I baked special cloud cupcakes for a special dreamer.


And the sun was streaming in through the window. Oh how I love sun beams.

Too many choices

Do you ever find that some days you wake up and there are just too many choices of how to spend it. And that sometimes, all these options spin around inside your head, stopping you from starting anything. Or WORSE, you start something halfheartedly, then get discouraged and try to start something else, with a gap of about an hours sitting in between. It's especially annoying when yesterday you thought you'd have such a productive day because of all these cool new ideas.

So, how to exit the funk.
Step 1: Have a nice wholesome lunch. I'm about to prepare salmon sandwiches and a yummy salad.

Step 2: Sit down with a notebook/journal and write down all your thoughts. You may find that some of your brain fluff dissolves upon closer inspection, but other strands start taking shape.

Step 3: Have a look at your ideas/to-dos and work out a logical order for accomplishment. Some things like 'Take the cat out in the garden' may fit well with 'doodle some roughs'. 'Tidy your desk' should come before 'paint that little picture'. And 'update the website' with chill-out and watch another episode of your favourite tv show. (I like doing those two at once- it stops me getting fidgety).

Step 4: Concentrate 100% on what you are doing and try not to get distracted. If you are expecting a work email that could throw off your plan then schedule in times to check your email rather than leaping out of your seat every time you hear the little bong.

So, I'm off to make some lunch and then defluff my brain.

Gina.

Yesterday we had coffee with friends. Gina is lovely and a friend from university days. She works for the RSPCA.


Here's Steve. I like this photo. Steve is hard to photograph. He never looks the same on film as he does in real life. This is the closest I have got. Do you have a 'camera' face? One that you pull every time a camera is pointed in your direction? A tense expression, or a stiff smile? I want to get so quick-to-the-draw with my new camera that I capture more moments like this one.

The Birthday Post

So, yesterday was the best. Here are a few snaps.
The extra extra special present was a Leica digital camera, which I'm still learning how to use. It is oh-so-pretty and old fashioned looking. I'm looking forward to it becoming my permanent companion on every adventure. I can be a lazy observer when I'm out and about, so hopefully it will change that AND bulk up my library of illustration reference.





Other stuff that I was lucky enough to receive were:
Awesome cookery books. I heart cooking and baking. It always feels like such a luxury to try new foods, and to feed other people delicious meals- without the hefty price-tag of eating out.


Empire Records on DVD- one of my favourite 'lose your brain' films ever. I looked for it about a year ago and couldn't find it on dvd anywhere so it was SUCH a surprise to get it- and the extra 17mins or so that comes with this edition.
I also got some cool cds from Fopp thanks to a cheque from lovely aunty and uncle.


Steve made me this awesome suspender belt to hold my long socks up. It's so cool and funky- like nothing you can get in shops. Who wants lace when you can have skull-print?


This fab necklace and ring came from my bro and his wife in New Zealand. I've always wanted to wear lots of chunky rings, but never got round to hunting some nice ones out so this is so cool.



Oooo, and tea- yummy tea. I've become a bit of a tea-monster after spending 25 years saying how horrible it is. My fave of this selection is the English Breakfast tea, but they are all interesting and delicious.



And a nice big purse and clock hands from my ma and pa. (along with the cupcake books and all those maltesers playing at bubble wrap). It's so ace having a big purse. I can fit SO much stuff in it. hehehehe.


And this cute cute cute necklace that is oh-so me, from Steve.


So, in conclusion, I am indeed, the luckiest girl in the world and so so thankfull for such a wonderful birthday.

Julie McKee

This evening we went to a benefit gig by our incredibly talented friend Julie McKee.
She has the most amazing voice, and I've seen her perform once before, where she did many jazz covers. But this evening she performed mostly her own songs that she's written in the last few months and they were absolutely WONDERFUL. I mean it. So so so so so amazing. Quite Ben Folds, with her playing the piano, and many of the lyrics had me in hysterics. Whatever inspiration she' been looking for lately, I think she has most definitely found it. I just can't wait for her to release these new songs so I can get you all to buy them. You'll love them too, I bet!

A tidy desk, a tidy mind

The other day, Steve and I covered the doors that make up the top section of my painting desk in some fabulous Reprodepot fabric.



Now there is no point having fancy doors if the rest of the desk is a complete state and so today has been spent tidying the rest of it up- One of those never ending jobs that doesn't take ten minutes of putting away, but half and hour of sorting out the contents of every single draw. Then, of course, you are left with a big stack of stuff that just has no-where to live, and so gets squeezed right back where it came from.



And while I was at it, I couldn't leave my plain wooden drawers alone. I photomounted some of my delicious Japanese paper (from Liberty don't y'know!) onto the front panels. It's all so prettified, I am hoping to make the extra effort to keep it that way. Now, once upon a time I would have said 'yes, I'm going to keep this tidy' and secretly known that it was be messy in a day. But after my success with microfibre cloths and Oz Clean cleaning spray in the kitchen, I'm not so cynical. (We used to only do a proper clean when we had friends coming over- now it's pretty sparkly all the time!)



So, the rest of the day has been spent making food for the lovely friends coming over this evening for a Soul Space meeting. The menu consists of:
Homemade burgers
Roasted potato, sweet potato and parsnip wedges
And a delicious salad.

I love having friends over. Which is another weird thing. I used to panic and fret when having people over. I liked my space and my time to myself, and folk coming over used to feel like such a chore. But not anymore. Now I adore it. There is nothing like having a bunch of friendly people in your house and feeding them. Of breaking bread together, with wine and laughter and chatting. I guess I must have enough time to myself the rest of the week!

Red is the order of the day

Steve and I went shopping. Oh what fun we had! He is a wonderful shopping companion because he has such an eye for what will look good on me. I tried 'grown up' clothes for a change from Urban Outfitters.

And brought home:
A light and floaty black cami top:


A fabulous vintage-look striped dress a-la my 1950's housewives:



Red red lipstick from Mac cosmetics:


A very cool red 1950s style dress that makes me feel all girly and wonderful:


A skull and wooly bobble scarf that Steve got me yesterday:


And a lovely blue and cream hoodie with birds printed on it (oh, how I do like birds!).





What a pleasant day. I also tried to find some flattering jeans but after all the floaty dresses and girly loveliness, I wasn't in the mood to squeeze myself into jeans and feel all chunky and rubbish.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

A felt bird and a magic box.

Last night I made a felt bird that I am going to sew onto a piece of clothing (when I find one that he wants to live on).


Steve bought me an amazing wooden box. It is beautiful. It is now a designated sewing-and-making box and contains embroidery threads, felt and buttons.


Tomorrow we are going to have the most wonderful day in town. We've both been working so hard lately that it will be lovely to spend some time together having fun. :o)

And and and now that Vortex has been delayed until Monday, it means that Steve can come with me to pick him up, which will be so much fun and so nice to have two pairs of hands should he not enjoy travelling on the tube in his customised cat carrier. Have a great weekend everyone!

I clicked 'New Post'

without having thought of anything to say.

This weekend is Steve's birthday weekend. We are off on a present hunt this afternoon. This involves walking round lots of his favourite shops where he says 'oh, I like that!' and 'brilliant, I'd love one of them!' and then he gets dropped off in a coffee shop and I go and select his birthday present from things that he likes. That way he gets a surprise, but also something that he likes.

After hours and hours and lists and lists of names we settled on the name Vortex for our new kitty. We could happily come up with girly names all evening but it was so hard to come up with a boy name. (I wonder which name would do more damage to a boy cat's self esteem- Vortex or Penny?) He'll probably be known as Texxy around the house which I can live with.
I also spent far too much time on the internet yesterday reading about teaching Bengal's tricks. Did you know you can toilet train them? This site tells you how. How cool is that! I'm most looking forward to taking him out for walks on his leash. (and before you ask- No I wouldn't have been better off with a dog!He he he)





In other news. Steve and I have both finally succumbed to a cold. Bleugh. After fighting it for weeks with high dose vitamin C, it waited until we'd both finished big jobs before launching it's final attack. Oh, well, at least the high dose vitamin C is keeping it quite mild. (I can't recommend the stuff enough- it's brilliant).