instant blogging?

Currently I'm moving house and abit frustrated with blogging. Sometimes when I don't blog instantly it feels pointless. I thought my blogger blog would be as easy as past blogs but for some reason its different. While I'm working things out I'm just going to try and update when I can. Things are changing with the move good or bad habits may be formed!

So this photo is me today, before I can opt out and delete this post. Complete with spots and blemishes.

This is my lunch - smoked tofu sandwich with spinach in ciabatta. SO TASTY! nom nom. (No I'm not vegan.)

and this is my sexy face :)

Barnicles x

Pinhappy - be inspired

We all love Pinterest. If you haven't already I encourage you to sign up and use it for knitting/crochet/quilting tutorials or recipes! The categories are large and amazing and you can pin any other recipes/tutorials you find. It's a great way to keep track of your favourite pages on the internet. Don't let your bookmarks get out of control. If you pin it you can always find it again! (This is not sponsored, I promise and if you pin 400 things to one board it may take you a little while to find it!)

Pinterest can be overwhelming at times with the amount of inspiration from completed projects and tutorials. It can be visual overload, but it's a perfect inspiration board.

This year I finally got Pinterest on my phone - and I'm loving the app. I have a bad habit of pinning everything to my inspiration board - it does all inspire me, but it's a lazy way of pinning. Then later sorting it later into categories. One of my goals this year is to go through the tutorials and diy's and repin them to my competed projects/tutorials board with an example of what I made.

I highly recommend you check it out - you can find me at here - Barnicles on pinterest. I'm not promoting the site - I'm promoting creating. I've taught myself so much since discovering pinterest, full of tutorials. To give you an idea here are some of my boards - Food, Embroidery, Sewing ideas/tutorials, wool crafts, my dream studio, photography (full of tutorials+info), paper crafts, quotes, diy's, etc, see them all here!

I believe we don't need a university or tutor to teach us, so much information is in libraries or on the internet we can teach ourselves, even if your grannies are too old! (I kind of wish I was born 10 years earlier so my grandparents were younger and I could learn more from my Granny in America who was an amazing dressmaker and my Granny Judy in cornwall who taught me to knit, crochet, tatting etc.

Enjoy and be inspired, try new things.

Note - do you think pinterest is creating too much inspiration for us or targeting too many people with the same ideas? 

Barnicles

Blast from the past

I'm enjoying sorting through all photos and thought I would share some photos that document my life and how I have evolved.

Do you believe in fairies? I used to be a silver-faery. The past is part of us, that I think we should embrace. Sometimes I miss that girl ^^^.

Barnicles x

Happy Snow Day

I'm actually still in work, but there seems to be snow everywhere! Particularly in places it never snows like London and Paris!

My beloved blowfish boots now have holes in them so I've been doing my best in wellies. I do feel silly walking around town (where there's no snow left) in them but outside the city at work there is still a foot of snow!

Saw this and loved it so much I had to share. No credit so if you know where it's from let me know.

http://imgur.com/A6kEWCw

Did you get any snow, go tobogganing or build snow men, castles, or rude objects?

Barnicles

Weekend life

Hey there, I'm surrounded by my family - my best mate/flatmate and boyfriend and feeling inspired to update about the simple joys of a weekend at home.



Nothing is as enjoyable as spending a day with my family with us each doing our own things. Why? Because we love doing our own things together. Currently Gus my boyfriend is playing on my pc "Heroes of Might and Magic", Charlie my amazing flatmate is playing LOTR lego, which I love watching but do not have the concentration span to play! While I write blogs, knit, work on a jigsaw and potter about doing chores. Which shouldn't really be called chores. An unforgettable quote from my mum which my brother in law quoted me was about being happy if we are present in every task we attempt. Yup, Im attempting to be present while washing up and walking places rather than imagining being elsewhere and my to do list. It's working remarkably well now, even though I wasn't very receptive at the time I heard it.

Side note - lego building in video games sounds awesome. Listening to the game makes me want to watch LOTR again! I am actually disappointed when Charlie decides she needs a break from the game. So fun to watch. Incase we all sound very lazy right now, we all have full time jobs, some of us study as well and for all of us this is our down time.

Gus made us a great dinner last night which we will be reheating for dinner tonight (it was that good). Pasta with haloumi, sun-dried tomatos, olives (black and green) and sausage. He kept it fresh with no butter, frying the sausages in vegetable oil and dressing the pasta with light amount of olive oil and balasmic vinegar.

So while my boyfriend uses my beloved pc (or should that be beloved bf uses my... amazing pc). I'm using the oldest ibook in the world. Connected by an ethernet cable this is my laptop. I find it alot easier to write on a laptop than pc, but easier to link in photos on a pc (or faster machine!!)

Hope your having a relaxing weekend :)
Barnicles

Dear 2013 - you start with bad news

We look forward to a new start - a new chance in the new year. Then this week I heard two pieces of bad news which were more important that my stupid little problems. The news shook me, it wasn't mine and perhaps it is silly for me to be upset by it. I'm sensitive though, and overwhelmed by empathy. I spent that night on my own, doing nothing. My brain needed a vacation.

This year will definitely bring change. There is so much we cannot control and all we can do is focus on ourselves and our loved ones around us.

Today is also the anniversary of an old friend passing. His sister and friends keep his memory alive and he is forever in our thoughts. His essence and goodness lives on. It is so nice to see him being remembered so strongly years later.

I didn't feel like posting resolutions or normal posts this week. While I was swept up in new year fever of inspiration and new goals the bad news was sobering. Of course we can find the good in the bad and make ourselves better, more decisive and constructive in our lives. Saying this I still found it hard to find a pic to accompany this post. I am working on 700 pics from christmas with the family in wales, and wasn't sure if any of them fitted...

I'll leave you with this photo and a bad rehash of something said at pales quaker christmas meeting this year. The theme was rebirth and although the members of the meeting are older, my nephew was there, squeaking and coo-ing during the silence (time at the beggining of a quaker meeting where people can reflect and think, and perhaps afterwards share their thoughts with the meeting). My sister was embarassed but I think everyone enjoyed his presence. Babies are a good reminder of the good in all of us. We lit candles on the table in the centre of us to make the light grow. A few people talked about winter, parts of us dying in order for rebirth and the light of the spring. We have seasons in our life independent of the earth's seasons. It is a nice metaphore. This year is about change. My relationship with my dad had, perhaps died and in 2012 was was brought back to life. My gorgeous nephew brought the family together and a series of celebratory events drew us closer. None as important than his birth.

 xxx Barnicles

Dinner

Last night I took inspiration from Lil Blue Boo Ashley and had a butchers block dinner.

It's more exciting that my usual bag of salad with dressing to dip into or carrot sticks. I even tried ranch dressing - but I'm still making my mind up on that. I also had a load more salad - that stuff does not fit on a plate and lettuce disappears so fast when you start snacking on it.... with a little bit of french dressing to dip. I go for extra crunchy salad. Yum!

 Things you should know :-

1. I'm not pretending my photo is as nice as Ashley's, in fact I'm not even competing.
2. This isn't about calories or health. No pretending!
3. The chicken was the last thing left on the plate, no joke.

In no order - cooked chicken, pickles, carrot sticks, crunchy lettuce, Philadelphia for the carrot sticks and french dressing for the salad leaves.

CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH :)

Barnicles