by Carla Louise | Aug 14, 2012 | Creating |
Title borrowed from something Mimi said to me earlier today. It summed up perfectly how I feel right now – tense, bubbly, ready to explode with all the exciting things that are happening but also slightly reluctant, nervous, apprehensive. And yet much more so, positive, forward looking, decisive and determined. It’s wonderful but slightly unnerving, feeling all these things at once.
I’m on my way to a meeting to talk about one of the many exciting ventures that are currently building and falling into place in my life. I do feel, despite some ups and some serious downs, that I am shortly to be exactly where I am meant to be, where I have been leading to both deliberately and unconsciously, for all of my adult life.
The Olympics are over and the Paralympics don’t start for another two weeks – London is in limbo, but we truly have inspired more than a generation.
For me, watching the games, experiencing the atmosphere and observing the grace, belonging and dedication of those athletes, doing something they truly love – it made me realise that I need to stop waiting for my dreams to magically happen, and go and get then instead. This means creating something rather than looking for a compromised version, making it happen instead of hoping it will fall into my lap if I wait long enough. In short, stop watching, start doing – my dreams will only happen if I make them.
I also tried to take up running, something which I’m almost certain will be quite short lived. I prefer wheels to feet. But can’t hurt to try something new, right?
So I am considering, planning, weighing up options. The response I’ve had from the few, varied, people I have whispered my tentative plans to has been overwhelmingly positive – I wasn’t looking for validation but support, and I have cried more than once at how lucky I am to have these kinds of friends and family. Unwavering, loyal, but also honest – and help me see things I may have overlooked about myself.
I have a definite timescale, defined by things outside my control. But that’s no bad thing. It adds to my focus, makes me even more determined.
This is a hazy vision of my future, I know, but watch this space – my custom-made life is about to develop like a photograph in a darkroom…
by Carla Louise | Jun 15, 2012 | Creating, Food & Baking, Personal Development |
Bit of a mish mash, wordy, linky post, as I’m having one of the busiest weeks ever and am running around like an entire flock of headless chickens. And then some. So here goes, stuff that has made me happy this week…
– Discovering all over again that I actually have the best friends a girl could ever possibly wish for. I am very, very lucky.
– Fluffy white bread for the first time in ages and Ben’s cookies from a colleague at work
– Emily coming round and cooking for me – this was the most luxurious thing ever, quite aside from the loveliness of seeing her
– Exciting snippets of other people’s news – new chapters all over the shop
– That feeling you get when opening a brand new document in InDesign and knowing you can create almost anything you want
– Planning outfits, shoes and accessories for the boudoir shoot next weekend
– Discovering a Bauhaus exhibition, which we hope to go to tomorrow, to assist the lovely Lou with her research for an application she’s doing
– Business course with Startup Saturday tomorrow, WordPress course on Wednesday for work and plans for my future
– Making lists and feeling a bit more in control of my workload, finances and life
– Plans for blogger meetups with Annastasia, a PPU store (more of that later) and expansion of Ducking Fabulous (more of that later too), among other things
– Unexpected commissions – and selling a necklace to my director, which was a very weird but very nice feeling! Unfortunately I neglected to photograph it, but will recreate it for the shop soon 🙂
– Val telling me that she saw an advert for a burlesque show and immediately thought of me, “just like when I see horses and ducks”. It’s becoming a part of me in a way I never expected, but I love it!
– Reading proper chick lit again – I’ve read nothing but non fiction for a couple of months and it was very good to lose myself in a couple of Fiona Gibson’s novels (go and read them if you haven’t already, they’re funny, poignant and I identify with the characters so much – even the ones I’m not yet!)
– Planning the 100 day challenge, or a version of it, to get a bit of stability back into my finances (thanks to Sophia at Tattooed Tealady for the inspiration)
– Boutique Baking and Jamie’s Great Britain– I am so looking forward to choosing things to make and bake from these books
– Deciding, after last Sunday’s #bbloggers chat, that my blog is a place for me to indulge my many passions and hobbies and loves – it might get more readers if it was more focused, but I prefer it to be a true reflection of my character and personality – chaotic but lovely!
Tomorrow I’m with Lou in London, planning for the future, and Sunday hopefully collecting my new bike (squeee) so more posts to come!
by Carla Louise | Jun 4, 2012 | Creating, Personal Development, Photography |
Rediscovering my pointe shoes…
Makeup trial for the wedding (done by me) – this is look one, neutral eyes with sheer-ish red lips. Shocking phone photo and my glasses obscure my eyelids, I know. More of these to come before the actual wedding. Skin’s looking clearer though – Nars illuminator is magical stuff!
Challenging myself to sew something for the Popular Crafts Union Jack swap… here’s my finished needle book 🙂 Will be posted with a treat and a cross stitched card!
Munching the cake I bought for a friend’s BBQ that was abandoned due to rain. I suspect the diet will be back on when I’m back at work, I’m maintaining weight but there’s so much yummy food involved in this week… lol! These cakes, stocked in our local Wyevale (Colchester Stanway and Braintree) are my favourite fallbacks if I don’t have time to bake, they taste homemade!
Sorting bookshelves and installing a ballet barre *cough perfect height clothes rail cough* in my living room – if I’m going to be ready for this burlesque cabaret in October, I need to strengthen my long-neglected dance muscles and improve my flexibility. Removing my glove with my foot is, as expected, somewhat trickier than it looks on stage! My intention is to try to do 10-15 mins of stretches and barre work each day even if I manage no other exercise. Combined with burlesque each week and hopefully cycling when my bike eventually arrives, plus skating which I do whenever I can but usually once a week, I should be trimmer, fitter and more flexible in no time. Yeah. I live in hope. But I’ll at least enjoy myself in the process!
Also managed to paint my toenails (my feet are not fit for photographing so here are the colours I used) and ogling the Pashley Poppy on the front of this month’s Homes and Antiques. Cannot WAIT for mine (it’s the blue, rather than the pink, version) to arrive – hopefully in a little over a month. Squee!
Footnote: I’m aware that wearing pointe shoes while not a trained dancer can damage your feet; I’m also aware mine should have ribbons attached for support. They’re mostly decorative and I intend to wear them for a photoshoot. I doubt I will ever again dance that level of ballet!
by Carla Louise | Apr 29, 2012 | Adventures, Creating |
I’m finding it increasingly hard to believe we’re still in a drought and still have a hosepipe ban – it has done nothing but rain for days!
My weekend has been rather lovely though – went to see Mum & Dad’s new flat, including their thoroughly gorgeous blue sofas and Dad’s reading lamp – wish I could sneak that out without anyone noticing, hehe (the flat is not ready to move into yet, but it’s getting there!):
I ran around town buying last minute stuff for the next three weekends (uni reunion in Loughborough over the bank holiday, Julia’s hen do in Paris and canal boat trip with Rob and friends) including surprises for Jules and a proper waterproof jacket – lol!
(hmm – no photo, waterproofs are not flattering. But hopefully will keep me dry!)
Then saw lovely Sharon and had icecream to celebrate having tried on the bridesmaids dress and found it now does up. Yup, my weight loss worked – but after this weekend I’m now fairly convinced it doesn’t fit again, lol! Back to le diet tomorrow… sigh. Loooong phone catch up with Lou, designed my business cards which I’ll order this week and was generally very productive. Although did nearly get flattened in the car park by wind and rain (which seems a tad unfair, if you’re going to be flattened in a car park you’d expect it to be by some large and impressive vehicle, surely?!)
Today I hibernated and worked on Ducking Fabulous until the rain stopped, and then I went for coffee with Wendy with the roof down – squeee! We went to Thorntons, it was lush:
And as we left, I left the water-themed keyring I’d made for the Out of the Blue Curiosity Project (which I talked about in this post) on the table – I hope someone picks it up!
by Carla Louise | Apr 25, 2012 | Creating |
(warning – wordy post)
I have been, for a while, in a toweringly bad mood that seems to be lingering, and I think the way to get rid of it might be to take part in the Curiosity Project’s new venture, Out Of The Blue.
This involves leaving a random gift for a stranger, photographing it and then hoping they will find it and come and tell us about it. Of course, if they don’t, you’ve hopefully still have made someone’s day with an unexpected treat.
I don’t know if it will cure my malaise (which I suspect has been brought on by the diet and the unrelenting crappy weather) but we’ll give it a go.
I considered leaving a present in my office, but there are so few women here, and I am so unlike the majority (all?) of them, that I think it would be too obvious.
On the train is a terrible idea, because I do not want to be arrested, nor for it to be thrown away because commuters are too frightened or otherwise occupied to pick it up.
So that leaves the following: somewhere along my walk to the train station (preferably on a dry day, of which there are frighteningly few at the moment); on the stairs in my building (but there are only six flats so it’s not so random); on a car in the car park (but I’d be furious if someone touched my car without my knowledge/permission); one of the approximately forty-nine coffee shops within ten minutes’ walk of my work (I’m not even exaggerating that much) or somewhere totally random on the weekend.
I’m leaning towards totally random – this weekend I’m away at a friend’s birthday, next weekend I am at home. Perfect.
Now for what to leave….
Both inside and outside Ducking Fabulous, I make things. I’ll probably add chocolate to whatever I leave, but for the main part I’m thinking something small and pretty, and perhaps themed… I’m a little obsessed with my new domino necklace range, so maybe a pocketwatch print in a clocktower? A leaf print in a woodland? A unicorn print in a stableyard? An abstract print in a coffee shop?
Hmm. I’ll keep you posted!
by Carla Louise | Mar 26, 2012 | Personal Development |
Well, I have discovered something – blogging really can change your life! Even if it’s only in small ways… I drafted a post on the train home tonight about how I was going to be more organised now that I have full permission from the day job to relaunch Ducking Fabulous (excuse me… SQUEEEEEEEEEE!); and with the oft-lamented 2 hours each way commute, I thought it was high time I got my life in order. I have approximately two weeks to do this, before my labels arrive and I can open my shop in earnest.
So I arrived home after a bizarrely productive day at work, dropped a necklace back to my neighbour, chatted to her housemate for a while, came upstairs, made dinner, ate dinner, read for a bit… and then suddenly had a fit of usefulness which surprised even me! So now my labels are ordered, my filing is in a box on top of the filing cabinet, my accounts are done, my computer is set up in the living room rather than on my bed, the bathroom is cleaner than it was and I’m about to hang out the last load of washing. And I’ve replied to some emails which I have been meaning to reply to for at least a month.
I know, right… what happened?! I’m not sure either… but I’m going with the flow, and will re-draft the post to take account of the fact that I actually did housework of my own accord 😮
I’ve also been asked to share some photos of my flat so I’ll do that when I’ve had some decent light to photograph it in, and having had a glorious weekend full of kittens and cooking (but not cooking the kittens), I have those pics to share too 🙂
For now – it’s gone half 11 so I must be heading bedwards. Goodnight, lovelies!
by Carla Louise | Mar 15, 2012 | Uncategorized |
Just a little progress report – stock is counted, extra parts have arrived, the new logo is well underway and all my plans are quite effectively coming together for the launch of my Etsy shop 🙂
I’m very excited to have my jewellery available for sale again after a hiatus, during which I got used to the day job and the commute, travelled a lot and generally ran around like a headless chicken.
I’m also hoping to stock some craft supplies, but more on that later – squee!
by Carla Louise | Feb 8, 2012 | Adventures |
Oh, hello blogland! I have missed you!
This week has been full of madness with some awesome highlights. The main event would be leaving my house for ten mins to jump in the snow, and coming back to find I’d somehow lost my phone. Utterly lost – I’m still mystified as to where its gone :s
One breakdown, a lot of tears and frustration, one trip to town, £65 and about four phone calls to my provider later, I have a replacement phone with my old number transferred to it. Disaster dealt with. But it made me realise how much we rely on our phones… And for me, how much of a lifeline it is as i live on my own and commute… Being in touch and contactable keeps me sane, and my 24 hours away from it was a very strange feeling. I also don’t remember phone numbed anymore – it was only through luck I had a friend’s landline written down so I could call her and panic!
So on to more exciting things… Today is my last day at work before the Great American Road Trip! My suitcases are packed, my technology is ready to be thrown in and I shall be meandering over to mum and dad’s this evening to start the adventure!
I am stupidly excited… It’s a long time since I’ve been to the South and it’ll be so good to be there as an adult and absorb stuff! I will of course be blogging as we go… If dad lets me borrow his laptop some evenings I might even get some photos up!
Things I need to do before i leave tonight… Buy travel insurance, triple check my passport and driving licence, set a security light, remember to breathe!
Other things that have made me happy in the last couple of weeks… * curry in Brick Lane with colleagues being surprisingly fun * putting a deposit on a sewing machine * catching up with old friends * Joe Deluccio’s gelato * cross stitching * new ideas and plans * baby animals (Rob has kittens, Caitlin nearly has a puppy) * true friendship * having a night in with Lou over the phone * icicles * mini cans of Pepsi Max * ear muffs * Lego pick and mix (see pic at top of post) * Polka dots.
by Carla Louise | Jan 16, 2012 | Uncategorized |
Now, I’m not usually one for diets, as I love my figure. However, I have a bridesmaid’s dress to get into in July, and several things between now and then that require more stamina and fitness than I currently have. I’ve been wanting to improve my fitness for a while, so hoping that by doing that I’ll automatically shift a few pounds (ok, quite a lot of pounds) and look amazing in the dress almost by accident.
Yeah, right.
But seriously, it’s been a while since I’ve actively tried to be healthy about eating – I use the excuse (and it is an excuse) of working in London and being busy and blah blah blah… yes, I’m out of the house for 14 hours a day and yes, I often can’t be bothered to cook when I get in because I’m exhausted. I also have issues with portion size – if it’s normal time, I eat normal portions. If I get home from work late, by the time I’ve cooked I’m so hungry I just inhale the food without even really tasting it, and I eat far too much because I’m so hungry I don’t wait to find out if I’m full or not.
I also snack too much at work – which would be fine if it was on healthy stuff, but actually the amount of chocolate my floor gets through is frightening!
So. It’s freezing cold but once I’m out there I’m usually fine, so I’ve set myself the following targets:
- Walk, run (not yet… I’m building up to this) or rollerskate for at least 30 mins at a brisk pace, 2-3 times a week
- Use the bloody iJoyRide – it sits in my living room and it requires just fifteen minutes for one setting. It tones your legs and stomach, and your arms too if you’re not reading a book in the process. There is NO EXCUSE for me not to be using this, especially not given how long I wanted one for.
- Cut down on the chocolate and the Pepsi Max. If I could make myself come off the caffeinated fizzy drinks altogether I would – I think I’d notice an instant reduction in waistline from the lack of bloating! I’m not suggesting cutting chocolate out as I know from bitter experience that just makes me crave it.
- Stretch. I used to be a dancer, ergo I used to be really flexible. I’m not entirely sure when that stopped being the case, but I’m determined to get it back.
- Use the slow cooker. I bought one for a reason – with planning, there’s no reason why dinner can’t be ready ten minutes (twenty at the most) after walking through the door – this is much healthier than trying to cook at 9pm and getting stressed because I’m overtired, or grabbing fast food on the way home because I’m anticipating cooking and can’t be bothered.
- Cook properly whenever possible. As I (re)discovered over New Year, I actually really like cooking – I just need time and space to do it properly. So when I have a weekend off (i.e. not dashing madly around the countryside visiting people or doing stuff) – I’m going to cook!
I think all of these are achievable, although if any of you lovely lot who follow me on Twitter are reading this, I’d massively appreciate the odd guilt-trip or poke to make sure I am in fact doing it. I can be very faddy, and will do something for a couple of days then crack and open the Maltesers. (Mmmmm. Maltesers. You see the problem I have?!)
I won’t check in on a particular day of the week, but I will try and post regular updates, for myself as much as anything else. My targets and incentives are my USA trip (9 February – I need to stop procrastinating!); my 26th birthday (21 February – ditto); a canal boat trip in May (I need to leap on and off of boats. That’s not even slightly going to happen at the moment) and Julia’s wedding in July. She and her bridesmaids are pretty much all a size 8, and I’m never going to match that (nor would I want to, I’d look really weird) but I’d like to have pin up curves rather than squidgy bits by then if at all possible!
So we’ll see how I do!
by Carla Louise | Jan 8, 2012 | Uncategorized |
Unexpected weekends are always the best ones, aren’t they? This one was meant to involve lunch in London and then home to tidy up and do useful things.
I’m not going to share a photo of why i should be tidying up :p
Anyway. I came down to Reading to meet Wendy, then went to Lou’s for dinner (VIA Waterstones which was almost very dangerous) with her, Paul, Kelly and Mike, then spent this morning in town with Sar and Dan, and then back to Lou’s for much, creativity and planning. Perfect.
Now on a train home, and hoping to get back and rustle up a roast while I do some washing, then maybe do a little bit of crafting this eve before bed! Currently struggling to keep my eyes open so we’ll see how that goes!
Hope you all have a gorgeous Sunday evening!
by Carla Louise | Jan 6, 2012 | Adventures |
In February I’m off on a road trip round the southern states with my parents. We’ve been meaning to do this trip since waaaaay back in 2000, but somehow it’s taken this long to find time when all three of us can go!
We’re flying into Dallas Fort Worth, and will spend time there at the HAI conference (working) and at the stock yards and Billy Bob’s (not working!).
We fly home from North Carolina ten days after arriving. In between, while visiting our friends along the way, I want to see Nashville because last time I was there, I was too busy competing to see much of the city.
Parentals reckon we should see Sun Studios, which they did once before… And in between, I’m open to suggestions!
Is there anything I should see? Special places to go? Bars I should try? Things I should do?
by Carla Louise | Jan 3, 2012 | Creating |
I love everything Narnia and think I always have done, but having caught the end of Prince Caspian on TV this evening, I am seized by a sudden desire to make Susan’s farewell dress (so called because it’s the last time she appears in Narnia, and it’s the dress she says her goodbyes and goes back to England in).
I’ve spent some of this evening scouring the internet for inspiration, cosplay, photos, descriptions and patterns, and have started a Pinterest board of some of the things I’ve found. Kim told me today the sewing machine she’s giving me should be in the office by next weekend, so fingers crossed this can be a 2012 project! Then I can have a Narnia themed party for my birthday… maybe my 27th… 🙂
I’ve also learned what cosplay is – you really do learn something new every day!
