Unfiltered Rah!

Not for the first time. Here I go again. A lot has happened in our time apart, I miss this blog and have decided to resurrect it, with pages to compliment each part of my journey for this next year. So we need a facelift, a rejig and a new vibe. That I aim to do. The theme for the month of June for me is to Revitalise and to do that I am turning off the comment to spambots, leaving the space to explore my thoughts and ideas. I will, when feeling brave enough, open up the floor to educated discussion and debate Until then. Let’s have a catch up.

So I like lists and I borrowed this one in 2010, I was kinda busy NY 2011 so I’ll drop it in now.

Things I did in 2011:
10. Became a qualified teacher
9. Holidayed in the sun with my husband
8. Explored ideas in my classroom
7. Reconciled a broken friendship
6. Learned more about teaching from the children I teach
5. Fell out of love with reading
4. Fell in love with my family
3. Spent time creating a nest
2. Realised I had made friends
1. Grew a baby

What I lost in 2011:
10. My double life
9. Some facebook friends
8. Body confidence
7. The inclination to drink alcohol
6. Some wellworn shoes but not the memories that accompanied them!
5. Time for friends (need to address this in 2011!)
4. My drive to write in this here blog
3. Patience with of a couple of people
2. My class!!!
1. Good toenails - do not underestimate the power of pain

What I found in 2011:
10. My love of wandering and wanderlust is still there
9. That I can accomplish scary tasks
8. The human body is an amazing tour de force
7. Dreams of Greek beaches, ouzo and sunshine
6. That I do love maki, champagne, chocolate mousse - even more when I can’t have it!
5. Hope is a thing that you do, not something that happens for you.
6. Ugg boots.
5. The importance of taking time and care with yourself and appearance, it really can make you feel better.
4. Beautiful dresses. Snap!
3. Words do matter, writing is needed!
2. That film feeling.
1. A longing for adventure with the people I love.

What I learned in 2011:
10. I can’t drive well yet
9. I am a good teacher
8. How to look after myself
7. Not everyone is judging you
6. How much I mean to people
5. I am my own worst enemy
4. I am positive
3. I am strong
2. Don’t search for happiness, experience it in everything you do.
1. If at first you don’t succeed, have a cocktail and then try again!

My goals for 2012
# Have an amazing first year with my son.
# Write.
# Lose weight, shape up and feel fit again.
# Spend time having fun with the people I love.

On that note, I am going for now, more tomorrow on my plan of action for an energetic June.

D

Thought I’d art it up a little for musical Monday with some poetry from the net
Enjoy!

“What Teachers Make,” by Taylor Mali

“Well, Thank You” by Taylor Phillips

“Pretty” by Katie Makkai

“Come Closer” by Anis Mojgani

x

Mad school day, packed loads in, worked hard when home, watched glee, ate chinese, missed the husband muchly. Deep breath, here are my tunes of the day.

I know I’m so not cool but I love Tinie Tempah’s Pass Out, so here it is!

Now for some Valentine’s Day smoochy tunes

One of my absolute favourites - Faith Hill - The Way You Love Me
I like the sentiment

This one too while we’re on a country theme

And because love isn’t tidy - why not

TLC - I Miss You So Much

Best till last - for D

Love and all that comes with it! xxx

“Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being “in love” which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.”
-St. Augustine (Taken from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin)

I spend most of my time away from home and thus when I eventually get to spend the weekends there the last thing I want to do is tidy or clean. The Man also works away a lot so our house gets babysat by the in-laws who check up on it, ensuring no-one breaks in etc. These last few weeks we have been putting a plan into action, slow baby steps by the Man, methodical cleaning and clearing out but I have yet to get involved, saving that for my holiday (starting next weekend). Although I am itching to start clearing out, a part of me is dreading the effort, yet I know that it’ll be worth it once it is done. We have already procured a gorgeous sofabed and large footstool that turns into a bed! Both are from Sofa Workshop - we chose the Harry in the vogue material in a teal colour. The footstool is in the same material but in a hot pink. Shockingly the man was all for this!
See below for some pictures from the Sofa Workshop site. (Copyright is theirs) The Man has said how great they were to deal with both online and on the phone as we didn’t want the standard material or colours

The footstool

The sofa bed, ours will be a tad bigger than this!

Slowly but surely we are getting sorted and creative with our living space, fingers crossed we’ll be almost sorted by the end of Spring

How about you? Doing any nesting, have you caught the bug yet? xxx

5. Make fitness fun!
47. Take an unusual class

So it’s been a busy couple of weeks for me, professionally and physically. I took the first two weeks of January to recover from illness and various ails that I won’t go into now! So I felt in dire need of moving, stepping up and getting my fit on. Plus January is a lonnnnnnnnnnnng month (or certainly feels like it) so I talked my sister into extending our trips to the gym to actually trying some classes.

Success! I have never had so much fun at the gym, if you haven’t tried Zumba yet, you must do. I smiled the entire way through. Laughed at myself, laughed at the instructor who was so fun and cool, laughed at my sister. Plus as my sister said you work hard but you don’t realise you have until the end, the whole class atmosphere was party like. You may have guessed I loved it and have booked to go back next week! I am already looking forward to the release of the Zumba game on the PS3, it is move compatiable so I can zumba at home! Whoop, ps if anyone wants a reviewer for this, I am available

This Beto Perez (creator of zumba)

And this is an advert for the Zumba game

Looks awesome, I do love a spot of dancing, even if I have two left feet!

PS - WE also tried Aqua Fit, I’d always assumed it was a class for grannies, how wrong was I? Dear me foam weights may look amusing on dry land but under water = killer. Argh but also fun

Next week pilates, oh yeah, bring it on!
Love ya folks xxxx

Musical Monday time and just thought I’d share some of my most listened to over the past month -

1. A Fine Frenzy - What I Wouldn’t Do

2. Lauren Pritchard - Painkillers

3. Paloma Faith - Upside Down

4. I Blame Coco feat. Robyn - Caesar

5. Anna Calvi - Jezebel

All kinda new finds for me at the end of this year (sometimes I am late to the party!)although I did like Paloma before

Tis my plan to start this year doing stuff not observing life - well maybe a bit of looking as I am nosey! So I plan to get the bucket list arocking and hopefully 30 things crossed off by the time I get to 31 - 7 September 2011!

So I am planning to do fun things every week, go to new places, etc etc

Compiling my list for January as we speak, will share tomorrow on a break from planning!

Any suggestions? xxx

Happy New Year, o gorgeous ones xxx

Happy new year and all that jazz.

After two weeks of overindulgence and a vast array of thinking, emotional upheaval and analysing, we’re here. I have to admit that my eyes welled up a tad when that clock struck 12 and 2011 was finally here. Don’t misunderstand though, 2010 has been a very freeing and successful year for me in many ways but I was so ready for that blank page, the promise of new beginnings and a breath of fresh air. Of course it’s mainly psychological.

This year I needed a new start for personal reasons, and for those private reasons I need to be positive and healthier. Which are my only two resolutions this year. Stop excusing my bad behaviour and abusing my body but also to stop punishing myself for the naughty times

So I guess I need to write about this journey, so all hail the blog I guess as I’m gonna be hanging around here more often

Weighing in next week when I have finished my antibiotics and documenting my methods and madness to losing weight and finding me.

To all who are sailing teh get fit ship this Januray, good luck and leave a comment, we’ll be buddies!

xxx

So as we say goodbye to 2010 and hello to a new year and I wanted to do my own top ten lists ala Alicia

Things I did in 2010:
10. Turned thirty and was surprised by a party
9. Embraced my inner child and put on my new roller skates
8. Fell more in love with my husband and we turn 3 tomorrow
7. Took a chance
6. Learned more about teaching from the children I teach
5. Fell out of love with writing
4. Fell in love with film
3. Spent time in my favourite city, sipping my favourite drink, with my favourite person
2. Played in the snow like a child
1. Joined a gym and enjoyed going

What I lost in 2010:
10. A bag (le sac)
9. Some facebook friends
8. Body confidence
7. The ability to drink without a hangover
6. Some wellworn shoes but not the memories that accompanied them!
5. Time for friends (need to address this in 2011!)
4. My drive to write in this here blog
3. Patience with of a couple of people
2. Fear of performance and of finally becoming and being a teacher
1. Excuses - time for action!

What I found in 2010:
10. My love of wandering and wanderlust.
9. Positivity in the face of rubbish times
8. That I am a singstar!
7. Dreams of Greek beaches, ouzo and sunshine
6. That I do love maki
5. Hope is a thing that you do, not something that happens for you.
6. Sparkly high shoes.
5. The importance of taking time and care with yourself and appearance, it really can make you feel better.
4. Beautiful dresses. Snap!
3. Words do matter, writing is needed!
2. That film feeling.
1. A longing for adventure with the people I love.

What I learned in 2010:
10. I can’t drive well yet
9. I am a good teacher
8. How to make lavender icing
7. Not everyone is judging you
6. How much I mean to people
5. I am my own worst enemy
4. I am positive
3. I am strong
2. Don’t search for happiness, experience it in everything you do.
1. If at first you don’t succeed, have a cocktail and then try again!

My goals for 2011
# Read more.
# Finish my NQT year well
# Lose weight, shape up and feel fit again.

Do you have any goals for the upcoming year you’d like to share?

Thanks Alicia

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day. ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce