Cornwall Dreaming

 

I've had some sad news this week & am trying to distract myself and keep my spirits up by doing nice things (in between project work), and thinking of nicer times and situations. These photos come from when Boy & I went to Cornwall last year. They're all taken on Fuji Reala 100 film with my Pentax ME Super.

 

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Boston Tea Party - jubilee weekend decorations

I'm back in Bristol living the nomadic coffee shop-working life again. One week to go on my project, then glorious unemployment!
Today I'm in Café Kino, a non-profit workers' co-operative vegetarian (almost vegan) café in Stokes Croft. I've had some fruit tea, a really tasty falafel salad, and a surprisingly satisfying earthy chocolate cake (and it's all at very reasonable prices). I can see what I take to be the Bristol Stitch 'n' Bitch group at another table which is making me rather jealous - I'd like to join them when I move to Bristol properly.

Keeping My Chin Up...

...while my nose is kept to the grindstone.

Visiting Bristol & packing each trip with friends and fun

Spending quality time with boy, making friends with Bristol's cats

Being visited & enjoying the rare highlights of village life

Pretty new things, strangely shaped veg & my new-old bike

Being brought presents when I can't join in on days out

This & That

 
I've just had the first four rolls of film from my new (boy's old) Pentax ME Super back from developing and they turned out rather nicely. My 1 year Flickr backlog (and determination to post chronologically) means they won't appear over there any time soon, but they're still here for me to enjoy.
I spotted this little snail on one of my recent trips to Bristol. I've been going up every couple of weeks to see the boy and various friends. Luckily lots of friends are working over the summer so big social events have been concentrated into weekends, making it much easier for me to make it to all of them.
Having a dose of Bristol life has probably saved me from descending into project-induced madness and I'm just thankful that it's there for me. I feel like there's some semblance of a life for me to go back to when I can and that's very comforting. Life hasn't fallen apart when university ended - largely because so many of my coursemates are staying on for a fourth year (and thus getting a Masters) so I don't feel lost as I surely would otherwise.

Here are few links to things I've enjoyed recently for your delectation:

• A flat converted from derelict public toilets (Charlotte also has consistently lovely photos)
• Sarah Rooftops' The Importance of Taking Risks
• Kestrel on Living the 'Crafty Lifestyle'

And a general shout-out for Gillian's blog Crafting A Rainbow - she makes nice clothes, writes interesting things, and comes across generally lovely. Definitely one of my favourite Tumblrs (along with such gems as cuteboyswithcats and Tragedy Series)

I think this part of the post was sort of subconsciously inspired by Hayley's recent Blog Love post - I agree with her that some blogs come across a bit too shamelessly self-promotional & think this is a nice idea to try and tone that down :)

25 Things To Do Before I'm 23

Completely co-incidentally I'd taken this photo a few months ago!

Yes, I'm jumping on board the blogger bandwagon and making myself one of these lists. It's less of a bucket list, more general life progress.
I think that generally speaking I lack focus and don't do terribly well at making progress on long-term projects & achieving goals, so I've made a list of little(ish) things I'd like to do and given myself a timeframe.
If I want to do these things then I may as well declare that, rather than putting them off to an unspecified  point in the future as vague wishes. Also having selected specific things to do will help me pick what to do with my time, rather than being overcome with the possibilities and just doing nothing.
I want to have more moments where I feel that "this is me" and I like what I'm doing, I'm enjoying myself and I'm finding things I like and doing them. One thing that I know makes me feel like that is being safely ensconced in a train with something nice to eat/drink, writing postcards and watching the countryside going by. More of that please.

25 Things

1. Finish my final project - this has its own deadline but I'm putting it in anyway
2. Get a job - after #1
3. Move to Bristol - I'm currently living at home with my parents, this is not where I want to be for #2
4. Sew a dress
5. Make 10 of my recipe bookmarks / pins - I can notch up progress on this one quickly
6. Send parcels to far-away friends - specifically Gal & Maiyan
7. Go to Southwold at least once
8. Get rid of my Flickr backlog - I'm currently uploading film from last June and digital from December, this is not how I want it to be but I do want it to remain in chronological order
9. Get a grip on my finances - I should keep track of what I spend properly
10. Sell my eBay pile, swap my swap pile - cleaning out my room has made these massive
11. Mend & alter my mending & altering piles - as above
12. Read a newspaper regularly - we have The Week at home, I might start getting the i on Saturdays
13. Weekend away by train - so many UK cities & towns to see. London, Brighton, York & Sheffield are top of my list
14. Buy good shoes - I tend to spend ~£10 on flimsy flats, they won't cut it at #2 or for #3 in winter
15. Crochet 3 items from stashed wool - I have so much I CBA to stash it officially on Ravelry
16. Get a new phone - I'm currently using the boy's old one and it's not ideal, rather temperamental
17. Read 3 good/classic books - Hardy, Dickens, ? I've been doing so little reading that 3 may be a lot
18. Print more photos - they're so nice to look at, why don't I?
19. Watch 3 good/classic films - the answer to "Have you seen ...?" is probably "No"
20. Exercise regularly - even if it's just walking around, it's not hard and it's important
21. Scrapbook - I have multiple "to be scrapbooked" boxes, this is not good
22. Have a picnic - Me, friends, a blanket, a hamper, and somewhere picturesque
23. Visit a city farm - Bristol has two!
24. Visit my sister at university
25. Cycle from Bristol to Bath - my Dad just bought me an amazing old bike, I'm a little bit in love 

So there we go. I'll try and do an update on this at the start of every month. My birthday is at the end of March so I've got seven and a bit months to make a dent in my list. I won't be upset if I don't manage it all and I imagine I'll beat my target on some of them, it'll be interesting to see.

Cotham In The Sun

 

After becoming fed up with my project work (and software trouble) one Sunday a week or two ago, I took a slow, meandering route back from Coffee #1 and took some photos along the way. I discovered a little dead-end road I didn't previously know of and was struck by the niceness of flowers growing above head height.
Annoyingly I discovered - upon transferring these photos to my computer - that my camera had been set to ISO 1600 and my photos are all a bit hazy and noisy because of this. Oh well.