eleven things i know but need to keep relearning

at the end of each month, i write a post about what i have learnt. coming to the end of this month i have realised - i have learnt most in the reminders.

1. love to the best of your ability. not your mothers or brothers or best friends - your own.

2. persevere, even when the road gets hard. every uphill struggle becomes a freewheeling bike ride with the wind running through your hair.

3. timing is out of your hands, learn to make peace with it.

4. be open, it's inviting to others.

5. fear is a smokescreen, you are stronger than you imagine.

6. embrace your creativity, it's your unique oxygen.

7. you control your decision making ability, look for the short and long term outcomes before determining your final conclusion.

8. be kind, it certainly never killed anyone.

9. make certain you want that dream you are working towards. someday when it comes true you will be thankful you took the time to look at all angles.

10. prayers do get answered, even when you think god might have gone deaf and has certainly grown sick of hearing the same one.

11. remember to laugh. it truly is lifes best pick me up.

Emma 

linking with emily at chatting at the sky

success, failure and the drive to keep creating

i watched this video last week on the ted website and have been waiting for it to hit youtube so i could share it with you. elizabeth gilbert knows what it's like to be a success and what it's like to be a failure, here she shares her wisdom about how to get back to your "home" - after you have experienced either - she does so eloquently and in seven minutes. enjoy.

Emma

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weekend visiting

this weekend i went to visit jane. we both took a rare day off and spent time together - just the two of us. i mean really, that hardly ever happens. we live almost 200 miles apart, there are family and jobs and commitments that get in the way but hey, if you can't make time for your best mate, life has got way too busy. so of course we did what two woman alone but still with a bit of stuff to get sorted do - we shopped and ate lunch. there were changing rooms run in and out of, a good dose of laughter, a great deal of talking and a waiter who knew not to rush to the desert menu. the following day there was bargain hunting, wisteria watching, rain walking and much more laughter. note to self: when your best friend says "don't put your wellies on, we won't walk through the bluebells" know that you are going to walk through the bluebells, get soaking wet whilst wearing a makeshift headscarf and love every minute of it.

Emma

best part of the week

Going for a walk with your best friend on a Saturday afternoon- getting soaking wet in the rain to the point where water drips off you- and then turning round and saying 'we should take a selfie'.
Happy times.

Jane and Emma

this weeks ear worm

Emma

thankful thursday

this week i am thankful for rest, for laughter and time spent with friends and family. this week i am thankful to meet people who are making a difference to close friends lives and am thankful to see the changes. this week i am thankful for clear blue skies, the warmth of sunshine, and sunburnt noses.  this week i am thankful for health and community spirit. this week i am thankful for sacrifices made to allow life to be lived fully. 

Emma

the manford effect

today i woke to a facebook like that actually took me down the rabbit hole of something good, something really good. in my news feed a friend had liked comedian jason manfords status about stephen sutton. stephen sutton is a nineteen year old lad who is terminally ill with cancer, he started a blog about his fight and has been fund raising for teenage cancer trust. jason met stephen last month at a teenage cancer trust comedy gig. yesterday stephen posted a final thumbs up on facebook telling everyone it wasn't looking good for him. jason, a father to three girls, eloquently took to facebook to rally the troops as stephen had wanted to raise a million pounds for teenage cancer trust before he went - it was on his bucket list. a young lad terminally ill found it easier to cope with his own discomfort whilst he was helping others. without any help from jason he had got himself over half way there, raising £560k, jason pledged he would help him get to the final figure and then took to facebook and told his 674k followers to spread the word. By lunchtime today a million was reached - jason has now asked us all to double it. at the time of writing the total stands at £1,361,406.51 if you would like to help this nineteen year old surpass his dream and leave a legacy find how to donate here.

Emma

best part of the week

Holiday day. Sunshine, sea, deck chairs, bat and ball but most of all family.

Jane

easter weekend, clear blue skies, sunshine, sunburn, reading, spring greens, cherry blossom, sandy beaches, sandcastles, windburn, roast dinner, laughter, uno, family.

Emma

thankful thursday

this week has been a taking pictures kind of week. a catching up with old friends kind of week. a plan making week. a catching up on lost sleep kind of week. this week has been a week that feels as if all the overdue stuff got hit in one fell swoop and i'm grateful for it.

Emma

best part of the week

elbow managed to make a 23,000 capacity arena intimate with guy garvey's talk of what type of love do you practice; the jealous possessive type or the wholehearted life giving type together with his calls for more harmonies during the final encore singalong - the footage of which i found here on you tube - my kind of evening. 

Emma

An unexpected invitation, a trip to the fairground at night. Fun.


Jane

weekly snapshot

Emma

thankful thursday

this past week was seemingly endless days of busy. days where all i wanted was to get off the rollercoaster spinning me up and down and round and round all whilst juggling  responsibility balls in the air trying hard not to faceplant myself as well as them. points were head in hand moments but i was convinced they wouldn't be if i could just get some more sleep. overwhelm was the name of the game as i struggled to slow down in the face of all the demands.  somewhere in the midst of it all i found my voice, spoke up and got off the merry-go-round - just for a few hours - i knew that was all i needed. saturday night was sweeter for it.  it turns out what undid me was people reaching out to me unprompted; songs being given to me that in the authors view defined me, friendship in many forms celebrating my birthday - cards, presents, deliveries, phone calls, messages, happy birthday being sung by various people individually or in groups down a receiver or as videos sent to my phone. i was shown i am loved and i'm thankful for it.

Emma

best part of the week

This week I discovered after reading my favourite magazine, plus a bit of research that a paperweight that had been lying on a shelf collecting dust (and nearly got thrown away in a house move) actually dated back to 1845 and is a collector's item...... I still can't quite believe it. Needless to say I've dusted it.

Jane

saturday night spent listening to tunes after enjoying dinner, not pictured my first conversation with my youngest nephew on the phone nor my oldest nephew falling asleep in his car seat next to me in the car tonight - his last words before sleep claimed him - "happy birthday auntie emma."

Emma

saturday memories

this morning i woke to a text message received from my brother in the early hours. it said this "the wife challenged me to sum you up in three songs, how did i do?" here's what he picked.

i smiled and happy tears fell at the memories of years spent with just a bedroom wall between us listening to each others records penetrate the brickwork. it wasn't until he went to university that i realised i didn't actually own any new order records - they were all his listened to through the wall. 

music is a great memory source for me. this week i posted on facebook a song that was deemed the soundtrack of my life, suddenly friends who knew me as a teenager were commenting about their memories of me associated with the music and my fashion sense at the time. yes, i was a duranie and my fashion sense at that time would not look out of place with the current trend for all things 80's. everything comes back round again - i'm happy i have siblings and good friends who remember and share the memories.

Emma

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thankful thursday

this week i am thankful for lighter evenings. for warmer tempertures that enable me to sit on my deck listening to music - with my french doors open - on the first day of april, no that is not an april fools joke. for trying problems reminding me to soar above circumstance, health and happiness are some of my main ingredients to a life lived full. for this silly quiz taken as a release at the end of very busy day telling me that i am little miss happy. for the knowledge that even though not every day may give you happiness on a plate there is always something to be happy and thankful for if you dig deep enough.

Emma