Spiralling

There's a green one and a pink one ....

I love Flickr It's a great place to find inspiration and best of all, that rarest of rare things, kindred spirits.
So without further ado let me introduce you to my doppelganger of the shopping cart Julia who started as a humble add way, way back in August 2005 and has since become a firm friend.

We started nattering about a trade shortly after Julia uploaded, and I saw, this:

remember these? My dad saw this in the airport gift shop in Chicago ... remembered I used to get these in my stocking every year. I wanted to try to photo her spinning ...

I had picked up exactly the same tiny dancer just a couple of weeks before and after that more and more coincidences and mutal appreciation followed so a trade seemed to be the next logical step.

We both began picking up little bits and pieces here and there and then one day I signed in as normal and spied the prettiest parcels I ever did see and they were for me.

Imagine my overwhelming desire to peep inside .... oh the torture, the torture ....

1st up I just have to say the hugest thank you to Julia for photographing these before they shipped out. By the time I got my delivery the light had gone and the thought of waiting another day to satisfy my curiosity was, well, never really part of the equation.

I was touched by the thoughtfulness and the fun that went into everything that was gifted. Even down to the hot dot kerchief that was fashioned for deery lou, perfect, just perfect.

There were little notes about each item, that were such a cool idea! I know now that Dog TV was were it all started, and why *grin* As well as seeing how the rest of this runaway train came into being.

Priceless!

Here are just some of the goodies I found inside

Vintage books, gifts for Blythe, fabrics and embroidery transfers, linen, party cups with illustrations to die for OOohhhh, just heaps of lovely stuff which made me smile from the inside out.

Three cheers for Julia, Hip Hip HOORAY, Hip Hip HOORAY, Hip Hip HOORAY, and one for luck *wink*

You officially ROCK!

Modern life is rubbish.

A couple of weeks ago I made the descision to really embrace life, to shake off this blue funk and start enjoying all that I am and all that I know.

My eureka moment came whilst sitting on a sea wall, contemplating the hot sugary donuts that were soon be no more than a memory filed under delicious.

"This is my manor" as they say in the movies, and it's not often that I take the time to stroll down to it's watery boundaries and really appreciate what I have. In each ebb and flow lie years of seconds, minuets and hours spent without a care in the world, at least that's how it seems to me now.

So as I look around, the sun beating down and the past all tinted in rose as it should be, I can feel myself literally filling up to the brim with all of the confidence, joy and enthusiasm that used to fill my days. I put a lid on it. Scared that if it bubbles over and spills onto the sands I wont be able to feel this rush, this ecstatic peace, that washes over me now.

Days pass and the initial magic starts to lose its power. I have to get back to the sea, I have to remember.

Whatever floats your boat

Moses had the burning bush, I have a sign in the shrubbery *wink*

Sugar rush