Thankful for: blossom, Brighton & Bnb

Right now life is pretty dominated by work and me learning how to fit into this new shape without getting stressed unecessarily, and trying to be wise about what can wait for another day. So basically pretty much the same as last time. So I could argue there's not much point posting. But I don't think being thankful is going to harm anything!

Spring

At last at last, the sun is shining, it's light when I start work and light-ish when I finish. There are flowers everywhere and yesterday it was even warm enough to sit on the beach and have a picnic. And suddenly nothing seems so bad. Weekends are even better because it means time to be out and about during the day. 

Brighton

After a hectic week of work in London I went to Brighton for the weekend to say goodbye to a friend who's soon to be moving to Australia (like many of my friends at the moment!). Although I was exhausted and not feeling well, still managed to go for a walk on the downs - one of my favourite places, eat awesome vegetarian food, pop into the church we were part of, stay in the house I lived in before I got married and have long conversations about love, life, work and adventure. Being so familiar with a place takes the pressure of seeing and doing everything, making it OK to just focus on a couple of things. And, it was nice to tell everyone that soon we'll be living closer and soon weekend trips to the city by the sea will be much more do-able.

Friends

Leading on from the last point, once again I'm thankful for the people who fill my life, even if a lot of them are far away, and some of them moving even further. I'm thankful for the lady in this photo, who I went to University with, lived with, danced with, ran with, cooked with, ate with, swam with, sunbathed with, drank wine in various locations around Brighton with and had many many deep long chats with. I'm going to miss her. But I'm glad that miles don't mean the end of friendships. I'm glad I've learned that whether a friendship is just for a season, or for decades, for one place or for many; whether it happens all of a sudden or takes months of slightly awkward conversation until it finally clicks; whether it's a 'doing stuff' friendship or a talking friendship or both; whether it's phone calls or emails or coffee dates or a longing for the day we actually see each other again; they are all of value, and all to be thankful for.

Air Bnb

We're going on some exciting adventures in August, and I've just booked our few nights in Belgrade on Air Bnb. It's the first time I've used it and it's pretty awesome :-)

Photos

Love being able to capture my beautiful friends and special moments :-)

Poets and storytellers

On Friday we went to an evening with Ian Adams at the lovely Melting Pot cafe in Redruth. A friend of mine send me Ian Adam's book "Running Over Rocks" last year and I enjoyed using it for reflection, especially during Lent. On Friday he shared poems and thoughts on love, life and faith. It reminded me of the power of poetry to spark the imagination, and to leave space for dreaming and for mystery. It reminded me to be thankful for other poets, prophets and storytellers - like CS Lewis, Donald Miller, Rubem Alves and Frederich Beuchener who've inspired me along the way, especially in my journey of faith. It challenged me to keep seeking these mentors and moments out especially in this season when, if I'm honest, a lot about church and Christianity feels disappointing and dreary.

I was also thankful for Ian recognising that sometimes there are dark times and sometimes all we can do is sit with it, until eventually the light comes. Some of my friends are going through pretty sucky things right now, and I wanted them to hear his sad poems - that don't try to fix everything.

Hair dye

I don't think of myself as someone who changes their hair a lot. But I think pictures prove otherwise. Haha.  Yesterday I went to get some brown dye to get a bit more 'serious'. But the blue was too tempting... Gotta at least try it once!