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cardigan: boohoo £20 | shirt: jack wills [old] jeans: topshop [old] | necklace: primark [old] shoes: toms | bag: fieldguided $20 |
Just a casual outfit today as I spent the day with Tom as he was getting tattooed in Southampton. He’s had the beginnings of a sleeve done; I’ll show it on here once it’s all cleaned up as it’s absolutely amazing and he was a brave boy and managed to sit all day.
Now the nights are starting to draw in again (I write, looking out of the window at a pitch black street at 5pm) I have been starting to think of ‘crafty’ ventures that can be undertaken whilst sat under a blanket in front of the TV, along with ideas for handmade Christmas presents. I started one of my first little sewing projects in a long time on Friday night and some of you may have seen my frustrations on Twitter -I was trying to sew my Mum a stuffed, patchwork house for her birthday but it ended up looking like something a visually impaired 3-year-old might have created and resulted in me downheartedly packing away the sewing machine and wondering why I’m just not as good at the things I turn my hand to as I want to be (and as others seem to be). I have long yearned to be ‘crafty’ and have thrown myself into books and websites to try and learn but I’ve never quite made anything that looks neat or successfully been able to make even basic sewing projects without giving up and giving myself a hard time about how I don’t have a talent. It’s come to the point where I feel I might need to pack all the books off to charity shops, sell my sewing machine and accept that I’m simply not very good at it.
I struggle with things that I really want to be good at but actually aren’t and I can be really hard on myself when things don’t work out. When I think about it, truthfully, of all of the hobbies I have taken up in my life, all of the new ventures and enthusiasms that come and go, photography has always been a constant for me. Photography is probably the only hobby or love of mine that I’ve really stuck at. If I’m honest, it’s because to enjoy photography all you need is a camera and the ability to press a shutter button. Knowing the basics of photography (shutter speed, aperture, white balance etc) certainly helps, but it’s very possible to take beautiful photos on automatic mode. Granted I do know these things and I try and experiment with photography, but it definitely comes a lot more easily to me than trying to sew complicated stitches or thread a bobbin. It comes more naturally to me than my forays into learning to play guitar, learning HTML, learning Latin or painting furniture.
Since my much loved digital camera, my Panasonic bridge camera (Panasonic really have some brilliant digital cameras) got wet and never recovered a couple of months ago I have been taking my SLR out with me more and trying to generally take more photographs and make the most of all of the photographic opportunities where we live. Yesterday I had to take some photos at work for a display board so I thought I’d take a few other photos of my day to share with you. I personally love getting glimpses of people’s lives in this way so I thought if you were nosy like me you might like to see where how/where I spend some of my time.
My journey to work in the morning goes past a farm, and if you time it badly you get stuck waiting for the farmers to move his cows from the cowshed to the field across the road. I found it hilarous when I first moved here (from the city smog of Southampton) that you could actually be late for work because there were cows in the road! I took this through a rainy windscreen so it’s not a great picture but you get the idea.
Before I moved offices I worked in our organisation’s headquarters which is a big open plan offices in the centre of Southampton. I’m only on secondment to where I am now for 12 months but it’s certainly taking some getting used to – this is the view just before I scan through the gates at work in the morning….
When I worked in our headquarters I’d often spend the whole day inside and eat my lunch at my desk. Where I work now has lots of different buildings so I get lots of fresh air when I’m getting cups of tea or going to meetings. The site borders a nature reserve so there’s always lots of animals around and I love being around lots of trees (and carpets of leaves!)
This is my office – as if I wasn’t feeling autumnal enough I had to install Gem’s new desktop background. She is a talented lady and I love her photography. Once I’ve made my first tea of the day this is where I’m settled in for the day.
Just to reward me further for lugging my SLR around with me yesterday there was also a beautiful sunset to capture.
Last night was an interesting one as fellow blogger and all round lovely person Hannah and I went to our local gym to try and do a kettle-bell class, sadly it was fully booked and we had to do spinning instead which I had never done before! Suffice to say my legs are a bit tender today!
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