The Wedding Posts

 Via Green Wedding Shoes

I've been trying to write this post for weeks, a post about the wedding planning. And I struggled to put my feelings in writing, until I realized that I was actually trying to write two different posts.

One about how happy I am and how much fun it is to plan, to think about our day, to talk about what we want, to reflect about what it all means. I wanted to talk about the beautiful and fun inspiration around the blogosphere, and all the wonderful ideas.  Because I'm, at heart, a romantic girl and I'm excited about this day, I can't wait to wear the dress, and I'm looking forward to sharing and celebrating our love with family and friends.

Via Green Wedding Shoes

Via Snippet and Ink

But then there is this other post that I feel I also need to write. About how confusing, frustrating, at times incredibly boring, this planning also is. How the inspiration can overwhelm you to the point that you don't know what you want anymore, and you start needing wanting things that you never even knew existed and that you could never afford. How tiresome it gets when absolutely everyone has an opinion and don't hesitate to tell you what you should and shouldn't do, regardless of what you want. How upsetting it is when people assume that my future husband has no opinion and no say about the whole day (What groom? You'd think he's merely another accessory for your day, if you hear what some bride magazines are saying.)

And I suddenly don't know if I want...

... a vintage wedding...

Via 100 Layer Cake

... or maybe a beach wedding...

 Via Kiss the Groom

... or perhaps, I'm meant to have a winter wedding...

Via Snippet and Ink

... a rustic wedding...

Via Style me pretty

... or a modern one...

Via Green Wedding Shoes

And so, I've been struggling, going back and forth between those two stages of mind, feeling all the above, often all at once. 

But then I read about other people who feel like me in this wedding blog with a difference, and I re-read the story of the best non-perfect proposal, and hear others talk about what it means to be married. And I remember that even though our wedding is an important day, it's not The Most Important Day In Our Life, it's only the beginning. And it's not all about me, it's about us, and it's not about having the perfect party, it's about getting together with the people we love to celebrate with them.

And then, I can dream again about our day and enjoy it, and I'm not thinking about eloping anymore...

Via Green Wedding Shoes

 

And I know that certain things are important to me... and I can compromise on others.  I'm going to have red shoes and a red jacket... whatever my family thinks! Because it's the important things that matter... :)

 Via Green Wedding Shoes

In Blog Camp...

There were six bloggers, and two suspicious partners.

There were Nikons and iPhones... And photos of the Nikons taken with the iPhones.

There were only good surprises...

There was Blog Camp Jam, made by the hostess...

There were of course, stones....

There was exchange of lenses, and lots of playing with them...

And there were also many things that I can't show you through photographs. The interesting conversations, about blogging, about books, about life; the laughs, the random ideas, the projects, the plans to meet again... and that fizzy feeling, the realization that something good was happening, that friendships were growing, the knowledge that we would meet again, in the blogosphere and beyond.

Random me

Since blog camp, I've been finding it a bit hard to blog. I think it's the realization that, as Polly said, there are, indeed, real people behind the blogs. People who will like what I write, or won't, who may understand or not, who are sometimes in a receptive good mood, or in a silly negative one. I know what you're thinking, this is silly, because, of course I kind of knew all this before. Maybe, but now it's real.

So, to ease me back into it, I'll start with some randomness about me, me, me! Ali tagged me on the 7 things meme, so I have to tell you 7 random things about myself. Here they are:

1. I don't cook. Like never. I really wished I could cook, I wished I found it relaxing, I wish I was patient enough to do properly. I love to entertain, I love to create a home wherever I am. But cooking is the one thing I won't do. I'd, basically, rather use my time for other things. Lucky for me, boyfriend cooks and enjoys it! He even makes his own bread!

2. I have a collection of mugs from most of the places I've been to and I buy a new one in every place I visit. I can't remember how this started but I now have a huge collection. Most of them are at my parents, waiting for me to get a house where they can live permanently.

3. I look much younger than I really am. Sometimes people still ask for my ID when I try to buy alcohol or get into a club! And I AM 30! Although, as people have been saying since I started complaining about it, this would be a good thing when I turn 40!

4. I'm also quite short. But I decided long time ago that this was "cute" and got over it.

5. I love eating bread on its own. As a child, I could eat a whole baguette before we sat down for lunch, and my Mum had to buy two every day.

6. I used to be able to read more than one book at once without getting confused... but no more. I have to stick to two maximum, and even that gets confusing at times.

7. I don't have a TV. I know most of you know this already, but RWP (Real World People) get so surprised when they learn this, that I thought I'd throw it in here.

5 questions

Sussanah (of Unravelling and Ink on my fingers fame) invited us all to participate in this game. She sent me five questions that I'm answering below and I'll send five other questions to those that want them. Just leave me a comment if you want to play!

1. If you had to be stuck in a lift with someone, who would you choose?
I'd rather not be stuck in a lift at all, but if I really, really had to, I'd have to choose my boyfriend, he's great when I panic (and I would!) and of course, there is none I'd rather spend my time with, lift or not. Or maybe Keanu Reeves in his Speed incarnation, because he'd get us out of there in no time.

2. What's your favourite day of the week and why?
Definitely Saturday. I love the feeling of having whole two days to do what I want to do. Unless we're going somewhere, Saturday mornings are always a slow and lazy time in my house. It will more likely include breakfast in bed (yes, I have a great boyfriend), some Internet surfing, reading or film watching. Then, we'd go to town for lunch, to the park, or will have friends coming over to visit.

3. You have £100 you have to spend right now - what would you buy?
No problem, leave me in Borders for half an hour and the money will most definitely be gone. Although, because I want to belong at blog camp (7 days to go!!!!), I'd probably have to go and buy some chucks.

4. What's your superpower?
I can pretend I'm listening to my colleagues when I'm in a meeting while planning my next post here at the same time.

5. What compels you to keep a blog?
I started my blog as a way of creating a writing routine and an outlet where I could post all kind of things and be as random as I want. This is still one of the best things about having a blog. But what really makes me continue writing is you, the people I've met through this blog. You live in the UK, Denmark, US, Canada, Japan, or South Africa and yet, I can connect with you almost everyday. You do different jobs and are of different ages, and still we can always find something to talk about. I've met wonderful people and fantastic blogs online and I'm going to meet some of those people for real in only a week! We've started a book club that got me reading interesting books that I may not have picked up otherwise, I can see different corners of the world every wednesday... Do you need more reasons?

So, do you want five questions?

Coffee and blogs

I have been given an award. It's a very important one. It's got to do with coffee. Specifically, morning coffee. It's definitely my kind of award.
Diet Foodie created this "for those blogs that go well with morning coffee". Blogs and coffee are some of my favourite things to do in the morning, to try to forget that I have to go to work (actually, it's also two things that I do to forget that I AM at work).

Extranjera, who awarded me this honour, added the rule that we have to show our favourite place to have that morning coffee. Here it's mine, in my garden, sipping coffee, reading blogs and having my breakfast cereal (my only attempt all day to eat healthy. I forget my good intentions at around 10 when I have my first snack). I don't have my morning coffee here very often; this is, after all, England, so no tropical weather, specially not in the morning, but this is the place where I like to have it most.

I'd like to see where Lynette and The Fragrant Muse like to have their morning coffee. I won't be adding any more rules to this award. But do feel free to shake it up a little if you fancy.

What I don't tell you

Blog camp has got me thinking about blogging, blog friends, why we blog, how we blog... all those big blogging questions. Because, you see? My blogging life is about to become real. I'm really looking forward to meeting this lady (blog camp in chief), and this lady, and possibly this lady. And there are others I'm looking forward to getting to know. I know it'd be fun, but it's also kind of scary.

My first thought when I found out about this was something along the lines of "Fun! After all, I already know these people". And then I thought, "But how much do I really know them?" and then, scary thought, "How much do they really know me? How much of what I'm like in person can you get from my blog? What if they imagine something completely different?"

I try really hard to be honest here, in my little corner of the big blogosphere. I try to be myself when I write, I think about what I want to say, my opinions are mine and everything I say it's true. But how about what I don't say? Let's make a short list, because one thing we do know is that we love lists:

1. I hardly ever talk about my boyfriend, even though he's one of the most important things in my life. He does follow me, though (Hello, J, I love you!)

2. The same with my family and friends. Not many of my friends read this blog. My sister does (Hello, H!), but never comments. My mum reads my Spanish blog and always complains that she can't understand what I write about here. Which I think it's a good thing. So there's really no pressure or fear that they will be hurt by what I say. But still I never talk about them.

3. Work. You really don't want me to post about this. It's BORING. I could bore you to tears telling you how boring I find it. A couple of years ago, I really liked my job. I could have bored you to tears telling you how much I liked it. My job hasn't changed so I'm still trying to figure out what happened (apart from the fact that I spent a year travelling last year) and what to do about it (this is the hard part). This consumes a big part of my life. But I don't tell you about it very often.

4. Embarrassing things. Like when I told you about my jewellery course, but never told you what happened next (Horrible incident involving beautiful flower earrings made with great effort by me being almost consumed by flames while I was soldering. I blame the teacher of course.)

I didn't decide not to blog about these things (except the earrings, it's taken me all this time to get over it), and one day I may do. But I thought I'd mention them here now so they don't come as a surprise in blog camp. Oh! This is exciting!

Hello! (and five rules for life)

I'm so excited to see new people coming to visit my blog! Some of you are coming from Julie's blog, Moments of Perfect Clarity, which was made blog of note this week! (Congratulations, Julie, you truly deserve it!) or I've found you through her blog. So thank you all for stopping by and thank you, Julie!

Among my new readers, I found Lynette, and through her blog My creative fling, I found the Five rules for life blog. I love this idea: people sharing "what they believe are the most important rules to follow for a happy, successful, and fulfilling life. "

So I was inspired to think about my five rules for life. And of course, I'm sharing them with you!

Learn, learn, learn
I’ve said it before. I love learning. Doing new things and discovering new skills really stimulates me. I love the feeling of going back to school, taking notes, thinking about what has been said... I’m interested in lots of random stuff, from languages, to knitting (some friends and I are going to start a knitting group) to literature, cinema, development and human rights issues… almost anything!

Spend time on your own
I think it's important to be comfortable with ourselves, and to not rely on others to define who we are. We're not only someone's partner, or someone's friend, or someone's mum/daughter. We have our own personality and it's important to keep some parts of your life to yourself: do a course on your own, take solitary walks and take photos of what you see, enjoy your own company.
I also think it's important to get to know yourself, what you like, and what you enjoy. When we spend all our time with others, we don't have time or space to listen to what we want and we end up believing that we want what others want. I’ve recently started a journal to record all the things I like, from my favourites movies or books to how I like to spend my weekends. I really think this will help me finding out more about myself.

Change your surroundings
Travel is such an important thing in my life. I love discovering new places, new cultures, and new languages. But I don’t have to go very far, just a change of surroundings, a day in the countryside or a visit to a museum you’ve never been to will help me to open me mind in lots of different way. It’s about leaving your comfort zone, and discovering new ways of doing things.

Don't take anything personally
I’ve unashamedly copied this from Lynette’s list because it really resonated with me. I do take things personally, but this was a real eye opener: People are simply too busy with their own problems! They’re not judging me, they are not talking about me, they are not thinking of how I’d react to their words… at least not most of the time.

Have fun!
Ah, yes! We tend to forget this one! I certainly do! Have fun, make the most of any situation, laugh at yourself! Be silly, jump up and down, sing in the middle street, laugh out loud!

What are yours?

Lovely surprises and my first blog award!!

I got back from my holiday (more on that later) and found two lovely surprises waiting for me! One at home, the other online, but both from the amazing Julie of moments of perfect clarity. Hers is a fantastic blog, hilarious, a bit crazy, and always clever, insightful, very honest, and inspiring. You should all go and read it!

Some weeks ago, I won a giveaway at Julie's blog and, earlier than expected, my prize arrived while I was away! A beautiful hand made french press cozy, a Moleskine and delicious chocolate (ginger and lemon, so it's healthy, right?) as well as some of Julie's mini business cards, which I think are great. Everything made by Julie (except the chocolate):


Obviously, one of the first things I did after opening my pressie and unpacking was turning on my Mac (after a week offline!) and checking my Google reader, where I found another nice surprise! Julie has given me my very first blog award!



And not just any award, The Renee award! As explained in Sotto Vocce (who gave the award to Julie):

It's one of the most meaningful awards in the blogworld because it honours someone who is incredibly inspirational in her intelligent and witty writing. And by doing so this award celebrates women's smart, strong and inspirational spirit. These women are like Renee (of Circling My Head): the acorn, a small package becoming a tall and sturdy oak giving more acorns, becoming tall and sturdy oaks, giving acorns…

I'm really honored and I'm already thinking on who I'm going to pass this to, but there are so many inspirational women out there in the blogesphere that it's difficult to chose. Inspiration is one of the things I've found in blogs, but also, I've found people who are not afraid to share their knowledge, their creativity and ideas, in the belief that sharing will enrich them, as well as others. This is so rare in the real world, and it's so refreshing how we all learn and inspire each other. Blog awards represent this sharing and learning together. So, thanks, Julie, for the award and for reminding me of why I love blogs!

Welcome the other me

Some of you would have realized that I was maintaining two blogs (actually, it's four blogs, but that's another story). I was struggling to update both of them, but, most importantly, I was also struggling to remember why I ever thought I needed that many. Oh, I know there was a reason that made perfect sense at the beginning. But no more. Some of those things, and Cuttings on a blog, especially, seemed to have lost their initial reason to exist. I was beginning to feel a bit schizophrenic, and worse, dishonest, about having both. Initially, Some of those things was going to be more serious, I wanted to post about my favourite things and those included books and films. Cuttings on a blog would be more visual, lighter, and more fun! So I'd be talking about the film The Class there, and about Confessions of a Shopaholic here. Because, yes, I saw both and enjoyed both.
I'm a gemini, you see, and although I'm not sure I believe in horoscopes, I definitely see two sides of myself. There is one, who reads (or tries to read) the right books and watches the right films, and the other one, who reads Vogue and every other fashion and lifestyle magazine that Borders stocks, as well as being interested in fashion, and other beautiful things, and who can be quite silly.
I like this about myself, but over the years, some of my friends have struggled with it. Depending on where or how I'd meet them, they would be surprised, confused and almost annoyed when they saw a glimpse of the other me. And so, in many ways, I got used to compartmentalize myself. Of course, my real friends know both sides of me (in fact, all sides of me!) and simply think I'm crazy. So, welcome to crazy me! If you scroll down, you'd find new post, the ones that I posted in Some of those things, and that I managed to import into Cuttings on a blog (for once, Blogger was very helpful!) a mix of everything that I like and inspires me, from serious books to silly films, because I'm made of all and some those things.
You can also find the Spanish me aquí.

Disconnect

After a year traveling in South America J and I decided we did not want to own a TV. We simply realized that whenever we happened to have one at the place we were staying while traveling, we'd spend more time inside the room, basically flicking from one channel to the next. So, we never got a TV when we came back and, amazingly (or maybe not) we have not missed it at all. Although (confession) we do watch Heroes, and I watch Gossip Girl, on the Internet.
The problem is that we've found new ways of wasting our time. Instead of flicking from channel to channel, we spend our time on the Internet, link, link, link from one page to the next. And we're not even doing this together anymore. Before, we at least had to watch the same channel, now it's each of us with our own laptop, sitting together but doing our own thing. I read beautiful blogs, J reads about the latest gadget.
Of course, we get more from the Internet that we ever did from TV. I can't begin to explain how much inspiration I find in the blogs that I read, how many amazing people I've met, how many new projects, ideas, plans I have since I started reading blogs.
The problem is that I don't have time to carry out any of these. And so, I keep reading, jotting down, creating something in my head, but never doing anything in real life (you know, the life outside the blogoesphere). I end up questioning myself, why don't I have time to do the things that other seem to do effortlessly? And it's only in some rare moments that I realize that nobody has time to do everything. Some of the blogs I read are written by people posting about their businesses, or who have made blogging part of their career, or spend more time at home than I do (it's just depressing how much time I spend in the office). Of course, there are a few that are simply amazing and do indeed find time for everything. Or maybe they just MAKE time. Maybe, they turn off their computers once in a while and actually tackle that knitting project they started, or do something with the card making kit they got a while ago, or read the pile of books that will soon have to go back to the library, or decide to stick the cuttings they've been collecting for weeks in their journal.
And that's what I'm going to do as well. I'm disconnecting. Not completely, but I'll be turning off my computer two evenings a week. Of course, on the other days, I'll just have to try harder to keep up with all the blogs I love.
Right... I'm off to read... a book!

This is part of the disconnect challenge, over at The Inspired Room.

Photo from Cabbages and Roses

New design

Estoy pensando en personalizar el diseño del blog. Quiero que sea como un collage, como si los posts fueran recortes. Empezaré a colgar aquí ideas hasta que vea lo que tienen en común y empiece a pensar en el diseño en concreto. Para los colores, quiero algo así. Que opinais?

So, I´m going to have this blog designed by a professional (My boyfriend happens to be a graphic and website designer). I want it to look like a moodboard, as if the posts were cuttings from different sources (hence the name!). I´m going to start posting ideas until I find the "common theme" ! As for colours? I want something like this! What do you think?

Photo from Swissmiss

I love blogs!

Me encanta la blogesfera, He estado obsesionada con este cojin por algún tiempo. Tenía la foto pero no recordaba donde lo había visto ni quién era el diseñador. Hasta que vi un post sobre la creadora en el blog de Decor8. Mostraba tambien mochas otras de sus creaciones y links to las tiendas de la diseñadora. Yupii!!

This is why I love blogging. I have been obsessed with this cushion for some time. I had the photo but I couldn’t remember where I have seen it or who had made it. But then... I saw a post about her creator on the great Decor8. There were also many more fantastic cushions and a link to the designer’s shops! Yay!

What blogging means to me

I have seen several posts on what blogging means lately. You can read what blogging means to Secrets of a butterfly and follow the links that her post inspired. Reading them, I realized that blogging was also part of ‘Some of those things’ I really enjoy. And I discovered it very recently!
I thought about starting a blog at the end of my year off work. Almost a year ago, I took a year off to travel around South America with my boyfriend. South America had always been my dreamland. Getting to know, for real, the cities and places I have dreamed so much about has been an incredible experience. Everything I hoped for, new experiences I had never imagined, and much more.
Towards the end of the year, though, we started thinking a lot about coming back. About what we wanted to do next and what we had learned. I have changed this year. I have new plans and new ideas on how to shape my life. I want a simpler life with fewer commitments and more time to do what I really want. More time for creativity. More time to pursue my real passion, writing. And that’s where blogging came in. I started blogging as a commitment to keep writing. Not trying to write the perfect novel, the perfect story, just writing … for now.
As always, I’ve probably ended up doing too much. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to have a blog in English or Spanish. Sometimes I write in one, sometimes in the other. So I now have Some of those things in English and Blanca en la la luna in Spanish. The style is completely different and it has been amazing to see how using a different language changes my writing.
There were other things I wanted to do. I want to be more ecological, I want to help others. Volunteering in Ecuador has really inspired me to do more things for others, and has also taught me that good intentions are not enough, you need to be organized and think carefully about why and how you are going to help. But the main thing I have learnt is that small things make a big difference. And so I started a blog called Together we’ll save the world. It’s an optimistic blog, about all those small things that we are all already doing to help, be it volunteering, or recycling.
Finally, I wanted to explore my creative side, not only in my writing, but in small craft projects, in my collages and cuttings collections. So I created Cuttings on a blog, where I list things I like, things that inspire me, and where, in the future, I’ll post my drawings and collages.
It may seem like a lot, but so far, I’m loving it. I have discovered a whole new world in blogs. Creative people with interesting ideas and beautiful images. A community based on sharing ideas, projects, and experiences. A world of learning and discovering. New things. Old ideas that you have forgotten. A whole new world of possibilities.
That’s what blogging means to me. A commitment to my new life.

Draw, draw, draw

Estos dibujos tan bonitos los he encontrado en el blog draw, draw, draw. La autora refleja las cosas simples de su vida (su ropa, la comida, esos objetos de la casa que le llaman la atención...) con dibujos sencillos. Me gustan tanto que he empezado a hacer lo mismo. Aunque dibujar nunca fue mi fuerte, me encanta realizar estos simples dibujos. Quizás algún día publique alguno.

These beatiful drawings are from the blog draw, draw, draw. The artist draws the simple things in life (clothes, food, house objects...) in equally simple and nice drawings . I like them so much that I have started doing the same. Although drawing was never an strength of mine, and I have yet to find my own style, I enjoy doing them. Maybe some day Ill show you some.