Right now...

It's windy, rainy and dark outside, my head is full of random thoughts, I can't focus on what I'm doing or decide what to do next. It's the perfect time for a bit of randomness...

I'm happy that I saw Beth, Polly and Jelica yesterday. I needed to step away from my daily life and talk blogging, photography, books and creativity. Thanks, girls!

I'm thinking about starting a photography journal, with ideas for shootings and notes on techniques. Do any of you do this? Is it useful?

I'm trying to decide between watching a romantic comedy that I know will disappoint (Letters to Juliet) or a beautiful movie that may require some brain action while watching (Fur, An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus)


I'm frustrated that I've been trying to write a post on learning and photography for three days and I can't seem to convey my thoughts on paper (or screen).

I'm wondering whether the fact that Borders is going to be replaced by a Tesco supermarket is a sign that it's time to leave Oxford. 

I'm happy that I came back to blogging. Each and every one of the comments in my previous post made me SMILE!

I'm sad that I'm missing the next Blog Camp.

I'm thinking where to go next... I've just finished reading Lone traveller, by Anne Mustoe (She was an amazing woman!) and the temptation of leaving it all behind and leave with the boy and our bikes in search of adventures is almost irresistible.

I'm waiting for things to settle, for my to do list to become shorter and for the summer to arrive.

I'm hoping that I can focus and write a proper blog post soon.

What are you doing right now?

I'm back

Dear Blog,

I'm back. Although my break turned up to be longer than I had initially planned, it seems it's exactly what I needed. When I decided to take a break, I could no longer decide if I was blogging because I enjoyed it or because I felt I had to. I didn't know if I was doing it for myself, or for others. It stopped being fun, and it was only stressful. If you remember, my word of the year was meaningful and when blogging stopped being meaningful, I knew I had to stop.

But now I'm ready to come back, to write again, to keep on exploring myself and my journey through this public diary. To keep on collecting inspiration, experiences and wise words from others. To keep on learning. 

So what did I do while I wasn't blogging?

I participated in a beautiful project on the Wishstudio.  The necklace I'm wearing in this photo is a clue...

I went to see She and Him live! Their music is so much better live and Zooey is cuter and Mr Ward more charming than you can imagine. It was a really fun night and the fact that it was on a Monday made us feel all young again!

We sent our wedding invitations. Only three and half months to go now... They deserve a post of their own but here's a sneak peek: 

I thought a lot about marriage, marrying the family, marriage for life, creating your own rules for marriage. As it so often happens when you are thinking about something, everywhere I turned, marriage wasa hot topic, even SATC 2 (great fun!) turned out to be about marriage more than anything else!

We went on long walks and I took my camera out again...

I even played with the Diana + ( a Christmas present!). But...

I enjoyed the good weather (Yes, we had good weather in Oxford for two whole days!!)

But I also worked too much and started staying late in the office almost every day. 

I read, and read and read.... Once I let go of the pressure to read all the posts in my feeder and to follow every link on Twitter, I found I had more time than I thought to read. For the first time in ages, I actually had time to read all my library books before it was time to take them back and still....

I missed my blogging friends, and I missed commenting on Flickr photos and interesting posts. And so...

I thought about balance, about routine, about taking care of myself, about how to find time to do everything, about priorities.

And now, here I am. Trying again. Looking forward to reconnecting with my blog and yours. To rediscover the magic of blogging, the power of the written word, the beauty of supporting comments, to being inspired. To everything that blogging brings. 

Thanks!

I feel I don't say it enough! Thanks to my bloggy friends, my Flickr friends, my Twitter friends. This amazing community of people who offer inspiration, wise words, a smile, a laugh. People who open my eyes and my mind to new possibilities, new ways of doing things, new places to visit, new things to say, new photos to take....

Some of my favourite photos that have been inspired me on Flickr: 

1. 47 365 Golden, 2. 46/365: Go Girl, 3. 44/365 Shine the light on Lake Peten Itza, 4. 46/365, 5. 45/365 Pink Love, 6. 46/365, 7. sideways, 8. DSC_0012, 9. 36/365, 10. cat posing, 11. LA Sky Last Night, 12. Tea and books, 13. in the post {34/365}, 14. rubber balls {35/265}, 15. Happy Snowy Bokeh Wednesday :D, 16. Pink Vanilla Meringue, 17. it snowed., 18. 24:365 winter watercolor, 19. 25:365 casting shadows, 20. paris et ses monuments, 21. 100119_WellThumbed, 22. Orbs, 23. IMG_0030, 24. hear the silence**, 25. 7/365, 26. Untitled, 27. 6/365 2010, 28. 5 365 A whiter shade of lemon, 29. gull, 30. DSC_3738 (55:365), 31. 1 365 The pylons are coming, 32. Untitled, 33. white snow crystal, 34. Bicycles and Polaroids, 35. dirty diana, 36. i want to run away

Thank you, most of all, to those of you who visit me here, read my ramblings and continue the conversation. Your comments always make my day. And your comments on my wedding post were amazing! They made me smile, they made me furiously nod in agreement, they made me so happy...  Happy that you understood what I meant and reminded me what's important about my wedding day.  Thanks Francesca, Jan, lamediterraine, An Open Heart, Cyndy, Spud, Rach, Kristina, Jane, Julochka, Green Ink, Ida and Christina. If you send me your addresses (My email is in my profile), I'll send you a little present to thank you! Because I'm feeling happy and generous today! :)

12 months of being 30: The Blog Camp edition

* This post is part of my 12 months of being 30 project, an attempt to record what happens during my year of being 30.

We celebrated the very first Blog Camp right after my birthday (and I did go on about being 30 maybe a teeny tiny bit too much!). Barely two months after that, we organized an almost impromptu Blog Camp 1.5 in England. There was Blog Camp 2.0 which I couldn't attend but I followed in the Blog Camp blog. And we have just come back from Blog Camp 3.0. So you could say that my year of being 30 is also the year of the Blog Camp :)

This was the last time that we celebrated Blog Camp in the mythical blue room, and in the place where the idea of Blog Camp was first conceived. Incidentally, I was reading back to the wishlist Julie posted when husband had the idea for Blog Camp, and you should go and read it because that's exactly what Blog Camp 3.0 was!

Like both times before, I had an amazing time and it's taking me some time to digest it all. I'm still reflecting on the fun and the laughs, the photographs taken and the creative art journaling (that you can see here), the conversations (at Starbucks, in the kitchen, at the table, in the blue room...), the food, the coffee, the wine, the thoughtful presents. But above all, I'm still marveling at the fact that I've been so lucky to find real friends through this dear blog. That something that started as a personal project to push my writing has given me this community of friends, online and offline. And that I've actually got to meet some of them.

It's been there all along, but I truly saw it last weekend. It's not simply that there are real people behind the blogs, it's that there are real friends. The ones who have been at every Blog Camp with me, the ones who came to the first one, or the second one, or the new additions on this third one. They're all friends.

And I'm so grateful for it.

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.

Still a blogger...

Random photo not related to this post

I seem to have taken an unintentional break from blogging, but I'm still here. I'm still a blogger, otherwise I wouldn't be going to Blog Camp UK tomorrow. I'm so excited about seeing Polly, Julochka and Kristina again. I can't wait to meet Spudballoo and Bee, who is hosting this edition of Blog Camp, in her house (that happens to be just half an hour away from my boyfriend's parents' house).  We'll miss Seaside Girl and Extranjera, but no doubt would be cheering on their honour.

I know it's going to be a creative and fun weekend, because I'm going to be in the company of these amazingly creative and fun women!  Right, maybe I should finish the presents for them, then!

I'll tell you all about it next week!

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.

Blog Camp Bloggers

You've heard about Blog Camp, you've seen the previews, many of the preparations and some of the details in the Blog Camp blog, as well as first impressions in the camper's blogs here, here, here, here and here. Julie has already started posting a series on what happened, so I'm not going to do the same, unless I discover that we have completely different versions!
Blog Camp 1 was the first time that I'd met any fellow bloggers in real life and I jumped at the chance from the beginning. But then, I got nervous, first about what they would think of me, and then, just a little bit, about what they'd be like.
Bee had told me that, in her experience, bloggers tend to be like their blogging voice. This was true... and, at the same time, it wasn't. Having the person in front of you instantly changes your idea of them, or at least it did for me. Suddenly, they weren't only words and photos on a screen. They were people, with their personal gestures, voices and mannerisms. I very quickly adjusted, we all did, and commented on how we all sounded very much like our blogs but later we wondered: Do we really sound like our blogs? Or have we changed our preconceptions of each other in light of the real us?
Were there any surprises? Only good ones. Ours was a eclectic blogger group. Some have been blogging for a long time, while others have just started. Some will post every day and will touch lots of different topics, others will post when they feel they have something to share about a particular book or film. Some talk about life, others about hobbies, pets, or relationships. Some are positive and others are sarcastic. Blogging shows many sides of you, but rarely the whole picture... You choose certain topics to blog about, and we of course all go through phases where we have less time or less energy for blogging.
So, yes, we discovered that Extranjera was "actually quite pleasant" (her words) and could crochet and knit, and that Polly is a model in the making, and much more funny in real life. Who knew that Seaside Girl would actually like to marry a Danish man and that Kristina would come sans Vigdis? Julocka? Actually, no big surprises there, she really is like her blog!
I'm not saying that you can't get to know someone through their blogging, because you certainly can, and we did before Blog Camp and we'll continue to do so. But you see many other sides of someone face to face. Which is, of course, why there is a Blog Camp UK in the making, and a Blog Camp 2 in Denmark to come!