Memory trigger

The smell of pine reminds me of two things - one, of Christmas and two, of my grandparents back garden on the outskirts of a forest in Germany.

The smell of coffee reminds me of sleepy mornings when I used to come downstairs to find the coffee brewing and also of many a great conversation in a buzzing coffee shop somewhere around the word.

The smell of air conditioning, if you can even imagine what that is like, reminds me of countless summer holidays in America when all malls are air-conditioned and the air outside in stark contrast is steaming hot.

The smell of leather reminds me of my favourite jacket belonging to my husband, and of the many times he wore it on our dates together.

And there are some smells that just make me happy without a particular memory, although I'm sure their origins lie in an experience at some point in my early years. Crisp fresh air, rain on tarmac and certain perfumes or aftershaves create in me a spontaneous happy emotion.

Smells are one of the biggest triggers of memory and emotion, and as spring begins to appear and the promise of summer draws ever closer, I'm eagerly anticipating the aroma of barbecues and the delicious scent of freshly cut grass.

Much love,
xx

100 Things

In no particular order, this is who I am:

1. I am a chocoholic
2. I love to travel
3. I am a wife
4. I am a sister
5. My husband and my sister are my best friends
6. I am a daughter
7. I am a granddaughter
8. I am a Christian
9. I love to sit in coffee shops
10. I love to people watch
11. I get my most productive thinking done with a coffee in hand
12. I love working with pre-schoolers
13. I love mentoring
14. I love being challenged
15. I love to learn
16. I am a musician
17. I am a daydreamer who thinks a lot
18. I am very focused
19. I am always looking for the next step
20. I love to live in the moment
21. I'm full of contradictions
22. I love to write
23. I love to scrapbook
24. I love being creative in craft and creating things
25. I'm not particularly creative
26. I run events
27. I am extremely organised
28. My organisation borders on obsessive
29. I love interacting with people
30. I am blessed with incredible friends
31. My closest friends are scattered across the country and across the world
32. My favourite season is Autumn
33. I love the sun
34. I am colourblind
35. I love reading
36. My favourite colour is green
37. I love finding inspiration
38. My coffee shop order of choice is a vanilla latte or peppermint hot chocolate
39. I love to chat to people with one of the choices above in hand
40. I smile a lot
41. I am opinionated, but working on my delivery of said opinions(!)
42. I love to cook
43. I love even more to cook for guests
44. I love making other people feel welcome in our home
45. I guard my heart
46. To those I trust I will give my heart
47. Part of my heart resides in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado Springs
48. I am half German
49. I am a quarter Welsh
50. My name means heaven
51. I am 6'1
52. I am an optimistic realist
53. I am confident
54. I love to nurture discovery
55. I don't have a plan for my life, I trust in God's plan
56. I push on a lot of doors in my journey to discover God's plan
57. I intensely dislike competing
58. I love being behind the scenes
59. I enjoy public speaking
60. I love to sleep
61. I love to get up early and begin the day
62. I love curling up with a movie on a dark winter evening
63. I love being outdoors
64. I love the adrenaline and lights of a big city
65. I love the wide open space just outside a city's borders
66. My favourite gemstone is Tanzanite
67. I love hedgehogs
68. I love bumblebees
69. I'm not a fan of roses (the flowers not the chocolates)
70. I live in jeans and tshirts outside work
71. I'm starting to like dresses a little more
72. I love to sing
73. I love listening to bass singers
74. My favourite musical is Wicked
75. My favourite chocolate bar is Twirl
76. I prefer stripes to polka-dots
77. I love writing letters
78. I love receiving snail-mail
79. I prefer my filofax to an online diary
80. I love to be productive
81. I'm very bad at doing nothing
82. I'm learning how to do nothing, better
83. I love old-school series' like Poirot, Jeeves and Wooster and Yes, Minister
84. I prefer a Sprite float to a Coke float in the summer
85. Always chocolate ice cream
86. Always jam then cream on a scone
87. I love Bonfire Night (November 5th)
88. I love Thanksgiving
89. I've never actually celebrated Thanksgiving
90. I love visiting historic places
91. I love thunderstorms
92. I love giving gifts
93. I love being near water - rivers, lakes, the ocean...
94. I'm not a fan of actually being on the water
95. I am wheat-free but hoping I'll grow out of it
96. I love stationary
97. I'm not a hoarder - I try to keep clutter-free
98. Tae Bo and swimming are the only forms of exercise I actually enjoy
99. I love steam engines
100. I am who God made me to be

Much love,
xx

Knowing the future

My husband asked me the other day, in the context of another conversation, whether, if I had the opportunity to see and know the future, I would take it.

My response, quite simply and without much need for contemplation, was no. I wouldn't want to have a guarantee of what was to come. I wouldn't want to dread the bad or remove the anticipated joy of the good. I wouldn't want to miss living in the present because I was so desperate to get to the future or so anxious to avoid it. I wouldn't want to remove the necessity of faith in my life by trusting in knowledge and assurance alone.

The Photographer wouldn't have taken the opportunity either. Would you?

Much love,
xx

Risk

When we're very young, risks and stepping out of our comfort zones seem somehow easier because everything is new and we're learning and seeing everything for the first time. Perhaps you disagree but looking back I think I relished the possibility of something truly new. Moving to University and living with strangers; leaving the country for six weeks on a gap summer; travelling and working abroad - all on your own.

Those experiences were defining moments for me and yet despite their monumental impact on who I am, they are fewer now that I am older.

Marrying the Photographer was new but our first (almost) year of marriage has been so blissfully and blessedly easy that it has yet to resemble anything like a risk. The Photographer is an extension of me and as such, marrying him was almost like stepping into the heart of my comfort zone and having it permanently shield me.

We both have plans for travel and new things this year. I'm on the verge of craving a change of pace and direction, stepping up to a new challenge and attempting to see the world and its possibilities as I did the very first time.

Much love,
xx

Yours faithfully

I received an email today, which was signed off 'Yours faithfully'.

I'm usually of the persuasion that your sign off should match that of the person to whom you are replying. If they send you best wishes, you wish them likewise. If they bestow kind regards, you return the courtesy and so on.

I am used to the formalities of 'Yours sincerely' but for some reason, the signature of today's email caught my eye. It implies genuine service and a core desire to serve, as is written, faithfully.

Even if it was an habitual signature, it reminded me that I too would like to adopt an attitude of faithful service in whatever I put my hand to, and to whomever I write.

Much love,
xx

Saturdays are for Pottering

In addition to our weekly date nights, the Photographer and I also plan in a date weekend once a month. It is a weekend that no other people or plans are booked into so that we can spend time just with each other and truly relax. These weekends can be planned in advance or we can see what we feel like at the time.

This past weekend ended up being wholly productive. We pottered into town at a very leisurely pace, enjoying the beautiful sunshine on a very mild winter's day. We bought various things we needed around the house and a few things that we simply wanted.

We went for a swim, we watched the snooker Masters, we chatted, we lounged, we pottered, we ate and we baked.

It will come as no surprise that this particular Photography household consists of two chocoholics so we took to the kitchen to try out some gluten-free chocolate treats. Both of our experiments turned out beautifully and I'm not ashamed to say that they are both already almost entirely demolished by the two of us.

 I feel like I've actually had the opportunity to spend some quality time with the Photographer this weekend. I feel like I've actually seen him and it's done me wonders.

Saturdays are definitely made for pottering. And when you're pottering with your other half it becomes even more soul-reviving.

Much love,
xx

Eyes to See

About 3 or 4 years ago I took up knitting. I started on a 'small' project - a toy penguin. I enthusiastically knitted its black body, its white bib, its yellow feet and orange beak. And then the enthusiasm waned, the knitting needles found their home in a ball of wool and that wool found its way to the back of a cupboard in a little green bag.

Time and again I was reminded - my penguin had no eyes. And so it sat, without sight, for years. Until I bought a wool needle this weekend. Finally I had no more excuses not to give my penguin his eyes. The green bag was unearthed, the black wool found, and my little penguin received his sight. The knitting needles were resurrected and in one short weekend he now has his wings and a scarf to keep him warm. All that's left is his little stripy hat.

Hopefully it won't take years for him to get it.

Much love,
xx