Hannah

I cant believe that its a whole year ago today that Hannah, sadly, passed away. Its mental how fast time flies.

Well Hannah, if you have the internet in heaven, I look forward to seeing you again, I'll ask God if I can bring a 'Boo' mask so I can get you back good and proper. 'See ya later alligator'

love Boo
xx

I can do everything in Christ who gives me strength

Well hi there.

Thought I better get this thing going again seeing as I shall be off to uni soon and I know how much everyone will miss me and mourn the gap I will leave that they will be gasping for news on this blog. ahem.

There is too much news to catch up on really; I will outline the main things:

• I went to Mobilise/ leadership conference: Naturally, it was amazing, even if i was a bit dubious of Rufio. God really opened my eyes to the wonders of the Bible and gave me a real excitement for it. I also got a word about uni which was very encouraging and exciting! Then I had a verse given to me too, [which is one of my favourites] how good is that!?

Phillipians 4:11-13;
'I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances, I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through christ who gives me strength.'

I cant even begin to tell you how relevant this was for me; this was given to me at the end of the last meeting and it was something I really felt God was working in me through the week, particularly the last day. I feel God helped me to have a contentment in myself both physiccally and mentally. I have really seen the difference this has made over the last few weeks since and I am now more excited than ever about going to Uni with this frame of mind.

• I've also been to Momentum [soul survivor]. I really felt God working in me at this week too but in a different way and using what he had done at the conference. I was actually on team so I didnt get to go to as many meeting/ seminars as I would have liked but God was nevertheless encouraging; the friends I went with wernt on team so this meant I found myself doing things on my own alot, going to meals in particular. I was nervous about this to start with but through the whole week I didnt sit on my own once. Every meal time someone either came and sat with me or I with them, and I felt so confident to just chat to all these strangers [some of you may think 'what? she could chat for england' but trust me, new people make me edgy] So that was a real blessing. They also had a student reception to meet those going to your Uni; it was great, I met a girl who is going to be on my course, plus I met my hall cell leaders and a few others from other years who had come along for encouragment! It seems like there is a fantastic Christian community down in Exeter.

Well I've written quite alot so I won't go on anymore today. Im a little tired after my nature ramble with my Dad today [binoculars and everything, yes we are very cool].

Peace out my friends, until next time,

Pic

xx

p.s. I have decided that one of my life's ambitions is to buy a wood; more on this next time.

The Wedding of Thingy

As most of you could not make it to my humble exhibition/ I wouldnt let you come, I thought I would put up some photos instead.

Therefore:

You are cordially invited to the wedding celebration of:

Mr and Mrs Thingy

On 14th June 2007
at 2pm
in 'The Garden'

Onwards later to the reception to be held at 'Le Grande SpareRoome'

RSVP

The Album

Imagine...

Imagine you had spent hours on a project; creating something personal, maticulously pinning, sewing, thinking and designing. Imagine you had thought through the meaning behind this and how it would be displayed and viewed, and you would be proud of it.

Now imagine you were told you couldnt use it, and were not given the space to put it in.

Now imagine how I feel right now.




time to give up.
Nicola.

Progress...

Thought I'd just give a quick update on the progress of said textiles piece...









much love to you all

xx

The joys of haberdashery

Well the past day has been slightly crazy, (me being stupid me, and getting carried away with a whimsical idea without really thinking it through).
My 6-week Final Major Project (on which all my marks hang) I decided to change just yesterday, with just 3 full days to go. It is at this moment of sanity as I write that I ask myself WHY!! WHY!! and why am I sitting here writing a blog when clearly I have a ridiculous amount of work to do!?

Its through situations like this that my true charachter prevails I think. I was never meant to do anything 'in good time'. I was born to put myself under pressure and get carried away with spontaneous ideas. But whatever happens, I always manage to get things done on time, well, most of the time I think?

So now my project is basing itself more on aspirations and fantasies of little girls such as getting married. I am having great fun making a kind of small wedding dress thingy.
Im glad I dont work in a fabric shop, I went in yesterday and I just get so overwhelmed! I could honestly spend half a day or more in C&H just browsing! haha. I always end up buying pointless haberdashery [if haberdashery could ever be pointless, it always comes in handy for something] and far far far too much fabric and wool. I got ever so carried away in the fabric shop and had to unload on the counter and go back for more; the girl behind the counter said 'I see a project' in a wide-eyed manner which said to me 'how much does this crazy girl think she needs?!'. Even seeing rows of knitting needles gets me going.

So now you think im bonkers I shall end this blog as the sewing machine is calling me.

marbles well and truly lost,
Nicola
x

Im not fat. Im not a man.

Hello lovelies.

Much sorriness for the lack of blogness, one has been tied up for many a week with things such as sewing, knitting and general confuse-nation. Tis the final week of my FMP therefore things are getting mildly panicky etc etc.

So tonight is the long awaited 'LOST party'. I have decided to go as Hurley which is going to be a challege because

a) im not fat
b) im not a man.

But i do have curly hair so thats something we have in common.

I must say I cant wait until my course is over, I love it of course but I would like to create things becasue I want to and not have to worry so much about why and what they mean. Perhaps it was a good move not doing textiles at uni? I surely hope so.

For those on facebook I would like to take this opportunity to explain the crazy pictures of me. We did a fashion show a few weeks back and I think whichever teacher was in charge of the hair and make-up was taking a bit too much inspiration from the likes of Alexander McQueen [which looks great in a professional show] but our amateur show meant that we were all very inconsistent and therfore just looked plain silly. But hey ho it was very fun and the pictures have made me laugh for at least a hundred years so far.

Um, i dont think i particularly have any other news to report Im afraid.

Muchos loves

Nicola
xxx

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'Shell shocked'

Well I'm not going to 'beat around the bush' as they say.

I just trod on a snail.

Barefoot.

My feet were literally naked when I stood on the slimeball.

It is 10.45pm, I have just had a lovely evening out with Krust and Gemmaroo and I innocently went onto our garden decking to see what stepdad Nick was doing in the garden at such an hour [watching 'his' newts in the pond...don't ask]. I screeched and hopped into my house, crawled up the stairs into the bathroom and proceeded in washing my foot. It seems that soap doesnt work, so i had to physically scrape the slime off with my nail. When I get to heaven I shall ask the Lord this: Lord, why oh WHY did you make snail slime waterproof? Why did you make snail slime? Why did you make snails?

I feel this was from the Lord. Gemma challenged me this evening and said that the Lord could really be teaching me about decision making through my current dilemma. However I feel I was right in a previous train of thought; I'm not going to go to uni. God has challenged me and set me on a new mission in life. Herein I shall devote my life to the meticulous research of chemical properties and their potential uses to rid the world of these pesky molluscs.

Perhaps I should be less selfish, for my Barbaric manslaughter [I dont accept full responsibility] was not without its losses. I imagine there are friends, family and relatives of the snail that are mortified at this tragedy. I can hear it now, poor mother snail [weeping]
' as if things could get any worse, it was just last week we lost Aunt Mildred to a bucket of salt...'

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE:

I just ate a pistachio that tasted EXACTLY like a parsnip.

Scribbly brain.

Today i have been amazed by the amount of people who read these blogs. Its so strange that whilst writing this, it feels like writing a personal diary, yet in the back of my mind I know the world and his wife could read it, but i still write...weird.

So far I have had a lovely weekend, Maddy's birthday was a treat, it finished spectacularly beacuse I had to go home as I felt sick and dizzy. That is how much I had laughed. Or maybe it was the cake, who knows, but i like to think it was the former rather than latter. At about 10.30pm we ambled down to the beach, laden with a flask of tea, blankets and maddy's mum's jumpers, and lay watching the stars. Actually that sounds nothing like how it actually was because in truth it was not calm and ladylike but raucous to the point that i was coughing like a smoker and had tears lining my face.

Without sounding like a broken record, I am at a loss. I have tried and tried to reply to my uni offers but I just cant do it. I just end up staring at the computer screen and getting myself all worked up. I keep regretting my decisions too whicvh is not helping as I cant go back now; why didnt I apply for that knitwear course?? On thursday night maddy kirsty gem and I had a picnic in my car on a hill so we could have some space to pray for each other. It made me realise how simple it is to pray for one another, all you have to do is open your mouth and talk to God, yet we hardly ever do it. Anywho, I am sidetracking. I asked to be prayed for about uni etc as usual.
I guess some people will be thinking what is she on about? all you have to do is pick one! but truly it is not that simple. my dilemma is formed from the following:
Back in college I was convinced I wanted to do psychology, i loved the subject but the more I got into the application the more confused I became and it just didnt work out. This resulted in me opting for an art foundation, simply because I loved my photography course and I thought it would buy me some time. In hindsight I realised that I prayed and prayed about what to do and where to apply but I didnt bother listening to the answers because i am so stubborn I only wanted to hear what I wanted to hear. I think in last resort the Lord just had to confuse me so I couldnt apply or something haha because I have loved this year so much and cant imagine having not done it.
SO...the fact that all this stuff this time round is not working out and i cant make a firm decision is confusing me in two ways:

1) I am worried that I am confused in the same way as last time, in the sense that I have made a completely wrong choice in the things I have applied to and God is trying to tell me that I am way off and shouldnt do any of them.

2) Or is it just down to the fact that I have no confidence in my own decisions however small and am completely incapable of making one. Therefore the above is null and void and just down to my own foolish thoughts?

Maybe this has shed light to you about why my brain is fit to burst when I mention uni. I feel like someone has reached into my head and changed a few things round without asking me, and on the way has scribbled on the walls a bit and mushed it around.haha.

I am also losing my memory. It has always been bad but at the moment it resembles a half eaten salmon that has accidently been fed to a cat. Apologies to those affected.

I have had some thoughts about my FMP, I think I want to do something about people getting back into the nuances of past times, such as knitting, crochet, baking and other such things, and it becoming increasingly popular. Any suggestions around this theme would be greatly appreciated.

I want a piano lesson. I hate money. [Sorry Pam. But on the plus side I have got pretty good at Burlington street even if i do say so myself, so i reckon for my next lesson you need to dust off that floor length gown, buy a cigarette and holder, purchase a feather bower and practice getting on top of the piano in a graceful and elegant manner.]

This is it now.

Watch out, Beadles about.

Nicola
xx

Pink wellies...

So its the Easter holidays, what joy it is to have people home from uni! Its weird though because when I have gone to arrange things I automatically add Crocker and Jeni to the list. Silly me, it does make me a miss them but Crocker is home soon so thats a bonus.

Anywho, what shall i write today?...

Im having a little trouble replying to my uni offers. I must say im not one to make a decision about anything. I find it hard enough to choose a chocolate bar when im at college, or decide what to eat for lunch, let alone a life decision haha. I think in my head i have convinced myself that if i dont make a decision, things will decide on themselves. hmmm. The more I think about it and hear people groaning about uni i just want to run away and bake cakes and knit somewhere hehe. Or go back in time and live life in the style of Jane Austen; go to balls, marry a handsome gentleman and ride on a horse into the countryside...

Im boring myself writing this so i shall change tack:
We were at Krusty's house the other day for her birthday and we were just chatting away. We somehow started talking about childhood and i realised how brilliant mine was. I think we can take these things for granted.

My old road in Southwick where I grew up was amazing; it was a little crescent with a roundabout in the middle. The roundabout served no purpose because it was the quietest road ever, so we took ownership and all the kids in the street created the 'roundabout gang'. Everyday we could we were out there on our bikes and roller skates going up and down the road, round and round the roundabout. Every morning there was doorbells ringing up and down the road 'can ... come out to play'. One summer we had a fair in someones garden [which was on the corner of the road] and we did face painting etc. It really was such fun, i would love to go back to being that age.

I was a real daddy's girl [well i still am], if i wasnt out on my bike with my brother I was in the garden with my dad. He gave me my own little patch of garden which he helped me keep, the most exciting time of year was when we had to plant the seeds. We used to go into his potting shed and plant the seeds in little trays and then wait for a few weeks until they got big enough and then we would plant them in my garden. Once [because im cool haha] we entered a horticulture show. Dad let me choose the vegetables from a pile [i was in charge of the shallots] and we won first prize! i think we were runners up for our tomatoes too. He bought me my own garden tools and i painted the handles pink, and he also bought me some pink wellies! Also we used to have berries growing up the side of our house and a couple of years dad got out this big metal bowl and we made bramble jam.

It nice to reminise sometimes, i only remembered the jam thing as i was writing this.

Well this blog was a little random, i hope you had a nice easter whoever is reading this.

xx

Moving swiftly on...

So I didnt have anything to say/ couldnt be bothered to write anyhting the other day, hence the marvellous limerick instead.

So um, for those lucky enough to be interested these are my updates:

1. I think I am going to go to Exeter spooniversity, but im not the best at making decisions so dont hold me to that. By next september I will most likely end up doing something like flying to the netherlands to do a spot of goat herding or something.

2. I really want to organise a knitting evening.

3. I think I might go and visit the lambs next sunday at Coombes farm, if its a nice day. If anyone reading wants to come do let me know.

4. Jeni and Lucy are going to cambodia on tuesday; I am quite woeful.

5. I have discovered that I am a hypocondriac [however that is spelt].

6. I have started going swimming once a week which is marvellous fun! Although i always want to eat and eat afterwards which kind of defeats the whole idea of going.

7. I am supposed to be doing some work right now so i will stop making pointless points and make like a tree... [or, Jeni, like a sausage]

Much love to you my brother from another mother,

xx

Jeni...

There once was a girl named Jeni,
who mistakenly swallowed a penny,
it appeared in a stool,
she was branded a fool,
so she flew all the way to Kilkenny.

'Ludders'...

So last night I was whisked away to the Barbican in London to see Ludovico Einaudi. For any of you who havnt heard of this genius man then i suggest you get onto it! He is a pianist and he was accompanied by various strings, the whole experience was amazing. At the end of each song it was weird, like no-one dared to even breathe, the atmoshpere was incredible. I guess thats what they call 'breath-taking'.
Anywho, to make things all the more enjoyable I was taken by my mum and step-dad and accompanied by my dear friend Krust. What a joy. We even ate grapes in the interval haha.

Apart from this I really dont think there s anything new to report. I have a new photography project which is a contempory narrative. If anyone has any ideas then do let me know; basically I have to explore a contempory issue, anything really.

Woe is certainly not me

Pic
x

'Snakes on a plane'

Well, after what i said yesterday, this very morning I got an acceptance letter from Exeter. I think i should be more excited than I am. I suppose im still confused about where I go as I wasnt really expecting to actually get into Exeter and Im still not sure if thats going to be the best course for me...
Oh well I suppose this just means that the waiting game is over and I can start to really make a firm decision.

Apart from that, today I met up with my wonderful friend Jo. It was most lovely to see her and share a laugh or two. I believe that is all...I am looking forward to having a 'Snakes on a plane' evening this evening. I imagine it will be very funny for reasons I cannot be bothered to explain haha.

until next time...

Pic
x

p.s. Snakes have a migraine

Challenges...

So here it is, post number two.

I wasn't sure I would actually use this but weirdly I keep doing things and thinking about how I should write that on my blog. Now it has come to a new post I can't think what those things were; perhaps if i just write then I will remember...

Been a busy half term; as soon as I unpacked my stuff I had packed it again to begin a journey to the land of the Ox. aka Oxford. It was in this land of spires and universities that I stayed with my most beautiful sister.

It was a strange visit, its odd to live someone elses life for a few days I always think. Its weird to think the intimidating masses of new people in a room to me, are to someone else a group of people who are individually cherished and mean so much on a daily basis. I must say I spent most the time feeling like a lemon but they were all absolutely lovely, there were just so many of them!

Sister dear is currently doing a year at KBC [kings bible college] so i tagged along attending lectures and lunches etc. It really opened my eyes to how much of the Bible I really just have not got a clue about which seems pretty scary but then is also quite an exciting challenge...

Whilst I was there I was also challenged to identify an area that needed breakthrough in my life; as usual I guess this comes down to the old Uni chestnut. I dont think ive ever prayed about anything so much in my life and I fully want to go where God wants me, but at the same time I get so caught up in praying etc that I just forget to listen for any answers! So this is my challenge for the next week, two weeks or however long it takes... I shall take time to listen, and actually give God a chance to help me out!
For anyone interested the situation so far is as follows: Kent-unconditional, Kingston- Unconditional, Plymouth-Conditional on passing foundation, Exeter- no reply as yet. [Its all hanging on the exeter reply!]

So yes, thats my ramble over, probaby doesnt make intersting reading but this is actually fairly therapeutic writing it all out! Words of knowledge are quite welcome lol, [yes Lord this is a hint...]

Thats all for now my beauties,

Nicola

x

p.s. Happy Valentines day for yesterday!

1 John 4:19 'We love, because he first loved us'

The one and hopefully not only...

Welcome to my first blog...

Though as yet I do not have much of interest to say, im sure this will come in handy one day, and i thought i would lay claim to my name in the web address. Haha just read that back and it pretty much rhymed...small things eh.

I shall fill you in on a small part of the world of me at the current moment:

1) Life has too many options I fear...waiting to hear from Uni's you are pretty sure you dont even want to go to anymore is mildly un-nerving.

2) I have just arrived home from Exeter whence I stayed with my wonderful friend Parry. I must say i do love my friends alot, and if it were not for them, my head may literally fall off.

3) God is amazing, and he knows and cares about every aspect of us both physically and emotionally. Which, quite frankly, is a most splendid thing to know, to say the very least.

Well thats enough to 'wet the whistle' for now I think.

Peace out my friends.

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