Mood Boards Can Work

I started a mood board back in April.  I had a vision in my head about how I wanted the house and garden to look and feel but was unable to explain this vision to my husband.  It has really helped him to understand what my goal is and if he shares the same one too!  Fortunately we seem to be on the same track with a little compromise.  I had bought some Hibiscus Trionum seeds to add something different to the garden.  I put up a picture of what they should look like on my mood board.

 As you can see from this picture, I now have them flowering in my garden.


I have mentioned on here before that I love Indian hand block printed cotton quilts.  I already had two that were throw sized but wanted a double sized one.  I printed off a picture of the exact quilt I wanted and bought it!  You can see it in the photo below.

I need to make some adjustments to my board now tweaking some original ideals and adding some new ones too.  I really believe that there is value in mood boards helping to stay focused and work towards a goal.  You can have a mood board about anything.  My next one will be on my creative goals.  Have you ever tried creating a mood board and did it help in achieving the outcome you wanted?

Living the Dream?

There are many blogs on the Internet where the 'blogger' appears to be 'living THE dream' whereas I have been 'living IN A dream'  for more years than I dare to count.  For too long I have tried to convince myself that if I was surrounded with images of the lifestyle I aspire to it would somehow come true.  In fact it has had the opposite effect.  After years of keeping so many back issues of magazines taunting me of what could have been, today I decided to liberate them to the recycling bin.

I have spent literally hundreds of pounds over the last few decades on County Living Magazine, Martha Stewart and a whole plethora of craft and needlework magazines.  I feel as though I have wasted so much time and energy on them yet at the time they were a quick and relatively cheap fix to fulfil a need.

I think I am an addict of sorts but thankfully my addiction is only magazine related.  I bought my last magazine of 2012 yesterday, the Christmas issue of 'The Simple Things'. I am not going to buy any magazines in 2013.  In retrospect they have left me feeling empty and dissatisfied with 'my lot' in life.

After the magazine cull I am feeling slightly bereft as though I am parting with my dreams.  Now that my paper perfect life has been designated to the bin, maybe I can get on with my real life?

Bloggers Beads Reminder

Thank you so much to everyone who has sent me beads so far.  I have even received a bead all the way from Australia!  On receipt of the beads I will send you an email to let you know that I have received it and put your name under my 'Bead Donors' in the side bar.

I will keep this open for another couple of weeks and then I will draw a name from all the people that have sent me a bead and send the winner a little something I have made.  I do hope that I receive enough beads to make my 'Bloggers Beads Necklace'!

Apart from my goal of making 'the' necklace with the help of my blogging friends I have another goal that I wish to achieve this year.  I want to improve my level of fitness.  I decided that I will do this by walking more.

After reading about the merits of using a pedometer (counts the number of steps walked each day) I decided to buy one.  I read that the average person does between 3,000-4,000 steps each day.  Health professionals advise to walk 10,000 steps each day to maintain fitness and 12,000 steps to lose weight.

I walked to the vineyard and back today and this evening my pedometer reads 15,687 steps.  No wonder I am tired!

Personalities and Self Discovery

As I continue my soul searching quest to find out who I am, what makes me tick and where I am going, I have been studying personality types based on the works of Carl Jung and Isabel Briggs Myers.

There are 16 distinct personality types in the currently most widely-accepted Personality Type model. After much consideration I seem to fit the INFP personality best of all.  The INFP personalities are the Idealists.  Looking further into this to see what careers are suggested for INFP personality types I see that 'Writer' is at the top of the list.  It seems quite far fetched to me that I could actually make a career out of being a writer as I didn't even reach GCSE standard for English at school!  It has given me a goal to work towards though.  I can see myself as a writer.  I will be sitting in my study looking through the window to the hills in the distance, I will have a steaming mug of coffee by my side and a plate of home made biscuits to feed the mind and the belly. With my cat purring contentedly on my lap as I write............  the situation is almost ideal.

Alternatively......................

I live a very conventional life, safe and somewhat mundane yet I have always hankered after the unusual, alternative and extraordinary ways of life.

When I was younger I experimented with alternative ways of eating. I used to look up to Leslie Kenton, health guru and author of the Raw Energy Diet and followed her raw health diet for months. It wasn't sustainable as it was too restrictive. She also advocated running along the beach and taking vitamin supplements.

Years later I started following a macrobiotic diet which is a very sensible but yet again restrictive way of eating. It was based on yin and yang foods and eating a mostly grain diet.

Now I eat a sensible well balanced diet (if you ignore the Friday cake bakes and the sweet treats!) based on the knowledge I have gained about healthy eating over the years.

Away from diets, I have dabbled with other 'alternative' things such as Reiki, and been attuned by a Reiki Master. I have used Bach Flower Remedies, Homeopathy, Aromatherapy oils etc. I have drunk clay, aloe vera juice and Bancha Twig tea!

I believe I am perceived to be slightly 'odd' by conventional types and too 'normal' by people that embrace more unconventional ways of life.

I like to sit on the edge, dipping my toes in the water and retreating when it all gets a bit too weird! Do any of you feel like this?