Sea of Boxes!

Well, all this talk but it has finally begun happening.  We’re in the joyous throws of moving house!  (Quick snapshot from my Mac Book – Why doesn’t i-photo have a ‘flip image’ option?) I am literally using every hour of my waking day in which to pack while Jamie stays on top of our family business.  My hands are sore, and so is my throat from disturbing so much dust (yes I do have dust in my house you know – don’t be shocked!).  The boxes are mounting up and we will be heading South to Derbyshire over the forthcoming Bank Holiday weekend. 

I never knew we had so much stuff.  I’m generally fairly minimal and Zen-like when it comes to how I like my rooms (kids rooms are obviously the exception!) but I am shocked at how much stuff we have hoarded in the loft and the shed (not to mention the stuff we have been keeping stored at my Dad’s house.)  I’ve thinned it out a bit but it is so hard to get rid of my creative history and staggeringly there is lots of it!  Jamie reckons I need a house all for myself!

Have checked in with the Steiner school and they are expecting us on the first day back after the holiday break, so all is good there.  Will have to reconnect with people there over the break in the coming weeks to ease ourselves in to the community again.  Not that I feel like I have to ‘ease myself in’ really.  I always feel welcome there and so do the kids.  I don’t think it will take long for us to settle in at all.

Will keep y’all posted.  Now where did I put the bubble-wrap?

Pancake Tuesday!

Mmmmmm.  Yuummmmm!  Syrup dripping, chocolate spreading, pan hissing, lip smacking Pancake Day!!  What more can I say?  We gorged ourselves silly on the most fantastic tasting pancakes ever, skillfully  blended and tossed by my very own Naked Chef – Jamie Simpson!  Well, maybe not Naked.  At least not here!  Hh-Hhm!

Potato Love - Cupid Curry 2!!

It’s the school half term holiday here and we have been away with the kids for a couple of days visiting our friends Nige & Lou.  Carrying on with the theme of Cupid Curry, Louise made the most beautiful curry (yes, it really was lovely!) and in it was some real lurve – this amazing potato she picked up on Valentine’s day!!  Ah, sweet!!  I wanted her to have the photo of it for her new blog, but she wouldn’t ‘cos she’s not ready yet, so we pay homage to her here by linking to it.  Check out www.luluandblu.com over the next few weeks for further developments of Louise’s interesting journeys with her fantastic sock-puppet friend Blu.It’s so nice that the Love theme continues in my life, even though Valentine’s day is now just a memory.  I stayed home today and had a nice lie-in after all the travelling yesterday.  Even though my honey was gone to work he had thought of me and left me this sweet reminder of him, hung over the kitchen chair!!  It made me laugh, so I thought I’d share it!

Baggy Jamie

So, as mentioned.  It is the school holidays, and I have the kids with me, so not much happening on the work-front this week!  Just at home today, doing nothing very exciting: paying bills, ironing, corresponence, etc.  Oh I hate those mundane bits – wish I had a PA!!!  Hah haa!!!!   And a house-keeper!  One day!!

Unity - On the wall.

Love is in the air!!!  St. Valentine’s Day is here!  Life is soooo busy though.  I had actually forgotten it was Valentine’s Day until nearly noon when I was almost ready to leave my honey and go out to help do some work for friends!!  We had a little kiss and a cuddle though and I had not entirely forgotten as I have been busy making this piece for him during the run up. Alas, I am home now.  It is 11.30pm and the planned romantic meal sits prepared but still uncooked on the worktop beside me.  (I chopped. – Jamie is about to work his magic, in a minute!!)   But the evening has not been wasted.  While I asked J to find me the pic I took of this finished piece, we wound up looking back through our photo catalogue.  My God!!  Things/people/situations that feel like only yesterday are in actuallity several years ago.  The signs of aging: wrinkles, fatness, baldness, children with adult teeth are so apparent now comparitively!  We have come a long way and have achieved so much in such a relative short 5 years!!  Having been with friends today who are about to open their new business soon, I was feeling a little nostalgic over having seen them mature in a similar way.  From graduates to married couple to parents to entrepeneurs, it has been a lovely journey to watch.  It is sweet to look back through our lives and see how similar events have unravelled in an almost parallel, simultaneous way.  I like been older.  I enjoy who I am.  I might have been a skinny (UK) Size 8 and had a lot less lines on my face but I wouldn’t trade it ever for what I have now.  I think I actualy look better for lines and a bit more weight.  More human!!  Yes, of course I still bitch and moan sometimes (it’s human nature) but life is a gift.  I have to remember that and try harder to make the best of each passing day.  Life is too short!!

I love this collage.  I’ve never had a great understanding of how to do it, but I think this turned out really well and I was happy to give it as a gift to my honey.  It is on watercolour paper and I’ve worked it dark to light, using elements of tissue and acrylic paint with paper collage.  I initially painted our faces in with the white acrylic paint but we looked like caricatures which wasn’t what I was trying to achieve!  So I took the original photocopy from which I had traced, tore it and collaged that over the top.  It saved the day!!  He likes it!!  It adorns the wall in our office.  I daren’t dislplay it at home as we are about to market the house and personal imagery is supposed to be a ‘no no’ when viewers come to look.  So at work it will stay, for now!  Feel free to contact me if you are interested in a personalised photo collage for yourself or someone else.

Well, the wine glasses are waiting to be filled, and dinner (yummy homemade organic vegetable curry) is smelling divine!  Time to enjoy and savour!!  Happy Valentine’s Day!

Sue & Jamie. Up Close and Personal.

]]> http://www.liv-luv-make.com/2009/02/14/cupid-curry/feed/ 0 http://www.liv-luv-make.com/2009/01/14/welcome/ http://www.liv-luv-make.com/2009/01/14/welcome/#comments Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:58:20 +0000 Suzie http://www.liv-luv-make.com/?p=1 Here is my new blog, lovingly put together for me by my Jamie (everyone needs a Jamie!) whilst I fell asleep next to him the other night.  I did not even know he had completed it for me until now when he just unveiled it to me, so my fingers are eager to put words to screen!  

I plan to share my life journey here, and so much is happening right now.  It is a creative journey, one of discovery as I forge new paths.  My art is changing, the place I live will soon be changing, new relationships will be forged and old ones maintained but always changing.  Nothing ever stays the same. I am learning to embrace the new, the now, the what is!!  Whether I like it or not.  Whether it is so called ‘good’ or ‘bad’.  Man, I’m challenged, ha ha!  Please share my journey.  I hope you can relate in part or full to my ramblings.