I love TV adverts at the moment, there are some really clever ones
and some that are just right to lift my mood when I need it the most
Love!
That's clearly two people in that jacket... that must've taken a lot of practice to be able to move like that!
I'm sure I have said before that I have a fascination with the way things work... Cadbury's have always flumuxed me! Enjoy! And if you can find something impossible, please share it!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Ready for more?
Can you also tell that I'm making a concerted effort to blog again. I need to start writing about things to help me realise the important things in life. 140 characters is not enough! I do think in more than one sentence and I have quite a lot to say, I'm finding new things to be excited about all of the time, sometimes I just need to talk about them.
I am coming back to quoting Romans 8 constantly as a reminder to myself that God will love me, no matter what we go through together.
Here's hoping networked blogs on Facebook catches up with me soon! how social networking has changed my life. Sorry little blog and the audience that keep checking up on me... I will try to get the balance right!
I am coming back to quoting Romans 8 constantly as a reminder to myself that God will love me, no matter what we go through together.
Here's hoping networked blogs on Facebook catches up with me soon! how social networking has changed my life. Sorry little blog and the audience that keep checking up on me... I will try to get the balance right!
Match.com
I have mostly spent Bank Holiday re-introducing my friend to Match.com.
The last time I was on Match, was two years ago, and boy, how much has the service changed. It's more expensive, more interactive and generally very different. It is really interesting to see that there are nearly 70,000 people at one time. THAT amazes me. I know there are 60 million-ish people in the UK, but still... who would've thought that it would take off like that AND they are still running adverts for it... it must be worth millions!
Well, it has been interesting to see what is now going on in the world of match and to help someone get back on their feet a little bit too.
Chris and I met through Match and we have not looked back since. I am kinda kicking myself that I deleted all the emails he sent me, cos I thought I wouldn't want to look back at them, but after this weekend I do.
It's just over a week and a half until we go to Le Mans too. we're getting things ready and that means that I have to pack for France, though I don't know what the weather is going to be like! Tomorrow will be the day to get the suitcase down (because the weekend bag will not be big enough) and try to fit the first attempt at packing in! I have grown to love camping since forcing myself to do it with young people in 2008 at SOLID, so I do know what to expect... it's just being in a different country that scares me!!
The last time I was on Match, was two years ago, and boy, how much has the service changed. It's more expensive, more interactive and generally very different. It is really interesting to see that there are nearly 70,000 people at one time. THAT amazes me. I know there are 60 million-ish people in the UK, but still... who would've thought that it would take off like that AND they are still running adverts for it... it must be worth millions!
Well, it has been interesting to see what is now going on in the world of match and to help someone get back on their feet a little bit too.
Chris and I met through Match and we have not looked back since. I am kinda kicking myself that I deleted all the emails he sent me, cos I thought I wouldn't want to look back at them, but after this weekend I do.
It's just over a week and a half until we go to Le Mans too. we're getting things ready and that means that I have to pack for France, though I don't know what the weather is going to be like! Tomorrow will be the day to get the suitcase down (because the weekend bag will not be big enough) and try to fit the first attempt at packing in! I have grown to love camping since forcing myself to do it with young people in 2008 at SOLID, so I do know what to expect... it's just being in a different country that scares me!!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
And finally....
If you haven't seen this, you need to. I showed it to my youth group for the first time on Sunday and it went down well I think.
I cry every time I see it. It really brings home to me the love that Jesus has for me and that he will not let go whatever is going on.
'We're convinced that neither death nor life, angels nor demons, nor height or depth or what's to come, can cut us off from the love of God, God is still for us, turn around' (Jonny Parks 'God is still for us' and Romans 8)
Follow Up
or possibly something to do with food.
Eric Lanlard is a little bit of a favourite at the moment... he's been Baking Mad on Channel 4.
Then there's Cupcake Wars and good ol' Duff over at Charm City Cakes. If you've ever seen Ace Of Cakes, you're not missing out at all. I love Man vs Food, though I am completely surprised that the guy who presents the programme hasn't had a heart attack yet.
Too many food programmes when you have Sky and the BBC. I'm still quite glad I missed out on Stacey Solomon on Saturday Kitchen, it's bad enough that she's on an Iceland advert at the moment.
Eric Lanlard is a little bit of a favourite at the moment... he's been Baking Mad on Channel 4.
Then there's Cupcake Wars and good ol' Duff over at Charm City Cakes. If you've ever seen Ace Of Cakes, you're not missing out at all. I love Man vs Food, though I am completely surprised that the guy who presents the programme hasn't had a heart attack yet.
Too many food programmes when you have Sky and the BBC. I'm still quite glad I missed out on Stacey Solomon on Saturday Kitchen, it's bad enough that she's on an Iceland advert at the moment.
24 Hours
A lot can happen in 24 hours and a new documentary on Channel 4 is showing us the ups and downs of Kings College Hospital Accident and Emergency.
It has always been interesting to see how documentaries are done, how reality television has changed over the last 10 years or so, since the rise and fall of Big Brother and what affect it has on the people involved.
'24 Hours in A and E' is not very hard hitting, but it does use the experiences of the staff and the reactions of the public to tell stories. The amazement of one professional was quite interesting - I found myself smiling at his disbelief. A man had come in via the 'red' phone, the one that rings when someone is severely ill, he had been trapped, folded in half at the waist and was in danger of losing his life. The staff reacted calmly and quickly to finding out what was wrong, what needed to be fixed and how. The doctor who was overseeing the whole department spent the rest of the programme complimenting his staff on their hard work, on the phone to a loved one and shaking his head in sheer disbelief that this man was still alive.
It was wonderful to see the man who arrived on a bed, get up and walk around his flat at the end of the programme. Modern medicine is a wonderful thing... and Bizarre ER is another programme that proves that the work of the NHS is invaluable to some. although, rather unfortunately I watch it on iPlayer too late at night! I'm not very squeamish so it's not too bad for me, but i do wonder what goes though the directors mind when he's ready to show a mangled finger!
Whatever I'm watching, it tends to be something to do with the emergency services. I love Police Interceptors and the Paramedics in Birmingham that have their own show on 5. I can't believe, still, that there are people who treat the Police, Fire and Ambulance services with contempt, it is really disrespectful and makes their job a lot harder.
For me, I'm hoping that 24 hours will make a difference to Chris, because he's been in bed for nearly that long with something nasty.
It has always been interesting to see how documentaries are done, how reality television has changed over the last 10 years or so, since the rise and fall of Big Brother and what affect it has on the people involved.
'24 Hours in A and E' is not very hard hitting, but it does use the experiences of the staff and the reactions of the public to tell stories. The amazement of one professional was quite interesting - I found myself smiling at his disbelief. A man had come in via the 'red' phone, the one that rings when someone is severely ill, he had been trapped, folded in half at the waist and was in danger of losing his life. The staff reacted calmly and quickly to finding out what was wrong, what needed to be fixed and how. The doctor who was overseeing the whole department spent the rest of the programme complimenting his staff on their hard work, on the phone to a loved one and shaking his head in sheer disbelief that this man was still alive.
It was wonderful to see the man who arrived on a bed, get up and walk around his flat at the end of the programme. Modern medicine is a wonderful thing... and Bizarre ER is another programme that proves that the work of the NHS is invaluable to some. although, rather unfortunately I watch it on iPlayer too late at night! I'm not very squeamish so it's not too bad for me, but i do wonder what goes though the directors mind when he's ready to show a mangled finger!
Whatever I'm watching, it tends to be something to do with the emergency services. I love Police Interceptors and the Paramedics in Birmingham that have their own show on 5. I can't believe, still, that there are people who treat the Police, Fire and Ambulance services with contempt, it is really disrespectful and makes their job a lot harder.
For me, I'm hoping that 24 hours will make a difference to Chris, because he's been in bed for nearly that long with something nasty.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Post-Easter Blues
After working so hard at Easter and having so many things to do, I have found that people are asking me if I'm ok. Apparently I look really tired. Some of the time I am genuinely tired, I don't sleep well when stressed and I get flustered more easily when I am tired, some of the time I jusy have a lot on my mind and it shows in my face. Really, I think I am still trying to get over all of the things that have happened... I have to think more about what I am doing day to day, but I am processing what I have done and what there is still to do.
My boss and I are having important conversations about the best time-management stratedgy - blocking out days at a time to do the work that needs to be done, well in advance of what is happening, hence I have meetings moving around and am more willing to say no to people, because I do need the tiem to prepare. I still don't get it right some times, but I am learning from my mistakes and taking my days off seriously.
Time for photos briefly before I sign out again...
The happy couple
Sophie and Tim worked really hard and the whole day was really good fun.
I can't get the fully length photo of Chris and I to work, so you will just have to wait to see how beautiful we looked!
My boss and I are having important conversations about the best time-management stratedgy - blocking out days at a time to do the work that needs to be done, well in advance of what is happening, hence I have meetings moving around and am more willing to say no to people, because I do need the tiem to prepare. I still don't get it right some times, but I am learning from my mistakes and taking my days off seriously.
Time for photos briefly before I sign out again...
The happy couple
Sophie and Tim worked really hard and the whole day was really good fun.
I can't get the fully length photo of Chris and I to work, so you will just have to wait to see how beautiful we looked!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
The Passion
We're now half a week away from Easter, having suffered a Bank Holiday or two, it's back to work briefly and doing prep work, catching up on emails, sorting out all of the stuff that is going to happen over the next bank holiday and the next term.
I've already had a wonderfully productive and funny meeting with the schools workers about the half term that already feels so short. It almost shocks me that soon I will be having conversations about Christmas and Harvest. In fact I have been already with some people! How can we invite more people, how can we work with our community, how can we make it inclusive, how can we be better at what we do?
It is a lot of fun at Easter, this year we had a holiday club that I was involved in, albeit in the most background way, but I got to learn how the sound system at church works, after years of abusing it, I know that you can't have things up too loud, or you'll scare yourself as well as the rest of the street!!
We saw a smaller number at Eastingle than we have done in previous years, this was most likely down to the glorious weather we've had and a long holiday before good friday. It is really easy to forget that there is something to be at! But we had a lot of fun remembering the story and eating hot cross buns.
Throughout Holy Week I was expecting texts from The Passion Experience, a different telling of the story of Holy Week, but they didn't arrive and I was less impressed with the facebook and twitter feeds that were supposed to be in real time, but they were talking about the world going dark at midday, which if you read scripture at all, it says 3pm on that friday... so I wasn't really very happy to correct that, but I did any way! I have re-read the tweets (only 39) and some of them are good, but it is just a retelling of the story, Natwivity did better at christmas, for me any way. There is something about only familar characters 'talking' that makes something exciting, for example, we had Peter speaking... but he only denied Jesus once... that's not how it happened, it seems that it has been thought through, but not written well enough for it to really be worth while following, and the phrase 'We Jews do it each year' is just wrong, Passover is so scared for Jewish people and it needs to be treated that way to have a real impact on the Christian community, it is our heritage after all and deserves the proper respect.
The rest of Holy Weekend was spent with Chris' family and family-to-be celebrating the wedding that is coming up. I'm so excited for Tim and Sophie! Looking forward to being involved and watching Chris in his suit!
So you're a little bit up to date with what is going on... Sorry I have been so quiet, my life has actually taken over!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Fabulous things!
Few things make my day much like an early morning tweet that is about typography!
If you head to here, you'll really see what I mean by beautiful.
Seriously, some of the detail is amazing and some of the rest of the posts are amazing (even a quick look at restaurants and coffee shops will blow your mind!).
The words of some of the type are really good as well... and I have been really encouraged by the words of Abraham Lincoln recently. People have started to quote him on twitter and I never really knew that it could have the impact it has. Certainly a very good American man, who spoke a lot of sense. I wonder if he knew that he would have a great impact on a little English girl in the 21st century? I don't know the impact on his own country, but I hope there will always people speaking sense.
it's realy time for Easter. I'm preaching on Sunday and then the following friday... lots to do, and now less time to do it in!
If you head to here, you'll really see what I mean by beautiful.
Seriously, some of the detail is amazing and some of the rest of the posts are amazing (even a quick look at restaurants and coffee shops will blow your mind!).
The words of some of the type are really good as well... and I have been really encouraged by the words of Abraham Lincoln recently. People have started to quote him on twitter and I never really knew that it could have the impact it has. Certainly a very good American man, who spoke a lot of sense. I wonder if he knew that he would have a great impact on a little English girl in the 21st century? I don't know the impact on his own country, but I hope there will always people speaking sense.
it's realy time for Easter. I'm preaching on Sunday and then the following friday... lots to do, and now less time to do it in!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Filling out the Census
I'm sure if you're a UK resident, you're probably sick of hearing about the Census for 2011 or you're already over it and have sent it off in yesterdays post like I did (on behalf of my parents, who then wondered where it had gotten to!).
If you're a similar age to me, the last census was in the middle of A levels, or just after we'd done our GCSE's. I'm 26 and I am already nostalgic about the last time I sat at the dining room table and filled out a form, with my Dad's help, knowing that I was helping in some way, but not really sure how or why I was having to fill this form out as the fourth person in the house. (At this point I feel sorry for the family with more than four children).
I am now the third person in the house and wondering (probably like my parents) where the last ten years have gone, what have I done that has brought me to the point where I am back at home and what did I think all those years ago about where I would be in ten years.
I certainly thought I would be married and living with my husband, but my world has changed so much that I can't afford a mortgage. I can't see how I will ever afford a mortgage. I thought I would have children, but I am simply not ready, because of the first thing not happening. I have found that I don't really want to bring children up at the moment either.
I know that just because I haven't done these things, doesn't mean I am a failure. I have a job I love doing, with colleagues who support me and a family who were more excited than I was when I started working for the church. It has been a journey and I have used this blog to tell you a little bit about it. At times, I have suffered from randomness and boredom, other times I have been busy, I have not felt happy about blogging what I was going through, so things have been quiet, but I hope that the next ten years will see me blogging still, telling the stories from the past and future hope and dreams. One day, I will set up a mobile blog properly!
Here's to marriage, to children, to a house of my own, to a family that continues to grow and share the love and hope of Christ, in the local area and further afield.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Fair trade!
Hello, I am just resting up, whilst at the start of a very busy week. I managed to work 5 and a half hours before 1pm today, which is highly unusual for me, being a youth worker and all, things don't normally start til 10am or at the latest lunch time, so I'm flagging, but I have a meeting later on, so going to bed and staying there for the rest of the day is not an option.
I have been gathering helpers for fairtrade activities for a couple of weeks now and I'm happy to say that the church were willing to help serve the community for the third year in a row. This year we have upped the anti a bit and have started doing breakfast as well as afternoon tea.
People are really excited about fair trade, heck, fair trade is excited about all of the things that are now fair trade, the food, the clothes, the craft, the kitchen stuff!
If you haven't seen the absolutely huge list of suppliers on the high street (and on the interweb) head here. You will be as surprised as I was by this list! Also, I found my fairtrade skinny jeans, on the web, from Marks and Spencer. Woop! Trusty M&S.
These are not just any skinny jeans...
Uh hummmm... yes, moving on.
This weekend has been different from any other. I have spent two straight days in school, dealing with a very sad situation, with my colleagues from schools ministry. It is such a privilege to be asked to help and being the first port of call, knowing that the school recognises that we can help them in their time of need. I spent Saturday morning with a fair trade producer, listening to his story about carrying fruit 5km (and being annoyed by the old women who talking over him - when you travel a couple of 1000 miles to talk about how fair trade has changed your life, you can talk all you like) then Chris and I went over to Basildon to buy pre-made pancakes for this week. I'm cheating a bit, but it is a lot easier this way (and would anyone like a jar of ft chocolate spread. I have 5). Then we went to Lucy's 30th Birthday Party and it was a surprise! I've known Lucy for two years now and we have done lots of fun things together, including living on a boat and celebrating her move to full time youth ministry. This girl is wise and wonderful and full of cracking ideas! I don't go to surprise parties that often and almost played a part in spoiling it for her, but had the sense of mind to be sensible about it. Luke, her boyfriend, had arranged it all and chose an awesome restaurant. We got to sit with some wonderful friends and made some new ones too.
Sunday was busy, with fairtrade stuff, left right and centre, lent things starting and young people to talk to about attending a course for young people, run by Alice. I then had a couple of hours at home and headed to see Alice for the course and promptly got pulling into Looking @ Jesus too!
Here's to the busy life, and the sleep that is needed for it. As part of Lent, I think I might go to bed a little earlier, after being told by someone younger than me that midnight is not sustainable!
I'm also going to stop buying clothes after putting out four bags of clothes a couple of weeks ago. And shoes, no more shoes for lent. I'm not even going to tempt myself by looking at the converse website!
I have been gathering helpers for fairtrade activities for a couple of weeks now and I'm happy to say that the church were willing to help serve the community for the third year in a row. This year we have upped the anti a bit and have started doing breakfast as well as afternoon tea.
People are really excited about fair trade, heck, fair trade is excited about all of the things that are now fair trade, the food, the clothes, the craft, the kitchen stuff!
If you haven't seen the absolutely huge list of suppliers on the high street (and on the interweb) head here. You will be as surprised as I was by this list! Also, I found my fairtrade skinny jeans, on the web, from Marks and Spencer. Woop! Trusty M&S.
These are not just any skinny jeans...
Uh hummmm... yes, moving on.
This weekend has been different from any other. I have spent two straight days in school, dealing with a very sad situation, with my colleagues from schools ministry. It is such a privilege to be asked to help and being the first port of call, knowing that the school recognises that we can help them in their time of need. I spent Saturday morning with a fair trade producer, listening to his story about carrying fruit 5km (and being annoyed by the old women who talking over him - when you travel a couple of 1000 miles to talk about how fair trade has changed your life, you can talk all you like) then Chris and I went over to Basildon to buy pre-made pancakes for this week. I'm cheating a bit, but it is a lot easier this way (and would anyone like a jar of ft chocolate spread. I have 5). Then we went to Lucy's 30th Birthday Party and it was a surprise! I've known Lucy for two years now and we have done lots of fun things together, including living on a boat and celebrating her move to full time youth ministry. This girl is wise and wonderful and full of cracking ideas! I don't go to surprise parties that often and almost played a part in spoiling it for her, but had the sense of mind to be sensible about it. Luke, her boyfriend, had arranged it all and chose an awesome restaurant. We got to sit with some wonderful friends and made some new ones too.
Sunday was busy, with fairtrade stuff, left right and centre, lent things starting and young people to talk to about attending a course for young people, run by Alice. I then had a couple of hours at home and headed to see Alice for the course and promptly got pulling into Looking @ Jesus too!
Here's to the busy life, and the sleep that is needed for it. As part of Lent, I think I might go to bed a little earlier, after being told by someone younger than me that midnight is not sustainable!
I'm also going to stop buying clothes after putting out four bags of clothes a couple of weeks ago. And shoes, no more shoes for lent. I'm not even going to tempt myself by looking at the converse website!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Fair trade
Soon it will be fair trade fortnight, and we will be 'showing off' our labels, in support of fair trade and to promote clothing etc.
So part of that is actually finding something to wear during fairtrade fortnight that fits, won't look to shabby and will allow me to do that. I've already got a tshirt that is branded by fair trade, so that's not a problem, but I wanted a pair of jeans to go with, so that I can show people what the cotton can be made into.
Problem is, I can't find any... I want a skinny pair in black or dark blue and there's nothing :(
I shall search high and low, but if someone can point me in the right direction, I will be grateful... I might tweet this!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Valentines Day
I started off late out of bed and arrived at church with the vicar hot on my heels!
Every Monday we gather at Christ Church for morning prayer, which is Bible reading and obviously, praying for the community. This morning, our readings, which are set by the lectionary (I think) were from 1 Chronicles, Psalm 44 and John 15.
John 15 is a very famous passage about vine and branches, but of course with it being Valentines day, what stood out for me, was entirely different, yet still in the passage.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
A good passage for today!
Love is some times a hard thing to do and sometimes it's the most natural thing in the world, but knowing that the love I have comes from God is really helpful for me. It's a gift that I can share with others and I hope I'm doing some good by doing so.
It's all fun and games at the moment. We headed to the cathedral for SOLID Remix, which was a really good night. we had a few little glitches but actually, the young people enjoyed it and gave some good feedback on the night about how they would like it to develop! I do love that my young people are so engaged with everything and I'm hoping that it will continue throughout their lives.
Saturday was the most relaxing day and recharging after a pain in the neck stopped me from being able to work properly (though I think I tried too hard), a chance to go to the football and spend some time with Chris. Sunday was the launch of the quest for volunteers for Fairtrade fortnight.
I'm hoping the next couple of weeks will be fruitful... looking forward to a half term recharge in Brizzle!
Every Monday we gather at Christ Church for morning prayer, which is Bible reading and obviously, praying for the community. This morning, our readings, which are set by the lectionary (I think) were from 1 Chronicles, Psalm 44 and John 15.
John 15 is a very famous passage about vine and branches, but of course with it being Valentines day, what stood out for me, was entirely different, yet still in the passage.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
A good passage for today!
Love is some times a hard thing to do and sometimes it's the most natural thing in the world, but knowing that the love I have comes from God is really helpful for me. It's a gift that I can share with others and I hope I'm doing some good by doing so.
It's all fun and games at the moment. We headed to the cathedral for SOLID Remix, which was a really good night. we had a few little glitches but actually, the young people enjoyed it and gave some good feedback on the night about how they would like it to develop! I do love that my young people are so engaged with everything and I'm hoping that it will continue throughout their lives.
Saturday was the most relaxing day and recharging after a pain in the neck stopped me from being able to work properly (though I think I tried too hard), a chance to go to the football and spend some time with Chris. Sunday was the launch of the quest for volunteers for Fairtrade fortnight.
I'm hoping the next couple of weeks will be fruitful... looking forward to a half term recharge in Brizzle!
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Blogging more often
You know what? I can be a numpty sometimes. I thought I had a problem but I don't. I wish I paid more attention to what is really going on. Although sometimes, I'm too switched on to miss anything and end up over thinking something.
I haven't been sleeping well this week, probably because I stayed up to watch Superbowl on Sunday night. I got to half time, but still that is 1am and the knock on effect means I didn't get to sleep til two this morning, and that was only after deciding to read my Bible for a bit, in an attempt to pray myself to sleep - which works for me, as does counting!
I was watching 'Young, Unemployed and living at home' too last night as well, as the last bit resonates with me (I'm not young and I'm employed) and I wanted to see what Greg James looked like, as he'd been talking about it on the radio during my travels yesterday, constantly. It was interesting to hear about how many young people are struggling to find a job. My family are fortunate, my sister and both of my brothers have jobs that pay over the minimum wage, I think, and although it is tough sometimes, we all have a skills set that could get us a job elsewhere, when the time comes. Unfortunately, three of us are still living at home, because it is just not worth moving out. We all work in Billericay or commute to London, so prices are high, because we live within 40 miles of London. I would live with someone else, but finding the right person or people is difficult. And I'm not living with my brothers!
There were occassions during the programme when I wondered how the young people Greg James' was talking to were unemployed or struggling. Most of them were on job seekers allowence, which is only £50 a week, but some of the circumstances they find themselves in, makes you wonder why they aren't claiming more, or what help they are getting from the government. I could say more about this, but I have never been unemployed for more than 6 weeks, so I can't really say very much about the situation.I have been very blessed in my life with the jobs I have done (most I fell into or was asked to do).
Any way! I have to get back to finding out more about India for SOLID Remix on Friday!
'But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.' Rom 8:25
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Wonderful blogs that make me spend my money
I have a little obsession with something the webworld would call 'noms' and 'squee' - in regular terms, well made, cute food and well made, cute items. I am semi-concious of things being ethically sound, fairly traded etc... so when I come across websites that combine these things I tend to get very excited and normally end up spending some money on things that reflect my personality or things that I would like to define a little bit of who I am in the future (I have a pink bible I'm known for and at one point, I had a felt covered bible). So let me point you in the direction of some of these, that I visit regularly, to aid my sense of self and deminsh my money pot!
The people that started it all are the wonderful world of icanhascheezburger.com where you can find noms and squee to your hearts content - it's a little addictive I warn you! (Some of it is also not safe for work, so please be careful bloggers, and small children!) I love IMMD and LFMF, you just need to type these into google and there are hours of good/bad short stories of how to make people happy and how to get away with not doing stupid things!
I visit cake wrecks on a regular basis (just for Sunday sweets mostly) and less often I visit Epbot which is the sister site to cake wrecks and often directs me to another site to have a look at, so the writer came across Dude Craft which put me on to loads of websites (I would go three or four pages in to see some really amazing paper/book craft and I so want a steamed wood coffee table when I'm all grown up!) which has just blown my mind... now you might be put off by the amount of adverts on the site, but I emplore you to click Cosa Verde which is all about things that are ethical etc! And that is where I came across my latest purchase from REDSTARink. So gutted that they don't have a UK shop, but hopefully that will change, because there are some amazing stationary bits to be had!
Also I love Pink Whisk which is a blog of one of the finalists from The Great British Bake Off from the summer. I'm going to try macaroons soon!
I'm sure there are plenty of other blogs that I haven't come across, but I will definitely be keeping an eye out for some more wonderful food blogs and ethically trading etc blogs/shops.
And if you haven't come across Heaven's Attic please have a look and see if you can buy something for your family from there, it's a eally worth while cause.
I'm done!
The people that started it all are the wonderful world of icanhascheezburger.com where you can find noms and squee to your hearts content - it's a little addictive I warn you! (Some of it is also not safe for work, so please be careful bloggers, and small children!) I love IMMD and LFMF, you just need to type these into google and there are hours of good/bad short stories of how to make people happy and how to get away with not doing stupid things!
I visit cake wrecks on a regular basis (just for Sunday sweets mostly) and less often I visit Epbot which is the sister site to cake wrecks and often directs me to another site to have a look at, so the writer came across Dude Craft which put me on to loads of websites (I would go three or four pages in to see some really amazing paper/book craft and I so want a steamed wood coffee table when I'm all grown up!) which has just blown my mind... now you might be put off by the amount of adverts on the site, but I emplore you to click Cosa Verde which is all about things that are ethical etc! And that is where I came across my latest purchase from REDSTARink. So gutted that they don't have a UK shop, but hopefully that will change, because there are some amazing stationary bits to be had!
Also I love Pink Whisk which is a blog of one of the finalists from The Great British Bake Off from the summer. I'm going to try macaroons soon!
I'm sure there are plenty of other blogs that I haven't come across, but I will definitely be keeping an eye out for some more wonderful food blogs and ethically trading etc blogs/shops.
And if you haven't come across Heaven's Attic please have a look and see if you can buy something for your family from there, it's a eally worth while cause.
I'm done!
Friday, January 28, 2011
More from Twitter and life to challenge me!
I thought that since we were nearly in February and I hadn't said a lot, that it was time to talk about January and all of the exciting things that have happened in the last couple of week, plus the things that have reminded me of who I am and what I can do. I've only got half an hour so I'll be short!
Like I said in my last post, I have an addiction to twitter. I don't have normal conversations with people any more and Chris and I often chat abut what's been said by people we both follow, or sometimes I'll talk about the slightly more obscure people/ideas that I follow. I am currently proving that I can exist outside of 140 characters, so that's really good news for me.
I follow Twitturgies which is 140 or less characters of pure God gold, now they don't tweet as often as everyone else (I think it's meant to be less than once a day) so it becomes exciting when they have done the deed. And it is always challenging, which is why most of the time I will re-tweet. Yesterdays was interesting as it fitted nicely with what I was watching on TV. The BBC has a habit of showing Open University programmes after the 10 O'clock news and last night was about pain and pleasure, the things that cause it and the things that stop us from feeling pain. The final statement was 'The greatest pleasure is sharing things'.
'Right' I thought, 'I'll tweet that'! And so I did. I didn't get much of a response because it was late at night, but hey-ho. I looked at twitturgies and they had this 'I set aside hostility to practise hospitality. I journey from exclusion to embrace. Help me God to find your grace in every face I see' which in a way speaks more to me more than the final statement of the programme I was watching. (it's called Pleasure and Pain with Michael Mosley and will be on iplayer for a week! and you can follow twitturgies here)
'Help me God to find your grace in every face I see'
It's a challenge for me, because we are all human and some of us are nastier than others, yet of course there are some real saints in the world. It's easy to see God in the things we like, what we enjoy doing (I love my job, but what about those that don't?), who we like but what about the negative aspect of all our lives, where can we see God in that?
I don't know the answer. I'm trying to figure it out for myself as it is regularly something that smacks me in the face and well as the sort of human I'm called to be in God and that nagging voice in my head of 'you shouldn't' or 'don't do that'. I am free, I know that, but I'm not sure how to live it and how to make a difference by living it.
I think that is something that a lot of my generation struggle with as Christians from a church upbringing. We are the generation who could probably put down our faith and not really be bothered. The rest of the world has, those in their 20's are not really fussed about attending church (making it hard to find someone for marriage!) and those who do attend often don't have the teaching background to further their faith or aren't passionate about what Christ has done for them, or they simply don't see the relevance of their faith to let it shine though, for fear of being ridiculed or put down, or being asked tough questions.It can be something we just do on a Sunday because it's something we have always done.
I was privileged enough to be asked to join my friends on a weekend away to Longleat for Momentum Weekend. It was exciting, I love centre parcs a little too much sometimes, so spending a weekend worshipping as well as being in the middle of a forest, yes please! Also, one of my favourite speakers is part of the Momentum movement, though he does go on for a bit! My friends were introduced to the delights of Mike Pilavachi and Andy Croft - who have a wonderful relationship and a go at each other now and then to show that off! Their teaching was fab and it was a great encouragement for me to see 300 young adults (and 2 babies!?!).
They started the weekend with this video but also got us talking later on in the weekend about how we worship as a church and when our worship occurs. I came away with a greater understand ing of my faith and my friends, and hopefully an opportunity to take them to momentum or Soul Survivor later on in the summer.
I have now talking about far more than I wanted to and the blog has fallen into Friday afternoon, rather than Wednesday before school (all the best things take God's time). There are plenty more things to discuss... like the creeds from the early (300 year old) church at CCS and the new phone I have and how I can't find an app for anything I want to do, as well as the ridiculously small manual they sent me and the work we are doing in school and at Shaken Up.
Any comments...??
Like I said in my last post, I have an addiction to twitter. I don't have normal conversations with people any more and Chris and I often chat abut what's been said by people we both follow, or sometimes I'll talk about the slightly more obscure people/ideas that I follow. I am currently proving that I can exist outside of 140 characters, so that's really good news for me.
I follow Twitturgies which is 140 or less characters of pure God gold, now they don't tweet as often as everyone else (I think it's meant to be less than once a day) so it becomes exciting when they have done the deed. And it is always challenging, which is why most of the time I will re-tweet. Yesterdays was interesting as it fitted nicely with what I was watching on TV. The BBC has a habit of showing Open University programmes after the 10 O'clock news and last night was about pain and pleasure, the things that cause it and the things that stop us from feeling pain. The final statement was 'The greatest pleasure is sharing things'.
'Right' I thought, 'I'll tweet that'! And so I did. I didn't get much of a response because it was late at night, but hey-ho. I looked at twitturgies and they had this 'I set aside hostility to practise hospitality. I journey from exclusion to embrace. Help me God to find your grace in every face I see' which in a way speaks more to me more than the final statement of the programme I was watching. (it's called Pleasure and Pain with Michael Mosley and will be on iplayer for a week! and you can follow twitturgies here)
'Help me God to find your grace in every face I see'
It's a challenge for me, because we are all human and some of us are nastier than others, yet of course there are some real saints in the world. It's easy to see God in the things we like, what we enjoy doing (I love my job, but what about those that don't?), who we like but what about the negative aspect of all our lives, where can we see God in that?
I don't know the answer. I'm trying to figure it out for myself as it is regularly something that smacks me in the face and well as the sort of human I'm called to be in God and that nagging voice in my head of 'you shouldn't' or 'don't do that'. I am free, I know that, but I'm not sure how to live it and how to make a difference by living it.
I think that is something that a lot of my generation struggle with as Christians from a church upbringing. We are the generation who could probably put down our faith and not really be bothered. The rest of the world has, those in their 20's are not really fussed about attending church (making it hard to find someone for marriage!) and those who do attend often don't have the teaching background to further their faith or aren't passionate about what Christ has done for them, or they simply don't see the relevance of their faith to let it shine though, for fear of being ridiculed or put down, or being asked tough questions.It can be something we just do on a Sunday because it's something we have always done.
I was privileged enough to be asked to join my friends on a weekend away to Longleat for Momentum Weekend. It was exciting, I love centre parcs a little too much sometimes, so spending a weekend worshipping as well as being in the middle of a forest, yes please! Also, one of my favourite speakers is part of the Momentum movement, though he does go on for a bit! My friends were introduced to the delights of Mike Pilavachi and Andy Croft - who have a wonderful relationship and a go at each other now and then to show that off! Their teaching was fab and it was a great encouragement for me to see 300 young adults (and 2 babies!?!).
They started the weekend with this video but also got us talking later on in the weekend about how we worship as a church and when our worship occurs. I came away with a greater understand ing of my faith and my friends, and hopefully an opportunity to take them to momentum or Soul Survivor later on in the summer.
I have now talking about far more than I wanted to and the blog has fallen into Friday afternoon, rather than Wednesday before school (all the best things take God's time). There are plenty more things to discuss... like the creeds from the early (300 year old) church at CCS and the new phone I have and how I can't find an app for anything I want to do, as well as the ridiculously small manual they sent me and the work we are doing in school and at Shaken Up.
Any comments...??
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Twitter addict
Maybe it's time to add my twitter feed to my blog as I have already tweeted over 500 times since joining up to the thing just before Christmas. I am a fan of tweetdeck although it doesn't really help me to type in names of people I want to tweet, none the less, it does spell check for me... though currently I'm sticking to simple words and just replying to people I know.
I'm still not 100% sure on etiquette for twitter and sometimes I feel as thought I am breaking some unsaid rule about what I'm allowed to say. It seems that my facebook friends know be well enough to know that I occasionally ramble in scripture or chat about what God is doing in my life, whereas the twitter friends I have are all by some sort of motorsport association, so it's interesting to me when there is loads of reaction on facebook, but barely any on twitter. Still there are things that will always be taboo, no matter where you are and what you are doing.
The life of the youth work carries on (and every so often explodes) I have found myself in bed for the most part of the later half of this week, working out a cold that has taken over. My body was waiting for the 11th Jan to completely break down on me, having fought off every other thing going to get me through the Christmas busyness and New year celebrations, plus a weekend away at Centre Parcs with 300 young adults (well 18 - 30's (why would you bring babies on this sort of weekend)). So the last couple of weeks feels like it's taken forever, yet it's now really far away. We're already up to the third Sunday.
God, in His infinite wisdom (yes, surprise!) Has taught me a lot about love and worry in the last couple of weeks as well as mission and Biblical perspectives on things that I never thought I would understand. Amos keeps cropping up in my life and has done since I turned 16. I would say that it's odd, if I didn't know any better!! But I do and I'm grateful for the work that God is doing in my life and in the life of those around me to work for His glory.
I have an over-riding sense of the Holy Spirit resting on my life right now, like He's waiting for me to catch up with Him, to figure out what I'm actually doing and where I need to be in the next term or so, to have those moments where I learn from God and gather myself for another wave of work.
Right, I need to get my sleeping sorted, otherwise I'll never get well!!
I'm still not 100% sure on etiquette for twitter and sometimes I feel as thought I am breaking some unsaid rule about what I'm allowed to say. It seems that my facebook friends know be well enough to know that I occasionally ramble in scripture or chat about what God is doing in my life, whereas the twitter friends I have are all by some sort of motorsport association, so it's interesting to me when there is loads of reaction on facebook, but barely any on twitter. Still there are things that will always be taboo, no matter where you are and what you are doing.
The life of the youth work carries on (and every so often explodes) I have found myself in bed for the most part of the later half of this week, working out a cold that has taken over. My body was waiting for the 11th Jan to completely break down on me, having fought off every other thing going to get me through the Christmas busyness and New year celebrations, plus a weekend away at Centre Parcs with 300 young adults (well 18 - 30's (why would you bring babies on this sort of weekend)). So the last couple of weeks feels like it's taken forever, yet it's now really far away. We're already up to the third Sunday.
God, in His infinite wisdom (yes, surprise!) Has taught me a lot about love and worry in the last couple of weeks as well as mission and Biblical perspectives on things that I never thought I would understand. Amos keeps cropping up in my life and has done since I turned 16. I would say that it's odd, if I didn't know any better!! But I do and I'm grateful for the work that God is doing in my life and in the life of those around me to work for His glory.
I have an over-riding sense of the Holy Spirit resting on my life right now, like He's waiting for me to catch up with Him, to figure out what I'm actually doing and where I need to be in the next term or so, to have those moments where I learn from God and gather myself for another wave of work.
Right, I need to get my sleeping sorted, otherwise I'll never get well!!
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Quick Christmas
December has come upon us rather quickly and without little notice it must be said! I have had a few moments of dis-belief in the past month or so.
The first one is a wonderful moment though. As part of my job I get to go into school and run lessons. It is always really interesting to see how much students know... It's a lot of fun to get students thinking about things from a Biblical perspective, the new things that we can teach them about the Bible and the characters we can read about. Recently we were talking about New Starts and the story of Nicky Cruz. One class we spoke to knew so much about the questions we asked them that we sailed through the lesson and felt truly elated at the end of it. I feel to my knees at the end of the lesson, knowing that God was working in all of their hearts and minds, teaching them about His goodness and grace. Today we were in a different school, but still came away feeling the same, Christmas lessons are always good when you get questions that enable you to tell your story and God's story in more depth.
The other dis-belief was a bad one - in fact things come in threes and I understand that a little more after having a wingmirror broken, a dead laptop and a maxed out overdraft (due to paying for a new wingmirror and paying to fix the laptop). It was a bad week for me.
Any way, the laptop is still not back, after the problem was not fixed the first time around, so I'm working from the home laptop, hence the lack of posting and general quietness.
In a few days we will definitely be in the run up to Christmas, there are carol services to be had, there are talks to be done and there are parties to attend.
Shaken Up has finished for 2010 and we will be back on 14th Jan.
There are lots of things happening over Christmas, new things to do. Things we will do once, things that will start new traditions. I'm apprehensive about this Christmas, but that's mostly because I will be in Church for three days in a row. Three Christingles, one midnight communion, one Christmas Day communion, and a Boxing Day service at 10am.
I would like it to be over so that I can rest! I've had one cold so far and seem to be really tolerant of illness at the moment. I'm praying that continues.
The first one is a wonderful moment though. As part of my job I get to go into school and run lessons. It is always really interesting to see how much students know... It's a lot of fun to get students thinking about things from a Biblical perspective, the new things that we can teach them about the Bible and the characters we can read about. Recently we were talking about New Starts and the story of Nicky Cruz. One class we spoke to knew so much about the questions we asked them that we sailed through the lesson and felt truly elated at the end of it. I feel to my knees at the end of the lesson, knowing that God was working in all of their hearts and minds, teaching them about His goodness and grace. Today we were in a different school, but still came away feeling the same, Christmas lessons are always good when you get questions that enable you to tell your story and God's story in more depth.
The other dis-belief was a bad one - in fact things come in threes and I understand that a little more after having a wingmirror broken, a dead laptop and a maxed out overdraft (due to paying for a new wingmirror and paying to fix the laptop). It was a bad week for me.
Any way, the laptop is still not back, after the problem was not fixed the first time around, so I'm working from the home laptop, hence the lack of posting and general quietness.
In a few days we will definitely be in the run up to Christmas, there are carol services to be had, there are talks to be done and there are parties to attend.
Shaken Up has finished for 2010 and we will be back on 14th Jan.
There are lots of things happening over Christmas, new things to do. Things we will do once, things that will start new traditions. I'm apprehensive about this Christmas, but that's mostly because I will be in Church for three days in a row. Three Christingles, one midnight communion, one Christmas Day communion, and a Boxing Day service at 10am.
I would like it to be over so that I can rest! I've had one cold so far and seem to be really tolerant of illness at the moment. I'm praying that continues.
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Sorry
My plan was to blog this afternoon, but life has taken over. I am thinking about what to write about and I hope that I will be able to do it soon. Apologies for the silence... I'm thinking and I will put it all down soon!
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