it's the simple things in life that make us happy ...

hibernating from the world ...

new ideas ...

every time i check out this shop i want to buy more ... 

totally appropriate for my life ... 

taking 1 minute off my best flightline run! 

it's the simple things in life that make me happy ...

running & lifting & cross training & sore muscles & feeling great ...

pretty hair ... 

pretty top ... 

a wonderful giveaway with Jen Kiaba ... 

sitting on my butt ... doing nothing ... & having absolutely no guilt attached to it!

it's the simple things in life that make me happy ...

501 shop hearts on etsy (remember this is simple things) ...

so much pretty is this shop (& the owner is super nice as well) ...

running in the rain ...

bbq'ing with lots of wonderful friends ...

heading back to blighty!

words to live by ...

thursday ...

Today has been one of those days ... a mixture of good & bad!

I returned to the doctors today ... he said i've bruised a bone, am guessing at the patella (only knee bone i know) in my knee. So glad to have an idea of what's up. Plus side is i'm allowed to run down side just not 26.2 miles. So the marathon is going to have to wait but it will happen, i've even more determined! So hopefully the anti-inflammatory's he's given me will help & i'll be good to go ... if not i have to return in a couple of weeks!

But today i also have my first "guest blog" ... super excited! The super talented & fabulous Katie of Sense of Place Photography kindly let me write a blog about our weekend adventures in Zurich & the hubby. So be sure to check it out over on The You & Me Show.

& lastly i wanted to share something completely different ... I am taking part in a project with the fPOE team, called Miss Match & it's all about diptychs. Well my first theme was "surreal" & with the help of my occasionally wonderful husband i got an end result that i love. Completely new & different to anything i've tried before but i had fun & now i know how to make blood!

todays run ...

So I'm posting this blog both here & over on "We Are Go Fish Go" because well i can. & i want to & i kinda feel like it's relevant to more than just running although there are no pretty pictures to share.

Today i didn't have to work & it was also 8 mile day in the training schedule. The last few weeks have been tough, mentally because i have found myself frustrated with many many things, cranky & hormonal. Throw in the lack of running or just plain bad runs I've not been my happy chirpy self. In fact I've taken to hiding from the world. But today i was determined to run, i needed to do this despite what my body might tell me.

So i set off running, heading towards the flight line, praying the rain would stay away & the pulling in my quad would mysteriously vanish the same way it has mysteriously appeared. Well it didn't start so good, i could feel it there, & my knee was a little sore. Yesterday's run was well just plain bad, i made it 2 miles with my legs feeling like led & my mind completely not into it, so here i was not even a mile down the road wondering if this wasn't just a really really bad plan. So i took a couple of minutes, stretched my quad & off i went.

The weather was perfect ... a slight breeze ... a temperature peak for the year at 50 something degrees & it was quiet & peaceful out there. The thing i love most about running round the flight line is that there's not a whole lot going on out there. Yes there's some cars, but they're driving past & not constant, there's a few buildings & well i guess there's the whole plane's taking off & landing thing going on but trust me when i saw it's peaceful out there. & i could honestly watch planes land & take off all day, it still has this almost romantic feel to me.

When i run i run with either someone else or music ... the music helps me to create this bubble i run in. Well he came mental block number 2 as about 3 miles in, right around the spot where we'd had to end our last run out here my shuffle died. It's my own fault for not charging it but here i was left with another major dilemma. Do i turn back or keep going. I turn back & i only have 3 miles without music i go on & well it could be a really long run. I went on because i was not quitting this run.

One of the things that running has taught me is to really listen to my body, it has this amazing ability to tell you the moment something is up & running out there without any music all i was really aware of was my body & feelings going through it & the noises it was making (yeah running loosens things up) & the fact that i still had a long way to go. But i decided to ignore my body, probably a bad thing but no today today was about forcing myself to finish this run. I needed to simple to know i could make it to Vienna.

& so i ran ... not the fastest & not the slowest ... i ran without music ... i ran with sore muscles ... & by 7 miles i found my stride & i couldn't feel my quad & i was stretching out & i had that feeling you get when everything stops hurting. Your body relaxes into the run & all of a sudden nothing matters. & i felt that again today & it felt wonderful & i loved it & maybe tomorrow with hurt a little more running but i pushed myself. I pushed myself through this major mental block i had going on & so it was worth it. Oh whilst today's run was only 8 miles i ran 9 ... again because i can!

& afterwards i had me some fajitas & bought a book & now I'm home getting ready to mat some photos & i have had a wonderful day!

it's the simple things in life that make me happy ...

feeling your muscles burn as you stretch out the last 50 meters of a long run ...

starting your day early & having all your errands done by lunch time ...

being introduced to a wonderful blog for those who require a paint by numbers idiots guide to business ...

England beating Wales at Twickenham in the opening 6 nations game, my boys made me proud ...

the feeling that this could be "the year"!

Go Fish Go

So moving completely away from photography i want to tell you all about another venture of mine ... back when my husband deployed last year, in a drunken conversation with a friend he said he could train me to run a marathon & the dumb ass that i am i said yes! So i started running & ran my first half marathon in May of last year & it was a wonderful experience.

Well one of my running buddies through this all wanted to run a marathon too (she's way More hard core than me) & so at the end of last year, knowing she was PCS'ing in the summer we made a deal to run our first marathon together. With this in mind we set out to choose our marathon & the lucky winner was .... (drum roll please) ... Vienna In April. Yes that means we have 3 months to get to the point where we can run 26.2 miles without dying!

So the Go Fish Go part i hear you asking ... just to put a little extra pressure on ourselves we will be running for the Fisher House Foundation. Aaaaaah i hear you say ... the name is not quite as obscure (though it is obscure but that's the way we like it) as it seems. The Fisher House Foundation provides lodging facilities for members of the military, veterans & their families close to Military hospitals around the world.

So this won't be the last blog about "go fish go", there will be giveaways involved & any way we can think up to raise money for this i will be blogging about. If you have any ideas, or suggestions please let me know & of course check out the blog. We will have a button up on the blog later today to donate towards it & we will be keeping you updated on everything that goes on. I appreciate all your support, luck & if someone has a sure fire plan for surviving this please let me know!

Running is like a drug ...

why is it that sweating your ass off makes you feel so good? ok maybe that sounds weird but seriously ... i know endorphins do it but i feel like it's something else. You muscles hurt & you don't want to move but you feel like top of the world. & that moment when you're running & your muscles sore from the last run stretch out, you can feel your body powering forward & even when it hurts there's this small part of you that has to go on.

monday morning ...

This morning i somehow managed to pull a 4 miles run out of my ass ... & it hurt, but sometimes the hurt is good & sometimes it's what you need to push the body & mind, a wake up call on a Monday morning. This run was me saying it's time to start again, that everything my bodies been through the past month is done with.

I love to run, i love all the old cliches about pounding the pavement, i love the freedom, it's my time. I listen to music & watch the world go by, pushing myself to a new limit & feeling the power that comes with the body working hard. A hard run whether it's 2 miles or 10 miles is that much more satisfying than an easy one, i don't feel like I've achieved if my body doesn't feel like it's worked.

So now as my training starts over i plan on blogging about it, it's definitely not exciting or glamorous but it's part of who i am now & i feel like it's another way of sharing with the outside world & the motivation i have to run is the same motivation i have to achieve my photographic dreams. Maybe for me i need one to push the other!

"Human beings are made up of flesh and blood, and a miracle fiber called courage"

-George Patton

solitude

True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment.  

                               ~William Penn