tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67439633201669822502024-02-08T01:26:27.289+00:00I dream of DaisyDonnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-60029785999067767122019-08-26T17:50:00.000+01:002019-08-26T18:59:47.182+01:00Unhappy Pants<div style="color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It may not matter to you, but it matters to me. When the respect is gone, how do you muddle though?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I know there’s a lot of parents out there who have this bugbear about clothes sharing with an ex for weekend visits. You get to the point that you resent sending away brand new clothes because there’s a chance they never come back. School things required for the following week end up sitting in someone else’s house. It’s very frustrating. Often it’s the mum tearing her hair out wondering why they just can’t return things.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I was glad when my ex complained about not liking the clothes I sent with my daughter. I don’t like packing, so when he said the clothes I bought her were disgusting I said, buy your own then. That was about 2 or 3 years ago. I’d like to say I never looked back, but it’s hard to manage. She’s always going to be wearing underwear and socks from my house, or the occasional school uniform. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Yet again, I have damaged clothes returned, but I know if I brought this up with my ex I would get a height of abuse. It’s not a big deal, they were put in the dark wash by mistake, why can’t you just use some vanish stain remover. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I think, NO, why can’t you use some vanish stain remover when you realise the mistake, or better still, sort your colours before washing! I’m not sure what the truth is anymore. Is it lack of respect or do they just not see it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Maybe I’m fussy or maybe I’m normal with my laundry care. Maybe I have this idyllic view that scruffy tatty clothes are for the bin and that you wash colours separate to avoid ruining clothes, clothes are expensive. Stain removers are expensive, and should be used only when necessary. Sometimes they work, sometimes you can’t reverse what happened.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Wouldn’t it be great if we could reverse what happened. The trick is to try and think before you do something, what are the consequences. Yes it’s only laundry, but what other things in your life do you treat like laundry? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There’s a saying I loath. It all comes out in the wash, it’s the biggest crock of shite I’ve ever heard! It doesn’t.</span></div>
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<u><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Suggested solution to reverse the disrespect</span></b></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Next time, perhaps you could send a message to the other person at the time of the event and say. I’ve made a mistake with the laundry and ‘X’ item is ruined, sorry. What would you like me to do? I could replace the item with the same or next size up? Replace with something else, what does child need instead. Do you want the money to replace it yourself. You may be suprised to hear, don’t worry it was just a cheap t-shirt. Try your best to work things out if you've made the mistake.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Whatever is agreed, stick to it and follow through. No excuses! Make it a priority to rectify the situation before you return the child. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Do people really feel good in scabby knickers? Maybe I should mention it again that there's no need to wash the clothes, just give them back to me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Your thoughts....</span></div>
Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-38573680259972979532017-04-12T21:20:00.000+01:002017-04-12T21:31:01.636+01:00Spring<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Check this face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She lives for ice cream, netflix and sleeping in my bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hates brushing hair, teeth and fruit
and vegetables rarely pass her lips. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is courageous, funny and outgoing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Constantly talks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Loves nature and animals and could be a
vegetarian if only she liked vegetables.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I love her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is mine.</span></div>
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<br />Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-13285533865338346672017-02-14T00:06:00.003+00:002017-02-27T20:22:18.023+00:00The Valentine's Poem<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Now a slightly different style of creative writing for me. I knocked up, (excuse the pun) this over the past two days. It's a fingers up to the sweep it under the carpet brigade, the ones who call you dramatic for voicing your opinions. Society can have us feeling gagged. We cannot express feelings for fear of looking desperate. It takes guts to speak out. Do not fear the people that want to verbally gag you, for they are the fearful ones. Your thoughts?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">♡ </span><span style="color: red;"><b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">My valentine's Poem </b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">♡</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fuck you for being the poison that broke me</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I screamed like a banshee when I learned of the new family</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Words failed me</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fuck you for making me feel completely worthless</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For thinking only of yourself</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Isn't it sad you were so jealous</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was lied to and disrespected</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The anger was not as you expected</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fuck you for turning a blind eye</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fuck you for being disconnected</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And thinking your child is bloody perfect</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fuck you for repeating history; breaking up our family</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For having some fun</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For thinking you can just make another one</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fuck you for looking me in the eye, and saying I'm imagining it</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For insinuating I'm a lunatic</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fuck your ability to move on from the trouble and strife</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">While I try to hold together the old life</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fuck you for not thinking about our feelings</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fuck you for the abrupt ending</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And for your pretending</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fuck you for taunting me with your future</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Shared hopes and dreams of the past</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">How long will it last</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I felt pain for your happiness</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I had to endure misfortune for your perfectness</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I suffered the mistakes to spare you the headaches</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now I feel an imminent proposal</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Salt in the wounds it's completely delusional</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">How many times is that now?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What why and how</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But the cruelest thing of all,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Is being made to believe I,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Was the Belle of the ball.</span></div>
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I will be spending my Valentines day with this little lady. She's had her eye on a bouquet of Red Roses for a few weeks, so that's what I got her, along with the cooked breakfast and the mornings papers (kids mags). She will be a happy kiddo! Me? Pass the Lucozade. x</div>
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©Sarah Ferry Photography</div>
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<br />Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-52256759145307635812016-12-14T22:22:00.000+00:002017-02-27T20:21:36.248+00:00Sarah<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Last year I decided to get some photos of Daisy since I hadn't really done any after leaving college. I thought it would also be a good opportunity to get a few of us together as we don't have any. </span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
met </span><a href="http://sarahferryphotography.com/" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">Sarah</a> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">online in the my love my life blogging circle I was part
of a few years ago. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">We would all write a blog about our children each month, usually
covering a particular topic. It was good to see how everyone interpreted
it. Then we linked our posts to each other so readers would see all the
posts one after the other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The stories were great and you got to admire
the different styles of photography each person contributed. I always
thought Sarah's pictures were cool; such artistic shots of everyday life.
I was particularly interested in her black and white photography, something I felt I
rarely got right. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I booked a session in October last year and then started shopping for some clothes for the photos. Trying to think what would look
best in monochrome is tricky. I wanted a classic look, so didn't go for any crazy
patterns. I was also worried that having a bit of photography experience
if I showed up in something wrong she would be thinking, "what the hell". Of course she wouldn't have because she's lovely. Saying that, you have to put some thought in if you are going to
invest in good portraiture. Classic looks are timeless. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I later regretted booking a 10am slot as I set my alarm for 6am. You see I take ages to get ready. I'm slow due to energy levels and I have medical treatments to do in the morning. The studio is in Banchory so you've got to allow for driving there. PLUS, I have the slowest kid in the world who takes about 40 minutes to eat cereal! Seriously. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">The session was good. I felt relaxed, Daisy played along for the most part. When Sarah got her to make funny faces I thought oh my god, she's going do this for the whole session now. Afterwards we had a nice lunch in Mains of Drum and like everyone else I wondered, when will I get the photos!</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">I
waited patiently for my gallery. I didn't email asking when my photos were
going to be ready, which is so not cool in Photography land. There was
definitely some anticipation brewing.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">I wondered if I'd have a double chin or my dodgy eye would be obvious or
if I'd look knackered since I was up so early. And yes, I had all these things but I wasn't even bothered. It’s difficult to
describe that feeling when your gallery notification pings into your email.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">It’s a bit like waking
up on your birthday realising, it’s presents day! You make a dive for the
desktop and get ready to do some happy claps…..or is that just me?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
looked over and over my gallery trying to narrow the images down. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I always wanted one
or two more than was in every package. There was a different favourite each
time I looked, a different one I imagined as a large wall print. The only way
forward for me was to purchase my whole gallery of images and I'm glad I did. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So people, g</span></span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">o get yourself some
family photos. Yes it can feel weird. You worry what you'll
look like, but your family won't see the insecurities that you do. They'll see the people they love.</span></span></span></div>
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<br />Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-44198492446130953632016-12-08T10:32:00.002+00:002021-05-21T09:50:12.902+01:00Christmas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: Nanum Myeongjo; font-size: medium;">I’m finding that more and more
people are following the trend of giving money to charity in lieu of sending
Christmas cards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even Daisy’s
school has changed their views on exchanging cards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used to love getting cards from my friends at school. It
was really exciting posting cards into the red school post box. Then waiting
eagerly for your card delivery; it was fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I personally love
designing and sending my cards, which gives me that same feeling I did as a
child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: Nanum Myeongjo; font-size: medium;">Since Daisy arrived I started making
photo cards, which seems to be another American tradition that has crossed the pond.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first year my photo cards weren’t
so great, I thought they were good at the time, but knew there was room for
improvement. The year I felt I nailed it was 2013. It was a cold morning down at the local beach. Dog walkers kept getting in the way and making the steps all wet with paw prints, but we got there in the end.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Nanum Myeongjo; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Nanum Myeongjo; font-size: medium;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">I’ve already posted out our family cards for this year
and it’s surprisingly really easy to do!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I use
a company called SNAPFISH and mostly use the lay flat design.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the run up to the festive period you
can find lots of discount codes available online, so you can get a really good deal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I started making photo cards I
would aim to take my photos in November.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, over the years with the unpredictable Scottish weather I soon
realised I should actually take these photos in the October school holidays to avoid getting stressed over lack of time and crappy weather.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s hard to fit photo shoots in with
Daisy’s busy schedule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t
even have all weekends these days as she goes to stay with her dad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt stuck this year and was worried
I wouldn’t get my photos and it’s become a bit of a family tradition, so I want to keep it going. Daisy features on the front of the card which is a good idea because it lets people keep up to date with how she's growing, not everyone sees her regularly. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><br /></span>
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">This year I wanted cute outdoor shots like
previous years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I shopped for an
outfit, a fawn leopard print coat from Monsoon with woollen poncho and skinny
jeans, but the weather was not on my side and I found I was constantly washing and scrubbing her skinny jeans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">I decided I needed to prepare a
studio set up with an alternative outfit as a back up in
case I couldn’t get outside.</span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"> </span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">I had
been hoping to get photos of Daisy and I together like I did last year with <a href="http://www.sarahferryphotography.com/">Sarah Ferry</a> since I never seem to be in any photos with Daisy.</span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"> T</span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">his year I had the
perfect photography prop at my disposal; my 1974 Bay Window camper van called
Gaston.</span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"> </span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">Luckily Sarah had some space in her diary and agreed to take the photos I had
been thinking about. </span><span face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">With two possible lots of images
for our family card I had to decide what one to go with.</span><span face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"> </span><span face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">Daisy decided she wanted my indoor
shots and I really liked Sarah’s ones, so we compromised and printed some of
both.</span><span face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Nanum Myeongjo; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Nanum Myeongjo; font-size: medium;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">Daisy also made a snowman card at school
from a drawing. You can see it at the top of the page.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The school use a
company to turn the drawings into cards, dishtowels, mugs and gift tags
etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The money raised though the
sale of the items goes towards school funds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">Lots of people love cards, just yesterday I saw an old lady at the checkout in the local supermarket. She joked that she must have left over cards in the house for every year she's bought them, this was as she was picking up another pack. She said she loves sending and receiving cards, hear that people, she loves it. People still love getting Christmas cards from family and friends. For some elderly people, they may even look forward to it.</span><span face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Nanum Myeongjo; font-size: medium;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><br /></span>
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">Here's some of our past and present photo cards to look at.</span></span><br />
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><br /></span>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY4-T-ulAfzMUPtmFZy_r1wNSTPSbadVo_sjQWopcb5sa46WSb1-RL73056uuc0uMX2YehlPtWvb5Vpna_oG5i3AzAr8vtBBbYh5noWUNdBbcAtL3i0meBcswHgdowdwLXVGpAzgtAsV5n/s1600/Untitled-1.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY4-T-ulAfzMUPtmFZy_r1wNSTPSbadVo_sjQWopcb5sa46WSb1-RL73056uuc0uMX2YehlPtWvb5Vpna_oG5i3AzAr8vtBBbYh5noWUNdBbcAtL3i0meBcswHgdowdwLXVGpAzgtAsV5n/s1600/Untitled-1.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">© Sarah Ferry Photography</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-36992593475733645022015-08-14T23:54:00.001+01:002015-08-15T00:24:30.063+01:00Assisted Dying<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDkLnDgUyXmhuL1YMnDr5b2-9_T3aELbSK8QXTteHBMiAKd5B9Vnml4Ip00zcvg3_VLua8h3arkoTRJeu36zyzLIe64Dwlt759wk4p8eFE2GIxjFk6DK8r_3L53mCPKV-dr8CKJ7pUYLxi/s1600/butterfly1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDkLnDgUyXmhuL1YMnDr5b2-9_T3aELbSK8QXTteHBMiAKd5B9Vnml4Ip00zcvg3_VLua8h3arkoTRJeu36zyzLIe64Dwlt759wk4p8eFE2GIxjFk6DK8r_3L53mCPKV-dr8CKJ7pUYLxi/s640/butterfly1.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Assisted Dying has been on the news again. What
do you think about it? Is it wrong, should we let nature take its course.
I think in the world we live in we intervene in most things anyway. Would
we let nature take its course if a pregnant woman was unable to give birth
naturally? No, we wouldn’t, because we are a developed and modern
country. We don’t let animals suffer. If the Vet said, <i>“look it
would be kinder to let them go”,</i> we would usually take that advice.
So why are we comfortable to let our loved ones suffer when there’s another
way. Why should our loved ones have to travel to Dignitas in Switzerland
ahead of time because of fear they will be too sick to travel. It’s a
very big debate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">I’ve spoken about this before with some close friends,
friends that would choose this because of degenerative disease. I fully
support them in their decision. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">When I was younger, I used to think about my own
situation and what route I would take. This is before I knew about places
like Dignitas. You see, there will probably come a time in my life where
I would need a double lung transplant and when I was younger the odds wasn’t
that great on you surviving the operation. I used to think, that’s not
for me. Waiting for a call to get new lungs, living your life waiting, to
die on the operating table anyway. Success rates are a bit better
nowadays, but it’s still not great. 50% of people die waiting for a pair
of lungs and 50% die afterwards due to complications.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">I guess the main difference with my condition and
someone that has something like Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is that MS is never
going to get better and there’s nothing that can be done to buy time once you
are too sick to look after yourself. This is the point where people want
to press the ejection button before it gets too much to bare. The people
making these decisions are fully aware of what is to come. Otherwise you
slowly go downhill and that’s it, to the bitter end. I think the people
that disagree with Assisted Dying have never experienced what its like to be
sick every day. It’s hard going. You have to fight for every thing.
Basic things that most take for granted. It’s physically exhausting.
Life doesn’t give you an easy time because you are sick and people still hurt
you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">However, Cystic Fibrosis is a different fish.
You may want to push the ejection button, but you need to hang on until the
bitter end for a second chance at the controls. I’m not saying CF
sufferers have a harder time, but the rules of the game are different. Some
decide to eject. It’s a very personal decision, one I think the person
should have and be able to action, at home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">What are my personal thoughts, well, I have Daisy to
think about now and I will hang on for as long as I can. And it's
not a cure, it just buys some time. I’m trying to get better with
remembering all my treatments and medication but it’s not easy on your own,
especially with a life limiting condition like CF. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">If you would like to give
people a second chance at the controls, if you feel that some people could be
saved, why not think about </span><a href="https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/">joining the organ donor register</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">You can do your bit, I’m even on it and I didn’t
think they’d want anything of mine. I think my eyes and my skin are the
only bits worth having. </span></div>
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Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-64317881522459219692015-06-21T22:03:00.004+01:002015-06-21T22:10:58.991+01:00Burlesque - The Graded Unit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Let me explain the Graded Unit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">First rule about Graded Unit, you don’t
talk about graded unit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It takes over your life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It takes over all other classes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s a
personal project of your own choosing, that needs to fit into one of six
categories, dictated from the college.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Each student gets four, twenty-minute mentoring sessions to discuss
their ideas and progress on their project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each meeting the student is awarded points on their
progress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a bit like a game
show because you need to get the maximum amounts of points as once the meeting
is over any points you didn’t achieve are lost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The points are converted into a percentage and that dictates
whether you leave with an A, B or C final grade for the year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You must juggle this project and its
deadlines while still handing in the work for all other classes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The meetings
are held at three-week intervals and when I said you get twenty minutes, I mean
there’s a timer ticking away just to add to the anxiety of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The whole year had to attend a seminar to get an explanation of the points system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You were actively encouraged to pay
close attention to the marking schedule when planning and producing the work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One lecturer said, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“we know already
who won’t pull their socks up”</i>, meaning they knew which students wouldn’t
be able to step it up a gear for the graded unit, which is totally self
directed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Students had
staggered start dates and I was one of the last group so I had 5 weeks to think
of a project and my mind went blank.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I knew I wasn’t going to complete second year and I just wanted to make
my life as easy as possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
into week four and still had nothing lined up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Then I went
to a Burlesque show with some friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I never usually take my camera to events, as it’s so heavy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s also usually really dark and my
off camera flash skills wasn’t the greatest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I arrived a bit early, the dancers came on stage for a
rehearsal and I took my camera out just to confirm to myself that yes it was
too dark and I wasn’t going to get anything worth keeping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as I put the camera up to my face
someone spotted me and starting asking questions. Did I have
permission to take photographs?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
explained I was a student and without a flash I’d get nothing of any interest,
which I sort of knew before it left my bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Turned out the guy that was chatting to me was the tour
manager!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said he tried to get someone to
volunteer to take photographs but had no luck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> He said the tour was back next month. </span>I was trying to dig myself out of my awkward hole and said if he wanted I could put a notice up in the college
to see if anyone was interested. Then he said, <i>"you could come back'.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, there you have it, that’s how my
project was born.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I started doing
my research and printed out images from the internet that I wanted to try out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was crapping myself about the actual
event because I’ve never really learnt anything about using my off camera
flash, so I booked a course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really
thought I’d done so much work and that I would get a fair amount of points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was back on IV antibiotics again and
my head was a bit up my arse with remembering things and I missed my first
mentoring session.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was not
popular.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I explained
the situation and how my medication exhausts me and managed to re arrange my
meeting, but this is something they don’t usually do and I felt my card had been
marked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got four points for my
first meeting and was totally deflated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I needed 51 points just to pass with a C.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was okay with that, I just wanted a pass but was beginning
to think I wouldn’t get there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My mentor
said I would need to photograph some other shows and not just the
Burlesque.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t understand
at that point why I needed to do more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He suggested 3-4 other shows and here’s me thinking I was going to make
this as easy as possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the
next meeting he said do 3-4 other shows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was a bit annoyed and said 3-4 you mentioned the first time around or
3-4 plus the 3-4 you said at the first meeting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was a bit pissed off with me, but I think there wasn’t
really a clear understanding of my situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t get the whole SQA rules (Scottish Qualifications
Authority) on how things were marked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I stressed
over the 3 weeks after my second meeting and really thought if I go back for my
third meeting and he’s not pleased I may as well give up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had barely done anything for my three
other classes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think I had the
attitude that if this graded unit was going nowhere then doing the work for the
other classes was pointless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">By my third
meeting I’d done so much work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d
listened to all the suggestions and I ticked all the boxes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I pulled my socks up and thought “I’ve
got this”!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also managed to put
my project across in a way that fitted the initial brief and he understood how
it all fitted together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was
very impressed and I got a hefty slice of points, which made up for my last two
meetings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By my third meeting I
had my C pass in the net.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All I
had to do now was complete all other classes, edit all my photos and return to my final meeting with an
example of how I was going to present my work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More points were up for grabs and I really went from strength
to strength.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My final meeting was
great and he seemed really impressed with how I managed to put everything
together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I eventually
walked away with an A for the final year, which I was really proud of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know a lot of people probably got an
A too, but I felt it was even more important for me as I really got next to no
points in those first two meetings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I really did pull my bloody socks up. </span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">I hope
you all like the photos. I was utterly exhausted getting these and it was
a real struggle I'll tell you, because I basically had to bird watch with my
camera and take the shot when the dancers stood in a certain place on the stage
when the lighting guy had lit them up well. This all had to be done at
the same time, while they were moving. I was constantly changing settings
on my camera. Thanks to my lovely tall friend Lisa for making sure I
didn't fall off my stool. I want to thank Burgerking for the best whopper
with cheese I ever tasted at 11pm and finally a big congratulations to Betty
D'Light who I didn't know at the time was expecting her very own Royal
Baby.</span><span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-88091081062131201132015-06-06T21:34:00.004+01:002016-12-15T16:21:57.683+00:00College - The HNC<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc94OylUvSoJpvbjzy7Y3KOkBupCnEdr5SBGs_fSOnx9NGCCHiRC-dSasGFMXtqGGRvgTrzF2BVLlsbsyCgjLpiaIW8_1fW1RSi8pwfX7tOQkrDLqTLFmYpmKgFOJtikmB2-bffyv4G-tQ/s1600/IMG_8523-sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc94OylUvSoJpvbjzy7Y3KOkBupCnEdr5SBGs_fSOnx9NGCCHiRC-dSasGFMXtqGGRvgTrzF2BVLlsbsyCgjLpiaIW8_1fW1RSi8pwfX7tOQkrDLqTLFmYpmKgFOJtikmB2-bffyv4G-tQ/s1600/IMG_8523-sm.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "abadi mt condensed light";">College is finished, whoop whoop. I’m so glad to
be able to say that, as at times I thought I’d never get through it. I
don’t remember crying about the course but there have been tears, usually as a result of the cheeky buggers that manage the equipment store, accept the
lovely Sean, he was brilliant. I’m sure they deal with a lot of crap but
c’mon. I certainly recall having the weight of the world on my shoulders;
maybe I was just overly sensitive. I knew on applying for this course
that I would be forced to do things I haven’t done before and how it would
probably be a little awkward and uncomfortable. However at the same time
I think I thought it would be easy, how wrong was I! My course was made
up of the following subjects this term, Photography Theory, Darkroom
and Creative Techniques, Portraiture, Image Editing, Creative Industries, Still
Life, Applied Techniques, Social Photography, Corporate Photography, Stock
Photography and the dreaded Graded Unit!</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "abadi mt condensed light";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "abadi mt condensed light";">I started my course in September and realised by
Christmas that I was struggling physically. I made the decision over the
Christmas holidays that I was not going to apply for my second year. By
the time I came to my annual review in February at hospital, my consultant said
that my lung function had taken a nose dive since August and that confirmed
that me being in close proximity to lots of people on a daily basis doesn’t
help me, especially when we were in the basement of college with circulated air
ventilation and no windows. I can feel my CF followers instantly
cringe. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "abadi mt condensed light";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "abadi mt condensed light";">I struggled through that first 18 weeks of the
course. I was hospitalised with a chest infection and missed three weeks
of class time. But, I persevered and was in college full-time the last three
weeks just to get through my work. Luckily my deadlines were extended and
I did manage to finish. On my return after the Christmas break I was
faced with a dilemma of, should I finish my course here after getting through
that eighteen weeks or should I do it all again to leave with my HNC in
Photography and not let all that hard work go to waste. I’m not someone
who gives up easily, but I do get easily over whelmed with mountains of work to
get through. I loved my class and I wanted to continue even though it was
making me ill. I knew that if I wasn’t going to go into second year I
could effectively drop a class or two because the way the HNC works is that you
need to obtain 12 credits for the group award and 15 to get into second year,
which is all classes in first year. Anyway, I took the decision to strip
down my course and ditched my darkroom class, which you all know I can do
anyway and stock photography, which I thought would be like watching paint dry
to a portrait photographer. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "abadi mt condensed light";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "abadi mt condensed light";">It’s not been all bad though, I’ve met a really great
bunch of friends. I’m sure we’re all going to keep in touch and I will go
in and meet them for lunch now and again, even though the food in college is
terrible and over priced. The things we do for love……ah I feel a song
coming on! There’s so much more I could say. I’ve laughed so much
this past ten months being with these guys every week. </span></span><span style="font-family: "abadi mt condensed light"; font-size: x-large; text-align: justify;">I’ll
leave you all with a wee selection of some of the work I’ve done this
term. I will be back soon to tell you all about my Graded Unit and what
sealed the deal to my overall grade A for the year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "abadi mt condensed light"; font-size: x-large; text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
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Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-58754620537763104292015-01-01T22:54:00.001+00:002015-01-02T11:10:46.913+00:00Twit twoo it's Miss Campbell<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The lovely Miss Campbell came to my rescue when I put out a casting call for models to fulfil my college portraiture brief. This time I needed to do a studio shoot and cross process an image. So, the triptych </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">set is examples of cross processing, with varying degrees using Photoshop</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. In the old days of film photography, cross processing was a</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"> deliberate effect and you did it by processing the </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">film in a chemical solution intended for a different type of film. The effect was most likely discovered by mistake in the days of mixing up </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-22_process" style="background-image: none; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;" title="C-22 process">C-22</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"> and </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-4_process" style="background-image: none; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;" title="E-4 process">E-4</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"> developer.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 22px;">We started our morning fairly early sending children off to Aunties and Grannies and then the travelling was next! We finally got ourselves together around lunchtime and headed into town for a spot of lunch. I had a bagette with Chicken and Avacado and my friend showed me up by having a tiny little chocolate cake. She soon confessed that she had stuffed her face in McDonalds with the kids earlier in the morning. I was instantly jealous and thought, <i> I just wish I could get up early enough to make a McDonalds breakfast!</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">We chatted for about an hour, putting the world to rights and moaning about men, the usual girly chit chat. I was quite excited about doing the photographs because I knew that we could work out between us what needed done. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">Miss Campbell has previous experience of Photography having sucessfully ran a business herself, so it was a fun day together where we could discuss what we could do. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">Like any other client excited to get their hands on the pictures, she was saying to me at the station that I <b>had</b> to send them to her as soon as I got home. They all do it, want the pictures NOW. I understand, I've been there. </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">I've said before that many photographers would rather stick needles in their eyes than put out un-edited photographs. But when it's someone who knows photography etiquette there isnt a problem. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">I sent her the pick of </span>un-<span style="line-height: 22px;">edited files later that night so she could edit them herself. Photography like many other arts is down to personal taste as well as technique. Everyone has their own way of editing and producing different effects. Some of the images you see have been edited by Miss C and some have been edited by me.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<br />Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-31779973051945196552014-12-30T14:13:00.004+00:002014-12-30T15:27:58.672+00:00Birthday in Paris<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We had a bit
of a crazy year with the old birthday celebrations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most winters I’m ill and I’m not really in the mood for
organising anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then others
I’m full of beans and over the top.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This year we had an actual party and we invited all of Daisy’s school
class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <a href="http://lisalollipop.com/">Lisa Lollipop</a> </span>joined us to
entertain the children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We tucked
into Hot dogs, Popcorn, Slush Puppy and enough sweets to stock a small shop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One of the mums brought the biggest homemade cheesecake I’ve ever seen
and it was all gone by the end of the party. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TrulyScrumptiousCakesbyJoanna?ref=ts&fref=ts">Truly Scrumptious</a> </span>– cakes by Joanna made the most incredible Birthday cake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was so beautiful I didn’t want to
cut it up, again it was gone by the end. People were loading up with boxes of the delicious cake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My friends and family
were as usual, all hands on deck and the party was a roaring success. I'd like to say thank you to everyone who made the party special and for all gifts Daisy received. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That would
have been enough for one little girl to take in, but as I mentioned, I’m a bit crazy over the top at
times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought it would be an
idea to go to Disneyland Paris, the very next day!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I only thought about it two or three weeks before the party. When you are sick, it's not practical to book something miles in advance. You have to go when you feel well. T</span>he
adverts sucked me in and before I knew it, it was booked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve priced it up before and thought it
was a bit expensive, but there seemed to be adverts after adverts all over the
TV saying “<i>book now and get this that and the other free</i>”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know sometimes these deals are not
as great as the make out, but I swear this one was good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were staying in a top-notch Disney Hotel,
having three course meals everyday, drinks and cakes everyday and practically spent
nothing because we had a complimentary voucher for most things. I couldn't believe our luck.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Daisy loved meeting all the characters, Spiderman,
Merida, Woody and Jessie, Mickey, Minnie, the Disney Princesses and of </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">course,
no Disney visit would be complete without meeting Anna and Elsa! There were a few hairy moments at the start, namely a scary roller coaster in disguise. I've never been so glad to get off a ride. I swear we though it was a child's train ride, you know quite tame, but Jesus! It was a super fast roller coaster and believe me I'm no thrill seeker. We got into our seats, I casually rested my arm behind Daisy and within seconds it became apparent to me that arm was going to move to pin Daisy in like a seat belt. We saw the funny side of it, while mum and I were telepathically saying all our swear words. Daisy was shouting at the top of her voice "this is fun", she had the best time. It was a very tiring holiday for the adults
however. </span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">So if you ever forget where you were for your 5</span><sup style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">th</span></sup><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">
Birthday Daisy Well, you woke up in a Disney hotel in Paris and had
breakfast with Mickey Mouse. Then we took the train into the centre of
Paris and went up the Eiffel Tower. I even managed to take the photo I
would use on our family Christmas card. Looking forward to our next adventure, whatever it may be.</span></div>
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<br />Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-45685130806510488592014-11-03T20:50:00.000+00:002014-11-03T21:08:56.128+00:00The little things<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">CF is really kicking my ass just now. I've been
on this earth for a long time and I wonder when I'm ever going to learn that I
can't graze. I mean grazing as in picking/snacking at food. Just
normal things for a lot of people and something you might take for granted. I
can't do that, well I shouldn't. I've had a upset tummy recently as well
as all the other things. People who suffer from Crohns disease, IBS, Coeliac
disease and the countless other digestive disorders that's out there. I
feel your pain.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I've had a sore stomach, bloating, cramping, wind, constipation, diarrhoea, hot and
cold sweats and I've been feeling lethargic. As you know the human body is a finely
tuned machine and the symptoms I've described is evidence that the digestive system is experiencing trauma.
Something people with Cystic Fibrosis suffer with because another element of
the disease is that the digestive system doesn't function properly. Enzymes need to be taken orally at the same time as food to digest the food. It's pretty much a
manual system. Let your concentration slip and you will pay. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">Like
everything else there are varying degrees of severity. Some people will
need to take 1-2 tablets with meals, some like me might take 11-12 with meals. As the pancreas loses function you can also end up being diabetic, but that's another story.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Imagine
going to a party. Oh you're gonna be one party animal if you have a
condition that relies on you being sober and alert! </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">Let's
think of a scenario. Would you be able to relax knowing you had to make a
mental calculation of each mouthful of food you had from a buffet or bowl of
crisps that were on your table? Then, make a quick calculation, type of
food+volume of food=number of tablets. Did I mention you can't just swallow
them all at the start or at the end? Gets trickier does it. </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 16pt;">What
I've learnt over the years is that I have to avoid the bowl of crisps on the
table and wait until the buffet is served. I then go get a full plate of
food. Full plate of buffet food x what type of food = amount of tablets. Eat
the food and and take the tablets during the meal; job done. You want some more food. Well you just repeat the steps.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Yes
it's not very social but that's life as I know it. At times though I fall
off the waggon. Usually when I get sick, I am even more forgetful. I
forget I can't graze like everyone else. The trade off is getting an
upset tummy and farting lots, sometimes for days. What I have to do now in this position is
fast, not eat, maybe for 2 days. Clear my system out and start again. Hoping
I will learn from </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">my mistakes and not do it again anytime soon.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">There's
lots of things in life we take for granted. Sometimes it's a way of life.
Sometimes it's people. Appreciate the little things. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Another blog brought to you
from the bath tub.</span><span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-79529319726521667352014-10-25T20:37:00.001+01:002014-10-25T20:37:05.440+01:00My Love My Life 10/12 - Conquer Fear<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ2v5sFBoQvRBuuzSk865pdIY_L_Qj8yMRsh6q0lCX5IoRDkehQz9nuX9rqnjZScyfIeO8LYrT48SiOeJD_cQx3l7Mn5E4FaIb6fKNOiq-Ykze_gyDWwCxh57iHbXpzbq1lxW2QsTN4J0d/s1600/ian.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ2v5sFBoQvRBuuzSk865pdIY_L_Qj8yMRsh6q0lCX5IoRDkehQz9nuX9rqnjZScyfIeO8LYrT48SiOeJD_cQx3l7Mn5E4FaIb6fKNOiq-Ykze_gyDWwCxh57iHbXpzbq1lxW2QsTN4J0d/s1600/ian.jpg" height="548" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">© Ian Pettigrew</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">College have been speaking about the importance of personal projects
recently. Personal projects can turn out to be your best and most
fulfilling work, because for whatever reason, you have specifically chosen to
do it. I recently stumbled upon a Canadian photographer, later found out
he's half Scottish! Well, he is currently working his way through a
personal project called <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Just-Breathe-Adults-with-Cystic-Fibrosis/1514773768763450?fref=ts"><span style="color: #420178;">Just Breathe</span></a>, where he's photographing
adults who are living with Cystic Fibrosis (CF). </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Media coverage surrounding CF is sparse. Since the birth of social
media, I'm connected to a lot of people who have CF. There's always
somebody who knows a person who has died recently. It can get really
upsetting reading things like that. It's not high profile like Cancer,
but it's equally devastating. It will kill you; it just drags the process
out a bit. Adults living with CF can often feel like it's a battle to
stay alive, that's why they are often referred to as Warriors within the CF
community. Treatment regimes are physically and mentally demanding for
patients. </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 16pt;">Like many other long term chronic conditions, it may not be widely
understood that family members can also endure years of emotional trauma as a
direct result of caring for and/or living with the sick person.
After being
diagnosed later in life himself, Ian wanted to spread the message that this is
no longer a children's disease and the best way to do that as a Photographer,
is by taking pictures. Lots of pictures! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 16pt;">Ian started his career in
advertising and got the photography bug by working alongside photographers for
many years. He used to think photographers had a glamorous life. He
admits he was wrong. Just like I used to think the ladies behind the
make-up counters in department stores were glamorous, before I did my school
work experience. Someone once asked him why he would want to be in a
job that made him poor, but money isn't everything. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 16pt;">As well as Ian's standard portrait
head shots for his Just Breathe Project, I found another one called <a href="https://www.facebook.com/saltygirls?fref=ts"><span style="color: #420178;">Salty
Girls - The Women of Cystic Fibrosis</span></a> Here he photographs
CF women. But, what does the name mean? Well, the salt in CF
patients bodies travel differently through the tissues to that of non-CF
people. Patients secrete higher volumes of salt through their sweat.
There was an old saying around the 1700s which went like this, "woe is the
child who tastes salty from a kiss on the brow, for he is cursed and soon must
die". They used to believe CF children were bewitched. In this
project Ian captures how CF can ravage your physical appearance. </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 16pt;">I'm well aware of
how the effects of CF have changed my appearance and body image. I've
always been a little self conscious. It's healthier for me to weigh more,
but society wants you to be thin. I think it's very brave of the ladies
to expose themselves like this. It takes real courage, which I'm sure
they have truck loads of. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 16pt;">Ian wants his images made into a photobook. If
he can get enough financial support or even better a sponsor, he could make
this a reality sooner. If you are in a position to be a sponsor of this
book, great. If not, well you could always join the organ donor register
in your county instead. </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 16pt;">I'll leave you with some of Ian's images and one of me,
which is my contribution to Salty Girls - The Women of Cystic Fibrosis.
Photo credit to the lovely Nicola Grimshaw and her team at </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/MyBoudoirUK?fref=ts" style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 16pt;"><span style="color: #420178;">My
Boudoir - Make-Over Boudoir Photography</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 16pt;">.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoUyjDiUOPmft-5dOUqBS32mi6t4DoSOjb1ce5tvBfN158RxxETY8Mtg4wB6xt333i1ZQiiwe-gmpkv4DR5d8Ti3VdFw0Y5nFhyphenhyphenqhcVQQ8uylG_ApQvgCEd7JbA1iwvKk4zA1TNVPvk_D3/s1600/salty+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoUyjDiUOPmft-5dOUqBS32mi6t4DoSOjb1ce5tvBfN158RxxETY8Mtg4wB6xt333i1ZQiiwe-gmpkv4DR5d8Ti3VdFw0Y5nFhyphenhyphenqhcVQQ8uylG_ApQvgCEd7JbA1iwvKk4zA1TNVPvk_D3/s1600/salty+blog.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">© Ian Pettigrew</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWqBSqvDl9JpxkEVyQkmSVClxRGqvj4Ui4_D2TgfRmrIwyunds6QCNHs3nfpmCzsVucgZnEqC01HOdc5Y7rFXkeihKFAvHdQJ3at2fPfs5VWyUNmv6f3ihMpbS5L-OklqjbZnJajWr4EZQ/s1600/salty+blog+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWqBSqvDl9JpxkEVyQkmSVClxRGqvj4Ui4_D2TgfRmrIwyunds6QCNHs3nfpmCzsVucgZnEqC01HOdc5Y7rFXkeihKFAvHdQJ3at2fPfs5VWyUNmv6f3ihMpbS5L-OklqjbZnJajWr4EZQ/s1600/salty+blog+2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">© Ian Pettigrew</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy3anwjSlg7c9BbjxWQRd19kavfxxcg9KgJVHG1ckUoNEMz4xwTbT5FP44NzAk-JM8XmA2JarpOLnjIu_Lz_X_mynPL0cnVSWU9dIEn2cT9muAPFly5Q2kFmJduIp4lcj66F3b4_-x82Cq/s1600/sm+AG+boudoir.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy3anwjSlg7c9BbjxWQRd19kavfxxcg9KgJVHG1ckUoNEMz4xwTbT5FP44NzAk-JM8XmA2JarpOLnjIu_Lz_X_mynPL0cnVSWU9dIEn2cT9muAPFly5Q2kFmJduIp4lcj66F3b4_-x82Cq/s1600/sm+AG+boudoir.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: x-small;"> © Nicola Grimshaw</span></div>
</div>
Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-63158212365822226492014-10-16T22:42:00.002+01:002014-10-16T22:50:02.910+01:00Urban Photoshoot - Portraiture Brief<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZrLAEAdze7LhyphenhyphenI1ShwvfVT06o6RBHHRD10rvzUnvh33I_duF3xxklK2xvfpJxHXh4c0BspCzbnDp1tpFsPncx9Dffe3_mBmw1rCYBNn90eiFA0NUSGN85e0-kH0ODz-GOzS7Qo6Bm810F/s1600/SIMG_5489lightroom+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZrLAEAdze7LhyphenhyphenI1ShwvfVT06o6RBHHRD10rvzUnvh33I_duF3xxklK2xvfpJxHXh4c0BspCzbnDp1tpFsPncx9Dffe3_mBmw1rCYBNn90eiFA0NUSGN85e0-kH0ODz-GOzS7Qo6Bm810F/s1600/SIMG_5489lightroom+copy.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">In my blog post <a href="http://dream-of-daisy.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/mr-gray.html">Mr Gray</a> I told you all about hanging
up my darkroom hat for a bit as I wanted to focus, (excuse the pun) more on
other aspects of Photography. I applied for a more general photography course a
few months earlier. Putting myself though an interview and selection
process was nerve-racking but I was successful in getting a place. Friends
warned it wasn't going to be what I expected it to be, but I thought I'll give
it a go anyway. What's the worst that can happen. If I don't like
it I can walk away.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">I'm still trying to get to grips with what's expected.
The workload is challenging. There's a list of things we need to do
and completion dates for final submissions. There have been a few moans
and groans about teachers not actually teaching us anything. I've
recently come to the realisation that this is because college is for adults and
adults have to figure things out for themselves. They call it
self-directed study. When you look back at school, the teacher is pretty
much holding your hand to get you through the learning process. It's
their job to teach you a particular subject. So if you are just out of
school, college can seem a harsh reality of the education system you are used
to. I'm not saying I completely agree with it, but this is how it is.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">I'd say we're generally shown how to do something once
or twice, and then you practise. If like me you are a bit slow in picking
things up, then it's going to be a struggle. I was the same at school;
the only difference now is I'm not scared to ask questions.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">I was used to planning shoots for Daisy but they were
usually all in my head. It's out of my comfort zone trying to plan
everything but I'll get there. I'm working on a few power point
presentations at the moment and have just finished my second photo shoot today.
It doesn't actually take much time to turn up and take the photos. The
hardest part is planning what you want to do and pulling all the elements
together. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">I put the war cry out on Facebook a few weeks ago to
see if anyone fancied modelling for me. I needed someone older than Daisy
who would be happy to take some direction. I have to do five Portrait
shoots for this brief. I have to show all my planning in a workbook,
poses, lighting examples, styling choices. I have to include research on
photographs I have studied which brought me to my shoot idea. Out of
the shoot, I have to show my tutor around 20 different photographs and narrow
my choice down to 15 possible final images. Out of that 15, I choose 2 to
edit further and give my reasons for picking that 2 and disregarding the
remaining 13.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 14pt;">We got off to a shaky start as the location that was
originally planned fell through, due to a lack of in-house communication. You
always need to have a back up plan, so we got in the car went to location spot
B. I think I'm happier with what I got and straight away a photographer
friend said she wanted me to take photos of her in the same spot. We had
a really good time, model Sophie brought along her mum and little sister Sadie.
We almost needed to hold Sadie down as she was very excitable at the prospect
of modelling like her big sister. So, we all stepped aside and let Sadie
show us how its done.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nnvk4DugPhOsXQwiNBILFZdwf1epWlOlEclc_YfLhLoMdfgCAmIGaqaRCAILaUHwxJWwx5twsoXitlei0ypwZ2rGWMx4mTIn0Y7PH6F_vCKB7HIuzdheHoyvIGY9nQ-Oo-h_iiBs1blS/s1600/sophie1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nnvk4DugPhOsXQwiNBILFZdwf1epWlOlEclc_YfLhLoMdfgCAmIGaqaRCAILaUHwxJWwx5twsoXitlei0ypwZ2rGWMx4mTIn0Y7PH6F_vCKB7HIuzdheHoyvIGY9nQ-Oo-h_iiBs1blS/s1600/sophie1.jpg" /></a></div>
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The photo on the right is the only one here that has been edited. The rest of the photos are what photographers refer to as SOOC, which stands for straight out of camera.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdlE9j6sB_j5txlJoA9HyqQuNHIo0zyCENKIKvQPunxS6OoRm7CcDPHiyVxvaNR7oXG9pFEhRASfDdIAkYS_LTuq6hD01WqsWuDEfFn9L9Zoq7DoMTyg1Up77yzCZPqqX-G6Bb6iUkJTLC/s1600/sophie2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdlE9j6sB_j5txlJoA9HyqQuNHIo0zyCENKIKvQPunxS6OoRm7CcDPHiyVxvaNR7oXG9pFEhRASfDdIAkYS_LTuq6hD01WqsWuDEfFn9L9Zoq7DoMTyg1Up77yzCZPqqX-G6Bb6iUkJTLC/s1600/sophie2.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6qlAFYS_Pxjm563yhXnFXkHWAZspaeJDAj31ra4Xx9FSxSjM8NkJDpoBL3yTj4s0sRpbqDI47VHenmo4kDe0TYsgD3m_yKqCE08g-F7j7Ol1p6FHYsI_Bc3VJGOzaRp-MNYvDV4XEMinv/s1600/Sophie+&+Sadie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6qlAFYS_Pxjm563yhXnFXkHWAZspaeJDAj31ra4Xx9FSxSjM8NkJDpoBL3yTj4s0sRpbqDI47VHenmo4kDe0TYsgD3m_yKqCE08g-F7j7Ol1p6FHYsI_Bc3VJGOzaRp-MNYvDV4XEMinv/s1600/Sophie+&+Sadie.jpg" /></a></div>
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Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-83441671815389478392014-09-30T21:50:00.004+01:002014-09-30T21:56:18.587+01:00Brighton Baby - The Hen Weekend<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNpnhKY1ln1wGSdSsLi1Pr2w3GcXR4Td1Qr7Rrl70DI6g99HQNW1D6ylQm2N5UrpxZH6pOt-W6KAW-aejpn9bF915h9DXjOv3t_F7u7Ipvkx65vBd71daXKvxLmstuLpgxvweakdTPxO2i/s1600/SIMG_4291-Edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNpnhKY1ln1wGSdSsLi1Pr2w3GcXR4Td1Qr7Rrl70DI6g99HQNW1D6ylQm2N5UrpxZH6pOt-W6KAW-aejpn9bF915h9DXjOv3t_F7u7Ipvkx65vBd71daXKvxLmstuLpgxvweakdTPxO2i/s1600/SIMG_4291-Edit.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e0f14; font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e0f14; font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">Our family had two weddings this year
and like most weddings these days the bride and groom go away for weekends,
usually with friends and/or family instead of just going out for the
night. There were lots of talks about where we might go and one day
it was decided we were going to Brighton. I was very pleased as Brighton
is a place I've always wanted to go but had no reason to.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e0f14; font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">We travelled down to London Gatwick with
easyjet at the end of June. Once we landed it was a short distance on the
Gatwick express to the train station that would take us through to
Brighton. It’s a really easy place to get to and as we travelled with
cabin bags, there was no waiting about in the airport at baggage carousels.
Arriving around lunchtime, we headed straight to the beach and into a
café overlooking the sea. The sun was shining, the sea breeze on your
face, the location, the atmosphere; friends travelled from afar to
celebrate. I decided quite quickly that I would like to take Daisy one
day. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e0f14; font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e0f14; font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">
We ordered food, drinks and relaxed
while chatting to one another. It was so warm you could easily have worn
a bikini and jumped into the water. Some of the ladies were optimistic in
that they packed shorts, the rest of us cursed that we should have. I
guess you get used to the Scottish climate where summer is literally days in
the year rather than weeks. With Team </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Gauld</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e0f14; font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;"> being a super organised bunch, our food shopping was being delivered to
our rented house while we were sat there at the beach. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e0f14; font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e0f14; font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">
Back at the house we cracked open the </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Prosecco</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e0f14; font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;"> and toasted the bride to be on her upcoming nuptials. The house
was then decorated with pictures of our Hen. It's amazing the comedy gold
your life long friends hold in the form of photographic evidence.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e0f14; font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">The next morning breakfast was cooked,
we got on our glad rags and did our own thing before heading to the pier around
lunchtime. The plan was to have a fun and stress free weekend without the
stereotypical hen activities in sight, well not in public anyway. Eating
marshmallows will never be the same again.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e0f14; font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">The Brighton Pier is a great
place. The rides are pretty scary, being right on the edge of the
pier. I went on the helter skelter and almost wished I never. The
pier had a Harry Ramsdens, ice-cream parlours, take away style counters selling
noodles. I honestly could have stayed the entire week! I know there's
much more to see and do in Brighton and I was sad to leave.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e0f14; font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">On the Saturday night the girls
organised a fabulous meal. As you could imagine we could hardly contain
our excitement when we found out that the brides boss had located us in
Brighton and pre-ordered some bubbly for everyone! How amazing is that!
What a cool boss. The celebrations continued into the early hours
and as you can imagine it was carnage in the morning. Luckily myself and
the brides sister, the non-drinkers, made breakfast. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e0f14; font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">This was such a memorable weekend and I’d like to say a big thanks to
all involved in the planning. </span><span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-50535354550005942742014-09-15T20:11:00.000+01:002014-09-15T22:19:38.332+01:00Caledonia <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You’d have to be on another planet for
you not to know that the people of Scotland are on the verge of a life changing
historical event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yesterday the
streets of Aberdeen were buzzing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It looked like a scene from Braveheart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The atmosphere was electric, the young, the old, everyone
was singing and dancing and having a good time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My camera and I even got a wee dance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It made me wish I liked football.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was this the feeling people had at
football matches?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also reminded
me of Hogmanay, a time when everyone is happy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For many, national pride is in your
blood; you just feel it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
certainly can’t listen to bagpipes without getting emotional.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Och it would bring a tear to a glass
eye!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I know I'm probably not alone in saying that I don't
fully understand the inns and outs of the whole referendum debate. I've
even heard people saying they are voting no because they don't like Alex
Salmond, which is like not buying your dream home because you don't like the
wall paper. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What I do know is things are not great as they are.
We've already got different laws compared to England, some are better
here some are better there. So when they speak about breaking the union, there
are a lot of things that's broken away already. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It feels like we've got into a situation where we've
threatened to leave just like you would maybe do in a bad relationship and if
you threaten to leave, and don't, you just look stupid. If we vote no,
I've no doubt we'll suffer. I guess there is always the Unicorns farting
glitter chance, that maybe the threat will make them see sense and we’ll live
happily ever after.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">All we can do now is wait.</span><span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-27830070212123412992014-09-01T20:46:00.001+01:002014-09-07T15:01:49.766+01:00My Love My Life 8/12 - Reflection<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">The topic Reflection when photography related, usually
suggests pictures of subjects seen on reflective surfaces like windows or
water. I decided to be a bit out of the box this month and make mine
reflection on a life event. Daisy's first day at school.</span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s August 2014 and it feels like the last five years has been put on fast
forward. It's hard to get my head around the fact all this time has flown
by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We get
caught up in the daily grind of life and it doesn’t leave much time for fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">we are here, at the
school gate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
seriously thought I would cry on her first day at school, but surprisingly I
held it together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She looked so
grown up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think my biggest wobble
was actually when I got the leaflet before summer telling me who her teacher
was going to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It hit home
then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I felt a little emotional buying her school </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">uniform. I know normal school shoes are usually black but I so love the traditional red patent shoes, she had to have a pair! I kitted her out in a Cath Kidston bag, pencil case and stationary. After all, this is a monumental time in our life together and the perfect time to indulge.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Three little friends from our
street started school together and I couldn't be happier. Although they are not
all in the same class, they will see each other at playtime and lunchtime.
Daisy will be going to what we are calling the "school cafe",
which to everyone else, is school dinners. I really enjoyed that part of
school since I was a traditional eater.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I wasn’t really interested in sandwiches, fruit and yoghurt, which is
usually the kind of thing you would expect in a packed lunch.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Ok, I had the odd plea to my mum to
have that but in most cases it was just curiosity on how the packed lunch kids
spent their lunch hour.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">We always
want what we don’t have but the reality of getting it usually isn’t that great
long-term.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">For me, eating a hot school
dinner with my fellow classmates was a social occasion and I'm hoping Daisy will appreciate that time to
dine and chat with friends. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">School has been a positive experience so far.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve had PE and homework.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve managed to remember to put a
snack in Daisy’s bag for break time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We’ve even been to the school nurse when she fell and cut herself on her
third day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> We are on our last week of half days and next week she is going to be in school all day. I worry like everyone else with children starting school. </span>I worry if she will manage to fasten her shoes on her own as I still give help at home
when she says “I can’t, it’s to difficult”, but she can do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m surprised she is able to carry her school bag, as it just looks
so big compared to her body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She doesn’t
really chat much about what goes on in school during the day but make no
mistake she doesn’t miss a trick.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ve met two really great girls since moving, who as
well as being my neighbours they are also friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s never been any nervousness about the whole school event because our girls have played together in our almost </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">cul-de-sac</span><span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> street for sometime.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> I'm glad Daisy and I moved house and
met new friends. After all,
nothing is scary when you share the experience with some great friends.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Please pop over to <a href="http://www.sarahferryphotography.com/2014/09/02/love-life-812-reflecting/">Sarah's blog</a> on Reflection of her photography journey. I love Sarah's photos, they always have a mystical feeling as well as creating the impression you were there.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNbKwmcrMDmfZp9yqc8VR7Jt4gQ-frhPB8jzxkutIJsY1JBpN8UQbr6t2iaTBzViWcGCi4AzSwynjvYjrCL9hAtSSQEirGj8ySQ4dllTYOJoa42fO2m7VBcbAeBkPEIjG68Tlp-ok68a0Z/s1600/reflection6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNbKwmcrMDmfZp9yqc8VR7Jt4gQ-frhPB8jzxkutIJsY1JBpN8UQbr6t2iaTBzViWcGCi4AzSwynjvYjrCL9hAtSSQEirGj8ySQ4dllTYOJoa42fO2m7VBcbAeBkPEIjG68Tlp-ok68a0Z/s1600/reflection6.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpt3fOWQ1bvy-LWhQSANcVIj1YRahRdC7XHHj1bFeNTwCv-CxobruLOA9GBnG-3lNfx4xWJaLLpzXZ_kUXr601rlH0aLv20Ua-dyvzKoYFKLqQtQ5DQ2TCQ8_AvvwB4JDsbwOuJHDufPy-/s1600/reflection7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpt3fOWQ1bvy-LWhQSANcVIj1YRahRdC7XHHj1bFeNTwCv-CxobruLOA9GBnG-3lNfx4xWJaLLpzXZ_kUXr601rlH0aLv20Ua-dyvzKoYFKLqQtQ5DQ2TCQ8_AvvwB4JDsbwOuJHDufPy-/s1600/reflection7.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLRIs66NzIJ2YNlJwa7FQUbmmxREdhcvZhWRLXOFSH1uX92W2hvzP9KcWemetmyAAZUIsbwaQ4wO3_wqzgfym0sa8GOFOLY9PhhRKAJkjIc5MoUPbfK0ahXUNnaX-ZVRVzJztJFBdagnTe/s1600/reflection5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLRIs66NzIJ2YNlJwa7FQUbmmxREdhcvZhWRLXOFSH1uX92W2hvzP9KcWemetmyAAZUIsbwaQ4wO3_wqzgfym0sa8GOFOLY9PhhRKAJkjIc5MoUPbfK0ahXUNnaX-ZVRVzJztJFBdagnTe/s1600/reflection5.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQYCwbC8YiMyAVAklbbF5HgznJ_WOgwopj88ju0YMtD7CWXHKenrS9VURzlufncH1qj2i_8boMDUUUSHo7kHnHc98DFIPCELdWh10RqKnVfWX14Jz4CshfSuameycbrHn-JGM5hHZ42O1r/s1600/blog+reflection3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQYCwbC8YiMyAVAklbbF5HgznJ_WOgwopj88ju0YMtD7CWXHKenrS9VURzlufncH1qj2i_8boMDUUUSHo7kHnHc98DFIPCELdWh10RqKnVfWX14Jz4CshfSuameycbrHn-JGM5hHZ42O1r/s1600/blog+reflection3.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br />Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-81003729507816697472014-08-14T09:22:00.002+01:002014-08-21T21:29:53.123+01:00Crime of Passion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqTOvZlRVaSEjfD4O0evvJe5ere8w6Je4cq69i8aptv9-rTA8SaiIBqiRgpyVg-ppvgjErTqkxFxTeNqbEhTvsd8fvk5UFJo0DhF7lt3slZqodgjEiOFhzTFnYu1fWO8yrJuKBTPnnot_A/s1600/adultery.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqTOvZlRVaSEjfD4O0evvJe5ere8w6Je4cq69i8aptv9-rTA8SaiIBqiRgpyVg-ppvgjErTqkxFxTeNqbEhTvsd8fvk5UFJo0DhF7lt3slZqodgjEiOFhzTFnYu1fWO8yrJuKBTPnnot_A/s1600/adultery.png" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This time ten years ago I was on my way to the hairdresser. I got married that day to someone I loved deeply. I thought marriage was forever, but there's always some smarmy buck teeth tramp out there willing to screw it all up. We all know one!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Mum dropped
off a copy of Hello magazine to me the other day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She thought I would find the interview they did with the
former glamour model Katie Price interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know there are a lot of people who don’t like her very
much namely because of her outrageous outfits and bold as brass attitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But me, I think she speaks a lot of
sense and this interview was no different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">She says it
how it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s wrong with
that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That type of personality can
be seen as a bit of a threat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
it is what it is, a personality trait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It doesn’t mean the person is nasty, malicious or awkward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is just who they are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I always think these types of people make
the best of friends because lets face it, they’re unlikely to be false and you’ll
know exactly where you stand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
bet she’s really lovely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
empathise with her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just because
you have money and success does not make you immune to bad things
happening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only this week the
much-loved actor Robin Williams died suddenly, in an alleged suicide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a prime example of someone who
appeared to have it all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Life is
cruel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As human beings we suffer
the same heartache.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Emotions are
indiscriminate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Katie talked
about her husband’s recently uncovered infidelity with two of her close
friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Katie was very open and
honest about her feelings regarding the situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Describing how “her heart hasn’t been broken, it’s been
shattered”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There are
lots of things you would want to know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What exactly happened. You need to know the truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then and only then can you make a
decision about what to do next.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
need all the facts. It seems she believes his account of events and with Katie
being a woman of means she’s in a position to deal with things a bit
differently to us mere mortals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She said in the interview that she organised for her husband to have a
polygraph test, just like they do on The Jeremy Kyle Show.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She wanted to know everything. How many times it happened,
where it happened, when did it start.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>All questions any wronged person would have racing through their head,
but could you actually believe what you were being told by the guilty party if
you wasn’t in a position to get one of these tests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suspect not and it would constantly be on your mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Visualising the pair of them ripping
each other’s clothes off and having sex.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Was it in your bed, in your car, who else knew about it, who else was
keeping the secret?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You would be
spitting nails.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">She also
commented that she couldn’t understand why he would even want to have sex with
two older women who were “rank”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suspect there are many theories on why someone
would do that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Likely story is, they
were easy. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">W</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">e all know blokes are trouser dumb but
it's these ladies of ill repute that really know the lines they're crossing.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Imagine being that desperate for
attention you had to make do with the crumbs of someone else’s
relationship.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Why would you
not want to be the star of the show, the leading lady. Why would you be happy
in the knowledge you were someone’s dirty secret.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> You'd have to be a bit thick. </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Why would you prey on someone that is married or married
with children or like Katie married with a child on the way.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">How could they be so cruel to the
innocent victims.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> Helping create a situation whereby </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">children don't see the guilty parent as much as they used to.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> Meanwhile t</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">he other spouse has had their life turned completely upside down
and grieving for the life they thought was already planned out.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">To be snatched away by a foolish act of
greed.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Who does that?</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Someone with No Moral Compass, that’s
who.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Could you
really ever trust someone who’s been unfaithful, not once, but twice and
however many other times you don’t know about.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Without everyone coming clean, that situation will never
right itself; it will be like a wound that never heals.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Who knows how long it will last between
them.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I believe that once
the relationship has been poisoned like this, I expect it won’t be a happy
ending. </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">She maintains
they are still husband and wife and this is a marital issue.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Something they must sort out
together.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">What we do know is that
Katie is very switched on, so I hope she knows what she’s going to do next. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">If you ever find yourself on the verge of getting into a similar situation, I urge you to stop and think. This type of behaviour carries a heavy psychological burden for everyone affected, accept the third party. I'm a firm believer they feel nothing, because in some weird twisted way they don't think they've done anything wrong. They feel no shame.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">So I guess this "tin" of Alphabet Spaghetti is on me. Your dinner is on
the table! </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Happy Anniversary.</span></div>
</div>
Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-90275685419863189482014-08-11T21:44:00.004+01:002014-08-12T22:00:37.313+01:00Nursery Graduation<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ4meSs9sPyufhI85KEctRX1NP1hGQN_iUaGeJtXyb7_MeZmn9MbNWTr3vwkZGtJkH6fatsg6ru7xWFuI8VzGCxM3Nye8gyDkpv0idzYO3Hb2tN0yrqxc99Qxn5gL8zW-wVoxR5HsJ_J1h/s1600/graduation+blog+30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ4meSs9sPyufhI85KEctRX1NP1hGQN_iUaGeJtXyb7_MeZmn9MbNWTr3vwkZGtJkH6fatsg6ru7xWFuI8VzGCxM3Nye8gyDkpv0idzYO3Hb2tN0yrqxc99Qxn5gL8zW-wVoxR5HsJ_J1h/s1600/graduation+blog+30.jpg" /></a></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s the end
of an era.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nursery is finished and
school is on the horizon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not
sure how much Daisy understands about school and how it will be different to
nursery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She knows her teachers
name and that she will be having lunch in the “school café”.</span></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We had two nursery graduations with Daisy
going to both school and a privately funded nursery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the friends she met in school nursery will form part of
her Primary one class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However the
children at private nursery, well she’ll most likely never see them again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That made me a little sad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Daisy had a
similar start to my own childhood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
moved house right at the time I was going to nursery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mum couldn’t get me into the catchment
school nursery where our new house was so I continued at my old nursery before
joining my school class in primary one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I have vague memories of a little blonde haired boy who I was friendly
with, I think his name was Paul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
recall a photograph of my nursery class but sadly it seems to have gone
missing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I saw it last I didn’t
see Paul in the photo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who knows
what happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe he was off
that day. Maybe it's so long ago I didn't remember things correctly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Thirty years
later I found myself in a similar situation where Daisy had two sets of friends
and had struck up a good friendship with a little boy in her privately run
nursery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I imagined when nursery was over Daisy asking me to invite Ewan to her birthday parties and me not knowing where he lived. She often asks if he can come over to our house to visit. Sometimes the best friendships start when you are really young. </span>Could I risk Daisy not
seeing him ever again, absolutely not! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Imagine
everyday your child and another child are in nursery together, that they played
with each other the entire time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Dressing up in costumes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Running
around holding hands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Spotting
each other at the swimming baths on days off and being so excited to see each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One child, waiting at the door for the
other to arrive on their allotted day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was the story that was relayed to my mum or I by the staff every
week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later, I found out the same
stories were being relayed to his parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Daisy and Ewan are best of friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Daisy often tells me she is going to
marry Ewan and I know Ewan talks about Daisy a lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that is a friendship worth nurturing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Ewan’s mum and
I made contact with each other for the first time recently and we introduced
ourselves at the graduation ceremony.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">We talked about meeting up over the school holidays and shortly after we
organised a lovely day out at a local play barn.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">We laughed exchanging stories about the things nursery had
reported back to us over the past few years.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Some of the things would make you laugh so hard you couldn’t
breathe.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">We drank slush puppy, we shared slush puppy when someone drank all hers! Ewan’s
sister Ellie kept a tight reign on the jelly tots sweets, only handing one over to her mother. Exactly the sort of thing Daisy would do to me.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">On the way out Daisy gave Ewan a big
kiss goodbye and we all laughed at how funny they are together.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I’m glad this story has a happy ending
because now we know Ewan lives close by and we can stay in touch.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">So it’s not goodbye, not this time, it’s
until the next time. See you soon Ewan. x</span><br />
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Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-63060901140614038292014-07-27T10:28:00.002+01:002014-07-30T18:33:18.654+01:00My Love My Life 7/12 - Water<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Last month I was away to Brighton for the weekend, four days later I was jet setting again with Daisy. I just had so much on my plate I couldn't think about blogging. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I wasn't even sure I was going to be ready for this month but our recent heat wave has made it possible to grab some photos in amongst the school holiday madness.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We went to a swimming pool that I haven't been to since I was a child. Stonehaven Open Air Pool. I must say my childhood memories were somewhat different to how it is now. I recall the last time I was there. It was a cold day, the pool was freezing and I have vague memories of shivering and being generally miserable. When my mum mentioned it was open for the summer; I felt a wave of dread. I also found myself snorting at the thought of Daisy having to suffer just like I did. It's a right of passage and what every other child in the surrounding area has to endure as a youngster, I thought to myself. </span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We arrived around
lunchtime and Daisy soon found some friends to play with. She even knew
one of the kids from her nursery. I swear she knows more people than me!
The children's pool gave her more independence to play on her own.
She was having a great time catching the water out of the Dolphin
fountain. She must have been in the pool for over an hour before being
beckoned out for a hot dog that I bought her from the cafe. You don't
have to buy everything from the café. There are various options to consider.
I saw a few families with their own picnics. The cafe has a
service hatch at the poolside and a seated area near the entrance. Serving
burgers, hot dogs, chips, ice-cream, sandwiches and hot and cold drinks.
There's something for everyone.</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<!--EndFragment--><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">The main pool is huge. There's a water slide at the deep end, which Daisy was disappointed that she couldn't go on because she can't swim yet. The swimming lessons are in progress so I'm sure it won't be long until the water wings are a distant memory. They also have an inflatable assault course that spreads across the width of the pool for the kids to scramble across. It looked like a whole bunch of fun. Since I'm on IV antibiotics again, it gave me a chance to have a seat and soak up the atmosphere instead.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My thoughts on Stonehaven Open Air Pool now? It was brilliant! Lovely weather, couldn't complain. Daisy was splashing about in the glorious sunshine just like our holiday last month. It has certainly helped erase the old memories and created new ones. If you are fairly local and haven't yet been you must, or if like me you have bad memories from childhood you need to revisit. If you get the nice weather I promise you will not be disappointed.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don't forget to pop over and read the <a href="http://klouarts.co.uk/?p=952">blog from Karen</a> of</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">K Lou Photography. Here she talks about childhood memories and shows you the best things in life are free.</span></div>
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</span></span>Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-90011162871899665252014-05-25T20:52:00.001+01:002014-05-29T23:02:04.548+01:00My Love My Life 5/12 - I want to Be<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I want to be RICH! How many of us say that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There's probably hundreds of things I
would like to be, but I guess the important ones usually fall into three
categories. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Happiness, </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Health and </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Wealth</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">If you and your family had all three your life would
be sorted right?</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Lets talk about the
least important one, money.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Now,
some may think hey, wait a minute that’s the most important.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Reality check, if you are a sad Susan
and your general health is not great, no amount of money is going to fix that. You
may think it would, but deep down you are who you are.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Take a handful of lotto jackpot winners, do any of
them still have most of their winnings. How many are still together with their
spouse or partner. How many have totally screwed up and made an arse of
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Probably quite a few! </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">They say money doesn't bring you happiness, but what
it does bring is choice. Imagine being able to choose what you do
everyday instead of having to get up and go to work. </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">If you want to have money, the thing you must actually master
is good decision making because without that you will likely fail. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I think you'll find that most people that do have lots
of money are very ruthless. Probably the reason they have it in the first instance.
Money is a dangerous commodity; it can change people.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Some it may enhance their lives, other
it will ruin theirs.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If you are a person, whose main focus in life is to be rich, you are an equally ruthless character. Blinded by the pursuit of perceived wealth, they will do whatever they see necessary to
get their hands on some cash.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Like, the duplicitous women that bait married men in the hope of getting
a cut of the family fortune.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes it happens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We read about it all
the time and it’s not just a problem for the rich and famous. For some,
money and success is so important they dismiss the feelings of others. They forget to be grateful for what they have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">It would be nice to not have to think about money, but
the reality is most people work for years hoping to get to that
position.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Sadly, as you earn
more, you want more and you'll never get to the point where you don't have to
work. I</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">t is easy to say money can't buy happiness. For
some people struggling financially it can seem like that is the missing part of
the jigsaw.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I get that.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I think most people believe it’s the
answer to their problems.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Most
people want to be rich. Guess what, it's not going happen. Sorry to
be blunt.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">If you
take one thing from this blog post it should be this. Be thankful
for the air that you breathe because you know what, some people struggle doing
that. Be thankful we live in a fairly civilised
country. People around the world don’t have enough to eat.
Some are living in war zones, others are drinking sewage water exposing
themselves to serious health issues. Look around you at things you have
which money can't buy. That's what makes you truly rich. And,
as my mother would say “there are people a lot worse off than yourself.”</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Abadi MT Condensed Light;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">Please pop over to my good friend Evy's blog, where she talks about her hopes and dreams for her two beautiful girls. <a href="http://byevy-photography.blogspot.no/2014/05/my-love-my-life-512-i-want-to-be.html">Click here</a></span></span></div>
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Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-79916835465520540762014-05-03T22:46:00.001+01:002014-05-05T22:21:45.897+01:00The Second Trimester<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So much
happened in the second trimester, some great, some extremely stressful and
scary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Turkey was good for me,
just the break I needed and lets face it, I probably wasn’t going to get
another for a few years. This blog is a direct follow on from <a href="http://dream-of-daisy.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/the-twelve-week-scan.html">The twelve week scan</a></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">My mum has
friends in Turkey, they live on a farm way up in the hills far away from the
regular tourists. </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">It’s pretty
basic, almost like Roma villages you see on television.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">We stayed for the night and I was really
cautious I didn’t eat anything.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">There’s all these lists in the western world about what you can and can't eat while pregnant, but in places like Turkey you eat what you have and milk comes straight from the cow.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I slept
on the only bed they had in the house, under a mosquito net that my mum had
purchased for them a few years earlier.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> I l</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">ay on the bed listening to </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 19px;">bugs flying about and </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">it made me feel really grateful for the life style we
sometimes take for granted here in the UK.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Once home the
hospital appointments started up again.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I was seen frequently, usually every two weeks. We were a little upset
that my husband missed the twelve-week scan but being seen and scanned again at
fourteen weeks made us feel happy.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I
actually felt really good in this trimester.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I had loads of energy, no morning sickness and </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I was out buying or looking at baby bits and
bobs every chance I had.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I started a Pilates class
early in my pregnancy and when my stomach started to grow too big I found a
pregnancy yoga class.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I wanted to
be in the best possible shape for what lay ahead.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I also had to think about parting with my beloved pink smart
car. My favourite car ever!</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">We
planned a little holiday to Cornwall, driving about and exploring was just the thing we loved doing.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">My cousin who lives down that way was
seven months pregnant and I thought it would be nice to go visit her, you know so
we could compare bumps.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">It‘s somewhere
I’d always wanted to visit and it was scorching hot, just like being
abroad.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">My husband was a bit
of a Rick Stein fan so we were definitely going to visit Padstow.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">It was so lovely, we knew we’d return
one day with Daisy in tow.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I
bought her first toys in a Rick Stein boutique; at £40 each for some crochet
rabbits Daddy Bear needed a little persuasion.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I will treasure the memories of that grumpy face, so to make
him feel even better; I bought a bloody cake stand too!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I was really
looking forward to starting my first antenatal classes but unfortunately, my dreams
of a “normal” delivery were shattered when I was diagnosed with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placenta_praevia">Placenta Praevia</a>.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">It can correct itself as the pregnancy
develops and plans can change right through pregnancy from one week to the
next. </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I soon needed another course
of IV antibiotics, as my body wasn’t coping.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">My CF team were voicing concerns about a vaginal delivery knowing I was struggling to breathe and I resigned myself to the reality that I was going to have a planned caesarean
section. </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">There were a lot of mixed
emotions around this time because of the worry surrounding the various tests
that are carried out to determine major birth defects.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">This included the 20-week scan, which we
were looking forward to, but there is always that worry we would find out
there was something wrong.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">By this
time you look pregnant, you have accepted you are going to have a baby.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I could not imagine finding out there
was some serious birth defect at this point.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">How would we deal with that.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I remember my mum trying to explain years ago that your
thought process is completely different when the baby is inside you.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I had casually said in my teens that I
wouldn’t keep a baby it if had something major wrong with it.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I used to think a cleft lip was major
defect and that I’d never keep a baby with that.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I guess our beliefs change with time as we mature.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">We came home with another handful of
scan photos and there was a really cool one showing her curled up in a ball showing all of her spine.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">The lady
said that was the best possible picture you could get to check the spine was
normal. </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Even though I was clearly
unwell at times, I loved being pregnant and our happiest times as a couple
since the early years of marriage were around this pregnancy.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">As I started to get bigger I suffered
from leg cramps and foot cramps.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I
think it’s pretty normal, but it was scary at the time.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">So many changes is happening in your
body and being ill I worried if it was normal or was it just something that was
happening to me.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I had a good run
of weeks feeling well so we organised a family meal with my late father in law
and his parents.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I even went out
and bought a new maternity dresses for the occasion.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I was feeling really good.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I wasn’t that close to my extended family.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Relationships were somewhat strained,
but I was slowly trying to accept that not all families are like your own.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">My husband was supportive of my beliefs
and I was going meet him halfway in being more tolerant of the situation for
the sake of our little family.</span></div>
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Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-67348362318914650052014-04-28T15:54:00.003+01:002014-04-28T18:05:12.781+01:00My Love My Life 4/12 - Growing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Courier; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Daisy often asks me when will she grow bigger. I
think it's a question a lot of parents just don't want to hear because we want
to keep them just as they are. Although, I do like choosing new outfits
and shoes when the old ones no longer fit. Daisy has started to take an
interest in clothes lately. She picked a pair of floral Dr Martin style
boots she wanted and recently there's been talk of wanting Lelli Kelly
shoes. It's the first time I've known her to refer to a particular brand.
She really is growing up!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Courier; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">When the growing question comes up, I think back to
when she was a baby. Seems so long ago, I wish I could have those moments
back just for a day. I have a few regrets about back then. When
people came to visit, I found myself in the kitchen cooking, doing
washing or loading the dishwasher. I wish I didn't feel like that's what
I was supposed to do. I missed out on precious moments in time doing housework, things
that didn't really matter. So when she asks me that question I try to
block out all those bad feelings. Instead I smile and say, you know what, you
have to eat your vegetables if you want to grow bigger. Then my little darling looks back at me with those</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 19px;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 19px;">big blue sparkling eyes</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> and a face that could turn milk sour and says,
"I don't like vegetables, they're YUK".</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Courier; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">The truth is, we grow each day, our children grow
physically and mentally. We grow as people, in our jobs and hobbies; all
at our own unique pace. Some people coast along never really doing
anything interesting while others live life in the fast lane. You don't
have to settle for second best in life. If your college or university
course is not what you expected you can change it. The same goes for your
job, house, car or relationship. You have the power to grow and change
the course of your destiny. No one will do it for you. But proceed with caution;
sometimes it's us that need to change, to grow, to grow up even.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Courier; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">I'm hoping in the next few years to grow my hobby as a
photographer. When I look at the pictures I took a few years back, I
cringe. I don't think I'm where I want to be but I'm glad I'm not where I
used to be. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Courier; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Courier; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">This month I'm linking to Sarah Ferry, who practically lives on my doorstep, well in the same town anyway. Be sure to check out her blog about <a href="http://www.sarahferryphotography.com/2014/04/28/love-life-412-growing/">growing</a>, which has some lovely pictures taken and edited by her daughter when they were on a Mum and Daughter photojolly.</span><br />
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<br />Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-28546919952259768502014-03-30T20:46:00.001+01:002014-04-06T23:38:13.164+01:00My Love My Life 3/12 - Family Life<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My perception of the ideal family life would be like the
ones portrayed in the movies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lots
of immaculately dressed relatives warming themselves on an open fire. Picture perfect
surroundings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can see it now
can you, but lets face it who has that.</span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">I grew up in a similar setting that Daisy will soon
become accustomed to. My mum and dad's relationship didn't work out. My
dad wasn't committed to family life with my mother and sadly my husband wasn't
either. I expected that I would have a long marriage but maybe I wasn’t
cut out for happy relationships. I didn’t exactly have many role models
and my perception as a youngster from the ones I did have was of the woman
telling the man what to do and him doing it. Maybe I was just with the
wrong person. However, I would say that it's particularly difficult to
know you are with the wrong person, when they act like the right one in your
company.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">I’ve mentioned before that my mum brought my brother
and I up on her own, which is hard work physically. As a single mum it must have been difficult to support us
financially when there is usually two parents contributing. I thought we
did ok, my brother and I had our own bedrooms. He had all the
latest computer games and boys toys. I went shopping most Saturday's with
my mum for new clothes. We had plenty to eat, our cupboards were always
full because my mum put us first as you would expect. We were not a
wealthy family but that wasn't uncommon where I grew up. Most of the
children in the neighbourhood were the same. As kids, my brother and I
spent a lot of time with my mum’s sisters girls. Weekends spent at our
grandparent’s house were good. They had a big house, bigger than the
houses my cousins and I lived in. The kitchen operated like an unpaid café.
All the naughty stuff like crisps, ice-cream and coca cola were in
constant supply. We played in the attic, it was floored, had a big
hatch and when dropped a set of stairs came down. We each had our own
part of the attic, our own little sectioned off spaces. We photocopied
money and bought the loft junk from each other. It was a real imaginary
land. I think I spent the most time at my Grandparents house, usually
because I was off sick and that, is why I was the wealthiest with the pretend
money as I photocopied more when I was there on my own! As a family we
used to have the big Christmas with everyone around the table at my
grandparents house. When we got older, the invitation was extended to
partners and they were squeezed in too. I never thought the day would come
where those Christmas celebrations would end. As I got into my mid
twenties my Granda wasn't himself, he'd suffered a mini stroke and my
grandparents sold up and moved into a 2-bedroom ground floor flat, with a small
kitchen. Nobody had a house big enough to accommodate all of us anymore
and I missed it. As I was the first to settle down and get married, I
hoped in the near future I would be the one with the big house and the big
family celebrations could continue once again. I imagined my nieces and
nephews all running about together like I did with own my cousins. My
childhood was mostly happy but I dreamt of a different lifestyle for when
I was older. I would've liked the big house with lots of open space.
It would have a large kitchen/diner for entertaining and as silly as it sounds
I always wanted a Belfast sink! The kitchen would open onto a perfectly
kept mature garden with fruit trees and fragrant plants. I saw myself
having twin girls and a couple of big guard dogs, but that's a bit of a
fairytale. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">This week we've seen the press cover the breakup of
Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin. From the outside one would assume they
had it all, but I guess like a lot of couples, we're never truly happy with our
lot. Like them, I'm also from a generation where it's easy to throw
in the towel when things don't go to plan, but that isn't my way. Daisy
can be a handful to deal with at times and I've spend this Mother's Day
questioning whether I'm actually a good mum. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Family
life, does it ever turn out how we imagined it? I didn’t </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">know</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> how
my life would unravel but I can tell you this.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">
I didn't expect to be bringing up my IVF baby on my own. What I ended up
with is not what I would've liked in an ideal world, but who has the ideal. All
I can do now is try to keep myself as well as I possibly can for as long as I
can. Then hopefully Daisy and I can work towards our own happily
ever after. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">We didn't get to spend the day with my mum because she works at weekends so she can help me out during the week. This was the Mother's Day gift I got for her, a custom designed photo box containing mounted prints with my favourite photos of Daisy. She loves it.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">Be sure to pop over to Annie's <a href="http://anniephotographics.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/my-love-my-life-312.html">blog</a> about Family Life. She has written a beautiful story about being a Mother and the sadness she feels living without hers.</span></div>
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Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-19437957517779368242014-03-09T17:22:00.002+00:002014-03-11T19:49:58.530+00:00Mr Gray<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s that
time again, where my winter darkroom course has come to an end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The finale is a big exhibition at the end of term to show
off the schools work and it officially starts today! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It covers a wide range of Art subjects from painting to drawing,
sculpture and jewellery making, the list is long!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So if you live in or near Aberdeen you really should go
check it out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As most of
you may know, I’m slowly turning into a photography geek as my mum put’s
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She finds herself yawning as I
explain how water being one degree out can ruin your film processing. I never realised I'd got that boring. But, this is good, it means I'm actually absorbing information. However dull it may seem to others, this for me is progress. Last term I completed the Foundation Photography course and this term I moved in with the big kids in Intermediate Photography. </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">It is expected that the intermediate class, “yeah that’s me” will print bigger images than the foundation class, which puts a bit of pressure on.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">The intermediate class is generally full of very experienced photographers and it’s easy to feel inferior, but that's not the atmosphere of the class.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">People love it so much that they come back year in year out.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">As you can imagine, it’s tough to get a place.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">The tutor Neal is highly recommended and has a wealth of experience in both digital and old school film. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I had a few ideas over the duration of the
course on what I would exhibit at the end of year show. The images you see on the wall
wasn't the ones I had originally planned. I borrowed an old twin reflex
camera from Neal and went out with it one chilly weekend in December capturing the madness of
Christmas shopping. I had planned to show them, just people going about their everyday business. Neal made comment that some of my images reminded him of the work by Diane Arbus, which I was absolutely delighted about. She is a Photographer who's work I really admire. Her artistict taste probably wouldn't be socially acceptable in this day and age though. </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">After much deliberation with my subconscious I
decided to exhibit some studio portraits and some of Daisy because they had grabbed the eye of my tutor Neal and I could display in my home afterwards. Portraiture has to be the genre of
photography I am most passionate about. When I was printing up the images a few weeks ago, I found myself again being compared to yet another famous Photographer. Someone from my class last year said the legs image reminded him of the work by Helmut Newton. I had no idea who that was and thought nothing more about it until a few days ago when, "the man from wales" said, the picture reminded him of Helmut Newton!</span><i style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </i><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">After googling him yesterday I quite like his stuff. Verging on the weird and wonderful just like Arbus. </span><br />
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14pt;">Yesterday, I took my mum
and Daisy along to the private viewing. Daisy was very keen to meet my teacher, as I tell her I’m
going to school whenever I'm going to my classes. We popped into
the darkroom so she could see where mummy works her magic. I’m sad to say this will be my last
year at Gray’s and I was sad opening up the prospectus that was sent to my house knowing I wasn't going to be going back next term. However, I was absolutely over the moon to see that one of my images from last year had been used in the school prospectus. It kinda feels like a small victory, that I somehow made it. I’ve loved the
past three years at Gray's but now it’s time to move onto pastures new. I’ll no doubt keep you all up to
date with what I decide to do next. To be continued<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: Abadi MT Condensed Light;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">…..</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Abadi MT Condensed Light;"><span style="font-size: 19px;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">I’d also like to take this opportunity to give a big shout out to my bang tidy models Shannon and Fraser. Thanks for giving me free reign to do as I please</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">. I think you will all agree that the lovely Miss G would be in with a shot for "rear of the year", and I wouldn't mind a pair of legs like hers either! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">The
exhibition is on for one week.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">PRIVATE VIEW<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Saturday 8
March 2014<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">1.00pm– 4.00pm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">OPEN TO THE
PUBLIC<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Sunday 9
March – Sunday 16 March 2014<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Open Monday –
Friday 9.00am – 10.00pm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Saturday
9.00am – 6.00pm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Sunday 11.00 –
8.00pm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">VENUE: GRAY’S
SCHOOL OF ART<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Garthdee
Road, Aberdeen AB10 7QD<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6743963320166982250.post-46192849668212774552014-03-03T23:13:00.002+00:002014-03-06T23:35:56.084+00:00Sometimes the only person you can Trust is Yourself<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Courier; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">As I'm squeezing my facial cleanser into my hand I
find my mind begins to wonder. You see, my brain never seems to shut off
and I end up thinking up blogs just after I've had a few minutes out doing
something a simple as washing my face. </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 19px; text-align: justify;">In the early days of married life I found it difficult to develop friendships with the partners of my husband’s friend’s.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 19px; text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 19px; text-align: justify;">On the outside I maybe appeared a bit of an Ice Queen, but I didn’t mean to be.</span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 19px; text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">You see for a long time I’d been subjected to the
horrid tales of people in the forces cheating on their partners. It was
rife and it almost made me glad I didn’t live on a military base.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most could not begin to imagine the
love triangles that operated. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
aside, not living on a base meant I felt a little isolated and I didn’t feel
like a proper Army wife. My first quarters were in a residential housing
scheme because the former married quarters had been sold to a housing developer
when the base no longer housed a regiment, so they only needed a handful of
houses. I’d only agreed to move to keep my husband happy. I
met a forces family living there the year earlier and thought it might be a
chance to be involved in the next best thing; a smaller community where I could
be friends with fellow wives. By the time we moved in, that family had
vanished. The word on the street was that the wife had done a runner with
the children after an affair was uncovered. That was my first experience
of “army life” and the way some conducted </span><span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">themselves</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">.
I think with the fear of infidelity, some chose to keep themselves to
themselves. When I moved into the house there wasn’t many of us.
The single guys in the recruiting team occupied one house and it was a total
mess. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you looked through the
windows into their living-room, it was sparse with the occasional enormous hole
in the wall and the grass was never cut. They lived life as you would on
an actual base, picking up trash during the week and then out with their
“chick” at the weekend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of
the married guys thought they could do they same, and it wasn’t uncommon to
take your wedding ring off and put it in your pocket on a night out.<span style="color: #c0504d;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>Postings changed all the time
and there was a high turnaround of new guys in the recruiting team, usually
unmarried guys. Most were local and had a girlfriend in the same
town. Not being on a base you would generally only mix with the partners
of your husband’s close friends, rather than choosing your own. I
remember being on the verge of making my first friendship with one girl when I
found out that her boyfriend was being unfaithful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt so sad for her. I froze
when I was told whom the other woman was; I felt sick. It made me feel
like I couldn’t be friend’s, what a great way to start, keeping her boyfriends
affair secret to save face for your husband; I knew I couldn’t. What made
it so much worse was that this guy was taking said woman to his girlfriends
flat, not his flat, her flat and sleeping with this other lassy while she was
at work!! What is it with these guys, I just don’t understand what makes them
gamble everything they’ve got for sex with some slapper. Some men
are not the sharpest tools in the box when it’s being offered on a plate.
They probably don’t think that far ahead. They are probably so
self-absorbed thinking their wife or girlfriend has forgotten about them, grow
the fuck up!! Some just have no idea how tiring it is running a house and
looking after children. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt
safe in the knowledge that I could trust my husband, this bad stuff happened to
other people. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">As I said earlier, making friends was very difficult
for me, especially with the baggage that usually came with military
spouses. Getting </span><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 19px;">emotionally involved with wives made me feel uncomfortable</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14pt;">, not wanting to carry the burden of knowing their husband was up to no good. I needed to try and put my past experiences behind me and
make a real effort as a good friend of my husband had met a serious girlfriend.
We had met a few of his girlfriends but he said this one was
different. The first time we met up we went out for a meal and had
such a good time, I thought she was really nice; we seemed to get on.
We didn't have much in common at the time, so I guessed we probably
wouldn’t be bosom buddies. Unlike me she already had children, she didn’t live
in the same town and she smoked; smokers made me feel awkward. I just
found most were unsympathetic to non-smokers. However I wasn’t your
average non-smoker, I was someone with a serious lung condition who’s breathing
was affected by the slightest sniff of cigarette smoke. I tried to be
polite about it. Maybe it’s wrong to expect that people will make
allowances for you. Her boyfriend worked away from home so I thought I
maybe just had to grin and bear it, for the amount of times we would actually
see them. The two friends always went out drinking together when he was
at home and there were times I resented it because it would happen even if we
couldn’t really afford it. Some people are happy to live life on the edge
and maybe even take out payday loans when they are a bit short, but I liked to
live within my means. Which on the surface can look like you’re being all
boring and sensible. I remember this particular night where I dropped my
husband off for his latest knees up and I was asked if I wanted to stay and have a drink. They were already a
few glasses into their bottle of wine, but I had the car outside, so I couldn't
really. This was our first social gathering without our partners
there. We chatted about various things and it seems when you’re married
but don’t yet have children, everyone wants to know when that is going to
happen. This was a bit of a raw subject for me with the ongoing fertility
issues but I felt comfortable talking to them, I felt like I was part of the
crowd having known my husband and his friend for a number of years. I
ended up sharing with them some very personal information, which I foolishly
thought wasn’t going to be repeated, but it was and the shit hit the fan.
From then on I <span style="color: #252525;">subconsciously became a recluse as a
way of protecting myself </span>where they were concerned. I didn’t want
to </span><span style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14pt;">socialise</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light"; font-size: 14pt;"> with
them because I knew I’d always have to be on my guard. It didn’t go
unnoticed, but it’s not like I wanted it to be like that. I was suffering
emotionally and that betrayal of trust deeply affected me. Invisible
wounds are the hardest to heal. Everyone deals with things their own way
and in their own time. I guess I appeared all ice queen again.
There were constant pleas for me to kiss and make up, so to speak. I was
always getting told that the guy’s girlfriend thought I didn’t like her.
I heard it over and over and over. I did like her but I felt I couldn’t
get close to her and tell her anything because it would come back a hit me in
the face. It also didn’t help matters that the friends were a pair of
gossipping fishwives when they were drunk and unbeknown to her, I was getting a
full account of what she actually thought about me, after every night out;
which didn’t really help build bridges. He should have really kept that
to himself. Was it any wonder I had a sour face in their company. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">It’s funny the secrets husbands and wives keep, how
they confide in each other and know potentially damaging information.
Yes, I know a few marriage breaker secrets of my own. You find you know
the in’s and out’s of all their friends relationships and I wonder how much of
my life was out there for general discussion. AND GIRLS -No matter what
bullshit these guys tell to get into your knickers. That’s all it is,
Bullshit. Well done for being so stupid and guess what, they don’t love
you, that was also a lie. Now who looks like a fool? These women
have no conscience and adopt the attitude that they are single so the
infidelity problem is not theirs, but that’s untrue, that’s just what they tell
themselves when they realise they’ve been had!! One thing I can tell you
though, is that I wish both women and men would show more respect for their
partners or people in relationships.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Light'; font-size: 14pt;">Maybe
the answer is to get to know a person properly before you open up your soul to
them. I’ve said in previous blogs that I trust too easily and that’s
something I need to work on in the future. Trust, it take years to build,
seconds to break and forever to repair and once broken it's never
the same again.</span></div>
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<br />
<br />Donnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022688031349323017noreply@blogger.com0