2016 – A year of unexpected.

2016, a time of crafting, reflection and thing’s not always going the way we planned, however other things came about that were unexpected and we made a year that could have been tiresome into something just as beautiful.

Jan 2016 

We had different plans for 2016, we bought a house and that became our focus, spending the money we had to decorate it the best we could, we got creative with colour, wallpaper, tiles and boldness and made a house into our home. 

March 2016

The Hens came home, then they multiplied. We always knew we wanted our hens back, it was a jolt in us moving as the rented flat wouldn't allow us to have them, so when we started to be settled i spoke to Jill, a friend who was looking after them in Rothbury, she was moving and looking to re-home them so it worked a treat, Spring came and they arrived on the back of a truck, one had sadly passed due to a sore foot but Maisy and Mavis joined us again, these two have moved all over the UK, i was pleased to see them back where they belong. We decided to purchase a few more hens, so went for two hybrid layers and another two bantams. The coop got bigger and after a few teething problems they all become a flock and enjoyed being together. Sadly we lost Maisy just before Christmas, she must have been around 6 so had good innings for a hen, Sam found her passed at the back of the coop, with her mate Mavis (aka Tina Turner) watching over her. We have a new hen coming in the next week from my Aunty, Nicola the black rock, hopefully the girls will accept her and there wont be too much bullying.

Spring/Summer 2016

We took many a walk out in the country and coast, enjoying the Northumberland air, we took trips to some old haunts but also some new.

August 2016

We then decided to take a trip to Sri Lanka, however just before going we purchased Betty, we had always decided we wanted a campervan project, however didn't expect this to happen until 2017, an opportunity presented itself though and it was too good to miss, so a few days before flying we headed to Sheffield to pick her up and bring her home.

We took our travelling toes off again mid August, not thinking we would have the opportunity to this year, we found cheap flights and decided what the hell, why not. We booked 3wks off work and decided to explore a this enchanting country (i hope to write a blog about Sri Lanka, so watch this space). Sri Lanka was beautiful, really laid back and chilled out, tasty food, the most beautiful beaches and sights that were awe inspiring, my highlights were climbing Sigiriya and all the beaches, lots of relax, book reading, life planning and silliness with my love. 

October 2016

We came back to England and decided it was time for us to become 3, it wasn't happening any other way so why not this way. The decision to get a dog did not come lightly, i have wanted a dog for years however its just never felt right, my love of pugs moved and Sammy suggested we take home a retired greyhound, it's a dog i didn't know a lot about however Socks is perfect for us. Socks loves a good walk, but also a good rest, she is affectionate and loves a cuddle and her nature is just to die for. We have made many good decisions this year, but this one was one definitely beats the rest, we visited http://www.northumberlandgreyhoundrescue.org.uk/ up in Steele, luckily for us we had already seen Socks online and she was still there when we went to meet the dogs, from the moment we saw her we knew she was our girl. A few weeks later, home she came and we haven't looked back.

At the end of October i became an Aunty, my brother and his fiancee had a baby boy called Miles, blessing us with his gorgeous smile, cute face and delicious baby smell. I got my craft on and made him a mobile, i went down the safari animal play and got creative with my miniature knitted world books. 

November 2016

Winter came with a mix of feelings, we thought we would be ending the year with different news but sadly it hasn't happened for us yet, lots of tests and appointments and investigations so some good news and bad over the winter months, i will write about this more when the time comes but for now it is filled with a mix bag of emotions.

December 2016

December came with a new project in tow, something i am going to blog further about but i had decided to bring a living advent window to my local community, lots of planning, preparation and organising and the project came together, each day a new window was reveled in the community displaying an advent/Christmas/winter theme. On the 24 December, all 24 windows were open and the full advent trail could commence. The project was great with amazing participation, here's a sneak of our window, each window would have a short description with it so people could learn the story behind the design.

 Our window was based on my snowy walks with our wonderful greyhound. 

2017

2017 starts with difficulties but i have developed a mantra 'believe in the hope' to push me through any negatives that maybe trying to flood my mind. I have an operation coming up next week and i plan to stay as positive as i can, i have incredible support around me and being in the arms of those souls keeps me going on this challenging but wonderful journey called life. 

ps - here's to more blogging, its my constant, please feel free to leave comments, i love hearing folks feedback and stories. 

Claire x

Keeping to my Promise

My writing feels like its decreasing rather than increasing, I read other blogs and I urge myself to start again but things move to the wayside and I find it’s another month before I focus and recount what I want to share with others. I have so many notes for blog entries, I will get round to them but life has become busy and my promise to myself whilst travelling has been left at the back door. So today my writing comes from a place of change, a commitment to myself and my well-being. 

Sam and I took 2014 to travel, explore, adventure and reconnect and we definitely felt we did that, I quit my job to take on this mighty test of travel and found it a challenge not having a working routine but also refreshing to not be managed and told what I can and can’t do. It brought a new life to me and made me re-evaluate my old one but also my commitments to work and what I wanted for my career, what was important to me and my sanity. 

I came back with drive and passion to set up my own business/s and get a part time job allowing a guaranteed monthly income. One business succeeded, another didn’t work out the way I planned, the part time job came through, however this part time job turned into a full time and I realised that my working week was suddenly at between 35-40hrs over 4/5 days which wasn’t the plan I had once had in mind. I find money is the killer, it sneaks in and then i become reliant on it and it becomes hard to then go back, I know I start spending more and stuff starts to appear that I don’t really need. My mind slows down and my brain becomes mushy, the work I do requires time, energy and empathy and that’s a lot to give away, and not have time to replenish because before you know it the week starts again and the cycle continues.  
Last week I bit the bullet and went to my manager and took my time back, I have lessened my counselling hours which allows me to work 3 days a week then a Tuesday evening for my yoga. It allows me to spend time planning and developing as I have plans for more yoga next year but more importantly it gives me time to enjoy my new found greyhound, knit, rest, read and relax. 

I ask myself what makes us dedicate so much of our life to work, when did money become a thing that gave us status and when did we stop enjoying the life we want to live and take it for granted, giving it all up for work and stuff, stuff we don’t normally need. 

 

Project Van Life

So for those of you who didn't see our sneaky instagram posts a few months back, we got lucky and my cousin sold us his van, she's a beast, massive to say the least, a big tall lass. Its been a dream for some time to renovate and create our own camper and we are now in the process of being able to spend time working out where and how we begin, well we started....

Boards down, cleaning begins, design planning!

Windows are being fitted Monday then it's insulating and frame fitting...

Writing with Enjoyment.

I was completing my bullet journal for June when I suddenly had the thought of blogging, I have been urging myself to put something together and have ideas in my mind but I haven’t been pulled to start, until this morning. As I wrote in my last blog entry I had decided to get an entry up as a bit of an update, I hadn’t written anything for so long and writing is something that helps me express and make sense.
After my blog entry I went back to my journaling, writing a diary has always been something i attempt to keep up, over the years it has come in many different forms and at times none at all.

I remember as a teenager having a forever friends diary i was obsessed with those cute tubby teddies and owned a lot of goodies with their smiley faces on. My diaries at those times were of first kisses, boyfriends, arguments with Mum, who my most recent bestfriend was and who had decided to bully me that day. I didnt open my heart but i remember a number of years back finding them and cringing at my words and behaviours.

Travel journals are what i feel take people back to diary writing, its like a standard thing you do when you go away, part of that 'going away pack' is the beautiful journal where you store all your tickets/ideas and adventures. It's funny how we document the holiday in a far away land but not the amazing adventure in the UK or two week holiday in Europe, Sam's idea made me smile when we travelled, he isnt a big writer and even had his diary given to him from is first trip 10yrs ago, this time though he decided to keep a journal, he decided that what was important to him was to document the beers/lagers he drank, at first i laughed but as the time went on, i got it, his journal filled up and he wrote scores and comments but also where he was when he drank it. The taste of that drink described and the words of where he drank it took him back when he reads through his diary, for me it was such a creative way to document but suited his style of journaling.

I also got back into journaling in a therapeutic stance a few years back and have shared this with a few friends who may have been having a rough patch, morning pages, i was studying with the Women and Girls Network www.wgn.org.uk/ and carried out a days training with Jackee Holder www.jackeeholder.com/ learning about how to use writing as a therapeutic tool, the day was incredible and i instantly left, buying a journal to carry out morning pages. Morning pages is a journal form carried out in the morning, it requires you to write three pages of writing, you just write what is in your mind, no thinking just letting your hand write and explore, when you come to the end you stop, close your journal, your not required to read your morning pages again, its a lovely form of processing what is in our minds by removing it and placing it elsewhere www.juliacameronlive.com/basic-tools/morning-pages/ - this link gives you further information and explains it further. I dont write my morning pages every morning now but i do go back to it at times if i need to process a dream, woke up in a strange mood or if my mood has become low and i need a place to put it without burdening others.

My newest form of journaling however comes in the form of bullet journaling, for those who don’t know what that is, it’s a diary which allows you to be as creative as you want, you set the rules/pages and ideas. I had started one last year but couldn’t work out how I wanted it to work for me, after a bit of pinterest searching, seeking of my moleskin notebook and colouring pencils I started to plan and my bullet journal became alive again.

One of the things that has been great for me in my journal is processing what makes me feel good, what keeps my soul alive, I decided to keep an enjoyment tracker, not adding too much, but things I feel are manageable within the month, on each day I then colour in the square if I have managed to carry the activity out. Last month I managed a number of things however can see that some days I did nothing that I love, at one point three days in a row, that says so much for me at how we just keep on moving and sometimes don’t give ourselves the space to just be. Each week I teach my yogis to allow some time for themselves, however how can I preach what I don’t practise. The enjoyment tracker is helping me really take focus, for June I even added an extra enjoyment… let’s see how I get on.

So the question is how often do you manage to do things you enjoy?

I have added some images below of pinterest ideas that I can’t wait to add into my journal.

Nesting and Working.

Wow where has the year gone, were in Spring now and I really feel this year has just flown by, we have been back from travelling a while now and life has just got in the way of writing, I was writing my blog monthly when away and feel I have really neglected it since home, so here goes, I thought my first update this year i could share what’s been happening and what’s been making these last few months.

Work.
My working week is 3.5 days at Acorns working as a Children’s Counsellor with children impacted by domestic and sexual violence, the therapeutic work is carried out using play therapy techniques and is just wonderful to watch the process children/young people go through whilst working in the room.

My initial plan was to work more self-employed but my role at Acorns is amazing and diverse and I feel so many of my skills lie within this role, I have really put a lot of energy into it and its beautiful to say but I really do love it, hence why the private counselling I had thought of being more involved in has gone quiet.

Acorns are supporting me through a play therapy course at the institute of art psychotherapy www.artspsychotherapy.org which is an incredible institute and I hope to study further with them in the future. The course covers a number of different techniques, theory and experiential work to understand play as a therapeutic form, its hard going and means a lot of time back in London town but the learning I am getting from it is brilliant and is enhancing me as a practitioner each week I learn.

I am managing ½ day a week with Yogabud teaching one public yoga class and seasonal workshop’s which run on a Saturday and have a different theme each season. I have offered a few different options with the yoga but it feels right now the teaching I am offering is working best. The public class and workshop are going fantastic with full numbers and a mix of gender and age which is fantastic to see.

I have also been asked to par take in a workshop run by the lovely Shanti Bee www.shantibee.co.uk in June which I am really looking forward too.

Home.
Sam and I bought a house, bit crazy and unexpected but it all came about as I wanted my hens back and felt it was just annoying paying rent and not being able to have my feathered friends to say hello too. So we found a nest in an area we wanted and was lucky enough to have the offered accepted and now were in with our 6 hens and half decorated house. We weren’t sure whether we wanted to live country or city but felt that the stage we are in now the city suited us more with plenty of country adventures.

We had a few things we knew we wanted, like a wood burning stove and a good sized bath, which were two of the things we got sorted asap. We also knew we wanted to use reclaimed wood as a focus for shelves, my house plants seem to be growing so I wanted a place for good light for them. We also have so many books so wanted to use one of our alcoves to storage them so went searching in my dad/s workshops and found a number of old batons that we upcycled and made shiny and new. Really pleased with how far we have got and its really starting to feel like ours.

Bathroom Tiles.

Bedroom Wall

Hallway,

Stove tiles.

Hello to 2015.

I am well aware we are in May now, so saying hello isn't that new but wow so much has happened and so many decisions were made that I wanted to share a few with you all.

I made a few NY Resolutions and so far things seem to be working out.

• Starting 2 business - Yoga and Counselling.

The Yoga side of this has actually become more developed, which at first I found a challenge as that wasn't the plan and I wanted my energy to be more focused on developing a women's only counselling service, however with funding the way it is I wasn't getting anywhere and have decided to work privately at home with 1-2 women a week which is a nice balance with my employed part of the week. I am still managing to connect with women, offer my skills but work in an empowerment way which was the prime focus, its not about how many I work with, working with 1-2 women allows my full energy to be present, so although things haven't worked how first imagined I guess that's business and I feel its working right for how it should be right now.

Yogabud is booming, I use Tuesday as my 'yoga day' and work with 3 women privately during the day and then teach a class on an evening in Gosforth. I carried out my first workshop this weekend which I hope to do every 6-8wks, the workshop sold out and was really successful, with a lot of great feedback coming back from it.

• Start a new job as a Children's Counsellor

I honestly have to pinch myself at times at how lucky I feel, I have literally walked into a perfect role, I work 3 days a week as a Children's Counsellor for children impacted by sexual and domestic violence. The role is challenging, heart breaking and difficult but I love the balance of being there 3 days and then have two days to do my own thing, yoga, create, learn. I work in an integrative way and bring in a lot of play therapeutic style which is incredible when working with children. I am 5 months into the role and already have planned my next training to go further in the role.

• Learn how to look after houseplants.

I decided when away I wanted to become more green fingered, so far so good, orchids are blooming, streptocarpus are flowering, spider plants are reproducing, its just the sneaky aloe vera that I haven't got to grips with yet.

• Use my day off on Fridays to be more creative.

So this hasn't happened as much as recently I have been back and forth to London, however now Sam is residing in the North I feel this is definitely a plan that will start soon, the knitting needles have been clicking on other nights though and lots of baby projects for friends in place.

• Spend more time exploring Northumberland.

This I have definitely been doing, beach walks at Newton by the Sea, walking Hadrian's Wall, exploring castles and going out to Kielder, I purchased two walking books with some Christmas money so lots more planned for 2015.

Reflections of 2014.

So were back in the wilds of the beautiful North East, its been a long 6 months  waiting for Sammy to join me but eventually were reunited and the discussions of where we were this time last year have began, reflecting over the incredible adventure and opportunity life brought us to spend 9 months exploring part of this incredible world.

The highs, lows and learning's of 2014.

Many lessons were learnt last year, I fell in and out of love with every country we travelled, I learnt lessons about love not just from my relationship but others, I pushed myself to limits I didn't think I could and I let myself be freer then I ever have, letting my toes travel where the adventure chose.

Travelling.

Day trains, night trains, night buses, day buses, ferries, speed boats, rowing boats, taxis, hiking, flights, walking, up hills, down hills, across country, through continents we did it all and I smiled and cried through so many as I thought my poorly sick mind could take no more, but it always did and there was always another journey around the corner. We took a 32hr train through India, a night insect ridden train through Burma, we waited hours to get picked up in Borneo, we jumped out of a taxi with a drunken Thai driver, lost on the motorway in Chiang Mai, went back in time when heading to Mexico and lost our minds and our way on the way to Bali, however I wouldn't change any of it, as like people say 'its all part of the experience'.

Sleeping.

So part of my agreement was that we wouldn't stay in basic stays and would at least hit the mid way mark, however the excitement of travelling I realised was not always laying your head on a bed and sometimes finding sleep whenever and wherever it came, from bartering cheap prices to sleep in basic but beautiful seafront huts, sleeping on night trains, spooning up in locked bays on night buses, catching a few hours on the seats in a Japanese airport, sleeping in a brothel in Mexico, the middle of a desert in India, a tent in the forest of a Malaysian island, we got everywhere, some places I slept in a perfect dream, one night I woke up with a cockroach on my face, it tested me to my limits but the memories will always make me smile.

Eating.

Samosas from every bus stand in India, Thai curry on the streets of Bangkok, Fish upon fish in Malaysia, Khmer Curry in Cambodia, Kuching Laksa in Borneo, we ate every type of food going, my vegetarianism lacked and although I never chose to eat meat there were at times a definite hint of meat flavour, I suffered but enjoyed and my culinary tastes developed and my hatred of fish bones dissolved.

Friendships.

We met and adventured with so many great people on our trip, friends we feel we have made for life, friends who were just the right people to be there at that time, I learnt and developed from some of these people and changed my views on some of life's important lessons from understanding and searching deeper in my heart for a stronger meaning. Exploring the world you realise how many people are on similar journeys, sometimes even having a parallel life in some aspect, the many nights we spent talking and sharing times and adventures, it was great to have the chance in life to go out there be vulnerable but be open to learn from people I met as strangers but soon become friends.

Love.

Sam and I decided we wanted to spend this year together, we wanted to be away from the stresses and strains life brings and connect to each other somewhere different then England, my job can be very demanding and with training to be a Counsellor the last few years I have gone through a number of changes and unfolding in my own personal world, which Sam has held me through and supported me in every stage. This trip therefore was to move on from that and have a year where the world was just about us. Wow what a privilege, hey, we spent many days and nights talking about our relationship, other relationships, family relationships, how they work, how they don't, who inspires us, who doesn't. We talked with friends we met about the meaning of love and importance of past, the strength it gives us to be who we are in our relationship now and the changes we have made due to that. We argued, cried, smiled, loved, jumped, dived, walked, ran, hiked, made decisions, debated decisions, reassured, got lost, got totally lost, but mostly we found each other, we saw each others vulnerabilities and wants and found that deep love that connects us and inspires us.

Lessons.

I never have to do anything, I get to do it.. My yoga teacher Denise Payne taught me this when one day in teacher I asked 'do I have to do this' she reminded me that I never have to do anything, I get to do it and what a privilege that is.

I have a precious human life and I am not going to waste it.. Bex Tyrer read this poem out one day when in a yoga class, it stuck with me and made me think of the adventure we were on, it confirmed the right choices about going away, about quitting my work and doing something for us, life is precious and I certainly wasn't going to waste it.

Everything doesn't happen for a reason, we live in a cruel world.

What's meant for me wont pass me, a friend text me this one day when I was worrying about something, its a mantra that lives with me always.

The Lonely planet does the tell the truth.

When Sam told me we would have the chance to meet the Dalai Lama, I obviously laughed at him, of course the LP states that in its highlighted blue box, why wouldn't it.... well it only turned out to be true and we did get to meet him, miracles do happen.

Changes.

Babies were born, friends were married, people moved away, people moved home, life carried on whilst we travelled and although people always say everything is the same when you come home for us it wasn't, we were different and we were changed, we came home 6wks early as the bank of Sam and Claire ran out, however it felt the right time and we were ready for the next adventure.