How creative can you be?

To say I was dreading the dinner party would be the understatement of the year.

It wasn't that I thought it wasn't going to be fun, I knew it was.  We didn't get together in my workplace without a sense of something different happening, but tonight I wasn't it the mood.

The theme for tonight was pirates, and whilst the outfit I had ordered from ebay had arrived it just didn't look like it did in the pictures.  The trousers were far too long and the eye patch was sparkly.  What type of pirate did they think I was?

My parrot refused to sit on my shoulder too.

And when it did!  Well the extra embellishment down the back of my top was not in the least attractive.

And I think that was wear the problem lay.

The guy I thought was hot was going to be there tonight, and I hadn't known.

All the other girls were wearing female pirate costumes, but I had to go for a male costume.  Sexy pirate wench vrs old man of the sea!  Well my amazing personality would have to take charge tonight.

The room we had booked was decorated amazingly, there were seaweed streamers hanging from the ceiling and there was a smell of the sea in the air.  the music was barely audible as we walked in, with a distinct lilt of waves crashing in the distance. 

It doesn't really matter if you are 15 or 50, at parties people tend to hang out with those they already know.  So the clique were already at the bar, short skirts and busty tops, hair hanging right down their backs, and giggling like school girls.

I ignored them as usual and walked to the other side of the room, looking for someone I knew.

The peg leg was uncormfortable, but the outfit must have looked good rather than ridiculous, as many people came up to me to check who I was, and then to tell me how good I looked.

And then he walked in.

A mother's love

The memory I would like to relive never really happened, I just want to relive it so someone else could have been there too.

My mum passed away a few years ago, and was therefore not at my wedding.  She never even got to meet my husband, I didn't know him at that time.

I wish she had been there. 

So when I was asked to think about what memory I wish I could relive.

Its my wedding day.

With my mum being there.

I climbed a mountain

The prompt today was to write a public love letter to someone.

Mine is to the me from a year ago.

Dear Tina,

Sometimes a girl just has to be proud of herself.  This is one of those days :-)

You completed the 14 mile Mourne walk on Saturday, and I could not be more pleased with you. 

You trained hard.

I believed you could.

And you did it.

WOOHOO!!!

I love the new you.  I love that you have trained hard, tried hard, and never given up.

I believed that you could, but you doubted yourself.

Look at you now.  Believe in more things.

Believe in yourself.

The sky really is the limit!

The view from the saddle of Slieve Donard, looking away from Newcastle

The Castles, the scariest part of the walk

Silent Valley

Hares Gap

Hare's gap

A self portrait

I can't draw, so won't draw

Instead I will describe myself to you.

I am a huffy biatch, I like to get my own way and when I don't I have a tendancy to huff, pout and generally act like a three year old.  I am working on it.  But I still do it occasionally (like last night)
I am generous with my time.  If a friend needs me I try to be there, for as long as it takes.  I will txt, phone, visit, cry, laugh, drink, eat, whatever the friend needs until they feel better
I volunteer.  I volunteer with Urban Angels, who visit girls and their families living in women's refuges.  We visit with them, bring them nice food and drink, and pamper them.
I am trying to get fit after too many years of being a couch potato.  This is hard work, but leads me to the next point.
I am stubborn.  If I decide I am going to do something, then I do it. 

I am a mum to the best daughter that God could have given me.  She listens to me, then does her own thing.  But occasionally she will say something that makes me sit back on my heels, and gasp, I did that, I made that girl the way she is.  I am very proud of her.

I am a wife to a kind and generous man who loves me more than I deserve.  I try everyday to be a bit kinder just for him.

I work hard, but play hard too.
I love going to see live music.  I like the cinema.  I like theatre.  I love eating out.

I don't smoke, but I do drink alcohol.

I give good hugs, and i like to touch and be touched.  If I met you for the first time, I would hug you.  Then I would hug you when I was leaving too.  I might even kiss you. 

When we were younger we all kissed and hugged my mum everytime we entered the house, or left it.  My brothers and sisters, all grown up now, still kiss and hug each other, and we always tell each other "I love you"

12 September 2013

As any of you who actually read my blog know I have been participating in #blogtember, which is a fantastic idea, cos it means I haven't had to think about what to write.

But I have got lazy.  I have not been looking for the good in things.

Seeing the good in things was why I started this to begin with.

So today I start looking for the good.

Yes it is raining, but the plants, flowers and crops will grow.

Yes I am tired, but I have been training hard and I am getting fitter.

Yes work is busy, but I have a job when lots of people do not.

I woke up this morning in a warm, comfortable bed, next to my husband who loves me, without fail, and my daughter was sleeping in the next room.  Life doesn't really get much better than that.

Yes there are loads of things I want, but I don't really need anything.

I am grateful for my life.

Thank you.

Turn about

My life has had a few turns in it, as most people's have.  

I had baby girl when I was 16.  That was massive.  It was hard work, I had to leave school, and be a mummy. While my friends partied and drank, I changed nappies and sang lullabies.  It was life changing.

When baby girl went to school my life changed again.  I went to tech to get some exams so I could go to uni.  At uni I did teacher training.  I taught for a few years but wasn't really enjoying it.

So I left.

I became a secretary.  Another big change.  People treat you differently.  For a while they kept asking me when I was going back to teaching.  I wasn't.  While I was teaching I was stressed, and took a lot out on baby girl.

Next big moment in my life?  My mum passed away.  Then my godmother passed away.  I moved home to look after my younger siblings.  My relationship broke down.  We split up.  My life fell apart.

I picked myself up again. 

I decided to love myself more, and not worry about relationships.  I took time to do things I wanted to do.  I had fun.  I went on dates. 

Then I met R.  My life did the biggest turn about ever.  This was the man I would marry.

On November 30, 2012 I married the love of my life.  Even baby girl says he is the one I was meant to be with.

On January 1st this year I had another life changing moment.  I decided to join the gym and get fitter.  It has been a really hard slog, but I have lost over 3st in weight, and something like 30inches off my body since then.  I am still working on this.  It is part of my life now.

Slieve Donard

For the past month I have been training to do a 14 mile hack through the Mourne mountains.  I have been training hard at the gym, and R and I have been walking up Slieve Donard in preparation for the 14th September when I will complete the 14 mile walk.  WOW

I read back over this and I am proud of the turns in the road that have led me to where I am.


My just giving page, in case you would like to sponsor me.  I am raising money for NSPCC.

ISFJ

Sometimes you do these personality tests and they are rubbish, occasionally they hit the button so far on the head that it is hard to believe someone didn't just write specifically about you.

I just took this test as part of #blogtember, and boy oh boy it nails me to the floor!!

("If you want it done right, do it yourself").

methodical and accurate workers

good with people in small-group or one-on-one situations because of their patient and genuinely sympathetic approach to dealing with others

 their families are the centers of their lives

they are often unable to either hide or articulate any distress they may be feeling.

So yeah, thats me.