Apologises for my lack of blogging recently. I have so many half finished entries clogging up my post board, i promise i will get round to them eventually. Things are still hectic here. Life is still a mess, and i now have the added pressure of 20,000 words to write in the next two weeks.. stressed is not the word.
But regardless, here are some snaps from some of the happier times from the last two weeks. They were few and far between, but here they are - little gems on an otherwise bleak horizon.
1. Summer is finally here. The Flip flops have been retrieved from the very back of the wardrobe.
2. A celebration in honour of our last lecture ever!
3. Some idiot broke our wing mirror. But i fixed it, alone. Superwoman.
4. Working at all hours of the day. My productive hours are from 4am until sunrise ha.
5. St Paddy's day with my wonderful daddy.
6. My beautiful mum on Mother's day. Lunch at the Beauport was gorgeous.
7. Rye in the sunshine. I love this cottage, it makes my heart skip.
8. Piggies ordering dessert.
9. My lovely brother and his girl on a family day out. I've missed these guys.
10. Saturday nights in with the man and trashy TV. Emotional recovery.
The relationship between a father and his daughter is something very powerful. I am proud to be my father's daughter and there is nothing on earth that will change that.
My father is the best man and i count my lucky stars that God gave me a man so wonderful and so talented to learn from. This man has been to hell and back (multiple times!) and yet he is so courageous, so patient and so forgiving. His nature is not one of brute strength, but his strength comes from his calm acceptance of life and the horrors it can throw at him. His strength is found in his sense of dignity and his habitual honesty. I am so blessed.
This post is an apology in advance. I am not going to be around very much in the next few weeks. My family right now is battling the biggest trail, and i am emotionally spent.
If you are of the praying persuasion, please pray for us - we need it.
Today i am grateful for my husband - my rock, and for both of my wonderful parents. No-one deserves this, least of all them.
1. The final push toward Coursework deadlines means long days in the UL reading room.
2. This snap was taken at 6.30am on a very misty morning on the river. Stunning, but treacherous to steer through.
3. Dismantling and trailering 'Sarah' and 'John' for WEHORR (see previous post!)
4. Some much needed girl time, with some much needed ice-cream.
5. I am so lazy when it comes to hair. Here's me attempting a new style. I got bored, it didn't last more than five minutes after this photo was taken.
6. Lunch today with Pia. You guessed it, Giraffe's deli lunch burger. I swear i alone could keep that restaurant in profit.. (if it wasn't already always packed out!)
Last weekend i had the immense privilege of coxing the 'Woman's eights head of the river race' on the Thames. It was without a doubt THE most terrifying, but most fulfilling moment of my short coxing experience.
For those of you who don't know what it entails, the race is a 7.5 km (15k there and back!!) international competition along the river Thames. It follows the route of the Oxford/Cambridge boat race but instead of just two crews, the river is littered with over three hundred woman's boats. Its a logistical nightmare but an incredible experience.
For you to get a flavour, heres a short clip from the Thames rowing club this year:
As the cox, i am the feisty lady steering and motivating those poor exhausted woman in the boat and, trust me, by 6km rowing against the Thames' choppy waters those girls were tired.
Our day started at 5am. It did not start particularly well. In my sleepy state i grabbed a bag of raw bacon out of the fridge, instead of my sandwich! I felt very silly come lunchtime when, instead of my lovingly prepared chorizo sandwich, all i had to eat was raw back rashers that had been sitting in the sun ha!
Nonetheless, after very nearly missing our taxi we made it to the station and started the long journey to the river. Typically, the whole victoria line was out of action so after some nifty iphone route-planning, we finally made it to the WRONG boathouse where all our boats and coach nowhere to be seen.
We assumed that at this point, all our misfortune would have been used up and went about rigging the boats for the race. Unfortunately, no one connected the two wires that connected the microphone to the speakers. Cue some very panicked fumbling about in the boat moments before the race was due to start, and some very difficult marshalling.
Despite all the set backs, my girls raced beautifully. Here they are in all their glory:
Copyright: Jet photographic, Cambridge.
(and there's me, in my bright pink waterproofs and some bedraggled wet hair!)
Amazingly, we managed to complete the course in 25mins!!! And jumped up nine rankings in the process. (thats a big deal!) I honestly could not be more proud of these ladies and their dedication.
We rowed home completely unaccompanied. There were no marshalls and no instructions, just the calm abandoned waters of the river Thames. Naturally we sang disney songs and took it in turns dropping out of the stroke to eat mint cake.
Heres a glimpse of our journey home:
Unfortunately, we couldn't rest for long. Saturday night marked the end of the woman's racing season and so we had to scrub up in record time to attend Boat Club Dinner. For the most part it was a civilised affair, with profiterole swans and plenty of port.
Excuse the iphone quality. Blame a very drunk captain of the boats.
However, soon the lack of sleep and wine caught up with us and our night descended into this. It was unfortunate, but somewhat inevitable ;)
Please put down your work, essays, children or whatever else is occupying your hands at this moment and watch this film.
Its 29mins, but please do not be tempted to skip. It is so important. Use it for procrastination if that works for you.
It has become so easy in our modern world to have become desensitised to issues such as this but these children matter. They matter to me, and i surely hope that they matter to you.
Disclaimer: To be clear, i do not wholly support Invisible Children's way of going about this. These reservations are based on allegations to do with their chosen military strategies. However i do believe that trying to help is better than sitting back in our comfortable lives and doing nothing. I also think that awareness of these children's plights can not be a bad thing. Just please read both sides of the story and make up your own mind, before giving any monetary donations or supporting their cause beyond raising awareness.
So i am in love with Instagram. Its official, and there is no denying it. So to celebrate this new found obsession i took up a monthly photo challenge - you know, so i have an excuse to go crazy with my instagram feed :) Enjoy my month of, often pointless, photos.
1. My view from my window seat 2. The Word:John 1:1 3.Hands 4. a sneaky stranger shot.
5. 10am snowman building. 6. Dinner at Midsummer house 7. buttons. 8. Liquid sunshine!
9. Front door 10. Self portrait 11. Something that makes you happy. 12. Inside my wardrobe
13: Blue skies. 14. Loveheart jelly bean :) 15. Phone. 16: My new pink blazer.
17. Time. 18. Drink 19. Something i hate to do. 20. Handwriting.
21. My fave childhood photo. 22. Where i work. 23. Shoes!
24: My lack of bathroom cabinet: mess! 25. Green pool table 26: St Pauls at night - dinner with in laws
27. What i ate: lots of sugary goodness. 28: money, or lack of. 29. Listening to the boats being set up for the river
