Yesterday Morning

One of the best things about my new home is the view. The picture taken above was taken from my balcony. I have this view from my dinning room, living room and bedroom. I feel very lucky.

You have no ideas how many photos of Mt Hood I have been taking lately.

With the good weather we've been having lately, there have been some fantastic views, sunsets and sunrises.

The above was yesterdays sunrise.

Martin Luther King Day

New Blog Layout

I finally got around to changing my blog layout.  It's been bugging me for a while, so I picked out a shiny new one today.

No doubt I'll be playing around with it over the next few days.  Then I'll get back to writing to my lovely blog.

(Belated) Happy New Year

5 days into 2009 and I am finally able to get around to wishing you all a Happy New Year!

I had a wonderful Christmas in New Zealand with my parents, brother and cousins.  It was wonderful and beautiful.

 

I am now living in a new apartment with fantastic views of Mount Hood, I still have a little unpacking to do, only 2 boxes, and I hope to have them done soon.  I was supposed to be back at work today after my vacation but a tummy bug that I picked up from somewhere has me at home.  I am feeling better than I was yesterday, so hope to be back there tomorrow.  I feel like I've been off work for ages, it will be odd to be back, especially been as I started my new role right before I left for vacation.

With being sick, all I have really done the past couple of days is watch Heroes, I am still on season 1, but am little addicted already. 

Apology (of sorts)

I have been neglecting my poor blog this past month.  There’s been multiple reasons for this.  My life has had a lot of changes lately, and I’ve been taking some time to let the dust settle and get back into my groove.  The past couple of weeks I’ve had the opportunity to meet up with some friends that I haven’t seen in a couple of years.  These meetings have really opened my eyes to how much I’ve “grown” over the last two/three years.  3 years ago I had no self-esteem, there were long periods of time were I even hated myself.  Such a different person from who I am now.  I surrounded myself with people who were not really good for me.  We were all struggling together, but rather than trying to give each other emotional support we beat each other down more.

I have always been a relatively strong person, I just didn’t know it.  I’ve had depression for a large chunk of my life, I first became aware of it when I was 12.  I’ve never taken any medication to combat this but instead I realized that we do have some control over our emotions, we can influence the way that we react and deal with the things that life throws at us.

These days I am happy with my life and the path that I have chosen to take, even with the recent changes in it.  I am extremely happy that I moved to Portland, as it is now home to me, and has really helped me to finally feel somewhat settled.  Before moving here, I was looking for something new every year, be it my job, the country I lived in or any number of things.

I will be back to this blog soon, in the meantime check back occasionally, I’ll be posting here and there.

Escape

 While I am doing my writing class, I am sorry, but you are stuck with reading some of my assignments :)


I have a candle lit near my computer, this one was a birthday gift from a friend, called tense lady formula, I must have been stressed out that time of year, for he must have felt I needed some help to unwind, there's not much of it left. Its warm flickering light distracts my eye from the screen, grabbing my attention. There must be a draft in my room as it bounces around casting shadows on the white walls and curtains, sharing its warm yellow glow with them. As the wax starts to melt I can smell the gentle lavender fragrance, it's subtle, but if I breathe in I notice it. Lavender reminds me of my mother's garden back home, there is so much lavender growing there, it almost takes over. In a while the wax will start to drip down the sides of the candle, as if it's trying to escape, each droplet running over the previous in an attempt to get away, but there is no where for it to go other than to the base of the votive holder, where the flame will catch up to it eventually.

The room where I write

I have been lost for things to write on my blog lately. Partly due to the fact that I just began a writing class and it would seem I have an internal quota on the number of words I can write in a day or week. Kind of like the theory that women need to speak 'x' number of words within a day to be 'happy'. I am pretty confident it was a man that came up with that theory... but whatever.

So in the lack of things to write about, you get to see one of my writing class assignments... its not supposed to be good... its free writing...

The room where I write

It’s always dark in this room. I have no ceiling lights, just lamps spread out around the room, which give off a warm yellow glow. I like to light candles this time of year as they make the room seem warmer, and add to the glow of the artificial light. My white couches are starting to look really sad, they need new cushions, or to be restuffed. They’ve been used a lot over the past 8 years. I got them from a friend when I first moved into my own apartment. One of them even has a petrol stain on the cover from one of my moves when it was dropped in a puddle. They are well used, but unfortunately not well loved.

The TV takes up far too much of the room, left over from a broken relationship. I’d wanted a flat screen, but he won out in the discussion, no I have a ridiculous TV eating up the space of my room. The carpet is a mess, my cats leave fluff all over it as they run around playing tag, jumping over each other and anything else that gets in the way.