Nothing better...

... than a lovely cup of tea! And here's my new favourite - Twinings Cleansing blend (nettle, spearmint and milkthistle) - in my favourite cup - Emma Bridgewater's hippy hearts & flowers.

I snuggle up in my bedroom chair and watch the sun set over the fields, thinking how absolutely PERFECT this moment is...

... and for the first time in I don't know how long, I realize I have actually enjoyed this first month of 2007, and I simply can't wait to see what the rest of the year holds...

... hopefully, many more perfect moments like this one!

My Play Day

They're not the greatest scans - but you get the idea...
I got this handmade journal off ebay months ago and have finally started playing with it!
The main figure was already there on the front cover, but I jazzed her up a bit with a mask and bow, a wee polymer clay butterfly and a little pixie who lifts out of the roses. He's blowing a pink conche shell - which I thought rather fitted in with the 'Aspire...' theme - it's all about breathing... "Breathe in experience, breathe out poetry" - and all that.
On the back I used my new Tim Holtz stamps - I LOVE that man's stuff! The text at the bottom on the back reads: "art runnin' deep inside my veins"
The first pages were great fun. I used some art papers I had and drew over them - very daring for me!! I can totally see why Teesha Moore adores these caran d'ache neocolor crayons - they just make you feel like a kid again, which means you're much less self-conscious about scribbling!
The stamp in the middle is a zettiology one which reads: "The artist is the person who makes life more interesting, or more beautiful, more understandable or mysterious, or probably in the best sense, more wonderful". What an aspiration!!
And the next pages are just me off on my magic carpet to faraway places... I'm recharging my heart & soul as I play and explore... NO LIMITS!!
And NO wrong turns!!
What a great life!!!!!!!!!!

At last...

... a month late, but we finally have a sprinkling of snow! And Esther was determined to make a snowman before school. Thankfully we managed to persuade her NOT to run out in her pjs!
But the sun is shining brightly, so I doubt the covering will last long, but hopefully her wee fella will still be standing to attention when she gets home from school!
I've been quiet lately - on the blog, I mean. I'm doing lots of deep, inner work - none of which is really translatable to the blog. Though, I did come across the perfect quote the other day:

'There are years that ask questions, and years that answer...' (Zora Neale Hurston)

And this feels like it's a year of answers - so keep watching this space!!

Bedtime reading

After a 9-hour stretch working on a manuscript all day (I edit book manuscripts - sadly never anything too exciting!), I desperately needed something to chill out to as I snuggled under the duvet last night...

This book is a real eye-feast - it's beautifully produced and feels so lovely to hold. The journal pages are lavishly reproduced and there are family recipes and emails - as well as beautiful images.

By reading Amy's journal you become part of her life incredibly quickly, and even though you kind of know what's coming, it's a really fun read!

And when was the last time you picked up a book you could read cover to cover in an hour??!

It was just what I needed after a tedious day spent ploughing through a tome on educational assessment and evaluation...

In fact, that's what this book is - a perfect tonic offering escape for the mind and beauty for the eyes.

Glorious silliness

The clear-eyed and observant among you will notice the new header at the top of my blog!! (Wish I knew how to place it further down the page so you could see it better...)
You must go try this fun site!! You can just keep trying different titles, until you find one that fits - and oh how we Brits LOVE our titles!!
I just love the idea of being Her Noble Excellency - and of course I am Claire the Festive - any excuse for a party!!
Go and play for a few minutes... I give you a special royal dispensation... It's the perfect distraction for a rainy Tuesday when we should be working...

There is nothing more wonderful...

... than a child's love!
A quickly coloured and handwritten card from my precious girl left for me on my bed before she left for school this morning...
Brightly beaming moons and a rainbow graced my day yesterday, but NOTHING can match what this card means to me!!

A topsy-turvy start to the day

These pics were taken from my bedroom window at 7.30am and 8.00am. That pinprick of light is the MOON! (I forgot to use the zoom lens!) And it was actually amazingly bright - it was a full moon on Wednesday. It was just such a shock to open my curtains and see it shining there!
And isn't it amazing the difference 30 mins makes? The sun just can't hold itself back - even if the moon is still shining bright - and the overall light levels just rose and rose...
Then to top it all - walking back from taking the kids to school - there was a full rainbow arching over the sky! Sadly I didn't have my camera with me...
But what an awesome start to this new day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!