Notes from Japan - random

Just returned from 3 weeks in Japan....in Autumn its truly a wonderous sight to behold...the Kouyo "autumn colours" are breathtaking!

Things I pondered whilst in the land of the rising sun:

- we NEED washlet toilets with bidet and cleaning water jet functions and heated toilet seats in the UK! The thiNgs are genius....actually I know why we can't have them...it's cos our voltage is too high so it would be dangerous to have electricity running to the toilet but still one can dream.

- the food in Japan never tastes crap....you can go to the equivalent of a UK greasy cafe in Japan and still find yourself with something delicious before you! I miss the food already :S

- 24 hour convenience stores on every corner are a good thing.

- why station names are so easy to mis-read in Japanese :S I always seem to get the wrong kanji reading lol this makes the tokyo metro system mind boggling!

- flights from Japan to UK seem to be so much more pricey than the other way around!! why is that??

- the Japanese make the best massage chairs in the world! spent 20mins on a friends chair and it cured my tension headache :)

- why is there such an obssession with luxury brands? stayed over a night in Karuizawa in Nagano prefecture and I've never seen so many luxury designer brand warehouse outlet shops in my life! everything from Gucci to Wedgewood its nuts lol

- its amazing how Japanese girls manage to walk such long distances in such high heeled boots...I admire their stamina :)

- entire office buildings full of karaoke boxes are the best invention ever! bring on the destress singing :)

UK Handmade Blog Interview

I recently did an interview for the UK Handmade blog as part of our meet the team behind the mag series :)

UK Handmade: Autumn Issue

Click on the image below to see the Autumn issue of UK Handmade :D

Forray into PMC

As promised, a couple of shots of my first precious metal clay piece :D I wanted to create a kind of lily-type flower shape with a drop of watery-teal glass hiding inside.

Mahoosive catch up

Wow, its been a while since I've been able to sit down and write this blog, partly due to the hectic nature of moving house and also thanks to a hardware failure at our local telephone exchange which has made getting an internet connection more complicated than advanced quantitative analysis :S So, here I am on my trusty (well actually not very trusty at all) dongle which requires I sit in an uncomfortable yoga-tastic position and hang from the rafters to get a decent signal (ok, slight exaggeration but you get the idea lol).

Finally managed to re-open my shop yay and hopefully, in a while, will have new things to put in it. Also, I recently attended a 1 day Precious Metal Clay and Glass jewellery course run by my local adult ed centre which was a really fantastic experience and has left me itching to get my hands on some more PMC and get stuck in (photo to follow of my first PMC and glass creation but the light is too dark for photos at the moment).

This PMC course has come at a really good time as I am reliably informed that PMC is manufactured in Japan and I just happen to be heading out there soon so I will be purchasing some cheaply (I hope) on my trip (prepares empty suitcase to fill with goodies). Ooh exciting (>_<)

House-wise, as with any move there has been a fair amount of upheaval but I feel very happy and settled in our new home. There's lots to do and and plenty of space for all our bits and bobs which is a first for us having previously crammed all our worldy belongings into a 2 bed flat lol

Anyway, will be back with some photos of my PMC piece soon if my dongle lasts that long lol

365 Finished

Should really have blogged this yesterday but we are in the midst of packing up and getting ready to move house yay :D

Ok, so back to the point lol hurrrrrrrrah I finished my 365 project yesterday!!! Wasn't entirely sure that I'd make it to the end as it was harder than I'd imagined, especially on those days when I didn't feel so great or something major was going on but thanks to some good mates who spurred me on I crossed the finishing line :D

I am glad I did it and my next project will be taking all or some of these photos from the last 365 days and turning them into a book for myself. I know that sounds terribly narcissistic, to have a book of photos of yourself but this project has recorded some really amazing events in my life over this last year: wedding, honeymoon, healthy friends....so I am going to indulge myself ;P

To anyone thinking about doing a 365 project or something similar I'd say GO FOR IT...it's so worth it in the end!!!

So proud of you!!!

I am really really lucky to have people in my life that continually inspire me. My best friend is one of those people....she is brave, beautiful, intelligent, artistic, loving, creative, wise and so much more. Life is hard for many people but some people seem to have more than their fair share of hardship to deal with and yet do so with grace and dignity.

Two years ago my best friend had transplant surgery and two weeks ago she underwent further transplant surgery which isn't an easy ride for anyone even when everything goes absolutely smoothly. I have watched her over these last couple of weeks deal with all the ups and downs that the surgery has thrown up...the pain...the uncertainty...the hospital environment and can honestly say I am not sure I could have dealt with these things as well as she.

To her I just wanna say........I am so proud of you and feel so blessed to call you my friend.