Tuesday, December 05, 2017

Th Return.......... of sorts.

I'm dusting off the cobwebs f'realz..........

Count down starts and the blog will be back up and running by week end ;-)

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Dusting off the cobwebs........... :-)

I simply cannot believe that almost a year has gone by with me not updating this blog. When I was a regular updater, I remember how much I looked forwward to checking for comments, how any time something happened or someone said something funny I would think to myself "I HAVE to blog that!". Then Twitter came along and now, in an instant I can send a message directly from my Blackberry and my story is told - in 140 characters or less ;-) (I'm Brittgirl)

I feel like I am short selling myself. There is SOOOOO much more happening in my life, so much that I should be writing down so I can remember all this later on. Maybe get it printed off at some point in the future...... I've heard there are places or apps that let you do this quite easily!

There are so many changes happening in my life right now too, maybe writing here will help calm the madness down! What do you think?

One of the first major changes is yet another house move! As you may or may not know, George has been based in South Carolina for over a year now. He has an apartment and travels up here on a regular basis, I also travel down there a lot too - the horrible Ohio weather ya know!? Well, we knew sooner or later the move would happen but had to wait for Georgia to graduate High School. That time is close - June! So, after a few house hunting trips, we found the most perfect adorably GORGEOUS house and put an offer in immediately!



The offer was accepted and we are moving (hopefully) June 7th! I am beyond excited!

This also means we are closer to North Carolina. Why does that matter you ask? Well, Dan - my middle 'child' - joined the Marine Corps!

Dan


He is currently based in Camp Lejeune, NC until he gets deployed. It will be nice having only a 3 hour drive to see him rather than a 12 hour one!

Moving to South Carolina also means that I am moving further away from Nick, my eldest (just turned 21*). He is in the process of buying a house with his girlfriend.

The Forgotten One.........

Georgia (just turned 18) will be making the move with us.

G. Rae - a different take


Moving also means that I will be starting my photography business up from scratch again! I have been successful in that almost 90% of the business I have had thus far has been word of mouth and referrals! Now I'm going to a brand new place where there already may be an established photographer there! I have all my plans ready though and know that I'll be just as good if not better! I still have a few weddings booked up here in Ohio that I will be returning to shoot so business will still be good!

Since I last blogged, I have also become an Aunt for the 2nd time. Baby Marshall was born on February 11th - coincidentally the same date as Georgia's birthday!

Today, March 13th is my Wedding Anniversary. 11 years! Here is a poem that George wrote for me. He does that. Writes poems for me :-) There are some real belters in there let me tell you! LOL

Jorges - 11 years later

Those are the major changes and happenings in my life. I am going to aim to update this blog more often - I know, I know, I've said it before.......... but even writing this short piece has been cathartic!

So check back in would you? For me? I'd appreciate it!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Storms-a-Comin'......

As it is the middle of May, you would expect the weather to be quite sunny and lovely crappy here in Ohio - and you'd be correct in that assumption.

As the following photo shows, storms are currently hitting North East Ohio and aside from their strength, the views these storms are bringing are amazing!



Both these photos were taken at the same time - give or take 5 minutes and the camera settings were identical. I went out last night to take photos and as I was uploading them tonight, I looked out of the window and the entire street was a pinky-orange color! So I unplugged the camera again and went back out.

The rain came down hard so I couldn't stay out long, just long enough! :-)

If there is one thing Cleveland Ohio is good for it is basketball, football, baseball, clean lake water, high employment storms!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Saturday, May 09, 2009

My Life.................

As I was looking in the garage for something (something I never found), I came across boxes and boxes of paperwork and memento's from my life back in England. I'm a pack rat and I'll never change!

Anyway, I came across a package of paperwork from July 1998. In this pack, was a "Personal Profile Analysis" one of my employers had done. I read it and had to laugh out loud - literally.

The first paragraph reads;

"Miss Mason (fnar fnar) has a high level of ambition and drive for accomplishment, with and through people. She is impatient/restless and can become discontented, particularly when things are not happening fast enough. She tends to get bored very quickly once the challenge is gone or once the excitement of a job has been lost. She is competitive, very much a self starter and very ambitious."

Seriously, that is one of the best descriptions of me I have ever read. Who knew that I would be that same person 11 years later! The one line later in the report slays me though and I don't even want to show it to George who will just give me that look - the look that says "Uh-huh!" It reads;

"Popularity in the form of social recognition and monetary rewards to cover expensive living are also highly important to her."

Seriously.

If you had asked me - before I read this report whether I thought I had changed as a person, whether I had evolved from the 'Leeds-Lass', I would have given a resounding "Ya-ha!" Apparently, as far as my 'career' goes, I am still the same. Who knew?

However, when I think of my life, the way I have lived it and the way I currently am enjoying it - because I AM enjoying it, I like to think that I am making the most of it. This world and all of it's awesome-ness* is just too big to live in it and not make the most of it. Hence why I travel and ENJOY traveling. Hence why I am always wanting to try new things.

I don't want to be old and infirm and thinking "I wish I'd done this" or "I wish I'd been there". I want to try everything and anything. Life is exciting. I know sometimes I sit and feel bored but I never EVER regret anything I have done. It's all a part of me, who I am, who I am yet to be.

I like that. "Who I am yet to be......"

The only way my life could be given a better description is as follows................ enjoy!






* yeah - I said it

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Wolverine of a different sort...........


Wolverine of a different sort...........
Originally uploaded by Photographs by Andrea.

I received this rather fetching image of a 'Wolverine Wannabe' on my cell phone this morning!

NO clue as to who this is! Do you?

Rather embarrassing to send THIS to the wrong number! LOL

Monday, May 04, 2009

There and Back Again........

I recently returned from a trip to Amsterdam. Michael was celebrating his 40th birthday and invited George and I, along with some of his other friends, to join him on a 10 day trip where we would be staying on a houseboat docked right in the heart of Amsterdam.

I have never been to Amsterdam and had no expectations - good or bad - as to what it would be like. I knew only that it would be fun.

The houseboat was GREAT! It berthed 30 people but there were only 8 of us at the start so we all had our own room. It was quiet and comfortable, had a huge kitchen and dining/living area and centrally located. What more could you ask for?

Sunset by the boats.....

Amsterdam itself is a gorgeous city. Apparently there are only 750,000 inhabitants, yet there are easily 3 trillion bicycles. EASILY. I'm not even exaggerating* You have to watch out for the cyclists as they tend to knock you down then ring the bell to warn you afterwards! That is if you are in the bike path - which I frequently found myself in when not paying attention.

The buildings are old, beautiful and interesting.

We visited the red-light district which was jaw-dropping. To see sex -for-sale so blatantly advertised takes some getting used to. However, during the day this area is a completely different story. They must use the grandmothers of the 'night' ladies. Seriously, at one point we would have sworn that one of the ladies was 70 if she was a day and wearing a fishnet top that wasn't the least bit flattering (though I doubt she could have worn anything to make her look flattering)

We visited the Anne Frank House which while interesting was very sad - especially knowing that the events really happened.

George, Michael and I caught a train and then rented bicycles to ride out to some tulip fields. The fragrance that we rode into was enough that I wanted to bottle it and bring it home...... The tulips were colorful, beautiful and photogenic! :-) I won't explain to you how I caused a bicycle crash of epic proportions and how I have been banned from EVER riding a bicycle in The Netherlands again. Trust me. It wasn't pretty.

Tulips in Amsterdam Tulips in Amsterdam

The library - biblioteek - was FANTASTIC and we recommended it to everyone we met. Not only is it ultra-modern with art, architecture and at least 40 Macs/PC's on each floor there is a restaurant on the top floor that serves 5-star food at cafe prices! We ate there on two occasions, enjoying salmon fillets, lamb chops, steak, salads, desserts, WITH wine/beer and it was sooooo cheap! Michael and the other guys ate there more than we did, having breakfast and dinner there!

For a break, George and I took the train to Brussels, Belgium. It took approximately 2.5 hours each way and it was a nice break. While we didn't get to see ALL the sights, we did enjoy the parts we saw, however, having been completely blown away by Amsterdam, Brussels had a lot to live up to and it didn't quite get there.

We visited the sex museum which was quite interesting I have to say. We were given a full history of sex in all it's wonder and some of the exhibits - chastity belts etc., made you wonder why people ever had sex at all!

Helen joined us with her son Kevin from France for a couple of days and we had a great dinner on the boat for our last night and basically laughed non-stop from beginning to end of the trip.

Ma Homeys

Overall, the trip was everything I knew it would be but MUCH MUCH more.

The only problem was deciding where the next trip would take us all!

*might be