Photo by Sew Fab Martha in Flickr

I hope you had a wonderful Halloween weekend! I've never before been excited about this celebration but I absolutely loved it this year. We now live in a neighbourhood with lots of young families and many of them went trick or treating with their children. And for the first time, we didn't go to a Halloween party and at the last minute, decided to stay home to give sweets to the children. Who knew it'd be so much fun! The neighbours next door had an amazing Halloween party that included fireworks! The children loved it! I'm already planning my very own Halloween party for next year!
I'm off to enjoy some pumpkin soup now...

Wasting time

Oh, where does time go? That's exactly what I wondered when I realized I haven't posted here in more than a week! I'm not the only one who feels like this, of course...

Through the beautiful Peonies and Polaroids, I found Alison Provax, who is creating a series of letterpress prints that form The Time Wasting Experiment. She says of the project, In part inspired by tracking 'billable hours' but also coming from the compulsion to always be doing and producing objects. This series is sort of an audit of how I spend my time, but could also be thought of as permission slips to spend a period of time in a wasteful way (maybe recontextualizing a private, shameful activities into something which one tries to get done in a set amount of time).  You can buy the prints from her Etsy shop.

I love the simplicity of these, and seeing all these "wasteful" activities with a timeline attached to them is also a real eye opening. I'm definitely guilty of many of these, and since I'm not sure I can stop, maybe I should start trying to set a limited amount of time to do them.



So what have I been doing? Apart from wasting time, that is... I've been getting used to a new job, new projects, a completely different new way of doing things (in fact, part of my job is coming up with new ways of doing things!). I'm getting used to a new office and new colleagues. It's been almost two weeks and I'm starting to get a clear picture of what it's going to be like, exciting but crazy and stresful times lie ahead!

All this has left me with little energy to do much with my free time, and so I have been wasting my time with lots of movie and DVD watching (guilty secret, I've become obssesed with Brothers and Sisters... should I worry?). I've also been watching lots of Friends and listening to Regina Spektor, two things that never fail to put me in a good mood. And I've finally found a way to post music in the blog, so I leave you with my favourite Regina's song. 

12 months of being 30: On writing

* This post is part of my 12 months of being 30 project, an attempt to record what happens during my year of being 30.

Stacey said it first and Julochka instantly embraced the concept of writing as the new praying. I've been thinking about it a lot lately, because writing is definitely helping me feeling better despite the stress, the depressing weather, and the lack of energy that I told you about in my last post.
I know I haven't been writing here much (Sorry!) but I've been playing with words quite a lot, on my own, and as part of a Creative Writing class that I decided to take on a whim (a creative writing class in English! Talking about leaving my comfort zone!)
Last week, we did an exercise that I found incredibly liberating. We had to write three short autobiographical texts (100 words each), and chopped them up word by word. Then, we have to play with the 300 words and create a completely different text with them. The idea was putting words together without thinking too much about their meaning, but perhaps not surprisingly, most of the people in the class found that the words were definitely trying to transmit something to them. I had so much fun doing this and liked my text so much, that I used it as part of one of my 12 months of being 30 collages.

For the record, my teacher thought that I needed to add some concrete concepts as it was too abstract, but I still like it as it is.

I'm now determined to go back to a routine of writing morning pages before going to work, and sitting down and writing on a stream of consciousness whenever I feel lost or overwhelmed. I'm not sure if writing is the new praying, but for me it's definitely the best form of therapy.

PS. It's my first day at my new job today. Wish me luck!

If September was a month of new beginnings, good changes and hope, October seems to be the complete opposite. The beauty of cool, crisp Autumn mornings has given way to cold, dark and rainy days. This gets me every year, the beginning of a winter in England starts too early and will last for far too long. During the last week I've been fighting a cold and dragging myself to work, as well as trying to finish a couple of translations I volunteered to do, and so I feel tired, devoid of energy and ideas.  I haven't been writing, I haven't been reading, I haven't been art journaling, I haven't been taking photos.  I've just been doing a lot of nothing.

In an effort to get myself out of this funk quicker, I've of course turned to the blogosphere. The new Unravelling course starts tomorrow, and I'm really hoping it'll help me look around me and maybe take photos again. I did the first course Susannah taught at the beginning of the year and it was great, so I'm sure this one will be too.

The Fragrant Muse of course had the best oil for this situation and Cyndy has embarked on a decluttering journey that could be my inspiration. How about dreaming of other places?  I love absolutely everything about this post by Lana. 

SAS, who seem to be in a hole of her own, posted a quote by Rainer Maria Rilke that maybe exactly what I need: 

 Do not now look for the answers. 

They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. 

It is a question of experiencing everything. 

At present you need to live the question.  

Do you ever feel like this? What do you do? 

Corner view: Oxford souvenirs, UK

This week's Corner View theme is Souvenirs of your city. Ah, Oxford! One of the most beautiful cities in the world. What could you take as a souvenir after visiting? What would you remember?

Well, there is the obvious, a postcard of the Radcliffe Camera, which is probably the most recognizable building in town...

Or a postcard of one of the Colleges, like Christ Church. One of the most beautiful buildings in the city, it's now famous because it inspired Hogwarts school in the Harry Potter movies. This is the back building overlooking Christ Church Meadow and my favourite part of the college.

You could get a book about the city. This is, after all, one of the most important Univeristy cities of the world, and it offers plenty of bookshops where to spend a fun afternoon...

You could go for something British... with a twist...

Or you could simply go and enjoy one of the old pubs in town. The Eagle and Child, in St Gilles, is where the writers' group, The Inklings used to meet. Its members included J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, so you'd be in good company.

Go to Jane's blog, Spain Daily, to visit more Corner Views around the world.

Books and magazines (or languages and music)

Hello, welcome to the news edition of Cuttings on a blog!

We're discussing Dreaming in hindi at the Hermit Book Club today! I'm starting the conversation:

Dreaming in Hindi is the story of the author, Katherine Russell Rich, while living in India and learning Hindi for a year. But not really. It's mainly a collection of theories, ideas, and reflections on learning a second language.

Read more...

Come and visit even if you haven't read the book, as we can have an interesting discussion about learning languages and living in different cultures. At some point in the book, the author mentions a Slovak proverb that has stayed with me: With each new language you acquire a new soul. In my experience, and that of the author of the book,  learning a new language is a window into a different world, and speaking a language can make you into a different person, even without you realizing.

On other news, have you seen Stacey's new venture, Music Sandwich? It's a music magazine with a multicultural angle. For this first issue, I wrote an article about the history of tango and the city of Buenos Aires. Oh, how I miss Buenos Aires... Unfortunately, the photos in the article are not mine, because I managed to lose most of them. There are also articles on jazz, electro music, and my favourite section: Sounds like... where you can discover local bands from all over the world that sound like the ones you already know and like. Have a look!

Randomness and links

I think it's time for another Randomness and links post, don't you? If only because I've been writing this one since July!

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This made me smile...

Yep, I've been there! If I work from home, it doesn't mean I'll have time to do the laundry, the shopping and the cleaning. Also, no I can't meet you for coffee. I'm working. Although if I'm totally honest, I guess I also have moments of this:  

For more Artsyville prints, visit her Etsy shop.

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The five rules from life blog is very inspirational. Every time I visit, there are new ideas to think about. I think these rules are my favourite at the moment. Oh, and just in case you missed mine, they are here. What would your five rules for life be?

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I'm one of those people who have to arrive at the cinema BEFORE they dim the lights, before the adverts, and obviously, before the movie starts. I also like to wait until the very end to leave; yes, I leave after the closing titles have finished. I love the experience of going to the cinema and I don't want to miss a single second. This is all better it the movie has creative title and ending sequences. I really don't like it when the movie starts straight away, I think everyone involved in making it deserves to have their name displayed in an interesting opening sequence! The Art of the Title website pays homage to some interesting film and TV opening sequences.

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Ah, Polaroid! There is something very special about them. For me, Polaroids are about small moments, about those rutinary objects that we never pay attention to, those scenes that we see every day. The uniqueness of the day to the day. I recently heard about Jamie Livingston, who took a Polaroid photo a day from 1979 to 1997. The story of his life (better, his day to day) on Polaroids. Go here to see them all, or read more about it here.

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And for more creative photo projects, I'm loving The Photographic Dictionary. They keep adding more words and the photos keep getting better. Some of my favourites are birthday (hilarious), home, pink, and plastic. I could spend hours checking every word!

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I'm loving the idea of Hope notes. It's easy, it's beautiful, and it makes me smile. See how Kristin started the hope revolution here. I heard about it from Sas, who has already done it. I think for my first hope expedition I'm going to go around my office. We're not a miserable bunch, but the the days are getting shorter, mornings are becoming colder and we're all feeling a bit blue.

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For more hope and random fun, go check the latest project of Improve Everywhere. They organized a photobooth in the underground! Brilliant! They should tour the world bringing fun to public transport. I love my bike, but one of the reasons why I cycle to work, even though it means getting up earlier and doing exercise first thing in the morning, is that everyone on the bus is always so miserable. It's not a good way to start your day!

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This is a beautiful love story set in Rome, I love everything about it, specially the fact that it was made of photographs. Isn't it clever? I found it at M. A. Belle blog. Enjoy!

12 months of being 30: new beginnings

* This post is part of my 12 months of being 30 project, an attempt to record what happens during my year of being 30.

Slightly different format for my 12 months of being 30 this time. Lately, there hasn't been much time to make collages (or reading blogs, or writing here for that matter). So much has happened... And so, this post is all about a tale of new beginnings.

If you follow me on Twitter or are my friend on Facebook, you already know about my news (Sorry to those of you that are both on my Twitter and Facebook accounts, I promise this is the last time you have to read about this!)

Firstly, I got a new job! It's a very exciting new post in the same publishing company I work for, but I'm now working on digital material. I'll still work with some of the same people I've been working with over the years but the job is totally new. I'm very excited and looking forward to more responsibilities and some great new projects.

And I have just bought my first property! My family owned a flat in my home town in Spain, Salamanca, and we didn't know what to do with it. Most people wanted to sell it, and so my boyfriend and I decided it was the perfect opportunity to buy everyone else off and get on the property ladder (which is a very English thing to do!). Of course, I live in England, the flat is in Spain and this throws all sorts of questions about home and the future. For now, I'm not thinking about it!

It's funny how these two things have been in the pipeline for a while. Forever, it seems. And then, they both happened at the same time. Right when I was reflecting about September, new beginnings, small and big changes. I feel as if I'm finally moving forward. It's been a weird year, since we came back from South America. What do you do after one of your big dreams becomes a reality? How do you move forward after such an important time in your life? And so, this year, I've been a bit lost, looking back, concentrating on the past.

This blog has really helped me during this process. I've also been journaling a lot, but writing here and knowing that someone was reading has helped me to keep on track. Everyone I've met (both offline and online) because of this blog has inspired me in one way or another, to think about what I really want and how to get it. So thanks so much for being there! You know who you are.

Now it's time to live the past behind, enjoy the present, embrace the new opportunities, and more importantly, start looking ahead. Exciting things are happening, new possibilities are opening. And I'm ready for them. I hope you're ready to come with me.

Corner view: September in the UK

Corner View is back after our summer break! The very timely topic this week is September.

For me, September has always meant a new beginning. It's of course, the back to school feeling. After a summer of fun, I was always more or less ready to go home, to see my friends, to get back into a routine, and yes, even to go back to school. Because the new school year was full of possibilities, of new things to learn, of new ways of doing things.

It's funny, I had that same feeling at the end of my year travelling last December. After an amazing time, I was ready to come back and create new routines and a new life with the boyfriend. This year has been difficult, but we're getting to the place that we imagined at the beginning of the year. A place where we want to stay for a while. Everything we've done this year (and before) has brought us here. To this September. And, once again, September has brought with it exciting opportunities and new beginnings.

I'll tell you all about the details of our new beginnings soon. In the meantime, I leave you with these September photos that I snapped last week in a visit to my friends in Chichester, in Surrey, England. It was my first time in the area, and it's so beautiful, I can't believe I never knew.

Visit more Corner Views around the world:

jane, ladybug-zen, ian, bonnie, esti, sophie, cele, modsquad, caitlin, joyce, ani, kim, a day that is dessert, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t., jeannette, outi, ritva, francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana, denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, dianna, isabelle, amber, a girl in the yellow shoes, mister e, janis, kari, jgy, skymring, elizabeth, audrey, allison, lise, cate, crescent moon, erin, otli, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte, kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, vanessa, britta, april, b, kyndale samantha, karen, kristina, dorit, goldensunfamily, sophie, janet, mcgillicutty, desiree, travelingmama, aimee, sunnymama, amanda, ali, jenell, britta, juanita, pamela, inna, daan, myrtille, cris, ibb, susi, jodi, lily, gillian, athena, pienduzz, latisha, clairette, kelleyn, iris, demara, mus, ninja, guusje, di, sammi, theresa, cherry b, victoria

9.09.09: A day for wishes

It's 9.09.09, a day for wishes.

I wish for a happy family, for smiley babies and tired parents

I wish for a simpler life, with fewer things and more fun

I wish for more time to write

I wish for a finished book, for a publishing deal, I wish to one day hold my own book in my hands

I wish for a road trip in North America

I wish for Blog Camp in New Zealand

I wish for my own coffee shop, a relaxed place where people come for coffee while they write, draw and talk. A place to be crafty, to discover and try out new things

I wish for more time, more space and less worries
I wish to keep on learning
I wish to keep on wishing.

What do you wish for?