pretty delighted by this photo – my afternoon commute

After a break of 180 days (coincidentally the same day I hit 1000 days on the no drinking), last week I decided I’d give instagram another bash.

While I infinitely prefer blogs and endlessly carp on about missing the old days of blogging, I do very much like keeping up with my Imaginary Internet Friends. And unfortunately the majority have mostly abandoned blogging, but are reasonably active on the ‘gram.

I’ve greatly culled the list of people I’m following, set myself to private and am eschewing hashtags. I’ve also kept notifications disabled.

So far I’m managing and feeling positive about it – whether this vibe continues will be interesting. Well, interesting to *me* – undoubtedly rather less interesting to *you*.

If you’re into an endless stream of cat photos and miscellany (but let’s be honest, mostly cats), I’m mme_carolbaby.

xxx

As part of all that reflecting I’ve been doing, I’ve really want to prioritise getting back to doing more creative *stuff*. I’ve lost this in recent years – looking back through the archives I once did all manner of crafty things, where did that all go? I’ve somehow developed such bizarre perfectionist tendencies which make it difficult to commence anything.

There’s been WAY too much focus on worky work in recent years and I’m now experiencing a lot of that pretty standard mid-life questioning of “what is my identity outside of being a mother and wage-slave?”

Anyway, I’ve made a small no-pressure list of things I’d like to explore over the next year or so and stuck it to the noticeboard next to my desk. I made a great start with the kintusgi class and I’m keen to do more. I’ve abandoned the monthly facial in favour of craft-classes and supplies. It was exceptionally lovely treat for those seven months, but I’m keen to move on to something different. And hey, I’m old and wrinkly, and I live in a very harsh climate. Pretty much nothing I do is going to turn back any tides – and I kind of want to use those $ expand my brain a bit.

The list:

+ cabled jumper of the dastardly pattern
+ a mary walker phillips-type knitted piece
+ patchwork quilt made from quirky tea-towels
+ another flouncy skirt
+ another bagggy dress
+ more kintsugi
+ more embroidery
+ resin class
+ glass class
+ ceramics class
+ drawing class
+ boro class
+ silver class

I’ve discovered textile artist which is full of astoundingly talented contemporary textile artists. I’ve found this incredibly inspiring and have lost a good amount of time reading. I mean look at the work of Amanda Cobbett – dazzling!

Now I need to get on and do something!