Two exciting new shops!!

It's not very often that I blog about online shops, after permenantly putting my Etsy shop on hold, I haven't had the enthusiasm for Etsy that I used too. However, yesterday I got very excited about online shopping indeed as two of my lovely UK blog friends Elizabeth and Zoe opened their shops and now I am very excited to share them with you!

First up is Elizabeth's new shop Three Jelly Moulds and a Wardrobe...

 

If you follow Elizabeth's blog or Twitter then you know that she has been putting her shop together for a while hunting out the perfect pieces for it and I must say, her finds really are lovely. 

With a combination of vintage and retro pieces and categories such as Kitchen, Fashion, Photography and also a great £10 and under section, this vintage shop has a huge selection of delightful pieces at great prices.

Next is Zoe's new shop, Ladybird Likes...

You may recognise this shop from my last Christmas giveaway. I was very excited about Zoe's shop then and now that it's open, I am just as excited about it now.

Like Elizabeth's shop, Zoe's shop combines a lot of my favourite things - cameras, brooches, birds, dogs(!!) and photography. With beautiful necklaces, stationary, photos and postcards and a huge variety of brooches, Ladybird Likes is a fun little shop, perfect for gifts, either for your friends or just for yourself.

Having had a shop once myself, I completely understand the time and effort it takes to put one together and to show your work well. Both Elizabeth and Zoe's shops look wonderful, have amazing pieces and they are both a true testiment to their hard work and skills and
 both are definitely worth a look around, enjoy!

A little blog update...

Although it hasn't been very long since I updated my blog layout - I was never completely happy with how it looked, so this time I looked around a lot for a template that I liked which I thought had massive potential to overhaul to something that I loved... and here we are, woo.

(if you're using a reader, you should check out my new layout!!)

I've also finally taken a photo of all my cameras (again) - and instead of the 33 in my original image, I  now have a huge collection of 47 cameras (plus one that isn't photographed and on loan lol) 

So as well as a layout update, I've also updated my camera collection page.

It's all go here!

p.s. the comments are now at the side rather than the bottom of the post, I love that feature!

The Word

For the past few years, Susannah Conway (who I’m sure that you know that I love by now) has beenchoosing a word to define her year by and try as I might I haven’t been able to choose one.But this year I have and I’m very excited about it!

For some reason, this word just popped into my head and it made sense… and the word is:

I'm not really sure why this word popped into my head, but it felt right and the more that I thought about it – the more that I liked it.

The definition is:

con•sid•er•ate [kuh n-sid-er-it] adj. 1. showing kindly awareness or regard for another’s feelings, circumstances, etc 2. carefully considered; deliberate. 3. marked by consideration or reflection; deliberate; prudent.

I feel that normally I am a considerate person – of other people feelings especially – but I think this year I want to be considerate of my feelings, my future and where I want to be in 5 – 10 years time. I want to be considerate when I’m taking my photos, considerate when I’m writing my blog posts and considerate especially of myself, through eating healthily, exercising, going for long walks, making a nice cup of tea, that kind of thing…

I’ve spent the past 3 years settling into a new life in Leeds, finalising the end of University, moving to new houses and a lot of that time worrying about other people but never truly deciding on where it is that I want to end up in my life. In fact, I’ve almost avoided thinking about it – partly because of disappointment in my career (or lack of, haha) and partly because, even though I’m 26 – I’ve never felt grown up enough to truly make those kind of decisions… isn’t that bizarre. (I don't think anyone ever feels properly grown up btw, but that is a whole different post)

Of course, this doesn’t mean that I want to make all sorts of decisions right here and now or even in this year – I truly believe that things will happen in their own time whether I like it or now – but in choosing this word – I’m hoping that it opens me up to different possibilities and opportunities, as I’m no longer scared of things working out differently from how I thought that they might have done before…

p.s. Susannah has put together an amazing workbook for 2012, which I’m currently working through now and it’s really helping me feel grounded for the year ahead, I truly recommend it.

p.p.s. I hope that made sense lol

4 Simple Goals for 2012

{Image from A Beautiful Mess}

I first saw about Elsie's 4 Simple Goals post over on Diana's blog and I first put my own together last August... so here are my 4 simple goals for 2012.

1. Get fitter and healthier and stay that way.

2. Stop worrying so much.

3. Take too many photos.
 (inspired by my friend Anna)

4. Be happy.

Don't try and be happy, just be happy.

It really is a very simple list, lets hope I can do it! 

Here's to 2012.