High Five for Friday

Despite my complete lack of computer ability to actually get this blog update finished, here's to another great week...

1. Sunday afternoon was spent eating a day's worth of calories in one meal at the pub and included this treasure (found on the children's menu at a super cheap price - win!) Just to make you jealous you're looking at chocolate and vanilla ice-cream, a twix bar, half a cookie, m&m's and chocolate sauce. (N.B. My diet failed this day.)

2. As I was reading this week my dog often joined me to relax by my side. The window proved to be a distraction on more than one occasion and he did actually slip down the gap between my bed and the radiator at one point. Glad my dog has the same agility that I do (I might have fallen down that gap too...)

3. Date night with this suave looking fella was such a blessing after a hard start to the working week (thanks no doubt to awful clients) for the both of us. 

4. My gorgeous flowers bought for me as a surprise by the above pictured handsome man. I went to use the restroom at a coffee shop and when I came out he was there holding flowers for me. What more could a girl want on a Thursday evening!

5. I'm still struggling to reach my 5k running goal and am frustrated with myself that I can still only run 3k in one shot. I know I could take power-walking breaks and split up my run but that seems like i'm cheating myself.   The picture is blurry partly because i'm cycling (after the run) and partly because I get all shaky from the exertion. Also, how do people take good pictures in the gym?! This is a sneaky shot because i'm sure someone would laugh at me if I started taking gym selfies. 

I'm so ready for the weekend!

She Reads Truth: Jonah 3&4

Jonah is story which speak volumes to me. Like we read in the daily devotionals through the She Reads Truth website, there really is a lot of ourselves we can see through Jonah. It is a book of God's lavish grace and mercy on a people he deeply loves and cherishes yet who have been ignoring him for so long. Jonah, a man who thought he was better than many and yet who was too scared to follow through on God's initial calling, who then does so with a mixture of modestly and anguish. I'm getting ahead of myself though...

Jonah 3 begins with God's second calling of Jonah to go to Nineveh and warn the people there of His wrath. Considering he was outwitted by God the first time round (the whale incident and all), Jonah goes. I too struggle with God's calling in my life. When I was 22, in my last year of University at UGA I prayed like a mad woman for God to tell me what to do next, open doors for new opportunities or give me an inkling of my next adventure. It seemed as though everyone around me had plans - masters degrees, jobs lined up, travels booked. I had zilch. As I prayed one night I felt stirred to go to South Korea. This floored me. I ignored it and kept praying. I knew nothing of the country and had only a couple of friends from Seoul who seemed more intent on getting out rather than settling back home. I bargained with God to go to Australia because after looking on the map I thought that Australia was pretty close and could possibly do. This was apparently a no-go for God so in the end I gave up and accepted that I should probably go. I didn't know what I would do there though so said "I'll go, you provide". That seemed reasonable to me.

He did, I found out about the English teaching market out there and as I was tutoring anyway and loved it, it seemed logical. Fast-forward through one of the best years I've experienced and I know that God knew what was best for me even though I didn't. has that ever happened to you?

I love the way that in comparison to Jonah, the King of Nineveh was quick to respond to the word of the Lord. He didn't just sell a few bit of gold, treat his servants a little better or give his people a day off. He urged his people to relent from their ways, to put on sackcloth (an ugly, inexpensive garment which would have made all people seem as poor as each other), and to enter a time of fasting. If only I would have more courage to respond to the Lord in this quick and full-hearted manner!

Jonah 4 is when Jonah has a little angry tantrum and sulks on a hill. I know this is vastly disregarding the theological points that could be made here, but that's really what it was. Jonah wanted to see the people punished by God and when didn't happen, he sulked and claimed he wanted to die. When God gave him shelter and then took it away, Jonah showed his compassion towards a plant - even more illogical than not showing compassion to humans! But you know the story so you don't need me to explain it anymore. I wanted to comment on how sometimes my own anger can be illogical over the most seemingly irrelevant issues in life. The water out of the tap is sometimes warm - at least I have water...that sort of thing. God is continually showing his compassion to me and yet do i want that person who wronged me to be saved/forgiven? Honestly, at the moment of my anger no.

Rereading the book of Jonah has given me perspective being humble, loving beyond anger and sharing God's love to those we don't necessarily feel that close to. For the same compassion and mercy he shows to me is available to everyone else, all those he's created and nurtured whether they know him or not. It's not for me to decide who knows him.

Linking up with the rest of the She Reads Truth Bloggers here!

Updating

Bear with me people...this coding business is giving me a headache! New design coming soon...

Spring time goodness

Thursday was an exciting day and one which I'd been waiting for since October last year when show tickets were purchased! It was the day of the  Country Living Spring Fair held in the London Design Centre in Islington. This is a huge exhibition about all things spring: homewares, clothing, cosmetics, fabrics, furnishings, paintings, crafts (all sorts) and food.

When I visited the Christmas fair in October (premature but a sure fire way to get some early Christmas excitement) I was a little overwhelmed at the vastness of the whole show. This time I went prepared to be wowed and the experience certainly didn't disappoint. As you walk in you are greeted with a pretty garden display complete with a fountain and a pond! Ribbons hung from the high ceiling and the theme was pastel colours throughout.

There were hundreds of stalls to browse and buy from, many staffed by the artists/designers themselves. I had been saving to go so was really happy with the treats I bought for myself!

This tin lantern has a glass insert and was a gift from my aunt.

A cute Bill Brown of London fabric bag for summer and the beach.

This Jan Constantine cushion was actually free with something my aunt bought for my mum, I just benefitted from the free gift!

I also found a heart shaped ceramic dip set with a bamboo base from Occasion for Entertaining but it's wrapped for moving so I haven't photographed it yet. Having been sucked in by the selling technique of an Irish man I ended up buying toffee vodka, which after two shots tasted delicious and I was sold! Wonder why that was?! Also a food centred buy (I'm a foodie) were the curry sauces I bought after copious tasting and choosing of which flavours I wanted. I cooked the butter chicken last night and it was great!

There were also workshops and talks which were interesting and the Greene and Blacks chocolate talk was definitely my favourite (mostly because of the tasting!) The orange flavoured milk chocolate is divine and I had to try quite a lot to be sure I liked it as much as I thought I did...

After we were weighed down with bags we ventured into Islington for coffee and then down the pretty terraced house lined streets to a gem of an old pub for dinner. 

We were all falling asleep on the way home that night but so full of joy from our day out the exhaustion was worth it! 

Laziness

I'm a lazy blogger, in fact i'm not even sure I would call myself a blogger due to the fact that I can't even get a post out a week. I enjoy reading other people's blogs though and their effort has certainly spurred me on to write more. I love keeping up with blogger's lives, their ups and downs, their comforts and their frustrations. I don't even know these people and yet I still expectantly click onto Blogger each day to catch up on their news from around the world. I'm a photo fan too, so enjoy looking through the lens of other people's daily lives. It's for that reason I promise to upload more photos of my own so anybody who actually reads this blog is given a glimpse into my world too. 

In my last post I wrote that I wanted to keep up to date with fitness progress posts. Well, that just didn't happen did it?! I haven't lost anymore weight, I've simply put on muscle, increased muscle tone and have a far greater endurance when doing cardio. I'm thinking I should lay off the leg work though, my zippers on my boots are proving to be a little tricky these days! My plans for the London Techno Run have fallen aside and instead I think i'll do the Holi Colour Run in Portsmouth this year. I've always wanted to do a Colour Run - something about the idea of people chucking brightly coloured powder over me as I struggle to reach the finish line appeals to me...

Book of the week: The Last Runaway by Tracey Chevalier
I'm a sucker for easy reads and this was a pleasure to snuggle up with this past week. Usually I stray away from Historical novels as their subtle inaccuracies drive me to irritation. This didn't dig too deep into the Historical aspect though and instead focused on fictional lives of late 19th Century migrants from the UK to the US. A young girl married into a farming family and faced with the Underground Railroad world. Thought provoking with a moral twist, it's well worth a read. 

                                                                                         Picture Source: Google Books

Travels

This week i've been trying my hardest to stick to my budget which will hopefully make my bank balance look a little healthier and help me save to move out. I've been praying about friendships too and 2 opportunities have sprung up...both of which cost a fair bit.

The first is to fulfill a promise i made to a best friend 18 months ago when we said goodbye at Gangnam Station and I left my home and life in Seoul. I told her I would visit her in Texas when she returned to the States and she's been back for a year already. However, she's also looking at returning to Korea this Autumn so my time window to visit has suddenly shrunk! After scanning the internet for flight prices we've settled on March for my visit to Texas and i'm so excited to see her again and all the state has to offer!

The second is to go with new friends at Church to Bergen in Norway over the Easter weekend. I'd never really thought about visiting Norway before, I mean it's not that I didn't want to, it just never jumped out at me as a place to go to. After checking the weather averages I can't say i'm ecstatic about the thought of a cold, snowy city break but I want to go with those people, so to Norway I will go!

This is a little scary but i'm going to be tracking my weekly weight and exercise goals this year:

Weight: 80kg
Exercise: Managed 3 gym trips,3 swim trips and a climbing evening this week. 
Using the MyFitnessPal app is really helping with logging diet and exercise, plus it's motivational as friends can see how much you're eating vs. the calories you burn! 

Getting 2014 off to a Smashing start!

My favourite type of craft has to be working with papers. Think scrapbooking, card making etc. and you get the right idea. While browsing my local craft shop for post-Christmas bargains I discovered the Smash book brand. This is a little like Project Life and some of the other memory project ideas I've done throughout the years. I'd originally thought about a memory jar this year but my new Smash book will definitely be more fun!

So month by month i'll be filling in a couple of pages and hopefully have a beautiful book full of memories by the end of the year! Considering I have made no New Year resolutions as such this should keep me busy while also focusing on the positives in life.

Check out your local craft shop for Smashbooks and affiliated products, or click the link below. Their inserts are cute and quirky and I would actually love to use everything in their range but doubt my budget would stretch that far.

http://www.smashbooks.co.uk/

(Smash Books aren't endorsing this post, I just really love their craft idea!)