Spring Cleaning

Despite the pouring rain outside, the hour of sleep I lost on Saturday night(thank you for that UK Daylight Saving Time) has reminded me that Spring has  just about sprung!

The pollen season has started, there are Easter Eggs & Hot Cross Buns in the shops and crème eggs are everywhere!

I sort of like spring, not just because it's a wee bit less Baltic than winter & it means my birthday cake day is approaching, but it symbolises the start of something new - that wasn't a reference to High School Musical but I now have the song stuck in my head - d'oh!

A lot of things start over again in spring time, plants and flowers reappear, the British Soap Awards & Eurovision reappear, for a fair few years Doctor Who would reappear - I've totally lost track of what time of year it comes on now, I think its post summer but goodness knows, feel free to put my mind at ease and advise me :-) - I digress but basically a lot of things either reappear or start over.

In this spirit, I decided not so much to start over but clear out a little bit of the old to make way for the new.

I began having a bit of a spring clean today, not because I felt I needed a new start but really because my room is so full of clutter and general untidiness that I can't find a damn thing when I want to lay my hands on it! 

Now that I've rediscovered the carpet and assigned my possessions proper homes, my brain does actually feel a little less cluttered. I'm not sure if the act of throwing out lots of useless crap is necessarily therapeutic for me but perhaps there is a bit of a link between the two.

Perhaps with a tidier room and tidier mind, I can tackle lots of those new and scarier things I've been too shy or afraid to try!

Just because I thought it was cute - here's my Lady teddy playing with Paul Anka (my ukulele) while I tidy.

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Quirky Reads: Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway.

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway.

As a kid, I was fairly confident, possibly even too confident at times, I was scared of insects, dogs and lifts/elevators but not much else. 

As I got a bit older, that confidence sort of dissolved like Alex Mack into a puddle of goop, and I found myself a much shyer Rachie.

A few months ago, I met with a lovely lady called Hilary who was helping me by offering me advice & tips for interviews and she quickly picked up on the fact that one of my biggest problems was confidence.

Along with lots of interview specific advice, she also advised that I do one scary thing everyday and read a book called

'Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway' by Susan Jeffers.

I quickly acquired a copy and began reading it in the hopes that I would gain something from it - and I certainly did.

Without reiterating the whole book and spoiling it for anyone who hasn't read it yet and might want to - I learned that I'm most afraid of What Ifs!

What if I can't do this? What if they don't like me?

What if I'm awful at this?

What if something goes horribly wrong?

Shortly thereafter, I learned that the best thing I can do to try and squash that fear is to answer all of my What Ifs with

'I'll handle it!'

I'm not suggesting I'll be going skydiving or walking a tightrope anytime soon but I am more open to tackling the unknown and I'm gradually learning to stop saying 'I don't think I can do this' and go with 'I'll give it a try' instead.



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The Power of Shoes.

 

There is a line in the film 'In Her Shoes' delivered by Rose describing her ever growing collection of shoes and what she gets out of owning them.

"Clothes never look any good, food just makes me fatter, shoes always fit."

In some ways I can relate to that, I share Rose's attitude to clothes and food and I share her obsession with shoes.  I don't have the luxury of shoes always fitting my feet, but that's down to my wide feed and the occasional manufacturers narrow measurement.

As a girl who owns more than 50 pairs of shoes, it's fair to say that I'm a bit of a shoe fanatic. It didn't start as a conscious effort and I maintain that it still isn't!  My collection just sort of happened.

Every pair of shoes represents something different for me, there are trusty every day pairs that I can rely on to carry my feet through the day and handle whatever weather they find themselves in....other pairs were specific purchases to fulfil a gap like sensible winter boots or interview shoes....some were just plain impulse or retail therapy buys but they all help me. 

Some days I'll need a pair that make me feel relaxed or comfortable and I'll know I need a pair of baseball boots, other days I'll need something formal and know where to lay my hands on my Mary Jane's. 

Even though it may appear shallow, I think it's important to maintain a good relationship with the garments I put on my feet.  They spend most of the day protecting my feet while I get about my day - I reckon they have the hard job.

Today's Shoes.

The Shoe's I have on today are my flamingo print trainers, which are a Rocket Dog creation. They are super comfy and make me smile.

 They came with one pair of white laces and one pair of pink, so naturally I decided to have one of each when I wear them, cause that's a Rachie thing to do!



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Hello, Hello, Hello.

Hello, Hello, Hello.

This is an obligatory first post test. 

Hello World.  I'm just setting up this blogger malarkey, testing it out and playing around with themes..............don't mind me.

At some point I'll endeavour to do something interesting.

Ciao x

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