I look back at my last blog post from June, my manifesto, and where I was at that point in the year. It feels like such a long time ago and an extended summer break from this space that I love. I'm gradually heading back as I come out of a full few months of completing once in a lifetime experiences that I will treasure...
As I sit here writing this in our attic room I can see evidence of what the summer has been for me this year. There are beautiful origami cranes, delicately strung on fishing line waiting to be packaged up ready to be hung in our marquee. I see a pile of bunting triangles ready to be packed up into the box in an array of colours. I see a list of ideas and tasks that I thought would barely be touched and see it getting shorter every week. I see my planner documenting all that I am doing as my way of motivating myself and keeping myself on track. I see a copy of our wedding invitation that took time to make and concept. I see other small handmade projects and the supplies waiting to be assembled and their final visions accomplished. I see a pile of books on my shelf that helped me learn all that I needed for the courses I've taken, enabling me to complete and pass both elements...It's been a wonderful ride through creativity, thought and personal growth...
This summer I know that I have really pushed myself beyond my comfort zone, with volumes of challenging tasks and projects accomplished. It has taken a level of determination and drive that I haven't tapped into for very many years, but this time I have paced myself and savoured them. I've tried out new crafts, aimed high with the assignments I have written for the courses taken, and spent time really thinking deeply about our upcoming wedding day and how we would like it to be.
Today is the last day of August, and I am close to the stage that I had envisaged I'd be with our wedding plans, having completed the 'big' projects and having time now to focus on the small details and touches for the day. It's now also a time I was hoping to savour, remembering the moments on the run up to our day, listening to my body and having time to relax...there are just over five weeks left before our wedding day, the countdown really has begun!
I feel quite emotional as I write this and take a moment to look back at the summer and all that it has been. This time last year I wouldn't have thought I'd have been through so many positive life changing moments, made the changes in my life and mindset that I have done, and achieved all that I have. For me the biggest of those are the many personal achievements and my mindset change for the next stage of my life, it really is starting to shape itself into something that I really want and that I am excited by. I'm so pleased to have awakened an unknown level of resourcefulness in me and I'm so proud of the personal challenges I've set myself and worked through in the way that I have done.
...Today I walked past these scented roses, wafting their beautiful scent, looking so delicate and pretty. I brush past them twice a day on my walk to work as they hang over a path. My walk is my thinking time, a time to reflect, to listen to podcasts, to catch up regularly with my family on phone calls, and a time to soak in the sounds and sights of the city I live in. It's a journey and a transition from one space to another, from a wedding planning and personal space, to the work place and all that it brings...Over the summer months I have enjoyed watching this rose bush bloom again and again, taking a moment to stop and smell it from time to time. Much like the projects I've been working on, they have kept blooming, awakening a feeling in me, and making me smile. I've been breathing in all that they are, all that they are bring, and watching them grow.
Labels: summer
