::inspiring Mondays:: ...

... on a Wednesday. Monday was a bank holiday and we had a privilege day in work on Tuesday, meaning for accuracy inspiring Mondays should come out on the Wednesday, ie today.

Sometimes it rains in August in the UK. Sometimes it is even chilly and one needs to wear a more substantial coat. I guess at this point I could moan about the weather and the summer or lack of, but you know what? I kinda got used to it. I like the way it is unpredictable and at times deliciously surprising, I like the fact I can moan about it if I so choose and it will make sense, and I like the fact that it always gives you a topic of conversation.

The fact that I actually came to like the British weather is the fact for today. Let's face it, if that's not news, what is? Of course we can now analyse the meanings and implications of said fact, but we won't... for now!

:: the ability to fly.

:: Notting Hill Carnival. Yes, I have been and it was most enjoyable as well as an eye opener.

:: colour.

:: Dad's call: just to hear your voice...

:: Little brother: what are you up to? LMJ: nothing. Little brother: now you're talking to me.
:: my friends. I can't mention them enough!
:: squash. such good fun!
:: cococita and Nicky asking about inspiring Mondays... it warms my heart!

Are you having a good week? Like me, did your Monday only really came on a Wednesday? 

Photographing my little world is great. It is. I take great joy from it and I'm beginning to actually like some of the shots. I'd call that progress! A big part of the progress has to be LMJ the blog and a lot could be said about this, but this particular post is not to be a reflection on the journey thus far. This post is a belly-full type rant i.e. not a rant at all but more of a LMJ-is-actually-happy-with-so-many-photographic-opportunities type post. Let us procceed.

Little Miss Joey enjoys all this photography taking. Little Miss Joey photographs RAW. Little Miss Joey has to go through all the photographs (note to self: must learn batch minimal edit in Photoshop!). Little Miss Joey has a huge backlog of images waiting to be looked at. So ideally, I would need about... let me calculate this properly... [insert tongue out moment here]... yes, I would need around 31 hour days to have time for it all (24 hour normal day + 7 hours, my favourite number; yes, very diligent calculations on the tongue out moment).

So it's all down to time. The thing is, the above paragraph does not make full sense unless LMJ discloses her other interests (or time milking activities, whichever you wanna call it, really!). She has a fabulously brilliant new app to promote everywhere, Mcol*! She has a brilliant bunch of people around her that make socialising and chatting away and having dinner and cocktails and etc etc etc so much fun and not-to-be-missed opportunities. She has a green cardi on the needles (and a pair of socks which has been facing the second sock syndrome for the last year). She has books to read, namely Brazil: Five Centuries of Change. She has meals to prepare and savour. Oh, and the iron and laundry refuse to sort themselves out!

Indeed, it is a belly-full non-rant. Gosh, I'm lucky. My cunning plan of moaning to see how lucky I am worked! Brilliant! I'm patting myself on the back and smirking at how incredibly clever I was. No more moaning about lack of time, you move at your own pace anyway, LMJ. Just enjoy whatever is happening... every day... one day at a time.

*done by Little Brother.

::inspiring Mondays::

This Monday was not last Monday and of that LMJ is sure. I could go on and on about the merits of last Monday, more for my own amusement than anything else, but I chose to give today a chance instead, being as I can't go back in time. This morning the sun was shining and I woke up peacefully if a bit startled by the beginning of yet another week.

LMJ likes to be cooked for. Nothing tastes better than a delicious meal cooked especially for you. Like when Mum cooks my very favourite Portuguese dish (not that I can very efficiently single one out) when I go home and looks at me waiting for my look of utter admiration! Or when my flatmate makes our homemade muesli (mine just does not taste the same). Or even simple things, like when one of my best friends at home whom I lived with for 7 years made us tea or after lunch coffee. Everything tastes so much better when it's made with love for you!

:: Mister P. came from Bristol and cooked me dinner. and breakfast. that's called heaven!

:: skype. makes everywhere feel close by.

:: red toenails.

:: sunshine + 22C degrees = showing off red toenails.

:: coffee!

:: Magdalen College.

:: playing around with my camera.

:: homemade muesli on a Monday morning. and other mornings. or lazy dinners.

:: the magic light in the UK. stunning.

:: watching the InBetweeners series. funny!

:: flower vases all over my bedroom.

:: the light through my bedroom window on a sunny afternoon.
:: flatmate dinner. cathartic. brilliant!

This is the last full week of August... what makes you tick this Monday?

a dreamy challenge

The Photo Challenge Forum Nicky and I joined set us another project - to get dreamy photographs. I thought this would be an easier theme but it turns out I struggled a bit. I tend to photograph more by instinct and having to get a specific style took away my creative juice and freedom. Interesting, huh? Especially because overall I love this group and how it gets me thinking about photography in a different way. 

Before I go on to show you the photos, a little bit about LMJ's last few weeks. In a nutshell, excellent. In another nutshell, busy. I have been on cloud nine, which is a good thing. A very good thing. Even if my favourite number is seven. I have also been busy. Not to take photos, mind you, but to then go through them and write about them and blurb away with silly little snippets of life. It must be the summer. Little Miss Joey will get back to her assiduity as the month progresses.

::inspiring Mondays::

This Monday felt like a Sunday and I loved it. It was slow and happy and the sun was shining and Oxford was so pretty in the sunlight I fell in love with it all over again. Tomorrow is back to the real world and let's not even think of Wednesday.

I like plans. What I like best about plans is how they are just guidelines, frequently on how to do things just outside the plan. I think of plans a bit like Captain Barbossa thinks of the pirate code: "the code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules." (Pirates of the Caribbean fan, oh yes!)

So, I like to have a plan but I'm ever so happy for things to actually happen outside of it!

:: sunshine.

:: plans going astray!

:: photographing the world.

:: JJ. adorableness!

:: friends.

:: vinho verde in the UK :D

:: slow Mondays.

:: the Portuguese language. delícia!

Oxford ♥

Radcliffe Camera

Easy to see why I fell in love with this city, right? Right. This is a new feature on LMJ, my love of Oxford in images with little rambling going on. Beautiful things are best savoured in silence ;)

::inspiring Mondays::

This Monday is very special as it is my first day as a 31 year old woman. Wow, me! What can I tell you about being 31? Let's see... not much. I haven't been here long enough and it just seems to me it's a bit more of the same. And I mean that in the nicest way possible. Nonetheless, one should celebrate the little things, so this first day was great!

I enjoy getting older and still being around and feeling slightly wiser. It's a good feeling. I love celebrating my birthday and having cake and candles and people I love around me. The simple life.

:: my birthday.

:: little brother and the parents. ♥

:: baking for friends.

:: cake and candles.

:: being baked for by friends.

:: laughing.

:: walking. I love it!

:: saturday night.

:: natural light. isn't it wonderful?

:: Mum on the phone.

:: Facebook and the ability to be in touch.

:: my friends. I repeat, they are the best in the whole wide world and beyond!

31

On Sunday 7 August, I became a whole year older. Not 30 1/2 nor 30 3/4, but 31.

When I turned 30, I was filled with joy and expectation and a naive happiness. I had three birthday parties - one per decade - and a yellow dress and the sun was shining. It was pure bliss. Looking back, I did have an amazing year even if nothing happened like I imagined. Maybe reality can actually beat imagination on this one, and LMJ can be pretty imaginative, I tell you.

This year my passion for photography grew and LMJ was born (she's only little, really!). LMJ the blog came online. My camera is now an extension of my arm and a different way for me to see the world. 

I laughed and smiled even more. I went on a great family holiday and great doesn't even begin to describe it. I'm knitting a cardigan! I made sure I appreciated the important people in my life. I fell in love. I learned to fall out of love. I was less harsh on myself. I put things in perspective. I told perspective to leave me alone. I let perspective back in the room. I spoke more on the phone with dear ones who are away. I ran. I played squash. I watched films and read books. I lived. I was happy.

Looking at the collection of presents on my bed and the people around my birthday cake, I am all of the sudden aware of one thing - the people in my life know me all too well and they still love me. And this, my friends, is to me what happiness is all about...!

My little piece of wisdom about being 30 is this... life goes on. and you can enjoy it.

::inspiring Mondays::

I had a lovely, relaxing, and shall I add chilled, weekend. It was slow moving and the sun shone all the time and I wore flip flops and smiles. It was so good that last night in bed I made sure I wouldn't go to sleep just so it wouldn't end. Unfortunately for LMJ, she has very little control over the size of the weekend and Monday did arrive and she was just a wee bit more tired than desired. But... the sun is out still and life is beautiful and the birds sing and the flip flops stay put and the smiles are out and about too.

I learned a valuable and happy lesson last year. We are not alone. There are people willing to step up and show us that when the time comes. This lesson I have had repeated to me this year over and over again. It was a good thing to learn.

:: summer has arrived in Oxford.

:: LMJ texts little brother: what's up?. little brother calls LMJ. 45 minutes later life is even better. ♥

:: Dad's advice. Mum's chat.

:: slow Sundays.

:: knitting.

:: my camera.

:: sunshine!

:: flip flops.

:: friends.

:: the people we know.

:: ice cream.

:: ice cream weather.

:: natural light.

:: photographing in natural light.

Today my list could go on and on and on :) How about you? What is inspiring you this week? Do tell, LMJ is one curious little bugger :)