::inspiring Mondays::

 

This Monday begins with an alert of snow for the shire. As LMJ eats her warm porridge, the weather people talk of the big freeze of 2012 and how it may still happen this winter. Snow is lovely and pretty... in the right places; the shire is not the right place. The whole county comes to a halt, really! So LMJ makes an agreement with the weather gods; as long as Mr Joey can land in the country and make his way to Oxford, I shall not complain. I'll zip my wee mouth and smile in the face of chaos.

As I tell Mr Joey of the imminent snow, I discover my Brazilian has never seen it and wouldn't mind at all to change that. Maybe snow could fall after his arrival then, I think to myself, as if any of these things were within LMJ's little grasp. What is within my grasp though, is the scarf and hat I'm knitting Mr Joey so he can at least be almost warm when he arrives straight from the Brazilian summer to the UK winter.

:: eating breakfast while watching the news. I like it.

:: friends. mine are the best!

:: The Big Bang Theory.

:: watching episode after episode of the Big Bang Theory whilst drinking a hot beverage. hahahahaha!

:: running. it's good.

:: the smell of coffee.

:: soup! LMJ loves soup!

:: curry! yay for curry!

:: later sunsets and earlier sunrises. we're leaving winter behind!

How's your Monday going? Are you all ready for February? :)

::inspiring Mondays::

How do you start an inspiring post when you feel all inspiration has left you and is probably enjoying a holiday somewhere sunny and warm? With difficulty, is LMJ's answer. 

As I sit here thinking for once I want to feel low and drop the optimism, LMJ niggles at me and insists I put things in perspective. Sunday was the truly bad day, not Monday. Poor Monday only picked up the pieces of a shattered Little Miss Joey in need of peace and quiet and some knitting. And I guess that is inspirational, the fact that there is a tomorrow ie this Monday...! Monday comes to show LMJ things are going to be ok and life resumes and there's coffee and bootcamp and JJ cuddles. 

:: Mum on the phone. it's ok, Mum tells me, things like these happen all the time. not to me Mum. to people, Mum says; aren't you a person? good point Mum!

:: weekend with the cococitas ♥

:: chatting away with the cococitas. so much to tell and catch up on. 

:: afternoon cake after a photographic exhibition, followed by tapas dinner. nothing like good company and good food. 

:: friends who come and hold your hand whilst you use their phone to cancel all your plastic access to money. and then give you money. and food. even when you thought you weren't hungry... but you were, really! 

:: the peace that comes from knitting. take it up, I tell you. 

:: wool shops. and the lovely ever so patient ladies there who help me choose the right shades of each colour to go with the other right shades I've already picked. and help me calculate the right number of skeins for each project. and get so into it themselves they end up searching the whole store for that *perfect* shade! 

:: breakfast while watching the news. I love it. 

:: JJ time.  

:: Little Mister Joey. 

Looking at the list above, life seems to be going in the right direction... yupii for Mondays and fresh beginnnings. 

How's your Monday coming along? A new beginning feeling too?

quem tem amigos...

"Quem tem amigos não morre na praia"

The sentence above is a Portuguese saying I quite like and that warms my heart every single time. Translating it to the letter, if one has friends, one does not die at the beach. It's so true!

Today, I lost my wallet. It may still turn up and LMJ has several friends engaged in a positive thinking finger crossing activity! However, it has not turned up yet.

This afternoon I was upset and slightly panicky and annoyed and hungry and with an almost battery free mobile phone and moneyless.
*insert friend moment*
Later on this afternoon I was upset and slightly panicky and annoyed BUT I had company and food and a working phone and money.

Not so bad after all, hey?!

on the weather in Britain...

... or how you tell a foreigner who's been here tooooo long.

Monday and Tuesday have been incredibly cold days in Oxford town. I appreciate there are colder locations out there, but for my little Portuguese genes, -1ºC to 3ºC is really not enough! Today, however, the weather gods heard my requests and sent us a bit of warmth. Just a bit, but enough to make LMJ de-layer! This morning a whooping 7ºC made me ditch the gloves during my walk and carry them fashionably in my hand... A sign of my now partially british weather perception!

::inspiring Mondays::

I went home for Dad's birthday this weekend. I am tired and homesick and yet I have this warm feeling of having been there. Gotta love warm feelings, especially in this cold! 

Another week begins and with it another Monday on which to feel inspired. In thinking about this post (yes, LMJ does that!) and what is making me tick today, I realise this trend of revealing a meaningless fact about LMJ must end. LMJ is only little (haha!) and there aren't enough facts to reveal, really! Plus, there's so much to write about instead, like the weather or flour or ice cream, that it would be a waste of a paragraph not to explore those avenues further. 

:: being at home for Dad's birthday! 

:: being at home for Dad's birthday! 

:: being at home for Dad's birthday! 

:: Dad's birthday party. 

:: Portuguese food. there is none like it! 

:: birthday cake. yummy! 

:: spending time with Little Brother and the parents. it's the simple pleasures, really! 

:: squeezing Tommy. 

:: great chat about books with this lovely girl at a bookshop (Bertrand, if you must know!) 

:: a family doctor who will see you on a Sunday because it's when you can

:: getting the earlier bus home from the airport. perfect timing is a wonderful thing. 

:: the cococitas are arriving! 

How's January treating you? Have a great beginning to the week :)

Little note: LMJ left the shower looking like a steamed lobster! Cold weather, look at what you're doing to me!

all the... small things

It's not pitch black anymore, when I leave work! It's wonderful!

Kiva update

Dear readers, do you remember Ilda, Hannah and Martha? We met them before Christmas.

Ilda. Hannah. Martha.

The great news is that all three ladies have got their loans in full and are now able to move on their entrepreneurial path. Yay!

Why don't you have a look at Kiva and see who you can help walk that path too? 

About Kiva in their own words

"We are a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world."

::inspiring Mondays::

2012 has arrived! I'm sure you've all realised this 9 days ago, or thereabouts, and so have I, but it's always nice to start with something cheerful. 

I'm quite happy 2012 is here, but I have to confess I really enjoyed 2011. I achieved quite a few things last year, clap clap me! To name but a few; I started this blog with fellow blogger and dear friend Nicky, I  ran 10K (yes, moi!), I got myself a personal trainer in the form of dear friend JZ, I did a creativity course and met wonderful people (waiting for you on the side list under Raining Umbrellas crowd), I saw and had tea with my wonderful sweet friend cococita, and the same goes for mr cococita, I joined Kate at These Moments, I had lunch more often with fellow blogger Plasma Engineer, I laughed so much I have new wrinkles from it, I opened up to life, I celebrated a year of living with the Muppet at the Matchbox, I knitted more (but sewed less) much thanks to the one and only Knitting Club, I joined a bootcamp and managed to have fun and keep it going until 2012, and I laughed, again and more! 

I wouldn't be telling the full story of 2011 if I didn't mention Little Mister Joey. Little Mister Joey made my 2011 amazing! I could write and write and write, but I'll just say this... LMJ fell in love! 

I have dreams for 2012. I have the dream that I can hold Little Mister Joey's hand as often as I feel like. That's a big one. And a good one!

:: writing this post whilst on skype with Little Mister Joey. I write and he reads me something out loud. wow, I tell you!

:: Nicky's Christmas present. And Jamie's. And the Muppet's. Blimey, they know me!

:: first bootcamp of the year! olé!

:: going home at the end of the week for Dad's birthday!
:: Nicky and Jamie inspiring me to write today. much appreciated.
:: perfecting my own bread. first recipe from the book given by the Muppet, yummy if not quite right.
:: Paris. Guide books.

How's 2012 treating you? Do you have aspirations and dreams for the year ahead? I hope your Monday, 2012's second, was a good one :)