Heart eyes

One of my dearest friends lives in LA. We've been friends for over 20 years and she's the most generous, loving and fun friend you could wish for. It breaks my heart that we live so far apart, but at the same time when we do see each other it's so special, that in a way I wouldn't have it any other way. Anyway, my sister, who now also lives in LA, was expecting her second child back in April, and was having a baby shower, and my BBF thought that I should come out for it - as a surprise. So I went out there for a whole week on my own, without my boys. That meant that I could go and do all those things that they wouldn't be as into, like going to exhibitions, check out stores and have a karaoke session for old times sakes. It was an amazing seven days where I got to reconnect with aspects of myself that I somehow had buried and neglected since motherhood. It was like I got my old self back. 

These pics are from MOCA and the Broad where we got to see lots of great art. Sadly I can't tell you who made any of them apart from the last pic (Catherine Opie), because I'm shallow like that ;)

The lady in red

In April this lady told me to get on a plane to LA. So I did. Lucky me!

Windows from the past

One of the very few times I actually brought my camera with me this year, was on an Easter Egg hunt that I took Oomoo on a while back. I fancied going a bit further afield, so we ended up at Osterley Park. The sun was out, and so were the crowds, and after answering questions along the egg trail in the gardens, we ended up inside the house. In there was a bunny hunt; nothing as sinister as it sounds, just crocheted white bunnies dotted around the stately home that we had to count. As we did we got an insight to how a very wealthy family lived in the late 1700's. And what do you know, I only took pictures of the windows! I didn't even realise that I had until I put this post together. I guess taking pictures becomes habitual, and that you are subconsciously always drawn to the same thing, over and over again. So if you see more windows in the future on this blog - don't be surprised :)

A little big guy called Buddy

You know how they say stroking a pet alleviates stress and can help during depression? Well, they're not wrong. Around the time I took a funny turn, my husband finally came round to us getting another cat. Perfect timing if you ask me. We decided that we didn't want to replace Little Mo, and so went with an as opposite a cat as you can get. He may look petite, but in fact, as these pictures are already a couple of months old, it's funny now to see him looking so "small". So first of all he is a he, long haired and a Main Coon, the largest domestic cat breed there is. They are the closest you can get to having a dog without having an actual dog. He plays fetch, follows you around the house all the time and is super social. He simply just wants to be with you, as much as he can. Little Mo was often hiding somewhere, and wouldn't dream of playing with a room full of kids like it was nothing. I still well up sometimes thinking about her, and at one point I did think why on earth are we getting another cat that we will love and lose - again. But I'm hoping that we will have many years of fun with this furry dude, and I'd rather have known him than not at all.

Still here

Oh hey there. That was quite a break... I didn't mean to disappear like that, but I didn't have a great start to the year. I put it down to a mid-life crisis of sorts (I did turn 40 last year after all), and felt that I had to more or less stop everything and start building myself up from scratch again. I ended up putting my camera down, but kept going on Instagram, as it for me is just the light, fluffy, nonsense type of picture taking that I can carry on with, regardless of what else is going on. I'm still not fully connected to my camera yet, but I'm getting there. I still have to get to the point where I carry it with me everywhere again. I'm feeling better now, and I'm actually grateful that I went through what I did as it shook up things up. I was coasting along not realising that I was getting too set in my ways (some of them bad), and that at this point in my life (hopefully half-way through!), it was time for a change. I'll be back with more soon, but I'm not putting any pressure on myself to do so. It's gotta feel right at the end of the day. Life's too short innit.