Day 17 — An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)

This will be dull because I can't be faffed to find an image, but one of my favourite pictures is by Jack Vettriano, 'in thoughts of you' - it's of a woman sitting on a chair that's covered by a dust sheet, with her feet propped up on a footstool, holding a teacup and saucer, gazing out of the window. I love it because sitting next to a window with a cup of tea and a daydream is one of my favourite things to do - if only I ever had time to do it! That's the only downside of my current home - it's a gorgeous converted stable with wooden beams and oodles of character but no real window-gazing spot. I can't quite decide whether I prefer bay windows with a window seat or one up in a gable type place... I think the second - I do love a slopey ceiling!

Day 16 — A song that makes you cry (or nearly)

This one is fairly easy because I just listened to it yesterday in a fit of missing my ship-roomie an extra bit. Rachel left the ship a couple of weeks before I did and as a parting gift I made her a video of photos of us set to Greenday's "time of your life" so now every time I hear it I think of her, and if I'm feeling particularly emotional I might get 'peas' (slight welling up).

Day 13-15 are ridiculous

So, Day 13 is meant to be 'A fictional book', but I already talked about my favourites so it seems pointless to repeat myself. Day 14 is also silly - a non-fictional book, partly because I'd pick the Bible but mostly because I tend not to read non-fiction, apart from a few biographies, none of which immediately spring to mind. And Day 15 - a fanfic is not going to happen - I don't think I've ever read one, unless you count the sequel to Gone With the Wind, which is rubbish but gives Rhett and Scarlett the happy ending that neither of them really deserve so I continue to read it regardless of literary aspects.

Day 12 - Whatever Tickles Your Fancy - Olaf

One of the great things about my time on the Doulos was all the amazing people I got to live with for a year. One of these is an Indonesian girl called Shinta, she's now married and living in the Faroe Islands and, as someone who has experienced life-threatening illness, now often has a project to encourage other people who are suffering. So, she sent me a bear called Olaf, who was travelling around the world collecting experiences before being sent to a little girl called Daniella in the USA. To find out more about Olaf (and Shinta) check out

http://hansshinta.blogspot.com/2010/01/olaf.html

Olaf arrived with me three weeks before my wedding, which means his time with me was spent mostly doing wedding preparations! But all the fun ones...
First of all he got to come to my hen (bachelorette) party – it was a very civilised affair, beginning with afternoon tea on the terrace of a country hotel.
Olaf had a sneaky taste of real English tea while I wasn’t looking! He didn’t manage to steal my scone though...



The next day, Olaf came with me to a dress fitting – it was one of the last ones so you get a pretty good idea of what my wedding outfit will be on the day!





Of course, it was soon time to say goodbye to Olaf and send him on to the next person. Hope you had fun helping me prepare for my Wedding, Olaf! Enjoy the rest of your travels!
 

Day 11 — A photo of you taken recently

I love this photo! My best friend, Bethany, came to stay with us during the Easter holidays and she accidentally created this work of art! I wish I could remember what had caused Olly to make that face... Caption competition, anyone?

Day 10 — A photo of you taken over ten years ago

This is easy - I only have two old photos of me on my computer!



My mum, sisters and me! Guess which is which? Not too difficult...

and you thought I'd left the blogosphere... Day 9 - a photo you took

Just to confuse you all, I took a year off.. Okay, I confess, I just got distracted by all the wedding prep but a few people have asked where I went so I'm going to try to make a comeback. Any bets for how long I last this time?!

Anyway, back to my 30 days of blogging



I don't have that many photos I've taken recently - my camera died a dreadful death and I've only just replaced it. Anyway, I took this picture of Notre Dame in Paris when I was on holiday with my husband, my sister and her boyfriend, who organised the whole trip (including us being there too) as a surprise for her 30th birthday - how romantic is that?