Wilde about cartoons :-)

Why hello you! Been a while hasn't it? I hope you've all been enjoying yourselves since my last post.

So what's going down in our household at the moment?

Well I decided a couple of weeks ago that whilst the autonomous education thang is a pretty good model for our family *generally speaking*, every now and then we seem to drift, and not having lots of ways to mark the day from evening, weekdays from weekends means it all starts to feel a bit samey. For me anyway. Not having a timetable suits us down to the ground for both philosophical and practical reasons, but not having any kind of unifying theme or topic to focus everyone means that people can be doing a bit too much of the same type of thing for long periods, and whilst they are learning all kinds of stuff, it's hard for me to quantify it in a way that any inspectors might recognise as 'tick-boxy' stuff as it's an all-out random way of learning.

So we have introduced the idea of having a theme a week to loosely follow, and you know what? It actually really seems to have revitalised everyone. Instead of the bookshelves in the library just being one mass of books, a small selection of those same books were pulled out and brought to life, seeming relevant and exciting all of a sudden, with one discovery leading to another. Last week we learnt about ROMANS, which was not exactly a starting-from-scratch kind of gig, (the kids already know loads on this topic) but it was a great chance to build on and fortify what we all knew already and explore some new paths. It was a really fun week and the children drew lots of fab pictures and surprised me with their knowledge and enthusiasm. It was great to see everyone enjoying learning and having something family-wide to focus on. Pete started a new blog in my name, called Educating the Clearys - the first post is a pretty useful resource if you are studying Romans, and we will come back to it again and again, since there's a lot of great ideas there. Go and take a look!

This week, our topic is exploring the artistic styles in ANIMATION and CARTOONS. Herb is leading a table on comic-strip making at our local home ed group soon, so I thought it would be fun to study these cartoons properly, and learn some techniques, explore different styles and so on. Learning how to draw faces that convey happiness, sadness, anger, annoyance etc etc. Learning how to draw background and foreground objects. How to use light and dark for effect. Different ways of telling a story. Split screening. Using text boxes/different types of speech bubbles in different ways. So it might sound like an excuse to sit around watching cartoons but I am actually trying to get a little deeper than that, to properly notice the artistry, besides which they are full of other depths, moral questions, and so on.

I would so love to share some delights with you.

First up, and definitely one for the boys, is the stunning, and quite breathtaking Samurai Jack.

No amount of sitting around listening to Elizabeth Mitchell, flower arranging or playing with gentle wooden toys seems to be able to quell the alpha male aspect that my boys seem to need, in their core, to explore, so I am embracing the fact that a little bit of ninja action to balance things up is inevitable, and in fact, healthy. Samurai Jack is a dude. Episode one of series one is absolutely joyous to watch and explains why he needs to do all the robot and spirit slicing in all subsequent episodes and it makes perfect sense as to why he simply MUST rid the world from the evil Aku (based on a traditional ancient spirit from Japanese mythology)! It's too simplistic to think this kind of stuff as just a mindless slash-em-up sword-fest and should be avoided at all costs bla bla bla. It is cinematically stunning, and the artistry is beautiful. Check out this wee vid from youtube which is about how it was created. I've watched it twice now!

Artistically, another beautiful animation that we will be revisiting this week, is this gorgeous film.

Look at the beautiful artwork.

It is ravishing. I love the celtic swirliness throughout the film, the whimsical and dramatic feel, and the sense of magic. Even though the film is about a Christian book, it has a pagan feel, and the forest is alive. I LOVE this film. My advice if you do watch this though is not to get hung up on historical accuracy down to every last detail - it's probably rather romanticised and the Vikings are presented as mindless brutes. But they did pretty much trash the joint so, ya know, it's not exactly a wholly unfair representation of things.

Next up, well what's not to like about Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli?

You must have heard of these so I won't go on about them but Miyazaki is basically a master of moral tales that don't have the Disney schmaltz, with deeper characters who are more complex, lovable and human. We worship and adore pretty much everything that has come out of Studio Ghibli. A giant purple wall-sticker of Totoro beams down at us from the top of our landing upstairs. If you've never watched any, and you want to introduce your very young child to Miyazaki, the film Ponyo is probably the gentlest for the really young. Spirited Away may scare young 'uns a bit as there are Japanese ghosties and fantastical creatures that might be too full on for a young one, but it's a beaut. Apart from all the obvious ones above, Miyazaki's early offering "Sherlock Hound" is a big fave here in our household.... the victorian costumery and buildings etc are really beautifully done too.

Moving on, Oscar Wilde's tales re-imagined in Wilde Stories (Link to 4od, where you can watch now if in the UK) are simply stunning, but don't expect neat and happy feelgood Disney fables. These are bittersweet tales, which I think makes them all the more beautiful, and heartbreakingly gorgeous. The style of animation is really interesting, and Pete Postlethwaite stars. Maybe not one for really young children though.

( The Nightingale, who sacrifices herself in the name of love )

Last up, is this quite rare and amazing collection as seen below. This is region 1 though, so either watch it on your PC if you can, or research and find elsewhere, eg. on youtube/elsewhere online as individual cartoons (full listing on the amazon.co.uk page for this DVD). These are cartoons from a different era altogether so politically and socially interesting too. These are sophisticated and in no way dumbed down, as so much cartoonery is these days. One of the cartoons was argued to be the best ever among serious animation critics (Whether that still stands now is hard to know as these are quite old)

Wow - there you go. Lots of inspiring animated films in one lil' bloggy post for you. Hope this inspires you to want to explore them a little deeper.

What are your indie favourites dear readers?

Motherfunker and friends Guide to Pregnancy and Birth...

Hello lovelies,

Remember a while back I asked you for some help writing my first book? For those who have only just discovered my blog recently, you can read about it here :

http://feetonthegroundandheadintheclouds.blogspot.com/2011/11/brand-new-kind-of-parenting.html

To jog your memories, the book is about parenting - specifically pregnancy and birth. Babies' first year will be my next book!

I want it to be a book to be non-preachy, technicoloured, artistic and pretty. And I want it to be a realistic snapshot of pregnancy and birth for mamas and papas to be, with a good dose of nitty gritty as well as the beautiful, happy, pretty side of things. One for the ravers, goths, punks, bon-viveurs, hippies and indie types that your Miriam Stoppard type preggie book is not going to appeal to. There's already some beautiful hippy books for hippy-minded maidens like myself but not a lot going on for the wider 'alternative' audience.

I want to acknowledge the fact that a woman having a baby in this day and age is likely to have had a more colourful past than in days gone by. I want to acknowledge that a pregnant mother is not just some blank slate incubator, but a real live person with experiences! Good, bad and everything in between.

I want to acknowledge and talk about how women feel about being pregnant after

- having an abortion

- taking drugs or frequently drinking a lot of alcohol - how has this affected you positively or negatively?

- being raped or sexually abused

- having an affair or relationship problems

- being a heavy smoker

- being declared infertile

- having an amazing job

- being adopted

- experimenting with sexuality - bisexual or lesbian experiences

- self harming or having anorexia/ bulimia

- overcoming something very traumatic

- having suffered only miscarriages so far...


I want the book to be able to talk about the stuff you wouldn't dream of discussing at antenatal classes. Stuff that you couldn't share easily with newly made mummy friends. Stuff you would feel uncomfortable discussing with your midwife.

I feel it's important to help women who find themselves pregnant to have a space where past things can be acknowledged as she navigates her way through the emotional roller coaster that is pregnancy and motherhood!

We modern women have lived much more colourful lives than most generations ever before, huh? So it's about time this was acknowledged!

If anyone has any experiences they could share with me in confidence to use in my book to comfort and reassure others who are further back on the path than you are now, I'd love to hear from you. It could be advice you wish you could go back in time and give yourself. It could be a photo that says it all. It could be a poem you wrote. An entry in your diary. A blogpost even! Anything at all would be so great.

Thank you so much in advance! If you decide to confide in me, I absolutely promise that no information will be shared with my husband, nearest and dearest, friends or family and your identity will remain absolutely and completely anonymous and confidential.

Please dearest people submit your material to me by the end of February. Even sooner would be fab!

Incidentally I have been giving a lot of thought to the charities this book will support. Whilst I think both Warchild and HOPE are very worthy, I think there are other causes which may be better suited. Watch this space!

Lots of love

Xx Motherfunker xX

Books and linkys

Ok, taking a break from philosophising for a minute, I want to share some really great books I have bought the boys in the last few months for those moments when they're not talking about Pokemon, watching Pokemon, playing Pokemon, drawing Pokemon characters, inventing new Pokemon characters, or just generally consumed with Pokemon! Getting them interested in anything else has been a challenge. Even with Christmas in the middle of all that! So what is a mother to do?

We actually have probably over 2,000 books in this house, which are all very interesting in their different ways, but I can't recommend every single one on here, it would take too long. They all help to build up a picture of the world, so they're all useful in our home ed arsenal. But these are just the one's I'm picking right now. So there.

So anyway what are these books? Well Herb has just spent the last three hours reading this really great book:

"This book is extremely funny and its all about the earth's history and all the different time periods. It's cool because it's all in cartoons"

He has also been seen with his nose buried for hours on end in this book...

This is really great. It encourages you to think in mathematical ways, to see the maths inherent in everything. A brilliant unschooly book to really get you thinking without making maths boring. Lots of fun experiments to try and puzzles to solve. Homeschool gold.

Next is another good book I bought as toilet reading. Oooh I am sneaky.

These books below are possibly even better, and highly recommended for a dyslexic, since the information is given in short sentences, generally one or two per page with fab colour photos. A highly visual book. They contain genuinely interesting facts and statistics about all sorts of things - pretty random!

&

&

This next one could save you in a spot of bother someday. 

The front cover tells you how to survive "Tsunamis, Sharks, Lightening Strikes, earthquakes, airplane crashes....and 65 other hair-raising scenarios!" What's not to like about a book that could save your life one day?! Given the super scary plane landing we had coming back from Spain (trying to land in gale force winds - barrrf), I'm in the right frame of mind to be looking at such books! 

Next up, well Horrible Histories is the Daddy in terms of the nouvelle vague of all-singing all dancing educational books. And here's the 2012 annual, which is full of the usual HH goodies. Thank you Terry!

One we've had for a while but worth a mention anyway, is this book, which is also lighthearted enough not to make the kids want to run a mile. The DVD makes it more accessible still, especially if your guys are better with visual aids than wordy tomes.

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So what are Mama and Papa feeding their minds with? That the kids end up absorbing by proxy? Well again, its hard to pick out one single thing, since we read non-stop, and well, are alive! Surely that's learning enough right? Everything feeds into our learning like pieces of the most gigantic puzzle, and it comes together a piece at a time. But something we're really getting a lot of enjoyment from is 'The British History Podcast'.

This is a really brilliant breakdown of the history of Britain and the guy who does it (He simply calls himself Jamie) talks in a really easy-going american accent. He tells it in a very friendly and non-boffin way. So far we've listened to 30 episodes, and are just about done with the Roman's in Britain. Really enjoyable, easy listening. You can download it on itunes or go direct to the website.

We're also loving 'Mark Steele's in Town' on bbc iplayer. He basically tours round Britain poking fun at different towns in a loveable way, after researching the town's history and meeting various interesting characters along the way. The audience get treated to a history of their town they probably never heard the likes of before and usually laugh their asses off.

Whilst putting together this blogpost, we have been listening to the velvety smooth 'Jarvis Cocker's Sunday Service', also on iplayer. What a joy this is. A musical journey each week which is enlightening, funny, psychedelic, soothing, educational, and pure music to my ears. No other radio show does it for me as much as this.

So that's a tiny snapshot of what learning looks like in our house at the moment, when we're not out and about causing mayhem and mischief of one kind or another!

What's big in your house at the moment?

Kaleidoscope of mamahood

Wow, I am in one philosophical space right now! I'm sure I'll be back to writing about colouring books or recommending CD's or something like that again soon. but here we are right now. In philosophical land.

I've been thinking about the fact that for all the different types of mama there are out there, it's also fair to say that no mama is the same person every day of her life.

No mama is a stereotype.

No mama is one singlular thing, one single 'type'.

Beyond our labels and boxes we are complex, ever changing creatures. We are a kaleidoscope of feelings, attitudes, prejudices, successes, hang-ups, and preferences. A rainbow of different colours. We all suck at certain things we so wish we could do. And we also kick ass at our different things. Making peace with the things we suck at, or THINK we suck at, is perhaps the hardest thing of all, and why we mamas sneer at those we aspire to sometimes - perhaps we are jealous of something in their lives that comes easily to them, that we struggler with, so we lick our wounds and say "Who wants to be like THEM?"

We all do it. We all have a "type" of mother in our heads that we collectively in our cliques have a moan about, congratulating ourselves that we are not like THEM, feeling smug that we are alright jack!

And it only further creates those barriers.

But does any mama deserve this? Don't we all carry hurts and dreams? Regrets and mistakes? Doesn't every mama deserve a break - every new day that dawns? Wouldn't it be nice to celebrate on one another's behalf, the things we cannot manage ourselves? Ooh that's a hard one. Maybe the hardest of all.

Jeez, we mamas are hard on ourselves. We are much more critical of ourselves than we would ever be of our friends or peers. We carry our self-hating baggage around like a giant weight. It can slow us down. Make us heavy. Become a huge tie. We become a slave to it. We feed the self- loathing monster till it grows so big we come to a standstill sometimes. Cos it becomes too heavy to take anywhere! And I see this is a universal trait not just something that I do. I read so many stories of you other mamas dragged down by not living up to your own, or your peer group's or your family's or society's ideals. We have so many pressures and expectations both internally and externally to live up to every day. Whilst wading through the landscape of feeling tired beyond belief, of toddler tantrums and poo on the carpet (again!), or the disappointment of having a body that doesn't look as nice as it once did.

I think we need to cut those leads to our pet monsters and set them free. Those monsters who tell us we're shit, that we aren't good enough, that we feed with our fears, and and our fearful imaginations.

Being a mother, being a woman of a certain age, doesn't mean we have to be one thing all day every day. We can be lots of things simultaneously. And we should be more fearless in being all those different things. We are a wonderful kaleidoscope of things.

I'm aware of how many different threads make up me as a mama. I am more than my Mummy job title. I'm more than a 'type'. I am no more one of 'those' mothers than you or anyone!

I like listening to the Slits AND radio four. I like the exquisite, lofty and noble beauty of Kahlil Gibran and the ridiculous, infantile and downright offensive South Park. I like magazines about period homes and rocking out with all my sweat and strength to The Eagles of Death Metal. I am a pink haired hippy at heart who lives in a period home and has two iPads. I absolutely love camping in our bell tent but give me a four star hotel every now and then and I'm a happy woman. I'm deeply, passionately, alternative in some things and pretty mainstream in others. I adore my children but sometimes I want to run for the hills and leave it all behind. I like organic top-of-the range food AND pot noodles. I'm a snob and a pleb rolled into one. There are so many paradoxes, contradictions, facets to what make me, well, ME.

And so do YOU. And so does EVERY mama.

Remember you and all us mamas are a glorious kaleidoscope. You are beautiful in all your colours. You can be anything you want.

Don't feed that oversized pet any more mamas, break free and be the beautiful, wonderful multi- faceted creatures you are, and live loud and proud!

The myriad ways to be a good mama.....

I feel the need to speak again! To make peace with you. My last post felt rather feisty, and I don't want this space to be somewhere that people feel attacked.

The post was intended to be a poke at myself as much as anyone. It most certainly wasn't aimed at anyone specifically, not at close and much loved friends, any more than the world (non-specifically)at large. No ma'am.

I don't intend to make enemies of mamas who define themselves as natural. I too consider myself a natural mama, and as I said, I too have breastfed my tribe, carried them in slings, co-slept, done the cloth nappy thing, home educate, don't vaccinate, and a whole bunch of other earth mama type things to boot. They were important to me, those things remain so. Not all the things I tried came off but that's fine. I have no problems whatsoever with any of these lovely practises or any of you dear readers doing those things! Some of you do all of those and I think you are beautiful!

When I think about it, I just keep being reminded of those who can't do those things so easily. Of mothers around this country and round the world, in dramatically different cultures, situations, religious settings, medical and financial predicaments etc. Women on the breadline. Women who are starving. Women who are grieving. With broken spirit or body. I think about them a lot, and wonder how they survive. I think of women who have to do incredible feats just to survive every day. And the definitions of what it means to be a good Mummy get wider and wider. There have gotta be many millions of kick-ass mamas out there doing the exact opposite to me in terms of parenting and schooling choices, and who am I to judge them?

I picture a woman who has to work as a prostitute so her babies don't starve. I picture a woman working four jobs to feed her family. I picture women oppressed by their families at large, by the politics of their country,by a cruel husband or partner, by x number of things. I think what a hard job it must be for so many mamas on this planet, and wonder how the hell they do it. How they survive with so few luxuries. With so few labour-saving devices. In a different world from this middle class comfy world I inhabit with all my right-on luxuries.

And then I read a blog or website which tells me I'm bad unless I parent in a very precise manner according to a very strict code of behaviours which someone has deemed to be exclusively and solely 'the right way'. And more and more, instead of agreeing, I am finding myself thinking 'Really?' 'Can that really be true?' I come back to thinking about those mamas all over the world again. And then I get angry. I feel annoyed that someone has the nerve to tell everyone exactly how they should parent. Instead of being inspiring and positive, they can present their case as if only they and small few have understood the true meaning of being loving to their children and making choices for them in a spirit of love. Nobody needs to be lynched for how they raise their children unless they are molesting or actively mistreating them or something really awful like that. Love has many different faces and isn't a fixed checklist of behaviours or choices.

This doesn't mean I don't admire, or aspire to live more like my role models, either within the home ed world, within the natural parenting community, or the wider world at large, or that I don't see the wisdom of my peers, or my elders and betters. I'm not so arrogant to think I have all the answers. But neither do they. They too are human. They too are fallible. They too are interpreting the world according to their own wisdom - by the time it reaches me though.... It's kinda second hand. It's not necessarily a pertinent insight anymore but rather something that made sense to them - in their situation. and that works both ways - my own wisdom and observations are entirely subjective!

I can see there are so many millions of ways to be a good parent, ways that contradict one another because of people's massively unique circumstances, geographical location, idiosyncratic situations. What may be a loving choice in one country/ family/ etc etc.... may be the opposite in a different country/ family etc etc....

We have so much to learn from one another in the myriad of different ways we show love to our children, and the choices we make on their behalf. There is no one true and righteous way. Simply loving our children and trying our best using the best of our own personal judgement and working our circumstances IS enough. Hurray for all the mamas of the world who kiss their children goodnight tonight and worked their asses off to do right by them. I love you all!

Xx Motherfunker xX

Little boxes

Oooh I've had a post brewing for some time now. Gather round, I feel a rant a-comin!

Something's been bothering me for a while and I need to talk about it, to share it, to see how others feel about it.

The issue of labelling ourselves and each other, of putting ourselves in boxes has been irking me more and more. To the point now where it's bugging me so much I have to go arrrggggghhh!!!!!

I wrote about this phenomena in issue 25 of Juno magazine. I wanted to give permission back to mamas to trust in themselves instead of religiously following parenting gurus, to put the power back in their hands, to say "Hey, it's ok to do things your way - YOU are wise". 

I find myself in a weird paradox - writing for parents is of itself an act of instruction in some ways, an act of hoping to enlighten or entertain, to provoke thought, to plant seeds in the mind and heart of the reader and yet my message really is to ignore the prophets and take their wisdom with a handful of salt. 

So how can I write without preaching? Who the hell am I to preach anyway? I am no better than you. 

I'm really tiring of smug bloggers telling others how to live, what to think, what is right and wrong, how to be a better parent, bla bla bla. Black and white, wrong and right, smug, smug, smug. Blogs that attack anything less than perfect mothering. Who decides what that looks like anyway? Isn't it kinda arrogant to assume your way is the only one true way? 

I'm more in favour of real. Of happy and sad. Of glorious moments  and big ol' fuck ups. Of the landscape of parenting that accounts for the myriad of different emotions, trials and situations that a mother finds herself in before she has even begun to have babies.

Cos mothers are not exactly blank slates y'know? We come with all kinds of head and heart baggage. getting through the day is sometimes a nobler thing than following some method 100%.

Homeschooling is no less immune to smug boxes than any other area of parenting. Folks proudly assign themselves to being a particular kind of homeschooler, as if that was the only and most important thing about them in the universe. There are more labels than WHSmith, categories, sub categories.... it's like the People's Front of Judea/  Judean People's front thing - kinda hilarious really but people take it SO seriously!  

It's the same with breastfeeding labels.... I say this as someone who breastfed all my babies - but do we really need all the categories and sub-categories? Is it some kind of competition? Isn't it simply enough to be a breastfeeder? Who the hell's business is it anyway???

Or being a sling-wearer. Wearing a baby needs a label? Really? Is someone who wears their baby in a piece of cloth better than one who carries them in arms? If there is a perception that this is better - why? By whom?

Or being a home-birther. Having had three home births doesn't make me a better mother than someone else. Maybe I had a more enjoyable and satisfying experience than some women but that's not the same as being better than them. Surely?!

Of course I am not attacking anyone who has a home birth, carries their baby in a sling, is a breastfeeder, or home-schools in a particular way. Some of my dearest friends do all of the above! I'm picking on the labels nearest to me but in truth I am anti ALL labels. All divisions. All plinths and platforms and pedestals that people put themselves on in their holier-than-thou quest to justify their way and convert the rest of the world.

I'm done with preaching of any kind. I've done it myself. I've felt the anger about the injustice of bla bla bla, felt the smugness of feeling oh-so-right about my choices and my stance. I'm realising more and more that what may be perfect for me and mine would not suit my neighbour - and that is ok. Instead of trying to convert the rest of the world to my way it's actually ok that we are different. I enjoy and take responsibility for my parenting choices and reserve the right to change my mind about them as often as I damn well like! But I'm no better or worse as a human being for them? I'm just doing what feels natural to me. Natural parenting is essentially just that. Doing what feels natural to you. No more, no less. It's not a tick-list of attributes about what nappies you use or whether you vaccinate or not. It's whether you are behaving in a way that is natural as opposed to forcing yourself into an un-natural, "natural"  box.

I'm fed up of smug, smug, smug! I'm fed up of competitiveness in mothering! It only divides. It is a hard enough job without us all bitching each other and ourselves into boxes!!!

Don't put me in a box till I'm six feet under. It's the only one you'll ever get me in.

Even unconventional boxes are still just that - a straitjacket!

Break free mamas!

Motherfunker is back in the room!

* Hey *

FELICE NAVIDAD!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well it's been an adventure here in Cleary world. Spain was a place of great beauty, poverty, dodgy food, amazing beaches, fantastic vistas, and the landscape for quite an emotional 10 days. There were highs and lows, logistical headaches on a daily basis, wow moments, amazing and also sometimes testing times with our lovely friends, sangria, sunshine and freezing cold nights. Our friend Stuart was a connoisseur of the area, having lived out there for more than ten years, and showed us a good time. We hung out on our own some days, with just a couple of our friends on others, with the whole gang on other days. At most, there were 9 adults, 7 kiddlets, one bump, and one teen. Quite a lot of different needs, wants and moods to accommodate but we all managed to come home smiling with lots of really great memories :-)

We saw some really pretty sights....including lots of gorgeous flora and vegetation, cacti, orange trees....

We stayed in a house just a few hundred yards from a beautiful sandy beach...

We visited Tarifa, the unofficial windsurfing capital of Europe

One of several local bars....

Trafalgar Point, just a mile or so along our little stretch of beach, and the site of the famous Battle of Trafalgar...

Surfer paradise....

Up in the mountains, we were treated to the spactacle of viewing more than 400 vultures being fed carcas meat by a ranger friend of Stuart's. Mental sight! This photo is zoomed in but we were actually several hundred feet away - thank goodness!

And we chilled out in some nice cafes :-)

Oh there is so much more to show, but I'm impatient and want to just get this blog baby out there and my internet is slow at uploading pictures tonight!

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Well Christmas and New year taught me a lot of stuff. In the run up to Christmas I decided to let go of a lot of stuff that felt too much. I decided I would do my best and leave it at that. After initially having my usual meltdown over not having enough hand-made gifts for everyone I shrugged my shoulders and said ah well. There was so much to do in the run up to Christmas and I didn't even send all the cards I wrote. Some people got extra special stuff cos they really needed it at that moment and others didn't get so much as a card. If you were one of those people who didn't get a card this year - I love you, I meant to, I just ran out of steam..... you know I love you!!!!

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It felt really good to hang back from blogging for a while. I was trying to do too much and mentally there wasn't enough room in my head to cope! I wish I could say that I have used the time really productively, but you know what? Actually I have just been chilling out, re-calibrating, enjoying not being stupid-ass busy. I sat down to work on my book while I was away and decided that I should really use my time to re-charge my batteries instead. Christmas and New Year were full-on and really fun and enjoyable, but zapped a lot of my brainpower and energy. So now, I am taking the New Year slowly, in my own time, on my terms, wherever I can. This is not an easy thing in this fast-paced world, and not valued as an end in it's own right but one thing that Spain taught me is that chilling out shouldn't necessarily be a luxury but something to fight for in our every day. Making time to relax is going to be high on our agenda this year. Down with stress and working so hard that your head and whole body aches! 

Taking things slowly, savouring them, thinking things over carefully, and enjoying a better quality of life in terms of richer experiences and friendships are what 2012 are all about for me :-)

Bring it on!!!

Peace and love

Xx Motherfunker xX