2011 a New Year , and a New Woman....

Well a new year and a new woman as the title says.... and gone are the blues from that dreadful year of 2010.

With losing over three stone, I feel amazing, and have lost a lost of medical problems regarding high blood pressure, and all that goes with that. I don't recommend doing it the way I did the weight loss, as it is not good for the soul, but here I am again unscathed, and to boot a new hairstyle.

Talking about the new hairstyle; for years now I have had curly hair, and have wished and and wished as all we women do for hair other than what I have been given.... If we have straight hair we want curly, and if its curly we want straight. I suppose we are never satisfied.... always wanting to improve on our persona, and I am no exception. I know I have been slow on the uptake of new inventions when they have come out on the market, but Oh!! how is wish that I had discovered ceramic straighteners when they first came out.

When I went to the hairdressers in October, because I had a new man in my life and I was going to visit him 287 miles away, and I needed a nice new haircut, they showed me all different styles, and then afterwards straightened my hair...... I felt as if I had been reborn. No longer did I have to stand for hours in front of the mirror trying to tweak and tease the curl out of my hair...... it was so simple after getting the ceramic straighteners, and now I only have to spend 5 or 10 minutes each day getting the look that I really want, and not having that feeling when the face in the mirror looks back at me saying OMG I need to put a hat on to cover this mess up on my head.

To my ladies who have followed my blog in the past... my sweet friends who have still stayed and looked to see if I am back all these months I say '' I love you all''. I have learned too this past 10 months who my real friends are, and who are not... and I have been on a huge learning process in that time... with many different aspects and challenges thrown at me.... but now I feel that I am a better person for that, and can see that we need these trials and tribulations in our lives in order that we don't get complacent about things, and that we have to move on, and improve.

I will in the near future be posting something that I have designed, albeit small to start again getting back into stitching... for these past months I have not wanted to even look at a needle let alone do any WIP's or start any new projects. I know it is very remiss of me too for not even taking part in the Groups that I belong to..... but I am sure that they will understand as to what depths I have been trawling..... and no sympathy needed !

I think that in the future too I will be posting a lot more about photography too, as I have a great interest in this, and my new man is a far more accomplished, and better photographer than me... and he wants me to join a photography group that he belongs to so that I can learn more about lighting, and using different lenses on an SLR camera. At the moment I have just been using an Olympus small pocket digital camera, as this was easy for me to slip into my pocket, and go off and be snap happy in the country side.

What has been happening to me since I have seen a whole new world you may ask.....

Well I have discovered that it is great to leave the car behind, and travel by train, since my guy would not have me travelling all those miles up the motorway and back for fear something may happen whilst driving, and also the fact that it would be less stressful. Well he was sure right there. So he makes sure I go by first class travel, and am able to enjoy the country scenery fly past as I travel too and fro.

I have also found that I love City life and that there are just wonderful things to be seen and heard that never happen down in my neck of the woods in this sleepy old town that I live in. So it may well be that sometime this year I shall be moving away from Devon to find out what life is like actually like living in a part of England that I have never really discovered; with a completely new life up North to look forward to....... fingers crossed and God willing.

I have also started working voluntarily for a charity, as a part time teacher, teaching IT and computers to adults with disabilities, both physical and mentally affected. I find this so rewarding..... so this makes things doubly difficult in moving up North... so a great deal of thinking on my part will be the order of things to come.

Well that is enough about me for now....... I hope that you all have a wonderfully prosperous new year, and may it be a very happy year for you all.

To end on I was sent this very true and funny email this morning which I think the more mature ladies that read it, and gentlemen if they secretly follow me will find very amusing

I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family, for less grey hair and a flatter belly.

As I have aged I have become kinder to myself, less critical of myself, and I have become my own friend.

I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie,or for not making my bed, or for buying that sill cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde sat there on my patio.

I am entitled to treat, be messy and extravagant.

I have seen to many dear friends leave this world too soon, before they understood the great freedom that comes with ageing.

Whose business is it, if I choose to read, or play on the computer until 4.00am and sleep until noon?

I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes, of the 50's,60's & 70's, and if I, if I wish to weep over a lost loved one.......I will !

If I want to walk on the beach in a swimsuit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.

They, too, will get old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten.

And I eventually remember the important things.

Sure over my life my heart has been broken.

How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or when someones beloved pet gets hit by a car?

But broken hearts, are what give us strength, understanding, and compassion.

A heart never broken is pristine and sterile, and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning grey and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face.

So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.