I decided to take my most intimidating camera and film that I’d never used before for my Saturday afternoon at the seaside last week. It was a gloriously sunny day and it had felt like forever since I’d taken any photos so what better than a little challenge.

The camera was my Lubitel 2, the film was Lomography Redscale 120, and the location – Hengistbury Head – Mudeford (and back again).

I thought this would be a good film to use as the Lubitel 2 has no light meter and involves me squinting into the sunshine and guessing – this film has an extended exposure range so it should result in photos being a little orange or very orange (redscale film is wound backwards onto the spool so you’re shooting through the backing material, which is an orangey colour, hence the tones).

Turns out they weren’t that orange at all but I don’t know it that’s because of the film or my exposure settings (or possibly the photo lab attempting to correct the colours when thy scanned them to CD). They definitely have a different look to ‘normal’ film though (as you can see from these previous beach shots)…

 What happened here? I have no idea!

All photos taken with Lubitel 2 and Lomography Redscale XR 50200 120 film

If I had to pick one word to sum up my experience of ‘Blogging every day in May’ it would be ‘surprise’.

Surprise that I (pretty much) managed to blog every single day.

Surprise about how much I was willing to share and let out there into the big wide world – some of those things have been scrunched up and buried for years!

Surprise at the tales I have read by others who are also treading down this path.

Surprise at enjoying writing about ME so much.

Surprise at how much more efficiently I work with a ‘strict’ agenda and structure.

Surprise at discovering so many new and wonderful blogs out there I never knew existed.

Surprise that tomorrow it will be JUNE!

So on this final day of May I want to thank Elizabeth from Rosalilium for coming up with this fantastic idea and to Rhianne for mentioning it on Twitter at the exact time I was having my coffee break and thinking, hmm, I can’t think of what to blog about, I wish someone would just tell me! :)

So that’s it for blogging every day in May. But guess what – this is a blog which means by its very nature it is NEVER-ENDING! Yes, you heard right – run quickly, save yourselves, it’s too late for me but you just might make it out alive!

If you’ve been here with me on this journey, I thank you. x

I’ve thought long and hard about this and I can’t nail it down to one person.

Nurses and doctors inspire me. The supermarket checkout girl/boy who has to be nice to every single person inspires me. People living with great triumph and great disaster inspire me. Humans generally are totally amazing. I’m glad I get to be one too.

Photographically speaking, everybody who ever picked up a camera and took a photo is an inspiration – I’ve been on flickr for nearly 10 years now; I look at my favourites there and want to run outside right now – out into the night to take photos…

See you tomorrow x
I’m blogging Every Day in May - let me know if you are too!

Hit snooze.

Hit snooze.

Hit snooze.

Hit snooze.

Hit snooze.

Hit snooze.

Get up.

Bathroom stuff happens, always finishing off with Body Shop body butter – that stuff is the shizz!

Run all over house looking for a complete outfit.

Make-up. I have to have make-up.

Luckily/unluckily I have the sort of hair that will do its own thing no matter how much or how little effort I put in (so I choose ‘little effort’).

Get chauffeur/postboy/husband (this is one person) out of bed.

Check I have everything I need in my bag.

Put packages for post-office in husbands bag.

No breakfast.

Out of the house!

(The coffee in the photo above is misleading – this only happens at weekends when we wander to local coffee shop).

See you tomorrow x
I’m blogging Every Day in May - let me know if you are too!

Fantasy dinner party

You are hereby invited to a dinner party: Nigella will be doing the cooking so wear an elasticated waist. She’ll be making lots and lots of starters. I love starters. Starters and cocktails (and maybe some pudding).

It will be a guaranteed warm summers evening so we’ll be out in the garden – lit by candles and lanterns and fairy lights. There will be NO moths.

We will be strewn on beautiful Moroccan cushions and the air will be filled with the scent of jasmine and honeysuckle.

We’ll have an old-fashioned gramophone playing something suitably chilled out – something Buddah Bar-ish.

Who’ll be there? Well, me (obviously) and you (because you ‘get’ me); we’ll be able to chat for hours and hours so do we need anyone else? I did consider having Michael Fassbender there to serve us drinks but I think we’d all be rather too distracted (and possibly filled with self-loathing) if we were to be anywhere within his orbit.

So, can you make it?

Secret talent

I can only really think of two secret talents – if I’m good enough to be called ‘talented’ at something then I’m generally happy to share this with anyone and everyone I meet.

1. I have a totally awesome talent for stacking the dish-washer. I put this down to years of playing Tetris coupled with the motivation that if I get everything in there I won’t have to wash anything by hand.
2. When I’m fast-forwarding through the ads on the Sky+ I can stop it exactly where the programme picks up every time. Even on 30x speed!

Bad advice

The worst advice I ever received?

There are two that immediately spring to mind, the first financial…

During the early 90′s – the taste of Thatcher’s Big-Bang (deregulation of financial markets) was fresh in the air and this meant that anyone at all could get a massive loan for anything they fancied and if they couldn’t afford that – simply get another loan. I sought advice left, right and centre as to whether now was a good to to buy property, seeing how I was STILL A TEENAGER – all I heard was ‘yes’. I bought a tiny little flat right at the peak of this tsunami of financial craziness, almost literally the day before the bubble burst.

The bubble burst.

It burst all over me and to cut a long story short I was left with huge debts and a tiny flat that was TOO tiny to live in comfortably and unsellable, I hated it and everything it represented. It took 10 years to get rid of it and I am still paying off those debts.

The second bit of bad advice was educational…

My family somehow managed to talk me OUT of going to university. Am I the only person in the world this has happened to? It was made clear it wouldn’t be a good financial move (ha, see above) seeing as I was a GIRL! I managed to persuade them into a couple of years of art college though (which I loved).

For the most part though the advice I receive is all good (certainly well intended). And now we have the internet so there’s certainly plenty of it to be had!

See you tomorrow x
I’m blogging Every Day in May - let me know if you are too!

These are my top 5 albums.

I think.

Well, this is what they are today anyway.

I’m going to be quite pedantic here and say that albums are very specific things – very much pre-iTunes. They are things you listen to in their entirety; the good tracks and the not-so good tracks and devour the complete thing – sleevenotes and all. For that reason most of these are oldies (nowadays I am very much all about Spotify).

The Sugarcubes – Life’s Too Good
I used to be a bit obsessed with The Sugarcubes in the late 80s – the best gig I ever went to was to see them at the ‘Town & Country Club’ (now The Forum) in Camden. (Fave track: Blue Eyed Pop)

Portishead – Dummy
Oh, the late night parties. The drinks. The discussions! (Fave track: Glory Box)

The Smiths – The Queen is Dead
I still listen to this in awe and so much gratitude that these people found each other and made this music happen. (Fave track: Big Mouth Strikes Again)

Pulp – Different Class
So many memories – probably my favoutire album cover too. (Fave track: Mis-Shapes)

Amy Winehouse – Back to Black
The most recent complete album I wholly immersed myself in and totally loved. (Fave track: Back to Black)

I feel awful – there are so, so many awesome albums I’ve missed off the list :(

See you tomorrow x
I’m blogging Every Day in May - let me know if you are too!

Here’s what greets you at eye level when you open the door – in amongst the mustard and pickles lives the bunny family. They moved in over Easter and I haven’t had the heart to eat them yet. Yes, me! Yes, chocolate!

Even though the fridge is filled with tons of jars and bottles and packets of things I don’t actually have the ingredients there to make one complete meal – nothing anyone would want to eat anyway. I think subconsciously that’s why the bunnies are still there – for emergency rations!

See you tomorrow x
I’m blogging Every Day in May - let me know if you are too!

The subject for today’s ‘blog every day in May’ is compliments, in particular the best one we’ve ever received.

That’s a tricky one, I mean, there are a lot of variables to ponder - the main one being; are they being sarcastic? (Although there was that time last year when I got asked for ID when buying Pinot Grigio from the Co-Op – that was rather great – I don’t even care if that one was insincere)!

Some of the best compliments I get are from you guys. The awesome comments and emails I get are truly appreciated and are often the thing that helps get me through the day. (Thank you).

Certainly the hardest earned compliments are from myself, but I do give them and when I do, I mean it.

See you tomorrow x
I’m blogging Every Day in May - let me know if you are too!

• I hate to break this to you but Simon Le Bon found someone else to marry. I know!
• Take good care of your eyebrows and no matter how unruly your hair gets you’ll still look well-groomed (but don’t overdo it – I know women my age with NO eyebrows at all now because they over-plucked).
• Possessions aren’t half as essential as you think they are – you know all those things you really want NOW; they went to the jumble years ago. Use the money to go out, have fun and gather up valuable memories and experiences instead.
• Don’t ever go on a diet. Firstly you look fine as you are, secondly it will be the start of a weird and abusive relationship with food that you’ll never be able to shake.
• You’re craving attention that you should be getting from your parents – try hard to recognise this for what it is and don’t compensate with bad relationship choices.
• Make the most of your perfect skin.
• Buy a lottery ticket for Saturday 18th May 2013 and pick the numbers 3, 5, 24, 31, 48 and 49.

See you tomorrow x
I’m blogging Every Day in May - let me know if you are too!