Song of Happiness

Beep Beep

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:34:00 +0000

What do you know... I passed my driving test today!

Camping Shenanigans

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:34:00 +0000

It was a month ago today, so figured I could write about it now. I had a great week leading up to July 4th. A group of my friends go camping up at Timothy Lake every year for July 4th, (as my birthday is July 5, it becomes a week long birthday celebration too). This year I turn 30, so I was determined to have a great time and celebrate. I am sometimes surprised I’ve made it this far, given I am extremely clumsy. I mean… I have been known to walk off a cliff in the pitch black night, fall out of trees and generally just trip and stumble here there and everywhere, luckily never while crossing the road with on coming traffic.

So anyways… we were up the mountain at Timothy Lake, sleeping in tents and keeping warm by the camp fire. The days were gorgeous perfect temperatures in our shady spot by the creek. However, at night… at night it was really cold, so cold in fact that the ice in our coolers refroze and we had to pry our food from the ice blocks. You may think I am exaggerating but I kid you not, it really was that cold at night, you just have to love those mountain summers. OK, to be perfectly honest, it was only that cold the first 2 nights, it did start to warm up a little as the week progressed.

We pretty much spent the week drinking and talking, playing drinking games such as drink while you think. Been as we had a lot of fruit and plenty of vodka and gin, we decided to make up some jungle juice. We thought that one of the empty 2 gallon water jugs would make a great container for said juice, so we got to squishing berries, oranges and limes in Ziploc bags, mixing in a little vodka while still in the squishing process. Once the berries were squished we cut a corner in the bag and poured it into the water jug thingie. Then we added the vodka, gin, lemonade, and pretty much anything else we could find that would taste good. Then we left it in a cooler of ice for a few hours. Oh my, it was so tasty. We purposely didn’t make it too strong either, thinking if people wanted it stronger they could add more berries/juice, erm i mean, more vodka or gin to their serving. Good times.

I spent a total of 4 nights up on the mountain, the wbf came out to join me for the last 2 nights, he couldn’t come sooner because he had to work. Well, when he arrived I was so happy, not just to see him, as I had missed him after 2 lonely nights in a very cold tent, but because he had a car full of balloons. By the way I love balloons, they just make me smile. He originally had brought 10, but 3 hadn’t made it, but I didn’t care, 7 big shiny balloons all for me. I was requested to tie them to my chair, and I felt like the birthday queen. I was all happy, that is until, all the small children started eyeing up my balloons… then started to ask me if they could have one. There were a lot of kids camping with us, and I knew as soon as I gave one away, they’d all be gone. I normally have no problems with sharing, but on this occasion I felt very selfish I wanted my balloons to myself, and I didn’t want them flying off into the woods and up the mountain, or getting popped near the campfire. So, I managed to negotiate, that they could have one (which they got right before bed time, when they went to bed we snagged it back and passed it on to the next child), seemed to be a win-win.

All in all, it was a great week. I’ll tell you more about the week in my next post.

Red Shoes

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:47:00 +0000

I am thinking that you may have been wondering what happened to that girl Caroline, who used to write to this little space in the blog world. She hasn’t been around in a few months.
If you thought that I had forgotten about my blog, you would be a little right, but not completely. Truth is the past few months have been a little unsettled. Been as my blog is called song of happiness I didn’t really want to post a bunch of miserable posts. So I saved you from that

I am hoping that things are now settling down some, although I am not feeling very settled as yet, but I don’t intend to bore you with those details.

Instead, I am going to try and think of something else to write about. Maybe one of my public transportation stories.

As you may know I don’t drive (yet – but I have been working on that lately), so I take public transportation to work. It seems I am one of those people that people like to talk to. This morning I was wearing my favourite red shoes. There was a couple of us waiting for the bus, including one lady with a white cane. She checked with me the bus number before we climbed on board and we ended up sitting next to each other.

Now, I learnt something here, as I thought people with white canes were blind, but turns out that is not the case, as she commented on my red shoes - so clearly she could see, although maybe not quite so well. My shoes happened to be the same red as her skirt. Well, by this point she’d heard me talk enough to pick up on my accent, so the discussion began.

She had been to England a long time ago, and had fallen in love with it. We got to talking about where in England I was from, and I was impressed that just by me saying I was from the North East, she was able to rattle off counties in that area, and name landmarks, although she’d never actually got that far north.

Needless to say this was quite a different experience to some of the others I’ve had since moving here, where when asked where I am from and I say England, they think I mean New England…

Caromie is back in town,

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:52:00 +0000

I took a break from my blog for a while. Truth is I have been working quite a bit the past few months, and just didn't have much time to write. Seems things are quieting down a little now, and getting back to "normal". So here I am, back for a while at least.

Its not just that I haven't been writing, I haven't even been reading other peoples blogs much lately. The most I have been able to manage is the odd tweet every now and again. But at least that let people know I was still living.

Life is good at the moment, I still have a job, for now at least, my bf and I managed to patch things up and are getting along really well, we are not living together at the moment, and I am sure that helps. We both need a decent amount of space/time to ourselves. Living together we weren't able to find that balance. Of course, we can't go living in separate places forever, although we have spoken about it. Maybe we could buy two houses in the same street, or even next door to each other... it could be the secret to our success. Seriously though, we are taking things slowly and having a lot of fun.

2009, seems to be the year for weddings. I think we have heard about 5 in the past two months which take places over the next 12 months or so. 4 in the mid west, and 1 back in the UK. I haven't even been to a wedding since I was 16, and now 5 in a year... With some luck these weddings will give me something to write about. I mean every wedding has a story right..?

Bullying...

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:59:00 +0000

A while back I saw a tweet from Claire requesting that people share their bullying stories at www.bullying.co.uk.
I was bullyied for most of my high school life, so I hoped over there and checked it out, and of course posted my story. I recieved an email this morning:

Thank you so much for your views on bullying, it has already had impact the BBC One Show has been in touch they are doing an item on the long term effects of bullying and they were very interested in speaking to you.

Of course been as I am now living in the US, this won't be happening, but I was pleased to see that just a short story of something that happened over 10 years ago, at least received some interest.

The Past 2 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:35:00 +0000

Oh poor neglected blog, I have been so busy and had no time to even think of something to write, never mind actually spending the time to put the words down.

The silly places cats sleep

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:16:00 +0000

She is fast asleep in a Tupperware container full of bubble wrap...

Yesterday Morning

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:00:00 +0000

One of the best things about my new home is the view. The picture taken above was taken from my balcony. I have this view from my dinning room, living room and bedroom. I feel very lucky.

You have no ideas how many photos of Mt Hood I have been taking lately.

With the good weather we've been having lately, there have been some fantastic views, sunsets and sunrises.

The above was yesterdays sunrise.

Martin Luther King Day

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:56:00 +0000

New Blog Layout

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 02:41:00 +0000

I finally got around to changing my blog layout. It's been bugging me for a while, so I picked out a shiny new one today.

No doubt I'll be playing around with it over the next few days. Then I'll get back to writing to my lovely blog.

(Belated) Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:23:00 +0000

5 days into 2009 and I am finally able to get around to wishing you all a Happy New Year!

I had a wonderful Christmas in New Zealand with my parents, brother and cousins. It was wonderful and beautiful.

I am now living in a new apartment with fantastic views of Mount Hood, I still have a little unpacking to do, only 2 boxes, and I hope to have them done soon. I was supposed to be back at work today after my vacation but a tummy bug that I picked up from somewhere has me at home. I am feeling better than I was yesterday, so hope to be back there tomorrow. I feel like I've been off work for ages, it will be odd to be back, especially been as I started my new role right before I left for vacation.

With being sick, all I have really done the past couple of days is watch Heroes, I am still on season 1, but am little addicted already.

Apology (of sorts)

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 22:11:00 +0000

I have been neglecting my poor blog this past month. There’s been multiple reasons for this. My life has had a lot of changes lately, and I’ve been taking some time to let the dust settle and get back into my groove. The past couple of weeks I’ve had the opportunity to meet up with some friends that I haven’t seen in a couple of years. These meetings have really opened my eyes to how much I’ve “grown” over the last two/three years. 3 years ago I had no self-esteem, there were long periods of time were I even hated myself. Such a different person from who I am now. I surrounded myself with people who were not really good for me. We were all struggling together, but rather than trying to give each other emotional support we beat each other down more.

I have always been a relatively strong person, I just didn’t know it. I’ve had depression for a large chunk of my life, I first became aware of it when I was 12. I’ve never taken any medication to combat this but instead I realized that we do have some control over our emotions, we can influence the way that we react and deal with the things that life throws at us.

These days I am happy with my life and the path that I have chosen to take, even with the recent changes in it. I am extremely happy that I moved to Portland, as it is now home to me, and has really helped me to finally feel somewhat settled. Before moving here, I was looking for something new every year, be it my job, the country I lived in or any number of things.

I will be back to this blog soon, in the meantime check back occasionally, I’ll be posting here and there.

Escape

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:20:00 +0000

While I am doing my writing class, I am sorry, but you are stuck with reading some of my assignments :)

I have a candle lit near my computer, this one was a birthday gift from a friend, called tense lady formula, I must have been stressed out that time of year, for he must have felt I needed some help to unwind, there's not much of it left. Its warm flickering light distracts my eye from the screen, grabbing my attention. There must be a draft in my room as it bounces around casting shadows on the white walls and curtains, sharing its warm yellow glow with them. As the wax starts to melt I can smell the gentle lavender fragrance, it's subtle, but if I breathe in I notice it. Lavender reminds me of my mother's garden back home, there is so much lavender growing there, it almost takes over. In a while the wax will start to drip down the sides of the candle, as if it's trying to escape, each droplet running over the previous in an attempt to get away, but there is no where for it to go other than to the base of the votive holder, where the flame will catch up to it eventually.

The room where I write

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:09:00 +0000

I have been lost for things to write on my blog lately. Partly due to the fact that I just began a writing class and it would seem I have an internal quota on the number of words I can write in a day or week. Kind of like the theory that women need to speak 'x' number of words within a day to be 'happy'. I am pretty confident it was a man that came up with that theory... but whatever.

So in the lack of things to write about, you get to see one of my writing class assignments... its not supposed to be good... its free writing...

The room where I write

It’s always dark in this room. I have no ceiling lights, just lamps spread out around the room, which give off a warm yellow glow. I like to light candles this time of year as they make the room seem warmer, and add to the glow of the artificial light. My white couches are starting to look really sad, they need new cushions, or to be restuffed. They’ve been used a lot over the past 8 years. I got them from a friend when I first moved into my own apartment. One of them even has a petrol stain on the cover from one of my moves when it was dropped in a puddle. They are well used, but unfortunately not well loved.

The TV takes up far too much of the room, left over from a broken relationship. I’d wanted a flat screen, but he won out in the discussion, no I have a ridiculous TV eating up the space of my room. The carpet is a mess, my cats leave fluff all over it as they run around playing tag, jumping over each other and anything else that gets in the way.

Gay Marriage - What's the big deal?

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:10:00 +0000

This Saturday, November 15th 10:30am PST/1:30pm EST a Protest is being held across the USA against Prop 8.

I have to admit, I was excited last week when Obama was elected. This was closely followed by disappointment as the ballot results came in:

Arizona: Ban on Gay Marriage
Arkansas: Ban on Gay Couple adopting children
California: Ban on Gay Marriage
Florida: Ban on Gay Marriage

Each on of these bans went through.

I really struggle to understand why the majority of people believe that gay marriage and gay adoption is wrong. Some of the arguments that I have heard in support of the bans include how marriage is sacred (then why do we allow divorce?), children have the right to a loving mother and father (yet many children are abused by straight parents).

Really, want impact does it have on a person if a gay couple, who love each other get married. Does it really matter? Why shouldn’t two people that love each other be able to be together, and be able to commit to each other in the same way that a straight person can. Why should your sexual orientation affect your rights as a human?

It is a common misconception is that GLBT folks choose “the gay lifestyle”. The only choice involved is the choice to be honest with yourself, and open with others, and to come to terms with all that you are, and to integrate that into your life. Just as straight people do not choose who they fall in love with, neither do gay people. Sure there’s a choice on whether you spend your life with that person, but you don’t choose who you are in love with.

Please take time on Saturday and attend the protest in your area, see here for more information about the Protest Prop 8, I’ll be at the Portland one.

Refugees Unite

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:32:00 +0000

I haven’t written for a couple of weeks. I’ve had some things going on in my personal life, and I need to focus on myself for a bit. However my past 2 weeks pale to insignificance compared to what has happened in the lives of some many other people. Of course, experiences are relative, but still I count myself lucky for the relatively easy life I have been given.

Today is November 10th, today many bloggers are uniting to write about refugees, with the hoping of increasing awareness. The Bloggers Unite initiative was designed to harness expression in support of human rights and issues in need of highlight. Refugees United is the only online, highly secure and anonymous possibility of refugees to reconnect with family.

Today I got up out of bed, after hitting the alarm clocks snooze button 3 times, I just wasn’t quite ready to crawl out of my nice warm bed. I took a hot shower, got dressed, fed my cats and headed out the door to work. Once at work I said my cheery good mornings to the people at the desks I pass on the way to my own. I had a short banter with my co-worker then sat down to do my work. I received a short message from my mum. Today was a “normal” day.

I can’t even begin to imagine how I would react if I was suddenly picked up from my home in the early hours of the morning and taken captive. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have to leave my life behind because of my safety. I have moved several times not only to new cities but to new countries, but it was always a choice. I never had to make the move. I have left my family behind in Europe, but I know they are safe and well. I talk to them multiple times a week. I can not even begin to imagine living a life where I have no idea where my brother is. I may not see him often, but I know he’s well, and safe. We chat a couple of times a week. If I was unable to reach him, I would not sleep or rest until I knew he was safe.

To have to run to a country, with no job, no friends, unable to speak the language and make myself understood would be hard enough, and then to add to that the knowledge that I may never see family and friends again would be so much to bear.

I can not even begin to imagine life as a refugee. Yet, many people live this life. They leave family behind, they are taken captive, they end up in countries and cultures they know nothing about and have to try and make a life for themselves. They are often met with prejudice and distrust from the locals in the areas they move to.

“The ongoing problem of people torn from their homes is something that should, and must, concern us all, in order to find a common solution and bring back life and dignity to the millions suffering.” Bloggers Unite

I read several refugees stories this morning, I didn't want to just copy and paste, but if you'd like to find out more you can go to:
Red Cross
Refugees International

White House Breakfast

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:34:00 +0000

Dick Cheney and George W. Bush were having breakfast at the White House.

The attractive young waitress asked Mr. Cheney what he would like, and he replied, 'I'd like a bowl of oatmeal and some fruit.'

'And what can I get for you, Mr. President?' George W. looked up from his menu and replied with his trademark wink and slight grin, 'How about a quickie this morning?'

'Why, Mr. President!' the waitress exclaimed 'How rude! You're starting to act like President Clinton,' and then she stormed away.

Cheney leaned over to Bush and whispered . . . 'It's pronounced 'quiche'.'

This is all I got...

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:35:00 +0000

Two bits of tarmac sitting in a bar.
A green bit of tarmac comes in.
One says, don't go near him, he a cyclepath.

Wordless Wednesday - Autumn at work

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 20:19:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:56:00 +0000

I am feeling quite lousy today. I had my hair dyed a couple of shades more red on Friday, and I love it. I therefore bought some new shampoo, so that the colour might last a little longer, and guess what... the sensitive little flower that I am, is allergic to it. I felt all cute with my new hair... and now... now my face and neck is all blotchy and itchy.

Due to the fact that I already have other allergies, my medication is not sufficient to cover it all and I am sneezing and coughing a lot again. Needless to say I am feeling a little sorry for myself, in fact so much so that after lunch I am probably going to head home as I have left my inhaler there anyway. Stupid allergies. I don't know when I became so sensitive to stuff. Its Dove too, so you'd think it would be more gentle... I guess not.

Well, that does mean that I may actually be able to decorate the bra today... I'll post pictures when I do.

Fumbling is Bad

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:13:00 +0000

So most of this past weekend was spent with the wbf. Friday night we went out and had a scrumptious dinner with some friends. Saturday, we spent the day being lazy and watching college football. The wbf is a college football junkie. Me, well not so much, for one thing it doesn’t count as football to me. But been as I love him, I am trying to get more into it, and he is also encouraging me to do so. One way that I am getting into it is through the ESPN College Pick’em thingie. I did pretty good last week, but this week not so much, I think I may start to actually have to read a little bit about the teams. I did however watch more of the games with him this weekend than I have done for a while.

This may have been because I was too tired to be doing much of anything else, but we won’t be telling the wbf that, as far as he knows, I just wanted to watch it …

I actually had fun watching the games, which might actually be the strangest thing of all. We watched the Ohio State game, and I actually learnt some things, I already knew that fumbling is bad, but now I know a little bit more about being down… knees and elbows…and footballs, I did say a little bit… I also learnt where brutus stands throughout most of the game, so was able to spot him a couple of times before the wbf did (that is how he keeps me interested, we play spot the mascot)

Well between now and next Saturday I am going to try to learn some more.

Decorate a Bra - For the Cure

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:41:00 +0000

I was on my EC dropping route this morning and came across this interesting post.

"I could not let this month go by without bringing to light that it is breast cancer awareness month. There is a wealth of information on the National Breat Cancer Awareness they can guide you to treatment centers near you, calendar of events, and new studies and findings. I encourage every one to seek knowledge and pass this knowledge on. Susan G Komen for the cure is now committed to immediate patient help with an unprecedented $100 Million. Did you know that breast cancer is one of the top 5 leading causes of death in women?

In light of the Halloween spirit, I'd like to invite every one to participate in decorating bra-athon. I'd like each of you to grab a bra and decorate it, it can reflect your personality, your feelings about breast cancer, your creative side, heck it can reflect anything. After you've decorated the heck out of that bra, I'd like you to post it in your site, blog about it and link back to me." for more head over to Mommying On The Fly.

So can you guess what I am going to be doing this evening? I am going to be decorating a bra... obviously, I mean how else would you spend a Thursday evening. To participate please head over to Mommying On The Fly and sign up.

So you can look forward to seeing my decorated bra here soon.

Wordless Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:37:00 +0000

A few of my favourite things.

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:44:00 +0000

Today is the wbf’s birthday. I find it quite amusing that his birthday falls on a full moon. Perhaps he’ll turn into a werewolf or something. Now that would give me something to write about – should I survive it of course. Actually, I don’t think it would surprise me all that much, he does appear to be quite grumpy as I would imagine a werewolf would be sometimes.

Well, anyway, as its his birthday today, the two of us celebrated last night. He has to work late today. I baked him some scrummy chocolate chip cookies (his favourite), made dinner, hung some balloons up around the apartment and got us a bottle of champagne to share. We then watched a silly movie – Kenucky Fried Movie. He was adamant that I wouldn’t like it, as he is with all of his “favourite” movies. We he was wrong, I thought it was actually quite funny – although perhaps the champagne helped. Well anyway, I think I made a break through last night. I realized that perhaps he doesn’t want me to like his “favourite” movies, perhaps that somehow taints them. Sort of like when you find out your parents like your “favourite” band, or “favourite” shirt, somehow it’s no longer your “favourite”, in fact somehow you never listen to that band, or wear that shirt again.

Connecticut judges allow same-sex marriage

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:31:00 +0000

I had to write 2 posts today now that I know this.

This is great news, I am so happy that this is a possibibilty in one more state :)

Read more here