Just a short list of 3 blogs that I’ll be watching this year:
- Zen Habits (Life Skills)
- The Sartorialist (Fashion & Photography)
- Ma.tt (WP)
They are in no particular order.
Posted by: Chara Meredith | 9 February, 2010
2010 Blogs to Watch
Posted in Internet/IT | Tags: Blogs, Life, 2010, Photography, WordPress
Posted by: Chara Meredith | 28 January, 2010
Art work
I had wanted to have some pictures of my art work to upload here, but every time I’m on here I don’t have my camera with me, or the pictures on file, so it will have to be next time. But I have a couple up my sleeve – I completed a set of three that I mentioned in a post …in November? So long ago. And I have also finished 1 of 4 that I will be working on in my spare time – so hopefully I’ll post these as I go, or somesuch like that. I can’t actually put them up on the wall as I don’t have permission from the landlady to do so – but I probably should ask, so that they can be somewhat useful.
Posted by: Chara Meredith | 25 January, 2010
One step forward…a couple back
I’m sitting at work in a near-empty office, listening to White Noise by Lauren O’Connell (watch it on YouTube). I was introduced to the song by Chris Brogan through Twitter (the new media WOM). It was this song that enticed me to come back to my blog and write another post, not really because it struck something in me but rather it is the type of song that I like writing too. I’m pretty inconsistent with postage in general – but I hope that will change…soon. I should set up a playlist of writing songs – or should I say, songs that entice me to write – and then I might be able to sit down and get to it.
Which leads me to my plan that I set up about a year ago to build up another blog with book reviews on it…and it was going pretty well – until I lost momentum. I’m not really sure what happened now, which means it might be a bit hard to learn from my mistakes. Maybe it was just a gave up too easily, and I should have kept going, building momentum as I go rather than losing it. Maybe it was a matter of thinking it didn’t really matter – the only person the outcome really affects is myself after all – maybe that was my illusion (or delusion?). Either way, I gave it a go and got so far, and then stopped without really putting the hard efforts in – the set up is the easiest part of a blog after all. Reading and writing the reviews continuously would have been work – and that is truly the, most probable, reason I stopped. I should plaster that reason all over my laptop – and hopefully then I might be able to get past it. Learn from it, and push through that wall next time, and there will be a next time. It will happen every day or every month in different ways – and I can’t give up.
Posted by: Chara Meredith | 19 January, 2010
2010
It’s the new year already – and I’m finally back at work – its a little bit weird to be back but good as well. Having a month off work to chill out and start to remember all the good things about life is great. I fully recommend taking 4 weeks leave in one go at least every two years so that you can reset your creativity and relearn all the good things about life – family, friends and fun.
It’s one of those things that while at school and possibly uni that you can take for granted – long holidays where you have time to go to the beach everyday, meet up with friends and chill out – and generally have fun to that degree – and when you start full-time work your 2-3 months worth of holidays each year is reduced to a measly 1 month! Which I find it’s really easy to use in little dribs and drabs in order to make the most of long weekends and short – 1 week – trips away here and there. But do you ever truly relax like you used to in those early years? I think not – I recommend the disconnect (electronic & work-wise) for a full month to really reconnect with you family and friends – and perhaps one of the most useful reasons – to reconsider why you are where you are. So many people get sucked into the vortex called work that they forget how to put work into a life perspective. Taking a full month (fully disconnected) from work means that you get pulled away from the vortex, and can re-evaluate your life, and your goals.
For me the last month on leave has been a fantastic time – I spent 10 days with family over Christmas, just chilling out and enjoying sharing time and company – reconnecting a lives for those 10 days at least – and it has made me reconsider why I moved away and whether I still want to be away. I haven’t come to a decision but I certainly didn’t feel or think this way before I took the break. In addition, as my last post states, I hadn’t considered fully going back to university, sort of but not really. I feel more certain now about going back to university in 2011. I had considered doing a Masters this year but the Masters I was looking at was not as in depth or detailed as I wanted to go, so I have considered and 99% decided 
that I will go back next year to do another Bachelor degree (God willing). This was definitely not something I was considering in any detail 4 weeks ago, but here I am, one step closer to changing careers. 
Posted by: Chara Meredith | 1 December, 2009
Nearing the end of 2009
I can’t really believe it (can you?). It’s nearly the end of 2009 – its amazing really, it wasn’t that long ago that I was writing my first posts of the year – specifically around my Plans for 2009 after returning from Europe. Okay so I haven’t really kept to the plan that I set out then but I have in a couple of areas – and I’m pretty stoked with that!
1a) Financial Responsibility – I’m still learning it, there is no way that a year attempting to save money got me into habits for the rest of my life, but I have saved money, and while it’s a small start
1b) Health-wise Responsibility – This was one of the areas that didn’t see much progression. While I did buy an exercise bike, I have not gotten into a rhythm of riding it. I haven’t improved my eating habits, in fact I think I’ve regressed. But I have no problems going to the doctor, dentist and optometrist to get some assistance. I even got contacts at the beginning of the year – I now realise that contacts are more fiddly than they are worth (e.g. a lens popping out of your eye while you’re sitting down is not going to increase your confidence in them).
2) Energy/Positivity – I feel like I’ve been pretty positive this year, for the most part, maybe a little, sometimes. LOL. Maybe not the greatest of endorsements for success in this area, but I guess learning to laugh at life’s little foibles is just as good as feeling buoyant, and maybe a better long term skill.
3) Relaxing – This is pretty important to me, I find I need to take the time to relax for a part of the day in order to appropriately regroup before coming back the next day – especially when I’m locked into something – that might be work (Mon-Fri) or locked into organising music for a Sunday morning at Church.
4) Gardening – I have no idea if I would want to pursue this as a career. But, I have had heaps of fun setting up a garden and growing different herbs and vegies. I’m currently growing pumpkins, spring onions, tomatoes, chilli, basil, parsley (curly & flat leaf), lavender, mint, oregano, and rosemary. I also keep a compost – and am attempting to get the grass to grow during our lovely drought conditions. It’s fun, uses some energy, and gets me outside in the warmth and sun! So I’m loving it (and I’m really loving the rain we’ve been having lately – it has been awesome!),
5) Art – I had decided to discard this item from my list earlier in the year, but recently I have gotten out the paints and have done one and a half paintings (the Face painting I mentioned in a previous post, is getting there but not yet complete). So its not yet dead – it probably helped going to an art gallery or two, they tend to inspire me to paint better than anything else.
6) Reading Non-Fiction – LOL – To be honest I have been fairly successfully in this endeavour to read a number of non-fiction books. I have started reading 5 or 6 books, the problem is that I haven’t finished any of them! But I plan to during my holidays so it should be alright still.
7) Go away/Explore Victoria – I should have, I haven’t, but I still hope to. It’s not a lost endeavour, I am taking a nice chunk of leave soon and most will be spent at home, so I should have plenty of time to go away for a couple of nights here and there.
Hopefully I’ll be able to post some photos of all of the above soon.
