Category: Work (page 6 of 7)

January 27, 2011 / 3 Comments

A Heartfelt Thanks

THANK YOU

I just wanted to extend a heartfelt thank you to you all for your kind words to me on my blog and through Twitter. I try not to use my blog as a forum for rants, but I was more than fired up over the loss of my wallet!

I truly appreciate your outpouring of support. Do not worry, I have not lost faith. How could I, when I have already been shown such kindness from people I have never met?

Stay tuned! I will be revealing my secret project soon!

Jennifer x

**Update: People’s kindness continue to flow. This morning (1-28-2011), I had a colleague bring me a wallet that she received for Christmas and wasn’t using. “Just something to get me through for awhile,” she said! Now, how kind is that!

January 25, 2011 / 6 Comments

Losing my Faith

It is not often that I use my blog as my personal forum to have a rant about things going on, in or around my life. But, excuse me today while I step upon my soapbox. I planned to reveal my secret project yesterday, but when I came home, I was deflated. I felt like an old balloon, that was just barely floating above the floor, the ribbon tail all twisted up beneath it.

Why was I so deflated you ask? Well, I had my wallet stolen out of my handbag at school. Which was in a locked equipment cupboard in my room, but since so many people come and go and do not always remember to lock the door behind them on my personal belongings, someone else saw this as their opportunity.

They must have been very determined, because my current bag of choice at the moment, is a gorgeous Lucky bag that my parents gave me and it is a giant bucket bag and very very Mary Poppins-ish deep, and that was all zipped up and twisted into another bag, so someone really worked hard to get my wallet out.

They walked away with my wallet, about £20 and my bank cards, which thankfully have now been cancelled and had not been used. But, more than the £20 or the pieces of plastic or my favourite green and polka dotted Cath Kidston wallet, bought for me by Mr. Michie, they walked away with my faith in humanity.

I am a girl raised in the South, I was raised by very compassionate parents, with extremely gracious manners. I always make a point of saying “hello” to people I see as I go about my day. I smile. I work my hardest to help people out, I give them respect, it doesn’t matter what others think of you, until you do something to upset me, you have a clean slate in my cupboard. Which is not what was shown to me yesterday.

Today as people came in and out, I watched them like a hawk, I questioned them in my head. I again questioned the turn of events yesterday. I am not an attention seeker, but I did feel it wise to make this known to others, since culprits like to boast, something might be heard through the grapevine.

I was hurt, that after sending out an “All Staff” e-mail, to make people aware, some gave me their sincere apologies, while others who spoke to me just shrugged, because they are complacent and so I am expected to be as well. Well, I refuse to be, a little of my faith in humanity was robbed from me yesterday afternoon and I will not be complacent about that. I will fight to get that back, with every bone in my body.

For, I believe there is good, more good than evil, I will walk in to school tomorrow, I will hide my hurt and I will carry on, a little wiser, a little older and I will continue to seek out the good in people, because surely it is there to be had.

November 12, 2010 / 1 Comment

A Tea Party

On Wednesday afternoon for completing my first 1/2 term at my new school, I was invited to an afternoon tea with the principal. Which, I thought was a very charming British thing to do.

It was lovely, the table was laid with the most gorgeous trays of sandwiches and cakes and scones with oodles of clotted cream and strawberry jam to lavish upon them. There were also the most divine miniature coffee eclairs. After working away in the cupboard all day, all that wonderful sugar on offer was pure happiness!

It was all created by the students in the Home Economics department and they had worked tremendously hard. It was an absolute delight and, a pretty neat way to welcome in your new staff too!

(Image: A Su Blackwell piece)

September 22, 2010 / 0 Comments

Round the Buses

We take the bus into school most mornings and pretty much every evening, unless we miss it and then we walk home breathing in all the goodness of fall (tonight I smelt my first fire of the season, the air was crispy and the woody mossy smell of logs crackling, was dancing through the air as we waited at our stop).

As we stand at our stop in the morning, our breath clinging in puffs before us, it is quiet, tranquil. Everyone around us still seems to be asleep just running on auto-pilot. The bus driver turns up, and as we are stepping on board he has our tickets printed already a few cheery “Good Mornings” and we take our seats.

You see the same people, a little nod and smile to some, others don’t care to be bothered. The bus is quiet, there is no talking, everyone appears to be mentally preparing themselves for the day ahead.

This, however, is not the case on the afternoon bus. Our bus driver is not a happy camper by any means, I greet her with a friendly “Hello!” and get either grunts or no acknowledgement in reply. She usually has a terse word with someone over nothing and she drives like a maniac.

It is like being on a rollercoaster ride, today my stomach was doing flips by the time we got home, from all the twisting and turning and short stopping and almost hitting people, animals, cars. I just hold my breath.

We have been back at school for two weeks now and she has not changed, her attitude seems to be stuck to her like glue, but I refuse to bend! I will continue to be as cheery as always and continue to tell her “Hello!” whether she likes it or not!

As Anne of Green Gables said, “I refuse to be poisoned by your bitterness!” and I think that can also go for being jaded. I refuse to be jaded by someone because they have a sour disposition about the world. I have my own thoughts, beliefs, dreams and I refuse to let them be destroyed by someone who has no imagination. Because to have no imagination must be the most unhappiest of existences I could dream of!

Whew! Ok, hold on…I am stepping down now and putting my soapbox away…

September 20, 2010 / 0 Comments

Vacations

It is only Monday and I think I need a vacation! What a crazy hazy day this has been!

I am loving my new job, always something different, always moving here and there and I like that. I have been busy designing a few things for the big Art trip happening in a few weeks, so Photoshop and I have been in full swing creating an interactive type guide for the students to use.

I am also finding more and more goodies to photograph for In the Art Cupboard, the pile is growing bigger and bigger so stay tuned…

(Image: Found in Mom’s Basement)

September 5, 2010 / 0 Comments

Back To School

Tomorrow is my first full week at school. I jumped in last week and now I am just swimming around, not sticking too close to the edge, I have thrown myself into the deep end and I am just fine, for the moment anyway.

I have plans this week to do more cleaning in the cupboard, just taking it a section at a time. In going through a pile on Thursday (it cascaded down when I went to reach for something above) I discovered some treasures from China. There were little paintings, bought in a market, a box of two shadow puppets and a few packets of tissue paper wrapped intricately designed paper cut-outs including circus figures, the New Year’s animals and a selection of Oriental women.

I cleaned the other half of my “hallway”, so now there is an easy path inside, with no tripping, twisting, or contorting to get through into the main part of the cupboard. So, tomorrow I will be donning my green apron, rolling up my sleeves and getting back to work!

In celebration of going back to school I will be doing a small series this week of “Back-to-School” posts, so keep a look out for ideas and projects that I will feature here!

September 1, 2010 / 1 Comment

I Jumped

Well, I jumped! And, the water was just fine!

Today was very busy, with a major learning curve I had to quickly climb up! My day was spent in and out of meetings, I worked in my cupboard in between, unpacking supplies. I love the smell of pastels and charcoal and inks. It was a treat to open those boxes, the first person to touch the beloved Art supplies before they become a muddled rainbow of used things.

There is much more to learn, but that will come in time, I know. For it wouldn’t be an Adventure if you already knew the journey at the start! As Anne with an “E” says:

“Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive–it’s such an interesting world. It wouldn’t be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There’d be no scope for imagination then, would there?” -L.M. Montgomery

The best part of my day was the end. I was picked up by Mr. Michie and arm in arm he walked me to the bus stop and then home we went! I felt just like Anne of Green Gables with her Gilbert Blythe.

August 31, 2010 / 2 Comments

Jumping Right In

Tomorrow is my first day of school! I am so excited, nervous, happy, sick to my stomach! I love school and I hate school. I know I am going there in a working capacity, but I feel as if I will be walking through those doors like any other student, the new kid(s) on the block.

Believe it or not, I am a very shy person and meeting new people and being in new situations give me butterflies. Even the thought of being introduced to my peers at Assembly on Wednesday morning has my stomach churning and my cheeks flaming red, for all of the 10 seconds it will take to occur. But, you would never know it from looking at me.

My parents have always taught my sister and I how to behave, we were never allowed to hide behind them and not speak to people; making eye contact, a nice handshake, they have a gift for putting people at ease, my parents and they instilled good manners in us.

So come tomorrow morning, I am going to make eye contact, shake hands, hold my head high and no one will never know that a three ring circus is going on inside my tummy. I’m holding my nose, here I go… I’m jumping right in!

July 20, 2010 / 0 Comments

School’s Out!

School is out for Summer! Wooo-Hooo!

I am so excited, that means the occasional morning sleeping in with Mr. Michie, eating lunch together, running errands together before I head to work, dinner at a more normal hour. I love when he is off from school and we can spend time with each other.

Next school year, I will be going to school too, so we will have the same holidays off, to just sit and stare at each other over the tops of our computers, like a couple of nerds.

Mr. Michie is a very cute nerd though!

(Image found on polkadotandplaid’s Flickr account)

July 6, 2010 / 0 Comments

Above Water

Is this week over already? I am ready for it to be and it is only Tuesday! I got my biggest order yet from RosaBlue and I have been busily cutting away felt, embroidering pockets and faces on bears and bunnies, ironing wrens on fabric labels…

I am just trying to take it slow, to do them in color batches, so I don’t get overwhelmed. Between trying to keep the household chores up, take care of this order, go to work and prepare for my new job (in which I am doing the “handover” this week), I am endeavouring to keep my head above water.

But, when I feel overwhelmed and nothing seems to be getting accomplished, I take some “Jack Byrnes Wisdom” and I step back, take a deep breath, take a break and go back to it in a little while. It will all get accomplished, not everything all at once, maybe not as quickly as I intended or how I planned and organized it, but in the end it will all get done.

So, right now, I am just focusing on keeping my head above water, I’ve always liked a good challenge, so I am more than ready to take this on….

(Image: Esther Williams found on Flickr)