The A to Z of Me!

WARNING: This post has NO PICTURES.....!

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that as a blogger, I quite like reading other folks' blogs too. I used to just use my blog roll right here (down on the right!) to read blogs, but for the past year or so I've been using Bloglovin' to follow all my favourite blogs. Other than the missing g and apostrophe in its place (yuck) I really like Bloglovin' - it's easy to use, and best of all (for me), it comes with an app which I have on both my iPhone and my iPad. (And yes, you guessed it - I'm typing this on my MacBook.....I am not quite an Apple junkie, but getting there...!). 

Along with your own feed, BL also shares popular posts (on a different tab, you don't just get them stuck in there amongst all your chosen favourites) and whilst some of these are not things I would necessarily read - 'how to make delicious chocolate brownies that are vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, sugar-free and chocolate-free from only kale and dust' is not really my idea of a good time - some of them are really fun and a good read, and I appreciate getting a peek into other people's lives through their blogs. It's just a little more personal than Facebook, isn't it? It's also quite refreshing to read non-jewellery blogs from time to time - shock horror, I can step away from the beads from time to time! 

One of the blogs that I stumbled upon through BL (Sophie Cliff) shared a post last week which seems to be a current trend in some blogs, and I thought it was quite a neat idea. So here goes - the A to Z of me! Some silly, some personal and some in-between. 

A - Acupuncture. I've had quite a few health issues over the past 18 months, and since moving to Edinburgh in August, I've been going once a week. It makes me feel that I'm taking just a little more control of my life and is hopefully helping to sort things out for me.

B - Come on, you know what that's going to be. BEADS......It could have been so many other things though - books, beverages, Belfast, bunnies....but no. It really does have to be beads. I love how old they are as objects, how accessible they are to each of us; I love their symbolism, I love their teeniness, I love their colours - I love working with them. I love all the materials they can be made from - from the humblest of plastics to the most expensive of gemstones. I love the friends I've made because of them, and also, through sharing them with other people they pay my rent and help put food on the table. Pretty great wee things! 

C - Camper vans. Preferably VW. I WANT ONE!!

D - Detectives. Poirot, Miss Marple, Quincy, Cagney and Lacey, Columbo, Sherlock (Holmes), Jessica Fletcher, Broadchurch, Shetland, Vera, Morse, Lewis....etc etc etc. Watching or reading, you cannot beat crime drama, IMHO.

E - Earl Grey tea. My favourite. Preferably decaf - since I switched over at home a few years ago, my tolerance is SO low, I try to avoid caffeine when I can to avoid feeling like a jangly mess.

F - Food. Yum. I really love it (a bit too much!) and I've recently got back into cooking, since we've been living with Mum. It's so much easier to cook for 3 than it is for 2, somehow.

G - Grey hairs. Not too many yet, thank goodness, but I am going to dye the heck out of them when they arrive. Love grey on other people, but I will die a blonde, people!

H - Home. It's proved a somewhat elusive concept for me during my adult life. I lived in Manchester for 13 years, but it never felt like my home (much as I loved it). 11 months in Belfast and it truly did feel like my home, and then we had to leave to return to Edinburgh, the place I'd thought of as home all the way through living in England. Still getting used to it being my full-time home. 

I - Introvert. That's me. I recently took the Myers-Briggs test and came out as 100% introvert! No surprise to me however. I am so much more comfortable here in the written word rather than the spoken.

J - Jewellery. I love it. Love, love LOVE it. Love wearing it, making it, sharing it with others - I really do. It's such a special form of art. I mean come on - art you can wear! How awesome is that?!

K - Keyboard - well, piano really. I don't play so much anymore but I used to all the time when I was teaching. I am so looking forward to having my clavinova back when we are in our own flat, and I can play again. 

L - Love. The world could do with a wee bit more of it! 

M - Music. It has been a central part of my life since I was 6 and joined my first choir. I have a complicated relationship with it, as I grew up and spent most of my 20s wanting to be a full-time performer and - well, that is not going to happen for me. But still - I AM doing some more performing later this year, which I'm ecstatic about, with the most fantastic and exciting music theatre group. Music is and has been so important to me that I really can't leave it off this list. 

N - Northern Ireland - It's my Soul Home. I adore it - the people, the scenery, the music, the culture. I am still sad that our time there was so short, and I'm already looking forward to our next trip over. 

O - Ovaries. Mine don't work so well right now but I'm hoping that will change soon!

P - Prosecco. Need I say more?

Q - Queen. My favourite band, ever ever ever. Ever. I still have not a little of that teenage obsessive thing for them. I love them, and I have for very long time. 

R - Rabbits - my fur babies. Rufus, Florrie and Lily are our little ones right now and I ADORE them all!

S - Silver-smithing. I've gone back to school and am learning how to slice, melt and solder metal, and I love it! Can't wait til I can start to incorporate what I'm learning into my own jewellery.

T - Travel. I really do love it. I've been lucky enough to visit France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Madeira, Corfu, Lanzarote, Fuertaventura, Tenerife, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Italy, USA (Illinois, California and Florida), Israel, Egypt, Ireland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Russia in my time, not to mention exploring a lot of Northern Ireland and the British Isles too.

U - Untidy. I am SO untidy. Really and truly and I don't expect that to change any time soon, however hard I try (which isn't always much, granted!). Helen (who is tidy) and I have a theory - everyone falls into one of four categories: Clean/Tidy, Clean/Untidy, Dirty/Tidy and Dirty/Untidy. Thank goodness, I am definitely CLEAN/Untidy. The worst of that little lot though is Dirty/Tidy. Disgusting - but deceptively so. Yick.

V - Voting. There's been a lot of talk on this subject recently, not least in Scotland where we recently had a referendum. I'm not necessarily the most political animal, but I think it is so, so important to exercise ones right to vote. Yes, sometimes it does feel like you are choosing between dumb and dumber, but people have died for the right to vote, and it only takes a quick look at a country without democracy to see how important it is to get in that polling booth, even if you just put a cross next to the 'None of the above' option. Use your voice, people! Not everyone is privileged enough to have one in this world.

W - Wine. But of course.

X - Xylophone. Because I can't think of anything else beginning with an X right now.

Y - Yellow. It's actually one of my favourite colours, which is unusual I know. Sunny, happy and bright - what's not to love? 

Z - Zürich. My Mum used to live there, so we have quite a special relationship with it, and with Switzerland as a whole, as a family. It's a FANTASTIC city, full of beautiful architecture, cool shops, cheese, culture, cheese and one of my favourite languages to listen to. Oh, and did I mention the cheese?

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that little trip around me and my life. Send me the link if you decide to do an A-Z post too!