home sweet home

Ok, I admit I've been milking the 'time off' vibe !
There's been a lot of little jobs to catch up with over the last couple of days but I'm feeling a little more sorted out now with 20 loads of washing and a cupboard clearout under my belt.

We had a superb break. The children enjoyed it so much. Little Maddie was very good and was happy to be pushed around in the buggy for the most part. On day two she just crashed for a 2 hr nap in said buggy, something she never does............it was a case of complete sensory overload poor thing.

Its easier to show you our trip in pictures I think......so here goes..

Tower Bridge

China Town lanterns

The London Eye and Bodecea in foreground

Big Ben and Houses of Parliament (told you it was a total touristy trip !)

A misty Thames

St Katherines Dock, very close to the flat

Maddies birthday

Top of the world !

Natural History Museum

Tower of London

The gherkin and Tower...just love the contrast of old and new

I couldn't get any wireless signal in the flat and we had no TV. Really a blessing , we just read and fell asleep on the sofa in the evenings...bliss.

It's lovely to be back to this little blog, I missed it but was nervous about returning, heaven knows why. I feel a little out of the groove. I had a think about my blogging habits whilst away....I love, really love, the routine of a daily post. I truly feel that doing this has made me more aware of the sweet moments that happen everyday and to be grateful for them. I get such joy from all the lovely comments and am flattered that anybody reads my meanderings !

But some days it's genuinely hard to find more than scattered 10 minute chunks of time to sit and write, especially now that nap times are few and far between. The process can be quite time consuming as I'm sure you fellow bloggers are aware and I just don't want to be seen as 'on the computer again' by my family, which is a little how it was getting before we went away (sometimes justified, sometimes not !). Maybe I'll slow down a bit.

I suppose any activity that is essentially solitary is going to be seen as, dare I say it, a bit selfish ?

I guess it's like anything else - BALANCE.

I'd be interested to hear if any of you out there have the same feelings, do you experience any rightly or wrongly felt guilt regarding your blogging or blog reading ? How do you fit in posting and keeping up with and commenting on other wonderful blogs ? Lets all spill the beans.....we may pick up some tips....how, when, where and maybe most importanly why !

Comments

[amy]

looks like you had a great time. i am glad to see you posting. i have missed it! i am so inconsistent with blogging. i would love to post every day, but i feel like i need a scheduled time to blog each day or something, probably at night once the kids go to bed. however, i find that is time i want to veg on the couch and do nothing. if only i had a laptop! i look forward to hearing how others do it. i just feel like i am sporadic with posting and reading. although, i recently signed up with bloglines and that helps tremendously with reading other blogs. i used to waste a lot of time clicking on the links from my page.

[French Knots]

Looks like you had a good trip.
I'm sure I spend too much time reading blogs, but using bloglines speeds it up. I often snatch 10 minutes ( which stretches into 20!) at different points in my day from early morning till bedtime so it fits round the other things I need to/have to /want to do.

[gigibird]

You have brought up an interesting topic for discussion – I think there are a number of factors that make blogging slightly addictive – writing things down and seeing your thoughts in print is or has the potential to be quite cathartic and revelatory; add comments of people admiring or agreeing with you – and hey presto a positive relationship with your blog. It makes perfect sense to want to keep doing it.

But then go on holiday or don’t write for a while for various reasons and we step out of the ‘zone’ and other things fill the vacuum of time set aside for writing.

When I started my blog I felt I had so much to say but just recently some of the things I want to write about isn’t appropriate for my blog or my ‘readership’.
Even though I write for myself it’s still nice to get comments and to be frank I sometimes feel hurt when I don’t get any.

[Michele]

Hi Asti
Good to see you are back.. and what a lot you crammed into your week.. wonderful photographs as always!
I have had a bit of a blogging crisis of late.. Life has intervened and I haven't been able nor felt able to write without the events of recent days influencing my writing. I get panicky if I don't keep up a regular rythmn of posts and feel I will fall by the wayside..
It is so hard to fit it all that I want to say and to reply to all the wonderfully supportive and friendly comments.. I find this the hardest part.
I hate to offend anyone but I simply don't have enough time.. isn't that everyone's cry!?
Michelexxx

[kristi]

i missed your postings while you were away! the photo of the red lanterns is by far my favorite, along with the one of your daughter getting the hound you knitted. i love vacation--wouldn't it be nice to get to do it more often...

i am fairly new to blogging, and the funny thing is that before i did it, i used to silently (and sometimes vocally) judge my husband for spending time blogging when i thought he should have been hanging out with me or the kids (or doing dishes, ha!).

now that i am doing it, i get sucked in just like he used to (he's actually backed off trying to post every day, which maybe is what i should be doing). for the most part, i feel overwhelmed with it (finding time to do it) unless i can do just really small posts. i guess that's why i post so many pictures of my kids on there!

i want to know what bloglines is, because right now i don't really read many and also spend a lot of time going back and forth from the links on my blog!

maybe part of your conflict is that after being away from media in general, you feel a pull to just find more balance, like you said? it's SO easy to be so sucked into media that we forget what is going on around us. so this post is a good reminder to stop and do that every once in a while to gain some perspective. thanks asti!

[asti]

Thankyou so much everyone. It's good to know that I'm not the only one who has these thoughts.
Gigi - you put it so well, despite writing for 'myself', I do like the feedback from others, only natural I suppose, it's a real boost. I will admit that I cut out a lot of my rant from the above post before I put it up as I didn't want to seem like a moany old cow. I want the blog to be a positive space and not to use it for a whine....even though I'm so tempted sometimes!
Amy - The laptop has transformed it for me. I hated being tied to the big pc. Much more of a chore. I'd love to be able to do a bit more in the evenings but unfortunately thats when I work....and if I'm not at work I'm too tired! (I've just got in now at 1220am and am writing this whilst waiting for the kettle for my hot water bottle...)
Michele - Hi! Knew you'd be on my wavelength.:)
French Knots - I do this too !
Kristi - So true...that's the trouble, it's too easy to be sucked in....a 10 minute 'check my emails' can easily become much longer. I hate that and get very cross with myself.
I definitely need more self discipline on that front.
google bloglines - it sure speeds things up!

Well, thanks again - lets lighten up on ourselves...we all do a great job. All of your blogs are lovely places to visit and each of you are inspiring in different ways. No ones going to judge us if we don't post everyday, or just post pictures, or whatever.......I dont even know why I'm worryng about these things really :)

[Penny]

Hi Asti!
I'm so glad you had a fabulous time away. I love the photos you took!
As far as your blogging questions, I blog because I want to inspire others and connect! It seems that so much of the time in my daily life, people only know a part of me and who I am. It would be inappropriate (and probably boring to others) for me to spill the beans about every little creative project I do what I'm excited about. My blog is a place for me to write all I want about whatever I want and if someone wants to read it, then great. If someone leaves a comment for me about something I've posted, it makes my day! You know the saying "do unto others....", that's why I love to leave comments on other blogs, because I'm hoping to lift someone else's day.
I sometimes get a little anxious when I haven't blogged for a couple of days thinking that people will stop visiting my blog, but I try not to let that feeling of fear get in the way. I blog when I have something to say that I'm excited about. If this is daily, then great. If it's once a week, then so be it.
One thing I do that I think helps me to stay creative with blogging is to take photos. I'm constantly downloading photos to my computer that I have taken, knowing that someday I will eventually use it on a post on my blog.
~Penny

[Sal]

It was lovely to read about your trip!I'm glad you had such a good time.
I know what you mean about daily blogging.I have a friend who rushes in from work and can't wait to read what I've written.She gets so disappointed if I miss a day! Most of the time I have ideas, although I have not travelled far lately and there is only a certain amount that you can say about Newton Abbot eh?!!Sal;-)

[MamaShift]

I felt the same about blogging -- and I had only just started! Sometimes I wonder why I'm doing this. And it was also quite difficult to get into the reading groove again. Perhaps it was the number of posts to read, I dunno. But, yes, it took me a day or two. Welcome back! And thanks for your comment over at my place.

[kat]

welcome home!

i do find it hard at times to balance what i want with what the family needs.
that said: sometimes what i want turns out to be something *i* need. so i do it.

it's odd, but something that takes us away from our lives gives us our lives most clearly.

we (as you said) focus on the little things through blogging. we release what's going on in our heads - to others similar to us. & we read what is in their lives. their heads.

so as much as this solitary activity takes us away, it also enriches us, making us more present, for our family/friends... & more present in our heads.

plus being selfish feels so goooooooood.

[Krista]

Absolutely gorgeous pictures. So nice to see Architectual beauty. There in Alaska, anything older than 1940 is considered historic. I have a kiwi friend that goes over to London every 3rd year, I will have to make it over with her to see these beauties with my own eyes.