I met the love of my life 7 years ago today

We look good together - our first ever photo as a potential couple

Seven years ago, give or take a day or two. I went to Oxford for the day with my brother and my friends.  It was to be an all day drinking session that would change my life, for the better.  

We started in the Red Lion, where I sat on the sofa with no support and promptly sank to the ground.

We then bimbled along Cornmarket on the way discovered little pub called the crown between McD's and Moss Bros.  It was a squeeze but we all manged to fit in.  It's not the smallest pub in Oxford but it is most definitely cosy.

It's was in the next pub, a sausage specialist pub called The Chequers, the I realised that, I had arranged for GO to meet us and not only had I given him the wrong number, my battery was flat.

Starting to look worse for wear

In a panic, because I quite liked this guy, I gave him my brothers number and arranged for him to meet us.  The rest as they say is history.

Meditation as an art

We visited the Global Retreat Centre for a session on the art of Meditiation.  I have included a copy of my session notes.

Talk to enable the restoration of balance and focus in life. 

Thought is not a problem when improving yourself, it is a creative energy that needs to be understood.  We want to change three things about thought;

1) the quality of thought is all about environmental influences, we need to elevate thought beyond the physical experiences. 

2) the speed of thought, if we burnout out we can't function and we always need to have a break. 

3) the direction of our thoughts, they tend to go out if our bodies in words and we need to direct our thoughts inwards.

Your name is that who you are? 

There is more to me than this body, I am not just a human, I am a human being and before that I was a spirit being.

"We live in a world of human doings and we can't always live in the moment!"

We need to tap into the energy of being! The soul and the spirit carries that energy.

We need to be honest on our journey of becoming a human being, we need to stay honest to the questions in our life.  Humility is being sincerely and genuinely open to learning.

Meditation as an artform?

Lots of pressure from the outside can turn off our inner voices, we need to seek out good company it always helps to nourish our inner voices. Silence is a harmonious energy, it is not the absence of noise or sound.  Harmonious sounds invite us in.

I have a body I am not the body.

I have a name it is the name of the body.

I, the being, has a name it is eternal.

The body perishes, yet I the spirit lives on.

I have a form, I have a name it is different from the body.

Soul, spirit, self!

I am made up of the energy of love joy and peace. We need to keep our energies up to connect us with the fresh new energies of self.

Fill me from within rather than externally in materialistic ways.

Room in the mind- a tool to aid meditation

The mind is the room, go into the room, it is full of memories

Organise the room, keep the precious memories, those that are important to you and discard those that hurt or cause harm.

As you tidy the room you notice a door at the back of the room.

Open the door going in to the room it is clean, fresh, and all white.

Step into the room, there is a white rug in the room and in the centre there is a table on the table is a candle. The rays touch all four corners of the room. 

If thoughts begin to pop up, make sure you have closed the door.

Become one with the candle allow it to become an energy that is light and free.

The self is a beautiful being of pure light it is in the body but it is not the body.

Things to think about

The I is forever

The spirit is me

In my mind is the devil and Angel are battling which will win the one that I feed.

Be separate from anything inside me that is not part of the true divining being.

Do we have the same colour blood, tears, smile, that is in the brotherhood no matter our external differences the soul is always the same.

Peace is the original religion of the soul, 

peace is who we really are, meditation helps you to break through the pollution and get you to the pure water self at the bottom of the pond.  The energy of our anger doesn't fit, it doesn't suit us we need to get back to the original divinity.

Meditation is not an art, this is a surgery value the energy of thought.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

I have made a conscious effort this year to make sure that G.O and I make the most of the time we have together.  So with that in mind we decided to recreate our first official date.

I rushed home from school, we hopped onto the coach and we headed into London.  In the past we have made a day of it, doing the whole tourist thing.  This time we were just going to Hyde Park.

The very first time we went to the winter wonderland there were about seven stalls selling crafts and candles and things.  There were  couple off food stalls, but it was mainly a big fair.  It was together disappointing, as a German in England I love anything that brings a taste of home.

Last year was the first year since we have been together that G.O and I didn't visit, Christmas in fact as a whole wad a bit of a bust last year.

This year with my "savour every moment" hat on, I was excited to see what had changed.  I have to admit that it is now a mammoth Christmas experience.  Alongside the fairground element that is still there and apparently very much wanted by the public, heathens, you can now find food from all over Europe.  We had pork from the hog brothers and convert cake from Hungary.  Both delicious and very naughty.

There are traditional German beer-tents all over the site, full to buying with drunken city boys and girls, living it up for the weekend before they go home to their families.

It was such a nice evening, although the queue for the ladies was ridiculous, in the end I used the loo on the coach.

With a little help from my friends

I had a lovely day meeting up with some old friends today.  It was so ...... To have a chance to catch up on what has been happening in everyone's lives.  

You see Facebook updates and send text messages, but nothing can ever beat, sitting around and having a good old gossip.

There was a time we would have met in a bar, had quite a few "cider and blacks" and then gone out boogieing until the wee hours of the morning.  

Age and life, however, have civilised us.  A lovely stroll along the Thames, a bite to eat and a cup tea, then a very long and much needed chat in a tucked away pub, were the order if the day.  And it was bliss, we must do it again soon. 

Thank you ladies, sometimes only old friends can put things into perspective.

What's under the bag?

It's G.O's birthday and I have outdone myself this year. 

Somebody has too much time on his hands

I got a what's app message from G.O the other night. Apparently he was ridiculously busy and couldn't stop to even get himself a drink. Although some how he managed to turn a potato into a patriotic gentleman with a top hat included.  As I said he was busy.

An apology

My gorgeous husband's idea of an apology for forgetting to defrost last nights tea.

Guy Fawkes

Only in Britain do people pay to stand in a cold, wet, rainy field and watch fireworks to remember/celebrate a failed attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament. 

That is exactly what G.O and I did this evening, usually we just watch out of the window but his year as we were home together, we decided to go to the local school and watch the display.

We wrapped our selves up so we would be nice and warm and at twenty past five we set off for the school, gates opened at 5.30pm.  

On the way it began to rain (typical) and some plank drove through a puddle and drenched us, although I didn't make much difference.  We arrived at the school and paid our entry fee and then found out that the display started at 7pm.

 We had to wait and hour and a half in a school field with only music students wailing to entertain us.  We some how managed to keep ourselves amused, even if it was only shining a torch on the kids who were playing hide and seek.  We did share a hog roast roll with crackling and yes it was salty and dry but it was delicious.

The display itself only lasted a quarter of an hour but it was awesome.  

As I said to G.O the local firework display was always going to be amazing when we had a firework company headquarters down the road.

After the show we toddled back home where we planned to have some mulled wine and baked Camembert and watched the X Factor, bliss.

Feel accomplished

Normally when I get home in the evening I can just about drag myself upstairs to the shower and watch the soaps.  Call it holiday refreshed, I smashed it tonight.  I made G.O's birthday gift, sensory rice and bonfire playdough as well as do a small supermarket shop, and make a puppet theatre (at school) all before half past seven.  Considering according to my body clock it's half past eight I am very impressed with myself.  As a treat I'm snuggled on the sofa with a truly decadent hot chocolate.