Wrapping a dog - japanese style

Ever wanted to gift wrap your dog?

Rufus wants to show you how....

Just check out my other blog

here

Look what I found in vintage Texas

        

Navasota, a sleepy city in central Texas - brimming with vintage stores.

A little postcard I created from our day.

Navasota Emporium - we spent a wee while in here!

Loved the size and colour of this Coke jug and 4 glasses.

Silver rimmed cups sit in dimples on the plates - couldn't resist this set of 8.

Two blue jugs to add to the collection

The yellow colour of this crate singled it as the one ...

Displays of old tins added to the atmosphere - 

but wouldn't chose them for my home

One of the beautiful old houses built in the mid 1800's 

by the wealthy cotton growers of the region

Not for sale but loved them all the same

Who just has rusting classic cars lying around in their front garden?

This beauty needs a little love and attention to bring it back to life.

We didn't reach our destination, getting sidetracked by all the quirkiness of Grimes county, Texas.

Loved the people we met and the things we bought. (Can you believe our cases were too full to bring it home , so it sits boxed in Astrid's garage till our next visit).

It's difficult to go shopping for antiques when you have a plane to catch home.

The 7 link challenge

Thanks Susannah for a fun idea to get me started early on a Monday morning at 2.20am. (Well actually I am jet lagged from our mammoth flight home from Houston via London and Copenhagen back to Beijing!! 27 hours on the move)


The 7 Link Challenge originated with Darren Rowse at Problogger and it sounded like a fun idea to try out.
I loved discovering new blogs like Sarah's at Global Copywriting, so what started as a quick read of Susannah's latest blog lead me to a treasure chest of blog ideas.


The challenge is to write a post which is a list of 7 links to posts that you and others have written - in response to the suggested 7 categories.

Here we go:
1. Your first post ~ Back in Jan 2010 I had an urge to start a blog but no idea whether I could keep it going and more importantly have anything to say that others would want to read: A Snowy Start


2. A post your enjoyed writing the most. I had fun exploring the world of sheds in The Tiny House Blog when I came across some inspiration for a family joke. My sister claims to want to have a shed retreat at the bottom of our garden so I created her a possible wish list, never imagining sheds would feature in my blog!


3. A post which had a great discussion. Not sure my humble blog has ever had a great discussion but it was my I see a Wolf Moon Rising that really got a good response back in January - maybe because I was really excited about discovering such a phenomena.


4. A post on someone else's blog that you wish you'd written. I hope I am allowed two here because Beth always inspires me with her photos and writing on Be Yourself, Everyone else is taken. The blog that inspired me to begin was Red, Red Completely Red - from my inspirational daughter. Thanks Astrid for helping me along the way.


5. Your most helpful post. I hope it was helpful - that was the intention when I described how to start a 365 Flickr group amongst your friends in 365 - the month of May. It is one of the best things I did this year as it has kept me connected with friends and family round the world, given me more laughs that any comedy programme, improved my photographic skills 1000% and taken my love of my iPhone to new levels of passion.


6. A post with a title that you are proud of. Snow time like the present - partly because I just love my dog 's face in these photos.


7. A post that you wish more people had read. Has to be my *Lucky Stars* post, simply because I do believe we can change our luck and it would be nice to help everyone bring more luck into their lives.


Hope you will write your 7 link challenge post now and link it in the comments below so we can enjoy yours too. 


It would be fabulous if this post of mine had so many comments it would be next year's 'best discussion' link. 

Matilda

July 2nd - Tilly @ 3days old, originally uploaded by rufusandco.

Sorry I have been in holiday mode for the last couple of weeks.
Now here in Texas sharing the delight of our first grandchild- Matilda.
Born on June 29th weighing 9lb 1oz (4kg) - she is just beautiful .
Just like the saying goes Tuesday's child is full of grace - she is too.
Astrid and Justin are loving every second of being parents.

Tilly loves snuggling on her Winganna fleece in the Moses basket I used for all 3 of our children and now being used for the next generation. 
Read more about it on Astrid's blog .

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!

June 22- a day at the sea, originally uploaded by rufusandco.

Fish and chips
Seagulls
Buckets and spades
Beach huts
A stroll on the pier ....

A perfect day out at the quintessential English seaside town of Southwold.
A fantastic way to recharge batteries and soak up some sun.

PS. Back to the 365 life plan tomorrow!

Designing a 365 life plan

"If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. 

And guess what they have planned for you? Not much." 

Jim Rohn

This quote really struck home to me today when I read it in Michael Bungay Stanier's thought provoking newsletter.

Maybe it is because I am on holiday in the Uk and the change of air/light/ water is having an effect or perhaps it is time for change in me.

 Anyone else out there who is also wanting to stop and think about plans?

A few weeks ago I wrote about my fabulous 365 group on Flickr. Now I want to make a 365 plan for my life. I wondered how I could reincarnate my motivation  to take a photo a day into a 365 life plan.

Possibility:

~ just commit to writing a thought each day when I journal - not exciting enough

I realised

~ I am a visual person and one reason the photo a day project works for me is because I see a result every day. I need that.

~ So TODAY I am going to take note cards and make a card for each area I want to move steadily forwards on in the next 365 days.

Make a note card for each and then I can work on one of those areas daily. There is nothing more encouraging than looking back on work you've done to make you feel like you want to go further - so add the date.

All this sounds so wordy so here are some of my plans for the next year:

~ planning the family get together in our new house at Christmas 

~ developing my future retail business

~ shedding the things we don't want to move back to the Uk with (a mammoth task!)

~ finding a solution to getting Rufus, our dog, looked after in Europe for 6 months - he can't go straight back to Uk

~ creating new product lines to sell from business

~ planning house extension for new house

~ plans for the garden

I want to see that everyday I get something done on one of these areas. I also know that I will add new ones .

That's the beauty of using note cards - just add another one. I don't need to know now what it is going to look like at the end of 365 days.

Oh I almost forgot - COLOUR - we have to have colour on our cards.

How? 

Frame the card with thematic colours- everything on Rufus can be golden!!

Stick clippings onto the card. 

Draw

Add photos

This is going to be what the view from our kitchen 

I just need to get started now. So check back tomorrow and I hope I have something to show you.

Any ideas on how to build on this idea? Please share because I need all the help I can get to be organised.

* Thank your lucky stars *

"I've found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances, be more active. Show up more often." ~ Brian Tracy

Who doesn't want to feel lucky today?


When I read this quote in my daily email from charity focus.org I got me thinking about luck.


I never seem to win at raffle draws but I do think I'm lucky. So ... does it depend on how you view luck, or is it just down to taking more chances?


Well, when I say I don't win at raffle draws that is not quite true - I circumvented my low track record of wins by cheating fate recently.
This year at the school spring fair I wrote 'Rufus' on all my raffle tickets (Rufus is my wheaten terrier). You had to be there to see the surprise on people's faces when his name was read out. In total, Rufus won 3 prizes for me - including a 2 night stay at Novotel in downtown Beijing, 288 KitKat chocolate bars and 1000 rmb ($160) of IKEA products.

I am 100% certain my name would not have been so lucky. 

I am also sure that next year Rufus would not be lucky.

I wanted to read more about luck and found this article has some fascinating ideas.


In a nutshell :
Lucky people often follow their intuition
Lucky people like to introduce variety in how they do things.
Lucky people can see the good in their misfortunes - things could have been much worse.


What is amazing is that the researcher, Richard Wiseman, found that when 'unlucky' people were encouraged to act as a lucky person would, they too became luckier (as well as happier and more contented).

So if you want to join Rufus and his KitKat's you could take a few minutes 

to read the article and generate some good fortune for yourself.

Let me know if you get lucky!