Category Archives: Bonnie

10 Year Blogiversary!

This month marks my 10 year milestone with my blog A Compass Rose (ACR).

I started it in 2005 days before my first born son came into this world. Now he is just days away from celebrating his first double digit birthday. I think of everything that has happened in the past ten years and wonder how it all fit into one decade. Some of it made it on my blog, others did not and happened during a period of downtime away from the blogosphere. I have taken a lot of my most favourite photographs specially for the blog and my self portrait series. I have blogged every day for the most part of a year, working on a consistant flow of posts that covered photography, travel, third culture kids, and expat life. I have made a lot of friends and kept in contact with those that are as close as family. While my level of activity has gone up and down it has always been there, like an old friend, ready to pick things up where we last left off. Thank you to everyone who has ever come here, for the comments, for the support, and most importantly all the love and friendship. Thank you.

Caught up in the Whirlwind

9 Replies

A year ago I was closing in on a year of blogging every day. Every morning I sat down with my laptop to write and share photographs. I had organized my week into themed days to give me a constructive outline of what to share with the world when. I knew not everyone who came to my blog would read every day. However with wanting to share the many facets of myself knew that what may not appeal to one reader on one day, may appeal to them on the next. I spent quite a bit of time connecting with readers, who became friends, through various social media outlets. I even got away from my computer and to blogging events and blates (blogger dates).

Then in the late Spring of this year my presence online became quiet. Which is not a new thing for my blog to experience. A few times since the creation of it in 2005, have I had to step back for a while. I honestly believe it can be the best thing for bloggers. If you have ever had a blogging break than perhaps you understand. I had not meant to be quiet for so long and time just kept getting away from me.

Caught up in the Whirlwind.

This is a term we use at work from the book The Four Disciplines of Execution. It is a great visual about how we can easily lose sight on goals when trying to keep up with everything at once. I have recently found myself much like Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, swept up by everything going on. In the end it has left me feeling quite lost.

With unneeded stress in just one area of my life it has had a rippling effect on to all the others. Reflecting on it all I felt as if it left me starving creatively. I had not picked up my DSLR camera in months. I had not written any stories, poems, and hardly any blog posts aside from the weekly #TravelTuesday linkup. I have not devoted much time to art at home and work has been so busy with day-to-day clients. I feel like I have been grasping at anything to stay grounded. In the last few months I Luckily had the opportunity of being in another theatre production, which gave me a lifeline to my creative spirit. Yet my life and my schedule stayed ever busy and the whirlwind has just kept spinning.

Fast forward to about a month ago when I suffered a shoulder injury. Not sure how it happened but it impacted the whole length of my arm and has resulted in missing some time off of work. I would love to say that I have spent every moment of it writing for National Novel writing Month, doing yoga and mediation, taking photographs, and spending time with my family. However the lack of being able to use my arm fully, the pain, the fact that my family is at work/school it has been less on the side of a vacation from the whirlwind and more so like experiencing cabin fever. I greatly look up to anyone who has to work through pain on a daily basis because it can be so deabilitating and frustrating to say the least. I look forward to having a relaxing vacation in a sunny climate sometime in the future. But for now I cannot wait to get back to work. To get back into a better and healthier rhythm of life once again. To have calmed down and tamed the whirlwind.

Off the cusp of this moment I have found the time to write out this post and share that I do miss writing here in this space. The outlet and being able to connect with all of you has been something I have missed. I more likely will not be blogging every day again at this moment. I do aim to share more as I regain balance in my life once again. Thank you for all the messages and for coming back to A Compass Rose again.

I am trying to touch base more often on Twitter/Facebook and you can always find me on Instagram and Pinterest as well.

Towns Yet to Be Visited

2 Replies

bonniehawaii

Travel to me is more than just the locations.
It is life, the moments, the experiences.
The people who come in and out of our lives,
but leave us for ever changed.

Ready to link up?

1. SHARE a post about travel! From road trips to trips abroad and from past travels to dream vacations. You can write about travel tips and tricks, favorite places to stay, or anything in between! Just make it about traveling somewhere!

2. GRAB the lovely button above. If you run into trouble, just make sure to mention Bonnie, Camila, Jessi, and Amy in a link! 3. LINK-UP goes live every Tuesday at 0800 GMT. Make sure to comment here, on the co-hosts blogs, and visit around!

TIPS:

1. Please only one linked up post per blogger. Save other posts for future link-ups!

2. The last Tuesday of every month will be a themed prompt if you want to join in!

3. HOP around and meet new travel loving bloggers! Check back to visit some of the newer travel posts!

My 10th Wedding Anniversary – 02.08.13

34 Replies

Today my husband and I have been married for 10 years. It has become the most important anniversary milestone in our twelve years together and our ten years of marriage. It is a realization in itself that we have been married this long but there is no denying the fact when I also remember that our oldest is now eight years old. Time really does pass you by. I recently was given a wedding dvd from one of our wedding guests after I told them we had lost our wedding dvd in a move. We watched it last night with my sister and it was remarkable to see just how young we were only a decade ago. It almost seems like a whole different world we were living in as newlyweds.

We we currently still living in the ‘bubble’ of my conservative christian university in the days before my husband joined the military. I had my parents’ relationship, a couple who raised their children overseas and loved travel, as my vision of marriage. I think it is safe to say as newlyweds we both had a more fantasy view of what our life together would be like throughout our marriage. I had no foreshadowing of the hardships to come our way. The stresses of military life, starting a family and raising children, being far from family without a support system, the sudden loss of a parent, and how it would all affect our marriage. On top of it all it became hard to name a couple I knew that were still married amongst our military friends and acquaintances, and more easier to name those who called it quits.

In the end my husband and I stayed together, moved abroad together, and have begun a whole new life for our family as expats in England. Life has never been sweeter. Yes life has still been hard and we still find our moments of stress. However we know that we have each other. Being married to your best friend and experiencing all the ups and downs together as partners is what has made our marriage stronger.

I am so happy to begin another ten years with Ryan and to continue our life overseas. Though we are no longer those naive newlyweds in their early twenties, we have both evolved into the people we are today. I love my husband so much for who he has become and who he is to me. Something I mentioned in my vows a decade ago. Today we are getting ready for our Vow Renewal ceremony here in Snowdonia, Wales. It is been a long anticipated event that we now share with a few family and friends. It is not our ‘happy ending’ but just another new happy beginning to the next chapter of our love story.

Have you been following along for love week?

More coming tomorrow and here has been the

guest posting line up for the past several days:

Follow along via Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

with the hashtag: #RyanAndBonnie

Summer Fete in Batheaston

12 Replies

Yesterday we attended our second fete for the Summer season and it will not be our last. Though we almost feared the weather would have ruined this gem of summers in Great Britain. It was set to begin at noon but we did arrive until three because of the pouring rain. Miraculously the rain stopped and we were able to spend the last hour of it partaking in all our favourite fete activities. There was drinking of Pims, letting the boys spend pocket money on activities, checking out the goods for sale, and the eating of cakes and ice cream. The only thing we missed out was on a delicious bowl of strawberries and cream. However in its place we got to watch a Maypole dance with local school children. If that was not enough dancing for my boys, they also got to partake in dancing to Gangnam Style. I left with a happy family, a full belly, and a camera filled with documented memories and a nearly dead battery. All in all it was a lovely village fete and I look forward to our next one in two weeks time. If the photos below are not enough to get you to a summer fete this year, I took two videos posted to Instagram as well. To which I have to say is a new feature I highly love. However since they do not allow embedding of videos yet, insert shameless plug to follow me on Instagram here.

*Images original to A Compass Rose blog by Bonnie Rose Photography

Self Portrait: ‘From the Ashes’

16 Replies

For those of you that will remember last year I did a Self Portrait Challenge to take one self portrait every week. It was a lot of fun and was something I was able to do while traveling through Europe as well. Being inspired by a few self portraits I was commissioned to do recently, I have decided to restart this again invite you all to be involved! I have created a link up which will start every Saturday and end every Friday night. You can link up to old or new self portraits as long as they are a self portrait you took of yourself. So set your self timers and get your tripods ready and I look forward to seeing your creative spirit come alive on the weekends. The self portrait ‘From the Ashes’ was one of the test shots on one of the self portrait concepts I was working on last week. I really liked this one and decided I would save it for this challenge. While I usually would have gone with the black eye shadow, I used actual charred wood from our back garden. A bit of inspiration taking from my sons who showed up in the house with faces covered in black one day. I took this one right next to our dining room window to take use of the natural light. I think the reason I like it so much is it reminds me of the Afgan girl photographed for the cover of National Geographic. Maybe it is because we both have hazel eyes. If you have not heard about Sharbat Gula‘s story, I recommend that you check it out.

DO YOU LOVE SELF PORTRAITS?

I try to do one every week and post on a Saturday.

If you would like to link up with me, add this button to your blog. I would love to see your photography!

*Image original to A Compass Rose blog by Bonnie Rose Photography

Romantic Getaway to Paris

7 Replies

The infamous lock bridge in the Paris, France

Happy Valentines Day to all my readers! To celebrate the day for ‘Travel Thursday’ we will look at a romantic trip to Paris. Having grown up in Europe there are many places that I wish to return to now as an adult. Getting to return to Paris on the arm of my husband was the perfect beginning to a romantic two days in the city of love. While you do not necessarily need a reason to go, we went this past August for our 9th wedding anniversary.

“In French, you don’t really say ‘I miss you.’ ‘You say ‘tu me manques,’
which is closer to ‘you are missing from me.’ I love that. ‘You are missing from me.’
You are a part of me, you are essential to my being.
You are like a limb, or an organ, or blood.
I cannot function without you.”
– unknown

Using the website Airbnb we rented a studio flat in the Belleville, Ile-de-France. This beautiful neighborhood is about a twenty five minute commute by public transport to the Musée du Louvre. We really enjoyed in the parisian flat in lieu of a room at hotel because we felt like we were living in Paris and could not easily spot another tourist in the area. The neighborhood was peaceful and the view from our window was beautiful as it overlooked Parc des Buttes Chaumont. The nearest metro station was minutes away and we were able to purchase fresh bagettes and french cheeses at a nearby shop.

Parc des Buttes Chaumont includes the belvedere of Sybil, which sits atop of the 30 metre peak of the island in the park’s partially surrounded lake. The other sights include several English and Chinese gardens, a grotto with waterfall, and bridges.

We were recommended by the owner of the flat to check out the park at sundown to see the spectacular views from on top of the highest point. We enjoyed a dinner one evening doing just that and having a picnic together on the gentle sloping hill. I would also recommend taking photos at the belvedere of Sybil. It is a Corinthian-style monument, modeled after the ancient Roman Temple of Vestain Tivoli, Italy. I think it makes a beautiful backdrop and so I had my husband model for me.

I brought a pair of heels to wear for our anniversary. But to be fair I knew we would be doing quite a bit of walking on our anniversary and so I opted to wear flats. My husband and I love going out on walks together and walking around Paris taking photographs of the beauty around us was just heavenly.

Also I might add that we went to the famous cemetery in Paris where it seems everyone who is someone is buried. I will blog about this at a later time because I took quite a lot of photographs. It was a short walking distance from our flat.

After our walking tour to see the parisian sights we spent our 9th wedding anniversary having dinner at the Le Pre aux Clercs. I will say this was the most expensive meal we had on our trip but it is Paris and it was a special occasion. Besides the amazing service, nice atmosphere it was the food that won me over. To this day I had one of the best steaks I have ever eaten in Paris, France. It was a perfect place for us.

Le Pre aux Clercs 30 Rue Bonaparte, 75006 Paris, France

How do you spend your anniversary in Paris fashion? Our answer was to channel Audrey Hepburn and go to a jazz club. We chose Caveau Des Oubliettes which is a jazz club underground in a dungeon. Epic. It was laid back and very chill. Next trip I plan we are definitely coming back. Perhaps a Jazz club hop?

We also made a detour to make sure to check out the Moulin Rouge for our photo album.

How do you end the perfect romantic trip to Paris? Definitely if you see the Eiffel tower during the day, make sure to see it at night time. The best part is when they turn the blinking lights on for the light show. C’est magnifique!