Self Portrait: ‘Pause’

Welcome back to Self Portrait Saturday challenge! I took a break last week which I hope was alright. It has been quite busy around here. On top of it all we had been going to view several different houses where we could move to in December. This was due to our landlady deciding to not renew our lease in December. Which meant we would be moving days before Christmas again this year. If we were not already a bit stressed with all the details involved with applying for my husband’s visa this month, we were now. It became one of those situations where if you just had one big stressful challenge to overcome it could be alright. Multiply it and now all you want to do is hit the pause button. Which was the inspiration behind this self portrait.

A BIT ABOUT THE PHOTO

I had originally planned to do this one quite differently. I hope to try it again with my original plan and see how it turns out. It was supposed to be me staring still into the camera while my entire family moves in chaos around me. However I only had my youngest son to help me with this one at the time and I really like how it turned out. I will say the fact that my wrist is cut off, almost made me not post it at all. I usually would have caught that while shooting to correct it in camera. Obviously my mind is on a few different things all at once. I used a slow shutter speed of 1/4 of a second on a tripod and layered a few different images of my son so that he appeared to be all over the place.

A BIT ABOUT LIFE

I found out last night that our landlady, for whatever reason, has decided she will renew our lease for another six months. Which is a huge weight off of our shoulders. I can now plan to be in our house for Christmas and we will not have to move next month as we had thought. So the house hunting search has ceased until 2014 and we can focus on visas and holidays. If I have been a bit absent in the social media world you know now where my head has been. Feeling quite blessed to have this one issue resolved.

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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!

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Get out those tripods, remote controls, and set your self timer!
It must be a ‘self portrait’ and does not need to be an image you took this Saturday. Feel free to link up to past Self Portrait posts in your blog. This link up will be every Saturday so feel free to use that as your motivation to learn more about your camera, hone in on your photography skills, try out new post processing techniques, and let your creative spirit come alive. Join the Self Portrait Saturday challenge!

Thank You & Your Feedback

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Dear Readers: Our week is coming to an end and I wanted to take this time to say ‘Thank you’. You mean so much to me and I continue to blog every day because of your encouragement, your support, and most importantly your friendship. I do not know how you stumbled upon my blog but I am so thankful our paths crossed. Thank you for returning time and time again and thank you for every single comment, each tweet, and every thoughtful email. Thank you for not only being my friend but for loving on all my sponsors and those who have guest posted here at ACR. I may not say it enough but your kindness and love mean so much to me and I appreciate everyone one of you.

C h e e r s . G r a z i e . M e r c i . D a n k e . T h a n k Y o u !

May I ask a favour? I have been posting on this blog off and on since 2005 and I do not even begin to think that I know everything there is about blogging. Just this morning I was reading blog advice from my friend Lauren and found that her tips were still quite relevant to me. My aim is to continue adding quality blog content with both words and photographs as ACR keeps on growing. Being the nomadic free spirit I am I sometimes feel I have a hard to defining my ‘niche’. From talking with my other Third Culture Kid friends I know I am not alone. So I wanted to ask you for your advice.

What are your favourite blog posts on ACR?
Which series have been your favourite?
Do you like guest posts?
Which guest posts have been your favourite?
Do you like the link ups and which link ups would you participate in?
Do you like occasional giveaways?
I notice many bloggers share new photos of themselves in every new post. This is not something I necessarily do. Do you feel like not having that aspect makes it harder to connect to me?
What do you not see that you wish I had more of on ACR?
Are their things you love on other blogs that I do not do here?
Are there things you think I could do better at?
Would you like to see something changed?
How do you read ACR? On your smart phone or on the computer?
Do you like following me on other social media sites?
Which social media sites to you like following me on? (twitter/pinterest/facebook/instagram/etc)
Do you like the photography portions to ACR?
What makes you excited about returning to this blog?
You love coming here…what would be your dream posts to read here?
What would you love me to blog about?

Answer one, answer all it is up to you. I just started typing questions as they came to me. I really appreciate your feedback as I just to make ACR better for you. I love writing and sharing my photographs which is why I enjoy blogging so much. However I want to break down that ‘fourth wall’ and really hear from you so that I can connect my blog further to my readers. No two blogs can be the same which is why comparing can lead to ruin. Help me instead continue to evolve ACR into what it should become. I appreciate any feedback you can give me.

You do not have to comment on this post with your feedback.

You can send me a tweet, message me on facebook, or send me an email.

* Bridal photo up top: Photography © Miriam Pinkston Visual Artist, 2009-2013 All Rights reserved.www.miriampinkstonphotography.com
** Custom graphics original to A Compass Rose by Bonnie Rose © 2005 – 2013 All Rights Reserved | www.bonnieroseblog.co.uk

Photography: After the Storm

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I have been looking forward to showing you the photos from my photo shoot, After the Storm for a throwback Thursday post. It was a creative collaboration with my friend and model, Pua in Hawaii. It was a conceptual fashion photo shoot that really spoke to me about the challenges and struggles we go through in life. When we overcome the periods of darkness and the adversity, the healing that comes after the storm. I also wanted to give another shout out to my model for this photo shoot because she brought so much to making it successful. My favourite time to shoot is early in the morning after sunrise and she on top of it being early she put up with the elements. Since we could not plan on a rain shower, I had my husband assisting with a water hose and the water was quite cold. This shoot really makes me miss doing a lot of creative work in my photography field and I aim to be doing more of this in 2014. Here are my favourite photos from my shoot:

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I cannot say enough good things about my sponsor this month, Brittany Ruth. I was so happy to have her join my side bar this month and look forward to sharing more about her blog and her adventures in Europe with you all. As today is my photography post day I wanted to share one that I loved from the Rococo Roamer: Capture Colour Photo Blogging Challenge. Definitely check it out to inspire your upcoming photo shoots! If you take part let Brittany Ruth and I know so we can check out your posts. Theres more…I have a soft spot for all bloggers who visit places I grew up and Brittany has been sharing posts from Naples, Capri, and Pompeii! Want more? Check out her blog and let her know I sent you. 😉

Bath Drama: A Letter From The General

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Yesterday was a milestone moment in my life. It was the first time in ten years that I had been on stage. The last two days I had been involved with Bath Drama for a rehearsed reading of “A Letter From The General” by Malcolm McLoughlin. Monday night we did the first read through with the cast from Bath Drama and Tuesday for an audience. I really enjoyed doing this reading with the wonderful group of talented actors here in Bath and it solidified my decision to get back into theatre.

ABOUT THE PLAY

“The play is set in a Mission Station for orphaned children in “an Eastern Country” during the year 1950. A new Communist government has taken over and there has been persecution of Nuns and Priests throughout the province. The Mission has been cut off from the local village and the orphaned children have been removed. A group of five Irish Nuns run the Mission and their resident Priest, a German national, has been captured and tortured by the Communist regime. The Priest manages to escape and a group of soldiers headed by Captain Lee are sent to the Mission because it is suspected that the Priest will make his way back there. Unbeknown to Captain Lee, the Reverend Mother is already hiding the Priest who managed to reach the Mission before the soldiers. In the meantime the British Consul for the area together with his wife Ruth visits the Mission. The British consul has exit visas for all of the Nuns and, due to the fact that he is unaware of the hidden Priest, cannot understand why the Reverend Mother is reluctant to leave. Ruth begins to suspect that the Nuns professed lack of knowledge regarding the location of the German Priest may not be as truthful as they would have her believe!”

WANT TO ATTEND A READING?

The next play reading will be The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, directed by Judith Howard. The rehearsed reading is on the 19th of November at 730pm in the Hut. Come and enjoy a glass of wine, good company and fine entertainment. Entry is open to all and free.

PHOTOS

As I was in the cast for the rehearsed reading, I did not get any photographs of the play but managed a few candids before and after the show. It was a really fun night and look forward to future productions. Enjoy!

Revisiting the Peter Pan Statue 23 Years Later

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It is Tuesday and you know what that means…Travel Tuesday! Make sure to link up with us all below and then have fun hopping around to visit the other travel and wanderlust posts for the week. Next week I will announce our theme for the first Tuesday in November. I was feeling a little nostalgic today and wanted to show you how traveling back to places we went to before can be so much fun! The Peter Pan Statue in London is one of those places for me. It is great to compare not just how much I have changed but the trees around the statue as well. Time keeps moving and and still so many people come every day and take their photo next to this landmark in London. We visited this summer while my family was in town for our Vow Renewal and took photographs to remember it by:

My sister and I lived in England when we were really little. It was my second time to living here after being born in Oxford. I cherish this photograph of us when we were little and since moving back have been longing to recreate the photo. I attempted in 2012 but since Zoe was not with me it was just not the same. This year we made it a mission to both be in London together to make it happen. We also got a photograph of the boys on the statue with their Zia Zoe too. It will be great to see how tall they become as adults to recreate this image again!

Share your Travel stories and wanderlust addictions.

HERE IS HOW IT WORKS:

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. If you run into trouble, just make sure to mention Bonnie in a link! 😉

3. Linkup goes live every Tuesday at 8 am GMT.

4. Hop around and meet new travel loving bloggers! Link up will be open for a few days, make sure to check back to visit some of the newer travel posts!

5. Please only one linked up post per blogger. Save other posts for future linkups!

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

My Expat Life: The WWII Evacuee | DIY Gas Mask

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This month my son had a field trip to the museum in Swindon where they would be learning more about the children in WWII. They had been studying in school about the evacuees from London who were sent to the countryside for safety. The parents were asked to dress our kids up as WWII evacuees and to prepare a lunch that would be appropriate for that time. With my theatre background I jumped right on this to help my son look the part.

HIS WARDROBE: The folded up the trouser legs of his school trousers so that they came right below his knees and put on a blue button up shirt. My mum had knitted his brother this lovely yellow vest and since ‘smaller sized clothes’ would go with the whole ‘they wore what they had’ criteria it worked out just perfectly. He then wore a black blazer over it to keep warm and his father leant him his hat.

HIS LUNCH: After doing a little research we settled on a corn beef sandwich, an apple, a few biscuits, and some chocolate as a special treat (well…i am sending him away!) I had originally bought him some come evaporated milk after reading it somewhere online but it seemed inconvenient and heavy. I ended up filing an empty honey jar with water for his drink. His whole lunch went into a little box that I wrapped up in brown mailing paper to look like a parcel, which he wore around his neck.

HIS ACCESSORIES: I also made him a placard which was basically a name tag with all his details. It was fully filled out though I took those off for sharing online. He also had a ration card book that I made him which he kept in his lunch box. He chose a teddy bear to carry and I attached the note to the bear like a placard. The note was to the ‘sir or madam’ who would be taking care of my child while I stayed in London.

HIS GAS MASK: Ideally this would fit in the parcel he carried, but it was too big and way cooler to wear anyways as part of his costume. I have decided to include a DIY on how I made it for future parents who will be doing this with their kids at schools here in England. I did not do this when I was in primary school in England and as an expat now I had to do some digging to find ideas online. So I hope this blog post is very helpful.

DIY: GAS MASK

Gather Your Supplies. I found a file, some kid science goggles, a cadbury tin, a shower head, and other items just from what we had in the house. I did not spend any extra money to make this cosplay item.

I glued the inside of the file to make the gas mask extra sturdy. I drew out the shape of it from hand and used the cadbury can to make three circles for the eyes and mouth. All three will need to be cut out but I recommend cutting the mouth as show with ‘teeth’ so that it can attach well to the can.

I covered the can with black scrapbooking paper and left the gold metal rim that came on the cadbury tin. Seemed like a perfect detail for an accent piece.

The shower head I realized would fit nicely in the lid of the cadbury tin since the lid has portion of space that indents. All I needed to do was put a little bit of duct tape between the lid and the shower head for it to stick nicely in place.

I used some extra black fabric from an old cape to ver it up and then replaced the lid on the tin. It showed just enough of the shower head to give me the look I was going for with the gas mask.

This is what it looked like when I finished this part. Now I am ready to attach it to the gas mask.

See how the teeth can now be bent over on the can?

I used super clue around the can first and then pushed the gas mask in place.

I folded down each teeth and then secured with super glue and duct tape. I let it sit to dry for a bit to make sure it was secure.

I realised my son would be huffing on super glue because the smell was strong. So I found a scent disc for the car and cut it to the right size. I covered it up in the same black material.

Here you can see how I used duct tape again and then attached it on top of the space.

As seen in this photo. So now he can smell ‘new car smell’ and not super glue.

The last part was cutting out the plastic circles for the eyes. and taping them well on the back side. I attached cord on each side of the mask so that we could tie it around his head or to wear around his neck. This is the finished back side.

This is the finished gas mask from the front. It was really easy to make and very fun. Plus there are so many different ways you can customize it just by using what you have from around the house.

Q: Are you aware about the children who were evacuated during WWII in England? How about the children who were rescued out of mainland Europe to England?

Sunday Motivational #1

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‘It is the state in which you dwell‘, were the words spoken by photographer Sue Bryce this weekend. She said that statement several times and though I had written it down in my notes after the first mention it continued to impact me with each repetition. Before you read any further, ask yourself what that statement means to you.

‘It is the state in which you dwell’

For me it made me think of what I want out of life. My needs, my goals, my dreams. What am I doing today to help make all of that a reality. What am I doing or what am I feeling that is stopping that from happening? There are so many facets in my life where I could apply this statement but let us look just at blogging. How many times have we let ourselves become discouraged in our blogs? Are we blogging for ourselves or too meet someone else’s expectations? Are we blogging from the heart and putting ourselves into our work or have we lost sight of our inspiration? Do we get caught up in the social media world of comparing ourselves to other bloggers and seeking validation for our efforts? Or are we blogging to give ourselves and the knowledge we have to others without needing anything in return?

I think blogging, like so many other things in life, will have it’s ups and downs and we will need to work at keeping ourselves on track. To focus on they why and what it is we have to give. No body can hold you back…we are the ones with that control. I teach my sons that they are the only ones who can decide how they react to situations. Why stress over what we have no control over. If we want happiness, we give out happiness and surround ourself with happiness.

I describe myself as a creative and a free spirit with a chameleon soul. When I think about ‘It is the state in which you dwell’, it resonates in how I raise my boys. We create at home together. We all share the love of photography. It has made me hope to find a place to live where I can have my own studio, a creative space where we can act on our inspirations. I want to dwell in a creative world.

I would love to know how you feel this statement can apply to your life. Feel free to share a comment below.

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