something for you

I was browsing through my photos tonight and got creative and made a calender for my desktop. I like having a calender handy. So here's one for you too.

we all have them

Three words: day. from. hell.

Sorry to put it so bluntly but really, it's been terrible. I'll spare the details but today ranks right up there with one of the worst days I've ever had since starting my job in April.  Yeah today makes all of two really memorable and truly awful days at work. The worst being when I woke up ten minuets before I was meant to start. Then I killed a bird on the way to work and got stuck in traffic because of an accident. Things only got worse as the day went on. Not to mention that I just wanted to curl up in a little ball and die of homesickness.  So yeah, that was a really horrible, horrible day. 

And so was this one. Maybe not so dramatic. But there were lots of little things that, when combined, made my day so unbearable that the only solution was to pour a glass of red wine and eat courgette with lots of cheese sauce and baguette with dip and camembert cheese. It is quite possible that cheese is the answer to all my problems. I also may have called home and spent an hour speaking to the wisest and most encouraging person in the world. Ever. My mother. Wouldn't you if you had a rugby ball hurled into your face and still be the least of your concerns for the day?

I might possibly have a black eye in the morning. Let's hope not. Well, here's to headaches, unreliable emotions, encounters with rugby balls, good food, chocolate, a good night's sleep and bad days in general.  On that optimistic note, time for bed. I need that good sleep I just mentioned.

hi friends

Welcome to the secret life of Jo. I know you're coming for a nosy so I just thought I'd acknowledge the fact so as to narrow the gap between online and real life. I know I call this online thing real life and well, it is really, but it's also sorta inner life too. That's why I kinda write about real life but don't share it in real life. Make sense?

Anyway, have fun exploring. Tell me, do you see me in a completely different light now? Now that you know all my deep and dark secrets? Actually those are still to come...

No seriously, I think you are awesome.  You are true friends and bless me in ways that I can't begin to describe. 
xx

complexity

I've been thinking lately about how people are really incredibly complex beings. We think things and feel things that never make their way onto paper or get formed into words. But none the less, they exist. They are part of who we are and indeed, who we are becoming. Heart thoughts are sometimes so deep that I don't fully grasp their meaning straight away or even at all. They never quite make it onto the page because words are not enough. God works in us on a level so much deeper than words. So there are many times when I feel compelled to write something but find that even the right words are empty and inadequate. So I write about something else entirely. Thankfully I am not defined by the things I write about. Jhen Stark puts it beautifully, "My blog or your blog doesn't define who we are".  We are all more than the things we choose to write about.