Doodle House

Thanks to the wonderful world of twitter, I got to doodle a wee little house for the wonderful  "It's good 2 give" Charity.

It’s Good 2 Give (registered charity number SC041416)  officially came to life in April 2010 and already we have raised over £70,000 for local young people with cancer and their families. We’re little and local and 100% of the money you donate will go to the cause. No rent, no wages, no waste.

I was asked by @LeePeyton sometime last summer (summer! what a joke) and of course I said yes! The idea behind the doodle, was child's idea of a holiday cottage with their family. I can easily tap into my inner child, so it wasn't too difficult a challenge.

Doodle process: Lessons Learnt! 
As the new site for the charity was taking time to come together, as they do, I decided that I didn't like the doodle you see above and could do a much better job. When you are learning new doodle stuff all the time, you tend to look back at some stuff with a slight tinge of horror. So I cracked out the new paints and paper and proceeded to doodle a new house. If you watch the slideshow, you will see how it progresses nicely, until I over ink the piece and turn the little blonde stick doodle person into a menace! If anyone is interested, I was thinking of blogging about the main doodle lessons I have learnt so far, including the materials I use?

Doodle Slideshow

So glad that they went with the original doodle and that I will doodling some new things for this charity soon! A big thanks to @leepeyton for asking me in the first place, he is such an inspirational man, a fireman, husband, dad and an adventurer (crazy sports event dude), always raising money for charity. Check out his website Breaking Strain . It is GOOD to give, even if its a daft doodle.


Self Exam Doodles : Is my chance to learn more doodling skills and raise awareness using those doodles, whilst the focus is on the Breast Self Exam doodles, we will always be linking in with other great causes. 'We' is myself and the very cool TJ Lubrano (@TJLubrano)

Every Friday someone wins a doodle from one of us, so if you 'Like' us, then you could win one yourselves.

Moonshuffling to the end

Where was I? Ahh yes temporarily I had buoyed my spirits with freeze spray, painkillers and tunes! Thus making miles 13 - 17 my fastest to date.  During this time the sun also came up, glistening over the water and twas a lovely site to behold. I was seriously tempted to run into the sea and drown myself stick my toes in the water, but decided that would be a bad idea. So I used my camera phone to snap a few shots and plodded on.
Well I should say it was lovely at first, then it started to get bloody warm! Where was the rain? the clouds? a bloody breeze? Hot, lovely sunshine is all well and good for larking about in the park, but not when one is shuffling power walking like they have never power walked before! Thank goodness I have a sunny disposition, otherwise it would appear that I was a total miserable sod. Sunny disposition in my case was plenty of water, fresh orange slices at mile markers and happy smiling faces (not mine). On approaching mile marker 19, I met up with some girls that I know from the walk the walk forum, so plodded on with them. They were decidedly in better shape than I and were excited to be approaching mile marker 20.

 Supposedly at Mile Marker Twenty a sense of uber calmness and elatedness descends upon you like a thousand angel wings providing a cool breeze. I may of ever so slightly exagerated the wonderment that is mile marker twenty, but it was definitely a woop woop moment for a lot of people. Why not for me? The pain and tiredness due to severe lack of training was screaming in my ear. My nasty inner voice was whispering "You still have 6.2 miles to go! still not just! you lazy sod!", my nasty inner voice is a right sod. Luckily for me,from deep within my being a competitive streak was sparked just ever so slightly at the prospect of keeping up with people.
The last 6.2 miles seem to take an age, heading back into the city of Edinburgh with the sun blazing and seeing all the sights that had been shrouded in darkness hours before. Edinburgh is truly a lovely city surrounded by greeness and beautiful architecture. Of course I was not really paying attention at the time because I was concentraing on putting one foot in front of the other. The cheeriness and enthusiam of the volunteers that are spreadout throughout the course is really a nice boost when you are flagging, even though they lie about how close you are to the next mile marker (cheeky buggers). They might not of actually been lying but boy did one mile feel like ten towrds the end! Oh and the curbs! Stepping up and down curbs is like torture towards the end.
Not sure when it dawned on me that I was actually going to finish the challenge, I think it was only as I recieved my medal, sat on the floor and took off my trainers!

As I sat on the grass with my medal and bare hobbit like feet, I felt like shedding a tear or two but was not sure why. I felt emotional because I had finsihed it , but also because I hadn't had enough faith in myself that I would finish it. My fears were not unfounded, because I had been so poorly prepared for it, with excuses abound from the mumborg to college work.  So after a moment of melancholy I popped my blisters, squirted blister juice in my face (yuck), used the glorious freeze spray and felt at one with the world. Then I tried to stand up.......

Start Moonwalking...

Here I am talking about a different type of moonwalking, whilst the moonwalking maestro has shuffled off this mortal coil. Anyhow back to talking about me, me and some more about me.
I arrived in Edinburgh on Friday afternoon and headed up to the hostel I was staying in during my visit. The Castle Rock Hostel was literally across the road from Edinburgh Castle and a hop, skip and jump away from the Royal Mile. It was an ideal location to base myself for the weekend.
As I was on my own I arranged to meet up some of the others that were doing the MoonWalk on their lonesome for a bite to eat. It was nice being on my own, but also good to meet up and have some company too. Too be honest the last few weeks had been so stressful that it was a miracle I even made it to Edinburgh, let alone plan anything. I was still absolutely crapping myself at the thought of the impending 26.2 miles of hell that I had voluntarily signed up for, but for the time being forgot about that and enjoyed good food and company.
Saturday arrived after a disturbed night of sleep, mainly thanks to chatty drunk Irish girls sharing my room, they were fun though. After a lazy morning I met up with one of the girls from the night before (Debs) and we had a lovely lazy lunch. Then it was back to my room to rest and prepare for long long night ahead! Still not believing what I was getting myself into.

Around 8pm it was time to head to the Pink City in Inverleith Park, Edinburgh and meet up with some of the girls from the walk the walk forum for food and a chat before walk time. As I walked through the park entrance I could hear drums and then a huge pink city arose before me. The atmosphere is absolutely amazing as you walk through the entrance, surrounded by a haze of pinkness.
Panic began to kick in as everyone was excitedly talking about the walk and all the training they had done. I didn't think now was the time to confess that the most I had walked was 8 miles of late and that I was going to be sick! So as everyone got more and more excited, I got scared!
In the great big pink city we gathered for pasta, talks from the sponsors and then the dreaded warm up. I can't grapevine to save my life, my brain says left, my leg goes right! so I shuffled further and further away from the warm up zone and felt lost in the crowd. At this point, more than any other, I felt very alone and sorry myself.
I was in the Pink group, so that was the last group to be called to the gate and the excitement was all around as we were herded to the gate ready for the off. The Pink group was about 30-40 minutes behind the lead group and it was slow going through the gate.  Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle and then I was free from the crowd, well a bit free anyways. Whoops, claps and cheers abound, so much so that you couldn't help but feel part of something special.

I think that atmosphere carries you through the first few miles, as you look around the beautiful city of Edinburgh, absorb the excited chatter and forget your worries. It is when things get quiet and the atmosphere becomes more serious as people get their heads down and pick up the pace. The pace! Bloody hell! It is nothing like the pace of hiking or normal walking. Upping the gear from 2.5 miles an hour to 3.5/4 miles an hour is a serious wake up call to your muscles (or lack of them). I thought I was a good judge of distance, but holy moly were those mile markers slow in coming! I nearly cried when it felt like an age to just pass 3 miles. I didn't even want to update anyone via my phone as I was in serious doubt of finishing even half way. At mile marker 11 the half moon walkers branch off and do their last two miles to complete the 13 miles of their challenge. How I wanted to go with them! Especially as it dawned on me painfully and slowly that I wasn't even halfway <--------------- Insert whingeing here!

Just past Mile marker 11 it was toilet stop time and although it was freezing and the queues were massive, I needed to stop. During the queue I gave myself a pep talk, sprayed my knees with half a can of freeze spray and  popped some pain killers. The combination of pep talk, text off the mumborg, painkillers and freeze spray did the trick and I began to pick up the pace. After reaching mile marker 13 and the disco bus, I plugged myself into my mp3 player, turned up the volume to ear bleeding level and kicked myself up the arse.

The adventure continues tomorrow (ish)

Moonwalking and Mumborg

Firstly thanks for all the lovely comments, tweets and emails that I have received about mumborg and my wavering over whether to continue blogging. It really meant a lot to me and quite honestly I got a bit choked up. Anyhow enough of that mushy stuff, you want to know where the heck I have been I suppose and of course how the mumborg is.

The mumborg is still not doing well, which I had hoped by now was something I would not have to write, but thems the breaks. The leg is just not playing ball and the surgeons are a feared to touch it. So for now she is constantly losing blood from the leg and getting replenished through the arm (thanks donors!). Also because during previous surgeries the leg was dislocated, this has led to being very painful for the mumborg, so now the leg is in traction. The next decision in regards to the leg will now be made on Monday.

This past weekend I have been in Edinburgh Moonwalking my pants off and have doodled the adventures for you. These following doodles are just the start of the adventure, with more doodles, photographs and ramblings tomorrow (ish).

Department of Good Intentions

Yesterday I went to the main post office opposite Penn Station. It is an impressive building. Having posted my packages, I looked about me for photo opportunities.

Lo and behold, I discovered an annexe of Santa's workshop.......

......manned/womaned by nimble female elves.

 The  walls are decorated with these charming, vast pictures on canvas. Here Santa, in the form of the public, can choose letters from needy families to respond to. Some of the letters are very hopeful and ask for things like Nintendo Wii.........hmmmm.

Some are genuinely sad.

What if the people begging from Santa are utter crooks? We have to assume real criminals would be getting much better loot via hedge funds. Lots of people were chosing letters from all over the five boroughs. So, if you are passing by the James Farley Post Office on your way through Penn  Station, pop in.

A story: a family sent a goat to Africa. The family who recieved it couldn't afford to feed it. The goat ate the neighbors' crops and caused so much trouble the original family decided to eat it.

Such is life. It doesn't mean we shouldn't try at least.

Followed Susanna's example and went to look at Lord and Taylor's windows. The soldier's notice says, IMAGINATION IS THE BEST GIFT.

Children outside the Public Library climb on Aslan to soar who knows where.........

Thrifty Christmas for All and Through Bloggers Unite

In conjunction with BlogCatalog’s December 17th “Bloggers Unite: Act of Kindness” day, I'd thought of a somewhat unusual-- and, I think, appropriate-- way to do my part.

While I donate to thrift stores every year in both a monetary “Putting Cash in the Kettle” way, and in a traditional “Giving Bags o’Stuff Away” way, this year I had an opportunity to do something which might just help spread a little kindness to a thrift store charity organization all year long.

I’ve developed a Squidoo page on “Decorating with Thrift Store Finds” where royalties will go to the Salvation Army for any Amazon book purchases made through my recommended book list on that page.

As my regular readers know, The Thrift Shop Romantic doesn’t have things like online ads, paid product endorsements and affiliates. This has less to do with how I feel about advertising as a medium (I’m a marketing writer for my Real Job, after all), and a lot more about my not wanting folks to feel like they’re being sold to when they come here. I figure that since this is my hobby, I can’t expect other people to fund it.

I also intend the site to remain that way. I just think it’s fair and it works.

The Squidoo page, however, seemed to be a nice opportunity to spread the word about finding and enjoying thrift store treasures, while doing the thrift store a potential monetary good turn, as well. I plan to update the page regularly throughout the year with new tips, other resources as I find them, and unique ideas separate from my blog site here. Fresh content for everyone!

So, for anyone who’d like to check out the Squidoo page, click here.

For anyone who’d like to check out what other bloggers are up to for their own "Acts of Kindness," just click here.

And if you'd like to read my second post of today on thrifty Christmas decorating and Indoor Pine Tree Migratory Patterns, click here.

Me, I plan to continue to celebrate the day of kindness by... er... letting drivers making the Pittsburgh Left cut me off without complaint!

And... um... not singing with my headphones on at work!

And, uh... scratching the neighbor cat under the chin as long as she likes (which, if she has her way, can go on FOREVER).

Oh, the joy, the mercy, the kindness! :) Sending well wishes for a holiday season and a new year that is kindly to you all, too.

Thrifty Christmas for All and Through Bloggers Unite

In conjunction with BlogCatalog’s December 17th “Bloggers Unite: Act of Kindness” day, I'd thought of a somewhat unusual-- and, I think, appropriate-- way to do my part.

While I donate to thrift stores every year in both a monetary “Putting Cash in the Kettle” way, and in a traditional “Giving Bags o’Stuff Away” way, this year I had an opportunity to do something which might just help spread a little kindness to a thrift store charity organization all year long.

I’ve developed a Squidoo page on “Decorating with Thrift Store Finds” where royalties will go to the Salvation Army for any Amazon book purchases made through my recommended book list on that page.

As my regular readers know, The Thrift Shop Romantic doesn’t have things like online ads, paid product endorsements and affiliates. This has less to do with how I feel about advertising as a medium (I’m a marketing writer for my Real Job, after all), and a lot more about my not wanting folks to feel like they’re being sold to when they come here. I figure that since this is my hobby, I can’t expect other people to fund it.

I also intend the site to remain that way. I just think it’s fair and it works.

The Squidoo page, however, seemed to be a nice opportunity to spread the word about finding and enjoying thrift store treasures, while doing the thrift store a potential monetary good turn, as well. I plan to update the page regularly throughout the year with new tips, other resources as I find them, and unique ideas separate from my blog site here. Fresh content for everyone!

So, for anyone who’d like to check out the Squidoo page, click here.

For anyone who’d like to check out what other bloggers are up to for their own "Acts of Kindness," just click here.

And if you'd like to read my second post of today on thrifty Christmas decorating and Indoor Pine Tree Migratory Patterns, click here.

Me, I plan to continue to celebrate the day of kindness by... er... letting drivers making the Pittsburgh Left cut me off without complaint!

And... um... not singing with my headphones on at work!

And, uh... scratching the neighbor cat under the chin as long as she likes (which, if she has her way, can go on FOREVER).

Oh, the joy, the mercy, the kindness! :) Sending well wishes for a holiday season and a new year that is kindly to you all, too.