Kitchen: before, during and after

I finally managed to get a couple of photos of our finished kitchen to share with you. It's not often in a tidy enough state to photograph! First of all, here is a photo of how the kitchen looked in February 2010 before we started any work on the house. It's such a huge transformation you can hardly believe it's the same house! 

The beautiful arch was bricked up.

Work begins finally in the summer of 2012........

The beautiful arch is finally exposed. This picture is from Spring 2013.

The kitchen goes in in July 2014....

The kitchen as it is today, July 2015.........

This is my absolute favourite room of the house. It's turned out even better than I could have imagined and was definitely worth the wait. I'm planning to do another post showing more details of the kitchen when it's next tidy enough to photograph! 

Lots of love from my lovely kitchen!

Sarah Elizabeth x x 

The Artist's Way

For some time, perhaps forever, I've been feeling something was missing from my life. I couldn't understand what was the matter with me. I have a wonderful husband, two amazing girls, a beautiful home and the luxury of being able to stay at home and raise my family. I thought I had everything I wanted and yet I couldn't shake the feeling of somehow wanting more. I was becoming fed up and increasingly irritable. At first I put it down to being tired from waking for night feeds but even more sleep didn't help. And then one day, for whatever reason, inspiration struck and for the first time in ages I got out my notebooks and started to write. Immediately the cloud lifted and I felt truly happy. Afterwards I was able to enjoy even more my time with my girls, I was able to be more patient and present. The key it seemed was to spend time doing something that I love, and for me that is writing. 

After talking this over with a friend she suggested that I try a book called The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. I'd already heard of the book as both my mum and sister have read it and I had it on my list of things to do some time in the future when I have more time. Not wanting to loose my new found enthusiasm however, I immediately ordered a second-hand copy of the book online. And so came to the end my two years long writer's block. 

So what is The Artist's Way? It's a 12 week course in 'discovering and recovering your creative self.' Each week there are tasks to complete aimed at helping you to unblock your creativity. It helps you to silence your inner 'censor' and work through any issues from your past which are stopping you from following your dreams. In addition to these tasks you are encouraged to write 'morning pages', three pages every morning of whatever comes into your mind, and also to go on a weekly 'artist's date'. 

I'm two weeks into the course and already I've noticed a big shift in my mindset. I've struggled for a long time with the feeling of 'I'm not good enough.' Now I'm starting to realise that being 'good enough' is not what's important. What's important is simply to spend time doing the things you love. The biggest difference is that I'm finally writing again. I'm filling pages upon pages in my notebooks which have been sitting empty and gathering dust on my shelf for the past few years. The other incredible thing is that it's having an impact on other areas of my life. I'm able to be more patient and present with my children, I'm enjoying more than ever my weekly dance classes and I'm more organised and efficient in taking care of my daily chores.

I'm so looking forward to seeing where this course will take me. If the difference after only two weeks is so great then after twelve who knows what I'll manage to achieve. I'd love to be able to connect with anyone else who has followed this course so please leave a comment with any thoughts or ideas you'd like to share.

Happy creating everyone.

love Sarah Elizabeth
xox