Finding a creative outlet?

I've been looking for a creative outlet for the past few months... Something to get lost in for hours, something that provides a sense of satisfaction when completed... well I think I found it.., let me introduce you...

BEFORE

AFTER
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French English relations.

What's the plan Stan?

Its 2009... Vacation over. Holidays over. So now the journey can begin...

The plan when I took this time off was to learn some new skills, experience some new environments, make some new friends and generally free my mind to decide on my future direction... 

When I told people I was taking a year off their initial assumption was that I would  travel... and trust me, for me also that was the natural path to follow. Find some extreme areas of the planet that would challenge my mind, freak me out, scare me into reality. Well, thats not how i was feeling in January, the last thing I needed was instability and the unknown. What I needed was a nice mix of the familiar... my first plan was not to travel to deepest darkest Peru... but to head to Seattle to spend 8 weeks living in an apartment, in a neighbour hood.. LIVING life in a new place, with my good friend Lora. 

Lora also had some free time while she was between jobs, so the timing seemed perfect. I headed to Seattle in January with a list of things I wanted to achieve...

1, Learn to Snowboard

2, Teach myself to better use my camera

3, Resume Kickboxing lessons

4, Road Trip nearby states (visit Vancouver etc)

5, Just live life at a new pace!

The apartment was perfect (apart from a cat incident), the neighbour hood offered everything I needed. The Plan was a perfect one...

2009: Now the Journey Begins!

2009 baby! Time to get this year off on the road...

Random Item

I met this young boyo when on my travels in the US... I took his photo simply because he was too cute. He was relentlessly perfecting his skills on his board... almost performing for my camera. His whole deal was cool, his haircut, his topsiders and the beach front location! I love it.

Holidays away from home...

Surely not I hear you cry?!!!

I decided that in 2008 Christmas and NY was going to be a little different. With someone new and important in my life this time round, the holidays were destined to be different! 

I rented a car, loaded it with every 'Rom Com' DVD I own, threw in some hiking boots and an extra 'Outdoor' scarf and headed up the A1 from Newcastle to pick up Frenchie in Edinburgh!!! YAY Scooooootland :)

We spent a week in a farm cottage in the middle of Perthshire, where we celebrated Christmas protecting ourselves from the freezing temperatures.. before packing down the Norwegian Pine and heading cross country to the west coast. We spent the night in a small fishing town called Plockton, before heading off on a mammoth drive around the Isle of Skype (I know). From there to a small town outside of Fort William, for a good nights sleep before tackling a section of the 'West Highland Way' . From Fort William we hit the road for the final drive back to the East coast, back to one of my favourite places... Edinburgh!

You have not experienced NY Eve until you have celebrated it in Scotland. Hogmany was spent in the shadows of Edinburgh castle, with a concert in the park. A whole new (sober) Hogmany celebration.. you know what. I had the best time, although midnight looks a whole lot different without beer goggles!!! 

Overall a great 2 weeks... I have grown up less than 100 miles from the Scottish border, and it has taken me this long to really appreciate how beautiful Scotland is. Some walking, some pub lunches, some small market towns, A lot of miles and a lot of great memories.  

I heart Scotland

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I Heart NYC

It is my belief that you cannot visit the East side of the USA without making a big effort to make it to New York City... and December provided the perfect opportunity!

I managed to route my Florida flights through JFK on the way home so that I could soak up some of that magical New York Christmas feeling! As expected, the weather was miserable, the rain was constant... well... I'm from Newcastle...

I laugh in the face of winter!!! HAHA

I Heart NYC

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