The Project

Once a month, a group of creatives in Manchester that call themselves The Project host an evening at The Mustard Tree (where I work pt) for the clients that frequent us. They lay on an amazing hot meal and drinks, art and craft tables, and provide a chilled cafe-style evening of music performance from their own talent. The clients that come to these evening (called 'The Sanctuary') are mostly homeless, and a great sense of community has grown as a result of these nights. It's really col to see these placeless people find a place among The Project and each other.

Off the back of these evenings, I started a photography workshop for a few of the clients that were interested and sent them off with their own cameras to capture their world. I was inspired and intrigued by their photos and I chose a selection of them to be exhibited at a fundraising evening that was held for The Project in a venue in Manchester last week. We decided to display them as you might find in a "home". I'm hoping to get something regular going at The Mustard Tree off the back of it; it was fun watching the guys really take ownership and confidence in the whole thing. Watch this space!

Paper Celebrations

A few days ago we celebrated our ONE YEAR anniversary! We were both staggered at not only how the year has flown, but at how much change and adventure has been crammed into our first year of married life. A year ago on October 1st we were on a boat with a gang of our amazing friends and family, puttering around breathtaking New York City at sunset, vowing to do life side by side no-matter what life brings.
Well, our first year of doing life together saw us: Moving to a studio in Brooklyn, quitting our jobs, adventuring in Peru, Bolivia and Argentina, moving across an ocean with all our worldly possessions to England, finding an apartment, finding jobs, and going back to university for a Master's degree, as well as all the smaller adventures in between.

I would say that's a pretty big year for our first year! It's been incredible. We love doing life together and tackling the things that come our way as a team. I know its sounds cheesy, but it's so true. Apparently year one is the "paper" anniversary, so above is an origami piece I made for Andy as an anniversary gift. Goodness knows what I could come up with as we hit the tin, copper and leather years...