new things for a new year

We've spent the past 2 weeks driving up and down the country seeing family and friends over Christmas and New Year... It's been good, and now we're both somewhat spent and looking forward to playing hermit for the rest of the month. (Apart from the Vann family Christmas next weekend...it never stops!) Despite being extremely grateful to see our own bed again, being able to simply get in a car and drive a few hours to see loved ones is still immensely satisfying and still feels somewhat novel.

Here's a few fun things that our trip included, aside from good time catching up with folk:
1. We took a day trip to London, as a Christmas gift from my parents, and spent the day bumbling around art galleries, coffee shops and cobbled streets and soaking up the vibe (and the rain) of London. As part of the day out we made a point to find Seizure, an art installation in a dilapidated council flat in Elephant & Castle into which the artist poured 70,000 litres of copper sulphate solution, creating an incredibly beautiful crystallized cave. Very blue. Very amazing. Very London.

2. We drove to a small village in North Devon and watched my very dear friend Josie get married to her life's love. The day was sunny and crisp and blue, and the bride didn't stop smiling once :)

3. On our way back, we went for an extremely bracing but beautiful walk along the beach at Woolacoombe, where Andy spent his childhood holidays. We shimmied down sand dunes, took pictures of our shadows and wrote dreams for a new year in the sand.

Here's to a year of new adventures...

the final countdown

My second and final year of my Masters started this week - if last year flew by, I sense that this one will go just as quick, and I'm determined to savour it this time around. Looking back, the first year seemed like a blurry dream and I really want to feel like I've sunk my teeth into everything possible while I have the privileged (and globally, relatively rare) experience of higher education. I love learning and am looking forward to learning more about my chosen elective in mental health. We'll see how my 'takes one to know one' philosophy works out... :)

Also, today I met with an agency who have agreed to take me on for my second year practice placement, to start in January; they're called the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture and they work with asylum seekers who have experienced torture, assisting with everything from clinical and legal documents needed for their asylum claim through to case work and long term counseling to help them deal with their torture experience. I'm REALLY excited about this placement - they do such vital work with a client group that the government offers virtually no assistance to. If you get a chance, have a look at their website. I'm really impressed with their ethos and holistic approach to helping people who have come through such horrors to navigate their way to healing and a new life.

In other news: the life drawing is going well - I'm still churning out fairly bizarre interpretations of limbs, but am enjoying every last scribbly minute of it. It also gives me a funny new way of seeing bodies - suddenly I'm grateful for that sagging boob or find myself longing that the model would only have a few more rolls of chub to work with!

Tomorrow is our 2 year anniversary! Perhaps I'll do a separate post on that..I also realised/remembered after my last post that this blog is somehow linked with facebook (no doubt something to do with Andy's clever computer hijinks), but I think I'll try to take it off if I can - that way hopefully only the people who really know me and want to hear about the random ins and out of life will read it and I won't clog up people's feed with my ramblings. So, in future if you want to read this find it at www.andyandmillay.com !

seasonal advice

I can't believe the summer is drawing to a close; I was so sure this one would stretch on forever...Regardless, I'm actually really looking forward to the challenge that this coming year will bring. I'll be diving into the final year of my Masters in Social Work, focusing on mental health and potentially getting my second placement with refugees and asylum seekers (watch this space).

Speaking of mental health, I'm currently trying to lay down some groundwork for my own mental health survival for the coming months. Last winter was long, and cold, and (deep breath) hard. There, I said it. I spent a lot of time over last winter and beyond feeling really rather cold a lot of the time (thanks Manchester), pretty tired and generally not on my A game. None of which is great for maintaining sanity during the final year of my MA, so I'm trying to put some things in place to keep my cool over the next year!

Here's my plan so far:
1. Actually get out of bed/off the couch and go to the gym. Exercising gives you energy. And endorphins. And better circulation, which will in turn hopefully help me combat the cold. Please feel free to pester me about this.
2. Keep going to the life drawing class I started last week. Two blissful hours of focusing intently on putting pencil to paper and forgetting absolutely everything else that happened that day/week/year. Nevermind that I end up with something resembling a missing evolutionary stage...it's escapism and that's what counts.
3. Good music, good books. I have some recommendations for you on both counts: Go take a listen to Susan Enan's brand spanking new album 'Plainsong'; I promise that you will not regret it. Beautiful, haunting, poetic, uplifting. Once you've done that, go read Ali Shaw's debut novel 'The Girl With Glass Feet'; he is an incredibly talented story-teller and this story is deeply creative and does a fantastic job of transporting you to another world - more great escapism.
4. Even if it means playing truant, take every available sunny day, cold or not, and get out into some scenery. Sun on face+green things= happy heart.
5. Drink good coffee, take deep breaths and hot baths, and never underestimate the power of a good nap.

Here's to a new season...

button love

I love buttons. I can't really explain why...I just do. I love them on my clothes - generally, the bigger the better. I've also recently discovered the joys of marrying a glue gun with buttons...this one was sent to my friend Iona for her birthday...so some of you might start finding buttons turning up in your mailboxes more and more these days... :)

Social take 2

Last week saw another "Social" event, quarterly artistic/musical collaborations that seek to promote awareness of and raise money towards particular social causes. This time round the topic was corporate responsibility, focusing on large Western profit-making companies being held more accountable for fair trade and decent standards for the workers in their production countries. I contributed an installation that involved forged receipts and golden objects and highlighted the human stories behind common items we buy at the supermarket - tea, fruit, flowers, cheap clothes...The night was full of a variety of art and great music. Money raised went to the fantastic campaign work done by Speak. For more on them, go to www.speak.org.uk. I'm constantly inspired by the energy, enthusiasm and sheer talent of the people who pour themselves into these events...good people to know!(Photos c/o Hannah Raeside)

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!