a glorious old find

Started the great sort out needed before packing to move back to london, i found an old notebook circa 2001 ( would have been in year 11 I reckon). It had a list of tracks an artists I had heard on the radio (Peel or Lamacque without a doubt) and wanted to hear again or buy. Even now it's a very impressive list. I have created a spotify list which I am now enjoying immensely. What is really annoying tough is that a couple of bands/songs on the list I cant find any where, grrr. I have put them in itallic, any help would be much appreciated;

Haven – 'Til the End
Ugly Duckling – Pick Up Lines
Chris TT - Dreaming of injured popstars
Stereo MC's – Deep Down & Dirty
At the Drive-In – Invalid Litter Dept.
Sparklehorse – Piano Fire
Skitts - The Killing
The Music – Take the Long Road and Walk It
Felix da housecat - Harlot
AM60 – Big as the Sky
Easyworld – Try Not To Think
New Found Glory – Hit or Miss
Spacehog – In the Meantime
Wait by the bedside - Redeye Jedi

Hull is where the heart is...

Just come back from a fantastic weekend in Hull. I was at university in Hull for three years and stayed there a year after I finished, finally leaving in 2006. I have a brilliant bunch of friends who all seem to still live up there and I was part of the most fantastic church on the planet (yes even better than hillsong!).

I hadn't been to a service at Hull Vineyard for a good year but when i walked in on sunday I felt like I had never left. This is the church where I really began to discover who I was while I was a member. It's where I learnt about the power of prayer and fasting in an exceeding practical way. Once a year the whole church partakes in a three week fast to seek God for the city, the church and thier own lives. Vineyard is where I learnt about the intimacy of worship, the importance of ever member ministry and the practicalities of the five step healing model.

I have blogged in the past about how I feel so sick of constantly looking back to my past as being the exciting time in my faith, a time of sign and wonders and being 100% on fire for God. That time was when I was in Hull. Speaking to Elaine (who is one of the senior pastors and who used to mentor me and likes to ask me difficult questions!) on tuesday and she reminded me that she also looks back to that time because as a church they had been praying for years for a group of new leaders to join the church from the university. We were the answer to their prayers, we were the ones who had been prophesied about. It was a fruitful and blessed season because so much prayer had been poured into it. Now about 9 years on from the start of that season most of my friends have settled in Hull, bought property, got married, own cats and most importantly are planted in the church and are investing in it for the future. It is so exciting to see.

I guess I'm the one that got away! I know that staying in hull wasn't the right thing for me, maybe one day i'll go back, it wouldn't suprise me if i did actually. Now when I look back I dont look back with regret, I look back with excitement because that time was a testament to God's goodness and faithfullness. It makes me excited for the fruit that the prayers i'm praying now will bring.

I LOVE THIS QUOTE - first heard part of it in the film Coach Carter and have just found the extended version.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” - Maryanne Williamson

onwards and upwards

So here's to the next chapter in which the best is still yet to be .
This friday i got back from a 3 week trip visiting my amazing friends in Macedonia. I had an awesome time and was blessed in so many different way by some exceedingly brilliant people. For those of you that know me know know that I adore Macedonia and I try and get back to see people whenever I can. This year was pretty bittersweet though as my course which starts in september is going to make any travel over the next three years pretty tough. I was gutted to be leaving not knowing when i would get the chance to see people again. However I know that this midwiferey course and to stayin london for the next three years is God's plan for my life for the moment which makes everything that bit easier even though there is alot of cost involved. I still believe that the best really is yet to come.

"and it really really really could happen"...and it finally did!

Sorry the photos aren't amazing quality but you get the general idea. Blur in Hyde Park this friday were AMAZING, absolutely everything i could have hoped for, Damon and the boys certainly did not disappoint in any way. The best thing about the gig other than the gig itself was that I went with Ruth and Jen who I shared Blur the first time with. we got very nostalgic as we sung through so many of the songs of our teenage years. Britpop truely was amazing and Blur certainly have lasted the test of time - still reigning victorious where so many others have fallen by the wayside (menswe@r? sleeper? ruth? anyone?). It was really lovely to see them alltogther again and i really enjoyed the Think Tank songs now being played by Graham as well.

For me I think the highlight was 'to the end' what an amazingly brilliant song which captured the moment of us all falling in love with blur all over again perfectly "well you and i collapsed in love and it looks like we might have made, made it to the end". Also i saw a boy with a lovely tattoo 'to the end' written in small letters just above his elbow, lovely stuff. Paklife was also a pretty immense moment as we were in the park it was written about and they brought on Phil Daniels (Kevin Wicks form Eastenders) to perform with them. oi. So so so happy. Damon even claimed that this gig was even better than the night before's.

One things which was a bit strange was that there was virtually no one under 20 there, the beauty that is blur is totally lost on them which is why i guess my little bro couldn't find any mates to go with him and I got to take mine instead (hurrah!)

So thanks Mum for an awesome Christmas present, what a shame that you and Dad couldn't make it, ahem.

I really would recommend checking their Glastonbury set out while its still on iplayer.

It's hotter than the sun

Well actually it's not hotter than the sun today but it is warmer here in the UK than its is in Sydney - finally this is what I have been waiting for! Today I would rather be in London than Sydney, it's taken me a while (nearly 6 months) but I can finally say it!

Hurray for;
Sunshine
Old friends
LONDON
Sushi
Late nights
Sun cream
Clinging to my youth
Summer dresses

I have many things to be thankful for. I've had a great 24 hrs catching up with friends and checking out my little bro's gig (www.myspace.com/weplayparties). After fun and some great chats with awesome friends, I'm really beginning to let the fact that 'the best is yet to come' really sink in.
God is flipping awesome and even though i cant see the shape of things to I know that if they are created by Him they will be CHUFFING EXCELLENT.
So here's to moving back to the smoke,
a new house
a new career and everything else that is exciting and just round the corner, 'surely you have a delightful inheritance'.

twittering

Sorry things have been quiet, nothing much to report. Temping is sucking the life out of me and what little I have left is being directed at twitter (twinklemegstar). Two days left and then on to new adventures HURAAY!!!

Stuff about me

So these things are doing the rounds at the moment - i've already posted one on facebook but i thought my blog could have one all of its very own.
1. I like writing about myself
2. When I was 5 i wanted to be Kylie Minogue
3. I'd still like to be Kylie
4. I Have a ridiculous knowledge of Neighbours storylines dating back to about 1990.
5. I was once in a band called 'the magical girls'
6. I talk to myself alot
7. I can cook but only risotto well
8. I have been wearing the same eye make up combination since I was 15
9. I love my mum's fish pie.
10. I cant dance but really I can and when I do I OWN the dance floor.
11. The band Queen are totally over rated
12. I secretly quite like Kate Nash but ssh dont tell
13. One of my most favourite things to do is to listen to the radio whilst lying in bed, but only to 6 music.
14. My mum has pretty good music tatse but i would never let her know that - she is going to see blur and coldplay with me this year.
15.I still wear a few items of clothing which I bought when I was 14.
16. My favourite beer is San Miguel cos it makes me feel like I'm on holiday.
17. I'm current;y living out of a suitecase and i thinking I'm doing a good job of it.
18. I was totally in love with James from North and South and I think part of me always will be.
19. 'Don't i hold you' by Wheat is one of the most beautiful songs in the whole wide wolrd and totally reminds me of a particular teenage crush.
20. I have only ever consumed illegal drugs once and that was unknowingly when I was 15.
21. Jesus has totally wrecked and ruined my life and i love every minute of it.
22. I once went on a bit of a booze run to France and only came back with a bottle of pineapple malibu
23. I fell on my face in the rain while trying to cross the road, i was on my own.
24. I think that coldplay are my friends
25. U2 and Ryan Adams are the only living musicians who i am desperate to see live who i have never seen live before.