Meet my gorgeous, cool, organised insightful & delightful pal Adelle
We met at Gorgie Farm, Edinburgh in 2015, a mutual/heavenly friend connected us on that beautiful day. You were there with your beautiful boy and not as
similar ages to my poppit. I instantly liked you, and I LOVED that your camera was pointing in the direction of my poppit (which parent doesn't want a 'proper' photo of their kid when they're sitting on a fake cow!). We've been friends ever since. We share many loves, like our baby boys, organising and Marie Kondo (in fact you loaned me her book 'The life changing magic of tidying' - it was the start of something really beautiful.....our love of organised spaces!). We love a deal and love talking about how much we saved by using up things around the house and how we part way crafted our way through another significant calendar event. You've helped out in Bodylushious, we've chewed over the big stuff and talked about the shit that does and doesn't make us tick, we've danced together, we been in hot tubs and saunas together with our other pals and you've fed me countless roast dinners at that gorgeous house of yours. We've basically got all bases covered!
I invited Adelle to be a guest blogger on the topic of Sight (in keeping with my sensory obsession), plus Adele like me wears glasses, she's awesome, writes beautifully & hilariously (in my opinion), helps me at Bodylushious to this day and is a very special someone in my life. So it seems totally reasonable that she share some wisdom here!
Stating the obvious here, but you and I both wear glasses, how has this shaped your view of yourself over the years?
I’ve worn glasses since I was 15, when I tried on my friend’s pair and learnt the world was actually sharper than I had previously thought. I’m not sure the fact of me wearing glasses is greatly intertwined with the view of myself. Other than I think my face looks a little odd without glasses now. It’s just a fact of my life. If my vision miraculously repaired itself tomorrow and I didn’t need glasses then I wouldn’t miss them (although I am certain I’d be pushing phantom glasses up the bridge of my nose for a while as I adjusted to my new reality). But for now, this is just how it is. My world is in extreme soft-focus without glasses; I fog up entering warm places from the cold; and I hold my book comically close to my face when I read at night. And I’m ok with all of that.
We also share a love of organised spaces, it's just so aesthetically pleasing. Please cast your mind back to a time when you were in a space with just those visual senses firing in every which way. What is it specifically that feels good when you see something that looks organised/sorted?
I do love to spend time organising spaces! I will fairly frequently decide to rearrange a corner of our flat; move the furniture so it ‘works better’; change the contents of the drawers about if I’ve decided there’s a better way; and then brief my family so they know where to find their socks, which are now located in a MUCH more logical place. We’ll all then spend several weeks going to the previous location before remembering the new and MUCH more logical location.
Bronwyn, you’ll remember when I did a major re-organisation of my kitchen because I sent you several very riveting photos and abnormally excited messages about my progress. I took EVERYTHING out. I got rid of quite a lot. And everything remaining went to its own specific, well-thought-out home. The bench top was completely clear. And I was completely happy.
What feels good about this? Well, I really like to know where everything is. Or, perhaps more to the point, I really, really do not like when I can’t find something that I’m looking for – or watching someone else search unsuccessfully for something. It stresses.me.out. So an organised space keeps me calm.
You're uber talented! You can knit, make anything out of anything, you bake bread and decorate a gingerbread house at christmas as a family - you just have a knack at making things look good. I know it's a totally personal thing, but according to your Adelle-o-meter, what are a couple of tips you can give to someone who feels they could do with a little simple guidance to make something look better?
Firstly, thank-you, that’s very kind. I do love to make things and learn new crafty skills.
Secondly... eww, this question makes me queasy! No, I can’t give tips about making things look better! The Adelle-o-meter says ‘you-do-you’! What makes you feel happy? I’m very self-critical of the things I make – I’ll always be able to find aspects that could be improved – but this is also because I like learning and improving. And I think it is the learning and improving and the doing that gives the things I make a nice shine. Compared side-by-side, a shop-bought knitted hat might look objectively better than my me-made hat, but I like my me-made one better because I brought it to life with my own two hands.
If I said to you 'things are not always as they seem or looks can be deceiving', what does this bring up for you?
Mental health. When I’m not in my best of head-spaces everyone else around me seems more capable, successful, happy, confident, free-from-worries, stylish, healthy etc. ad nauseam than I have ever, or could ever be. When in reality (to bring it back to vision and glasses) what I’m seeing is the result of a serious distortion in my lens. And that sort of lens can encase my whole self, keeping me separate and distant from others and suffocating me in the process. Plus, how arrogant of me to think I know what someone else’s life is and what they would think of mine just by looking at them!
I'd like you to make a wish, if you could walk out of your door tomorrow morning and see ANYTHING what would it be and how would that make you feel?
It would be my favourite people from around the world and here in Scotland, but particularly those I can’t currently get to due to the travel restrictions including the mutual heavenly friend you mentioned above.
How would this make me feel? Like the happiest of baby unicorns gambolling in a field of colour and sunshine and rainbows and magic. Or, content.
xx Adelle
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