Grace Heeley

Taken with instagram

So this evening I loaded up the laptop, opened Spotify… closed Spotify again because it’s having a fail day and opened iTunes. Slapped on some Bonobo and entered the wonderful world of markup; and with thanks to w3schools (and The Boy <3, commonly known as Nick) I’m gradually getting the hang of it!

Nick set me up with some web space and we’ve discovered this nifty app called Codeanywhere which is great, because it means I can update the code from my iPad or my phone if I so desired! I’ve found that it’s actually fairly simple so far, it’s just a case of remembering the tags.

Doesn’t look very fancy yet does it? It took me two hours to do this! But this involved remembering the tags and getting the syntax right too. I’m quite pleased so far, I think I’m actually more impressed with the fact that I’ve kept my promise to myself for starting to do something I’ve wanted to do for a while!

wbymca:

Sleep Easy: The Threequel (yes, it’s a word…)

So Sleep Easy year 3 is over and done, and what an event it was! 63 people turned up to help beat youth homelessness in Sandwell which was an incredible turn out; the best yet. People there included CEO of Sandwell Council Jan Britton and Councillor Simon Hackett, who were both taking part in their second Sleep Easy. Blind Dave Heeley also joined us with his Top2Toe challenge team, who were singing, joking and generally just making everyone laugh around the campfire!

There was yummy soup, provided by our very own Georgie Britton (Well spotted, she’s related to Jan…) tea, fires and the local curry house even popped in to drop of some samosas! Winner!

There were some interesting creations when it came to box building, properties with sloping roofs and barn doors and the not so creative, sheet of cardboard over a bench…I hasten to add it was quite effective in sheltering the person. Once everyone had constructed their shelters for the night, we were reminded why we were there when Martin, one of our residents, told us how he came to be in the YMCA, his struggle with drugs and how the YMCA has helped him.

We got some great media coverage this year, including the Express & Star and the Sandwell Chronicle. We also managed to secure a spot on Midlands Today, which if you haven’t had the pleasure of watching yet I suggest you do because it’s amazing! The highlight of Martin’s week I heard.

 Sleep Easy was fun, but sleeping rough isn’t. Once people started to get into their boxes and bed down, their thoughts weren’t about how hilarious Blind Dave’s singing is; it was about making sure that they kept warm and “Whoa, I’m only doing this for one night, and there’s people out there forced to do this every night – what’s that all about?!” Deep, huh?

For people sleeping rough, it’s not just a case of find a box, go to sleep – job’s a good’n; they don’t have easy access to the hot food and drinks like we did, they don’t have the six layers of clothes like we did, they don’t have the option to go and sit by the fire like we did; they have to think about keeping warm, keeping dry, who might be around to make their night more difficult – ultimately, how they are going to survive the night.

We had a great time at Sleep Easy raising money for the vulnerable young people that we work with here at YMCA West Bromwich & District and we were able to raise £6K to support our residents in their journey, but I don’t think anybody left on Saturday morning without thinking about the thousands of people who also spent the night sleeping outside, who didn’t choose to.

So I guess all there is left to say is Thank You, to all the people who sacrificed that one night to help local young people build a future, and we’ll see you next year!

(Source: ymcabc)

• Franklin D. Roosevelt

I’ve been reading the Ideas of March posts that have been doing the rounds the last couple of weeks, I particularly enjoyed Francisco Inchauste’s and Meagan Fisher, which has also inspired me to write something honest about myself.

I like reading blogs because basically I find them entertaining and often inspiring. I read a lot of different kind of blogs; blogs about web design, blogs about graphic design, blogs by agencies (Boomerang PR in particular I enjoy), personal blogs of people I know you get the picture! I never usually act on this inspiration, until now!

Now, I’m not a writer by any means but I’ve had a crack at writing blogs before, usually when something interesting happens, which isn’t very often! Whenever I attempt to start writing about stuff I just ramble on, there’s never any purpose to my blogs and this makes me wonder why I bother. I don’t see the point in writing one when I’m pretty sure that nobody would gain anything from reading it and once I start thinking about that, I give up and go back to watching TV or another mindless task.

This is something that really annoys me about myself. I hate that I come home from work and spending the time before bed sat doing nothing, I often think “You could be designing something pretty” or a number of other things that would be infinitely more productive than assassinating 15th Century Italians. Sometimes I’ll admit, it’s quite nice doing nothing especially after a busy or stressful day, but for the most part it bothers me.

So despite not having anything really profound and inspirational to write about, I’m going to start blogging about things I find interesting; I don’t want to just sit around and do nothing anymore. I feel like my IQ is dropping my the second! I’ve developed a real keen interest in Web Design lately, and this is also something I want to pursue in my spare time. Perhaps if I have a project to work on, it might make my blogs a bit more interesting and in turn, help me develop my writing skills for work to! Winning all round!

Watch this space! Who knows, it might just be another pipe dream. I’d really appreciate your thoughts on what I’ve said if anybody does in fact read this!

There should be a self help pamphlet for this! So it’s been about 4 MONTHS since my last blog. No idea if anyone reads this, but sometimes i just feel like I want to write stuff… So It’s been Christmas and New Year, and I’m feeling inspired - i don’t think thats quite the right word, but we’ll roll with it. I feel like I’ve got a whole new outlook, and this is the year for me to get things done. I feel like there’s some changes that need to be made in some areas, and that change is needed in other areas but not really sure what, just going to let it run its course and see what happens. This is a pretty big deal for me as previously, most the big changes in my life have not been good, and often led to situations that I would rather forget. I think the fact that I’m starting to realise that change is required, and not being freaked out by it, ready to embrace it, well it makes me feel like I’m growing up… Which is a fairly scary thought… Look out world, Gracie’s getting serious! I’m looking forward to what 2012 has to offer. Bring it on!

ashleybaxter:

Facebook? Not so much.

My Twitter feed is comprised of folk who dream big, work hard, and are on track to realising their ambitious goals. My Facebook feed is comprised of folk who are bored, and measure how great their weekend was by how many Jägerbombs they downed before throwing up and losing…

So, I went to Germany this weekend to visit a pal. First time I’ve been on a plane on my own and all that jazz so was pretty nervous.. even though in hindsight it wasn’t that big a deal! And I managed to do it before I turned 21, so I kinda feel like I acheived something!

I actually really like airports, I always feel inspired to write about my experiences… and it’ll sound creepy but I’m a bit of a “people watcher”. Take from that what you will, but I was sat having a coffee and watching all the people go by and wondering what their histories are. People watching is also fun because you get to watch people get run over by the guy that empties the bins! Always fun!

I was watching this one business guy and he emptied the whole contents of his briefcase: 2 laptops, a DSLR, a little digicam, a video cam, and an ethernet cable. He emptied it then stuck it back in the bag. Why? No idea! I reckon he just wanted to show of his kit! I also noticed he had 3 identical yellow pens all lined up as if he’d measured it with a spirit level and a protractor. Very odd.

None of this is particularly relevant to my trip, but fairly amusing nevertheless… Simple things, simple minds I believe is the phrase.

Germany was ace though, first of all it smelt like donuts which is never a bad thing! I didn’t see masses of it, but it wasn’t that different to here in regards, what was there and stuff… But the atmosphere and everything was totally different, its a weird thing to explain I guess, but I liked it anyway! Coffee was pretty good too!

So all in all, a good weekend, and definitely something I’m looking forward to doing again! Suddenly I’m all excited about turning 21 and really starting to do stuff!

OH! And I saw my first ever Red Squirrel! They’re awesome.

You’re probably wondering “Who are you, and where are you back from?!” Well, I stopped blogging for a while, but due to learning more and more about social media, I’ve come to realise that blogging is pretty important and in an attempt to improve the social media in my work place, I decided to start up a tumblr!

So brace yourselves for some waffle!