Pain is so demeaning when it stops you in your tracks.
It robs you of your personhood a little, it takes part of you away.
And the loneliness.
The loneliness of it is pain too, less acute, more hollow.

But it's amazing what searing pain can teach you.
You can reach the outer limits of yourself, that squibbly border where the universe slowly becomes me, where my skin and the thing next to it are virtually indistinguishable, where pain is just a thing, a thing inside my head that is in fact not bigger than I am.

Meditation is to conquer the beast.
To sit down and have an intellectual conversation with it.

Comfort is the bedside table: the chocolates that I don't even pretend to hesitate over, the books with unbroken spines, the blister packs.

Victory is sleep - despite, or in spite?
Just sleep.

For a long time, blogging was very fullfulling for me.

I started to see life in terms of how I would post it: something interesting (or banal but potentially still worthy) would happen, and my brain would ZING with words, excited to put it down and hit publish.

And then I fell away from it.

But you don't stop being filled with something that needs to come out.

I still have a lot that wants to come out and meet the world.

These days, I'm making connections with brides instead of bloggers.

I make wedding invitations.

I make really beautiful, glamourous, high-end, unique wedding invitations.

I make a small contributions to people's love and happiness.

I make something meaningful.

Sure it's business, but to me it's so much more.

I'm not trying to make a lot of money, I'm just enjoying being a working artist with a little studio and lots of lovely ideas.

Everytime I put a little sparkle into someone's day, a little bling, a little glamour, a little luxury - there's just something satisfying in that.

Taylor Made is a work of love - not just invitations, but wedding stationery: the thank you cards, the ceremony programs, the favour tags, the wine bottle labels...I love the layers. I love the love.

http://www.taylormadewithlove.com