In which there are peeks at my antiques

Well I failed my plan for the first time since new year of blogging twice a week. Usually when that has happened its because I suddenly got into a new computer game. This time though I have been working my socks off all week at work. Every day I came home I was shattered and more typing just felt  like more work. So I've been watching Star Trek most nights or playing Civilisation IV.

On top of the general business. this week all of a sudden I was doing things I've never done before. Next week I'm giving a talk at a conference and also going to be interviewed on a podcast. Both of these things are nerve wracking and I started to feel really down about how I've been in this job for months now - and I interned before that - but I still don't know enough to speak about what we do confidently. The thought of them is keeping me stressed but there has to be a first time and I hope that one day I could just get up and to an event, give a talk and do it all without aeons of self-assessment and confidence building.

I am not one to mention my work on here much. It seems kind unprofessional and blurs the kind of lines I am trying to create between my work and home life so all of the above probably seems very vague! It's a thing I keep considering - the issue of sharing everything I am on the internet and being an honest blogger.

Moving on! A couple of weeks ago I did a blog post about my pocket watches and the haphazard way my Dad gave me an antique. I thought I'd share some pictures of another couple of lovely little things that Andy and I own, both of which came from my Dad. 
 

 

 

 

The penknife is a beautiful little gold one, with two knives and the inscription you can see. Dad passed this on to me when I was looking for a penknife for something. I think he looks for these random opportunities to give things on. Sadly, like the silver pocket watch they are things he has inherited but doesn't know the story behind. They generally came from my Grandparents who collected a lot of antiques but didn't pass the stories on down with them. That's why I am hoping to make new stories with them. 

The netsuke does have it's own special new story! So the little carved man is a netsuke, made from ivory and it belonged to my Grandma. (Whole wiki explanation of what a netsuke is here) She was really interested in Japan, specifically in ikebana which is a kind of flower arranging and had a close friend who was Japanese who gave her many lovely things. We think this was one of them. However we have a story for it now. When Andy and I got engaged his parents gave him the engagement ring I wear. It was his mum's ring which she sneaked to him. I love that sense of history. My parents were touched too and so they said that they wanted to give something with a little family history to Andy. So as an engagement present to him my parents passed on the netsuke. It is something very familiar to me, always been sitting on a shelf in my parent's home and has now moved on to us. I love it so much and it is especially appropriate because both of us love Japanese things too.

P.S. Just realised I haven't done a toy update in so long! I have a whole new thing to show you soon if only there can be some good light here soon.