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Hello lovelies, how are you all? It's early Saturday morning, Mark's gone off to work like postmen do at these foggy times of the day, and I'm finally ready to blog. What started as a tiny blogging break ended up as a huge I've not posted in almost 2 months scenario. I've missed you all, and my little blog, lots! It's been a challenging time, but also an exciting time, and I'm going to catch you up on what's been happening lately. Settle down and get comfortable!
First of all, Mark, Rufus & I finally made the leap from staying at my mum's house to our own lovely little rented apartment. It's described as a coach house and it's just perfect for us! It was quite stressful making the actual move, and it was quite a while after our official moving date that we actually moved in. On the day of us getting the keys, I noticed all the things that I hadn't noticed on viewing and I felt overwhelmed by the move. After a big clean, and the addition of our belongings, it feels much more like home. Now that we're living there, we love it. We love having our own space and freedom, and choosing furniture and other things makes the creative side of me so happy! We've still a lot of unpacked boxes around, but we're finally getting there.
On moving day, Rufus had to go on his first ever trip to the vets, because he was a poorly little fluff. We were given three different medications for him, and he was totally exhausted by them. I think he was also a little shaken after being handled by someone he didn't know. He's on the mend now, though we're not sure if he's still not quite himself or if he's still settling in after the move. He's got one more course of his last medication to have next week, then we'll take him to get checked over to make sure he's fully recovered.
Whilst all this moving business was going on, I was on the search for extra hours in the form of a second job or a full time job. A couple of months back, I had an interview for a new store opening in Leicester. I was offered the job, but afterwards it turned out the hours weren't what they'd promised, so I turned it down. I was offered this job two further times! The latest offer having been just a couple of weeks ago when I randomly received a phone call offering me 40 hours a week. But through the power of Facebook & friends, I got a temporary job in a lovely little tearoom. This has meant that mostly I've been working 7 days a week, 6 days on a good week. I've been tired and somewhat grumpy! But I've really enjoyed working with the lovely staff at the tearoom, and will miss it when I leave the week after next. My manager in my local newsagent job offered me enough hours to keep me, so I'm staying put for a while.
Then there's my studying with the Open Uni. This is something else that, as well as blogging, has had to take a backseat in such a hectic period of my life. I managed to keep up to date with everything until my final assignment of this module, when I tried to get an extension. Unfortunately, they said the extension this time wasn't possible. But luckily, with my two previous assignment results being high enough, I was able to skip it and still pass as long as I pass the exam. Which is where it gets messy! The day of the exam is the day we go on holiday to Barcelona (12 days!!), and the OU say that going on holiday isn't a good enough reason to miss it. Despite the holiday having been booked in January, when this course started in March. But I'll get on the phone on Monday morning and attempt to negotiate something..!
I'm one of those people that struggles with change, and it takes me a little while to adapt and to feel comfortable again. But lately I've been embracing change and the positive things it can bring. It's been difficult in places, and some things aren't quite worked out yet, but I'm staying positive and enjoying the happy place I'm at now. I can't wait for the break our holiday brings, and to do some exploring in a new place! If anyone has any recommendations of places to eat, see or things to do, I'd love to know!
Thank you to anyone who made it to the bottom of this lengthy post, and I promise normal blogging will resume soon. I don't know how soon, but I do know it's good to be back :)
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Hello dear readers, how are you doing? Summer has well and truly begun and I've been enjoying the sunshine and hearing the birds chirping from the early hours. Rufus isn't enjoying either, but he's still his funny adorable self and makes me smile a lot. It's been a busy few weeks and we had a lovely surprise break when we spent almost two whole weeks on the Wirral, enjoying Mark's birthday and time out from work. We went to see Maleficent on Wednesday with my sister Willow and my niece Caitlin, it wasn't what I expected but I'd still recommend a watch! Here's a few of the little things I've been enjoying lately...
1. This jellyfish installation in Toxteth was overwhelmingly beautiful, it was
so soothing and calming, and slightly haunting. It was in total contrast with the
area of Toxteth, where we didn't feel safe at all. A full post with artist details
and where exactly the jellyfish are located is coming up in the week.
2. The 27th was Mark's birthday, hip hip hooray! We had the loveliest day after
a soggy start which ruined our Chester Zoo plans. We spent the day playing ten
pin bowling, air hockey, shooting basketballs and Mark trying to teach me how to
play pool. I won 2/3 games of bowling but lost miserably at pool!
3. I received my lovely package of stationery from The Idea Owl this week, a
full post including the lovely things I ordered will be up soon :)
4. I took part in Lauren's (The Emerald Dove) postcard swap! It was so nice
to receive a good old fashioned handwritten postcard this week, with a lovely
picture of Somerset on too. Such a fantastic idea!
5. Last but not least, today was the Summer Fayre at my little sister (Indigo) &
nephew McKenzie's school. Lots of fun was had, choosing plates of cakes, Kenzie
scoring goals in the shootout and winning lots on the tombola, (including a can
of corned beef, yes really!).
What have you been doing lately? Are you enjoying the Summer? :)
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Last Sunday, I finished work at 4pm and the sun was beautiful! Mark & I decided to head out to Thornton Reservoir and make the most of it. Thornton Reservoir is a 20 minute drive from where we live, and it's about 2.5 miles walk all the way around it. Being part of the National Forest, it's very pretty and there's a track through the woodland and all the way around the reservoir itself. We saw plenty of fishermen fishing, and a few other groups of people feeding the ducks, taking a stroll or enjoying an ice-cream.
Before setting off Mark chose a real (his words) ice-cream complete with sprinkles, strawberry sauce & flake and I chose a delicious cola lolly from the little ice-cream van parked outside. There are plenty of benches dotted around, including picnic benches - it's a lovely destination for a family picnic, and we'll definitely be returning sandwiches in hand!
There were lovely birds everywhere, including ducks, swans and many more. We saw a big fish leap out of the reservoir and horses in the adjoining fields. We decided to walk along the bike track for a little way, closer to the water and all the pretty wild flowers. I picked up as many pine cones as would fit in Mark's pockets (much to his dismay!) and enjoyed stopping at regular (perhaps too regular) intervals to point things out and take photos. Mark read out the information sign to me, just like our first date in the museum in Liverpool over four years ago, ahh!
When we were over halfway around the reservoir, and into the more wooded part of the walk, a lovely gentleman on a bicycle saw my camera and asked what I was taking photos of. Of course my reply was everything! He told us that there had been a swan nesting for a while now, and that she had not long had her little baby swans. He pointed out the route to us, which we ended up following him on anyway! When we reached the point where the swans were, we all stood and admired the swan and her 8 babies. The gentleman was very sweet and helpful, and we hope to spot him again on our next walk around as he's a regular!
We spent so much time cooing over the baby swans that we had to rush a bit around the last stretch as the car park closed at 7.30pm and we hadn't realised the time! We had a lot of fun, and saw baby cows on the way back too! We can't wait to explore more of the local villages and National Forest when the sun is shining.
Do you enjoy walking? Where is your favourite local walking spot?
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Hello dear readers, I have missed you and your blogs so much. As ever, life has gotten in the way of my blogging with my first assignment having been submitted last week, my first night out in over two years (and it didn't make me ill or give me vertigo!), and me being me - being ill again! I'm currently doing some tests to return to the doctors this week, and then my doctor said it will probably be another hospital referral. I'm having a cystoscopy in June, which I'm so not looking forward to but gladly will be under anesthetic for! One day I might have no hospital stuff going on right? Haha I hope so!
How cute is Rufy in the cup?! And the little drawing Indigo did of him - ahhh!
1. Mark & I recently celebrated four whole years together :) I can't believe
it's been so long, and I can't wait for many more adventures!
2. This no oil hair oil is supposed to give fine hair volume, I don't have fine hair
and I don't notice added volume - but it works wonders on smoothing out those
flyaways and generally my hair feels healthier and looks more shiny.
3. I finished and submitted my first assignment on this module, and I passed!
4. Mark & I went for lunch at The Marina, and spotted this Rufus canal boat!
5. I've been loving taking film photos with my lomography camera lately, the
results are so varied (I'm still getting used to it) which makes it more fun
because we never know how they're going to turn out.
6. At some point during the big move, the majority of my earrings and my rings
went missing in my lovely new jewellery box. It made me so sad to lose all my
favourite jewellery, but I'm slowly trying to replace them with new ones.
7. My sister Phoebe gave me this pretty daisy chain bracelet she made for me
the other day when it was sunny (where have you gone sun?!).
8. I recently joined Twitter! I joined because someone recommended I'd get
through to a company with a complaint on there, but I wimped out! I'm still
not sure what I'm meant to do, but you can find me here on Twitter.
9. On Saturday I went on my first night out in over two years!! I couldn't have
had a more fabulous night with my besties & hope we can do it again soon :)
10. Sunday was spent in true hungover style, in comfy PJs watching rubbish TV
and eating toast and chicken noodles, as made by my lovely boyfriend!
I'll slowly but surely be catching up with you all over the next week - did you do anything special this bank holiday?
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A couple of weeks ago Mark & I, mumma bear, Willow, Zenobia, Kayleigh and Indigo all went to the seaside (Ingoldmells) for the day. The twins (Phoebe & Phoenix) were on holiday at the seaside with our lovely friend Bronwen, so we all met up and spent a wonderful day together. It involved sunshine, rollercoasters, dodgems, slushies, hot cafe food, buying rock, the market, arcade machines, sand in our shoes, walking along the sea, building sandcastles and seeing the amazingly beautiful moon on the journey home. Oh, and of course a delightfully tacky seaside portrait where we didn't realise the photo was being taken!
All photos were taken with my 36mm film lomography camera & some are double exposed.
Where is your local seaside? I always miss the sea when I get home!
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Hello everyone! How are you all doing? Here I am trying to get a bit of normality and routine going on again with my little blog, with a Little Five Friday catching up with what's been happening the last few weeks. Aside from what's here, we also made a little trip back to the Wirral for Mark's mum, Sandra's birthday. It was so nice to see Sandra, Mark's brother Craig, and nana Mary again. We won't be going again until later this month, we're definitely missing the Wirral! I've been struck down with various illnesses (a change of location didn't help!) and my costochondritis has flared up again at the moment. I've done lots of studying whilst enjoying a PJ day today though, so there are upsides!
1. When we first arrived here I went to see my best friend Leah in Eloquent's
Rainbow dance show, the school she teaches at. She was amazing like every time
I see her dance! So proud, it's less than 6 months since she gave birth to Belle!
2. I had my very first Etsy sale! I finally set up my Etsy shop, shhboutique.
It's not finished, but I have a few things for sale and I can't wait to add
more once I'm all caught up with studying and assignments.
3. Need I say more? Seeing his furry little face looking up at me just makes
everything okay. He's playful and at the moment he loves banana and carrot.
4. Mark & I with a few of our family members went on a daytrip to the seaside!
We couldn't have asked for better weather, and it was lovely being by the sea.
Indigo definitely enjoyed it, I'll do a full post with some photos next week.
5. Easter Sunday I spent four hours in work, and did my first locking up of
the shop! I then had a delicious roast dinner with three different meats (mmm
gammon!) with all of my family, it was lovely to see them all in one place.
6. Did you see my Santoro London post? The lovely Rebekah sent me out some of
the prettiest stationery I've seen, I can't wait to add more to my collection!
7. This week Mark & I went to Drayton Manor, Mark's first time! We did end up
having quite a nice day, but there were downsides too. I'll write a full post
on this once I pick up my photos when they're developed.
Have you done anything exciting/different this Easter? One of my favourite things in the world is spending time with my family and friends. It's lovely being able to do that so easily now we've moved!
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