Not Really Resolutions 2012 - The Results

How different things are from last year. 

My Not Really Resolutions of 2011 were, on the whole, successful and I was chock-a-block full of hopes for this year when I made my Not Really Resolutions for 2012. My goodness if I had known then what was coming I don't think I'd have bothered at all. In fact, if I knew what was coming this year I think I would have just found myself a cave and hidden until it was all over.

So needless to say, this year's Not Really Resolutions are not quite as successful as 2011's, but I've done the best I can and I actually think that this gave me something to at least aim for in what has been a shitty year.

Without further ado - this is the round-up of the Not Really Resolutions 2012.


1. Complete my France trip of 2010 album 

This was a hangover from last year's Not Really Resolutions so there was no way in all good faith that I could avoid finishing it this year. It was going to be a bit of a close call but I pulled my finger out and finally got it finished on the 14th October. 

I'm pleased I did it although it definitely would have been easier to just print the photos out and stick them in an album, I feel like I made life unnecessary difficult for myself.

But I'm pleased I did something that was a bit different by stitching on the photographs, it has made it that little bit more special. I took it home with me at Christmas to show my Dad and he really appreciated the effort I've made.

2. Furniture makeover

The idea here was to makeover/upcycle/whatever the trendy word is, two charity shop purchases that I'd made the year before - one a table and one a small chest of drawers.

I've only half completed this one - by performing a huge make over on my table which you can read all about here.

I have even bought the stuff to upcycle the chest of drawers but unfortunately time has run away with me and there's no way I'll get it done before the year is out. Guess I've already found the first thing to go on my list for next year...


3. Run 10km

Done and done - I ran the Preston 10k at the end of September and managed to fall back in love with running all at the same time. 

4. No buying of physical books for one whole year

Completed - read all about it here.

5. Learn how to do French knots and use them in an embroidered piece 

French Knots have been the bane of my life since I started dipping my toes into the field of embroidery. I looked at the instructions, I asked people to show me, but it just resulted in frustration and anger and a lot of throwing things across the room.

My salvation came in the form of the Feeling Stitchy blog - which is awesome by the way, you should read it - they had a link to a tutorial video on the Needle 'n' Thread website and after a few views I decided to be brave and give it a go.

And it worked! After a lot of swearing, and having to open a window because I was sweating, I managed to put the final touches to a Christmas present for a friend. 

 They are definitely something that requires a lot of practice. Even after practicing on a spare piece of evenweave and moved on to the real piece, there were still angry words and a few broken pieces of thread but by the time I'd done a few I was definitely getting in more of a groove and they were looking a little tidier and more uniform.

My best tip? Tension is important when making the knot, but don't get too over-zealous and  pull too hard once you've passed your needle back through the fabric - that's when you'll start swearing.

6. Use my alpaca wool 

Unfortunately not even a peep on this one. I'm still suffering from the fear when it comes to using it. I've decided to put two strands together to make it thicker to crochet with but I'm now panicking that I won't have enough to make a full blanket.

To be fair I've hardly crocheted at all this year - 2012 has been the Year of Cross Stitch - and I'm itching to get going with my hook in 2013.

7. Sell something at a craft fair 

Big fat no to this one. But I don't feel too badly, I guess you could say this one was cancelled due to life circumstances. What with losing my job, moving to Preston, being unemployed, having a crappy job, getting a new job and preparing to move out, I didn't really have time to source out a local craft fair, let alone make things in order to sell at one. 

Heck I haven't even registered at a GP yet.

8. Read 12 Classics 

Done - although you probably wouldn't know, given that I dropped doing my book reviews in 2013. I'm basically just not that good at writing book reviews I decided, I'd far rather leave it to the pros.

The list of Classics for this year then has been:

1. Northanger Abbey, 
2. The Magic Toyshop, 
3. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, 
4. Gone With the Wind, 
5. Cold Comfort Farm, 
6. The Virgin & The Gypsy, 
7. Brighton Rock, 
8. Heart of Darkness, 
9. The Turn of the Screw, 
10. Of Mice and Men, 
11. I Capture the Castle, 
12. Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde.

Worst Classic of 2012? The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - I don't even know how I made it through that dirge. Absolutely awful.

Biggest disappointment of 2012? Cold Comfort Farm - I know people will be going apeshit at me saying that, maybe I just had too high expectations because everyone loves it so much but it just didn't do it for me at all and it certainly didn't make me laugh.

Biggest surprise of 2012? Gone with the Wind - I've never even seen the film so didn't know what to expect at all and I was pleasantly surprised, I absolutely gobbled this book up, couldn't get enough of it, and although it might appear a little daunting given its size I would definitely recommend it.

Scariest Classic of 2012? The Turn of the Screw - I was chilled people. Chilled.

Favourite Classic of 2012? Toss up between I Capture the Castle and Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde. Two very different books but both totally absorbing.


9. Cook/bake something new every 3 weeks 

Yeah this never happened either. Although....it probably actually did. What happened was I stopped keeping track of everything new I was making. Admittedly I stopped caring after the bad news and I found solace in eating just a whole load of crap as a way of dealing with my redundancy which was not good at all.

However, moving in with The Person re-invigorated my love of trying new things and making new things and together we've had a great time going through all my cookery books and finding new things to make - Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food has been well devoured. I know there have been weeks where I have made new things almost every day...

So I don't know - I reckon I probably did this one, but in the interests of fairness, I'll leave it unticked.


10. Keep a diary with photos for one whole year

Yeah this one was cancelled too. I'm going to say life circumstances again. In some ways maybe I should have, this year would have been interesting to document, but at the same time, I don't think it needed documenting for me to remember it.

I think I made it too difficult for myself by wanting to do photos as well - I couldn't write without the photos and when I got a backlog of photos I couldn't remember what happened. It just all got too complicated.

This one was inspired by doing Project365 in 2011 - I think I'll go back to that next year.

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So there we have it. I make that Five-and-a-half out of 10 (I'm giving myself a half for number 2 as I did upcycle at least one piece of furniture) which I'm counting as a win. Anything over 50% is a win, right?

I'm giving myself a pat on the back as well - there were a few times when I thought about just surreptitiously deleting the page listing the resolutions on and pretending that I'd never really set them, hoping that no-one would call me out on it. But I'm glad that I took a deep breath and decided to plunge on regardless, it makes me feel like I've at least achieved something this year.

Now, bring it on 2013.....

How I went a whole year without buying any books

So when I wrote my Not Really Resolutions of 2012 there was kind of mental one on there that might have seemed a little weird, namely that I was not going to buy any books in 2012.

Say what?

Basically I had far too many un-read books on my bookshelves to justify spending any more of my money buying new ones. Not only that, I just felt bad for all those books that were sitting un-read on my shelves - they were meant to be read and I quite frankly felt mean not reading them, meaning that they were unable to fulfil their purpose in life.

I managed to insert a couple of loopholes - buying books for my Kindle would be allowed - obviously they're not taking up any room - and other people were allowed to buy me books, I just couldn't spend my own hard-earned cash on them.

It proved to be easier than I thought, I just stayed clear of bookshops which put me out of temptation’s way. However, the first time I went into a bookshop in April I was floored. The smell of books nearly overwhelmed me. I am a dirty great big book sniffer and it’s the first thing I’ll do upon getting a new book off the shelf. Being in a whole shop full of books nearly knocked me out and I hurried out of there as quickly as possible so as to avoid succumbing to temptation.

Being unemployed meant that this resolution was fairly easy to stick to – I didn’t have any money to buy anything, let alone books, and I didn’t go out an awful lot – so buying books never really came into it, I just enjoyed being in reading the books I had available to me.

I have to be honest though. I managed to invent find  a couple of loopholes which allowed me to sneak a couple of books on to my shelves throughout the year.

Stephen King published a new book this year called “The Wind Through the Keyhole” and his UK publishers ran a competition – the back cover of the hardback copy of the book was going to be made up entirely of photos of SK fan’s faces. All you had to do was submit a picture of yourself and then see if you were lucky enough to be on there.

I forgot all about it until I got an e-mail with a link on it – I popped my name in and whoosh it took me to a picture of the back cover, zoomed in and in and in and boom THERE I WAS.

Now of course, you can’t see me when you look at the back cover, these photographs are obviously veeeeery tiny in order to make up the picture but I know I’m there, and given a magnifying glass, I can point myself out to you. So obviously I was allowed to buy that book – right?!

The second book to sneak on to my shelf was a result of my inability to not get suckered in to a ‘deal’. I went to buy my Dad’s wife a birthday present – she wanted Anna Karenina and it just so turned out that it was part of a buy one get one half price offer. I mean how could I not? But I cleverly got round it by roping in The Person – asking him if there was a book that he wanted as part of the offer.

When I say “asked” I mean I shoved “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” under his face and said “Oh my god, don’t you totally want to read this book?” He knew better than to disagree and so a Classic snuck on to my shelf – although really it’s not for me, The Person said that he wanted it, remember?

So I reckon only 2 books on the shelves is a win, am I right?

I know some people will read this and go “How did you do this, you call yourself a book lover?” but to my mind, I did this because I’m a book lover. I have owed it to some of those books who’ve been sat on my shelves for far too long. They needed to be read and forcing myself to read all those books has meant that I’ve discovered some books that have been sat there for a long long time. Ken Follett is a brilliant example - I’ve had The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End sat on my shelves for well over 2 years now - I've never tackled them, most probably because they’re pretty intimidating in size but I finally felt able to give them a go.

I picked up The Pillars of the Earth and did nothing for the next couple of weeks but read – and read and read. It is exactly the kind of book I love – great sweeping dynasty of a book, lots of detail, lots of character development – amazing. As soon as it was done I reached up and did the same with World Without End.

Goodness knows how long they’d have stayed on my shelf as I picked up “easier” reads in favour of them and I’m so pleased that this challenge has meant that I’ve now discovered a new author. And it also means I now have more books to add to my wanted list!

So yes it’s been rough – I walked around Waterstones the other day going “Oh my god this book is out. And this book….and…and……and…” – but I’m pleased I did it.

And no. I haven’t read all the books on my unread list, there’s probably enough on there to keep going for another year, but I don’t know that I’m that dedicated….

The time I ran my first 10k

So now that Running and I were back on track and having the relationship of our lives, I knew it was time to take it to the next level.

I'd set myself a Not Really Resolution of running 10km this year. And I'd specifically said that I wasn't going to enter a race because I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself. But I soon realised that although Running and I were getting on again, I needed something to push me or else we'd just stay stuck in the same 5km rut forever.

As luck would have it, Preston was holding a 10km race at the end of September and after much umming and aahing I decided to just go for it and book my spot and see how it would go.

I did keep meaning to train but the closing in of the nights, plus getting a job that means I walk a ridiculous amount every day, plus the rain, plus my general tendency towards idleness meant that training was non-existent tough-going. I managed to get to 7.5km one night which was great and then I made it up to 8km another night and I was feeling pretty good.

Then I got sick with the mean bug that has struck everyone down and in the 2 weeks before the race I managed one 5k run and that didn't go too well. I resigned myself to the fact that the race wasn't going to be where my 10k was going to happen.

One thing I did discover during the rekindling of my love affair with Running - I don't really like running to music. I get stressed out and distracted and start counting how many songs I've listened to and what the next song is and running to keep to the beat of the song, it just doesn't do it for me. The main problem I have with running is that I spend the whole time in a battle with my mind. It's just so mean to me from about 3km onwards it starts up moaning and then it begins;

"You're too tired. If you're too tired now and you've got to run even further then how are you ever going to run 10k? Maybe you should just stop now and oh my god you can't even breathe properly and wait do your knees hurt a bit, you should probably stop and good god aren't you running so slowly that you're basically walking? You should probably just stop now."

And this will continue until eventually I get to 5k and succumb to the voice. So I figured that I needed a distraction - music clearly wasn't cutting it.

Enter Desert Island Discs...

I have many of these podcasts downloaded to my iPod. And guess what? They're about 35 minutes each. And guess what? That's about how long it takes me to run 5km.

Hey. I never said I could run fast people.

So when I was at the startline of the Preston 10k I was there, iPod in hand, podcast cued up, ready to run.

Goldie Hawn kept me company for the first 5km. And I was glad of her because oh good god people weren't joking about the hills. I thought there was one hill I had to contend with, but pretty much from the get go I realised this was going to be tough. I'm not made for hills. I'm not used to hills. I don't do hills. I hadn't even noticed Preston city centre was that bloody hilly before - but I and my legs can assure you that it is.

I had made a promise to myself that I would try and get to 8km. Anything after that was a bonus. I wasn't going to beat myself up about it, I'd never run 10km before and I'd been ill and this course was frankly a little bitch. It wasn't really a course that was very geared up towards spectators either, which made it a kind of lonely experience, you need to know people are cheering you on I think.

I tried to not feel like the biggest loser alive when all the other people were running past me, I just kept my head down, listened to Goldie Hawn and did what I had to do.

Once Goldie was done and castaway, I turned to Mary Berry for help and I think she was what I needed. No nonsense Mary was the calming voice in my ear through the next 5km or so - keeping me company along the banks of the River Ribble and up the many ridiculous hills of Avenham Park.

The last hill is a joke. There are not even words to describe how steep it is. I struggle to walk up it normally. I can't say that what I was doing was "running" up it, more of a squatting waddle whilst vigourously pumping my arms, and by the time I got to the top, even though I wasn't entirely sure my legs were still attached to my body, I realised that I'd surpassed the challenge I set myself and had done over 8km. In fact, I was pretty much at 9km, and if I'd come this far....

The head went down. The arms pumped a little bit more. Mary Berry came to an end and Florence + The Machine entered stage right to see me through the final few minutes.

And a mere 1 hour and 18 minutes (I know. Don't laugh.) after I'd started out, I hopped over the finish line.

And pulled this face...

No it wasn't fast and no it definitely wasn't graceful. But it was done. And I could even tell you that I enjoyed it and I wouldn't really be lying.

And before you ask. No I will not be doing a half marathon next. I am not even a little bit tempted. 10k is good enough for me and I think this is where I'll stick and settle myself down. Long enough that it's a challenge, not so long that the training takes over your life and your body gets ruined.

Man it feels good to at least get one of those things cross off my Not Really Resolutions list. It's not going to be a good year Not Really Resolutions-wise...

How Running and I fell out (and then got back together)

Running and I had a pretty major falling out at the beginning of this year. Like a serious shouting, screaming, throwing things at each other falling out.

I didn't really understand how our relationship had got to that point - for years and years we'd hated each other, couldn't loathe to have anything to do with another but then we'd turned a corner and realised that actually we got on pretty well. In fact, we got on really well. Before I knew it we were having early morning and late evening get togethers. We were out on weekends together and frolicking in the rain. We even ran the Race for Life last year and celebrated afterwards.

I liked the way that Running made me feel. He made me feel good about myself. I felt energised and healthy and he played a huge part in helping me lose all my weight. I was so excited about our relationship that I ignored the major huge flashing warning signs that kept cropping up...

...Shin splints.

Many people get them and many people complain of them and everyone has them in varying degrees. I had killer shin splints. And only in my left leg. When it flared up I couldn't even have my trousers resting against them, let alone an ice pack, the swelling was gross and even when I could bear to touch them, a lump would remain. I saw a podiatrist, who gave me some insoles. I saw a physiotherapist, who gave me some exercises.

It was basically couple's therapy. And Running and I failed at it. The pain got too bad, having to start again at the beginning each time  they flared up was too irritating and eventually Running and I parted ways.

But I just couldn't give up on him. Especially seeing as I'd made a Not Really Resolution this year to run 10k and even more especially because my weight was slowly piling back on and I was going to 10ton tessie before I knew where I was.

Who knew that unemployment would have a silver lining? I suddenly had plenty of time to go out and have a run. I even lived near the Docks, which handily is 2.5km around the perimeter - almost a sign some would say.

So I did what I knew I had to and started from the very beginning. I spent a week only running 1km. Then ran 2.5km. Then ran 3.5km and before I knew it, I was back not only running 5km. It was a long and difficult journey that Running and I took though. It wasn't easy. Back last year, when I first started running, all I was doing was improving and therefore had the incentive to carry on, now I was back at the beginning again it was tough because my brain was vicious and would spend the whole time screaming at me, "YOU SUCK! YOU USED TO BE ABLE TO RUN 5KM AND NOW YOU CAN ONLY DO 3.5KM. GIVE UP GIVE UP GIVE UP GIVE UP."

For reals. My brain is well tough on me sometimes.

But Running and I stuck together through thick and thin and before I knew it our relationship was back on track again. And even better, I was running and not experiencing any issues with my shin splints.

I am at a complete loss to explain why my shin splints have gone away. Maybe all the professionals were right and I really did just need to be patient and build up slowly. However I much prefer my theory that the pavements in Preston are somehow squishier than those in Hull. It's just more fun that way.

Running and I soon found ourselves in such a good place that we knew we could take it to the next level and before I knew it - I had 10k in my sights....

To be continued...

How I Kapowed my way to a new table

So a long while ago this little charity shop landed at my front door, courtesy of one of my Stitchettes and ex-Housemate who had knew I was looking out for a table and saw this beauty in a charity shop. I loved him but knew he needed a bit of a make-over because he had seen better days. In fact I even went so far as to make him part of my Not Really Resolutions 2012 (let's not even talk about those just yet though 'kay?)

I had a few ideas of what I wanted to do with them but none of them seemed quite right to me. I don't know when the idea really hit me but one day it was there. I would turn the table into a comic table - paint it bright red and make a collage of old school comics on it.

And just a few weeks later I had this;

I'm normally a very measured person who weighs up all sides before proceeding with caution. Spontaneity is not really my watchword.

But for some reason, when it comes to creative things I am compelled to throw myself in at the deep end with little thought and just hope for the best. Maybe it's because I'm not particularly creative, meaning that when I do get an idea I feel like I have to just start immediately before it flies out of my mind.

With the vague idea in my head, before I knew where I was, I had purchased sandpaper and red paint and was wielding a paintbrush.

Once the table was red - (two coats, although I used surprisingly little paint considering that this has a million more legs than a normal table - just 2.5 of those small match pots you can get) - I turned my attention to the other part of the project; the comics.

Here the wheels came off a bit. Turns out that modern comics now are dark and grimey and whilst very well drawn, not what I was looking for at all. I went to eBay to try and get older comics. Mistake. Something I probably should have thought of before - old comics = precious comics = expensive comics. After picking my jaw up off the floor at some of the prices these comics were going for I was at a loss of what to do and was now saddled with a random bright red table.

Help came in the form of our trip to London when we went to see the big cats. We came across Forbidden Planet which seemed to me like the kind of place someone who was looking for comics should go. Inside there I had an experience which is a blog post all of its own but to cut a long story short, I went downstairs and found exactly what I was looking for - books of reproductions of comics from the 60s and 70s - and even better they were on offer 3 for 2.

So for £11 I was armed with everything I needed. I went for Spiderman, Hulk and Captain America but I was careful to cut out a little bit of everything. I paid particular attention to looking out for "WHALLOP"s and "KABOOM"s and "POW"s because I knew they would be the best parts...

Then I got my PVA glue and masking tape out and started glueing and sticking like a mad woman until everything was in place.

The curved bits were presented a potential problem but I just carefully went round, folding the tape over on itself and then sticking extra bits on to make a smoother finish. But other than that it was easy peasy lemon squeezey. The only thing I had to keep in mind was to make sure I wasn't getting too uniform with my collage - making sure cartoons weren't all facing the same way etc etc.

Once that was done, it was a case of a few coats of varnish (I went for a satin finish) and I officially had a "new" table.

This is the first time I've ever attempted anything like this and although it's not perfect I am immensely proud of it. And it's opened up so many more possibilities. The plan now is to search for chairs (the only chairs in the flat belong to the estate agents and they might not appreciate my attempts at upcycling) and paint them in equally bright colours - I'm thinking a red, blue, green and yellow one. Having seen how much paint I used to paint a whole table, a chair definitely would only need one match pot of colour.

A rough breakdown of what I used:

Medium Sandpaper 150 grit - just did a quick rub down of everything, I didn't get too bogged down in it
Homebase Home of Colour Matt Emulsion in Flame - approx 2.5 pots - £1.47 each
Homebase Quick Drying Varnish for interior use in Clear Satin - approx 1 250ml pot - but I did 3/4 coats on the top of the table.
Homebase Multi-Purpose PVA Adhesive & Sealer - absolutely mahoosive bottle, I could do another 2 tables probably!

All in all it wasn't a massively expensive project - the comics were by far the most expensive part of it and I have loads left - if anyone would like to make their own table I probably have enough left over. But it wasn't about the money (well it kind of was, I did start and finish this project whilst I was unemployed) it was about having a table that's all mine, that no-one else can say they have.

Now I just have to work up the nerve to actually allow us to eat off it...

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Please note this isn't a Homebase sponsored post, it's just the closest DIY place to the flat!

Things and Things and Things

I’m not a huge one for just generally bumming around the interweb and finding things. I’m often sent links by The Person which always force me to ask him what the hell he was doing on there that made him arrive at a video of a dog wearing boots.

 

I’m pretty standard, I come home, check e-mails, Facebook, Google Reader and that’s about it really. I don’t browse Etsy, I’m still not on Twitter (I don’t need anything else to distract me thank you very much), I don’t frequent cool online stores, I haven’t requested an invite to Pinterest.

 

I read link posts that people do and I often wonder how they find so many, how they see so much cool stuff, I’m clearly failing at the internet here.

 

But I thought I would show you some things that I’ve been clicking on this week (and I apologise that 2 of them are to do with cats).

 

Cat Scan - Cats + Scanning machines. For reals. And my Mum totally has a scanner – I’m thinking I know what I can do when I look after the cats next week...

And in other cat news - Larry the cat that was adopted by Number 10 Downing Street from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home to be a mouser, has been doing his job for one whole year today. Not only is that cool, but he also has his own photoset on Flickr where you can see him getting ready for his party. There is a photo of him at the top of the stairs that made me screech with laughter it looks so cool. Good work Larry!

Did I ever tell you one of the Stitchettes got married in November last year? Well she did and her wedding was so homemade (obvs) and awesome that it’s been featured on Rock N’ Roll Bride, the most awesomest wedding website ever.

You may remember that it’s one of my Not Really Resolutions this year to learn how to do French Knots. But I’m also feeling the need to expand my embroidery techniques generally and learn some new stuff. Enter the Feeling Stitchy blog which showcases all the coolest stitchery out there. They Stitchalongs every month and January’s was all about couching. This stuck in my head and I decided to give it a go for The Person’s Valentine’s Day Card this year – but I forgot to take a photo of it, sorry. But expect to see more couching in these here parts because it is a) fun and b) quite quick to do.

I’ve been merrily cross stitching away at my fairy castle but then managed to run out of thread. Mostly because I was too lazy to go out and get more. When I had to stop I had a mild panic attack at the realisation that I didn’t have anything crafty in my hands, but then Heather’s Elmer-inspired baby blanket popped into my head and ever since then I have been feverishly hooking up solid granny squares....I don’t even know why, I just can’t stop!

I wish I had longer hair. If I did I would do things like this to it.  (Incidentally this blog is awesomecakes and her hair tutorials are brilliant, in particular the half up fat twist and full up fat twist which is a way of getting super classy looking hair quickly.)

That American Girl knows me well. She sent me this for Valentine's Day - 14 Ways an Economist Says I Love You. These are pretty hardcore Economics things, I had to dig into the recesses of my brain to work out what half of them were originally based on.


 Right that's your lot, get off the internet, you'll use it all up!

Things that have been happening around here.

You know I love a good list post so I thought I’d fill you in quickly on a quick update of my life at the moment.

• I totally made something new as per my Not Really Resolutions. I made a vegetarian lasagne. Now I’m a girl who does like my meat but very occasionally, the look of something veggie will catch my eye. I roped in a couple of friends to be guinea pigs and we were all pretty impressed with it. It was very filling and I hand on heart didn’t really miss the absence of meat. I also found a recipe for a different veggie lasagne which sounded even nicer so that might be next on my list!

PS It’s really difficult to take appetising pictures of roasted vegetables and crème fraiche and cheese.

• I’m working on a new cross-stitch thing for my niece’s bedroom. Thinking about it, it will be the biggest cross-stitched piece I’ll have ever completed so that’s exciting. It’s a pattern from the Christmas 2011 CrossStitcher magazine and there’s a tiny little part of me (the girly side apparently) that would secretly like to keep it for myself.

• I now live in a full house! A new housemate moved in whilst I was away at the wedding at the beginning of the year. She is Irish and I will christen her as Newbie. She seems pretty nice actually, although I haven’t seen that much of her because I feel like I’m out and about a lot of the time at the moment.

• I've been trying to get back into running but it has been fraught with masses of frustration. I can’t believe how much of my former fitness I've lost and I get incredibly mad with myself. I used to be able to run 5km without too much of a problem, now I'm lucky if I can get to 4km. I know it will eventually come back and I know I have absolutely no-one else to blame but myself, but I am finding it really difficult to remain positive. Especially as my shin splints in my left leg have already re-appeared and I only ran 3.5km one day and then 2km the next. Have been sat, icing my shin and feeling very very sorry for myself. My 10km goal is looking impossible at this point in time because of my incessant injuries. I’ve read everything there is to read about shin splints I know everything there is know about what causes them and how I’m supposed to cure them but it’s just to no avail I’m afraid.

• I saw a really pretty sunrise this morning.

That is all.

2 Classics down, 10 to go.

Nothing like hitting these Not Really Resolutions running I think and somehow I’ve managed to get two under my belt before the second week of January is up.


Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey is also the first book I have ever read on my Kindle so well done to it. Round of applause please. The Magic Toyshop was one of the last books I bought in 2011 as a Christmas present to myself, having saved up some pennies. My copy is one of the Virago Modern Classics with the beautiful hardcovers.

I was actually looking for Mansfield Park on my Kindle but of course, my luck being what it is, this is one of the few Classics you actually had to pay for (not much, but I want to spend as little as possible at the moment). So I went for Northanger Abbey. I have to be honest, I’m pretty sure the only Jane Austen I’ve read is Pride and Prejudice, although I think I’ve picked others up from time to time.

Northanger Abbey felt completely different to Pride and Prejudice though – I mean not so much in terms of plot, but the style of writing was very different and it threw me a little bit, I’ve obviously underestimated Miss Austen.

Bizarrely enough, the Northanger Abbey of the title isn’t even mentioned until you’re half way through the book which was frustrating at times, I was reading it and questioning what the hell it was all about. And to be honest I didn’t really feel like it was that relevant to the story – although maybe that’s just because my over-analytical A-level English Literature skills have now officially deserted me.

The story follows Catherine Morland, a young 18 year old, who goes to Bath with some friends of the family. There she meets the odious Isabella Thorpe, who you want to give a good slap to, and her equally fatuous brother, John Thorpe. She also meets Mr Henry Tilney, who she falls in love with completely and his sister Miss Eleanor Tilney, a much nicer friend than Isabella.

Catherine is eventually invited to Northanger Abbey, the home of the Tilneys, and it’s then that things kind of go a bit haywire and Austen appears to be trying her hand at a bit of crime fiction with a frankly weird storyline that goes absolutely nowhere about a possible murder.

She is unceremoniously turned out of Northanger and sent home without reason given and she thinks she will never again see her Mr Tilney.

But does she?

I’ll leave you to find out.

I honestly don’t know what to make of this book, it’s certainly different, but it felt so odd and disjointed in places that I couldn’t say I absolutely definitively loved it.

The Magic Toyshop – Angela Carter

No book could be further from Northanger Abbey than this one. It’s part fairy story, part grim reality and you are helplessly swept along with the story.

Melanie and her two younger siblings are sent to live with relatives they have never met, following the death of their parents. They slip from a privileged life into one of dirt and grime with no money. Uncle Philip is the head of the household and only appears to care about his puppets, which he spends time in the basement crafting, to put on shows for the rest of the family. Aunt Margaret is mute and her two brothers, Francie and Finn, live with the couple, Finn helping out in the toyshop that earns Uncle Philip a living.

It is uncomfortable in places to read but is absorbing at the same time but I couldn’t help but feel a little let down by the ending which just felt rushed and a bit clumsy. I can’t explain more about the book without giving too much away but it was one of those books that felt both beautiful and awful in equal measure.

Definitely one to pick up.

Not Really Resolutions 2012

So here we go. Not Really Resolutions 2012. Eek.

I think last year went pretty well. 9 out of 10 is a success in my book anyway, certainly as close to perfection as I’ll ever get.

So what’s on the list for this year? And more importantly, why?

1. Complete France 2010 trip album. Ha. Well it has to be on here doesn’t it really, given that it’s the only thing I didn’t complete last year. Shame on me. But this way it will definitely get done so it’s time for me to get my head down!

2. Furniture make-over. I have 2 items of charity shop furniture that need a make-over. One is a drop-leaf table and the other is this scabby looking chest of drawers that I picked up for £5 a few days after Christmas. They are very good at their jobs, but they’re not exactly pretty. I even know what I want to do with them, after getting inspiration from Tete en l’air last year, so it’s just a case of getting on with it. Think it might have to wait for more clement weather though!

3. Run 10km. A tricky one to put on the list as I’m still not overly sure if I am able to run 10km without my shin imploding. But if I don’t put it on the list I won’t push myself to try and achieve it so it’s going on here. I need something to aim for because once I’d run the 5km last year I stopped having the impetus to go running and as a result I’ve become a reet lazy so and so and I’m piling on the pounds as a result.

But I’m not going to beat myself up if I don’t achieve this one because it’ll be because I physically can’t do it. Note that I’ve just said run 10km, not enter in a race, I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself because then I’ll end up in pain – if I manage to run 10km, whether that be on a treadmill or running up and down my street a million times, I’ll count it as a win.

4. No buying of physical books for one whole year. Yeah you read right. I’m going hardcore for 2012. There is good reason for this. Namely that I do not need any more books. There are currently 92 books waiting to be read on my bookshelves. I read about 45 books this year, and 44 the year before that. Do the maths. Also I just don’t have the space to be buying books.

Which brings me to why it says no physical book buying. I decided this would be my resolution a couple of months ago and was all settled until Christmas Day when I opened up my present from my Dad and discovered I am the proud owner of a Kindle. I’ve had mixed feelings about these for some time now but I was mostly pleased because I saw a loophole in my resolution. I can’t buy any physical books but I’m allowing myself to buy books for my Kindle. I mean otherwise it would just be a waste wouldn’t it?

This one is going to be a tough one because I have a bit of a compulsion with book buying, as evidenced by the problem in the first place.

5. Learn how to do French knots and use them in an embroidered piece. These guys are the bane of my life. I literally cannot do them. Many have tried to teach me and many have wanted to poke me in the eye with the needle due to my complete inability to do it. But this year I am determined. If anyone has any links to any tutorials or videos that are good please tell me about them! I think French knots are going to be to 2012 what learning to crochet a ripple blanket was to 2011.

6. Use my alpaca wool. American Girl went all the way to South America to get me this wool (there’s a chance she also went for a holiday but we all know it was about me) and all I’ve done with it is turn from skeins into very neat balls of wool. This is bad behaviour. The main reason I haven’t used it is because I’m a giant scaredy cat because it’s not Stylecraft DK so I don’t know what to do with it. It is thin thinny thin thin and it frightens me. Any suggestions for what I can do with it (keep it clean please) then let me know!

7. Sell something at a craft fair. This requires me to be organised and get a stockpile together. Of what I have no idea but I like the thought of making money. Remember the mobile that I made for my niece? Since that one I’ve made 4 more for friends and it’s earned me some lovely cash. Now obviously I can’t make those – not unless I develop psychic powers and learn the names of my potential shoppers beforehand – but I’ve been bitten by greed and want to make pocket money for myself. I can feel a Gantt chart coming on...

8. Read 12 Classics. I had such a good time last year that I definitely want to carry this on this year. Mostly because of the stockpile I have – remember those 92 books? Yeah well 17 of them are Classics that I bought on speculation. And I can download Classics for free on my Kindle so no excuses.

9. Cook/bake something new every 3 weeks. When I was doing Weightwatchers in 2010/2011 I really started to enjoy being in the kitchen much more as I was always making myself new things. Since reaching my goal weight in February 2010 I’ve been lazy and that, plus the lack of exercise (see Resolution 3) has meant that slowly but ever so surely the weight is creeping back on. It’s not a big deal, I’ve just fallen into some bad habits, but I know what I need to do to change them so there’s no stressing to be done. But I thought this might help give me a kick up the bum.

Why 3 weeks? Well I knew that if I said fortnightly I’d never keep it up and if I said monthly well that’s just a big fat cop out isn’t it really? So every 3 weeks it is. God knows how I’ll keep track of this one.

10. Keep a diary with photos for one whole year. I loved doing Project 365 last year because it allowed me to look back over a year in my life and remember all the little things that happened. However it was a little limiting because I try to be as private as possible on the blog and not have other people’s faces in my photos etc. So I have decided that I will keep an actual physical diary for a year that will include photos. I’m not pressuring myself to write something every single day or take a photo every single day but I do want to keep a record of the little things that happen day to day. I even bought myself a cool book from Paperchase to do it in. Anything to oblige my stationary addiction.

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So there we have it. I am locked in. Bring it on 2012.

It's actually kind of scary. I think I might start thinking of valid reasons why I haven't completed these now, just in case...