Photo an Hour l 8th November

I am loving these Photo an Hour posts you know. It means I have a guaranteed topic to post about once a month - anything to save me from the horror of working out what I'm supposed to write about.

I was initially quite excited about the choice of the 8th November as I knew I was going to be away visiting my Dad in Somerset - a change of scenery is usually a good omen from some more interesting photos than when you're just twatting about at home - but unfortunately the heavens poured down upon us most of the day so you can expect a fairly crochet-laden post coming up.

Pop over to Is That You Darling to see others' posts and to find out the date of the next Photo an Hour day which will be in December. And remember you can also join in on Twitter and Instagram using #photoanhour

This was Saturday 8th November...

10am - A late start to the day with a little read in bed. Mrs Dalloway is November's Classic as part of my Not Really Resolutions - I purposely picked quite a thin one as I have been running a bit behind schedule lately!

11am - Ablutions time. Anyone else remember a day when just getting ready was a case of splashing your face with some water and being good to go? I'm not even a girly girl and I'm astonished at the amount of paraphernalia I seem to cart about with me, although that's mostly due to the fact that I don't empty anything out and just add more to the pile...

12.10pm - Rubbish weather? Can only mean one thing - time for crochet. But what on earth could it be that I'm making?

1.10pm - Lunchtime and a continuation of the absolutely god-awful weather

2.10pm - What am I making? A Father Christmas of course! Since swearing that I was going to make a job lot of them and sell them at Christmas I made three and then promptly made no more. It is time to get my bum in gear because these guys really don't take that long to work up. In fact this would have been completed much earlier if it wasn't for the fact that I had a complete brain malfunction and forgot to change back to red wool and merrily crocheted along for 6 rows of 42-odd stitches. Yaaaaaay.

3.15pm - Finished! I had no idea these guys worked up this quickly. Thank goodness for Photo an Hour, I would never have known that it takes roughly an hour to work up the bobble for Father Christmas' hat, his hat trim, his face, beard and moustache, attach all the above and sew on a little face. Good to know these things.

4.30pm - This is how I know I'm in the country. You go somewhere to buy dog food and outside they have what can only be described as a fuckton of carrots. It's an official measurement. For a second I thought that people in Somerset really liked their rabbits, before twigging that they're probably for horses.

5.25pm - You see this is why Photo an Hour is brilliant. There I was idly browsing through #photoanhour tweets when I came across Louisa who was talking about editing some Carnival photos. I couldn't believe it as I was on my way to the North Petherton Carnival, something I had never ever heard about until Dad piped up that it would be where we would be spending our evening. How very cool is that?! (Check out Louisa's post from last year which explains what exactly it is I'm talking about). Anyway. 5.25pm we were stuck in some immense carnival traffic trying to get off the M5 and into North Petherton before the road closed for the Carnival.

6.20pm - Officially trapped in North Petherton with time to kill before the Carnival started at 7pm there was nothing for it but to hunker down in the bowling club house with a hot dog and pint of cider.

7.35pm - One of my least favourite things is standing still in the cold. Be warned that going to a Carnival involves a lot of standing still in the cold. I was just thankful it wasn't wet as well. To keep warm I jumped about like an idiot in to the road to see if I could see the start of it. We had a long wait on our hands...

8.30pm - The first float! Hurrah. After an hour and a half of standing in the cold staring at a hedge this was a welcome sight. Little did I know what I was about to witness. It was absolutely mind boggling.

9.25pm - Honestly. When someone says you're going to see an illuminated float parade you don't really know what's in store for you. This was insane and will clearly have a post of its own once I've gone through the 4,000 pictures that I took and begun to compose my thoughts about it.

10.30pm - Back in the car and on the way home down the back roads

11.30pm - Back home feeling cold to our very bones and glad to be in the warmth. Max was also happy to see us but mostly sad that he had been abandoned for the evening.

Life lately

Time marches on regardless of whether you want it to or not and for the most part Tuesdays are now just Tuesdays (for the most part anyway).

I took everyone's advice and tried to keep busy and it's been great, although part of me wonders whether the keeping busy is just a way of keeping your thoughts at bay. This weekend was the first one in a few where there was nothing planned and as soon as Friday morning hit I started to feel a little sad at the thought of an endless weekend stretched out ahead of me with no-one to have fun with.

I have entertained myself over the past few weeks as much as possible though and the time feels ripe for a life lately mega photo round up kind of post.

So life lately has consisted of:

1. Gerbils

These guys need a post all of their own really and they will get one in time. In the meantime however enjoy a small round up of recent photos due to me celebrating one whole year of gerbil ownership. I called it my Gerbilversary,

(Form an orderly queue gentleman)

2. Rabbit

I live very close to someone from work and have become the official go-to person for rabbit-sitting duties when the family all goes on holiday. I don't mind as a) it's only across the road b) the rabbit is actually pretty cute, (and that's coming from someone who is a little bit afraid of rabbits. Yes really.) and c) I get wine for doing it. I like anything that involves me getting wine.

3. Dogs

No explanation for this one really. Just....dogs. My sister has been ensuring that I occasionally get a decent meal in me - I still haven't quite got to grips with cooking for one, not in that I can't do it, I just cannot be arsed to do it. Anyway good meal also equals Rowan and Rosie, always the antidote to any sad feelings

4. Crochet

Obviously. When in doubt, turn to your hook. Above is the output over September/October. I'm particularly proud of the tractor (pleeeeeease tell me you knew it was a tractor) as that is officially the first thing that I've made where I've worked out the pattern myself. I looked around for various patterns but they were all either not what I was after or were too small so I took the picture of one and just set to work. You can't really get the sense of scale here but he was about 30cm tall so fairly big.

The penguin has winged his way to Hull to live, maybe he'll get to see the Gentoo Penguins at The Deep, who knows.

Anyway, you get the picture. I'm also currently working on a wreath inspired by the Attic24 wreaths that Lucy has created. Mine will be a little less CROCHET IN YOUR FACE as the ones that Lucy has produced and it is very very very exciting.

5. Spending

Now that my flat is just that, mine, I've been keen to make it a proper little home for me. That includes acccessorizing it up the wazoo with interiors. After blogging back in May about my desire to have a flat that looks a little less like a student flat and a little more like a grown-up flat I have been trying to put my grey and yellow theme into action and I finally feel a little bit as if it's coming together.

I couldn't resist this cushion from John Lewis Home and although he's more than I would ever normally pay for a cushion I had a £25 gift voucher and a hangover which gave me good enough reason to get my wallet out.

6. Pumpkin

I just wanted an excuse to show you a picture of the pumpkin I carved. This isn't really something that's been helping me over my break up, but it did keep me occupied for about 40 minutes and I was very pleased with it as I didn't go for a fancy stencil *cough cheat cough* and I only had use of a kitchen knife to hack away at him.


But the biggest news of all is.....

*Drumroll*

7. Car!!!!*

That's right. I finally finally finally own a car at the ripe old age of 31. A Ka to be more specific. This is so major I cannot even put into words how brilliant it is. But I hope to try because, although it might sound daft to you, it is a really significant life event for me.

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So. That's me. What have I missed?




*Unfortunately car does not really have a moustache

Not Really Resolutions 2014 l Update

1. Read 12 Classics

Still going well on this one and certainly better than I did in 2013. I've got a good mix in here of 'classic' Classics and more modern "are they really Classics?" Classics.

I guess I've relaxed my rules a little bit as the years have gone on with this not really resolution. Before I wouldn't have read anything that didn't have Penguin Classics written on it anywhere but now I'll whack it in there if it's just a well known one. I don't know if Murder on the Orient Express can count as a Classic - but it's famous so I've added it in.

I do enjoy this challenge but I think that next year there may be a modification...

2. Eat 1 vegetarian meal per week

I am trying guys, I really swear I am. I think the trouble here is just lack of inspiration. Every vegetarian recipe that I look at just makes me go....bleh. At the moment of posting we are 35/36 weeks into the year and I have completed 30 veggie meals.

Easy Cheesy Bake

There was a point where I thought this was going to be much worse so I'm feeling ok about it.

Please please please feel free to hit me up with your veggie recipes. Just as long as they don't involve carrots, sweet potato or anything in that ilk - The Person isn't a fan and I'm not up for making massive meals just for myself. I've also found that the vegetarian meals that I tend to like the look of also seem to involve outrageous amounts of cheese.

Spinach & Mushroom lasagne

Another thing I've found is that it is wicked hard to photograph veggie meals in a way that makes them look good and not like random piles of veggie mush.

Tomato, chickpea & green chilli stew

3. Do 1 interesting thing each month

January - Trip to London including getting to see Chloe
February - Trip to Leicester to meet up with Janet
March - America baby!
April - FA Cup Semi-Final at Wembley to see Hull City beat Sheffield United
May - Trip to the London Pet Show (where I totally met Chris Packham!) and a rainy Bank Holiday outing to a reservoir
June - Picnic at the Castle with The Person and a trip up to see North Yorkshire and see Heather that I still haven't blogged about yet.
July - The Color Run in Manchester at the Etihad Stadium and a VERY exciting trip that I haven't had a chance to blog about yet.
August - Well. I did nothing. But that's because I spent most of it laid up with sciatica. But one quiet month is ok by me.

4. Save up to buy a car

This one is going well. We should have a car by the end of October - squee!

5. Finish my Tetris blanket

Not a Tetris Blanket

It's just neeeeeeeever going to happen is it? I don't feel too bad about it, it's not like I've been sitting on my behind doing knack all. I've crocheted 23 animals this year and I've managed to make another blanket (which I still need to blog about). I don't think that's bad going. But next year I'm definitely going to become a bit more selfish.

6. Learn something new

Still working on this one...

7. Sell something at a craft fair

I don't think this one is going to happen (see Point 5). What I need to do is take time out to build up stock before I can think about craft fairs. Definitely one to think about next year though - I'm going to have a little practice at Christmas time with crocheting a job lot of pieces up. What I really need to think about is what I might need as stock.

8. Beat my 10k time

Oh dear. Oh very dear dear. The Hull 10k was awful and terrible but I really pulled myself up by my bootstraps to get a shift on. I secretly signed up to another 10k at the end of August and my training was going really really well. I managed 6km running without stopping and was feeling so so confident. And then - hello sciatica. I was barely able to walk, let alone run, for all of August so the 10km went un-run and now I have nothing to sign up for as we're entering the winter months.

More to the point, being unable to run has meant I've got out of the habit of running and now I haven't run in over a month and can't find the motivation to start again...

Next year though. I need to beat those Hull 10k demons!

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4 more months to go!

(Last update here)

BEDM Day 4 - Adventures in meatless cooking

One of my Not Really Resolutions this year was to make more of an effort to try out some new vegetarian meals. I wrote that I would eat one veggie meal a week but I allowed myself some leeway, as long as it adds up to 52 at the end then I'll count it a success.

There have been a couple of obstacles in the way of my venture, one such obstacle being The Person.

If I called him a fussy eater he would vehemently deny it and that probably isn't a fair label. He just has a lot more things on his list of Things I Don't Like than I do.

He did not greet my decision to eat more vegetarian meals with masses of enthusiasm, he is very much the meat eater. But he has agreed to go along with it and has been a kind of willing participant in my latest experiment.

The one obstacle that I still have is that the list of vegetables that The Person really doesn't like include some of the bestest vegetables that feature most often in vegetarian recipes - namely carrots, butternut squash and sweet potato.Damn him damn him. When I tell people this there is always a chorus of people that say "Cook it anyway" and yes I agree but for a few small things:

1. I'm not cooking two meals

2. I'm not putting up with a kitchen where two people are trying to cook two different meals

3. Our freezer isn't big enough for me to freeze my lovely carroty/butternut squashy/sweet potatoey leftovers

(Living with a boyfriend can be inconvenient sometimes you know.)

But I've been coping well in my mostly root vegetable existence. I've looked online for recipes and I've had a ton of recipes recommended to me - mostly by you lovely guys. I've scoured through the always overlooked vegetarian sections of the cook books that I own and leafed through the scraps of torn out recipes that I've pulled from magazines. I bought a cheap little book from Tesco that contains lots of veggie recipes - that has been a little treasure trove of ideas, best £3 I've spent in a long time.

I've been trying to go for purely vegetable dishes and not go for meat substitutes such as Quorn or tofu. No particular reason, just trying to see what veggies can do when left to their own devices.

There have been successes and some....less so (falafel burgers I'm looking at you here). But actually on the whole it's all been going well. I'm torn between whether or not it's quicker to make veggie meals rather than meat ones. It feels like there's a lot more prep that goes on - those things don't chop and peel themselves you know. But on the other hand the cooking process is over much more quickly - no-one likes limp veg after all.

I've done well so far at not really repeating anything - the lentil bolognese I've counted for two meals and it will be the same for the aubergine and courgette lasagna. I did think about being very strict and only counting 'new' recipes as part of my 52 but....no. I'm doing well as it is, let's not make it more difficult.

The Person and I tend to do one week on and one week off for cooking and as much as he is on-board with my idea (kind of) The Person is not in any particular hurry to cook vegetarian meals on his own steam. So that tends to mean that on my weeks we're having at least two veggie meals.

At the time of writing we are 18 weeks into the year. We have eaten fifteen meals so there's a chance that we'll be having some purely veggie weeks throughout the year to come.

Perhaps my greatest achievement won't be expanding my culinary repertoire but turning The Person into a veggie lover. I'm slowly chipping away at his defences - I could tell he wasn't thrilled at the prospect of the aubergine and courgette lasagna I made this weekend, those vegetables ranking only very slightly above those orange ones I was talking about earlier. Upon finishing his plate I asked him what he thought of it.

"I feel very conflicted. I didn't think I would like it, but it was really nice and I want seconds and I wasn't  expecting it and now I don't know how to feel. It's as if I was kissing another boy and liking it."

Who needs a Michelin star?

BEDM Day 3 - Not Really Resolutions 2014: Update 1

I was supposed to do this post at the end of March when we were a quarter of the way through the year but somehow something magical happened and we reached the end of April and we're a third of the way through the year instead.

Oh well.

1. Read 12 Classics

We're off to a good ol' start on this front. Not surprising as this is the Not Really Resolution that I don't normally struggle with.

Lady Chatterley's Lover was a bit of a surprise, it wasn't what I was thinking at all. I think with all the fuss that's made about it I thought it was some kind of Fifty Shades of Grey but it's actually a really sad book in a way about the loss of female identity. At least that's what I read into it. But yeah there's a bit of rudey in it too.

Flowers for Algernon is a beautiful book and a slight cheat because I have read it before but it's lovely and it makes me cry at the end and it's only teeny tiny so you definitely have to pick it up.

2. Eat 1 vegetarian meal a week

I'm currently a little behind on this one, it's not quite working out at one a week, some weeks it has been none and others it has been three but as long as I eat 52 I'm calling it a win. I have a whole post for talking about my adventures in meatless cooking though. You lucky devils.

3. Do 1 interesting thing each month

This is coming along very nicely indeed. I got off to a great start in January by seeing the lovely Chloe and continued the meeting up with internet people theme in February by meeting up with Janet and exploring Leicester. March doesn't have a specific post but I went road tripping in America so I think we can call that month taken care of interestingness-wise. April passed by in a bit of blur, I didn't even really do anything for my birthday but I did go to Wembley to see Hull City beat Sheffield United in the FA Cup Semi Final so I reckon that is up there on the interesting scale.

4. Save up to buy a car

Yeah I definitely need to put a plan into action for this one or else it's not going to end well...

5. Finish my Tetris blanket

Not a Tetris blanket

Ugh. I wish. Unfortunately I haven't been able to work on this, much as I would like. As I mentioned in this post back in February I have been making a lot of amigurumi stuff. And if you follow me on Twitter you will see a lot of photos of animals flying off my hook. The trouble is that word got round at work that I could make these animals and orders came flying in. And they just won't stop. This is for two reasons - one being that it's earning me a little bit of money on the side (although I'm not charging anywhere near what I should be for the time it takes) and the other being that I find it hard to say no. In my messed up little head saying to someone "Actually I'm sorry but I'm not taking any more orders" is the same thing as punching someone in the face. What can I say? I'm a people pleaser.

I have decided to be firm and am absolutely shutting up shop so I can make something for myself.

Probably.

6. Learn something new

Still waiting on this one. Maybe inspiration will strike? Anybody want to teach me something?

7. Sell something at a craft fair

Hmmmm. Not sure about this one. Although technically if I'm selling all this amigurumi stuff doesn't that mean that I'm kind of selling stuff a craft fair.....No?

8. Beat my 10k time

Oh dear.

At the moment this has never seemed further away. I started off the year laid up thanks to a completely random knee injury that occurred in the flat. Apparently I am a person capable of tearing the tendons in my kneecap just by standing still. I don't know what happened. My knee overlocked, there was searing pain, it swelled to twice its size, I was in agony all over Christmas and New Year. I eventually went to a physiotherapist and after paying an ungodly amount of money and being poked and prodded and given homework my knee was fixed again.

I'm signed up to the Run for All Hull 10km which is taking place at the beginning of June. I put a training plan in place and off I went. Running life was good until this weekend when I went trotting out on a Saturday run. The wind was in my hair, a lovely podcast was in my ears, a searing pain was in my left calf....oh hello. I have no idea what I did, I guess I wasn't warmed up enough (although I never warm up before my runs, I don't run fast enough to make it worth warming up) and I definitely didn't trip or stumble over anything. There wasn't a 'pop' or anything dramatic, it just hurt. A lot. And when I thought I might be able to "run it off" I most certainly could not. I hopped about for a little bit and then resigned myself to the fact that I was going to have to limp the mile home looking terribly terribly sorry for myself.

I guess I should be grateful that I don't run faster, I could have been even further from home when it happened.

So yes. I'm not running again. Hopefully only for a week, after not being able to walk at all on Saturday I was much improved the day after and every day it feels a little bit better. Let's keep our fingers crossed, yeah?

This does mean that beating my 10km time seems terribly unlikely. At the moment running 10km without stopping seems terribly unlikely. *sulks*

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[Don't understand why I'm doing these things? Take a look at this post to see my reasonings behind them.]

Lately...

I know that I need to continue my American Tale at some point (it involves me road-tripping around Arizona and not an adventure seeking mouse unfortunately) but I'm finding it very difficult to get motivated to write these blog posts at the moment. I'm very neglectful and I'm not really sure why.

I took my break from blogging and came back because I definitely felt like I wanted to but for some reason, no matter how many ideas and random words and phrases come bubbling to my mind, getting those out of my fingertips and on to the keyboard is just not happening.

I've decided to ease the pressure off and going for the easiest of easiest posts - one involving photos and one liners.

So. What has been happening lately?

L-R [1] Reading in bed; [2] Accidental flowers; [3] Afternoon drinking; [4] Hungover shopping

Easter has been the perfect blend of time to relax and time to have fun. I do feel like I've spent the past four days or so either drunk or hungover, which I'll be honest with you, is perfectly ok with me.

[1] Festivities for me began on Thursday night, going out for drinks with some work people. Good Friday started off well for me, which basically consists of reading in bed and drinking tea. There's something about reading in bed which feels incredibly decadent to me. No Ferrero Rocher needed thank you - mug of tea and some pages to turn is all I need.

[4] However...whilst hungover I committed the greatest of sins....I went shopping. Big mistake. I needed to get food so sloped off to Tesco to see what I could find. All I needed was lunch, instead I came home with - a candle, a can of Coke, Nivea face-wash, two small packs of sushi, Moroccan cous cous salad, chocolate pretzels, pack of six hot cross buns, sausage roll, massive bag of crisps, a top.

I'm still not entirely sure what happened in there, it's all a blur. Still I got enough food for the rest of the Bank Holiday weekend and the top is nice...

[2] The Person and I headed off to Nottingham on Saturday to spend the night with some friends. I dutifully bought flowers to give to our hosts (my mother would be so proud) which I actually forgot to take with me so we now how some lovely flowers for the house. Winner.

[3] Saturday was the perfect kind of day of afternoon drinking, followed by dinner out and more drinking. Relaxed and happy and laid back. I had some of the strongest cider of my life at The Crafty Crow. Kopparberg it was not.

L-R [5] Spooning gerbils; [6] Amazing reading; [7] Dog walking; [8] Creme Egg bonanza

[5] The gerbils have been as cute as always but lately I've been able to take some megacute (I just invented a word!) photos of them. They have a cottage that they normally sleep in but decided not to bother for a while, instead choosing to make a toilet roll nest in the corner of the gerbilarium. This meant I could take photos of them sleeping. Gerbils sleep on top of one another, entwined around one another, curled up on top of one another, and as this picture shows, spooning each other. Darn their cute little furry heads.

[6] This book is amazing. You should read it. That's all I'll say.

[7] I was on dog and nephew sitting duty. I took Rosie for a walk and we came upon some cows. These cows were initially at the other end of the field and came practically running to this end to stand staring at her. I wasn't sure if they were afraid of her or curious about her but I do know that I still have a healthy fear of cows.

[8] My work is super fun sometimes. Case in point, I get asked to buy everyone Creme Eggs for Easter. People love it when that happens. I am the Candy Lady.

L-R [9] Middle class snacking; [10] The walk towards Wembley; [11] Match in play; [12] Final score

[9], [10], [11] & [12] Luckiest most randomest break ever. I managed to get hold of tickets to the FA Cup Semi Final match at Wembley between Hull City and Sheffield United. Yes they were corporate tickets - boo hiss etc etc. But it was literally impossible to get tickets any other way so I'll take what I'm given and enjoy my non-segregated area of non-football louts thank you very much.

On the train down to London we were very much out of place. Amidst football fans drinking cans of Carlsberg I sat being the very most middle class football fan there was, drinking cocktails from a tin and eating my Graze brownie. Boom.

It was a stressful match. What should have been a fairly easy game for Hull City, as they are two Leagues above Sheffield United, they made incredibly difficult for themselves, going 1-0 down, then equalising, then allowing Sheffield United to score again less than two minutes later, before immediately going into half time. 

Thankfully the half time break was used for head pulling together and Hull City came out the winners. It is not often that I'll get the chance to go to Wembley to watch Hull City and see an eight goal game. It was absolutely amazing, unreal and I can't believe I got to go.

Now need to figure out how to get tickets to the FA Cup Final where Hull City will face Arsenal....

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So there you have it. What have I been doing lately? In summary:

- Gerbils

- Dogs

- Drinking

- Eating

- Reading

- Football

Not bad, my friends, not bad at all.

Interesting February

I am on a roll here people.

Last month saw me kick my Not Really Resolution of doing something interesting each month in to action and I met up with special internet friends in real life.

So when February came along I thought I'd just carry on with the theme and meet another special internet friend.

Enter Janet who writes over at Words That Can Only Be Your Own we 'met' last May during Blog Every Day May and I guess that's why it's fun to join in with those kind of blog memes that travel around, they bring you into contact with all kinds of people. Also if you use Twitter you can get your hashtag on and find lots of people that way.

I immediately decided I liked Janet as she does the same kind of blogging as I like to think I do - a little bit of this and a little bit of that and a little of the other. And then she wrote a post about deciding not to monetise her blog and I think at that point I fell a little bit in love. (Even if saying how much I liked it on Twitter got me into a world of pain from people who got pretty defensive about the whole PR thing.)

So how pleased was I when I discovered that Janet not long doesn't live too far away from me, in Leicester, she also lives in a city that is the only one accessible by public transport from the backwater that I currently live in.

So I hopped on a bus for a journey that took over an hour each way - but didn't really feel like and only cost £6 return and gives you views like this out of the window...

...and made my way to Leicester.

Upon arriving early into Leicester I made a beeline into my most favourite of places. That of the crappy bus station cafe. I love these places. Their food and drink is relatively cheap and the cups of tea always taste good and they are terribly imaginatively named...

When Janet found me I was deeply ensconced in my book and nurturing the dregs of my brew. And that's where there's another cool thing about Janet I can tell you about - she reads the Game of Thrones books too! Hello my name is conversation starter. You can't go wrong with a person that likes these books.

I had no agenda for the day other than to just get out and about and see something different. As someone who lives in a place where the only high street shop is a New Look the size of most people's living rooms I would have been ecstatic just to see shops, let alone go in them.

Janet took me to some brilliant places that I never would have come across in a million years had I gone to Leicester by myself. We vintaged ourselves up a treat in Dolly Mix Vintage where I got myself a brilliant crocheted waistcoat for a 70s party that I'm heading to this weekend and I stopped to admire the impressive collection of (and very reasonably priced) vintage suitcases. There was a part of me that very nearly snapped one up but common sense prevailed and I remembered what happened the last time I fell in love with a vintage bag and ended up with something that is very beautiful but is heavier than trying to carry a World's Strongest Man contender around over your arm.

Janet patiently waited whilst I ransacked haberdashery shops and clothes shops alike, as a year of never going shopping came bursting out all in one go. And she even took me to the best bar/pub ever, The Orange Tree, which I will be visiting again in order to neck their entire cocktail menu.

I only intended on being in Leicester a couple of hours, but when I realised that I'd been there for four I counted that as a job well done. It was only on my way back to the bus station that I realised I had basically talked for the whole four hours and Janet had probably gone to lie down in a darkened room with a flannel over her eyes.

I can only say sorry - I don't get out much and the combination of being out + meeting someone new + discovering a new place was too much for my senses to deal with as I bulldozed my way around Janet's fair city like rampaging bulldozer type animal.

But I count it as a job well done. I've discovered a new city which I can actually get to and I have discovered a new special internet friend, who I have more than likely terrified and will never step foot out of her front door again.

What I've been doing whilst I haven't been blogging

Oh it's February...

How did that happen.

I have a brain which is full to the brim of things I want to blog about (mostly involving gerbils) and I know that there have been many times when I've said to myself "You need to sit down and get your blog on woman", but for some reason, even switching on my laptop has been an effort.

One thing I have not been doing though is sitting on my bum and feeling sorry for myself you will be relieved to hear.

Things I have been doing include:

Reading

2013 was over-shadowed at the end of the year reading-wise by some fairly weighty tomes that took up all my time. Vanity Fair took me a ridiculous almost three months to read - although that was because I kept dipping in and out of it. When I wasn't reading Vanity Fair I was starting to make my way through George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series (also known as Game of Thrones to TV fans). If you've never seen them before they are whacking great door stops of books.

I decided to take a break after reading the first three books - the third of which is so large it's split into two massive books - in January and raced through three books in the first three weeks. This is mainly because the sum total of pages of these three books probably adds up to one Game of Thrones book.

After finishing Heft, I have turned back to George RR Martin and I am currently reading A Feast for Crows - this means my book tally for February is going to be a low one.

Eating

After my Not Really Resolution to eat more vegetarian meals I have been spending time looking for interesting veggie recipes.

This is the trouble I find with vegetarian meals. They are often terribly uninspiring and it's been harder than I thought it would be for a variety of reasons.

However I've made a good dent and am four meals down.

From top left: Blue cheese & pesto pasta / Tortilla / Mushroom & Spinach pasta / Lentil bolognese

Crocheting

This is the main reason that I have not been blogging.

I have been crocheting like a wild woman in 2014. A couple of people at work had found out about the amigurumi stuff I was doing and asked me to bring the books in to work so they could have a look. Before I knew it, the books had been passed around work and the books came back to me with little bits of paper sticking out all over them.

I think the order book was at about 12 items so I've been head down.

January's output is this so far:

 Dinosaur & cat from this book / Monkey from this book / Seal, goat and bee from this book 

 Actually I'm quite impressed with myself. Pat on the back for me.

The dinosaur is by far and away my favourite I love him and I want an excuse to make him again. The cat was also a favourite although all the colour changing to make his face did make me want to poke my eyes out a little bit. Bee was super quick to make up, until I got to his wings, which are made out of a super annoying fluffy wool but I'm very proud of myself for not swearing once whilst making them up.

Oh and actually I made two goats this month so add another one on to the total.

It's hard to crochet and blog. It's impossible to crochet and read which is something which I find really annoying. Unfortunately audio books don't work for me, I can't concentrate on them. What I have done is watched a vast amount of absolutely terrible television whilst creating all this output.

Still left to make:
- Horse x2
- Elephant x2
- Panda x1
- Octopus x1

Who knows, eventually I might be able to crochet something for myself one day.

Interesting January

As part of my Not Really Resolution for 2014 I said that I would aim to do one interesting thing each month. This was in an attempt to get me out of the house and seeing people and not sitting at home and letting myself fall into the Vortex of Doom.

January got off to a flying start thanks  to the chance to go to London for a work-related dinner. There was a point where I nearly pulled out as it turned out I was the only person going but I decided to be a very brave person and just get on with it. I'm 30 and that means going out and doing things out of my comfort zone, not sitting and whingeing like a baby that I can't do things by myself. Get a grip woman.

As it turns out I wasn't really alone, for I had with me my armour in the shape of my beloved Vivien of Holloway dress.

I bought this dress for our work's Christmas party - I've been hankering to own one for a long long time but didn't really have an occasion/reason to buy one. That's where working in corporate land comes in handy - black tie occasions. I swooped and snapped one up in a terribly sensible navy colour, but I bought a bright pink petticoat to go with it, I can't be totally corporate you know.

I love this dress more than life itself. The second you put it on you are surrounded by the overwhelming urge to spin and spin and spin. And spin. You also feel like a lovely lady which is not something I often feel like, being a little scratbag in jeans most of the time.

But most importantly, when I put this dress on it I feel pretty damn good. Good enough to walk into a cocktail reception on my own, with my head held high and network like a pro. Chat chat chat, booze booze booze. It's not so bad once you get on with it. And the dress actually helps - people like this dress, they want to comment on it and when they do, boom, there's your opener to have a conversation.

Good work dress. Good work.

My dress of armour/dessert/champage/late night hot dog - best idea ever

On it's own I feel like this one thing would have counted as my interesting thing for this month, but it just kept...getting...better.

As I knew I was going to be in London I thought to my little self "Who do I know who lives in London" and I hit upon it immediately - Chloe lives in London-town doesn't she?! A few tweets and texts later and we had a plan in place. Chloe took on the admirable task of feeding a fuzzy-headed, champagne-hanging me. I took on the admirable task of getting from Hammersmith across to the other side of London, in no way aided by the London Underground who had helpfully chosen that day to close the Tube to Chloe's house.

It's almost as if London Transport has absolutely no regard for my plans sometimes.

I feel bad that I didn't visit something whilst in London, I always feel like I ought to because it's so rare that I get to go there, but I count lunch with a friend and a Tube adventure as something interesting.

I also came into St Pancras International via a different entrance and was floored by walking smack bang into the biggest statue I've ever seen. I have absolutely no idea how I've missed it before, given the number of times I come into St Pancras because it is hard to miss.

Discovering something new I hadn't seen before in London? Counts as something interesting.

The Meeting Place/standard blogger photos of St Pancras International ceiling

But wait.

It doesn't stop there.

After coming back from London I dropped my stuff off at home and went to meet Char who was actually in my home town. I know. No-one comes here. No-one is ever here. Even I don't want to be here.

What do you do when someone comes to your home town? Well you suggest you go for dinner in a lovely bar which serves your raw burgers....No. Not my finest moment. Of course, in all the times I've visited this place and had the burger they've never been raw but the one time you bring someone there...

We were brave and resisted our British instincts to not make a fuss and just eat the raw burger and sent them back at which point they returned with a core temperature which was basically the same as the surface of the sun. 

Unfortunately, as the third exciting thing to have happened to me in 24 hours, Char didn't get the best of me but I managed to avoid faceplanting with tiredness onto the table thanks to a well-timed pint of Coke.

Most importantly about this meeting though is that whilst Char was waiting for me to get my backside back from London she took the opportunity to look around my home town and she is now my witness when I say that there is nothing here. So next time you hear me complaining and roll your eyes and go "It can't possibly be that bad" I'm sending you to Char who will confirm that yes, yes it is that bad.

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So there you have it. 2014 is off to a brilliant start - fancy dinner in London plus a meeting up of two special internet friends in two different places - good work January.

The Not Really Resolutions 2014 - The Introduction

What can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment. Even if I did perform horribly in 2013 at my Not Really Resolutions, I've come back in 2014 with another list and with renewed vigour.

(Or at least the feeling that I know I can't do any worse than I did last year.)

1. Read 12 Classics
This is a standard now. Every year I'm pleased that I made this not really resolution in 2011 and have stuck to it. Although I think it's important for reading to remain something that is enjoyable and shouldn't be something that is a chore, I also think it is a great opportunity to learn and sometimes I need a little push to ensure that I don't read complete trash. Thinking about it, I should probably make a similar resolution about watching TV programmes - would stop me watching the nonsense that I watch at the moment...

2. Eat 1 vegetarian meal per week
I don't really know the origins of this one, I just thought it would be kind of funsies to do. I have absolutely no desire to become vegetarian, I likes my meat, but I don't think there's any harm in cutting back a little bit. Plus I was thinking it would be fun to learn some new recipes. I don't know if it will actually work out as once a week, but let's say 52 veggie meals in the year and we'll call it even.

3. Do 1 interesting thing each month
As I mentioned towards the end of last year, I haven't been having a great time of it lately. I have been trying to be more positive but these things don't solve themselves. It is really easy to become bogged down in the loneliness and isolation that I have been feeling so I need to take things in to my own hands. I may not have friends and I may not have a car but there must be a way of doing some interesting things.

4. Save up to buy a car
Life would be much easier in a semi-rural location if I had a car. Especially living in a place with no train station and very limited buses out of it. I only need a small run-around type car, I don't need anything fancy. A car would solve a lot of problems if I could get my hands on one. The Person and I have a big trip to America in March which we are saving for at the moment, but after that I would like to start seriously looking at getting some wheels.

5. Finish the Tetris blanket
I love that I come up with this idea all by my little self and feel super proud of it. The first thing that my little not really creative brain has ever come up with. But I need to make sure that I actually do it and it doesn't become something that I never get around to doing. Even if I do need to crochet a thousand black squares to complete it...

6. Learn something new
A lovely little vague one that I'm throwing in there. I don't want to say "I'm going to learn to knit" or "I'm going to learn Spanish" because who knows what will happen in the year ahead. But I'm-a gonna learn something new this year.

7. Sell something at a craft fair
I had this on my list in 2012 but never got around to it with all the redundancy, moving cities, getting a new awful job etc etc that happened in that year. But I would really like to do this. I'm making myself some pocket money via amigurumi and selling them to people at work and I would like to explore the possibility of building up some stock and seeing if I can find somewhere to sell it.

8. Beat my 10k time
A bit of a biggy! When I'm in to my running big time I really enjoy it and love it. I am signed up to one 10k race in Hull (hopefully it will actually be 10k and not 8k like in 2013!) and there's the potential for another two in the pipeline. I'm never going to be a super brilliant runner but that doesn't mean I shouldn't aim for improvement and why not give it a go. This is a big not really resolution because I'm not a particularly fast runner, but also because as I type I'm currently laid up with a very bad knee. I hurt it just before Christmas and three weeks later I'm still laid up with it. Having been to the Drs I've been told that I may have a meniscus tear - I've got to wait another 2 weeks before returning to the Drs, but in the meantime I have a physio appointment lined up to see if I can get it fixed. It could well mean that there will be no 10k running, let alone beating my previous times!

The last 10k I ran was the Whipsnade Zoo Stampede in June 2013 which I ran with Lucy. My time was 1:09:26 so that's the time to beat!

And there we have it.

There are only eight resolutions this year, as compared to the ten that I have done in previous years, but I honestly couldn't think of anything else that I wanted to do. When I asked The Person if he could think of another two things that I could add he looked at me as if I'd finally lost it and said "Why don't you just do eight?" I figured he had a point.

So. Here we go again! Let's try and aim for a more successful rate than last year's 20%!