April in Instagram

So what have I been doing lately apart from being over-emotional, as testified by my last blog post?

Office playtime My office is kind of cool. We have a meeting room with lots of cool stuff to play with including some Play Doh. Now I can make stuff in the middle of meetings. I am concentrating I swear, Making caterpillars helps me focus.

Tequila time The beginning of the Easter weekend kicked off with a trip round to a colleague's house. I came in from work on Thursday, slapped some lippy on and...got so so drunk. Horrifyingly drunk. This is what happens when you drink at home and you're in control of pouring your own drinks and in charge of several bottles of tequila.

Birthday time Two days after Tequila Night it was my birthday. 32. Ugh. No thanks. I travelled back to Hull for the weekend, still suffering from the Tequila Night Hangover. A quick nap on the sofa at Mum's when I arrived and I woke up to this little Fred face looking at me. Pretty sure he was judging me.

Fred and Lily time I ended up penned in by these guys on the sofa one night. Best night of my life.

Chandelier time I had a meeting for work at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole. It has some amazing chandeliers in the meeting rooms and my favourite thing is taking photographs of them.

Rowan time I love this dog. She is my best friend. I can't get enough of taking photos of her face, although why she looks so sad all the time I'll never know.

Gerbil time Gerbil playtime has been happening. I still can't take my eyes off it for more than a second. If I do then when I look back I will see a scene similar to this. Tyrion Lannister is always on a mission to escape.

Crochet time I've been undertaking some major crochet time recently for a pretty hefty commission for a child's nursery with a bird theme.

London time I was down at the Business Design Centre down in London for a meeting for work which has lots of cool artwork on the walls like the one pictured.

Picnic time A few of us got over excited at the sight of the sunshine and headed down to a local park for a picnic. It was a really brilliant afternoon, looking forward to lots more as the weather improves

Bradgate Park time Following on from the Bradgate Park - Winter Edition, Janet and I ventured to Bradgate Park for the Spring Edition. Blog post to come eventually. 

Lille time Blog post also incoming on this one. I had just over 24 hours in Lille on a trip with work. I declared Lille a thoroughly Instagrammable city. Hopefully a blog post will be incoming on this one too. 

Now just to write blog posts about it instead of putting photos on Instagram...

Follow me on Instagram here

Photo an Hour l 13th September 2014

I've been unsure how to proceed with blogging at the moment. I have such a massive backlog of things that I wanted to blog about but after recent events it has thrown me slightly. Everything that I wanted to blog about involves him in some  way and there's a part of me that just wants to forget about everything that has anything to do with him.

But at the same time they are my memories too and even if they are painful, this blog has been used as a vessel to document my life for better or worse.

I've had this post saved in my drafts for some time. I was really excited when the Is That You Darling Photo an Hour challenge for September landed on one of the days that I was at my Dad's house in France. I dutifully took my photos and as soon as I was back I got them all lined up ready to post. Unfortunately the next day he left me and then....well....the rest is history.

But fuck it. This was my holiday - so what if during the taking of these photos I was blissfully unaware that my boyfriend already had a flat lined up for him to move into and had his furniture from Argos on standby? At the time I was blissfully unaware and I can't let hindsight ruin everything I have done.

And so. This was Saturday 13th September 2014...

9am - The view out of the window of the attic room we were staying in at Dad's house. 

10am - Jean-Louis is the farmer who lives opposite Dad. This is his tractor. The view, the view belongs to everyone.

11am - Took the dogs, Max and Shadow, for a little pootle about the roads, stopping to take photos of road signs along the way...

12pm - Relaxing was the order of the day. Dad had asked if we wanted to do a lot of activities and I declined. I needed to just chill out and take advantage of the glorious sunshine, reading my book and drinking cherry juice.

1pm - Lunchtime. Crunchy bread with ham and massive slices of cheese. Perfection.

2pm - Unending, glorious sunshine. I couldn't get enough of it.

3pm - Took a walk down the road from Dad's house to a little graveyard a couple of minutes down the road. I was particularly taken with the simplicity of this marker. What an incredibly peaceful place for your final resting place.

4pm - The nearby Sarrans Dam is currently being drained by EDF for maintenance work to take place. It's almost impossible to imagine but the water is normally up to the treeline. Mind boggling. If you take a look at page 2 of this brochure you can see what it normally looks like...

5pm - Following on from the trip to the Sarrans Dam we took Max and Shadow for a walk along the river. Max, in true Golden Retriever style loves swimming. Unfortunately he threw himself in a particularly deep part of the lake and shortly after this photo was taken I had to almost jump in to haul him out.

6pm - Chopping up green beans for dinner

7pm - Dinner, featuring the world's strongest mustard known to man.

8pm - Time to take a million pictures of the sun setting. No matter how hard I try, I'll never be able to take a picture of a sunset which is as beautiful as the real thing.

9pm - In an attempt to sample an authentic part of French life we decided to be cultural and go to a local music night in the next village along featuring some local choirs. In hindsight this turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes we've ever made. It was outrageously dull and incomprehensibly long and seriously not a single person speaks English and my French GCSE is but a distant memory. But, hey, at least I can say I did it.

10pm - Singing. Singing and singing and singing

11pm - Interval time. Note the time. 11pm. And this was the interval. We didn't get home until after midnight, and never have I been more relieved to crawl into bed.

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Next Photo an Hour is set for Saturday October 11th - people join in via Twitter or Instagram using #photoanhour.

I should warn you, this date I will be back at my Mum's so there are basically going to be a lot of photos of Fred & Lily...

2013 Not Really Resolutions - The Conclusion

I very nearly didn't do this post.

My absolute shame at my performance in 2013 is overwhelming.

It is not going to be one of those "Oh look at me and how great I am".

This is going to be one of those "Well I don't call them Resolutions anyway so it doesn't matter that I basically didn't do any of them."

Prepare yourself for some class A excuses...

1. Get behind the wheel of a car again - Completed! This resolution was invaluable as it has meant that when I have had access to a car I've been able to get out and about, something which is impossible to do when living in the middle of nowhere. I've been able to hire cars to make long journeys rather than depend on the UK's expensive and unreliable rail service (and it does pain me to say that, having been a rail traveller for so long). There is definitely a post I want to write about being a first time driver on the roads - it was a bit of a baptism of fire for me. My first drive on a motorway was a 3.5 hour stint down the M5 to Tavistock which was all kinds of intense. But I'm pleased I've got this one under my belt - you can read about my refresher lessons and my experiences driving my sister's Tank.

2. Project 365 - Failed. I don't really know what happened here because it was actually going pretty well but then I just....stopped. I think I got busy with the impending move in the flat when The Person was moving here and just forgot to take photos. Plus I really didn't do anything and taking photos every day was a bit of a literal reminder of that. I'm amazing I made it through half of the year to be honest. Still, I did do Project 365 in 2011 so I'm not a complete failure (I tell myself).

3. Read 12 Classics - 9/12 - FAILED! I know! First year that I have ever ever failed this Not Really Resolution in all the years that I've been doing it. My downfall was finally picking up a Classic and a half in the shape of Vanity Fair. That is quite the tome you know. I have had a tendency sometimes to play it safe with my Classics and pick up slimmer volumes or easy volumes (for instance, one of my Classics this year was 101 Dalmatians...) so whilst I do feel sad that I didn't complete this one, I feel proud that I took on the challenge of Vanity Fair and conquered it.

1. North & South, Elizabeth Gaskell

2. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

3. Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger

4. The Pursuit of Love, Nancy Mitford

5. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins

6. The Chrysalids, John Wyndham

7. The Edible Woman, Margaret Atwood (a review of which can be found HERE)

8. The One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Dodie Smith

9. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray

4. Crochet an Elmer Blanket - Abandoned! You may remember that I abandoned this Not Really Resolution back in April as I decided I want to make a Tetris blanket. The Tetris Blanket is currently ongoing...

5. Learn to Knit - Failed! It just....never happened. Nothing more or less to it!

6. Bake once a month - Failed! It was just too hard, living in someone else's house for half the year isn't really conducive to taking over the kitchen randomly and I spent most of those weekends travelling to Preston to see The Person which meant I didn't have much time left for baking.

Jokes. I just bought cakes and ate them rather than making them.

7. Go abroad - Done! I went to Corfu with The Americans and The Person in July and it was amezzing and beautiful and I loved it and I didn't want to leave. It was made even better by the fact that the day before flying to Corfu, The Americans became Engaged Americans which made me giddy beyond belief.

That's what it looked like. Damn. Now I want to go back immediately.

8. Makeover a chest of drawers - Failed. HA. We moved into an unfurnished flat in August and let me tell you, furniture is expensive, even when shopping for cheap stuff. We still don't have a bed in the spare bedroom so we can have guests over, I am far from having the time, willingness and energy to makeover a piece of furniture I already own.

9. Cross stitch a big picture/item just for me - Failed. In the same way that 2012 was the Year of the Cross Stitch, 2013 was the Year of the Amigurumi and I have crocheted my fingers off. I have barely done any cross stitch at all.

10. Only buy 12 books throughout the year - HA! As if. In 2012 I managed to go a whole year without buying books so this should have been easy but it seems that with me, it's either all or nothing, and looking at the state of my to-be-read bookshelves I may need to implement a ban in 2014.

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So there we go. TWO out of TEN Not Really Resolutions completed.

You are totally allowed to sit back and feel pretty damn good about yourself right now.

Hey, at least 2014 is going to be better....right?!

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Take a look back at my past attempts...
Not Really Resolutions 2011
Not Really Resolutions 2012

A post about how I might end up naked on holiday - BEDM Day 10

As I mentioned in my Not Really Resolutions Q1 Round-up I am going on holiday. This is so very exciting in the following ways;

a) I get to see American Girl and Boy for the first time in 3 years.

b) I get to see sun

c) I get to go on holiday

I have not been on a summer holiday in a long time. The last time was when I was 18 after I'd just finished my A-levels and I went away with family. I've never done the girly holiday thing and although there have been a couple of trips to France/Prague in the intervening years these haven't been proper sitting by the pool burning yourself to a crisp type holidays.

I'm not going to lie to you - I'm not going for culture. I'm not going for architecture. I'm going for the motherfreaking sun and to lie and read and go in the sea/pool. That. is. it. Judge away my friends - I can't hear you over the sound of my total relaxation.

I have already started having the anxiety dreams which are par for the course for me when going away anywhere. 

I've had one where American Girl and I were at a weird party in an old men's club during which she decided that she wasn't going to come on holiday with me and was going to stay instead and drink cups of tea and eat biscuits with her new friends. Hateful woman.

And I had one of those really frustrating dreams where you're trying to get somewhere and can't - know the type I mean? This one featured me and The Person trying to get to the airport to catch the plane to Corfu and a myriad of things kept getting in our way whilst all the while the clock ticked down until check-in closed. I woke up in a cold sweat after that one.

I am yet to have the dream where I end up naked but I'm pretty sure it's coming.

In fact, it's probably going to be a reality.

You see, when you haven't been on a summer holiday in 12 years it turns out that you have absolutely no idea what the hell you're supposed to put in your suitcase and more to the point, nothing in your wardrobe that you would be able to put in a suitcase for a summer holiday.

We're only going away for a week so it should be simple but when I start to list the things I need in my head it goes something like this:

- Swimming costume (no bikini for me thank you very much. The skin on my llimbs is white enough without exposing acres of stomach to the world)

- Towel

- Shorts

- Cover up for beach (although the word "cover-up" remains vague in my head - is it a t-shirt? Is it a kaftan? What do the cool kids wear nowadays?)

- *head explodes*

I just don't know what else I'm supposed to pack. This is mainly because I'm refusing to come to terms with the fact that I won't be able to wear jeans because it will be too hot. When I say I live in my jeans I mean I live in my jeans. I don't do skirts/dresses outside of work and I don't own a pair of ever so fashionable capris. In fact, I don't even know if capris are still ever so fashionable. I know that I will have to just suck it up and buy something but my brain needs a bit more time to come to terms with that god-awful truth.

And people are obsessed with maxi-dresses. Still. I do not understand this. Everyone says "Oh my god you'll look great in a maxi-dress, you're so tall."

No. 

No I won't. 

I will look 6 months pregnant and it'll be awkward for everyone when people ask me when my baby's due. Honestly, I've tried and I've tried, I've been taken in by everyone raving about them and I try one in in the vague hope that my body shape will have miraculously changed in the intervening year, but nope. Still pregnant. This body of mine needs structure, it does not need to be enveloped in a shapeless, billowing mass of fabric.

And so I sit and wait. And try to think about buying things. And then wait for the pain in my head to subside.

 

12 go mad in Derbyshire

"Wait. So you've never actually met any of these people that you're going away with?" went the conversation with my sister a couple of days before I went away.

"Nope. Not even once." came my reply.

Whilst my sister was worrying about my sanity (oh bless these people who do not understand the interwebz) I had bigger worries on my mind. For yes, I was about to go away with 11 people that I had never actually met in the flesh, but of much bigger concern was the fact that most of these people are Fashion Bloggers. As in actual, real-life, take photos of their outfits and post them on the internet Fashion Bloggers. People who know about layering and the art of accessorizing. People are so good at fashion blogging that people come to them asking them to blog about their stuff.

The roll-call being:

Alex from Odd Socks & Pretty Frocks

Lucy from Tete en l'air

Sophie from Country Girl Does Norfolk

Gemma from Fat Frocks

Char from t*rexes & tiaras

Sarah from A Million Dresses

Rosie from A Rosie Outlook

Sarah from essbeevee

Maria from Frills 'n' Spills

Chloe from Chloe Likes to Talk

Alice from An Alien World

I was out of my depth.

A hop, a skip, and a bus and train ride later I was in Derby ready to meet actual internet people out in the real world.

The first exciting thing?

Getting to hear people's voices.

So strange to think that I've been reading Alex and Lucy's blogs for about 3/4 years but have never heard their actual voices. Thankfully it wasn't like when we all heard David Beckham's voice for the first time and wanted to pull our ears off our heads.

Our base for the next 4 days was Norbury Manor, a National Trust property that has recently been renovated and let as a holiday cottage. These were surroundings I think we all could get used to, and despite the proximity of a graveyard freaking some people out, being Ladies of the Manor suited us very well.

Norbury Manor highlights from L-R

1. Our neighbouring sheep  2. The graveyard next door. 3. The only man on the trip, Rosie's dog, Bodhi. 4. I took a photo of Alex taking a photo of Lucy taking a photo. 5. Norbury Manor 6. The Winner of the category for Most Secret Garden-like Door 7. One of the beautiful bedrooms 8. The summerhouse    9. Our garden.

With 12 people all in one place there is more than a little chance for people being on top of one another and feeling the pressure. Not this weekend - the Manor was more than big enough to have everyone in it without feeling on top of one another - a quick walk through would find people in the kitchen, people in the wood-panelled drawing room, people in the snug, people getting lost trying to find their way to the toilet or capering about in the garden.

I wonder what the previous residents of Norbury Manor would have thought if they could have seen the extent of the outfit photos taken in the house and grounds over the space of one afternoon, much less what they would have made of the series of photos we took of all of us together...

From L-R

Rosie, Char, Maria, Sarah, Alex, Lucy, Chloe, Sarah, Me, Alice, Gem, Sophie and Bodhi

(Photo courtesy of Rosie)

Whilst bona fide fashion blogger photos were being taken back at the Manor, Sophie, Lucy, Maria and I high-tailed it to Chatsworth House for a look around the House and Gardens. I've been in the grounds quite a few times, but never the gardens and I'll do anything for a good snoop around someone's home.

Chatsworth highlights (maze not included)

Highlights included:

• Learning to listen to the Sat Nav lady when she tells us to bear right
• Attempting to find the middle of the maze in the gardens and coming to the conclusion that there is no middle...
• ...at the same time discovering that Lucy doubles up as Ray Mears in her spare time
• Discovering that one of the bedrooms in Chatsworth has a bath in a cupboard
• Picking up new tips to lay the table next time I have some mates round courtesy of the knowledgeable Guides at Chatsworth - from now on I will be laying my forks with the tines pointed down so people with massive lacy cuffs don't catch them on their sleeves - a potentially mortifying situation I'm sure.
• Practicing my lunging and photography skills taking photos of Maria in the Gardens (both are excellent I might add.)
• Finding my new favourite crisps - Pipers Crisp Company. (Crisps are important to me, 'kay?)
• Buying another book to add to my growing Mitford collection - a collection of letters from Nancy Mitford

Stained glass windows in Norbury Manor

The four days could have been awful, it could have gone all wrong and there's still a little part of me that can't believe it didn't. I mean there were twelve of us for god's sake - where were the arguments and the tantrums? Where was the person that I hated? (Although apparently everyone should have an annoying friend and if you don't have one, it's you.....erm....)

I can't think of 11 people from my "real" life that I could have gone away with and been chilled out the whole time, with no pressure to do anything but be happy. And full of cake.

Other highlights of the weekend included:

• Playing a brilliant game of Articulate where we learned that Mallards can be male or female and that there is just no easy way to describe "joining" or "The Aga Khan"
• Re-watching Clueless for the first time since I saw it at the cinema (I know)
• Being almost killed off by the sheer volume of cake that came to the Manor
• Marvelling at the wonder that is Chloe, who can cook for 12 people without throwing things
• Watching Embarassing Bodies in the snug on the last night with Alex, Lucy, Sophie and Alice - a bonding experience that will never be forgotten.
• Going in search of alpacas, not finding them and being chased off by two farm dogs whilst trying to take a picture of a tractor with a face.*
• Just being in somewhere called a 'snug'
• Sampling the delights of marshmallow vodka courtesy of Alex
• Introducing Pooh Sticks to members of the group - but not being able to work out who actually won
• Being saved from a total meltdown by Char who managed to find my embroidery scissors after they were eaten by a sofa
• Trying to guess just exactly what Sophie does for a living (international spy can be the only option)
• Getting tripped up by the stairs - every. single. day.
• Watching Bodhi actually fly through the air at one point - the dog is a Champion Show Jumper
• Emptying the charity shops of Ashbourne of anything that was worth having.

My last post was all about how I wasn't sure where I fitted in the blogging world at the moment. And I still don't know. I'm not a fashion blogger or a craft blogger or any other kind of blogger but I'm a blogger that is thankful that she took the plunge and went away with total strangers for a holiday. 

Except they're not total strangers. They are my new friends and this is where I belong.

(Photo courtesy of Rosie)

Corny. But true.

*See below pictures for said tractor and farm dogs

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You know what it means when 12 bloggers go away? Potentially 12 posts about the same weekend. For other people's words (and much better pictures) you should read the following posts from;

Rosie

Maria (plus a bonus Chatsworth post)

Alice

Char
Sarah
Alex (where you will see the funniest gif known to man I tells ya)
Gem
Sophie
Lucy
Chloe

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.....

Not Really Resolutions 2011 – Update 6

Time for an update my pretties. I know the last update was in September, but I’ve managed to tick a couple off the list since then. Exciting times I know.

1. Run a 5km race – All done, done and done. I would absolutely love to do more running and would love to add running a 10km race to this list but my continuing shin splint on my left leg seems determined to scupper my chances of running further than 5km. Ah well. I shall keep trying. Anyway, see this post  to see all about how I ran a 5km race.

2. Crochet a ripple blanket – Two blankets completed and hopefully by the end of the year I will have completed three of them. Ripple well and truly conquered. (Yarn Fairy Blanket, Jungle Ripple Blanket and Ripply Beast Blanket.)

3. Back up all my photos on to CD – Done and done. It’s fun to be super-organised.

4. Paint my plastic frog – Done and done

5. Go to the cinema on my own – A new one crossed off the list! Hurray. Just when I thought it was never going to happen, I got let down by a friend and had to spend the day in London on my own. I feel proud because not only did I finally complete this resolution but I did it in el capital. I know how to do it in style baby. Read all about it here

6. Complete Project 365 – Woo we’re at 3?? photos –the end is in sight! Have I mentioned a gazillion times already how much I hate the fact that it’s dark and I can’t take any decent photos? Well it’s true. It sucks. I can’t tell you how much I’ve loved and hated doing this all at the same time, but I guess it’ll get its own post in 2012 when it’s all finished. Feel free to check out my Flickr photostream for the evidence.

7. Make an album/scrapbook of my 2010 trip to France – I get increasingly worried that this is going to be the Resolution That Got Away. I so badly want to get it done but unfortunately we’re now entering in to the peak of Christmas crafting and smoke is starting to come out of my ears and I just don’t think it’s going to happen. I will try my best to keep the faith though, I promise. But hey, at least I started it didn’t I?! (See this post for more details.)

8. Go over to Belfast to visit my family – Woop! Another one bites the dust! Done, done and done at the end of October and you can read all about it here.

9. Read 12 classics throughout the year. – Oh. Yeah. Three resolutions crossed off in this update. Don’t feel bad to be around such brilliance. This has been one of my favourite resolutions, I’m so incredibly glad that I set myself this challenge because it has been so very interesting and eye-opening. You can expect to see this one again next year because there’s no shortage of Classics out there for me to read. You can read my thoughts on this particular resolution here, which contains links to the reviews for each Classic I read. Try to contain your excitement.

10. Cross stitch one Christmas card each month – Ack I could go for another one and have four whole resolutions crossed off in one update but I’m going to remain pedantic here. Far be it from me to be accused of cheating. Now I have now currently got 16 cross-stitched Christmas cards which means that I have surpassed my total of 12. But technically I’ve said in this resolution that I will make one cross-stitched card each month and as we’re still only in November I feel that it wouldn’t be fair to cross this one off the list yet. Read all about how it's gone here.

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What was that you say?

What? This face?

Oh yes. This is my smug face.

Only 3 things left to cross off my list. Hurray.

And the other face?

Yeah that’s the side of my face that I’ll be laughing out of when I don’t manage to make the stupid scrapbook/photo album of France by 31st December 2011.

Belfast*

Do you realise how far behind I am with my blogging?

About a bloody month.

Because it was almost a month ago that I went away to Belfast to stay with my cousin for the weekend.

I know. I apologise for being so tardy with my tales of adventure. But also don’t get too excited because there isn’t really an adventure to tell. Apologies.

So I put on my Not Really Resolutions of 2011 list that I wanted to go over to Belfast to see my family at some point this year. I guess this kind of needs some explanation...

My Mum is from Belfast and moved to Hull over 40 years ago when she married a Hull man and had babies. When she first came over to Hull she spent quite a bit of time going back home to see family etc. However by the time I came along this was kind of wavering. Mum and her brother are not particularly close and I don’t know if it’s a man thing generally or my Uncle’s thing in particular, but he’s not great at making the effort and reciprocating visits over the water. And so I didn’t go over to Ireland as much as my brother and sister would have when they were small.

I have done my fair share of visiting though, and in 2005, before I went back to uni to do my Masters degree, I lived with my Aunt and Uncle for the summer and worked in Belfast city centre for a few months.

I have 2 cousins from this side of the family, a girl and boy, about 9 and 7 years older than me respectively. This age gap meant that they had all kind of flown the nest and weren’t about that much when I was a whippersnapper so I don’t really “know” them. And of course now, the only time we see each other is for weddings and christenings and then you’re restricted to small-talk and don’t get the chance to properly get to know each other.

So I decided I would rectify this and go over to see them this year. I went to stay with Tory, but luckily Roger only lives around the corner so I would get to see plenty of them and there was a date booked in to see my Uncle and his wife and my littlest cousin (who is younger than 2 of my nephews, which confuses my head at times – aaah modern family life).

Shortly before I took off for the ridiculously short flight I had a slight wobble – what the hell would I do if it turns out I don’t really like my cousins? What if there’s a reason that we don’t really have a relationship? What if I get there and we literally have nothing to say to one another?

Oh the panic.

I flippin' love taking photos of clouds when I'm in a plane.

Obviously I’m a moron. Of course we got on and I’m yet to be in a situation where I can’t find anything to say to someone so we were sortedamundo.

There followed one of the loveliest weekends I’ve ever had. It coincided with some very stressful time at work which meant that I think I appreciated the break even more. It was chilled and relaxed with no pressure to do anything or go anywhere in particular. Just time to sit and talk and get to know these people that I’m related to.

Sightseeing isn’t really necessary for me because I’ve seen that much of Belfast but I’ve never been to Stormont before. I think that’s because when I was a wee thing and going over there, you couldn’t actually get up the Royal Mile because of the peskiness that was going on at the time. (Is it appropriate to call terrorism, peskiness? I’m going to say yes because I’m trying to keep it lighthearted here.)

So off to Stormont Roger and I went. We rejected walking up the Royal Mile because it was flippin’ freezing and there was a distinct threat of rain in the not too far distance. But we scampered about and I played around with all the different settings on my camera taking photos of the building.

Punk Stormont

Drawing Stormont

Pinhole Stormont

(See I haven’t even told you about my camera yet have I?!)

What I love so much about Belfast is, surprisingly for me, how small it is. It’s like the perfect combination of urban and countryside combined. It’s urban and paved enough that I’m not going to break out in to a cold sweat, and yet you can be wandering around town and suddenly catch a glimpse of greenery and hilliness and a sense of freedom not too far away.

We also went to The Grand Opera House (which has the most exquisite ceiling ever by the way) to see James Vincent McMorrow. Have you heard the Love Film adverts with a man singing “Higher Love”? That’s this guy. I guess you’d call him kind of folky? I don’t know I suck at music but I do know that it was hauntingly beautiful at times. Oh and a band called The Staves were supporting them and their singing was so mesmeric that I floated away on a little cloud of eurphoria and was only brought down to earth when someone needed me to move so they could go to the toilet. (Incidentally they were named The Guardian's Band of the Day on 8th November - look at me! I'm ahead of the times!) I’m now stalking both on Facebook although I’m guessing it’ll be a long time until Hull is on their list of places to travel to.

Sorry there isn’t more to tell you. Sorry there aren’t really any photos. It just wasn’t that kind of weekend but it was exactly what I hoped it would be and unfortunately there aint no camera that can capture that.


*Don't you love how imaginative this post title is? You can tell I'm not firing on all cylinders. I told you, at the moment I'm afraid it's below par blogging or no blogging at all.

Striking out alone

I arrived in London, bright eyed and almost bushy tailed, just a little bit crumpled from my incredibly early start (5.30am anyone?) and 4.5 hour journey by bus and train down to London.


But I felt good. I had a plan. First stop? National Portrait Gallery.
Finally. Finally finally finally, an attraction in London that I love. Pictures! Photos! Paintings! Of actual people and not a blob on a canvas! I was really swept away.

I wandered amongst Kings and Queen, statesmen and scientists. I saw David Beckham sleeping and King Stephen looking a little bog-eyed. I saw the Olympic athletes of tomorrow and comedians from yesteryear.

Around every corner I spotted something that I have seen before on the tellybox or in a magazine. It’s easy to forget that those images that we see are real life portraits, living and breathing somewhere, begging to be looked at and admired. And so I did.

I saw pictures of a young Queen Victoria – I’m so used to seeing this jowelly old woman in black that I’d forgotten she was young once. I saw Marc Quinn’s self portrait, made out of his own blood. I saw paintings that I was convinced had to be photographs until I stood as close as possible and saw the individual brush strokes. And if I was ever going to feel homesick, this would have been quelled by the sight of a portrait of Amy Johnson.

I loved that place. Loved it so much that for the first time ever I actually willingly donated to a free attraction.

The great thing about being by myself was that I was free to wander as I pleased. If there were parts of the National Portrait Gallery I didn’t want to see I just breezed on through, and when I left and decided I was hungry I was free to go and get lunch wherever I pleased.

Normally I don’t go to chains when I go away because it’s a bit boring, you could go to them anywhere, but when you live in Hull, the prospect of eating at a chain is genuinely exciting because they are hardly ever in Hull. And so lunch came courtesy of Wagamamas –one of my very favourite places.

I quite happily sat and had lunch on my own – sending texts to people to let them know I was still alive, seeing what was next on my plans and generally noseying at the people sat around me.

Next was the Museum of Childhood, as recommended by The Curious Cat in Bethnal Green. Every toy you could ever imagine is enclosed in here, and I spent a happy hour or so wandering around looking at flicker books from the 1870s, playing with Zoetropes and Stereoscopes and generally pointing at the cases and saying in my head, “Oh my god I remember those!”

The gift shop in the Museum of Childhood is lovely, loads and loads and loads and loads of children’s books. Brilliant. I may, or may not, have bought one.

Around the corner from the Museum lies the Gallery Cafe, a vegan and vegetarian place that The Curious Cat had also told me about. It’s kind of a painfully cool place and I’m pretty sure that everyone in there knew I was a less cool northern imposter, even if I did try and look hip by sitting and scribbling in my notebook.

The menu looked delicious, but unfortunately I was so stuffed from Wagamamas that there was only room for a cup of tea and recharge – both of my batteries and my phone’s (seriously, Android phones? Batteries are rubbish, they need charging every night. Ridiculous.). The clientele was wide-ranging, from a Grandmother having a glass of wine and talking with her Grandchildren after they had finished school, to foreign students chatting, to people looking cool and hipstery on their Macs/netbooks taking advantage of the free wi-fi.

I was soon on my travels again and I made my merry way to Persephone Books which I had first heard about from Petit Filoux, many moons ago. I’ve been wanting to go ever since – I love the concept of a place that’s publishing women’s literature exclusively. And I had saved up enough pennies to splash out and buy three uber-stylishly bound books for £27.

When I was making my last minute plans for London, I’d looked up Persephone Books on Google Maps and, upon zooming in a bit further I discovered there was a cinema right round the corner. Perfectamundo or what? A quick look of the film showings and I had decided upon the 6pm showing of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and had even used Street View to work out how to walk from the shop to the cinema. I was very proud of myself.

It is beyond me why anyone in London goes to the cinema, given that it costs over £10 to do so. You peoples is crazy. But I was pleased with the cinema I picked. There are only 2 screens in this place and it is more of an arthouse kind of place. But the seats were gloriously comfortable and I settled myself down to watch what turned out to be an incredibly confusing film. I still don’t think I get what happened.

I think the whole reason that I had going to the cinema on my own down on my resolution list was to make myself be a little more independent. I am more than a little self sufficient but I sometimes really crave company and whilst some of that’s just my personality, I also think it can do you good sometimes to learn to be by yourself. To go places on your own and enjoy them on your own. To be in your own company.

Funnily enough I spent all this summer living alone so I was already pretty used to it and I think this trip as a whole served this purpose rather neatly – a couple of years ago I wouldn’t have come to London on my own at all. Silly as that might seem it would have been true. Not because I would have been scared of going to a big city, but I just wouldn’t have seen the point in not going and sharing it with someone.

Don’t get me wrong, it would have been nice to have had someone along with me at times – especially in the cinema – then I could have had someone to poke and go “What the hell is going on in this film?!” But overall, this was a good exercise for me in being a lonesome little bunny.
I ended up back at St Pancras, two hours before I was due to leave which was kind of a bum but my only other option would have been wandering the streets of London alone which I didn’t really fancy. But I sat in Costa and drank tea and had a nosey at people coming off the Eurostar.

The journey back was long. Very very very long. And although I’m good at falling asleep anywhere, any time there’s only so much sleeping on a coach you can do and by 2am, as we were leaving Scunthorpe I was begging and praying and itching for my very own bed.

But for £10.50 I’m not going to complain. I think I should make this a regular happening.

Hurray for me the brave little adventurer.