2014 in Review

Where has the year gone? To be honest, I'm not particularly sorry to see 2014 go (so much bad luck!) but there were plenty of good times!

January

Fireworks, Got my stone and a half award at Slimming World, Attended the Pinned it, Made it Lush party, Hung out with my cousin in London

February

Visited Chinatown for Chinese new year, Went on lots of London walks, Won couple of the year in our Slimming World group, Visited Peterborough, Acted like a tourist

 March

Visited Manchester, Got into Breaking Bad, Went to two jewellery making classes, Visited Camden Passage, Work leaving party

April

Visited Amman, Aqaba, Wadi Rum & Petra, Attended my cousin's wedding, Played tour guide for my friends visiting London

May

Moved to Peterborough and walked in Hampstead Heath

June

Did the London to Brighton Trek, Visited the Cat cafe in London, Walked more in Peterborough, Celebrated my 26th birthday, Commuted, Went to Birmingham for Blognix

July

Lots of commuting and started a podcast with Topher

August

Visited Cornwall and Devon with friends. 

September

Slept, ate, went to the Classic Car boot sale and made the worst cheesecake ever. 

October

Commuting, Visited Manchester to house hunt, Had a bit of an accident with my car, ate Halloween treats

November

Moved to Manchester, Made new friends, Said goodbye to old ones, Made mulled wine, Attended the Christmas markets in Manchester

December

Went to Florida, indulged in Christmas activities such as baking, making a gingerbread house, decorating the house and having fun with friends 

Here's to 2014 and now bring on 2015, I'm ready!

How was your year?

Finding happiness

My new living room!

I think one way to tell how happy I am is looking at the amount of photos on my laptop. I can't believe it's been just over a month since I moved back to Manchester. There's over 500 photos I've saved since we returned to the north and it's full of happy memories; reunions with friends, trips to the christmas markets, cocktails, shopping and meeting kitties!

Our new house!

Awesome cocktail

There's been so much joy in my life this month that I literally can't stop smiling. And that is a pretty amazing thing for someone with RBF (resting bitch face). Topher and I have a big house only 10 minutes from my new job (take that 2 hour commute!) and are close to all our friends. Even though we are so incredibly skint and the majority of my savings have gone, not to mention all the bad luck we've had recently, I've never been happier. 

You seriously need to play this game!

I always win at Monopoly. 

It's so nice to actually have evenings to use. Being so close to work, I'm home by 5.20pm. I can cook, blog, hang out with Topher and I finally feel awake. I'm incredibly grateful that we've been given the chance to start again and even though there will be tough times, there is so much for us to look forward to! Seriously, I can start with the fact that Christmas is in a week as well as us jetting off to Florida on Boxing Day! I can't wait. 

Piccolinos in Bramhall

Claire's cat Dagda

Claire's cat Leo

Claire and the cat puddle that is Leo

I could wonder what it would have been like if we hadn't moved to London and Peterborough. Well, I would still have savings for a start! But you've got to look at is as an adventure. I can now say that I've lived in London and that helped me realise that Manchester is where my happiness is. No regrets.

Topher with his birthday t-shirt I got him

 Me and my new team at work

 Here's to another month of happiness!

Dartmoor

One fine day (or slightly drizzly day) while we were down in Exeter, Topher and Emma's grandparents took us to Dartmoor. 

Emma and Luther

Topher and I

After the obligatory couple tourist shots, we decided to have a bit of childish fun. I've always been a fan of attempting to photograph movement - I even did an entire project about it during college where my friends happily volunteered to jump up and down for me - so I took the opportunity to get my friends to lunge at me wildly. 

Topher, the bird without wings

Luther the victim of a zombie chase. 

Emma the happy skipper. 

Not to be left out, I handed the camera to Emma...

I call this my crazy lady pulled  off stage pose - the only thing missing is the hook am I right? I think Topher and Emma's granddad definitely agrees!

After the childish antics (or in between I should say, we stopped to admire our surroundings. How gorgeous are these colours?

Aaand back to the childishness. I love this photo I took of Topher. We were trying to get a jumping shot but didn't notice the old ladies approaching. When I spotted them I told Topher to jump quickly and that is most likely why he has a look of terror on his face. Though I like to call this photo "man terrified of grannies". 

This hobbit looks completely at home doesn't he?

Then we visited Widecombe where I got this lovely shot of Topher and Emma's grandma using a banana like a gun. Classic!

 Not to mention my rather terrifying face while pretending to eat this giant ice cream. Mine! Not very flattering at all and that therefore proves that I have no shame in showing this to you!

Finally, we headed back to Dartmoor where we proceeded to have the coldest picnic ever. How very British of us! 

Considering I'm not much of an outdoor person, I had a great day! Are you a fan of the great outdoors?

#BEDM DAY 15: Blog Chat

I rather enjoy having a blog. It's a creative outlet - an escape. It's also a way of remembering things I've been up these past couple of years. It's nice having a little space of my own on the internet to call home - it's about as permanent as homes get for me. I don't mind having just a small group of readers too - hello there! 

As well as having my own blog, I really enjoy reading other people's. I can't remember the time before I discovered the blog world. What did I used to do on the internet? Probably read fanfiction like the geek I am. And look at lots of cat pictures. Which btw, look what I discovered last night:

Source

Crying with laughter at the look on it's face!

Anyway, back to blogs. The community seems like a cool one to be in. Sometimes the blog world feels a bit cliquey to me but its the same with anything really. It's also quite London-centric which is pretty sad because the rest of our country is amazing too. I felt like there were more events to go to while living here, but still feel like a bit of an outsider looking in. It would be amazing to make some blogging friends - people who understand what it's like having a blog and wanting to take pictures of EVERYTHING!

I'm trying to get more involved with the community. It's so difficult making friends as an adult isn't it? Just me? My first step is attending Blognix in Birmingham next month - I'm really excited, but at the same time super nervous. I don't actually think I've been there before besides the train station. Anyone else going?

Link me up with your blogs below, I love having new things to read. And don't be afraid to say hello, as I said I'm looking for my tribe....great, now I have this in my head:

Happy Thursday! Just one more day to the weekend!

365 project: Week 16

4 months baby! I can't believe I've carried this project on for so long. Here's to the rest of the year!

April 14th

Blue sky!

April 15th

Pretty sandals and the last day I wore my jeggings before they went kaput!

April 16th

Pretty clouds

April 17th

Decapitated Hello Kitty - a present for one of the girls at work's leaving party from all of us. It wasn't decapitated when it was given to her, ha ha. The remainder was consumed at the pub.

April 18th

If you haven't seen this then I highly recommend it. Steve! 

April 19th

Took my visiting friends and the bf to Borough Market. They ate pie, I had a dosa.

April 20th

Easter Sunday - delicious roast at the pub

April 21st

Acted like a tourist with visiting friends Claire & Steve. Purty!

April 22nd

Admiring my postcards bought the day before at the Tower of London

April 23rd

Got excited over my goodies from the Easter Gift Swap.

April 24th

Sent a slimming world recipe to my mum. That's the only pic I took that day. Diet coke chicken is amazing. So wrong but so right. Google it. 

How was your week?