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!

365 Project: November edition

1st: New haircut, 2nd: Mulled wine, 3rd: Grumpy on a train, 4th: My desk at work,

5th: Multicolour pasta, 6th: 6am Starbucks, 7th: Leaving do at work, 8th: Packing,

9th: More packing, 10th: I can now safely install and uninstall a washing machine, 11th: New house! 12th: Sofa wouldn't fit...we had to take the window out of the pane!

13th: Topher's mum got another kitten, say hi to Gizmo, 14th: Wall mural, 15th: Xmas markets, 16th: Christening outfit,

17th: Necklace, 18th: Managed to scratch my car :( 19th: It scares me that this Twilight lorry is driving around, 20th: Treats and trees are the same right?,

21st: Bloggers snail mail gift, 22nd: Awesome cocktail, 23rd: Someone bumped into my parked car and drove off. People suck. 24th, Jewellery,

25th: Healthy eating, 26th: Public transport is a funny thing, 27th: Cards. 28th: Jewellery

29th: Friends came over to see the new house and play cards against humanity. So funny! 30th: Sticky toffee latte at Costa.

How was your month?

My ideal home

I don’t understand people who can live in all white minimalist homes. My life and possessions have always been full of colour and I wouldn’t have it any other way. My next home (number 24 I think?) is a big beautiful 3 bed house in Manchester and even though I'm only renting so no decorating is allowed, I'm know we're one step closer to owning our own house which we will have free reign over. Let the dreaming begin. 

Source - I don't think this is the original source so if this is your photo please contact me so I can credit you.

Considering that I rock a lot of polka dots, it almost goes without saying that I will be needing a polka dot wall. I don't care where, I just need one. 

Source

These tiles are a world away from the same old standard ones I've seen in just about every bathroom that I have had over the years. I just love how fresh and modern they look.

Source

This living room is lovely. The hardwood floors and white walls really make the furniture and ethnic ornaments pop. This is just the type of look that I would want to achieve with my own home. This reminds me of some of the things I have picked up on my travels like my Indian patchwork wall hanging (which one of these days will eventually end up on a wall).

Source - I don't think this is the original source so if this is your photo please contact me so I can credit you.

For the past 12 or so years, I have been waiting to document my travels on a wall. It will look like this only brighter and more like a collage. No neat frames allowed! 

Source

My ultimate house wish has always been to have my own office/walk in wardrobe. This would probably be the room that I go wild in terms of decor. Since it will be my room, I can decorate how I want and that may or may not include the colour that Topher hates the most, mwhahahaha. 

What does your dream home look like?

#BEDM DAYS 17-20: Catch up!

So I was hoping this wouldn't happen but with moving house, missing a few days of BEDM was inevitable. I don't want to miss out so here's my super quick catch up.

DAY 17 - Favourite decade
Though it's very hard to make a decision on my favourite decade, I think I'll have to sway towards the 1950s. I love the fashion, the films, the music, the advertisements, the interiors - just all sorts. Especially over the pond in the USA. What a cool time to look back at. I wouldn't want to live in that time, mainly for all the sexism and lack of technology but I can appreciate some aspects of 50s life.

DAY 18 - Museum Day
It's hard to narrow it down but I think my favourite museum is the London Science Museum. I love this place - it's so fun and interactive!

DAY 19 - Best thing about being an adult

• Just being able to do what I want, when I want.
• Looking forward to buying a house.
• Being able to do things myself - I grew up in an area with no buses so had to rely on my parents to taxi me round.
• Having your own money to spend on whatever.
• Watching things I used to watch as a kid and finally getting some of the jokes that went over my head at the moment

DAY 20 - Being adventurous
Well, once again the bf and I have moved to a random place where we don't know anyone. In fact, a month ago, the bf couldn't point out Peterborough on a map. Is that adventurous enough? Also our upcoming London to Brighton trek is pretty damn adventurous I think.

So just a quick update on what's going on in the Nomad household. Everything is in the new flat - but it's everywhere! I have so much stuff! Managed to convince the bf to give me more space in the wardrobe though (winning).

As of yesterday I am officially a commuter. A drone - though not wearing a suit. I'm finding it good so far, I'm planning on using it to my advantage - especially with this blog. Stuff is gonna get done! 

I really want to continue with BEDM so am going to try my hardest to post everyday. Wish me luck!

#BEDM DAY 16: A Day in the life

Or maybe not. Maybe I was so busy that I didn't take any photos during the day...though it wouldn't have been particularly interesting. I've been at work. I've been at work sticking down packaging that one of our suppliers didn't think to do. So that would have been pretty dull. Then this evening - my final evening living in London will be spent packing up the two thirds of the flat we haven't packed yet. Very dull again. 

I could have switched todays topic with tomorrows, but to be honest I'll be too busy moving out. So I'll just quickly describe my Monday to Friday life.

I work in a jewellery buying office so spend my day doing administrative tasks and looking at jewellery. 

Small things eh?

 I wake up at about 7am everyday and have my breakfast while catching up on blogs. Then I get ready for work and start at 8.30am. Finishing at 5pm, I rush home to my empty flat (the bf worked evenings) and make dinner. Blogs are written, programs caught up on then usually procrastination until the bf got home at 11pm. Then bed. How exciting! Makes you understand why I live for the weekend. 

Now that we're moving, this will be pretty similar only with a couple of hours commuting added. But the bf won't be working evenings anymore - yay!

Well done if you've read this far, imaginary gold star for you! 

#BEDM DAY 3: Weekend Morning Routine

I always look forward to the weekend. But who doesn't right? Though I have to admit the following is very true in my case:

Expectation:

Reality:

Of course being an “adult” (only loosely using the terminology there), there is always something that needs to be done on the weekend since most of your time tends to be stuck at a desk Monday to Friday.  I have become one of those people. Sigh, farewell lie-in – rain check to next week, yeah?

So today, I was up in Peterborough looking at my new flat. It’s as nice as it looks in the photos thank god! Generally, my Saturdays are spent waking up early for Slimming World and having a laugh at the meeting. Then its food shop and time to chill. Then Sundays have recently been spent training for our 60 mile charity hike. Though it’s very rewarding, I find myself craving a good lie in!

So this weekend is another bank holiday – we are getting spoiled aren’t we? I plan on having a big lie in then maybe going to central to look at some shops. I miss looking at clothes – even if I don’t buy anything I just want to look. We shall see.

How do you spend your weekends?

Let's play catch-up

So the last you heard from me (apart from yesterday), I was about to move house. Well, we're all moved in now and I have to say I love this house. Yes there are a few bits and pieces that need to be fixed but it's ours and I'm loving all the space. If you're interested, I'll do a proper house tour when we've completely unpacked and got it looking all nice. For now, here's what I'd been up to last week (Jordan posts coming soon!):

*Flowers from work for my birthday

*My Harry Potter inspired nails for my birthday (still got to narrow down all the photos!)

*Birthday present from Claire - lovingly stapled

*Sinister owls made by Claire

*Rose and my laptop

*The cats trying to come with me, ha ha

*Axl being a softy.

*New house - view from upstairs at the back of the house

*Me and the bf's mahoosive bedroom

*The joys of moving - so much yoghurt!

*4th of July shoe on my desk calendar

*So.Much.Tea!

*So.Much.Bubblewrap!

*My nails for Jordan - spots and stripes

*My latest print - ice creams. My new desktop background.

*Upcoming prints.

Only two more days of being in Jordan. I can't believe how fast the time went. Do I have to go back to work? I'm really excited for all the new products for my vintage shop. I'll post about that tomorrow...

Any tips on getting myself back to the real world with as little pain as possible? :P