So Christmas has been the season of merriment and I’ve been well enough to succeed in doing all the things that happen at this time of year! I’m looking forward to chilling out the next few days and recharging the batteries as I am very tired as a result… even writing is a bit of a struggle and that’s never a good sign (hence the demise of blogging since Boxing Day). There’s also been a bit of coughing and sneezing so I’m just praying I don’t get a full blown …

Merry Christmas to everyone who reads my blog! Hope you have a lovely day whether you celebrate the festive season or not.
I’ve had a rather wonderful Christmas Eve. Firstly I recieved the Kreativ Blogger Award from Katie McCullough (I’ll follow up with a post on it after Christmas). Secondly I was made up to hear my friend proposed to my other friend! They met at my Birthday party two and a half years ago and though we knew that he’d pop the question sooner or later it’s no less exciting!!! …

I am an excitable person but tonight has been almost too exciting! And I thought I would share my buzz as I’m too excited to go to sleep.
It was always going to be a fantastic night as it’s the Strictly Come Dancing final. I’m just a bit obsessed with Strictly! In week one I wanted Chris to be out as early as possible, I wouldn’t have believed it if you would have told me I’d be voting for him multiple times in the final. Chris went from novice to being …

It is a beautiful snowy day and as I finished work yesterday I decided to go on a wander with my camera this morning. I love snow! Snow at Christmas is even better!!!

Although I’m over the flu itself this week is not turning out to be as thrilling as I thought it would. Last Sunday I finally felt human again and cleaned my flat with more enthusiasm than I have in a long time (whilst taking frequent breaks for a cup of tea of course!!!). Having the energy to do anything was a buzz. Unfortunately I think this was a little premature. On Monday I returned to work and by about 2pm I was exhausted again. As the weeks gone on it’s …

I’m feeling festive. I’m still very tired after the flu, but at least I’m out of the flat and able to appreciate the wonders of December. I’m still gutted I missed our Christmas party and the Durham Christmas weekend, but I’m making the most of enjoying all the everyday little bits of Christmas.
It seems like I have so much more time to take in the season this year. Of course when I was in Royal Mail it was the busiest time of year and until the final delivery on Christmas …

It’s not very stereotypically English to be positive and perky all of the time. We like to complain and moan. It’s a wonder we get anything done when we spend our lives speculating about things we have no influence over. The American’s however are brought up to believe anything is possible. To see the positive in situations. To focus on a goal and make it happen. Somehow I seem to have inherited an American attitude to life.
Of course these are sweeping generalisations. I can moan about the weather with the …

What should have been a minor illness, a bout of the flu, has turned into an epic recovery that Peter Jackson could make a three part saga about. Along with the temperature, which I’ve now had for nearly two weeks, every day can bring a new interesting symptom. The past couple of days have included feelings of nausea and lack of appetite. Thankfully my symptoms seem to be mainly physical now so I can finally get back to reading books and doing things that require mental energy. Watching a constant …

Apologies for the tumbleweeds blowing through my blog this month. NaNoWriMo gave way to the flu and even when I’ve had an idea to blog the combination of hiding under the duvet and blogging aren’t always mutually compatible. My sister has just been round to feed me and drop off essential supplies – milk so I can keep myself in warm cups of tea, grapes because they have too many at their house (though it does nicely fit with the theme of being ill) and of course chocolate.
I did attempt …

I have made the decision today that I won’t complete NaNoWriMo this year. Last Sunday I was about 5000 words behind, which I was very confident I could make up and still cross the finish line of 50000 this time next week. What I didn’t schedule in was a weeks worth of illness. I suspected something was up on Monday evening when I struggled to write 1000 words, then by Tuesday I was too exhausted to do anything but sleep. By Wednesday evening I was properly ill and ever since …

A month of intensive writing unfortunately does not factor in a bout of illness. Last weekend I made up a good chunk of the NaNoWriMo I had fallen behind on and I was on track to get up to date. But on Monday I was feeling tired and grumpy and I only just managed to bash out 1000 words. That was followed by Tuesday when tiredness overwhelmed me, grumpiness increased and anything apart from sleep wasn’t on the cards. It went downhill from there. It turns out the tiredness and …

After thinking that last week would be the challenge as I was away on a conference I underestimated the things life would throw at me this week. I am rapidly falling behind with NaNoWriMo (over 8000 words behind target as I type) and I’m writing this blog over two days in 5 minute snatches between everything else.
On Monday evening I made a dent into the word count shortfall after being away at the end of last week, but as this week has gone on that is a small mercy as …

Yesterday I returned from the PPRG conference buzzing with ideas for work. Serious ideas, which is why I was awake at 7.30am on a Sunday morning (my only possibility of a lie in this week) jotting them all down before I get into work in Monday morning and get caught up in the day to day. I am not going to forget all the valuable information from the past three days.
The conference was great but it’s put me a day behind on NaNoWriMo even with my writing on both journeys …

November is going to be a challenging month. I’m underway with NaNoWriMo and made an excellent start in the first two days getting up to nearly four days worth of writing (6026 words) or 12% of the final goal. But then life got in the way. I always knew the end of this week would be hard because of heading to the lakes for the PPRG conference for three days from tomorrow. But to lose a day of writing yesterday, on day three, was pretty crushing. I’m struggling to get …

Last year I spent Halloween dressed up as a witch, getting hideously drunk at a house party less than two weeks before I was leaving London. Though I had various leaving parties, this was the last time nearly all the people I’d moved to London with and a few I’d got to know along the way.

This Halloween will be considerably quieter and more sober, but hopefully just as significant. At midnight it will be November, and I will be writing the first few words of my NaNoWriMo novel. 50,000 words …