A bit disheartened

Evening all

I've lagged this week. There are no excuses really except for my life being a bit ... dull!! honestly though I've just gone back to work after the Winter Holidays and its been both manic and boring. I've spent the last few days trying to chase people up and avoiding being micromanaged by various people... safe to say a little bit stressful, but now all the admin is sorted for this term I can get on with what I do best; inspiring the minds of the next generation (sort of..).

Chicken Tenderloin to start,
rather lovely but what is it with pubs serving food
on bloody chopping boards?!

Apart from organising things for work, I've also spent a fair amount of time on something I can't talk about right now. It's a good thing, but I'm not ready to say anything else just yet. Some of you may know what it is, but others will just have to wait. It's getting me down a bit, to be honest, trying to sort it but because the people I'm dealing with are fickle and quite honestly rather impolite and inconsiderate. One of my friend said that they're "not doing very well at this adultness thing" which really does describe it to a T! Hopefully the end result will be worth it in the end, even if the journey is being littered by dunce morons on the way!

Whole rack of BBQ ribs and chips.
totally worth it!

Still, next week will be good, I've decided! Back to work full time next week and have work all week which is really nice. Still looking in to Fridays but I've got 3 schools pencilled in for Fridays so that is awesome news right now! I think that takes me up to a total of around 8 different schools plus a few private students!

Once things settle into the routine with work I'll be able to get back into the swing of things, planning more interesting and exciting things to do in my spare time! I really want to get out and take some photos, but the weather has been pretty dire to be honest and I live in England... I don't need more pictures of rain!!

Dessert was White chocolate panna cotte
with ice cream and "chocolate soil".
To be honest this was the let down, bit dry,
but otherwise a lovely meal!

If anyone has any ideas for some photography inspiration (rain or not) to get me creative in the crappy weather, please feel free to comment! I did go to the pub with M for dinner last night, because we both needed food, so today's pics are of my rather delicious meal!

Until next time (probably not tomorrow...)

xx

Lagging behind!

Brilliant! 5 days in and I've missed a day or two already!!

Actually, there really wasn't anything interesting to post for Sunday and Monday was mostly an unexpected day off as work didn't start properly until Tuesday! The weather has also been so crap with drizzle that I've not even been out to take pictures!

Some interesting things have happened though! The Team are busy trying to figure out whether to go on holiday and so far we've got half the planet covered...

On the list of possibilities are (in no particular order):
Cornwall
Ireland
Dubrovnik
Isle of White
Berlin
Iceland
Prague
Bali

I'm putting Bali on that list because I really want to visit Bali... I don't even know why, I saw pictures and read about how my live changing favourite author (Marianne Cantwell - Free Range Humans) sometimes lives there and runs her business from a hammock and it sounded amazing! Personally I don't think I'd ever convince my students to do Skype lessons with me, from my hammock in Bali, but I can dream!!

Did have some more good luck today though! I've been wanting to get some more rockabilly dresses for ages, Lindy Bop dresses etc, but they're quite expensive so haven't purchased any yet. I was, however, talking to a friend, S, and she directed me to Dress Lilly!! It's an American website but the prices are SO much cheaper! Over 50% cheaper WITH free international shipping!! CRAZY!!! So naturally I ordered two and will decide which one to start for the event I've got coming up!!

Other than that... Not a lot is happening!! Back to work Tuesday... YAY....

Until next time,

Xx

2016 - You will be my year!

Yesterday was a good day!

Tissue henge... the cold is still there

Anyone that is close to me knows that I am plagued by pretty crappy luck. That's not me being all emo and 'oh my life is a disaster' like, its honestly true, I have terrible luck. If it can go wrong, it probably will, no matter how hard I try!

Few examples:
1. Last year I brought a parking ticket and it flipped over on my windscreen so I got a fine. Fair enough, I contested it and they're actually upholding it and trying to set bailiffs on me. Most other people the council would go "ok we see what happened, no worries" but me they seem to be making an example out of.

2. My fantastic quadcopter HARVe: I brought him a really expensive top of the range gimbal perfectly suited to his model. I watched loads of YouTube videos about fitting it, the results from everyone else that had one etc. Great. I fitted mine (as per everyone's instructions and taking great care) and it fried the circuit board inside.

3. Every airbed I have ever owned ended up with a hole in it despite me taking meticulous care of it. The latest one cost me £80, and STILL got a hole in it.

They are just two from a catalogue of ridiculous thing that went wrong before 2016, despite my best efforts.... but this year things are changing!

I took said airbed (the £80 Vango comfort 10 double) back to Decathlon today because it was under a year old and wasn't prepared to let £80 be wasted. As usual the service in Decathlon in Harlow was fantastic, I really rate them as a shop! They offer a 2 year guarantee on most of their stuff if you get their discount card thing which I have.

So I took this airbed back said the boys used it at NYE and when i tidied up it was flat as a pancake despite it being all sealed up, she agreed it wasn't good enough and said would I like a refund? I asked if they had any I could exchange it for on the hope that they had some left from camping season but she said they didn't, they would be back in early March. Ok, not a disaster I got a refund and went for a little explore of the shop (have a bit of an addiction to camping gear and wanted to scout out their backpacks).

This is where it got exciting!

Pretty lights in Harlow.
Probably the only bit of Harlow
 town centre that is pretty!! 

I was busy picking out a new backpack when my eyes flicked to the bottom of the shelf, there on the floor was a Vango Comfort 10 Double airbed! brand new, ready for sale so I excitedly grabbed it and went back to the till to replace it like I had wanted to do half an hour ago. If that wasn't good enough, when the boy at the till scanned the bar code, £55! I saved £25 and still have the most comfortable airbed in the world ever!!! Even better, it's a perfect fit for the sofa bed in my Den so I wont bother shelling out extra cash to buy a  mattress for the den bed! total bonus!!

While this may seem trivial to some, if you're plagued by rubbish luck it really is little shimmers of hope like this that make things seem not so crap!

In other news:

My cold is feeling much better and I'd say about 80% healthy now, just wish it would stop raining for a while... I miss outside!!

When I got home yesterday I completed my 2016 yearly goals chart, which includes walking the dog at least 4 times a week, helping us both be a bit healthier. This chart is really cool because it takes in everything from career, health, spirituality, relationships & home. Take a look below at my goals for 2016 and tell me what you think!

 Until tomorrow,

N
xx

So It Begins

First day of the year has arrived, all very exciting and all of that.

Today has mostly been a whole day of sitting on the sofa doing nothing but watching TV and completely avoiding the fact that my Den looks like a small nuclear device had gone off in there!














Last night I had a party, with 4 of the most wonderful people in the world in attendance!








To The Team: I love you all, but we are getting so old we were yawning by 2am and none of us (except possibly you M) were paralytically pissed. I am ashamed of us!

The Team (L-R) M, I, P & L

This is why I love you all....

So I decided to do a lovely little blog of whatever crap enters my head on a day-to-day basis, if someone reads it then that's cool, if not its ok. :)



I'd like to say I'll manage 365 posts, but lets be honest I'll be surprised if I make it passed February...



Things I'm hoping for in 2016:

1. Google to bring back Snapseed's photo editing to Chrome desktop. yes. That is my number 1 request now.
2. More exploring (shameless plug for: Derelict and Dangerous)
3. A good year. 2015 was utter crap, I really want to sit back on the 31st December 2016 and say "yeah, that was pretty good"

Until tomorrow folks
N
x