Pampering. Blog Everyday in May.

I must admit I do like a bit of pampering but I am getting looked after quite a lot at the moment! my lovely boyfriend has taken to getting up, bringing me a cup of tea in bed, running me a bubble bath and bringing me my cereal every morning for the past four or five months.  So when I think about relaxing I don't tend to think about baths as they're part of my routine.  I quite enjoy a nice shower now! I was also treated to a nice goodie bag by my friend Claire when she came to visit in the bank holiday.

Kitties checking out my goodie stash.

The goodie bag contained a mixture of things for me (Mum&me bump body lotion and bath soak) and things for helping with the baby. It was very thoughtful and I think I'm going to try out the body lotion soon as my bump is getting a bit itchy.

Another way I like to pamper myself is to curl up on the sofa with some chocolate or a milk pop and watch Doctor Who or Revenge.  I also decided to treat myself the other week to some felt tip pens for doodling...

...it may have reminded me why I didn't do art after my GCSEs but then again it was very therapeutic!

Basically I think pampering is whatever you can do to help you unwind and feel good.  It doesn't have to be a back massage or a spa day, (both are good if anyone's wondering what to get me for my birthday) but it can be relaxing in front of the tv or filling a blank piece of paper with travel dreams.  That or a word document with stories of time travel and tea drinking...

Life's a lesson. Blog Everyday in May.

This blog topic reminded me about something Jeffery Lewis said in his song Life "life's just a story don't you doubt bad times give us something to talk about".

 Life is one of those funny things, it's be portrayed as a stage or a rat race but a lesson might not be a bad analogy. We do spend many of our formative years unknowingly drinking in knowledge about how to survive and how to be the people that our experiences have made us.

Sometimes it's easy to forget that we've learnt so much to get to the stage where we can enjoy a blog or make a snack. Back when I was at university I had a few microwave related accidents where I burnt things as I had no idea how long they should cook. Well I say burnt... I Exploded an egg in the microwave and nuked a baked potato! Since then I've come on leaps and bounds. It's rare I burn anything these days...

Meringue fail!

Other lessons I've learnt are things like the fact that nothing that is worth doing is easy but with support from friends and family you can do anything even write 50,000 words of fiction in a month!

Yes, I am going to use this as much as I can! Muwahahaha!

Another thing I've learnt is that you can only be as happy as you allow yourself to be. Being optimistic won't reduce your work load but it can make you feel better about it and help make everyone around you more cheerful too.

If you tell someone you just work in customer service or admin or what ever role you do then you're telling them that you don't think your job is any good... That's a tip I was told at an assertiveness course I got sent on.  That and saying people's first name when you see them rather than just "hi"...So, those are a few things I've found out through the years that and don't put a drink next to your elbow!  Or cut your own hair... especially not when drunk!What lessons have you learnt?

Food Glorious Food! - Blog Every Day in May!

One of the reasons I started this blog was to write about food.  Food is one of the things I find that I can get most pleasure from as well as most displeasure from if it doesn't suit my palette or it is prepared incorrectly. I haven't written much about food recently as my appetite is a fraction of what it used to be! Here's a few pictures of the highlights of some of the recipes I've tried over the years and other lovely food I've sampled whilst out and about though...

 

 

These are a few of the things I have made, bought or had made for me in the last couple of years and I'm hoping to pop a few more posts up in the not too distant future regarding my future adventures with food.  Watch this space!

Go Green! Blog Everyday in May.

I've always thought of myself as a relatively green person, maybe not green fingered as my sadly deceased cactus would attest to... In some respects I like to do what I can to be green by using public transport rather than my car for most journeys. (I'm one of those weird people who enjoy bus journeys because I can spend them catching up on twitter, I can read my book or just people watch on them.)

I also like to do my bit recycling. Well, like maybe an overstatement! I tend to recycle any unwanted paper, cardboard, plastic and tetra packs that maybe lying about my house.

Obviously I could do more for the environment I did go through a stage of composting my waste food and I plan to start this again in the future.  I also like the idea of up-cycling clothing but as I'm no great seamstress I generally decide that any clothes I no longer want should be given to a charity shop to be purchased by someone else.

I always welcome ideas about how to be greener and any suggestions would be appreciated!

Collecting - Blog Everyday in May.

I don't know why but I have got into my head that a collection is when you have three or more of something.  If that's the definition of a collection then I have a few collections and my criticism of someone showing me their sword collection, which consisted of one sword still stands...  I seem to have accumulated a fair few shoes, badges, baking goods and cookbooks.

The two things I seem to have accumulated the most of are cds....

...and of course books!

 I sometimes wonder if I'm a hoarder but I then again there are a few things I actively collect like the Walking Dead graphic novels.

As well as band t-shirts, roller derby bout programmes for bouts I've seen and pieces of fabric I am sure I'll make something with one day.  They may not be the most conventional of collections but they're my collections and I think they are one of those things that make up a little part of who I am.