Quick catch up!

For the last month or so I have been away from my blog by accident more than design.  I've enjoyed treats and socialising with friends a little more than normal.

My cats turned 5! How did that happen!

Thanks for the birthday chicken Mummy!

 The weather hasn't been amazing every day but that's ok.

Post park picture - it rained unexpectedly.

I've also tried experimenting with overnight oats and while this looks pleasing it doesn't actually work like this you have to mix it all together for the moisture to soak into the oats. Not one of my cleverer moments....

 We also acquired a new vehicle and a few golf balls.

 As well as venturing out to the main stage at Tramlines to catch a few acts.

I also met my sister Sarah, friends Tom B and Charlotte to celebrate their birthdays, saw The Dandy Warhol's at the Leadmill and had a belated birthday meal in Nottingham with my sister.  So I guess there hasn't been loads of time to blog!

I'm currently still working on the first draft of my second novel Time for Tea and have passed the 57,000 word mark.  There's still loads to do but it's getting there. 900 more words and I'll have written as many words on this as my last novel! (Which will never see the light of day.)

So this is just a virtual wave to say I'm still here busily trying to carve a niche out for myself.

Blog Everyday in May - day 4. Guilty pleasures. #BEDM

I must admit that I'm not a very cool person, in fact I'm a bit geeky. (Although I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'm a nerd as I'm not interested in binary code...) I don't tend to think of myself as having guilty pleasures as life is too short! I readily admit that I enjoy Doctor Who and Star Wars. I prefer my entertainment to be fantastical or action packed so there are only a few things that I watch that buck this trend like Sex in the City or Revenge.

Musically I have reasonably eclectic tastes and mainly enjoy listening to Indie-pop, rock and a bit of motown/soul.  That said I quite enjoy a few chart acts like Meghan Trainor and that Bills song by Lunchmoney Lewis.

I think I have more guilt about the food I eat than the films, tv or music I enjoy.  I think this is true of most people.  It's not that I diet or obsess over it I just know that eating a block of marzipan is wrong yet it doesn't stop me wanting to... or knowing that I ate Marshmallow Fluff from the jar when I was pregnant.  Lets just say I'm not surprised that my son loves sweet food.  Another guilty pleasure of mine that at least has vegetables in it is baked aubergines, which is a guilty pleasure as it has two balls of mozzarella in it. Yum!

I also really like cake, cookies, donuts and scones but I am trying to eat healthier now partly because my metabolism won't let me pig out any more but also because I want to teach my son healthy habits.  It's hard but sometimes when I crave chocolate and have an apple instead I find myself really enjoying the apple. (Sometimes I want an apple but my son takes it right out of my mouth!)  With guilty pleasures I think everything is good in moderation, want that donut then eat it! Just don't eat it if your bored make a cup of tea or change tasks instead.

Local Loves: Abbeydale Food and Produce Market

I popped by the Abbeydale Food and Produce market on Saturday 28th about an hour before it ended with my son to check it out as it looked good from everything I saw about it online. Stupidly I had lunch prior to setting off so didn't have the space to sample any of the street food available. I also forgot to take pictures of the street food stalls which were set up outside so all the pictures are of market the inside of the Abbeydale Picture House.  It was my first visit to the picture house and I think it looks like a nice building with the potential to be gorgeous once it's properly restored. (Look at the size of it!).

We enjoyed wandering around looking at the food on offer, listening to live music, as well as consuming tea and cake. It was a hit with the toddler because of all the space for him to roam in and all the things to see and eat. (I got him a lovely bit of focaccia bread and he also sampled some cheese, beef burger and cakes.)  This market is now on my radar for future outings! You should add it to your radar too if you are in Sheffield or visiting when the next one is on.

Dream Job. Blog Everyday in May.

When I was a small child I changed what my dream job was several times a day I went from wanting to be a fighter pilot to a pig farmer and artist to an actress a pop singer to a film director... the list goes on and the possibilities seemed endless! As I got older I put some of these dreams aside as they seemed impossible or I got bored of them and other dream jobs replaced them. When I was a teenager I went from wanting to be an actress to an artist to a film director before giving film making ago and realising that I'm not very good at it.  At the same time I experimented with writing and found I wasn't as bad as I'd imagined... After leaving college I didn't think about a dream job as such I just focused on getting a job.  Once secure in that I started to think about writing again and another silly idea of mine forming a band.

I didn't stay in that job forever and ended up going to university and experimenting with different writing styles and different career paths.  I even flirted with music journalism and sub-edited the music section of my student rag!  Then after uni I threw that experience away and went into one admin job then another and fantasised about training up to become a journalist or writing a novel.  Now I've got a few friends who are journalists so I'm not entirely sure if that's the dream... I still day dream about making a living writing about my travels, gigs I've seen, books I've read and recipes I've created. As well as maybe something to do with dancing, twiddling stringed instruments and crafting things.   Really I want to be a renaissance woman!

Truth be told I still don't really know what I want to do with my life and as I probably won't retire for another 40 years I've still got to time to try my hand at becoming a successful music journalist, travel writer, novelist and/or food columnist. One career per decade wouldn't be bad would it? So that's when I've done sitting at my desk writing letters by day I come home and write blogs and stories by night. There's no fairy godmothers out there... ... might end up a Jacqueline of all trades but I should have fun in the process!