Another update.

Sooo it's been a while! It's not that I've been ridiculously busy although there have been moments I suppose... since my last post I've tried and failed at Nanowrimo again, started roller derby pre-minimum skills practice, worked, baked, danced and parented.

After Roller Derby practice.

Roller derby is hard work! It requires lots of fitness, running and jumping to warm up then lots of skating skills to master. It requires lots of kit: mouth guards, wrist guards, knee pads, elbow pads and of course roller skates. I started out with ok/the wrong gear and am slowly getting better things.

Old mouth guard.

New mouth guard.

I am finding it great fun, learning new things like cross overs, jumping on skates and transitions as well as it being a good form of exercise.  I've been trying to keep fit and healthy for a while now with differing degrees of success.

 So I've also been sporadically doing work outs around roller derby practice, as well as a little baking.

The end of November and start of December was busy with Christmas do's, leaving parties and club nights, so I got to wear sparkly things! I also had to fix the gutters, car and kitchen tap so  I've been a tad skint!

Unfortunately it doesn't look like I'll be doing much skating or baking for the next month or so as I have broken my thumb.  Luckily it is Christmas and there will be plenty of nice things to eat without me adding to them! I'm just hoping that I don't lose too much fitness by the time my thumb has healed.  Still at least there's a new Star Wars film to watch and a few weeks of work to look forward to.  (I'm going to see it on Tuesday.)

So if I don't post between now and then have a very Merry Christmas!

Blog everyday in May 2015: day 1 introduce yourself. #BEDM

 It's that time of year again... hay fever season... I mean the blog everyday in May challenge time! I thought it might me fun to have ago at blogging everyday to procrastinate away from novel writing get into better blog writing habits.  The blog a day challenge is nice because there are suggested topics to follow everyday but I may have to deviate away from some of them to other things I might actually be able to write about... more sci-fi than beauty I think!

Anyway, the topic suggestion today is introduce yourself, so here goes. 
I'm in my late twenties, I work part time for a Sheffield based company and I live with my boyfriend, 19 month old son and two cats.

Frankenstein enjoys being photographed.

I have a lot of interests like playing guitar/ukulele, baking, dancing, sewing, reading and hula hooping which I try to pursue in my bounteous free time. Ha ha ha! I also like to watch my local roller derby teams play and took my son with me to their October bout.

Go team!

We've also been to art galleries, rock climbing groups and day time gigs together as well as the swimming baths, cafes, restaurants and cinema...

On maternity leave I decided to treat myself and dye my hair blue, I also tried green and purple but have settled on blue for the time being as it makes me feel like a comic book character. Once upon a time I would've liked to have looked like a 1950s pin up but now I would rather look like a superhero as I feel like one some days.

So that's a bit about me.  I could babble on about independent films and music, trying to learn Spanish from an app or coding from a website or the many parenting lessons I've learnt since 2013 but I won't. The night is here and my bed beckons with promises of sleep and dreams. Good night!

Update on what I've been doing lately.

So I've had yet another blog hiatus not because of anything bad or on purpose but mainly due to returning to work and being busy.

Since September I've returned to work 3 days a week, seen a few less films, started belly dancing again on a very occasional basis, read a couple of books, celebrated a friend's birthday in Leeds and watched a little roller derby.

This month I am taking on my annual writing marathon where I attempt to write a novel of 50,000 words in 30 days. So far I'm on track although the idea is a loose one at best and may or may not transform into something else. My main aim is to get back into the habit of writing regularly even if I have to carve the time out of the rare instances I'm not actively looking after my son.

Wish me luck! (I obviously need it.)

5 Lines - Blog Every Day in May.

My name is Correen, I'm 26 years old.

I started this blog a few years ago to get back into reviewing bands and to set myself challenges, often food based but sometimes a little different.

I write letters and emails for a living and have two part written novels in my virtual desk draw. 
I also like to support my local roller derby team...

...as well as watch live music, read far fetched fiction and abuse stringed instruments.

Blogging break.

It may or may not have escaped your attention that I've only managed to post one blog this year despite it already being more than a quarter of the way in. I started off this year full of good intentions and plans but somewhere in January I found the desire to blog wane.  Maybe it was because I was feeling a bit tired or maybe it was because I was focused on writing my novel...  Then near the end of January I found out that I was pregnant and my writing fell behind in my list of priorities along with my dancing, writing and gig going as I started to feel sick. Which isn't fun!

So this year has been a quieter one than I had initially expected so far I've only been to two gigs; however, I've seen my first intraleague roller derby bout and finished my first home made dress.  (Well my Mum did the lions share but I helped!)

The dress me and my Mum made!

I've also had the honour of attending the first few League of Witty One Liners film nights/ premiers at the Red Deer.  I've also enjoyed a few family parties, as well as drinks and meals with friends. As well as that I've also been getting quite addicted to George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire aka A Game of Thrones and am currently enjoying reading the first part of a Dance with Dragons.

 My team at work also tried to sell a few of our excess books for charity...

Sometimes I think these books breed overnight! I'm not entirely sure how we ended up with so many! I have also recently enjoyed reading Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter's Long Earth and am looking forward to reading the sequel when it is released even if it is slightly different to what I've been reading recently.

 

I've also spent a bit of time the other week relaxing and trying to sort out my house on a little holiday from work and I had a little go at twiddling on my Ukulele.  Then when I got back from work I was lucky enough to receive this book from my friend Emma!

It was a great surprise to come back to!  I'm taking this as a sign that I ought to practice more and not just because I've been thinking about playing my uke more either...

One of the main reasons the blog has suffered for the last few month is that I've been coming to terms with my lack of energy and strange lack of appetite.  Struggling to eat or want to make food it completely alien to me as I'm sure you can imagine! Nevertheless I'm hoping to find a few more things to post about until my will to cook new recipes returns. Thanks for sticking with me!

Recent rocking things!

Recently things have rocked!  There has been more dancing, which is always a great thing in my eyes!  I even danced on a stage in public on Sat 4th August...

Photo courtesy of a friend of one of the other dancers... thank you!

This was a Bollywood work out choreographed by Nisha Lall as part of

the activities of Sheftival, which promoted exercise, sport and music.

I could have stayed at Sheftival and caught a few more bands; instead I headed to Wales for a good catch up with one of my friends and watched history being made in the Olympics.

Last week also saw a return of lunch club for my team with a new venue being invaded... tried!  This month we said good bye to The Hop and hello to The Frog and Parrot! We also saw Olympic fever hitting the office culminating in the office sports day or mini Olympics as I like to think of it! It involved mishaps such as the health and safety worrying three legged race, the controversial egg & spoon relay; as well as my event the hula hoop... a good time was had by all!

Action shot!

On the podium, I came second!

The next day brought more catching up with friends and family, a bout of roller derby.

That blur is the Sheffield Steel Roller Girls All Stars vs Nottingham's Hellfire Harlots.  Good bout but we got thrashed!

Saturday also saw my first roller merby bout...

Like roller derby but with them male creatures instead of female ones... This bout featured Sheffield's Inhuman League vs Manchester's New Wheeled Order.  It was a close bout but eventually we won.

This was followed by a drive up to Leeds for my friend Deborah's flat warming at her lovely new abode! Yet more catching up with lovely friends. (I could get used to this!)  Then all too soon it was time to head back...

This week has mainly been sponsored by overtime at work, a bit more dancing, experimenting with this recipe and looking forward to Jessica Ennis's homecoming on Friday! Should be a hell of a party!