Farewell 2014 and welcome 2015.

So 2014 has bitten the dust and been replaced by the arbitrary place marker that is 2015... I mean the fancy new year! Last year saw my son learning lots of things from rolling over up to walking, attempting to learn coding using codeacademy; as well as my return to work.
I started last year with a list of 14 aims in place of resolutions and I am pretty sure they nearly all fell by the wayside. Ooops! I guess that's the way these things go.
                     

This year I think maybe it would be better to try to worry a bit less about my appearance and near herculean tasks.  Instead I think the focus will be on trying to remain positive when things are hard, being a bit more assertive when the need arises and make time to do the things I enjoy rather than procrastinating.

Sometimes that's writing a quick blog to say that I am still here dreaming, reading, watching the odd gig and finding humour in all the wrong places.  Just occasionally falling into the working and childrearing swamps of utter exhaustion. Fear not I'm working out where the fire and rodents of unusual size are as I write!

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.)

A year of parenthood.

So a year ago today I became a mother to a healthy baby boy and the time seems to have run away from me!

First pram outing.

Slinging in Sunderland.

 I've taken hundreds of pictures of him for my family and me but try not to pop them on the internet for his privacy. I don't think he'd mind me sharing this picture of his first birthday cake though!

Cake!

So it's been a giant learning curve as I learned how to hold a baby properly, change nappies and interpret growth centile charts as well as about ten million other things! Now my little baby is on the cusp of being a toddler there are bound to be more things to learn over the next year and I can't wait!

Movie Monday: The 100 Foot Journey.

I saw this film advertised when I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy and was pleased when I realised that it was being shown at Kino Bambino. The last Kino Bambino me and Dylan would be allowed to attend no less!

The 100 Foot Journey is about the fortunes of wannabe chef Hassan and his family, guided by their business minded father. They experience tragedy in India and flee hoping to restart their restaurant up elsewhere.  After deciding against settling in England they travel Europe and accidentally find the site of their new restaurant in France opposite an existing Michelin star restaurant. Obviously the owner of the established restaurant is not keen on this and a tit for tat campaign ensues between the restaurant owners, as Hassan learns how to cook French food from one of the other restaurant's sous chefs.

This is only half of the story the rest focuses on Hassan's career as an up and coming chef and how his friends and family feel about this.

When I saw the trailer for this film I expected a nice heart warming tale about French and Indian food so it didn't disappoint in that respect; however, I must admit I didn't enjoy the second half of the film as much. While it was good to see Hassan develop as a chef and character I couldn't derive as much enjoyment out of it as the action of the start but that is probably because I didn't really get chance to sit down and enjoy the end as I was chasing after my son and trying to stop him dismantling the cinema. (Did you know you can just lift the light bulbs out of the little lights on the stage in front of the screen?!? I do now...) It was a nice inoffensive film with a few chuckles but no great big belly laughs but not a bad way to end my days of taking my baby to the cinema on maternity leave though.

A little baking...

So I decided to make a few blueberry muffins last week because the baby likes blueberries and I like cake... what more excuse do I need?

Unfortunately I only thought to take a picture of them when I had already eaten most of them. So this was one of the last remaining ones which I've now eaten. It was good.

Monday Movie: Saftey Not Guaranteed.

After spending much of last week's screening of Kino Bambino either chasing my son or sat watching the film on the aisle floor of the cinema I decided against watching a Danish crime film this week... I'm sure it was a great film but subtitles and crawling around don't mix amazingly.  Instead I turned to my old friend Netflix and chose to watch a film called Saftey Not Guaranteed.

This film is about an intern Darius, a magazine writer Jeff and another intern Arnau investigating the man behind an intriguing classified advertisement.  The advertisement is requesting a companion to go time travelling with; however, upon finding the identity of this man Jeff approaches him to be rebuffed, as he is not right for the job. 

Jeff encourages Darius to approach instead and she manages to connect with Kenneth as she is more on his wave length.  Kenneth trains Darius on the combat skills she will need when time travelling as Jeff tries to reconnect with an old flame and Arnau avoids Jeff's insistence that he lives.

I quite liked this film as it wasn't an over the top comedy or extremely kooky rom-com just a film about flawed people opening up to each other and having faith in time travel.  It's not a laugh out loud comedy but it has daft moments to raise a smile like rubbish training montages and people pretending to not be in a car whilst driving. I would've liked a bit more time travelling but I don't think there was the budget for that. 

I don't think that this is a film I'd want to watch over and over again but it is definitely one of the nicer things to watch on a Monday afternoon.

Movie Monday: Two Days One Night.

This weeks film was another Kino Bambino film at the Showroom called Two Days One Night.

This was a French film with English subtitles about Sandra's up hill fight to keep her job by asking her colleagues to give up their bonuses, ensuring that their company has the budget for her salary.  The film follows her, as a colleague and her husband convince her to fight to try to change her other workmates minds about their bonuses after they have previously been convinced to vote against her by their foreman.

Along the way she encounters workmates ashamed to have voted against her, colleagues in similarly difficult situations to herself and others who are violently opposed to her request. This is not the most cheerful of films particularly if you have been through redundancy procedures in the past but it does have some more cheerful parts and shows the way people act when money is involved. This is not a laugh a minute film and in places it is quite slow paced and repetitive but it does make you think which is not a bad thing in a film in my eyes.