Time

Time, 

Continuous,

Constantly changing, 

Stopping for no one, 

Carrying you along, 

Along the current of life.

Days pass,

One after the other.

Merging into a seamless motion picture.

Sometimes there is a need to press pause,

To take some time,

To fully immerse ourselves in the present, 

To notice the suns warmth on our skin, 

The rustling of the wind through the trees,

Birds chattering,

And the butterfly fluttering amongst the long grass

A snapshot of time. 

Image from Pinterest

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is a new day,

Filled with opportunity and promise,

Take it,

Waste it,

Begin again,

Tomorrow is a new day.

Image from Pinterest

Some Weekend Space

There have been times during the last two years where I have felt pulled along by the current of life and unable to pause to catch my breath. The last three weeks has been one of those times. Since starting my new job my days have been about trying to get through as much of my 'to do' list as possible whether that is work related or things at home like the washing, preparing meals and food shopping. Trying to squeeze in exercise and me time has been difficult. Having some time to relax and do something that I want to do is really important to me and important in keeping my moods balanced. This is why I try and press pause at the weekend, even if I am only able to do it for a short while around preparing for the new week ahead. My last few weekends have been really great in giving me some time and space in between one week and the next.

About three weeks ago now I went to see Tom Odell. I struggled to summon feelings of excitement when my friend picked me up and during the journey to the venue because I was so tired, I was almost asleep. I had seen Tom Odell once before at V Festival a few years ago and loved his set so I really wanted to see him again when I heard about the gig, the second thing that drew me in was the venue. I have never heard live music in a forest before and thought it could be amazing. My feelings of excitement bubbled to the surface as soon as I stepped foot in the venue, past security checking our tickets and bags and seeing the open space and the stage. It was the same feeling I get when I arrive at festivals and I felt a little sad that I did not go to the Isle of Wight Festival this year. The main reason for not going to IoW this year was simply because I wasn't very interested in the line up. The first time I went was two years ago primarily to see Bastille and last year it was for Biffy Clyro who were amazing! It was also an awesome line up last year and I got to see Passenger, Kings of Leon and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers as well as many others. I love the atmosphere at the IoW Festival, there are lots of different genres of music in a variety of different tents and it welcomes people of all ages. One of my favourite things to do is to see live music, I particularly enjoy it when I feel a connection to the music, when it excites me and often when I know the words and can sing along.

Anyway, back to the Tom Odell gig. I loved the venue and the support acts, The Beach and Rae Morris. I think what I loved about the venue was the atmosphere, it was chilled and laid back, perfect for a Sunday evening. The acts and the music that was played could have also contributed to this. We chose to sit a little way from the stage and relax rather than getting pushed and shoved nearer the front, I just didn't feel it was that kind of gig, I was just happy to listen in my own space. Some songs were very simplistic, Tom Odell and his piano, beautiful. It was a lovely evening, a bit chillier than the rest of the week but luckily no heavy rain just a few spots which was a pleasant surprise as it had been quite wet in the morning so I went prepared with my wellies!

Last weekend I spent most of last weekend with my Grandad while my parents were away. This is a great excuse to crash out in front of the tv and eat rubbish food. It allowed me to take a break from the list of things I felt I should be doing and gave me some time to rest. On the Sunday I went to see Magic Mike with a friend and got my Channing Tatum fix, he is just gorgeous. Afterwards we met up with another friend for dinner. These are two of my closest friends and we all have quite busy lives at the moment so finding time to get together is often difficult. It is so nice when we can get together and have a good catch up, usually with us there is food and sometimes cocktails involved. 

This weekend has been a productive one. After about a year, I finally got around to re-painting my kitchen. Last year I had a water leak which caused damage to my ceiling, luckily the ceiling got fixed but I was left with a patch that had been plastered. Me being me, was too lazy to re-paint, until now. I left work Friday afternoon motivated, I stopped off at B&Q on my way home about bought the paint, I washed down the walls and done the first coat of paint over the plaster before going to bed. This meant that all I had to do Saturday was one coat of white on the whole ceiling and two coats of Mint Crisp on the walls. I was pleased to finish Saturday so that I felt I had some free time before beginning a new week. I'm really happy that I was free today because I ended up going out for the afternoon with my parents and Grandad. We spent a few hours walking along the beach in Great Yarmouth, enjoying the sunshine and warm weather as well as freshly made doughnuts before stopping in Beccles on the way home and eating a picnic by the river as the sun began to set. Perfect.

  

Finding My Feet

The last two weeks have been spent getting used to my new job and new routines. I have found it really tiring and the days just seem to fly by! Something that has been really helpful is that the team I am working with are very friendly and welcoming. They were even thoughtful enough to acknowledge a colleague and I receiving our final university results and discovering that we had passed our degree. I thought it was a lovely gesture, it really is about the little things sometimes.

At times during the last two weeks I have felt a little uncertain, unsure of my ability. When this happens I try and give myself a bit of a pep talk and reassure myself. I have proven that I can do this I just need to believe in myself and realise that it is normal to not walk into a job and know exactly what to do straight away. I am trying to be realistic and not expect too much from myself like I normally do. Having the positive previous experience of working in an adoption team for my student placement last year has really helped with reassuring myself and my self confidence.

Eager to learn and to do my best I signed up to attend a training session on the first Saturday after starting the job. The day was really great for two reasons, firstly, it reinforced things that I already knew, which increased confidence in my ability, and secondly, I learnt about new strategies that I can use in my practice. My employer also allows TOIL (time off in lieu) so I can take the hours back at the end of this month and spend an extra day in Amsterdam.

Image from Pinterest

I had planned to get back into healthier eating and exercising regularly when I started work. I thought having more routine would help but my big ideas haven't really gone to plan. My two biggest issues at the moment are time, the lack of, and energy, again the lack of. Monday's have started positively, I have had the weekend to go shopping and prepare meals for the first few days of the week. I have also gone out jogging after work on both Monday's but have not been able to keep it up throughout the week. My aim is to go back to going out jogging three times a week, when I was doing this last year I found it much easier once I got into the routine.

 

Looking Forward to Graduation

I PASSED!

I can hardly believe it, all the hard work over the last three years has finally come to a great ending. My family have celebrated both mine and my sisters successes whether big or small. I think it's important to acknowledge these times in our lives and the lives of those close to us. Earlier this year my sister also finished her hairdressing qualifications. She believes in me when I doubt myself and I believe in her. I am proud of her choices and accomplishments and above all I'm happy that she's found something that she enjoys.

My university journey ends in October at our graduation. I'm not looking forward to standing up in font of everyone and just hope I do not fall over! But I am quite looking forward to standing alongside my class mates and saying we did it! And of course wearing the traditional cap and gown, some cute cupcakes would just top it off.

Image from Pinterest

Image from Pinterest

Road Trip: Struggles and Successes

Although I have titled the post Struggles and Successes I want to start with 5 of my favourite things from the road trip. Diving straight back into my every day life after coming home means that sometimes it feels as if I didn't really go away. For this reason it was really nice to go through the photos I took while I was away this afternoon. I borrowed my Dad's laptop to connect my camera and saved a few to include today.

Dartmoor National Park

My Favourite Things

1. Wide, open spaces and a sense of space and freedom
2. My horse ride on Dartmoor
3. Bizzare Bath
4. The coastal path walk from Lands End to Sennen Cove
5. An evening relaxing in the Thermae Bath Spa
6. The Lost Gardens
7. Cute local art galleries
8. Eating a proper Cornish Pasty and cream teas
9. Walking along Newquay beach with my toes in the sea
10. Overcoming challenges

Usually if a challenge arises my first action is to quite possibly panic, closely followed by a phone call to my Dad. On the third day of the trip I had a difficult time locating my B&B in Dartmoor, when I finally arrived, following directions from a pub around the corner, and checked in I decided to head back to the pub to relax with a nice cold drink and catch the remainder of the sun. Soon after sitting down at one of the tables outside a huge gust of wind blew over my large glass of Coke and cracked the corner of my phone screen. I was not best pleased and went inside to ask for another one, choosing to remain seated inside this time. I then went to use my mobile to realise that the screen wouldn't work. I can't do anything on my phone if the screen doesn't work. I tried to keep calm and take the battery out and re-start it but nothing improved. Then I really started to panic, to a point where I nearly cried, I certainly felt like crying being away from home alone and having lost my way to contact my family and friends and to navigate. In a sense I had lost my safety net. This time I couldn't call my Dad to fix it, I had to do it myself. Luckily, I had taken my laptop and the B&B I was staying at had free wifi so I was able to contact people through that as well as Google the nearest EE store to by any type of phone as long as I could call my parents. It may sound silly that that was such a challenging time for me but I have become very reliant on my mobile and all the things it can do now, perhaps more than I realised and I'm sure I am not alone.

There were times when I felt vulnerable being alone, luckily this was not often. The one thing that made me feel particularly vulnerable was removing my glasses and not being able to see clearly. This is why I chose not to try kayaking or surfing. I feel more comfortable doing new things, in new places without my glasses with friends. I ended up keeping my glasses on when I went to the spa in Bath. Although I felt a little self conscious about it, I felt better than not wearing them. Also, in the rooftop outdoor pool other people were wearing glasses and sunglasses. I thought, why visit the spa with lovely views and not really be able to see them! Gazing out over the city and the rolling hills was a great way to end my trip.

Bath

Roman Baths

SS Great Britain, Bristol

Lands End

Lands End

St Michael's Mount

Falmouth

Bournemouth