A weekend round up

I thought I'd take a trip back in time tonight and write a weekend round up. In the early(ish) days of my blog, these featured on a semi-regular basis, but fast forward a couple of years and they're something that's long since fallen by the wayside. Granted, this may have quite a lot to do with the fact that I don't really do things at weekends any more but still...!

Friday
I finished work early (I was working an 8-4 shift), then headed home to get ready for a work summer party. Having not really socialised much with my work colleagues since I started my job in September and unsure who else was going, I was initially a little apprehensive about attending but when I discovered that I would know quite a few people there and that tickets were the bargain price of £1, I thought why the hell not! And I'm really glad I did! It was a night of discovering new favourite drinks and eating delicious buffet food. Of singing my heart out and playing the tambourine in a private karaoke booth. Of witnessing people doing things you never would have expected and seeing them in a whole new light. Of cheesy dancing, random singing and (semi) drunken conversations. Of the kind of fun I haven't had in a long time. It was much needed, and the sort of night I'll be making the effort to have lots more of in the future.

Saturday
I woke up about 9:30, had a leisurely breakfast of pancakes and syrup (a real favourite at the mo) and then got ready for work (one of the downsides of my job is that I have to work 2 Saturdays out of every 3). As it was Saturday, I allowed myself enough time to have lunch in Starbucks (I feel I should reward myself for working on weekends!) before making my way to work ready for my 1-9 shift. It wasn't fun. Not that working on a Saturday ever is, but yesterday was especially stressful. Basically over the last few days, the company I work for has suffered some serious problems with its IT systems, meaning that we currently have lots of unhappy customers. And while I really do sympathise with them, there's only so much unhappiness and stress a girl can take, especially when you've been dealing with much the same for the previous two days. But on the other hand, at least I was getting paid to deal with it! So I, along with my colleagues, sucked it up, tried to help as many people as we could and were all very relieved when 9 o'clock rolled around! Then I went home, had a light supper then crashed in front of the TV/computer for a couple of hours before heading to bed...that's as exciting as it got!

Sunday
I had a lazy morning (ate some breakfast, had a shower, got dressed, listened to the radio) and then headed to a rehearsal for my drama group's latest show which is coming up in less than two weeks! Eek! Even though they can be a bit stressful at times, especially when it's this close to the show, it's great getting together with all my friends, having fun on stage and watching all our hard work come together. After rehearsal, I walked home in the sunshine (a welcome sight after what seems like weeks of rain) and have spent a chilled out evening on the computer and half watching the football on TV. Come on England!!

And that was my weekend (although if we're being technical I suppose as I've booked tomorrow off work it hasn't finished just yet!) How was yours? Did you get up to anything fun or was it just more of the same old, same old variety? Drop me a line and let me know, as always I'd love to hear from you!

'Til next time...

Well hello!!

Long time no speak!! I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I've last blogged...I don't know where the time's gone, all I do know is that I've been majorly busy!

So very briefly, here's what I've been doing for the past 2 weeks:

• Working...I've been working in the same school for the last 2 weeks, covering a teacher's paternity leave. They're not the easiest class to deal with, and there have been some moments where I've felt completely overwhelmed, but they've been coupled with some students who are a delight to teach, and times where I'm so proud of what they've achieved.

• Spending weekends with friends...the last two weekends have been time for fun with friends. The last weekend in January was spent relaxing at the pub and seeing Sherlock Holmes (again!) with my sister Amy on the Sunday and last weekend I went to a drama group party and out to a cocktail and karaoke bar for my friend's 23rd. Good times!

• Acting: Between January 27th and January 30th, I spent every evening dressed as a villager for my drama group's production of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". It was really tiring, especially when coupled with 6:30 am get ups for work, but really fun at the same time! I can't wait for our next show. We're doing a musical revue which premieres in July...rehearsals begin in March!

• Driving: I've been keeping up with my driving lessons and the feedback off my instructor has been really positive...apparently it won't be too long before I can be entered for my test! Woo hoo! :-)

• Baking: I've started to develop a bit of a reputation for my gingerbread and I've baked two batches over the last two weeks...neither of them for my family, much to their disappointment! I'm starting to really love baking and am finding it much more relaxing now I know what I'm doing, but I think I should maybe expand my repertoire a little bit so am on the lookout for new recipes. Anyone got any suggestions??

• Preparing for job interviews: I had another job interview yesterday and spent some of the weekend preparing for it and planning a mini lesson for my classroom observation. Unfortunately, I didn't get the job but the feedback I received was very positive...the headteacher even said he wished he could have given me the job, but unfortunately I'd come up against a slightly stronger candidate. I'm not too downhearted, especially because I received a call yesterday from another school saying I'd been shortlisted for a job vacancy there too...my interview and lesson observation are in a couple of weeks!

And finally...

• Realising that my friends were right all along and that Robert Downey Jr is pretty damn fine...This one is pretty much self explanatory, but I'm going to explain myself anyway! I has been a long held belief amongst many of my friends that RDJ is hot, but I stubbornly disagreed. Yeah, he was ok, I thought, but nothing special. Even when I heard about Sherlock Holmes coming out, I was more excited about watching Jude Law for 2 hours than anything else. Then I saw it and it was like seeing him for the first time. It was quite literally a thunderbolt moment, and I was like "So that's what they see in you!". And now I'm hooked...I can't get enough! And if you're reading this and you still don't get it, here's a little something that might just change your mind:
  

Tagged: 10 Things

A few days ago, Brittany over at Sweet, Sassy and oh so Classy shared a list of 10 things that made her happy, and tagged all her followers to do the same. So without further ado, here's my list:

1. Spending time with my fantastic family and friends
2. Shopping!!
3. Not having to get up early at the weekend
4. Having a nice class to cover when I'm working
5. The "buzz" I get when an idea or piece of knowledge really clicks with a student
6. My friends N and M's baby H...he's 10 months old and getting cuter every day! :-)
7. Starbucks' flavoured lattes and skinny muffins/cakes
8. Drinking and dancing with my girls on a night out
9. My friends' L and G's wedding a week today... can't wait!
10. 3 weeks of work left till Christmas...that means only 15 working days! (well 14, because I've got the day after the wedding off :-) )

So, how about you? What makes you happy?? Looking forward to reading your lists!

Clouds and Silver Linings

I've been doing my "Highs and Lows of the Week" posts for quite a while now, but last week I really noticed how closely some of the highs linked with some of the lows...just like clouds and their silver linings (hence the title of this post!). So, for this week at least, my highs will be mixed in with my lows just to remind me that clouds do have their silver linings, and that we can find positives in most situations if we look hard enough!

Cloud

• I didn't get the job - As some of you will know I went for a interview last week, for a job that I think would have suited me down to the ground. After the interview, I had mixed feelings about my performance...I thought some of my answers were spot on, but that others were absolutely awful! After around 3 very stressful hours of waiting, I got a call from the headteacher telling me that unfortunately I had been unsuccessful on that occasion. Yes, I was badly disappointed but there was just a glimpse of a silver lining...

Silver Lining

• But my interview feedback was excellent - As standard, the headteacher gave me feedback and said that my interview had gone very well indeed, and that I'd only just been pipped to the post by the person they'd eventually appointed (who had a great deal of experience) and that it had been a difficult decision. This reassured me that the interview had been better than I'd percieved it and also gave me more confidence to take to other interviews in future. I know I'm nearly there...it's just a case of finding the right job for me!

Cloud

• 3 hours of stress whilst waiting to hear if I'd been successsful in my interview...as I mentioned in the previous cloud, I had 3 hours of jangling nerves and butterflies in my tummy whilst I was waiting for THAT call. I'm naturally quite impatient, so every minute was like agony. I tried to keep occupied, so I logged onto Blogger, and whilst I was browsing through my dashboard and I found my silver lining...

Silver Lining

• I'd won my first giveaway: A few weeks ago Holly from Her Southern Heart was running a week of giveaways. I left comments on her blog to enter, then forgot all about them. But there it was in black and white! I'd won a pair of beautiful earrings courtesy of Holly and Barefoot Maiden! I was so excited, especially as I couldn't remember the last time I'd won anything! So I left a very excited thank you comment on Holly's blog, sent her a very excited email and am now (im)patiently waiting for the earrings to wing their way across the pond! I'm so eager to get them, and will be sure to blog about them when they arrive!

Cloud

• I'm no dancer: It was my friend L's hen night on Saturday, so all the girls (and one guy!) headed out to a club called Copacabana in Manchester. As the name suggests, it's a Latin club and included in the package we'd booked for the evening was a 45 minute Latin dance lesson...perfect for L who's been dancing since the age of 3, but a lot more intimidating for me who has 2 left feet and a lack of natural rhythm! Our class was merengue, which was meant to be really simple to pick up and at first things weren't so bad. I picked up the basic footwork with little difficulty, but just when I was feeling pleasantly surprised...reality kicked in! I'm obviously not meant to dance with a partner, as when my friend E and I teamed up, it was murder on the dancefloor (on my part, not E's!) The instructors could see we were having difficulties, so stepped in, which made me feel even worse! I know I needed to relax and loosen up, but I get tense when I'm struggling with something, and dancing with someone unfamilar didn't help matters! Eventually, I got to a point where I could dance with an instructor, but leave me to my own devices and bam...right back to reality! But despite massacring the merengue...

Silver Lining

• I had a fantastic night, and I'm determined to master the merengue! : Although the dance lesson was a debacle...it didn't stop me from enjoying the rest of the night! We had a gorgeous tapas meal, frozen cocktails and great fun wearing our pink fluffy kitten ears and waving our fluffy wands! We even did some dancing although none of us were brave enough (or had good enough memories!) to put our new found "skills" to the test! I've also gained a new found determination to become a better dancer...there's no way I'm going to let a few steps defeat me lol!

So that was last week...hope you all had a good one, and that this week is shaping up to be fantastic too!

Last weekend

Last weekend was a bit of a mixture for me...it generally consisted of quietish, chilled out days mixed with busy nights. I was actually out on both Friday and Saturday night, which hadn't happened for quite a while and I had the best weekend I've had for a long time!

On Friday night, I went for a meal with lots of people from my drama group including one of my closest friends. Apart from driving past the restaurant on the way there (it was very badly signposted!) and having to go for what seemed like miles before we could find a place to turn, it was a fantastic night :-) The food was great and after the meal, there was a disco which meant I did lots of dancing! At one point, the dj played one of the songs that we performed in our last show ('Hot and Cold' by Katy Perry) so most of us got up and did the dance routine that went with it! There were other people copying us on the dance floor and I even clocked some camera flashes going off. It was crazy!!

Saturday was quite quiet, I saw my Grandad and went to the local shops and I was surprised by a text from one of my friends inviting me out for a few drinks that evening at a local cocktail and karaoke bar. Again, the evening got off to a less than perfect start...I didn't get a message telling me my friends would be late until I'd already arrived so I ended up standing outside for about 10 minutes, feeling paranoid that people would think I was a hooker (albeit a very well dressed one!) or something! However, the rest of the night was great. I drank fancy cocktails, ate amazing chinese bar snacks, listened to and sang karaoke and did some very cheesy dancing with my friend E, as well as catching up on my friends' news. 2 of them are planning to rent a flat together (they're bf and gf) and another one has just got a promotion at work so there was a really happy vibe in the air. But despite all this, I think the best bit of the night has to be the arse shaped strawberry that was decorating one of my cocktails! No, seriously...I'd finished the drink and was just about to eat the strawberry when I clocked what shape it was. I showed it to E and we both dissolved into fits of laughter (yes, we're really mature!) before we recovered enough for her to take pictures of it! And to think we've been worried about getting old lately!

Sunday was just a lazy day really. I didn't do much but it was a nice way to round off the weekend. I haven't had any work today and I hate having to get up just in case I get an early morning call but at least I can look back on my weekend and smile lol! :-)