Snow and pantomimes and cocktails...oh my!!

What a busy weekend it's been! So busy that I'm really glad I booked today off to recover, especially as I've not been feeling 100% today. But along with the busyness, there's also been lots of fun with some of my favourite people so I'm really happy to be reliving the past three days through this post! Let's start off with Friday...

Friday
On Friday, I'd booked a half day at work so finished just after 2. I hurried home grateful that I wouldn't be commuting through the heavy snow that had been forecast for rush hour that evening. I then spent some time visiting some of my favourite websites before having a shower, grabbing some tea and then getting ready to make my way to the first performance of my drama group's pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk. My mum and dad had got tickets for opening night so we all piled into their car and drove carefully through the heavy snow that had been falling for an hour or so. As always, the nerves were jangling and there was an adrenaline rush that could probably be felt by all the cast and crew, but I think it's safe to say that we all had a fantastic time on stage and the audience seemed to love it too! Then the show was over, and we left the warm and bright church hall and stepped into a veritable winter wonderland! The snow clearly hadn't stopped falling for the entire performance, and it lay thickly on each and every surface around us. The drive home was tough, even though we were only driving a very short distance. We were still in the grip of the snowstorm and even the major roads hadn't been treated, meaning the only way to position our car on the road was to look out for the tracks made by other drivers! I honestly can't ever remember driving in conditions like that before and  it was a bit worrying at times, especially when we could see cars skidding in front of us! Luckily we made it home safe and well, and I spent the rest of the evening warm near the fire :-)

Saturday
I had a lazy morning, before acting in my second performance of the weekend. After the show, I went round to the home of my friends The Performer and The Guitarist (both of whom were also involved in the panto), where we met up with a couple of others and then all headed off for a post birthday meal at one of my favourite restaurants: Pacifica Cantonese. Seriously, if you're ever in the Manchester area, I'd highly recommend it, even if you're not normally into Chinese food! The king do ribs and spicy Mongolian beef are to die for! After eating, I'd planned to go to the restaurant's upstairs cocktail bar for a few drinks, but it was booked for a private party so when my friends who'd just planned to have drinks with me had arrived too, we took the short walk to a pub known for its low prices. 2 pitchers of cosmopolitan for £10? Yes please! The night ended with a cold and rainy walk home in high heels...never the best idea! And judging from the blisters I had when I got home, I think my feet would agree with me!

Sunday
The first part of my day was basically the same as Saturday's (a lazy morning followed by the pantomime), then I grabbed a quick Subway sandwich with the Performer and the Guitarist, before the three of us were picked up by the Guitarist's brother and taken to the cinema where we watched Les Miserables. We opted to book in for Gold Class, which whilst being more expensive than your standard cinema experience, meant that we got leather reclining seats, free popcorn and access to our own private bar! Don't mind if I do! And as for the film itself? Well, as a fan of the musical, I was sure I'd love it and it's safe to say it didn't disappoint! I laughed, I cried (at least three times!) and was taken aback by the sheer spectacle on many an occasion. I'll definitely be seeing it again, and if Anne Hathaway doesn't win an Oscar for her role as Fantine, then there simply isn't any justice in the world ;-)!!

Monday
Basically the laziest of lazy days! :-) I watched Murder, She Wrote with a cup of tea, got dressed and took a brief walk before lunch, then spent the rest of the time either on the Internet, watching TV and/or eating! It's been a lovely way to round off my long weekend, although it's really making me not want to have to get up at  5:45 for work tomorrow :-( . Roll on 4 pm on Friday when my week's holiday from work begins!

And that's pretty much it! Hope you've enjoyed my weekend round up. What did you get up to? Was your weekend as busy as mine or much more chilled out? Let me know, it'd be great to hear from you!

'Til next time...

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...

January round up

I honestly can't believe that we're approaching the end of January already, it certainly doesn't seem like a whole month ago that I awoke with a stinking headache, no phone and only a hazy recollection of the events of the night before! But somehow it has been, and here's my round up of what I've got up to in the last 31 days:

This January I have:

• Vowed not to drink too much ever again...my escapades on New Year's Eve cost me my recently upgraded mobile phone and some of my favourite eyeshadows as well as leaving me with a killer hangover, a badly grazed shoulder and severe embarrassment. Methinks I'll leave the drunkenness to other people from now on.
• Celebrated 4 family birthdays, including my own. I turned 28 on 22nd January and enjoyed a lovely weekend with some of my closest friends and family, during which I was thoroughly spoiled. I really am a very lucky girl! :-)
• Indulged in some shopping of both the sales and non-sales varieties...pictures will be up as soon as I can get hold of a decent camera!
• Enjoyed a lovely 9 day holiday from work :-) I didn't really do much, but it was very nice to get up and go to bed when I pleased, go shopping and get my hair done and generally just laze around <3
• And on the subject of work, I have actually felt more settled in my job and happier with my performance over the last few weeks. Whilst I'm nowhere near as competent and confident as I'd like to be, there have been definite signs of improvement and I'm hopeful that I'm moving in the right direction :-)
• Seen my best friend J (and her husband) for the first time since last summer. The three of us met up for coffee and a chat on Saturday, and whilst we didn't have much time together ( they were only visiting for the weekend so had a seriously packed schedule!) it was lovely to see her again and catch up with all her news. I was especially delighted to discover that she's 14 weeks pregnant (she's due in late July) and to see a scan picture...I'm seriously so happy for her and her husband S and I can't wait for the new arrival.
• Indulged in some girl time with 3 of my favourite ladies. We spent a little time shopping, saw "The Sitter" at the cinema and then rounded our afternoon off with a Nandos. It was an absolutely fantastic few hours and we were all agreed that we should make it a regular occurrence; it was the perfect Sunday treat.
• Enjoyed nights in and out with old friends; these are often some of the highlights of my week and there was no exception this month. I'm so lucky to have such a fantastic group of friends and hope that we'll always be as close as we are now.

And that was my January. How was yours? Did you do anything exciting? Tell all...I'd love to hear from you!

Till next time...

Has it really been a month...

since my last post?? Well, apparently so...although I can't quite believe it. But then again, when I think about what a whirlwind it's been, maybe I can!

So what's been making me so busy? Well, if you'd noticed my last post you might have a bit of an inkling...remember those two job opportunities that I mentioned? Well, I got them both! During the space of 24 hours, I went from having no job to having two. And I've been working my ass off ever since (well most of the time anyway!!) I'm now employed as a teacher every weekday morning, when I work with groups of 7-11 year olds who are struggling with maths and literacy. And then I also work as a sales assistant 2 evenings a week. So it's been a big change for me, but one which I'm loving so far, even if I am finding it hard to adjust to the fact that my evenings and weekends aren't always my own anymore! I could go on and on about my new teaching opportunity, and suffice to say, I'll probably dedicate a whole post to that pretty soon...but as for now, I think it's time to move on.

Even though work has been a major part of my life over the past month, I have found some time for myself and I can safely say that I've valued every minute of it! Here's some of the things I've got up to:

• Christmas Shopping: I can't believe how quickly Christmas is coming up...it'll be here in less than 5 weeks!! And as of just a week ago I was almost completely unprepared, having bought very few presents...but now, thanks to a lot of online shopping and a couple of afternoon shopping trips, I feel much happier about things. I'm not totally sorted by any means but I'm getting there!
• Sharing in Birthday celebrations with family and friends: October and November are busy months for me in terms of birthdays, and I've really enjoyed catching up with family and friends and celebrating together. I've indulged in a Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet for my friend N's birthday and a delicious pub lunch for my Grandad's 91st! I enjoyed an evening of comedy and cocktails (only one...it was a school night!) for my friend E's 27th and made a mad dash across town after work to celebrate my friend D's special day. All were special in very different ways, and I can't wait for the next big event :-)
• Buying tickets: Whilst spending almost 5 hours trying to book concert tickets isn't much fun, I'm so glad that I (and my sisters) did. Because, as a result of our perseverance, stubbornness and downright craziness (on my part at least!), two of my best girl friends and I will be going to see Take That in June next year!! Although I wasn't particularly a fan of them the first time around, since they've got back together I've developed a new found love for them and that coupled with the fact they've got a reputation for putting on incredible live show made me determined to get tickets no matter what!
• Just chilling: Whether it's with a mini bottle of wine and Saturday night TV, or checking Facebook and my favourite blogs in a break from work, I've been loving those precious moments of doing nothing much.

And with that, I'm signing off. Bedtime isn't far away as I've got a 6:45 am alarm call in the morning, and I'm determined that tonight isn't going to be a late one.

Till next time...

Food, fun and friends...

are three of my favourite things, and I'm happy to say I'll be enjoying all three over the next couple of days, as I'm going out for a meal at my local Italian restaurant this evening to celebrate one friend's birthday and a pub lunch for another friend's birthday tomorrow. I'm just so excited...good food is a particular weakness of mine and eating it surrounded by some of my closest friends will make it all the better. Add to that the fact that I'm off work at the mo and so will be able to indulge with a couple of glasses of wine, and it sounds practically perfect (well, to me anyway!!) The only slight downside is the cost involved...why do birthday presents and delicious food and good wine have to be so expensive?! And how about you? Do you have any evening plans? What's your favourite indulgence? Tell me all!

Till next time...

Highs and Lows of Last Week

So, it's another new week, and I thought I'd kick it off with my Highs and Lows for last week. When I was thinking about them, I realised that some items have been appearing on my lists on quite a regular basis...I hope it's not a sign that I'm becoming too boring and predictable lol!! Maybe I should let people decide for themselves, so here's my list so you can do just that:

Highs

• (Almost) free fun with friends: On Thursday night, a couple of friends and I went to the open air cinema at Spinningfields and watched The Italian Job. It was the second time I'd been, and I loved it once again! Although you do have to contend with the unreliable Manchester weather (both times I've been it's been quite chilly to say the least!), the atmosphere is fab, you get the chance to see films you might not choose to watch normally and best of all admission is free! Yes, you need to pay if you want to hire a picnic blanket or deckchair to sit on and if you want to buy any food or drink that'll obviously cost extra too, but all in all, it's a really good value, chilled out evening, especially if you come prepared with a couple of blankets like we did! I really can't think of a much better way to spend my Thursday evenings, and am hoping to catch a lot more of the fims over the summer; maybe I'll even manage to go on a warm evening next time!
• Cocktails: Now on a night out with friends, there's nothing I like more than a good cocktail, and on Saturday night, I had possibly the best Cosmopolitan I've ever tasted. Now I'm not normally a Cosmo fan, finding them a bit tart for my tastes, but these were amazing!! And really good value when you bought a pitcher to share too (which was great for my bank balance!!). When I get a proper job, I think I'll definitely be going back to the bar in question (Tribeca) to sample more delights from their menu!!
• Finding out I'm definitely eligible for a tax refund: This really cheered me up this week, particularly as I had had 3 weeks without any real work to speak of, due to the school holidays, and also having a particularly quiet work week immediately before them, and as a result, my money's been slowly dwindling away. Basically, as I worked for 2 agencies last tax year, and part of the one before as well, only one of them had my proper tax code and the other just charged me the basic tax rate (I think it's 20%) on all I earned when working for them. Add it up over the past year and a bit, and that's quite a lot of tax!! So I phoned the tax office on Friday, and after waiting in a queue for what seemed like forever (well, about 15 minutes anyway!!), I got through to someone who did some checks and confirmed that I would be eligible to receive a refund. I'm not sure how much I'll get yet, but I know that I should receive a cheque in about 4 weeks. Yay!! Fingers crossed it'll be enough to help tide me over the summer, when I'll have a long time without any work.

Lows

• Not getting the job...again!!: I had another teaching observation and interview last Wednesday, and once again I was unsuccessful. I have a feeling it may have had something to do with my teaching observation. I had to teach a 20 minute maths session to 8 Year 4 pupils (ages 8 and 9), and decided to do perimeter and area, 2 topics that, according to the maths framework, should have already been covered. Well guess what?! I don't think it had, as when I asked the children what perimeter was and how you'd work it out, I was left with blank looks and some inspired (if slightly misguided) guesses!! Not the end of the world, I don't suppose, as one mark of a good teacher is how you can adapt and refine activities to better meet the needs of the children, and I think I did this quite well given the circumstances. The downside was that I feel that the activity lost momentum as a result, and the children had to be on the carpet longer than I intended, which meant a couple started to lose focus. I tried to manage their behaviour positively with lots of proximity praise and the teacher "look", but didn't know what to do past this, as I was unsure of the school's behaviour policy. All in all, although it wasn't a complete disaster, it didn't go half as well as I wanted and it left me dying to get to the interview part! I think that went better, barring a couple of things that I later realised I'd forgot to mention in my answers. But c'est la vie, I suppose. The headteacher offered me written feedback if I was unsuccessful, which I said I wanted, so I'm just waiting to see what that says, and hoping that it can give me some useful advice for the future (though I'm terrified it's all going to be really negative :-( )
• The ever increasingly depressing state of my bank balance: I've not been working for 3 weeks, I've been paying the basic rate of tax for over a year and I like shopping, nights out, magazines and Starbucks too much!! Enough said!!

Till next time...

Disclaimer: I've not received any incentive from Spinningfields or Tribeca in return for writing this!! I've been to the film screenings and bought the cocktails of my own free will, and thought they were fab, which is why I'm trying to big them up to you guys!!

Highs and Lows of Last Week

So it's that time of the week again...you know, the one where I share the highs and lows of the past 7 days. It seems that this is pretty much all I've been doing lately...hope you're not getting too bored!! I'm hoping to inject a bit more variety into my posts over the next few days, but for now, you're just going to have to be content with this! ;-) :

Highs

• Another week off: Last week was the second week of my Easter holidays, and it was great to be able to get up late and wear what I wanted for the second week in a row, even if I didn't do anything very exciting with my time (find out what I was spending the majority of my time doing in my Lows!)
• Spending time with one of my favourite guys: Now, that doesn't mean any exciting dating/relationship news...I'm talking about H, my friends' 15 month old son!! Basically, H's mum and dad (my friends Nix and M) were meant to be watching another of our friends in a play on Friday night and H's nana (Nix's mum) was meant to be babysitting. But due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland, she, along with Nix's stepdad, brothers and sisters,was stuck in the Canary Islands!! So Nix sent out a distress call...and along came Auntie Julie to the rescue! I was feeling very apprehensive at first, as I'd never spent any time alone with H before, and this wasn't helped by the fact that he started crying when he saw his mum and dad driving away! But I needn't have worried, as he soon settled down and was an absolute gem for the rest of the evening. He smiled, chattered away, shared lots of his toys and drank an 8oz bottle without any fuss!! I just hope I'm as lucky when it comes to my future children!!
• An evening at the theatre:...especially when the play I'm watching features one of my friends! On Saturday night it was my turn to go and see the play that I mentioned in my previous paragraph...and it was amazing!! Gripping, emotional, darkly funny, with more than one twist thrown in for good measure...if ever "Knife Edge" appears in a theatre near you, my advice would definitely be to check it out, even if your production doesn't have my wonderful actor of a friend Nick in it!
• Kick Ass (The film and the shot)..."There's a Kick Ass shot?", I hear you ask... Well yes there is, but more about that later!! First of all, I'll talk about the film. I heard great things about it, and when Amy and I saw it on Thursday, neither of us were disappointed! I loved the humour, the music, pretty much everything about it to be honest...even if lots of the content was pretty disturbing if you stopped to think about it for too long! And I've got a new heroine in Hit Girl...oh, to have even half the attitude that she does!! ;-) And now onto the shot...after the play on Saturday, Nick, I, and a couple of other friends headed into town and our first stop was Baa Bar. As it's famous for its shots it would have been rude not to have any (!), so as soon as we arrived we headed straight to the bar and consulted the menu. And that's when I saw it...there was a Kick Ass shot (which consisted of tequila, blue curacao and something red...I think it was strawberry?!) and like the film, it was pretty damn good! My only complaint is that it wasn't the proper Kick Ass colours (green and yellow lol!) but a girl can't have everything I suppose!!

Lows

• Job applications...After last week, I'm sick of the sight of them! As I had a lot that needed to be submitted by either this Friday (23rd) or next Monday (26th), I decided that I'd try and plough through as many as possible so that I didn't have too much to do once I got back to work. And whilst I'm relieved that I managed to complete 4 of them, I can't say that it was an enjoyable task! Gone are the days where applying for a job just meant filling in an application form that took up a couple of sides of A4. Now my forms can be anywhere between 5 and 15(!) pages, and that's before I even have to contend with the personal statement! 2-3 sides of A4 where I explain what a fabulous teacher I am, and why the school should be rushing to snap me up! And even though it might save me time in the short term, I've discovered to my peril that there's no point just writing a generic statement and using it for every school...it doesn't get you anywhere!! :-( So I'm writing pretty much a new statement for every job, and hating most of it...although I must admit there's a delicious irony in saying how enthusiastic and motivated you are, when in reality you can't think of anything worse than writing yet another new statement!! Although the tedium is all worth it when I finally finish...or when I get that elusive interview :-) Fingers crossed for more coming my way soon!!
• A terrible driving lesson...Now when your driving instructor gets a new car, you might expect your first lesson in it to be a little less than perfect, right? Wrong...mine was absolutely fine. So, when it came to my second, I wasn't unduly bothered, so (according to Sod's Law) it makes perfect sense for it to have been truly awful!! I stalled so many times I lost count...including once on a roundabout, and several times when I hadn't even realised I'd stalled at all...until I came to move, that was!! I had terrible difficulty finding the gears, and kept putting the car into the wrong one, resulting in a horrible burning smell coming from the clutch!! I forgot when my handbrake was on and when it was off...need I continue?! According to my instructor, everybody has those days every once in a while, but it still didn't do much for my confidence, especially as I'm meant to be booking my practical test very soon (eeeeek!)

And there's another edition of my highs and lows. Stay tuned for a new "What's in my Wardrobe Wednesday" post tomorrow...I've got lots of ideas, so expect it to become a regular feature once again!!

Easter Weekend Round Up Part 2: Easter Sunday and Easter Monday

So, just a couple of days late, here's the second part of my Easter Weekend round up (you'll find Part 1 here):

Easter Sunday:

My Easter Sunday was mostly spent:

• being lazy: I'd say this was definitely the most chilled out day of my Easter weekend overall!
• seeing my Grandad: we received a phone call earlyish in the morning to say that my Grandad had been in hospital overnight. He had gone in with dizziness and a very sore throat/difficulty swallowing, but he had had a comfortable night overall and he was discharged around lunch time. My mum, Amy and I went to pick him up and my mum and I also visited him at home later to drop a prescription off for him and to check everything was ok!
• eating easter egg (although not too much!)
• taking advantage of the better than predicted weather to have a leisurely walk
• watching TV/DVDs with Amy: we watched (most of) "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", then stopped to tune into the first episode of the new series of Doctor Who. It was ok, but I struggled to get used to the new Doctor, though admittedly I wasn't giving the episode my full attention!
• surfing the web: Facebook, Blogger, Youtube, checking my emails...you get the idea!

Easter Monday

In the UK, the day after Easter Sunday is also a bank holiday, meaning that lots of people (including me!) get a 4 day Easter weekend. My Monday was mostly spent:

• trying to get rid of some trojans which had infected my netbook: I was cursing myself for running a fake security scan, especially as one of its pop up windows included a spelling mistake! So ironic that this was the one time where I decided not to be prejudiced by my feelings towards grammatical and spelling errors! I tried running an AVG scan which detected the trojans, but it couldn't resolve the problem. I then tried doing a system restore which also failed, so the only way out I could see was to do a factory reset, making sure I backed up all my important documents first. Luckily, this worked, and normal service has since been resumed (so far, so good!)
• sharing Easter lunch with some of my closest friends: good food and company were the main features of my whole weekend, and Monday was no exception. I went over to my friends' N, M and S's house where M had cooked us, plus our other friends E and Ste a 3 course lunch. There was leek and potato soup plus crusty bread to start, roast beef with all the trimmings for mains and massive portions of either cheesecake or chocolate gateau (I chose the gateau) for dessert. All of the food was amazing (thanks M!), and after I 'd finished I was so full it felt like I wouldn't eat for a week! When we weren't eating, we were chatting, laughing and watching each other playing on the Wii (word to the wise...don't buy the Dancing on Ice game, it's awful!)...in short it was a wonderful afternoon.
• meeting up with friends in the pub for a chilled evening of chatting and drinking: this was mainly so we could be introduced to my friend E's new lodger, who'll be staying with her for roughly 3 months (she's German and taking part in an exchange programme with E's employers), but it was also a good opportunity to catch up with lots of other friends, a couple of whom I'd not seen for quite a while (well, a week or two!)
• playing truant from rehearsal (well, kind of!): I normally LOVE going to rehearsal, but must admit I didn't see the point in going to one on a bank holiday, especially as I knew some of my other friends would be in the pub! But at the same time, I have made a commitment to my drama group and would have felt really guilty if I'd just not turned up. So I decided to compromise. I got there for 7:30 sharp, but told the director I could only stay for an hour instead of the usual 2! And it was one of the longest hours of my life; partly because I just kept thinking about the drink and the company I had left behind and also partly because it was the first dance/movement rehearsal. These are always hard work and quite boring, in the early stages at least, so I was heartily relieved when 8:30 came around and I could make my exit!

And that's the rest of my weekend in a nutshell! Hope you had a great one, however you spent it! And what's up next for me? Well, I'm very excited to say that I'm going to be doing my very first guest post over at Kirsty's blog, The Road Less Travelled sometime in the next couple of days! And as for my blog, I already have my next post planned...it'll be a bit more serious in tone than the majority of my other posts, but it centres around a topic that I'm really passionate about, so I'm really looking forward to sharing it with you all! Till next time...

Easter Weekend Round Up 1: Good Friday and Easter Saturday

Just because I think my weekend round up would be too long if I tried to squeeze all 4 days into one post, and also because I can't think of anything else to blog about today, here's part 1 of my Easter weekend (in a handy bulleted list!)

Good Friday

My Friday was mainly spent:

• Having a lazy start to the day: lounging around in pjs, eating yummy hot cross buns for breakfast and having a leisurely shower before getting dressed and ready to face the world!
• Being veggie for the day: although I'm not particularly religious, my family and I keep the tradition of not eating meat on Good Friday, which meant my Mum's home made fish mornay with chips for lunch and a jacket potato with cheese and beans for tea.
• Helping my friend N with his lines for a play he's appearing in in a couple of weeks. It really makes me want to act again!
• Dodging the rain and laughing at dodgy covers of songs with my friend E as we did a bit of much needed shopping (well, she did whilst I browsed and tried on hats lol!)
• Helping E sort out her wardrobe with the help of a couple of other friends; if Aerosmith had been playing, it would have been practically the perfect reenactment of this scene from Sex and the City (minus the ridiculous poses and champagne!)
• Spending a chilled evening at my friends J and B's new flat with a group of other friends; drinking wine, eating pretzels, mini Cadbury creme eggs and home made choc chip cookies, chatting and high kicking (well, attempting to anyway!)

Easter Saturday

On Saturday I was:

• Stressing far too much about what to wear: despite the fact I've got a HUGE wardrobe, I just couldn't find anything I wanted to wear yesterday morning. And my stress was made worse by the fact that I knew I had to get a second outfit sorted for the evening (but more about that later!)
• Eating a delicious meal with my closest family and feeling far too full afterwards: I had a chicken melt (chicken breast topped with bacon and cheese), the best chips I've ever tasted, BBQ sauce and salad and it was amazing (and huge!) Somehow, I still found room for dessert though : vanilla ice cream with strawberry sauce and wafer curls. It goes without saying that the company was great too, and I also had fun testing out my new camera phone by taking lots of pictures!
• Buying a second confirmation card for my friend M: I had originally bought one on Thursday but then got home to discover that it was no longer in my possession! I still had the receipt but no card! So I had to make a dash to the nearest card shop to get one yesterday instead; not that I minded too much as it meant I could attempt to walk off my lunch!
• Sorting out part of my wardrobe: having been inspired by E, I decided to finish the job of clearing out my wardrobe and managed to fill another carrier bag with things I'll never wear again!
• Sitting (and standing!) through a very long Easter Vigil: Whilst I'm not Catholic, it was my friend M's confirmation last night, so I, along with a few other friends, went along to show my support. I'm glad I was there for his big night, but I don't think I'll be converting to Catholicism any time soon! (No offence intended to any Catholics out there!)
• Eating late night takeaway, drinking a mug of tea and being taken back to my college days (2001 to be precise) by watching a programme which was showing all the number ones of the 21st century so far. It took me right back to being 17 again...it seems like only yesterday so it's rather scary to realise it was 9 years ago!

And there's Part 1! Stay tuned for Part 2 appearing in a couple of days! And one last thing...have a very happy Easter, and make sure you eat lots of chocolate (I know I will be!)

Is it really going to be March tomorrow?

I honestly can't believe it...2 full months into 2010 already! February, in particular, has absolutely raced by for me...working full time did for the first half of the month, and then I had a week off which of course was a guarantee that that time would just fly! Then back to work, and here we are! Anyway, enough of my ramblings about the fleeting nature of time(!), and back to the real focus of this post...a look back at February, a look forward to March and an update on where I'm at with my 2010 goals.

Looking back

So, in a nutshell, my February has been all about:

Teaching...I taught full time for the first two weeks of the month, plus a little bit this week and I also had a interview/lesson observation at one school plus an additional lesson observation at a second. My interview at the second school isn't until Wednesday, so I technically can't include it here!

• Treating myself...Whether it's been shopping for clothes, watching a certain film for the 4th time, grabbing a coffee or just enjoying a cheeky glass of wine on an otherwise quiet night in, February's been a month for indulging myself a little! Bad for my bank balance maybe...but good for my soul, as long as I don't make too much of a habit of it! Maybe I should start looking for treats that don't cost a penny, like the fab time Amy and I had exploring Manchester.

• Friends and family...As always, the most important people in my life have been a common thread linking the best parts of this month together. From fantastic nights full of WKD, homemade gingerbread and cheesy dancing or cocktails and karaoke at the start of the month, to theatre going, beer drinking, "intelligent" conversation and multiple toasting in the middle and DVD nights and play watching at the end...my friends have been there for it all, and I know that these times wouldn't be the same without them. And as for my family...my week off enabled me to get in a whole lot of sister (and Mum) time, be it shopping with all the girls, or going to town with Amy. Then there's the weekends...spending Saturday lunch with my grandad and uncle, as well as the rest of my family has been a tradition for as long as I can remember, and I wouldn't be without it. And recently, we've started adding a couple of new parts to the tradition...after lunch, we'll sit down and play cards or (our current favourite) dominoes. What started as a little fun has now turned into some serious rivalry with all of us vying to be the winner! Yesterday, I did pretty well...I won 2 of the 4 games, and am hoping to keep hold of my crown for next week!

Looking forward

Next month, I'm looking forward to:

• Starting rehearsals for my new show...After having a month off, my drama group starts rehearsals for our new show tomorrow and I can't wait! It'll be great to see everyone again and I'm really looking forward to making a start on learning our new songs.

• The days getting longer and the nights getting shorter...As someone who has had seemingly months of leaving for work before sunrise and arriving home after sunset, I am so looking forward to that little extra bit of daylight which March will bring!

• The end of winter and the beginning of spring...In a similar vein, I'm now heartily sick of the particularly cold weather that much of this winter has brought with it and I'm really hoping that March will herald the start of spring and bring warmer temperatures and sunny days, instead of the ever present threat of snow that I associate with this winter.

• More good times with family and friends...Although there are no definite plans as yet, I'm sure that March will mean more opportunities for fun with my favourite people. There are a couple of friends' birthdays coming up, so I'm sure I'll end up going out for those, if nothing else! Plus it's Mother's Day here in the UK in a couple of weeks so I'm looking forward to celebrating with my mum then too.

Goals Update

So, back at the beginning of January, I posted my Goals List for 2010. Having had a look through it, I'm shocked at how many of the goals have just fallen by the wayside or, even worse, have never really got started. I really need to make a bigger effort next month methinks. Nevertheless, for your consideration, here is my Goals Update for January and February:

• Pass my driving theory and practical tests...this is a work in progress. My driving instructor has given me some really positive feedback of late, and I've now booked my theory test...the date is the 8th of April, so wish me luck! If all goes well, then it'll be all systems go for booking my practical...eek!
• Get a long term/permanent job...again, a work in progress. I'm still applying for jobs on a regular(ish) basis and have had one unsuccessful interview since the start of the new year, with another interview scheduled for next week.
• Be a better friend...now this started off quite well, and I made specially sure that I was in touch with my best friend J every week during January. But now things have tailed off, and as awful as it sounds, I often forget to stay in touch! To be fair, I don't ignore people and always reply if they get in touch with me, but I need that extra kick up the backside to motivate me to make the first move!
• Be a better sister/daughter...again this is something I've not seen much progress with...I have my appreciative moments and times when I really take time out to listen to my family like I should, but also my selfish moments and little strops where I act more like 2 than 26!
• Run the Race for Life and better last year's time...I've not signed up for this yet, but I fully intend to and this year, I definitely won't be walking it!
• Adopt a healthier lifestyle...Unfortunately, this hasn't really took off so far this year. Whilst I haven't put any weight on, I haven't lost any either and this is down to the fact that I'm still not always making the healthiest snack choices and that I'm struggling with finding an exercise I like enough to fit around work. Hopefully when I sign up for Race for Life, it'll be a good motivator as I'll want to get in shape!
• Read at least 2 books a month from beginning to end...I met this in January (I read "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Return of Sherlock Holmes") but have failed this month...I'm only just over half way through my first book! I am enjoying it, but just can't seem to find the time lately!
• Grow my nails...Epic fail! Nothing much else I can say!
• Overcome my fear of thunder and lightning...A bit of a weird one this, I haven't sought any professional help and I guess I'm just waiting to see how I deal with the next stormy day we get.
• Put at least £50 in my ISA each month...Another fail! Probably because I'm not used to putting money in it so I just forget about it! I should maybe set up a standing order, then I've got no excuse!
• Keep a careful track of my finances and set myself a budget...And another one! I'm finding it quite hard to manage my money at the minute, although in my defence, it's very hard to set myself a budget when I never know exactly how much money I've got coming in each month! Definitely something I need to work on!
• Develop my cookery skills...Does making gingerbread count? That's the only thing I've made this year, and as it's a recipe I'd already tried last year, I can't say I've met my goal! Like some of the other goals, I need to set aside time to work on this!
• Cleanse, tone and moisturise every morning...On the whole, this has been a success and I'd say I'm managing at least 6 mornings out of 7!
• Let go of my baggage from the past...This is another slightly strange one, as I think the only way of measuring how successful I'd been would be to be in a situation that I'd found difficult in the past because of my baggage, and obviously this isn't something that I can really manufacture. Also I'm not really sure how to go about it, as I don't want to spend loads of time needlessly raking over the past, as it's never really helped me before!

And that's it from me! Hope everyone has a great March, and I'll hopefully be back soon with normal(ish) service resumed!

How fine it is...

to not have to set your alarm for work the next day and to be able to wake up just when it suits you! I think that's one of my favourite things about the weekend, and luckily for me, I'll be able to indulge in this little pleasure all next week too, as I'll be on my half term break! :-)

It's been a lovely weekend so far...my days have been quite lazy and chilled out and last night I went to see "Les Miserables" in town with some friends. The show was fab...I'd been to see it in London years before, but I couldn't remember most of it so was seeing it with fresh eyes, just like my friends who were first timers. The acting and singing was amazing...the strength of the whole company performing together was phenomenonal, and some of the songs so catchy that they're still in my head today! For me, however, the best thing was the set design...I can't sum up how fantastic it was, my advice would just be to see it for yourself! After the show, we grabbed a few drinks and spent a couple of hours laughing, talking and generally putting the world to rights before heading home rather later than expected!

As for next week, I've already got some things pencilled in, and I'm sure I'll be making room for some more too! So far, this is what I'm planning:

• A driving lesson tomorrow...it'll be really nice driving when the roads are quiet as opposed to at rush hour as I often end up doing when I've been working

• A trip to Primark with my mum and sisters on Tuesday...the four of us haven't had a shopping expedition for quite a while and I'm looking forward to seeing what goodies Primark's got in this time around!

• Having my hair done on Wednesday...I'm having a trim and my highlights redone. Sometimes I think I'd like a complete restyle but I'm a bit scared of having something else done in case I really hate it!

• Taking a tourist trip into Manchester with Amy on Thursday...it was Amy's idea to go into Manchester and have a walk round looking at all the fantastic architecture. Despite the fact I've lived within a few miles of Manchester all my life and visit on a regular basis, I've never really taken the time to properly appreciate some of the beautiful sights it has. Expect a picture heavy post later in the week!

As for Friday and next weekend, I've no plans as yet but I'm sure I'll end up doing something with myself! Other things I want to fit in the week include general chilling (reading, watching dvds etc) and baking and there is also the small matter of my lesson observation to prepare for, as it's scheduled for the first day back after the break! And another job application to do...which I'm 50/50 about at the mo. I know it might sound really lazy, but the thought of doing any less than necessary work on my holiday makes me shudder lol!

Anyway, that's all from me for now. Hope you're all having fantastic weekends, and I'll be posting again soon...now I'm off work, I have no excuse not to lol!

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:
  

Highs and Lows of the Week

So after a few days of posting on a daily basis, I took a little break but now I'm back to share my highs and lows of last week.

Highs

• School Holidays: The schools broke up last Friday and I don't go back to work until at least the 4th of January. As I've not got a full time job yet, it means that I won't have any work to do over the next 2 weeks and can hopefully just sit back, relax and enjoy Christmas!!
• Good company and good food: Last weekend, I spent Saturday and Sunday nights with some of my closest friends. On Saturday evening, I went round to a friend's where a few of us treated ourselves to a Christmas curry takeaway and watched Love Actually, which really got us into the Christmas spirit, even if some parts were sadder than I remember (Emma Thompson's storyline and the part where Andrew Lincoln holds up the signs both made me well up :-( ). Sunday night was even better...about 15 of us got together and went for a Christmas meal at a local pub. There was lots of eating, drinking and conversation, as well as wearing party hats, pulling crackers and blowing party blowers (we were SO mature!) and the evening went by in a flash. We also exchanged Secret Santa gifts...I'm really impatient to see what mine are, but can have a good guess by the shape lol!
• Snow: After being disappointed earlier in the week, the snow finally arrived on Saturday. Although the first snowfall was washed away by heavy rain, we then had more overnight and well into Sunday. I can't remember the last time we had so much snow that actually stuck in Manchester and I loved seeing the children playing out and how pretty everything looked.
• Birthdays: As I mentioned last week, it was my sister Amy's 16th birthday on the 16th of December and I was really happy to be able to celebrate with her.

Lows

• Bad skin: I've never had a perfect complexion by any means, but lately I seem to be getting spots and blemishes on my face that just aren't shifting! I think I'm going to have to be on the lookout for some new skincare products, because the ones I've got don't seem to be doing their job at the moment. Have you got any recommendations for any effective (but affordable!) products I could try?
• Forgetfulness: I went shopping to Primark last Thursday, and it was only when I got to the till that I realised that I'd forgotten my card and I didn't have that much cash on me. As a result, I was only able to buy the essentials I needed, as I also had to buy a Secret Santa present and a hot drink as I was freezing! Not my proudest moment, especially as I felt really embarrassed at the till when the sales assistant had to void items as I couldn't afford them!
• No work=no pay: I know I've already mentioned that I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks off work, but I'm not looking forward to the prospect of at least 2 weeks without pay (as a supply teacher, I only get paid for days I work, not year round). Christmas and driving lessons as well as other more frivolous spending have really eaten into my bank account over the last few months, and I think one of my goals for 2010 will definitely have to be to be more careful with my money and keep a more detailed record of my spending!

So there's my highs and lows for another week! Hope you had a good one too, and that you enjoy the Christmas week ahead! :-)

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! :-)

Weekend round up

It doesn't seem a minute since Friday when I was discussing my weekend plans (or more specifically my lack of them lol)! But now it's Sunday evening, so I thought I'd just write a quick summary of what I've been up to over the past couple of days.

On Friday night, one of my closest friends and I went to the cinema to watch 'The Proposal'. I'd heard mixed reviews beforehand, but I personally really enjoyed it and it was fun going out to watch a chick flick and eat Ben and Jerry's, especially as my last few cinema trips have been to see less girly films! After the film, we popped into a bar for a couple of drinks and a chat before calling it a night.

On Saturday, I didn't really do much in the day other than pop in to see one of my friends for a bit of a catch up. In the evening, a few of us went round to another friend's house and we had a mini pyjama party (I didn't change into my pjs until I got there though...i would have been too embarrassed to walk the streets in them!). I drank wine, ate lots of junk including the BEST chicken kebab I've ever tasted and watched comedy DVDs till late! It was a fantastically chilled out night, and I felt really cosy in my pjs!

Today has been another quiet day. I've sorted out my clothes drawers and managed to put a bag together to go to the charity shop, spent some quality time playing Monopoly with my mum and sisters, been for a walk and watched (Inspector) Lewis on TV...I love my murder mystery shows and think I'll post a list of my top 5 soon! In a bit, I'm going to be watching another crime programme - 'Single Handed'.

And that's about my weekend...! Hope everyone else has had as much fun as me! :-)