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...

My Christmas Weekend

So this is what I got up to over the Christmas weekend:

• Thursday (Christmas Eve)

I was invited round to my friends' house for the evening, and like any good guest didn't want to turn up empty handed. So I decided to bake some gingerbread. I found a recipe, collected all my ingredients and equipment and off I went...fully expecting it to be a quick job. Nearly 2 hours later, I realised that it wasn't! Whilst the end result tasted fab (if I do say so myself!), there's definitely things I'd do differently next time! Firstly, I'd try to be tidier in the kitchen...I got flour absolutely everywhere and left a trail of treacle across the table...oops! Secondly, I'd about halve the quantities in the recipe, as it made way more biscuits than I was expecting! I swear that the dough was magic, as I was cutting out for ages! However, the upside was that I was able to fill a tin with biscuits for home, as well as one for my friends. I definitely think that I'll make a tradition of baking gingerbread at Christmas...by next year, I might even feel confident enough to decorate it!

Once I packed the gingerbread up, I headed over to my friends' house. Most of my other friends dropped by at some point during the evening too and we had fun eating and drinking, playing Pictionary or "pictuary" as my friend M wrote on the board we used (!) and adding our own storyline to "Swan Lake" (don't ask!)! All the guests left by about 11:00 pm to allow N and M to set up their living room for Christmas...it was their son H's first, and he had mountains of presents waiting to be put out!

• Friday (Christmas Day)

After waking up every hour or 2 in the night, I finally got up around 7:00, along with the rest of my family and had great fun emptying my stocking and opening all my presents. As usual I was throroughly spoilt! I got House Season 5, PJs, a scarf, lipglosses and money off my mum and dad, a CKIn2U fragrance set off my brother and bracelets and Thorntons chocolates off my sisters. Off my friends I got the Lady Gaga and Radio 1 Live Lounge CDs, some FCUK smellies, Ice Age 3 on DVD, a bracelet, a wine and chocolate gift set and some sweets! Plus I had a giant stocking and presents and vouchers off family friends! Told you I was spoilt!! My grandad and uncle came round about 11, and we exchanged gifts, then had Christmas dinner. After dinner, we played a couple of board games that my sisters had got and chilled for a couple of hours. The rest of my day was spent eating, watching tv (I saw Doctor Who and cried...I'm such a softie!) and generally soaking up the Christmas atmosphere. It was a lovely day, with not a single argument and the only bad thing was that it went by so quickly!

• Saturday (Boxing Day)

I spent the morning and early afternoon relaxing...trying out some of my new smellies, listening to some of my new CDs and playing games with my family. Then I got a call from one of my friends inviting me to go out for tea with them and some of my other friends. We went to a local pub for food, then back to my friends' N, M and S's house where we sang karaoke and played more Pictionary...it was a lovely chilled out evening, made all the nicer as I hadn't been expecting to go anywhere.

• Sunday

I didn't really do much, as Aunt Flo had just arrived and I wasn't at my best. I listened to more CDs, played more games, watched a couple of episodes of House and browsed the net, whilst contending with belly ache for most of the time :-(

• Monday

My sister Amy and I went to see Sherlock Holmes which was absolutely fantastic!! Maybe I've just not got a very good memory, but I'd say it's definitely one of my films of the year! It had it all...action, comedy, adventure and eye candy!! Plus some of it was filmed in Manchester, so it was fun trying to spot the locations they used! After the cinema, I spent the rest of the day relaxing at home.

As for the next few days, luckily I've still got at least until next Monday off, and whilst I've not got any definite plans, I hope to be doing some shopping, catching up with my best friend J and going to a New Year's Eve party at the very least!

All that remains to say is that that was my weekend...hope you had as good a time as I did and that whether you're working or relaxing this week, have a great one!