So, 2014 aye

So 2014 huh. The year of slack blogging. This is only my 19^th post this year and for that I am somewhat ashamed. I love blogging, and there have been plenty of things going on that I could have blogged about. I think it’s partly because my job involves writing. So I’m writing all day and don’t really feel like it when I get home.

I have kept a record of every book I’ve read each year since my first year at high school (when I used to read 100+ books  a year – yes I was a book nerd!) and the other day I counted the amount of books I’ve read this year and it was only 11. I was less than impressed with myself so I set myself a goal of reading at least one more so I would get to 12 which equates to one a month. That’s still not very good but I can live with it.

è I’m currently reading Eat Pray Love. It’s excellent. I’ve already got massive wanderlust and this book just feeds that. It’s about a lady who leaves her monotonous life and spends a year travelling Italy, India and Indonesia on her own. It’s such a delicious book.

è Before that I read Pig Island by Mo Hayder. Also excellent. A thriller unlike I’ve ever read before and the entire time I was reading this book I was thinking ‘gosh this would make a good movie!’

Part of the reason that I’ve become so slack at reading is because of the number of excellent television shows these days. Once I find a show that I like, I’ll stream an episode with my dinner every night and then usually watch at least one more episode during the night. This year I’ve made my way through Pretty Little Liars (guilty pleasure – it’s pretty stupid), Luther and White Collar and just this week discovered an absolute gem – How to get away with Murder. Hnnnng this show is fantastic. I love legal dramas (Suits is one of my great loves) so this immediately appealed to me and BY GOLLY it’s good. I’m a little sad though because it’s only in season 1 and only has 9 episodes, which I’ve finished. I also flirted with Teen Wolf this year but got over that after a few seasons. Next up I want to try True Detective, Vikings, Gotham and finally get into Community.

In other news, I’m moving to England next year. I’ve just started the process of getting my working VISA and then I’m applying for a live-in pub job through the London Pub Company. My aim is to do that for 4 months then look for a job relevant to my field. While I’m over there I want to see Europe too. I’m doing this on my own which is scary but I think it will be good for me. I’m going to be forced to make friends and rely on my own resourcefulness.

I’m going to take my time getting to England before I start my job and stop in LA, New York and Reykjavik on my way over. I’m so very excited. It’s going to be epic. I may love it or hate it but I won’t know until I try!

I’m looking forward to the Christmas break! Spending time with friends and family, good food, sitting in the sun with a good book and just relaxing will be so therapeutic. I’ll be in Hawke’s Bay and Hamilton for my break – hopefully the weather is good so time can be spent outdoors.

Bye for now xx

Skills of a modern woman

I came across an article the other day on The Huffington Post (probably my favourite news site) which had a list of skills that they reckon every modern woman should have. I love lists like this so wanted to test myself and see which skills I’ve got, and which ones I perhaps need to work on. Here’s my results:

1)   Make at least one great cocktail – I can’t check this one off as I never make cocktails myself (unless vodka and orange counts..?). If I was going to learn one to make though it would be the Mojito, they’re my favourite!

2)   Drink without getting a hangover the next morning – Concerned that the first two are about alcohol. But I can definitely do this. I don’t drink very often these days and being sensible about it when I do is pretty easy.

3)   Look good in a photo – I think from shoulders up is ok but I don’t think I’ve mastered how to look good in a full-body photo just yet.

4)   Remove unwanted body hair the most effective, painless and affordable way possible – While I haven’t tried all ways of removing hair, my methods are fine, thanks.

5)   Dump someone gracefully – Haven’t mastered this one as haven’t had to do it!

6)   Write a sincere thank you note – I don’t know the last time I wrote a thank you note but with a career in writing I’d hope I would be able to do this!

7)   Set a table – Yes I can do this. Growing up and having to set the table plus having to set hundreds of tables through hospo work has given me this skill.

8)   Open a bottle of champagne – Again, working in hospo I’ve done this sooooo many times.

9)   Send a group email – Yes.

10) Dress for your body type – I don’t know if I have this skill because I don’t really tend to think about my body type when I’m shopping. I just sort of go with what I like and think looks good. I may well be doing myself a disservice, who knows.

11) Graciously offer assistance to someone in need – Yes.

12) Book a vacation – As of last year, yes!

13) Hide a bad hair day – Put it up in a slick bun? Yes.

14) Find the best deal – For sure. I’m all about looking online to see if I can find something cheaper than in store.

15) Write a cover letter – Yep, you get really good at this when you’re applying for jobs after uni.

16) Hold a baby – Support its head, right? Haha I think I know the right way…

17) Wrap a gift someone would be excited to open – I don’t tend to care too much about wrapping presents beyond the basic (my sister is really good at making them look amazing) so maybe I should start making more effort?

18) Start a conversation – Just ask people about themselves. I used to be soooo shy but I now know how to converse confidently. I’d say my job has helped me a lot in this respect.

19) End a conversation – Yeah I get pretty good at this through my job too. Often I’ve only good the car booked for an hour and a person I’m interviewing will be rabbiting on and on and on and I have to stop them.

20) Pack everything needed for a weekend getaway in one small bag – I suuuuck at packing and always overpack! But I often go somewhere for the weekend and just take one bag with me so I think I can tick this one off.

21) Ask someone out – I have done this only with people I already know. I have never asked out someone I’ve just met though. I don’t think I have the courage for that!

22) Invest her money – Ummmm….

23) Use Google maps or some other 21^st century version of direction giving – I use Google maps a lot! I’ve had to go and meet lots of people at random addresses for work which I wouldn’t have a clue where they were if it weren’t for Google! Also have turned to maps on my phone when I’m out and about and get lost. Best invention ever.

24) Pack her purse with essentials – I don’t carry a purse. I’m more of a satchel girl. But I always have what I need so yes to this one.

25) Prepare a tasty and healthy dinner for herself and at least one guest – Yes. I used to cook dinner at home for my family fairly often and used to cook for a flat of 5 so definitely can do this.

26) Edit, upload and print photos – Yes.

27) Perform CPR – Did it in high school but haven’t since. However I am booked in for a course through work soon!

28) Choose a ripe fruit – Yes. I know my fruit.

29) Cook and carve a chicken – Can do the cooking but not proficient at carving. I just hack in to cooked chickens haha.

30) Google her date – Absolutely.

31) Negotiate a salary and/or pay rise – Haven’t had to do this so nope I don’t have this skill.

32) Bite her tongue when it’s appropriate to – I’d say I’m too good at this and often don’t say what I’m thinking when it wouldn’t hurt to do so.

33) Get a passport – Yes.

34) Reserve a library book online – Yes.

35) Leave reviews online – Yes.

36) Find the right bra – I think so?

37) Welcome a new neighbor or coworker – Yes.

38) Assemble furniture – Pfft, no. This is what boys are for.

39) Find a reputable repair person – Yes.

40) Give a sincere apology – I find this a lot easier to do in writing rather than in person.

41) Change a tire – Wouldn’t have a clue how. That’s why it’s good to have guy mates.

42) Give herself a breast exam – No idea.

43) Ask for help when she needs it – Yes.

Evidently there are a few things I need to work on! But overall I think I’ve got a few skills under my belt. I think most 22 year old women would probably have most of these skills though, don’t you?

I didn't know what pic to post to accompany this and since I've been so absent on here I figure maybe showing you who I am again is a good idea. This is me:

xx

Wedding Song

I've found my wedding song. I may not even get married but if I do one day, this is the song we'll do our first dance to. It's SO BEAUTIFUL AND PERFECT. The groom doesn't get a say, this is it.

Also, I want to date Ed Sheeran.

xx

Bucket List

Almost two months without blogging. My bad. It's not that I haven't had the time, it's that I haven't had the motivation. But I have returned, don't fret! 

The other day at work I was bored so I decided to write my bucket list. I haven't written one before and I feel like my one sounds awfully generic, but OH WELL. Here it is:

Bucket List

•     Visit all the structures I studied in Classics at High School (Colosseum, Acropolis, Athena Nike, Hadrian’s Column, Arch of Titus, Arch of Constantine etc)
•     Get visible abs (even if it’s just for a week! I should probably work towards this when I’m younger, aka now, when my body is more likely to allow this to happen).
•     Go to the airport, pick a number, count down the flight board that amount and take a plane there (I’m all about being organized so this would be a complete thrill for me).
•     Try Crossfit (I want to see just how hard I can push myself physically)
•     Get a wrist tattoo
•     Work for a nonprofit organization
•     Run a half marathon (or a full one, even better!)
•     Buy a house
•     Own a dog
•     Skydive
•     Bungee jump
•     Swim with dolphins
•     Write a book
•     Donate blood
•     Take a hot air balloon ride
•     Go zorbing
•     Get a second degree (I kinda wanna do something in nutrition)
•     Join the army (I’ve been interested in this for a while now, it would be a massive challenge but I think the benefits would be great).
•     Get married
•     Live in a country where I’m forced to become fluent in the local language
•     Travel on my own (to test how well I could do without anyone to rely on).
•     Be a bridesmaid
•     Go to a massive music festival (Tomorrowland/Glastonbury/Coachella/Summerfest)
•     Go to a huge baseball/basketball/gridiron game in the USA and an EPL game in England.
•     Go to the Rugby World Cup final.

Things I have already done that would have been on my bucket list:

-          Get a tattoo (I have the deathly hallows on my ribs)

-          Go ziplining

-          Ride an elephant

-          Get lost in a foreign country

-          Pat a tiger (I actually went further and hugged a tiger)

And of course travel the world! Countries I want to visit include Italy, France, England, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, Peru, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Iceland, Poland, Switzerland, Denmark, Hungary, Spain, Sweden, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, Zambia, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa, China, India, Russia, USA, Canada, Paraguay, Ukraine, Bora Bora, The Maldives, New Caledonia....basically the whole world.

xx

Injustice

I’ve had an injustice committed against me.

I wrote an article for my paper that I was quite proud of. My article was uploaded to the New Zealand Herald, who then ran it on their website. BUT the article was attributed to a Herald reporter. The only thing that was changed about the article was the heading, everything other than that was my exact wording and everything.

And what makes this worse is that this particular article had 132 shares to Facebook. That would have been my name out there 132 times. For a budding reporter, that’s a big deal.

They did credit our newspaper at the very bottom of the article, but to anyone viewing it, it was written by this other reporter.

And that’s just not fair. She wasn’t the one who took the time to do the interview, meet the person in question and get a photo. She wasn’t the one who spent the time going through pages of notes to write the article up.

That was me.

I did mention it to my manager and editor, who said they’d look into it, but nothing came of it. And even if it was now rectified, it’s not like it would be shared 132 times again.

Not impressed!

OK STOP LOOKING I'VE FOUND IT

I have found the best tasting peanut butter in existence. Chantal organic whole peanut butter - crunchy. AMAZING. It's so deeply rich and tasty and I can't get enough! My golly. This stuff is really darkly coloured and has half peanuts in it and it's just divine. I think it retails for about $7 so it's fairly pricey but I think it's totally worth it. Mmmmmmnom!!

GO BUY IT PLEASE!

Annoyance

Do you ever get those days where you find every little thing about someone incredibly annoying? These sorts of days are not uncommon for me. The other day I found this with someone I had to spend a significant amount of time with. I just found everything about them to be annoying and unnecessary. From the sound on their phone’s keyboard being on so I could hear EVERY SINGLE LETTER being typed to the occasional gasps (when reading off the computer) and exclamations of ‘wow’ or ‘oh my gosh’ or ‘that’s so sad’. Not to mention their incredibly loud and clacky computer keyboard and stupid bird tweet that signaled every text they received. Ugh.

Friends and family aren’t even exempt from this. I can recall times where my best friends and family members have just bugged me and I didn’t want to be around them. I love them all to bits, so it’s obviously just reflective of my mood at the time.

Do you ever get times like this?

Hair chalk

So I'm one of those people who gets bored with my hair pretty easily. I currently have shoulder length blonde hair (after a lengthly process of going back to blonde from black) and I want a change! My amazing hairdresser would probably shoot me if I went dark again after all her hard work, so I'm thinking of dipping into some hair chalk experimentation.

I love the subtle, colourful ombre that hair chalk can create, as shown in the pics below...

^^ I love this last look, and her hair colour and length is similar to mine so I'm excited to try it out!

xx

Two more to add...

Ceres Organics Crunchy Peanut Butter - This was pretty tasty. It is quite rich and very moist, which I like in a peanut butter. Spreads well on toast. Decent oil layer on top and has hearty chunky bits in it. Lighter in colour than other butters. Fairly pricey, at around $6 for a normal sized jar. 3/5.

Macro Natural Almond Spread - This isn't bad, but is not as full in flavour as the Ceres almond butter that I tried. This is a lot cheaper though, so a more affordable almond butter. And almond butter is supposed to be better for you than peanut butter too. I find that the parts that aren't under oil are incredibly dry, and are hard to spread. Darker in colour and costs around $6 for this sized jar. 2.5/5.

I have also moved up in the world and have an iPhone now, so will be able to take my own food product photos from now on, which means you will get to know my hand YAY. 

xx

A definitive ranking of peanut butters

     

I love peanut butter. It's no secret that I'm addicted to the stuff. One of my absolute things to eat is apple with peanut butter, and peanut butter on toast is simpy amazing. So, I have taken it upon myself to test all the peanut butters on the market to find the best one (and I tend to choose the crunchy versions).
Here's my thoughts on the products I have tried thus far:


Pic's really good Peanut Butter (not the smooth version) - This is delicious. It's incredibly tasty and has a darker colour than the really processed ones. It gets a layer of oil on the top but that can be mixed in (I've read that's good because it means there has been less processing). Comes in small, large and extra large jars. 3/5.

Eta awesomely Crunchy Peanut Butter (please disregard the smooth in the picture, cause seriously, what's the point in smooth?!) - This is one you'll see in many kitchen pantries. While it is definitely delicious, it doesn't quite have the same deep, rich flavour as some of the others. No oil layer on the top. Comes in this size and 1kg jars. 2/5.

    

Kraft Whipped Peanut Butter - So this obviously isn't crunchy, but the idea intrigued me so much I just had to try it. The texture of this stuff is AMAZING. The taste is nice, but not as strong as I like. The texture makes this product great though. Only comes in this one size. 3/5.

100% Nutz dark chocolate peanut spread - Because chocolate is one of my favourite things in the world, I enjoyed this immensely. However, because it is sweet, I found that it didn't last very long with me. And I think I prefer my peanut butter as solely that. Only comes in this size. 3/5.

100% Nutz crunchy natural peanut butter - This was really nice. A great flavour and really really crunchy (awesome). A great product, would recommend. Had a layer of oil on top. Only comes in this size. 3/5.

100% Nutz peanut butter with sea salt - Delcious. Currently going through this now and it is so yummy! It's super crunchy and has an intense flavour. The sea salt adds a nice bite too. Had a oil layer. Only comes in this size. 4/5.

Hillary Peanut + nutrient loaded spread - Interesting. This attracted my attention because it had high protein levels in it. When I first tried this spread I thought it was yuck, but it really grew on me and now I love it. It has bran bits and it's fairly light in colour. It's a totally different flavour but it's an excellent source of protein and you feel good eating this stuff. Slight oil layer on top. 3/5.

       

Ceres Organics almond butter - So this is obviously not a peanut butter, but I am going to include it in this list regardless. My sister told me of the deliciousness of this stuff, so I asked for some for my birthday. It's definitely different in flavour to peanut butter, and it's completely smooth. But it is oh so tasty. At about $11 for 200g, it's not something I'll buy often, but taste-wise it is a real treat. 4/5.

    

                     

Eta roasted peanut butter wickedly crunchy - This is thus far my favourite. It is absolutely fantastic. So full of flavour and packed full of crunch. I am a HUGE fan. Has a massive oil layer on top and isn't in the biggest jar but oh boy it's worth it. 5/5.

I still have a few to try, including another Ceres Organics one and a Reeses one so I shall update this post. My favourite super processed one would be Pam's extra crunchy (which comes in a 1kg jar - bonus) but I couldn't find a picture of it. That would be a 4/5 though. 

This post may seem excessive, but I just love the ol' PB.

xx

Losing faith

I am well and truly on my way to losing faith in relationships. My flatmate just broke up with his girlfriend of two years and we all thought they'd be the ones to get married. My other flatmate's friend just broke up with his long-term girlfriend, but not before he'd cheated on her. ugh. After a string of idiots one of my good friends started seeing a lovely guy and then he got a job in Auckland and moved away.

And me? Well, my story is the main reason I'm losing faith.

xx

20 things I love

• When a baby holds your finger
• Stepping on a crunchy leaf
• Onesies
• Sleeping on freshly changed sheets
• Waking up and realising there are hours before I have to get up
• The originality of each person's handwriting
• Opening a brand new book
• Laughing so hard my stomach hurts
• Discovering a fantastic new TV series
• When my food comes out at a restaurant
• Realising you've made a new friend
• When I run an orange light and the car behind does the same
• Having an outfit already planned
• Sliding across the floor in my socks
• A clear and clean kitchen bench
• Getting home to a package in the mail
• Effortless, intelligent conversations
• The feeling you get after a good cry
• Freshly vacuumed carpet
• People watching

xx

FRIENDS XO

Nostalgia part 1

Don’t ask me why, but I was all nostalgic at work today.

Growing up, I had a great love for books. My parents would take me to the Hastings library every week or so and I’d always come away with a huge stack of books for the week. I’d read hundreds a year. It was my favourite hobby. When I was really young I would be involved in the school holiday reading programs and try to read as many books as I could so my reading list would look impressive. There were the particular sections I would make a beeline for when I got inside the library – first the recent returns then the mystery sections and the places where my favourite authors lived. As I grew up I migrated to the young adults section which was at the other end of the library, and discovered all the treasures there. At high school I would delve into the adults section every now and then, but the young adults was where I found most of my gems.

I loved staring at the spines of the books and wondering what sort of world each book contained. I could spend hours there and would often park myself in a window seat and flick through a cook book or travel book and look at all the lovely pictures. I made myself wait till I was on my bed or the couch at home before I let myself enter the world of the novels.

Sadly, I don’t read nearly as much as I used to. I blame the internet for this. Growing up we had one computer in the house, and didn’t get the internet until I was in high school. In my current flat, we each have our own computer and 500GB of wireless internet each month.

I also blame university. As soon as I hit uni, my leisure reading almost dropped off completely. Each week there were so many assigned readings to complete as well as assignments, lectures and tutorials to attend (plus a social life) that leisure reading kind of fell by the wayside. I never lost my yearning for it though, and since I’ve finished study and started working, my reading has picked up a fair bit.  

I just finished The Book Thief (brilliant) and pretty much done with Divergent too (also brilliant). Then I’m moving on to Gone Girl and then The Code of the Woosters. I have them all lined up and can’t wait to get lost in them.

While it makes me happy that leisure reading is a priority for me again, I do think it’s sad that I don’t visit the library anymore. I tend to stockpile books from book sales these days, or buy them online instead of going to the library. But if I ever have kids, I want to take them to the library every week just like my parents took me. I‘m going to make my kids love books, they aren’t going to have a choice hahahahaaahahamwahahaha ;)

xx

This.

Three Things You Can Do When He’s Getting Emotionally Distant

The good news is that we can look at this as a gift.  It’s the gift of a clear message that things aren’t quite right.  It’s like getting sick – when our bodies are telling us that something’s wrong; we’re working too much, we’re too stressed, or maybe we’re not eating well.  And we can then take steps to correct the imbalance.  The message here is similar – you’re both on different pages, and there’s an imbalance that needs to be corrected.  And whether we like it or not, what we’re seeing is who he is and where he’s at right now.  And that’s the point.  The present.   Right now.  That ideal we have in our mind, those dreams we’ve got – they’re all ours, not his.  And whether he’d be the perfect guy for us if he’d just be more attentive isn’t the point.  He’s showing us what he’s capable of right now. And that is the point.

So what do we do in this situation?  Well, there are basically three avenues we can take.

Be direct and ask him.

If you’re feeling like he’s distancing himself and the two of you are losing the connection you once had, well, you’re most likely right.  Our instincts are usually spot-on in this regard.  So we know he’s not where we are, not on that same page as us right now, and he’s not quite sure how to let us know except by putting some distance between us.  The reason for this is because he’s insecure too!  He afraid to tell us how he’s feeling directly; he’s not a guy who’s in touch with his feelings and can say what’s going on.  So go ahead and tell him how you’re feeling, and ask him why things have changed.  If you take this route, be prepared and open to hear the truth.  He may say that he’s having second thoughts about the relationship.  He may be feeling like the relationship is moving too quickly, and he wants to slow things down a little.  He may be afraid he’s losing his freedom.  Maybe an ex has re-entered the picture.  If the answer is any of these, just know that knowing the truth earlier is always better, and it will save you a lot of anxiety and even more heartbreak down the road.

He may also say that he feels that nothing has changed.  This may be because he’s not in touch with his feelings or aware of his own changes in behavior, or it may be that he’s now being his true self and he’s just not capable of giving you more than you’re getting from him right now.  If this is the case, this gives you a chance to re-evaluate the relationship while it’s still early and recognize that you may be looking for something from him that he just won’t be able to give you.  It may also be that he’s not comfortable with this type of direct communication.  If you’re the type of person that wants to be able to communicate freely and openly, then this is a sure sign that the relationship will be on a rocky road.

On the other hand, you may find out that the answer’s more benign, and you were worried for nothing.  Maybe he’s had some stressful situations at work that have had him preoccupied.  Or maybe he’s had some personal or family health issues that he hasn’t felt comfortable discussing yet.  Finding out now will help to relieve your anxiety and may even wind up bringing the two of you closer than ever.  Again, knowing the truth is always better than second guessing or attempting mind-reading, which we all know never works!

If you’re not ready to tackle things head-on just yet, there’s another good option.

Focus on yourself.

The second choice is to let it ride while making up the difference with your own life.  Enjoy yourself, pursue your own interests, follow your own passions, expand your world.  Take a break from thinking about the relationship and go to that art gallery you’ve been wanting to check out or take that dance class you’ve been thinking about.  In this way you’ll be discovering your true self while at the same time giving him the space he seems to be asking for.  And then take some time to reassess what you’re really getting out of this relationship.  After getting a little space and distance from the relationship yourself, you may find that you’ve gained more clarity and realize that it’s not all that after all.

On the other hand, you may find that this bit of distance between you actually brings you closer together when the two of you are together.  One thing that men love is a woman who has her own life.  And having your own life will make you more confident about who you are and what you want out of life, which men also find very attractive.

And if all else fails, there is a third thing you can do.

Let it go.

If he’s gotten so distant that the writing’s clearly on the wall, just let him go.  Even if he shows so much potential.  And do it without hard feelings, since it truly is a gift.  Because as hard as it is to admit it to ourselves sometimes, some relationships are just not meant to be.  As hard as it can be to give up the dream of what the relationship could have been, at least in our minds, sometimes we find ourselves falling for guys that are just not the ones for us.  And you deserve better than that.  Better than settling for something that’s less than the real thing. Better than settling for someone who doesn’t treat you the way you deserve to be treated.  Because there really is someone out there who will treat you better than that.  Someone who’s waiting for you to come along as much as you’re waiting for him.

http://www.gettingtotruelove.com

It's now out in the open

So the other day at work it all came out.

The issue at work that I’ve mentioned on here came to boiling point and I broke down completely and utterly. In total I had four major cry episodes throughout the day. I haven’t cried that much in years. Safe to say, Tuesday wasn’t fun at all.

Good things that came from it:

-          Manager is now aware of how I feel

-          Others in the office backed me up

-          I’m not bottling it all up anymore

Bad things that came from it:

-          Person in question wasn’t sympathetic at all, didn’t seem to think anything was wrong

-          Lots of people saw me cry

So it remains to be seen whether anything changes or not.

Ugh. Life.

xx

Two of my favourite things: Food and lists = a food list!!

Food items I couldn't live without:

Chocolate
Peanut Butter
Apples
Carrots
Spinach
Capsicums
Tuna
Chicken
Cheese

Food items I could easily live without:

Ice Cream
Bread
Pasta
Red Meat
Coffee
Lollies

...sounds like I'm a health nut. Definitely not the case.
What foods can't/can you live without?

xx

Yo!

Okay okay sorry for not blogging in quite some time. I definitely want to keep the habit up, and will endeavour to do so, but I have just been lacking in motivation a bit. So I shall make this post a round-up of what’s been going on in my life since the last post!

Work – Post-trip depression has died down somewhat and work has been going fairly well. However, we had a meeting with the editor of our sister newspaper a couple of weeks back in which I felt extremely targeted and got quite upset (fighting back the tears). Since then, I’ve tried to make more effort, and haven’t had any complaints so hopefully things are going better. However, when talking with one of the other girls in the office about my issues, she said she also notices the mean way the editor talks to me and constantly criticizes me. So it’s not just in my head. Unfortunately, the editor is the managers’ darling so I don’t feel as though I can talk to her about it.

Gym – I have been really good since I’ve been back, going 5-6 times a week. It’s such a great release for me (especially when issues like the aforementioned are occurring).

Friends –Haven’t seen my Hastings besties for ageeeeeees which has been lame. Spending time with my friends here is always great. It’s good for the soul.

Music – For some reason lately I can’t get enough of Black and Yellow by Wiz Khalifa. It’s not a new tune but it’s just so good and it makes me dance. I also love everything by Miguel at the moment.

Movies – Recently I’ve watched Don Jon, The Wolf of Wall Street, and V for Vendetta. Would recommend the latter two. The first one is, well, interesting. I’ll leave it at that.

TV shows – Almost up to date with White Collar and have one more episode of Sherlock to go. Both are just so great. Suits and Game of Thrones are starting up again in not too long – YUSS. Also, I watched an episode of KUWTK a couple of days ago and was LOLing so much that I’ve now completed series one and two. Guilty pleasure.

Books – Finished Catch 22 finally! It only took me about 2 months haha. Actually thought it was a pretty good read once I was done with it. For the latter half of the book I was appreciating how funny and well written it was. Then read Animal Farm – so fantastic! Am now reading The Book Thief which is Ah-mazing so far. In the interim, I also spent the paperplus voucher I was given at Christmas and bought Gone Girl (soon to be a movie and I’d heard the book is great) and I Quit Sugar by Sarah Wilson which I finished the day I got it. Cutting out sugar is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time and having now read two books about sugar, it’s a main goal of mine.

Car – Argh. Discovered my car had a big oil leak which is going to cost far too much to get fixed. Going to take it for a second quote to see if it’s worth fixing. If not, new car time! Sad though, I liked this one L

Family – Haven’t seen them in quite some time and miss them all the time. Seeing my Dad and sister soon though as sister is moving to Palmy in two weekends! That will be cool. I was tasked with finding her a flat, which I did. I hope she likes it! (though I’m sure she will – it’s awesome). Can’t wait to see Dad as well. I’m taking the two of them out to my favourite Japanese restaurant when they’re down. Eeeeep!!

Garcon – Has been far too long since I’ve seen him. Texting has been good though, for the most part. Can’t wait to see him next. We have some stuff to figure out.

Time for a selfie? I think so...

Heh so attractive.

xx