Oh, hi pals. How the bloody how are you?
It’s been a while since I’ve sat down, caught up and wrote down a blog post on what’s going on in my life. I feel like I haven’t done a sit down post in a while.
So, what’s been going on?
A Dog Friendly Day Out in Barmouth
The best days out are the spontaneous ones.
Saturday evening, when we were sat around a make shift firepit in my friend’s garden, we decided on Sunday we would head to the beach. We’d exclaimed we hadn’t been to the beach this year and this was our way to rectify it. So, at around 8:30am the next day, we were in the back of Allan the Astra about to tackle the 2.5 hour drive to relive the typical English seaside day out, complete with hound.
I hadn’t been to Barmouth since I was around 7 or 8 years old, and I remember very little of it. I can’t imagine it had changed much in 20 years. It had everything you needed for a typical day at the seaside; tat shops, a chippy, ice cream and of course, the beach.
Why I Went For the Bridal Chop
I did that super typical newly married thing..
I had all my hair chopped off.
A few Saturday’s ago, my hairdresser and friend Rachel popped to my house to give my hair a much needed cut. I did the typical girl thing that ever since we got engaged I said, I’m growing it for my wedding day. For then only less than 2 weeks after the day, to have it all cut off. Rachel warned me about it months before, knowing I’d have it done, but I was never quite prepared for how liberating it would make me feel.
The Reluctant Morning Person
Happy Friday gang!
I cannot ell you how happy I am that it’s Friday. There has been a few days this week where if I rolled my eyes anymore, they would have rolled out of my head. But, it’s FriYAY – I’ve got a weekend of eating brunch with one of my gal pals, going to see the Avengers and hopefully, catch up on some z’s.
I need to catch up on some z’s because this week I became an unwilling morning person and it’s working out for me.
Suffering with a Busy Mind
It’s 23:45, you are propped up in bed with two pillows, a peppermint tea and you’re rattling away on your laptop; trying to clear the backlog of emails, finish off that report for work or trying to type out that last of that blog post.
Sound familiar?
It’s a regular scenario for me. Most evenings, you’ll easily find me camped out on the sofa or in my bed tapping away on my laptop. I work a full time job and work on my blog most nights until around midnight, to be up again at 7am the next day for another day of working in the world of programme management. You think I would be exhausted; ready to welcome sleep but a lot of the time, it’s a different story
My 2018 Travel Plans
I’ve been waiting for a long, long time to write that sentence and for it to be actually here. 2018 – the year of marriage and also, it means my favourite item is back – my passport. I am eagerly awaiting sending off my passport application to be valid on our wedding day in my new name. I can’t freaking wait.
I spent the latter half of 2017 thinking how many trips can I squeeze into my annual leave. It turns out that I can get a few in and I’m so happy that 2018 will be travel filled.
How I’m Keeping that Buzzed Feeling
You may have noticed that it’s been extremely quiet on Blogger & The Geek over the past year or so. I’m finally starting to feel more buzzed, more refreshed and positive about the year ahead.
This past week has been my first week off since August 2017. My last week off before then was when I was nursing a broken arm last Christmas – and it’s taken me a long time to shake the feelings of sadness, doubt, loneliness and emptyness that I entered 2017 with.
I’ve really looked after my time over this week off, although we spent a lot of time with family and living on the M6, I ensured I slept all the times I needed too, bossed my to do list every day, kept the house tidy, enjoyed the carby Christmas foods but mixed it back with my usual diet, drank enough cider for a small army to live and just enjoy not having to think about work or real life for a little while.
A Life Update
It’s a Wednesday evening and I’ve finally started watching Sons of Anarchy. So far, I’m digging it – it’s a little bit dark and twisty and feels like something I can happily waste from now until December watching. It’s also freezing and I’m wrapped up in approximately 3 blankets and a dog to keep warm, as well with the laptop heat.
I realised I hadn’t really done a proper update on here recently. For the past few weeks, life has been a bit hectic and mental but in a strangely refreshing away. it’s a good kind of busy: a busy that is keeping me focused and pushing me towards the best version of me.
Clearing Out the Mental Block
If there is anything that helps my mental health and soul, it’s walking my dog surrounded by water.
I keep referring to this negative space I’ve been in recently, and I’m slowly coming out the other side. I’ve noticed I’m happiest when I’m out with Rufus and we’re somewhere different than our usual walking spots. There’s just something lovely seeing his nose twitch and getting all excited and sniffing all those new smells.
On a Sunday morning, I decided to head over to Priorslee Lakes with my camera and my hound. Priorslee is only a 20 minute drive away from my house and just on the outskirts of Telford in Shropshire. Just off Junction 4 on the M54, Priorslee has a huge lake and it’s the perfect dog walk and wildlife spot.
Why Everyone Should Read ‘Reasons to Stay Alive’ by Matt Haig
Since graduating University, I forgot what it was like to read for fun. As a kid I was an avid book worm and I once read all the Harry Potter books in 5 days. I wanted to fall back in love with reading and the worlds that authors created. I’ve not only been reading books I’d usually pick up, I’ve been reading ones I would never have thought to pick.
If there’s any book I urge people to read, it is Reasons to Stay Alive* by Matt Haig. It’s been one of those books that I have had on my wish list for a while and it was only recently that I finally got round to purchasing it. My only regret is that I didn’t buy it sooner. Reasons to Stay Alive is a memoir written by Matt Haig who writes about his personal battle with depression and anxiety. It’s beautifully well crafted, extremely personal and my favourite thing about it is that Haig makes you feel less alone.