2012: The Good, The Bad and The Unplanned

Hello!

I hope you had a magical Christmas time and Santa got you lots of great toys! He was very good to me with lovely perfumes and blingy things. My favourites! How does he know eh?!

I'm just emerging from a few days of completely re-charging my glitter, which means I really, actually, truly did nothing! It was bliddy marvelous. It's so rare I take a few days to do nothing and I really got into the swing of it. And I've just realised that in planning my 2013 diary I forgot to schedule time off - I'm going to correct that right this second....

Right, that's time off booked into next years diary. Now, to look back on 2012!

The Good

I've got all sorts of good from this year!

Here are just a few of my personal favourites:

Speaking at Birmingham Girl Geeks launch event about social media and the 4am Project. Thanks for inviting me ladies! If you are a Girl and a bit of a Geek and you are in, or can get to Birmingham, keep an eye out for their up-coming events. 

Celebrating my best friend's 40th Birthday at a haunted cottage in the middle of nowhere in Wales. I still shudder at the ghostly goings on! It was a real country break with just the sound of birds and the neighbours mooing (they were cows, not humans!). I loved the open fire, but not the cobwebs. Part of me would just love to go back there again, and the other part says 'noooooo, it's just toooo scary!'.

Partying with Bugsy Malone at Fat Sam's Grand Slam. Fat Sam knows how to throw a party! I met Bugsy and he let me hold his splurge gun! What a gentleman. He's from NYC so I had a soft spot for him.

Having an Italian adventure in Milan! I had the chance to explore this beautiful city with it's stunning architecture, designer shops, art and of course the stylish people and not forgetting it has the most fabulous graveyard ever! Honestly.

The A.May.Zing month of May! 10 days of working and living in London. I had such an adventure and so many things fell into place. It was just the place I should have been that month. Now it's given me a taste for London and I've been back a few times since and plans to return very soon!

Being recruited by Brave New Ventures I had no idea what I was getting into or letting myself in for when I was approached by BNV. What a mysterious organisation. I'm still not quite sure what happened! 

Enjoying a Great British Seaside Holiday with my fab Mum We toured seaside towns down south and had one sunny day during the week. Hey, you can't go to the beach and not get rained on the the UK. Sandy sandwiches are a must. It's tradition! Thanks for a fab holiday Mum! 

Taking the 4am Project event to Nottingham and having 40 amazing photographers turn up despite the torrential rain! I still have to blog about this event, but it was a great challenge to take the project to a new city and make it happen and also team up with the Lakeside Arts Centre and their Saturday Night Sunday Morning exhibition. I'm very grateful to all the photographers who came along and took part in the 4am Project photography challenge given the challenging weather! 

Working with the talk about local team! Not just good, but great! However, now it's time to say a fond farewell to the team and take part in new adventures in 2013, which I'll announce shortly. If you ever get a chance to work with any of the tal team, do! If you have an interest in how to use social media from a grass root up perspective, keep an eye on the great work they do in empowering people and communities. It's been a pleasure working with everyone and I'll look forward to the TAL13 conference next year!  

The Bad

This could also go in The Unplanned category, but it was it was more 'bad' than 'unplanned' (not that I planned it!) so it's going here.

Being ill and spending a week in hospital. That was pretty bad. The 'good' is that I am better now. Hurrah!

It took a month out of the year all in all and I resent it for that. And it knocked my confidence in how my body works and also what I could and couldn't eat until I ended up eating the blandest diet ever. Thankfully, I am better and I know I can eat whatever I like again. So, another, Hurrah!

The 'good' for you is that I'm pretty bored of talking about it now, so this'll be the last you hear about it. Unless 1. I get ill again or 2. I feel like I want some sympathy haha.

The Unplanned

I didn't plan 2012 quite well enough. Which in some parts worked out well (Amazing Month Of May and for the Being Ill parts), but that was only by accident. Let me explain.

Earlier in the year I applied for a Clore Fellowship. Naturally I was pretty excited about this, but I also had a feeling that my chances of securing a place would be fairly slim. However, if you don't try for things, you stand no chance at all. What with the time commitment involved in the Fellowship if I had of been successful, and even though I felt my chances were a little slim, I kept the second half of the year free of commitments. In April I got the news that I didn't get a place. I was looking at the rest of the year without as much of a plan as I would ordinarily have liked.

It all worked out in the end and I was able to get back on track with planning but I really think I should have had more of a back up plan. The power of a back up plan should not be underestimated!

FINAL SCORE

I will give 2012 a score of 7/10.

2013, I have very high expectations of you! We are aiming for 10/10!

Thank you to everyone who has brought their positivity to the year! 

I wish you all the happiness in the world and every success for 2013! 

Let's grab it and go out and make our own luck! :) 

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Experiments with nail art - part 2 plus bonus hair bling!

Hello!!!

It's like coming back to a familiar place after being away from it for a while. November has been an extremely busy month and I hope to tell you all about it when I get the chance to catch my breath! It's been an amazing month and one of the most packed of the year.

But for now may I present you with my latest attempts at nail art (my latest favourite hobby), and I've put some bonus bling at the end of the post because it's just too sparkly to not blog about! Mmmmm sparkles.....

I think I called this one Star Crossed Night or something. It's really easy to do. Just paint your back ground colour. When the base layer is dry, put on randomly placed nail striping tape, and paint over with your glitter nail polish!

I think this is one of my favourites! This is from a couple of months ago when my nails were actually growing for the first time in year (due to a stay in hospital). They are a lovely length. I've used my favourite colour (OPI Big Apple Red), added some bling and painted just one nail with glorious glitter!

Leopard print. Red. Sparkles. Bling. YES! :D 

My Lovely Mum gave me these beautiful glass hearts which I will treasure forever. They also happened to match my nails perfectly. I should be a nail/finger/glass heart model! 

Halloweeeeeen!!

Blood tipped nails..... C'mon, they are scary right?

This was my first attempt at gradient nails, if you can't tell.

I refer to you to the fab Nuthin' But A Nail Thing blog for an awesome tutorial. Though I would say I don't think wetting the sponge worked for me. It kinda flaked and got stuck to my nails. Which was ok on this occasion for Halloween nails because a bit of texture added to the look. I'm sure the ghosts appreciated the effort I made when I went on my ghost hunting walk!

When you apply the polish with a sponge be prepared and allow time to clean up your nails afterwards!

This is my second attempt at gradient nails. I used a dry sponge this time. Plus I used more than one sponge - maybe about 4. As soon as one sponge got too 'clunky' with polish, I just used a fresh one. I also cut my sponges into smaller pieces, just to make them go a bit further, and so I'm not quite so wasteful. 

TIP: I paint my nails on Sunday night. It's a nice little chill out routine before the week ahead. Anyway, after my nails are dry (and I run my nails under cold water to make them set quicker), I rub hand cream (Nivea) around my nails and off I go to bed. The next morning when I have my shower, I gently use a nail scrub and the excess nail polish peels away. 

Of course you can just go around the nail with a cotton wool bud dipped in nail polish remover too! I guess my method is a bit lower maintenance. 

I got a bit carried away with my nail dotters for this one! 

I bought some bottles of glitter and decided to go for red/silver/blue combination. I did my base coat (as always), then whilst the red coat was wet I sprinkled over  the glitter. It looks better in real life than in the photograph; it's more eye catching in the light.

 And finally...... gold and red gradient. Before and after!

I promised you some hair bling. I see a theme here; sparkles, leopard print and red! I'm a bit annoyed with myself at the moment as I seem to have lost the red hair band already. 

Red blingy butterfly. I haven't worn this yet.  

This one is so sweet! I got it from a lovely vintage shop in Nottingham called Hopkins. I could have spent hours in there!

I think I was attracted to this hair decoration as I have a real-sized hat just like this! 

And my BFF surprised me when this gorgeous ring arrived in the post this week. I LOVE IT! Thank you Best Friend Forever In The Whole Wide World! 

Was that enough sparkles for one blog post? I hope so! 

Anyway, it hasn't been all work all the time this month. I'm about to dash out for a cocktail evening at a new venue in the city centre. If it's any good, I'll let you know! :) 

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My 2012 Birthday

Well, seeing as I recorded my birthday celebrations last year, it must now be deemed a blogging tradition! I think that's how traditions start anyway...

Last year was my 40th birthday! hehee. This year it's the year of my 2012 birthday!

I storify'd some of the few days of celebration. Thanks to my BFF for a fab day in Manchester and my awesome Mum for an adventure in Liverpool. And thanks to all my friends for joining in with the celebrations online too! :) x

My Welsh holiday with my best friend - Part 2

Where was I....?!

I'm having to cast my memory back a bit now as my lovely holiday cottage break with my best friend is now about 3 weeks ago!

Luckily I have lots of photos to help jog my memory.

Did you read part 1? 

I ended that post by hinting that I was going to be in for a big scare! And I still shudder when I think of it now.

I'll try and cut a long story short here...

I stayed in the bedroom that is on the top left of this picture.

For two mornings in a row I was woken at 7.25am by the bed shaking!!!

The first morning it happened, it woke me up, but I stayed in a sleepy state and didn't pay much heed to it (surprisingly) and managed to get back to sleep.

The next morning when it woke me, I kind of went through this thought process (with my eyes still closed)

Hmm..is the bed shaking? Yep
Hmm....is Faith (who was sleeping in the other bedroom) trying to wake me up? But she would just say my name and maybe tap my shoulder.
Yes, it definitely shaking
Am I awake? Yes you are awake.
Okay, this is weird, and now I remember, it happened yesterday too!
OMG, the duvet is moving!!!!!

And I could feel the duvet being pulled off.

"FAAAAIITTHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

And I leaped out of bed and ran into Faith's room.

I scared Faith because of my scream and panic! And I was scared because I had no idea what had just happened. It was so strange.

If you can explain it, please do! Someone said it was a little earthquake, but I have dismissed that because (though I'm not expert) I would have thought the chances of an earthquake happening at 7.25am two mornings in a row would be quite slim. Plus, Faith didn't feel it in her room. Plus, the duvet moved.

Luckily Faith's bedroom had two beds, because there was no way I was going to sleep in that bedroom again!

The rest of the holiday wasn't as scary though and one day we book ourselves in for horse riding at Gwydyr Riding & Trekking Stables. I couldn't remember if I had been horse riding before and presumed that because I couldn't remember, I mustn't have done. Faith, having tons of experience, wanted to do a half day. I, being pretty sure I had no experience, opted for just half an hour.

Getting to the stables was an adventure in itself, though the scenery was lovely!

There was actually a better road to get there on. We just didn't know about it.

Being a city mouse it does sometimes make me wonder how people can live so far away from amenities. What a trek just to get a loaf of bread. Mind you, we saw a Tesco delivery van a few minutes after I took this photo.

We were right in the sticks. 

When we reached the stables, there was a mobile farrier putting new shoes on all the horses. 

I was able to make this little video.



I had a horse called Paddy. Apparently he was naughty as a teenager, but I think he still has a cheeky streak in him now.

He wouldn't do as he was told or pay any attention to my instructions, such as STOP! At one point he picked up speed (just walked a little faster than a stroll) and I thought I was going to fall off!

It was just me being new to the experience, and there was really nothing to worry about. Faith and I had an instructor each, and when Paddy did a runner, the instructors managed to block his route and get him back on track.

They say a horse can sense someone new to horse riding and  they use that as an excuse to do as they want!

All in all I stayed on Paddy for an hour, and relaxed and enjoyed the scenery, and I would try it again at some point if the opportunity arose, but I wouldn't say I've gone crazy about it and now want my own horse.

That's me! On a horse! 

Whilst Faith stayed out on her horse, I pottered around the farm and stables with my camera. A bit of a excitement happened when a horse tried to break out! She ran herself into a dead end though so was easily caught.

Oh, and I got to hold a little lamb!! 

The day was full of new experiences; horse riding, lamb holding...... It's wool was soooo soft, but it's little legs were quite hard and angular and his little hooves poked into me, so not as comfortable for either of us as it could have been ha. 

Aww, this was such a lovely little dog. I can't remember her name, but she picked up a little stick for me to throw for her. As I picked it up, one of the girls in the stable told me not to throw the stick too far, so I threw it about 2 metres, if that.

The little doggy ran to pick up the stick, then fell over and had an epileptic fit! The poor wee thing. And I felt awful, as if I caused it. Apparently she has a condition and it happens. Less than a minute later she was back on her feet and wagging her tail as if nothing had happened.

It was such a beautiful sunny day and I really enjoyed all the animals and the quietness. It was quite a novelty! 

We stayed out for something to eat before coming home to our little cottage. 

On the first night or two at the cottage, Faith lit the log fire. Even though the days had been so sunny and hot, the cottage was really cold inside! 

I'm sure she will agree with me when I say...they were adequate fires.

BUT look at MY FIRES!!! 

The fire lighting skills I learnt as a child in Ireland came back to me! We always had a fire where ever we lived in Ireland. 

I make a damned good fire! 

Actually, I was a little worried that I was going to set the chimney on fire (as I did once in one of our houses  *ahem*). 

On the day before I was due to go home we went for a trip to the seaside resort of Llandudno. 

We had been so lucky with the weather in Wales and this day was so warm and bright. Perfect!

We walked right down to the end of the pier, grabbed a drink from a cafe, and sat outside for hours and hours and put the world to rights.

Whilst we chatted away, we made a 5 Year Life Plan on a napkin; what we wanted to achieve, how were were going to do it and how long those achievements would take. 

I did write a little bit more on my 5 Year Life Plan napkin ;) 

My last day in Wales was on Faith's birthday, and her boyfriend arrived to stay for the rest of the week. 

Faith got tons of lovely presents (mine were the best of course!) and my Step Dad gave her an absolutely beautiful tea set (which I think rightly should have formed part of my inheritance haha), from Kure in Japan. Roger, aka Steps, bought it when he was serving overseas in the Army. When you hold the cups up to the light, a face appears. 

A Birthday Card Tree! 

As always, I was very sad to say goodbye to my best friend. We had such a fantastic time, and really enjoyed some quality best friend time! And I survived being offline and not having a phone signal. 

In fact, weeks later, I'm still feeling the benefit of the break and it really re-charged my batteries. 

As for renting a holiday cottage, I would definitely do it again! 

And I'm off for a mini break this weekend. I am off to have in Italian adventure in Milan! 

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