Monday 20 January 2014

New hair colour.

So one of my goals for 2014 was to experiment with my hair a tad more. I enjoyed having blue hair but as I have a deadline for returning to my office job I thought it best to use my maternity leave as an opportunity to try a few different hair colours.

So I went to the hair dressers on Saturday and got them to dye my hair.

So this is the new look! It's not a million miles from the old colour and I had hoped for a brighter green but I only bought one tub of Apple Green dye and I needed two so we mixed a bit of blue in there.  It's now a kind of teal/peacock green colour which is still nice but took a little time for me to notice the difference in the colour. However, it did help that I was complimented on my hair within ten minutes of leaving the hairdressers though! So I'll stick with this for the next month or so I think before going for another change.

Tuesday 14 January 2014

14 goals for 2014.

It appears to be the norm to make a grand declaration of some vague desires that you resolve to stick to and then quietly despair as you have a human moment and break your self imposed vows. I've done this several times over the years and never quite managed to practise my instruments daily, lose weight or eat healthier. The thing is it seems quite counter intuitive declaring that you are going to eat healthier when there's chocolate everywhere the eye can see. (That's why I like to eat the chocolate then consider exercise and fruit...)

This year I've decided that resolutions are pointless wastes of breath and instead a list of 14 goals to do by the time 2014 is over seems like the way forward.  So here is my proposed list of goals for 2014.

1. Make a blog plan to help with writing You'll get what you're Given! I've been a sporadic blogger over the years but I'm slowly learning that if I don't organise nothing happens. (This is also true of a few other things such as meeting up with friends and getting anything done around cats/small children.)
A taster of what happens when I don't organise!

2. Bake birthday cakes for my loved ones. I didn't bake a cake for Paul last year, it would've probably made me sick but I think that this year me and the food processor can whip something up.

Something like this but a bit better hopefully!
3. Watch all the DVDs that I've got in my collection but haven't quite got around to watching yet... and return the ones that I've borrowed in the past. (Whoops!)

4. This one is about reading I started writing it but it got a bit long so to summarise don't just read quirk classics, Terry Pratchett, Jasper Fforde or The Walking Dead books and also read to my son as much as possible.

5. Try to make proper fudge again but it goes wrong remember that I can always make chocolate fudge.

6. Go to more parties and make an effort to see my friends and family more.

7. Dye my hair a few more colours before returning to work, blue is cool obviously but I may as well make the most of this freedom to try purple, green and red right?

My lovely blue locks... for now!
8. Have a bit of a CD purge.  Of course there are many CDs in the house from bands I know and love but there are also lots of old demos which I didn't like six or seven years ago and probably still don't like now.

Obviously the Belle and Sebastian & CSS cds are staying!
9. Stay silly. It's all well and good being a responsible adult but sometimes it's good to just be a bit silly and make up nonsense songs or talk in Gollum voices for no reason.


10. Travel a bit more and actually have a holiday rather than just a couple of nights in a London Travelodge. (This will probably turn out to be one of the hardest goals.)


11. See a few more live bands and acts as I count the number of gigs I went to last year on one hand. This makes me sad. (I also plan to award bonus points for each time I manage to take my son to a gig.)

12. Try out more new recipes from the many recipe books that have accumulated over the years.  Preferably one a month with a blog post but more if time/responsibilities allow.

13. Do at least ten active things this year, especially things I couldn't do last year. I plan to count walking and swimming in this so now I need to find eight more things...
I'd like to do a bit more skating this year for a start..

14. Don't get stressed about things I have no control over and formulate strategies for the things I can control.

I'm looking forward to seeing what I manage to achieve over the next year!  

Tuesday 7 January 2014

Who inspires you?

Back in May I tried to blog once a day as part of a challenge set by Rosalium and one of the topics which was set on one of the days was: who inspires you.  Now I thought about this back in May and at that time I didn't feel capable of answering this question.

I guess that the issue was because I don't think that there isn't just one person who inspires me.

When I was a child I wanted to do lots of different things like farming, acting, film directing and writing.  It was possibly through an addiction to Enid Blyton books that I decided to start writing stories in the first place.  Although when my short stories started to read like mini carbon copies I was encouraged to read other books....

I love reading and I used to read whatever I could get my hands on and for this reason I don't tend to pay a great deal of attention to authors lives. (Unless I've decided to write a dissertation on them and in the case of those writers that was research/procrastination...)

Over the past year I've struggled with writing whilst pregnant and since giving birth to my son trying to work out how to write around caring for him.  What has this got to do with who inspires you?  Well hold your horses I'm coming to that!

Over the last year I've struggled to find time to write anything let alone my poor neglected novels and for that reason my respect and admiration for J K Rowling has grown.  I say grown because I have enjoyed the Harry Potter books since I was a young girl and used to read some of them by the light of the street light that illuminated my the street outside my house.

When I was despairing to Paul about how I felt like I was losing myself not being able to write whilst pregnant and worrying if I'd ever write again after the baby came he reminded me about J K Rowling. Daft as it may sound but it made me feel more positive.

Now I wouldn't say that she is my only inspiration but she's probably the main famous one I have.  The rest are people you've never heard of like my family members who've persevered in the hunt for a job in their chosen career despite the difficulties they've faced, who have gone through tough times and come out stronger and more positive, those that have had a chance to adventure and taken it. As well as friends who have worked hard and are now living their dreams.

I don't think I ever really envisioned what my life as an adult would be like as a child but I know that in many ways I've probably got what many people dream of. A house, car, little family and a job which I quite like. Despite that I don't think I've quite achieved all of my dreams or grown up but I guess that I'm on my way and maybe one day when I look back that I might be able to match up to those people that inspire me.