30 Things About Me

As I haven’t blogged in so long I thought it would be cool to do a post with a bit more about me in, but instead of just doing a bio or something I thought I’d post a 30 Things About Me type thing! 

My health condition is: Generalized Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder, previously known as Joint Hypermobility Syndrome. I was diagnosed as a child over 20 years ago 

The worst symptom is: fatigue for sure 

This year I want to: improve my health as much as possible. And swim a mile

My starsign is: Scorpio. I mean technically now Libra but no. I’m such a Scorpio 

I wish I could: apply makeup. I just...can't

My favourite cheese is: Comté

One bizarre thing I love is: walking round empty-ish supermarkets, especially late at night. Looking at food on shelves makes me feel calm

On weekends I: mostly sleep and watch tv! I'd love to do more but I'm always shattered

The best thing to ever happen to me was: probably getting my job in publishing. It was my dream job & living in London was amazing

My favourite book is: both Saving Francesca and Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta 

When I'm ill I like to: watch mindless tv in bed while my boyfriend fetches me drinks and treats

The place I really want to travel to is: Cuba! I would love to go to Cuba 

Something I dislike about myself is: I'm incredibly self-indulgent 

I would love to move to: Edinburgh. That city has my heart

Everyday I take: at least 10 pills, but it can be up to 28 depending on pain levels! 

My favourite TV show is: historically, Buffy. More recently, Hannibal. On TV right now: Riverdale 

I really want to learn: French! 

If I won a million pounds tomorrow I would: buy a house, super boring

The most expensive item I own is: my MacBook Air. Worth every penny 

I'm really good at: swimming! I think my hypermobility helps me out here 

One food I hate is: mushrooms. In all forms and contexts 

I love making: homemade salsa. Time consuming but delicious 

An embarrassing fact about me is: after a shower I let our puppy lick the water droplets off my legs. She loves it! 

I couldn't live without: reading. Reading is and always has been my favourite thing to do

My favourite cuisine is: Mexican

I am obsessed with: skincare at the moment!

I really like that I: am very decisive 

My favourite item of clothing is: my Adidas Gazelles 

If I was treating myself I would buy: something from Lush, or really nice chocolate 

I find it hard to: motivate myself to exercise. It helps my condition but not in the short-term and so it’s difficult to make myself do it

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Jan - June 2018: What I'm Excited For

I thought it would be cool to highlight some of the books, TV shows and films I'm excited to see released in the first half of the year. I've limited myself to 5 of each otherwise we'd all be here forever!

Books

The Belles - Dhonielle Clayton (Feb)

A Spoonful of Murder - Robin Stevens (Feb)

Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adeyemi (March)

The Brightsiders - Jen Wilde (May)

All Of This Is True - Lygia Day Penaflor (May)

Bonus: I Was Born For  This - Alice Oseman (TBC)

Honestly I could easily list double the amount of books I have here, but I didn't want this post to be *too* long! These all sound incredible and I cannot wait for them. The Belles has been getting loads of positive early reviews and just sounds incredible! I really cannot wait for my beloved Daisy and Hazel to be back in A Spoonful of Murder - I've missed them! Children of Blood and Bone got tonnes of buzz at acquisition and sounds like an amazing fantasy read. I loved Jen's first book Queens of Geek so I'm excited for her upcoming The Brightsiders and then All Of This Is True sounds so meta and weird and cool and just YES. Alice Oseman has confirmed her latest book should be out spring 2018 and it just sounds incredible. I have loved both of her previous books so cannot wait for this one.

TV Shows

Dancing On Ice (Jan)

Riverdale 2b (Jan)

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 3 (Jan)

Black Lightning (Jan)

Jessica Jones (March)

My favourite thing about Jan is the return of many TV shows! You may have noticed these are a combination of comic book adaptations and reality TV - two of my fave categories! Dancing On Ice has been gone FOREVER so I am very excited to see it return! Drag Race is one of my fave TV shows EVER and the last season of All Stars was excellent so I have high hopes for this one. Then ofc we have the return of Riverdale which was one of my fave shows of 2017, the return of Jessica Jones which I feel like I have been waiting forever for, and the start of Black Lightning which features a black retired superhero vigilante and sounds so good!

Films

Lady Bird

Black Panther

Tomb Raider

Love, Simon

Ocean's Eight

Lady Bird is a film I've heard so much about from people in the states so I'm really excited that we'll be getting it in the UK this year. I went for more of a mix of films than just featuring every Marvel release between now and the end of June. Black Panther is the Marvel film I'm most looking forward to this year; it looks so good and I'm so excited to see a more diverse cast on screen. I do kinda like the original Tomb Raider films despite them being kinda terrible, and I'm hoping this outing can improve on them. I adore Alicia Vikander and don't think she's turned in a bad performance. Love, Simon is an adaptation of a YA book I love: Simon vs the Homosapiens Agenda and I'm SO SO excited to see a film about a GAY TEENAGER in the cinema! Ocean's Eight cannot be bad given that outstanding female cast. I can't wait.

What are you excited for this year?

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2018: Small Goals and Stretch Goals

I've never actually been one to make too many resolutions, but at the moment with being off work my  life feels a little unstructured and out of control. As a result I've come up with a series of small goals that I want to achieve while I'm off work but also to carry through to my return. I've also come up with a series of stretch goals I'd love to achieve. 

Small goals

Out of bed and dressed everyday: I am really bad for not doing this. On a bad pain/fatigue day I often stay in bed all day, despite the fact that when I DO get out of bed I actually feel better. So I want to do this daily even if it's only for a little bit.

Do my physio everyday: I got really good at this then the festive period got in the way. So I want to bring this back in. My physio has 3 parts: stretching exercises, pilates exercises and weights. The weights I added in myself because my shoulders are my worst joint and the muscles around them often get tense and sore. I notice an immediate effect when I do this so I really need to keep it up.

Skincare routine everyday: I have pretty much got my skincare routine now but when I feel ill it's one of the first things to fall by the wayside which is silly given that it takes literally a few minutes and really makes me feel better.

Maintain changing bedding fortnightly: I brought this in in 2017 and stuck to it. I was terrible for getting a bit lazy when it came to bedding changes, but regular ones make me feel much better, especially given how much time I spend in bed. 

Practice French daily: I really want to learn French and I've been practicing with 2 apps: Duolingo and Memrise. I want to do this daily in 2018. 

Stretch goals

Swim a mile: I was doing really well with swimming, I got up to being able to swim 1KM but I haven't been for a long time. Not only do I want to get back to swimming, I want to build my lengths up so I can swim a mile. 

Go to the cinema 30 times: I LOVE the cinema and I have a Cineworld card, but with being so ill this year I haven't been as much. In 2016 I went to the cinema 40 times but in 2017 I only managed 20. So I'm splitting the difference and hoping I can stretch to 30 times in 2018. I'm not setting a monthly goal for this as it depends on what films are out/how I'm feeling.

Give blood: I've been meaning to do this for AGES. I had a tattoo in November so I will have to wait a while but I'm determined to finally do this in 2018. 

Learn 5 new recipes: I find cooking hard. All the chopping and standing and lifting/carrying of heavy things. I can usually only do it with an assistant to help. My repertoire of dishes is embarrassingly small so I'd like to increase this by 5 in 2018. 

Read 70 books: I managed 50 in 2017, which is way behind the 100 I used to get. So I'm hoping in 2018 I can increase this to 70. 

Do you have any goals for 2018? Big or small, let me know!

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Looking Back At 2017

I feel like whenever bloggers return from a long absence they write a post explaining where they've been. I can't really say anything other than...life happened. Things went a bit wrong. But I'd like to get back into blogging if I can and felt like a post recapping 2017 was a good start!

2017 has, overall, been a pretty shit year. Our beautiful, beautiful dog Mabel died very suddenly in January. My health has declined severely to the point I am now signed off work sick and have been for 2 months now. My mum had a prolonged hospital stay in the summer that left me looking after a young puppy and a house and still maintaining my job (though my mum is doing much better now so it was for the good). And obviously it was a very shit year for the world at large. There were some light spots in the dark though, and that's what I'd prefer to focus on now. 

Our beautiful Mabel just after midnight on New Years Day

Despite my worsening health I managed 7 holidays this year! I went to: Budapest in January, Wroclaw in March, Rome in May, Cologne in July, Prague in September, Edinburgh in October and Lisbon in November. I feel like I am now the queen of reasonably priced holidays as this lot cost me probably just over a grand. I feel like this was a good mix of holidays; I went to 5 countries I hadn't been to before, went back to Cologne which I first visited over a decade ago with school, and went back to my favourite city: Edinburgh. I think Rome and Budapest were probably my favourite out of the bunch! It was amazing to finally go to Italy and it was so warm and lovely and the city is so full of treasures. And Budapest was icy and freezing but in that clear, clean, crisp cold way that is just wonderful. I'm hoping to get some posts up about these trips! I'm so grateful to my various travel buddies for being sympathetic and understanding about my limitations and not making me feel ba when we had to miss things!

Rome - I loved all the architectural layers. Thousands of years worth of structures

In Lisbon

We also got a puppy! We found our house empty and sad without our beloved Mabel, so we welcomed little Agatha into our home in March. She was a bit of a handful at first but now at nearly a year old she's settled into a lovely dog. She's so sweet and affectionate and even though we all still miss Mabel, its really nice to have another dog to love. 

Our sweet Agatha 

I also got a tattoo this year! I went at the end of November with my best friend and that was really special. I've wanted this specific tattoo for a long time so I'm really happy I finally got it! Flecti Non Frangi translates to 'bending not breaking', which I think is pretty apt for a hypermobile person! 

Even though my health has gone in the wrong direction this year, I did take some steps forward. I eventually got a new medication added into my regimen which I think is working. I started taking Magnesium which I think was helping, but then I stopped...uhh. I restarted recently. I managed to see a physio who gave me a full stretching routine to help with my pain and muscle tightness and I started hydrotherapy. I'm hoping this will lead into more exercise in the new year. Lately I've been trying to go on more walks with Agatha to get more exercise as well. 

A small 2017 thing I'm proud of is making my skincare regime cruelty free. It's something I really wanted to do but I had existing none-CF products I wanted to use up first. Everything I use is now CF, though I do need to work on my haircare routine as some elements aren't CF yet. I also really want to work on reducing my environmental impact as much as possible in 2018, as I made small inroads this year.

And I think that's about it! I already have some plans in place for 2018 and I'm hoping it will be a better year. 

Christmas - a lovely one to end 2017 with

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My Etsy Addiction #6

Welcome to the sixth edition of my Etsy Addiction series! As established in my first My Etsy Addiction post, I am an Etsy Addict. Not necessarily just buying, but also browsing, favouriting, planning future gifts. 

I decided to take advantage of this addiction for blogging purposes, and create a regular series of posts showcasing some of my favourite Etsy finds. TPlease be aware, some of the items I feature will be from shops based outside of the UK, so the shipping costs can be extensive and there can also be customs charges involved. All photos featured are from the Etsy listings.

As Pokemon Go is all the rage rn, what about this on-trend and stylish Pokeball necklace from JodiePopeJewellery

These quirky coasters from YouBadCat are perfect for British living rooms, given how much we discuss the weather!

This beautiful, eye-catching phone case from PapioPress

This delicate I Capture the Castle brooch from CaptureTheCastleShop is perfect for literary types

This sleek and elegant copper tray from Marbleandmetal

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July in Review

Oh July. You've been an up and down month for sure. I finally got back into the groove of reading, thanks to Jenny Colgan's books, and we had some glorious hot days, plus I've really enjoyed playing Pokemon Go since it released earlier in the month. Most excitingly I went down to London to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child which was just exceptional. But I've also experienced a lot of pain in July. Partly down to the increased walking I've been doing thanks to Pokemon Go, but also not, and it's made this month rather uncomfortable. I've also felt generally down, which hasn't helped much!

Books Read in July

The Second Love of My Life - Victoria Walters
Billy and Me - Giovanna Fletcher
The Little Shop of Happy-Ever After - Jenny Colgan
Little Beach Street Bakery - Jenny Colgan

Favourite Book of July

The Little Shop of Happy-Ever After - Jenny Colgan

July 2016 will forever be the month I discovered Jenny Colgan's adult fiction. I read The Little Shop because it was 99p on Kindle and adored it so swiftly ordered more. They're funny and food-filled and really enjoyable escapism. I'm looking forward to reading more! 

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Books Acquired in July

The Second Love of My Life - Victoria Walters (Kindle)

Billy and Me - Giovanna Fletcher (Kindle)

The Little Shop of Happy-Ever After - Jenny Colgan (Kindle)

Little Beach Street Bakery - Jenny Colgan

Summer at the Little Beach Street Bakery - Jenny Colgan

Rosie Hopkin's Sweetshop of Dreams - Jenny Colgan

The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris - Jenny Colgan

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Films Seen at the Cinema in July

Now You See Me 2

The Legend of Tarzan
Ghostbusters 
Star Trek Beyond

Well, Ghosbusters was just fantastic wasn't it? One of the best films I've seen so far this year for sure. I also really enjoyed NYSM2 and Star Trek Beyond, though the dialogue in the latter was really terrible!

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Catch Up On This Month's Blog Posts

It's been less of a blogging month this month, but I posted about The True Cost of Chronic Illness, as well as sharing another of my Etsy Addiction posts. I also shared my One Year On update, and some tips for playing Pokemon Go while chronically ill. 

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In August I'm really looking forward to an event with one of my favourite authors: Maggie Stiefvater! That's actually happening tomorrow. Then later in the week I'm super excited to be going to a midnight showing of The Suicide Squad. Then I have a trip to Newcastle to see Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan in No Man's Land, and of course another Bank Holiday Monday! Books-wise, I'm looking forward to the release of The Potion Diaries: The Royal Tour by Amy Alward. I read the first book last year (it's now one of Zoella's Book Club choices) and loved it, so I have high hopes for the sequel. I'm hoping August will be a good month. 

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My Etsy Addiction #5

As established in my first My Etsy Addiction post, I am an Etsy Addict. Not necessarily just buying, but also browsing, favouriting, planning future gifts. 

I decided to take advantage of this addiction for blogging purposes, and create a regular series of posts showcasing some of my favourite Etsy finds. This is part the fifth. Please be aware, some of the items I feature will be from shops based outside of the UK, so the shipping costs can be extensive and there can also be customs charges involved. All photos featured are from the Etsy listings.

These modern and stylish copper-dipped concrete plant pots from SortCement

This daintily out-of-this-world planet necklace from WrensHandiwork

This super cute decorative miniature woodland from SketchInc

This travel-ready toiletries bag from CamillaBDesigns

This very gothic, tarot-card inspired print from LadyGloom

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June in Review

June has been an odd month. There have been some really positive bits: visits from friends, meals out, a trip to the theatre to see an adaptation of The Night Watch (so good). But it's also been awful. I've been ill, I've done barely any structured exercise, only doing some walking and some physio exercises at home, and finally some swimming this week. Add in the horrible weather we've been having, that horrific referendum result and the subsequent fall out, and not even Wimbledon starting this week has been able to cheer me up. 

Books Read in June

Me Before You - Jojo Moyes
This Savage Song - V.E Schwab

Favourite Book of June

Oh man, I totally failed at reading this month. I read Me Before You after seeing the film as I was interested in the differences. I have to say I thought the book was a lot more problematic and also a lot less entertaining. I don't think Jojo Moyes' writing style is for me. I really enjoyed This Savage Song, though it took me a long time to get into it and it's probably my least favourite of Victoria Schwab's books. By default it's my favourite of the month.

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Books Acquired in June

I bought You Know Me Well and This Savage Song in Waterstones at the beginning of the month. I actually already read YKMW a while back, when the publisher I worked for had it on submission. I enjoyed This Savage Song, but not as much as I expected to/enjoyed the author's other books. I haven't read Summer Days and Summer Nights yet--I'm waiting for a suitably sunny day. I loved the Christmas anthology from last year and got the US covers of both as I dislike the gaudy UK ones. 

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Films Seen at the Cinema in June

Me Before You
Mother's Day
Independence Day: Resurgence 

June has been the month of easy viewing. I went to see Me Before You despite the issues surrounding it, and while I totally agree with what people are saying about it in terms of representation, I actually really enjoyed a lot of this film! Mother's Day was...mixed. Some funny moments, some terribleness. Independence Day 2 was also mixed: a lot of the humorous elements felt forced and fell really flat and I didn't really care about many of the characters. Jeff Goldblum being in it certainly helped, though. 

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Catch Up On This Month's Blog Posts

My first post of the month was a report on my recent holiday to London and Stockholm, followed by a post about how I'm no longer embarrassed about my illness. I then shared the 4th of my Etsy Addiction posts. I wrote a guide to the types of pain I experience, as well as sharing a portion of my travel wishlist. I wrote about everyday struggles; some small, mundane things I find difficult to do, and shared the 3rd of my Rediscovering Manchester posts. This week I also posted about the frustration of not living my best life.

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I'm really hoping July will be a better month. I have some fun stuff coming up: the second week of Wimbledon, a trip to London that brings a visit to the Harry Potter Studio Tour AND I'm going to see The Cursed Child! I'm so, so excited about this. I'm going with my boyfriend and lots of friends and it will hopefully be so much fun. I'm looking forward to the releases of Tarzan, Ghostbusters, Star Trek and The BFG and to the continuation of The Catch on Sky Living which I have been LOVING. 

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Rediscovering Manchester #3 Common Bar // Museum of Science and Industry

Despite living in Manchester most of my life, I've never felt particularly bonded with it. I prefer the other two cities I've lived in, Liverpool and London, and I've never felt like a true Mancunian; despite being very proud of being Northern.

But I'm back here now, and here I'm staying for at least the foreseeable future. So I decided I would give Manchester a chance; I would visit places, revisit places, wander around, try and get a feel for the city I've called home for over 20 years. And because I never do anything without an ulterior motive, I figured this would also make an excellent blog post series. This is the third of my Rediscovering Manchester posts.

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This edition comes with bonus Americans in the form of friends Lili and Sarah, who were on Study Abroad programmes until last month and who came to visit me for a few days. We headed to Common bar for food as they had good veggie options. Common underwent a refurb in early 2015 and has quite a minimalist, modern theme now, vaguely Scandinavian and there was definitely a nice casual, chilled out vibe to the place. 

I ordered deep fried pickles and fries with a side of soured cream. I know, I'm like incapable of ordering a proper meal anymore. It was super delicious though; the batter on the pickles lacked some colour but was nice and crispy and the fries were properly seasoned and delicious. There was enough of both that I had enough to share and felt full afterwards. 

I had a hot Vimto to drink, mostly so my American companions could try it. I forgot how much I like hot Vimto! I approve of any Mancunian eatery that has this fine beverage on its menu. 

I've seen so much about the cakes at Common which are made by a company called Blawd. Unfortunately I was a little disappointed with the selection on the day we visited; there were no brownies or doughnuts, clearly the day after a bank holiday is not the day to go. All the cakes had something I don't like (Coffee, cardamom and walnut, lemon, elderflower and white chocolate, carrot and courgette) which admittedly is at least part down to my fussiness. I ended up opting for a coconut macaroon (not to be confused with a French Macaron) which was fine, but coconut macaroons are never going to be groundbreaking. 

We then headed to The Museum of Science and Industry, which I haven't been to since I was a kid. We got a little lost and walked the long way there but it was nice to see a bit more of the city. I love the outside of the building because it's so industrial - perfect for an industrial city! The front part of the inside has been completely redone since I last went, and is an homage to the technical side of Manchester's history which I really liked. The back room is all about Manchester's textile history because of course Manchester and its surrounding areas had lots of cotton mills during the Industrial Revolution. I liked the interactive elements of this area, and the mill in the middle of the room is a nice touch--they have daily demonstrations which we sadly missed. 

We moved upstairs to the experiments room, which is the thing I remember most about from visits as a child. A lot of the experiments are actually still there, which was very nostalgic, though some are looking a little shabby now/weren't working. It felt a little sparser than when I was a child and was a bit more open plan whereas when I was a child there were lots of black partitions separating parts of the floor which I always really liked. But I'm also much bigger now, so naturally the space would feel smaller. We had lots of fun trying to solve puzzles and things. 

We also visited the Air and Space hall, which I always loved a child. Full of old planes and cars, the hall is full of Mancunian vehicular history such as the Ford Model T, built in Trafford Park, and Rolls-Royce, which started life in Manchester. 

Visiting the museum was such a trip down memory lane for me; my family went all the time when I was a child but I hadn't been back for well over a decade. It was sad to see parts of it looking a little worn, but great to see that it's still a fab trip out with a lot to offer. 

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Oh, The Places I'll Go (I Hope)

I only really started travelling last year. I have anxiety about only a few things, but those things include: missing transport, getting lost, and big events. That pretty much sums up going on holiday. But at the end of 2014, I realised that I really wanted to focus on experiences, rather than things. Materialism wasn't making me all that happy, so I made a conscious effort to move into experience-driven purchasing, and a big part of this is holidays.

My boyfriend and I started small: a long weekend in Edinburgh. You get a train there, it takes 3 hours (from Manchester) you don't need a passport, no language barrier, your 3G works. We moved onto Paris in June last year: another train, this one actually shorter but with security and passports required. We caved and bought internet for Googlemaps after some navigating woes. I realised I really like going away. Since then, my boyfriend and I have been to Athens, I've been back to Paris with a friend and last month I went to visit a friend in Stockholm. My boyfriend and I have a trip to Berlin booked for October.

There are so many places I want to go, things I want to see. Here are some of them.

ROME

The reason Athens was our second holiday is that my boyfriend and I both love ancient history and myths. Going to see the Parthenon was a life goal for both of us and a really profound moment. So top of our travel list is Rome: all those ancient ruins, beautiful churches and buildings. Perfetto.

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BUDAPEST

They have a whole museum dedicated to Paprika, a beautiful cemetery and a park full of Communist statues. Plus, thermal baths. Budapest is definitely somewhere I want to go.

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JERUSALEM

My obsession with the ancient extends to Jerusalem, one of the oldest cities in the world. Also one of the holiest, and while neither my boyfriend nor I are religious, we're pretty obsessed with religious sites, buildings, atmosphere and Jerusalem certainly has plenty of all.  A friend recommended that I also visit Tel-Aviv, so it'd be great to combine them both!

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LISBON

Oldest. Bookshop. In. The. World. Nuff said, really. 

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NEW YORK

I'm a city girl and New York is the ultimate city. There's just so much I want to do/see here that I can't even begin to list things.

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COPENHAGEN

As you may have seen, I went to Stockholm recently and had a great time, so I'd love to experience more Scandinavian cities. Copenhagen is next on my Scandi list!

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ST PETERSBURG

I’ve always had a bit of an obsession with Russian history, especially the Romanov era. Why St Petersburg? 2 words: Winter Palace 

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GIZA

My ancient fascination doesn't quite spread to the Egyptians, but who doesn't want to see the pyramids at least once in their lifetime?

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BRUGES

This one is mainly for my boyfriend, who is obsessed with going. However I did recently discover you can get a boat there from Hull and have a little mini cruise and I really like the idea of that.

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MARRAKECH

Marrakech has always seemed really exotic to me...I love the idea of wandering around the souks, drinking sweet Moroccan mint tea, visiting a Hammam, taking an excursion to the Atlas mountains. Bliss.

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Are any of these places on your travel wishlist>

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