New Year Tag

I say this every year but this year seems to have whizzed by so quickly I’m not even sure where to begin. Over the summer we bought our very first house and, if I’m being very honest here, it was bloody stressful (I almost got teary at some point in the process) but it was definitely worth it.  I have to say, putting up our first Christmas tree was pretty special and I made a Mario angel decoration for the top of the tree:

In terms of how the house is going (DIY wise) it’s been going pretty well. We said adios to the laminate flooring (within half a day to be correct) and we now have beautiful wooden floors that are in pretty good knick. The plan for the coming months is to get the floors sanded, varnished, and probably sitting on the floor celebrating with a couple of beers!

I started the post about the house and veered off on a tangent… Now going swiftly back to my original point; my Etsy shop will be closed on Wednesday 21st as I’m going to be away for a few days. I need to rest my head and at the same time fill my belly up with food and watch Christmas films. All orders will be posted on Thursday 22nd December and it’ll be open again on Tuesday 3rd January… 2017!

Bring on 2017!

 

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Shop

Christmas ended pretty quickly, right? By the way, I say this every year. I spent nearly two weeks between Newcastle and Doncaster, flitting up and down visiting Sam and my folks in Doncaster.

I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Sam, his mum and the dog called Darcy! He’s so cute and fluffy like a walking cloud!

Darcy

Darcy.

We travelled back down to Doncaster to see my folks on Boxing Day and it had started to snow. The next day the whole street was covered in thick layer of snow! Not so fun when it turns to slush though.

Snow

So far, I’ve spent the rest of the week here enjoying the peace and quietness of home. I’ve been overfed by my parents- can’t complain! We had two hot pots in one day, again, pretty awesome! Hot pots are good when it’s a little bit cold and you just want something warm and hot to eat. The way to eat a hot pot is to start with a savoury soup and it can be spicy, which I think is the best way to eat it! Or you could just add miso soup as the stock plus carrots, taro, tomatoes and sweetcorn to add more flavour to it. You then put meat, veg, noodles, fish balls, prawns etc. into a pot of soup and you just wait until it’s cooked basically. It’s also a great way of eating bits of everything and sharing tasty food at the same time.

Hot pot.

I’m sort of ready to go back to work on Monday… not. Sigh.

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Miscellaneous

I don’t even know where to start with this post…. This year has been pretty crazy! It’s gone so fast and, I know I say this every year, but my goodness it’s rather scary. I have seen friends get engaged, have children, moved away, gone traveling…. this year has been full on to say the least.

The biggest and happiest event was being engaged to Sam- yay! It was really surreal for the first few days and I remember feeling slightly dazed. Now we need to start planning our wedding…

I started working full time back at my previous company for a while and I really enjoyed it (pretty sure most people won’t say this!) However, I finally got onto a CELTA course and I finished work because I couldn’t keep up with the work load. However, it was the best option as I’m now looking for work in Hong Kong, which is another exciting and amazing news. I’ve been planning to go for ages and I feel like it’s finally happening.

Oh, and how could I forget my massive tattoo on my arm at Nine Tails??! It was something in the pipelines for many years and I decided to take the plunge and just go for it. I like doing things at the spur of the moment- as you can tell.

I started taking up my driving lessons- again. I kept on stopping and starting in the past but I’m 25 now and I should know how to drive by now. For some people driving isn’t so important but for me, Doncaster isn’t exactly transport friendly and most of my friends drive (in Doncaster that is). Its just been something that’s been dragging on for ages and I don’t mind driving as well!

The illustration side of things have been quiet but I guess that’s because I was working full-time for a year. But, I was part of the Picture Show with some very good friends. It went okay, I’m not going to go in too much detail, but it was definitely a worthwhile experience.

I did a few things here and there this year. I was part of the Meenan Sisters Feminist Show at a gallery down in Vyner Street in Bethnal Green and I made some new work for my Etsy Shop.

Next year apart from going to Hong Kong, I am planning on doing a PGCE as an illustration lecturer in the FE sector. I’ve always wanted to go down the teaching route and it seems to make sense to be a lecturer. I’m planning on doing illustration maybe part-time but my plan is to find the right course somewhere in the UK and take a year out and study, study, study.

Thanks for supporting me and I can’t say it enough. Happy New Year and let’s hope 2013 will be a good one! x

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Miscellaneous

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