On hold...

Since returning from San Diego I haven't wanted to blog at all.  For a long time the fun of blogging had gone away and compiling content felt like a chore not a pleasure, no hobby should become a chore.  I originally set this blog up three years ago to chart the progress of our hand-made wedding, at the time I enjoyed prattling on about my everyday life but in the last year and a half it has felt too introspective.  Whilst reflecting on your life is good, it's not good when you feel a compulsion to document everything about it just to have blog content.  Also, who am I kidding?  There are many blogs out there with much better content, photography and energy..

This isn't an end, just a pause.  Thanks for sticking with me this far!

#100happydays

Wow where did the last month go?  Travelling, working, holidaying and not blogging have been the go for me and I am very behind with my #100happydays so I'm going to bundle a bunch of them together.  Here are days 71-86:

71. Mewster investigating...

72. MozzyMr and I visited the Gilbert and George retrospective at the RAMM museum in Exeter, it was great but we weren't allowed to take photos so here is a picture of some taxidermy.  I visit to the RAMM wouldn't be complete without a visit to the bird room!

73. I LOVE this time of year, all the seedlings coming to life in the polytunnel, when you pull back the doors it smells amazing!

74. One of the many perks of working in a University International Office is getting snacks from around the world.  Now I appreciate wasabi peas are not difficult to get hold of in the UK however these blow your head off!

75. One tin foiled desk to send our colleague off!

76. More visits to London, this time to attend Secret Cinema, which involved dressing up in 1920's style clothing and having a lot of fun!  (Being Secret Cinema I can't really tell you anymore....)

77.  My runner beans were doing so well, until I planted them out before leaving for San Diego, when I got back they had been eaten by slugs.  Every last one of them.

78. Oh boy did I miss this little face whilst I was away, since returning she has been super clingy and appreciative of us being back.  

79. The rewards of all that hard work I put into making the back garden nice last year, so many of the plants I put in have established and are flourishing it's really nice to be out there in the evening.

80. The San Diego conference centre where I was based for the first week of my time in the US.  The conference was incredibly tiring but worth it, my hotel was a stones throw from the centre and every single day the sun shone!

81. Finally I had my last meeting and then I was on holiday!  MozzyMr joined me at the end of my week of work and we moved from the hotel I was staying in during the conference to an apartment North of Balboa Park.  This photo was taken in Balboa Park, so much colour!

82. It is fair to say we put on a little extra weight whilst we were abroad but hey you have to make the most of the food that's available to you!

83. San Diego had succulents and cacti absolutely everywhere you turned, I was in heaven!  My phone and my camera are jammed with pictures.

84. On our final evening we went out to the Harvey Milk American diner where I had this gin, it was supposed to be with tonic but I'm fairly certain they put soda water with it.  It wasn't that nice to be honest, but I did love the mason jar it came in.

85. My draw for the world cup sweepstake at work, not too shabby.

86. Last weekend I was in London once more, my brother and I did the double show of the Drowned Man on Saturday and one show on the Sunday.  We had the executive tickets for the Sunday as it was to be my final show, all three shows were great and it is with a heavy heart that I look at this picture and think that it was my last time seeing it before the production closes.

#100happydays round up:

• Days 1 - 10
• Days 11 - 20
• Days 21 - 30
• Days 31 - 40
• Days 41 - 50
• Days 51 - 60
• Days 61 - 70

Apps I love

I may be addicted to my smartphone... I blame the apps, too many good apps out there!  Here are some more of my faves:

I'm surprised I've taken to meditation as much as I have, using the Headspace app to do short meditations everyday has made a dramatic difference to how I deal with almost everything in my life.  I love that I can have this resource with me wherever I go and would recommend the free 'Take 10' package you can download.

Ha, this Cat Snaps app is just daft, but I love that it means I get pictures of Mew such as this....

Printic is such an easy way to print your Instagram photos, I love that they are printed to look like Polaroids. I stick mine to the inside of the kitchen cupboards so that every time I make a cup of tea or fetch something I get to see them.

I've been shuffling back and forth to London quite a bit this year and without a doubt this has been the app I've used the most whilst visiting, it is the best tube map app I've come across.  It's really easy to use and the route planner is super quick and reliable.

My A - Z of books

I've mentioned before how I never really laugh out loud.  Not because I lack a sense of humour, a soul or any joy in my heart *gip*, I just don't laugh out loud seemingly.  I would love to, especially when I go to see a funny film or a comedian I look like I'm dead inside sat there with a slight smirk on my face nodding my appreciation like an emotionless robot.  SIGH.  What has this got to do with My A - Z of books?  Because this week is 'L' for 'Let's Pretend This Never Happened' by Jenny Lawson, and goddammit, it's made the list because it made me actually LOL!

Lawson's memoir is hilariously honest, engaging, ridiculous (zombie dog story) and her love of weird taxidermy only raises her further up the pedestal I am happy to place her on for making me LOL.   Lawson was a blogger before she was a writer and as such I found her style more engaging, she is a better storyteller, less focused on writing for other writers which seems to be a thing now.  I read a quote on Pinterest that said 'seeing a person reading a book you love is like having the book recommend the person', I think if I saw others reading this book, chuckling along to it there is a good chance we would get along.  

Allotment geekery

Less than a week to go before I start my San Diego adventure!  I am so excited but stressed as well, there is so much to do before I go and both MozzyMr and I have caught a cold.  It's like we're competing for most disgusting nose blow, or loudest cough the whole time.  On top of that I've bruised a bone in my foot, I'm not even sure how I've managed it but it has kept me from the gym and I was counting on these last few classes before I fly out to calm me down!

Last weekend we were in London attending Secret Cinema (which was awesome!) so all the allotment work that has been piling up is being condensed into this weekend.

The allotment is just bursting with all sorts of gorgeousness at the moment, these little flowers are everywhere at the moment, as are buttercups is that a thing this year?  I see them in abundance everywhere I turn.

This year I am trying my hand at companion planting, in this raised bed we have shallots and carrots.  Monty says the smell of the shallots should deter carrot root fly, as most of my crop of carrots were attacked last year I'm hoping this works... At any rate the shallots are popping up and doing well so that's good :)

The apples have started to make an appearance, we might give cider vinegar a try this year.  

That's a whole lotta egg shells right there.  We've been saving them up since the autumn (giving each shell a thorough wash before crushing and storing) so we can protect our runner beans from slug attack.  Since owning an allotment you start reusing things more and more, seemingly everything that is thrown away can be used in one way or another on the plot!

Life lately

I've been MIA of late.  Life is busy, but life is good so I don't mind it being busy, here is a little of what I have been up to:

1. Hanging out with this muppet

2. Mewster's new trick is to stand on our shoulders as we walk about the house, parrot cat!

3. Mewster obsessed much?  If there is a box to explore she'll be there.

4. Robo feeder broke for our last weekend trip so we just had to pile Mew's bowl high and hope she didn't eat it all at once (she didn't, good cat).

5. So much growth happening at the allotment, so much to do before we go away to San Diego eeeeeep!

6. As you can see there is still ALOT of digging grass out to be done at the plot :/

7. Sometimes after a shitty day the only thing that will make it better is gin.

8. Disney cake made by friend Katrina for other friend Marte who left work to return to her native Norway

9. To send her off in style we wrapped her whole desk in tinfoil, including the contents of her desk, our boss was PISSED about it.  

My A - Z of books

No image this week because the book I am referring to is actually in the shed on my allotment... This week 'K' is for Kevin Forbes, and his book 'Keeping an Allotment'.

MoMa bought it for me, it's a very straightforward guide to growing veg, no fancy photography and very functional illustrations.  The reason it has made it into my A - Z is because I am constantly referring to it, if I had a scan of it you would find mud on almost every page as I stand in the middle of the plot thumbing through it's pages to get advice on planting beans or carrots!

Here is a recap of my A-Z so far:

• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• H
• I
• J