Mini-me?

One of my libraryland friends brought a picture over to show me yesterday. She said, "Look it's just like a mini version of you"

It definitely made us all chuckle. And I would agree, it kinda could be a mini version of me...

Rainy days and Mondays...

...always get me down. It's nice to cast my mind back and remember the sun and the fun. 

 

Feeling very familiar...

I know this time of year so well. It's the time when you feel like a crazy dog running around in circles trying to chase his tail and never...quite...reaching...it! I'm sure I blog about this same topic every year and I wouldn't want to let anyone down. So here it is. The crazy dog time of year when time seems to whizz by at an astonishing rate:

 Check that out, even time flies in Paris! 

So knowing the day when meltdown was about to approach, this year I played it smart and booked a day off. I got up at the same time as I would to go to work, prepared a mental list, and set to it. At 11.39am I'm feeling like I've already achieved a whole bunch of stuff and made a really good start. Here's the achievements so far:

• Finished the ironing
• Changed the bedding
• Washed the bedding
• Hung the bedding out to dry
• Emptied a wardrobe so that we can pass it on to Fizz
• Made a Christmas shopping list
• Ordered a couple of presents from said Christmas shopping list
• Arranged to collect a meat package that I ordered via Groupon
• Rearranged a courier to come and deliver a parcel 
• Had a well earned cuppa and watched Stephen Fry play with gadgets
• Sorted out some publicity for theatre
• Sitting down to type up blog post

There's still a whole heap of stuff to do but this is definitely a good start. I'd even go so far as to admit that I'm a little bit buzzy or should that be busy, heehee. It feels so good though and means that the weekend can be spent doing nice things as well as doing busy stuff. 

I know it's the time of year for it, it's the same for everyone, people trying to organise stuff, trying to avoid the urge to punch people who smugly tell you that not only have they got all their Christmas presents but wrapped them as well, receiving Christmas cards from people who are so organised they've written them early to save on stamps - gawd who are these people?! They clearly have more time than me!

But I don't feel disheartened. Not any more. Today is my action day! But I reckon that by 9pm I'll be ready for my bed! Best get back to it. Soonest, good blog friends. 

Starting over

When you were 8 did you want to be a teacher? Or a nurse? Doctor? Vet? Insert 8 year old chosen job title here. I'm pretty sure that when I was 8 I had plans to be a teacher. Mind you my 8 year old self also used to go through my mam's catalogue picking out which cot I would have in my nursery and which buggy my 2 children would need to make sure they were comfortable...ah those days; I wonder what my 8 year old self would think if they could see me now? I like to think that self would look at me and think yep, she rocks, even if she's not exactly what I had in mind...

The reason I'm thinking of my 8 year old self is that I'm trying to write a personal statement that will essentially help me start all over again which got me thinking about what I used to think I was going to do for a job and career. I'm not going to reveal too much at the moment as it's still very much in the planning and hoping it will happen stage. When (and if) it's finalised I will of course do the grand revealing on this, my old faithful blog. 

I think though, fundamentally, I struggle with the idea of just choosing one thing as what I want changes on an almost daily basis depending on what I've seen or done or read that has inspired me. Take today for example. Today I would have merrily left work after a crackin' lunch with my ladies, come home and packed a bag, and taken myself here:

Spent a couple of hours looking round for the perfect apartment:

Before heading here:

For some quality cafe and delicious patisserie:

I really should stop reading books about living in Paris - all it does is make me want to do it! One day...

In the meantime I shall stick with my secret(ish) plans, survive the 5 days that start on Monday and end on Friday and live for the 2 glorious weekend days before we start all over again. Au revoir...

Weekend adventures

Generally I firmly believe that weekends are the best. I definitely believe that weekends when you get to go away and have adventures are even better than the best - they quite simply rock! This weekend took us up to Alnwick for some adventures in:

Interiors:

Beach walking:

Bird watching:

Spying on otters:

Autumn glory:

And jolly japes all round:

Roll on the next adventure!

Fireworks or mystery sea creatures?

Closing down

It's time, yet again, to close the garden down for Winter. I have no idea where this year has gone. I know I probably say that every year at around the same time, but seriously, November already? How?! 

Despite the lack of sunshine and extremely wet conditions the year hasn't been too bad. We had huge success with the green beans, enjoying them with practically every meal for a couple of months, and the peppers and chilis were doing really well. If we'd had more sunshine this little lot would be a huge variety of colours:

I think these two are my prize specimens:

So it's a fond farewell until the season begins again. I've moved the strawberries into the greenhouse to let them stay warm and dry over the winter, and might even leave them in there. It would be good to keep them away from the pecking birds and in the warm. Oh and they're keeping the two lemon trees company - two lemon trees that I grew from two lemon pips. I have faith that one year (who knows how long down the line) I will one day find a lemon on one of them, maybe even two. A girl can dream...