Journeys Are My Diary

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Monthly Round-up – February 2017

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Watching: This month I watched Maze Runner, Sharknado 4, Anastasia, Sing, Batman Lego Movie and Green Lantern. I also watched Bitten, Helix and started Riverdale. As usual there was Dance Moms, Bones, New Girl, Big Bang Theory, Grimm, Blindspot, Casualty, Holby City, Let It Shine, Suits, Jane the Virgin and of course The Walking Dead started again.
Sewing & Making (for Closet Geek): February has been crazy busy with orders but seems to have gone in spurts. I listed Moana ears and bows in the store on January 30th and so that caused the first wave of crazy. February 1st was also the last day for my 2K giveaway box, but I also launched a new monthly giveaway later in the month which was Beauty and the Beast themed (not to mention a loop giveaway I had been participating in finished too). I fiddled with some new bows, got some of Megan’s artwork printed on postcards, tried out some candle designs and generally ploughed my way through orders. I made a duvet cover and pillowcase, then bunting to match. I tried to work on new ideas for dresses but never seemed to find time – but decided to look for boy models, so I might list boys clothes. All in all, it was hectic and that’s not even mentioning when I sewed my finger!

And in other news…
– This month we have definitely spent more time being sociable. One night we had our friends Jon and Becka around for games and ended up staying up till 3.30 in the morning. Another night we have Jon and Becka, plus Nat and Dan around for dinner and though Chris headed to bed early, we went well past midnight.
– Amy and I booked to go to Beauty and the Beast afternoon tea at The Kensington Hotel in London. It’s not till May but I’m already looking forward to it.
– Lily chopped her hair short! The decision came out of nowhere and luckily she hasn’t regretted it since but I couldn’t believe she actually decided to go through with it.


– Valentine’s Day happened! The night before, Chris and I had a M&S Valentine’s Meal because it was our one night without the girls in the week. Valentine’s Day itself I spent the day with the girls and my mum, playing board games. Then when Chris got home we all exchanged gifts (that’s a sort of new tradition we have now) and then we headed out for some food and the cinema to see Batman Lego movie.


– I treated myself to a new lipstick and nail polish from the L’Oreal Beauty and the Beast range. I had to order from Amazon Italy but I actually had some euros left on my travel card so it worked out well. The Beast lipstick that I picked is perfect, but I haven’t tried out the blue polish yet. Hopefully I’ll do a review!
– For Galentine’s Day I sent Amy and Liv a gift, plus gave Nat something when she came around later that week. In return Amy sent me a Gaston Pop Funko and I love him.
– I booked to go away for my birthday weekend and I’m so pleased I have. I’m desperate to get back to the Harry Potter Studios, especially now they have the Forbidden Forest though a bit sad Chris might not be able to come. I’m still hoping to throw a murder mystery the night before we go away though.
– Lily and I worked on and off on her chocolate project, largely through half term. When Pippa’s birthday came around I used everything I’d learnt about making ganache and baked an amazing (even if I do say so myself) chocolate cake for her.
– I reformatted my laptop as it was dying fast and I honestly thought I would need to buy a new one. However it seems much better and much faster now so hopefully I can last out a little longer!
– Got a letter from Megan’s school, commending her on her hard work (this is the second one I’ve had since September. She’s also up to 16 certificates, which she needs 10 merits for each (so 160 merits in total!).
– Finally came Pancake Day and in true form we had pancakes for both dinner and dessert. We had stuffed pancakes with chicken, followed by sweet pancakes with various toppings.

Looking forward to in March:
– Can’t really think what March has planned to be honest but I know it’s a fairly hectic month. There is Lily’s birthday to begin with, followed by Amy’s, followed by Chris’ and then finally Mother’s Day. Lily has a school trip and a school play in March, plus her chocolate project is due so I imagine that will make things even busier.
– Amy is coming to visit for the weekend of 17th-19th. I haven’t seen her since we went to DLP so it will be nice to catch up. We’re also seeing the new Beauty and the Beast movie which I’m excited but nervous about.
– As I mentioned, Chris’ birthday is this month and we’re going out for dinner with friends and then doing an Escape the Room game. I’m quite excited about that too but I have to admit I’m worried it will be creepy!

February Round-up

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Somehow the beginning of March seems to have escaped me already and I realised I never did my monthly round-up! Despite the fact February actually ended at the beginning of last week, I thought I should make the time to sum up anyway!

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Watching: Vampire Diaries (Seasons 3-6), new series X-Files, current series NCIS, Limitless, Blindspot, Mean Girls, Tron Legacy, Moulin Rouge, Terminator Genisys, Ant Man, Deadpool, The Walking Dead,
Reading: George’s Marvelous Medicine, Fantastic Mr Fox, Six Lies
Sewing & Making (for Closet Geek): Custom dresses – it’s been really nice to sew a few different things. I made a Snow White fabric dress, a Mickey travel themed dress, an Alice in Wonderland fabric dress and a Thumper fabric dress. I also made a few other dresses including Belle (blue) and Honey Lemon. There was a Marauders Map passport cover and a few new pencil cases too. Finally I knocked up a Wendy Disney-bounding dress for Amy to wear on her birthday in WDW.
I also pimped out a Locker for a competition and I’ve done a fair bit of cooking this month!

And in other news…
– Spent the first week of the month feeling completely ill! Was so glad when I finally got over it.
– Pancakes on Pancake Day – yum! We had stuffed savoury pancakes for mains and sweet ones for dessert.
– Had probably one of the best Valentine’s Days ever. We spent it as a family and it was fab from start to finish.
– Lily was in a class assembly and Megan was in her first Shine assembly of the year.
– Booked extra tickets for the same Harry Potter convention as before, this time for a Yule Ball.
– Celebrated a belated Galentine’s Day, Amy’s birthday and Easter, all in three days while Amy visited.
– Lily had her first ever sleepover – and I cried because she’s growing up!
– Chris and I traveled to London and Walker Stalker. It was a bit of a flop but we made the best of a bad situation. We did have a nice hotel room, bought a few nice things and had a lovely meal out.
– Finally made headway with the house. We made a list of all the DIY to do, booked people to come and do valuations on the house and started looking for houses to buy.
– The girls attended their first school disco together, at the same time. Usually Lily fell in to the lower school part and Megan the higher, but for the first year they are together. They looked so grown up too!
– My GBF Adam came to visit for the weekend. I only saw him once last year so it was really nice he came to visit so early in the year!
– My mum finally returned from holiday. She went away from 1st Feb to 29th Feb and it felt like a long time! I cried when we first chatted afterwards…

Looking forward to in March:
– Finding out which secondary school Megan will go to (I know by the time I wrote this since it was 1st, but it was a major point in March). This will begin our house hunting.
– Lily’s 8th birthday. Technically this has already happened by the time I wrote this post but I definitely was looking forward to it.
– Chris’ birthday. It falls a little later in the month but I always enjoy celebrating anything with him.
– Getting a handle on selling the house. Making a good dint in the DIY and getting the house on the market.
– Closing Closet Geek for 10 days. This is connected to the last one really but because of all the DIY we have to do, I’m closing my store for just over a week. I do love to work and sew but it will be nice to have a break too.
– Easter Holiday. Just like Half Term in February, I enjoy having the kids off school. This is partly because I enjoy their company and partly because I love not having to trek out in the morning and can stay in my PJs!

8/52

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Photo 16-02-2016, 13 46 03

This week Amy and Liv came to visit for a few days and we crammed a belated Galentine’s Day, Amy’s birthday and Easter, all into the three days they were here. Our belated Galentine’s was on Tuesday and as a surprise I booked (and paid for) a meal for all my favourite girlies, plus I got everyone a little gift and some sweets. This picture was taken at lunch time in Prezzo, while we waited for food!

My Perfect Valentines

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So it’s February 14th and that means its Valentines Day (amoungst other things I’m sure). For me, Valentine’s Day is a strange mixture of emotions.

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When I was younger, teenager and older, Valentine’s Day was always a little bit of a disappointment. Would you get a card through your door? Would it be from a handsome stranger or just your mum? If you had a boyfriend, your card would of course be obligatory… so really, Valentine’s Day wasn’t really as big as all the hype.

I’ve had some nice Valentine’s Days over the years. With my first husband we would always go out for dinner on the day. With my second husband, we could never go out on the day, because one of us (or both of us) were working, since our trade was Hospitality and Catering. However, we did actually get married on Valentine’s Day (a whole story in itself!). When we split up, I celebrated anti Valentine’s Day with my GBF and that always involved a lot of wine!

I’m not officially divorced yet, but my ex and I have been separated for nearly four years. Its technically still our Wedding Anniversary but of course that doesn’t really mean anything any more. Now I have a new partner and we try to celebrate… but for both last year and this year, Chris has been working on Valentine’s Day.

As I said before, I have very mixed emotions about the day itself, so I don’t tend to let it phase me that we can or can’t celebrate Valentine’s. In fact, this year Chris and I even agreed to not do presents, only cards (even though he brought me a present anyway!). We joked about buying some much needed fence panels for our house, that as you can see we desperately need…

However, my Valentine’s Day celebrations have run over two days in the end. Starting yesterday, Chris and I bought an M&S meal (as I seem to do every year, no matter whether together with someone or single). For £20 we got a starter of Breaded Camembert, followed by Mains of Ribeye Steak and Side of Chips (we were naughty and got a second side of Garlic Mushrooms too). For Dessert we got Salted Caramel Profiteroles and of course bought some cream to go with them. Finally we got a bottle of Rioja and a small box of chocolates.

The food was amazing, as would be expected from Marks and Spencer. Chris also surprised me with a DVD gift, even though we’d said we wouldn’t get each other anything. We didn’t do anything other than that, no movie night or special plans. It was just nice to share a special meal and sort of mark the time of year at least. At midnight we exchanged cards and then went to sleep!

Today has obviously been Valentine’s Day itself. I made the girls a card each (well I printed one out for them from this site) and left it on the table for them to wake up and see this morning. I made heart sandwiches for their lunch boxes. We have then all spent the day at school/work etc. though it was nice for me at least as I got to make cookies all day.

After picking up the kids from school, we came home and got changed into our PJs (we got soaked in the rain!). We then settled on the sofa to pick an adequate chick flick for the evening, finally ordering take away before we began the movie. Though the original intention was only to get stuffed crust pizza (this was their Valentines Meal request, earlier in the week), at the last minute Megan decided she wanted chicken nuggets too and Lily asked for doner meat! We settled down to watch the movie, food arriving about mid-way. Under a duvet we snuggled up, ate our food and enjoyed Ella Enchanted.

By the end of the movie, we were all stuffed. The girls both enjoyed the film choice and we’d had a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Lily went to bed pretty much straight away and Megan an hour later. Though I spent about 2 hours by myself before Chris came home from work, I haven’t felt lonely. As always, time with Chris and time with the girls is perfect. My Perfect Valentines.

Happy February!

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Happy February everyone!

I’m so glad its Saturday today! January has felt nothing but hectic, despite nothing especially important happening. Its really been a month of recovering from Christmas and returning to work – getting on top of finances and beginning to save. I have to admit that 2014 wasn’t off to an awful start with this January though, as its been a pretty good month.

At the beginning of January, I started my blog with 53 followers. Now on 1st February I have 160. I’m not trying to brag or anything, but I really just want to keep a record of it for my own knowledge. I’ve really been trying hard to post often, to promote my blog and to network. Its actually been lovely to feel like its becoming a proper hobby and to find & read some awesome new blogs.

January has also been the month of;

  • being obsessed with Frozen. We saw it in December but have seen it again since and the soundtrack plays constantly in this household!
  • finding out we were going to Florida next year! I’m seriously so excited that I don’t know how I’ll manage to get through a whole year before it happens!
  • silly savings. I started a saving scheme whereby week 1 you save £1, week 2 you save £2, week 3 you save £3 and so on. I currently have £10 (£15 as of tomorrow) saved. By the end of the year I should have £1378 saved. I know it will get harder as the amounts get larger but I’m hoping to be down my debt a little more by then too, thus making it a little easier to save.
  • trying to lose weight and failing. I haven’t given up completely but I’m just finding myself in a bit of a rut with weight loss right now. I’ll definitely try again soon but I think I need to be in a better mind set (certainly emotionally).
  • Games Night! I promised myself to keep in touch with our regular group of friends more. This month we had a games night on Saturday 25th. We have another planned for Saturday 15th February (though I may be changing this, just to warn those friends who read this!).
  • Reading, Writing and watching more Movies/TV. I don’t know if watching more TV is really a positive thing, but its meant more quality time with me and Chris, plus the whole family. Last night we even had a movie night again and it was lovely. I’ve signed up to a writing course, as I really fancy giving myself a project. I’m also happy to have reached my goal of reading one book in January. I started another but I’m just not getting through it. I’ll hopefully get it finished so I can start another to class as February’s read.

As for February, I’m looking forward to it a lot! Its a nice short month, which means time tends to fly and of course its also quicker till it reaches pay day again! Things I’m looking forward to in February are;

  • Valentine’s Day! Alright its sort of sappy and lame (also my wedding anniversary to my ex, eek!) but I love red hearts and so it sort of draws me in! Chris is working (typical) but I will still enjoy spending it with the kids. In fact I’m thinking of buying Megan and Lily little gifts from the Disney Store (if I can find a discount code). Now I just wish someone would buy me one!
  • The Pirate Fairy. Another Tinker Bell movie, but still, the kids will love it. Get’s released during February! Besides, Tom Hiddleston is the voice of Hook. The kids also want to see the Lego movie and Moshi Monsters movie, but I might wait till they are on the cheaper weekend morning showings.
  • Amy is coming to visit! I’m slightly disappointed that the days she is coming are also Chris’ only days off that week (for both her sake and his, I would have liked to make the most of time with both of them) but its also been a long time since she came.
  • Half term. I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to a week off with the kids. We don’t really have any plans for the week but I’m hoping to at least fill one day with something nice for them.
  • Planning Lily’s birthday party. Luckily I don’t have too much to do as we’ve booked a venue for March 1st and they’ll be doing all the hard work. However I do have a cake to make, plus costumes to buy for Megan and Lily (they want to go as the Frozen sisters). I obviously also have presents to buy and organise for Lily’s birthday on 5th March.
  • Sorting out my hair! That’s a today (or tomorrow) thing to be honest. I’m going to give all my ends a trim, maybe cut in a fringe again and finally get around to trying the new ombre red hair dye I bought.
  • Snow!!! You know its coming… I can’t wait! Alright, I’ll be sick of it once it’s here but I’ll love it at least for the first day or two.

As well as all these things, I really want to continue getting to grips with blogging – finding some interesting things to actually post about, perhaps some reviews. I’m going to continue networking and hopefully meet a lot more interesting people along the way. I also need to get all my jewellery from Christmas Market listed on Etsy. It’s taking up valuable space in my cupboard under the stairs! Connected with that (space under the stairs that is) I also want to start working on the house again. Its getting frustrating feeling like things are going nowhere. I also want to continue working hard on my finances (debts and savings). Since we’re going to Florida next year its especially important to get on top of it all. Not to mention the fact I’d love to actually find a way to work from home and that’s a risk in itself when it comes to money.

So that’s my January done and February to come!
What are you looking forward to when it comes to February?
Little Reminder – My blogiversary giveaway is still open! Check it out!