05/02/14 - Long Time No See

You may have noticed that I've taken something of an unscheduled hiatus from blogging recently.  Some people might have been a little relieved and equally some people might be happy to see this post pop up in their Bloglovin feed.  I'm hoping for the latter.  Either way I'm back and I'm determined to be back for good, like good old Take That would want.  And just while you thought you were happy to see me again, I'm going to have a bit of a ranty ramble.  Bear with me.  I won't be offended if you stop reading now.

2014 began with me heading back to the local Job Centre to admit that I am, yet again, 'between employment opportunities' (it sounds so much better than jobless, doesn't it?).  After finally having something of a routine and a regular salary back in my life over Christmas, this feels like a couple of rather large steps backwards for me.  As determined as I've been not to let it get me down, my motivation has been at a rather low ebb recently and unfortunately my blogging suffered.  I didn't intend to take a break from writing things for my lovely readers, but as my motivation skipped its way out of the window it must have convinced my inspiration to go with it.  Every time I clicked the Create New Post button, I'd sit and stare at the blank screen before closing the window and distracting myself with another half hour stint of mindless YouTube-watching.  A combination of unemployment, friends who are either busy or skint or in absentia, and generally awful weather (come on England, let's have some spring already!) means I've been rather confined to my house and it's taken something of a toll on my mental state.  I try and go for a walk every day even if it's just for twenty minutes, but the grey skies and horizontal rain make it hard to drag myself away from my duvet.  And when I'm cooped up, I find it hard to be productive.  Being stuck in front of my laptop has to be a choice for me to be happy with it; if it's because I'm given no other option, it loses some of its appeal.

Tumblr just gets me.

However, things are looking up.  Partly it's because I've decided that I've done enough wallowing.  Moping won't get me a job.  I can feel time ticking away and it's a little bit scary to think that it's so easy to waste an entire month feeling sorry for myself.  Also, blogging is something that I love and when you love something, you don't just shy away from it when it gets a little more difficult.  So I'm determined to work harder to be creative with my posts and try and develop some kind of regular schedule.

I may actually - shock horror - have some things to blog about very soon.  I am going to be in Canada for two whole weeks in March and will also be taking a weekend jaunt to Seattle within that time.  For someone who hasn't left the country in about three years and has never been further than Belgium, this is ludicrously exciting for me.  Even though the flights aren't quite booked and a couple of deets still need finalising, I'm already forming a packing plan as well as an extensive list of things I want to do/buy while I'm there, and restraining myself from reading the recently downloaded books on my Kindle that I'm saving for the plane.  I will be reunited with my gorgeous Rachel for the first time in months, so this trip is definitely going to be one worth writing about.  Start getting yourself geared up for some travel-related posts coming soon!

Vancouver, here I come!

Even before my Canadian adventure, I'm determined to do some things to tell you about.  Tomorrow I'm embarking back to Hullywood for a weekend of Disney-themed debauchery as part of Old Girls' weekend (a name I object to; I much prefer Graduate Girls, I refuse to be old yet!) so I imagine there will be a post next week when I've recovered from that.  I'm also in the process of forming Valentine's Day plans - namely a hot date with a bestie, some tapas and lots of cocktails - and that will form the second part of my monthly 'Exploring Liverpool' series...if one post and one potential post can be called a series.  And then there's at least one birthday night out coming up in the next few weeks.  I'm hoping that having some solid interesting things to write about will help inspire me to keep writing, even between exciting occasions. 

If you made it this far through the post, I commend you and I'll leave you with a cheery picture of myself, my little buddy Sarah and her boyf rocking some 90s nostalgia at a recent fancy dress birthday event...just a little proof that January hasn't been totally grim.  I'm just something of a drama queen sometimes.

Ash, Pikachu and Misty are ready to hit the town! Don't judge the pose, I was in character.

I want to say huge thank you to everyone who has stuck with my little blog...it's what makes me want to push myself to write! 

Let me know in the comments if there's anything you'd particularly like to see from me in the coming weeks and months!