Snapshots from December 2014

Happy New Year folks! I brought in the new year in my friend Nikki's kitchen/dancefloor with much wine and merriment! Hope you all enjoyed last night too.

Time to say fare thee well to December..

Writing my Christmas cards was a serious, sit down business plus it's a great excuse to use my stickers and stamps!

Go Christmas shopping for people and come back with two new cacti for myself!

Found my beloved vintage bike Bobby in my mum's shed.

Love to see this sticker on my parcels! I love Letter C Design. This was my new calendar.

Met up with Alex for lunch at Couch and tried the new micro pub which had a really nice fireplace... and beer.

Had a brilliant Christmas dinner with family. It was hosted this year by my brother and his girlfriend who just so happen to have got engaged this morning! Yay wedding bells!

...complete with flaming pud!

We went on boxing day to stay at Ben's parent's for the weekend up in the North Yorkshire countryside. It was a lovely dry, sunny day when we left and then the day after we hear on the news people abandoning cars in Sheffield because the snow was so bad! Crazy! I took this photo from his bedroom window one frosty morning.

Then when we got back, I went and stupidly parked on a very steep hill and got the car stuck there,(where it's been for the last four days!) So subsequently I've been walking to work in the mornings. The upside though is that I get to walk through a frosty wonderland where berry bushes are all glittery!

I'm really looking forward to what's in store in 2015. I've got a feeling it's gonna be a good one!

oxoxo

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2014 in Books, Music + Films

I was going to begin this post with a lovely, decorated list of goals for 2015. I was planning to write it out in a nice handwriting and take a photo of it. Then I thought hang on, what exactly would go on this list? There isn't really a point in setting out a list of goals for myself because I'm just so not going to stick to it. I have a blog planning journal with scheduled posts in that I haven't opened for months! Actually no, I can think of one. Drink more water. There that's my goal for the whole of next year and I bet I find it difficult to stick to just that one!

So I'm gonna skip right ahead to my round up of the books, music and films that have filled my 2014. You may be inspired to seek some of these out for yourself and if you've already discovered some or all of these, I'd love to hear what you thought of them.

What I read:

• Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell - I love depression era Americana
• F**k It Therapy by John C. Parkin - The second F It book. I can't recommend the first book enough. Everyone should read it! 
• Invisible Man by Ralph Emerson - Meh
• Jewellery & Silversmithing Techniques by Carles Codina - I did an evening course in silversmithing and would love to make my own jewellery so I like these kinds of books.
• The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley - Whoa
• Love Is A Dog From Hell by Charles Bukowski - Not for those of a sensitive disposition!
• On The Road by Jack Kerouac - Made me want to drink, smoke and travel
• Selected Poems by W. B. Yeats - Love a bit of Yeats

Currently Reading:

• Ten Years In An Open Necked Shirt by John Cooper Clarke - Evidently chicken town..
• Games People Play by Eric Berne, M. D. - Absolutely fascinating
• A Matter Of Life And Death: Inside The Hidden World Of The Pathologist - I'm very interested in post mortem activity and so I like to read books like this to teach myself.

What I listened to: 

Top ten artists:

Top ten tracks: 

You can see more and follow me on last.fm here.

What I watched:

• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Ben Stiller 4/5
• Do The Right Thing Spike Lee 5/5
• Dallas Buyers Club Jean-Marc Vallee 4/5
• The Grand Budapest Hotel Wes Anderson 4/5
• Trees Lounge Steve Buscemi 3/5
• Bringing Out The Dead Martin Scorsese 4/5
• Under The Skin Jonathan Glazer 2/5
• The Big Sleep Howard Hawks 5/5

You can see more and follow me on Mubi here. 


Well that's that, I can't believe I only watched 8 films in one year!? Must improve on that in 2015. That's what I love about these websites that correlate data about your habits for you. It's actually quite surprising how much you end up over or under estimating about yourself. It's fascinating!

Anyway, much love to all who've been a part of my 2014, to old friends and new. Hope you all have a brilliant 2015 and don't get too drunk tonight!

oxoxo

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Snapshots from November 2014

Well I didn't manage to get all my christmas shopping done by the end of November. In fact I got exactly no christmas shopping done. So far I've bought one bit of Ben's present and I've literally just bought it five minutes ago. Spent a hell of a lot on myself though. Damn you Cyber Monday! Only joking I love you really.

November just went so quickly don't you think? I'm excited about December though, it'll be our first Christmas together in our own home. 

Anyway here's November's snapshots!

Finally got myself a new coat because it sure is cold out there now. This one, like all others before, will most likely be worn until it's falling to bits. 

My friend and old colleague from back in the day came to visit and brought as a gift a really cool screen print of.... cacti! We had a lovely day out and about in Sheffield and had pancakes with bacon and maple syrup at Lucky Fox. So good.

Got crazy inspired at the annual print fair! How sweet are these tiny tote bags by the way!? Both Alex and I came away with lots of printed goodness. 

Ben graduated! Frank Gallagher from Shameless was there!

Someone pointed it out to me recently that I have a doppelganger in GTA V! She looks like a badass, I can dig it.

In other news

I'm carrying on a kind of family tradition of sorts. A hobby my mum and aunty used to do. I'll show you all when I've got my first one finished but until then I'm gonna keep it under wraps. It's looking good though!

Oh yeah and I'm also still in the middle of going blonde gradually. More on that later, not got it right yet.

What plans have you got for December?

oxoxo

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Snapshots from October 2014

Hello November! Let us reminisce..

Oh God yeah, that 10k I did. Go me! Haven't actually run since then, oops.

Pretty pumpkins and squashes in at Sharrow Marrow.

I stopped working, got my phone and went outside to take this photo which, as lovely as it is, doesn't do it justice. Sky photos never do, do they!? But it was wonderful!

Visiting Beth in Loughborough where we recorded a whole album of terrible covers!

We ventured into Nottingham to see a poetry reading that neither of us were really moved by, too modern for us.
We saw some cool things while we were walking around though, check out the lovely Art Nouveau on that building and the big weird dish!
Also, Beth has this really cool plant on her kitchen window sill. It's a False Shamrock and in the daytime it's purple petals open out and then fold back into little triangles at night. So cool.

Re stocked my cards in their little box in Bird's Yard in town. Check 'em out.

Mum had the big 61. 10th of the 10th at 10 past 10!

At last! Parsnips are back in which means homely parsnip soup on a cold evening.

Got all the decorations up!

..and made some new ones!

And finally, Halloween itself. I was going to go as Pat Garrett but it turns out the event we went to had a '40's theme with a halloween twist'. Oh my it was amazing, such a good night. A bunch of us got bee-hived (not very 40's but oh well) and went to a secret gig to see Rob Heron And The Tea Pad Orchestra. These guys blew me away. Pokey LaFarge meets Blind Willie McTell and they looked the part too!

You should definitely check them out.

In Other News

I'm going to arrange an induction at the Sheffield Print Club when I've got a free weekend. I've got loads of ideas for prints I want to do so I'll hopefully get going with that this month.

Hope you've had a grand time too!

oxoxo

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Snapshots from September 2014

Well where the hell did September go? It seems like it was only just the height of summer and yet somehow we're all of a sudden talking about Christmas!? 

Anyhoo here's a roundup of September's snapshots..

Went on a really foggy run on Blacka Moor. Very eerie, perfect conditions to be murdered in. Safe to say I ran fast. You can see my activity on Strava.

Terribly naughty snacks.

Prickly Tits from Syd + Mallory's!

Had a blast at West Yorkshire Print Workshop, thanks Ben! You can see what I got up to on day one, two and three.

Transformed a man's shirt into a ladies vest top more on that soon.

Discovered a very stylish new bar/restaurant/deli in town called Anchorage with the girls from work. You should check it out!

And lastly another shot from another run at Blacka Moor, on a much clearer day.

One more thing!
Guys, big news. My cards can now be found in Bird's Yard in the city centre! Yeah! They've got loads of cool quirky things in there, you should go in and have a look and buy my cards!!

Some more good news, I've had my days swapped at work so for the first time in 4 years I no longer work Sundays! Woo I have the weekends off like normal people!

And lastly, I've seen so many projects that other bloggers have been doing that look so fun and inspiring, so I've been looking for some that I can do. So starting in October I'm gonna do the weekly colour project. Pretty self explanatory, each week you have to photograph different things of one colour. You can challenge yourself to think outside the box and improve your photography skills.


I'd love to hear suggestions of other projects to start! :)

oxoxo

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Snapshots from August 2014

First of all, our anniversary, the big half decade! We had a fantastic night with some friends round for a bit of a dinner party to celebrate. Oh and my present from Ben is three separate classes in September where I'm gonna learn all about the different types of printmaking!! 

And below, the first ever photo of us taken together. Wow you would think we were 14, we're actually 18 there!

Started hula hooping and I'm having a blast doing it. You should try it too!

Designed and added some new cards to the shop. Have a look!


Went on a really cool trek up Mam Tor in Derbyshire after camping in Edale and took some photos that I'm really pleased with.

Found some really cute tiny frogs in the garden that I never knew lived there. Then found the big daddy! (I'm not squeezing it to death, honest!)

New shoes! Ultimate summer shoes, shame August's pretty much over now but I hear September's set to be hot here.

Visited Brodsworth Hall and Gardens and loved it.

Well it's been a bit of a quiet month overall. More has been happening here at home rather than during days out. I have a lot of places I really want to visit in the near future though.

Oh and in October I'm doing a 10k. I don't even own trainers. Ah come on, what's the worst that could happen!? ...ha..ha?

oxoxo