October prepping and returning from vacation

It's October! We're back from our holidays and went from 35C/95F temperatures to 8C/48F. It's appropriately autumnal in Newcastle with the fog and the rain, as is expected. While we were away it only rained maybe a couple of times and we spent two glorious weeks in Disney, Universal, and Cocoa Beach.

What I took home from the trip were a couple of bags of flavored coffee, some Christmas ornaments (because this year will be quite special), some baby onesies, and a cold. So going back to work this week with jet lag, a tiredness that comes from being six months pregnant, and a stuffy nose has not been that pleasant. However, after sleeping a lot this weekend, I think I'll be ready to take on the next 10 weeks of work before my maternity leave.

Ten. Weeks. That's all I have left. I think that freaks me out more than labor and delivery at this point, as well as being off of work for a whole year. I keep being assured that I won't care about the goings on at the library while I'm away, but I'm a control freak and have severe FOMO, so if Baby Pick supersedes all of that, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

What I noticed about holidaying in the Central Florida area is that Disney is just so much better than the other parks. I know I'm a Disney fan girl and all, but the amount of rude staff we came across during our one day at Volcano Bay water park and the severe lack of organization we encountered at Sea World just proves that Disney sets a higher bar for customer service.

For example: Preferred Parking at Sea World costs $35 and regular parking costs $25. Everyone was parking in the same rows in the same area so we wasted $10 on that. Plus, the queue to get in was miles long, including the self service kiosk, so it would have taken ages just to get into the park. I investigated buying the tickets online, but unlike Disney, it didn't tell you up front before you paid, what dates the tickets were valid for. It's not until you leave the tickets in your cart and you get an email later saying, "Don't you want these tickets that let you go into the park three days after purchase?" If I had bought them and tried to go into the park the next day, as we intended, I would have been even more disappointed because we tried to go over on our last weekend in Florida.

Mister Pick was bummed out about this because he wanted to see the new Sesame Street land, the Halloween events, and experience the beer festival, but I think that was the reason so many people were trying to get into the park at the same time. Other people in our parking row did the same thing we did, got to the gate then realized it wasn't worth it, and turned around and went home having wasted $25-$35 on parking. (We did sent an email to Sea World about this and we got a parking pass for next year.)

With Volcano Bay, Mister Pick went as far as to write an email of complaint about the rude staff. A lot of the time there was no please or thank you, there was no finesse or love for their job that you see at Disney. There was, "You need to move the line here!" or even having rafts for the rides thrown at customers. What irritated me the most was the couple of bits of wrong information we received. I specifically asked at one of the lunch cafeterias if the park unlimited drinks cups could be used at the adjacent hotel, Cabana Bay, where we were staying. We were told, "yes," only to find out that was just wrong. Also, when we left the park, there was a staff member blowing bubbles (because that makes it seem fun to be there!) and she didn't stop when I approached her, then gave me wrong directions to get back to the hotel.

It wasn't anything major, and we did enjoy our time there. I loved the wave pool and Mister Pick had a fine time on all of the slides, especially the lazy river, but it was just that little attention to detail when it comes to customer service. As someone who works in customer service day in and day out, I can tell you full well how high expectations result in higher quality treatment of customers.

Aside from that, everything was good. We did experience the drunken nightmare that is EPCOT Food and Wine Festival on a Saturday and I can safely say I will never do that again. People just loud, shouty, and making a point to draw attention to themselves. I even saw two women cursing each other out in a line for the ladies' toilets, children in tow, all because they were off their face at two o'clock in the afternoon. It was so busy and so hot and if you go there just to enjoy the park, a weekday is your best bet because, wow. Those Florida Passholders treat that like a bachelorette/bachelor party on a weekend. (Most importantly, not a time to bring children unless you want them to experience brawls and lack of security.)

Other than that, it was great. We saw a lot of my parents who are doing well (except my dad caught my cold, poor guy). We went to Galaxy’s Edge (!!!) and saw the new Toy Story Land. I didn't go overboard with the eating because I had my glucose test when I came back home (still waiting to hear results of that), but I enjoyed cake and (low carb) ice cream on my birthday. I wasn't in the mood for a lot of shopping either, but I managed to bring back the essential snacks, and souvenirs for my co-workers, as well as my own gifts mentioned above.

Oh, and I didn't spend too much at Michaels. I was very proud of myself, considering that I was in Happy Planner Heaven and would only have that chance once.

So now that I have all of the planners, including my Academic Passion Planner that's on the way, I'll be prepped for some time with Baby and being at home for, hopefully, some creative time. I'd love to do even 25k words for Nanowrimo this year, but the more I don't write, the more daunting it seems. I keep hearing about people on social media who are fast typers and they write a book in a month anyway. I used to do that but they weren't good and it was the editing that was more frustrating than anything. That means I'd like to have a more organized approach to what I'm going to work on and at least have some sort of plot structure in place before I try to work through the story.

But October is here! Soon it will be Halloween, with Thanksgiving around the corner. I don't look forward to the frost coming in because I'm terrified of slipping and falling as it is, let alone being ungraceful and pregnant, but I'll take precautions and take it easy.

In the meantime, I hope everyone is choosing their costumes, reading spooky books, stockpiling their candy and having a fab month so far.

The Picks in The Wirral, the beginning of summer, and blogging more often

It's with a heavy heart that I write this post. We lost my mother-in-law, the head of the Pick family, this week.
We saw her over Easter and she wasn't well, then she was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. Luckily, we visited her one last time when she was feeling well; this was before Mister Pick went down on his own to see her a final time.
Obviously, I won't dwell on her illness or the details of the effect it's had on the family because, unfortunately, most people can imagine from first-hand knowledge, what a tragedy it all is.
But when we were down to The Wirral together the last time, we had a good visit, and Daisy was the star of the show, as always. She had her cousin dog, Tilly, to run about with, and then found some friends at Queen's Park. This was the first time we took her off the lead, and she didn't disappoint us. (That dog loved to play with other dogs and is crazy about getting attention from other doggy parents.)
This photo was taken at Red Rocks right after Daisy rolled around in the sand before heading back to the hotel. She got to sleep in the bed with us and made sure that everyone who came and went through the hallways all evening knew of her presence.
Unfortunately, when we go back for the service, Daisy will be staying the night somewhere as we have siblings to help out and a wake to cater for. The Pick Kids were told to "expect a big turn out," for their mother's wake because she was a well-liked woman in her town. I expect nothing less.
Other than that, our drive down was filled with rain, as it does in England (why is it all the time?!) but it's been glorious on the way back home. Here's hoping that we get to embrace the summer, finally, and can get outside again.
While all of this family business was unfolding, I was still at work, finishing up my first unit for the management apprenticeship I'm doing. It was confusing at first to get the grasp of what evidence I needed to produce in my folder because we only go to workshops once every couple of months. However, the tutor was really good and helped us out, but she's left the company so now we have a new tutor to meet with next month.
In the meantime, I'm working on an epub book for a story contest at the library. This is something I haven't looked into for ages because, let's be honest, I'm severely lacking in my self-publishing productivity anymore. So, it's good practice for me and gets me thinking about writing, editing, formatting, and publishing again.
Finally, I'm sure I've said this before, but I'm hoping to rekindle my blog posting updates more regularly, just to keep myself involved in something I enjoy doing. The 9-5ness and the school work sort of takes over most of my brain and I miss doing to me things that I enjoy. (And I'm so out of practice! Gah!)
And, unfortunately, I had to start my blog posts for the summer off on a sad note, but Mum Pick would want us to "get your head down and get on with it," as she'd say, so that's what we do.
Happy first week of summer to you all. I hope you take some time to enjoy it.

An April visit to Fountains Abbey, Chirk Castle, and Lyme Park

This is, hand's down, my favourite photograph. I took it last week at Lyme Park, AKA Pemberley. The pond should look familiar to any of you who have swooned when Mr. Darcy emerged from it in the BBC mini series version of Pride and Prejudice.

We spent the last couple of days travelling to The Wirral (or, Liverpool if it's easier although the Picks aren't from Liverpool, proper). On our way, we had to leave Daisy at the kennels, which I hated to do because she didn't know the place or the other dogs. However, it was a chance to have some together time that didn't include avoiding cafes, museums, or other such establishments because of a giant dog in tow.

On our way from Newcastle, we stopped in Ripon because A. I believe I live at Downtown Abbey and B. There was a cool place to visit through our National Trust membership.

Fountains Abbey was the biggest abbey we had seen that was still intact. As an American, I just cannot get over how old things are and are still sitting about for people to see, touch, experience, etc. There were Water Gardens on the property too, but we only had time for a walk, a quick look at the abbey, lunch, then back on the road. However, this just means that I plan on us going back sometime soon because there was plenty to see there, especially if you have a dog to walk.

We caught up with the Picks later that day, and spent our second day down there travelling to Wales -- a place I had never been and a place where Mister Pick went to school and worked for a collective of about 8 years. (Before I graced him with my presence, obviously.) Wales is beautiful and the only equivalent I can give it would be a kind of wandering Virginia countryside drive. It's very green, the air is fresh, and it was suitably rainy that day. We took our time exploring Chirk Castle which is really impressive. The place has a dungeon, so now I know what that feels like. (Hint: it's dark and they don't even have proper windows, so it's as dyer as you'd imagine.) The other parts of the castle were renovated into a proper estate house, so the rooms were lush and impressive -- some of the ceilings had Greek gods and goddesses depicted in the plasterwork. There were portraits of royals and noblemen and women. There was huge fireplaces, and even big, comfy couches that, looked modern in a 1940s, post-war way. I loved the gardens though because you could walk through there and not even realize there was a giant castle behind the trees. It was so relaxing and nice to wander around there, listening to the birds, and looking at all of the flowers and trees that were planted there.

I absolutely loved it.

After our visit with The Picks, we took a little detour to Lyme Park as posted above. Unfortunately, the house was closed the day that we got there and instead of going to the less cool tea rooms. (The brochure showed women in Austen-esque dresses with bonnets, sipping tea. Of course, if that wasn't an option, I wasn't as interested.) I did also look through the house's book sale books, and chose a 1933 edition of Dicken's Our Mutual Friend.

Upon our return, in order to avoid traffic, we took a long drive through the countryside, which Mister Pick did because I detest driving in unknown places that include roundabouts, mountains, empty fields, steep declines, and anything remotely tricky. However, it was worth it, because we rescued poor Daisy Doodle from her confinement before 6PM. The lad who worked at the kennels was very nice, but he said Daisy was timid with him because she didn't know any of the staff. Daisy is not timid, so I don't know if she'll settle in better on a longer stay. The place is highly recommended and people reuse them often, so it's not like it's a bad place to take her -- I just hated her being in a cage.

But everyone is back home now and although I worked yesterday, I'm still enjoying the last bits of my holiday today with Mister Pick, Daisy, and the cats who keep staring at me as I type this.

Also, it’s Sunday, which means I’m keeping off social media as best I can. Old habits die hard and I have to stop myself from just picking up my phone and checking Twitter throughout the day. It’s just one of the little things I’m making a habit of just to clear my head, give my eyes a rest, and focus a little more about being at home.

And with that said, I hope everyone has had a nice Easter and a great April, so let's get on to May 2019.

Easter bank holiday wind down and catch up

Good afternoon and Happy Easter Sunday!

It’s been a nice break from the daily grind these past few days and we’ve actually taken next week off as well to enjoy some traveling to go along with our rest and relaxation.

On Friday we were going to go to Sunderland Museum and Gardens (and library!) for the da Vinci drawings exhibit. However, once we got onto the highway, we realized that everyone and their mother was out cruising, so we headed to IKEA (why not) and bought patio furniture instead.

Afterwards, we hung out on the back patio and enjoyed the warm weather. It was in the 70s this weekend, and was actually very warm for people like us who are used to wearing quilted coats and woolly hats every day.

On Saturday, we headed to our favorite place – Beamish (as seen in the main photo above). Now, I was all gung-ho about the fish and chips and the walking and the sunshine … until I got overheated and sick. Being overheated is just weird. You’re not physically too hot. I wasn’t sweating to death or feeling hot, I just realized how dizzy and nauseous as we trekked around, so I had to cut the exploration short. I mean, we enjoyed the time we spent out, but I was really happy to be back in the car with the air conditioning.

Today is Easter Sunday! We started off with pancakes and a cuppa at our new patio set. Daisy has a pool that she’s still not completely sure about, but it feels nice to paddle around in when you’re wanting to cool down. Right now, Mister Pick is working on mounting our old TV up in the bedroom (we’re still technically moving in). We have the windows open and the cats are hanging out upstairs in the windowsills. All and all, it’s a perfect day.

I’ve been making my list of goals because I’m still working on the question of what I want to do with myself and where I see myself in ten years. (Anyone else who has the Rachel Hollis Start Today Journal knows what I’m talking about.) So, I’m looking up authors I admire and writing down places I’d like to go and really trying to wind down and focus on how I want to propel myself forward into the rest of the year.

Tomorrow is still up in the air, but we’ll make the most of it. After that, it’ll be traveling time and we’ll head to see The Pick family down in The Wirral for a bit.

In the meantime, I hope everyone has a fantastic Easter break!    

Bullet journals, Wallington, and not being discouraged

Well, this blog certainly isn't getting updated very often, even if I really want to post something, I never get around to it.

Since last time, I've started an apprenticeship for Team Leading and Management at work. That means I have a manager who mentors me and whom I shadow at one of the libraries along with my coursework that I need to do. I really like it so far and I'm happy that I decided to apply for it because I feel mentally challenged and satisfied doing this kind of work. Not that I'm not pleased at how much I help people with my regular IT teaching job in the libraries, I'm just happy that I have something else to add to my list of things I can do.

There were Team Leader jobs as secondments available this year but I do like where I am and I wanted to spend my extra energy in focusing on my apprenticeship. I’m sure the job would have helped me gather evidence for my course, but, again, I’d rather stay doing what I do because I think I help people.

Helping myself is another story. I’ve been trying to do the diet and exercise thing but, man, am I so tired these days. I was okay for a bit when I got my bicycle because I was ready for sun and summertime, but now I’m not doing as well as I hoped.

I’ve been writing a book, I guess, about how these things have caught up with me. I’ve never been so stinking frustrated with trying to write, blog, work, exercise, lose weight, spend time with Mister Pick, enjoy my time at home, and do things outside of the house so I don’t end up being a hermit. (Although, being a hermit isn’t looking so bad these days.) I listened to a podcast yesterday that said if we keep stepping over the crap that’s flung onto us, we’ll eventually get out of the pit. Good advice and I have to take that all to heart when I’m feeling like the me I’m trying to build just isn’t showing up.

I mean, surely everyone feels like there’s just too much we should be doing, don’t they? I had to make Sundays be my non-social media days because I was getting overwhelmed with the comparisons. I should be writing my book. I should be traveling. I should be making a business. I should be starting a podcast. I should be engaging on social media.

The funny thing is, once I stopped using social media as much, I realized how much I don’t need it. It’s a useful tool, don’t get me wrong, but because I’m kind of a special creature – American, in England, still don’t know what I’m doing, the usual stuff – I get really down when I see people appearing to know what they want and doing it.

But, alas, that’s still one to work on this year. 42 is definitely an interesting one, I tell you.

Also, I’m still watching videos about bullet journaling and although I have my Passion Planner (one for daily agendas and one more for academic tasks), I was curious about all the binder planners that people were posting on Instagram. I was going to get one online but I happened to see an A5 agenda binder at Wilko’s after work this week, so I’m going to print some free planner sheets to add to it. I even bought a small 6 ring hole punch to get working on these. I’m wanting habit trackers and while it takes all the artistic design out of making my own for my bullet journal, having ready-made pages may really help me in the long run.

The photo above was from our recent trip to Wallington. We’d been before, years ago, before we had Daisy, so we took her to explore the vast farmland. Of course the sheep weren’t interested in a giant barking goldendoodle but, hey, who can blame them?

I have another week of work before Easter and our break to Liverpool and Hoylake so I’ll be sure to update on that trip to see the Pick family. Until then, grab your eggs and your bunnies and enjoy the upcoming holiday.

9 More Sleeps Until Christmas

Yes, that's right. It's almost time again.

This year, I've been really embracing the Christmas spirit. I've been listening to music in the car, wearing my tacky jumpers, and decorated the house like it's Santa's grotto. It must be having the new house, and knowing that we'll have plenty of room for everyone to hang out. (By everyone, I mean me, Mister Pick, the dog, and the two cats now. We still have our boy, Jake, but we've also added Elle to our family.)

For our Christmas build up, we've been to Beamish Christmas, as usual, and we went to the Christmas market at Grey's Monument. This week coming will be our events at work, so, yeah, Santa is coming to town. Soon!

I’ve still been working on my bullet journaling, but the plans of world domination with my blog and plethora of eBooks will be on hold once again. I applied for an apprenticeship at work, and I’m pleased to report I got a place. Next year will be different with that plus the new systems we’re implementing in the libraries. It’s going to be different, but a good change of pace.

So here’s hoping that Christmas will be a nice time to relax and get back on track, so the New Year can be full of new adventures.

Recovering from a holiday

I don't know how else to explain my crappy mood -- I'm just recovering from my holiday.

We left on the 17th of September and went to Disney the first week. We were Jack and Sally for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and we had to turn back early from the gorilla exhibit at Animal Kingdom due to lightning in the area. We had dinner at the Japanese Steakhouse in EPCOT which was super fun and I can’t recommend it enough. After dinner, funny enough, we came across a concert and saw Living Color play live. (Yes, we got to hear “Cult of Personality.”) Steve shook the guitar player’s hand, we said hello to the singer, and all and all we had the best anniversary so far.

The first weekend was our Bahamas trip. We took my parents who had hemmed and hawed about this for ages, but went and enjoyed themselves as we knew they would. They got to try out their shiny new passports, and Dad took photos of Nassau as we came into port. We all hung out in a cabana on Coco Cay and the weather didn’t let us down the entire time. (Plus, the ship only swayed a bit in the night, which I was supremely thankful for.)

But after all of the fun in the sun, and the visiting my friends and family, and the staying up late to eat pizza and watch good TV had to end, and I was just sad. I went to work on Wednesday after we flew in on Tuesday and since then I’d been just plain blah.

Yesterday I got my flu jab and today was my day off and only the second day I’ve spent alone in the new house. I finished up Season Six of OITNB and then just napped. I spent all day feeling super sorry for myself because I’m back in jolly old England where it’s 40 degrees Fahrenheit and just ugh! Why me?

But finally I knew I had to pull myself out of it because I started my MSc computer course again this week and I have a blank bullet journal and a new Happy Planner that needs my attention. Also, I’m trying to read Girl, Wash Your Face since it’s been talked about and recommended online a lot lately.

Other than that, it’s just back to being me in Pick Manor. Steve is good, Daisy is scheduled for her surgery on the 1st of December (which irritates me because I had tickets to see A Christmas Carol at Newcastle Uni’s Northern Stage that night) and Jake may be getting a new sister. There’s an elderly cat who’s in need of a retirement home, so she may be coming to live with us now. The more the merrier, I guess, yeah? Wish us luck!

September is for holidays

Well, it’s finally September which means we’ll be going to Florida this month. I can be home for my birthday and our anniversary and I can see my parents. I can go to Wal-Mart and drink Frappuccino’s while I stroll through Target. I can walk through Disney and eat all the food in Epcot. I can go on a cruise ship and swim along the beach in The Bahamas. I can sit by the pool in Cocoa Beach like I did when we lived there in 1989.

This is the best time of the year.

We have our new house so this will be the first post from the new office / spare room. {waves from the new office window}

The above photo is from the river which is across from our neighborhood. Obviously, we don’t live in the posh side of town, but it’s fun to hang out over there. Yesterday we went to the Food Market and had breakfast at the café along the river walk. We’re glad we moved and we really didn’t know how nice it was on this side of town, so here we are. All settled and enjoying life.

I’d given up on bullet journals. I really wanted to find lots of design ideas online but most of it is about sketching and doodling and I am not arty at all. I don’t want an art book, I want a planner. Oh well.

Having said that, I’ve lost my bullet journal. I put it in a big plastic zip folder and I left it out of my book bag for ages because I wasn’t even bothering to try and decorate it like arty people online are. (Follow bullet journals on Instagram — you’ll see what I mean.) But now we’ve moved and that folder has gone walkabout. I wanted to have a go again, but it’s in some not-so-obvious place.

When I’m in Florida, I totally plan on getting another Happy Planner and I’ll look for a new bullet journal to keep with it. It should help with my book reviews, blog posts, school work (I’ve re-enrolled for my computer science course) and anything creative that I try to write in the meantime.

Aside from the bullet journal, the house move, and the re-enrolment of school, we’ve just been carrying on. Work has been super busy and I get to the end of the week, ready to cry because I’ve been running to and from libraries, answering questions, trying to fix things and help customers and staff for days. Yes, it’s rewarding and yes it’s better than being bored stiff, it just gets exhausting. I didn’t have more than Sunday off during a 11 day stretch of being at work, so I think it just finally got to me.

Oh well, the holiday is coming and I’ll be doing fun in the sun type activities.

I still feel bad that I haven’t started or worked on a writing project during my time in Florida for years. The intent is always there, but my mind is so focused on other things that the writing just isn’t in the forefront of important tasks to complete.

Anyway, next week will be getting ready for the holiday time. I’ll work every day but Wednesday and Sunday so I have a hair appointment, my Weight Watchers meeting (I don’t even want to imagine how much I may have gained in the last three weeks), and we’re going to see Garbage at Northumbria University. I can finally see Shirley Manson and Butch Vig with my eyes. I was supposed to see them in Tampa when I saw Smashing Pumpkins, but I got to the show too late.

Fun fact: when I first came to the U.K., Mister Pick took me to Edinburgh and there we saw a genealogy exhibit about Shirley Manson.

Edinburgh fascinates me every time I go. The next time we’re supposed to be there will in October so we can see JACK WHITE. Finally! I’ve only waited, what, 18 years to finally see him live?

With that said, it’s time to watch Robocop with Mister Pick who did a poll on Twitter, asking everyone what old action movie I should see. (My parents were adamant that it was too violent for me in the 80s.) (Also, I voted to see Predator because of all the Aliens connections.)

Last book I read was My Best Friend’s Exorcism, which I can’t recommend enough. I read it in about three days. I’ve not been that into a book for a long, long time. I’ll be sure to write a review on bookblogarama soon. My holiday book of choice is already on my desk, ready to go: Crazy Rich Asians.

Seahman and the Great Exhibition of the North 2018

Getting back to things we’ve done lately and failing to keep up -- we travelled to Seaham, Durham about a month ago. Actually, Daisy had been here before we ever were because she attends doggy day care and they sometimes take her on little adventures when it’s warm out.

That dog has an awesome life.

At Seaham, there is a nice little town to walk around, plus big named shops like Asda and a Costa. We went to the marina (picture above) and went on a rocky section of beach before finding a nice, soft sand beach. Daisy was overjoyed because there were lots of little kids for her to try and play with, so we had to try and entertain her otherwise. Plenty of places to get an ice cream and plenty of places to relax on a warm, sunny day.

Aside from the beach trip, we went to the Hancock museum a couple of times for the Great Exhibition of the North event that they have on all through summer. We didn’t see the fireworks at the Quayside or anything on the first opening day, but what we did see was quite cool.

First the museum has all sorts of new exhibits, one of which was the first edition of a book that I read as a student at University of Central Florida way before I ever imagined being a British citizen. The Blazing World is one of the first sci-fi books and it was written by a woman so, take that old, dead white guys!

The other night, we went to a talk that Steve’s old company did about their work on the Marvel movies. I was a proud gal that night when I saw so many kids and students asking the guys their advice on how to get into concept art.

Then in town we came across an art project where people could rename streets on the map of Gateshead and Newcastle. Of course, I named on street after my parents, and Steve named one of the streets after the allotment that we finally got.

Now, as of today, I have not been as active in the allotment as I was when we first got it. It’s an absolute mess, which I’ve been told by a few people, is totally normal. We’ve spent a good month or so, pulling up weeds. Some of it is mare’s tail which our allotment manager told us is a right pain to get rid of. Still, we have some vegetable plants from the library (they do all sorts at my work!) so we’ll have some summer vegetation around the weeds. Yuck.

Also, we saw Elvis Costello at Newcastle City Hall on the 25th of June. That was very cool and since Steve loves his music so much, I was glad to give him the tickets as a late birthday present. Elvis had to cut his tour short due to health reasons and we wish him the very best of health. The librarians I work with are eager to go along next time to see him again in Newcastle.

Right now, Steve and Daisy are on a stroll while I have the flat to myself for a bit. Our house purchase is going at a slow pace, but as far as we know now, things are just carrying on as normal. I figure they’ll give us a date to move, and we’ll panic because we’ve been laying low for a while and just waiting for the official green light on everything.

Other than that, I’m trying to use my bullet journal for keeping up with my blog posts and my writing progress, so both of those things are scheduled for today. I have one post down, now I need some work on my book to keep me up to date.

Until next time!

Warkworth Castle and Hermitage

I was going to write an update for June because the last post I made was when we visited the Picks in Liverpool in March. However, life being as it is, and my trying to spend more time with my brain turned to de-stress, so I haven’t spent loads of time updating here. I started plenty of posts, but never got around to finishing them. But, alas, it’s Sunday, and Steve is getting lunch ready, and Daisy is hanging out with me in the computer room, listening to 6 Music, so it’s as good of a time as any.

We’ve travelled plenty since March, and I always post something on my Instagram which posts to my Twitter and my Tumblr. (I just realized that my book posts go to my Missus P Tumblr and the personal photos go to my bookblogarama Tumblr. Why did I do that?!)

Anyway, so for this post, I figured I’d work backwards a bit about what’s been going on. Yesterday we went to Warkworth Castle (seen above) and Hermitage. It was a glorious day and we took Daisy along who has now been on her first boat ride. (She was more interested in the ducks in the river than the actual boat.) The castle was really well-preserved and it was very cool to be able to take the stairs to the wine cellar and walk upstairs to see the awesome view of the coast at Amble. Unfortunately with the heat, we didn’t travel to the beach on the way home, but we did have a picnic on the castle grounds, and after the boat trip and a relaxing sit down by the River Coquet, we went for some ice cream at Morwick Dairy. There Daisy met some cows of all age ranges, which she wasn’t so sure about. Of course I fell in love with all of the calves and decided that I do want a farm when I retire.

A nice renovated farm house in Northumberland. Turn it into a B&B but still keep my chickens and occasional farm animals. Ahh. Bliss.

Anyway, if you’re heading to the dairy after the castle visit, make sure to check your Google Map because we entered in the post code that was given and ended up down the street at someone else’s farm. Oh well, we made it eventually.

Last week I started my bullet journal which I’ve been going on about via Twitter. I am so not artistic in any way, so trying to make graph paper with notes pretty is just not something that naturally comes to me. I started watching videos on how to set up a bullet journal, and this channel from Seventeen has been great. I have highlighters, stickers, fine line pens, and a ruler now with all the Rulers of England that I bought at the castle gift shop.

I may be a British citizen, but as an American, I feel it is my duty to appreciate my love of the English Heritage by purchasing souvenirs. Whenever I go somewhere I buy a magnet for our fridge at home, and the magnetic shelf in the office where we keep all of our ones from holidays. Since my “holidays” are weekend getaways and little adventures, I like spreading the British pride to my co-workers.

Aside from the bullet journal, I wrote one day for Camp NaNoWriMo, which is shameful because I always have the best intentions. Maybe the journal will keep me more on target.

I’m also going to use the journal for my blogging and today I can mark down that I actually wrote a post. Hooray for me!

As of today we have 63 days, 23 hours, and 39 minutes left until my Florida trip. This year we’re going on a cruise again but this time we’re going to Nassau instead of Freeport, so I’m glad we’re seeing something different. Also, my parents are coming with me, which I’m also super happy about. They aren’t convinced that they’ll like it, but since it’s a three day excursion, I think they can dip their toe into cruising with us and see how much fun it can really be.

We’ve been watching videos on YouTube about Toy Story Land, and ogling new merchandise to buy in the parks. Apparently there’s a new Disney Play app that I’ll be getting once I’m home. Plus, they have new MagicBands and I think I want the Mickey ice cream one, but I can’t find it online again, so I may have to go with All About the Bow Minnie.

Our flat sale is going well as far as we can tell. We finally got our sold sign out front, and the mortgage offer from the bank has gone to the solicitor, so hopefully we’ll be in our new place before we go on holiday.

I know I have way more travelling updates to post here because we’ve hit some great National Trust and English Heritage sites, including our trip to Whitby at the beginning of June for Steve’s birthday. However, it is now lunchtime and my fish and chips await me!

It's citizenship day!

I don't think anyone loves this photo as much as I do. I thought it was cool that I had all the things hip going on at once -- hip people, a guy with a hip hat, and even a coffee, all while at a hip movie theatre.

Anyway, I wanted to post something of an update today just because it's sort of a special day. Right now, I am an American citizen. By 4PM I will be an American citizen as well as a British citizen. How exciting?

Unfortunately, though, I'm ill. Like not a normal cold, ill. Been in bed for days, can't mentally function kind of ill. This is the price we pay to work in customer service, I suppose. All the germs travel to us, then we end up feeling guilty about being off sick and pass it on to all of our co-workers. Last time I was off, however, I had the stomach flu, so having a stuffy cold may be some sort of consolation prize. Not sure.

Aside from that, things at Pick Manor have been iffy. I had the brilliant idea of buying a house a while ago and now that we're finally in the process, we found that it's just a huge pain. First of all, you have to sell your property first before anyone will "take you seriously" about purchasing another. This means no matter how much your bank has approved you for in financing or how much you have saved, you can't make any kind of move unless it's sold. (Granted, yes, if you want to, you can have two properties and rent one out, but you end up paying a penalty for this and yay taxes!)

We came close to buying a new house near Steve's work, but that was just too expensive. We would have poured all of that savings he worked so hard for, just to have something that wasn't in the location we wanted and wasn't even big enough for a washer and a dryer. (It's not common to find these things in a British house, but if I'm going to move, I'd like the option, you know?)

So we're sitting here waiting. Poor Steve has had a hard time of it, because this is just so bloody stressful. When the surveyors came around to check our property in lieu of the new house purchase, an electrician told us that our flat needed a whole rewire because it was dangerous. We'd not done anything to the electrics since Steve moved in here in 2008 so that was freaking frustrating. The electrician told us what a nightmare it would be and how we couldn't even consider having it done ourselves because the electricians would turn it into a bomb site and it would be unliveable afterwards. He suggested we have the builders handle that, take the cut in the offer the builders gave us for our flat as part-exchange, and get on with it. The builders weren't having that, so we took Daisy to doggy day-care, and toted Jake to a hotel with us for three days while an electrician did the work. Mind you, this was the third electrician we had come around to do a quote because the first two were like, "What a mess! This is awful! How could you live here with this?! Why did you purchase it?" and on and on.

With the recent Beast from the East snowageddon, I learned that it's illegal to not clear the snow off the hood and roof of your car. It's too dangerous. However, a flat that has dodgy electrics that could potential kill everyone in the building -- that's okay? Makes no earthly sense whatsoever.

But no matter. Here I am in England, trying to hang out with a severe cold with my cat on the coffee table, my dog in "her" room which is the computer room that Steve's in currently working from home. I still have my lovely view from my big picture window in the living room and we still have money in the bank. All in all, it could be worse. It's just freaking frustrating.

Nonetheless, I will become a royal subject this afternoon and celebrate at a pub in the best British fashion this evening. Cheers!

Our trip to Amsterdam

This week I went on my first continental European trip. I’ve lived in England for six years and I’ve never had the holiday time or the money for a city break. This year I made sure that we celebrated Steve’s birthday with something new and fun, and off to Amsterdam we went.

The trip from Newcastle is only about an hour’s flight time, and while we had the option of the ferry from North Shields, the advice by my friends was that we should take a flight so we had more time for museums and sightseeing. Everyone I know here has been to Amsterdam a bunch times, so it being my first journey I was so eager to see everything because the place had been so highly recommended.

We stayed for three nights and the weather was glorious. We stayed in this amazing little apartment all of our own in a busy area of the city. We were around the corner from the Anne Frank House and Westerkerk the church with the bells that Anne Frank found so reassuring.

Going to see the Anne Frank House was surreal. My first aspirations for writing came from my sixth grade teacher reading us The Diary of Anne Frank, so I was ready to spill tears all over the place before I even got into the museum – I was so moved by the whole experience. I soldiered on though, and I enjoyed seeing the museum. A lot of information about the family was stuff I knew from my own curiosity, so I’d seen some of the videos they played (thank you, internet) but it was fascinating and heart-breaking just the same. It’s just something I’ve always wanted to do, and now I’ve done it. I even brought home something I’ve always wanted – a red, checked diary like Anne’s. (I love gift shops.)

We also saw the Van Gogh Museum. Steve and I liked getting up close to the paintings and seeing the intricate detail of the brush strokes. I cannot believe that he did so much in only ten years. I was also very impressed with myself that I had watched enough documentaries on artists to know how to pronounce the other artists names like Toulouse-Lautrec and Gauguin. Also, I decided that I love this painting of his the best. I just love the colors and the brush strokes, especially in his eyes.

We spent a lot of time at the Rijksmuseum and I can tell you that we saw so much culture that we were cultured out. I loved the Rembrandt painting and Napoleon’s pistols. I walked a total of 7 miles that day, and my feet were on fire, so I didn’t get to enjoy it all as much as I wished I could. But we went to every floor and saw as much as we could that afternoon.

It was Day Three of walking, drinking Heineken, eating pancakes, stroopwafles, and burgers. I had seen the Red Light District, a ton of bicycle riders, about as many American tourists (*waves flag*) and taken a canal boat cruise. All in all it was a perfect, lovely mini holiday and we’re eager to go back again. We only scratched the surface on all the things Amsterdam has to offer. We even talked about moving (though we hear it’s super expensive to live there) and I want to learn some Dutch for next time.

Anyway, this review sounds fairly juvenile and basic compared to what we saw and how we felt about the place, but it’ll have to do for now. If you ever have the chance, I highly recommend seeing the place yourself. It’s a beautiful, laid-back city with all sorts of things to see and do. We hated to go back home but, alas, here we are and we’re back to work tomorrow. Oh well, Steve has had a good birthday.

What’s going on in April

It’s a nice, leisurely Sunday afternoon at Chez Pick. We’ve been fortunate enough to have some much needed time off, so we’re been trying to make the most of it.

Over Easter break we didn’t stay overnight anywhere like we usually do. This time we saw Ghost in the Shell and ate at Wagamamas on Easter Sunday, went to Cherryburn Farm on Easter Monday, and visited Cullercoats and Tynemouth on Saturday.

The movie was good and I’m glad we saw it, though I don’t remember a lot from the original that I saw ages ago. Wagamamas still doesn’t have breakfast like we saw in Gatwick Airport last December, so that was a mild bummer. And even though it was sunny in parts, the beach last Saturday was cold and it hailed on us. (We enjoyed our ice cream anyway.)

Yesterday we made another trip to our favorite place: Beamish Museum and saw their Horses at Work exhibition. I love that place, but having that many horses running around made it all the more enjoyable.

We’ve been watching Dave Grohl’s Sonic Highways, Dave Chappelle’s Netflix special (R.I.P. Charlie Murphy), and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air because, why not?

Work has been work. I can’t say much else than that. I go to a bunch of libraries, I help people with tablets and phones and computers, then I go home. Nothing too exciting about that.

Writing has still been sketchy at best. I get so frustrated because I want to delve into my Camp NaNoWriMo project, but I know I’ll never get much done because my whole day is focused on running around for work. I try my best to zone out and get back into the mind-set of “this has to be done because this is what I want to do with my free time” but I still can’t shake the high I have from being so dang social all day. (Is this an introvert thing, or what?)

I’ve thought about getting a Kickstarter going, donating the money to charity, and using that as a way to keep myself on task and motivated. I guess it couldn’t hurt if I tried, could it?

I do love all these authors who are still plugging away and keeping me motivated. I especially loved the Camp NaNoWriMo Virtual Write Ins on Youtube. They’re so fun and inspiring to watch.

On that note, this has been yet another “got to update before the time gets away from me again” type of post. Hope all of you are well and writing, traveling and publishing, and doing all the cool stuff that makes you who you are.

Tales from Dove Cottage

Well, I’ve seen it – Wordsworth’s Dove Cottage. This has been on my To Do list for only about 20 years, so I’m completely pleased to have finally visited. I was in a literature class in college and the professor shared around the photos of the England trip she and some of her students had gone on the year before. That’s when I first heard of The Lake District and Dove Cottage – I knew I had to get there one day.

Being the bank holiday and my rare opportunity to have all three days off (no work last Saturday – hooray) I booked us a nice excursion to the The Lake District. For those of us who aren’t British by birth, this is the done thing in England. You go to The Lakes over the last bank holiday of the year.

Of course I didn’t know this before I booked it – I just thought it would be nice to get away when we had the chance to spend more than one night not in town.

Anyway, so we stayed at Raise View House in Grasmere and spent time walking around Wordsworth’s grave at St. Oswald’s Church, the Gingerbread Shop, Allan Bank, Dove Cottage, The Wordsworth Trust Museum, and a few local bars and cafes.

The weather was incredible and it felt so, so nice to be away in the fresh air and the serenity of The Lakes. I’m so glad this area has been preserved and left in the natural beauty. Living in the city is nice and convenient and there is a ton of stuff at your fingertips there but, yeah, my natural disposition to enjoy being away from all of that.

Therefore, my new life goal – live in the The Lake District and write books.

How Edinburgh can keep you from boredom

Edinburgh. We always look forward to going on the train a ways to Edinburgh. This year we went for Steve's birthday in lieu of the first birthday he spend with me 8 years ago.

After traveling to Newcastle, it was my first proper tourist trip in the UK as well. I remember being speechless (which isn't a feat easily obtained for me) at it all. The age, the museums, the gardens, the red phone booths. It was amazing for a little country girl who'd only been to some American museums a few times in her life.

This time, for a change of pace, we stayed at The George Hotel which was in an excellent location - near Princes Street and Rose Street. We did the usual walking around, taking in the view, and wandering around the pubs thing. The new thing we did was visit the Edinburgh Zoo to see the panda. That was the coolest part of the trip without a doubt.

It was nice to be across from the Hard Rock Cafe, I can't deny. Rarely do we get to just hang out late at night having a drink and walk back "home." We nosed around Rose Street and did some mini pub crawls too. We even stopped off at The Guildford Arms on the way back from Carlton Hill.

Again, it's a change out of the ordinary commute-work-commute routine. It all gets quite dull when everything is a-okay and same ol' same ol' every day.

Granted, this trip was at the beginning of the month, a few weeks before the EU Referendum came through, so even if Scotland decides to leave the U.K., we'll still love to visit.

How Bamburgh Castle and The Bowes Museum saved my weekend

A few weeks ago, Steve and I went on another little trip to explore England. Northern England to be exact because, hey, why not start the adventures in your own back yard? We took a trip an hour south from us into County Durham and into Barnard Castle. (A place I'm told is quite posh and from the pictures, I have to agree.)

We stayed at Jersey Farm Hotel which was right down the road from town. There we saw Shetland ponies (even newborn ponies), deer, and alpacas. We even had a nice view of the animals from our window, which made for a nice stay in the countryside.

After a lovely evening of relaxing with a whirlpool bath and the windows open so the fresh air could lull me to sleep as I drank Caribbean Twist and watched The Hollow Crown, I was ready for a Sunday of site seeing.

First we went to town to see the castle, which was super cool, especially with the views over the rolling hills (what you imagine England to look like all the time). Then we went to Bowes Museum for the Silver Swan and the art. The grounds there are so neat and that house is way impressive. I'm so glad we decided to scurry down there for a little weekend break.

I was disappointed that we didn't get to see the Shoes exhibit. There were tons of signs around town advertising it, but when we went, the exhibition was still being set up, which meant we couldn't see any of the Fashion displays.

Also, we did pass on Raby Castle. There is a deer park there, that we drove by on our way home. From the brochure, it seems like a canny way to spend the afternoon as well, so we'll definitely be back.

Back from Seahouses

It’s been since January when I last posted something, so it’s high time I take a moment from my only day off this week to update things.

As you can see from the collage above, Steve and I have been travelling. These pictures were taken during our last weekend getaway to Seahouses and stayed in a lovely little B&B alongside the coast. We drank at the pub, we ate fish and chips, and relaxed with the windows open while the salty sea air lulled me to sleep. (Things I do miss from Florida.)

The next day, we saw castles. Steve’s idea was to go to Holy Island which I had heard of, but didn’t realize that one has to drive on the bottom of the ocean in low tide to get there. I swear, I had never been so scared about driving in my life. It was early morning, super foggy so you had no idea where you were going, with all these oh-so-handy warning signs about “use your own best judgement” or “do not cross if this road is wet.”

Okay, first of all, we don’t drive on tiny little road in the middle of the sea where I come from. In Florida, if there’s an island you either drive across a bridge or you take a boat. Simple. What I didn’t get was why we can be so hung up on health and safety (you can’t even go into an elevator without a little robot lady announcing, “doors closing” just so you don’t get confused or stick your hands in the door jam) but something as dangerous as possibily getting your car stuck in cold water and being swept away with the tide, is no big thing. “Don’t be an idiot and drive your car out when it’s dangerous.” Well, why don’t you make it so that it’s not dangerous, huh? Why don’t you have barricades or someone patroling the one mile stip of land into nowhere? How about that, Healthy and Safety Minister?

Anyway, after I screamed bloody murder and drove through the abyss (still amazed I did that) we arrive to an island where people lived their day to day lives on perpetual holiday, never caring about rising tides or the people who may get washed away with it. On Holy Island we saw Lindisfarne Castle and the Priory. (We didn’t go into the priory because, let’s face it, time was a ticking and I wanted to make darn sure I was away from some angry sea that would swallow my little Toyota for lunch.)

After the nightmare of Holy Island, we drove to the castle I originally wanted to go to Seahouses for – Bamburgh Castle. That’s the one that’s been used in films. It was huge and very impressive and after having the best brie and ham toastie in my life (the caramel and sea salt fudge was amazing as well), we walked around the beach. The dunes there are nothing that Florida is used to either – you have to treck across mountains of sand just to get to the coastline. But it was worth it. We had ice cream, FaceTimed my folks, and all in all enjoyed our adventure.

* * *

Our reason for going out and about so much on weekends is that I’ve honeslty been quite down. Work is all I know and all I do. Granted it’s good, fun, enjoyable work that I look forward to, but it takes a lot out of you to travel to all the libraries and be in charge of teaching customers and staff how to do computery things. When I get home, I just get depressed and bored really easily. I don’t know if it’s because I have a hard time winding down and when I do, I just emotionally crash, or what. But at any rate, being out and about and spending time with Steve makes me do something other than stew in the house, waiting for the next day to come when I’m running off to some library again.

This means that writing hasn’t been progressing much either. I can write scenes here and there on my phone, but nothing structured or productive really gets done. That takes a lot of time, organizaton and planning – none of which I have much of.

I have, however, started reading on the bus again (because my life consists of commuting and computer updating) so that was a relief that I could get back to my roots, as it were, by taking 15-20 minutes at a time to get back into the habit.

Yesterday I also decided to take a look at my poor blog that has been neglected for so long. Low and behold, the urge to update came over me and here I am. I’m also going to have to update and dress up bookblogarama soon. It’s been too long since I promoted books or did a review, so that will be next on my agenda (after everything else, of course.)

* * *

Anyway, the Great British Summer is upon us, sort of. I have my bathrobe on with the heater running downstairs. Both Steve and I had a cold a few weeks ago (he stayed home sick, but I kept on truckin’ despite my urge to crawl up in a batcave and sleep for days). We’ve also been entertaining the idea of buying a house somewhere. The issue is that my work is way out on the coast and Steve’s work is way out in the country. Town may be our only mid-point solution.

And books-wise: I’ve finished the Half Bad series (amazing) and have now gone back to Ready Player One. This will be a test to see if I finish this book finally before I write another post.

Writing for yourself in the new year

“Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.” ~ Stephen King

It’s now January and 2016. It’s raining outside as it has been for the entire Christmas holiday. Unfortunately, I didn’t make the holiday as good as it should have been. I was wishy washy, insecure, and feeling downright sorry for myself.

Our holiday started on 19th of December. I was supposed to work that Saturday, but since my schedule changed for my new IT job, I was free. We took a trip to Edinburgh that Sunday, and that didn’t start out very well either. We missed a bus that didn’t turn up in the morning, and by the time we got to the station we had only 15 minutes left to get out tickets from the kiosk and board.

But we couldn’t get the tickets. I had forgotten that back in October when we booked the holiday, we had the tickets sent to the house. Where they are now – who knows? That’s just an example of how jumbled your brain can get when you work full time and have a zillion other things on your mind from the minute you wake up until an hour (at least) when you get home.

Steve eventually bought a fresh set of tickets for us, 1st class as well, and we travelled in style up to our own city of lights. Sunday was super packed and raining, as expected, and I was just a grouch. I’m finding it harder and harder to settle down after working. It’s not like the job is fast-paced or stressful, I think it’s just that I have to be go-go-go all the time that when I sit down at home, I’m like, “I’m so bored!”

And that was kind of how I was for the better part of the trip. We went to the National Museum of Scotland and relaxed indoors for the better part of Monday. In the evening, we went back to the market which was less packed and found ourselves some tasty German beer and food.

During this trip I also decided that I need to desperately lose more weight because my feet have been killing me lately. I’m sure this was all part of my fussiness too. The doctors had said I have plantar fasciitis, but the tops of my feet started hurting too. My chiropractor said it was a tendon that was inflamed, but whatever it is, it’s driving me batty. But, I digress …

We FaceTimed my parents at the market, just so they could see all the fun we’re having here and try to lure them over for a visit. A vain attempt, but it is fun to share the experience with them in Florida.

We came back on Tuesday, and on Wednesday I had my first official work Christmas party in England. (It was at lunch time and I was the only one drinking, but hey, that’s how it goes.) Afterwards my friend from my old library and I drank mimosas and wine at Jamie Oliver’s in town and had a gift exchange/catch up. That made me feel 100% more festive.

Back home, Steve and I hung out, we had a lovely Christmas, and I was spoiled rotten with gifts. (Steve outdid himself this year, and I was really surprised by my new iPad Air that he’d sneakily hidden A Christmas Story style by the television. Bless him.)

I went back to work on the 29th for a one off day. It was fun too because we sat and caught up, waited for the phone to ring, and left promptly at 5PM to start the rest of the five day break.

I did get some cabin fever, and grew totally listless with the same old same old attempts at distraction and killing time. I’ve played Sims 4, Fallout 4, LEGO Dimensions, Disney Infinity 3.0 (the Star Wars packs!) and watched all of Making a Murderer on Netflix.

After a trip to the Metrocentre yesterday, wading through traffic, and trying to hobble through the mall with my dodgy foot (it was the left one, now it’s the right one – I can’t win!) I was a complete grouchy pants. Finally, I decided it was time for me to just stop being miserable and get on with things.

So, with all that said, my topic was of writing for myself. I think too often when we’re sitting around trying to do good on our promises to ourselves, we get too insecure or too down on ourselves when we see that other people are publishing their books at a much higher rate than we are.

Someone on Twitter had said a while ago that if we’re sitting around trying to write for fame and fortune, we should re-evaluate. True, the notoriety isn’t the best angle to view your work from, but with this audience that we can see the outline of in social media, I think it’s hard to not take them into consideration.

“What would people like to read? Would they enjoy this story, or this other one better? Will they think it’s too much like this book or that book?” Etc.

It made me think about Stephen King’s quote again, about writing with the door closed. I think with all the Wattpad, Twitter, #pitchmad, and blog posts about writing that we have in abundance, it’s hard to forget that we’re doing this just for us as a #1 priority.

With that in mind, I’ve sort of reasoned with myself that posting stories on Wattpad, or talking about projects probably isn’t the best way for me to work. I even debated mentioning this in a blog post because, yet again, I’m blathering on to the potential audience. I’m really too private to be doing that.

I’ve made my peace with Twitter and jump in and out without making much of a ripple in the account. I’m going to look at all of it as a means of inspiration rather than comparison. If someone at age 20 has 200 books already published by Disney Hyperion then, bravo. However, they are not me. I am not them. End of discussion.

I’ve also thought about how to keep myself in check throughout the year and how posting word counts or updates lets someone else in to the writing process.

Granted, I think all of this sharing with the world is second nature to most of us anymore, but maybe this year, as I learn to become the Mistress of IT, ironically, that I switch off the connection between the world and my little hidey hole of creating my own reality.

Kicking writing butt in October

Well, we’re back from our holiday in Florida. We spent two weeks of soaking up the sun, swimming, going to Hollywood Studios, dressing up for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, and feasting at EPCOT’s Food and Wine Festival.

My favorite part of the trip always is lingering at the pool and playing on the beach. I never was a big beach person until I moved away and realized how much I miss the sunshine.

After our visit with my parents, and the plethora of supplies we can get from Wal-Mart and Target, we pretty much decided that we’ll have to move back to the U.S.A. soon.

HOORAY!

It’s not that I don’t love out little home, and the fact that I’ve been able to get things done over here, writing-wise. I just think we’ll have way more opportunities now than we will here.

But until then, I’m back to working on my stories. Since I’ve been working at the library non-stop (and trust me, I am not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow at all) I’ve not had a lot of time to be creative. That is a number one bummer for me, and I’m sure most people can empathize with my plight. So, I’ve spent some of the holiday and most of this weekend getting writing ducks back in a row.

I started working on the stories that I have kept in the back of my head, but haven’t done much with them. I’ve made a handy books page on the author site (which I’m cross-posting to from here) to give me a good boost of motivation.

If you can see it, you can believe it.

Also, I was just looking at my NaNoWriMo account, and it suggested that those with book covers get finished. So, I’ve made myself some covers to guide me.

I’m also going to start updating my stories on Wattpad more. I think that’s going to be a good homework assignment/deadline/goal to reach for, especially if there’s a potential audience out there.

Therefore, I’ve put the first working prologue of Club Paradise on Wattpad.

It’s contemporary, it’s fun, it’s YA, and it’s everything I’ve been wanting to write for a long time. With that in mind, I’ll be sure to keep the story up-to-date, as well as the blog.

There’s nothing like a nice vacation to clear your head and make you more determined than ever to work your butt off!

An update for July

It’s been hot lately, aside from the awesome thunderstorms and rain we’ve had a few days here and there. English weather is weird – it will change every five minutes. At least in Florida, it rained for a few minutes, then went back to humidity and heat. Here, it’s cold in the morning and hot in the afternoon. You always need an umbrella, and it’s nice to keep a jacket just in case.

We went to York again last month and saw some more sights. Since the weather was better, my photos were better – even the ones of the prison as pictures above. I was also able to call my my parents in Florida with FaceTime and show them York in real time. Pretty amazing, isn’t it? I know it’s funny for most people in Europe to not imagine nativity when it comes to public transportation, but just a video call from the train is a revelation to most of us from Florida. We simply just don’t do all that. The Metro is something discussed in French language lessons and the train is a novelty item, as in, “How cute. They’re taking the train to Boston.”

Aside from that, the library has been busy-ish. I’ve had lots of class visits to get a push for Summer Reading Challenge. Having never worked at the library here over the summer, let alone this branch, I have no idea what to expect as far as event numbers. But I’ve made an effort, which is something a lot of people have told me not to bother with.

I plan on writing a whole post about the realities of working in the public libraries, but since it’s my Saturday off and I rarely get these anymore (another topic of mention for said future post) I’m going to enjoy it with Steve.

The weather is lovely and there are groceries to be bought. There’s a park to walk through, and a lunchtime excursion to be had. It is true – you take for granted all the things you miss when you’re not working. Having a day off is one of them. We appreciate these things so much more when we rarely have them.

So without further adieu, I plan on working on my current book project which is slowly but surely taking some form. I’d love to sit in an empty office for a week and just bang out half of this novel, at least, but that’s another thing I miss and took for granted when I had the time to do it.

Having said that, I did get some first drafts done when I was off work, so I can’t be too hard on myself. As always, I’m trying to have everything and it’s really difficult. I’ve at least started reading more, which helps my mental well being. After much book hopping, I finally got back to the Life As We Knew It series, which I adore.

We’ve also started watching True Detective which is as great as they say. I never thought I was big into mysteries and crime drama, but lately I’ve been into this, Sherlock, Elementary, Breaking Bad and Gone Girl, so maybe my tastes are changing.

With that said, I’ll get back to the wonders of the real world and some writing about the fictitious world for good measure.

But before I go, just to mark the occasion. Today has been an extraordinary day because of this right here.:

Go on, shed your tears of joy. I know I did.