...in which I can't not complete the meme

The obligatory end of year meme. I feel bad for slacking on the blogging this year but I know next year will be much busier, so I won't be making any blog related promises.


1. What did you do in 2013 that you'd never done before?
Went to Italy, took part in a 5k race (more than once!), began a Masters course


2. Did you keep your New Years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't remember making any last year. I don't really believe in resolutions but 2014 will definitely be my most productive year so far. The motto I'll be living by is "do no harm, but take no shit"


3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No


4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, thankfully 


5. What countries did you visit?
Italy and Cyprus


6. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?
A new car


7. What date from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
No specific dates, just lots of good times :)


8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Reaching my fitness goals and getting onto my MSc course


9. What was your biggest failure?
Procrastinating almost constantly 


10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I've been really quite lucky with illness this year because exercise has done my immune system the world of good, but I have had a hamstring injury for the last few months


11. What was the best thing you bought?
Probably food :-P and The Next Day


12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
John for being constantly wonderful
My parents for all their support
My in-laws for just being lovely and making me feel lucky
All my friends, but Annetta in particular, for always listening to me talk crap and making me laugh when I need it
David Bowie for releasing an album


13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Appalled and depressed is a bit strong, but the person who always feels the need to imitate me, and my now ex-friend who has a warped view of how friendship works have irritated me a lot


14. Where did most of your money go?
Savings! For a change. But other than that, petrol and food


15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Travelling, Christmas, and fun times with friends


16. What song will always remind you of 2013?
Daft Punk - Get Lucky
Katy Perry - Roar
David Bowie - anything from The Next Dday


17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. Happier or sadder? Happier
ii. Thinner or fatter? Thinner
iii. Richer or poorer? Richer


18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Travelling, writing, reading and photography


19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Worrying


20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent it with family


21. How will you be spending New Year's Eve?
With John and some friends at something low key


22. Did you fall in love in 2013?
I fell more in love


23. How many one-night stands?
None


24. What was your favourite TV program?
Modern Family and Cougar Town 


25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I don't waste time hating people


26. What was the best book you read?
The entire ASOIAF series *sob*


27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I re-discovered my old iPod and how great Gomez were


28. What did you want and get?
A wedding date booked and a place on my MSc course


29. What did you want and not get?
A lottery win


30. What was your favourite film of this year?
Thor 2, Catching Fire and Desolation of Smaug


31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 26 :) I spent the day in London with John having the fun and seeing The Lion King, and went out for dinner with my friends the next day


32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
More space at home


33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2013?
Giving Zero Fucks :)


34. What kept you sane?
John and my friends. And my cats


35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Christian Bale/Bradley Cooper/Tom Hiddleston


36. What political issue stirred you the most?
When my friend couldn't name the deputy PM I was quite disturbed...


37. Who did you miss?
Friends and family who I didn't see enough


38. Who was the best new person you met?
Sanya, and Erene (even though we were friends since we were 9 we hadn't spoken in 8 years and it was great to be back in touch)


39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013.
Worrying doesn't achieve anything, and you shouldn't care too much about what people think of you


40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
It's cheeeesy but "I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar"



Happy 2014!!
xoxoxox

... in which I know I should blog more often

It's been far too long since my last list, that was down to a wrist injury, and then a hectic few work weeks. Not forgetting wedding planning (mostly on Pinterest), studying, enjoying the nice weather whilst it lasts, birthdays and celebrating 5 years together with John. But things are calming down now and I'm back on the list-writing wagon!

List 5 - list what you are grateful for

my health (physical and mental)
my whole wonderful family
finding John, who is my perfect other half and who feels the same way about me
having lovely in-laws that have made me feel part of their family
that I can enjoy my own company
having a roof over my head
my amazing friends
my faith
having a job
being able to drive, and my fab little car
the opportunity to be a police officer
that I belong to two different cultures
the turbulent times in my life and the lessons I learned from them
discovering David Bowie, and all the ways his music has helped me
my parents did a great job with me and my brother and I had a happy childhood
I'm not an only child
my cats are the most loving little fur-balls around
all the things that make me laugh
the ability to stay positive
having all five senses
freedom
modern technology
the opportunity to learn almost anything I want
I grew up in London


I'll be more on top of the lists from now on :)  ttfn x

...in which I really catch the bug

In between me writing the title for this blog and starting the actual post, one of my cats tried to ju,p up onto the kitchen counter and instead spectacularly headbutted the washing machine.

I think this was worth noting.

In other news, almost overnight I have massively caught the wedding bug. It's now something like 440 days away, so now is a good a time as any to start planning.

It is most definitely time for a new list;

List 4 - list your current & future goals & dreams

become fluent in Greek
have a wedding that John and I both enjoy
beat procrastination
work my arse off at uni to complete my masters
complete my 10k training
find a job that I love doing
be a great wife and have a happy marriage
keep my cats happy and healthy to a ripe old age
have 2 babies (1 boy, 1 girl)
always make time for my friends
be appreciative of everything I have
find somewhere to settle and raise a family
do more volunteer work
make my parents proud
see David Bowie in concert
finish reading the Song of Ice and Fire series
visit Ireland to hang out with John's family
start vlogging
buy a house

... in which a good title eludes me

I should be baking a cake right now. To be specific, a lemon drizzle cake made with a Cypriot lemon from the garden of my parents' beach house in Cyprus. This is much more exciting than it sounds.

On with the list challenge. I think a week has passed since I wrote my last one.

52 List Challenge

List 3 - list the things you should be proud of


making the time to learn how to speak Greek
being considerate and compassionate
getting my degree
being a good cook/baker
learning that it's good to be different
being in a wonderful relationship
I try to be optimistic and look on the bright side
appreciating my parents whilst I'm lucky enough to still have parents
getting my driving licence through sheer determination
I take care of my body
completing training to become a police officer (and smashing all of my assessments)
finding it in me to let grudges go and forgive people
I don't need to drink to have a good time
not being too much of a big baby about having surgery
having two gorgeous, happy, well looked-after cats
I acknowledge my flaws
becoming friends with my brother
not being affected by peer pressure
I take time to appreciate the little things
learning from my mistakes
getting accepted into Uni to do my Masters

...in which I make another list

Ok, firstly I need to have a mini gush over;
a) the David Bowie Is exhibition at the V&A. So awesome. I still can't put it into words properly, but I'll try in the next couple of days.
b) the video for The Next Day. Obviously.


I'm trying to keep up the list challenge - It's this one today.

List 2 - your greatest comforts

my beautiful cats
tea (or any hot beverage really)
wearing a onesie
fresh bed sheets
John cuddles
having a lay in
playing Plants vs Zombies
chips
David Bowie's music
David Bowie in general
lighting candles
listening to rain
reading Harry Potter
sudoku
colouring in
wearing my watch
Whatsapping nonsense to my best friend
curling up on the sofa and eating homemade couscous
listening to Greek radio
cooking spaghetti bolognese
watching TV adverts from when I was a kid
nostalgia in general
being in Cyprus
having freshly washed hair
pillows and cushions
wearing my comfiest boots
Yankee candles
watching Friends

...in which I totes love making lists

I'm gonna give this a try. I'm obviously late to the party, but I think it might be a good way to get my creative juices flowing again - apart from being a total list nut myself! So here goes;

52 Lists Project

List 1 - words that touch your soul.

smile

friends

coffee

stardust

story

calm

sunshine

John

family

happy

summer

bond

cat

love

ocean

fly

music

best friend

relax

joy

feel

clouds

tea

Cyprus

romance

pray

laugh

food

free

contentment

...in which I have leg ache

I'm just starting to wonder whether I use my iPhone too much. I just wrote an email from my laptop instead of my phone for the first time in months, and all of a sudden I find I can't type properly any more. Ditto with writing this blog. I'm constantly making dumb typos and having to go back and correct myself. Although now I'm wondering if that is partly due to my laptop still being new. Maybe I'm not used to the keys yet. Maybe. Anyway. Much to my surprise I went to the gym this morning. I found myself an app that in 8 weeks can apparently train you to be able to run 5k in one go. I'm really quite skeptical so I'm giving it a try. Watch this space. I also cycled A LOT after the running, hence the leg ache. I've got work to do but I found my Kindle (aka John's Kindle) again the other day and I started reading A Clash of Kings, and now it's all I want to do. Studying and tidying don't stand a chance against Kindle fun. My cats are both sunbathing, which makes me jealous. Another thing making me jealous is the amount of people I know that will be in Cyprus for Greek Easter. I so need to be there. I made Koulourakia the other day to make myself feel better about not going, and they're so bloody delicious that it did help for a little while :) Have a great day bbs x

Holy cow....

.. it's been a long time. My new-very-productive-self thinks blogging again is a good idea. For the last year or so the procrastinator in me hasn't allowed this to happen, so this post could be a complete one-off. Or it could be the start of something amazing. Watch this space! A brief update of the last year; I smashed all my police assessments and passed out with my class on 5th May last year. So awesome. And then I was a police officer for a little while. And then real life got in the way of volunteering and I had to quit. No regrets though, what an amazing experience. I still work in Chelsea. This will probably only last until September when I go back to Uni to do my masters. David Bowie brought a new album out, which made my life. I think this deserves a whole separate gushy blog post. This post comes courtesy of my new laptop :) My cats are a year older but still utterly bonkers. They are perfect little monsters. This might be enough for now. Let's see if I come back...

... in which I can do better

This blog post is dedicated to Leigh, who rightfully pointed out that my last post wasn't good enough!

So here comes a better one...

I've been in my new job for 3 weeks now and I'm really enjoying it. Working with/for my dad isn't quite what I expected it to be, but it's great in a way I didn't expect :) aside from the journey to and from work it is beating my old job hands down. I miss my old department an insane amount, but having a new, lovely little team is helping with that a little.

I'm disappointed that I haven't spotted any famous people yet, but I'm holding my breath for Gary Barlow.

The end of police training is drawing nearer and nearer which is starting to both scare and excite me. At the half way point I was doubting my abilities and spent a whole evening debating with myself about whether to pack it in. However since then I've completely smashed 3 assessments and am feeling much more confident about it. I can't wait to get out there!

My concentration is starting to wane now because I write this from the end of my bed, and Sierra and Oscar are currently wrestling each other on the bed with great vigour. It's not easy to blog when you keep being kicked my cats. I don't even think they qualify as kittens anymore... they've had their 1st birthday and they're huge, heavy little brutes. I'm glad they've kept their soppy, daft personalities though :)

I hope this post was up to scratch! I'l be back with more in the near future...

... in which there is change

I finished working at school on Friday, and began my new job yesterday. I'm enjoying it so far, but am exhausted already. My journey home used to take me roughly 20 minutes and I'd be home by 4pm. It now takes me an hour and I'm home at around 8pm.

Having said that though, there's a lot to be said for having a job that doesn't make you want to scream into a pillow.

A more coherent blog will follow soon. Pinky promise!!

...in which I edge closer to 30

Well, here I am. My first blog as a 25 year old.

My birthday was spent at work, and then at compulsory after work training, blerg. But my evening was lovely :) it involved Chinese food, cupcakes, TOWIE on the telly and excellent man-company from John.

Last night, I had a birthday gathering of most of my favourite people at le pub. I was really chuffed with how many lovely people showed up, and had a generally fabulous evening. Thanks lovely people!

Today is mostly lazy... I'm catching up on fashion blogs, drinking tea by the bucket, piddling on Instagram and looking forward to a beef roast dinner at the in-laws this evening. Lush :)

Bonne weekend to you all x

... in which I feel accomplished

Hello bbs, and a Happy New Year to you.

In no particular order, here are some things that have occurred this last week or so.

I went back to work.
I handed my notice in.
I passed my handcuffing assessment.
I got CS sprayed in my face. Training is fun.
I saw Chelsea smash Portsmouth 4-0.

Hmm, turns out there was a particular order. Chronological.

Next week I turn 25 and I'm not sure how I feel about that yet. I used to like getting older because I felt with each year older I got, I was taken more seriously. I've enjoyed being 24, I wouldn't mind sticking with it. However I am excited about the new challenges and changes that this year is inevitably going to bring.

Ok, update done. That's one less niggly thing I can get off my to-do list that only ever seems to get longer :)

TTFN

... in which I feel warm and fuzzy

Hi bbs :)

I'm still in my jammies and basking in post-Christmas glow. What a good time for an update (says I).

Christmas was awesome, as was Boxing Day. John and I were up fairly early on Christmas Day, we swapped pressies and then cooked a huge fry up... om nom nom. We digested that for a little while before wrapping the last few presents and heading over to my parents. My aunt and uncle are visiting from Cyprus and my brother was home from uni so it was a lovely gathering, and dinner was delicious.

And then (still digesting) we went to visit John's parents where we collected about 20 chocolate oranges from various people, among some other fabulous presents. And then came charades and board games, which brought some priceless quotes...

Kerry: What is a female rabbit called?
John: Well, it's not "bunny"...
Brian: Yeah, because Bugs was a boy


Me and Kerry: What are the 7 deadly sins?
John: Rape


Brian: If the penis piercing is called a Prince Albert, what is the corresponding piercing on a female called?
Megan: CLIT!


Ian: Lee Evans is the worst thing to happen to the world.
Brian: What about Adolf??

... to name a few.


Gaming was bloody brilliant. And then exhausted, with about 6 huge bags of presents and chocolatey goodies we headed home.


Boxing day was a lovely chilled out affair for us. We enjoyed the 50 Greatest Harry Potter Moments, which caused lots of heated discussion, obviously :) followed by the new Lee Evans stand up which was hilarious. And then we ended the day with dinner and series 1 of TOWIE, which admittedly was much more up my street than John's, but he does enjoy the stupidity of it.


And now we have to find room for all our new goodies, which gives us an excuse to do a clear out of all the things we don't need. Looking at my wish-list from one of my previous posts, I can say with no surprise that I did not get a Louis Vuitton bag, or an Alfa Romeo, or Gary Barlow (although a Take That calendar and the tour DVD are good substitutes!) but I was lucky enough to get the Professor Layton game. Now... come on snow days! I'd like to postpone going back to work for at least an extra week :)

...in which I feel really festive

Happy Christmas Eve to everyone.

I began today with a Krispy Kreme and a coffee. The rest of the day involved wrapping tonnes of presents, watching Christmas movies and taking the cats for a walk on their new leads.


You heard.


They loved it.

And with that, I hope you all have a lovely Christmas :)

...in which there are no good excuses

Oh dear, almost two months since my last post.

I was just having a little moment. A "wow, I've finished all my Christmas shopping" moment, when it suddenly occurred to me that success in the Christmas preparation department meant I now had time to write a blog post.

I'm on my Christmas holidays at the moment, which have been blissful so far. They've involved watching Sex and the City (lots), eating biscuits (also lots), drinking tea (you get the idea), wrapping presents, snuggling with cats, watching Christmas movies (saving all the best ones for Christmas Eve) and generally getting organised. The last of my shopping was done today. Hoo-ray.

A combination of work and police training has left me exhausted for the past couple of months but I'm enjoying it... well, I'm enjoying one of them, probably not hard to guess which one is more fun.

I'd love to say that our place is decorated to the hilt, as per previous years. However this is our first Christmas with The Naughtiest Cats in the World living with us. Our Christmas tree is apparently a) a climbing frame and b) a chew toy. Any baubles that were placed on it disappeared within a couple of hours. I'm trying to be annoyed but right now both of the buggers are sleeping next to me and look like little angels... so it's tricky.

Before I go and get back to either watching cop shows, or playing Forza, here's a selfish indulgent list of all the things I want for Christmas;

1. Louis Vuitton prettiness
http://www.louisvuitton.co.uk/front/#/eng_GB/Collections/Women/Handbags/products/Speedy-25-MONOGRAM-M41528

2. Professor Layton (hoping for some snow days to go along with this for uninterrupted gaming)
http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=-1;6;-1;-1;41&sku=372597&_tag.WT.ac=nintendo+ds+%2F+dsi-LHTMN-Top+10+Best+Sellers-372597

3. Gary Barlow
http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l70o7d0KLs1qd9210o1_400.jpg

4. A beast-like car that looks like it's going "grrrr" instead of looking like it is smiling
http://www.carsphoto.net/wp-content/uploads/pictures/alfa-romeo-159-photos-6913.jpg



So, even with the intention to blog again before Christmas, I think it's safer to wish y'all a Merry Christmas here and now. Hope it's full of health ad happiness and wonderful people and gorgeous food
xxxxxx

... in which I plan plan plan

I'd love to pretend that my lack of updates has been down to my life being so full of exciting, lovely events that I haven't physically been able to find time to blog.

Sadly, it's mostly down to Megaflu. The build up to it took about a week, where I felt generally a bit rubbish and didn't have my usual massive appetite. Then came a day where I felt mostly fine, and went off to a fantastic, extravagant wedding with John and destroyed my feet with Evil Shoes. And the next day... Megaflu.

I took two days off work, drank tea, ate soup, cuddled cats and rested lots. It didn't help, so I went back to work, which didn't help me even more but lessened the guilt I was feeling at leaving my students unsupported.

On Saturday, Alice and I hung out whilst our other halves were having Man Weekend. We started off with a Thai massage, which was interesting as it was my first massage. It felt a bit rough at the time but my back and shoulders are loving it now. Coffee, lunch and brownies followed that, before an impromptu mini shopping trip.

And today is the first day of half term. Lovely!! I have lots to do but the little procrastinator inside me is telling me that none of it needs to be done today, so I'l be going with that advice for now, and dossing all day. Until I go to the gym with the girls. But that still falls under fun.

TTFN bbs, have a lovely day x

...in which I still feel too pale

And so ends another hectic, busy week. Made slightly better by all the freakin' sunshine we've had!

I'm seriously loving this little heatwave. Obviously, all the classrooms at work are sweltering, and my summer clothes had been put away but the upsides to the weather totally make up for things like that. I've spent my journeys home from work with my windows down pretending I'm on my way to the beach :) shame I didn't actually catch any more of a tan this week.

Last night was a hilarious meal/bowling extravaganza with John, Gem, Matt, Laura and Joe. A gorgeous dinner (which included yummy ribs) was followed by bowling lunacy, high fives, near-flashing and falling on the floor. A great night.



I also baked my first ever carrot cake (wuhu!). I tried a Greek recipe, because I knew that my parentals would be involved in the Tasting and Judging of it. Yesterday afternoon I set out all my ingredients and began.... and then realised my scales were broken. Horror set in before I decided to haphazardly guess most of the quantities. As a result I ended up with a delicious looking albeit flat cake, which my dad merrily took the piss out of, before asking for a rather large slice... in summary, it looks weird but tastes pretty nice, so I'm considering that a success!

Hope you all had a nice weekend, I'm gonna give The X Factor and Sexy Gary Barlow my full attention now :D

... in which I realise stuff

Ohmygosh, hello weekend *snugs the weekend*

What a week.

I mean. Bloody hell, what a week!!

Highlights have been;

- yoga
- going to Chelsea vs Fulham
- dinner at John's parents

Even going to the football was mildly stressful seeing as how we didn't manage to score during the game, and then didn't manage to score during extra time and had to resort to penalties. Thankfully we won on penalties by the skin of our teeth. My voice is still scratchy from chanting :)

I did something really nice the other week. I offered an olive branch (in the form of "Happy Birthday") to someone I hadn't spoken to for years. We were best friends at one point, before she did the worst thing that you could do to a friend, to me. And it felt nice, to be nice.

I came to the realisation the other day that there's only one person I can think of who I actively dislike, and that's down to their treatment of a good friend of mine. Even the people who've treated me badly.... there's no dislike there any more. And now I can understand why some people actively decide to not hold grudges. It feels good to let stuff go.

On that note, happy weekend bbs! I'm off to start making sausage hotpot, which I'm very excited about eating :)

... in which I am reem

Happy Weekend bbs!

And it is a happy weekend. My week was crazy busy, but in a good way. On Tuesday I yoga-ed and then ate pizza with Ann, where we swapped stories about making fools out of ourselves. It's always nice to know your friends are as silly as you are :)

On Wednesday it was zumba time avec Cat and Lisa. We zumba-ed and then.... went for dinner. Which is pretty much my routine whenever I exercise. And what?

The next evening was spent with John and my parentals, eating lush food and watching football. And worrying about my assessment looming on Friday.

So on Friday my mum kindly drove me to Hendon (despite the fact that I love driving and would have happily driven myself there... haha!) where I was fantastically early. But luckily soon I was joined by people, some of whom I'd met on my day 1 assessment. And then the day started with being measured for a uniform... I've never seen anything as surreal as my reflection wearing a stab vest and a police hat.

Then there was a medical examination, documentation checking, fingerprint taking (not with ink tho... boo) and a fitness test. Everyone in my group passed which was lovely :)

By the time I got home I was exhausted, so it was straight into the shower, and then into pyjamas and a sleeping bag, and onto the sofa where Sierra and Oscar kept me company until John arrived home. At one point I almost fell asleep and Sierra was curled up on me, but once he heard John's keys in the door he woke up pretty sharpish and kicked me quite brutally in the chest in his rush to meet John at the door.

Tonight brings a family meal, as a sort of "see ya later" for John's sisters who are off to uni in the next week or so.

Tomorrow Chelsea play United. My oldest friend, Manju is a massive Glory Hunter (I'm lucky she doesn't read this) and we're planning on watching it together. I hope we're still friends afterwards!

... in which I feel the burn

So to my complete shock (and delight) I woke up last Friday to discover that despite my horrific lurgy, I passed my interview, and I also have a date for Part II. Good times :)

The last days of the summer holidays weren't as packed and hectic as the weeks mentioned in my last post, and sadly, work soon followed. It's been lovely seeing everyone again (children included) but being short-staffed also means being over-worked and very tired, which hasn't been fun.

However there's been some fun inbetween the tiredness, zumba and dinner with Cat, Manju and Lisa, and a fun night in when Kerry and Paul came to visit us and came bearing pizza :)

NaNoWriMo is coming up... I really want to have another crack at it this year. It's damn procrastination that keeps getting in my way. I think coffee might be a helpful addition this year though.

Ttfn bbs xxxxx