Manic Monday #111

 

I started yesterday off with a run. I felt motivated to have a good clean out during the day and dedicate the evening to typing up my NaNoWriMo stuff, I'd got in to a good routine with it and was really enjoying it.

I open up OneNote as I usually did and went to grab a drink, I come back to my computer and find that everything that I'd written up so far had gone. 

Disappeared.

Gone.

Bye.

Fourteen and a half thousand words, all gone for no reason. Needless to say I was so upset that I didn't know what to do with myself, except write a sweary tweet at OneNote's Twitter account, cause y'know, that solves all.

 I've admitted defeat and have started typing it all out again, luckily I did handwrite everything and not decide to just type it in to OneNote or else it would all be gone. 

Believe it or not, this has happened to me before - I'd written a fair few chapters of the first book I'd ever started seriously and somehow the file managed to corrupt leaving me with pages of symbols!

Wooo, the joys of writing!

It's very disheartening to work so hard on something and then have a technical anomaly put an end to it. 

I am determined to not make this set-back put me off, so I continuing with it as we speak; just taking a few more measures to ensure I don't lose everything again!

Have you had a set back on something you've worked hard on? How did you overcome it?

Toodles.

x

Progress

[Image Source: JadeEyePhotography]

I'm in the process of typing up my twenty-something-thousand words from NaNoWriMo that I participated in last November.

About time, some of you might say and yes, absolutely true. 

Yet here I sit in April just little under half way.

I'm glad that I hand write throughout the duration of my book writing, I think when I'm typing it up it gives me a good chance to actually read over everything I've written and get in some slight editing and tweaking. 

No first draft is by any means perfect.

I did have an epiphany yesterday about the direction of my story telling, I had been stuck in a rut, NaNoWriMo was an aid to get moving with the story but at the end of it I wasn't too sure on where I wanted to take this book. But yesterday after typing up a certain part of the book I suddenly got a vision of how to proceed. 

It's so gratifying to finally have a bit more direction and a bit of a push to finally get things moving again. 

I just have fifteen-something thousand words to type up!

Toodles

x

Manic Monday #110

[Image Source: BHG]

I didn't have a manic Monday in any sense today. I woke up in an amazing apartment in a beautiful building in picturesque grounds. 

For my mum's 60th birthday I paid for us to go to The Welcombe Spa in Stratford-Upon-Avon. 

It was incredibly relaxing, I had an amazing massage with gorgeous Clarins oils, we got to spend the day relaxing in the spa and in the evening enjoying incredible foods.

 I feel shattered though, I never seem to sleep well in those places. 

Today Ben and I had a mortgage appointment, an offer we placed on a house was accepted last week...unsure if I had mentioned that previously!

Today was the 3 hour appointment to talk you through all of your options, rates, affordability, insurance and so on. 

For someone who isn't very clued up on financial aspects it was really interesting and it is also explained in a way that makes it understandable and digestible. 

Understandably there are things we have come away with to check over, consider and there are a couple of things we can decide on for a later date. 

But the initial application has been submitted and we now wait for our potential property to have a survey. 

I do find it difficult to digest a lot of information that is just spoken to me, I learn much better through reading (it tends to go in more) so I'm glad we're fully loaded with copies of everything we have discussed today. 

I'm not going to pretend that I'm organising this all, as it is moving at a pace that I am very comfortable with; Ben has taken full control of the mortgage and financial side of things. As he works in a bank he understands how things work, more so, that I do.

Also, I do get very flustered and confused with all things numbers and money; hence my lack of financial knowledge. 

Regardless of how quickly we move, we are unable to move until August due to the current owners immigrating to Australia. 

It's all very exciting and now, suddenly, feels very real.

Toodles.

x

Sunshine

[Image Source: Instagram]

I find sunshine mesmerising. 

Everything looks so much more cheerful when it's bathed by sunshine.

The shafts on sunlight creeping through trees and lighting the way.

The warmth that hits your skin when you step outside feels glorious.

The air seems fresh and inviting.

Everyone seems to be much happier when the sun is out.

It has an infectious effect on me and makes me feel ridiculously happy and motiviated.

I love the sunshine and how it makes me feel. 

I hope it shows its face more this year.

x

Manic Monday #109

[Image Source: Pinterest]

Hello, hello, hello.

Today's post is very impromptu indeed. 

I wanted desperately to plan a friends night out to cheer up one of my friends after receiving the horrible news from yesterday. 

Sometimes all you need is to be with your friends, if you're your normal self or just want to sit in the corner mulling away, letting your friends steer the conversation. It's just something to be in their presence and know that they understand.

The world seemed to be dishing out bad news after bad news today. So often the media is infiltrated by all the horrors that are going on that I forget there is still some good in this world. 

I don't like to let myself get sucked in to a vortex of feeling like nothing good is happening anymore when I know that there are people fighting every day to make good things happen. 

We tend to focus on the negatives and wallow in the pity that is fed to us by the media, never seeming to celebrate all the wonderful things that happen for every bad thing. 

Don't get me wrong I'm not sitting here on my high horse, in my crystal clean palace trying to ignore the issues the world is currently facing. I just think that every now and then we need to remember that there are still good things going on in this world too. 

On my lunch walk a bus passed me and I noticed Nelson Mandela's face staring back at me, I didn't quite catch the full banner but it said something along the lines of;

'It only takes one person to make a change'

Albeit, Nelson Mandela moved mountains in his time and I don't think I'm on an even keel but still, the banner was right; it does take that one person to make a change. 

It got me thinking about the changes that Nelson Mandela did for this world and the persecution he received for standing up for what he believed in. He endured everything that was thrown at him and still came out the other side standing, still, for what he believed in.

There are unsung hero's like Mandela all over the world who are trying their best to change the world, for the better, one step at a time. 

I think it's time we tried to focus on them a little more and bring their good energy to the forefront of the media. 

What are your thoughts? Do you think the media shine the spotlight on the negative news excessively?

Toodles

x

P.S; I'm not in anyway shape of form trying to say that the media shouldn't report on things due to their sensitive subject matter. However, I do think it needs to be acknowledged but I also think that the good in the world needs to be acknowledged as well.

Fragile

[Image Source: Chris Pawluck]

Life is fragile.

The fragility is both endearing and scary. 

Human kind need to embrace the fragility of life and let certain things slide.

Enjoy your life. 
Tell the people you love that you love them. 
Explore. 
Ask questions. 
Understand. 
Consider other people and their actions. 
Smile. 
Laugh. 
Embrace. 
Cry. 
Think. 
Learn. 
Try. 
See and do. 

Travel and embrace culture. 

An old friend from college was killed outside of a club in the early hours of this morning after a fight broke out. 

My heart goes out to his family and friends in this difficult time.

x

Manic Monday #108

[Image Source: Flickr]

I had one of those days today where my brain would just not work. Not very handy when I'm answering the calls and emails from today! There were several calls where the person on the other end had to explain to me many times what the issue was and what they needed me to do.

We launched a new job logging system today as well, which didn't seem to help the matter. I think I eventually switched myself on around 3/4 of the way through the day. 

I was meant to go the gym this evening and I'm sure I would have felt better for doing so, but I used my good excuses. I am however punishing myself for not forcing myself to go by forcing myself to organise a cupboard full of useless stuff. I think that's a fair trade off. I also plan on going through some BodyFit by Amy later. 

I have been rather indulgent recently with Easter and Mum's birthday, so I am most definitely getting myself to the gym tomorrow evening. 

Life seems to be settling down again after a mad couple of weeks moving my belongings too and fro. I don't feel anywhere near finished though and want to sort through so much more stuff but I now don't feel so rushed to do it and don't have a deadline looming over my head. 

I've been thinking of possibly switching up the Manic Monday posts and replacing them with something else. I do like writing them but am starting to feel I'm touching on the same subjects more often than not. I feel from my last few posts I must come across as an organisation freak, which I am but...there are so many more sides to me!

What do you guys think? Do you still enjoy reading my Monday posts?

Let me know!

Toodles.

x

May Planning

[Image Source: Etsy]

In the last couple of days of March I decided I wanted to attempt another blogging month, it was around the 29th or 30th which made me feel I didn't have enough time to plan properly for April. I've decided May will be a good time to do it. 

Thirty One days of blog posts!

This month will be dedicated to pre-planning, more than I have done before. I want to prove to myself that I can post every day for a month without missing a day or making an excuse just to not post and I feel that putting more planning time in will help me to do that. No excuses and procrastinating this month.

In the words of Mr Neistat;

"There's always a good excuse not to do something." 

Toodles

 x