Manic Monday #83

 
I'm sat here trying to think of a thrilling first sentence, it's obviously not going well. I needed words to start with so here we go. 

I've had quite some time today to think about a subject to chatter about in this evening's post but I'm drawing a blank for some reason - I am furiously planning and pre-writing other posts so that may be why or I just might be having one of those days where I'm not feeling particularly inspired.

I had a fun weekend, Ben and I actually got to spend the whole weekend together which is a complete novelty as he usually works every Saturday - we decided to take Kymi, my niece, to Hatton Country World, it's a place that I assume everyone should know about it because I do, like me assuming everyone knows where I live and how to get there - ha - it's a cute farm village based on the outskirts of a neighboring town, you can feed all the farm animals, goats, pigs, sheep, donkeys whoever decides to ram their faces through the fence really...you can hold guinea pigs - they literally have hundreds of the things - they hold falconry shows, talks about farm animals, have sheep races...yes, sheep races, loads of stuff for children to do and it's all set in the beautiful shire of Warwick. 

We all had a great time, yes, Ben and I are practically grown children, we enjoyed feeding the animals as much as my 10 year old niece and I never pass up the opportunity to hold something of the fluffy variety. 

  We watched the falconry show which was really informative, they showed a Harris Hawk first off, called Harry, obvs and then one of the workers was 'flying' a young Peregrine Falcon, he was only 5 months old and incredibly speedy. He managed to shatter himself out in around 5 minutes of flying as he's still building stamina and muscle mass as he's still practically a baby. Along with a family we were the only ones to stay for the Peregrine's training session so we got to chat to the trainer about him and how they train the birds they have. He told us they eat all of their prey, feathers, bones...the lot as this provides them with all of the nutrients they need to survive, which is something I never knew and he also said that 1 in 10 flights are a successful hunt and that only 1 in 10 Peregrine's will actually reach adulthood as they have a difficult little life in their first year!
He was incredibly well informed and you can tell he loves what he does, I love speaking to people full of passion that shine with joy that they're doing something they love.

On Sunday I dragged Ben out for a walk as it was a glorious day, we went to a local park which is also a golf course, it's so lush and green I adore going for walks there. 
In Autumn it turns in to an amazing golden and red place of dreams, when it's sunny and cool during this time of the year it's one of my favourite places to be. 
We were there for just under an hour, it makes me feel very zen when I'm there and you can't hear a sound.

And it's back to reality at 6.30 on a dark, soggy Monday morning!

How did your weekend turn out? Did you have any plans made? Was your Monday a bump back to reality?

Toodles.

x

Wanderlust List - Norwegian Fjords

Since first learning of the Fjords of Norway, they have well and truly settled themselves quite near the top of both my wanderlust and bucket lists. 

The images and videos I have seen of them instantly make me feel calm and relaxed; they have an aura of peace and tranquility about them. 

From the glass-like waters to the plush, green hills and mountains surrounding the fjords themselves it just looks like a place of absolute bliss. 

Looking through websites and images now for the purpose of this blog post is making me have cravings to book flights right now and go as soon as I can. 

New Years Celebrations, anyone? 

I could honestly research this place for hours on end!

 The Fjords look like an absolutely magical place that I would love to explore, I'm sure there are some breath-taking hiking trails to be explored and I think I could die happy knowing that I glided seamlessly through the crystal waters on a kayak. 

Imagine seeing the Aurora Borealis while wandering through quiet and serene hills and valleys. 

It would be the ultimate cherry on the top. 

Where is your ultimate travel destination? Have you been lucky enough to visit the Fjords? Do you have any recommendations if I do happen to visit?!

Toodles.

x

October

Dear October,

You are my last letter that I need to write, it feels good to be writing to you last, after August I think you're my next favourite. 

You tend to hold the vestiges of warmth from the sun, the leaves all turn a wonderful golden, red brown which look even more amazing against the blue sky; taking walks during days like this make me incredibly happy. 

You are Autumn through and through.

This year, my not-so-little-niece is turning 11, I honestly can't tell you where the years have disappeared to. It doesn't seem like a year ago that we were off on our family trip for her tenth birthday and I'm sure it won't feel like a year until she starts secondary school! She is at the age now where she's starting to develop in to a little sassy teen, she's incredibly clever, equally beautiful and very charming, which could be a dangerous mix as she grows up! But she does remind me of my brother and I, in how she handles herself at school, but probably with a little more sass, so I have a sneaky feeling she'll be fine. 

Halloween seems to dominate you, October, I've never been too in to Halloween as I'm not a fan of scary things or being scared, but I do love pumpkin carving! It's something that I have done since I was little and have done so for all of my life, I'm excited to create one this year. 

I feel some changes are on the horizon, I can't tell you exactly what...but I feel it in my bones. 

I've thoroughly enjoyed writing these monthly letters, October and do feel a little sad for them to finish...but pleased that I've seen it through to the end. 

I hope you've enjoyed reading my letters, do you have a series of letters? Or would you like to start one?

Toodles.

x

Learning a Language; Duolingo

Let's finally talk about the completely free, user-friendly, incredibly informative language learning website.

Duolingo

 

Since my first visit to the website, I haven't looked back. As mentioned before it's completely free, you never have to pay for anything at all - which is great! I have tried a few courses that I have paid for which have been nowhere near as great as Duolingo.  

And the logo is a cute little green owl, where can you go wrong? 

The website itself is very self-explanatory and very easy to navigate, even if you're not very technologically advanced. The layout is clean, well thought out, very well spaced - in my humble, clutter-hating, opinion. No muss, no fuss. 

You have your own profile, which keeps you up to date with your levels and progression, you can link up with friends and 'compete' if you so wish, not being a competitive person I haven't done this so can't really tell you how it works!

On to the languages;
You can currently choose from 13 languages, they are always adding more which, understandably, take time to produce and perfect! You can currently choose from French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese and Danish to name a few - you can find the whole listing if you visit.

When you start you can either start from scratch, or if you have had past experience can do a quick test to see what level Duolingo will recommend for you. Each section is divided in to lessons which get progressively more difficult.

They handle the lessons in different ways, sometimes you have to select the write word to complete a sentence, translate a sentence that is played to you (which you can repeat), pair up words, select the right words to write out a whole sentence, translate a sentence from English to your chosen language and so on and so forth. 
I think the lesson structure is a great, as it has different activities which keeps you on your toes and encourages you to translate from both languages. 

The lessons vary in subject, taking you from the very basics, to greetings, animals, food, interaction, adjectives, family - they do have some very strange sentences but I think this is more to get the vocabulary and structure in your mind so you can remember them when you need to use them. 

It is a very encouraging website, when you first start it asks you how much XP you would like to hit your daily goal, it ranges from 10 - 50 depending on how much time you have to commit. 
You are also awarded Lingots  when you reach different levels which can be spent in the store - you can buy extra lessons for fun such as flirting or idioms, you can purchase a streak freeze to keep your daily streak if you know you are busy and won't have time to do a lesson one evening. 

They have other sections to access other than lessons; they have a 'words' section which lists all the words you have learned and the strength of your use with them. It's a great tool if you just need a refresher or are struggling to remember a word. 

There is a 'discussion' section which are forums created for specific questions or people offering help on certain topics. Everyone is super friendly and there is always someone who is able to give you a succinct answer to any issues you may be having or if you are having trouble understanding why a certain sentence is structured in a certain way.

Finally there is an 'immersion' section which are documents, books and news reports that are in the language you are learning and you can select sentences to translate - I think this is a great tool for when you are more well versed in the language you have chosen to learn. 

I highly recommend checking out Duolingo, whether you used to be fluent in a language and want to refresh your memory or whether you are a complete newbie I think there is something useful for everyone.

Please let me know if you found this useful or even if you use Duolingo yourself - what do you like about it? Is there anything else you recommend using? 

Toodles.

x

Throwback Thursday - Resolutions

 Today I want to take a look back at the resolutions I set myself at the beginning of the year, I vaguely remember setting them and said something about setting more attainable resolutions for myself, so we'll see how much will power I actually have!

This post was suggested by a lovely reader of my blog and I thought it was a great idea! If you missed my resolution posts, I set myself the following goals to focus on this year;

• Make more time for my friends and be better at communication, replying to texts etc
• Switch off and leave work at work
• Finish A Dance With Dragons
• Pick up my writing again
• Continue with my healthy eating and maintain my weight
• Improve on my patience and tolerance levels

On to how I think I've done so far;

Making more time for friends - 

I have definitely improved in responding to messages, mostly! I can't say I'm perfect and always reply, but it's getting better. I could probably set more time aside for some friends but I love my own space too much. I do love being around people when I want to be around them, I think I need to let myself not feel guilty about enjoying my own time. 

Switch off and leave work at work - 

This is something I can agree that I have managed to do! I'm unsure if this is more to do with things being slower than usual in my place of work or other reasons, but I don't dwell on work anymore once I've left.

Finish reading A Dance With Dragons - 

If you don't know this book, it's currently the last book in the Game of Thrones series, if you haven't seen the full, hardback version of this book you'll see why it took me so long to read it, but I can tell you I finished that bad boy and I'm so glad I finished it!

 Pick up with my writing - 

It's coming along again, very slowly, but very surely. 

Healthy eating and maintaining my weight - 

I have managed to maintain my goal weight at Slimming World for over a year now, which I am very proud of! At my last weigh-in I was half a pound under my goal weight. I have been a little more lax with my healthy eating, meals are fine but snacking is still my downfall, but I have added in regular exercise to my routine which makes me hungrier but I think I am just working off the snacks I do eat!

Improve patience and tolerance - 

I am much more patient than I used to be, I have never wanted to have a temper but unfortunately had one. I work on this by taking a moment to breathe and allow myself time to walk away from a situation. My tolerance is better than it used to be, but of the two things this is definitely something that can still be improved upon!

I still have 3 months to keep going with these goals, but I think overall I'm doing quite well. Did you set yourself resolutions at the beginning of the year? How have you got on with keeping them? I'd love to know your goals and how you are progressing with them!

Toodles

x