Knilly Frickers

When I first found out about my furlough from work I had great plans, I was going to bake loads, I was going to do a different online course every single day and get up early to do Yoga every morning. Fast forward a few weeks and I've largely watched Netflix and emptied my buscuit supply. I did start the Curly Girl Method on my hair so I'll give myself productivity points for that!  💪 I decided today with some encourgement from my boyfriend to hit up the garden with a deckchair.  The wifi works out the front under my bedroom window so I can listen to Disney songs through my earphones and footer about to my hearts content until my laptop loses power or I succumb to Springtime sunburn. Combining vitamind D and fresh air with a bit of creativity.  I don't know how often I'll feel the urge but I figured it might be fun to use the garden as a bit of a Staycation.   I can read, I can listen to a podcast, I can write. Provided the old man isn't cutting the grass or on...

I've been camping before but only for a few days. About 8 weeks ago I agreed to step completely out of my comfort zone and partake in a week long camping holiday.  I'm really more of an indoors kind of girl so the idea of sleeping outside for the whole week was a little daunting.  I'd be lying if I said the whole week was entirely up my street, I have a pollen allergy, I hate dirt and like my home comforts but I did enjoy my time camping.  I learned a few lessons about myself on that holiday which have been useful since I came back: 1. Being a light sleeper isn't the worst thing in the world, it's annoying at home when I have work to be up for in the morning but when you are in the middle of a field and are woken by the sound of a barking dog or someone coming back from the toilet, it doesn't really matter.  2. There is plenty to enjoy that doesn't come from a screen.  Yes I had my phone with me, was able to charge it and could keep in touch with friends and...

Star Gazing During my camping holiday this year, my boyfriend and I decided to do a bit of stargazing.  We left our campsite when it started to get dark and drove to a nearby dark sky spot with some marshmallows and our camping chairs.  The sun took a while to set but once it did we began look up at all the stars in the sky.  I've obviously seen stars in my 30 years on the planet but never so clearly or so many at once so it was a really cool moment!  Also marshmallows and strawberry laces by the side of the road taste amazing!  Sunset Walk Another evening, we left the campsite again to go for a walk and this time James picked a nice cliff top walk above a beach just as a the sun was setting.  Looking back it was lovely, at the time I was a tiny bit freaked out by the overgrown walkway to the cliff top and the nosy cows (literal cows, I'm not being derogatory)in the field we passed by deciding to walk in our direction. We got some lovely pictures of the sun...

It's no secret that I'm fairly inactive, I'm not very outdoorsy or sporty but when I went camping last week I decided to indulge my boyfriend in his request to do something active.  We opted for kayaking and despite being apprehensive I ended up loving it! I struggled for the first 5 minutes or so, crashed into James' kayak quite a few times and couldn't quite get the hang of how I was supposed to hold the oar, after a quick lesson from James (despite the centre we went to already giving me instructions) I began to get the hang of it! We probably did about an hour and a half and for someone who does very little voluntary exercise besides walking I coped pretty well, I could feel it in my arms and my butt but other than that I wasn't completely dying! I may even explore the possibility of doing it again closer to home. If you've never tried kayaking I'd thoroughly recommend it.  Rachie's Tips for a Fellow Novice Wear clothes and shoes you don't mi...

Although I'm into all things quirky, when it comes to my hair and I'm fairy low maintenance.  I do get my hair dyed in quirky colours from time to time but for the most part I let it grow out until I can be bothered getting my roots done.  I'm not great at styling so I straighten it now and again for a treat.  For my 30th birthday a few months ago, my friend Nicole decided to take me to a Vintage salon she'd visited as part of a Hen Day as she thought I'd love it.  She was right, we arrived at the beautiful Pin Ups Salon in Glasgow on a Saturday afternoon and I was transformed into a different area as the stylist began taking me from Rachel to Marilyn.  I'd chosen a 50s style as it aligns quite well with my shape and my taste in clothes.  I'm not really into make up do I didn't bother with that but I was so happy with my hair and received loads of compliments.  I'd thoroughly recommend the experience to anyone else. I'm so grateful my friend sugg...

In one of my previous blog posts, I mentioned that I'm turning 30 this year. I also mentioned that a few years ago I made a list of 28 things I wanted to do by the time I was 28 and tried to achieve them all in about 8 weeks.  This year I decided that I wanted to revisit that idea but spread out 30 new achievements, new adventures and new skills across the year rather than try to squash them all in....solid logic considering my birthday is just over two weeks away!  I'm crap at uploading blogs regularly so since the last time, I've added a few things to the list. It's a work in progress list rather than a tick off list, although the ones below were pre-planned. Disneyland Paris A few weeks ago, James and I went to Disneyland Paris. It was pretty amazing. I went to Disney in Florida once when I was a kid and loved it but there was something about going as an adult that made me soak in every second just that little bit more.  I loved seeing everything from the Castle, to ...

If you've read my blog before you might remember that a few years ago I decided about 7 weeks before my 28th birthday I wanted to do a list of 28 things.  It was fun and I got through everything on the list to varying degrees but it was a silly timescale!  This year, I'm turning 30. I don't like this fact, but I accept it. I'm 30 in 11 weeks time, so I'm not going to try and cram 30 things into a list to do before then. I'm going to aim to do 30 things this year. Not necessarily before my birthday, just throughout this year. A mix of things I've never done, places I've never been and developing new I've never had. Today I started small, but kept it quirky. I went shopping with my sister in law for things that sparkle. I came home with a very comfy and pretty throw blanket...because I'm eternally freezing.  A day dedicated to shopping for sparkley things (at a bargain) was a great way to kick off my adventures. I've never really had a structur...

So, a few years ago on my old blog I decided to attempt blogmas and I totally sucked. If you can be bothered going back far enough in my archive I think I still have the posts live and you can see for yourself just how terrible they were. I was in a creative rut and trying to make myself do something creative every day by putting up a post. I was also trying too hard to do the same types of posts I was reading and the vlogmas videos I was watching.   That was counterproductive as forcing creativity conditioned my brain to be unimaginative and my post were all crap!  This year I'm going to attempt my own little Quirkmas. I doubt it will be every day and it certainly won't be groundbreaking but it will hopefully be fun or interesting to read. My December has some quirky elements to it, as does my Christmas Day so I should be able to come up with something to write about! I quite often end up chasing my tail at this time of year, as do most people I guess, so it is quite nice to ...

Hello! I've been pretty silent on my blog for a while. My batteries have been charging. I forget sometimes when I'm charging my devices throughout the day that my brain is the most frequently used device I own and needs the same care an attention to work at full capacity. I'm keen to get a bit fitter than I currently am, not in an I must be skinny, I will now document my trip to the gym every day, but I do spent alot of my day sitting and I'd like to be a bit more active, and climb a few flights of stairs or a hill without needing a good 5-10 minutes to recover. I'm going to combine my shoe diary with my attempts to get out and do some exploring on foot.    According to the internet - and who am I to argue with the internet? - there are 2000 steps in a mile, I initially set my target at 3000 but found that I was exceeding it so I moved it to 4500.  A few days ago I managed over 18,000 but I did an uncharacterisitic amount of walking that day so I won't get too c...

*Clubbercise is not suitable for those with photosensitive epilepsy * When I was a kid I used to love dancing, around the house, in the garden, in the playground, anywhere really. I took classes in Disco, Tap, Ballet and Modern, I have a few certificates under my bed from my dance exams and even have a few medals, although I pretty sure they were for participating!  When biology took over my body in my early teens I sort of gave up dancing, with the exception of the occasional shimmy  at a friend's birthday, a night out or a wedding....or in my car.  It's probably been about 14 years since I've been anywhere near a dance class, so naturally when my sister in law suggested I join her at clubbercise I was a little reluctant but after she'd been and told me how fun it was I decided to give it a go.  If you've never been to or heard of clubbercise it's easy to follow dance moves to 90s club classics with glow sticks and disco lights!  At first I felt really out of p...

I’m a big fan of alliteration, you may have gathered this about me already if you’ve read some of my other blog posts. So I decided that on Friday’s I’m going to start posting about activities or things I’m experiencing for the first time - Friday Firsts I think I shall call it. Anytime I try or go somewhere new I can channel it into something creative to share with others. I’d like to be optimistic and say I’ll do one every week but I’ll play it by ear!  This weeks Friday First involves cooking - I know, shock horror.  It also involves avocados. Just because avocados!  I'm becoming a bit obsessed with avocados, I have socks, a lunch box, earrings.....I digress.   Behold - avocado potato salad!  I can’t take credit for the recipe, I found it on Pinterest and comes from a site called Beckys Best Bites . I'd strongly recommend having a look, there are some great recipes on there. Ingredients: I didn't stick rigidly to the recipe as I had no Dill or Cilantro b...

I did say in my last blog post that there would be no  'New Year, New Me'  but I have given my blog a new name so I didn't really stick to that... You'll have gathered if you've read my blog that I like to embrace the quirky things in life, the musings and content will still come from the mind of Rachie, my name just won't be in big letters at the top.  I mentioned in my last post  I'd like to use my blog to embrace all things quirky in my life whether that's sharing my musings, talking about my adventures or sharing things I've found. I've never really had a theme for any of my personal blogs before and I'm not certain that quirky is really a theme, but it will be the thread that stitches everything together... I hope.  It's a Rachie Thing was an outlet that helped me to process my thoughts, continue to develop content when I had no other outlet for my creativity and develop my own voice. I've brought over all of my existing content,...

Roland here, we've already been formally introduced....but for those of you who don't know who I am, I'm Rachie's right foot - Roland.  My buddy Hector (her left foot) and I are Rachie's feet, we're the guys who take her places and we usually let her do the talking, but we recently came back from London and thought about letting Rachie blog about it, but to be honest...this was our trip...we did all the walking!  Here is just a snippet of our London Adventure with Rachie.  Day One                                                 Hector and I got up early to make sure Rachie got the 7.30am train from Glasgow to London , we broke our no peeing on a train rule because Rachie just had to have an Irn Bru and a water and finally around lunch time, we arrived in London, had lunch and made our way to the hotel.  Later on we took Rachie to Leicester Square an...