Knilly Frickers

I've watched Gilmore Girls in its entirety several times, too many to count. I'm word perfect in some scenes and know from a frame or a line which episode it is. Roughly eight years ago I wrote a blog post professing that I am a Rory , I can't really judge the Rachie of eight years ago, because she probably was a Rory.  At that time I had limited bills, limited life experience and a desire to write.  35 year old me despairs at the thought of being a Rory.  No harm to Rory, in the earlier seasons I very much identified with her quiet nature, her penchant for literature and her desire to create. As she grow older and spent more time in, and gravitating towards, the world her mother ran fast and far from, she became less like someone that today's me would want to be.  These days I'm more of a Lorelai, quirky, a little more world weary, more of an idea of what it's like to have responsibility, a desperate need for morning coffee despite actually hating it.    T...

For the majority of this year, every time I've come onto my laptop to write something, I've very swiftly given up and decided to do something else.  I don't know if it's a lack of creative spark or just a general sense of nothing mattering enough to be bothered.  I accepted this week that I'd hit a wall mentally.  After being on furlough for the majority of the year, my role was made redundant, and I haven't been getting far with my job search. I took some time to process this, I've eaten plenty of comfort food, I've had some days where I've vegetated, and I've binged watched just about every series I possibly can on Netflix.  I know that I'm not alone in my circumstances and compared to others, I am reasonably lucky.   Diversion -   I actively try not to compare myself to others as I'm biased in favour of others so will always find a way to come off worse, but I do know that there are people who have it far worse than I at the moment. ...

So, here's the story from A – Z   I don't think I ever actually made it past the waiting list for the official fan club or completed my collection of those polaroid photos you could buy in Woolworths for about £1 but as far as I was concerned, from the age of seven onwards, I was The Spice Girls most enthusiastic fan. I had concerts for my stuffed animals or reluctant family members in my back garden, their first album was the first cassette I ever bought. I've no idea what the first CD I ever bought was - I have a feeling it was probably Spice Up Your Life or Robbie Williams - I do know that the first song I ever downloaded was The Hampsterdance Song, purely because I was a massive fan of Disney's Robin Hood and Roger Miller's Whistle Stop song is forever running through my head and my heart, I digress, back to The Spice Girls.  I tried to start my own Spice Girls fan club in the playground, I made membership cards out of the flimsiest paper in the universe for ...

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...

Around this time of year I have a tendancy to feel self-depracating and make a list of things that I feel I need to change about myself in order to be the best me I can be, tick all the right boxes and meet the societal standards of my every day surroundings.  I decided a few years ago that this nonsensical notion was counterproductive and have now decided that instead of thinking how I will change myself for the year ahead, I will spend this time reflecting on what I've learned about who I am.  Yes, I know I'm a 30 year old woman but anyone who tells you they have all their ducks in a row in order of date of birth, know exactly who they are, what they want and have the secret to obtaining/maintaining it, is either extremely lucky or talking rubbish.  In the spirit of reflection, here is what I've learned about myself in 2019.  I let the big things go, not the little ones. I let a lot of things go, sometimes big things that I should really call others out on and I'm ...

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...

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...

At the beginning of each year I look at my blog, think about what I want to change and then decide I'm gonna have the best year ever creatively and then I get sidetracked and that goes out the window.  Last year was a prime example of that mindset, I changed my blog about, bought a domain and had a nice header image designed and I posted a grand total of 12 times.  I went back and looked at my blog posts from the first half of last year and I can see the difference in my headspace between then and now.  I've mentioned before in previous posts that I don't do New Years resolutions but I do make postive tweaks.  I posted on 31st December 2017 about my thoughts for the year ahead and mentioned that I had some thoughts about what I wanted to achieve in that year and that if they didn't happen then that would be okay.  A few of those things I wanted to tick off the list actually happened, although I can't take credit for all of them, sometimes things happen because y...

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 ...

The first time I typed the title of this blog I typed Summer 2017, I'm off to a great start! I love Autumn. Nature starts charging it's batteries and takes a bit of time out to rejuvinate before bursting to life again in Spring. That's a really healthy reminder sometimes, to take some time to recharge and not to burn out. I'm probably rubbish as favourites posts, I think I've made two lacklustre attempts but I thought I'd give it another go, maybe seasonally. Which would work well, as I'm also terrible at having an upload schedule. Here's some of my quirky faves this Autumn. I'm not sponsored by any companies, authors or locations I have mentioned below. Books    Yes, I am a 29 year old woman and yes there are two unicorn books in this section. I've said it before, I'll say it again, I dig unicorns. This Summer/Autumn some of my favourite reads have been Be More Unicorn: How to Find Your Inner Sparkle by Joanna Gray When The Curtain Falls by ...

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...