Knilly Frickers

Crafty Monday    I've been lucky with my new job that I joined a few weeks before Easter and got two mandatory holidays as a result....I've also been lucky that I get both of the May bank holidays as well. Today was the first of those May bank holiday in Scotland today and I had the day off work. I didn't want to waste the day being lazy but didn't fancy navigating my way around tons of other people spending their day off in busy places either. Instead, James and I headed to a pottery and ceramics workshop a little bit out of the way and spent the afternoon painting. As you can see from the pictures, James is far more artistically gifted than I - his wizard is amazing. I have literally zero artistic flair or talent for anything remotely crafty - give me a post-it note and I can fold it into a swan, crane, bat or cat but anything beyond that and I'm hopeless so I'm really happy that my humpty dumpty turned out alright! There was something really therapeutic about...

It's been a little while since I last put anything on my blog, reality sort of took over at some point in February and all of a sudden I looked up and it was nearly the end of April! Although not much has changed in the last few months, in some ways, lots of things have changed for me.  Just a few months ago, almost all of my posts were quite focused on how crappy I was feeling about struggling to find a job of any sort, let alone one that ties in with my degree, I was going for interview after interview and getting nowhere fast.  I kind of reached a stage where with every no thank you, came a metaphorical kick to the stomach or a crying session. Then one day at the end of February - something clicked - someone said yes and in March I started a new job and one that uses my degree.  I'm loving learning all about my new role and the place I work.  I'm a much happier Rachie in that respect.  Gone is the feeling of worthlessness, the feeling of failure and in its pl...

I'm not sure how interesting my post about my favourite things in January actually was for anyone who read it,  but I enjoyed writing it so I decided to do it again this month....or again this month lol.  It was kind of cathartic, not only to focus on some positive thought but also to reflect on how fortunate I am in times when I feel a bit sorry for myself - I have a lifestyle that allows me to have favourite possessions - I don't take that for granted. I've linked to them where I can in case anyone is interested. Clothes  February was the month of skirts - I've acquired two this month!  And they both have pockets!!! I love pockets!!! Pockets!!! This little beauty came from Cath Kidston , I really like Cath Kidston stuff but some of it can be a little out of my price range so I my purchases there are generally now and again - this was an early birthday present from Mum. The print reminded me of London - I've been a few times with my friend but I've never a...

Dear Wee Rachel,  Learn to say no. No is a great word, use it! You are great at using it! Whether it’s your brother asking if he can use your room to watch TV (the TV you have in there right now is pants, so for context, you end up with Gran Brown’s big ass telly at some point, never mind why) or Mum asking if you have or will tidy your room.  At some point over the years, I can’t really remember when, you develop this compulsive need to please people, to have them think that you are effortlessly nice and will always say yes and find a way to help them if you can.  Don’t misunderstand me, it’s not a bad way to be but sometimes Rachel, I could have kicked you hard in the face with a thousand stilettos - you’ll never own any because you’d break your neck and you’d look like an idiot, but that’s irrelevant.  Saying yes is fine, being nice is a fantastic thing to be, but this fear of saying no is not even close to being acceptable.    People will still lik...

I've been singing a lot of songs from The Sound of Music over the week or so as it seems to be the only thing that settles my baby nephew Harry when I'm looking after him.  That's possibly his way of saying 'Okay Auntie Rachie, if you stop singing....I'll go for a snooze!' Seeing as 'My Favourite Things' has been going round my head on a loop it gave me some inspiration  to do a blog post on some of the things I've discovered in the month of January that I've really enjoyed.  Yes, I know it is February......but I'm only a day late!   I don't know if it's something I'll do more of, I'll see how I feel, I thought it would be a good way to mix 'feel good' with doing something productive like writing.  Food and Drink Caveman Cookies I came across these by chance while browsing my local Wholefoods for some Dairy Free snackage and was pleasantly surprised.  The idea behind them being that the ingredients were all materials a...

Cards on the table....I've been a bit of a misery guts for the past few weeks.   I feel like for most of January, my personality has been somewhat switched off. I'm not really sure why.  I don't know if the job hunt is getting me down, if I'm spending too much time indoors and on the computer.  It might be the lack of chocolate in my diet, it could be the countless hours of reality TV my eyes have witnessed over the month of January - but what I am sure of is that I need to snap out of it. For someone who talks a lot about being positive and looking for the sunshine, I haven't done a whole lot of it lately.   It's possible that's down to the fact its currently winter in Scotland and the sun is currently shielded by an abundance of rain filled clouds - that doesn't actually sound too dissimilar to the description of summer in Scotland, but at least it's usually a little brighter! January is gone, well at time of typing its the 30th so there is still a...

Dear Wee Rachel,  Sleep is a beautiful thing! You don’t realise it right now, but you have this amazing ability to sleep at night, to just switch off your brain, lie down and sleep.   Sometimes your head might be full of crap that finds its way into your dreams but the actual sleeping part you have down to a tee.  In a few years, sleep will seem like a story, a fairy-tale like Cinderella or Snow White (I thought Sleeping Beauty would be a cruel example, but hey, at least that bitch got some sleep!). I don’t know why sleeping became a problem, it might be the fizzy juice that you drink (I know you love Irn Bru, but your insides are probably orange by now, cut down a bit!) it could be all the time you spend in front of the computer, the TV or your phone (FYI, phones are cooler in the future, but bloody expensive!).   Whatever it was, it became an issue and it’s one you’ll fight for a while, I’m still fighting it now. I’m writing you this letter because I’m struggling t...