Readathon!

I have been quite productive today, towards me moving abroad that is.  I paid a visit to the bank (no pun intended), where I changed my details etc...and informed them of my move to Norway, so now everything is settled and prepared for me to be living abroad.  According to the bank i'm no longer living in England as they had to change my address straight away...what a scary thought!  According to them now I am currently living in Norway!  Scary scary.

Other than that I have just been reading in every spare moment that I have.  The weather these past few days has been gorgeous so i've been making the most of it by sitting in the garden with a good book...a really good book, in every spare moment that I can find.  We've had temperatures of around 26 degrees celsius!  Its October tomorrow!!  It feels so strange to be wandering around in strappy tops and sandals knowing that it is October tomorrow. 

The book I am reading is called The Night Circus, written by Erin Morgenstern.  Its absolutely amazing, I only started it yesterday morning and i'm already nearly half way through, i'd definitely recommend it to anyone that likes a bit of magical fantasy, i'm absolutely hooked!  I received this book as I had won a blog giveaway (Thank you Ange!), so glad I won it, I couldn't wait to start reading it and here I am already nearly half way through!  I'll try and write some sort of review if I can once i've finished to give you all some idea of what it's about, I really suggest you take a read and step inside the circus.

Most Productive Day Yet.

Yesterday I had one of the best days yet, due to the amount of work I had accomplished!  My boss contacted me to let me know I wasn't due in work as it was quiet, so I took advantage of my free time to really catch up on my xmas stocking work.  All in all I managed to iron on decorations to 6 large stockings, leaving 12 more to do within the upcoming week.  I also managed to hem all of my little stockings (20), I managed to sew them all together, and then tidy them up to be turned out the right way.  All of this took me a total of about 4.5 hours!  My legs were extremely achey as I was stood up nearly the whole day due to ironing but it was totally worth it, I feel so accomplished!  I now hope to have completely finished all of my stockings by the end of this week - how exciting!  I have 12 more large stockings to finish and decorate 20 mini stockings, easy peasy!  Everything went so well yesterday that I was just preparing myself for something to go wrong, alas it didn't!  So happy!!

I think I'm really paying for all of that work this morning though, I hardly slept a wink.  I have just had the worst night's sleep in a very long while,  my conclusion is that it is due to my brain still being on overdrive from yesterday, even before I went to bed I felt like I could carry on working, I was just in one of those moods!  I think today is going to be a very long day...

Let the sale commence!

Today is the day that I have finally put my car up for sale on the internet.  I'm hoping to have a few calls tomorrow!  I expect I don't manage to sell it before I move to Norway - i've got such a bad feeling about it all!  One because I really really don't want to sell the car, two because its not exactly the type of car that people instantly fall in love with.  I really need the money though, no matter how guilty I feel for having to sell.  I'll keep you updated with any interested sellers!

Car Advert

A Day Of Productivity

Today didn't start off quite as I had originally planned, however I managed to finish everything I had on my to-do list!  With the help of my Mum, I cleaned and polished my car ready to sell, my cousin is coming to look at it tomorrow, if she doesn't want it then i'll put it on the internet asap!  I feel so sad that I have to sell it, I really love this car.  It has been the first car that i've actually spent any love/care on.  It was the first car that I bought from a garage and I was only the second owner!  It was my first experience of having a car loan!  I've had it for 2 and a half years now, really don't want to part with it but there's no way that it can come to Norway with me, the poor little engine wouldn't last the trip!

I have also managed to ice the cake that I have made as a practice for my xmas surprise!  (Of whom I cannot mention what it is incase certain people are reading this...)  I actually have quite a headache now due to the strong smell of the icing!  Can't wait to find out if it tastes any good, I originally made it 2 weeks ago now!  No doubt the first tastings will be tomorrow!

So there you have my productive day.  Only 22 days to go now until the big move to Norway, time really is flying by, fingers crossed I manage to complete everything on my to-do list before then!

I just couldn't resist...

I feel like I should apologise or something, which would probably be really stupid and uncalled for, seeing as all I have done is buy a second pair of snow boots!  I sit and think aww how beautiful and how warm my little toes will be once i'm in Norway and covered in snow!  Then the evil side of my brain reminds me of my current bank status...ouch.  Then I go on to tell myself that alas!  All is fine!  They were only £20 after all...then I sit back and have another sigh thinking... how on earth will all of this fit in my suitcase?!  Only 24 days to go!!  I actually cannot wait.

I finally finished reading Little Women today, it has always been on my TBR list since I was a little girl when my Grandma bought me the book, this was only the children's version however so I have been reading the full version on my kindle app on my phone.  The first book that I have used on this kindle app. The story was beautiful, I really felt like I had some sort of connection with each of the characters and I loved trying to imagine their old fashioned voices with their long speeches!  Such a wonderful tale of 4 loving sisters.  I am not quite sure that I have come round to the idea of using a kindle however, when I read a book,  I like to keep my finger where the next chapter starts so that I know how long there is until the next chapter (I can't finish reading a book without coming to the end of a chapter).  Obviously with a kindle you are unable to do this, all you get to see is a percentage amount of how far through the story you are, this made the story feel so slow going!  I'm not too sure if i'll be sticking to a kindle any time soon.  I can't wait to get my hands on an actual book again!  I have put aside some time tonight for me to start my next one, of which I shall decide shortly...

Ups and Downs

I've taken yet ANOTHER step back with the christmas stockings....i've ran out of thread.

1 step down...plenty more to go!

I finally paid off my car loan today, now I just have to sell it!  I'm one step further to having completed everything in preparation for my big move!  My head feels a little de-stressed, but there's still plenty more bridges to cross until everything is complete.

I have also figured out a way to solve my christmas stocking disaster so I am now back on track with those.  I hope to have all the actual stockings sewn by tonight....note to self - do not get distracted!

Isn't it funny how excited we can get over one thing?  My boyfriend simply mentioned a trip to Ikea when my plane lands in Norway in a few weeks (seeing as its just up the road from the airport) and i'm already searching the website planning what to buy etc...!  For me its mainly baking equipment, seeing as i'm not allowed to ship my kitchen goods to Norway,  I absolutely love baking (as you probably know) so to keep me busy while I wait for my Norwegian lessons to start in November I plan to improve my baking skills!  I'm attempting to take them a step further!  My first plan is to make a few things for a mini halloween party (even if it means just me and my boyfriend!)  Also i'm planning a surprise for my 'in-laws' as we are staying with them for christmas, however I can't write what it is just incase any of them read this! (which I doubt).

I always tend to make myself so busy I never actually have time to sit down and relax, no doubt my boyfriend will be on to me about this AGAIN this winter.  I'm just a planner, a planner never sits still!

I don't quite know how to end this post, my head is buzzing with things I need to do, when it has to be done by, that I feel I should write it here incase I forget!  Perhaps I shall just leave you with this...a rather interesting article I came across this morning...

German police seek help over mystery 'forest boy'

Meltdown No.2

I can definitely feel another huge meltdown coming on...and this time it has nothing to do with work.  I've just so much to do over the next coming weeks that I'm actually worried whether i'll fit it all in or not.  I knew moving abroad would probably cause a headache but I never thought it would affect me this much.  All this stress is bound to get to me soon, I can just tell.

On a happier note, work today went quite well, despite being back in the cafe.  I have now however written the most important meals down so hopefully I shall try to remember them for next time, this should save me some time in our lunch rush!

On an even happier note!  My Grandma has finally been allowed to go home today from hospital after being in there for 6 weeks due to a couple of fractures.  I'm so happy for her that she's finally home, hospital was really putting her down.  I shall go and visit her tomorrow on one of my only days off this week, I can't wait to see her in her own house again.

I suppose I better finish these christmas stockings that i'm part way through....only 101 days to go!

Meltdown.

Well...I can't even begin to explain how awful I was at work today.  I've been helping out at a separate cafe that my boss also owns, however it was only my second shift there today.  I had customers mixing up their orders, kids ordering milkshakes - which take forever to make, and an order somehow getting lost, meaning someone had to wait ages for their breakfast...great.  My boss wasn't happy with me and I wasn't happy with myself!  Stress!!!  I'm glad to be home now, my brain literally feels like mush.

Oh and i'm not being hired to work in that cafe again unless someone is there to help me....surprise surprise!

Long Time No See!

I apologise for my very very long absence!  I know I said that I would write to you during my stay in Norway in the summer, however there just wasn't much time!  I was non stop busy!

I can tell you however that I had an absolutely brilliant time and can't wait to get back there!  I finally met my boyfriend's parents, who are such lovely people.  We stayed at my boyfriend's Mum's house up on an island called Hitra - so beautiful!  We also stayed with his Grandparents for a few days here and there (they don't live too far away!)  We went on a trip to Ikea as I wanted a shelf to keep all of my books when I eventually take them all over...amongst other things.  Also my boyfriend bought his first car!  However he didn't have his driving license at the time so I had to drive the car back on the 2 hour drive - my first time driving abroad!  I had to drive on the opposite side of the road...sitting on the opposite side of the car - very scary!  I also managed to take out some norwegian childrens books from the local library to try and help speed up my norwegian.  It really did work!  I improved so much just during my 6 week stay that I am confident that I shall pick the language up quite quickly when I begin my lessons in October.

I move out to Norway for definite on the 13th October, only 5 weeks left.  Until then I have to sell my car, sort out my bank account, contact student finance, pay off my car loan, pay out my overdraft, and ontop of all that....i'm trying to make xmas stockings ready to sell to try and help me along a bit!  There's only 32 days left to do all of this, my time is fast running out.

My aim is now to try and keep up with my blog so that I can document my preparation and my actual move abroad, that way I can look back in the future to see what I did, how I got on etc...Wish me luck!