Currently… 22nd April

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In a blatant act of imitation being the sincerest form of flattery I am borrowing this post idea from the lovely Hannah who starts every week with a list of things that she is up to. So here is my list of things keeping my attention at the moment.

Watching

We are big TV watchers in our house, we are currently looking at whether we want to keep our sky subscription or give it up in favour of just having netflix. Watch this space. But the TV shows we’re currently loving are:

Modern Family – One of few programmes we watch on the day they air. This funny, sweet sitcom is so uplifting.
Elementary – Love this show. When I first heard that they had Lucy Liu on board to play Watson I was really anti, but she has totally won me over!
Person of Interest – This was originally a netflix find but we are now watching it on channel 5 on real telly.
Masterchef – We’re into finals week for this year!
Bear Grylls The Island – We loved this last year and are really enjoying the boy/girl split this year.

I’m sure there are lots lots more, but these are the main ones this week.

Reading

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout – This was on the TV over winter but we didn’t watch it, I picked the book up in the charity shop. It is ok, but I’m not enamoured with it. I want a more in depth story instead of lots of little ones with a few of the same characters. I’ll persevere.
Pillow Talk by Freya North – picked up at the same time as Olive. I’ve just started it in between readings of Olive for a break. I haven’t gotten very far.

Looking forward to

We have a busy May coming up, lots of exciting things to do! One of my lovely girls is getting married at the start of the month and my sister turns 30, so we have a party and a girly weekend away!

So there we have it, a brief window on my world. I’m sure I will expand on this more as the weeks go on, but this is just a little look…

Welcome back and a recap

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It has been months (well actually over 2 years!!) since I last blogged here and my world now looks quite different. I decided to come back to blogging to give myself somewhere to write, a corner of the internet that is just mine. I have a few ideas of things to write about, and I think I’m going to try and do a few blogging challenges to get back into the swing of things.

This blog is really for me, I’m hoping I might pick up some friends and readers along the way, but for now I’m going to write about the things I like, the things I do, the things I buy and probably the things I worry about. Welcome to the world Becca blog!

I should probably expand on the point about my world looking a bit different. I still live in Norwich with lovely Dave but am no longer unemployed (yay!) I’m actually on job 2 since I last posted. I shan’t talk directly about my work here (rules are rules). I work in digital marketing here in Norwich.

The biggest change in my life since I last wrote was the sudden loss of my beautiful mum last summer. I have a whole blog post to write on that – probably many of them – but grief is a personal thing and I don’t yet know how much I want to share online. I think, if you are going to be on this journey with me you probably should at least know that though. My life is naturally altered by this huge loss, and it’s likely to reflect in the things I have to say and the different experiences I’m having now. You know how when you have your eyes tested they try out different combinations of lenses to get the best fit for you? Well I feel like a new lens has been put on my world now, and I’m just getting used to the way it feels, having to refocus my eyes as it were.

Another change is my student status. I’m currently studying for a diploma in digital marketing through a distance learning course. That is likely to be a topic that comes up every now and then too!

Some other things that haven’t changed:

  • I’m still a caffeine fiend! I’m hoping to include a few posts about my coffee habit, and the awesome places I find to drink it!
  • I’m still very much a stationery obsessive. A girl can never have too many notebooks or pens and I still calm myself down by looking at pretty stationery. I’ll share some of my acquisitions with you.
  • I still read huge numbers of books. I’m keeping a running tally this year (I’m on book 21 I think). There might be some posts on the awesome books I read.

I think I’ll leave it here for now. I hope I’ve not sent you to sleep too much.

I’ll be back soon 🙂

Goals 2013

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I realise this post is almost 3 months late. But nevermind!

Before my 30th birthday I tried to complete 30 goals, I managed 11, and came close on a few, but I didn’t feel like I failed, because I achieved a lot and I was proud of everything I achieved. I was just reading Hannah’s goal list and it reminded me that I haven’t posted up the goals I’ve set myself for this year (not 31!) Without further ado…

#1 Get a new job.  I think this goes without saying, but it’s good to put it in here! Also hopefully it’ll mean I can definitely cross it off!

#2 Drive more often. I spent a lot of time and energy passing my test and, not to mention money, I need to make more use of it.

#3 Don’t buy any more stationery.  I am a stationery addict, I love the stuff! But I have plenty, so I won’t buy any more until I run out.

#4 Learn something new.  I love learning new skills and I want to keep doing it.

#5 Go on a holiday. We’ve been talking about a holiday for a while, my redundancy money might mean a big holiday, but only if I get a job, otherwise we want to make sure we get away, somewhere, for a week this year.

#6 Save £100 in amazon vouchers for christmas (£20/£100)

#7 Do some volunteering

#8 Go to the theatre again. Dave got me tickets to see Rock of Ages in London, which was fab! I had so much fun, and there is great theatre around Norwich too.

#9 Have some new experiences. Along the same lines of learning new things I like the idea of trying new things too! So bring it on 2013 what have you got for me.

 

I kinda feel like their should be a 10! So I shall rack my brains to think of something to even it out.  But there you go, my goals for 2013.

 

Edited 12th March

I’ve been thinking about my goals and I’ve come up with a few more 🙂

#10 As suggested by Dave – Find a new theme for my blog.

#11 Take more pictures.

#12 Can’t believe I forgot this… Meet and have coffee with Hannah!

 

I’m sure there will be more as we go!

 

 

Playing around with photoshop – learning a new skill

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Having left my old place of work at the end of last year and currently looking for something new I’ve decided to take the chance to learn some new skills, and something I’ve always wanted to do is learn a bit more about photoshop.

Cath Kidston Bag Collage

Remember this post? where I talked about making the bag from the kit that came with the Cath Kidston book, Sew? Well, Dave challenged me to make a collage out of the images – I’m quite proud of it actually, as a first attempt it isn’t too bad!

I want to make a few more banners and things for the blog, and may even try my hand at a design for the very top, so keep your eyes open.

hobbies

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My name is Becca and I am a craftaholic.

I collect crafts! Over the years I have attempted the following:

  • cardmaking
  • cross stitching
  • scrapbooking
  • jewellery making
  • sewing
  • painting
  • drawing
  • photography
  • writing
  • crochet
  • knitting
  • making stuff with fimo
  • baking

etc etc etc

The list goes on and on and I’ve probably spent a fair bit of money on various craft pursuits… I think it is because I need a creative outlet.  I think this is also why I like love stationery so much.

But I constantly find myself wanting to “make things”. I’m currently in sewing mode, and I’m actually going to have a go at quilting, something I’ve always been quite scared off, but I think I’ll really enjoy.  I may even attempt to blog my journey in quilting/patchwork.

 

Do you have hobbies? What about making things? How do you channel your creativity?

So this is 30?

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I arrived into my 30’s with less of a bang more of a whimperhangover!

Friday was my actual birthday, and lovely Dave and I had a really wonderful day, though me waking him up at 7, having variously also been awake at 2, 5 and 6 was maybe not the best start to the day.  It was my 30th birthday, not my 8th, but apparently I still get ridiculously excited!

I got lovely presents from Mr Dave, a pandora bead with my birth stone on it, a gorgeous star necklace, the game 221b Baker Street and we’re going to see Rock of Ages in London next week!! (Tickets hidden in the soundtrack CD!)

We had lunch at Jamie’s italian in Norwich which was lovely and then we played the game and drank fizz!!

 

Saturday night was my birthday party, and I was on one… I think I’m still paying for it today, 2 days later! My family came for the weekend and there were so many lovely people there!

My birthday present!

I got more wonderful presents (including 3 bottles of fizzy wine that I’ll not be drinking anytime soon! I’ll save them for a special occasion, and when the memory of my hangover has passed!)

30 by 30 challenge

I completed 11 of my 30 challenges before my birthday, the list deserves a whole post of it’s own, I want to talk about it in a bit more detail, I think I watched 97 films in the end!

I’m not going to do a 40 by 40 list, or even 31 by 31… but I am going to have a list of goals for this year, probably somewhere in the region of 10-15, because it really made me feel focussed and positive to have something to aim for.

 

So this is 30! And as many people have told me, it is just a number, I always knew it deep down, but I have been scarily focussed on it, and not worried, but nervous I suppose.  My worries stemmed from worrying I wasn’t grown up enough to be 30, but actually, I don’t care – I’m not sure I’m ready to be a grown up just yet! I’ll carry on in my semi-grown up state…

Did you worry about an age? Are you worried about one coming up?

 

30 by 30 challenge – Make a useable handbag

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As a part of my 30 by 30 challenge (an update soon!) I set myself the challenge of making a useable handbag.

I started with the bag kit that came with my Sew! book by Cath Kidston.  I’m not very good at following instructions that are written down, but I went through this one step by step and I’m seriously proud of how it came out.

The only bit I messed up was the buttonhole, which was a rouleau (?) loop – I could not for the life of me work that out – so I sewed a couple of big poppers inside instead.  I also sewed the straps to the bag permanently and used the buttons as decoration, rather than attempt buttonholes.

 

I’m really proud of it actually, and I’m going to use it, regularly.  I’m also going to have a go at making it again, with different fabric, just to cement the techniques in my mind.

Emotional Roller Coaster

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Roller Coaster

There are certain events in a person’s life that lead them to experience many changing emotions and I’m going through one of them at the moment.  I’m about to leave my current place of work, after 9 years.

Mostly I’m feeling very excited about finding a new opportunity, I’ve got a lot of great skills that I can’t wait to use in a new role, but every now and then I get hit by a massive bout of sadness, for the people I will be leaving behind – you can’t work with people every day and not form deep and close friendships.  There is of course a healthy dose of fear and nervousness, but that kind of goes without saying!

 

So you might see a bit more of me around here in the coming months, I’m going to have some time on my hands and I think some of it may well be spent blogging, as I said to an old friend this morning – just getting the stuff out can help can’t it, even if it isn’t read by many, or indeed any.

 

Moofix – A side project

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An image of the moofix logo

So, I wanted to tell you a little bit about a side project I’ve been working on…

You may or may not have gathered from some of my other posts that I’m a prolific reader and adore books.  Well, when my friend J offered me the chance to help him out making books who was I to turn down the opportunity!

So ladies and gents, I give you Moofix! We are a local publisher, looking for books and authors.  We all love reading and books and we’re really excited to launch our very first book very soon 🙂

I’m dealing with the marketing side, particularly social media (no really?!) so would love it if you could all come and say hello on our facebook page and get the discussions going.

Have a great day, and seriously, pick up a book!

About social media – a different kind of post

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Some of you may or may not know that I work “in social media”. My current job is working for a large company looking after their social media strategy and presence. I’ve had reason in the last few weeks to think about exactly what all this means and it has got me thinking about what it is that social media means to me, and why I love it.

There are posts and discussions all around the web talking about working in social media. Over on the Social Penguin blog, Mike has made it clear what he thinks about people who call themselves “experts” or “guru’s” *shudder*.  And if I’m honest, I have to agree.  I’ve been introduced by my colleagues as an expert before (though secretly I think I prefer the title “The Queen of Social”!) and it always makes me shrink.  I mean, how do you live up to that?

We are working in an area of (in my case) marketing that is so new, even now, that I don’t think anyone can really be an expert.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I’m not good at my job, I am. What I’m saying is there is still so much to learn, and it’s not as if once you think you’ve learnt everything thats it, the world of social media is just growing and changing at a rapid rate.

For example, this week, facebook announced they have a billion active users every month! A billion! That just sounds like a made up number to me. But of course, the key here isn’t the number so much as the fact these people are actively going to facebook again and again, they don’t just have accounts and leave it at that (hello google plus).  It is really hard to escape facebook in every day life now, connecting with friends, events, invites, this is all done through this one portal now, and a large number of people can access it from anywhere, smartphone usage is now huge.  I can’t imagine being without mine.

But facebook doesn’t equal social media.  Facebook is one tool, one site and yes it is the biggest in the western world, but working in social media doesn’t mean spending all day on facebook.

The reason I think I’m good at what I do, isn’t because I’m particularly technical, or advanced in my adoption of these tools, its because I’m really good at talking to people.  I love striking up conversations with new people (I wouldn’t sit next to me on a long train joruney!), I’m pretty good at putting people at ease and I’m genuine.  I don’t try and pretend to be someone else.  And as well as being the reasons I think I’m good at my job, this is why I enjoy it.

Because I do, I love my job, I love interacting with a community, talking on behalf of my company, deciding how we should talk to our customers in this space and also yes, even dealing with crises.

I’m going to blog a bit more about this topic in the next few weeks, my life is changing and I’m exploring new ways of thinking about everything, let me know if you have specific social media questions, I’ll do my best to try and answer them.