Raise Your Mince Pie to December!

At last, we have reached the momma of all months. It’s December beautiful people! And as I sit on the train to Edinburgh travelling back from what was a lovely weekend in West Yorkshire, eating a free mince pie and drinking a festive coffee I can’t help but feel a little thankful for everything this year has brought me. Sure, it’s definitely not been the best, but I’ll be damned if I don’t find something positive to take out of 2012. 

This year has been such a transition for me, it’s been about coming to terms with how life has changed, how people have changed, and it’s been about growing up. I think what’s resonated through everything I’ve done and thought aloud this year is the speech of ‘you’re only 23!’ and ‘you’re still young!’ Young and 23 I may be, but why would I let that stop me from planning my future, ensuring it’s the brightest I can make it? To me, there is nothing written in stone dictating how you should act at 23 or 43. People are different and these differences are to be celebrated rather than condemned. I’m not going to look back in 5 years and wish I’d spent more of my 24^th year of life drunk (let’s ignore the amount of wine I drink for now…) or less focussed, I’m going to be proud that my drive didn’t falter even during a tough year.

What’s comforting to remember is that as much as your life may change, those close relationships you’ve had since the beginning don’t, they evolve and grow as you do. Whether you go to China to teach, you go back to University, you become a soldier, you start an exciting new career or you continue working towards your dream, you still meet up and act as if you’ve just popped round for another cup of tea and chat as if it was yesterday. I think that’s what I’ve taken from this year the most, distance doesn’t alter a friendship, a change in your life doesn’t, only you can, and if something’s worth holding onto you bloody well don’t let go.

So we’re quickly moving towards 2013, and now would be the time where I talk about all the exciting things that are to come, but what’s different this year is that I don’t know what they are yet. But then that’s life, and to be honest, uncertainty can be the most terrifying and enthralling part. So no matter what happens in your 2013, whether it is good or bad, remember it begins and ends with fabulousness. Now go and drink some mulled wine, put on your best Christmas jumper and sit down with the people who matter. After all, isn’t that what this season (and life) is all about?


P.S. If you're wondering why the picture for this blog is Edinburgh, it's because nobody does Christmas and December quite like that beautiful city ♥  

It Should Be December.

Hello!

It's been a while, again. I know not many people read this but to those who do, I'm sorry for your lack of Kat posts.
So I started a new job about (exactly) 7 weeks ago now and as mental and as stressful as it has been I am loving it. Considering my plans for the future it is the best thing possible for me now, I just need to make sure I don't put all that well earned overtime into New Look. Though I do desperately need a winter coat. I love that I am able to say that now; autumn and winter are my all time favourite months, and these dark nights and cold mornings make me very happy. I suppose this is because I associate the seasons with home. Autumn will always remind me of long walks at Haddo House with my mum and my sister, collecting conkers and playing poo sticks, and winter is all about cosiness and cups of tea, planning Christmas and it being socially acceptable to stay in on a Saturday night. But as much as I love these seasons and the months that are to come I can't help but feel more homesick than I have in the past two and a half years. Every morning on my way to work I look at the departures board at the London train and think to myself 'fuck it, let's go'. A year and a half ago it would have almost have been possible, but with the ever increasing rail fares and the fact that I actually have a job now it's unlikely it will ever happen (although I just googled how far the airport is from my work, totally walking distance!). I suppose I'm slightly shocked that after all this time of living 363 miles away from my family I still get this gloomy and homesick. But anyway, when I do eventually go home this winter it'll be worth it. I have a weekend planning at the beginning of December to see my fabulous soldier of a sister off as she enters basic training (so proud!) and then two weeks at Christmas. We just need December to come by super quickly! (all you scrooges out there, mince pies are on sale right now, go get festive!).
So sappy homesick chat aside, I am so baffled at how people can hate Christmas? I know it's still 2 months away and it is still slightly early but come on! Hats, scarves, gloves, the red cups at Starbucks, toffee nut lattes, personalised Christmas trees, present shopping, occasional snowstorms, wellies, cosy coats, 'It's a Wonderful Life', writing the cards... everything! It's my favourite time of year, and I have a few special presents planned this year, so am starting them now. This has been a really pointless blog about winter but I think I'm just very excitable.

So apart from admiring beautiful coats that make my bank balance cry and making mental lists of what to I need to get sorted for Christmas there really isn't a lot to report. It is now officially six months until I leave Aberdeen (though I think with everything that's going on I may be staying til July, but we'll see!) and I'm excited and stressed by everything I still need to organise. This being said, thinking about my leaving party is a favourite daydream of mine now.

Until I actually start having an interesting life, I'm off again. Though I'm am considering turning this into a baking blog... hmmm...

Here's to the final countdown!

So it's been a long time yet again! Sorry guys. Since that deep blog in June it's been a busy and strange month and a half. But I'm not going to get too into that.

I went home last week and my sister sat me down and forced me to watch Bear Grylls' Born Survivor programme, and as we all know, once I get into something I become a little obsessive (This has nothing to do with how many times Bear takes his shirt off in the average episode!) Anyway needless to say it's giving me itchy feet again and the desire to go travelling, something which I have spoken a lot of in recent years and yet never gone to do. But wait, I'M LEAVING ABERDEEN NEXT APRIL! I have finally made the solid decision and nothing is going to change it now. Well a few things might but it's highly unlikely.

So where in the hell am I going? Well that's the question isn't it? So far I seem to have 2 options. One is apply the hell out of the British job market and move to where ever I find one, take it as fate, and move on. However since that's been my plan for 2 years now and has never been put into action. I can't help but think that my second route would be the best one. And that is get an internship abroad, probably teaching English. I don't only think it's what I need, it's what I've always dreamt of doing. At least I'd come back ready to take on the world, more motivated than ever, and having done something totally different.

You know what? I think I just made my decision. Gosh, why don't I blog more often? So basically that's it, I'm moving away, if I regret it I can always come back, but why the hell shouldn't I take the leap now when I have no ties? And then after that, who knows? As I said in my last post, life is too flipping short.

So guys, who's done an internship of some sort abroad, which would you recommend, any tips? Tell me all!

Until next time, Kat out xx

One Day

I'm not going to beat around the bush with this one guys; life's short, and you only get one. Over the past couple of months this has been consistently reminded to me, and every time it does it gets harder to comprehend.
We spend so much of our life worrying, and planning, and waiting. I sometimes think that we forget to live. As I discuss the future and what I want mine to be I am being constantly told that I am 'still young' and 'have a lifetime ahead of me'. Well I'm sorry to get morbid here, but what if I don't? I am all for enjoying life and living for the moment, but where do we draw the line? I am getting closer to a definitive decision on what I do next in life, next step is deciding when. I think for the most part I don't want to spend my life waiting for someday, and get too used to waiting. So much so that I never do it. I also don't want to spend so much time thinking and worrying about all this that it consumes me. I just want to live.
It seems to me that life is made by the people we have around us, and I think one of our main goals in life should be spending and enjoying our time with those most important to us. We affect other people's lives more than we ever realise, even people we only know for a day, a week, or just in passing; but it's those relationships, even the slightest ones that mould our lives into what they are, and what they can be. Having ambition is good, but our successes in life and work and education would be nothing without the people we have celebrating and experiencing it all with us.
Time passes quickly and we only have a short time on this planet, and with the people in our lives, and so I think we need to find a balance between living for the moment, living for our loved ones, and living for our future.
However you find your balance I hope you manage to spend everyday with a smile on your face, because I have finally realised that life is way too short and fragile not to love as many moments of it as physically possible.
Find your balance, find your love, and find a way to leave a bloody good legacy behind you.







For you. To our good days, let's forget the rough ones. You will be sorely missed. Much love E.L. ♥ 

Learnin'

I have learnt quite a few lessons this weekend.
1. Sweets give me headaches
2. Cats have abandonment issues too
3. You cannot fool your mother
4. Surprises are stressful
5. It's amazing what a few days away can do for you.

This weekend I decided to earn myself some extra daughter points and surprise Momma-O for mother's day by coming home. However due to the fact that I hadn't text her all week, she hadn't received any presents in the post that day (honestly), and Heather had installed the doorbell (!!!) she twigged! Heather had just convinced her I wasn't coming when I rang the doorbell. It was a surprise until that afternoon at least and she was chuffed so I count it as a success. Surprises are far too stressful though.
My cat hates me, because she was rudely KIDNAPPED 2 years ago and now she doesn't know who I am. So rude, she keeps giving me dirty looks as if I am invading her life. I wonder what East Coast train's policy is for cats on their trains, I'm very tempted to just steal her back.

Apart from that, there's nothing else to talk about.

I've become a little obsessed with home interiors, and I have fallen IN LOVE with this chair! It would be perfect to curl up on reading alone or for a cuddle with someone you love/maybe sort of love. It is a loveseat afterall.

Please feel free to buy this for me. I mean, what's almost £2000 between friends?
http://www.barkerandstonehouse.co.uk/furniture/Living-Room/Chairs/Philina/2-2142-66796/
Really... it's not a BIG deal if you buy it for me... Just sayin'...

More pretty items that I want to come, no doubt...

Kat out.

"I took my glasses off because everything's already blurry"

Ah the wise words of Miss Hannah Hart.
So, if you haven't seen me whoring the only nice picture of me in existence around my social media sites (see profile pictures on twitter, facebook, tumblr, this, and my recent dailybooth picture...) you may not know that I got new glasses. I was dreading them, but my god the compliments have been a little overwhelming. "you look amazing!" "you look a knockout" "how grown up and smart do you look in your profile picture?! Damn who's a sexy bitch" (personal favourite, thanks Brad!). I think it's just the picture, but it's nice to know they were worth the money, and that I actually have a hope in hell of learning to drive now!

Anyway aside from the glasses, my computer blowing up at work, and a very busy business trip there is nothing much to report. Something AMAZING is happening next week but it's a surprise so unless I've already told you what's happening, sorry!

I'd just like to say one thing though about, yep-you guessed it- Kony 2012. As we all know, when it comes to current affairs and world events most people these days can be pretty damn ignorant. You can be skeptical about how accurate, true, or reliable this movement is all you want, but it's still educating people who may not have taken the time to learn the extent of what goes on and what children are driven to. If more people know, if more people begin to care, then ultimately the world will slowly become a better place. I know it goes a lot deeper than all that, there are a lot of views, and a lot of questionable loose threads when it comes to Invisible Children; but this is still happening, so support the change for the better in some way shape or form. No one, adult or child deserves to be kidnapped, taken from their home, raped, corrupted, beaten, and everything else these rebel gangs do. Sit back for a second and try your best to imagine what that would be like, and then tell people they're idiots for watching the video and believing this man, and many more like him, need to be stopped. If you ask me, it's the best thing to have ever gone viral, though 'Friday' by Rebecca Black was a good time...

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.

This quote doesn't really apply to me as I have only ever been once but I loved it, and I love that quote... so here goes my exciting news...
I'm going to London on Monday!!!! Well, the office down there which is about 40 minutes out of London but I'm flying to Heathrow so it technically is London.
Luckily, after years of last minute packing I have learnt my lesson and started 3 days early. That doesn't mean, however that it is going productively as I have spent the evening on the phone, and then watching Glee and One Tree Hill. Little bit of an emotional wreck right now.
But yeah, so my first business trip WAAAAH! I was freaking out earlier in the week but realised I have to go whether I like it or not so I might as well look forward to it and now I am so excited! Mainly just to be on an airplane, not going to lie here!
So that's a wee update from my world. Look at me, not pouring my heart out into a blog. I'm learning!
I'm taking my pretentious wee netbook down with me so will try and do a proper blog when I am down there if I have time. But I have a long day tomorrow so for now I am going to sleep. First person to come help me figure out what to pack gets a half eaten easter egg (I lie, that bitch will be gone by the time you get here)