january 2018

Well that was January. Even with a week in the Caribbean and a long weekend in Berlin it was STILL the longest month EVER. Have I mentioned that I don't like winter?

spring?

Is it spring yet? 
Soon? 
Thought as much 😐

inside the queen's handbag

I signed up for MATS Bootcamp this year. One project a month for 5 months. Easy peasy. It's good to do stuff you wouldn't normally do and all that. Step out of your comfort zone. Do something new...
Anyway... I nearly didn't bother with month one. 
I've been so busy this month and the brief was to illustrate a kids book showing what you think would be in the handbag of a certain famous woman. My woman was JK Rowling. I can't say I was inspired. I'm not a JK fan. I've never read any of the Harry Potter books. I watched 10 minutes of a film once but it got on my nerves. I know I know. But it's just not my thing.
But then I thought I should pull my finger out and make a bit of an effort. So I changed the brief. Like I'm doing it for fun aren't I, not for a client. It's not like a publisher is gonna be pissed off with me for ditching JK in favour of someone else is it? There's no real book here waiting for it's cover to be created. 
So I sub'd JK for .... The Queen. Cos who doesn't want to know what's in her majesty's Launer handbag?

beating the january blues....

I'm even more exhausted now...trying to catch up after a long weekend in Berlin with the girls. Totally worth it though, we had an ace time. What a fab place! Mucho eating, drinking, sightseeing, culture and shopping. What's not to love. Bloody cold though...even colder than Yorkshire...

January is exhausting

That is all.

how long till spring?

Too long. That's how long.

blue monday

Cold. Rain. Wind. Permanent darkness. Ages before we see any form of decent sunshine. What's not to love? No idea why they call it Blue Monday...

botanic gardens St Vincent

While we were in St Vincent we paid a visit to the fabulous Botanic Gardens in Kingstown. It was awesome. I sat and drew the amazing plants all day. And painted. In the sun.
Ha ha. Jokes. I'm just not that artyfarty I'm afraid.
I just followed the guide round along with everyone else. And took photos of foliage. And parrots.

post holiday blues

Caribbean cruise? What Caribbean cruise? We've been home since Monday lunchtime and it feels like we never went away. Getting out of bed in the dark in January is never our favourite endeavour. Getting out of bed in the dark in January with a severe lack of sleep, jet lag and the post holiday blues is just rubbish. Having to drag the kids out of bed every morning as well as myself has only added to my living nightmare.
The first day back on Tuesday was the worst. The youngest had a MajorMeltdownOnTheMoor on the way to school. His phone hadn't charged overnight, we were running very late and he wanted to use my phone to "do his snapchat streaks". Like doing snappychat streaks (I call it that in an old people sorta way just to wind him up) was the only thing we had to worry about as we sprinted across the moor, 10 minutes behind schedule having missed out on about 2 days worth of sleep and with a bazillion urgent jobs to complete by lunchtime. The eldest had already had a TotalTeenageTantrum cos her GHD's appear to have been affected by the ship's crappy US voltage plug sockets and wouldn't switch on anymore. And the other half was the grumpiest man on planet Earth after heading straight to work 2 hours after landing in Manchester airport on Monday.
I was glad to see the back of them all for the day!
Anyway. The rest of the week hasn't seen much of an improvement.
There has only been one happy family member in our house this week. The dog.
Thank the lord it's Friday!