The Week Where... I Cuddled A Pig

Hi.

On Saturday the 27th of April 2019 I set off on my holiday to a small seaside town named Brixham in the UK along with my boyfriend. We went to many many many places so keep reading and come along for the ride ;).

(Information: I didn't write these in order of visitation. I also apologise as I just rambled and blurted everything out. I tried to keep each paragraph short though! Enjoy!)

We stopped off at the Fleet Air Arm museum along the way which has lots of old planes and helicopters. It's an enjoyable museum and they have a lot there. There's lots of interactive things too which helps the experience including a tour of what it was like to walk around an aircraft carrier. Even though I'm not that in to that sort of thing I still enjoyed it.

Day 2 was Paignton Zoo and it was brilliant due to the amount and diversity of animals they had there. All the animals seemed well cared for and the zoo seems very involved in conservation which is always a positive. My boyfriend loved it just as much as me and we were like two excited children wandering around that place. Every time we saw an animals we seems to always say how gorgeous it was. Every. Single. Time. To. Every. Single. Animal. Because. All. Animals. Deserve. To. Be. Loved.

We visited Kents Cavern in Torquay. It was a really fun tour and really interesting. We wandered around the caves and they had a cool light show at the beginning. They also showed us stalagmites (one which was approx. over 100,000 years old) and stalactites. We saw the bear den too and there were actual bear bones in the cave walls (so that's how they knew bears lived there).

We did a short visit to Berry head nature reserve which has a lovely cafe. Then we made our way to Cockington. It's a gorgeous chocolate box village with thatched roofs and natural beauty. It was a delight to be there and we had the best meal of the week there at The Drum Inn. I also couldn't stop saying 'Cockington.' It was too entertaining.

 The Babbacombe cliff railway was fun. It went down to Oddicombe beach where it was quiet and peaceful just listening to the waves crashing on to the shore. The cafe there was also nice and I had a lovely hot chocolate. Also, in Babbcombe we went to a place named Bygones Torquay. It was a victorian market street where you could peer in to windows and they set it up like victorian shops. My boyfriend thought it was quite good however I didn't enjoy it much. I needed more interaction but that's just my opinion as many give it good reviews.

One of my favourite places we visited was the marble museum. They had massive marbles, ancient marbles and absolutely divine ones. You could watch glassblowing too and there was the shop where you could buy everything they make. Absolutely beautiful. But it was stressful walking around with my handbag because I didn't want to knock anything off!  Then there was a general shop which had lots of nice gifts and goodies in it. The whole place was free entry too!

Before the marble museum we visited Becky falls. Its a nice walk based around some beautiful waterfalls. Our favourite part was the meerkats though where we got to feed them mealworms.

We did shopping and exploring of the three towns: Brixham, Paignton and Torquay. Paignton didn't have a lot to offer to us but we did enjoy the pier and the adventure golf (I won). Torquay was much bigger and had a large range of shops and places to eat but I found that it was all quite spread out so you could never get around it all. Brixham, where we were staying, was my favourite. It was the quietest, most beautiful and had the most independent shops. A lovely place.

The Torquay crime museum needs a mention. Hidden down an alleyway, this museum is something to visit if you like horror stories. It had lots of interesting artefacts and information about serial killers. Don't go if that sort of thing freaks you out though.

We saw Dartmoor ponies whilst we did some exploring on Dartmoor before visiting Pennywell farm on our final day. You could cuddle miniature pigs and I LOVED it. They're cute and warm and cuddly. They also did miniature pig racing which was entertaining. David BeckHAM won. We got to feed lots of animals like goats and sheep (including the babies). They have a lot for children there, however, adults can still enjoy it too!

Our view, every single day, from our holiday home

Finally, I would like to say how beautiful Brixham was and especially our holiday home. It was cosy and perfect for us. What really topped it off was the window which covered a whole wall and looked out on to Brixham harbour. To wake up and go to sleep seeing that every day was a privilege. I'll probably never go back to Brixham or the Torbay area but I definitely won't ever forget it.

Thanks.

Emma x

p.s. forgot to mention there were 97 steep steps which were sloped all the way up to our holiday house. We climbed them at least twice a day and I was exhausted every time. But was still worth it :D

The Week Where I…Have Deadlines

Hello, and welcome back…

For the past two weeks, I’ve been home for the holidays and since having arrived back at my flat today I can feel a huge difference between being in both places. Despite the ongoing stress from deadlines and from trying to sort out finance for next year, I was the most relaxed I’d been in a while when at home which left me oddly energised (not that I did much with that energy, except getting to see you two lovely people)! All I did today was head to get some food for the flat and I came back feeling exhausted…so much so that I ended up accidently falling asleep for nearly two hours! I blame the amount of people here.

The time of year has hit where all the deadlines seem to be approaching in their multitudes, and as of now I have 4 assignments due before next Thursday. Two of which are thankfully out of my hands as they are film projects that don't need me for the editing process, so that’s taken some stress off my shoulders. On the other hand, however, the audio for one of our other assignments didn’t import properly and so is completely unusable, meaning we have to record the whole interview again. As editor and the one who imported the files, the blame has been laid on me but despite trying to tell the others at the time that I felt something wasn’t right, the others in my group were so concerned with getting out of university (it was a Friday night after all) that they told me to leave it until Monday, and that they were sure it would be fine. So now we’re desperately trying to book the television studio to re-do ours, which is proving difficult as even though we emailed our lecturers on the day we found out the files were corrupt (a month ago now), they still haven’t replied (...I swear every blog post I write has at least one new reason why I dislike my uni). The stress comes with needing to edit the interview once we record it (which is quite a lengthy process), along with getting in another pretty big assignment that’s due next Thursday (which I’ve only just found the argument I’d like to write about…). So needless to say, although stressed I do keep reminding myself that in a little over a week, all my assignments for the year will be in and I’ll have absolutely no responsibilities (except finding employment, fun times!).

In other news, a couple of weeks back I got to meet my baby niece for the first time which made me realise how utterly useless I am when it comes to babies. They’re so small, and I can’t say handling them comes naturally to me, I feel like I’m not supporting them right or will drop them the moment they move! Safe to say, I think that after the last three years of experience with my two nephews and now my new niece, I’m happy to just remain the ‘cool’ aunty for my brother’s kids for the rest of my days. As for upcoming endeavours, I’m off to see one of my favourite bands this Sunday at home and will be home again the following week to look after the house whilst the parents are away so it will be a lot of back and forth! I hope that you two are doing well, and I look forward to hearing back from you soon!

Until next time.
Victoria.

The Week Where... There's Cake!

Hello, my lovelies!

I cannot believe that it's been three weeks since I last sat down to write one of these. I say that every week though, I'm sure! We last caught up when I was stressed about a deadline. Well, I got the work done, even if it wasn't up to my usual standard. There was a lot going on so I've excused myself there. I get my grade back soon so I'll keep you posted on how I'm doing.

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A post shared by Dottie (@dottieg123) on Apr 21, 2019 at 6:46am PDT

It's currently Easter Sunday and I got up early this morning to bake a beautiful mini egg chocolate cake! I'm quite proud of it, to be honest. It looked much prettier than I was expecting, even if it is a bit too big to be delicate and pretty. It took eight eggs to make the cake mix, eight! That's twice the amount of batter I make for 18 cupcakes!

I've actually had a few pretty good weeks. My boyfriend and I took his friend climbing for the first time, which was really fun! I discovered that I'm not terrible at explaining things, and it was great that I got to show off a bit in front of someone who had just started climbing! It's great. I'm looking forward to going again soon, I'm utterly hooked!

Other than uni (which is stressing me out at the moment, I've got five hefty assignments due in May and I have started precisely none of them), I've been working my regular 16 hours each week, nothing eventful there.

The wonderful Emma came to visit me on Wednesday and I think that has been the highlight of my week! It was so exciting to show her my favourite book shop (books floor to ceiling - yes please!) and just how lovely Bath is. Unfortunately, it was also really busy so it was quite a draining day, but lovely nonetheless. Thank you!

In terms of how I've been feeling, things have been strange. The weather has been rapidly improving but my mood hasn't. It's odd because sunny days almost always make me feel a million times better than rainy ones. I think it's because of a few things.

Firstly, stress. I've had quite a few writing projects to tackle recently, from album and gig reviews to researching uni assignments. It's getting to me now, and I'm starting to get stress-related headaches.

This leads me on to my second reason for sads - spots. I think a combination of stress, poor sleep, hormones, and unhealthy foods is making me break out really badly. It doesn't bother me usually but little things add up and it's not fun at the moment.

And finally, I haven't been able to exercise much recently. My boyfriend and I both have clashing schedules and we haven't been able to climb in the last few weeks. I've had no energy or time for yoga and it's just making me feel a bit icky.

I'm going to be taking a break from the music journo stuff over the month of May which will lighten the workload considerably, and I'm planning on tackling my hefty assignments over my Easter break, which has just started. So all will be well.

I miss you both, I cannot wait to see you. I hope your Easters have been lovely.

All my love,

Dottie x

The Week Where... I Am More Excited About Next Week

Hi.

I never know how to begin these blogs and smoothly transition in to what I've been up to so this is my attempt at an introduction.

A couple of weeks ago I went to see Guys and Dolls, a musical being performed by the group I used to be part of. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I realised how talented everyone was. It gave me back the performing bug and I want to get back on stage.

I also saw you Vicky! We walked so much but it was a nice day. Thanks for spending some time with me.

Recently I have been getting in to baking and have been encouraged even more by all the great comments I have been receiving. I want to get in to cake decorating but I don't have the money to spend money on ingredients all the time sadly. But perhaps one day.

The most significant thing that has happened recently is my blood appointment(s). My last consisted of them stabbing me with a needle at least 5 times in different places. They began in the normal area of the inner elbows but then as no blood was coming out decided to move on to my wrist. After being stabbed twice in the wrist they finally moved on to the top of my hand. The worst was when they were in my wrist and they were moving the needle about to try and get the blood. It wasn't a pleasant experience.

I took my boyfriend out for a very late birthday meal. Ahh, it was delicious. Much enjoyed. Very good. I think he was happy too as I paid and drove. He deserves it though.

For some reason I don't have much to say. Perhaps my life hasn't been as exciting as I thought. However, the future should be interesting. I've applied for a few new jobs and am looking forward to leaving my current job and moving on to something more focused in what I want to do. Also coming up is seeing you, Dottie, on Wednesday which I am excited about. Next week should be the most exciting for me because not only am I going on holiday at the end of it, I am seeing Dottie again and visiting a wildlife park with my Dad (christmas present). I have lots to look forward to!

Thanks for reading.

Emma x

The Week Where....I Choose a Future

Hello, once again…

The week really began with last Friday, which in all honesty was shit. The day seemed to be a domino effect of bad events and so, despite not having planned to go home until the Easter holidays, early on Saturday I found myself on a train home. The break away from the flat was much-needed in terms of keeping my emotional well-being on track, which didn’t apply so much to my own problems but to the weight of other people’s that had just become a little too much to bear. This was also made worse by a practical assessment in which the lecturer yelled and swore at me for doing things ‘wrong’, although rest assured I really don’t care as others seem to have had the same treatment and therefore it wasn’t necessarily myself at fault.

Visiting home was a blur of attempting to keep up with my two nephews (of whom seem to have reached the age where their energy is boundless), spending the day having drinks with my brother (in which I ended up buying more music tickets with him…sigh), and of course in seeing you Emma! Although I was thoroughly enjoying my time back home, I soon had to return to university for a meeting with my lecturer in which we discussed my year’s progress (where I tried to draw her away from the subject of my terrible attendance) and also next year’s options. We choose two modules, each being different areas of film such as directing, producing, editing, camera, sound etc…and at the minute, I’m caught up on three. Editing has always been a firm solid, as the film industry, no matter how big or small the company, is always seeking editors and so I’d always be guaranteed work. Also, editing is skill-based…once you learn to fully utilise the software, you’re on par with most other editors and can’t really succeed that point! Cinematography on the other hand, where my heart is firmly planted, is fiercely competitive and you have to be good. Your success in the field is determined on the lengths of your creativity, which has to surpass everybody else’s. Even though it’s the one area I seem to be a natural at so far, I’m not going to be guaranteed work. The final option is producing. Producing is essentially all the paperwork that leads up to a film being made…they’re the first people involved in the film and the last people home (…and fun fact, the producer is the one to cast the director and the actors, they essentially have more power than the director!). While producing isn’t the most enjoyable, it’s a well-paid and respectable career and I thrive at anything involving organisation…so it isn’t so strange that I’ve been drawn towards the idea of pursing it recently, but time will tell!

In other news, since returning to my flat I took the opportunity while my fridge was empty to embark on a proper food shop in hopes of kick-starting into healthy eating once again…boring I know, but it’s a good kind of change as recently I’ve become completely idle when it comes to cooking, to the point where I just ditched full meals and stuck to snacking which wasn’t exactly healthy. Now however, my fridge is stacked high with fruit and veg, and I’m taking the time to ensure my diet is actually clean. In addition, I’ve cut out all caffeine as the pounding headaches from being without it for a day got to point where I couldn’t concentrate, something that’s not handy for getting work done. I’m expecting this to fly out the window soon however as, as of next week, my friend is finally able to stay with me for the week and I can guarantee a take-out pizza or two will sneak it’s way towards me.

Overall, I feel like the break away, the promise of a good Easter holiday and a sudden clear outlook on my future career has left me feeling the most ‘ok’ I have in months which is greatly appreciated, and for now at least I am somewhat optimistic. I look forward to hearing back from you both, and to hopefully seeing you in the near future!

Until next time,
Victoria

The Week Where I... Took Two Weeks Off...

Well hello there! How is it all going? The last few weeks have flown by in a blur of work, uni, writing, and seeing my boyfriend so I can't quite believe it's time to sit down and write another one of these. I hope you're both well.

I'd like to apologise for this post being late. I sat down to write it last Sunday and just didn't get to finish it I'm sorry. Then I had a few bad days so decided to head home on Tuesday afternoon. I'm feeling better now and by the time you both see this I'm sure I'll be comfortably settled back at uni, but it's currently Friday afternoon and I'm worried about going back.

You see, I had a bit of a tiff with a flatmate - I asked her to keep the noise down as I was tired and not in the best of headspaces. She was trying to get away from a bad day by getting ready for a night out and just got a bit upset. I left the day after that so haven't seen her since. I'm worried that she'll be really rude to me or something. (Edit: she's completely ignored me so I'm taking that as a good sign).

But anyway, what happens happens and I'll deal with whatever. I've had a really lovely few days at home. I went climbing twice (my aches now have aches and my knees are 90% bruise), and went to a gig which I loved!

I saw IDLES, the UK's loudest punk band; they're shouting about all things Brexit and toxic masculinity. Their shows are some of the friendliest I've been to and I adore their message of love and unity. I had a brilliant time at the gig and despite being terrified, I jumped in the pit along with so many others. It was amazing and I want to do it all over again, please.

Over the weekend, I've been in work. I also accidentally stayed at my boyfriend's last night! We were watching a movie and I fell asleep, so I just stayed the night. I was totally unprepared for this and went to work today feeling very groggy and gross because I haven't showered. Still, the cuddles were wonderful so I shouldn't complain too much.

Have I told you both that I'm utterly obsessed with climbing now? I love how strong I feel and how easy it is to get absorbed in it! If I can't send (top/finish) a route, I'll stick at it until I can - or until I'm pumped and can't climb anymore! I've also been doing yoga. It's another thing that really helps me feel good in the ol' brain box. All those years I avoided exercise... Why?!

I'm not really sure what else to write about, I've been avoiding uni work so I'm stressed now. I've got a deadline on Thursday which I'm worried about as I missed an important class... Nothing interesting is happening here, just getting ready to finish my first year in May! Time has flown!

I hope you're both well, I'll see you soon.

All the love,

Dottie x

The Week Where... I Clowned Around!

Hi.

This week hasn't exactly been very exciting although right now, even though extremely tired, I am feeling good.

I went for an eye appointment and I can safely say my eyesight is wonderful. There was only the tiniest bit of deterioration. Perhaps that'll mean I'll need glasses for reading when 50. Thats the only thing I can remember previous to this past week which shows my memory is shocking or perhaps I am too tired to think.

Last Sunday I went for an applicant day at the university I have been considering. It was quite an anxious day for me, especially the thought of having to be separated from my mother to participate in a taster session which was 2 hours and 45 minutes long (all the other course taster sessions were only an hour long!) with random strangers. Not an environment I thrive in. So we went for the course talk and then left. University does seem exciting but I realise it isn't for me. I wouldn't enjoy living with other students. I wouldn't enjoy the having to go to classes and do assignments. Not anymore. I do love learning but I think I've changed how I want to learn things after 3 harrowing years of A levels. I've been asking myself what I really want. I still don't know but right now I do know that I don't think university is right for me. I am excited about my future with the one I love. I stopped being excited about the course I wanted to take because it would take minimum 8 years to fully qualify and I realised I did not want to spend that long in education. So, my plan is (at the moment) to pursue a career in veterinary nursing (although there is a possible apprenticeship opportunity to be an assistant practitioner which I will apply to and see how far I get) and for now, get a full time job until I can apply for a suitable course next academic year. A job which gives me skills in the industry (or similar) to which I want to work in. Basically, I want a job in a lab.

After that hefty paragraph, not much is left to say. I worked a bit this week and even went dressed as a clown for comic relief! I bought a bow tie for 25p and some red braces for 99p at the charity shop. Then I bought face paint for £1.50. The other clothes I already owned and boom, I was a clown. With a funky hairstyle and a bit of help from my boyfriend who suddenly became a makeup artist I was ready to go. I got a few funny looks, a few people asking what was going on and a few little girls saying "mummy, that lady has pink hearts on her cheeks." They then proceeded to point out all the other colours on my face including my blue eyebrows. I also got called cute A LOT. A woman even said if I went out tonight i'd be getting free drinks all night looking like that. And a male co-worker said if he was my boyfriend he would be happy (boyfriend wasn't pleased with that comment). I tell you, never EVER have I gotten so many compliments on my appearance and I was a CLOWN!!! Typical.

Wednesday and Thursday I saw my friend. We went out for some food Wednesday evening and decided to go shopping on the Thursday together. She also had a doctors appointment so I sat in the car expecting to be sat there 20 minutes at the most (we were bang on time for her appointment). I was sat there for an hour. I wasted an hour of my life. However, shopping was good even though I bought things which weren't necessary.

Sunday (which is tomorrow as I am writing this Saturday evening) will perhaps be a relaxing day. I think I'll begin applying for jobs and I know I am going to visit my boyfriend in the evening. I've got quite a few busy weeks coming up. Some highlights include: a doctors appointment, lots of work, visiting my Dad, visiting Dottie, visiting my brother and finally, boyfriends birthday.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day.

Emma x