Oh look! What did I promise to do? Keep up with this blog, and keep doing projects. What did I say I wouldn’t do? Just tail off the minute I got busy. And this is exactly what I’ve done. Three weeks into my lovely new job, and I’ve done bugger all for this blog, and in turn, for anyone else.

So, as next week’ll be my fourth week of settling in, I think that’s perfectly enough time to be thinking about myself, so next weekend I’ll be making a concerted effort to get back on the blog. I’ll keep you posted!

Good day my darlings. And a very Happy Valentine’s Day to you!

Firstly, a serious note. It makes me sad to see how miserable people get around this time of year, or how people feel if they don’t have a boyfriend/girlfriend, their life isn’t worth living, and they should just go and hide under the duvet for the entire day, and sob about the fact that no cards have come through the door, no flowers, or they haven’t had a text/Facebook message/call from that person they sort of thought they were going out with but….

What’s possibly worse than that is the couples who use it as an excuse to put all the details of their relationship out in the open – Facebook, I’m blaming you – instead of just keeping it to themselves. I personally think love becomes a bit tarnished once it’s splashed all over Facebook. It makes me wonder why they can’t just talk to their actual boyfriend/girlfriend directly…

We’re morphing into a society where the concept of discretion no longer exists, where everything has to be laid out in the open, to inspire jealousy or sympathy in others. Now, I am most certainly not above reproach. This is my 6th blog, for goodness sake; I’m hardly a virgin to the world of oversharing. I too have felt the needling longing to post some vicious, biting, self-pitying status on Facebook, just because someone, ANYONE else must feel my pain, because otherwise it’s too much to deal with on my own…And equally, you want everyone to know when something has gone really super duper well for you.

BUT, I still can’t get my head round all the ‘oh, puppy, I wuv you so so so so much’ messages. Firstly, Cringefest 2011. Secondly, if you’re that close, why don’t you actually just, you know, TALK TO EACH OTHER. IN REAL LIFE. You remember that, don’t you? That thing where you move your mouth, and someone else utilises their ears. Yes. I’m terribly glad for you that you’ve found someone madly special, but please, a little Facebook etiquette. This ranting is usually better left to A A Gill; it’s not really my style, so I do apologise.

I happen to have a lovely chap myself, but as a seasoned Facebookphobic, I wouldn’t dream of embarrassing him with splashy declarations of my love and lust (I’ll just do that in this blog. I kid, I kid). But I for one will be telling him how marvellous I think he is via a less public forum.

Now, moaning all done and dusted, here’s the real crux of the post. I love Valentine’s Day. I literally, absolutely, and totally love it. Always have done, always will do, unless an acrimonious divorce gets in the way. I remember when I was about 10, getting up mega early on Valentine’s Day morning, and decorating our whole sitting room with purple crepe paper hearts I’d made myself, chiffon-y sheets, hearts dangling from the ceiling, flowers etc, to surprise my parents with. It’s pretty much my Christmas.

Perhaps it’s the time of year it comes at – just when that first tingle of Spring sunshine is starting to make an appearance, but still cool enough to retreat to your bed for hours and not feel guilty. I love this time of year, as I’ve mentioned before. I start skipping around like a lamb. Val’s Day is the cherry on top of the cake. It’s about LOVE, which to me means every kind of love. It’s about family and friends, not just romantic love. It’s a day to think about someone else, be a bit nicer, and as Annie Lennox and Al Green once sang ‘think of your fellow man, give him a helping hand, put a little love in your heart…’

So, think not of the red roses, the love hearts, or the Godiva chocolates you feel you’re missing out on. You are loved, you are not lonely, and it’s nearly Spring. I’m sorry for the rant, it’s really not my territory, and I’ve probably massively offended half of you. But I don’t think anyone should ever be made to feel bad by the behaviour of others, and no one should EVER have to feel rotten about being single, because there’s nothing wrong with it whasoever. Anyway, go out and spread some serious love. Send an old fashioned letter to a lover, go and see your grandma, give your dad a hug, take a friend out for cocktails.

Share the love!

Things that make you go OOH.

On Wednesday this week, I got the call I’d been waiting for. As of Monday 21st February, I will be the newest Account Executive at a rather wonderful Ad Agency in Tunbridge Wells. I am madly overexcited.

Unfortunately, this has triggered a chain of events in my head. Because I will now be earning enough to finally move out, I’ll be looking at getting my own little place in good old T Dubz, if I manage to pass my probation period, that is….this won’t be for a few months, but what am I already doing? Looking up places to view, and choosing furniture. Shutup brain.

If the weather continues to be quite so disgusting, I’ll be forced to postpone this weeks gardening project, but I have a couple of other ideas up my sleeve, and also 10 days before starting the new job, and therefore a lot of time to play around with craftiness 🙂

Hello. My name’s Amelia, and welcome to my brand spanking new blog. I’ve been keeping a cookery blog for a few months, and while I’ll still be running that, I’ve been leaning towards doing something new. But what, I wondered? I adore fashion, but I’m not confident enough to post photos of myself in my various ‘creations’, so that was out. I tried keeping a blog of my daily life when I was about 15, and it was a) nauseatingly self-indulgent, and b) entirely pointless. I wanted it to be creative and constructive, and something to motivate me, yet not be solely ABOUT me.

Now, in the third week of January, I find myself fast losing motivation. I’m jobless, aimless, unfit (just read my cookery blog to find out why….), and all the dreams, ideas, and in fact ideals I had in my ‘yoof’ seem to be growing ever more distant. Why? Because every day I lose sight of who I want to be – and once that diminuishes, I simply don’t know what to do with myself every day. At school, my days were made up of things that would lead me towards my goal – of going to university, of being an actor. At university, it was the same. Then, in my third year, the quiet but creeping realisation that acting wasn’t, in fact, what I wanted to do, followed by several dispiriting post-uni jobs, and here I am today. I have simply no idea what I want to do, who I want to be, and I have (and this is the important one) NO IDEA HOW TO BE HAPPY.

There are beautiful, wonderful, brilliant things all around us. You might find your beauty in, say, the sea. Or, a blackbird. Or, a candy necklace (that last one’s mine. Candy necklaces are pure uninhibited JOY.) I can take marvellous, total, childish glee from small things, but recently it’s like I haven’t been able to see them. The clashing, roaring noise of self-doubt, self-pity, and Will Self (sorry, ran out of ‘selfs’) grows ever louder in my ears, and I forget to just be happy. Or, in fact, to just…be.

So, I hear you asking, where do you, the reader, come into this? I can see you shaking your head and thinking ‘she’s already said she wouldn’t do a misery memoir! It says it right there in the first paragraph! Give me my coinage back’, etc etc. But fear no more, because this is where the misery STOPS, and the happiness BEGINS. All that ‘orrible stuff above was just to give you a background as to who I am, and why I need to bring a little bit of sunshine into my – and hopefully, your – life.

Alright, then. So what’s the blog actually about?
Good question, maestro. Each week, I’ll be setting myself a project, or a challenge. It might be small, or it might be as big as climbing Everest (disclaimer: I almost certainly will not be climbing Everest). I want to push myself out of my comfort zone, get up off the sofa, and do something new. I’ll keep a record of what I’m up to, why I’m up to it, as well as lots of lovely jubbly pictures so you don’t snooze off.

It’s not just about making me a better person (it is really…) But I hope (get ready for naff) that I can perhaps inspire someone else to do something new. You can join in with me, or cheer me on, or heckle me, or just read my blog secretly and never write me anything, because that’s also cool.

If you’re interested, then stick with me. I’ll be posting details of my first project very shortly, as well as some pictures or videos that might cheer you up if you’re having a bad day, you poor sausage.

Well, that’s me. Erm – watch this space?

Amelia xxx

Here’s what I’ll be making (and subsequently blogging): French Fancies, raspberry swirl meringues (sssh, they’re secretly marshmellowy clouds), pink champagne and raspberry jellies, more cupcakes, and of course, a huge and disgustingly creamy, pink and sweet birthday cake.

Later this week, I’ll do recipes and pictures for hopefully all of the above, so keep your eyes peeled, and good things will come your way!

…No, really, it is.

Just a teensy apology to you, my beauties, for being a selfish and terrible blogger. Having started a new job recently means I’ve had less time to blog, not to mention the fact that I’ve actually just made the Snowdrift Shortbread three Sundays in a row, so nothing new to add…

Next weekend I’m going to start making Festive fancies, as it’s now justifiably Winter. I’ll also be sharing with you my latest macaroon tale of woe.

All my love, stay warm! xxx