Last Week's Shenanigans: Peak week at work!

I've been pretty busy working a lot over the last week so I'm afraid my post this week may become a little repetitive! Still, I had a pretty nice one and it went quickly.

Monday 25th: Still recovering from my cold, I definitely felt a lot better than I had over the weekend so I felt really good about going back to work. I got to, on the train, do a bit more reading and it was here that I started getting into 'A Discovery Of Witches' a lot more. Work was really good, it was nice to see everyone again! All in all, it was a nice Bank Holiday. I did also see Mat briefly in the evening, which was nice after recovering from such a horrible cold!

Tuesday 26th: Needless to say, I had work again today and it was very busy. Before that, I wrote a majority of my Top Ten Tuesday post which was enjoyable. I had time to do a bit more reading too so despite work, I was able to get a fair amount done. In the evening, I came home to find that Bev had nominated me to do the Ice Bucket Challenge, which was extremely scary as I have a bit of a phobia of water, especially being splashed. Nevertheless, I decided would face my fears and do it the next day. Oh, and I was very sad because our beloved Fiat, Phoebe, was sold to her brand  new owner and I am going to miss that car so much!

Wednesday 27th: Yet another day at work that included some reading time on the train. I was actually more pleased with my progress than I had been previously in the week. After work, I went straight home to get changed and pack for Mat's that evening. But first, I had to do my Ice Bucket Challenge! It wasn't a particularly enjoyable experience, the water was absolutely freezing and I feel like Bev got a bit too much happiness from throwing the bucket. I'm glad I did it though! After changing again and getting dry, Dad dropped me to Mat's house and we spent the evening doing a bit of packing and watching what I can only describe as the most harrowing episode of Game Of Thrones yet. Seriously, I cried. A lot.

Thursday 28th: Finally! A day off! As I had stayed at Mat's overnight, I spent the day at his and we namely watched more Game Of Thrones (finishing Season 3) and doing more packing in preparation for him moving into the new flat. We watched some TV too together, and I caught up  on a lot of reading which I was extremely pleased about. It was nice to have a whole day off together and not worry about doing much, especially as it would be the last time before the big move. When I got home, Bev and I spent the evening playing on her fantastic new Charades app, which was a lot of fun!

Friday 29th: A much less exciting day at work again today. I got really close to finishing 'A Discovery Of Witches' but didn't quite manage it. Not a whole lot actually happened today other than work to be honest. I did play Charades with Bev again which was fun. Oh, and some Workmen came round to finish upgrading the downstairs radiators.

Saturday 30th: Guess where I was today? You guessed it! Working! It's Clarks' busiest week of the year (or peak week) as all the children are about to go back to school, meaning I have a lot of hours but no time on my hands outside of that. I had a really horrible day at work actually and it made me a bit grumpy. In the evening I got to watch The X Factor and Through The Keyhole, two shows that I've missed in my life! I also finished 'A Discovery Of Witches' and made a good start on 'If You Find Me'.

Sunday 31st: I got a lift to work from my very good friend and work colleague which was nice. This time, I had a much better day and the shift went really quickly, meaning I got to go home quicker. Before doing that, we quickly popped to Tesco and I saw Mat on his last day working at Park Farm before heading back to my house to watch Doctor Who and more of The X Factor. I also finished 'If You Find Me' and I was pretty pleased that the book only took me a day.

Daily Shenanigans, 18/07/2014: Arriving in Llangollen!

Today turned out to be full of surprises!  First off, I got my post for Oh, The Books! sorted (I thought I had already sent it,  apparently not...) and it should be up at the beginning of October! I'm very excited about it. After that I finished packing and then rushed to Mat's house. We headed off for Wales at about 2 in the afternoon and didn't arrive till gone 8 because the traffic was quite frankly appalling. The weather however was glorious both on the way to and in Wales, we somehow missed the giant thunderstorms that have racked the country recently.  Upon arriving however was the biggest and best surprise of all. There is Wi-Fi! It's very slow and a bit temperamental but it means I'm not abandoning this blog completely over the next week! 

I'm excited to see what tomorrow brings but right now I'm tired and a bit iffy from the car journey!

Daily Shenanigans, 16/07/2014: Out and about!

Today actually turned out to be pretty busy for me. Mat came round pretty early this morning and we set about packing away our duplicate consoles, games, etc. to take into town and trade in. We actually ended up selling them for a pretty decent price which I was happy about! It was only after that that we realised just how much we had to do. We quickly drove to Mat's house to grab his Mini SD Card-Reader (my Mini SD Card is pretty knackered, which made me really sad) and a battery pack for one of the controllers (the one we gave in also turned out to be faulty). Then we drove to his friend George's house to sell a game, followed by another lady to sell another game, then back to town to hand in the aforementioned battery pack. After that, we went to the Designer Outlet to grab some lunch and do a spot of shopping for Hiking Boots in preparation for Wales, and something nice for Mat's Mum (it's her birthday tomorrow)!

After finishing all that, we could finally come home and relax. I continued reading while Mat played Devil May Cry on my PS3, and we both recovered from our pretty busy day. Tomorrow I have some bits and bobs to do (mostly packing), but I'll be posting my Life Of A Blogger post, reading 'Dragon's Curse' and doing a few blog bits and bobs too. For now though, sleep time.

Daily Shenanigans, 09/07/2014: The beach again!

Today has been such a nice day off, I spent the whole of it with Mat which I don't feel like I've done properly in ages. We did quite a bit too, so it was a lot of fun! Firstly, I drove to his and we made our way to Tesco. I actually ended up buying a new camera today (as well as chocolate and doughnuts) so it was well worth the trip! After getting some fuel, we then went to mine for lunch, before heading to town to sort out some more bits and bobs. I ended up closing a really old bank account of mine and so I'm completely sorted now with my finance sorting. We had to pick up some more boxes of Mat's contact lenses and that marked the end of our town trip! This afternoon into early evening was spent at Hythe beach again. It was a little windy but really lovely. We had chips and I managed to read a little more of my book. I also tested out my new camera. It's great! After that, we then headed back to Mat's and spent the evening in playing Xbox Games and generally relaxing.

I'm pretty close to finishing 'Lord Of The Flies' so I should have a review up tomorrow, along with my Life Of A Blogger post for this week. I do also have work tomorrow, but my shift is not so long this time.

Daily Shenanigans, 28/06/2014: Darts night!

I literally just finished reading 'Paper Towns'. I'm afraid I'm far too tired to start the review now but first thing tomorrow it will be up! Today ended up being a pretty busy day. I had work from 11 till 4 and that went surprisingly quickly, though it took up a fair chunk of my day. After work I had dinner,  read a little then went to pick Mat up from work. We both went out with Mat's family this evening which was nice! We didn't get up and play any darts but did have fun watching and socialising. I then got home late but decided I really should finish reading the book before bed.

Tomorrow I have work again but I will post the review and the Weekly Wishlist! I'll also be starting on my next read! Hooray!

Daily Shenanigans, 21/06/2014: Time to get motivated!

Right guys, well it finally hit me today that I'm moving ever closer to moving out of my house and into the real world. I'm excited, but also a little scared, particularly as I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with my life. As a result I've been a bit moody today, going from being ultra-happy to incredibly grumpy and stressed! As a person, I don't handle change very well at all and become extremely worried if I feel like I might have overlooked things. I had to get up early this morning for work, and I was there until about mid-afternoon, so a good majority of my day was there! I've spoken to my manager and we're going to look into trying to transfer me to a store in London somewhere in preparation. After work, I drove home and spent my afternoon/evening browsing over the application form the Letting Agent has sent through, which I'll be doing tomorrow. I've also been trying to read the rest of my book, but I've been feeling so strange and restless today that I haven't really been able to concentrate enough to make a decent amount of progress.

Tomorrow my Weekly Wishlist will be posted. I also hope to finally finish this book once and for all and start on the next one, as well as complete this form and generally motivate myself to sort some things out (in order to feel productive). 

Daily Shenanigans, 03/06/2014: Advanced screening?

Well readers, I have some pretty exciting news to share! You may, or may not, be aware that Mat and I both have Cineworld Unlimited Cards. This means that we get invited to see certain films a little bit early, and this month's film is 'The Fault In Our Stars'. I am extremely excited, I literally almost jumped through the ceiling when I first found out and Mat booked tickets immediately. The screening is on Monday 16th June so as soon as I've watched it, I'll let you all know my thoughts! Other than that, my day has mainly been headache filled. I have been feeling really tired and not well so I've been doing very little other than driving my Mum to the Garage as promised. I read a bit (though not as much as I hoped. Migraines plus reading books don't make a good concoction). I did also do some puzzles and watch my sister play The Sims 3. I really want to get playing that game a lot this Summer, I love it!  I also wrote my Top Ten Tuesday post which as always was so much fun! It made me really excited for my upcoming reads!

Tomorrow I'll be seeing Mat, reading, I have a Dentist Appointment and then I'm off to London! Again! We're hoping to go looking at a couple of houses, but I'm really looking forward to our Theatre trip on Thursday! 

Daily Shenanigans, 02/06/2014: Reading on the train again!

I'll make this post fairly short, my day hasn't been overly interesting. I had a bit of a lay-in this morning, but couldn't sleep for too long because I had work at 11. As I was without the car today (Mat needed it), I had to catch the train! I was actually quite happy about this though, because obviously reading on the train is a lot safer than reading while driving! Work went pretty quickly, I was mostly left to my own devices which was nice. When my shift finished, I journeyed home and then spent the rest of the evening posting my 'Liebster Blog Award' post. The questions were a lot of fun to answer, thanks again to both blogs that nominated me! I did also see Mat tonight, so that he could drop the car back to me. We were both pretty exhausted though so just relaxed for a few hours.

Tomorrow is another day off for me, though I need to be home because I have to drop my Mum off at some point during the day but we aren't sure when. I'll spend most of it doing some serious reading of 'The Luminaries' and aim to get pretty far into the book tomorrow. Tomorrow is also 'Top Ten Tuesday' day, hooray!

Daily Shenanigans, 26/05/2014: Bank Holiday Monday! And I'm working...

Well it was Bank Holiday Monday today so it should have been a nice relaxing day off. However, I had a shift at work in the afternoon so it actually ended up not being! I did a little reading this morning but didn't really have time to do an awful lot. Work itself was quite quiet with the occasional busy spurt to keep things interesting. I felt absolutely knackered afterwards. After work I made my way home to eat and then I went round Mat's for the evening. We were originally going to watch the new X-Men film at the cinema, but in the end we didn't have time. Instead we stayed in and watched Britain's Got Talent! Tomorrow I will get a lot done, because I have a day off! At last! I'll also hopefully get my Multimedia mark back and fingers crossed I've done well!

Daily Shenanigans, 14/05/2014: Back to work!

Today hasn't been overly exciting, certainly not compared to yesterday. I spent the morning doing a bit of tidying before heading off to work for the afternoon. The shift actually went pretty quickly, though I missed out on a lot of gorgeous weather because of it! I actually got to drive to and from Canterbury today because Phoebe the Fiat is finally back from her time away at the Garage! she's running really well now and I hadn't realised how much I'd missed driving until I was back behind the wheel once more. After work I quickly had dinner, got changed, then headed to Mat's for the evening (I was also dropping Phoebe round, he needs the car tomorrow). I spent the evening relaxing and finishing Cuckoo Song which felt like a huge weight off my mind. I am completely aware of how neglectful I have been with my reading and it has taken me ten days to get through this book! The review is up now and I am reading Terri Bruce's 'Thereafter' next, followed by Nicola Mar's 'A Red Tale'. Progress at last!

Tomorrow I am going to see my lovely friend who has been doing all the art for my Multimedia Project and hopefully put all that to bed once and for all! Then I'm off to the cinema with Mat in the evening to watch 'Godzilla'. Should be interesting! I also must do my Life Of A Blogger post, and get round to the tag questions that the lovely Val from Innocent Smiley Reviews posted absolutely ages ago for me and others to answer! 

Daily Shenanigans, 16/04/2014: Recording!

The clue is in the title, I spent most of my day recording voices for my Multimedia Project, and so Blogging and reading has definitely taken a back seat today (though I did manage some on the train). The recording itself went fine, which I'm glad about! It's definitely a weight off my mind, but I still have a ton of stuff to do for this piece, and not a lot of time. Eek! Other than that, I've not done an awful lot else. I saw Mat this evening for a few hours after he had finished work, and I'll be doing the same tomorrow. Maybe even going to the Cinema, now that 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2' is out! We'll see how tomorrow goes, as Phoebe is having her MOT check tomorrow afternoon and so we need the results of that first!

Well guys, I've joined NetGalley. I'm still working on my profile before requesting books, I want it to be perfect and professional! I'll be doing that tomorrow, along with my 'Life Of A Blogger' post! Also tomorrow, I've got to do a spot of shopping and I want to update my reviews and work on their layout a bit more. I'm forever changing my mind, and I feel a big blog make-over coming on so prepare yourselves! The last Goodreads Giveaway win that I'm expecting arrived today, 'Second Best' by Charmaine Pauls. She included a lovely note in the book and I can't wait to get round to it, (quite when I don't know but I will get there).

Daily Shenanigans, 02/04/2014: My first review request?

What an exhausting day it has been, I can barely keep my eyes open! Firstly, I didn't end up going into Uni today. Instead I went for an impromptu visit to Mat's because it's the Easter Holidays and I can. Then afterwards, I had work. Never has a shift felt so long in my life, there was a lot to do and by the end of it, I was knackered! Then it was back to Mat's to hand the car over, before finally returning home this evening. I have ended up having a really good evening though, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, I found the 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' soundtrack on Youtube and I've been listening to it a lot and it has made me happy. I'm such a geek I know, but Film Scores will always be my favourite thing to listen to, especially when I need some downtime! Mat went to see the film for the second time tonight and I was having withdrawal symptoms! 

Secondly, and perhaps this is the most exciting news of all, I received an email on Goodreads from an Author named Betsy Cook Speer. She wanted to know if I would like to receive a copy of her book 'Demolition Queen - Champagne, Murder & Chaos' for review. Having looked into it, it seems like a really good read! The cover art and title are certainly intriguing! This is a big thing for me actually because although I have reviewed complimentary books before, they were won rather than offered. It is the first time that an Author has actually approached me about a review and I am very excited!

And that really makes up my news, which has put me in an astoundingly good mood. I'm doing good with 'Tithe', review should be up tomorrow or Friday depending on the time I get to finish it. I'll be with Mat for a lot of tomorrow (I'm staying at his), but I will need to post my 'Life Of A Blogger' post, and who knows, we may even go to the Cinema or something! 

Daily Shenanigans, 01/04/2014: April Fool's Day!

That's right, today is April Fools Day. I haven't been on the receiving end of much trickery today, but one thing I did do was a lot of blogging. And I mean a lot! Including this one, I posted a total of four posts today! Firstly, I shared my Planned Reads for April which I'm really excited about. As well as that, I shared my Top Ten Tuesday and signed up to the Bookish Bingo challenge I mentioned yesterday, so I'm very excited to get started on that!

Other than that, I had to give my car a bit of a wash this morning (though not very successfully) because this strange dust stuff had gotten all over it! It's still pretty smeary but a lot better than it was before, so it looks like someone professional is going to have to do it because I'm not very good at it. I'm not entirely sure what the dust is, it was all over my car and my Dad's, and it looks like sand! Most odd! After that, I went to get some fuel, then sped off to Uni to get some more work done and help my friend with hers! I was there till pretty late this evening, but had a nice day nonetheless. The weather today was beautiful!

Tonight after posting this, I'm going to make some serious headway with 'Tithe'. Ideally I want to finish it and review it tomorrow, or if not, by Thursday. This is because I have a lot of reading to do this month and I can't allow myself to fall far behind like last month! Tomorrow is looking pretty full, I'm in Uni at some point tomorrow morning, followed by work in the afternoon. Still, I'll have the evening to get things done!

Daily Shenanigans, 14/03/2014: Gridlock!

Well, my ideas for today's particular post have been a little ruined I'm afraid. I knew that I wouldn't have much to say, but I did plan on going to the Cinema today to watch 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' with Mat! Unfortunately, the traffic on our journey was total chaos and we spent a good ten minutes sat totally still waiting to pull out of a packed roundabout exit. After realising we had five minutes till the film started, we thought it best to just go home. We plan to go tomorrow instead, which I'm very much looking forward to, but it means that I can't talk about it today! Darn!

So this morning I did quite a bit more blog planning as it happens. I have a really busy week coming up (I've mentioned this so many times) and so I want to be sure that blog-wise, everything can still go to schedule and I will have no problems writing posts as well as getting all my assignments over and done with! I also did a massive amount of reading this morning, which I'm very chuffed about. The book today was 'Daughter Of Smoke & Bone' (I'm switching between my two current reads to try and make more progress) and just like 'The Snow Child', I am loving this book! It's so hard to put them down! I can't wait to review them both, and share my thoughts on them!

The afternoon was spent helping my Dad do a bit of tidying, but mainly dedicated to Uni coursework. I really want to get it all done this weekend if I can because then I only have to worry about my practical assignments next week (which are ridiculously stressful by themselves). I think though, if I set my mind to it, I can achieve this and actually next week will probably be okay in the end. Once it's over I am literally going to jump for joy. Literally. I then picked Mat up from the station and we drove quickly to get some fuel and drop his stuff at his house before coming back to mine. I'll take this opportunity to mention that today was absolutely gorgeous! Okay, so it was a bit nippy but the sun was actually really bright and I wore a sleeveless top for the first time in ages! I'm so glad that Summer is reminding me that it's on its way!

Mat and I spent the rest of the evening chilling at mine. You already know that we planned to go out but were prevented from doing so. It was nice to just spend a bit of time chilling out though if I'm honest, so I didn't mind too much! I definitely still want to see the film though. I'm actually going to be staying at his tomorrow so I will most likely write tomorrow's post from his place! Exciting stuff!

Daily Shenanigans, 09/03/2014: Fixing Phoebe.

Well I've ended up having a pretty busy day today. My morning was completely filled with sorting poor Phoebe the Fiat out, we took off the wheel that had the nail in it to take it to the garage so that we could leave it there and not wait around. It's a good thing we did, they ended up taking a good couple of hours to get round to it because they had so many other jobs to do. As well as that, we put the tyre pressures to where they should be and I had a quick test drive round the block. Phoebe is as good as new! Hooray! It didn't cost too much either which was good!

In other news, today I got a hell load of portfolio work done! I avoided the blog/Goodreads/books as much as possible because deadlines are fast approaching and I need to spend the next couple of weeks focusing on those rather than letting this take over (as much as I enjoy it). My Weekly Wishlist post (that I was so excited about) went up today and I was quite proud that I got it done yesterday in order to concentrate better. While I worked, my Dad put 'Oliver!' on and reminded me just how much I love that film. Ron Moody is a legend on Earth, he really is. His Fagin just makes me laugh every single time I watch this film.

Tomorrow I'll be at Uni till very late, then staying at a friend's house so I don't know what the blogging situation will be like. This particularly concerns 'Top Ten Tuesday' as I haven't had time to plan the post and I've got a busy few days coming up! I'll see how it goes. Time to get back to work!

Daily Shenanigans, 08/03/2014: Creme Egg Brownies!

Well I think it's safe to say that I've been feeling the pressure today. I feel like I have so much to do and so little time to do it, even though when I map it out in my head, everything can still be done on time and I shouldn't be worrying as much as I am. I didn't read any of 'The Snow Child' last night or today because I ended up having no time to. It's staring at me now and begging to be read tomorrow but I simply can't until I've done everything that needs doing for Monday. So, my day. Firstly, last night's review of 'The Hotel Fakir' went up early this morning so I had a quick look over that. Then I joined Book Blogging and put the widget for it on my blog, though I'm not sure about the layout so that needs to be changed when I have time. Feel free to give my blog a like if you have an account too! 

Also this morning, I spent a bit of quality time with my sister and we baked some Creme Egg Brownies! Delicious! I saw some when a friend of mine posted a picture of her making them and instantly wanted to try some. As it happened, Bev also wanted to and we made a pact to try out baking them ourselves this weekend! They were a success, and tasted great. I'm so glad I took the time out to help make some, I certainly needed them! I know Bev plans to write a post on the recipe etc. on her blog, Tutus and Ballet Shoes so keep checking that if you want to know more about that little venture!

Not long after that, Mat came round with terrible news. Phoebe the Fiat is not very well! He took her to get her tyres checked out because they look a little like they're balding. The tread depths and pressures all checked out okay, but one tyre has a nail embedded in it. Poor Phoebe! My Dad and I are taking it back to the place tomorrow to get it removed, it's a pretty simple job (though I'm ashamed to say I was a little emotionally distraught about it, stress does that to you) so it shouldn't take long. Hopefully it won't break up my day too much. Other than that, I did some more Uni work and sent it to my Multimedia Project artist, before chilling with Mat to play some more Pokémon (I've so nearly caught up with him)!

I've really felt the stress today, tomorrow (aside from sorting Phoebe out) I plan to just be ridiculously productive and make myself feel a bit better. I ended up being a bit grumpy and I really don't want that bad mood to stick around! I've written out my 'Weekly Wishlist' post and scheduled it so that will go up tomorrow as usual. I'm really excited about this week's picks!

Daily Shenanigans, 07/03/2014: I'm not tired.

I've had quite a nice day today, though it's been a long one! I drove into Uni this morning (no reading on the train for me) and managed to avoid a lot of traffic which set my morning off on a good start. I only had to go in for a 20 minute tutorial, which was a bit irritating, but nevertheless it went well and I feel fairly calm about the rapidly approaching show week as a result of it. When I got back home, I read a bit more of 'The Hotel Fakir' almost finishing it, as well as fiddling with a few things for Uni.

Finally, the time that I'd been waiting for all day came. I picked Mat up from the station and we went to his house. Honestly, it was so good to see him again, I've really missed him a lot this week and it has felt like such a slow six day wait! I played and caught up with a lot of Pokémon which made me very happy because poor Mat can actually start advancing on the game again soon  (he's been waiting for me, bless him). I'm seeing him again tomorrow, and the plan is to possibly go to the cinema, but that isn't set in stone because we haven't really decided on a film. I would quite like to see 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' though.

Upon returning home, I finished reading the 70 page short story at last! Hooray! I'll be posting a review up tomorrow (though some of my thoughts are already on Goodreads). I didn't really enjoy it all that much, but I'll explain my reasoning in the review. I'm starting 'The Snow Child' tonight before I go to bed and I'm so excited, I literally can't wait to get into this book! It's sat on my bookshelf begging to be read for so long! Even though I'm home and ought to think about bed, I'm actually not that tired and really feel like watching a film or something. I probably won't though, I know I'll regret it.

Daily Shenanigans, 26/02/2014: Parking problems!

I got a lot done this morning in terms of planning for the next few weeks at Uni, we spent the lecture organising the Tech Rehearsal slots for the shows we have been allocated. It's a bit of a weight off of my mind to finally have that sorted, though at the same time, show week creeping up on me at an alarmingly fast rate and I don't like it. Thankfully, the Rehearsal I was meant to be attending this evening was cancelled meaning I could go home straight after lecture rather than having to hang around for four hours with nothing to do. Phew!

My morning did not start fantastically in terms of driving. The car was fine, but my parking strategy was just appalling! Normally I have no problem but today I just couldn't quite do it. A man actually took pity on me, came out of his house and directed me into the parking space (as well as pointing out a much easier one that I could have pulled straight into). I didn't know whether to yell at him or hug him, but luckily I went for neither option and just meekly thanked him instead. Nightmare! This afternoon, I got a bit more reading done (I'm about a quarter of the way through 'The Perks Of Being A Wallflower'). I'm pleased with how quickly I'm getting through it, it's a bit of a slow starter but I'm enjoying it! I aim to finish it before February to complete this month's challenges so a review for that should be pretty soonish, especially as I have a day off tomorrow. Other jobs I have are to type up various schedules, send some emails and practice my audition song for the Musical. I'm a bit unsure whether I still want to do it or not but I think that's the stress talking, and so I'm going to go for it and see how far I get.

Also, I checked out a website today that I've seen posted in various blogs and Goodreads reviews. Net Galley allows people who consider themselves 'professional book readers' (including bloggers like me) to request books, which are advance copies more often than not, and download them onto their E-Device to read and review. It sounds like a lot of fun and something I'm definitely looking into joining, but I need to read up on it first! So I guess actually that's one more job for tomorrow! Wahoo!

Daily Shenanigans, 13/02/2014: Recovery after yesterday's trauma.

Today has been the opposite of yesterday, a.k.a, exactly what I needed. A quiet, relaxing day where I didn't need to be anywhere or do anything and could just sit down and work on things without too much disturbance and stress. And honestly, I actually got a lot done. I spent the morning writing some more script for my Multimedia piece, I've had a mental block for absolutely ages and suddenly I got a flash of inspiration! The relief that comes with that is indescribable. Once I had most of my ideas penned, I took a break and started to write out some blog-related planned posts and enter some Goodreads giveaways. Talking of those, my sister told me she had won a book this morning! 'The Madness Of July' by James Naughtie is on its way to her and having read the description, it looks like a good read! We have already agreed that entering these giveaways is sort of a joint effort in terms of reviews, as her blog is very book based too, so when it arrives and I get round to it, expect that one to pop up on the planned reads list!

The rest of my day was spent getting a bit more work done, sorting out some emails and making sure everything was prepared for Valentine's Day! I have been told that tomorrow's lecture has been cancelled, and so I have the whole day off! I did go for a drive this evening, following my Dad to the Garage because his car needs an MOT and he wanted transport back home. Phoebe the Fiat is still working fine, I had absolutely no problems tonight! Let's hope it was just a one off. I'll be driving to pick Mat up from the station tomorrow, so I'll see how that goes. On another quick, day-brightening note, I received a really lovely tweet from Strangeface Theatre after I ranted about being unable to see their show. They told me to look on their list of Tour Dates around Kent and see if I could make any. If so, they would see if they could swing me a free ticket! How nice is that? I'll be checking that out, and hopefully someone will come with me so that I don't have to go by myself. It looks like I maybe going to see the show after all though!

I don't have an awful lot more to say. Tomorrow is obviously Valentine's Day, and I'll be spending the afternoon/evening with Mat and going out for dinner (so won' be home to blog till late), but other than that, I don't have a lot planned for the day. 

Daily Shenanigans, 12/02/2014: Phoebe the Fiat has a tantrum.

Well, today certainly did not go to plan. It started off well, I got a lie in because my lecture was not due to start until 11 o'clock, so about an hour before I set off, all prepared to go to my lecture along with the numerous meetings and show previews I had to attend. It all went downhill from there. I knew I would be late because I had left later than intended and the traffic was absolute murder. But what I was not prepared for was my lovely little car (or Phoebe as she is affectionately nicknamed) to break down. As I tried to make my way to my usual parking spot, the engine began cutting out on me numerous times for no apparent reason. It was not an impressive start to my morning. I ended up just about getting the car to a handy nearby car park, paying to keep her there for the day and walking a twenty minute walk to University. I missed my lecture, I missed my first preview and I barely made the meeting I had arranged.

As well as this, as the afternoon went on it began to rain. And when I say rain I mean the sky literally turned into a waterfall. My poor boyfriend came all the way down from London after receiving my panicked and tearful phone calls about the car (luckily he has a day off today) and came to meet me so that we could get it sorted. His train arrived much earlier than my preview finished, meaning he was standing in the torrential downpour for a long while waiting. We walked back to the car (not a fun experience) and after much thought, decided it would be best to go home. The road between my hometown and my University is prone to flooding and the rain did not look like it was going to let up. This of course meant that I couldn't watch the show that I mentioned last week, the one that I have been desperately looking forward to all week! After testing the car, Phoebe the Fiat decided she was working absolutely fine again and so we hastily made our way home before she changed her mind. As devastated as I am about missing the show, we made the right choice. The river was bursting its banks as we drove past, and we had to drive through a few ponds where the road dipped. That would only have got worse as the day had gone by.

So yes, a gut-wrenchingly horrid day today! The only good part was that I got to see Mat for a few hours (he has gone back to London now) and if it weren't for that I would be wanting to curl up under a duvet for a few days and hide from the world. I don't have to worry about University tomorrow, as I have a day off and so I can get a few bits and bobs done. And the previews did go well (the ones that I saw anyway) so I suppose that's something. I just hope tomorrow is better.