My Good News

This is ‘the big reveal’… I try not to be that annoying person who blogs about their life but then acts all secretive and only ever tells half a story. If I wanted to keep something to myself, I just wouldn’t blog about it at all. However, I didn’t want to blab about this until I knew for certain. Today I had a Skype interview, which went well, and then promptly got an email.

My good news is that in September, I will be going to Bratislava, Slovakia for three months to live and work. I will be an intern for a major Slovak NGO. I’m yet to be given a job title other than ‘intern’, but I’ve been told that my duties will include: research, proofreading and editing, administration, event planning, accompanying guests, writing press releases and articles, among other things.

I was offered this opportunity through European Training Services/The Leonardo Da Vinci Programme, who are a fantastic organisation (as are GetOn, their Slovak partners, and Pontis Foundation, the organisation I will be working for) so if anybody reading this would like any information on them let me know!

The short version of this post is: ‘yay for me!’ I promise to post some actual content very soon. For now, though, I’m going to eat some celebratory tacos and then go to work in order to earn extra pennies for Slovak beer and weekend trips to Vienna and Budapest.

Zbohom!

July 1, 2012
by Emily 4 Comments

July Goals

Here’s how my goals for June went:

1) Ace my interview on the 16th. All signs are pointing to yes but I’m going to carry on being annoyingly cryptic for the time being.

1a) Plan the perfect interview outfit. I did not accomplish this. I looked presentable and all, but my dress was so uncomfortable and I didn’t even realise until I was wandering around on the day. I can only hope that the interviewers didn’t notice this as I waddled my ungainly way over to them.

2) Finish paying off my loan from the bank of M&D. All paid. Now my wages every week come straight to meeee! And the taxman. And my bar tab.

3) Apply for two writing competitions. I actually haven’t, but I have started two stories which I hope to submit to competitions that end next month.

4) Bake a vegan dessert. I still haven’t managed this! I absolutely completely will. I’m considering these chocolate chip blondies or something similar.

So, on with the goals for the coming month.

1) Stop wasting all my spare time on Song Pop

This may involve making a list of all the things I could be doing with my time that are more productive than playing on Song Pop and keeping it with me at all times.

2) Make an exercise plan for each week and try my best to stick to it, a la Sophie

This week’s schedule is 30 minutes of yoga on Monday, 30 minutes of Davina dvd on Tuesday, rest on Wednesday, 30 Day Shred on Thursday, 30 minutes of strength training on Friday, and then rest on both Saturday and Sunday unless I feel particularly motivated. I know some people exercise every day and that suits them fine, but it doesn’t really suit me.

3) Sell 5 more things on eBay

I’m really enjoying this whole ‘selling my life on eBay’ business. I’ve sold some things for lots of money and some things for not very much, but they’ve all earned me more than they were doing just sitting in the bottom of my wardrobe.

Did you do everything you planned to do in June? What are you planning for July?

June 28, 2012
by Emily 4 Comments

A Better Day

After the travesty of a day that was Tuesday, Wednesday was much better.

(OK, so Tuesday wasn’t exactly a travesty. Like Mara said in the comments, it was one of those days that makes you want to cry while you’re enduring it, but is comical in retrospect. It was filled with first world problems and slight annoyances that were all cured and rectified with a bowl of pasta – I can’t really complain.)

Wednesday, however, was an absolute corker of a day. Here is why-

1. I didn’t have to work.

2. I bought a whole load of things that I didn’t necessarily need but which are lovely. Some yellow shoes, a storage box with birds on it, a yoga/exercise mat, and some amaretto flavoured coffee. All from TK Maxx, except the shoes which are from Tesco. And they were all absolute barry argins.

3. I received an email bearing good news. Not everything is in place yet but watch this space! #unnecessarilycryptic

4. I bought a pork shoulder so that I could make slow cooker pulled pork today. Here’s another non-recipe for you!

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork (adapted from almost every recipe for this I’ve ever seen, but particularly The Londoner’s)

She uses pork ribs but I used a shoulder. It was a cheap and nasty one from Tesco which came to the grand total of £3.86. Stick it in your slow cooker and pour some coke over it. I did not have any BBQ sauce so I didn’t use any. Whether this affected the flavour or not I will never know. (It has just occurred to me that I didn’t really follow her recipe at all, in any way.) Make sure the pork is covered and whack your slow cooker on high. After about 3hrs I removed a few ladles of the liquid and added some beef stock. (I can’t explain why I did this.) At this point I began to worry as it smelled disgusting and looked like some sort of alien. So I tried to forget about it for another few hours. Other things I added over the course of the cooking time: Frank’s Red Hot sauce, tomato puree, a sprinkle of brown sugar, a squeeze of HP sauce. Jesus wept I am bad at following recipes – though maybe this means I would be amazing at making my own recipes? (Probably not.)

All in all, my alien shaped pork shoulder was in the slow cooker for a total of around seven hours. I turned it over a few times because it seemed to grow (much like an alien would) and I didn’t want the exposed bits to get tough. I served the pork in much the same way as The Londoner does – in crusty buns with gherkins and red cabbage, along with a side of coleslaw. It was one of those sandwiches that lacked structural integrity but made up for it in tasting delicious.

There are so many ways to adapt a recipe like this. If you don’t have a slow cooker, use your oven. You can cook it in whatever liquid you like, really, though I have read that the Coke helps break down the enzymes or something – and the finished product does not taste like Coke. Use whatever cut of pork that you like. If you’re a vegetarian or a vegan… this is the wrong recipe for you.

Enjoy!

June 26, 2012
by Emily 8 Comments

One Of Those Days

Everyone’s had one of those days.

When a simple trip to the bank turns into a torturous 45 minutes of hell.

When you accidentally put Fairy liquid in the dishwasher and it overflows.

When you peel your finger instead of a carrot.

When you fall into the laundry basket when you’re gathering up towels.

When your knee suddenly decides it does not want you to walk around, work out, or be happy.

There are only a few things that can a day like that better. These things are a) listen to Janis Joplin and b) eat pasta with pesto and avocado. Here’s a good starting point for the first one.

And here’s the only non-recipe you need to lift your spirits.

Avocado and Pesto Pasta

You will need pasta of your choice, pesto and around 1/3 of a medium avocado. I made my own pesto, which is really easy… if you’re not me. All you have to do is blend pine nuts, basil, olive oil and parmesan. My advice would be not to attempt to blend it in a smoothie maker. It probably won’t work, and the next smoothie you make will have a vaguely cheesy flavour.

Put your pasta on to boil. I chose wholemeal spaghetti. Mash your avocado with a tiny squeeze of lemon juice. I added some leftover mushrooms and courgettes but if you don’t like them don’t use them. If you don’t like pesto or avocado… I’m not sure what to say to you really.

When your pasta is cooked, drain it and mix with avocado, pesto, vegetables and any other things you have chosen to add. Stir together. Serve with a sprinkle of sea salt and plenty of black pepper, and a slice of garlic bread if you’re that way inclined. Cheer up instantly.

If you’ve followed these steps and you’re still having a bad day, it’s time for cake and wine. Best of luck, my friend.

June 14, 2012
by Emily 14 Comments

I’m a Professional, You Know

You may have noticed that I have acquired a .com. Which means that I am now a professional blogger.

No, it doesn’t really. I don’t make any money off this. I don’t even get all the free things that some bloggers do. I’m doing this out of love, people. Well, love and vanity and a compulsive need to write. They’re all good things.

Now I’m even more professional, as these business cards have landed at my door. They do not say ‘blogger’ on them because, as I say, this is not my job and not a form of income for me. I’m still not even sure that my blog address should be on a card that I plan on giving to potential employers and professional contacts. Will they think I’m just some silly girl writing a diary and expecting people to care?

What I’m hoping is that my blog will show that I have a passion for writing, as well as an understanding of and interest in social media and online communications. I’m hoping that it will fill in some of the blanks on my CV, and that it will explain that I have not been sitting around being lazy for the year since I graduated. It should show that I’ve been writing, reading and learning. I’ve been volunteering and working. I’ve been writing for money and writing for no money. I’ve been writing for local websites and national websites and international websites, and I’ve been writing for my own little website. I’ve been working in social media, in PR and communications. I’ve also been doing my fair share of non-work related things, like falling in love with Italy and then cheating on Italy with Prague.

If this blog is going to put somebody off employing me, or working with me, then that’s a real shame. I have a lot to offer. I’m smart and I’m hardworking and I’m enthusiastic and ambitious.

This blog is not my job, and I don’t want it to be. Nobody is expected to pay me for writing about my life, about the fun things I do, and the things that anger me. But you could pay me to do some freelance (or in-house) writing. You could pay me to help you with your PR & communications. I’ve been looking after the online PR for my parent’s business for around a year now. Earlier this year I worked with a small charity for a month in order to help improve their social media presence. I help with the communications and content writing for a National Trust property, as well as for a local community project.

I’m pretty good at it all, too.

(I promise to resume normal posting now that I’m done with this shameless and sickening bragging and own-horn-tooting. As you were.)

June 7, 2012
by Emily 9 Comments

Currently #3

Here’s what I was reading, listening to, watching, eating and admiring in March.

Reading Last night I finished It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet by James Herriot. It was an easy enjoyable read but not something I would necessarily recommend to anyone, and I won’t be rushing to read another Herriot. Then I closed my eyes and pointed at my bookshelf and came up with The Medici Secret by Michael White. I’ve also been spending too much of my time going square-eyed reading Wikipedia pages trying to teach myself about all the things in the world ever. I had a strange existential crisis and thought about all the things I knew nothing about and so my current mission is to teach myself everything. (This mission may fail.)

Listening to I’m not even ashamed to say that I have been blasting Euphoria by Loreen very often. Yes, that’s the Eurovision winning song. It’s amazing. I also adore Paloma Faith’s new tune.

Watching Against all odds, I have been watching – and enjoying – Cardinal Burns.

Eating Lots of salads. Yes, I’m feeling alright, and before you ask ‘Who are you and what did you do with the real Emily?’, hang in there for a moment. I’ve been buying the bagged salad that tastes really good but costs about a million pounds, and then putting fun things on it like halloumi and chorizo. Also, I made a pizza a while ago that was freaking delicious, and I threw together some red onion and cucumber pickle to go with it.

Admiring Smart jackets on eBay that I could wear to my interview. I eventually settled on this bad boy in light grey, which should hopefully be smart and businessy enough to slightly mitigate the brazenness of wearing a bright yellow dress. (I don’t really shop in eBay stores very often so I hope it’s not terrible quality.) Now I’m looking for shoes. HELP ME OUT PLS.

Shameless self promotion I just wrote my first review at the wonderful website Judging Covers. I have read and admired this website for a long time and so I’m really pleased that I have the chance to write for them too. Take a look at my review of The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey here.

June 1, 2012
by Emily 10 Comments

June Goals

Here’s how my goals for May went-

1. Write creatively every day. I did not do this. To be honest, I didn’t really attempt to either. I did enter two short stories into competitions, though – one with a money prize, and one with a publication prize. So that’s something.

2. Read 3 books. The week when I wanted to get a lot of reading done was the week when all I ended up getting done was working, drinking Blue Moon, and occasionally sleeping. I finished Never Let Me Go one sunny afternoon, and then attempted to read a variety of other books but you’ll never guess which one I eventually got into – It Shouldn’t Happen To A Vet by James Herriot. I may as well embrace my roots, people, as I’m living in Herriot Country!

3. Get some business cards. This was so much harder than I thought it would be. The process went like this: chicken out of buying v. expensive cards, chicken out of buying cheap and nasty cards, debate whether to put blog on card, have a little personal crisis about whether this blog is silly and stupid and I’ll never be taken seriously ever, decide that blog is ok to go on card as it displays passion and creativity (or something), decide to make blog a .com, take forever getting round to this, buy a .com*, despair at the selection and pricing of business cards to be found on the interwebs, eventually settle on a rather pretty design from VistaPrint, eventually order them, then stupidly select the ‘slow’ delivery option meaning that the cards will not be mine in time for when I want them. Every day is a battle when you’re me, it would seem.

4. Sort out my unwanted clothes. I sold some crap on eBay! I made a fairly decent chunk of money and managed not to tear my hair out over posting & packaging the bloody things.

5. Bake something extravagant. Nope. I made some wholemeal pizza, which I topped with home made pesto. Does that count? Probably not. I started getting excited over the idea of making healthy vegan desserts, so I stocked up on sweet potatoes, cashews and chickpeas, but then I got busy and the weather got beastly hot and the idea of turning the oven on was no longer tempting.

Overall, not bad at all. Here are my goals for June-

1. Ace my interview on the 16th. I’m trying to keep it semi-secret (meaning I’ve told a load of people but I’m not telling everyone or posting on Facebook about it) so I won’t write on here exactly what the interview is for. But it’s good. So I’m going to have to be good.

1a. Plan the perfect interview outfit. The kind people of Twitter have informed me that a yellow dress is acceptable for an interview so that might be the basis of the outfit.

2. Finish paying off my loan from the bank of Mum & Dad. I took a loan out of the great parental bank to buy a new laptop a few months ago and I’m two payments off now.

3. Apply for two writing competitions. I forgot how fun and exciting it is to apply for competitions!

4. Bake a vegan dessert. I’m not going vegan but I’m determined to make a tasty pudding that doesn’t contain any animal products. I don’t know why. Any ideas for a good? I’m quite interested in using chickpeas to make brownies, and I have a sack of cashews at my disposal. (Whatever I make, I may or may not cover it in cream, ice-cream or something equally unvegan. Sorry I’m not sorry.)

I can’t think of a fifth one. What do you think my fifth goal for June should be? What are yours?

* In case you missed this, I am now a .com and I feel like a total badass!

May 5, 2012
by Emily 13 Comments

May Goals

It’s been May for five days already and I’m only just getting round to making some goals for the month. Because that’s just how organised I am.

Write ~creatively~ every day. I got an amazing notebook for Christmas from my sister, and the intention was to create great works of fiction inside said notebook. So far I’ve filled about three pages, proving just how useless I can be. I have drafted up a list of all the writing competitions I would like to enter so I guess that in order to enter them, I will have to write things. My goal is to write 2 short stories every week. (They don’t have to be any good, of course, they just have to exist.)
Read 3 books. Reading may not be something I have to work very hard at, but it’s nice to set myself little goals just so I can bask in a completely undeserved sense of achievement every now and again.
Get some business cards. Earlier on this week I made an attempt at real-life networking, and failed miserably. Rather than declaring that networking sucks and I never want to do it again (which is exactly like something I would do) I’ve decided to get some swanky business cards so that next time I can thrust them under people’s noses. I’m making this a goal for the month because I’m likely to procrastinate until I find the card that strikes the right balance of professional and pretty and doesn’t cost the earth.
Sort out my unwanted clothes. Am I going to keep saying I’ll get round to this until the year 2050, when clothes are old-fashioned and we’ve all started wearing polymer bodysuits? No. I am not. I’m going to get donating, throwing out and selling this bloody month. Who wants some pretty miniskirts and high heels, things that a woman of 5’11” should know better than to keep buying?
Bake something extravagant. The mission to find my signature dish is still on. This month I want to bake something a little trickier than scones, cake and cookies. I probably won’t bother faffing around with profiteroles or anything like that, but I just want to tackle something a little more taxing. Any ideas?

Here you can see photographic evidence of all the procrastinating. One of my May goals should be ‘stop procrastinating’, but that has been a life goal for at least 6 years so it’s not likely that this month will be the one.

What are you goals for May?

April 20, 2012
by Emily 10 Comments

Five Things Friday

Five places you want to visit

Croatia
Kenya
America
Germany
New Zealand

Five of your favourite foods

Spaghetti carbonara
Courgettes fried with garlic and lemon juice
Poached eggs
Kiwi
Tiramisu

Five things in your bag

3 diaries – don’t ask me how or why I have 3 diaries in one bag
A pair of clock shaped earrings
A necklace shaped like a little purse, with a Czech coin inside it
Contact lenses
Wallet

Five things you do every day

Drink coffee
Rearrange something in my bedroom – this is an affliction, I actually do this every single day
Read the news – in an attempt to keep on top of current affairs and allow me to join in grown up conversations, and this sometimes involves googling the idiot’s guide to various political policies
Read a book
Write a to-do list of some description – yesterday it was a list of short story competitions that I’m planning to enter, today it will be a life budget of sorts

Five things you’re wearing right now

Mustard yellow trousers – for the second day in a row, no shame
Navy ribbed vest
Men’s denim shirt – from the men’s section of the charity shop, not stolen from a specific man
Green patterned vintage scarf – I say vintage, you say old – let’s call the whole thing off
Fancy new brogue type shoes from Tesco tip for getting free shoes: throw them in the trolley while your mother is shopping, and hope she never asks for the money back. This might also work with strangers in the supermarket. Try it and let me know how you get on

What are your five things this Friday?

April 13, 2012
by Emily 8 Comments

Seven Deadly Sins of Instagram

After going Instagram crazy over the two days I spent at my boyfriend’s house, I have come to realise that the vast majority of Instagram shots can be used to represent one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Lust – Whatever it is that you’re lusting after, you should probably take a fake retro picture of it.

Envy – In the Instagram sense, this is quite closely related to lust. Are you totes jel of that girl’s flatforms? Catch a clandestine picture of them. Just hope she doesn’t see you. When you’re me, you are overcome with lust and envy in the most bizarre of places: a staircase at The Piece Hall in Halifax, where I saw a beautiful wall mural that I now want on my bedroom walls. Yep.

Gluttony – St Thomas Aquinas thought that there were six types of gluttony. They were: eating too soon, eating too expensively, eating too much, eating too eagerly, eating too daintily, and eating too boringly. I’m sure we’ve all been guilty of one of these – and probably guilty of Instagramming them as well. Bear this in mind when you’re quickly snapping your decadent meal before scarfing it down. Also bear it in mind when you take yet another picture of your morning porridge.

Pride – I took two fancy looking pictures of myself. One, because I was rather chuffed with the collar, jumper and moose necklace combination that I had on that day. Another, simply because my hair looked quite nice. The ability to make yourself look instantly more attractive with the application of a grainy filter is very tempting… and very hard to resist.

Greed – Greed isn’t actually about food. It’s about pursuing wealth, status and power above all else. There’s no need to take a picture of your bank balance if it’s looking particularly healthy (nor, for that matter, is there any need to do this if it’s looking a little under the weather). Guess what else falls under the definition of greed? Hoarding. That’s a nice picture of your 726 bottles of nail varnish…

Vainglory – Vainglory is not quite the same thing as vanity, as the ‘vain’ part of the word actually means something more similar to ‘futile’. So vainglory is futile boasting – bragging about things that you have no real reason to be boasting about. How does this relate to Instagram? ‘I JUST HAD THE BEST CUP OF TEA EVER’, accompanied by a picture of a plain mug of builder’s tea – this is something that has probably happened somewhere on the internet. If you must brag, wait until you’ve done something awesome.

Sloth – The sin of sloth is not only the laziness itself, but also the failure to use your energy and talents. So when you take an arty picture of your slippers, make sure that you’re using your energy and talent. I wear my amazingly adorable new slippers around the house (though they look so much like cute flats that if I were to lose all self respect I could just wear them out for the day) but I make sure that I’m doing something even vaguely useful while I’ve got them on.

Apathy – Otherwise known as Acedia, though nobody really knows what that means. Acedia means a state of listlessness, almost a kind of melancholy. So if you choose to let your coursework build up in a pile on your desk, and the dishes stack up in the sink, and then instead of doing anything about it, you take a picture of it and post it to Twitter? You, my friend, are a sinner. And you’re probably not very fun to follow on Twitter either.

Wrath – So you’re just fuming, livid, foaming at the mouth, out of your mind with anger over the fact that your train is delayed by an hour and a half? That’s fine. I understand. Does the world need to see a picture of the departures board at the station with a pretentious vintage filter put over it? No, no it does not.

Are you guilty of any of the Seven Deadly Sins – Instagram or otherwise?

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country living, city dreaming

Category Archives: general life