Category: life

inspiration, life, wedding

Wedding Wednesday

ramblingmads

An occasional series about planning my wedding. 

This week – inspiration 

Wedding planning is slowly taking shape and I’ve been collecting ideas and inspiration from all sorts of places. 

Pinterest – this is the biggy, there are hundreds of ideas and images shared here, so I’ve been looking at decorations, venues, dresses, flowers, cakes, everything basically. 

Etsy – there are lots of fabulous things to buy here, from decorations to dresses, cake toppers to thank you cards. I’ve built a shopping list of my favourites to buy once I’ve got the budget sorted. 

Bloglovin/blogs – lots of other bloggers have written about their weddings and happily share their thoughts, photos and vendors, which is a great way of finding inspiration. 

Being a wedding guest – lots of my friends have been getting married recently and I’ve been inspired by their ideas, one of my recently married pals is even giving me some candle holders to use. 

Wedding magazines – to be honest these are a bit of a ripoff as they’re mostly adverts but if you find one in a hairdresser’s or dentist’s have a flick through. 

Wedding fairs – there are the big expensive ones in convention centres that cost a lot to go to, and then there are smaller ones hosted by venues, that are often free, and are a great way of seeing what’s available where you are. I’m off to one on Sunday just to get some more ideas. 

Specialist websites/apps – I came across Guides for Brides, which is basically a directory of wedding venues and vendors.  They also have a free app you can download to help keep track of your vendors and budget. There are loads of other wedding planner apps too. 

Have you got any suggestions from your own wedding planning or just things you’ve come across? Something you really liked at a wedding you went to? Share in the comments below. 

adventures, fun stuff, geek out, life

Feel The Force

ramblingmads

On Saturday we hopped in the car and went to Peterborough for the third annual Feel The Force Day. A comic con designed for disabled people. 

Batmobile

There were lots of cos players, including most of the cast of Star Wars, a few Disney princesses, most of the previous incarnations of the Doctor, and several Harry Potters. There were also several cats, from my favourite musical as a kid; Cats. Meow. 

Convention Cats

My favourite was a little boy dressed as Matt Smith’s Doctor whose wheelchair had been turned into a Tardis – it was imaginative and fun. 

Chewie & Leia

There were stalls to buy collectibles from – including Funko Pops and other figures. 

Dancing Baby Groot

The convention centre was huge and I think I probably missed a few rooms because I kept getting lost. A sense of direction would have been useful. 

Batbear with Bat signal

I had several nice chats with people in costume and at several stalls. Everyone was friendly and warm. 

Some lost Confederate time travellers

Even though it was pouring with rain there were so many people there, and according to the Mr the longest queue for was for the disabled loo. 

K9 in the Doctor Who room

We were there to promote the Peterborough Phantoms – a sledge ice hockey team, the Mr is a team member and it’s one of the only fully integrated sports – for disabled and able bodied players of all genders. 

Wall-E

I also cuddled a gorgeous Alaskan Malomout assistance dog, who were so chilled out despite all the people and chatted to a man with an owl. Because animals are better than people. 

BB8

Mr Oogie Boogie gave me a hug and later a high five, he’s not so mean. 

Baymax hanging out with Tink and Swamp Thing

The Mr’s beard was very popular, mostly with men including Jack Sparrow who asked to stroke it. Beardmance is real. 

The Mr & Barf from Space Balls
The Mr & Jack – Beard friends for life
The Monsters Inc crew
Movie cars

There was some yummy food (the hot food was a big yes in the cold and wet) and musical entertainment. You could listen to a wizard reading stories, there were craft and art activities, and a few (very) minor stars signing autographs.

R2D2

R5 Astromech Droid
RC-1262(delta62) Scorch – Star Wars
Creepy Doctor Who villain
The Doctor and friend
Department of Ability

One of the things that I was really excited about was the Department of Ability – a comic where the superheroes disabilities are their superpowers. Due to be published soon, Stan Lee is a big fan. 

Are you my mummy?
I collect Venetian masks but these ones are creepy
Another beard lover – U.N.I.T soldier

All in all it was a really enjoyable day and really interesting to explore. 
I may have been a little naughty with my pennies and as well as adding Dancing Groot to my growing collection (he may just be my favourite hero) I also picked up two Totoro themed cushions for the flat. I love Studio Ghibli very much. 

The many faces of Totoro and soot sprites
fun stuff, life

30 Years Young

ramblingmads

Happy Birthday to me.  

Thank goodness my mum dropped the tradition of ringing the birthday person at the time they were born – 6am in my case. I would not be pleased. 

Despite this being a ‘big’ birthday, I’m keeping it low key – dinner with the Mr and Sunday lunch with my parents to come. No wild parties, too old now, way past my bedtime. 

Do you have any birthday traditions? I did but since I moved out of my parents’ house a few of them have fallen by the wayside.  Like birthday breakfasts – my mum used to buy pain au chocolat for birthdays. I also didn’t have a cake, mostly because I forgot to buy one. 

life, updates

Life

ramblingmads

It’s been a bit quiet recently here in my little corner of the internets. Blame life, it keeps getting in the way of blogging. 

I haven’t had the best week, including spending Wednesday afternoon in tears after a really bad, sad thing happened. I’ve also been so tired that I’ve risked nodding off at work. Oops. 

So what’s keeping me up at night? Well, I never sleep very well anyway due to my delightfully restless legs (muscle spasms all night long) and habit of stopping breathing  (asthma) but there’s been some actual things that my brain has been struggling with.  

In happier news – wedding planning continues apace, but it’s keeping me up as the perfectionist part of me stresses out over details and the obsessive part of my anxiety goes into meltdown. 

The aim is to get everything organised well in advance and then not stress out at the time. Stress does funny things to my body and has caused issues for my mental health in the past. So no-stress wedding planning it is. 

I’m confirming venues this weekend and then paying deposits all over the place – for photos, hair and make up, a jukebox with kareoke (the Mr loves kareoke), a photo booth. You name it, it needs paying. 

A friend is making the cake and another is doing the flowers  (these are their actual jobs) and that’s less hassle. My cousin’s girlfriend has kindly offered to design our invites (she’s a graphic designer) and the Mr is in charge of kitting out the menfolk. 

My lovely Dad has offered to help pay the deposits so we can still afford rent and food, yay. I know not everyone’s so lucky to have family who can help out, so I’m really grateful. 

I just need to sort out the little touches and we’ve even picked our colour scheme, so that’s simple. 

Would you like more wedding posts? A how-to guide if you like? Please let me know. 

life, ramblings, thoughts

Sinister stuff

ramblingmads

The Latin for ‘left’ is ‘sinistere’ making us lefties sound a little more terrifying than we are. 

10% of the global population are lefties – despite attempts to stamp it out over the years. Some cultures still have specific beliefs and attitudes towards left-handedness. 
My Dad is probably a leftie – but at school he was forced to use his right hand and now has the most appalling handwriting. My Nan used to try and make me use my left hand like a right hand, so I wouldn’t smudge the page – however I would have ended up with a deformed wrist if she’d had her way. 

Learning to knit was something I gave up on as a kid, having to reverse what everyone else does is hard, I hate sewing machines for the same reason. My brain wants me to use my dominant hand – just like right-handers always do. 
Tin openers, scissors, vegetable peelers, bread knives, fountain pens, notebooks, doors – all designed to ease the life of a righty. 

When I was about 10, my Mum found out about Anything Left-Handed, which at that time had a physical shop in Brewer Street in Soho – they’re now online only. 

It was a revelation- everything was designed for me to use. While some things, like the left-handed clock, seem a little excessive, essentials like scissors, are available to me as long as they stay in business. 
I have several pairs dotted around thw house, from nail scissors to fabric scissors, about three pairs of all-purpose ones, a tin opener, vegetable peeler, even secateurs for the garden. 

Saturday was International Left-Handers Day – so I celebrated by cutting some things with my scissors! 

A few famous lefties include; Barack Obama, Jimi Hendrix, Marilyn Monroe, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill and David Bowie. We get around. 

Are you a lefty? Let me know in the comments below. 🖒

fun stuff, life

The ‘adult tag’ 

ramblingmads

​Thought this might be a bit of fun as I lay here dying of serious cramps. Join in! 


1 – How old are you and where do you live?

29, almost 30, North London on the border of Hertfordshire. 

2 – Where did you expect to be by this age?

I think I expected to be a bit further along in the old career, own house, maybe married. Life is a lot more complicated than you imagine. 

3 – Are you on track to where you want to be now?

Yes and no. My career took a back seat to health issues and that set me back. But I’ll get there. 

4 – What piece of advice do you wish people told you when you were young?

Life is what you make it, take more risks. 

5 – What advice would you give to younger people now?

Take every opportunity that comes your way, don’t be afraid to jump in with both feet. You never know how it’ll turn out. 

6 – Do you still suffer from FOMO?

I don’t know if I ever have – my decisions are my own and if I’ve ‘missed out’ maybe it’s for a good reason. 

7 – What is your opinion on living at home vs moving out in your 20’s?

Having done both in my 20’s, I can see that living at home can have it’s advantages in letting you save some money, but having your own place does allow you more freedoms at time but definitely costs more! 

8 – Have you had any sudden realisations about life/relationships/friendships since hitting your 20’s?

Life’s too short to be an arsehole. Grudges and fallings out are for school kids, move on. It’s not worth trying to force a friendship – it either is or it isn’t. 

10 – Do you feel like an adult?

Sometimes. I pay a bill I don’t want to pay (like council tax) and feel like an adult because I’m doing the adult thing, but sat on the sofa in my pjs eating dark chocolate digestives (the best kind, I’ll fight you) watching TV on a Saturday morning, feel like I’m still a kid. 


Well there you go, my adulting knowledge in a nutshell. Feel free to copy and play along. 

life, mental health, updates

I aren’t dead*

ramblingmads

*as Granny Weatherwax would say. 

I am sorry it’s been a wee bit quiet here in my corner of the ‘net. I’m stuck at home looking like a puffy death-beast with flu. I have black eyes from the infection in my head and chest, cant wear make up as my temperature keeps making me sweat it off, oh and to top it off my rosacea and eczema have flared up and I’ve got a lovely acne breakout going on. 

I have products I want to test and review for you, but currently eating cereal, reading Agatha Christie and smothering my skin in various stinky medicated lotions is pretty much all I’m good for. 

So, I’m asking you lovely people to help me boost my mood and hopefully my immune system by sending me cute things on Twitter, tagging me in pictures of your pets on Instagram (@ramblingmads) and telling me what awesome stuff you’re up to in the comments please.  

life

I can’t even

ramblingmads

I rarely, if ever, talk about politics here. But today I don’t feel like I have a choice. I am shocked, 51% of my country voted to leave the EU and become isolated, insular and poor. The NHS won’t be getting extra money, as the Leave campaign claimed, because there isn’t extra money. Businesses will be affected, the pound has already dropped, people who actually know how all of this stuff works warned the nation, and we listened to idiots instead.

Goodbye maternity rights, goodbye NHS treatment, goodbye gay rights, goodbye workers rights, goodbye freedom of movement, goodbye Scotland, goodbye multicultural society.

Hello poverty, fear, unemployment, isolation, and racism.

I can’t today, I just can’t.

life

Horse racing – why I won’t be on the turf

ramblingmads

As a teenager I was a hardcore animal rights nut. I refused to eat meat (not really an issue when my mum’s vegetarian), signed petitions, went to a few slightly iffy demonstrations/marches (which I wince at now) and tried to educate others.

My extended family is quite horsey, my Grandad is from Yorkshire, has shares in a race horse and his winnings on the track have always been a family joke (he has a lucky knack for picking winners). My great-aunt hunts (yuk), and my aunt and cousin both ride.

But while I love horses for being such gorgeous creatures, the horrible things race horses go through turn my stomach.

From the damaging amount of bran in their diets, wrecking their insides, to the whips and pressure exerted on them on the track, to the numbers of horses who lose their lives after falling at jumps or losing their balance on the course, it’s all cruel and totally unnecessary.

At the moment the press is still full of pictures of Ladies’ Day at Ascot, of the OTT outfits and hats, obscuring the horror happening on the course.

I have chosen not to share pictures of the things that go on, they’re stomach churning, but you can look for yourself online if you’re interested.

How do you feel about horse racing? Is it time we stopped beating and killing these creatures for entertainment?

life, thoughts, updates

Life update

ramblingmads

A lot has happened this week, as Ferris Bueller says “life moves pretty fast if you don’t stop and look around once in a while” and this week it’s been pretty whizzy! If you follow me on Twitter then you already know some of this.

Last Saturday I received a phone call from a lady who wanted to invite me to an interview for a job not far from where I live.

Monday morning I made my way to her office for the interview. 45 minutes later I said my goodbyes and left feeing very happy with how it had gone. I had been at the bus stop for all of five minutes, when one of the managers came running out waving her hands at me and trying to light a cigarette at the same time.

We went back inside and they offered me the job right there and then. After months of job hunting, applications and interviews, temping and panicking, I finally have a permanent role.

I started yesterday (Thursday) and I’ve made a good start, mastering the report running process in less than an hour today.

A three day weekend lies ahead of me and then back to more learning my role (and sorting out the stationery cupboard, seriously it’s a mess in there!)

So far everything’s gone well, my team are lovely and warm. This morning we all went out for breakfast before work, a monthly tradition in the office, which was really fun, and the sun shines on my desk which is lovely. It’s a fairly short commute on the bus (free of the Underground!) and in a nice place, which all helps.

Onwards and upwards we go. Have a great bank holiday weekend everyone.