Skip to main content

Posts

Moving to Warsaw!

So I've moved to Warsaw! In the middle of a pandemic. Call it escapism, call it ballsy or even slightly idiotic but I left England behind to move to Poland.  5.5 years after vowing I was sticking to teaching in the UK, I decided life is too short to have a job that doesn't give you that all important work life balance. The life that we all seek, being able to travel or see new things but also earn a living doing something we love. I love teaching but working in the UK, I rarely got time to breathe let alone travel....so off I popped on a plane and well here I am. I waited a few weeks (15 weeks to be precise) before writing about moving. I wanted to wait as, this year isn't just any year, its 2020. Now I know you might hate that phrase, it's 2020, but it is the best description to encompass the chaos that has been this year without going down the negative route. This year has been crazy. SO when I moved here, I didn't know how it would pan out. Would it be like Mosco
Recent posts

12 weeks of this? Will I survive?

What do you do when you know you are in the right place but then being a grown up and the need for income gets in the way? I'm embarking on a new journey in my life and I'm taking the huge step back into teaching. I weighed up my options and realised the best way for me to get back into teaching was through a return to teaching course. Now I don't know if you've ever wandered the lonely halls of Google but there aren't that many return to teaching courses out there, especially ones that don't involve teaching in London...slight distance for me to travel from the North East and...well....you know it costs an arm and a leg to rent down in London so that was never going to happen. I had to weigh up whether I would get the experience I needed through general day to day supply (since I waiting 5 years to start my NQT year I can now only do HLTA or TA work so that kind of limits my chances) or if by some miracle I could get a course that allowed me chance to t

Back into my Sewing Mojo!

So I have recently embarked on a Minerva Crafts monthly sewing project. I needed something to give me a kick up the backside and this certainly did that. Go on over to Minerva Crafts for a looks at my review of the Vogue 9238 Cold Shoulder Top. My trip to London saw me buying illustration provisions and...well this happened! More practice is definitely needed on my croquis and I can see me investing in some illustration pens as my standard pencils just were cutting it. Kind of in love with my new top even if it does make me feel like a diet is on the horizon. Sewing Mojo is back and I've already got a new project on the way! It's going to be a toughie! 

The Year of Fresh Starts

Yeyyyy first post of 2018!! I'm determined to utilise my blog and actually pay it some TLC this year. Last year I was still getting to grips with sewing and learning new skills. I had lots of plans but like most times, life got in the way. Throughout the year I saw lots of different sewing based challenges and decided that this year I would complete at least one of them. I was interested in the Wardrobe Builder Challenge and the Make Nine Challenge. Enough is enough, lets get motivated! January is the time where people make resolutions which 9 times out of 10 they break by the time January ends. Since 2018 is already playing out to be a year of change and fresh starts for me, now I thought was the perfect time to plan some goals. Setting goals for lifestyle/health (totally making a bucket list but I swear it's getting longer and longer) and crafting based goals, starting with a challenge set for the year. Make Nine Challenge BRING IT ON!  Last year I took

Career Change Up

Exciting, Sad and Scary Times Lie Ahead! So over my 'many' years I've had various jobs, all with their pro's and con's and their highs and lows. I've been a; Disney Store Cast Member (basically got paid to let my Disney fanatic loose), Boots Sales Assistant (selling make-up to stroppy teenagers and medical bits and bobs to cute old people), Assistant in Vue Cinema (got to see films for free and before they came out), Student Ambassador (paid to walk round campus talking about the Uni...easy peasy) and then I graduated and life suddenly became hard. I taught in Moscow, Russia for 3 years, I was about to write beautiful years but that may have been taking it a step too far. They were 3 of the coldest years of my life in winter but beautiful summers. I would recommend St Petersburg to anyone as it was stunning. Teaching abroad really built up my confidence and allowed me to enjoy a travelling lifestyle, visiting places during school holidays. Expat life is AMAZ

Back to Basics

Hi my name is Amy and I'm a crap-oholic! I clearly need an intervention or some sort of junk food rehab clinic to lock me up! Last week I started being slightly healthier, I say slightly because when it came to 5am and starting work at 5:30am my sugar tooth kicked in with a Nutella go bar...baaaad mistake discovering those bad boys. I managed to lose 4lbs throughout the week but come the weekend we had a craft and cake fair at work and the will power practically ran out the building! Tomorrow is a new day! Everyone has stumbles. This is mine. I was showing clients at work my before and after photographs and I was reminded of how much work and effort I put into myself this time last year. I was a whole 20lbs light and may I even say it, the abs were becoming an actual thing! They were there! I mean I still had a layer of fat around them but they definitely existed. Then all willpower and motivation left and here I am. A junk food-aholic confessing my sins on here.

This is what having a life looks like!

So I've been complaining recently that I have no life. My life consists of waking up, going to work, getting in late, eat, sleep and repeat. Now I know, I know, most peoples lives are like this but I've never worked so much that my social life and general wellbeing has gone down the pan and my trip to London was the start of me seeing there is more to life than working. London was truly AMAZING! I love cities and I love London! The busy streets, the hustle and bustle of people shopping, commuting and touring. The truly amazing food from both lavish places and the quaint cafe's. The beautiful scenery and attractions. The list goes on. It is times like these that I realise how much I miss teaching abroad and having these types of experiences on my doorstep. My amazing time started with taking my mother down to London for her 50th birthday. We enjoyed a relaxed train journey, slightly stressful underground journey (my mother doesn't do crowds). When the room wasn'