Where Have I Been?

Gosh, it’s been such a long time since I wrote anything here, almost six months to be precise! The last time you heard from me, I was living the luxury cinema life at the new Odeon Luxe in Glasgow, but that now feels like an age away. I’ve had a lot of things on my plate in recently, mainly my PhD thesis, but I now feel like it’s time to come back – especially when I’ve always found my blog so helpful for dealing with stressful life situations.

So, as the title of this post asks, ‘Where Have I Been?’

Well, a week after my last post was published, my wonderful Grandad passed away. Although his health had been declining slowly, it was still a bit of a shock when it happened. He had a wonderful sense of humour, and his multitude of stories from back ‘when he were a lad’, or from his time in the forces, always kept us interested. I hope I did him justice by including a decent selection in his eulogy, as I wanted to make sure his funeral was a celebration of his life, rather than a gloomy affair. We even bought bags of pick ‘n’ mix for everyone who attended because he always enjoyed indulging his sweet tooth!

 

Once Christmas was out of the way, myself and Paul decided to book a wee weekend retreat in order to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. After the difficulties of 2017, which I’ve spoken about pretty freely in previous posts, we just wanted to escape our everyday lives and enjoy each other’s company again. We spent the weekend in a Golden Oak Hideaway cabin at the Forest Holidays site in Strathyre, near Callander, eating ALL the popcorn and watching ALL the movies while intermittently lounging in the massive TWO PERSON BATH – it was bliss!

 

Not one to miss out on the opportunity for reasonably priced food, I’ve still been periodically continuing my ‘Fun Lunch Friday’ with Sarahjane, with our most recent munch being over at the Committee Room No 9 in Glasgow’s city centre. I’m not sure if their express lunch menu is still offering the same goodies, but we both enjoyed a pretty sturdy helping of Mac ‘n’ Cheese for the bargain price of £5.95! It’s a shame I’ve been so preoccupied because this place really did deserve its own post, although I’m sure I’ll return again at some point soon, especially considering the close proximity to my work!

 

Our ‘Readers’ book club has, unfortunately, become a casualty of my recently hectic lifestyle. After Magenta Opium, we did manage to get through one last novel and (I’m pleased to say) it ended on a high. ‘The Nightingale’ by Kristin Hannah, was Sarahjane’s choice, and is again something which I wish I’d had time to dedicate a full post to. It’s a beautifully written novel which explores how two sisters, with very different views on the world, cope with living in occupied France during the Second World War. This is the first novel that has moved me to tears since I read ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’, back when I was a teenager, and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for something to read over the summer months.
 

After filling you in on all of the above, I feel it’s now time to disclose perhaps the most prominent reason I have been absent for so long… If you follow me on Instagram, you will probably already be up to date, but on the 11th of December I found out I was pregnant again!

If finishing my PhD wasn’t enough of an excuse to retire from social media for a while, the addition of another pregnancy really did up the stress levels, especially considering the four miscarriages we suffered last year. For the whole of the Christmas period, I was stressing about whether my next trip to the toilet would reveal bleeding, and we still didn’t particularly relax after we reached the 12 week scan milestone. I’m now almost 27 weeks along, and am pleased to report that no obvious problems have been detected, but it is still an extremely nerve-wracking time for us all. I’m hoping the excitement levels now start to gradually increase, and we have a baby shower organised for the end of June where we are planning to reveal the gender - please keep your eyes on the Instagram and Twitter feeds (Paul Instagram and Twitter) if that’s something that interests you.

 

Before I wrap up this ‘back to blogging’ post, I just want to take the opportunity to thank the people who have supported us through the difficulties of the past year. I honestly don’t know where we would be just now if it wasn’t for our fantastic friends and family! Thanks also to all the people who have been telling us how much they enjoy the blogs and vlogs, and how they can’t wait for us to get back to it – your support has also meant a lot, and I hope that this post will now signify our return to the blogosphere!
 

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