I have been sleepwalking for as long as I can remember, and I am not alone. It is a relatively common thing to do, and according to research affects around 15% of children, whilst 30% of adults claim to have experienced sleepwalking at least once.
After writing a feature at work about a “A Sleepwalking Artist” – a guy who creates masterpieces in his sleep, which he sells for thousands (besides leaving paper and paint by my bed…) it got me thinking about my own sleepwalking experiences.
Since my first attempt at baking cupcakes, I have becoming something of an “expert”. I have experimented with fillings and toppings and learnt that buttercream icing is actually incredibly easy to make (and I definitely could have done that here!) However, as that is all I could do, that is all I ever baked – sticking to what I know, for fear of stepping out of my comfort zone and messing it up. However, after baking them on countless occasions I started to get bored and decided I needed a new challenge.
I am currently stuck in a place where I look like a child and often get treated as such but I’m actually (unfortunately) an adult.
I’m 27 – teetering on the edge of mid to late 20s (some say late, I like to think mid) and heading towards the slippery slope that will hurtle me towards 30 and actual, real, can’t escape it any longer – adulthood. HOW and when did this happen?
Looking through Twitter one day I came across a short story competition that the Henley Literary Festival were running in conjunction with Dragonfly Tea.
I have never written a short story before, but I love to write and having studied Children’s Literature as part of my English degree at university, I thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to have a go at writing a children’s story.
The rules stipulated a 3000 word story, with a title taken from one of Dragonfly’s tea names: Swirling Mist, Green Gaucho, Emerald Mountain or Moonlight Jasmine. Aside from that the only limitation was our imaginations.
I chose ‘Green Gaucho’ as my title and used ‘story in a teacup’ as my inspiration.
My story follows Sophia, a 12 year old girl, whose world revolves around technology and is rarely seen without a tablet or smartphone in her hand. That is, until she embarks on an adventure that shows her how much more to life there is than social media.
Unfortunately I wasn’t shortlisted but, with over 1000 entries, I can’t say it was a surprise. Nevertheless I really enjoyed writing it and have started two more already!
You can read the full story here – Green Gaucho
For one weekend each June the city of Manchester is taken over by Parklife!
I’m more of a Bestival gal myself, but in a quest to broaden my festival horizon I decided to ditch the dinosaur onesie to experience a new festival this year.
Over the May bank holiday weekend we were lucky enough to be gifted guest passes (which basically meant we had slightly nicer toilets with a much shorter queue. Result!) by the BBC to join 25,000 people each day at Earlham Park, in Norwich, for this year’s Radio 1 Big Weekend.
If flying over England in a hot air balloon is on your bucket list then it is one thing you should definitely get ticked off this year. (or next, depending on what the weather decides to do!)
As this was something on my boyfriends list I decided to get it for him for his birthday last June so we could tick it off together. Although I realise I probably peaked a bit early with my first present, and a pair of novelty socks aren’t going to seem quite as exciting this year!
As my Dad reached a milestone birthday, it was a toss up between signing him up to the over 60’s social club or taking him to Dublin for a weekend. As his family history spans back across Irish soil we thought he might prefer to pay his heritage a visit.
The sun is poking through the clouds, Spring is in the air and dusting off the Summer wardrobe is in sight… aka the perfect time for pastel nails!
Barry M feature a wide variety of nail polish from matte to a high shine gelly in a whole spectrum of colours plus effects such as sequins and glitters, two tones and textured. But last month they introduced what we have all been waiting for, a Speedy Dry range! I have so many different Barry M nail varnishes that when I went in to Boots and saw a Speedy Quick Dry, I thought this could be the perfect addition to my collection and had to give it a try.
Having spent very little of my 26 years in a kitchen, I decided it was time to learn my way around one. Especially now I am attempting to be an adult and finally have my own, I really should probably at least try to use it.
ellieroddy 