My Month In Photos - December 2016.
Well shit we made it. I think this year we're less skidding into 2017 on a massive high, more like dragging ourselves in with trepidation and prayers that it'll be a better one. It's been a bit of a shocker and the world just couldn't let us go happily, no it had to take Carrie Fisher didn't it?
But with the end of a year comes the end of the month and here on the blog that means my month in photos round up as per. This segment you'll be pleased to know (I hope) has survived the cuts I'm making to the blog and will be returning with vigour in 2017.
What I Did;
I blogged!!!!! Hallelujah my slight blog break/flop/buzzkill/whatever you want to call it from November relapsed and I got content out every day bar 3 this month and boy it felt good. It felt a bit like I'm back and I'm motivated and I have more ideas than ever and whilst I STILL didn't schedule more than a day in advance, I did generate content I'm pleased with. Other than blogging, December was a full on month for me, as it always is around Christmas. As well as countless trips to the Post Office to sort last minute orders I seemed to be running around here there and everywhere the whole month. Every day was filled with something mundane like food shopping or taking the car to the garage or dog walking or giving people lifts (I filled up my car 3 times this month, I normally fill it once every 3 weeks) but it seemed like every day had about 20 of these jobs included. Combine that with making sure I spent time with Joss before Christmas, decorating, wrapping and of course babysitting my niece, it's been a heavy few weeks. I've also been the most sociable I've been in ages because festive season and all that. My friends these days are spread out around the country from Scotland to Cornwall and everywhere in between so getting together currently comes down to Easter, Summer & Christmas. I've been for countless coffee dates, been to the pub more times than I have all year, been to friends houses, been to Bristol & Birmingham for the day and eaten A LOT in the process. It's been a cracking month for getting in all the friend feels.
What I Watched;
So this week I actually made a spread in my bullet journal of everything I had to catch up on and it was TWO PAGES LONG including entire series of Humans and 24 Hours In A&E. The problem with having such a busy social life in December and Joss working off his normal rota meant our schedule went all to whack and I didn't watch much TV at all. That being said I did manage to catch a few Christmas specials like 8/10 Cats Does Countdown, Outnumbered and Handmade Christmas which were all gloriously festive. Films wise I did much better because we watched Nightmare Before Christmas and Love Actually in the lead up to the big day (and then watched Love Actually again on Christmas night). Next year I am determined to watch a Christmas film bucket list though.
What I Worked On;
December is a really weird month for work because at the same time it's insanely busy yet nothing new is coming in.... Commissions and big pieces of work tend to die out in November because people are finished Christmas shopping whereas my Etsy shop is booming with lots of last minute sales of cards and gifts. I did finish a commission for a friend who ordered a print for her Mum which I loved doing and I did a bit of work on the personal children's book I'm in the middle of but other than that my income this month was mostly generate by Etsy sales. They don't joke when they say each and every one makes a whole lotta difference to us.
What I Chatted About;
Lololololol remember last month when I was like 'I'm going to do so many more chats next month because I miss the community'. Yeah. I did 2. Who'd have known I'd have such a busy social life in December I wouldn't be able to take part in chats? Not me that's who. I think I did one lbloggers and one blogospherechat which were both ace and I was all fired up like yassss this is what life is about, look at all these lovely new bloggers I've found, look at all the engagement....and then I just didn't make another one. I'm awful.
What I Blogged;
October and November were really weird blogging months for me. In October with the exception of a couple of posts I was regularly churning out content but that's what it felt like, churning it out rather than writing with inspiration. I had a schedule, I was sticking to it but it felt like the content was stale and uninspired. So I professed I was saying fuck you to the schedule and writing what I wanted when I wanted....and then I realised I hated that too. So I went back to the schedule but in a bit more flexible way....and that didn't work either. So I didn't blog for a week in November in all which is unheard of on this blog and then I hit December running. I just got my mojo and my inspiration back, I was just itching to write again and so I did. And I only missed 3 days of the month, 2 of which were intentional for Christmas & Boxing Day. And I feel a million times better for it.
What I Bought;
Weirdly this has been such a cheap month for more if you exclude the heinous amounts of petrol my car has drunk. I finished Christmas shopping in the first week of December, didn't go shopping for myself, got given cash for Christmas plus a million presents so I didn't need to buy anything, got paid for some outstanding jobs and all my social events were cheap meals or drinks so I could spend as little as I wanted.... So actually I've entered 2017 the richest I've been for about 6 months which is admittedly not a millionaire but I have enough cash to book a trip to Manchester in a few weeks AND have a bit leftover for new clothes. Winner. What I did buy this month however was a dining table. Joss and I are redecorating and moving rooms and now have a LOT more space to fill so whilst renovations start soon, I have been savvy and have nabbed a few things in the sales including a white wood dining table which I love. Just need to find matching chairs now......
So all that's left to say is have a fun, fabulous, safe New Years Eve and I'll see you in 2017!