Tuesday 11 June 2013

Organisation - how am I doing?

Back in February I wrote a post about organising my time better. I wanted more time to do the things I enjoy, while getting on with things like cleaning; I had four areas I wanted to improve on: organisation, blogging, Spanish and designing. We're about halfway through the year (yes really), so how am I doing?

Errands is a great way to get organised.
1 An organised flat
Using an app called Errands, I've been planning my evenings so that I do a small amount of cleaning and tidying every day. This worked so well. My flat has been a joy to live in. My mum has come over a couple of times this year. Normally this would involve two or three days prior to her visit spent in frantic cleaning mode. Not this year. The flat was already clean and tidy.

2 Blogging
I've managed to stick to my schedule of three posts a week, with the only breaks being when I've been away and when I was ill. I'm happy with that. I know I could schedule blogs for when I'm away, but I really don't feel the need to.

3 Spanish
Yeah, totally failed on this one. I started off well – doing Mi Vida Loca on the BBC website once a week and with plans to sign up for the next language course offered by HALS (Haringey Adult Learning Services). But then I missed the enrollment date for the course and the rest just slipped. I will pick it up again, but probably not until at least September now.

4 Design
Another success! I've been designing for knitting and crochet and I've even managed to get a pattern published.

All in all I'm pretty pleased with myself. I've managed to hit three of my four goals, I'm a whole lot less stressed and I feel like my evenings are my own.

Sunday 2 June 2013

Sunday best

Best photo
The world’s first 14-loop rollercoaster, from @earth_p0rn. This is opening at Alton Towers soon. It’s been about 10 years since I last went to Alton Towers. Time for another visit methinks.


Best pin
This is Milan Cathedral, Italy. This church, or duomo in Italian, apparently took nearly six centuries to complete. The architecture is quite simply fantastic.


Best pattern
Ripple blanket. This is more of tutorial than an actual pattern - a how-to guide to creating a ripple pattern. But if you do enough you’ll end up with a blanket.


Best product
Vintage Royal Albert tea trio. I’ve got a collection of tea sets. It’s still only very small, but I’m planning on adding to it, and I absolutely adore this gorgeous little trio.