3 posts tagged “work”
So it's been a while since I was last here...again!! I've missed this site through moving in, getting organised, playing Mario Kart and generally not doing a whole lot =D
Where to begin? Well, let's start at the start! Me and Chantelle have finally moved into a place of our own, in a little square on Ella Street, off Newland Avenue in the heart of Studentworld in the city centre. The front "garden" needs some work, and there's a need for decoration and tidying, but over the last couple of months we've got stuff sorted and made it our own place - we still have boxes, and even boxes of boxes, but it's our place and we love it...
On 19th April me and Chantelle got engaged, and we are looking at getting married around September of this year. Chantelle's parents have a timeshare apartment in Maderia, and have paid for us to have a week's holiday there so it'd be a perfect time to have our honeymoon!
We were in Hornsea and we were talking about getting married, and how we both really want to do it, and by the end of the day we'd made the decision to get engaged and start planning a wedding...of course, it wasn't official until we'd updated our status on Facebook!! ;)
So far it's been pretty complicated trying to plan it all. At first, we were thinking about hiring a place and then that started to get expensive and messy trying to organise a million different things, and so the talk turned to making it simple, making it our day and using the rest of our time, efforts and money to spend on ourselves and the festivities. When Chantelle's folks offered to put £5,000 towards the wedding, we thought that it was quite a lot of money to spend on a wedding - turns out these days it's just a small chunk of change that would get swallowed up in the process, so keeping it simple also keeps it quite economical...!!
Talk also recently turned to church, and how we both missed being there, the people and the atmosphere of being at church. Over the last couple of weeks or so, it also dawned on me that whilst I started seeing reasons for leaving church, and reasons why it might not be true and so on, what I was actually looking for was an excuse to leave, so I could "take a break" from the burdens, and pressures, and responsibilities of being an active member, an example and "pillar" of the stake so to speak. Truth is, when I first joined the church, I went in all guns blazing, with the mindset of "I've been given a second chance at life and stuff, I'd better be worth it", and ended up putting too much pressure on myself, getting into it all too quickly, and turning myself into someone I didn't really want to be.
Now I've been away, I've had time to reflect on what I'd been away from, and also to reflect on who I've been, who I am, and what I'm doing with my life. I've found now that I can very likely still make it through life going to church and being a part of the experience and the atmosphere, and unerstanding and acknowledging what the church stands for, whilst still being me.
This is what I want to achieve - to be a good person, to try and live a good life, and enjoy and take in the teachings of the church, whilst still being true to myself. We're both looking for a fresh start with a fresh perspective, and I know that I will be taking it easier and steadier this time around so that I can keep myself balanced. I might not agree with absolutely everything, and I'm certainly not perfect, but the church is a good place to be for "life guidance", and I'm willing to try again and do what I can!
We went to Institute on Wednesday night as we'd been invited to a meal prepared by the teacher. It was good to see her and other people again, and we are now considering having the wedding at the chapel in Anlaby. The chapel itself is a really nice room - it has a nice modern feel to it and doesn't look too "churchy", and it also has a bit of an elegant "function room" look to it without looking too much like your average function room....if that makes sense!!
The most important concern we have is getting Chantelle's dress, and now we're on the hunt for good music that isn't Pachelbel's flippin' Canon...it's a lovely piece really, but everyone seems to have it for their wedding, and we want to be different. Ideally we'd like to have someone sing and/or play the music, and we have considered Kissing You by Des'ree, but we're still working on it!
And that brings us to now. Chantelle's working tomorrow, but I've been invited to Hull 1 in Anlaby as they are having a "linger longer" lunch after church, which means I get to meet people and eat food =D officially, we're living in the Hull 1 area so eventually we'll be asked to go to their services rather than Hull 2 if we want to settle in :(
Today was a day spent cleaning and tidying the house whilst Chantelle was at work. We got a four month old Staffie puppy this week but quickly rehomed her again after it turns out Chantelle is allergic to her...we ended up driving to Matlock in Derbyshire, where the new owner's son was to receive the dog for his birthday :) so today was a day to try and clean up dog hair and the like and generally make the place a bit prettier...we have cord carpets so a lot of dust and cat hair gets worn in very quickly, but after a good vacuuming the floors so look a bit better, and it made Chantelle smile when she came in so I must've done good!!
In other news, I've decided not to go to University this year. I've decided that I want to keep working, and I also wondered if it was really worth if for three years if nothing big came out of it...if I decide to go for it I can always apply next year, but if I had decided to go for it this year but then found that I didn't want to do it after all, it would be a bit of a waste really.
I am however still looking for other jobs and careers, as I still don't know what I want to do!! I still consider the Police every now and then, but other than that, I'm still stumped!!! Any ideas or offers greatly appreciated.....
Thought I'd catch up with a chunk of good news......
Me and Chantelle went to look at a house off Newland Avenue last week - Chantelle fell in love with it when she was doing some noseying around, and I wanted to come along and see, and boom! I wanted it too =D
I could really see myself living in the house, and it has some great little extra special features like a separate little allotment bit that other people have turned into gardens, play areas, patios and so on...and it has three bedrooms, with the third being a sort of "hideaway" bit that we're gonna turn into a quiet study area. It's the sort of house we can settle in for a long time, put a bit of work in and get a lot out of it :)
We filled in the applications, and I found out from Chantelle that the credit reference is done, they're happy that we're not serial killers or vampires, and now they're just waiting for the character references!! I'm excited that we really can have a place of our own, and I'm gonna love living there.... =D
I also got a letter from Hull Uni today offering me a place at the Business School!!! Take that, education - Shaun's coming back to learn stuff hehehe....ooh I'm excited now, I went to the Open Day last week and I have a good feeling about going to uni...there's even an opportunity to go abroad or work with a company after 2 years of study, then go back for your final year, so it's quite a good deal for me....plus going through it opens up a lot of different opportunities and career paths, and after a year you can change your degree or divert a little, so I might want to change my study focus or completely disregard Business and go for something completely different! Mum's dead excited about it and keeps hugging me at every opportunity, telling me how proud she is in that high pitched squeal that mothers launch into when they get excited about their son or daughter doing something amazing...
On Thursday night I went out with some work colleagues to celebrate (right choice of word??) somebody leaving and moving on to be a travel rep. It was the first time I'd done any serious drinking in a long long long time, and the simple pleasures of life, such as a Jack Daniels and Coke, trying to stick your head into everyone else's photo, and trying to go bed with the subtle feeling of goldfish swimming around your head, all came flooding back to me hehe. Of course, people who know me would say I don't need to drink anyway, rather that the drink simply amplifies me, but y'know, a few drops here and there didn't harm, plus Chantelle was impressed at how well I held my drink having not touched a drop for a number of years =D
Having stepped back from church, I do feel a lot more relaxed and free, and in recent times I've been thinking about how I don't really know anything about other religions, or philosophies or disciples from other people or parts of the world. Yesterday me and Chantelle drove to Ikea in Leeds, and on the way dropped into Borders on the same retail park, where I came across books on Wicca, Buddhism, Eastern teachings, and so on, and it got me thinking about just how much I don't know about all these ideas. Each time I have these little "lightbulb" moments I learn more and more towards the view that you don't have to stick to one straight teaching, or one church, or one movement, and that having a learned view of cultures and the world, having good morals and making the most of your life is really what counts....
...in the words of my brother Simon, a day late, admittedly, but still...
On Thursday, me and Chantelle had the day off and we intended to do something or go somewhere, and we ended up making our way to York. Well, so we thought. We got to Bishop Burton, discovered the pond had turned to ice, the poor ducks had precious little water to congregate in, and as we were leaving the village, we thought we spotted a bit of snow. Fast forward to just outside Market Weighton, aaaaand blizzards. Lovely. A quick turn around later, and we were heading back to Beverley, where it wasn't so blizzardy, and we had a chance to wander around the town.
We parked up in Tesco, and after a fit of hysterics thanks to a young girl we overheard telling her friend "...this snow is wet..." we somehow managed to find our way into the town centre, by which time the snow had really hit the area and we almost needed huskies and a sled just to get to any of the shops. After taking in the cute little bookshop and doing our best not to become victims of hypothermia, we discovered Seabrook crisps in Boyes - should really stop pestering Chantelle about the different pronunciation of that name!!! =D - and then went in search of food. We stopped in the King's Head where they do two meals for £8, but I decided that due to a quick change of mind I no longer fancied the choice in there, and we drove back towards Kingswood for Frankie & Benny's...in my (sort of) defense, I did suggest F&B's originally, some time ago, I think, possibly, at some point...
After stuffing ourselves with our meal, we had dessert, during which time I'm sure I saw a few penguins fly past the windows of Frankie & Benny's, we ran like hell to the car, had a wander around Asda, and then the fun began. Rush hour traffic + heavy snow is not a good combination, and it seemed to take us forever to get away from Kingswood via Sutton Fields...then we had to claw our way down Clough Road to make it back to Chantelle's place. Getting home from Chantelle's took me over an hour, thanks to teatime traffic, snow induced slow going, and some interesting traffic arrangements on the Spring Bank/Beverley Road crossroads.
Friday came and went - back at work :( - and by the time I got home I felt a touch of Man Flu coming on, and by the end of Saturday I'm sure I was dying....Saturday being of course Valentine's Day. I'd arranged for some flowers to be sent to work (both me and Chantelle were working that day) and of course they had to show up before I got there....Chantelle was apparently just a little worried that someone other than me had sent them (we'd both agreed not to get each other anything....) which gave me a giggle or two...
So, due to my imminent death, my intention to cook for Chantelle at home and for us to have a night in was cancelled, today was no better, though I seem to have shaken the worst of it off. A couple of Ibuprofens, multiple cups of tea and a round of chocolate seems to have done the trick!! Speaking of which, Mother Dearest has announced the arrival of yet more tea.....
..........
I'm back, armed with said mug of tea, and still with a ham salad sandwich that I made about 15 minutes ago before starting this blog.....ah well, too into writing this to eat, will consume later when I catch up on Hustle...only started watching it a few days ago and I think I might be hooked hahaha..
I'm starting get just a teeny bit excited about moving in with Chantelle - granted it might be quite a way away with us wanting to put a bit of money away and for Chantelle to get through the bulk of her uni work this year, but still, eeee moving out of the home and into a new place with someone is exciting..I've said it before, but it's the little things, like curling up together on the sofa or bed and watching films (I demanded a TV in our bedroom when we get our house lol) or getting our own furniture, stuff like that, plus it means not having to keep saying goodbye and being miles apart, waking up together and being able to come home to Chantelle rather than my parents....eee it's great =D
I think me and Chantelle have really grown closer over these last few months...I think it's being a combination of me opening up more, and her getting to know me and understand me a bit better, we've laughed a lot lately, shared some quiet heart to hearts, and well, I guess just generally enjoyed stuff. The last few months with her have been better than ever, and I grin when I think this time next year I'll be blogging from "our house" =D
Wow, I think that's my lot for tonight, my brain is fried, I want my sandwich, and then I've got to go charge my phone....so long...........
