A Book Meme

I saw this meme over at Kat and A Piece of Wood’s The Book It List blog (not a reader yet? you should me!) and thought I’d give it a go.

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?
I eat while reading the internet but never books because I mostly read in bed.

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
Writing IN books?! WTF, who would do that? That should be a crime.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears?Laying the book flat open?
I just close the book and remember the page I was at. Except when I fell asleep reading but I usually always know where I’m up to.

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?
A mix of both. I read a lot of fiction but then I also read a lot of memoirs, books about life and death, parenting, counselling, cookery etc.

Hard copy or audiobooks?
99% hard copy but after listening to The Time Traveller’s Wife on audiobook a few months ago, I really enjoyed it and would like to listen to more. I’d probably read the hard copy first though.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?
In an ideal world I’d finish up at the end of a chapter but some are so long that I have to stop part way through.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?
Usually I know the meaning of most words from the context but if I’m really flummoxed I’ll jot it down and look it up later.

What are you currently reading?
It’s Just a Date by Greg Behrendt. Quite funny but a little too hyper-american.

What is the last book you bought?
I’ve no idea. I used to spend £50 a month on books but now I mostly go to the library. It was possibly Heather B. Armstrong’s Things I Learnt About My Dad (In Therapy) which I really enjoyed.

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?
I’m usually a one book kind of girl but right now I’ve got three on the go. I keep thinking it’s taking me ages to finish a book and no wonder!

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?
Usually bedtime, in bed. But if I’ve got the chance for a lie-in I love to read then too.

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?
Usually stand alone books with a few exceptions like Harry Potter or Stuart MacBride’s Logan McRae books.

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?
I recently read and adored Guillaume Musso’s Will You Be There? which I’ve been recommending to everyone who is bored of me banging on about The Time Traveller’s Wife.

How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)
I organise them by Read and Not Read. Simples.

The Exception to the Rule

When I started my one year shopping ban last May, I spent a few weeks giving it a lot of thought and consideration before committing. I prepared myself mentally and made sure I had enough clothes (no problem!) to get myself through the year and, more importantly, the winter. I had plenty of warm tights, thick socks, gloves and scarves so it wasn’t too hard once October came round.

This time round I gave myself two days notice before starting the three month ban.  I still have plenty woolly tights, cosy socks and enough scarves to rival Kirsty Allsopp but one thing I don’t have is winter boots. Last year I practically lived in a pair of fleece lined boots and wore them until the sole fell off and they were beyond repair. This year my shoe collection consists of canvas pumps, heels and trainers. I do have one pair of boots that cost £20 from New Look but, lovely as they are, they’re hardly warm or winter proof.

So, the exception to the banned items is that I’m going to allow myself to buy one pair of winter boots. With only two days before the ban, and zero time to shop, I didn’t get a pair before October 1st and I know I can’t wait until January 1st without getting them. A Scottish winter is very different to an English winter. We’re talking howling wind, driving rain and slush on the ground that just won’t leave. Now that I’m all about walking to work and saving on bus fares, I need a decent pair of warm, weatherproof boots that will make the 3 mile walk much easier.

I’ve set myself a budget of £100 and the search is now on. I know that seems like quite a high amount but I’m after a pair that will last me through this winter and several to come. Just five days into this ban, I already feel positive and empowered so I’m confident that, apart from this one exception, I won’t be falling off the wagon. Hopefully I can find a pair in the shops that I can then buy online using a voucher code and there’ll be change from that £100.

Ban Is The New Black

That’s right readers, the shopping ban is back on! From today, October 1st 2009 I will not shop for three months.

There are several reasons for this. The last few months have been quite disruptive for me and my bank balance reflects this. I’ve not been saving nearly as much as I know I’m capable of, I really want to get back on track and I know this is the way to do it.

I have some big trips coming up that I know I need to save for; Glasgow at the end of this month, a week in Les Gets in January and a weekend in London at the end of January. Christmas was a hard time for me last year, I was allowed to buy presents for other people but it was tough to resist buying things for myself. The ban made sure that that didn’t happen but this year I might not have so much control. Also, Aberdeen is about to get an absolutely HUGE brand new shopping centre that it’s been waiting five years for, including lots of shops we’ve never had before. That is definitely not good for me.

The changing of the seasons have given me a bit of get-up-and-go and there’s a lot I want to achieve in this three months. Including (but not limited to) better meal planning, more craft projects, dedicating time to my photography and a lot more focussing on me time.

So, as before, banned items are:

• Clothes
• Shoes
• Bags
• Jewellery/Accessories
• Books
• CDs
• DVDs
• Non-essential toiletries

However, there is one item that I’m going to allow myself to buy and there’ll be more on this tomorrow. For now I’m off to ponder the enormity of what I’ve just signed myself up for. I did it for a year so I know I can do it, but I’m still a bit nervous.

No I Haven’t Died

However, I have become possessed by and obsessed with my latest purchase which is my spangly new DSLR camera. I have ummed and ahhed about getting one for a few months now, spending lots of time reading reviews, ogling photography blogs, analysing tutorials and figuring out how to work the bloody things but still kept putting it off because, lets face it, it’s not a cheap hobby.

However, eventually I realised that it was pointless reading about taking photos if I had nothing to take them with. I had the money saved up in my freedom fund (formerly holiday fund) so I knew I could afford it. I’d been to a few camera shops to talk about options and decided that the Canon 450D was the one for me and was pleased to find that if I bought it online via Jessops I’d get a free camera bag usually worth £50. This was a big bonus because the camera itself was £499, add in a memory card and a screen protector and I was chuffed to not have to buy another thing to keep it all in.

So that brings me to a whole week of spending every free minute playing around with it, taking hundreds of shots of my sister while she watches TV and experimenting with all the different settings. On Saturday I went to the amazing wedding of my friends Niall and Cat, eager to try it out in public and I was pretty impressed with some of the photos I got. Here are a few of my favourites from the day.

The couple couldn’t have picked a better day for their wedding as it was bright and sunny without a cloud in the sky.

It was such a perfect day, the hotel was beautiful, the meal was delicious and the band played a mix of rock classics and ceilidh dances. Apart from my Aunt’s wedding when I was two, this is the first one I’ve been to so it was a bit of an emotional day for a newly single girl. I know the couple through Joss so we agreed to go together and I’m glad we did because we had so much fun and it was brilliant to catch up with all of his friends.

More updates this week for sure including; what on earth do you do with a slowcooker?, more photos and light paint experiments and hopefully some meal planning!

Great Things About Being Single

• The whole bed belongs to me. If I want to sleep on the left? DONE! If I want to sleep on the right? DONE! If I want to sleep in the middle and stretch out and cover the whole bed? I’m gonna do it!
• Every single piece of cookie in the Ben & Jerry’s cookie dough icecream is MINE! (Unless my sister and her boyfriend get there first!)
• All my hard earned money can be spent as I see fit.
• No more conversations about football/Lord of the Rings/tv shows I don’t watc/bands I don’t like etc.
• I can cook whatever I want for dinner (and yes sometimes that’s a bowl of cocopops and that is allowed)
• I can listen to whatever music I like whenever I like and not be met with rolling eyes or “this is total shit” comments.
• I can go to bed at 9pm and sleep uninterrupted by anyone getting into bed at 11:30pm (or 1am, or 5am)
• I can stay out until 4am guilt free.
• I am the only person responsible when the toothpaste/shampoo/milk/washing up liquid (and anything else that dudes can’t seem to buy) runs out.
• Did I mention the bed? At this stage is there anybody out there who doesn’t know I’m not going out with my bed?!

A Weird Mood

I’ve been in a funny mood for a few days, one where I’ve just felt massively overwhelmed and lacking in time and energy. I feel like I want to purge and get rid of a lot of things but I don’t think just having a clearout will do the trick. I’m still in the process of getting settled into my new flat, working on unpacking a box or two every few days although the kitchen is overrun with stuff that I just haven’t quite found a home for yet. I am clearly someone who needs one of those huge country manor kitchens because I seem to have a utensil for everything and when I try to have a clearout I always come to the conclusion that I do in fact need all these different things, even if I don’t use them every day.

I feel like my time is being eaten away lately, gobbled up by the internet and tv and books. I feel like deleting 90% of my Google Reader (why am I subscribed to 4 wedding photography blogs?! And EIGHTEEN cookery ones?), about 150 Facebook friends (I don’t care what people I haven’t spoken to in ten years had for dinner), or just deleting Facebook altogether. I’m fed up of the dating site because I don’t think I’m making enough of an effort for it to be worthwhile and then I just feel guilty when I haven’t emailed someone for three days. I go between five Tweets a day and then nothing for a week then feel bad for not updating even though I’m sure nobody gives a shit. Every time I look at my phone I am annoyed that there are over 200 messages in my inbox still to be dealt with or deleted and I don’t even want to get started on my finances at the moment (although a post is sure to follow).

Despite all of this. I am actually feeling quite positive lately, being single is just fine and I’m enjoying being able to whatever I like whenever I like. I’m still adapting to putting myself first but just struggling a wee bit to find much to look forward to. I properly need to rediscover the joys of “me time”. Does anyone have any hints?

A Rambling Update

Several things to update about, time just seems to be disappearing in front of my eyes. I had every intention of writing a 1st of September post but now it’s suddenly the 11th?! How did that happen?

So Reading was AMAZING, as expected. I had such a blast with my friend Wilson and my flatmate Laura. We were lucky enough to have fabulous camp neighbours who entertained us with their stories and antics. We also met up with an old school friend Rachel which was wonderful. Despite not having seen each other for nine years we quickly fell back into our old ways and I’m hoping we won’t leave it another nine before we see each other. Highlights from the weekend included the pre-Reading meal at Bodean’s in Soho (their pulled pork is to die for!), Dananananakroyd and Manchester Orchestra opening the weekend in style, getting bashed around in as many mosh pits as possible, having an impromptu dance-off with a hot guy in the Fall Out Boy pit, Pie and Mash for supper, playing Drunk Guy Buckaroo when Wilson passed out drunk, Friendly Fires, the homemade cake stall that provided me with two spiced chai lattes, two pieces of passion cake, a piece of carrot cake and a chocolate brownie within three hours, people shouting “GREEN ARMY” in our camp (which annoyed me at the time but I now miss dearly) and various other entertaining things that I can’t remember right now. Needless to say it was brilliant and even though I said this would probably be my last festival, I really want to go again next year!

A few days after getting back I suddenly came down pretty ill and spent all of last Thursday to Monday in my bed with the occasional trip to the sofa when I felt I could handle some tv. My GP started me on the Tamiflu even though I didn’t have an official Piggy Flu diagnosis and the stuff just made me nauseous the whole time. Like the kind of nauseous where I couldn’t read or watch tv for more than ten minutes without feeling the need to be sick. So I basically just lay around moping. Joss pulled through for me big time though, dropping off a bag of Lucozade, painkillers, cough mixture, tissues, a magazine and a cookie while keeping a safe distance in the hallway. What a star huh? How come he never behaved like that when I was ill when we were together?

Being ill meant I had to cancel three dates from the dating site so I’ve got them rescheduled for the coming week. Went for coffee with one today, he was nice and we had loads to talk about but I’m meeting another one tomorrow for a drink then another on Tuesday for dinner so we’ll see what happens.

I hate calling them dates though since it’s basically meeting someone in person so you can decide whether or not you like them enough to want to see them again. I’m not meeting someone for coffee and deciding there and then if I want to marry them and have their kids so calling it a date puts all this nonsense pressure onto what should just be a fun afternoon.

In other news I am considering starting meal planning next week, something I’ve never made the effort to do before so I’m looking for any advice, tips or suggestions on it. I don’t know how single life is making me spend so much on food but if I want to reach any of my goals for this year, cutbacks need to be made. I just can’t seem to help myself. I LOVE food.

Also, I got not one, but TWO, books from the library today that were brand new. Does anyone else get super excited when they’re the first person to hire a book out? For me it’s like an Easter Egg hunt, you just never know if you’re going to find one or not! I was very pleased (and clearly need to get out more).

And The Winners Are…

Congratulations to Single Broke Female and Beth Woodall who according to the Random.org number generator are the winners of the Voucher Hub and  Threadless giveaway. Drop me an email at stoppingshopping@gmail.com and I’ll send you your codes ladies!

Apologies for my lack of posting this past week. I’ve been in bed since Thursday with a suspected case of The Flu That Shall Not Be Named. Feeling much better today though, back to work this afternoon so I should manage to update you on all things Holly later this week.

Voucher Codes and a Reader Giveaway

During my year off shopping I read a lot of blog posts about using vouchers codes and mostly skimmed over it because I was a person who couldn’t shop, let alone use a voucher code in order to save on my shopping. I am also completely baffled by the world of vouchers and coupons that a lot of American bloggers seem to embrace in a hardcore way and for a long time I felt it just didn’t translate over here.

Now that I can shop again and I’m in the market for a big purchase (a DSLR) I’m keen to save as much money as I can. I’d been thinking about trying to get a voucher code but didn’t really have a clue where to start. So when I got home from Reading (more on this later this week!) and had an email from the people at Voucher Hub telling me about their new site I was curious to see what the fuss was all about.

This is a new UK based site that seems pretty good so far. Either it’s a coincidence or my computer is smarter than I am but one of the first voucher codes it lists is for Jessops, the very place I’m looking into buying my camera from. They also have vouchers for National Express, Howies, Random House and lots of other places that I’d be likely to buy from online.  I particularly love the free shipping codes because paying extra for shipping is something that always puts me off buying online. There’s no need to register, the codes are available to everyone and everything seems pretty well laid out and easy to find.

The Voucher Hub people have given me two $50 Gift Certificates for Threadless.com who make, in my opinion, the coolest t-shirts around. I don’t usually do giveaways but this one is too good to be missed! Artists and designers submit their designs to Threadless, users vote for the best ones and those are then made into t-shirts you can buy. It’s a brilliant community, rewards loads of great artists and has new t-shirts on sale every week. A $50 gift certificate will get you around 3 t-shirts, more if they’re on sale and you can also follow Threadless on Twitter to find out more about what’s going on.

So dear Readers, I want to know about your experiences with vouchers codes. Have you used them before? Did you have a good or bad experience? Are you as baffled by them as I am? Have you made a killer saving? And how does Voucher Hub look to y0u?

Leave a comment before midnight on Monday 7th September and I’ll announce the two winners on Tuesday.  Good luck!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

- This was a much longer and much better post which WordPress decided that it didn’t want to post and the DELETED (the bastard!) so you will now enjoy what I can remember of it!

I finally have my own bedroom! When Fern moved out it was pretty grotty not up to my high standards so it’s been cleaned, redecorated (thanks Mum!) and on Saturday we went to IKEA to buy a bed. I knew which one I wanted but needed to test out all the mattresses. Holy shit are mattresses expensive! I hopped about on several different ones before settling on a lovely medium firmness one that cost £300 (gulp!).

However, as we were walking around I noticed all these “Join the IKEA family” leaflets which is their new loyalty scheme. It comes with a temporary card inside so I figured I would just take it to the till and see if it saved me any money. I was then delighted when the bed lady told me that they have 15% off bedroom department for “family members” this month so I saved a whopping £65 on my bed, mattress and bedding. Not bad for a bit of paper that most people would overlook! This covered the other things we needed for the flat like new glasses, cutlery and frying pans. I also got some wonderful fabric for a project that I’ll post about soon.

My new bed is like sleeping in a cloud (or at least what I imagine that would be like). It is hands down the best investment I’ve ever made and I’m already having a hard time getting out of it in the mornings. Unpacking and reorganising my new bedroom (which is actually my old bedroom from 3 years ago) is quite sad in some ways. It’s reaffirmed that my relationship with Joss* is well and truly over and this is not just me sleeping on the sofa for a month-long argument. Not that I ever thought it was, it’s just a very mixed bag of feelings. It’s also really good though, a nice fresh start and a big step to moving on with my life. And the best bit? I can do whatever the hell I want in this bedroom because it’s all MINE!

Tomorrow I’m off to Reading Festival for the weekend and hope to spend no more than £100 if possible. I’ve been in a panic for a few days because my tickets (which I bought off eBay) had not arrived. Thankfully they were delivered today so that weird noise you may have heard about 12:45 was my huge sigh of relief. I’m nearly finished with the packing and still need to make the packed lunches for the train and then I’m all set! Should be amazing, I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for months. I won’t be blogging while I’m away but will be text updating twitter so follow me if you are at all interested in which band I’m seeing, how muddy I am or how annoyed I am about having to pay £5 for a jacket potato.

Not much to report on the single lady front. I’ve deleted the ditcher from my phone and Facebook because I don’t see the point in being virtual friends with someone that can’t be bothered to meet me. I’ve been emailling a few other nice guys so I’ll hopefully have some dates lined up when I get back from Reading. And I found out today that one of my old school friends is also going to Reading so chances are we’ll be on the looking for some unsuspecting young men to entertain us for the weekend…for old time’s sake, of course!

See you all on Tuesday for a day in bed (I miss it already!) with my Google Reader!

*Joss is my ex boyfriend, formerly known as E-Boy, formerly known as Boyfriend who has requested that I don’t call him E-Boy because it makes him sound like a junkie, which is does, and which he is not. So now he will be called Joss. Because that’s his name.