Life Update and Return to Normality

Good Afternoon everybody!

Finally managed to get this post written up! It's been 4 months and I'm not surprised it's taken this long but still, it's nice to have the time to write again. There's been quite a bit going on lately actually, I've been backwards and forwards from hospital in Birmingham loads but everything is going well so I'm a happy bunny. I've got a good few more posts coming up, 5 or 6 more posts after this one so it'll definitely keep me busy, but for now I though I would give all of you guys a little update.

The last time I was here I believe I was talking a bit about how I was doing a lot of research for my dissertation, I had picked a topic and I was so excited to get started on it, well things changed a little with that because around September time I completely changed my mind about what topic I wanted to do and basically had to disregard the 60 pages of work I had gathered over the summer. Nightmare! I've finally managed to choose a topic that I am settled with and really happy to do, the only problem is I don't think I will have enough words to write everything I want to about it haha! Still I have got about 30 pages of relevant quotes so I am well on my way to getting the research done and starting to write up the first draft of the literature review, woop woop! 

Snowy walk around Hardwick Hall late October

When I actually started back uni in September I was having a really struggle with my mental health and my physical health had been wobbly for a few months, I've started getting palpitations quite regularly, 5 to 6 times a day I get very strong palpitations that make me dizzy, doctors aren't quite sure why its happening because my heart is in pretty good condition and I'm eating and exercising well so I've kind of got to take things easy now. I ended up making a super hard decision to leave uni for the year, so I have taken a leave of absence from early November this year until September 2019 when I'll return to study hopefully in a better state. I have felt that since leaving there has been a huge amount of pressure lifted and I am managing to get my mental health back under control slowly, but I keep trying to push myself to do too much too soon which is never a good thing.

It feels so much better now that I am able to sit and work on my dissertation without the pressure of deadlines because now I know I can take a break or have a couple of days off when I need to recover, so I'm really pleased with that and it means I'm getting to spend more time with my family. Unfortunately since I've left i feel like I might have lost a couple of friends which that's just something that happens in life I suppose, friendship isn't a one way street and I need to remember I'm not the one who has to make all the effort; I've stayed in touch with some amazing people from uni though and I'm so grateful for those people :)

Outside of my uni life I've gotten myself a personal trainer which was a turn up for the books, I'm not at liberty to discuss this fully because of rules of pharma companies and such but I've been doing well health wise other than my palpitations and a chronic sinusitis (since APRIL!!), generally my physical health has improved a little and I have been getting out and about trying to walk more. This has meant that I've seen a good few changes in my body, not all of them good, so I've been trying to build up a bit of muscle and I must say my trainer is awesome, he doesn't work me too har and I'm able to take breaks as and when I need, couldn't ask for someone more understanding and the workouts are actually really fun... the soreness and aches aren't afterwards but hey ho haha. I'm really pleased with my progress and can't wait for my next session. I've been out walking Luna quite a lot, she gets walked everyday for 90 minutes (usually takes me 2 hours to get around mind but still its an improvement) unless its super cold then she shivers until I take her home or Simon takes his jumper off and wraps her up :)

Out new Christmas tree <3

I don't know how I would have managed with the immense pressure I was under if I hadn't had that little one to come home to, dogs are little angels and no house is complete without one. 

I've been working on the Invisible Disabilities and Disorders society at uni while I've been off, trying to help people with projects they're wanting to undertake, there's been a good bit of work on with that trying to talk to the Disability and Wellbeing teams at the uni but so far so good, hopefully we can plan some events soon and I will update you guys about that too. 

The final thing that I've got to update you all on is my absolute favourite thing in the world... CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!! Oh my God, its December 1st tomorrow and I absolutely cannot wait! We have had out Christmas tree up since about November 7th, we had to put it up twice because the first time the lights went off and needed to do it again, then Luna came in and pulled the whole thing down! A chihuahua Vs. a 6ft tree! Last night me and Simon watched The Grinch and tonight we will be spending time with my nana watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, so far we have also watches Spongebob Squarepants Christmas episodes, The Simpsons Christmas episodes, Jim Carey's A Christmas Carol and Adam Sandler's 8 Crazy Nights :) 

I love December because on the 14th it's mah birthday, then 17th is Luna's 1st birthday and then Christmas. I love to take my nana shopping eVery year for food and last minute presents so I'll be doing that this year which I can't wait for, I have sorted out my outfit for my big family meal and I and just so excited :) I hope all you guys are super excited too!

For now though I shall say goodbye and let you lovely people enjoy the last day of November! 

I'll be putting up another post later in the week and will aim to write around 1 blog post per week, apologies if not because I am still doing dissertation research and helping ready the house for Christmas!

Bye for now lovelies xx

Katy. 

Busy Bee: What I've Been Up To!

Good Afternoon you lovely people!

It's been so long since I last did a post that I've rewritten this several times because I just wasn't getting into the swing of it. I am pretty disappointed in myself for not continuing to blog but honestly I just haven't had much time to myself whatsoever! I'm pay to be blogging agin though and I've got a fair few posts ready to write for the next fee weeks, so lets get on with this one which will basically just been a roundup of what I've been up to recently!

As per the main reason I haven't been blogging is university, I've just finished my second year and will be going into my last year come September which don't get me wrong I am super excited about, but at the same time I really don't want to leave! This is a big change for me as I have hated every single place I have studied from primary school through secondary, sixth form and college! Uni is brilliant though and I love it so much. With going into my last year I've been mulling over dissertation topics for the last few months and after having like 9 different ideas I think I have finally found a topic that gels with me and that I'm really passionate and excited to write! Next year will be heavy but so fun so overall I'm looking forward to it and I'm actually quite optimistic about my grades for this year too, so yey! 

Oh the frustrations of a Venflo!

I've had a LOT going on with my health lately, as you can probably gather from the image to the right, so me and Simon have been travelling halfway down the country for tests and things, the hospital appointments are really long and pretty boring sometimes so we are bringing books along with us, games, laptop just to keep up busy. I'm allowed to go for walks between tests so it's not like I'm sat on my butt all day doing nothing. Other than that I have been feeling pretty great lately, our puppy Luna is now letting us sleep until a decent time, usually she gets annoyed at us waking her up! We take her for walks everyday and she is absolutely loving it. So are we!

Like I mentioned earlier not much has been going on other than getting loads and loads of Uni work, revision, placement days, report writing and things to get on with which is all done now thankfully but in our spare time me and Simon have been going out to the cinema, we actually managed to go and see Love, Simon (ironically) on the day it came out in cinemas and Oh My God! That's definitely one of my favourite films I've seen recently, I absolutely love anything romance-ish and Nick Robinson is a fab actor so I just loved the whole thing from start to finish, I then went and bought the book so I'm hoping to read that sometime in the summer. We also went to see Infinity War which was way better than I ever thought it would be! No spoilers obviously, I know people who still haven't seen it, but yeah it was really well worked and considering the amount of different characters coming from completely different movies they gel well together and it is so so so funny in many places. We also went to see Deadpool 2, again awesome but personally I preferred Deadpool the original, in fact I prefer the comics but the movies are still fab, definitely getting all of those on DVD when they come out.

A great book!

I've spent a lot of time reading and taking up a couple of new hobbies. I started reading Pornography by Andrea Dworkin. This is a really really good book if you're interested in feminism and topics around patriarchy and pornography, it's heavy reading but very interesting. I've also been reading Fat is a Feminist Issue but Susie Orbrach and this has got to be the most interesting book I've read in a very long time, fatness and social perceptions of fat people have always both fascinated and enraged me and this book captured my attention from the introduction so I would give this a read especially if you're interested in body positivity and fat acceptance type arenas. 

I've recently also picked up a could of new hobbies, because I obviously can't do a huge amount of exercise because of back pain, and a more recent and happy *sarcasm* addition, leg pain. I've started swimming which really relaxes my my back is still a great way to keep fit, me and Simon have also taken up ice skating recently, which is something I struggle at and have to take a lot of breaks with, it tends to take me and hour to get around one lap of the rink and then I'm done after that but still it's a fun day out and something I could hopefully build upon. 

Afternoon walks with Simon and Luna

Finally, I've picked up a few books and CDs and I'm planning to teach myself how to speak German because it's something I've always wanted to do and I'm passionate about, I love the German language and I have no idea why. Hopefully at the end of my third year at Uni I'll be taking a trip over to Berlin or into the Christmas markets in Germany so we will see how that goes, haha! 

So, basically through Uni, movies, books, ice skating and learning German I've been pretty busy but now it's officially summer I am looking forward to getting back into blogging and will hopefully have another post up on Tuesday. 

I hope all of my readers are doing awesome and will see you very very soon! ;) 

Love Katherine   xx