#BEDM Dream Job

When I was little I wanted to be a marine biologist. Mostly because I thought it would mean I'd get to spend all my time dossing about on boats, but I didn't realise that it meant I'd have to be good at science. And I'm not. Science defeats me. Then I wanted to write novels. And then be a journalist. And then I started working in marketing and found this world of digital marketing and fell in love. And I love my current job, I'm just not such a fan of the commute! 

But when I think about dream jobs, my mind drifts. 
It starts me thinking of ways of keeping me in the mountains. At the end of our last trip to Morzine we spent an afternoon drinking and figuring out a way to buy a chalet and stay, unfortunately the four of us don't have the money to make this dream a reality - but we sure had the ideas and the drive! We also had between us, a silly amount of transferable skill - but until we get the lottery win I'm not sure we can make it a reality. 

Or of ways that I can turn all the little business ideas that float in and out of my head into realitites. I have the plans and I almost have all the skill needed, I think, to make a go of it - but mostly I don't have the time right now. Which makes me sad. 

Does anyone else find that having a day job REALLY gets in the way of the dream job?

#BEDM Journey to work

My journey to work is a bit of a beast. It might only be 35miles away, but it's a 35 mile drive* of traffic lights and road works, of country roads and getting stuck, mostly behind tractors, so it tend to take me anywhere from an hr to an hr and half to get to work. The only saving grace of the journey is that for half of it, it's pretty countryside. (The other half of the journey takes me through some questionable area's of Sheffield, but it's been eye opening to say the least!) It is most fun when surprise roadworks pop up, last week all 3 routes I can take had lanes closed and bits of them dug up. That and watching the number of miles my poor little car has done, go up!

(*And before some one tells me I ought to get the train - the closest station to my office is 15miles away)

#BEDM Pampering

I'm going to be honest with you - I am a bit of a rubbish girl. I hate sitting in baths (yawn - boring) I can't keep my nail varnish unchipped for more than a few days. My cleanser/toner/moisturiser regime is questionable at best. I have a cupboard full of fake-tan and moisturiser, of eye shadows nail varnish and hair gunk - I'm just not very motivated to use it. You'd have thought by 32 I'd have mastered these things, but nope. Not yet. There is always something I'd rather do. And that period of sitting still post fake tan or nail paint, gah, that's always the moment I think of something I really really want to do. 
I'm not very good at pampering myself thing am i?

Although, with work I had to visit the spa, and even though I was alone (which made me feel a bit awkward as everyone else was in groups), wandering round all the experiences and having a little time to myself, wasn't as bad as I thought it might be!

#BEDM Food Glorious Food

Food is one of those issues in our house that causes problems. The boyf does the cooking. I do the baking. That's just how it is. He was a chef. I find baking relaxing (sometimes) And whilst I love nice food, if left to my own devices, eating toast and cereal for days on end wouldn't bother me (I've been known to just have poptarts and coke zero in a day - yes, I am aware this is why I will never be thin!) and when I am hungry, I am hungry and I want to eat NOW.

But the boyf, he loves to cook - he loves to spend time preparing and making food, he loves to try and make everything from scratch. Which is wonderful and delicious and sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky, but it's not half time consuming. Put this together with someone who gets grumpy when they are hungry and it sometimes causes arguments  It's not that I am ungrateful at the effort he has gone to, I am just not good at waiting when I am hungry, or eating at 9pm.

What are your eating habits like? Are they as bad as mine?

#BEDM Collecting

I wouldn't say I was a collector as such, not in the way that people on the antiques road show are, but there are little pockets of collections around my house, like the collection of fabrics I am building up, and the collection of cameras (not all working) that I've aquired over the years, or the crochet hooks I have even though it's not a skill of mine, or the collection of pens that write beautifully that sit on my desk, or the different paper stocks I might need one day, or the stack of converse that seem to have built up over the years. No, I'm not a collector - I'm a horder!

#BEDM Book Love

I've written before about my wonderful bookclub at @Fancie, so I won't harp on about it too much, I'll just tell you how annoyed I've been to miss the last 2 meetings. What I will tell you is about how annoyed I am I don't read more. How I miss the days when I would lay down with a book on a saturday morning and barely move until it was finished. How my favourite place to read is on the bed, sandwhiched between the duvet. How I dream of a house will a wall of books. How there are still boxes and boxes of books at my house that I just can't let them get rid of, because one day they will be on my wall of books. How history books are my favourite. How as a child I think I read more than I did anything else. How I miss having the time to read. How I WILL make myself read more.

#BEDM Travel Dreams

Today's prompt is 'If you could go anywhere in the world right now where would it be?' but I just couldn't narrow it down to one place. There is just too much I want to see. 

I didn't do the 'round the world' trips when I was in the gap year point of my life. They don't let you have enough snow. But I have been pretty lucky to have had the chance to live in ski resorts in France and America, and spend a summer on the beach French Rivera, to spend a summer in Miami, and take trips to Goa and Morocco and Norway and all those other holidays I've had. 

But if there was unlimited money, and unlimited holiday, then I want to; 

Drive across America for a meandering, lazy, stop where-ever we want and explore, trip. 
Visit New Zealand - for the snow, yes, and for the space and the sea and it all.
Go back to the South of France and revisit Porquerolles and Giens and Hyeres. 
Go to Vancouver {and maybe, never come back?}
And I want to see Japan. I read the snowflakes are the size of your hand. 
And visit India whilst the boy is there, well, Kerala specifically. 
And see the Northern Lights

And and and..........if I don't stop here, this could be a mammoth list!

#BEDM Favourite Social Media Channel

Twitter / Instagram / Twitter / Instagram / Twitter / Instagram / Twitter / Instagram?

It’s a toughy. It’s my wake-up routine, checking Twitter and Instagram, having a little nosy into the lives of others. Twitter is the place I turn for news, for ‘chats’ with friends, for discussions, rants and arguments, to get me frustrated with the stupidity of people and for, well, everything. And Instagram, well Instagram gives you such a better view of those people’s lives – better than even the best wordsmith can provide {especially in 140 characters}, It provides fashion help, and restaurant recommendations and lets you see how your friends  But Twitter might just sneak in there by a little percentage though, and only maybe because sooooo many more people use it.

I helped a friend with an essay on social media usage a month or so ago and she initially asked me about Facebook and LinkedIn, but my Facebook usage as me is so minimal these days it’s laughable. I do however use it a lot as I manage the pages for the WI I am in, our craft fair {which I need to tell you about} and I’m a moderator for work. But for me, I stopped that a while ago, I think my last post was at Easter  I read an interesting report about how Facebook was losing millions of users and it does stack up with the stats we see at work, but it’s such a great space to organise events and run groups it’d be hard to leave at this stage. And LinkedIn is, well, does anyone, other than a recruitment agent, use it for more than an online CV? 

And after a comment From Areeba, it's reminded me, I didn't include Pinterest. And maybe I didn't because I don't see Pinterest as a social platform, it's more of an addiction. An addiction that I might need some serious help with. 

What do you use the most? Have you abandoned anything recently? And how do you use LinkedIn?