Your Daily Grint

I'm in love.

It really is!

Good Morning

Good Morning my loves.


It's a lovely Thursday morning here in Manchester and I'm in a great mood. Had my last day at Viva yesterday (until the next issue in March) and saw all of my pieces in the mock up of the magazine and they look amazing. I had a little tear in my eye because I was so proud of my little old self. Just proves that if you want something bad enough, you'll find it. It was much more of a chilled out day, we watched a bit of BBC Iplayer whilst waiting for the mag to print, and I even managed to write a piece about a hairdressers to go on the Viva website. I've noticed since starting at the office how much quicker I can get pieces done. My first week, it took me all day (and night) to write a few bits then as the weeks progressed I'm bashing out mini articles in less than an hour. I really did learn a lot and have a great time working for a real magazine, I'm so grateful to Emma and Becs for letting me join the team. I'm really looking forward to going back in March and working on the next issue!


I'm having a leisurely morning, just having a cup of tea and watching This Morning. I used to hate watching it when I was in school (if I was ever ill and had to stay home I'd lie on the sofa and my Mum would watch it) but now I really like watching it!


Then it's off to work this afternoon and my Dad will be here tonight! Yahoooo. Then I'm off work for a whole 6 days so it's going to be so nice to have some time off after such a busy busy month!


Have a lovely day xo

Week Three

Well we're three weeks into the new year and it's going pretty well so far. I'm rather enjoying 2011. Lots of new things in the pipeline and lots of time with friends planned. The next few months are going to be hard work but hopefully fruitful! This week should be great, back for week three at the Viva office on Wednesday then my Dad's coming to stay on Thursday, so lots of fun activities planned there. Then on Saturday I'm off back to my beloved Herry for five days. Yay!


Have a great day - today is meant to be 'Blue Monday' but I'm not in the least bit blue!

TGIF

This week, I am grateful for my mind. I am grateful to myself for thinking fast and knowing when to get out of a situation and when enough's enough. I am also grateful for my sense of drive, without which I would not be writing everyday and following my dream.


:)

Week Two

A day late, but week two at Viva was most interesting! I got to write a half page editorial about FitFlop shoes (check them out, they're super cool. )http://www.fitflop.com/ And then my second task was to search for 10 pairs of men and women's boots and write a few words about them. I got all this finished by half past two so I also did a few write ups about great grooming gifts for your man for Valentine's day. There's some bloomin' expensive stuff out there I tell's ya! But there were a few more people in the office so it was a bit livelier and I was a bit more aware of how I was getting stuff done so a bit more relaxed I guess. Looking forward to next week when I'll be helping to proof the whole magazine before it gets sent off to print. Then the week after that I'll have my very own copy of published work to start building my portfolio. Woohoo! Applied for a couple more magazine places also, so I can get as much experience as possible before deciding which medium I want to settle in.
Anyway more from me sometime soon! xo

Busy week!

Well it's been a busy 7 days since my last post! Worked lots last week then went back to Hereford on Friday night for fun and festivities. We had a curry night on Saturday night with friends and family, then Sunday was just a lazy day (or more to a hangover-recovery day.) And now it's back to the regular old working week. I'm keeping up with my resolutions and have got lots of books ready to read as soon as I've finished Lady Chatterley's Lover. I've also tested a couple of new L'ancome foundations so will be putting reviews up of those too! I'm working so much I've not got a spare day now until next weekend put will try and squeeze a few posts in here and there in between work. I'm back in the Viva office tomorrow so will no doubt have lots of interesting news to report!


Time to scoot, my ham and pineapple pizza is calling! A reward for working so hard all day!
Hope everyone's weekend was fab-u-lous! xo

Reporting Back!

Well it'a been a busy old day! Was up at half past seven because I wanted to look nice on my first day, then left the house at half nine in the POURING RAIN. Not good. I needn't have bothered straightening my hair! Got to the office at about 9.45am and got introduced to the other member of staff (there were only two people in today) then I got to sit at my little working space and begin my research. I had to find 10 'must attend' music gigs and 10 'must attend' club nights out plus a little bit about them throughout Feb, March & April. The music one was easy for me but I did struggle with the nights out because I never go anywhere except work! It had to be clubs which would appeal to the Manchester Elite, so nowhere students would go. But I got there in the end! This took me most of the day, then I finished off with writing two mini articles almost like 'What's on?' One was about celebrating Chinese New Year & the parade and fireworks that will be on in Chinatown and the other one was about a charity fashion show that's taking place in Feb. The Chinese new year one isn't being used now so I'm going to write something about the Alice in Wonderland Easter festival at Tatton Park and another about the Manchester Tattoo Show (which I'll have lots to say about no doubt!) Because the Chinese New Year article took most of my day up I'll have to write these other two before next Wednesday so will hopefully get them done on the train back to Hereford on Friday.


So that was my day! Super fun & I'm looking forward to next week where I'll be doing CD reviews.


Until then! xo

The Holidays are officially over!

Back to work and back to reality tomorrow for everybody after another stressful end to the year! I'm feeling great about it though because after Bank Holiday Sunday & Monday off work I'm only actually working three days and spending my day off from House of Fraser starting my new Work Experience Intern placement at Viva Magazine. Hopefully I'll learn lots and get to do some writing whilst I'm there. (Will write a post about it on Wednesday night) Then on Friday night it's off back home for the weekend to spend some time with friends and family. Lots to be looking forward to this week! And on top of that I'm maintaining my new years' resolutions - I started reading Lady Chatterley's Lover today and have also had two pieces of fruit. 2011 is promising so far!


Hope everyone has a great week! xo

New Years Resolutions

1. Write more - I've been so busy since finishing Uni that I've barely had time to take time out and study / write. That's why I started this blog so at least if I write ANYTHING I'd still be writing something. 2011 is going to be a more career driven year and I'm going to make sure that I get lots more learning squeezed in. I miss having lessons at Uni because I love to learn, and we used to get loads of great book recommendations from our tutors. This leads nice onto my second resolution which is to...


2. Read more - Whilst at Uni I only had time to read the books which were on all of my reading lists and whilst I did enjoy most of them, I didn't have time to read the ones which were already on my 'to read' list. So last week I ordered a load of classics as well as some books off my very long 'to read' list and this year I'm going to get cracking. Less TV, more books!


3. Be more positive about my work - I am my own worst critic when it comes to my work and ideas for new pieces, and I notice the flaws a lot more than the good parts. So this year I'm going to focus more on the good and expand on that rather than dwelling on the odd word that doesn't fit.


4. Care less about what other people think - This pretty much speaks for itself. I worry a lot about insignificant things and think up scenarios in my head that would never happen in real life and generally work myself up into a panic about what other people might think, whether it's my work, relationships, new outfit or haircut. So this year I'm going to concentrate on what's good and care less about other people's opinions!


5. Be more healthy! I make this one every year and it always wears off by the end of January, but this year is going to be a good year for me so I'm going to get it off to a good start. I'm going to make a concious effort to eat more healthily (especially fruit) and cut back on naughty things. Luckily I'm not really a fan of crisps so that's not a problem but I am partial to biscuits and a dominos pizza now and again. It's bad to deprive yourself completely of treats but I am going to cut back because I want to be back to my old self, inside and out.


What are your resolutions for 2011? xo