Where has the time gone? I cannot believe today is the last day in February. It was a cold but lovely, sunny day today and it almost feels as though Spring might be just around the corner. Here’s hoping anyway! The sun certainly makes a big difference to how I feel and the day’s are starting to stretch out. I am leaving work in the daylight now, which is fab. I can’t wait until I am driving all the way home in the light. It makes a long commute less of a chore. I’ve continued to add to my 2014 book of happiness and I am loving looking back at all the things that I have achieved and done this month. I have had a big fibro flare up this month, which really knocked me down both mentally and physically. It would be easy to look back on February and think, “What a rubbish month this has been,” because of this. However, I am letting go of the negative and focusing on all the great things that happened this month.
♥ Going out for lunch with my husband and his family. I managed to do this despite suffering from horrendous fatigue and pain and enjoyed myself in spite of this.
♥ The Super Bowl! Being in Scotland it wasn’t practical to watch the game live but me, my husband and all our friends managed to get through the next day without knowing the score and watched the game together that evening. We were all rooting for the Seahawks (who Ross’ brother supports) and were happy they won. It was a great evening in with friends.
♥ Ross purchased a flash for our DSLR cameras and I have had great fun playing around with it and learning how to use it.
♥ Reflexology sessions, which were especially wonderful during my flare and helped to ease the pain.
♥ Having my house painted. We moved into our new build home in November 2012. It was painted magnolia throughout and I have been itching to redecorate from the day we moved in. I saved and saved and waited patiently for the year to pass where we were advised not to redecorate (need to allow for a new build house to dry out). Finally this month I was able to pay a professional to come in and paint the house for us. It is now Dulux Rum Caramel 5 and I love it!! I can relax so much easier in my home now.
♥ Going out for a meal with my parents, Ross and the staff from my parent’s business.
♥ Seeing War Horse on stage at the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh. I saw the show in the West End in London a few years back and it was the best I have ever seen. I absolutely loved it and booked tickets as soon as I knew it was coming to Edinburgh. It did not disappoint and I had a wonderful afternoon with Ross.
♥ Movie Nights! We watched ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’, which I thoroughly enjoyed and afterwards found myself reminiscing about Iceland. We also watched ‘Her’, which I enjoyed but found deeply sad.
♥ Completing a Skid Control Course at Knockhill racing circuit. This was a birthday present from my parents and I was finally able to go and do the course. As I do a lot of driving, it was great to learn how to control a car when it skids and I definitely have more confidence with winter driving now. I was a little bit terrified at the beginning but by the end was doing power slides in a BMW! Lots of fun!
♥ Going out with my Mum for an evening in Edinburgh. We did a little bit of shopping, went out for tea and then went to see the musical ‘Tonight’s the Night’ at the Edinburgh Playhouse. We both love Rod Stewart and had a great time singing along to the songs.
♥ Seeing the Northern Lights… again! And in Scotland!!! Last night at around 9.30pm I was getting ready to go to bed as I was feeling pretty exhausted. I had a quick look on Twitter first and I am so glad that I did. I saw that Aurora Watch UK had tweeted that people as far down as Northern England were seeing the Northern Lights. I told Ross to get the cameras and his coat on and we headed out in the car away from town and the light pollution. We drove North towards a pale grey streak I had spotted across the sky. “I swear that’s it!” I squealed at Ross excitedly and we quickly found a quiet road where we could safely stop. I am so glad I had seen them last month and knew what to look for as it honestly looks like nothing spectacular when it is just beginning. I took a quick photograph (using a 30 second exposure) on my camera just to make sure. Sure enough the camera showed up this ‘grey cloud’ as green. Ross and I hopped out the car and set up our cameras and sure enough within a couple of minutes it began to brighten up and green and red colours streaked across the sky. This only lasted for a short time but it was amazing and I was able to capture the above photograph. What a spectacular end to February!
