I thought it might be fun to document a week in my life. I am currently out of work and focusing on a career change, so my life is quite different to what it normally is. I am not sure if many people will be interested in this but I thought some of you might want an insight! If you are like me and extremely nosy, you will love an opportunity to hear what other people get up to. I also thought it would be fun for me to look back on in the future, when I am inevitably tired and busy from working full time and will look back on this period of free time with envy!
Monday 28th November:
My partner was in London for the first day of his new job. Unfortunately I couldn’t be there with him but I really wanted to speak to him before he went so I called him first thing whilst having my morning coffee. It was lovely to chat to him before his first day.
The previous two weeks my partner had been on annual leave before starting his new job, so I wanted to make the most of that time by spending lots of quality time with him whilst we had such a rare opportunity. Because of this, however, I had got really out of my routine and hadn’t applied for many jobs. I really wanted to hit the ground running and was determined to have a busy, productive day.
I went for a long run which is always a great start to my day. On this day I ran for 8km!
I spent the rest of the day looking for jobs, writing job applications and doing chores around the house like the washing.
I wanted my partner to have a nice surprise for his first day so I made him a card with a soppy message in and bought him his favourite chocolates to say ‘well done’.
I tried a new recipe for my dinner – miso butter roasted brussel sprouts. It was tasty but I feel it would have been better as a side rather than a main. I also roasted some chickpeas with it, as I have been trying to focus on having more protein recently, and served with leftover rice and some kale. After dinner I watched an episode of the Vampire Diaries. Is anyone else a bit obsessed?
My partner came back from his first day around 9:30pm so we had a chat for an hour or so before I went to bed.
Tuesday 29th November:
Tuesday is a weights workout day for me so after my morning coffee and reading ‘Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas’ by Adam Kay, I did a quick back and bicep workout on our balcony. The winter weather had well and truly kicked in: this was a freezing workout (my excuse for keeping it short)! I then had a shower, got ready and had breakfast before settling on the sofa to work on the applications I started yesterday. I found myself feeling frustrated on this day – the endless job applications and rejections can become draining. I have generally stayed positive but it’s inevitable that days like this will happen. I could tell after an hour or so that I needed a break, so I ordered some Christmas presents online. I love getting presents for other people and if you want to read how I do so sustainably, I have written about it on my most recent blog post.
After a quick lunch time walk with my boyfriend, I made a Christmas present. I can’t say what it is in case the receiver reads this! When I needed a break, I carried on reading. I managed to read the entire book in one day – although it is very short. It’s written by a man who previously worked as a doctor for the NHS. In this book, he dives back into old diaries from when he was a nurse over several periods. I really enjoyed it – I found it funny, interesting and in places, heartbreaking. It gets a a 4 out of 5 from me.
I made dinner on this day – a mixed bean chilli with rice. This turned out to be probably the nicest chilli I have made to date so I was very pleased with it! I think the addition of mushroom powder added a nice depth of flavour, on top of the other seasonings such as cumin, paprika, chilli, garlic, cayenne pepper, cinammon and stock!
Our friend came round to watch the England vs Wales World Cup game, so we all ate the chilli and watched the game. We were all very happy with the result, particularly my boyfriend and our friend. I was so tired this day so I went straight to bed but frustratingly couldn’t sleep.
Wednesday 30th November:
I snoozed my alarm twice on this morning as I couldn’t sleep the previous night! Eventually I woke up about 8:30am. I came downstairs, drank a coffee whilst reading my book. I started reading ‘Small Great Things’ by Jodi Picoult and was hooked straight away.
I then went for a run. Due to being behind my schedule and quite tired, I only ran 4km today but still really enjoyed it. I came home, ate some cereal – a Special K knock-off from Aldi – then had a shower. I went downstairs and worked on some job applications.
For lunch I enjoyed some left over bean chilli and rice – yum. I watched the end of an episode of the Vampire Diaries that I didn’t finish the previous night. I am currently on season 7!
After this, I carried on with my job search including calling up a recruitment consultant for a chat about careers. I then did some jobs around the house like putting the washing away, baking some bread in our bread machine and ordering some Christmas presents. I spent some time writing a blog post.
I made us dinner – congee, which I would describe as a sort of rice soup. I will link the recipe here as I’m sure it’s easier than me trying to explain it. It was delicious and we watched an episode of the Crown whilst we ate.
At 7pm I went to my weekly vegan group. It’s a group of different people, some of whom are vegan, some are vegetarian, and some are just interested in veganism. We meet up every Wednesday and have different sessions each time, ranging from an outing to a local vegan restaurant, to laughing yoga, mindfulness and art classes. I absolutely love going and have made lots of friends there. This evening we were discussing small ways to live a more healthy life.
I had been craving a bath so when I got home I had a lovely bubble bath and carried on reading Small Great Things before getting an early night.
Thursday 1st December:
Maybe because I was excited that it was finally December (I know, I’m a child!), I actually got up with my 7am alarm! I went downstairs, as always drank my coffee whilst reading my book. The weather was so cold and gloomy, I really didn’t fancy going out onto the balcony for a workout so decided to begin my job search a little earlier and have a workout later on. After my breakfast of leftover congee – a hearty and comforting start to the day – I continued with my job search.
After a couple of hours, I did some writing on this blog, read some of my book and looked for a wedding present. We are going to a wedding a week tomorrow and haven’t sorted anything yet! I did the workout that I had promised myself too.
I was feeling a bit ‘off’ on this day and so I wanted some comfort food for my lunch. I tried a Vegan Festive Bake from Aldi – similar to the Greggs one – and a sausage and hash brown sandwich. After my boyfriend had finished his meeting we went for a walk, which improved my mood a little.
For our dinner, I made a lentil spaghetti bolognese – a meal that ticks all the boxes for being budget-friendly, healthy and delicious!
On Thursday evenings, I currently have my weekly art lessons which I am loving. This week was week 7 and we started learning colour theory which I can tell is going to come in very handy. On my way to my lesson, I popped into Hobbycraft to collect an order I had made: some kraft paper for wrapping Christmas presents and a couple of tubes of acrylic paint for my art lessons.
Friday 2nd December:
Friday morning is when I usually go for my third and final run for the week. I ran 7km on this day.
I spent some time working on job applications and then made a candle for the bride and groom to be. I also designed a label to stick on to make it more personalised and special.
We had one of our favourite meals for dinner – orange tofu! My partner made this and it was 10/10. Following this, our neighbour came over for a couple of drinks and a chat. It’s always lovely catching up with her.
Saturday 3rd December:
Saturday was a very fun day! I went to see the Muppets Christmas Carol with some of the members of my book club. It’s a brilliant Christmas film and if you haven’t seen it I strongly advise you do! We also did a Secret Santa. I had bought mine an illustrated copy of Carol Ann Duffy’s poem ‘Bethlehem’ and was very pleased to receive a bottle of prosecco in return!
After the film, we went to a nearby restaurant. The company was lovely but unfortunately we were all disappointed with the food, I don’t think any of us will be rushing back any time soon!
I was home around 7pm and was really craving watching ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’. My partner had never properly seen it and I hadn’t seen it in years so we really enjoyed watching this.
Sunday 4th December:
On Sunday we had a little lie in which was lovely. I made us both a coffee which we drank in bed – something that we haven’t done in such a long time. We both sat reading our books and enjoying our morning coffee.
After we had got up, we went to a Christmas craft fair which had lots of brilliant stalls by some very talented local artists, ranging from homemade gin to little chroche frogs with bums! I enjoyed a lovely glass of mulled cider whilst we were there and my boyfriend had a (not very Christmassy) beer. It was a lovely festive outing. We treated ourselves to a jar of scotch bonnet chilli jam that I don’t think will last very long…
We came home and had some beans on toast for our lunch. My partner likes to jazz up beans on toast, by frying onions and garlic, adding the beans and lots of spices such as cumin, paprika and chilli – it was delicious!
After this I went to Aldi to do our food shop. It was supposed to be a small shop this week but it ended up consisting of about 50% booze – my excuse is that it’s Christmas!
In the evening, a couple we are friends with came round to watch the England vs Senegal World Cup match – after winning again we really couldn’t complain! We had a few drinks and some nibbles and played a game called Avocado Smash which usually gets everyone laughing. When they left, we watched a couple of episodes of Peep Show – a show we have both watched countless times but never tire of, before going to bed.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on my week and what you have all been up to recently!
tinylittlethoughts 