Weekend Wander

Southsea is best in the summer, the faded seaside resort buzzes in the sunshine, with families, students, hipsters and chavs alike, all laid out on the grassy common and strolling on the seafront, the smell of barbecues on the breeze. Winter is mostly angry traffic, foghorns, discount shopping and crashing waves. But a break in the weather pulls everyone out, a cold sunny sunday and we hit the prom again, dogwalkers, kids and runners drawn out for the fresh sea air. We all love living by the sea.

Our seafront has been battered these past few weeks, the winter storms bringing waves smashing over the seawalls and shingle up onto the road. The beach is sandy, the bandstand flooded and the benches, shelters and pier beaten up. The rain stopped today and the people came out again, picking through the shells, starfish and sponges washed up onto the pavement, fighting against the determined winds.

We went ourselves, to explore and take photos, blasted by sand and an abundance of sea air. We met friends for a pretty good carvery lunch at the Jolly Sailor (thanks Groupon!) and then came home again to a log fire and TV catchup. Ace Sunday. :)

Myers-Briggs

It's much easier to be happy when you understand what it is that makes you happy. Sounds easy right? There's lots of big obvious things which you can say make you happy, from a cute kitten video to getting a pay rise. But actually what makes you happy day in day out, what do you get satisfaction from doing, what motivates you?

A link on facebook led me to a quick personality profiler site which led to a more insightful result than you might expect from a 5 minute free questionnaire.  Myers-Briggs is a psychometric test designed to measure psychological preferences based on the theory laid down by respected brain doc Carl Jung. It's something I've done a bit of before at work, but I haven't really seen it in this way before.

The questionnaire puts you into one of 16 personality types, whether you have a preference for Extrovert/Introvert, Intuituve/ Sensing, Thinking/ Feeling, Judging/ Prospecting. I came up ENTP- the visionary, the innovator, the explorer. It made so much sense I was actually quite excited about what I read, and stayed up late reading more (we do that, us ENTPs)

My (ex) boss looks at me like I'm mental when I say that I'm bored, that I just do not have the attention span for the work I am doing, I hate routine. I feel like some disruptive school kid. I'm not a troublemaker, I am ENTP. I argue to understand and challenge existing rules and routines. I love to learn and do new things, I have a billion new ideas which rarely go beyond my notepad, and I get distracted easily.

I'm really excited about my new job now. I've been in a few meetings this week and this project has momentum. A real change of pace, some huge challenges and high profile. Its bigger than I realised, with a chance to work with some clever people from one of the world's most respected consulting firms. And it's such a good fit- room for ideas, lots to understand and challenge, brainstorming.

This is the profile:

 http://www.16personalities.com/ENTP-personality

February Fun

First pay day after Christmas and first of many fun weekend's of February. The plans made in January start coming into effect this month and it looks like we are going to be busy (in a good way!)

On Friday we went to Sant-Yago, a Tapas restaurant in Southsea, with a Groupon voucher. I've decided to live life through Groupon this year, and take advantage of the deals to try new restaurants and activities at bargain prices. Sant-Yago is on the must try list, and with 7 dishes for £13.50, we were able to tuck into a variety of dishes for a steal. The independent restaurant on Clarendon Road was bustling but has an intimate atmosphere good for a date. The food was lovely, we especially enjoyed the baked Camembert, paprika crisps and Albodingas and we'll definitely go back to try some of the other Tapas treats. Yum!

On Saturday it was the first monthly pub night- a plan formulated from the Facebook group. We extended the plans a bit and went early to the Fat Fox to watch the England- France Six Nations rugby, a game where I'm still not completely sure what's going on. Good to have some cider and chat with the boys before a visit to the best curry house in the world T&J Mahal on Elm Grove. A swift Balti chilli chicken massalla and on to meet the rest at the King Street Tavern to try a pub we wouldn't normally go to. For good reason, there were no tables and so we went back to Elm Grove to the Honest Poli for old times sake. Just a good fun unpretentious evening, something we have not done enough of in the past year.

Where to in March?

January Joy Update

Right that's 1/12 of the year done, January is over and its been good! Nothing amazing has happened, I've hardly been anywhere much, the weather and the traffic have been rubbish and we are still in the same crappy situation we were in at the end of last year. But project 'Do More Happy' is working! Positive mental attitude and all that hippy rubbish.

Here's an update on progress on some of my #JanuaryJoy list.

Social Media Sort Out- I spent an evening sorting out Hootsuite and Twitter lists so now my 500 or so followees are arranged into real people, local stuff, comedy, interesting & newsie, photographers, wedding industry etc. It's much more efficient and allows me to sift through the shouting and self promotion without needing to unfollow tweeps who are occasionally interesting or are perhaps useful contacts.

Go and see a film- We saw the Hobbit Desolation of Smaug and Hunger Games Catching Fire this month

Celebrate your family- Went for a pub lunch with my husband's family

Read something new- I haven't read much recently, having picked up some books I really couldn't finish so I have read a couple of Terry Pratchett books I've read before to get back into it. I've also been reading up on my 'Learn Something New' and just finished reading 'Bang! A complete history of the universe' which is a brilliantly accessible book on the cosmos. It manages to be intelligent and non-patronising, but avoids too much complicated jargon and maths. I might be ready to try Hawking's 'A Brief History of Time' now.

Plan your Savings- January is always the month of accounting and money sort outs for me, culminating in the dreaded self assessment tax return. Looks like I should be due a tax refund, which right now is awesome (but does actually mean I made less profit from my business than expected) I've also filled up my Tax free ISA for the year, and got my sharesave sorted out. We upgraded our joint account with Nationwide to an added value account for £10 a month which gives us mobile and travel insurance, breakdown cover and other stuff for less than half the price we were paying with Lloyds. Good news is that although our income is incredibly stretched right now, the tax refund could pay for a nice holiday :)

Some things on the list are still in progress..

Focus on your career- I'm on secondment!

Learn Something New- Planning on going to another Space Lecture at the Winchester Science Centre, getting out to do some star trail photography and some stargazing at some point (should it EVER stop raining and give us some clear skies!)

Try a New Trend- I'm still loving my fringe!

And some things still to do...

Plan a room- I'm always busy on Pinterest with the Home inspiration, but I have some direction for the living room based on a beautiful botanical wallpaper we have coming up in my latest range. I'll post something soon..

Plan to revamp your garden- The garden is in desperate need of some love this summer and planning the changes we need to make will probably move from Pinterest ideas to reality over the next few months as the weather improves and outdoors ranges come into the shops.

Get serious about your skin- yep I am going to go to the doctors.. when I have time.

Plan some clean eats- let be honest, never going to happen!

Treat Yourself- Got a plan, just need to book

Tidy Up and Clear out- Always the last thing to do...

Make a fitness target- Technically I made a target, I just haven't managed to find the time at all this month to do it. I want to go swimming (thats the target, actually make it to the leisure centre) January is rubbish for fitness anyway, gyms and pools are full up of people on new years resolutions- by February it will be getting back to normal.

Plan a Trip- That is totally going to happen- now I have sorted out my finances and expect to get some tax back my top priority is persuading my husband to go on holiday somewhere exotic and adventurous.

So February, there's no list, let's make our own.