I was a guest and the photographer for a friend’s wedding on Friday. It was a lovely wedding and I’m pleased with the photos I got for them. I’m still sorting through them but should have them done by this coming Friday. I always like going to weddings to get ideas for my own wedding. We still don’t have any real plans to get married yet and I definitely think it will be a long time before we do but it’s always nice to have a general idea of what we want. I think the one thing we haven’t properly decided on is the colour scheme. He wants a blue suit and I want a red dress which just won’t work! At this wedding I went to the colour was light pink. She had a white dress with a pink ribbon at the back and he had a black suit, white shirt and a pink tie. They also had pink flowers. It actually really worked because they weren’t covered in pink and it wasn’t too over the top. We have a while to decide yet but there are things we know we definitely DON’T want – he won’t wear bow ties, I don’t want a huge meringue looking dress and we don’t want a church wedding. At least with all this time to think about it, we will end up with everything perfect.

I’m not the biggest fan of netbooks. I like the idea of them but I just personally don’t like them. I did until I actually used one! My sister has a 13″ Dell netbook and I was so jealous when she got one. It’s small, cute and green. I used it once when I went round to my parents house and after about twenty minutes of being on it, my eyes were hurting and I was just fed up at how small it was. I think they are good for use every now and again but I don’t think they are for every day use.

My sister got a junk mail letter the other day about life insurance and I joked that at 20, she doesn’t need life insurance. My Dad turned around and said “In fact, the best time for her to be buying life insurance is now as its cheaper!” It does make sense when I think about it. The younger you are, the fitter you are and the less likely you are to become ill and need to claim on the insurance. My sister used to work for a life insurance company so she knows she probably should look into it soon but since she is currently unemployed, then its not really top priority right now.

With me trying to start up my photography business, I have really been considering learning to drive. I would be available for a lot more work in different locations of the country if I could drive. I did an assistants job last week and it was a three hour drive from where I live. The woman I was working with drives but if I had been asked to do a wedding that far away, I would have had to decline even though I really wouldn’t have wanted to. Driving is something I need to do right now. I think I’m going to price up driving lessons and then start looking at a car and car insurance over the next few months. I would like to start my lessons by the autumn but I wouldn’t want to start unless I know I can carry it on to the end and finish them with a test and a pass.

I used to have a credit card but I don’t think I would get another one. I was a bit irresponsible with it and ended up losing my job before I paid it off so I’m still stuck paying it off right now. I think if I did get another one, I would definitely use it properly and only spend what I could afford to pay back. I guess I was just young and was excited I had a large amount of money that I could just spend.

I have started the process in applying for college recently. I am going to take an access course either at the local college or at a college in Manchester (the Manchester one is my first choice). I have heard back from the local college but not Manchester yet. I think if I haven’t heard anything by Friday, I will give them a call to see where they are up to with my application.

Going to college all depends on if I can get the funding for my course and funding towards transport and childcare. I already gotten Meghan a place at the nursery next to her pre-school so that she can go to pre-school in the mornings and nursery in the afternoons but if I can’t get the funding to pay for pre-school, then I can’t go. Alex’s brother told me that he would help me out paying for it for the first month or so which is lovely of him but its not going to cover me for the whole of my course.

I really want to go to college and then onto university. I would love to study English and learn more about the subject in a school environment. I have been wanting to go to university for the last two years but its only been recently that I’ve finally decided to stop putting it off.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned on this blog about my running. I started back in October with a very basic running plan. The first time I ran, I found it extremely difficult to run 60 second intervals without feeling like I would collapse and in January I finished the plan being able to run 5K in around 34 minutes. I ran my first 5K race in February in just under 32 minutes. It felt great to do a race but after the race, I seemed to be on a bit of a downer and only ran once a week. I had a break for a month or so to do P90X but then I realised how much I missed running so I quit P90X and got back on the running again.

Last week I signed up to both a 10K (August) and a half marathon (October) race. I’m currently training for my half marathon and really enjoying it. I’m only at 4 miles so I still have 9 miles left to add onto my runs but I have 17 weeks left to train for it. I’m doing the 5K I did back in February again this week too. I’m hoping to run it in under 30 minutes this time. Its a very flat course so I run it faster than I do my normal runs. Running definitely keeps me less stressed and also gives me a lot of confidence. I would recommend anyone to start running. It is hard work but the benefits are worth it.

Oh, and click here.

Since talking to my Dad about my financial problems last month, I have done so well with saving money. I’m very behind with a very important bill that I have been struggling to catch up with since last October. My Dad put all my incomings and outgoings into an Excel spreadsheet and it showed me just how much I actually had leftover each week and made me realise how much I was overspending. Since I’ve stopped overspending, I’ve already made a good amount of savings towards this bill over the month and I’m hoping to save the same amount each month from now on. If I do, I should have this bill paid off in a year which although seems like a long time, its a lot better than where I was at Christmas time when I thought I would never be able to pay it.

In other news, I seem to be coming out in hives a lot recently. I think I must have a tree pollen allergy. I’ve not had it for the last couple of days though so I’m hoping I’m done for the year now. Alex’s eczema is really, really bad at the moment though. He’s working a lot as well as going to college and just hasn’t been doing his daily skin routine as much as he should be. A couple of days off from it makes a huge difference. Hopefully, since he’s taken care of it both today and yesterday, it should be a lot better by midweek.

The weekend has almost started and I’m so excited! My weeks are always the same and weekends just usually blend in and I don’t notice them but I have been looking forward to this weekend! Tonight me and my sister are going dress shopping and I can’t wait. Hopefully I find something I actually like pretty quickly. I think I will. I’ve been looking online at certain stores and have seen at least three when I had a look in town on Monday. I’ve been trying to eat properly all week so I look good for tomorrow – my stomach is prone to bloating very easily – but I haven’t done so well. At least I didn’t do something drastic like the hcg diet but I have been exercising still. I plan on running three miles this morning at the gym and cycling at least six miles at the gym tomorrow. Cycling gives you great legs which is what I need if I’m wearing a dress and heels! So excited!

Its my birthday next weekend, May 1st and I’ll be 24. I really don’t know where this past year has gone. Its gone by so fast and I can just see the next thirty years fly by me and I will be asking for wrinkle cream as a present!

My birthday plans are more than what I expected to be honest. I really thought I would be doing nothing at all for my birthday because I just don’t have any money. Every penny I get at the moment is going towards paying off bills I have outstanding and I’ll probably put 50% of any birthday money I get into them too. Anyway, I was texting my best friend Aimee about two weeks ago and she asked if I was doing anything for my birthday (a night out) to which I replied with “No, I haven’t got any money.” She then offered to take me out for my birthday to which I said “I feel like I should say no but I really need a night out!” Last week my sister, Amy (I’m glad they spell their names differently!) offered to buy me a new outfit for my night out to which I again, jumped at the offer! I’ve lost weight and I’d love to have a new dress to wear. Amy and I are going dress shopping next Thursday night and then we are either going out on the Friday or the Saturday depending on which night Alex is working. I’ve also got a full day out with my parents the following Saturday, 8th in Bath which I’m really looking forward to. It’ll be a long day but I can’t wait. It looks like I’ll have a nice birthday this year.