Message are hiring an Office and Production Assistant. Know anyone who might be interested?

In January, I'll be taking on some new responsibilities and a new job title: Projects and Office Manager.

That means that there is a vacancy for a junior position in my lovely office. The job will have varied work and is a great starting point for anyone interested in digital media, web design, etc.

If you know anyone, or are interested yourself, please check out the details here:

http://www.message.co.uk/office-and-production-assistant

Message is a great place to work.

New Year starts in November for me

Or at least a resolution or two for the next year has started.

This time last year I challenged myself to start exercising more and began attending Zumba class once a week after eight years of no exercise. The classes I went to were instructed by Annelies Silverwood and were great fun. I went along with some friends and I guess you could say I gained confidence with regards to exercising with others ( I'd not experience that since PE at school).
After several months I looked into joining a gym, where I would be able to attend multiple classes and have access to more equipment but they all seemed so expensive. Thankfully by July some of my housemates decided they wanted to join a gym as well and one spotted a deal at LA fitness.

So I have gone from last october, doing no exercise to visiting the gym 5/6 times a week, to attend Zumba, Yoga, hellish Legs, Bums & Tums classes, as well as getting to grips with the cross trainer, bikes and something I've been told is called a grinder (for your arms).

Now it's November again and I've got the work out down, but my eating habits are pretty bad. Chocolate all the time, whenever I fancy it. New rules are: only healthy snacking during the working week. So if I fancy a treat, it's got to be nuts or seeds or fruit etc. I said a friendly farewell to sweets in the week last night; Halloween seemed an appropriate last hurrah.

I know that doesn't seem like a massive diet change but the plan is for it to lead towards a diet change, in the same way taking up one class a week has lead to joining a gym and attending regularly.

Anyway, wish me luck!

Paris

The Olympic rings at St Pancras International

So it was just over a month ago that I disappeared off to Paris for a few days with JBE. And it was amazing!

I am so used to spending my holidays sunbathing with a book or in some secluded holiday home in the Uk that going to a city for a few days was a completely unknown experience. And I loved it!

On the first day there was a fair amount of train based time, but the Eurostar was very comfortable and quite quick, and we bought our 'Carnet' of metro tickets on board which was handy and they lasted us the whole time there.

Beehives in the Jardin du Luxembourg

Our hotel, Hotel Lenox Montparnasse, was only about 20 minutes from the Gare du Nord nr the Vavin metro stop and the area around it was quite quiet despite some of the reviews I had read. There was a really nice park ( Jardin du Luxembourg) nearby where we had our breakfast on two of the mornings.


The first afternoon we dumped our things and went for a wander about, with our trusty map. It was so very hot most people were sensibly chilling out of the hundreds of green chairs that were all over the park.

Note to Self: Cities are very hot in July. Pack more appropriately in the future!

A cool 30 degrees

Love Locks on the bridge

One of the first things I was excited to see, in true girly nature, was the famous bridge over the Seine that was completely covered in padlocks left by couples. The numbers were impressive to see and while we were there, there were more being added.

On the second day we went and added out own and had quite chilled out day, with not too much site seeing and more just getting our bearings and eating some "interesting" food.

On the third day we realised we had an awful lot to fit in and promptly headed to the Eiffel Tower to get started. When we arrived, we were greeted with a three hour long queue that snaked it's way all the way down the road along the river. Thankfully someone in front of us mentioned that there might be a shorter queue for the stairs.

It was so much quicker, we only waited about 25 mins and it was cheaper! 3 Euros each ( boy did I feel  generous, having offered to pay for Jack months ago!)

The queue had got marginally smaller in the time we were up there.

It was a gorgeous day to take in the view.

Once we came down from the tower, I joined the longest queue in the world for the public toilets (go up in the tower, it's much quicker!) And then we went and got tickets for a river cruise on the Seine. I do wish we had found a guided cruise with chat about the building we passed as it really was a bit of blur as to what was what.

After the river cruise we went and found a lush place for lunch beside the river and chilled out for the rest of the day, with a short stop to add our own padlock to the bridge.

The following day we had the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs Elysees, the Place de la Concorde, Notre Dame, Sacre-Coeur Basilica, and the Louvre  to get through.

That's not quite the order that we wanted to visit them in but actually it worked out for the best I think. We started at the Arc de Triomphe fairly early, and then walked along the Champs Elysees (which is a very, very long road, don't let it fool you) which brought us accidentally to the Place de la Concorde ( I hadn't really noted where abouts in the city it was.

We walked through the Jardin des Tuileries towards the Louvre. I don't think I had been more excited on the whole trip than I was as we approached it, only to realise there was a 2 hour queue in the midday sun. So instead of wasting precious time, we headed over to Notre Dame, the next closest place.

It was FREE to get into.

I was I could have had a bird's eye view while we were queuing to get in, because somehow the queue that had formed was in a spiral shape, with new people joining having to locate the centre and the walk outwards as though uncoiling.

Inside it seemed so distant from the noise of the city centre, as no speaking was permitted and people were wandering round silently, or lighting prayer candles, or listening to the service.

As nice a place as any for a spot of lunch.

After that we headed back to the gardens because we'd passed a cafe that looked like a likely spot for lunch. I had probably the largest Feta to salad ratio meal I ever wish to consume, but it was mighty tasty, if quite unhealthy.

Once we were fed and watered, we headed to the nearest metro station to head up to the Abbesses station,  which is one of the closest ones to the Sacre-Coeur Basilica. We headed in the right direction, after a small falling out over which was the right way( I was wrong). It seemed pretty quiet for an area that was home to one of the most popular tourist attractions in Paris, and as we got the the top of the hill we saw the beautiful church, and wandered inside, where a few other people were sitting quietly. After we had had a few quiet minutes ourselves we went to see the infamous view of the city and then realised the beautiful church that we had wandered into was not the Sacre-Coeur at all, but Saint-Pierre de Montmartre Eglise.

And the Sacre-Coeur looks more like this:

It was massive and had hundreds of people around it. Can't believe we nearly missed it!

On the wander back towards the station, in the boiling heat, we hit up this ice-cream parlour, that had the lushest flavors.

I think the place was called Tutti Sensi Gelaterie.

More to come in the next blog post...

Parisian Holiday

I am planning my first adult, in charge of our own itinerary, holiday abroad. We went to Cornwall last year, drove down and stayed in a little town where some of my Uni friends are living at the moment. But this year, now feeling a little more confident, Jack and I are venturing off to Paris for a few days in July.

We have already argued about the importance of the quality and location of the hotel we choose. I want  comfortable, with a good location and decent reviews, and Jack isn't so fussed, so long as it has a bed, and a bedside light to read his books by at night.

I've been pouring through websites offering all sorts of advice about what to do when you visit such an amazing city, cultural advice, where is the best restaurants etc.

My next task is to remind myself of some basic French language; I don't want to be an offensive english tourist who's made no effort to learn how to say 'Merci beaucoup'

Our list of things to do is pretty obvious.

The Eiffel Tower is pretty high up there, if you'll forgive the appalling pun. Then a river tour and the Louvre. And everything really.

Expect photos.

Year One

It has been just over a year since I started my full time employment, and it has gone by so fast.

When I initially joined the company I was busy keeping my fingers crossed that I might at least meet a few nice people, gain some experience working within a new environment and hopefully get a good reference after my month long placement was over.

I am still so thankful that they offered me a full time position, as now I can see a clearer path forward.


The thing that makes me the proudest since joining the team is the role I played in our office move, and I am still so pleased that it went as smoothly as it did. (Lists, it's all about the lists.)

Now I am hoping to gain more experience in managing small projects and learn about the processes involved in seeing a project through from start to launch.

Things they don't tell you

Tax returns are actually impossible to be understood by us mere mortals, you have two options, you can either blag it, hope that you have put the numbers in the right place or hire an accountant.

I finished mine by the way.

Sticking to new year resolutions can be done, but it won't be fun. I have been getting up early on occasions and going for jogs. I have been trying to think about blog posts (sorry about this one) I have resisted the temptation to go an gorge on a handful of Mars bars every day at work. (chocolate addiction is real people!)

The world move on when you aren't ready for it. I am twenty five this year, and it is freaking me out a bit. It literally could have been yesterday that I was arguing with my parents about what GCSEs I wanted to take, or then which college I wanted to go to. I remember being 15 and the concept that I would have friends that I had known for over a decade seemed far fetched, but here we are.

That's all.

New Year, it's a New Year.

Happy New Year!

Resolutions:

1. Write at least one blog post a month, though ideally more frequently. (the last post was October!)2. Make more of my days, by getting up earlier and going for a walk or reading a great book in the evening instead of making sure I am up to date with Eastenders plot lines.

3. No pastries for breakfast on work days. Not an easy one given how close I live to the Real Patisserie.

4. No popping out to buy chocolate during the work day.

5. Exercise more.

6. Lastly, get back into the artwork for fun.

What 's going on...

I've been super lax in my posting lately but I guess I'm not really sure what to post about these days. Work is going well. We are looking to hire another new developer, which is exciting and maybe looking at bigger offices to move our growing team to (but not immediately)

I've moved down to Hove actually. So not quite Brighton but pretty much near enough. I'll post a pic of my road on a sunny day for you all to admire.

My Appraisal

So yesterday I had my appraisal at work as it was the end of my 3 month probation period a few weeks ago. And it went really well! I am happy that the team feel I am making a good contribution. I do love my job.

So new plan

I am not quite moved yet. It didn't work out quite as I wanted. I am now on the hunt for a flat or house share in Brighton. And will be bullying Jack into buying a bus pass so we can actually see each other.

Wish me luck!

Wired Sussex Blog Post

Caroline, from Wired Sussex, asked if I would be interested in writing a post for their blog about my experience of trying to get work in sussex and about how I came to be working at Message. I said yes(and eventually got round to writing it)! So if you fancy reading it:

http://blog.wiredsussex.com/

and there are posts from other all about finding work and the different avenues we all tried.

It's quite interesting stuff. Well I think so.

About to move.

So I am moving down to Kemptown in Brighton in 3 weeks and I am pretty excited! Jack and I went down yesterday to have a nosey round the area and check out the bus route to work and whatnot.

Then we wandered round the lanes and I bullied Jack into getting our caricatures done. I'm not entirely conviced the man was looking at the same couple but nevermind!