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!

What do you do Laura? I'm a Production Assistant at this Awesome Web Design Company in Hove

I got a job! Towards the end of my internship, Jamie ask if we could have a chat upstairs, which we had been doing weekly to discuss my progress. And he offered me a permanent position. Which I took. (I'm not daft!) (And everyone is lovely at Message)

I'm now nearly 1 month down in my 3 month probation period. And I really hope I am doing well. I really enjoy the work. It's all the small finicky little jobs that keep work on the go. And I feel like I am contributing in some small little tiny way to something, and gaining worthwhile experience, instead of pouring drink for people who don't need another drink.

So Life Plan currently stands at successfully completing the next two months here and looking for some new homestead in brighton : ) and cut the commute out of my life.

Happy Days! : )

Into week three

So it's not quite into week three what with all the bank holidays, and it won't be very long one (at the internship) 3 whole days! Today I have been hunting down where we can hire till machine to test software on, and drawing up all the project deadlines on the office board so the team can more clearly see when deadlines are approaching. Lara finished last week and started at i-crossing. It's a bit odd without her, but now I can experience a fuller workload, as when we were working at the same time she obviously knew what she had to be doing and so there wasn't as much for me to be getting on with.

So now I need to be contact some clients to get content and logos etc. off them so that the front end developer, Ben, can start designing a site.

I am thoroughly enjoying the production side of life.

the bluebells are out :)