Cresting The Hill

job interviews and beauty pageants

Sunday 31 May 2015

job interviews are a lot like beauty pageants

I went for a job interview a few days ago - my first since leaving my last job behind me in the dust. It is a very strange feeling polishing up the resume and updating it and looking in the Situations Vacant columns in the newspaper or online (and realizing how few jobs are actually appealing).

impossibly easy cat sweater

Saturday 30 May 2015

Flit looking stunning (or is that 'stunned'?) in her new cat sweater

As I have mentioned previously, I am incredibly useless when it comes to anything that involves craft. There is an occasional exception to the rule and this is one of them. I present to you the impossibly easy cat sweater!

it's my half birthday!

Friday 29 May 2015

Nice of Ryan to send me good wishes!

I can't believe it's been six months since I started this blog! I thought I'd be lucky to last six weeks.... and yet here I am celebrating my first half birthday!

how sweet it is....

Wednesday 27 May 2015

I did absolutely nothing, today and it was everything that I thought it could be.

Well it's been a week since I finished up my last day at work. There was the lovely goodbye lunch and a thoughtful gift and BEST BIT OF ALL - my final pay cheque which included all my unused leave paid out and placed into my bank account..... a nice little buffer until I find another job.

what does your midlife crisis look like?

Tuesday 26 May 2015

As I got out of my car this afternoon I looked across at my new pushbike sitting in the garage and had to laugh. I think of my lovely new bike as my midlife purchase but it dimmed somewhat in comparison to the bike parked next to it!

discovering the Pinterest widget maker

Saturday 23 May 2015

Discovering the Pinterest Widget

As I mentioned in my last post - I am a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to using all the tools available on the internet. There are so many plug-ins and analytics tools and gadgets and widgets and so on and so forth. It swamps me a bit and I tend to err on the side of "less is more".

DISCOVERING PINTEREST ANALYTICS

Friday 22 May 2015

There's a whole new world out there!

LEARNING A NEW PINTEREST TRICK

Sometimes I think I'm up on my game and other times I realize that I am a complete dinosaur. I think it's a case of "you don't know what you don't know" and a perfect example of this was the whole area of Pinterest Analytics (I even have to stop and think about how to spell 'Analytics'!)

feeling the Eurovision love

Thursday 21 May 2015

Clay Paky - special effects for the 2013 Eurovision contest

For those in the US who aren't part of the 195 million worldwide Eurovision viewers, I've included a link to their online page so you can catch up on the excitement here! Be prepared to waste a bit of time looking at all that "awesomeness"!! There's just something about the visual impact of Eurovision - each year they do their best to outdo the country who hosted it the year before. It is a mind-blurring montage of pyrotechnics, light shows, smoke machines, wind machines and more........and because we love it so much there are even drinking games that honour the whole shebang.

it's coming up fast! ~ Eurovision!!!!

Wednesday 20 May 2015

Eurovision can't come fast enough for me - Roll on May 23rd!

Along with my confessions about being a secret lover of colouring in and Gossip Girl, I must also come clean and admit that I just luuurrrve Eurovision! Somewhere along the line many years ago, I accidentally turned on my TV and discovered this completely over-the-top madhouse of European music - hosted at the time by Terry Wogan - the UK king of sarcastic commentary.

apparently I've joined a club!

Sunday 17 May 2015

becoming a member of a club - not quite a Mouseketeer though

Joining a club - even cooler than the Mickey Mouse club

Without even realizing it, I have joined a club - it turns out that there are a lot of midlife women who are tired of sucking up miserable jobs and have stepped out to take time for themselves.

feeling valued.......or not!

Friday 15 May 2015

What about me???

You know that feeling from your younger days when you broke up with a boyfriend and there was the relief but also the regret? Well that's a bit what leaving my job has been like. The kicker is that it feels like my metaphoric boyfriend has replaced me already!

FEELING A BIT CRAZY! I BOUGHT A BIKE!

Wednesday 13 May 2015

There comes a time in Midlife where you get to do fun things for yourself. My first playful purchase was a new bicycle.

MY FIRST POST-WORK PURCHASE

It didn't take long for the less-than-employed craziness to take hold now that I have the head space to start thinking about what I'd like to do in the months ahead. We went out shopping last week and before I knew it - we'd bought me a bike to ride around the neighbourhood on - it even has a cute little carry basket for when I pop down to the library or the shops.

MIDLIFE MADNESS - I QUIT MY JOB!

Tuesday 12 May 2015

GLORIOUS UNEMPLOYMENT

Oh my goodness! As of this week I am officially no longer employed.....I'm working half time for a couple of weeks as part of giving in my notice and then by the end of May I will be jobless. Scary but liberating all at the same time!

some thoughts on Mothers Day

Sunday 10 May 2015

My mum and me - a couple of years ago

Mothers Day brings all kind of feelings my way. I get caught up in waiting for my "kids" to call and reading posts on facebook from friends who have their kids nearby and put up happy snaps. I always seem to want more from the day than what it actually provides.

grown up colouring-In

Saturday 9 May 2015

I have a secret love - unfortunately it is not anything that is remotely romantic or exciting but it is something that I find relaxing and strangely satisfying.....Yes it's colouring in. I thought I was the only grown-up in the world who loved spending time choosing colours and finishing pictures but it turns out that there are a lot of us out there.

finding joy in a fragile life

Wednesday 6 May 2015

"Life is fragile. We're not guaranteed a tomorrow so give it everything you've got." - Tim Cook

I've spent a lot of my life missing out on the moment because I was always trying to be prepared for what was coming up next. Whether it was a rainy day or an unexpected glitch in the matrix or whatever surprise was in store for me, I wanted to be ready for it.

this is the golden age

Tuesday 5 May 2015

I don't think Taylor Swift was referring to midlifers when she wrote this song, but the lyrics rang true to me about this stage of life. It is a golden age - time to take a breath and discover the person I have become, different to who I was and hopefully a better version of my younger self.

friendship quotas

Sunday 3 May 2015

PONDERING ON FRIENDSHIP

I've been thinking about friendships a bit lately and how many friends I have and how they relate to different aspects of my life. I've also wondered about whether there is a finite number of friendships that I can sustain at any given time.

I'm figuring out how to be happy

Friday 1 May 2015

Ralph Marston - Happiness is a choice, not a result. Nothing will make you happy until you choose to be happy.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately because I haven't felt truly happy for a long time. I certainly ave times when I'm happy and that's great, but there are a lot of times when I'm less than happy - not sad but just a bit blah.......as I said, "less than happy".