Little Pixels

Thank goodness for Pixels!

Since I moved here 6 weeks ago, I am still unemployed! Desperately seeking Betty will be seeking for a long time it seems.

There is nothing about at all, and my creativity it just waiting to explode.
Apart from that, I can't live off my partner for ever. I feel guilty every time we pay for our food shopping, and I feel guilty when I ask for little things like train fare or little cakes in the supermarket (which is actually a more regular occurence!) and I feel guilty watching him in his office working away whilst I sit on the sofa downstairs doing 'bits 'n' bobs' to feel useful.

Thank goodness for Pixel Air and it's success.
My partner has had his company for a year now and it just goes from strength to strength. I really admire him. He is the best in his field, and rather than be complacent, he challenges himself every day learning new techniques and ways to do things.
His clients are delighted with his results and what's more, he really really loves his job. He huffs and puffs that he has 'so much work to do' but between you and I, he used to sit at his desk til past midnight long before Pixel Air was started! In truth, he loves nothing more than designing websites, and he would do it even if he wasn't getting paid to do it!

Pixel Air is based in our office upstairs, although will soon be moving to bigger premises. I guess Pixel Air is one of the reasons we were able to move so far away from London. Web-based, it was easy to continue relations with all of the clients, and moving somewhere like Knutsford can only be an inspiration.
We have Manchester closeby with all of the museums and galleries, and we have lots of new contacts.

The North hasn't embraced the website culture like London. In London everyone has a website. Even the local newsagent will have a website.

One thing I realised when I was organising our wedding in North Wales, from London, was that I couldn't find any suppliers online. And it was so important to me to be able to see a website, as organising a wedding involves a lot work and research, and I really can't be bothered to phone everyone in the hope that they will have what I want. I need to see pictures easily. If a company didnt have an email, I crossed them off my list as I really didnt have time to waste in calling them, waiting for a leaflet or brochure etc, and then have to do all of our communication via a phoneline.

So we thought that could be a good thing for Pixel Air. The less companies that already have a website the better - we think!

It is 7:15pm now and my partner is still upstairs working. I have asked him to take a night off tonight as it is Friday so that I can spend time with him and, I don't know, do something really exciting like watch a film!
He has agreed! Although I know that he really wouldnt mind sitting up there all night being a little geek with his pixels!!

That's what I want.
I remember starting at my last company - oh what a dream. It was oh so creative and wonderful. I worked so hard. I loved learning new things all the time. Sunday nights I would be filled with excitement for the next day - no, really! I couldn't believe I was actually getting paid to do what I was doing.

However, things changed. Or rather, they didnt! My company was lovely for a new person to work in. Full of challenges and full of praise. But you couldn't progress and there wasn't anything new to learn. I even managed to convince the bosses to create a new role for me as a promotion - something that had never been done before - but even that, little by little, was taken away from me.
After 5 years, I was at the same level as someone who had entered the company only a few weeks ago.

Oh I loved the feeling of loving my job. To be so lucky as to go to work everyday with a spring in your step. To really try hard everyday, not because you had to, but because you wanted to. It was fantastic. I wish it could have lasted longer.

I now realise that the most important thing for me in my next job will be job satisfaction and happiness and pride - all of which I forfeited towards the end of my last job. I am willing to turn down job offers if they do not suit my requirements, because seeing how my partner works inspires to me to do the same.

The more you love your job, the more you will put into it.
Why don't bosses ever see that?

Blogging gets you everywhere

As a really keen writer, who would absolutely love to write professionally, I set up this blog as an outlet - a way to channel my creativity, a way to feel like I am actually talking to people from my lonely position on the sofa all day, and a way for me to exercise my tippy-tappy fingers!

And really that was all. I didn't think anyone would ever read it (and hoped not really as I have so much private stuff in here), least of all to show an interest in anything I have to say.

So imagine my surprise when I get a knock on the door this morning, and there, looking very dapper in his suit, notebook in hand, was a journalist from the Knutsford Guardian, wanting to do an interview about me and my partner! In some very clever, journalistic way, he had found my blog about moving from London to Knutsford and decided to do an article on it!

The picture I put up at the beginning of that particular post, was all he needed to find me (as Knutsford is quite small and everyone knows everyone!)

Well, there was me, in my absolute slob gear, no make up, hair tied up ridiculously as only you would if you were sure you weren't going to see anyone, with a big toe poking out of over-stretched pink socks, and there was Alvin, showing off as as he always do when someone new and interesting comes round! He never behaves like that when I am here on my own, but as soon as we sat down with the reporter, Alvin decides to do his sofa acrobatics, ending up sitting on my open laptop.

Anyway, it was lovely talking to this guy, and Knutsford, I think we did you proud! We said how much we loved it here and how settled we were since moving in.

I think the article will be in, in the next few weeks!

Knuts about home

My partner and I have just moved into our new home and we love, love, love it.
We have moved to Knutsford in Cheshire and it is just so completely far removed from our old flat in Tooting.
We have swapped our 1 bedroom ground floor flat, for a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom house in a lovely Close. We love love love it!

The town is beautiful and everyone so friendly that we are really feeling settled and homely already.
We have a pub round the corner, The Builders' Arms, where everyone says hello when you walk in. People take their dogs there and there is a garden in the back with a climbing frame.





Just across the road from us, you have a side entrance to Tatton Park, a beautiful park with deer, rabbits, free-roaming herds of sheep, all sorts.






We go for runs in the morning, covering a tiny portion of the park in proportion, but actually running 4 miles around the mere. With rabbits and squirrels and sheep dodging out of our way, and the silhouettes of antlers amongst the bracken, it is a far-cry from our morning jogs around the block and the local cemetry in Tooting.





Walking the other direction, within 5 minutes you are just walking through meadows of long long grass, with cows in fields and patches of woodland, and little brooks and lakes. It is just fantastic.



We love it more than we ever thought we would and so far we haven't missed London at all, despite secretly thinking that we would have a few withdrawal symptoms.

There are loads of lovely bars and restaurants about and quaint little boutiques.

We go to jive lessons on a Wednesday! Something we'd never have done in London!

The house is fatastic. It's a new-build about 5 years old. We ideally were looking for a Victorian / Georgian town house but that's til we actually visited Knutsford. The houses are either really really old or they are post-war boxes. The post-war boxes had no features and no character at all.
The old houses were full of character, but the ones that we could actually afford required way too much work and would end up costing way more money than we could ever afford. Also, they were tiny.

After viewing 50 houses (and that is no exaggeration) over 2 weekends of commuting from London, we finally saw this new-build, even after having specified to all of the estate agents 'No new-builds!'
But what the heck, we saw it anyway.

Anyway, I am sure it is the exception, but this new-build oozes charm and character and what's more, it is huge! It is by far, the biggest house we saw, has a lovely garden, and like I said before, has 3 bathrooms. And, it was cheaper than the flat we were selling!

Now that we have moved here, we still look at houses (especially the ones we viewed that are still on the market) and know we just made such a fantastic choice.

Our quality of life is so great and we have never been happier people. Every day is wonderful!

This used to be the kind of place we would visit to get out of London for a weekend, and we would browse the little shops and buy little home-made jars of chutney as a token of our break, and now we live here!!!

Welcome!

Hi and welcome to my blog.
I'm new to this and have never done one before so please bear with me if I dont seem to know what I'm doing!
I've known I've wanted to do a blog for ages and just never knew what to write about - I still don't, but I'm sure over time, I'll come up with a theme - I hope so, or else this will just be boring!
Well, let's introduce myself.
I am currently living in London although this is soon to change as I move in 2 weeks up north.
I have been living with my boyfriend for 7 years and we are getting married in September!
More recently we have been joined by a little rabbit who lives with us. He's wonderful and a very energetic and loving addition to the household.
Err... what else?
I am designer. A graphic designer I think. How do you know if you are a graphic designer? I design greetings cards.
I dont have a job to go to when I move up North but I will keep you posted.
Errr...
I guess I should tell you that I recently found out that I have endometriosis and that I cant have kids, well, not naturally anyway. Bit of a blow - well, a big blow actually but we are working through it.
If anything, at least it gets us talking about kids - a subject that was out-of-bounds before, and we have decided to focus on this once we are married.
We need to sort out my endometriosis first.

I am now sat in the artroom supposedly designing cards, although this is a very boring job. I mean, I love designing cards but we dont really have a lot of creative freedom and usually we dont have very much work to do because someone forgets to give it to us. Great opportunity to write a blog though!