lately...

Now that I've finally caught up with 2017's blog content I can finally move into this year. Hurray!

2018 has been quite a big year for me so far, mostly because... I bought a little house. All by myself! It still feels a bit surreal as I was beginning to think this day would never come. It's not that I dislike living at home with my parents as I love them to bits and they are fantastic housemates, but it has been 8 years since I moved home after university and I didn't envision staying there forever.

 My keys came with a Tetley tea keyring... It's like they knew I was a tea lady.

The house isn't big (only one bedroom) and it's a do-er upper but it has bags of charm and it's all mine. Luckily, since I still live at home, I can renovate it as and when I have the time and money... which is good as I have no money left! It's currently at the gutting stage and I'm saving up to buy a little stove and install heating. I may do a separate post on my house and renovation shenanigans if people are interested?

In February, two days after I got my house keys, my brother got married. Naturally I made my dress and handbag for the big day and I will blog about them soon. As a teaser, here's a rather spectacular panoramic bathroom selfie from the wedding venue.

Shortly after returning from the wedding I started beginner adult ballet classes! I know it sounds daft but this was a huge deal for me. Learning ballet has always been a dream of mine so I was so unbelievably excited that a class was finally being offered locally to me. However I was worried I couldn't physically manage it due to long running problems with sciatica. 

(Feel free to whizz past to baking photos at the end of the post if you have no interest in the following ramble.)

So... I've struggled with sciatica/back problems for the last 7 years and towards the end of 2016 it became so bad I could barely stand or walk for any length of time without my foot and leg going numb or feeling like somebody had severely kicked and welded my lower back. On really welded days, I struggled to bend down to put on underwear.

At the beginning of last year I finally decided enough was enough and started seeing a physio (I initially tried through the NHS years ago but had a really bad experience which put me off.) On my first visit she told me my leg was as weak as she'd seen, that it was as bad as somebody who's just had a hip replacement and my core muscles weren't supporting my body so no wonder I struggled to stand.

It has been a long year of rehabilitation, often feeling one step forward and two steps back as my sciatic nerve disagreed with many exercises, but I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere. I'm still not completely fixed, but my body is getting stronger and I'm regaining some of my long lost flexibility. I can even touch my toes again which makes me SO happy! There's no way I would have managed ballet classes this time last year without leaving the studio in severe pain. Admittedly there have been twinges, but no spasms so I'm counting it as a huge success. Looking back, I'm horrified I let my body get into such a poor state, but I guess I didn't know how much it was struggling until I started to fix things as it had been weak for so long.

Just so the end of this post isn't devoid of pictures, here are a few things I've baked over the last couple of months:

Mum's massive birthday trifle.

Very pink french fancies made with the left over sponges and fondant icing from another birthday cake.

Cheese scones I baked on Mother's Day to accompany soup.

I've actually baked quite a lot so far this year, and dare I say it, most bakes have been very successful. I'm going to blog a couple of them separately as they deserve full posts. 

So house-buying, a wedding and learning ballet have been my three big events so far this year. I wonder what April will bring? How has everyone else's year been so far?