Week one.

I landed in the Netherlands on the 18th at 9:20pm, which was pretty emotional to be honest. Leaving my parents and brother was upsetting, and it took me a while to quit tearing up. We got back and we have been keeping busy for the most part. Signed my resident paperwork, got myself a bank account set up and now to learn the language! Gonna be tough, but there is no way I can't do it. May take a long time since I am terrible at learning languages, damn. 

Need to find insurance, which is like rocket science to me. Never looked at it, so wish me luck? I need it.

The week has consisted of getting my sleep pattern normal, settling in and getting over how odd it is waking up and not being in my house in England. Going to be visiting my family as soon as I can, so I am excited about that! 

Just got to get on with it. Instead of seeing and acting like it is the end of the world, I am going to flip it and see it as the start of a new chapter. 

As lame as that sounds. Ha. 

One year down!

Today marks the first full year with Danny, which if you haven't guessed already is my boyfriend. He is a massive gaming nerd, but It's the reason I went and fell for him. Also how we met! So I can't grumble much, but I do regardless. *wink*

We spent the evening having a nice, quiet drink and meal followed by watching some terrible films! Including Shark Night (his choice). Was pretty darn awful, but kept him entertained while I carried on glueing stuff into my scrapbook. I know, again?! Think I am addicted to cutting things up and sticking it to other stuff. Yeah. 

So I would like to share my favourite photo of the night! 

"Look, Fran! A hill!" Haha. Bless him! Okay, he didn't actually say it but it made me laugh anyway. 

One year together and we haven't killed each other. Good sign! Lets see what happens in the next one shall we? [insert cheers here]

Happy Anniversary! <3 

What has Fran been up to...

Who would have thought packing my belongings would be so hard? Three boxes later and I am finally done! Danny was sat watching as my perfectionist side came out and my lists were drawn up. He was just looking at me all confused and stuff, but you ain't gonna change that now! This girl likes her lists because it gives me an excuse to have my stationary addiction. Yup. 

So the biggest job was making my old magazines useful again before I move. I got a pretty groovy notebook I bought impulsively and decided to scrapbook, which oddly enough was very therapeutic. Messy but relaxing.

It also made seven magazines into one notebook, which left more space and me feeling all creative. Oh yeah. 

As for the days I have been AWOL, Saturday was great fun. A meal with everyone I worked with, and they all got me a lovely card and gift. Thank you very much to them all and I will actually miss you. I know, I know. It shocked me too. *wink*

Sunday was a day of scrapbooking-ness. 

Monday I took Danny and Alfie to the Dam nearby. Danny kept nagging me to see it and hopefully he enjoyed it, and I got some snaps of it myself. One place I will miss, but I am sure I will see it again when I visit! 

Then mum had got Evil Dead so we made everyone watch it. Gruesome and loved it, naturally. Watching dads face while all the hacking and stabbing ensued was entertaining in itself!

Still got a lot to finish, but thought I would give you a quick update. 

Top apps on my phone right now.

Pinterest. 

I had no idea what the hell this was when I first installed it, but it is actually pretty great. It is similar to we heart it, but you make your own boards for specific topics and others can follow you. For me it made finding images, tutorials, and just random stuff easier. God only knows the frustration I experienced when googling for things on my iPhone. Damn. 

Instagram

I am guessing the majority of people with a mobile phone now have this app. It has become the centre of a lot of peoples universe, and I have to admit more so in mine too. My excuse is that I am moving and the stuff I do, well I am guessing that friends and family will wanna see them. I admit my instagram has become a dumping ground for images I find snazzy or humorous. Who cares, huh? Well, Danny does nothing but whine about hashtagging but he needs to get with the times. Or man up! *wink*

Blogger

This has been a God send. Since my PC decided to give up on me, I have had nowhere to log on and post. This app has kept my new blog going for the last couple of weeks, and now I am in the swing of things. However, it is pretty simple and could do with some features adding. Like visit stats and all that jazz, but as they say 'less is more'.

Whatsapp

In the past I was an avid texter. Always texting until I hit my limit or ran out of credit but this app is awesome. Since I started seeing Danny (he lives in the Netherlands) I am never off this app. Can contact him all day and night with no problems and minus the huuuuge phone bill every month. Since I will be living there in just over a week this app will be used a ton, and more so than it has been. This and Viber will be my main points of contact to my family, which is important because I got homesick in Scarborough on a school trip!

So, those are my useful apps but I have an array of pointless ones too. Candy Crush being one of them and I blame my friends for this addiction! This game will not beat me...even if it kills me. Another one which is useless now is the WoW app but that may be of use soon. Lets see how I feel. 

Who am I kidding. I always return.

Mini haul post.

Went out today and decided I would give myself a limit of ten pounds to spend. Well, I am not a fan of wandering through crowded shops fighting for stuff, but I did find a couple of things.

Figured that since my hair has faded to a 'ginge' colour, lets just dive right in! Feria permanent hair dye in Intense Copper for £4.79, which I will be praying takes properly. 

As for the hat, it was an impulse buy which I was happy to find out was actually £4.99 at New Look instead of £6.99! A nice surprise. I am not sure if it was the last one, but I could not find anymore on the store. 

The rest of the day consisted of Starbucks, popcorn and Wolverine! A pretty cool film if anyone is considering checking it out. Made me miss my fringe though, to cut it again or not. Guess I will keep ya posted? 

Two days, one post.

On the 1st of August I met Danny in Manchester Airports terminal 1. A 4am start and it was bloody awful waking up at that time, got on the train and then I managed until 10:30 by throwing coffee down my neck to stay awake! That bit wasn't that bad actually. Glad I don't have to do that again for a loooong, long time.

The rest of the night consisted of watching films while Alfie harassed Danny. Reliving my youth watching Cinderella, but I am not sure Danny was pleased with that. Oops. 

Yesterday we visited the coast. The original plan was to see Cleethorpes, but somehow my father took us to Scarborough instead on his magical mystery tour as he likes to call it! To be honest it was a good mistake since it is a much better place to show Danny, but the traffic there was insane. 

In between dads cursing and beeping I kept falling asleep. Like an old lady already. Tut. 

When we finally got there we ate, had a coffee (not a surprise really) and walked down to the front. Was really hot, and guess who had to carry all the coins for amusements...felt like a bloomin' pack horse. Anyways, I won a prize, ate fish and chips and kinda feel like a massive pig. All in all it was a nice day actually! 

Fin.

Because everyone loves a list!

One more day at work and then I leave. Almost five years spent there are coming to an end, and I am welcoming it with open arms. Thursday will be an early morning, but while I sit patiently in Manchester Airport I will read and keep my eyes open with caffeine! Is it odd that I like airports? Don't know why but it's really cool seeing all these different people coming and going. Watching women with their gigantic bags they can hardly lift, and people like me wandering aimlessly trying to get their head around where things are. Hey I said I liked them, not that I was any good in them!

So, while I waited for my mum and dad to pick me up today (late may I add!), I decided I wanted to make a list. A list of things I want to start and achieve within my first year into the move.

1. I am going to teach myself art and improve my confidence by showing my work. Slowly but surely. A hurdle I have to clear if I want to go and study art, too.

2. Grow my hair as long as I possibly can. Never ever had hair much longer than my shoulders, which is just unacceptable! I lost out on braiding my hair and I am feeling robbed.

3. Get a bike and make it my own. Paint and all that jazz. The older and quirkier the better! Going to make it all pretty. Pimp my bicycle!

4. Stick with my fitness and healthy lifestyle. Want to change some of my eating habits gradually, but my body will need time to adjust when I move. Travelling always is uncomfortable.

5. Stop biting my nails. God, I frustrate myself when I start chewing on them. I want some damn nails to paint. Well, I also need to learn how to do that too, as one fails completely at it.

6. Be more social, and say no less to invitations. Step out of that comfort zone I like to hide in. I have missed out on so much due to that one insecurity. Nobody is looking at you Fran, you ain't that damn important.

Fran 2.0 is in the making! Got to say I am very excited about looking back on my life -at myself - in a years time and seeing what I have done and what has changed. Wow, this is such a perfect squee moment.

Bring it on!