Many Steps Sideways

Bye bye blogger

2015-03-23T23:06:00.000+00:00

Bye Bye Blogger.

You've been awesome.

It's been almost 4 1/2 years since I started blogging back in August 2010.

I started out strong, but posts have pittered out over the last couple of years.

There were 540 published posts all together.

My most popular post was my LEGO series 11 minifigure post with 51303 views.

It's time to go though.

Kind of.

I'm over at wordpress now for Many Steps Sideways 2.0.

I couldn't part with the name. It still strikes me as apt for getting through life.

Come see me and say hi.

I'm playing 100 Happy Days starting tomorrow.

2014 in review

2014-12-29T21:50:00.000+00:00

So, it's been a year of very sporadic blogging.

At least this year there were more posts than last year! Woo! Year on year improvement!

My resolutions for last year were: (I've crossed off ones I managed)

Get healthy.
Write a Will.
~~Sew more.~~
~~Read more.~~ (Although the number of books is less, I read a lot of big books!)
~~Do interesting things.~~
~~Take photos for fun. Learn my camera.~~
~~Buy a car.~~
Be motivated.

In 2014 I:

Saved over 4000 photos to iPhoto
Uploaded 2000 photos to Flickr
Bought a car
Photographed my brother's wedding
Stopped Aikido and started Kendo
Went to see Anna in Berlin
Bought a second lens for my camera
Read 32 and a half books
Completed a 100x LEGO photo project
Joined a gym
Visited the Harry Potter Studio Tour
Saw Phantom of the Opera
Watched all of Gossip Girl
Launched my LEGO blog (144 posts as of now)
Meet Julie (twice!) from Moments of Perfect Clarity

In 2015 I want to:

- Make a will
- Make Sourdough
- Make sausages
- Make pulled pork
- Go to the gym at least once a week, seeing as it's opposite the office
- Take 365 photos of LEGO, one a day, with at least 52 of those using manual settings
- Be more real
- Visit Sweden

What did you manage to do this year? What do you want to do in the coming year?

Meandering through Berlin

2014-11-16T16:42:00.001+00:00

I wrote this on the plane on the way home from Berlin. I haven't had a chance to tidy it up, but it's pretty much what we did in Berlin!

I've added some photos though!

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We've walked the length of Berlin over the last few days. Well, maybe not that far, but we've done a lot of walking! (Enough that my foots packed up!)

We arrived Monday lunchtime, and after a quick stop in the Berlin Lego store, we met with Anna (Pip's cousin) to pick up a key to her flat ad have lunch

We had a very traditional German lunch of spätzle and Schnitzel! Delicious meal number one!

You will notice that we did a lot of eating whilst away, because the food here is excellent and cheap!

After making it back to Anna's flat, we kind of passed out rather than going out - 4am start not the best of plans!

On Friday we did the tourist thing, although because we have both been to Berlin several times, we didn't go in anywhere.

What we did was walk from Potsdammer Platz, up to the Brandenburg gate, along Unter den Linden, and then all the way up to the TV tower. We then took a bus back to Anna's flat for lunch.

Another note about Berlin - transport is cheap - it's €6.70 for an all day, all transport, travel card. That's ridiculous!
I'd recommend the bus over the train as you can sit up top and watch Berlin below!
We didn't do it, but you can go around all the main areas of Berlin by bus as a cheap tour ride!

After lunch we took a bus back to Potsdammer Platz to walk through the Tiergarten - the weather has been unseasonably warm and as result the trees were still changing from green to orange and beautiful!

We walked trough the park, to the golden Lizzi statue in the middle, and then headed to KaDeWe to take a look around. We had our first currywerst at this point! Followed by an introduction to Dickman's sweets! Haha!

After KaDeWe we went with Anna to meet her husband Hilko at the main train station before heading to pips aunt and uncles for a traditional German dinner! Yum! (See, it was all about the food!)

On Saturday we headed into Kreuzberg to go spend the day shopping and for the best local sushi!

More amazing cheap delicious food! After that we explored (place name!), took Hilko back to the station and then went back to (place) for cocktail happy hour! €5 for cocktails! Crazy!
We also had chips, nachos and Flammkuchen! Super! After that (really, it was foodie heaven!!) we shared a Currywurst from Currywurst 36 - apparently the best Currywurst place in Berlin!

Sunday we had a much more chilled day, as feet were increasingly sore after all the walking! We woke up late, had breakfast and then headed to Fehrbelliner Platz for the flea market there.

This was pretty much just a jumble sale type thing - over hyped by the internet I think! We did however have excellent coffee in the cafe there!

After this we went back to (place) on my photo-booth hunt! Successfully found one and I stringy recommend that if you spot one in Berlin, you get in there!

After this we were pretty exhausted so we went back to the cocktail bar, now masquerading as a coffee shop, for coffee and cake! German sure know their cake!

Finally we headed home, stuffed and exhausted! We then spent the evening talking and watching you tube clips! :)

As out flight was at 2, we didn't have much time for anything more than some final bretzals and packing our stuff!

We also stopped off at a supermarket for some extra German chocolate goodies and a magazine for pips mum, before taking the train to the zoo!
After that we stopped in Karstadt, a department store off of Kurfürstenstraße.

Then it was off to the airport where we had ridiculously expensive coffee and lunch!

Project Life

2014-10-09T20:33:00.001+01:00

So I bought myself the Project Life starter kit (Midnight edition), a binder and some wallets for my birthday.

27 has got to be a good year to do this. Right? ;)

I went with the standard front cover page for the set. I may change this up a bit later on.

I also did a little introduction page.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4 (and a bit)

The good thing about Project Life is that it can be as simple or as detailed as you like. I've tended towards a photo based weekly layout so far.

I've been getting my photos every couple of weeks from Snapfish, although I can see that I may get them monthly instead. Yet to be decided!

What I did get was the Project Life rounded corner maker - it's brilliant and makes photos fit much better in with the layouts!

Do you do Project Life? If so, let me know! I'd love to see some of your layouts!

30 Lists days 25-28

2014-09-28T19:44:00.001+01:00

What balance means to me:

- Work Vs Play.

Rules for traveling with me:

- Stay calm and help me stay calm
- Let me sleep and read (as long as I'm not driving!)
- Make sure I get snacks and coffee
- Direct me!

I am thankful for:
- My family
- Pip
- Having a home
- Having a job I like
- My friends
- Good books
- Good coffee
- Love
- Hot water

This time next year:
- I want to have visited Sweden and Denmark
- Start looking for another job
- At least be thinking about moving out
- Have a macro lens
- Have a new computer (If this one slows up anymore, it's going out the window!)
- Anything is possible!

30 Days of Lists - Days 23 and 24

2014-09-24T20:26:00.001+01:00

Don't tell anybody but...

- I don't want to grow up
- Some days all I want to do is yell at people to leave me alone
- I want to travel ore
- I want to be better at things but I'm too lazy
- I have no life plan or ambition - I'm still just meandering (which I'm okay with, but I wouldn't mind one)
- Help

My favourite authors: (In no particular order!)
- Neil Gaiman
- Terry Pratchett
- J.K. Rowling
- Tolkein
- Katie Fforde
- Meg Cabot
- Philip Pullman
- George R.R. Martin
- Steven Erikson
- Connie Willis
- Ursula le Guin
- Ray Bradbury
- Anne McCaffrey
- Max Brookes
- Trudi Caravan
- John Green
- Adam Douglas

30 Lists Day 22

2014-09-22T20:04:00.000+01:00

We live at home, so only cook weekends. This is an awesome pretend world list of our favourites:

- Burriots
- Fajhitas
- Sous vie Steak
- Loaf of homemade bread warm from oven
- Katsu curry
- Snitzel and Spetzla
- Super spicy chilli

30 Lists Day 20 and 21

2014-09-21T19:41:00.001+01:00

Day 20 - Guilty Pleasures

- Real, homemade bread
- LEGO
- Marshmallows with hot coco
- Excessive napping
- Stationary
- Cath Kidston bags (and dresses)

Day 21 - Some of the music I love (as I don't listen to podcasts)

- Amanda Palmer
- Rufus Wainwrigt
- Blind Guardian
- Noah and the Whale
- Placebo
- Neutral Milk Hotel
- Death Cab for Cutie
- Nick Cave
- The Mountain Goats
- Of Monsters and Men

30 Lists Day 19

2014-09-19T20:35:00.002+01:00

Wow, almost a third of the way through now!

I feel coziest when:

- It's cold outside, and not 22 degrees in September!
- I can snuggle under many blankets with a huge pile of pillows
- I have a good book around
- Hugs

I would also like to add wearing hats and jumpers to this list!

30 Lists Day 18

2014-09-18T20:13:00.001+01:00

Things I do that I wish made me money:

- LEGOgraphy
- Napping
- Buying things
- Reading
- Pinteresting

(I would also like my job to pay better!)

30 Lists Day 16 and 17

2014-09-17T20:11:00.001+01:00

So, I skipped out on Day 15. Here are 16 and 17!

Things that were on my wall growing up:

Teenager:
- a giant corkboard
- various postcards, magazine clippings etc
- Bufy/Angel/Spike posters
- Star Wars stuff
- Bunny and winnie the pooh cross stitch

I'm pretty sure there was also a Spice Girls poster at some point in my childhood...

Reasons to...NOT WORRY!

- It's not the end of the world
- Life goes on
- Other things will happen to make you forget
- It's bad for you to worry!
- It stops you relaxing
- What's the worst that could happen?

"Let go of what you cannot control"

Cold Brew Coffee

2014-09-16T21:19:00.000+01:00

We've been on a cold brew coffee kick over the last few weeks. In fact, we love it so much more than instant coffee, we went out and bought a freaking coffee grinder so we could make better cold brew coffee!

What is cold brew coffee, I hear you ask!

Simply put, it's ground coffee you leave in water for about 20-24 hours before filtering it out and bottling the liquid. In the fridge, we've kept ours for about 10-12 days. (Those coffee grounds work great for compost by the way - don't just throw them out!)

We found the method we use from Jamie Oliver's Food Tube channel! Check out the video below to learn how to make your own cold brew!

And once you've made your coffee, you'll want to watch this one too!

My personal favourite way to drink it is in frothy latte form.

For this you will want to heat up just under a mug of milk, and then froth it up using either a hand-held frother, or, if you have more kitchen gadgets than strictly necessary, a jug frother (we actually use this quite a lot - it packs a lot more froth punch than the hand-held ones!)

Then pour as much cold brew coffee in as you want. A good glug does it for me.

Watch the coffee alchamy and then sit back and relax!

30 Lists Day 14

2014-09-14T15:43:00.001+01:00

Best places to find inspiration:

- Pinterest (what did we do before Pinterest dammit?)
- Hobbycraft (Because who doesn't go to a craft store and see ten million things they want to try!)
- Blogs
- Magazines
- The Kitchen
- The garden

30 Lists Day 13

2014-09-13T21:41:00.001+01:00

The best things about this week:

- That it's OVER! (A little sad, but it felt like it went on forever, with quite a lot of work stress!)
- Cold-brew coffee (will blog about this soon as this is our current foodie thing!)
- LEGO Haunted House (coming soon to my LEGO collection!)
- The Weekend! (There is a serious need to start relaxing a little bit!)

30 Lists Day 12

2014-09-12T21:30:00.002+01:00

Must haves for a night in:

- Tea/biscuits (because I'm Britsh)
- Popcorn (homemade!)
- Netflix
- Blankets
- A Pip

I love autumn and winter - HIBERNATION TIME!

30 Lists Day 11

2014-09-11T20:46:00.001+01:00

Things I finished (so far) this year:

- Youth Services site for work
- Tom and Dawn's wedding photo
- Tom's LEGO birthday card
- Getting a car
- A whole bunch of LEGO reviews

30 Lists Day 10

2014-09-10T21:19:00.003+01:00

Subjects I can talk about for hours:

- The importance of a good nap
- LEGO
- Online standards and forms
- Harry Potter
- Doctor Who
- Meeeeeeeeeee

30 Lists Day 9

2014-09-09T18:44:00.000+01:00

Ain't nobody got time for that:

- ironing pants and socks
- excessive hair and make up
- making pasta
- making pastry
- slow internet
- adverts

30 Lists day 8

2014-09-08T21:02:00.001+01:00

Books everyone should read:

- The Lord of the Rings - by JRR Tolkein
- Harry Potter - by You Know Who
- Good Omens - by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
- The Ocean at the end of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
- His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
- Heston at Home - by Heston Bluthmental
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Bread by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Gavin Kingcome

30 Lists Day 7

2014-09-07T18:32:00.001+01:00

Chores I actually enjoy:

- Hoovering
- Cleaning my desk
- Organising stuff
- Making the bed

30 Lists day 6

2014-09-06T10:19:00.003+01:00

Every night before I go to bed:

- Set my alarm clock
- Clean my teeth
- Take my asthma inhaler
- Read something
- Check for monsters under the bed (only joking)

30 Lists day 5

2014-09-05T19:32:00.000+01:00

Things to nurture this month:
- Any and all downtime
- Friendship
- Good books
- Coffee
- New things

30 Lists: Day 4

2014-09-04T18:49:00.001+01:00

Day four of 30 lists is all about projects to finish this month! I'm always in the middle of something these days, and September has actually turned out to be a pretty busy month for project work, both at my day job and at home!

What projects do you have going on that you have to finish this month?

30 days of lists: day three

2014-09-03T11:00:00.000+01:00

Day three of 30 Days of Lists

If I had an extra hour in the day:

- Read before bed
- Go to the gym (maybe)
- Probably watch more Netflix!
- Create/sew more stuff
- Take a nap
- Cook more

30 Lists #2: 'I can't pass up'

2014-09-02T08:30:00.000+01:00

I can't pass up...

- Chocolate

- Books
- Naps
- Coffee/Tea
- LEGO Stormtroopers
- Hugs from Pip