Accidental Dry January

So now that January has come to a close, I have seen several posts on Facebook and what not about friends and family that have accomplished Dry January! Well first, let me say Congratulations to each of you that have set out and achieved - and by no means does what I have to say next, undermine what any of you have accomplished. Whilst reading one of these posts on Facebook, I realised that I have done Dry January completely by accident... Anyone that knows me knows that I don't really drink very often, and even when I do (and we're talking special occasions) I don't exactly drink much! The last time I did was New Year's Eve, where I went out with my boyfriend, sister and friends to celebrate the incoming New Year!

That glass in my hand contains Southern Comfort and lemonade - my drink of choice, and I had plenty of it that night (by my standards anyway; the others drunk me under the table) Since then, I haven't had any alcohol, as I tend to by the designated driver - by choice - as drinking doesn't hold much interest for me. I have just as much fun drinking soft drinks and taking photos, and knowing that everyone has a ride home at the end of a great night! My next drinking session will probably be my birthday in the summer, unless something else seems important enough before then... Oh, and my cheeky tipple of Bailey's in my hot chocolate when snuggling on a cold night! 

So, I think for February I need to try giving something up that actually means something to me; something that I need to think about and that will take effort on my part! I'd say chocolate, but I think I might be asking a lot of myself to just decide to give up chocolate and then do it - I need to put some thought into that and prepare myself psychologically! I'm thinking sweets - I eat a lot of sweets; they're my go to for things like driving, and time at the pub. So, I'm gonna clean out my bag and put the stuff in the cupboard in a box and see how I go!

Wish me luck!!

Our House - in the middle of our street

I think I'm in!!

Having signed the lease to move in with my boyfriend on the 2nd January - I think I am finally moved in! It took several trips to and from mum's, where I have lived for the best part of my life (University, and one failed attempt at moving out excluded) and more boxes and bags full of stuff than I could ever imagine... but I did it. I'm a big girl now. I never knew I owned so much stuff - and how on earth I fit it all into my tiny little bedroom at home I will never know.

Over the course of the last few weeks though,  have slowly turned his man pad into our home - there are little signs of me everywhere now... photos on the walls, ornaments and picture frames on the surfaces, clothes around, my shoes in the kitchen - I even bought a small cupboard for in the dining room to keep my writing stuff in so that I didn't take over the dining room table too much!

I love it - I was genuinely worried about spending most of the days by myself, as due to work patterns, there was always someone around at home - here, I spend the day alone, and the Simon comes home in the evening and we get the evenings together! It hasn't been as bad as I expected -  keep myself busy. I'm the master of washing; I have a routine and everything that means I get it all done, and get the kids room cleared out in time for their visit at the weekend. It resembles Window Twanky's laundry throughout the week. Plus I am experimenting int he kitchen - I have been cooking most weekday nights, and Simon takes over at the weekend... I have tried out new things - including Dad's stew! It turned out alright :) Even Daddy said so, as of course I took some for him to try - I needed an expert's opinion!

One of the other things I worried about was missing my Mom - I know, I'm supposed to be a big girl now - but I'm still a Mommy's girl at heart. Turns out, I didn't need to worry - I've seen her pretty much every day since moving out, even if it has only been a quick fly by - this week I've seen her every day as I'm helping decorate. Yup, she didn't wait long after both my sister and I moved out to give the place a lick of paint... Only joking - we're giving her bedroom a long overdue makeover!!

That's all for today - the washing machine has just finished... off to hang it all up, and crack on with my day - talk soon x

Lending a hand and learning new skills!

So, Monday night found me back at the Park Lane store in Meadowhall, after hours! Having closed up early, the team set to work scanning, counting and rearranging in order to get through the stock take! This was where I came in; reinforcements! Scan gun in hand, I took to scanning and worked my way through the shop, following the rest of the team and keeping count of the stock levels. It was interesting, and I learned loads about stock levels, and how to keep a check on them. Plus it was ace being back there and seeing some of the staff - I hope they missed me!!!

When Doncaster have their stock take, I'm gonna be a pro. I like that they included me, it gave me a chance to add some kills to my repertoire - stock take is something I always managed to avoid in my previous job; just by accident, so this gave me an insight into something that I have been around for years, but never actively been a part of. It's all about the Personal Development :)

Plus - I learned from my time at Meadowhall over Christmas - and when I got there, I searched for the closest available space to the walkway, meaning I didn't have the long trek back to the car at eleven at night!!

See - I might be blonde, but I can learn a trick or two!!

Starting a new shop...

Well, it happened... I started at my new shop yesterday - I am now an official Bookseller for Waterstone's!! I belong to the Doncaster, Frenchgate store now, and loved my first day yesterday :)

The shop is on two floors, with a cosy little downstairs where you can find all new and best sellers, the charts for both fiction and non-fiction, plus a range of games, stationary and local interest books and items! There is also a whole bay for Harry Potter, plus some children's books and a bay full of David Walliams books... This was where you would have found me yesterday - I was the first face you came across when you entered the strore - Unlucky for some right? But, I had a smile on my face all day, kept the place clean and tidy, and managed to answer all customer enquiries with confidence! Get me eh?!


Upstairs is where all the fun is - the sections are all upstairs - including the main fiction section - which is where you can normally find me if I'm there as a customer; look for the fantasy books and you'll see me!! There are also the other sections you'd expect to find: sport, biography, music and entertainment, hobbies, along with many more, and of course - the children's department. It's great. Very open and colourful, and full of books... what more could you want?! Oh, and did I  mention that we have a Costa Coffee shop on the top floor too :) What better combination than a new book and a delicious cup of your liquid of choice - for me, it's always hot chocolate!

I went with great intentions - packed up a little lunch, though by my own admissions it wasn't great as we are heading for the shops tonight, so very little food to actually pack... My intentions, as usual, failed me by lunch time and I went in search of something better - Bingo! There's totally a Subway just around the corner! That sorted, I hunted down a guy that could help with my parking issues - great parking and affordable prices - if you're there to shop... an eight hour shift however, is going to break the bank if I have to pay for the car park every time I'm there... That sorted, it was back to work!

Other than having chosen the wrong pair of boots and therefore being in great need of a bath and a foot rub by the time I got home, and suffering from a little loneliness by the end of the shift when the footfall of customers died down a little, I had a wonderful first day and am looking forward to next weekend! I have some reading material to get through by then - policies and other bits and bobs, but I have all week to read and digest the new information, and then get back there, raring to go!

Now you know where to find me, I hope to see some familiar faces dropping in - the centre is great too, though I have only explored a very small amount of it so far, it's definitely worth a visit!

See you soon, x

Filling in the gaps...

I thought I'd start to fill in some of the gaps that I have created over the last few posts... and I figured, where better to start, than with my website?

Back in my first post, I mentioned my website, along with the other social media sites you could find my alter ego at. I decided, after spending the day on Monday, overhauling and updating it for the new year, that I would share my site in more detail! So, here it is... click the picture to head on over to the site for a nosey!

Do you want to know more?? I hope so, because I'm going to tell you anyway... I set up the website for my pen name back in 2016; I used a crib site where I created my pages and then bought my domain (which I was incredibly impressed about when I managed to get the name without needing numbers and what not) and got it up and running. It was pretty basic back then - homepage, a small bio and the bookshelf where I listed my one book! Now, there are more pages, and more books - win:win right??

I hope you had a nosey at the site, if not, please do - I made it for people to see, not just to sit there costing me money each month... I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions; maybe a little constructive criticism - be nice though; it's my baby!!

Mid last year, I created The Zone too - a small area of the website meant only for subscribers to my newsletter! I keep the emails to a minimum, I don't want to be that name you dread seeing in your inbox every few days - my newsletter goes out on the first of the month, and includes updates, info, photos and exclusive competitions and material for the eyes of the subscribers only! Have I spiked your curiosity yet? I do hope so... Fancy subscribing? Hit this link and you will be taken to the subscribe page where you can input your email to join my mailing list. Follow the link in the email you receive and you're in - instant access to The Zone - where currently, there is a list of upcoming story lines and/or characters that I want your opinions on - Whose story do you want me to write next?? Have your say as a subscriber today!!

The other page I want to mention is the contact page - which you can see by clicking on the photo - where there are links to all of my other pages to do with Angel and my writing. Check out Facebook where you can get in touch and see what's going on, follow me on Instagram where I post photos regularly of what I'm up to, and find me on Goodreads where you can keep up with what I'm reading, and ask me questions about me and my writing. Feel free to get in touch on any social media platform of your choice - I love to hear from you, especially if it's to tell me how much you loved one of my books...

That's it for now - please check out the site and some of my social media platforms, and feel free to drop links on the post if there are any budding writers out there - I'd love to see your sites and social media pages too!

Vanessa, aka, Angel Mcgregor x

Winter Walks... Fails and small triumphs!

One of my New Year's resolutions was to start walking in an attempt to get ready to start jogging/running again once the weather improves a little... Last week - EPIC Fail!!

I had planned into my new shiny bullet journal to get out twice last week into the fresh air and go walking - and that it had to be at least a mile to count, so to the shop wasn't going to count! We managed to get out a grand total of zero... obviously excluding my hike to work from the staff car park!

So, I grabbed the proverbial bull by the horns and decided in my wisdom to take a walk in the brisk winter air this afternoon.

The destination; my Grandad's house...

I got all wrapped up, including my bear paws (my present from the other half - cute finger-less gloves with paws on the palms!) and left the new car at home to set off.

What I forgot, was that near enough the whole journey was uphill, and I was soon far warmer than anyone should be in this weather! It was nice though, to get out in he fresh air and just take a gentle walk - though my gentle walk is probably a lot faster than most... long legs and all that!



I made it though -  and in good time - you cannot understand though, just how annoyed I was when I realised that the distance showed up at just under the mile target I had in mind... I pacified myself however, with the fact that I had made it out of the drive and half way down the road when I got the app working - so obviously it counts!!!















Lesson learned for next time though - no cutting corners off for a start! I hope to get out somewhere with more scenery next time, but who knows... We'll see what happens, at least I got out and got started though, right??

New Year... New Start

In so many ways...

To say that my last post was only two days before the end of the year... and it's only four days after that same year ended, there has been so much happen! Firstly, my car broke down just before Christmas... and on New Year's Eve we decided that I needed to do something about it! So, we did. I said my goodbyes and left her with the guy at We Buy Any Car! Then I had to do something about a new one - this having to rely on lifts everywhere is getting old real quick... So, in good old Daddy fashion - he found one and we went to see it - and it's that simple. I pick it up this afternoon; fingers crossed!

New Year was great - I spent the evening with my baby sister, some great friends, and I got to kiss the love of my life at midnight!!

The night with the Atomic lads, over at the Milestone Pub was a fantastic evening filled with laughs, silly photo opportunities and some amazing memories being made - we even video called my mom at midnight so that she could join in the celebrations!!

This new year brings with it some great plans for the music side of my life - Angry Jesters have gigs booked in every month already, the jam nights are back up and running and there are even some arena gigs on the cards!


In other areas of my life - I moved in with Simon over the last few days - we signed the lease for the house, made it official and I got to sorting through the enormous amount of stuff I had crammed into the small bedroom at home!! Little things like being here when he gets home are going to take a while before they wear off - I love the smile on his face when he finds me doing normal 'housey' things.

We even went shopping last night to fill the fridge, as it often looks like a fridge straight out of a bachelor pad - milk, bread and beer being the staples. Now it is full of food I can cook - one of my New Year's Resolutions being to try out new recipes. Which s more than I can say for my plans to get out walking - I do have two and a half days left to fit in two walks - but it's not looking good for the first week!

As for other Resolutions - I have bought myself a little calendar to use for my writing plans... I want to try and stay on top of things this year - publish to dates and keep editing in check. By the end of last year I had let things go a little, and that resulted in a story going a little AWOL for a while. Not this year! I am going to stick to monthly planning and keep to dates and times - should be easier this year as there were other factors last year that played their part. So - keep your eyes on my author page, website and Instagram for more details and to keep up to date with the goings on of my alter ego... Oh, and sign up to my newsletter - that way you get insights and sneak peaks at ideas and writing before the rest of the world... Just put your email into this link and then click the link in the email it sends to you and you're in - plus you get instant access to The Zone - a small area on my website just for the subscribers!! There are currently a few ideas for new stories that I'm looking for opinions on!!

I think that is enough for now - I have other news, and other things to tell you, but I'll save them for another day - and more to the point - until I have better photos to accompany the posts... I just have to say that it finally feels like life is dealing me a hand that I can play... It's only the beginning of the things that are still to come, but it is definitely a start...