Week 2 in photos

Here is week 2 of my week in photos. I have left Reading festival out of it as that is all in the post before, however here is my week in the lead up to reading :)

1: BBQ time, 2: new blue trousers, couldn't resist the Asda half price sale, 3: me, 4: gorgeous necklace from a charity shop for 70p.... bargain, 5: my housemates trying to get glass out of my foot (took 30 minutes and was bloody painful) 6: housemate doing a rescue mission for a cigarette that fell (thats our neighbours roof she's on) 7: festival nails..... got destroyed on the first night of Reading but at least they looked nice when I arrived, 8: Pick-n-mix :)

Post-Reading

So, I got back from Reading yesterday and the truth of it is that I am too knackered and hurting to tell you all about the festival, but here is a small selection of some of the photos taken while we were there. We didn’t take very many because we were all too busy and kept forgetting, it is also pretty hard to get your camera out from the bottom of your bag while you are squished into the crowd of thousands :p

I will just say though that it was amazing, an absolutely epic weekend was had by all. One of my highlights of the weekend being Florence and the Machine, despite her set being the only one it was raining pretty heavily for, they were incredible. We saw so many amazing bands, then once the music was over we danced our socks off in the silent disco and played drinking games at the tents :)

1 - Our little campsite, 2 - my wellies!!!! definitely got my moneys worth from them, 3 - the crowds at the main stage, 4 - my friend with the best looking nachos I have ever seen, 5 - my friend wearing the hat/scarf thing (he loved it, went down pretty well) 6 - me giving the camera a big thumbs up, 7 - my housemate drinking champagne in Tesco car-park (it doesn't get much more classy than that), 8 - me and my housemate chilling watching some awesome music :)

Apologies that the photos aren’t the greatest standard, I didn’t trust myself to take my expensive camera so took my old compact instead and also some are from my phone.

Now I am going to relax with a nice cup of tea in bed :)

Crafts and Recycling

One of my favourite things to do with my time is arts and crafts….. I’ve tried most of them but here is a short list of crafts I really enjoy, jewellery making, making soft toys (especially sock monkeys :p), sewing, crochet, cross stitch, scrap-booking, glass painting, anything beaded, card making, flower pressing…… you get the point, I bloody love my crafts. On a real note though, I find crafts give me an escape from my CFS and keep my mind active when my body isnt J. I am also known as a bit of a hoarder who cant throw anything away so I absolutely love recycling old things to make them into new things, for example unleashing the PVA glue and sequins on an old top or destroying old jewellery to make bead hangers for my curtains. Here are a couple things I recycled or up-cycled recently when feeling too unwell to venture out.

This first one was was an old frame which my lovely nan donated to me. It was a pale wood colour which I didn’t really like so I painted it white and with the addition of the cute little fabric flower, I think it looks adorable and shows off the picture of me and the boyfriend graduating nicely J

This is a wooden ‘A’ which my mother bought me, I painted it blue and added little roses. It livens up my otherwise plain bedroom door.

I bought some jeans from a charity shop (£3... I do love a good bargain) then cut them to the desired length and slashed, stabbed, cut and grated them till they looked nice and worn. I added press-through studs to the pockets and a gorgeous scarf which was a gift, as a belt (as they are slightly too big and kept falling down)

The reason for the creation of these shorts is because........ IM GOING TO READING FESTIVAL!!!! I’m soo excited, we're driving up there tomorrow, i'm going with some of my bestest friends in the world, I get to see 2 of my friends who I miss very very much and I am looking forward to giving them the squishiest hugs ever J I cannot wait for all the amazing music, the atmosphere, the drinking (and yes I am aware of how bad alcohol is for CFS sufferers), the dancing, the people, the camping, the mad outfits and even the mud...... because then I get to get out the mad floral wellies again.

However on a slightly sadder note, I am really not looking forward to how truly awful I will inevitably feel once I return home, but I am lucky enough to have a housemate who will do all the driving so I don’t have to and a boyfriend who will bring me endless cups of tea to help me through it. I am also aware that I am not going to be able to keep up with my friends all weekend and will have to find places to sit quite frequently but I will just sit back and soak up the sights, noises and atmosphere. I shall see you on the other side and let you know how it was J

Before I go, take a look at the mad new hat/scarf combo thing (not sure what to call it) that I bought at a carboot sale the other day for Reading…… I think there is no doubt in the fact that I look bloody awesome in it :P it is going to go so well with the stripy purple and red onesie :P

Week 1 in photos

I've decided to do round-ups of each week with the use of photos. Hopefully this will show you what i've been up to and show that even in the weeks when my health is at its worse that there are still lovely and happy things which happen. I strongly believe its the little things in life which can make you very happy and content and you need to appreciate them. Whether its a cup of tea brought to you in the morning or a new food to try, it all puts a smile on my face :). Anyway, enough of the lovey dovey stuff...... here is week 1 of my week in photos :) its been a bit of a quiet week but some lovely stuff has happened and looking back through my photos from the week I realised how well i've eaten this week thanks to my amazing housemate who fills our bellies with delicious goodies :) 

1: My little rodent buddies, 2: baked camembert with cranberry jam, baguette and port.... amazing, 3: eaton mess with an assortment of berries, 4: breakfast... tea and berries, 5: me in my new shorts, 6: a cute cactus bought for the boyf, 7: my first ever taste of watermelon, verdict was..... delicious, 8: crochet tablecloth I made for my bedside table :)

My CFS Journey

So I’ve decided to get it out of the way and give you a brief and hopefully not too deep explanation about my personal experience with CFS since I was diagnosed 7 years ago....

The story starts when I needed the last few days of each term off from school for possibly a couple years, then it got a lot worse and I was spending a lot of time in bed. I was taken in for tests at hospital and after months of theories, tests and speculation the doctors settled on the diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome after finding out I had undiagnosed Glandular fever at some point in the past. I was pretty much bedridden for a year, which was my year 11 of school so was trying to do my GCSE’s. I only managed to get to school for a couple hours in the afternoon on good days and missing school completely on the bad days. This period of my life is a bit of a hazy and fuzzy blur, I really don’t remember much at all apart from severe and continuous pain, my darkened bedroom, fatigue like I had never previously experienced and overwhelming boredom. It was quite a dark time, (literally due to light sensitivity but also emotionally and psychologically). My mum was my absolute rock, she did everything that she could in her power to help me and although I struggle to remember much from that year, I do remember my mum always being there when I needed a hug or a chat, even when I gave her a hard time sometimes.

I managed to get a ‘B’ in every subject at GCSE’s, which is quite impressive considering the circumstances. I then became a little stronger and got out of bed more often to do little things and thought I would have a go at college. With the help of personal taxi’s and very understanding teachers, my energy levels and strength gradually got better and better. I still had a lot more days off than my friends and was in constant pain and aching, but it was manageable and I was at college around 3 or 4 days a week. After getting pretty good grades I made the radical decision to go to Univeristy. Looking back, this might not have been the most sensible decision as I was adamant I would go to Portsmouth University which is 120 miles from my family home in the south-west. However it all worked out well and I think coming to university was the best decision I ever made. I learnt how to look after myself and how to deal emotionally with CFS on my own (however still with frequent of phone calls home, but I don’t think they will ever stop). I went to counselling which was definitely one of the best things I ever did as I learnt to accept that I am ill and that CFS isn’t going to just disappear overnight, this was a massive breakthrough which took me years to get to. I have now graduated with a first class honours and am living quite a slower pace of life as a graduate (still sounds weird to say) in Portsmouth, and although my energy levels have not been that great since graduating and my legs have been causing a few problems, I am still definitely not as ill as I was in school. Life is going really quite well at the moment and I am very happy with how it’s all turning out J

Take a look at the ‘About Me’ page to see what level I am at with my illness now and to see what I get up to with all my new found free time J I leave you with a photo of me at graduation….. because I actually managed to graduate :O I still cant get over it, I'm sure it will sink in eventually.

Welcome all

Hello :)

I'm pretty new to this whole blogging thing so feel privelidged as this is my first post. Basically, the short version of my story is, I am 21, my dream is to be a successful photographer, I have just graduated from university, I'm living in a flat with 2 of my best friends, I love all crafts, have a passion for vintage.... oh and I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) 7 years ago. I personally think my life is at a really good place at the moment due to many factors, I still have my bad days but the amount of awesome days makes the not so good ones easier to manage.

I plan to not get all moany and depressing in this blog (well maybe a little bit if I need to get something off my chest), but this is mostly a place for me to share my feelings, experiences and relationship with the illness in the hope that it will help other people who are going through similar things. Sometimes CFS can be a lonely and isolating illness, but I hope that I can show people that you are not the only one battling this stuff and that things can be pretty awesome, even if you feel you are trapped inside a body that isnt necessarily doing what you want it to. I also hope this blog might educate some people who dont even know this illness exists, if we can make the general public more aware and accept that this is a serious condition then it might help to fight the prejudices and assumptions associated with CFS.

I really hope you enjoy reading the blog and that it maybe helps you in some way :)

Amy