Goals for 2013

I like writing myself lists of things to do, but I often forget about them. So i have decided to write them on the blog so that if I fail at any of them it will be glaringly obvious, hopefully it will motivate me to get them all done!

Here we go...

Buy a house - Why not start with a biggie!?  To get this done my aim is to set aside at least an hour a week solely to look for houses. Have spoken to an estate agents by February, and plan to go and look at a house at least once a month.

Finish Pip - Poor Pip has been a bit neglected since all the wedding planning started. I'd like to have him finished by the summer so we can go away for another lovely holiday.

Plan a holiday abroad - Pip is fantastic, but I think we might need a holiday to a warmer climate this year too.

Get good at cooking again - I have really been slacking on the cooking front recently and would love to get stuck in again. I want to make 1 new meal every week. Chris gave me Jamies 15 minute meals for christmas, so that is a good starting point! This week we are doing a special Chicken salad.

Read more books - My plan is to buy a kindle with my Christmas money, so that should help with this one. I want to aim to read at least 1 book a fortnight. Please feel free to suggest books for me to read to help kick things off!

Plan the wedding - It feels like the wedding is so far in the future that it is quite easy to forget about it, but I want to be well on top of everything, so i'm going to set aside at least an hour a week for wedding planning with Chris. I'd also like to do 1 post a week on my wedding blog.

Have a wardrobe i feel comfortable in - This makes it sound like I want to hang out in a wardrobe ... I don't. What I mean is  I seriously need to get some new clothes and I think I need to spend some time choosing things that look good, are comfortable, and will wear well. It seems so tricky to get all three!

What are your goals for this year?

Laura xXx

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My dream came true! I got a VW Campervan!

If you read my earlier post about campervan's, you will know how desperately I wanted one. If you haven't read it yet you might want to check it out here.  

Well, guess what?

On Wednesday Chris and I became the proud owners of a VW T25 Campervan. Hurrah! I am so excited to make him beautiful inside (yes, it is a he) but I thought I would share some photos of what he looks like now so you can all see the 'Before and After'.

But first things first, I had better tell you what his name is! We debated for some while on this. Chris wanted to call him Leonardo after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle with the blue headband. This didn't sound like a van name to me and reminded me of Leonardo DiCaprio, and that's just weird.  My Dad wanted me to call it Joey after a VW Beetle my Grandad once owned, and my Mum thought it should be called Bluebird because of the number plate (BRD). My work colleagues started calling it Smurfet after I had mentioned it looked rather like a Smuf. Other names were thrown in the mix: Myrtle, Jack Baur, Grace, but none really clicked... until ...

I had a brain wave in my car on the way home from work.  One of my favourite books is Great Expectations, and we sure have great expectations for this van. So what better name than that of the main character of said book 'Pip'! 

I think he looks like a Pip don't you?

Pip's interior is ok, but if you look closely he is getting shabby. I think we can do better! He's going to get a total make over.  We're going to have the units and cooker along the side where the window is to give us a bit more space. We'll probably put cupboard doors in that top cubby hole too. It's quite spacious! Not to mention nice new floor tiles, probably black and white checkered ones.

Here's the lounge/bedroom.  We're going to take that bed out and put in a 3/4 rock and roll bed instead. That way we can fit the cupboards up the side.

We'll have nice new curtains and seating too. I'll probably pick a dark beige/light brown fabric for this. Then we can accessorise with pretty coloured things (can you accessorise a van?)

Unfortunately the VW signs are missing from the front and the back! Poor Pip, he is VWless!  I am guessing a naughty youth stole them a while back. I will have to hunt down some replacements to cover his dignity. Ebay here I come!

Here's the front. I like how there are panels behind the seats. It makes me feel like an American trucker!    Those stickers were stuck on by one of the vans previous owners, apparently he was a surfer dude! I think we will try to take those off and maybe paint the panels a pretty colour if we can.

Today we have been cleaning the van out. Here we can see all of the treasures/rubbish Chris found hiding in the van (sorry he is half naked - it was hot work apparently).

Some of the treasures included; a pack of fairtrade sugar, a peg, a hook, two speaker covers, a mint, a paintbrush, a cable tie and a cuddly toy. Oh wait... no cuddly toy :(

One actual treasure I found was in the boot in this mysterious box. "What could it be?" I hear you ask.

Only a whole flippin' box of screwy wrench things (I have no idea what these are called - you know, you tighten stuff with them!) Anyway, Chris was happy!

I love our Pip! We have already had 3 fun evenings with him, and we haven't even been away yet. 

On Wednesday I was raring to go out and drive him (That says a lot because I am not the most confident of drivers and over the past 5 years I have only driven my little KA.) Chris took us to a car park so I could have a go without putting any road-goers in danger.  It's certainly tricky to find the gears, you basically have to hit the radio if you want to get into second, and even Chris is having a bit of trouble, but once we get used to it it will be fine! At least no one will be able to steal him!

On Thursday we drove him to the beach and had dinner in him,  it was lovely!

On Friday we sat and had a drink in him and discussed our makeover plans. Then this morning we had our breakfast and tea in him. The postman looked a bit confused when he spotted us!

I think this is going to make a huge difference to our lives and make us do things we would have never dreamt of doing before. Here's to adventure!

Pip, Jus' chillin'

Laura xXx

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10 reasons why I want to buy a VW Campervan!

I get so excited about this, only to become absolutely crushed when the van of my dreams turns out to have some underlying fault, or gets snapped up by someone else!

My boyfriend and I want a VW camper.  Nothing too fancy, just a T25, water-cooled high top, that isn't going to fall apart the moment we buy it. Ok, so it's quite specific, but come on, there has to be the perfect one out there somewhere (local enough for us to view it first...).

So... here are the 10 reasons why I want to buy a campervan right now!

1. Making something that is uniquely ours - I am happy to buy a van with an interior that needs work. In fact I'd happily rip it out and start again! Just so we can have everything in it's place. 

2. Spending some quality time with my Mum and Dad - My Dad has offered to help with the above (I don't know how serious he was about that, but he'd better watch out because I'm taking him at his word!) I am envisioning sunny days with cups of tea talking over design plans. In reality I am sure it will be more sweating, saw dust in my eye and Dad having to swig a sneaky beer whilst wishing he had never offered help on such a hopeless task! My Mum is brilliant with crafty things like re-upholstering and anything involving fabric really! She will definitely be handy to help to make it pretty once the essentials are in. (She doesn't know this and hasn't volunteered yet, but I'm roping her in anyway!)

3. Learning new skills - Again, all of the above. Chris and I aren't the best with stuff like this, but my Dad is awesome, and he is such a perfectionist I'm sure it will all turn out better than I hoped, and we will learn how along the way.

4. Adventure - Getting out and about and doing unexpected things is what I am most looking forward to. I want to explore England and learn more about the country I come from. There are some pretty lovely places here after all!

5. Getting back to nature - I am excited to be in the countryside. To wake up to birds chirping and to fall asleep to the pitter patter of rain on the roof.

6. Having our own space - Chris and I are currently living with his parents. They are wonderful and we are so lucky to be able to live with them. But, we don't have enough money at the moment to buy our own house, and this would be like our own private get away, so we could have some 'us' time.

7. Spending more quality time with friends - Our friends have recently bought a campervan and I am dying to go away with them! We always have fun together, but at the moment it is just not often enough!

8. Having a cozy bed - When I was little we used to go away in our caravan. I remember my parent's bed being so cozy, I was always jealous. Now I want one of my own! (My parents actually met when camping when they were teenagers, they were part of a youth group in a camping club. I guess it must be in my blood!)

9. Time to read, drink tea, and be content - When I am at home I always feel guilty, like I should be out doing something. Hopefully once we are away I will be able to chill out without feeling I need to be doing anything other than the things I love.

10. ROAD TRIP! - I want to shout this before every adventure we go on. I will compose a playlist of songs relevant for each trip, and we will happily sing along the whole drive. Occasionally stopping to eat our home made (wheat free) sandwiches and pop out some Shloer!

Sounds like perfection to me! I hope it all comes true. We went to see a van on Saturday and I'm just waiting for my Dad's OK before we go ahead. Fingers crossed.

Anyone out there own a van and have any adventures to share?

Laura xXx

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