I didn’t sleep well last night night. I woke at 11pm and then again at 3am…. Wide. Awake.
I’m not sure if I fell back to sleep but I felt shattered a lot of the day. It could be that I’m eating far too much sugar just now and I’m wired to the moon!!
So today was my last morning at Tartan for about 2 weeks! HOLIDAYS! 🎄🎅🏼🤶🏼🎄
It went really quickly.
I popped home and had a bagel and headed to the little gift shop to help Gayle. It was really busy! Not surprising.
I got a lovely surprise gift from Melanie in Italy, arranged through the little gift shop!
I think it might be one of my favourite ceramic houses.
So generous and so kind!!
I’m shattered by the end of the day but it’s been fun and I’ve enjoyed it.
I’ve not slept great the last few nights and I was up and down a few times in the night.
We managed to get the Tartan Campers booking system onto the webpage that. I most certainly didn’t do it all but I’m really chuffed at what I’ve learned in these last few weeks. I’m proud of what I’ve figured out. They all say pride comes before a fall, now why did I have to go and say that old fashioned saying… that’s not true. It’s just words.
It was quite a nice day today. It definitely lifts your spirits when it’s not dark and dingy all day.
Today is just as dark as the longest day but tomorrow we have a minute of extra light!!
In Her Travel Circle news we have a lovely lady out in Barcelona for 7 nights with free accommodation! I’m so pleased!
Oh and I’ve got the most amazing top tip for drying washing that I just found this weekend… (turns out a guy at work knew it too so I’ve not invented it…..
Put the drying rack next to a radiator and cover it with a sheet or in my case, duvet cover. Put one side of the sheet over the radiator so the heat goes up and creates a warm pocket for everything else on the rack to dry…. It fascinated me. I only did it to try and dry the duvet cover faster and had no idea that it would create a wee hot box!!!
Hours of fun…. Even dragged Craig to shove his hand into the hot box see how hot is was 😆😆😆😆
Considering this is the darkest day of the year in Scotland, it’s been surprisingly light. I feel rested and relaxed and yet I’ve achieved everything I hoped to this weekend.
I woke at 4am.
4am. Wide awake.
I got up at 5am and lay on the couch and watched a few episodes of Emily In Paris.
I stated wrapping up Christmas presents.
I got the puppers up for a sunrise photoshoot.
This is 9am.
Since the latest iPhone update, my portrait photos are long and thin and my landscape are so narrow. I don’t like it. (Am I that age now that I don’t like change? 😆😆)
We wrapped presents until just before lunch and took the dogs out for a walk to deliver the village Christmas cards.
Why is it I hate going right up to people’s front doors?! I dread the Christmas card delivery and yet this year I took it in my anti depressant controlled stride.
I took these at 3.55pm.
And now we’re on the countdown to flip flops weather!!!
What a lovely weekend, I’ve enjoyed being home and finally getting ready for Christmas.
I feel very relaxed and only have two days left at work. And then I’m off for a million years 😆 or so it seems, until 5th January.
I woke at 5.30am and lay in bed for a bit, determined to have a lie in! 😆
I was out with the dogs by 6.30am.
They had their wee lights on.
It was pitch black!
I then ran 5k with Lynsey and Rachel at 7.15. I had heavy legs again but I really enjoyed it!
I came home and stripped the bed so we have clean bed tonight woo hoo!
I hoovered the stairs, then had a shower and got ready for the little gift shop! we had a lovely morning!
It was beautiful and sunny when we left at 1pm.
Back home and I FaceTimed my friend Helen while I had lunch. Great to catch up!
Then I hoovered the downstairs of the house, I tidied the kitchen, got all the Christmas presents out and put them on dining table so I can see what I have.
I then did some crochet… tho Bhru wanted me to stop! I spoke to Mum on the phone and she’s still doing well.
Then I wrote out Christmas cards.
I watched the first few episodes of Emily In Paris while I wrote the cards.
I was helping at the little gift shop today and it was really busy.
I nipped out for Reiki at 1.15 with Fiona at the Healing Hut. So lovely, so relaxing.
The sooner I learn to accept that I live with anxiety then the less I will keep resisting it. I need to find ways to deal with it when it comes on. I know all that but I do give myself a hard time when anxiety is bad. I feel less than, angry with myself, disappointed that I’m not stronger.
The sooner I accept the way I am the better.
I’m on it.
So I’m now relaxing by the Christmas trees I’ve got so much to do but it will have to wait yet another day.
Working on something g new and trying to figure out how to do it.
I’m really chuffed with what I’ve learned today.
It’s been torrential rain and I had to fly home to get my Christmas nails done at 4.45pm.
They match my jammies!!
I love having my hands painted but usually find it takes my nails until June to recover!!
I’d love to have this done all the time but they drive me mad when they grow off.
Wonder why I did it eh?!? 🫣😆
Toes are the same but no one will see them 😆😆
There’s so much surface water on the roads tonight. Lots of flooding.
I had a call with the doctors today to talk about my anxiety attacks. They are prescribing me something to take when one comes on but I will do everything I can to fix it without meds. The doctor will also refer me for CBT. She says this will help get to the root cause of the anxiety.
Jeez my first run back (with Lynsey) after a week off and a weekend climbing hills in Granada!
My legs were so heavy.
The weather was pretty wet and windy but half the battle is getting out in it. Once you’re out, it’s not that bad.
These are the 2 village Christmas trees!
I’m so glad I did it. it’s good to get back into it.
Work was busy again today and passed quickly.
I popped into the pub and found Rachel two doors down cuddling this 9 week old puppy!!!
Awwwwww. 🫶🏼
I’ve been meaning to say that mum is doing a good bit better at the moment and long may that continue. Thanks to everyone who’s asked after her. I may forget to tell her sometimes!!!
It turns into a beautiful day. It’s only 6°c but it’s lovely in the sun.
I take lots of photos of the new Tartan Campers van for sale…. After I’ve washed it!!
Nothing much to report from the day.
I read this from Donna Ashworth and realised that I’m not particularly Christmassy this year… at all.
My brain doesn’t seem to have space to fit it in just now. There’s too much else going on in my head.
I haven’t really registered Christmas as all and I’m not prepared in the slightest….. I want to be but not enough to actually do anything about it. I’m sure I’ll be spurred into action at the weekend!!
Not the best photo but we have two Christmas trees on the village this year. Thanks to the Gateside Plant Centre for donating the big one!
Craig picked Khaleesi’s paw print up from the vet today.
I think I’ve done pretty well today on 5 hours sleep!
Everything went to plan last night.
Grazia drove us back from Granada to Malaga and we took a drive around Torremolinos to kill some time.
The weather was pretty wild by then and the surf was high!
Grazia then dropped me at the airport while she went to return the hire car and then we said goodbye!
I am so grateful to her for allowing me to join her trip to Granada. It was an amazing experience. I got to see places I didn’t even know about and Granada is not at all what I expected. I likes very industrial as you drive in but it’s hilly and ancient and modern all in one go.
I couldn’t find fault with my time at the airport either.
Security was quick, Border Control a bit of a queue but Ryanair were amazing. The plane was at the gate long in advance we all boarded and the plane was half empty.
We took off a bit ahead of schedule and, despite my fear of bad weather, landed ahead of schedule too.
I had a lovely flight.
I met Rosie. She talked to me the whole flight home and I barely noticed one minute of the flight.
We laughed, we joked, we shared stories…. And she ended up buying me perfume!!!!! She was the kindest soul and I know from her stories that she pretty much gives to everyone she meets!
I have promised her that I will pay that forward one day. I have a lot to pay forward these days.
We should all be more Rosie. 🫶🏼
So my day’s been good and there was a lovely sunset on the way home.
Craig’s also got the lights up at the front of the house.
They’re white but they look blue in this photo.
I am so proud of myself for fighting through my anxiety over this trip. The minute I landed in Malaga I felt fine.
Things went wrong but I managed them.
I didn’t get any rest and I’m tired but I have had the most amazing adventure.
I could sit at home or I could keep pushing myself to do the things I know I love.
Bring on the next one.
That said it is very lovely to be home, see Craig waiting for me at the gate and have puppy cuddles again!
It’s 20.50 Spanish time and I’ve just sat down at the departure gate. It’s been all go all day but it’s been amazing.
Grazia is such easy company.
I’m am so grateful for her invite to visit Granada with her this weekend.
On Thursday, when I landed, I was spending 3.5 days in Nerja with an afternoon in Malaga. I ended up with 1.5 days in Nerja and almost 2 days in Granada. Completely unexpected.
That’s exactly what I wished for Her Travel Circle. A chance to connect with like minded women and visit places that you would never expect to go. Make connections that you would never expect to make.
She’s been equally happy walking all over Granada and we’ve walked another 12.5kms today and hardly any of it was on the flat! The hills in Granada are something else. I think we walked an elevation of 170m!
Way too tired to make much sense in the blog tonight but we visited the following places:
Granada Cathedral
Capilla Real Granada
Several other churches
A fantastic coffee & pastry shop
Museo Cuevas de Sacramonte
Another fab coffee & pastry shop
Torremolinos!
This meringue was loaded with crystallised almonds. It was amazing.
The Caves of Sacarmonte were incredibly special. That’s where the poor people had to live at the time while all the rich people were in the Alhambra.
It’s also the home of Flamenco.
I don’t know if you can see this but every lamppost just before the airport, had a stork perched on the top of it. T
Eh we’re real as they were moving with some flying off, we’ve never seen anything like it!!!
This is the only time all weekend that it rained.
I’ve fot to finish this now as I think we’re boarding.
I met up with Grazia who is one of the founding members of Her Travel Circle and we have walked 18kms today…. That’s after a drive from Nerja to Granada.
Of course I started the morning with a sunrise walk before I walked in the opposite direction to meet her.
I think you can tell by my face how much I loving this!!
They actually soap and pressure wash the streets in Nerja. it’s so clean.
I walked up to the main road to meet Grazia.
She is so very lovely. Just my kind of person and we’ve had the best day.
We’ve talked as much as we’ve walked!
She drove me from Nerja to Granada.
It was a stunning drive through the Sierra Nevada mountains. Pics don’t do it justice.
And here we are! We arrived in Granada and sent our first selfie to the Her Travel Circle group!!
We spent most of the day at the Alhambra. Grazia on a Spanish speaking tour and me on an audio guide tour. Mine was not the best and Grazia learned there are 9 cats that live in the Alhambra!!! It’s stunning. I’m too tired to talk through all the pics!
SNOW!!
That’s snow behind the clouds!
This is the amount of people queuing to take photos at the viewpoint to see the Alhambra with the mountain backdrop! HEAVING!!
We then took a wander through the streets.
And drove round to our Airbnb passed the massive Nevada shopping centre.
What a spectacular day. I can’t find another word to describe it.
I am shattered!!
It started with a bit of drama when I couldn’t find my tickets for the Caves. I looked everywhere and finally found that I had definitely paid for them…. The reason so the delay in finding that out was because it was a bank account I don’t often use.
Still no ticket confirmation….. so I left early and headed towards the wee tourist train that I was due to get at 10am…. Hoping one of them would help me.
No-one around so I plucked up the courage to phone the phone number for the caves themselves.
That may come easily to some but I don’t even like phoning our local takeaway!!
I phoned and the lovely lady confirmed the booking and gave me a booking reference. She said that would be enough.
She then said to check my junk mail…….
In all my trying to find the tickets this morning… I never once thought to check my junk mail.
Lo and behold.
In the junk mail.
I spent maybe an hour or so faffing when I could have just checked my junk mail.
🫣
The positives are that I stepped right out of my comfort zone to fix it.
So the day then started with cheescake, as you do when you don’t know what else to order.
Poinsettia are everywhere.
And finally on the tourist train to the caves.
People look at you when you’re on the tourist train. You go so slow people stare at you. 😆
Cueva de Nerja took my breath away…. These photos don’t do it justice at all . I was there today and none of my photos show the true scale or magnitude of these caves.
Setting the sense for the day I forgot to download the audio guide so I had to wander round without it. Was kind of gutted.
Then was lucky enough to go around a second time with the audio!!! Silver lining to very cloud. It was so quiet I felt like I had the caves to myself.
These were stumbled upon by 4 boys in 1999 haven completely overgrown.
I then went to a virtual tour of the caves that visitors can’t get to, with VR headset and headphones.
Wow!!!! What an amazing experience.
I decided to head straight up to the village of Frigiliana by jumping off the tourist train onto the local bus for 1.30€.
Straight onto another tourist train!!
I think this is would make a very lovely holiday home. Zoom in!
Frigiliana reminded me of Lindos.
It was also very quiet and I felt like I had the streets to myself.
And this is the first crochet tree that I have ever seen with my own eyes!
Back in Nerja now and this tree is made of Poinsettia.
It’s wild and windy!
I headed for Little Italy for dinner as it was recommended by the solo traveller I’d met yesterday. Four cheese pizza and water for £5.70…. And it was excellent.
Of course I had to walk it off!
6.14pm light switch on!
This shows how windy it is tonight!
And back to my hotel at 6.30pm to blog and do my social media posts!
Meeting Grazia from Her Travel Circle tomorrow to head up to Granada and the Alhambra! She offered to come and get me and take me there.
A very special thing for me to do that I won’t have done if I hadn’t started Her Travel Circle!
I am exhausted but I’m so proud of myself for pushing through the anxiety as I could sit home all weekend… or I could be doing this.
I feel like I was awake most of the night waiting for the 3.15am alarm… and yet, I was asleep when it went off!
I’d showered and washed my hair last night for a quick getaway and Craig ran me to the airport to 4.15am.
My anxiety levels were very high this morning. I felt waves of panic in the airport but I listened to some short breathing meditations on the Calm app and the worst of it subsided.
I said this yesterday, it amazes me how much I want to travel and see the world and yes the anxiety comes close to overwhelming me. I am determined to beat this.
I’m not going to live a life in fear of panic attacks…. Imagine what it would be like without the antidepressant 🥺
I calm by the time I walk to the gate.
I am calm boarding the plane.
A wee wave of panic as I sit in my seat but I tell myself it’s temporary and it will pass and it does.
I know there will be people reading this that wonder why I bother putting myself in it. Trust me, I did too this morning…. Give it time and I’ll be like Heidi the Mountain Goat jumping around Southern Spain taking photos. 😆
That light is the moon! 🌙
It was a very clear flight until we got to northern France.
Now there are hardly any photos between the plane and Nerja as my phone charger wasn’t working and I had to keep power for navigation!!
This is Nerja.
My hotel!
The view from the rooftop of the hotel.
Down in Nerja.
LUNCH!!!!
The Balcon de Europa in Nerja.
These railings are my new photo toy…. Move over gates, railings have appeared!
Spot the clouds over the mountains!
I sat here for the whole sunset talking to a lovely solo traveler from Norway!! We chatted for a couple of hours. She made me eat for the light switch on…… a big click and the lights popped on and it was truly breathtaking. The pcs don’t do it justice.
From inside looking up.
I’ve been back in the hotel for a couple of hours “working”…. Trying to pull together posts for Her Travel Circle and blogs…. 😆😆
I have a solo trip to Spain tomorrow and I’ve been beside myself with anxiety.
It comes in waves and when I try to breathe it down as it spirals out of me.
I came home from work and finalised packing and now I am calm.
I reached out to Her Travel Circle ladies and they’ve all made me feel better.
This is what I do, I get so anxious about being out of control, stepping out of my comfort zone…. And yet I am desperate to get out of my comfort zone.
The human mind is a wonder isn’t it.
At least mine seems to be. 🫣😆
So all calm now, sitting in front of the tree. Not even rushing to bed.
Need to be at the airport for 4am so a very early start.
I need to focus on Her Travel Circle this weekend just in case the blog isn’t up to my usual standards 😆😆😆
I had so many vivid dreams last night….. late night cheese to blame for that I think.
I woke at 6.10am feeling dead to the world and like I’d been awake all night.
I hadn’t.
Work went so quickly today.
I had 4 sets of customers in that passed the time with lots of chat.
Mum is doing ok. I just spoke to them both there. She’s been to the docs today for a change of a couple of meds recommended by the hospital, I think this is just going to take time .
I sent her a water bottle today with the times of day on it in the hope that it will remind her to drink more. It was just a wee thing to make her smile this morning.
Think I might get one for myself!
I was going to pack for my trip to Spain in Thursday but I’m way too tired.
Poor Mum was kept in an A&E holding ward last night on a drip to help with her low sodium. At least it was a bit quieter than actual A&E.
I drove over late morning and picked my brother up so we could head to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary together.
I can’t tell you the last time the 4 of us spent any time together, just us, but my brother did remark there wasn’t really a worse place he could think of 😆😆
So Mum was discharged at 4.30pm which is great news. Everything structurally checking out ok bit she’s still not feeling great, poor thing.
Tomorrow is a new day and at least she’s back in her own bed now.
I white knuckled it back from Edinburgh in ATROCIOUS driving conditions. Torrential rain, flooding and spray. I had the option to stay at my brother’s but I’m glad I made it back. The weather could have been just as bad tomorrow morning. And I’d have had to have left the house about 6am.
So home, jammies on and sitting in front of the tree with Craig and the puppers.
It started with a lovely run at 6.45 with Claire and Rachel.
This was my crazy hair when I woke up! 😆
It was so misty!!
Just over 5kms and we’re done!
Then out with the dogs!
Poor mum ended up in A&E today. I hope that she is closer to finding out what’s been wrong with her so I spent a bit of the morning on the phone to my brother, making dog behaviour calls and tidying the house and doing washing.
I spent the afternoon at the little gift shop helping Gayle as it was Beith Lights and Laughter today where they switch the Christmas lights on. The shop was open until 7pm..
It was a fantastic day for the shop.
Mum is being kept in overnight. I hope we get to the bottom of what’s been making her so unwell. 🤞🏼🫶🏼
I now have my feet up on the couch with the 3 puppers , by the light of the Christmas tree.
These are the little moments of joy that bring peace to your soul.
Ooft that was a bit dramatic.
I’ve felt a bit like that all day.
For those who are not on FB, I was skipping around the garden at 1.30am, marvelling at the moon shining its almost daylight!
Look how bright it was outside.
It was so magical.
The Seven Sisters were clearly visible too.
Up bright and breezy at 6am, this morning for a shower and then a dark dog walk. I’m loving the headtorch photos these days.
It means I can take photos 24/7 now 😆😆😆
I think I forgot to say this but my friend Evelyn said a lovely thing to me recently, she said I see the beauty in everything.
Wow.
That’s such a huge compliment.
I used to live my life seeing the negative in everything. I was sooooo negative. Everything was an excuse to moan or complain to see the worst.
What a lovely thing to realise how much that’s changed… and to hear that from someone else.
You never know how much your words will affect someone and that will live with me forever.
I also have to apologise to Evelyn for walking the dogs in the dark as she gets cross with me!
The diagonal lines at the top show the smirry rain in my head torch beam.
This is where I usually let the dogs off but Freya has a sore leg.
She doesn’t understand why she’s not getting off lead!
That’s our wee village, all lit up in the dark.
So in a random twist I decided to head over to see my mum and dad today. Mum’s not been feeling great recently and I was so happy to see her dressed and ready for a wee outing in Penicuik and for coffee.
It’s been a good week while since I had a mooch around Penicuik shops.
This was not for sale but I would have loved to bring this home and see what Calaidh made of it.
I also popped up to the cemetery to see my Nana and Grandad. They have such a lovely view up here. I grew up looking at that hill. We used to climb it every year on my brother’s birthday when we were younger!
Their house is visible from the grave.
Then I drove home to make a Dog Behaviour call, do a Her Travel Circle TikTok post and eat the lovely stew that mum sent me over with for dinner.
So I’ve no photos for today, just the moon halo I took last night.
It was stunning.
I’ve missed the super moon 🌕 tonight as it’s so cloudy outside and torrential rain!
I
I then booked a dog behaviour job for Craig and am heading out to meet Gayle tonight for a wee wander around the shops in Braehead shopping Centre in Glasgow.
The Rambling Sloth 🦥 