Blog Friends, the Cutty Sark and a New Obsession

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It’s been a busy few days that have involved blog meet-ups, a jaunt around London and my new favourite thing… WASHI TAPE.

My American blog friend, Tiffany from A Girl and Her Passport is currently in London after resigning from her job in Qatar so she can travel around Europe… as you do. After talking through our posts and online for years, it was the perfect opportunity to finally meet up, so I found myself on a train at 6.10am on Saturday morning (yes, I genuinely love travelling at that time as there is nobody else around). As I was going to be ‘in town’ as such, I also took the chance to meet another blogging friend, Donna from JottoJot for breakfast as she is in the second trimester of her pregnancy.

There’s nothing more strange (at first, anyway) than meeting someone in person after you’ve been talking to them for years via the internet. You know them (or at least you know the persona they have allowed you to see) and at the same time you don’t. And yet, to date at least, I have never had a bad experience. I met Donna and her neat little bump at the station and we sat down in Costa, catching up on what we have been up to during the start of the summer holidays, her recent trip and my new obsession… bullet journaling (more on that later). After breakfast I had to get numerous tubes out to the Cutty Sark, but not before Donna and I had gone on an unsuccessful mission to find a Paperchase in search of some washi tape to feed my growing stationary haul.

After quite an epic journey out to Canary Wharf and by the time I got to the Cutty Sark my phone battery was on 2% as I went into tourist photography mode, so I went into a Starbucks around the corner and Tiffany ended up meeting me in there. It was a win/win – I could charge my phone, she could have a coffee and we could sit and talk nonsense at each other without being caught in the crowds. It didn’t automatically mean that we didn’t attract the odd character – a man sat down next to her and was nodding as she talked as if he was part of the conversation, but he left after about 15 minutes which allowed me to relax.

It was awesome, we talked as old friends, explored around the Cutty Sark (which has now been restored after the fire), and then went and found the Royal Naval College. I’m sure that lots of other tourists were there to look at the architecture, but I was there to see it because it was used as the location of the epic finale fight scene in the second Thor film (yes, this is what happens when you’re in a relationship with a comic fan…)

We then went to a Jamie’s Italian, which was actually really nice and we were lucky that it wasn’t too busy and quite near to the tube station, so we were able to talk even more over some nice food without feeling like we were in a rush.

I left with enough time to get back to Euston to get my train, and while I was waiting amidst the hundreds of people for the platform announcement I took the opportunity to go on a washi tape hunt, and this time managed to find a whole bunch of beautiful designs. By the time I got the train home that evening I was exhausted, but it was totally worth it – a fabulous day with lovely people.

My washi tape and bullet journal obsession began after I watched a random YouTube video that appeared in my feed a few weeks ago. I can’t even remember who the creator was, but I remember it being a tutorial on how to set up a bullet journal. I’d heard of them but hadn’t really done any reading about it, and I discovered that I was instantly hooked. Within a few days I had started to design my own ideas in a notebook. I told The Bloke about it, and he surprised me with an embossed journal with my blog name on it, a calligraphy pen and a set of beautiful fine liners. Consequently, I have rewarded him… by totally ignoring him for hours at a time as I have started designing and decorating my bullet journal, ready to start it for 2018. He’s a lucky man…

It’s going to be strange over the next week or so – I’m going to be up in Manchester as I’ve been tasked with pug sitting Dougal, my sister’s dog, while she is away. Prepare yourself for posts about bullet journaling, puggy adventures and the dirty looks I’m going to get from her nosy and rather rude neighbour who always thinks that I’m there to rob the flat every time I visit…

You can also find me on Twitter and Tumblr @suzie81blog, and don’t forget to follow my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/suzie81speaks, my Pinterest page http://www.pinterest.com/suzie81speaks and my Instagram page http://www.instagram.com/suzie81speaks

33 thoughts on “Blog Friends, the Cutty Sark and a New Obsession”

  1. I wanna see what you do with your washi tape! And how awesome to meet more bloggy pals! Sorry we didn’t get to meet when I was in Brum. The time just flew! Xxxx

  2. Bullet journaling is on my posting list too. I’ll have to check out that tape! It’s always so great to meet other bloggers in real life like at the Bash. We already have so much in common! Looks like a great time.

  3. OMG just looked at bullet journaling on youtube – lost the will to live after first 2 minutes … way too labour intensive for me, I’ve the attention span of a goldfish šŸ˜€

  6. I have a bullet journal, which I love, but I don’t go in for the decorative side of things. I keep things basic and I’m still using the notebook I started with in April last year. It’s a great way to organise yourself.

  7. Lovely, you are now a housesitter/dogsitter. šŸ™‚ Have fun. It was also lovely to see faces of other prominent bloggers. Hopefully to do the same with others one day!!

  8. … actually I take my comments back. I can see how bullet journalling would be creatively addictive!! I don’t think I’d leave any time for actually completing the task though, I’d be too caught up in making my journal pretty!! šŸ˜€

  10. You have been busy. Haven’t been to the Cutty Sark or the HMS Victory for that matter in ages. Glad you were able to catch up with people – that would have been interesting and fun. Washi Tape can be bought in many of the shops here and almost all of the stationery shops in Adelaide. I have a box full of the stuff that hasn’t been used in years. Don’t even know if it’s still good. I went through a “decorate my Filofax”period but I grew out of it fairly quickly. I still put the odd sticker in there, but that’s about it.

  11. Omg! What is bullet journaling and that tape you speak of? It’s probably journaling really fast? I’ll Google it tonight. When are you coming to the U.S.? You need a bloggers bash in the U.S.!

  13. Love this! And I can SO relate. A couple of years ago I went to a book-signing party for the gypsynesters. (Nice blog about a couple of empty nesters who sold their house, then went ‘gypsy’, traveling around the States in a camper van.) Anyway. They recognized me (by my blue glasses) before I could even get a chance to shove my copy of their book under their noses for a signature. It was fun — but a bit disorienting!

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