Hello my lovelies!

I’m so glad to see you for the Weekend Coffee Share. I can offer you the usual coffee or tea, or a mulled wine if you’d like.

Are you getting into the Christmas spirit? I’m not really, despite having been to a local Christmas Market today (which was pathetic). I also won’t be decorating. I live by myself and will spend Christmas dashing between mum’s, dad’s, gran’s and my other grandparents’ places, so there’s no point in me spending money on decorations I won’t be able to enjoy.

Have you polished your boots yet? Over here in Germany, we celebrate St. Nikolaus on December 6. Children are told that St. Nikolaus goes from door to door during the night of 5th/6th December, and leaves small presents (usually nuts, oranges, chocolates and a small gift like cinema vouchers or something else quite small that would fit into a boot) in children’s shoes.

However, they’d have to be polished for him to leave anything, and he appreciates milk and cookies to be left out for him. And if you’ve been naughty, he might leave some charcoal instead of the treats. Sometimes, St. Nikolaus brings presents in person, so grown-ups dress up, sometimes in the cliché Santa Claus costume, sometimes in the more traditional bishop’s attire (as St. Nick was a bishop). Someone else then dresses up as Knecht Ruprecht, his helper. If you’ve been nice, St. Nikolaus gives you presents out of his golden sack. If you’ve been naughty, Knecht Ruprecht (who is dressed in dirty rags) will give you charcoal and threaten to hit you with his rod. The first time I really met the St. Nikolaus / Knecht Ruprecht combo, I was 2 and Knecht Ruprecht scared me so much I screamed the house down and I was shaking so much my knees were audibly knocking together. Eventually, the two family friends under the costumes (it was a big Nikolaus party with all my parents’ friends and their kids) had to reveal their identity to get me to stop crying….

If we were having coffee today, I’d tell you that my Etsy Shop LifeInNotes is up and running! Here’s the link, if you’re interested.

I’ve also made a video, showing the products I currently offer.

There’s more to come, though I need to concentrate on my studies now. I’ve gotten my first offers, including a custom request, and a bulk order of 18 items, so there’s very little time between work, study and binding, to lay out more inserts. I do have several more planned, though!

If we were having coffee today, I’d tell you that I’m really getting into using my own 2016 Chunky insert, and have been stamping and customising it. And I may have gone a bit planner crazy, and ordered stamps and washi tape to decorate it. Here’s to a more organised 2016!

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that I’ve been really down for quite a while now. Pretty much since the clocks changed. I HATE the winter and the dark, and I can’t wait for the days to get longer again! I’ve had so little energy to do anything but sit here and work on my computer. Plus my TV and DVD player both decided to pack up at the same time, so I’ve been running old episodes of Time Team (my guilty pleasure, I love archaeology!) in the background via Youtube, while working on my computer.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that it’s now official: My Sherlock fanfic The Bravery of the Soldier came in the Top 10% of the Inkitt Fandom Contest – I finally received my Profile Badge! And I seem to have moved up to 11th Place!! Top 10% in this case is a bit misleading. The Judges took the Top 10% voted entries and then selected their own 10%  of those. So with 1,710 total entries, the Top 10% they mention is actually the Top 1%!! I am so proud of this, especially as it was the first ever contest I entered!

If we were having coffee today, I’d confess that after a promising start, my lack of energy has seriously derailed my progress with DDP Yoga. However, one of my oldest friends, who faces many of the same issues I do, wants to do this with me so we can keep each other in check. We’ve also talked about me joining her weekly exercise group next year. And I want to join a gym again. DDP Yoga at home is great, but I miss some of the equipment you get in a gym.

Anyway, how about you? How has your week been? What are your plans for the holidays? Do you even celebrate, and if so, what?

I’ve still got to compile my Christmas Wish List (my parents and sister are nagging), though next to money towards a replacement TV (my broken one is from around 2000, so it’s massive!), there will only be a few audiobooks on my list. I’ve got loads of books to read still, but the audio books I can listen to in the car and while doing housework.

If we were having coffee today, I’d get myself another mulled wine, with a shot of Amaretto. Lovely. Though I think I don’t have much more to tell you at this point. But the other Weekend Coffee Sharers would love to see you, I’m sure!

Thank you for having coffee (and mulled wine) with me! Same time, next week?