November the best month of the Year!

November is my favourite month of year not only because its when I get to celebrate my birthday on the 8th but you also realise its almost Christmas. So while I know I'm not getting on my birthday wish list, I still have a little hope that Christmas is only a few short weeks away :). So while I'm spending a very quite birthday with just the family this year (first time in about 6 years ha ha ha) I'm still really excited. And while there is someone I wish I could spend some time with I know its not gonna happen any time soon. I can only hope that a certain someone is at least missing me if only a little bit. November is great though we get to enjoy a good bonfire on Bonfire Night, My birthday on the 8th . This November I have managed to get a head start on my Christmas shopping, oh yes, Lisa has managed to almost all of her Christmas shopping done and we are barely into the month.




So while I would love to sit around all night I do have some serious birthday partying to do so must dash ha ha ha.


Lisa Marie
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Busy Busy Busy

A lot has happened in the last few weeks. A man has come to my attention who is really making me smile, I have made an impromptu trip to London, taken a new lease of life on the book writing front (some of which may have been inspired because of said guy ;) ), I have worked 2 hellishly long weeks at work, made a trip up to the Lake District to see the cutest 8 month old little boy – FACT! Wow that's a lot of ground to cover and I'm wondering why I'm so tired! Hmmmm me thinks I cannot wait till my time off in November.

So the writing was not gelling together quite the way I wanted it. I knew what I wanted to happen, I knew what needed to happen. Somehow the 2 things did not want to work with me. For some reason though after a stop-over in London this little lady from Manchester knew what she was doing again and so the writing has taken on a world all on it own. My characters have decided not to fall out with me because it seemed I didn't have a clue what I was doing ha ha ha.


So must dash got writing to do. ;) ;) ;)

Lisa Marie
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What did we do before computers & the Internet?

I spent the majority of the week stressed out as my computer had a esentially died, a sudden and un-expected death. I am glad to say I didn't loose faith ha ha and 2 day later, yes 2 DAYS LATER!!! I was able to fix the problem. Granted I had to call technical support and they basically told me to kill it, by wiping the the thing clean. Now then I have never and will never admit to knowing anything about technology. But I was very proud that I by the end of the week had managed to get my lovly laptop to the friend it once was. All on my own!

Now then for the 2 days I had no internet, MSN, e-mail et all. It got me thinking. How did we survive without any of those things before? Im old enough to remember a time where computers didn't exist, at least not to the point where every household had at LEAST on, and everything seemed so much more simpler then. Those were the days when you had to call someone on the phone if you were arranging a night out with friends or a date. If you had to write a letter to someone you had to wait a week before you got a reply, instead of in alot of cases now finding out the same day. So as a generation that is obsessed with electronic communication, is it any wonder when the simple act of a laptop no longer working we feel a little lost. On unfamilar ground.

When Sport Stars Loose the Plot!

There seems to be a growing trend in sport at people totally loosing there cool. Some do it at when they are 2 set points off loosing the match. Some do it to force a substitution.

My case and point being Serena Williams in her semi-final match against wild card entry Kim Clijsters. There's no doubting that both Williams sisters are good for tennis as the sport very rarely comes across people who can have such a impact on the game. But the game also needs people like Clijsters who can push these people. So while I may be a little biased (being a big Clijsters fan) did Williams really have blow her cool quite so dramaticly? There are much more graceful ways to accept loss, to someone who has played better than you. So while it was possible the most crucial point in the match there ways to make linesmen/women understand your frustration. Watching Serena Williams loosing it so dramaticly must have have people remebering the days of McEnroe. Had hawkeye had been around in McEnroe's time would he be as remebered and loved by fans as much? We'll never know. While sports needs to enteraining does it really have to be at the point of someone not getting to celebrate a great win that Clijsters was robbed?

But I have never been good at playing sports so I don't know what it feels like being so in the moment, but sportsmen/women need simmer down a little. Go about things in a more dignified manner.

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My Good Deed for the week/month/rest of the year

Well the day finally came today. My day for giving blood. While I was super nervous about doing it, it is something I have been meaning to do for a while. I think everyone who can give blood should give blood. No matter what your blood type. All kinds are needed especially if you have a common blood type.

I first thought about giving blood years ago. This was when my dad used to donate on a semi regular basis. I have also expressed to my family members that I wish to be an organ donor come the day I'm no longer here (which hopefully wont be for a loooooonng time). But while I have always thought about giving blood I have never actually taken the next step. That was until my cousin's wife lost a lot of blood during child birth. It seems that this gave me the push I needed to finally go online and register.

So I have now given my pint of blood and hopefully that will help someone who really needs it. Lets just hope next time I give blood I don't faint like I did do today!!

LMM
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Friends

Some friends you just know from the minute you meet them you are going to be friends for a long time. These are the friends that like every bit of you. The strange sides of you that your family knows and loves you for. Friends are there for you when you are down, Pick you up when you are having a bad day. Tell you everything is going to be ok, even when it doesn't look like it is possible.

The best friendships are not always the ones you've had for years. Sometimes, the best friendships are ones that are stil young. The ones you meet when you are becoming 'an adult'. These are the friendships that know you through some harder times, for example the death of a loved one, instead of crying over that first boy who pulled your hair.

I love my girls (and boys) alot you guys know who you are :)

LMM
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Character Development

I have spent the last couple of days really dedicating some time to my writing. While I have planned out each chapter for my book I have only been using it as a template, seeing how the story unfolds. I have been investing so much time and energy into these characters that they are starting to feel like real people. I'm amazed though at myself though at how well I have developed them each individually.

Developing each of these characters though got me thinking about individual development. How we develop our own character all the time. We are constantly changing things and learn for all different aspects of our life. Sometimes getting to know a certain individual can change your individual character.

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Therapy in the written word.

I take great pleasure in writing. I love everything about the written word and the power the written can have on an individual. It has come as no surprise to me that (in my eyes at least) my writing as improved a lot in the last couple of months. Writing for me has always at the heart been therapeutic.

If I look back at the first 'story' I wrote, im not surprised that the adolescent version of myself was fighting for my voice to be heard in the crowd. I have never been particularly outgoing by nature (though that has changed the older I have gotten) and I think my writing gives me the freedom to do that. The more I have experienced in my life both the good and the bad, has also made me both a stronger writer and person because of it.

When I'm telling a story I can get deeply invested in the characters. It comes as no surprise to me that at least one of my characters in all of my books is, however loosely, more often than not channelling my outlook on life at any given time. Sometimes its a positive character trait, but sometimes it can be a negative, depressing character trait.

It comes as no surprise to me then when reading through my book I have been writing over the last couple of months, that I feel I am doing my most positive and best writing I have ever read by myself. For the first time in months I am truly at peace with myself. And while I admit that I am jealous of my leading female character I think that has more to do with the fact that I know its not beyond the realm of possibility. The possibility that there is someone out there for everyone. As I have mentioned earlier I am treading on new ground with this story, but I feel creative. I feel happy. I feel that good things can happen. I feel that life and not everyone wants or can see the negativity. That is certainly the case for my two leading characters.

Dreams only come true if you are willing to have a little faith in yourself.

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Does Life begin at 25?

I must admit that this latest post was inspired by a post by my good friend Miss Mulhall. When we are younger we alwys thought that our life would begin at 18. Its when your old enough to vote, your first classed as an adult. But I don't think thats really the case.

I think life begins at 25. Now then I'm not just saying this because I'm 25. At 25 you've finnished the accedemic side of your life, if thats the route you've chosen to take. You start to become the person you are going to be as an adult. Weather you choose to be career orinated or weather you choose to become family orinated. Now then thats not to say if you start a family you dont want a career and vice versa. But when you are in your 20's you definitely experience different things.

I am much happier in my 20's than the teenage version of myself. I think you become more comfortable in yourself, because you've experienced more.

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Return of a friend

Really excited to hear that my good friend will back on British soil in around 15 days. I just love those friends that know you better than you know yourself. Those friends that are still your friends even though you can be a little quirky at times. Friends that even when you do stupid things like falling over your own feet (girls we have all done this) they look at you and know that you are just being you.

My friend is one of the most supportive friends I have. Because even though we lost touch for 3 years when he went to uni, when we did meet up again it was like we had only spoke a week before.

Any way must get back to writting my book. So byes for now.

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Do gentlemen really prefer blondes?

I dyed my hair last night. It got me thinking, when ever I have been a blonde I have always wanted, and always loved going back to my more natural colour, chesnut brown. I feel better in it. My mum though said I always want to change my hair colour drastically when I come off a breakup or when Im in the mood for a change in my lfe. While the first can be classed as sort off true, my dear mum was deffinitly right on the latter. Im deffintly going through some changes at the moment and I personally always feel better after changing my hair, so since I am very happy with the length (for the first time in ages) a change in colour may be just what the doctor ordered.



So while there have been many iconic fabulous blondes that have been many a boys fantacy for years, brunettes have a certain elegence about them.



So now I will have no come back to all my stupid 'blonde' moments. And FYI yes I did use L'Oreiele 'cos "I'm worth it." Happy weekend people.

California Dreaming!

So after having in what my mind was one of the worse weeks in my 9 year professional career. (And the 2nd post in todays ha ha.) I decided to plan ahead for my LA trip (18 months away) but hey I'm a girl on a budget :). It has made super excited and I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to fit it all in.

So without further a do I think I have my trips kind of sorted. Im thinking: Los Angeles city tour, Paley Centre, SeaWorld (love love love dolphins), a beach trip (unsure on current location). The hotel is still a working progress as I'm looking for something a little central.

Planning this trip has totally cheered me up. Not that drinks the other night didn't do the trick, this was more of something to look forward to. At least the worrying can now stop on the job front.

So with my love afair with America now in serious planning stages I can begin to concerntrait on my book. With negitivity out of my life this is the new possitive thinking Lisa, at least for now. Its anybody's guess as to how long this lasts for :)

So in the words of Pantom Planet "California, Here we come."

Lisa Marie

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Negativity is a 10 letter word!

The power of possitive thinking has taken hold of me today. That has much to do with my wonderful 'date' last night with a close friend. We both came to the connclussion over vodka and Jack Daniels that, by waiting around possitive things are not going to just fall into place. Sometime removing the things that are depressing, or the people who hold you down is the first important step in making you feel positive. Everybody has those people in there life who always make you feel bad about yourself. Some come in the forms of romantic partners, some in the forms of friends, and some come in the form of work collegues.
While it isn't possible to be able to remove all of the people who bring you down, sometimes you have to look at how things can be improved, limit the time you spend with that person for example. Again some people you are best cutting out of your life completely. Those people who say they are your friends but continue to make you feel either like a child or make you feel that you are in some way a lesser citizen to them. These are the people who you dont need around. I can guantee the outcome will only be good. Sure you might loose a large number of friends but is it really worth feeling down and depressed by so-called friends. No its not. You are never going to be able to change these people, so the best thing for you to do is be the better person and not put up with that anymore.



In your 20's you should be living your life to the fullest and while our parents are from a different generation, and dont understand how things work as a 20 something in 2009, we must look out for ourselfs and be the people we want to be and not the people our 'friends' 'lovers' 'collegues' think we should be.



Everybody deserves to be happy and nobody should pretend to be someone else. Its what makes us unique.



Lisa Marie

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Men & there Lies!

Men. They come in various shapes and sizes. Some you let into your heart and some you don't. I have never been a huge dater. At school I was more interested in spending time with my friends than having some huge need to have a boyfriend. At 21 I fell in love for the first time. He's a guy I will always have a special place in my heart. And while i have 'dated' a fair bit since I can genuinly say I have never loved another guy.
A couple of months ago now I broke up with my ex and was suprised at how easy it had been. As much as when we were together I thought he was someone very special, after we broke up I stopped seeing him through rose tinted glasses. Today we did the swap over giving each other back our stuff. And upon seeing the ex i felt nothing at all. It was a bit awkward which I knew it would be. But at the same time i felt nothing. He wanted to remain friends after and as much as he said thats what he wanted he lied to many on any number of IM chats. It was at that point I went from wanting to be friends with the guy to not trusting a single word that came out of his mouth. Men lie. We all know this. What I am surprised at is that in some way this surprised me.
So the new me is putting this last 'relationship' behind me and is ready to move on. So while this will probably not be the last time that pick myself and move on to 'the next guy' at least it will make me grow as a person. Much like this last breakup did.

LisaMarie
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Music & Storytelling...

Just taking sometime out of my busy writting day to update the blog. After having a couple of weeks of unsuccessful writting and rather depressing storytelling on my part I am please to have finally finished chapter 3 of my new book. Music has been a huge influence on my writting over the last couple of months. I've now come to the conclussion that due to the happy nature of my story I have had completely go through my itunes and find some a little more inspiring. No coldplay, U2, Bruce or The Cure are not going to be very helpfull to me at the moment.

So must get back as my characters are a calling.

LisaMarie
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Frienships

I recently had a very interesting conversation with a good friend of mine. Said friend and myself were minding our own business and having a nice little chat about friendships. We were talking about how for both of us our bestfriends are of the opposite sex. It then reminded me of a conversation i had with an ex a couple of years ago where he said that men and women, boys and girls will never be just friends. Someone will always want more. And while that may be true of some boys, alot of men can have very good friendships with women.

Now then said boyfriend at the time was over a decade my senior. So me and my friend got thinking. We came to the realisation that it must be a generation thing. We have been brought up where women are treated differently and expect to be treated differently. So me and my two very close male friends have a great relationship. We can both bounce ideas off each other and sometimes have very different ways of seeing things. We also both go to the other for great dating advice. I know that i will always be there for my best friend, because we've been through so much already, that at least I can always trust one bloke who not related to me by blood.

So bye for now and remember that friendships come in many different boxes, different sizes, different shapes but they all have the same on the inside. Honesty. Trust. Longevity.

:)

Lisa Marie

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Be the person you want be, not the person you were forced to be at school.

I recently came across some old school photos and it got me thinking about how much we all change. How the people we were at school are different to the people we have become as adults. Now while we haven't grown up too much in terms of years a great many of us are probably hugly different to the people we (however you look at it) were forced to be at school. Now then I know personaly I was one of those people who just went by school under the radar. I wasn't the most popular but I wasn't seen as a 'geek' (or at least i don't think i was :)) And i never wanted to be the most popular, because at the end of the day even the popular people were seen in a way that you yourself didn't wanted to be labled. So i'm waffling on a bit so let me try and get back on track because its something we should all think about. I know i've changed a lot since my days at school. I was always kinda quiet and while I had a close group of friends that i hung around with i can honestly say that i rarely speak to these people now. And while the introduction of facebook is great for catching up with these old friends it also in a small way brings you right back down to the person you once was.
If you were to ask any of my friends the type of person i was at school I'm confident that will give the same answers. And while I do still hold these characteristics I have grown as a person as well. I'm not as shy as i once was. I wont just back down from a fight. I will always stand up for what I believe in even if nobody in the room agrees with me. So i'm slowly coming to the realisation that if i feel this way about my self other people have probably changed as well. So the next time i come across a old school friend i'm going to try and but in the back of my head the person they were at school, as they too have probably grown as a person as well.

We all have dreams of becoming the best possible version of ourselves so why not have a little faith. Be the best version we all deserve it. And never give up hope that our dreams can come true.

Bye for now.

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Days Off :)

Okies so this is my first blog so here we go...

Today i had evey intention of having a lazy day in bed. Until gettin a I M off a certain person and decided to put my day to good use and starting working on the 3rd chapter of my new book. Things have been a little quiet on the writting front after getting my heart broken. But onwards and upwards as they say and what better way to put all this new energy than in my first true love, my writting.

So a story that started out as a kinda typical love story (totally new genre to me by the way) has now tuned into this kinda darker version so i guess im gonna have to just delete the whole of the last week work :). And try and find a new muse :)

So bye for now and speak soon!

Lisa Marie
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