Wednesday 26 February 2014

Life Update: New flat, New Tattoo

Whilst this isn't a lifestyle blog I just wanted to do a quick update on why I've been quite busy lately and therefore less active on my blog!

Firstly, I decided to get my 2nd tattoo. I was looking for a paint splash style which isn't so common yet so it took me a while to find a suitable artist. I found Sam Barber of Heart for Art near Manchester. I've never been up north before - hey I'm from south Wales and then moved to London, Manchester is super north to me! I decided to go up and spend a night there. I stayed in an Ibis hotel which was surprisingly nice with a shower that lit up depending on how hot or cold it was (so I turned off all the room lights and had some sort of disco shower of course).

The tattoo took around 4 and a half hours in total. It was fine getting it done but healing was a pain! It was much more tender than I remember my first tattoo being and I'm sure it took a fair bit longer to return to normal skin, but it's well on it's way now. Here's a shot of it freshly done just after Sam finished. A few have asked why a shark - well it's because they've always been my favourite animal and I think they're grossly misunderstood and demonised. I hope to swim with them one day!

tattoo, tattoos, inked, Heart for Art, flat, shark tattoo, watercolour tattoo, watercolor tattoo, paint tattoo

Secondly, the most major reason I've been away lately is that I came to realise I was very unhappy in my new flat. I moved there in a rush after the flat I previously lived in for almost 3 years was sold and I had to move out. It seemed nice at first but it went downhill from there.

Firstly the area was noisy, ambulances & police cars every few minutes blaring past the front door, day or night. At the crossroads outside traffic often beeped their car horns through the night, sometimes just for fun. I even had roadworks going on right outside my flat at 1am a few times.

Then the problems inside the flat started. I'd rarely have plates, cooking utensils or cutlery to use as they had all been used by my housemate & left out dirty. It soon became apparent this was a party house with drunken people staying over on a regular basis in the shared kitchen/living room, so when I'd wake up I couldn't even make myself breakfast (I shouldn't have to go in and wake up hungover people in my PJs almost every weekend). Some weekends a whole load of people would come over and make a load of noise all night, leaving the place in a disgusting state when they finally left. I've basically spent the last 2 months as an invisible housemate, cooped up in my bedroom at all times until everyone goes out so that I finally felt comfortable using the kitchen to make myself some food.

In only my third month, my rent was increased by £50 per month. I finally lost all my cheer and motivation. I stopped going to the gym and spent most evenings watching hours upon hours of Netflix. I stopped drinking alcohol as I found it was making me too fed up. I was constantly tired and having intense headaches. All in all, not great! I needed to get out & desperately hunted for a new place to live, only to get excited about 2 places that ended up slipping through my hands. Finally yesterday I agreed on a new place in the docklands which I'm very happy to say I'm moving to this weekend. It's en-suite and even has a balcony :) really hoping this one works out! Here are some photos of the new room:


So do you have any tattoos or are you thinking of getting one? Or perhaps you have some nightmare flat sharing stories to share of your own? Let me know!

8 comments:

  1. I hope it works out, I had the EXACT same issues where I live sharing with 6 others, but I move out Sunday and now have an en-suite like you and I'm super pumped! No more nightmare flatmates hurray for us!!
    Tattoo looks beautiful also :)

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    1. Ah thank you, I hope yours works out too :) ! Amazingly I only actually had 1 housemate, but he often had a lot of friends round.

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  2. I have nominated you to do a liebstar award post! :) take a look at the questions I want you to answer. I think your tatto is sooo beautiful! xx

    http://littlelilley.blogspot.co.uk/

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  3. Oh I love that style of tattoo! I'm wanting a Robin and hadn't thought of watercolour style... Living near to Manchester, I may have to look into this place/guy!

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    1. Ah do! She was very creative and clearly put a lot of effort into it during the day.

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  4. Hope the move is going well and that you're much happier there xx

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