We headed down to Croyde which is in North Devon, the drive down from Exeter airport was 2 hours, plus a little extra time for getting lost as the roads were badly sign posted. Eventually we pulled up to the Omaeru Bed & breakfast where we were to stay for 3 nights. Very nice B &B, 10min walk into Croyde & very clean, we all said we would stay there again.

After dumping our stuff in the room it was straight down to Croyde Surf school to book in for a refresher lesson, luckily enough we were just about to start a lesson so we got in there. We explained we had a weeks surfing holiday in Newquay a few years ago and none of us were able to stand up on the boards, the instructors assured us we would be standing up by the end of the lesson……and we all did. Great feeling gliding across the water. We then headed to the pub for some dinner and a well earned cider.

We spent the next few days surfing on our own and having lots of fun. As Croyde is a very small village there was not much to do there other than surf and go to the pub. It was a very relaxing break, just gutted i have been back a week already. Shame the weather wasn’t so great but we are already thinking next time we go we will go abroad.

For the past few weeks I have been thinking about writing a new blog post, I just haven’t actually had the time to sit down and think about it. This is where brain storming is going to have to come in to effect. I have been trying to help a good friend of mine set up a blog for themselves and I have been giving them a few ideas of what to write about. I think for myself Ive just got to writers block!

So why have I been so busy, what have I been up to?

Over the past few months, at work I have made some really good friends, and have felt like I have really settled in. With making good friends means lots of evenings out and lots of sports & social events. I joined in on a quiz, this was a good way of getting to know different people in the office, Battletech- this was a very fun afternoon and I cannot wait to do it again. A few weeks ago a few of us went Kayaking from Petit bot to Le Gouffe, this was a very enjoyable evening.

I have also enjoyed lots of fun weekends on the beach with friends, and spending lots of time decorating the flat as it is on the market as we are looking to buy a house together.

I am very much looking forward to the next few months, I have a Surf trip to Croyde planned with 2 good friends of mine, then I also have 2 weeks in Mexico booked with Dan in September. Lots of exciting things happening.

Blogs on the holidays to follow and hopefully some good photo opportunities.

This was a photography competition with a twist: In 6 hours you have to take 12 pictures on 12 given topics, in listed order- Sounds ok? well the twist was to use either a disposable camera or a film. My sense of improvisation, fun and creativity was testing throughout the  photomarathon.

The categories were:

• Age
• Squashed
• Colour
• People are strange
• Arts
• You’ve been framed
• Repition
• Water
• Alphabet
• Springtime
• Scale
• When I Grow Up

All of the photos which were taking on the day are going to be exhibited at the Guernsey tourist board next week. It will be interesting to see what my photos turned out like!

I have signed up for the race for life, if you would like to sponsor me my webpage is: http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/helengallienne1

Thanks

We plan to do some snorkeling as our hotel has a lagoon and a reef, exploring of the ruins and relaxing. I have been to Mexico before back in my travel agent days and I loved it, It will be nice to visit a few of the ruins again and this time will be a good opportunity to take our new cameras with us.

September seems like a lifetime away but January is nearly over and the summer will be here in a few months.

I have been out quite alot with my camera this month, Dan is learning to drive so its quite nice to be driven somewhere to take some photos. You can see my new photos on my photo page or on flickr.

Other then the above I haven’t really done much with myself, the aim this year is to save lots of money!!

So what have I being doing with myself you may wonder…

Towards the end of November I headed to London for a long weekend with Sami, we met up with a few friends and spent the first day shopping this was quite good fun but tiring after a while after being up since 5am! The evening was spent going to Wembley Arena to watch Kasabian. We were originally planning to go and see Beyonce at the O2 but the tickets were £80, we got quite a good deal with the Kasabian tickets, we picked up some for £25 the week before we went. The concert was really good, better then I expected as I am not a huge fan, however since coming back i’ve downloaded a few of their albums!

Also while we were in London we went on a London bus tour which was quite good, only wish I would of taken my good camera, we also went to see Dirty Dancing for my birthday which was pretty cool and met up with another friend. Overall a good girly trip and it was nice to be off the Rock for a few days.

What else have I been up to…..I had my 24th Birthday a few weeks ago, the evening was spent at a 80′s party, supposed to be the best 80′s party ever, I wouldnt quite go that far. It was a good evening and something different to do instead of going for a meal like the usual birthday celebration, we were probably the youngest in the room but also the best fancy dressed!- Some quite outragous outfits!

Also I have passed my probation which is good news, I seem to have settled in quite well now so I am hoping things are going to work out there.

We now have Wireless in the flat which is awesome, its so nice being about to use my mac in any room in the flat without any dongles/cables. Excellent.

Apart from the above I havent been up to much else, a few nights out with friends but thats about it, having a quiet xmas with family and friends and going to celebrate the new year with a bang! Alot of good things have come out of bad things this year and there has been alot of change but its all worked out for the better!

Happy Christmas and best wishes for 2010.

We started the day at 8am at the reseviour, there was 9 people on the course, most of them quite abit older then me, this didnt matter too much as I was meant to be learning how to use my camera not stand around and chat all day. Once we got going Jean-Chistophe told us to pick a spot and try and get 3 elements into the photo, it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to take a photo of, he then came around and told us what he thought of our set up and how we could improve it. We then moved on and this part of the course Jean explained how to use the aperture/exposure on the camera, I found this really useful as although I had looked in the manual I didnt really know how and when to use this function! Then we were shown how to use the manual mode- I thought this was great being shown this at the start of the course, I spent the rest of the day taking photos in this mode.

Suddenly the morning had gone and it was time for lunch, some time to speak to the others on the course and here their photography experience.. Jean Christophe is a travel photographer  and does alot of freelance work for the rough guide books, I asked him what were the other courses he had planned for the future, and he has one which is a 6 month course where you are given a project and if your photos are good enough they are displayed at the gallery www.thegallery.gg which sounds really good but I dont think I will be good enough for this yet!

After lunch we went to vazon and took some photos of the groynes, and then onto Pleinmont where we took some photos of the hanois lighthouse.

Whilst on the course we learnt about composition/shutter priority and the basics of good photography skills.

This was a tireing but enjoyable day and I would happily do one of his course again. Jean-Christophe has invited us to the gallery on Monday to look through our photos and give us some more tips.

To view my photos you can see them on the photo page.

Who would of thought that back in January I would even be somewhere totally different. In the past few weeks I have leant how to be a receptionist, how to do audio typing, formatting documents- although I think I will need to go on a word and powerpoint course soon.

Time has flown by and I cannot believe we will be desending into winter.

You can have a look at my photos on the photos page on this blog.

Details on the walk itself our on: www.memorywalk.org.uk