So that was November 2011!

I am on a little bit of a high because last night I succeeded in submitting 50,000+ words of a novel to NaNoWriMo, just in time to win! I am very happy to reach the landmark, and whilst I lived up to my old university habits of doing the majority of the work at the last minute, I am really pleased to discover that I am capable of writing a novel. It's given me the confidence I need to get to work on my other projects, once I've figured out which to do first!

So NaNoWriMo was a continuous theme throughout an incredibly busy month. It's been great for me to be so occupied because it's helped me fight SAD a lot better. Now it's December and the big run-up to Christmas begins - more to keep me occupied!

But before I celebrate the arrival of December fully, I decided to have a look back at some of my favourite events from this very busy November.

A Day of Bangs, Booms and Celebrations - I have already described Bonfire Night in one of my earlier posts. What I didn't mention then was that before all of the festivities began we took both of my brothers out for lunch to celebrate the youngest turning 21, and the other achieving a distinction in his MSc as well as getting a new job as a GIS technician! I am one very proud big sister. Then we had an evening full of fireworks, friends, and food, a brilliant day.

What-ho old chap!

A Wedding - One of my closest friends from university got married on the second weekend of the month. The wedding was beautiful. The couple had chosen a vintage theme so all the guests were dressed in very glamourous 20s-50s attire. The hotel for the reception was grand, and art-deco in style, which fitted the occasion perfectly. In the evening we all played with sparklers outside before hitting the dance floor and whirling each other around like crazy until the early hours. Quite a few of my old friends were there, and as the ceremony was held at my old university church, the day brought back lots of memories.

Calves on one of the farms

A Trip Down Memory Lane - Speaking of memories, on a gorgeous sunny day my husband and I walked from our home across the South Downs Way to one of my old homes. It was about 11 miles of walking through farmland, along old routes that I had hiked through at night as a scout, and then finally down the long country lane that I used to cycle along as a teenager, before hitting suburbia once more. I showed my husband my old house, where I spent most of my childhood, and then we wandered to the tiny shopping centre where we discovered the old greasy spoon cafe was still running strong - so we stopped for much needed, and very cheap, mugs of tea and a chocolate nut sundae. We felt very healthy and relaxed. A great way to spend a Saturday.

That's me with Nemo on my head!

A Fancy Dress Party - Yet more memories were shared on this occasion. My old Classical Society friends from university always host fantastic fancy dress parties. We Classicists are all a little bit mad and have good imaginations, so you can always guarantee some pretty awesome costumes. This party was themed N for November, and we all had to come as something beginning with N. I came as November 5th - the idea was appreciated, but was perhaps a little too abstract! Anyway, we also had Napoleon, a Night Elf, a Neanderthal, a Nerd, Nigella Lawson, and Noel Edmonds amongst other things! My favourite was Nemo - one of my friends made a papier mache Nemo that he wore on his head! It was a brilliant night of catching up on all times and sharing funny stories, as well as taking many photos of Nemo wearing silly hats etc.

In other November news, my husband grew a rather dashing moustache for Movember, to help raise awareness of prostate cancer. The Fairtrade Christmas Campaign at church was launched successfully. And of course, there was NaNoWriMo! I thoroughly enjoyed creating my characters and knitting their adventure together. I'd had a few vague ideas about this story before I began writing, but as I wrote different characters kept wandering into my head, bizarre turns of event would just happen, and the whole thing became a lot more dramatic than originally intended. It has been great fun!

So goodbye November, for the first time in years you were a great month! Hello December!