Birds Flying High You Know How I Feel

Happy New Year (again). Sorry for the lack of blogs the last few weeks but life has kind of gotten in the way. Normally that would be a bad thing but in this case it's actually good!

Things seem to be going really well at the moment (seriously hoping I've not just tempted fate by typing that!). My mood has improved drastically, even lifted!The mood stabilisers seem to be really doing their job, I'm happy 80% of the time and even today on a slightly lower day it's a walk in the park compared to what I used to call my 'low' days! The tablets also seem to have stamped on a lot of my anxiety symptoms, I'm not having nearly so many crazy and weird worries and even my anxiety-type nightmares have lessened.

So with the help of the tablets I'm on a mission to make 2014 a Happy New Year. As well as taking part in the 100 Happy Days photo challenge (which works wonders by making me think of something every day that's made me smile – so far it's been pretty wide-ranging from a cup of tea with Helen, to a home-made bin in the office and a Chinook flypast – check out my Twitter@JenRaeFrances to see all the pics). I'm still taking lots of photos and absolutely loving my new camera –there's a mix of recent pics at the top of the page.

I'm also reconnecting with my old friends from school and college which I'm really happy about! So far I've met up with Lydia, Hilary and Luke who I've known since school and once we got past the polite "how have you beens?" it was just like old times. I'm going to work really hard to see them regularly and not let myself lose contact again! I'm trying to challenge myself to have a gathering for my birthday in June, whether it's a BBQ or a night out at the pub to prove to myself how much better I am – not that I'm already planning stuff you understand 0J. I've managed to lose just over half a stone since the start of December too, and no I have no idea how I've done it as I stuffed myself silly over Christmas (damn you Quality Street!). I'm putting it down to the change of tablets or a tapeworm, in which case tapeworm I love you dearly!

I guess I really want to make this year a positive one where I celebrate all the people and things that I love and hold dear. I want to go places and see people, have fun day trips and breaks, go to concerts – maybe a festival (this means that Mars, GaGa, Greenday et all need to get their collective butts in gear and organise some tour dates!), take advantage of new experiences. In the wise words of  30STM song Do Or Die it's "Time To Be Alive"