My anxious achievements – March

March has always been one of my favourite months because it’s when things start to change. Yes, there’s the whole winter turns into spring malarkey, but it’s also when I often get my mojo back. And this year was no different. As many of you know from my incessant moaning about finding a journalism job, my employment prospects haven’t been too promising so far in 2017. The whole never-ending circle of needing to intern to get a job had been rotating as fast as ever. I no longer had any more money to throw at hiked up hotel prices in London and was starting to understand the struggles of the long-term unemployed. But by some miraculous turn of events the wheel stopped turning and my fortunes began to change. Here’s a round-up of what happened.

1. I spent a day in Mumbles with my mother and sister. We walked along the seafront and enjoyed some great food in Croeso Lounge.

2. Nia and I watched the original Beauty and the Beast, got all the nostalgia feels and realised we’d been quoting it incorrectly for the last 15 years or so! Typical us.

3. In the usual Phillips sisters fashion, we spent a day at the cinema watching Hidden Figures, which is without a doubt one of the best films I’ve had the pleasure of watching. I laughed, I cried, I felt empowered and was reminded that my aptitude for maths is comparable with that of a peanut.

4. One of my oldest school friends sent me a handwritten postcard. She knows the way to my heart.

5. I caught up with one of my old university friends down Cardiff Bay over a cup of Starbucks’ caramel lattes. As always, we had a wonderful time talking about everything and nothing and promised to see each other more often. Fingers crossed.

6. I watched the Wales v Ireland rugby match at the Principality Stadium. There’s something special about a Friday night game as the atmosphere always seems electrified by moonlight. We road-tested one of Cardiff’s newest clubs, Dirty Martini, followed by Chip Pan Alley chips – the obvious highlight of the night.

7. My sister was the absolute cutest when she bought me my signature perfume, an Evil Queen collectible doll and a homemade Beauty and the Beast rose. Talk about sister goals.

8. I lunched at Cardiff’s Coffee Barker.

9. I attended my first blogging event at Bootlegger, Cardiff’s probation-themed bar. I honestly haven’t had such a fab night for as long as I can remember. The bar itself was old-school chic, the cocktails were so unique and the fellow bloggers I met were stars, who I now call my friends.

10. I got my nails done for the first time in six years. I feel I can call myself a proper girl now.

11. I headed to my go-to Cardiff nightclub, Be at One with some of the Cardiff gals. Sometimes you’ve just got to consume all the gin and boogie to 90s classics.

12. I tried my first GBK burger. Extortionately expensive, but worth its weight in gold.

13. I visited Nash Point and Cowbridge for the first time. What a breathtakingly raw, rugged and beautiful landscape. Take that, Wuthering Heights.

14. I went to see the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast and all my expectations were met. All together now, “Noooooooo oooooone fights like Gaston.”

15. I spent the day celebrating Mother’s Day in Saundersfoot. My mother seemed to appreciate the personalised box of pink sweets we’d bought her and the ‘Team McDreamy’ T-shirt which validated her Grey’s Anatomy obsession.

16. One of my closest friends gave birth to a baby girl and I could not be more proud or pleased for her and her partner. I love that we’ve got our first team baby to hug and spoil!

17. I had the best holiday in Geneva. Chocolate, French accents and sunshine. What more could you ask for?

18. I GOT OFFERED MY DREAM JOB IN LONDON WITH SQUARE UP MEDIA!

19. We had a Team Phillips gathering at our local pub for my Dad’s birthday, which doubled as my London leaving party. Life is good.

A Mother’s Day note

Every year she tells us not to make a fuss on Mother’s Day. It’s commercialised nonsense she says. But, just as we can count on her self-deprecating speech, we can just as much depend on her toothy grin when we present her with that year’s ingenious gift. It only seems fair to dedicate a day entirely to her given that Christmas is a family affair and my younger sister conveniently usurped her birthday many moons ago.

It often falls on my shoulders to find a present that will ‘out do’ the year before as I have unofficially been christened as the ‘creative one’ of the Phillips clan, whilst my sister takes charge of practical logistics as the designated ‘science brain.’ I’d like to think our gift giving has improved since the days when my good-intentioned father would let us loose on the Argos catalogue. We’d leave our local store clutching brash ‘Best Mum’ necklaces and enigmatic dolphin clocks. I’d bet good money on that necklace being hidden away from the light of day in the deepest depths of my mother’s jewellery box and on that clock still sitting on a dusty charity shop shelf.

This year in honour of her newfound Grey’s Anatomy addiction I purchased a themed top with ‘Team McDreamy’ emblazoned across the front, a boxed selection of pink sweets, some flowers and we spent the day at the seaside in Saundersfoot. She really seemed to appreciate the top and was expectedly enamoured by the assortment of her favourite treats, which included Haribo eggs and Percy Pigs.

 

We couldn’t have picked a more glorious day for our day at the West Wales seaside. And neither could the rest of Wales. Minus navigating the mind-numbing traffic to our destination, the afternoon was very enjoyable. We walked along the seafront admiring all of the enviable homes with sea views, ambling around the local trinket shops, smelling the candles, laughing at the original plaque quotes and taking a walk down memory lane by buying confectionary from an old-fashioned sweet shop.

The only glitch of the day appeared when the lady sitting to my right in the coffee shop we’d chosen for lunch ordered the last halloumi salad. It looked utterly delectable, and I was taunted by its sweet aroma as I made do with a savoury scone. They’re just not the same without a hearty dollop of clotted cream. Nonetheless, the balance was restored as we stopped off at Joe’s where I enjoyed Welsh cake flavoured ice cream.

Days out like these and little gestures can only ever be tokenistic in comparison to all that my mother has already done for me. From day one I brought drama, having been born three months prematurely and spending a few months more in the neonatal intensive care unit. Then came the night terrors, the blaring signs of anxiety, teenage troubles and illnesses. I’m sure if I was in her shoes I’d have given me back to the stork or sent me away to the circus.

Instead, she was patient, caring, compassionate and forever in my corner – sometimes my only advocate. But despite all of the trials and tribulations, she has never lost her infectious laugh, her demonstrative Tina Turner and Celine Dion impressions or her ability to put things into perspective with a cup of tea and prolonged hug.

There really is something magical about mothers and I am so lucky to have won the luck of the draw by being given mine. She deserves so much more than a generic necklace and a fishy eyesore. She deserves to duet with the power ballad queens and to be wined and dined by TV’s most dishy neurosurgeons.

I am forever in my mother’s debt for teaching me that kindness will always be in fashion, that education is vitally important and that you can only ever do your best. But most importantly, that a sweep fringe and smocks really don’t suit me.