I love the rain

It's been raining quite a lot here in England over the past week. I've always had a weird attraction to the rain. There's always this crazy desire to go out in the rain at night and just walk for miles with no particular destination. I've never really had the chance to do it though but I finally got to do it over the past week. I've met a really great person who has come into my life pretty suddenly, but things are going really well. We've been out in the rain most nights this week and its been really lovely to share it with someone so special. For the first time in a while, I feel pretty complete and I'm really happy about that. It's been a hard time this Christmas, with the loss of my granddad and all the problems that have come about. Things are really looking up though and being outside the last few nights has made me feel quite free and alive again. I guess it just goes to show that sometimes it takes a storm to show you what is really important in your life. I've definitely figured that out just lately and found someone who I hope will stick by me and share many more rainy walks with me from now on.

The new aquarium!

I've been wanting a tropical aquarium for quite some time now and finally after years of subtle hinting and perhaps not so subtle nagging, I ended up getting one for Christmas. It's taken a little bit of time to set up, mainly due to the fact that I had to wait until after my dance competition weekend to fill it with water, in case it leaked while we were away. But now that I'm back and the water has been heating up for the past few days, I've been able to start aquascaping and getting it ready for the new arrivals. It was pretty awesome to see that it turned out so well, I was actually quite daunted at how bad my tank landscaping skills would be when the tank still looked like this:

The new 70 litre aquarium in the first stages of set-up, even

 before any water was added. Really loving the rock-effect background, 

especially because it was on sale!

But finally, the tank is up and running! I'm so pleased with how it turned out and it's now just a matter of letting the plants grow fully and cycling the tank. I picked up my first few fish yesterday and they seem to be settling in really nicely. In fact, they've already been given names by my mum, despite the fact that they're more or less identical...

So here it is, the finished product. I've had hours of amusement watching the fish settle into their new home already and hope that the aquarium will continue to be a success!

The new set-up! 70 litre tank (Juwel Rekord 700) with Marina rock-effect background.
Plants: Sumatra driftwood, moss ball, lava rock, Vallisneria natans.
Fish: 3 Widow Tetras and 2 Albino Widow Tetras

Brand new blog!

I'm really excited that I've finally got around to setting up this blog. It's something that I've been desperate to do for such a long time and never found the time to do. I'm hoping that if nothing else, It'll be a place to vent all feelings and thoughts about the days that go by and hopefully also have a lot of fun writing it. I'm going to be adding a few photos as soon as possible with regards to my new (pretty awesome, even if I do say so myself!) tropical aquarium. I'll try to update this blog as much as I possibly can and if it amuses/interests/inspires somebody out there then that's just an added bonus!