emily@besottied.com

Hello! My name is Emily and I run beSottied.com

Well, when I say "I run beSottied.com" I really mean I shell out £40+ a year in order to support my sporadic outbursts of enthusiasm for webdesign and other related topics.

Seeing as you're here I assume you'd like to know a bit more about me.

I am 26 years old. I am a girl. I was 5 feet tall until I had a crazy late growth spurt when I was 19. I'm now a whopping 5 feet, 3 inches.

I live on the north-east coast of England. For those with a less than detailed knowledge of the geography of the United Kingdom, this means I live closer to Edinburgh than I do to London. I'm from a small town about 35 miles south of Newcastle upon Tyne. Contrary to popular belief, this does not make me a Geordie! The north east is really beautiful and I'm always pimping it out to people when I'm on my travels. We have friendly people, bustling cities, beautiful countryside and miles of pristine beaches on the Northumberland coast. Why don't you come up and visit north east England (see what I did there)? If you don't mind the cold you could always throw yourself in to the North Sea for a refreshing wild swim!

I can't really speak French but like to throw the odd Gallic phrase into conversation, just to spice things up a bit. I studied German up to A-level and though I've forgotten pretty much all of it I still like to shout DEUTSCH PHRASES! in a scary voice. One of my life ambitions is to become bilingual, so I'm hoping to pick up my German again soon. My other life ambition is to have Air New Zealand Koru Lounge membership, but that's a whole other story.

I work full-time in social care communications and am studying part-time for an honours degree in Communication and Culture at York St John University. This means I study a mix of things including sociology, IT, linguistics and languages (I have a qualification in British Sign Language, too). I've just finished my third year and am hoping to complete my studies by Christmas 2012. I'm aiming for first-class honours and I'm currently on track to achieve that, so my main concern for the coming year is to not drop any clangers that would jeopardise my chances!

I'm currently a single girl intent on adventure. My long(ish)-term boyfriend and I split up last summer and, while I'm definitely not after marriage and spending my weekends wandering around Ikea looking at furniture, I am starting to think it would be quite nice to be swept off my feet sometime soonish - preferably by someone with a splendid array of waterproof clothing to compliment my own! The 'Mr Boyfriend' you may see mentioned in older blog entries is no longer in my life, but as the silly sod wasn't guilty of doing anything too terrible I've decided to leave those entries up so that I'm able to look back on the adventures we had and the photos I took, should I suddenly feel the need.

I give blood and I'm on the organ donor register. I don't generally tend to preach or nag but giving blood is something I really believe in. If you've ever considered it, even just a little bit, go along to a session near you and see what's involved. I promise you you'll be glad you did, and then you can come back and tell me all about it!

I like to have a good time, but I don't smoke and I don't drink that much - two glasses of wine and I'm away with the fairies! I like to think there's more to life than working all week, spending all of your money on booze on a Saturday night and wasting all day Sunday lying in bed with a pounding headache. I ran the Great North Run in 2009 and am only just starting to get over it (I'm only kidding! Sort of). I love horses, James Herriot and the great outdoors. I'm a member of The National Trust and the Ramblers' Association (hah!) and like to do lots of active stuff, such as hiking, mountain biking and wild swimming. I'll give anything a go and have had flying lessons, snowboarding lessons and can rock climb.

I'm often found with a pair of knitting needles in my hands and I like to kick back with a Creme Egg. It's a good thing Cadbury's only sells them between January and Easter(ish) or I would gorge myself on their fondanty goodness the whole year through and have to be pushed to work in a wheelbarrow.

I spent a month in New Zealand at the beginning of 2011 and completely fell in love with the place. An Australian guy snapped this photo of me at Lake Matheson, near Fox Glacier on New Zealand's South Island.

I like it because it was a bit of a 'candid camera' moment: it was taken before I was ready (ie not awkwardly posed) and it does an excellent job of reminding me how incredibly happy I was on that trip. I'm currently making plans to move out to New Zealand in 2013, once I've completed my degree.

I love using hyphens unecessarily and am keen on jolly-hockey-sticks type English (eg jolly good, chin-chin, toodle-pip etc). I use far too many brackets. I horse ride, can pole dance, love my car and am a bit of a nerd. I mean, really, I am. If you ever feel like a leisurely sit down with an X-Files DVD, give me a call.

Mm. Mulder.

Related links

• Moving to New Zealand - which is quite far away, now that I think about it
• Newcastle upon Tyne on Google Maps
• 'Geordie' on Wikipedia
• Give blood
• Creme Egg on Wikipedia