Things I Love Thursday (or just lately, in general)

This is the last Thursday of 2011 so here’s another cocktail of things, places, blog posts, and other galimaufry that I’ve been lusting over or inspired by recently:

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A magical short film, in gaelic but there are subtitles.


Christmas- I had a wonderful Christmas day spent with family and a hilarious boxing day spent with dear friends. I am so privileged and blessed in the people I know and I hope reader that you had a fantastic Christmas too (or if you celebrate something else that was wonderful, too).

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Lazy mornings and productive afternoons- This morning I awoke and thought to myself “Today I don’t feel like doing anything”* so I put my errands off till the afternoon and spent the morning lazing around drinking tea snuggled up on the couch.
It’s amazing how much calmer and more relaxed I felt all day just for listening to my body and allowing myself to just be for a bit.

Hilarious and horrific (in equal measures) presents:


It's all in the eyes, the cold dead eyes. Thanks Yen!

If Famous Writers had Written Twilight- My favourites are Jane Austen and George Sanders

Also:
the Christmas lights twinkling in the windows of my neighbours, Nativity plays & carol & Christingle services, resisting the urge to turn into Father Jack at long cross-denominational meetings and respond to most questions with “that would be an ecumenical matter”, Downton Abbey, Narnia inspired Doctor Who with a cameo from Bill Bailey- how reader could I not love it? Oh and melting snowmen cookies anyone?

That’s all for now, folks! Time for me to log off and go celebrate New Year’s weekend but before I do what’s making your Christmas week twinkle reader?

*Nb my inner voice doesn’t usually sound like Bruno Mars

Thoughtful Tuesday

Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in the Alaska won’t make it “white”
– Bing Crosby

Thoughtful Tuesday

Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things - trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play-world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia.
— C. S. Lewis
The Silver Chair

Thoughtful Tuesday

Stories you read when you’re the right age never quite leave you. You may forget who wrote them or what the story was called. Sometimes you’ll forget precisely what happened, but if a story touches you it will stay with you, haunting the places in your mind that you rarely ever visit.
— Neil Gaiman, M Is for Magic

Silent Sunday

Thoughtful Tuesday

Don’t bother too much about your feelings. When they are humble, loving, brave, give thanks for them; when they are conceited, selfish, cowardly, ask to have them altered. In neither case are they you, but only a thing that happens to you. What matters is your intentions and your behaviour.
— C. S. Lewis

Silent Sunday

Lo a bandwagon…
*jumps*
Silent Sunday is an idea I found via twitter, I’m not sure who or where the original post was conceived but you can go to twitter and search #silentsunday for plenty more fab photos.
The idea is to post a photograph. That’s just one photograph you’ve taken, which either sums up your week, really caught your attention, made you smile – WHATEVER. The pictorial highlight of your week. It’s often something you could post which needs no words at all hence “Silent Sunday”.
And now I’ll shut up…

Things I love Thursday

It’s Thursday … Quick reader to the Batmobile Tilt list!:

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This week I love the discussion provoked by the public sector strikes.
Don’t worry reader I’m not going to turn this segment into my own little soapbox from which to espouse my views (much has already been said by many in that respect) but it does my soul good to see people stirred up, thinking about what is right/fair and passionately standing up for issues that matter (whatever side they are on) rather than say some media placebo like the X Factor

Also high on my list this week a friend’s daughter has been entered by her school in The Sunday Telegraph’s school painting competition. Em is 6 years old, here’s her painting-

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On the subject of art and amazing talents…We are His Masterpiece


Simple pleasures:
Advent Calendars, finding exactly what you need where you least expect it, literary devices, soup and grilled cheese sandwiches,

What is making you happy this week reader? Seriously, I'm nosy I want to know.

Thoughtful Tuesday

Each new day is a blank page in the diary of your life. The secret of success is in turning that diary into the best story you possibly can.
-Douglas Pagels

Friday Find

This weeks Friday find, I bring you reader, some celebrity facts that are bizarre but totally true!

Ernie Wise made the first UK mobile phone call. The call was from St Katherine's Dock, East London, to Vodafone's Headquarters in Newbury, Berkshire.

Also
Reg Varney (from TV's hit 'On The Buses') was the first person in the world to use an ATM machine. The ATM in question was situated in a branch of Barclays Bank in Enfield.

Things I Love Thursday

Today our American friends are celebrating Thanksgiving and whilst as a Brit I’m not celebrating I still think the spirit of gratitude is to be cultivated so I’m jumping in the gravy boat with my tilt this week:

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Top of my list this week…

Some of my friends who have been giving me the most valuable support for the past several months – I’m so grateful for their thoughtfulness and patience. This is my thank you for asking after me even when I say I’m fine.

Unexpected inspiration
I am currently reading Star Over Bethlehem. It’s a selection of poems and Short Stories by Agatha Christie. As a fan of her work in the detective genre I was expecting to enjoy them and perhaps find them interesting but I was not prepared for the ways in which they would challenge me and encourage me.

The first bite of food when you are really hungry and indeed for having enough food to not be hungry, access to clean water and all the other essential amenities which we often take so for granted in the first world.

Also:
Trolling with the Beatles,introducing the captain of the Innuendo Squad, warm and colourful scarves.

Thoughtful Tuesday

‘If life doesn’t offer a game worth playing, then invent a new one.’
-Anthony J. D'Angelo

Friday Find

Europe contains three wallpaper museums. Yes you read that correctly reader three wallpaper museums.
They are in Rixheim, France, Kassel, Germany & Mezières, Switzerland.

That's at least two too many surely.

Things I love Thursday

A very merry unbirthday to you reader, I have a cup of tea in hand, here's what's getting my heart a-fluttering this week...

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High on my list this week is John Barrowman.
On Friday night I and a couple of dear friends went to see the irrepressible ball of energy & glee that is Mr John Barrowman sing, dance & wear all the sparkles in the world.

Also high on my list this week are birthdays.
Monday was my birthday. I had a lovely day & feel very lucky & blessed. The best present award goes to my brother for this little beauty-



Playing for Change One of the most beautiful things I've discovered this week. It is a multimedia movement to inspire, connect and bring peace to the world through music.

tramping through piles of dry leaves

What’s making your week sparkle & glitter reader?

Friday Find

Doctor Who Fan Orchestra perform “This Is Gallifrey / Vale Decem”

Things I Love Thursday

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This week has gone by so quickly but it’s Thursday again so here’s a list of the things I am loving this week:

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Top of my list this week -Light Parties-
On Monday I helped run a light party (a family oriented event that offered an alternative to trick or treating et al) for the children in our local community. It was better attended than we expected and we had to rush out to buy extra food supplies but more importantly all the children seemed to enjoy themselves and have a great night. I’d much rather rejoice in the light than celebrate darkness and fear anyday.

Also notable this week were these videos which came to my attention on Sunday and I have been singing to myself on-off all week since then-



Doctor Who - "The Ballad of Russell and Julie" Wrap Party Special


What about you reader? What things have made your week thrilling?

Thoughtful Tuesday

Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it onto future generations.
-George Bernard Shaw

Where will you go to serve the typical human being?

Things I love Thursday

A very lazy tilt this week I’m afraid reader, time has kind of escaped me today so here’s my list of clicky-links to things that have brightened my week:

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This TARDIS Teapot

Rainbow origami bunnies

This poster

This song by Sara Bareillis- It’s been a bit of an anthem for me this week.


So concludes my list of this week’s small but not insignificant pleasures. What little treasures have you uncovered this week reader?

Thoughtful Tuesday

The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life.
- Frank Lloyd Wright

Let my girls be Hermiones, rather than Pansy Parkinsons.

I've been thinking lots about body image lately and had a whole ranty post about the way in which it pervades society. However I think this quote by Harry Potter author JK Rowling sums it up beautifully so I've decided to post that instead:

It's about what girls want to be, what they're told they should be, and how they feel about who they are. I've got two daughters who will have to make their way in this skinny-obsessed world, and it worries me, because I don't want them to be empty-headed, self-obsessed, emaciated clones; I'd rather they were independent, interesting, idealistic, kind, opinionated, original, funny – a thousand things, before 'thin'. And frankly, I'd rather they didn't give a gust of stinking chihuahua flatulence whether the woman standing next to them has fleshier knees than they do. Let my girls be Hermiones, rather than Pansy Parkinsons.

Friday Finds

Today's find -Large Objects Shot as Miniatures Using a Giant Coin and Tilt-Shift Effects

Thoughtful Tuesday

I like to see people reunited, I like to see people run to each other, I like the kissing and the crying, I like the impatience, the stories that the mouth can’t tell fast enough, the ears that aren’t big enough, the eyes that can’t take in all of the change, I like the hugging, the bringing together, the end of missing someone.
— Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Friday Find

'60-Second Adventures in Thought' video series by The Open University voiced by David Mitchell.
Here's the first video- Achilles and the Tortoise :



You can find the rest of the series here reader

Things I Love Thursday

Here we are back for another week’s worth of love and goodies:

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In last weeks tilt I mentioned I was looking forward to taking my Mother out for a surprise birthday treat. On Friday we went out for a delicious dinner followed by ‘Top Hat’ the musical.

It starred Tom Chambers in the Fred Astaire role as Jerry Travers, the famous American tap dancer who arrives in London to appear in his first West End show, and Summer Strallen as Dale Tremont the role previously embodied by Ginger Rogers’. It was wonderful, the acting from the whole cast was superb my only teensy issue was that personally I struggled to buy into their chemistry they felt a bit more like siblings than lovers but hey I’m just one person. Other than that it had beautiful choreography, sublime Irving Berlin orchestration and gorgeous 1930’s outfits- a real joy
Most importantly my mum had a wonderful time. An evening filled with show-tunes, good food and good company = happy mother-lady

Another thing high on my love list this week is a cinema trip with one of my dearest friends. Last night we went to see Jane Eyre at a gorgeous privately owned independent cinema called The Savoy in Heaton Moor. The film was good but the best bit was hanging out with my friend.
Warning the following contains schmaltzy sentiment, so you might want to skip this paragraph reader.
We’ve not had much chance to hang out lately and I’ve really missed her. Yen is fantastic -she’s bright, thoughtful, and if I were writing a personal ad for her this is where I’d add gsoh. We can talk about everything and anything and talking to her genuinely does make my day. I come into contact with lots of lovely people in my day to day life but sometimes you just long to sit down with your kindred spirits. The people who get you and don’t think you’re abnormal or if they do they accept it rather than tolerate it. I’d been feeling this undercurrent niggle a lot the last couple of weeks since a friend said something well-meaning that sent me off into a bit of an oversensitive self-critical thought process. I find it difficult to explain because it’s not like missing home or something that can be quantified, it’s like missing a part of your life. Seeing Yen was the perfect tonic, just what I needed. I have some amazing friends.

Also this quote:
I remember when I was doing rent and I was too thin, and I was doing that on purpose because I’m dying, I’m a HIV+ drug addict. I remember having to eat raw food and doing all this work to make sure I could stay thin… And I remember everyone asking me when I was doing press for the movie, “what did you do to get so thin? You looked great!” and I’m like, “I looked emaciated.”
It’s a form of violence in the way that we look at women and how we expect them to look and be, for… what’s sake? Not health, not survival, not enjoyment of life, but just so that you can look ‘pretty’.
I’m constantly telling girls all the time, “everything’s airbrushed, everything’s retouched, to the point of just that it’s never even asked, and none of us look like that.”- Rosario Dawson
I want to stand and applaud her

What about you reader? What’s making your week sparkle?

Thoughtful Tuesday

You must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you.
— Joseph Campbell

DWD

Happy Doctor Who Day reader,

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Today is also my lovely mum’s birthday and would have been John Lennon’s 71st birthday, clearly a great day! Hope you are having a lovely ninth of October reader.

Things I Love Thursday

This week has been a bit busy & stressful & well generally tough but there is light at the end of the tunnel so instead of dwelling on that here's my list of things that made me smile this week:

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My Mum- It’s her birthday on Sunday so Dad and I are taking her out for a surprise treat tomorrow evening. I cannot wait to see her face. She has had a rubbish year but has had such a positive attitude throughout. On top of that she’s still managed to be there and support all of us.

Unseasonably warm weather and consequently afternoons in the beer garden sipping fruit cider & an excuse to try making watermelon mojito Popsicles

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The tutors on my new course I’m looking forward to learning from their experiences,

The O2 Rugby World Cup advert (I wish I'd got up to find Jonny in my kitchen and Delon in my hall...)


What about you? What do you love this week reader? Why not jot it down and remember to always be thankful!

Thoughtful Tuesday

To live content with small means: to see seek elegance rather than luxury and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy not rich; to study hard, think quietly. Talk gently, act frankly… to listen to stars and buds, to babes and sages, with open heart; await occasions, hurry never…this is my symphony.
-William Henry Channing

Friday Find

This is website is wonderful...

Draw a Stickman

Things I Love Thursday

Here’s a sprinkling of some the things that have put a smile on my face lately:

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Good news for my friends- one dear friend received good health news this week and another is finally able to move into her new house (the couple selling it turned out to be absolute nightmares). I’m so grateful for being surrounded by thoughtful, intelligent, fun, kind people so I love hearing when good things happen to them.

Cute…Escape

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Sleeping in and still being up by 9am

Sesame Street pay homage to Glee-


What’s making your heart sing reader?

Thoughtful Tuesday

No matter what age you are, or what your circumstances might be, you are special, and you still have something unique to offer. Your life, because of who you are, has meaning.
- Barbara de Angelis

Friday Find

Comedian Paul Thorne's song for Rebekah Brooks (ex-editor of the News of the World) performed live at the Comedy Store in London.

Things I Love Thursday

A short Tilt list this week because I’ve just remembered its Thursday but I haven’t written one for a few weeks and really wanted to. I know its cliché but sometimes it really it is good to stop and smell the flowers.

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Getting nine hours of sleep- I was so grateful this week to get a proper nights shut-eye especially after my insomnia resurfacing over the last couple of weeks so I’ve been running on half that for the past two weeks.

Living my life as a party instead of a drama-
Evenings with friends filled with wine & giggles, cocktails and surprise meals out

Sweet phone calls, text messages, and voicemails- Psst Yen thank you

Being uber productive-
I’ve been able to tick all the items off my ‘work’ to-do list this week and I’m especially pleased by how well the first week of our newest venture Youth Church* went
*It's technically called a cell-church but I hate that term.

Other frivolous things:

The new Rice Krispies multigrain shapes advert- It’s entitled ‘The fish’


Happy Birthday Agatha Christie
The perfect excuse to slip a Christie off the shelf, brew a pot of tea and travel in spirit to a vintage world of murder and mystery

This very cute short film with Lee Ingleby and Charity Wakefield via future shorts
Yes that is my tumblr, I’ve been experimenting with it for a month or so, I like to think of it as all the shiny bits of my main blog, with none of the hassle of having to use your brain.

Television:
Doctor Who is back
Also I’m excited for the return of Downton Abbey on Sunday but a little disappointed that the BBC have decided to schedule the final series of Spooks up against it.

Well this post turned out longer than I anticipated... still its alwaays nice to have lots to love. Over to you reader, what are you loving this week?

Thoughtful Tuesday

Never love anybody who treats you like you’re ordinary.
-Oscar Wilde.

Friday Find

There is an eminent art historian by the name of Adolf Katzenellenbogen.

Thoughtful Tuesday

The life I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt.
- Frederick Buechner

Thoughtful Tuesday

I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be "happy." I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all, to matter and to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.
- Leo C. Rosten

Shaken not stirred

Friday Find

The city of Tomsk in Russia, has its own monument to slippers!
This post is brought to you by the fact it is cold and wet and grey outside so my brain can’t help but slip off into a reverie of cosy pyjama clad duvet days. Indeed I think slippers need more recognition as quiet providers of comfort and warmth.

Nb. Writing about monuments to slippers has also made me think of Edward in ‘The Slipper and the Rose’… I know what I’m watching when I get home.

Things I Love Thursday

There’s just one thing on my list this week reader:
My friend Rachel- today is her birthday- If I tried typing all the reasons this gal is special well I’d never stop typing so instead here are just a few: she’s witty, caring and trustworthy, she has great taste, (I know these are things everyone says about their best friends but that doesn’t negate their validity here).I love her optimism and her creativity, the way she creates her own path in life, she manages to be true to herself and her beliefs no matter what life throws at her. Oh and she’s super humble to boot.
Yes Rach is wonderful but don’t take my word for it go check out her blog. I am glad to be able to call her my friend and even more pleased that she keeps on agreeing to be mine too, happy birthday lovely lady.
In fact this week I am very grateful for my all my friends. I am so blessed by the people I am lucky enough to class as my nearest and dearest.

Thoughtful Tuesday

You cannot find peace by avoiding life.
- Virginia Woolf

What a fantastic weekend...and so to sleep zzzz

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Goodbye lovely reader,
hopefully by the time you are reading this I will be whizzing up the motorway to a lovely farm to spend the weekend with several of my favourite people

If all has gone to plan I've been super organised and scheduled this post to appear before your eyes when I am nowhere near my computer. Swish!

Anywho hope you have a splendid weekend, full of sunshine, et cetera, and I shall see you on Monday when I'll be very very sleepy, possibly quite sun-kissed, and certainly very grateful to have access to my very comfy bed again.

This conversation between two of my friends appeared on my facebook news feed when I logged on today. They're discussing travel plans for a camping trip we're all going on this weekend.
I've been so tempted to comment 'I love it when a plan comes together'.
I have thus far resisted because they don't need more proof I'm a geek!

Thoughtful Tuesday

Lives, like money, are spent. What are you buying with yours?
- Roy H. Williams

Yum
Tempura prawns & veg, sweet chilli dipping sauce and rice

I'm in love ...
His name is Merlin
He belongs to my friend S, who made the cupcake from yesterday. He's a little camera shy but isn't he lovely...

Homemade cupcake from my wonderful & talented friend S- her first time working with fondant icing.

Friday Find

Reason #4598 Why I love the UOGB

World's Smallest Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain -George, Will and Richie:

Things I Love Thursday

Thoughtful Tuesday

Today I am taking part in 'Anti-Riot - Operation Cup Of Tea'
I'm also greatly encouraged by this story of a couple from Camden town who made tea for the police who were protecting their street.

"If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty"
Japanese Proverb

"Everybody has to believe in something.....I believe I'll have another drink." -W.C. Fields

It's another lovely sunny day here so my brother's declared it beer o'clock:

I'm sat watching a life sized Bob the Builder singing and teaching the children 'Little fish, big fish, cardboard box'. Lucky I'm at Butlins or I'd think someone had slipped something in my breakfast tea... (I'm still not entirely convinced they haven't).

Friday Find

What we call dust bunnies in English, the French call "moutons de poussière" = dust sheep.

Things I Love Thursday

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Here’s a little list of all the things that have caught my eye and captured my heart recently:

I’d like to start today’s tilt with a tribute to my old teacher, later headmaster, Mr William ‘Bill’ Grundy. Today was his funeral and as I couldn’t attend in person I wanted to make a personal dedication here. I met him in my first week at secondary school- he was a 6ft ex-policeman, with by that time twenty years teaching experiance, and I was a short shy 11 year old. Seven years later I'd learnt that he was a (mostly) friendly giant and I was still a short, quiet 18 year old. Mr Grundy officially taught me geography but I learnt so much over the years about life, the universe and about dealing with other people. I’ll never forget him telling me that if I could only believe in myself and the things he knew I was capable of then the world would have to watch out. A big man not just in stature but also in nature - Goodnight sir, sleep tight, you will be truly missed & never forgotten xxx

Now on to the rest of my list:

Top of my list this week family holidays- currently at Butlins with the family, we’ve been having a great, if a tad exhausting, week so far. It’s just wonderful to spend time together and to see the little ones faces light up in wonder and excitement. Think I’ll have to go on a diet when I get back, far too much booze and food being consumed, feel like an overweight blubber whale!

Similarly, also high on my list are reunions with old friends- Last weekend I met up with a couple who I got to know during my time in Japan. They are in the UK on furlough for a year spending time catching up with family/friends and introducing their daughters to English culture (before this trip, the last time they spent a prolonged period here was eight years ago). It was so lovely to see them and catch up on their personal news and on news about the other members of the team.


I got my hair chopped about a week ago.
From this:
Into this:
Ok I know it’s not actually headline news but to me it is

Best of the rest:

Radio 4 extra has had an large amount of my attention in the last couple of weeks, firstly they ran a series of new Torchwood plays ‘The Lost Files’ but mostly because they are also the home of Cabin Pressure

Refinding a package from a dear friend- Yum forgotten candy cane perfect pick me up treat if a tad unseasonal (Nb. I truly believe life would be brightened up a little if we weren’t expected to wait for 11 months in between installments of such cheer-inducing cuisine as candy-canes and mulled wine)

Groan inducing gags…my current fave-
How does Moses make his tea?
Hebrews it

Watch a Guy Recite Shakespeare With 25 Different Celebrity Impressions As with all impressionists some of his impressions are much better than others but definitely worth a watch.

Over to you reader, what’s making your week sparkle?

Lazing on a sunny afternoon

It's too darn hot. Time for some cold ice cream...
Perfect!

Thoughtful Tuesday

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
Howard Thurman

The August Break

Well I’m late to join the party again this year I know, or should that be fashionably last minute, but I’ve decided to join in with Susannah Conway’s ‘August Break’ project. It’s a monthly project to post photos, without prompts or goals, just low key no pressure sharing with others, throughout August.
Thanks for the reminder go placidly & living yen – Check out their blogs too, if you aren’t following them already, for what I’m sure will be some wonderful photos

So here is my first offering:

I found Nemo!

Hello again, friends. It seems that I’ve been somewhat MIA the last month.
Apologies if you’ve missed me although I suspect it’s much more likely that no-one even noticed my absence. I went on holiday by mistake took an unplanned break from social media.

It’s been a busy month but an odd month too. I mentioned in a previous post that I found myself being challenged throughout the week I spent in Latvia. That challenge, or at least a part of it continued after I came home. In general I’m ok and I don’t want this entry to turn into some melodramatic self-pity party either perhaps the best thing I can say is I’ve just been battling the ‘I am nots’. It’s that little voice inside my head. It starts with over-thinking, over-analyzing, and ends with me feeling useless.

The preface to The Restaurant at the End of the Universe states:
'There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory which states that this has already happened.'
(Adams 1980: 3)
I feel a little bit like that describes my life situation. Fear of the ordeals playing themselves out in head-land is a hindrance, but the paralysis induced by the sheer weight of accumulated hypothetical propositions is quite possibly a worse one. How do you trust what you are going after will be something in the end that you really want? How do you know it’s the right dream?
This is my dreamspace, a creative space but it’s hard to dream big when your heart feels small and sore. It’s no excuse to stop trying though.

As I’m writing this, I’m second guessing whether I should post it. Worried about what people will think. Is this too much like a diary entry? The more time I spend in head-land, the less time I feel like I should spend in head-land. This is a lesson I seem to keep needing to learn over and over and over like a monkey with a miniature cymbal (to steal a phrase from Hot Chip)

On a brighter note my impromptu hiatus served as a nice little vacation. Like a social-networking rehab of sorts. It’s amazing how freeing it can be to let yourself off the hook …even when it’s your own projects.
Seriously though I just want to apologise for sucking so badly recently reader; I have neglected every form of social media from e-mail to blogger and...well, and everything in between (although, to be fair, I'm pretty unrepentant in my neglect of Facebook), and I'm very sorry for not really paying attention to you (yes, you reader) and for not having noticed the important/interesting (or, indeed, frivolous/banal) things that you've all been doing/experiencing.

Thoughtful Tuesday

We spend most of our lives conjugating three verbs: to want, to have, and to do.
- Evelyn Underhill

Friday Find

In the days of Marco Polo, rhubarb was worth several times as much as opium. I can hear the sound of empires crumble...

Thoughtful Tuesday

Apply yourself both now and in the next life. Without effort, you cannot be prosperous. Though the land be good, you cannot have an abundant crop without cultivation.
-Plato

Friday Find

THE WHOLE WORLD NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS. A "simple" sinewave synthesizer triggered by an ordinary 16step sequencer.
It's pretty simple click to make a tune. I started out clicking strategically and by the end was just wildly clicking. So much fun!

Things I Love Thursday

This week I am much-loving:

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Top of my list this week is getting a sneak preview of the wedding dress of one of my dearest friends. Just stunning, the style was not one I expected her to choose but it looks perfect on her. K and I have been friends since school, sometimes I wonder what our early-teenage selves would think if they could see us now. I think yesteryear K would be proud, though she’d never admit it.

Much Ado about Nothing –I enjoyed it enormously and am glad to say my misgivings about the 1980s setting were proved false. We had a lovely Saturday in London & Much Ado About Nothing was the jewel in the crown.

Seeing a mum & her twin babies interacting on a train (their body languages synchronized perfectly!)

Mini-adventures, indoor picnics complete with picnic basket, dinner parties, long conversations about everything and nothing all at the same time. Tea, wine, giggles and belly laughs. Life is always good with friends.

So reader, over to you what’s making your list this week? I always enjoy hearing some of the things that have made your week worth living.

Thoughtful Tuesday

The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them.
- George Bernard Shaw

Friday Find

A bit of a cheat this week because this isn’t a new find but this week has gone by in a bit of a blur and so I’m hoping you’ll be so bowled over by the comic genius of this weeks find that you’ll forgive me reader:

Axis of Awesome’s ‘How to Write a Love Song’

Things I Love Thursday

Ah Thursday. This week has gone so quickly it’s nice to have a chance to pause for a moment and reflect on the things I love this week. To wit here’s my list of things making my heart all a-fluttery this week:

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Topping the list this week my trip to Latvia. It was an emotional week and I was both humbled and inspired by the children and other people I met. I found myself being very challenged throughout the week but I won’t go on about that here and now –partly because I haven’t got the words to express it just yet-hopefully it will get its own post very soon.

Also high on my list this week is the fact that tomorrow I am going away with a friend for a couple of days to celebrate his unofficial birthday ahead of his real one next week. We are going to visit one of one of our dearest friends who we haven’t seen since Christmas. Also excited because we are going to see Much Ado About Nothing on Saturday night, though not as excited as the birthday boy. Can I share a secret with you though reader? MAAN is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays and I must confess to being a little concerned at the news its been transported to ‘1980s sun-drenched Gibraltar - complete with Rubik's Cubes and disco dance floors.’

Best of the rest:

Improptu cocktail parties and yummy pub lunches the day after-made all the more random/fun when you’ve only been home for an afternoon.

Sherlock Holmes A Study in Terror- amazing (and by amazing I mean awful)

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Genuine dialogue- ‘When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever's left, however improbable, must be the truth. Therefore you are sitting on my pipe.’
Also-
‘What makes you think he'll do it again?’
‘I think he will Lestrade, I think he will.’
‘Oh, all right.’
Excellent work all round, guys.

Doctor Who
Oh and also…
waking up 9 months pregnant JEEZ. I am sitting cross-legged FOREVER. Well, for a very long time anyway (pinked out because of huge spoilerage)

These cup cosies made by sewtara

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This is definitely how I feel in the mornings.

What's making your love list this week reader?