What’s in a name? Part two

When I started putting stuff online I didn’t want to do it as me. I was nervous about what people might say. Scared that people from my past would look me up and belittle my efforts. And over time I wanted to be other bloggers including Alison from Brocantehome, Gala Darling, Jennifer at Vegan lunchbox and numerous daily outfit posters. I’ve always believed in the ‘act as if’ rule where you fake it until you find your own way. Interestingly I never even tried to be Nubbytwiglet; I know my limits.

So like many people who want to hide or become someone else I used another name. Maybe not a nickname as it’s one I gave myself. Midorigreen came from a weekend away camping with a spoof military theme. My group of friends called ourselves the cocktail regiment and all adopted names with an alcohol theme. With my love of all things green and Japanese midorigreen seemed ideal.

It also seemed ideal when I looking for a name to hide behind online. Since then I’ve begun to think of midorigreen as my alter ego. She’s a stronger, more powerful version of me who has emerald green hair and can actually play bass guitar.

So what’s been the point of this post and part one? Well I’ve decided it’s time for a new blog. This blog was my space to grow out of the place I was in when I started it. I’ve always thought September was a good time for new starts. So from the start of September you’ll be able to find me at www.midorigreenuk.blogspot.com

Don’t expect radical changes in content. I’m still me, I’m still growing and changing (and that’s going to be going on for a lifetime – this is not a novel or a film). I will continue to be inspired by other bloggers. The only real change will be the title and that I’m not hiding in quite the same way anymore.

Things I Love Thursday

Festivals - Dear Heart and I had a marvellous time at V last weekend. It's bene ten years since I last went for some reason or another (life getting in the way of doing other things maybe?) and it's simply gotten bigger and better. Loved the stuff that was going on away from the main stage (although the main stage did have it's moments i.e. Coldplay) and a big clap to whoever had the grand idea of payuing 10p for any cups handed in at a recycle point. It helped with the litter problem and I made enough to cover a beer or three.

Lawrence of Arabia - Ok I'm only half way through but already very impressed. Nice to watch a film that doesn't depend entirely on special effects to keep your interest. In fact for a film that so far has been a group of blokes riding camels across a desert it's amazing.

Other stuff - clearing clutter on eBay and Freecycle, looking forward to September, knowing that there is no point in worrying, greengages and plums, weekend plans, clearing joblists, early yule shopping, good reads and lsiting supplies in the freezer.

What’s in a name? Part one

Ever wonder why this is pretty little blog and not some other title? I started it back in 2006(ish) because I had started a little online business called Pretty Little Parcels. I was very excited about Pretty Little Parcels when I started it. It was a time when I was really starting to engage with the idea of being more actively online. I’d started reading Brocantehome which is the first blog I can recall reading and being excited about visiting daily. I think I was also quite into the idea of making part of my living online. Seduced by the glamour of the dot com.

Anyway inspiration struck and I began PLP. The basis concept of PLP was sending out boxes with a few delightful surprise items in them. A bit like a cracker. So there would be something to make you feel beautiful, something delicious, something fun and something to make you think. I started the blog partly as a way of promotion but soon realised that I liked being able to record my thoughts and write about life.

I’m shutting down Pretty Little Parcels, but keeping the blogging. PLP was a great learning experience and didn’t leave me at a loss financially. I’m just not willing to devote the time to marketing it. Also I have issues with what I’m putting in the parcels. I was just experimenting with veganism when I started it and had no problems buying products with milk in them to go in the parcels. Now it doesn’t feel right for me to do so. On a similar note I’ve also gotten into the habit of not buying things. I’m sure a lot of products that I bought for parcels were made in sweatshops.

One of the biggest problems with my life (and it’s a blessing really!) is that there are so many things that I am interested in. I have to face up and realise that I can’t do them all at once. It’s time to move on. To focus. We think nothing of decluttering our homes, our desks, our wardrobes and our fridges. We’re not so good at decluttering our lives. Doing less better rather then more in a haphazard not really committed manner.

It’s nearly September and time for life to move on.

Get ready for the second act!

What's in my lunchbox this week?

I attempted to consume this out of doors. However the high winds meant that it was a real effort to get the fork to my mouth before bits blew away!

From top right:

Lovely local Plum and Greengage
Blackberry and marzipan muffins - I had a load of Blackberries that I picked that needed using up. These are delicious. I made them with wholewheat flour and let the marzipan and fruit do all the sweetening.
Salad of pasta, green olives, sweetcorn and a teeny bit of Mr Singh's chilli sauce.
Slices of red pepper and cucumber.

Things I Love Thursday

Days off - I seem to have been on the go all summer long. Lunch breaks are non existent or spent travelling, rather than in the park. Days off so far have been spent travelling or meeting up with people. Hence it's been marvellous to have two days at home not having to do anything.

Clear outs - Of course I have been doing stuff. Mainly clearing out boxes from my study and stuff from our soon to be refurbished utility room. I've divided it into piles for charity shops, for a friend who does car boot sales for a dogs home, freecycle and finally eBay. I'm amazed by the demand for some items on freecycle. My beaded curtain and leaf rake could have gone several times over. However I am short on taker for my set of taps and mug tree.

Other stuff - music festivals, sleeping it off, long lunches, great reads, sunshine, not worrying, going with the flow, green tops with hint of mint worn with white heart shaped necklaces, gucamole, menu changes, living the moment.

To do list

List items on Freecycle and eBay (seller name Prettymidorigreen should anyone be interested)
Buy beer
Find shoes suitable to wear to a music festival (high heels, ballet pumps & flipflops just don't cut it)
Enjoy long lunch with good food, fresh air, music and either something engrossing to read or some godd conversation

What's in my lunchbox this week?

Another box of seasonal goodness!

Clockwise from top right:
Mock duck in BBQ sauce
Blueberries from the market and Blackberries picked by me from a nearby bush
Roasted tomatoes, Aubergines & home grown Courgette
Buckwheat

How to be happy

A bit of my Saturday is normally taken up with reading the Guardian and I always start with the Weekend magazine (unless Dear Heart gets to it first). I really enjoyed the pieces this weekend about happiness.

The basic things seemed to be: you can’t be happy all the time, help people, engage in activities that you really enjoy, be grateful, embrace the new and novel, build relationships, accept that you don’t know what will make you happy and finally invest in experiences, not things.

I can see a lot of these things really coming out in blogs I read. The one I’m uncertain about is putting money and resources into experience not things. Bloggers often write about new purchases or things they want to buy. Does the whole process of choosing an item and purchasing it count as an ‘experience’?

Anyway do have a read of the various pieces all of which are linked to in this introduction to the What makes you happy debate.

Things I Love Thursday

Big jars of buttons – I arrived at work last Friday to find on my desk the jar of buttons in the photograph and a cucumber. They’d been left by Mimi who knew that a) I love buttons and b) an always on the lookout for locally grown cucumber that isn’t encased in plastic. The cucumber came from a WI market and is currently being consumed. The buttons need to come home but are staying on my desk for a while because just looking at them makes me feel cheerful and inspired.

Watching shooting stars – Last night Dear Heart and I sat in the garden in the dark and watched the Perseid meteor shower pass over. It wet, past my bedtime and I had neck ache from looking up. It was also wonderful. I had a huge smile on my face. I saw six shoot past and the last (before cloud cover ruined any further hope of sightings) left a bright trail in the sky for a few seconds. I shall be visiting the British Astronomical society to find out about future meteors to observe.


Other stuff – working through job lists, peanut butter, wedges, green ink, planning tattoos, lunch with the ladies, fifty per cent off, giant courgettes, live music, routines, vegan ‘corn beef’ hash (thanks Dad), proper cider (except in snakebite), sweetcorn,

To do list

• Plan things to do on days off
• Look at wardrobe and create three new combinations
• Foot soak and pedicure with a glass of wine and a good book
• Breathe deeply
• Watch Perseids meteor shower (with blankets and hot tea if necessary)

What's in my lunchbox this week?

After a few weeks of eating up random leftovers and being in locations that didn't require a lunchbox I'm very pleased with how this one has worked out.

Admittedly I'd run down supplies of fruit and veg to almost nothing which I felt justified indulging in all the lovely seasonal produce on the market.

This one was easy to prepare. We had a BBQ on Sunday night and I prepared the dishes to go with and am consuming what was left for lunch.

Clockwise from top right:

Slices of tomato and red onion

Plum (sweet, cold and delicious)

Potato salad with green beans. Potatos, beans and finely chopped spring onions were all home grown.

Corn on the cob and lettuce. I carefully chopped my corn cob into bits of the right length to fit but forgot how wide corn is! Having to put in half the amount as a result.

No place like home

I seem to have been all over the place this summer. The nature of my work means that summer always sees me touring the far flung corners of the county I live and work in. This year I also seem to have done quite a bit of going further a field to visit family and friends, celebrate birthdays and just catch up. Even when I haven’t been travelling that far from home I seem to have been staying out long beyond my usual bedtime. Dear Heart and I don’t tend to take ‘holidays’ and the last five summers have been dedicated to house renovation, so such a lot of ‘play’ seems odd.

My summer so far:
Dancing in Leamington Spa and Nottingham, climbing Glastonbury Tor and wander round Abbey, 90th birthday party, 18th birthday party, Bloggers meet up, meet up with Dear Heart’s friend from Xbox Live, visits to numerous pubs and bars, midnight bowling, cocktails and cupcakes party, live jam night, lots of BBQs, farewell to house party.

I’m really beginning to appreciate the joys home and of having a routine. The routine bit makes me think about Autumn. I have always enjoyed the ‘return to school’ atmosphere in September. A chance to shape up after the madness of summer. A better time of year for making changes and fresh starts than January. I fear that I am wishing my life away by anticipating the nip of cold in the air in August.

I’m going to work at appreciating summer while it’s still here and really enjoy waking up in my own bed in my own house. I’ll also make more of an effort to keep up and stay in touch the people I’ve been to visit or been out with. Organise some visits for later in the year. Life should be about balance, not contrast. Everything in moderation.

Things I love Thursday

Having amazing friends and family – I’ve enjoyed the company of so many wonderful people recently and am looking forward to spending time with more over the next week or so.

Second hand clothes – Dear Heart’s sister was having a clear out and was kind enough to let me have a rummage through. I really have no excuse for buying any new clothes now (with the exception of a French connection LBD from Oxfam).

Live music – Dear Heart and one his pals have organised a series of jam nights at a local snooker club. The first one was on Sunday so I helped them set up and have a little play myself. Then I sat back and listened to some amazing sounds. Those boys rock!

Other stuff -The possibility of cover grey hair with emerald dye, locally grown tomatoes, an emptier fridge, only buying what I had on my list in Ikea, charity shops, the wonders of public transport, wonderful neighbours, the difference smiling makes.

To do list

Buy peanut butter (vital for the vegan on the move)
Keep drinking lots of water
Reorganise food in freezer, move older items to front and come up with plan for their consumption
Consider dyeing grey hairs emerald green
Get some sleep

What's in my lunchbox this week? and UK Lady Bloggers

Okay first off this week I'm eating a whole variety of different things in an attempt to make room in the fridge. I did intend to take pictures each day and make a lovely post illustrating the variety. Alas I wolfed down my lunch on Monday and then realised the lack of picture taking. So instead let me share with you some of the 'lunch' related activities of the UK Lady Bloggers meet up on Friday. We stood on Victoria station trying to decide what to do when Natzini sensibly suggested that we all pop up to Wetherspoons and enjoy a jug of cocktails.

So here is a jug of Frilly Tutu which definitely had some fruit in although I'm not certain it would count towards 5 a day.

This is the debris of the other half of lunch - cupcakes from the hummingbird bakery consumed in a pub across the road. Alas as they don't sell vegan cupcakes I was unable to partake in the sugar rush.

Then we all got a bit peckish and ordered some platters of meze and nachos. No one took the single slice of red pepper in a very polite British sort of way. Instead we carried on chatting as we had been all day about everything under the sun except blogging. It was a interesting day. A bit like 8 people who all live in the same street getting together. We knew stuff about each other's lives but needed to search for common ground. It really made me think about the boxes of getting to know you games for reading groups and made me wonder if we (I?) could adapt one of those for next time.

I'm certainly in for the next one anyway and propose starting with lunch (an excellent way to break the ice) and following up with a browse of a handful of charity shops. Also must remember to take more photographs.

Thanks to Aimee Marie and Vixel for sorting it out and everyone for being so lovely and braving various types of public transport in order to be there.

Things I Love Thursday

A bit short this week but it's the thought that counts, right?

UK Lady bloggers meet up – Both nervous and excited about meeting up with some other bloggers. I’m also trying out Easybus for the first time to get me there.

Being busy – it is good and beats boredom

Dear Heart doing the cooking, crazy Sundays with friends, getting through job lists, sleep, courgettes

What's in my lunchbox this week?

This week's contents came together more by luck than anything else. I made a big pan of roasted veg at the weekend. Then a friend offered me a tub of vegan cream cheese that she wouldn't be using. then I saw some reduced price bagels that said vegan on the label.

Clockwise from top right:

Vegan chocolate and summer fruit cupcake - leftovers from some I made for a lunch party. Still getting to grips with glace icing. Used my new silicon cases and they worked really well.

Bagel filled with vegan cream cheese and roasted veg, surrounded by shredded lettuce and spinach with a dollop of vegan mayo.

Compote of cherries and raspberries.

What's in my lunchbox this week?

Clockwise from top right:

Potatoes - from my allotment. I poured a little vinegar over them while still hot to enhance the flavour.

Peas - I cooked them with mint from the garden. Alas they failed to pick up the taste but were quite tasty anyway.

Courgette tart - Made with a mix of home grown and 'end of day' market courgettes. Added a bit of salt and chilli to enhance the taste.

Cherry, raspberry and strawberry compote - with the last of the alltoment strawberries.

Things I love Thursday

Exercise – I finally started doing morning walks again. Feels good and the route has a novelty once again. Also made a real effort this week and managed Pilates, Yoga and belly dancing classes.

Not feeling I have to pick up the pieces other people can’t – and the world didn’t fall apart so why have I wasted so much time, effort and energy in the past.

Hot soup with raw green leaves - I added some raw shredded spinach from my allotment to the tomato and red pepper soup I was eating on Monday night. It was a kind of last minute thing one I’d heated the sup and had it I the bowl. A kind of garnish. Totally delicious. In fact I had the last of the sup for breakfast Tuesday morning because it all tasted so good. This time I had spinach and watercress.

Other good stuff - BBQs in the rain, silicon cupcakes cases, giggly, gossipy lunches with the girls, reading trashy stuff, black Harley Davidson vests, great neighbours, being unable to decide what to buy so buying nothing.

To do list

Find good dessert recipe (Definitely vegan, wheat free if possible)

Collect up clothing repairs and alterations and begin to work through them

Sort through stack of old magazines, cut (or rip) out bits of interest and recycle the rest.

Put one item eBay (or more than one)

Drink more water