Kenny's back!

I'm so thrilled. Kenny at http://veganlunchcast.blogspot.com/has returned. I still have him listed on my favourites, but had stopped checking his site on a regular basis because I thought he was gone forever.

This morning I clicked on it by accident and discovered that not only is he back, he has been for almost the whole month. That meant that I had several weeks of yummy looking lunches to catch up on. He's such an inspiration. I've recently gotten into the habit of making something (like fake tuna salad) and eating it over the course of a week. I need to make my lunches more varied.

I also discovered 2 new sites through looking at Kenny's links. Flippantly Vague Musings of a Quirky Vegan looks like one that I will be reading everyday. I also liked this recipe site http://www.pakupaku.info/

Talking of recipes I had a go at making vegan sweets at the weekend, using recipes from La Dolce Vegan. My truffles were a bit of a disaster. I couldn't get either the Carob-almond or the Chocolate-Walnut to set. I'm sure I'll find another use for them as even unset they are delicious.

However my mint chocolate fudge (minus the mint essence) did set and tastes amazing. I've never been able to manage fudge before. This time I used my Grandmother's cooking thermometer and so actually boiled the stuff for long enough (rather than getting scared when it foamed up).

I've been doing lots of walking (managed at least 4 session last week in excess of 30 minutes) so I deserve all this sweet stuff! Well, some anyway!

Making it different in 2007

These are the things I want to start or change in 2007 following my observations during the first few weeks of 2007.

Use what I have
I have enough. I don’t need to buy more. I should enjoy the things I have (things I choose for myself in the first place). So I’m going to try and make this the year I buy as little as possible. The stuff I have (and have been taking with me every time I have moved house) is amazing and I need to use it up before I buy anything else. For example, I dug out last night some purple embroidery thread. I bought on a school trip to France in 1987! I’ve got stacks of postcards, writing paper and notepads. I’ve got enough clothes. I can take lunch to work every single day. Working towards this will be good for my purse and good for the planet. If I really need it (and can’t find a substitute) I’m going to get it second hand or make it before buying new.

Ebay/Freecycle at least one item a month
This is a kind of follow on from the above. I’ve got lots of things that I no longer really need but someone else might enjoy them. This is less about making a profit and more about clearing space.

Count my blessings
I’ve already been trying to do this. If I wake up before the alarm or can’t get to sleep I think about all the things I have to grateful for (a warm bed, fantastic boyfriend, my cute cat, and so on). If sleep right to the alarm then I count blessings while I shower (hot water, nice smelling shower gel, animal friendly shampoo). It proved an effective way of blocking my worries about work, life and the universe in general.

Be more mysterious
This might seem a strange thing to put on a blog, but in RL I’m certain that I go into too much detail and give people far more than they need. Let me restrain myself a little and let them wonder.

My monthly targets will begin in February and I’ll try to update regularly how I’m getting onwith making my life different.

The truth about hairdressers

Having gone for the big chop on Monday what I always suspected about hairdressers has been proved true. Yes, they really want to cut loads of it off. My very lovely hairdresser was perfectly nice when I arrived at the salon but she became really lively when I announced that I was going much, much shorter.

Still I suppose it must be quite boring just trimming tiny amounts off hair all day and I've very happy with my new style. I realise that I just don't look like me when I look in the mirror now.

I still haven't posted my resolutions but I hope to do so over the next few days. I've been having a huge clear out at home and am getting through job lists at a fantastic rate so I haven't been taking it easy and letting myself go!

A marvellous organisational tip

When I had to wear a suit to work it was very easy to get dressed (if rather boring). I had 5 outfits (more or less - the end of the week could be a struggle) and I knew what I would put on everyday.

Lately I've been finding myself standing in front of my wardrobe (a lovely piece of furniture formerly owned by a distant cousin I always called Auntie) and pondering over what to wear. Yes, pondering. Something I don't really have time for at 6.15 a.m.

Then I read a marvellous tip in Easy Living (February edition - must check which nice person suggested this - think they were something to do with handbags). Now every week I plan food for the following week; I work out what we are likely to be eating for dinner and what I will be eating for lunch so that I know what food to buy and can try and make preparation as straightforward as possible. Imagine how much simpler mornings would be if I planned my clothes at the same time. I could ensure that I wasn't selecting items hiding at the bottom of the wash bin far enough in advance to do something about it. I shall see how it goes but I do very much like the sound of this.

Abstinence

January is proving so far to be a month where my mind is busy (the combined result of a new year and no booze). I just can’t stop thinking of lists I need to make, emails, letters and phone calls I should make, concepts that need to be put into action (or at least noted down for further attention) and cupboards and boxes that need clearing out.

However it is satisfying when I look around the room I rather grandly label my study to note that piles of stuff are moving. It’s also rather satisfying to note that a large number of tasks have been crossed off my job list.

It’s all a bit like clothes really. You think you have the perfect wardrobe and then what you see people wearing changes (so subtlety you don’t really notice) and then one day you decide that you have nothing to wear! Hence I thought my study was probably as sorted as it was going get and that various half started project would be completed one day and suddenly I am moving things around and putting up pictures. Clearly the day has come!

An important lesson is to remember that nothing lasts forever or is as sorted as expected. No doubt this burst of energy will die out and I’ll be back on the sofa with my nose stuck in a book soon. In the meantime I’m making the most of it!

I resolve….

This year rather than making resolutions either before New Year (while feeling bloated from excess) or immediately after New Year (still hung over, tired and emotional), I’m taking a slightly different approach.

As I start the year feeling refreshed I’m thinking about habits I have that I would like to break as they crop up in my life. One I’ve identified so far is buying glossy magazines. It started when I was buying snacks and magazines all the time to get change for the bus. I’m also thinking about things I want to achieve but never seem to get round to.

I’m hoping to have a list by the end of next week. I’ll review my progress on both resolutions and targets at the end each month. If I’ve made real progress I might even have to think up some new targets!

The only exception to the above is swearing off the demon drink for the whole of January (post birthday anyway). I’ll appreciate a glass of wine so much more when I’ve had to wait a whole month for it.

I am blessed

I sat on New Year’s Day in my front room, curled on the sofa with Dear Heart drinking wine and eating biscuits. The fire was warming the room. We’d been out for a walk earlier and I’d changed into pyjamas on my return. I took a pause from reading my book and thought how utterly blessed I am. I’d like to keep that feeling of warmth generated by family, friends and home with me all year.

Santa visited my house!

I had a splendid Christmas curled up at home with Dear Heart. He did home-made pizza for Christmas dinner served with champagne.

So many people bought me thoughtful presents. Dear Heart bought me (among other delights) some vouchers for a local sewing shop. I’m so exciting by the prospect of buying patterns and fabrics!

I also had some lovely gardening themed presents including slate markers, stuff to scrub my hands with (and boy do I normally need it after a session on my allotment) and then make the nails all nice and a welly airer (no more wet wellies).

A feast of Sudoku puzzles with an enormous pack of pencils. I was thrilled to solve a ‘killer’ (where you have to make the number equal the total in dotted line box) for the first time ever.

My birthday is just after Christmas, so I was showered with presents once again. My sister bought me a totally genius card with fuzzy felt front (see http://www.fuzzyfelt.com/ if you have no idea what I’m talking about). It showed a birthday cake and I’ve made loads of different pictures since. That’s definitely going on my desk to play with when I’m stressed or need to be creative.

I got loads of Benefit products. I was really excited to have so many different products. Some of them were things that I would never buy brand named (such as make-up remover) so it rather nice to give them a go even if I never buy them again. I’ve had a play with some of them over the festive period but have decided that I’m going to put some of them away and open them in June so I can really appreciate this kind of abundance.

I’m really touched that so many people bought me such lovely things and have taken the time to think about my interests and what I might like (anything green rocks).

Feeling vile

With a week to go until Christmas I'm feeling horribly under the weather. I'm all shivery and snuffly and poorly. One of my glands has managed to enlarge itself enough to distort the bottom of my face and make it look like some creature is going to burst out at any second.

So I'm trying to divert my mind to think of nice cheerful things like open fires and hot toddys. Like the divinely wrapped Christmas present I received from one of my best friends with baubles decorating it. I keep wondering what's inside the wrapping (I'll know in 7 days!).

I picked up load of stuff my my grandad's house yesterday (alas the house is having to be sold to pay for the care he needs). I got 2 huge tin trunks with lots of goodies. Included in my haul was a load of fabric, my first pair of baby shoes and an old Noddy book.

I also rescued a jar of these busy blocks http://www.tupperdiva.com/toys/pages/busyblocks.html
They are so cool; each block has a letter on it and inside has a figure for the letter (e.g. a unicorn for U). I also found a Ladybird book about Elizabeth the first. I loved this book as a small child and pestered my Grandma to take me to Westminster Abbey so that I could see where she is buried.

Ah, there's nothing like a good bout of nostalgia to make me feel better.

A possible solution?

Naturally I still haven't found time to have a good look through my wardrobe and find something for Saturday night. However I have spent a lot of time finishing my fabric bags to wrap Christmas presents in.

These are made from whatever I happen to have in my fabric cupboard (suppliemented with a few metres of specially purchased fabric). I was sewing a piece of jersey (a rather streaky wine red with dark grey flowers) when I realised that I had made a dress fom the fabric a few years ago with the intention of wearig it to a wedding. The weather then turned out better than I expected so I wore something else.

Hence I have never worn this dress. It's too formal to dress down, looks awful over jeans and really would only be suitable for a party! I'm not certain that the quality of construction is brilliant (it being one of my earlier efforts), but as long as it holds together all should be well. At the very least I know that no one else will be wearing it and I can claim that I made it myself!

What shall I wear to the ball?

Oh I’m in a bit of dilemma. There I am trotting along enjoying wearing over and over the small number of lovely items that is my winter wardrobe. And then, KERPOW!, party season hits and I find myself in a regular old pickle.

I’m Ok for the drinks party at the home of some pals this weekend. I can do restaurant casual for dinner to celebrate my mother’s birthday next week. However I’m bit stuck as far as a knees- up at in the ballroom of pub/hotel. I fear that I have spent fat too much time making my summer wardrobe lovely and rather neglected winter wear. I suppose I’m far less likely to go out in the winter when I could be snuggled by the fire.

Usually I’d dash to Primark or somewhere similar. However I read another article this morning about poor conditions for the workers who make ‘value’ clothing and so feel a bit uncomfortable doing so. I guess I’ll have to have a really good rummage through my wardrobe (there might be something I’ve forgotten!) and if not visit a charity shop.

I could run something up but due to manufacture of Christmas bags I’m a bit short on time. Even if I went with something a la Yeah I made it myself I’d probably have to buy some fabric (more ethical dilemmas, what type of fabric to choose, what would I wear with it, would it stay together?).

Watch this space for an update and do tell me what you’re wearing to party at present to inspire me.

Dita - How dare you!

Oh Dita – how could you let us down? There we were relying on you to guide us in the ways of glamour. To act an inspiration to our sometimes grey lives. But there is nothing glamorous about wearing FUR! Slaughtering something just so that you can wear its skin is just unnecessary.
Have a look at this piece and fur ceases to have any glitz.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2016136.ece

I was interested to note that Mrs Beckham, usually grumbled about relentlessly for a whole list of fashion sins, is currently being praised for wearing a fake fur coat. Who would have imagined that Mrs B would lead the anti-fur brigade? Still seems to wear quite a bit of leather though….

One of my favourite fur and leather free sites is www.bboheme.co.uk (hint! hint! Dear Heart if you’re reading this). Do check it out if you are still doing your Christmas shopping, and if anyone has any splendid ideas for a quite groovy grandad I'm all ears.

Experiementing with grey

I must confess that my hair has been going grey for many, many years. Normally because it is dyed some vibrant colour no one would ever guess that I am dying it just to cover the grey. I mean let's face it no one has hair the colour mine normally is naturally!

However I've become concerned about the environmental effects of both the dye itself and the containers it come in. Hence I am experimenting with more natural alternatives. Henna is great and I intend to use Caca from Lush to get gorgeous coloured tints. However I've also read good things about sage.

So over the weekend I made a very strong infusion of sage and popped it in a little spray bottle. I tend to spray my grey with it every night and see if it works as those on line claim it does. Watch this space....

A rod for my own back

Last year I attempted to start my own Christmas tradition. I've become concerned by the amount of waste that Christmas generated. So I decided to make drawstring bags (with cute little designs on them) for presents to go in. I used old curtains and all kinds of bits and pieces from my sewing cupboard. They looked absolutely gorgeous. I really wish I had taken a picture. I'd even done fabric gift tags with initials on them so they could be used as a glass charm after.

My big , forward thinking idea was that these would be used year after year for presents instead of paper. I put my initials, the date and 'please reuse me' on the back. I imagined looking back in years to come and remembering who had made various present bags and when they had first been introduced. I rather hope that some other family members might have come up with their own versions for this year (or re-use the ones I made last year).

However this means that I have got to produce around 20 bags for this year's gifts to go in. I'm going to make bags that fold over at the top this year with little ties rather than drawstrings. I suppose I'd better get to work on them tonight or I shall be burning the midnight oil and sewing when I should be enjoying mulled wine by the fire!

Pants!

I was alarmed to read recently that apparently the average life of a pair of knickers is 3 months! As I have some that are celebrating a decade of so (albeit in a rather greying tatty state) I began to wonder what this 3 month life span is based upon. I suppose if you only had say 8 pairs and were endlessly washing them they might well wear out after 3 months. Isuppose it also depends on your definition of worn out!

Is this a call them for the capsule underwear wardrobe? Just enough pairs, in neutral shades with a few brights for nights out?

The snag is you need different colours and type of underwear to go under different outfits and for different situations. Although I have (during my 'wear only black' decade) gotten away with one colour and minimal bras things have changed. Dear Heart's Mother bought me some adorable green lace knickers for Christmas and since then I been buying and wearing all kinds of colours!

Just in case anyone is wondering I did finally get a trouser suit from New Look. It was in the sale so I was able to justify buying 2 pairs of trousers to go with the jacket. I'm not sure why it was so reduced as it also seemd to be on sale at full price elsewhere in the store. And Ok it wasn't grey, it was black with a sort of stripe pattern thing. But it just shows that the wardrobe fairy is watching. Mimi - take heart - you will find your perfect bridesmaids dresses, just maybe not in the form you expect.

I did buy a blouse but had been thinking about the glamour of Dita Von Teese when I was browsing so it turned out to be less suitable then I imagined at the time. I'm sure it will be good with a coloured vest underneath to cover my pride.

I find shirts under a suit jacket are a real pain. They are just so fussy. Happily when I tried on my green galaxy top it looked fabulous and much sleeker. I can't believe that I've always bought skirts suits before (not even sure why). A trouser suit is so comfortable and easy to wear. I think I may need a to acquire a few more at the January sales...

A new suit

Somehow I've managed to pick completely the wrong day to buy a new suit. I though that the shops were always full of suits. Well today they seem to be full of Christmas party wear. I used to wear black for a preference but now it seems a little harsh. Given the shops are supposed to be full of grey I didn't think it would be a problem. Alas there is very little grey indeed and anything that is non-black suddenly turns out, on closer inspection, to have glitter strips or something else making it unsuitable for the workplace.

There also seem to be a tendency for shops to lure you in when you spot some nice looking trousers and there discover that there are no matching jackets. Am I doomed to a life in separates?

It must be the time of year

It seems so long since my last post and although there's been a bit of upheaval in my life jobwise in the last week that doesn't really excuse the week before that. What have I been doing with myself? How did it get to be November? Mimi at Little sips of tea is back so I guess it's time I was too.

Well I enjoyed a few divine days at Henlow Grange. I'd like to say relaxing but I was rather taken with the variety of classes on offer. During my short stay I managed to fit in Aqua mitt (good fun), Sinatra Swing (hard to hear ol' blue eyes for the pounding of feet), Aqua body conditioning (circuit training in the water and I was the only person mad enough to show up for the class), Aqua fit (almost as much fun as Aqua mitt) and Wake up work out (guess who was always out of step?). I just loved being able to wear my dressing gown for most the day. The food was absolutely marvellous.

On the subject of food I've become rather taken with home made soup. I only have the tiniest of blenders so all the soups I've made recently have been chunky. I was kicked started by my approximation of Cauliflower and red lentil from Dolce Vegan. It was so good that at the supermarket I purchased the missing ingredients that should have been in it (such as fresh ginger) and the following week made a broccoli and green lentil version. This week it's tomato and cabbage. It's so good, the soup cooks while I sort out the recycling and before I go to yoga on a Thursday night. I have a portion after yoga and take the rest for lunch the next day. There was quite a bit of the broccoli and green lentil (added rather a lot of lentils and Quinoa) so I took some to work for a Monday morning breakfast. Total yum! It doesn't even need bread.

I've also been enjoyed a renewed burst of energy and enthusiasm in my allotment. Determined to clear all the patched that are over grown and keep the edges neat.

Guess the next thing I need to start thinking about is Yule. What can I buy everyone? I probably shouldn't speculate to much here. I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise.

There is someone out there

How exciting - I found an email in my inbox today telling me I was one of 100 bloggers invited to take part in a blogger survey. This is part of some research being carried out at Robert Gordon University.

The academic undertaking the research is Dr Sarah Pedersen and she blogs about her research (but, of course) here http://Sarah-validation.blogspot.com/

How exciting to be able to contribute such research.

Also today I've been trying to work out exactly what I need to take to Henlow Grange with me. Apparently most people forget to take gym kit and a swimsuit and pack far too much stuff that they don't need. I've always thought that I was an efficient packer so I do hope that I can live up to that. One of the most useful sites I found was www.spaaah.com - check it out. I particularly liked the spa virgin section. Spas are quite terrifyingly smart places after all.

Summer's over

Last night I packed up my summer clothes and got out my winter ones. As a result I am snuggled in pair of gray flannel type trousers today. It's rather pleasing to find that I already have so much grey in my wardrobe. I never imagined that I'd come anywhere close to having my finger on a style pulse.

Yet it seems like only yesterday I was telling you all how last night I packed up my winter clothes and got out my summer clothes. If I recall correctly the weather than wasn't all that different to today. However, at least I am properly dressed for rain today.

One the subject of clothes I found the most darling site the other day www.myvirtualcloset.com
I had a peek at sample wardrobes and was so impressed. I just can't imagine finding the time to take pictures of all my clothes, but I do like the thought of being able to view what I have online. Imagine if you were stuck for what to wear (as I often am and have to ask my style guru sister to tell me what on earth I should wear). Rather than people making suggestions in a vague sort of way, they could say wear this item and this item.

Sometimes I think the Internet is a work of breathtaking genius.

The biggest blog in history?

Blogging will provide for future historians a fantastic record of what 'ordinary' life is really like. Their only problem may be too much material. I've always enjoyed finding out about so-called ordinary life in the past. I suspect much of the time it was hard and we don't really know how lucky we are. But nonetheless the small details remain fascinating.

Inspired by the rather wonderful Mass Observation studies October 17th has been nominated as the day for the biggest blog in history! Log on to www.historymatters.org.uk and upload a blog entry for the day. Apparently the day has been chosen because it is totally insignificant and 'normal' day.

I'll be uploading an entry but as I'm going to Henlow Grange for a few days (I've never been to a spa before) it won't be anything like a normal Tuesday (e.g up really early, struggle with buses, lunch leaks over bag, frustrating day at work, buses late on way home due to volume of people who prefer to drive and roadworks that have been going on forever, finally catch up on Sunday's washing-up, go to bed far too early/late).

Isn't it funny that the spellchecker doesn't recognise the word 'blog'?