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.

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? 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.

It’s that time again…

When I feel that my bloglist needs a bit of updating. I’ve got a habit of holding onto URLs for blogs that haven’t been updated for ages in the hopes that one day I’ll log on and there will be a new post. The thing is that there is no shortage of marvellous blogs on the Internet so there is no reason not to refresh and update my list regularly. I really must put a blogroll on my blog!

I’m biding farewell to Casey Paper Rock , another little blog, the healthy lunchbox , Flippantly vague musing of a quirky vegan, Made by Tess , and veganlunchcast .

New additions are Charade , Second hand shopper, empty-purse , aimee marie and sparkle and glitter. Most of these I’ve discovered via UK Lady Bloggers and am looking forward to meeting some of them in person at our meet up on 24th July.

In other news I’ve been busying refashioning, allotmenting and running the prettylittlehotel otherwise known as my home. Pictures soon – next week if not this one!

Like writing a diary

I’ve been keeping a diary in some form of another since 1988. Most of them are stored in a printed diary for the year but I have some collections of entries that are written on pages ripped from other books (usually when I was somewhere and I forgot to take my diary with me).

For a big chunk of the last twenty years there is actually an entry for every single day. Sometimes more than one entry as I also have a few diaries where I’ve written random entries in addition to my regular entry. Generally speaking this was when I had issues that needed more space or privacy than I felt my diary gave them.

The diaries are punctuated with ticket stubs, deflated balloons, pressed flowers and other bits of ephemera.

I have entries written when I had glandular fever (I complain of being tired in every entry for the six months proceeding). Entries written while drunk (in one I’ve written every word twice). Entries where I wonder why I wasted so much time worrying about the trivial.

The entries that I find hardest to write are the days when something really exciting happens. A concert. A party. A big trip. A diary writer gets so much more practice examining the tiny details of daily routine and extracting pleasure from them that it’s had to find a way to express something bigger.

And similarly in this vein I write more when my life is stable. So during big chunks of my university years and the years following there are months with either no entries or just a few words here and there. These were probably some of the more interesting (although not always in a good way) times in my life. I was too busy experiencing life to write about it.

Likewise when my life seems to be running quite smoothly and I am not ridiculously busy I write four or five blog entries each week. I examine small daily details. Try to work out the best way to do routine tasks. I get hung up on what to wear or eat. I dramatise where it’s unnecessary. So when my hairdresser and I got mixed up over dates a few weeks ago (I arrived at her house for an appointment and it was all locked up) this would have become an entire post. Probably ending with some soul searching about hair and identity. Instead I was busy rushing off to make use of the spare time and move my job list along.

My blog is for public consumption. My diary for my memories. I’m always impressed when politicians publish their diaries which recount in details crisis after crisis. How do they find the time to run the country and keep a diary? I might not be cut out to be politicians but I enjoy blogging because I enjoy writing and just like the diary it’s written for me first, other readers second or never.

Things I Love Thursday

Marmite – I had been worrying myself about my B12 consumption after reading a couple of articles about it recently. Hence I was thrilled while checking the label of a marmite jar to discover that it has loads of B12. Yea! Another excuse for loads of marmite on toast.

*UKLadybloggers – Vixel at sparkleandglitter had the great idea of getting female bloggers in the UK together for a meet up and things have swiftly developed to become this ning group. I’ve already discovered new blogs as a result and I must leave more comments.

*Having your blog commented on – I love comments and I was really thrilled when Alison from Brocante home (whose blogs I’ve read for several years) not only visited my blog but left a comment.


Also: speculating on the missing bottle mystery, bruschetta, the possibility of a new blog, musing on possible names for a new blog, surplus make up, Jasper Fforde books, enthusiasm, alter egos.

Challenges and discoveries

It always worries me when a blog vanishes as anotherlittleblog did this week. And the writer’s former blog Pixie-kisses is gone too. I do hope that all is well and it’s just some kind of computer related glitch. On the other hand I have discovered the vintage kitten who has inspired me to think about introducing a Friday cocktail hour. Do visit this site if you have an interest in things vintage or glittery!

As much as I like the thought of a cocktail to kick off Friday evening I’m not sure planning to increase consumption of alcohol on a regular basis was quite what the icing transformation challenge had in mind.

However, I’m not taking part in the itc this time as such. I’ve decided that I will read what others are doing for the itc as a source of inspiration. I’m also planning on using the itc as a way to deal with my breakfast dilemma. Rather than wallowing in ‘I don’t know what to eat’ misery, I’ve decided to take a practical approach. I’m still keen on using up what I have in the cupboard and really it takes a very small amount of effort for me to prepare something extra when I do my usual lunches preparation on Sunday.

My plans for this week had been to make the Fruit and Nut bars from the Vegan lunchbox book. Alas I discovered that I didn’t have most of the ingredients but I did have the making for muffins including some Blackberries that I picked in the autumn and froze. What is frozen fruit for if not for perking up things at the start of February? I also noticed that I had six different types of flour lurking in the pantry. That’s just too many at one time so the barley flour got to go into the mix too.

So despite the heavy snow I’ve been enjoying Blackberry and Almond barley muffins for breakfast every day. I just need inspiration to strike for next week breakfast dish now.

Things I Love Thursday

Wearing black and green – my two favourite colours. I feel so good in them, particularly if I made any of the garments myself!

Getting to spend the whole week writing and looking up authors for work.

Winter boots - Iwant more pairs

Sleeping really well

Getting my hair cut – it just got too long!

Inspiration from books, blogs, the radio, nature, friends etc

How gorgeous England looks – the different colours of leaves on the trees are amazing and they go together so well

Share the Tilt love over with Gala Darling

Trolls

I love it when I’m really busy at work and at home. My brain buzzes away in a not unpleasant manner and I feel like I staying on top of the rodeo that is life. However when I busy I’m sure it affects my attention span (or maybe my life just isn’t full and exciting enough!!!). I do short bursts of really intensive work but feel the need to do this while reading at least 2 web pages on whatever is obsessing me at present.

I really want to follow some more twitterers (or what ever the word for people who twitter is) because we share interests and they will inspire me (I add this in case I sound like a stalker just looking for a victim or two).

Unable to find more than a couple of twitter users that satisfied my needs (evil laugh here?) I began working through blog rolls of blogs I follow. Short Circuit 2 comes to mind with me muttering “more input!” rather than Johnny Five. And what has my tour through blogging land revealed to me this afternoon?

Why many of the citizens are bothered by trolls who leave unpleasant comments on their blogs. I clearly should be offering up a prayer to the patron saint of bloggers (although apparently there isn’t one) that I don’t attract trolls and/or vast amounts of blog traffic which would leave me on the receiving end of unpleasantness.

So nominations for the patron saint of blogging then? Before my luck runs out….

Capsule wardrobe

This raises it head and winks at me every so often and I feel a need to pay some attention to the concept.

I’ve been googling the term ‘capsule wardrobe’ for about 5 years now (if not more) and I love the way new stuff appears in the search, but old stuff (some of the articles are like old friends now) crop up again and again.

I’ve found 2 lovely new blog to add to my daily reading. Workthatwardrobe is documenting a year in the life of woman who has sworn off buying clothes for a year and puts up a photograah of her outfit. WhatIwore2day is pretty much a daily outfit blogb but it looks like there are some exciting extra articles to explore and be inspired by.

The thing that has really filled me with enthusiasm is a list of items for a capsule wardrobe:
3 bottoms
6 tops
1 dress
1 pair flat shoes
2 pairs heels
1 pair boots
1 jacket
1 cardigan
1 coat
1 wrap

(This is a slight adaptation of a list I found at 43 things)

I figure that if I can come up with a week’s worth of wearable work outfits from that I can just wear them until I get bored and then put together a new capsule. I like the idea of colour themed capsules. It might also mean that when I can change my clothes over at the end of summer (what summer??) I may well leave some of them in the suitcase if they don’t form part of the capsule. I suppose that I could have photos of all possible combinations on my phone which would help with planning (e.g. making sure stuff is washed and ironed). Then it would just be down to accessories.

Also inspired by thinking about the 10 items that I would buy if I lost all my clothes. I think it would differ for summer and winter. I’m going to have a good think about this and come up with a list which I will post here. This will also feed into my capsule and help me prioritise.

Creamy chickpea and tahini bake

It was only after I’d scoffed the last portion of this that I realised I have failed to take any photographs with which to wet your appetite.

I got the recipe from Recipezaar and was alerted to it by Kenny’s veganlunchcast (which is sadly not being updated at present). It is absolutely delicious and very filling. It also stands up well to being ‘creative’ with ingredient quantities. I mixed up a load of it and used some to stuff some courgettes. The rest has reheated brilliantly for lunch. I was also pleased that it made use of ingredients that I either had in the cupboard, fridge or freezer.

I’d forgotten what a treasure trove Recipezaar is. I’ve been tending to make use of vegweb.com (another Kenny recommendation) when I’ve needed a bit of inspiration. I’m determined that my fruit and vegetable consumption won’t tail off this winter even if the variety does. On the bus home I’m going to draw up a list of things that I can eat to get my five a day over the winter months. Then if I find my resolve and enthusiasm is wavering I’ll have something to keep me on the ‘straight and narrow’.

New blogs to devour

I’ve taken a couple of blogs that haven’t been updated in forever or have disappeared off my list. Happily I’ve discovered some new blogs to fill the gaps.

I recently came across Queen Lazy at http://stylesavvy.wordpress.com while I was searching for daily outfit type posts. I immediately added her to my favourites list and was thrilled to see that she Twitters too.

Talking of Twitter my new find of the day is Twiller. It’s a thriller written via Twitter. Visit twitter.com and have a look at mrichel and see what you think.

Then there’s queengilda. Not entirely sure how I discovered her but looks like being a blog that I will enjoy visiting regularly.

I’m still visiting littlesipsoftea, iCiNG, Brocantehome and Wardroberefashion on a daily basis. However I am badly in need of some more inspiring vegan food blogs. The ones that I have been reading regularly such as don’t get mad, get vegan and brookethevegan haven’t been posting much for various reasons. Veganlunchbox has been posting over the summer though, which has been good. I think I need a new lunchbox blog to follow into the autumn to fill me with inspiration.

Suggestions please.

The more you blog the more you can

I started my blog with the idea of blogging on a regular basis. However I found that when I was doing lots of interesting things I was so caught up in it that I couldn’t motivate myself to also write about them. When life was a bit less thrilling I didn’t think that I had anything to write about.

Then in June I decided that I would try blogging on a daily basis where possible. I worried that I’d have nothing to write about but I the more I wrote the more ideas seemed to present themselves. Then things have trailed off again over the summer and I find that once again I need to get back into the discipline of regular posts.

I need to look at mobile blogging this autumn. I often take photos on my phone with the intention of loading them to my blog. Let’s have a season of more spontaneous and visual blogging.

Colour therapy

This is what I simply love about the Internet. Yesterday I mentioned that was feeling drawn towards the colour red and I was going to do some research on colour therapy to see what it meant. then I checked my emails this morning and discovered that I had a comment from a colour therapist. She explains what feeling drawn towards red means and has her own blog http://rainbowrevolution.blogspot.com/ It's totally gorgeous and just the thing to look at on grey UK days. Thank you Leanne.

I extended my salad experiences today. I sliced some fennel yesterday, tossed it in a tiny bit of oil and popped in the oven for a bit while some bread was baking. Today I had it mixed with spinach, walnuts and raspberry vinegar. total yummy.

Random thing - I keep typing 'missed' when I mean 'mixed'. Is this something Freudian? Or just my brain being a bit rebellious?

A state of constant change

I tend to forget that the Internet is changing all the time. That just because something isn't on the Internet doesn't mean it will never be. And just because something isn't there doesn't mean it will never be.

It's only when I look through and update the bookmarks on my Google homepage that I truly realise the state of change. I've deleted a number of blogs from the list because either they have disappeared themselves (ton of bricks on blogger - not updated for at least 18 months), the blog has vanished (sewing my shadow on - this was a terrific blog where they author recorded her impact on the environment day by day. She now writes Life in Elgin which I find a little too local to be of interest), or they have moved to new blog (Primary consumer).

I think it's inevitable that bloggers go through ups and downs just like any one else. They will have times when they blog three times a day but there will be times when other stuff comes first. I must remember this and then I won't be disappointed when blogger vanish!

Happily Vegan lunchbox is back for a few posts, Gala Darling is settled in NY and posting daily and even Cooking Cute have managed a few posts. Brocantehome, Little Sips of Tea and Wardrobe refashion are daily visits I'm still hoping Kenny at Vegan lunchcast will pick up again.

I'm sad to see that Everything Vegan is up for sale. I always found something useful when ever I visited. I'm intrigued to see that when I search for dead blogs I have visited in the past the names have often been picked up elsewhere and they are alive under new owners. So I'm optimistic for the future - who knows what great blogs or websites are waiting just over the horizon?

Unfinished thoughts

I've gotten into the bad habit of getting an idea for a post, adding it as a post and then saving it as a draft to polish and post later. But, and this is the problem, I don't. I let the idea sit there idling. I dislike this and want to clear up the unfinished ideas in the same way that I like to use up abandoned packets at the back of the cupboard.

I've had a very good couple of weeks. A few days at home making a top from scraps of fabric. A visit from my grandparents which included a huge bag of fabrics and trimmings they were clearing out. A sample of hair conditioner given to me while buying new soap in Lush. An afternoon at the Theatre (The Vortex -must add some Coward songs to my ipod). A lovely new green coat from Dear Heart's mother. Very garlicky home made spread.

My new favourite blog is Gala Darling's Icing. I love the weekly resolution that she is currently posting. I write my jobs for the week in a little notebook (often sprayed with perfume). These posts have made me think a bit more about my list and to move on from simply listing dull routine tasks. It's nice to be able to tick off having done the washing but better still to tick off written letter to friend or repaired boots pushed to back of cupboard.

I think my first resolution for the week is to complete at least one abandoned post. I also want to write a long letter to my friend Sean and take the bags of stuff under my desk to a charity shop or two.

Have a marvellous Monday, dear readers.

Froth on the Cappuccino

I'm having one of those great weeks where you keep discovering new things. I can't walk around the library without finding armfuls of stuff I want to read. I love discovering new authors. I've also found a load of new blogs that I've added to my bookmarks. It's tricky to know if a blog will be a continuing pleasure. sometimes bloggers cease to blog or they begin to write about topics that you're not very interested in. We'll have to wait and see.

One of the books I picked up to enjoy was Froth on the Cappuccino: how small pleasures can save your life by Maeve Haran. I've read this kind of book before. It's the same kind of thing as Wear More Cashmere: 151 Luxurious Ways to Pamper Your Inner Princess. What marred my enjoyment was the way in places the book seemed to encourage wastefulness (e.g. clutter so that you can declutter and then clutter again). Where green suggestions were made they were often followed by very non-green ideas. For example, a piece on the joys of recycling was followed by one on the joys of takeaway coffee in a styrofoam or cardboard cup with plastic lid. the section on 'buying yourself flowers' did mention fake flowers, but cold have gone further by suggesting that you buy them during the winter when real flowers are imported or grown in hot houses. Just because supermarkets sell cheap flowers doesn't make it right to buy them.

Maybe I'm taking it a little too seriously.

The BrocanteHome Puttery Treats Challenge

Today my blog is inspired by Brocante home the source of all delicious, cosy and wonderful in vintage housekeeping. If you haven't yet discovered Brocante home do visit at http://brocantehome.typepad.com The puttery treat challenge asks for a post inspired by a certian puttery treat. I have chosen this puttery treat about vintage fabrics to start me off.

Use the stacks and stacks of vintage linens I know we are all hoarding. Stretch scraps of vintage embroidery over canvas and prop them one leaning against the other on your mantelpiece. Cover a pinboard in a tablecloth. Peg a line of pretty hankies across your kitchen window. Use crocheted table runners to scoop back your curtains. Decide to have a fresh pillowcase daily. Just for the hell of it. (It will be a teeny bliss you will come to adore). Use your bestest teatowels till they are threadbare because that is what they are for- to bring pleasure to something dull...

I rarely buy material and when I do it tends to be an end piece in the sale that has caught my eye. What I have been blessed with in abundance over the past few years is vintage fabric in various forms. Much of it came from my grandparent's house. My grandmother worked in a clothing factory for a while and used to bring home offcuts. When I see these I am transported back to afternoons at Nanny's making clothes for various toys while sitting in front of the gas fire. A plate of homemade buns and a cup of tea usually featured as well.

I've also inherited lots of curtains. Some are pairs in beautiful condition that I feel the urge to tuck away until I have somewhere to hang them. There is a pair in magnificent shiny green that have a gold sheen when viewed from the right angle. Some curtains have been damaged (one has a large round hole in the middle!). I also have pillow cases and antimacassars, often with beautiful embroidery.

The cupboard that I have designated for fabric storage is usually over flowing with bundles of fabric, ribbons and jars of buttons. To overcome this I have paper carrier bags. Only really lovely ones are permitted. I have a Kew one and two deep, dark blue ones from a charming home and kitchen accessories store called 31st of August. Into these I pack projects that are in progress.

Of course, progress doesn't always mean that I have begun the project, merely that the fabric has been designated for a project. I take a Saturday afternoon. Chilly Saturdays are best, but summer days when it is too hot to be outside are also pleasing. I will already have visited the High Street and purchased bread and other supplies for the week ahead. Dear Heart and I will have had a light lunch and he will be lighting a fire (unless it is summer) in the living room and settling down to play with this friends on Xbox Live.

I go up the stairs to the room I grandly call my study, mug of tea in hand. I close the door to block out the electronic beeps from below, disturbing the wind chimes hanging from the door handle. I might play music but not always. It's good to enjoy the small sounds of the house. I begin to unpack the fabric from my cupboard and from the bags. I examine each piece in turn seeing how it speaks to me. Sometimes a piece of fabric is clearly wanting to be made into a bag or a wallet or a dress. Sometimes when I sort through my designated projects I discover that the fabric has changed its mind and wants to be made into something else.

I fold the the fabric with a pattern if appropriate and any trimmings that I have to hand. Then it goes into the paper carrier bag ready to begin. Often a piece of fabric knows what it wants to be so much that I must begin to cut and sew immediately. A beautiful green and white curtain spoke to me this way in the early summer and I made a kind of wrap dress which I wore with white linen trousers all summer. A crocheted doily that wanted to be part of round drawstring bag.

Maybe I'll cut out the pattern. Or pin it to the fabric. Or decide to wash and iron a new piece of fabric. Or look through patterns and sewing books for inspiration. Or change the lace pinned up at the window.

When I've finished I pack all of the fabric back into the cupboard and bags. Maybe I'll leave out on my desk something that is actual work in progress. A piece of fabric with a needle and thread resting in it looks so pleasing lying on the wooden surface with light coming in from the window next to it.

Then (wearing my new creation if possible) I'll venture down stairs to Dear Heart and the fire. He'll hopefully admire my new work of art. I'll top up the mugs of tea and put some more wood on the fire. Then I'll curl up with a book on the sofa, pausing in my reading occasionally to admire my handiwork.

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!