Choice. That Was The Thing.

It’s Friday and it’s Valentine’s Day and here, have a picture, relevant because I just read the book this quote comes from and I love it a little a little a lot:

I miss the whole ‘Friday Photo’ thing I used to run on here, it made me happy. Perhaps I should start again with that.

I can’t believe it’s the middle of February already. Somehow, I never cease to be amazed by the passage of time. It’s been a funny old year, so far.  We’ve had a loss in the family this week, which whilst hasn’t touched me directly, it has had a major impact on people I care very deeply about and it’s made me realise, again, how precious a thing life is; how we mustn’t take anything for granted; and above all how important it is to say ‘I love you.’ The weather has been dull and cold, and somehow that post-festive slump seems to be dragging on longer than usual. That said, I’ve spent a few lovely evenings with my friends, helped my best friend choose a wedding dress, been on a couple of coffee dates with my boyfriend and had front row tickets to the Strictly Tour. It’s absolutely not all doom and gloom, it’s just, sometimes things make you sit up and take a long hard look you know? Make you reassess what’s important.

Whilst babysitting for my favourite 4 year old last night (which involved singing songs about lions and doing mermaid jigsaws and hiding out in her bed) I finished reading Sherman Alexie’s The Toughest Indian in the World, which is well, it’s awesome. [It’s going in the post to you next week Jen, if you’re reading this. I think you’ll like it.] It’s a short story collection, each story a standalone but all bound together by a common theme: identity. It’s insightful and clever and sort of brave. It’s angry, and funny, and horrifying and beautiful. Some of the imagery is gorgeous, and some of the language so beautiful it almost hurts a little:

Those were the days before the first color televisions were smuggled onto the reservation, but after a man with blue eyes had dropped two symmetrical slices of the sun on Japan. All of it happened before a handsome Catholic was assassinated in Dallas, leaving a bright red mark on the tape measure of time, but after the men with blue eyes had carried dark-eyed children into the ovens and made them ash.

Her husband had been dead for ten long years, years that hung like lace in the attic…

I will always be a sucker for anybody who uses words like that, makes them beautiful and makes them hurt. Language is amazing, isn’t it? Anyway, I shall not go off on a tangent, not today.

The stories in this book are all exclusively about Indians. That doesn’t make it a book about race though, except at the same time it kind of is. It is a book about race, and about minorities and that’s a very important feature and one we shouldn’t shy away from but more than that it’s a book about people, about life and about human nature. There are dystopian stories and historical stories; stories about sex and love and about loss and about discovery; stories told from the point of view of a woman, and of a man, of a lover and of a child.

I read it because of that quote up there *points* because I saw it on Pinterest and it resonated with me. I hadn’t even heard of Sherman Alexie and I had no idea what to expect. I’m really glad I searched him out, and really glad I read this book, if for no other reason than my enjoyment of it totally validates the hours of my life I waste browsing and pinning. Or so I’m telling myself at least.

In other news, think 2014 might be the year of the reread. I’m planning a Harry Potter read through (again) for the back end of the year; I’m tempted to revisit The Book Thief because of the film (although I still think that maybe I love that book too much to be brave enough to open it again) and a conversation over the past week has had me wanting to go back to Farenheit 451 and Children of Men. I also want to read Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood so I can finally read MaddAddam. It looks like 2014 might also be the year of the dystopia. Ha.

I feel bad sometimes, reading old favourites when I have so many new and undiscovered books on my to-read pile, but then I kind of think that when it comes to my reading habits I don’t owe anybody anything. Nobody cares but me whether I only read one book for the rest of my life, or whether I read a new book every day. If I want to go back to old bookloves then what have I got to feel guilty about? Except, Ian maybe cares, from a space saving point of view. That self imposed book ban really isn’t going all that well, and, I think he probably wants to cry a little bit every time he sees me with a pile of new books on the shelf and a well-worn Prisoner of Azkaban in my hand. Whoops. I shall probably, in the words of  Lemony Snicket, die surrounded by a pile of things I was meaning to read. I care not. Sometimes a familiar story is just exactly what you need.

Happy Valentine’s Day people.

in which Rochester is super hot and a scratched DVD is 'a bad thing'...

On Wednesday this week Helen and I decided to have a DVD night. We had a catch up and ate fish pie and then curled up in her lounge under blankets for a couple of hours of movie-watching bliss.  This made me happy - Helen is one of my favourite people to watch a film with: she laughs at the things I laugh at, gets angry at the things I get angry at - although granted, usually on a lesser scale - and is always ready to IMDB those faces I can't quite place. It had been a toss up all week between Magic Mike [naked Matthew Mcwotshisface] and Jane Eyre. A back and forth that I feared would never reach a conclusion.

Helen: What shall we watch? You choose.
Me: Oh. I dunno.
Helen: Have you still got the list [yes, we do have a list of films we want to watch. We like to call it organisation.]
Me: Erm....no?
Helen: What about Magic Mike? Matthew Mcwotshisface.
Me: Yes.
Helen: Or Jane Eyre?
Me: Yes
Helen: Which?
Me: Yes.

You can see how we might have had a problem. Anyway. We're literary girls at heart so obviously we plumped for Jane Eyre, which was always going to be fine with me - have you seen Michael Fassbender? Super hot. Also, I might be the only person I know who likes Jane Eyre.

Helen does not like Jane Eyre.


She thinks Jane and Rochester are both unlikeable characters which you know, is fine; I'm not the boss of her, she is entitled to her own opinion and besides, I kind of agree with her. They kind of are unlikeable, although I feel a little bad for Jane. She's not exactly had the easiest of times has she? [Neither has Rochester but you could argue he brought it all on himself.]
The thing is, one of Helen's favourite books is Wuthering Heights and if we're going to talk about unlikeable characters well, surely that book is a good place to start. Wuthering Heights, you know, the one with Heathcliff AKA the meanest man in literature. Maybe. [I feel a debate coming on: who is the meanest man in literature? Fun.]
Don't get me wrong, I like Wuthering Heights, it's a really great book and the characters are all really well developed and the imagery is wonderful but let's be honest, great epic love story it is not. It's always seemed to be more about revenge to me than anything else. I really struggle to excuse Heathcliff's absolute asshattery as coming from a place of love. He's bitter and twisted and needs some anger mangagement, frankly. Yeah, it's all really terrible when Cathy has a total personality transplant and then winds up dead, but does that make it fine to keep the other Cathy a prisoner at his house til she agrees to marry someone she doesn't want to marry? Does it make it fine for him to do all of the bad things [which I shall not list because it would be akin to writing out the whole book.] I'm going to say no. His being a bit of a psycho for the best part of the book kind of makes people forget about the whole awful life he had prior to the psycho - the parts that are meant to make him seem like a victim - and just make him, well, a little bit frightening. He's a super character and mistreated and misunderstood and broken-hearted he might be, but he's not likeable. He hardly has you swooning.
I mean, I get that Jane is the kind of character you just want to shake and I'm absolutely not denying that Rochester is a bit of a dick but I don't know, I can totally see Jane Eyre as a love story more than I can see Wuthering Heights being the same...

Rochester kind of reminds me of Darcy a little bit, in a way. He's kind of arrogant isn't he, and he's all brooding and domineering which is exactly how Darcy comes across at first and the way Darcy is with Lizzie; the way she is with him in return actually, I can see a little of that in Jane and Rochester. Lizzie is headstrong and opinionated generally ,which makes her perfect for Darcy, whereas Jane is seemingly more quiet and submissive, but still, she stands her ground with Rochester even when it means turning her back on him. I love the courage she has in her own convictions. She loves Rochester so much and she knows he loves her and it would be so easy to just be with him, but she has beliefs and self-respect and she refuses to be his mistress, refuses to live in sin, even though doing so means losing him all together. Good girl Jane.  I'm not saying they're the same, as if I would ever, but I can defo find things that are at least similar and that makes me like Rochester and thus Jane Eyre a little more. P&P is my favourite. & the whole love story of it all, Darcy, oh, he struggles in vain IT WILL NOT DO and that's not all that different to Rochester falling in love with Jane, not even caring that she's 'just' a governess, being prepared to turn his back on all the ladies who society would describe as a 'better match' because he loves her and she is all he wants. *swoon* There's a moment in the film when he's realsing he's fallen in love with her and he's all sexy and brooding and 'you have transfixed me, quite.'  It pleases me.

Yes, alright, I hear you. It all goes downhill after a while, what with the crazy wife in the attic and the pretending to be a gypsy to try and convince Jane she's fated to be with him - s'all very odd that bit and isn't in the film - and the half dragging poor Jane off to marry him right quick before anyone can tell her about his other wife [the crazy one, in the attic.] None of that is either romantic or socially accpetable and okay, like Heathcliff he is a bit of a dick but this, kids, is why there is only one Fitzwilliam Darcy. Darcy has no secret wife in the attic and he's not got anger issues a la Heathcliff and he looks like Colin Firth. Win win win.

Anyway, I have digressed. The film. S'all good.  I think perhaps Helen and I weren't taking it as seriously as we might. When do we ever. We laughed a lot and God knows it isn't a comedy - poor Mr Mason gets attacked in the night and we were too busy being mean and giggling to offer him any sympathy. Not as mean as Jane though, she just leaves him bleeding on the sofa whilst she goes peering behind a tapestry. Not cool, Eyre. There was the token IMDB moment [the kid from Billy Elliot plays St. John if you were wondering] Judi Dench is awesome as Mrs. Fairfax and Rochester is an attractive man. I don't know what it is about arrogant obnoxious men but you'd choose Darcy over Wickham or Bingley any day, right? - and what is there to say to Fassbender really other than to congratulate him on his face? It was a nice time. Until 15 minutes before the end when it stopped.

Here's the thing. When a DVD stops before the end, it's not ok. So we grumbled and we laughed and it turns out the DVD was scratched so went upstairs to try in on the DVD player up there - no luck- and tried to download it from LoveFilm - no luck - and eventually gave up and resigned ourselves to a fate of never knowing how it ends, which is the worst thing.

Except of course we've both read the book. It ends like this: Jane goes back to Thornfield only to find crazy Bertha has burnt the place down and Rochester has moved [because nobody wants to live in a burnt out house, right?] Jane goes looking for Rochester because she loves him reals bad but Rochester [probably still looking fine] is blind - because of the fire. Bad times. Jane and Rochester are reunited, Jane doesn't care if he's blind [maybe she likes him better, maybe sees them more as equals since he has to depend on her a bit and she's always had an issue with his superiority, I don't know, I'm not going that deep] and it's all lovely.

Reader, I married him etcetera.

BUT, if we hadn't read the book then the above would have been an accurate description of our fate. Ian probably would have gone all Heathcliff crazy if he'd been there.

It's made me want to read it again actually, as an adult rather than a 16 year old girl. Probably I should do that.

In summary: Fassbender is hot, Helen still doesn't like Jane Eyre, I still think Heathcliff is an asshat, we both found the Yorkshire accents more amusing than probably intended and Darcy is a king among men.

Things denied, things untold, things hidden and disguised.

Friday, Friday, Friday. Hurray and also hurrah. Tomorrow is the the start of another long weekend; the boy and I are off down to Brighton for four days to stop with Mark and Emma. It will be a lovely [cheap] weekend of reading on the sofa and walking on the seafront and eating lots of home-cooked food and watching fireworks and also some horse-racing, so I'm told.=. We've not seen Mark and Em since June and I'm really looking forward to it. Stopping with them is a little like a home from home in a way, which is always nice. There's no expectations and I'm pretty sure I'll spend Sunday mooching around in my PJ's eating Sugar Puffs like I did last time I was there. It's just like being at home except there's two cats instead of one and the house is nicer and the garden bigger and of course Mark and Emma are there being all delightful. I can't wait.

Before then though is the rest of today! I'm off to see my Granny in a little while which will be nice as her holiday and my holiday means I've not seen her for 3 weeks so I'm looking forward to a cup of tea and a chat and then tonight I plan to be indoors. We have some TV to watch, I don't know quite what, but something and I'll watch whilst making Christmas presents - this weeks homemade gifts involve buttons!  Exciting.

AND!!! Starbucks Red Cups are back. Dance with me?

In bookish news, this week I read The Casual Vacancy. Would I be lying if I said it was one of the most anticipated titles of the year? Maybe. There was a massive stand full of books in Sainsbury's though and Amazon sent me about 72 million emails so I'm going to say people somewhere were expecting other people to anticipate it.

I wasn't sure how I felt when I first heard that J.K. Rowling was writing another book and not only was it not the history of the Marauders but it wasn'y even remotely connected to Harry Potter. I'm not going to lie - I do not think J.K Rowling is the greatest writer that ever lived. I love Harry Potter, everybody who knows me loves that. I love the books, I know them inside out, I am grateful to Jo for writing them, I think they should be required reading for every child in the world but I don't think Jo Rowling is the greatest writer in the world [hush, don't hate me. I still love her]; she could write in Harry's world forever and I would read it forever, but something else, something totally and utterly different? I wondered how that would work out and actually, I was nervous for her because God, can you even imagine the weight of the pressure that comes of releasing anything following the success of Harry Potter - so much pressure to succeed because everything else she's done is just adored and at the same time so many people, watching, rubbing their hands together and waiting to see her fail. *gulp*  rather her than me.
I think she made the right desecion taking the step away from children's literature for that very reason; anything she wrote in that genre would be judged - harshly - against Harry Potter, she'd have to produce something incredible to stand half a chance of measuring up. At least with The Casual Vacancy whilst people will always compare it to Harry Potter, the comparisons are harder to make.

First impressions? In fact, earlier than first impressions, so impressions based on the information I had before I even had a copy of the book? I wasn't sure I was going to like it. If Jo's name wasn't on the cover then I wouldn't have picked it up and that's a fact; the blurb would not have drawn me in - a book about small town politics doesn't sound like the most exciting read. I read this book purely because it said J.K. Rowling on the cover; Jo drew me in, the fact that I had to see what she could do and I kind of liked that because I had no idea what to expect, no clue. I was pleasantly surprised, actually, because I actually really liked it.

It's a funny thing to say, I suppose, but it felt familiar reading this book. I mean, the characters, the setting, the story, all of it was brand new and yet somehow it felt a little like settling down with an old friend; whilst there are no wizards and no magic and no Hogwarts in the world of The Casual Vacancy but instead council estates and drug addicts and pompous middle aged men and small town politics there's something about it, which I guess can only be Jo that comes through and it made it easy and comfortable to read, perhaps because like Harry Potter, in The Casual Vacancy's characters are at the heart of the story and Rowling does well with characters. It's a book about class and about society and what at first seems like just a simple story about the complexeties of a relatively small group of people - all of whom had their own distinct voice, well done Jo - soon grips you with unexpected melodrama, and twists that leave you gasping and an ending that is shocking but very well executed. Once it got it's claws in, this book wouldn't let me go, I had to keep reading - meaning I am stupid tired this morning - and I'm really very glad I did.

J.K. Rowling has proven here that she isn't just a one trick pony, that she can do more than just Harry Potter and I certainly won't be as nervous about picking up her next offering.

in which i am preparing for Christmas

It's very autunm-y in my neck of the woods at the moment, which is awesome because of all the seasons I think I love autumn the best. It's all pretty colours and woolly jumpers and spiced coffee and mulled cider and being a little cold but still being able to be outdoors and I lovelovelove it. I wish, actually that I didn't have to work because I pretty much just want to be outside with my camera taking lots of photographs of the pretty trees and stuffs.  Perhaps I'll do that on Sunday; it's Ian's birthday on Monday so this weekend we're celebrating that - we're having a small gathering at the house on Saturday night, which will be lovely, and then a couple of people are sleeping over so maybe on Sunday we can all wrap our hangovers up in gloves and warm coats and go for a walk in the woods. Yes. This is now my plan. Hurrah. [I bet this doesn't happen. I bet nobody wants to wrap their hangover in anything other than a blanket and we shall remain indoors.]

In other news it will soon be Christmas. Hush now, don't get all agitated, it will. And people [for 'people' read 'me'] need to get prepared because I like to enjy December and the festivities and the excitement and not get all stressed about what presents need sorting etc.This year it's a little trickier - obviously with Ian setting up his own business money is a little tight and so I am aiming to make as many presents as I can. I am officially getting my craft on. That means, if you read this and are lucky [unlucky?] enough to be on my Christmas present list there is a very good chance that your gift could be made by my own fair hands. Wow.

In that same vein, I've become a little addicted to Pinterest of late. That website is such a time suck, seriously and I have pinboards for food and clothes and weddings [I'm not even getting married any time soon, go figure] and pretty stuff and booky stuff and of course, crafts. I just keep pinning; I can't help it. I was home alone last night - the boy took advantage of Orange Wednesday to go and see Taken2 [colour me jealous] and so I had a shower and put on my big fleecy poncho, which is amazing comfy by the way, and settled down with a bar of chocolate and my iPad. 'Ill just spend 5 minutes of Pinterest' I thought and then suddenly it was an hour later and whoops. I have loads of ideas though, it's such a good resource and I can't wait to get started. SO MANY IDEAS AND PROBABLY NOT ENOUGH TIME. This may become a semi-crafty blog for a while, so be warned!! 

This afternoon I'm off to see my Mum. It's my Grandpa's birthday today [love you G'Pa] so I want to make sure she's ok, and I have my sewing kit in the car because you know, getting my craft on, so I shall drink tea and sew with my Mum and oh my goodness I am unregonisable to my own self right now, and then I'm seeing Helen and there will be culinary delights and films and gossip. That will be a nice time.

I leave you with this autumny photograph of love. Happy Friday.

How to be a fangirl, aged 28

This is the story of how I proved I still have fangirlish tendencies.

That should serve as a warning for what is to come in this blog post and I make no apologies.

If you know me, or if you read this blog on a regular basis, then you will be aware of my love for Glee. It's my current tv obsession, which makes me sound like a screaming teenage fangirl, which I kind of am - except I'm almost 30.

It's a weekly fixture in our house, Glee. Ian rolls his eyes but he watches every episode with me and has a crush on Rachel Berry and says I remind him of Sugar Motta. And me? I love Kurt. & Blaine.  Oh, especially Blaine.

Spoilers. Spoilersspoilers. Feel free to read no further....

In last week's episode, aptly titled 'Big Brother' we met Blaine's older brother.

Cooper.

Let me tell you something: the Anderson family look like they walked right off an Abercrombie billboard. I'm not even kidding. These are two men very fortunate in face - I'm talking Fiennes brothers levels of hot.
And very fortunate in voice.
And together enough to leave me flailing around and eternally grateful for Sky+ - I got my money's worth out of the rewind/replay function when I watched the episode, that's for sure.
Why?
Because Blainers and his dreamboat brother [and yes, I did just use the term dreamboat in actual real life, watch the episode, you'll understand] sang my current favourite song: Gotye's Somebody That I Used To Know. I love that song. I downloaded it from ITunes after the first time I heard it, have listened to it pretty much constantly since then and told Ian WEEKS ago how well I thought it would suit Darren Criss's voice and that I thought they should do it on Glee and lo and behold they did. And it was amazing.

The whole episode was really really good actually and it reminded me a little of old Glee in that it broke my heart a little and it made me laugh so hard [which after the week I've had is quite the achievement!]

We had beautiful Blainers and his hot brother and the DuranDuran mash-up and Kurt [generally, as a person, always Kurt] with his crush on his boyfriend's brother:

'Blaine, your brother is the most good looking man in North America.' 

'Oh no, Blaine, you have to, you're both so handsome and good.'  

Chris Colfer should win awards for his facial expressions, he is such a scene stealer.

We had Fighter and Blaine's naked back [cue audible intake of breath followed by 'oh dear that's my boyfriend sat right there.']
We had Cooper's 'lesson' which was the funniest thing Glee has done in a while, I think, and some really touching scenes between other characters which were lovely but which I don't want to spoil.
All of it was Glee magic but the addition of STIUTK made it for me. I thought Cough Syrup from the week before was fabulous but wow, that song made me happyhappyhappy and I loved the character development we got for Blaine; I always love the more character focussed episodes of Glee, I loved this one more because it was Blaine-centric, I'll admit that, but the whole back story to his relationship with Cooper, the way it explained so much about things we've seen of Blaine in the past, the continuity [which isn't always Glee's strong point, let's be honest] all just worked really well and left me feeling rather pleased.

The bar has been set with this episode and they'll do well if they ever manage to beat it, especially since recent Glee has never quite matched up to the standards it set with its first season.

Anyway, yes. That was a nice time. In other news this week has been up and down. It was my Grandpa's funeral on Tuesday which was, well, sad. Really sad. I am not going to dwell on it though because I have spent far too much time in the past week and a half being sad and Grandpa wouldn't like it and oh my goodness nobody wants to read about it.

Let's focus on the ups.

We [we being me, Helen and our respective Mums] saw Phantom of the Opera last Saturday in Manchester which was quite possibly the most amazing thing I have ever seen on a stage. Seriously, wowzer. So so good.
The guy who took the part of the Phantom [John Owen-Jones if you wondered] was absolutely incredible. I actually didn't think it was possible to sound that good in real life. I had goosebumps. And I kept forgetting to breathe. I was just sat, jaw dropped, totally astounded. Helen was sat in front of me and she kept turning round to look at me with this massive smile on her face, she said at the end when I was just all wowwowwow, 'I just knew exactly what your face would be doing.' Ha. [That girl is so amazing. I would not have gotten through this last week, or in fact the last decade of my life, without her and her ability to make me smile even at the worst of times. I am lucky to have you, Helen.]
So, Phantom is my new favourite musical in all the world and I still can't get over how good it was. I would like to see it again please. We went for food afterwards and our Mums were suitably amusing, as ever and it was generally just a nice time.

Tomorrow is more MotherDaughterQT as we have tickets to go and see Strictly's Vincent & Flavia in Midnight Tango. Again, excited. There will be dancing and chatting and eating and coffee and shopping and probably more amusing Mum stories. I am looking forward to it.

I shall do a book post next week, I promise. This has not been a very bookish blog of late and I apologise for that.


And now if you excuse me I'm off to pencil in a time rewatch Glee again and to download the Glee version of STIUTK to my phone because I need it like I need air and to email Helen and ask her if she loves Blaine yet because seriously, that shower scene, and to continue to be a [very old] fangirl.


If you need me, I'll be somewhere watching this episode in HD. On a very. large. screen.

PS. I love this. Look at Cooper and Blaine being all hot. Look at Kurt in the background, stealing the scene. Ha. 

Today I am grumpy. My head hurts and I have been a very busy bee at work and it's one of those days where everything seems to be going wrong. I am so glad it's the weekend.

It's Kraft Klub tonight, which is absolutely a very serious and real club for crafting and not at all an excuse to get together and drink lots of alcohol and be merry. Not at all. My house is the venue this evening so it's home to prepare nibbles and make sure we have enough stuff to [not] drink and that my craft supplies are in order before everybody arrives at 19h30.

Then, tomorrow Ian goes skiing for a week. I know, how lucky is he? I am so so jealous. So very jealous.  I shan't focus on that though, I shall instead focus on my tomorrow evening plans on my own alone which are to do the following:  put on my PJ's, heat up some milk, snuggle up under a patchwork quilt with my cat and drool over Matthew Rhys in 'The Edge of Love.'

I have such a crush on Matthew Rhys. Like a proper fangirl crush. I bought a film called 'Fakers' years ago when I went through my Art Malik phase [aaah, Zubin!] and he was in that, my crush grew from there pretty much because well, yum. Fakers is actually a pretty good film for a low budget UK film, watch it if you ever come across it; it's lots of fun. Art Malik is v.v.good.
Anyway, I digress, Matthew is probably most famous for playing the adorable (American) Kevin Walker in Brothers and Sisters which I blog about sporadically, but he is equally gorgeous being his Welsh self as Dylan Thomas in The Edge of Love, which, set in London in the 1940's and telling the story of Dylan Thomas, his wife (Sienna Miller) and his first love (Keira Knightley) is just a really lovely film in it's own right (particularly if  you love Dylan Thomas, which I do. Hello, Under Milk Wood. I adore you.)
So yes, that will cheer me up tomorrow night I think.

Sunday I am going with Helen and her Mum to see Lee Mead at the Bridgewater Hall. I shall be making the most of Helen beforehand as I'm not actually sure she'll survive the concert; she forgot to breathe when we saw Lee in Joseph a couple of years ago and we'll be much closer on Sunday [yes, that's right, we do have row B tickets] I may be back on Monday posting a eulogy to my best friend. It will mostly go like this:
'Aaaah Helen, how she loved Lee Mead. She may be gone but she will always be my stupid person.' Or something.

It's going to be a lovely weekend. Happy Friday xxx

in which I am London-bound

Today I am mostly happysmilyhappybouncyhappy. It's fairly safe to say that I absolutely have the Friday feeling, which, lets's be honest, is always nice.

Not only have I had a fairly good week [so far, so good, 2012] but this time tomorrow I will be in London Town with the fabulous Jen Campbell which I am extremely excited about. It's been a long time coming and I am uber excited about walks on Hampstead Heath and antiquarian bookshops and The Hummingbird Bakery and a Quentin Blake exhibition and catching up with other London-based friends and chatter and books and films and wine and photographs. It will be a very nice time indeed I think and I shall return next week and regale you with tales of our adventures [which hopefully will not involve us getting lost anywhere ever]

In other news it has dawned on me that I haven't blogged about the good books of 2011 which is annoying as I totally meant to do that over Christmas. Curses.

I struggled a little because I  read some really really good books last year. 2011 has been a good year for me, reading wise and narrowing it down to just 5 was tough. I managed though, so in no particular order here you go:

Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro 

“Because maybe, in a way, we didn't leave it behind nearly as much as we might once have thought. Because somewhere underneath, a part of us stayed like that: fearful of the world around us, and no matter how much we despised ourselves for it--unable quite to let each other go.”

The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini 

For you, a thousand times over”

The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins

[I’m cheating a bit here and counting the trilogy as 1 choice. Please don’t shoot me. I loved these books. I preferred the first and second to the third but I loved them all. They totally got under my skin and I just couldn’t put them down. I can’t wait to read them again!]

One more time? For the audience?" he says. His voice isn't angry. It's hollow, which is worse. Already the boy with the bread is slipping away from me.

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky

“I think that if I ever have kids, and they are upset, I won't tell them that people are starving in China or anything like that because it wouldn't change the fact that they were upset. And even if somebody else has it much worse, that doesn't really change the fact that you have what you have.”

Between Shades Of Grey - Ruta Sepetys

I left the jutra to chop wood. I began my walk through the snow, five kilometers to the tree line. That's when I saw it. A tiny silver of gold appeared between shades of gray on the horizon.
I stared at the amber band of sunlight, smiling.
The sun had returned.
I closed my eyes. I felt Andrius moving close. "I'll see you," he said.
"Yes, I will see you," I whispered "I will." 

I reached into my pocket and squeezed the stone

And there you have it. If you haven't read those books then I suggest you do because each one of them is fabulous - be warned though because they'll more than likely bring a tear to your eye. I seemed to like books that made me sad last year.  Maybe 2012 ought to be the year of laughter....

Happy Friday.

Always nice to see you, Watson

Remus&Sirius. Kevin&Scotty. Kurt&Blaine. HOLMES&WATSON.

Anyone remember this scene from the first Sherlock Holmes movie:

Holmes: You’ve never complained about my methods before.
Watson: I’m not complaining. 
Holmes: You’re not? What do you call this? 
Watson: I never complain! How am I complaining? When do I ever complain about you practicing the violin at three in the morning, or your mess, your general lack of hygiene, or the fact that you steal my clothes? 
 Holmes: Uh, we have a barter system… 
Watson: When have I ever complained about you setting fire to my rooms? 
Holmes: Our rooms… 
Watson: The rooms! Or, or, the fact that you experiment on my dog? 
Holmes: Our dog… 
Watson: The dog! 
Holmes: Gladstone is our dog! 

<3

Anyway. I saw The Game Of Shadows this week, which, I loved and which pretty much made my week. It’s the highlight of 2012 thus far.

I read an interview somewhere on the t’interweb with Jude Law describing this film as a Rom-Com with him and RDJ as the stars. How apt that is. It’s like the film is dancing around singing ‘this is as gay as it could be and you love it’ and you know what?

It really is and I really do.

Fine, I love the action scenes and the fight scenes and the scenes with the very big weapons [actual weapons, guys, that’s not a euphemism] too but what really makes this film, for me, is the whole Holmes/Watson dynamic.

I mean, Sherlock at Watson’s wedding; Watson’s panic on the train when he thinks Holmes is dead; the ballroom dancing; the ‘always nice to see you, Watson’ [brought a lump to my throat almost, that line]; Watson’s face when he  watches Holmes and Moriaty fall; the banter; the looks; the read-between-the-lines-if-you-want-to subtleties; the ‘lie with me Watson’-esque not-so-subtleties [that whole train sequence almost made me squeal actually. I loved it] All of that, their whole relationship, sorry Watson, partnership is show-stoppingly good.

I’m not going to say that Holmes and Watson are sleeping together secretly and Watson’s marriage to Mary is a big fat Remus/Sirius/Tonks type of sham.*  I'm not.

What I am going to say is that the chemistry between these two characters is a million times more sizzling than that between Twishite’s Bella and Edward [which is tragic when you consider RPattz and Stewart are dating in real life] and  that chemistry is a large part of what makes this film so fabulous.   

That and the fact that Downey Jr is seriously sexy and spends a fair portion of the film either shirtless or deliciously dishevelled and that  Stephen Fry is gloriously Stephen Fry and has and that every actor in the film has spot on comic timing and that Guy Ritchie is clearly a very clever man because the cinematography is excellent.

I loved this film. It’s laugh out loud funny and edge of your seat exciting and just so much fun.

In that spirit: Happy Friday. 

*except that possibly maybe I am saying that. Or at least, I hope that if anybody ever decides to marry me and their best man asks them why, their answer is less ‘because I want a relationship and the chance to start a family and I don’t want to die alone’ and more ‘because I’m crazy in love with her.’ Just sayin’….

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

& it will look more like Christmas when I finish work and Ian and I go and purchase a tree!! That's the plan for this afternoon/evening: buy a tree, keep all fingers and toes crossed that the electrician doesn't needto demolish the kitchen, trim the tree, decorate the house, wrap lots of presents and drink Baileys (Ian) and Lemsip (me) whilst listening to Michael Buble.

Lovely.

I am feeling very fesitve today actually, despite my germs. It's a combination of knowing we're getting the tree today, the fact it's all pretty and snowy outdoors, The Yule Ball in GoF which I am reading about at the moment and the fabulous Glee Christmas Special last night. I want to talk about that so much and bombard you all with photos of Kurt and Blaine and RoryLeprechaun and Mercedes but some people *cough* Helen *cough* haven't seen it yet and I am trying to be spoiler free so I won't. I'll just say it was all kinds of fabulous, Darren Criss and Chris Colfer deserve to win all the awards ever in life because they were absolutely spot on and made me laugh my socks off and yes, Merry Christmas.

Have a Friday photo because these are wise words:

Hello December

Hello people!!

Hello and happy happy December! I am feeling rather festive at the moment, probably because I have just counted up and have only 8 working days left before Christmas.
Hurray and also hurrah.
Christmas is my favourite.

Tomorrow I am taking a Jo day. This means I will stay in bed til much later than 6.45am. I will wrap all (or most of) my Christmas presents, I will take my book and have lunch at Starbucks, I will dance around my house to Christmas tunes, I will go to Ikea and then I will call in on my friends T&S for sherry and mince pies. Hurrah for Jo days.

I have quite a bit of book news to share with you, but not today. I'll come back in a day or so and tell you about 'All My Friends Are Superheroes' which is adorable and about 'Girl In Translation' which I am reading right now. I'll also do some kind of 'hurrah for the amazeballs books of 2011' post too. That'll be nice won't it ;)
Seriously though, if you haven't already then you really should read 'All My Friends Are Superheroes.' I heart it.

Now that December is here I can re-read all my winter favourites: Harry Potter and Northern Lights and Alice and Little Women. This makes me happy. There's just something about Christmas that goes hand in hand with revisiting books you love. It wouldn't be Christmas if I didn't read Little Women.

I leave you with an early Friday photo (due to the aforementioned Jo day tomorrow) - reasons to love Maggie Smith: she gets the star of the entire Harry Potter franchise to hold her umbrella!

in which i am sick

Another week over, already. I can't actually believe it's almost the middle of November and therefore almost Christmas. Eeek.

I don't have a lot to report, actually. This week has been a bit of a none-starter due to my being a little under the weather and feeling rather sorry for myself. I have spent significant amounts of time on my sofa under a patchwork quilt which whilst comforting for me, makes for a less than interesting blog post.

I did see The Help at the cinema on Tuesday, which was fun. I loved that book and I really liked the film too. It was extremely well cast and very well done and the costumes were fabulous. I had a very nice time and was pleasantly surprised. I'm always a little wary of adaptations of books I've liked but this one was a success so hurrah for that.

I leave you this weekend with some Ron and Hermione because I'm poorly and cannot seem to blog through it and Ron and Hermione are cute and make me feel better and I'm hoping that blinding you with cute will stop you from frowning upon the rubbishness of this post.
Have a lovely weekend.
Happy Friday.

Happy Friday. Ooo-Arrr (like a pirate)

Is there such a thing as too much Milkybar? They were selling the 'sharing' bars for £1 at the petrol station and I may or may not have bought one and well, not shared. & now I feel sick. Whoops.

Well, here we are again. Friday. Another week gone and another week closer to Christmas (which I am in no way prepared for, by the way.) I'm off to my friend Jane's this afternoon/evening where I shall play with her super adorable little girl and we shall drink coffee and gossip. Lovely.
Tomorrow is the family dinner party. Eeeek. & then I think on Sunday I shall mostly be asleep. I'm looking forward to it all. Ok, I'm slightly stressing about tomorrow but I'm sure it'll all be fine. It'll be fine, right? Right?

I just have this fear that the food will be a disaster and that the whole affair will be punctuated by awkward silences that I don't know how to break. STRESSSTRESSSTRESS.

Let's not think about it.

Let's instead celebrate the start of the weekend with a little bit of Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow because everybody knows that makes everything better.

Also, Darren Criss Glee is back next week. Dance with me?

Happy Friday.

It&apos;s Friday

Haha. I love this. Look at Archimedes.

I am a very big fan of The Sword in the Stone, actually. It reminds me of lazy winters days on the sofa with a quilt and some of those potato trianges they used to sell at ASDA. Does anyone else remember those? No? Oh well, they were amazing and I loved them.

We had the movie on video, not a shop bought one but one we'd taped off the TV. Disney's Robin Hood (another favourite) was on before it, you had to fast forward that to get to this and I watched it so many times that it was a little fuzzy in parts and I knew Merlin's "Higutus Figutus" song by heart. I class this as one of my greatest achivements actually because it's not an easy song to learn, it's right up there with "Substitutiary Locomotion" from Bedknobs and Broomsticks (I know that one off by heart too. I know all of B&B by heart but that' another story....)
Anyway, I found this clip and got all nostalgic and wanted to save it so figured I'd save it here!
Happy Friday!!

it's friday and Jen is doing the 100 poem challenge

I’ve been a bit under the weather this week, so the majority of the time I’ve not spent working has been spent sleeping and still I am tired. Ian and I were supposed to go and see ‘The Three Musketeers’ last night but instead I was asleep by 9.30. Poor Ian. I slept Wednesday night away too. I haven’ even done any reading; I’ve been on page 36 of my book (Murakimi’s South of the Boder, West of the Sun) since Tuesday. Most unlike me.

I did see my Grandparents last night though, which was lovely. It was my Grandpa’s birthday on Wednesday so we called round with a card and chocolates and had a catch up, that was a giggle.

& Monday marked my ten year anniversary at work. Yup, that’s right people, I have been working here *gestures around self* for a whole ten years and four days. How about that. I was feeling quite sentimental about it on Monday, if I’d had time I probably would have blogged about how even though there’s been times when I’ve been utterly utterly miserable deep down I feel a sense of achievement at how far I’ve come and how actually from office junior to the desk I have today is pretty darn good and things are better at work right now than they’ve ever been and hurrah for me. I didn’t have time though, which is probably lucky for anybody reading this as it would have been a truly yawn-worthy post. I did get a new watch out of it though, a very pretty one too (I have it on good authority that it was chosen by my boss’s wife. Ha.)

Whilst I’m here I’ll quickly point you in the direction of the fabulous Jen Campbell’s fundraising page. Jen is a good friend of mine, she’s a bookseller and writer (her book, as I’ve mentioned before, is out early next year) and has a very rare genetic condition called EEC Syndrome. It’s so rare that people in the medical world don’t even have any statistics for it as such, s’just rare. Not a lot is known about it, new things are being uncovered all the time such as the way it affects the cornea meaning Jen, and other people with EEC might lose their sight. So, Jen being Jen and not one to sit around feeling sorry for herself, has decided to try and raise some money for EEC Italia, who research not just EEC but lots of other conditions. She’s doing this not by a bake-off or a sponsored walk but by writing 100 poems in 1 weekend. That’s right, 100 actual poems. (Seriously, she has so much damn talent that if she wasn’t so cute I’d probably hate her!) Miles did the maths and has calculated something ridiculous like a poem every fifteen minutes, which you have to admit is pretty impressive. So, I ask you to click this link, read what Jen has to say; she’s much more eloquent than me, watch the video if it takes your fancy and please pledge some money even if it’s only $1 (it has to be dollars; the site is American) because it really is a worthy cause and every little helps. Fanks.

& Happy Friday.

Yes Mark, yes, it's VERY VERY COOL. I wanna see where Molly killed Bellatrix. Take me?

it's Friday. Have a cute Brothers & Sisters clip.

Friday: the perfect time to spread a little bit more Brothers & Sisters love, mainly because I was watching it last night. This time the little clip is in the shape of Kitty and Robert (Calista Flockhart and Rob Lowe) I mean seriously, look how cute these guys are. Looky looky.

In other news, the week is over (thank goodness) and in an hour and a half I shall be leaving the office and heading home for a weekend of fun fun times. We're having belated birthday celebrations tonight for my Mum (her birthday was in July!) so Mum and Dad and Helen and Drew are heading over to mine and we're going for chinese food which will be lovely. Saturday Ian and I are off to visit our friends Mark and Andrea. We plan to stay in and play board games because we're cool like that and then Sunday I have a coffee date with Jayne and baby Daisy. Fabulous.

I'm reading 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' at the moment which I have to say is rather lovely, so hopefully I'll finish that and come back to leave a review of some sorts.

Happy Friday.

day 23: your guilty pleasure

I think you could probably quite safely say that vampires are my guilty pleasure, not just in books but generally.
& I'm not talking vampires that sparkle in the sun here, I'm talking actual proper vampires; yes I know, that's as much of an oxymoron as the term 'living dead' itself but you know what I mean, right?
I don't know what the appeal is. I remember getting an LJ Smith book free with a magazine when I was about 14. It was about this teenage girl who was dying of cancer and her vampire boyfriend who was all immortal and intense and could read her mind when she drank him blood & then I watched 'Interview With The Vampire' (remember that film??) and something sort of stuck. There's something about the vampire that's just.....sexy.
Is that weird?
It's totally all to do with the way they're portrayed: they're dramatic and powerful; they're sexy in a dangerous passionate kind of way and 9/10 times they're beautiful. They either look beautiful (Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Gary Oldman, RPattz [come on guys, you can't deny that RPattz is a beautiful young man] Ian Somerhlader etc) or they are described as being beautuful and thus are so in my head which brings me to my guilty pleasure in the book world: The Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris.

The Sookie books are the inspiration for the TV series True Blood and tell the story of a telepathic barmaid from Louisiana, living in a world where vampires are living 'out of the coffin' and trying to integrate themselves with society.

They're complete trash.

I love them.

They're 100% totally and completely unrealistic. They're overly dramatic. The plotlines are so insane that they're almost laughable. If they weren't about vampires then I probably wouldn't give them the time of day but that is not the case, instead I have some kind of 'V' addiction so I can easily lose myself for a couple of hours (because that's all they take to read) in Bon Temps, because the vampires, Bill and Eric, are beautiful in my head; there's a cute shapeshifter and a fit werewolf; theres' lots of hotvampiresex;Sookie is actually a pretty awesome protaganist and a pretty good role model in that she is alwaysalways prepared to fight for what she believes in, and every book in the series (so far) has contained enough edge-of-the-seat drama and mystery and romance and humour to keep the pages turning.

I know these books aren't great but I also know I like them and that's what matters, isn't it?


This whole 'guilty pleasure' thing also links quite nicely into my Friday Photo. That beautiful man in the corner of this post is the star of my televisual guilty pleasure "The Vampire Diaries" and yes, he plays a bad-ass vampire.
Anyone noticing a trend ;)
I have a boyfriend and I love him and we're very happy. I just want to make that clear. That does not however stop my jaw from hitting the floor pretty much any time I see Ian Somerhalder (Yes, it is Boone of off Lost) because let's face it people, this man is beautiful and sometimes no matter how loved up you are, a beautiful man off of the telly can make a long slow week seem better.

It's Friday and it's not unusual.

It's Friday and I am going on holiday. A mini-break. A girly mini-break with my BFF Helen and ourfriend Clare (although Clare is a teacher and so can only come for one night.) We're setting off on Saturday morning and coming back on Tuesday and I cannot wait. Helen's brother has a caravan in Abersoch. There will be walks on the beach and cider and lots of reading and giggles and gossip and yummy pub food and I think it will be just lovely. As long as the sun shines. In fact, you know what, even if there's some kind of monsoon it will be fabulous. It will be so so nice to spend some time, with Helen especially. Even though we're in touch most days I feel like I haven't seen her in ages.
We'll be taking our Kindles so it will be a paper free weekend I think, unless you count postcards. Some people might get postcards. & even though I love my Kindle bucket loads, I haven't gone that far over to the darkside; I promise you those postcards will be real, not some fake old e-cards!

I’m still reading the Woolf. This week has been all kinds of insane so I haven’t read more than 2% (I still get a kick out of the whole percentage thing. Hurrah for Kindle love) but that will be rectified this weekend and then next week when I get back I shall read Prisoner of Azkaban. I am excited about that.

Soon I shall finish work then I am off to visit my Grandparents and visit Kez and then take my beautiful God Daughter out for her birthday surprise – if somebody had taken me to see Avril Lavigne for my 13^th birthday I’d have been bowled over. Let us hope Beth is too – and then I am ON HOLIDAY.

Oh, I nearly forgot. Have a Friday photo.

I think I love Darren Criss. Like, actually. I can’t help myself. He’s so beautiful, and when he sings I come over all peculiar and then when he dances (which he does, a lot) my tummy does funny things and it’s a bit ridiculous. I have such a crush. Ha. I was a little crazy about him in the last season of Glee; the Warblers album is the most played on my iPad (This is not cool. I know. I don’t care.) & then he danced past me at the Potter party and then he told me I was tiny and I realised our outfits were co-ordinated and then he danced down the stairs and Ian just laughed at me because I was in an actual daze and then last night I watched the first episode of the new Glee and oh my days Jesus Christ on a bike. Gjgfhklgfjhklfngfxlg. Yum. Yum yum yum. So here. Happy Friday.

(Also how cute are Blaine and Kurt please. Helen, if you’re reading this, shush.)

Today is technically Thursday, but it's actually my Friday as I'm away for the weekend. Hurrah! Ian and I are off in our Camper to Stratford to watch some drag racing. Usually Ian would be racing himself at this event, but since his race car is currently being fitted with some kind of go-faster business and is in many pieces in the garage, this year we will just be spectating. I don't know much about cars I must admit, all I can tell you about Ian's is that it's a Beetle and it's blue and it costs a lot of money. It makes him happy though so *shrug*
Anyway, we're off down to Stratford with these lovely people: (I wish my eyes were open on this photo. Curses.)

And I have to confess to being quite excited. I like going away and I like my Camper and I like spending time with Ian, and Mark and Emma and I like catching up with all the racing people who are a lovely if slightly bonkers bunch and I very much like the BBQ's and the cider. Especially the cider. I expect a couple of the girls will sneak into Stratford for a proper coffee and a wander on Sunday which will be lovely, although my friend Sarah is threatening me with a rowing boat. Clearly she is not familair with my Dordogne experience. (I had to tie my canoe to my Uncle's and ride 10k down the river perched precariously on the back of somebody elses. Ha.) Still, the whole weekend will generally be quite a nice time.

I'm reading 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' at the moment. So far so good, although I'm only 6% in. It's fairly easy to read and whilst I admit the fact that I have Gary Oldman wandering around my imagination as I read might mean I like it that little bit more, I think I'm going to really enjoy it. I plan to see the film once I've read the book so I might well report back.

In the spirit of the weekend I am also going to grab this opportunity to put some Hugh Laurie on my blog. Hands up if you love Hugh.




Ha. He does make me smile. Have a lovely weekend peeps.
xxx

Miami Slice

Friday, Friday, Friday.

I don't have a lot to say today, except my usual 'hurrah for the weekend.'

Ian and I will have been together for 4 years on Wednesday next week so we're off out for a curry tonight to celebrate, the very same curry house where we went on our first date. Romantic, huh? It will be a very yummy and very nice time.

The rest of the weekend will be spent getting my eyes checked, visiting friends and catching up on Dexter and House.
Dexter is getting very exciting right about now and I am itching to go and snuggle up on the sofa with some Ben and Jerry's and find out what happens. How did Jordan Chase know it was Lumen on the phone? What will Liddy do with the photo's of Dexter? Will Deb ever eat that much needed cheeseburger? (Yes, that is my jealous talking. Don't we all want a washboard stomach? She's so thin she looks like she'd blow over in a breeze. Bitch.) Anyway, yes, it's all very exciting in the world of our favourite serial killer and my sofa is calling to me so loudly I swear I can hear it from here.

It's rare that I watch tv without a bowl of ice cream; my usual Ben & Jerry's flavour of choice is Cookie Dough whereas Ian goes for Phish food every time.Wwe go through so much that it's a good job it's on offer at the supermarket,!! Imagine if this week's Friday Photo was a real life actual Ben and Jerry's flavour (sadly it's not, it's just a promo for Season 6 which I believe will be airing in the States very soon) but still, that would be amazing wouldn't it? I would forskae my cookie dough for a bowl of Miami Slice for sure. Ha.

its Friday and Maggie Smith is FIERCE

I have been a very bad blogger this week. Whoops. I can't believe Friday is here again. I have very little planned this weekend which makes me very happy. Hurrah for a weekend of relaxation and cuddles.

I leave you with Maggie Smith, who blew my mind in DH2