Shopping, Life, and Food!

Hi-de-ho campers!

Okay so I’m like four days late with my promised follow up blog, BUT it is still January meaning that this will be the third update in a 30-ish day period, the second post in January proper. Ha! I am awesome. ^.^

No but seriously, I am enjoying being able to write in a semi-creative way. I even managed a couple of hundred words of my novel the other day. They were terrible, but they were better than nothing. I also had a chance to look at something I had previously written and was actually able to give myself constructive criticism without telling myself things like “that is horrible, why would anyone publish that, ever? YOU SHAME ME!” So, progress is being made. I am pleased. 

This January saw me do something I never thought I would do: hit the January sales. In a big way. I mean really big. For me anyway. I have spent some portion of my adult life with very little money, so I have developed a habit of buying things on a needs-must basis. For example: I need food, so I buy it. I need a new pair of shoes because the only other flat pair I have are now broken and letting in water (an abomination I will not suffer gladly!), so I buy a new pair, etc. Buying something now for another day hasn’t really been a factor for me for a long time. It’s getting a lot better and I’m at the stage now where I can save AND buy something nice once in a while, woo! So what did I buy? Christmas things. Yes, you heard right, don’t judge me!

I was watching TV when the show Extreme Couponing came up, and it was themed specifically about the post-Christmas super sales a lot of stores (in the US) tend to have. While they may look mental, those women carted a whole load of stuff away for about half the recommended retail price. And mostly it was not luxury items, it was very methodically planned to stop them from shopping pretty much for the rest of the year (except for food, of course). My shops were much less organised, but I did manage to score some really awesome things! As I said, a lot of it was Christmas stuff. I bought about £70-£80 worth of stuff for about £35 which included baubles, cards, gift tags, a pillow (it had two turtle doves on it, I could literally not stop myself), etc. No I didn’t *need* all of it. No one *needs* a serving platter shaped like a Christmas tree, but it was adorable and now I have something cute to display my vaniliekranse (that’s “vanilla wreaths” to you non-Scandis, a lovely vanilla flavoured biscuit) on for Christmas 2014. And anywhere that sells gold and silver spray for less than £1 is a winner in my book. 

Apart from Christmas stuff I also got my very first Le Creuset item! I am so bourgeois that I would be one of those people that get killed in revolutions, so obviously I love me a bit of finery and well made products. My mum has a Le Creuset casserole dish in the original dark blue (they come in all sorts of fancy pants colours now!), and because I can’t remember when we got it, I am convinced it was forged in the primordial fires of the Earth’s creation, because that’s how long it’s lasted. It still works, it’s still awesome, and it’s still gorgeous. 

So this is my "Fennel" coloured Le Creset dish - I love it!

I also bought something to remind me of home. Royal Copenhagen are a Danish (duh) company that make stunning (and expensive) porcelain and china crockery. In addition to their traditional sets, they also make novelty style items with a yearly theme (you can see the 2013 stuff here). Last year was dedicated to The Little Mermaid, as the statue of her was erected in 1913, so it was a big anniversary! I bought the commemorative plate, but because I bought it after Christmas in the sale, I didn’t get it for the recommended retail price of £75, oh no. I bought it for £25! You could argue that no one needs a decorative plate these days, that’s old fashioned, and as it has no practical use (I wouldn’t dream of actually putting food on it!) then it’s just snobbery and a luxury. You could say that, but then I would just shrug and think you were very wrong. I need it because I am homesick and as I am set to be staying in the UK for a fair few more years, I want to have something that shows off my “heritage”, where I come from. I think it’s important, especially when it comes to settling down with a partner and making a home together.

Isn't she beautiful?

One of the things I bought in the Christmas sale was actually just sheets of coloured paper. It was obviously meant to form part of a “Oh God, please just give this paper along with some crayons to small children to get them to leave you alone!” scheme, but I knew there were destined for a higher purpose! Last year one of my friends told me about this awesome idea. The premise is that for each awesome, lovely, quaint, delightful or just-positive-in-general thing that happens to you, you write it on a scrap of paper, fold it up, and put the paper in a jar. Over the course of a year the jar with fill up with a visual reminder that life is actually okay, look at all the awesome stuff you’ve done so far! And then, at the very end of the year you tip all the paper pieces out and read them, to think about the year gone by in a really positive and uplifting way. I meant to do this last year, but was totally unorganised, and by the time I remembered it, it was May and I couldn’t remember what I had done in January! Not so, this year! Behold! 

So I basically cut strips of the paper and I write my little notes starting with the date, then what happened, and why it was awesome. So far I have included cinema trips if the film was really good, chats with friends I haven’t seen in a while, basically anything that made me go “Aww, that was really nice!”. There are no set criteria, except that it is nice, positive, or powerful in nature. Feeling down and just had a lovely mug of hot chocolate that made you feel better? Write that stuff down, and put it in the jar. I want to remember all the nice bits about this year. Also, to steal a phrase from another website (called The Everygirl), I want to make this year a “platform" year - A year of developing skills and laying the groundwork for things I will want to do next year and the year after. Basically a present to “future-me”. While I realise that I should also take care of “now-me”, I think there are ways of doing both. 

I’ve also been gluten-free (ish) for just under a month. So far… Well I never really liked bread that much anyway. Except Danish style rye bread, but I found an awesome Danish gluten free blogger who may have solved that issue for me, hooray! (for you Scandis reading, here she is: http://tante-glutenfrei.blogspot.co.uk) The world of bloggers have been immensely helpful in finding a shining glimmer of hope in the gluten-free desert. I’m finding it a bit hard though, and have slipped up a few times, because who knew that manufacturers put gluten-containing stuff in so many things?! That and I feel like such a killjoy for being the person who always says “I can’t have that” when sweets are being passed around the office. And I feel like a prat for Googling the gluten content of the custard my “mother-in-law” has made for dessert (there is none, by the way, yay for custard!). One of my colleagues was really sweet and bought me gluten free cookies. I could have cried of happiness. I don’t know if it’s just me, but when someone tells me I can’t have something, I immediately want it. I have such a craving for every kind of baked goods, it’s unreal. I want a mountain of pancakes. Luckily there are ways to make gluten free pancakes, but I’m trying not to go overboard because I don’t want to eat something just because it’s gluten free, if that makes sense? Anyway, next month I will be more organised and hopefully slip up a bit less! It’s all a learning process!

These are NOT gluten free! Boo!

These are totally gluten free! Yay!

Anywho, it’s time to put this blog post to bed. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of January, and I will probably be back in February with some new stories. Maybe. Hopefully! 

Tata for now!

My Favourite Thing - Books!

Helloooooooo! I'm back! Yes, can you believe it, two blog posts in a month. You'll see pigs flying soon, hehe!

This is more of a hold-up, slow-down, let me tell you something blog, but I promise my next one will be slightly bouncier :-P Maybe. Hopefully!

I said a while back that I would do a book "review" type thing, but with the moving and everything else it kinda got away from me. This isn't going to be a countdown, a top 10/20/40 or a critical anything, just an exaltation of the books that have really stuck with me and that I go back to time and time again. 

The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho - I read this for the first time when I was... 12, maybe? It's not really what I would call a children's book, you're more likely to find Coelho's books in a mind, body and spirit section, or even near the philosophy books. It's a story about a boy who knows what he wants, is given a task, goes on an adventure and ends up, well... Back where he started. In a good way. All of what I just said is a massive understatement. You cannot describe The Alchemist, only read it. It's one of those books that is simple enough for a child to read and understand, but when I read it now as an adult it moves me in profound ways. It's about the material world and what we want from it, the soul and what it needs, it’s also about faith and doubt, but it's not preachy and you take from it what you want. There's an element of "magical realism" in it, which I really like in South American literature. Even the foreword in the edition I have is deeply moving. His later works haven't had the same affect on me, but that's okay, this book is enough.

We'll stay in South America with some more magical realism from Isabelle Allende this time. Her debut novel The House of the Spirits is an epic family saga set in Chile pre-revolution. It centres around Clara, the youngest of a large family and follows her life and the life of her daughter and granddaughter. There are two narrators, one of which is her husband who is writing about her after her death. It is a story about people, some ordinary and some extraordinary, doing awesome, wacky and sometimes horrible things. It is critical of its characters as well as forgiving and generous. It celebrates humanity and the power of women as individuals and in communities. The author herself has become quite the activist for women's right in areas where these are lacking, and her TED talk on the matter is really powerful. If you haven't already experience the pleasure of TED talks then please Google it! There are so many fantastic talks and lectures on every topic you can imagine. Anyway, I digress. Bille August made a film version of this book, featuring Winona Ryder, Antonio Banderas, Meryl Streep (truly one of my favourite actresses) and Jeremy Irons, but it misses out a whole generation and just isn't as powerful as the book. If I had to pick just one book to read the rest of my life, this is it.

The Children's Book by A S Byatt is next on my list. This book takes us to the UK, spanning a time period from ca. 1880 to the outbreak of the First World War. It follows a group of adult bohemian types (some are a bit more "square" or traditional) who are friends and who all have children. One of them is a popular children's book authoress, and she and her husband have the largest brood of the group. The story follows the adults (who may not be as happy, free, or caring as they seem) and their children, and how they and their relationships change with the times. There's love and betrayal, unconventional decisions made by seemingly conventional people and vice versa, a wee bit of politics, scandal and all sorts. Alongside that there are little informative tidbits about the period in general almost seamlessly interwoven in to the story itself. It's a rich and indulgent book that I could do with re-reading soon. When I had finished it, I just had that 'wow' feeling, and I needed to mull it over for a while. 

The Witches by Roald Dahl is another of my favourites, in fact, pretty much anything Roald Dahl wrote was kind of awesome. I think all parents, would-be-parents and soon-to-be-parents should be required to buy and read his collected children's stories. And then read them to their children. I like how un-sanctimonious he is about kids and what little horrible devils they can be, and how hilariously clever and observant they are too. My dad read this to and with me a lot (along with Tales from Watership Down, I remember) when I was younger, and I'm really thankful for that. The film version with Anjelica Huston is actually very good too! 

Next up is Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It's a coming of age story set in Nigeria. Our main character Kambili is the daughter of a very religious (and seemingly quite affluent and influential) man who appears to have a great disdain for his own heritage and culture. To me the books is about that moment when you realise that your parents are people, and you learn more about who they are as people, and how you may not always like who they are even though you love them. I also have such great respect for the author, who in her TED talk, spoke about the dangers of a "single story", as in the potentially one-sided view we may have of a person, a group, a nation or culture. It's an incredibly powerful talk, and I can recommend anyone to watch it! Press here to be directed to the TED talk!

David Attenborough is an icon and my hero. His autobiography Life on Air only made me respect him even more. Honestly, that book is one of the most amazing stories I have ever read. It's obviously about his career, but he also talks about the beginnings of the BBC and throws in some anecdotes from when he was a child. There's a couple of "behind the scenes" moments, and of course a lovely collection of old and new photos. It is everything you could really want from an autobiography. 

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden is perhaps not the most amazing book in the world. So why oh why have I included it? Nostalgia, for one. I've moved around a lot, so my memory if very location based. I can tell you what house we lived in when I first read it, and roughly how old I was. I remember that I didn't understand all of it, but that this was set in a really fascinating culture. If you haven't come across the book or the film, it's a story about a girl who by unfortunate circumstance becomes a Geisha in what we now know as Kyoto (I think, my memory may be slipping). In hindsight I obviously do question how accurate a western author can be in describing a culture that is so very different, but the book certainly sparked an interest in Japan that has not faded since. 

There are so many books that I love, but the ones above just stuck on to me and never let go. I hope one day to be able to write a book that does that for other people! 

I may in future write a similar piece for films or TV movies as well. I think it’s easy to scoff at visual media, but it shouldn’t because it can produce some truly beautiful pieces of art and be just as thought provoking as literature. 

I’ll do a more general blog for you all tomorrow as well, a little treat for the weekend, hehe. 

Cheerie Byes!