A Lovely Day II

Last Saturday was absolutely beautiful weather. We woke up to the sun shining through the blinds in our bedroom. It was actually quite warm as well, not just bright and sunny. Taking full advantage of this, we decided to go to the woods for a walk and a picnic.


It's amazing to think that two weeks before snow was blanketing the UK. And now the crocuses are out. They've even emerged in the pot by our front door.


Just praying for the sun to shine for the wedding now...

Girly Girly Girl

No really, I am. Those who know me outside of the binary world will know that I rarely bother with makeup, blowdry my hair about once a month and live in my jeans.

But two things this week have brought out my girly girly side.

Firstly - this weekend we are going to the wedding of a lovely couple and I tried on my wedding outfit yesterday. The main thing is the swooshy, silky skirt. (It's the third skirt in my wardrobe). I even have jewellery to go with it. I will post photos from the wedding next week.

Secondly - I found this beautiful bag in a magazine at the Doctor's the other day. Now I'm sure some of you have issues with Mischa Barton but try very hard to put those aside and have a look at the range of bags she's designed here. This one is my favourite. It's pretty, big, practical...ok, it costs £50 and I don't ever buy bags. But I'm trying to remember it until June rolls around and someone asks what I'd like for my birthday.



Oh and quote of the day from a little boy at playgroup-work: "I'm a goat! I'm a goat!" He was covered in a green cloth at the time so he may have meant ghost. Or not. Who knows?

Painting and Stories

That was pretty much my first morning at the new job. I'm currently doing two mornings a week with the 3-4 year old children, and then after Easter I'll also be doing two afternoons a week with the 2-3 year olds.

Yesterday was a bit unusual because the children were helping to make pancakes so it was less timetabled than it will be normally. I started off doing painting with some of the kids. Even at that age you can see which kids are actually thinking about what they're doing and which others just want to "paint everywhere" (one little boy's answer when asked what he was painting a picture of). I was also amused by one girl - "I'm painting a dinosaur. He's got lots of teeth. It's actually a girl. She won't eat people. She's friendly." What a relief. My picture was the most girly - I painted a rabbit.

Supervising garden play gave me a chance to chat to another of the supervisors (who happened to have been on the same marriage-prep course as us last year). We had a really nice talk about God and church. She really wants to know more. Alpha would be perfect for her...(again - why has my church stopped doing Alpha?!).

Next I sat and read stories to some of the children. I love how interested they were. I was sitting on the floor and by the end of book one my audience had gone from one child to six and they were all leaning on me to see the book. We read about five stories in the end.

The hardest part so far is learning all their names. There were eighteen and I know who about nine of them are for sure. There are about another ten who weren't in though so I'll probably be confused all over again on Friday.

Question of the day as I was sitting with the last child to be collected - "When will your Mum come and pick you up?"

Words

I heard on the radio the other day that thesaurus means "treasure house" in ancient Greek. I'm not sure how linguistically true that is but it got me thinking about some of the words I love.

Some of my favourite words at the moment...
- Superfluous - Because it just sounds beautiful, like hot, thick custard.
- Anatidaephobia - Because it means "The fear that somewhere, somehow a duck is watching you."*
- Scrimshanker - Because it means someone who skives work or responsibilities but it is so much more formidable sounding.

A few years ago I was given a book called The Meaning of Tingo which is all about "extraordinary words from around the world". It contains gems like...
- Rainen no kono hi mo issho ni waratteiyoh - which is allegedly one of Japan's most successful chat-up lines. It means "this time next year let's be laughing together".
...and I love the things that other languages have words for...
- tallabe - (Zarma, Nigeria) to carry things on one's head without holding on to them
- gagrom - (Boro, India) to search for a thing below water by trampling

Despite being terrible at learning other languages this book is great for giving you a glimpse at how rich languages are. This makes me think of God - he created humans with the imagination and intellect to come up with hundreds of different ways of communicating. Between each language there is so much variation and creativity. How much more creative must God be? And how many ways does he communicate with us? I'm sure I miss so much that God tries to tell me - and I'm so thankful that when I don't get it the first time (or second, third, fourteenth times) he doesn't give up. He just uses different words.

*Okay, maybe its not a real word (it comes from a Far Side strip from ages ago) but the concept is great.

The Painter

One of the things I love most is settling down with a new book and a cup of tea. On the last visit we made to my parents I raided Mum's bookshelves and borrowed The Painter by Will Davenport. I finished last night so here are a few thoughts on the book (without spoiling the story).

1) The book uses the popular parallel plot format - one based in 1662, the other in 2001. The 1662 one is about Rembrandt who stows away on a ship, ends up in Hull and is drawn into a contest of arts with the poet Andrew Marvell - the prize being the ship captain's beautiful wife (Amelia Dahl). I thought this plot was reasonably intriguing and clever. The 2001 plot works less well in my opinion. It focuses on artist Amy Dale who is a descendant of Amelia Dahl's. She gets a job in helping to restore the captain's house and happens to find Amelia's journals from 1662 detailing her encounter with Rembrandt. There is also a minor plot involving some of the builders working on the project which I found it hard to care about and easy to predict.

2) I found Amy an unconvincing character. A lot is made of her attractiveness and Davenport seemed too concerned with making her seem unique and unusual to make her someone the reader could identify with.

3) Overall The Painter was a reasonably engaging read but certainly not high quality literature and it wouldn't be one I'd go out of my way to recommend to a friend.

I'll be writting about some more books in the future and the reviews certainly won't all be this negative - I just thought I'd give it a go as I'd just finished a book.

A Lovely Day

Yesterday was A Lovely Day. On Wednesday Shiv and I ended up at our separate computers online at the same time. She was revising for an exam on Thursday morning and mentioned that she was going to check out the crazy-big new shopping centre in London. After some oohing over how crazy-big Westfield actually is she sent "You should come!"

Good point. So I did.

Westfield is a pretty shopping centre, partly because its so new and shiny. It has also been designed very nicely - seats everywhere, lots of light, flowers and plants. It has a nice balance of high street shops and overpriced designer boutiques, and plenty of space in the eating area. We only had to queue in one shop and it wasn't crowded.

But it wasn't really about the shopping anyway, it was about the catching up. Which as always was lovely. One of the highlights of the day (along with the Chocolate Cafe) was our encounter with Salon Man who decided to try and offer us an exciting package deal.

"Only £49 each for haircut, manicure..." (I'll admit at this point I zoned out for a while, not knowing or caring what half the words meant) "...and an A4 portrait of yourself for only £25." He looked so sure we'd jump at the chance.

"Um...no, that's ok thanks." We try to move away.

"Ok, I'll do you a deal - both of you for £50!" That was a sharp price drop.

"Really, no thanks."

"What's holding you back?" He is genuinely baffled.

How do we explain? We exchange glances, not wanting to offend this very friendly man who really is only trying to do his job. "I don't think we really care that much."

Salon Man is still confused ("Aww, I can't believe that!") but lets us go and luckily we restrained the giggles until we're round the corner. Why is it so hard to believe? I find getting my hair cut insanely dull and only get it done twice a year (at a push) so the idea of a whole day of being fussed over (let alone paying for it) seems like a pretty poor deal. Anyway, after the excitement of all that we had some very excellent chocolatey drinks in the Chocolate Cafe (almost worth a visit to Westfield by itself) before more browsing and coming home. A very Lovely Day.


Oh and she aced the exam...

*Shiv - after our discussion yesterday feel free to come up with a Blog Name for yourself if you want one...I didn't think you'd appreciate The Accountant.

Employment!

I have been offered a job. This is Big News, as I graduated six months ago, with no career plans and no enthusiasm for having a job. I then proceeded to work as a volunteer for a charity (Besom) while "job hunting" (which in all honesty I haven't been very diligent at).

But - now a job. Before anyone gets excited about my expanding horizons and employability, its only a part-time job (which Lovely Besom Boss and I are both pleased about!) at the playgroup run by my church, so its not a Career or anything scary like that. Basically I will be paid to go and play with little children two mornings a week, starting next Tuesday. Sounds good to me. After the Easter holidays I'll also be doing two afternoons a week. So it's a bit of extra cash in our bank account and I can stop feeling worried when the parents (both sets!) ask how the job hunting is going.

In other news I'm supposed to be making dinner for my home group tonight so I have to go and cook something that we can heat up there. Last time I cooked something for home group I tried making gingerbread men which tasted great but were a whole epic load of faff. I'm hoping things will go a bit more smoothly this time...

A weekend with the folks...

We had a lovely time visiting my parents (and sisters) this weekend. It was pretty overcast all the time so we stayed inside, playing games and eating goodies. We introduced them all to our new favourite game, Puerto Rico. This game was an instant hit with both sides of our family and we played it three times this weekend.

We also ate lots of yummy food and watched the rugby. It was just a really good weekend of catching up and spending time together. Mum and I spent Saturday afternoon playing with her extensive craft collection and making cards. She really does have a huge amount of stuff and (bonus!) she gave me a whole box of card, paper, decorations and ribbon to take home. This is the card I made, for a couple whose wedding we're going to in three weeks.

Valentines Day

T and I have decided not to "do" Valentines Day. We've been together for two and a half years now - Saturday will be our third Valentines Day.

For the first one we swapped cheap, charity shop gifts - I gave him the (now infamously awful) M25 game (we're both board game lovers) and I got the Oceans 11 video from him. Both have since winged their way back to the charity shop.

I can't remember what we did last year, and this year we'll be visiting my parents and sisters for the weekend which will preclude any romantic plans! We're married now and were always quite happy not to celebrate V-Day, but I'm sure for some couples this XKCD cartoon really hits the nail on the head. Surely maintaining and enjoying a relationship is complicated enough without throwing in a huge heap of hype and drama?

Nesting

Since getting married I've discovered a new type of shopping. In my student, house-sharing days I couldn't care less about crockery, bed linen or cushions, but now we have a place of our own I'm loving that I get to buy stuff for it and make it ours.

The wedding presents filled the house with lots of beautiful stuff as well - we have paintings, matching crockery, pretty vases and pots. Arranging all our things, deciding what would belong where was one of my favourite post-wedding jobs (which was lucky as T hates that kind of thing).

Christmas gifts have also been added. T gave me a digital photo frame which is so cool - I love taking photos and its perfect if you have a small place like we do. We were given homemade cushions by T's aunt which are beautiful - they look so professional and they go so well on our new sofa. Another aunt and uncle gave us gifts in a basket - the basket is now a "by-the-sofa" holder for on-the-go books, bookmarks, puzzle books and pens.

I love that we have a spare room and can have friends and family to stay - one of the most exciting things I bought recently was a new duvet cover and pillow set for our guest bed - its all pretty and flowery. We're having more girls staying at the moment than boys so I decided we needed some girly bedding. Today I bought a Basil plant. It was cheap at Tescos so it might not live very long but I love the idea of being able to get fresh herbs from the windowsill to go in our dinner.

I went clothes shopping a while ago and had to force myself to look at clothes rather than bedding and china. Having got a place of our own to play with, it suddenly seems very important (and fun) to make it Ours. This new blog has had a similar impact on me - I spent an hour tonight playing with the backdrop and colours before I actually wrote anything.

At least blogging is free...

Apostrophe Catastrophe!

I saw a sign in a perfume shop yesterday that made me laugh.

"Ladie's Perfume of The Day"

Oh dear...

Snow

What could be more lovely than a small cottage in the countryside, a heated swimming pool, five days of holiday with my lovely husband? That was the plan - this afternoon we would drive off...to Devon. Except that Devon just happens to be the place that got about a foot of snow dumped on it last night. The only roads that go to our lovely empty cottage are closed or packed with abandoned vehicles.



At the beginning of the week the snow was great. Beautiful and fun and so exciting. But now? I am definitely over the snow.

(Although we're hoping to go tomorrow instead and once we're there I'll be back to loving the snow. What can I say? I'm fickle.)

Me

Even as I attempted to set up this blog I had trouble finding the words. Not a good start you might think, given that bloggers rely on choosing the right words to entice their reader not to click away to another page.

My problem came with writing the "About Me" section. How do you choose the words to sum yourself up?

So, to try an keep this short (in a very digital-communication style) - four things about me:

1. I am married to a lovely man, who is my best friend. He will be christened T for the blogsphere.

2. Since I graduated I have been working for a charity as a volunteer, partly because I love it and partly because I have no idea what I want to do with my life.

3. My favourite book is The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. It is beautiful.

4. I am a Christian. It's hard to decide what else to tell you about this one without falling into cliches. It is hugely important to me, but I'm not a ram-it-down-your-throat kind of girl. Not that denomination matters at all (to me) but my current church is Anglican.

A New Laptop

Yesterday morning a new laptop arrived in the post. It is shiny and new and very exciting. So it seemed a good time to start the shiny new blog that I've been contemplating for a while. The novelty of my last blog wore off pretty quickly so I'm looking forward to seeing how exciting this one will be, whether it will live up to the promise of the laptop...