This week

This week (so far) I have mostly been:
Dithering about whether or not to get the HTC Magic,
Worrying about a friend and the fact that I’ve been too preoccupied to notice,
Trying to figure out why my flickr account has lost all my photos (because my account expired whilst I was away),
Quite productive at work, less productive at home,
Going to bed really late (I blame FarCry2 and the new TV),
Reading The Kite Runner and crying,
Eating fresh strawberries and raspberries,
Listening to The Captain and the Hourglass and Calm on repeat (you’ll all hate the latter, I know).

Ummm…

Other friends and colleagues that I know who have married promised sheer restlessness and distraction on return from honeymoon, a sense of anti-climax after the months of planning for the big day. I know what they mean.  On the one hand, I have this wonderful sense of freedom now that both the wedding and my degree are over. For the first time in three years, I don’t have to do anything at all when I get home from work…so, in fact, I can do anything. But then, I seem to be spending most of my time wondering what to do next. It’s exciting because there are so many possibilities – Chris and I have plenty of plans – but I feel a little like I’m in a state of inertia. Lots of prospects, no impetus to actually embark upon any of them.

I had a dream last night that I was sleeping rough, next to the Glover’s Needle in Worcester (the spire, not the pub), and a man asked me why I was sleeping there when I had a perfectly good house to sleep in and I told him that I just needed to do the next thing. I have always been unable to stand still but I suppose with fewer distractions the feeling is more acute. I can never just enjoy the quiet time.  I envy the fact that Chris can (although, with him, it’s fair to say that the PlayStation3 helps).

Anyway, I liked Psychoville. It was a little bit mental in the way that A League of Gentlemen was when you first saw it but stopped being after you got used to the characters. But with Dawn French in it as well, which could only ever be a good thing.

Feminism in action

It was all going fine until the third paragraph…

Apprentice stars on all-female final

Some things

1. I just had a horrible hospital appointment that took two whole hours of just sitting in various waiting rooms and then I made the stupid mistake of looking up my new medication on the internet and discovering that the side effects are *hideous*. So I bought myself the following albums to cheer myself up:
Dark Was The Night
Glory Hope Mountain

2. I also considered buying the last Alela Diane album but then didn’t because it has gone up £5 since I looked yesterday.

3. I really quite like Office 2007.

4. I’m thinking about twitter. 

Currently on repeat

Things I need to blog about

1. The wedding dress shopping experience (and other marriage-related items)

2. My job (which is genuinely thrilling at the moment)

3. An update on my new years resolution post below

4. Elbow and Blood Red Shoes (next week)

5. I can’t think of anything else

P.S.

Further to my yoghurt review, Leigh has assured me that, if it is bitter cherry and dark chocolatey goodness I’m looking for, I need to source some Green & Black’s cherry chocolate.

A review will follow…

A Yoghurt Review

In a belated return to blogging (sorry), I have promised Omar that I would post a photo review of the limited edition Müller dark chocolate and cherry corner yoghurt. No, really.

Now, the dark chocolate and cherry combination sounds like my ultimate dessert so I’ve been trying to track down the yoghurt at the St Peters Tesco in Worcester with little success. However, Omar purchased an extra one in the Gloucester Asda yesterday and swiftly delivered it to my door. Hurrah!

This is me excited about the impending tasting session:

This is me conducting the tasting session (I tried to do some Gregg-from-Masterchef-sucking-the-spoon shots but they will NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY):

This is my verdict:

Too much cherry. Not enough dark chocolate.

Planning

 

Our wedding Gantt is a thing of beauty…

 So much to do! And less than four months to do it in!

The year to come…

At work today, we were discussing the new year: our resolutions, hopes and expectations, what it might hold for us all.

I don’t usually hold much faith in horoscopes – clearly, you can read whatever you like into them and one prediction can’t possibly be true for the millions of people that share your star sign – but Leigh and Steph introduced me to Neil Spencer, who writes in the Observer, and his prediction for 2009 was so alarmingly, so disturbingly appropriate, I can’t help but be impressed by it. It’s the detail in it that is just remarkable. Have a look at it here (I’m an Aries, by the way. Save you working it out).

So to resolutions. Last year, I set myself ten and have had mixed success, if I’m honest. The most significant of them was to become more assertive and my colleagues agreed that I’ve made massive steps to achieve this (Leigh reminded me of the time back in January that I was so assertive with her, I just stood there with a surprised look on my face. I had to apologise the next day. Ha!).

I am struggling this year to decide on a resolution. I know I want one, key resolution rather than so many stupid little ones. But what?

You decide!

Here are the options:

Health – Do at least an hour of exercise a week (no, it isn’t a lot, but it’s more than I do now), starting with yoga and maybe some cycling with Chris

Education – Take up an evening class (after the wedding), possibly A Level Politics, maybe improve my German, or something more practically based

Community – Find a volunteering position (after the wedding) e.g. policy work for the CAB, phoning old people for a chat, Hospice bookshop

Environment – Walk or bus to work at least one day a week

Your thoughts would be valued.

But my very favourite resolution so far this year is Steph’s. She is going to go the whole year without buying anything new (excluding consumables like food, petrol and toiletries). Clothes, accessories, books, CDs, etc. will have to be bought from a charity or vintage shop or borrowed from a library or from friends. (We also tried to get Groovy to resolve to have a My Name is Earl type karma list to make up to all the girls he’s messed about. He wasn’t going for it.)