Today, my standard Sunday – lazy morning in bed, listening to BH and The Archers omnibus, before rising, reading, husband playing GTA4, drinking freshly filtered coffee, reading the Sunday papers, and the mundane laundry, dishwasher loading, putting out the bins.

Today, made all the better for two wonderful weekends preceding it. Last weekend, spent in Royston at my sister-in-law’s with great company, good food and a spellbinding visit to Ely Cathedral. The building is incredible, particularly its majestic nave and the feat of engineering that forms its centrepiece, the Octagon lantern. We climbed the 165 spiral steps to the roof of the lantern, stared down into the cathedral from its dizzying height and listened to the beautiful, soaring choir practice for evensong.

This weekend bought pleasures of a different kind, but just as great. A lovely couple of days spent with Omar, who writes about it better than I could on his own blog (here). I miss spending time with him. But when he lived nearer, I don’t think I appreciated the things that he writes about.

And yesterday, Chris and I were faced with another, dull day in Worcester and decided to drive to Bristol and spend the rest of the day there instead. We shopped, buying nothing, in Cabot Circus. As shopping centres go, I don’t know if I like it. There are elements that are great, like the domed glass roof, the natural ventilation, the open spaces intended for nothing but sitting and watching the world go by. But I’m not sure that I’d want to shop there regularly, I don’t think it has a great retail offer, if I’m honest. That said, the car park is an awesome example of how it could and should be done (evidence, if you ever need it, that I should get out more).

Anyway, we ate Vietnamese at Tampopo, which is like Wagamama but with slightly more uptight waiting staff (I should clarify that I like how uptight and eager to please they are. The staff in Wagamama are too trendy-verging-on-irritating) and a range of Asian dishes. I can recommend the Pho Xao Bo.

And we saw Up (in 2D, thank you very much) at the Showcase De Lux (nice cinema, absurdly comfortable seats, the fact that there are doormen is awfully pretentious).  I didn’t love the film quite as much as this review in the Telegraph did and not nearly as much as I love Wall-E but I did think that the first ten minutes are just wonderful. That an animated film aimed squarely at children can handle loss, grief and regret in a silent montage and move grown adults to tears is astonishing. I’d watch the film again purely for those opening scenes, but also for the witty, creative closing credits.

And the Where the Wild Things Are trailer…oh, so much happiness and brilliance in one, short space of time. I simply can’t wait.

After all that, back to my standard Sunday and the ironing mountain that has been growing whilst I’ve been having such a lovely time.

Surprising the intern by decorating his desk with balloons and party poppers for his 21st birthday, even though you’ve only ever passed the time of day with him in the kitchen, just because he’s new and shy and doesn’t really know anyone.

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).

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.

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…

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.)