29 Gifts - Days 3 & 4 and some introspection

Today my gift will be time for my husband. I have been selfish of late and thinking of my loss at not seeing him instead of thinking about all the pressure he is under at work. I miss him when I don't get to go to sleep next to him and then get all grumpy. When really I should support him, because the reason he's not next to me is because he's typing furiously in the living room and it's going on for midnight.

So tonight, we shall gift each other time, hugs and share some food and wine to remember why we're married, why we support each other and because we both know how important that support is to us.

Enjoy your weekend's!

29 Gifts - Day 2

This is going to be tougher than I thought. It really takes a lot to think about giving things to people and making the effort to do this daily.

So today, I have tried to be nicer, giving compliments, smiles etc, which I know isn't giving much but it does make me think that doing a little thing like that is little but can have a big effect.

Plus I have ordered something for the next however many days so I can continue my giving in earnest! More to follow on that shortly.

I leave you with a Daschund we met in Argentina. This one is also especially for Liberty London Girl who has done a wonderful job tweeting from London Fashion Week and could probably do with some Daschund love after all that running around!

29 gifts - Day 1

So here goes, the rules are as follows:

Your 29 Gifts can be anything given to anyone... money, food, old sweaters, smiles, your time, kind words or thoughts.

I am going to add to this, to make it a Blog 29 gifts, that they also include, commenting on a blog I don't normally comment on, or a post which particularly strikes me. Passing on details of new and interesting blogs I find and anything else I can think of which seems to fit the ethos of the challenge. I know I'm already stretching the rules and it is only day 1 but I kind of figure this is allowed.

Here goes:
Day 1 - Today I have given kind words to a friend who is having to move suddenly and called J to see if he is okay because he is so busy. And shall smile at people on the way home from work. Even if it is raining. So mostly very tiny little things but it's only the start :)

For tomorrow and looking forward I would like to write some letters and pass on kind words through snail mail. If you would like to receive a letter, wherever in the world you are, leave me a comment and I shall work on getting back to you and making arrangements for my gifts. I shall also hopefully be hosting my first ever giveaway during these 29 days. Details to follow shortly!

29 gifts

My post yesterday got another blogger thinking and the lovely LK of The Imaginary Cafe has suggested doing the 29 gifts challenge. I love this idea! It is so simple and yet a great way to make you think about giving and hopefully involve more people in giving and receiving too. So from tomorrow, Tuesday 23rd February, I shall document my efforts to partake in the 29 gifts challenge.

If anyone would like to join in let me know! Whether as a receiver, fellow giver or anything else.

Wish me luck :)

Lenten thoughts

Today is the first Sunday in Lent, which has got me thinking about me and what I do with my time and my life. A little serious perhaps but sometimes one has to share serious thoughts. I guess what I'm getting at is that sometimes I feel like my life is a little vacuous and that I should be doing more to give back what I have been given.

And lent seems an appropriate time to really give it some thought. I have been thinking about doing some volunteer work, my middle sister did it and I was always impressed at how willing she was to go and dig some part of London or to clear up a cemetary somewhere. This would involve me making time to do this, I have always given myself an excuse of being busy, but then so are most people.

And then I got to thinking about blogging and giving. How through blogging I have found support networks and friendships and a world of advice, fun and wonderfulness. So how can I give back to blogging? So for the next few weeks I shall try to give back. Perhaps by listing some of my favourite blogs, perhaps by at long last trying to do a giveaway or perhaps just by making a real effort to support other bloggers through comments, if only because I know how getting comments really cheers me on to keep on writing. Any suggestions you have for this would be very much appreciated, any ideas for how I could support you or any other thoughts write away!

What I cooked for Valentine's Day

J and I like to mark but not celebrate Valentine's day. I buy him a card, he forgets (or maybe buys one a few days later when he gets round to it) and we try and use it as a good excuse to spend some time together. He's been absurdly busy at work these past few weeks and so the opportunity to sit down together, cook together and eat together was too good to miss.

So on Saturday after meeting my friends for lunch I toddled off to Harrods food hall, at Christmas I had been given a gift card and now seemed like a good time to put it to use. And look what I found!

Yummy langoustines, all pink and pretty and looking ready for the pot. After a little consultation of Georgio Locatelli's Made in Italy cook book (incidentally one of my favourites) we had our rough recipe and off we went. Between us we managed to cook the dinner below:

Linguine with langoustine, served with pan fried scallops. Decadent and probably excessive for a Saturday night but also yummy and a great meal to enjoy together.

For pudding I tried my hand at custard to use in a Bread and Butter pudding. Surprisingly easy to make is custard, my recipe this time from Larousse. And then we settled in to watch a movie and finish the wine!

For me a wonderful celebration of my love for my husband and for the food, wine and most importantly time we get to spend together. Hope you all had lovely valentine's celebrations too, M x

Friday has been a long time coming...

Photo from Cute Overload

So here is a little dog with the sorts of eyes I get when I see cakes like this! It has been a long week, I've had a programme running so have been in and out of the office and up early every day. I don't cope very well with early mornings, especially when it's every morning!

I am also not enjoying the cold or my ability to eat a lot and then feel horrid. I know I should just reduce my portion size, I think about it and then go ahead and eat it all anyway. So I shall try and slowly change my mind to resist what's on my plate and hopefully have a happy tummy and a happier me.

It's looking like it's going to be a busy next few days for me from here on in, lots to do this weekend and lots to do every day next week.

Sorry for the slightly morose nature of this post. Onwards and upwards next week! Have lovely weekend's and valentine's days.

Argentina - Flowers

There are a lot of beautiful flowers and plants in Argentina. Above a small selection of some that we saw. The fourth image was an amazing wild orchid which was just stunning. Today is very grey in London so flowers feel like the right thing to cheer me up a little, hope they make you smile too. M x

Thoughts on John Terry

Yes yes, I know this is an odd thing to write about, seeing as I am not all that interested in football but this morning listening to the Today programme on Radio 4 I heard a debate about whether or not John Terry should stay as the England football captain and it got me thinking.

Now I know very little of the details so don't want to judge (too much) but for those of you who don't know who or what this story is about here goes. John Terry is the England national squad football captain, he has a wife with whom he has two children. He cheated on said wife with the girlfriend of a friend of his who also plays in the England football team. So for this act people are questioning his role as captain.

In many ways I would like to think that I could rise above something like that and say that he should remain captain if he merits it by his skills. But to be honest there is a big part of me which thinks what he did was immoral and for that he should step down. Not be forced to go, but admit that in such a position he is a role model and as such he should accept his behaviour was wrong and stand down. Partly as a way of beginning to apologise and atone for his actions but also as an acceptance that with such a role comes responsibilities.

But then on the other hand, politicians cheat, screw up relationships and don't stand down. In fact politicians defraud the country and are still in place. So why don't we get so upset about that? Is it because we assume all politicians are nasty pieces of work anyhow. Or have we forgotten to get upset about things like this.

Perhaps it's good we don't judge professional lives on personal actions, but perhaps for people who are so in the public eye we need to remember their responsibilities as a role model. This is something I think about quite a lot, roles, responsibilities and rights. But then that's another post as this one is long enough already! I'd love to hear your thoughts on all this. M x