Blog Every Day in May - Blog 16 - Pampering

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 Whilst I love a good soak in the bath, it's such a regular occurrence that I'm not sure I'd call it pampering. In fact, it's so regular that my husband's currently trying cure my addiction. Similarly, I have my hair cut every other month and go to a beauty salon once a month but I'm never there long enough to feel pampered. 

Probably the one real bit of pampering is when I have a spa day with friends. I've been to the Malvern Spa twice in the last few years and thoroughly enjoyed it both times. We normally arrive at about 10ish and change into our robes and slippers. Our day is then taken up with soaking in the hydrotherapy pool being pummelled by the water jets, lying chatting on loungers (outside, if we're lucky with the weather), sitting on the sofas in the lounge drinking tea, eating lunch or having treatments followed by a snooze in the chill out room. It'd also be rude not to try out the salt grotto, sauna, steam room and mood showers, so we always fit those in too. Between us we've tried out various massages, manicures and pedicures, to preen us and iron away stress. The only time I got to wear a bikini last year was at a spa day, which coincided with one of the few sunny days of the year. Perfect. By the end of the day we normally feel thoroughly spoilt and relaxed and wish we could do it more often.

I stayed at a hotel recently with a spa but didn't get to try it out as I was feeling a bit under the weather. Terrible timing. I'd hope to get a spa day in at some point this year. I'd also love to try the Thermae Spa in Bath as I've heard such good things about it. Perhaps this will be the year.

Blog Every Day in May - Blog 15 - Life's a Lesson

I thought this would be a difficult post to write as there are so many lessons you learn through life. I then had a flash of inspiration, perhaps a succinct way of summarising a number of these is through the lyrics of a song. I knew just the song.

In 1999, a song called 'Sunscreen' by Baz Luhrmann hit the charts. I say song, most of it was spoken, but there are some real gems tucked away in the lyrics that make me smile a wry smile of acceptance. I heard it on the radio earlier this year and it still made me smile. If you've never heard it before, it's worth a listen, however I've replicated the lyrics below. I hope they make you smile too.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of '97.
Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.
The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience...
I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh never mind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked...
You're not as fat as you Imagine.

Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum.
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind.
The kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing everyday that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy;
Sometimes you're ahead,
Sometimes you're behind.
The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults;
If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life.
The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees, you'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't, maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't, maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary.
Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either.
Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's.
Enjoy your body, Use it every way you can... Don't be afraid of it, or what other people think of it,
It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own...

Dance... even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Brother and sister together we'll make it through
Someday your spirit will take you and guide you there
I know you've been hurting, but I've been waiting to be there for you.
And I'll be there, just tell me now, whenever I can.
Everybody's free.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings;
They are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard;
Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasise that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you.
Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen..."

 

Blog Every Day in May - Blog 14 - Food Glorious Food

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I love food, which is part of the reason I'm currently using MyFitnessPal to keep a food diary and stop me from going too awry. I don't have expensive or fancy tastes, which I'm sure is due to my parents feeding me very traditional food when I was growing up. My tastes are a bit more experimental now, but I love having tasty reliable meals I can go back to time and again.

Although it's slightly masochistic given my calorie counting, I thought I'd blog about my five favourite meals. That said, I'm sure as soon as I've posted this, I'll remember something I'd previously forgotten and my top five will change.

Fajitas

I'd not eaten fajitas until I hit my thirties, but they've become a firm favourite. I buy an Old El Paso kit for the tortillas, spice mix and salsa and cook up chicken, sweet pepper, onion, mushrooms and sweetcorn for the mix. I don't like very spicy food, so I apply a good helping of sour cream. It's very messy finger food, but somehow that makes it even more fun.

My current favourite Sunday lunch, lamb shanks, dauphinois potatoes and green beans 

Yum. I love a traditional Sunday lunch (or dinner as we do it), with time to sit down properly and enjoy a meal. Good lamb shanks are hard to beat, and if well cooked the meat falls off the bone, leaving the fatty bits behind, so I can pretend it's healthy (just as long as I can ignore the creamy potatoes!)

Gourmet Burger Kitchen Burger and chips

If we need a quick, easy treat a trip to Gourmet Burger Kitchen normally does the job. I tend to go for the cheese and bacon burger, but I think my husband's probably tried virtually everything on the menu and rates it all. They even do ice cream milkshakes to accompany the burger, but then I struggle to get out of my seat afterwards! There's a burger place in town which is rated in the top five restaurants in Bristol, I keep meaning to try it to see if they can give GBK a run for their money.

Jamie Oliver's Chicken and leek stroganoff

I'm not the biggest fan of Jamie Oliver, but cooked this once and it's been cooked numerous times since and always turned out well. I even cooked it for my inlaws. It's a fabulous combination of flavours, with the white wine and lemon coming through well. If you would like to try it, the recipe is on his website here. My only comment would be that I used the recipe out of one of his books, which also added sliced chestnut mushrooms. I'd definitely recommend including them.

Homemade chicken lasagne

This is one of my mother's recipe's, with a sauce of tomatoes, onion, chicken and mushrooms and plenty of cheese on the top. It's tasty and perfect comfort food when the weather's cold and miserable outside. A bit like it's been today actually.

I've not seen anyone else post about their five favourite meals, but I'd love to know what they are. Leave me a message if you have any you'd recommend.

Blog Every Day in May - Blog 13 - Go Green

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 I'd be the first to admit that I'm a bit schizophrenic in my green tendencies. I'm lucky to live in an area where recycling is made easy. The local council give us seven (count them!) recycling containers to dissuade us from using our black bin:

• A green bin for garden waste (although can you believe they're considering charging residents to use this?!)
•  A green box for glass and cans
• A bag for plastic bottles
• A bag for cardboard (although you're meant to leave your cardboard stacked, we complained and got a trial bag for cardboard as the alternative was that at the first gust of wind our cardboard would be liberally distributed over our neighbours' gardens)
• A container for food waste
• A bag for waste paper 
• A bag for batteries

Partially as a result I'm completely OCD when it comes to recycling. I recycle every plastic bottle, piece of glass, cardboard container, can and piece of paper that I get my hands on. All my food waste goes in either our compost bin or the food waste bin. Our black bin is rarely half full when it goes out for our fortnightly collection and all plastic bags get returned to the supermarket for recycling. I'm erring more to giving my old possessions to charity shops than selling them on eBay and rarely bin old clothing. Hell, we even have solar panels on the roof.

Despite all of that, I despise public transport with a passion and if I'm taking a trip that I can't walk in ten minutes, I will drive there, often with me being the sole person in the car. Only for journeys of three hours or more when I'm prone to losing concentration, or if I'm going into London, will I take the train. I love baths and can soak for hours, without losing any sleep over water conservation, and you can normally tell where I am in the house due to the energy being consumed in that room (and the trail of lights throughout the house that I've left behind).

I guess my conclusion is that I'm green if it's made easy for me. My dislike of public transport is that it's dirty, expensive and inconvenient. If Bristol had a public transport system akin to London I'm sure I'd feel differently, but I think that's a long way off.

Blog Every Day in May - Blog 12 - Collecting

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Apart from a random spell at primary school when I collected yogurt pots (?!) I've never really been much if a collector. I think it's possibly one of the few areas where I'm prone to peer pressure, I'm sure the yogurt pot incident was due to everyone else collecting something, I no doubt thought that I may at least collect something that was free and easy to find. I later collected stamps for a bit, firstly because everyone else did, but also prompted by my mother giving me her collection. I never did come across a Penny Black to make my collecting worthwhile, but do know even the most obscure country names.

When I was in my early 20s I collected McDonald's Happy Meal toys. I literally have no recollection why. I used to go to Toy Fairs and pick them up there. Amongst many others, I remember having the whole set of the 101 Dalmatians collection. That's a lot of plastic! Googling it, it seems they'd be worth a couple of hundred pounds now. Shame I left them in an ex's under stairs cupboard!

Nowadays I certainly don't live a minimalist lifestyle, but don't collect anything specific for the sake of it. I admire people who are more minimalist but like having 'stuff' around me, so I can't imagine that'll ever be me. I go through phases of decluttering, but normally when things have reached a critical point. At least when that happens I know either the local charity shop or the good people of eBay will be happy to take anything off my hands.

Blog Every Day in May - Blog 11 - Book Love

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When I was younger I was a really keen reader, but I think I lost the bug in my early 20s due to years of study, where reading was a necessity rather than fun. I didn't really start reading again until three or four years ago. I read less now than I used to, but always take a book or two on holiday with me.

As a result of my sporadic reading tendencies, I don't have a specific favourite book, so I thought I'd mention the five I most remember from throughout the times when I was reading.

The Magic Faraway Tree - Enid Blyton

I loved this book when I was young and used to dream that I'd find a tree nearby which I could climb up into the clouds, leaving my current life behind. I'd not really thought about this book for years before thinking about this blog, but now think I may just download it onto my Kindle for old time's sake!

The World According to Garp - John Irving

This book had a sort of cult status when I was at school and so it was inevitable I'd read it. From what I remember it was hard to get into, but worth it as it kept moving along with twists and turns along the way. A film was made of it, starring Robin Williams, which was even more dramatic than the book if that were possible. I read a number of other John Irving books afterwards, but this was the one that stuck in my mind.

Goddess, The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe - Anthony Summers

I'd never really read non-fiction before but had seen a programme about the conspiracy theories behind Marilyn Monroe's death in my late teens and so picked up this book. It was gripping as I really knew very little about her, so it was fascinating to read about her life, career, the demons that plagued her and the mystery surrounding her death. All desperately tragic, but I'm very glad I learned something about such an icon.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

This clearly came in my more recent reading phase. I'd heard people talking about it at work, and thought I'd like to see what all the fuss was about. To be honest, it's fairly disturbing in parts, but it's an absolutely gripping read. I've read the other books in the series and I'm only sorry that Stieg Larsson is no longer around to create more books in this style.

The Redbreast - Jo Nesbo

After enjoying the Stieg Larsson series, I'd heard good things about this series, also by a Scandinavian author. It took a little while to get into and, like The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo, can be a challenging read when there are loads of Scandinavian names being thrown into the mix, but I really enjoyed it. I've read two other books with the same lead characters and hope to get another under my belt on my next holiday.


If having seen my eclectic taste in books, you think you can recommend something else I may enjoy reading, please leave me a comment below.

Blog Every Day in May - Blog 10 - Travel Dreams

I've been lucky enough to see a bit of the world and much as I love seeing different parts of the world, how other people live and the local wildlife, I'm generally always happy to go home, back to normality and a washing machine. The only exception was when we went to Australia for five weeks for a belated honeymoon a few years back. We started in Perth, then flew to Adelaide and drove round to Sydney. I loved Australia, the people are relaxed, the weather's better and they even speak the same language as me. It took a lot of reasoning with myself to get me to Sydney airport. 

In Sydney on Australia Day, hence the t shirt!

Right now I'm happy where I am, curled up at home in front of my PC. However if the question were where would I like to travel, these destinations probably make my top five. 

Finland

Not because I necessarily really want to go to Finland, but because I really want to see the northern lights. It's probably the top thing on my bucket list. Much as I know I could be lucky and see them much closer to home, in Scotland for example, I think, if funds allowed, I'd go as far north as possible, to maximise the chance to seeing them. I'd no doubt also take the opportunity to go dog sledding and cross country skiing to make the most of my time there. It'd be rude not to. 

Croatia
We really enjoy fly drive holidays and after already having done west cost USA and Florida (plus a chunk of Australia!) Croatia seems a good location for another. From what I've seen it's a beautiful country, with lakes and mountains as well as sandy beaches, and driving across it would enable us to see as much as possible. 

New Zealand

New Zealand again has such breathtaking scenery that I'd love to visit one day. Again, I'd probably aim to drive and cover as much of both the north and south islands as possible, and no doubt come home needing a holiday!

New England

Another fly drive, I'm afraid. I'd love to visit New England in the autumn when the colours are at their best, but whilst there I'd be mad not to take time to see Boston, Niagara Falls and Cape Cod.

Canada

I've heard so much about the Rocky Mountaineer that I'd love to take the train across the Rockies. After all, it would give us a break from all of this driving I have planned!

If you have any must see locations on your holiday list, I'd love to hear about them. Leave me a comment!