Shoe Challenge #9 - favourite summer sandals

I've managed to save another pair of shos for my shoe challenge - which is good as I've got rather a long way to go. I do have a couple of other pairs banked with photos too, so at least I'm making progress! So - here they are.

These are my purple sandals from Office - they are super comfy and I imagine will get a lot more wear over the summer once the rain stops. After all the sunshine in April and May, we have had a LOT of rain in London over the last week - so much so that I am back in tights today.

Here's a close up (although they are a bit the wrong way round - whoops).

Rant - the joys of flat rental

Just when you think that everything in your life is trundling along merrily with not a care in the world, something always comes along to bite you on the bum. This is exactly what has happened to me in the last few weeks.

The contract for the flat my housemate and I share is due to expire at the end of August, and he wants to move on and find somewhere cheaper to live. This in itself is all unerstandable. However, the agency we rent through has given me only until 1st July to find a new tenant to move in, otherwise they're going to remarket the property. This doesn't give me a great deal of time to find someone - it's a pretty unlikely mission to be honest. So, I am now facing being turfed out of the flat I've been renting for the last 5 years because the agency won't give me more time.

Not just that - I have to now deal with the Morons of the World in the quest to find a new flatmate. For every nice and normal person that I hear from, I KNOW that there is going to be some almighty looney out there just WAITING to get in touch. You may suspect I hae done the whole flatmate interviewing thing before, and although it has always been interesting, there are some strange people out there. For example:

• The man who asked me if I was vegetarian, enquiring if I would mind him cutting up pieces of meat in the kitchen. Hence my subsequent visions of axe murdering. 
• The woman who measured the dimensions of the room using the span of her coat. Bizarre. 
• The smiley lady who wouldn't stop SMILING. I wanted to smack her.
• The strange lady who suggested we go out for a drink to get to know each other a bit and then turned up with absolutely no money. Luckily she only wanted a lemonade. 

Then there are the people who never get back to your emails - they send you messages asking questions, and generally sounding interested and then NOTHING. So I spend the next few days obsessively pressing send-receive and composing angry responses in my mind. Manners, people! I'm a reasonable person, I'm not going to mind if my flat is actually not quite what you are looking for, or you've found somewhere already, I'd just like to KNOW.

There are also the ones who make rubbish excuses when you offer them the room, like 'I want to live with more people' or 'it's too expensive' or 'I need to move sooner'. Can these people not READ THE ADVERT?

Anyway, please keep your fingers crossed for me during my hunt, and hope that I don't have any more weirdos/morons/rude people coming to see me about my flat.  

Shoepershoe Challenge #8 - My Mum's old shoes

Back to some of the things I've been worrying about (as mentioned in my previous post), one of the things that has been weighing on my mind is my complete failiure to do any shoe challenges. This is not good as I have a LOT of shoes. I've managed to wear some of my really special ones too, but have failed to get any pictures.

Anyway, here is a pair I HAVE managed to photo.

I get a lot of wear out of these. They're a from Clarks, and they are a hand-me-down from my Mum. Now, as a rule, although my Mum loves shoes nearly as much as me, I wouldn't often be tempted enough to wear shoes from her wardrobe. It's not like it's full of Louboutins. These however have found a happy home with me, and they are unbelievably comfortable. They're also great for those occasions where flats are too flat, but you don't want to wear full on heels. Here's a close up...

 It's also a gratuitous picture of the tattoo on my foot. I'm glad it's summer so I can show it off!!

Back after an extended break...

Okay, so I've obviously been out of blogging action for a while now. I'm sorry. Life got in the way and I decided I was going to make an effort to enjoy it for a change. And I've only really turned on my computer at home to catch up on the episodes of Glee that I've missed (and also any random 'reality' shows regaring Essex and Chelsea - TOO funny). So, in brief, here's a bit about what I've been doing over the last few weeks...

• Seeing the new boy. I can't lie - there's a new boy in my life and I've been enjoying it.
• Feeling alternately smug about seeing a boy, and then a bit panicked. In regards to the smugness, I find myself sitting and just smiling randomly to myself. It's beginning to annoy me. I think I make up for it though with the random moments of panic of the 'does he really like me/should it really feel so natural/am I going MAD' type thoughts. I put this down to hormones and having had many years of truly appauling boyfriends. Having a normal one is something of a shock.  
• Worrying about the number of grey hairs I'm currently growing. And also the annoying spots I've been getting. It's like I'm a strange old lady/teenage freak. I don't like it. So I've ditched eating bread (this seems to help me with acne) and am going to dye my hair.
• Worrying about the fact that most of the skin on my chin is falling off. I think this might be a direct response to stubble (see point 1)
• Working, working, working. This is not particularly noteworthy, but I'm cranking up a lot of hours in the office at the moment.
• Enjoying the sunshine - it has been unbelievably lovely in London of late, and being somewhat outdoorsy, I prefer to be out and about rather than stuck indoors.

That's really about it, to be honest.

Back to Happy Things and the original purpose of this blog - it made me happy today to open the shutters to my office and see the sunshine and the flowers outside.

 

And I always said I'd never ditch my friends for boys...

Okay, so I'm TOTALLY aware that I've failed to write anything for nearly two weeks. I understand this is rubbish and I apologise. The reason? I've been out with a boy twice and I'm too busy being all excited about it to do anything else.

Obviously, that's a little bit of an exaggeration, as work has been really very busy, my grandmother has gone into hospital (something of a worry) and I've been enjoying the amazing sunshine we've been having in London. However, today is once again grey, and it feels more like a business-as-usual sort of time - I even managed to go to my exercise class tonight instead of pretending I've forgotten.

So - back to the boy thing (as it's much more interesting than my job, or my grandma's sudden losing of the plot). I've known this particular gentleman for a number of years, he's a friend of a friend, and we've always enjoyed a little harmless flirtation. Well, folks, the week before last he finally asked me out. And we went out again this week. I'm annoying myself by being in that whole 'when will he CALL? / how long shall I leave it before I text him / phone: ring, ring, RING GODDAMNIT' phase. I wish I could be cool about it all (and I really hope that on the OUTSIDE I'm managing it, but on the inside I'm hopping around like a rabbit who's had too much coffee.

I think when you've been treated by boys badly in the past (and I really do think this would be my Mastermind Special Subject), it makes you doubly scared of it happening again, and I'm sure that's why I've spent a considerable of time over the last fortnight feeling like a bag of nerves. I kind of EXPECT the worst to happen, and EXPECT to be stood up/lied to and end up feeling surprised when it all turns out okay. This is not a good place to be, people!

Anyway, to give Mr H. credit, he wasn't any of those bad things, and was an awful lot of good ones that I won't bore you with. Did I mention that I really like him? As in really, really like him? And he's definitely been my happy thing for the last week and a half. Keep your fingers crossed for me that this one works out...

Shoepershoe Challenge #7 - I refuse to let my shoes die

Sometimes it's just not possible to say goodbye to a pair of shoes, however much they try to tell you otherwise. This particular pair of boots seem to have a dodgy heel, as on the outing previous to this, the heel one one of them broke through the middle for the second time. The breaking incident (both times) has happened when I'm mid journey, so I'm forced to hobble along with on foot on tiptoe so not to damage the broken heel. Attractive - and a challenge walking with wonky legs.

Anyway, a bit of superglue, and my shoe doctoring skills seem to have done the trick. They look so good with my ubiquitous costume of dress, belt and cardigan!!   

Shoepershoe challenge #6 - another little pair of pumps

Yikes, it's been a while since I managed to post a shoe challenge - lucky I managed to have a few photos to upload! These are  pair of Office pumps with a slightly wedged heel - useful for those days when flats are good but heels are too much. I didn't take a close up as the heels are a bit muddy, and I don't want to be accused ot failing to look after my shoes.

It does look like the majority of my fashion choices are dresses with belts - I must diversify!!

Happy things: Sunshine, earthworks and old stones

I've had a lovely time enjoying the sunshine over the last few days. It does make a HUGE difference when the sky is blue and it finally feels warm enough not to wear a coat.

I spent the weekend with my friend Tigs and we went off to Avebury to enjoy the archeology and more importantly, my discount in the National Trust tearoom. So good. Avebury is the biggest stone circle in Europe (or something like that) and being a graduate of history and archaeology, it's somewhere that I have ALWAYS wanted to go. And it did live up to expectations. Here's a picture of the ditch around the edge in the sunshine. Big.

Being fairly unskilled with a camera, I didn't get a good close up of the circle itself, but I did get a snap of the lichen on the stones.  

Amazing to think that the same stones have been there for about 5000 years. Amazing.

I could spend several hours waxing lyrical about the joys of a good earthwork, but I suspect I have lost you. Don't worry though, I have some shoe pictures for shoe challenges so I will eneavour to find some time to upload them.

The traumatic day of Tilly the cat

Tilly the cat is a rather small, black moggy who lives at home with my parents. Her favourite pastimes include cuddling my Dad, catching squirrels and trying to escape into the wider corners of the family home. This is what happened to her over the last few days.

My parents went away for the weekend to visit my little sister and a usual, one of our neighbours popped in a couple of times a day to feed her. When my parents returned from the said trip on Monday, they were informed that the cat food had not been eaten and that Tilly hadn’t been about.

Being a nosy sort of cat and a complete opportunist, over the winter Tilly had made friends with some people down the road who had been feeding her and thought she was a stray. As with any sensible creature who is given a free meal, she kept going back (and we WONDERED why she had put on weight).

Over the weekend, the couple decided to ask about her and spoke to a good family friend of ours if they knew anyone with a small, black cat. After being told ‘no, we can’t think of anyone’ (grrr – when they have seen Tilly, like, 1000,000 times), she was promptly captured and whisked off to the local RSPCA.

On arrival at the RSPCA, Tilly was identified as being 18 months old and pregnant. Now the story takes a dramatic turn for the worse, as Tilly was spayed after she had kittens. In 1998. Yesterday then saw her being operated on for no reason, as she has no lady bits which need disposing of, whilst my Mum frantically phoned the RSPCA and then the vet, trying to find out where she was.

After a series of incredibly unhelpful conversations in which my Mum was berated for not putting her in a cattery whilst they were away and told she’d need to pay £50 for the operation poor Tilly didn’t need (cat held hostage in Kidderminster – who’d have thought it??), Mum finally managed to recover a very sad and sleepy Tilly from the vet and bring her home. Oh, and the people who had ‘adopted’ her had named her Alice. That’s almost worse!!

Shoeper shoe chllenge # 5 - boots

I'm pleased to have saved my first pair of boots for the challenge, before it beomes too spring-y and they get relegated to the shoe boxes for the summer months. I think these are a Dune pair and this was their first outing in a while. I think that their outing before this one constituted a mad dash with my sister across the West End of London as we were running rather late for the performance of the Lion King musical that we were due to be attending. When I say 'mad dash', what I really mean is that my sister sprinted ahead whilst I hopped across the cobbles of Covent Garden in persuit and though 'never again'. It was her fault for wanting to buy Percy Pigs from M&S. Needless to say we made it, and I limped for the rest of the day. I have never mastered the art of running in heels!!  

The week in which I give up things for Lent

Argh, it's been such a crazy couple of weeks, I've completely neglected the whole blogging thing. I haven't had time to think about which shoes I'm going to wear, look for happy things or even do anything stupid, which is a novel occurrance in itself. The last week has been all about the work and not very much else.

The highlight of the week though HAS to be my Dad's 60th birthday party. It was an excellent excuse to drink, eat cheese, catch up with family and drink some more. We had a fantastic get together with my aunties, uncles, cousins and some family friends. I got a leetle bit tiddly. I blame my Dad and his super strength gin and tonics. Normally I can drink a few buckets of gin and not feel a thing, but as soon as the old boy is let loose with the Gordons, I'm feeling distinctly squiffy. Very odd.

By far the most impressive thing about the whole occasion was that I got through the weekend without eating any cake. In my crazyness last week, I decided to give up cake, chocolate, biscuits and bread. The reason for all this self denial? I am going to look DAMN good in shorts come the summer. That's pretty much it, to be honest. And I do like to set myself a small challenge to see if I can manage it. Of course, I am going to have to do a bit of exercise to supplement the craziness, which I am going to make plans to do tomorrow...or the day after...or SOON. Please note: I am not giving up the important things like cheese or pasta or alcohol. That would just be silly!

One week into my crazy Lent give-up-fest, and there are two noticable differences. One is that my spots have disappeared. I am one of the unfortunate people in the world who suffers on and off with adult acne and it utterly sucks. Recently it's been worse than it has in a while and I hate it. I'm 31. My skin should have learned how to stop behaving like a teenager, even if the rest of my hasn't caught up yet. Anyway, it's improved dramatically, and let's hope it stays that way. The second difference is that I seem to have lost the ability to string together coherent sentences - I was stuttering like a complete fool today - something that usually only happens when I'm tired or when I'm agitated or excited. But nope, my brain-voice coordination has completely failed. I'm trying to decide if it's better to be spotty but be able to hold an intelligent conversation, or clear skinned and a blathering wreck. If any readers are able to offer an opinion, I'd be most grateful!

Shoepershoe challenge #3 & #4 - two for the price of one

You may remember that I ranted a bit about my journey home from my recent girls night out, but I neglected to mention that it formed a helpful part of the Shoepershoe Challenge. I decided that in honour of Girls' Night Out, I should wear a pair of fabulous shoes (like I need an excuse). The only problem I have though, is that fabulous shoes are not really suited to the day job. I came up with this cunning solution: wear one pair in the day and one pair in the evening. Hoorah!! Admittedly, I did take both photos in the morning, but I did wear both - you can take my word for it. And when you see the party pair, I'm sure you'll understand why I can't NOT wear these babies.

First for the day shoes:

These are a pair of bog standard, M&S ballet flats. Very comfortable, worn to death.

And the party pair:

I don't think I can actually begin to tell you how much I LOVE my green Ravel wedges, they have a pretty bow and everything.

Here's a close up:

Prrreeeeeettttyy shoes. Apart from the sweaty footprint in my flats, but the least said about that, the better I think.

Shoepershoe challenge #2 - the one I almost forgot

I wore these shoes last week and then TOTALLY forgot to blog about them. I have worn more than one pair of shoes since 14th Feb, I promise. So, here they are:

These are a pair of Office shoes that I have had for AGES, I always forget to wear them, so I dragged them out of hiding. I did take a close up, but they are so scuffed around the edges it's shameful.

Water, water, everywhere...

Don't you just hate it when you come home from a great night out with the girls to find not one, but TWO people having a wee in your road?? What is it that encourages the nation's youth to piddle liberally in public? The first one was bad enough - five metres away from the main road, and I was forced to athletically leap over the small stream that was running down the pavement. I was NOT amused: I was wearing my favourite pair of shoes (as is warranted on girly nights out). I continued on my way with much tutting and huffing and turned down the side alley that leads to my gate. 'Nearly home, pyjamas, tea, bedbedbed', I was thinking merrily to myself. Not quite.

Perhaps here I should explain: the gate to my flat is located at the end of an alley (where I park my car). The alley is rather wide, has a dead end and obviously space for parking. Anyway, back to my journey home... As I turned into the alley, I was firstly almost mown down by a youth on a bicycle who was SHOUTING at a girl who was SQUATTING down behind my car. With the evident intention of weeing there. 'Please don't wee on my car!' I cried (I'd had a few drinks - otherwise I would have scuttled off). A conversation then ensued between the two youths as to if she was going to go there or not, as I flung myself through my gate in shock. I think that she made apologetic noises, but I'm not sure if that was real, or the shock of being caught short behind a car. I was VERY relieved to finally get home.

The one where I do something daft. Again.

Occasionally, in my busy life of Woman About Town (this is what I would like you to believe, my real life of Woman On Sofa is considerably less exciting), I manage to do something quite surprisingly stupid. This is not perhaps as rare an occurance as I would like it to be. This week, I reminded myself quite how skillful I am in the stupidity area. On my way out of the house to fulfull the important task of getting my fringe cut, I closed the door behind me with a sinking feeling. I was on the outside, but my keys were on the inside. Yes folks, I managed to lock myself out of my own house.

Now - I have to be thankful for small mercies - if I didn't do these occasionally daft things, I would have a lot less to write about, so I guess every cloud really DOES have a silver lining. However, when it's pouring with rain and I can see my keys through the letterbox, I am inclined to have something of a sense of humour failure.

It's not like it's the first time I've forgotten to pick up my keys before I leave the house either, I have in fact done it before. At least this time I was alone. Last time I was with my sister and I don't think she was amused. However, I did manage to fashion a rather magnificent key-fishing tool out of a coat hanger, a bamboo cane and a roll of parcel tape (those endless years of avid Blue Peter watching evidently paid off). AND I managed to get my keys with it. This time though, there were no helpful neighbours nearby and the most useful things I could find were a couple of soggy sticks and some garden wire. I managed to prod my keys slightly further away from the door, but that's as far as it got. I was forced to admit defeat, phone The Housemate and sound pathetic enough for him to come and let me back in. Luckily, he did, and I only had to sit shivering on the steps outside my flat for about 15 minutes. Just enough time to phone my parents to tell them how stupid I was and to update my Facebook status to let the whole world know too. (WHY do I feel the need to do that?)

So, my happy thing really has to be the wonder of human kindness. It's good to know that there are helpful people out there when you are in the middle of a personally inflicted crisis. Now, where can I hide the spare set of keys....

Shoepershoe challenge #1 - off to a good start

I am a dedicated shoe-aholic and I have spent a good deal of time and money investing in a collection of beautiful shoes that I mostly never wear. For some reason I'm always drawn to the more fabulous end of the shoes spectrum and I work in a park where such footwear is rather out of place and occasionally looks downright stupid.

However, I think maybe 2011 is the year in which I should make the effort to look downright stupid, so I've signed up to the Shoepershoe Challenge and aim to wear every single one of my 54 pairs of shoes by February 14th 2012. A challenge indeed.

And here are my first ones!!

I am GOING to improve on my photography technique. Maybe with a proper camera, or an assistant, or something. Anyway, these are my favourite Dune wedges. I love them because they go with EVERYTHING and they are damn comfy to wear. I partnered them with my green dress from Gap-in-America, and a ubiquitous (for this time of year) grey cardie. Here's a close up.

I'm not much loving the 'cankles' in the picture, or the fact that they look a bit too big (they aren't) but at least my shoes can be admired in their full splendour. I actually got called glamorous at work whilst wearing them, which always makes me think of grannies, and feels like a bit of a backhanded compliment, but I guess you have to take it on the chin. I don't think I'm going to manage to wear all my shoes at work though - somehow I think my red, patent KGs or my purple and gold suede numbers might be a little on the overdressed side... 

Waiting...waiting...waiting

It's Thursday already and I have NO idea where this week has gone, or what I've been doing for most of it. I do know that work has been Very Busy. I'm not sure I even have anything interesting or funny to write about, but I thought I'd make the effort and do some Good Typing, just in case anyone is interested in what I have to say.

I had the fortuitous opportunity this week to display some of my control freakiness about Time Management. Now, this is a MAJOR issue of mine. Whenever I've arranged to see anyone (friends/family/work/doctors/ANYTHING) I am always, always at least 15 minutes early, I tend to add contingencies for contingencies onto my journeys. I spend a lot of time waiting. And waiting. And looking at my watch. And waiting. I think you get the picture. In the strange corridors that make up my mind, if you make a meeting for 2pm, it STARTS at 2pm, so you be there, ready, BEFORE then. I hopped about with a great deal of impatience yesterday when the group of students I was working with were late. I think I went out to look for them (just in case they missed the BIG ENTRANCE DOOR) about five times, stared out of the window at everyone who went past and . This week so far, I spend 25 minutes waiting for my friends at the Museum of London, about half an hour on Tuesday and another 20 minutes today for another meeting. That's over an hour of my life I have wasted this week stomping about and muttering to myself in a sort of '...late...rude...useless...big stick...late' fashion. Argh. This is NOT GOOD. I need to make people wait for ME for a change (I think I'm worth it...).

As for things that have made me happy for the last few days, I've been rushing about so much that I haven't had the chance to take pictures of anything. I wore my favourite shoes on Tuesday (just cos I could - that's the level of craziness I work to), and the sun looked amazing as I left work today. I also saw some real life daffodils growing out of the ground (and not out of a bucket in Tesco).

My name is Zoe and I am a cheese-oholic

As anticipated, I am feeling rather toxic after an excessive weekend. I did have a lot of fun though, so I'm pretty sure it's allowed. However, I feel like I might give red wine, cheese and G&T a wide berth for the next few weeks days at least. I hope they don't feel abandoned.

Cousin Liz and I had a very good time catching up and putting the world to rights over a bottle (or two) of Rioja. When we weren't drinking, we were eating, and on the rare occasions we weren't doing either, we were probably preparing for or recovering from a different session of indulgence. Ah well, I can't be a respectable and upstanding member of the community at all times, that would be frightfully dull. I would like to spend just a line or two trying to put into words the extreme pleasure associated with the discovery of one Worcestershire sauce flavoured cheese - my cholesterol levels must have rocketed. I won't dwell on the memory too much - I still feel slightly sick.

We did manage to venture into the great outdoors on Saturday and I took Liz on a tour of the place where I work. I expect my general enjoyment of the outside world might become rather boring in as spring continues to...er....spring, but please humour me.

Crocus shoots - yay!

On Sunday I came over all cultural and went to see the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead exhibition at the British Museum. It was very interesting, and my friends and I only giggled in corners once or twice.

Having decided that I would virtuously stick to lemonade during our post cultural drinkies, I accidentally drank about five G&Ts. Whoops. I hate it when that happens.   

Just call me Jane Fonda...

I have been SO good this week. I've been for a run, a long walk, and yesterday I did my first ever Zumba class and it's ONLY Thursday. Even better - I've been really healthy at eating, have had no crisps at all AND my lunch today included celery. I seriously think I've lost AT LEAST half a stone. I'm sure I deserve to after all that effort.

I thought I had better be good this week as my cousin Lizzie is visiting me for the weekend. Our family feel we are a Bad Influence On Each Other - mainly because when we get together we drink a lot of red wine and giggle. So, I've been detoxing in preparation for the retox.

Back to the Zumba thing - on Monday I decided I would try a new exercise class. I already run a bit, play badminton and up until The Fall, was a fairly regular rider, so I'm not hideously unfit - but I fancied a change. Now, I decided to do this on Monday because it takes me a while to talk myself into committing to exercise - I have to psych myself up to it. This way there's less chance of me getting 'distracted' by sitting down when I get home. So, last night, I ventured to Zumba. I registered, signed in, and then spent 10 minutes standing at the side of the room all by myself humming to myself and sporadically checking my phone, just for something to do, and smiling at other loners. You see, I was Brave, and went on my own. Anyway, no one talked to me - I think maybe the inane smiling and humming might have made the wrong impression.

All of a sudden, everyone arranged themselves into lines and the dancing (zumba-ing, whatever you call it) began. I found a space and attempted to fling myself in the right directions at the right times. I only got a few evil looks (mainly from the woman next to me - I think she took some form of instant dislike) and managed not to hit anyone (or myself). I have reasonable rhythm, but it turns out that somewhere in the last few years I seem to have misplaced the ability to coordinate my arms and legs with each other. My arms in particular behaved in a very unruly fashion - they were either doing everything backwards, in the wrong direction or, rather alarmingly, at double speed. It was like they didn't belong to me at all. I shouldn't really be shocked by this, as I am the only person I know who has managed to hit their own self in the head with their own badminton raquet. No, I don't know how I managed that either.

Today my body is punishing me a bit for all this unwarranted exercise, but I guess that just means it's working. I certainly feel a bit smug from my excesses, and feel justified in being lazy tonight, and celebrated by putting on my pyjamas when I got home from work. It's also raining. A lot.

In which I get inspired, go shopping and become a domestic goddess

Okay, so I've decided to drop the daily (ish) posting thing. I'm still going to think about my Happy Things and take pictures of them, but just have round ups a couple of times a week. I'm a busy girl.

On Thursday, I went on a conference and met an Inspirational Person. It doesn't happen often in my field, but this week I got lucky. One of the speakers was an ex-sportswoman who had turned away from the multi million ££ lifestyle to open an environmentally sustainable business. There was just totally no bullshit about her, and I really like that. I think, however, I might like to try the multi million lifestyle just a little bit, just for a few weeks, just in case I really like it. It's not likely to happen in this lifetime though.

This weekend has been another quiet one, so I decided to revisit one of my favourite hobbies - shopping. I had a purpose, honest. I needed to buy some black trousers for work. Finding suitable work trousers is kind of like trying to find the holy grail. My most recent pair of black trousers were purchased in 2002 when I started working, so I felt it was reasonable to try and buy some new ones, especially as the old ones went to charity quite a while ago. There's only so much dressing and undressing that I can cope with in one day though, and after the too-tight-camel-toe variety (HOW can size 12 differ so much from place to place??), the too long (is everyone else in the world a giant?) and the downright hideous (I'm not even going to go there), I have been forced to conclude that the trouser look and me just don't go together. So, I went home empty handed... apart from the blue dress and the grey cardigan which had more than 50% off - it was practically free. Obviously. Shopping = Very Happy Thing.

A strange feeling came over me today - I was consumed with the urge to cook huge amounts of food to put in the freezer. Once it is in the freezer, I will admire it and feel smug that I am so efficient, and most likely forget to eat it. Never mind, the motive was a good one. Apart from my crazy cooking afternoon, my Happy Thing for today was my first sighting of spring. Yay! I saw some crocus buds peeping out of the round-about island near to where I live. It's quite a challenge taking a photo whilst in a car in traffic, but I managed it.

 If you look reeeeaaalllly carefully, you might just make them out. Hooray for spring!

2nd February 2011 - Lights of London (ish)

After a busybusy day at work (are there any other kind?), I've been to the cinema again this evening with my friend Nic. Tonight we went to see Black Swan. And I really DON'T GET IT. Okay, so the acting was great, blahblahblah, but I don't understand. Was it real? Was it all just madness? I have no answers. I just don't know. I feel like it might have been trying to be slightly too clever, at least, it certainly was for me.

On the walk home, I took this photo of the lights shining in the river in Richmond.

It looked much better in real life, honest. Note to self: start carrying a proper camera around instead of relying purely on the iPhone.

1st February 2011 - Sunrise, early in the morning...

My happy thing for today was pretty much the first thing I saw when I looked out of the window.

I likes a good sunrise.

31st January 2011 - Not making an idiot of myself and shoeper shoe challenges!

I did a clever thing today - I managed to turn up to my course on the right day, in the right place, at the right time. A great achievement, I realise. After the disaster that was last week, I was pleased.

For a while now, I have been blog-following http://www.shoeperwoman.com/, a woman after my own heart with a passion for all things shoey. Over the last year, Shoeperwoman has been undertaking a challenge to wear all of her collection - use them or lose them. This year, she's encouraging her followers (this is where I come in) to do the same, starting on 14th February. As a long term shoe affictionado (it's genetic - my mother and grandmother are JUST as bad as me), I'm going to give it a go. So, in a little over a week from now, I am going to have to start investigating my archive and wearing my shoes. Please note: I have a lot of fabulous heels and I work in a PARK. It's going to be tough.

So, my happy thing today is OF COURSE my own shoes. There are some very good friends in my cupboard. Actually, there are 54 pairs of friends, and here are a few of my favourites.

As part of the challenge I need to take photos of me wearing the shoes, so look out for my mission to rescue my babies.

28th & 29th January 2011 - OUCH

So I've been doing good photographing of happy things each day - just not of posting so I'm settling down for a catch up session this evening.

The weekend was another quiet one, I do enjoy the credit crunch SO much. And luckily, this weekend began with no hangover, which was a bonus. I don't remember doing anything of great excitement at all on Saturday - it was one of those sorts of days. Sunday though, was a bit more dramatic.

After a lot of soul searching, procrastinating and moaning to everyone who would listen (and a few who probably didn't - I'm sorry about that) I've decided to give up the horse share. It's expensive, a long way to travel and I REALLY need to save up some money after the redundancy thing and ploughing through my savings. So, today was my last ride as a proper sharer. I was expecting a few tears, perhaps a bit of an emotional goodbye with Connor when he'd try to knock me over with his head, bite me - that sort of thing.

WRONG.

It was a beautiful sunny day, so we went for a last hack around the beautiful Epsom Downs. The view from the top was amazing, I could see right across London. I thought it would be nice to have one last gallop up the hill before we headed for home. So off we went. Like a rocket - or even worse - like my sister after a packet of Skittles. And he wouldn't stop. Not for me, not for the walkers who were forced to leap out of the way to safety, and finally not for the LARGE TREE IN FRONT OF US. I did the only thing possible in such a situation, I fell off, into a bush. Note to readers: falling off a horse galloping flat out is NOT FUN. The two main thoughts that flashed through my mind were 'how the hell am I going to catch the disobedient bigger' and 'how the hell do I get back on'. Luckily, I managed not only to do both, but not cause myself any significant damage. I do have this rather beautiful reminder though

As bruises go, I think it's quite splendid.

As for the Happy Thing in this whole episode, it's probably that I didn't break my neck. You've got to take pleasure in the simple things!

w/c 24th January 2011 - yes, I've been a bit busy...

Yes, I realise I have not updated this over the last week at all. My excuse - I've been really busy. BUSY. Work is crazy at the moment and all I have the energy to do at the moment when I get home is sit in a corner, panting slightly, cooking carbohydrates and then falling asleep on the sofa. I've also been a little premenstrual, which probably explains the carbs fixation, but we won't dwell on that too much.

On Wednesday, I went out with a couple of friends to the Science Museum Late event. It was super cool. You get to play with all the fun exhibits, drink wine at the same time and do extra special activities for grown ups, like...brass rubbing. It's like having permission to be a kid again. The whole event was about the Science of Attraction, so you could take part in a classy traffic light party, or do speed dating. Frankly, I found the opportunity to build an arch out of foam blocks and make shadow patterns a lot more entertaining. I also took a picture of this...

It's an Archimedes Screw. Not exciting to many people, admittedly, but for work reasons (which I won't bore you with), I was excited to see one in real life.
Friday saw me Doing Something Embarrassing in Public, which is a relatively regular occurrance. It usually happens on courses when I generally make a fair attempt to give the impression of sophisticated intelligence. Last year, on various courses, I managed to:

• mingle with my course colleagues (management course) with my skirt tucked into my knickers. And NO ONE TOLD ME. Luckily, I have a nice bottom.
• walk into a glass door in full view of my course collgeaues. Splat.

This time, I managed to turn up for a course a FULL THREE DAYS EARLY. Not good. This means I have to go again on Monday and probably be reminded that I have an inability to read dates properly. Someone, please commit me now.

On Friday I also went out for drinks with A Boy. Now, this is a particular friend of mine who I'm trying to discover if he has more than a friendly interest in me. This is when the traffic light stickers could have been useful: green = yes please, yellow = possibly, red = don't be so stupid, no one is interested in girls who can't read dates/tuck skirts in knickers/walk into doors. I have finished the evening non the wiser, and strangely not anywhere near as drunk as my companion. It would appear I have a relatively good tolerance for gin. I have also admitted that I went for drinks with A Boy, which means that if my mother ever reads this, she's going to get wildly overexcited that I might be on the way to Not Being Left On The Shelf. Argh. 

22nd & 23rd January 2011 - pasta, ponies, pyjamas and purling

I'm a little bit anxious that I am going to spemd a lot of this blog prattling on about some of my favourite things: food, knitting and horse riding; all of which featured in this weekend. Hence no happy photo (it would have been repetitive), just happy memories.

I decided that this weekend I was going to take it easy, see nobody and enjoy some 'me' time. I do enjoy these sorts of weekends occasionally. I think it's important to ignore the rest of the world sometimes and spend as much of a weekend as is possible wearing pyjamas (even during trips to Tesco).

I started Saturday with a potter into town to get my fringe cut. Usually I do it myself (sometimes more wonkily than others) but I am trying to Be Good this year, so I sought professional assistance. Hairdressers always shake their heads disparagingly when I tell them that I lop bits off my hair when it annoys me. After that, I meandered home via the DVD rental place, the wool shop (where I bought a gorgeous new pattern book with my birthday wool voucher) and I was very impressed with myself for not going into the lovely shop with the 70% sale sign in the window. NOTE: I get paid on Tuesday, I might go next weekend....
I then spent the afternoon watching Toy Story 3 and knitting (much fun) and then spent the evening asleep on the sofa with the peaceful and soporific lullaby of the film Inception in the background. (If anyone can tell me what the hell THAT was all about, I'd be most grateful. I mostly found it a helpful stimulant for napping).

The highlight of Sunday was a long, two hour ride out with a couple of the other people from the stable where Connor lives. We had a lovely time, although the disobedient old camel did decide that he was a contestant in the Derby and galloped past the other horses when they were cantering along in a much more sedate fashion. Please don't take this as a sign of my inability as a rider, it's not easy to stop 17 plus hands of ex-showjumper when he gets an idea into his head. My job is merely to stay on his back and recite as many four letter words as I know. And, as it turns out, I know quite a few.

21st January 2011 - Walking on sunshine

Okay, so the more vigilant reader out there (hi Mum, I think you're the only one) will have noticed that I don't always manage to update this blog every day (occasionally I DO have a life) so I've got a bit of catching up to do.

Back to Friday though, and it was SUNNY!! Yes, it deserves capital letters, it was a really lovely day. I think I spent most of the day busy at work, but I did manage to sneak out and enjoy the sunshine, so here's my Friday Happy Thing.

For a change, I thought I'd share photo that is not tinted yellow by the low energy lightbulbs I have at home. I'm thoughtful like that. I'm actually also quite pleased with this one. I particularly like how the reflection of the sky is bluer than the actual sky. I don't know how they do that.

In other news, I went to play badminton after work, so managed to get some exercise, and then went to the pub afterwards, where I mostly ate crisps and undid all that good work. Ah well, at least I can comfort myself with the knowledge that it would have been much worse if I had not done the exercise in the first place.

20th January 2011 - Looking up

Yeah, well I said that yesterday I'd have a lie in this morning, and I did. For all of 7 minutes. Obviously my body had other ideas. It's got to be one of the most ANNOYING things (along with non-cleaning housemates, repetitive floorboard squeaking from upstairs neighbours and running out of marmite - gah).

Today I've been on a training course up in London, so I had to battle through the cheerful commuters up to Victoria and shove my way though all the suited and booted yuppy people. I feel like they know I don't belong there or something, just because I wear a hat.

Anyway, one of the things I like to do when I'm in London is to LOOK UP. Try it next time you're rushing about, I promise you'll like it, there are some spectacular buildings about.

This is Westminster Cathedral, and it's one of my favourites. I love the stripey bricks. I've never seen anyone going in or anyone coming out, just lots of people scurring past without a second glance. I felt like a bit of a plonker stopping to take a photo in the middle of the crowds, but hey, I'm not really one for caring what people think! :-)

19th January 2011 - I love Colin Firth

Okay, so you've probably guessed from the title..I went to see the King's Speech today. Here's the evidence...

It was reallyreallyREALLY good. That Colin is a damn good actor. I won't bore you with a long description of the films amazingness, because (a) that might be spoiling it for you and (b) I am not a particularly worthy or knowledgeable film critic. If there's a historical costume, a handsome man and a bag of pic n mix, I'm a very satisfied bunny.

Some other things made me happy today, so I've made a list.

• The sunshine - it really has been a beautiful day
• The frosty morning, I wish I remembered to get pictures of it
• The flapjack my assistant made - it was delicious 
• The lie in I am having in the morning as I'm on a training day! Yay!

18th January 2011 - art and accidents

Well, apparently yesterday was the most depressing day of the year. I can't say I found it THAT bad, but it really was pretty dull. In fact, I can't remember that anything interesting happened at all, so on that note, I'll move swiftly on.

Today did not get off to the best start. I was late, and it seemed like the Powers That Be had made the executive decision to dig up most of the roads I drive on to get to work. Very considerate of them, indeed. This made me later, which in turn made me irritated, which unfortunately (for my cash flow) made me a wee bit careless. Luckily, no one was hurt. Let's just say that there was a flat tyre, a bit of a pathetic female act on my part and an inpromptu trip to the garage. I guess someone upstairs is trying to teach me an Important Life Lesson, about Not Rushing. Like I'll take THAT on board...

Back to business and my happy thing for today. This afternoon I was running a consultation focus group with a bunch of local families (a typical random occurance in the Daily Life Of Me) which was a lot of fun, although they did eat ALL the biscuits, leaving none left for me. Anyway, one of the children (a small one) drew me a picture. This is it.

I think it's rather Special. I think it might be a picture of grass, but I'm really not that sure.

16th January 2011 - Hooray for small miracles

This was a pretty uneventful Sunday for me really, in which I spent most of the morning lying in bed, most of the afternoon out riding in the rain and most of the evening lying on the sofa contemplating the week ahead. Fun times.

There was one major note worthy occurrance today though, which coincidentally is also my happy thing, today was the day in which The Housemate DID CLEANING!! I really hope you don't think me overly crazy for getting overexcited by this, and thinking it an interesting blog post, but it honestly it really did cheer up my day. The Housemate is a great chap, but he has a habit of not cleaning, thanking me for cleaning the bathroom (only ever the bathroom, never the WHOLE HOUSE) and constantly telling me that he means to do the cleaning only I do it before he has a chance. Now I am not an anally-retentive-constantly-cleaning manic with a strange fetish for rubber gloves and bleach, I just have a small issue with filth, in that I choose not to live in it.

Anyway, I feel like I might have yapped on about cleaning for FAR longer than is interesting or healthy, so I'll leave it at that. And no, I won't be posting a picture of my beautifully clean bathroom, because that would just be odd.  

15th January 2011 - Musical mayhem and a spending spree

Ooh, today was a very good day. Every year for Chistmas, my grandparents buy theatre tickets for me and my sister and we have a lovely day up in town with shopping and a dinner out. Mah-vellous.

After a really quite rapid dash across London, we managed to make it to the theatre in the nick of time (we got distracted buying sweets in M&S). My sister is one of those quick people, and even when we are walking along in a normal fashion, she ends up walking three paces ahead of me and I end up scurrying behind her like a grovelling servant. Anyway, add 'late' and 'panic' into the mix, I ended up chasing her across the cobbles of Covent Garden through the Saturday crowds, scattering shoppers and Percy Pigs liberally along the route. I'm still knackered now. I think I can forego jogging for the rest of the month.

Anyway, the show was great, but not as good as this.

Oh yes. There was a sale on in John Lewis wool department. I like buying wool nearly as much as I like buying shoes. Ooh, it was good. I was very impressed with how patient my sister was as I stroked the wool, picked it up and put it down again, looked at it in a mirror so I could see if the colours would suit me, stroked it some more, and had some lovely conversations with other wool fans about the virtue of some brands and what to make with it. It's a shame most knitters are middle aged ladies, if they were handsome young men I would SO be able to pick up a husband in haberdashery.    

14th January 2011 - I'm in the money!!

Finally!! Today in the post I had my birthday cheque from my parents. It's only taken 8 days to get to me. I am pretty sure that they could have walked the 100 or so miles to deliver it in person in that time, hell, they probably could have cartwheeled the whole distance. The mental image of that, however, is a little disturbing, so I won't dwell on THAT. So obviously, MONEY is my happy thing for today, but I am not putting a photo of a cheque on here, I'm not that stupid. Needless to say, I am going to enjoy spending it. Probably tomorrrow. Note to self: remember to cash the cheque in first....

13th January 2011 - Completely rational behaviour and life's little indulgences

Thursday today, and I actually managed to get up less than 10 minutes after my alarm went off, I remembered to do both of the things I needed to sort out before I went in AND I made a proper packed lunch. YAY ME!! I just wish I managed to do this every morning.

Today I had to play Useless Female in order to get the stupid projector and laptop to work. I think I got away with it. Am I the only person who attempts the whole pathetic little woman act to get help with these things? Anyway, it worked, which was the main thing.

I was annoyed when I got home. You know, one of those jolly occasions when you are annoyed for No Particular Reason but most minor occurances are Severely Irritating. The things that irritated me today were:

• There was mess in the kitchen. I don't know if this was The Housemate or The Gas Man, but there was mess, and I had to deal with it.
• The Housemate was out so I couldn't tell him off about it, and perhaps stomp around muttering about the fact that he STILL HASN'T DONE ANY CLEANING
• It rained when I was riding. RAINED. How dare it.
• There was a lot of traffic on the M25 on my way home. Hardly surprising, but ANNOYING.
• The birthday card from my parents STILL HASN'T ARRIVED. Dammit.
• My mum and my sister both phoned and left messages whilst I was driving. I was DRIVING. I COULDN'T ANSWER.

Anyway, in light of my completely rational and entirely understandable general mood of pissed-off-ness, I turned to the really only thing that would solve my problem and make me happy again. No, not shoes...

Chocolate. Need I say more?

12th January 2011 - Time for bed

Today was a loooooooong day, so my Happiest Thing for today happened when I got home.

Yep, it was my bed. After a 13 hour working day, I was very glad to see it. I was even gladder that I could lie in it and catch up with the new series of Glee on iplayer. I. Was. Knackered. Why is it though that when you are completely exhausted, the bit of road you want to drive home on has been dug up and (even worse) closed, and forces you to drive around aimlessly for a while squinting at bus stops as you try to work out where exactly you are. The yellow diversion signs NEVER POINT YOU IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.

Anyway, today we had our New Year party after work for all of our lovely volunteers. (I work in a place with a lot of them, they are fantastic) I ate far too many pastry, cheese, and cheese-and-pastry based products from the buffet, bleurgh. I feel like a human quiche now, I really do.

11th January 2011 - Run rabbit run

I had a food hangover this morning from all that cake yesterday. I couldn't even manage to eat breakfast which is most unlike me. I did consider making my Happy Thing for today salad, but it made me feel Virtuous rather than Happy, which doesn't really count.

Today I went running for the first time this year, and I was very happy with myself for finally making the effort. If I'd actually gone when I started thinking about going, I would have probably had time to have run about 5 kilometers and done a relaxing su doku afterwards. As it was, I spent at least half an hour procrastinating about whether or not I could be bothered to go. If I don't spend the entire journey home from work psyching myself up to do it, then I have to waste time doing it when I get home. Really, I think the three pieces of cake from yesterday made it rather necessary that I do SOME form of exercise... 

Hmm, actually, I think my best thing for today was a certain amount of flirtation with a certain person. Or at least I THINK it was flirtation. I wish there was a manual.

10th January 2011 - Happy birthday to meeeeeee!

Happy birthday to me indeed. And the first voice I heard this morning was my dear father singing down the phone although he was singing to my voicemail, admittedly. Sadly however, I wasn't enjoying a lazy lie in, I was on my way to work. I am just SO dedicated to the cause. And I had hopes that they might get me a present, or at least a card. Luckily for me, they did, and here it is - my happy thing for the day.

I did have more than the one birthday card (although the one from my parents STILL hasn't arrived - bloody Royal Fail) but I particularly liked this one. Usually, my birthday cards revolve around the theme of shoes and handbags (it's like my friends think I have a lot of shoes and handbags. I have NO idea why...). This one is made of fuzzy felts. My sister and I have a lot of fuzzy felts when I was a child and I am not ashamed to admit that I passed a rather satisfactory 10 minutes playing with these.

And just to prove that at the grand old age of 31, you're never too old to stop learning - today I learned that there is such a thing as Too Much Cake. It would seem that three pieces really is my limit.

9th January 2011 - happy hangover and general laziness

So, the overindulgence of yesterday did result in a headache, one of those good ones that LASTS ALL DAY. And i didn't have any painkillers. In the end, I had to resort to some ancient cold and flu tablets - they were the only thing I had in the medicine drawer that had any form of useful ingredient. They must have worked, because now I feel fine.

My happy Sunday picture is of the pattern on my birthday pyjamas.

Groovy. I decided last night that since my friends had made the kind effort to come to my birthday do and bring me presents, the very LEAST I could do was open them. I've saved all the cards for my real birthday tomorrow though, just so I have something to open on the real day. These were a present from my friend Nic and are super comfy, and really rather gorgeous to boot. I am NOT looking so gorgeous today for some reason...and have chosen to spend the majority of the day wearing the said pyjamas. It's not like it's something I do often....much. I did make it out of the house for a little while and went for a ride in the sunshine though, so I don't feel too guilty about spending the rest of the day lying down.

8th January 2011 - Party party!

A very happy today because it was birthday party time.

I didn't get the day off to a completely glamorous start. I went to get my haircut and managed to completely embarrass myself by dropping the credit card machine on the floor. Classy. There was a very panicked 10 minutes whilst they tried to put it back together again and make it work whilst I stood by the desk like a right numpty doing Good Apologising. I hope that the crash didn't frighten the stylists and result in any startled hair/ear clipping. Yikes.

Back to business and here is my happy picture of the day. (although I think it was probably a NOT happy picture for Sunday...)

Yes, I enjoyed far too much of this. That's the problem with birthdays - everyone buys you drinks and it's rude not to drink them. And keep drinking them. And then possibly drink some more (whilst getting sensible friends to get you sneaky glasses of water). I did have a lovely time though, lots of my friends came and it was great to catch up with them all.

Cudos in particular has to go to my good friend Vicky. She couldn't decide what to wear, so I suggested that she go shopping. Unfortunately (for her husband) she took my advice, bought three outfits, and had the difficult decision of having TOO MUCH CHOICE. It's alright for some... 

7th January 2011 - Friday dinner date!

Well, it's finally Friday, and I've managed to find a whole week full of things to feel happy about, which I think is an achievement in itself.

I was VERY pleased that it was finally Friday, I hope that everyone else struggles as much as I do during the first week back in work after the holidays. It has DRAGGED. I rewarded myself this afternoon with a slightly stale hobnob from the back of my desk drawer. Delicious. But not as delicious as my happy thing for today.

I meant to take a photo before I ate it, but I forgot. 

This evening, I went to play badminton with a group of friends who I used to work with. I've not played in ages, and considering this, I don't think I did too badly. At least, I didn't hit myself round the head with my own raquet, or fall over, or daydreamed too much in the middle of the game and forgotten I've been playing, all of which I've done before (probably on a more regular basis than I care to think about). Usually after badminton we all go for a drink and then wend our separate ways home. So tonight we all went and had our diet cokes and lime-and-sodas (sometimes driving can be so boooooring). After our usual conversations about where-we-all-worked-together and why-it-is-so-awful and the-managers-are-all-crap and ooh-who-is-shagging-who-now, my friend James invited a couple of us round for dinner. Now, James is always cooking dinners for his lovely wife, and they always sound fantastic, but up until now I have not had the opportunity to sample his culinary skills. Well, tonight I did, and as you can see, I hated every moment. Obviously I'm joking, because I stuffed my face. 

The even better thing is that James noticed me taking a photo of my empty bowl, but didn't ask me what the hell I was doing, which any normal person would have done if a guest started taking random photographs of their crockery. A true gentleman, and an excellent chef!     

6th January 2011 - Happy friends

This evening I have said bye bye to Christmas and have put away my tree and decorations. I'm also feeling MUCH better than I did yesterday, which is good news because this Saturday I am celebrating my 31st birthday. My actual birthday isn't until Monday, but Saturday night is better for alcoholic celebrations, not being a school night and all.

I'm kind of looking forward to being 31. I was scared about being 30 (it sounds so grown up) and most of the year ended up being something of a wash out, although it did pick up considerably towards the end. So, a year older, and a little bit wiser (not much, but hopefully enough), I am feeling quite positive about the new year ahead.

I'll be seeing quite a few of my friends at the weekend for my birthday, as well as my little sister, which made me feel very happy today as they all said they were looking forward to it, so hooray for my lovely friends, you are my happy thing for today.

5th January 2011 - Germs! and a very old photo

Well, I didn't write this yesterday, which was the actual 5th January because I have had The Germ. I went to bed instead. I could tell I was ill because I wasn't hungry AT ALL, something which really never happens to me (more's the pity). I didn't think I was going to find anything to be happy about, other than Lemsip, which was helping me to feel marginally less deathlike than started off as. Luckily, my Dad sent me an email with a picture on it, which cheered me up no end. Thanks Dad!!

This is a picture of me and my friend Tigs when we were very little girls. I'm the one in the pink cardigan with the rabbit slippers. Just goes to show that even then, I had amazing style and great fashion sense.  

4th Jan 2011 - Groovy tights

Well, today was Back To Work Day. Not my favourite sort of day, but overall, not too bad. I think the world was struggling to come to terms with the whole getting back into the swing of things. The heating at work had broken AGAIN and I drove home following a man who used his hazard warning lights instead of his indicators. Was he going left? Was he going right? Who knows?

My (not very good) happy photo today is of my funky tights. I've not tried taking pictures of my own legs before (why would you really want to) and it was actually a lot harder than I would have expected. The tights were a Christmas present from my cousin Liz. I sometimes like to, let's say, 'enhance' my outfit by wearing what my mother would call 'eccentric' tights. I like to look on it as a minor form of rebellion in an otherwise fairly mundane setting. An historical note: I wore my craziest tights on the day I got made redundant, just because I could, and because I hoped they would annoy the grey, grey and boring management consultant types who gave me the boot. You know what they say, if you're going to go down, you go down fighting...and looking damn good in the process.

 

3rd January 2011 - Galloping!

So I woke up this morning and my housemate was hoovering. This caused me to wonder if wishes I put on here actually come true, so PLEASE CAN I WIN THE LOTTERY??

Anyway, my happy highlight of a fairly dull day doing all of those boring things on the last day of the Christmas holidays (laundry, battling through Sainsburys, buying Lemsip to ward off the incoming cold, trying to ignore the mountain of stuff left to unpack - note to self: pack lighter next time) was a trip out with the horse I ride, Connor. He's the subject of my happy photo of the day.

He's a handsome chap, isn't he? He's also the main reason that I didn't completely lose my sanity when I was unemployed last year. An expensive hobby, yes, but I suspect cheaper than a therapist and healthier than a course of antidepressants. He mostly always makes me happy apart from the time when he trod on my foot (he's big) or when he occasionally sticks his tongue out when we're riding (it's embarrassing...and big). Today we did fast galloping. I forgot all about all of the boring things I should be doing and that I have to go back to work tomorrow. Back to the real world now though, and I need to go and put away enough stuff so that I have room enough to sleep in.  

2nd January 2011 - The long journey home...and unexpected presents

Well, much as I love my sojurns up to Northumberland, it takes a bloody long time to get back to London. Believe me, there is not very much happiness to find on the A1, and I did try my best.

And on arrival back in the flat I share in London, there was even less to be happy about. I go away for two weeks, and has my flatmate done any cleaning?......NO. I have to admit there was some stomping and aggressive hoovering on my part. I wouldn't normally have bothered (just indulged in some fabulously pithy but entirely imaginary scoldings) but after 8 hours in the car, all you want is a bath, and after motorway service station sandwiches, all you want to do is cook a fabulously healthy stirfry, and it's hard to enjoy either of those thngs when your house is FILTHY. Anyway, he did apologise and I did tell him that his New Years resolution was to DO MORE CLEANING. Steve, if you ever read this, then DO SOME HOOVERING, WASH THE FLOOR, DUST, please, if only for my sanity, which I know is tenuous at the best of times.

In the midst of the dirt, there was a light of hopeful happiness that did indeed brighten my day. It was this:

A PRESENT!! FOR ME!! I love late Christmas Presents. They make me very happy. This was a present from my oldest friend Tigs who I have recently got back in touch with. She sent me Stephen Fry's autobiography. I love Stephen Fry. Last time I saw Tigs, we had a drunken conversation about Who We Would Invite To Our Imaginary Dinner Party. I think the only person we could agree on was Stephen Fry (and possibly David Attenborough, and maybe Helena Bonham Carter but I can't really remember). Just goes to show that even on tediously tedious days, happy things do happen. Hooray!

1st January 2011 - Happy New Year View

Okay, so I don't usually bother with making New Years resolutions - I never manage to keep them and the whole 'eat healthier, do more exercise' thing is a bit over done (and something I seriously consider every Sunday morning, and give up usually sometime on Tuesday afternoon when the Hobnobs begin calling).

This year I've decided to do something different. Those who know me well will know that 2010 was not a great year for me (redundancy, 9 months of unemployment, blah blah, I don't want to bore you before we start to get to know each other) so I want 2011 to be better. I feel like I wasted a lot of my time last year concentrating on sad things, so here it is (ta daaaa!!) my 2011 Happy Things blog. So, welcome!! If anyone ever reads this then do, please, join in.

Every day I'm going to find something that makes me feel happy, take a picture of it and post it here. I want to create a record of 365 different things that cheer me up over the course of the year. A tall order, indeed, but one that I am going to try and stick to. Wish me luck!

So New Years Day found me a little hung over in the beautiful village of Rothbury in Northumberland. If you've never been to Northumberland, then go (sandy beaches, castles, and the pubs are MUCH cheaper than London). There are a lot of things up there that make me happy. On my traditional New Years Day walk (you know what I mean, the bracing walk you take out in the countryside in an attempt to feel healthy, thinking 'hmmm, must do this more often' before collapsing in front of the television afterwards, exhausted, with half a box of Cadbury's Roses) I saw this view. I thought it was rather nice, so I hope that you do too.    

Happy New Year everyone!!