2011 Top Reads

I read some excellent books in 2011, some old, some new releases and here they are including my top 5 reads of the year!

Number 1 book for me in 2011 is *trumpet fanfare*

Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres

On old classic, one of those books you feel you should read but never seem to get around to reading, this year I did! Although a struggle to get into at first this book was well worth persevering as it turned into one of the best books I have ever read.






Number 2
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

A strange title, a book that I plucked out of a pile of books my friend no longer wanted and it is a gem! A story about a young boy with aspergers syndrome and written in first person.  This book gripped me straight away and I literally did not put it down, I read it in two or three days.  Unlike anything else I have read.

Number 3 (now this isn't an easy choice as I've read some really good ones)
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

I really loved this book, one of the main reasons is because it reminded me of a book I read over & over as a child called Mr Galliano's circus.  It is essentially about a boy who ran away and joined the circus but is full of emotion, grit, the perils of circus life & animal cruelty as well as the love story that runs through it.  The film is good but the book is so much better as it is the descriptiveness of the characters & animals that really bring the story to life.

Number 4 (a childhood favourite)
Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian

I don't know how many times I have read this book, I first read it at juniour school for english class, then my mum and I read it together and I have since then read it again and again.  It is one of my all time favourites.  I seem to read this when I need inspiration and once I've read it it makes me want to write and to read everything.  Beautifully written and a beautiful story that touches my heart.



Number 5
The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli

A friend at work lent me this book, I had never heard of it before but its theme of wartime photography interested me.  It is an excellent story and gives an insight into how these photographers are addicted to their art, risking their lives to get that perfect shot.  Forgetting their surroundings and becoming emersed in the viewfinder of their camera but also how these images haunt them afterwards.  I liked the fact that Helen falls in love with Saigon finding its charms hidden underneath the war.

And heres the rest of my 2011 reading list...

The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest - Stieg Larsson

To Kill a Mocking Bird - Harper Lee

Never Look Away - Linwood Barclay

Ape House - Sara Gruen

Cuckoo In the Nest - Michelle Magorian

Charlotte Gray - Sebastian Faulks

When God was a Rabbit - Sarah Winman

Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson

The End of Mr Y - Scarlett Thomas

Playing with the Grown Ups - Sophie Dahl

Tales of Beedle the Bard - JK Rowling

  

Rubber Band Protest

I hate elastic bands, stupid thick ones that aren’t stretchy enough, skinny long ones that are stretched too far.  Then there are those that have been stretched to the max by some annoying person who clearly wants the next person to endure death by elastic band whipping.  Some have clung on for so long they have perished now glued firmly to the surface they so desperately want to protect.  I know they are just trying to hold things together but it’s a poor effort.  

My body seems to be against me today, something is marching inside me with a protest board chanting 'we shall, we shall not be moved'.  Plus I swear the chocolate has eyes and it is staring at me.

It's starting to feel alot like Christmas...

It’s starting to feel a lot like Christmas,

Yesterday we got our first tree,

I’ve never had a real one before,

So it was extra special for me.

After squeezing it in the car,

We got it home safe and sound,

Unwrapped it carefully and trimmed it down,

Pine needles scattered all around.

Twirled with lights and beads,

We decorated the tree,

With baubles & snowflakes,

Standing back to see.

Now it stands tall and proud,

In the windows light,

Waiting for its chance to shine,

When the moon comes out at night.

Christmas Giggles

Christmas is a time for fun and laughter.  Well it certainly was for me and my great nanny Tizer.  I’d always get the giggles and start her off and soon we’d both be crying with laughter.  Then suddenly everyone would be laughing because we were laughing until we couldn’t even remember why we were laughing in the first place. 

It wouldn’t be long before grandad had streamers on his head and a balloon battle commenced.

A snowman who doesn't melt

A snowman, bigger than me. 

A snowman who doesn’t melt. 

A snowman full of presents, even better. 

Another original made by grandad.  Such a simple idea, a huge cardboard tube covered in cotton wool with a removable head, so we could dig our hands in and pull out surprises like a lucky dip.  I can still remember the excitement of seeing the snowman by the tree and wondering what was inside but waiting patiently until Christmas morning when we could open our presents.  One day I will make a snowman for my children to keep year after year.  A present in itself to add to the magic of Christmas, maybe for me as much as for them.

Filing my thoughts

I have got files coming out of my ears.  My job at the moment mainly consists of archiving a monstrous room of never ending files.  To provide some idea of how huge this task is, it has taken us 4 and a half weeks to reach letter H.  ‘Us’ being myself and 4 colleagues equally enjoying the task, but we are not all there at the same time either.  I am not looking forward to M or S.  It will be epic and that’s not because they are just files it’s because they are M & S files.  See what I did there.

It’s been ages since I wrote on this blog as I’ve been concentrating a bit more on my photography blog.  But I don’t want to neglect this one as it’s where I can write all the personal rubbish cluttering my brain.  And whilst these files are currently numbing so called brain I feel I must splurge something on here before I lose all stability.

I have just had a look back at some of my very first blogs and it’s reminded me why this is such a good idea.  I can look back on my thoughts a year ago and see what’s changed and what I’ve achieved.  I’ve decided next year is going to bring me some opportunities, I am going to go onwards and upwards, that is my aim!  This year has been majorly jam packed with craziness and seems to have flown past me without stopping.  December is nearly here and I am excited about Christmas! I hope it doesn’t whizz past too quickly.  My slightly fanatical love of writing lists has already emerged and various scraps of paper are floating around in my pockets and around the house covered in indecipherable scribblings of things to do and things to buy.

Love, War & Mandolins

Captain Corelli's Mandolin - (Louis De Bernieres)

A classic book which I had not read before and came across in a second hand book sale last year, I have only just got around to reading.  To start off with I found a good chunk of the beginning to be very difficult to read and follow, very political which isn’t really my thing and I very nearly gave up with it! But I am so glad that I persevered because it turned out to be a fantastic book.  Once it got past the political aspect of the war, the characters started to come alive.  I had seen the film a long time ago although could not remember it very well and I have also been to Cephalonia where it is based and remember on holiday visiting some of the places where some of the historic aspects took place.

The characters were so beautifully written, that I empathised with them when they were sad and laughed out loud on several occasions particularly when Corelli and Pelagia were flirting.  There are also some very dark parts in the story with some gruesome and graphic descriptions of war which made the story feel all the more real.  The massacre of the Italian soldiers by the Germans was heartbreaking after some of the officers had been friends and were ordered to turn against each other.  I went from making myself read it, to looking forward to getting the bus home from work so I could read some more!

There was a lot going on historically in this story based during World War 2 and on the tiny Greek island of Cephalonia which was occupied by both the Italians and the Germans.  Pelagia is the central character, the doctors daughter and she becomes part of a love triangle falling in love with an Italian Captain (Corelli) who entices her with both his charm and passionate love of music, interested more in playing his Mandolin and singing than he is in acts of war.  Meanwhile Pelagia’s fiancée goes off to war and in the process becomes a very different man, Pelagia discovers on his return.

I would definitely recommend this book, even for those who may struggle to start with like me; it turned out to be one of the best books I have ever read!       

Where did August go?

August has passed me by and no blog to be seen.  I honestly cannot understand how time seems to be going so quickly lately.  Anyway blogging had fallen absently to the back of my mind and it was a film that I watched which re-ignited something somewhere in my brain and made me want to write something.  The film is called Julie & Julia.  It was strange because it must have been on my lovefilm list even though I don’t remember putting it on there and neither Jay or I really knew what it was about other than ‘cooking’.  Regardless one day last week it just popped through our letter box.  What a fabulous film! My explanation of the plot may not be persuasive but it really was a joy to watch. It’s about a famous chef called Julia Childs. Alongside watching her discover herself, learn to cook and develop her cookbook back in1950’s Paris, we see a modern day Julie who decides to challenge herself by cooking every single recipe in Julia Child’s cookbook in 365 days whilst blogging about the experience.  Sounds unusual I know, but I loved it, it was just quirky with very entertaining characters and above all when it finished I lay in bed that night thinking of all the things I’d like to do and achieve. I loved the fact that Julie was a writer working a job she didn’t like and that her blogging was an escapism, that she originally thought no one was reading but soon discovered she had quite a following.  Its not jump off your seat stuff, it was just the right mixture of funny and sad, and a great story about life and its challenges.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my own challenges, one of those being the aim to get fit and healthy, which in actual fact is coming along nicely.  I haven’t lost a load of weight but I have lost some and am starting to tone up which is what I really wanted.  The main thing is I’ve started to feel fitter.  I can see how people talk about gym and fitness becoming obsessive, not that I’ve got to that stage (or plan to) but when I do a fitness class at the moment I feel energised and hyper like I want to do more.  It’s a good feeling and the more classes I do the fitter I am and so each class feels like I am achieving more and working harder.  Food wise dieting is hard, I am struggling to get into it completely but even attempting it is reducing the crap I was eating and making me eat more healthy which has got to be good!       

The biggest challenge I am facing at the moment is my work. I have always struggled with an inner negative monster who reminds me that I am not doing what I really want to do.  Up until recently I don’t think I ever really knew what it was that I wanted to do.  My day job is wearing me down, I feel like it is draining the life out of me, going home tired and lethargic and constantly dreaming about what might be one day.  I have realised that I’ve got to start making things happen for myself, and have started looking into how I can expand my photography, make some money and ultimately end up doing what I love instead of wishing the days away somewhere else.  So watch this space, I am setting myself some new goals and challenges for the near future!

Housewarming Memories

Putting up the gazebo minutes before a heavy downpour
Sarah running in to tell me that there was a bee in the garden

Dans green socks

Graham pinging his cake all over the floor

The name the Orang-utan challenge, and the winner is *fanfare* ‘Bonsai’, runners up included: ‘Gorgonzola the Terrible, Petey, Malcom and Big Wally’

Introducing Rachel to all the people she used to collect dinner money from at woodside

Another delicious giant Oreo cookie cake!

Rob trying to get the giant jelly baby out of the mould, then forgetting to get him out of the fridge – it was however one of the only things I remembered to take a photo of that day…

Guided tours of the house, running up and down the stairs

No shoes!!

Donna’s amazing chocolate cupcakes

Not having a bottle opener…

Trying to persuade Sarah that there are definitely fish in the pond!!

Fletcher going deaf in one ear

Dad telling mum all about his latest divorce settlement

The mayhem of cooking the pizzas – with supervision by Lucy and charlotte, unfortunately when handing it out by the time I got to Jamie there wasn’t any left…

Me giving up with the cheese and pineapple due to crumbly cheese-rob taking over whilst tutting and giving me dirty looks

The AMAZING asda sausage rolls which were gone in a flash (50 for 99p!!)

Wendy the chatterbox chewing Kathy and Danny’s ears off

Asking if everyone is ok in the garden- then realizing I couldn’t see anyone because it was pitch black

Fairylights with the added surprise of Christmas music

Not realizing I had to switch the solar lights on…

Children’s faces when they entered the room full of Mr Potato Heads

Jenny trying to suppress giggles whenever ‘Wally’ was mentioned

Offering Lucy Ham and Pineapple pizza as the vegetarian option…

Graham giving me gardening tips at 1am in the morning

Kathy looking through Jays clothes to see if he had ironed anything

Trying to persuade Sandra to climb the huge tree at the bottom of the garden

Reassuring Rachel that the frogs would not jump out of the pond and get her

Several people enquiring about the mysterious disappearance of the bonking pigs

Supergnome taking centre stage by the pond

The neighbours enquiring into a dvd boxset exchange

People coming and going all day, but Charlotte & Lucy stayed for the duration and Jenny came round twice

Claire’s one big bottle of beer

Feeling happy and proud to show our friends our house and what we’ve achieved

 

*Drumroll* Before & After

Its like 60 Minute Makeover *cough* 6 Month Makeover... Although we are living here and see it everyday I was really excited to actually see pictures of the house before and pictures now next to each other! Its easy to remember those 'during chaos' photos so here are a few piccies to remind us what it used to be like :o)

Front Room-Before

Front Room-After

The only piece of furniture we kept in the whole house was the window seat/cupboard

Dining Room-Before

Dining Room-After

With door in place of  the window

Kitchen - Before

It seems weird to remember there was a door in the kitchen

Kitchen-After

In fact it's hard to believe this is even the same room...

Main Bedroom - Before

That lovely purple threadbare carpet...

Main Bedroom-After

Bathroom -Before

Mums face says it all...

Bathroom - After

Garden - Before

This is before the rubble attacked the garden but still looks a bit of a state just a little overgrown and weary

Garden - After alot of weeding, some flowers and a bit of love

The Crazy Pave patio which Rob Pressure washed away the dirt so you can actually see the colours in the stone!

Our little house! There are still things to do, there will always be things to do (Jamie has a list as long as his arm) but to me it is done now and we can & are enjoying living in it! Hoorah!



A thoughtful day

As this week of flu and feeling sorry for myself comes to an end, I have had the energy today to faff about with the internet connection and low & behold I have managed to connect.  All I had to do was cellotape the dongal to a mop and point it towards the window, why didn’t I think of that earlier?  So I am back in the land of the living…just.  Next week I am going to start my healthy kick.  I’m going to get better, start my diet and hopefully if I am well enough start a little exercise! The healthy me will emerge.  I think this year has been so completely exhausting that I’ve not really had time to sit down and realize that I am falling apart.  Our week off on holiday at home was lovely but perhaps relaxing for a week and doing pretty much nothing gave my body a bit of a shock after the past 7 months of chaos.  Well its time for calm now, there’s no panic, there’s no deadline, there’s just plenty of time to live so that’s what I intend to do. 

Hopefully we have not seen the last of the summer sun and there is still some to enjoy in the near future, I’ve seen it peeking out today.  A recent surprising discovery I have had is that I enjoy gardening! (Although I must point out that I am still terrified of all creepy crawlies and if near by you will be sure to hear me screech and flap my arms about whilst in the garden)  I hardly ever used to even step out into our garden at my mums house but since the rubble was cleared from the building work, I have really enjoyed getting stuck in and even planted some flowers (a first for me) Although my second discovery was that Jamie is the most unenthusiastic gardener in the world, which was revealed to me at our trip to the gardening centre a few weeks ago…but he does like looking after the pond and the fish so I’ll let him off!  This morning after reluctantly crawling out of bed to face the day, I couldn’t help but smile when I looked out the window and saw that the pink roses in our garden have fully bloomed.  The rain has certainly done the garden some favours, it’s looking very healthy and happy! 

It feels good to write, I feel like I haven’t written anything for ages, and I haven’t read much either.  Annoyingly I left my book at work before I went off sick so I’ve started reading Goodnight Mister Tom again which is my favourite childhood book and makes me want to read everything and anything because it is so beautifully written.  I would love to write a book one day, perhaps I will.     

The Power of Cake

 One of the
 cards I got for my birthday this year perfectly expresses my love for cake.

‘Cake is your friend’.

This AMAZING monster of a birthday cake was made by Rob's own fair hands, yes it is a giant Oreo cookie cake and yes it tasted friggin awesome! Particularly good with Cookie Dough Ice cream!! Unfortunately it didn’t last very long *licks lips and then looks guilty* Thanks Rob I’ll have another one of those next year please!! (Or next week if you get bored...)

I had a lovely bday, as we had literally moved that week it was all a bit craazzeee but had a few friends pop in for a nosy round and a piece of cake.  I think Issy and Jamie had the most fun having balloon fights in the naughty corner, and there were lots of places for Issy to explore in the garden!

Priorities

We’ve been officially moved in for two weeks now and settling in the first week we had to make sure we got our priorities right.

I’ve certainly got mine right, much to Jamies disgust...

Jay decorated the fridge…

After our journey into DIY discovery I decided to use some of my new found skills and turn an old white cabinet into a fancy one that matches the wall paper in the front room! Oooh get me! I've been watching too much Linda Barker on the telly!

For my birthday Lucy bought me an amazing paint your own gnome kit for our garden, so I used my day off wisely and painted the newly nicknamed ‘Super Gnome’ (or Norman to his mates) He just needs to be varnished and he can go and sit by the pond!