An ode to my "tree trunks"

{via}

So yesterday as I was going about my normal blog reading business when I came across this fabulous post over at monster cakes... (let it be known that I think she's pretty fantastic AND she loves Gilmore Girls AND she rocks the coolest pixie cut - tho she's growing it out at the mo but still looks fab! - and in my books, you don't really get much more awesome than that!)  Anywhoooos... (I'm going to stop before I sound like a TOTAL stalker.. oh too late?? nevermind... )

Moving right along!

I then left this message for her:

"I love this post! (I love all your posts.. to be fair.. ) but this one rings very true to me!

I've always had ginormous thighs and big calves.. (it's a nightmare trying to buy boots.. coz they just WILL NOT zip up... and ones without zips.. well.. let's just not talk about that ok?) but you are so right that they are such a blessing.. they have taken me on many adventures.. climbed boulders, rocks, Middle Eastern ruins.. they've allowed me to flail around on tree branches in the name of "climbing"... and I am going to follow your lead and cherish my legs for the tree trunks that they are.. keeping me firmly grounded.. (and it hurts more when you kick someone! HA! - HA! to all those with skinny beanpole legs that pack no punch!)"

Sorry if that last bit makes no sense.. the sense I'm trying to convey is people with tree trunks for legs do a lot more damage when they kick someone something than people who have skinny beanpole legs.. and if you are one of those with skinny beanpole legs... - well your consolation is that you can pull of skinny jeans with a lot more finesse and if that's not enough.. well TOUGH titties!! =p

She then left this message for me:

"I just had to tell you that I was cracking up when you said "tree trunks" on my blog, because that is the exact term used to describe them. From now on, I'll just remind myself that they are like that to keep me "grounded" and thankful. Thanks for the idea! And let's change together and be proud of the way we were made. : ) I think we can do it."

I think we can too!

I wanted to share this exchange with you all because I think we all have hang ups about our bodies.. big or small (hang ups.. tho I guess bodies as well)... and I think as long as we are healthy and our weight and size is not impacting on our health then we should feel blessed that we the majority of us are able bodied and our limbs function to the best of their abilities.. sure I'd like my thighs to be a bit smaller and my tummy a bit flatter, and one of my goals is still to exercise more and lose a bit of weight but on the other hand.. I also want to try and remember to be thankful...  

ps. tree pose is one of my favourites in yoga.. maybe it's because I have trunks for legs!! :)

Philosophical monkey, out~

Street Photography - Vivian Maier

Heidi of 101 Cookbooks posted a Favourites List for May...

photo courtesy of the Maloof Collection and taken from Chicagomag.com's article

While perusing one of the many links I came across the story of Vivan Maier... if you have any interest in photography, or just like story about interesting people.. then go take a gander...

I have always loved B&W photography and I wish I had the resources to have my own darkroom.. there is something about taking photos on film, and going through the entire process from beginning to end of developing, enlarging and printing photos that brings such a sense of accomplishment..  Darkrooms (to me) are always places of quiet and (for the most part) calm, the dull glow of the burnt orange and red bulbs, the slightly metallic smell of processing chemicals, the coolness of the air prickling your skin as there is invariably a fan to circulate the slightly stale air..

They are nearly always places of quiet.. of hushed voices, whispered plans.. as if speaking aloud would shatter the slow, somewhat therapeutic process in some way... there may be a radio on, usually on a low volume, for a little bit of background noise...

There is something about having total control over how your photos turn out which is exhilarating at times and frustrating at others... it's a process that cannot be rushed... each step has its own allotted time and you just have to wait patiently until the time is up before moving on to the next step... maybe this repetitiveness and rhythmic process is what I find so settling... The gentle swish of the chemicals over the paper as you slowly watch your picture emerge... there is something magical about that moment...

A metaphor for life maybe? Things often need to take their course and there is no sense in trying to hurry or slow the process for if you just go along for the ride, sometimes the outcome is far better than you could at first have anticipated... though in this sense, if something is not quite right, you have the ability to go back and tweak it...

Playing around with my Diana Mini has got me excited about working with film again... the wait to see how your photos turn out... at first the lack of instant gratification of looking at your photo on a screen is a little off putting.. but there is something about having to wait until you finish a roll of film, and taking it to get processed before the anticipation of picking them up again, days later....  that is... gratifying in an almost juvenile manner... the way you used to wait patiently for things to happen... like a much awaited trip to the zoo or some other favourite destination... or finally saving up enough pocket money for that special item you've been waiting to buy... with our ability to drive/take public transport/pay for things on credit.. I think we've lost some of that "sense of anticipation" we have as children...


Yes, we wait to go on holidays and we get excited and we count down the days.. but, somehow.. it's just not quite the same, is it??

Chicken Scrawl

So a coupla weeks ago, Mrs Biscuit over at And They Lived Happily Ever After tagged me in a handwriting game... here.. so here is me, finally getting around to doing it... and if you're been reading my blog for a while.. you will remember... this post where I wax lyrical about penmanship... and about how annoyed I am that my handwriting has pretty much gone "down the dunny", so without further ado, here is what my handwriting looks like today... chicken scrawly!

My writing often changes depending on my mood... or what pen I'm writing with.. actually what kind of pen I'm using affects my writing quite a lot...  I think my writing changes because I hold my pen in different ways too... I used to hold my pen with my index and middle finger over the top of the pen and my thumb resting on the knuckle of my index finger.. (yes, it looks really weird if you look at it), then I got those pen grips that teach you how to hold a pen "properly" but then I burnt my middle finger right where you're supposed to rest your pen, so I went back to my old gammy way of holding pens.. even now, I go back and forth between the two... or maybe I'm just split personality, because if your writing is supposed to tell a lot about you.. and mine changes all the time.. then... hmmmm.... 

I'll leave you to come to your own conclusions!!

I'm going to go drop a note for Leanna @ The Violet Reaction & Anna @ Life is Sweet* so they can play too.. :)

Oh, I should probably say that these are the things you're supposed to answer if you want to join in:

1. what's your name and blogger name?

2. what's your blog's URL?

3. Write, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

4. Favorite quote?

5. Favorite song?

6. Favorite band/singers?

7. Anything else you want to say?

8. Tag bloggers to participate.

Happy Monday!!

I told my boss I would flash him...

do other people do this?? Or maybe it's just a strange world I live in?? :D

I got dressed this morning thinking, What t shirt should I wear that would amuse my boss? I then told him I would flash him, coz it would make him happy...- in those exact words.. honest!! (I am wearing  this t shirt {from this website which takes FAR too much of my money} underneath a hoodie, hence the "flashing") btw.. how do brackets work?? Is there an order they go in if you are bracketing inside brackets?? and are the different shaped brackets used for different purposes??!!  I don't remember learning about that in English!!

Anywhos... I am also wandering around the office in my socks... because I am wearing cute socks... and I don't feel like wearing my shoes...

I also offered to show my boss my cute socks, because he asked if I had anything else to show him after I showed him my t shirt... HAHAHA...

Does anyone else ♥ their work??!!

Penmanship...

So a few weekends ago I was at the wedding of Mr. & Mrs. P&M D in Manchester, gorgeous wedding, beautiful bride and the sun was shining in full force, the sky was blue and clear!

Invariably at these occasions, the time came when the Guestbook made its way around. Then came the discussion of 'who gets to write in it'... Mr T said that Ms D had the honour on their behalf because she has pretty writing.. the mister said I had to write our message because I have much neater writing than he..

Which got me to thinking.. why is it that girls (almost always) have much neater and "prettier" if not just more legible writing!!?? Seriously.. as a secretary/ admin assistant/ exec assistant/ receptionist.. I have worked with many misters and misses and as a general rule, ladies always write far more legibly than gentlemen...

But I have also noticed in recent times, that my own penmanship is getting worse, potentially due to the fact that I rarely write things down anymore... I do most of my correspondence over email and/or facebook and if not over the internet, most often by text message... I am not much of a phone person... I used to be.. in high school I spent countless hours blethering on the phone to friends.. often into the wee hours of the night, whispering under the covers to avoid getting yelled at by my parentals to go to sleep!

I'm not sure when I stopped being a phone person, but apparently I'm just not... I often see other friends on ye old facebook arranging to skype each other and wonder why noone ever wants to skype with me?? Then when I eventually DO get requests for skype dates, it's often during times when I can't make it.. :(  The last decent phone conversation I had with anyone was a) with mother - which was at least a couple of months ago and b) with Ms Sok when she lived in Doha and was arranging to come visit me in Edinburgh, and THAT was sometime in 2009!! Tho I did have a brief skype with Mr J last week for about half an hour...

I digress! With a lovely Hallmark Holiday just been and plenty of friends getting engaged (seriously, I've had 4 sets of friends announce engagements since New Year), there have been many cards to write  scribble in make a mess of .. I made such a mess in fact, of two cards, I ended up typing my message, printing it out, and sticking it into the cards instead...

Now, maybe I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to card writing... but when people send me cards, they are things I keep* and treasure.. and I know this isn't most people's approach to cards.. but I like to think that some of my cards are kept so I like them to look neat and tidy.. (same with present wrapping, even though I know it's going to get ripped and destroyed, I still need to make it neat and tidy).. but I got to thinking... when did my handwriting start getting so bad???

Ugh!! Do people just not take pride in their (physical) writing anymore?? Or are we all just out of practice?? When I've asked my friends, most of them say, the last time they had to sit down and physically write something (more than just a quick note etc) was probably at school.. 3 hour long English exams anyone?? Where you wrote till you hand cramped, then you wrote some more??!!  - Maybe that's why we don't write anymore?? We're all traumatised!!

What do you think of YOUR handwriting???


*as in, when I had to clear up and pack the contents of my parent's house (after I finished univeristy) I found birthday and Christmas cards which I'd received in PRIMARY SCHOOL!! no joke!! Some of them, I don't even remember who the people ARE anymore.. but some of them.. a card in the shape of an english sheepdog (they had one as a pet), given to me by my BFF at the time Emma, really made me smile.. I still have that card, it's in storage now, but I've kept it.. I couldn't bring myself to throw it away.. you could say I'm a little bit of a hoarder!! 

Mister Google Reader...

What would I do without you???

You make blog reading so easy...

But I must stop adding blogs to you... I have enough trouble keeping up with the 18 blogs I have on there already... tho yesterday I discovered I can put tags on my starred blog posts and you will keep them organised into little categories for me... I 'heart' you...

How else would I wile away the many hours at work avoiding filing...???

I would never bother with blog reading if I had to bookmark each blog and then load each bookmark.. but you keep everything so nicely organised and.. did I mention... EASY?? already...

Thank You Ms. Sok for showing me the way of the Google Reader... even if you use it on your fancy schmancy iPad.... 

{I have an aversion to all iThings... tho I have a gen1 iPoo'd nano... which I 'heart'.. but it was before the 'iAmASleekWhiteiThing' phase, and before iPhones took over the World.. so he doesen't count... he's retro so he's cool...}

Good intentions

Just today I've picked up 2 pull outs from the newspapers at the office this week, with the intention that I'll take it home and read it... no doubt, chances are, I'll take it home and it will be added to the pile of other things "to read" currently sitting on my bedroom floor and I'll never get round to actually reading them.

As a new initiative, I have also scanned 4 or 5 articles and recipes, in the hopes that if I have a digital copy of it, it won't be cluttering up any physical space at home and I will be more inclined to read it as I tend to spend my entire life on a computer anyways.. whether or not these things will just end up sitting in my email cluttering up my cyber space is yet to be determined!! I shall endeavour to report back.. If I remember and get round to it...


[Edit @15.03] Does anyone else fall victim to this? Collect newspapers/magazines with the intention of becoming better informed, only for their space to become better cluttered?? Or do I just fall victim to this because I am a massive hoarder??? But is it my hoarding that propels me to collect these things?? I don't take these things home with the intention of having them or wanting to keep them.. merely to take them home to read them, because I don't have the time at work/on the plane etc...