Friday 30 October 2009

Hahahalloween

OK, so I wasn't in actual fact going to post today but then I remembered that tomorrow is halloween, and to not write a halloween post would, I think you'll agree, be just plain crazy.

I love halloween, all the dressing up, the sweets, the chocolates, the pumpkins, the allowing of my Harry Potter obsession to emerge in its full glory without too many raised eyebrows- well basically I think it's just great.

My sister and I always carve pumpkins for halloween. I'm better at the scraping out but she is better at the faces. Last year my pumpkin face was pretty darn cute, but hers was so unbelievably uber adorable it made mine look super evil!



Halloween also reminds me of a very funny Spongebob Squarepants episode (that's right I love Spongebob) "These are my street clothes!" is an oft quoted phrase in my house.
Also, this article re all things gourd absolutely cracked me up: IT'S DECORATIVE GOURD SEASON, MOTHERF***ERS!

On the other end of the spectrum this hat is cute, granted I probably would never wear it in public but it would make a good night cap, no?

pumpkin hat available here


Happy Halloween!!

x

ps. Thankyou follower number 8 - woop woop!

pps. BOO!! Muhahaha!

Thursday 29 October 2009

Math + Poetry = Lovely


Math Is Beautiful and So Are You
by Becky Dennison Sakellariou

If n is an even number
*then I'll kiss you goodnight right here,*
but if the modulus k is the unique solution,
*I'll take you in my arms for the long night.*

When the properties are constrained as well as incomplete,
*I'll be getting off the train at this stop.*
However, if there is some positive constant,
*then I'll stay on board for a while longer.*

When it says that the supremum deviates from the least zero,
*my heart closes off.*
But if all moments are infinite and you can hear me,
*I will open out for you.*

This sequence satisfies the hypothesis of uniformity,
and because we know that approximation is possible
and that inequality is an embedding factor,
*come, let's try once more.*

Tuesday 27 October 2009

Key To My Heart

Basically I want this. Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaseeepleasepleaseplease!

Fin
x

p.s thank you follower number seven, thank you comments on posts.

Peekaboo

Here I am!

First I apologise for my lack of blogging yesterday of a Happy Monday post. Most of my lunchtime yesterday was spent checking alternative modes of transport home due to the bus drivers in my area being on strike. (turned out my bus was running (that route gets priority apparently - defo because of me I'm sure!), woop! and they let me on for free, double woop!). Plus I was watching the end of Emma which I missed on Sunday night. Consequently spent the rest of the afternoon feeling dreamily romantic and humming the theme tune.

Spent Saturday morning at a garden centre (which was lots of fun for me as I love gardening), having lunch with my Grandmother and playing cards in the evening. Sunday I went into town. I ate MacDonalds in the park surrounding the castle. MacDonalds was always a one-off Massive Treat when I was a kid so my sister and I felt a little bit naughty as we ate it, sheltering by the bandstand against the chilly October wind. I took photos and tried to overcome my slight embarrassment which I feel when I take pictures in public. Curious people stare, not with malice of course but I was always taught at school not to draw attention to myself, so I find it a little uncomfortable. Got some real nice ones of my sister though. Might put them up here if she lets me.

I feel I have little to write about at the moment. Like a wild bird my inspiration has flown.
Frightened away by other more mundane, everyday thoughts and concerns it has taken flight and landed elsewhere.
Do not worry, it shall return.


image via Sabino

I shall come back to you later in the week mes cheries.

x

Friday 23 October 2009

Je voudrais....


....to be wearing this outfit -



Skirt available at urban outfitters here

Cardi and bag available from Warehouse here and here

Boots available from ASOS here

Go for a walk here -

Images via Sabino

Come back to read a book here


Parfait.
Have a good weekend dearies
x

Thursday 22 October 2009

Morning has broken...








Yesterday morning when I left the house the sky was the dark grey blue that spoke of the night just passed and the rain to come. This morning this had changed entirely and I was greeted by periwinkle blue overhead fading to dove grey touched by the pinks and yellows of boiled sweets on the horizon. The rain yesterday's sky promised did materialize and its touch had not yet disappeared today despite the contrast in this morning's heavens. Puddles reflected blue and grey and pink whilst raindrops still clung to cobwebs and flowers. As the train trundled further into the countryside away from my home town and towards London, the sky continued to develop - now yellow, now orange now the blue of forget me nots. The fields still covered by a blanket of mist, like children unwilling to leave their beds and wake up to the sun.


I sometimes wonder how so many people can sit on trains and buses and completely ignore the outside world. The sights I sometimes see when I look out of the window warm my heart! Sometimes I want to stand up and point "look, look at that, isn't it magnificent". I never do. Perhaps it is the photographer in me that looks and looks all the time, searching for something to capture, not wanting to miss that perfect shot.




I searched long and hard for a poem for todays offering and nothing quite seemed to convey the feelings I was trying to get across to you. However, I did find the below poem (which is quite long, for which I apologise) that I really do rather like:

MORNING SONG OF SENLIN
(from "Senlin, A Biography")
by: Conrad Aiken (1889-1973)

IT is morning, Senlin says, and in the morning
When the light drips through the shutters like the dew,
I arise, I face the sunrise,
And do the things my fathers learned to do.
Stars in the purple dusk above the rooftops
Pale in a saffron mist and seem to die,
And I myself on a swiftly tilting planet
Stand before a glass and tie my tie.
Vine leaves tap my window,
Dew-drops sing to the garden stones,
The robin chips in the chinaberry tree
Repeating three clear tones.

It is morning. I stand by the mirror
And tie my tie once more.
While waves far off in a pale rose twilight
Crash on a white sand shore.
I stand by a mirror and comb my hair:
How small and white my face!--
The green earth tilts through a sphere of air
And bathes in a flame of space.
There are houses hanging above the stars
And stars hung under a sea. . .
And a sun far off in a shell of silence
Dapples my walls for me. . .

It is morning, Senlin says, and in the morning
Should I not pause in the light to remember God?
Upright and firm I stand on a star unstable,
He is immense and lonely as a cloud.
I will dedicate this moment before my mirror
To him alone, and for him I will comb my hair.
Accept these humble offerings, cloud of silence!
I will think of you as I descend the stair.
Vine leaves tap my window,
The snail-track shines on the stones,
Dew-drops flash from the chinaberry tree
Repeating two clear tones.
It is morning, I awake from a bed of silence,
Shining I rise from the starless waters of sleep.
The walls are about me still as in the evening,
I am the same, and the same name still I keep.
The earth revolves with me, yet makes no motion,
The stars pale silently in a coral sky.
In a whistling void I stand before my mirror,
Unconcerned, I tie my tie.
There are horses neighing on far-off hills
Tossing their long white manes,
And mountains flash in the rose-white dusk,
Their shoulders black with rains. . .

It is morning.
I stand by the mirror
And surprise my soul once more;
The blue air rushes above my ceiling,
There are suns beneath my floor. . .

. . . It is morning, Senlin says, I ascend from darkness
And depart on the winds of space for I know not where,
My watch is wound, a key is in my pocket,
And the sky is darkened as I descend the stair.
There are shadows across the windows, clouds in heaven,
And a god among the stars; and I will go
Thinking of him as I might think of daybreak
And humming a tune I know. . .

Vine-leaves tap at the window,
Dew-drops sing to the garden stones,
The robin chirps in the chinaberry tree
Repeating three clear tones.
Have a nice day dear readers
x

Wednesday 21 October 2009

The Alchemist

Today I finished reading a book called The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.


It made me feel like this...






Images via
and

I will listen to the language of the world.
I will look out for omens showing me the way.
I will look to my heart when making decisions.
I will.
Maktub.
x

Tuesday 20 October 2009

I Love.....

Lilacs, and avocadooos, Ukelaleas and Violins, Woody Allen and walking in the snoooow..*
Ok enough of that (if you can ever have enough Carly Simon, which I doubt) and onto the "serious" stuff.

I Love..

Other peoples Blogs:

From never having even read a blog a couple of months ago I have now become a Fussy Blog Reader. Like the girl in the restaurant who finds something on the menu she fancies straight away or wants to go somewhere different, like the shopping buddy that doesn't like anything in the ten stores you visit but makes that decision in about five seconds of entering. I storm through five blogs in as many minutes noting down which I do and don't like.
If a blog doesn't grab me in the first post or so then I'm outta there.
Fickle? Yes.
Would I be annoyed if someone did that to me? Fo sure.

Once I have found a blog I like I then stalk it for a few days (OK 'stalk' sounds wrong but you get my meaning).
I have recently found these two blogs which I LOVE.



Sound the alarm! Blog envy alert!

Just so you know, I want to be best friends with the girls who write these blogs - pretty pleease, I can just sit in the corner and lap up your prettiness?

Emma:



Recently been watching the latest BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's 'Emma'. Just as I swooned over Mr Darcy (sooo deliciously brooding), Mr Knightly is having a similar effect on me.

That utter adoration of Emma (or Eliza in P&P) + frock coat + britches + boots = giddy me.

Brooches:

For one thing I like the word, for another I think they can totally pull an outfit together or make an average outfit into something quirky. The below brooches (heehee it has two 'o's) are super cute and can be found here.




Hope you are having a good day dearies.
More from me tomorrow I should think.

See ya later mash potater.
x


* Despite my love for Carly Simon, I cannot guarantee those are the right lyrics.

Monday 19 October 2009

Button in horrific F1 accident:

Hee hee

Not normally one for Formula 1 racing but have to say yesterdays race was jolly exciting.
Very pleased that Jenson Button won and that he seemed genuinely delighted and over the moon to be world champion.
Hoorah and Huzzah for him!

That's it for today I'm afraid chickadees, more from me later this week though so don't fret!
Hope you had a good weekend.
x

Friday 16 October 2009

Lost.

I have a confession to make, and I do not make this lightly: I have no sense of direction.

Seriously, zero.

I have lived in the same town my whole life and still get lost there. You could take me to the same building every day for a year and I would learn the exact route, but lead me out of a slightly different door or via a different road and I would have no clue as to how to get home. I would love to be one of those people who have an innate sense of knowing exactly which direction to go no matter where they are but sadly this is not one of my attributes (of which there are obviously numerous others).

Soooo, you will know if you read this blog every so often that on occassion I walk to and/or from the train station to work. Yesterday was one of those days. Normally I walk the same route the bus does (I find this safest), however yesterday morning as I walked in I discovered a route which cut quite a few minutes off my normal journey. Feeling very pleased with myself I decided to take the same route home and not end up stuck in rush hour traffic, grinding my teeth as the traffic lights turn red every time we reach them.

Bearing in mind the above statement regarding my poor (ie. non existent) sense of direction I'm sure you will realise : This was Not a Good Idea.

I knew after about 10 minutes of walking that something wasn't right, but I pushed onwards nevertheless. After 20 minutes and no sight of any familiar landmarks (let me warn you now, all of London looks EXACTLY THE SAME) I asked a porter of a hotel who (with a distinct look of pity in his eyes) stated I was in fact walking completely the wrong way and the train station I was after was actually forty minutes in the opposite direction.
I'll admit it, as I walked away I did start to cry a little bit.

I was lost in the Big Scary City.
How the hell did I get here?
Would I ever get to the station in time for my train?
Why meeeeeeeee?
Biting my lip, trying not to sob like an idiot I flagged down a black cab and tearfully asked him to take me to the train station.

My mistake cost me dear - an extra 50 minutes to my journey home, a large blister from my shoes and £6.90 in taxi fare. I know six whole pounds and ninety pennies.
I missed my train and ended up getting a later one - my self confidence now so shot to pieces I spent most the journey being paranoid that my common sense had failed me again and I had gotten on the wrong train by mistake (which I hadn't).

I did finally arrive home tired, stressed and in desperate need of a cup of tea but essentially unscathed.

So what have we learnt today my dears? That's right, know your strengths and don't go blithely wandering through London if your sense of direction is not so hot - You will get Lost.

I end todays lesson with these beautiful necklaces (which are available to buy here), pretty much purely to make myself feel better about my idioticness when I re-read this post.




Phew, much better now.
Have a splendid weekend.
And remember, don't get lost.
x

Thursday 15 October 2009

In my heart.

Of course I didn't nearly forget to write a post today.
Don't be silly, I totally remembered to look up a poem for todays poetry offering last night.
Nope, I was not sitting twiddling my thumbs thinking, 'what is it that I normally do at lunch time?' then suddenly leaping into action and typing like a maniac (ok the last part actually isn't true, I rarely leap into anything let alone action and my typing speed is plodding at the best of times).

Soooo here is the post that nearly never existed *ahem* what? hmm, no haha. I mean, so here is the post I have been meticulously planning for ages.

E E Cummings
I Carry Your Heart

I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart)
I am never without it (anywhere I go you go, my dear;
and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
I fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)
I want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)

I first heard this poem in the rather unintellectual place of the movie 'In Her Shoes'. She reads it for her sister so it always reminds me of mine too.

Although I would of course not object to this being performed to me be an adoring male.

Pip pip mes cheries.
Chin up, it's not long til Friday.
x

Wednesday 14 October 2009

The Good Life.

You have a nice life.
A good group of friends who you would happily see every day but equally you could not call for a month and nothing will have changed between you.
You have hobbies, interests, pasttimes which you enjoy and fulfil you.
Routines which you have carved and which comfort you.
Music and books and films which you love.
Dreams you treasure.
Family you cherish.
Maybe you could do with a bit more cash or more free time.
Maybe this isn't the job of your dreams or you havn't got a job at all.
Maybe you're not a high flier or a social butterfly.
Maybe it would be nice to have a good man/woman in your life.
Maybe you don't travel to amazing places or have supper with celebrities.
Maybe.
But fundamentally, when you get down to the nitty gritty, down to the bottom line, you know your life is a good one and you are happy with it.
Don't doubt yourself. You do lead a good life.
A full life.
That desparate inner yearning you sometimes get. That impossible ache of desire for...something else, something you can't quite put your finger on.
That is put upon you externally.
Don't be led to believe by others who are less emotionally mature than you that there is something essential missing from your existence. Something that should be paraded and envied.
There isn't.
There is nothing to envy.

You have a good life.

You have a good, good life.

Tuesday 13 October 2009

Finally,

finally, finally got round to uploading some of my photographs onto Photobucket. Still not entirely sure how the whole shebang works plus little angry boxes keeping popping up insistently warning me something may not be safe. But hey-ho, whats life without a little risk and mystery (although that I get this risk and mystery from my Photobucket account is more than a little concerning).

It has to be said I am a bit of a geek when it comes to birds and a low level amateur twitcher in my spare time (this basically involves me running about the garden, squinting up at various trees asking 'what's that? what's that?' as birds tweet elusively above me).

The blackbirds that visit our garden nest in nearby bushes and trees and are relatively tame. In the summer, when they get used to you being out in the garden, they will come hopping and pecking quite close.
Below pics are of a blackbird spotted on the flat roof outside my sister's bedroom window.












Hope you like them.
Until next time chickadees.

x

Monday 12 October 2009

Altogether now....

.....awwwww

This story in the paper made me go giddy due to the sheer adorableness -




"Baby pygmy hedgehogs have taken over one woman's life - after she took 24 of them into her home.

Ashleigh Hunt, 20, currently has two dozen of baby African Pygmy Hedgehogs, which fit neatly into the palm of a hand and are Britain's latest must-have mini-pet.

Demand for the hedgehogs has spiralled in recent months after it emerged the tiny creatures, which weigh between 12 and 18 ounces (0.3kg), can sell for up to £200 each.
The tiny creatures are given the run of Ashleigh’s house and keep popping up in unlikely places such as tea pots and egg cups. Ashleigh was given her first three hogs 18 months ago by a friend.
She has since been given another seven and overseen the birth of a further 14 at her home in Flore, Northants. Ashleigh said: “I look after mine really well but they do have a habit of escaping and running round the house. They get everywhere.“I have found them in cupboards, snuggled up in my bed. They even line up and watch the TV with me at night. They will happily fall asleep in the palm of your hand once they trust you.” Pygmy hedgehogs are native to Egypt and are sold in specialist pet shops across the UK. They became popular as pets in the US in the 90s."


I repeat:

They even line up and watch TV with me at night !!!
They will happily fall asleep in the palm of your hand once they trust you !!!!!
WARNING:CUTE OVERLOAD!!!!!!
Can I have one? Prett please? I promise I'll look after it! Carrying it round in my pocket and sitting it on my desk at work is proper care for a pygmy animal right?

Hope I have fulfilled my duty in brightening up your Monday.
I apologise if you have exploded with glee or giggled helplessly due to the sweetness of the Pygmy hedgehogs.

Au revoir
x

I can't resist and I'm pretty sure you wont be able to either-

Friday 9 October 2009

Ruler of my Heart.



Last night - As I walked to the train station after work (I know walking to and from work!) I spy police and police dogs looking in man holes. 'What the devil?' I think to myself as I skipped to the station.*

This morning - loads of police, police vans, cordens and TV crews because.......da da da daaa, the Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William are all going to be just down the road from me today at St Pauls Cathedral! I am a sucker for the Royal family, getting ridiculously excited when they are in my vicinity. Sure they don't technically do much and today there will be chaos when they arrive including - huge crowds, check. Crazy traffic, double check. Tourist heaven, you betcha.

But frankly my dear I don't give a monkeys- it's the Queen.
I've practised my curtsey and everything.
Well, you never know when it might come in handy.
Plus I am convinced that some day I will be invited for tea at Buckingham Palace (I have no particular reasoning behind this assumption and have simply decided that this will happen.)



Both the above cushions are available at Etsy and the below
rather cool Tatler cover is to celebrate their 300th year.

Despite having the beginnings of a cold I feel in a pretty good mood today (this may have something to do with the face it's Friday of course) and am looking forward to the weekend even though I have no fixed plans (though I'm pretty sure it will involve shopping and sleeping which is a pretty good combination you gotta admit).
Currently bombarding said cold with vitamins, Actimel, thai chicken soup and exercise (hence the out of character exertion in walking to and from work) whilst firmly telling myself I am not unwell, I will not get a cold, I am the picture of health.
It's all about the willpower right?
Promise that this weekend I will try to upload some of my photos which will hopefuly appear on here next week.
Have a good Friday and a lovely weekend my chickadees.
x

p.s. after publishing this post on here, discovered that by coincidence yesterday was in fact National Poetry day!
* in place of 'skipped' read power walk with appropriate speed face.

Thursday 8 October 2009

MISSING: Season of Mists

Here there have been downpours of rain and grey skys, cold dampness and clouds and, for a few days, I thought Autumn had abandoned me. Where was the sharp, clear brightness an Autumn morning brings? Where was that deliciously crisp freshness which I drink in like a tonic for my soul?

Today, it arrived. The Autumn morning sun hung low and heavy in the sky, glancing off the queuing cars, creating a hundred more tiny suns on windscreens to blind passers by.

Instead of catching the bus I walked in to work from the train station and felt my heart to be lighter than it has been for days as I stepped through the streets of London, the chill of the morning air bringing a glow to my cheeks as well as my heart.


A couple of days ago I decided that each Thursday I shall put a piece of poetry up on this blog (however, I make no promises as to how long this self - induced discipline will last!). This decision is partly to encourage me to read and seek out more poetry, partly because most of the best poetry I know of has been introduced to me by other people and the thought that I could introduce someone out there to a new and beloved poem is quite exciting, and partly because it is often so much easier to express a view in someone elses words than your own (though if my courage holds out one or two of my own attempts shall appear before you).

Here is a perfect example which I hope you enjoy - a favourite poem describing my favourite season:

Ode To Autumn
by John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the mossed cottage trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'erbrimmed their clammy cells.


Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind,
Or on a half-reaped furrow sound asleep,
Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twinèd flowers;
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.


Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, -
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Monday 5 October 2009

Happy time.

I wasn't going to post today but figured you might need cheering up on this grey rainy day.

Here you go then -
Stormtroopers and kittens, together at last.

No, no. No need to thank me, just doing my duty as a loving blogger.


I know I've mentioned him before but find more of the same here. Another one of those ideas I wish I had thought of.

x

P.S. Another installment in the hilariously embarrassing moments in the life of Humble Magnificent - at lunch I spilt coke (cola not drugs) all over my mouse and mouse mat at work - mmmm sticky.
P.P.S. I literally just broke the pedal on the bin in the Ladies loo.
P.P.P.S. If we do actually live in some kind of Truman Show reality, the producers must be making an absolute fortune from my misfortunes.

Friday 2 October 2009

Today.

Today I saw - 1) actual men with actual guns at the train station (they were police men, not scary gunmen just to reassure you).
2) a man with a trilby hat and a pipe looking very dapper.

Today I ate - duck and hoi sin noodles. Yummy yum yum.
A sausageroll (pastry not bread) with toamato ketchup baked in it. Not so yummy yum yum.

Today I heard - a boy beatboxing as he walked along. I was tempted to walk along side him and join in (that I can't actually beatbox very well is beside the point). I like to imagine that if I had, everyone else would have joined in too in the style of an old-school musical (synchronised dance moves included obv.)

Today I smiled at - 1) the man who gives me the City A.M. paper in the morning I got the last one today and he said "you're lucky, it's my last one!" and I felt lucky.
2) the lady who sat next to me on the train and the lady I sat next to on the bus - the former looked at me as though I was odd, the latter offered me a polo mint.

Today I love - this blog. I mean I seriously love it.

Thursday 1 October 2009

Confessions of a Home Girl




One week ago:

Colleague1: We're all going for drinks next Friday for Bob's* leaving do. Are you coming?
Me in head: No
Me out loud: Sure why not.
Me in head: Damn. Oh well, plenty of time to think up an excuse.


One week later (i.e. now):

Colleague1: Still on for drinks tomorrow right?
Me in head: Buggerbuggerbugger
Me out loud: Oh, erm no, didn't I say? *clears throat* something's come up so 'fraid I can't.
Colleague2: Oh what's that?
Me out loud: *high pitched vioice* dinner. Yep dinner with... some... friends. Unavoidable I'm afraid.
Colleague1: Oh, how about next week?
Me out loud: Sure!
Me in head: DAMN!

OK, ok, I admit it I'm a homebody. I'm a girl whose heart is where the home is. There, I've said it. I live with my superlovelyfavegirl sister and though I love a great night out with my fab friends as much as the next girl, I would rather spend an evening at home with Sis and a good DVD than go out with people I'm not crazy about.

I find the people I get on best with are those with whom I don't have to pretend I had a Kerazeee night out on Saturday night then spent Sunday Massively hungover when in fact I spent Saturday night watching Lord of the Rings and Sunday playing badminton and gardening.


By the way I trust this goes no further than you guys, ok?

And if anyone asks, last Saturday was Wicked man, we got sooo drunk we were Wasted innit. Got that?

Phew.

Oh yeah, and if anyone knows of a good excuse then feel free pass it on.

Love,
your Home Girl
x


*Bob is not his real name. Names changed to protect identities.