Proper Housewife

Surprisingly I was a proper housewife today and I will explain more soon with a proper diary entry but I must write about my experience at the beauty therapist first. Early this morning, well early for me (8.15am) I had an appointment for a facial and fifteen minutes of Reiki. The facial started off well, and then my therapist decided that I needed ‘grounding’. By this she placed her hands on my feet and made me visualize a happy place with some deep breathing. To be honest I had problems focusing on a happy place, maybe I wasn’t relaxed enough or I need to find that happy place, anyway while she was doing this I had the most weirdest experience ever. It wasn’t pleasant either – I felt like I was floating or falling off the bed I was on. It was like being dizzy but not, it’s hard to explain. I didn’t like it and had to open my eyes to fix a point on something and deep breathe to calm myself. After a few minutes she went back to the facial and started the Reiki – this made the odd sensation go away but after that I found it difficult to feel calm. My therapist said I must be so tense that the feeling came from my body relaxing. Now that doesn’t really help me to know that as I hate feeling odd or strange things happening to me but I am going back in a couple of weeks for a back and shoulder massage and some more Reiki. She said that my shoulders are so tense that she had to be careful not to hurt me with the shoulder massage after the facial. I have a feeling that this relaxing malarkey will take a long time.

So, that was the first part of my day. After that I got home and after analysing my experience at the beauty therapist I got myself out the house and did the food shopping. Two supermarkets – Aldi for the cheap fresh fruit and veg, then on to Waitrose for everything else. When I got back it was after 1pm and I was starving, so I had a quick lunch before putting everything away in their rightful place. After this I emptied the dishwasher, cleaned the bathroom and hoovered everywhere. Three lots of clothes washing later and picked up the dry cleaning, I then had an errand to run. A friend of mine parents had an old pine bookcase that they were selling so I had a 20 minute drive to go and see it. It was just right for the hallway (once I have painted it) so I paid £20 and popped in to the back of the car. As soon as I got home I went for a 10 minute run and then my husband got home from work. I then went and got dinner started. I made a warm salad with roasted butternut squash with goats cheese on warm bread with onion chutney. It was delicious if I don’t say so myself. Then I made a cocktail for myself – a Murricane (watermelon, basil, bourbon, St Germain and lemon), and it was lovely. After all that I’m now knackered but I have another cocktail (an Old Fashioned) while writing this and today has felt like a proper housewife day and I quite enjoyed it.

Bright mad colours

Today, while chatting in the work chatroom, we had a discussion about painting rooms and which colour. I realised that in my house now all the colours are very pale, a mixture of cream, brown, beige and white. My dressing room/study is the only room with a hint of colour, a pale blue and white patterned wallpaper. Not really avant-garde or funky. Lately I’ve been thinking about adding some colour into my home and maybe just not in an odd cushion or picture, but with a blank canvas I can go mad on accessories like big colourful rugs, bright lampshades, different coloured glassware and ceramics. I’ve been wanting to get back into getting more creative makings for a while now and thanks to Channel 4 On Demand I’ve been watching Kirstie’s Homemade Home programmes on the net. Now I’m full of inspiration.

I’m definitely going to get my sewing machine down from the loft and take up sewing again. Since leaving college I’ve not done anything like this since. I’m not even sure I’ll be able to use my sewing machine without looking at the manual.  Maybe I should take knitting back up even though I haven’t done that since my early teens. Or glass painting, no – I over killed that years ago but I will dig out some ones that I did back then for display. So, reclaim yards, antique shops and charity shops here I come looking for goodies to bring new life in to them. Actually the net has a wealth of shops and inspiration from blogs which brings me to my latest purchase from Gone to Earth, these gorgeous looking fabrics. Not sure what I’m going to make with them but they are pretty to look at.

Beautiful material

Relax!

I was about to burst in to song with Frankie Goes To Hollywood but I won’t put through the pain of my so-called singing (not that I know how to publish podcasts on here anyway). I’m talking about chilling out, relaxing, being calm. I have great difficulty in feeling chilled out and normally it takes either a few drinks or a long holiday for me to feel relaxed but as soon as I’m back to normal life then all my neuroses come back.  As I’m writing this I think I have written about this before, oh well.  The past few days I can feel the knots creeping back in to my shoulders and neck as I get myself worked up over nothing. Sitting at my desk doesn’t really help as my shoulders are up around my ears (as my old yoga teacher used to say) and I can sleep in a tension state, usually waking up with jaw ache because I have put all my stress in my face while sleeping.

Now I have Friday off and I keep thinking I should use this time to obviously get some chores done but also maybe do something relaxing like have a facial or massage. My hairdresser also recommended trying some Reiki to help me calm down and she gave me a leaflet for her therapist. I’ve been looking at this leaflet all day wondering if I should book an appointment for Friday. The problem I have is that I get so nervous nowadays before I try anything new that it doesn’t seem worthwhile, will I be able to relax anyway? And that is where the problem actually lies – if I’m relaxed does that mean my defences are down and then what, well nothing I suppose but my brain won’t know what to do if  I’m not in a high state of anxiety.  My other fear is that I might feel unwell or something odd happens, again I don’t know why I would think this but I hate the idea of illness or something wrong that it scares me (to death if I don’t stop worrying).  Right I’m going to make a good decision and see if I can get the courage to book an appointment for Friday.

UPDATE: I have a mini facial and 15 mins of Reiki booked for Friday morning!

Random thoughts and rants

Not often, as I’m busy reading or writing this blog on the train but sometimes I will casually gaze out the window especially from Fenchurch Street to West Ham. This is the interesting section – the heart of the city and east end with Canary Wharf in the distance. Canals with footpaths, old buildings Victorian buildings and the odd bit of greenery. The diversity of this small patch of land is wonderful to me from the Victorian pub standing on it’s own next to a 50s built housing block. Of course any small patch of empty land is being built on with massive new tower blocks and slowly I feel my view from the train will be obscured by these monstrosities. Shame and what is a real shame is seeing that the old Victorian school is finally being knocked down. OK it looked like it had been empty for years but, still it was a piece of wonderful architecture and should have been saved.

Other random thoughts – the whole Michael Jackson funeral/concert thing is a bit weird (as in life and in death). That’s all I’m going to say on the matter. It’s four years since the 7/7 bombings and it still gets to me. As I’m no longer working in the Farringdon area I don’t go through Aldgate station anymore so I don’t have daily reminders of that day but it is definitely a morning I won’t forgot. Now for a rant, well about 20 minutes ago I was going to have a full on rant about my husband and his petty ways (which I blame on him being a middle child) but after a small dose of the sweet medicine of St Germain, I’m feeling much calmer now so I won’t fall in to that nasty side of me that only ventures out at rare occasions. Ignoring him in my own petty way is best for us all at the moment, anyway I’ve got Glastonbury highlights to see listen to via the BBC iPlayer.

Horses for courses

Where does that phrase come from? Anyway, I’m talking about courses and learning new things. I’ve already written about choosing history for a degree but I thought I should update with what I’m actually going to study. I’m now a student at the Birkbeck University of London and once I get a passport size photo done I can get a student card, which means discount in some clothes shops – hee! I have registered and paid for a 22 week evening course in Medieval History. This course will give me points that will go towards a Certificate in History.  It doesn’t start until October so in the meantime I been thinking about all the other things I would like to learn before this starts.

HTML/CSS is definetly one subject I would like to master as is graphic design using Adobe Illustrator. At the City Lit they have short courses to learn these and at the weekends, so as fast as I’m earning my money the quicker I seem to be spending it. Also, at City Lit I found a weekend course on dressmaking – three Sundays in a row on how to make a skirt. I would love to do this as well but I feel I might be pushing myself with too much and also I can ask my mum to teach me dressmaking as she used to make lots of our clothes while growing up.  As well as piano lessons on a Saturday morning, I’m filling up every spare moment that I have to learning – at least it is in subjects that I like, unlike some lessons at school!

Blur at Hyde Park

On Friday I went to see Blur at Hyde Park – all those months ago when I somehow managed to get tickets for the event I never thought it would be as good as it was. Now I knew it would be great, I’ve saw Blur play live at Kilburn Ballroom back in the early 90s just after the release of their first album. The room was small with about 200 people in it and they were just fantastic.  The Hyde Park event was of course on a slightly bigger scale with thousands of people there and also a great support line-up.  My friend and I got to the park at about 4.30pm just as Deerhoof were on the stage. A band I had never heard of before and slightly odd but good to listen to while eating some nachos in the shade. Then my husband managed to find us in the park just in time for Florence and the Machine. She has a fab voice and it was good to see the band live as well. Then came on Vampire Weekend, who were just great and really got the crowd going. By this time we had moved to be nearer the stage amongst the crowds. I love the Vampire Weekend album and it was wonderful to hear it live and also to hear some new songs. These new songs were just as good so that will be an album worth getting when released.

Vampire Weekend

Then Blur appeared on the stage – the crowd went wild! They played all their hits like Parklife (with Phil Daniels appearing), Song 2, She’s so High, There’s No Other Way, Beetlebum, Coffee and TV and loads more, 25 songs to be exact. They were just great – very emotional during Coffee and TV and Out of Time, a big sing along to Tender and lots of jumping up and down to Song 2.  My late teenage crush for Damon Albarn is back with full force and now I would love to see them again in a much smaller environment. Blur themselves seemed overwhelmed by the whole event and Damon was lost for words at how many people were there supporting them with this big comeback. I wonder if they will write new songs, not that I mind as long as they keep playing gigs now and again.  It definitely was a brilliant night out even in the overcrowded park and the nightmare journey home but something I will always remember with happy thoughts.

Blur

Damon on the large screen

Sunny!

Again. All this nice weather means I’m not finding the time to write my blog… friends and family are coming round soon for a barbecue so I only have about ten minutes to write something. Blur were excellent last night but I will write more about that tomorrow.  Still, I had a fretful night sleep so I’ve been feeling worried and anxious all day but I’ve been deep breathing and trying to calm myself down.  I’m now off to make some cocktails for the gathering and a few veggie burgers. A few drinks should help me out. Hope everyone else is enjoying the summer.

Happy Friday!

Just a quick one today as I’m running late and just about to leave the house. Off to see Blur at Hyde Park so it should be a fun afternoon/evening. Anyway, Happy Friday everyone!

Yawn… the heat

Another post about it being too hot and humid in London – I think, the heat has got to me. A night out for pizza and a few drinks would normally be a good night out but Fire & Stone (pizza place) does these elaborate pizzas – brie with butternut squash and pumpkin seeds. Sounds nice but talk about being very rich. Along with a raspberry mojito followed by one small beer in the Canadian bar (which was like an oven inside) I had had enough of the place and just wanted to get home. Getting home was traumatic, the tube was hotter than it was been all week and walking to the train station was tiring. Thankfully the train home is air conditioned so I managed to get myself back under control and feeling chilled.  Then the walk home just took it out of me again.

I’m really glad to be home now with all the windows and doors open sitting on the sofa writing my blog. I now having a glass of water and a peppermint tea to help get me back on track. I just felt really out of sorts the whole evening – I’m blaming it on the heat. According to the weather experts there is meant to be thunderstorms soon and that will bring the temps down.  Lucky I’ve got the day off tomorrow, no rushing to get ready in the morning, just a hair cut and some food shopping to do before getting ready for the Blur event in Hyde Park. Back in to London but hopefully by then I will be feeling a lot more calm and collected.

Not much going on…

In my head anyway, as I can’t think of much to write about except for the fact that the BBC doesn’t sell a DVD of all the great videos from Glastonbury. Shame on them. Unless I’m missing something and in fact if they do someone please let me know. As the BBC has all these strict rules about copying videos I can’t even see them on YouTube again – boo! Anyway, I’ll watch them as much as I can on the BBC site until they take them off especially the Bon Iver set which was just wonderful.

Other random thoughts on a good note – pay day was yesterday; the weather is still hot, scorchio hot it is; air conditioned office; I’m looking forward to seeing Blur at Hyde Park on Friday; I’m going shopping for cocktail additions tomorrow lunchtime; my running is improving and surprisingly Andy Murray is doing well at the tennis. Bad notes – too hot on the tube; too hot at night to sleep. No matter what the weather us Brits do like to complain about it – snow, rain, lack of rain (hose pipe bans), wind, cloudy, sun (heatwave). Ah well.