A corner of my new kitchen!
Hello there! Some of you with long memories may recall that I used to post a weekly round up of bits and bobs that didn’t really call for an entire blog post on their own but that for tiresome reasons that I either can’t remember or are too tiresome to divulge, I let this habit slip. Well NO MORE. Yes, that’s right – weekly round up posts are BACK ON starting from today.
Some of the new kitchen. This space is CLEARLY crying out for a bright pink Kitchenaid mixer, right.
Of course, this week’s main event was our house move which involved moving ourselves, the children and all our belongings 0.3 miles (approximately two minutes drive away). A terrible undertaking, I think you will all agree. It hasn’t all been plain sailing, mainly because I hate moving house (despite having done it a bazillion times) and also because the last occupiers turned out to be a bit tool like (they left it as a bit of a tip and then became overly attached to one set of door keys) but it’s definitely worth it as although we really liked our old house (a nice big airy Edwardian terrace), we LOVE the new one as it is even bigger and airier. In fact as I type this, I am sitting at the dining table in our lovely new dining room and enjoying the sunshine filtering in through the huge French windows that open out onto the garden. It’s heavenly.
Cocktail at the Milk Thistle, Bristol. Just look at that drinks menu!
Honourable mention goes here to my fabulous chum Becky who helped me escape the horror for an evening of cocktails at The Milk Thistle and dubious conversation about, amongst other things, squid sandwiches, fetishes for Anonymous masks, beards made of BEES, stripper cats and er other stuff. I LOVE the Milk Thistle as it’s designed with the sort of quirky, Victorian bohemian gloom that I most appreciate. They also have the most charming bar staff I have ever had the pleasure to encounter and who create the most potent cocktails known to ALL MANKIND. Another honourable mention goes to another friend, the gorgeous Annie of Mammasaurus who stayed over for an evening of more GIN, curry and interesting discussion about the state of blogging.
Anyway, we’re all moved in now bar putting up my collection of Madame Talbot pictures and some other stuff so were free to spend this weekend just enjoying the new house. Yesterday we ventured out into Bristol for the first day of Pharaoh: King of Egypt at Bristol Museum, which was excellent and packed full of fascinating objects. My little boys are both OBSESSED with Ancient Egypt so were highly thrilled to spend a morning looking at various artefacts. You know, I always thought the character of Ramses in the Amelia Peabody novels was ridiculously far fetched but I’ve now come to eat my words as I appear to have a seven year old who tells EVERYONE that he’s going to be an archaeologist one day and find Akhenaten’s actual tomb and a four year old whose vocabulary includes such words, all said with correct authority no less, as ‘Tutankhamun’, ‘sarcophagus’, ‘Akhenaten’, ‘scarab beetle’, ‘pyramid’, ‘Osiris’, ‘Anubis’, ‘Cleopatra’ and other Egyptian delights. It’s totally mad.
Anyway, yes, the exhibition runs until the 21st July and is well worth seeing. I also recommend taking up one of the opportunities to have a behind the scenes look at some of the Egyptian bits and pieces in the museum stores – my seven year old absolutely loved it.
After this, I accidentally acquired a new phone contract and an ace new phone – I’ve wanted a Galaxy Note II for ages and it really hasn’t disappointed me so far. Although my husband and I are sad Apple obsessives, we’ve both get really fed up with iPhones over the last year or so so clearly a switch back to Android was required. As you can imagine, I’m not massively tech minded but have been having a lot of fun playing with the Note – especially the pen thing. Obviously, one of the first things I did on getting the new phone was change the ringtone to my beloved EELS song from The Mighty Boosh, even though I love it so much that I often don’t bother answering my phone as I’m too busy singing along.
Books:
I ploughed mercilessly through Winter at Death’s Hotel by Kenneth Cameron and Brighton Belle: A Mirabelle Bevan Mystery by Sara Sheridan, both of which were superb whodunnits with strong female central characters. I’m rather less thrilled with The Flower Reader by Elizabeth Loupas though and am finding it a bit plodding to be honest. Hopefully it’ll warm up a bit soon.
Having a massive and rather swish new kitchen has prompted me to add to my cookery book collection with The Hairy Bikers’ Great Curries and The Hummingbird Bakery Home Sweet Home: 100 new recipes for baking brilliance, both of which are excellent. I can’t wait to do some serious cooking with them and have already been making plans for a CURRY AND CAKE feast to celebrate my husband’s upcoming birthday.
My bedside table. I think of this as my Safe Place.
Other Stuff:
We’ve made it to season four of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You can really see the production values improving as it plods along. I’m also working through Sex and the City again, which I love even though I mostly detest the characters. The boys kindly got me DVDs of The Paradise and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (sssh, I love that film) for Mothering Sunday as well.
Oh and my favorite band, Mesh released a new album on Friday which I am listening to on repeat as it’s so good. I’m seeing them at the end of the month and can’t wait. Check them out if you like synthy slightly depressive (in a nutshell, this is break up music) goth pop.
My desk under the stairs. This is where THE MAGIC HAPPENS. Or doesn’t, depending on your view of things.
This Week’s Wisdom:
1. There’s no point spending an absolute fortune on make up if you’re skimping on basic skin care. The stress of moving house played havoc with my complexion and I fell into Space NK yesterday for some samples of proper grown up skin care products to try out with the aim of investing a bit of cash into looking after my face a bit more.
2. I’ve been following Caitlin Moran’s bit of wisdom about always write as if the piece is going to be read by someone you REALLY REALLY fancy. In her case (and mine too), Tom Hardy. Honestly, it really works. I’m not sure anyone that I fancy would be inspired to kiss me with tongues after reading this post however but hey.
The first part of the house to be finished – yet another corner of the kitchen.
This Week’s Snide:
There’s been some complaints about the ending of The Secret Diary of a Princess: a novel of Marie Antoinette and about how it makes the book feel incomplete and is also a disappointment to those who expected a novel about Marie Antoinette to focus on her life in France rather than ending just after she gets there. The thing is that The Secret Diary was never supposed to be a book about Marie Antoinette in France, but rather about her journey getting there and the transformation from a somewhat gawky Austrian Archduchess to a polished princess worthy of Versailles. Therefore, it felt natural to me to end the book just as she was preparing to enter the chapel at Versailles, all shimmering ivory and gilt, to be married to the Dauphin as that was where this particular story ends.
Maybe I need to crack on with the sequel?
Anyway, that was my week! How was yours?