hello 2010 i think i'm going to like you!

All things considered it wasn't a bad New Year's Eve; we watched films and Father Ted and saw in 2010 rather decadently sitting in bed drinking pink champagne! I insisted upon wearing the outfit I'd planned for the NYE dinner party I didn't get to go to (*still* coughing). I adore this dress. I bought it for my graduation in 1997 and it still fits! In fact I think it fits better as I'm not quite as skin and bone as I was back then. It cost £200 from Whistles and whilst I nearly passed out spending that much on a dress, it has stood the test of time!

I would have worn these shoes, had we gone anywhere. As it was I just wore slippers.

And look! I'm using Poladroid! (Thanks to Nadine for the link - cuts the top of your head off though, maybe not such a bad thing....),

I also read this book by the author of daddylikey. If like me you ever look in your wardrobe and think you have nothing to wear, you have to read this! Turns out I have tons to wear after all!

As with so much in life, the new year was tinted with a shade of sadness when I found out that Tim Hart had died. As the daughter of old folkies I grew up listening to Steeleye Span and there will always be a special place in my heart for them.

RIP Tim, play on.

an early christmas present

Everybody has something that they covet over anything else. It could be an end to war, or bigotry. It could be a first edition of Keats' poems. It could even just be wealth, health and happiness.

For me would it be one of the original cassettes of Pocketwatch. I think only 200 were ever released, scattered around the globe; those that still exist, stuck in dusty boxes in people's attics. Most of them are probably destroyed. The mastertapes certainly are.

I've always hoped to come across a copy at a record fair or a car boot sale. There have been a couple of occassions when a copy has popped up on Ebay but Himself and I just haven't had the money to justify buying it (they go for £100s).

Then a couple of weeks ago this came up on Ebay. It's not Pocketwatch per se, but it is a 7" vinyl pressing of one of the 1990 tracks.

And until I have a copy of one of the original tapes, this will make me grin with delight. Best Christmas present ever! Many many thanks to dearly beloved Himself for always watching out on Ebay :D

What do you wish for this Christmas?

Reasons to be Thankful

"So who wants to live forever when these moments will only come the once?" -- Justin Sullivan




This week I saw the best band in the world. Every time I hear Vagabonds live my heart bursts. Dancing to NMA for 2 hours is worth feeling as though my sacro-iliac joint is on fire the next day. Never, ever stop touring. Never. One Family. One Tribe.

Also this week I am grateful for:-

* Poetry
* Foo Fighters on VH1 Storytellers (even if they did bleep out all the "fucks" - meanwhile Jay-Z is allowed to call women "bitches" without being bleeped!)
* Desperately needed days off work
* Donating blood (another one off my list). Having needed blood myself in the past I always swore when I was well enough I would give it back.
* Yin Yoga
* Cooking for my family (which included British wine. Yes that's right, British wine! And it was nice!)
* Sunday morning power walks followed by curling up on the sofa
* Reading a whole book in a weekend (I used to do this a lot, I just haven't found the time in the last couple of years)
* Things to look forward to

Reasons to be Thankful

This week has been all about work, work, work so I guess I'm thankful I have a job (although I am looking forward to work being not quite so busy!)

I spent half the week in training about new Government objectives in funding for people with disabilities. So I am thankful to live a in a country where people with disability and ill health do get finanicial help and opportunity. I am also thankful for the life I have.

The rest of the week was spent putting the final touches to a fundraising art exhibition which I have organised. It's been incredibly hard work and ridiculously frustrating but watching it all come together for the grand opening yesterday was awesome!

And a couple of other little things that make me smile right now:-

• Lovefilm sending me the first season of Frasier - I had forgotten how funny it is!
• Working out holiday plans which include going to see the new nephew.
• Finally owning a vinyl player again, which means that I can dig out all my old vinyl from my parents' attic. It also means I can listen to 125mph again (which never made it onto the remastered CD for some reason - master tapes lost I presume?)
• My dad's 71st birthday today (which he always reminds me with much delight is also the anniversary of Margaret Thatcher's resignation in 1990!)
• A shot of JD over ice before bed.
• Florence and the Machine
  
• Yoga every day.

Good thoughts for a lovely new week for one and all - I have a very good week coming up! :D

Day 17 - Power Cut

I got an unplanned night off last night due to a power cut. Being self employed it was an unpaid night off as well. Sigh...

The class started fine, I settled everyone into savasana, scanning their bodies for areas of tension, listening to the sound of their breath and then....poof....the lights went out. Although it is still light at 7.30pm here the yoga studio at the health centre is in a kind of semi-basement, so we were rather plunged into darkness. I had no choice but to refund money and send everybody home.

What with that and one of my private clients cancelling this week due to a child care mix up, I don't really feel I've got into the swing of work again this week at all! Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something....

Project Fitness continues well. I did my second gym session today after two days of power walking. Pretty much the same routine as I did on Tuesday, but with some extra machine work for legs and arms.

Linking back to yesterday's post about music - there is one place where I really need my music, and that is on the treadmill or cross trainer. Today's choice was Black Stone Cherry, very loud! I've always found it gives you that extra boost when it comes to cardio work. Then I toned it down to some Wah! for my mat work.

Not much else planned for the rest of the day. I have the day off today. Like I said, I haven't really got back into the swing after holidays yet. Still I'm sure that'll change next week!

Day 16 - Music

When I was younger I nearly always did my yoga practice to music. Whilst I am a rock music fan, obviously I used to choose something a bit quieter for my practice -- some Wah! some buddhist chants, some Shiva Rhea. These days, however, I find it really distracting to listen to music while I'm practicing.

I'm not sure why. It could be that my practice has changed so much -- from Astanga Vinyasa to a gentle meditative Viniyoga practice, that because rather than doing a set routine of postures I am listening to what my body wants and needs each day and in order to listen I need silence. It could be that as I have worked deeper and deeper into my yoga practice I no longer feel the silence around me oppressive, I no longer feel the silence to be a void that needs filling with sound, but instead welcome it on to my mat with me.

On the other hand, I studied for my A Levels listening to Jane's Addiction and New Model Army very very loud - now I can't even reply to an email if there are any distractions so it could just be a simple matter of getting older!