A Domino Effect

OK, having read a couple of the other Friday 5 posts, I’m sure some of mine might look slightly odd. Anyway, there’s a good reason behind each one, I promise!

Melissa Joan Hart, a.k.a. Sabrina the Teenage Witch

I really, really wanted to be Sabrina the Teenage Witch for most of my early adolescence. I used to watch the programme all the time and then fantasize about how cool it would be to have the power to change my outfits, and make embarrasing things happen to all the horrible kids at school, just at the flick of a finger. I really loved her house as well, her wacky Aunts and her cat, Salem. I mean, who at the age of 13 doesn’t want a talking cat and two parental types who let you do absololutely anything?!

Jennifer Aniston

I’ve put Jennifer Aniston in the mix just because she makes me laugh. I watched Friends for the first time in ages last night, and some of her one-liners are so funny, and she delivers them so brilliantly: “Just so you know, it’s NOT that common, it DOESN’T happen to every guy and is IS a big deal!!”. There will NEVER be a time when that little outburst doesn’t crack me up.

Cheetara from Thundercats

OK let me explain this. I was *really young* and only had my eye on Cheetara because I thought that becoming her would instantly mean I could get closer to the real object of my innocent and naive affections – Lion-O. Oh god, I can’t believe I’m revealing this in public. Yes, it’s true, I lusted after a cartoon half-man half-cat with a strange blue leotard and absolutely no awareness of the idea that ‘less is more’ when it comes to eye makeup. I hang my head in shame and resolve to do better. Sorry peeps.

Dawn French

I love Dawn French. Always have, always will. She is so ridiculously hilarious, and I could watch French and Saunders and The Vicar of Dibley repeats over, and over, and over again and never cease to laugh at her. I think it’s something about her face – it’s really pretty, yet at the same time she’s capable of pulling it into a variety of wildly different, and often quite scary, expressions. Some of her lines are also just comic genius – she’s one of these people who I would just love to sit next to at a dinner party. I bet she could carry a room like nobody’s business. Heart, heart, heart the French.

Cat Deeley

So Cat Deeley is on my list a) because she is ridiculously beautiful with amazing dress sense and b) because I like her approach to the whole ‘fame’ thing. She doesn’t court the media (well, as far as I can tell) in the way so many celebrities do, and she’s NEVER splayed across the front page of Heat magazine, drunk as a skunk and flashing her knickers to paparazzi bystanders a la Katie Price/Charlotte Church. I also think she’s quite a good TV presenter – or at least insofar as she doesn’t make me want to switch the TV off as soon as I see her face onscreen (something I can’t say about a rather substantial variety of other female hosts – Fearne Cotton, Davina McCall, Gabby Logan etc etc).

Please do go and check out all the other girls’ Friday 5s.  You can find us on the #Friday5 hashtag on Twitter.  Have lovely weekends y’all, I’m going to spend mine planning more of my road trip and finishing off my June 2010 list!  Peace out xx

So this week’s Friday 5 is a fun one: the five best presents you have ever received.  Here are mine, and don’t forget to check out the other girls here, here, here, here, here and here as well, I think!

My first tape machine

I don’t remember how old I was when I was given my first radio/tape player, or even whether I received it for a birthday or a Christmas.  I do, however, remember it being the BIGGEST DEAL EVER.  I was mad about music when I was young and would collect tapes and make up dance routines every day without fail (these were the golden days before CDs became the mainstream, and don’t even MENTION mp3!).  My tape player also had a more longlasting effect: my enduring love for many bands, including Crowded House, Queen and the Eagles comes almost entirely from nicking my parents’ music when I was small and playing it relentlessly on my own machine until the songs were permanently engraved on my brain.  Luckily for me, my parents have stellar taste in music – I could be addicted to much worse!

My first ‘proper’ bike

Again, I’ve no idea how old I was when I was given my first ‘big girl’s’ bike, but I do remember that I absolutely loved it.  It was red and old-fashioned looking, with white tyres, a big squeaky horn on the front and a plastic box attached to the rear where I used to stow all the crap I would find when I was out and about (I’m talking twigs, leaves, stones, broken bits of plastic – I’ve always been into getting something for nothing).  I remember being so excited at the prospect of having my own two wheels and my love of cycling has stayed with me my whole life.  Said bike was eventually outgrown and replaced but the initial feelings of excitement and freedom that it bred in me have crystallised into happy memories.  The best gifts have a funny way of letting that happen, don’t they?

Teacup ring

I have to include my teacup ring (see above) in any list of my favourite presents.  This was given to me by my two best friends clubbed together, and I can honestly say that I’ve never received a piece of jewellery that’s more ‘me’ in my entire life.  I’m not really into traditional jewellery – I much prefer kooky little bits like this, or brash, bold costume pieces.  I’ve worn this ring hundreds of times, and will do hundreds more again.  I love it.  That’s all I can say.

Breadmaker

I only received my breadmaker at Christmas just passed (from Santa, who else?), but it has already slyly wormed its way up into my top five gifts.  It’s such a great little machine to have – whether it’s dough for delicious home-made pizzas, sponge for all manner of cakes, or just a good old-fashioned loaf for everyday munching, the breadmaker does the lot, and then some (apologies if I sound like a Morphy Richards sales drone, it just really is that good).  Mine even has an overnight function, and trust me when I say there’s nothing quite like waking up on a Saturday morning to the smell of a fresh loaf just waiting to be lathered in butter and jam.  Add some fresh, rich roast coffee and you literally have THE perfect breakfast.  Mmmmm, tastes like the weekend.

My tent a.k.a ‘The Love Shack‘

My tent was gifted to me by one of my best friends (who was also responsible for one half of the teacup ring – what can I say?  She’s an AWESOME gift-giver) for my 21st birthday.  It’s covered in bright pink hearts, hence the name, ‘The Love Shack’ (it was always going to be called that, right?).  My friend gave me a card along with the tent, in which she wrote ‘This year’s gift comes with a promise from yours truly that life will never be dull, or lack adventure’.  And she was right – I’ve used the tent loads of times: at T in the Park, on various camping trips around the country (including a night on the beach at St Andrews) and in my parents’ back garden for a sleepover with friends.  I once even put it up in my bedroom, filled it with cushions and invited my flatmate in for a cup of tea.  It’s one of my most prized possessions and I always look forward to new adventures with it.  Pleasing to both eye and spirit!

I’ve had some trouble with this week’s F5, which is odd because I find myself worrying that the house is burning down A LOT.  I have a strange habit of going out and then almost instantly beginning to worry that I’ve left some nasty electrical appliance sizzling away in a corner somewhere – I can’t count the number of times I’ve had to call flatmates to ask if my straighteners have been unplugged!  I once ran full tilt out of the office in the middle of the day with only a fleeting shout to my boss, grabbed my bike and cycled like a maniac halfway across town, for fear that I’d left them on.  It didn’t help that someone was having a bonfire somewhere along the cycle route, so the smell of smoke was everywhere.  Me being the ditzy, pea-brained fool that I often am, got it into my head that yes, this was the smell of my burning house and panicked so much that I almost fell off the bike.  Of course I reached home and everything was fine.  The bloody straighteners had been unplugged the entire time.  I was so overcome with relief, and so knackered from the cycle that I burst into tears.  I then nearly got run over on the way back to work.  Tearful, humiliating times.

Anyway, if my house was actually burning down, provided I didn’t snooze my way through it and had time to grab five things, the following would most probably be the chosen few…

Books

I don’t have a particularly extensive book collection because I tend to give most of them away to other people, or to charity shops.  But occasionally I’ll read something so good that I will simply be unable to let it go.  Because of this, most of the books which I do own are those which have touched, or affected me in some way, or those which remind me of a particular time, good or bad (I think of these as ‘yardstick books’).  I remember feeling totally despondent at the time I read Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love last year, and I can vividly recall being so completely overwhelmed by the words that the entire period has entrenched itself fiercely in my memory, never to be dislodged.  I often feel like the book I’m reading is my one solid companion through a particular phase of my life.  It’s like a witness, in a number of ways, and collectively, all of those witnesses become friends.  They don’t necessarily remind me of good times, or of being happy, or comfortable, but they do remind me of who I am, and of where I’ve come from.  That is, to me at least, one of the many reasons why books are so terribly important, and it’s also why I would be incredibly upset to lose my own personal collection.

Photo albums

I have a couple of old albums which mostly contain photographs of my big sister and I when we were young.  They are so lovely, and funny to look at, and they really do represent a visual slice of my childhood which I would be sorely sorry to say goodbye to.  And because they aren’t backed up anywhere, they really would be gone for good if I lost them.

Hoodie

I bought an oversized purple hoodie when I was in Rome last year with the token ‘I [heart] Roma’ splayed on the front, after bartering madly with the market stall vendor to get the price down.  I absolutely adore it – it’s big, baggy and covers all manner of unsightly foodstains (I do wash it on occasion!).  It’s the first thing I’ll reach for on a chilly evening, and I often sleep in it as well.  It reminds me of Rome itself – of just how amazing a place it is, and what a brilliant time I had exploring it.  Come to think of it, this hoodie would most probably constitute the main feature of my ‘what to wear while fleeing your burning house’ ensemble.  Chic(!) and practical!

Earrings

I’m not into expensive jewellery at all – the vast majority of my gems are worthless and pretty trashy at best.  My favourites, however, are the cheap faux-pearl studs that I wear every single day, without fail.  These earrings seem to want to stay with me no matter what.  They’ve fallen into the sink, and the shower, several times but I’ve always managed to rescue them.  They’ve also come out while I’ve been asleep and ended up stuffed between multiple layers of bedding.  I’ve thought they were gone for good many times over, but they always turn up in the end.  I’d like to think that we could survive a fire as well.  That’d be the true test.

‘Memory Box’

Birthday cards, letters, notes passed in the classroom, postcards, cinema and gig tickets etc.  I horde these things like a little squirrel – not absolutely everything, but just the important stuff.  I keep it all in a big plastic bag and occasionally empty it out for a tearful trip down memory lane.  It often makes me cry to read birthday cards from way back in the day, and I laugh so much when I read my friends’ high school scribbles ‘I fancy X, do you still fancy Y?, Going to the disco on Friday?’.  It reminds me of just how far we’ve come together as a group, and of how close we all really are.  I would be desperately sorry to see my memory box disappear, it’s like the jigsaw of my life.  One day I plan to turn it all into a series of scrapbooks to show my own children in the hope that it will teach them something about friendship.  It certainly reminds me of how much I’ve learned.

Check out everyone else on the Friday 5 hashtag on Twitter!

xx

Image above from Flickr – DOS82.

OK so I’ve done hardly any travelling yet in my 23 (almost 24) years, but these are my four favourite cities THUS FAR, and the next city on my list, which I hope to visit very soon.  Ask me again in ten years and I’m sure you’ll get a very different answer.  But for now…

1.  Rome (photo above = mine)

Rome is probably the most amazing place I’ve ever been in my life.  It’s full of ancient but stunning buildings (Colosseum, Pantheon, every single one of its 1000-odd churches), beautiful parks and gorgeous food.  And, despite its being a huge groaning city full of people living, working and going about their daily business, it still feels incredibly relaxed.  At any time of the day the Spanish Steps are full of Italians sitting taking their fill of the day’s best sunshine, and the surrounding parks are dotted with people having picnics or simply sitting on the grass watching the world go by.  I remember being less enchanted with the major ‘touristy trap’ places and much more keen on what I considered to be ‘real Roma’.  I was fascinated by the daily fruit and vegetable markets (not a chain branch in sight), the espresso bars (absolutely NO Starbucks) and the many, many mopeds that go whizzing by up and down the dusty, cobbled streets.  The best part of the trip for me was hiring some old-fashioned bicycles and touring the city’s biggest park, the Villa Borghese, before stopping for a picnic of fresh bread, fruit and wine.  Delightful.

2.  London

I’ve only visited London once, for three days in 2007, but I loved it.  It’s such a buzzing, vibrant place, full of interesting-looking people and exciting things to do.  As with Rome, I was much more excited by the ‘real London’ than the tourist traps, although I did spend a considerable amount of time exploring Westminster and Whitehall (so exciting!).  The tube experience was a novel one for me and I loved skipping to and from the different lines and stepping out into the sun somewhere completely different.  It was also brilliant to walk down some of the streets and through the parks I’d heard of so many times before but never imagined I’d actually see.  I’d love to live in London at some point in my life, spending my days in Hyde Park writing myself into oblivion and my nights at trendy museums and art galleries.  Who knows what the future holds?  London-based friends, I may make that visit one day!

3.  Salzburg

I spent ten days in Salzburg in September 2007 on a summer school programme.  I’m glad I accepted the invitation, because Austria isn’t a place I would ever have chosen to go under my own steam.  It is a beautiful, quaint city, however, and it feels so completely old-fashioned and steeped in its own tradition.  It took me a while to get used to the food (it’s big on bread, meat, cheese and pastries, but not so hot on fresh fruit and vegetables) but once I adjusted I was completely charmed by it all.  Also, being one of the world’s biggest ‘The Sound of Music’ geeks, I had an amazing time wandering around and squealing with delight when I found a spot I recognised from the film.  My favourite location was the garden where the children and Maria perform the last part of ‘Do-Re-Mi’ and yes, I did spend a while jumping up and down the steps in time with the tune in my head…oh dear, let’s move on shall we?

4.  Glasgow

I’m an Edinburgh girl at heart, but I do love a jaunt to Glasgow every now and then.  It’s amazing how different the vibes in these two cities are, given their close geographical proximity.  Edinburgh seems so slow and historic compared with Glasgow, which is dynamic and exciting.  I love the west end, with its big bay-windowed Georgian townhouses, its cute little coffee shops and leafy green spaces.  Constantly on my to-do list is an afternoon of rummaging my way down Byers Road via the charity shops…perhaps I’ll get round to it this summer.  I also love Mandors, the fabric store near Sauchiehall Street.  It makes my heart flutter and my head balloon with possibilities.  I always come back from Glasgow buzzing with ideas and inspiration for the wardrobe, the sewing machine and the craft box.  Love it, love it, love it.

5.  Florence

I’ve not yet been to Florence, but a week in Rome (in fact, really only half an hour in Rome) was enough to make me fall madly in love with Italy, and Florence is the next city on my list (it holds the title jointly with New York).  Maybe it’s the climate, the food, the architecture, the language, or maybe it’s a combination of all four, but Italy draws me in in a way that no other country has yet to do.  I would love to take a month out of my schedule, buy a big fat train ticket and just travel all over the place, feeling the art and the culture permeate every single atom of my being.  I’m convinced I would come back a much-improved person!  Who knows, next year perhaps?

So there we are, four cities I’ve loved and one which I hope to fall in love with very soon.  Check out the other ladies here, here, here, and here!

I’ll be back later on with some more wardrobe wonders!  Have lovely days y’all.

xxx

Apologies for the belated posting of my Friday 5 this week – a string of meetings and the organising of an office coffee event saw off my good intentions of getting this up first thing!  It is still Friday as I type, however, so if you’ll forgive the slight tardiness, here are my five favourite comfort foods…

Mac & Cheese

Mac and cheese is the ultimate in creamy, stodgy, comforting goodness. Pasta in general is great comfort food but it’s the combination of pasta with that thick, mustard-laden cheese sauce that catapults mac and cheese safely into its own league. This is the kind of dinner I’ll set my heart on after a stressful day at work, and I’ll often eat so much of it that I’ll be stuck on the sofa for the rest of the evening, compelled to complete the experience by watching so much trashy television that I think my brain might implode. I sometimes mix things up by adding different meats to the cheese sauce – my favourite is smoked mackerel (hence the brilliant ‘Mac, mack and cheese’) but nothing really beats the classic, no frills version: pasta, cheese sauce and yet more cheese on top. Yum, yum, YUM.

Sponge Cake

I’m not hugely into biscuits, and while I do have a bit of a sweet tooth, I wouldn’t automatically reach for something sweet when I was in need of comfort.  Unless that sweet thing was sponge cake.  I’m absolutely head-over-heels in love with that.  It doesn’t really matter what kind, although Victoria Sponge is most probably my ultimate favourite.  It just matters that it’s spongy, and cakey, and slightly moist in the middle…mmm salivating at the thought.  Anyone who brings me cake is automatically a friend for life.  Yes I can be bought that easily.

Bananas

OK so I know they’re fruit and therefore probably not in-keeping with most peoples’ idea of comfort food, but to me, a banana signifies comfort. I eat at least one per day, sometimes on my cereal, sometimes mashed on bread with peanut butter, sometimes in a sarnie with cheese or jam, but mostly just peeled and scoffed at my desk or on the go. They’re so darned versatile! I’ve actually got to the stage now where my day feels slightly weird if it doesn’t feature a banana (a fairtrade one, of course) at some point. I also crave banana milkshake when I’m suffering from a hangover (along with copious amounts of anything covered in salt and laced with mayonnaise). In my view that’s the true test of comfort food – if I still want to eat it when my head is pounding and my insides are threatening to show themselves to the world via the medium of the upchuck reflex, I think it’s a winner.

Leek and Potato Soup

I specify leek and potato soup, but in truth I find any kind of soup extremely comforting. I think it’s something to do with its simplicity – there’s no cutting up your own food and piling it onto your fork required (such a bore sometimes) – with soup, you just get yourself a spoon, some chunky bread for dunking and off you go. I ate soup every single lunchtime this past winter, mostly home-made, although Tesco do an amazing Tuscan Bean in their healthy choices range (as much as it pains me to admit that Tesco have got something right, they’ve struck gold with this stuff, it’s incredible. Chunky, tomatoey and full of beany goodness). I’m actually slightly nostalgic for soup now that I’ve firmly moved on to salad lunches for Spring. Salads are like the cats of this world and soup the dogs – the former eye you suspiciously while the latter provide you with constant love, affection, and a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Every Autumn, when I’m feeling depressed about the impending Winter and the months of cold, nasty weather that lie ahead, I always console myself with the fact that cold weather equals soup season. Never fails to cheers me up.

Tea

Finally, I know it’s not a food, but if we’re talking about comfort here then it’s really in a class of its own. Whenever the chips are down, the first thing I always, always do, before I even think about eating, is to make a cup of tea. Nothing on this earth comforts me more than a large, welcoming, well-brewed mug of cha. I drink ridiculous amounts of the stuff, and I really mean it when I say that my body will notice and call me up if I’ve not had enough. If that’s the sign of an addiction, then all I can say is bring it on. Dearest tea, you’re the best.

Other Friday Fives can be found here, here, here and here!

Image above from Flickr – Eduardo Mueses.