A Domino Effect

Having very little to say sometimes is, I think, all part of the blogging experience.  One week the ideas burst forth quicker than my fingers can translate them into words, while the next is characterised by blank screens and very little motivation.  Where that’s the case, I’ve always considered sitting tight, saying nothing and waiting for the tide to come in again to be the best approach.  It takes a will far stronger than my own to force any words past a clod of writer’s block!

This last week I’ve been doing just that: sitting tight.  Well, sitting tight and doing other stuff.  Including, but by no means limited to, the following:

Eating: scones at Loopy Lorna’s with a friend.  A Sunday carvery dinner with four kinds of meat and many, many roast potatoes.  Spicy empanadas with pineapple salsa and guacamole, all home-made by my sister and by far the best treat of my week.

Making: (yet) another crochet blanket.  I managed to find twelve balls of wool all the same shade of turquoise in a charity shop the other day and am now busy transforming them into a toothpaste-coloured throw for my bed, edged in dark chocolate brown.  Crocheting round and round and round without having to stop to change colour is the ultimate therapy: it’s mesmerising just watching what started off as a tiny little knot morph into an actual blanket that will actually keep me warm.

Laughing at: the total stranger who, seeing me puffing my way up a hill on my bike, shouted at the top of his voice “KEEP GOING PRINCESS, YOU’LL GET THERE, YOU’LL GET THERE!”.  He spurred me on and made me laugh when I needed it.

Pondering: taking up yoga this Spring.  Anyone else practice?  Any Edinburgh-based readers able to recommend a class?

Reading: Having (finally) finished this book about Africa, I’m giving myself leave to enjoy a few easy going stories over the next couple of weeks. All recommendations welcome!  I’m also dipping into the The Rough Guide to Happiness for inspiration and Ideas That Matter for interest.  And then there’s the pile of books about India that’s starting to accumulate by my bed…

Looking forward to: Increasing my feeling of lightness by planning a big trip, packing away my Winter coats and paying down my debts.

Thankful for: health, wealth and quick cook pasta (seriously, does anything hit the spot quite like it?).

What’s been happening in your world this week?

Image above from here.

Congratulations friends, we made it through the Winter!  Let’s have ourselves a collective pat on the back, a big sigh of relief and a picture of some daffodils…

Now that we’re into March, I think it’s safe for me to tell you guys just how relieved I am that Winter is on the way out.  I do my best to remain upbeat throughout January and February and I rarely let on when I’m feeling seasonally gloomy because, well, no one wants to read a great big whinge about how much I can’t stand reduced daylight hours do they?  I have to say though, flipping the page on my calendar this morning made me feel giddily light and breezy for the first time in a long while.  I’m definitely a cherry blossom, daffodils, lingering sunny evenings lady at heart.

Alongside the fact that my favourite season has arrived, here’s some other stuff I’m loving this Thursday…

New beginnings.  It’s part and parcel of the life of a trainee solicitor that you never stay long enough in one place to get comfortable.  And such is my lot at the moment.  Yesterday I said goodbye to one seat (and celebrated by drinking many, many glasses of wine with those I’m leaving behind) and as of Monday my new workplace is here.  Which is pretty cool as far as workplaces go, right?  I’m looking forward to lots of things about this new chapter in my life, not least the cycle to work: I’m envisaging zipping past Arthur’s Seat while the sun comes up beside me…

This post, by A Safe Mooring.

Time off.  I’ve taken today and tomorrow as holidays and am having quite the little party for one here in Edinburgh.  Today I had lunch in this cafe which I’ve been itching to try for months (note, they have a selection of sandwich fillings that would make even the most decisive person pause for thought.  Naturally, it was a total nightmare for the quibbling wreck that I am when it comes to choosing.  I ended up ordering straight off the menu and saving myself the heartache), read my book/people watched while sipping coffee and then proceeded to empty the nearby charity shops.  Perfect.

Thinking about taking an extended trip to India this Summer.  Directly as a result of watching The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel last week, which I LOVED.

This song by The Cure.  I went to see this film last week at the cinema (surprisingly good I thought, and based on a true story!) and Pictures of You played out at the end.  I can’t think whether I’d heard it before or not, but I’ve certainly made up for that now that I’ve been singing it all week long.  As fate would have it, Sarah mentioned the other day how it’s one of her all time favourites.  Funny how these things come in twos, right?

What are you loving this Thursday?

Image above from here.

What a beautiful truth.  Happy Fridays, everyone xx

Image above from here.

Is anyone else thinking that the weather might be changing?  Every day this week it’s been light when I’ve opened my curtains in the morning.  It’s so exciting to think that the long dark Winter is gradually starting to ebb away…

Other things I’m loving this Thursday:

This post, by Belgian Waffle.

This album, by Crowded House (from 1996 – I can’t believe that!).

This blog, which I’ve only recently subscribed to.  I don’t know why but it really pleases me to look at pictures of someone else’s breakfast.  More substantively…

Cycling.  After a rather embarrassing fall first thing last Monday morning (it involved me showing the world my underwear and sobbing to the driver who managed to stop just in time that I was grateful he hadn’t run me over – to which he responded, looking rather puzzled, “Uh, any time.”) my bike was out of action until I could get it fixed at the weekend.  And resigned to the bus as I was I actually really missed my morning spin along the cycle path into work.  So this week, in a bid to recoup lost opportunities for exercise, and to save some pennies, I’ve been travelling au velo every day.  Now that the days are (I think) stretching it’s a real joy.  Also, the sky at sunset has been incredible.

Penny pinching. In order to make some travel ambitions come true this year, I’m re-adopting some good old-fashioned frugality this late Winter/early Spring.  This means, in my world, the following: fewer impulse-bought flowers and more planting seeds; moderate use of the heating and the wearing of more layers and fewer midweek bottles of wine and more self-restraint.  Also, a renewed enthusiasm for eBay selling.  Fun times!  Finally, also on a penny pinching note…

Having my food delivered.  This week I made my first foray into the world of online groceries shopping.  I don’t know why I didn’t try this out sooner, it’s brilliant.  I made two weeks’ worth of meal plans, perused the website of my chosen supermarket from the comfort of my couch and had it all delivered right to my door by a very nice man (contrary to the advice I received from some people I told about my home delivery plans, I did help him bring it up the stairs – it seemed impolite not to).  Anyway.  I haven’t bought food after work all week, and I’m convinced it’s saving me cash already.  It was also nice going to bed on Monday in the knowledge that I could quite easily get by with being snowed in for a whole week.  Simple pleasures, small comforts.  Does anyone else order their groceries online?

What about you?  What are you loving this Thursday?

Image above from here.

I don’t normally do this kind of thing on A Domino Effect, but given how much of a fan I am it felt somehow only right to make a note of how sad I was to read about the death of Whitney Houston over the weekend.  I can vividly recall receiving her greatest hits CD for my 13th birthday (S Club 7? Sorry, who?) and playing I Will Always Love You at top volume until my parents were driven nearly mad.  I still play it today actually, and regardless of the mood I’m in there’s always a song on that disk that captures it perfectly.

Anyway, I have so many Whitney favourites that it was hard to pick just one for this.  After much deliberation, I settled on the above.  This song holds such happy memories for me, for all sorts of different reasons.  I also think it’s pretty well definitive of Whitney Houston at her best.  In spite of the sad circumstances surrounding her death, I think there’s comfort to be had in the knowledge that her music will undoubtedly live on.  I guess that’s what being a timeless artist really means.