Chicken Soup for the Soul

Mmmm mmm, got me some chicken soup - for the soul, if you will.

I've been craving this fantastic chicken noodle soup for the past couple of days from the Japanese shop round the corner from work. So now I'm sitting here at my desk trying to elegantly slurp down my big bowl of soup. It's not happening. But man is the soup good.

I think we all need some chicken soup for our soul every now and then. I think I'm definitely a closet 'mind, body and soul' person. The other day I was thinking about how important it is to exercise both your mind and your body (hmm kind of reminds of the little 'debate' I had with my best friend's boyfriend a while back). I would say that I probably exercise my mind enough...I enjoy reading, keeping up with current affairs, arguing *ahem* debating on differences of opinions, I'm stimulated in the work I do...etc etc.

In fact sometimes my head is just so busy that I can't even get to sleep. This is obviously NOT GOOD and results in a cranky me for the rest of the day - like today for example. Humph. Anyway.

So yes, I think that my mind is probably a little bit too active and probably a little bit OCD! (is it possible to truly be just a little bit OCD?) But my body on the other hand...I would say it's quite accurate to describe me as a fat person in a skinny persons body. I eat loads but I never put on weight - you know, one of those people that people on diets hate. And just for the record, I equally hate those people on diets who hate skinny people for being skinny, back (phew!). It's quite common to get comments from such people like, 'OMG you're SO skinny!', 'go on, eat something!', 'get some meat on your bones!'. And everyone just accepts this as a perfectly fine thing to say. Well it isn't. I don't go up to larger people and say, 'OMG you're SO fat!', 'I really don't think you should be eating that!', 'who ate all the pies?!'. Some people just are naturally bigger or smaller than the perceived 'norm' and there's not really much we can do about it.

I digress (see what I mean about my erratic mind).

Basically, I really need to exercise some more. I bought a bike at the end of 2006 and have used it about 3 times to date - bad bookworm. I think if I exercise my body more, I will feel both physically and mentally tired and the end of the day - and hopefully will be able to sleep a bit better! And maybe I should try to exercise my mind a bit less while I'm at it.

So I think I'll add one more resolution to my New Year's list:

5. Buy a crash helmet and get cycling!

Ok, back to my chicken soup...

The Big Freeze

Oh yeah forgot to mention. London's running a bit behind, a week behind in fact. So instead of having a sparkling white Christmas, it's snowing tomorrow instead.

Come on TFL, we've got all our fingers crossed!!!

...and a happy New Year!

Wowzer, how fast did 2007 fly by? I expect 2008 will zoom past even quicker - I think this is what happens when you start getting old (I've already discovered 4, yes FOUR, white hairs...sniff).

So hip hip hooray, 2008 is here. 2007 wasn't particularly amazing for me - so here's hoping that 2008's a winner. Although saying that, I did do my fair bit of travelling last year - Dublin, Prague, Barcelona, Seychelles. But in between there've been lots of changes and upheavals and general craziness. So now I say, enough of the crazy, bring on 2008!

My New Year's resolutions are to:

1. do some link building so that people actually might read this blog


2. actually post book reviews once I've read a book, instead of putting it on my 'to do' list*


3. grow my hair


4. travel to the Far East or South America (or both!)

*I have read a few good books the last couple of months. Carry Me Down by M. J. Hyland and The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold. At the moment I'm reading two books (I seem to be getting bored easily), How The Light Gets In by M. J. Hyland and The House at Riverton by Kate Morton. Book reviews to follow shortly!

Anyhoo, Happy New Year to all!

Merry Crimbo! (but not if your're a turkey)

Oh yes, how could I forget, it was Christmas the other day!

So a Merry Christmas to anyone who reads my blog (she types hopefully)!

Roll on 2008!

Back to reality with a bump

I'm back.

Twas amazing.

Am depressed.

We had a fantastic experience in the Seychelles and truly relaxed. It really does look as gorgeous as the pictures. In fact, here is how it looked:



So now you know why I'm depressed. It's because I'm back here:



The pace of life over there really is magnificently slower than in London. I don't think I could ever live over there, my body probably would never adjust! But I wouldn't say no to a few months of pure relaxation every now and then. Here are a few of my highlights...

- Visiting another island in a dinky plane.
- Sitting on the shore with little fish swimming around my legs.
- Exploring rock pools and discovering the crabs and other sealife that live in them.
- Seeing the giant Aldabra tortoises and how fast they actually move!
- Swimming by reef with tropical fish and sea cucumbers.
- Being serenaded by a famous Creole musician (didn't know he was famous at the time...)
- Trekking (I use the term loosely) to a waterfall.

And the lowlights...

- Finding a lizard in our fridge!
- Being eaten alive my mosquitos.
- Getting a horrid stomach bug on the last day.
- Leaving.

The pros definitely out weigh the cons. If you ever get the opportunity - GO! You'll love it.

"We're all going on a Creole holiday..."

This time next week I'll be in the sunny Seychelles, hopefully sipping a long tall drink of some sort and feeling the white sand in between my toes.

I. Can't. Wait.

I'm so excited right now - I can hardly believe we're going!! Apparently Mahe is so small that we can do a round trip in a day. There's going to be so much to explore, and hopefully we'll manage to fit in as much as possible.

I definitely want to go snorkelling. I can swim, but I've never done any diving...or in fact ever swam properly in the sea. Although, come to the think of it, I've never been to a beach where the waters are calm enough to swim in (for weak swimmer like myself). The most exotic destination that I've visted to date has been Goa. I imagine that the Seychelles will be very similar - and perhaps even more interesting as there are different islands that we can hop to.

Just checked, and it's 31 degrees over there at the mo. 31 degrees!! It's 9 degrees in London. WOO!!

SIX DAYS AND COUNTING!!!

En Pointe

So this is my most recent painting. It's pretty different from usual style of bold sunsets and contrasting colours - but I wanted to try out something different.

The background actually shimmers as I was experimenting with a pearlescent paint. It gives the whole picture a glowing, velvety kind of feel - but of course, it doesn't show up on the photo at all.

I'm not overly excited about this painting, but at least I tried out something new!

I'm off on holiday to the Seychelles next weekend, so maybe I'll get some new inspiration whilst there...

Anyone up for boycotting the tube?

WARNING: TUBE RANT AHEAD

I had to trek to Cardiff today for a conference. This involved waking up at the crack of dawn - no wait, BEFORE the crack of dawn - to get the tube to Paddington, and then jump on a train to Wales (for which we had lovely first class tickets!)

The train journey from London to Cardiff took roughly two hours. The tube journey from West London to Paddington took one hour. ONE HOUR. It should have taken 30 mins. I'm not a mathematician, but something doesn't quite add up here!

And the cause? Was it:

a) A person under the train?
b) A signal failure?
c) A passenger alarm?
d) A suspect package at another station?
e) TFL being its usual inept self?

Answers on a postcard please.

The first class train tickets made up for this blip in my otherwise pleasant trip to Cardiff. And I managed to finish off The God Delusion and start reading a new book - Carry Me Down. The God Delusion is a rather meaty book which deserves a post of its own...I'm sure I will get round to it soon (!) As for Carry Me Down, I've only read the first few pages, but I'm already sucked in. Actually, I'm almost looking forward to my tube journey into work tomorrow so I have some ample reading time...hmm, so there are silver linings after all...

Random Ramblings

Eek, it's been nearly a month since I've had a chance to blog. But I have some good excuses/reasons!

1. I started a new job.
2. I've been working on my next painting.
3. I've been house hunting.
4. The new season of Scrubs started.

1. I started a new job

I'm still working in London, 10 minutes away from where I was before in fact! And there I was worrying that I'd have to give up my lovely long commute into work whenever I changed jobs. No chance. Although I have recently discovered the customer complaint forms on the TFL website. You can fill these out when your tube journey has been delayed by 15 minutes or more and you will get refunded back your money - hooray! And rightly so, humph.

TFL makes these forms rather tricky to find (the sneaky bastads). To save you time, here they are: TUBE REFUNDS

2. I've been working on my next painting

I've finished my next painting. I tried out something a bit different this time and experimented with opalescent paint and ballerinas. I used to do ballet from a very young age right up until I went to uni. I really miss it actually, it's a great way to stay in shape and keep fit. Alas, I have hung my ballet shoes up for the time being and am now scarily unfit. I did buy a brand new bike this time last year with the aim of getting fitter and sporting healthy rosy cheeks. So far I've taken it out twice. Ah well, there's always eBay!

Anyways, I'll post my painting soon.

3. I've been house hunting

I was hoping to move out and rent somewhere a bit closer to London to cut down on my travelling time. But then if I did that, what would I have to complain about?! This plan has now been put on hold till next year.

4. The new season of Scrubs started (yay)

Ah Scrubs, how I love it.

And in the meantime, I still haven't finished reading The God Delusion. Although I am very near the end...I plan to finish it tomorrow as I'm heading off to Wales for a conference (either that or I will take my macbook and watch Sex and the City on the train - dilemmas dilemmas).

What I've read so far has been brilliant. Thought-provoking and enlightening to say the least. I think everyone should read it, whether you're an atheist, agnostic or theist. I'll be sure to blog about it soon. And once I'm done with that, maybe I'll read The Dawkins Delusion which my mother rushed off to buy as soon as she caught sight of me reading The God Delusion!

Apocalyptic Sunset

This year I decided to get back into painting. Well...I say 'get back into'...the last time I painted anything was in my first year of 6th form when I was taking AS Level Art. And I wasn't technically 'into' art - I just did it at school. But I guess that's the thing about studying, it can take the fun out of your passion!

So I've found that it's something I love doing whenever I get a spare couple of hours. It's definitely a great outlet for me to be creative in any way I want to be. So far I've painted three painting this year, and I'm hoping to add to this collection asap! Here's my second one that I finished last week:



I find it really satisfying painting sunsets and blending a mish mash of colours. My sister said it looks like the End Of The World. An Apocalyptic Sunset, if you will. And I'm quite liking that dramatic description I have to say!

I've nearly finished my third painting. It's a lot more subtle than the one above, but hopefully still quite atmospheric. Shall post it soon.