Back to school

Emma Bridgewater - the connoisseur's stationery choice

It's that time of year - time for a new pencil case. The summer holidays are over and term is starting... or it least it would be if I wasn't staring my third decade in the face, rather than my second. Nevertheless, it doesn't matter how long it is since school days, I can't help viewing my year on those terms - literally.
I love autumn anyway, but that feeling of a fresh start you get at this time always gives me a real boost.
The other thing it does is make me want to book a ski holiday. Staring ahead at an indefinite period without any trips or fun planned will do that to a girl. So I'm on the case (non-pencil variety) as we speak.

On other matters, we had an amazing time in Scotland this past weekend. I'm definitely going to get round to posting some pics from there shortly.

Mini-break

Just a quickie today. I'm running the show on my own at work and heading off to Scotland tonight with friends so not much time to write. There's no profound reason for this pic except that I loved the colours so much - so took a second to snap it. The weather was appalling here this morning, but I'm hoping the emergence of the sun is a good omen for the next few days. I mean, it never rains in western Scotland right?

We're planning to do lots of walking, a bit of kayaking and sailing, and plenty of drinking. I know it should be whiskey, given where we're going, but I hate the stuff, so mine'll be a red wine.

Gym bunny

My go-to top for a beasting!

One of the things I'm going to end up posting about a lot is fitness. Exercise is a passion of mine, I love it, it keeps me sane and lets me eat cake. I was a hugely active teenager, doing every sport going. At university, I did less but still some, although not enough to combat the Freshman 15 - the library I worked in during my first year actually had a cake shop inside it... After uni though, my physical activity ground to a halt. I had to give every ounce of time and energy to my job, plus I moved from office to office every few months so could never take out a gym membership. Also, as someone who'd only ever done team sports and dancing, I actually thought I wouldn't like the gym. But, eventually, when my life was a bit more settled and the thought of being totally unfit forever more got too much too bear, I signed up for a gym. It was frighteningly expensive - I earned so little at the time - but it was worth every penny 50 times over. It's no underestimate to say it transformed my life. It cheers me up when I'm down, keeps me sane when I feel I'm going mad, and gives me a purpose on aimless days.

For five years now I've been going three or four times a week, sometimes to classes, sometimes just me, the weights and the machines - I absolutely love a good beasting, the harder the better! I was prompted to write about it today - although I'm sure it wouldn't have been long otherwise - by this great post from Sally at Already Pretty. It's already one of my favourite blogs but she's so spot on. I agree totally about never feeling body conscious at the gym, strange as that might seem - in fact, I never feel better about my body than when I've got a good sweat on! And describing it as feeling badass is exactly right - it reminds me why I wouldn't want to be a skinny waif. And the more things in life that can remind women of that the better. Strength and power are not words often used in a positive way about us, but gosh, they should be.

Blonde?

Yesterday afternoon I interviewed a very inspiring young woman, a barrister, who spent a year in Afghanistan working on building up the capacity of the justice system. Today I've been listening back to the recording of the interview to transcribe it and, to put it mildly, it's cringeworthy. Not because of the usual, "Oh God I hate my voice" thing - although there certainly was a bit of that. But because I sound like such an airhead - or rather, I'm making myself sound like an airhead. I'm being ditzy. I'm dumbing down.
Now, I'm certainly daft at times and this woman is on paper much smarter than me, but I'm not thick and there's no reason not to feel like her equal. But I hear myself saying, "Sorry, I'm a bit ignorant..." at the start of a question about the functioning of the Afghan legal system! That's not ignorance, there's no reason why I should know anything about the Afghan legal sysatem - who does?! But I still feel the need to have a go at myself for it. I hear myself mumbling, failing to talk in proper sentences, and taking the mickey out of myself, my profession and my experience.
I reckon like there's a real lesson to be learned from this. I'm proud of my job, my education, my brain (!), but I really don’t sound like it on this tape. This needs fixing...

Weekend in pictures

Ever struggled to pick which beer you fancy? Well, check out this solution to that dilemma. Instead of a pint or a half, you can have thirds - of three different brews. It comes with its own handy carrying device - but attempts to pick the whole thing up and drink them one by one resulted in spillage.

Mmm cakes... These are in Patisserie Valerie in Spitalfields. I actually managed to go to a patisserie for lunch with friends and only eat savoury food, but nevertheless, a girl can still drool.

The roof at Liverpool Street Station - for no other reason than that I liked it.

Sunset over west London - gorgeous. The whole "red sky at night, sailors' delight" thing didn't really work though - it's absolutely filthy today.

Moneypenny

Blouses are my latest fashion obsession. I have to confess to buying all three of the ones above (so naughty!) recently - the latter two (Oasis and Marks & Spencer) are already staples, the first one (TopShop) is yet to be debuted. I've been trying them with cropped trousers and long skirts. Looking forward to wearing them in the winter with shorter skirts and black tights too. It's funny - until recently, the word "blouse" would have had such middle-aged connotations in my mind - now I love them and it's amazing how edgy they can look.

This one below is my next realistic target....Topshop, 36 quid, do-able...

 

This is my I-wish-but-it's-just-too-expensive target - Reiss, 95 quid, eek! So if anyone knows me - and loves me enough... Size 10 please.

Catching up

Yesterday I met up with a long lost friend - a girl I haven't seen for 10 years. I was pretty nervous about it, I must admit, but it was so, so worth it. We were so close in sixth form and got each other through some tough times. I don’t really remember why we stopped speaking. I've got a feeling there was some minor slight - or perceived slight - on one side or the other, and when you combine that with time, distance and totally different lives, we just drifted apart. Actually, it's not fair to say we drifted, there wasn’t a period of decline. We just stopped speaking.
That all seems so silly now. One of the things about getting older is that everything that seemed such a massive deal in the past is now completely trivial. We got on like a house on fire, talked non-stop for hours, swapping stories about our lives and those of the people we used to share a school uniform with. I believe that saying, "You can't go home again", but that's not what catching up with old friends feels like to me. You're not trying to recreate, just rejuvenate. Beginning again on old foundations.

I'm planning to post a bit more about my weekend, including a pic or two. But for now, suffice to say my blast from the past was a very welcome one.