My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For some reason, I had high hopes for this book. I expected to be blown away and instead, when I finished the book, I felt decidedly underwhelmed.  This was our last book club choice for sew make believe and we had our book chat meetup last night. Despite not being totally enamoured with the book, I really enjoyed the meetup.

*spoilers ahead*

I hadn’t known much about the book before I started: I was aware of the film’s existence but I hadn’t seen it; I knew there was a sad ending; I had read (and thoroughly enjoyed Nicholls’s previous novel Starter for Ten); I had read the blurb which described the format as visiting these two characters on the same day through twenty years of their lives.

My biggest problems with the book were as follows:

1. I just couldn’t stand Dexter; even his name annoyed me. I was not rooting for him until the very end when I finally felt some sympathy towards him.
2. Whilst I didn’t dislike Emma, I found her rather dull. She came across as a bit whiny and it irritated me.
3. The book was too long for the amount of story. Whilst it is true that years can go by, especially in your twenties, without much changing, it is not interesting to read.
4. I read the book in a constant state on unease, waiting for something awful to happen. Dexter certainly seemed like he was one mistake away from total disaster and so when Emma met her sudden end, it was a shock – I had expected it was something that would happen to Dexter or at least because of his actions.

Despite enjoying Starter for Ten, I can’t see myself rushing out to read more of Nicholls’s work when there are already so many books on my ‘to-read’ list. The next sew make believe book club book is The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue which I am looking forward to getting my hands on, although next in my pile is Saturday by Ian McEwan – can’t wait!

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Season One – Episode 11 Double Date

Synopsis:

Dawson and Jen double date with their respective partners to the carnival fair thing even though Dawson blatantly is interested in Jen and as a result he treats his date appallingly. Meanwhile, Pacey and Joey end up in detention together and as punishment (for Joey at least), she is forced to help with with his marine biology assignment. We never did any of this stuff at school! Anyway, naturally, they end up having to wade in the creek to find snails and must MUST take off their clothes to prevent hypothermia. Pacey notices that Joey is hot stuff. Joey notices that Pacey is too and is less hateful than she thought.

Highlight:

When Pacey tries to kiss Joey.

Lowest Point:

Dawson getting annoyed at Pacey liking Joey even though he isn’t interested himself.

Quote:

Joey: Let me get this straight. You’ve tried to create some sort of a snail menage-a-trois? Pacey: Well, it sounds stupid when you say it out loud, but I just saw this really pretty snail in the tank over by the window, and I don’t know. Last night it just seemed really brilliant. Joey: Let me fill ya in on something here. You know this pretty little snail over here by the window? It’s what you call a carnivorous snail, and do you know what carnivorous snails eat?Pacey: Other snails. Joey: Yeah, other snails. Other snails such as our snails, such as the snails we are desperately relying on to raise our marine biology grades.

Why I love it:

Pacey and Joey have their first kiss and Pacey realises Joey is a cool gal way before Dawson gets with the programme.

The next chapter of Organized Simplicity is about savouring the little things. It is about using all the fantastic organisational tools set out (i.e. the home management notebook and all that entails) and reaping the rewards through enjoying simple pleasures with your family. Tsh suggests some things to do with your time that will help you live the life you want and set out in your family purpose statement. These things include crafting (well, that’s fine with me!), cooking from scratch, and entertaining and socialising.

I was surprised by the third item on the list – the first two seem pretty obvious if you are trying to live a simpler life. The type of crafting she is talking about is making things from things you already have or can acquire cheaply and using creativity to transform them into something pretty or useful, involving the kids if they are old enough. Cooking from scratch is about eating better quality food for less and this is something I am working on all the time – although my latest bout of illness has brought out all the worst kinds of eating: convenience, take-aways, etc. I can’t wait to get back into home cooking and meal planning so that we can start eating more healthily and more heartily. However, I hadn’t really thought about how entertaining could form part of simple living. For some reason, I put entertaining and socialising into the ‘luxury’ category.

However, one of the advantages of having a de-cluttered and simple home is that it is easy to get ready for guests – no need for a full day scrub down when friends are coming. More impromptu evenings can occur when you aren’t worried about your house looking perfect and being well-organised means that the store cupboard is well-stocked meaning a quick supper can be knocked up easily enough. I have been so focused on getting organised, I hadn’t really thought about why I wanted to live this way. Of course, I put some thought into the type of family I wanted us to be but I hadn’t thought of the day-to-day benefits of living simply and living in an organised way. In our family purpose statement, I had stated that one of the things I wanted was to make ‘our home a place of warmth and simplicity’. I had been thinking of this from the perspective of our immediate family but of course, I would want our friends and extended families to benefit from our warm and simple home too.

This year, I am determined to tie up some crafty / creative loose ends. Yesterday, I finally printed some photos for Rich’s frame and today, I am sharing with you my latest (if modest) success: felt decoration number 1 from Alicia Paulson‘s Walk in the Woods felt ornament kit is complete!

It was quick and fun and exactly what I needed to get me crafting early in 2012.

I gave this wooden photo frame to Rich for our fifth (wooden) wedding anniversary (ie in 2008!) and I have FINALLY got around to putting photos in it. Using Picasa’s collage feature (the contact sheet option), I was able to quickly collate and print 4 small prints on one sheet of A4 photo paper along with one 4×6 print. I then used double-sided tape to attach them to the glass sheets – something that only just occurred to me today. I don’t know why I had thought this was such a bind to do – it took me all of 10 minutes.

These photos were taken during our 2007 holiday (ie the most recent one as at May 2008!) to the West Coast of the US.

There are also some little things about the house that drive me nuts. Example: in our cloakroom, some wise soul decided it would be nifty to install a light pull that lights up in the dark. On the surface, this seems like a genius idea – in a dark room, who wouldn’t like a little help finding the light pull? Only, the glow-in-the-dark light pull needs light to charge up. So it only glows in the dark after you have been in the room for a bit. I don’t need to be able to see it once I have turned the light off because I AM LEAVING THE ROOM, THANK YOU. Oh yes, and it has a light bulb graphic, how witty. Ugh.

I have started a Pinterest board for our future redecoration of the cloakroom (hardly a big job since the room is tiny; hardly an important job but we have to start somewhere). Eventually, I want to create boards for all the rooms in the house so I can actually plan our redecoration a bit.  It will be nice to be doing it for us instead of being motivated by trying to sell the house. Do you see the Laura Ashley light pull? Much nicer…

On Friday, Jo and Phil tied the knot at the beautiful Kingscote Barn near Stroud. I was not nearly on good enough form to celebrate with them as heartily as I would have liked but they looked so happy and it was a special day. Rich made me beam with pride (and literally LOL) during his best man’s speech. We returned yesterday and collected Evelina who had spent the night with my parents.

I am quite interested to watch Suits which is starting over here in the UK on Dave tomorrow night at 9pm. From the press release:

The all new American drama focuses on Michael ‘Mike’ Ross (Patrick J. Adams), a lazy but brilliant college dropout with a photographic memory. On the run from a drug deal gone bad, Mike accidentally slips into a job interview with one of New York City’s best lawyers, Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht). Tired of cookie-cutter law school grads, suave quick-witted businessman Harvey takes a gamble by hiring Mike on the spot, despite the firm’s policy of hiring only Harvard Law graduates.

Proving to be an irrepressible duo and invaluable to the practice, Mike and Harvey must keep their secret from everyone including managing partner Jessica (Gina Torres) and Harvey’s arch nemesis Louis (Rick Hoffman), who seems intent on making Mike’s life as difficult as possible.

I will admit that Gabriel Macht may be influencing my desire to watch this since he is pretty darn yummy but it also has Gina Torres (Buffy! Firefly! Alias!) and it looks witty and a bit different from the usual legal procedural. It will also be nice to see Patrick J Adams play a less douchey character – he was not exactly a gentleman in his small role in Friday Night Lights as Connor Hayes, the guy who has a fling with vulnerable yet fierce Tyra. The trailer:

On Sunday, my Mum and I hopped on the train at Coventry to visit the Big Smoke. When we first arrived, we had a mooch around Covent Garden, popping into Cath Kidston to buy a couple of ‘essential purchases’ (a key-ring and business card holder for me and a phone cover for Mum).

We then walked over to St Martin’s Lane to have a spot of lunch at Browns. We both had the Crab and Avocado Stack for starter which was delicious and then I had the Boar and Chorizo Burger while Mum had a very fancy looking Shepherd’s Pie. It was so great being able to spend the whole day with my Mum since most of the time, we are just passing by as I drop off Evelina or Mum comes round to look after her while I am at work.

Suitably fed and watered, we walked down the street to the Coliseum ready to take our seat for the English National Ballet‘s production of Strictly Gershwin which is described as “a dazzling celebration of George Gershwin and the sparkling age of Hollywood”.

It has been an age since we have been to the ballet together and this was so much fun. The show was a mix of styles from traditional ballet with the requisite tutus (in the most delightful teal ad light blue) for Rhapsody in Blue to a spine-tingling Tango (Argentine and Ballroom) for It Ain’t Necessarily So. The vocal accompaniment to the dancing was provided by four talented members of the Maida Vale Singers. The costumes were exquisite, the guest tap dancers were brilliant and the orchestra, complete with the guest jazz musicians, played its heart out. The entire show was glamorous, captivating and thrilling and I loved every second it. What a wonderful Christmas present – thank you Mum and Dad!

It was lovely to watch so many of the junior and company dancers feature prominently. In fact, I have just voted in the Emerging Dancer People’s Choice award for Laurretta Summerscales who is the company dancer who performed one half of the aforemetioned Tango-style dance.  You can see her dance in the video below:

Unfortunately, this post is a light on pictures of my finished projects as I wrapped and delivered the gifts without photographing them (doh!).  However I was pleased to be able to make at least *some* gifts this Christmas including quilted coasters for Phil and Jo from Joelle Hoverson’s book Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts although I must stress that these were by no means last-minute since they were the first things I made (and what should have been a fairly straight-forward task was made more challenging by my sewing machine favouring just one make of thread!).  The ones in the picture above were ones I made a while ago for my mother-in-law.

A gift which was more last-minute and which I *just* managed to finish before getting struck by the dreaded Norovirus on Christmas Eve Eve was an all-day tote for my parents from Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter. They are keen on walking so I made the bag to hold their walking paraphernalia (although Mum likes it so much I think she has snaffled it to use it for herself!).

I added two walking books to their collection and I made up a trail mix which I put in a big jar and two small fabric bags which I embroidered with their initials so they can take a bag of trail mix each when they go out on walks. For the tote itself, I used some Laura Ashley fabric in pale blue and creams which I have had knocking about for ages. It was a perfect heavy-weight and looks quite smart and neutral (and not too girlie so that Dad can use it too if he get it off Mum!).

Pic source: Wise Craft

Finally, I managed to work out how to make some crocheted jars for Liz. I used a cream yarn for all three although I think they looked a little plain so I added some buttons and ribbon to jazz them up a bit. I got the inspiration for these from Wise Craft (the picture above is from her new basement studio which makes me drool) who herself found them at Dottie Angel. I think I will make some more of these for my own craft storage but I might use different coloured yarn like Wise Craft did. I also used a triple-stitch (is this the right terminology? I am such a crochet novice) since this is the one I know but I would like to experiment using different stitches.

After I had finished, I was so jazzed to be finding time to make gifts that it was only when I was wrapping them that I started to experience some anxiety about the handmade gifts I was giving – would they be appreciated? Would the recipients be secretly disappointed? Just because I value things that are handmade, doesn’t mean that everyone feels that way. All my crafty friends would get it but I am not sure about other people. If I want to make more presents next year, I will need to make things for children since they are the bulk of who we buy for now. This presents a challenge: making something they are actually going to want. Making gifts takes a lot of time and effort and I don’t really want to do it if the item is just going to be discarded. I would love to know what non-crafty people *really* think about handmade gifts.