Monday 27 July 2015

Motivation by numbers!

Motivational speech Day - possibly the best motivational speech in the world. 

Ever.




Be at one Day - I thought I'd spend this day like all the rest...


at sixes and sevens
  1. 1.
    in a state of total confusion or disarray.
    "everything is at sixes and sevens here"
    synonyms:chaoticdisorganized, disordered, disorderlyuntidymessy,jumbled,
    muddledconfusedunsystematicirregular, cluttered,littered;

Monday 20 July 2015

Bring back Champagne!

Bring back an era Day - done!

I actually did this a couple of weeks ago when Mr Matthews and I visited the annual 1940s Day celebration at the Valley Gardens :-)


The efforts some people went to were incredible, wonderful to be sat in the Montpellier (having the most amazing Sunday lunch) watching people walking past in full costume!


Make something from scratch Day - I do this a lot (jewelry, cards, Christmas stockings, candle centrepieces and other ornaments, random crafty things etc) and had a recent 2 day constant blast (in a an effort to distract myself) of making jewelry so am having a break for a couple of weeks!


But here's what I did then (minus a few bracelets now in Bernie's possession!)...

































Drink Champagne just because Day - ah, another favourite!

It wasn't champagne but Bernie and I did polish off a couple of bottles of Prosecco (and I'd already had quite a bit of Pimms!) sat in the sunshine at the Harrogate International Festival (HIF) Big Screen event (Wimbledon final) last Sunday - the two Johns stuck to beer in favour of fizz. There's just no educating some people.








It was another busy weekend for the HIF this weekend with the Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Festival at The Old Swan Hotel so I saw little of his nibs, I did manage to see some of the activity when I wandered over to meet him from work prior to it all starting, all very exciting and the tents etc looked fantastic! And an added bonus was that he managed to get one of my Mark Billingham books signed by the man himself :-)




Monday 13 July 2015

Cheesy Running!

Run til your lungs hurt Day - well that wouldn't take long! 

I've always said that if a serial killer was chasing me I'd just turn around and surrender - they're going to catch me anyway so why die petrified and exhausted?

Elaborate Cheeseboard Day - aha, at last! 

A perfect opportunity to use our cheese baking platter Christmas gift from Pops and Olive so we bought a nice brie to start with and then went to The Cheeseboard and bought some cheeses and crackers we'd never normally buy.







So here we have (from top left);

Morbier 
 Soft and sweet, from the village of Morbier in the Fanche-Comte region of France. The black stripe in the middle used to be made using a layer of ash to divide the morning milk from the evening milk, now vegetarian dye is used instead. 

Wyngaard Goats Gouda
Creamy Dutch goat Gouda is very white with a smooth texture and full flavour.

Char coal 
Michael Lee Fine Cheeses Company in West Yorkshire make these cheeses (Cheddar, smokey cheddar or spicy cheddar) blended with charcoal.

Cornish Yarg
Light, creamy (and crumblier towards the middle) mold ripened cheese wrapped in nettle leaves, handmade at Lyburn Dairy, Cornwall.

Red Windsor
Marbled pink cheddar with port and brandy.

Green Thunder
Creamy mature cheddar with wild garlic and herbs, from the Snowdonia Cheese Company.

Accompanied by;

Poppy and sesame seed biscuits
Sesame and pumpkin seed flatbreads
Sweet malted wheat crackers
Charcoal crackers
All butter Gruyere and poppy seed twists
Lemon and herb olives

Oh, and a bottle of red wine, of course.

Here's a close up of the Char Coal! 



Monday 6 July 2015

Exteme Mexican!

Extreme enthusiasm Day - I have to admit that it was pretty difficult to get enthusiastic at all never mind in an extreme manner. Getting up at 4.30am didn't fill me with enthusiasm and nor did the 4.25 hour train and taxi journey to Ryton, the day itself went well but then the 4.5 hour car journey back on the hottest day of the year pretty much cancelled that out!

Having said that...if it hadn't been for my late return I may well have missed the incredible lightening display we had that night (I think it was equally as good as the Northern lights we saw in March), the whole sky was lighting up, with occasional forks flashing through in places, every few seconds for about an hour. Because of the clouds the light was coming through in different shades of pinks, blues and oranges all over the place - beautiful it was! There was no rain or thunder (although I understand places nearby had golf ball sized hailstones!) which just added to the other-worldly feel of it and, as someone who has a storm chasing experience listed on their bucker list, I absolutely loved it and was extremely enthusiastic!

Start a Mexican wave Day -

Mexican wave
noun
noun: Mexican wave; plural noun: Mexican waves

- an effect resembling a moving wave produced by successive sections of the crowd in a stadium standing up, raising their arms, lowering them, and sitting down again.

 Origin
1980s: so named because of the repeated practice of the movement at the 1986 soccer World Cup finals in Mexico City.
I didn't start one but have had a fabulous idea for an Extreme Mexican later in the year so watch this space...

Friday 3 July 2015

July Mission!

May July be the 31 days of giving and doing stuff for others, it can be something small like baking a cake for a neighbour or something big like risking your life to save the world's cutest kitten!

Because when you put others first you inadvertently put yourself on top of the world!

So, be a hero to someone, anyone, lots of people...maybe just a kitten...this July and feel utterly WONDERFUL!

Wednesday 1 July 2015

June Mission - The Results!


Well this wasn't my most successful month I'm afraid.

In fact, this month I've been far from the happy one.

Life threw a lot at me in June and unfortunately, between losing Rosie, having an endoscopy (technically 1.5 endoscopies) and my descent into 'mentalness' (my words not those of a medical professional) it wasn't stuff I couldn't take seriously - still, there's always next month!