Spotlight on Pinterest: Colour // neon

Argh I love all things neon!  You can spot me a mile off when I'm in my gym clobber because I simply cannot stop myself from buying neon hoodies and vest tops :)

For my second spotlight on Pinterest I am sharing my Colour // neon board, I have a collection of Colour boards which over the coming weeks I will share with you but I had to start with the neon board because it is my favourite.

Follow Anna's board Colour // neon on Pinterest.

Spotlight on Pinterest: Style // glasses

I am a very big fan of Pinterest, I had to uninstall it from my phone recently because I would spend hours every evening pinning and pinning bits and bobs from the internet that I love.  I'm actually pretty proud of my Pinterest boards so I thought I would start a weekly Monday feature sharing my favourite ones with you starting with: Style // glasses.

I have four eyes

You may have noticed I'm a wearer of glasses.  They first entered by life aged 14 and I wasn't too chuffed about it, like most teenagers I hated anything that would draw attention to me.  It's fair to say I have a different opinion about statement glasses now and try to get ones that stand out.  I hate glasses with big logos on the arms but seem to favour large Coronation Street style frames at the moment.  Take a look at some of the glasses I've pinned to my Style // glasses board and send me any pins you think I might like I love receiving pins from Pinterest folks!

Follow Anna's board Style // glasses on Pinterest.

#fudgeitfatclub

Taking an holistic approach

I've been pondering this health and fitness thing recently, specifically my reluctance to diet.  My first thoughts were that I had to take a mind over matter approach to my own laziness and that my reluctance to diet was weak willed.  Upon reflection I think my reluctance stems from the knowledge that diets are short term, you shed the weight, you feel amazing, you tell yourself you will never go back to how you were before and yet... Diets are often event orientated (slimming for a wedding or holiday) but once those events pass it is easy to slip back into old habits.

This is why step five is going to be so key, mindfulness.  Being mindful of the long term goal of a healthy and fit lifestyle, knowing that you're not aiming for a short term fix but a lifelong change in habits.  

Lightbulb moment

At work a couple of weeks ago as part of a staff festival event Sally Gunnell came to give a presentation about healthy eating and I had a real light bulb moment.  For years I would reach for the weight watchers cereal bars or bottled smoothies thinking I was making healthy choices, and don't get me wrong in comparison to eating a Mars bar usually you are making a healthier choice but the simple answer is to try and eat food that has not been processed at all.  PING!  Oh yeah, I can't believe that hadn't sunk in until now.  So instead of pasta or gnocchi have rice or sweet potatoes (not all carbs are the devil), instead of fruit leather just eat the fresh fruit!  Duh.

Calorie crew?  Fitness friends?  

Whatever term best suits, but basically surrounding yourself with people who will challenge your choices and keep you on track.  I have a friend at work who when she sees me reach for a snack or contemplate a biscuit she will challenge me on it. Because of her actions (and my own willpower of course) I am building a habit around questioning each food choice rather than mindlessly grabbing the free pastry or biscuit just because it's there.  My friend Sarah and I keep one another on track at the gym pushing one another to attend when we might be wavering, it helps that on a Friday before yoga we get there early and take stupid photos and selfies to track progress!

What habits or tips work well for you I would love to know? 

Mewster: Master of Humans

I realised the other day that I 'introduced' Mewster back in March but hadn't actually written any further posts about the furry little loon cat, so lets remedy that here.

Who owns who?

It is safe to say that Mewster owns us and not the other way round.  When we first got her she was a quiet little rescue cat, we could barely get a peep out of her but over the years she has found her voice and uses it to manipulate us daily.

She has comic timing and knows when she is being spoken about, she will meep or meow at just the right time in a conversation and has a range of cat sounds to indicate what she wishes us to provide for her (usually food).

Cuteness is a tool of manipulation

Her thing at the moment it to dig around in the ashes of our neighbours BBQs for meaty scraps, she then comes home and walks over the sofa or any light coloured surface.  You can see that she has white paws so struggles to hide the evidence of her misdemeanour's but will then give you a little kiss on the arm or nuzzle up against you and of course all is forgiven.

She has learnt simple tricks like giving high fives, and on command jumping on your shoulder to become parrot cat.  She patrols the garden and house, strutting back in proudly when she has chased a neighbour cat off our patch and has protected her humans from this terrible invasion.

Master of derp

She isn't all sleek cat though, she is a clumsy little thing, when you're sat in the living room and she is running about upstairs it sounds like you have a rouge pony jumping around up there.  She can be super creepy as well, you'll get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, switch the light on and she'll be sat in the sink watching you.  She stares at Sam for ten minutes or so at a time never pulling her gaze away, thank goodness she doesn't do it to me because it looks like she is reading his thoughts which are most likely 'why is that damn cat staring at me?'.

So that's Mewster, we wouldn't be without her.  When I was on holiday I missed her little face a lot, when she became super clingy on my return I was not so secretly pleased that she had missed me as much as I had missed her.

Wardrobe wishlist

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7

The allotment edition

Internal monologue whilst choosing items for this post: *don't pick a smock, don't pick a smock* so what do I do - I only go and pick a bloody smock!  Damn it.

I used to wear mostly jeans and ratty old t-shirts to the allotment but over the years have moved more towards dresses.  This is not in an attempt to be glamorous on the plot or anything but dresses allow more freedom of movement which when you're digging and weeding is really useful.  Pockets are a bonus and for the summer months anything that covers your shoulders to protect from sunburn (how old do I sound?).

Essential attire

• A decent pair of sunglasses are a must, the ones above are made of wood I NEED them!
• Wellies are another essential, I've actually got a pair that I've had for over ten years that only cost me £3.50 in the first place and despite wearing them all year round on the plot there is no sign of them giving up on me which is great!  If they were to give up on me I think I would need to fuel my addiction to stripes with these wellibobs, the ankle height appeals as you're not shifting the extra weight of a full sized boot around (after four or more hours working on the plot you feel that extra weight!).
• Although I haven't included them in this wishlist a hat and a decent pair of gloves are a must.  I wear a soft leather pair of gloves as they are sturdy and allow me to get in amongst the brambles without damaging myself, if you're not keen on leather sturdy cotton are also good but might restrict your movement if you get too big a pair.

Essential extras

• Is a mug an essential extra?  Personally I think this spaceman mug is :)
• Anyone who has worked outside during those cold winter months will know that you need to take care of your hands, I don't think I will ever grow out of loving the satsuma range at The Body Shop.  I've loved it since I was a teenager and still love it now.

The view from 39a

Oh hello again nature

Whilst I enjoyed my time away in Boston and NYC immensely returning to the Shire and to the allotment was truly awesome.  I'd only been away two weeks and the grass had shot up to about hip height I couldn't believe it!

Rather than get demoralised by it we got the strimmers out and cut it all back, I've laid the grass out on pallets in the sun to dry out, the hope is I will be able to use it for mulching the strawberries next year.  It will probably have to be stored in the polytunnel over winter to keep it dry but that is a potential saving right there (I know hay isn't expensive but it's an experiment in recycling and re-purposing.... I'll let you know how it goes).

Here are a few more updates from the plot:

Neighbours become good friends?

No.  Our plot neighbours are a pain in the arse, they haven't done anything on their side of the plot since May, the sad little broad beans they put in have been abandoned and the spinach they left in the plot is taller than me and has gone to seed (I look forward to having spinach pop up on our side of the plot next year then).  It seems such a shame that there are people on the waiting list champing at the bit to get a plot and there are people like our plot neighbours who are stopping them from using the land to it's full advantage.  If the council think they can claw back unprofitable allotment land due to lack of use they will and then we all lose out.  (Rant over.)

The plot as the classroom

Every single year the plot teaches us what we can do better and how to manage what we grow a little more efficiently, this year has been no different.  Here are a few things we have learnt:

• Strawberries: every year put a new plant or two in to ensure a continuous crop.  We shoved some plants in three years ago they fruited wonderfully and we carried home bags and bags of strawberries to make into jam but of course the little plants have a three year fruiting life span.  We've put new plants in this year but won't have the crop levels we've enjoyed in the past which is a real shame because in previous years we've made enough jam to see us through until the next strawberry season with enough to spare to give away as presents.  Each year the plants will give off runners which will in turn form new plants we've had mixed success with these, I would recommend placing the runners in pots of compost whilst they're still attached to the mother plant, then when they're strong enough cutting them off and over wintering them in a polytunnel or greenhouse.
• Corn: I tried growing corn out on the plot the first couple of years we had an allotment and they just didn't fruit very well.  This year however I thought I would give it one more try, of the nine seeds I tried to germinate only three made it but I've put them into the polytunnel and they seem to be doing well.  Plant them close together so they can pollinate one another and water generously everyday if you can.  I'll let you know how I get on with these...
• Hoe: The hoe is your best friend.  Once you've done all of that back breaking work digging out weeds just spend ten minutes or so every single visit to the plot giving the soil a quick hoe to keep the weeds down, if you don't they'll come back in no time!  Plus hoeing is a lot less effort than digging in the long run. 

Do you ever have the feeling you're being watched?

I'm not a huge fan of anything slimey, or scaley so frogs and slow worms freak me out but I have to recognise the benefits of having them around the plot as they eat the slugs and snails that destroy our crops.  I was in the polytunnel yesterday potting on our sunflowers, moved a bag of compost and had this little fella leap out at me, happily there was no one else in the polytunnel to hear the litany of uncouth language that poured out of me.  I popped the bag of compost back and when I was watering the veg gave the patch I found him in a little sprinkle to encourage him to stick around. 

Well I'm off to a car boot sale this afternoon, then a bit of time on the plot followed by an evening celebrating my friend's birthday.  Not too shabby a Saturday, what are you up to this weekend?

Wayfaring the World

I won't wibble on too much longer about my time in New York, I'm having to resist the temptation to post every steak and milkshake photo I took whilst I was there (seriously good food at every turn).

Next on my New York list was Coney Island.....

Americana

I think I was looking forward to Coney Island the most out of the day trips we had planned, I anticipated lots of kitsch and man alive it delivered!

Check out the hamburger man and the Wonder Wheel!  I couldn't find a penny squasher machine (I started collecting them last year when we were in San Diego and now I'm obsessed with finding the machines!) which was disappointing but the tat shops were golden!

Whoa you're not getting me on THAT!

The spectacle of the place was amazing, so much colour and noise, my brother and I were snapping photos every second step but some of those rides were looking russssssssssty, there was no way you were going to get me on one of those especially following the very recent news of the rollercoaster crash at Alton Towers.  

Sad sharks

A short walk along the beach from Coney Island was the New York Aquarium so we thought we would pay a visit (plus Clare had visited a couple of days beforehand and told me there was a penny squasher there so I had to go).  Usually I love aquariums but this one didn't quite hit the mark, in fairness to them a lot of the exhibits were closed for refurbishment so there wasn't an awful lot to see but the sharks were in a murky looking tank making it tricky to see them, is it just me or does the shark in the photo below look kinda fed up?

Recommendations:

• Don't bother going to Coney Island if it's raining they won't open the rides and you just won't have the same experience
• Leave plenty of time to explore, it takes about an hour from Manhattan to get to Coney Island via subway (take the Aquarium stop rather than the Coney Island stop it's more straightforward to get to the park from the Aquarium station).  We didn't leave enough time. I would have liked a whole day to explore in full the Broadwalk and area surrounding Coney Island,
• The Aquarium was being refurbished when we went there so not a lot of it was open so I don't think we got the best impression of it.  That said it was very small and for the entry price is unlikely to keep the kids entertained for an afternoon.
• Visit the Brooklyn Beach Shop it has the BEST Coney Island stuff, really great clothing and gifts, not just tat either stuff you really want to buy for people (and yourself or course!)