Sweet Treats

Baring in mind that this is a blog about Happiness, I feel it prudent to mention that I haven't exactly been in the best of spirits for the last week or so. I'm finding that it doesn't matter how much of a 'naturally sunny disposition' you have or how much you try to look for the little things that brighten your day, there are always going to be times when you're completely overwhelmed by life - but it is ok to feel this way! I have somehow managed to progress from an unwillingness to leave my duvet to being short-tempered with cheery salespeople on the phone at work, but, progress all the same.

Last night, trying to put a smile on my face and also take my mind off things, I decided to try and recreate some of the Parisien magic I experienced almost 2 years ago in the shape of...macarons.

don't you feel more cheerful just looking at these beauties?

Oh, le macaron!

£30 worth of equipment and two attempted batches of basic recipe later = EPIC FAIL. Now, I do feel I should mention that macarons are notoriously difficult to make, so I'm not beating myself up massively over it. But...I also fear that my less than savoury performance has pushed me one step closer to a complete emotional breakdown!

I have spent my afternoon googling tips, so with fresh spirits I will be going home tonight to start a 3-day-prep-mission for attempt #2.

Other than that, I plan to pick up my spirits over the next few days by - 

• attending a fundraising event called JapanTease - in a Hawaiian themed bar with special guest Burlesque acts for the night - for the tsunami appeal
• hopefully, successfully creating at least one edible batch of macarons in time for Mothers Day
• causing a sensation at work by wearing inappropriate floral trousers
• going to visit my family for the weekend
• consumption of Cadbury's creme eggs

*duvet optional.

Look at the shiny shiny!

I can't believe that after many months of writing about things that make me happy, I had forgotten about the biggest thing that brings me daily joy...

This is the hummingbird necklace by iconic jewellery designer Alex Monroe. I literally cannot survive the day without wearing my hummingbird, even though it spikes me in my sleep and gets tangled in my disgraceful gypsy hair.

Those who know me well know that I have a bit of an affinity with hummingbirds, as not only are they beautiful, colourful and majestic (a bit like myself obviously) but they symbolise gratitude - you know, that thing I keep banging on about!

So my little friend serves as a daily reminder to me to be grateful. And it's pretty :)

I am lucky enough to also own the double lily ring which was a gift for my 21st birthday, but am lusting after many other items including the crow feather ring. Check out http://www.alexmonroe.com/ if you fancy having a cheeky peak inside his treasure trove.

Bristol :)

I was wrong. Making statements like 'Bristol is always sunny!' are particularly dangerous when you have an impending trip planned. At one point I was wearing jersey body, tights over jersey body, leggings over tights, socks over leggings, t-shirt over jersey body, cardigan over t-shirt, leather jacket over cardigan, and snood 3 times my height wrapped over everything. Quite the picture of trampy chic!

Obvious complaints about weather aside, I had a brilliant time with my chum doing lots of Bristolly things (I'm aware that's not a word)...





The awesomeness that is Swinky's sweet shop

More Swinky goodness

Traditional Morrocan Mint Tea - yum!

The Morrocan Tea Room in Bristol Market

From the pictures it largely looks like my trip to Bristol was nothing more than a celebration of food and drink. Point taken!

Because my Blackberry is such a willy these limited photos are all that I managed to take and are working Blackberry's signature blur and muted colours - winner. But, we did have plenty more fun times doing very touristy things and hanging out in nice independent joints, which makes a refreshing change from the chain-store saturated Liverpool. On a side note, did you know Phil Potts (the sandwich extraordinaire) is part of a chain? No corporate cucumbers please!!!

Good Times and Resolutions

Hope everyone had as much fun on pancake day as I did! There was red wine and American pancakes a-plenty at our pancake party, easily the most enjoyable Shrove Tuesday to date :)

And in the spirit of Lent, I thought that now would be the perfect time to share with you my new resolutions for my happiness project. Ok, so technically I'm not giving anything up (like chocolate/men/alcohol - you know, the usual), but I will be giving up some bad habits and free time!

Following on from the book I blogged about recently - The Happiness Project by Gretchen Ruben - I indulged in a modest splurge (as she puts it in her book) and purchased a copy. In it she sets out the 12 areas of her life that she would like to improve; in the hope that the changes implemented will boost overall happiness, she focuses on one area per month and sets resolutions to keep.

I'm too dense to work out if you can share a document on a blog post, but heres an example of what mine looks like (poorly copied into Microsoft Paint - seriously, I'm not age 5 any more)...

You can only see a few months here, but I have managed to come up with an entire 12! My resolutions include things like focus on friendships, pursue a passion, giving, increase my potential, and focus on fun. If you can see my little smiley faces in the end column, these indicate the ones I've already completed - so I have already successfully completed all of February's resolutions and am making good progress on March!

I can already comment that I'm feeling much happier after following through on all of February's little tasks - just doing simple things like working out a repayment plan for my credit card and clearing out 5 boxes of stuff for the charity shop have helped to relieve some of the constant level of anxiety I was feeling!

And, as per February's resolution, I am off to Bristol for 4 days tomorrow to visit my friend Maxine. I can hardly wait for another drunken duet of the classic song Kiss (by Prince) in Mr. Wolf's bar, and Bristol's finest PieMinster pies. And later concluding that the obvious late night snack would be toast-on-prawns...or prawn surprise as we like to call it.



me and my pal in Brizzol





Post

Today's posting is rather imaginatively about...well, post.

This makes me happy for many reasons:

1) I like interesting envelopes
2) You can never have too many
    shiny silver stars
3) It is not a bill from 02
4) Declarations of love are
    ever-cheering
5) Receiving something that someone
    has thoughtfully taken time out for is infinitely
    better than a poke on facebook.