Friday 25 October 2013

Happy thoughts

Every now and again I forget about blogging about set topics, & instead, just have a ramble about things that are nice in my life. The last few weeks at work have been MANIC with one deadline after another, the nights are cold, and I've just paid for my hotel in the Maldives (hooray), so am counting down to payday with dull ferocity.

So thank goodness for the little things in life...

1. Tiny plants


Oh tiny plants, you are the BEST.

I am a big fan of any type of plant to be fair, but currently I am particularly obsessed with the tiniest of cacti and succulents. A few weeks ago I made up a terrarium using cacti from Dobbie's, a jar from Ikea (which was a surprisingly good find, I reckon - it was really cheap & has a super nice shape!), and a mix of cacti soil & fishtank sand to make a deserty scene. It was fairly painful to put together (the tall cacti is SO PRICKLY) but I think it's worth it... and I actually made a pal do the painful bits for me.

On my desk at work I've got a wee collection of greenery (topped off with a passive-aggressive flag), but distressingly my plants have started dying. The green succulent in the top right photo suddenly went all black & rotten from the roots up, and hasn't responded well to my efforts of succulent emergency rescue. Poor wee plants! If anyone has any tips for dealing with cacti rot, please let me know!


2. Neil Gaiman being a bit wonderful
 
Image: lifehack

I adore Neil Gaiman. Adore him. I've been a big fan of his books since first discovering Stardust as a youth, and I always try and go to his talks at the Edinburgh Book Festival. He's the sort of author that is EXACTLY how you hope he will be in person... he's funny, and he's smart, and he was lovely when he met my book-loving niece (who had never been to a book event before) this summer.

Quite often he says things that are very clever and make a lot of sense, other times he says things that are ridiculously inspiring, and every now and again he says things that make you pause and realise the importance of daydreaming.

If you haven't ever read anything by him (what! who are you?) get thee to a bookshop, stat.


3. Movies

Image: Neon Circus
I have a Cineworld Unlimited card which is amazing - I pay about £15 a month for unlimited movies (plus money off food & drink & whatnot), which means I go to the cinema a lot. I'd really recommend getting one if there's a Cineworld near you & watch more than one film a month... and if you use the code RAF-69AA-41VU-28SN-16XK then both you & I get a month's membership free! (Promise this isn't a sponsored post - the card is totally worth the money).

I really love the cinema though - I worked in one when I was at uni (and I honestly think it's the perfect student job!) and got hooked on free films and watching almost anything that was on.

In the last week or so I've been to see Captain Phillips (which, bloody hell, was super tense) and Sunshine on Leith (which I heart SO MUCH). I'm a sucker for musicals, so I knew I'd love Sunshine on Leith, but ahhh, it was so good. It's set in Edinburgh (obviously) and it was lovely to see my hometown look so beautiful!

5 comments :

  1. You've inspired me a bit with those tiny plants! xx

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  2. AHHHH! The maldives, I would absolutely love to go there!

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  3. Sunshine on Leith? PLEASE tell me this is a musical about/featuring the music of The Proclaimers (also please tell me I am remembering their album title correctly?)

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  4. Neil Gaiman is such a pleasure to hear speak! He's just like I imagined and always entertaining :)

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  5. I love all the tiny plants. So cute. Cineworld sounds amazing. I wish we had it here in Australia.

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