Iron Maiden - Run to the Hills

Since I've been a massive lazypants for the past fortnight or so (due to procrastination, as per usual!), I figured today is my day off so I would pick up my walking again and I aimed to do 4 miles.

So, I got up early (for me, for a day off) at 9.30, had a healthy breakfast and then, of course, sat around on my ass and watched crappy daytime TV and wrote succinct, 140 character rants on Twitter until 3pm. Obviously.

When I finally got my butt up and got dressed (yes, the whole time I was procrastinating, I was going so in my white dressing gown with the cute pink polka dots on), I pulled on my leggings, socks, rummaged around for my trainers, and ummed and ahhed trying to find a top that is thin and breathable for my sweaty ick factor to be as low as possible, but that still had pockets for my keys, phone (complete with workout tracker app, "Cardio Trainer", and headphones to listen to my music) and some change to buy milk when I'd finished.

I plugged in the headphones, selected Cherry Bomb by Ash as my first track, started my cardio tracker app, locked my front door, put my sunglasses on and trotted off into the distance.

Or not.

My plan was to walk along the sea wall, as has become customary for my walking/attempts at jogging.
(I like to think that when I "run", I look like this:


when really, I look more like this:

But that's okay. No really, it is.)

What I hadn't banked on is the wind. OH MY DAYS is it windy. I took a few steps to face the direction of the beach and the sea gale blew and jumped right into my mouth and I swallowed a huge gulp of fresh air. I almost walked into a neighbour's garden wall, the strength of the wind was that strong. I thought it was August, not fricking November!

I decided to persist, after all, the more resistance I was against with the elements, the harder my body would have to work and the better my workout would be.

Then my music stopped and I couldn't get it started again, my stupid phone had decided that it no longer wanted to "support this file type" even though I've played those songs almost a billion times before. Grumble grumble. Walking without music does not a happy Emmy make.

Then I noticed that the top I had chosen had been weighed down by the change, keys and phone in my pockets and due to my poor choice of bra, I was now displaying my jubbliest bits to my entire home town. Joy of joys. So I took my phone out of my pocket and my keys but of course with my quick power-walking, my top was still coming down, meaning I got some banter from some roofers who obviously got a damn good view (no Dad, and no The Boy, I won't tell you which house it was!).

(Ugh! Even as I am typing this, I can hear the wind whistling and howling through the trees!)

So, un-heroically, I gave up and just decided to power walk the half-mile to the shop to buy a bottle of milk and flounced off with a grumpy stomp back home. I'll try again tomorrow.

And there ends my middle-class problem.

Einar Stray - Teppet Faller

CURRENT BOOK(S)

Two For Sorrow by Nicola Upson
When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman
The Pregnant Widow by Martin Amis
Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok

CURRENT MUSIC

Lots of classical stuff
The Offspring
DAGADANA
Power ballads

CURRENT FILMS

Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Black Swan 

CURRENT SHAME-INDUCING GUILTY PLEASURE

Sleeping in too late
Playing air guitar whilst driving
Reading a book whilst at work

CURRENT COLOR

Pillarbox red

CURRENT TRIUMPH

Being organised enough to be up to date with two Open Uni courses
Keeping The Doom at bay! 

CURRENT FETISH

That's for me and The Mister to know and you to never find out!

CURENT ANNOYANCE

Clouds.

CURRENT DRINK

Lady Grey tea
Fruity cider
Peppermint latte
Apple and mango juice

CURRENT FOOD

Chicken, crinkle cut chips, peas and gravy
Terry's Chocolate Orange
Cinnamon Grahams

CURRENT WISH LIST

Lots and lots of sunshine.

CURRENT INDULGENCE

Online window shopping at Asos, Topshop, Waterstones and ditzy makes jewellery.

CURRENT OUTFIT

White tunic dress with blossom, black leggings, red nails.

You Should Live in a Rustic House
 
You are a traditional person with old fashioned values. And you're only looking to impress yourself.
You think it's important to have as comfortable a home as possible. You want to feel cozy.

You are in touch with nature, and you appreciate a beautiful view.
You appreciate the simple, basic things in life. You can be happy just from seeing it snow. What Kind of Home Should You Live In? Blogthings: Free Quizzes for Everyone

You Are Sweet Natured You don't have an unkind bone in your body. You never mean to insult or criticize.
You are intensely curious about everyone and everything. People fascinate you.

You are a very warm and welcoming person. You have a kind and compassionate heart.
You are easily amused, and others find you to be quite amusing. You are downright hilarious at times. The Storybook Tree Test Blogthings: 100's of Fun, Free Quizzes and 3 Stupid Ones

You Are Massachusetts You are smart, serious, and quite traditional. You don't have a lot of time for junk in your life.
It's likely that you're well educated and hard working. You live a very goal oriented life.

You are probably socially liberal, but personally quite conservative. You would never be described as wild.
But you're more diverse than people give you credit for. You're equally comfortable at a business meeting and at a rowdy sports game! What US State Are You? Blogthings: 100's of Fun, Free Quizzes and 3 Stupid Ones
^Is this a good thing? I've never been to any US state, haha!


You Are Gummy Bears

You may be smooshie and taste unnatural, but you're so darn cute. What Kind of Candy Are You? Blogthings: Our Quizzes Weren't Written By Bored 12 Year Olds
^ I *do* taste unnatural!! :S

Martha & the Vandellas - Nowhere to Run

Day 5 : Calf sprain

So, I have been a good little lazy-arse!

Here’s my exercise record from the past 5 days:

Tuesday - 2 miles in 30 minutes

Wednesday - 3 miles in 50 minutes

Thursday - *coughsplutterIwastoolazyandtotallychickenedout*

Friday - 4 miles in 67 minutes

Saturday - 2.6 miles in 37 minutes

Today I experienced my first calf strain. But! I haz teh mega proudz! 11.6 miles in 5 days. Previously, I reckon I would walk about 11 miles in a month, so I am quite impressed with myself!

My aim is to briskly walk for 2 weeks and then build up to jogging.

WOO!

I started my go-for-a-run playlist today for my phone (I’ve also added the Cardio Trainer app for Android which is awesommme!) because I was listening to music on my phone whilst I was out today and stumbled over some songs which are really *not* conducive to exercise such as:

Debussy - Clair de Lune
Beach Boys - Don’t Worry Baby
Evanescence - Bring Me to Life

A song that went surprisingly well with my POWERWALK! was Die in the Summertime by Manic Street Preachers. I felt totally badass marching along to that, for some reason, picking up my pace and trying to ignore the fact that my legs were about to fall off meaning I would have to surgically attach myself to a spacehopper to enable me to move about.

The only annoying thing about it is that my ponytail swishes from side to side like an annoying metronome. And I don’t own a sports bra. FML.

David Bowie - Diamond Dogs

Definition of OMGCUTE: My cocker spaniel is fast asleep, dreaming, wagging his tail with a faint smile on his face.

SAY NO TO NOTW

Please join me in boycotting News of the World and other media in the News International group.
NOTW "allegedly" hacked into the voicemail of murdered school girl Milly Dowler and deleted messages, giving her parents false hope she was still alive. [LINK]

The Chief Exec of News International, Rebekah Brooks, reportedly wants to investigate the scandal herself. The editor of News of the World at the time of the alleged phone hacking was... Rebekah Brooks.

Help to push the UK government to demand a full public inquiry into possible perverting the course of justice and tampering with evidence in a murder case.

SAY NO TO NOTW. PLEASE REBLOG.

Survivor - Eye of the Tiger

I went running today. This is quite a mean feat for me, as I am possibly The Most Unhealthy Girl in the World. I don't say this lightly.

Let me set the scene for you. I am one of those heinous bitches who can pretty much eat whatever I damn well like and not get overweight. The only time I've teetered on the edge of the normal-overweight line on the BMI scale is December last year when I'd spent three months sat at my desk at work eating fish & chips, cake and biscuits before returning home to Mum & Dad's for Christmas and gorged on cheeseboards, turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and yet more biscuits and chocolate. In the past 6 months I have lost a stone (14 pounds) just by putting less food on my plate. If I wasn't me, I'd slap me.

I never exercise. I don't enjoy it, I don't get into a routine of Just Doing It Anyway. I don't put effort into maintaining my physical health. I like the idea of exercising and want to be able to enjoy it, but it's easier to just say that I'll start tomorrow and for now I'll just sit here and watch another episode of How I Met Your Mother on BT Vision.

Pretty appalling since I studied muscle and cardiovascular physiology along with exercise, nutrition and health at the third largest university in the country.

At weekend, I spent time with The Mister's friends from work, who I met for the first time. And they all do workouts of some kind, be it running, mountain biking, swimming, etc. It's kind of hard to live in a rural area of the most beautiful part of the country and not be the outdoors-y type.

So, somehow, I got it into my head that one day, soon, I will be an outdoors-y type, too and I'll be fit and healthy and drink ice cold water and not get tired walking up the stairs(!) and actually look cool wearing trainers.

I asked The Mister to text me today and ask how my run went. You know, so I could feel incredibly guilty when I inevitably stayed indoors and played Scrabble on Facebook with my day off instead.

Well, imagine my surprise today when I actually went for a run. No, I know, I was amazed, too. It's mostly down to my friend Kate that I went, since she texted me saying she was all full of buzz and excitement after getting back from her long walk in the rain (she is an actual rockstar) and encouraged/persuaded me to JFDI - Just Fucking Do It. Because "the thought of it is far worse than the actual doing", she said. (I would later find out that this isn't the case, but more on that later.)

And, I scraped my already slightly greasy hair back into a ponytail, got changed into my black leggings and my floppy white DKNY t-shirt that I've had since I was sixteen, my argyle pumps (because, as I've said, I am not outdoors-y and this was the most athletic clothing I own). I so wish I could have worn a superhero jumpsuit and cape, just to spur me on a bit more, but alas.

Hilariously, I drove to the place I wanted to run from, which Google Maps tells me is only 0.3 miles.

I parked my car and walked up the hill to the sea wall where is and started to run. Since I was a pretty decent sprinter at high school, I started off running at what I thought was a reasonable pace but it turns out, was not. After about 500 metres, I started to feel the burn in the back of my throat. And after not very long, I began to feel actual fire in the space where my trachea splits into my bronchi. 

It was then I realised just how unfit I am. I was disgusted with myself and had to start walking. And that is just plain piss-poor. At one point I may even have sat down on a step. Deary me, eh?

I managed to pick myself up again and started plodding along. THUD THUD THUD went my feet on the concrete.

People say you feel better when, or immediately after, you exercise. Well. *During* my run I could feel my sinuses pulsating in my skull and thought my cheekbones would burst out of my face, I could feel myself drowning in my own sweat and well, we've already discussed the flammable lung issues. Immediately after my exercise, I felt sick.

Google Maps said I "ran" 2.0 miles in 30 minutes. That is pretty rubbish.

But you know, I think it's pretty good in some ways. Now, I have a really low benchmark to beat tomorrow, haha! And at least I DID IT instead of sitting inside drinking tea and eating biscuits. (Yes, when I got home from my run, I *did* sit down and eat biscuits, but that's allowed, right?) And I will get faster and be able to run further. Maybe not straight away, but one day. My friend Laura has asked me if I want to do Race for Life with her next year, so I've now got an entire year to learn how to do 5k.

This blog entry was brought to you by me procrastinating. I am supposed to be writing my last psychology entry for this module by 11th July but apparently I'd rather write something embarrassing about myself than write 400 more words on how society influences your personality. This entry was 965 words by the way, over 500 more than I actually need to write for the Open University. Wow, my procrastination knows no bounds.

Gaze - Jelly-Bean

Today's to-do list

1.) eat a cinnamon bagel & drink a Turkish coffee in the garden.

2.) Yeah, that’s pretty much it. 

monzano - Yes, We Can't

Helloey,

Sorry for the delay in posting, I've been getting addicted to Tumblr (shame on me, haha!) - emmylou1602.tumblr.com

I've been listening to my recommendations on last.fm today and there is some awesome music about that never seems to get any recognition. (My last.fm profile is www.last.fm/user/emmylou1602 )

So I've compiled a short playlist of some of the "twee"-ish type songs that I was recommended:-

The Sunshine Underground - Put You In Your Place

Dear Nora - Springtime Fall

The Rifles - Peace and Quiet

monzano - Yes, We Can't

Gaze - Portrait

Slow Down Tallahassee - Electric Sun

Allo Darlin' - Heartbeat Chilli

Strawberry Fair - Give Up

Honeybunch - Hey Blue Sky

Marine Girls - Don't Come Back

Language of Flowers - Where You Belong

If my brainspace was a genre of music, it would be twee-indie-swirlyness.

George Michael - Amazing

Emmy Lou's Top 10 Bloody Good Blogs*:

(in no particular order!)

1. UNdane: Iris Jones vs. the Great Mundane - Iris Jones blogs about searching for the joy and beauty in the mundane.

2. Spalderdash - Want to laugh so hard a little bit of wee comes out? Take a visit to Spalderdash.

3. ditzy makes jewellery - Supercute handmade jewellery by Lara Adams.

4. Under the Spotlight - Blog by professional freelance model, Cheryl Elizabeth.

5. World of Neil - The life and times of the world's loveliest geek.

6. un peu d'air sur la terre - Musings about life, love, music and all things chintz by Lucy.

7. Two Little Boys, Dishy Husband and Me: Mum of Yum - Everyone's favourite MILF, haha!

8. Let them no longer eat cake! - Gluten-free funnies by Liebesleben.

9. Little Colombia Observationist - Stephanie Sadler begins her new life away from the hustle and bustle of big cities and embarks on adventures in Colombia.

10. Little Seattle Observationist - April finally finds the city she wants to call "Home", Seattle.

11. The Trials and Tribulations of Being Fabulous - Funnies, rants, music, reviews... but always fabulous.

*Yes, I know I said there would be 10 blogs but these 11 are just too good to leave one of them out!

Counting Crows - Monkey

I have nothing vaguely intelligent or funny in mah brainz today, so here, have some monkeys(!):

Yeeesss? May I help you?

It's a long way down!

Getting ready to pounce...

Lunchtime is my favourite time!

View my "Monkeying Around" set on Flickr to see more monkeys.




.

Sara Bareilles - Love Song

More shop shenanigans!

Someone just asked me what time the postman empties the postbox. He couldn't understand why I didn't know. I asked what it says on the postbox and he told me 4pm Wednesday. Ooh, I wonder what time the postbox is emptied then?! BUY SOMETHING OR GET OUT!!

I work in a shop that sells coats and as well as the postbox debacle, I have also been asked:

*How to get to the market (er, you're in a shopping outlet village, do you think I would tell you how to shop somewhere else?!)

*Which bus goes into the town centre (I haven't ridden a bus since 2004 and tried to explain I'm a motorist but that didn't deter them "Well surely you *must* know if you live round here?" Nope, I still don't know 15 seconds after you last asked me.)

* Which size coat should I buy when I've lost this 3 stone I need to shift? (*headdesk*)

Robbie Williams - Strong

Working in a shop that doesn't have many customers, you find little ways to entertain yourself. Mainly through people watching or generally spying on what's going on out of the windows, in the freedom that is Being Outside The Shop Of Doom. It's not that bad, really, just a bit boring. Here's how I entertained myself this week:

1.) Watching a seagull that appeared to be shaking its butt along to Hit Me Baby One More Time (we have the most up-to-date music playing over the tannoy at our shopping centre, clearly)

2.) The faulty vending machine at work strikes again! Some poor bastard lost his money. I'm beginning to think there aren't really any ice cold drinks in there at all...
^ This is the real reason The Coca-Cola Company are so rich...(!)

3.) Making a cat out of a bag (and somewhat misquoting an idiom there), some tickets and general stationery:

MIAOW!

4.) Tweeting about fashion mishaps I've seen: @emmylou1602 Dear shopper, Double denim doesn't work. It especially doesn't work when the top and bottom are different colours. And when you're pulling the jeans out of your arsecrack? Not the best look ever. Team that with you leaning forward like Quasimodo cos you can't balance on your wedgey heels and you have a disaster. #sadtimes

5.) Blogging. Yes, I manage to blog at work from my phone. Naughty naughty. I would care but it's one of the only things that keeps me sane as I'm standing doing nothing for five hours, waiting for customers.

6.) Being a bit of a psychopath. Here's one of my Facebook statuses (statii?!): "[emmylou1602] would happily scalp someone for a peppermint latte right now. I think they have catnip for Emmys in or something."

Pharell - Frontin'

A Jar of Balloons Survey, by [james ensor]

(Yes, I'm one of *those* annoying people who likes to do surveys. Sorry!)




1.) How conscious are you of your posture?
Pretty conscious. My posture is pretty poor and because it's always been poor, I actually find it difficult and sometimes painful to put my shoulders back.



2.) What's the highest floor on which you've ever lived?
Mine and Benj's last flat was set on the first and second floors (or second and third floors if you're on the wrong side of the Atlantic ;) )



3.) Do you get jittery during airplane turbulence? How jittery?
Not really. I do say a prayer and ask that God looks after us all if the ride gets a bit bumpy and that calms me.



4.) Do you still drink glasses of milk?
Yes, yes I do! In't milk brilliant?!



5.) How's your balance?
Awful. I am the clumsiest person in the world.



6.) What games do you play with small children you meet (such as faking snatching off their noses by poking a thumb between fingers)?
Well I don't really spend much time with small children, but Cem will tell you I played choo choo trains with Onur in Sainsbury's haha. I don't like the whole fake nose-snatching thing, I dunno why!



7.) Is it your tendency to order the same dish over and over or mix it up?
Both. If there's a dish in a restaurant that I really like, I'll order it again, but I like to go to restaurants to try dishes I've never eaten before, if that's possible, so yeah, I think I err on the side of mixing it up.



8.) How are you at not losing pens?
Terrible.



9.) Have you ever made a scrapbook?
I've always started a scrapbook and never finished them. I'm better at photo albums :)



10.) Is there anything that feels nicer touching the back of the hand than a tassel? What about gently blown breath?
I find this question slightly creepy, I don't know why!



11.) What did you call bowel movements as a child?
Poo.



12.) When at a museum, do you like to walk around by yourself or take the tour?
Walk around by myself. I like to explore without the "come here for enforced fun!" kinda stuff.



13.) When cooking, do you eyeball or measure?
Eyeball. I don't have any weighing scales or measuring cups, all my baking recipes are done by using a mug and estimation.



14.) Was your Christmas tree (if you had one as a child) fake or real? What was it topped with, an angel or a star?
Fake. And topped with a star. It's now fake and topped with an angel playing a violin. <-- I can't stand that ornament, she is playing the violin on the wrong side ARGH! Well, that's Mum and Dad's tree. I have my own that's 12 inches tall and that has tiny gold baubles and no topping.



15.) Do you wear non-winter hats?
Rarely.



16.) What celebrities have you met?
Sir Bobby Charlton when I was 3. Syd Little (if he counts as a celebrity, bless him. I used to work alongside him, but that's another story, hehe). That's about it, I think. Ronnie O' Sullivan once walked past me at Silverstone race circuit and I would've molested him if my other half wasn't in the garage next to me. Sad times.



17.) What is the deepest water in which you've been swimming?
Technically? The Atlantic ocean. But I hate being out of my depth as I'm a really poor swimmer.



18.) If you could walk on stage as the lead singer of any band in any time period, who would it be?
I would love to have been Robert Plant in 1972 or Freddie Mercury in 1986.



19.) About what subject (other than yourself) do you possess the most knowledge?
Errrrm, probably playing the violin or human biology stuff. A weird combo, I know!



20.) What is the worst you've ever burned yourself?
I'm pretty lucky, I have a burn scar about the size of my fingernail on my right wrist, that's it. (I caught it on the oven shelf whilst taking out a banana bread)



21.) What percentage of your life would you say you spend alone and recollecting?
At the moment, seeing as I only work 9 hours per week, I would say.... 80%. I spend a lot of time alone while Mum, Dad and The Brother are at work and I am an over-thinker, so yeah.



22.) Okay, you have a plate of cake and ice cream: do you go with a spoon, with a fork, or with both?
I would prefer the fork for the cake and a spoon for the ice cream, but I wouldn't use both pieces of cutlery at the same time, I don't like it.



23.) What advice do you generally give to people who have colds?
Drink fluids! And stay away from me.



24.) Have you ever seriously done the Limbo?
No.



25.) How are you at impersonations? Do you stick with them when they aren't going well or jump ship?
I am appalling at them, in general. I'm okay at some accents, but yeah, impersonations I don't generally do because I am rubbish. If they're not going well I would jump ship and get embarrassed or take the piss out of myself.

The Beatles - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

I never cease to be amazed at how many different colours and moods the sky can be.

Here are a few samples from "1000 Acres of Sky", my set on Flickr. Enjoy:

View the rest of "1000 Acres of Sky" here.

emmylou1602 on Flickr

Lady Gaga - Bad Romance

Dear Secret Drag Queen,

I am glad I made you feel comfortable whilst out shopping for a fabulous ladies red leather jacket.

I am sorry that you feel like you have to be secretive about it because of what people say and do.

The photo of you in your blue floaty dress was so pretty and your red wig is amazing.

You looked better in the ladies jacket I sold you than the drab business suit you were wearing when you walked in.

Stay fabulous,
Emmy xxx

Adele - Hometown Glory

Dear Shoppers,

You think I can't hear you singing along to the songs on the tannoy, but I can.

And it fills me with delight every time, no matter how tone deaf you are. The more dramatic, the better.

Go for it, you giant freaks, feel the music!

love,
Emmy.

David Bowie - Life On Mars?

So, I just voted. I voted "yes" to AV, as I explained in my previous entry. In the borough elections, there were 2 x Conservative candidates, 2 x UKIP, 2 x Independent and 3 x Labour. I voted for all 3 Labour candidates, purely because they were the most opposite to the Conservatives. No other reason, unfortunately, but I didn't want to waste my vote. Sad times. In the town elections, there were 3 Conservative candidates and 3 Independents. I wrote "NO CONFIDENCE IN ANY CANDIDATE" at the top and scribbled over the boxes. I hate doing that, but there was no one I wanted to vote for. I guess if that's the case then I should run for the post myself, but yeah right.




On entering the polling station, 2 ladies were stood at the front door and asked for the polling number on the front of my polling card, so I gave it to them, without thinking, as I've only voted at a polling station once before, I am used to using the postal vote. Then I thought "hang on, they're wearing rosettes, the bitchez!". I asked them to remove my number from their records as I don't appear on the edited register and I didn't want them to have my details. They obliged. It was so confusing though, I thought they were polling officials til I saw their cleverly hidden rosettes behind their closed jackets!



Please vote, people! I can't believe there were only 2 other people in the polling station apart from me, shocking! I went in at lunch time too, so thought it would be busy with people on their breaks, but no! I don't think people should be *forced* to vote, but people should definitely take more interest in it. If people were forced to vote, you'd get loads of spoiled ballots or people voting for a random person, which would not be helpful in the slightest. We live in a free country and have the civil right to vote, but the civil right to NOT vote, too. I know some people who refuse to vote for religious reasons, so to be forced to vote would be very upsetting for them. Please vote if you can though, even if you're just voting for the "best of a bad bunch".

Queen - Breakthru

Working in a shop and watching/listening to The General Public never fails to amuse me. Some of the things people do and say... just bizarre. Here are a few more gems to celebrate:

Letters to The General Public in a shopping village

Dear Pervy Old Man,



You've got no chance. Pay attention to who seems to be your long suffering wife instead.

lots of love
...A kick in the nuts,
Emmy xxx

Dear Supermodel-wannabe-who just-glided-past,


I get that you think you're the dogs bollocks, which is why you're wearing a crop top and hotpants in April, but your infected bellybutton ring really isn't sexy.

love, Emmy.
PS. You have eyeliner on your chin.

-----------------------

And the award for Creepiest Guy at a Shopping Village goes to: the Hannibal Lecter doppelganger who stood outside the shop with a sinister grin on his face for about 10 minutes *shudders*


-----------------------

The Beatles - In My Life

You Should Light a Lavender Candle

You are sensitive yet resilient. You are spiritual and emotional, but you aren't fragile. In your group of friends, you are the intuitive one. You understand and empathize with others. You're the type of person who appreciates beauty. You see can see hope and potential. You genuinely kind and nurturing. You don't like conflict or chaos. You only want peace.

What Scent Candle Should You Light?

Blogthings: Free Quizzes for Everyone

You Are a Swan

You are a graceful and elegant creature. You are both powerful and vulnerable. You have a lot of inner strength that you draw from. You aren't as fragile as you seem. You have a strong nurturing instinct. You are especially in tune with children and animals. You are poetic and expressive. You see beauty everywhere, and you like to share your inner world with others.

What Bird Are You?

Blogthings: Free Quizzes for Everyone

You Are Sentimental

You hold your friends and family close to your heart. You treasure every memory you have. You take care of what you value most - whether it's an object or a person. Of all the types, you are the most likely to pass down a family heirloom. Whether you're a woman or a man, you are probably very in touch with your feminine side.

The Jewelry Test

Blogthings: Discover the Parts of Your Personality that Have Been Hiding

You Have a Wild Imagination

You can think or dream anything. You have very vivid and colorful thoughts. You have smooth and well mannered attitude. People can count on you to charm and delight. You are peaceful and pretty zen like. You live in the moment. You are a very emotional person. It's pretty easy to touch your heart.

The Bubble Bath Test

Blogthings: 100's of Fun, Free Quizzes and 3 Stupid Ones

Your Refrigerator Says You Are an Adventurous Eater

You like to be surrounded by things you love. You aren't exactly greedy, but you can be materialistic at times. You tend to be a fairly thrifty person. You splurge occasionally, but you're mostly a saver. You are a very adventurous person. You love to try new things, and you get bored very easily. You are responsible, together, and mature. You act like an adult, even when you don't feel like it. You are likely married, possibly with kids.

What Do the Contents of Your Refrigerator Say About You?

Blogthings: We'll Tell You The Truth... Someone Has To!

TIME TO CHANGE

This week is Mental Health Week. Except, I think it's finished now. But I am still going to write this entry, in case there is the slightest chance it will make someone who reads this feel slightly less rubbish.
My name is Emmy and I suffer with anxiety and depression. I am lucky enough to have only needed minimal medical intervention but other people are not as lucky as me.

I am writing this because at least 1 in 4 of us will have trouble with our mental health. I bet it's probably more like 3 in 4, to be honest. Because, if we were all honest about it, we have probably nearly all suffered. And it's not an embarrassing or shameful or weak thing, mental illness is an illness, like bronchitis or chronic migraines or haemorrhoids. Okay, maybe it's not like piles, but you get my drift. People don't choose to have a mental illness because they feel like being self-indulgent or an excuse to be lazy, it is because they cannot function in every day life and it is hard.

I was signed off work for six weeks in 2008 with anxiety and depression. I worked as a main support worker for a man with challenging behaviour, which basically meant I was paid minimum wage to what amounts to being assaulted every day at work and one day I couldn't, wouldn't, cope with it anymore. I did a strong thing by going to the doctor about it, not a weak thing. At the time I thought I'd failed, but actually, getting signed off was a great success for my emotional wellbeing and my health in general. And I was signed off work to recover and I ran away home to cry in my room and stare at the walls and sit in my bath robe and think and think and think.


And one day it doesn't hurt as much, and the day after gets better, too. Then you have a Bad Day of Doom and you think you're back at square one, but it is not square one because the sheer experience of a Better Day is the start of positive achievements and the road to recovery.


I am not trying to say that I magically got better by having time off work, far from it. It was hugely challenging, and I know people who suffer a lot worse with anxiety and depression than what I do. But I am trying to say that, if this is you now, there is hope. You can and will get better one day. Maybe not today, but perhaps tomorrow, or the day after that. You can do it.


And I'm not saying thatt once you feel better, you always will. Last night I woke up at 4 a.m. with the familiar feeling of intercostal muscle strain at the bottom of my ribs, where I have become anxious in my sleep and struggled to breathe using my diaphragm properly. I spent an hour controlling my breathing again, trying to fill my lungs up to capacity again and ridding my chest of the pain of adrenaline and panic coursing through me. The difference is now I know how to deal with that. I do breathing exercises and jot down what I think is worrying me on my bedside notepad, and what time of day it is. Then I can go back to sleep, hopefully. I am tired this morning but I am not feeling anxious.


Medals for everyone who read this, haha! I hope it's at least helped one person. If you're worried about you or one of your peoples, visit Time To Change TODAY, DON'T WAIT TILL TOMORROW. http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/


By talking about mental health and educating ourselves, we can undo the stigma related to admitting you or a family member or friend have a mental illness. I haven't edited this entry, I've just written it as it came out of my brainspace. I hope it is vaguely coherent ;) Lots of love to all xxx

Jamie Woon - Lady Luck

Yesterday I Did A Cry.

But today, Chloedog found a hedgehog in the garden and we fed her raisins, water, peanuts and Pedigree Chum Schmackos. Chloe kept looking for the hedgehog every time she went out into the garden, she was sniffing everywhere for her. I took some photos, wrote some non-scary post and it was sunny.

Every now and again, I get overwhelmed by the amount of music there is in the world that I like, and that I can't possibly listen to All The Songs at the same time. This happened today.

I also want to travel to All The Places, but I can't and that is sad.

So instead, I have just spent hours looking at them on Flickr. I have come up with some ideas of stuff round here that I'd like to take photos of, which is good I guess. My photography course starts in 6 weeks but I've already got the DVD through.

Tomorrow I begin my last week of working 21 hours and I will drop back down to 9 hours again. Which gives me lots of time to do All The Things, but not so much money. Swings and roundabouts. Oooh, maybe I will go to the park and take pictures of swings and roundabouts.

This is not a very linear entry.

I have "Heavyweight Champion of the World" by Reverend and the Makers going round in my head. Be like everybody else, be like everybody else, be like everybody else,  just be like everybody else.

Beyonce/Lady Gaga - Telephone

I went to the beach to look at the sea wall and take photos of awesome graffiti but all I found was this. Shoddy!

Daniel Powter - Bad Day

 

Bad Day by Daniel Powter is just one of the many stupid song choices that come over the tannoy of the shopping village I work at. Others include :

The Bangles - Manic Monday

Celine Dion - All by Myself

That guy (what's his name?) - All by Myself (yes, they play 2 versions!)

Westlife - Let Me Go Home

 

Ridiculous, aren't they? How do those songs encourage people to think they're having a fantastic time and think they should buy All The Things?!

 

Other inappropriate songs I think they should choose are:

 

Engelbert Humperdinck - Please Release Me

The Animals - We've Gotta Get Out of this Place

Pink Floyd - Money

Beach Boys - Sloop John B (complete with the lyrics "let me go home/why wonxt you let me go home?/this is the worst trip I've ever been on)

Alphabeat - Fascination

This post is about ear piercing, working in a shop and family love.

I work in a shop opposite another that sells accessories (it's probably the one you're thinking of) and it also does ear piercing. When I get bored at work because it's not very busy or there's a lull, I get to people-watch and it's the most fascinating thing ever.

An adorable little family went into the shop before, a mum, a big brother, middle sister and little brother and the sister wanted to get her ears pierced for the first time. Mum spent a long time picking out the girl's very first earrings with her and when they settled on the right pair, the shop assistant spent a long time chatting to the little girl, putting her at ease and making side glances and winks at Mum to check she thought everything was okay.

The assistant draw the target marks on the girl's ears and the girl started to look a bit scared. The assistant invited Mum to check the blobs were even and the two other brothers checked too, the big brother coming up really close and putting his eyeball right up to both ears one at a time. He nodded firmly, and sister calmed down a bit.

The piercing gun was brought out and the little girl seemed to get scared again. It reminded me of when I got my first ear piercings and the dread of what it will feel like, then feeling the hot flick of the jewellery being stamped into your ear. Little brother handed his sister his teddy: a treasured possession of his in order to make his sister feel better. It was such a cute sight to see. Sister cheered up and the little brother looked so proud of himself, Mum praising him for being such a lovely boy.

And all of a sudden, the ears were pierced! The girl offered her little brother the bear back, but he kissed her cheek and let her keep it a while longer.

So sweet.

Led Zeppelin - Tea For One

So, I just spent the best part of an hour making a birthday cake for my Dad (yes, I decided to bake at midnight, what of it?). I like to think that it's because I'm nice and lovely and a good daughter, not that I have no money to buy him a real present.
Yes, good daughter, that's the ticket.

Anyway, it was one of those rare times when everything goes perfect, you whip the cake batter together and instead of making cake sludge, it goes all light and fluffy and there is no gloop or goo or general nastiness. I lined the tin and spooned the mixture (Victoria sponge with a hint of ground ginger - Dad likes all things spicy) into said lined tin and popped it into the oven on Gas Mark 7. I'd left the cake to cool on the side and all was well, it was a beautiful golden browny beige colour so I set to work making the icing.

I went to take the cake out of the tin and put it on a cooling rack and plop! It fell on the floor.

Now I know what you're thinking 3 second rule, it'll be fiiine , right? No.
It broke into pieces and accumulated an unsavoury amount of dog hair on it.

FML squared. I could've cried if it didn't look so fucking funny, beautiful pieces of cake smashed up on our kitchen tiles.

So sorry Dad, your birthday cake *was* going to be fabulous, ginger flavoured and fluffy and light. It was even going to have sprinkles and candles.

Instead there's a kitchen with every single utensil we own covered in cake batter. At least there's no crumbs on the floor though, but our cocker spaniel has gained approximately 14 stone.

Happy birthday!

Michael Jackson - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough

Stalk me on Flickr :)

I just bought a new DSLR (Sony Alpha A390) and I've never had one before, so I'm looking for all the tips I can get, please!

Celine Dion - All By Myself

After being so bored at work I was actually contemplating using one of these methods, I decided I should write a blog about Shit That Happens At Work While I'm Staring Out Of The Window.

I work part-time in a little shop on a retail village/shopping centre/whatever they're called now to make it sound more grand than 20 shops, a cafe and a car park built on some old waste ground in 1995. Now, I get to see some funny stuff from the ideal vantage point behind my till, as the shop I work in is right at the front entrance of the complex.

Here are a couple of things that have happened today that made me Do A Laugh. Now, it may or may not be funny, but when you're working on a grey Wednesday afternoon in a shop where most of the items are £99 and no one actually *has* a hundred quid spare to spend on frivolities anymore thanks to This Man *, you gotta take your amusement where you can.


It just took 2 security staff to retrieve a can of Fanta from the vending machine for a woman with the biggest boobies in the world. A stout grey man has also just lost his money and gained no Diet Coke, but there is no one around to help him now. Bless him and his lack of hot boobies and tight skirt.

~

Dear Mr. Stout Shopper

I know you think no one was looking when you walked past the shop and fell over nothing at all, looked around, sighed with relief and continuted your walk, but I want you to know watching you fall over followed by hearing All By Myself come on over the tannoy whilst you walk away all bashful and shamefaced has made my day and a little bit of wee came out.

love from Emmy xxx

~

 

Dear Septegenarian Lady With A Walnut Face and Peroxide Perm,

You look like you've had a fight with Bet Gilroy and Katie Price in a paint factory.

Wash your face, this is the North of England, not Vegas.

Kind regards,
Emmy xxx

~

A man just came into the shop with the most epic moustache ever, it looked like this ^ ^ and it was blonde and grey and white and ginger. I tried so hard to get a photo of him and failed, but that's okay cos I did this completely life-like artist's rendition of his entire face. It's uncanny.

~

I've just realised that these things were the most interesting things about my day and that's quite sad. FML.

Train - Drops of Jupiter

I have experienced a few self-realisations today. Nothing too profound, but enough to make me think about my interest in learning new things, my relationship with The Mister and how different people experience the same thing in different ways.

Sitting in our front room this evening, watching Wonders of the Universe, Mum, Dad, The Brother and I were listening to Prof. Brian Cox talk about entropy and what that means. It reminded me that I used to know some of this stuff once upon a time, and rekindled the dying embers of interest I once had about thermodynamics and how they relate to the entire universe. Mum and Dad were interested for a few minutes but started to zone out as it's not their particular subject of interest. Fair enough, people like different things.

But it made me think about how, if I was watching the programme with The Mister, we would be sparking off conversations with each other, moving the topic on with a shoot off about some other branch of science because we're both interested in it. It made me remember that we're together not just because we've spent our entire adult lives together and that's just the way things are, but because we share a love of just... thinking shit up. Because we're passionate about similar things. I won't say the same things because I was always (well, thought I was) more interested in biology and biochemistry (of course a different self-realisation made me acutely aware that I'd wasted my degree on science when I was always more a lover of arts) whereas The Mister is more interested in physics and engineering, how and why things work, the order and structure of what makes things exist.

When I was writing my Happy Anniversary card on Saturday, I was trying to think of a list of reasons why I love The Mister and why we work. I didn't think deeply enough to even consider stuff like this. We work because we are interested in SIMILAR things, not the same things. Like, we'll have discussions (that yeah, sometimes get heated. Not in a malicious way, in a passionate way) for hours that will be borne out of watching a documentary (we both love docus! Nerdylicious huh) and one of us will make a comment and the other will say "well actually, I see it *this* way". And usually it will broaden both our minds. We teach each other to have a different perspective on the components of the world, be it in a psychological, scientific, artistic, political or sociological way. I think it's things like this that mean we'll still be debating when we're 83. We won't fizzle out because we'll always be hungry to know something new and want to know how the other one sees it.

I shied away from persuing the arts because it was drummed into me that there were more jobs in science and since I have the intelligence to do either, I should choose science. I always think that the arts make me happier but I didn't go for it because they are a lot of essays, and I didn't always feel... articulate enough to properly describe what something means, the feeling and emotion in it. Which I think sometimes is where my Doom comes into play. I am a very emotional and sensitive person but feel like I can't articulate the masses of emotion and worries and doubts and joy and happiness and angst and sadness that goes on in the space between my ears. I tell myself I let myself down because I chose a degree that was science-based when I should've picked a language or music, but really, I just love learning All The Things! If I could, I would spend all my time learning everything there is. In the woooorld. Which ultimately means I don't have my niche, my one obsession, my true intellectual love. I am far too interested in too many subjects and could choose any of them to persue and would probably do quite well in any field but too choose just one subject? Out of everything in the universe that I could possibly want to investigate? Not a chance. Hence the B.A. (Hons) Open degree I have enrolled onto. I can choose pretty well any subject I feel like learning and get a degree at the end. Win.

Which is why I just don't "get" when some people just want to stick to one field of knowledge. But I suppose I will probably end up being a "jack of all trades, master of none". I don't know if I'm okay with that.

Jessie J ft. BOB - Price Tag

Helloey!

This is the obligatory introduction post, I guess. Which are inevitably boring and self-indulgent. Mine is no different.

My name is Emmy and I like taking photos of All The Things (and All The People and All The Places in the Woooorld), Lady Grey tea (with milk and sugar, I'm a heathen), playing with my doggies (a choccy Lab called Chloe and a black American Cocker Spaniel called Diesel), baking cakes and cooking tagines, the beach, the sunshine, tulips, sunflowers and orchids.

I like any music from Stone Roses to Tchaikovsky to Abba to Eliza Doolittle.

My photos are HERE and HERE and my Twitter is HERE.

I'll post something better next time. Promise.