I haven't posted since June 14th?
That's also the day I started dieting. Coincidence? I think not. Not stuffing my face = too depressed to blog.
I did lose 3 kilos, though. 2 of which I gain back instantly as soon as I have a "normal" meal so I'm not sure a) how sustainable this is going to be in the long run and/or b) how reliable my scales are. And is it somewhat worrisome that I find it much easier to give up desserts, and second helpings, and fries, and so on than I do my daily glass or two of wine? Nah, I didn't think so either...
In other food related news, it's not "la crise" for everyone - I just called 5-6 restaurants before I could score a table for tomorrow night. Will be checking out Pramil with two dear friends who just happen to be very fit athletic men with healthy appetites, so I will eat and drink with them to my little heart's content and not mention calories, or they will mercilessly take the piss out of me for being such a girl.
Wednesday, July 29
Sunday, June 14
Good, Bad and Ugly - a frivolous post
Good: tried out a new nail place near home which is open on Sundays (yay), good (double yay), and cheap (triple yay). Now have a lovely bright orangey-red polish on toe and finger nails, and my feet are as smooth as a baby's bottom.
Bad: except that I went for a rather long walk today and as a consequence of having had my calloused skin pumiced off the soles of my feet, I now have blisters there instead. Booo.
Ugly: well, not really ugly. And I don't want to turn into one of these neurotic women who talks of diets and calories and nothing else, BUT, at my work medical on Friday, the Dr. pointed out that I had had gained a kilo a year since 2005. "It's normal", he said, "the metabolism slows down, your lifestyle becomes more sedentary..." (he didn't add "as you get older", but that's what the little rascal was implying). Extrapolating for photographs and clothing that I still have in my closet, dating from 2000, or even, gasp, the late 90's, I can safely assume that the one kilo a year gain has been going on for the last 10 or so years. So normal it may be, but FFS, I'm only 36 - if I continue gaining a kilo a year for the rest of my life I'll soon be larger than I am tall. Guess this is the start of a new era, one of will power and portion control in the face of salty greasy goodness. Bummer.
Bad: except that I went for a rather long walk today and as a consequence of having had my calloused skin pumiced off the soles of my feet, I now have blisters there instead. Booo.
Ugly: well, not really ugly. And I don't want to turn into one of these neurotic women who talks of diets and calories and nothing else, BUT, at my work medical on Friday, the Dr. pointed out that I had had gained a kilo a year since 2005. "It's normal", he said, "the metabolism slows down, your lifestyle becomes more sedentary..." (he didn't add "as you get older", but that's what the little rascal was implying). Extrapolating for photographs and clothing that I still have in my closet, dating from 2000, or even, gasp, the late 90's, I can safely assume that the one kilo a year gain has been going on for the last 10 or so years. So normal it may be, but FFS, I'm only 36 - if I continue gaining a kilo a year for the rest of my life I'll soon be larger than I am tall. Guess this is the start of a new era, one of will power and portion control in the face of salty greasy goodness. Bummer.
Friday, June 5
30-second review - Looking for Eric
I never thought I'd mention "Ken Loach" and "feel good movie" in the same sentence, but there you go: Looking for Eric is a real feel good movie, directed by Ken Loach.
Official site of the film here - careful, it opens with music and the trailer.
Official site of the film here - careful, it opens with music and the trailer.
Wednesday, June 3
Tuesday, June 2
Over 5 years
... we've been together, and during that time I've counted on him to introduce me to All Things English.
Not to, say, Jane Austen, or Emma Thompson, but more prosaic, everyday pleasures such as Marmite, bitter shandy, pork and leek sausages, and weirdly flavored crisps. Not necessarily all at the same time, though. And while I can happily say crisps instead of chips, I refuse to spell flavor with a "u". But I digress.
Why, then, had I never tasted milk chocolate Hobnobs until this most recent trip ?
Why ? WHY ?
Oh the bitter, wasted years.
"Oh, you'd never had Hobnobs before? They're classic."
Well yes. Indeed.
Not to, say, Jane Austen, or Emma Thompson, but more prosaic, everyday pleasures such as Marmite, bitter shandy, pork and leek sausages, and weirdly flavored crisps. Not necessarily all at the same time, though. And while I can happily say crisps instead of chips, I refuse to spell flavor with a "u". But I digress.
Why, then, had I never tasted milk chocolate Hobnobs until this most recent trip ?
Why ? WHY ?
Oh the bitter, wasted years.
"Oh, you'd never had Hobnobs before? They're classic."
Well yes. Indeed.
Monday, June 1
Tuesday, May 19
My job
... is simply not interesting enough to wake up thinking about at 4 a.m. Unlike, say, Hugh Jackman's chest or Fergus Henderson's marrow bone and parsley salad, or Matthew Williamson's colorful 70's style print tunics for H&M's summer collection.
Of course, as S helpfully pointed out, it's not really interesting enough to think about much at 4 p.m., either.
But at least from 9 to 6 I'm getting paid for it.
Of course, as S helpfully pointed out, it's not really interesting enough to think about much at 4 p.m., either.
But at least from 9 to 6 I'm getting paid for it.
Wednesday, May 13
On a slippery slope...
... to trashiness.
Monday after Pilates and yoga I was too lazy to change back into street clothes, so I took the metro home wearing sweatpants. For the first ever, I wore exercise clothes "out" in public.
Yesterday after going to the movies (Wolverine, fab eye candy, not a great movie, but hey, Wolverine has always been my favorite superhero, and how could I resist an ensemble cast including Hugh Jackman, Ryan "The Abs" Reynolds, and Liev Schrieber looking as butch as I've ever seen him?) we had dinner, at, foodies please forgive me, KFC.
And today I was seduced by a buy one, get one free offer and succombed to the allure of white wine in a plastic bottle.
This is the end, my friends. I used to be a fairly classy chick. It's all downhill from here.
Monday after Pilates and yoga I was too lazy to change back into street clothes, so I took the metro home wearing sweatpants. For the first ever, I wore exercise clothes "out" in public.
Yesterday after going to the movies (Wolverine, fab eye candy, not a great movie, but hey, Wolverine has always been my favorite superhero, and how could I resist an ensemble cast including Hugh Jackman, Ryan "The Abs" Reynolds, and Liev Schrieber looking as butch as I've ever seen him?) we had dinner, at, foodies please forgive me, KFC.
And today I was seduced by a buy one, get one free offer and succombed to the allure of white wine in a plastic bottle.
This is the end, my friends. I used to be a fairly classy chick. It's all downhill from here.
Thursday, May 7
Riddle me this.
The movie The Boat that Rocked was released in France this week with the title Good Morning England.
Not "Bonjour Angleterre", mind you, but "Good Morning England".
Why bother ?*
*I don't mean why bother seeing it - please please do - it's great, the music is, of course, fantastic, but so is the cast, and it's a real feel good movie.
Not "Bonjour Angleterre", mind you, but "Good Morning England".
Why bother ?*
*I don't mean why bother seeing it - please please do - it's great, the music is, of course, fantastic, but so is the cast, and it's a real feel good movie.
I had a dream...
... about Hugh Jackman last night. I was in a bar with a group of friends (one of whom admitted to me that she had for years been the lesbian lover of the mother one of my ex-boyfriends, in the dream that is, not in Real Life. But that's neither here nor there).
Hugh was there, wearing a black leather jacket (well of course), sort of at the periphery of the group. We kept looking at each other from across the room. I couldn't take my eyes off him for more than a few minutes at a time (well of course not) and whenever I glanced back at him he was already looking at me, and smiling, and I knew that he loved me already. We went out for a stroll in the night and and nothing bad could ever happen to me while he was near, and we kissed and it was all magic until I told him I couldn't possibly run away with him and leave S.
When I woke up and told S about it he was amused but not, I feel, suitably impressed by my loyalty.
Yes, it's kind of adolescent to have celebrity crushes, but isn't there something simply irresistible about a man who can sing, dance, snarl, and kick ass all with equal aplomb and grace ?
Hugh was there, wearing a black leather jacket (well of course), sort of at the periphery of the group. We kept looking at each other from across the room. I couldn't take my eyes off him for more than a few minutes at a time (well of course not) and whenever I glanced back at him he was already looking at me, and smiling, and I knew that he loved me already. We went out for a stroll in the night and and nothing bad could ever happen to me while he was near, and we kissed and it was all magic until I told him I couldn't possibly run away with him and leave S.
When I woke up and told S about it he was amused but not, I feel, suitably impressed by my loyalty.
Yes, it's kind of adolescent to have celebrity crushes, but isn't there something simply irresistible about a man who can sing, dance, snarl, and kick ass all with equal aplomb and grace ?
Tuesday, May 5
late adopter
Years after everyone else in the Western world, I now have an iPod. No, actually, I have an iPhone, and I'm such a loser that I kept the automatic email signature that says "Sent from my iPhone" because I think it's the coolest thing since, well, warm baguette.
So now I can be even more spaced out and in my own little world than ever before, listening to my private soundtrack while balancing precariously with my nose in a stranger's armpit on the metro at rush hour.
Having Born to Run come on the shuffle while grocery shopping, though, that's a bit anticlimatic. So much for rolling down the window and letting the wind blow back my hair. Instead I chose white toilet paper (instead of pink) and muttered to myself at the price of broccoli. (2,40 euros for a little head of hardly 500 grams, outrageous...). But I did it all with Bruce instead of supermarket muzak, and that, my friends, can only be a good thing.
So now I can be even more spaced out and in my own little world than ever before, listening to my private soundtrack while balancing precariously with my nose in a stranger's armpit on the metro at rush hour.
Having Born to Run come on the shuffle while grocery shopping, though, that's a bit anticlimatic. So much for rolling down the window and letting the wind blow back my hair. Instead I chose white toilet paper (instead of pink) and muttered to myself at the price of broccoli. (2,40 euros for a little head of hardly 500 grams, outrageous...). But I did it all with Bruce instead of supermarket muzak, and that, my friends, can only be a good thing.
Monday, May 4
No comment.
- groooooaaaaaan, I've eaten way too much. My stomach is huuuuuuuge.
- you have the experience to cope with it.
- you have the experience to cope with it.
Friday, April 10
30-second review - Chéri
Fabulous art direction - I wanted to wear every single one of Michelle Pfeiffer's outfits (and there were many) and the interiors were stunning.
Other than that, a disappointment. I expected better from Stephen Frears. The editing was seriously awkward - some cuts between scenes seemed very strange, the more serious bits of dialogue were laughable, and for a 90 minute movie, it sure felt long. Not at all up to par with The Queen or his other work. Too bad...
Other than that, a disappointment. I expected better from Stephen Frears. The editing was seriously awkward - some cuts between scenes seemed very strange, the more serious bits of dialogue were laughable, and for a 90 minute movie, it sure felt long. Not at all up to par with The Queen or his other work. Too bad...
Monday, April 6
You know...
... how sometimes you just have to take the blame for something even though it's not really your fault, because in certain circumstances, saying "it's not me, it's so-and-so" would just make you look worse than calmly saying, "my fault, sorry", and even though it's taking the high road, it still sucks ?
...how 98% percent of the time, you double-check that everything is just so, and the one time you don't , because you assume that other people do their jobs correctly, it all goes pear-shaped and you're told that you should verify instead of assuming ?
...how half your working day is spent doing what constitutes your job, and the other half is spent writing e-mails just to cover your ass so that you have things in writing just in case you have to justify something you've done, or haven't done ? And another portion of your time is spent reading e-mails written by other people who are just covering their asses ? (And yes, of course yet more time is spent faffing around on the internet, but I didn't blow off steam from time to time my head would implode.)
Anyway. All that.
...how 98% percent of the time, you double-check that everything is just so, and the one time you don't , because you assume that other people do their jobs correctly, it all goes pear-shaped and you're told that you should verify instead of assuming ?
...how half your working day is spent doing what constitutes your job, and the other half is spent writing e-mails just to cover your ass so that you have things in writing just in case you have to justify something you've done, or haven't done ? And another portion of your time is spent reading e-mails written by other people who are just covering their asses ? (And yes, of course yet more time is spent faffing around on the internet, but I didn't blow off steam from time to time my head would implode.)
Anyway. All that.
Surprising
...how restful a short weekend away can be. A one-hour train journey, one night in a different bed, a different city to stroll in, and I feel like I've been on holiday for a week. Which is wonderful except that the Monday blues are all the more hard-hitting.
Soul-destroying corporate whoredom, as I said to a friend last week. Tongue in cheek, mostly. Well, partly.
Well, actually, let's face it, if I never had to work for another day again in my life it's not like I would miss the challenge, is it.
OK, now I'm just blathering. Enough.
Soul-destroying corporate whoredom, as I said to a friend last week. Tongue in cheek, mostly. Well, partly.
Well, actually, let's face it, if I never had to work for another day again in my life it's not like I would miss the challenge, is it.
OK, now I'm just blathering. Enough.
Tuesday, March 24
In breaking news today,...
..."A government-financed study finds eating red meat increases the likelihood of death"
As opposed to just being born, which also increases the likelihood of death to, oh, about 100% ?
OK, when you go to the actual article it specifies "early death", but the title of the RSS feed blurb didn't say that...
As opposed to just being born, which also increases the likelihood of death to, oh, about 100% ?
OK, when you go to the actual article it specifies "early death", but the title of the RSS feed blurb didn't say that...
Tuesday, March 17
Anger Management
First words out of my mouth this morning (aimed at my computer, thankfully, not at a human being):
"No, I don't want to change my fucking password again. Fuck off!"
Closely followed by, "Oh for fuck's sake you've got to be fucking kidding me!" once Outlook opened and I got my emails up on screen.
Deep breaths, and more deep breaths.
"No, I don't want to change my fucking password again. Fuck off!"
Closely followed by, "Oh for fuck's sake you've got to be fucking kidding me!" once Outlook opened and I got my emails up on screen.
Deep breaths, and more deep breaths.
Saturday, March 14
30-second review: Pranzo di ferragosto
Charming and unpretentious film, about a middle-aged man living with his elderly mother, who ends up mamma-sitting for 3 other old ladies during a mid-August bank holiday. And that's all the plot there is. Nothing much happens. He cooks, the old ladies eat, and bicker amongst themselves, and sulk, and make up. No earth-shattering revelations about the women's pasts, no deep reflections on growing old, on time passing, on family and responsibilities. But there are looks exchanged, and quantities of white wine drunk, and a ride through Rome on a Vespa, and wrinkles galore, and how nice to hear Italian being spoken, and to see the summer sunlight, even if it is only on a movie screen.
That's not slime, that's radiance.
The text on the packaging says "(Insert name of fabulously overpriced product) intensely corrects all visible signs of aging and helps recreate the deep radiance of a visibly younger skin".
I apply in lieu of usual moisturizer and prance around S until he starts paying attention.
- Do I look radiantly youthful ?
- You look slimy.
Oh. Good thing it was only a free sample then.
I apply in lieu of usual moisturizer and prance around S until he starts paying attention.
- Do I look radiantly youthful ?
- You look slimy.
Oh. Good thing it was only a free sample then.
Monday, March 9
Yes !
Isn't it great when you read something by an author you love that describes you perfectly ?
Case in point, Kate Atkinson in an August 2008 interview in The Times: “I was an only child and read a lot. You can be a happy adult - I am - not a happy child, or a happy child and not a happy adult. I think I was probably just too solitary.”
Case in point, Kate Atkinson in an August 2008 interview in The Times: “I was an only child and read a lot. You can be a happy adult - I am - not a happy child, or a happy child and not a happy adult. I think I was probably just too solitary.”
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