Secret Santa and other musings

 

December is my favourite month, not only is it my birth month, but I do love Christmas, always have done. This year have been a little strange in many ways. I am all by myself in a city that is not yet home, and yes single again. I am not saying that I am sad in any way, I am not, sometimes a little wistful perhaps, and yes I will admit at times a bit lonely. However, every time I feel like I might feel a little sad inevitably something great happens. Not necessarily any thing big, but something that brings a huge smile to my face and makes the world alright again. (Like reading really stupid jokes in a window: Which athlete is warmest in winter? A long jumper… Yes I totally laughed out loud in the middle of the street, bliss!)

The blogger Secret Santa arranged by Laura over at Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish was another one of those little things. Not only did I enjoy picking out a gift for my blogger, Rachel, read her lovely and so kind blog of getting my gift here, the gift from my Secret Santa arrived on a day when I totally needed a lift!

Oh and did she ever do a great job!

 

Neat stash don’t you think? All courtesy of Hannah over at Mindrunningwild (love the blog name!). Not only did she somehow manage to divine that pistachios are my favourite nut and find a pistachio butter. I seriously had no idea they even did one of them… BUT a dairy free toffee brittle chocolate, totally wonderful! It might not have lasted unopened long after the pictures were taken, so what that it was before 9 am…

 

I obviously had to do a close up of the bars, and unbeknownst to me at the time my favourite of the lot is actually on top. This is totally not a flavour I would have chosen myself as I tend to be swayed by the mention of chocolate, and stay far away from anything that mentions icing. However that Luna bar was pure perfection, oatmeal and raisin is a classic of course, but the balance here was just right and the icing added just the right touch of sweetness. Thanks for the introduction to this bar Hannah.

 

Tomorrow is the big summary of everybody that took part in the Secret Santa on Laura’s blog, and I am really looking forward to reading all about it! I also hope to discover a fair few new blogs! Then on Friday it is my birthday… I will definitely come back with more about that one later, it is a big one too! (I got all my baubles from Liberty, their Christmas Shop is a little too good…)

Today on my run…

A single leaf fell from a tree

I caught it with both my hands just as it was about to touch my heart

I admired the vivid yellow colour and the perfect shape

The edges were turning brown yet that did not make it any less beautiful

I kept it with me for a short while

Then I let it go…

I am a marathoner!

Longer post and recap to come, but I am majorly excited about this and wanted to post something straight away!

I ran the New York City marathon in 4.56.18, I had a dream of making it in less than 5 hours and I am so stoked that I managed to do just that!

And let me just say this race is amazing the crowds are mental, loud, encouraging, super enthusiastic and makes running a marathon there an extremely rewarding experience. I ran the larger part of the course with a huge grin on my face, totally enjoying being able to run and running this iconic course.

Today my quads are somewhat interesting and I walk a little funny, but it was so worth it, and I’ve already forgotten the pain and want to do another one…

Light at the end of the tunnel

As I start writing this I am sitting in a coffee shop in Oxford (when I’ll end up posting it is another matter entirely) waiting for the Ashmolean Museum to open. This trip is partly inspired by a lovely new blogger I just discovered Museumdiaries, the Ashmolean was on her list of museums she really wants to visit. The other reason is that I have been to Oxford before and really loved it, so really any excuse to go back is a good one as far as I am concerned…

I have been very quiet on here lately and to be honest that is because this summer has not been the greatest. As might be rather obvious I have left Malta and now live in London, which isn’t really a place I ever wanted to live, but I am going to embrace the opportunities that are available there for as long as I stay, as I do not envisage that to be permanent. To be honest I have lived there a month and it still don’t feel quite real. I’m sure it will sink in in the end.

As I alluded to above the summer wasn’t great, I realised that I could not go on living in Malta, whilst the place is lovely and suit some people it is just not for me. I don’t think I realised before I moved away from it how much I love the changing seasons and the colour palette of northern Europe. From afar endless sunshine and beaches and sea can seem tempting, but in the end it made me feel depressed. I still love the sea, but my love is given to the stormy dark waters of the North Sea rather than the lush azure of the Mediterranean. I also felt that I was stuck in a backwater in Malta, and for me that was true, there certainly are great opportunities there in some areas but not in mine.

I had some tough decisions to make, and to be honest none of the answers were good ones, so it was a case of choosing the lesser of two evils. In the middle of it all I lost a person very dear to me, I will probably write about that later, but for now I am not quite ready. In the end moving to London was the right choice for me, that means a long distance relationship and another uprooting, but it was necessary to regain my sense of purpose and get go. The very fact that I am writing here again shows that it is starting to get better.

Furthermore I have now found a path, I have been rather stuck lately on a professional level. However I have finally figured out where I want to go next! Hence why I am sat in Oxford waiting for a museum to open, next autumn I will be going back to university to study for a masters in curation/museum & gallery studies, and I can’t wait! Museums have been a passion of mine for a long time, and what I refer to as a “happy place”. I tend to try to fit in at least one museum whenever I go somewhere, and well now at last I have the chance to explore London’s famous museums, and all of them not having to chose one just because I am short of time. So this is the light I was referring to at the start of the post, I have found my direction and after being on a bit of a loose limb lately this feels oh so good!

So I warn you now there might be more museum related posts on here from now on, I have a feeling they might be more visual than wordy, but who knows? I seem to find a lot to say about pictures even when I thought I didn’t.

I am also off to the United States in less than a month (on edit make that 4 days!)! The only thing that went well and at many times kept me sane the last few months was running. Of course it has not been without hitches, but I have more or less managed to follow my training plan for the New York marathon and on the 6th of November I will be on Staten Island waiting to cross the Verrazano Bridge and run 26.2 miles through Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and finally Manhattan and crossing the finish line in Central Park. Almost unbelievable and I feel so lucky to be able to do this, and to discover running at a time when I really needed it!

To finish off a post that rarely for me includes not a single photo I would like to give a shout out to the blogs that have helped me keep the fire burning throughout my marathon training:

Health on the Run Hilarious, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and superfast and colourful runner. She is the reason I entered the lottery in the first place and started to run properly, I am forever grateful. Oh and she taught me how to tie my shoes… Yes you are probably doing it wrong…

Fit Chick in the City although she can’t run herself this year, her spirit in the face of injury and infectious love for the New York City marathon has helped me a lot when the training did not go as planned, and the task seemed insurmountable.

Losing weight in the City another blogger training for the NYC marathon, but actually living there. Thus she had the chance to run part of the course, I can live vicariously through her experience. Add to that a seriously funny and interesting blog generally, true winner here. Oh and she started a facebook group for marathon runners, that has also been a huge inspiration!

Food to Run For brilliant recap of her own experience of running the NYC marathon, and just as I needed it this morning a post on how the NYC marathon is the best marathon in the world. Exactly what I needed to hear when nerves started to kick in!

Carrots’n’cake great blog, jam packed with information about food, fitness and fun! Another NYC marathoner in training that I have been following and using as inspiration when the sofa seemed more tempting than a long run…

Mile Posts probably one of the most enthusiastic runners on there, and so fast. However she has worked hard for that and is very frank about that, such an inspiration! Also helps me appreciate what a gift being able to run actually is, this is not something I take for granted, but if I start to become complacent she has a way of reminding me.

I could go on but this will do for now! I promise to come back with a more picture heavy post soon… Got some crackers from the Ashmolean!

To round off…

One Hit Wonder Wednesday and something completely different…

Sometimes a song is both really silly and really catchy… That makes for a great one hit wonder surely, I found this version from Top of the Pops which is wonderfully bizarre and very very 80s… By the way Dexys Midnight Runners are really only a one hit wonder in the USA, but chances are this is the only song most people have heard. They also have runners in their name so I had to approve right?

Oh and as I am easily amused, and remember very clearly trying to make sense of English song lyrics long before my English was at a level where that was possible… Here’s the “misheard lyrics version”…

Because a little bit of Monty Python is never wrong…

And because I wanted to write about something completely different… Mainly Biffy Clyro! This is a Scottish band that I rather love, and they have been touring in the US recently with Foo Fighters, YES I KNOW! FOO FIGHTERS! How cool is that? Anyways this is one of my favourite songs of theirs, the lyrics are particularly wonderfully confusing… (Did I get slightly lost in the adverbs there?)

Oh and I know what you are thinking I just made a perfect opening for posting some Foo didn’t I? Why, yes I did! Here you go… (Gotta be a ballad as it is getting late here 😉 )

Weekend Wanderings: Procrastination Edition

I had one of those weekends where starting just about anything seemed like an insurmountable chore… Not that I even had that much I needed to do, track training with Mellieha AC on Saturday morning and long run on Sunday morning. (Well morning was the idea at least)

On Saturday I got up and out early, as after all these practices start at a set time and I have to be there, I can normally manage that. I was supposed to meet a team mate in Mosta and get a ride there, unfortunately she couldn’t make it, and due to me sending her my phone number somewhat too late we didn’t manage to communicate. So I did the only logical thing… I started to run there, it is not that far… I was already late when I started running, but luckily about half way there I got picked up by another runner on the team and got there just after the warm up, which I had covered anyway! We were doing five 800m repeats, I really enjoy these tempo trainings on the track, it is not something I have ever done before.

Then I needed to pick up a book, yes this is really important, it was book 3 in a series of 4… I had managed to get hold of 1,2 and 4, so getting my grubby hands on the last one was amazing! I managed to snap a few pictures as we were heading home from the book excursion, however no pictures at all were taken on Sunday…

You see the weather was less than stellar, well Malta standard that is, if I had been in Scotland it would have been classed as a gorgeous day. That combined with the fact that I just really could not be arsed to get out there, lead to my morning run being much more of an afternoon run. On the plus side the cooker is spotless and my magazines are sorted in size order, still need them chronological, but I though that was taking the  procrastination just a wee bit too far… I did manage to get out there and covered just under 10 miles in a few minutes less than two hours, it was not easy, but I am very proud that I did it!

The photos that follow are the best ones that I captured on Saturday, I think the theme might be straw or potentially drying out or no theme at all…

Oh yes I found a lock… The gate does not seem to have much purpose as the wall is easy enough to climb, I guess it stops cars now that I think about it…

I think this might be another gate, I just liked the straw growing against the metal pole.

There had to be a flower in there somewhere didn’t it? I am going to enjoy them whilst we still have them, it will be too dry for them soon enough.

I think this all goes back to my foundation year in art and design, but I do rather enjoy a motif where several different textures are present.

Tall grass… At least when I crouch down… That also makes the houses look small, which pleases me…

I like the combination of shapes here and I always had a weakness for just that particular kind of grass, it’s just something about the shape that is sort of archetypal, well in my mind at least.

As I mentioned earlier, it is drying up here… Apparently we have a storm coming in, but that is likely to be one of the last rain falls for quite some time, and the colours are fading as a result. Prepare to see a lot of yellow…

Remember that I mentioned texture above? This is another case in point…

This is the same piece of wall but in situ this time.

I liked the movement in this picture, although I need to work on the focus when I take pictures of such dense vegetation.

We actually have stuff growing in our front yard!

I’ll leave you with a close up of the bumblebee, I am really impressed with the resolution on my camera… I know I shouldn’t really be surprised, but I had about 5 seconds to snap this picture. This bumblebee was not a poser…

Just because I called one of my pictures “Big Sky” on flickr and I wrote a post about Scotland yesterday and I miss it, I’ll leave you with this…

On Scotland: Edinburgh, in and around the Meadows

The Meadows in Edinburgh really are rather special, I guess that is the case with a lot of large green spaces, however I will write about this one as it is one I know and love.

I remember the Meadows from my very first visit to Edinburgh as we stayed in a youth hostel, that has since closed, next to Bruntsfield Links. So to get to town and back you had to walk through the Meadows, not that we knew at the time as we were all totally clueless as to where we were and the most effective way around the place.

When we returned the year after I had a morning to myself to explore it and enjoy the beautiful morning light across the green lawns. However it wasn’t until I moved to Edinburgh that I realised that the Meadows are so much more than a pretty green space. This place is loved and in constant use. It is where you go to walk your dog, go for a run, meet up with friends for a kick about or a round of golf, and during the summer and especially when the Fringe is on it is theming with life and all sorts of activities.

Due to its shape and size different parts of the Meadows have a totally different feel to them, one exit leads you towards the Museum of Scotland and the Royal Mile, one towards the University, one Nicholson Street and yet another towards my old stomping ground of Morningside and Merchiston. It is also worth mentioning that a new development called Quarter Mile have been developed at the exit that leads to the Museum of Scotland etc. I mention that because one of my all time favourite cafes in Edinburgh are situated here: Peter’s Yard. Maybe it is the Scandinavian in me that makes me love this place, it is Swedish themed and they do make some mean yeast bakes. (Their different twists on the traditional cinnamon buns are amazing) I will add this though, their coffee is one of the best in town! I got a particularly beautiful one there when the barista realised I was a fellow Norwegian…

I have taken lots and lots and lots of photos of the Meadows, all with my old point and shoot, a Nikon Coolpix 5200. An antique now of course, and also held together with sportstape, but the thing is it does not matter so much about the camera when the subject is so photogenic. Here’s a few of my best shots:

Pictures at low lights are not something that my point and shoot is very good at, however this one almost manage to capture some of the mood.

A very Scottish sky…

Autumn is definitely my favourite season, most of my pictures from the Meadows were indeed captured during this season.

Both in this picture and the one before I like how the wet asphalt offsets the colour of the leaves, and makes them appear even more vibrant.

Here follows my trio of morning sun shining between trees photos…

All of these pictures are taken on the walk from the flat where the Mr lived at the time to our workplace.

I think this particular one is called Townswomen’s Guild Walk…

This door is not completely adjacent to the Meadows, but up one of the streets in Merchiston, I love the contrast between the blue and the red.

It is something very Edinburgh about this picture…

Have I ever mentioned that I like clouds? Wonderful cirrus clouds happening here…

This is not far from Bruntsfield Links, which is the upper part of the Meadows, and on the way there from my old flat. Doubt that any of my old flatmates read this blog, but if they do: Hello Stephen & David! How are the horses?

One day when I was between jobs (luckily this did not last too long) I lucked out as I was up early enough to catch the first frost on the Meadows, absolutely stunning! My photos doesn’t really do it justice.

Just starting to melt at the tips of some of the grass, but the leaf is still covered in ice crystals…

The footsteps of someone who walked across the grass is still visible…(It wasn’t me… No really, my feet are not that big!)

Just a little bit further up there was one really red tree in front of all the yellow and green…

The leaves situated where the sun hit had started to melt, whereas the other ones were still covered in frost. This created a lovely contrast.

The frost had completely disappeared from these, leaving behind lovely water droplets.

For some reason this picture always reminded me of Japan, it might be because it think it looks like the depiction of cherry blossoms in Sumi-e.

I really liked the freshness of this bud with the new leaf and the background that is familiar enough to make out, but yet not…

This picture shows a totally different side to the Meadows, the harpist was playing in one of the busiest crossings during the Fringe. She was a wonderful player, and the picture was too good to miss. In short, the Meadows is a wonderful place, go there if you can…

One Hit Wonder Wednesday

Summer is definitely here, whether I like it or not…

So I realised that I just had to embrace it, if you can’t beat ’em join ’em and all that…

Few things speaks summer to me as much as this type of music, well maybe apart from Bob Marley.  However I am pretty sure he wasn’t a one hit wonder.

Actually I think I heard this song for the first time when MTV did a count down of One Hit Wonders, and I liked it immediately. I love me some soul with a brass line! Enjoy it!

Talking about soul with a brass line… That takes you so naturally to another artist that I love, Otis Redding! And this is, hands down, my absolute favourite version of Satisfaction!

I first discovered Otis Redding rifling though my parent’s collection of LPs, a treasure trove honestly! I found so many gems there, and among the CDs so that leads me naturally to the next song… I’ve loved this band for a long time, and I first discovered them through my dad. (This is true for a lot of the music I like really) They also have brass involved I realised, so I really am sticking to a theme here. 😉

Last but not least I have to include some of Mr Marley himself… This song always makes me happy!

Oh happy day!

Yes I do love this movie, not because it is a great movie, but because I am a sucker for a happy ending with songs…

The reason for the video is simple though, today is the 17th of May, that is the day Norway celebrate our constitution. This means the day off, children’s parades all over the country, marching bands, national costumes (bunad), lots of ice-cream etc. etc. This youtube video capture some of it…

It’s been too long since I was home for the 17th of May!!! I really miss it…

More happy news! I got a blog award yesterday, from the lovely Imagine the Spirit! The blog is wonderfully random, which I totally appreciate.

The idea with these awards is that you do something and pass it on… This one requires me to first thank the one who gave it to me by linking back to their blog, then write seven things about myself and then pass it on to 15 newly discovered blogs. First one is already done, I’m sure I can do the second one easily enough, I’ve chosen to only do 5 blogs though, that is because I want to write the reason why each of them is great and it is getting well past my bed time now… 😀

•  I prefer the sea when it is tumultuous…
• I am pretty much in love with the nature, light and so much more in Scotland.
• I love my camera, well that was hardly news…
• I’m going to Zurich for a colour conference next month, and I am getting the train across the Alps from Italy. Can’t wait to see the view!
• My favourite season is the next one, or rather I love the change of the seasons. The sudden smell in the air that heralds a new season, there’s nothing quite like it.
• I’ve been on stage with George Clinton.
• I collect fonts… (Well if you’ve had a look on my about page I told you I was a geek…)

I would like to pass this award on to:

Anywhere there is an Airport – a blog straddling the Atlantic, I can’t think of anything more versatile… Also because I really enjoy reading it and can relate to a lot of the issues, and I have only moved south within Europe not across an ocean… (Also check out her tips for packing light, we’re talking pro here!)

A thought & Glassa Wine – because the first post that came up when I clicked through the other day was called: Encouragement…Pass it on

delighted –  Lovely photos, eclectic style, wonderful design finds and lots more. Oh and she lives in Edinburgh, ’nuff said!

September Lilies – the most random rambling blog you’ll ever find, trust me on this one…

Street Life [by PP Handoko] – this girl is an amazing photographer! Check this blog out, seriously it is wonderful!

In honour of the 17th of May, I will finish this post with two pictures I took in Norway. This December… Very springlike and all…

Weekend Wanderings: Gardens & Grooves

This is a very green post, provided you don’t print it out I guess… Last weekend we went to San Anton Gardens in Attard and this weekend we decided to explore Kennedy Groove a little closer to home. (Yes it really is named after President Kennedy, complete with a quote on a wall and all)

In San Anton Gardens we managed to walk into a “Fancy Poultry and Rabbits” show, I don’t actually have any pictures of poultry or rabbits as well for me the cages was not aesthetically nor morally pleasing. Though to be fair some of these looked really cool, and I am sure that since they are competition birds/rabbits they are treated really well. I can also easily imagine the devastation that would have been unleashed on the gardens if they were all let loose, lets just say that we used to have a flower bed when I grew up. Until our neighbours decided to get hens, before they had learned how to build a chicken coop… Although “fancy poultry” might sound just a little pretentious, there sure was some well crazy looking birds there! The din was also rather deafening, the rabbits were considerably more softly spoken.

Kennedy Groove is a whole different thing, it is basically a utilitarian garden. It is not meant to be ornamental, it is meant to be used. Cue lots of tables, less orderly flower beds and lots of families on weekend and evenings. There are also lots of olive trees that have been gifted from several firms all over the island, it has very good hide and seek potential and that (as we all know) is vital!

This is a place that we might not have found if it had not been for the Mr’s uncle, actually he asked if he could drop us off somewhere after he’s shown us Floriana, and when we mentioned that we never had been to Attard (where he was staying), he told us that we needed to go to San Anton Garden. So we did…

Now when I go and name my blog orange & green you know there will be shots like this… I might have taken this shot anyways, but now I have an (almost) legit excuse…

This is the most important place, anywhere really… I appreciate a clear sign to the toilets, spotted this one as soon as we got in. Good signage 😉

I loved how the sunshine made these leaves luminous in a transparent way, I didn’t quite manage to capture its brilliance, but but…

I accidentally managed to capture this cat as it walked past the greenhouse, what caught my eye was how the inside of the greenhouse was a lot duller than the outside. (Yeah I do know that this is not surprising…) I didn’t realise the cat was there until I looked through my pictures afterwards!

Gotta feature some flowers, after all this post is about gardens…

OK, it’s not my best picture, but these are so cute… That turtle or tortoise or whatever it is, is such a poser!

Because occasionally a little cliché is all you need…

This tree is so cool! I also get a feeling that if you extrapolated this picture you could get some very trendy wallpaper… That does not take away the fact that the tree is badass though!

Bokeh! This might also have wallpaper potential come to think of it…

This pagoda is a gift from the copper ware manufacturers in Takaoka in Japan, the workmanship is exquisite. 

I loved this detail on this door, actually I am rather enamoured of the whole door. However I didn’t manage to snap a good picture of the whole thing, means I have to return I guess. Which is not exactly a sacrifice as there is a pretty good café just up the street…

Gotta love how the plants are trying to escape… These are tough little critters though, the provide some much welcome colour in the summer, and we happen to have some in our front yard. Perfect fit as they need exactly 0 amount of care…

More flowers! This time from Kennedy Groove, I quite like how the slightly diagonal lines of the stem repeats in the picture…

These straws were such a beautiful colour, very softly purple with a greyish tinge, loving it!

Something about the relative starkness of this landscape appealed to me…

So to balance that out I included a pretty pink flower, because sometimes you gotta…

There are lots, as in at least 4, fountains in Kennedy Grove, it is fun to take pictures of water. However I think I need I tripod…

I like lamppost, and I do rather like clouds… These stripy ones, I believe that might be called striated, were really cool. They are cirrus clouds, and there were several of them, apparently this means that we will have a deterioration in the weather later this week.

This rusty door is just to the left when I am running up one of the steepest bit on my standard running route, thus I have looked at it many times, but not had a chance to photograph it. On Saturday I finally got a chance to do so! Gotta love how the random cloth in the gap on the other door and the rust adds an orange element to this photo, you know orange & green… (Why, yes! I do often repeat myself…)

There are a few more photos on my flickr stream from these two sets if anyone are interested.

Just as a last word I am so amazed and grateful to have been featured on WordPress’s Freshly Pressed, that is such an honour and so many people have dropped by to view my post and left such lovely comments. I am totally gobsmacked and extremely flattered!