Hi there!
How has your week been? Has your week been one of perseverance? …that’s such a heavy word isn’t it, but it is one word that keeps coming up for me this week. We are persevering and enduring with hopefully a little blooming. Good things are still happening, but it is with the things that I have persevered with that have shown the best results. We should be SO proud of ourselves, because we have shown such great strength and we have kept going.
We are real-life super heroes!
It would seem that we have a few more weeks to go until we come out of our cocoons, and I’m not sure the beautiful butterfly will emerge just yet…eek! Let’s give the hairdressers and salons the chance to open up first haha. One thing is for sure though, we will be different people coming out of this, hopefully knowing ourselves a bit better if nothing else. We have spent difficult time with ourselves, without the every day noise and busyness to hide behind….most of us will have reassessed our lives in some way and considered what we want to carry forward? What way of thinking will we not go back to?
Perhaps we have overcome some limiting beliefs or have considered our ‘Why’. Why we live our lives the way we do. I know that is something that has been happening in our house and some pretty radical/exciting decisions have been made; but none of that would have happened if it wasn’t for this time of difficult soul-searching. There is more about this in the podcast recommendation, Happy Place, below if you are interested. Remember they do say that diamonds are created under pressure and we are all diamonds x
In the meantime, this is this stuff we have been doing to get through the last week…
Have you managed to find anything good to watch this week? I don’t know about you, but it has seemed very hard to find things to watch lately that aren’t a bit stressful. A while back we resorted to watching a TV series that we had seen before, in an attempt, I think, to have something predictable and safe in our lives. After rewatching Seasons 1-8 this has now become painful, in a ground hog day kind of way. Day in day out seemed totally the same. This week was saved by the release of the 5th series of Last Tango in Halifiax on ABC iview. I love any series with actors Nicola Walker or Sarah Lancashire in them. If you haven’t seen this it is great, easy, non-confrontational drama. Also check out other dramas with these amazing actors. I have yet to find them in anything disappointing.
Also watched this week The Social Dilemma on Netflix. This docudrama explores the dangerous human impact of social media. As an avid social media user myself, this certainly gave me something to think about…though I do try and only consume positive/inspirational TV it is worth a watch in the name of staying informed.
Still Eating..x
| Childhood recipes are something that I have been drawn to lately. Perhaps it is the feeling of comfort and safety that we associate to them or maybe a feeling of nostalgia linked to what we felt as less complicated times. This week I gave into the urge to make this Golden Syrup Cake. If I am honest the recipe has been teasing me for ages, but the cold rainy weather this weekend finally forced me to succumb. Golden Syrup is one of those things that always takes me back to childhood. My childhood life was definitely lived more frugally than we do these days. Treats weren’t always available in the pantry, to be eaten whenever we felt like them and we were certainly never allowed to just help ourselves. There was one thing that always seemed to be in the cupboard though…Golden Syrup! My mum still doesn’t know that I used to sometimes take a sneaky spoonful whenever I needed a sugar fix….shhh. If you have a sweet tooth…this cake is amazing and so easy. Recipe here. |
Podcasts of the week x
Two podcast episodes you might enjoy this week
Unlocking Us – Brene Brown interviews author Sonya Renee Taylor on “The Body is Not an Apology”.
This episode talks about body shame, radical self-love and social justice. The connection between how we think about our bodies and oppression. Listen here
Happy Place – Fearne Cotton interviews Jay Shetty
Loved this podcast episode because it talks about something that has come up for us the last few weeks. ‘Are you pursuing goals in your life because they make you feel good or are you doing things to receive validation or outside approval. It also talks about the difference between success and happiness and that they are completely different things. Listen here
Good Reads x
Books we have been reading or listening to on Audible
The Body is not an Apology – The Power of Radical Self-Love – Sonya Renee Taylor – Goodreads 4.27
After listening to the above podcast I bought the book! Illuminating!
Humans are a varied and divergent bunch with all manner of beliefs, morals, and bodies. Systems of oppression thrive off our inability to make peace with difference and injure the relationship we have with our own bodies.
Memorial Drive – A Daughter’s Memoir – Natasha Trethewey – Goodreads 4.37
At age nineteen, Natasha Trethewey had her world turned upside down when her former stepfather shot and killed her mother. Grieving and still new to adulthood, she confronted the twin pulls of life and death in the aftermath of unimaginable trauma and now explores the way this experience lastingly shaped the artist she became.
I saw this Elizabeth Gilbert’s (Eat, Pray, Love) Instagram page this week. She interviews Natasha Trethewey about her book Memorial Drive. I downloaded it for my Kindle right away. Her interview on Instagram was on 21st September post if you want to have a look x .