eyes wide open

sometimes it feels like your eyes are more wide open than ever before... you take more of your natural environment in somehow... u know?

in Manchester this weekend i happened upon this gallery as i strolled around in the winter sunshine*... inside was what i guess you would call urban art, graffiti style painting prints of pop culture subjects, easy on the eye stuff... if you're in the Northern Qtr with nothing to do for a half hour pop in to the Richard Goodall Gallery on Thomas St!

but this new hyper awareness is a little disconcerting too... i think i must spend too much time rushing around from place to place, missing all the little things! well i'm gonna make a real effort to keep my eyes wide open from now on... and perhaps some more of the things i notice will end up on here and my picture blog!




*seriously, you can't know how surprising sunshine in Manchester is...

simple pleasures

the moon is on fine form this weekend! what a fabulous free treat for the plane earth it is!

i am a little fragile after a weekend in Manchester and have indulged in some of my fave crisps bacon fries this arvo, altho i feel a bit sick now, they are soooo tasty!

earlier today, to recover from aforementioned partying, i went for a soak and catch up in the bubbles with my lovely pal Juliet... always good for the soul those sessions... plus we were given a sharp reality check by a girl who is my thinspiration down the gym, she told us she has to have open heart surgery in 4 days and she's scared! omg.. she is so lucky they caught the heart murmur when she went in for a breathing related issue... turns out she had a scar from birth on one of her pipes that grew with age and could have killed her at anytime if it had gone undiagnosed! makes you think about how fragile life really is...

and makes you really appreciate the simple pleasures!

little blue people

was supposed to go and see Avatar today... it's been out for a month i reckon and i still haven't found 3 hours to spare for 3D and popcorn...

we had to postpone again cos the man had trouble dropping off last night and couldn't get outta bed for the preferred performance time but i'm feeling unsure as to whether it can possibly live up to the hype... i guess i need to expect very little from the blue movie and then it will be an enjoyable experience!

you can tell it's awards season too - great films come and go week by week but with only a week of shows - that i am not organised enough to catch! i've missed so many great films at the flicks this year and it's not even February yet! lol

one film i will be seeing at the cinema for the first time soon tho is Breakfast at Tiffany's... i have booked a couple of tickets for a Valentine's screening of my favourite film of all time! it will be so great to see it on the big screen, that fabulous Mancini soundtrack... just darling! I'll have to put on my best little black dress in honour of the big A...

i digress... if you recommend the blue movie let me know before i commit my bum to 3 hours of cinema seating!

sweet anticipation

the weekend after next i'm off for a girlie weekend and to say i'm enjoying the anticipation is an understatement!

which makes me think about the strange pleasure of anticipation... half the time this is more enjoyable than whatever it is you've been looking fwd to! and it also makes me think i should book more stuff in my diary! lol holidays, nights out, seeing friends, getting that new cd? they're all stuff that you enjoy before they've happened!

when we're kids anticipation is almost too strong an emotion to contain... too much to bear! i can remember the yearning for Christmas/ birthdays etc as a kid, it's so intense it's amazing they don't burst! what a strange thing the mind is...

what function does it play for a human bean? is there an evolutionary point to looking forward to something? why don't we live in the moment? or is the anticipation merely a cultural invention, something we've learned? it's an interesting question... i may* have to wiki it! lol and if you have a thought on it do drop me a comment!

meanwhile i hope you enjoy the anticipation of my next post... haha


*as you can see i couldn't resist - altho it wasn't that enlightening...

Eastbound and Down

If you haven't seen Eastbound & Down - you really gotta! It was on FX on Sky a few months ago and I left it sat on my Sky+ for ages before trying it out, but omg it's sooo frickn funny!

The Season 1 DVD gets it's UK release in a few weeks (March 10) and I will be pre-ordering my copy for sure!

Kenny Powers is the best anti-hero ever, says stuff that makes me and my man cry laughing... amazing!

Will Ferrell also gets a mention since he produces and has a bit part... but seriouisly check it out, you'll love it!

eye candy

i have a pictorial that i haven't really kept up to date... a combination of laziness and bad technology - but not this year!

you'll be glad to know i fully intend to update Bird's Eye View weekly in 2010!

hope you enjoy the stuff i post...

no business like snow business

if you hadn't noticed, the UK is experiencing quite an unusual amount of snow this winter... hehe and it's been front page news for weeks! i mean come on journos - talk about giving the politicians and bankers a holiday from the press!

the picture above is the snow angel i made outside my office last week - its my first one and you can see a short video of me making it here - i made it last wednesday and it was still there friday as we'd had no more snowfall... wonder if it will survive the weekend!

it's a shame snow makes the roads so dangerous because it's quite picturesque and fun to make snow people, have snowball fights, go sledging, etc

the latest scare story was that the snow is stopping the supermarkets getting deliveries and people are panic buying food... a supermarket manager's wet dream then? lol

i haven't panic bought anything as yet, tho i am running low on milk... hope they still have some tomorrow haha

bangs and bongs (or nye 2009)

happy new year! it's twenty-ten! how futuristic does that sound?! lol

i spent my new year at Big Ben in Londinium with some friends as my man worked the wee hours thru xmas and new year... mulled wine and warm clothing was the order for the day as due to 'people management' the bridge we wanted to stand on was closing at 8pm or full capacity... now folks it don't take a genius to recall that a New Year strikes at midnight Dec 31st so that was a cold four hours we waited for them there fireworks! we literally hoped for Big Ben to bong some more so we could get back home to the warm and some champers and tea! lol

it was fun though and i'm a great believer that it ain't what you do - it's who you do it with that counts when it comes to these great landmarks in the year...

i been chatting to people about resolutions and the general consensus is that people make them but have no faith in making them work! what kind of a start to the year is that? well i suppose i should try and be better but i know i'll fail?! haha shut up! so my hopes for the new year are to continue my gym journey! a flat stomach for summer? why not! i did the Davina: Power of 3 DVD workout on Sunday - omg - my legs have been killing for two days! brilliant! i'll have thighs to die for any month now hehe

i want to pick up my guitar and try to write some songs for my soon to be new band featuring my very good friend Belle on bass.. we were thinking the breakfast club but its already taken, we really liked the rockettes but a troupe of dancers in new york seem to have that too... ruined! any suggestions?!

i want to go places i haven't been before, i managed to get to quite a few last year both inland and abroad! Lyme Regis, Pembroke, Oben, Poznan and Palma! hello airmiles! this year I'm thinking Amsterdam, New York, Paris, LA and Sydney... with some great British beach thrown in for good measure...

i want to learn how to make my own clothes, mini dresses and shopping bags would be perfect! i get thru so many! and i want to get some more Italian under my belt - I'm nearly 35 and I can't speak another language? how rubbish and typically English is that of me? Si, certo!

and finally... the snow has been big news this festive season - a white christmas no less, well not actually on christmas day (don't know how the bookies dodged that bullet! lol) but before, during and after! tonight i'm being sent to a hotel within walking distance of work so i don't get snowed in at home - its nice to feel wanted! lol and i'm happy to report that at 34 i have just bought my first thermals! and not to go skiing! just to put on and not take off until it stops ruddy snowing! i'm not built for this sort of weather!