patothecity.com

My 2009 reading has been a little disappointing to say the least* so inspired by @cityferret’s post, I’ve decided to compile a reading list for 2010 to help me on track with my reading.

Some of the books on this list I have on spoken word so I may *cheat* in parts .  I’ve also decided to set target of around two a month which should be manageable and if I get into reading again, should be a good starting point!

In no particular order here’s the list:

1. Be Near Me – Andrew O’Hagan

2. The Children’s Book – A.S. Byatt

3. Julia & Julia – Julie Powell

4. The Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd

5. Stuck in a Good Book – Jasper Fforde

6. The Sewing Circles of Herat – Christina Lamb

7. My Name is Red – Orhan Pamuk

8. Housekeeping – Marilynne Robinson

9. The Adventure of English – Melvyn Bragg

10. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell

11. Mr Toppit – Charles Elton

12. Found Wanting – Robert Goddard

13. The Seventh Gate – Richard Zimmer

14. The Piano Tuner – Daniel Mason

15. In the Blue House – Meaghan Delahunt

16. Skipping Christmas – John Grisham

17. Gentlemen & Players – Joanne Harris

18. The Pride of Miss Jean Brodie – Muriel Spark

19. The Accidental – Ali Smith

20. The Well of Lost Plots – Jasper Fforde

21. Something Rotten – Jasper Fforde

22. First Among Sequels – Jasper Fforde

23. The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman

24. White Teeth – Zadie Smith

25. You Shall Know Our Velocity – Dave Eggers

Similar to Eliza, I’ll embolden once I’ve read.

Wish me luck!

* with exception to discovering Jasper Fforde thanks to @jonmountjoy (and therefore @hazelh).

First and foremost this is not a serious blog post. Please take with a pince of salt.  Also, I want to highlight that I LIKE preparing this far in advance. I get a lot of enjoyment from planning and list writing – so for me this is fun!

So last night the famous Strictly Come Dancing started. For me and my sister-in-law this signifies run up to Christmas has begun and as we were sitting together commenting on how bad Joe Calzaghe was we were also chit-chatting about what we were doing for Christmas and what presents we needed to buy.

OK so Christmas is more than 90 days away, but I always find that from now until then the time slips away and before I know it, I’m making the drive down to Swansea to see my parents!

This is what I suggest to start thinking about to help prepare for Christmas 2009.

Christmas Cards

Pick out your cards now and buy them – I usually get mine from Amnesty International because I like to support the charity and their cards usually cover multiple languages.

Look up for Christmas Card list from last year or write one – just by going over the list you’ll see people who have had babies, moved house or had any other changes etc.  You can then use being way before Christmas as an un-obvious way to get up to date addresses!   Make up a new list and save in excel.  If you now how to mail merge, put the information in a way that makes it easy to print address labels.

Count how many stamps you’ll need and purchase, mark in your diary the last day for 2nd class stamps.

I don’t send Christmas cards to people I see regularly because I always see them at Christmas etc but I do send cards to those people I don’t get to see much and people I want to be in touch with.  There is nothing nicer that giving news in a Christmas card and receiving news from someone you haven’t spoken to for a while! I’m all for recycling cards at the end though, either by donating to someone like Marks & Spencers who do collections or using the cards to make gift cards for wrapping etc!

Gifts

I’ve already bought some of my gifts, I like to keep an eye out throughout the year and spread the cost too.

Make a list of everyone you want to buy presents for and also any ideas you might have for them.  Put an approximate value beside each person so you are setting yourself a mini budget.  The advantage of thinking about this throughout the year is that if you are always thinking Christmas in the back of your mind when a friend/ family member mentions liking something you can make a mental note as a present in the future.

If you think a few of your presents might come from the same place, group together.

Shop online, I’m a huge fan of getting presents from The Book People, Amazon and Lakeland!  If you have grouped your presents then you can save money on postage.

I also around this time of year buy my wrapping paper.  Unfortunately last year I bought about three times too much so am going to be using that!  I love buying wrapping paper though so if I could go back in time, I would buy less so I could treat myself to buying every year.  I personally don’t like buying the paper after Christmas in the sales because I forget about it and feel cheated when all the nice new designs come out!

Something different for this year

I’ve put all my stuff in a google group: Christmas Card Lists, present lists, weekends leading up to Christmas etc.  This is so I can input wherever I am easily and so that my boyfriend can have an input (ha!).  This is highly anal but I’m enjoying so I am interested to see how it goes!

And finally. . .

If you are wanting to make a cake, now’s the time to do it!  That way you can add your brandy / rum etc.  I’m actually putting making my cake off for the next couple of weeks but in the last three years I’ve made it in September and topped up with rum through the weeks!

Enjoy!
Sx

It’s been some time since I’ve written in the post, I’m not sure it’s been that noticed but in the times since I last wrote all of the following has happened:

• I got made redundant
• I got a new job
• I moved house
• Someone in my family had a major operation

Now I’m not for excuses but anyone of those is a pretty good one!
So this is going to be one long blog on what I saw this Festival now I am *in the arts*!

Starting with the most artistic of them all:

The Chippendales

I went with my sister-in-law to this one – my first official show of the Fringe. I must admit it was not as polished as I hoped it would be but it was great fun and I can only imagine it would have been even more fun with a bunch of girls jigged up on champagne! Lots of people criticised the Gilded Balloon for bringing the Chippendales to town but I have to say their argument of opening the Fringe up to people that wouldn’t normally attend is a great one and one I completely agree with.

Still 3/5.

Kevin Bridges

I went to this one with my boyfriend and a couple of his friends. It was one of his extra shows – it started so well I thought I might hurt myself laughing but then I think he lost his energy somewhat and so the set went a bit flat – besides all that – it only lasted 35-45 minutes which for a £14 ticket was a little disappointing. I think next year if he performs again I would maybe buy tickets to the regular show rather than an extra.

3/5

The Edinburgh Fringe Twinge Party

This was a late notice event organised by the Edinburgh Fringe – it was a great night – over 400 tickets *sold” (it was a free event) and it was a great opportunity to catch up with fellow tweeters and get a preview of some of the Fringe acts that were also on Twitter.

4/5

Booking Dance Festival
I went to this with my friend Jennie who loves dance. This was undoubtably the best thing I saw this festival! Producer Jodi Kaplan from New York brought to Venue 150 at the EICC five different dance companies who did a showcase of their acts. It was mindblowingly brilliant and I am not a dance person. I just really hope they come back next year!

5/5

Venezuela Viva

I went with my aunt and uncle to this one.  Brilliant and varied dancing.  The style of the show is quite formal – with a voice of god explaining bits about the history of Venezuela at intervals.  I did enjoy but it wasn’t quite my thing – my aunt loved it – she said it was in fitting with the formality behind the style of the dancing.

3.5/5

Havana Rumba

Again with my aunt and uncle on the same day.  This was more my kind of thing – it’s more raw and natural and you get the feeling that the dances are different every day – very Cuban!  It’s essentially singing and dancing from Cuba with some storyline behind it.  I loved the music – it of course evoked Buena Vista Social Club which is still very popular.  Lots of vibrancy and spirit.

4/5

Jack Whitehall
This was part of a large group Fringe night out – about 7 of us to this particular show. Jack Whitehall 21 and very funny! Reminds me a little bit of a cross between Russell Brown (but less affected) and Jimmy Carr. Such sharp wit!

4/5

Ian Kendall

Second part of the Fringe night out – Ian Kendall has been performing in the Fringe for 18 years and this show was a mix of his shows over that time. A magic show – simply tricks but very effective! A small venue of 50 which was lovely and added to the atmosphere. The delivery cheesy and delightful!

3/5

BBC Comedy Presents

Last part of our night out – late night comedy at the Pleasance Dome. As per usual some was very funny and some was a bit guff! The evening was compered by Karl Donnelly (aka Kyle Bubbly) and he was pretty good – a lovely end to the night.

3/5

Fringe Select

This was an evening of entertainment at Venue 150 at the EICC.  It was five or so acts such as Stephen K Amos and Tao Drummers and came with a meal and drinks.  I took a table at this event with some friends and it was a great night out – very enjoyable.

4/5

Jason Byrne

I went to this one with Alan (it followed on straight from Fringe Select at Venue 150).  Someone told me Jason Byrne was the best selling comedian of the Fringe and I can believe it! It was so funny – my sides really did hurt.  It’s a very relaxed style of comedy – you know that certain bits come up in every show but his interaction with the audience and reaction to what happens is genius.  Thoroughly enjoyable – I will def go and see next year.

5/5

Kit & the Widow

I went to this with Barry from the Fringe office – we were both tired from a pretty hard days work and it was nice and gentle.  As far as I can tell Kit & the Widow have been around for donkeys years and to that end they do joke rather a lot about the age group of their audience.  It was lovely – but must confess not my thing.

3/5

Bryn Terfel

This was part of the EIF and I went solo due to the tickets being £30!  I LOVED it!  I have seen Bryn Terfel perform a couple of times – being a welsh singer but it was truly enjoyable.  The songs were not quite to my chosing – I tend to like something a little more classical but nonetheless fab – especially the encores!

5/5

The Grind Show

I went to this with Elaine – a total fringe buff and guru.  I think this was the one I looked forward to the most.  It was a physical theatre piece about eternity, the circus, life and stuff I cannot understand because I’m not clever enough.  The acting was superb and the premise behind the show very interesting.  I would def go and see anything TBA Collaborative put on at the Fringe again.

4/5

Luxuria

This was the Scottish Dance Theatre’s piece.  What I loved the most was it was only 33 minutes!  I went with Jennie again.  Beautiful costumes, lovely shapes to the dance.  I’m not a dance person but really enjoyed it – again slightly feeling like I didn’t qute understand it all – but I think that’s the joy of it all.

4/5

Patti Plinko and her boy

I saw this with Keith aka @CRayDancer who very kindly provided me with his spare tickets.  I loved loved loved this! What I liked the most was the rawness of the music and Patti’s voice – the soulfulness of it all.  A simple set with three people in the band.  I was really glad to have seen this and thanks to Keith for the ticket!

5/5

Richard Price

Part of the Edinburgh International Book Festival – I went with James from my last job (sort of).  Richard Price is a writer who has published about 11 books and written a number of screenplays like The Colour of Money.  He’s a total nut writer but I really enjoyed it.  At first he chatted about his most recently published book but later went on to talk about his current project which at the moment has not shape or direction – he says the writing and research just takes him in a direction and he goes there.  Really fun and interesting to watch.

4/5

Jimmy Carr – Rapier Wit

Part of the same evening with James.  Jimmy Carr has really grown on me over the last few years.  A funny show – based mostly on one-liners.  Often very rude and completely over the edge of insulting – I think a lot of people are surprised at this!  Very witty.  My fav parts however are when he opens out to the audience because then you fully understand where his talent is – retorts!

4/5

Camille O’Sullivan

Last show of the Fringe for me! Went with the boyfriend.  Camille sings songs from the likes of Nick Cave, Nick Drake etc.  It was her last show too and it really added to the enjoyment.  She has a great voice – her band is superb.  My kind of thing and as she’s such a queen of the Fringe, a great last act to watch.  Another big thanks to Keith who provided me with his spare ticket again which meant we could both go.

4/5

So that was my whistle stop tour of the Festivals – funnily enough I’m not exhausted today at all.  Can’t wait to get back to proper blogging!

For those you who don’t know I’m part of the EdTwestival Planning team.  Look it up and buy a ticket!

I was tagged to do my 25 things about two months ago and finally here it is.

1. I am the type of hypochondriac that nearly always has some ailment (at the moment headache and bruise on leg) but is never worried it’s something serious.
2. The name/person Richard features heavily in my life, my partner, brother and dad are all called Richard (and before I met current b/f I have had crushes on at least three other Richards!)
3. I moved from Swansea to Edinburgh five years ago, I can count on one hand the other Welsh people I have met that live here.
4. Over the summer when I was three, I fell off my father’s shoulders and banged my head in nursery which resulted in two scars and one visit from Social Services.
5. Although I like to talk a lot, I actually hate being the centre of attention.
6. I have a genuine hobby of “organising”.  I love anything to do with being more efficient like GTD, to do list, calendars.  Over time I’ve realised it’s a genuine interest as well as a talent in jobs.
7. I can tell you how much my council tax is, gas, electricity, clothes I buy, telephone, savings account but I still never know the price of a pint of milk!
8. I used to be a Jehovah’s Witness (from about 15-23) – and I consider myself to be one of the few non-bitter XJW’s.  If anyone knows any other, I’d like to know!
9. I’m now an atheist, although I think I understand why so many want to believe.
10. My official favourite movie is Gattaca
11. My unofficial favourite movie is Return to Me
12. The first band I ever went to see live was REM.  The last band I saw was The Killers. Both ROCKED.
13. I was a vegetarian when I was teenager but gave it all up for salami and pate.
14. I have no stamina. I mean I cannot run for even more than a minute!  I have been mulling over training properly for years.
15. I am high-maintenance but fully aware of it.  I consider myself very lucky when I find people willing to put up with me.
16. My first job was as a sandwich maker and I quit after the owner of the business didn’t believe me when I said I didn’t crash the car.  When I look back on that now – I understand what she was thinking – even though I didn’t crash the bloody car!
17. I didn’t ever read any of my Spanish literature books when I was completing my degree and I still got a 2:1.
18. My middle name is Claire – this is so if I turned out *serious* I could use that name instead of Sally.
19. I have always wanted to write a book and one day I blooming will.
20. My baby names are Milo and Bethan but as my boyfriend has vetoed these, I’m happy to share them.
21. I have very little willpower – I hope to high heaven I will never need to go on a diet.
22. When doing my driving test, I grabbed the test instructor’s knee instead of the gearstick when doing a hill start – I passed.
23. My summers as a child were spent on a campsite in the south of France called Lestaubiere, I hope to go back with my children one day.
24. My boyfriend and I are now obsessed with The West Wing – we think The Wire might be our new obsession (although we loved Life too).
25. One of my most proudest moments is being in France miserable and then driving to Germany with a girl I had met three days previously and being much happier.

Since about the 06 January, I’ve been getting up earlier than usual and right from the start I’ve noticed quite a few benefits.  HOWEVER, I didn’t want to write about them until I got past 30 days and was reasonably confident that I would keep doing it!  So it’s day 47 and time to write!

Technique

First of all, I’ve taken a lot of advice from the blog I cited right of the beginning by Steve Pavlina (here).  The principles are

- no “snooze” button

- no adjusting bedtime just to get up early, go to sleep when tired

- include the weekends

I have of course refined it to suit me.

Benefits

Where to start?  The reason why I’ve kept doing this early morning start past the 30 day trial show that the benefits outweight the occaisional inconvenience of feeling dozy first thing at the weekend!

These are not in order of significance but are:

• I am now in work 30 mins before everyone else, I plan out and prepare before the day to day interuptions get to me. I’m also always in before my boss (not a morning person!) which I think works in this particular PA role.
• I have half an hour more at home before leaving for work.  I means I have time to clear up (unstack dishwasher, empty washing machine etc), shower, eat breakfast AND make lunch.  Previously I used to manage about two of the four tasks which would then impact on the evening after work.
• I have more time to myself.  It’s nice to get up early, catch up on the news and just get on with that reading that I’ve been meaning to do.  It has helped me set aside time for writing my blog which is certainly more regular since the early starts.
• The weekends seem longer!  I think this is probably the funnest one . Now that I get up at the weekends early, the days definitely feel longer (essentially they are!) and I don’t have that feeling so much on the Sunday evening that it’s gone so fast.  In the past I guess I would sleep in about 3.5 hours each morning over the weekend and that adds up to nearly a day!  Don’t get me wrong, I love being in bed, but it’s nice to know I’m making the most of the weekends.
• I sleep better. I don’t completely understand this one, but it is probably the best benefit of the early mornings.  Over the last ten years, I’ve had a real challenge on a regular basis to get to sleep quickly or even to get to sleep.  A lot of it is to do with my busy mind and when it all goes quiet at night, I start thinking of things in the back of my mind and start a worrying cycle.  I think that because on the whole I’m sleeping just a little bit less, that I’m more tired and therefore just a little more ready to sleep when I go to bed. Also I think that because I was aware of the problem, I would go to sleep when I thought I should be in bed and then toss and turn for an hour or so before going to sleep.  Now, I go to sleep when I’m tired.  This may be early but genereally it’s between 2230 and 2330 which I don’t think is too early.

Drawbacks

There are a couple of drawbacks creeping in.  I’ve noticed mid week that even though I’m in the flat 30 minutes longer, I’ve started getting less productive and I’ve also noticed that at the weekend, I’m tending to get up for a couple of hours and then head back to bed for a couple of hours!  These are both habits I’m trying to cull by reflecting the night before about what I want to get done in the morning.  In addition to this I am letting myself sleep in on the odd morning when I have a particularly late night or such.  This means that I’m less likely to go back to bed if I’ve allowed myself a sleep in on one of the mornings (and when I say sleep in I’m still getting up at 0800 on the weekend instead of 1000).

Anyway in conclusion, I’m sticking with the early mornings for the forseeable future and would recommend it to anyone who was thinking about it!

Now I’m off back to bed . . .

I like birthdays. I like sending cards and I like picking out presents. The problem has been that I’m not always consistent remembering them!

Here are some hints and tips that I have developed over the last couple of years to remain more organised.

- Bulk Buy

This is something relatively recent for me. There are actually quite a lot of birthdays in January and February in our family so I needed to have a few cards in anyway. My local Sainsbury store has an absolutely great selection of cards (and I mean really loads of choice!) so I have stocked up with about 12 cards for birthdays. Some I bought with a specific person in my (Mum, Grandma type cards) and others were a little more generic.  I have also bought up a stock of wrapping paper.  Now that doesn’t mean I have rolls of paper all over the place – I took a hint from my super organised sister-in-law and bought sheets wrapping paper that either come folded or can be folded easily.  I keep my stocks in a folder and if I could work out how to upload a photo to my blog it would be attached.  Instead I’m linked to my twitpic here. Finally, I always have stamps in my purse.

By having stock always around, if I do run a little late sending a card, there’s always something here that I can write and send out at short notice.

- Keep track of birthdays

Now this is fairly obvious! I have a document (actually a Word template) which stores all the birthdays, and also this year my addition has been a cool calendar that has not only a column for people’s birthdays but little pockets in it for storing the cards!  Originally I did add people’s birthdays to my Outlook calendar with a three day reminder but found I just ignored the reminders, got myself into a pickle and felt a failure for missing someone out!  Now all my birthdays are in my home calendar and the cards I may have pre-purchased just below them.  Good stuff.

- Presents

Presents are a trickier one and I think must be different for everyone but this is what I have come up with.  For kids, I usually check with parents and get what they would like me to get!  This means I can buy in advance because it is unlikely to be duplicated.  For adults, I’ve adopted an approach that if I can think of or have seen a present I think they will like then I buy it!  If I’m completely struggling, I usually give it a miss.  If it’s an important birthday and I am at a loss, I will buy a voucher for something I know they like for example spa vouchers or book tokens.

- Duplication

Finally, I have started keeping a set of cards and wrapping paper at the office as well.  Not only does this make me appear super organised to my colleagues when they are desperately wrapping something in newspaper or a magazine but it’s saved my bacon on more than one occaision when I’ve remembered someone’s birthday but not got time to sort something out!

Hope this all helps – let me know.

So this week has been week two of early rising. Still so far so good although this morning I do really feel like I could go back to sleep which is the first time so far! I am going to allow myself a snooze later after body combat class.

I have been keeping up with my web reading and thought I would share my *interesting reads*.

Here’s where I’ve spent some of my time this week!

• http://www.clutterdietblog.com/ I am pleased to have found this and am looking forward to the tips that have already come out of it. The one I want to share is the annual photocopying of important cards from your wallet. Clever.
• http://twentyset.com/ been reading this blog for a while. It’s been a bit quiet of late, but even when it’s about something that doesn’t necessarily apply to me I find myself reading and enjoying the writing style. It’s probably my favourite blog to read and I’m always chuffed when a new post comes in! (Sad I know!)
• http://twitter.com/salidatious I like to look at my own twitter page and think “if I were to read this stream, would I want to follow? Stops me from writing the more insipid comments for the sake of it.
• http://littledishy.blogspot.com/ found this great little site from my twitterfeed. Really enjoyed reading and will be making stuff from the recipes without a doubt.
• http://www.girlmeetsbusiness.com/ gen y slanted blog usually gives me ideas on what type of things to write about.
• http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/ I linked this blog last week about getting up early but I’ve also been enjoying the new stuff, really gives me food for thought!

My computer at work also moved across to Office 2007 this week. At first it appeared seamless but very quickly we realised my bosses’ phone is having challenges with it. You would think that you’d just put me back to Office 2003 but as the whole company is migrating in the next few months we’ve decided to spend time trying to fix the problems. It has involved much printing of diaries this week – and lots of text messages (You have next meeting in 5 mins etc). Oh well! I’m sure it will be worth it all in the end!

Although this week has been a *quiet* one, I have been very productive.

Something about starting the New Year and getting back to work always makes me feel so motivated to *sort things out*! I have been very busy this week, despite the office being reasonably quiet. I have been using some of the concepts from Getting Things Done (GTD) and if I do say so myself I have been very productive. My main changes:

1. Getting Up Earlier

I have decided to get up earlier each morning. Now this is only day four so there is every likelihood that I may lapse on this one! However, I found this article here, on getting up early in the morning and am giving it a go. I am not getting up *seriously* early but am including non working days. So far, I have noticed significant benefits (writing this blog today for one) but as it’s early days, I have decided to wait another month or so before I comment fully – to make sure I stick to the plan!

2. Inbox

Before the Christmas holidays I cleared my Inbox at work. I did it in my last job and due to not knowing the systems in this new job, had put off for about six months. I think you have to be disciplined to do this and keep this going but you feel so satisfied when you go into work and the only emails are the new ones. There are a couple of ways I keep my inbox clear

• I drag emails into my task folder (and try and set a target date)
• If the email relates to a task for my boss, I print it out and put into his hard copy folder which I go through with him regularly
• If the email has info that I know I will definitely refer to again it goes into a mail folder called @refer to
• Once an email is read and *dealt* with it goes into a mail folder called Filed

3. Reviewing my Personal Calendar

This is a funny one. I review my bosses’ diary about five times a week but it has meant I have neglected my own. I have added all my *regular* meetings and included my personal activities into my Outlook at work. The benefits of this are that I am not ramming my diary full of activities and my boyfriend and I have actually pencilled in when we are likely to take holidays! By reviewing this with my bosses’ diary, I have been able to schedule times to spend on the more time consuming projects. Now this is total common sense and I’m sure this is new to no-one but it’s helped me enormously in just this week.

As this is my first week back at work, I will come back to these points in the future and let you know how I am getting on.

I made tablet twice before the Christmas hols – the second time to help add festivity to the Secret Santa that I organised this year in work.  If I do say so myself, I think it increased my popularity a little so it might serve as a tip for the future!

Tablet Ingredients

• 450g caster sugar
• 120ml milk
• 1 small tin (397g) condensed milk
• vanilla extract

Instructions

Now I combined about three recipes to make my own version and this is what I came up with:

1. Grease a baking tin with butter (I personally used a circular sandwich tin but am now on the look out for a *tablet* type square/rectangular tin).
2. Heat sugar and milk slowly in a heavy based saucepan until all the sugar dissolves.
3. Add the condensed milk and bring to the boil.
4. Boil for about 15-20 minutes whilst stirring continuously.  To know the tablet is about ready is quite tricky I think.  Keep an eye out for the mixture to get darker and is has also been described as getting “pitted like a moon base”.
5. Take off the heat and beat with a mixer for about 5 minutes adding the flavouring of your choice (in this case vanilla – about half a teaspoon will do).
6. Pour mixture into the greased tin and wait to set.
7. When mixture is partially set, mark out squares with a knife ready for cutting – bearing in mind it is very rich but also easy to crumble.

Hope it works for you!

I have been thinking about this quite a lot recently.  The one tip I would pass on to others, the one that has saved me the most time and been the most useful is within diary management.

If I ever put an appointment in my boss’s diary (and if it were up to me it only be me that put things in his diary!) I ALWAYS put my initials afterwards.  It means when I am reviewing, I know how it got there and it usually means I don’t need to do further updates like location, info needed etc.  If an appointment appears without my initials, unfortunately it usually means that my boss has put it in himself which signifies checking date, time, place, dress code and any other reams of information!  It gives me a great head start when reviewing future plans and has saved no end of time.

There are whole host of bits I would add regarding diary keeping but I’m sticking to one tip today.