Outer beauty - worm's eye view

Yesterday afternoon, when we were walking back from school, I was explaining my 6-year old why I would like to attend the IMATS fair. This is the biggest event in the UK, where all the beauty companies from across the world show what best they have to offer. And I really want to see this. Pathetic, I know, but it's me:)
She listened and then said it would be nice if we all go. 'Wouldn't it be boring for your daddy?', I asked. 'No, obviously not!', she said. When I asked why, she explained: 'He would be interested because then he would know what you need, and he could buy it all to you' ... ;)

Open grief

'Maybe it is that British thing, that we are irretrievably uncomfortable in the face of open grief'
(E. Kavanagh: The Affair)


I think about this for quite a while now. And it's a mixture of sad confirmation and amazement. And from there goes my general reflection on life.

It used to be normal; life and death were part of everyday existence; back in the days where there were tribes leaving together, someone's death was a sad and joyful experience for all, depending on how they celebrated and cherished body and soul.

Today, we all neglect death. Well, maybe we do admit it exist, but only to add some romantic mystery to fictional stories about vampires, ironically. Or some dangerous beasts, that live somewhere deep in the woods. Kids, don't go deep into the woods. On your own.

Death seems to pass us by, we are all forever young, with our beauty products (which I personally use to the extreme I guess as well:_), with healthy lifestyles, with diets and gyms we go to in order to have perfect shapes, perfect bodies, perfect outer beauty.

There is little place for grief. For letting others see our downs. For being humans.

Chocolate and my life

Chocolate is my life. Literally. Here's why.


When I was little, I used to love milk chocolate. Nothing original here, I know. That feeling of being blissfully aware of its sweetness, and fully unaware of the fact this piece of chocolate will not last long...
When I grew up, I wanted to represent a sophisticated essence of intelligence and beauty in one (who didn't). So, I decided to love bitter chocolate. So dark, so deep into decadence, so not down to earth. On second thought though...:)

Now, I am more at ease with everything. Although who am I kidding here, I am not. I get stressed with so many little things this is beyond belief. I want to be more at ease with everything. There, that's better.
Therefore, I am into a bitter-sweet piece (or two) of chocolate now and again.

Chocolate is my life. And I am sure I am not the only one with that opinion.

Organise yourself

This year,  I was a bit late with spring cleaning action, so I decided to rebrand it to the 'Post-Easter decluttering days' which instantly made my guilt fade away.
As I took the last part of the name literally, I am still taking my time to put everything back in order.

One of my proudest achievement was starting to clear up my mailbox. Apparently I haven't done it for ages; over 4 years to be precised.

I am sure there are many people saying that even this very moment around the world, but it's incredible what you can find after such a long period. You can dig into details you completely forgot about, restore old favorites ('Java online course, anyone?;), and even rediscover a recipe for celery pate you were kindly given and was supposed to make yourself several times. It's never too late to start, and when I think of it now, it must have been very good;)

It's that feeling, a bit like flicking through old photographs you have done but then didn't do a proper backup and they were gone from your memory until now.

Sometimes it is good to let the organizational stuff go and have a pile waiting for you to be sorted (well, I know this is not always the case but you know this is suppose to be a cheer you up post, not the one making you feel sorry for all your mistakes including that untouched pile of unsorted documents waiting for you since Christmas. Probably Christmas 2013...).

You'll never know what you may find...

Past simple and present perfect

We live in a weird world.
It's almost as if there were two worlds, the one which is real, and the one which is happening online.

The second one creates those unreal images, actions, recipes which the first one breathlessly tries to follow, and execute. While it is good to take good care of yourself, sleep well, eat well, do some sports, etc, it's so easy to cross the line. And let that chase for perfectionism be the essence of your life.

By all means, I'm not trying to say how difficult it is to live now, and how straightforward life has been in the last centuries.
Looking at the world 500 years ago, for example, there was only a tiny percentage of people who could read, write, had proper clothes for different seasons, talked in different languages.
Completely different to our times.
And it was a vicious competition around power, politics, and wealth.

Totally similar to what we are facing now;)

Raising on roadrunner

Half of our household is seriously ill, with sore throats, runny noses, and pitiful expressions. While I'm still fighting my lack of patience, trying to be as understanding as I should be (they're sick! No wonder they're not cheerful!), it's coyote's time. And the roadrunner's. The easy approach to bringing up a child. Classical cartoons.

I only hope they will be more like a roadrunner after watching this. The younger one is already mimicking the bird's sounds in quite a believable way...