Tag: Easter

A not-bad Good Friday

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Just a quick mile to kick off my next hundred days on my run streak…

…and then I came home for hot cross buns. I’m now making the most of the start of the long weekend – I’ve used some Easter discount codes to buy some more funky-patterned running tights. Unfortunately most of the old capri leggings I’ve been wearing for my daily runs were bought when I was bigger, just don’t fit right for running anymore, and will have to be relegated to Pilates/yoga/round-the-house leggings. This wasn’t a problem in previous years when I was only running between one and three times a week and so basically always used the same old reliable pair of Karrimor drawstring capris I’ve had since 2015, but based on our typical laundry schedule/occasional longer trips away, I do need a few more pairs that don’t keep having to be yanked up while running.

Also, funky-patterned leggings are amazing, whether you’re doing exercise or not.

Going to be spending the rest of the day (and most of the Easter weekend) making and playing videogames 🙂

Hot cross buns
Hot cross buns (on the correct day this time).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Nintendo 3DS eShop – ‘Main Theme’
Traditional – ‘Hot Cross Buns’
The Dubliners – ‘Rocky Road To Dublin’

Keep on running

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I hit 100 days on my ‘run every day’ streak today!

Despite the awful world situation that has transpired over the last few months, I’ve felt happier and more stable in my own life than I have in a long time. Getting out for a run every day really lifts my mood, and I plan to continue my streak indefinitely.

I’ve spent most of today finishing off day job work ahead of the Easter weekend, and making a multicoloured wall chart to keep track of all of our cancelled and postponed events. I’m looking forward to getting a bit more work done on my text adventure projects this evening.

Geth and I are also starting the long weekend off with a Maundy Thursday takeaway. In my drinking days it used to be a Maundy Thursday pint, and last year it was a Maundy Thursday synthwave night, but I’m very happy for the tradition to move to Domino’s Pizza this year. However, with the exception of my Easter egg, I’ll be eating healthily the rest of the week – I’m finding my weight loss has stalled a little since my marathon training came to a screeching halt, so I need to keep more of an eye on it.

Hope everyone has as good an Easter weekend as can be expected given the circumstances!

Celebratory cake
If there’s one thing parkrun has taught me, it’s that you celebrate running milestones with cake.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Nobuo Uematsu and Masashi Hamauzu – ‘Hymn Of The Fayth’
Takeru Kanazaki – ‘Life at Garreg Mach Monastery’
Bill Withers – ‘Lean On Me’

Making the most of time

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Just a mile today…

…because I wanted to get home quickly and get on with today’s projects. I’ve done a whole separate post about my current adventures in creating game graphics, which is my main focus this week. It’s a lot of fun but also takes a long time!

I find that my hobbies have sort of expanded to fill my current additional free time, and am starting to worry that once this lockdown is over, I’ll go back to feeling like I never have enough time for the things I love doing. One thing that I definitely need to do (and this has been a bit of a theme recently) is learn to let go of the things in life that I’m not enjoying but instead just doing out of obligation.

Tomorrow should be a really good day – I’ll be doing my special run for RED day 100, then a bit of day job work, and then Easter weekend can begin. It’ll be a fairly unusual Easter weekend given the circumstances, but I’m still looking forward to a few days relaxing and the occasional bit of chocolate.

Spring flowers
Today’s bit of garden progress: more spring flowers have appeared. Due to the current situation, I’m appreciating our garden a lot more than usual!

Today’s earworm playlist:

Takeru Kanazaki – ‘Fódlan Winds (Thunder)’
Glenn Miller – ‘In The Mood’
Adam & The Ants – ‘Prince Charming’
Cast of The Jungle Book – ‘I Wanna Be Like You (The Monkey Song)’
Michael Land – ‘The Swamp’

Post-holiday quiet time

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Back to normal-ish today following the Easter holiday. My right eye has been really bothering me since Friday morning – I think it’s had a bad reaction to the contacts I was wearing on Thursday night, which is odd because I’ve not had that kind of reaction before – and so I didn’t do my treadmill run this morning. I’ve got one left on Thursday, and then I might possibly do a slow shakeout parkrun on Saturday to remind my legs how to run on roads before the big race on Sunday. Hopefully the eye will settle down – ibuprofen seems to be helping for now.

Geth has headed off to Glasgow for an overnight work thing, so the house is quiet at the moment. I’ve had a really good day of writing with 3,000 words done for my Camp NaNo project, my book pitch sent to another agent, and some poems prepared for reading at tomorrow’s poetry night.

Hoping for another productive day tomorrow.

OOTD 23rd April 2019
OOTD: back to comfy clothes (and sunglasses to shield my poorly eye!) for a day writing on the sofa. Sunglasses Jasper Conran (2018), t-shirt H&M (2018), belt H&M (2017), leggings Primark (2018), shoes 1st Position (2018).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Ava Max – Sweet But Psycho
Duran Duran – New Religion
T.Rex – Hot Love
Duran Duran – Late Bar
Duran Duran – Save A Prayer
Duran Duran – The Edge Of America
The Midnight – Days Of Thunder
FM-84 and Ollie Wride – Running In The Night
Duran Duran – Come Undone
The Housemartins – Think For A Minute
The Midnight – Gloria

(There’s a fair bit of synthwave creeping into my brain alongside the constant Duran Duran at the moment. This is probably due to the fact that Geth has been playing a lot of synthwave YouTube playlists recently!)

Last day of Easter

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After all the excitement of Easter weekend, I’ve had a nice quiet day in the house writing and listening to music, which was much needed.

Back to work tomorrow!

OOTD 22nd April 2019
OOTD: it was still warm today so I went with this smart dress, which is my all-time favourite vintage fair find. Dress Nina Ricci (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2017), shoes Office (2018).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Arcadia – The Flame
David Bowie – Oh! You Pretty Things
Feeder – Just The Way I’m Feeling
Duran Duran – Come Undone
Duran Duran – New Religion

And a bonus track that Geth was humming earlier:

FM-84 and Ollie Wride – Running In The Night

Happy Easter!

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Hope everyone’s having a great weekend. I’ve had a really busy (but fun) Easter Sunday – Geth and I headed out to South Shields this morning, which involved a trip on the Shields ferry because part of the Metro track is currently down. I sunbathed on the beach for a while, which is not something I often do in April.

We then had lunch in one of the pubs along the beach, but their Sunday menu was a bit limited and something I ate made me ill, unfortunately, so we won’t be going back there for food again. An ice-cream on the way back to the ferry settled my stomach though!

We headed out again this evening to see Back To The Future: In Concert at the Sage Gateshead – they had a symphony orchestra playing along with the film, and it was a really good show.

A slightly quieter day tomorrow.

OOTD 21st April 2019
OOTD: it feels like summer all of a sudden! Blouse Lucky Winner (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2018), jeans Miss Selfridge (2018), shoes 1st Position (2018).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Eddy Grant – I Don’t Wanna Dance
Duran Duran – New Religion
Martika – Toy Soldiers
Lindisfarne – Fog On The Tyne
Queen – Killer Queen
Stephen ‘Tin Tin’ Duffy – Kiss Me
Jax Jones, Mabel and Rich The Kid – Ring Ring
Duran Duran – Night Boat

And a few bonus tracks that Geth was humming earlier:

FM-84 and Ollie Wride – Running In The Night
Blondie – Maria
Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee – Despacito

An early bit of summer

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It’s been glorious weather today (and it looks like it’s set to continue for the rest of Easter weekend, so Geth and I are planning to make the most of it!).

I was up fairly early to do my last ‘long’ run of the marathon training programme – race next weekend, eek! – and then headed into town to order some prescription sunglasses to replace the ones that snapped a few weeks ago. A bit of window shopping later, I was back home enjoying the sunshine in the garden (looking very neat now that Geth has mown the lawn for the first time this year).

Settling in for an evening of writing, and looking forward to more time in the sun tomorrow.

OOTD 20th April 2019
OOTD: a good day for a summer dress! Sunglasses Jasper Conran (2018), dress unknown brand (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2018), shoes BHS (2016).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Meduza – Piece Of Your Heart
Duran Duran – Friends Of Mine
Lil’ Nas X – Old Town Road
David Bowie – Oh! You Pretty Things
Duran Duran – The Chauffeur
Lil’ Dicky, Chris Brown, Ed Sheeran, DJ Khaled and Kendall Jenner – Freaky Friday
Chaka Khan – Ain’t Nobody
Whitesnake – Is This Love?

And a couple of bonus tracks that Geth was humming earlier:

O-Zone – Dragostea Din Tei
FM-84 and Ollie Wride – Running In The Night

A proper ‘holiday’ Friday!

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Geth and I were late last night because we were out at a synthwave night for a birthday party, so we had a slow morning to start the Easter weekend. We had hot cross buns for breakfast and then went to Asda to choose our Easter eggs. Other than that it’s been a fairly quiet day, and I’m just getting on with a couple of bits and pieces of writing this evening.

A run and a bit of shopping in town tomorrow, but mainly it’ll be me and my sofa again!

OOTD 18th April 2019
Thursday OOTD: nice to get dressed up for a night out! Dress unknown brand (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2018), belt H&M (2017), tights Primark (2017), shoes Office (2018).
OOTD 19th April 2019
Friday OOTD: no such thing as too dressed up for Asda! Sunglasses Jasper Conran (2018), blouse Richard Shops (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2018), jacket Primark (2018), bag CXL by Christian Lacroix (2018), skirt Chicwish (2018), shoes Office (2018).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Hothouse Flowers – Don’t Go
The Undertones – My Perfect Cousin
Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No. 5
Ta Mara & The Seen – Affection
FM-84 and Ollie Wride – Running In The Night
Ariana Grande – God Is A Woman
Lil’ Nas X – Old Town Road
Duran Duran – Sound Of Thunder

Flying Thursday post

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After a whirlwind morning of extra clients showing up with emergency day job work, my usual treadmill run, getting away with only half a pound gain at Slimming World (I have not been good at staying on plan this week so I’m okay with that!), finishing the day job work I’d actually planned to get done today, and getting a small chunk done on my writing project, it is officially Easter holidays and I am off out for a Maundy Thursday night out tonight! Will update properly tomorrow.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Stephen ‘Tin Tin’ Duffy – Kiss Me
Mabel – Don’t Call Me Up
Spandau Ballet – Gold
Queen – I Want It All
Little Mix – Move
Ariana Grande – Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored
Westlife – Hello My Love
The Beatles – Drive My Car
Cast of Chicago – Cell Block Tango

Mental time travel

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I’ve spent the day happily esconsced in my writing again. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I’m considering just pulling a ‘weigh and go’ at Slimming World tomorrow so that I can get home earlier and squeeze an extra bit of writing in. I do have day job work to do tomorrow as well, so we’ll see.

My characters are currently in 1979, so I’m constantly having to break off from writing and Google stuff like ‘when did SCART connectors become standard on TVs?’ and ‘did Quality Street tins have cellophane seals around the lid in the ’70s?’ An answer to the latter question is currently eluding me. I have watched this 1978 Woolworths Christmas advert many times today, trying to work out from the shot of the Quality Street tin (at 1:00 in the video) whether it has a cellophane seal or not:

I can’t be accused of not doing my research.

Looking forward to finishing up for Easter tomorrow.

OOTD 17th April 2019
OOTD: liking the floral ’80s dresses as we approach Easter weekend. Dress Fink Modell (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2018), belt unknown brand (vintage 1980s, thrifted from Mum 2019), tights Primark (2017), shoes Carvela (2018).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Duran Duran – Union Of The Snake
Duran Duran – Burning The Ground
Duran Duran – The Chauffeur
Ta Mara & The Seen – Affection
Bowling For Soup – 1985
Stephen ‘Tin Tin’ Duffy – Kiss Me
Duran Duran – Secret Oktober
Cheryl – Fight For This Love
Mabel – Don’t Call Me Up