What’s making me happy this week

One of my favorite podcasts is NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour.  I love the hosts, I love the way they have a very real take on the latest movie releases, TV shows and other cultural goings on.  I also love the recurring feature, ‘what’s making us happy this week’.  And because it’s a Friday, because I’ve just done something that’s made me very happy, and because I’ve just listened to the latest PCHH podcast, I thought that was inspiration enough for a new blog post.

So, what’s making me happy this week?

Making good progress on my training plan

The week started in a challenging fashion when I had to work out on the damn trainer for 90 minutes.   I thought I was going to get incredibly bored.  And I kinda did.  But I also kinda didn’t.  And I uncovered a new revelation tonight, trainer karaoke.  This is the thing I just did that’s made me very happy, for those of you that were wondering.  The time goes all kinds of fast when you are singing along to your favorite tunes at the top of your voice.  I pity the neighbors though.  Don’t try that one in a terraced house…

Going to my first book club meeting

Yes, I know used to belong to a book club, so this isn’t my first EVER meeting.  But it is the first meeting of my new US-based book club.   And I really enjoyed it.  We read Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch which was a good (but very long) read.  Her writing has a very dark edge to it and none of the characters were entirely likable, but overall I did find I enjoyed it.  Next on the list is Sycamore Row by John Grisham.  Somehow I have made it through 30+ years of my life without ever having read a John Grisham, so the first order of tonight’s business is watching A Time To Kill in order to familiarize myself with the characters.

Finally getting my personal email inbox under control

This week I finally signed up to Unroll.me, a free inbox management service that takes all your subscriptions and combines them into one rolled-up email that is delivered to your inbox daily.  This has been an absolute revelation for me.  No longer do I have to sift through 9,000 Living Social Deals every day.  I recommend this service to everyone.

A couple of online shopping wins

This morning I had bagged a bargain before 7am, through the medium of Bloomingdale’s one day homeware spectacular.  Now Bloomie’s are one of the worst email offenders because they are ALWAYS having some form of irritating sale.  But every now and again, they have a good sale.  A sale that has things I actually need.  And today was that day.  I have been thinking about buying a food processor over here for a while; I used to have one in the UK and I used it regularly enough that being without one is more than a minor inconvenience.  So I was very pleased with myself today when I bought a KitchenAid food processor for about a third of the original price.  I also bought a waffle iron.  People who know me know just how much I have been wanting one of these.  For years.  So now we will be able to give even better B&B service to our visitors!

Getting an American education

For my Secret Santa present, I was given a huge pile of DVDs that all American teenagers (and quite a lot of English ones too, judging by the reaction on my Facebook post) watched growing up.  To give me the US education I’d missed out on.  I’m gradually working my way through; last week it was The Breakfast Club.  This week, Sixteen Candles.  I loved them both, for different reasons.  And wow, Jake Ryan…  How big a crush would I have had on him if I’d watched Sixteen Candles when I was an impressionable teenager…

Discovering a new place in NYC

Last week I was feeling pretty low.  Definitely a case of the seasonal blues, brought on in part by the hugely depressing polar vortex.  So on Sunday I decided to accompany M into the city and killed some time whilst he was at work.  I wandered around Central Park in the snow.  I had a coffee and read my book at Starbucks in Trump Towers (one of my favorite touristy things to do).  But I also had an NYC first.  I went to The Frick.  It was the best of both worlds for me – a beautiful old house, with beautiful old art in it.  Unfortunately, in a way, I’d just missed the exhibition where The Goldfinch (the painting which inspired Donna Tartt’s book) was shown.  But in a way this was actually fortunate, because it meant the gallery was really quiet.  Sundays between 11am and 1pm you can pay what you want for the entry fee, but I paid the full recommended amount of $20.  I thought it was good value and I’d recommend it to anyone.  An hour well spent.

 

So that’s this week’s round up.  I’ll leave you with a picture of something that made me happy on Saturday: seeing how beautiful the Botanical Gardens were in the snow.  The polar vortex does have some benefits.

Rediscovering my voice

Tonight I went to my first book group meeting. It’s a new group set up by a local businesswoman who I connected with on Twitter, which I joined mainly because I’ve been half interested in joining a book group for some time. But there was another reason too. My fear that I’m losing my creative voice.

At school I used to be a keen reader and writer. I have always enjoyed a good book, and I was a huge fan of letter-writing too. But over the years, my voice has faded. I’ve been too busy to find time to read and critically analyse books, whether verbally or on paper. And although I’ve found myself writing every day, it’s been business documents using words like ‘proposal’, ‘objectives’, and ‘return on investment’. I tweet a lot, but it’s hard to put something meaningful into 140 characters. And I find myself looking for a witty sound bite, or just generally complaining, rather than saying something of value. Social media has killed my attention span and I need to take action.

At the meeting tonight I found myself talking to people far better read than me. And it made me wonder what I’ve been doing with my time. I do consider myself a fairly active reader, but I spend a good portion of my time reading what can only be described as lightweight fiction: Twilight, Mike Gayle, Confessions of a GP etc etc. I know that I should read that if it’s what I’m interested in, but I can’t help but think I’m missing out on some truly great authors. I’m pleased that, through the book group, I will be able to broaden my horizons and in doing so, hopefully rediscover my voice.