Happy Monday!
I’ve been struggling to write this intro for about three hours now. My brain is a mess of thoughts and feelings, and I just can’t seem to turn them into anything that makes sense…
I don’t write about politics. I mentioned this in my Brexit reaction post, but I just feel like I never quite know enough to express my opinion properly.
And also, this blog has always been my happy place
I’ve been writing Happy Mondays for over two years now, and the whole starting point for this series was that a ton of bad shit had happened that week and I felt like I needed to take a step back and remind myself that DESPITE all the horrible things going on, there is always, always, ALWAYS something good happening as well.
Whether it’s as small as finishing a Sudoku in bed, or spotting the first snowdrop in the garden, or having just enough milk left in the bottle to top up your tea, there are always little wins to be found if you know where to look.
And I still stand by that.
When I was putting together my big 150 Good Things post, so many people said: oh I don’t know… nothing good’s really happened. But as soon as I pushed them to think of ANYTHING that made them smile, they suddenly started remembering a LOT of things.
That amazing cheese toastie. The bus arriving at the stop just as it starts raining. Getting a free coffee at Pret. That glorious sunrise on Thursday. Laughing with your friends.
But now I’m struggling with my whole Good Things mentality.
Because after everything that’s happened this week, I feel guilty for wanting to just take a step back on my blog and focus on the little things that make me happy.
With so many awful things happening all over the world, how can I justify spending time thinking about Nutella cookies, browsing my new fairytale book, and celebrating the fact that (despite the Nutella cookies) I’ve somehow managed to lose half a stone this week.
It just seems so… frivolous? I guess?
It feels like there’s so many bigger, more global, more serious things to be thinking about.
I find it especially difficult as a blogger.
Because as a person, I’m fiercely interested in politics and feminism and equality. I read everything and anything I can. I’m so aware of how privileged I am as a straight, white, middle-class, cis-gendered woman, and I want to educate myself and understand the struggles faced by minority groups. I have so many thoughts and feelings about anti-feminist women, and the future of free press under You-Know-Who, and whether women wearing short skirts are just asking to be raped (spoiler: the answer is NOT EVER AND STOP TRYING TO TELL US WHAT TO WEAR YOU UTTER, UTTER SCUMBAGS)
But actually when it comes to writing and my blog… I really just want to talk about Nutella cookies and theatre and my new onion gravy recipe.
So how do you balance that? How do I balance that?
Well to make a really long (and I guess kinda pointless) story short: I’m still figuring it out.
10 GOOD THINGS
1. Nutella cookies. Pret’s chocolate praline cookies are my sugar fix of choice at the moment. I’m not usually one for sweet things, but it’s that time of the month and I want chocolaaate.
2. New jumpers. My new jumpers arrived and I’ve basically worn one or other of them every day since. They’re sooo warm and cosy, and because they’re black and navy, they go with literally everything in my wardrobe. Perfect.
3. Marmite rarebit. Charlie and I tried the secret Marmite menu at Bill’s yesterday and oh my goshhhh the Marmite rarebits were incredible. We then spent the afternoon wandering around Portobello Road, snapping the pretty houses and chatting all things blog. It was lovelyyy ♥
4. Katie Brennan’s Quarter Life Cabaret. My super talented friend Katie blew us all away again on Thursday. She added some new original songs to the lineup, including one called “Here’s To The Gals” which made all us Bangarang girls tear up a bit. Here’s to the girlfriends who always have your back ♥
5. Early bedtimes. I am the most rock-and-roll of all 25 year olds, but on Friday night I got into bed after dinner and did the Sudoku and the crossword, then went to sleep at 9:30pm. It was blissful.
6. Cooking. It’s weird to think that this time last year I used to eat at home just once or twice a week. I feel like I’ve spent most of this weekend either on Twitter or in my kitchen, playing with new recipes and experimenting with herbs and seasonings and cooking methods. I’m really enjoying it!
7. Camera settings. I’m going to shoot the photos for this so I can post it first thing tomorrow, but basically: I figured out how to change the white balance on my camera by degrees, which means that taking great photos under yellow light is about to become an actual possibility. GAME. CHANGING.
8. Reading. I got Waterstones and Amazon vouchers for Christmas, so I’ve picked up four new books in the last fortnight and I’ve been getting stuck in. At the moment I’m knee-deep in The Queen of the Tearling (ohmygosh I’m hooked) as well as Angela Carter’s Book of Fairytales which is not what I was expecting but holy fairy-dust it’s good.
9. Half stone. I LOST HALF A STONE. IN A WEEK. EVEN THOUGH I ATE ALL THE BURGERS AND NUTELLA COOKIES. Bodies are weird. But it does mean that I’m on my way to fitting back into my favourite cat-embroidered jeans again, and that makes me verrrry happy.
10. Cuddles with Jaye. I haven’t seen Jaye properly since she moved to Bournemouth at the end of last year, so it was lovely to catch up with her and Verity over burgers and tea last week ♥
