What is it about Christmas?

"A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together."

How very true.

It is a time when we tend to look back at the year we have had and draw on everything... good and bad. This year, I am ALL about the good.

Yesterday I went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park (London) with Gary and spent the day perusing the stalls, all full to the brim with the prettiest bits n' bobs. I was entering trinket-overload territory and loving every minute of it. As i'm still on the mend following last months' drama I think I was hobbling as opposed to walking toward the end of the night. All worth the pain though. A pit stop in the Manderin Oriental in Knightsbridge on the way home was very welcomed. I have a feeling we would have hit up Hestons' 'Dinner' restaurant as well if we weren't so stuffed from the market. Then it was home sweet home to watch a Christmas movie in bed, tucked up to the nines. What Christmas movie you ask? Die Hard of course.....

Such a fantastic day embracing he festive period and everything good about it. Needless to say, the company was without a shadow of a doubt the cherry on top. Well, that and the amazeballs Christmas bap I demolished at Winter Wonderland

Fear

I decided to learn this word for word when I was about 19. I was supposed to be studying for college exams at the time and I was having one of those days... getting nowhere fast. So to avoid the pang of guilt I would always get when dossing off from study, I thought i'd do something more productive....

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.
We must ask ourselves,
who am i to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people will not feel insecure around you.
We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It is not in just some of us; it’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

- Nelson Mandela Inaugural speech 1994, original text by Marianne Williamson

Getting to know me

So... Last month saw me having to face quite a proverbial bump in the road of life. I spent a big portion of last month suffering with what I thought was IBS. It turned out to be something completely different, and unfortunately a little more serious. As a result I have been quite unwell, but am very happy to say that I am on the road to recovery.

I've been out of work (an invalid) since mid-late November and have been missing the unparalleled buzz of my professional life.. the daily madness of the office. I'm pretty sure it is addictive. As I have been given strict orders by doctors and the folks to rest up, it has left me quite limited in terms of how I can keep myself entertained. At the beginning I quickly became frustrated as I am a self confessed busy-body. I like it that way, and always will. But these last couple of weeks have enabled me to appreciate another side of life, of myself even.

You know the cliches, right? No one can love you if you don't love yourself, and who will enjoy your company if you don't enjoy your own? I can now safely say that I do enjoy my own company.... and my own cooking... and baking....!

There is two things I now know for sure -
1. In life, you will NEVER stop getting to know yourself.
2. The above is a good thing. Embrace it.

As you (void) may or may not know... I love my music. This time has certainly allowed me to spend more time listening to it, and discovering more new artists. Something I didn't see coming... A growing appreciation for "popular music", which I've never been too pushed on. The below is a song I can tell I will always enjoy. Let's see if you will too....