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Twelfth Night has come and gone, which means, apparently, that you have to STOP celebrating Christmas. That's it. It's OVER. From now on we just have the hard slog of winter to go. So don't go having any more FUN, you understand? It's not seasonal.

But, back when I was still celebrating, I did some things that went a bit like this:

NYE
I went to Steve's in Bristol for New Year's Eve. We were trying to recreate the fun of our student days by cooking ourselves a massive meal. Firstly, we had a food conference to work out what was going down, then we had a trip to buy ingredients, and finally, we had a 10 and a half hour, 11 course, cook-off show-down!

It was lots of fun. The 11 courses were as follows:

1. Crudités and houmous (with some egg bites to get us going) - lovingly chopped by me
2. French onion soup - made by Heather
3. Chilli onions on goat's cheese - made by Nick
4. Parma ham with melon - made by James
5. Sushi - made by me
6. Cheesy pasta - made by Eppa
7. Sweetcorn, bacon and mayo salad - made by Heather
8. Stuffed peppers - made by Steve
9. Homemade burgers with avocado salad - made by Steve and Heather
10. Mini banoffee pies - made by Nick
11. Coffee and mints - the coffee ground by Eppa's thighs

There was going to be a cheese and biscuits course before the coffee, but it was 2am by that point, and I don't think any of us could stomach any more food. Especially not huge hunks of cheese!

All the courses were really tasty, but I think one of my favourites were the banoffee pies, because I was dying for something sweet after all those savoury courses (in fact, I found it hard to eat anything savoury for the next two days).

Here's a picture of the banoffee pies in all their glory, as modelled by Steve:

And, because Steve lives on a massive hill, we were able to walk to the end of his garden at midnight and watch the fireworks spread out over the whole of the city. Nice.

More Christmas presents???
A package from Mariya arrived the other day! There were lots of cute presents inside, but one of the cutest was this:

It's a teeny tiny bento box! (The photo is larger than life-size.) It's absolutely adorable.

Mariya also got me the first volume of Black Butler. I've heard of the series before, but I've not seen or read any of it, so it will be interesting to see what it's like.

So far, it seems like the butler, called Sebastian, swans around being a badass mofo, while his master, who's a twelve-year old boy, sits around looking unimpressed.

I shall have to wait and see how it progresses, but I already have a strange urge to draw Sebastian in breeches. That must be a good sign, right?

STARS
This week, the women people of Britain have taken a sudden and intense interest in astronomy, thanks to Professor Brian Cox Live Stargazing Live!

I have to admit, I was expecting it to be a bit boring (oh look, there's the Plough. Big whoop.) But actually (as happened with The Wonders of the Solar System) it was really interesting! Now I have a sudden urge to look up at the stars, whenever the weather decides to stop being cloudy, and see galaxies and all sorts of amazing stuff.

It also helps that co-presenter Dara O'Briain is a very funny man, and Professor Brian Cox is, well... (oh yeah, talk science to me, baby).

Musics
Songs of the moment include:

Yolanda Be Cool vs DCUP - We No Speak Americano - Very pop-y and dance-y, but I love it anyway. It's been out for ages, but I only just learnt its name.
Donna Summer - I Feel Love - Disco fun! I was listening to this mere moments ago, and annoying my neighbours by singing along at the top of my voice.
Lemon Jelly - Space Walk - In honour of SPACE! It's impossible to feel unhappy when listening to this song.

Right, that's it
Time to stop having fun now. Off with you, there's 2011 to be getting on with.

I hope you all had a nice Christmas!

I had a jolly nice time myself. There was eating (of course) and watching Christmas TV (with varying levels of interest), plus presents and visiting relatives :D We played Trivial pursuit at my grandparent's house, and there was just the right amount of people (and just the right amount of not taking it too seriously) to make it fun. I haven't seen either of my grandparents that happy since my granddad had to move into a home, so it was really nice.

We also watched two films that I enjoyed immensely. One was Inception and the other was Moon. Both films are ones that make you think hard. Blink and you'll miss an important plot point D:

In my opinion, Inception lives up to the hype that's around. It's a movie about dreams and sharing dreams (no wonder that I like it), and all the fun that that entails. It has a very retro 50s/60s feel to it too, with tailored clothing and slicked-back hair, which I found rather charming.

Moon is a sci-fi that, on the surface of it, has a lot in common with 2001: A Space Odyssey. It differs in some key respects though, which I won't go into, otherwise I'd be telling you the whole plot.

Present-wise, I got a lot of things that I really wanted, but had neglected to tell anyone about, so I think I was very lucky there. This includes, a laundry bag, new pyjamas, and a handbag:

(That's my 'Argh! The timer's going! Get into position!' face.) I've wanted a handbag like this for ages ♥

Oh, and the laundry bag came with an apron!

Look how much I love dusting!

In other present news, I got a boxset of The Thick of It :D I've already watched the first series in the past few days, and now I'm going to try to marathon the rest of it if I can. (Apologies in advance if I suddenly get more sweary.)

Hi guys,

Guess what? The snow is back! And it doesn't look set on going any time soon. But, as annoying as the ice and slush is, it's still kinda fun :D

On Sunday, I was walking down my road at 9pm. The snow had only fallen a day before, so it was still pristine and white. It turns out that no-one goes out on a Sunday evening, especially not when there are a good few inches of snow on the ground. The place was absolutely silent! Still and white and eerie. Nothing but the slow crunch crunch crunch of my boots on the fresh snow. And then, when I got to the end of the road, I could hear the clock in the church tower tolling the hour. The church is a good 15 minutes walk away, but the town was so silent that I could hear it easily.

It was really spooky!

There was a lady at the end of the road who was dressed up in a white coat and white trousers. She must have been waiting for a lift, because she was just waiting there. And because the whole place was spooky and because she was standing so still, for a moment, my imagination almost got the better of me.

No wonder they tell ghost stories at this time of year!

Speaking of which, I hope you all have a nice Christmas! I'm getting all excited about it myself. Christmas is great. I'm not religious in the slightest, but when it's so dark and cold outside, there's nothing better than a great big knees-up with presents and company and good tv and (according to all the supermarkets) a shitload of pâté.

I'm not sure about the pâté myself (I mean, I like a bit, but not that much), but I'll go in for the rest thank you.

It's been entirely too long since I last posted. Here, have a list of contents:

1. Deborah's Birthday
2. Snow!
3. Things I've been enjoying recently

***

1. Deborah's Birthday

So, I toddled down to London to go see Deborah for her birthday. It was lots of fun in a very London sort of a way. Deborah's flat is in a building that used to be offices and it's huge. The ceilings are tall and it's split level and Deborah has an en-suite and a magical mystery cupboard in the back of her wardrobe!

We went out dancing for the evening, which was fun, and then, because we were in the vicinity, we went for 2am noodles in Chinatown afterwards. God, it's times like this that make me miss living in London; it's so exciting!

The next day, I had a little look around Petticoat Lane market and managed to get myself a dress for £3. That's right. £3! It's a nice dress too! I was going to show you a picture, but I forgot to take one when I was wearing it and now it's too cold to change into it just for a photo. Which brings us nicely onto topic #2.

***

2. Snow!

It's November. It's England. And yet there is snow on the ground. What is going on? It's never normally this cold at this time of year!

Turns out, this is all because the Jet Stream has gone crazy, so now we have to suffer mad weather until it decides to right itself again.

I'm always amused by how ill-equipped we are in this country to deal with snow. There was only an inch of snow on the ground this morning, and yet it felt like an achievement to be able to get to work in one piece. I was very proud that everyone I work with was able to make it in this morning, despite the usual, snow-related transport chaos. It was all I could do not to high-five people as they came in through the door!

So, I've got the wellies out and the thick jumpers on. Let's see how long this snow lasts (hopefully not long, please, Mr. Jet Stream).

***

3. Things I've been enjoying recently

- Kings of Leon
I've been going back over some of my old Kings of Leon albums this past fortnight. It's nice to remind myself what a cracking band they are. Have some YouTube links:
Sex on Fire
Day Old Blues
Molly's Chambers

- Giles and Sue Live the Good Life
From reading the reviews, it seems like you either enjoy the team of Giles Coren and Sue Perkins or you don't. I am very much on the enjoy side of the equation. They make me laugh a lot. I don't really care that their Good Life experiment seems to be a bit of a shaky idea; I'd happily watch them both present anything, even the Shipping Forecast.

- Peep Show
Yet another new series of Peep Show and it's still as funny as it always was. Whatever it is you do, Peep Show writers, don't stop. Don't ever stop :D
The first episode of the new series had a lot of good parts, but one of my favourite lines has to be:
Jez: I've always wanted to watch a woman give birth. It'd be like Alien, only sexy.

Golly, I've been a busy bee recently.

Theresa and Colin had a bonfire party last weekend, which was lots of fun. Here, have a picture of some sparks from the fire:

Poor bonfire. It had rained so much before the party began that the bonfire never really got going properly; it was still plenty warm though (and the barbecued sausages helped too). I also got to see Theresa and Colin's new house, which is absolutely lovely, and their new dog, who is even lovelier! She's a greyhound and I've never seen a more calm dog before, or a more elegant one.

And then this weekend, Susan came to visit. We did plenty of shopping and ate some nice cake too. Oh, and I bought myself a new handbag :D It's big and black and Susan said it looked like I was going to rob a bank with it, but it'll fit all my things so I'm rather pleased with it.

In other news, I drew a fanart and I'm still not sure why. It's probably best not to ask questions.

I love that coat ♥

If you feed a cow alcohol, does it start producing Baileys instead of milk?

I don't have much time to write this post, so I shall just dump a few youtube videos that I've been enjoying recently and then run away ♥

Mostly, I've been on a Richard Aoyade kick, recently.

Here's a video of him being interviewed by Armando Iannucci
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6QhIvVxc6E

And here's a video of him doing some wonderful physical comedy in The IT Crowd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-l_e3CcU20

And something completely different to finish off. Here's Peter Serafinowicz doing some impressions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPhsON-DUYQ

It's been ruddy ages since I've posted here, hasn't it? I keep meaning to, but I amass tonnes of things that I want to write about and then I don't feel like I have enough time to write about them all.

So, let's keep it slow. Today, I shall post about TV shows that I have been enjoying at the moment.

TV show number 1 - Churches: How to Read Them

This show has been my favourite thing for weeks and weeks. The basic premise is that they take you through the history of Christianity in the UK and show you how this has affected the way churches have been built and decorated.

It is absolutely fascinating.

This show is full of facts that I didn't know. Such as:
- When the early Christian missionaries arrived, they set up altars. It was only later that churches were built around those altars to protect them from the weather.
- Some churches are covered in carvings that appear to be very shocking to our modern eyes.

I haven't been in a church since I started watching the series, but now I really want to go take a look at some. British churches are fascinating, simply for the fact that most of them are so old! The fact that people have been using the same space for the same purpose for the past 800 years or so, without stopping, is pretty darn exciting if you ask me.

TV show number 2 - Michael Wood's Story of England

This programme is in a similar vein to the previous one. The deal here is that they use documents and archaeology to trace the history of one village, and relate that to the history of England as a whole.

While I love learning about the history (because I can always do with learning more), what I really enjoy about the programme is that they show how abundant the evidence of that history is: in things like place names, the location of roads and houses, and of course, all those lovely records.

When I see them going through a pile of deeds and getting all excited, it makes me feel so lucky that I get to do this sort of thing on a daily basis :D

Besides, who can't help but get excited when you realise that the place you live in has been occupied for the last 1500 years or more?

TV show number 3 - Downton Abbey

This is the new drama from Julian Fellowes of Gosford Park fame. Downton Abbey is very similar to Gosford Park; it doesn't quite have the same sense of humour, but it definitely has the same feel.

Luckily for me, I loved Gosford Park, so I don't mind the similarities at all. I could quite happily watch people doing the upstairs downstairs thing all day, especially if you pair it with a huge country house and gorgeous Edwardian costumes.

Here, have a trailer.

These past two weeks, I have been going to bed at 9am. It may not sound cool, but it's been awesome. And suddenly I don't feel so godawfully tired any more! The only problem with this plan is that it eats away at all my free time, so I'm sure I'll push my bedtime back later soon enough.

In other news, I have been watching some comedy.

I have just discovered. David O'Doherty. He's rather funny. I like this song.

I have also been watching David Mitchell rant about stuff. He's very funny when he gets his rant on.
Here he is ranting about giving girls flowers.
Here he is ranting about having to sign a girl's boobs.

Hi o/

I've been meaning to blog for ages, but I've just been so lazy!

It seems that all my mind is able to comprehend at the moment is Sherlock Sherlock Sherlock :D So I've not been very good company.

The final episode, by the way, was wonderful, and just as fast paced and funny as the first. But I shan't spoil you if you haven't seen it yet. And if you haven't, then why not?

The most important thing that I learnt from the final episode, of course, is that THAT COAT comes with A FUR COLLAR ATTACHMENT.

FUR. COLLAR. ATTACHMENT \o/
(In the words of Steve and James, from when I bought my own jacket with a fur collar attachment: That coat is rogering on all cylinders.)

In unrelated news, I really need to remember how awesome Peter Serafinowicz is. He's a very funny man.

Here, have a look at his video about markets.

Table of Contents:

1. More birthday cards!
2. Blenheim Palace
3. Sherlock :DDDDDDD

1.
It was only after I posted the pictures of my wonderful birthday card from Nick, that I received one from Linda. I'm not sure, but I think Linda's might trump Nick's in the vileness beauty stakes.

Take a look:

Is it the 1980s all over again??? Because it suddenly feels like it's the 1980s all over again! Words can't even begin to describe this card, nor the horror I felt when I read what Linda had written inside:

...I have bought a batch of these, which you will be receiving in the forthcoming years...

D:

2.

As more birthday fun, I went on a trip to Blenheim Palace with Mariya. We didn't find time to go inside the house, but that doesn't matter, because the gardens were lovely. (It didn't rain on us either! Although you could see it wanted to. And Mariya got to experience the wonders of eating outside in the British summertime, by which I mean: WASPS)

Obligatory photos:

We then went to see the Globe Theatre's touring production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. I'd come across this play at school, when I was 14, and I remember the teacher having to explain to us that it was a comedy - no really! There are jokes in it I swear.

It just goes to show how different it is to see it performed, with good direction and good acting:

Because this production was hilarious! By the end, I could hardly stop laughing. And now I keep boring everyone by regaling them with tales of it. Awesome. Awesome. I AM A FAN OF BOTTOM. Bless him, he's so enthusiastic!

3.

I am still completely and utterly mad for BBC's Sherlock. It's pretty much all I think about these days! I'm not sure I've ever fallen for a fandom this hard and this quick. (I even got a little giddy when I travelled through Baker Street station on the tube the other day.)

And here's the funny thing: the second episode wasn't even very good! But I am still champing at the bit for the final episode. Oh God. I can't wait :D

I've even gone so far as to draw fanart. I don't understand what's come over me.

(One day I will use my new tablet to draw something other than a headshot. But not today.)

I am madly in love with Sherlock's wardrobe: the suits, the scarf, the leather gloves, THAT COAT THAT COAT THAT COAT.
They manage to make him look like a Victorian gentleman, while still wearing modern clothes. FFFFF. I wish more people owned coats clothes like that.

Gentlemen of Britain, take heed! Alter your clothing to suit my whims! Please!

Also, one of my favourite parts of the show are the tie-in websites. It's so much fun to see the characters bickering between each other. (I'd link you to show you how wonderful they are, but they're full of spoilers and I am under the impression that everyone in the world will watch this show at some point.)

Also also, I'm revelling in the fact that I'm a fan of a BBC prime-time drama. I can actually talk about it with my colleagues! I get to read articles about it in the Radio Times! Oh glorious day :D

Hi!

Guess what? It was my birthday a few days ago. Woo! There was much cake and joy :D

Also, I got some lovely things. Let me tell you about them.

Lovely Thing #1

Nick sent me the most vile beautiful card in the world. Look at it!

Look how beautiful it is! And Nick even wrote a beautiful message on the inside!

D'awww.

Lovely Thing #2

I am so chuffed with this book. I found it in a random pub when I was on holiday. I hastily tried to read as much as I could in the time I was there, but eventually we had to leave the pub and I had to say goodbye to the book.
But my sneaky parents were keeping an eye on me and ordered me my own copy from amazon.

It's very interesting in a light-hearted sort of a way. The law is a complex and shady subject!

Lovely Thing #3

I got a new tablet. I was fed up of my old one refusing to work every 5 minutes, so I decided to ask for a new one for my birthday. I just installed it today; it only took 2 hours! (Windows 7, your inability to install new hardware easily is criminal.)

Still, after much stress, I managed to get it working. And, I have to say, it's so much easier to use than my old tablet. I don't know why. It could be that I'm actually using a widescreen tablet for a widescreen, um, screen. Or it could be that I've never had a pressure sensitive tablet before. Either way, it's a joy to use.

To practice, I scribbled out a little doodle of Rochelle.

The good thing about vampires that are really old is that you get to dress them in lots of old costumes! This time I decided to draw 16th century Rochelle. I imagine him being rather young at this point; young enough that he hasn't had time to build up all his walls, so his youthful arrogance and ambition shine through. Or something :D

Lovely Thing #4

This one isn't a birthday present, but it is lovely!

I have just fallen hook, line and sinker for the BBC's new Sherlock Holmes drama.

Now, I don't normally watch dramas. It's not really my thing, but one of my friends mentioned having enjoyed the first episode so I decided to give it a go. I only had half an hour to spare, so I thought I'd watch the first part and then watch the end later. As it turns out, I couldn't turn it off; I watched the whole hour and 30 minute episode in one sitting!

The basic premise is that they've set Sherlock Holmes in the 21st century. It sounds gimicky and awful, but actually, it's really good! It's fun and fast-paced and has some amazingly funny lines.

I don't quite know what's wrong with me. I never normally become a fan of things so quickly, but I can't stop thinking about it. (Only 4 more days until the next episode!) :DDDD

I spent all evening making this. What that says about me, I don't know.

In other news:

I have to thank Auto for pointing me in the direction of this Vampire Weekend remix by Miike Snow.
It's like a burst of euphoria on my eardrums. Oh baby. *heavy breathing*

I have been so productive recently! Woo!

It's all boring real-life grown-up sort of boring stuff though:
- I applied for some jobs!
- I filed my CPD notes!
- I cleaned the flat!
- I went to visit my Nan!

Although, I think all this productivity has worn me out. The last couple of days, all I've done in the evening is go to bed early (which is boring for you, wonderful for me).

Today though, at work, I did completely un-grown-up un-boring stuff: I spent the morning drawing and colouring a map of a Tudor village that I made up. So much fun :D (If only I could use colouring pencils at work every day, it would be awesome.)

Re the conversation I mentioned in my last post:

I decided to draw everyone's favourite monarch.

When it comes to running the country, Elizabeth I likes to use the carrot and stick approach.
Both.
At the same time.
Preferably.