Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Tweet tweet

Since I am tweeting far more than I am blogging, I thought I'd compile some of my tweets since easter. Please read from the bottom up :-)
  • Still following Paul McKenna's eating principles. Feels like second nature now. Combined with the running, I feel really trim & fit.

  • 2 chapters left to write and draft 2 of my novel will be written. Will have to a draft 3 though...

  • Still doing my Couch to 5k runs three times a week but have had to repeat a few weeks as I find this running lark a bit tough.

  • Lil P is having a Halloween party with her childminders this afternoon. From 7pm bedtime my lights will be off & I'll be ignoring the bell!

  • I was (am) so lazy & NEVER wanted kids as I liked my life but Mr P persuaded me & am so happy he did! It's an adventure

  • I am thankful for the time change and am looking forward to running in daylight again tomorrow (I am an early morning runner)...

  • Clocks went back in the early hours of this morning but we still got a lie in and had to WAKE Little Planet up. Hurrah!

  • Little Planet dressed all day today in her Halloween witch's dress & hat, running around like a crazy loon with her magic wand.

  • Kali puja yesterday, pheasant & pumpkin pie for dinner tonight, slow cook venison stew on hob for dinner tomorrow, preschool starts again.

  • I am naturally lazy so follow the "benign neglect" school of parenting. Little Planet seems fine inspite of it :-)

  • Besides, you're not with your kid all day long - they go to school, sleep loads (hopefully). You DO get time for you.

  • Yes, kids a lot of work but LIFE is a lot of work and that makes it so much more rewarding. Think about the longterm.

  • I love fireworks but not when they keep 3 year olds, recovering from colds and still coughing, awake when they want to be sleeping.

  • finished A Village Affair by Joanna Trollope amzn.to/s3Serk #Kindle

  • I've actually stopped watching it (Downton) as I've lost interest in the plot. Sunday night is now just Curb Your Enthusiasm :-)

  • finished The Photograph by Penelope Lively amzn.to/mXO0hc #Kindle

  • We're back from NYC. Will post photos soon.

  • finished The Summer Without Men by Siri Hustvedt amzn.to/etWgfG #Kindle

  • Today we're off to check out diners, galleries and boutiques in Williamsburg. But first, brunch at Freeman's. The weather is glorious!

  • Saw the great Sam Shepard as Butch Cassidy in Blackthorn last night in a fab indie cinema on the Lower East Side. A great Western for 2011.

  • Great NYC eating: strawberry milk & bagel bombs @ Momofoku Milk Bar, pizzas @ Keste, burgers & sausages @ DBGB, coffee/cake @ Ground Support

  • Little Planet happy w. Grandma back in London but I am missing her like crazy. I admit I shed tears leaving her at nursery before flight.

  • Lots of shopping in NYC - DKNY, JCrew, Barney's; biscuits & gravy at Peels in the East Village; De Kooning retro at MOMA.

  • Momofoku Noodle Bar (NYC) in two words: Delicious, NOISY! I'm getting old.

  • Off to NYC. Back next week.

  • We have such great weekends. Love having Mr Planet home so we can enjoy life as a family. Must blog about our weekends again but time lacks.

  • Lovely day today: Morning in Hyde Park, lunch at Rowley Leigh's very child-friendly & elegant Le Cafe Anglais, book shopping in Piccadilly.

  • Countdown to our trip to NYC next week begins. Yippee!

  • finished An Experiment in Love by Hilary Mantel. superb story of growing up in 60s england. amzn.to/rtxra5 #Kindle

  • Lovely day today: Yang Fudong films at Parasol Unit, beef/bone marrow & pork/apple sliders at Spuntino, home for fun in paddling pool.

  • Will stick to Anne Rice I think. Silly me for reading a teen book and thinking I might enjoy it. Oh, wait, Judy Bloom was awesome...

  • Only a third of the way through the teen novel Twilight but really, it's quite poorly written isn't it. Still not understanding the hype...

  • Struck down by food poisoning AGAIN! This time Mr Planet too. Will give eating out a wide berth for a while...

  • finished Every Last One by Anna Quindlen. intense and detailed account of a family tragedy. amzn.to/m0wCS3 #Kindle

  • There is something strangely meditative about ironing name tags to tiny pairs of socks.

  • I've been ironing name tags to socks. I used to be so fun. (Actually, I really enjoyed it, ironing, listening to music loudly!)

  • Really loved Great House - so beautifully written. Only issue I had with it is that all the characters had the same "voice".

  • finished Great House by Nicole Krauss amzn.to/qI0b2D #Kindle

  • Been ill for a week with food poisoning and a cold. Feel better now but am so glad I don't have to go into an office: I feel a bit skanky.

  • ......And Twilight for when Little P is careening around me and reading concentration is not required.

  • Currently reading 2 books: Nicole Krauss' Great House for the hours I can read without interruption (usually after Little P's bedtime)......

  • As the "I Don't Know How She Does It" film is released SJP is annoying the hell out of me. Yes she's a mother but she has HELP & LOTS of it!

  • At last, a reason to watch TV on a Sunday eve: Curb Your Enthusiasm & Downton Abbey return. Hurrah!

  • finished Black Album, The by Hanif Kureishi amzn.to/rdYDNF #Kindle

  • Week three of Couch to 5k completed. Still finding it hard though.

  • It's time to apply for a September 2012 primary school place for Little Planet. Currently surrounded by OFSTED reports and SATS results.

  • This little program (Mac & Win) forces me to turn off the Internet for a specified amount of time, forcing me to work: macfreedom.com

  • 1st run of week 3 of Couch to 5K completed. Phew! It was hard. Can't believe I'm supposed to be running non-stop for 25 mins in 7 weeks?!?

  • finished The Pile of Stuff at the Bottom of the Stairs by Christina Hopkinson amzn.to/gL2vGF #Kindle

  • finished The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood amzn.to/pgtMJJ #Kindle

  • I am spending so much time reading novels on my Kindle that I'm no longer surfing the net so much. Result!

  • Da Polpo do delicious Nutella pizzettas. Also this weekend, a trip to the Childhood Museum in Bethnal Green.

  • We had a pizza weekend. Saturday lunch at Da Polpo in Covent Garden and Sunday lunch at Pizza East in Shoreditch (the best pizza ever, IMO).

  • I managed an afternoon nap today too, albeit with Little Planet bouncing around on the bed singing. The things mothers get used to!

  • Holiday Monday spent at Hampstead Heath fun fair (candy floss!) then long lunch at Burgh House (showing Little Planet where we got married).

  • Sunday morning in fabulous Clissold Park. Now a lazy afternoon at home: Little Planet playing, Mr P gardening before it rains & I'm reading.

  • Mr Planet transforms the humble pork chop with buttery mashed potatoes & cabbage stir fried with onions & juniper berries. Comfort food.

  • Lovely Saturday spent in Hyde Park & the very Zen Serpentine Pavilion with beautiful flowers. Survived the freakish downpour under a tree.

  • Have bought a Kindle. Arrives Tue. Have already downloaded Siri Hustvedt's latest & Hanif Kureishi's The Black Album to my iPad Kindle app.

  • Week 2, run 1 of couch to 5k done! Yipppeeee!

  • Final week 1 run of Couch to 5k completed this morning. Hurrah! Week 2 commences Saturday.

  • Finished 2nd (W1R2) Couch to 5k run today in the pouring rain. Feeling terrific!

  • Actually, Little Planet's 3 and the "Whys?" have already started. At least she keeps me on my toes and my brain ticking over.

  • Maybe I need to start tuning out occasionally... We want our kids to be bright & enquiring but we also want them to quiet down!

  • Bliss, she's totally absorbed in playing. Peace at last... for now...

  • Argh, why can't 3 year olds come with a mute button?

  • Week 1, run 1 of Couch to 5k completed. Feels good!

  • ... enjoy some art (Richard Long, Chapman Brothers). Blog post coming. Also bought beef & bone marrow burgers from Ginger Pig. Yum!

  • And Mr Planet & I had Friday off to shop (DKNY, UNIQLO), eat (Nordic Bakery, So Sushi), buy books (Anita Desai, Julian Barnes) &...

  • Great morning @ V&A Museum of Childhood, delicious pizzas @ Pizza East in Shoreditch then stroll through & play in Finsbury Park (the park).

  • My new exercise regime: Couch to 5K - Live Well - NHS Choices - nhs.uk/LiveWell/c25k/…

  • All appears calm here. Loads of locals protecting the streets it seems & most businesses open as usual.

  • Police all over here too, but hoping it's precautionary rather than expecting trouble.

  • Every time I hear a police helicopter over the house I think Shit! We're not in the thick of it but we're close so we could be #londonriots

  • So first #londonriots and now #birminghamriots? Crazy.

  • Walking barefoot in wet grass after dark. A most blissful meditation.

  • I am Little Planet's PA. So far I have arranged her first playdate & booked her ballet & gym classes for next term. She needs her own diary.

  • Early birthday present from Mr Planet: an iPad 2. Bliss! Though I'm spending more time downloading apps for Little Planet than for me.

  • Recent outings - Southbank and Portobello Road Market. Photos soon.

  • ... drink and eat out in the garden!

  • I've prayed all day for rain because I'm not good with the heat, but Mr Planet has bought home beers & is making tonkatsu & I want to...

  • Animation exhibition at Barbican (disappointing), pizza, Carter's Steam Fair at Clissold Park, lots of gardening. Lovely weekend & weather.

  • ...I distracted her with a story about a giant dollshouse where Mr Moon lived in the attic and soon she was trotting nicely beside me. Phew!

  • ... she had a little tantrum at the beginning and I thought "Uh oh, it's wet and she's on the wet pavement refusing to move!" But

  • Weather like this makes me wish we still used a buggy. Fortunately she managed to huddle under the umbrella next to me and run along... but

  • Mr Planet is making pasta ribbons with chicken livers for dinner tonight. Can't wait!: bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/p…

  • Since Lil Planet turned 3, we've ditched the buggy altogether. She's walking absolutely everywhere now & building up her stamina. So proud!

  • And excellent shops on the Blackstock Road - so much better than I remembered it. We found a Scandi '70s armchair there for our living room.

  • The new & improved Clissold Park is really great - can't wait for all the improvements to be 100% completed.

  • We're now thinking of introducing Little Planet to sushi. Perhaps at one of those conveyor belt places first.

  • A three-parks-weekend this w/e: Finsbury Park, Clissold Park & Highbury Fields, plus delicious Mexican food at Mercado Cantina in Stokey.

  • A weekend at home doing nothing and everything but most of all chilling. Taking walks, baking, cooking, gardening, playing, reading. Bliss.

  • Got my hair done @ Aveda tday. It's no longer cascading down my back but barely skimming the top of my shoulders. Looks stylish but... gulp.

  • Lovely day: boat on Thames to Greenwich, pizza for lunch, Maritime Museum where Little Planet made paper pirate ship, dinner chicken & figs.

  • Attended a sublime Rabindra Sangeet (Tagore songs) concert today. Voice like honey. I'm in love.

  • This "eating when only genuinely and physically hungry" makes food taste even better than before. Loving intuitive eating & am still losing.

  • Sunday: Church (very good for training Little P to sit still-ish for 45 mins and try-not-to-talking) then Islington (Highbury end) shopping.

  • Dinner was tuna steak, very lightly grilled, with wasabi mayo, watercress rocket salad w. orange zest made by Mr Planet.

  • Grt wknd: sci-fi @BritLibrary, sliders @Spuntino, Phil-Lorca diCorcia @SpruthMagers, shopping @APC,Albam,Fenwick,RLauren,OliverSpencer,Folk

  • Little Planet particularly loved the samosas, aloo chaat, uthappam and sag & paneer dosa at Ravi Shankar. She loves spicy food. Hurrah!

  • Natural History & Science Museums then Hyde Park yesterday; Church, London Zoo then lunch at Ravi Shankar on Drummond St today. Lovely days.

  • Ok, am getting all gushy but for a woman who once didn't care whether she had children or not, I sure am so so happy Little P is in my life.

  • Then both Mr Planet & Little Planet crashed into sleep at 7.15pm - all that fresh air & chocolate! I'm left alone to surf the Net in peace.

  • Fab Easter, made so special by having Little Planet :-) Church, brunch, Easter egg hunt, gardening, roast lamb & chickpea mash & asparagus.

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