Resolution update!

Today is Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of Lent and therefore my random resolution conceived of at the beginning of the year is upon me. Having watch Schindler's List (1993) again on Saturday as part of Sky's Oscar season I lost any temptation to moan about my choice or fail. It won 7 of it's 12 Oscar nominated categories and it is a shame that Liam Neeson didn't win best actor. Seeing it again reminded me of the importance of being strong, resolute and to care about others. I also am surprised Slumdog Millionaire won 8 Oscars. I do believe the cinematography was amazing and the musical score was good but I'm not a fan of the essence of the film so...


Anyway...I've done my plastic pop research into Lent and get the idea of soul searching, reflection and taking stock. It is all a bit 'heavy' if I go into too much detail but it is not a happy and uplifting time. There is varying guidance on observing length by the different churches. The Anglican church seems most light weight with an emphasis on giving up something you like e.g. chocolate. The Catholic church has specific fast days and encourages participation in hunger days where you have a light meal of soup and bread to set aside money for the poor. Whilst the Orthodox gives the most structure to the Lenten period and has five levels of fasting!

I decided to take something from everyone and create a make do style approach. I'm giving up coffee and chocolate. I will attempt when possible to have a hunger day and donate the money saved to charity and I've selected level four of the Orthodox churches fasting options which means abstaining from meat, eggs, milk, cheese, fish, oil and wine! The only good news is that Sunday is not counted as Lenten day so I can eat, drink and be merry with gluttony on a Sunday! Oh and the Sunday thing is RC and I'll be on for the RC and Protestant calendar too. The Orthodox Church runs to a different timetable. I'm all for inclusiveness!

Apparently meditation and prayer helps you get through this. Given I do neither this will be an interesting approach. One of my course books this term is Celebrity by Chris Rojek and his view on celebrity worship is due to the absence of spiritual guidance or the dominance of organised religion. Watch this space!

PS The last bit ref Rojek. It doesn't mean he is calling for organised religion in society he is merely debating the fact if God, monarchy and tyranny are dead as divine ruler then we have democracy (some poor peeps live under totalitarian states) yet we still gravitate towards the creation of 'god' like individuals in society - read the book!

Fund raiser purchases.

Having stuck to my resolution about not spending money on clothes etc. I knew I needed a wardrobe top up somehow without breaking into my MA survival funds. I've been working my wardrobe quite well so any item I felt served no further purpose was put on ebay.

Two good things happened as a result of this. Firstly I breathed new space and fresh organisation into my closet. Secondly I got to shop for me! I compiled my fantasy wish list - you know it only reads like a Net-A-Porter or my-wardrobe.com editorial script - then I went on a high street reality check and made a proper list. Which consisted of a pair of trousers, day dress, going out dress, skirt, top, earrings, belt and sandals/shoes. My hit list shops were narrowed to items in Zara, Topshop, Reiss and Cos.

Luckily for me Mr MDS bought me the coveted belt from Reiss as a Valentine present. It is a gorgeous dusky pink patent number with a gold buckle detail.

I tried on my lusted after items and then thought about it for a day before I purchased. I decided to get the Zara items as they would go quicker than the Cos ones - it is a retailing fact, merchandise moves quickly in Zara. And also I got two pairs of earrings in Dorothy Perkins as its cheaper than Topshop but I still get 10% student discount!

Zara (Chloe-esque) blue cotton trousers £25.90

Zara (quite YSL 70s vibe) Orange Dress £69.90

Dorothy Perkins faux gold dangly numbers £7 and silve butterfly hoops £4 (- 10% discount £9.90 in total)

I have to confess this small retail therapy indulgence felt good!

Resolutions update!

The only thing I haven't had a chance to do, which I meant to on Saturday is weigh myself. I'm only allowed to weigh myself on the last day of the month (in my head, obviously there is no new law issued by the Government on this!). But, I was so busy I missed the chance to go to the gym and use the 50p machine to record my progress if any. Now I have to wait until the end of February, I might have to relax my head on this one and be all risky and do it on a random day!
So, who knows if I've dented the 13 pounds I need to shift. I do feel post Christmas lighter but we'll see.

On the swearing front, I'm doing surprisingly well and have manage to amend the f word to frig or fricking if I inadvertently start to use it. Mind you 'bloody' seems to be increasing as a substitute, I'll know the true result of my not using the f word resolution when petit garcon uses an expletive for the first time - what one will it be.

I've bought no clothes, this has been hard due to new season items calling to me but easy as I have no fricking money.

I have been nicer to Mr MDS and the benefits are quite pleasing, mainly it has shown me things are not that important - so now I just rearrange the dishwasher and empty it without getting fricking annoyed and mentioning my annoyance. I don't think you can never not be annoyed though except with the help of drugs!

The house has the beginning of a plan and am pleased with progress. Equally short film is progressing well at the first stage. And I have found out all about Lent so will reveal more on my take later...

Kitchen pickers...

...wear big knickers! I had a boyfriend who said this to me once, so I chucked him. One boyfriend surprised me with a tickets to an Elton John concert. I had no choice but to join in - I only found out when we were at Wembley. I chucked him too; geez sorry if anyone is an Elton John fan but when I found myself waving arms in lieu of a lighter at Daniel I knew I needed drugs and not the man next to me!

However, clothes have always been my drug of choice and so far my resolution to not buy clothes for a year is working. Now, lets face facts here! My resolution is due to many an overspend over many a year on little bags of joy and treats of the retail variety. I would like to pretend it was a holier than thou ban, in search of inner redemption or learning but truth be told I can't afford to buy anything other than my college books, travel fares and pay for petit garcon's nursery fees. Had I been a better saver well...

But I am nothing less than resourceful. When Mr MDS came home and mentioned that someone at his work had been praising my rocky road crunch bars to someone in HR who requested a taster I sprang into action - look either I'll get a nice pressie from the said work place for supplying them in goodies or hubbie will get a gold star and potentially a reward. My reward will be an item from Cos and I won't have broken in to my account. Now who's wearing the knickers hey!

PS it also allows for me to add a picture of Nigella - the rocky road recipe creator. When I met her in real life I could not get over her beauty, seriously I was smitten.

PPS. Mind you is it just me or do you think Sally Hawkins of the Golden Globes Best Actress in Musical/Comedy could do with eating a few of Nigella's meals? How scrawny is she?

Resolution update!

If you need a reminder of my resolutions then the edited edited version is:

1.No clothes, shoes, accessories for a year

2.Lose 13 pounds

3.Observe Lent

4.Be nicer to Mr MDS

5. Tend to the home (i.e. decorate)

6.Make a film

and finally ...7. no swearing e.g. the F word.

So far so good as they say. I haven't used the F word once which is an ******* miracle. I was joined in this one by a friend who expanded on the uses of crikey to crikey moses for difficult moments. This amused me a lot so has made it easier and actually I noticed when I said 'bloody' the other day which I wouldn't have given a fig about before.

On number 4, I'm doing quite well only a few mutterings under the breadth. Progress indeed. We'll see how this bears up given I'd gotten in to bad habits of late due to pressure of MA and work and home etc. But there is something to be said for being chirpier rather than snapping.

5 is work in progress, all on paper at the moment but such thought will result in action at some point. Number 4 is time bound so far I know it starts on Wednesday 25th of February so plenty of time before this is undertaken. The film project will gather momentum over the next few weeks as I have to submit my outline for my final MA project. I've written the short although need to hone the dialogue.

And on number one well I've done good. It has been helped by a day of being at home writing an essay so I give you my Monday at the BFI library look. It was absolutely freezing so what you can't see is my thermal vest!

Shirt H&M (Dec 2008 purchase), woolly leggings H&M (Oct 2008), Pringle knee length socks ( TK Maxx 2004), black cotton long t-shirt (M&S 2005), Gap biker boots (Nov 2008) necklace (Topshop 2005)