Ahhh, interview tomorrow!

These last few days have seemed to involve FAR too much eating. On Thursday afternoon I went for lunch with Mike's parents and his aunt and uncle (I had gammon and chips) at Egypt Mill, then on Thursday evening I went to my mother's house, where I had grilled halloumi with salad, then sea bass with spinach and goats cheese. It was absolutely delicious. The second picture lower down was our 'dessert' - frozen Philadelphia cheese with lime and sweetener, which my mum decided looked boring on a plate and added - wait for it - WATERCRESS as a garnish. On a dessert. Hmm, it was interesting. And we laughed, a lot. It wasn't my finest Atkins moment, that dessert, and I'm a little embarrassed about how much I bigged it up, honestly. People just don't get the deliciousness of ANYTHING that seems sweet whilst you're doing this diet. It tasted like the finest quality ice-cream to me. 

On Friday Mike had to manically finish his essay for uni so we didn't really get up to much at all. Mike was playing cricket on Saturday, as usual, but it wasn't as boring as it can be, because one of the other partners of the players brought her two dalmations (so beautiful!) and Pepper made friends and we went on a lovely long walk. Today has been about roast beef, getting ready for my interview - AHHH nervous, and lazing about in my pyjamas. Lovely. 

1. Painswick Cricket Club in Tuesday's paper - Mike (the husband) is the guy I've circled. 2. My mother's hilarious attempt at garnishing a dessert. 3 & 4. New top from Laura Ashley - I'm going to wear it to my interview tomorrow, and 5. Pepper and her new best friend. 

ARGH! Did I mention I've got an interview tomorrow? =S

Low carb-ing it!

I don't know whether I've mentioned this here or not yet, but I've been on the Atkins diet for just over two weeks. It's not my first time - it's probably my sixth - and I'm well clued-up on all the rules and what I can and can't have. I know what veggies are a no-no for the carbohydrate count and I'm used to the initial CRAZY weight loss and then the slower, not so fun weight that comes off thereafter. I'm not even the biggest fan of meat and eggs, but there's something about the Atkins diet that I just can't stop myself from coming back to. It's quick, I guess. It works. It doesn't leave me feeling starving, crazy, desperate for SOMETHING to keep my stomach from seemingly eating itself, which is what happens to me any time I go low-cal, low-fat.

Sugar free jelly and cream is just about the only 'sweet' thing that I can get away with. I try to limit how often I have it (apparently it slows weight loss in some, but then so does Coke Zero, so they say, and I drink that like it's my oxygen) but it's a glorious treat when I make it. Who knew jelly and cream could stir such feelings of joy in an adult? It does, trust me, when you've not eaten but a morsel of something sweet in ten days.

They say that Atkins is a Way of Life, not a diet, and I'm trying really hard to ingrain that into my brain at the moment - I don't want to lose all the weight I need to only to go back to eating badly again. Bread and pasta and all sugary, salty foods really don't agree with me (not only weight-wise, but health-wise, too - I can feel such a difference in my energy levels, my skin, and all sorts) so I'm trying to view this low-carb thing as something that I'll essentially be doing forever. I probably won't. But I'll give it a go.

Cricket and more cricket...

So, basically, this weekend exhausted me. I'm not entirely sure why (it's not like I was actually playing) but there's something about being outside all day in the sun watching Mike play cricket that really tires me out. Pepper loves it - she gets to people and dog watch for hours, is walked around the boundary a gazillion It times, as well as let off the lead in the fields to chase balls and sticks and whatnot - it's her heaven. But me, not so much. I do enjoy watching Mike play - he loves it, so therefore I'm inclined to love it too (that's just married life for you) and I do get all warm and fuzzy inside when he does well. It's just the amount of hours that cricket takes up - basically, your entire weekend (1pm - 7pm Saturday and 2pm - 6pm Sunday) and it just throws all wonderful ideas of getting the house cleaned up and the garden sorted right out of the window. But there we go. Welcome to my summer!

It was Mike's first game for Painswick on Saturday and I think he may have been a little nervous. He got two wickets, though, and although he didn't get any runs he got sixty eight on Sunday, as well as another two wickets, so it was a pretty successful first weekend of cricket, I think. I should be starting to do the teas (think mini scones with clotted cream and jam, mini sausages and pork pies, egg sandwiches, a Victoria sponge...) next Saturday but I totally forgot that I'm going to see Ruth in London for the day so, eh, they'll have to go another week without a tea lady. Whoops!

In other news, I'm considering painting our lounge and looking at colour charts (I'm thinking an off-white colour - I'm a fan of keeping things simple), I'm finding The Remains of the Day hard to get into, I'm pretty much obsessed with checking the local papers daily for reports on Mike playing cricket (he used to play in a different county so it was his parents who checked the papers, now it's me) and overall, I definitely need more sleep. One can only hope!

P.S, it's less than a week now until my interview at college for hairdressing, but they've already sent me an invitation to an open evening, so I'm starting to think perhaps the interview will be more of an informal chat rather than a full on 'are you capable?' fiasco. It all sounds rather cute:

The past few days in photographs;

We just bought a new sofa!

I love it! Shame we have to wait four weeks for it to come, though.

Susan Fletcher's Oystercatchers - a review;

I realise this book is quite old now (it was published in 2008), but that never puts me off reading something, if someone recommends it to me. I've never read Eve Green, or anything else by Susan Fletcher, but I'm definitely going to be scouting the charity shops' book sections for her work from now on. She writes beautifully - everything she describes you can taste, feel, smell and see. The book is set, at first, in Stackpole (in Wales - I actually went to Stackpole when I was eleven for a week with school) and later in Norfolk, and how Susan Fletcher writes of the sea (which becomes a character in this novel) and wildlife, and just scenery in general, is breathtaking at times.

Her depiction of people and their actions is also spot on - Moira (the main character) is not necessarily a likeable person - though I really warmed to her - she has many regrets and dislikes herself. At the beginning we learn that her sister, Amy, is in a coma following an accident in the sea, and the novel is written from Moira's perspective - at times in first person and others, in third. At no point during this book did I feel as though I was reading 'writing' - it reads as an account, from a woman who is confused about herself and her surroundings (from an early age up until her mid-twenties) at a boarding school and later when she lives with her husband.

The novel is about a woman searching for forgiveness whilst struggling with loneliness and her inability to bond with others; to fit in. Through telling the story of her life to her sister as she lies in a hospital bed, Moira hopes to explain her actions and through her doing so, the reader comes to understand why Moira is the way she is.

The only person Moira has any sort of deep relationship with is her aunt Matilda - a lonely actress living in London, desperately searching for love. She relies on tarot cards and 'fate' (something that pops up quite a lot in the novel), and Fletcher describes this artistic, free spirited woman with limitations incredibly well.

It is a novel of dreams, envy, loss and betrayal, one that is poignant and evoking, perfect in its description of both people and place.

Tea and chicken and Pictionary;

My bank holiday weekend was: cricket, Sunday morning tea and paper (the local paper is my guilty pleasure - I just adore the twee-ness of it; the articles about local foragers and WI meetings warm my heart), coffee in Worcester, dinner at The Nightingale (I had 'Hunters Chicken', Atkins diet style, and as the waitress said when she placed it in front of me, it was 'Hunters Chicken with a twist), lazing in the sun on loungers, gossiping with friends, Britain's Got Talent x 3 (another guilty pleasure), driving to Cardiff to see my mother and her partner, and having the most delicious bank holiday Monday dinner ever (chicken coated in thyme, garlic, lemon and butter, spinach and goats cheese, mushroom and leek 'mess', asparagus with parmesan and lime, and cauliflower puree), playing Uno and Pictionary as the rain hammered against the window, and purchasing shoes and trousers for my interview. I've almost finished Oystercatchers and I'm enjoying it so much I almost want it never to finish. I probably shouldn't say it, but I can relate to Moira so, so much.

In other news, I just booked train tickets for me and my mother to attend my sister's graduation in July. I can't believe it's really going to happen - not because I doubt her ability, of course! - and I think I will probably cry.