Embracing the celery sticks and neo-Ludditism

Bloody hell it’s almost February. I can’t believe how fast January has flown by. So how are those New Year's resolutions coming along? Are you managing to keep them? Clearly I am doing oh so well on that resolution I made to update my blog more often in 2010. Ahem!! I also had lofty ambitions of not drinking for the month of January, but I really don't know what I was thinking with that one. It just wasn't realistic. I didn't even manage 2 days, which is quite pathetic isn't it? There I was making beef, ale & wild mushroom soup from the New Covent Garden Food Co's Book of Soups - delicious - and I’d added in the stock, the 8ounces of ale the beef and mushrooms and all was left to do was leave the whole shebang to simmer for an hour and 15minutes and clean up. I may as well just drink the 4ounces of left over ale I thought. I was halfway through it when I realised I wasn’t supposed to be drinking.

Bugger!!

It was only 4oz, not a big deal and if it’s not wine – my tipple of choice – does it really count? However to be honest it’s been kind of a slippery slope from there on in so my resolution was quickly amended from not drinking to drinking in moderation. I was doing quite well on that one until brunch at Megan's last weekend when 6 of us polished off potent Bloody Mary's and half a dozen bottles of champagne over the course of the afternoon, including an odd almond flavoured champagne Megan had picked up at Trader Joe's. It was like drinking marzipan, and a bit too sweet for my taste, but I forced it down for the good of the team ;-)

Otherwise there’s not much doing. I’m busy at work as usual, but I am making a concerted effort to have more of a work/life balance this year and have renounced the Blackberry. It hadn’t been working so well and I brought it into the office to get it sorted, but ended up chucking it in my desk drawer to see what would happen if I stopped regularly checking my work emails of an evening at home to make sure nothing blew up and so far the sky has not fallen in and I am a much less stressed out employee because of it, so it’s all to the good. Of course I think the increase in gym going (5times a week so far) and all the endorphins whizzing around my system may well have something to do with my elevated mood. My limbs ache permanently, but in a good way and I’m thrilled to have lost 3 of the 6lbs I put on last year by exercising and cutting my calories to 1500ish/day. I have learned to love celery sticks and have definitely lost that dismaying sausage thighs feeling I had every time I put on my jeans!!

It’s all good anyway and generally I am feeling happier about 2010 than 2009 so far, although I am not at all happy about the pimple blooming on the end of my nose. Seriously, how is the Strategy Hottie ever going to fancy me when I have a giant zit on my face that makes me look like a witch? As you can tell my other new years resolution to wean myself off my smittenness with his handsome good looks is failing miserably. What's that you say? Why on earth am I even considering weaning myself off him? Why not just enjoy a harmless crush? Well you have a good point, but the thing is, just before Christmas I was extolling the virtues of Strategy Hottie to Miles who asked if I would send him a photo and well, I was absolutely horrified when I saw the photo he has posted on the company intranet. He looked about 22years old, admittedly an incredibly gorgeous 22year old, but still, 22years old which set me off pondering whether he really was that young or in the region of 30 as I’d initially thought!!! Not that it's likely my crush will be reciprocated, but the possibility of him being 22 bothered me immensely. I don't know about you, but there's nothing like finding out that I may well be old enough to have legally* given birth to my crush to put me right off him.

"Two words for you darling, cradle snatcher" said Miles when he saw the photo.

Ugh!!

Anywayyyy the weaning was all going very well until I found myself squashed up very close to him in a crowded lift last Tuesday and my resolve completely failed me. My knees weren't far behind either. I was so close to him I could smell the laundry detergent he uses and well can I just say eau de Tide Fresh Scent has never smelled so sexy. I was a complete puddle!! Although you can't really blame me for having a moment of weakness in such a situation, it was the lustful equivalent of a recently reformed 20 a day smoker having 200 Benson & Hedges waved in their face.

On the positive side at least the consensus on his age has improved from 22/23 to 28/29ish so I am free to break my resolution and enjoy my crush. Phew, the relief is palpable, I'd been feeling like such a dirty old woman. He appears to be out this week anyway so while my days are not quite as enjoyable as they would be if he were around I am free to dress slovenly and cultivate my pimple. Not!!

And speaking of men, who should pop out of the woodwork last week but Catweazle!! He IM'd to wish me a happy new year and he misses me apparently. I didn't really know what to say to that so I left my response generically pleasant. Not that I don't miss him either from time to time, but....well I'm not sure exactly what he's after given all the time that's passed. Still he would have been very useful during my foray into the world of interior decoration over the last few weeks as he has a great eye for that type of thing. My apartment's been driving me crazy lately, but I decided that rather shell out the expense for a move - I've been pondering moving to Boerum Hill in Brooklyn - that I'd save money and instead rearrange the furniture to revamp the old place a bit with some new throw pillows. Actually Catweazle would probably still would be useful because I am not at all sure how to fasten my CB2 Helix shelf/desk thing to the wall. The jury is split on whether I need to anchor the shelf/desk thing to the wooden studs within the wall or just screw it directly into the dry wall screws. I would have assumed yes on the former, but my friend Nigel pondered why cb2.com had provided dry wall screws as opposed to wood screws since surely if they had intended me to attach it to the wooden studs they would have included wood screws. Hmmmmm!!! He raised a valid point I thought, but then lost me when he babbled on about dry wall screws expanding or something while I pretended to listen before he finally admitted that he didn't really know what he was talking about, but if I needed someone to help me lift things and hold things still while I drilled holes in the wall then he was more than happy to oblige. So far the count is 2 for 2 with my Dad and one of my team members being of the opinion that I should screw the desk/shelf thingy into the wall studs or risk pulling the plaster down - goodbye second bedroom, helloooo through lounge - while in the other corner we have Debs (knows almost everything) and Nigel (knows almost nothing) who think I should be fine to drill straight into the dry wall. Hmmmm, personally I'm thinking I'm going to have to engage the services of a professional on this one.

*The age of consent in the UK is 16.