Friday I’m in love… with Edinburgh

I’m not from Edinburgh.
As a city it wasn’t my first love.
In fact, Glasgow stole my heart first,
then I cheated on it with Copenhagen.

But by god, I have learned to love you Edinburgh,
you crazy cool be-castled city.*

(Spot the deliberate mistake in this pic!)

And every August, I fall a little more in love
as the Festival takes over and forces me**
into the streets to go and explore, laugh,
think, meet, and generally not sit on my sofa.

This year was no different.
Except I went to more shows than ever before.
And also to 3 weddings and a 90th birthday too.

Here’s a few snaps that sort of sum up
a little of my Edinburgh in August…

Hanging out in the Mirazozo Tent…
and playing my new iphone!

The Speigeltent… one of my favourite venues.

Animals took over my local gardens… 

The re-opening of the Museum…

And finishing off the Festival
with a gig at the castle itself…
Oh yeah and some silly snaps from the 3 weddings…

Thank you Edinburgh, it was great.

Now I need a lie-down…
and maybe a cat nap too!

Happy Friday everyone xx

****

So what about you? Do you love where
you live? Or do you dream of living
somewhere else?

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* Yes, be-castled is not a word.
** Forces me without the need
for a cattle-prod or other threat!

The first rule of Blook Club…

Yesterday, I held the first, little trial run of Blook Club.

Some very lovely blogging ladies came along
and it seemed to go pretty well.
We all liked the book for a start.

We’d all cringed, laughed, guffawed
and crossed our legs at the book.

As it was the first Blook Club, and the first time
meeting for some of us, I thought it might be
safer to start talking about the fashion chapter.

But from there (with the help of some booze)
we covered life, housework, vulvas
and everything inbetween.

The word ‘junk’ has also been changed
irrevocably, thanks to Lauren!
Must remember not to tell
Americans how much I love junk!

We laughed. We ranted. We probably
made for entertaining eavesdropping!

*****

If you haven’t read How to be a Woman, do.
Though be warned, it’ll make want to read out loud
all the rude, brilliant, immensely quotable sections
to complete strangers on trains.

My husband was my audience.
He just kept asking, ‘what are you reading?’
followed by ‘who suggested this book?’
Yup, that would be me.

I stopped reading it out loud
when I came to the childbirth chapters.

Instead, I may have had the following
expression on my face…

You have been doubly warned!

*****

So, the next Blook Club…

I wanted to choose something very different
to How To Be A Woman and so I choose something
that I bought as part of my 3 for 2 when I got HTBAW!
(Yup, an intellectual choosing process here!)

To read: When God Was A Rabbit
To read by: 16th October

(UPDATE: I’ve now moved the ‘about’ Blook Club details
to its own page… just click the button at the top right.)

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Oh, and the first rule of Blook Club…
to have fun. (And read a book.)
(And maybe eat some cake.)

If you’d like to join, just leave a comment here
or email and I’ll put you on the list.
Already emailed/commented?
Expect to hear from me soon.

There’s also quite a few people asking
about reading along online. If you’re
doing that, you can use #blookclub
on twitter, leave a comment here if you fancy
or write you own post and I’ll link to it here.

*****

Happy Monday everyone xx

Introducing… Blook Club

Every year, I write a ‘to do’ list instead of resolutions.

For the past 2 years, my list has included ‘join a book club’.

(I adore books. Not just for colour coding you see!)

And for 1 and half years, I’ve not really managed that.

*****

While working one night, I started moaning about
my lack of book reading to my husband.
He said, as I think he always says now,
why don’t you ask twitter if they know of one.

So, I did. More specifically, I asked Kirsty
if she knew of one. And then somehow our
conversation ended up with me organising
a book club, as opposed to joining one!

I called it ‘Blook Club’.
Bloggers plus books.
And then I made a little logo
(despite the fact I’m not a designer).
So it’s sort of all official now.

Ta-da.

We’re holding the first one in Edinburgh this weekend,
but if you fancy coming to future Blook Clubs
(or even to this weekend’s), just drop me a line.

I’m kind of excited (and a bit nervous)
to meet everyone, start reading more again
and then babble about it at length…

God help the poor souls
who have signed up already!

*****

P.S. Any suggestions of books gratefully received.
For the first one, we’re reading How to be a Woman.
I thought it would give us plenty to chat about!