It’s been ages…but not for lack of trying! I’ve had a very busy few weeks, so the times I’ve wanted to sit down and blog have been when I’d rather curl up and go to sleep or read and drink some coffee. In fact, my reading progress has been so slow over the past month and a half – I set myself a Goodreads challenge of 70 books this year but have only read 24 books so far (I know…ONLY 24?!!). I’m about 8 books behind according to Goodreads. I know it seems a bit silly to attempt to read that many books, especially when its about quality over quantity, but it is pushing me to read a greater variety of books – from bestsellers to virtual unknowns.
I’ve read some interesting books so far this year, but perhaps less of an emphasis on literary fiction – last year I read some amazing books, from Markus Zuzak’s The Book Thief to Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel’s Game. The kind of books that you won’t forget in a hurry. This year has been so-so – I’ve been indulging in a lot of guilty pleasures, like Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series, and various Urban Fantasy books, but I also read The Perks of Being a Wallflower and also The Good Fairies of New York – both which have stood out for me this year. I guess I should try reading a few more books on my must-read list!
Anyway, the past few weeks have featured going on holiday to Madrid for my friend’s Despedida de Soltera (farewell to single life, roughly translated), as she gets married in August. It was a brilliant weekend – tapas bars, sunshine, Flamenco and Churros. I’ve also been celebrating my sister’s birthday – which was the same day as the Queen’s diamond jubilee so we planned a kind of 1950’s party with an excess of bunting and lots of cake. I got to try out the wedding outfit I’m wearing in August – I bought a gorgeous frothy rockabilly style black petticoat from Domino Dollhouse in the US, to wear under a dress from Very (this dress, if you’re wondering). The petticoat is exactly the right length for the dress I’m wearing, and it feels amazing to wear such a cool outfit (if I say so myself…).
I don’t really write that much about style and fashion on this blog, but I’ve also let that slide on my Fatshion blog, and part of it is because outfit photos can be difficult sometimes – hard to take yourself without a mirror, and I always forget to take an outfit photo. Its so important to me that fatshion and body acceptance are part of my life because I love clothes, and as a fat woman, I feel that its important to prove people wrong – how fat people have the right to have fun with clothes, inhabit and enjoy their bodies and prove those stereotypes wrong. It doesn’t matter why someone is fat or thin, what matters is being treated like a human being. Maybe I need to remind myself why I blog about body acceptance, size acceptance and HAES (Health at Every Size) – because I refuse to be treated like a second class citizen because of my body size. Life comes in a variety of shapes, sizes, experiences and attitudes.
I’ve also been privileged to interview two really interesting people for the Hearing Times this month and also writing an article about the Deaf Writers and Book Group. So life has been a bit of a whirlwind recently, but I’ve enjoyed every minute. I’m trying not to neglect this blog, and I think once things have calmed down a bit next week, I’ll get back into it. In the meantime, here are some photos…
While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see. ~ Dorothea Lange
Cats and Chocolate 