Thursday 12 August 2010

Talking 'bout those Bad Boys.....

Guilty Pleasures is "Guest Blogging" over at Mimi Grace today....why dont you stop by and see what we've been talking about?



http://mimigracemakeupandbeauty.blogspot.com/2010/08/this-is-one-for-boys_5370.html

Tuesday 10 August 2010

Tranquility

This week I have decided to join the many thousands of people in the UK, indeed the world, in seeing just how much stress I can put myself under before exploding or having some form of (icing) meltdown.
So far so good but its only Wednesday and I'm feeling distinctly jittery about how much Ive taken on prior to a much needed holiday. Actually the holiday itself is stressing me out - with all the recent GP Kitchen related experiments I'm convinced I have put on er one or two pounds which have conveniently grouped themselves around my midriff - therefore no Speedos on the beach for me....(the Italians breathe "un sospiro di sollievo...."

So whilst I pile on the work (and pounds) in the office and in the kitchen I'm trying to stay calm and serene by thinking of the times when my friend and I build up the courage to attend our "weekly" yoga class. Since joining last August the classes have become more and more obscure culminating in having to "sway in the wind like a beautiful tree" at the last session! Whilst yoga would appear to be a stress relieving way to tone and strengthen the body we have come to view our classes as stress relieving due to the amount of childish giggling we find unable to hold back. No matter how dreadful we look in a "downward facing dog" or "backwards looking headstanding warrior" there will always be someone else to pass wind or generally make the whole thing more comical and therefore enjoyable - for example nothing will ever beat the day we witnessed Billy Elliot's older sister through the window, twirling and leaping about in the studio prior to our class.

Anyway, I'm talking about my friend and our more erm... occasional, than regular trips to yoga as this week is her birthday (not all week, obviously...) Now, she had decided to order cupcakes and cookies from the Guilty Pleasures Kitchens to help her work colleagues celebrate the day but this was never going to be enough to send me into a stress spiral - oh no sir, so I decided I would also treat her to a decadent birthday surprise.
I really wanted this cake to evoke feelings of calm and relaxation, something to be savoured and enjoyed, hence its name, "Tranquility". I would desperately liked to have eaten the entire thing myself and even today the thought of the moist lemon sponge surrounded with cherry scented buttercream is easing those feelings of sheer panic and horror now that I am facing down even more extravagant cakes, a mountain of packing and some truly hideous spreadsheets....
I could maybe sneak a small taste, surely that couldn't hurt..after all I have paid for this weeks yoga already so I'm bound to attend....right?

And now it’s onto the next.....I’m afraid my dears there can be no rest for the decadently wicked x