Dolly mixture

Life is all about balance, a constant quest to find equilibrium. To honour that, and to offset the serious nature of the last post, what follows is utterly trivial :)

Knicker making continues! There is still not enough sunlight to take decent photos but if summer ever arrives, my pants will be gracing this here page. Don't worry, I won't be modelling. This page is definitely worth a look for those of you who might like a bit of sewing ... especially those with a thing for Japanese needlecrafts ;) http://panty.hanty.net/  She's got quite a few styles so something there for everyone I think. It's proving to be a good project for me - they're small enough for that quick gratification element that I like and I can make them as fancy and shiny as I like which satisfies my inner magpie. Anyway, you can never have enough pants.

Speaking of shiny, I have painted my nails a rather charming irridescent jade green. Makes them look like the carapace of a particularly exotic beetle. Is it weird that I like the way it looks when I've got my pretty nails wrapped round a big dumbbell? I think it's an image that sums me up quite well.

I ignored the big black clouds overhead this morning and went for a 10K run. This is my longest run for a few weeks I think. The lurgy kept me from running much at all and, as I locked up the house this morning and set off, I found that I was actually nervous! I'm planning to ramp my miles back up so I have no interest in speed at the moment. I really just need to put in time on my feet. I headed off at what I like to think of as my "tracking Urukhai across the plain" pace - slow and steady, you cover the ground with minimal damage to your energy reserves. I ran up to the Pollok estate. Glasgow, for all it's barbed wire and concrete, has a lot of parks - it is the "dear green place" after all - and Pollok is only two miles from my house. There's a river and woods, fields and Highland cattle. You could almost believe you weren't in the city ... if it wasn't for the numbers of other runners all trying for the same wee bit of escapism. Did a loop round the north woods and then headed for home. 6.4miles in 56m 29 - that'll do.

When I got back, I decided to try my new protein powder. I sometimes struggle a bit with my protein intake. I was vegetarian for many years and have been eating meat again for less than a year. It's not my favourite thing to eat but I feel so much better for it physically. Protein powders are pretty popular among those who weight train but I have always struggled with the fact that they just taste incredibly synthetic. It seems though that I have finally found one that I can stomach :) It's whey protein and it's chocolate mint flavour. For a post-workout recovery drink, I just mix it with water rather than milk and it tastes pretty much like a mint Aero. That I can totally handle.

Last night, I watched 300. I've had it kicking about the house for ages but have never managed to watch it. I think it's because Gerard Butler's in it. I find it laughable that he's always billed as some kind of sexy lothario because he's very much your typical central Scotsman. Hollywood hunk or just another eejit from Paisley? Always the latter in my mind. I thought I would give it a go though since there's plenty of muscle in it. Turns out that Michael Fassbender is in it. I think I might quite like him. He's got the icy blue eyes, ruggedness and awesome facial planes of Mads Mikkelsen or Viggo Mortensen. Me likey :) Between that and X-Men: First Class, it's been a fassbending week so far - may it continue. I checked out IMDB and it turns out that he played Rochester in Jane Eyre - really, could he press any more of my buttons?

In other news, I have a bruise on my head from hitting on the door frame during an over-exuberant pull up. That's just how I roll.