Tuesday 8 May 2012

Girl Crushing Pt. 4: Jennifer Lawrence


I would like to say that my love for Jennifer Lawrence is high minded and intellectual but I have never seen any of her films (nothing personal, when you have a baby you just don't get to the cinema much). All I know of her is photos online and in magazines, and so my love for her is based purely on her stunning face and beautiful figure. I was incredulous when there was a recent "debate" about JL's weight - I mean, what???? She isn't remotely fat as far as I can see, not even like those plus-size models who are in fact still smaller than the UK average. She has a fantastic figure and I hope she doesn't listen to any of the absurd commentary about her size. Honestly, are people mad? She is a total hottie and I love her.

Wednesday 2 May 2012

Four Things: Songs for my Baby Sister's Birthday


Four Things: For Rosie by Amy Warner on GroovesharkThis week is my youngest sister, Rosie's birthday, so I wanted to write a blog post dedicated to her. I like to think of these music posts like little mini compilation tapes (there's a modern reference for the kids...) that I can create for special people and to remind me of special times. I think with youngest children in particular it is always hard to get past seeing them as being a little kid all their life, but my little sis is now an amazing woman, with a home and a husband of her own. In some ways she's probably more grown up than I am! I always call her a Tiny Tiger because she is so determined and feisty, she's someone who always achieves what she sets her mind to and never lets anything beat her. Here are four songs that always remind me of her:

1. The Cat Empire, "Hello": In her gap year before going to university, Rosie went to Australia for the best part of a year, and I think this is where she heard of The Cat Empire, who are an Australian band. Years later we managed to get tickets to go and see them for her birthday and it was such a great night. This is real party music, super sunny and upbeat, ideal for parties, barbecues and festivals. I always think of Rosie whenever I hear them, and particularly the "Hello, hello, hello" refrain of this song.

2. Ben Folds Five, "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces": Ben Folds Five are a family favourite in our family, and Rosie really loves them. I could have picked almost any BF5 song for her, but picked this one since we often tease her about her "anger issues" - which is probably what makes her so angry...

3. Barenaked Ladies, "If I Had $1,000,000": Barenaked Ladies are another favourite of my little sister, and a band who aren't as popular in the UK as I think they were in the USA. I'm not sure how Rosie got into them but they are a band I always associate with her, and this is one of their catchiest songs.

4. Jeeves and Wooster Soundtrack, "The Blue Room": When we were young, our Dad had the Jeeves and Wooster Soundtrack on a tape and we used to listen to it all the time in the car. It is hilarious, and now hard to get on CD (but available to download). We knew all the songs and bits of dialogue in between them, and invented elaborate stories to go along with the instrumentals from the series. But the reason I particularly wanted to add this song isn't just because of its childhood associations. It is also because this is one of the two songs that Rosie sang at our wedding ceremony. She is a trained choral singer who has sung professionally and her voice is a remarkable instrument. Dan and I are not religious (though Rosie and her husband Paul are very involved in their church) so we chose to have a registry office wedding. Because of this the music we used couldn't be religious. I really wanted Rosie to sing at our wedding, but the civil ceremony meant that her usual church music repertoire was out. I asked her to come up with something secular but appropriate and this was one of the songs she sang. It was a magical part of our wedding day that she performed, and a brilliant gift that only she could give us.

Happy birthday little Raad, I love you!

Tuesday 1 May 2012

The Cardigan Is On The Move!

In my post on Monday I mentioned that I am moving this blog from Blogger to a Wordpress powered site. I have been tinkering with the new Wordpress site for a week or so now, and feel like its time to let it go semi-live, so if you would like to pop over it is currently at www.heynicecardigan.org . This has necessitated a new design, which I hope you like!

I plan to leave this Blogger site up at www.heynicecardigan.blogspot.com for the foreseeable future since the hosting is free (and I put a lot of work into the design!). Ultimately the new Wordpress site will be transferred to www.heynicecardigan.com, but for the time being there is going to be a delay in transferring the .com domain name, so the Wordpress site is at www.heynicecardigan.org, and www.heynicecardigan.com will redirect to the Blogger domain for the next week or so. Next week I will change it so that if you visit www.heynicecardigan.com it will redirect to WP.

Sorry, this is so technical and boring! In short: old site = www.heynicecardigan.blogspot.com, new temporary site = www.heynicecardigan.org, long term site address will stay as www.heynicecardigan.com

This is a bit of a transitional period for this blog, so I hope you will bear with me while I am between URLs. I am confident that the move to Wordpress will allow me to build a better blog long term and develop new functionality, which is really exciting. However I know that this situation with several web addresses isn't ideal and I'm sorry for any annoyance all this business might cause you, it is all pretty tiresome isn't it? Hopefully we will resume full service with the Wordpress powered site at the .com address soon! I'll keep you posted...

Girl Crushing, Pt. 3: Carey Mulligan


Just look at her! I mean, isn't she just too, too cute? I love a sweet pixie cut - probably because with my big round moon face I will NEVER suit on myself so they are the haircut holy grail to me - and I really love that fact that she is a beautiful young actress who doesn't feel the need to dress like a stripper and turn up to premieres with everything hanging out. Right, Grandma rant over! Enjoy these pictures of Carey Mulligan, this week's Girl Crush, and her lovely face.