Spring update

So what have we been up to recently in the quest to do more happy.

- We are slowly converting all our friends and family into board game geeks, this time actual girls came to board game night at our house. 

- We watched the rugby again at Fat Fox. I'm still not really bothered, but there are friends and cider.

- Interesting Space Lecture at the Winchester science centre on the history of astronomy

- We tried to go to the new Icelandic bar '101 Rekjavik' opened in Southsea on Castle road. We walked there from Albert Road in the pouring rain and discovered they weren't serving food and we were hungry so left again. Another time, hopefully they will get busier and get some more atmosphere, I love the ethos of the place on their website.

- We also tried to try the new ice cream parlour Scoops on Elm Grove but its still super popular and busy and getting some bad reviews so we'll leave that one for a bit.

- We had a good go at the pub quiz at the Eastney Tavern but were way off the scoring zone. Its a challenging enough quiz, good mix of trivia and Aspall Cider on tap. We'll be back.

- March pub night was at the Bridge Tavern in Old Portsmouth. Probably nicer in the summer when you can sit out by the fishing boats, but on a chilly evening it was a long walk out of Southsea for expensive beers.

- We had an impromptu trip up to London and went to the Science museum and the beautiful Natural History museum. Originally our friends planned to go to take advantage of the £10 train tickets offer, but we were too late booking and ended up driving and parking for free right behind the museums. So easy! More London trips to plan, its so much cheaper to drive at the weekend.

- The weather is better, Spring is here and I've been out on my bike again down to the seafront and around. It's a simple thing that makes me happy.

- Finally, we took our nephew to see the Lego movie, possibly the most awesome movie ever. 

Weekend Wander

Southsea is best in the summer, the faded seaside resort buzzes in the sunshine, with families, students, hipsters and chavs alike, all laid out on the grassy common and strolling on the seafront, the smell of barbecues on the breeze. Winter is mostly angry traffic, foghorns, discount shopping and crashing waves. But a break in the weather pulls everyone out, a cold sunny sunday and we hit the prom again, dogwalkers, kids and runners drawn out for the fresh sea air. We all love living by the sea.

Our seafront has been battered these past few weeks, the winter storms bringing waves smashing over the seawalls and shingle up onto the road. The beach is sandy, the bandstand flooded and the benches, shelters and pier beaten up. The rain stopped today and the people came out again, picking through the shells, starfish and sponges washed up onto the pavement, fighting against the determined winds.

We went ourselves, to explore and take photos, blasted by sand and an abundance of sea air. We met friends for a pretty good carvery lunch at the Jolly Sailor (thanks Groupon!) and then came home again to a log fire and TV catchup. Ace Sunday. :)

February Fun

First pay day after Christmas and first of many fun weekend's of February. The plans made in January start coming into effect this month and it looks like we are going to be busy (in a good way!)

On Friday we went to Sant-Yago, a Tapas restaurant in Southsea, with a Groupon voucher. I've decided to live life through Groupon this year, and take advantage of the deals to try new restaurants and activities at bargain prices. Sant-Yago is on the must try list, and with 7 dishes for £13.50, we were able to tuck into a variety of dishes for a steal. The independent restaurant on Clarendon Road was bustling but has an intimate atmosphere good for a date. The food was lovely, we especially enjoyed the baked Camembert, paprika crisps and Albodingas and we'll definitely go back to try some of the other Tapas treats. Yum!

On Saturday it was the first monthly pub night- a plan formulated from the Facebook group. We extended the plans a bit and went early to the Fat Fox to watch the England- France Six Nations rugby, a game where I'm still not completely sure what's going on. Good to have some cider and chat with the boys before a visit to the best curry house in the world T&J Mahal on Elm Grove. A swift Balti chilli chicken massalla and on to meet the rest at the King Street Tavern to try a pub we wouldn't normally go to. For good reason, there were no tables and so we went back to Elm Grove to the Honest Poli for old times sake. Just a good fun unpretentious evening, something we have not done enough of in the past year.

Where to in March?

January Joy: The Carbfest

I don't generally do 'girls night in'. I don't have a best friend or a group of girls I go out with while the menfolk go out somewhere else. My main friend group is a mix of boys and girls, mostly all couples now, and most of us have known each other since college. There isn't much in the way of gossip, dating, in fighting or breakups, we don't do makeovers or chick flicks or any really typical ingredients of a Girls Night In.

But Girls Night In is on the January Joy list. So last weekend the girls came round my house for pillow fights, makeovers, talking about snogging and romantic comedy DVDs. Well actually we didn't do any of that, but it was actually nice to get together with just the girls, even though the conversation, when devoid of boys, went far too far into topics like childbirth and eating placentas (!?) 

Why Carbfest? I also ticked off two other things on the January Joy list- Make bread and make pasta. I don't really do much cooking, don't have the time or much inclination so I tackled this in my own way. Before going whole hog and making actual pasta I thought I would make some of my favourite pasta dishes from scratch instead of using jar sauces and ready made ingredients. A useful life skill for my future as a proper grown up.

I made meatballs, greatest of all pasta dishes, from a recipe found on pinterest involving chipotle paste for a bit of punch. With a spicy tomato sauce I had high hopes. Then I made mac n cheese, second greatest of all pasta dishes, following a recipe found on pinterest cited as the best mac n cheese recipe ever. Who can distrust this American lady's claims, after all the USA is best at gloopy, cheesy, unhealthly carb laden foods. 

Then the accompaniment; the bread. Pinterest again distracted me from making normal bread, and sent me on a quest to replicate Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits. The real deal, from the American seafood chain are amazing warm garlic- cheese scone things of awesome. After eating these in Florida, I developed an full on obsession for these when on holiday in Canada (where they advertise on TV and then don't have any Red Lobsters anywhere we went!) Beautiful waterfalls, no bloody biscuits! Plus doesn't Cheddar Bay sound like a great place to live?

How was it? Mediocre. Not rubbish, just not that amazing. I was going to share the recipes, but I honestly did not think it worth the whole afternoon of hard work in the kitchen. Cooking for 10 people is time consuming and expensive! The Biscuits were pretty damn good and easy to make with the magic ingredient Bisquick. Bit salty because I accidentally used Garlic salt for the topping and not ground garlic, but these will be made again.

So there, 3 more things off the January Joy list! (funny 'Clean Eats' just didn't seem to fit in here)

Appreciation

"If you're unhappy, embrace change... make a difference... if you're bored find something to do - Nice one Amy for helping us all to enact this in our life!!"

My friend just posted this onto facebook following on from our facebook group. Love the sentiment, and love even more that my quest to do more happy is reaching out to my friends too! :D 

Do Interesting Things

"Do Interesting Things and Interesting Things will Happen to You"

I have an abundance of ideas, ambitions and schemes most of which go nowhere as they all squabble for the attentions of my wandering brain and busy life. Its not like I'm bored and have nothing fun or exciting on the horizon, there is so much possibility and opportunity waiting out there. It's just about getting some focus and getting on with it. 

A week ago I created a facebook group with my friends. I simply said it was a group to suggest something you want to do, such as a gig, exhibition, restaurant and if others are interested they say so and then you sort it out. Sounds simple, you might wonder why we don't we do this anyway, but actually we are all busy and see each other less and less so it seems harder and harder to plan things in.

Something cool happened. Everyone got involved, and over a weekend we have plans and ideas for plans for months ahead. From a simple night at the pub to wine tasting dinners, pub quiz, go karting, come dine with me dinner parties, camping, space lectures, weekend in Brighton and poker night. Its going to be busy, but its going to be fun.

Can't wait to do more happy in 2014!

Reasons to be Cheerful: 1

"Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop and look around once is a while you could miss it"

It's been a good couple of weeks so I thought I should take a step back and take it in. Since Christmas we have been busy with family, friends and enjoying being at home a lot, the stresses and worries of the past few months in suspension. With all the build up, the bit after Christmas is usually an anticlimax which drags on into a bleak cold and boring January so it's been really good to kick of the new year with lots going on.

We've seen our friends more in the past two weeks than in the past few months, from a cosy Christmas Sunday lunch, to a drunken New Years Eve and a simple night out at the pub like old times. And from these meetings come more plans, and we have stargazing, camping trips, board games night and girls nights in to look forward to. Sometimes organising things is infuriating, actually it often makes me really annoyed by the people involved and despair at humanity in general. So I am happy things have come together recently, and I will not let the flakey excuses and down right rudeness of some get me down. Definitely need to do this more often!