Quirky Reads: Dream a Little Dream by Giovanna Fletcher

Rachie's Musings on: Dream a Little Dream by Giovanna Fletcher

It has come to my attention recently that my mother reads my blog which has paid off because after mentioning in a previous post I'd quite like to read Giovanna Fletcher's new book Dream a Little Dream....she bought it for me......thanks Mum! :-)

This is my second Giovanna Fletcher book, the first one I read was Billy and Me and it very quickly became one of my favourite books.

I mentioned that I could relate to the main character Sophie in Billy and Me and I found myself also relating to the main character Sarah in Dream a Little Dream. 

Sarah is 29 and a bit dissatisfied with life, she's become bored of a job she hoped would be a stepping stone after graduation and aspires to have the career she always dreamed of. I can sort of relate to that.  The world isn't always as shiny and exciting as we hoped it would be after university/college/school.
For every graduate who secures their dream job, there are just as many, if not more, who have to settle for what they can get rather than what they dreamed of. 

There are similarities between my friends and Sarah's group of friends, so much so that I could imagine some of my friends saying their dialogue!
She also loves a Katsu Curry - my kinda woman!

As the title suggests, Sarah has some seriously interesting dreams which become very interesting when the subject of her dreams - Brett, a friend of a friend she met about 10 years earlier - gets a job in the same office she works in. 

I really enjoyed Dream a Little Dream, there were one or two saucy bits I wasn't expecting and took me by surprise! It took me three evenings to read, only stopping when my brain informed me it was time to go to sleep.

Having watched some of Giovanna's videos on youtube, I sort of pictured her in my mind as Sarah, which may or may not be a good thing, but I don't think it does any harm.

Similarly with Billy and Me, I felt like I wasn't reading a story.

Giovanna has this amazing ability to make me feel like I'm part of the world her stories are set in and I'm deep in conversation with her characters for a few hours.

Something that I took from Dream a Little Dream was that while dreams are great, it's important not to use them as a place to set the bar.
Sometimes great things come along and while they may not be exactly what you dreamed of or were hoping for, they can be really awesome and in some circumstances they can be even better than you imagined!

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Embracing the happy and sad.

Embracing the happy and sad.

If you've read any of my other posts, or glanced at my twitter or Instagram, you'll know that I'm into Disney and embracing happy.

I watched Inside Out this week and I noticed a lot of similarities between what goes on in my head and what goes on in Riley's.

I wouldn't like to spoil Inside Out for anyone who hasn't seen it yet so I'll try not to go into too much detail.
The basic premise of Inside Out is that Riley, a fairly upbeat 11 year old girl, is controlled by her emotions, Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Fear and Anger who spend their days manning the control board and making sure that Riley's emotions and forming memories run smoothly and for the most part, Joy has things under control....sometimes a little too under control.

I've mentioned before that I like to embrace the happy in situations and that it's my comfort zone emotion, but I don't actually cope well with some others, particularly being sad.

I went for an interview last week and found out that I didn't get the job, which isn't an uncommon occurrence, but it doesn't get any less unpleasant or disappointing to hear it.
I spent a few minutes trying to brush it off but eventually, I allowed myself to be a bit sad about it before finding a way to cheer myself up.

What I learned from Inside Out is that while Joy should absolutely be working her butt off to make sure that everything is going good in the world of Rachie, it's okay to let some of my other emotions come to the surface as well.  For example, sometimes I have to be a little bit sad in order to pick myself up  and discover something else that makes me happy. 

I mentioned a few blog posts ago that I'm trying to embrace the happy challenge (photo a day for 100 days on my Instagram), I think it would also be good for me to be a bit more accepting of some of the things that make me sad - although I probably won't post a picture of those every day! :-)

I made another happy list this week :-)

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Clumsiness and Muppet Dreams.

Clumsiness and Muppet Dreams.

My name is Rachie......and I am Muppet.

When I say Muppet, I'm not referring to my aspiration to join Kermit and co on their travels, swap shoe advice with Miss Piggy and hang out with Animal, Beaker, Fozzy, Rizzo and Gonzo....although I'd totally love that and if someone wanted to make that happen I'd be eternally grateful.

I'm referring to my tendency to do silly things.

I'm not sure if clumsy is a better word for it, or maybe spatially unaware.... 
For example, I have lived in the same home for the past 26 years and have had the same bedroom for at least 15 of those years if not more.... I still manage to walk into the door on my way out every day.

Most mornings, I find that I wake up because I've hit my head off the wall or my headboard, I constantly hit my arm or my hand off of the door post on the way into the living room (which is basically a straight line across the hall from my bedroom).

When I invigilate, I'm forever tripping over wires and bags or walking into table corners and when I'm playing my brass instrument, I always find a way to hit myself in the face or drop it on my toe or whack my hand off it.

My mum suspects that I could sit alone in an empty field and still find a way to cause myself an injury  and whilst she's joking - I don't think she's wrong!

Sometimes I can be accident prone without even doing anything, the other night I accidently got hit in the head with an unfolding music stand because I was bent down in the wrong place at the wrong time so even when it's not caused my own stupidity, I still find a way to be clumsy!

I'm also particularly talented in dropping things, like my phone (which thankfully has yet to smash), my keys, food, I once spectacularly tipped an entire bowl of microwave popcorn all over the floor, it literally looked like the carpet was a sea of popcorn and my mum was still finding un-popped bits months later.

Getting back to my earlier Muppet thought, I think I'd make a great Muppet and they found a place for Walter, although to be fair, he did help them save the Muppet Theatre!

I'll find a way to join! Maybe my clumsiness could be my talent! :-)

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Quirky Reads: The Tiny Wife by Andrew Kauffman

Rachie's Musings on: The Tiny Wife by Andrew Kauffman


The Tiny Wife was a fairly short read but it’s packed full of awesomeness.

At the beginning of the story a thief comes into a bank.
Instead of taking money from everyone, he instead takes whatever item in the possession of those in the bank that holds the most sentimental value to them.

The story takes some strange twists and turns as a result, but the most notable consequence of the robbery is that the narrator’s wife, who was in the bank that day, begins to shrink a little more each day and begins to lose sense of herself and who she is as she finds navigating her way through the every day tasks and experiences.
Her shrinking also has an effect on her relationship with her husband who does his best to try and help with her situation and keep her spirits raised.

Whilst I can't relate to shrinking, I can relate to allowing something I can't control get to me and start to influence how I feel, act and live my life.

The story, without getting too cheesy, reinforced to me that even when you are feeling at your lowest, other people can help you feel like your normal self again.

I'm looking forward to reading more Andrew Kaufman stories.

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100 Happy Days

100 Happy Days


I mentioned in previous post 'Things That Make Rachie Smile' that Happy is my favourite mood to be in and that sometimes when I struggle with the happy part, I make a list of things that make me smile.  

I recently came across a challenge called 100 Happy Days, where you post a picture every day for 100 days, using either your facebook, twitter, instagram etc and use that one picture everyday to mention something that made you happy.  

I thought it would be fun to try and I'm currently on day 4, hopefully I can keep it up for another 96!

If you fancy checking my 'happy' progress, I'll be sticking them on my instagram which is linked at the top of the page!

Something I'm really happy about just now is that it's almost Autumn, I adore Autumn! Spring and Summer and Winter are great, but those are my prime sneezing, sunburn or shivering months!

Autumn is where my seasonal comfort zone is at! 

I guess Autumn can seem like a sad season because its when the trees lose their leaves and start to look a bit dead but it reminds me that the year is drawing to a close and that the atmosphere is simply getting its crap together for the winter in order to move into the new year where it can start things over again.

Walking on crunchy leaves and spotting conkers/chestnuts is my favourite part but only when they are crisp, not when they get soggy and stick to my shoes!

Autumn should be out in full force during my 100 Happy Days Challenge so I'll be sure to stick in some Autumn pictures!

You can read more about the 100 Happy Days challenge on their website.

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Quirky Reads: Loser by Jerry Spinelli

Rachie's Musings on: Loser by Jerry Spinelli


Loser follows the story of Zinkoff, or Donald Zinkoff as he is known to his parents and teachers.

 The book follows Zinkoff through elementary/primary school and reminds us what it’s like to see the world through the eyes of a child.

Zinkoff loves school, for the most part he loves his teachers and he loves life.   You could easy assume that this book is designed for a young audience, it has a teen friendly cover and it follows the life of a school child, but it can also give us ‘adults’ a bit of a kick up the backside!!

Zinkoff has that same enthusiasm for life and fire in his belly that everyone is born with, where absolutely everything is a fun new discovery and it’s the most awesome thing ever.  
As we grow up, life beats that out of us a little bit, we lose the sparkle and we become grown ups.

While following Zinkoff through his story, I could almost see the sparkle starting to fade from him, although it never left him completely.  Zinkoff grew up like kids do, but while the other kids became ‘grown up kids’ and adapted to all the attitudes and etiquettes that come with getting a bit older and keeping up with everyone – Zinkoff stood out by holding on to the little eccentricities that make him Zinkoff.

I really enjoyed Loser, it’s not a long read, but it’s a damn good one and it’s encouraged me to try and make sure I keep the sparkle in my life :-)

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Learning new things.

I've been trying over the past year or so to develop new skills and hobbies.

Some of these have been to try and enhance my CV and job applications a little but some of them have just been for a little bit of fun.  

I'm still learning to drive which brings with it a whole new host of specific things to learn like how to work the gears and the pedals, how to follow a roundabout, how to do a turn in the road - I've yet to master most of these things but hopefully at the end of it I'll have an awesome skill - the ability to drive!

I think for the most part I just like to keep my brain active, I do like to relax and have a bit of a TV/Movie session but I hate doing absolutely nothing with my time, I have a compulsive need to fill it, so I search for things that I could try to learn.

One Sunday, while alone in the house, I came across an How-To origami video on youtube and by the end of Sunday I had learned how to make origami birds and bats.

I now have a box of origami, which I don't have any real use for but I find myself twiddling with bits of scrap paper while invigilating exams or waiting to go into interviews, which can be quite relaxing.

Maybe one day I'll put some string through them and put them on my wall or something. 

I came across BananaJamama's channel on youtube a few days ago by chance (She's awesome, check her out) and decided to try her Banana Jam recipe.  It was a fun way pass a Wednesday evening and I ended up gaining a new skill from it. Thankfully it looked and tasted like Jam! 

My problem with this whole learning new things kick that I have at the moment is once I learn something, I then want to find something new to learn.  It's not that I get bored, I still enjoy and keep doing the hobbies I have, but I have this thing in my head that says "That was fun, let's do that again! For right now though lets try this other new thing!"  Thankfully most of the things I've wanted to try are fairly inexpensive! 

I'm not sure what the next thing I'll attempt will be, whether it will be something sensible or something fun, but I look forward to attempting it!

If you have any suggestions, feel free to stick them in the comments! 

A few Jam and Origami pics below :-)

        

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