Sunday Summary | with a liberal splash of Indian Shiraz

Friends! Romans! Countrymen! Random readers! Family members! Lend me your ears, eyes and other superfluous organs.

Anyone else completely discombobulated by the extra hour? Anyone else completely forget to dress in the white robe rather than the blue for church, and wear the green not the red collar ... ? Anyone else forget the proper names for those collars? 

Just me then? Lost: one brain. If found, please return to its rightful owner.

Y'know, people often ask me, "QB, you really are living the dream, aren't you; how can I too live a wild and exciting life full of wall-to-wall high-jinks worthy of comedy gifs, just like you?*"

{I had Glee's Sue Sylvester's voice in my head while writing the above,
just so you understand the context ... | Is that too old-skool/2011 a reference?}

To those people I say,

"People, there's no secret. Oh, actually there is. Just isolate the three things you do all week that aren't: laundry, bookshelf rearrangement, perusing the IKEA collections, sleeping, eating, drinking coffee, binge-watching everything on Netflix, or working, and make them sound considerably more substantial than, er, all the other things. And then spend hours on Giphy trying to portray those three events in apposite animated form."

*Nobody really says that. They think it**, but they don't say it.
**Nobody really thinks that. 80% of my life happens in my head.

We all know those people on Facebook who only ever depict the best and most fabulous things to happen to them, although those things seem to be better and more fabulous than anything you would ever be able to post:

• OMG, just got crowned head of state! #callmeHRH
• Rough moving day. Movers lost 3 of our Monets, the horses can't be moved from the stables 'til next week and there are boxes in 57 of the 80 rooms. #passthebolly
• YAY! Desdemona just got the best sixth birthday pressie ever -- accepted into Oxbridge!!!!! #soproud #childgenius

to the point whereby you cannae take it any more and you hide the offending braggarts or unfriend them completely.

{Reza Farazmand | Poorly Drawn Lines | from here, via Pinterest}

Yyyyeah. Basically, this blog is nowt but the edited highlights of each week.

Because if I depicted all the laundry, bookshelf rearrangements (hey, you have to allow me one or two -- ditto the IKEA perusals), sleeps, eats, coffee-guzzles, Netflix binge-watches and, God forbid, work, anything too quotidian (and those Decluttering tallies come very close), then this wouldn't be the Summary you know and indulge on a weekly basis.

{"What even is this?!"}

(And you'd probably be hitting the Hide QB/Unfriend buttons prettyquicksmartish.)

Perhaps I should post a 'real-life' Summary one week and you'll understand why you get all the good material.

Or, a Hum-Drum-mary, if you would indulge me.

Which brings me to the good material. Or the publishable material.

One does not wish to brag.

This week, I have mostly been ...

Perusing the IKEA collections

Darn-nabbit, it's like a disease.

{Verdict? It's beginning to look a lot like ...}

Reading

Still. What can I say? There's a lot of identification to do. Non-fiction is notoriously slower to read than fiction.

Watching

I've added 30 Rock to my catalogue.

And I love it. Not only is each episode half an hour long so the binge-watch guilt is reduced, but there's also New York scenery. And men who value good grammar:

Also, this documentary which is definitely worth pre-ordering or viewing at one of the public showings, especially if you're of a creative/designerly bent in the digital age.

I shared the trailer last week but here it is again because it's worth a look:

Made me want to screen-print, in a big way.

And I'm just catching up on the latest full episode of Gareth Malone: The Naked Choir on iPlayer (because the episode of CSI:NY I was watching over dinner involved a case of fragrant gangrene, which is barely conducive to, er, enjoying my Sunday night pork belly fix).

Sons of Pitches for the win. Please?

Decluttering

You'd think that QB Heights was a Spartan Scandinavian-style apartment by now:

{Photo: Birgitta Drejer/Sisters Agency | via sfgirlbybay}

with all that Chuck-tober-ing but no, there are still things.

Many things.

That said, I'm getting there. I spent Friday night rearranging all the living room shelves (no, really, I did that and I make no apologies; this is me keeping it real):

{9.35pm: WHY DID I EVEN START THIS?!}

{9.36pm: I'M STUCK! IN MY BOOKS! STUCK! HAYELP!}

The spaces are soon to be filled with vinyl, admittedly, but there is now actual Space. And Order. Which pleases me greatly.

... I won't bore you with the tally this week, though. In all honesty, it's the usual. Books. The odd article of clothing. Odd items of kitchenware. A DVD or two. You get the picture.

Eating Out ...

... with the Church 'Youth' Contingent/the Demographic Formerly Known As the 18-30s group/AKA SoNIC [stands for Social Network In Church ... I know, I know, but I invented the name when I was YOUNG, goshdarnit] -- essentially, a group of us who are now under 50, basically, at local Indian eatery Mela, which was once Pizza Organic and prior to that Pizza Piazza -- that's how long I've lived here, folks.

The place usually looks dead from the outside (to be frank) but was definitely lively on Saturday night. (Admittedly, we brought the liveliness with us.)

The food was delicious. The company was, of course, even more delectable, diverse, and very entertaining. The staff, well, they were attentive, up until the point whereby we were considering dessert or trying to pay the bill, and then they couldn't be seen for the back-spray of table disinfectant, which was a distinct hint that they were ready to lock up for the night, so no dessert for us. But still.

A great night.

I like this whole having-a-social-life thing. The having-friends-thing is also pleasing to me.

Becoming an Internet Sensation***

*** ... is a laughably inaccurate description of the next little aside but what the hey.

I'm on Google Street View, y'all. Strutting down my street like '77-era Travolta:

but with no pot o' paint, and slightly less bouffy hair. Slightly.

{Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk ...}

Immortalised (for at least a year) by Google. I've arrived.

All those young vlogger upstarts can jog right on.

Pinterest Pin of the Week

Weekly Web Finds

Just a couple this week:

• This boy, singing Whitney Houston | via Charlie:

• I found this some weeks back; it's weird as heck, but still tickles me greatly | Lionel Richie, Hello, Musicless Musicvideo | by Mario Wienerroither

Which I was reminded of by this:

Is it me you're looking for?

No?

I'll be off then.

I'd just like to say thank you to you all for your continued readership/indulgence of The Quirky Brunette and the Sunday Summary. I'm aware I've done few to almost no namechecks this week but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate you.

'K?

Signing off -- jusqu'a la prochaine ...

qb xx

Sunday Summary | with waffle as standard

Hello to you!

Vague and moderately insincere apologies for the lateness of this post.

I have just tipped up home after an epic Toby Carvery (cue food coma, second of the weekend) with my lovelies (Charlie, here's that aforementioned promised nod because, well, yep, you deserve one) preceded by a subsidiary division gathering of Song Club.

I now plan to put on PJs and settle myself down for CSI:NY and The Ironing.

Because that's how flippin' street I am.

---

This week, I have mostly been ...

Reading

Still. Quietly. Don't hurry me: I'm an introvert, don'tcha know? We're all about the quiet, and the slow-but-steady thought processes.

{Gah. Cluckin' freeloaders ...}

Incidentally, FOQ, I've decided to alleviate some of the pointless pressure I've put on myself, and reduced this year's reading target from 50 books to a more reasonable/achievable and less stress-inducing 40.

It's just how this year has gone.

Dear QB, give yourself a break: you walked 100k in a day, this year. You can't do it all.

Love, Self

{I feel loads better already}

Watching

My Netflix had a blip on Thursday and Friday evenings, meaning no Gilmore girls to watch with dinner such is the custom at QB Heights these days:

so I ended up watching a couple of episodes of Gareth Malone: The Naked Choir on iPlayer instead -- in which our host searches for the UK's best a cappella choir. Did someone call for some serious talent? I think these boys (The Sons of Pitches!) have it:

but this group -- the similarly whimsically-named Choral Stimulation -- are close, close contenders. If this rendition of Nothing Compares 2 U doesn't make you a little moist of eyeball then I have to ask, are you even human?

And also on a musical tip, I have also mostly been

Blown away by this ...

... beautiful cover of Beyoncé's Halo, by Norwegian singer Ane Brun (feat Linnea Olsson), discovered on Spotify:

It might also make you cry.

Let it out, friends, let. it. out.

Decluttering

All right so maybe I'm a little married to Netflix and all its super-sexy unlocked territories (Jess, here's that link!) and Gilmore girls, and Ghost Whisperer, and CSI:NY ... but I tell yer, I have been able to pare back my DVD collection as a result of finding films and series online, and make room for, wait for it ...

... MORE BOOKS.

And vinyl. Yes to vinyl. And yes to my bestest ringing me from a jumble sale on a Saturday morning (when I'm still in PJs in bed) to ask which of a burgeoning selection of bargain records I'd like to add to my collection. ALL THE CHEESE PLEASE, Natalie. ALL OF THE CHEESE.

Coincidentally, a recent Guardian Weekend edition cottoned onto the Chuck-tober trend (because I am that cool I set trends: even Ma QB is getting in on the act!) with this rather pointed, and of course bang-on, feature: Modern Tribes: The Declutterer

{Image: Ben Lamb for The Guardian | via here}

This week's Chuck-tober tally: 

Oct 12: DVD
Oct 13: Forgot! It was a Voicerox night ...
Oct 14: DVDs x 2 (to overcompensate)
Oct 15: beer glasses x 2 (in removing these, I discovered a whole stash of far-more-crucial wine glasses on the top shelf that I'd forgotten were there)
Oct 16: DVD set (OK, getting predictable now ...)
Oct 17: DVD set (I'm also breaking my own 'from a different room every day' rule ...) | oh but I did manage to offload the first full bag of Chuck-tober haul on the lovely people at the Red Cross Shop which was the purpose of the project anyway, rather than keeping it all kicking around the flat until the flat imploded ...
Oct 18: Ironing board (replaced with a far more flexible ironing mat. I AM SO COOL.)

Trend-spotting

... at the Brand Licensing Europe expo at Olympia, Kensington.

This was a work mission that I was a little reluctant to visit on account of my perceiving it as a large exhibition hall full of loud people, some of whom would doubtless be in scary character costumes (and after having been in Times Square at dusk, I can't help but run, clutching my purse, from such individuals now).

Of course, as I'm slowly coming to learn at the moment, my perceptions and reality are sometimes as mismatched as winter berries and Prosecco (bad example, they're a fabulous marriage, as witnessed by these flippin' awesome and sparkly and zingy crisps):

{We'll be eating stars. | via here}

OK, new analogy: my perceptions and reality are as mismatched as ... Nicole Scherzinger and Harry Styles. I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions on that.

BLE (at 9am on the last day of the expo, admittedly) was great. Actually great. And I'll tell you for why: there was relatively nothing new there.

Which might sound like a negative but I'm all for tapping into the nostalgia market, to use pretentious business-speak, and apparently so were about 80% of the exhibitors. So many of the emerging or even the sustaining brands were recognisable from our yesteryears, from the Clangers to Teletubbies.

BLE is nothing like LBF, incidentally (sadly BLE didn't have an added Norgstar for Great Company bonus): the stands were mostly open, not closed-off and over-protective.

And some of the promotional goods were so darn cute. Witness:

{TINY scooter | for StudioPets}

{TINY VW van pedal-car | for Volkswagen}

{My TINY Little Vomiting-Rainbows Pony | ... not so much. What did you eat?!}

And, ladies and gents, it's time for an announcement.

I am moving to France to be an animator (pardon: animatrice), just so I can work on THIS! THIS FILM! THIS! THIS IS A THING! WHAT?! YES! IT'S A THING THAT'S HAPPENING!

{PLAYMOBIL: THE FILM?! WHAT?!}

(All right, I'm not actually going anywhere, but clearly someone's seen my Christmas offerings and thinks they can do better ... We'll see.)

Winning my first eBay auction

{Ooh, it was getting tense for a while there!}

I won't tell you what I bought but, at £1.94 in new money plus postage? BARGAIN. Probably. And one has to start simple with eBay, right?

Going out on a Friday night

Yes, you read that right,

I WENT OUT ON A FRIDAY NIGHT for the first time in aaaaages!

Jos and I

{for this is she!}

in need of some excitement in our pre-weekends, decided to hit up the hot spots of Rahgate (or, rather, go out for a very mildly sophisticated dinner at Carluccio's), to put the world to rights, talking Pinterest, chocolate, waffles, sequin arm-warmers and other things slightly less sparkly and/or edible; and basically eat some superior Pollo Milanese (J) and rib-eye steak (QB):

followed by equally superior salted caramel and amaretto ice cream (J) and chocolate pud laced with Kahlua (Drunkylushface):

And it was an excellent evening.

(Even if it resulted in one of the longest run-on sentences I've ever left un-separated.)

Afterwards, we decided it was only fair to gatecrash Voicerox Pete's Friday evening on the promise of getting to rock out to some Simply Red on Lucky Voice. That didn't happen but there was more wine (guess who ...) and there were Haribo Tangfastics (all of us).

Friday nights are the new ... er, Friday nights. Hashtag that.

Pinterest Pin of the Week

{Check out Posh Graffiti | discovered at BLE}

Weekly Web Finds

I have some.

But in all honesty, this week, I just cannot be narfed to curate them all.

Except for this, which I'm very excited about:

• Ladybird Books for adults | on The Guardian

{via here}

Oh and this trailer for a documentary we're watching at work this week. I think it may restore my creative mojo:

Made You Look documentary trailer from Look and Yes on Vimeo.

And ... here is a gif of Peanuts to compensate for the comparative lack of links that you probably don't have time to click through anyway:

You're so welcome.

That's all for now. But, don't forget, when in doubt, just shake your groove thang.

And as broadcaster Nicholas Parsons so wisely says:

You shouldn’t feel guilty about pleasures. You should enjoy them.

qb xx

Sunday Summary | with added Guinness smear

Hello to you, and happy Sunday!

I can't tell you how excited I am to launch into another week ...

... Because I'm not.

Great weekends spoil me for the week, they really do.

(Oh, except Tuesday night which will be marvellous.)

But aside from that ...

This week, I have mostly been ...

Reading

... and furiously identifying with pretty much every other sentence of:

{with thanks to Evie for this giftette!}

You may remember that just under a year ago I shared this TED talk by Susan Cain which is a condensed explanation of the themes in her book.

Watching

Oh, the usual ... Gilmore girls. Always with the Gg. How did I consider myself to be truly living before I unlocked US Netflix, eh?

{Oh, Luke. I love you a bit.}

Also, gradually easing myself back into:

{Hey! We're walkin' here! | CSI:NY}

but also having a moment with:

{Ghost Whisperer}

I don't remember GW being this schmaltzy, but I also don't remember it being as sad as it is, either.

Disturbing the Neighbours

... with rousing and impassioned renditions of backlist Backstreet Boys songs:

{Kevin's eyebrows. Pure artistry, right there.}

with my bayootiful bestest Natalie, on one of our notorious 'put the world to rights' mini weekends.

We kick-started proceedings with a mini road trip:

{Wait ... who's driving?!}

to Crawley (because that's how we roll) to the Emporio Primarni where Natalie restocked her wardrobe (gnarf) and I found both my Winter Pyjamas of the Year (they have reindeer on them) and my New Favourite Accessory, oh yeah:

Back at QB Heights, Natalie finally got to open her birthday presents from me (her birthday was a month ago, that's how sadly infrequent our get-togethers are ...).

I put some sort of pasta thing together, and the night descended into shenanigans from there.

Too much of cocktails were imbibed. Too much.

And thus began the earnest dance interpretations of 80s and 90s floor-filler classics including BSB, *NSync, and Toni Basil. Yep.

There is video evidence but if I showed you any, I fear our reputations as classy women of superior integrity may be compromised and I won't have that.

You get the picture though:

Ahem.

Several cocktails later, we were asleep by 11pm.

It felt necessary, however, to head out in the morning for a fry-up (which I spent the rest of the day regretting but seemed like such a good idea at the time ...)

A night of silliness was long overdue though, so I regret very little. Except maybe trying to twerk. That was a bit wrong.

Celebrating Ma QB's birthday

... at a charmin' local pub, The Home Cottage, where the waiters have squeaky shoes and manage to spill wine and beer over a formerly pristine table, where Sis' order of ham hock comes out (after quite a wait all round, admittedly, but worth it) looking like, well, a serving of half a pig, and where Tia Maria coffees send Ma QB into a fit of lushlike ecstasy:

{... | Photo by Sis}

I even made a cake. I repeat, I made a cake. Nigella's Chocolate Guinness cake, to be exact. And in the process I made an apocalyptic mess of my kitchen:

{... or, an achocalypse, if you will ...}

just to prove I actually made the cake and didn't buy it in or anything (I doubt anyone would ever think otherwise) ...

{via here} 

{NAILED IT}

Well, the intent was good if the outcome was slightly ... quirky.

Happy Birthday, Ma QB. Love oo. xxxx

Stripping the Willow

... with varying degrees of success at the church barn dance.

{Yeeeeee-haw!}

I love a good barn dance, me, and this one was particularly good if only because it was ever so slightly chaotic. Some of the dances descended into shambolism with people going the wrong way or changing partners -- or genders -- halfway through, or passing up or down their sets more times than were necessary (which Julie and I totally did not do, nope, never ...).

{Don't be fooled; it was not as sedate as the photos might suggest ...
My lovely peeps in the bottom corner: Reg, Julie and Lauri}

The caller for the band (The Oddbods, though I'd dispute there were plenty of those on the floor dancing, myself included) must have been at her wits' end by the close of the night: "Not that right foot, the other right foot..." but everyone threw themselves into the dances with gay abandon and it was a shame when we came to the last dance. We all had more in us, I'm sure.

Continuing the gradual declutter for ...

Oct 5: sports water bottle
Oct 6: book
Oct 7: plastic sunglasses
Oct 7b: spare airer from man-cupboard in hallway donated to downstairs neighbours
Oct 8: mug
Oct 9: DVD
Oct 10: books (Natalie and Ma QB helped by taking a good lot of spare books* off my hands)
Oct 11: pack of suitcase locks (unopened, from that ol' man-cupboard again) 

Of course I may have then counteracted the good decluttering work by buying that excellent circus sign thingybob but we'll gloss over that. I also cleared three lever-arch files' worth of old magazine content that I never look at so, QB for the win.

I feel ... slightly cleansed and stuff.

* "spare books". An oxymoron, surely?

Pinterest Pin of the Week

Ladies, gentlemen, boys, girls, llamas, miscellaneous others, I interrupt this missive to bring you the ever so slightly worrying news that I am one pin away from having pinned 5,000, er, pins. (Have I used the word 'pin' quite enough yet?)

Admittedly a lot of recent pins are links to articles in those magazines I've thrown out in physical form to continue the declutterage but still ...

I believe a Pintervention may be in order ...

Oh but this, though:

Weekly Web Finds

Serious

• Waterstone's to stop selling Kindles as book sales surge | Hear that? That's the sound of ME MAKING MY SMUG FACE #luddite #booksaremybag | on The Guardian | via Ma QB

• Seven priorities for young feminists today | June Eric Udorie for The Guardian
• I like the principle of this clothing company but think the differences need to be more obvious
• An excellent and interesting TED talk: Why some of us don't have one true calling | Emilie Wapnick | via Katerina, fully paid-up multipotentialite!

• This film -- or its lead actors' t-shirt slogan decisions more precisely -- has courted controversy ahead of its release in the UK | Suffragette | on YouTube:

• A double dose of James Bay again this week (I've been trying to pinpoint who he sounds like and I've alighted on 'early James Morrison' which is not a bad comparison) |
  
  1) Let it Go 

(oh, now, you know it's not that one) duet with Ed Sheeran

2) Let it Go | with rather wondrous modern dance interpretation (chor: Talia Favia, dancers: Chaz Buzan and Courtney Schwartz). Watch either. Or both. Or neither. It's entirely up to you. No pressure. | on YouTube | via Jo

Silly and Spurious

• 13 myths about advertising | on The Poke | via Reg

{via here}

• This made me smile (thanks, cousin Richard -- and this may be your first Sunday Summary mention!):

• 20 classic works of literature improved by googly eyes | on Brommando via George Takei | via Natalie

• And finally, this, which just about tops "Freddie Starr ate my hamster": | via The Poke

Stay groovy.

qb xx

PS Not sure how I've got through a whole SS without any mention of JOS or CHARLIE so here it is. HELLO, JOS AND CHARLIE. You're marvellous, mmmkay? xxx