Personification: Bank Balance.

Dear Bank Balance,
I know we've had some turbulent times of late, but I hope you really appreciate the love that has been shown to you today, this bleary Thursday. I hope that you are really enjoying being quite full up and satisfied, like you have eaten a big piece of cake. I promise that I will try really hard not to take away the gift of pay day that you have been given today, but I can't make any rash promises. I have lots of things to do and buy and people to see in the coming month, and you should be really proud that you provide the goods for me to be able to do this. So see it not as a negative, but relish the opportunity for your owner to pick away at you through the coming month, and please I ask of you... continue to love me.
Yours in dollar, pound, sterling and pence,
Emmah xo

Great Things About Life This Week #1

New feature! Great things about life this week. Because life is great?

• Grace. This is the best thing about life every week, but this week it is just apparent to me even more so. Buy this book - What's So Amazing About Grace? but make sure it's the visual edition. It's just wicked.
• New music: Lots of people have been recommending me lots of good music this week, and this means there are lots of new artists/bands to get excited about. Foy Vance still ultimatley owns my heart, and I have been telling anyone and everyone about that, but there are lots of other exciting people I need to write about in the next few installments of Massively Great Bands. (Love the fact that it's called bands yet all the people I talk about are solo.)
• The massive rainbow storm that's just happened outside. Massive rain drops, mental showers and then the sunshine just appears and makes everything okay. Somewhat of a (albeit slightly lame) metaphor for some stuff going on in life at the moment. Reminds me of Lord of The Rings when Sam gives his amazing speech at the end of Two Towers when he says 'And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer.' Oh, Sam. You chubby bundle of joy.
• People. Specifically new, great, lovely people. Getting to know people is exciting.
• Yesterday. My friend Massimo came to visit me and we walked up this really massive hill just out of the town where I live. We stopped at the bottom and chatted for ages and then got a bit lost trying to get up the other side. My niece called him Mandy and my mum gave him a wicked haircut. Him and my dad even had a long conversation about how we are becoming a nanny state. Intense stuff. I mainly just moaned a lot, but it was a really great day.
  
• Brownies. I made Nigella Lawson's brownies on Saturday for a family party and they were so lush, I have stuck to Jamie Olivers recipe in previous brownie-making escapades, but Nigella ftw now.I have gone on and on about them this weekend but they really were the best batch ever: Exhibit A:

LUSH TIMES.

Anyway, that's it. Hope the 11 people who read this are really well and happy.

Massively Great Quotes #11

image from google images

"'There's no use trying,' said Alice. 'One can't believe impossible things.'
'I dare say you haven't had much practice' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I believe as many as 6 impossible things before breakfast.'"

The Best Thing About Today #8

This song:



SO WICKED. SO GREAT. JUST LITERALLY ONE OF THE BEST SONGS EVER.

Photo Post #3

Wonderful Websites #3

http://www.stuffonmycat.com
http://www.stuffonmycat.com
http://www.stuffonmycat.com
http://www.stuffonmycat.com
http://www.stuffonmycat.com

If, like me, you enjoy cats then this website is for you.
If, like me, you enjoy stuff then this website is for you.
If, like me, you enjoy stuff being put on cats, being photographed, then put onto a website for the world's amusement, then this website is definitely for you.

Wicked Cool Bands #6

"You may make my wells run dry,
but you can not make divinity lie."


image from Foy Vance official myspace page, link below

Foy Vance was mentioned to me a few months ago by a friend of mine who wanted me to go see him with her when I visited her. I, being me and having the memory of a goldfish with alzheimers forgot about this, and so a few weeks ago when a friend of mine was listening to some amazing music in his kitchen, I was delighted to hear it was Foy. His infusion of irish soul combined with the joyous sound of his voice was truly captivating, and I was suddenly counting down the days when I'd see him live.

This took place last Tuesday at the Glee Club in Birmingham, and without a doubt was one of the best musical experiences of my life. Foy Vance is amazing. His energy on stage is electrifying and the passion he has for what he does and the words he sings is immeasureable. His album is aptly titled 'Hope' which is a constant theme in his music, a CD filled with songs that make you realise what it is to be alive. My favourites include Be With Me and First of July but the whole of the Hope album is pure lovely genius. A treat of the evening was when he played Homebird, and invited one of our party on stage to sing with him! Amazing.

Here is a live session & here is his Myspace. He's on Spotify under Foy Vance and you can buy his stuff here at his offical site.

So to sum up, this has probably been one of my more heartfelt 'Wicked Cool Bands' posts, but I can't not be excited about this man. Besides the fact that he is an incredibly talented musician (and moved me to tears on more than one ocassion on Tuesday!) he also seems like a bloody nice man. And you can't go wrong with that.

Massively Great Quotes #10

image from google images

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.
- C.S Lewis

What an amazing story.

What an amazing story of grace and truth. I don't always understand everything that happens in life, but here is someone who is convicted that everything happens for a reason, sharing the word of grace with the world.

The Best Thing About Today #7

This song:

Who am I?

Isn't the population of the world 6 billion or something close to that? And every day, close to 6 billion people will wake up, get up, live their day, then go back to some form of sleeping place. 6 billion places that people are sleeping, 6 billion places that people are walking, working, eating, 6 billion people talking, 6 billion people sitting, crying, thinking, laughing, fighting. That's an awful lot of people. And to think that within those 6 billion people there are millions, probably billions of divides. Physical ones, emotional ones, spritual ones. Divides between people, landmarks, places, minds. Sometimes I will get days when I feel like I'm taking a step back and looking inwardly upon this world that we reside in and just find myself thinking 'woah'. Do you ever have those days?

You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Who am I that You are mindful of me?