Welcome to a new series on my blog! Oh how we all love a good series... This will one will appear monthly on the blog and in it I will talk about all the new experiences that I have had over that past month, things that I have loved or benefited from and that I want to share with you all too. It could be a book or movie that I particularly enjoyed, a concert that I found inspiring, a delicious new recipe that I tried... you get the idea. I hope that you might take some ideas from it or find my reflections and impressions helpful to read. So here is the first one, the January edition of 'Freya Chooses...'
MEDIA
Book: This month, the book that I particularly loved was 'The Secret History' by Donna Tartt. I have heard quite a lot about this author recently - her newest book, 'The Goldfinch' has received much praise and I have yet to read that. But I found her writing in this novel very beautiful and totally engaging. It is described as a psychological thriller, which I partly agree with, but what I found most compelling was the window that Tartt gives us into the romantic and eccentric lives of a group of very unique and wonderful characters. I highly recommend giving this a read.
Movie: I am not going to mention the most current movie of the moment, featuring the city of stars, which unfortunately I did not enjoy at all. Instead I will mention a movie that I did love. Although not a new one to the movie world, it is new to me and that is 'Suffragette'. I always thought that a movie like this would annoy me with suggestions that I take my liberties as a woman for granted, or make me feel guilty about my decisions, which is why I put off watching it. Maybe it was the inspiring Women's Marches that persuaded me to finally watch the movie, or the fact that some of my favourite actresses are in it, but I absolutely loved it, both as a movie in it's own right and as a retelling of history.
"The cure for poverty has a name: it's called 'the empowerment of women'. Now, name me a religion that stands, or has ever stood, for that."
- Christopher Hitchens
Current Affairs: I recently subscribed to The New Yorker magazine and am very excited to receive my upcoming issues in the post. It is artistic and cultural, political and relevant, journalism with real value. If you are feeling upset with current politics and don't know what to do for yourself, I would recommend looking into subscribing to a magazine like this; I feel that the press is so important to us now and supporting great journalism is something small but significant that we can all do in these times.
Podcast: I've been listening to a lot of new podcasts this month and plan to dedicate a blog post to my favourite ones in the future, as I know lots of people who are still kind of figuring podcasts out. But for now, my favourite podcast pick has to be 'The Minimalists'. It's a great and entertaining podcast for anyone interested in the minimalist lifestyle, it addresses questions and daily challenges that life gives us and it just offers some good advice and a cool outlook on the world.
DAILY GRIND
Work: A lot of my resolutions for 2017 are about taking control and putting creative project ideas into action. I have never had a problem with coming up with ideas - I always have far too many floating around in my head - but actually doing them is a whole different matter. I decided to buy an intense daily planner, where I write down all of my commitments and appointments as well as my daily targets, weekly goals, things to get done - everything to make a great plan of action. I have found it amazingly helpful; it gives my time a structure, everything is so clear, I have been able to formulate organised plans which are taking shape and I feel really good about it. Totally recommend investing in something like this, even if it seems a bit tedious at first!
Home: Probably the thing that has most improved our daily lives at home has been our weekly vegetable box subscription. It's like getting a mystery box each week, full of vegetables that we wouldn't normally buy (like turnips or pumpkin or even salsify!) and each week we get to put our creative minds to work, to try and come up with the most delicious recipes which could incorporate these vegetables. As vegetables is the main component of our diet (see my Paleo posts!) this subscription has been so beneficial and has made the diet so much more interesting. Plus, it is a great way of supporting local farmers and feels good to be eating such fresh and local produce.
Luxury: We have a new camera! It is a Canon EOS 750D and it is seriously amazing. I have been experimenting a little bit with it but I can't wait to start using it properly for my blog pictures and to create some cool music videos. I felt I had to count this as a luxury item as of course it is possible to get by without, but I am so excited to see what this will add to my work content too!
"Life doesn't imitate art, it imitates bad television."
- Woody Allen
EXPERIENCES
Travel: I brought in 2017 in a place that I had never been to before; St. Augustine, Florida. My impression of that city has really stayed with me - I found it to be a very special place. Being the oldest city in the USA (officially founded in 1565), it is full of history and is really interesting to just walk around. It also has a beautiful old town with plenty of pretty little shops and cafes, and as it is always so sunny in that part of the world it is a lovely place to visit. My personal highlights of St. Augustine were visiting the old fortress, a beautiful second hand bookshop and a restaurant called 'The Floridian'.
Culinary: While on the subject of my trip to the US at the beginning of the year, I absolutely have to talk about my experience of trying real, authentic Mexican tacos for the first time. On a day that we spent in Knoxville, Tennessee, we decided to do some food shopping at various international markets: in one 'plaza' there were Indian, Korean and Mexican markets. To me, the Mexican one looked just like a small, rather 'unlikely' food shop, with various pieces of produce from Mexico. I quickly found that in the back of the shop was a little cafe, serving INCREDIBLE Mexican food. I have never tasted such delicious food in my life... my mouth is watering just thinking of it and I will never forget my chorizo tacos.
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