Spend the day with me | spring in Edinburgh, day one | Portobello morning walk and book chats

Good morning friends! I hope you're all doing well. This feels reminiscent of Vlogmas days because I had the intention by keeping this up that I would sort of go to it regularly and start using the teas up and I didn't expect to still have it up in April. It's April! Happy April! And then I realized the thing that was putting me off using it is because I kept having to go to the advent calendar and look up the teas. So the other day I wrote all of the tea names on the packets. So it's so much easier and I've been dipping into it more regularly. And I think the past couple of days I've been having the Shibuyi's Golden Mate green tea mixed with mate. So I think I'm just going to keep using this until I use it up because I always have a green tea in the morning and there isn't that many green teas in the advent calendar. Anyway, the kettle is just boiled. Let's go make a cup of tea. I almost forgot. I've brought you a little bit closer because I've changed things a little bit here. So previously this plant sat here but this kitchen is so tiny and I have very little counter top space anyway that I use the the drying space quite a bit. So this is taking up space. And then I remembered I had this in one of the storage cupboards so I figured that I could maybe put it up here, move Rachel's artwork here and I really love it. Sometimes I make little changes in the house I'm like maybe we might change it but I really like that configuration at the moment. And I'm just hoping that he likes this. It's not too different from here so I think he should be quite happy here as well because he has really thrived since I moved him from the living room. He has like little the ends of his little pamphrons were all sort of burnt looking and dry and since he's come here his new ones are so happy. So he's definitely and he's flowered for the very well in his own way he has flowered for the first time. It's not a typical beautiful flower but it is still lovely and I'm so happy to see he's thriving. So anyway a little random house update. I've also made another tiny change to where I sit and have my morning cuppa now so come with me. Welcome to my new little corner that I've created. I was just I was basically having a little bit of a clear out and reorganize of the kitchen and I ended up with another little trolley that I was like where am I going to put this? So I've ended up moving it to the cupboard and using it for a different purpose but then this chair didn't have a home and I was thinking how lovely it would be to sit here particularly in the summer because this room is the brightest and use this little windowsill a little bit like a table and I'm just going to have my porridge have my cup of tea and do a little bible reading bible study. Because it's on the week up to Easter I've been looking at the passages to do with Palm Sunday and Jesus's arrival in Jerusalem so I wrote them out yesterday. It's the first time I've ever done this type but I found it really helpful. I wrote out the different versions, not versions, the different accounts from the gospels and I found myself just thinking about it a lot more throughout the day so I'm going to do something a bit similar today. Anyway so the plan for today slash maybe the week is sort of a spring diaries daily vlogging in Edinburgh and we'll see how many days in we get. I don't have any particular plans at the moment. I do have things scheduled in with friends but other than that we're just taking each day as it comes and it's going to be very just a sort of join me if you would like to spend the week with me sort of series. Today for example I had an idea in mind what I wanted to do but I didn't really wake up as early as I should have for that plan and also it's still pretty windy. Tomorrow's looking much better for a wonder so I think today will just be a really kind of cozy day at home. I might nip out to get some food shopping, maybe a little charity shop browse in there because ever since Denise and Tasha told me that they'd gone back to the St Columbus furniture charity shop it's been stuck in my mind that I would like a little browse in there so I'm also looking for a few sort of kitcheny things like a kitchen towel holder and I can't remember what else I wanted. There was a few little things though so maybe they'd be quite a good place to look for that and then I'm seeing Tasha this evening which will be really lovely and that's kind of the plan for the day and it's just going to be a very very chill day. I want to have a little chat with you about the book that I finished. Have I chatted to you about that already? I don't think I have because I'm hoping to start a new book tomorrow. That's part of the plan for tomorrow. You'll just have to wait but anyway okay I'm going to eat my food, read a little bit and do a little bit of my bible study and I will chat to you soon. Oh the sun is coming out! I don't know how long it'll be out for but it is lovely to see it. Also can you see my three daffodils? I'm very proud of them because that's all that's survived over the winter and the squirrels that dig them up. So little change in plans for the day. I'm just making my bed. I like to air off in the morning but my plan had been to pop out and get some food shopping and just maybe have a little walk but I got a message from Claire saying that she was going to do a bit of food shopping and take Sally for a very quick walk at Portobello so would I like to join? That is a win-win for me. I get to see my good friend Claire, I get to see my fluff puff, my original good girl Sally and I get some food shopping as well so that sounds like a plan to me and then I'll be back again in time to get myself ready and go to Tasha's this evening I think and obviously hopefully edit this video as well at some point today but yeah that is the plan. So I'm going to get myself ready. Claire says in the next sort of half an hour-ish she'll be ready. So it's kind of disappeared again but you did see it, the sun did try to come out for a little bit there so wouldn't it be so lovely if the sun came out, we had a nice walk along Porti. I think I'm going to take my antihistamines because for some reason something in Portobello beach area always makes me, I don't know, aggravates my allergies for some reason. I don't know what it is but specifically that beach. Okay, time to get changed. Everyone's excited. You excited Sally? Yes, that's totally fine. It's really windy here and I'm right next to a road so hopefully you can hear me but popped into Bain's because I'm a little bit peckish and you would think I would have gone for a macaroni pie but I'm in the mood for a cheese and onion pasty and then I love the eggs from any of the St Columbus charity shops so since I was passing I got some eggs. Okay, now to go find Claire and Sally because they were headed to the dog shop. Harry Street. There she is. There you go. Thank you Sally. How many sausages have you eaten today? Really good. Okay, so it's a little bit later on in the day. I've been home for a while. I'm back in my pajamas again just because I really don't like sitting in the house with what I call like outdoor clothes on like my jeans or something. As soon as I get back in I just want to be comfortable so anyway since I got back I've just been editing this video. I also read a little bit of, hopefully you can hear me because there's a lot of cooking noises because I'm gonna have to leave to go to Tasha's very soon and I just realized I need to have dinner. So anyway, I started the book that I got from the little library in Portobello. I will show you that in a little while. I maybe like read a chapter and had a cup of tea when I first came in and then did some work and then had a little phone call chat with my mum because unfortunately she's just not been feeling that great recently so she's in the hospital just getting a couple of things sorted out so yeah I really hope that she starts to feel better soon and yeah I'm just because it's I'm rushing on time I decided just to make myself a little mushroom omelette and I've got little tiny fish cakes cooking in the air fryer as well so that's the plan for dinner and then it'll be a very quick meal we'll head out to Tasha's better concentrate and not burn my my omelette well this is two mushrooms at the moment so I'm back home it's later on in the evening closer to 10 o'clock and I just had the loveliest time catching up with Tasha just so nice to see her and just feel very blessed by such a lovely evening anyway I thought I'd finish the video with some book chats because I finished reading The Making of a Martianess by Frances Hodgson Hodgson Burnett and I can't remember if I gave you a review I know I talked about it in various videos because I was vlogging while reading it but I don't think I gave a final thoughts on it and I'm very conflicted because this book is a book of two very different stories even though it involves the same characters very different genres in my opinion very different tone so the first half the part one follows Emily I believe her name I have a really bad memory when once I finish a book a week passes and it's kind of I only remember bits and bobs but I'll try to remember as much as I can it follows Emily who's in her 30s I think she's maybe 35 and at that time that was really considered sort of spinster territory she did not expect to find love or a marriage or have a family or anything like that instead she is from quite a good family but just isn't she doesn't have the money she's not she doesn't she's quite poor and she lives in this really small room and rents from these two well it's a mother and a daughter really lovely mother and daughter that she really enjoys where she stays and she makes the most of what she has she really takes pride in her appearance and making sure she gets really good deals so she still looks quite presentable anyway because she's very useful and just a really nice person she's quite childlike she is very happy to listen to people and because of all this some richer old ladies have Emily work for her writing I think correspondence and just doing some errands for her so one of these ladies whose name I have forgotten invites Emily to her summer sort of mansion and Emily sets off she joins this sort of party of pretty wealthy individuals and she even though she's there as a guest she is very much helping I wish I could remember her maybe Lady Maria I think it might be Lady Maria Lady Maria has her doing lots of tasks it is very much a sort of Cinderella story I don't think I'm giving too much away it's quite predictable but I just really enjoyed it because it felt very comforting knowing roughly where it was going there wasn't going to be any surprises I thought it was quite well well written I found it to be quite page turner and just really nice to follow Emily about as she described the places she was going the people and you're just trying to figure out what was going on as well so really enjoyed part one part two I expected similar going into part two um I don't know if I'm giving too much away potential spoilers I'm just gonna say potential spoilers if you do read it but I think even I knew going into it was a Cinderella story for the part one so she probably was going to meet somebody so going into part two I assumed it would be more about their life together and it really wasn't he the yeah he made sort of an appearance but then he disappeared for quite a bit of part two and it turned into more of a gothic thriller I guess a little bit akin to Daphne du Maurier who I love I really enjoy her books but I think Daphne I really enjoy her writing I think the the mood and the atmosphere she creates the suspense and not quite knowing what's going on whereas I feel that Frances was sort of doing that but I could kind of see what was happening and it's not as fun somehow knowing what's going to happen in a sort of gothic thriller than it is in a sort of light romantic drama where you you know what's pretty much going to happen like watching a rom-com I'd be pretty disappointed if the two didn't end up together because I've signed up for a rom-com whereas for more of a thriller it wasn't quite a thriller but there's thriller aspects of it I suppose I didn't I kind of wanted to be a little more surprised and it was quite I found it quite clear what was happening and I sometimes found it a little bit frustrating I liked how childlike and innocent Emily was in part one it kind of worked for that story in my opinion but for part two she still has that because that's part of her character but it's more infuriating and a little bit frustrating that she's not seeing what's going on until people start pointing out or yeah I don't want to say too much don't say too much but I'm torn because I did really enjoy part one part two was fine I didn't dislike it but I think I would give this Persephone a sort of three out of five I think it's probably my least favorite Persephone I've read but that's you know saying something because the other Persephone's have become favorites of mine so this isn't by no means a bad book in my opinion and if you came across it you know in a charity shop or something would still recommend giving it a shot and maybe you wouldn't recommend buying it full price but that's just my own opinion and it has a lovely very nice as all the Persephone books have really lovely details and matching bookmark if you buy it from them I got the second hand though okay that was quite a long review I hope that I didn't give too much away and I think those are all my opinions but I did enjoy the characters on the whole okay for today's reads I didn't expect to be getting any new books today but when I was in Portobello they have a little library on the prom and I spotted an MC Beaton book and I got really excited because my sort of favorite comfort read for a series is the Hamish Macbeth series by MC Beaton and it's about a Highland policeman and he's generally solving murders in his village or nearby but it's I personally find them very cozy whodunits nothing is gritty or too graphic it's very much about Hamish's life his pets and he's usually in some kind of love triangle or something funny is happening in the village so it's quite a light-hearted read even though it is still a whodunit so when I saw this I assumed it either be a Hamish Macbeth series or she's also really well known for the Agatha Raisin series which I don't think I've read or maybe I've tried to read and didn't wasn't quite my cup of tea but this one is called the series is called The Travelling Matchmaker I'm intrigued it's called Penelope Goes to Portsmouth and I've never heard of The Travelling Matchmaker apparently there's quite a few in the series it's written in 1991 so it's I'm surprised I haven't heard of it but I yeah there's two horrors I think six Travelling Matchmaker series she's also got one called the Edwardian Murder Mystery series that sounds more like my cup of tea I wouldn't normally choose to read I don't know maybe it just wouldn't be my usual thing I would I would gravitate towards follows I think Penelope no Miss Pym yeah Miss Hannah Pym sorry I only read chapter one it follows so far she is on her way to I assume Portsmouth they're on like a public coach so there are different people getting into the coach and all of them are quite characters we've got an aristocrat who's really drunk we've got an American businessman I think we've got a woman who seems quite prim and proper and is sort of pretending well we the characters think that she's maybe putting on airs I think and then we've got Miss Hannah Pym who is just on her way she's coming to she used to work in a big house as a maid in some capacity and she's come into some money by an inheritance so she's sort of having a new life kind of similar to Emily I think it's going to be a really quick read so I will keep you posted and then I also got maybe I should show this to you a little bit closer actually sorry the lighting's not great I also got this cute little book and it's quite an old one because it's two shillings to buy it and I just couldn't resist it because my grandparents are from China so I would be really interested in reading a little bit more about Chinese art and it's such a small little read that I couldn't resist I couldn't leave it behind anyway I've been talking for so long that I need to go to bed well no I need to first edit this video and finish it so that it can be hopefully posted tomorrow morning and then head to bed because I've got such a fun day tomorrow and I'll tell you about it tomorrow because I've been talking too much okay I hope that you're all doing well and I just want to say thank you so much if you've made it this far if you've commented recently even if I hadn't had a chance to reply to it I read all the comments um I'm just so grateful if you've donated on buy me a coffee I can't thank you enough so so kind of you if if I know that some of you mentioned that you keep my mom in prayer I appreciate it so much um so thank you thank you so much and I will hopefully see you tomorrow bye