secondly, and this is the big one: Télégramme has launched! huzzah. You can find it here:

www.sarahmia.co.uk/telegramme – looking forward to seeing you there

I finally got off my bum and bought a domain and hosting last night, so over the next few weeks I’ll be slowly migrating Falling Foward to it’s new home at www.sarahmia.co.uk. I needed somewhere that could be a fall out room for all the junk in my head, so don’t worry too much that you’re missing out, it’ll probably mostly be crap

I had to get a brand spanking new passport for Canada since mine was due to run out in July, and now I have one stamp in it and I’m itching for more. I can’t help it kids, I’m day dreaming of a summer holiday again.

I think it’s something to do with taking a holiday so early in the year that by the time summer comes around it’s nothing but a distant memories and all your friends are jetting off for two weeks in the sun.

With that in mind I present to you my dream list of holidays. Maybe one day I’ll get to tick them all off the list, heh.

Short Trips In Europe
Croatia
Prague
Iceland
Greece
Spain
Ireland
Oslo
Finland

Long Haul Flights With Films To Watch & Free Food (Yay)
New York (what girl doesn’t want to go to New York, really?)
LA
Hawaii
The Maldives
Cuba
New Zealand
Australia (I’ve been before but it’s so vast, definitely worth another trip at some point)
Japan
Mauritius
South Africa
Morocco
Egypt

I don’t think missing anything right now, but I’m sure I’ll think of more and I continue to browse lastminute.com and find all the cheap deals I could take up. For now I’ll have to content myself with looking tho so if you think there’s anywhere I really much see feel free to comment below and if you want to take me when you go, all the better

I have long been a fan of French Connection. I know it’s probably not cool to like them anymore, but I genuinely do like their clothes and they last well, which is a must for me. I’ve been having fun playing around in Photoshop, dreaming up outfits I would buy if I could afford it. First up:

Top L-R Carly Tulip Dress £75 ; Bronte Knit’s Cardigan £85 ;
Kit Coat £90.50 ; Hayleys Comet Clutch £60
Ella Sandal £120

Funfair Stripe Top £25 ; Eye Eye Sailor Bag £55
Nova Voile Front Shirt £45 ; Dapheria Pump £50
Dream Skirt £21

Parisien Knits Cardi £60 ; Shes Singing Tee £20
Post Hot Pant £30 ; Jaquie Boot £130

Dreamer Dress £60 ; Summer Cairo Belt £30
Silk Stitch Clutch £80 ; Georgia Cardigan £30
Nora Boot £120

Now if only I could find someone willing to buy me it all, I’d be sorted.

I naïvely thought it would be easy, giving recipes to other people, but it’s been harder than I thought. Most of the people I know can already cook, they have no need for me and my preachy skills barging into their life.

I have, however, been trying. I think. The first recipe I passed on was my Smoked Salmon Paté recipe, to my (now ex) boss. It went down a storm and I came away feeling pretty happy because it wasn’t a recipe from a book, it was one of my mothers that I’d adapted to suit. (if you want it, let me know. It’s blindingly simple).

The second came a long time after that. My mum and I are undertaking the ” Try a new dish once a week for three months” of my 101, and one of those recipes was Tuna Burgers. I’ve passed that recipe on to at least three people, but I’m not sure if they’ve actually been made yet.

The trouble now, is that a) I don’t know who else to pass recipes on to and b) what recipes to use. Should I try to find people who can’t cook, and teach them? My gift to my friend Owen this year (hi, Owen!) was to teach him how to cook, since he’s moved out of home and can just about manage beans on toast. But I haven’t been able to do any of that yet, since I’ve had to move back home. & does it count if you teach one person three new recipes?

I guess since I made the list I can decide my own rules. I’d like to pass on five recipes to five different people, but I’ll settle for three people if I really can’t find anyone else willing to put up with my nagging. With that in mind, er, anyone wanna learn how to cook anything?

However, I’ve realised as I went to buy some from Cyber Candy that a) they weren’t in stock and b) they were made my Nestlé. Sigh.

I don’t eat Nestlé, for reasons I won’t go into here, so with a bit of googling* I’ve found a recipe for making them. Sure, it’s simple. Dip pretzels in chocolate. Put them in the fridge until the chocolate sets. But, well. It never hurts to be sure, does it?

I’ll let you know how they turn out, as soon as I can be bothered to get off my bum and make them. Also, what’s a chocolate wafer? Anyone?

*ie I typed “chocolate covered pretzels” into google. I know, I know. Life is hard.

I’ve been looking for a good bento box for a while – I’m tired of taking sandwiches because I’m not supposed to eat wheat, and if you take anything non sandwich in a lunchbox (like pasta (wheat free, obviously) or noodles) then you can’t put anything else in the box.

So when I saw this burger shaped bento on Ebay for a fiver with free shipping, I snapped it up. So far I’ve done two days and it’s been really fun!

Day 2 looked like this:

From top left: cut up hotdogs, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and st agur cheese, left over sweet and sour turkey noodles, banana and greek yoghurt and clementines and grapes. Nom!

If you’re looking for a good bento blog to get you started, I would recommend this one (and not just because they have the same bento box as I do )

Now, if only I could bring myself to spend £25 on a burger phone I don’t need and won’t use, my life will be complete.

Congratulations kid, well deserved Her winning article is here, and the piece the Grazia team wrote about her is here, both well worth reading (in my opinion of course ).

Read in January:

4. 24/01/10 – Blue Collar – Danny King
5. 31/01/10 – Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

Read in February:

6. 01/02/10 – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
7. 14/02/10 – Just After Sunset – Stephen King
8. 24/02/10 – Third & Heaven – Ben Patrick Johnson
9. 26/02/10 – Belle Du Jour’s Guide to Men – Belle Du Jour

I’ve a bit behind if I want to real my goal of 100 books this year, but I’ve actually been doing some really fun stuff so I don’t mind so much

In Progress: 20
4. Declutter - progress is slow, but I’m getting there.
8. Delete all mp3s I don’t like - I am doing this letter by letter. So far, a & b are done.
21. Send birthday cards to my closest friends – I’ve been pretty good this year, so far, at doing this.
23. Pass on at least 5 recipes – this deserves a separate post really, which I’ll do sometime this week. Stay tuned!
40. Spend £15 a week for a month (excluding petrol & bills) – first week of this, going well.
44. Try one new dish a week for three months.
47. Take better care of my teeth
50. Pay off my car
57. Read all Terry Pratchett’s books
58. Read off Toby Litt’s books – reading the last one now
63. See two live bands - I saw Los Campesinos! play last week. They were awesome, they played all my favourite songs and I really enjoyed it. Only one more to go and I can cross this one off my list
69. Keep the bedroom inhabitable
73. Reach payout on www.onepoll.com  – £37.05/£40.00
74. Send a real letter to one new person a month
78. Use all of something before buying something new
82. Nothing from McDonalds for the full 1001 days
84. Get 20 hrs on Wii Fit
88. Limit how much TV I watch
89. Try and pay off one of my credit cards
94. Wear my contact lenses more

Completed: 1
#64 Create a paper address book - I found my old one so I tippexed out all the irrelevant people and filled it up again It’s nice to carry it around in my bag, actually. Plus it’s kind of encouraging me to write real letters to people again (yay! If you want one, let me know your address and I’ll sit down and write you one.)

Slow completion month this month, but I have some plans for March to tick a few more off