Live. Love. Learn. Write.

No really, I love my Old Bag from The Old Bag Company. I bought it at a horse event, I can't remember which now (maybe Badminton). It looks cool, it has lots of pockets and even has a message inside from the kids of the Old Bag team. Best of all it's machine washable. And they sell them in lots of shapes, sizes and pocket uses.

Here is a picture of (a less battered version of) my Old Bag:

Here is a picture from The Telegraph showing some Old Bags in use:

And here is the family behind The Old Bag Company:

Find out more on their website HERE.

So I was sitting in this little coffee shop in the middle of deepest, darkest Somerset. You know the kind of place. The one that sells antiques amongst new junk, and serves tea and cake while you are seated on furniture you can actually buy. (And this place actually did other random food like olives, houmous and pitta bread but that's another story).

I order an Earl Grey and look up (we're seated in what would have been the hallway of the Library - when it was a Library) and i'm almost blinded by the bling hanging from the ceiling. That's right. They were selling chandeliers. Big ones, small ones, white ones, black ones, ones that took candles, ones that were electrically powered, even one made of antlers... I was both horrified and excited.

Here in lies the problem. Chandeliers in normal people's houses do not work as a general rule. I'm not going to say that they never work, because if tastefully introduced in the right environment they do, but still... We are talking footballer's wives stuff really aren't we? So when presented with them on mass I recoiled in horror. But then, I looked again, and I fell in love.

She was beautiful. Perfect in every way. Painted white with just the right amount of light bulbs and just the right minimal amount of bling. I should have bought her. I should have at least taken her photo. But alas, I did not. (There were too many scary looking old ladies in duffle coats). So now you will find me trawling the internet when I have a few moments, mourning the loss of something I never had.

Here are some other chandeliers I like (just not as much).

I need to have nice stationery to write. That might sound stupid and superficial and completely ridiculous, however it is true. It is a habit that has remained with me from school and much as I have tried to deny it, no amount of boring lined notepads with brown blah cardboard backing and pens that fail to write creatively have won me over. (My one exception is bic biros - they are brilliant).

I travel through several stationery stages a year and currently I love Emma Bridgewater stationery. Items are available in two different designs at present: Polka Dot and Black Toast. The latter actually has nothing to do with toast and everything to do with key phrases. The products range from travel items such as passport covers, to recipe books and writing sets. And if the mood takes you, you can also find pottery, tins and accessories on the website! Final point, in my opinion it is all fairly reasonably priced.

Here is some pieces I love.

Does anyone else have issues with characters that won't behave? My characters in my current story just won't stick to the script. They are very keen on showing me the way that they feel the story should go. I've given up fighting them. If that's the argument they want to have, and if that is who they want to be in the scene with them, then so be it.

Lets hope I do them justice.

So there is all this hype, and apparently we are all going to be sitting at our computers (at 5.01am for us here in the UK) waiting to choose our very own Facebook url. Maybe we'll be so nervous we'll be hitting the refresh button over and over, just hoping against hope that our page loads faster than that other person with the same name on the other side of the world (or even down the street).

Now, assuming the whole system doesn't go down from the overload of users, we'll get options of names (because obviously your first choice will be taken - a bit like coming to Gmail or Hotmail late in the game and having to have a collection of numbers after your name). You choose your url, and then you can send people directly to your page. Similar to what MySpace and Twitter have always done... This url will always 'belong' to you and even if you decide to leave the Facebook world forever noone else will be able to use it.

Why am I not bothered about this? Because Facebook is, for me, the social networking site I use to connect with people I actually know. I know everyone I am 'friends' with, to varying degrees. All of them can spell my name well enough to type it into search and find me, and if they can't, well who are they to me anyway?

I never refer people to my Facebook page. In fact all my privacy settings are set so high that it would be immensely boring for you to go there. (Unless you know me, in which case you can request to be my virtual Facebook friend - Hi by the way, and no I still haven't got around to uploading those photos). I kind of like the fact that we don't have our names splashed all over it. It has meant less spam, and less randoms adding me as a friend (where do these people come from anyway?!). My photos I share on there are my own private pictures of social gatherings I go to, not huge media events that I want everyone to see. I use Twitter to connect with people I know online, and share as much information about myself as I want shared there on the 'open market'. Systems like Twitter and MySpace are sold on a very different premise to Facebook. They are telling you to SELL YOURSELF. Facebook was always more about connecting with your IRL friends. And yes some of my Twitter friends have become Facebook friends but that is really a whole other thing (and pretty rare on the whole).

Will I be up at 0501 waiting to choose my url...? Only if I happen to be awake. If I don't register straight away I probably will do so at some point during the morning. Will I be excited about it? Probably not. I'm only registering so it doesn't look like i'm ridiculous for not having done so.

In case you are excited, or even if you are not, go here after 0501 GMT on Saturday to get your own Facebook vanity url.

I've always needed Twitter to be mobile for me to use it. It's what drew me to it in the first place. I am not always able to get to a computer and these days I can even blog from my phone. When Twitter texts were shut off while they tried to sort out their costs, I unintentionally temporarily jumped ship because I couldn't update easily. I want to be able to tweet and, more importantly, read others tweets on my phone. Now I can.

I currently am using my Nokia 5800 Xpress Music, and I use it for everything. Particularly Google but that's another story.

When I first got it I was using dabr, and Twitter's mobile site, neither of which were doing it for me. They were too simple. And in dabr's case, virtually impossible to accurately use on a touchscreen phone!
I then proceeded to use Slandr, which made it easier for me to Twitpic, but that was too complicated. (Does this remind you of Goldilocks and some technological version of porridge?)
Then I downloaded the trial version of Gravity. This was just right. It does everything but in a simple way, and it is designed for touch screen phone use. It also runs as a native application. Meaning that I can leave it on in the background, which is perfect, and exactly what I want from Twitter.

I can add multiple accounts (and yes I have mutiple accounts; one for me @sorayaleila and one for the dog @chaserory). Not only can I update these accounts but I can see them separately, with their separate people they are following.

I can see what is trending, and additionally to that I can add up to ten personalised searches which automatically update when you are online.

Which brings me to being online. With the new BETA updates you can opt to automatically connect to WLAN when you are in range, rather than using up your mobile data allowance.

When you want to tweet, you press NEW which is handily sat in the middle at the bottom of the screen, a box appears and allows you to write in a legible size! Amazing how many applications forget that it being readable is actually quite useful!

When you click on a tweet from a user you are following you are given several options. These are dependant on what the tweet includes. The general options are to see other tweets including that username, reply, follow/ unfollow, retweet, direct message and favourite. You also will have the option to see tweets by other users mentioned, open links and see other hashtag results. It's a good system, and as easy to use with a touch screen as can be expected. Sometimes you will accidently open these options when trying to scroll, but this isn't a major problem in my opinion.

You can post pictures from your phone directly to services such as Twitpic from Gravity. Other supported photo services are MobyPicture, Posterous and TwitGoo. Your most recent photos are automatically loaded in the application, and one touch allows you to choose to post them from the main screen (with it then asking and confirming which account you would like to post it to).

If I had one criticism of Gravity, it would be that if you have it running natively there is no way to look back through tweets you may have missed by, I don't know, living your life. A previous tweets button would come in extremely useful! Other users have said that they feel it would benefit from the option of groups... I have no opinion on this as I don't use them.

I'd recommend anyone with a S60 phone has a go with the demo model. Be aware however that after ten days this expires, which is highly upsetting. And then you are charged £8 to buy it, which is even more upsetting considering usual app prices. But hey, maybe it's worth it.

You can download the trial version of Gravity (and then the paid version) here at the Mobileways.de website.

About midweek last week I needed a cake. I had cake mix but only half of the actual enthusiasm needed to make it (yes I am aware using cake mix is not real baking but cut me some slack here), so I called in reinforcements in the form of A. She came bearing eggs, the only ingredient I didn't have. Now lets have a little look at the instructions shall we:

Right so first preheat oven. This I can do. This turns out to be the only easy bit.
Next mix some ingredients. Ok so the very beginnings of an issue. We had no mixing bowl. No worries, I said confidently, we'll just use a saucepan.

And so we begin. Adding the ingredients. Sachet. Check. Two medium eggs. Check. 180ml of water. Ahh. Slight stumbling block. I have no water measuring implements or more specifically no measuring jug. So we guesstimate. I think quite well really. Same problem with the oil. Guesstimate. All seems ok.

Then we are meant to whisk on a slow speed with an electric whisk. I don't have one of those. (Oh come on my entire kitchen is made up of things I had for university - and yes university was over a couple of years ago but I still have similar eating habits. In case anyone is interested I do have a toaster, a kettle, a sandwich toaster, a blender [for guacamole, cocktails and milkshakes] and a microwave [reasonably new purchase]). So instead of an electric whisk I provide A with a fork, and she manages some quite impressive non-whisking. Ending in a, virtually perfect, cake mix. A is amazing.

This (perfect) mixture should be spooned into two cake mix tins. Take a wild guess as to whether I have any cake tins. That's right I don't. So what could be the next best thing in my kitchen? The glass lid of a casserole dish! Perfect. Here is said perfect mixture in said casserole dish placed in aforementioned preheated oven.

Cake safely in oven we could begin on the next stage. Making the chocolate filling. So according to the very nice box instructions we need to weigh the butter. No I don't have any scales. So we go back to guesstimating. If the tub of marg is 500g and I have used X of Y then P will be the amount I scoop out with a spoon. So I hand all the responsibility to A, the person who is completely in charge and knows what she is doing, my helpful assistant, who achieves the perfect consistency.
Finally we create the Frosting. Now at this point i've given up reading the instructions and so do something really bad (in the world of fake cooking anyway), I open the bag of chocolate chips and tip them (?!) into a hot saucepan on top of the hob and begin to merrily melt. This is apparently a serious error, one which was almost immediately brought to a stop by A (she always knows best). She saved the day by using the magical microwave, and a fork.
Here is the frosting and filling side by side. Do you like the use of the picnic plastic camping bowls by the way? They came in useful. (And yes those are my GHD's in the background... I sometimes straighten my hair using the microwave door...)
Next remove cake from the oven:
Place out to cool. Or tip onto two plates with force.

Good morning all. I woke up this morning to find everything coated in frost. And I had such a beautiful, and dare I say it 'uplifting' walk with the dog I thought I should share some of it with you. Pass it forward and all that.

Here are a couple of the photographs I took.

I seem to be watching alot of DVDs and recorded TV lately. And I don't mean that I have nothing better to do, because I do. In fact that is almost the point. I have so little time to watch tv that when I sit down I want to watch something that I enjoy watching - not just random c*ap. It's all about condensing the escapism. So anyway I thought I would share my top 5 tv series at the moment (and please bear with me with the series numbers - some i've had to buy to watch from the beginning so yes I am behind, and no please don't tell me what's going to happen next!)

Number One - Obviously. Grey's will always be number one. (ps if you are McDreamy and reading this please get in touch)

Number Two - OK so I know most people are totally over it by now but I stopped watching about mid third series so i've got some catching up to do!

Number Three - I have no idea why I like this so much but I do. Sky+ has been instrumental in feeding my Ghost Whisperer obsession. Have seen them in a very weird order (Andrea is alive, She is not alive, She is alive [I think you get the idea]).

Number Four - The drama. The love. The lives. It's different and it's just good.

Number Five - Very very helpful with my puppy.