Gosh where did the days go this week?! I’m sorry I’m late with the link-up again. There’s been so much going on that I just ran out of time. Again, I’ve taken zero style photos so I figured I’d just do a little life update and let you know what I’ve been up.
Mostly, I’ve been working on Think Like Queenie and The Little Queenie Club. Think Like Queenie is my female empowerment YouTube channel which features videos about wellbeing, empowerment, meditation, affirmations, successful women and so on. The Little Queenie Club is a ‘sister’ channel for little girls about similar things. I’ve yet to figure out the best way to get my message forward for the kids channel but I have made a couple of very basic cartoon-style videos and I’ve been working on other content for that too. Both channels are very time consuming but I am absolutely loving every second! I’m quite proud that Think Like Queenie already has 150 subscribers, despite only being live a few months. The Little Queenie Club has two (one of which is me, and the other my brother LOL!!), but I need to make much more content before I can start promoting it. But, as you can imagine, it’s been keeping me rather busy.
My life update wouldn’t be complete without mentioning that I’ve had a few days out with friends, some just for fun, but some for more serious issues that we’re dealing with, like medical visits—not for me, but for a very dear close friend who was recently diagnosed with an illness. Thankfully, it’s been caught early enough and we’re confident and hopeful that she’ll make a full and rapid recovery but obviously that’s been on my mind a lot lately and I will be here whenever she needs me, which could mean some of my posts / link-ups might be late over the coming months but I will try and avoid it.
I had a wonderful few hours with an old friend yesterday which was fabulous. She lives in the UK so I don’t see her often enough, but when we get together, it’s like we’ve never been apart. I adore hanging out with her and can’t wait to see her again soon. I should have taken a photo, shouldn’t I? I guess we were far too busy nattering! After I left her, I went and had my hair trimmed. I always love having it done because I feel so much lighter (my hair is so thick and so she thins it out as much as she can) when I leave.
Last week, we took a drive over the border to Seville to do a spot of shopping in CostCo with some friends. We made a day of it, and were amazed at some of the bargains we got. If you’re able to buy stuff in bulk, it’s well worth having a CostCo card, I can tell you! We bought some huge jars of Spanish olives which are absolutely divine…honestly, I think it was worth the two and a half hour drive just for those! We also bought some new towels and I don’t think I’ve ever had such large, fluffy towels before. The funny thing is, they were actually made in Portugal! We also bought a massive jar of coconut oil (for the same sort of price we would pay for a small jar over here), and lots of other goodies. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a huge selection of vegan products though. But what we did buy, we were delighted with.
Speaking of vegan food, Michael made the most delicious pasta recipe the other day. We loved it so much, we’ve already had it three or four times lol. It involves blanching a few leaves of dark green cabbage into the pasta water, then popping it into a blender with some nutritional yeast, garlic, a little vegetable stock and a few cashews and whizzing it up and then simply mixing it with the pasta once it’s cooked. OMG…it’s absolutely delicious! I think he said it’s a Jamie Oliver recipe. It’s kind of like a cabbage pesto. That ‘cheese’ on top is actually vegan parmesan and it’s amazing. The first time Michael made this, he also blanched some asparagus and threw that in with the pasta. OMG Yummylicious!
I’ve had a few rather large ‘treats’ over the past months or so. First, Michael decided to treat me to the most fabulous all singing, all dancing coffee machine! (Michael isn’t a coffee drinker btw.) I had a simple Nespresso machine before which I loved, but it was getting rather expensive and we also weren’t so keen on using pods all the time. It’s not very good for the environment, is it? So, Michael decided it was time I had a new machine and because we’d recently bought a new SMEG fridge, we decided to go down that route, and so we got the SMEG BCC02. It looks fabulous (don’t all SMEG appliances?!) and works like a dream. It even cleans itself after each use! It grinds the beans too, so each cup of coffee is extra fresh and delicious. I’m thrilled with it. Here’s it is next to the Nespresso machine (which I’m using occasionally as well, to use up all the pods, and for decaf).
The second treat is even more of an extravagance…we bought a Playstation just for me! Michael has been playing his for almost a year now (he did have one when were in our twenties) and he plays online with the ‘boys’ most nights, and because I’d started playing Hogwarts Legacy recently, I was a bit put out that I couldn’t play while they were playing! So, we bought another PS5 just for me! I was like a little kid in a candy store when we got it. So now after dinner, and after we’ve watched an episode or two of something or other together, he plays with the boys, and I go and play Hogwarts in my Woman Cave! It’s great. I’m having a lot of fun lol.
As for television, we’ve been watching old episodes of Monk, which we never saw when it came out twenty years ago. OMG it’s hilarious (and very moving at times, too). I’m absolutely loving it! We’ve just started Season 7 so we’ve not got that many left. I think I’ll be sad when it’s finished though. I get so attached to the characters of whatever I’m watching, do you? We’re also on Season 3 of Jack Ryan at the moment too, which is pretty good. I preferred the first season, to be honest, but I’m still enjoying it. When we’ve finished watching both, we’re really looking forward to seeing the last season of Marvelous Mrs Maisel.
The other thing I’m still making my way through on my own (Michael’s not a fan), are all the old Star Trek episodes, but I’m on the very last season of Voyager now and I don’t want it to end! Last weekend I binge watched Queen Charlotte, a Bridgerton spinoff which was absolutely brilliant! I did a video about it on Think Like Queenie and it’s my most viewed video yet! I really hope they make more episodes. I’m not sure what to watch after I’ve finished Voyager though. I tried Deep Space Nine but couldn’t get into it at all. I’ve watched all the other Star Treks. Any suggestions?
Gosh I’ve gone on and on a bit for this life update, haven’t I? What have you been up to lately? I hope you’ll share in the link-up this week…
