I'll save this....

What is it about some of us, that when given a particularly nice 'thing', we want to put it away - save it 'for later' or for that 'special occasion'...

Those fabulous large pasta shells lovingly carried home from Italy by your sister and her husband...too good to use with just any old (homemade from scratch) sauce but squirrelled away for a 'special' meal...

The great wine glasses you have that are a 'bit delicate' - you might catch and break them, so they stay in the glasses cabinet - at the back...

The fabulous heavy silk pashmina bought as a Christmas present that's 'too nice to wear' so it's been in a drawer in the wardrobe for over 4 years...it catches your eye every now and then - you take it out, drape it around your shoulders loving the colours in it before carefully folding it up and putting it back away...

The gorgeous red Le Creuset shallow lidded pan passed on to you from your Mum-in-law's kitchen after she passed - they spent their lives hung on their own rack looking marvellous but never being used as they were far too heavy for her and she never liked to use one of a set. You have it now and don't want to just use it any old time - it's a 'keepsake'...

The first leather jacket you eventually bought yourself when you were in your 40's (!) which you love on but didn't like to wear just any old time...yep - you thought you'd save it for 'special' occasions....

Well folks - I just want to share something with you... if you, like me, think that way about these 'things' watch what happens when you start to push back - rebel against that inner voice...

Those fabulous large pasta shells lovingly carried home from Italy by your sister and her husband...Well I decided that enough was enough - they were bought for us to eat not decorate a cupboard! They were bought in a country that doesn't decorate its kitchens with ingredients - they USE them, enjoying them as part of a meal with family and friends, maybe with a glass of wine. So, an embarrasingly long time after we were given them I decided to use them in a pasta bake with my homemade meat sauce. We even took that risk eyes wide open ready for them to taste a little 'cupboardy' and guess what...it was wonderful - we now look out for that pasta in different shops in the UK that do 'artisan' pasta so we can experience it again!

The great (but VERY fine) red wine glasses you were bought as a Christmas present several years ago... This one was a little nerve wracking to rebel against, as I am terribly clumsy with glasses... I had to give myself a bit of a talking to...swearing to myself they would NEVER see the inside of the dishwasher (thankfully, the stems are too long - they don't fit....), only ever being handwashed... And guess what! They're both intact and have an outing not every time we have a bottle of red wine, but at special dinners during the year - a happy comprimise you might say!

The fabulous heavy silk pashmina bought for a Christmas present, that's 'too nice to wear'... This one is a bit more of a 'work in progress' and really what made me think up this post! This pashmina may be a little large for wearing when we go out for an evening, but will be wonderful to wear around my shoulders at home - why shouldn't I enjoy the lovely colours and patterns during my normal day? I could wear this on a cool Spring or Summer evening in the garden - and I'm going to! It is coming out of my cupboard this week!

The gorgeous red Le Creuset shallow lidded pan passed on to you from your Mum-in-law's kitchen...I'm sort of rebelling by proxy on this one - I have strong enough wrists/hands and only have one of them. I loved seeing those pans everytime I was in Mum's kitchen and always dreamed of having some of my own. I never could (and still can't) justify their price tag, but thanks to a thoughtful 'gift', I at long last had one of them in my kitchen. I dipped my toe in rebellion to begin with - only using it for 'special' meals... (arrrgghhhh!!!) but now it's my pan of choice for potato and fennel gratin or cauliflower cheese, which I cook often. I love the weight of it, I love how it changes colour in the fierce heat of the oven, and I even enjoy getting all those hard baked on bits off - making it lovely and clean to use again!

The first leather jacket you eventually bought yourself... The first 18 months in my ownership, this jacket was worn probably only 3 or 4 times - each time I loved how I felt wearing it, but wanted it 'to last' - a good thrifty sentiment but one that meant I didn't wear it as often as I thought about wearing it...then we went to New York for Thanksgiving in 2008 and I wore it almost all the time. Well that was that really.... I wear it in Spring, Autumn, Winter (with pashmina's and gloves in that season), in rain (and boy is it good in rain!) and in shine. Yes it's scuffed on the seams, showing the wear, but you know what - I love it all the more. The leather is increadibly soft. It could have still been relatively pristine, waiting for me to take it off the hanger for it's infrequent outing, but it wouldn't have kept the freezing cold New York wind off me that November - boy does it stop the draught! It wouldn't have kept the unseasonable showers (and downpours) off me last June (again in New York), and then be breathable enough to wear when it got muggy, finally being carried when it got a little too warm, but I didn't care as it had done such a great job. It wouldn't have been my first choice to wear with jeans at the weekend, or with more formal trousers for an evening out.

So - the next time you think 'ooo....that's far too good to use' or 'I'll save that for a special occasion' or any other such thing - be strong! Tell yourself that it's not too good to be used - it's its purpose and probably the reason you were bought it to begin with. 'Special' occasions can be any time, not an ever moving destination that you never seem to reach! It's worth the risk - honest!

Our Clever Camera...

We've got a new camera - a Canon SX200 - which has a rather neat feature - 'Colour Accent' - you select a colour you want it to focus on, and it does the rest!

I love this picture - it was taken in March this year at Tibidabo Amusement Park, Barcelona. 

http://www.tibidabo.es/en/planol-parc

It was a beautiful crystal clear spring day (very different to our visit last May when it was VERY cloudy).  Typically very cold in the shade, but quite warm in the sun...we actually needed sunscreen!  Here's what the park information says about the ride...

• Avió  Young and old alike will delight in Tibidabo's most emblematic ride and history's first flight simulator. Powered by its own propeller it has been flying since 1928 on a flight that will stir your imagination.

It's safe to say that as we both have quite a fear of heights, and that the plane swings out over a very, VERY big drop, we didn't have a go, but it was wonderful seeing people going on it - both young and old, just as it says in the text - and coming off it with big smiles on their faces!

BlackBerries and Apples

Well here I am, about to cross over to the dark side...I'm switching from my beloved BlackBerry to an Apple iPhone...

Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forwards to my lovely new white toy, but I've been around BlackBerries now for oooo let me think....10 years now.... (crikey!).

It all started with a project I managed to bring in Blackberry devices at a company I worked for - started at 10 devices for the senior team and snowballed into around 1700 of the little gems 6 years later! I've had to use pretty much every device there's been since they launched in the UK - the original black 67xx series devices with the greenish screen and basic integrated phone to the 81xx Pearl devices and all the 8xxx series models beyond. Ahhh I remember all the IT guys in the early days laughing saying that no-one would put one of THOSE to their ear as a phone - it was just too big...but I was a true believer - they were magical devices, a true 'Ronseal' product...they did exactly what it said on the can. They were easy to set up, a piece of cake to use, and easy to fix if they went wrong - ok that was the early days...as RIM got cleverer, the bugs got sneakier but we battled through them all! I waited with baited breath for the Curve to be developed and was the proverbial pig when I was one of the first people in the UK to try it out - I loved that evaluation model and wouldn't let it out of my sight for fear those very same IT guys would run away with it to 'put it through it's paces (tech speak for screw with the Operating System and then try fix it....errr...no thanks lads!)

Here I am though...on the brink of changing away from my beloved old friend to an iPhone. I've had a Macbook for 3 years now and have to say I absolutely love Apple - their software is great, it's well thought out and it looks great! I got an iPod Touch in New York last June and that's given me a great opportunity to use the virtual keyboard, wireless for internet browsing etc and it's been a bit of a chore going back to my trusty 8900 Curve - email is still great - no doubt about that! Those other things I've started to use more and more though... Facebook, internet browsing, using websites in general...I'm sorry to say it just doesn't cut the mustard anymore.

So, after 10 years it's goodbye to BlackBerry - may they long continue to provide excellent products and their march into the consumer arena (it's still very strange seeing young children with BlackBery devices....and as for the new purple Curve...what's the world coming to! LOL)

Helloooooo iPhone 3Gs in white :)