Sunday 31 March 2013

Sunday Supplements (and Sunday Puppy Too)

None of my links today are particularly Easter themed, except for these terrifying pictures. Expat Edna sent them my way after I asked the Tweet machine if the Easter Bunny is trying to elbow Santa Claus out of the gift-giving scene. The past week I've been meeting all these American parents who take their kids to "see" the Easter Bunny, who then "gives" the kids toys, DVDs and video games for Easter. Is this really a thing? I guess rolling eggs just isn't cool anymore.

EATING/DRINKING

 

Not Peeps - here in the USA peeps are an Easter themed marshmallow treat. They have zero flavor, and the fact that they triple their size in the microwave is still no reason to buy them.

Not Kinder Eggs - here in the USA I could take my underage brothers to a rifle range, but wouldn't be able to buy a Kinder Egg. If I even tried to smuggle them in to the USA I could face a $2,500 fine, and frankly with that money I'd prefer something a little fancier, say Faberge.

Not Choco Treasure - The problem with Kinder Eggs in the USA is the "non-nutritive embedded objective" inside (the toy! The best bit!). Some enterprising Americans have invented packaging that gets around the US legislation. But I haven't seen any of these for sale, plus we know that Americans suck at making chocolate anyway.

WATCHING

 

Wreck-it-Ralph - Let's just all admit this movie is not for kids, but for the older millennials who grew up with 8-bit video games. Some of whom now make animation, and some of whom now take their own young kids to see movies. I am in neither camp, but there you go.

ADMIRING

 

Abandoned TastyKake Factory - TastyKake is Philly's preferred brand of commercialized cake. They were the local rival to Twinkies (when they existed).  You know how I love Urb-Ex photos, and Philly ones that at. Brilliant and eerie.

Fuck Yeah Brutalism - All the 1960s breeze block architecture you'd ever want to see.

Postcards from Google Earth - It's like those nightmares you have about being stuck in Sim City. Oh, you don't have those? Just me then?

READING

 

How the Philly accent is changing - The Philadelphia accent is really weird. It makes sense when you think about Pennsylvania's place in the USA geographically and historically. It's the keystone state, the anchor between the North East and the South, and the accent has influences from both regions.

The Skimm - If you don't read this every morning then you should, unless I know you, because then we won't have anything new to talk about with each other.



Friday 29 March 2013

FOOD FIGHT - Black and White vs Jaffa Cake


It's Friday and it's FOOD FIGHT time!

What does that mean? We pit two food items against each other - one from the USA and the other from the UK - and decide which is the best.  Previous editions include Toffee vs Caramel Apple, and Haggis vs Scrapple, and so far the UK food items are winning, but it's early days yet. Maybe I'm just  incurably biased…you'll have to find out below.

Today we have two delicious baked goods from the biscuit aisle of the supermarket. Or do I mean cookie? Or, wait, is it actually cake?

In the US corner we have a sweet, fluffy Black and White, a soft lemon-tinged sponge cookie half-covered in vanilla and chocolate fondant frosting. According to the internet, although this has a soft cake-like consistency it is very much a cookie. The key appeal to these desserts is the size which, like many good American food items, is extra LARGE: We're talking the size of my face.

The best place to find these big babies is your local deli, and not a grocery store. We get ours from an Italian gourmet deli in a nearby town. They're an East Coast US thing, and particularly enjoyed by New Yorkers, including comedy character Seinfeld. Seinfeld suggested that this great nation should look to the black and white as a symbol for racial harmony, which is precisely what Obama did (perhaps inadvertently) in 2008, dubbing it the 'unity cookie'.

In the British corner we have the delectably tangy Jaffa Cake, a soft baked item topped with orange jelly encased in a crisp chocolate layer. These are much smaller than their US counterparts, but are not without their controversy.

Legally they must be described as cakes, not cookies. In the UK biscuits and cakes are not subject to sales tax, except for 'luxury biscuits' covered, or partly covered, in chocolate. A famous 1991 court case required the makers of Jaffa Cakes to defend their tax-free status. Folklore claims that they produced a giant 12-inch version of the cake, proved that it went stale like cake and not soft like biscuit, and so preserved their legal position as cakes. Let them eat tax-free cakes, the courts said, or was that someone else?

Now to the fight, here goes…

Black & White Cookie

Invented: Nobody really knows, although there is at least one claim that they were invented by Austrian Emperor Franz Josef's kitchen staff in the 19th century.
How to Make: There doesn't seem to be one particular method or company that makes these. Aficionados see this as a good thing as they've avoided mass commercialization so far.
How to Eat: Apparently the trick to eating these is trying to get a taste of both chocolate and vanilla in each bite. This is no mean feat considering their size.
Rock n Roll factor: HUGE. A Presidential symbol for racial tolerance in melting pot America, and yet haven't 'sold out' to the commercial forces that be.

Jaffa Cake

Invented: 1927 by Scottish firm McVities.
How to Make:  Like this!
How to Eat: Bite the edges of the cake avoiding the jaffa center, peel off the chocolate layer, eat the chocolate and cake leaving the tangy jelly center until last.
Rock n Roll factor: Once embroiled in one of the UK's top ten landmark court cases. Although tiny by black & white standards, they also come in yard-long packs of 60 and in muffin varieties, although the infamous 12-inch court appearance special is not available commercially.

Who is the FOOD FIGHT winner?

…it's a TIE!

This was a long debate in the Gladley household, and we evaluated each cookie/cake on their individual merits and in comparison with their rival. The final decision was that both fall short of their confectionery potential and so neither can be the winner.

Why? Well, the tangy lemon sponge and the sweet fondant of the Black & White trumps the Jaffa Cake easily, but the US cookie fails to deliver the 'wow' factor when compared to the Jaffa Cake's secret weapon, the tangy orange center.

But the McVitie's brand of Jaffa Cake is also trumped in its own field by a lesser known brand sold by budget supermarket Lidl. The orange center in these economy cakes goes all the way to the edge of the cake, and that's something quite special, trust me.

If we combined the Jaffa Cake and the Black & White into one super-sized jaffa-filled fondant-drenched spongecake cookie dessert it'd be the indisputable king of biscuits, I mean cakes.

PS - I didn't take the photo of the Jaffa Cakes myself as I no longer have access to any, but I got permission from a real professional, Edinburgh-based photographer Jon Davey, to use this photo. I met him back in 2011 when I was at the Edinburgh TV Festival (where he took this photo amongst others). When I asked Facebook if anyone had a photo of a Jaffa Cake, he took a box out of his kitchen cupboard, shot it, and put in on Facebook within a matter of minutes!

Thursday 28 March 2013

Strange things expats do: Feel nostalgic for odd, unexpected things

Little things can catch you out when you live in a different country. For example, this was my favorite part of the British-themed Philadelphia Flower Show this year:

I'm not kidding! This mossy wall is fantastic! It reminded me of the UK much more than any of the flower displays.

It was a garden display representing the city of St.Andrews, which is where I grew up as a teen and where I eventually got married. It has a very special place in my heart.

This week I also saw Selena's pictures of Yorkshire, and her photos of damp countryside made me realize how much I miss the mossy walls of the UK.

How amazing is this photo by Selena - do you think it looks familiar?
Photo by Selena, not me - click for more photos by Selena of the mossy countryside on her blog 'Oh the places we will go'
Here in Pennsylvania the landscape is beautiful, but once spring and summer comes around it's impossible to wander anywhere for fear of getting covered in poison ivy. PA is infested with the stuff, and I have absolutely no wish to become a giant itching pus-filled boil on one account of walking through the woods.

I never thought I'd miss the dank mossiness of the UK:
Various pictures of Mark's last trip to the UK, in January 2012, before I moved to the USA
It's just one of those weird little quirks that hits an expat out of the blue.

Wednesday 27 March 2013

Glad Notes: A Matter of Justices

Philadelphia Mural Mile, taken November 2012
If you ever find yourself in the Washington Square region of Philadelphia you'll notice the rainbow street signs. They mark the city's Gayborhood.

Although the signs have been there since 2007, the Gayborhood itself is actually middle-aged. Nearby, within the mural mile, sits this mural named Pride and Progress. You can see the full mural on Google Street View. It's at Spruce St and Juniper St, also known as Elton's Way (again, you can see the street sign on Street View).

Incidentally, in 1975 Elton John released the song Philadelphia Freedom.

This week the US Supreme Court Justices are hearing two cases related to freedom of marriage, cases referring to California's Proposition 8, and (Clinton's) Defense of Marriage Act.

Back in 2002 the British columnist Guy Browning wrote an amusing but poignant piece about what this all boils down to.
Philadelphia Mural Mile, taken November 2012

Tuesday 26 March 2013

An American Come Dine with Me Menu

I recently lamented the lack of Come Dine with Me in my life since I moved to the USA. I know it's standard dine-time TV fodder in the UK, but they teased American audiences by only showing a couple of seasons. My American mom-in-law is still in withdrawal. She loved the crazy menus that the Brits would devise for their unsuspecting guests.

My British mum emailed me the other day to say that the local paper had an ad looking for Come Dine With Me participants in her local area. She thought it'd be hilarious if my mom-in-law applied.

She's not going to, obviously, what with being in the USA. But that didn't stop us from creating a fantasy Come Dine with Me Menu! What would Brits make of this brash American spread?

STARTER: BUTT SLIDERS

 

We'd base the starter on this juicy looking recipe from Cook's Country. It's traditional St Louis barbecued pork, using part of the pig known as Boston Butt. It's not, as I learned, literally the butt, and in the UK it's known as 'pork hand'. 

A slider is just a mini burger, so we'd serve small portions of Boston butt in a mini starter-sized bun: Butt Sliders. 

This would be a perfect introduction to a great US feast, plus the name is almost unbeatable. Imagine what the refined British Come Dine With Me contestants (ahem) would make of it!

MAIN COURSE: BEER BUTT CHICKEN

 

Again, this title may flummox the poor imaginary Brits attending our fantasy dinner. I've had this several times and it's always fun to make. Take a can of beer, drink half, shove it up a chicken's butt, and barbecue. The result is deliciously moist BBQ chicken.
There's an element of danger here as British BBQs are often precariously dependent on British weather. The chicken could end up being rain-drenched rather than moist, but we'll take that chance.

I suppose we'd need to serve this with some good sides, such as corn on the cob, a good potato salad, and some dill pickles.


DESSERT: MUD PIE 


This was chosen simply because its name fits the theme of this dubious sounding menu. There's absolutely nothing dainty about a rich chocolate mass of mud pie, but boy is it indulgent, and ideal to round off this hearty stars n' stripes feast. 

I guess we'd serve it along with some terrible American filter coffee for a truly authentic diner taste.

Okay chaps n gals, how does this sound to you? What would your Come Dine With Me (or dinner party) menu be?

Sunday 24 March 2013

Sunday Supplements (and Sunday puppy too)

Sunday is bath day for the pooch. She hates it, but she's very patient.
Today I had the ultimate plan of not leaving the house, until Mr and the pooch insisted I take them both for a walk. It's been a busy-fantastic week, but here's what we've been up to in between all our working/volunteering/interviewing/networking/commuting and husband/dog-walking…

Eating/Drinking

 

Good Dog Bar - A grreat Philly dive with grreat food (try the burger stuffed with blue cheese), grreat beer selection, and grreat photos of dogs on the walls - no Sunday Puppy though, so we'll have to change that one day!

Watching

 

Cook's Country and America's Test Kitchen - these shows (which are essentially the same format and same presenters) capture the brilliance of American cuisine with a nerdy scientific twist. American television and American epicuriosity done good.

Admiring

 

Ghost Sign Project - You may or may not know that Philadelphia is the city of murals. The Mural Arts Program began as a positive anti-graffiti initiative, and now the city boasts 3000 beautiful public murals. But there is another kind of wall art here in Philly too: Fading painted signs and billboards, displayed on this blog.

Street Type Philly - This week I found myself in a cab to an art deco furniture dealer with four very expensive deco lamps in my possession. Afterwards, as I walked back to center city, I decided I would start a photo tumblr known as 'Corners of Philly', documenting my favorite corners of Philly's aesthetic buildings. I later discovered this beautiful tumblr which combines elements of the Ghost Sign Project and my non-existent tumblr idea. So perhaps I won't.

New York Shitty -  Take a virtual one hour Amtrak trip heading eastwards and you'll find a New York street photography blog on a similar theme. I do love this Hershey kiss, but it's a long way from home.

Reading


The Art of Having - An unexpectedly interesting story about closet space by Youth Savage.

How to Travel When Based in the USA - Leaving the UK and the Old World (Europe) behind meant leaving behind the ability to country-hop on a moment's notice. But I can state-hop! This article is a great place for me to start to think about visiting every one of the USA's eclectic 50.

Making the Decision to Move Countries - Too late for me, but if you're thinking about making the leap just like I did, take a peak at this article on Worldette first; it'll help you go through useful decision-making thought processes.

Bath-time's over, back to lazy Sunday puppying.

Thursday 21 March 2013

Five easy ways to support the Glad Blog (for free!)


There's been a bit of hoo-ha in the blogging world about Google Reader's impending annihilation. It's definitely unsettled a lot of bloggers out there! So while we await this frustrating day, and also fret about the future of Google Friend Connect, here are some great things you can do for me.

None of them cost money, and they don't take a lot of time, but they will be truly appreciated. I will repay you with Top Five lists about the UK and the USA, Glad Notes full of cultural quirks, snaps of the Sunday Puppy, and more stories about life as an expat (I just had my first experience of the US tax system and I'm sure you're on tenterhooks to hear that one). 

 1. Keep reading


I know that I have a readership that spans across the pond, and I appreciate every one of you. Whether you popped by once or twice, found me by googling something totally irrelevant, or feel obliged because you know me in real life, then I'm very grateful. Keep it up, and I will too!

2. Tell me you're reading


Us bloggers are narcissistic to the core, and that's ok. We just like to know who's out there! I love every comment, Tweet and email I get. And to make sure I'm on top of replying to blog comments, I've switched to Disqus, which is a much more social system for engaging with the most social of social media (that's blogging).  There's been a hiccup importing all my old comments though, so please feel free to read the archives and re-comment on everything exactly as you did before (I'm kidding, don't worry).

Whether you like something or not, or you just want to say hi, or you have a blog post suggestion or question (I love these) please let me know. Feedback makes the internet go round.

3. Join the Glad Club


Okay, I lied, there is no Glad Club. But you can easily subscribe to this little old blog. Google Friend Connect is (currently) still up and running, so if you have a Blogger blog or Google account, you can join and the blog will show up in your Blogger feeds.

You can also follow via Bloglovin' which is what other bloggers seem to be switching over to. But if you have a different favorite RSS feed, let me know (I need a good Google Reader replacement myself).

4. Grab my buttons (oo-er!)


I don't sell adspace, but I do offer a free blog swap especially for expat/travel blogs. You can grab the code for my buttons from the sidebar. If you want to swap with me, just get in touch and show me where I can find your badge to put on the sidebar too.

5. Share


Finally, if you see something here that you like - share the love! There are share buttons below each blog post, plus if you roll over my photos you'll see a nifty widget that allows you to Pin/Tweet/Email my content. Just make sure the links refer back to my original content.

Incidentally, I'm going to call my next cat Nifty Widget.

And that's it. I'm finally putting this all up in the Support section.

P.S. If you're one of my grans and you read through this all, and you're thoroughly confused (what's a Friend Connect, why is 'reading' being annihilated? Isn't Disqus an Olympic sport?) then this is for you: I love you gran, thanks for reading (and for emailing in a panic when I say I've been in a car crash).

Monday 18 March 2013

Disconnected: The end of an era for the BBC

Today was the last BBC News broadcast from the legendary Television Centre in London.

I've mentioned a couple of times just how much I have loved the BBC's Television Centre (TVC), namely here and here.

In a rarity for this blog, here are some fantastic images taken by a good friend of mine who works (yes, still works) in TVC. He's been doing a beautiful job of capturing the transition of TVC from the nucleus of British broadcasting to, well, a spooky technological relic. He kindly gave me permission to show you some of these photos, but make sure you check out the rest of them here.

TC10 gallery
The Gallery of TC 10 (Studio 10), which used to look like this.
TC7
TC 7 during its last news transmission, only you can't tell, because the studio sign has disappeared.
Don't miss out on his other photos here - they progress from 2006 right up until the last news broadcast today.

You can also watch TVC's last news broadcast here:



I grew up seeing this building on television, and even though I'm on the wrong side of the ocean, it's weird to think that British television will no longer be filmed within these cavernous studios set inside a giant doughnut.

Friday 15 March 2013

Sunday Supplements (and Sunday puppy too)


Short post today because I was in a freaking car crash yesterday (we're ok! Everyone is ok, but the car might not be).

Watching

 

This bizarre North Korean propaganda movie
Oh, and I introduced my US husband to Blackadder. Thank God I wore my corset, because my sides have split.

Admiring

 

This new tumblr started by a friend - I expect beautiful things.

Now I'm off to go meet Betsy FOR REALS.

Five characteristics of Britain, illustrated through flowers

The charm of this year's Philadelphia Flower Show (the largest indoor flower show in the world) was the theme: Great Britain. It was fun for me not only to see the gorgeous displays, but also to get an inkling of what the US thinks about my home-turf.

Here were five themes of the flower show that really made me feel at home…

1. Rain

How many times have Americans asked me if it really rains every day in Britain? I've lost count. I always tell them "yes, every day, never a day without rain". Considering that the size of the UK stretches from Maine to North Carolina I'm probably not wrong.

2. The Beatles

Did you notice the Let it Be garden just there? Well it wasn't the only Beatle themed garden. My favorite setting of the whole show is this one just here. Can you guess the two songs?

3. (Childrens') Literature

There were two Alice in Wonderland gardens - this large setting here, and a smaller one with a topiary Cheshire Cat and White Rabbit. I also saw Jane Austen,  Sherlock, and Dracula. Some were better than others, and some relied very heavily on non-plant props. 

4. The Monarchy

From the moment visitors entered the grand hall in the PA Convention Center, they'd see it was a royal floral affair. The crown jewels were spectacular, and the dried flower portraits were stunning. Can you see Her Majesty making a sneaky appearance?

5. Tea

This one was subtle, but it was definitely there. Whether it was a hidden teapot in a bijou apartment deck garden, the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, or a simple cup of tea between innings (that's a cricket thing), my old nation's favorite drink could be found. 

Wednesday 13 March 2013

"Shame"

In the past week my alma mater has hit the news several times. It's been covered in the local press, national radio, and even on news sites on this side of the pond.

 It didn't make for pleasant reading.

That's disheartening for a proud alumnus because Glasgow University is a fantastic educational institution, with a great culture and campus atmosphere.

Students at Glasgow have since made a protest against sexism, on International Womens' Day, which makes me proud, but also actually a little ashamed.

Just under ten years ago I arrived on campus at Glasgow University for freshers' week, excited about the week and the years ahead of me. Before I'd left home for Glasgow people told me that I would be a 'QM girl'. This apparently meant that I loved 'alternative' music, and that on some level, I was proud to be a woman.

QM stands for Queen Margaret, who is often credited with bringing learning to Scotland. The Queen Margaret Union (QMU) is one of the two student unions on the campus. The other is the Glasgow University Union, although both are equally official and part-funded by the university. The GUU had begun as a male-only institution, so the QMU had started, at the turn of the 20th century, to cater for female students.

To clarify, UK universities don't have sororities (I'm still not entirely sure what a fraternity or sorority is). Instead UK universities have student unions, usually spaces on campus that provide various services to students including advice and support, as well as leisure, cheap food, and drink.

Glasgow is unique in having two unions, a remnant from the days when they were segregated. Although the QMU became co-ed in the 70s, and the GUU in the 80s, both retained distinct characteristics, and students could actively choose one to join. For some, including myself, it was a source of campus identity.

The stereotype of the GUU was rugby, tweed, cheap beer, excellent debating and a hint of chauvinism. The stereotype of the QMU was grunge, goth, lgbt, cheap jack daniels and a historical sense of feminism.

There was an ancient rivalry between the two buildings, sat at opposite sides of the campus. During the freshers' week address representatives from both sides would don colored t-shirts and cheer for their own side. Within a gothic building often said to have been considered as a set for Hogwarts, there was an amazing buzz of excitement not unlike Houses roaring for their Quidditch teams.

During my freshers' week the GUU hit the news for a headline in their daily newsletter, Filth. "No means yes and yes means harder" it said, a phrase that was condemned by rape support groups. I'm not sure it had any effect on my decision to join the QMU, to be honest, because that was going to happen anyway.

The stereotypes of the two unions were well-known. A campus staff-member once told me about a group called the "Freds", who watched Tom and Jerry cartoons (by Fred Quimby) in the GUU during lunchtime, followed by hardcore porn, while feminists known as "The Women's Group" protested outside on the streets.

That happened way before my time on campus, but these feminists were remembered in the QMU's constitution, which recognised continuing  support for "The Women's Group", and even though the group no longer existed, the clause remained just in case it was ever needed again.

After the GUU became co-ed in the 1980s, a men's group known as the 139 was formed. It honored the 139 GUU members who had voted against allowing female members. They were known to have male-only dinners and drinking sessions which were rumored to have elaborate rules. One I heard about was that they'd all stand in silence if a woman entered the room.

I don't have a problem with single-sex groups in principle, as long as their raison d'etre isn't purely to exclude. Oxford University has its notorious Bullingdon Club. St.Andrews University had a male group for a long time, named after a woman, Kate Kennedy (KK). The KK no longer exists though, after male members voted to admit women last year.

Having risen through the ranks of the QMU's board, I once attended a (different) dinner at the GUU, and was seated with some members of the notorious 139. They asked me if I was offended by their 'banter'. I was offended, but I just looked at them blithely, and said "it all just seems a bit homoerotic to me". They laughed.

While the GUU and QMU had had at times a vicious rivalry, that wasn't the case when I was a student. It was a post 9/11 world, the economy was good, but the two unions were both struggling financially and often worked together to achieve goals on campus. I enjoyed the GUU: I ate, drank, danced and socialized there, just not as much as at the QMU.

The unions both had particular cultures which were caricatured by their stereotypes. The GUU has had many female members and board members, though to my knowledge still hasn't had a female president (I'm wrong, see comments below. The GUU has had a handful of female presidents). In my final year I ran for election as QMU President, but lost out to a male friend. Incidentally, since going co-ed, the QMU has had more male presidents than female, although overall it's had far more women leading the Union.

I was disappointed when I read about the sexist comments that the Cambridge students experienced. I admit I don't know exactly what happened beyond what the news reports say, but what strikes me is that incident rings true to a stereotype with which I am familiar.

I was proud to see the protest in response, and the petition. And that's where I feel a bit embarrassed.

You see, I was a proud QMU member and proud female student, but my derision of campus misogyny was never really more than a sense of snobbery. As one friend pointed out to me this week, people who didn't like one union could just join the other, rather than attempting to make positive changes.

I asked another girlfriend and former 'QM girl' what she thought about the sexism accusations, and she replied, "I was smug because I was not one of them…when instead we should have made a stand against it.  In a way our joining the QMU gave us this shield that said 'well obviously I am against sexism, I am in the QMU'. Because others had made a stand in the past, we didn't need to bother because we co-opted their fight through our shared QMU membership."

We were passive feminists. We let boys be boys, maybe expecting that one day their jokes would get tired. I'm sure there wouldn't have been a cultural sea-change had we joined the GUU, but perhaps in an indirect way we perpetuated the GUU's culture.

A recent thread on Reddit asked school bullies why they used to bully. Many of the responses were from people who didn't realize that they were bullying, they thought that they were being funny and didn't realize that others didn't find them funny too.

It took an outsider, a member of neither the GUU or the QMU, a student from Cambridge, another Russell Group University like Glasgow, to point out the jokes are tired and no longer funny.

The incident at Glasgow and the media coverage seems to have resulted in a different kind of debate to the one that sparked the frenzy. I hope that can be a good thing.

Sunday 10 March 2013

Sunday Supplements (and Sunday puppy too)



Here's what the gladley house has been up to this week, other than looking at peaceful pictures of bulldogs…

Watching

 

Blue Bloods - I have a bad habit of not truly paying attention to TV dramas when they are on screen, so I call this show by its alternative title: "Tom Selleck's Authoritative Moustache".

Admiring

 

A blog devoted to Philly's basement bars - Amusing? Yes. Inspiring? Yes. Brilliant real estate marketing? Absolutely.

Cats, Bats, Shadows and Pantyhose - with Pinterest, everyone is an art curator. This board is one of mine.

Reading


Why should married women change their name? - a fellow married female friend linked to this on Facebook. I'm surprised at this writer's angle here because it already feels outdated. Perhaps that's because I spent a lot of time reading the articles of Offbeat Bride and a Practical Wedding before my marriage, and now I have a shrugging, accepting attitude towards any woman or man who wants to change their name, keep their name, combine their name, or make a new name. I don't care what you do, as long as it's what you want to do. I changed my name and love it so much I put it on my blog.

I recently won £1m on the lottery - This is a Reddit AMA (ask me anything, an organic self-proposed interview) that intrigued me and made me re-evaluate how I'd spend my future lottery winnings (girl can dream, right?). At one point the poster states his partner would like private healthcare, leading to a interesting discussion about the UK's National Health Service vs private healthcare in the UK and USA.

Starting our own little revolutions - This is a super combination of two of my favorite blogs! Erin from Predictions from the Past guest posting on Ispasiyo by Denise about how she found her way to her creative career. More of this sort of blogging please, friends!