inspire

Creative minds

~ Fridgesays ~ 34 Comments

 Quote by John William Gardner.
Sometimes my mind is so full it is literally whizzing and fizzing with ideas and colour. I can’t stop it. When I’m teaching it’s an amazing tool as my creative brain makes even the dullest of curriculum topics look like a Disneyland post card (at least to me).

Most of the whizzing ideas are never used or I’m just unable to focus on one of them for long enough to actually give it a sprinkle of lateral thinking and a dash of reality.

Due to the volume and mess that my whizzing and fizzing head fills up with- it’s pretty messy in there (thankfully visitors can’t pop by) and at times it prevents me from sleeping or focusing when I need to. Why do ideas often appear just as you snuggle down?

If you live with a creative mind – you’re in good company. A creative mind doesn’t mean you go into a careers within the arts, as many successful accountants are creative with statistics and figures (who knew I shared any brain space with an accountant or banker).

Entrepreneurs are the creative thinkers that allow the fully flow of crazy ideas. As we know many have financial success, so I guess its important that we listen to our inner voice – it may just be the next great idea. So how do I control the fizz? I either don’t and just go with the creative chaos or I picture a white mirrored room and try to stop the whizzing by focusing on something clear and that calms my soul.

I guess a little like my previous post Fake a smile #1 listening to chilled music helps too. This is where I skip my Whitney tracks and go for Jack Johnson or Nerina…pure bliss 🙂 another idea that I’d like to share is a magical sparkly water melon book – okay, mine happens to be but I guess any (sparkly) paper pad would do.


When the world is still and sleeping and my mind is preparing for the unofficial Olympic Games of ideas and whizzing, I grab my pad and scribble, it allows my brain to empty and although the next morning I reflect back at my 2am scribble marathon with slight concern, I can usually use most of the ideas in some form or they can stay on the page until a time where they find their place.

How do you chill your whizzing brain, or like me do you secretly like to scribble them down?

You are traffic 

~ Fridgesays ~ 15 Comments

  I wish people would declare they created the quotes, but it appears this is another winner from ‘Anon’

And I find it seriously profound. I’ve been feeding this little piece of the Internet with quotes and opinions for just over 4 months and in that time a pattern has Emerged – I often end up talking about perspective and trying to turn the negative into a positive, this quote is no different. I wrote about traffic in this post and it did alter my perspective – what is the point in getting stressed when your train is delayed or your car is doing zero miles per hour thanks to some road works…however, I never thought that I was the traffic. 

(Pause whilst my brain explodes with this simple yet obvious concept) 

I wonder how many times in life we are partly, if not entirely responsible for a negative situation we find ourselves in.  

How many times have you moaned about somebody’s behaviour – only to have done a similar thing several days earlier?

If you look at yourself as the ‘traffice’ maybe it’s time we began to enjoy it a little bit more. How? Perhaps the traffic allows you to catch up with someone on your blue tooth that you haven’t seen in a while, that delayed train means you can return to your friends for that drink you didn’t think you could make, or perhaps the next time you are stuck in traffic you turn off the engine, smile at the stressed looking couple next to you, listen to a podcast, get some culture with an audio book, learn a new language or simply enjoy the silences and just be. In this crazy, fast spinning world a few minutes of peace is a gift. Make sure you are positive traffic or at least make it work for you rather than against you, after all it’s your life journey so make it work for you.

You are amazing

~ Fridgesays ~ Leave a comment

 Another cracker from Anon.

This is the kind of quote that makes my mind smile and my inner giggle cackle. It’s uplifting, it has meaning and it reminds me that I’m important too, and obviously so are you.

I was raised on a rather pretty pedestal called ‘only child’ and this has given me enough confidence to know I was loved, adored and important. It also means that in my immediate family’s eyes anything I did, participated in or created was recognised as ‘amazing’. I’m a big fan of being an only child for this very reason, but also for many other reasons. However, I obviously haven’t a clue of the positives that siblings have, and indeed have at times struggled to understand the bond of brother and sister. It’s a mystery that still at times mystifies me as an adult.

Today id like to share with you a conversation with a little (she’s so tiny) year 7 pupil. She is weak in ability and her resilience is non existent, her ability to wiggle off of her chair or be anywhere in the room except at her desk is beyond the talents of Olympic athletes – that isn’t helpful when you need her sat at her desk though…

In the last few lessons we have been (for this very reason) looking at resilience as a class and sharing good practice. This has resulted in some poster work that they are pretty proud of.

Tiny chick was part of a show case last week and as a result was asked to sing and produce some movement material that was shown to parents. Moments before the show began tiny chick cried – she hadn’t sung in front of an audience before and stage fright was taking over, more than this she said “if I don’t do it Miss, I won’t be able to write about it on my poster”, having an inner chuckle to myself I reminded her that she was indeed correct and that resilience was often hard in the beginning, she dried her eyes and of course sung her little heart out.

Today she wrote up her stage experience on her poster using vocabulary such as ‘proud’ ‘won a battle’ and I had a magical moment…as her teacher I was able to remind her that she was amazing. Her smile was the greatest reward I will ever need.

What a gift – to be able to remind somebody else how amazing they are. So this is my task for you, tell 5 people today that they are amazing. I promise you, its a wonderful blessing and one that makes you feel a little more sparkly too.

Oh and did I tell you…? You’re amazing 🙂

Be a flamingo

~ Fridgesays ~ 3 Comments

 Another ‘Anon’
Growing up on the outskirts of SE London I saw my fair share of pigeons. They breed at a rapid rate and made walking under the bridge to school a tense situation – Mum would literally march me through and then check my coat for any ‘accidents’ once we were on the other side. Usually muttering to one of her Mum friends how disgusting it was…

Now flamingos – they are a whole new level of awesome. They are the yoga gurus of the bird world, they are pink – Like seriously why isn’t there a Disney flamingo princess? They make rainy days at the UK zoo seem like the Carribean and did I mention they are pink?

Living on the south coast we often pop in to Brighton for shopping trips and unique food or quirky places to visit…walking down the high street can sometimes Look like a rainbow just threw up, any colour, any style and any look is acceptable. In Brighton if you want to wear a onesie, that’s ok. If you want to wear a costume or at times nothing (although illegal) it seems to happen. Brighton is a fashion mix match and my little flamingo paradise. A hub of cultural diversity and an expanse of economics it has it all, except parking spaces / it lacks this, and maybe to an extent so does the flamingo when attempting to camouflage…unless it’s near an ice cream van 🙂

I think both birds have their strong points, but perhaps we sometimes are too pigeon and not flamingo enough. What are you going to do today to harness your inner flamingo? (Don’t worry you don’t have to wear pink)

If nothing ever changed…

~ Fridgesays ~ 24 Comments

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Quote by Anon.

Change is something that humans very often don’t thrive from or at the very least hide from.

Adults usually deal with change better due to the level of control they have in decision making processes, children and change aren’t always great, and toddlers can be horrendous.

Our issues with change is ironic as it’s change that usually brings out the best in us…just like butterflies.

Change means we move forward, experience new things, progress and sample the ‘new’ but from the safety of our cocoon we allow negative thoughts to paralyse us…what if we don’t fly? What if our wings don’t work and more essentially what if we arent the beautiful butterfly we hoped we would be?

After some thought – I’d rather be an ugly butterfly or even sample life in flight for a few moments than spend my life in a dark and constant cocoon.

Is it time you spread your wings, conquered new challenges…or just leave the cocoon? Who knows you may end up with more than you ever dreamt of, you may just soar.

You can make everybody happy…

~ Fridgesays ~ Leave a comment

Quote by Bill Murray.

When I’m looking out for quotes for this little corner of the Internet they are usually motivating, inspiring or thought provoking…then there are quotes from comedians that make me chuckle and literally give me direct advice, no metaphors or analytic skills needed. This is clearly the latter.

I whole heartedly agree – you can’t make everyone happy, and why should you? Nutella would lose its purpose, although I do feel with several friends that have nut allergies in my clique – even Nutella can let the side down at times, I mean anophylactic shock is not my idea of a good time.

So why as humans (and especially as mother) do we feel the need to ‘people please’? I gave this some thought and below are my finding.

1.its easier to people please than listen to them moan.

In essence I agree, but how much worse is it when you’ve put all your fairy dust, love and heart into something and still the miserable individual finds fault. I say let them wallow in self pity and negativity, let them swim in the pool of ‘too much chlorine’ – I’m heading in the opposite direction to a tranquil natural spa of ‘I did my best’.

2. People pleasing makes me feel good when I see them happy

hmm…I suppose it does, but we should do things for loved ones because we want to, not because we want them to love us in return (unless it’s David Beckham – we do whatever it takes to please him in hope he will stay more than 30 seconds)

3. people pleasing is kind and helpful

Let’s not confuse being a nice person and helping others to doing things with the soul purpose of making them feel good, I’m down with the positive karma, good vibes and doing things for others but how they feel about me in return isn’t worth my time, energy or thought. I love to do things for others  with good intentions, but that’s where it ends.

I could go on, but I think I’m bordering on ranting. Plus, Bill did most of the work in his quote. So open that jar of whatever it is that makes you happy, offer it to those around you and hopefully they will also find enjoyment.

An aprons is…

~ Fridgesays ~ Leave a comment

  I always adore to give credit where it is due and let you know who wrote the quotes I use. However, this little cooking delight seems to have broken me, lots of people are claiming it as their very own. As a result of upsetting someone, Im going to avoid the issue and hope you understand.

Okay, so I’m not called Delia, I recognise Mary B as the English Queen of baked goods and I know my Nigella’s from my Nigel Slaters but that is where it ends. Despite the kitchen link in my blogs title – I’m really not a guru in the kitchen. This may explain why we chose to buy a gigantic American Fridge freezer (the background and inspirational beginning for all my titles) and never gave a thought to its measurement, oh well it looks lush in the dinning room and you can grab the ketchup from the fridge whilst seated – winning.

However, I can cook and in general I do it well. I studied it at school; B grade food tech GCSE (not too shabby) and over the years I’ve blossomed, my ‘from scratch’ yorkshires are epic and my chilli is Autumnally wonderful…but I know my limits, or do I?

This really is what I wanted to write about –  I don’t plan photos and blogs in advanced, in fact I don’t plan much in life.

But in the kitchen I adore to cook with Mr Fridge, together we have completed most of Levi Roots recipes and we both love the Carribean flavour and attitude to food. I also love the team aspect of a recipe, we both have areas of expertise – he marinates and chops, I know what we have in the larder and check all meat is cooked, other than that we work it out and a little like super heroes we see our mission to the end.

Our recent ‘mission’ was beer can chicken, we knew it could be done on a BBQ – but it shot to the top of our ‘to do’ list when we found out you can also use the oven.

See below our precooked efforts.

  I wasn’t planning (because I don’t) on blogging about it, so this is just a photo I took because it made me chuckle. When I saw Mr B Chicken (yes I always name the Sunday meat) standing there, I shot upstairs for some specs to complete his look. I know my brain is a scary place where sparkles and rainbows meet inappropriate chuckles.

While Mr F cooked the chick I was in charge of the rice and peas and below is a picture I took to send to our friend who inspired the meal. It was so Nom Nom 🙂

Okay, away from the grub and back to the point of this quote. I basically think whatever your level of expertise, cooking is a great place to explore cultures, try new flavours, develop techniques and if like me you have a partner in crime, join together and complete the challenge.

Is it time you dusted your cape off and got out of a food rut? Let the mission begin!

Things I’m loving #2

~ Fridgesays ~ 5 Comments

Home is the UK for me and above all I am loving the sun! It came out to play this weekend and the vitamin D3 was a great emotional pick me up and above all made me get out there and love life (whilst also doing some gardening!)

Friday night after work was well, more work – our new year intake was having a party / disco and if you’ve ever had the joy of watching a bunch of 12 year old girls and boys ‘party’ together you will know for a fact that men and women are separate species (possibly from separate planets) the girls went straight out on to the dance floor in small friendship clusters and jumped in the air (especially to 1D) the boys stayed in the corners of the room – as the night went on they pushed, pulled and generally acted like mini walruses getting sweaty and then finally congo’d around the hall like a fearless ride at Alton Towers…further increasing the sweat ratio.

However, one delight came in the form of 2 besties wearing the current ‘trend’ of skinny jeans and converse, from behind it looked pretty standard until they turned around…my heart felt complete as I witnessed the MOST awesome t-shirts in best friend history (see below)

 *disclaimer: picture taken from google images.

I may not be 12 years old, but I grabbed my phone and in an instant  despite the terrible music (you know you’re an ‘Adult’ when all music sounds the same) and horrendous heat…I purchased my very own set.

That’s right. I may be 33 years old (as is my bestie) and we may never wear them out in public, who am I kidding – they’re fricking awesome, of course we will wear them out! It was the best instant purchase ever and once I receive these goods a follow up post of photos of us in them will follow!

Which reminds me of a previous post of mine… Live life and forget your age and as the last time my bestie and me got together we were both wearing Disney inspired T-shirts (hers was Frozen and mine was Arial) I think we are both firmly grounded in the ‘hell yeah I can pull this off camp’ and the ‘I’m too old to care camp’.

This people is what I am loving and they haven’t even arrived yet 😊

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