Easter greetings and Passover fun.

(image: blog)


Hello my lovelies,

Just a little note to wish all those celebrating a very Happy Easter. I hope you enjoy your chocolate eggs and any celebrations you may be having. :)

As mentioned, us Jews are in the middle of Passover. It has been a busy time with lots of friends and family and my mum frantically cooking! This blog will resume normal posting in a couple of days.

Happy holidays friends. 

xxx

A few days break- Passover

Dear friends,

This week is the Jewish festival of Passover, where we remember the Jewish people being freed from slavery in Ancient Egypt (as told in the Torah and Bible). We commemorate this and other persecutions that have enslaved us around the world and enslave others. The first two days and end last days are holy days, meaning I won't be online to blog.

Passover is a lovely festival, we eat delicious food and gather with family and friends. We change our diet for the whole week of Passover and do not eat anything that has 'risen' with wheat/ been leavened, as the Israelites did not have time for their bread to rise as they hurredly left Egypt. We commemorate this by eating differently for the week. For anyone interested, we eat a cracker called matza... and various other dishes, mainly fish, meat, eggs (but sadly no bread or pasta).

If you would like to know more, ask away below and I will tell you.

Back in a few days!

Lots of Love

xxxxxx

Liebster Award :)

Hello everyone! :) My blog has been nominated for a Liebster Award by the wonderful Lisa from the blog Pixie Diaries. Thanks Lisa :) x

So, here is how it works: 

1. When you receive the award, you post 11 random facts about yourself
2. You must answer 11 questions from the person who nominated you.
3. Pass the award onto 11 other blogs
4. Ask them 11 questions.
5. You are not allowed to nominate the blogger who nominated you!

11 Facts About Me: 

1. My middle name is Rachel but I also have the hebrew names of Ilana Raiza, named after my late great grandmother Rose. 
2. I travelled to India with my best friends when I was 20 and was an extra in a Bollywood movie with the actor Shahid Kapoor.
3. I lived in the Ghanaian village of Fuo for 7 weeks in 2010, when i was volunteering with the development charity Tzedek. I worked as a teacher at an NGO, with 8 other volunteers.
4. My first degree was in Drama and English Literature and my second is in Applied Theatre (Drama in community). I'd love to work for a theatre. 
5. My favourite movies are The Notebook and Titanic
6. I am a hopeless romantic 
7. My favourite food is my mums chicken noodle soup. 
8. I am Jewish and my grandfather is a refugee from Germany (now living in the UK).
9. I pierced my nose when i was 20 but it got infected and only lasted 6 months, Sad times 
10. I love soul music, especially Motown and neo-soul. My favourite singers are Joss stone, india arie and stevie wonder. 
11. I love animals and really want a dog when I have my own home.

My 11 Questions from Lisa:



1. If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?

If I was an animal I would be a fluffy little duck/ baby chick, because they are small and cute! 


2. What is your favourite breakfast food?

I love to eat chocolate cereals, although recently I have found porridge with sugar to be yummy.

3. Where did you go on your last vacation/ trip?

Believe it or not I havnt been away since 2010 when I went to Ghana, West Africa for 7 weeks. It was a life changing experience and I had such an amazing time.

4. What is your favourite movie?

I think my favourite movie ever would have to be the Notebook. It is such a beautiful and romantic film and I cry whenever I watch it.

5. Who would you want to play you in a movie about your life?

I would want Rachel McAdams or Natalie Portman to play me in a movie about my life because they are both amazing actresses with a lot of range!

6. If there was a zombie apocalypse and you had to choose between staying in your home with ample food, but little protection (meaning you don't have the supplies to board yourself in completely) or hitting the road with a full tank of gas, but very limited supplies, what would your coarse of action be? 

I think I would stay in my house as everyone needs food to survive. A hard question Lisa!

7.  Are you a cat or a dog person? Why?

I am a dog person although believe it or not as a child I was scared of them. I used to be a cat person when I was younger but not I find dogs to be friendlier and cuter. I would like a dog at some point.

8.   What is the worst book you have ever read?

Gosh, I have read a lot of books but I think perhaps Frankenstein  by Mary Shelley. I didnt enjoy it. 

9. If you could go back in time, what year would you go to and why?

I would like to go back to the 1920s in America and go to illegal jazz parties as a flapper just because I think that would be so much fun! 

10. Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

I hope that I am in a career I love or am with somebody I love, hoping I will settle down and start a family, but who knows what God has in store!

11. Do you drink coffee or tea? (I'm team tea)

Right with you Lisa, I'm team tea too!! Its wonderful to wake up in the morning with a cup of tea.

My 11 Nominees for the award:

Anna at Little Reminders of Love

Michelle at Oh Mishka

Catherine at A Time to Create

Keith at Unapologetic Dreamer

Kizzy at the Dainty Dolls House

Carly Watts Art and Illustration

Ally at All Things Sweet

Courtney at Vintch

Deirdre at Decoybetty

Chloe Moon at Argo...

Selina at Ginger and Chestnut

My 11 questions for them:

1. If you could live in any country other than the one you are in where would you live?

2. Chocolate or marshmellow?

3. If you could buy clothes from only one shop for the rest of your life what would it be?

4. What is the coolest place you have travelled to?

5. If you had a pet what animal would it be and what would you name it?

6. Which celebrity would be your ideal lover?

7. If you could be a 1950s film star who would you be and why?

8.  What is your favourite song and why?

9.  What songs would make up the soundtrack to your life?

10. Can you speak a foreign language and if so which ones?

11. If you could be a fruit, what would you be?

Hope you enjoyed and thanks again Lisa. Eleanor xxx   

Inspirational Quote of the week.

'We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities'.- Ralph Waldo Emerson 


(image: queenofturqouise.blogspot.com)

Moving to BlogLovin

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Dear readers. Important notice :) 

Due to Google Reader closing (where you can see my number of followers), I am making sure you can all follow me on BlogLovin.  To follow me and sign up to follow your other blogs click above xxx

Relaxing weekend and Katherine Heigl movies

Hello all. Hope everyones doing well and you've had a good weekend. I had such a relaxing weekend at my Dads. I slept a lot, watched tv and really just chilled out. Sometimes its good to just be still and sit with a cup of tea, a family member and a good tv show!

Whilst I was relaxing I also watched two movies as I was flicking through channels and weirdly, they both happened to have Katherine Heigl as the lead actress. Heigl was in Greys Anatomy and shes branched out to do films in recent years. I watched:

27 dresses

(image: wikipedia)

A film about a woman (played by Katherine Heigl) who seems to be a perpetual bridesmaid (hence the 27 dresses...) and what happens when her sister steals the man she has been secretly in love with. Can she find love? It has really funny bits in it and is a good rom-com!   

(image: dbcovers.com)


The other film I watched was:

Knocked Up

(image: sandym325.wordpress.com)

A comedy about a one night stand that turns into a pregnancy. Can the two (played by Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogan) form a relationship? This was good and had some really funny classic moments. 

I would recommend both these movies!!

For more on Katherine Heigl: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Heigl 

Have you seen either movie? Hope you had a good weekend?

xx

Thank you blog friends.

Thank you so much for your love and kindness in leaving me supportive messages to my last post. I gave the internet a break for a few days to clear my head and just be, without technology around me. Today, I logged in and saw those helpful and sweet messages below. You are truly magical xx


How is your week going?

xx

Feeling blue.

Today I feel:

(image: sunnysweetpea.com)

I have been trying to be positive but I am down because the job application process is just so hard with constant long forms and rejections and exhaustion. I also feel that there are other things missing from my life (relationship etc). Trying to find and create new opportunities for myself, but all I feel like doing at this moment in time is:

(image: weheartit.com)


I talked to some great friends of mine tonight and that helped. Lets hope things pick up...

x 

This week, Beware of the Chickens and a Gratitude List..

Good morning! So many thoughts swirling around my brain as I sit down to write this post. Where do I start? Firstly, I had a bit of a bad end to my week. I was feeling quite down over the weekend but now I am feeling a little happier and counting the good things in my life. Here is a gratitude list and a list of happy things that have happened:

- This morning my Dad and I went for a drive along old country lanes just a bit in the suburbs outside of London. We drove past woods and stables with horses, past little cottages which you would never know were there (one had a sign saying 'Beware of the Chickens'!!). I would love to live in a little cottage with a menagerie of animals... hopefully one day I will. The sun was shining and we drove past a lake, glinting in the light as the landscape is beginning to wake up as it moves from winter into spring. It was such a wonderful drive and just what I needed this morning.

(Image: weheartit.com)

- I am thankful for:

- Fresh flowers (at the moment red roses and yellow daffodils are on our table at home and they brighten up our little apartment.

- Watching new films I havnt seen before, last night I watched 'The Tourist' with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. Its a film about a man who gets caught up and accused of being a gangster.. who meets Angelina Jolies character Elise Ward on a train. Angelina has such classic hollywood beauty. She is stunning as is the rather gorgeous Johnny Depp. A good and complex thriller to watch. 

- My friends. I have been struggling a bit lately and both my friends on and offline have been there. 

- New novels. I am still wading my way through Anna Karenina. It is taking a while and I pick it up and put it down but hopefully I'll finish it soon.

-Crafts such as Knitting...even though I am hopeless at knitting but its relaxing!


Do you like any of the things on my list? Have you seen the film 'The Tourist'? Let me know!
xxxx