A week of things being said

The three best things said to me this week so far;

"Have you just finished your A-levels?"

"Can I stop worrying about you now?"

"Are you the religious guy?"

Different settings, different reactions and different relationships. One made me smile, another made me think and another made me realise that people care.

The punchline's worth it

It's Tuesday morning, a quick look back;

Went to see Hancock on Thursday night. Good laughs, great twist in the middle and overall a fun night out.

Spent Saturday with the Leeders collecting their new cats, breakfast at a garden centre (what??) then off to the sanctuary to get Fletch and Rosie (the latter name was chosen by committee). Then the rest of the day was spent eating playing with cats and watching movies (Be kind rewind was disappointing, The Darjeiling Limited was surprisingly good).

Sunday was church followed by a vision day. We had one of these back in January to define our purpose and values which was really good. Sunday was different, probably because vision is something very different. We got loads of great work done and for me it answered some important questions.

Finally, I donned my green apron yesterday to begin working in Starbucks. I had a really good day, time went by quick, the team are really nice and I was made to feel very welcome. I also discovered I am excellent at spilling milk......oh well no point crying over it.

A very talented little place

Been doing some writing today and trying to give myself a soundtrack to inspire me. In doing so I've discovered a whole bunch of new stuff coming out of the beautiful land that is Northern Ireland. A tiny country with a huge ammount of creativity;

Any group of people in their 20's who get together to find out more about community and God will always get my attention. When that group start writing music then I'm hooked. Rend Collective Experiment are just such a group. I know a few of the people involved from way back. The music is amazing and their heart behind it is evident. They have a website and have released 2 EPs this year that can be downloaded from that site. You can check out some of the tunes and get details on their site etc at their myspace here

I first met Micah Vincent about 8 years ago. He was the younger brother of a friend of mine, Johnny. Whilst at uni I taught drums and percussion and Micah was one of my first pupils. He was always a good laugh to teach, full of energy and a bit of a thinker as well. Anyway I left Northern Ireland and still bump into Johnny every Christmas at Stansted. I don't know if Micah still plays the drums but I do know he's learnt to play the guitar and write songs you can hear some of them at his myspacehere

Next the ever blogging Mel Wiggins, I've blogged about mel's music before but never put a link up so here's her myspace here

Finally, not music, but anyone from back home looking for a photographer should check out Dave. His website's here

The one in which Matt dips his toe back into the shallow world of inter-church politics

Do you know when people say;

"I could never go to church you guys can't even agree with each other never mind all my stuff".

Yeah, we should all probably listen to that.

p.s. I told you I was just dipping my toe.

A menu

One of the great things about not getting up at 4.30am is I am able to get back into the kitchen and enjoy cooking again.

Alongside this, Christina is also getting in there and trying out new stuff as well. Between us we've racked up;

Chocolate cake
Scones
Pancakes
Meatloaf
Yorkshire puddings
Fajitas

And last night we made our first ever Creole Jambalaya - amazing but way too much of it so next time we're making it for a more people.

Tonight Glyn's here so we're doing fajitas for the second time ever - as always if you fancy a dinner invite just let us know.