Tag: Charity fundraising

Friday goodies

On By EstherIn Actors, Real life, Richard Armitage, TV & media15 Comments

Friday goodie number 1: April 1st (no joke!) is the official date where I transition completely to my new job and don’t have to do it 50-50 anymore, like I have these past two months. Such a relief! The things I have been doing for my new job give me so much more energy. I find myself actually smiling at work again and while I do come home tired, it’s the good kind and not the debilitating depressing kind of tired. There are some difficult challenges in the new job but also some really great opportunities that I am getting excited about. The team so far seems great and I just love that I am working in libraries again! In practice, as of yesterday, I’m pretty much doing my new job full time as my old work has all but dried up. Just one more old-work-meeting to do on Tuesday and then that’s it. I did a front office library shift this morning, filling in for someone who was sick, and am working from home this afternoon, but all in library mode. So, Friday goodie number 1 is that I can now say I am officially a Library Coordinator. Yay!

Friday goodie number 2: While working at my dinner table this afternoon, my Father Quart shrine from Guylty arrived that I had bought from the Ukraine fundraiser she and Kate did. It’s a little thing of beauty…

… and I’m really glad to own a little tribute to a Richard Armitage role (in a clerical collar!) that I am actually looking forward to. Even though I’m not a believer myself, I do have this little thing for (good) priests, because I grew up around them and my dad was Protestant clergy. So yes, I’m extremely pleased that I can now call myself the owner of this little bit of clerical Armitage memorabilia.

Friday goodie number 3: A few weeks ago I read the Ronald Colman biography that his daughter Juliet Colman (who was a teen when he died) wrote in 1975. I had looked for a physical second hand copy of the book but I couldn’t find anything cheaper than about €100,- anywhere, so I made do with borrowing an e-book. Not ideal when you are still in Ronnie Colman land and want to look something up and you’d rather leaf through a real book than scroll through 290 pages of e-book. I decided to search again and found a copy on Ebay that was affordable. It cost €24 and with shipping and import cost it came to about €45,- which was way better than any other price I had ever seen for this book. So yes, it looked a little tattered in the pictures but I didn’t hesitate long, I just wanted that book. I ordered it last weekend and to my surprise it already arrived today!

Yes, the cover is a little tattered, the pictures on the inside are coming loose and the pages are yellowing but it really isn’t too bad and very well usuable for me. I also like that it has an inscription on the inside, telling me it was first bought in November of 1975 in Manchester. It’ll make a nice addition on my book shelf and I am ever so pleased!

Friday goodie number 4: Series 2 of Bridgerton is available as of today. I’m looking forward to watching this, it’s just the right kind of distraction.

Will I even be able to tear myself away from Ronnie for that many hours? I think I might if I can find the time this weekend (it’ll be pretty busy) because I’m ever so curious.

Friday goodie number 5: Last fall Mr E decided to plant all sorts of bulbs in our garden and this spring we are reaping the rewards. Even our little Japanese tree is blooming with it’s little red leaves again after we thought that it had virtually died last year after an unexpected freezing spell. We thought the same about our magnolia, but it has started flowering again too and there are daffodils and hyacinths everywhere…

The weather has been very nice here, with lots of sunshine (though still chilly in the shade). Yesterday I even suggested to my new team that we have a meeting outside in the sun and we did. Sunshine and flowers are a great start to my three day weekend (I have Monday off)!

Mixed feelings

On By EstherIn Actors, In the news, Richard Armitage23 Comments

I completely subscribe to this…

As heartwarming as the outpouring of support for Ukranian refugees is, I wish (along with Khaled Hosseini) that all refugees could feel this welcome and I know not everyone is welcomed like this. My manager at the refugee organization I volunteer at was telling me yesterday that since the war in Ukraine started 11.000 people have applied as volunteers (the Dutch Council for Refugees works throughout The Netherlands). Wonderful, but will these people also want to help the mostly Syrian and Eritrean refugees (and some Afghan and Iranian refugees) we normally help?

Then there is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s message to the Russians yesterday about the war in Ukraine, which was even a whole section on our evening news. While it’s highly commendable that he’s trying this, I wonder is this something that will even reach the Russians? Will Putin fans not just see this as some more deluded Western anti-Russian propaganda? What makes him think that he can counter Russian propaganda where others have failed? He does sound heartfelt but I’m feeling a little cynical about it all. I guess it’s better than doing nothing, though.

Then there’s Richard’s selfie and tweet about his new project that he is filming…

The steaminess of this may be (a lot of) fun but does it have to be a love triangle story? Apparently it’s about a guy sleeping with his son’s fiancé. I so don’t like love triangle stories and this one sounds a little extra gory. I didn’t even like The English Patient at the time when everyone loved it. Sexy Richard is always something to behold but the story doesn’t attract me at all. Maybe it will be better than I fear?

Last but not least, let me end on a positive, non-mixed feelings thing: I did like these tweets by Richard…

It’s nice to know that LOROS appreciates the fundraising efforts so much and it’s really nice to put some faces to the care workers there.

Impromptu Charity Craft Sale for Ukraine

On By EstherIn Richard ArmitageLeave a comment

Some items have already sold out, but if you are so inclined, please consider contributing to helping Ukranian refugees by getting something in Guylty’s and Kate’s impromptu charity fundraiser.

Guylty Pleasure

Maybe you have already guessed what I was gearing up to, with two shrines in quick succession… Well, the post title says it all: With the horrible war and the successive refugee crisis going on in Ukraine, I wondered how I could help (beyond my own donation a couple of weeks ago). The obvious answer is to sell some of my crafty stuff and donate the proceeds to refugee relief. I had already jumped into this idea and was going to just spring this onto the unsuspecting public you, when Kate and I launched our 5 item swap. And – „two idiots, same idea“, as we say in German. Or a little more benign in English: Great minds think alike! Kate suggested that we could sell the results of our 5 item projects for charity. When she heard I was already working on a charity sale, she immediately offered…

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Yay for Richard!

On By EstherIn At the theatre, Richard Armitage5 Comments

Guylty has announced the results of the #HoHoHolidayFundRAiser and they are even better than I expected: € 4.452,29 for the LOROS hospice! What a lovely Richard Armitage Christmas gift this is. I had a thank you card made to accompany the socks with red wine tea set and the magnets I have donated and sent out. As a thank you to all you donors and bidders and winners and signal boosters and likers and just general enthusiasts, here is the front of that card for your viewing pleasure.

Thanks to all for helping to raise such an excellent sum!

In other Richard news, Uncle Vanya has picked up a few ‘What’s on Stage’ award nominations. I’m so very pleased that Richard has been nominated too…

Tough competition! I’ve got say I’d also be partial to James McAvoy winning this (I saw his Cyrano in the cinema and thought he was so excellent in it) but first and foremost I really hope that Richard wins. He gave such a poignant performance which gained extra significance during this pandemic, something that became even more clear in the filmed version. His Dr Astrov proved to me yet again why he still remains my favourite actor. So yes, congratulations to Richard on this recognition! It is well deserved.

Aimee Lou Wood has been nominated…

… and the play has been nominated for ‘Best Play Revival’.

I’ve got to say I’m surprised Toby Jones wasn’t nominated because I thought he was just as good as Richard was. Just for that, I think he at least deserves a picture here…

Via the links in the tweets above you can vote for Richard and Aimee Lou and the Uncle Vanya play, so please do so if you are so inclined.

This really is a good news Thursday. 🙂

Notes to self…

On By EstherIn Real life, Richard Armitage20 Comments

… when next sending out orders after any fundRAising event:

  1. Be sure to first sort orders per name before packing them.
  2. Be sure to pay better attention to how many copies of a magnet someone actually ordered. Check and double check.
  3. Be sure to wait out late orders and special requests.
  4. Be sure to never tape shut an envelope until you are actually ready to send everything out.
  5. Maybe invest in having stickers made with your own address instead of repeatedly having to write out your sender address over and over again.
  6. Do not ever attempt Cyrillic script.
  7. Don’t send a package to the USA with DHL, it’s twice as expensive as the regular Dutch postal service! I found that out while purchasing the mailing label ahead of time online. I had sent something through DHL within the EU a few weeks ago and that was perfect with free track & trace, which made it a little cheaper than the regular postal service track & trace package. Apparently that is not the case when sending to the US.
  8. Guylty does this TWICE a year?!?
  9. Continue to love the fact that Richard Armitage fans are such an international bunch!
  10. A glass of wine at midnight after an evening of packaging is a must.

So, yes, I spent yesterday late afternoon and all evening packing all the Richard magnets and the red wine set from the #HoHoHolidayFundRAiser.

I had sent out magnets before but the numbers were different this time. When you see it all laid out like that in the end, it doesn’t look like that much work but looks can be deceiving. Still, as a one-off task it was quite fun to do (even if I did waste a couple of envelopes because I had to re-open and then re-address them). I have developed an extra admiration for how Guylty does all this with a much, much larger volume of orders. I am no way as efficient as she is but even with her efficiency, getting all the items together and sent out like she does is a mammoth task. Kudos are due! I’m in awe. I think next year, if there is another auction, it will be prudent to send some Richard-elves her way to help her out.

Anyway, it’s all ready now and I’m really glad I was able to chip in like this. And yes, I’d do it all again. I hope to be able to get to the post office this afternoon to actually send everything on its way.

To all recipients: thank you again for your generosity and for helping to aid LOROS and happy holidays to you! For those amongst us who are Jewish, the holidays have already begun as today is the fifth day of Hanukkah. Chag sameach to those who celebrate! Here, make and have some latkes…

… and I hope everyone will have a nice holiday month this December.