12 Guilty Pleasures

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It’s the little things in life that often provide me with the most amount of happiness. We all have our guilty pleasures, and I try to indulge in them as often as I possibly can… Here are some of my favourites!

1. Listening to boy bands. I’m generally an 80’s rock chick – give me a band with massive hair, leather trousers and power chords and I have to resist the urge not to do some air guitar – but I can often find myself listening to my favourite boy bands of the 90’s. I’ve seen Bon Jovi five times in concert, but it’s not often that I’ll admit that I’ve also seen Westlife, Take That and New Kids on the Block too. If the opportunity to go and scream along to Backstreet Boys songs ever presents itself in the future, I’ll be there…

2. Collecting Beatrix Potter figurines. I bought my first one about ten years ago and now I’ve amassed quite a few. I even have some as Christmas decorations for the tree. My favourite is Mrs Tiggywinkle. There’s only one or two of my friends that know this about me (although many more of them will certainly know about it now!).

3. Watching feel-good videos on YouTube. Marriage proposals, pregnancy announcements to future grandparents, surprise birthday presents (my favourites being the ones where children buy their parents a car or pay of their mortgage), a homeless person being surprised with an unexpected gift, dogs reactions to their owners returning from the military… When I’m feeling a little disheartened with the world, I’ll remind myself that there are still daily acts of kindness going on all over the world.

4. Glen Campbell. He’s my mum’s musical hero, and I grew up listening to his music. As a child I hated it, and was only when I moved away from home that I found myself listening to his songs, which is something that continues to this day. I took my mum to see him during his farewell tour after his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, and then quietly had a little cry while watching his ‘I’ll Be Me’ documentary. I still think ‘I’m Not Gonna Miss You’ should have won the Oscar.

5. Watching Carry On films – yet another influence from my mum. We’re obsessives – I couldn’t tell you a specific number of how many times I’ve seen them over the years (aside from Emmanuelle and Columbus – I only watched these once and swore never to watch either of them again). Christmas doesn’t usually start until we’ve watched at least one, and I can usually tell you the specific film and information about it just from a still. My favourite is Carry On Don’t Lose Your Head.

6. Singing in the bath. I often adopt my inner Beyonce and belt out songs that I would never have the confidence to sing in public while sitting in a hot bubble bath. Good for the soul, not great for my neighbours.

7. Reading the Adrian Mole books. While many of my friends often discuss the latest intellectually stimulating blockbusters they have just read, I often fail to mention that I’ve read every Adrian Mole book in the series from cover to cover so many times that I’ve had to buy more copies as my originals are falling apart. I finished the final instalment again for the umpteenth time just a few months ago.

8. Organising my photographs into folders on the computer. I’ve taken thousands of images over the last few years in particular, as while I’m generally a very untidy person, I love putting photographs into order and then saving them by date and place. I never actually do anything useful with any of them, I just end up saving them onto my external hard drive, but putting them into an order makes me happy.

9. Strutting. Whenever I’m alone in a crowded place (not something I usually feel comfortable with) and I have somewhere to get to, I put on heavy metal music through my headphones and crank up the volume. I then strut my way through – the music helps me to walk faster and for some reason I feel much more confident in myself while doing it.

10. The smell of nail varnish remover. Not that I purposely sniff it of course, but I love the smell whenever I take my nail varnish off.

11. Serial killer documentaries. The Bloke thinks I’m odd, but I love programmes about the forensics and the psychology behind the capture of serial killers. I’ve also got a number of books on the subject, but I can’t read them at night!

12. Martial arts films. There’s nothing better than putting on a great Asian martial arts film on a Sunday afternoon. I’m a huge fan of Donnie Yen and I’ve got loads of them – the best ones tell a traditional story, and my favourite is An Empress and the Warriors.

What about you guys? What are your guilty pleasures?

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125 thoughts on “12 Guilty Pleasures”

  1. Fun read, Suzie. We share no guilty pleasures though I used to sing in the shower. Wasn’t good for our neighbors’ ears either but they never reported me to the association.

  2. Last night I saw one of the biggest bands of the 1980’s perform live. REO Speedwagon put on one heck of a show. Talking about power ballads and power chords, they did it all. Most of those guys are in their 60’s so it was pretty cool to see them do their thing. The smell of fingernail polish remover is one that I have from the women in my life.

  4. Eating salt and vinegar crisps coated with white powdered sherbet. yum. Your post is lovely and warm, I love pooh and all his sayings. *WHISPERS* My husb calls me pooh, I say “goodnight my love” he answers “Goodnight Pooh” but no one knows that so don’t let on will you.

  7. My favorite “me time” pleasure is watching chick flicks. I have a large collection: Legally Blonde, Sweet Home Alabama, While You Were Sleeping, Hope Floats, return to Me, My Big Fat Greek Wedding to name a few.

  8. I could probably write a book about my guilty pleasures…
    I’m a whodunit buff. Give me a Marple, Barnaby, Poirot, Jessica Fletcher any day!! Getting to the point now where I can work out who did it before the end of the programme.
    Oh and another biggie…I still have my kiddy cassettes of children songs from when I was like 4/5 years old. Still know every word. I have had to keep my old old old Sony Walkman to listen to them.
    Sounds incredibly sad to write that down. Sad but true and I wouldn’t have it any other way! 🙂

    • Oh my gosh I remember having a walkman! I have no idea what happened to it, but I was gutted when i went to a museum last year and discovered one on display! I’ve never felt so old!

  9. I’m totally with you on the feel-good YouTube videos! I’ve watched the pregnancy announcements too – even the announcements to older siblings are often sweet. I also like cute animal videos…I think my favorite is one of dolphins looking at themselves in the mirror. They’re like big children – they bounce around, do flips, “grin” at themselves, etc. That video always perks me up!

    • I love those too! I always love the animal ones where they are showing human behaviours – they always remind me that we aren’t so different from them!

  11. A nice list, I haven’t sung in the bath before but it is a good idea. I might just start! My guilty pleasures are Netflix, bubble baths while listening to my audio books and singing in the car, alone of course.
    Amanda.

  12. I love the smell of nail varnish remover too !! (although like you, I don’t purposely sniff it….) and I do have a secret thing for boybands as well. My main guilty pleasure though, is bingeing on Friends and Sex and The City episodes; I could pretty much watch both those shows over and over forever!

    • Ah SATC – I was totally obsessed with that for years and watched the box set over and over. That is, until I watched the second film, and it completely put me off. Carrie is a basket case – she obsessed about Big for years despite the fact that she had Aiden, and then once she got Big, she cheated with Aiden again!

      • Thankfully I never watched the second film – I hated the first one!! You’re right, Carrie is completely bonkers and some of her story lines make me cringe now – still can’t stop watching it though!

      • Mine’s is Samantha. Who’s yours? I found that the other three were more inclined to make choices that annoy me; I’m forever inwardly screaming at them! Samantha had her moments too (oh my god, that bit in the fire station when she’s naked in the fireman’s outfit? I totally scream at her every time I see it!!) but on the whole, I just loved the fact that she mostly didn’t give a toss.

        I really, really wanted Carrie to end up with Aiden – it was kind of inevitable she would end up with Big, but I really wanted her to consign him to history and move on with a lovely guy. I mean, Big was fun and everything – but marriage material? Hell, no!

      • I wouldn’t touch Big with a marriage barge pole haha! I think my favourite was Charlotte – I don’t think we would be friends if we met in real life but I just like her, despite the fact that she’s a bit snobbish…

  15. Oh, we would have so much fun listening to those 80s bands together! I really love to crank them up to pounding absurdity when I’m driving. And, yes, I belt out the words to them! Or, well, I belt out what I think are the words. : ) Okay, and don’t tell my daughters this, but the rare moment Brittany Spears’ “Baby, One More Time” comes on the radio, I still enjoy hearing it. Shhh… Nora Roberts novels. I’m a sucker for a good romance, and her romances are always fun. Sometimes silly, but fun. Add in some suspense or a bit of supernatural, too, and I’m hooked. In fact, I’ve got her latest waiting to be read tonight! Christmas decorations. I can look at them any time of year. I just love them! I have to make myself not buy too much when they come out on the market each year. Along with that I love good, make you smile, or cry and smile, Christmas movies. But,…….the one pleasure that some people laugh at me about (Unless it’s my daughters. They roll their eyes.) That one pleasure is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I am a bit of a freak about him. I love the movie, but I also love the figures, statues, etc. I have a Rudolph village that, when I can, I set up at Christmas in little groupings that are a scene from the movie. It’s a disease. What can I tell you.

  17. That’s quite a list.

    When I think of Glen Campbell I see him in a cowboy hat singing, “You gotta know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, know when to run….”

    It’s one of my many “favorite” songs. 🙂

  18. This is an intriguing list, Suzie! Learned a few things about you 🙂 I tried to think about my own guilty pleasures and realised I didn’t seem to have many – I obviously need to up my game!

  19. I have “Rhinestone Cowboy” on my iPod. I used to have a plastic rocking horse as a child, and I would sit on it and sing the song at the top of my lungs. I still know all the words.

    I also have several New Kids on the Block songs in my library. I won’t say anything at all about your music guilty pleasures! 🙂

  20. Serial Killer books & documentaries! Have you read The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule about Ted Bundy? An absolute classic. Not that I’m weird or anything…

  21. Mind, it’s easier to admit to in pleasant company than going to a Westloife concert I’d expect… 😉

  24. Chocolate… but hey that’s not for this list. Bon Jovi for sure, been to his concert (their concerts) a couple of time and always loved it, especially the older songs. Organizing my photos is one of my guilty pleasures too. Love it. And creating photo books. Criminal Minds… i could watch it over and over and over again from the beginning to the most recent episode. Although it freaks me out… Skipping on my cool down walk from jogging. If I still have the energy…

  27. Love love love serial killer films. Also serial killer TV series that you can stream (Happy Valley, Broadchurch, anyone?) Thanks for reminding me to find a new one (!)

  28. This was a lot of fun to read, thank you for sharing.:) We definitely have Number Eleven in common- that stuff fascinates me! Do you ever watch Forensic Files?

  30. Love this- I have loads of guilty pleasures!

    Like you- I love a folder- photos, work docs, they are in folders within folders within folders. If I see someone’s computer and they just have documents everywhere, not in fodlers, I practically have palpitations and the hop that they might let me organise them properly!

    Wrongful convictions- I am obsessed. I watch documentaries, tv series, I listen to podcasts. I can’t get enough. I find it horrifyingly fascinating how easily someone can end up in prison for life, or even on death row in the US, with virtually no evidence against them, and how often corruption is involved. Can’t stop listening to podcasts about trying to get the convictions overturned.

  32. The early seasons of Vampire Diaries. Damon Salvatore is my favorite bad boy. The Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich. I love getting lost in Stepanie’s crazy and humorous world. Grandma Mazur and Lula are so very entertaining and I am #TeamRanger. And eating candy/junk food.

      • I read Twilight but it wasn’t my favorite. I like the genre but I’m often disappointed when I try new ones. My favorite books in that genre are the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. I really enjoyed those. Usually I like really good books like the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon and The Name of the Wind/Wise man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. (I can’t remember which is first)

  33. I don’t think my list could be more different! But I love yours too. Ah…eighties songs. I mean who can resist dancing around to “Gilrs just wanna have fun”? I love to read too. I have not discovered Adrian Mole, I’ll have to check those out. I love to cook and to teach to cook. Even though in years past we struggled immensely with money I always found a way to put a great meal on the table and we’d just sit around the table and talk…best past time ever!

  35. Never be ashamed of Adrian Mole, great choice! The thing that cheers me up is horror movies, weird I know 🙂

  36. I love old martial arts movies, the smell of fabric softener in the dryer, singing in the shower, listening to podcasts, and watching anime are some of mine. Good list!

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