The diy work goes on

After 3 and a half weeks the troop of men finally left and we had our house back! We'd slep in every room in the house practically except our bedroom and so the night that we got back from work and the work men had left for good we got stuck into getting the house straightened out as much as possible. We had to vaccuum each room 3 times, wipe down every surface at least twice and then dust but that night as we settled back down to life in our proper bed, in our real bedroom life seemed great! The cat had been utterly bemused for three weeks straight, if not a little snippy, so her nose was practically more pink than I've ever seen it and she purred through the night. She even didn't bite either of us for at least 24 hours! We'd had the whole house rewired, new plug sockets, light fittings and switches put in, laminate floors pulled up and the bathroom done but now begins the work we don't get any help with; the wallpapering.Everything ended up everywhere

The chaos the house was in mid re-wire

The cat - pleased that the men have left!

And it's begun! The last 2 weekends we have sandpapered, painted, sealed, sized, pasted and hung and we have finished 2 panels. Out of 40 metres square we have probably completed 4.5 but hey it's a start! Here are the pics of the beautiful bathroom.

Paul from KABS did a very good job.

The finished bathroom

The week of luck

We decided to get the bathroom done and since Hez and Becky had just had theirs done and were recommending the guy who did it we hired him. Paul is quite young but very precise and seems keen to do a good job. In short we trust him. We'd spend months if not years discussing the bathroom and to be frank we were sick to death of looking at catalogues, so we decided to do things a la Hez and Becky - we sent Paul off with an idea of what we liked and he went and chose everything. The only things left for us to get was the furniture; towel rail, cabinet etc. So we headed off to Ikea in Coventry on the friday night. We did well and got everything on that evening, which was a stroke of luck, then I followed Al home as we'd come in separate cars. He has a country lane route which is a short cut. It was on one of those dark lanes that I was going round a parked car when a smart car (driving towards me on the other side with a faulty front light) and I clashed mirrors. Mine was utterly destroyed... bloody pain in the neck! In the morning I asked our neighbour Dave who, handily, is a car mechanic. He was able to fix it. Paul got cracking on the bathroom on the monday but a few days in it became apparent that there were several problems with our electrics. After an electrician, Carl, looked around the house it was determined we'd have to consider rewiring the whole house. Now, there were other alternatives but me and Al thought it was a bit of a Hobsons choice and decided to get the job booked in and done asap. The bathroom we were hoping could be finished as early as friday (yesterday) but it looks like it'll be tuesday since the walls all needed plastering. So today, with the house filled with tools and bits and bobs, we are heading off to pick new lights as the whole house will be done. Then yesterday, poor Al discovered a long crack in his windscreen out of nowhere! Please can this be the end of our run of bad luck, please?!
I'll show you pictures soon...

New Hair!

Laura was on about getting my hair cut and I promised myself to go and do it. It took me a few weeks to book an appointment but, at last, after weeks and years of toying with the idea...

TA DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Visiting Lau and Luis in Madrid

We spent 5 days in Madrid with our lovely cousins Laura and Luis for a much deserved holiday and it was superb. As usual, it now feels like about a year ago and we've been back so little! But anyway that's another story..!

I'm adding some photos here but a fuller gallery of us with Laura and Luis can be found at:

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=161393&l=1b420&id=867515231

And of course Alex went crazy with the camera for Madrid's architecture so here that all is:

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=161419&l=817bf&id=867515231

Here's a bit of a description of what we did anyway, and if you can't be bothered to read it here's the summary: Madrid's great, well worth a visit, and we had a lovely time!

On the first morning we went to see Lourdes, my very good friend from Sevilla who now lives in Guadalajara with her husband and it was very exciting because we hadn't seen each other since her year abroad in Galway, Ireland in 2003 (I think that's right). Our lives had both changed enormously since then, hers more so because not only had she met and married Christian and moved to Madrid but they were in Madrid because they were in hospital having their first baby!!! And me and Alex got to meet baby Edu practically before anyone else! Unfortunately we didn't get photos on the day but it was absolutely brilliant to see her.

We went to el Parque del Buen Retiro for the afternoon: Madrid's answer to Central Park in New York. It was really beautiful and relaxing. The sun was out, we got lunch in el Retiro, gorgeous fresh salad and spanish meats and tortilla and just drank in the fact we were on holiday. Just what was needed! Then we walked back home along the Paseo del Pardo and back to Plaza del Sol and took a siesta. That day we all went for a drink in Plaza del Angel (or was it the one next to it? Anyway it is a big plaza surrounded by bars on which there are a selection of terrazas). Laura and Luis showed us the royal palace and cathedral before and after a refreshment break in Angel we went for food in a great little Spanish bar where we had even more spanish meats, breads and potatoes setting a standard of lovely good food that would continue throughout the holiday. Thanks to Luis and Laura's knowledge of their many and varied local eating establishments we tried the gastronomic delights at Argentinian and Italian restaurants, and many spanish bars. In short we continued the great spanish tradition of feeling cultural by eating our way around a city; fab!

In 'El Retiro'

Eating:

Next day we went to Museo Thyssen (its proper name is El Museo de arte Thyssen-Bornemisza) and spent hours wandering around. Unfortunately neither of us think much of Miro, which was the extra exhibition and the modernist stuff which would undoubtedly have been the most exciting part was under wraps. But it was still a really good collection and much easier to get around that the Met in New York was!

The saturday and sunday we got to spend with Laura and Luis. We went for churros con chocolate (mmmmmm yum) then Lau and Luis gave us their tour, showing us an Egyptian temple, The Temple of Debod which was salvaged before the flooding caused by the Aswan Damn and given by Egypt to Spain in gratitude for their help (nice to see something like that that isn't there because it was pilfered or ravaged...). They also walked us around a fair bit and we sat down for a drink and enjoyed a chat before heading home for the last siesta of the holiday. That night we went out to see the festival called La Noche En Blanco (The White Night). I'd been looking forward to it quite a bit, and no one more so than Laura and Luis who were looking forward to catching the various artistic and cultural sights on camera. But actually it was a bit disappointing. The Spanish are a lot more patient that people give them credit for, despite being known for being quite vocal. There were millions on the avenida waiting for a tight rope walker to cross - we waited for over an hour - then this announcer said that it was too windy! We all shouted and booed but really, bearing in mind there could have been rioting, it was all quite civilised!

Moments from La Noche En Blanco

On the sunday we took the fast train, the Ave, to Segovia; famous for its Roman aqueduct. The 90km journey took 30 minutes and we had more leg room on that train than flying to America in April! The new station then had a rapid bus service and in no time at all we were in Segovia. I'll let the pictures do the talking; it was too beautiful to describe. Then we also eat there, we had a baby pig at the restaurant where the king eats at and it was the most marvellous food, I've never eaten pork like that before! Yum.

Segovia

On our last night we sat in Plaza Mayor contemplating how lovely our holiday was and dreaming about what we'd do the next time we could afford time of... in 2009! And to top it off, with Laura and Luis at home half killed by looking after us, we had a few glasses of that good old tourist staple: sangria! Thank you Lau and Luis - hope you found the cake when you got home that day? xx

I ran 5km in the Adidas Women's Challenge!

I ran 5km in 39minutes and raised over £300 for Leukaemia CARE!
It was a really fun event; the warm up was really fun, the people were enthusiastic and supportive, and miraculously the 5km didn't kill me! Yey
The first picture was taken before, the third was taken minutes after the run. 2000 participants tried to run the course and if you've ever thought about trying a run I'd recommend it! Thanks everyone

Click here for OFFICIAL PHOTOS

Get Loaded in the Park

It was a fab weekend the last week; not only was it a bank holiday but it was packed full of fun. My legs still aren't quite right after the huge amount of standing up and walking we did! We went to Sarah and John's in Oxford to celebrate their getting engaged and moving back to London before we drove over to Will and Jen's in London ourselves. Will and Dave were our ushers and Dave was there too. Will had cooked and we enjoyed a very yummy meal before we headed out to the pub and while we were in London we'd contacted James and he and Zoe came out to meet us, such a nice coincidence to all be in the same place at once. A bit rubbishly I didn't get any photos of the night.

The next day was the big event and what we were in London for: Get Loaded In the Park festival. We were in Clapham Common with 1000's of other fun seeking people, including Will and Jen's lovely friends. Best bits: Beardyman, The Hive and Iggy Pop. Here are the photos!

Jog On!

So how's the jogging going? I'm going to go out for another training session today and we're exactly 7 days away from the big day... Yikes!
To everyone who has sponosored me big thank you! You've helped me raise over £200 for Leukaemia CARE!
Here's a last chance for everyone to sponsor me although don't worry if you can't. And a huge thank you to the lovely Teresa for dragging my sorry behind around the street and Kings Heath Park each week, and to Leon for cooking each time! Teresa is running the Great North Run in October so anyone who wants to can sponsor her at her justgiving page online justgiving.com/teresaannegray.

Visit to Bristol and the wedding

A few weeks ago we went to see our lovely friends Milly and Rob and Dave in Bristol and it was a super cool trip.
We had to go out on the friday night for a couple of sort of work do's - BioCare had an unofficial work night out that I sort of invited myself to before catching up with Al and the OCR guys for Sam's leaving do. It was really great to see everyone from BioCare, for the first time since leaving a year ago with many of them, but I was really looking forward to our trip to Bristol too.

We have traditionally been quite rubbish at visiting M, R & D but only because of the cat/wedding/diy and othe stupid reasons. Now however we're a bit more free'd up and making the most of our summer.
Firstly we got there without getting lost -Al drove which was his first proper long journey on motorways and I navigated; what a team! (I'm loving being driven places...)
Then after settling in the 5 of us went to see the sights of Bristol, and it was a BEAUTIFUL day - bright, sunny. Gorgeous.
Rob drove us through the hilly, winding Bristol streets and we got out to walk across Clifton Suspension Bridge and climbed up to look down from the cliff-sides of the ravine

Then we walked around the Clifton area and enjoyed the view from a bar with a sun drenched terrace that sits halway up one side of the ravine. On one side there was a wedding and a band played swing music; the perfect accompanyment!

Then Rob drove us to the downs - one of the only flat parts of Bristol and a massive parkland area that was teeming with people enjoying the sun, ice cream and kites. Strangely for Britain there wasn't any wind so our attempts at flying the kite weren't very successful! Still, it was good fun.

When we got back to Milly and Rob's neck of the woods we visited Dave's flat - we'd never been before so it was great to see his home and we all had a cuppa and a sit down. Then we headed back to Milly and Rob's for dinner. Milly's sister Amy and her boyfriend and little girl came to visit, it was lovely to see them. Last time we bumped into them was in birmingham when we were at a tapas bar with Nathan and Laura and Emma, Em and Holly made friends and were playing before we'd even figured out who they were!

Now we're pretty lucky because Dave has really got into his cooking and Rob's always been a bit of a maestro in the kitchen and luckily the two combined their efforts for this dinner party and put together a real feast. There was a combination of culinary styles, fish and meat, curries and salads and it was truly yummy. Don't ask me for the ingredients because I haven't a clue! But in short it was a delicious evening in every sense; really fun!

The next morning we headed off for a gentle journey home and an afternoon reading in the extension while Al played football with Nathan. The cat was loving the break in dodgy weather and all was well with the world!

The next weekend was Hez and Becky's wedding, our first where we didn't have to be the centre of attention and behave ourselves, and it was great! Becky looked beautiful and excited, she giggled and kissed Hez after saying his name in full Hereward Morton Proops, it was so sweet! It was a nice ceremony, a civil one followed by a blessing and the food and party to follow were great fun. It did truly reflect the personalities of the couple and it was a happy, loved up kind of day; just great!

The bride and groom after signing on the dotted line

Emma in the sun (the last day of her arm in plaster - she's out of her cast now)

Dave and Rob enjoying a drink

The fun table!

The boys

The running

The last few weeks have seen me progress from having a dread fear of running machines (I always felt that I'd get suck up like some people are scared of escalators) to jogging, even running on them for 20 minutes at a time, so I'm really quite proud of myself. And I even have gone jogging. I started by jogging to church or the shops but I've now gone on 3 official jogs for the sheer sake of exhausting myself and sweating profusely. I seem to not be able to jog for more than 2 minutes without having a brief walk but, encouragingly, I can break into a job again and repeat the whole process for the next 50 minutes or until I get bored. Getting bored is a major problem. If I can find a new area to jog around and get lost in I'm happy, otherwise if I'm at the gym I have to talk to people which knackers me out. I proved that I could do 5km the other day however by just getting my jog buddy Lee up to date on the last episodes of Dr Who (WHAT will I do til the next series???)

Other news is we have finally managed to order our wedding photos and, on saturday, I get to pick up my dress from Pollyanna's shop. Lovely Tessa asked if I had gone cross country in it?! Fortunately, no, if my present fitness levels are anything to go by...

The boys had lots of fun at Hez's stag do and it's now only 2 weeks til their wedding. It was Hez's brainwave to go and learn about bushcraft, make shelters, gut fish, light fires etc. Their trainer was ex military and Al's hair smelt of log fires for days. They painted Hez up with chamouflage paint, poor love, I hope it got it off... How much more fun in some ways to prepare for a wedding that you're not the centre of attention in! I shall enjoy it... Anyway pictures below of the boys doing macho things, gawd love em.

Nathan and Alex firelighting

Pay attention boys, you are gutting a trout next!

The lads on their woodland adventure