A Surprising Few Weeks

I meant to write this up weeks ago but we've been making the most of some sun here in Britain, and anyone who knows Britain knows to make the most of good weather while it happens and not sit in front of a computer...

On March 20th Alex dropped me off at Mum and Dad's and we waited for her 'chauffeur', my lovely best friend Danielle, to arrive and drive us to an 'un-named location'. She discovered upon arrival that it was Ardencote Manor Hotel and Spa, in Claverdon, Warwickshire. Hilarious journey as mum tried directing Danielle - fortunately Senor Tom Tom knew the way!

When we got there a lovely lady called Nicky set about making us feel welcome. All the staff had been brieed and the spa was good as gold in not letting on to mum subtle details like prices or itinery. We were shown to a posh room to complete our health questionnaires then given a tour of the facilities. Mum didn't stop smiling and I couldn't help but feel it was going rather well!

We swam in the pool, used the sauna then I walked mum to the next bit of her surprise, a massage. It was all very luxurious and even me, constantly planning and thinking ahead, couldn't help but feel relatively relaxed. When mum came out of the massage in her bathrobe she looked like she'd been to heaven, bless her! I led her back downstairs from the elegant manicure room towards the pool but instead we went to the outdoor hot tub. Divine is the word. As Nicky walked past the window giving another client a tour she signalled 'five minutes' to me so I knew we were on schedule. A few minutes later she arrived with a chilled champagne bucket. And because she approached from behind mum she really didn't suspect a thing until she was literally handed a glass! Sat there in the fresh air, the clouds slowly parted and we enjoyed a glass of champagne sat in the warm water and got a taste of how the other half live!

It was a really nice morning, full of surprises but also quite relaxing and a chance to catch up properly which was nice. After the hot tub we got changed and walked across the site to the lunch room where we enjoyed a tasty lunch of chicken and pasta and even indulged in pudding. I say even because I knew what was coming!

I explained that that was the end of the surprises and we'd be heading back to the bar to be collected by Danielle. Then when we walked in 15 friends and family members were awaiting and she got another big shock! Lots of coffee and cake ensued and I left mum to be in the thick of it for the most part. Life and soul of the party, bless her.

The next week it was Alex's birthday. That man never makes a fuss so I thought he deserved a bit of a surprise for his big 30th birthday. Nathan Laura and I took him to the Hare and Hounds and told him he we'd have a curry just the 4 of us. He seemed perfectly happy with the plan... :)

Me and Laura said we were going to the toilet and capitalised on the fact that girls always take ages in the loo to pop over the road and check that everything was going ok at Sylhet Spice, the curry house we'd asked everyone to meet us at. It was all going to plan. Alex walked like a lamb into the curry house without the slightest suspicion! There were 18 of us in the end. Milly and Rob made it over from Bristol, bless them. Alex was blown away and we all had a lovely night. After the curry we went to the pub and back to ours for a chin wag, a drink and finally a bit of Guitar Hero for the last people standing; Nath Al, me and Phil. 

Much fun was had!

The weigh in

At Christmas I had a bit of a shock when I weighed myself but since then I have made a real efort and lost 12 pounds (5.5kilos) which is rather good... The last 2 weeks I seem to have plateaued but I saw LC last night and she inspired me! She' always been very attractive but the last few years she had back problems and it stopped her looking the way she liked. I'd seen her at Emma's 4th birthday in the summer and she'd started a diet then not seen her since. My god, I couldn't stop looking at her at Nathan's birthday party last night! We talked and she's inspired me. I'm going to try and re-motivate myself to lose another half a stone and get back under 11 stone. It's hard but worth it.
Nathan's night last night was for his 30th which is on Tuesday. It was a great laugh. Laura, his wife made demon salsa, Nathan made rocket fuel punch and I seem to remember dancing the Twist! Alex is in bed still, sleeping it off. I only woke up because the cat got in my face miaowing for food..! We got back at 4am, Al and me Claire and Dave being the last up (Laura had gone to bed already and the other guests had made their various ways home). When we walked home Dave and Claire were talking about going somewhere for a dance... such a fun night!
Very excited because it looks as though I'm going to see my cousin Gemma get married in Barcelona to her fiancee in July. This is very exciting. She sent me a picture of her trying on her dress - isn't it beautiful?
I had really resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn't make it over but it looks like I'll be going with my parents as Alex is working. That's the thing with him working for an exam board, anything in July is usually out. Still, I'll take lots of photos for him to see.
Felicidades Gemma y Fran; que aproveches de los meses entre ahora y tu gran dia. Aunque sean locos y llenos de pasan rapidamente son especiales. Si necesitas qualquier cosa llamame por Skype, vale?
Finalmente ayer fue el 60 aniversario de mi tieta Teresa. Ella acaba de pasar unos dias en Madrid con su primer nieto Eric; me gustaria haber estado alli por verles... debe estar orgullosisima! Bueno tieta, muchisimos besos desde Inglaterra; siempre estas en mi corazon x

Summer, lakes and babies

I started writing this post on the first of august; I can't believe it!

We had the readings for the next Billesley Players play and over a few weeks we all had a go. I thought I stood a good chance but the group had a huge influx of new members (I say huge, actually it was more like 4 or 5 but that is huge for BP) Anyway I didn't get a part in the end but my friend Claire joined and got a part so I was dead chuffed for her. Now I'm getting involved in different ways so it's ok. I was sad at first, but even though I'm missing rehearsing there's plenty to do. Meantime we're preparing The Small Hours by Francis Durbridge. Fingers crossed for the next one!

I did miss a week last thursday's rehearsal because it was little Emma's 4th birthday, then it was her official party last weekend which was, as ever, fab! She's like the queen, she celebrates her big day across a couple of occasions! All our friends from brum were there, well everyone from Al's school/college days, and for once it didn't rain! Emma has some really good luck; even the year of the floods it didn't get rained out and her birthdays are always bbq's and garden parties.

Wet weather didn't get in the way either of my trip to Lake Windermere to visit my school friend Dan his wife rachel and their baby Finley. The lake district was gorgeous! I'd never been that far north west but it was exactly like all the Romantic novels and poetry had in my head; I felt that I should be reading Wuthering Heights, not a Poirot novel..! The Agatha Christie I had received when I joined a book club a few months ago whereby friends sent each other books in a chain mail system. I now want to read more AC books as she has been on my ever expanding 'list of authors to read'...

Anyway we all stayed in a cottage and it was a lovely break from the madness of work. The cottage was nearish to Kendal. We saw plenty of sight in my 2 days, I could have stayed much longer and I'd recommend it as a destination to anyone...

The view over lake Windermere from Fin's pushchair

Happy gang

 Fin gets top marks on the boat for top cutie

 Boat trip fun

 Wow otters!

On my way back down south I stopped off at a Tudor house called Rufford Old Hall, near Ormskirk in Lancashire. It was a beautiful day and it was a fab way to make the most of a few hours and have a rest and a trillion times nicer than stopping at a service station. I had a guided tour of the house which dates back to the 1490's and apparently a very young as yet not famous Shakespeare performed in its great hall. I had a quick walk around the gardens and a lancashire tea... it was great!

Finding Rufford I drove past a natural look out point that made me think for some reason of my favourite book that I read at school, Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. In it the main character, the butler, stops during his drive at a phenomenally beautiful look out point. I can still remember the notes I made in the margins of the book and the feelings it engendered so on my way back towards the motorway for just one last bit of indulgence I stopped to look at the panorama.

 

Busy times

Since the specials we've been as busy as ever, both of us. The next week I went to see Hannah's new house and me and the boys got to play, especially with Jack cause he's growing up so fast, then we went to see the Star Trek film. Lots of fun and it was good to go for a drink afterwards and catch up. That sunday I had the final set build before the play so I was in my paint spattered gear getting more paint spattered.

The next week on the sunday the family all got together for a rare family celebration. I'd been ages since I'd seen Shelagh David Graham Paul Cath and my folks all in one room - not since the wedding most likely. We went for a curry in Leamington; good choice as it turned out. Although historically my parents don't tend to choose indian food everyone seemed to enjoy what they had chosen and we all got to catch up. It was to say happy birthday, happy anniversary, happy engagement; happy everything and it was fun!

In those weeks in May and June we actually saw some great summery weather, so among other things we did a fair bit of gardening and pottering. In and amongst working and engagements there is nothing me and al like so much as a potter. The garden's loads tidyer and with the sun things have actually grown. We've finally acquired some strawberry plants from Laura's mum; I've dreamed of growing berries for years and I'm pretty happy to finally have some. Hopefully they'll get nice and tall and we'll have plenty of strawberries to pick in a year's time. This year they're only small but we've still got a few berries reddening. yey!

The week after we all met for a curry the theatre group I joined in January, the Billesley Players, was getting ready for its production of Nude with Violine. The 2 performances were less than a week away so every night that week I went straight from work to the Old Rep to build the set and rehearse. It all went really quite well and I was dead excited and slightly nervous... The dress rehearsal was on the thursday with the performances on the following 2 days. Here's a photo I took with my mobile during an early rehearsal from the audience.

I really loved being in the theatre. Looking up and around at the lighting rigs, the scenery, sorting out the props with Sheila, watching rehearsals, practicing my lines, watching as things developed over a couple of days to doing our lines and moves in our civies to a full blown performance with lighting and sound effects and music; then finally feeling the reactions of the audience, different each night. Loved it! I took tons of photos, needless to say, backstage, in the green room, putting on make up and of the night out on the saturday, but the camera was stolen in Island bar so the only ones we have left were taken on Al's mobile phone

On the up side it's probably the nicest photo we have of Leon and Teresa though..!

Sunday

It's a sunday and Al has gone to Nathan and Laura's to watch Aston Villa vrs Chelsea, so I've got a bit of peace and quiet.
Yesterday was Valentine's day. Sarah and John and Hannah and Rick as well as Phil and Ruth all came to ours to have food and a bit of a drink and we had a great night. Me Han and Sarah lived at Griffin in the 1st year, above Al and the rest of the boys, and in the block alongside us was Phil who even then was with Ruth - they're married with a baby and Ruth did our wedding photos, bloody good job Ruth, best wedding photographer ever! Since then we've all been friends. Sarah and John get hitched in May but we're not smug married's, we're just a bunch of friends of didn't feel bothered enough about Valentine's day to get all smoochy unnecessarily. Who said romance is dead?!
I cooked the puddings. I spent 4 hours making chocolate fudge, chocolate covered cherries infused with brandy and choc chip scones and Al made 2 types of lasagne... Mmm yummy! The guests arrived hungry as we'd instructed and it was a fun night, we had a real giggle and a catch up which is my favourite kind of night. Then as we're all boring and grown ups the Han/Sarah partnerships got back off to Wolverhampton in the car and Phil and Ruth headed back home to baby George, Ruth was driving too, so we even got to bed at a fairly un-scandalous time of 12.30 - so why do I still feel tired???
I suppose the main answer is Leukaemia CARE. Busy busy busy. Can't think. mind fogs up when I try and think ahead. All I can see it the A4 page that is my to do list plus the 300 emails and the database generated list to things to action by the end of this month. It's difficult not to get a bit defeatist. But every time I think it's not possible to do more something happens and we find a way; every task compleated is a small victory - even if usually it's replaced by 3 more.
The snow of course did its damndest to get in the way. I had to work from home twice because Birmingham roads were so slippery and snowy that I couldn't get onto the motorway to get to work. Still it was very pretty and was a good excuse to stay out of the way of the gym, something which I don't seem to need much help with recently, actually.
The play is going well. Went with Graham to the council on tuesday to go through ideas around publicity. Not going to get too involved with that as my reason for being there is the acting and nothing else. Still though, survived it and that's the main thing.
Next week is Nathan's birthday, week after is Leukaemia CARE's proms concert, maybe one day we'll even finish the wallpapering! In the mean time I try to go to church at least every other week and it's nice. I hear the bands being read out and look out for the excited couples, meet the newbies and keep in touch with old friends Jess and Graham, Mike and Jean. Jean's expecting baby number two, congrats! I like going to church. It is boring occasionally but it's strange little idiosyncracies make me smile and it makes me feel at peace in the middle of a hectic world. Rob's sermons always, but always, make me want to bottle them and take them with me. He always looks at things with such wisdom and serenity. There's so much to get het up about but he is always there taking things in his stride. The church I go to, St Nics, is consequently a calming, non-judgemental and welcoming place. I think and I'm pretty lucky to have found such a church as from personal experience I know they're not all like that.
So that's my life at the mo. I'd better get off and do the ironing. Plus I need to put the heating on again because my fingers are like ice. See you!

Happy Birthday nan

Alex's nan Doris Adams turned 95 not so very long ago and upon turning 95 was treated to a fun surprise party, organised by daughter Fran (my new mother in law) and daughter in law Carol.

You should have seen Dos' face as it dawned on her that it wasn't a coincidence that more and more family and friends were walking into Kings Heath Cricket Club!

Dos and her great grandson Rueben, just turned one - 94 years apart!

Back down to earth...

Today I was able to finally stay at home and recover from my first week back at work. It's been a long week, 8 days, after the best ever holiday in NY, and I'm still shattered. But hey, this weekend is a bank holiday, or long weekend, so whoopee!
Among all the many chores of the day I went around the house taking down our wedding cards and took awhile to read them and enjoy them. We had so many cards, presents and gifts of money that it made us both quite abashed and we felt very cherished. Going back through the cards was lovely, I just can't believe that next week we'll have been married a month!
I would have left the cards up longer but there were so many they were taking over the house and with them up I hadn't even managed to put up my birthday cards! So now my first ever "Wife" card is up and I'm happy! Btw, Alex always picks very beautiful birthday and Christmas cards, he's got quite a talent for it so I'm very lucky...
Next post will cover the honeymoon and then I promise to stop banging on about the wedding! x

Dad's birthday

A few weeks ago, on the 19th October, the big day itself, we celebrated dad's birthday.
We surprised dad and mum (I do like planning surprises) with a get together. We were met by auntie Shelagh, uncle David, Graham, Alex, uncle Bob and auntie Sheila. I think the birthday boy had fun!

And today we move one step closer to the Christmas Fun Run... Being held in Worcester, Dagenham, Gloucester, Stevenage, Evesham and Stalybridge(?) it'll attract thousands of fun runners raising money for Leukaemia CARE. I'm helping to organise it. (more info at http://www.xmasfunrun.co.uk/)

Since the Great North Run

It's been, quite frankly, a bit mad!
Very very busy. Celebrated Dad's birthday - we went to a restaurant called Strawberry Bank, although everyone else enjoyed their meal I didn't think much of mine. It was a bit sickly. But then I'd been recovering from the lurgy for the previous week; I had swollen glands and felt generally rough. Everyone at work seems to have come down with something or other so work has been a bit hard.
I've had 3 days of training also, I went to London for CAF (Charities Aid Foundation) training a couple of weeks ago, which was really good, and a 2 day Mac training course in Illustrator, which was also really useful. I think it's ironic that out of all the companies I've worked for, some huge, important companies and some smaller, the one to actually invest in my training is a charity.
I have to say, busy as I've been, crazy as it's been, I've loved working marketing a charity and long may it continue...
Off to church, speak soon.

Emma's birthday

A couple of weeks ago it was a beautiful saturday morning and it wasn't raining or flooding or anything! It was the morning of the Kings Norton Festival, and the village rallied round to put on a lovely 'do'. I met Alan Naylor, a supporter of Leukaemia CARE since being disgnosed with Leukaemia a few years back and together we looked after a stall for the charity. It was such a nice day!







From there I walked to Nathan and Laura's for Emma's 2nd birthday party. The good weather held and the barbeque was a great chance to catch up with all the Collins and Nunnerley family, most of whom we hadn't seen since the wedding. Hannah and boys Jack and Ozzie were there, all of Emma's cousins, Laura's sister and our friends; it was a really good bash!

Then to top it all off, the piste de la resistence, the finale to every good barbeque, we had a ball fight! It erupted after Laura's mum quietly started collecting the balls from Emma's ball pool and then started chucking them - then the boys weighed in and we were all caught in a flurry of balls for about 20 minutes! I laughed til my sides were about to split! My face ached, and the balls kept flying. I got a few good shots in too, Alex teaching me how to throw has finally paid off. As the evening wore on me and Al were one of the last left, sitting out in the garden til gone midnight, telling jokes. The only problem was I'd caught sunstroke a bit so I was freezing! But it was a great day, Emma had a brilliant time!

My Birthday!

The weekend before last was fab, mainly because it was my birthday!
Highlights:
Jess' bithday afternoon tea, me and Alex went and she served MANY homemade cakes and bucks fizz; entirely civilized and rather lovely.
My birthday party, when Lisa Danielle, Hannah Rossa Jack Oscar and Nathan and Laura all came over for nibbles and drinks. We'd even been given TWO of Jess' cakes! Alex did a toast and I felt very special!
Church where they all sang the Happy Birthday song at the end of the service - I'd been waiting for that all year!
Lunch with parents on sunday, despite the restaurant we'd chosen being closed it was still very nice.
Monday me and alex booked our days off and slobbed about the house. Then in the evening Linda and Laura, Emma and Nathan arrived for a drink and bless them, they even brought through a cake with a lit candle! Yey!
Thank you to everyone who made my day so special, all my presents and cards, it was lovely!
Gracias a todos los que recordasteis de mi en mi cumpleanos. Por haber enviado targetas y regalitos, fue maravilloso!
xxx

The quiet before the storm...

It was such a nice quiet weekend, we'd been waiting for one for ages! Next week Al's in Oldham, the week after I'm in Brighton, the one after that is Linda's bday celebrations on St Patrick's day followed by Mothers day and I think the one after that I'm in London. God I feel tired just thinking about it all!
Friday was Nathan's birthday. We all went to the Cotteridge Village Inn; me, Al, Phil B, Hez, Nath, Laura and sister LC. It was a lot of fun but I did feel slightly the worse for wear the next morning. Ironically it was this that set the tone for the next 2 days; gentle days of recovery!
We spring cleaned the house really well, like it hadn't been done in years. Like under the stairs which had been getting increasingly unruly is spacious for the first time in ages! We started to get excited about forthcoming GIY projects. And we actually managed to sit down and talk about the wedding...
Got a press release approved for Restoration, did the shopping and a MAMOTH recycling shift - I swear I spent half an hour dropping cans into the bin!!! I must add that barely a fifth of it was mine...
Then we got wind that a council van was going to come around to collect big rubbish, so we actually managed to clear the garage for the first time in TWO YEARS! Might even be able to get a car in...

1st month in 07

Well we're almost a month in, can you believe it?
I went to Cov for Lisa's birthday last week. That was fun, got to catch up with her properly for the first time in ages. Then I saw the parents which was good. In between then and now I have had a week of working 10-6, which is quite nice because I got a chance to do yoga in the morning and let the cat out before work; a nice gentle start!
This coming week I am on 8-4, it's good cause I'll finish early but it's going to be BUSY and I'll be knackered! There are a few things to look forward to. This week I've got one of my last Nutrition classes - only a couple left now. I'm writing up my projects and things, and yesterday I went over to Linda's for her 'consultation' - basically a thinly disguised excuse to drink wine and have a giggle. It was a good night!
On friday we also went over to Nath and Laura to see our friend Phil Blakey. It was quite an event because Nathan cooked!!!! Pollo Funghi, his speciality. He cooked it the last time he cooked for us - about 4 years ago, ha ha! But it was lovely to see him in the kitchen, I must say!
Laura starts with us in BioCare in early February and in only 2 days I find out what bonus we got for 2006 so I'm quite excited at work!
Today I went to church and came home and recorded my friend Rachel Bannister on the Carl Chinn show today. She and her partner Arthur wrote a book called Haunted Birmingham http://www.birminghamwalks.co.uk/ after organising lots of waunted tours across birmingham. Arthur died just after their book was published of pancreatic cancer, bless him, and I met Rachel through the Restoration. He was such a lovely guy and she did the interview as a dedication to him. She only lives around the corner anyway, so I get to catch up with her quite a bit. If anyone wants to buy her book you can get it from her website.
The last week has been really windy and stormy, but I haven't really noticed because I have such a short drive to work! It's great! Thank you to anyone who's been concerned, but we're all good here, thanks!

Abingdon and Kate's birthday

Yesterday was such a busy today, so today (sunday) neither of us are out of bed and it's almost midday! Anyway, yesterday Hannah and Rossa and little boy Jack came over in the car, we had a cuppa, then we drove to Abingdon in Oxford to see Sarah our old university flatmate and boyfriend John. They have a house there and did a barbeque. On the way the last week of stiffling heat broke and we drove through an electric storm, with water coming at us in all directions, fog, thunder and lightning - bit hair-raising really to drive through. It was the worst weather we'd seen for ages. Along the M40 loads of cars were pulling over and had their hazard lights on, and Rossa drove in 3rd gear, going only at 25/30 miles an hour.
But we got to Sarah's safe and sound and it was a fun afternoon.

Unfortunately another housemate Emily broke down on her way from Milton Keynes so we weren't able to catch up with her.

Little boy Jack is a proper cheeky boy and very much a daddy's boy at the moment. He is 2 and 3 months, running around and climbing all over dad Rossa; he's got a cheeky little smile too! Hannah's friend James was there too and we shared a very cramped car-ride home.



It turns out that he and the lovely Xavier look at this blog and I was so happy to hear that! Xavier just got married in france and Hannah Rossa and Jack went - she showed me their photos and it looked wonderful. He looked very snazzy and the bride looked amazing! It's so fun to think of my Erasmus boys from Griffin growing up and getting respectable!!! And knowing that this blog does actually get read is wonderful - but boys LEAVE A MESSAGE NEXT TIME!!!

After we got back at about 8.30 me and Alex went into Moseley to celebrate Kate's birthday. It was the usual crowd - Pete and Vicky, Kate, Dawn, Michelle and Nick, and a smattering of newish boyfriends who I'm happy to report were LOVELY! - it was a great chance to catch up with everyone and we had loads of fun. And god bless the new licensing guidelines - there was a much nicer atmosphere because no one was rushing to drink up at 11 o'clock.The Patrick Kavanagh in Moseley is a lovely place, best of all it's friendly, not expensive, and has a recently introduced cake selection!!! That's my kind of pub...

Little bear's 1st birthday

Nathan and Laura's little baby Emma had her first birthday and all the family gathered together last sunday.
She had a fab time, lots of presents and she was on top form all day - being entertained by both grannies and grandads, auntie vanessa, Laura's friend Emma, myself and Alex and her cousins who obviously dote on her as well. Aunties Laura and Anne were there to spoil her as well so all in all she was a very lucky little girl. She got a ball pool, paddling pool, swing and a tent thing for messing about in, lots of books, two cakes and lots more.















It was a beautiful afternoon, Alex had to work unfortunately so he missed the first part, but Nathan and Laura threw a brilliant barbeque and the weather was hot, hot, hot. In the end most of the girls ended up having a chat with our feet in the paddling pool, just to stay cool!
El domingo pasado celebramos el primer cumpleanos de Emma. Fue un dia muy bonito, con mucha gente, regalos, dos pasteles y un barbacoa fenomenal... Y el tiempo nos regalo un dia de calor y sol, fue estupendo!

The Kings Norton Festival

I have been volunteering as press officer for the Friends of Historic Kings Norton, as I've mentioned before, and annually they hold a festival to bring the community together. This year it was also to raise money and awarness of the restoration project taking place in the Saracen's Head and Old Grammar School.

I was there at 8am and raced around like a lunatic until about 4pm - I was shattered! But it was good fun. I took photos of everything and got kids to smile for the camera, I even scaled the bell tower to get a shot of the bell ringers! Looking after all the stands was a bit like running around the halls of the NEC when I worked there, or at least I got the same buzz from it. Mostly people were very nice, although like with everything there's always the odd moaner and groaner - although for once it wasn't me!


That night we went out for Pete's birthday, it was really good. This week has been the Birmingham annual International Jazz Festival, and we got to see some live jazz at a pub before moving onto the Aussie bar. I however drank water and looked after my voice, because the next day I needed to have a strong voice...

Afterwards I got dressed up, a real chore when it is soooo hot, and went out to meet Annette for her 30th birthday. We went to the Mailbox, a lovely canalside development of many bars and restaurants and shops. It was Annette's 30th birthday, she was my manager when I worked at the NEC, an d a lovlier lady it is hard to find. I had fun with her and her significant other Paul and friends, here are a few snaps of them:










But my two favourite snaps are from earlier that day. We spent a year and a half waiting to see what the creeper in our garden would look like when it finally blossomed, and here it is in vivid purple. And Emma, the little madam, who since learning how to remove hats from her head has not kept a single one on!









Finally I had a go at yoga on Friday and I survived my gym class again today, so it's all good news. I doubt that I'll be quite as sprightly in the morning though..!