Random thourghts & ramblings

I do hereby decree

2011-01-05T19:28:00.000Z

Alhambra, Granada

2010-12-05T23:33:00.000Z

Another tick on my bucket list :)

Dont know where to start

2010-10-29T18:05:00.000+01:00

So yeah I have no idea where to start with writing on here again. Once you get out of the habit it is just so hard to get back into it. This is something that I see over and over again on the other blog that I read. Life just gets manic and this is what suffers.

To be honest I have been thinking about some things that I've wanted to put on here but then I get really paranoid about what I write. Would people take it well if they found it? I know that some friends etc read this and so therefore I do edit some things that I would love to say to the big out there but it is going to leave someone maybe not happy. And well I'm not really willing to take that risk. It would just bring drama into my life and I dont do drama anymore.

Also it seems that I have the attention span of a fish at the moment...esp since I wander off from this post already to go find something else to entertain me. I'm really struggling with boredom and lack of motivation at the moment and it is really getting to me!

Oops, there I go again. I wandered off to go find the layouts that I'm considering for our bedroom. It is chaos in there at the moment and it needs emergency change/help. So I found us a free wardrobe and that is hopefully going to be the push I need to get organised and moving with all the things that I want to do.

One last thing before I wander off not to come back to this post... The one thing that is really getting me excited at the moment is photography. I've been so inspired and encouraged by the new photographer/climber friend that this is the first time I think that I could start taking my love of photography seriously. He is happily imparting all his knowledge :) And so hope to see some good things on here soon hopefully.

Off to pick up that wardrobe now... wish me luck getting it into the flat though!

Stockholm forest walk

2010-10-10T17:51:00.001+01:00

Saturday on the southbank

2010-09-09T07:17:00.002+01:00

Time for a refresh...

2010-09-06T18:29:00.000+01:00

To be honest I've been completely uninspired by my blog these days... I look at it and just nothing - not interested. But I want to be. I like getting things down, having them there to look through etc.

So since I've been doing an image overhaul on myself these days I've done a quick image overhaul on my blog. And to be honest I think and refresh is needed. I may even try keep it fluid and change a few things more often. Like the background image. I've been hugely inspired by my photography of late and am loving the cool quick and easy results I'm getting with my iPhone. It is crazy but you can create images that would take me hours in photoshop in just 10 minutes of work on the phone. I've yet to see how they translate to printed media and I doubt they'll print great quality at large format, but hey those are not my requirements.

My photographer friend, havent figure out a name for him yet on here, and I have even been discussing the role he is finding in his work for the iPhone. He is happier with the iPhone results over his digital camera.... But of course not over his very awesome 6x6 "Mamiya" manual camera. May actually pop a link in here sometime and let people click through to his site as he is doing great stuff with his photography and I'm hoping he will the photography artwork of his forward and start exhibiting sooner rather then later.

So here is hoping for inspiration....

New gadget

2010-07-29T19:39:00.000+01:00

Well finally four generations later I've finally joined the ranks of iPhone owners. I have wanted this since the day the first one launched but I refused to be hemmed into one service provider.

So the point is that I have a shiney new toy to play with :)

Oh the amazingness that is apple. Let's just say that I'm one happy girl. I can be such a geek sometimes!

I'm hoping that I'm going to get more blogging done now when I have a spare moment like now on the tube on the way home

For Charity

2010-06-03T10:08:00.001+01:00

Well it looks like my friends are being a pathetic bunch at the moment...

I'm trying to fundraise for a company cycle ride that we are doing for the Lennox Childrens Cancer fund, in the sense that I'm forcing C to ride and I'm doing the fundraising for us and I'm also fundraising for the company and helping organise the actual event. I'm making C ride 100km's for this cause!

As a company we are one of the only companies supporting the charity but actually putting on an event. They are really struggling as a charity at the moment and are in real danger of having to close the charity. That is incredibly sad since they provide support and positive influence in the lives of children fighting cancer. I think we all could try and imagine how hard it would be to go through cancer let alone how hard it would be for a kid and their families.

So i'm putting it out there and asking anyone who reads this blog to add to my little bit of fundraising. It is really easy to donate right here....

You can use a credit or debit card from anywhere in the world and no sign up is needed. It is all safe and secure :)

We are really wanting to make a seriously significant donation to the charity, something like they have never received before.

oh and btw we want to have it all donated by the 11th June, the day before the cycle

Table designs

2010-05-25T17:57:00.001+01:00

I've been trying to fill myself with design inspiration at the moment for home so this is a little look at my soon future plans...

This was the inspiration....

and this is the design for the Freecycle table I have sitting

waiting for some designer TLC...

I get to use the above to make a template for the table top - I love having large format printers at work :)

Hopefully I'l get started on this next weekend - it is a long weekend and all :)

Sun makes the British happy..

2010-05-24T17:48:00.000+01:00

*Believe it or not this is London!

Yes, the sun is out and warm in the UK! It has definitely been a long time coming but will probably be gone by the long weekend coming up. That would be typical British weather.

Had a bit of a hectic weekend and thought I would be more shattered come this morning at work but it looks like a bit of sun was all I needed. I'm sitting here looking at the nice little bit of tan I got from the weekend. oh joy :)

Friday was a nice chill social evening which is maybe another little story - but was a very late night as we got home after 2:30am, only to have to be up and about cleaning flat for guests to arrive. We now have one of C's friends little brothers (and one of C's little scouts that he led) staying with us for a week. His friend is on this crazy mission to win this girls heart by flying over here and wooing her all week as a surprise. He didnt want to do this alone so brought Little Brother along with him. So far they havent spent much time together and he is being left a little high and dry as he couldnt really afford this. BUT it is his first time out of South Africa and that is super exciting. One needs trips outside of ones country to gain perspective on life I think.

So we took Little Brother for a little walking tour of London... Well when I say little I mean little in comparison to the whole of London. We walked and walked and walked. We did Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Soho, Bond St, Hyde Park (Speakers Corner, the serpentine lake, the awesome umbrella tree) Westminster Abbey, Parliment square (complete with protesters tents that they are busy trying to evict furiously), Big Ben, the houses of parliment, The southbank including: The London Eye, Oxo Tower, Tate Modern, The millennium bridge. Then St Pauls and finally back home! Wow my feet are sore even typing that... But I did get this pic...

*I do love St Pauls. It never ceases to awe

C has been a bit ill this last week and was just getting worse and worse each day. By yesterday he was just exhausted and since we were tired already of endless socialising we head off just the 2 of us to the reservoir that is just behind our climbing gym, just down the road. We have always known it was there but never walked the 30 secs down the road to the reservoir centre to check it out. It has a little cafe there that mostly serves the little sailing and canoe club but it open to the public. We sat out on the terrace in the sun sipping our drinks and chilling out. It was like a little bit of the Cape Town lifestyle in our back garden. It was lovely and just so relaxing! Definitely one of the "undiscovered" corners to London. There was also one VERY large fish cruise around feeding and popping its head out the water by the edge of the terrace...

*I missed it sticking its head out the water :(... and there is no scale to the pic but it was about 400mm long

Then we went for a walk through the park to the gorgeous little high st in Stock Newington. We do love wondering along this street. Such lovely little shops and cool vibe and so villagey. We stopped for snacks at the Whole Foods organic shops (so cool) and headed back to the park to go lie in the sun and get all the Vitamin D we could.

What a lovely day :)

* Lying in the Park eating watermelon - perfection!

London to San Fran - 2 April... MY BIRTHDAY

2010-05-19T18:19:00.000+01:00

So in an attempt to get writing again and with the subtle hint that Po would like to here about my trip to the US... here I go,

Day 1: My birthday

As usual this holiday started with some insane rush packing the night before to be done in only a few hours. I havent decided if I pack best like this or the worst. Anyway.
That morning we woke up stupidly early to get to the airport STUPIDLY early - which turned out to be just the right amount of early. This was going to be a VERY long birthday, 35 hours to be exact (or something close to that) what with flying into the past through time zones.

We decided to go on this trip with a group of climbers that we have become friends with through a meetup.com climbing group. Having been on a few local UK trips we thought it would be rather smooth and trouble free as we would have an idea on what it was like travelling with the people already. Boy were we wrong... the scale of this trip was just not 11 people large group friendly...

But I must move onwards now. After an incredibly long wait to check in etc due to the fact it was Good Friday and one of the busiest travel periods but them only having 3 desks open for all the morning's flights we managed to get through to the boarding gate where most of the flight had already boarded. It was a completely full flight and actually overbooked which has them offering money to take a later flight.

What can one normally say about a flight - they are most just a long slog as you are sitting there wishing you would just get to your destination faster. The fact that the flight was in the middle of the day and we were flying with time it was very difficult to sleep.. Then the one time that I managed to fall into a deep sleep I was woken up by our group (who were scattered in seats all over) singing me happy birthday and popping champagne! Now that is not something you see everyday! LOL

Once landing in San Fran and not getting the best looks from the Immigration staff when we tried as a group of 7 people we tried to head through the exit past them with all our bags on only 2 trolleys! Oops. Also no one remembered to take down the details of the hostel so they didnt fill out their forms correctly -not so happy with us. But I was to annoy them more later...

Once we have all gotten though the exit with ALL the bags and were making plans to find transport and other headed off to get the one rental car I settled down to nice warm beverage since it was cold and miserable outside JUST like the weather we had left in London - not a good sign!

After a while I was showing off the wonderful features of my luggage which i'm very fond of, and was wondering if they had chopped off my non TSA lock since there was no lock on it anymore. So being the paranoid South African that I am I opened my bag to check that nothing was missing out of it - esp since I had some very expensive and essential climbing gear in there... BUT NO GEAR.... wait also not my clothes... WTF, oh shit, this isnt my bag!!

This was seriously a huge surprise for me. I mean I dont have ordinary luggage. It is an outdoor gear brand and quite specific in look and colour. It took a bit of searching to find this bag. But here obviously someone had the same bag as me and had taken mine and left me their. I did con my way back into the immigration area - which they did not like to get to the airline counter faster to try and hopefully find the person in the airport with my bag. CRISIS - this is not good. We were leaving San Fran the next day for Yosemite and could not have this delay - and I really wanted my own stuff esp the climbing gear.

After being walk all the way through SFO airport to the domestic terminal where the lost and found desk was there seems to be no one of any real use. They could only tell me that my bag wasnt there and they then just wanted to take the bag I had away from me. I just wanted to get a hold of the people and swop bags. possibly even in the city if necessary.

After having a quick look through I did find a little piece of paper with a name, address and phone number. I called the phone number only to wake up the daughter of the guy whos bag I had. He had apparently borrowed it from her. She didnt have any information for me at all... other then they might be renting a car but she doesnt even know where they are staying. So I had C running all over the rental terminal trying to find him and me trying the phone number that the daughter had given me to no avail.

Finally I had to give up the other bag to the airline and head to the hostel with the rest of the group.... If only I had waited another hour I may have gotten the bag back faster - oh well.

After all that stress adrenaline and very little sleep the rest of the (VERY long day) seemed quite tame:

We checked into the hostel, took a streetcar tram that San Fran is so famous for and couldnt afford last time I was there, ate fast food, wondered around the pier area, went to Hooters for birthday dinner, and then a lovely little club for cocktails near the hostel. A few of the group were literally falling asleep sitting at a table in the club so most of the group headed to bed or on a crazy drive around to see the bridge. I'm sorry I missed the bridge this time. I did get a little glimpse in the photo below, but I was just too tired after 35 hours I just wanted bed... after C and I got a little bit of time just the too of us and a last cocktail in the gorgeously gay friendly bar (where the waiter was SO enjoying his little flirt with C)

And that was that... Definitely a very different birthday then the normal.

*A gorgeous old school fire engine truck - complete with bell ringing guy on the back box

*Alcatraz and a submarine

* San Fran Tram ... I stood on the side board at the very front holding on to the long white pole for dear life. Most of the time I had only 1 foot on solid surface with the other one falling off. What a ride :)

Where have all the bloggers gone...

2010-05-17T17:21:00.000+01:00

I know that is a pretty broad statement, but that is how it feels. I was just thinking today that most of my favourite blogs are just not being updated. From me reading a good 10 or so regular blogs i'm now down to 2 !! Then I realised that I was lusting after my bloggie "friends" posts only to realise that I was being very hypocritical since i've seem to have fallen right off the face of the blogging world as well.

I could go on with all the excuses like I've not felt i've stopped going since touching down at Heathrow after my "holiday"* in the US. And how life is so crazy etc. BUT that is all so boring and I'll just honestly tell you that I've just had no interest in writing for awhile. I've also felt like I have to edit myself somewhat here and that is just seeming to be too exhausting.

Everything seems too exhausting at the moment... but i suppose this is how my life goes alot of the time. Not that it should be. Am reading a book at the moment about a guy that has ME and has recovered and is now running a specialist clinic in London. At the moment is it a pretty hectic book to read as it bring back and is so close to what I've been through and am going through. But hoping it will be enlightening and inspirational.

Anyway - so I think it is time to clear up my link list of blog on my sidebar. Sorry guys - but so many havent posted anything in over 6 months. Its depressing and I think I need some new blood in there.

Hope to write again soon...

* I have to say holiday like that since it may have been travels but it was far from a restful holiday - was actually quite stressfull. I did love the experiences and climbing and general travel. But i've also learnt some travelling lessons... No big groups ever again.

Damn where did the time go...

2010-02-19T18:20:00.000Z

Seriously it has been ages since I've gotten a chance to sit and even catch my breath, let alone sit and actually blog something. Right now it is Friday evening and I'm still here at the office feeling a little strange from being over tired and over worked.

This year has gotten off to quite an interesting start I would say. I've come back to work and have been solidly working on a pretty huge project. £1.8 mil fit out job. Also this is a very high end client wanting high end (and above) attention. I'm seriously EXHAUSTED! But it has been good as well. I get to take on a more project orientated design role and it is pretty much a proving case to people that well I know my shit! I think the client likes my work a bit to much in the sense they seem to have it in their head that I'm the project manager... I guess that is what happens if you get things done. But there is also a big political office jockeying going on with this project and well I just dont get it. I dont really do the game playing.

They other interesting thing is that Iranian princess is preggers! So the design dept is about to get even smaller. I'm really hoping that we will get cover for her! cause otherwise it is going to be a seriously long year and I may just have a nervous break down!

In other news I already have my next trip planned. I do start wondering if I should be spending so much money on travel whims... and should instead be saving to buy houses and do all that grown up stuff. But then I dont think that is really me at this stage - or ever, who knows. At the moment all I want to do is travel and see more places and experience more. Plus now i'm back climbing and not so sore anymore I'm just wanting more and more climbing trips. Also the climbing in Namibia and back home in Cape town was just awesome and I want to get out onto the rock even more then this time last year. It does help that we have this really great climbing group that we are part of and they are all just as motivated (actually more) to get out there and climb.

So that brings me to the next trip... We are off to the US for 10 days! Flying to San Fran on my birthday (going to be a 35 hour day!!) and then drive off around california, nevada and Utah ...Climbing!! YAY. There is a lovely group of us going - about 10 in all. I'm so excited and it has really given me something to look forward to and plan... I become a little obsessed with travel planning! Maybe that should be my next career.

Ok am going to fall asleep at my keyboard... going to harrass C to head home now :)
Have a GREAT weekend

Back in the land of the freezing

2010-01-04T17:59:00.000Z

So I've been off in South Africa and Namibia for the last 3 weeks and a bit. Got back to London on New Years Day to a lovely temperature of NOUGHT degrees! damn it was a shock to the body and involved me not really wanting to leave the house at all and pretty much hugging the radiatior all weekend.

I know there are tons of posts in my head esp about my trip home and to Namiba and loads of wonderful photos to share if I do say so myself. I had a great time and really enjoyed the time off. Today back at work is def a bump down to earth and i'm not sure I want to be here. Oh well.

Highlights of the trip to keep my mind off the cold:

the heat
Braai's (BBQ's)
seeing friends
the beach
the wedding
C's hawk hairstyle
Spitzkoppe
4x4ing
Climbing
Yummy food... too much food
tobogganing
giving presents
the tan
the heat

The lowlights (have to be mentioned):

the flights
lack of showers in Nam
getting burnt
too little time to get everything done
Not figuring out how to tell C about his Christmas present and having to wait to tell him and a very boring and mundane way

SO not too bad :)

Cute kitty!

2009-12-02T13:10:00.000Z

I could resist jumping on the viral sharing bandwagon by sharing this bit of fluff....

I see Shrunken Heads

2009-11-30T17:54:00.000Z

This past weekend we missioned off to Oxford to see Mr&Mrs Intellectual in thier new home/town. It has taken some time to get up there but we finally did and had quite a chill time. My highlight was the real shrunken heads at the museum where Mrs I works. It was a fasinating collection of stuff that was pretty much just collected by some guy and then a museum was made for the collection (The Pitt Rivers). There we also tons of pottery from all overs and some 5000 year old pots from Egypt (her speciality as it is pre dynastic - i.e. Pre writing and pharohs!)

I'm still loving that I've now seen the shrunken heads though. Basically the dead enemy is taken and head chopped off, the skull removed and then replaced with hot sand and boiled. So below are more pictures I took if your keen to have a gander. I was fasinated that only the skin shrinks and other things like all the hairs dont so they have really long hair, dense eyelashes and are a little furry from the remaining facial hair. There were also a few monkey heads that they had done the same thing with. If it creeps you out then maybe dont read further....

*excuse the bad lighting in the photos, the place is kept in very low light conditions to preserve the collection....

Oh yes and here is an actual Egyptian mummy with the sarcohgus (sp?) lid off!

Disconected

2009-11-19T23:23:00.000Z

So am feeling pretty disconnected with things at the moment. Am definitely feeling very disconnected to my blog at the moment, it feels to overwhelming to try and put alot of the things into words sometimes. I suppose I would always only write once things had really built up and just need to come out.

Work is being a bit shit at the moment and well I just feel even more disconnected from actually wanting to do anything with my role there. Mostly because it has become a bit stagnant and that is out of my control. The one fairly good thing is that I have designed our intranet setup and it has been signed off and should be launched soon - well that is if i get time in my work day to actually perfect it. Not that I'm getting any time for it. But they are apparently kicking a little extra in my paycheck for it. But now they want me to design their full global corporate site and well that scares the shit out of me but could be a good opportunity to advance my skills and broaden myself. But i'm already burning out somewhat.

I've really been trying to turn around the things in my life i'm not happy about and I found a course that was specifically about self management of life with regards alot to living with long term conditions. It has been really hard to keep myself from getting too down about the pain I'm in and how weak I feel at the moment. I had a realization that I really DO NOT like to be perceived. It is very important to make sure that we do not concentrate our energy on how we think other people perceive and start to believe it. Also we must make sure that we control our own perception of ourselves.

Strangely enough the people in the course that i'm taking see me as a very together person that has amazing knowledge and things sorted. Well I must say that yes alot of the stuff on the course I've already looked at and researched etc but obviously I dont have it ALL together if I signed up and took this course. I have realised that I am alot better off then many people and I just amazingly lucky to have such a supportive partner, I know I didnt have one before and so hope that I can keep showing my appreciation for all the little things that mean the world to me. I hope to be much stronger in the future and to always provide just as much support the other way. Of course we dont have everything sorted but it is so good to have a great base and good communication to start with. So compared with the others my home is my sanctury and my protection. I do not have to rage battles (other then in my own head) inside the quiet that is home. This I'm so thankfully for.

But am still feeling disconnected. I feel disconnected with my body because of the pain and the medication that i'm putting into it. Thankfully I've stopped taking the one medication that was seriously disconnecting me from everything. I think this may all still be from that and it will get better the longer I'm off it. BUT am still settling into the other medication so am more sore at the moment. I think the lack of good sleep due to pain isnt helping either.

Am also disconnected from friends that are going through tough times at the moment. I've tried to be a bit influence in a situation/intervention with a friend that has worked thanks to the time and energy and emotion that my mom has put into it and plugging into some of the strong emotions i've been dealing with in regard to it all. She is finally for the first time in 11 years dealing with all the damage that has happened to her and that she has done to herself. It is amazing to hear the battle that she is going through and doing so well. I'm SO proud of her!!! But I still feel like a failure as a best friend for being so far away and so disconnected and so afraid of confrontation.

I'm also so unable to be there for another close friend who has just had to go through the death of her father which is just so scarily close to home and all that. I hope that she is surviving and that it gets easier for her. I wish sometimes that I wasnt so far away from my closest friends.

So other then all that I still have my wonderfully stable and understanding C ...who is my rock and I really dont know what I would do without. and so like my fellow blogger Benny I'm going to keep trying to focus on the positives....

My wonderful bf
Our random trip to another city just for the night to see a band (its a surprise ...so more laters)
Going back to Cape town for a holiday in like 3 and a bit weeks!!
Going to Namibia to best guy mates wedding on the beach !! WHOO HOO
Hanging out with the friends in Namibia and some climbing in Namibia
THE HEAT!! So hopefully not as painful joints!!
Bonus coming in next pay check
Didnt have to go grocery shopping this week because we just had our weekly shop delivered to our door tonight. yay! less hassle for me.
And it is nearly friday and then therefore nearly the weekend!! Double yay.

And that is it for now... going to try keep the happy positive thoughts going.

Monopoly Pub Crawl

2009-11-05T18:45:00.000Z

SO this past weekend I did THE london monopoly pub crawl! I really didnt think that I would be doing it ever and if attempting it I didnt think that I would make it to the end drinking alcohol at every pub... BUT I didnt factor in my competitive and deterimed streak...

WE did it...

And it may have something to do with the possesion of my body by the evil task mistress. See C's graph below for his analysis. I am hoping to do a more comprehensive post...but that will have to wait until I have some time to deal with the photos and putting together all 26 pubs of the day!!

Pottery Catch Up

2009-10-21T18:26:00.000+01:00

So I've realised after a conversation with my mom that I havent posted my latest pottery (well latest as in most of the year's worth) So here it is...

My Frillies

Kitchen stuff

My favorite...more of this theme on its way soon :)

It is rough terracotta with glossy white motifs. very tactile.

The Pixies

2009-10-12T13:59:00.000+01:00

I've had such a busy week last week... it is now Monday and I still need a weekend! Half asleep on my feet here and doing tedious detail drawings :(

OH WELL

So i just thought I would share one of the awesome moments of last week... Wednesday night we went off to see The Pixies live!! What an amazing experience. It was also made 100 times more awesome having the Ginger Ninja with us. It was their 20th anniversary of the album Doolittle and so the Ginger Ninja worked out that the first time that he saw The Pixes live I was only 3 years old!!! lol

Most of the time I was up front bouncing around with the Ginger Ninja but for the last few songs headed back to C and my work mate and his friends and this is the little video I shot there :)

Fuses and Plugs

2009-09-23T17:44:00.000+01:00

You seriously learn something new everyday!!

On monday it was the fact that plugs here in the UK have fuses. Well to be honest I had taken note that there were fuses in the plugs but I hadnt really considered the practical application of it.

Come Monday morning as C put the washing in the washing machine and turned it on it managed to throw a wobbly and trip the electricity. Now in SA this had happened to me with numerous appliances and was always simply a case of flicking the switch on the electrical board and hoping that the appliance would trip it again when you use it. So C went out and flipped the switch to get the electricity back on and then tried the washing machine....

NOTHING...

it is now dead.

So we call up the landlord as this is something that we really do need to sort out asap!

After a conversation where it was decided that i'll just pull out the plug and put it back in and see what happens and then call him. Of course I thought that this wouldnt work and so after lugging the machine out of its hole and nearly breaking off the inlet pipe. We then get another call from the landlord to say had we checked the fuse... I mean really like I would have thought about the little thing hidden in the plug that we dont have in SA.

So we pull out the fuse and now have to find a 13 Amp fuse at 9pm somewhere in the house. But what else need such a powerful fuse? Looking as a few plugs we only come up with 3Amp fuses. Then I get the sudden idea... MY HAIRDRYER!

And what do you know... the hairdryer is the only other powerful enough appliances in the house! And stealling the fuse out of there and into the washing machine plug it was all fixed!!

But now I didnt have a working hairdryer!! I dont know what is worse?!?!

Ending side track:
On sunday night I watch 2 VERY different TV shows where the main characters names were the same as mine... then it turns out the in both shows the chick with the same name as me gets raped!! BOTH SHOWS. I think that is seriously weird.

Busy Busy Busy & blog ideas

2009-09-17T17:46:00.000+01:00

Have been super busy of late and havent really been in the mood to blog for awhile now. Purely cause I've have no desire to really to stare at a computer screen after the long hours I've been putting in at work.

One of the things that i've been trying to do which has taken all my blogging energy is creating a blog for my company for internal use. It is all about our environmental policy and getting an environmental accreditation and all things eco. SO have been trying to creat something really great. They were going to outsource it to a webdesigner but I was like we should keep it in house especially since we need to update it regularly and we would if it is outsourced.

So was wondering if any of you regular bloggers out there have any pointers, or what things do you love about the blogs you read or run yourself. OR what are your favourite blogs at the moment??

Hair Dye

2009-08-24T21:47:00.000+01:00

There are def many posts on this blog that I dont write mostly cause they would be about C...and well since he reads this is must be very weird for him as well! But in a way I just want to record a moment in our lives that just makes me smile.

Last night while normal couples are doing whatever they get up to on a sunday night I got C to help dye my hair! I've just started to dye my hair at home again and the first time came out ok but wasnt the best job since the roots were much lighter then the very dark tips. So I reckon hey why not get C to help....

Oh dear!

There was black hair dye everywhere!! Mostly all over my skin and some over his arms where I kept stabbing him with the bottle of hairdye... accidentally !! He used a comb and made it all into a huge birds nest on the top of my head and then once he had squished in all the hair dye wouldnt let me leave the bathroom while we had to wait the 30 minutes for it to develop. So what did he do ...fetched his book and read to me :)

I must say that that seemed to be the shortest time i've had to wait for those 30 minutes to pass. And then while rinsing it he did manage to drop the shower head outside the bath... oh well the floor did need a clean so two birds with one stone i say.

I just have to say that he did a really good job!!! And no he doesnt know what he has let himself into.

p.s. we now own 100 pairs of latex gloves...well 97 now! Just think of all the jokes he was coming out with over those :)

Obsessing

2009-08-20T23:23:00.000+01:00

So I've realised that I obsess over things in my life... not in the normal way that your thinking of. I dont obsess over emotions or experiences or ummm... me. But I tend towards very, how to put it, maybe obscure?

Well my lastest obssession is... TATTOO's !

I've always been interested in them and always lent toward the idea that I would get around to having one done - well after I get over the fear part. But it has reached epic proportions at the moment. Maybe it is also because i'm looking for creativity in my life and it is something that can def inspire creativity.

This was kick started by me randomly coming across a website for the tv show LA INK. I started watching the show and was totally inspired by the creative process of the design of the tattoo and why people where having them done. And then I got more and more obsessed with the talent of the main person in the show, Kat Von D. Then I realised that she is only a month older then me and has acheived so much and is living the lifesytle that she wants and loves. This was both depressing and inspiring. Check out her website here

I now can say that even though I'm still SO scared of getting a tattoo that I would trust her completely to do one... I would pretty much even be happy to give her an idea of what I like and then let her do her thing. She is SERIOUSLY talented. She is world reknown for her portraits tattoos and they are seriously photo perfect.

The only problem...her tattoo shop is in LA!! (about 10 blocks from the last place i stayed when I was in LA, And the annoying thing... I remember the outside of the shop!! ARG)

I've spent hours looking at all the stuff online about her etc, and then last sat night took it one step further when while in a bookshop C produced the coffee table book about her and tattoos etc and I bought it!!

At the moment I've been really drawn to her filligree, lettering and angels...

Time for change

2009-08-11T14:42:00.000+01:00

I have a feeling that a few changes are in the process of happening. Well when I say process I mean it is all in my head at the moment.

On Saturday I was actually the one dragging C out of bed and wanting to get going early in the day. Normally it is me staying in bed dozing as long as possible on the weekends lasting into the early afternoon. Not this day though as it was the Art in Clay exhibition/Fair! This is the biggest event in the UK in the ceramics world and I was not going to miss it for the third year. (can you beleive how quickly the time i've been in the country has flown)

It was just amazing... I loved it! I really needed it as well. Firstly it made me realise that I am a maker and an artist inside and that I do have the talent! The difference between the people exhibiting and me where that they were doing ceramics full time and they all had 10 years of that behind them OR they were students that were studying ceramics full time. It really was a good realisation that I could with time really make something of my passion in ceramics. I mean it has always been in me but i've not really been in a position in the past to really persue it.

I was just so inspired by alot of the things that were exhibited. And I bought a book that appealed to me for inspiration and later at home realised it was even better as it was a book that relates directly to the ceramics degree here in London. It is written by the proffesor! It has been great for inspiration and how to chanel it etc.

So I need to make time and prioritise creativity in my life!

One of the first things that I think i'll have to do is to redesign this blog and it may have to take a different direction for now. I've also found as much as I love that my blog is there to share things with family, friends and the bf, I do find that I hold things back because of that - and I dont think that is a bad thing. It just stops me from writing on here at all sometimes. So I feel that there may be a new chapter in the life of this blog over the horizon.

I seem to have noticed that it isnt only me that is waning with the blog entries... i've noticed that most of my regular blog reads are also battling for inspiration.

Things i learnt yesterday...

2009-07-30T15:45:00.000+01:00

This blog post concept stolen/inspired by Being Brazen. Full credit given... thoughts my own though.

It may be a good idea to iron my trousers more
It is more painful for my joints/back sitting in my office chair all day then it is traveling down to kent and back (which was a mission)
I may have more pride then is good for me sometimes
Blue food dye used for M&M's may be the future cure for spinal injuries. And it may turn your skin blue just like the cute little rats they are testing it on. Click here for more info on that.

So cute!! Poor ratty...but he does look kinda happy - but that could be a whole PR thing.

iMac

2009-07-24T16:45:00.000+01:00

It seems that I may just be getting myself a beautiful machine like the one above!! Yes I've been unable to resist the geek inside me.

To be honest it did kinda just fall in my lap - not like I went looking for it or anything.

C's ex boss who is a fellow mac lover has been trying to sell this beauty to C for a few months now. I've been hearing little comments about it along the way. But it hasnt really been discussed until....

The ex boss sent C a video he had shot and edited trying to convince him to get it. It then got sent to me (as most things do since we email ALOT during the day) And it was just hysterical. But it also just planted the seed in my head going "ohhhh I'd love that"

Then there was the price.... DEF not a deal you should pass up.

So after a few passing comment C got how much I want it ...and so it is a done deal now.

Before I didnt think there was a huge need for it. As I do have my gorgeous Macbook Pro. But now I just keep thinking of more and more reasons that I need it. It is just so exciting.

I can have a machine that will handle both OS X and windows and I'll be able to run CAD on it. Plus it has a nice big 20" screen so that help with CAD. So this means I could maybe start some negotiations at work to have the option to work from home some days. And it is powerful enough to handle Photoshop so I can actually sit down and learn it. So it will be a work and media PC and my gorgeous laptop can be dedicated personal stuff. And it can try keep the hard drive from filling up.

TOO EXCITING!!... and I may be getting it tomorrow after saying yes yesterday. YAY

Poo sandwich

2009-07-21T12:09:00.000+01:00

So we have a 2 hour meeting coming up at work for which we have been set homework. The homework is to come up with a feedback sandwich for each person in the design team.

What is a feedback sandwich you ask?

A ‘feedback sandwich’ is an honest and open way of delivering feedback to individuals; on areas / things that you believe they may do well, things that they may find tricky in your opinion and things they could do differently and/or better.

There are no rights or wrongs, however your feedback sandwich should contain;

Context for the feedback – a situation, an instance or a scenario
1. It should highlight a minimum of three specific context-related things the person does well.
2. It should highlight one specific, factually and contextual appropriate thing that the individual could improve on.
3. This should be depersonalized and you should be ready to give other examples in the same context.
4 .It should finish with an overall observation, in context, confirming what the person does well.

I am seriously struggling with this. I've been trying to come up with these for 5 days now. i know that i've not written anything down so i'm not tried extremely hard. But everything that is floating around my head about people is very subjective and emotional and I dont seem to be able to think of exact situations. I've always been like this though. And this is all stressing me out cause I really dont want to hear what people have to say about me either. Most of them do not understand what I'm going through at the moment and honestly I dont think that they care. But i suppose this is what the meeting is all about.

ARG

Portland

2009-07-07T17:49:00.000+01:00

Here are some photos of the weekend away in portland. I loved getting away and spending time by the sea! Was loving running around with my camera and discovering new functions. These are just a few of the 243 photos I took :)

*Kisses at sunset*

*sunset at Blacknor*

*Loving the sea*

*C decending the most picturesque climb i've see so far*

*Fallen Slabs*

*jurrasic fossil!!*

*playing with the colour settings*

*crag in black and white* *C and Me*

*me on the only climb I did...got stuck and came down. Only 1 other chick got to the finish so I dont feel too pathetic. I'm the higher one on the crag...about to do a very pathetic mantle which landed me in a position that looked like I was praying to the rock - lol*

Coke freeeeeeeeeeee

2009-07-02T16:58:00.000+01:00

So yesterday was the official end to the 1 month I set myself to go without carbonated caffeine filled drinks...mostly coca cola! I was starting to feel like I was getting addicted to the stuff and really didnt want to go a day with out it. Plus C shared a weblink with me about a link between coca cola and joint/muscle pain. It turns out that that is def not the problem in my case but he got me paranoid. Also I have a thing where I like to test my will power out every now and then.

So one month along and what is the result?

Not much difference actually. The only thing is that i'm not being ruled by cravings for it. Otherwise I feel pretty much the same. Well not for the first week though. But that was a bad health week and when I have those coca cola def give me a bit of pep and more energy to deal with it. So the first week was hell. Involved me being exhausted and hitting real energy lows in the day.

I also have to point out that I didnt drink much coke. Only about a can a day during the week and not every weekend. So i cant see how it would have much of a difference either way. I'm still having gut issues but that has always been ongoing and isnt made worse by the coke.

My end verdict....

I dont really want to cut it out of my life completely. I do know that I should be sticking to drink more water and less sugar etc. So that is my goal now. Drink more water and save the coca cola for that "special" occasions like at the end of a gruelling climbing day. or with a meal at a resturant or at the bar when i dont want to drink alcohol. Am going to stay away from drinking it in the week during lunch and at the office. (that may only be hard when my boss trys to bribe me with chocolate and coke)

Am off to the isle of Portland for the weekend tmr to try do some climbing!! cant wait. But you never know what the British weather is going to throw at me or what my boby is going to say about this. But i'm still so excited!

The trouble with jogging is that the ice falls out of your glass.

2009-06-30T17:13:00.000+01:00

I felt like having a random title today.

So this is week 6 of joint pains... luckily the pain has gone down from an 8/10 to a 2/10 which is a huge improvement to my life. I've been on steriods for the last 14 days and am off to see the doctor to discuss things tomorrow. Am really hoping that this is now just going to get better and better. I think that it really helped that on thursday morning last week I put my foot down at work and said that I really cant use my hands too much which means NO cad work. Now i'm just trying to take the whole mouse work easy. I think the hands have been the most frustrating. Just how everything hurts ones hands - every position that you put them in hurts. And the fact that all the things you like to do involve your hands.

We are heading off to portland this weekend for a meetup climbing group trip. 18 climbers are going all in all. And I still have no idea if i'm going to be able to climb at all - let alone do some of the more hectic walk ins. I've been a bit stressed by this but sorted that out by joining Streetcar car club and therefore we will have a car of our own. So I can head off to chill somewhere in the sun if I cant walk in etc. Otherwise I'll mostly just be chilling at the bottom of the cliffs watching everyone enviously and running round taking pics... oh yeah and maybe i'll get to do some reading as that has been impossible due to not being able to hold books. But most importantly i'm really looking forward to being in the sun by the sea!

Lastly for this post today I just have to share the fact that I've converted C's ex into my fan... While getting her home very drunk on Sat night she had this to say:

ex: " i have no idea what you must have thought of me when you met me. I know, that i'm a bitch. I was a bitch. I just really really wanted to hate you .... but you are just too nice! I cant hate you."

LOL - all I can do is laugh. At least things are all cool now. And her wedding wont be uncomfortable now.

Still in pain

2009-06-21T23:26:00.000+01:00

So it is 12 days later and here i'm sitting still in pain - a bit less but pain none the less. This is honestly getting to be too much. I dont really have any good answers even tho i'm seeing specialists that cost fortune (thanks to private health insurance i'm not paying for) and I getting medication to try to SEE if it could be joint pain related to infection in my intestines. My brain is getting very befuddled by this all and my moods are pretty befuddled as well. I dont think i'm going to be able to right much as this is really hurting my hands. It seems that they have become the worse part. But i think that is alot to do with going back to work and useing them again. All the mouse work etc. My boss was really sweet and went and bought me heated hand guards for arthritis pain and my other collegue gave me his track ball mouse. but it is still really hard and a day at work now sees me struggling home and curling up to sleep because the pain in my hands is just unbearable. Then there are the people at work that see me working and dont think that i must be in pain cause well i'm there and working so what could be wrong *note the annoyance to that line of thinking. I'm so sorry that i'm good at putting a brave face on things. I reckon that I do not wish to appear weak.

I dont know how i'm going to get through this week if things dont change.

And now that i'm pretty "disabled" by pain all i can think about is the things i want to be doing, like climbing and using my bike as transport, stuff that i want to do with friends, holidays etc. Even my usual net surfing and home computing had come to a halt.

I have a climbing weekend coming up in 2 weeks and really REALLY dont want to be like this come then.

Also it is amazing what you take for granted. and what it is like when doing even the simpilist things are difficult.

And finally i just have to say it is horrid not even being able to hold your partners hand properly cause it hurts.

well i have to stop now and this may not have been the best idea to type as more pain is setting in. but i honestly need to get some of this stuff out my head.

Pain...

2009-06-09T23:07:00.000+01:00

Ok enough already with this pain...i'm up to here with having to deal with it all day long. This is exhausting and I want my life back!

But will have to wait until next wednesday for the verdict after having an ultrasound of my hands (how weird is that !??!)

well this is all my hands can handle for now...

p.s. i really do have the most amazing partner in my bf!

2009-06-05T17:22:00.000+01:00

A few pics from the hundreds that I took in Paris!

back from my little jaunt in Paris

2009-06-02T23:59:00.000+01:00

I still cant get over that I could just pop over to paris for a 4 day weekend... this is just what I did. I tagged along with Mish and her man - well I welcomed them to London before ushering us all onto the Eurostar over to Paris.

It was a mad 4 days and I'm absolutely wreaked at the moment. My joints where sore last week but only slightly and I wasnt worrying about them. But now after a strenous on the body time in Paris they are even worse. I've now had a full week of sore joints. I'm just tired of being in pain. It isnt the nice I've been excersizing and now ache somewhat (for excersize read climbing) It is this dull ache in my joints that has sharp stabbing pain every now and then. I'm walking around so carefully as to not hurt them too much and making sure that i dont twist them out of place too much.

I've def hit a low energy point and also keep passing out - which is so not good ! i need a holiday to get over my holiday! it also didnt help that I was working late every day to prepare for the time off.

I'll have to write a paris specific blog post and capture some of the memories here and try post some of my pictures... I have hundreds, was starting to get mor creative with my GORGEOUS camera. I really cant thank C enough for picking such an awesome camera (and the Ginger Ninja for confirming his choice!)

I've also had a weird inner head space at the moment. I've been making a few realisations at the moment which is always interesting to me. Maybe they are things that everyone already knows about me and maybe not. But i've realised that I am actually pretty much a loner in my head. I think this may be from being an only child. To everyone I am a very friendly and open etc person but sometime I really do just like to retreat into my mind. I've never really needed anyone to be there with me. I'm very happy to be all alone by myself with my thoughts. I've come to realise that I dont need to be alone to be able to do this. I can be surrounded by people but still feel very much by myself which is wierd. Maybe this is how C and I survived living in 1 room for so long.

I did realise that since i've been away without him twice in the last little while that I really dont like it. And its not for the usuual reasons I dont think. I mean i'm perfectly capable and fine to travel without him and alone etc. I have no fear of going places by myself etc. But I realised that he is in my head space and that I need him there for that. And this is a first that I realise that someone else is in my headspace so much. He really can read me like no other! and that is scary in so many ways.

I've also had no ties to a place being a home. Like a certain house or city or country. It is always the people around that make the home for me. If I have the reight people around then I feel content and that is safe and home like. Home right now is very much the space that C and I share where ever that is. It is great to now have a physical space to represent that though.

Ohhhh speaking of which, our couch is arriving on saturday. I just cant wait. I really hate sitting on this hard futon (i think i have mentioned this before.) The things that I really wanted to splash out on were a matress and a couch. The 2 places i need to have a happy house. I'm not really good at personal decisions (ok i'm terrible) so this was quite the decision to make. But i think that i've def made the right choice. We went for a made to order couch to our sizes wanted with a chaise lounge that can swop from one side to the other (always good to have fexibility) It also has a solid sofa bed mechanisim that has a sprung matress. And I got to pick the fabric ....Aubergine microsuede. So will post a pic as soon as we have it :) Cant wait !

That is enough for tonight... am off to crawl into bed with my gorgeous bf !

Oh yeah and here is hoping that the joints are somewhat better tmr!

Every Weekend should be a 3 day affair

2009-05-26T23:44:00.000+01:00

There really are moments and day where I say to myself I love living in London. There are actually more days I say that to myself then you would think. I've never really understood how people could be miserable here ... well actually I do "understand" it but I just dont get it when there is just so much going on here and so much that you can get involved in. If there is one city in this world that can cater to everyone I think this is it.

Bank holiday weekends are normally wonderful times to be in the city of London. They always see them as an opportunity to just enjoy life. yeah I think that is what you could call it. On Saturday which was gorgeously warm we headed down to the Southbank to meet up at the Tate Modern with Miss M and friend of hers who as usual was weirdly connected to both C and I.

Once there we encountered the weirdest scenes outside the Tate, It was like they had beamed in some hippie festival. miss M even said that my photos made it look like we were far out in the countryside and not in the middle of London. There were loads of stall and interactive art things going on for kids. Playing with clay, making gingerbread men, making themselves dress up clothes, it was endless. There was a stage on the grass with random musical acts. Recycled stuff make into art work...there was just so much to see. This was all under the banner The House of Fairytales.

After roaming around there we headed in the Tate Modern turbine hall to see the exhibition which they had recreated from the original exhibition in 1971 called bodyspacemotionthings by robert morris. This was pretty cool in the sense that we got to run around like children interacting with the installation. It was things like balancing platforms, tightrops, climbing "chimneys" (C nearly got us kicked out when he did this as he mantel up and over the top of it...they were not impressed.) It was fun but I must say that health and safety always had to come into play which can be sad. Always being stopped when it is your choice to do something that could be deemed somewhat dangerous. The one bit where you were supposed to be able to hold onto a rope and stand on a ball and walk it around in a circle was of course not allowed. How sad.

After that we headed off to borough Market for some food - still one of my fav places in London. And after a long day got onto a bus and headed home slowly just like my body was feeling. I just love that the sun came out and it was warm and everyone took advantage of it. That is one of the best things about London - we dont take good weather for granted. That was also evident on Sunday when after some climbing indoors we headed down to the park and lay in the sun on the grass with everyone else. People get out and enjoy the weather. Grab some food and drinks and head to the park. everyone and anyone. even the neighbourhood goths get out for the sun.

I went summer dress mad on Friday and bought 5 dresses. This is so not like me as I hardly buy 1 dress let alone 5! but I just had this desire to have pretty summer dresses and really enjoy what the summer has to offer this year - hopefully it will be better then last.

This is where i'm going to leave this but will add some photos to enjoy :)

Downtime...

2009-05-18T22:55:00.000+01:00

I need some!

Seems like i'm either rushing around or planning to rush around these days, and it isnt stopping. If i'm not physically busy then i'm also mentally busy - i really need some downtime where i can just shut off my brain. It is also getting hard to shut it off at night and i land up going to bed way too late and feeling crap in the morning. Need to find a better routine here. Not much is going to change for at least the next month tho. Plus things got a little interesting at work and i'm try to concentrate on that and make the most of the opportunities and not get stuck in the boring hole that is full time cad monkey stuff.

I'm def battling to keep at bay that overwhelmed feeling like everything is just piling up and i'm not getting through what i want to. I keep telling myself that it is just my perception and that it is all manageable and as usual i'll make my way through things and come out fine on the other side.

I read a post on Po's blog a little while ago and it was all about blogging and why ...well it really struck home for me and am feeling the smae way about it all. this has become a vanity blog as C calls it and i was writing alot of the time for the readers that i've gathered... I really wonder sometimes what they get out of reading this blog if they dont actually know me in real life. I know that C finds it interesting as things may come up that i've not shared with him. But mostly he must find it weird to read stuff from this perspective esp about things that he did with me. I've been asked a few time why do i blog - mostly by people that do interact in the blog world. But I still cant really answer them. I have no idea why I blog other then the fact like right now I'm sitting here in my lounge pouring out the random activity in my brain and just letting my fingers type away. I know that i'll feel calmer after this.

I did start my blog originally to blurb stuff out there and it was all very abstract stuff that even the people that knew me and read it did quite get what i was on about. I liked that and it would be nice to get back to something like that. i do know that i'm not explaining comment i make on here to other people anymore. Maybe that will help to not hold me back from letting stuff out there. Because I do really need a release sometimes. I know i cant always expect C to listen to ALL my shit... :)

I also had a very random request from a reader of my blog to write a post about Mallorca. I was very amused, shocked, interested by this. It was just so random and flattering in a way. i wasnt planning on writing anything about the last trip since it was very bitter sweet with me just heading out there to check on my brother and see how he is handling life etc. It was wonderful to see him and also very sad. I didnt have much Mallorca stuff to blog since as goes my brothers life we only saw the bar between his flat and the beach and the actual beach.

NOTE to reader with this request: I have travelled there quite a few times before. I would check the travel tag on my blog, also check the archives Dec 07, april 08 and i think sept 07.
here is a quick list of my fav things there:

the cathedral (i love these in any city but this one is quite beautiful and a bit "gothic" as well)

Illetas beach (this is where my bro lives and is one of the most beautiful little beaches) from the centre of Palma take the no 3 bus i think. it runs along the peseo de born past the cathedral.

the old town of palma is great to walk around. In the old town area to the west of Peseo de born (near the circle) there are loads of great local clubs and bars and yachty hang outs. I forget all the names right now - i'll try remember and post later.

The main run of "tourist" clubs are along the waterfront. On of the more local flavour clubs is made in brazil (here is the map position) All the club are there abouts. The big chains are there as well like Puro beach etc. But be careful as things can get raudy and the Spainish culture has no problems with pushing and shuving and getting into your personal space - DO NOT get offended by it. I've also seen some worse fights in those clubs then i have here in London and that is saying something.

I would also suggest a visit to the Castle as it is a lovely piece of work. One of the only truely round castles of the time. It also has the most amazing 360 degree views of Palma.

My other suggestion is to hire a car for a trip around the island. It is a very small island and it is possible to drive from one side to the other across the middle in 30 mins! We took our time driving up the coast and around the country side. Some of my fav towns are Deia, Valldemossa, Port de pollensa (from this town the drive out to the lighthouse on the very tip of the peninsula is awesome scenery)

Note about the driving - it can be very scary. I loved it but my bf calls me Colin after the rally driver. They stopped marking to the hairpin bends cause there are just so many of them. Treat every corner like it is going to keep turning and it will be fine. The roads in the country side are seriously tiny so watch out for on coming cars. Plus they drive on the right side of the road - so that is the opposite to normal for me and that takes some getting used to. But after all that it was the best way to explore the island and i had great fun driving around. Esp when I got stuck behind some REALLY nervous tourist drivers who where only driving at 5 kms an hour (am not exagerating! what should have been 10 minutes drive turned into and hour! )

The other bit that I love about Mallorca is the climbing but i dont know if that is your thing.??

That is all I have energy to write for tonight

Hope you have a great trip there! I think i'll be off to Paris around that time...cant wait!

Ok now i'm exhausted and happily off to a warm bed (and need to get blood into my numb ass from the futon that i hate! but we will soon have a gorgeous couch...more on that laters too)

My In Tray

2009-05-08T18:03:00.000+01:00

Its been a crazy week...filled with birthdays, ex's, Ikea,climbing, too much PS3 Civilisations gaming, too little sleep, and WAY too much work! At least the work part was only 4 days. Dont think I could have handled another day of this all. I was pretty much the ENTIRE design dept today! Not fun. Oh yeah and a presentation to the company this morning. ARG. I really do not look my best so early in the morning and when I havent woken up. NOt even the journey to work woke me up this morning.

Anyways...I get to go do some climbing outdoors tmr ...YAY. Even if it is horrid sandstone as i've been told. The bad part...The getting up early. I'm so going to meet random strangers to go climbing down south and i'm going to be like Shaun from Shaun of the dead...I'M NOT GOOD AT MORNINGS!

Well its time to get out of this work place (2 hours after i'm meant to leave and am the last one here) and go entertain the Ginger Ninja! YAY.

More Travels

2009-04-24T16:10:00.004+01:00

What a boring week back at work after an amazingly relaxing week in Wales. It really did fly by even though I was bored out of my mind with the drawing pack that I had to complete. I have actually managed to complete it even though I was distracing myself as much as possible with anything other then work.

So now i'm running off to Spain for the weekend. how crazy is that. Def one of the reasons I love living in London. I got myself a return ticket on sale for £34 and am heading off to see my brother. I just love how easy it is to travel. I've also been planning more travel this week. Mish is coming over in May/June and heading off for some travelling so I'm crashing a bit of it by joining them for 4 days in Paris. YAY!! so exciting. I even managed to orgainse that my seat on the eurostar is right behind them...talk about luck. And got the last room in the hotel that they have booked.

Well that time of the day has arrived...I get to head off to the airport and jet my way to HOPEFULLY sunny Spain....Mallorca here I come :)

p.s. My brother's flat is just behind the hotel in the pic

Out of Range

2009-04-15T18:12:00.002+01:00

So i've seriously been scarce at the moment. Mostly this is cause i'm out of range of any technology at the moment. I'm sitting in a little climber cafe in Llanberis in the middle of Snowdonia at present and this has been my only link with the internet since last week! I've been having a great tiem out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by mountains and hills and LOADS of sheep and their little newborn lambs! This is all thanks to some friends for organising a cottage out here for a bunch of us for the weekend and then C and I got to stay the rest of the week! how sweet!

I'm just loving the break away from the hecticness of London. I'm so amazed that i've become such an outdoors girl - when the hell did this happen??

I climbed Snowdon on Saturday and that was amazing ! I cant really beleive that I've climbed the highest mountain in england and Wales!! I've also managed to get some climing in amongest the time with friends on the weekend. Hopefull will get out and do some more tomorrow (please hold thumbs for no rain!)

well i have to run as C is standing over me waiting to go :)

Hope everyone had a great easter weekend!

New pottery

2009-03-24T11:32:00.002Z

So this is my latest peice. It is a rather large and surprisingly deep salad bowl in which you can actually do some serious salad tossing. It was requested by C. It turns out that it is so big that it doesnt even fit into the kitchen sink...oops. So it kinda has to be washed in itself. And we have actually used it twice in the week since I brought it home.

Sadly I have had to miss pottery tonight since I am still at work fixing the Sales and marketing dept's powerpoint presentations! I swear they have no idea what they are doing on Powerpoint. And we swopped to powerpoint so that more people could work on the presentations. And they of course have no idea about what looks good and have no idea that a presentation should have continuity. Like having the same size and typeface for each heading on the pages. *sigh* I give up. So here I am sitting here rebuilding their presentations when all I should have to do is drop in some plans.

Ok that was my moan for the evening. I should get going now as we are looking after Mr & Mrs I's kitty cat for a week and she is currently at home with C ...he is the big scary monster to cats at the moment. She is mostly afraid of this big loud guy. Strange ...who could be scared of C...LOL. (the shaved head isnt scary is it?? HAHAH) (ok i've officially been at work WAY too long now! It is starting to have a strange effect on me)

Train from cambridge

2009-03-20T13:07:00.003Z

So here I am sitting on a train from cambrisge going back home after a
day surveying (again) and decided that I was going to test out the whole
emailing posts to my blog. These days I hardly get a chance to what with
work being so busy as we are less people and the fact that I have no
internet at home.

I have the strangest drunken guy sitting in my vacinity right now
talking away to the school children on the train. He is going on about
being rambo in the jungle cause he can tell time by the rays on the sun.
This is def a reason I can see why the drinking on public transport
needed to be made illegal. Oh well its not stopping him drinking his
beer on the train.

My weeks just seem so crazy at the moment like there is no time to just
be. Last week was def like that with something on every night plus
hectic late days at the office. By sat morning we were just finished.
But we had to go fetch my bicycle from the old flat. It was actually a
great ride home in some wintery sun. I hope I get to ride it more this
year on the weekends.

Then we had to head down to fulham to a lunch we were invite to by a
friend and his wife. When he invited me on the phone I just had a
feeling that there was more of a reason then just lunch with their
friends. So we headed down there to find out that we were all there for
the announcement that they are going to have a kid in 6 months. We even
got to see the scan of the little fully formed kid that is 6 cm from
head to bum.

I have no idea how they kept it a secret for 3 months! It was really
nice to be included in the close friends that they wanted to tell face
to face before it hit facebook! Which it did halfway through lunch.

This was a really weird occassion as I realised from talking to all the
girls that they are all wanting this. ... Marrige and kids. It is really
the furthest thing from my mind at tis stage of my life. I suddenly
realised that I suddenly have all these couple and married friends that
are having, had or planning to have kids soon. When did I suddenly get
to this stage ?? I mean if kids are for me I only plan to start thinking
about them in like another 9 years time. So basically C and are are
going to be this unmarried couple that have no kids while our friends
around us marry and start popping out children. Ok. Can you tell kids
freak me out. There is just so much more I want to do with my life
before kids are even an option. First I've not done nearly enough
travelling. I def need to be more stable in my career and in life
generally. I mean even if C and I were to marry now I would still feel
the same. When does that switch flick in your head that says now is the
time to breed??

Ok that's it for now as I'm close to my stop on the train. Nearly home
and early for once! Have to apologise for the typing and spelling as I'm
typing this on my blackberry which is surprisingly difficult when typing
something so long!

Rise Against

2009-03-10T18:04:00.004Z

Some pics from Friday night...just loved the venue, The Roundhouse in camden. And loved the stage sets as well...

Moving & other stresses

2009-03-04T10:58:00.000Z

Damn it has been a crazy week, I've been trying to sneak in a blog post here and there but it has just been impossible and honestly I think that i've had other things on my mind.

So this passed weekend was the big moving weekend and as much as I thought we couldnt have much stuff in the small place we lived in I was proved wrong. Were did we put all the stuff we have. I'm telling you that flat was like a Mary Poppins bag!

The other bit of new last week is that the whole redundancy process was started in my office... yay what fun times. But honestly my mind was too much on the move to actually stop and think too hard or worry about the whole redundancy thing. I'm learning to let go of things. And to stop the negative thoughts. This seemed to stand me in good stead and since I responded with a positive "can-do" attitude I scored pretty highly on their little points matrix and so I'm all safe and happily moving forward with the company. I seem to be the only one that thinks it could be quite exciting. But that is purely cause i'm the only one that the removal of other people gives me more opportunity to grow in the company and take a more client facing position which is what I wanted. It gets me out of my chair in front of my computer and moving around which is great for having good momentum.

So work has been crazy manic but managed to get the friday afternoon off to go fetch van and go do some Ikea shopping!! YAY. We did get the bed as previously mentioned. Which is HUGE!! We loose each other in it. We also picked and more expensive matress and are SO not regretting that. It is awesome. We also picked up a load of neccessary things like pots and pans, crockery and cutlery. After an annoying 30 mins of trying to get everything to fit into the van we gave up and admitted that we would just not fit in the longest item. So we had to pay for C to go home in a taxi with it while I drove the rest of the stuff back.

Once home we basically landed up rushing back out to make it down to the Reel Big Fish gig in Kentish Town. Basically a friend had bought us tickets about 4 months ago and didnt tell us until a week before the gig. Which was just so badly timed with the whole move happenning. Esp since we had done very little in the way of actual packing. Otherwise it was a cool gig and always good to see some live music...even if the support act before was just a joke !!

Saturday morning saw us getting up and heading off to get the flat's keys from the estate agents and then dropping off our first load of Ikea stuff. That all went well and according to our moving schedule. Then we heading off down to Greenwich to go pick up the chair that I bought on ebay. We navigated our way down there no problems, found the guy in no time and popped the chair in the back and headed back up north. All went well until the otherside of the Blackwall tunnel (am I just weird for being excited that I got to drive under the Thames!!??) and then we hit our first problem.... we missed the correct turn off. So we take the next one and that shouldnt be a problem. We just headed down that very long rd and joined up with the correct route at a roundabout. But the traffic was crawling along this very long road. We stuck it out only to find out that a whole section of the road was closed off because of a burst water main in both directions. So all the traffic was being diverted around the Hackney Marshes. There was just no where to go but sit in the traffic. We then realised that the high volume of traffic was thanks to the freaking arsenal gome on at their home grounds (which is now even closer to our home) Since we had not had any breakfast we were starving and had been sitting in the car for almost 3 hours!!!! All i had on me were a hand full of jelly beans that i had stolen from a clients meeting room. Trust me we savoured every little jelly bean. And then we discovered a BURGER KING... yum yum.

Anyways to shorten the story we finally got home at 4 in the afternoon and still had to start packing and moving our stuff. Plus I was supposed to be at Miss Quiet's farewell drinks as she was heading back to quatar. We managed to pack and do a couple of loads. Then went shopping at the Argos for more home stuff and the Sainsbury's for food to stock our lovely big fridge. Then we got stuck in MORE football traffic. We then got the bed built and dressed with linen :) Actually the most complex part of building the whole bed was the damn slats to support the mattress!

Then we headed off to Soho to meet up with Miss Quiet (hours late by now) and landed up staying out until 3am before catching a bus back to the old flat to pick up the essentials that we had forgotten like underwear and toothbrushes, and then driving back to the new place to crash in the lovely new bed.

WOW you really dont know what you are missing when you have a crap mattress until you sleep on a great mattress. Our new bed is divine!!!

Sunday just involved more and more loads (again where the hell did we put all the stuff we have) and finished up the day with a dinner cooked in our new kitchen (the only room unpacked so far) and us in the new bed while watching some series.

What a crazy weekend.

Measuring

2009-02-25T22:37:00.004Z

So I got to go past the new flat today and measure up a couple of the rooms. Esp wanted to measure the bedroom as I really dont want to buy the wrong sized bed on friday before moving in. So while watching the most random movie tonight (Three and Out) I sat here and drew them up on Sketch Up (the only tool I had at hand at the moment)

So here is the result ..

Doesnt look like we are going to be able to fit in the bed that we wanted (from the previous post), well the headboard with the hidden storage.

And as expected packing is going slowly with loads of procrastination !

I got the Chair

2009-02-18T22:30:00.004Z

So it is official I got the chair. I'm becoming quite the ebayer :) I must say that C was impressive with his prediction of the price! So it is mine for £51 beating the other bidder by a pound. How exciting. Now I just have to pick it up when we move and figure out how to reupholster it .... Oh yeah and lets not forget actually making a decision on the design of it.

We also got the contract for the flat today so it is all happening. Becoming more and more real everyday - Is SO exciting. Which reminds me that I have to go and start signing all the pages of the contract and to do that I have to tear C away from his endless google reader session. :) We are such sad IT geeks sometimes. I blame him!

I hate waiting !

2009-02-16T15:42:00.007Z

So I’m seriously hating this waiting to find out if we have past the tests and can have the flat !! This is just annoyingly frustrating. I mean I’m a good girl – I deserve this! Ok so it really doesn’t help that I’ve left my phone at home and have no idea if the estate agent has called!! But then surely he would call C if he gets no reply?? ARG

Anyways so I’ve become completely obsessed with furniture. The place is unfurnished and we’ll have to furnish it. At the moment C has a few pieces that are going to come with us but it is all the biggies that we don’t have. Like a bed and couch (a futon doesn’t count babes) and wardrobes. And then lets not also forget all the thing we are going to need in the kitchen. Like plates!! And bowls. We only own the random things like a mixing bowl, stock pot, teapot (but not the mugs) and electric mixer!

So all of this means SHOPPING! And my fav place to shop these days is online! Always want the best deal. So basically spent the entire weekend being obsessed with home furnishing. And I’m not kidding when I say the whole weekend. So far this is the Ikea bed that we have choosen. And that is the main concern right now until we get the go ahead to move.
BUT then I followed the line of thought were I remembered the Gorgeous furniture that I discovered (and posted here) that happens to cost a fortune (nothing under £2900). Back then I had the thought that I so could do that. So hey why not. So below is the chair I’ve found on ebay (for £22) and below that is the general idea of what it will look like when done. So I just have to make the decision to bid. And you know me and decisions!
Ebay chair:

Jimmie martin chairs:

Well I’m off back to my furniture hunt :)

Flat on the Horizon

2009-02-12T17:19:00.005Z

So it looks like we have found a place that we really like and the landlord has accepted our offer of less for the rent which is great and now it is just for the paperwork. It is just so exciting getting a place that is just ours so I had to share.

It has just been horrid flat hunting. I really cant beleive what people are passing off for flats for exhorbitant amounts ! We have been so lucky with this place for it is a large one bed with brand new finishes and fittings which is a luxury in this market and time. Plus I reckon it is a steal. Our compromise is that we are going for a 1 bed instead of 2 bed flat and a flat with no outdoors area. But here is the other huge pro, it is a few mintues walk from our climbing gym! YAY

More details to come ...

And for now, heres a pic I took today in a random little non-conformist cemetary.

Time flying

2009-02-10T22:28:00.006Z

I just hate how things go so fast. There is just so much I want to do and so little time. I almost view my frequency of blog posts as a measure of just how time is flying. I so want to actually post more and when I have things to post like the last week, then there is just too much happening and I don't get a moment to post. I mean right now I've grabbed a moment on my blackberry to start typing this while heading home on the tube at 9pm on a monday night. Well that I my fault as I was out shopping. Oxford street did lure me in.

Last Monday was just amazing. The snow day got more and more hectic and we were sent home at lunch time due to the fact that more snow was going to fall. So I landed up heading off to join The Countess (the old friend mentioned before) up at hampstead heath since C was stuck at work. After many hysterical phone calls of The Countess and I saying things like "I'm by a pond with a half a tree next to it can you see me cause I can't see through the falling snow" Every thing was so white it was stunning but everything really did look the same.

I was amazed at how busy it was. I mean busier then a summers day and that is really saying something! There were massive crowds at the tops of hills waiting to sled down them. I saw guys skiing through the heath. And loads of little groups of Snow boarders. I mean this is definitely not a usual day in hampstead heath!

The Countess and I then made snowmen (a first for her) which to be a little more creative were a tableau of a "stick up". Ok, so we were inspired by Calvin and Hobbs snowmen themes. Mine was a little demented, which i got bored with and started practicing my snow ball rolling to make huge balls for snowmen making and finally got it right...so The Countess got a middle one for hers. I think it turned out pretty well and the end result was super cool. Talk about feeling like a kid again.

We then got out our cameras and took loads of pics of everything! I'll attach a few ... or more. Which doesnt seem to be working so will put them in a separate post tomorrow.

I really had one of the best days i've had in a very very very long time...

More catch up stories to follow soon :)

SNOW - YAY !!!

2009-02-02T10:27:00.007Z

So it has been Snow since yesterday afternoon and all night. We have no had the most snow in London in 18 years. It is just so beautiful. What an exciting way to wake up on a monday. Luckily for most of my journey to work my tube was running while I walked the rest of the way. It was awesome. And of course was snapping pictures along the way..so here are my pictures of the pretty snow. Is going to be a weird day at work since hardly anyone made it in.

This is the progression of the snow

Sunday Afternoon - 16:30

Sunday Evening - 22:00

Monday morning - 7 am

OUr back garden

The Ginger Ninja's bicycle

Shaftsbury Ave

Kingsway, holborn

Holborn Circus (outside work)

The park from my window at work

I just love the perfect snow on the turrent

Being arty with new camera

2009-01-30T18:05:00.003Z

Even though it is freezing here at the moment the day s have been clear lately (soon to change) and the light has been beautiful as I sit and stare out of my window at work. Most days I dont get to go outside at sunset (currently at 16:37) but today on a mission to get forgotten items to a presentation I got to go for a wander afterwards. One of the things that just makes this city for me is the architecture. I call it architectural porn around every corner. So as I was wandering passed St Pauls I remembered that I now have this amazing camera in my bag !! I just love this camera... and these are the unedited shots of what I captured. I'm so happy with them :)

2009-01-29T09:16:00.000Z

So I’m def back in the London pace of life where the days just fly by and am trying to cram as much into the day and not get to distracted by things. But it is still good to be back even if it is freaking cold ! (and miserable weather today)

I cant believe that it is Wednesday already! The weekend was really good actually. On Saturday we headed back to the climbing gym (am so proud we got down there the first weekend back!) and introduced an old friend,haven't thought of a nick for her yet, to the climbing life. I knew she would love it and she did ! She was an absolute natural and we had her trying some really hard stuff.

It is really great being able to reconnect with and old friend without all the baggage of old. It is nice to have let go of old resentments. It is really refreshing!

Then on sat night we watched slumdog millionaire which was really great. I can understand now why it is winning all these awards. It is just nice and different with an interesting story. I also found it had a littl bit of everything in it, comedy, drama, reality, relationships, violence, etc. The characters were great as well and so well acted. It is gritty, shocking, funny, and ultimately happy. I love watching movie where I'm not sure where it is going and how it is going to end.

Sunday was a lazy day with us finally unpacking our bags from the holiday and general lazing about watching a whole load more series

We have now started some serious flat hunting which is just so frustrating. The veiwings we went to on monday were just such a waste of time. I was so unimpressed with the places that the agent had come up with when I had spent 20 minutes giving him a breif. We think he has been give the hard to sell places to try and prove himself.

So I've lined up a day of veiwings for sat to get out there and see as many as possible with different agents so that we may just find one that is close to what we want. It is going to be crazy and I just want this whole flat hunting process to be overs.

Long Week

2009-01-23T16:16:00.002Z

So it is finally the end of a very long and tiring week. I'm not used to this working malarky after a month off!

Anyways i really feel that I have to document soom highlights of my time in Cape Town which I will try find the time for. So for now I've posted a pic that was stitched together by C from a few photos of when we were coming down table mountain after the most amazing climb !

Blue Monday

2009-01-20T14:45:00.000Z

So yesterday was the first day back at work ...Other then the usual unwillingness to head back after such a long holiday I was still sure it wasn’t going to be that bad.

But this is how the day starts off…
As I’m trying to wake up while watching BBC news they announce that according to the scientists calculations this is Blue Monday, the most miserable and depressing day of the year. And I think OH great! But I think it cant be that bad!?! Then I realize that the rain is pouring down outside and I’m going to have to go out in it …ARG.

I potter along and am actually all ready to leave for work earlier then I usually was and after running around the flat trying to find my umbrella and gloves I head out the door not feeling too bad. THEN I get to the tube station only to find out that my line isn’t running – double ARG. Luckily I do have a bus that runs from there straight to work and since I was early I’ll only be slightly late (that is if the bus turns up soon)

The bus finally turned up and I find out that I’ve stupidly forgotten that my travel pass has run out and it doesn’t seem like there is any pay as you go left on my Oyster card even. This left like the last straw..I mean I’d only been up and awake for an hour and all this has happened.

I eventually got into work with no further hitches and of course found a huge pile of work for the day on my desk…NOT COOL. I just didn’t feel like working after all that. But I did make it through the day and even managed to go food shopping and cook dinner with very little fuss. So all the bad luck got left in the morning.

And last thing of the day …I got to have a happy time playing with my new toy, a beautiful camera!!! Thanks C, it is PERFECT !

Back to London so soon...

2009-01-16T11:09:00.003Z

So i'm on my way back to London. Am sitting in Doha airport very bored waiting for our connecting flight through to London. Luckily they have Wifi here so have the internets to surf which I havent had for what seems to be ages and is only about a week !!

I cant believe how the time in Cape town flew and that i'm already going back to work on monday - It doesnt feel like I've been away for a month. But the time off was great and being back in cape town for awhile was awesome. There were some amazing highlights that I'll just have to share. As well as some pictures me thinks. Which I'll get to once back home.

C and I have been looking at flats as we def feel like it is time to get ourselves a place on our own and one that is bigger. We have such a large number of criteria that it is going to be umm...interesting finding a new place. I'm thinking that we are just about to become some estate agents worst nightmare...hehehehe

Sorry this is a very disjointed post since I'm seriously lacking sleep. Very little was had on the over night flight we've just been on. I did get to watch lots of movies though. I love the whole screens in the back of the seats and the movies on demand thing. There is just so much choice that it is VERY difficult to decide on what to watch.

Ok I seriously think that I need to go try and have a nap on the very uncomfortable seats here otherwise i'm going to be SO buggered. May just go steal C's lap :)

Home again

2009-01-02T14:53:00.002Z

So here I am in cape town, chilling at my cousins house which i'm house sitting with the patio doors open and the sun streaming in.

There is not much to say about the flights here other then the fact that while at Heathrow C realised that he had forgotten all his christmas presents to me (so i'm now presentless until the 18th Jan) and then in Doha while doing our crazy fast tranfer of flights I realised that I had forgotten my South African passport as I had travelled out on my Irish. Now I have a South African visa in my Irish Passport - crazy stuff. I am very lucky that I didnt get into trouble for that though.

I still cant beleive that i'm back here and that Christmas and New Years is over. I still cant believe that it is 2009!

So i hope that everyone had a great christmas and New years party. And will catch up some more soon :)

Flying today !

2008-12-22T13:21:00.002Z

So the day has finally arrived - we are flying back to SA today for a WHOLE month. I just cant wait to get back to the warm weather and away from the freezing weather here!

I was over the moon come friday when it was my last day of work - OMG was i happy to walk out that door for a month. It has been absolutly crazy until now where we are finally packed and waiting for the cad which will be here in 45 mins.

anyway this is just a little post to say happy christmas and new year to everyone if I dont blog before then. I will of course have my baby (laptop) with me as I could never leave it for a month - can you say addicted!

So cheers England..hello Cape town !! YAY

Busy busy and still sick :(

2008-12-16T23:08:00.004Z

Well my attempt to keep up with my blogging is being thwarted !! bloody work - I mean really.

It seems that once we cut people at work not only have we had extra work to make up for their absense but we suddenly started winning pitches and gettting a load more pitch work to do. So we have been run off our feet. And yesterday it got even worse. We normally have about 2 weeks to work on a pitch before presenting. Yesterday we had 3 companies demanding a presentation for the end of this week. Everybody trying to get things sorted before christmas and holidays. Plus all the jobs that we have won lately are all wanting to be on site before Christmas which means drawing packs to get out so that they can actually build. So work life is a delicate balance and juggling act at the moment. But I only have to do it for 3 more days !! YAY

Highlight of the weekend was heading off to a gig down in Camden at Underworld. A friend had extra tickets so C and I got them. It was a ska band called Streetlight Manifesto. Which was awesome. It was a small intimate venue sold out and full of massive fans. The entire space was one big varing degrees of mosh pit. It was great! I just thrive on that kind of energy. The opening act was pretty cool too!! They were Random Hands. So it was an awesome night with some very cool friends!

Last night was a nice night of christmas cake and red wine at Mr & Dr I. They invited us around for christmas cheer and it landed up being one of those situations where you have no idea if there will be present exchanging or not. And you cant ask if there is going to be because if they arent then they will feel forced into it. OMG the admin! So C and I decided to go with the token present thing. We went for a stroll down the street market near work and picked out a pair of "cost effective" earrings for Dr I and a Rubiks cube and a book as a bit of a joke for Mr I.

We did arrive to gifts and they got us a book on all the British festivals and the first series of the Sarah Connor Cronicles. Dr I seemed to love the earring so much that there were even tears. I was completely taken aback but it also reminded me why i love giving presents. I love it when I get someone a present that suits them so much. That is thier style or that they really wanted or didnt even know they wanted until you gave it to them. So that was nice. I actually was a really cool way to start a week.

Well I have to be up early for a physio appointment (finally trying to get my back pain sorted) and we have want should be a great night planned for tmr. We won tickets to a dinner theater thing - for the South Africans...its Madam Zingara. Hopefully i'll be able to blog about that later in the week.

Oh yeah and btw ...I hate the whole secret santa thing...this is what I got ....

Racing Spiders. HUH??? i mean we are supposed to spend £5 ...which I actually spent £6 on the one I gave and how much could these have cost. It is just weird. I hate having to open this shit in front of everyone else and seeing all the way cooler stuff that was being given. I one that I would have loved was a large "rubber" duck for the bath that also is a radio...you twist its head to turn it on and then twist the tail for find the frequency.

oh well

Sick and tired

2008-12-11T18:36:00.002Z

So the weekend in Madrid had its high points and its low points but on a whole was a very cool weekend away. I will def have to write a post about it when i have more time to sit down and add some of my pictures to it as well !

But I was feeling pretty exhausted and not too well for most of it and by the sunday night as I got home and was recieved by HUGE hugs I had no voice and was full on infected!! So come Monday morning I just could not move!! Same with Tuesday!

Since I was starting to feel better I thought I would go into work on the Wednesday for a nice mid week ease back into work...oh no...that was not what Miss Trendy had in mind. I came back to an A4 list of things to do with the title URGENT WEDNESDAY WORK. I mean really - she never once replied to the fact that I was off sick and then didnt even bother to find out if I was well enough to come back to work. That is an insane day back at work and now i'm not feeling any better and maybe perhaps a bit worse.

Oh well - it is Friday tmr and i'm about to leave the office - YAY.

We are doing secret santa at work tmr morning so had to do a bit of rush present buying and wrapping...while still trying to keep it secret. I'm not sure about this whole secret santa thing though. In our company it seems to be about buying tat for you as a joke that is supposed to say something about you. Last year I landed up with 2 gifts...go figure... and one was a usb table lamp in purple and the other was a doll called little miss perfect. The doll seriously disturbed me. I get that the light is all about being designer "cusion placer". But the little miss perfect ...I mean what was that trying to say about me...was it a compliment or an insult? I still dont know and it still bothers me. This is why i'm a little nervous about the gift giving tmr morning. I hope it is something kinda nice.

Off to Madrid

2008-12-04T23:05:00.002Z

Ok so - have no time to actually write anything since i have to be up in 5 hours to head to the airport...as C keeps reminding me from the bed!! So am off to Madrid tomorrow with the whole company for our christmas party - is going to be very cool (i hope, i'm always aprehensive about these things.

On the other front i'll hopefully be free of the 5 DAY migraine that i've been living through. Went to a cool new doctor this afternoon - have nice strong painkillers and medication toprotect my tummy so no more ulcers for me :) So all is looking good... plus soon i'll be heading on the ovely long holiday home.

ok i seriously have to go now before the bf kills me and so I wont be too grumpy when i have to get up and 04:30 am!! ARG

ARG

2008-12-01T18:17:00.002Z

TOO much work, TOO much pain, TOO much stress...NOT a happy bunny am I.

Well last week consisted of some late nights of work and some very early mornings to work for me. And mad pressure to get a presentation together. Thankfully it was worth it since we did win the job.

Work has just been flat out and there is no letting up. My weekends now consist of me sleeping 12 hours each night and basically only being able to get myself out for 1 outing per weekend. PATHETIC ...and NO FAIR! So now i'm just counting down the days until I dont have to think about work for 30 days...19 days to go !!! Well technically 18 since today is mostly done.

Plus working flat out is pretty difficult if you've had a migraine since yesterday.

oh well,

that is all i can say for now...sorry for the ramble

Cow Economics

2008-11-23T11:32:00.002Z

I just love this bit C found on the internets this weekend....

SOCIALISM
You have 2 cows.
You give one to your neighbour.

COMMUNISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and sells you some milk.

NAZISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRATISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk
away…

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell one and buy a bull.
Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.
You sell them and retire on the income.

SURREALISM
You have two giraffes.
The government requires you to take harmonica lessons

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.
Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow has dropped dead.

ENRON VENTURE CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of
credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity
swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with
a tax exemption for five cows.
The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a
Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the
rights to all seven cows back to your listed company.
The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one
more.
You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States , leaving you
with nine cows.
No balance sheet provided with the release.
The public then buys your bull.

A FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike, organise a riot, and block the roads, because you want three
cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and
produce twenty times the milk.
You then create a clever cow cartoon image called ‘Cowkimon’ and market it
worldwide.

A GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk
themselves.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows, but you don’t know where they are.
You decide to have lunch.

A RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
You count them again and learn you have 2 cows.
You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

A SWISS CORPORATION
You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you.
You charge the owners for storing them.

A CHINESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have 300 people milking them.
You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity.
You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Both are mad.

AN IRAQI CORPORATION
Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.
You tell them that you have none.
No-one believes you, so they bomb the **** out of you and invade your country.
You still have no cows, but at least now you are part of Democracy….

AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Business seems pretty good.
You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.

A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION
You have two cows.
The one on the left looks very attractive.

Strange days

2008-11-19T12:12:00.003Z

It really has been a strange few days, I dont even know where to start...

The horrid friday was all about work that I had on that I just couldnt seem to get done by the deadline since it was things that got changed on me and then crazy requests like try and get 6 pages of a A4 word document with text and tables onto ONE A3 power point presentation slide!! (I still cant figure that out). It was a seriously stressful day and I was trying to make it work out but when you also have to go thing like recreate excel documents it get time consuming.

Our electrical contractor was throwing us a Christmas party in a casino and all the girls going were going to get all dressed up in party dresses etc. So we had to get ready - the plan was to be ready by 6pm...now since i was working away on Miss Trendy's work I would have thought since she was getting ready too she would make a comment that she was off to get ready - but no she didnt seem to be talking to me. I finally realise that it is 5:55 and I'm not ready. I go through to find that the rest of the people are all waiting in reception all ready to go - fuck i was pissed off and the flippant comment "oh you still coming" Damn i was pissed off.

Anyway it did ruin the evening over all as it was loads of fun. We got the the casino and went through the whole sign in process and then were lead off to a private bar area where the free drinks began. We then were shown to the practice tables where they had a roulette, poker and blackjack table set up to teach us the games etc. This was great fun and I def learnt loads. Plus it is cool to practice with worthless chips. We were also served nibbly foods and more champayne and alcohol. We then got given £50 worth of real chips to go play with on the real tables.... scary !

I didnt do to badly as i chose the blackjack table which I was so good on at the practice that I won a poker set :) I didnt walk away with anything but the girl i was couching did - me thinks I was concetrating enough on my own cards.

I then stumbled home getting the very last northen line home (so lucky!) and crawled into an empty bed...No C until the sunday afternoon... he was off playing in Brighton.

I was rudely awoken by the alarm clock at 6am and i nearly threw it across the room and cursed C for not showing me how to turn it off. I finally get it to shut up and in the proccess apparently turned the 2nd alarm on that made it go off at 8:30. Damn now i was unhappy and hung over. managed to turn it off and turned over and went back to sleep only to wake up at 14:39!! OMG I've slept over 12 1/2 hours! crazy stuff.

So the rest of the weekend was nothing special and involved me not going very far from the warmth of home.

Monday bought with it work issues with me being bitched at by Miss trendy about the Friday stuff and getting a bit of a lecture - I'm not convinced it was all fair and neccessary but hey I have to move on and not get stressed about it. So I just carried on working as usual. It is now Wednesday and I've out worked her and am now waiting on her to get her workload sorted. ANYWAYS

Now for the strangest and saddest day... Terrible Tuesday.... Tuesday morning started off really weirdly with Miss quiet (my friends and neighbour at work) went away then came back picked up her bag, put on her coats and was walking out...I knew she wasnt planning to be out the office so looked up and one look I knew something was really wrong. She couldnt even talk just mouthed at me she would text me and then left.

I then find out that 6 people from the company have been made redundant which is 1 or 2 per dept! We were all in shock yesterday and didnt really know what to do with this information. And as everyone just up and left there were no good byes - it was very weird. But it also feels was to close to home. Miss quiet is brilliant and her job and def better then me on the drawing front. But they cut support staff so that is why she got cut out of the design dept. I already miss her!

This now means that since the design dept is smaller we are no having to move onto one bench...this means i'm back at the first desk i started off on here which has me with my back to the entire open plan office so they can all see what is on my 2 screens!! FUCK! so this means no more blogging at work, less email and who knows about chat.... Actually I dont know if I'll have to time to do anything as the workload that Miss quiet had will have to fall to someone so that means knock on effect is me having to do more random work. ARG

Now I hear that she or her husban ended up in a car accident last night. AND so did our design director (Posh Scot) What was the universe thinking yesterday!!!

The one funny thing that happened yesterday ...after wonderful talk with my dad (he is doing very well considering) I landed up missing a call from C and then having to run for the bus... I get on the bus, stap upstairs, sit down at the front and call C... Next thing I can hear his phone ringtone, and then not only do i hear him on the phone I hear him in the distance too...So I look up to the glass and there he is in the reflection in the window, sitting half way down the bus.... we had managed to unplanned get onto the same bus. What a wonderful surprise! :)

Horrible Friday

2008-11-14T17:40:00.000Z

What a horrible horrible horrible horrible horrible horrible horrible horrible horrible horrible horrible horrible horrible horrible horrible horrible horrible horrible HORRIBLE friday!!!!
(I feel a little better after that)

Am now off to the Casino for some free gambling - I hope this makes up for the shit day and doesnt make the day shitter...

Wish me luck

Laptop Pimping

2008-11-12T22:52:00.003Z

Lookie what i've done to my laptop ...isnt it pretty like :)
And an update: My dad is doing much better. He isnt on so much morphine so much more coherent. The operation he had is called an axial bi-femoral bypass. They have used the artery on the right side of his chest and done a softgel graft into the right leg. Then they have gone across his stomach area with another graft into the left leg. Apparently you can feel the softgel thing under his skin. He is bruised everywhere and in alot of pain. but his heart beat is very good and even though his lungs have taken a hit he is doing good. He should be out of ICU tonight or tomorrow. He is still a tough guy at 76 that is for sure.

Wedding gift

2008-11-11T08:00:00.001Z

So i've been waiting awhile to do this post. Had to wait until I had actually given the couple my gift before posting it online.

So this is another of my ceramic pieces. It is a wedding vase - based on the tradional native vases. It is my architectual modern take on it.

Operation Monday

2008-11-10T09:05:00.002Z

Sadly I have to report that there where more complications with my Dad. Due to his lifetime of smoking it has been discovered that he has plaque in his arteries which means that they are thinning and the blood is not getting through. This was causing no blood to get to his legs which caused his leg to become extremely painful and therefore this was all discovered. At this very moment he is now having parts of his arteries up near his heart replaced by fake ones. And all of this needs to be done by epidural again because of the years of smoking. It all makes me want to tell all the smokers out there that it isnt all about the cancer you could possibly get...it is definite that later in life all these complications are going to cause problem after problem.

Anyways..so sending out all the positive vibes I can this morning.

And I just have to say that I have the most wonderful and supportive and amazing bf that I really dont know what I would do without. He bring so much good into my life and I hope he know just how I love him and how happy he makes me. (sorry for all the soppiness babes)

He has just come out of surgery and it all seems ok - now we just see how the recovery goes.

Halloween Carpet Event

2008-11-06T14:39:00.001Z

Last week Thursday night in honour of Halloween one of our carpet suppliers organised an event (as they do) and invited our design dept as some of the lucky few. It was a little different then the usual supplier/furniture event where you just stand around trying to get your hands on the food floating past while they have no problem providing copious amount of alcohol that just appears in your glass. This event included a Jack the Ripper walking tour! Now if you know me then you know that I could never say no to this!
About 7 of us headed down to the carpet showroom after work which they had done all out in Halloween stuff... included the very first carved pumpkin I've seen (it was seriously intricate!)This is where I discovered winter Pimms and i love it! It is basically heated up pimms cocktail and it was so divine as it was freezing outside! and we were soon to be head back out into the cold for the walking tour.
We were split into groups and ferried off to the start of the walk in the east end. The guides are beefeaters at the tower of London and this was their moonlighting gig which means that they were absolutely brilliant at giving tours as they do it all day long. We got a big burly barrel of a man with a booming voice - it was perfect. I also found out that the beefeaters and their families actually live on the grounds of the Tower of London - how insane must that be to have as your address!

For the next 2 hours we meandered around the east end getting told all the stories of each murder and being showed where each one took place. It was so detailed and sometimes it was hard to keep up with all the information. Luckily I knew quite a bit already. I did find out loads more though and just love all the useless pieces of information.

One of the best parts was the whole conspiracy theory around the Freemasons and the Prince of wales ...This is sort of how it all goes in a nutshell...

Firstly the way the bodies were placed references on of the main Freemasons stories
about how the architect of King Solomons buildings was a Jew (spelt Juw by only the Freemasons) and how once he was complete with the building he was given freedom BUT if he betrayed any of the secrets of the building and King Solomon he was be
killed in a very specific way (this is replayed in a ritual today by the Freemasons - the guides brother is one) and this is replicated in all but the last murder. The
last girl murdered was the only one murdered inside in her own apartment. She
was a redhead with green eyes and was a prostitute to Buckingham palace. She was also roman catholic.

The Prince had a thing for redheads with green eyes. She then left the
royal brothel before the murders started. They reckon that the Price got her pregnant and that would have been fine if she wasn't Catholic. It was over heard that the head of the city police (a Freemason) had said to the Prince that the prince's
troubles would be over before his birthday. The last murder happened 3 days
before his birthday.
It is thought that a down on his luck Freemason was paid to
kill her. The first murder had been to see if he had the guts to do it and the
2nd was a woman with red hair and green eyes and her uterus had been removed (to hide a pregnany)...mistaken identity perhaps. Then there was a break of 3 weeks before the last murders. So they had thought he had killed the right girl. 3 weeks
later the 3rd one was probably to test the waters again but he got disturbed
just as he had killed her...so he rampaged off and killed another girl just over
the boundary into the city police jurisdiction.
Then the police found an inscription in an alleyway near by written in chalk where they also found some of the blood stained dress of victim #4. This was an inscription that probably means only something to the Freemasons as it used the Freemasons spelling of the word Jews. The same head of police that was overheard saying the stuff to the Prince only got out of bed and came down to east london with the news of this and ordered it to be washed off immediatly but ignored the murders that night.
Finally the last murder was the most grusome since it was in her apartment he had all the time in the world to "destroy" the evidence. which he seriously did... here is the photograph that the City police took (they were the only police force with a camera)
...

Well that is basically it - written very badly! But I def like this theory to it. I think that all the freemason architecture and temples in this city also aid the love of a freemason conspiracy!

After the FREEZING 2 hours of walking around in heeled boots we got taken back to the showroom for those nibbley foods and lots of alcohol! Why on earth did I do this in heel I hear you say - well they are knee height boots...lets just say my feet and legs may have been sore but they werent too cold...the rest of me i'm not so sure about. And then seriously what is with sneaky cocktail pouring waiters that have to fill you glass up so many times that you loose count of how many drinks you had! It wasnt too bad and I toddled off home and was pleasantly surprised when I had no hangover on Friday!

Slipping and sliding...

2008-11-05T12:46:00.003Z

So want to hear the STUPID thing that happened this morning?..

I walked out our gate turned onto the pavement and heel of shoe slipped and down I went. I was seriously taken by surprise. This is a first for me...I dont fall down much, i'm not clumsy and I have a great sense of balance. But this morning there was just no stopping me going down. It happened so fast ! I know that I realised that my heel was slipping but this does happen, but I never actually go down. I was walking and then I was lying on the ground! It was that fast. My hand did get out enough to stop me from really slamming into the pavement but now it is slightly grazed and my elbow is sore from the shock it took.

I obviously picked myself up just as fast ...shot a look around to see if anyone had seen it ...and just my luck yes there was the cleaner that had finally cleaned all the slippery mulshy leave up (yet I did come asunder on those?!?!)

Now here is the kicker of the story... He decided that he had to tell me that I was wearing the wrong shoes! and proceded to LECTURE me on this fact ! I tried to walk past quickly and get away from the scene but to no avail - he was now following me!! So what could i do but stop and listen to his lecture since he was not going to be put off.

Street cleaner: Those are the wrong shoes. You shouldnt be wearing those heels!

Me: I have to for work, I work in the city and it is very corporate (while walking past as carefully and as quickly as possible)

SC: (running after me) Well then you should be wearing shoes like these (pointing at his leather construction steel toed boots with hiking type soles) and change them at work into those high heels.

Me: But this is the first time it has happened to me

SC: If it had been below zero last night you could have broken something now when you fell and then you would be off work for months. Its not worth it.

Finally I admit that i'm not used to the weather and the semantics of the shoes versus the pavement as I was from South Africa... That seemed to explain it all and he just went "Ahhhhh" and went back to his work.

How embarassing !!

All over the place

2008-10-30T10:36:00.006Z

My head is seriously fried at the moment. I've been working non stop and that is all that it feels like i've been doing but it is only Thursday...I need this weekend to hurry up and get here.

My attention span is shot and I cannot consentrate on anything for more then 3 seconds! It is driving me up the wall. So this is going to be one seriously disjointed post as I cant seem to write more then a few sentances and then i'm wandering off to try do other things.

Firstly - My dad is doing well, all the cancer was taken out and it didnt get to the bone - so all is well. He is now not to move his leg until monday and he is so going to go made with boredom now!

#2 - Go check out my bit about the gallery, museum and Dinner we did last well ...HERE at my 101 things project. We got to see grown men prancing around in gladiator suits!! how cool is that. lol

3 = Thank you so much to Miss Caughtup for sending a Kreative blog award my way. I'm still in awe that people with such great blog read my little thing.

Fouth thing - C and I went on a very cool guided walk around Chealsea last friday for free as arranged by the londonist. It was very cool and I really enjoyed all the random stories and myths and pop culture. What a fasinating guy, Chris, that took it. I'll go find the links just now. He does a publication called One Eye Grey which is stories written of folklore and myths but set in the current london. We did buy 3 editions and i'll hopefully get around to reading them soon. Then we did land up eating dinner at the Mc Donalds - but we just had to after find out that it was the building/shop that the drug shop that the rolling stones used to hang out it. What a strange turn around from drug shop to Mc D's.

#5 - OMG it is now suddenly FREEZING ...and this sudden "cold snap" caused us to have SNOW in Oct (this is very weird as it hasnt snowed in oct for 70 odd years) So once I eventually made it out of the freezing col house the other morning I did catch the last bits of the snow in the back garden. But the thing about all this is that we still havent sorted out the heating that from some STRANGE reason got completely turned off for summer. But now that it is SO cold we are seriously needing to organise the gas guy to come back and turn it on. The hitch to doing this is the fact that this means we have to turn our bedroom into a lounge and hide all the bedroom stuff.... so that is the mission this weekend - oh joy

And that is all i think i have for today.

Dad's going for surgery!

2008-10-27T16:36:00.002Z

So it was just over a week ago that I found out that my has a skin cancer growing on his leg that one doctor was treating as a skin infection and the 2nd doctor treated it as a skin infection that got into the bone. He has been in pain for over 6 months now. Finally by going to a plastic surgeon to see about tidying up the "skin infection" and he was the one that spotted it as cancer.

The result of all this...well tomorrow (thanks to a cancellation - otherwise the wait was going to be 3 weeks!) he is going into hospital to have it cut out of his leg and new skin graphted onto the area. The area that going to have to be removed is the size of a side plate. But the horrid part is that he cant be put under a general anesthetic as he is a smoker with seriously bad lungs and asthma! So it is all going to be done with a local anesthetic. Now since I just had one for them to put the implant into my arm and that still hurt and i had to feel it I seriously feel for him having to go through that.

So now we are just holding thumbs that the cancer hasnt got to the bone and the malignant part it able to be taken out completely!

My thoughts & love are with you Dad
xxx

Survey hell continues

2008-10-23T13:41:00.003+01:00

But now it is a furniture audit that is doing my head in. Seriously i've now had 2 weeks of surveys and drawings up of surveys! This is just getting too much now!

And to top it all off....I have to go survey another space tomorrow morning ! I mean really - WTF is going on! I hate surveys and i'm not the best at them since i'm kinda dislexic and stuff. There are always measurements that i get messed around.

Anyways have to get back to the planning the audited furniture into the new buildings...

Here is just how much furniture i had to measure and note and photograph and draw up:

Monday craziness

2008-10-20T14:17:00.004+01:00

So what is driving me mad today ?? Well the survey that was sending me round the bend last week has now taken the madness a step further.

These are the elevations I now have to draw from the survey... These are the first 4 i've drawn this morning... There are 32 that need to be done by the end of the day !!! I'm already exhausted and no where near finished - now i have food in me.. back to the crazy world of my drawings.

Reasons my bf makes me laugh ....

2008-10-17T17:37:00.001+01:00

I am currently out of the office...

2008-10-14T23:10:00.002+01:00

Doing an elevational survey on the most horrid grade 2 listed building!! There isnt a straight wall in the entire 6 floors ! Wall lean outwards or inwards. Half the building has dropped at different levels on different sides to the building which means that the floors and ceiling are all different heights everywhere that you measure ! It is just HORRIBLE !!! And i'm doing this all alone in the building that creaks and moves and has some very strange noises. I tried putting my ipod in but it was just to unnerving as i was still hearing things.

I suppose this is all to be expected when we are dealing with a building that was built in 1860 odd. And used to be the gardens of King Henry the 2's mistress. (weird fact for the day)

It is just insane fiddlily and time consuming survey work when you have to measure every little detail. Like the window frames & panes of french sash windows, and panelled doors and walls and light switches and plug points, and dado rails and cornices (there are 3 at the top of EVERY wall) etc etc etc...this is going to drive me mad! And i'm going back for more tomorrow!!! only 4 more floors to go !!!

If i'm not back by friday then you'll know i've been locked away in the looney bin!

Friday Blues...

2008-10-10T17:18:00.003+01:00

So i'm back at work and not too hapy about it. I feel like i'm seriously lacking in sleep now that it is the end of the day since i've been sleeping during the day for the last 3 days. Plus I think I kept waking myself up when I rolled onto my arm in the night. My arm has a bloody great big (ok maybe not that big) hole in it from having the contraceptive implant inserted.

I am so happy about this!! I have a very good feeling about it as well as being happy that i'm now truely 100% certain not to fall pregnant. And since everyone around me is doing it or thinking of it etc I def want to be certain I dont fall into that trap ! ! lol They took a big hollow needle with a 5 cm implant rod inside, out the needle into my arm under the skin for about 6am and then took it out leaving the implant behind. Thankfully there was an injection to numb the area! otherwise we are talking serious piercing pain. But it is def sore at the moment esp if it gets banged.

So anyway, back at work, still feeling sick (not as bad as the rest of the week but bad enough to make work unpleasent) Trying to actually get drawings done (not happening) and generally not feeling in a happy socialble mood! I just want to go home and get some sleep or veg out and watch a movie.

There is ONE wonderful happy thing to this friday ... Miss Unhinged is leaving today !! SHe is going to move to the middle east and work for our company there. Just to quickly fill in she is the designer that made life a bit miserable for the 6 months I worked under her. She also caused me a great deal of insecurity and that I was not impressed with. I played a few office politics and got myself moved away from her. I just have to point out that in the year that she has been here she has only seen 1 project to the end (and there was another senior designer on it) And has only 2 other projects running at the moment. That is it. She hasnt won a pitch of her own while she has been here - and she was supposed to be my mentor. I have to say that I'm pretty glad to see the back of her. BUT I do know that things in her personal life havent been the best and as a person I do wish her the best in her new path. I hope she makes it work for her there. Otherwise it is just going to break her if it doesnt.

So with that I'm going to hunt the bf down and go home. Oh and I've realised that DAMN do we email each other alot during the day ! It is very rare to get through a work day with no communication at all!

ME

2008-10-09T17:36:00.003+01:00

So i've actually been home sick in bed for the last 3 days - and bored out of my mind. I actually dont like being home sick. I think I figured out why. It is fear. The fear of being stuck in bed unable to get better and get out of bed. This is all cause I was bedridden solidly for 3 months and have had long periods of convalesing. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ...I have written about this before - click here.

I've also realised that i hate taking sick days off of work cause deep down I think that people at work do not believe me. This is all due to the stigma that people dont understand the CFS and think that you can just be better like it is just normal flu. Or they cant understand just how bad it can get. Also haveing had the worst while I was at school always lead to constant comments from fellow students that I must be faking it - and it is amazing how that sticks with you.

I just know from the experience of having it for the last 9/10 years that no one really understands it unless you've had it. And even then it affects people differently. Recently I have found that there is def more support groups and organisations here aimed at us sufferers - well I never found any in Cpt. So lately I've been reading a few of the forums and websites and it really is amazing to me that there are just SO many definitely diagnosed cases that are so similar to mine. There are even terminology that I only used for lack of any actual terminology like "brain fog" and I find that there are people out there using it as well.

I found reading the site both uplifting and depressing. Reading peoples account where they are still in the early days and at the worst was interesting - I just wanted to get ahold of them and tell them that you do come through the worst. But it also reminded me that I have this, there is no doubt. I do have this and will always pretty much have it! I'm so lucky that I'm actually very pysically strong at the moment and it is esp amazing that I have a sport - climbing. So few of us sufferers have this. But I do have to becareful and always remember that if I push things too far when I'm run down I may just push it too far and land up stuck in bed again - and I never want that again.

So while reading through things I came across this semi poem written by a sufferer and it rang true with me (not the suicidal bits - I was never in that state as I was always able to keep my head from going that far)

Person with ME
Carol

Who am I?
The mind is such a complex part of human anatomy
How do we start to analyse who we are or who we want to be?
Some two years and eight months ago, I became so very ill
But positive in nature, believed I'd battle it with sheer will
However, this was not to be - my mind and body weak
No control I had of anything, just pain and eyes so bleak
Tests and scans that followed were all surprisingly clear
How could I feel so ill inside, my mind so numb with fear?
The most minimal of tasks were so exhausting to the brain
A phone call or a visitor - plagued me with migraine
I had no life, no function, could not grasp reality
So scared was I, who am I? what will become of me?
No matter who's around you, you always feel alone
How can anyone really help you?
You're in this on your own
I'm not a quiet person, who just muddles through the days
I'm always such a happy thing - the 'life and sole' so they say....
But, my life was shattered instantly when I discovered 'm.e.'
I had no strength to fight it, in a world too dark to see
Why did the sound of summer birds drive me near insane?
A gun to the head - was this the way to take away my pain?
I'd wake up in the morning wishing the day would pass
Then praying for the darkness, and quietness at last
No pills, no cure, no anything, to ease this bane of my life
If I were a dog they'd shoot me - then to a land of 'paradise'
These thoughts I had so many times, because I had no guarantee
Who was to say I'd be well next year - it was really just 'wait and see'
Months and months passed slowly, now I never dare look back
Although on a slow recovery - I'm on a recovery track
Each week is a rollercoaster, not knowing how I will be
Many days in bed like a zombie, yet another day, making tea!
My mind is still a mystery - my memory - what's that?
I forget so many daily things, and repeat the same old chat!
Well, I know I'm still a long way off until I'm fit again
But, now, the days I cope with and never wonder - when?
I'm sure there's many people who relate so much to this
And my message to them all, from my heart, is simply this ....
Don't fight this dreadful illness, but accept and live it through
And with gradual slow activity, your life will return to you

Carol

Blog Award

2008-10-08T09:03:00.002+01:00

I dont normally get into the whole passing around of awards or meme's on my blog - but since Blondie so sweetly listed me for the above award and since it is my first I thought I would post it.

So thank you very much for enjoying my random blog!!

P.s. I've added the whole following thing if anyone is keen :)

Now for some photos...

2008-10-07T17:56:00.000+01:00

Winton House - For some history on this place (amazing stuff) then click here
The fact that the build was start in the 1000 AD was just amazing !

Just to show you the size of the estate - the farmhouse accommodation is the little cluster or trees in the far fields on the other side of the thick line of trees.

The actual firework at the wedding were just UNREAL

The first dance

C & my four poster bed

our HUGE room - please note the detailed plaster ceiling work that was done 30 years before Jan van Riebeeck landed at the Cape !!! ie 1620 - that is just crazy to me.

The fireplace and rest of the room

The Reception

2008-10-06T10:07:00.002+01:00

After the wedding ceremony we headed back to Winton house. I'll have to write more about the house later as it was SO beautiful ! And the history of the place - it always amazes me and makes me realise that South Africa as a country is so very young!

Of course the first thing after the ceremony was the photographs. This was being done by The Housemate as his gift to them. I'm still convinced that it was the most work in one go he has done in years! He normally only has to work for a few hours at a time. While this was going on the wedding guests got to start on the bubbly and canapes (cept I wouldn't call masses of thinly sliced veg and dips canapes)

I got to flit around the room doing my social butterfly trick, introducing people that didnt know each other (while added interesting facts to start conversation) And C ran around trying to gather different groups of people at the right times for the photos outside. How he did this I'll never know. I do remember him coming around going "have you seen someone that looks like he would be an uncle Alexander"

I was trying my darnedest to not drink my bubbly too fast so that I didn't get plastered before dinner but the damn waiter kept sneakily filling my glass up ! I was seriously suffering due to the lack of food ! By this stage (6pm ish) I had only had that 1 slice of toast at 9am !!! We just didn't have time to stop for food (or anywhere to get it) the whole day. The housemate was even trying to provide mints to sustain us on the way back from the church.

After the photos they were supposed to do the whole cake cutting things...but thanks to some quick thinking on the grooms part he organised that we headed straight out to the marquee for dinner ! :)

The marquee was beautiful and was absolutely movie perfect. All white drapes and gold chairs etc. I knew I was going to be an odd one to seat since C was sitting up at the main table but I must say that I didn't expect to be sitting at the "intellectual" table. I could have guess though since the one girl seems to have become quite attached to me and I heard later that she had mentioned he like of me to the groom before the wedding. So basically I was the ONLY person at the whole table that didnt have Dr in front of her name!! OMG. And then the other strange thing was that I was seated inbetween the girl and her bf. I'm not sure if that was how it was planned or if they had changed it themselves before getting to the table. There were def so awkward moments...like this one...

Dr Sporty Physics (to her bf across me): Midnite Gem knows that I perve over her bf in a suit.

Her bf: *glares at Midnite Gem*

OMG - talk about uncomfortable...And why glare at me ??? It not really my fault that I have a hot bf that she seems to need to state this fact to the table.

Well I did manage to survive the dinner. The food was great (cept my stomach was now complaining from TOO much food instead of the TOO little before) I just have to say that there was one particular chick at my table that was just insufferable - what a cow. I just cant even explain it.

The rest of the reception consisted of the first dance (to Smashing pumpkins, tonight tonight), lots of dancing, cake cutting, fireworks (seriously impressive ...cost!), cake eating and more food, then even more dancing with a bit of driving people back and forwards again. Also there was a random moment of finding a lost wedding ring that had fallen off a guest finger as she had recently lost alot of weight and so both her wedding ring and engagement ring came flying off while dancing and only once the light were one and everyone was leaving did she realise they were gone. I was just sitting there thinking in my head ..."oh no please dont tell me the hysterics are going to start now" while my eyes were scanning the floor from my seat for anything really ...there it was all the way on the other side of the room to where everyone was looking. I casually walked over, pick it up and returned it and then the hysterical thanks started - sometime you just cant win.

So we packed everyone off into taxi's and send the bride and groom off to bed. Finally there was only one guest left who was waiting for her lost bf to come fetch her who had also had a flat tire on the way and was now lost. After much trying to get broken messages through due the the horrid mobile reception. Just after 2 am he arrive and C and I could wave them off and head up to bed as we were the last up other then the wedding co-ordinator.

We absolutely collapsed onto the beautiful four poster bed in the BEAUTIFUL original main room of the house. As we melted into the gorgeous fluffly duvet and matress and curled up, C turned to me and said: "I was so going to ravaged you tonight ...but frankly my gorgeous I'm just too exhausted." LOL and so was I! So we just wrap ourselves up in each other put our head on the extremely soft pillows and were both instanly fast sleep.

Morning came way too quickly and had us up and packed and down for breakfast at 10. Breakfast was amazing - talk about have absolutly everything laid out for you. So we ate ourselves stupid. Then said all our goodbyes, picked up the groom cousin and the maid of honour and dropped them off in Endinburgh and then head off to glasgow for the afternoon and onto Fort William to stay the next night.

More to come from the travels in Scotland....

NEW LOOK

2008-10-03T10:35:00.003+01:00

PLEASE BEAR WITH ME WHILE I PLAY AROUND WITH THE LOOK AND FEEL OF MY BLOG :)

Oh and btw ...have a new blog for my 101 things in 1001 days... http://gems101.blogspot.com/

Ok it is official I can be seriously obsessive!!! This is going to be a work in progress as now i'm playing around with the actual code here - will be awhile and the blog is going to look crap for awhile and all my widgets are fucked up....oh well it is going to look great when i'm done :)

The Church

2008-10-01T17:26:00.001+01:00

*Ok, I strangely feel that I need to quickly write a little disclaimer note here. I have to say that I absolutely LOVED going to the wedding. I was beautiful amazing day. And such a wonderfully happy day as well. Seeing Dr&Mr Intellectual all loved up and passionate in their love for one another was so wonderful. I also loved the meeting of new people, the socialising and the great energy of running around doing things. SO if there are any moany or negative sounding bits to my blog about the wedding it is not meant in offense to the day - it is just my silly little opinion and nothing ultimately detracted from a wonderful experience for me. So if any comes upon this rambling please just take it for what it is - ramblings and nothing seriously or meaningful*

SO...

off to the church ...
What an interesting church to say the least! I reckon it is one of those not sure if it should be classified as a cathedral or church - but i think it is pretty close to former then the latter. It happened to have the longest aisle in Scotland - how is that for daunting to walk down !!! Luckily they had arranged it that the alter was half way up the aisle and the wedding register signing was all the way at the end of the aisle. A mass of the guests (mostly the Edinburgh friends) had gather outside the church once we all arrived from the house. The family members mostly headed in but the rest of use all said our hellos etc (well mostly all the girl who knew each other from the hen night) Finally we all headed into the church. I had ABSOLUTELY no idea where to sit myself ! It was really strange. I know that most weddings all have a bride and groom side to the church but it was decided that the groom didn't have enough people to fill his side so that rule was scrapped.

There were some early people sitting pretty far towards the back and the people I came with from the house were all going up front. I wasn't keen to sit too far back as I wont be able to see and stuff. I did wondered where and what the hell the ushers were supposed to be doing?? No one seemed to know where they were going. So I landed up 3 rows from the front. I did notice that the first 2 rows had name tags on them - which i think was great for the family - but tell me if I'm wrong but the fact that the usher and his wife had name tags on their seats when some of the relatives didn't??? I found this extremely weird. I started to think that yes there is another example of how you get treated differently if you are someones wife over just being someones partner. C did mention to me days later that he had found more name tags in a box that didn't get set out. anyways moving on.

The Church has the most amazing history which C told me more about afterwards from the info that the minister was telling him. Things like it was burnt down by one of the King Henry's and John Knox was part of the ministry there (he was born in the town) and had over seen major parts of the repair and rebuilding. More info here. Random thing to point out but it seems that churches in Scotland are called Kirk, I mean how close is that to the Afrikaans word for church, Kerk! It is also pronounced the same.

I haven't been to a wedding in a church for pretty much exactly 10 years (In 1998 I came to England for my brothers wedding in a little LITTLE village in Gloustershire where I was bridesmaid in the most horrid dress that was too big!) I must say that Dr & Mr I's wedding was nice and short and not TOO churchy well not compared to the hour & a half service that my brother had. It did feel very surreal to me for some reason. I have to say I love their contemporary reading from "for whom the bells toll" (I cant find the actual reading but it was beautiful)

They also did have the obligatory string quartet and this is funny cause if you ask my mom we have been joking about how I would never have one at my own wedding. So I had to have a little chuckle to myself. I did realise sitting there in the church and watching the wedding that even though I love the surrounding and the architecture of a church I could not actually have a church wedding myself - def not at this stage of my life. This is also funny due to the fact that I think I have a bit of a fear regarding getting married. C loves to poke fun at me about it. There are so many reasons that I fear it. One of them is that I do think that the way people hype their weddings up is ridiculous. and that the amount of money spent on weddings is crazy. I think it is just too over the top and I just don't think that is very ME. (Again this is all just my opinion) This wedding did spark plenty of conversations about what each person would like for their wedding. And I of course got very wrapped up in it all as well. It is great fun coming up with things one would like to do. I do think that I would like a wedding as such if I get married but I know that it wouldn't be your traditional wedding or over the top. My other issues around marriage is alot to do with probably the "forever" part. Maybe it has to do with being trapped or loosing ones Independence even more. BUT as much as that all sits in my head I do think that it is great to be able to make that kind of public statement of status in people lives. There are still different attitudes that people have towards a couple that is married and one that is simply life partners even if they have been together twice as long and may even have kids. For this reason alone I fully understand people fighting for legal gay marriages!!

Ok I've def been side tracked here - my mind and fingers sometime run away with me.

The wedding ceremony was beautiful and watching them up there was great - Dr I looked absolutely STUNNING in her wedding gown and Mr I looked seriously smart in his get up. And of course I have to say that C looked so amazing in the best man get up (of course the same as the groom) He does look so amazing in a suit normally but now the whole waistcoat and cravat thing added he look super hot (ok i'm biased) LOL. It was very weird watching him from afar up at the alter.

After a VERY happy Dr & Mr I walked down the aisle out of the church out in to the thankful NOT raining day we all did the photos and congrats and socialising bit until the bundled of into the gorgeous luxury cars and us into the bus and back to the house for the reception.

To be continued....

Slack...

2008-09-29T17:00:00.004+01:00

So yeah - am def being slack at my blogging again ...but in my defense I was still pretending i was on holiday at the end of last week and I was waiting for the pictures from our travels around scotland... honestly I'm still waiting for those. The housemate, known as the Ginger Ninja from now on, did show us the pics he had taken of C and I at the wedding but I've not gotten them from his computer to mine yet!

Well i'll still just write some random stuff about the wedding and travel and stuff and we'll see how far I get with the rest of the day before I bugger off home.

The friday of the last post was just insane...rushing to get work done, having my review lunch thing, rushing off to the airport, check-in, being delayed and not knowing why, getting into Edinburgh late, fighting with car hire place re after hours charge due to being delayed...lets just say that by the time we actually made it to the farmhouse accommodation on the estate where the wedding was, I was absolutely FINISHED. But we did do some socialising with the people that were still up at midnight.

At about 00:45 the groom, Mr intellectual, came crashing into the kitchen holding up his jeans in one hand and the phone held to his ear in the other trying to talk to a taxi driver that didnt sound like he was speaking english. It turned out that the last of the relatives that were arriving to stay at the other accommodation on the estate were in a taxi who was lost on the estate and had no idea where he was or where he was going. C and Mr I had to then jump into our rental car (we were like one of the other people there with a car) and go find the taxi and get them to the right place.

I heard afterwards that once they got them to the cottage Mr I started to walk them to the door then suddenly realised that his bride to be was in there as well and he literally went screaming back to the car - least he get into trouble for seeing the bride the night before the wedding.

I obviously didnt get to sleep until C was finally back and cuddled up in bed with me around 01:30 probably closer to 2am !!

The saturday of the wedding started off chilled enough with us strolling downstairs at 9am to make toast and sociallise a little more with the other that werent up late the night before. Then after chilling around for a bit we started figuring out what needed to be done...oh fuck was it alot. Firstly we had to start moving things over to the main house as us and the groom and others were staying there that night instead of the farmhouse where others would be arriving to stay later.

after a few runs we realised that time was running out ... C and Mr I had to be dressed and photos taken in 10 mins...we def ran late there and then we had to get C and Ginger Ninja over to the house to meet with the wedding co-ordinator. I quickly got ready and dressed etc (except for the heels) and we headed off to the main house...C got the list of his responsibilities which was very badly thought out and seemed to have him doing everything...mainly the problem was that if he was organising and lifting people around the estate to get everyone to the main house at 2:30 for the bus how could he be at the farmhouse with the groom getting the fancy car to the church at 2??? I mean really.

I there I was running around, hopping in and out of the car, fetching and carrying people to the main house. The annoying thing was there was no bloody cellphone reception on the whole estate. So when I needed to arrange times for the guest to be ready I had to drive to where they were knock on thier door, arrange a time and then go away and come back like 20 mins later. And these were people that I didnt know! Oh well it was all for C and good friends so I didnt really mind at all !!! Anything to make the day stress free for them. Besides it was better having things to do rather then sitting around not knowing what to do with myself alone.

After the bride being the obligatory late in coming down from upstairs we were able to head off to the church. But in all honestlywho would blame her as trying to get down 3 flights of a stone spiral staircase in a traditional wedding dress complete with hoop under skirt is pretty hard !!

To be continued...

Off to the land of Kilts and Whiskey and mountains

2008-09-19T11:42:00.002+01:00

So we are finally off to the wedding - heading off to the airport in about 20 mins!! just cant wait to get out of work!! It is crazy here !!

Actually dont really have the time to sit here and blog - need to run off an dprint drawings finish things up - and i'm going to have to leave my desk in a state - i did try to tidy it last night...but today cluttered it up again.

Cant wait for our little tour of driving around scotland that we have planned for after the wedding. So i'll only be back at this desk next Thursday - YAY.

Laters!

p.s. to go with the theme of wedding..hows this for an alternative wedding cake (apparently the theme was gothic and it was Halloween)

Debenhams sux ASS!!!

2008-09-16T09:27:00.003+01:00

OMG - what a horrid stressful annoying emotional day I had on Saturday.

As per my previous post I was somewhat worried about the fact that the dress from DEBENHAMS (nice big letters to help the search engines find this page where i'm going to say how much I hate DEBENHAMS) had not yet arrived. They did say that it would be Monday but since I had a bad feeling in my gut I called the customer services number on Saturday morning to find out what was the status and if they told it was with the couriers still then I would demand their number.

Oh boy did I have a bad feeling for a reason. I find out that they had tried to deliver it 3 times and now it was on its way back to the warehouse. After more questions I find out that they have been trying to deliver it to the building next door and not my work address. They then try to tell me that it must have been my mistyping !! By now I was getting more and more worked up and I realised what this was meaning and getting more and more angry at the fact that they couldnt even pick up the phone after getting it wrong the first time let alone the third time! As I have mentioned before it seems that as I get more angry and frustrasted I land up crying ...It is flippin annoying and I'm also sure it didnt help that I had my frikkin period as well. (I hate using that as an excuse tho! )

So now I start half shouting at them and hald blubbering too. How annoying. But I did have proof via 3 emails that I had typed my address in correctly and that their record had it correct. They had obviously given the couriers the wrong address.

After this was discuss I was like ...well you have to get that dress to me - I need now ! But oh dear, now they have no more stock of my size in the warehouse or online. Maybe there are some in the shops but they cant check those stocks at this call centre. I was SO pissed now. Your telling me that you cant just send me the dress I was supposed to get in the first place that is heading back to the warehouse. OH NO - that wont be put back into stock piles and is marked LOST!!! you've got to be freaking kidding me.

I still cant get my head how this company actually manages any customer services or manages to manage online orders as well. It seems that the online is run separately to the actual stores and the stores are also stocked and run separatly as well. I called the other call centre to check the stock in the stores (something that I wasnt expecting to actually work since the whole reason I ordered it online was cause they didnt have my size in the Oxford st store.) That call centre then has to individually check each store. How carzy is it not to have ONE it system that shows all the stock and where it is located. But no that isnt possible in their little world. One of the stores may have it BUT i had to call them direct to find out...again HOW THE HELL DOES THIS COMPANY SURVIVE??? I called but no cigar...they only had 2 left and it wasnt my size.

So after 4 calls I had to admit defeat and realise that I would not be getting the dress I wanted. I really didnt want this stress in my life - why did it have to be so much of a fight. I'm so glad that I didnt leave the calling until monday like they suggested on thursday. WHICH that is another bone of contension for me...WHY didnt the chick I spoke to on Thursday know that they were having trouble delivering it when the chick on sat had all the reported dates of failed delivery. AND WHY THE HELL COULDNT THEY HAVE PICKED UP THE PHONE AND INFORMED ME. I mean this is what we are all so contactable in this day and age.

So after C had calmed down the blubbering me he made plans that we would go off that day and find me a dress. He is SO amazing! After hours and hours of shopping for a dress he was still so supportive and positive while I felt like shit. I just have to say I have such a hard time with dresses as the one side of me is taller then the other due to my skew spine and this makes dresses sit funnily on my hips. OR there was some other problem with each and every one i tried on. Finally I had been ignoring the more expensive dress I liked...but with 1/2 until shops closed I finally tried it on and it was great. From the moment I zipped up the zip I knew I would be happy with this dress. Cept I'm still not happy with the price (double the original dress's price) - but I know that I would rather pay the price and be comfortable in the dress I have to wear at the wedding then unhappy with a cheaper dress.

Sadly all this drama ruined the plans that we had with Miss M, jailbait etc to go to the Mayors Thames festival...So that was also not helping the horrid mood I was in.

Strangely enough though I do think that the dress I have now I def more ME. It has black lace (makes me happy) and has a more edgy look. DEF more my style.

Here is a pic of it... P.s note that this is Tuesday afternoon that i'm writing about this and I'm still angry !! I'm now waiting for them to return the money for the dress and if they dont pretty soon I am going to start some serious shouting!!!

Handbag shopping

2008-09-11T13:57:00.006+01:00

So its friday !! WHOO HOOO - damn I love it when the weekend comes around. I was supposed to have a very hectic day today like the rest of the week was but it looks like I can chill out a little bit which is great... cause i have the hugest migraine since last night and i'm finding it extremely difficult to even look at the screen without throbbing pain and nasuea hitting me. So sorry if this post is typed badly at looking at the keyboard only is def much better for the head !

My life has been taken over by shopping ! this seems to be my only mission these days. Firstly I seriously needed a new handbag ! my current one was fraying at the edges and i'm sure the handle was about to part ways with the body of the bag anyday now. But as usual I have to be one fussy girl.

I wanted to find the perfect handbag that i'll love and cherish and will hold everything i want it to hold without looking like I was going to fall over with such a big bag. I wanted real leather (takes more wear and tear) and wanted a black bag, with a pocket on the outside, no visible stitching etc. But every bag i looked at just wasnt right. They were either too big or they were too small. or were shiney or too many gold chains and accessories attached.

Anyways... i finally found the bag i liked even though it wasnt what I thought i would like. And the other problem was that it was cream !! NOt what i wanted. So I went and thought about it alot... even went past the bag again on another shopping trip for the wedding outfit. Until I was shopping for shoes for the wedding and went past it just one more...and there suddenly were black ones!!! yay ....And the best part... for 3 days only everything was on sale. So I got the bag and i found shoes and got 20 % off it all ...YAY !!!

Ok so I do love a bargin - it just makes it so much better for me ! So that is the bag above. Pretty Misha Barton label bag !

All the shopping has also been to do with the wedding that we are off to next Friday - I really didnt realise all the effort that goes into attending a freaking wedding. I've had to sort an outfit out...a dress, shoes, etc etc the whole formal wedding stuff. and the wedding present and transport etc. I'm so glad that I sorted the flights and train months ago!

I finally decided on a dress...I hope it is right! I've ordered it 10 days ago and it still hasnt arrived. The shop says that it is with the couiers and has been since the 4th - but it is most likely only to arrive monday or tuesday next week...i'm so freaked out by this!! what if it doesnt arrive and then i only have 2 day till we leave for the weddign and I happen to have work things on both nights...so there isnt a margin for fuck ups --- arg !!!!

anyways...here is the dress i chose and I've found shoes the perfect colour match (I didnt expect that!) now just need that pashimina to keep me warm and a bag to hold stuff since C wont be holding much since he is best man.

Highgate Cemetry

2008-09-09T14:29:00.008+01:00

So this is kinda one of the catch up blogs that i've got to write. I'm not really up to writing loads as my brain is a little slow this week after the hecticness that was last week and the hangover that was yesterday !!

So I wanted to share some of the pictures I took in Highgate cemetry. After a very boring weekend on a Sunday afternoon C suggested that we finally head off for a tour of the cemetry. Have wanted to do this since stumbling apon it when walking home drunk with Mr & Dr Intelectual & C. Dr and I wanted to scale the fence and got exploring at like 11pm. But we decided against it...

anyway so here are the pics cause I cant seem to type and spell today so no more words.

Baking Saturday....

2008-09-06T18:53:00.002+01:00

Yummy yummy cupcakes....

Competition

2008-09-05T11:38:00.003+01:00

So i've been wanting to Blog all week... I have so many things to catch up on, like our lovely bank holiday weekend in the Lakes, the stunning resturant that we went to last week etc etc ... BUT sadly work has seriously been INSANE of late. I've had a huge workload of CAD drawings which are freak dead boring and take forever when they are as complez as the ones i've been doing lately. Its been the norm to see me still sitting at work at 7pm rushing to get stuff finished so that I can just go home and eat and crash for the night...

ANYWAYS...that isnt the point of this little post that I'm going to make before going back to the most horrid drawing of acoustic panels!!!

Last night Trendy and Mr Nice (her bf and our team leader) invited Miss quiet and I to join them at the cocktail party being held for the finalists of a photographic competiton that they were in. It was to be a little team 2 celebration for all the hard work we have been doing lately ...basically an excuse to drink free champagne!!!

It was a furniture company that held the competition where they sent you their chair and then you had to submit a photograph with the chair in it. You also had to write a blurb about your photograph as well.

Now while most of the entrants did VERY styalized photos (some even heavily photoshopped) where it was all about light and composisition etc. But not Trendy and Mr Nice...they are just too quirky to be normal... this is what they did....

Plus for the "blurb" they simply took the chocolate pudding packet it and photoshopped to make the recipe on the back all about drizzling it onto the chair. They were the only ones the didnt use words!

Much joking around by them and by us about winning and what the acceptance speech should be (none of the suggestions where suitable for the people there's ears) but it was all so sacrcastic when how could they win with such a silly pic compared the serious photographic images it was up against.

AS they were doing the presention of the winner speech the guy was explaining the criteria that they judged on. They said that they expected to just judge photographs on the classic things like composition and light and shadow etc but they landed up judging them more on the emotive quality and the relationship with the chair ...etc etc etc. It was at that point that Miss Quiet and I turned to each other and both said "they've won it" .... 2 minutes later and the announcment...

THEY WON!!!

How funny! when it was all such a joke...just a laugh and a bit of fun. They certainly didnt believe it at all and Trendy just stood there and laughed while Mr Nice gave a lovely drunken speech laden with seemingly nice comments...but we all knew it was so not meant like that. But luckily he has the most dead pan face that you wouldnt be able to tell at all if he was serious or not.

So they now have won a all expenses paid trip to Paris...now lets hope that our company will let them have more time off together (so far they are only allowed to take 5 days leave at the same time - which is in a few weeks ARG) This also probably means more work for Miss Quiet and I.

I'm so happy for them and they def deserve this credit for thier creative craziness! congrats!

#1 Grateful Diary - Week 3

2008-08-30T15:46:00.001+01:00

22.08.08 - For the lazy afternoon at work

23.08.08 - For moments like when I get to drive while C reads the Glamour mag to me :) - And for the cool climbing gear I bought

24.08.08 - For the lovely B&B that was the only place I could find that was available. Laurel Cottage B&B, built in 1613!! And of course for my first multi-pitch climb

25.08.08 - For getting into London at a decent time and not having to deal with too much traffic :)

26.08.08 - For Miss Quiet and the fact she had time to help me get work out

27.08.08 - For pasta that cooks in 3 mins!

28.08.08 - For painkillers - and that it isnt me swimming across the channel!

Swimming the Channel

2008-08-29T09:57:00.003+01:00

So my cousin-in-law swam across the Channel yesterday !!! how insane ! He set off at 8am and reached France at 9pm !! 13 hours in freezing cold water swimming as hard as you can while trying to avoid all the ships in the busiest shipping lane in the world and nevermind the jellyfish...all while just wearing a speedo and swimming cap ! unreal!!

So wow - what an incredible feat - WELL DONE RYAN !!!

If you are interested in his route etc and have google earth ....click here... and then click on the link to Ryan Stramrood Channel crossing.

Here is also a friend of his blog with some more info... here

Sunday Afternoon of Culture - #42, #43

2008-08-27T08:32:00.001+01:00

I've been meaning to write this post for ages now - well since the 10th of August which was the Sunday we headed off for a very cultural day in London.

I'd finally managed to organise a group of friends to go to The Shakespeare Globe Theater to see a modern play called The Frontline on its second last weekend showing.....

"Saturday night outside the tube; god, strip bars, weed, crack, lost old men, unemployed actors and vegans all collide in a riptide of chaos on the streets of London. There’s Beth the reformed hristian
and Erkenwald the hot-dog seller, old Ragdale on a quest to find his daughter, Mordechai Thurrock the actor-playwright and egomaniac, and Cockburn, Elliot and Carlton the dealers and junkies, whose trade both sustains and destroys the lives of those around them.
In this vibrant and blackly comic new play, a dozen private stories emerge, and their voices give utterance to a storm of subjects and feelings: pop culture and sexual fantasy, the ruins of empire and the delusions of religion, foreign oil and prehistoric London. Ché Walker, winner of the George Devine Award and playwright for the Royal Court, brings to the Globe stage a panorama of contemporary London, encompassing the cruel and the tender, the gutter and the stars."

I also discovered in the week that the exhibition on at Somerset house called Skin + Bones was ending on the weekend and so C and I headed off for the exhibition earlier on in the day. I also discovered the Oyster Travel card offers and therefore got the tickets at half the price !!! Bargain!

The exhibition was all about the parallels in the fashion and Architecture design fields. It showed how certain concepts were explored in both industries with very stunning outcomes. I really enjoyed this exhibition. But of course it did help that I already knew quite a bit about the architecture side of it and the models and images of the buildings on display were really great to see.

After the exhibition we had quite a bit of time to kill before meeting everyone for the play at 5pm. So we strolled along the Thames and over Westminster bridge onto the Southbank. We then decided to actually go and walk along the shore of the Thames on the actual sand !

After our lovely stroll along the Southbank we landed up at the beautiful Nando's under London bridge. It is seriously the most amazingly located Nando's. The space is the archways under the bridge all in brickwork with copper cladding the archways in places. I just love it. And the food goes down well too !

We were still too early for the friends so C and I went and defended a table for 6 in the adjoining bar to The Globe facing the river and watched the weather get worse and worse until it was POURING down. And seriously the only place I've seen a worse downpour is in Singapore during monsoon season!!! It was crazy.

Now let me explain why this is a problem... We have bought groundling tickets for the play ....this means that we get to stand in the open air part of the theatre for 2 hours !! Damn we were praying that the downpour didn't continue the entire time! And luckily it didnt. We found a little bit of shelter and as soon as the play started the rain was out of my mind. At one stage as the sun was setting it was able to break through the clouds. I was def thankful for the hat i bought at download (see pic above) It def kept the rain at bay :)

The play was AWESOME. I love it. So different and unique. I also loved it cause it was about our manor of north London. Well the Camden streets. So I was able to identify the characters and enjoy the colloquial jokes.

So that was our little cultural day out :) Def need to do this more often - it was great!

#61 - Environmental bag

2008-08-20T15:24:00.003+01:00

I've wanted to reduce the waste in my life for awhile now and #61 on my 101 list is to start using a reuseable bag for shopping and reduce how much plastic I use and throw away. It may just be a small drop in the ocean of a problem - but at least i'm doing something.

So today I found and bought the coolest looking foldaway reuseable shopping bag. I think they look supper cool and trendy and therefore are more encouraging to use.

The cheapest I found them online was at Quirky Bags which also happens to be a very cool online shop with some great products. So I bought myself the one below and will see how it goes before buying more from them.
They also have a very cool concept of bag liners which you would use to hold all the stuff your normally have in a handbag which then fits inside your handbag. When you want to change handbags then you just take the liner bag and put it in a new one. No transfering of endless little bits and pieces and invariablely forgetting something! Will be pondering that ...but have to sort out my handbags first.

Now I wait for it to be delivered, then can make a habit out of not getting more plastic bags ! YAY

#33 - Implant and rant about doctors!!

2008-08-19T18:35:00.000+01:00

OMG - how i absolutely hate doctors sometimes! I'm finding the doctors over here (NHS and Private) even more frustrating!

Once I was all settled in the Uk and finally running out of the huge stash of my contraceptive pill I headed of to the NHS clinic to get me some free pills. I looked into the options beforehand since I tend to do loads of research on pretty much anything that I do and wanted to discuss the option of the implant that goes into your arm and your contraception needs are then taken care of for 3 years.... Now this would be heaven to me. 3 years of not having to remember to take the pill every single flippin day ! I've been doing that for 9 years already and I'm tired of it.

I head off and the doctor I see is so stupid that she cant even look up the equivalent of my current pill online - which I was able to do later myself. So I landed up on this horrid Progesterone only pill that caused hell for 3 months!! why i waited that long I'll never know.

Then when i go back the next new doctor finds the correct equivalent pill (I basically told her) and she wont discuss the implant. So i forget out it.

Then after the 3 month trail period where i have to then go back to the clinic and they will give me a 6 month prescription so I don't have to keep coming back. BUT NO!

Now I get a very nice male doctor (the rest were female) that wants to take me through all the options available for me and after a long discussion it is basically his suggestion that the implant would be the best for me. BUT I have to go see one of the doctors there that actually implants it. So I go and make an appointment with the first available one of the 2 names he gave me. This happened to be 2 weeks after seeing the male doctor!!

So yesterday I head off to go get this all sorted and I don't expect it to be a mission - but I was wrong.

She apparently doesn't do the implant anymore cause she hasn't gone through some sort of re-evaluation of her skills or something. And then says well she will try and remember the information - but just wants to look it up to REFRESH her memory !!! I mean really ! So I'm sitting there just getting angry. She proceeds to be very anti it and doesn't want to encourage me to have it. She freaks out when I say that I have a thing about needles (i.e. I don't like them) but ignores the fact that I inform her that I've had body piercings without anesthetic and this is simply just like that in the arm but WITH anesthetic.

But now I'm fuming about all these fucking different opinions and the fact that she is sitting there telling me that I'm silly to want to come off a pill that is working for me. So instead of getting outwardly angry at her I start crying !! I mean really WHAT were my emotions thinking !! I suppose it didn't help that I was a little PMS-y. Damn was I now even more angry at the situation.

I'm not stupid - I've looked long and hard into this and in my head I'm willing to try something that could turn out to make my life SO much easier and happier. I know that it could go the other way and I might end up having another horrid 3 months. But then I'll just have the thing taken out and it will stop immediately. I'm not going in blind here !!!

So I manage to still get her to give me the prescription - which i will have to go and get the implant for a chemist and then make another appointment with the other woman to go back and get her to put it in.

BUT here is the thing that got me even more fucking freaked out... The doctor yesterday then turns around after talking to me about this for 5 mins and says "well I would like you to come back and talk to me about what is troubling you in your life - because there obviously is something"
OMFG - IS she seriously telling me I need to come for counselling!!!! Fucking hell !! after talking to me after a minorly frustrating day at work (that is all) that I have something wrong in my life. Damn I was just flabbergasted!

Ok - so I admit that my life hasn't been the peachiest but I think I'm one of the most grounded well rounded happiest person I know. I'll still have a positive outlook even when I'm having the baddest day. This has been how I've triumphed over the worse parts of my CFS and not been kept down by it like many many other people.

Right now at this moment in my life I'm so very happy! Its the healthiest I've ever been, the most in love that i've ever been, the most comfortable with myself i've ever been, the most well off financially then i've ever been. So please tell me what this woman could possibly offer me that I dont already have/know.

She does not know me...and I will not be put down by her opinions of me.

But sadly i'm now back at square one about whether to have this implant or not - ARG!

#29 - Boots weight thing

2008-08-18T13:30:00.006+01:00

So I know I did this on the 6th of August which was 2 days before my start date in the 101 things BUT it is going to be my August to do for this goal. And since I seem to loose little pieces of paper easily I've scanned and saved it and can now blog it for future reference and comparison.

I was very happy with this reading since when C got me to do this a year ago and it was a huge horrid shock. Firstly this is a machine that takes your weight and height and then works out your BMI. Then you can get it to measure your body fat as well.

A year ago all I remember was that I was 65.5ish kgs!!! And i flipped! how on earth did i put on 20 kgs in 2 years! AND still fit in alot of the same clothes. I promptly lost the little piece of paper in frustration of what it said. It has also indicated that I was not the average weight i should be and that I had a poor body fat %.

Well now I'm much happier since it has come out that I'm about 7kgs lighter after starting climbing and becoming more active. And I know that i've turned some of the body fat into muscle which in turn actually weighs more.

I just have to point out that I'm not doing this cause I'm unhappy with my body or want to obsess about my weight. Because I'm not that kind of girl. I actually like the body I'm in and do not sit around and wish for a smaller butt or better tummy. I think I've foudn something to love about my body through every stage it has been through. I actually didnt like things about my body the most when I was so skinny from being ill.

C and I were just wanting to monitor what benefits our lifestyle is doing for us. I.e as we eat healthier and excercise then our body fat % will go down. If done monthly then you can see what is working and what isnt. So for me it is about a general healthier lifestyle that will help me become a fitter and stronger person. And it will work. I've been the healthiest i've ever been in the last year as i've become more active. This has meant that I've been sick less and able to get over energy slumps easier. And with my CFS then this can only be a good thing for me.

#1 Grateful diary - Week 2

2008-08-17T12:28:00.005+01:00

15.08.08 - Am grateful for the yummy yummy cocktails (favorite being a vanilla raspberry caprinina) and that I paced myself well so that I enjoyed the whole evening
16.08.08 - Am grateful that my afternoon nap was able to help my migraine (not always possible)
17.08.08 - I'm grateful for lazy sunday afternoons in the pub eating really good food ! Yummy roast on a sunday ! what more could you ask for!
18.08.08 - I'm grateful for a very caring bf and def grateful for cuddles ...oh and bristish comedy!
19.08.08 - I was grateful for my blog to vent today about yesterday
20.08.08 - I'm grateful that we have SUCH a happy client and a beautifully completed design
21.08.08 - hmmm...hard day to find something - but I was grateful for a small work load

#1 Grateful Diary - Week 1

2008-08-14T14:14:00.005+01:00

My very first 101 things challenge/goal. My grateful dairy.... This has been a part of my life in the past and want to continue it for an added positive outlook to life.

08.08.08 - Am grateful for the inspiration to create the list
09.08.08 - Am grateful for the way C watches out for me more then i do for myself
10.08.08 - Am grateful for the interesting friends in my life and reconnecting with others
11.08.08 - Am grateful to be out of the office and site a quiet site - even if I did go loopy from all the surveying !
12.08.08 - Am grateful for the yummy dinner cooked by C - pasta, chicken, sundried tomatoe salad
13.08.08 - Am grateful for the ability to have time off to heal and for the laughter that C brings to my day !
14.08.08 - Am grateful that it isnt raining today

UPDATE
14.08.08 - ok so I spoke too soon and it is now a thunderstorm of rain! SO Today i'm grateful that i'm getting to go home early :)

My 100 things in 1001 days Project

2008-08-12T15:42:00.002+01:00

I discovered this project while surfing around last week and I was inspired by it. After reading alot of the lists posted I went off and started my own list. I think this is a great idea and even if people dont go all out to blog or set up the whole list I still think that everyone should write some things down and have some goals in their lives, big and small. I fell like the achievement of more little goals lead to the motivation to achieve the big ones. I've back dated the start date to the 08/08/08 cause how cool is that date and I did achieve some of them already this weekend so this will included them. But i'll blog on that later.

The Mission:Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as new year's resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

Some common goal setting tips:
1. Be decisive. Know exactly what you want, why you want it, and how you plan to achieve it.
2. Stay Focused. Any goal requires sustained focus from beginning to end. Constantly evaluate your progress.
3. Welcome Failure. Frequently, very little is learned from a venture that did not experience failure in some form.
Failure presents the opportunity to learn and makes the success more worthy.
4. Write down your goals. It clarifies your thinking and reinforces your commitment.
5. Keep your goals in sight. Review them frequently, and ensure that they are always at the forefront of your thinking.

http://www.triplux.com/dayzero/ - The home of the project

TO FOLLOW THE PROGRESS OF MY LIST PLEASE VISIT THE DEDICATED BLOG HERE: http://gems101.blogspot.com/

Start Date: 8th August, 2008
End Date: 6 May 2011

My 101 in 1001 days

Self-improvement

1. grateful diary - one thing perday

2. read ten Inspirational books (0/10)

3. Learn to ride a motorcycle

4. Identify 50 things I like about myself

5. Join North london ME network

6. Unclutter once a month/15 times (0/15)

7. Start a sketch book

8. Make a house cleaning schedule and follow it for at least 3 months

Self-indulgence

9. get a pedicure & manicure

10. get a massage & Facial
11. dine at fifteen restaurants never visited (0/15)

12. buy one complete sexy lingerie - corset, suspenders, stockings the whole lot

13. Have teeth whitened

Financial

14. Investment & financial planning

15. Put £50 into savings once a task is complete - And a scale accordingly for tasks performed in stages ie. £10 per monthly task

16. Do a will

17. Build special savings fund (parents)

18. Build an emergency fund buffer - 3 months salary

19. BUild savings in SA - send a cetain amount each month (0/33)

20. Buy house in SA

21. Work on budget every month (0/33)

22. Have one "No spend month"

23. Work on taxes stuff

Health and Fitness and climbing

24. take a kickboxing/martial art class

25. Detox

26. be vegetarian for a week

27. Sort back pain out

28. Try to go the no shampoo way

29. Do boots weight thing once a month (0/33)

30. Drink nothing but water for a month

31. Have colonic hydrotherapy

32. Go climbing at least once a week (0/143)

33. sort out implant

34. take a yoga class

Career

35. update resume

36. Create website with design stuff

Fun/Cultural

37. Go to at least 15 concerts/live music (0/15)

38. Host a game night

39. Kew Gardens

40. Go roller blading in Hyde Park

41. Sleep under the stars

42. Go to art galleries/museums every month (0/33)
43. Go to the theater 8 times(min) (0/8)

44. Go ice skating each winter at a classic location in London (0/2)

Creativity

45. Start painting

46. Design a Tattoo

47. Knit a jersey/thing

48. Make photo album books - iPhoto

49. Take a selfportrait once a month (0/33)

50. Mail a secret to postsecret

51. Take drawing course

52. Create and finish 10 scrapbook projects (0/10)

53. Print one photo per travelling trip to create photo wall

Relationships/Friendships/Family

54. send flowers to a member of the opposite sex

55. Surprise partner with a gift for no reason

56. Hand write and snail mail 10 letters (0/10)

57. Write and mail at least one 'thinking of you' card each month. (0/33)

58. Take dance lessons with C

59. Write to Dad by hand every month including inspirational ideas and interesting stuff (0/33)

60. Write emails to the rest of the family

Environmental

61. use a re-useable bag for the shopping

62. Start recycling

63. Start using eco products

Travel

64. go one at least 8 climbing trips (0/8)

65. Visit Marrakesh

66. Climb a mountain

67. Romantic weekend in Paris/brussel/bruge via Eurostar

68. Spa break

69. See the northern lights

70. go on a roadtrip with no predetermined destination

71. stay in a five-star hotel

72. go on vacation and don't check email/facebook/myspace/etc.

73. Go Skiing

74. Take a bike trip somewhere

75. Take the inca Trail to Machu picchu

76. Horse riding weekend

Purchases

77. buy all christmas presents online
78. Buy digital camera

79. buy a computer game - decide on one!

Good-will

80. Donations/sponsorship

81. Donate unwanted clothes

82. Sign up and participate in Postcrossing

83. Build a house for Habitat for Humanity

84. Volunteer with the North London ME Network

Random/To Do’s/Organization/IT

85. Convert drivers license

86. Organise clothing

87. Organise a recipe binder

88. blog every day for a month straight

89. Use Podcasts

90. Organise all my files on both computers and ext hard drive and set up time machine backups

91. Update address book

92. Catalog books I've read properly

Learning

93. Do a photoshop course and self study

94. Scuba dive

95. Skydive

96. Learn Spanish

Home

97. Grow plants, herbs, vegs etc

98. Find, get and move into new apartment

99. Decorate new apartment

THE GRAND FINALE

100. Start a new list of 101 in 1001
101. Give £10 for every list item not completed to charity

OMG the boredom !

2008-08-08T16:17:00.000+01:00

So i have offically spent from 9am to 14:30 doing absolutly nothing !!! Our severs at work crashed and we were without access to our email, work files, internet etc !!!

It really is amazing how much we need the computers to do our work. After cleaning my desk off and doing my filing it was only 10:15 and I had nothing else to do !! So it has been a very boring day. All the stuff i needed to go do on site was postponed since my survey partner is the IT guy of the office so was busy all day. Even now that the servers are up and running I've now completed all the work i was waiting to do and now I'm stuck being bored again.

Oh well at least i've gotten a few admin things sorted...I've almost completed my 101 things in 1001 days list - but more on that soon. And made sure that we are not cutting it too fine with the 30 minute transfer of flights to get to Cpt in Dec, bought tickets to the events for this weekend. So now run out of personal stuff...WEird day !!

So happy it is Friday and am soon off to start what looks to be a great weekend.
Hope you all have a good one...
Laters

New Ceramics

2008-08-07T14:25:00.003+01:00

So yesterday after weeks of trying to organise myself to go and fetch my now complete vase from pottery studio I finally got my hand on it. Am pretty happy with it but as always I am somewhat of a perfectionist and still worry that there are bits that could be better. But i have to live with the flaws and learn to love them...kinda a good life philosophy there.

Anways...here it is: