July Japes

This month is going to be a mad one...

In just over a week's time, I will have various members of my family visiting and staying with me for a while. Although I only saw them recently in May, I can't wait to see them again, to spend some quality time with them as I usually only get to see them once a year.

My parents will be staying for 5-6 weeks, so I'm looking forward to lots of my Mum's home cooking! I'm not looking forward to putting on weight as a result of said home cooking though! Might have to increase intensity in my gym workouts!

Two of my sisters are also coming over, along with my niece and nephews (all between the ages 7 and 5), who are all really excited about doing some 'gardening' (weeding haha!). I do hope the weather's going to be fine when they come over.

At some point towards the end of the month, there will be NINE people (including the kids) staying, so yes, the house is going to be rather noisy but nice with family sounds.

This Saturday, I'm going on a hen night - 1940s fancy dress and I'm going for the Betty Grable look - see above pic!) 

Nearly There

100 Happy Days - Day 98: Been pretty busy lately but have really gotten into this book - only halfway through it, want to finish it this weekend.

100 Happy Days - Day 99: Caught up with the Glamorous C after a gym session. Fantastic news that she has seen the property she's planning to retire in...fingers crossed that she gets it! 

No Alcohol Needed

100 Happy Days - Day 66: Last time I went out with the girls from the gym, we all got horribly drunk.

This time out, we met up after a workout, all very civilised (but still noisy with laughter) and no alcohol as we all came straight from work.

Looking forward to our next outing (with alcohol!)

Happy Friends

100 Happy Days - Day 59: Been a few weeks since I saw my best mate the Glamorous C so it was good to catch up with her, although only briefly. Things are on the up for her in her life, so it was great to share that with her.

Grand National 2014

100 Happy Days - Day 47: Out with the girls for JR's 40th and AM and HW's birthdays, we watched the race at Walkabout of all places and me and AM backed the winner Pineau de Re (plus I also backed the horse that came 3rd).

Ate in The Living Room, drank too much wine, wasn't well, good job we decided to call it for an early night (we did start at 2.30pm...).

But woohoo, I'm in profit, plus my non-league side Slough Town FC won - get in! :-)

#100 Happy Days - Day 29

100 Happy Days - Day 29:  Not seen her in a few weeks as she's been having teeth/dentist problems as well as being wrapped up with work but it was great to catch up with the Glamorous C. She and her bf JP are finally looking for a love-nest - how exciting!

On a not so great note, the shoulder/arm problem I've been having for over a month (thought it would just go away) has gotten worse instead of better, so much so that it now hurts when I drive, type, use a mouse... Physio booked for later in the week.

#100 Happy Days - Day 19 and Day 20

Out with the gym girlies again (100 Happy Days - Day 19) - instead of going into city centre, we met up at LM's house. Her mum turned up while we were there - she was fab, a shame she didn't stay longer!

We then ate at Ambiente, a local restaurant.  The tapas was great, best I've had in a long time, I'd definitely go back there again.

Home at a decent time (ie before midnight) with a fuzzy head after a top night out.

100 Happy Days - Day 20: The pesky squirrel didn't manage to dig up all my bulbs after all. It was a lovely spring day today - my hangover was mild enough to allow me to venture outside into the sunshine so I had this nice surprise waiting for me.

Dead Head

Suffering badly today after a night out with the girls in Manchester (100 Happy Days - Day 5). Was a fun night that took a bit of a serious turn towards the end involving malicious rumours about my friend SW but hopefully no real lasting harm done. However, that tequila shot I had seems to have done some harm to my head!

100 Happy Days - Day 6?

A very exciting season - a title challenge for once!

Exceeds Expectations again...

Gosh, months have flown by already, so let's start with my annual appraisal at work where I was marked as 'Exceeds Expectations' for 2012 so that's two years in a row now - not bad, considering I didn't think it was such a great year for me work-wise.

As usual, no team bonus for me but....I'm going to be eligible for 2013! I think I was a little dumbstruck when my boss broke the news to me as I never thought that the powers that be would ever change their stance on this.

I asked why the change of heart/policy - apparently, they decided  to "reward me" because despite my knowing that everyone else got a bonus these past few years and I didn't, I continued to graft without complaint,   actually increasing my work output, which hadn't gone unnoticed - that was the bit that shocked me more, that anyone actually noticed! So a great result for me, quite unexpected, I'm well happy about that, though will be happier when I see that bonus in my bank! Next....ask for a pay rise but that might be hard with the economic climate as it is.

So, the coldest March in a long time - been snowing in bits here but as usual, missed out on the big snowfall everyone else is getting, although it's bloody cold.

Not been up to much these past couple of months - been on a few dates, wined and dined in posh restaurants but nothing more than that; I'm not certain I could cope with more than that right now.

I've been catching up on a lot of tv/dvd watching - 'Walking Dead' is probably my favourite programme at the moment, closely followed by 'The Following' (hehe!)

Been out a couple of times both with the usual girlies and also the gym girlies - I swear my hangovers are getting worse with age!

Venture

As mentioned previously, I now have a new car - it's a Mazda 2. Not driven a Japanese car since I passed my test - bit of a different drive from my Clio but I'm sure I'll get used to it. Lots of kit thrown in eg sat nav, alloys etc but no CARPETS!? (I didn't want to pay £300 for their 'rug set'). Looks rather sporty but I'm no girl racer!

Out on Sat with JH and a couple of girls (LS and LM) that we know from our Body Attack aerobics class. It's funny that we stand next to each other in classes, being polite and saying hello before and after the class, and after a while, we realised that we really got on and instead of just talking about it, actually arranged a night out.

It was really enjoyable day/night out (early start at 2.30pm as usual), chatting and finding out stuff about new people and I for one feel that I've made two new good friends. Lots in common despite different upbringings, different opinions but same sense of humour.

I'm afraid I overdid it on the proscecco and couldn't eat my delicious food but at least I knew when to stop drinking so wasn't too bad by the time I went home!

Today, my hangover was severely tested by being woken up early by my 5 year old nephew (he's over with Big Sis) and then playing football in the garden!

June Round Up

Gosh, the past few weeks have been a real blur.

Witnessed England getting dumped out of the Euro competition by the usual penalty shoot-out, celebrated a birthday (yes another year older dammit!) with the usual outing with the girls but also a meal out (yes really) with Boom. Also got to hold an Olympic Torch (guy at work was a torch-bearer and brought it in, and yes, that's my arm!) - it was pretty heavy!

Also, my parents are visiting for the first time in two years - aha, now I know why it's all been a blur lately..I've been too busy TIDYING UP! Anyway, must have done an ok job as my mum mentioned it to my sisters!

What else have I done this month? Decided that I'm going to buy a new car (I had a plan two months ago when I only renewed my Tax Disc for 6 months) and was speccing out and pricing up VW Polos but that's not what I've gone for in the end.

I'll post again when the car arrives...

Feb Round up of sorts...

I spent most of February not feeling 100%. Caught a cold in the first week during my trip to York when the game between York and Ebbsfleet Utd was cancelled – trekking through the blizzard all afternoon probably didn’t do me much good. My cold was bad enough that I was off work for a couple of days sneezing and shivering but it was the cough I had afterwards that’s been a curse, as it has lasted over 3 weeks, with me ending up getting some virus in my windpipe. As a result, little gym activity, no incentive to do anything, coughing up lots of nice green and yellow gunk…lovely!


Finally got well enough in time for an outing with the girls this weekend and it was just the tonic I needed (though the alcohol wasn’t great for my throat!). We went to All Bar One and ended up staying there for food too.  My cough still hasn’t disappeared totally but it’s going finally.

February also saw me crying as Liverpool lifted their first silverware in 6 years – ok, it was only the Carling Cup and ok, they played against a Championship side but Cardiff were worthy opponents, it was a great cup final, ending in a nail-biting penalty shoot-out.

Other football news – Ebbsfleet are struggling badly financially and were only just about able to pay their players’ wages this month – two more months to survive but where will the money come from? There’s only so much I can donate…

Lotto wins aside, we need a miracle.

Phew!

After a truly manic month of to-ing and fro-ing and sorting things out the apartment, everything finally fell into place today, including the previously-unhelpful management company getting their act together.

It feels like a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

My tenants have moved in, deposit and first rent payment made. I knew they were a couple, just didn't know it was two ladies until I saw their names on the tenancy agreement! Hope they like the decor, lol!

Gosh, I can take a breather and I can feel my mind already emptying in anticipation of my well-earned holiday! Two more mad days at work to get over with first and then it's sunny Greece with the glamorous C again.

Can't bloody wait!

Good-ish Tidings We Bring...

A recap of sorts before I do my year end posts.

Much of this month has been made up of:

•  not-so-nice days at work, I'm pretty much drowning in paperwork :-(
 
• a well-earned 4 day break to take advantage of the release of the World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm 

• our departmental Christmas lunch (since we couldn't get a night out sorted, the guys are just rubbish!) which was a good laugh, great Thai food too

• the Courteeners gig (- pictured - good music, drunken idiots throwing beer though)

• getting my tattoo touched up - apparently this is quite common on black tattoos once the skin has settled but I wasn't expecting another half hour of pain! Yowch! 

• my bad cold resulting in my taking a day off work and cancelling the girlie Christmas outing!  :-(

• cold weather and snow, though not enough to stop me from going into work (unfortunately) but cold enough to freeze my pipes so that on two occasions, I had no water, having to go to the gym to shower in the morning. After that first time, I stocked up on water just in case (need for kettle and loo!) but have recently been putting the central heating on full blast - not looking forward to the bill. 

• a lovely Christmas dinner with the glamorous C and her kids - very relaxing, good food, great company. Christmas morning, I Skyped the family - was fab to see them all, bar Sis #3 who was in Singapore with her family.

Caught up with Boom a couple of times - was supposed to meet him on Boxing Day but he couldn't get nurse cover for his mum and when I did see him the other day, he'd come straight from the hospital so hadn't brought my present with him.... Have to say that as he'd given me a pc monitor last month, I wasn't expecting anything from him.

Other presents-wise, I got a mixture of daft gifts including a WoW calendar, photo frames, CD, gig ticket, lots of alcohol, a 'Hit Girl' t-shirt but my main present is my Amazon Kindle - it's well cool, very easy on the eye, is kinda like a book when it's in its leather cover but to tie in with my usual new year resolution, I need to make sure I don't go mad with buying and downloading books for it (unless they're free books).

BTW, blog likely to change - at some point, need to sort out template, hate the standard widgets I have at the moment.

Spot The Ball...

On Saturday, 5 mins into the match, the white ball hit the red one and went into the back of the net.

No, this wasn't playground football, it was Premier League and resulted in Liverpool losing 1-0 to Sunderland.

Ok, you can argue that they should have scored and beaten a side such as Sunderland but the sad fact is, the current team is extremely poor when Stevie G and Nando Torres aren't playing.

The goal shouldn't have been allowed but apparently neither the ref nor the linesmen knew the rules and thought that a beachball thrown onto the pitch by a silly little 16 year old Liverpool fan was not a 'foreign object' but part of the playing field…

Seems like it's all over already and I feel so bad that I can't bring myself to watch tonight's Champion's League game, will only depress me as no Torres! :-(

Saturday was a really bad day for football - I had also travelled up to Barrow in Furness to watch Ebbsfleet United get beaten 2-0, so still in relegation, only one win so far this season, with no training ground and rapidly dwindling funds.

Anyway, on Thursday, finally spent some time with the glamorous C and gave her a belated birthday present. She's spent the last couple of months around Europe completing the project she's on and we've barely been in touch. It was really good to catch up, we went to the gym, had a good natter in the sauna.

I think she's finally got that sugar daddy out of her system as she is now seeing the Parrot as I predicted back in May.

They'd been on a few dates, I think she was wanting more but now it looks like they've reached a satisfactory medium of sorts. I hope she's happy, she's playing it cool and this isn't like her but she was smiling anyway!

Anyway, I'll miss her not being around on email and sametime at work but hopefully, will see more of her at the gym etc now that she is a lady of leisure again!

Still spending far too much time on WoW but sometimes, it's what keeps me going at work, that it'll be hometime soon and I can log in! And this won't mean anything to most but yay me!

They Get Worse with Age...

…hangovers that is and I swear I am still suffering from the prolonged after effects from the weekend!

My theory is that when I was younger, since I drank more and also more often, my body was coping with perpetual hangovers all the time so was used to it.

Now, drinking a lot doesn't happen as often so when I do over-indulge, my body is totally rebelling - not good!

So, I waved goodbye to my thirties with lots of wine, cocktails and gin, good food and laughs. Actually, too much wine, cocktails and gin.

On Friday, Boom took me out to Bem Brasil, a Brazilian steakhouse - it was fab. Everyone has these little discs on their tables, red on one side, green on the other. The waiters walk around with big skewers of all types of meat and if your disc is on the green side, they will give you a cut of the meat; if on red, then they know you don't want a slice. I ate a lot that night!

Saturday, met up with the girls at 3pm in Atlas Bar for some wine. The weather was sunny so we were sitting outside, it was very pleasant. We moved onto another bar (apparently…I don’t remember!) and then had a meal in Albert's Shed- I do remember having a lovely tuna salad and also that the glass of red wine that JH spilt did not end up thankfully on my white jeans but ended up over the couple sitting on the table next to us! Amazingly, they were ok about it, but JH was mortified and left them her telephone number in case they wanted to contact her with cleaning bills…

We ended up in Manchester 235 casino and by this point, I'd had so much to drink that I was totally oblivious to the fact that AM and HW had had an argument and were not speaking to each other… Hence I didn't understand why AM left early. But why was I drinking White Russians? Hardly brilliant for the waistline!

Anyway, stayed in the casino with HW, we didn't know what we were doing - at one point thinking we were playing Blackjack when it was actually poker - but we were winning and in the end, we broke even so that's a good night of gambling!

Got a taxi home, crashed out at around 1.30am, all lights left on in the house.

Sunday was a complete washout - I really couldn't get out of bed and all day, all I could stomach was one cup of tea, a bit of water and a couple of slices of toast! My head was banging, even when I was lying down! It's been tough at work this week as I don't think I've quite recovered but well, it was something that had to be done!

Jewellery featured high on the list for presents - I got a lovely bracelet from Boom (which I wore on Saturday and which I checked every 5 mins to make sure it was still on my wrist!), a necklace from the girls, plus some Euros for my hols, a necklace from my mate in Wales, BSG Season 4 boxed set from the boss (wooohoo!) , some flowers from an ex-colleague.

Have got a busy few days coming up - hope I get the time to update!

Lamb Dressed as Lamb

Well I've no idea how it's happened so quickly but this weekend, I shall be the grand old age of forty. FORTY!!!!

Yep, that's right - the big four-oh, no longer 30-something, an old bird, old fogie, past it, time to dress and act sensibly, listen to Radio 4, start knitting and all that…

As if!

Reaching this milestone (and it is a milestone since I'm still in one piece) has been plaguing my mind for a while now. I'd not been looking forward to it even though many of my friends (including the glamorous C) have already joined this club.

Why, when most people tell me I don't look my age, is it such a big issue for me? I really don't know, except that I knew that once my daft mind had gotten used to the idea, then I'd be ok.

I came into work on Friday to find my desk - horrors - festooned with banners and 40th birthday balloons - so much for skulking in and out discreetly without the whole company knowing! AM, when she turns 40 in two years time will suffer major payback!

Anyway, I think I'm ok about it now, especially as there were many shocked faces from colleagues who thought I was a lot younger (some thinking I was almost 10 years younger, yep they're deffo on my Christmas list, lol!) so it's been like a bit of an ego boost really.

Teetotal, clean living and early to bed - that's not me so it must be the late nights, alcohol and fast food that's been keeping me young, lol! Ok, the gym probably helps a bit and a younger man ;-)!

I was hoping to be away this weekend but that fell through, so I shall be out with Boom tonight and then out on the lash with the girls in Manchester and shall have a horrible hangover on Sunday and deffo not feeling young then.

Well, I shan't be changing my ways, will still be the same me, the same daft me, only a bit older.

Still, I don't look old, don't feel old so why should I be old? One step closer to retirement though- yay!

Fabulous and forty, that's me now (except first thing in the morning!)

Anyway, as I've done for the occasional previous birthday, for a short time only, here's a wee picture of me, which shall be taken down the next time I log in - blink and you shall miss it!

Edit - pic removed - phew!

Pants On Fire

It's been a while since me and the glamorous C have had a proper chat and get together - her European trips are in full swing now and when she is in the UK and in the office, we try to catch up for lunch but you know how it is, it's not possible to talk properly with colleagues milling about. We've both been seemingly preoccupied at weekends so it's been a long time since we spent quality time with each other.

Anyway, the other day over lunch, in between talking about work, she just slipped in that all was not well with her and her sugar daddy. I think I carried on munching on my sandwich for a second or two before I realised what she was saying.

I was surprised as I didn't see it coming although now in hindsight, there were a few comments that she made recently that seemed a little odd and she didn't mention him so much, but I just put it down to her being too busy with work, kids etc.

My overwhelming emotion at the news however was that of relief.

Relief because I personally thought he was too old for her, even with his lied-about age - maybe it's just me, I admit that I do have an age issue but you know, 18 years must still be too much in many people's books…

Relief because I thought uncharacteristially, she'd been swept off her feet by wealth, power (perceived) and celebrity friends but has now finally seen the light. Or the truth.

Relief because I thought things were going too fast. Yes, I seriously thought I had to go and look for a wedding outfit soon.

Relief because my gut feeling told me that he was just a dirty old man after a young bit on the side but I couldn't say anything at the time, she was so much in love, although I'm sure she knew what I was thinking.

But most of all, relief that my mate seems to have emerged unscathed, emotionally and financially intact, with no regrets. That's my girl!

For a while, he did make her smile and laugh and she was deliriously happy.

But when it gets to a stage that you don't trust what someone is saying and you feel that you have to check their email account or texts on their phone, there is something seriously wrong…

Now, I'm here for her should she wish to plot any vengeance, although she seems to be doing quite well on her own. I shall give advice (when asked) to make sure it's all legal and be there to cover her tracks if need be!

Anyway, an old flame of hers (whom I shall hereinafter refer to as the Parrot) is possibly next on her agenda (she doesn't hang about). If they get it together again - and she has not denied that they will not, plus I offered to come round to hers this weekend but she had a better offer... she's meeting the Parrot - it shall provide me with no end of frivolity!

Boy's Back!

Boom's back, looking relaxed and tanned. Fairly cheerful too, considering he didn't arrive back in Manchester until 4am and that both his ipod and Blackberry got stolen from his hotel room... thieving scumbags!

Apparently, the hotel manager was really unhelpful when the theft was reported - it could only have been a member of his staff with access to the room - and Boom admitted that he got 'payback' for the grief he suffered - he didn't go into any details and I didn't want to question him any further....hmmm!

It was lovely to see him, feels like he'd been gone ages - I don't think I realised how much I was going to miss him when he went away.

So that was the good news today.

The bad news was that I got a text from HW saying that she had split up with her bf and she is heartbroken.

They are/were due to be married in August.

I felt like crying when I read her text, thinking about her devastation. I really didn't know what to say, didn't ask her why they split up, just told her I was there for her if she needed someone to talk to.

How could it go so horribly wrong when they seemed so much in love? :-(

Tickled P!nk

Gig #3 this year saw me witnessing the brilliant Pink at the M.E.N Arena last night.

Fantastic voice - if I could sing, I'd love to have a voice like hers.

Sexy, sassy, cheeky, ballsy, raunchy and fun - Pink was in great shape, looking toned and athletic as she strutted her stuff, belting out her popular hits (U + UR Hand and So What probably among my faves) as well as the emotional ballad Family Portrait and amazingly, sang a few of her tracks whilst swinging upside down, suspended from a trapeze! Wow, fantastic!

She did some excellent covers of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and Gnarls Barkley's Crazy. It was an excellent show lasting over two hours.

The arena was packed (though not quite rammed as with the Killers), the audience was 99% female of all ages and it also seemed that many of the female half of Manchester's gay village were in attendance also - I noticed as it's usually the male half I see at gigs.

It was a great night out with the glamorous C (and her daughter who I think I'll now call Saffy...) - before the gig, we went for our usual Chinese buffet and were able to catch up a bit on our news - as Saffy was there (and most definitely earwigging!), there was much we couldn't discuss so we'll have to make sure we can catch up at lunchtime next week!