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It's all about Austin

Can you get any cuter. Roll on proper summer is all I can say.
Look at his little happy smiling face :o)



So anyway, what have I been up to lately? – Apart from buying a new car that is!!! Well since the ski holiday I’ve mainly been busy in my new job, which I am still enjoying, and up to my usual London shananigans. We’ve recently moved to new offices, which are right by Moorgate station. This means my journey to work is now about 30mins door to door (depending on trains of course). This is a great novelty for me, as I usually have a journey of about an hour.
The end of May Bank Holiday so me driving up to the Dark Farm – and I can assure you thanks to the lovely Austin it was the best journey I’ve had to date.
The Dark Farm was as dark as ever, but my mother has recently bought a new BBQ which my brother was very excited about (being the BBQ loving freak that he is). This meant that he was out there stoking the coals (OK gas) as often as possible, and we pretty much had BBQ for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This actually lead to us cancelling our Harrogate dinner plans on the Saturday night, since a food surplus and need to BBQ meant it just made far more sense to stay in.
Grandma came round on the Sunday (or rather was driven round, as she’s recently had a fall and isn’t yet up to driving again) and we had yet another BBQ to celebrate her birthday. Unfortunately this was a very dry BBQ since we were all going to be driving at some point during the day -excluding Grandma of course, who was being driven and happily knocked back a few G&T’. Hmm, I wonder who I got my alcoholic tendencies from ;o) Luckily it was also a dry BBQ in terms of weather. We’d been lucky all weekend with clouds and sunny spells and no rain, but Sunday brought the lovely British summer out in form and the rain started. We were fortunate though, as BBQ time brought a change in the weather for long enough to stoke up the gas once again and get the BBQ running.
Last weekend saw a return to Butlins (sorry Center Parcs) for select group of hockey people. The sun was shining on Friday as I drove there, so I took full advantage and had Austin’s top down for most of the journey there. We were once again in a lovely villa, and the weekend was spent drinking and eating as much as possible – yes, another weekend of BBQs. I think I’ve now turned into one. We also heard about some new villas that are soon to be released, that, in addition to the steam room, sauna and hot tub, also have a games room. How cool will that be!
Yep, it’s official. I’m a sad pathetic loser who is getting excited about center parcs. I never would have believed it, but all I can say is that think I must be still drunk.
So anyway, back to the weekend. Friday was my night of letting my hair down, and I was in bed passing out by 10pm. Good show as far as I’m concerned. I blame it on the lads watching boring old football. I watched it from about 87 to 93 mins into the game and at gave up sitting downstairs at 91 mins past, as it was obviously never going to end. I’m sure I would have managed to stay up later if they hadn’t been watching such a boring pointless sport. Honest!! I did have fun annoying the boys though, and got chucked in the hot tub for my troubles. Sunday was the next proper pissed up session, and saw all the girls spending most of the afternoon in the hot tub drinking randomly mixed cocktails. Doddy was the star of the day though, and she and Sam were both passed out by 7pm. My 10pm doesn’t sound so bad now does it ;o)
Did I mention my new car? I’m not sure ;o)

My Star Lookalikes

Been having a bit of fun with www.myheritage.com. Here's my lookalikes, then Kate Wynborne's then Kate Whitfield's, very shocked that Kate Wy didn't get Anna Pacquin. Looks like the site may be faulty :op
I also obviously am very suited to Dean off Supernatural though, since I look like his onscreen brother. Ha ha ha Kate Wy. I get the cuter one by default. You'll just have to settle for Sam.

Hockey Dinner Dance 2007 (24th March)

Here's my photo's from the Dinner Dance. Great night had by all, and yet another chance for me to be rubbish. Yes, I failed to mafe it to O'Neills. Don't want to break a running record now do i ;o)
I'll leave the night to tell itself in photo form...

Contiki ski holiday - Hopfgarten

Well, not only do I proclaim it on a regular basis, but a ski holiday to Hopfgarten gave me the opportunity to prove my totally Rubbish status once again.
I have excuses though....

No Snow.... 'Nuff said

Hopfgarten is one of those places that has easy runs down to different resort cable cars, but no easy runs down to it's own cable car (but a scary death defying chair lift you can take instead, which I unfortunately didn't discover till the last day), and nigh on impossible runs when there is a lack of snow.

It's all well and good being able to ski down to Soll, but when the only way home is a death run, or a €20 taxi, you're kind of inclined not to go up the Hopfgarten lift in the 1st place. Yes, lazy old me took the latter route, and so pretty much did naff all all holiday :o) Not that i was bothered, as it was just what I needed after a year without a proper holiday. I think I'd have actually been a bit miffed if the runs where nice and the snow was in abundance. But since most of the runs were (verging on the black side) red runs, I was very disinclined to give them a go.

Anywho, here's some piccies to keep you amused.

Snow!

Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow!!!!!!!

Need I say more!!!!!

It's good to be single again

Remind me, next time I embark on a relationship, that I actually prefer being single.
Anyway, I've now been single a lovely, fantastic, relaxing, wonderful month and I've now got my flat to myself again since Rachel (my lodger) and her sister moved to an area more local for Rachels work earlier this month. I've also had to field Christmas at The Dark Farm in Yorkshire.
Yes, once again Xmas came round and I had to do the long drive up to my Mothers house in Yorkshire (or The Dark Farm as my sister in law calls it). This year we had a full house (my cousin was there too) and actually celebrated Xmas early due to my brother and sister in law had to get back to Scotland to celebrate Xmas with her family. There's a 3 or 4 year old in Catrionas family so Xmas day was a big deal for them, whereas we were all happy to celebrate any day.
Anyway, Xmas all went well, and I was only marginally ridiculously bored (honestly, do the TV people put absolutely nothing on over Xmas on purpose!! They must know we're trapped at The Dark Farm with nothing to do but talk to each other?? and watch TV). I then had to head back to London on Boxing Day for work the next day.
New Year was nice and relaxing - just how I like it. I spent the evening with Lorraine who is a fellow bah humbugger. She was thinking about heading to a house party, but wasn't well enough on the day, so I had someone to play with.
More news, is that before, over and after Xmas I was job hunting, with the result that I'll be starting a new job at the end of Feb. This is a great relief as I'll be back to contracting. Yes the money isn't really any better, but at least I'll have more freedom, which is something I've really struggled with while I've been permanent. I'll also have more opportunities for overtime, so if I do have anything to save up for, it will be relatively easy.
Hopefully the job will be fun, it should be since it's still DTP and involves a change. It could also involve some travel in Europe, which is an added bonus. That's not going to happen in the next few months though, as I'll have to find my feet and prove myself first.
Well, I think that's about it for updates. Other than the above I've been up to my usual single person monkey business ;o) Actually I tell a lie, I've been mainly staying in this month, as I was so skint after boyfiends (sic) and Xmas, that I needed a month of not spending to recuperate my finances. They're still not quite there, but I'll be back in the black once my pay comes through this week. I've also got weekly pay to look forward to in March, which will set me right back on track with my finances. Yay to weekly pay :o)

Sam's Hen Do @ Butlins

Went to Butlins on the 24th November, for a long weekend to celebrate Sam's hen do. OK, it wasn't Butlins, it was actually Centerparcs, but since I haven't been to either before they both get easily muddled in my tiny little brain.
Anyway, picked up Cath in London, who I was giving a lift to, and off we went Cambridge bound for our weekend of fun at Elveden Wood Centerparcs. I have to say, I was very disappointed when I got there, as the lady who served me wasn't wearing a yellow jacket, I let it lie though, as she obviously hasn't earned that privilege yet. Got to our villa and found out - much to my disappointment - that there would be no welsh lady announcing events via a tanoy.
Butlins without a tanoy!!
How can this be????!!!
There also wouldn't be any yellow coats floating around :o(
Anyway, checked into my villa and found out we had a hot tub, sauna and a steam room. Very nice. We were also located very close to the exit for an easy get away. Cath didn't fare so well though. After a 4 hour drive through the woods of Centerparcs (behind some very slow and incompetent drivers), we eventually got to the shack she would be staying in. Talk about Ikea build it yourself houses!!! I then rushed her through dropping off her stuff so that I could hightail it back out of the woods to the relative safety of the villa I was staying in.
Finally settled into my villa, the drinking could begin in earnest - the others had already started, so I had a bit of catching up to do. Imagine my surprise when I found myself ensconced in the hot tub about half an hour after I'd started drinking - and it was good. Never thought I'd appreciate a hot tub, but I did. The rest of the night went by in a blur of drinking, hot tubbing, saunering, steam rooming and eating.
Woke up not to bright but early the next morning in preparation for the first activity of the day - the High Ropes. Yes, I chickened out at the top of the first ladder, luckily I was saved by a severe rain storm which stopped that activity, so I couldn't embarrass myself further. We then headed to the swimming pool instead and occupied a good hour on the water slides. The next stage of the day was bowling, yes I gave up after my 5th go, need I say more. Starting to crave alcohol by now though, so it's a good job we headed back to the villa to start drinking and prepare for the evening meal ahead.
Got to the restaurant and they had karaoke!!! How cool.
Nope, it turns out it wasn't karaoke, but one of the Butlins staff had clearly been given a microphone and told to sing. The meal was decent for a theme park, but not exactly London standards. We all made the most of it though, but I flaked out early due to the traumas of the day - high ropes, swimming and bowling in particular.
Sunday was the spa day. We spent about 3 hours checking out all the various steam rooms and saunas. My favourite was the salt room, with the blossom steam room coming a close second. Sunday afternoon was then spent in a relatively comatose fashion with Eastenders on the TV - it was all we could manage. We then had videos and pizza in the evening.
Monday saw the end of my weekend at Butlins, but a very good weekend it was too. An excellent location for a hen do - but don't tell the Butlins people that or they won't let you in. Yes, despite Centerparcs being Butlins for grownups, they don't do hen do's. Also, just to warn you. If you ever go there, make sure you just drop your bags on the Friday and head out and book things. If you leave it till Saturday everything will already be booked up.

Halloween/Housewarming - 28th October

At last the time for my housewarming party has come along.
After much deliberation, I decided to invite along Marc (to those of you who are wondering "Who?", I'm talking about DLR man). I think it was seeing him on the DLR on Thursday morning that swayed me. It meant I'd had the one extra conversation with him, which made all the difference.
Anyway. Saturday morning arrived and I found myself dashing off to Dwell in Islington to pick up my dining table, which had finally arrived. Another hour or so was then spent wrestling with that to get it up in time for the party. After that it was time to start cleaning and decorating the house (cleaning in retrospect was a waste of time - see below, but what the hey). 4pm came and I still hadn't got the food and punch sorted, but I did a mad scramble and had everything pretty much ready by 5.30pm. Felicity was due to arrive at 6pm and like me would need feeding, so I ordered a pizza for us (which arrived long before Felicity in the end). I then managed to munch down about a slice of the pizza before I gave up and started drinking. Claire also turned up early in moral support. I'm very grateful to them both for their early arrival, as it stopped me twiddling my thumbs waiting for everyone to arrive.
7pm came and the guests started arriving. Kate and Kate turned up first, followed closely by Marc, who I was glad turned up before the majority, as it would be easier to introduce him to people as they turned up, rather than trying to introduce them all at once. After that people started arriving thick and fast, so I just abandoned all thought and went with the flow, gravitating between the kitchen and the living room - stopping for a hug or kiss when I had chance ;o)
Overall, the night went very well - bar the trashing of my carpet, which although now almost clean, doesn't look as clean as it used to. This was the fault of a very muddy lawn, and some very drunk people not really thinking about the consequences that them not wiping their feet would have for me. I eventually chucked out the last stragglers at about 2am, since I knew they would be the ones who would still be there in the morning if I didn't - and quite frankly I had far more important things on my mind than entertaining them by then :o)
Anyway, here's a selection of the photo's from the night (in no particular order - you can work that out yourself) to give you more of an idea of how the party went (you can also check out www.cheekychicken@blogspot.com for Claire's alternative blog on the party)

Wicked - the musical

Went to see Wicked last night. Absolutely excellent show. The original wicked witch from the broadway show is playing over here at the moment, and I think it really benefitted from her experience (as well as her americanisms). Adam Garcia's singing wasn't quite up to the level of the rest of the cast, but he played the part of self obsessed totty with depth well. There were a few surprising twists in the tale too, that crossed over into the Wizard of Oz, something I wasn't expecting from a prequal.
All the cast looked fantastic (I was jealous of a few of the outfits) and the set was great. Even the Safety Curtain looked good
I highly receommend going to see this, and if you're in the Victoria area at about 7pm then head to the front of the theatre. While we were stood outside we got offered 2 lots of spare tickets for free from people who had a surplus. I'm presuming these are the £7.50 tickets you can get that are up in the gods, so it's definitely worth a try if you want to save yourself the £7.50. You'll be glas you did when you find out that the programmes are £6!!!!
Be warned, there's a lot of merchandise on offer. It's probably better not to steer clear of it, or you may end up with a Wicked Oystercard cover, or something similar. Luckily by the time I'd queued for the toilet and bought myself a G&T there was no time to look at the merchandise, so I walked away empty handed.
I'm off shopping for the book now (OK, I'll admit, I did have chance to spy that there was a book in the merchandise, but I didn't have time to buy it, and I'm sure I can find it cheaper than £15).
Oooh, look at that. It's only £3.99 at Amazon...