I haven’t posted for a while, so thought I’d better have a bit of a catch up. In the last few days I’ve been to an Avon party and a jewellery party (semi-precious gems). Both were interesting, but nothing really caught my eye, although I may have some ideas for Christmas pressies. I have invites to a few more parties but unfortunately I can’t make them as I’m already busy doing other things. I really need to find time to fit in a trip to the cinema though as I want to see ‘The Prestige’ and it's been out for a few weeks now. I also need to find time to do some Christmas shopping as I still have my stocking swap to sort out among other things.

Grrrrrr! My lovely new ipod froze on me on Friday evening on the way home from work. Bloody annoying to say the least - but according to the internet, not an uncommon occurrence amongst ipods. This meant I had to reset it. Luckily I’m not one of those people who changes the settings much so I didn’t lose any custom settings. At least if it happens again I’ll know what to do rather than having to leave it frozen for the best part of 2 hours (and before some wag comments - no it wasn't the ipod reacting to my overplaying of 'The Black Parade').

I really want to go and see MCR at Wembley (end of March) - currently looking for someone to come with me - anyone want to volunteer? Talking of concerts I am absolutely gutted that I have missed the tickets for Gary Numan's mini Telekon tour - he released the tickets while I was in America and it's completely sold out. I could buy from a tout but they are charging over double the original ticket price and with you-know-what so close I can't really justify the expenditure. For the same reason I stopped looking at the New Model Army tickets, although it would be fab to see them again as well. I'm really into going to concerts at the moment after Voodoofest.

Iain is currently still living at the pub. He has launched an appeal against his dismissal, so it appears he’s staying put for the time being (that and the fact he apparently has nowhere else to go). I can’t imagine he has a chance with the appeal, but I just hope it is all sorted soon as I’m eager to see who is coming into the pub so I can decide whether to carry on working there or not. At the moment it’s a close call and the choice of landlord will tip it. Obviously I’d like to get sorted before Christmas, but maybe they can’t do anything until the issue with Iain is resolved and Steve is back from holiday.

I really meant to get on with my cybercrop challenges this weekend. I received the Gryffindor mystery kit from Jillybeans Scrapyard and of course need to do the pre-crop challenge. Unfortunately this means real life scrapping for both challenges this time and I have even more trouble getting going with real life scrapping than I do with digital. Needless to say, the weekend has passed and the kit is still in its box, and the pre-crop isn’t even a plan yet. Can’t remember the deadline for them, but as I’m busy for most of this week it’s going to be a bit of a struggle to get them done I think.

Congratulations to Jo on getting her new car – looks very nice and is very flash with the heated leather seats etc. Very useful with the cold weather coming. I've had to make do with a new coat. Dennis Basso has a full length faux fur coat as a TSV on QVC today at a great price so I got one. Well, actually I got 2 because I couldn't decide whether I like the redwood mink or the white lynx best. I shall decide which one I prefer when they arrive and send the other back (or maybe both if they look horrid on me). Seems a bit extravagant maybe, but I haven't had a new winter coat for about 6 years, my old one is really beginning to look a jaded around the collar where it has been removed so many times for dry cleaning (or at least it would if I could find it - I put my winter stuff away somewhere earlier in the year and haven't managed to find it again yet *LOL*).

Oh yes, I will be posting the next holiday installment shortly.

Scanned Heads CJ

Dolly told me this morning that she'd received her CJ back so I can now post my entry.

The picture is of a real mask that I bought whilst in New Orleans and then wore while I scanned my head. I printed the resulting picture, decoupaged it and then created the page. Unfortunately the scan, printing etc. doesn't show just how beautiful the mask is in real life, or all the glitter that's on it.

This is fab!

I've been searching for video clips of voodoofest to add to my holiday blog and found loads (esp RHCP's) but need to go through them to make sure they are playable. Whilst on the search I came across the original video for Blue October's 'Hate Me'. This is a truly wonderful song and I am the proud owner of a Hate Me T shirt with the lyrics on the back. Watch and enjoy ...

Fiddling About

Just spent my lunch break fiddling with my holiday blog (no I haven't posted anything yet apart from an apology).

I really wanted it to look a bit different from this one, but I just couldn't get it to do the things I wanted it to do so in the end I gave up and switched to this template - boring I guess, but I like the look and at least it all matches.

I will be posting content very soon now - either tonight or tomorrow ... I promise!

Today is a Good Day!

Well, Iain's disciplinary hearing was this morning and he got the sack! I know I shouldn't feel pleased at his misfortune, but considering the way he treated me while he was at the pub I am absolutely ecstatic and think the b*****d got everything he deserved! I just hope we get someone decent as a replacement. Steve is great, but I don't think he has his licence yet. Gary is great too, but is only here as a relief for 2 weeks while Steve is away, and whilst it would be fantastic to get Fred and June back, I am not sure that is a realistically likely prospect. We can only wait and see. The good thing is that Iain is finally gone (although he does have 28 days to actually leave the pub) and despite all the crap, I did what I said I'd do at the beginning and outlasted him!

Spent the early part of the evening trying to sort my crafting stuff. I needed to do my Discworld CJ and also had to find some bits for my cybercrop adoptee (the lovely tree_saw69 who is a RHCP nut). I ended up having to get everything out to find the bits I wanted. Of course this meant the place was a complete mess so decided I needed to get vaguely sorted (some chance) as I don't want to do my back in every time I need to find anything. My lounge is now tidy (although not immaculate - mind you I'd need a skip and to lose everything in the room for that!). And more good news the Discworld CJ is done and posted. The theme was baddies so I chose Mr Pin and Mr Tulip from 'The Truth' (picture below). I really love their characters because they are very much based on the characters Mr Croup and Mr Vandemar from 'Neverwhere' by Neil Gaiman, which is one of my favourite books. Oh yes, I signed up for a new CJ as well - a Harry Potter related one (although I'm now not sure it is HP-related).

Tomorrow night is another England football game. At the moment we are going to the pub to watch it - just hope it's a bit better than the last few games have been. Actually, it's going to be interesting as the darts team are at home tomorrow - bet they won't be pleased about the football being on!

The only grrr is that the MP3 site that I get my music from has changed it's method for visa payments. Not only does it now charge a fee (like all the other payment methods - although it's still so cheap it's worth it) it goes through a third party site, which has 3 times rejected my payment because of errors. I have sent them an e-mail telling them that I'm not happy with their new system.

'Ello

Haven’t posted for a few days as I’ve been busy getting sorted after my holiday. Everything seems manic and I can’t get used to UK time, I feel sleepy at midday and wide wake at midnight (ok that’s always the case but it’s even worse than normal!)

Yesterday I met the Sherwood’s relief landlord, Gary. He seems really nice (mind it’s early days) but Steve told me I’d get on with him and so I think he’ll be fine. He’s going to be running the pub for 2 weeks while Steve is on a well-deserved holiday to Goa. Iain is back from holiday and back into suspension, although I believe he is back at the pub. hard to tell as he's not allowed to go into the bar, so at least I don't have to see him (hopefully never again!). I also met 2 of the new staff (Steve has employed loads of people in the last week so we’re fully staffed for the first time since Fred & June left!). Vicky has come back, although we won’t be working together. Sharon is now working with me at weekends and Tracey is working in the kitchen (that won’t be confusing will it!). The good news is that she can cook! The food takings are already on the increase as word is getting round that the food is edible again. Good news for me too as I can stop cooking again at weekends *LOL*

While I was working I introduced the pub to My Chemical Romance instead of the pap that’s usually playing. I found that the album is now on the jukebox (I was annoyed that when Black Parade was No. 1 it wasn’t in the Top Twenty list) and each track is only 50p. I treated the pub to ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’, ‘Cancer’, ‘Disenchanted’ and ‘Famous Last Words’ as I only had £2. Today they may get the whole album. I'm sure it'll be just as popular with everyone as Radiohead's OK Computer was *LOL*

I have finally completed Dolly’s Scanned Heads CJ. I will post a picture of the layout after I know she’s received it back (posting on Tuesday Dolly). Now I just have to get the latest Discworld one completed and I’ll be ready to get on with the cyber crop challenges. No idea why but I bought the Gryffindor mystery kit so I suppose I’ll have to at least have a go at that and the pre-crop challenge. No swaps though – nowhere near organised enough for that! I have been made a prefect and so I’m also having to think of some house challenges, very hard for a bear of little brain like me … all idea gratefully received!

New Video

If you want to know why I love My Chemical Romance so much check out the new vid at the bottom of the page. If this song doesn't make you feel something then you're dead!

See the new album really is fantastic!!!!

It's Cybercrop Time Again!

Woohoo. UKS is having another cybercrop to be held on 24-26 November 2006. The theme this time is Harry Potter. I have already enrolled and was of course chosen to be in Gryffindor - not really a huge surprise as every HP thing I've ever tried has always put me in Gryffindor (I had assumed that everyone would always get Gryffindor until Jen mentioned that she always gets Slytherin). So far the only other Sinner in my house is Dolly, but hoping for a few more shortly

Annoying things

So I have my brand spanking new 80Gb 5th Gen iPod (in black of course), and I am having a gazillion problems with it. Of course partially it is because I couldn't be bothered to read the manual, but the quickstart guide wasn't really much help. First I couldn't work out how to get the songs from the haunted MP3 to the new one, but Claire kindly stepped in with advice there, before I spent the rest of my life uploading track by track. Still quite a bit of work as there is a lot to transfer but suddenly my iPod has 3000+ tracks (including the fab Black Parade by MCR ... have I mentioned how completely fantastic that album is?). So I then set about converting all those hundreds of CDs I have sitting on my shelves. Of course this is taking up copious amounts of room on my PC - my 120Gb HDD now only has 25Gb of free space left. Having spent about 3 hours converting albums I leave them to copy to the iPod overnight. I have no idea what I did but when I turned it on this morning I now only have the 349 tracks from the CDs that I uploaded last night - all the other stuff has gone (yep including the MCR album *sob*). So now I have to work out how to add stuff WITHOUT losing the stuff already on there. Mrs H3 has given me a suggestion so I'll give that a try tonight and fingers crossed I'll have it sorted ... till the next thing goes wrong *LOL*.

Now of course I've always been hopeless with mobile phones - I can add a number (mostly) and text and that's about it - in fact it was only a couple of weeks ago (after almost a year of having my latest phone) that I worked out that I could add pictures and ringtones to specific people so I know it's them (yep I am that dim). Whilst on holiday I took a load of photos on my phone when I was unable to use my normal camera. I now obviously want to get them off my camera and onto my PC. This is proving to be somewhat vexing. I have connected my phone to the PC via USB and opened the phone file manager. Unfortunately, when I open the folder the photos should be in, the folder is empty - however, the photos are still on my phone. The first time I tried to open the folder I got a Windows error message and I think that must have done something to affect the folder. This seems to have everyone stumped so I've had to e-mail Sony Ericsson and ask them if they know how I can get my pictures off. Annoyingly, the pictures are stored on the phones memory rather than on the memory stick so it's not just a case of taking them out and putting them in a reader. I hope they come back with a workable option soon as it's my Duran Duran pictures which are at stake here!

Revelations

Just a few quick comments about my holiday as I haven't had a chance to update my new blog yet.

• The trip out was truly awful, the trip back was better (but Continental are still the worst airline ever!)
• Voodoofest was awesome. The Chili's were good, Flaming Lips were mega fun, Blue October were fantastic, MCR were better (as far as I could hear) and Duran Duran are arrogants b******s (and their show was still one of the best I've seen)
• America is a weird, weird place
• New Orleans IS the best place in the whole world
• Restuarant August IS the best restaurant in the whole world, although Upperline came a close second for me. Sorry Commander's Palace and Bayona - you just didn't cut it.
• Amazingly I didn't miss being on the internet for the whole week I was out there (although I did miss my friends), but I did have to go on there on Friday (for a couple of minutes only) to try and sort out my bank account
• I met some great new people - hopefully they will continue to be friends
• My phone bill is going to be astronomical - I'm scared about even getting the bill!!!!

Bit of a Catch Up ...

Here's a quick round up of things that happened while I was away (not very much as it turns out) ...

Most important, and the best news - Iain has been suspended! The new area manager (obviously much more effective than the last) arranged a walk-in audit during the week before my holiday (on a day when poor Steve was due a lie in). Needless to say the stock situation was diabolical both for drink and food. Iain was due back at the pub on 27th October and a meeting was arranged for that afternoon at which Iain was to be suspended. I hear he didn't turn up, but the effect is still the same - he's no longer running the pub. So now we have to wait the outcome of a disciplinary hearing. Surely it can't be too long before he gets the boot? Anyway hopefully this means no more Iain in the pub. I hear everyone is hoping Fred and June will come back. I hope so too, but am not holding my breath on that just yet. I understand we have a temporary manager called Gary. I shall find out what he's like when I work tonight.

My sister had a birthday. So a late 'Happy Birthday' Jo - hope the present and card arrived safely and that you had a lovely day, whatever you were doing.

Nicky has returned to work. After the recent worrying news that she had been back in hospital because of liver problems (it got knackered with the chemo), it was wonderful to see her return to work. Considering everything she's been through she looks great. She's easing back into work slowly, which is a good thing. Unfortunately her liver is still poorly, but hopefully she will be on the mend soon.

The weather changed. Blimey it's cold! Not helped of course by the unseasonably warm weather in New Orleans which reached almost 90 degrees on one of the days I was there. Perfect weather with blue skies, not a cloud to be seen, but of course humid, although not as bad as would have been normally. A shock then to come back to damp and frosty (and downright cold) weather. Need to find some time to dig out my winter clothes and pack away the summer ones.

I'm Back!!!

Well I'm back from a frantic whirlwind of a holiday. I have done so much, had so much happen and had so much fun that I can't possibly chronicle it all on here as it would take up far too much space. I have therefore decided to make a mini blog where all my holiday adventures will be placed. It will take a few days to get pictures etc. sorted and will take a little while to write up my notes.

All I can say is I LOVE NEW ORLEANS!

Oh yes - the blog address is: What I Did On My Holidays

It's the final countdown ...

Just over 9 hours till I fly out and I'm finally all packed and ready to go. I had to use the large suitcase in the end. I would have been able to fit everything in the smaller case, but as I wanted to take my pink fluffy stetson it would have got too squashed in the small case. At least it feels quite light (hope so anyway).

So I guess this is me signing out. Hopefully I'll get some sleep as I'm being picked up at 5.30am, but of course I'm not feeling tired - still panicking that I've forgotten something important. Now I've got my passport, ticket, hotel reservation, voodoofest ticket, restaurant reservations ...

See you all when I get back ...

I just have to say ...

... that My Chemical Romance's new album The Black Parade is FANTASTIC!

Emo it may be (but what is emo?) but it has touches of Coldplay, Suede and Green Day all mixed in there and the songs themselves are beautiful. Very touching, and very emotional. Hard listening for some I would guess, but I just can't stop listening to it. Overall the album is better than the single and we all know how much I love that. I can't wait to see them on Sunday - and Gerard looking so hot with his lovely new blonde hair is a bonus too!

Ok, I Admit It …

I’ve booked another restaurant. I realised that I didn’t have anywhere to eat on Friday evening (I get to NO at about 4pm). I won't want to do much the first night probably, but I’m sure I will want to eat, so out of interest did a search using OpenTable and amazingly Herbsaint has a free table for 9pm, so I couldn’t resist. I am convinced that eating at these nice restaurants is a good thing, as otherwise I’d be stuffing myself with all the fried food and hugely carlorie intensive creole and cajun food available elsewhere (poboys and the like) – they do like their fried food in New Orleans. The main problem now is the amount of clothes I am going to have to take – no longer travelling light as I have to dress up for all these restaurants and I can’t possibly keep wearing the same outfit, and of course different outfits mean different shoes and handbags. Time to rethink the size of the suitcase methinks! *LOL*

With only 3 1/2 days left till I go, I am desperately trying to get everything done that needs to be sorted before I go. I need to make cards for Jo and Jane's birthday, and I have an entry to do in a Discworld CJ. And of course I still need to actually pack, although of course that will probably end up being done on Thursday night just before i go to bed *LOL*

More Food!

OK I've really got to stop reading restaurant reviews and the NO foodie forum. This evening I have discovered that I had been missing a seriously good restaurant from my deliberations - Restuarant August, which it turned out several people had mentioned to me, and in a recent review had scored 11 out of 10. Of course I couldn't miss this opportunity either, so I booked a table. At least I won't have to worry about eating while I'm in the Big Easy. Better start making my plans for a diet when I get back too *LOL*

Think I'd better get looking at walking tours ... need to do something to walk off all that fab food. I suppose the good thing is that at least it isn't all the deep fried food that appears in most of the restaurants in the city!

Epilators

Now everyone knows that I am the biggest wuss in the world and where pain is concerned, I just don’t do it. A broken nail can leave me in agony and the first (and only) time I had my eyebrows plucked (and it was by a professional) I cried. In fact hair removal in general has always been a trial to me. Bearing this in mind, what on earth possessed me to buy an epilator? To those who don’t know it’s like a razor except it rips your hair out from the roots, leaving nice smooth skin, and apparently lasts much longer than shaving etc. The other bonus is it can be used anywhere on the body (yeah I don’t think so!) Of course the answer is that it was on QVC, the presenters and models all showed how easy and painfree it was to use, it was pink and to cap it all I can buy it, try it, and when it hurts too much – send it back and get my money back.

So the thing arrived and I immediately tried it out. First I did what the booklet and QVC had recommended – I ran it across my hands … amazing, no pain (mind you not much in the way of hair either). So I take the bull by the horns – I start on my lower left leg. It takes a bit of playing around to actually get it taking the hairs, but yet again apart from the odd pinch there is no pain. Soon I am fuzz free (and I was looking like a hobbit). So pleased am I that I gamely attack the right leg. AAAAAAArrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!! OMG! It is so painful. I do eventually manage to defuzz that leg too, but I am completely stumped as to why 1 leg hurt and the other didn’t. Finally, I attack the chin hairs, which is also painful (but only for about 2 seconds). I now have a lovely soft face for the first time in my life. Anyway I have decided to keep it. Personally I think it is worth it just for the face hair, but hoping that over time the right leg will get used to it and not be so painful. However, under NO circumstances will I be doing my armpits or any more ‘sensitive’ areas with it!

Quick Message for Mrs H3

That Noel Edmonds CD is very disappointing! I thought it was actually going to be him doing something cheesy, but instead it’s some boring new age instrumental rubbish (actually this is a bit unfair as I already own a couple of these types of album, although mine are by Terry Oldfield (Mike’s brother)). Have to admit to only getting to track 7 before turning it off. I will listen to the rest some other time, but can’t sit through the whole thing in one go. I do agree the Birds of Prey is the best track so far though. If anyone else wants to hear it, let me know and I’ll give you a copy.

Hurrah for Skype!

Well my reservations at all 4 restaurants have been confirmed and all thanks to skype. I figured it was probably going to be the cheapest way to call the US, so I quickly signed up for €10 (the least I could sign up for) – this also apparently entitles me to free landline calls anywhere in the UK for the next 6 months! So 2 minutes later and I was ready to call. I had no problems getting through to any of the restaurants (although there was a few minute wait for Commander’s Palace), the sound quality was excellent and all were able to give me the reservations I wanted. Upperline especially, seemed very pleased to be receiving a visitor from the UK and asked me loads of questions about where I was from etc. All the reservationists (their term so I found out hanging onto the phone for Commanders) were incredibly helpful and friendly and really made the booking process a pleasure. Hopefully that’s an indication of the service yet to come. What I forgot to say was that the 3 calls which totalled about 15 minutes in length cost me €0.16. I am impressed!

So I now need to find a dual phone (one that can be used for landline & skype). I desperately need a new phone anyway as mine has been working intermittently for years, and as I have 6 months of free calls to make I may as well make the best use of it and use a proper phone. Never could get used to talking into the microphone thingy and I always manage to lose it when a call is incoming *LOL*.

Food, Food and even more Food!

So now I’m beginning to get really excited about my holiday. I have been researching places to eat as I am determined to get some fine dining in while I’m there. I obviously already knew of a number of places – Commander’s Palace, Galatoire, Arnaud’s, K-Paul’s, Emeril’s to name but a few – but which ones to choose? Which ones are the BEST? I started by leaving a message on a NO foodie forum asking for recommendations, and generally got a pretty good response and some interesting opinions. I also found a rather good online guide and compared their gradings to the recommendations. From there I looked at the websites (where available) of the restaurants and have finally made my choices. Now I just have to try and make reservations. Unfortunately only one of the places is taking online reservations at this time and because of it being Halloween I am expecting trouble getting into some of the restaurants as they really are some of the best in the world. So my next task is to work out time zones and find a time that I can call them to reserve a place. Hopefully they might all be able to squeeze me in as I’m dining alone.

Anyway I’m sure you’re all dying to know which restaurants I’ve chosen so here goes:

Monday Brunch – Brennan’s
Tuesday Evening – Bayona
Wednesday Lunch – Commander’s Palace
Thursday Evening – Upperline

I’ve checked out their menus and I’ve already provisionally chosen the food that I want, assuming it’s on the menu and nothing on the specials board grabs me more *LOL*. Better still the change I have been saving in my bottle this year will cover the cost of at least 3 of the meals. Breakfast at Brennan’s is a real must do when visiting New Orleans, although I don’t think I could face their food at breakfast time which is why I’m going for an 11am reservation. It will be nice to have a nice relaxing day after the rush of the festival weekend. Bayona and Upperline just look like wonderful restaurants, highly recommended by everyone and the menu’s were great, and I just HAD to go to the Commander’s Palace after going past it last time, and because it has just re-opened, obviously specially for my visit *LOL*. I promise the 25 cent cocktails had nothing to do with my decision (no really they didn’t … well not much anyway). Now I just have to find something to wear!

Once my reservations are made I can plan the other things I want to do for the rest of the week. I am definitely intending to visit the Zoo and was hoping to go to the Aquarium, although I am unable to confirm that it is open at the moment. I found out last night that whilst they managed to get through the hurricane with no problems – they had excellent emergency plans, the extended period without electricity meant that their generators ended up failing and they lost almost all their 10,000 fish, which was obviously a hugely devastating blow to all the people who had worked so hard to keep them alive during the hurricane. At the current time the website is unavailable so I shall be waiting till I get there before I find out whether it’s open. As it’s only a couple of minutes walk away from my hotel it won’t be a hardship to check out. I am also considering going on the Hurricane Katrina tour. I had originally thought this was a bit ghoulish, but talking to locals, many of them seem to think the tour is a good idea as it shows just how bad things really were (and how much still needs to be done to get NO back on her feet). Also a portion of the tour money goes to one of the Katrina disaster charities, so it helps with the rebuilding. I also need to schedule in some shopping time - there are a lot of shopping places in NO and I intend to visit them all!

Of course I have already found the location of the nearest internet café and that’s only a few minutes from my hotel as well – in the Riverwalk Mall (ooh shopping and surfing). *LOL*

Lynne and I went for a lovely meal to The Ship at Upnor on Tuesday night. I had never been to that area before and although I could only see it in the darkness it seemed like a really nice place. I shall definitely have to visit again in the daytime as it would be nice to go to the castle. I would also definitely recommend the pub as the food was delightful. The two of us had a lovely 3 course meal and a bottle of wine for £60, an excellent price as the meal was well cooked, well presented and wasn’t ‘nouvelle cuisine’- you got a decent size portion of everything.

As if that wasn’t enough food, tonight I’m off to meet Mrs H3 for a little something over at Bluewater. I’m also going to get my holiday money and a last few little bits and bobs. I am still trying to find a replacement pair of jeans for the ones that have a now HUGE hole in. Damn Evans for stopping selling the one pair of jeans that actually fitted me!

I am still stumped on the packing though, not aided by the fact that the 10 day weather forecast site I’ve found is showing that temperatures in NO are currently about 15 degrees higher than the usual temperature for the time of year. Also instead of the dry spell (usually less than 1” of rain in Oct/Nov) there are heavy thunderstorms almost every day. So apart from my umbrella and the pink stetson I shall be waiting till the last minute to pack. Still no sign of the magic suitcase either …

Life is a Funny Old Thing

Yesterday I completed two layouts and I am very pleased with both of them. In fact, at least one is probably the best layout I’ve ever done and is certainly the best photo I’ve ever taken (yep it’s the one I was talking about the other day when I said I just needed to find the perfect kit). Strange then, that these 2 layouts have received less views on UKS than just about any of my others. Now, I never expect to get a great number of views as I am not one of the ‘in’ people and I certainly don’t expect to get many comments, (although I do sometimes wonder whether if I put out a plea like Anso did whether that would make a difference) but I do find it disappointing that people can’t even be bothered to check out new work that doesn’t involve pictures of children. So here they are, for everyone in the world to see.

Uses Dana Frantz's Raspberry Cafe, fonts are AdineKirnberg Script and Chatterbox Courtney

Uses Victoria Feemster's Purple Rain kit and Chatterbox fonts Kreider and Courtney

Finally I have some good news from the pub! Iain is away for 3 weeks doing a relief in a pub in Bedford (poor them) which means I don’t have to see him before I go on holiday. Hopefully I should be a bit happier working there as I get on very well with the assistant manager Steve who will be running things. It also means that things should run a bit better. Yesterday I had a huge argument with one of our regular customers. The guy is a pain in the arse at the best of times, but for the last few weeks he has been accusing me of short changing him at least once a weekend (it is not just me he does this to, but I’ve had enough of it). When it has turned out that he is wrong, he refuses to apologise, you are supposed to just put up with it. If it turns out he is correct you are supposed to apologise to him and put up with a boring lecture. Yesterday I had had enough and told him exactly what I (and many of the other customers) thought of him. I then told him I wouldn’t serve him any more so there wouldn’t be a problem with me short changing him. Problem is he annoyed me so much that it really ruined the rest of my afternoon, although I did manage to calm down a little bit by the time I had finished my shift and a nice relaxing evening helped even more!

Its now only 11 days till my holiday and I have started drawing up a packing list … I am so determined to travel light, but it just really isn’t me. For starters I’m torn between cases. I want to take something small and easily portable as I don’t want to be lugging a huge suitcase round New Orleans - not a sensible move methinks, but at the same time I am obviously intending to do a bit (lot) of retail therapy whilst there and will need enough space in my case for my new purchases. Suggestions would be gratefully received on where I can get Mary Poppins’ handbag *LOL*.

Oh and finally … My Chemical Romance is Number One! Good job boys. Looking forward to the new album in 7 days.

Music, music and more music

This morning I saw the video of 'Welcome to the Black Parade' by My Chemical Romance and fell in love with it instantly. So I've changed my blog video to that - now you can click on it and see why it's so fab for yourself. Fortunately for me, MCR are one of the bands playing at Voodoofest ... this time in 2 weeks I'll be on my way!

There is so much great and varied music around at the moment - I'm loving the new Killers album and the current single is such a beautiful song. The same goes for Razorlight's single - nice to see it at No.1 rather than some dodgy dance cover version ... although it's kept the Hoff from the top spot (sorry Mrs H!). I'm also listening to anything by The Dirty Pretty Things (love, love, love) and the new Kasabian album. Today I have downloaded the new Sting album 'Songs from the Labyrinth' containing his lute music and Gothic Archies 'Tragic Treasury', the companion music to Lemony Snicket's ASOUE books, the last of which is released today and I need urgently. Also a bit more unknown stuff (to me at least) such as Peter, Bjorn and John, the Guillemots and Vashti Banyan. I'm sure there will be more to come including the Beck album.

I have been trying to track down some of the lesser known artists on the Voodofest bill. I have been pretty successful, so have quite a big 'festival' folder.

I definitely need that new I-Pod!

Good Game ... Not!

Well I missed the football match last night as it was on early. I didn’t get home from work until after it started (hurrah for the coaches!) and I really couldn’t be bothered to go back out, opting instead for doing a bit of catching up with all the episodes of Lost that I’d recorded but hadn’t yet had the opportunity to watch and of course, the wonderful American Gothic (it was fab!). From what I hear I really didn’t miss anything by not watching it – we played like crap again, I could tell this by the scoreline without even being told about how dreadful we were. I did apparently miss a good punch up in the pub though – thanks for letting me know about that Andrew.

Feeling a bit aggrieved today about the lack of decent cafe’s in the part of central London that I work in. And I don't mean those over-priced coffee houses like Starbucks of which there are a million within walking distance of my office, I mean the good old fashioned greasy spoon – the ‘cup of tea and a bacon sarnie’ type of place. When I first started working up here there were several of these establishments – a great cheap place to have breakfast with friends, containing a variety of colourful characters, both eating and working there, but over the years each has closed and re-opened as a new coffee house or mobile phone shop. The last of these great places was the marvellous ‘Fast and Tasty Cafe’ under the arches, which Annette and I visited regularly. I had been there with work colleagues having an occasional informal breakfast meeting. It was here that Lynne and I would have our breakfast before heading off to the Chelsea Flower Show. Sad to say this too has now closed. At some point in the 5 weeks that Annette and I were away from work on our holidays they closed, and there is nothing to show that they are likely to re-open, and no-one seems to know why they went, as they were always busy. We have tried the nearest sandwich bar, but the service was slow, the tea was foul, the bacon sandwich was badly cooked and to cap it all it was expensive. This leaves us with only a trip to MacDonald’s if we wish to continue having breakfast together – not, I am sure anyone would agree, ideal by any stretch of the imagination. Sometimes progress really isn’t progress at all!

A bit of a catch up

I haven’t blogged for a few days because of being busy and generally not having much to say. I was going to rant about Iain’s latest idiocy at the pub, but it won’t do anything other than wind me up again so I shall refrain, although he annoyed me more this weekend than he has done for a while.

Saturday was very quiet at the pub – so quiet that I had time to get a whole bar cleaned from top to bottom, definitely not expected on football days. I really did mean to watch the England game, but I got into an interesting conversation about knitting (no honestly it was interesting) so I missed it. I did have people appearing on a regular basis to inform me that the game was crap though, so I don’t think I missed out on anything. I then spent a quiet evening indoors and ended up watching a couple of episodes of Hex before having an early night as I was completely shattered. I just don’t seem to be able to shake off the cold I got when I got back from Spain (or I’ve been unlucky and caught one after another after another). So England are playing again on Wednesday evening. Not sure what I’ll be doing yet but it’s looking like being in the Sherwood I guess. Just hope they have a better game than the last one!

Sunday was, if anything, quieter than Saturday – I managed to get the other bar cleaned, although that left me nothing to do on Monday night. But at least I had visits from friends which livened things up a bit. Andrea loved the t shirt that I got for Aiden on Friday. Stayed for only a short while after work (unlike the last 2 weeks where I was there till closing time) and then went home to spend a quiet evening vegging in front of the TV with yet another early night.

Not sure the early nights are good for me though as I felt even worse on Monday morning (maybe too much sleep?). So I wasn’t really with it which is why I didn’t realise my jeans had a huge hole in an almost embarrassing place until I was already at work. Cue me spending the day trying desperately not to walk around too much in case anything was visible. Just hope I can get another pair in time for my holiday – can’t possibly go to a festival without jeans. It took me so many months to find a pair of jeans that fitted so well and they never had another pair in my size or I would have bought 2 pairs at the time (still remembering the burnt jeans episode so like to have a back up pair). As predicted the pub was dead and without any cleaning to do I resorted to cutting Christmas decoupage (yep I really was that bored). The only problem with quiet nights is that they go so slowly – but at least I’ll get my Christmas cards made *LOL*

I’m really excited as American Gothic is finally being reshown on ITV4. Of course it is on Wednesday night and I’m expecting to be out watching the footie, but I shall definitely be videoing it. I have been trying to get a cheap(ish) copy of this on DVD ever since it was released last year, but with no success yet. Gary Cole is just the fabbest actor in this (even gives Kiefer a run for his money in the sexy stakes) - you just gotta love Sheriff Lucas Buck ‘cos he’s soooo evil. All I need is for them to rescreen ‘Space Above and Beyond’ and I’d be incredibly happy.

With only 16 days left till my holiday I am beginning to get excited, so I’ve added a video clip of Duran Duran doing one of my favourite tracks. Enjoy!

A Good Day

I've had a good day today so far. Met up with Shazzer at the Ashford Designer Outlet this morning and we shopped till we dropped (almost literally). It was great to see her as we haven't got together for ages. Bought a few bits for my holiday - some halloweeny jewellry etc. from Claire's, some books and some make up bits from the Revlon shop. I also bought a sweet little pumpkin candle holder and a lovely halloween t shirt for Aiden. The weather was awful, with some amazing torrential downpours, but we managed to stay generally dry, although my jeans were soaked walking from the car park.

Getting home I finally managed to get my Digidreamer layout done. The papers were all baby themed and although gorgeous, didn't fit with any of my usual subjects for scrapping, so I had to dig out a picture of me and Dad at London Zoo taken sometime in the late 60s. For once I didn't use a sketch - all my own imagination and I'm quite pleased with the result.



During the search for a picture I have found one that I really do have to scrap as it's so great. I just need to find the right kit to go with it, and the right layout!

Hard Going ...

Well I've finally managed to complete the Discworld CJ. Dunno why but I've had real trouble with this one. I had a few ideas, but none of them panned out - eventually I ended up with poor old Errol, although I think it turned out OK in the end. I just hope my idea for the next CJ hasn't already been used otherwise I'm going to be in trouble!

Bit late to start on the digidreamer challenge tonight and I have no idea what I'm going to do with that one anyway. Perhaps a day of shopping with Shazzer tomorrow will give me the inspiration I'm currently lacking.

Brrrrr!

Autumn (or is it Winter already?) is here with a vengeance. Today, the weather is freezing cold and horridly rainy. I am even considering putting on my heating tonight and I have already put on my thick thermal socks and a jumper.

Last night I went to a football match. It was only the 2nd one I’ve ever been to, and I enjoyed it immensely, even though the team we were there to support ended up losing 6-0 – a pretty dreadful score by any standards, but especially considering it was the cup final. Of course not being used to Autumn matches, I was a bit underdressed for the occasion – Andrew was in a t shirt, shirt and 2 fleeces, whilst I was wearing a long sleeved top and nice looking, but fairly ineffective fleecy jacket. Needless to say by the end of the first half I was freezing. I was definitely wishing I had remembered my gloves at the very least. However, I wasn't the only one. Oz was there wearing only a t shirt and thin jacket and several other people hadn't realised that it was going to be quite so cold either. Luckily the bar was warm, and the pub even warmer after the match had finished. I was impressed at the amount of support the team received from the Sherwood Oak patrons. It was like a home from home down there, and the pub must have been completely empty for the early part of the evening.

Tonight I really need to get on with doing my Discworld CJ which needs to be posted tomorrow and I also need to get a LO done for the Digidreamer monthly kit challenge. Hopefully I’ll be able to post the results of both later.

Autumn

Running a bit late with this - due to being rather busy. This is the UKS blog prompt for yesterday ...

List your 5 favourite things about this colourful season and I also want to know, now that you're a scrapbooker do you see Autumn with different eyes?

1. Most of all I love the smell of Autumn. There is something about the air quality and that smoky spicy bonfirey smell that just isn’t the same any other time of year. I can’t explain it very well but you know the smell - one day you step outside and the world smells different –richer but somehow colder and crisper and you know Summer has gone and Autumn is here for a brief visit.

2. I love the colours of Autumn. The rich golds, oranges and reds, of the leaves on the trees, of the flowers and berries that are around at this time of the year. And of course the fabulous huge orange pumpkins all ripe and ready and waiting …

3. Halloween is my favourite festival of the year, even beating Christmas (just) and is the pinnacle of Autumn. The dressing up, the trick or treating, parties, carved pumpkins, bats, witches and just plain scaring the heck out of people. I am really thrilled to be in New Orleans for Halloween this year so I can see how it’s really done!

4. Collecting conkers and kicking up the beautifully coloured fallen leaves and hearing them crunch under your feet, especially with the sun shining a fantastic way to spend an hour!

5. Warm socks and hot chocolate (with a nice slug of brandy) are a must at this time of the year. There is nothing like toasty warm feet and toasty warm hands with a steaming mug of hot chocolate to cheer you up and get you through those colder nights. Add to that the scent of a pumpkin spiced candle and I’m in heaven.

Although I am a winter baby I have never been a fan of cold weather, I love it hot hot hot! But I think that Autumn is my favourite season. I used to find it a little depressing, the end of all that lovely warm weather, earlier nights and everything dying. But as I’ve got older I’ve come to appreciate how beautiful and important this season is. Of course Halloween helps, and as a scrapbooker this season offers a million opportunities to use the vibrant orange themed papers that abound, and of course makes you look at everything as a possible photo opportunity!

5 Things ...

Blimey, it’s been ages since I last blogged. Mind you haven’t done much to blog about – it’s been all work, work, work and that makes Tracy a very dull girl!

So the first post of October is based once again on today’s blog prompt on UKS.

Talk about 5 things which are making you happy right now.

This was a toughie, especially for an early morning (well it was early morning when I started thinking about it). My first thought was that I had nothing that I was happy about (yep still got the blues) but then I thought about it a bit more deeply and came up with the following.

1. Friends
Apart from the obvious, that I am happy to have friends and am incredibly fortunate to have some fabulous friends, I actually have 2 specific things I am happy about at the moment. I am happy that a friend I had been worrying was ignoring me wasn’t and we’re going to a football match on Wednesday evening. I am also happy because I am going for a spot of retail therapy with another friend on Friday (also means I get the day off work which is always good!)

2. Family
I am lucky to have a family, but also blessed with the fact that I get on with them well. We may not talk all the time, or get together often, but it’s always a pleasure when we do (well most of the time, anyway). I really do need to make more time to get together with my sister as she doesn’t live all that far away.

3. Health
I am extremely fortunate to have my health. OK so I’ve got the aches and pains everyone starts to get as they get older, and my arthritis can be a nightmare sometimes, but at least I am in one piece and I don’t have anything seriously wrong with me. Having seen my friend Jamie with weekend who unfortunately was not looking at all well, and of course poor Nicky’s continuing problems make me happy that apart from my current cold that doesn’t seem to want to shift I am just fine.

4. Holiday
I am excited and happy to be going on holiday, but if the truth be told, also a little bit scared. Strangely, I’m not worried about travelling alone (done that before), nor the fact I’ll be alone in N’Awlins (murder capital of the USA) as I have found loads of things to do while I’m there and because it’s my spiritual home of course it feels like going home. What I am a bit wary of is the amount of people that will be at the Voodoo Music Experience. I am really looking forward to it, and can’t wait to see Duran Duran again and the Red Hot Chili Peppers for the first time, but there will be so many people there I am worried that I’ll feel lonely and overwhelmed in the large crowd – even with my VIP ticket. I think this started when I went to the Robbie concert and saw how many people were there and it began to sink in just how many people would be in N’Awlins. I’m sure once I’m there I’ll be fine, but it would be good to have some company. Unfortunately that isn’t likely so I guess it’ll just be me chillin’ with a good book.

5. Crafting
I am happy that I have the opportunity to do loads of great crafting things. I just wish I could get my mojo back and actually do some. I’ve only made about 3 cards all year, my jewellery making has been about the same and I have CJs that need to be done and I just can’t find the oomph needed to do them. In fact all I‘ve done for ages now is cut out Christmas decoupage … at least I’m well on the way to making my Christmas cards, if I could actually stop cutting and get on with some other part of the process! *LOL*

The ATCs

So here is a picture of all the fab ATCs made by my talented friends. Aren't they great!

Thanks again everyone for your hard work.

Wednesday Wanderings

Received a text message to say that Nicky had gone back into hospital as her liver is unwell. She was having a biopsy yesterday and is hoping to be out by the weekend. Fingers crossed this is the case. Get well soon Nick!

Had a very nice meal last night with Andrea & Tina (and her son and his gf) at the Tiger Moth. Unfortunately I was so stuffed afterwards that I had trouble getting to sleep and was still trying at 2am. Congratulations to Andrea for losing 10 1/2lb on the Cambridge Diet - just hope the meal didn't put it all back on. Now I'm wondering if I ought to have a go at it for a couple of weeks before my holiday.

Well I finally succumbed to the hype (and the huge amount of discussion on UKS) and bought myself a pair of Crocs. Personally I think they look hideous (mind you I thought Birki's looked horrid too and now I'm their biggest fan ... although to be honest only gizeh & clogs) and I was a bit dubious about them as they are made of welly rubber type material. I couldn't bring myself to buy the ones with the big holes in, and I bought black ones in the hope they'd be fairly inconspicuous under long trousers *LOL* (see pic below). My reasons for buying them were twofold - they are supposed to be the most comfortable shoes in the world (better than Birki) so they SHOULD be perfect for wearing behind the bar and for yomping round New Orleans.




So they arrived on Saturday and they were at least as nasty looking as I thought they were going to be. And yes they are very very comfortable. BUT they also make my feet sweat. I wore them for an hour at home and wasn't keen on the feeling, but thought I'd persevere so wore them behind the bar on Monday night. By the end of the shift (4 1/2 hours) my feet were so hot and sweaty I couldn't wait to get the ruddy things off which was a real shame as for the first time ever my feet weren't aching.

I am now wishing I had bought the ones with the holes as they might at least have kept my feet cooler, because they really were the most truly comfortable shoes I have ever worn. Instead I am now stuck with a pair of shoes that I am unlikely to ever wear again, and I certainly don't want (nor can afford) to fork out for another pair in the near future.

This time next month I will be on the plane on my way to New Orleans. I am getting really excited now!

Target Achieved

Today I finally managed to send out the Sinners ATC swap which has been going for a year now (luckily we don't care about little things like timescales). They were all fantastic and I will definitely post a picture of them, but I want to wait until everyone has theirs before I do so otherwise it would spoil the surprise for the other particpants. I know everyone will be thrilled with the selection and considering for some it was the first time they had made ATCs I have to admit that mine were the least exciting of the bunch.

I've decided that the time has come to replace the MP3 player. I have had several months good usage from it (bought very cheaply 2nd hand from ebay) but I can't cope with the supernatural goings on *LOL*. So I think I've decided on an I-Pod. Of course it has to be the latest generation 80Gb version, which MIGHT be big enough for my music collection. I found it for a good price on e-bay, but then found it even cheaper in the US. The big question is can I wait until I get to the US for the new one? I currently use the old one almost all day every day, and am obviously looking for something to keep me company on my flight to the US - a nightmare if it breaks down completely just before I go. I am (at the moment) determined not to crack and buy one - I just hope the wait will be worth it moneywise.

Feeling Blue

Wasn't feeling too good again this morning. This cold is still lingering, making it difficult to get a good night's sleep, although a late night drinking with a friend probably didn't help *LOL*. I finally managed to drag myself out of bed and onto a coach, unfortunately the driver was Terry and due to his impatience we ended up on a magical mystery tour of south east London - and got to work almost 1/2 hour later than I should have done as a result. Getting into work I was greeted with a letter finally informing me that I didn't get the redundancy I had been hoping for. Being honest I never expected to get it, but the thought was nice. Add to this a long and boring day at work and the fact that I have to work at the pub this evening and you can see why I am feeling a bit blue.

To make matters worse my MP3 player has a life of its own, after fully charging it up last night, when I arrived at work it had turned itself on and had apparently played 626 songs according to the counter. It then proceeded to turn up the volume to full (that came as a shock) or mute it at will, also doing its usual trick of deciding to play the first 20 seconds of a track only, although with the added bonus that it was skipping tracks completely, then going back to skipped tracks when it felt it wanted to play them. Methinks a new MP3 player is needed shortly!

'Ello, ello

It's been a few days since I last posted as I've been feeling a bit poorly. Another nasty migraine and a rotten cold laid me low, but I'm finally recovering.

I have completed the latest UKS digisketch challenge. It features photos taken at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2004 and features the brilliant Show garden 'From Darkness to Light'by Julian Dowle for the Salvation Army. There was a lot of contraversy at the time as the judges only saw fit to give the garden a Silver Gilt, when it was obvious to everyone who visited the garden that it should have received a Gold and furthermore, should have won Best Show Garden - something that was rectified when it overwhelmingly won the CFS TV programme Viewers Choice Award. Apparently the judges weren't keen on the colour schemes, which was a shame as the following year, almost every garden at the show used them! This is my personal favourite garden of all time at Chelsea and I am really pleased with the way this LO turned out. The sketch is by Lisa (liss07)and the kit is by SDK (Fresh Start).

Been listening to 80's Movie Soundtracks this morning and it's really put me in the mood for watching Pretty in Pink and Dirty Dancing again.I think a slushy girly evening is called for.

The Hoff

So the future Mrs H sent me her photos ...

Queues, queues and more queues!

OK, so I’m back from seeing Robbie. What can I say? The concert was absolutely fantastic! There was disappointment (from me) that Orson didn’t play and that instead there was some crappy DJ, and Basement Jaxx were very good, but they aren’t really my cup of tea but Robbie was amazing and completely made up for the boredom of 9 hours of waiting, and believe me I was bored. The waiting time wasn’t helped by the onset of a nasty migraine which fortunately my wonder drugs cleared up, and luckily I had bought a pink suedette and feather flashing Stetson (yep it’s fab and nope I’m not posting a picture) which kept the worst of the unexpected sun off my head - the middle of a field in bright sunshine with no shade is NOT the ideal place for a migraine to occur!



Our tickets were for the hallowed 'Golden Circle' – absolutely brilliant for being close to the stage, and we were very close (although being short I had to stand towards the back when the concert started in order to see the people on stage), but unfortunately completely rubbish for getting to food, drink and toilets quickly.



The pictures were taken with my mobile phone, having left my camera at home as I thought I wouldn’t get it in (there actually would have been no problem) so aren’t as good as they could have been, but they do give an idea of the set … and you can even see Robbie if you have very good eyesight *LOL*



Thank you Robbie for a fantastic evening – I hope you get a good rest when you finish your tour … you definitely deserve it, and I think you definitely need it!


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Getting back there was just time for a quick change and then it was off to Bluewater to meet up with Mrs Hasselhoff. The Hoff was doing a book signing of his autobiography at Waterstones and it was obviously vitally important that I be there to give her moral support whilst waiting to meeting him (and of course I wanted my book signed too). I was very impressed by the t shirt that she had customised in Diamante, very subtle but quite clearly showed how much of a fan she is. We queued for about 3 hours, along with many other people (far more than I had expected tbh) and eventually got our 30 seconds each with the great man himself. Lisa had asked for him to dedicate her book to ‘Gorgeous’ which gained a laugh and a comment from the Hoff – more feedback than anyone else in the shop received … so we left happy that she’d made her mark. Photo will follow when Mrs H gets her act together ;)

All Kinds of Everything

Today I'm off to Milton Keynes in readiness for the Robbie concert tomorrow. I have so many things to do today and so little time to do them!

The mighty Hoff was on Good Morning promoting his new single and book. Wonder if 'Mrs Hasselhoff' realised it was on and recorded it? Lisa, hate to tell you this, but you might be too young for him ... he's after a 28 year old, but his daughters don't want him to date anyone under 35! Good luck with the stalking at Bluewater on Saturday matey - wish I could be there! Anyway folks do your part and buy the single, let's make the Hoff number one! *LOL*



Finished my latest Discworld CJ entry last night. It's another LO based on my favourite character Lord Vetinari. I had always though my favourite character was Sam Vimes, but when I started thinking about it for CJ purposes I realised that Lord Vetinari is such a strong character he just couldn't be ignored.

See you all when I get back from MK.

Another Interesting Blog Prompt

Today's UKS Blog prompt was "Are you a scrapbook evangelist? Do you want to convert your non-scrapper friends/families into scrapbookers? Do you try to find friends that scrapbook? If so, how? Do you show your pages to anyone who doesn't scrapbook?"

I guess my sister would say a definite yes to this, as I took her stash shopping when I went to stay with her, and was trying to get her to scrap her genealogy stuff rather than just straight recording it (she did buy an album and some papers though). Generally I haven't tried to convert my friends or family into scrappers as the ones most likely to be interested already do it. I AM enthusiastic about trying to get my scrapping friends trying a bit of digital scrapbooking, but I am as successful at getting them to do that as they are getting me scrapping with real life paper *LOL*

I have shown my LOs and CJs to a couple of people at work and to friends, but have found that generally people are only really interested if they are the subject of them, or if the subject is of strong interest to them. Maybe I should send Kiefer my LOs of him and see what he thinks? *LOL*

New Avatar

I have created a new avatar for UKS (the LO is the same sketch that I used last week by Lindse and the kit is Take Me Out to the Ballgame by Gary Wade at Gottapixel) as I am beginning to get a bit fed up of people (generally, I mean, not necessarily on there) telling me how great Kiefer is as Jack Bauer (as if he'd never done anything else), and how they quite like him now themselves. Whilst I agree that he is wonderful as Jack - and who couldn't agree with that? (it was fantastic to see him winning an Emmy for Best Actor in a Drama a couple of weeks ago), I have thought he is gorgeous for the last 20 odd years - I fell in love with him when I saw the Bay Boy (still a wonderful film) and throughout the years and all the dodgy parts - yep I own all those bad movies,that has never changed. The fact that Kiefer is finally getting the recognition he deserves is brilliant, but I feel that to focus so much on just one role is selling him short. A bit touchy I guess, but just a pet peeve of mine at the moment. So I'll say it loud - I Love Kiefer not Jack ... or perhaps it should be I Love Kiefer AND Jack?

On a different tack, I was chuffed to find out at the weekend that our tickets for the Robbie Williams concert on Friday are for the inner circle - apparently this means its right at the front with only 4,000 of the 65,000 people that are going. I was trying to keep it a secret from Lynne as she's already quite excited enough, but Phil & Chris thought I was being mean not telling her, so eventually I caved in. Not long to go now - we go to Milton Keynes on Thursday and return some time on Saturday, so not only do I have a great concert to look forward to, I have a day off work from the pub to look forward to as well. The only thing is I'm not sure whether I can take my camera or not - I am sure I would get some great pics if I could, but not sure if my camera qualifies as one of the ones that's banned.

Friday Blog Prompt

How has your scrapbooking (layouts, skills, attitude, likes/dislikes, etc.) changed or evolved since you started? If it hasn’t changed, should it? Has scrapbooking (or its evolution) impacted your life in any way? New friends? New experiences? New attitudes?

This was an interesting blog prompt on UKS on Friday, and it really set me thinking. I started scrapbooking in February 2005 and it has taken over from everything else I used to do. I still make the occasional card (when I can be bothered) and I have cross stitching patterns midway through, even the paints come out once in a while, but mostly my time is spent on CJs and digital LOs. I get excited over patterned papers and Bazzill, I drool when I see Primas and I can’t resist all those fabby embellishments that make scrapbooking such fun – even though I really only do digital still (yep I get excited about digital papers and bellies too!)

I originally only joined UKS so I could view my friend Valerie’s LOs, having no real idea about what scrapbooking even was and while I was there saw this thing called a cybercrop was about to take place (nope I had no idea what it meant, and had no clue about crops at this point). Having read that I could register even if I didn’t take part I had to find out whether I was a Sinner or a Saint – I am sure no-one who knows me would be surprised to find I was a Sinner! Once I knew that I just knew I had to take part. Not knowing anyone else on the board was a slight drawback but I latched onto the Sinners chat thread and asked a few well placed questions. Soon I had created my first masterpiece (the pre-crop challenge) – originally it was going to be paper scrapped. But once I started doing a basic LO on the computer I realised I didn’t have a hope of recreating it in paper format so stuck with the digital version. Of course I didn’t have a clue if I’d done it right, but just hoped and dove into the rest of the weekend between working. By the end of the weekend I had created 5 LOs.

After the crop had finished the Sinner’s thread kept going. There were a few others like me, who didn’t belong to a team and really had nowhere to go once the crop was finished. There were also some people who had enjoyed talking to different people, and so the Sinner’s daily thread was born, giving daily challenges and good chat with a cup of tea. As the weeks went on the numbers of visitors dwindled, leaving a core of about 20 people who visited on a fairly regular basis – chatting about anything and everything and generally skiving with a cuppa.

I am very shy and find it difficult to make friends easily and whilst I have many acquaintances, the number of true friends I had could be counted on 1 hand. I have 4 wonderful people in my life (Lynne, Andrea, Lisa & Lesley) who have helped me through some pretty bad times, but no-one can be there for you all the time. With the Sinners I suddenly found a whole new group of friends (although at the time virtual only) with whom I could share my bad times, my good times, my moans and my ravings, and of course, theirs with me. As time went on we realised that we all got on so well we really had to meet up. The first chance came at Bonanza 2005 where some of us managed to get together, followed by a trip to the Ritz with one of our American number and various meets since.

I count myself very fortunate to have met the Sinners, especially Am, Claire, Dolly, Fi, Jen, Kat, KJ, KW, Shazzer & SS. In them I have found some marvellous friends. I often think how it must have been fate that I should have joined the site when I did, had the cybercrop not been happening I would never have got involved and would never have met these very special people.

Autumn is on its way

This morning it is distinctly chilly. The weather forecast says that it will be a lovely day later, but with a crystal clear sky last night, which showed off the perfect full moon brilliantly, the temperature dropped to 7 degrees and the air definitely has an autumnal quality to it - I can't explain what I mean but it smells of Autumn. I'm sure it doesn't help that my body is still used to the 30+ temperatures in Spain, so it's a bit of a shock to the system. The cold air conditioning at work isn't helping much either!

Last night I had an impromptu get together with Tina and Andrea. I had intended to stay in and complete a CJ entry and maybe even do a bit more scrapping (yep really!) and have an early night - being back off holiday is jolly tiring, but instead Tina and I ended up at Andrea's place with wine and the most fantastic Indian takeaway. I did manage to get to bed by 11.30pm though, so not too bad. Tonight I'm off to the pub, my first visit for 3 weeks - it will be good to catch up with friends I've missed while i was away. Tomorrow I'm back at work there which i am definitely NOT looking forward to.

Don't Stop Me Now ...

Well I really WAS on a roll last night. Not content with completing the LO of Lynne in the hammock, I then went on to do another sketch challenge using a weirdly lit photo of Jack. The kit is by GLT, but I can't remember the name of it. The sketch is by Karen Lind Ramskov (Lindse). Once again really pleased with the way it turned out. I really must try some rl scrapping using these sketches!

On a Roll

These sketch challenges are great! I've already done another LO. This time of Lynne in the hammock on Mum & Dad's patio - great picture and I've used a kit with colours I know she's going to love ... especially the green! This one uses Kim Higueria's Starshine Kit with a sketch by Dedicated2Digital.

Latest LO

I did this LO for this month's digidreamer and UKS sketch challenges using the Digidreamer August kit Xtreme Teen and a sketch by Jen Caputo. The picture is another of the ones I took during the Saturday night procession at the fiesta. I'm really pleased with the way it's turned out.

Back Home

OK so I'm back in grey old blighty. I spent my last day in Spain in and out of the pool to make sure I kept up my swimming quota, before finally setting off for the airport for my 2215 flight. I am pleased to say that my case was 1.5kg lighter than when I went out, mainly due to leaving half my stuff at Mum and Dads, although I did manage to bring back a litre of bourbon. The flight was on time and I bought a mini lilac Timberland backpack in duty free which will be perfect for toting around New Orleans.

I have to say I was very glad not to be an Easyjet customer when I got to Gatwick. They had been having delays all day and there was a major problem with baggage offloading. The Rome flight had been waiting almost 2 hours for their cases when we arrived, and there was no news as to when their cases were likely to be offloaded. I was glad that we didn't have to wait and get them in order, otherwise it's unlikely I'd have been home much before noon today and Andrew would definitely not have been impressed!

Today has been spent unpacking (no washing needed as I did that before I left) and shopping. The weather has been mainly overcast and humid, although still mild, but depressing after all those weeks of lovely sunshine. Even more depressing is the thought that I have to be up at 5am tomorrow to go back to work, something I am most definitely not looking forward to.

Tonight is going to be spent catching up with the stuff I've missed over the last 3 weeks and hopefully getting a couple of quick digisketch challenges done as they have close deadlines. I also have to dig out and start work on the CJs that I have in my possession - I have 3 now and need to crack on with them. 2 will be quite easy as they are Discworld related, but the last involves me dressing up as a clown and scanning my head - not such an easy prospect (yep I AM completely mad!)

Second to Last Day

Today is my second to last day in Spain. We took Lynne to the airport this morning to get her flight home (which was thankfully on time). I can't believe how quickly the time has gone - it seems like no time at all since I got out here, and already I'm getting my washing done and my packing sorted for tomorrow. The weather is a bit cloudy today (typical as I'm doing washing), but the temperature is still in the 30s so I can't complain.

The picture was taken at a German Restaurant that we visited last night. The food was beautiful, but there was so much of it and it was very filling. I chose the set menu which was ham, cheese & melon, mushrooms in a herb & cream sauce, salad, red deer goulash with pasta and strawberry mousse. The others had the mushrooms or soup salad and German Sausages and fried potatoes.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Just checking in quickly to update on what has been happening in the past few days.

Lynne finally arrived at Alicante airport at 11.20pm, tired and fed up, but glad to be here at last. We have spent the last few days relaxing, swimming, eating, sleeping, drinking and shopping (not necessarily in that order). Mum and Dad came back yesterday after a long drive back from the UK - stopping at Carcassone en-route to have a look round - from the book they brought back it looks lovely, and exactly how I'd pictured it. We bought Mum and Dad some plants for their garden to say thanks for letting us stay - they are now the proud owners of a fig tree (for Jack), a bottlebrush plant and a plant with lovely purple flowers.

Today is Dad's 68th birthday - Jo and I have given him some money to go quad biking, an electronic Suduko game and a Boy's Own book. Tonight we are going for a meal at LaFinca, which is apparently a very nice restaurant.

Finally, just a quick mention for my friend Keili whose mum passed away last week. Today is the funeral so my heart goes out to her and her family.

Sunshine but No Smiles

Last night I went to the fiesta to watch the floats. It was a good evening, lots of music (as Spanish fiestas always have) and loads of people having a great time. It's a shame that Lynne didn't manage to come out earlier as I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more with company, but I still had a good time. The picture is of one of the floats. Every so often they would stop, the pit crew would run out and change the tyres around while the pit boss timed them - brilliant!

I rushed home afterwards with a fab pizza from the new kebab shop in the village and settled down for an early night as I had to be up early to go and get Lynne from the airport.

It was still dark when I woke at 6.30am, and trying not to disturb the dogs I quietly logged onto the computer to check that Lynne's flight had left OK. Unfortunately the news was not good - DELAYED was the message that appeared next to her flight number. Almost immediately, I received a text from her saying that her flight was delayed until at least 10am (she was supposed to have flown at 5.20am). As Manfred (a neighbour) was supposed to be giving me a lift to the airport I had to let him know, and then by that time the dogs were off, so I took them for a walk. Returning back I text Lynne again, feeling so sorry for her that the first day of her holiday was being messed up like this. She said they had now been told the flight wouldn't leave until 5.15pm! They were being taken to a hotel for breakfast and lunch, but understandably she's not very happy. I just hope they actually leave at that time and it isn't delayed any further!

Also just a quick word to wish Paul lots of good luck. He's racing today at Brands Hatch - let's hope he's on the podium again.

More Holiday Musings ...

Last night was the first night of the fiesta in the village which meant free sangria and beer for everyone to go with the entertainment - traditional spanish singing and dancing. Of course it didn't start until late so I missed most of it, having to be home and in bed at a reasonable hour so I can get up and take the dogs out early in the morning, but what I saw of it was good, and it was amazing how many people were there. Tonight was the floral procession where the women of the village walk through the town in traditional costumes bearing flowers which they take to the village church. I'm sure it was lovely but unfortunately I was hit by a migrainey headache (due to the sun I think) earlier today so wasn't feeling up to going. Tomorrow is the float procession which I am hoping to get to with more fun to follow on Sunday and Monday.

I have worked out that Jack always wants to walk the same route because it passes a number of fig trees, although he has now stripped them of any figs - I keep alternating the route, but then he has a tendancy to find half decayed goats legs and things instead.

Today I also had a surprise visit from Andrea's family - it was lovely to see them although they didn't stay too long.

Day 7

Well it's already day 7 of my holiday - my word how times flies!

I have been expecting people to invade every day since Mum & Dad left, but so far no-one has been round, apart from Manfred to discuss my lift to the airport to meet Lynne. I have been out and about a bit, but yesterday I spent all day at home apart from the 2 walks with the dogs and today I ventured over the mountains to Albaterra in search of a bank, but to no avail. Tomorrow I am having another lazy day at home and then off to the village in the evening as the Fiesta starts and it's free beer and wine - well how could I turn that down?

Looking after the dogs has been an interesting experience and made me realise that whilst it would be lovely to own dogs, it's a huge responsibility and one I couldn't and wouldn't (at the moment at least) do. Jack is still moping around, sleeping outside mum & dad's door and looking mournful every so often, he's like a limpet with me - I even have trouble getting into the loo without him. Reba has different attitude, as long as she's being fed she doesn't really care who does it. Walks are a bit of a challenge - Reba gets so excited she bites your feet and ankles and yowls and barks and it's really beginning to annoy me - especially first thing in the morning when I've only been up for 5 minutes. Unfortunately for her I've had 40 years of being stubborn so eventually she will give in and do things the way I want them - I refused to let her off the lead this morning because she was biting and tugging at it. She also appears to hate all other dogs apart from Jack so if I see anyone else (although most people try to avoid us if possible) I have to put her on a lead and she is quite a handful - I just I don't have to really try to restrain her 'cos she's so strong I'm not sure I'd win.

My tan is coming on well considering I am staying out of the sun until after 6pm unless I am in the swimming pool. My back is beginning to peel, a casualty of not being able to put suncream or aftersun there, although today I bought a spray cream so hopefully that will help.

Off to have a late night swim in the pool ...

I'm here!

Well here I am reporting in from sunny Spain.

Arrived safely on late Thursday evening, after a short delay at the airport - only 20 minutes to get through customs, which wasn't bad, and then the plane was delayed by another 20 minutes or so.

The weather is in the late 20s/early 30s and I've already managed to get burnt - my once a day factor 20 cream doesn't seem to be doing the trick - can't cope with the swimming I guess.

Mum and Dad left this morning for the trip to the UK so the dogs have spent the day moping - hopefully they'll be sorted in a day or so.

D Day!

So the time is finally here. In less than 5 hours (hopefully if there's no delays) I'll be on the plane to Spain. The flat is the tidiest it's probably ever been - sparkling and clean thanks to Lynne. She definitely is organised!

I think my case is a little too heavy but as I've stuck to my travelling light (tiniest handbag ever - which I remembered to remove the keyrings from) in the hand luggage department I'll pay excess fares if need be. Not entirely sure why its so heavy - I think the case must be quite heavy anyway, I mean I haven't taken THAT much ... well maybe I have.

Anyway this is me checking out, as I', just about to leave for the airport. More posts to follow from Spain.

Nearly There

Well as I post, the kitchen has been sorted and cleaned, my nails are done, my hair is cut, the rubbish is at the tip (except tonight's), Bluewater visited and almost all my work is complete. I am free of the pub (Iain didn't even bother to wish me a nice holiday, so I guess he's still not talking to me). Only the lounge and bathroom still to sort, and hopefully those won't take too long tomorrow with yet more sterling help from Lynne - she is excellent at getting me organised! Oh of course I still have my case to pack - and flight documentation to print ... had a terrible nightmare last night that I spent an hour in a queue at the airport only to find when I got to check-in that I had forgotten my passport and ticket and there was no time to go back and get it - yep I'm beginning to panic.

Unfortunately the lift to the airport was off due to Andrew suddenly having to go to Stratford on Avon for work (although he has promised me faithfully that he will pick me up - he'd better or something VERY nasty will happen to him!), after a lot of asking around (amazingly everyone I know seems to be busy on Thursday this week) it was looking like a taxi was going to be the order of the day. Fortunately I bumped into my neighbour Russ this afternoon and he just happens to be free on Thursday afternoon so I have got a lift again. Just need to sort out the logistics of whose car we're travelling in as my case is unlikely to fit in his sports car.

Arrrggggghhhhh

I've just remembered something else I haven't done and this should have been a priority. Remember the mini-album I produced for Dad for Father's Day? I was supposed to get the pictures printed off so I could produce a real life album for him. I decided against getting them printed online as I was going to do an 8x8 album and couldn't find a place doing that size at a decent price in the short timeframe I had, so decided to print them myself. I printed one and it came out a bit fuzzy (not sure why) so I was going to touch up and then redo ... of course I completely forgot and now I'm not going to have time to get it done before I go.

Time Out

Just taking a quick time out from the mad rush to update my blog. House cleaning continues apace, although maybe not quite as fast or as well as I'd hoped - I feel I'm sinking fast and I'm definitely running out of time big style. Tomorrow I'm working at home, but have a full day's work to do (got loads to get finished before I go on holiday) plus have to get my hair cut (definitely badly needed after missing the last appointment 'cos of tooth extraction problems), get my nails done, get to Bluewater to return unwanted clothes before the exchange date runs out, clean the fridge, defrost the freezer and sort, tidy & clean the kitchen - oh yes the lounge still needs doing as well, as does cleaning the bathroom. And on top of that I still have to pack properly as well.

One good piece of news is that the security restriction has been lifted on hand luggage. Having got used to the idea of no hand luggage I am sure I can travel light (no really I can!)- although I will probably take a bag now (so what happened to travelling light then?), but wonderfully, it means that I can take my MP3 player. The idea of not having it for this flight, and more especially for the flight to New Orleans later in the year was distressing me considerably. I just hope they don't change the rules again this week, or before I go to the USA.

I'm in a funny situation - desperate to get away to somewhere lovely and warm (temp is in the 30s), especially with the crappy almost wintery weather we have here and really wanting to be finished with work, whilst at the same time wishing there was a bit more time so I can get everything finished that I need to get done. I'll need a holiday to get over all this rushing around!

Unfortunately there had to be casualties with this lack of time and that's my ATCs and a CJ that should have been posted tomorrow. Fortunately, the CJ belongs to my friend Dolly, so she is cool about it being late - good news really as I have no time to dress up as a clown and scan my head before I go away! Not so good on the ATC front though. I missed last month's batch as I was too busy with work and life to get round to them and missing a second month when I had only done 1 batch out of 3 previously is unlikely to go down well. I think I have no choice but to drop out of the group - a shame as they are the most talented ATC makers in the world and I felt very honoured (and quite frankly a bit out of my depth sometimes) to be a member of the group. I just hope that I'll still get access to the gallery as it is always wonderful seeing the creations, although of course not as good as seeing them in real life.

So I now have only 1 last shift at the pub tonight and then I'm outta there for 3 whole glorious weeks - will I want to go back? I doubt it, but I'm sure I will, if for no other reason than to annoy Iain. I know of 2 more complaints that have been sent to Spirit in the last week, but I'm betting they'll have as little effect as the previous ones. Just need to hope that my lift to the airport has been sorted out, as that's looking in jeopardy at the moment. Hopefully good news on that later today otherwise it's going to have to be a taxi.

Bleurgh

So what's with this weather?

First we have unseasonably hot weather, culminating in the hottest July day ever on record and suddenly we get to August, usually a golden sunshiny month and the weather is pretty poor. Cold, wet, miserable and to cap it all I've got a stinking cold and feel like crap. Thank god I'm off to Spain soon, I really need a nice break with some time to relax and ejoy swimming and sunbathing with a few nice cool drinks. I just hope my cold goes before I leave.

I am in the middle of the 'big clear-out' (just taking a few minutes out to update my blog). Usually this happens twice a year anyway, but I missed the last couple due to other things and so am having to get majorly tidied up before my parents arrive on my doorstep. Luckily Lynne has been helping me, otherwise I think I'd be going nowhere fast - housework and tidying especially - is definitely NOT my forte and trying to fit enough stuff for a 3 bedroomed house into a 1 bedroomed flat is challenging to say the least!

So back off to continue with the cleaning ... at least I only have to get through this weekend working at the pub and then I'm free!

Festive Friday

Today a fair few of us from work went to the Great British Beer Festival at Earls Court in London. It didn't take long for us to get split up into smaller groups, so I spent the afternoon with Nick, Andrew & David trying several good (and not so good) beers including Exmoor Gold, Belhaven Fruit, Leatherbritches Raspberry Belter, St Austell's Dartmoor Best, Surrey Hills Shere Drop and Woodforde's Wherry.

I guess real ale must inspire me because as soon as I got home I immediately scrapped the photos that I had taken during the afternoon.

And no I didn't get drunk ...