Had the most fabulous day today on a girlie shopping trip with my mam and my big sis. It's probably the first time we've all been out together in what I thought was about 9 years but my mam says probably 10! This is not because we're incredibly bad at organising things, it's just that my sis lives in Preston and she has two young children who have very busy social lives, and then I have my life, my mam has her's...it's hard work all being available together! But as I said, today it happened. And it was so very lovely. My mam especially was very happy and spent much of the day with a big smile on her face, which pretty much deserves a great big awwwwwww from me!
We met up in Leeds which worked out about halfway for all of us. Leeds is great for many things, but the opening of the Liz Earle shop was reason enough for me. That and the chance to go back to Rose & Co. where I got my most favouritest hair flower. And there's a Harvey Nichols. Wowsers! As soon as we walked through the door I was like, oh Toto we're not in Kansas anymore...you can smell the wealth as you walk through the door, and that's just the people spritzing everyone with stinky perfume. The leather on the handbags that cost like 1000 pounds, yep 1000 pounds! Seriously, I wouldn't even dare leave the house with a bag that cost that much. But I bet there'd be plenty of room inside for my battered red purse that's held together with a hair bobble...
As we headed up to the food hall there were clothes on the rails that I've only ever read about in magazines: Dolce and Gabana, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen...it was awesome! And the shoes, OMG can that really be...yep that actually does say Jimmy Choo! An actual in the flesh, real live pair of Choo! I get a weekly email from Jimmy, he's kind like that :O) showing me all the latest styles and which heel height matches this season but I've never seen a real life pair. I touched them! I did, I went over and picked it up and gaped at the heel height and felt a wee bit disappointed that they weren't somehow padded on the inner sole cos how the heck do you walk in 6 inch heels like that and not feel pain? You think that all those starlets who wear them are actually in total agony? And SJP runs in her's, RUNS! Knowing my record for shoes, I'd walk out of the front step and the heel would snap off. What with that and the Louboutins and the Dolce Dolce Dolce, I was drooling. I immediately texted Wavey to tell him I'd touched some Choo! He laughingly told his colleague who told him to tell me to buy them...at which point Wavey nearly laughingly fell off his chair in amusement. Me in 300 quid shoes? Not likely matey!
On the same kind of shoe note but definitely nowhere near the same league, Urban Outfitters took my new world record, broken in 45 minute shoes back with great ease. Turns out that they'd be doing some kind of product recall on them as they're a load of rubbish and the heel falls of them all. Yay! I felt so relieved, I haven't turned into a shoe monster with an incredibly heavy footfall after all.
The day ended with a lovely lunch in a very posh restaurant where we sat surrounded by expensive looking people with the 1000 pound handbags and ate our sandwich that cost more than most pairs of shoes I buy with happy smiles on our faces. Fabby day, innit.
Friday, 25 March 2011
Monday, 21 March 2011
First Day of Spring
The calendar in my kitchen tells me that Saturday was the first day of spring. It certainly felt like it - it was glorious! For the first time ever I was able to use my porch as I'd imagined. Beautiful morning, sun streaming in, me sitting on the bench in my wonderfully warm porch having a cuppa and reading my book. Bliss!
Then I took the dogs to the beach and they had a brilliant romp - in and out of the sea all the time, chasing seagulls, making new doggy friends and barking madly at three horses who had the cheek to encroach on their beach.
Yay to spring! Unlike Dizz and Wavey I don't have any spring flowers in my garden yet but I'm eagerly anticipating the bluebells in the planters by my front door and more warm sunny mornings in my lovely porch.
Then I took the dogs to the beach and they had a brilliant romp - in and out of the sea all the time, chasing seagulls, making new doggy friends and barking madly at three horses who had the cheek to encroach on their beach.
Yay to spring! Unlike Dizz and Wavey I don't have any spring flowers in my garden yet but I'm eagerly anticipating the bluebells in the planters by my front door and more warm sunny mornings in my lovely porch.
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Silly nights and sunny days
Readers! Welcome, I hope you've all had grand weekends. Speaking personally I can say mine has been absolutely super! Well except for one blip with the volunteer thing but I don't want to dwell on that. Suffice to say that after a rotten afternoon I've decided that it's not the best way for me to build my CV and will be taking that time back and using it in different productive ways. Moving swiftly onwards.
Friday night saw me heading over to see D. What with me working full time, and D working full time it's hard to make time to meet up. But we persisted and finally found a date that was good for us both. We enjoyed yummy homemade carrot and coriander soup and then we switched on the X-box Kinect. And for the next few hours we basically laughed our asses off. If we weren't dancing to the Gaga (freestyle!) we were belting our lungs out with cheesy 80s power ballads (perfect pitch!) or ducking and diving our way down water rapids from side to side and fixing leaks with our hands and feet. As I posted recently I've only just discovered the joy of computer games but it's just so much fun! And so amazing - it truly is like magic! When the guy shouts freestyle and you hit the dancefloor wiggling your booty (me) or flashing your bra to the living room (D!) and then it plays it back to you...everytime, bending over double laughing was the only response. It was such a brilliant night. And it's hard to beat laughing and giggling like schoolgirls and having a brilliant night with your oldest friend.
Saturday was a gloriously sunny day. I went and had my hair done in the morning and my hairdresser put an all over dye on it this time too and it truly looks fabulous. It's so bright and gorgeous. I'd post a pic but I don't have one, how extremely remiss of me! Then I had the rotten afternoon which made me feel really rubbish. But luckily Wavey and I had made fun plans for the evening so the day wasn't a total loss.
Saturday night was date night! And we decided to go bowling. Bowling with booze is always best, somehow I bowl better with a pint of lager than I do if I just drink lemonade, hmmmmm. Wavey beat me both times of course but it's not all about the winning, it's about the hilarity that bowling always brings no matter who you're with, cos let's face it, most people are utterly rubbish at it, or is that just me...anyhoo after the bowling we hit the arcade games and we played basketball, some other ball game where we broke sweetie jars and whacked some funny looking creatures that basically looked like beavers (but as I was typing I thought that to say whacking beavers sounded kinda rude...then I went ahead and did it anyway), played a couple of rounds of pool and then Wavey played Time Crisis for the first time ever and enjoyed shooting at things with machine guns. A top night was had by all!
And hello Sunday. Somehow we ended up in effin B&Q again! What with that and my trip to the tip where we sat in a stupidly long queue watching people seriously fail at trailer parking, I think I've earned many brownie points as my dad would say. We've had an excellent day in the garden tidying up, raking more gravel, sowing all the seeds ready for the summer vegetables - this year we've gone for: radishes and coriander (which we can sow every 4-6 weeks, bonus), sweet peppers, demon red chili, sugar snap peas and baby courgettes. I've also got seeds for purple (!) carrots, pumpkin, and courgette and we're considering cucumber. There'll be tomatoes and strawberries and I want to give raspberries a go too, and definitely salad leaves, potatoes, onions, leeks...it's brilliant growing your own veg!
Now I'm just waiting for the roasted pheasant to finish cooking. I've never cooked this before, nor have I have eaten it before so it's a bit of trial thing here, but we came by these via Wavey's dad and we've got 2 more in the freezer - waste not want not is the motto so the first one is roasting up right now. It looks good. And it smells good. What it will taste like - well I'll let you know tomorrow, eh.
Friday night saw me heading over to see D. What with me working full time, and D working full time it's hard to make time to meet up. But we persisted and finally found a date that was good for us both. We enjoyed yummy homemade carrot and coriander soup and then we switched on the X-box Kinect. And for the next few hours we basically laughed our asses off. If we weren't dancing to the Gaga (freestyle!) we were belting our lungs out with cheesy 80s power ballads (perfect pitch!) or ducking and diving our way down water rapids from side to side and fixing leaks with our hands and feet. As I posted recently I've only just discovered the joy of computer games but it's just so much fun! And so amazing - it truly is like magic! When the guy shouts freestyle and you hit the dancefloor wiggling your booty (me) or flashing your bra to the living room (D!) and then it plays it back to you...everytime, bending over double laughing was the only response. It was such a brilliant night. And it's hard to beat laughing and giggling like schoolgirls and having a brilliant night with your oldest friend.
Saturday was a gloriously sunny day. I went and had my hair done in the morning and my hairdresser put an all over dye on it this time too and it truly looks fabulous. It's so bright and gorgeous. I'd post a pic but I don't have one, how extremely remiss of me! Then I had the rotten afternoon which made me feel really rubbish. But luckily Wavey and I had made fun plans for the evening so the day wasn't a total loss.
Saturday night was date night! And we decided to go bowling. Bowling with booze is always best, somehow I bowl better with a pint of lager than I do if I just drink lemonade, hmmmmm. Wavey beat me both times of course but it's not all about the winning, it's about the hilarity that bowling always brings no matter who you're with, cos let's face it, most people are utterly rubbish at it, or is that just me...anyhoo after the bowling we hit the arcade games and we played basketball, some other ball game where we broke sweetie jars and whacked some funny looking creatures that basically looked like beavers (but as I was typing I thought that to say whacking beavers sounded kinda rude...then I went ahead and did it anyway), played a couple of rounds of pool and then Wavey played Time Crisis for the first time ever and enjoyed shooting at things with machine guns. A top night was had by all!
And hello Sunday. Somehow we ended up in effin B&Q again! What with that and my trip to the tip where we sat in a stupidly long queue watching people seriously fail at trailer parking, I think I've earned many brownie points as my dad would say. We've had an excellent day in the garden tidying up, raking more gravel, sowing all the seeds ready for the summer vegetables - this year we've gone for: radishes and coriander (which we can sow every 4-6 weeks, bonus), sweet peppers, demon red chili, sugar snap peas and baby courgettes. I've also got seeds for purple (!) carrots, pumpkin, and courgette and we're considering cucumber. There'll be tomatoes and strawberries and I want to give raspberries a go too, and definitely salad leaves, potatoes, onions, leeks...it's brilliant growing your own veg!
Now I'm just waiting for the roasted pheasant to finish cooking. I've never cooked this before, nor have I have eaten it before so it's a bit of trial thing here, but we came by these via Wavey's dad and we've got 2 more in the freezer - waste not want not is the motto so the first one is roasting up right now. It looks good. And it smells good. What it will taste like - well I'll let you know tomorrow, eh.
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
Just your average Wednesday...
Today has been a very interesting day in the land of Dizz. I began my work day with a two and a half hour training course on Islamic Awareness. In this session I learned all about what makes a good Muslim, I ate some extremely delicious bhaji and pakora, I did a quiz to ensure I had been paying attention to the first half of the training session, some people tried on the hajib, and then we dispelled a few myths about Muslim Women. I had hoped there would be seconds of the yummy treats but sadly the lids had gone back on them as it was time to go. I did however get a goodie bag containing my very own copy of the Qu'ran...
The middle part of the day was your usual dull work work work stuff...
And then this evening I went to a kickboxing class. I've always wanted to try kickboxing but never been able to find a beginners class, until very recently. I was a bit worried when I first got there as it was basically a testosterone overload and I was feeling very out of place, but gradually more people showed up and some of them were laydeez like myself, phew. So for the next 50 minutes I stretched, jogged round the gym one way then changed direction, did press ups, crunches, kicks, punches, sparring, more kicking, more punching, put my hands inside extremely smelly boxing gloves and hand guards, and basically had a rather brilliant time! I absolutely loved it. Particularly when we were punching, I had a very specific face in mind, I'm sure some of you can imagine who (and no, it wasn't Wavey, never!). Summing up, it was totally knackerising but incredibly enjoyable! I definitely want to go back again, the only downside is that I can pay as I go for 3 sessions and then I have to join the club and it's rather expensive. Tomorrow I intend to find out if there's somewhere else I can do it as I definitely want to keep going, if nothing else all the stretching, press ups etc is a really good work out.
And now I'm laid out on the sofa wondering if I will actually be able to move tomorrow. I'm sure I've used every single muscle in my body. So should you see me tomorrow hobbling around looking pained, remind me how much I said I loved it!
The middle part of the day was your usual dull work work work stuff...
And then this evening I went to a kickboxing class. I've always wanted to try kickboxing but never been able to find a beginners class, until very recently. I was a bit worried when I first got there as it was basically a testosterone overload and I was feeling very out of place, but gradually more people showed up and some of them were laydeez like myself, phew. So for the next 50 minutes I stretched, jogged round the gym one way then changed direction, did press ups, crunches, kicks, punches, sparring, more kicking, more punching, put my hands inside extremely smelly boxing gloves and hand guards, and basically had a rather brilliant time! I absolutely loved it. Particularly when we were punching, I had a very specific face in mind, I'm sure some of you can imagine who (and no, it wasn't Wavey, never!). Summing up, it was totally knackerising but incredibly enjoyable! I definitely want to go back again, the only downside is that I can pay as I go for 3 sessions and then I have to join the club and it's rather expensive. Tomorrow I intend to find out if there's somewhere else I can do it as I definitely want to keep going, if nothing else all the stretching, press ups etc is a really good work out.
And now I'm laid out on the sofa wondering if I will actually be able to move tomorrow. I'm sure I've used every single muscle in my body. So should you see me tomorrow hobbling around looking pained, remind me how much I said I loved it!
Friday, 11 March 2011
Junkies
Wavey and I have given up cake, biscuits, and chocolate for Lent because we are good boy and girl. It seemed like such a good plan, 6 weeks isn't really that long...is it? And it's timely as we are due to go on our next holiday in 14 weeks (SQUEAL!) in hot places where we'll be wearing shorts and stuff like that, so losing a bit of the chunk won't be such a bad thing.
However, it's only 3 days in and we're actually feeling kinda crappy. We're both incredibly tired and a bit headachey and one of us (not me) is really rather grumpy. It suddenly dawned on us today that we're junkies! We're cake and biscuit and chocolate junkies and now we've gone cold turkey, and as any true junkie knows (I've read a lot about this kind of thing...) it's pants! And also, oh my god, cos how much chocolate and cake and biscuit type treat did we actually eat?!
How long will it take before it's all gone out of our system? And once we've gone past the 6 weeks will we ever want to eat treats again? Erm, YES! But will we be able to? Nooooo, what if we permanently ruin ourselves of all yummy tasty delicious chocolatey goodness treats? Eeeeep!
So here we are. It's Friday night. It's 8.10 in the pm and we're both nearly asleep. Our loss of sugar is hitting us hard! Our rock'n'roll and debauched lifestyle is leaving us as I type. This giving up shit is hard.
However, it's only 3 days in and we're actually feeling kinda crappy. We're both incredibly tired and a bit headachey and one of us (not me) is really rather grumpy. It suddenly dawned on us today that we're junkies! We're cake and biscuit and chocolate junkies and now we've gone cold turkey, and as any true junkie knows (I've read a lot about this kind of thing...) it's pants! And also, oh my god, cos how much chocolate and cake and biscuit type treat did we actually eat?!
How long will it take before it's all gone out of our system? And once we've gone past the 6 weeks will we ever want to eat treats again? Erm, YES! But will we be able to? Nooooo, what if we permanently ruin ourselves of all yummy tasty delicious chocolatey goodness treats? Eeeeep!
So here we are. It's Friday night. It's 8.10 in the pm and we're both nearly asleep. Our loss of sugar is hitting us hard! Our rock'n'roll and debauched lifestyle is leaving us as I type. This giving up shit is hard.
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Sunny Days
Dizz and Wavey are off in bonny Scotland, so I thought I might write a wee post while they're awa' haen a braw time o'd in Auld Reekie.
It's been a looooooong while since I posted. Things have not been so sunny in Fizz-land (Fizz-pa died after a nasty illness that lasted almost a year), but now the clouds are breaking up and there are bright spells and I feel the impulse to share.
Part of the reason for the better weather on planet Fizz is that I have a new job. Actually it's more like I've gone back to my old job, back to my roots. I am now a computer programmer again, after more than 10 years doing other things including teaching English, software training, authoring technical documents and even answering phones in a call centre. But programming is my comfort zone and I'm happy to be back.
Another reason for the sunny spells is Prozac. Yep, I'm not ashamed of it, sometimes you need a little help.
But the main reason I'm on the road to becoming my normal bubbly, Fizzy self is the determination on the part of my friends - you know who you are - to be there for me no matter how 'dark' I get. Thank you, thank you, thank you. *Virtual Hug*
That's enough of the soppy stuff. No you don't get an actual hug. I'm off to walk the dogs and get some fresh air.
It's been a looooooong while since I posted. Things have not been so sunny in Fizz-land (Fizz-pa died after a nasty illness that lasted almost a year), but now the clouds are breaking up and there are bright spells and I feel the impulse to share.
Part of the reason for the better weather on planet Fizz is that I have a new job. Actually it's more like I've gone back to my old job, back to my roots. I am now a computer programmer again, after more than 10 years doing other things including teaching English, software training, authoring technical documents and even answering phones in a call centre. But programming is my comfort zone and I'm happy to be back.
Another reason for the sunny spells is Prozac. Yep, I'm not ashamed of it, sometimes you need a little help.
But the main reason I'm on the road to becoming my normal bubbly, Fizzy self is the determination on the part of my friends - you know who you are - to be there for me no matter how 'dark' I get. Thank you, thank you, thank you. *Virtual Hug*
That's enough of the soppy stuff. No you don't get an actual hug. I'm off to walk the dogs and get some fresh air.
Thursday, 3 March 2011
Good and kind folk
This week saw the beginning of Fairtrade Fortnight and the beginning of The Big Brew. We started off small. I put the teabags, the coffee, the sugar, and the cookies out along with the collection box and just left peeps to be as generous (or not) as they chose. Then we brought in the big guns and I gave the honey to Baker T from which she made flapjacks and a honey Devonshire cake. By about 11am most of the flapjack had gone and there was about a third of the cake left over. We'd suggested 30p a slice as a donation. At the end of each day I lock the little collection box away in my drawer, and as it was feeling kinda heavy I tipped it out and added it all up. And in 2 days we had a whopping 22.00 in there! (my keyboard is set to US and the pound sign becomes something entirely different, don't ask)
I was actually quite overwhelmed. When I first mentioned it to people I did get some really nice emails but I also got quite a lot of silence and I was so touched that people obviously do care and that they were willing to make donations with each brew of the day. I know the cake had a lot to do with it, but who cares how or why the money ends up in the little collection box, as long as it does. I'm really excited to find out how much we raise by the end of it. Baker T will be making some more cakes next week so I'm hoping for another big chunk of change. I'm so pleased it's going well!
I also finally got around to contacting the hospice again regarding my volunteering. After an email from them I will now be helping out in their Charity Chic Boutique on a weekend! I'm so excited about this! For a start I buy loads of my clothes from charidees so what better place to find myself in. Plus, it's not just your average charidee, it's a "chic" shop that specialises in labels and so they can charge that little bit more. It's going to feel so good to be helping out like this. And who knows, hopefully it will lead to other opportunities.
Anyhoo, on a totally more shallow note, my dinner has FINALLY arrived in the shape of Wavey who comes bearing chips - oh happy days!
I was actually quite overwhelmed. When I first mentioned it to people I did get some really nice emails but I also got quite a lot of silence and I was so touched that people obviously do care and that they were willing to make donations with each brew of the day. I know the cake had a lot to do with it, but who cares how or why the money ends up in the little collection box, as long as it does. I'm really excited to find out how much we raise by the end of it. Baker T will be making some more cakes next week so I'm hoping for another big chunk of change. I'm so pleased it's going well!
I also finally got around to contacting the hospice again regarding my volunteering. After an email from them I will now be helping out in their Charity Chic Boutique on a weekend! I'm so excited about this! For a start I buy loads of my clothes from charidees so what better place to find myself in. Plus, it's not just your average charidee, it's a "chic" shop that specialises in labels and so they can charge that little bit more. It's going to feel so good to be helping out like this. And who knows, hopefully it will lead to other opportunities.
Anyhoo, on a totally more shallow note, my dinner has FINALLY arrived in the shape of Wavey who comes bearing chips - oh happy days!
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