the happy little world of miss ktp!

love letters for the new generation.

2012-02-15T13:00:00.000Z

What's better than giving the person you love a secret message that can only be deciphered when they scan it with their phone?! I first saw the idea here & thought I'd give it a go. I made my own personal QR code using a site like this & got stitching away in my lunch hour.

It was fun watching Adam figure out what it was & then when he scanned it the real message appeared. I love doing crafty things but I've just not had the time lately to start anything new but while doing this a little spark has been ignited again so watch this space, hopefully there'll be a lot more diy things in the future!

We'd both agreed we wouldn't do gifts this year (I think getting married is a big enough gift of love to one another!) but Adam also couldn't resist getting a bit soppy & got me a toast stamp for my breakfast.

I love the way we both had the same message to say but used 2 different methods - one retro & one techno!

Hope y'all had a lovely day whatever you ended up doing.

Ttfn x

Londoners pt2

2012-02-13T13:00:00.000Z

Well as if my London ramblings last Friday wasn't enough here are some more of my thoughts about London, (if you haven't got a clue what I'm on about click here to see my last post), I've focused more on the people that make London this time:

~ true friendships are not that easy to find at first, unlike at uni or school when everyone arrives on a set date & ready to make friends, when you arrive in London it's just a normal day to everyone else as they go about their normal lives. Yes you have mates but it takes a while before making actual friends. It's scarily easy to loose friends too cos everyone has such busy lives that you have to plan everything so far in advance, even a coffee date is often planned weeks to a month before.

~ there's always something new to see or do but you end up not going to nearly enough galleries & there are always posters for shows you want to see but never get round to (that's when visitors come in useful cos when they visit they want to do something so it makes you go as well). Also there's always a gig on no matter how big or small & there are some great gigging venues (tho not as many as there used to be sadly *ahem* Astoria *ahem*).

~ When walking around it's simple to be invisible too which sometimes is great when you just want to get around the city & have your own company but on other occasions (either with a heavy suitcase & faced with a flight of stairs or you feel a bit lost) it can be a pretty lonely place considering how many people live here.

~ then there's the complete opposite side of London which is home & Adam. I'd only been in the city 6months before meeting him so pretty much all of my London Life has been shared with him. At first you don't think twice about travelling for hours between homes/flatshares but to actually own a home in London is a real privilege never to be taken for granted. You end up with your special little romantic spots too - like the corner of the Hippodrome where you first met, or the balcony where you got engaged & to everyone else it's just a pavement or a lovely view. London really means something different to each & everyone & that's what's magic.

I've been in London for 5.5years & I love it. I defiantly think you grow out of the city eventually but while we're here we're gonna ruddy well make the most of it!
Ttfn x

Londoners pt1

2012-02-10T13:00:00.001Z

For Chrimbo Adam gave me a book called "Londoners. The days & nights of London now - as told by those who love it, hate it, live it, left it & long for it" by Craig Taylor. After reading the introduction & before reading any more I decided I'd think about what London & being a Londoner means to me. Even though I picked out bullet points I still got a bit carried away so I'll spread it over a few posts so here goes part 1, I'll start with the one thing that I think of straight away when someone says London to me:

~ the tube is a huge part of London life. It's about sitting on a train for an hour & not knowing what any one's face looks like only their shoes, panic attacks when the train gets stuck in a tunnel without explanation, keeping left, standing on the right spot on a platform so you'll be in front of the doors when they open & also so when you get off you'll be at the exit to the station - even if that exit says no entry but you know it gets you to the escalator quicker than going the right way, arm rest wars, shouting at people who won't move for you to get off the train before they barge on, not thinking twice about commuting or travelling to a party that's 1hr30 or 2hrs away & using the journey time for reading, playing games or catching up on sleep, finding out on your way that a route's closed & knowing a few different alternatives straight away without the aide of a map. It's also about being on the lookout for someone handing out a Stylist on a Wednesday & Shortlist on a Thursday.

~ the city never sleeps it doesn't matter if you're at Leicester Square at 3am or 3pm it'll be just as busy. Saying that though nights out generally stop in time for the last tube (about midnight) unless you're on a jive night out which usually involves going for a coffee somewhere in soho about 4am! If this is the case you're then faced with the joys of the nightbus home, those 24hr wonders. Sometimes you'll have a great journey home joining in a sing-a-long of "the wheels on the bus" with all the random drunkards, sometimes you'll sleep & other times you'll join in tutting/huffing at someone who's having an argument with the driver about the money on their oyster card.

~ money's always tight. I've pretty much gone tea-total cos I can only afford soft drinks, whetherspoons becomes your go-to pub, I label all my money with post-it notes so I know what to spend & where in my attempt to budget.

~ London's in it's own time warp that moves twice as fast as anywhere else in the world. I really don't know where time goes. You get up so early & return home so late you have no time to yourselves during the week & so the weekends get filled up with everything that would normally have been spread out over the week anywhere else. Also try as you might you can't walk slowly here! If you're not in a rush try & make a conscious effort to slow down, I can guarantee that within seconds you'll be hustling past crowds, walking not standing on the escalators & huffing at dawdlers.

~ when you live in London I think you tend to forget what a fab place you're in, so full of history & culture. I try to make sure I take in exactly what it is I'm walking past cos otherwise it's very easy to walk past Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace or St Paul's Cathedral without thinking twice. Sure I miss the views of the countryside but while I enjoy city life Hyde Park, Green Park, Kew Gardens, etc will do for me.

Are you still awake?! That's the end of my first post & I'll post the second half next week (bet you can't wait?! :P)

Ttfn x

Feb Photo A Day Challenge pt2

2012-02-09T15:09:00.000Z

another installment of my Febphotoaday:

*10am - snow day!*
*Dinner - cos I'm a Midlander dinner is at 12noon not 6pm & yes I do still eat like a child!*
*Button - couldn't decide on one from all our button cards at work*
*Sun - there wasn't any!*

Ttfn x

Feb Photo A Day Challenge pt1

2012-02-08T13:00:00.000Z

I've decided to join the febphotoaday challenge set by Fat Mum Slim on Instagram (my username is ktp5678 if you want to follow me). So here are my first 4 photos:

The key words were *your view today* *words* *hands* *a stranger*

Is anyone else doing this as well? Let me know in the comments below.

Ttfn x

it's snow joke groan

2012-02-06T13:00:00.000Z

After a chilly but sunny Friday who knew that by the end of the weekend the UK would be covered in a lovely white blanket.

Adam took Friday off to help his folks move house. Jill&Keith were all excited at their new start but I think Adam was a bit sad to say bye to the house he'd grown up for 28years. I know I'd be pretty tearful if ma&pa decided to up sticks & move.

After our mortgage meeting on Saturday morning Adam drove me over the new house to help move, unpack, clean & help babysit Brandon & Isabelle. As the day went on more & more people in the land of twitter were commenting on the snow that was starting to cover the UK but we'd still not seen any & thought we might escape.

After a fish&chip supper & as we went to sleep there were a few little flakes but not much. That was till we woke up! Wow! I love that moment when you lie in bed & you're pretty sure just from the kind of light that it's going to be snowy when you peep out.

The temporary pond for Keith's fish had such thick ice on the top that we're not sure how on earth they survived!

After breakfast Adam went out to clear the car ready to drive me to get my bus later in the day. It's a long time since I've seen snow this thick.

Missy sat on her new favourite spot & wondered what all the fuss was about & why the world outside looked so different.

Lisa, Nick, Brandon & Isabelle all popped round so we went outside to play in the perfect snow that hadn't been touched in the garden. I tried to teach Brandon how to make a snow angel but he was way too excited! I've never made one & if I hadn't have been getting ready to head back to London I'd have joined him in rolling around in the snow but I didn't fancy sitting on a coach cold & wet!

Isabelle hadn't seen snow before so she was pretty unsure what to make of it at the start but after Lisa showed her a lump of it she was more than happy to stand on the grass & explore it (from arms length). I think looking at that grin it won't be long till she's running around with Brandon playing in it too.

I'm dreading waking up to an ice rink from all the snow freezing so fingers crossed it doesn't go that far. Got a rather busy old week *groan* but hey it's only another 4 mornings then it's the weekend again! :P

Ttfn x

Who, What, Where, Why, How?!

2012-02-03T13:00:00.001Z

No I'm not going to jump into an impromptu singalong of Bandy Bertha - the title refers to my mindbox which is so full of junk right now I don't know if I'm coming or going!

I've got a lot going on at the moment what with mortgage renewals, wedding stuff, budgeting, planning my next work trip to India, following up from meetings, trade fair notes, moving offices on Monday with nothing packed yet......the list's endless (but at least I've sorted the Hen Party, we've had to go for a date after the wedding :-S) I'm at that horrible level of stress where your brain just doesn't compute anything & you forget things seconds after you've been told them - cos of this I have lists for absolutely everything! I've even written up a timetable from wake up to sleep so I know when to switch off parts of my brain rather than having all my thoughts whizzing round at once.

The one thing I'm finding the hardest (but I must do) is take breaks. I find it so hard to put down my phone/book/magazine & look out of the window at the scenery as I travel in to work cos there's loads of other things I could be doing. I actually looked out of the bus window on my way to work this morning & everything looked so crisp & wintery & beautiful. I've also been forcing myself to take at least a 30min lunch break at work too cos it's all to easy to just stay at your desk & carry on typing while you munch away.

On a positive note though normally when I'm stressed I eat, & I mean EAT! But this time the wedding diet's the one thing totally under control :-) since starting it again after New Year I've lost 6lbs! Huzzah!

So after all that rambling all this post was supposed to say is that my entries might be a little bitty 'till I've got everything in gear so forgive me & if I don't post on my regular Mondays, Wednesday's & Fridays it's nowt personal & I still love y'all for reading!

Ttfn x

Robot Camera

2012-02-01T13:00:00.004Z

While spring cleaning I realised I hadn't posted any photos from the last roll of film I shot with my Robot Camera. I'm dead chuffed with how the shots came out & how vibrant the colours are without the need of a Polarising filter - bonus! Ooh talking about filters maybe I could make 3 different coloured ones to fit on the 3 lenses?!

The first few pictures are from Florence last June when I went to Pitti Uomo. As I strolled across the Ponte Vecchio I clicked the buildings by the river, I love the way the sky & river merg into one.

At my hotel I had a room on the top floor with a balcony that looked across the rooftops to the Duomo, someone had also quite thoughtfully hung an Italian flag out to help my photo look even better & the perspective of the arch photo is great (even if I do say so myself!).

The rest of the film was taken at Twycross Zoo when we were back visiting mum&dad. I'd really like to make the Flamingos a really vibrant pink to contrast against the browns & greens around them.

This little penguin dude really makes me smile the way his head moves round slightly in each shot! The last picture which is my favouritest (I'm declaring this a work ok?!) was one of those typical 'end of the roll shots just to get it developed' - there was a stunning sunset one day & I took this out of our spare bedroom window & wasn't sure how it would come out - wowzer!

I've got a black&white roll waiting to get developed next so I'm looking forward to seeing how they come out!

Ttfn x

spring has sprung!

2012-01-30T13:00:00.001Z

Well in the cleaning sense of the word anyway. Adam & I had a spare weekend so decided to tackle the coal shed & all it's contents. It's the first time since moving in that we actually tidied it out properly. There was loads of junk in there including loads of sheets of broken glass from the previous owners & now it's all spick & span. We must have the tidiest Coal Shed in London!

After spending the morning moving boxes around & labelling things up correctly we took all the extra boxes that were half full back into the house to pack them properly (it was way to cold to do it outside). At this point we realised it was lunch time, had no food in the house & neither of us could be bothered to go & pick something up. That's when good old Papa Johns came to our rescue! I'd weighed myself that morning to find I'd lost 5lbs in 3weeks, yay, so I kinda celebrated with this pizza which I found out is 230calories PER SLICE! Argh! Ah well got another 6 days till I need to weigh myself again so need to get munching on that lettuce! After we carried on sorting for the rest of the day we finally crashed with some of the left over pizza in front of Take Me Out. Let the head see the pillow!

Yesterday Adam popped home to pick up the last odds & sods from his parents before they move next weekend. Keith was about to get rid of his old birdbath so we snapped it up for our garden. We must try to get our little space sorted this year (you know when we have all that spare time between working & planning a wedding?!), we've got quite a few little bits & bobs to put out there so hopefully it won't be too long. Seeing the birdbath in place got me quite excited to get on with it. After finishing off the coal shed & cleaning like mad people we sat down to the last bit of pizza while planning wedding stuff & watching tv. Can't believe it's Monday already though. Rubbish!

Ttfn x

Hen Party Hastle

2012-01-27T13:00:00.002Z

I knew there'd be stress as part I this wedding planning malarkey but I didn't think finding a date to hold my hen party would be one of them.

the Gin Sin cocktail that helped me through!

M.O.H Anna has been trying her best to see if she can juggle dates around so as not to stress me out but she finally sent an SOS text the other day. After a lot of flapping Adam suggested I set up a spreadsheet with all the dates between now & the wedding to see who could do what & guess what?! She was right. I don't have one weekend where all my bridesmaids are free (don't even get me started on time to go dress shopping!).

So I have 2 options:
a) I have to pick a date when I know one person can't make it :-( & how on earth do I choose who misses out?
b) I hold a belated one in October - set the date now & if people can't make it then then it's tough?

I think I've made a choice which one it's going to be but I can't believe it's been so difficult! Give me chair sashes any day!

Ttfn x

Alternative Wedding Fair

2012-01-25T13:00:00.002Z

After a lovely long lie on Sunday I headed into town to go to the Alternative Wedding Fair. I'd got free tickets through OMG I'm Getting Married so couldn't refuse! It was held at the Piccadilly Institute which was a great venue - with rooms with names like Noir, Clinic & Fruitbox there was no doubt it wouldn't be fun!

The fashion show ran a bit late but it didn't disappoint. There were outfits by Anissa Lee who's dresses were made entirely out of paper & looked stunning & Elisabeth Armstrong's dresses were beautiful. (see photos "Amy B," "Ribbons&Roses" & "Lucy C" (l-r in a clockwise direction)

I had a look around the stalls & picked at some lovely bits of cake as well as the free canapes & open bar! Can't be bad! On my way home on the tube I was going through my bag of goodies & came across a bonbon sized ball wrapped in cellophane. I un-wrapped it & popped it in my mouth to find it started to fizz immediately - that was when I found out I'd put a bath bomb in my mouth!!! I tried to look cool, calm & collected as I spat it back out into it's wrapper & scrambled around for a spare sweet to take the soapy taste away! Hopeless!

Once I'd regained my composure & got home I carried on with the wedding planning & looked at how much there was left to do. ARGH! There wasn't too much I could tick off! I managed to send off some emails that have been pending though & other things are rolling along nicely. One thing I'll definitely scrub off the list is sweet-looking-soaps cos even if all our guests are clever enough to notice the soapy smell before scoffing them I'd be sitting there foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog - not good for the wedding album!
Ttfn x

here, there & everywhere!

2012-01-23T13:00:00.000Z

new houses, new babies, birthdays & weddings. Wow what a weekend! Think I managed to tick most topics off this weekend.

We woke up on Saturday morning to no water thanks to a burst water main. We both needed to get ready to head out for the day so we popped down to Asda to use their loos & clean our teeth! Thankfully no one came in on me otherwise it would have been very difficult not to look homeless!

Our first stop was to go & see Becca & PJ's new house. They'd only moved in last weekend but we still managed to have a lovely ploughman's type lunch sitting around a slightly too small table with miss-matched chairs. That's what it's all about! They've found a really lovely house & it's going to look fab when they've put their own mark on it & got it all sorted.

Another of our mates Andrew & Alison lived about 20min away & they were throwing a Welcome party for their new baby Sophie. It was lovely to see Emhen & NatNat there too for a catch up after Chrimbo & New Year. I was surrounded by women getting broody! Eeek!

Once we left Croydon we headed over to Hoxton to see Ash for his birthday party at Zigfrid von Underbelly which was a fab place. There were about 10/15 of us & when I wasn't spending hours queueing for the loo it was muchos fun! Happy Birthday Mr!

Sunday was my dedicated Wedding planning day so more of that on Wednesday!

Ttfn x

BBBBlog

2012-01-20T13:00:00.001Z

After a very early wake up on Wednesday at 4am I jumped on a plane & headed to Berlin to see Bread&Butter, the 2nd & last trade fair till the summer.

Once at Berlin I usually step out of the airport, wait for a taxi to pop up & 20min later I'm at the show. This time it didn't run quite so smoothly & it took over an hour thanks to the taxi queue above. It all started quite orderly, then as people got more & more fed up instead of waiting patiently anyone & everyone jumped in the nearest car which was frustrating but actually cleared the queue quicker! Most of the journey was quite stop/start with heavy traffic & my driver tried to be helpful by taking a detour down some side streets but we ended up stuck behind a dustbin lorry!

The theme of the show was music & all about pushing past the 10 to get to an 11 (it's the 11th year of Bread&Butter). I was surprised how busy the show was, I thought there'd be fewer people travelling but that certainly wasn't the case!

I had a good wander round seeing what was what (making sure I grabbed my favourite free bag of the show!) & left my mark on one of the stand's walls with a "mrs p-to-be woz 'ere" tag *ahem* 225 days to go *ahem* exciting stuff! Anyways back to the show.

Seeing as the show was for AW12 Tommy Hilfiger had their very own glice rink where the models were skating. It looked lovely. On my way to the lunch hall I couldn't resist jumping into the photobooth to show off my new ear muffs! cute or what?! Couldn't resist them!

After grabbing a really late lunch & bumping into Andy, Tony & George at various times I finally met up with Michael & we checked into the Hotel Bogota.

We always stay here & it's steeped in so much history mainly cos of the people who used to live here. The rate is pretty cheap, you have to share bathrooms but I love it.

As you can see the rooms are really basic & little pug liked it too! Win win!

The next morning we headed straight back to the fair for a few hours before I had to head off to the airport to fly home.

I grabbed my lunch at the "workers canteen" & loved my little desk & pull out stool. The food was scrummy too. I usually sit in the huge food hall but found this gem of an area in one of the side halls. When I was tearing out one of the pictures from a look book I'd picked up I found I'd created a rather scary man in a dress!

As usual I made sure I gave myself 2hrs to get to the airport cos of taxi queues & traffic. I left the fair at 12:55pm & arrived at the airport 1:15pm for a 4:30pm flight! Can't win!

While I waited I thought I'd ordered a fizzy apple juice but ended up with an "aperol spritz" which was prosecco & aperol liqueur! Yoink! It was tasty but not quite what I expected!

I finally boarded my flight & again slept all the way home (partly due to the drink above I think!). I woke up just in time to see these lovely views of London as we came into land.

Thankfully that's the end of travelling for this month but it carries on again in Feb. Phew!
Auf wiedersehen x

lazy like a sunday morning

2012-01-16T13:00:00.001Z

& a Saturday morning. After a busy week for both Adam (working all day & night for a pitch) & I (various meetings & a trip to Florence) so this weekend we had the best lazy time!
Adam isn't one for a lie in (much to my dismay usually!) but after a rather hectic week we ended up not getting up till 2:30pm! Bliss! We'd decided to sleep in the spare room in case downstairs woke us up Saturday morning. This worked to our advantage though cos when we woke up we realised we had the x-box & tv ready so we grabbed a film & a cuppa & lounged around. We watched Lars & The Real Girl ( a fab film if you've not seen it, weird but fab!). My stomach was what finally got us up though & I set off to get us Subway for an afternoon snack.

We spent the rest of the time having a good old spring clean before heading out for dinner on our way to stay at Adam's parents. Jill & Keith are due to move house at the end of the month so Adam keeps popping back to clear out his stuff.

Sunday - Adam was due to get up about 6/7ish to carry on tidying up while I slept in but we both finally got up about 10am! After a few hours of tidying we set off to Westfield Stratford to spend my £25 giftcard I'd got for my birthday from work (don't think I've ever been able to keep a giftcard that long!). I was trying to decide whether I got one good thing or lots of bits from Primarni & Primarni won. I got a red&white polka dot dress & brown brogues & still have £7 to spend at a later date! Love it! While wandering round we managed to pop to the Mr Pretzel stand at least 5 times to grab some freebie bites! I have no idea how that stand makes any money at all cos we love them but we've never bought one - we always eat the samples. We're like bloodhounds & as soon as we sniff cinnamon in the air of a shopping centre we're off & we don't stop till we've found the pretzels! Yum!

After heading back to Jill&Keith's to watch the footie & sort some more stuff we headed home & spent the evening relaxing in front of Take Me Out - nowt better! No Likey No Lighty!

This week's gonna be another busy one for me with a trip to Berlin but thankfully my India trip has been put back 'till Feb so it's not as busy as it could have been. Phew! Hope y'all have a good week!

Ttfn x

Bring on the shows!

2012-01-13T13:00:00.030Z

January brings trade fairs & this week was the first - Pitti Uomo in Florence.

I flew from London City Airport seeing how easy it was last time. I love the fact you just walk off the DLR & you're at check in! It doesn't even seem like an airport, some of the security staff could do with cheering up a bit though, but hey can't win 'em all! Cos so many business people travel though here there were electric sockets everywhere to keep my iPhone topped up while I passed time on Bloglovin before take off.

I arrived in beautiful Florence on Tuesday afternoon & once I'd dumped my bags I headed straight for my first taste of the fair & to get an overview of AW12/13. Don't be fooled by the blue skies & sunshine though it was freeeeeezing! I'd checked the temperature before leaving that morning & seen it was supposed to be about 12 degrees so left my thicker coat in favour of my leather jacket. Yoink!

There were so many bloggers & photographers around taking photos of the stands, the models & people visiting. It was quite interesting to look at everyone walking around in jeans - normally Florence is the smarter show & people are a bit more formal but the chinos had been swapped in favour of denim this time. It never ceases to amaze me how they manage to get so many beautiful people in one place, or how some of the women manage to walk in their heels & on cobbles!

I found the show a lot more interesting this time cos there seemed to be a bit more of a focus on the smaller & newer brands including "Tokyo Fashion Week in Italy."

The theme this year was all about the words of the future & there were various graphics stuck everywhere. Adam would have loved it!

I couldn't believe quite how many checked shirts were on the stands! Wow. The big story was knitwear though - fine or chunky it was there. I also think it was the first year there wasn't a dominant colour that stood out s long as it went with denim it was there.

I didn't get much of a chance to wander around the rest of Florence, it was mainly after I'd left the show & was on my way to dinner. It's such a shame cos the city has so much history & all I end up doing is walking past the Duomo on the way to the shops or for food! I'm hoping to pop up to Fiesole during the summer visit for lunch on one day, I've heard so much about it & it'll be nice to take a proper break before heading back to the show. The following photos are from the little bits of Firenze I did see:

This little display always makes me smile near the hotel - stuffed hogs sitting around a table at the front of the butchers shop. Love it!

On the way to dinner one night the market had closed & the shops were about to shut when I spotted this lovely Bulldog waiting outside the shop door for his dad to come out & carry on plodding home. He looked so funny.

Nothing beats a walk across the Ponte Vecchio at night on the way to Celestino. All the jewellery shops were locked up & looked like lots of over sized treasure chests. They're beautiful.

I had to stop for a Kodak moment looking out on the river too - stunning.

I made sure before I left I paid a visit to the hog so I could be sure I'd return to Florence again one day - hopefully in June cos the hotel's booked all ready for Pitti Uomo SS13!

Ciao x

geek alert

2012-01-11T13:00:00.000Z

but he's my geek!

I found these photos on my netbook the other day of Adam getting engrossed in the latest Fifa game in HMV last summer. He's like a kid - one minute he's standing right next to me, the next he's scurried off to play games with the big boys!

Thankfully there's not been much in the gaming world recently but I've been warned it's all going to kick off again in March so better make the most of it before then! Also better get a few box sets lined up ready! Think I'll start on Chuck Season 3.

Ttfn x

celebrate good times come on!

2012-01-09T13:00:00.000Z

This weekend Adam & I celebrated our 5^th year together & also our 1^st engagement anniversary. If you missed all the excitement about how he popped the big question last year have a look here.

After a pretty busy/stressful week both in & out of work (hence no post on Friday) I enjoyed a lovely lie in before we headed to Boxpark in Shoreditch for Adam to install some vinyls on the windows for the Luke sale.

I've wanted to visit Boxpark for a while. It opened a month or two ago & it's a pop up shopping mall made entirely of shipping containers. I think it's due to last about 5years before something more permanent is to be built on the spot so if you can drop by & see it, it's very clever.

The lower level is all shops & there are restaurants & snacky things upstairs. We grabbed the most amazing ham & cheese french toastie with honey mustard. It was scrummy! I was a bit annoyed cos I'd been doing quite well with my healthy eating 'till then but once I saw this appear on the table I wasn't going to turn it down & enjoyed every last little crumb! The diet can always start again later!

After pottering around the shops we had a little walk around. I always love the graffiti around Shoreditch, you always find something to make you smile!

Slink & Niall were in London to see War Horse this weekend so before they headed to the show we caught up (they'll be sick of the sight of us soon!) for a few drinks. I was dead chuffed cos I actually managed to find a pub in Covent Graden that served Tribute – one of my favourite ales of all time.

Once we'd dropped them off at the theatre we decided we really needed to find somewhere to eat. We couldn't find anything on the TasteCard that took our fancy & Adam fancied ribs so we headed to Bodeans in Soho.

Upstairs looked more like a diner with long benches & there was also a posher restaurant downstairs but we were told it would be about 1hr30min wait so we settled for a nice spot upstairs facing a mirror although it was a bit unnerving watching yourself eat! The food was really yum & I made sure I only ate half of the chip portion in an attempt to be good! See I was thinking of the diet but I think we'll draw a line under that one & start again today! :P

Instead of staying for pudding we decided to walk it off a bit & head for cupcakes so we made our way to Cox Cookies & Cake but it was closed – boo! So we found a random place called madd that did cupcakes (that didn't really taste of much!) but specialised in mango everything! You want it with mango in they had it! The little cafe bit at the back was really nice & everyone was chilling out playing games & chatting away.

After all this we still managed to get home about 10:30pm. I'm not sure where we entered & left the time warp but I didn't think it was possible to cram so much into an afternoon & evening! From now on January's going to be mega busy for Adam & I with work so it was nice to spend time pottering around the city we love without much of an agenda. Roll on February that's all I can say!

Ttfn x

Happy Birthday/New Year!

2012-01-04T13:00:00.002Z

New Years Eve always brings with it 2 celebrations for our family - preparing for the new year & celebrating dad's birthday.

This year wasn't just any old birthday it was his 60th. We spent the day doing weddingy stuff (sorry dad!) then we were just relaxing at home when Uncle Colin & Aunty Sue just happened to drop by ;) & we just happened to have a reservation at dad's favourite Indian - The Cinnamon Tree in Coalville.

I ran ahead & smuggled a 60 balloon in & mum arranged for his first pint of Kingfisher to come in a special 60 pint glass. The staff are always brill, have great recommendations, the food tastes scrummy & New Years Eve was no exception. Dad even got a bottle of wine out of it at the end - can't be bad!

We headed home in time for us to grab everything we needed to let off the fireworks Colin & Sue had bought dad for his birthday. I don't think they'd realised what a big box they'd bought though cos it needed to be buried in the ground & then let off 25mtrs away! Our back garden's a good size but not that big so we headed down to a local park.

I'm sure we didn't look that dodgy walking down the road into an unlit park with a spade, hammer & lantern! We dug the hole, buried the box, got a few rockets ready & poured the Champers into plastic flutes just in time to hear the bongs of Big Ben on dad's portable radio.

Then BAM! We were into 2012! Well it wasn't an immediate BAM, it took a while to get the box lit - it ended up with us sticking a rocket into the box of fireworks, lighting the rocket which sent sparks onto the box that set everything else off (don't try this at home kids!!). In between running away from the fireworks I got a few good shots & the odd ooh & aah!

After a lazy morning & proper Sunday Roast (it felt really weird to have New Years Day on a Sunday dunno why it just did) we went for a walk round Sence Valley. I love this shot dad got of Adam & I.

Gotta love the Lumix with it's screen you can turn round to get the perfect arms length myspace-esque shot!

On our way round we saw the usual dog walkers till we saw one very special dog. A little old pug on wheels. He was very determined & oh so cute. He brought such a big grin to my face & I just wanted to pick him up & give him a cuddle.

You can see my new hair colour a bit better on this photo below & how chuffed does Adam look at getting a photo with his mum-in-law-to-be?! This year peeps! I can't believe this year I'm getting married! Argh!

Just as we were getting to the end of our walk the heaven's opened & it seems it started the year as it meant to go on. How horrible has it been these past few days?! Hopefully it'll get all that out of it's system asap. All that's left for me to do is say it one last time - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Ttfn x

so last year

2012-01-02T13:00:00.001Z

On Friday Adam & I hitched a lift into Brum with ma&pa & after a bit of window shopping we caught up with Slink & Niall for some pub grub. They took us to a rather fab place called The Old Joint Stock.

They specialised in pies & after um-ing & ah-ing over which yummy option to order we noticed the Pie Taster Dish for two & wow was it good!

We made sure we all got even parts of our pies & no one got more than the other, Adam & I were close to getting a ruler out & measuring the food, it was that good we didn't want the other to get even a flake of pastry more than the other. Petty?! Us?!

While we waited for the rents to finish at the Symphony Hall we grabbed a pint in a rather chilly Spoons & nattered away about anything & everything (note the new hair colour, I'm dead chuffed with it but how on earth do the hairdressers get my hair so flipping shiny?!).

We couldn't manage another chilly pint in the same place so we headed towards the canal to find another drinking hole to set up camp in. The area looked so lovely lit up for Chrimbo.

By the time we got to the Malt House we didn't fancy another pint so we showed our age by getting a coffee & a hot choc! Sad or what?! I did push the boat out though with whipped cream on my hot chocolate, I'm not quite past it!

Adam's been enjoying his time at ma&pa's doing jigsaws with mum (I've helped on & off when I saw one I knew fitted in somewhere then walked off before getting too engrossed!) this must be what lack of x-box does to him. He needs to keep busy doing something & jigsaws are the answer. If only we had a spare corner at home where we could set up a jigsaw board. Then again we'd need those extra hours adding onto a day if we want to complete jigsaws as well as doing everything else.

Hope everyone had a great New Years Eve. I'll be posting about our evening on Wednesday so stayed tuned (I know y'all can't wait!).

Ttfn x

It's that time of year again

2011-12-30T14:15:00.000Z

A new year & new resolutions! Im currently sitting in the hairdressers having a long overdue cut & colour & started to think about the year ahead. 2011's list seemed to go quite well so now I'm on a roll let's take a look at 2012:
~ get married:
Thought I'd start with one that's (hopefully!) a definite to happen. Adam & I can't wait till Sept 1st & plans are going really well.
~ pay off credit card:
This was part of last year's list & I did it! It was such a great feeling to be free from debt. This time cos of Chrimbo & Adam's birthday a bit has gone back on but I'm confident I can tackle it & be debt free again. Woop!
~ loose weight:
The wedding diet's gone on the back burner for a bit but come Jan 1st mum & I are challenging each other again to fight the flab, forfeits & all! I'm planning on getting back into the swing (no pun intended!) of jive & to start swimming properly as well.

~ stop trying to keep everyone happy:
Mum came up with this one for her & I like it so I've pinched it too. Sometimes in this last year I've tried too hard to keep others happy which has resulted in me getting upset. So from now on its going to be a bit more about me. I loved the post from IRockSoWhat's blog below:

There was an old man, a boy and a donkey. They were going to town and it was decided that the boy should ride.
As they went along they passed some people who thought that it was a shame for the boy to ride and the old man to walk. The old man and boy decided that maybe the critics were right so they changed positions.
Later, they passed some more people who thought that it was a real shame for that man to make such a small boy walk. The two decided that maybe they should both walk.
Soon they passed some people who thought that it was stupid to walk when they had a donkey to ride. The man and the boy decided maybe the best thing would be for them both to ride the donkey.
Soon, they passed a group who thought that it was a shame to put such a load on a poor helpless animal. The old man and the boy decided that maybe the critics were right so they decided to carry the donkey.
As they crossed a bridge, they lost their grip on the animal and he fell into the river and drowned.
The Moral of the Story: If you try to please everyone, you will eventually lose your ass!
--Do what you want, you don't need to worry about what anyone else thinks.

The others I'm carrying over from 2011 are:
~ i must read most of the books i've bought, not just keep buying new ones just cos i like the covers! don't get me wrong i love reading but i think i could last all year with the unread books i have so far rather than needing to buy any more! i think my 12 page amazon wish list could do with being edited slightly too!
~ i need to try taking out my roller skates at least once & give them a good airing, rather than just using them at an outdoor roller disco & thinking that's enough use! i also must must must learn how to stop successfully! I haven't even got them out this year at all (apart from during the leak in the coal shed!).
~ seeing as we bought a house 1yr & 6months ago (how times flies!) I'd like to have more time at home with adam being a couple rather than rushing around seeing people or having people over & we need to sort wedding stuff too now.

Well there we go. My last resolution is to enjoy every minute of the year to come a little birdie tells me it's gonna be ace!
Ttfn x

boxing day take two

2011-12-28T13:00:00.001Z

Yesterday ma, pa & I headed down to Aunty Del & Uncle Pete's for some long overdue family time.

My cousin David was back over from Germany for a bit & Becs came round with Luke & Amelia. We hadn't all been together since Amelia's Christening so it was great to relax with everyone & catch up properly.

Amelia's grown up so much & she has this lovely little toothy smile which makes her nose scrunch up as well. She's such a cutie!

Luke & Becs seemed to be doing really well too, parenting really suits them & everyone was so sweet playing with Amelia, she was good as gold & they deserve to be very proud parents.

It then came to present time, the most exciting time for a kid cos that means box time! Amelia loved the noises daddy's bottles of beer made as they clanged together & then discovered the box of unwanted gift wrap - what more could a little girl want?!

Christmas must be such an exciting time for a little person & Amelia had a great time exploring everyone & everything.

Uncle D is rather besotted with this little lady & I'm sure she had pretty much every male in that room wrapped round her little finger - she's leaning from her mum already! :P

Before I was dropped off back in London to go back to work today (boo!) we had a nibbly picnic style tea complete with curry popcorn. Nom!

Ttfn x

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-26T13:00:00.001Z

Well that's it for another year! Adam & I headed to ma&pa's straight after work on Friday so we could make the most of Chrimbo Eve rather than spending it sitting on a motorway in traffic jams. We spent the morning pottering round a surprisingly empty Hinckley town centre, Morrisons & Woodlands - think everyone had gone to Leicester for last minute buys.

It wouldn't be Christmas Eve without heading to church for the Christingle Service & nibbling away at the raisins while singing carols. The church was packed - a lovely sight to see. Afterwards, just like back in the day, we went over to Aunty Di & Uncle Dave's for dinner. It was lovely to catch up with them both & I got to see Helen as well who I grew up with & met her Fiance Pete before their wedding in April next year. We left theirs & headed to Midnight Mass. It's hard to believe Adam & I were some of the youngest there cos I'm sure we almost nodded off during the sermon (sorry mum! :P).
Before heading up to bed I left my usual note for Santa in the kitchen. I wanted to give Santa a bit of variety on his journey round the world so gave him to chance to have a few miniatures & toast en route.

I woke up the next morning to a messy kitchen thanks to Blitzen & I think I annoyed Rudolph a bit cos there was no carrot but it seemed to go down better than they year I left Santa milk cos I decided it wasn't safe for him to drink & drive.

As has become our little tradition over the last few years Adam & I had an hour together early Chrimbo morning before everyone else woke up & before he set off to see his family. We gave each other our gifts & had a cuddle while watching Scooby Doo (the same one that's on tv every year!). It's really lovely having that little bit of quiet time before the hustle & bustle of the rest of the day.

Adam had warned me not to make too much noise around his present which he'd put airholes in & had heavily hinted there might be a little pug in there. When I opened it I saw he hadn't lied......

there was little pug guarding my pressies! Looking at my gifts below do you think I have a slight obsession?!

I also got some fab pug mugs from Lou too!

Adam left about 8am & ma, pa & I had a really super duper lazy day. It was brill. We opened pressies, eventually got dressed & tucked into a yummy Chrimbo lunch with a 3-bird roast (turkey stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken stuffed with stuffing) cooked by dad. Our Christingle (we added some more raisins) had pride of place in the table centre.

I managed to stay awake until after TOTP & the Queen's Speech then had a cheeky snooze on the sofa. Bliss!
I hope everyone had a lovely break wherever you are. :)
Ttfn x

Chrimbo ain't cancelled!

2011-12-23T13:00:00.004Z

Huzzah! I know most of you probably didn't think it was in the first place but seeing as we didn't get a proper Chrimbo outing at work this year I wasn't feeling quite as festive as I could. Last night, things all changed for the better, Adam's company invited me along to their Chrimbo party at the Wimbledon Dog Track.

Not long after we'd sat down in the warm restaurant (no standing outside for us!) we placed bets on the first race. Most of the others were trying to figure out who was the best to put their money on & I just sat there picking the ones who's names I liked. We (the 'royal we') were off to a good start & Andy won the first race woop!

As well as the excitement of the dogs we also had the excitement of Secret Santa! I'd got quite carried away with mine & got loads of things from the pound shop & put them in a big box, others weren't quite so enthusiastic & wrapped their gifts in the carrier bags they'd came in!

About half way through the night we decided to change tactics seeing as we'd lost every race so far. We went for a "forecast reverse" (getting into the lingo here!) on dog 5 & 6 coming 1st & 2nd in either order.

we waited with baited breath as our 2 dogs ran round the track

onto the finishing straight

and they.............................lost! Rubbish!

While the races were going the waiters had been providing our 3 course Chrimbo dinners. Adam went traditional with turkey & all the trimmings while I opted for the beef.

By this point Hayley & Andy were getting into this whole betting malarkey & were studying the boards along with the booklet & counting out their pennies. It seemed to work though & they won another few races while Adam & I were on a mega loss. Shocking! No added extras to the wedding fund that's for sure, if anything we're a bouquet & pair of shoes short!

Then finally our luck changed on race 9. We put £2 on Skippys Samson....

and we won........................£5.20! Get in! All's not lost!

Ttfnx

By the way this'll be my last post before Chrimbo so I hope y'all have a great one :)

HAPPY CHRISTMAS ONE & ALL! x

spot the difference

2011-12-21T13:06:00.000Z

last night was the Jive Nation Chrimbo party & me & my sister-from-another-mister rocked up in our festive jumpers see if you can spot the difference :P

GIF animations generator gifup.com

It was a great evening - I may have missed the class due to nattering away (typical!) but I had some great freestyles later on. Bar Lenuccia are always so welcoming & the atmosphere's brill. It got even better when the mulled wine was brought out in a giant wine glass followed by a huge Panettone! They sure know how to look after a load of festive dancers. :P Later on Kev & Aggie did a spectacular showcase, we're so lucky to have them as teachers (& friends!), if you ever get a chance to see them you must.

Well that was my last jive of 2011. I'm definately hoping to dance a hell of a lot more next year & it's going to be one of my resolutions I'm really wanting to stick to (come on, we all make ones that we know we ain't gonna stick to & this ain't it!). Cheers for the brill times in 2011 guys, bring on 2012! :)

Ttfn x

Wedding dress? Tick!

2011-12-19T13:00:00.002Z

This is quite a strange blog post cos I can't go into too much detail about what we did & where on Saturday but all I can say is I now own a wedding dress!

Ma&Pa came down for the weekend, we met up with Anna & Lou & headed to a certain shop in a certain area of London to get the dress! I knew what I wanted & had tried it on previously but it was nice to see what 2 more people thought & to try it on with the shoes. Mum & I scurried into the changing room ready for my glam transformation. I had a bit of a wobble once it was all on before the curtain was pulled back, I don't know why but I didn't want to go out & do a twirl, it wasn't that I was scared they'd not like it I just didn't want the fuss I think. I felt really self conscious. Not a great start for the actual wedding day! Once I stepped out in front of everyone & was greeted with lovely smiles I knew I'd be fine. I did a few twirls & loved how I looked so I can't wait now.
After purchasing my new special frock we headed for lunch at a lovely cafe. Seeing as the wedding diet is going so well (!!!) I had a Full English complete with black pudding. There's always tomorrow to start the healthy eating right?!

After lunch we popped somewhere else (it's actually really hard to write without giving anything away!) to check about summit else to do with my outfit before heading home - tired but happy :) Only 256 days to go till it can be worn!

Ttfn x

it's behind you!

2011-12-16T13:00:00.013Z

yes folks it's that time of year again - Panto Time! oh no it isn't! Adam got us tickets to Bollywood Cinderella at Tara Arts in Earlsfield, oh yes he did!

The show had been written by Hardeep Singh Kohli & was brill! Here's a description from the program:

"Sunder is the daughter of the Kind of Dil, whose wife died at childbirth. Evil Shanti - a widow with an eccentric daughter, Happy-Lucky - wooed the King to become his second wife & stepmother to Sunder. No sooner had they married then she forced him into exile - to return only if & when either of their daughters were to wed.

Evil Shanti wants to get her daughter married, to keep the Kingdom of Dil to herself. She forces Sunder to slave night & day making chappals (slippers). Poor Sunder has only vegetables for company.

When the neighbouring Prince Raj arrives searching for 'a girl who loves me for me,' he sets in train a series of romantic possibilities. Will Shanti succeed in getting Happy-Lucky married? Will Sunder regain her birthright? Will the prince find his love? And what about Nitin, the Prince's loyal servant...?"

The theatre was tiny, just an end terrace house really, but they'd gone to town making the place Indian-fied with the decorations. There was a huge billboard advertising the show under the railway bridge next door which I think was actually bigger than the theatre itself! After grabbing a drink in the foyer/bar area we went in to the auditorium & we were greeted by benches, a few chairs & cushions on the floor - it only held about 60people so it was a very intimate show!

There were lots of Bollywood influences & puns all through the show meaning it was a great panto in general but even better if you'd seen the odd film beforehand to appreciate all the jokes & actor references. I think it's time to introduce Adam to a Bollywood, better dust off Om Shanti Om & put aside a spare 3/4hours! There was as much colour, singing & dancing as I'd hoped & it left me excited to get back to Mumbai in January. Thinking about it, I'd love to see this show again with a more typical Indian audience that really get into it with the cheering & boo-ing. Our crowd were a bit timid & I started some of the boo-ing in the second half myself, maybe cos it was such a small venue people were nervous to make a sound?! Either that or they were totally engrossed in the show (which is possible!) so didn't make a peep!

Usually this would be the point where I'd tell you to go & see the show for yourselves & enjoy every minute but unfortunately it's sold out for the whole run, apart from a Matinee today. Boo! Who knows maybe they'll put it on again next year, if so you better go!

Ttfn x

currently....

2011-12-14T13:00:00.002Z

I've seen this on a few blogs so thought it was time to jump on the bandwagon:

Obsessing over: the wedding (262days to go, 3days 'till the dress is mine!). I'm trying to put the wedding on a bit of a back burner at the moment so I can get into the Christmas spirit good & proper, I know I always say that it's crept up on me but how on earth is it Chrimbo week next week?! My presents are 90% done thankfully & apart from a few letters still to write, my cards are ready to go as soon as I get off my backside & get some stamps. I think the wedding is going to seem so real when we reach 2012, we won't be able to say that we're getting married next year any more & seeing as I'm travelling quite a lot with work in Jan I'm not going to get a chance to sit down properly to wedding stuff 'till Feb which'll be 7months to go! Eeep!

Working on: my will power! The wedding diet's gone out of the window completely so I'm going to start the year fresh & (hopefully) really crack down on my snacking & exercise (hopefully with the right one increasing & the other decreasing!). Also with Chrimbo coming I've really tried to keep the Visa hidden away. The odd thing's gone on there but it's not as bad as it would have been previous years - who knows maybe one year I'll be able to use real money & not imaginary?! That'll be the day!

Thinking about: How this will be our last Chrimbo apart as two individuals (I didn't expect these answers to be so wedding/marriage heavy but I guess that's what on my mind sorry!). Also thinking about:
~the last few pressies left to get
~this weekend & how I get to see mum&dad, Anna & Lou all together in one place!
~how on earth I'm going to get everything done with the fact I'm out every night 'till the new year
~meeting Adam tonight for a Panto (but not just any Panto - more on that in another post!) & more importantly what's for tea!

Anticipating: Chrimbo & all the excitement & family time that comes with it. Can't wait to just have quiet time with mum&dad, not really doing much, just being! Can't wait for NYE either seeing as it's Dad's 60th! Woop!

Listening to: radio 2 - flipping Jeremy Vine. Can't stand the man, we all sit & moan about him at work but never turn the radio station over.

Drinking: tea. diet coke & not enough water - as per usual.

Wishing: I could spend more time with everyone (family & friends) & that none of us had to work so we could just have fun all time time & get our money from the money trees lining the road. Could someone arrange this please?!

Ttfn x

Here, there & everywhere

2011-12-12T13:00:00.001Z

Loughton, Leyton, Barwell & Brum all in one weekend! Phew.

Our weekend started off rather grown up with our mortgage review to get a new deal for the coming years. We were both a bit nervous & didn't really know what was to come but thankfully our advisor held our hands (& purse strings) through the process. Once the boring stuff was over we grabbed a coffee before we went over to Adam's parents to help clear their loft & go through old stuff of Adam's. Looking at his homework diary though he was a bit of a goodie-two-shoes so there was no dirt to dig up unfortunately.

We popped over to Dusty & Kat's for a band practice. Well I say 'we' Adam played guitar while I wrote all our Chrimbo cards. I've missed the posting date for American & Oz but at least they'll get there at some point I guess. Chrimbo really has crept up on us this year, more so than previous years.

The building opposite Dusty & Kat's flat is lovely & with the afternoon sun setting & the pigeons roosting I couldn't resist snapping the odd photo until my fingers turned numb in the cold.

Band practice only lasted about 2hrs (I think the neighbours would have had summit to say if it had gone on longer!) but the songs are coming along nicely & I can't wait to hear them when they're finished.

After a yummy home made lasagne from Jill we set off to drive up to ma&pa's. We arrived about 10pm & pretty much as we walked through the door we'd changed into our swimming gear & jumped into the hottub! It felt so good!

Sunday morning we set off to Birmingham to see the new shop windows for Luke that Adam had designed. They were brill & the shop staff seemed really happy with them too which was nice & I think they passed Adam's critial gaze too which is good.

After a wander around an increasingly busy Bull Ring (grabbing free mince pies & many bits of cinnamon pretzel on the way) we went for a wander around the German market (the biggest in Europe apparently). Unfortunately it was raining so we didn't potter around as much as we could have but there was a jolly band playing Chrimbo music & I couldn't resist a hot choc in a cute boot mug! Think there was only one mug there that day tho – me, £3 deposit on a mug they know people (well mainly women I expect) won't return!

As we got more & more soggy we made our way to New St station to head home. We watched a bit of tv & relaxed (& in Adam's case slept for a bit) before driving home. Seeing as the weather was quite yuck the motorway was vile so we ended up driving on the A5 for most of the way home. Some of the places we went through were stunning.

loved these guys at Coventry station waiting to get on a train to Brum!

Now it's Monday & we're more tired than we were on Friday but we've had a good 'un! Roll on the next weekend (which'll be just as busy as the last one!)

couldn't resist snapping this silhouette of Adam looking out the car

Ttfn x

Arseblog (not as rude as it sounds!)

2011-12-09T13:00:00.003Z

I'm always up for meeting other bloggers & conversation's not usually a problem (if I read their blog & vice versa we must have summit in common right?!), but Wednesday evening I entered a blogging world I know nothing about.......football!

Adam wanted to go the Arseblog's book launch 'So Paddy Got Up' on Wednesday evening so muggins here joined him at The Tollington for an evening of queueing & meeting other bloggers & journalists.

We were going to hang around for a bit, have a drink & grab a bite to eat but the pub was packed! There was only space for the queue of people waiting for the book & not much else. We met Mr Arseblogger as well as Gunnerblog, Goonerholic, Amy Lawrence (Guradian journalist), Tim Payton (Arsenal Supporters Trust) & Nick Ames (Arsenal journalist) to name just a few.

Once we'd got the book (& as many autographs from people spotted by Adam as possible) we headed off for a slap up meal at 'Spoons. On the way we stopped off outside the Arsenal Stadium to check Adam's stone that I got him for his birthday last year, thankfully we didn't have to hunt through the snow to find it like last year. It's crazy to think how different the weather is compared to last year - where's the snow?!

We found a lovely quiet area upstairs & while Adam got engrossed in his book I made friends with a certain 'Crabbies' & a chicken tikka masala

Hopefully the next blogging event I go to will be a topic I know a bit more about & I won't just be the girlfriend tagging along! The things we do....
Ttfnx

it's begining to look a lot like

2011-12-07T13:00:00.001Z

CHRISTMAS! Woop! I love this time of year, I'm such a big kid & I'm already getting quite excited. I got a rather fancy nativity advent calendar from mum&dad (couldn't resist using the pop up stage set & cut out characters too!) & Adam & I got each other a calendar.

On Saturday I put up all the Chrimbo decs in the lounge. It's only the 2nd Chrimbo in our home so I felt quite grown up going to the coal shed & getting the box of decs out - I've never actually had a box of decs before! I'd forgotten I'd bought all of these older fashion decorations earlier in the year so this time it wasn't just the tree that got decorated.

Although our bauble collection is quite small we've already got some lovely ones so it was great looking at each one before I put it on the tree. We'd decided to get another photo dec from Snapfish & as I went to get the other stuff from the coal shed it was waiting on our doormat from the postman - timing or what?! We got one of our engagement photos done & it's a tradition we're going to try to keep up every year from now on so we'll eventually have a tree of memories.

Adam had slept all the way through this (cos of his minging man flu) so when he drowsily came into the lounge later on he was dead impressed to be transported into a Winter Wonderland of our own.

Hope you're all getting ready for the festive season & you have a good 'un :)

Ttfn x

Happy 30th Adam!

2011-12-05T13:00:00.000Z

Wow what an eventful weekend! Friday was Adam's 30th so we both took the day off work to celebrate together. After sleeping in till 10am Adam finally woke me up asking when I was going to emerge & celebrate his birthday with him - Yoink! So much for the breakfast in bed I had planned.

We started the day off as all birthdays should be celebrated - with a trip to Asda! After getting the boring chores out the way we headed to Winter Wonderland (via the Barber) for our annual wander around with a mulled wine in one hand & a Bratwurst in the other all polished off with a pretzel.

We stopped off at the Carousel bar to watch the world go by (literally! The whole bar rotates really slowly) & have another mulled wine while putting the world to rights before heading off for dinner in Hammersmith.

The first of many surprises for Adam were tickets to Steve Merchant's 'Hello Ladies' tour at the Apollo which was really good fun. We got there quite early so thought we'd grab a drink in the bar before heading in. When we realised the minimum bar spend for a card was £15 we had a whip around for loose change in purses/wallets/pockets/bags & came up with just over £4, we thought that would be enough for a bottle of water each but no, we had to make do with 2 cups & one bottle of water priced at £2.45 - crazy! We guarded that bottle with our lives cos we thought that at that price it must be from the fountain of youth or contain gold, but alas it was nothing more than bog standard H20.

While we waited for the show to start I got Adam to model his birthday present from me - a Ben Sherman watch. I'd been a bit nervous he wouldn't like it but thankfully it went down a treat & he was dead chuffed.

Steve Merchant was good fun. There were a few points were he dipped a little bit but for his first stand up it was really funny & I'd recommend it for sure. Also it's a blessing he's so tall - we had row 'Z' seats so were as far away from him as possible but due to his stature we could still see him quite clearly!

Saturday - Adam slept for most of it cos he'd caught man flu & had some really rotten mouth ulcers so I pottered around a bit, cleaned & put the Chrimbo tree up (more on that in another post) before we left the house at 4pm. He didn't know what for & was even more puzzled when we popped into a pub at Chalk Farm 'just for a drink.' Thankfully I didn't have to lie (bend the truth) about anything else cos Pete arrived about 15min later followed by Dan, Kat, Ash, Phil, Jane & finally Paul. Seeing Adam's face as more & more people arrived was brill - he had no idea anyone else was coming & he really appreciated each & every person who could make it. We had a drink & sang Happy Birthday in the pub before heading off to The Roundhouse to see La Soiree.

If you don't know this La Soiree it's brill, you must go & see it if you get the chance. The show's quite hard to describe so I'll use the explanation from the website:

"A theatrical phenomenon, a unique and inspirational night of live entertainment, LA SOIRÉE's heady cocktail of cabaret, new burlesque, circus sideshow and contemporary variety has taken the world by storm. Showcasing the crème de la crème of twisted cabaret entertainers from around the world, including stars of the Olivier-Award winning La Clique, LA SOIRÉE is an international sensation."

Adam & I had seen La Clique a few years ago & I was delighted to see Captin Frodo & Mario Queen of the Circus were still performing & all the other acts were completely new to us (Le Gateau Chocolat, Yula Pykhtina, Hugo Desmarais&Katherine Arnold, Chris&Iris, The Skating Willers & Nate Cooper). We all cheered/sang/cringed along & Adam's mates had a brill time, some said they'd never have booked to see something like this off their own steam but they'd thoroughly enjoyed it.

After the show & before heading home we popped to Nandos for slap up meal (!) & a round of wing roulette. Adam got to pick first & we were all delighted to see he got the extra hot one, but I won't be mean by putting the pics of him in pain on here, they're for blackmailing later on!

Sunday was the last surprise of the weekend. Adam thought we were going for a quiet meal for two & then seeing Nick & Lisa in the afternoon but little did he know when we walked in that Jill, Keith, Lisa, Nick, Brandon, Isabelle, Jenna & Matt & Noah were all waiting for him with a big 30 balloon!

I felt a bit of a meanie on Saturday when Adam had asked if we could go to see his parents that morning & I said no let's stay in & put the tree up & relax! I hope he understands why now! After lunch the restaurant brought out a cake for him & we headed back to Nick & Lisa's for a catch up & family time before heading home.

It's been a really fun weekend & Adam was properly spoilt - quite right too! It's not every day you're 30 (thank goodness - I don't think my scheming brain or Adam's heart could take it!). I know you don't read my blog hun but just in case you get nosey about what I've written - you deserved every min of the fun & laughter with your friends & family. Love you loads :) x

Ttfn x

dusseldorf - NEEDS WORDS

2011-12-02T13:00:00.001Z

I've been a bit of a busy bee work-wise this week. Tuesday & Wednesday saw me popping over to our German Office in Dusseldorf to work on the styling for one of our AW12 collections. It was my first trip on my own to work on this & it was a great success. :)

Germany's a fab place but I only ever get to see it from a taxi window either heading to our office or to Bread&Butter in Berlin. It's definitely on my list as a place to spend more time in when they magically invent that 25th hour in a day.

Tuesday I flew out from Heathrow around 7am & was in the office for 10:30, we worked on styling before hading to Dusseldorf to see the shops (& to grab a yummy steak!). It's always fun meeting with the German office cos they have so much enthusiasm for what's what & it really gets you going. Before my head crashed onto my pillow I made time to pop to the restaurant across the road from my hotel for a cheeky schnitzel (which I wrongly thought was sausage but tasty all the same!).

Wednesday was supposed to be a more leisurely wake up but I'd set my iPhone wrong so I ended up rushing everything to make sure I could walk to the office in time. Again we got so much done & even had time to pop to Cologne to see some other shops. That's where these Chrimbo market photos are from - it was so pretty & no where near as busy as Winter Wonderland thankfully! Just as it was getting a bit colder we stopped off for a mulled wine in one of the market's mugs - which I popped into my bag on the way out (we paid a deposit so it was fine to take anyway!). Every time I have a cuppa in it from now on I'll remember the lovely market & how the wine warmed me cockles!

Yesterday was a bit manic - I had to get up at 3:30am for a flight back to the UK to be in the office for 9am, I was then so busy I didn't leave 'till 7pm! *groan* At least I've got today off though so it doesn't seem so bad after all. The one thing left to say is:

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY ADAM! x

Boy have we got a fun-filled weekend to come!

Ttfn x

I've seen quite a few artificial trees but this is the best so far.

2011-11-30T13:00:00.004Z

It's in St Pancras Station & is made entirely of Lego.

When walking up to it it seems a bit odd cos the branches are all totally straight, it's not until you get up close to it you realise why.

It looks great sitting there amongst all the other straight lines of the station & again it got me thinking it would make a great weave. What's wrong with me?! Where has this weave craving come from?! Someone get me a loom quick, I need to get it out of my system - as soon as I have to spend days threading the damn thing up my opinion will soon change!

I'd have loved to have been part of the crew to build this it would have been so much fun. It made me really want to get my box of Lego out again that I had when I was younger, tip it out onto the floor of our living room & start building a tree for myself - who needs a realistic looking one when you can have this beauty?! It reminds me of a Lego Wedding Bouquet I saw a while ago, can't remember where it was but it was ace, just think if, you got bored during the day you could transform your flowers into a spaceship or something & play with that - I'm in, who's joining me?!

Anyways enough random ramblings. Not long 'till our tree goes up now - hopefully it'll be this weekend. Woop!

Ttfn x

CGHC & FTHC

2011-11-28T12:30:00.010Z

Another busy but funfilled weekend has gone by - this time with my College Girlies. Seeing as this might be the only catch up with us all before Chrimbo I decided to get some tinsel out & make the lounge look a bit festive.

I also couldn't resist getting some chocolate coins & writing their Christmas cards. Who says I get carried away with the festive season as soon as I'm given a chance?!

Becky, Liz & Laura arrived Saturday morning & we mat Karen at St.Pancras when we headed to Drink, Shop & Do for lunch (thankfully I'd booked this time!). The food was really good (including the sandwich triangles with the crusts cut off!) & they'd got all their decorations up too so at least it's not just me getting into the spirit of things.

We only had our 'slot' for 1.5hrs though cos they were so blimmin busy but before heading home we popped to Winter Wonderland which was even busier than last week (if that's possible). My main bug bear is still the fact that people are there with pushchairs sauntering around without a care in the world while the rest of the world & his wife end up queueing behind them. Grr!

While we were there there was a lovley sunset behind the ferris wheel so then I became the annoying one who stopped to take pictures of a pretty sky while every one else waited behind me (I love double standards!). Seeing as I wasn't as hung over as last week I decided to join Laura & Karen on a ride. It was a rollercoaster a bit likie Nemisis where your feet are dangling & was pretty good for a fairground (tho at a fiver a go it had to be!).

Once we'd shuffled around Winter Wonderland a bit more we headed home for a leisurely night in. I popped the pizzas in the oven, got out the nibbly bits & crackers & we all just vegged out on the sofa for the rest of the time. Bliss! I'd managed to find some Ben&Jerrys Witches so we scoffed them for pudding before Becky made us all mulled cider - I needed it after sitting through Strictly Come Dancing and X-Factor. Argh! We watched more rubbishy tv after that & finally went to bed about midnight.

Sunday morning we lazed around for most of the morning before heading to Spitalfields market to see what was on offer followed by a Wetherspoons lunch. Everyone left around 4:30pm & I had a cheeky nap before heading out with Adam to see Frank Turner with Karen & Charlie.

As per usual the gig was AWESOME! I was feeling a bit crap all day with a headache & dodgy throat (possibly passed on by a very generous Slink last week! I'll let you off chuck! :P) but by the end of it my headache had been forgotten about & my throat was no longer bothering me cos I'd pretty much lost my voice! We arrived to Against Me palying their set which was really good, I didn't really know anything about them or their songs before but will definately scout them out now. FT came on at 9:20pm & rocked his little socks off. I shouted along to pretty much all of the songs & left with such a big grin on my face. As well as playing lots off the new album he did loads of the old stuff too (yay!) but not a lot from Poetry Of The Deed which was a shame cos that's a pretty ace album. Anyways I ain't complaining. He was playing at the Hammersmith Apollo which is his biggest venue to date tho that'll all be blown out of the water when he plays Wembley next year (which sadly we won't be able to make - boo!).

Anyways I think you'll have gathered by now it was a pretty brill weekend, roll on the next 2 then (I can't believe I'm saying this) but it's Chrimbo! Argh! I think the excitement of previous weekends as well as the ones to come is really getting to me though cos I was still wide awake at 2am this morning & again at 3am, only to be woken up by my alarm at 5:30am! *groan*
Ttfnx

err who's the bride?!

2011-11-25T12:30:00.004Z

Last night Anna & I went to the Matthew Williamson Bridal event & boy was it good fun! I'd decided I should at least try to make an effort & be a bit smart but as per usual my smart(ish) was still everyone else's pretty scruffy! Anna had commented that she's always a bit awkward coming to things like this & never feels like she fits in, but when she's with me it's all fun (probably cos I make her look so amazing! :P).

We arrived around 7:15 & the place was already buzzing. We set off with a yummy cake from Zoe Clark at The Cake Parlour in one hand & a glass of a Martini/Champagne care of Liquid Chefs in the other, well I did, Anna just carried an extra drink for me - she's the best!

As well as looking (note only looking & not buying!) at the Bridal wear we also wanted to see more of Emhen's amazing handy work up close. The work she does is beautiful & as MW's head embroidery designer she needs to give herself one hell of a pat on the back. There's so much detail & textures, I especially wanted to wear the blue & black dress (bottom right) to jive in cos it would have moved beautifully, one day eh?! I also fell in love with the shop's wallpaper & the vintage jewellery added to it, again, one day!

There were some beautiful shoes from Harriet Wilde on display & while we were looking at them Anna got chatting to the lady herself. Seeing as she was asking so many questions it was assumed she was the bride so then she was asked all about her dress & her outfit for the big day, all I can say is - wow can that girl tell a porkie! Who knows who they thought I was?! Probably her badly under-dressed wedding planner! By the end of the night we'd planned the whole of her wedding even going as far as the name of her H2B, (getting in with the wedding lingo here!), but I won't give too much away though cos you never know, it could all happen, all I will say is I can't wait to see those squirrels scurrying up the aisle carrying your rings & wearing top hats!

As we left we were handed a fab goodie bag containing lots of lovely things, & proper sized things, not tiddly samples. On top of this lot in Anna's was some Bobbi Brown lip gloss, I got a hair bobble instead, which to be fair will get used by me a hell of a lot more!

It was so much fun to go to summit like that with Anna, we don't get to do things like that so often now she's not in London. The next big thing will be in a few weeks when I go to buy THE DRESS! Eeep! Will have to see how much I can blog without giving anything away but making sure I write more than "I HAVE THE DRESS!"

Ttfn x

a more sober affair

2011-11-23T13:01:00.000Z

Following on from Monday’s post, the rest of the Slink & Niall weekend wasn’t as rowdy but just as fun.

Saturday - we woke up about mid day sporting some pretty bad headaches & finally braved sunlight an hour or so later. We headed into town via Platform 9¾ & Costa for a pick me up.

By the time we left Costa & headed to Winter Wonderland it was already getting dark. It was the best time to get there though cos even though it was packed, it was still magical with lots of lovely twinkly lights. It had only opened the day before so I didn’t think it would be too busy but boy was I wrong!

It was a bit too mild to get into the true spirit of things with mulled wine but Niall & Adam both had a Bratwurst while we watched some of the bigger rides. There were some brill ones & we'd have leaped on if we hadn’t been feeling so sorry for ourselves. I know, I know it's all self inflicted!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

We’d planned to go to Drink,Shop&Do to ‘play with clay Michael Jackson style’ for the evening, but when we got there we were told we should have booked (grr). So we only stayed for a hot choc/cocktail & a nibble before heading home with Pizza & Doritos to veg out in front of Flight of the Conchords (think this plan was a bit of a blessing is disguise!).

On Sunday, once everyone had emerged we decided to head to the RAF museum down the road for a nosey cos Adam & I had always said we'd go but never got round to it. It was brill! We weren't really sure what to think but it was huge & most importantly, free!

Niall was in his element with machines & engines while I (randomly) got bombarded with inspiration for weaves! I got quite excited about it all, it was such a shame I couldn't just leap on a loom & work away. I've not felt that inspired for ages (well since I graduated) so I did the next best thing & got a bit snap happy! You can see a photo of the loom I used to work on at uni here, it drove me mad back then but I really wish I could just while away the hours in the dye lab & get weaving once more.

So many textures & lines to weave, where's a dobby loom when you need one?!

It was quite good fun to be in a museum where they don't mind you taking photos, it made for some beauties!

I loved this menacing plane near the exit of one of the hangers

There was a lovely display all about the Royal British Legion & particularly about Henry Allingham who had fought in WW1 & died in 2009 aged 113, he was the last surviving founder member of the RAF. Reading about him & his life story brought a tear to my eye, we owe these men & women so much.

After a few hours we headed home & we hadn't even finished the museum, that's how great it was! It was a shame to say bye to S&N, the weekend was so much fun & we just don’t see enough of them anymore (I’m already holding them to an Eddies visit in the new year!). This visit has proved my idea of buying a street somewhere to get us all living together again as a fab idea & I must get onto to straight away! Well that’s after the collage girlies have all come to visit next weekend! Phew! Maybe we should start charging B&B fees?!

Ttfnx

it's electrifying!

2011-11-21T14:02:00.000Z

I promise my blog's not going to turn into a drunkard diary but I've been getting merry again - this time at The Electric Ballroom in Camden.

Slink & Niall came to visit for the weekend & we couldn't let their visit go by without a rock night somewhere. We were supposed to go out on Saturday but couldn't find a decent night over the weekend so we decided to head out Friday to see what Camden had on offer.

It felt so good to dust off the old rock night shoes again & Slink always has the most fab boots! I managed quite well till we were walking up the hill on the way home & I realised the balls of my feet felt like they were walking on knives every step I took. The price you pay eh?!

After a few drinks, a quick catch up & some chocolate cake (essential) we headed out about 10:30pm. We arrived about 11 & it was pretty dead so we found a table in one of the side rooms & nattered (well screamed at each other over the racket!) until Dusty found us & it started to get busier.

Everything was quite civilised until it was some one's, *ahem* Dusty's, idea to do shots of Jagermeister & Sambuca (not together though I hasten to add!). These shots plus the cider I was drinking made for quite an interesting night to say the least! :S

Looking back over the photos we took I love some of the faces of the people behind us - were we the only ones having a good time?!

The music in the main room was brill, lots to sing/shout/jump along to, oh how I've missed rock nights! Who knew the little fresher that used to be so scared of all of that kind of music would be loving it now & wishing she could go back to those nights?! I can't believe I hadn't been to the Electric Ballroom 'till now either, how did that slip past my radar?!

I don't know what had happened to my camera at this point but it was coming out with some ace double/triple exposures - I think we need to head back to the Electric Ballroom to try & figure it out, well it's a good an excuse as any.

We finally made it home about 4am & the rest of the weekend was just as fun (but a lot more sober!). More of that to come..........

Ttfn x

p.s Dusty - I hope this is enough photos of you for one post?! Please inform me if you need more!

yawn

2011-11-18T14:45:00.000Z

Last weekend has finally caught up on me. I'm so tired, so tired I missed my stop on the train this morning. I woke up with a start just as the doors started to beep at my stop so instead of leaping up in a mess, trying to scramble for the doors & embarrassing myself I sat there as if I was supposed to get off one stop later than usual. I'm sure some of the people who usually travel in the same carrige as me noticed & probably wondered why I wasn't getting off though.

As I looked out of the window, bleary eyed, hoping the next stop would be fairly close I was greeted by this view of the River Thames - there could be worse places to be stuck on a train!

Waiting for my train back I stood in the wintery sun thinking that maybe I should miss my stop more often?!

Got another fun filled weekend coming up - Slink & Niall are coming to visit for a good old Rock Night tonight & Drink, Shop & Do tomorrow. Rarrr!

Ttfn x

We're all just big kids

2011-11-16T13:23:00.000Z

It was Sam’s birthday on 11/11/11 so what better excuse to have an 11 year old themed party?! Sorry this post's a bit image heavy!

At my birthday party in August Sam handed me a proper birthday party invitation like you used to get at school & I started to get a little over excited to say the least. It was a great excuse to get everyone together & have a catch up with the uni lot in our natural environment of Lufbra & not in a field with no showers & limited loo facilities.

The rabble consisted of Tricky, Rachael, Andy, Annie, Sam, Anna, Gaz, Adam, Art & me. The rest couldn’t make it for various reasons but hopefully there’ll be a chance to get everyone together properly before the wedding. I don’t know when we were last in a room all together? Please don’t say it was at uni?!

We started the afternoon/evening as we meant to go on with vodka jellies (& an apple sourz shot for me) & it kinda went downhill from there.

I’ve not drank for a long time so it was quite fun to go back to the uni way of life & have a good old knees up. I had said to myself I’d stay sober (who knows why) but that soon went out of the window when the party games began. Yoink!

Some of the fancy dress accessories & outfits, the trouble was mine was an outfit I'd uaually wear & not see a problem with (minus the freckles & pigtails obviously!).

Once we were all sitting comfortably Sam brought out pass the parcel with various fancy dress prizes in the centre as well as a lolly for everyone on the way around. Tricky & Anna were the lucky winners.

After refueling on pizza we went back into the lounge to find Sam had made an awesome pin the tail on the donkey. The donkey had been divided into sections & each part had a forfeit. It was all going well till Annie got her tail pinned in the perfect spot & Sam didn’t know what to do – she never thought that would happen!

We had a little interlude with a cake for Sam, Irish dancing courtesy of Art & a bit of Steptacular dancing by yours truly, then we got back to the game.

We were all playing fairly at the start till we got more & more drunk thanks to shots of cheeky vimto, 2/3 fingers of drink or the “cup of yuck.” It then resulted in rather boisterous spinning & fixing to make sure the victim would place his/her tail to get the worst outcome *ahem* Adam *ahem.* A certain Fiance fixed it so I would get my tail on the “cup of yuck” section so I had to drink this glass full of goodness knows what – there was scum on the top it was that bad! Bleugh!

Me studying the dreaded "cup of yuck" mid drink, love Annies face in the background!

The many drunk faces of Miss KtP - stunning!

It got to about 10pm & we realised we should probably head out into Lufbra. They had their annual street fair & we couldn't let that pass without a visit.

The first stop was the Bucking Bronco where I think Anna & sam spent more time on the floor than actually on the ride

Typically I got overly excited about the Waltzers & made sure Adam & Andy leant into the dips to make the car go even faster while the fair guy spun us as well. It was brill!

The fair closed at 11pm (boo!) so we headed to Varsity (still Baracuda to us!). We had a bit of a boogie but retired to the back of the room later on for a sit down & natter while the youngsters carried on dancing (are the Freshers getting younger cos I feel far too old?!).

Annie & Andy were clearly thrilled at being in Varsity

Art & Sam :) so lovely together!

Before heading back to Art & Sam’s we stopped off at Rainbows for the typical Cheesy Chips & I got into an argument with a drunk girl pushing in but apparently it was me giving her the attitude?! Doesn't she know not to in the way of me & my place in the queue, especially when it’s got summit to do with food?

Art & I stayed up till about 2am nattering away about anything & everything & then I crashed on the airbed with Adam. Trouble is I mustn’t have blown it up properly & by the morning it had deflated completely & the valve was open! D’oh. I guess it made it easier to get up to go to church for Rememberance Day though cos there wasn’t a comfy bed luring me back.

After the service we got back to Lufbra about 1:30pm to find everyone glued to the Grand Prix. Once that was finished & Sam had given us all party bags (ace!) we went for a late lunch down the pub (it was also to celebrate a little something in the group but I won’t go into it on here yet!) before heading back.

I was a bit mopey on the way home party cos of my hangover but mainly cos I miss all my uni lot so much & don’t see anywhere near enough of them. I miss the whole uni way of living where you have all your mates living across the coridoor/road & you can pop over anytime & see them all. I think we should buy up a whole road somewhere & live like we used to. Who’s in?!

Ttfn x

we will remember them

2011-11-14T13:00:00.000Z

2011 seems to have been a pretty good year for the Royal British Legion. It's been lovely to see so many people wearing poppies around London than previous years.

Friday we had our 2min silence at 11am & it gave me time to think about Buck. I can't believe it's a year since he passed away already (I posted more about him here last year).

This weekend was fairly busy going back & forth between mum&dad's & Lufbra, (more on that later, I'm still ploughing through the photos!) but Adam & I still made time to head back to the cenotaph in Barwell for Sunday's service outside. I got to say hi to Gordon (another guy who fought in WW2 & who's always in my mind when I collect Poppy money) & i did my bit collecting more money during the service. It was a really good turn out & there were over 150people there which was really special.

Just before heading off I took a few snaps & also photographed all of the names on the cenotaph - at the moment there are some idiots going around nicking the plaques (they're copper & worth money). How sick can you get? Dad thought it would be a good idea to document it just in case these scumbags get to our war memorial, fingers crossed they won't.

Hope everyone had a peaceful rememberance day.

Ttfn x

Bridesmaid bonding

2011-11-11T12:56:00.001Z

A couple of weekends ago I invited all my lovely ladies to come into London town for a chance to hang out with their favourite bride-to-be & get to know each other. I don't think you've been formally introduced either so here goes:

~ Lou - jive & photographer extraordinaire also often mistaken for my sister which ain't no bad thing!

~ Anna - randomly bumped into this gorgeous girl in a shopping centre in B'lore, if I hadn't have seen her there then we would have been like ships in the night & never met *sniff* but thankfully I had Delhi Belly & didn't go out for the day with the other girls - every cloud & all that!

~ Michelle - we went to the same High School & met over mutual admiration for each others coordinates picture in maths, we've known each other wince we were 11.

~ Lisa & Jenna - Adam's sisters & yummy mummys, I'm really lucky that I get two fab sisters-in-law I just wish we did more together.

Our London Larks began with Anna arriving at Chez P with baked goodies (they were so good, I think she's trying to sabotage the wedding diet!). I made her a lunch fit for a queen - jam on toast (gotta use up them jam jars for the wedding!) & crisps - Rock & Roll! We had a great afternoon relaxing in front of crap tv before getting ready to go out to meet the rest of the rabble.

We met with Michelle for a drink at a pub Jack the Ripper used to frequent (random fact for you!) & Jenna & Lou joined us a bit later. Unfortunately Lisa couldn't make it cos Brandon had fallen over & hurt himself so she'd spent all day at A&E & couldn't make it into London from Essex. Thankfully he's ok but he definitely needed his mum around for lots of tlc. The fact she wasn't there though is a perfect excuse for another catch up in the new year, maybe to go dress shopping together?

(us acting natural, we'll be up for Oscars this year I think)

We headed for the only place you can go to on Brick Lane for a brill curry - Monsoon. As usual the food was lovely & after a good haggle we got free 1st round of drinks & 25% off the bill. I had their scrummy Biriani but couldn't manage it all & asked for a doggy bag, all was going well till it leaked in my bag on the way home & sadly I never got my cold curry toastie for breakfast the next day *sigh.*

(think I must have seen some spare curry out of the corner of my eye!)

Before heading home we decided to take a diversion into Wetherspoons for a cheeky drink. En route we had a little impromptu photoshoot with Lou, think this has proved we need quite a lot of practise before the wedding, goodness help The Barbers!

(Getting ready for the lamest jump in the history of man. 3...2...1...JUMP!)

....or in my case don't! Considering we were pretty full of curry by this point the other girlies, especially Jenna, did quite well, but as for me - it felt like I'd jumped high enough to touch the stars but in actual fact I don't think my feet even left the ground.

Ttfnx

abandoned

2011-11-09T13:13:00.001Z

It's that time again - COD MW3. Now if those letters mean nothing to you then well done, you've escaped, but Chez P has been hit with the bug. I knew it was coming so had prepared myself with the fact I wouldn't be seeing a lot of Adam from yesterday till the weekend (when I'm being a wicked girlfriend & dragging him away from his x-box for a mate's bday!).

I got in from jive at about midnight last night & popped my head round the door to the spare room to say hi to Adam & see how the game was. He asked me if he could have something to eat, so after muttering summit about him being a cheeky wotsit & in my weary state I gave in. I turned on the kitchen light & after about 30mins of it warming up (stupid energy saving bulb) I was greeted by a lovely bunch of freesias :) he told me they were a sorry for abandoning me in favour of a game for the rest of the week. Freesias are my favourite flowers so I unwrapped them & tried to make an arrangement (no comments please mum) in a pint glass (still such a student!) for our bedroom, it was lovely waking up to the smell this morning.

After I finished 'arranging' my flowers I had a little pressie for Adam. I'd seen some Halloween gingerbread cookies on sale in Sainos with a d.i.y decorating kit so I made him 4 to nibble on while he plays today. They ain't great I know but just bear in mind it was getting close to 1am by this point & I knew I had to get up at 6am this morning!

If anyone else is suffering from not seeing their other halves then lets stick together, we'll get through this! I have no idea how many hours this game takes to complete but surely it can't be as many as Fallout right?!

Ttfn x

time doesn't always fly when you're having fun

2011-11-07T13:20:00.000Z

This weekend has been one of those great ones that happen once in a blue moon – it seems to have lasted forever & I feel really refreshed for the week ahead. It's not that I just sat on my bum being a lazy slob, I've actually done quite a lot.

Saturday morning I collected for the Poppy Appeal at Euston for 3hrs. For once I was quite impressed at the amount of people already wearing poppies & also how many bought from me. I picked the same spot I had last time so I caught the people from both the tube & the mainline trains. I had a pretty steady stream of people coming up to me until someone else decided to collect at the top of the escalator that I was at the bottom of. By this point I only had about half hour left so went for a wander around the ticket hall.

Once I'd done my good deed I headed back home, had a spot of lunch & fell asleep till about 5pm. It had been one of those weeks where I was exhausted all the time so it did me good to have a cheeky nap. I grabbed some tea before getting ready for my evening as a social butterfly. I had 2 parties to go to thankfully both around Soho so I could walk between the two & not have to bother with tubes. I spent about 2 hrs at the first party & then headed to the second for a few drinkie poos before the last tube home. It was really good fun to get out & about in central London again, it feels like it's been ages.

Despite getting to bed about 1:30am I woke up rather sprightly on Sunday morning & had a bit of a cleaning frenzy before heading out to do some secret Chrimbo shopping. It got a bit chilly in the afternoon so I decided to try making some hot chocolate like Gran used to make using coco powder & hot milk but it just wasn't right. It smelt the same but was missing a certain special 'gran' ingredient. I called dad & we reckon it must be a bit of sugar (as was usually the added 'thing' with gran I think, that's why it was so good!). I love the little gran things I remember - like mashed banana or honey sandwiches when I was ill. They were the best!

Sunday afternoon Adam came back from his blokey weekend away & we played the new Golden Eye game on the x-box. It was quite fun but nothing beats playing the original one on the N64 at uni with us all huddled round a tiny tv screen playing 4 player with our JP room door open waiting for Herb to walk by or a drunk ginger Rich to pop his head round our door. I do miss those student days but not the lack of money!

Ttfnx

keep the excitement bubbling away

2011-11-04T14:02:00.001Z

With 302 days to go & little bits getting sorted/ordered/bought here & there the wedding excitement sometimes gets replaced with panic/worry/stress. Whenever things seem to be getting on top of me a bit I tend to go back to 2 blog posts I found a while ago on English Wedding that make me smile.

The first one starts with:

"Have the words ‘wedding planning‘ lost their tingle? What springs to mind when you hear them: that first shiver of anticipation as you exchange glances down the aisle, or your budget spreadsheet?"

It talks about how excited you were when you were little & you thought about your own wedding & how magical it would be & how not to loose that feeling. I love the idea of thinking back to how my 7 year old self would feel about me getting married. I don't think she'd be impressed at the lack of a horse-drawn solid gold carriage & lots & lots of ruffles but that's ok, (I like to think) I've grown up a bit since then & our wedding is just going to be a bit more of a grown up version of my 7year old dream. We're still dead set on keeping the fun aspect a priority & where that might have been hopscotch when I was little, it's now been replaced with other silly ideas mixed with alcohol.

The second post is also to do with kids opinions on weddings & what they'd expect from their special day. Personally I love the idea of a swimming pool, lots of sparkle & funny mice (whatever they may be).

It's great the number of times glitter & sparkle are mentioned in these two posts, maybe we're missing out on this part? Perhaps we need to get watching Big Fat Gypsy Wedding again for ideas?!

What ideas did you have when you were 7?

Ttfnx

familiar faces

2011-11-02T12:43:00.000Z

November is turning out to be a rather chokka block month & we're only on the 2nd! I love having my friends all around me & there's nothing better than having an OD of everyone before Chrimbo & the new year cos something tells me 2012 is going to be rather busy to say the least(!)

On Monday Emhen & I caught up with Shal for a girly evening in her hotel. It was just like the good old days in B'lore watching tv & having giggles over a Dominos but without the numerous power cuts. Neither of us really wanted to leave & if we’d planned it better I’m sure we’d have ended up having a sleepover & chatted long into the night.

Yesterday I met Scary-May & we popped to Eds for cheesy chips (wedding diet?!) & a gossip. I only get to see her once in a while & it’s always fun cos we seem to just pick up where we left off & carry on being silly.

Thursday it'll be the old team Zodiac heading out for dinner & drinks somewhere in town. Hopefully we’ll not just talk shop & find something else to have a natter about.

I’m double booked on Saturday evening with an engagement party & a farewell/welcome home party (one girl’s going, the other’s popped back for a visit!). Both parties are with different Jive people & thankfully they’re both based around Soho so I’m trying my best to plan how to be in two places at once.

The rest of the month I'm getting to see the Lufbra lot for Sam's bday, Slink & Niall for a bit of Feeling Gloomy, the college girlies for a slumber party, mum&dad for a Chinese & hot tub & hopefully Ross&Ola for a Sunday lunch. It's all systems go!

So here's to a very busy, but hopefully not too expensive month (my budget book’s never been so full!). Woop!

Ttfn x

welcome to our humble abode 4

2011-10-31T12:45:00.000Z

Well I can finally introduce you to our bathroom! It's been a long time coming & quite a while since I did our other rooms which you can see here - lounge post main bedroom post & kitchen post.

Adam's dad has been a star & we've gone from an ok bathroom to a fab one! It was worth over a year of washing my hair over the tub for the finished result.

Here's a little photo story of how it developed:

This is how we saw the bathroom when we first had a look at our home to be before we'd even bought it. There wasn't even have a shower & it was all very old fashioned. Not that that's a bad thing but we needed a few mod cons in there to live comfortably. The bath was metal so every time we got up early for work even though there was hot water going in the tub stayed chilly so it was never good for a long soak.

I loved the taps, so beautiful & old. We tried to keep them but they'd corroded away completely so weren't really any use *sob*

Our first challenge was to block up the far window so we could make a wall for the shower to go on, we were worried we'd lose a lot of light but that's not been the case thankfully. We also changed the loo. Part of me didn't want to cos having the cistern hidden away in a cupboard in the wall was definitely a talking point & pretty funny when we had guests round, but we needed the space for our larder in the kitchen, so we got a new slimmer toilet to fit in place.

To make full use of the wall Keith built us a storage unit that included a medicine cabinet, we also went for a smaller corner sink which attached to a little wall making room for the new bath.

New bath, window blocked in & shower up. It was torture having the shower sitting there - we couldn't use it cos none of it was waterproof so the washing hair over the side of the bath continued! Keith added a little alcove for scented candles & a few glass shelves.

The tiles started to go up. We went for simple white ones with a mirror border which was one of the best decisions we made cos the light is reflected all round the room.

Our finished bathroom :) even with that end window blocked in you can see how light it still is. The only thing left to do is give it a lick of paint.

One finishing touch was to do away with the little radiator & put in a heated towel rail which is slimmer than the old radiator & gives off more heat.

Hope you enjoyed our little tour of Chez P's Bathroom, just the hallway to go then we're done! Huzzah!

Ttfn x

Happy Diwali!

2011-10-28T12:00:00.001Z

On Wednesday night our skies were lit up by fireworks all around us. We live in a big Indian community & the noise was incredible! I gave up trying to watch tv & sat on our kitchen counter (which I found last year was a perfect viewing spot) watching everything going off around us.

Everywhere I looked there were fireworks it was brill

When I looked over to Wembley stadium there were about 4 or 5 different displays going off in the distance. It took me back to when mum & I used to sit in my bedroom with the lights off watching the firework displays going off at the college down the road or we'd drive up to a nearby hill with dad, park up by the road & watch everything going off around us.

Just as I was about to put my camera away & try & lip read the tv some more there was a firework that went off right inside the arch of Wembley Stadium, was quite chuffed with the timing of this one!

In 2 weekends time it's Bonfire night. I'll try perching on the counter again but I'm not sure there'll be anything as crazy as Diwali, then again I may be proved wrong - everyone loves a good firework display (especially when they're free from the comfort of your own home - a definite bonus of living on a hill!).

Ttfn x

Lumix meet Noah!

2011-10-26T11:34:00.000Z

When Adam & I went over to Lisa's on Saturday I couldn't possibly leave little Lumix behind - you never know what lovely snapshots could be missed watching Brandon, Isabelle & Noah grow up. They change each & every time I see them.

I've not had the chance to take many photos of Noah since he was born so it was nice to have a bit of time with Jenna & him to click away to my heart's content.

He has some of the loveliest expressions. I've been quite lucky with Adam's nephews & niece cos they're all happy smiley kids pretty much all of the time so thankfully there aren't many mardy ones to look at. It's great that they are getting used to me & this big black attachment I always have stuck to my face too so don't go all shy.

Isabelle, Jill, Jenna & Noah discussing the meaning of life. I love this shot.

After Saturday's results I can't wait to head over to Jenna & Matt's house at some point & get some more family shots, this time with the 3 of them.

Ttfn x

313 days to go

2011-10-24T13:52:00.000Z

This weekend I’ve been going from “yeah this planning stuff’s going well I know exactly where it’s at & not a care in the world” to “aaarrrgghh have we got enough money?! Who needs to know what? Have we got enough planned so far, etc, etc.”

Saturday was spent at Lisa’s & Jenna was there too who (got engaged last Saturday & is planning to get married in Oct/Nov 2012 - that means Adam’s mum&dad have 3 weddings in 1year! Wowzer). We were all scaring each other unintentionally with things we sorted & have planned, Jenna was surprisingly calm seeing as she’s only just started to think about it, I think I’d have exploded listening to 2 other people & what they’ve done & are worrying about, I mean who ever would have thought I’d be trying to sort out the right colour for chair sashes?! Not me that’s for sure!

On Sunday Adam & I went to explore the new Westfield at Stratford which is where the Olympics are going to be held next year. Shopping-wise apart from Forever 21 (we’ve got 2 stores in London now yay! Still to buy summit from them though!), there was nothing special but it's a great spot for people coming & going from the stadium during the games, though I’m not sure how the narrow walkways will cope with the amount of people. Think we’ll steer clear!

Just as we were about to leave Adam wanted to have a look in a particular shop for some ideas for work so we popped in & we were greeted by a lovely suit. He decided to try it on & it fitted him amazingly & looked stunning. The outcome of that is Adam now has his wedding suit :) yay! Finally the groom/usher side's ball has started rolling, so now we can start buying/hiring other things for them since Adam knows his suit colour. Once I've bought my dress in December I'll have to get my girlies sorted too. They're all coming out on Saturday night for a curry down Brick Lane to meet each other & we’ll try to sort out a time to go shopping for dresses in the new year.

Looking at how the budget is going down is pretty scary & I’m dreading getting the quote back from the printers for Adam’s fab invites but let’s wait & see. Maybe we’ll win the lottery?! That is if we start playing!

Ttfn x

bring the Hause down

2011-10-22T10:10:00.000Z

On Thursday we went to see Dave Hause at The Windmill in Brixton. We'd never been to the venue before & it was fab, what place with a dog on the roof wouldn't be?!

We arrived in Brixton early so had a lovely dinner at the White Horse just down the road. There was a bit of a dog theme going on that night actually cos this pub had one called George (tho not on the roof this time!). We headed down to the venue about 9 just as Kelly Kemp was starting her set, she had a lovely voice & set the standards for what was to be a great night.

We headed over to Dave Hause's merch stand to see what was what & ended up chatting to Ian (Horrible Crowes) & Em (who thankfully rescued me from all the football talk that was going on!). The rest of the night just flew by as we nattered on about anything & everything.

Dave came on about 10pm & it was hilarious. There were about 50 of us in this small venue all singing along, this guy has done 17 gigs in a row I think it was & his energy was incredible (I think the Jamersons helped a bit). The set started with him on the stage & us standing round (as you'd expect), but ended up with everyone on the stage or standing round him while Dave played in the middle of the floor. You couldn't help but laugh as he changed the words referring to the dog on the roof & he ended by thanking all his other Revival Tour companions who were all back in the US resting. He was heading back there now but will be back in the UK in November to support Alkaline Trio on tour, he really does never stop!
After the gig we carried on chatting with Ian & Em before realising we should be getting off to catch the last tube home (not before I did my fan girl thing & got an autograph from Dave & a photo with Ian - sad I know but I got caught in the buzz of the night)
I'm quite sad all my Revival Tour & Revival Tour linked posts have come to an end but hopefully it won't be too long till they're back again. Adam & I have said no matter who performs we'll definately go cos if we hadn't gone to this one we wouldn't have had the Dave Hause experience!

Ttfn x

It’s the thought that counts....

2011-10-20T12:00:00.000Z

hopefully that applies to exercise too. Last night was supposed to be the start of the wedding diet push so Adam & I popped off to do some swimming. This is the only form of exercise I always look forward to & the fact you can just switch off from everything is great. We got changed & entered the pool area to find it busy but not too bad with lots of lanes, perfect. The only problem was 3 of those lanes were for the swimming club, the other 2 (1 for proper swimming & 1 for relaxing) were for the general public. I’m not a brilliant swimmer but I like to swim fairly quickly & after doing 10 laps starting & stopping & pretty much swimming in a queue, we left. I was gutted that I couldn’t do any more but I was just getting frustrated. We found out from 9 ‘till 10pm the whole pool is for proper swimming so we’re going to give it another go next Wednesday & see what happens, in the mean time I’m hoping to get to aqua aerobics on Sunday evening which should be quite funny.

To cheer us up we had a few chocs from the random Dairy Milk box we found on top of the fridge (this means one of our parents didn’t get an Easter pressie this year, yoink!). Thinking about it now it wasn’t the best idea in the world, scoffing chocs when I only did 10 lengths wasn’t one of my best ideas!

Ttfn x

a domestic goddess I am not

2011-10-18T12:19:00.000Z

One minute I'm sewing a new button on Adam's shirt before we leave for work, the next I'm burning eggs in saucepans!

I was doing so well 'till I got engrosed in America's Next Top Model & forgot about the (very) hard boiled eggs I was doing for our packed lunch tomorrow & all the water boiled away. Thank goodness for our smoke alarm that's all I can say (though I doubt the neighbours were saying the same!). Yoink!

Ttfn x

the revival tour revived

2011-10-16T19:50:00.000Z

Yesterday the Revival Tour guys did a free show in the Lee store on Carnaby Street, Adam & I didn't need to be told twice so we headed down.

We weren't sure how popular it would be so we (I) got a bit carried away & arrived at 10:30am for a 2pm show! There wasn't anyone else there (surprise surprise!) so we went for a bit of a wander. We came back at 11:30, still no one, so went for a coffee & headed back at noon. There still wasn't a queue but we decided if we started a line people were bound to join it. A few seconds later there were about 6 people behind us & the proper wait had begun.

The people in the store hadn't expected many people to arrive I don't think cos when we asked where the queue would be they told us the show wasn't untill 2pm so head back later & they'd sort summit out. I said we'd hang around at the front & that's when we started the line. About half an hour later there were about 30people waiting & the Lee staff were coming out & tweeting about the line growing. They claimed the room downstairs could hold about 100 people & by the time we went in the amount of people waiting was more than that. We couldn't decide what was funnier the puzzled looks of people walking by wondering what we were waiting for, or the worried looks of members of staff cos there were too many people & they'd have to be turned away.

While waiting we got nattering to a few people from DimeStoreSaints & it turned out that quite a few other people I talk to on Twitter were there as well. The problem is we don't all walk around with our Twitter names on our fronts so I didn't know who anyone was to say hi to.

At 2pm the guys rocked up, walked down Carnaby Street (how cool?!) & entered the shop. At 2:30 we were let in & the gig began. They did 5 songs including '59 Sound with Brian as lead, 'Prague (Revive Me)' with Dave Hause & ended with 'The Bow' - such an amazing song. It was surreal to be standing so close to them while they were singing & cos all the lights were on it felt really awkward to be looking at them as they sang away. I kept dodging their gaze & got all embarassed. I did share a giggle with Dave Hause though when he spilt his bottle of beer over a pair of jeans, he looked up to see if anyone had noticed & when he saw me he burst out laughing & looked rather sheepish. Dave's great & his solo stuff is so good, so good in fact we're going to see him doing a solo show in London on Thursday.

The free stuff just kept on coming, as well as a brilliant gig, on entry we were given a drinks voucher for a free bottle of beer, as we left we were given a free El Jefe poster (the one we've been hunting high & low for) & also managed to grab some badges & plectrums so all in all it was a blimmin' good day!

Ttfnx

Another reason why I love London....

2011-10-14T11:53:00.000Z

I was too early to meet friends for dinner the other night so popped into One New Change, a new(ish) shopping centre next to St Pauls Cathedral. The shops were ok, nothing exciting but quite a nice place to shop if you're in the area. I was about to leave when I noticed the lift went up to the 6th floor of the building so I jumped in to see what was up there & I was greeted with this....

Wow! Thankfully there weren't many people around & I happened to time it perfectly with a bit of a sunset. Unfortunately I only had my little point & click camera but I can't wait to head back with my Lumix to get some proper snaps when there's a full on sunset.

I loved this reflection of the church on the side of the building & the picture on the right really reminds me of Mary Poppins for some idea. My little jelly lenses were definitely a good buy to make some snaps a bit more interesting.

I'm really chuffed with the snap below with the London Eye & the OXO tower in the background. I don't get to see enough of London from this height, I might see what other buildings have viewing areas of the skyline.

On my way back down in the glass elevator (no I'm not Willy Wonka) I loved this reflection in the walls of the shops. Also, as if the evening hadn't been good enough, I met with my mates & when I ordered an ale it was brought to me in a proper metal tankard! I'm so ladylike I surprise myself sometimes!

Ttfn x

better late than never

2011-10-12T12:37:00.000Z

Back in August it was my birthday & I held my annual picnic in Hyde Park. This year the theme was a Masquerade. Lovely Lou was chief photographer & I've had these pics waiting to be posted for ages now.

There was no specific type of mask so there was an ace mix from posh to wrestling, animal to freaky. I have a huge fear of clowns so thankfully no one turned up wearing one (I didn't mention it on the invite though cos I knew someone would try to be a clever clogs about it & wear the worst one they could find).

I was really touched at how many people showed up & they weren't just London friends. We had an ace time & thankfully the weather behaved after a bit of a wobbly start in the morning. It's really odd how the weather's changing, my birthday's always used to be hot & sunny but the past two years my picnic's been threatened by rain & chilly temperatures. Not impressed!

Who needs the milk try man when you have Max arriving with a bottle of bubbly?! The highlight of the day?! Finding out my chocolate cornflake cakes had melted into one gooey mess & I had to eat it with a spoon. Nom!

After a few more glasses of pop the masks got a bit more freaky - Donny Darko anyone?! Have you any idea how difficult it is to jive in a mask like this?! Though some people might say I danced better with it on!

This is a photo to show the kids! Maybe we should blow it up huge scale? That wouldn't be scary at all.

The die hard gang at the end of a fab day. I know it's a bit belated but cheers everyone for coming! It means heaps.

I've just realised I've never blogged about my other Hyde Park picnics so I've posted pictures from the other two below:

Moustache Party 2010

Mad Hatters Tea Party 2009

Roll on next year!

Ttfn x

327 days to go

2011-10-10T15:12:00.001Z

Last weekend I headed home to m&d’s without Adam to do weddingy stuff. Our first port of call Saturday morning was The Designer Vintage Bridal Show. I dragged poor dad out of bed so we could get there just after it opened cos I knew RocknRollBride had some magazines printed so I didn’t want her to run out (I didn’t need to worry though she had loads!). It was pretty cool getting there before everyone else cos it meant I could actually speak to Kat & also two other bloggers I follow - OMG I’m Getting Married & Love my Dress. I did feel a bit like a fangirl though but it was fun & really nice that they were all so interested in my wedding & what was being planned.

After the show we picked up mum & went to a local Bridal Shop to speak to someone about my dress & alterations that would need to be done. It felt so good to be able to talk to a seamstress about what needed to be done so that’s all ticked off I now just need to buy the dress which will probably be in December! Eeeek! Exciting but scary stuff! The healthy eating plan must start again now! It’s not been going too badly but I’ve still got about 10lbs to loose so the serious jive & swimming begins next week.

Sunday we went to another wedding fayre held at our reception venue. It’s always great to have another excuse to see it & bombard the poor woman with questions every time! I wasn’t sure we’d see anything we wanted/needed but we found some bargain bits & bobs a lovely new florist who did the most beautiful natural displays, we might still do it ourselves but at least there’s another option now. It’s been a very lovey dovey weekend – even my crisps came out heart shaped!

On a totally unrelated topic - today there’s great excitement in my little world. STEPS (the pop group I was obsessed with when I was younger) announced a reunion tour for next April. First I heard tickets go on sale on Friday, then there was a pre-sale with o2 for Wednesday, then I realised that if you bought their Ultimate Collection on a certain website then you could get pre-pre-sale tickets NOW! So although I have all the songs on the album, except for a cover of Dancing Queen I had to buy it & get tickets (they’re not daft are they?!). So far it’s Lou, m&d & me with 2 other people probably shotgunning the remaining 2 tickets & it looks like I’ll be seeing them in Manchester with Michelle too. I feel like I’m a 16year old all over again, better brush off the glitter hairspray & get the glowsticks ready! Yay! I do feel sorry for Adam though, he never knew me in my STEPS phase & I think this over-excitement will prove that if he can stick through STEPS reforming, we can get through anything!

ttfnx

my how times flies....

2011-10-08T17:09:00.000Z

..& I've not even been having that much fun! One minute I'm writing my Revival Tour blog, then next it's Saturday even & I've not blogged since! Yoink! This is really just a blog to say I'm still alive (in case you were worried, which I'm sure you weren't) & that's about it.

Work's been pretty busy for me & when I was out comp shopping on Friday I walked past the Apple shop & saw loads of tributes for Steve Jobs which were really touching. He really was an amazing guy.

I've really noticed some of the joys of Autumn recently with the leaves all turning red & couldn't resist these beauties. Going by everyone else's blogs it seems we all love this season, though my favourite is Winter when it's really cold & crisp, there's nowt better.

Anyways I'll hopefully have a better post coming on Monday, I know you're on the edges of your seats!
ttfn x

The Revival Tour - get a ticket now before it's too late!

2011-10-04T12:49:00.000Z

Adam & I went on Sunday night & were blown away. We decided not to go right down to the front for once & actually stand back a bit to enjoy the music (instead of Adam concentrating on trying to protect me from being squished) so the photos ain't great I'm afraid but here goes:

On the European Tour was Chuck Ragan (from Hot Water Music & who started the Revival Tour), Brian Fallon (from The Gaslight Anthem - woop!), Dan Andriano (from Alkaline Trio) & Dave Hause (from The Loved Ones), Jon Gaunt played the fiddle & Joe Ginsbery was on the upright bass.

To start with everyone played, then one by one each singer did some of his own songs as well as versions of songs from the band they're from. It started with Dave, then Chuck, followed by Dan & finally Brian rounded the whole thing off.

The atmosphere was brilliant, they were all having so much fun (like when Brian & Dave brought out a bottle of Jameson to strike a beat while Dan played). I found myself standing there with a huge grin on my face constantly.

In case you hadn't twigged the main reason we went was to see Brian but everyone else was so darn good too! Brian came on & sang some Horrible Crowes songs along with Ian & then did some Gaslight songs too & they sounded incredible either as an acoustic version or when everyone else played along too. I took a few videos which I've posted below. The sound ain't great but you can get the gist.

You should have seen the number of cameras & camera phones that came out when they all came together to sing it was hilarious. This was the only point where I really wished I was standing on the front row. They all looked like they were having a blast & I think they'd have carried on all night if they could.

Afterwards as per usual we headed round the back of Rock City to see if we could chat to anyone & pretty much as we came out so did Brian. He was mobbed by so many people but when it came to our chance to say hi & get stuff signed he recognised Adam which was ace. He's always such a great guy & so easy to talk to even though I still get a bit star struck!

We managed to see Chuck, Dan, Dave & Ian as well so got our poster, tickets & cds signed. More things for the wall! :) maybe we need to make the spare room a Gaslight Shrine?! That wouldn't be weird at all!

Here are 2 of the videos I did at the gig, as I said the sound isn't great but you get an idea at least. As my post title says, if you get a chance you must get a ticket to this show it's amazing! Hopefully it'll be coming back next year, maybe even with Frank Turner?! Now that would be brill!

Ttfn x

Just what you want to do on a day like this

2011-10-01T11:46:00.002Z

Told you it would happen didn't I?! I put my sandals away & now we're having an Indian Summer. I think it's supposed to get up to 30degrees today & all I have out are docs & shoes. Joy!
On a day like this how would you spend it? Sunbathing, sitting in a pub garden, paddling in the sea or clearing out a damp coal shed?! Well guess which one we did? I went to get some stuff out this morning to find puddles of water & lots of soggy cardboard. The people living below us had a leak but didn't bother to tell us. I'm so glad I went in there this morning or we'd never have known. Luckily most of out stuff was in plastic boxes so didnt get to affected but all the cardboard it was resting on squelched as we walked on it. As we moved everything out we came across one cardboard box the rat, (long gone now but found when we moved in), had taken a liking to. Sods law it was my keepsake box of everything I'd collected since meeting Adam. There was a gnawed plastic bag that was empty so goodness knows what was in there, the only other things that had been damaged were some cards. Trust mr rat to find the only precious things in there.
2hrs later & rather sweaty we have a really neat & tidy coal shed with only a few things left out to dry (including my yoga mat & roller skates that I totally forgotten I had!).
Now time to sunbathe or head straight to the pub garden?!
Ttfnx

journal day - "looking at all of the life you've lived so far, can you pinpoint one time frame or instance that you feel truly contributed to your growth as a person?"

2011-09-29T10:39:00.001Z

Danielle at Sometimes Sweet has set another Journal Entry so here goes:

"Looking at all of the life you've lived so far, can you pinpoint one time frame or instance that you feel truly contributed to your growth as a person? This may be a turning point, a positive or negative experience, a moment or collection of moments that stand out in your mind...something that changed
you as a whole."

Firstly I'd like to apologise for how long this post is! I got started typing & couldn't stop! Yoink!

At the start of my second year at uni we were given the chance to lengthen our course so we could spend our 3rd year in industry. I jumped at the chance of gaining experience in the Textile world & when asked where I wanted to go I asked for anywhere abroad thinking I'd get sent to New York or Paris or Milan......but none of these came up, the only country on offer was India! I'd never even thought about visiting let alone living in such a different country. I'd travelled abroad but only to America & Europe, no where like India! I went home & discussed it with mum&dad as well as Art & anyone else who'd listen.

At first mum&dad were a bit nervous about it all. I guess it was a bit of a fear of the unknown, but once they thought about the valuable experience I’d get in the textile/fashion world & they thought about the great time they’d had on a teacher exchange to Oregon in the US, they really supported me. I went & bought a Rough Guide for India & read it every night. I'm not sure how confident I seemed on the outside but deep down I was so scared!

The last month before going was horrible, I'd have a knot in my stomach permanently as I tried to be brave about going. I've always been so close to mum&dad & had never been away from them for so long or so far away. The day before I was due to fly mum, dad & I stayed in a hotel near the airport & I felt so sick & upset to be heading off (even writing this now that horrible feeling is back & if I ever go to India with work from Heathrow Terminal 3 I get it there too!). The morning of the flight we went to T3 to meet up with Becca, Emhen & Nat (all from Lufbra) & Art came too. He gave me a card that I couldn't open till on the plane (& when I did boy did I weep, it still makes me tear up now!) & a photo montage he'd done of me with all my uni mates. It was so lovely. I put off going thru security until I couldn't leave it any longer & finally set off to meet the others who'd gone off ahead all excited & eager to get there.

The flight seemed to take forever, partly cos I was dreading it & partly cos the company we would be working for had paid for the cheapest option so there were lots of stop offs. That’s about all I remember of the flight & I don’t really remember being greeted at the airport & driven to our new home, I just felt numb & kept crying (I must have been so annoying seeing as I was the one who'd been up for it right at the start & needed more people to come along or else I couldn't go!).

The first month was so difficult. We were living in a little village called Bommasandra outside of Bangalore, South India. Our apartments were just like cheap Spanish holiday villas with one bedroom we shared between two. Outside were stray dogs, pigs, cows, beggars & every night we had a security guard who walked around all the flats blowing a whistle & banging a metal pipe on the floor to reassure us all was well, (it drove us mad at first but after a while it was a normal noise that was worrying if you didn't hear it.). Cockroaches were one thing I never got used to & poor Becca (the girl I was living with) would wake up to find little pots all over the floor where I'd trapped them but was too scared to do anything with. Our other regular house guests were geckos that were lovely & I often shared a shower with one.

Work was just down the road & I designed Woven Textiles for companies like Max Mara, Tommy Hilfiger & Phase Eight as well as furnishings with Becca. Everyone we worked with was so welcoming & we made some great friends & even travelled to some of their native places to meet their families.

Another side to Bangalore that I wasn't expecting was the nightlife. Fan (a French girl also working at our company) took us out for a drink at Cosmo Village one night & me being the mardy cow I was back then declared that I hated beer so didn't want anything to drink & just had a soft drink with no ice & no straw cos I'd heard you could get sick from both.

I spent a lot of the first week crying all night either on my own or down the phone to mum&dad or Art (until I maxed out my phone bill & they blocked it!). I don't know what happen in my mind to make everything change but suddenly after about a month I was happy. I saw India as the beautiful, colourful, friendly & exciting country it is & not just dirty, scary or lonely. The best/worst thing that happened to me was that I got a taste for kingfisher beer! My social life was amazing & much better than it ever had been (& probably ever will be), I went out about 6 nights a week always starting at Cosmo (either with the girls or not, sometimes I'd just go on my own & enjoy meeting lots of new people). Usually I'd walk in & one of the waiters would spot me, run off ahead & a cold Bottle of Kingfisher would be on the bar waiting for me to climb the steps to the 3rd floor. I had my own little Cosmo family too & the person who meant the most to me out there was Seamus, he was brill & we had so many hilarious nights.

Mum&Dad came out to visit at Easter & when they saw the place we'd been living dad actually apologised for making me stay each time I'd cried on the phone when I’d first arrived but by that point I didn't care, it was my home & I loved it so much.

After our 52week contract ended we had a month to travel, we started off as the original 4, then Becca & I went off together & finally I travelled a bit on my own which I never dreamt I'd be confident enough to do. My last week was spent partying in Bangalore with everyone before Seamus drove me to the airport & again I burst into tears. I didn't want to leave! Again the flight home was really tough & when I landed back at Heathrow although I was happy to see everyone I still missed my second family in India (who says women can never make their mind up?!).

Before I went to India mum&dad had told me never to turn down an opportunity cos you never know where it might lead & boy were they right. Seeing as I very rarely said no I met some ace people, saw places I'd never have seen if I hadn't pushed myself & also ended up with a job for when I graduated thanks to Seamus introducing me to someone.

Due to the terrible traffic I learnt not to stress out so easily over things you can’t help. If I was due to meet someone at 9pm but were still hours away stuck in traffic then chances were the other person was too & if not they understood & waited. I liked that part about me in India & I think I’ve forgotten to think like that now I’m in London. If the tube sits at the platform or in a tunnel for longer than a minute I start to get stressy & wondering why it’s stopped.

Although I went a bit OTT on the partying/drinking I had the time of my life. Being in a new country & socializing gave me a new confidence I never had. I think if I'd have stayed in the UK & done a placement there instead I wouldn't have grown anywhere near as much or had the confidence to move to London straight after uni & start my new life here. Also I’d have never started my little old blog so wouldn’t even be here right now (not sure if that’s a good or bad thing?!). If you want to read any of my posts while I was living in India (hopefully you’ll never get that bored!) they’re in the archive for 2005 from Jan – Aug.

Ttfn x

I've been bitten by a bug..

2011-09-27T12:57:00.000Z

..the camping bug! We decided to escape the hustle & bustle of London for 3 days & headed 35min down the road to a lovely peaceful campsite in Loughton. It was great to think that we don't have to drive for hours & hours to feel cut off from our every day lives & hopefully this'll mean we'll have a weekend away more often

After about an hour we got the tent up which wasn't so bad seeing as we'd never done it on our own before. Once we'd been to the little cafe for a jacket potato we came back & tweaked it slightly seeing as the ground sheet was a bit wonky then we were ready to start furnishing our little home away from home.

Since our first camping trip we've been stocking up on things we've seen on sale (as well as a few additions from mum&dad) so now we've got lots of things to make us feel more comfortable.

We decided to take a wander into Epping Forest where the campsite backed onto & found a scrummy blackberry bush so we had a bit of a nibble before carrying on.

All we could hear were the birds & no cars, it was bliss! There wasn't really a path either so we just went on a wander & tried to remember which tree to turn left at to get back to our tent.

To the side of the forest there was a Deer Sanctuary that was fenced off so we perched on a log & watched them for a bit.

I thought this picture below brought a new meaning to tree hugging!

Once out of the forest we were on a hill that had lovely light just as the sun was about to set so we played around for ages with the light & various woody props. Adam channelled the forest by first becoming a tree & then a stag about to charge, scary stuff!

We then got rather carried away with silhouette shots. I'm so chuffed with the way these came out & couldn't have asked for better, well it's always good when you have a willing model too!

Of course I had to have a little go too. I can't believe how high Adam manages to jump, these were the only 2 pics where my feet were above the tree line. I think he must have had hidden springs in his shoes for sure!

When we got back we lit the BBQ for hot dogs, beans & hot rice pudding before shuffling into the tent for a game of Scrabble Scramble & a hot drink. Thankfully we had our trusty hot water bottles ready cos there was a sudden drop in the temperature so we tucked down into bed about 9:30pm.
After a chilly night we emerged about 7am & I went to fill up the kettle. It was lovely to be greeted by a misty morning & the sun just peeking through the trees.

We felt a bit more human after a warm shower & headed off to a nearby carboot sale. We didn't find much but I did come a across a Polaroid Camera in it's original case & with a flash bar that still had a few shots left. It seems I got a pretty good bargain & although the original film (SX-70) doesn't exist anymore it seems that a website called 'the impossible project' do a new version & it's not that expensive, though still enough money for it to be a special occasion camera!

Seeing as we weren't that very far our of London Adam's parents came to visit for lunch at the cafe & say hi. We went for another wander to see the deer after another cuppa (I've drunk so much tea this trip!). Once we'd said bye we checked out the other 6 fields that were part of the campsite & found a play park. Of course we couldn't miss a chance to play on the swings even if my hips were kinda wedged into them!

Tea this time was curry but because the wind was quite strong we had to cook inside the tent which proved to be quite handy cos it kept the tent warm for later on! The rice was a bit crunchy hence the thumbs down but the rest was good.

After washing up the Scrabble came out again, obsessed?! Us?! With a bottle of cider the game went a bit better than the previous night but Adam still won. Grr!

As you can see from my face I didn't get the best choice of letter sometimes!

Then again neither did Adam, but he still beat me twice! I then introduced him to the card game Sevens & after that Top Trumps, but by this point we were really struggling to read the cards so we took that as a hint to get to bed.

We had a bit of a lie in Monday morning after an early venture to the loo. As we woke up at 9am it just started to spit so we took our time over breakfast before packing up. Just before we left we saw a perfect outline of our tent on the ground so Adam decided to lie in the bedroom bit as if I'd just whipped away the tent from under him like a magician. Love it!

We had a great mini-break & I was really sad to leave it all behind. I don't think we'll get to camp again this year cos most campsites close at the end of September & also it's getting a bit chilly for the ones that stay open! So here's to lots of camping come 2012!
Ttfn x

what Katie did......

2011-09-25T15:00:00.001Z

Well it depends which one you mean cos there's loads of us in the blogging world!

Out of all the blogs I read I follow 4 other people who are lucky to share their name with me! They all write in lovely styles, share wonderful stories, take stunning pictures & have great lives. So if you've got a some spare time take a gander around & see how awesome other people are with the same name as yours truely!
* colour me katie
* i go by katie
* katie's pencil box
* skunkboy creatures

Hope y'all are having a lovely weekend whatever you're up to!
Ttfn x

lost shoes needing a loving home....

2011-09-23T12:27:00.000Z

As I sat down on the tube the other day I looked across from my seat & was met by this sight. I put on my detective hat & came to the conclusion that there were 3 possible reasons for the shoes being there:

1. an invisible person was sitting there but their invisibility cloak didn't quite reach their feet (they also sit in a very awkward position & yes I have tried!)

2. the shoes belonged to one of these 2 guys but they were too embarrassed to pick them up when they left (I like to think this is the correct assumption!).

3. the most probable & boring - someone got off the tube after a day's work, their feet killing & either left them there on purpose (due to some nasty shoe bites) or forgot them. I wasn't even on the train that late so I don't think it can even be blamed on random drunken-ness. I wonder if she decided she'd had enough & pulled on some lovely comfy slippers & shuffled home, that's what I'd like to do some evenings.

ttfn x

346 days to go

2011-09-21T11:39:00.000Z

I know, I have planners of planners of planners but this very lovely wedding planner was different, honest!

I started a big old Excel "To Do" list recently to keep track of everything & to try & free up my brain so there's less wedding stuff flying around & more space for day to day things. Also, since more things are getting confirmed I wanted somewhere to keep all the info together & that's where this beauty comes in. Each page has sections to fill in for everything you need to know & the way it's been designed it'll make a lovely keep sake afterwards. Most people get shivers when they try on their wedding dress, I got shivers when I saw this book, that's how obsessively organised I like to be!

I can't wait to find a lovely pen so I can start filling in the gaps & adding photos. I loved the fact that on the Best Man page you have to rate how reliable he is on a scale of 1-5! There's even a page for working out the dreaded seating plan (which I'll be tackling with pencil for the first 20times at least that's for sure).

Recently I've realised that the Bride is the only person involved in a wedding who knows absolutely everything that's being planned (apart from additional surprises). There isn't one person I can tell everything to without them finding something out that was supposed to be a surprise. I've ended up with an original chart that's for my eyes only, one for Adam & I, then there's one that's slightly different for the bridesmaids & that's slightly different to my parents one. Even when this book's all filled in it'll be like my secret diary until after the wedding day. Maybe I should confide in a random that's not even invited to the wedding & then I don't have to keep this secret for another 346 days without popping?!
ttfn x

the A-Z trend

2011-09-20T11:21:00.000Z

I first saw this post on Katie's blog & loved the way she did it from her & her son Max's point of view. When I then saw it on Mari, Danielle & Diana's blogs I realised I had to jump on the bandwagon too, so here goes:

A. Age: 27 (you have no idea how long that took to work out, maths ain't my strong point! Yoink!)
B. Bed size: Double - nothing as exciting as Queen, King or Super-duper-mega size, just plain double, but flipping comfortable!
C. Chore that you hate: Dusting - as soon as it's done there seems to be more dust, I hate it!
D. Dogs: Not yet but holding out for a little black Pug one day :)
E. Essential start to your day: Sh*t, shower & shave as most of my blokey mates would say, then back to sleep as soon as I sit down on the tube to work!
F. Favorite color: Tricky, it used to be pink but now it changes all the time, right now it's minty green
G. Gold or Silver: I always preferred silver but my engagement ring is gold & my wedding ring will be too so maybe the tables are turning.
H. Height: 5’2 - tho I'm convinced I'm shrinking or everyone else is getting taller cos I never felt this short before!
I. Instruments you play: Used to play the flute & kinda miss it, though don't think the neighbours would appreciate me picking it up again!
J. Job title: Men's shirt designer & trend setter extraordinaire! FACT!
K. Kids: None
L. Live: London (wow that starts with an 'L' too!)
M. Mother’s name: Lynda
N. Nicknames: Everyone knows me as KtP or just P.
O. Overnight hospital stays: More than I'd wish for - squint opp, overnight stay cos I had a stiff neck & it got mistaken for Meningitis & the best one - burst Appendix TWICE!
P. Pet peeves: People chewing with their mouths open, I have to leave the room/move tables/change seats if it gets really bad.
Q. Quote from a movie: I was really hoping to come up with something profound but all I can think of is from The Lion King - "the buzz from the bees is the leopards are in a bit of a spot, the baboons are going ape over this, I told the elephants to forget it, but they cant....."
R. Right or left handed: Right handed.
S. Siblings: Only child & no I'm not spoilt before you ask!
U. Underwear: Weird one - er yes & no I'm not going to elaborate!
V. Vegetable you hate: Aubergine - love the colour hate the taste!
W. What makes you run late: Very little, I'm at least 15min early for everything, unless the buses or tubes are delayed, but I've normally added an extra half hour to my journey just in case of that so sometimes I'll arrive an hour early for something.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Foot, hand, dental, neck....I think there's many more but can't remember, I'm always hurting myself.
Y. Yummy food that you make: Nothing too adventurous, but I do make a scrummy stir fry & choc chip banana bread.
Z. Zoo animal: Sloths - cos they're most like me!

ttfn x

Scrabble Scramble Sundays

2011-09-19T12:39:00.000Z

Last night we decided we didn't want to just sit in front of the tv so instead we dusted off the Scrabble Scramble set that I'd got about 3years ago & never touched. While playing though my inner blond-ness sure did show through! Yoink!

I wasn't off to a very good start when I spelt 'merth' & thought that was correct (my English teacher would be having kittens right now!). That was after I'd complained about getting blanks cos to use them I had to use my imagination.

My next go wasn't much better when I shook out these letters & realised I didn't know any Polish words.

First of all I was keeping score but after the following comments....

"....I can't add 5 to 2 so had to start with 5 & add the 2"

"....If you let me do it on my fingers & don't rush me I'm fine"

Adam decided it would be better if he carried on!

My Scrabble mind was getting the better of me by this point cos I thought this spelt 'dust' with no problem at all!

My next go threw up these letters & lead to the following conversation:

K - "When I see these letters I immediately wish I could spell Meerkat"

A – "I'm so glad I don't have your brain, it must be a living hell"

I'm pleased to say that after a shockingly bad start I actually beat Adam. Goodness knows how! Woop woop!

It was really fun playing a game together & it's something I always thought we'd do regularly when we moved in but never got round to doing. Well if it's good enough for Katie & Tom it's good enough for us!
ttfn x

I'm finally giving in......

2011-09-17T14:19:00.000Z

to the Autumnal weather. I've been trying & trying to put off getting my Wintery stuff out (it's only September for goodness sake!) but the time has finally come. So today I packed away all of my lovely summery sandals to the top of the wardobe & got my boots ready.

My excuse for keeping them out was that I was due to go to India in October with work so I'd need them then, but now the trip's off, so I've had to admit I probably won't wear them again this year. I can't believe I've only worn my new gingham sandles once since buying them! I'm not complaining too much though cos Autumn & Winter are my favourite seasons, bring on crisp sunny days, the nights drawing in & being snug as a bug in big coats, scarfs & hats, nowt better!

(Sod's law we'll end up having an Indian Summer now!)
Ttfn x

engagement shoot - let's adore & endure each other

2011-09-15T15:53:00.000Z

What a great piece of graffiti! These shots were taken as part of our first Engagement shoot with Lou (see here) but needed a bit of a tweak. Adam did his magic fingers thing on Photoshop, edited out a lamppost & we're left with these lovely pics :) Seriously what council numpty puts a lamppost right in the middle of this?!

Yay for lovey dovey graffiti!
See our second shoot with Lou here
Visit Lou's Flickr here
Ttfn x

just keep swimming......

2011-09-13T16:34:00.000Z

All hard work was interrupted yesterday afternoon when David Walliams swam past our offices in aid of Sports Relief (you can just about see him in between the rowers).

I can't believe he managed to swim 140miles in 8days in the filthy Thames. During that time he rescued a dog & battled Thames Tummy - that's dedication.

When we saw him the tide was in his favour so he was zooming along pretty quickly & as we all clapped & cheered he even interrupted his stroke to wave at us all. What a legend!

If you have a spare couple of pennies follow the link to sponsor him, I know I will.

ttfn x

Isabelle's special day

2011-09-11T20:02:00.000Z

Last Sunday it was Isabelle's Christening. It's been a while since I saw all of Adam's family together so it was nice to have a good catch up with them all. I had a text the night before asking if I'd be official photographer so as soon as we arrived the Lumix was out & snapping away. Isabelle's turning into such a smiley cutie & a pleasure to photograph.

The service was held at the church Nick & Lisa are getting married at next July so it was nice to get a sneak preview at the beautiful building. While we were waiting for the service to start Brandon & his pals all got together for a catch up, I love this photo below.

Afterwards we all headed back to Nick & Lisa's & as we got back it started to pour down, typical, so the kids were all piled into Brandon's room to play instead of having the garden space to run around in. I didn't see the state of it after we'd left but I didn't envy the tidying up!

Adam was Isabelle's godfather (well if we're being technical 'Christian Sponsor') & he got a lovely little Godfather kit. It contained:
~ ping pong ball - to help you bounce through the journey of being a Godfather.
~ pencil - to 'write' their wrongs.
~ candle - to be your Godchild's guiding light.
~ tissue - wipe the tears of joy & mop the tears of sorrow.
~ puzzle piece - you're an important part of their life.
~ crayons - to colour their future bright.
~ mint - Godfather....your job is worth a 'mint.'
~ seeds - for sowing the seeds of wisdom & knowledge.

That's about it for now & I'll just leave it to the girl of the day to say bye.....

xKtPx

We all need a bit of fun in our lives

2011-09-09T13:50:00.000Z

So I decided to buy a Kinder Egg! I'm so rock&roll I amaze myself sometimes. I was quite excited when I opened it though cos they never normally break in half that neatly (unless they do but I'm usually too busy stuffing the chocolate in my face to notice?!). After the overly sweet treat came the exciting part - the toy.....when I was little dad used to help me make the cars, boats, monsters, etc that I found inside that difficult to open yellow plastic egg. This time though they've made the egg easy to open & the random flying giraffe inside only had 4 parts. I was quite disappointed there wasn't loads of bits to do & stickers to stick but I guess it's a good job cos if I'd got stuck it's a 2hr drive to my parents for dad to sort it out!

Ttfn x

jumping jack

2011-09-07T11:54:00.000Z

I don’t know what’s wrong with me at the moment but I’m very jumpy, I must be trying to hide something!

Incident 1 – the wasp:
Wasps don’t really bother me that much & I was trying to get a rather dopey one out of the office window at work. It wasn’t working very well, I think it’d fallen asleep while flying at the speed it was going & then did an about turn & flew right into my face. I shrieked while everyone else was working hard & had to explain it was just a wasp & yes I was fine, how embarrassing!

Incident 2 – the door:
Well not the door itself but the person coming through it. I was walking down the corridor & got to the fire door which has no windows in it. I was merrily talking to myself (as you do) & in my own little world & pushed open the door to find a girl standing there about to pull the handle. She jumped, which made me jump & we burst out laughing & kept saying sorry long after each other had gone.

The final incident – the spider:
Just like everyone else who’s suffering from spider invasions in their house there was one in my camera bag. I leaped away from it & asked Adam (who’s also scared of them) to get rid of it while I stood in the doorway. It went very tense as he peered into the case but couldn’t see it, he kept flipping over flaps & moving things carefully as he searched for the offending creature, I then felt something on my shoulder & I freaked! I jumped into the air & shouted which made Adam do the same…..as I turned round to see what was there it was just the cuff of a shirt that was hanging up drying & the spider was never found……..

After all this I think I need to lie down in a darkened room & take a chill pill!

xKtPx

a tv show that should have a health warning....

2011-09-05T21:05:00.000Z

I've just watched what I think is one of the most stressful tv shows ever made....Don't Tell The Bride.
At first it seemed like a funny concept & a chance to fill up the sky box with more trashy tv, boy was I wrong. My blood pressure kept rising & rising & I ended up agreeing with the groom more than the bride on what makes a perfect day (think pubs v's castles). By the end of it I was so wound up cos the bride wasn't happy I started to worry ours wouldn't be perfect! After a few typical stressy 'P' moments I happened to remember Adam & I weren't part of some trashy tv show, we're planning our wedding for ourselves & not the general public to have something to watch while scoffing fish & chips (not a stereotype there at all!) so I got over it.

Anyways excuse me I'm just off to delete the series link from the sky box I can't cope with another episode.
xKtPx

p.s sorry all my posts seem to be about weddings, you've only got to put up with it for another 361 days! :P

engagement shoot - popping down the park

2011-09-03T16:57:00.000Z

I know it's been a while in coming but here's the 2nd of our engagement sessions with Lou. We decided on a shoot that contrasted quite a bit with our first one which you can see here

I got all excited about a park /picnic theme & decided to pull out my baking tins & get making some cupcakes. I'd seen a brill blog about making multicoloured cupcakes & wanted to give it a go. Mine didn't quite some out as bright as The Dainty Squid's but they still looked fun!

I decorated the tops with our initials, lovey dovey hearts (bleugh!) & the date of our wedding. The day before Sainos were having a sale on DIY gingerbread men kits so of course I couldn't turn them down either.

We met Lou at Regents Park & worked the camera like the pros we tried to be. Thankfully the weather was much better than on our first shoot & the sun was shining (a bit too much at times for our poor eyes!).

After getting inspiration from other engagement shoots we decided we wanted to try using bubbles & balloons & we're really chuffed with how well these came out. The timing of Lou's photo above with the bubble around Adam's eye is ace & not a click of Photoshop in sight!

The balloons added a lovely colourful touch & it resulted in my favourite picture of the day below. Luckily we got all the shots we needed before they floated away & got stuck in a tree, yoink!

We decided we wanted old fashion coke bottles for a few pics, which was great until we suddenly realised we had no idea where to get them from. I finally found some in an Indian off-licence on our high street the night before. Ever since though we've been seeing them everywhere, typical!

By this point I think the sugar from the coke was really getting to me. I promise there wasn't a sneaky shot of rum in the bottles, though the photo below may make you think differently.

Take a look at Lou's Flickr site if you get a chance - her stuff's fab. We've got one more idea we'd like to do with her in London & then that's it 'till The Barbers (our official photographers) take over next year for their shoot & of course the wedding snaps! Woop!

xKtPx

this time next year....

2011-09-01T12:23:00.002Z

I'll be a MRS! I can't believe it, one year today I'll be getting married!

I know I've been doing the countdown for a while now but now we've reached one year to go it really means something! It's no longer a case of being a year in September, it's now a year from now! I've realised how quickly the days are going to fly & I'm so nervous but just as excited. It also means I can start using my rock'n'roll bride planner yay!

One thing it does mean though is we gotta get going on our to do list, rather then doing the odd things & thinking "ah we've still got over a year to go so that can wait". We've done pretty well so far but there's still so much to figure out & the list grows by the day.

The other thing I need to crack down on is the flipping diet! I was doing well till recently where I've stuck at a certain weight & I've still got quite a way to go so the salad eating needs to begin, the cakes must be banished, the jive shoes need to be brushed & the swimsuit needs to be aired! Bring it!

The other big news, as of yesterday, is I DON'T HAVE A CREDIT CARD ANYMORE! I paid off my last bill this month & it feels brill! I'll have a bit more money left over each month (which will be really welcome) & it means I can start putting a bit aside towards the wedding now as well.

It's not all sunshine & lollipops right now though, we did have one little set back yesterday but these things happen for a reason & are sent to try us, it'll all work itself out even though it's hard to see at the moment. That's all I'm going to say on that point though, there's no need to linger on it or say anymore so let the countdown begin!

xKtPx

the happy little world of miss ktp!

love letters for the new generation.

Londoners pt2

Londoners pt1

Feb Photo A Day Challenge pt2

Feb Photo A Day Challenge pt1

it's snow joke *groan*

Who, What, Where, Why, How?!

Robot Camera

spring has sprung!

Hen Party Hastle

Alternative Wedding Fair

here, there & everywhere!

BBBBlog

lazy like a sunday morning

Bring on the shows!

geek alert

celebrate good times come on!

Happy Birthday/New Year!

so last year

It's that time of year again

boxing day take two

Happy Holidays!

Chrimbo ain't cancelled!

spot the difference

Wedding dress? Tick!

it's behind you!

currently....

Here, there & everywhere

Arseblog (not as rude as it sounds!)

it's begining to look a lot like

Happy 30th Adam!

dusseldorf - NEEDS WORDS

I've seen quite a few artificial trees but this is the best so far.

CGHC & FTHC

err who's the bride?!

a more sober affair

it's electrifying!

*yawn*

We're all just big kids

we will remember them

Bridesmaid bonding

abandoned

time doesn't always fly when you're having fun

keep the excitement bubbling away

familiar faces

welcome to our humble abode 4

Happy Diwali!

Lumix meet Noah!

313 days to go

bring the Hause down

It’s the thought that counts....

a domestic goddess I am not

the revival tour revived

Another reason why I love London....

better late than never

327 days to go

my how times flies....

The Revival Tour - get a ticket now before it's too late!

Just what you want to do on a day like this

journal day - "looking at all of the life you've lived so far, can you pinpoint one time frame or instance that you feel truly contributed to your growth as a person?"

I've been bitten by a bug..

what Katie did......

lost shoes needing a loving home....

346 days to go

the A-Z trend

Scrabble Scramble Sundays

I'm finally giving in......

engagement shoot - let's adore & endure each other

just keep swimming......

Isabelle's special day

We all need a bit of fun in our lives

jumping jack

a tv show that should have a health warning....

engagement shoot - popping down the park

this time next year....

it's snow joke groan

yawn