Friday 31 December 2010

Don't Stop the Rock!

Friday 10 December 2010

Anarchy for Dummies

Yeah, so I haven't been around much since my 100th post!  How are you all?

UK readers keeping warm (I don't actually think I have any overseas readers - feel free to correct me on that though!)

I've been a bit inspired to blog this morning because of the student protests.  I work at a university, I should state that for the record.  It might be easy for me to say because after all, I've done my degree, but really, do the students think that wrecking buildings and attacking Prince Charles in his car is going to get them anywhere?

It's like they've been reading Anarchy for Dummies for heavens' sake.

I'm a bit fed up of it.  All it's done is cost the taxpayer loads of money in policing and clean up costs (and we all know how the taxpayer likes to complain about the students!)

I get it, you don't want to pay up to £9,000 a year for your education, I can understand your beef with that.  But maybe it'll make you work harder.  And it's not like they want you to cough the money up front!  Okay, so it's another £50 or whatever coming out of your paypacket a month (on top of Tax, NI and Student Loan contributions) but really, grow up, it's called being an adult.  There's no such thing as a free lunch.

American students have to pay a lot for their education, which is why American students take College a bit more seriously than we do over here.  We live in a benefit society, a lot of people in this country expect to get life handed to them on a plate.  What happened to some of the old fashioned hard work that this country was built on?!

I went to uni, because it was what everyone else was doing.  I did Photography, because frankly I was shit at school, I'm highly intelligent, but when you're 17, suffering from depression and you've passed your driving test and have a mini sitting outside, you're hardly going to go to school are you?  Well, at least, I didn't.  I showed up for Media and Photography and spent the rest of the time driving around in the mini. 

So, by the time it came to the big, What to do after school, question, I assumed I had to go to uni.  It didn't occur to me that I could've just gone and got a job - saved myself and my parents some (a lot of) money and probably still end up where I am today.  It hasn't made a blind bit of difference.

So I think instead of all this, 'inclusive' bollocks, and yes, very nice, great idea, lovely, lets get the kids off the streets, off the council estates and into university, it's just pointless.  I think we need to look more at better work based training for people.  If I had thought about it, I should've gone and got a job in a photographer's studio, I should have trained as a photographer on the job - what the heck does a degree in photography teach you?!  For me, nothing, it wasn't a great course that I chose.

I probably sound like an elitist snob or a Daily Mail 'journalist' but really, I look at the kids at this uni and I just think, why are you bothering?  We don't seem to care that a lot of the students here are failing, they seem to contstantly get through by the skin of their teeth.

So what if some of the universities close.  They were probably crap uni's anyway.  They say, A degree is a degree.  Well no, it's not.  The rate of graduates receiving Firsts and 2:1's has increased in recent years - and when recruiters get 100 applications and they all have 2:1's, they naturally start to look at where the degree was earnt - a 2:1 from St. Andrews is not the same as a 2:1 from De Montfort (where I studied).

Like I say, inclusiveness is a lovely idea, but I just don't think it's practicable.  Fuck it, it's survival of the fittest.  That's life.  That's human nature.  That's evolution.  I'm at the bottom of the food chain as far as I'm concerned and I have a degree.  I'm the only one in my team of admin colleagues who has a degree.  Apparently I should therefore earn more than them, have more responsibility or something?  Why does everyone think a degree is the be-all and end-all?

I think work based learning, apprenticeships etc, like the olden days, would benefit more people than university.

I'm a mother, I have a daughter who will be 3 next March.  If she decides to go to uni, she will be affected by these changes - so should I be out there protesting on her behalf?  No, when the time comes, I'll just help her to make the right decision.  If she wants to go to uni, to do a course of worth (Pharmacy, Nursing, Computing etc) then fair enough.  But equally if she's not 100% sure, or doesn't have a career idea at 18, I'd rather pay for her to travel, learn about the world, and not rack up debts that she can't afford to pay (like her dear old mum...!) 

I'm 25, I have a degree in photography, £15,000 of debt, plus £12,000 in a student loan, and I have no idea what I want to do with my life. 

Lets face it, majority of students, and I really wholeheartedly include myself in this bracket, go to university for a good time.  Okay, so I had to endure depression for the first two years, but eventually I learnt how to have a good time, and a good time I had as my credit card bill will testify, I wonder how many times Soar Point, Po Na Na or the O Bar feature?!  It meant I had to pull a fucking miracle out of my arse in the final year and scraped through with a 2:1. 

To this day I feel guilty - my sister also studied photography, at a better university I might add, and she worked her socks off, but only got a 2:2.  I think there's some kind of point in there, I've run out of tea and I'm struggling to find it...!

So, I'm not sure what my point is, mostly I think it was just to say that I think the students need to work it out a bit, stop being so violent, they're giving themselves a bad name.  I'm sure is the few spoiling it for the many, and I probably sound rather Daily Mail, but on the whole, I don't see where it's going to get them.

*sits back and waits for the contradictions and attacks to roll in, promising herself not to take it personally.*

Monday 25 October 2010

100th Post

So apparently this is my 100th post.  I had something grand planned, I was going to post about how my hair literally never changes, no matter what, where, when, I always seem to have a pomp/quiff.  The only excpetion to this rule is when I have a nice thick fringe, but I so rarely get that to work and look nice that it ends up getting pinned back into a pomp anyway.

I did find some older pictures and it's funny how I never used to really pomp it up, I'd pin it back so it was almost flat, and yet recently, I've really gone for it and it's ended up quite high:

But my grand posting plans failed and I couldn't find many good, hilarious pictures of me, so I've mostly given up.

But I do want to say Happy Monday!  And that things don't feel so bad this week.  It's payday on Thursday but I have to be really careful that it doesn't all disappear straight away, we need to start shopping for Christmas and I need to stay in budget.  At least it's only October, and I have 2 more paydays after this one with which to get shopping, I just want to do most of it this month!  But I think that's just because I like shopping!

I also want to say, that I think you should go and read the blog that me and my oldest friends are working on together.  It's subject is Strictly Come Dancing, so you probably need to like that but we're mostly pretty funny and entertaining so you might like it even if you won't like Strictly....  It's called Strictly Sequins, naff I know, but go and follow it, even if you don't read it, it makes me sad seeing that it only has 3 followers, two of whom are the sister's of one of the authors!

And also, although I haven't set it up yet, I'm thinking of starting a blogging Secret Santa this year, if anyone is interested.  It's a bit like Postcrossing or something, we used to do it on IAM and it worked pretty well, just a small gift, no more than £5.  Element of trust is needed as I'd need to collate people's addresses but we'll see if it works and if anyone is willing to share the Christmas spirit with other bloggers!  I'll post more deets when I've set up the blog for it.

Monday 11 October 2010

Update on Fail

I'm still in a bad mood.  I didn't get the job I applied for, not even shortlisted, so am going back to the job where I'm treated like a 5 year old.  Depression awaits....

Wednesday 6 October 2010

Fail

Well inevitably that went out of the window right.

I just haven't felt much like blogging, it's all just woe is me emo crap anyway.  I don't know whether it's SAD setting in early or whether it's just a general malaise.  Yknow the Moby song, Why Does My Heart (Feel So Bad)  It's totally like that.  It just consumes me, for no real reason, and I can't shake it off.  And all I want to do is sit in my fat clothes and eat food.  Which is what I did yesterday.

I told work I had a migraine.  I think most of the blokes in my office knew it was more than that, one even said, "I knew it was because you just couldn't be arsed..."  It's good that they understand and don't judge me for it, I think they feel bad for me really, enjoying this job and having to go back to one which literally depresses this life out of me, hence the depression setting in now I think, because I know that if nothing else comes up, I'm going to be back in Admin Office hell in 2 months time.

I actually started crying this morning when I got here, what a tit, well not proper crying, I did feel like I could easily have freefalled into full on crying, but I kinda just got choked when I was telling them about how much I hate my 'normal' job.  In fact, most of yesterday I felt like I just wanted to cry; yknow sometimes you just need a good cry. 

Literally zoned out for like 10 minutes there.  Just staring at my desk.  Good to do that sometimes, just let your brain wander.  Was thinking about my old desk project that I used to want to get off the ground.  The idea was, that people would take pictures of their desks and post them in the Facebook Group.  It was quite interesting, well I thought it was interesting, but most people just didn't bother!

Anyway, going to go and slit my wrists in the toilets (funny how often I genuinely think about suicide and yet my doctor never takes me seriously, perhaps it is just a cry for help.)

Monday 27 September 2010

Day 11- Another picture of you and your friends


Well seeing as I didn't read ahead and I posted all the photos of me and my friends the other day, have a picture of me, my sister, my dad and my cousins, Faye and Fiona in the good seats on the coach on Saturday....

Day 10 - Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad

This could take a while, music is really important to me, I listen all day long!

Happy: I can't honestly say, and all I have achieved after 20 minutes of sitting here is that I've just ended up in a huge Spotify loop!

Sad: Bloc Party reminds me of being sad, their first album in particular.  Or, I'm trying to think what I used to listen to when I was about 14 and really severely depressed.  I used to listen to Muse a lot when I was down. 

Bored: Anything, literally.  I find myself listening to really random crap when I'm bored, normally at work, I'll suddenly do a load of crappy searches on Spotify.  The last time I went searching, I found the Sims 2 soundtrack by Mark Mothersbaugh...!

Hyped: Yeah, same as Happy really, it depends.  And actually all this question is done is reminded me that I was going to look up Gwen Stefani, "This shit is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s!"

Mad: Caught Out There by Kelis - it doesn't matter who it is who has pissed me off, but I always SCREAM the chorus from this in my head....

Friday 24 September 2010

Day 9 - Something you're proud of in the last few days

That Scarlett hasn't had a toilet related accident at all this week.  She's done so well.  We just need to crack night times and we're there!  No idea how it's going to work being on the hop this weekend though, am going to have to start teaching her how to go if I hold her over a big toilet!!  She can go on the big toilet with her training seat, but if we're out, I need her to be able to use a public loo, so definitely need to teach her to be held 3 foot above the toilet to wee!

Day 8 - Short term goals for this month and why

Are you joking me?  I thought I was going to do a quick catch up here not a long one!

So, erm, I guess my main short term goal is to lose some weight.  Also, save some money and/or start my Christmas shopping.

Boring I know.

Wednesday 22 September 2010

Day 7 - A picture of someone who has made the biggest impact on you

Okay, so smushy one coming up but really, I couldn't do this post and post a picture of anyone other than:

No alright, I'm joking, of course it isn't Dolly bloody Parton.  I don't even really know who she is, I asked Andy to name a really tacky American celebrity, he said Dolly, there you go.

Of course, the person who has made the biggest impact on me is this little monster:

Scarlett at 2 days old
Surely I don't have to explain why....

Tuesday 21 September 2010

Day 6 - Favorite super hero and why

I'm going to admit to something here.  I hate super hero movies; X Men, Iron Man, Superman, Spiderman, Batman.  With the exception of Batman from the 1990s which I've still probably only seen like once, the bit where whatsherface gets turned into Cat Woman (hot) I've never seen any!

So the only super heroes I have to go on are like, Bananaman, Danger Mouse and SuperTed.  They are all awesome because they are 80s kids cartoons!  I used to love all of them and spend ages watching them.  Of course, I couldn't really tell you much of what happened in any of them, or really, actually, I'm going to refute what I was going to say because I probably could name the main characters so yknow.

Day 5 - A picture of somewhere you've been to

Well, would you like to be any more ambiguous?!

I don't have time, you can check out my Flickr if you're more interested so here's one:


Yeah, alright so like the least imaginative shot of the Eiffel Tower ever but yknow, I like it!

I would go into the story behind this but I won't bore you all... unless you want me to....

Sunday 19 September 2010

Day 4 - Woo, I finally caught up!

A habit I wish I didn't have.

I pick my bogies..... am so ashamed.

Playing catch up - Day 3 - Picture of me and my friends

Well, I have a couple of friendship groups, I have my friends from Uni and I have two old friends from school/church.

My Uni friends:
G, Ruth, Me - My 25th Birthday piss up
Tom, Jo and Andy - My 25th Birthday Piss up

My oldest friends:
Ali, Beth and Me - Christmas Ball, 2002

Okay, so the last one is like uber old, but I didn't have one of all three of us together, I had ones of us last year.  Actually, I lie, I have one of us at Hampton Court....

Ali, Beth and Me - Hampton Court 2010
Love it.



Playing catch up - Day 2 - The meaning behind my blog name

So, pretend I posted this on Friday right!

My blog name.  Well, ever since I was a teenager I had the nickname Amylena.  No idea why, my friend Beth thought it up, she used to sing it like Thumbelina!  Once, someone said it should be Amy-wider, not Amylena.  Nice huh?  I hate that man, he has an ugly wife now, karma.

So anyways, I decided that I wanted to move away from Amylena, and started using Amy Georgina instead, which is my first and middle name.  Don't you go committing identity fraud on me now will you?!

So the URL is amygeorgina.blogspot.com but the actual title of it is Reflection of Me.  To be fair, I have no idea where that came from, it's actually just a blatantly boring blog title because what are blogs other than reflections of the authors life and feelings etc etc.  So it's a lazy blog title.  The URL will never change, the title may change but hey.  What do you guys think?!

Playing catch up - Day 1 - 15 Facts

So I'm behind on this already, now there's a surprise!

1: I have grade 1 in Violin.  My violin teacher told me to give up and "Go play the Flute"
2: I used to play the Flute.  But I was never any good and used to just use Piano sheet music to play the Beatles and gossip with my flute teacher.
3: I have also played the drums in my lifetime.  I did this when I was taking Music GCSE and it really pissed my old bitch of a Music teacher off. 
4: I can sort of play the Bass.
5: I'm a cheat.  Facts 1-4 substantiate this fact.
6: My first car was a Mini 30 called Bertie.  My second car was a Peugeot 306, it was a Turbo Diesel and I raced the arse off it.  He was called Jean-Pierre.  My third car was a Ford Fiesta, she was called Florence.  I sold Florence nearly 2 years ago to a lady who lives in the social housing at the end of my road.  I think Florence must have died and I no longer see her driving past.  Bertie now lives on the Purley Way in Croydon.  He's being neglected, I endlessly hatch plans to rescue him.  Jean-Pierre was sold to some inbred bloke from Derby...
7: I once sold my pet hamster for £5 and a bag of sweets.
8: I have a terrible relationship with food.
9: I'm scared of thunderstorms, and yet, I would love to go storm chasing in America.  They scare yet excite me greatly.
10: I've suffered from depression since I was 13.
11: I'm incredibly selfish.
12: I live for music and my daughter.  I could talk about both of them all day long, endlessly.
13: Fuck you little cursor, stop flashing at me, I've run out of facts okay?
14: I love Strictly Come Dancing and cannot wait for the new series to start properly.
15: I recently learnt some basic swing dancing with Andy, but we haven't practiced which saddens me.

Yes, alright, boring, hopefully there's at least one interesting one in here!!

Thursday 16 September 2010

30 Day Blog Challenge

So, this is pinched from Coralene, who doesn't follow my blog, so she probably doesn't know I've pinched it but she has a great blog and is really quite funny and always posts cute pictures so go and check her blog out really.

But, like her, I've been totally uninspired to blog anything lately, so this should give me some ideas for the next 30 days....!

Day 01- A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself

Day 02- The meaning behind your Blog name
Day 03- A picture of you and your friends
Day 04- A habit that you wish you didn’t have
Day 05- A picture of somewhere you’ve been to
Day 06- Favorite super hero and why
Day 07- A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you
Day 08- Short term goals for this month and why
Day 09- Something you’re proud of in the past few days
Day 10- Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad
Day 11- Another picture of you and your friends
Day 12- How you found out about Blogger and why you made one
Day 13- A letter to someone who has hurt you recently
Day 14- A picture of you and your family
Day 15- Put your iPod on shuffle: First 10 songs that play
Day 16- Another picture of yourself
Day 17- Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why
Day 18- Plans/dreams/goals you have
Day 19- Nicknames you have; why do you have them
Day 20- Someone you see yourself marrying/being with in the future
Day 21- A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 22- What makes you different from everyone else
Day 23- Something you crave for a lot
Day 24- A letter to your parents
Day 25- What I would find in your bag
Day 26- What you think about your friends
Day 27- Why are you doing this 30 day challenge
Day 28- A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?
Day 29- In this past month, what have you learned
Day 30- Your favorite song.

So, without further ado, Part 1 of Day 1 (As I'm going home in 5 minutes and I'm off to Guides again tonight - more on that in another post...)

A recent picture of myself

I'm in the dress and petticoat I bought for my cousins civil ceremony in Windsor next week.  I literally went through my phone, it's the most recent proper picture of myself, the most recent recent one is this:



Anyway, that is all for now.  I'm going to go home and start preparing for my second Guide meeting (my first one was a bit mixed....)

Friday 3 September 2010

Thursday 2 September 2010

Tu Vo Fa L'Americano



I have this silly song in my head, not the original or anything, that annoyingly catching remix that they keep playing on Radio 1. I heard it whilst in the van on my epic bike ride (did I blog about that yet?!) and it's on my Spotify playlist so it pops up every now and then. Anyway...

I have lots of lovely new followers, I'm now up to 14 followers, how exciting, Ni Hao! Thanks for any comments that you've left recently, blog love is always the best love....

I had a proper post ready to, erm, post, but then I got sidetracked looking at photos and then told off for being on the internet too much, oooops!

Not a lot to report really. Have come with a rotten cold, am annoyed at my new haircut, it looked super cute the first day (Doesn't it always, damn hairdressers and their super blow drying powers) and now it just looks crap and I look like a frumpy mum. Again. The one thing I keep trying to avoid. Yes, I know I have a kid, but I'm also still only 25, not 55!

I think we're heading out for dinner again tonight, though I don't know where. We were going to go to Bodean's, I think I might just relent and still go, it just means Andy will drink too much and I'll have to drive home from Clapham, which I don' fancy much! Oh well, will see what happens.

In the meantime, some photos perhaps?


Red Lips Wednesday

Hair immediately after cut and blow dry

Hair the morning after, when I've had to wash and restyle myself. Fail

Our roof started leaking in the kitchen during the heavy rain. Fail.


We're potty training Scarlett. Moderate fail.


That's all for now. Going to get ready and decide where to go for dinner. Two nights out in one week with Andy, that's more than when we first met!

Saturday 21 August 2010

Getting to know you...

Pinched from Alex...

* What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was 15, and around this time I was probably doing pretty much F all on summer holidays, might maybe have been away with my parents somewhere, quite possibly Scotland because it's the Festival in August (that's not why we went). I was also going out with a boy called Adam. Apart from Andy, he's the only boy (and trust me, he was a boy, definitely not a bloke or a man, or anything near, he was a runt!) I've been out with properly.

*What was I doing 1 year ago?
Working, at Kingston still, hating my job, bloody hating the people I work with, being constantly stressed about money and living in the bedroom upstairs because Andy's mum still lived here. I don't want to say Ugh, but that is how I feel about all this.

*What was I doing yesterday?
I was at work. I say work, but I didn't do much work, the bare minimum. It's not that I don't enjoy the job I'm doing now, but the last couple of weeks, I have been feeling more and more like I won't stay, that my opinion isn't valued and they just wanted someone to keep the other girl's seat warm. HMPH!

* 5 snacks I enjoy?
1. Popcorn
2. Chocolate, preferably Galaxy, also especially Twirls.
3. Toast, especially white bread, naughty. Also good with Marmite, jam and peanut butter, though obv not all at the same time!
4. Pop Tarts (I haven't had them in a while, but I was watching Spaced earlier, and Daisy cooks some in a Pulp Fiction spoof and had a sudden craving!)
5. Biscuits - pretty much any time apart from Ginger Nuts and Rich Teas.

* 5 things I would do if I won £100m
1. Pay off debts - mine, Andy's and my parents
2. Buy houses - London, Spain, Amsterdam, Country (Near coast would be nice, not TOO far from London...!)
3. Buy cars - Original Mini, Audi Q7, Ford Popular (Sit up and Beg), Vintage American car of some kind (Andy wants a Ferarri, BORING!)
4. Hire some people - Nanny, dressmaker, hairdresser, chef, personal trainer, beautician trained in Electrolysis, plastic surgeon...
5. Set up a screenprinting business, just for fun. A general frou frou business, with a shop front and workshop out back. Pocket money yknow!

* 5 locations I would like to run off to
1. Maldvies/Bahamas/You get the idea. With no one around, not even Andy or Scarlett. Just a solar powered iPod and a stack of books.
2. Japan - I have to go here at least once and live out my Lost in Translation fantasy. One day (I hope!)
3. America - I've never been, I must be the only person in the world who's never been, literally.
4. Amsterdam - duh.
5. My parents house - I miss my old duvet, and my dad showing us crap on YouTube, and the stinky pooch and my mum being weird. Not all the time, but sometimes.

* 5 habits I have
1. Sucking my thumb - I will probably never stop.
2. Being angry - is that a habit, I dunno.
3. Bitching - definitely a good past time, it will DEFINITELY get me in trouble one of these days. I have loose lips (keep it clean!)
4. Not brushing my teeth very often - gross I know, this shows how lazy I really am, I do it once a week usually, will come back and bite me in the arse I'm sure.
5. Drinking - I like a drink, I don't do it a lot, but when I do, I do. Love how it makes me feel after just a couple, all loose and warm and comical and confident.

* 5 things I like doing
1. Listening to music - til I die.
2. Playing with Scarlett - nutter.
3. Drinking - see above.
4. Sleeping - especially if I have a reunion with the duvet mentioned above.
5. Shopping - the reason I'm in debt...!

* 5 TV shows I like
1. Shooting Stars
2. EastEnders
3. Spaced
4. Peep Show/IT Crowd/Pete VS Life (General C4 Friday night...!)
5. Friends (god, how lame, but I totally grew up with it!)

* 5 things I hate
1. Inconsiderate smokers - I'd prefer it if you didn't blow it over your shoulder whilst I'm pushing my pushchair behind you, twat.
2. Smells - I'm quite bad with smells, if something smells and I don't like it, I go apeshit. Red onion chutney, fuck off.
3. Wet bread - My cousins once did this thing about a haunted house, "This is his hair" - Spaghetti, "This is his eye" - Pickled Onion, "This is his skin" - Wet bread (or something like that, but it FREAKS ME OUT and it was awful when Scarlett was weaning and just gummed on toast and I had to clear it up!)
4. Girls of a certain type - But I think I don't hate them, I envy them.
5. Myself - sob sob emo answer

* 5 biggest joys at the moment
1. Scarlett
2. Being alive
3. Being with Andy
4. Having the house to ourselves at last and not being invaded by carers all day long, lingering and making a mess!
5. That Andy has a good job and good career progression.

Right, on that note, I'm going to bed. Please, do sponsor me on the 7 seater bike ride tomorrow by way of donation via this link: http://myprojects.cancerresearchuk.org/group-giving/cobiuk PLEASE!

Friday 20 August 2010

Conference bike ride in aid of Cancer Research UK

Just a final little reminder, not that anyone reads this blog anymore, but please, I'm taking part in the John O Groats to Lands End 7 seater "Conference Bike" ride, Leg 19 from London to Guildford, not the whole 30 miles, but at least some of it, and I would be so so so appreciative if at least one person who might happen to read this blog could donate a bit of money to the cause, it's all for Cancer Research UK and it'd mean a lot to me if someone were to donate/sponsor as I'm terrified about it on Sunday, not sure how I'm going to do 5 minutes on the damn thing!

So please, it would mean a lot, 1 in 3 people will suffer from Cancer in their lifetime with a new diagnosis made every 2 minutes in the UK. With your donation, Cancer Research UK can continue their work towards finding a cure, and supporting those affected in the meantime.

http://myprojects.cancerresearchuk.org/group-giving/cobiuk

Wednesday 18 August 2010

Vintage at Goodwood

So, I'm sure lots has happened since I last blogged (as always!) but here's one of my recent highlights:

Vintage at Goodwood

Well, there's been really mixed reviews of this. All I know is, I fucking hate rain and I fucking hate not having anything nice to wear to vintage-esque things. I wore a horrible dress from Next which was about the only relatively 40s - 50s thing I had gone but it was too fucking short and I laddered my cheating fake seamed stocking tights before I even left the house, so I was destined for failure. Really, I think I should just give up, because when you're a size 24, vintage don't work in your favour, unless you're doing Mama Cass or something (actually, I think I'd be a bloody good Mama Cass....)


I digress (although, I think I might totally go as her next year...) It was quite good, but I did feel like a total lemon and wished I'd had enough money to buy a swing dress (albeit, not a Vivien of Holloway one because I'm too fat and too poor). But I guess, this is all my own hang ups. Everyone looked the part, you could tell who was a proper vintager and who was a, pissing about with an afro wig and paisley kinda person. It was nice actually to see lots of different eras and styles represented, I think that was probably the big plus for me. So what if that means I'm not a 'purist'!

There was a lot to do, in terms of dances and bands and acts and stuff. We were lucky enough to be front of the queue for the Chap fashion show which was quite fun.



But then, that meant we kinda missed out on the Jive lesson (plus, it looked bloody packed up there) and likewise, it was rammed for the Tea Dance because by that point, the heaven's had well and truly opened!

I had my hair done, which was fun, but I'm still pretty crap at Victory Rolls (the more I type, the more I think I might give up and defect to the 70s, I can do a pretty mean beehive and I at least have TWO original 70s dresses at home!).

Then I went and had the biggest ever Peep Show moment with some people at the Chap Olympics, I literally wished the ground had opened up and swallowed me, literally, so embarrassing, plus my sister embarrassed me in front of some people which was nice of her, then I kinda didn't say anything so they just started having their own conversation and I was like, umm okay. Then went to talk to Fleur de Guerre, and probably looked like a right old stalker, because all I could think of to say was that I'd seen some photos of her on a mutual friends' Flickr photostream. Nice one Amy, you fucking stalker! Apologies to all and sundry who had to be involved in my excruciating shyness!

And it rained. And it didn't let up. And Fortnum and Mason wanted £4 for a tea. And there just wasn't anywhere to go to get away from the rain. Tried to take shelter in the 60s stage, whatever it was called, but it was rammed full of people watching Baby Loves Disco (I have a 2 year old, lets not forget, and that was the only point of the day I wished she was with me so I could at least get in to the bloody place and get dry under the pretences of being eligible to join in with my 2 year old!)

But in the bleak dampness there were a few bright sparks. The guys playing their bongos in a camper van,
The guys from the Mighty Booth (witness the fitness...)

and the lovely ladies (and cute tattooed lad) from the Marvellous Tea Dance Company for serving the best tea (I don't even drink tea, I do now thanks to them!) and cake,



I mean, I didn't buy any clothes, I hate rummaging and at this size, there's no point, they'll either charge a premium or it just won't exist. What I did buy was an Edwardian parasol in red, to replace my broken black one, a pop up 50s sun hat, and a hair clippy thing that I'm useless and getting to stay in my hair nice and tight.

Will I go again? Probably yes, but probably only as a hopeful helper when my sister hopefully has a stall there for Rockabetty Studios and if I go for the weekend, I will take the advice of my fussy side and stay in a B&B (or try to stay with my aunt in Boxgrove...) I think if you ignored the commercialism of it (which, yes, was hard, with it stabbing you in the eyes in the main high street) it wasn't a bad way to spend a day, I just wish I'd gotten to see some bands and the tea dance and stuff.

Anyway, you can see the photos from the day on my Flickr photostream (along with a set of Fleur de Guerre in her Able Grable Dream Girl, I'm really not a stalker, I promise, I was asked to take them...)

Saturday 31 July 2010

Dorset, christenings and SPONSORED BIKE RIDES!!

Please accept my apologies for not blogging sooner. The photos from Dorset are here on my Flickr page.

We had great fun. I can't believe how lovely Lyme Regis still is after all these years, in fact it's almost better than it used to be (although, without my old friends to mess around with, it wasn't quite the same!)

The weather held up, having said that, I am very pleased that we have already booked our holiday in Spain for next summer, 2 weeks of guaranteed sun!

What has everyone else been up to?

Work is still busy but I'm enjoying it, am getting more responsibility with every week that passes, so hopefully by the end, they will have decided I'm indispensable (I hope!)

What else? Am hoping to go to Vintage at Goodwood on the 13th August (not that I've booked my ticket, or the day off work and I probably won't have any money to spend, but oh well!) We're going to a chav christening on the 15th August (A double chav christening no less) so I think I will aim to go ridiculously vintage (somehow) because they will freak out for sure!

Also, and you must pay attention for this bit, I am take part in the CoBi 7 seater bike ride on Sunday 22nd August. I am riding in Leg 19 from London to Guildford - 32 miles, although, I know I won't be doing the WHOLE thing because there's about 10 riders that day (and only 7 seats, and 6 sets of pedals!)

But it would mean a lot to me, if you could sponsor the team, and put that you're sponsoring for me in particular, even a few quid would mean a lot and it's in support of the most excellent Cancer Research UK, breast cancer research in particular. To sponsor me/dontate, please click here. For more info on the CoBi bike ride itself, click here.

Thanks girls!! xx

Wednesday 14 July 2010

July

Is the name of the song I'm listening to right now, by Ocean Colour Scene, but a rather funky remix of it that I like to listen to REALLY loudly when I'm driving my self to and from work.

Have got my headphones on full blast as Andy is watching Dragon's Den - BORING! I just get annoyed by it really, Duncan Bannantyne really irritates me as does Peter Jones and the munter, sorry, Meadon. (shit joke, I know, am tired!)

So, what else has occured? Not a lot really?

Work is super stressful at the minute, this must be what work actually means, because when I worked downstairs I wasn't busy and all I did was go around slagging off the woman I worked with and saying how much I hated it there. Now I'm upstairs I'm enjoying it a lot, but with the enjoyment has come the stress because there is a LOT to do, which is good, it's nice, I feel like a proper grown up with a busy stressful job etc. Which isn't good for me I know, I have high blood pressure as it is! I even brought work home this evening, even though predictably I haven't done it, and it's 9:15pm so that ain't gonna happen!

I do enjoy the job though, for all the stress and the bitching and moaning, because in my own small way I feel like I'm improving the university by making them slightly better organised (okay, so it's only on SharePoint but hey, good document management is the key to success in my books....!) Geek alert!

We're off to Dorset on Friday morning and we have quite a lot to do in preparation for that, the two main things being getting rid of our old dishwasher so it's not sitting outside all week and getting Scarlett's hair cut because she looks like Worzel Gummidge at the minute!

Am finally getting round to uploading the photos from Paul McCartney onto my iMac (they're currently clogging up my work hard drive) so that I can format the memory card ready for going away, and it's saying it's going to take over an hour, ooops. 2gb of photos just of Paul McCartney - too much?!

The nice guy at work, who is sadly leaving on Friday (and I won't be there to see him go) formatted my iMac and put Leopard on it for me so I can now plug my iPhone into it = Happy Amy.

I'm listening to Toots & the Maytals, luscious. What is everyone rocking at the minute? From now on, everytime I post a blog, I want to know what my readers are listening to (not at that precise moment) but just what's something you've got on constant repeat?

I've been listening to Kele (from Bloc Party) and his debut solo album The Boxer, it's great, reminds me in parts of Hot Chip and Trentemøller (go and look up the video for Moan by Trentemøller, I am totally obsessed with it, I went through a total phase of being absolutely gut wrenchingly sad about Laika and how she died in space - I am strange, yes)

God, Planet Telex by Radiohead, amazing, makes me want to scream it out, even though I don't really know what the words are. Might annoy Andy though, interrupt his shitty Dragon's Den!

I literally could blog, just about the music I'm listening to. There's a graduate of Kingston Uni called Fiona Banner - she has an exhibition at Tate Britain at the minute called Harrier and Jaguar, looks good. But some of her early pieces were just where she'd watch porn and describe it in words. Her famous piece along these lines was The Nam where she described 3 or 4 famous Vietnam films. Interesting thought, I've always liked stream of conciousness stuff. Even though my blog at the minute is a stream of conciousness, not a very interesting one at that!!

And on that note...

Oh, on one last note, I really really HAVE to learn this dance:



Old news I know, but she rocks, big up the big girls!

Tuesday 29 June 2010

Hello Goodbye

Have been pants at blogging, again, ha.

I admire some of the girls I follow in their dedication to the art of blogging. I just don't seem to get time. They need to make a blogger app, that'd make it easier.

So, to get you up to speed, some things that I shall list that I have done lately:

1: Paul McCartney
Yes, I did Macca. Hmm, perhaps 50 years ago...! But yes, rather last minute, I booked myself and my sister tickets to go and see Paul McCartney at Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park on Sunday. It was A-MA-ZING! Like literally the best night of my life so far, without a doubt. The night I saw Orbital at Brixton Academy comes a very very close second, but this was just, something else. To hear Beatles songs, played live, by a Beatle is like the pinnacle of life or something for me (getting married and having more kids, meh, overrated...!) I did take some photos and videos and they can be found here on my Flickr photostream. Annoyingly, the video for Live and Let Die didn't upload, it's on my Facebook, if anyone wants to add me to see the pictures and videos please feel free to add me....

But it was totally cool, he played most of my favourites, especially Eleanor Rigby but he also played a lot of Wings stuff which we didn't know (apart from Band on the Run and Live and Let Die). I don't care if the reviews said his set has been the same for years as have the anecdotes, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. And it's given me a bit of a taste for going to a festival hence...

2: Festival craving
Registration for Glastonbury 2011 opened today, time to get my picture taken and PRAY we get tickets this year.

Have noticed that the Big Chill festival this year has a line up that suits me to a 'T'. So cue me bugging Andy to go, he says he can't think of anything worse, he hates the line up. Buggeration. My sister's friend plays with Paloma Faith who is playing that weekend - wonder if he'll get any tickets... The main reason I want to go is because the Easy Star All Stars are playing. For anyone who hasn't heard them, totally go and listen to them on Spotify because they're amazing!

3. iPhone 4
So, I pissed my manager's off by calling them at 10:30 and announcing I was taking the day as Annual Leave (ooops!) but I finally after a long painful day got myself the new iPhone. Totally made up. It's great, I've really missed not having an iPhone. Yes, I'm a geek, they're a waste of money, whatever, you're just jealous! I'm a total Apple fan and would get all their products if I could afford them (to me, this is the ONE advantage that PC's have over Macs).

Oh yeah, the only downside? It won't work with my iMac - it's too old! So I went to buy Snow Leopard except, duh! My iMac is too old to have an Intel processor and as such won't run Snow Leopard. One of the IT guys at work thinks he has a disc for Leopard which should work so I live in hope I can restore all my old apps and music. At the minute I seem to be doing okay, and any apps I had bought on my old iPhone I'm able to download again for free so that's okay. Sorry, that was quite a lot of detail there hey?!

4. Upcoming holiday
I booked for Andy, Scarlett and I to go to Dorset for a week next month (well July 16th which is like 2 weeks away). We're staying in a little chalet that looks okay so that's cool. I'm pretty excited because it's basically where I used to go as a teenager with the youth group to camp. I have SO many good memories of being down there, that I really am excited. Andy isn't as excited, he's worried that Dorset is just for old people! So I need to do a bit of research to prove him otherwise.

5. Mental work
Well, I'm putting this because it's getting close to 10:30pm here, which means I can still be in bed by 11pm I know, which is an hour or two earlier than my last few nights, but I'm so tired at work, I literally am falling asleep at my desk! Today, I had to escape to the toilets twice just to close my eyes for 5 minutes, isn't that awful! But it's also been really hot in our office which hasn't helped, and the work I've got to do is so laborious and dull it's making it all worse! GAH! Nevermind, determined to go in and concentrate tomorrow. Shit, except I have the dentist at 3pm tomorrow, fucking dentist. I put it off last week to watch the football so I have to go tomorrow, buggeration. I have such poor dental hygiene it's embarassing, that's really gross I know, one of my failings, I rarely brush my teeth. There, I said it. Whatever, it's not like I shit and don't wipe my arse....!

6. Tattoo planning
I go for my consultation with Nick Horn at Good Times Tattoo in Shoreditch on Thursday evening. Eeeeek! I sort of have some ideas, but I keep changing my mind. So I think it's best I take my ideas and tell him my concerns etc and see what he says. He comes highly recommended by Alex so I can only hope that he has the ability to help me decide whether I really want it doing. I do, I think I'm worried my mum will go apeshit, that's all! If they're done well, I won't regret it, I think that's the reason I hate my other ones.

I don't have a seventh, and 6 is an even number, so I shall stop there. How have you been, all 4 of my followers....! Go forth and recruit people to read my blog, or at least follow me, I don't care if they don't read me! I just want to feel loved dammit! Haha!

Wednesday 16 June 2010

A promise from my mother

If I lose enough weight by September, my mother has promised to buy me a Vivien of Holloway dress for my cousin's gay wedding in Windsor (at the Guildhall where Elton and David got married, and Charles and Camilla for that matter....). I'm pretty excited, I was excited before the promise was made, but now it's like the greatest incentive ever! So, I have 3 months (the wedding is on the 25th) - on your marks, get set, go!

But my conundrum now: I wanted to wear a hat, but, can any of my vintage readers suggest a suitable hat to go with a VoH dress? Or is it just not right? I'm going to have to give some serious thought to my hair too, I'm even thinking of booking myself an appointment to see a professional vintage hairstyler nearer the time (any recommendations?!)

In other news, not a lot, my brain is a bit frazzled, I've been listening to the Easy Star All-Stars all day and reading about HTML, CSS, XHTML, JavaScript and Accessibility all day.

Tuesday 15 June 2010

Schleepy

I went to the gym this morning, I was there at 6am. I was up at 5am because Scarlett decided she didn't like her cot anymore. She came and pretended to sleep on our floor, except, she didn't sleep, she just aped around until I had to get up to go to the gym. I really could've done with those 40 minutes she robbed me of. Little moo-ey.

I just felt I better update, I haven't in like a week, which makes me feel bad.

Since yesterday we've been trying to eat better. I think I did okay yesterday, I didn't snack at all, dinner might not have been so good (Pizza Express at Home pizza) but when I weighed myself at the gym this morning I had lost a pound since Sunday (weighed on the same scales)

Plus we're using Food Focus to track our food and exercise so we'll see how that works out (I will probably forget to do it by tomorrow and then won't for a week and have to lie, not how to do a successful food diary!)

Andy and I both really want to get the iPhone 4 when it comes out next week, but it's all adding up. We think roughly £150 for the phone, plus the £80 to get out of our existing contracts early. Although, if the leaked Vodafone pricing is to be believed, I might say stuff the £80, I'll carry on paying my monthly bill until my contract with O2 expires and go with Vodafone. What a conundrum. (I can't pay the £80 a leave O2, if i want out for that reduced rate, I have to stay with them, wankers!)

The other problem is, that it's going to wipe out like a 6th of our income in one fell swoop, and that's not to mention the fact that we have the childminder to pay (another £200) plus I really wanted to buy a custom Able Grable before Miss Matilda goes on her summer hols. Ugh, I hate money (and lack thereof!) No wonder I'm getting headaches all the time.

Anyway, best crack on, I've done nearly no work in the last week which is quite bad (mainly because, I don't really know what I'm meant to be doing!)

How is everyone else?

Monday 7 June 2010

Weekend Photo Post

I wanted to post this yesterday, but in the end, I was too tired and I was having trouble trying to upload photos to 4 different places at once (impatient, as always!)

Saturday was just Saturday, our usual fruitless trip to B&Q for garden lights, followed by a BBQ. Such creatures of habit!


Scarlett's 'cheese' face. You put a camera in front of her, say cheese, and this is what you get!


Yesterday, we went to Richmond park in the morning....

Semi-cheese face


The soaking wet Converse....

Scarlett in the giant hollow tree...


.... And in the afternoon I made Whoopie Pies! I've been a little obsessed with them ever since I saw them on the Whimsical Wonderland Weddings blog (I told you I was reading a lot of wedding blogs!)


Before I covered them in crappy icing, will use white marshmallows next time, using a mixture made the cream a weird salmon colour!


The picture...

...what mine looked like. Hmmm.

They came out a bit garish but they were pretty tasty, I think I'm going to ice them differently next time though, I hate glace icing, it hurts my teeth. We have a BBQ at my aunt and uncles house on the 19th so I think I'm going to try and make some to take with us.


Sorry, this has probably been a bit lame, clearly my creative writing juices aren't flowing this morning!


What did everyone else get up to at the weekend - do tell...

Friday 4 June 2010

It's Friday

Hello all of two followers (yknow, if you're reading this, you really should go and click that follow button if you haven't already, I can be quite interesting sometimes!)

What's been happening?
Not a lot has been happening for me actually, not a lot! Scarlett had a successful session with her new childminder yesterday so that's good, she gets on really well with the other toddler that the minder looks after, so hopefully she'll be fine next week, so pleased. She didn't appear to have nits despite the girl at nursery freaking me out the other week but I'm still knotting her hair into tight plaits when she goes there! She needs a trim really, because it's quite long, but it's long in her eyes, it reaches her mouth for goodness sake - mealtimes are a treat in our house!!

Think we got sorted with Andy's mum, she can stay in the nice home, albeit in a shared room, but I think she likes that, she had a shared room at respite and really like the company. I should go and see her, I am starting to feel bad about not having been up there, might suggest we go this weekend.

I've been reading a lot of wedding blogs, in particular Rock 'n Roll Bride, and I can't help hoping that we can get engaged sometime soon, but I don't hold out much hope. Although, what hope do I have when I keep pestering him?! Would serve me right if we never got married!

Work has been busy, ish. Although, I've only been here 2 days so far, and I'm not sure if today is going to be very productive, I have a meeting this morning and then need to go and train a girl on SharePoint this afternoon so hopefully it should pass quite quickly. I had to go home on Wednesday as my sister wasn't well so couldn't look after Scazz. I think she has the flu, hopefully not Swine Flu but something pretty bad by the sounds of it.

I should probably get back to work....

Illicit

Dum de dum, must write to Post Secret sometime soon....

Tuesday 1 June 2010

You're standing on my neck

I'm in a really bad mood, and I can't quite put my finger on why.


I think I'm feeling increasingly pathetic in as much as I crave attention and adoration and approval from people I only 'know' online. And that doesn't count my two followers because I'd like to know both of you better. It's just other random people whose blogs and tweets I follow. I guess they're all very busy people but it's kinda like, I've taken the time to comment to you, back you up, tell you what a good job you're doing, and I guess it's a bit needy but sometimes it would be nice if just one of these people who I so admire would get back in touch, even just to say hey. Isn't that pathetic?!


Plus, I'm in a bad mood because I can't seem to find a Daria boxset for Region 2, so fuck you MTV, she had fans over here too yknow (I actually used to work with a bloke at Virgin who was the absolute spitting image of Trent Lane) I used to think I actually was Daria, I based a lot of who I was on her, sarcastic, depressive, it was a good synonym for my feelings at the time. Right, where to find a green zip up jacket....

Wednesday 26 May 2010

What a week so far

Well, to be honest with you guys, this week hasn't been the greatest.


Monday was a bad start. Got Scarlett from nursery just to be told, she might have nits and that one of the kids in the other Toddler class has them, "Really bad." Well if he has them so badly, why the fuck is he still going to nursery - how fucking selfish are some parents to just keep sending their kids into nursery with all these contagious things. I cried my eyes out on the phone to my parents, I felt like a bad parent or something yknow, she had really bad nappy rash too which was making her feel rotten and I just felt like I was failing at looking after her properly. Fell asleep on the sofa after dinner, woke up at 11.00pm feeling like I was going to puke, to find Scarlett sitting on the other sofa looking sorry for herself.


Tuesday was even worse, Scarlett had a little accident overnight, found her and her cot covered in poop, nice. Andy had a review at the care home with his mum to find out whether or not she was still eligible for NHS Continuing Care funding. He'd been umming and ahhing for 2 weeks over what to do, I offered numerous times to take the day off to have her and he kept saying no. Then with the realisation that she wasn't well and that it was probably best he didn't take her to the care home with him, I came into work for 2 hours, then went home. I could tell Scar wasn't well, as she was asleep in the car when Andy picked me up and went to bed soon after I got her home.


Andy came back with the predictable news that his mum was no longer eligible for the full funding (the woman has had a leg removed and can no longer feed herself, how bad do they want people to be?!) I should be pleased, she no longer has any sores, is no longer having TIAs or lashing out at the nurses, so she has improved, but it's just so fucking irritating.


And I'll tell you why. We knew this was going to happen, we knew she probably wouldn't stay on it long, we were sort of forewarned that some people don't stay on it long because the criteria are a bit wanky. So, because we knew it was probably going to change, we fought for 2 months to get her into a different home from the one she's in - one where she went to a Day Centre at the weekends, where we knew the staff and knew it was half the price of the one she's in now. We fought for it because we knew eventually she'd lose the funding, and once she lost the funding we could just about afford to keep her in that one, instead of the situation we're now in and we have 2 weeks to find her a new home that she can afford with her pension and the £120 a week the NHS will give her. More stress that we don't need.


So I'm hoping that today doesn't turn out to be a load of crap because I'm really not sure I can take it. I need to crack on with some work, but clearly my mind just isnt in it.


I'll leave you with a photo I took on my new camera.


Friday 21 May 2010

On the hop

Just a quick one, haven't really got much to report at all. Same old same old. We got cut off (as we do every month) so no internets at home until, umm, no idea, might not be until next Wednesday at the earliest, booo!


The weather is really hotting up here at the moment, we're set for a lovely weekend, they're prediciting 27C on Sunday which will be nice. Although, we have to do major sort out in the garden, multiple tip runs, it sort of got used as the dumping ground when we were decorating so it's all a total bloody mess out there. Wonder if we'll get the old sofa into the Kangoo? I doubt it.


Anyway, will leave you with a picture from my new camera, it's about the only half decent one I've taken since I got it. Must get back on the case with photography. I must.


Monday 17 May 2010

Owwww

So tired. I came up to bed an hour ago, I'm still here because Scarlett really isn't well and is doing the usual toddler thing of just crying uncontrollably. I want to get mad at her, it's so frustrating, but I feel so bad for her, she really gets herself into a state, then she'll suddenly conk out, then as you put her back in her cot, she wakes up and start bawling again - ooohh soo tired!

Today was nice, not what I had planned, but turned out to our advantage. We went to Croydon to look around the shops - god what an eye opener that town is - jeeez! I sort of wish we had gone to Kingston but oh well.

Came home, blew out the candles on my giant Millie's cookie, got Scarlett to bed and had take away Pizza Express. We were going to go to the restaurant to eat, but a combination of a broken printer (no 2for1 voucher for us then) and a screaming, tired, brattish toddler meant we gave it a miss. And I'm glad we did, it was a flippin nightmare in there, so busy and noisy, we wouldn't have been able to hear ourselves think let alone have a conversation with each other! So we had it at home, on our rickety dining table and mismatching chairs!

I only got one present this year, but what a present! A Panasonic Lumix camera from Andy - woooweeee! So pleased with it. Will try and take some proper pictures and stuff, I might even get back to doing my photo a day blog! Ha! And the cutest little turquoise neoprene case for it too. Bless him. My parents gave me money, so I bought some new sunglasses and a Ruby & Millie eyeliner (the best!) and I also won £3 on the scratchcards my aunt gave me and some money from my grandparents. Not sure what I'll put that towards though.

Anyway, I am bloody knackered now, so I shall retire and post some pics tomorrow.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Might post another thing later, but here is a run down of my birthday so far:

Bad Birthday: Having to use kitchen roll this morning as Andy refused to stop somewhere on his way in last night and get some toilet roll.

Good Birthday: Scarlett went to Nursery without complaint (yes, I know, mean mummy, sending her daughter to Nursery instead of dragging her round the shops...)

Bad Birthday: Not having any money in my account to treat myself to breakfast.

Good Birthday: Having £4; exactly enough to buy toilet roll, bleach and Cilit Bang. (quite why this constitutes good birthday, I don't know, but it was nice to get the toilet roll at least!)

Bad Birthday: Having to clean the bathroom on my Birthday.

Good Birthday: Finding out Andy filled the car up with petrol (at least, I hope he did, I hope it's not just a mirage!)

Good Birthday: Dancing round the lounge to Edith Piaf and the Beastie Boys.

Right then, am off to finish cleaning then have a nice shower in my nice clean bath!

Sunday 16 May 2010

What way to write off a day

Some pictures from last night, I am drunk in all of them.





So have been 'hanging', as my sister would say, all day today. God knows how I managed to get myself out of bed, showered, walked the 15 minutes to where we'd left the car last night (we were running late, don't judge me) and got to Tesco to get the paper, chocolate croissants and paracetamol by 9:30am. Jeez, it's horrible having a 2 year old when you have a hangover.

Speaking of whom, she's in bed, she was put in bed at 6pm because she didn't eat any dinner and threw her cup of water on the floor, naughty bubby. I made Andy actually follow through on his threat of, "Straight to bed" this time because normally he says it, then backs down straight away!

Anyway, last night was great. I drank probably 9 or 10 cocktails, I really lost count, they were just put in front of me. God knows how we stumbled from Detroit in Covent Garden to Bodean's in Soho (such a birthday tradition of mine, get drunk, go to Bodean's). Fuck that place is good, I haven't been in so long, was disappointed to discover they don't give you gherkins anymore on the side of your plate. Felt a bit bad for my my friend G, he's on a vegetarian bet with his brother and dutifully ate a giant Macaroni Cheese whilst the rest of us stuffed our faces with Pulled Pork and slow cooked beef (Burnt Ends). It's great in there, I could rant about it all day, it's like, lush. And the waiter was cute (big guy).

(Andy just asked, "What are you doing?" "Just blogging dear." "I'll blog you." Charming)

Wednesday 12 May 2010

Lazy

Told you I was going to be lazy. See some of my recent pictures on my Flickr photostream. I'll try and take some more interesting ones soon.

To, shy shy, hush hush, eye to eye


I really wanted to do a mammoth photo posting today but I just feel really tired and run down, my throat is killing me - can ulcers on your tongue give you a sore throat? Whatever it is, it's hurting, it's all sort of sinuses, my ears were all weird yesterday and now my throat feels like its closing up, coupled with the ulcers on my tongue - god, I'm falling apart and having a jolly good whinge like a sinking ship.

I'll maybe post some bits on Flickr (it's a bit quicker) and post a link or something.

I've been chatting a lot to a lady at work about social networking and stuff for the Students (I think it needs to be incorporated into the new Student intranet) and I just laugh at how public and open all my things are. You could type my name (or alias) into Google and it would probably throw up reams of stuff! It just made me think of that, "I'll post a link to Flickr", like literally the whole world could know my entire life - this lady at work said that really scares her, I think I'm too far gone for it to scare me any more. Do any of you worry about that?!

Friday 7 May 2010

Hung like a donkey

So, there's a hung parliament in the UK. Most of my readers are UK based, how does this make you feel? I'm not sure I care and to be honest, I'm probably one of the few people who actually is quite pleased at the prospect of a Lib Dem/Conservative coalition. I've been raised a bit of a Tory so it's just normal for me to align with them, I guess I probably don't really know why it's such a problem, why is it a problem? What's wrong with the Tories?!

I wanted to vote Tory but obviously in Sutton and Cheam we had all that nonsense with Phillippa Stroud and the gay demon banishing nonsense and generally she was exposed as being an Evangelical nut and that just didn't sit right with me so I kind of didn't get a chance to have my Tory vote, I just voted Lib Dem as they were the current seat holders any way so, what difference did it make? But, had we had a 'nice' Tory candidate, more people might have voted for them, and the Tories would've had at least one more seat because there wasn't exactly a huge majority for the Lib Dems.

Yeah, that's right, I like the Tories, I don't care, whatever, what difference does it bloody make? It's just a voting preference, it's not like saying you support the BNP for crying out loud! Jesus!

Sorry, I get really bloody annoyed by it, I hate people thinking I'm a bad person just because I vote Tory. But I didn't vote Tory, I wanted to vote Tory and I didn't because the Tory candidate was weird so I didn't vote for her.

So really, it's not about policies really for me, it's just about hating Gordon Brown and not liking other people's personalities, hence why I didn't vote for Stroud, because I thought she was just plain weird.

And yes, Cameron is a smarm but he's different, he's more bloody interesting than Brown. Let's be fair, all of them would fuck it up, whatever you do as PM you're never going to please everyone so who gives a fuck whether it's Cameron or Brown or bloody Screaming Lord Sutch (yes, I know he's dead but like, yknow what I'm saying right, it doesn't make a difference!)

Sorry, this got ever so political and I didn't mean it to be, am just having a general rant.

Tuesday 4 May 2010

Hellooooo Miss Lady


Just a quickie to plug my sister's new business; Rockabetty Studios. Specialising in Vintage pin up style portraits, she has a range of packages to suit every wannabe pin up. Website coming very soon (possibly made by yours truly) but you can see information on Facebook and follow on Twitter.
Other news to follow shortly, except, I left my camera at home. All I will say is that I have a bedroom and a wardrobe and it's just lush!

Wednesday 28 April 2010

Hottest day of the year

I hate it when these claims get touted on the news and weather and suchlike and everyone goes around spouting it like the Gospel. Boring!

I have my reasons for hating this 'hottest day of the year' nonsense, mainly because of my physique. I have this paranoia that people think fat people smell. Right. So because I'm fat, I'm paranoid that people think I smell. Which more than likely isn't the case, but I'm still paranoid about it. So I've just applied some perfume rather liberally, the only problem now is that I'm sitting at my desk with the fan on, and I think the perfume particles are being blown into my face because my eyes are stinging! Hahaha, fail! Either that or it's the triple layer of hairspray I just applied to my ailing quiff. Is quiff even the right word? Should it be a pomp?

Andy got paid yesterday, which was nice. I've been feeling giddy all morning with thoughts of a new car seat for Scarlett and having my own wardrobe, how sad. I told my friend earlier that Ikea furniture turned me on, which is probably very true. My bedroom is actually all Ikea, everything, and I'm not joking!

I've been busy all morning at work, clearly nothing gets done in my absence despite me giving someone the heads up that I was off.... Thanks for nothing! I know they have their own job to do but honestly, I've come back to such a mess! I need to crack on really but just thought I'd drop by. Can't even remember what my point was, I had a point earlier.

Just out of interest, does anybody have any good recommendations for a bank; I think Andy and I are going to get a joint bank account for food and household bills. How domesticated.

EDIT: Have just changed my layout, how much better does that feel? More room to moan!

Monday 26 April 2010

If people point to their wrist while asking for the time then why don't they just point to their crotch while asking for the location of the bathroom?

Dude, you have some worrying thoughts in your head. Well, when we were at uni and needed the loo when we were out on the piss, we used to extend our pinky finger and wiggle it, much is the same way as you would denote a small appendage, to indicate that we needed the loo, because as we all know, girls can't go to the toilet on their own.

Ask me anything

Silly Blogger

I've lost all the blogs I'm following which is pretty irritating as I had about 20 on there, and I can't remember them all but I did read them all periodically, bumholes.

And also because Blogger is having a silly five minutes I haven't been able to thank Kate O for commenting on my last post, it means a lot that someone has my (albeit virtual) back! I'll try to make more of an effort to blog as I know that I have a few followers so I'll try to be more interesting and less whingy!

Although, can I just get this whinge off my chest. ARGH SCARLETT! She drives me so insane sometimes, and I know she doesn't do it on purpose and underneath it all I love her to pieces but mragh she annoyed me today, and I don't even know why. I think I was in a bad mood, I had to take today off which means I didn't get any work done that I needed to and I had mental period pain all day (oh woe is me!)

She's got a cold and was just generally pretty grumpy and bored because I couldn't/didn't want to take her out. I have two problems, an anger problem and a confidence problem, probably both stemming from my weight problem. I got 99 of them, shall I continue?!

But anyway, tomorrow I think I'm going to take her to a park, then see if I can find a good duck pond to feed the ducks and then the library before coming home for lunch and a nap (she'll have the nap, I might do!)

What else has everyone else been up to? In other news I'm dreaming of a French summer holiday (which I can't see happening), a big car (which I DEFINITELY can't see happening) and some pretty vintage dresses (which might happen if I can be arsed to trawl through eBay).

My sister took some vintage inspired shots of me the other day which was fun, but it turns out I can't pose for shit and I really need to lose weight! Will see what the result is, I was hoping it would help her out in her new business venture in terms of promo, but I don't think it will, I think she was a bit pissed off by it all. Oh dear.

Friday 23 April 2010

Personally attacked on a public blog (again)

How's this for a slice of twattishness:

Rick said...
And additionally since the ‘English’, white, single mother (by choice) of your child might well be offended. [But if you’ve recently moved out of your mum’s house, married and set up home together, let me be the first to congratulate you on your belated commitment to parenthood].
Friday, April 23, 2010 2:36:00 PM

Now, are you serious? This is a personal attack on me, Andrew and our family. How has the guy who monitors this blog approved this comment? Is this slander? Am I being over sensitive? But what exactly has any of that got to do with a Mosque opening in Worcester Park? Seriously?

Andy replied:

Andrew H said...

In addition to my previous comment, may i add that 'living with my mother', ricks words to try and make me look stupid, as is his general misguided debating style when commenting on this blog in general, is not really fair.

My mother has had severe dementia for the last decade, and ive been her permanent carer for the last 7 years. I really don't think trying to smear someone because they basically choose to give up their life to care for a dying loved one is very good form.

Your posts add nothing to this blog except contempt for yourself. They have no substance, and nor are they appreciated. I find them tedious, and such a turn off from visiting this otherwise good natured, adult and informative website.



My reply, though yet to be approved was as follows:

Yet again Rick has personally and publicly attacked Andrew and myself.

His misguided opinions and erroneous views regarding our marital status have been allowed to become slanderous comments on this blog.

I am so sick of the personal attacks dealt out by Rick.

We live a good life, raise our daughter together, and we're both hard workers and are aiming to give our daughter a decent upbringing. We're decent people, why do you feel the need to be so rude to us?

I'm slightly dismayed at the WP Blogger for not editing Rick's comment and letting it pass despite it containing such personal information.

This is not the first time, but I do hope it will be the last.

Friday, April 23, 2010 9:46:17 PM


I'm putting this here more as a record of the conversation should I need the comments in the future. But I'm just utterly incensed at his comments. So angry that our dirty laundry is being aired in public. Just what has any of it got to do with him. I'm sure we do a much better job of raising our daughter unmarried than a lot of married couples do!

I couldn't take being a celebrity; tabloid press cannon fodder, how do they cope with things like this!?!

What's new pussycat?

Not a lot actually. Which is probably why I haven't actually posted anything in like forever.

So what is new? Well, you saw the photos of our downstairs area (of our house, cheeky) which is cool, although, I keep trying to get Andy to stay down there in the evening but he always inevitably wants to go back up to the bedroom, "Cos the tellys bigger." Men.

Hopefully next weekend we should be getting the bookcases (subject to my parents being around with my dad's van as I don't think the bookcases will fit in the Kangoo and we don't have a roof rack) and also a TV stand so that we can bring the "Big telly" down and get on with living like 'normal' people. I can't wait to put the bed into a normal position in the room where I don't have to climb over Andy to get out of bed! Plus, I can't wait to get a normal wardrobe!

Then next on the Agenda is the garden. It always inevitably gets to this time of the year and the garden has overgrown, the pond stinks and is so thick with algae it's any wonder the fish are still alive and the decking looks all crappy again. Honestly, I wish it was a terrace/patio instead of decking which is apparently more in vogue at the minute and decking is so passé! I asked whether we could just fill in with concrete and stick some paving slabs on top, I was told no, so we'll stick with the crappy decking.

I really want to get the pond filled in but it's looking unlikely, we keep arguing abour it! It just takes up so much of the garden, and the decking is full with the table and then when we fill the giant paddling pool in the summer (lush) plus I wanted a sun lounger, but there's literally no room on the decking. The pond gets quite a lot of sun, so if we filled that, we'd have more room. Someone suggested just filling it with a load of sand, but we have quite a problem with the local cats to I don't think a giant sandpit for Scarlett to play in would be the best idea (I'm thinking, giant fucking litter tray, fucking cats!)

So anyway, rant about the garden over. It does need sorting though, major big time! I think we're going to just get some big grasses; bamboo and stuff, make it a bit more oriental and also put some trellis up on top of the fence as this is the first Summer that we're actually going to have neighbours (no more, ahem, shenanegins then)

Right, have got a meeting any minute now with some ladies who I created a new page for on the Student pages, they're coming to agree and tweak the final things before it goes live. Eeek!