Out with the old and in with the NEW!

Happy New Year! It's the last day of 2008 and with less than 3 hours to go, I'd have to say the highlight of my day has been... a butterscotch and pecan pudding! Well, I'm not the butterscotchartgirl for nothing! I'm seeing the New Year in with my lovely tv, a glass of fizz and a smile x

My highlights of 2008

Meeting Monika in Majorca
It snowed
LA
My new pumpkin frock
The swans are back
Big valentines bouquet
Affordable Art Fair
More Monika in Majorca
No phone, broken phone, more broken phone!
Storms, champagne and Chelts racing
Rococco gardens
Best present ever – my new mini
HDVin Cambridge
Badminton Horse Trials
Tate Modern
Westonbirt
Dancing with Jack & Ginger
HDVin Chelts champagne
Brasserie Blanc
Sex and the City
Bath pigs
Beaufort Polo Club by royal appointment
A very special visit from the Szabo's!
Prescott Hill Climb didn't make a 'mug' out of me
This entry is for all you 'others' who think they should have got a mention! ;-)
The Merchant of Venice
Who burnt the tuna?! Mmm, should have had pork instead!
My new Dyson
Mauger Modern Summer Preview
Art, art and more art
Combine Harvesters photoshoot!
Paris
Rodin Museum
Endearing charm of Monet's Garden
A Winter’s Tale in the freezing rain - doh!
A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Midsummer gorgeous people
The Duchess and the Dork
Derbyshire scrapping weekend
Wuthering Heights... zzz
Family day out at Bewdley Safari Park
Beauty & The Beast
Heavenly outdoor spa
Jack's tour of Oxford and the dinosaurs
My botanical painting course
The delectable SK and her cabbage cupcakes
The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe
Romeo and Juliet ballet
Westonbirt Enchanted Christmas
Paddington station!
X-rays at Frenchay A&E!

Christmas Baa Humbug!

If Santa doesn’t bring you the red Ferrari you’ve had your eye on all year or doesn’t sing ‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friend’ as he gleefully slides down the chimney with a ring and a rose between his teeth, it’s really not that bad. He’s just slightly preoccupied, ‘Ho ho ho’.

Some people set themselves up for a fall at Christmas. Others, like myself, have fewer expectations so when something untoward happens, I’m actually happier than most. My positive frame of mind always gets me through sticky situations, regardless of how challenging they might be!

I’m always surprised by what routes my life takes. The twists and turns give me a chance to learn even more about myself. Life is a journey of discovery and the more chances you have to learn, the more rounded a person you will be. Not that I’m going to be any where near ‘rounded’ this Christmas. It’s the leanest year ever for Christmas fare. No turkey dinner, no Xmas pud, not even a sausage on a stick! But that means I won’t spend the entire month of January trying to lose those extra few pounds. I will join the gym fat-free and have a head start on all those over-fed forty-somethings!!

2:20am, Christmas Eve, all is quiet and not even a mouse is stirring in my apartment. And the reason I know that is that I am not there! I am at the A&E department waiting for x-rays. See what I mean about expectations? You weren’t expecting that one! Going back into the office on Monday may have seemed like a good idea at the time. Unfortunately, not only did I pick up my Christmas cards and catch up on work, I also picked up a bug! My cough disturbed whatever mending my ribs had been doing these past two weeks and although I’ve never been stabbed (and don’t wish to be thank you!) I could only imagine this is what it feels like. Never one to grumble, not even a tiny winge, I do however know that when I start getting really upset with something or someone, it’s time to act.

By 6am, I had had two x-rays and the diagnosis was luckily, I don’t have any serious internal damage but I do have chest wall injuries and most likely fractured my ribs. So it is pain killers for me this Christmas, yippee!

My life is never that simple and my system doesn’t like drugs of any kind. It knows what it likes and kicks off when it doesn’t like what it gets. Oh what a Christmas Day I have had!! I’ll spare you the details, but as my friends decided I shouldn’t be alone in my own apartment, I found myself alone at Lisa’s apartment, she is staying with her parents. Needless to say I’ve had a quieter Christmas than a Church mouse. I was not well and in bed by 9:30pm.

So back to my expectations... A girl should expect the best and as my expectations for Christmas are reasonably realistic, I’m really not that disappointed. To be honest, I’ve had some cracking pressies including a Nintendo ds with brain training! How could a girl be unhappy with that?! I’ve had a beautiful charm bracelet, some delicious smellies, a gorgeous one of a kind necklace, so you won't catch me complaining. In a short while, with a bit of tlc, I will be fighting fit and my skydiving antics will be a thing of the past!

Then I’ll just have to find another way to get my thrills?! Roll on 2009!

6 steps to building your own Christmas Tree!

This close to Christmas then the shelves were going to be bare so we had no choice but to buy the equivalent of a lego tree which came in bits! All credit to Rich and Jess who came down especially to take part in this challenge and have skillfully managed to put all the bits in the right place. As you can see, it needed a woman's touch to get it just right!






I have to say that it feels great to be back home. It feels as if I've been away for a long time. The thief of time has stolen 10 days and left me with bruises and a kindly reminder of life's fragility. Whilst I've been convalescing, the world hasn't stopped turning so it's almost Christmas. I can start smiling again because I have a twinkling tree and lots of Christmas cards from all the special people in my life.

All I want for Christmas...

If you can complete the lyric, you know what kind of week I've had! If you're reading this then you most likely know me, but may not be up to speed with what I've been up to these past few days. Crashing my way through life would be the best explanation. If I believed in fate, I would say that someone was looking out for me. We have choices and paths that we can take in our lives. I was determined one way or another to take a particular path on Thursday evening. Looking back, and I'll never know the reason why, but there is a reason why I wasn't supposed to be in Charlotte Street at 5:30pm.

So here's my story. I was supposed to be at the opening of the Nick Woolff Gallery on Thursday evening in London at 5:30pm. I got as far as getting off the train at Paddington. I wasn't feeling quite myself, having been out for a meal the previous evening and not slept well. It seems I must have eaten something that disagreed with me. Two out of three girls, including me, had stomach pains during the night, but I had made it into work and at the last minute, decided that I felt well enough to go to London.
I arrived early into Paddington so went and bought myself a lovely new black cardigan and two lovely new scarves. At this point I'd like to say that I'm just glad I didn't choose the white scarf! If you're brave enough to keep reading, you'll soon discover why. I'm not prone to dizzy spells, hadn't had a drink but somehow I lost my footing as I went to get the tube. It was just after 5pm and I remember thinking I shouldn't go down the first set of stairs as it was rush hour and there were a lot of people coming up at this point. So I voted with my feet and took the second set. I remember seeing two guys coming up the stairs and I think I got as far as the first landing, then in true 'anna fashion' (never one to do things by halves!) I skydived down the second flight of stairs!!
@$%!!*&**$#!!?&**@!
Time never stands still but there are moments in life that the memory just can't recall. Perhaps it's the shock, the fear or just a protective mechanism? I must have slipped because I fell head first from the landing down a complete flight of stairs. I remember there being nothing in front of me as I fell. No people, nothing and having nothing to grab hold of either. I clearly recall being upside down and feeling my face crashing on the ground. My body and mind weren't sure what was happening but as I lifed my head and put my hand to my face, there was blood pouring from my nose. Not something I'll forget in a hurry!
I could hear a man's voice asking if anyone had any tissues, any water? I was still upside down at this point and just felt totally helpless. There was a guy kneeling down beside me trying to mop up the blood. He asked me "Can you sit up? You need to sit up' but I just couldn't move. Two guys picked me up so I could sit at the bottom of the stairs and I remember the blood pouring from my face and wondering what I had done. I was picked up and sat against the wall as a paramedic arrived. A guy from the station and two policemen taking details and it was at this point I realised I might have broken my nose!! My teeth were hurting, I could feel a cut across my nose, blood still pouring from my face and I was shaking with shock.
It's the little things that I remember. Like the guy in the suit who looked so concerned. The policeman who asked my age, then laughed. He'd reported the accident saying a woman aged between 30 and 40 had slipped on the stairs. Woo Hoo! It's a macabre thing to remember but they put a cone by my blood at the bottom of the stairs. I remember it because it was sitting by the wall when K80 took me back to Paddington the next day. There it was... 'my cone'.. mmm!
They decided to call for an ambulance and it felt like a scene from Holby City! Crowds of people passing by in the rush hour. It must have looked like I was being arrested as the policeman took my arm to help me up the stairs onto the concourse where the ambulance was waiting. Although I was very shaken and still bleeding from my nose, I was just grateful that someone was looking after me. St Mary's is just two minutes from Paddington. They took my blood pressure, 'Very good'.. I did question it because I was shaking and obviously in pain. 'You have the blood pressure of a 20 year old!'... there's always a silver lining.. ;-) so the next thing, I find myself sitting up on a bed in a cubicle in their small injuries clinic.
It was really tough to be on my own. It highlights the fragility of being single. I'm not a fan of hospitals, but who is? But the 45 minutes I waited on my own were the hardest. It was so good to hear Liz's voice and I was just so thankful that she lives in London and could come to help me. There's a 4 hour turnaround in A&E and I was there for the entire 4 hours! I felt bashed and bruised but amazingly, no broken bones. They glued the cut across my nose, gave me a tetanus and told me I could go.
Leaving the hospital was an enormous relief and me & Liz got a taxi back to her place.
It's now Saturday night and I'm staying with a friend in Chelts. I feel lucky (well I would, wouldn't I?!) lucky that I haven't broken any ribs, my wrist or an ankle. I have however got a significant cut across my nose, which has taken a blow across the bridge so I'm developing two horrendous black eyes! Every day a new bruise appears and I'm not a fan of mirrors at the moment! I have a red painful strip down the centre of my face where I must have hit the ground. Lisa took me to the emergency dentist today and the x-ray shows no root damage so whilst I've chipped one of my front teeth and they hurt, I'm hoping they are ok. My knees are bashed, I have three bruised fingers, an enormous bruise developing above my knee on my left leg and yes, it's going to take a few weeks before I'm fully recovered.
Lisa has been looking after me a treat. I'm so glad I have some great friends! Dom bought me chocolate, though I've lost my appetite and eating isn't easy at the moment. I'm taking it steady, letting go (which isn't easy!) and just waiting for my body to heal itself. The worst part is not being able to go out. Polite people are telling me that I don't look that bad, but I don't believe them. I'd frighten small children at the moment and to be truthful, if I saw someone with bruises like I've got, particularly a woman, I'd think they'd been beaten up! If you don't believe me then when I was in the dentist's today, three people sitting in the waiting room waited until I'd gone in to see the dentist before they asked what I'd done. 'Had I fallen down the steps of the pub last night and was I drunk?! mmm, hence, why I would like to hibernate until the spring. x

Read the signs..

Can you read the signs..? Life can be pretty confusing and at times we all need a map to get us to where we want to be. That's unless you have a sat nav and even then, it doesn't always take you to where you expected to be. Life can offer us so many choices. This way, that way, road closed, no entry, no right of way, it's easy to get lost. Does it matter if you do? That depends on whether you want to be somewhere or just anywhere. If it only ever offered us one choice, life would be dull. We inevitably though have to make decisions or life has no purpose or direction. If you're lost you could always make your own sign like these. Fun, aren't they!

Lost and found..

or found and lost x there's nothing more beautiful than nature. There are so many hidden secrets just waiting to be discovered. Delicate petals, a stained and worn stone, the shape of a newly formed leaf.. what man can create anything this amazing? x

Happy First Day of Advent

Today I opened the first window on my advent calendar and out jumped a tiny Lindt chocolate reindeer. 25 days of entertainment courtesy of the lovely Ginger Claire.. thank you sweetie x Do you remember having an advent calendar as a child? It always felt as if Christmas was just around the corner when the Advent calendar, along with all that glitter, was taken out of the Christmas box. The same calendar was brought out year after year. There was something very nostalgic and traditional about the "coming out" ceremony and there weren't any chocolates in sight. This evening I shall have a cup of coffee and enjoy my first chocolate. I'll be thinking about Liz and K80 in NYC and hoping that Liz is feeling better and having a fantastic birthday. Lots of love from mum x x