Thursday night is music night... !

Lisa and I went to our 'new best pub' which is our little secret. The food is reasonable and it's a great place to chill and enjoy listening to whatever the local group is this week. The guy who runs the pub described this week's act as 'A guy who sings to Karaoke' - sounds hideous - but actually, he was so much better than that. He could have passed for an Eagles cover band all by himself! Me and Lisa had fun and she got chatted up - woo hoo! We did think 'Dave the upside down teeshirt man' (you had to be there!) who I'd have to say was completely in awe of Lisa, either through nervousness or maybe he's like that all the time, might lose her number as it was scribbled on a paper napkin. We both thought he'd either leave it on the bar or he'd put his jeans in the washer and forget it was in his pocket. How little faith we have in the male population, mmm! 'Dave the daring' has exceeded even our expectations, got in touch with Lisa and I'm now on tender hooks waiting to see what happens next!

What to know who Nick Nairn is?

I'm just about to find out! I bought a cook book today, nick nairn cook school. A really impulsive buy because I'm not doing enough cooking at the moment so I decided I needed some inspiration. You know when you flick through a cook book and all the recipes are for things you'd never eat? Well this book wasn't like that. There are pages of delicious looking food. You know the kind that you'd be proud to bring out of the oven! Yummy recipes such as chicken in red wine casserole, cherry and almond tart, john's spanish chicken and lots more mouth watering recipes which actually look appetising! I'm going to sit down with my book and a cup of coffee and choose something to tickle my tastebuds.. mmm...

Mamma Mia!

I'm having big Mamma Mia moments this year and tonight was yet another one! A group of us girls went to the open air Bacon theatre in Cheltenham to watch Mamma Mia Tuesday evening. The skies were a bit grey but the rain held off and it was a fabulous night. We took fold out chairs, Lisa took Pimms and popcorn and we watched this great movie on the big screen under the stars. Well, I'm sure the stars were there somewhere above the clouds. There's something very lovely about this film. It has a great feel-good factor about it and you can't help singing along to the brilliant lyrics. Julie Walters is my all time favourite, with Meryl Streep doing a brilliant job of the lead role of Donna. Her three suitors, one of which is Pierce Brosnan, managed to sound much more in tune with his lyrics this time, which made the film even more enjoyable. Yes I know, it's a film so the tuning was the same as first time but somehow, strangely better. Maybe it's because my expectations were different and there were little things I'd missed first time around which just added so much this time around - as you can tell, I loved it! Pierce or Colin Firth... now, that would be a tough choice!

I'm having insignifcant dilemmas

Anna's Newcastle diary... After a wonderful night's sleep I'm pondering which gallery to visit first, whether to have breakfast here or whether to paint one of my rooms this colour - quelle conumdrumo!?! Being away from home is like having a massive shot of adrenalin. There's no agenda, no deadlines, just free falling, mind enlightening pleasure! I love going away because I love returning home ;-) Just as I love working, when I can easily get time off. I do need to recharge my batteries, particularly at the moment when work is so manic. At times, I need to do this alone where I have no one to please but myself.

I've just come down to breakfast and am listening to Ave Maria, sitting on my own with my fresh fruit salad, my fresh orange juice and the sun is streaming through the window. Although the chair opposite me is empty, i know that in a funny way, I wouldn't notice how sunny the day is, or any of the tiny details, if I had a distraction. Example being the couple behind me who have by design, or just by fault, built up a wall of newspapers between them. Neither of them can see the other. They are not talking, there's no eye contact - maybe that's how people who are together 24/7 decide to behave so they can get their own 'me time'.. I don't have the luxury of knowing the answer to that one!

Newcastle highlights...

Newcastle moments...

With wings the span of a jumbo jet...

Of course, it has to be the Angel of the North! Created by Antony Gormley and standing on a hill overlooking the A1, it's become an icon for the north east. I think everyone would admit, it's not pretty, it is however a powerful symbol so deserves a snap as we were driving along the A1. Here's a quote from Darren Richardson which more or less, sums up what the angel means to the north east "As a designer I will always remember the Angel as a vehicle of change that allowed us to show the creative industries exactly what the North East has to offer." I would admit that I've never spent much time in the north east, which is why I decided to stay over in Newcastle. I was overwhelmed by the friendliness of the people and the amount of free art and culture available - I will be back!

I'm moving in!

I love insignificant dilemmas! After a wonderful sleep, I'm lying in bed wondering which gallery to visit first, should i have breakfast or whether to paint one of my rooms this colour...?! As you can guess, I'm not working today. Being away from home, being in new surroundings without the pressures of work is so thrilling! My mind can escape from routine, deadlines, schedules & start focussing on priorities, new adventures, plans & finally indulge in a little bit of 'me!'. It's great to be away because it's lovely to return home again; in the same way as it's great to have 24 hours away from work to return refreshed & better focussed. Now, I've decided which insignificant dilemma to choose... it has to be breakfast! X

New adventures

in Newcastle & it's fab! I came with colleagues for a presentation, they flew home, I stayed! I've been to an art exhibition, had the most delicious dinner, walked I've the amazing Millennium bridge, picked up a taxi driver at the garage, chatted to lovely Polish waitor at Malmaison, languished in my superb room which used to be the office of the shipping magnate that used to own this building many moons ago & now I'm drinking baileys on ice & chilling! It's been a very long day, up at 4:15am! I'm just glad I did this thing. What would life be without it's little adventures! More tomorrow :-) x

A very wet Tattoo... !

The girls...

All 3 of them.. Tash, Naomi and Ellie, came to stay! We went to Chelts for lunch, had a lovely wander calling in to see the girls in the gallery during the afternoon - then we came home to find Tash's car had a puncture! It became too difficult to fix on a Saturday night with everywhere closed so we settled down with an Indian takeaway and a dvd - fab!

New hair.. new colour!

It's time for a change and I'm looking for a little drama so it was out with the warm honey today and in with a dramatic ice white blonde in less than two hours. Hair just got hotter... it's one of the top 10 shades for the Summer. Cool car, cool shades and hot hair - fantastic!

Transformers 2...

Went to see this zany, action movie this evening at the Vue with Naomi. We did a bit of shopping, tried on lots of funny hats, had something to eat then went to watch the film - it's been a lovely evening. A fab film too, a touch too long at the end but still fun to watch. Okay, the fascination is in seeing trucks, cars and other household objects turn into robots and fight each other. That, after all, is basically the plot! It does though offer a cracking bit of entertainment because there's zany humour, silly stuff, some romance, lots of action and a good old fashioned happy ending. Sadly, they're not the only things that have apparently been transformed! People are interesting and not least when you think you know them - then realise that you don't at all. When someone you knew very well decides to ignore you completely, are they doing it because they've forgotton their manners or is there another reason? I'm confused and I'd have to say, very disappointed. There's never a reason for bad manners in my world but hey ho.. a lucky escape again!!

My Passport to Longleat

On Safari...

Scoop & Save!

Cucumber without seeds is like a cupcake without sprinkles. Don’t you ever wonder what they do with all the seeds they scoop out? Are they packaged up and sent to a seed farm to be grown into more cucumbers? Is there a cucumber shortage I don’t know about, which is why suddenly my salads are seedless? It all started with a plate of tomato salad. I glanced down and every one of the seeds had gone missing. Strange behaviour I thought because a lot of the flavour is in the seeds and fleshy bits inside the tomato. Then it happened again, next day but this time with my cucumber salad. I searched high and low under my leaves but no, my cucumber slices were definitely naked and seedless ;-(
Then I had a thought… perhaps the seed companies are in cahoots with the restaurant owners? We are in a recession after all! Perhaps they are selling seeds to make ends meet, though clearly not the ends of my cucumber! And, if you're puzzled as to how a cucumber gets to be heart or star shaped, wonder no more! You can apparently buy a mould to put around your cucumber when it's just a baby so it grows into this shape. So, now you know!

me & alphonse...