Something memorable.. someone like you...

Adele is one of my favourite artists right now which is possibly the reason why I've listened to her on radio 1 live lounge more times than I care to mention. adele livelounge special She is exceptionally talented and I can't wait to go and see her in March. In the meantime.. which actually means whilst I'm treading water waiting, I can listen to her live and enjoy the magic of Adele. One of my favourite tracks right now is 'Someone like you'. It's just a great track, the piano is amazing, it makes me want to play. In her words 'This is one of my favourite songs that I've written. I love singing it and if you're in the mood, try and think of someone; remember someone that you love lots because it gives me tingles, even though it's my own song, it makes me think of people I love or hate.. either way".. same thought really, it's just the proximity to your heart that's different - none of us wants to be forgotton. Memories of people who touch our lives are what shape us. It's songs like this that are the key to open boxes of thoughts you may have locked away. This song gives me goosebumps and I love the lyrics, her voice and anyway.. just listen and see if you like it as much as I do. Click on this link adele livelounge special

Bath.. or Baaaaath.. !

It doesn't matter how you say it, Bath is such a lovely place. It's got that 'Je ne sais quoi'... that intangible quality that raises a smile but you're not quite sure why that is. You can sit in the coffee shops people watching for hours, delight in the boutique shops that sell things you never knew you needed and just stroll over to the crescent for a healthy blast of history. Bath has it all and more! I used to work here so I should know. I used to love driving into the city and just being there.. it's a lot like Cheltenham, just with more American tourists and less parking spaces!

The Marlborough Tavern for instance with it's white-washed walls, it's cosy corners and best of all, the woodland pork.. mmm! Sawdays never lets me down! It's my bible of secrets and I just love finding somewhere new to eat. There are 'sunday lunches'.. and then there are 'Sunday feasts' which are so memorable, You never forget a great Sunday lunch!

My last really superb meal out was at Montpellier Chapters with Lisa a couple of weeks ago. This was equally as great, as tasty and it has to be said, the girls too were lovely. I love a friendly place where nothing is too much trouble :)
Here's our cosy little corner in a well known place called Bath... or Baaath!

Did you ever want to know what publishing is... ?

Well.. here's the perfect explanation.. ha ha! overview of publishing.. recognise anyone..? and even more scary.. she must be my twin.. :)

Everyone I know and love knows I love a challenge so when an online video was suggested, of course I said yes. I enjoy pushing myself to do what I've not done before and talking about myself and my job.. it's not difficult, in fact, 29 questions and answers later, I think they were happy for me to stop! So if you have a spare 30 minutes to sit and listen to me wibbling on about publishing, you could learn a lot about what keeps me sane! It was pre-brunette, post-snowy white and just such a lot of fun!

On my quick whirl around the internet searching for look-a-likes.. I found another twin.. my origin family which must mean I'm a triplet!

My little slice of heaven..

Most people don't even think about toast like I do. I dream of toast.. in a way that's very naughty! Toast, covered in cheese and pickle, marmalade or lemon curd.. mmm! I saw a jar whilst I was shopping and instantly felt so excited about having toast and lemon curd. I knew I was smiling inside and if anyone had been watching me, they'd have wondered why a girl like me was standing staring at the many jars of lemon curd.. I believe I was grinning from ear to ear. Taste.. divine.. :)

Look what I got..

There are few things in my life that I can't live without.. but tea isn't one of them! So why can't I remember that I've run out.. doh? It's "Mummy Bear's Special Blend" to the rescue.. ! Specially blended just for me with no other blend like it, phew, time for a brew :)

A little slice of heaven :)

My old chum, Nigel Slater showed how to make a yeast-free bread on his programme a couple of weeks ago so guess what, I've been waiting to try it ever since. Today I found a window of opportunity and OMG.. it is amazing! For the first time in over 3 years I had a piece of bread and butter.. I was in raptures.. I think I've gone all evangelical.. Nigel Slater is my saviour! I cannot describe how it felt to have a simple meal of cheese on toast for my lunch.. mmm.. sublime.. :)

Friday with baby Gromit and 3 new challenges..

 Great nails - a purply, mauve, grey shade of calm

 How cute... :) you can't hide little G x

Onto my 3 challenges. I wanted to buy an audiobook to listen to in the car but having done some research, I decided they were far too expensive. Thinking about the work that goes into producing a audiobook, I'm not surprised. Someone has to be paid to read the book out loud and where I'm concerned, unless I like the voice of the person reading it, I won't buy it anyway. I try reading my books out loud sometimes (usually when there's no one around) and although it's nice to speak the words out loud, it does take ages. So I've binned the audiobook idea and instead, in my quest to buy one particular book, I wandered into town this week to buy 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'.

Did you know that you can't buy one book any more without having a guilt trip? I began at Waterstones and was faced with 3 for 2 or buy 1, get the 2nd half price. Before you say, why don't you buy the book cheaper online? You should know by now that I'm a paper junkie! I rarely buy anything online unless I've already seen it. It's a confidence thing. Where books are concerned, I'm a bit fussy and like to feel the paper and see the words on the page. Plus, if I can't see the words clearly with my glasses on, of course I won't buy it! There's also something satisfying about holding a book in my hand. They're real things with personalities - you think I'm joking! Pick up any book and you'll find that they're all different. If I'm going to spend quality time with an author I want the experience to be memorable. A book doesn't have to be new though, a fact has just dawned on me..  I should have tried the charity shop first, doh! Hey, next time.. it's too late for my New Year selection and hey, a new year so new books will go nicely together.

I've promised myself that I'll more find more time to read in 2011 so I've chosen my book for January, 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' though of course as I had to buy 3, I have 'One Moment, One Morning' for my February holiday and 'The Lost Symbol' for March!

Look what I won in the raffle!

A baby Gromit.. how cute are we :) it was the best prize - apart from the Hotel Du Vin dinner vouchers!.  There were loads of prizes donated by the different magazines including some hair products, experiences, home stuff and 'boys' things like camping equipment, a bike bag, trainers, a water bottle and a rubber wetsuit.. yikes!!. There will be lots of happy girlfriends this week because most of the guys at work won hair straighteners! I kept thinking to myself, please don't pull my number out now - when they held up a pair of trainers, a plastic mac and some camping equipment - so when I won the cuddly toy, I was very chuffed! I could have won a 2nd prize, more hair straighteners but as I'd already got the best prize I let one of the lads win them instead, ha ha!

W stands for wrong trousers day!

Which could only mean one thing.. we were raising money at work for Bristol Children's Hospital. Highlight of the day was the appearance of Wallace & Gromit to support our MD, Andy Marshall's crazy abseiling attempt from the top of Tower House.

You know me.. I couldn't resist the opportunity to say hello to W&G :) more excited than a 6 year old and a heck of lot of fun!

How much fun can we have on a Tuesday night?!

Russell Crowe in "The Last 3 Days" and a meal at the Storyteller.. yeah! Me and Russell are not natural bedfellows, I usually shy away from his violent films, but he is absolutely brilliant in this prison escape thriller. Left with the possibility that his wife, who he believes is innocent, will spend the next 20 years in prison, he plays a college Professor, Brennan who hatches a plan to break his wife out of jail. He plans to free her so they can begin a new life in a foreign country with their young son. I watched the trailer and put it top of my list of must-see movies for January - I wasn't the slightest bit disappointed. The pace is fast, there are times when I just held my breath with suspense and amazement. There are surprises, tense scenes, tender moments, crazy chases and a very clever plot. I chose this photo (not for Russell) but for his giant masterplan which he created like an enormous scrapbook on the wall behind him! It started as a map to which he added notes, scribbles, photos, train timetables and more maps in his search for the key to his wife's great escape. Me and Lisa agreed it was the best film we've seen for ages.

I've decorated your room girls :)

Did you know.. ? Crown 'one-coat' is the most amazing paint on the planet!

The job of painting the feature wall in my spare room suddenly hit the top of my wish-list on Sunday morning so I popped in the DIY, found a 5 litre tin of what seemed like a nice blue colour and hey presto, by teatime, I had a lovely new blue bedroom. I can only marvel at the fact that even though I wasn't 100%, I can still find enough in reserves to do some crafting. Ok, painting a big wall is more of an ask than let's say, making a card, but on a scale of 1 to 10, it still comes high on the list of things I enjoy doing. I did love my old aubergine wall but it's 2011 so out with the old and in with the new!

And the great news is that the tin only cost me £10! Though I've used less than a litre, ha ha, so if you want to play the 'Paint and pass it on' game, let me know :)

ps WOO HOO! I've found the colour and resize text button, he he

No ordinary Tuesday...

It's easy to amble through the week days waiting for the weekend. The result is that you end up wishing your life away but actually don't realise your doing it. Live every day, that's what I say. I'm lucky in that I have a good sparing partner to share these impromptu mid-week experiences with. I thought I was going to have a mediocre Tuesday night. I imagined I might be doing that "Buy one meal and get the other for £1!" mid-week meal deals - woo hoo.. but instead.... rahhhhhhhhhhh!!
The Montpellier Chapter!!
It's the refurbished Kandinski hotel in Cheltenham which closed a long time back and has been covered in plastic ever since. "Let's pop in for a drink" I said tonight and I'm so glad we did. The place just ooozes ambience with its trendy sofas, seriously good canvases, friendly staff and cool interior. Nothing is out of place and it felt like home should be as soon as we walked in. I knew I was there for the evening so with a Kia Royale in one hand and the menu in the other, I was in hotel heaven.
One cocktail later and I was totally hooked and not wanting to burst the bubble of anticipation, we booked a table for dinner. Lisa had been for lunch already this week so the expectations were high. Oh my Lord, I think I'm in love with the chef! Don't you feel that when you taste a meal that is truly divine, well seasoned and perfectly cooked you realise that so much of what went before was.. let's be kind.. just a bit mediocre. A beautiful meal has to look fantastic and taste delicious. As simple as roast chicken might sound, it's quite easy to get wrong. Not tonight! Everything about my meal was wonderful, as was the wine.
This quirky hotel lets you choose your wine from an ipad. How cool is that! Techie nut meets big wooden nut - yes, strange as this might sound, there's a big wooden sculpture in reception that a squirrel would give his high teeth for. It's apparently 'not cool' to have a desk on reception so there's a... NUT instead. I love quirkiness.
So what happened next.. we revelled in a spot of people watching. It's not the first time this has happened.. I spy a guy I once dated who is obviously still single and still trying, hey ho.. his date looks bored perhaps because he can't stop talking! Lesson still not learnt.. hey ho.. the couple behind us who so clearly are not together.. boringly brother and sister. People watching is so much fun..  :)
Onto dessert.. I was trying to forego the dessert menu but dinner was so wonderful that I couldn't help wondering what the desserts would be like. Well, sticky toffee is just too hard to resist so I buckled and ordered 1 sticky toffee with cream and 1 apple crumble. Both were divine and worthy of the 'Pud of the Year' award!
Needless to say, we'll be back! Me & Lisa have found ourselves a bolt hole which knocks certain other hotels and bars in Chelts into a cocked hat!

ps if anyone can come up with a plan so I can live here, that would be perfect. No rude answers please!

Handmade creations take a little longer...

25 ways to say thank you...

Today's challenge is...

What to do with the £1 aubergine that I bought today from Sainsbury's! What's your favourite dish? One of mine, and one that Ginger introduced me to, is Aubergine Parmigiana; layers of grilled aubergine and oregano infused tomato puree combined with mozzarella and parmesan cheese, yum. The wonderful Italian flavours creates a delicious supper dish and as I've only ever eaten it out, I thought I'd have a go at making it myself.

I had bought what I thought were the ingredients before I found a recipe. I love the internet because I can type 'Aubergine Pamingiana' into the search box and hey presto, lots of slightly different recipes appear on my screen. My random shopping had been pretty good because the only thing I didn't know I needed was oregano. And, guess what I found hiding in the back of my cupboard? Dried oregano, yeah!

Looking at these ingredients, it's hard to imagine they could make this wonderful dish. I left out the mushrooms though because I wanted to start by making a traditional version. There will be plenty of opportunity to create my own variations once I've mastered the art of making this wonderful dish.

Ready to go into the oven.. and half and hour later... mmm

The first thing I notice as I take it out of the oven is the sound of it bubbling.. yum! I've triumphed.. it smells delicious and looks like the masterpiece I wished it to be. Of course the proof of the pudding, or supper dish in this case, is in the eating so here's my verdict. Delicious.. great with bread because the aubergines release so much juice so make sure the sauce is well reduced so it's rich in flavour and well seasoned, otherwise it could easily taste watery. I love the chewy mozzarella on the top!

Evening snowfall

Happy Birthday Mom!

Swans and snowballs..

Have a happy ONE!

ONE,ONE,ONE ONE definitely sounds like the day for new beginnings! There's so much that is special about the number ONE. Did you ever meet a ONE year old that wasn't as cute as a button? If you're in a new relationship your friends will say "Is he the ONE?". I love ONE because it suggests a start of something. Number ONE on a list is always my favourite number. Whoever felt good coming 2nd? I spent enough sports days coming 4th or "last" to appreciate how great it would feel to come 1st, just once! I can accept that I'll never be 1st or win any medals for my sporting prowess. I have had many other 1sts that I'm very proud of and happy about.
Today, on the 1st day of a new decade, I'm thinking about what I want to achieve in 2011. I may be a 2nd child but I have 1st child mentality. I am motivated by change so a new decade is a great place to start thinking about what I love about my life and what I'd like to change.
What do you want to change? What's number ONE on your wishlist of things you'd like to achieve in 2011? Setting goals is a much better idea than making a New Year Resolution. So many people want to give up something up at the start of a new year. I say, take something up (very Ginger!) & add a new experience to your reportoire for 2011.