A day by the lake

My Genealogy Class

My new home... :)

 Mmm, well it will be for a few days! How gorgeous it this? It's 8:30pm in the evening and I'm on an ancestry course, searching for lost relatives! I'm currently trying to work out how to prize segments of chocolate orange off without waking up the residents in the next room! I had never really given that much thought... but then again, as I must be the youngest person on site, I don't imagine I need worry - most of them will have removed their hearing aids by now!

Ha ha.. they may be old but they're lovely! I love coming to things like this where I can meet new people and learn something that I didn't already know. This morning, I also went to Cirencester for a little wander and a gander in White Stuff.. oooooooer,

I left the shop with a white top, a cardi, a skirt.. well, suffice to say I managed to spend more than double the worth of the skirt that I was returning :) it was great fun though and it meant I could come away with new clothes.. yippee xx xx ps after the busy weekend I've had, I've come here for a little rest :)

3 blossom babes :)

Saturday was such a glorious day, I drove to Cheltenham with Becca and Lilia to visit the lovely Lisa. We sat on the grass in the park eating yummy swallow bakery cupcakes whilst Lilia tucked into a cheese straw and chased the birds. The blossom was so amazing I had to stop for a snap or two!

Lunch by the river

I love catching up with my friends and the family I think of as mine - well, almost! It was wonderful to see Tash and Naomi at the weekend. Naomi had a + 1 (the lovely David!) and Tash was ... just sweet, positive Tash :) they lead such busy lives and I don't see them nearly as much as I'd like but the next best thing is for us to catch up over lunch. The spyglass BBQ and grill on the riverside in Bristol did us proud and as you can see, we all brought our smiley faces with us :) xx xx

Ted says "Better Kate than never"

Here's a quirky modern classic which is jam packed with lashings of style and good humour. I spotted this fabulous little Ted Baker Mary Royal wash bag in John Lewis and I just couldn't leave the shop without it. It is truly adorable and in my opinion, a wonderful tribute to this most British of royal occasions. Printed with sweet roses and whimsical butterflies, this eye-catching little bag celebrates the Royal Wedding with elegance and dignity - and without the faces of our beloved Kate and Wills emblazened all over it! Every piece in this special collection by Ted Baker includes the words 'Ted says better Kate than never" on the reverse and the tag inside (though some are different) is printed with the message "Never look a gift horse in the mouth" It's just the most perfect gift for any little princess.

Firsts, lasts and one hundredths...!

How about this for a notable last? Tonight I was actually the last person out of the car park. I'm often within the first 6 cars in the morning but it's quite a feat to be the very last, lonely car left standing on a Friday afternoon. It's also the first time this year the temperature outside my car registered 21 degrees. It was a lovely sunny drive home and the lake looked beautiful. Even though it was 7pm at night, it was still sunny, warm and it felt like the beginning of a great weekend.
Here's a first... I bet you didn't realise that Monday will be 100th day of the year. One hundred days, 2,400 hours and I still feel that the year has hardly begun.

Beside the seaside...

Today was a brilliant day for a trip to the seaside. It's been the hottest day so far this year, peaking at 21 degrees in the car on the way back from Highcliffe. The sun always shines on the south coast :) Lunch was at the usual place Pebble Beach which is one of the top 100 best restaurants by the sea. I dined on fresh crab, smoked salmon, avocado along with a complimentary glass of champagne.

Ingredients for happy crafting...

Happy hearts and flowers

I am loving my blog right now - as if you hadn't noticed! It's great to be at home and have time to write and even better, time to craft. I've always been an even numbers person so making sets of 4 makes me happy.

Shabby chic birthdays

 And being the domestic goddess that I am, I've super-blogged, cooked dinner, made cards and created this cacophony of tropical fruit for Carmen Miranda when she comes back from her travels. I'm hoping that I'll have sweetened her up enough to share the Green & Black chocolate eggs I bought her with me :-} ha ha

Never a dull moment... !

I awoke this morning, went to make coffee for the Little Princess and tea for me and heard Ginger shouting "There's a dead stickman in my room!"... so I ran to see if we needed to send for an ambulance or a priest.

"Where's Dyson? He's hanging on by a thread and I'm about to suck the life out of him!" 

It's been a cupcake of a day.. !

I've had a great day today. I got up late, played with paper + glue then went over to Cheltenham to meet the lovely Lisa. We wandered into town and stopped for coffee and cake in the Birdie Bakery (Swallow!). Oh what a fabulous selection of little cakes to behold. I had to buy a couple to bring back for Ginger, who was working today. I waited.. and waited for her to come home until I could wait no longer. I swear these little delights were whispering to me "Eat me"... :-} I thought it best to try a tiny bit of each one because it would have been rude to eat one without sharing it. They were both so yummy... mmm, tasty, words just can't describe how delicious and sweet they were. I've finally found a solution to my 'crispy creme' donut dilemma. Not being able to eat anything with yeast in, I've had to forgo any temptation to eat a crispy creme donut when I go to Selfridges or Paddington Station. They are the most notable CC outlets. I'm was not previously a donut fan until I discovered CC - courtesy of my daughter. Now I can't eat them but who cares now that I've discovered the Swallow Bakery. I think, when I go to heaven I want to come back as a cupcake. My life may be short-lived but I'll be guaranteed a lifetime of sweet adoration - until I get eaten!

"What would you do for a cupcake... mmm?!"

One of my adoring fans.. !

It's amazing how a few hours in a restaurant will bring out the 'Italy's got talent' in any waiter. We only went in to this restaurant for a drink and ended up staying for almost 3 hours. I was totally schmoozed by this place and their delicious antipasti! I should have known when I ordered a glass of fizz for me and a bottle appeared in an ice bucket by the side of our table, mmm. I think that was the moment of truth. Bearing in mind, someone else was drinking red and had a bottle to himself, this was going to be a long, sweet evening.
It may have been the size of his salami that lured me in (wey hey!) or the selection of delicious, oiled vegetables, who can tell. All I know is that the halo of Saint Aunty Pasti just kept whispering "Come on down and take a look".. so after two sips of fizz, I was there, arms out-stretched like I was sleep walking (ha ha, only joking on that bit, keep up!) and hey, I wasn't disappointed.

  I know why I have gut instincts and at times like this, I can hear them whispering in my ear. It didn't take me long to decide on some veggie antipasti plus a selection of cheese and I was delighted to be presented with this mini feast. Of course, once we'd started we couldn't find a reason to stop so continued our journey through some ravioli and one of my all time favs, aubergine paniagana.. mmm! Our waiter was a delight. His attention to detail was simply perfect and I for one thoroughly appreciated all the effort he went to. I get such a buzz from tasting great food which most importantly has been lovingly prepared - and, I'm particularly grateful after a whole bottle of fizz :-} xx xx

A new meaning comes to 'Light'...

The 'Fooling!' continues.. the beauty of having a blog is that I can share my little grumbles.

I enjoy having a 'Light Alpen' summer fruits "fewer than 70 calories per bar" during the day. They're one of the better low cal bars. I think that most of them taste like the bottom of a bird cage - lots of seed and taste disgusting. Forgive me, I'm being particularly nerdy this morning for no particular reason. I've just taken a look inside the box. Mmm, my 'Light Alpen' box measures 13.5cm high and my bar measures a measly 8cm. I feel I should stop now but hey ho! They've cleverly made the wrappers the same size as the box and whilst it won't stop my enjoyment of these tasty little bars - I feel fooled!

Were you "FOOLED?"...

Impersonator Rob Brydon hosted the entire two-and-a-half hour show so congratulations for fooling me!

I admit, I was. My ears are usually pretty well tuned in so I was baffled as to why Ken Bruce sounded so different on the radio yesterday. Like many others, I couldn't believe my ears - he was behaving like, dare I say... a 'Pig!' At more than one point he was very rude to his listeners and I actually wondered if he'd lost the plot. I racked my brain trying to work out why he sounded so different. Maybe he had a new set of false teeth and was in pain...? maybe he was intoxicated...? or maybe he had lost the plot! I had work to do so I moved on and it was only during the evening that I quizzed my lovely friend Ginger Claire about it. Radio 2 always comes up in conversation when Ginger's here. We're both enormous - no we're not.. I'll rephrase that - we're both humungus (ha ha) fans of Chris Evans and I've made a pact with her to stop ranting about Simon Mayo's show. Me and Mayo are just not on the same wavelength. It's nothing personal because he's a cute-looking guy but his show is clunky and if Chris Evan's show scores a million out of 100, Simon Mayo's just doesn't cut it for me. Interestingly, I've recently gone back to salad cream too! I'm not sure if there's a connection but there feels like one :) I now have a dilemma every time I get in the car to drive home. Drivetime used to be my 'chill out' station of choice on the way home. I have tried Si, believe me I've tried but I just get narked listening to drivetime drivvel now. Mr Mayo has turned me into a channel hopper. I'm sure you're a really nice guy - you're just not what I need to chill out after my crazy days in the office. See, mmm... Note to self - steer clear of the men who bring out the worst in you!

New tricks.. !

How cool are these? Those clever people at Blogger have come up with 5 different ways of viewing my blog and they've made it really easy for you to see these views as well. All you need do is type the word 'view' after com/ on the top bar or to make it easy, just click on this link new tricks view And if you want to go back to viewing my blog as you usually do, just click back on this link my blog

There are 5 different views you can play around with. Simply choose from the top right drop down menu.

Great for reviewing the images - if you hover over them, they'll flip to show the title of the post. Click on the box to read the whole post. It's that easy.

Happy Mum's Day

I'm voting today as MUM's day! I'm already 2 glasses down the bottle and who should be here sharing it with me (she did buy it for my birthday!) but Ginger Claire :-} It's Friday night, paper + glue weekend and the night is yet young. We're already in full flow - Ginger is watching a dvd about painted backgrounds and trying out all the new techniques."Can you find me some petroleum jelly?!" I know my place :) I'm the one running to find the things she needs - "Paintbrushes".. "Heatgun!"... it feels like I'm in another one of those game shows. Time to make dinner I think... :)

Postcards from Berlin

It's no coincidence that my photographs from Berlin are arty - it's one of the most 'happening' places for musicians and artists in the world. There is such diversity in everything. I believe the german public have higher expectations of absolutely everything. They're less tolerant of failure and that's why most things really do work efficiently. From trains arriving on time to good plumbing, great service and respect - it's a place that celebrates its culture and new beginnings, where we often take them for granted and just make do.

There's an exciting buzz to Berlin that is absent from many cities I've visited. It's an easy place to walk around, the tour bus was brilliant to hop on and off and extremely good value at around 25 euros for 3 days. That included the arduous journeys to and from the airport too. There are some interesting sights to see though for obvious reasons, not a lot that's older than 50-60 years. These bits of the wall are sitting on the central reservation outside the Paris Bar. A reminder of bad done good.

The Brandenburg Gate was built around 1791. It now stands as a symbol of reunification of the two sides of the city. It was heavily damaged in World War 2, was fully restored from 2000 to 2002 costing 6 million dollars and is now regarded as one of the most well known landmarks in Berlin.

These two murals were just on a wall outside our hotel. In fact, I took the photographs through a window at the end of the corridor - we were in a room at the other end! I didn't notice the windows rattling though, not at all. There is a lot of street art and graffiti in Berlin and unlike other places where it feels wrong, this art which in many cases is brilliant is what gives this city a dynamic, exciting edgy feel unlike nowhere else I've ever visited. Everywhere you look there are bits of art and words painted on roofs and buildings and yes, I accept that as I can't understand what they say, I'm not offended by them. On the contrary, I really liked the energy they unleash on the very fabric of the city.

In complete contrast, where the city is vibrant and surprising, the stadium is cold and unwelcoming. The old swimming pool is a chilling place, not least because I bet the water is freezing! I wanted to visit to feel what it must have been like in 1936 to walk under the 5 olympic rings - then I wanted to leave.

Angles - they can make you happy or drive you nuts. There are so many quirky angles in this space at the Jewish museum but I love this photo. If I remember correctly, the stairs (and there were a lot of them) were built into the museum to represent the pain and suffering which runs through Jewish history.

Here's my final fun photo taken in one of the bars where we ate. It says a lot about the quirkiness of this amazing city.

I really enjoyed my trip to this fabulous city - it has been a xmas present extraordinaire!

Life is about curves not straight lines...

Life is never a straight line. It's a twisty, curvy path with lots of bends, one or two dead ends, some hidden corners and the occasional roller coaster ride. Curves are so much more satisfying to look at. Here are two iconic buildings, the Colosseum and the Berlin Olympic Stadium, both similar in shape but I would say that one was created by an artist, the other by a mathematician. The Berlin Olympic Stadium may have been inspired by the architecture of Ancient Rome but I'd rather be eaten by lions than spend another chilling minute there.

Bird in the tree

Here I am in a Pomegranate tree inside the Jewish Museum. It's such a lovely idea to write a wish on a paper pomegranate and hang it on the tree. Mine is a secret of course.. -} xx xx

I wish Id listened to mz historz teacher at school

Mz brain hurts this morning. I had a guzillion-sized  portion of historz zesterdaz plus a generous dose of lovelz fiyy and vino last night!`´ It was an action packed daz which ended in the earlz hours in the Paris Bar. Our first stop zesterdaz was the Jewish Museum, here in Berlin. Ive not been to a german museum before and boz, it is something I wont forget in a hurrz. The building was especiallz designed and built to house the last 2000 zears of Jewish historz. The old museum has been extended with a brand new wing which also houses a couple of modern installations including the Memorz Void as well as lots of stairs. I opted for the audio tour though I wasnt expecting the five and half hours of commentarz split into 150 little bits! Mz Jewish historz is virtuallz non existant and I would love to saz that I left the museum having learnt a lot - but I didnt. Its a verz factual, well presented museum which must be a real gem to visit if zoure a Jewish scholar or student. I found it verz tough because there is so much information mz mind reallz couldnt take it all in. It felt like I was being tasked with studzing Jewish historz to degree level in a daz! There were a few highlights such as writing a wish on a paper pomegranate and hanging it on the tree, listening to the kids walking on the iron faces in the memorz void (pics on that later) and watching a short video of the 1960s trial of the 17 men accused of the great attrocities in the second world war. No spelling bee on this computer so I wont trz to go into detail now.
The museum was hard to swallow but Im still glad I went. Im sure Ive come awaz with a slightlz better knowledge of Jewish historz which was mz intention. After our heavz weight morning we took to the underground again. We headed out of the citz to experience what it felt like to walk in Hitlers shoes! Zou cant fail to be impressed bz the sheer scale of the Olzmpic Stadium. Walking up from Stadium. Walking up from the station I was taken back to 1936, the date of the Berlin Olzmpics as I walked underneath the 5 rings and up into the stadium. The similarities to the great monument, the Colliseum in Rome, which I visited last zear is verz apparent. But unlike the Roman building which is full of curves, beautifullz crafted pillars and is just awe inspiringlz beautiful - this stadium is not. The stadium might be oval in shape but thats the onlz curve zoull see here. Its a hard looking building and it didnt go unnoticed that the sun had gone in and the skz had gone grez. Its definitelz worth a visit because the historz is well documented all around the site, making it easz to digest. It left me with a chill inside me though so I was glad to be walking back to the station to get on the train back to the citz centre.
Considering the fact that historz was the first subject I failed at school and I was consistantlz bad at it from that point onwards, I am now like a historz junkie. I love visting historical sights and soaking up the voices from the past. Zou have to be here to feel how Berlin has changed and this visit, mz first, has helped me understand some of its dark past. There was onlz one waz to end such a dour daz and it was in a charming little restaurant that we stumbled across near to the hotel. Onlz intending to go in for a drink, I just couldnt resist the lure of the antipasti and 3+ hours later and full of fiyy, an aubergine pamingana and a Sicillian concoction made of crisp wafer cone and filled with ricotta cheese, I stepped back out onto the street. Id managed to smooye the waiter into having his photo taken hugging his anti pasti fridge - he didnt take much persuading and of course I have the evidence to prove it which zoull see later ;)
And then there was the Paris Bar.. Bonjoir Mardi! XX XX

Memory Voids at the Jewish Museum, Berlin