Montpellier May 2012

It's May, it's Montpellier and it's 28 degrees, woo hoo! Lunch on a boat beside the river, just perfect. Rob met up off the TGV (love that train so much.. !) and made sure we caught the right bus back to MP. It's useful to know one of the locals :)

Prettily painted buildings, colourful streets, great bars and restaurants.. I love France.. !

Lucious Lisa in the sushine with her smoked salmon salad!

Cirque Du Soleil Alegria...

Magical, awe-inspiring, daring, rhythmic, energetic, impressive, imaginative, EXtraordinary are all words I'd used to describe Alegria.. a stunning performance from Cirque Du Soleil. I have seen some CdS previously in Vegas and think it's the best theatre, dance, circus performance I've ever seen. I love the quirkiness of it all. The lavish costumes, the slightly weird characters, the friendly clowns, the Frenchness of the performers who are all at the top of their craft giving polished performances with jaw-dropping acuracy. I had my mouth open more than once during the evening as each performer took to the stage. Each scene was absolutely brilliant!

There was the white singer, the story-teller with the voice of a sweet angel. The nostalgic old birds with their funny faces, big, padded, bulging costumes, always helpful, slightly clumsy and loveable. The clowns telling little stories throughout the evening. The tiger, paper planes, and my most favourite scene of the paper snow blowing like a gale across the stage. Absolutely beautiful and such a great memory.

The black singer is the white singer's alto ego, though I only found this out after the performance. She hides many secrets in her dark heart. In her elegant black dress, she keeps in the shadows and is the wicked side to contrast against the sweetness of the white singer.

The circus acts were as always stunning and totally unbelievable. The stage at one point was transformed into a series of trampoline runs and the gymnasts showed off their amazing tumbling skills. The Mongolian girls who contort and transform themselves and their bodies into extraordinary sculptured forms. I loved the flying bungee man who flew around the stage and spun from the ceiling on an elastic rope. The hand balancing man had a body to remember and the graceful, hoopla girl, with her twirly ribbon who caught and spun the hoops with the flick of her toe.

I love Cirque Du Soleil so much :)

Egg custard wars.. !

Hey, did you know I'm doing the GREAT SUPERMARKET EGG CUSTARD CAKE OFF!? I love a bought egg custard, you know the ones with pastry on the outside and nutmeg sprinkled on the top. It was one of my treats the day before I got married. Yes, I know that's a funny memory but it's true. I made my bouquets and ate a whole Taylor's large egg custard. Surprised I could fit into 'the dress' but I did. Anyway, back to more recent custard memories. For some strange reason that I can't explain, the Waitrose custards that you get in the coffee stop are different to the ones in the restaurant and the ones you can buy in store. Yes, I know it's crazy but it's true. So when I want a custard I have to go and have a coffee. Easy...

Anyway, sorry Waitrose but you've been custard-umped by a much better tasting, lighter pastry, more eggy version from.. ASDA! Okay, if you know me you'll be asking why I was in Asda. I ask myself the same question and found the answer. It's cheap as chips, okay the residents are a bit chavvvy but there are some diamonds there too. And their egg custards are the BEST!

I was wandering the aisles today, as you do, and I had to ask a guy to move so I could get my hands on the Original Source lemon shower gel at £1. I only buy it when it's a pound because it's fabulous and I won't pay any more for it :) anyway back to my little story..., I said 'the lemon is the best' and he said, holding a new season strawberry version in his hand 'I am not sure if strawberry is a good idea'. To which I replied 'it looks more like something you'd eat'. He smiled and said 'I agree' and not one to leave it at that I chirped... 'Depends who you're having a shower with.. '.. the grin on his face reached from aisle 4 to aisle 24.. At this point and thinking that he looked about 34, I made a hasty retreat with my trolly laden with egg custards and my 'bake in the bag' salmon with roasted red tomato and basil butter for my supper :)

Searching for family...

Look where we've been hiding... ! Me & Mom have been out in the sticks at Dillington House searching for lost relatives. We left home on Tuesday afternoon and have spent a lovely few days on a fabulous genealogy course. Food was fab, rooms were excellent and the course was brilliant. I've been to Dillington a couple of times before but wanted Mom to come this time so we could search for relatives together to add to our family tree. And yes, we found some! I had a great time and managed not to think about work though didn't sleep that well at night which is possibly why I have my eyes closed for a quick cat nap :)

Amazing sunset

One of the great joys of living here is the lake and seeing the sunset reflected over this weekend was amazing!

Saturday night was birthday night..

When you're as good friends as we two are, we don't mind a raincheck as long as we get to celebrate our birthdays eventually! We took the opportunity to have 'Birthday night!' whilst Ginger was here the first weekend of April. We watched loads of Saturday night tv, drank bubbles, had a fab dinner and swopped pressies. That's what friends are for...

Me and Ginger's Cake Pop Adventures...

Every picture tells a story :)

Kim Bailey Racing Breakfast

This Birthday Girl knows how to party!

I have the best family and friends anyone could wish for! As my little brother said last night, you can't distinguish between them because we're all one big happy family. My wonderful friends are my family :) Yesterday was my birthday lunch so I invited as many of my family and friends who could make it. We had 17 so it was standing room only at times but we didn't care a jot!

The importance of having a choice...

Today I...

1. Unpacked!
2. Bought and fitted a bulb in my kitchen
3. Spoken to swizzles... all about Love Hearts
4. Bought and filled my car with washer fluid
5. Took my dresses to the dry cleaners only to be told (by the very nice man) that I should leave one and take the other home, wash it myself and save my money!
6. Resisted the urge to email numpties!
7. Eaten half a bowl of cauliflower soup and left the other half!
8. Checked my postbox, twice!
9. Sent warm hugs to lizzie
10. Yeah, cleared out my kitchen cupboards and made room for cupcakes :)
11. Posted a lovely card to cousin Les for her birthday
12. Resisted the urge to text numpties!
13. Bit the heads of two chocolate bunnies.. !x!
14. Cleaned half my lounge windows and oh, how they sparkle!
15. Ate my homemade yummy shepherds pie
16. Drank 3 glasses of fizz :-}
17. Read the Link and shed a tear :(
18. Conversed by txt with the lovely Tashuar
19. Enjoyed one of my lovefilms, 'Last Night'
20. Replied to a guzillion emails!
21. Paid 50% for a massage
22. And finally... booked tickets to Imelda May in May!

Change...

Isn't it true that most of the time we expect things to change? I watched a dvd tonight, a sweet, emotional film called 'Last Night' which is all about temptation and loyalty. The end was cut short so I listened to the credits then switched over to the tv and SPOOKILY, the tv programme was playing the very same music that I had been listening to. I was expecting to hear a different sound and found myself listening to the same sound track. Weird or what?!

Today it is Valentine's Day, though you'd hardly notice. There are no hearts and flowers in this flat!! I've had two dates in the past week - one very keen that I'm not keen on and one I'm keen on that appears to have been abducted by aliens! Life is full of strange twists and turns and that's what I try to love about it. Hey girls, you don't need a man... all you need is a glass (bottle!) of fizz, You've Got Mail and the knowledge that whilst you're on your own, you're definitely not waiting for the phone to ring!

ps I've just thought of another use for that umbrella.. (see below).. !!

February's Posterized Pic

"I'm working hard to posterize my life, one photo at a time!"

Creativity Workshops.. 33 ways with an umbrella!

I got up this morning and had no idea what the day would hold. I was in work at 7:20am (!!) so the craziness started really early for me. Two hours work done before I ventured over to the location for our company Craft Skills Day and our Creativity Workshops. 

Not one to be shy when it comes to chatting to strangers, I managed to rope in the help of this wooly-hatted delivery driver. Here I am with that umbrella masquerading as a flower!

 Guess who is underneath the umbrella?? Am I a snail or a muppet.. :)

 I was pretending to walk with a limp - hence the pained expression!

 "Dave, you make a great manpost!"

"Dave, wakey, wakey, it's time to get back for more creative craziness... !"

Lovely surprise!

 I arrived home yesterday to find a cardboard parcel on my doorstep. My first thought was, another cd? I know I've received everything I've ordered so I was confused until I picked it up. My heart gave a little flutter when I realised it was my gift from L&J and nonotanotherbill.com for February. It's a sweet little wooden dustpan and brush from Sveden :) I've just used it to sweep the dust that settles daily on my beautiful black glass dining table and it works a treat. Now I won't have to go through the palaver of wiping it with a damp cloth every two minutes - I can just use my Sveduster! ps this gift just keeps on giving..  two surprises received, 10 to go, yeah!