Holiday

I know, I know. Tully has more than covered it already and everyone one other than me is bored senseless of reading about it... But I do feel compelled to put something on my blog too about it, purely because despite the weather doing it's best to ruin things it really was completely and utterly wonderful, and that is all down to the hotel.

I can't praise it enough - and also struggle to describe it. Clearly it is very kid friendly, but it doesn't feel like that is all there is to it. It actually felt rather grown up and relaxing, and that was the ambience that came across rather than it being all about the kids. I suspect it was because the kids were so well catered for that it meant they didn't need to be demanding attention from their parents. And, on the whole, all the kids there were extremely well behaved.
The adults only spa area was a perfect haven too (and yes, I did pop for a treatment - it would have been rude not to!). This was actually in the interconnected sister hotel next door, that also has a posh bar and restuarant we could use if we had chosen to. As it happened the food we got was so good we didn't feel the need to go next door - whilst the kids buffet catered more than happily for every childs needs and we got served some rather delicious grown up style food alongside it which kept everybody happy.

We were rather lucky in that I think we got one of the best rooms in the hotel. I'd chosen a Kitzsteinhorn apartment for us, which were in a seperate building to the main hotel connected via an underground tunnel (which we used rather a lot given the rain!). Ours was the left hand 1st floor balcony...


View 1 from our room...


View 2 from our room...


So, would I go back to Hotel Hagleitner? Certainly. Would I go back to another Kinderhotel for either skiing or in the summer? Definitely. Would I recommend either to anyone that has 1 or more children under the age of 8 or so? Absolutely!

"Mum - I want some crocs!"

It seems the request for branded clothes / shoes is starting early. Whilst walking past a shoe shop on Monday displaying some crocs in the window, Tully spotted them and instantly shouted out her demands... Luckily she spotted some pigeons to chase soon after and completely forgot about them!

Well, that told me!

During our visit to Drusillas on Saturday...

Me: "Ooo Tully, look at those pretty birds."

Tully (with a look of complete disdain on her face): "No Mummy - don't be so silly. They aren't birds. They are flamingos..."

Harry Potter

It has been a bit of a Harry Potter week for us. Firstly the book (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) arrived last Saturday and Mark had finished it by Monday, before handing it on to me, and I had finished it by Thursday. And very very good it was too

Then this Saturday we went to watch the film - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I really enjoyed it, much more than I remember enjoying the book.

Caught red handed!

I've been suspecting that a squirrel has been at the bird feeder for a little while, and today I caught him red handed!

Bit of a catch up...

Since I last posted we had another night out courtesy of our friendly baby sitter across the road. We went round to Jon and Mand's for a very pleasant evening. Jonny cooked non-meat meat balls for tea, and they even broke out the 'special' gin so we were very honoured!

Since then we have had a few nights away in Philadelphia. Both Mark and I had to go to the same meeting (not something that happens often luckily) so as Mum and Dad were being shipped over to baby sit we thought we'd get them over early and we could have a lovely weekend away.

It only partly worked - Philadelphia was having a bit of a heat wave and since neither Mark or I do hot places it was unbearably unpleasant. The meeting was being held in the Sheraton Society Hill at the other end of Philly from where we normally stay for work which was nice. We managed to have a wander from about 8 to 10 in the morning on Sunday before facing defeat and heading back to the hotel and air con! Still, in that time we had time to wander past the Liberty Bell (again) and tour Independence Hall.

We had done this before during our East Coast US tour in 99, but it was interesting to do it again. The tour had changed slightly, and as I have the most useless memory in the world when it comes to historical stuff it was still interesting. What was most interesting though as to see how much the area to the front of Indepedence Hall had changed. The Liberty Bell is housed in a new building and display, and there is a big shiny new visitors centre too. They are still showing the same old video though from the old visitor centre (which, incidentally was right next door to our hotel and now seems to be living history museum).

Monday we managed slightly better - I persuaded Mark to let me go on one of the duck tours. I'd fancied them in Boston but couldn't bring myself to be that much of a tourist! And it was really good. It took us to some parts of the old town we'd not seen before and was very informative. Plus we got 'quackers' so Tully was sorted out with a present! Afterwards we had a look around the new National Constitution Centre - which other than the good air con was a big mistake. I'm sure if one is American it's really good, otherwise it's verging on offensive. We both felt robbed. After that we jumped in a taxi to take us to South Street to sample one of Jim's famous Philly Cheese Steaks before finally admitting defeat to the weather at about 11:30 and heading back to our cool hotel room. Monday afternoon all our work chums arrived and work started :(

Better late than never...

I've finally got round to putting up a post about our trip to Waddington. It was a strange day - rather emotional, but good to see the helicopter and to see that Andy's story was so important in the days proceedings.

Here's a photo of Gazelle XX411.


Margaret Thatcher was there for the memorial ceremony.


Andy's cross is the second from the left.


Display about the events of the 21st May.


Mark with Eddy.

We have a life again!

So, this whole having a baysitter thing is working out well so far! Last week we went to see Ocean's Thirteen, which I really enjoyed. It was in a similar vein to Ocean's Eleven back in Vegas, and was a significant improvement on Ocean's Twelve...

Then, last night we went out for a a few drinks and a meal. As Tully has been sleeping quite badly this week due to a cough we thought we'd stay close by just in case. We were in the mood for Thai so headed to Jitrada. Now I've always really enjoyed the food here, and I like the atmosphere more than in the Chilli Club in Altrincham which many of our friends seem to prefer. It's been a few years since we've been so I was hoping it was as I remembered and I have to say I wasn't disappointed. The service was friendly, efficient yet relaxed, and the food was very very tasty. In my opinion, this place is still to be highly recommended.

General catch up...

Once again I've been somewhat remiss at posting much on my blog... Since my last post I've been back to Madrid, had a weekend at Mum and Dads and had a day trip to Cork.

Other news - we have acquired a regular babysitter. The girl across the road offered her services; we thought it was a rather good idea and snapped her up on it before she changed her mind! She gets pocket money, we get a regular night out and should something out of the ordinary happen her Mum is 10 seconds away which gives me complete peace of mind - everyone's a winner! So the idea is that alternate weeks we get a night out - the only problem being we seem to have forgotten what normal people do for a night out so suggestions / reminders gratefully accepted!

Looking forward to a rare week at home this week. Lovely!

Eurovision...

As Jonny and Mandy had to be away when Eurovision was on, we came up with the plan that we'd record it and have our Eurovision party a week late. Now the only problem with this plan was that it was rather tricky to ensure that none of us found out the results in the mean time.Luckily only 1 of us heard the result - and then when they heard that song concluded that as it was so rubbish they must have been lied to!

We had a really funny night - aided by the fact we played this drinking game. Although it'll come as no surprise to anyone that both Mark and Jonny spent much time chuckling to themselves but saying things like "He's bound to wink in a minute - he looks like a bit if a winker if ever I saw one...", and I've never known a group of people get so excited about a ky change in a Eurovision song before... Anyway, it was highly entertaining and I'd recommend it to anyone.

Instead of the traditional party food I made 2 huge lasagnes - here's what Jonny looks like after consuming his own weight of baked pasta! :)


The organised fun for this year was bug rocks - here are our works of art...


I think we could take on the decorated rocks at the Otley Show any day...

How posh am I?

This afternoon I had an appointment with Sarah, the personal shopper / fashion adviser at John Lewis. My wardrode desperately needed a make over, and I generally hate shopping so thought I'd give it a try.

Well, I can honestly say it's fantastic. It's a free service (Debenhams and Selfridges also offer a similar service), and you can go just for help with one outfit, or as in my case, when you need lots of things.

After a 10 min consultation to discuss type of clothes I was looking for, the colours and styles I like / dislike etc, she set off round the store with a rail to select things for me to try whilst I was left to relax with a coffee and some maazines. If you prefer you can go round the store at the same time to pick out things you'd like to try, but I thought that if I was there I'd be less open to trying styles I'd not normally go for so it'd best just to get her to pick stuff out.

She came back with the rail filled up, and then based on seeing how the things she'd chosen fitted and styles that suited me, she then went back with a second rail. Sarah was so friendly and helpful, and based on what I was trying would pop back into the store to get something in a different size or colour, or to get some beads to accessorize, or some shoes etc.

I have come away with so much stuff (although it's not obligatory to buy anything), and you even pay in her suite area so no queueing or having to mix with the 'common' shopper at all! Fab! And hopefully I won't need to go shopping again for months. Hurrah!

Stupid travel agent of doom...

I got to Madrid airport all ready to check in to come home. I queue up. I get to the check in desk. The man scratches his head in a perturbed fashion. When did I book the flight he asks? What is my booking reference? These are questions one doesn't normally get asked at an Easyjet desk.

I fish out my reference, and only then notice that the date of my return flight was Wednesday. Today is Thursday. I curse the travel agent that booked my flights using a vast array of swear words. I then think I did ought to just check my emails that I asked them to book the right day before I get toooooo cross with them. I boot up my computer, and go back to cursing the travel agent.

As my laptop takes 3 years to boot I'd in the meantime gone to the sales desk to buy a ticket for today. "Oh dear" says the man, "today's flight is full..."

They won't know if there's a no show until the check in desk closes in 40 minutes, and being Easyjet there's no standby list to get your name on. I also phone to the (retarded) travel agent and see how else I can get from Madrid to Manchester at 5pm on a Thursday evening.

The check in for the Liverpool flight closes and (apparently) everyone turned up. But there is a flight to Gatwick leaving in 40 minutes and I can buy a seat on that. I check that I can get on the BA Gatwick - Manchester shuttle, and buy my new ticket, which being a last minute Easyjet purchase is about the same cost as a flight to the moon.

I go to check in, and there is a group 4 of irate people wanting to know why there wasn't an announcement that the Liverpool flight check in was closing as they were in the line. Grrr I think - thieving Esayjet and their lying ways of doom - why couldn't I have had one of their seats?

So, I get through security etc, the flight is due to leave in 15 mins. The incoming flight is yet to arrive so we've no plane. I start to panic as I have a relatively short connection in Gatwick, especially as my bag isn't checked right through and I have to change terminal... We eventually depart for Gatwick an hour late. Marvellous I think, I'll be in an airport hotel for the night.

As it happens we made up a lot of time on the flight, and my bag is one of the first off, so I get checked in for the next flight with enough time to grab some dinner, and keep one eye on the screen for my gate number. That's weird I think - we are due to take off in 30 mins and still no gate... Hmmm. Eventually a notice comes up - delayed by 90 mins. Nice.

Again we make up some time on the flight. The pilot announces this as we get to the gate at Manchester in a very chuffed fashion. Then 2 mins later announces that any time we gained we will now lose as they can't find steps to fit the plane...

It's only taken 10 hours to get home. I'm really looking forward to my trip to Barcelona next week. (Although I have already double checked I'm booked on the right flights!)

Pringles gone...

I lasted until 20:05, which I thought was quite impressive.

Miserable in Madrid :(

So, I flew over here on Easyjet today - which wasn't too bad other than I was amongst the last group to be called to board so ended up in a really rubbish seat. Speedy boarding is going to be purchased before my next trip in a couple of weeks.

Then I get to my hotel, which is nice enough, but right in the middle of a business park so nowhere nearby to go to. So I'll have to eat in the hotel restaurant - which is ok except it doesn't open until 20:30! Grrrr... And I'm starving - that teeny tiny sandwich I had in Liverpool airport is soooo long ago now.

I thought I could pass the time until the restaurant opens by playing a bit of WOW to distract me from my hunger. But then remembered I only have my rubbishy work laptop here which isn't up to the job, and not Mark's lovely shiny spare laptop which is a gzillion times better and is now my official WOW machine. :(

I'm trying to ignore the temptation to eat the pringles in the mini bar...

Busy Bank Holiday

For once we actually had plans! Blimey!

First off Chris and Liz came to babysit for us on Friday evening so we could go out for curry with Jonny and Mandy, plus a few of friends and family around for her party BBQ on Saturday.

Then on Saturday we were at the Hills for the afore mentioned BBQ. All 3 of us went round early doors, and then Mark and Tully came home around her bedtime and I stayed on and partied.

On Sunday we drove to Yeadon to stay with Chris and Chrissy. It was really lovely to see them, particularly after Tully went to bed. We used to see them for overnighters regularly before Tully, but only seen them in the day accompanied by small child since so it was really nice to be able to just catch up in a 'grown up' way later.

On Monday Chrissy's family and friends arrived for a BBQ to celebrate her birthday and a bit of a bash.

Lots of fun but I'm exhausted now. I need another bank holiday weekend to recover. Sadly I'm off to Madrid tomorrow for the first part of my 3 week Spanish tour. No rest for the wicked. :(

It's been a while...

Well, it's been some time since I posted. Although that's partly due to being hugely busy but with very very dull stuff.

Since the last post Mark has been away to the States a couple of times (Seattle and Philly), I've been away a couple of times (Philly and Frankfurt). Last week was the first time we were both at home all week for 8 weeks, and by some miracle we are both at home next week too. Although it all goes a bit pearshaped after that again as I have 3 consecutive weeks with trips to Spain. Nice!

The only real highlight in amongst all the dullness was last Sunday when Vics and Fraser popped by on Sunday on their way home from visiting some friends in Ramsbottom. As it was a bit rainy we went to the Lowry, had lunch in Pizza Express and a quick wander around in the Imperial War Museum of the North. It was a little odd to see them for such a short time, but I'm really looking forward to our trip to Brighton stay with them in June.

Places I've been...

I liked the 'Places I've been' map on Jonny's blog so thought I'd try it myself. I have been to 24 coutries, 10% of the world.

create your own visited countries map

Mark beats both Jonny and I though with 12%... Show off! I'd love to see what % someone that has really travelled like Andy Turton would come up with though!


There's a similar thing for US states. I've only visited 15 - a measly 29%.

create your own visited states map

No big surprise, Mark beats me there too with 52%...

Eurovision is coming!

I know it's sad but I love Eurovision! Whilst even I am not tragic enough to watch tonight's 'choose a song for the UK' show it has made me get excited about the real thing. It's on the 12th May if anyone is wondering...

Holiday!

We decided that this year we are going to finally brave venturing abroad with Tulster! Are we mad? Quite possibly!

I'd heard about this group called Kinderhotels a while back but thought nothing more about them. But after we'd decided we wanted to go to the Alps this summer I thought they were worth investigating. All of them sound good to go to with kids (obviously) but being the kind of person I am the 5 smileye ones sounds the best and probably where I'd want to go!

Also I'd rather fancied going to Zell am See for several reasons. It's on Lake Zell which is of drinking water quality and good for swimming in, but is also right in the mountains to give the best of both worlds. There's also a glacier nearby so Tully can go and see 'proper' snow (and we might sneak in a day summer skiing?!). And in addition to all that it's a town rather than a teeny tiny village which I thought would be better for finding things to do with Tulster.

Anyway, imagine how pleased I was to discover there is a 5 Smiley Kinderhotel in Zell am See - Hotel Hagleitner! Now that must be fate - so who am I to argue... So it's all booked - yey! And even better - flying with ThomsonFly we each get our outbound flights for £1.36 and the return for £11.52! A bargain! :) Job done.

I mostly thinks it looks wonderful, but there is a very small part of me that thinks it looks just like hell on earth and rather like a glorified Butlins! Yikes! (And as an aside, how much of a snob am I? : Actually, maybe it's best if nobody answers that...)

In the US

Well, it's the first week of a rather hectic month or so for Mark and I. Over the space of the next 5 weeks Mark and I will partake of 4 trips to the US between us.

I'm here this week doing a bit of a whistle stop tour - in Chicago last night for 1 night, then travel to Philadelphia today for 2 nights before going home again. I got a bit lucky though!

I had to decide if I wanted to do a 2 leg journey on the outbound or inbound leg - I opted for outbound as let's face it - when you are coming home you just want to get home as quickly as possible. So yesterday I was booked onto a flight to Philadelphia, and then an internal one on to Chicago. Imagine my dismay when I overheard (as I was waiting in the longest ever check in queue known to man) that the Manchester - Philly flight was delayed. By 6 hours!!!! In fact the plane had only just departed Philly on the inbound trip! Clearly this meant I'd certainly miss my planned connection, and quite possibly the later ones too! I left my (much coveted and half an hour in) place in the check in queue to pop to customer services to see if they could reroute me.

Initially the lady told me as I would still just make the final connection of the day I'd have to stick it out (would mean I'd arrive in Chicago around midnight instead of the planned 17:10). I must have looked rather stricken as she then worked it out again and said that the connection time was about 45 mins and maybe a little tight, and that she'd try getting me on the direct BMI flight. They weren't answering, but the girl next to her said she's spoken to them just before, they had 9 seats, and she was just issuing some tickets now so she decided to do the same for me! Good job too, because just after they'd been issued someone did manage to talk to BMI who were clearly kicking off that they been sending so many people over as they now didn't have enough dinners. Eventually they were persuaded to take the people with tickets already issued (me!) but wouldn't take any more! Yey! So I ended up arriving at about 12:30 instead! Woohoo!!!! And I still get my direct flight home on Thursday too.

The only slight problem was that when i went to check in today it transpired that instead of just cancelling my outbound trip somehow they'd cancelled the whole itinerary! After much much faffing, the nice man in Chicago managed to get me rebooked onto both today's and Thursday's flights, so I get to go home still after all. Yey!

Amy's 30th Masquerade Party

A slightly belated post this.. On Saturday Jonny, Mandy and I went to Amy's birthday party. It has to be said I was slightly apprehensive beforehand as a) I hate anything even vaguely verging on fancy dress and b) we weren't going to know anyone else there!!! Well, other than Stu and May themselves that is...

However in the end it was really good fun. We drank lots, ate lots, danced lots, and I realised I knew more people than I thought as I also knew Dawn and James as we'd camped with them at the V festival a couple of years back.

I didn't take my camera, but Jonny has posted some rather fuzzy photos he took on his phone here...

Tully's new bed

I've been wanting to move Tulster to a proper bed for a little while - she's definitely been ready for a couple of months now and asking for a proper bed. But as I knew she'd have to go into a cot when we went to Shropshire I've kept her in hers here as I didn't think she's want to be demoted back to cot again. Anyway, today is the day!

Here are a couple of before shots...



And here are some after ones. After much deliberation I decided to keep her in the box room rather than lose the guest room, but as it's just too short to take a single bed this means she's gone into a toddler bed. Still, it should buy us a year or two to get ourselves sorted out and moved into a new house...



And I thought I should put a 'small' collection of toys in place ready for her!


I was a bit worried she'd be running round the house now she has free reign, and I fully suspect I'm talking far too early but so far she went to ned ealier than normal with no fuss as she was so excited, and went stright in and straight to sleep! Yey! Wait for the post tomorrow now where I complain she came through every 2 mins from 1am - 5am... :)

Birthday Weekend

It was my birthday on Monday, and to celebrate we went away to Shropshire with Jonny and Mandy, and Stu and Amy. I had lots of fun, but it has to be said that far too much of the weekend was taken up with playing Warioware: Smooth Moves on the Wii than can be good for anyone! Very funny, although unlike PS games it gets significantly harder as more gin in consumed... Here's Jonny admirably demonstrating the Mohawk form. Probably best not to ask... :)

That there dinner...

I've found a picture of my table where you can see an example of my outrageously large surf and turf meal at the Stock-Yard! YUMMMMM! (Although this picture doesn;t represent the huge starters and additoinal side orders we also had!)

Back home

Well, it's been an interesting week. The hotel was as mad as it looked, several large linked themed areas all with gigantic glass roofs. It was an amazing piece of engineering which I swayed between liking and thinking hugely vulgar throughout the time there. The convention centre alone felt a similar size to the NEC too. Luckily my room was close to the convention centre so I only had a 5/10 min walk to breakfast, and then a further 10 mins to the meeting room. Some people were 30 mins from breakfast (which given the meeting started at 8 meant a very early start to get there in time!)

One evening we were taken out to for a meal at Stock-Yard Restaurant. I (along with several others) chose the surf and turf option as I was struggling to decide between steak and lobster. It was amazing - to the point that people with cameras took photos of it. If I can get hold of a copy I'll post it sometime...

Another evening there was a mass exodus to the Wild Horse Saloon where we were all given cheapo bandanas and cowboy hats and enjoyed participating in line dancing! Nice!

All in all it was one of the more enjoyable meetings I've been to in recent times, but it's still good to be home.

Off to Amerima

Tomorrow I head off to Nashville to the sales meeting. Yes, that's right - on a Saturday - hrumph!!! We are staying in the amusingly named Gaylord Opryland Hotel, and it looks absolutely insane!

It is HUGE, has 2881 bedrooms, and bizarrely also has indoor gardens, waterfalls and you can even "take a scenic boat tour down our winding indoor river". How an indoor river can be scenic is anyones guess. Still, we have some free time on Sunday (how unusual at these things) so maybe I'll get to try it out...

New Washing Machine continued...

Well, the new washing machine turned up as promised. Eventually 2 days later we got round to fitting it and it is now fully operational. Except, when we came to put the cupboard door back on the flipping attachment bits are in a completely different flipping place to the old one! Grrrrrr! Why the bleeding heck don't the stupid manufacturers make things the same????? And it's not going to be easy to make it fit, as there's a big hole in the door where the screw will need to go to fit for this one.

Time to call in the professionals. (Plus, I need to get an electricain in too whilst we are about it as half our house is in darkness - 3 light fittings aren't functional. And it's not just that I need to put new light bulbs in either before some cheeky person puts a comment up to say as such.)

Fish Pie

Tully and I made a really yummy fish pie to help us celebrate New Year. It looked really good so I thought I'd take a picture of it! As an aside it tasted even better than it looked.

New Washing Machine

Typical! Every Christmas some major electrical item seems to break, and this year it is the turn of the washing machine. Now the problem with that is that we have a stupid integrated one, which whilst looks very tidy is just a pain! Firstly there is incredibly limited choice (both in appliance and shop to buy them from), and then there's the whole having to fit the cupboard door on part too!

When we bought the house the previous occupant wanted to take all the existing appliances with them meaning we were in the market for fridge, freezer, washing machine and dishwasher, but could I find anyone to sell them to me??? None of the high street electrical shops did, and nobody I asked knew where I could buy them from. Eventually someone recommended I try Range Warehouse which proved successful.

So this time I didn't even bother looking around we just went straight back to Range today and bought this Indesit WD12X.

Lazy couple of days

Mark and I both finished work on Wednesday, and have enjoyed a relaxing couple of days whilst Tully was in nursery yesterday and today.

Both days we had big lie ins which I'm counting even though I got up and took Tully to school before going back to bed. Yesterday after hearing so many good reviews we went to see Casino Royale. It was as good as I'd been told, and I really enjoyed it. I think it's my fav Bond film to date - certainly from the recent ones anyway.

Sadly today school finished at 2, so we had to look after our daughter ourselves this afternoon (cuh!) so we walked to collect her for a change, and stopped off at the park, before walking into Sale and then heading on home. Whilst in Sale we bought her a gingerbread Christmas tree, which due to it's solid nature kept her busy for the entire journey home, and she was still eating it 5 this evening! The most entertainment value we've seen out of 49p in a long time!

Productive Day!

I'm taking a couple of days hols as I seem to have loads left over that I lose at the end of this year. So far today has mostly been used in writing Christmas cards (almost done although not yet posted...!), and choosing some photos...

Now then, when Mark first moved into his houselet in Alty almost 9 years we picked out a couple of pictures to 'make do' until we found something we really liked, and again after decorating downstairs over 4 years ago we did the same thing for an extra picture (and this one is truely hideous - a £5 IKEA special that seems to reside in every ski chalet we've been to since!) The problem is we are never really sure what we like, and the second one is that many of our photos from recent times were only stored on the hard drive in the loft and, well, going up there to retrieve it required 10 seconds worth of effort!

Anyway I've spent much of the afternoon going through the archive of digital photos from the last few years, and finally picked out 3 examples from our hols in New Zealand to get enlarged. Just going through the 1300 (!) pictures from NZ took well over an hour, so since I went back as far a 2002 it took rather a lot longer. It was however a very enjoyable way to pass a few hours, and brought back some fantastic memories. There's so much I'd completely forgotten about!

(Actually the picture below isn't one of the ones chosen, but I do rather like it!)

Birthday plans!

I know, I know - it's ages away yet! But I fancied havig a weekend away with friends, which means I need to get them booked now! (Our friends seem to be incredibly busy these days - I find it hard to believe we ever had so much of a life even before Tulster!)

So, I've booked to go here for a long weekend, along with Jon and Mand, and Stu and Amy. I don't think it might be a bit too chilly to use the pool though!

It's Christmas!

Not come early as you might expect, but come very very late.

Our Christmas present last year from Jonny and Mand was a night out with babysitters thrown in! We finally got round to cashing it in last night... Liz and Chris came round to babysit (thanks!) and we went into Manchester for scrummy food and wine in Evuna. It was very tasty, and it was lovely to have a night out with the Hills. We really do need to make more effort to see all our friends than we do. Strikes me there's a good New Years Resolution in the making...

Prague

I've been in Prague for work this week. There was a bit of a mix up with hotels, and the one where my meeting was ended up being overbooked, so some of us got transferred to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel for the same price.

It was REALLY lovely. I was given a room in the spa, which was just over the glass bridge in the photo here. There were 32" LCD tvs in both the bedroom and the bathroom, plus a DVD player. MAybe I just normally stay in rubbish hotels and this is normal for everyone else, but I was well impressed!

And, although it was a 20 minute walk to where the meeting was each way, it was over Charles Bridge and through the old town and really pretty. I'm exhausted now though, I need a rest this weekend.

Ummm

Upgraded my blog to the newer version. It seems to have got confused and think I'm Tully! Ho hum, no obvious way to sort it out at the moment but it's annoying me so I'll endeavour to fix it. :(

Films I've watched far too often!

Grosse Pointe Blank - I'm not sure why but this is a film I come back to again and again. I think it's because it's such a good combination of drama, comedy, romance and John Cusack! It's got to the stage though where both Mark and I pretty much know the script off by heart though, so maybe it's time to find a new film to take it's place. And even though we've almost worn the DVD out it's the film we've chosen to watch tonight out of the entire selection across all Sky Movies channels... Mmmm.






10 things I hate about you - even less sure why we watch this so often, but it is definitely worthy of mention when talking about DVD's we've nearly worn out. Although it's very much a teen movie, it has sligtly more depth than some as it's adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew set in a modern American high school. It's where I first came across Julia Stiles, and I have to admit I've since become a bit of a fan.




Moulin Rouge! - I love this! It's crazy, colourful, vibrant, funny, poignant, and (I think at least) very cleverly written. And stars Ewan McGregor!!!!! Richard Roxburgh is brilliant as The Duke; the 'Like a Virgin' scene cracks me up every time!


Bizarrely, with possibly the exception of Moulin Rouge, these wouldn't make it onto my list of top 5 films (I sense that could be a whole new blog entry sometime). But all are very enjoyable and worth a watch if you've never seen them.

New York part 1!

Mark and I went to New York for a long weekend to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary, leaving Tulster behind to be spoilt rotten by my parents! As we’d both been before and ‘done’ the main sights it was really lovely to relax and not feel obliged to run around doing lots of official sightseeing. Below is a selection of photos from the weekend!

Our hotel – the Westin New York Times Square – was really good, and in a really good location (until you want to walk about just as all the theatres kick out!)


On Friday evening we went for a wander around Chinatown – neither of us had ventured there before, and it’s definitely an area I’d recommend people go and have a look at. Still, the pre-requisite Starbucks on every corner (albeit in a Chinese style) means you never forget where you are! J



We had fabulous dinner in Joe’s Shanghai on Pell Street (well done to the Rough Guide for another excellent recommendation) – the pork soup dumplings (the house speciality) and the crispy spicy whole yellow fish were particularly good. On the walk back to the Subway we spooted Mark’s shop!


Last time I’d been to New York was prior to 9/11, so going to visit Ground Zero was the only thing on my list of things to do this visit. It’s a very sombre place – hard to believe we caught the subway down there last time…


A couple of the photos from the (very well done) memorial section captured my imagination – the expression on the man’s face in the centre really says it all.


How cool was that?

New York part 2!

It still seems to be messing up so I've published this in two parts to make sure I don't lose it all again!

The Staten Island Ferry - another first and quite frankly tight way to get good views of the harbour and skyline as it's free! We did the 'proper' tour last time of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, which was wonderful. I just wanted another look see of the views...


She never fails to impress me. Although I was a little relieved not to take the vertigoiferous traipse up the spiral staircase inside her this time... It did make my tummy go funny...


My favourite bit of Times Square - look at all those kisses! :) Pity Hersheys chocolate is so disgusting. (With the excpetion of cookies and cream, although I've not found it for ages! Does ayone know - have they stopped making it?)


We went for a look around the USS Intrepid - very interesting, but the video in particular was very well done.


Also included in the display is one of the BA concorde to look round - it's tiny inside!


We went for lunch at Katz's Deli - no photo's but it's the place where THAT scene from 'When Harry met Sally' was filmed. Scroll down towards the bottom on this web site - we sat one table to the right, just behind Harry...

Argh!

Just spent ages writing an entry on our trip to New York and it's just vanished for no good reason! I can't be bothered to write it all again now - will maybe have another go tomorrow... Grrrrr.

Maybe leaving Mark in charge of Tully is a bad idea?

So, as I said in my last post I've been away a bit recently with work. I think Mark is getting his revenge though. Whilst I've been away he has taught Tully a new 'What noise do xxx make?' question and answer... Mark says 'Tully, what noise do mummys make?', Tully answers 'Nag nag nag'... Mmmmmmm...

Off again...

As most people'll know I have to travel a reasonable amount for my job, and whilst some trips are better than others I generally enjoy the variety that going out and about brings. (I'm also very lucky that I have a husbad that has never ever grumbled about the fact that he is left at home holding the baby...) And normally traveling for work is within the working week which is fine.

However it feels that work is enchroaching somewhat into my/our family time at the moment. Last Sunday I had to fly to Sweden for 3 days and although the flight was quite late, by the time I'd sorted out getting packed and allowed extra time to check in given current travel restrictions, all of Sunday afternoon had gone. Then in the middle of last week I was instructed to book flights to go to the US office next week, flying on Bank Holiday Monday. So I have to be at the airport for 9 tomorrow morning . Nice.

Ok, grumble over. Especially as I've demanded next Monday off to compensate! :)

Hooray for Boston!

Whilst hanging about at Boston Station yesterday waiting for the (delayed) 16:06 train to Nottingham to arrive I spotted an advert for Stickney Farm Park. Sounds like a possible day out for some time in the future. Blimey, what's Boston coming to having tourist attractions and the like...? It certainly wasn't like that in my day!

As an aside, what does it say about my home town that the station had no shop, no cafe, no snack bar, or indeed anywhere where I might purchase a bottle of drink for the journey. But it did have a pub, which was surprisingly full for a Tuesday afternoon! Nice!

New York, New York!

I'm very excited. Mark and I decided we deserved a treat, so we've booked to go to New York for a long weekend for our wedding anniversary. Luckily Mum and Dad have once again volunteered to look after Tulster for us -I think that in their old age they forget each time the trauma that involves - so we can have a lovely relaxing time. Well, that's what Mark thinks anyway - I've already started planning... :)

We decided to splash out and stay here, which is within a block of Times Square so right in the middle of the action. Woohoo!

Poppy Wardle

Congratulations to Steve and Karen, who now have their very own monster going by the name Poppy! She already has her own blog so we can all keep up with her exploits here...

Oooooops!

I've just noticed how rubbish I've been at keeping my blog updated recently.

Part of the problem is I've been incredibly busy, and with borng things that aren't worth mentioning in the main. I've had several work trips to France, Germany, Ireland and around the UK for example. Dull dull dull...

But I suppose our holiday is worthy of comment. We went to a cottage just outside Robin Hood's Bay. The cottage was lovely, and in a really good little village that has everything we needed - swings, dogs, village shop and pub! What more could you ask for? :)

What else? Well, we've decided that a trip to Cornwall to see Sam, Mark's sister, is long over due so we've booked into a camp site nearby for a long weekend in August. We stayed there once before a couple of years back and it's a lovely site. Not sure if camping with an 18 month old is entirely a good idea though but I'm sure she'll love it. Not looking forward to the journey though - makes me think we should have gone when she was 6 months old and would have slept all the way rather than needing entertaining as she does now... I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Well, that's it for now. I'll try and be better at posting stuff in future!

Jo and AJ's Wedding

Last night I went to the party bit of Jo's wedding - sadly I never got round to taking ay photo's as I usually seemed to have a G&T in my hand... (If someone has a nice one let me know and I'll put a link to it here...)

Jo's dress was beautiful - she looked gorgeous! I didn't really get chance to talk to Jo much at all though - but I did catch up with lots of people I'd not seen for ages which was lovely, plus some others that I see foten at work but don't get to socialise with much these days.

Brian and Katy's Wedding

Today we had a lovely family day out at Brian and Katy's wedding, both of whom we've worked with for a number of years. As they already have 2 kids of their own the day was organised in a child and family friendly way. After the ceremony the kids had their tea brought out fairly soon after, which was perfect as it meant they all got fed long before anyone started to get grouchy.

Then there was a short time before our dinner, so we all wandered over to the crazy golf. Tully was funny as she didn't quite get why she couldn't go and grab the balls from the 'tee' and run off with them. Stu got quite excited at one point as he thought he'd score a hole in one using Tully power instead of any skill of his own!

Then, whilst the grown ups tea was being served the kids had their own disco downstairs, which seemed to degenerate into mostly chasing each other around. Tulster held her own and Lydia had to watch her back for a while, although I think Lydia came on top in the end! All in all it was a fab day out. I can only wonder at how the evening went when the grown ups disco started - we make a hasty exit before Tully got too tired and fed up...

TV!

I have to say I'm loving the new series of Green Wing. It's just so surreal, cleverly written and very funny. I'm saddened to discover that already we are almost halfway through. Equally the third series of Hustle was as entertaining as the pevious two, and it seems to be over almost before it's begun. It's a shame that our home grown tv series don't manage to produce the long series that seem to get made in the States, although i suppose something can be said for quality rather than quantity in this case.

Having said that, the second series of Desperate Housewives is proving to be as compelling as the first. And I am also enjoying My name is Earl. So maybe I can't criticise US tv too much...

Pie Dinner

I had a very tiring day at work today and just couldn't be bothered to cook. So we decided to have pie dinner! For those of you I've not told this to before our local chippy does pie, chips, peas, fired onions and gravy all for £2.1o! A bargain and very very tasty! Yum!
The only downside is that the pie is a Hollands one as favoured by chippys in the North West, and not a mighty Pukka pie as I was brought up with! Boo!

Easter Weekend

It was lovely to have an extended weekend, and spend some time with Tully and Mark. Everything seems to be a big rush these days, so it was lovely to relax and enjoy life for a change. Tully is starting to be fun now (no offense Tulster), is walking about, loving her new shoes that make a clumping sound as she stomps about, plus they mean we can let her wander round outside more now. She's also beginning to talk and communicate and for it to make some sense(!), and starting to understand us and react to what we say so we can send her off on little missions! Bless her! I was quite sad to have to go back to work :(

The photo was taken whilst we were hunting for eggs in the park, which was actually quite hard - I couldn't find any but luckily Mark managed to find some.

Langoustine

Yum! I forgot to mention that last week whilst in Paris we went out for a very tasty meal on the Wednesday night, and I was very pleased to see langoustine on the menu! I LOVE langoustine, but it's not often I get to eat them. The last time was when Mark ordered me some from www.langoustine.co.uk for my birthday a few years ago - everyone thought it was very funny when a bit freeze/chilled box turned up at work!

Saturday night sadness!

Oh dear. Chris and Chrissy came to stay tonight as they were going to a wedding at Old Trafford. Mark and I stayed at home, and thought we'd be ok to get away with playing a bit of WOW... Unfortunately they were getting a lift with Anna and Jim who wanted to get home to Otley fairly early to relieve their babysitter they got back rather earlier than we imagined. How embarrassed did we feel to be caught out being such saddos!!!! Even worse I was going through an instance with a few people and was on teamspeak at the time too!

Btw, I'm now level 43 which I'm very proud of, and even have a horse!