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!

Paris

So, back from Belfast on Sunday evening, and off the Paris Monday morning. When we booked to go away for the weekend I was meant to be at home this week, but various events meant I switched my work travel around and had to leave again straight away. Poor Tully - she only saw me for a bleary eyed 10 minutes on Monday morning as we'd got home after she was in bed on SUnday, and I had to leave to catch my flight at 7am.

I've come to Paris to help us exhibit at Forum LABO. It's been quiet today - unfortunately for the conference organisers the French decided to strike today so not many punters turned up at all! Oh well, here's looking forwards to a busy day tomorrow.

Belfast

Once again it's been a little while since I posted. Firstly this is because for a while after the last post I had nothing to post about, and then I got busy again and haven't had chance!

So, somehow we managed to persuade Mum and Dad to look after Tully for a couple of days, so Mark and I decided we'd go and have a nice weekend break somewhere. Only we chose Belfast... Only kidding - we did have a nice time, although it has to be said there isn't LOADS to do in Belfast. We mostly just chilled out and did all the things we don't get chance to these days, like go to and sit in the pub for an afternoon, or go to the cinema. Speaking of which I highly recommend Inside Man, and can't discourage you enough from Date Movie...

I can also recommend the Oxford Bar and Grill, up above St Georges Market for a very nice meal indeed. The side order of crispy onions in particular was yum yum yum!!!

I may (or may not) post some photos when I get home again from my next trip away - see above... :)

Busyness!

Blimey, it's been a while since my last post (apologies) but I've been rather hectic for the last couple of weeks...

So, following on from the last post I had a BIG demo on the Wednesday, which went pretty well.

Then last weekend Vics came to stay - it was lovely to see her and we took the chance to leave Tully with Mark for a few hours on Saturday and hit the shops, We were both rather restrained though and didn't buy much too much! (Although we did buy matching tops... Not sure if that's a good thing...?)

Then this week I had a night out with Mel and Mandy on Wednesday - we went to Sokrates, a very good Greek restaurant in Sale, scoffed lots and lots of tasty food and drank much yummy red wine! Mr Goodridge was a star and offered (or was he told) to take Mand and I home too when he came to pick Mel up! So thanks John!!!!

Then last night Stu and Amy came round for tea. For some reason Tully wasn't at all sure about Amy but found Stu very entertaining... Strange child, I'd definitely be the other way round! Anyway, Amy helped bath her, and then we had a very enjoyable evening - although we did seem to watch more televised Poker than could possibly be considered ideal! Ho hum...

House Viewing

We went to look at a new housing development today, which is by the canal in central Sale. The house we looked at was a 4 bed town house, and was actually ok - I especially like the living room and kitchen floor. However the only plots that are left are 2 and 3, both of which have the TINIEST gardens ever, so we've ruled it out as a possibility. Ah well, it passed half an hour on a Sunday afternoon...

Going on holiday!

Yey! We've booked to go away in June for a week to this lovely looking cottage just outside Robin Hood's Bay. I've not been to the area for years so I'm really looking forward to it! Although not looking forward to puching Tully back up the hill on the way back from the beach again... :(

Random rant!

I've just seen an advert for McDonalds and it's reminded me of something I've wanted to rant about for ages but never quite get round to. And given it was McDonalds that sparked the rant I think most people will be surprised by where I go from here!

Why would anyone want to ruin a perfectly tasty burger by putting bacon in it! It's the just wrong and, quite frankly, in my opinion a filthy thing to do! Bleurgh! Yukky! It makes me feel ill just thinking about it. Bacon should be in bacon butties, burgers should be burgers. The 2 should never be combined!!!! So there!

Day out in Cardiff!

Well, what can I say? I had a lovely day on Saturday. Firstly I got up fairly early and drove to Cardiff - and had the most fantastic run ever meaning I got there in time to pop in and see Steph, Tim and Alex for a couple of hours. Alex is such a sweetie - very quiet and well behaved indeed. Here's a picture of him; Steph and Tim avoided the camera as neither were feeling photogenic following quite a rough night with Alex...


Then after a quick change I went to Michelle and Graeme's wedding. It really was very good indeed, and given it was February the sun shone out for them. Kirstie, one of Michelle's chemistry friends from Exeter (who has since had a total change of career into opera singing) sang Panis Angelicus whilst they went to sign the register - it really was very beautiful. Another of the highlights of the day has to be the first dance - they'd put together a full dance routine to a medley of tunes ranging from The Monkees, through The Proclaimers to Doris Day singing 'A guy is a guy'- it truely was a stroke of genius! Here's a selection of some of my favourite pictures from the day.

She'll kill me for this but I just love this is one - it's just sooo Michelle!


The boys, Bouncy (aka Chris) and Paul.


Michelle and Graeme surrounded by all the men! Didn't she do well for herself! ;)


Bouncy and Vicky - despite the rosy cheeks Chris is actually sober as he was acting as chauffeur for us all for the night!


Paul, me and Kirstie, none of whom are remotely sober! ;)

Away to Cardiff

It's been a while since I've posted anything, for a combination of reasons. Firstly I've not had a great deal of interesting things to say, other than the stuff that's been going on Tully's blog anyway about her birthday etc. And also I've been a bit down in the last couple of weeks too and I don't want this to turn into a forum where I grumble about things. This whole being 31 thing has hit me hard - it's defintely not a good age...

But, I'm in a really good mood today as I'm heaading off tomorrow to Michelle's wedding who is one of my friends from Exeter. It's in Cardiff which is even better as it means I'll get chance to pop in and see Steph too, and finally meet her little boy Alex. I'll also get to catch up with a few other friends at the wedding that I've not seen since my wedding, plus a couple of other Exeter people I've not since since even before then. I'm really looking forward to it. The only downside is that because Tully wasn't invited it's meant that Mark has chosen to stay at home and look after her, as it's not long since we both abandoned her for a week when we went skiing. I'll just have to do enough partying for both of us then! :D

Birthday!

Today is my 31st birthday - how old is that? :( I had a fairly quiet day, mainly because we were recovering from our holiday, and having to get up at 3am UK time to come home. Mum and Dad had stayed overnight so I got one last mini lie in. Then Chris and Chrissie popped in to see us in the afternoon, and finally Jon and Mandy came round in the evening for a curry. Yum!

Still, Mandy got all the best presents though - we brought her tinned brussel sprouts (Spar best!) home from Val D'Isere! :D

Val D'Isere

Last week we went skiing in Val D'Isere, although our chalet ended up being in Le Fornet, a couple of km up the road. It was really good fun, and it was quite nice to have a week away from Tully (at least when it came to sleeping!)!!! Anyway, here's a few photo's from the week...

Grenoble Airport - the first time I've had to walk quite so far to the terminal from the plane! (Although it is closely rivalled by Chambery - must be a skiing thing...)


New goggles (very very good - didn't steam up ever, not once!!!!), and my fav skiing hat!


The outside of our chalet.


My only fall of the week! Which given the piste is, well, completely flat, is really rather embarrassing!!!! Oh well... But, as an aside, look how lovely and sunny it was! And it was pretty much like that all week which is a first. Usually there's at least 2 days of grey yukky weather.

How much!!!!

Looking at the state of the house, and the fact I am now working full time, I decided to investigate getting a cleaner today. And my general feelings have been 'How much!?!?!?!?'!

So far the quotes have ranged from £8.25 - £11 an hour. When we used to have a cleaner about 5 years ago we paid £5 an hour - how can it have gone up so much!!!! Everyone I spoke to today though were agencies - maybe I need to find little lady who works for herself instead... Or just give in and get the hoover out myself. Sigh... Actually no, I hate hoovering soooo much it's worth paying someone else, even it means we can't eat! :D

Desperate Housewives

Yey, I nearly forgot about the start of the new series of Desperate Housewives, but luckily happened to be watchng Channel 4 when it started! Phew!

I really enjoyed the last series, so I hope this one proves to be as good!

Home again.

Home again! And I suppose overall the week wasn't too bad. Surprisingly the highlight of the week was the team building event. It was incredibly well done, I felt I knew the people was grouped with much better afterwards, we learned lots of useful concepts, and, most importantly, it was FUN! Blimey!!!

Still, it's definitely good to be home!

In Florida

Ok, well I guess it's not been TOOOOO bad so far. I set off from home at 7am on Wednesday, and 17 hours later I arrived in my hotel room. The journey was pretty uneventful - got through immigration in Newark surprisingly quickly, and even had a friendly immigration officer too!

The highlight of the journey was getting transferred from the airport to the hotel in a super stretch Hummer limo - I haven't got a camera here as left it at home for Tully but Jon took some pictures so look out for some photos fom him at some point.

Overall the agenda has been mostly better than expected. And it's been really lovely to catch up with some people I've not seen for AGES! The lunches have been pretty good, but the rest of the food has been a little disappointing so far. I'm looking forwards to getting home though - I'm missing Tully and Mark loads. Still, only half a day left to go, and then the 17 hour journey home again... Ho hum...

Off to sunnier climes

Tomorrow I'm heading out to Florida for the annual global corporate wide sales meeting, which I managed to avoid last year as I was too pregnant to fly. (How smug was I?!?!?)

Anyway, whilst the hotel looks really nice, the agenda looks really dull, and not only that but it continues through Saturday meaning I don't get home until Sunday morning. I would say at least it'll be sunny and warm, but realistically the chance of us getting any free time to get out the hotel is very slim. Most days there is only a 30 min gap between the end of the meeting and the start of the organised evening entertainment... Oh, and the agenda seems to start at 6:30 in the morning! Oh joy...

Watch this space and I'll let you know if I'm just being a misery or if my doom and gloom is justified... :)

Going Skiing

Well, we've done it! We've been threatening mum that we're going to go skiing and leave Tully with her and dad for the week, and this week we've booked it! We are going to Val D'Isere for the week with Inghams, who are, in my opinion, by far the best ski tour operator of the main few. We know the resort, but as it's a last minute deal we get allocated a chalet on arrival. I'm very excited about it - although slightly worried I'm so unfit I'll be exhausted by the time I've walked to the chairlift! Let's hope we get put in this chalet where we can ski to and from the door! :)

Still, Mum will probably be more broken having to look after our monster for 8 days! I wonder how far through the week she gets before she gives in and sends her to nursery for the day so she can catch up on some sleep! :)

Home alone

This week Mark has gone to the Philly office for the week, so I'm left holding the fort here alone. (I don't feel too badly done to - I'm off to Florida next week and don't get home until Sunday so he has Saturday with her all day! :) ) She's been really good for me so far too which is a definite bonus.

I just have one question though. All week last week when we were on holiday she woke up ridiculously early each day and wanted nothing other than to play. Yet now I'm back at work all she wants to do is sleep in! Very annoying!

Happy New Year

Well, another year is over with. And another New Years Eve, which has always rated high in my list of the worst night of the year. And once again it proved to be somewhat of a washout last night...

Firstly we had forgotten that other people still have some form of social life and by the time we remembered to make plans everyone we knew already had social engagements. So we were going to make the best of it and had plans for having a fun if rather quiet evening in alone. However, for reasons I won't go into, both Mark and I were totally exhausted so the lovely meal I had planned to cook is now going to be today's lunch (we had the easy option of fish and chips last night), and we were in bed before 10pm...

Still, I thought I could reply to everyone's texts of happy New Year this morning. I was rather chuffed to see I had 4 messages when I woke up - how popular I thought! Imagine my disappointment to see that most people had indeed forgotten us - 3 were from the same person who had clearly had one too many vodka's!!! :) Ho hum...