Reasons to be cheerful 29th August 2013

I'm suffering a bit with Blogger's Block. When I'm out and about I see things and think "that'll make a good post" but when I get home the laptop doesn't quite get switched on and the post remains unwritten. I'm feeling uninspired and as I slowly get more followers I feel that I should keep them entertained, rather than detail what happened at the supermarket (probably needed to be there at the time to find it funny).

Despite this moany, woe is me phase I do still want to blog and take real enjoyment in seeing that people read my posts and leave nice comments! So I'm shaking off my negative hat and throwing on my Reasons to be Cheerful sunnies for another week.

My brother and his family went back to Cornwall for a holiday and we caught up on a Facetime chat. My niece E is fascinated with seeing our flat during these chats and always asks to see different rooms, one such request went along the lines of "Auntie Carrie...I want to see your messy kitchen again" Cue lots of laughter in Hampshire and Cornwall!!

We had an unplanned visit to Oxford on Saturday. The gliding lesson was cancelled so we had a wander through the town centre instead, taking lots of photos and trying lots of samples at a food festival that was being held.

 

At the food festival we picked up some amazing pies for our dinner. They were individually boxed up and when it came to heating them up later I could hear the OH giggling to himself...this is the reason why...

 

 

On Sunday we went to Bournemouth for a Spa Day. I drank Champagne, lounged in a Jacuzzi until my fingers went wrinkly, ate a lovely lunch and had a one hour body massage...mmmmm! When we left the hotel, the sun had come out and so we took a stroll along the Promenade and cliff top.

 

 

There's a full tank of petrol in the car, our bags are packed (well mine is) and the passports have been found. In the early hours of tomorrow morning we are driving to Holland for a long weekend with friends. I can't wait to experience a new country and take lots of photos...if that doesn't inspire me I don't know what will!!

And finally, as always, thankfully my friends and family are all happy and healthy.

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

 

This post is being linked to Mummy From the Heart's Reasons to be Cheerful series - why not add your own reasons here

My favourite season

I stepped outside this morning to go to work and felt the first hint of Autumn, my favourite season.

There was a clear blue sky with just a hint of chill to the air and condensation had rested onto my windscreen. I drove into work with my sunglasses on, the window down and felt the cool breeze on my face.

 

By mid morning that initial coolness has disappeared, we are still in August and summer is trying to desperately hold on. Most of the trees still have green leaves, but there is an occasional hint of yellow and red if you look closely enough. Blackberries are ready for picking, but I'm not quite ready for a warming crumble.

 

I can't quite say why I love Autumn so much. Maybe it's because the cold mornings invigorate me ready for the day ahead or the earlier evenings encourage me to relax and rest up. After a summer of salads and socialising I'm desperate to dust off the slow cooker for stews and evenings in.

 

Autumn is traditionally the time to enjoy the fruits of your labour and while I don't have a veggie garden I still love to go to a market and buy a glut of seasonal vegetables to turn into a warming meal.

 

Summer is the season of fun...and hayfevers

Winter is the season of Christmas...and flu

Spring is the season of wind and rain

Autumn is the season of colour and snuggling

 

Image from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-20510889

 

“I loved autumn, the one season of the year that God seemed to have put there just for the beauty of it.”  
Lee Maynard

 

Joining in with Wednesday Words

 

Silent Sunday 25th August 2013

Five Sentence Fiction 22nd August 2013

At the sound of Daddy's voice Jessica put on the battered backpack that contained her most prized possessions and picked up Monkey.

 

He'd told her earlier that she probably wouldn't need her pebble collection or glitter pen where they were going, but Jessica wasn't so sure.

 

Weaving through the forest of legs, her hand firmly gripped by Daddy they made their way quickly to the front of the queue.

 

It seemed only a short amount of time before they were strapped safely in, listening to the roar of the engines get louder and louder.

 

Despite Daddy's reassuring smile, Jessica buried her face into Monkey's comforting soft fur and tearfully decided she didn't much like this holiday-ing business.

 

 

I am taking part in Lillie McFerrin's weekly "Five Sentence Fiction" Link up. This week's prompt is "TRAVEL"

Please pop over to her site to read the other great submissions

The Theme Park of Life

Photo by Michelle Weber

 

I’ve always thought that theme parks mimic life. The successful and popular ones are loud, exciting and exhilarating. Most people want to be around this energy, to experience its power. We get bombarded with advertising campaigns that tell us that we should all be trying something new, something adrenaline fuelled. We're not part of the popular, successful, affluent crowd until we've travelled the fastest, reached the highest and screamed the loudest along the way.

 

And what of the rides that make up the theme parks? Of course the Star of the Show is always the super-duper laser show, death-defying, scream if you want to go faster, high speed ride that everyone talks about and wants to be able to say “I was there, I did it”. But these types of thrills, you come to realise as you go through life, don’t always live up to the hype that’s been built up around them. You wait an age to experience the excitement, watching everyone that has already done it rave about how great it is but then you race through it, probably with your eyes closed, definitely gripping the safety bar and just as you start to relax and enjoy the sensations, it's over in a flash.

 

But what happens when you've done all that? You're either left unsatisfied with a hunger you never knew existed, realising that you need more; more excitement, more noise, more highs; or you're left shaken and broken, with quaking legs, a lead weight in the pit of your stomach and a sense of "Was it really worth it?".

 

Theme parks are designed to have the most exciting, fast paced ride where everyone can see it and swarm over to it to drink in the adrenaline fuelled intoxication. The quieter, calmer rides get put in the corners of the park away from the bright lights and loud music. Maybe this is because the park designers think these won't hold people's attention for long enough? That's probably true for the teenagers, but they haven't had the full impact of living life just yet.

 

As young people on the start of their journey into the ultimate theme park we call Life, they don't realise that you need to pace out the big excitements in life to stop them merging into one big burst of stimuli, too much at once, leaving you stunned. They haven't yet realised that you don't need to be thrown around to loud music and pulsating lights to get enjoyment. Their eyes are not looking for the slower, old fashioned ride; their ears cannot hear the gentle music being played; they have forgotten that you can get pleasure in life from just sitting and being lulled by memories.

 

Now that I am older I find myself being drawn to these little quiet corners in the park. The merry-go-round with the music I remember from my childhood soothes my aching head. The gentle motion relaxes my body. The slowly turning platform allows me to take a deep breath and to look all around me, I can see everything clearly. I have time to see people around me enjoying themselves. I can reach across to hold the hand of a loved one. I can feel the gentle summer breeze catch my hair. I can reminisce about similar rides as a child and I can daydream about the time I will introduce my future children to this joy.

 

As much as I hope the children in my dreams will be happy with the gentle, safe childhood rides, I know there will come a time that they will need more. The gentle merry-go-round won't hold their attention. The animals that they used to argue over will seem small and boring. Their excitement will be directed somewhere else, somewhere I can’t go with them. They will beg for more, a faster pace, a chance to experience the newest thrill. I will only be able to stand on the side lines and watch them as they run on ahead, away from my protection.

 

I’ll know that I'll find myself worrying that after this first taste of excitement they will be swept along on the wave of thrill-seeking, away from the calming waters that they have grown up in. What dangers will they come across? What situations will they find themselves in? Will they make rash decisions that they later regret?

 

But I know all children go through the theme park of life, this is what makes us into adults. I am sure that one day, if I do my job as a parent well, the bright lights will stop luring them so much. When they visit the theme park it will be back to the quiet corners with their own family. They too will be ready to understand and appreciate the quiet, calm, joyous moments of the merry-go-round as much as I do.

 

Linked up with this week's Daily Press DPChallenge 1000 Words - Part 4

Time for a kick...

I'm a fully signed up gym member. I go a minimum of 3 times a week for at least 45 minutes and I try to get in an outdoor walk at the weekend. I make all my meals from scratch and I rarely treat myself to a takeaway.

 

As I step onto the dreaded scales yet again, I ask the question "Why bother?".

 

My weight resolutely holds one & a half stone above where I think it should be, my Buddha belly was last flat in a different century to the one we are now well into and I'm not too sure where my bum finishes and my thighs start.

 

I'm tired of waking up with aching legs and a rumbling tummy, I'm tired of making salads interesting in under 300 calories, I'm tired of eating rye bread instead of a fresh, doughy, white baguette.

 

I know that when I am dressed I look pretty good, I know what curves to accentuate and which ones to hide but it's when I look at myself sans clothes that my body has nowhere to hide. My measurements are below today's UK average but that doesn't make me feel anymore attractive or healthy.

 

So I continue to bother with my fitness and weight.

 

I'm not yet so body confident that I will be happy to lie on a beach in November with my boyfriend, the way I look now. I want to be happy to go into a shop and have to ask for a smaller size to try rather than asking if they can help me get out of the too tight outfit I've half squeezed on.

 

I know that the evenings will soon get dark early, the temperature will drop and the slow cooker will be dusted off ready for hearty soups and stews. This will be when my motivation drops even more, but I will persevere. I don't want to look at myself with a feeling of dread, but of a feeling of pride.

 

I realise that this isn't just the simple equation of More exercise + Less food = Happy Carrie, there is a more deep seated issue of self image and body confidence that I need to address. Results, positive or negative, will only come from me and so that is why over the coming weeks these words will be written onto my gym card, onto my fridge and onto my mirror...

 

"Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're right"

Henry Ford

 

This post also appears on the Wednesday Words Link up and Super Busy Mum's Mad Mid-week Link up

 

Pin Up...Regardless

I am exactly one year into my relationship with the OH. It's everything my other relationships were not, I wake up most mornings with a smile on my face and I fall asleep most evenings with a smile. We have barely bickered let alone argued... we may well have one of those relationships that other people whisper about..."It can't possibly be that good behind closed doors", but there is a storm cloud brewing on our horizon, something that I've kept quiet about for too long -

 

There is another woman...and I'm so bloody jealous of her. She lives in our bedroom and her smug perfection is there every time I walk in the room. She never says anything, she lets her perfect hair and perfect legs do all the talking...look at her...

 

And then Jane over at Flight Platform Living dared me to "Pin up Regardless". Now I have been going to the gym more often recently but I'll be honest - the season of healthy salads has been overtaken by the season of Pimms, Cider and spritzers...I feel saggy and wobbly and my arms were last toned when I was 10 and into gymnastics.

 

This would take some psyching up...I reached for the trusted red stilettos that have seen me through interviews, dates and countless "bleugh days" to channel my inner goddess

 

 

and called the OH in to act as photographer.

 

It went a little like this...

 

"What do you want? I'm watching Masterchef..."

"I need to you drape the sheet over me and take photos for my blog"

"What?? Like a dead person??"

"No! Like that perfect witch in your picture"

 

Lots of pictures were taken, interspersed with comments like,

"Bend your arm back more...even more...now arch your back"

"Try and look relaxed"

"Why are you doing this again?!!"

"Is your boob supposed to be out?!!"

 

Until finally, after two rounds of cramp and bouts of deleting, I admitted defeat.

"She's so bloody perfect - I just look shit compared to her" I moaned. The OH looked at me like I was and idiot and said in the way only he could,

"Baby that's a fake body in a painting, your body is real and I love it"

 

And so...

 

 

I may not have freakish double jointed elbows, a golden tan, boobs perkier than Madonna's cone bra and a 24 inch waist...but in a quiet little corner of Hampshire, for one night only...

 

I was a pin-up REGARDLESS!!!

 

Show your love to Jane and her link up here 

Who am I?

Why do people read blogs? I think it's an equal measure of the quality of writing and the person behind the blog. I tend to naturally be in the background, organising and doing, rather than being the social butterfly so I find it difficult to put who I am within my blog.

To try and address this I thought I would try something a little different...

I am Carrie...

I am a girlfriend
I am ready to be a mother
I am a sister
I am a friend
I am an Auntie
I am no longer a daughter or grand-daughter
I am an accountant
I am a giggler
I am Cornish
I am sometimes insecure
I am more squishy than I used to be
I am tall
I am clumsy
I am addicted to Haribo sweets
I am often cooking
I am afraid of big birds
I am usually asleep by 10pm on the sofa
I am a terrible dancer
I am the owner of a completely impractical, uneconomical car
I am trying to become a writer
I am not supposed to be updating my blog at work

I am Carrie - pleased to meet you

Who are you?

Silent Sunday 18th August 2013

Reasons to be cheerful 16th August 2013

It's been a few weeks since I've done a Reasons to be Cheerful post, but as I watch the rain falling outside my office window and look at news reports of unrest, protests, bullying and economic doom and gloom I figure that today is probably a pretty good day to recognise happiness.

 

My Reasons to be Cheerful...

 

Looking at my birthday cards on the sideboard every morning reminds me of how many lovely people are in my life

 

We had good news yesterday about a relative who is currently in hospital - get well soon!

 

Tomorrow is the first day off we are sharing for 4 weeks, I think a nice lazy breakfast will be in order!

 

Tomorrow is also The OH nephew's 6th birthday. The Rocket birthday cake is all made and we are going to see him in the evening to open some presents.

 

I ordered some bikinis and summer clothes from the Secret Sales website weeks ago and I got the email this morning to say they have been dispatched...only 12 weeks until we fly to Cuba!

 

I got some lovely comments about my first few creative writing posts. This is the first time I've explored this area since Senior School (20 years ago!) and it's definitely something I want to develop.

 

After our food shop tonight our fridge and cupboards will be full once more, we literally have one packet of chicken and 2 ice lollies in the freezer...and that's it!

 

Next weekend we have 2 days off together...yaaa hooo...and we have got exciting times planned, Saturday the OH is going gliding and on Sunday we have a Champagne Spa Day booked for my birthday treat...there will definitely be a few posts coming up after then.

 

At the end of the month we are driving to Holland for a long weekend. The OH lived there for 9 years and I can't wait for him to show me around and introduce his friends to me.

 

And finally, as always, thankfully my friends and family are all happy and healthy (or getting there!)

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

 

This post is being linked to Mummy From the Heart's Reasons to be Cheerful series - why not add your own reasons here

5 Sentence Fiction 15th August

She had sat every evening hunched over the machine, faithful dog at her feet, for the last 6 weeks, such was her desperation to get this special order ready.

She muttered and blamed the vintage fabric every time the material bunched up, but in reality it was her tiredness that was causing these increasingly frequent mistakes.

Glancing up as the old clock chimed in another hour, she saw that it had been another late night, but finally she had cut the last thread on the label that she had lovingly hand stitched on.

She touched each square and didn't see each pattern or colour, but rather in amongst a myriad of textures; her husband's favourite gardening shirt, the blanket her children used to build imaginary forts and the curtains kept back from their nursery.

Her memories were suddenly interrupted by the insistent ringing of the phone, with clumsy fingers she answered and placed the phone to her ear to hear the ecstatic voice of her son crying "Hello Grandma!"

In a bid to develop my writing skills, I am taking part in Lillie McFerrin's weekly "Five Sentence Fiction" Link up. This week's prompt is "FABRIC"

Please pop over to her site to read the other great submissions

The Balloon Ride

This week's 100 Word Challenge hosted by Julia at Julia's Place has the picture prompt below



 "The sky's the limit"

 

 

Climbing into the basket she hid her fear behind a smile that slowly grew as they drifted away from the earth that held her.
Looking down, the river glittered as if it were a silver thread through a patchwork quilt of fields.
Over the occasional roar of the gas she was aware that landmarks below were being pointed out, but it was the clouds far above her head that held her rapturous attention.
She relaxed, feeling somehow closer to them, almost within reach up here. She sighed deeply, turned her face to the sun and soaked up its healing warmth.

 

 

Image from http://freedigitalphotos.net

Please pop over to Julia's to read other's and add your own,

link is open until Monday 19th August

What is health?

When I was 18 I started training to become a nurse. The reasons were basic, I wanted every day to be different and I wanted to make people feel better. It was one of the hardest periods of my life. It made me realise that sometimes there wasn't a pill to make you feel better and that often it was the family that hurt more than the patient.

 

Our tutors often spoke about the Holistic Approach, looking after not only a patient's physical needs, but also their emotional and social needs too. It was a career change and many more years before I realised that I needed to take that approach with my own health.

 

I remember the exact moment I realised I needed help with my emotional help. I was in the meeting room of the company that I was the Accountant for, sat across for a business mentor brought in to develop the senior managers. I was the last manager to see him and the team had joked privately that you only went to see this man if you had been screwing up. I knew that I had been making a few mistakes recently and I was nervous about what this meeting would entail.

 

"Tell me how you are feeling Carrie?"

 

And with that I burst into gut wrenching sobs that came from nowhere. I couldn't get any words out, I didn't know where this emotion had come from and I was scared.

 

He let me cry and then when I could speak he gently asked me a little more about myself. I told him how I just wanted to do a good job, how I didn't want to let people down, how when people asked me how I was I would answer "Fine", thinking in my head "Fine...F***ed up, insecure, neurotic, emotional".

 

He asked me what I was proudest off and I said "Being Independent". But I wasn't independent, I was just isolated. I had built up so many walls to stop bad things happening. I focused all my energy on being indispensable at work that I had the workload of 2 people. I was exhausted every night but would still wake up 3 or 4 times panicking that I hadn't finished something.

 

He suggested that I didn't need help in becoming a better manager as much as I needed help in becoming a better person and so put me in touch with a counsellor. The time I spent with her was hard, emotional, scary, uplifting and healing. I allowed myself to be vulnerable. I allowed myself to learn what was best for me.

 

Now when I look at what is health it's not just the drinking 8 glasses of water, eating 5 portions of fruit & veg, exercising every day, it's more human than that;

 

Being healthy is saying No occasionally

Being healthy is asking for help

Being healthy is crying when you want to and laughing when you want to

Being healthy is being the person you deserve to be

Being healthy is allowing yourself to be dependent on others

This has been linked to The Daily Post's Weekly Writing Challenge. Other entries can be read here

Silent Sunday 11th August 2013

Celebration

As it's my birthday today, 

blogging will take a back seat.

Have a great weekend y'all, 

I'm off for a birthday treat!

Learning - A Short Story

 

At the sound of the car pulling into the drive, she ran quickly to the window, desperately trying to read his mood from her vantage point.

By the time the rickety porch door slammed shut she was already at the fridge, reaching for the ice cold beer she knew he craved.

Turning to the man she still loved, she forced her nervousness from her face, although it still showed in her wide eyes.

"All the jobs you gave me this morning are done, your dinner is in the oven and I've asked Jane to come over and collect me".

She reached for the bag she had hidden, her shoulders slumped until now, straightened as if pulled by an invisible string and she walked resolutely out to the street.

In a bid to develop my writing skills, I am taking part for the first time in Lillie McFerrin's weekly "Five Sentence Fiction" Link up. This week's prompt is "LEARNING"

Please pop over to her site to read the other great submissions

Wednesday Words - Traffic Lights

I don't have a particularly long commute to work...on a good day it's 25 minutes, but on a bad day it can stretch towards the hour mark.

There's only really one route I can do and I face a daily battle with the dread that is Traffic Lights. I have to go through 11 sets and in the absence of anything better to do I often find myself repeating the mantra "Please be green, please be green".

I had one of those bad days this week. Now that it's the school holiday I thought I would give myself an extra 5 minutes to drink my tea and watch the news. When I started driving, every traffic light was either red or turning red as I got there. Traffic was stop start, lorries were blocking the flow of traffic, road works had sprung up overnight...I started to get stressed knowing that I would be late and then I listened to a song on the radio.

It was sung by Rumer, accompanied by Jools Holland. In it she sang about ignoring negative things, focus on positive things and to stop worrying about the maybes.

The next traffic light was still on red, but instead of glaring at the light until it turned green I took a moment to look around me. The yellow gorse flowers were a shot of golden colour, I spotted a rabbit feeding on the fresh grass that has sprung up since our rain spell. I watched a little boy walking along the pavement, holding the hand of his Dad, look up to him and break into the biggest grin.

The next set of traffic lights were green and I sent up a little word of thanks.

I ended up being a few minutes late, so were other people, our work still got done in the time we had.

Sometime I think we all need to focus on the moments that things go right and learn from those, rather than spending all our energy being angry or stressed with the bad moments that have already passed.

Accentuate The Positives - Johnny Mercer 1944

You gotta accentuate the positive,

Eliminate the negative,

An latch on

To the affirmative,

Don't mess with Mr In-between

You gotta spread joy up to the maximum,

Bring gloom down to the minimum,

And have faith,

Or pandemonium is

Liable to walk upon the scene!

After the Celebration

Part of the reason for starting my blog was to develop my creative writing, so I'm pleased to have come across the 100 Word Challenge

 

This week's 100 Word Challenge hosted by Julia at Julia's Place has the prompt "After the Celebration"

 

 

After the early morning shout of "Its my party today!",
After the thunderous tribe has run amok through your carefully tidied house,
After drying frustrated tears from the almost-but-not-quite-winner,
After videoing super speed tearing of shiny paper from enthusiastically received presents,
After the breathless blowing out of candles that illuminate a face filled with excitement,
After handing out the party bags filled late last night with sweets and plastic toys,
and after the birthday boy surrenders to sleep
with a smile and a mumbled "thank you"

You hear the seductive whisper from the fridge..."Drink Me!"

 

 

Please pop over to Julia's to read other's and add your own,

link is open until Monday 12th August

Longdown Dairy Farm

 

On Saturday I went to Longdown Dairy Farm with the OH's sister & children. I'd won a family pass in a raffle earlier in the year and we decided to keep it until the summer holidays.

 

I was greeted at the door by two very excited children who told me "We're going to the farm today, you can come too if you want!"

 

Luckily Longdown Dairy Farm is only a 20 minute drive from our homes so the journey passed quickly and we were soon there...the children were raring to go...this is what we saw;

 



Chickens sitting on their eggs



 



The World's stillest Shire Horse..."I think it might be dead Mummy"

 

Piglets playing with Mummy Pig..."I can't see Peppa & George Mummy"

 

 

Learning to milk a cow..."This isn't working...only water is coming out, not milk"

 

New born calves

 

Tiny chicks

 

Brushing friendly goats..."It wants to eat me Mummy"

 

 

Feeding hungry baby goats

 

But by far the best moment of the day was running to the adventure playground because...

 

 

"Mummy, Mummy...the pig escaped...let's catch it!!!

 

 

Linking up to

Silent Sunday 4th August 2013

10 Things to Smile About - July

Phew what a busy month July was...we packed our free days with trips out, visiting family and friends and enjoying the amazing sunshine that we have been blessed with. Before the memories start to fade I wanted to record my 10 things to smile about...

We dressed up in our finest outfits as spent the day at Ascot watching beautiful horses and betting our hard earned pennies...My biggest win was £11.60 but we all have to start somewhere!!

The Other Half paid for me to drive a Ferrari around the world famous Silverstone, you can read about my adventure (and friendly sharks) in my Track Day post

The wonderful weather has made eating hot dinners a thing of distant memory...Picnics are the way forward now! It's a lovely way to catch up with friends and we seem to bring just as much wine as food!

 The sun shining long after work has finished has also encouraged us to go on lots of evening walks. We don't get may days off the same so its important that we make time for each other in the evenings. We are really lucky to live by the sea and have found ourselves drawn to the shoreline watching the sun get lower and lower.

While my blog still doesn't seem to have a common theme running through it, I am finding that I enjoy developing my creative writing. My job as an Accountant doesn't allow for much artistic development but I've really enjoyed the 100 Word Challenge as well as getting heart warming feedback (and a mention on Brit Mums Literature Round-up) for this Wednesday Words post

As if driving super fast wasn't enough for this secret adrenaline junkie we also went Zorbing in July. This was scary and fun in about equal measures!!

I've been trying to bake something or try a new recipe each week and its really quite relaxing for me, it's really lovely when I get appreciation shown and I'm already planning what I will bake for my colleagues to celebrate my birthday in a few weeks.

We have so many books at home that never seem to be read so I made a conscious effort to read more. We've spent so many days out enjoying the sunshine and its been so lovely to lose myself in a story for a few hours.

Bored of only getting boring post I decided to sign up for both Birchboxes and Glossyboxes...and this week the first Glossybox arrived. I'm excitedly waiting for a spare hour at the weekend to try out the nail varnish!!

And finally my family and friends continue to be happy and healthy which truly is something to smile about!

My not so mundane midweek...

I must admit I haven't charted my midweek write up for a few weeks because I would have literally been recycling the same post week after week, it was like being in Groundhog Day!

 

But hurrah, yesterday was a pretty great Hump Day...

 

Tuesday night the Other Half had a work night out so I decided to ship out of the flat for the night and go and stay with his sister. Annoyingly I got sent a text message at about 3am, supposedly from the OH, which sent my head in a spin. I spend the rest of the night literally wide-eyed so was not excited to see 7am.

 

I went downstairs to be greeted with tea, toast & fruit...almost the equivalent of breakfast in bed in my eyes. My stomach was churning through lack of sleep but I managed a little toast & tea. I decided to treat myself to a hazelnut latte on the way to work and also picked up some M&S nibbles for lunchtime.

 

Most of the morning was taken up with alternating between listening to tree surgeons outside my window prune trees from 20 feet to 4 feet tall...apparently they will grow back, I'm not so sure...and having a loooong text conversation with the OH...we think someone got his phone and sent messages to lots of other people too, but we sorted things out so I could calm down!!

 

I got a lovely message to say I was a winner in a competition held by Stork Up...yay me!!

 

In the afternoon my boss asked me to investigate transactions going back to 2004...turns out all the paperwork was shredded in 2012...I was so glad the hour spend in the dusty archive room was not any longer!! Just as I was feeling tired and antsy I was delivered my first ever Glossybox ...5 samples were going to be in the box, just waiting for me to try...I opened the box...not 5 samples...but 6...I got an extra lip stain!!

 

I fitted in a workout with a good friend before meeting the OH and friends for a quick drink before we went to pick up an amazing curry for dinner.

 

The TV was refusing to change from the menu screen so rather than watch a 3 inch picture we just chatted and caught up. The OH was curious about my Glossybox and decided to try out the lip stain...the bright red lip stain...within seconds he looked like the clown of nightmares...much laughter was let out by me as I heard him get more and more panicked in the bathroom, desperately trying to wash it off...I helped by reading out the details of the product..."leaves a deep, matt stain on your lips that will last for hours" mah ha ha ha ha!!!!

 

Join in with Mundane Midweek at Charlotte's Web here