Speed dating!

Well, I'm back in Leam after a fabulous Christmas, and I have an offer you'll probably be able to refuse quite easily! Does anyone want to go speed dating? I've always wanted to try it and intend to go on Valentine's Day - sounds like an excellent way of spending the evening! It'll cost you 18 English pounds which I know is a little pricy, but you have to try everything once. Let me know at the new year party/by email if you fancy it. (NB this only applies to people I actually know!)

I was going to write a really long catch-up entry but I'm sure people don't want to know all the details of my week in the middle of nowhere. Suffice to say: concerts, carols, relatives, hilarious card games, walks and lots and lots and lots of food! Yay.

Hmm, dinner.
xx

True happiness...

...is a warm cosy living room, a Christmas tree, fairy lights, In Dulci Jubilo and a good book. Most definitely recommended.

Moment of madness...

I've just joined an online dating website! I haven't paid yet, I've just gone for free membership which means I can't contact anyone, but I thought it would be a fun thing to do and I'll see if I get any interest. Scary! I've always been intrigued by it though and I think you have to try things in this life and see what happens. I'm going speed dating at the Slug and Lettuce in the new year if anyone wants to come with me - I've always wanted to do it so I'm giving it a go! I think you have to make your dreams happen rather than waiting for them to come along, and I can't see where I'm going to meet anyone at the moment so I'm being proactive and trying to find people myself. Go me!

Cosy Sunday afternoon

I'm having a lovely time in my living room, watching a programme about Christmas hits and enjoying my fairy lights and tree. My tree needs some lights which I'm going to buy tomorrow, but other than that it looks ok. I'll light the Advent candle when I have dinner and then it'll be just perfect!

Yesterday was brilliant, and it reminded me why I love Leamington so much. I went out to do so many things and they were all within a 10 minute walk. First I did my food shopping for the week, then I bought my tree from the man at the end of the road who even carried it home for me and put it in my living room! I then did all my Christmas shopping (or at least I thought it was all of it until I got home and remembered some people I'd forgotten, grr) including wrapping paper and tags. After that I went to the hairdresser and got my hair back to a reasonable length, as well as booking my ball appointment, yay! After lunch I put on my CD of Christmas music (carols conducted by John Rutter) and decorated my tree, wrapped my presents and wrote my cards. Finally, after a yummy dinner, I went out to a fab party at Julia's house, via a catch-up with Juicy and Stu. The quote of the evening definitely came from Josie: "I want to f*** a Muslim!" and the outfit of the evening was Juicy's without question - she was a most excellent Mrs Claus complete with the ultimate in FMBs.

I'm now looking forward to watching Sports Personality of the Year tonight, and I'm very excited about the fact that I only have 7 working days left before Christmas! Plus it's our Christmas do at work on Wednesday (we're going to the greyhound track, should be comedy!) and then our Secret Santa/food thing on Thursday which means no actual work from about 3pm. Hopefully there'll be some sort of going out thing on Friday, then I'm going to Bewdley for mum's Christmas concert on Saturday which is the real beginning of my Christmas every year (I can pinpoint the exact moment in Oh Come All Ye Faithful and everything!) and then it's just 2 more days of work before my brother comes to visit me for an evening of highly fatty food and disaster films...and then it's back to Bewdley. Christmas is going to be even more special this year now that Simon and I don't live there for most of the year - having the four of us all together will be just brilliant, and I'm looking forward to that much more than presents. Sitting down to our turkey and champagne with lots of laughter and my mum's unbeatable cooking...can't wait!

Right, I have no idea why anyone other than me would want to read this waffle so I shall stop writing it. At least I've blogged now which I hadn't done for a while. Is it too early for dinner yet? Mmm, stirfry.

Coventry Chavs

Today I was walking through Coventry during my lunch hour when from amongst the great waves of chavs one particular crime against fashion stood out. A girl was wearing diamond patterned tights, which I normally think look really good. However, on this particular pair the pattern stopped somewhere towards the crotch area, to allow for, well, the crotch. It was therefore quite unfortunate that the girl's skirt started a good inch and a half above the end of the pattern. Nice.

Just felt the need to share that with you all.
xxx

Recommended...

Drinking through cream
Coffee with Tia Maria
Mr Darcy
Going out with the girls
Aubergines with goats cheese

Pride and Prejudice!

I just spent the most fabulous evening in the company of Lucy and Lu. We went to Stratford to eat absolutely gorgeous food (and drink lovely wine in my case) at Caffe Uno, and to watch a comedy am dram production of Pride and Prejudice, in which Mr Darcy couldn't act but did get his chest hair out. The evening produced a quote from each of us:

Lucy: "I'll flirt with him until he gives it to me"
Lu: "He's a trumpet player called Matt...that's good enough for me"
Me: "Ooh, we're dancing to an invisible Beatles song!"

I have also decided it is necessary to compile a list of things that are officially Recommended. This will be updated in future postings as I discover new Recommended things. Currently my list is:

Drinking through cream
Coffee with Tia Maria
Mr Darcy
and of course Going out with the girls, which is truly fabulous. Ladies, you rock!

Only one more day at work and then I'm having Friday off! Yaaaay!
Life is officially great.

The Quintet Cycle

Genius. Sheer genius. Ladies and gentlemen, if you haven't yet done so, read this now.

New photos

I've put some new photos on my MSN space - Lu's birthday, my birthday, Friday's girly night and Skool Dayz. Apologies to everyone who didn't get in my Skool Dayz pictures - my camera decided to only let me get 28 pictures from my 36 film! But they only charged me for a 24 film in Boots so it was all ok. Anyway, I think the ones from Lu's birthday are the definite highlight - I have no memory of most of them being taken and I seem to be holding a large glass of wine in practically all of them, so they're probably a fair representation of the night! I do like having new photos.

Drunken blog!

Ok, I know you people have been waiting for a drunken blog for a long time, and who am I to deprive you?! I just had a fab girly night with Lucy and Kelly who both rule, and felt I should record events if only to record the quotes that happened during the night.

Firstly I feel you should know that I have thrown large quantities of water down my pyjamas just now.

Anyway. We had a pampering party thanks to the lovely lady from Mary Kay cosmetics, and I spent far too much on a glitter set and a handcare set, although the latter is my mum's Christmas presnet on which I'm going halves with my brother. When I phoned to check with him about this he provided the first quote of the evening:

"To be honest, I'm so ratarsed that I really don't care. Never drink a centurian with 7.5% chav lager". Oh dear...may have to check up on that one tomorrow!

After this we finished Juicy's bottle of wine and sampled my chocolate Mozart balls liqueur, before going to Voodoo where me and Juicy had the most fabulous shots, made up of butterscotch liqueur, Baileys and squirty cream on top! This brought on the second quote of the evening, from me:

"Drinking through cream. Recommended."

We then moved on to The Lounge, which was closed, and then to Robbins Well which was most definitely open, hurrah. On the way Juicy and Kelly between them concluded that Juicy is a man with breasts. But we love her anyway!

After another drink at the Well I left the lovely ladies at the bus stop (goodness knows where they are now...) and made my way home. A fabulous night, which I feel can only be beaten by School Days tomorrow which should be legendary. Be there! I will be (in a see through shirt...oh dear).

See you all tomorrow! xxx

Fab concert

Well done to everyone in Wind Orchestra and Brass Band for a great concert tonight! I really enjoyed it, and even Mark agreed that it was worth paying £5 just to hear Simon Hogg reading out the lyrics to Sway. That man is smooth. Windows of the World was the definite highlight - it was very polished and played with real energy, thanks of course to Mr Inglis who is just great! The best moment was most definitely Sam's awesome drum solo - Sam, if you ever tell me again that your drum solos need improving I simply won't believe you. You're a star! :o) I'm really looking forward to coming and supporting at the NCBF when I'll be able to hear the piece again.

Hope you all enjoyed celebrating afterwards - sorry we didn't stay, but Mark and I had the 22.08 bus to catch! An A46 bus that leaves in 6 minutes time with a gap afterwards of 50 minutes is definitely not to be missed. However, I will catch up with some of you at the curry on Saturday which Raquel and I are gatecrashing before going on to the legendary event that is School Days. Hurrah!

Fireworks!

Just wanted to say thankyou to everyone who organised the fireworks party yesterday - I had a great time! Well done to Sam for arranging everything and making such yummy punch (even if he didn't know what was in it!), to Colin and Owen for the firework display, to Joe for the excellent idea of having 1812 in the background and to Dave for timing the music to the fireworks. A most excellent way to spend a Saturday night.

Today I'm having a lovely day in - I've finished the cleaning now and after lunch I'm going to read my new Jane Austen book that Raquel gave me and listen to piano music. I love hiding indoors when it's raining, and snuggling up all cosy and warm. Yay.

Good luck to everyone in WO and Brasssoc for tomorrow's concert - I'm sure it will be fab. I'll be in the audience and I'm sure I'll see most of you in the interval or afterwards.

See you then!

Answers on a postcard please!

I just found some amusing questions on someone else's blog and thought I would steal some of them.

If money doesn't grow on trees then why do banks have branches?
What disease did cured ham actually have?
If a 999 operator has a heart attack, who do they call?
Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly bits here and then drink whatever comes out?"
Why do toasters always have a setting which burns toast to a horrible crisp that no-one would actually eat?

The toast one is particularly interesting. Can anyone hazard a guess?

Baileys...

...is goooooood. It's so nice to come home on a Friday night and have a nice glass of it before making dinner.

Working on a Saturday...is baaaaaad. Damn open day. If there is anyone at all out there in the whole entire world who isn't recovering from beer and cheese on Saturday night and wants to go out, please let me know! I really want to go out and can't find a single other person who does. Silly silly Saturday work! :o)

Moky and pooky

These are two fab words I have inherited from my mum and describe how I am feeling now perfectly: basically a bit manky and ill. I think I've caught Juicy's bug! Error.

I had such a good evening on Sunday! I met my parents in Symphony Hall at 5, then we went for lunch at The Locks in Brindley Place. I had a spritzer and we ate yummy wraps, then we had hot chocolate and I had a brownie and icecream! Yum. It was lovely to catch up in such a nice setting - my parents are so cool! They had been to the British Museum the day before to see the new Persian exhibition, and showed me some postcards of the amazing gold goblets and statues that they saw.

After dinner we went back to Symphony Hall to see Ex Cathedra, a really fab Midlands choir, perform Haydn's Nelson Mass and Mozart's Requiem. The performance was just perfect with real energy, and the choir, soloists and orchestra were all excellent. The conductor interpreted it really well and the whole thing was just complete class. It was brilliant to sit in such a gorgeous hall and listen to such wonderful music. Hurrah for cultural evenings, especially ones of real quality. I'm really looking forward to doing it all again in November when we go to see the City of Birmingham Choir and CBSO do the Verdi Requiem - Verdi rocks anyway and when combined with a meal out and a parental catch-up it will be just fab.

Back to work this morning: rain and wind and mank! I did lots of data entry which was quite fun and went to a couple of meetings. We have another open day at the end of the week so it's another 6 day job - arse to 1 day weekends! But that's the last one of the year now which is good. I started feeling manky towards the end of the day and got home feeling really crap, but I've now eaten yummy sausage casserole and cuddled up and now still feel rancid but also happy. Plus I've mended my trousers which broke in quite an embarrassing place last week, so it's all good! :o)

I shall cease these pointless ramblings now.

A gentle Sunday afternoon in the life of Sarah

I have a new mop bucket. It is red.

That is all.

Sam's A to Z

A: The most Audacious thing you’ve ever done
Hmm...really can't think of anything! A rather bad start.

B: Favourite Badger joke
I may have to adapt one of my many elephant jokes for this purpose.
Why did the elephants come over the hill?
Because it was Thursday.

C: Favourite Curry
Many at different times, but currently Chicken Karahi

D: Number of drinks it takes to get utterly Drunk
A bottle and a half of wine. I think everyone knows this one!

E: Your most Effeminate characteristic
Well I'm female so pretty much everything! Probably my tendency to cry at almost all films.

F: The last thing that you got for Free
The work jolly I've just come back from! A night in a £145 per night double room with huge bathroom and enormous quantities of extremely delicious food. Not only was this all free but I actually got paid to be there! Definitely worth all the work we had to do while we were there.

G: Number of times that you’ve visited a Gym
Twice, to go to aerobics on campus. Will hopefully be going to regular classes at the work sports centre from next week.

H: Where you call Home
The lovely Leamington Spa.

I: (leaving things open for dodgy minds…) Any Instruments that you play
Perfectly innocently: oboe, bass oboe (for 3 weeks...beef), piano, descant recorder, tenor recorder, bass recorder (badly), Irish whistle (extremely badly), violin (between the ages of 9 and 13. Error.)

J: (and again…) Favourite Juice
The lovely Juicy Young!

K: Song that you would sing Karaoke to
An interesting question. I've never thought about this one! Something extremely cheesy. I may have to get back to you!

L: Number of times you’ve Laminated – and if you’ve achieved your laminating qualifications from the MC Office yet
Oh many many times. I believe I gained some kind of graduate qualification after becoming the first person to laminate Shreddies in the shape of Stuart Dunlop's initials. Happy days...

M: (As seen on the BBC News website:) How much Money do you think you’d need to be happy?
Enough to live in a really nice flat with a new kitchen and bathroom, to be able to afford clothes when I need them, to be able to go out, to be able to have one foreign holiday a year and to be able to have the occasional treat. To be fair, I have enough money now to live happily but I can't yet buy everything I'd like.

N: Favourite Naan to have with aforementioned curry
Don't actually like naan! Except in India when it was the only way of taking away the heat of the curries.

O: Your Oldest possession
My teddy bear, Benjy. He was made for me before I was born and has movable joints. His blue colour has now gone rather brown but he is still lovely.

P: Your worst Phobia
Spiders. Arg!

Q: Something that makes you feel Queasy
Heights.

R: Recent New Year Resolutions made, and how many still going
Didn't make any. I did decide to lose weight in February though and am still going on that one.

S: Favourite Season
Hmm. They all have their merits but I would have to say the carefree spirit and beautiful weather of summer (all 2 weeks of it!)

T: Number of cups of Tea consumed per day (on average)
None! No coffee either. You may stone me for heresy now.

U: The most Useful lesson you’ve ever learnt:
Do not drink a vat of wine! No, actually I'd say the fact that I can live on my own and I am perfectly capable of budgeting, running a home and getting a better paid job, and impressing the people I work with. Oh, and the fact that I have the best friends in the world!

V: Number of Valentines cards received (either in your life or in the last year – depending on how popular you are!)
4 in my life, all from one person.

W: A film that can make you Weep
Practically any film ever made - see above. However, I did cry about 10 separate times in Love Actually.

X: Have you ever dyed your hair to become Xanthocomic (Blonde: link)
I've never dyed my hair.

Y: Your Youngest memory (removed the yeti question now I’m afraid!)
Does this mean youngest as in most recent, or the one from when I was youngest? Assuming the latter, I remember eating scrambled eggs with my mum before going out, before I was at school, and I remember the day my brother was born which was also before I was at school.

Z: Favourite animal you could see in a Zoo
Penguins! They're cool.

It's my birthday!

Yay! Along with the lovely Juicy and Alicia, I have now reached the age of 23. Bizarrely I don't feel old: this may be to do with being the youngest person in my office and being told I'm lucky to be so young all the time. Anyway, on this day I feel that it is my duty to bring you all a very important piece of advice. This is a life lesson which I have learned over the past couple of weeks and which I learned good and proper this morning when I spent two hours feeling rougher than the arse of an extremely elderly badger. And the lesson is this.

Do not drink a vat of wine.

I feel that if I had worked this out earlier I wouldn't have had to be manoeuvred home by Dave last night (thankyou Dave, you are a star) due to not actually being able to stand up. Also I would not have got in the house too drunk to even blog, which is a first, and I would have been able to do more than leave a trail of bags, keys and items of clothing between the door and the bed before collapsing into said bed and passing out. Also, this morning I would not have felt so ill.

But now I feel better (Ibuprofen, you are my friend) and happy and excited. I'm still such a little girl when it comes to birthdays! And apart from the end result, last night was brilliant and I had such a good time. Lu - thankyou for being such a good girly friend! Alicia and Andy - thankyou for looking after me and for the lift there and back, and for the mysterious bag of parcels which appeared in my flat and which I assume were from you! Dave - as above. Sorry! And Rachel - thankyou for such lovely thoughtful presents. We will find our Mr Darcys!

Right, time to dry my hair. I shall see most of you tonight! xxx

Turn your comments back on people!

So I can't comment on Sam's blog either. Very much liked answer "I", and ooh, I love Pizza Express too! When can we go back there? Liked the Yeti question; my answer would sadly have to be none, until someone takes me to the Himalayas!

The Blog of Lu

Since Lu's blog has restricted commenting permissions I would just like to say here, for those of you who read the last entry - I totally totally agree with the humanities lift thing. What is people's problem?!

Ooh, and Happy Birthday to the lovely lady herself! Lu, you rock. xxx

I want icecream

Want it now. Now now now. Big tub of Ben and Jerry's. Arrrg! Think I will go buy some on my birthday.

In other news, I've started my job and it's going very well. I haven't really had anything to do yet but everyone has been lovely to me and they're all fab people. They also seem to enjoy their work which is a good sign! I have a desk and a computer which is apparently a good sign as most people don't have these when they start, and I might even have a login code soon... I also have an ID badge which isn't yet activated but will soon allow me to actually get into the office. Unfortunately I didn't brush my hair before I had the photo taken so I look like something out of the 70s. Actually I look a lot like my mother! We're going on a team building course next week, so I get to stay in a hotel for a night with free food, and we're having spa treatments between the course and the dinner on Monday. I'm having a water bed massage!

The down side of this is that I have to work at an open day on Saturday. I do get time and a half pay though! Then I'm going out with Lu for her birthday and then it's my birthday! Woo. Next week should be fab too - apart from the awaydays I'm going to a makeover party which will be a lovely girly evening. And this week it's Chelsea's birthday bash which should be excellent. Hurrah for friends and fun.

A to Z

Ok so this is shamelessly copied from Ben's blog, but I thought it was fun. And to be fair it's the first one of these I've ever done.

A – AREA CODE YOU ARE IN RIGHT NOW:
CV32

B- BIRTHDAY:
16th October (this Sunday!)

C- CURRENT CRUSH:
None, very boringly. Although I did used to fancy someone at work...

D- FAVOURITE DRINK:
Actually can't answer this! Depending on my mood: white wine, Baileys, any creamy cocktail

E- LAST THING EATEN:
Cod, new potatoes, broccoli and peas all covered in lemon juice and balsamic vinegar. Balsamic vinegar rocks.

F- FAVORITE FOOD:
Roast chicken with my mum's legendary bread sauce

G- WHAT GRADE ARE YOU IN:
Arg! Feel highly elderly having left education over a year ago now...

H- CURRENTLY HATE:
Hmm. Don't hate things as such, just take dislikes to lots of things throughout the day and then forget them! Today's was buses that turn up late - still made it to work on time though.

I- I THINK:
I am happy and cosy and content in my living room, and wouldn't want to be anywhere else!

J- CURRENT JOB:
As of this morning, I'm a Recruitment and Admissions Assistant at Coventry University. It rocks!

K- ANY KIDS:
Nooo. No plans to have anything to do with these until I'm at least 29!

L- I LOVE:
My family, my fabulous friends, my flat, icecream (darn diet), shopping (darn lack of money), cocktails and going out all dressed up.

M- FAVORITE MOVIE:
Apollo 13

N- YOUR PHONE NUMBER:
Don't really want to put that on a public blog! If I know you and you haven't got it then let me know.

O- OVER OR UNDER:
Not sure what this is supposed to refer to! Is it meant to be dodgy? Or have I just acquired the filthy mind of Juicy having spent too long in her presence? I'll say under.

P- FAVORITE PERFUME/COLOGNE:
Light Blue by Dolce & Gabbana

Q- ANY LITTLE QUIRKS ABOUT YOURSELF?:
I talk to myself constantly, both in my flat and while walking along which is v embarrassing when someone comes round a corner unexpectedly and I've got a bit loud.

R- LAST ROAD TRIP:
Well I can't drive and haven't been on a proper road trip - I reckon the last long journey must be tour.

S- DO YOU SMOKE?:
No and I never will.

T- FAVORITE TV SHOW:
The X Factor! Yes I am sad and have no taste. I do also like proper intelligent programmes but The X Factor is currently the only thing on that I absolutely have to watch.

U- COLOR OF YOUR UNDERWEAR:
Pink! Yay.

V- LAST TIME YOU WERE IN VEGAS:
Never been and don't particularly want to go.

W- YOUR WISH:
That my friends and family will stay healthy, and that one day I will find a lovely man to marry. Ok so that's two wishes, but they're the only two I would make even if I was offered three.

X- X-RAYS TAKEN THIS YEAR:
Never had one in my life! I'm very healthy.

Y- NAME THAT STARTS WITH A Y:
Yolande. How random.

Z- ZODIAC SIGN:
Libra. Like it matters.

Photos

Photos of Lucy, Stu & Craig's party are now up on my MSN space. No embarrassing ones this time - everyone looks fab! Yay.

Quotes

Have just returned from Juicy, Stu and Craig's housewarming party which was fabulous. The lovely Miss Critchley has requested a drunken blog entry, so although I'm not drunk I thought I'd oblige by listing the quotes of the evening.

Alicia: "I was in A&E and a lady came in with something stuck inside her".
Andy H: "Was it a Nokia 8210?"

Alicia: "Andy's new name is Agent Head".
Andy R: "That sounds like a really shit brand of toilet cleaner".
Dave: "Put Agent Head under your rim".

All in all a fantastic evening. Kudos to Andy Lay for managing to create a sentence totally devoid of innuendo out of the dirty fridge magnets, and to Stu for mixing such great cocktails. I may have only had 2 but they were both yummy! It was great to see Jo and Mike again, and to have a brilliant girly chat with Lesley on the bus home - looking forward to the weekend in Manchester! I also got to dress up which is always a bonus. I finally finished my film so pictures will be up tomorrow! Hurrah.

There should be more parties like this one. Well done to the fabulous Juicy, Stu and Craig for putting on such a great night for us all!
xxx

Awards evening

Ok so I know I organised this but I have to say...it was bloody fantastic. Everything went perfectly, some really deserving people won prizes and I got flowers and a kiss from the Director - woo! Then my team and I single handedly held up the dancefloor with our fantastic moves and finished up the night waving our hands manically to Bon Jovi. I love work people - they rock. Can't believe it's my last day tomorrow! But I do get to have another pissup so it's all good. And then it's Juicy's pissup on Saturday! Hurrrrrrrrraaaaaaaah.

Mmmm, had soooo much fun. Yaaaaaay.

PS My dress actually creates the illusion that I have boobs!

Must go to bed.

A very important message

Ok people. When you get home drunk at the shockingly early hour of 8pm having been out for tapas with your colleagues, do not attempt to cook everything in your fridge and serve it for dinner. Pasta with white wine, garlic and cheddar might just about be acceptable, but the addition of 5 pieces of Irish cream flavoured Aero does not improve things. If you don't have enough pasta I would also not recommend attempting to cut up dry lasagne with a pair of scissors. Of course I have no personal experience of this, it is all merely hypothetical. Ahem.

Fab Weekend

I've had such a good weekend! On Friday night I went to see Pride and Prejudice with the lovely Lucy and Lu, and spent a most enjoyable 2 hours swooning over a seriously sexy Mr Darcy in what was a very well made film with a lovely score and some very funny moments. Controversial I know, but I think this Mr Darcy was even better than the legend that is Colin Firth. Yum. After the film a big crowd of us went to the City Arms - quote of the evening came from Craig: "Will you stop with the vaginal discharge when I'm trying to eat eggs". Don't ask.

Yesterday was my housewarming! Had an absolutely fab evening with my friends who are all great. We managed to get through the 6 boxes of party snacks and 4 pizzas with hardly any leftovers, and I now have a large collection of empty bottles to illustrate the amount that was drunk. The fabulous Jo came all the way from Ely to see me which was lovely, and so many different people dropped in during the night to say hello, including the bloke from upstairs who brought wine but only stayed 5 minutes - free wine and not too long making awkward conversation! Bargain. I cleared up the mess in very quick time this morning too, and I didn't have a hangover! All in all an excellent party.

Finally, today I took my film in to be developed and spent time this afternoon putting pictures in my album and in frames, and laughing hysterically at all the many wonderful photos of Juicy in various states of drunkenness. Never before has one girl been comically pissed in so many pictures. Juicy, you're fab and we wouldn't have you any other way. Said photos will be up on my MSN space very soon so you can all appreciate them. Other comedy highlights include Lu after fruit wine (nice) and Colin Dean. Of course I am aware that there are some great pictures in existence of me, the most recent being the one taken on Friday night of me thinking about Mr Darcy (yum again) and so I don't really have any room to make fun of others - but I don't care, comedy pictures are brilliant no matter who they're of.

Right, I'm going to put pictures online. Miss Young beware! :o)

Icecream advice

Never eat icecream which has been defrosted and then partially refrozen by your crappy freezer. It gets full of ice crystals and loses all texture and therefore mings. Officially.

I love shopping!

Hurrah! For once I set out on a shopping trip with a specific aim in mind and returned having purchased all I wanted and more! I needed a little black dress (LBD) for the staff awards do, and found a fabby shift dress in Next for £55. I then went to Clarks who are the purveyors of wondrous pretty shoes that also fit and are nice to wear, and found some lovely deep purple kitten heels with sparkly purple and pink bits on! And they had a matching bag! I am very excited and happy. I now have a proper cocktail outfit that I can wear to any smart occasion.

I think I will now eat all the bad things that I have in my freezer so that they have gone away and are no longer there. Especially the free tub of icecream which my freezer appears not to want to freeze so has become a tub of slush. I don't mind as it was free, but it does taste much nicer frozen! The only other bad thing I have is a garlic baguette which is so lovely but really bad for you. It keeps staring at me every time I go in there. Hmm, what to do...I don't want to eat too much as then I will not look as good in the dress (which I have to hold my tummy in in anyway, to prevent icky bulgy bits) but I do so like eating and once it's gone it can't tempt me anymore. Arses to dieting, can't wait till it's over, but if I keep being naughty it never will be!

Grr.

But happy thoughts, I have a new outfit! Yay!

Hmm, it would appear that my blogs when sober are of no better quality than when drunk. Clearly I have some rambling gene that cannot be overcome. Solution: ice cream and crappy tv! :o)

V good night

Had a fab night tonight. Played in the chamber orch concert which went surprisingly well, then went to ASK for yummy dinner and lovely free wine (thankyou Symphony Orchestra!). Had brill girly conversation with Mr Inglis who I feel must be added to my list of legends. Andy, you are officially a legend and sorry for inferring that you are a girl. Am embarrassingly drunk considering that I only had 3 glasses of wine. Hmm, must go to bed, have to work tomorrow.

Back online at long last!

So, after 2 weeks of isolation from the world I am back online! I even managed to manually connect the modem and type in scary VPI and VCI values. Go me!

Well of course the big news is that I have a new house and a new job. I absolutely love living in Leamington, where the shops, bars and train station are all within 10 minutes walk, and I especially love Bar 44 where Juicy, Julia, Lesley and I spent a rather fabulous evening last Thursday drinking the best cocktails ever - I highly recommend the one that tastes of liquid After Eight mints and the shooter that's a mixture of butterscotch and Baileys. I'm also highly excited by the new job which I'm starting in 3 weeks time - I will be a Recruitment and Admissions Assistant at Coventry Uni. When I went for the interview the people there were really nice and the job sounds so interesting. Plus I get more lovely money! Yay. And yes, for the 2% of people out there who haven't yet pointed this out to me, I have just moved out of Coventry and will now be working there. But I don't care!

The other piece of vaguely exciting news is that I've been invited to our department's awards ceremony. I'm organising it so would have gone anyway, but the fact that I'm invited means I'm nominated for something and can therefore dress up properly and enjoy it knowing that it's a recognition evening for me as well as for everyone else there. What a fab excuse to go shopping - I think a little black dress may be required.

Finally, everyone who hasn't read their email or whose address I don't have is most welcome to come to my housewarming this Saturday (24th) from 7pm. Bring your own drink and I will provide party food. Email me if you need directions.

Right, am off to surf the wonderful internet and enjoy my return to civilisation. Hurrah!

I love the post

So I got home today, it's Friday, it was bright and sunny and I was feeling good. In the post was a copy of my flat contract (moving in on Tuesday!!!) and...a letter offering me an interview for a job! Woohoo!!!!

Wish me luck for next Thursday everyone...

Some kind of breakthrough

I just watched a really slushy film that was all about a wedding, and instead of crying and moping I said to myself, "I'm going to get married one day, and somewhere out there is the lucky bastard who's going to get me".

Hurrah.

New buses!!!!

Travel Cov have bought new buses! The driver's window is kind of a "u" shape, there is an extra set of seats on the right hand side, the little forward facing seat at the front now faces sideways, the luggage rack is gone (actually that's not good), the used tickets bit is now right at the front, the display on the front is orange and not yellow, the stairs are different, the standing up handle things are different and there's a flat screen on both floors!

In my life this is a major event. No really. It's at least as significant as the time Heat got a new look.

Moving house in 10 days! :o)

Yay and boo

Yay: my parents bought me chocolate liqueur from Austria! It tastes of melted chocolate in a glass with added alcohol. Fantastic.

Boo: I just dropped some of it down my tshirt. Arse.

I have found a flat...

...and life is grand. Hurrah.

Yay for girlies and general fabulousness.

A very nice afternoon

I've had a really good afternoon today. After watching the marathon and chatting to my parents, I curled up on my sofa and listened to some CDs that I haven't played for a while (Ny-Lon soundtrack and Vanessa Carlton) and made a list of all the CDs that I might potentially want, based on odd tracks that I've heard by various groups. Trouble was the silly HMV website wouldn't let me play any of the samples on it so until my brother tells me how to fix this I can't really decide whether I'll like the whole CD or not. Plus I have no money to buy things for myself anyway!

To fix that last problem I filled in applications for 2 more jobs today. I've decided I really do need to move elsewhere in order to have a decent standard of living once I'm living on my own. Filling in application forms is also a really nice way to spend time as you get to write about how great you are!

I'm looking forward to this week - I have lots to do. I'm spending Thursday and Friday doing a training course which means I'm not technically working, although I did have to do 15 hours prep for it last week! It's an EFQM assessor training course so I may have to do some thinking but it should be interesting and will be a really useful thing to have. (I'm not telling my manager I want to leave until I've completed the course!) I'm also going for curry tomorrow which will be fab, and I'll be seeing some friends I haven't seen for a while. Then I think Julia might be cooking for us on Tuesday so that's another night out. On top of all that, I hope to be seeing a flat at some point and it's in a good location with a bedroom and hopefully some furniture! I'm really hoping this is the one so I can get on with moving out and moving on.

And now I'm watching a programme about the nation's favourite number ones on Channel 5. Nice.

Feeling really weird

Just wrote a blog entry and it ended up turning into a bit of a diary entry rambling about how I feel so I thought I probably shouldn't post it. Feeling really down this evening.

Of course, it could be because I was hungover this morning, something which is always guaranteed to make me feel weird all day. I think I need to go to bed.

Fnurk

I've had a really weird fnurky day today. I was hungover this morning and trying to work, which is never good, but I did manage to get a lot done. I then went to view 2 flats and got messed around by estate agents who are driving me up the wall at the moment. I still have nowhere to live but will try again tomorrow. I spent the whole day not wanting to go out tonight right up till about 8pm when I decided I really wanted to go out dancing, and now I'm sitting watching Big Brother and feeling lonely which is weird because I have loads of friends who I've seen a lot recently. I guess I still have a long way to go to get used to living alone - but then at other times today I've been quite excited about it. Hmmmmmm.

I really want to go dancing!

Urrrg

Urrrg. Lessons learned in last 2 days:
1. Must not blog while drunk
2. Must not send text messages while drunk
3. Must in general avoid communicating with others while drunk.

error

god. just read previous entry. really is not that bad. still can't type. have been doin deletes on theis messgae. arese. an in serious husterics. just fgound coloud bit. can't be arsed with deleting fingers gone all draxy. must go to bed. am in v much hsterics. hysetics! hysterics yay got it right int he end.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Piiiiiiiiiiised

My god. am so pissed. just typed the wong password. hehehe


Chelasea is a legend. she opens her house to us eevry thusday and we drink wine. lots andl ots of wine. ooh dave sait hwas on our bus on the way hoe. and now i ahe a text message. yay. was from julia.

am not as pissed as i sound! have regained hte abnility to type now. can't be arsed to delete mistakes.

want nachos.

mmm wine. julia is great. asll my friends are bantastic. julia espciecially grea. neet to be able to go ack and delate but don';t want to. finders not working. arse.

need bed. have exel retaining tgomorrow. arse. can't tpe at all. arse.

ooh arse. yum.

may have to edit this entry tomorrow.

think everyone should beel as happy as i do. being faboulsou is fab. everyone should try it.

mmmmmmmmm.

Cheer up, woman!

In case anyone was wondering, I am feeling a lot better today! Yesterday was a minor blip in the steady progress towards a sassy new independent Sarah. Today I have shopped, cleaned and eaten lunch and I now have a lovely sunny afternoon to do what I like with. Hmm...I might get The Sims out and have a play - or I might watch that thing I taped about 4 months ago - or I might resurrect my cross stitch. I think washing up calls first though.

Quote

Alexandra wrote to Nicholas II:
"I love you - those three words have my life in them".

I know what she meant.

I feel very sad today.

Having a Gloria Gaynor moment

Am having a rare positive moment and have decided that, in the words of Gloria, I Will Survive. Thanks to all my completely fantastic friends for looking after me so well.

By the way, lots of my photos are now up on my MSN space - if you have the new MSN, you can get to this by clicking on the little yellow star that should appear next to my name. I've put them on there because it means only people on my contacts list can see them, and I won't have a load of randoms looking at them. If you do know me and you're not on my contacts then let me know and I'll add you. Warning to people like me who don't use Internet Explorer - photos can only be viewed using Explorer (damn Microsoft) and when you close the window it appears to crash your whole computer. Nice.

A piece of advice

If you wish to play Rachmaninov's 2nd symphony (which is long and tiring), along with a concerto and an overture, making up a 2 hour concert, do not do this on the hottest muggiest stickiest most vile day of the year when the air conditioning in your concert hall is broken. As soon as the stage lights are switched on you will sweat buckets before you've even started playing, and when you do play you will sweat even more and will be unable to keep your fingers on the keys. Also do not do all of the above on a day when they are digging up the train network and you have to leave the house early in case your replacement bus service doesn't turn up - just to spite you you will be stupidly early and have to sit in the hot sun for 2 hours. You will then have to spend your bus/train combo journey home sitting in your own sweat in desperate need of water. You may also develop an interestingly large blister on your big toe.

Really, really not recommended.

Charity Ball

Fantastic night last night at the Charity Ball! The Renegade Big Band were fantastic - as they keep saying, they really should do it more often. It was brilliant and so good to dance to. The punch and mead were both excellent as was the food which everyone had put so much effort into preparing. Highlights of the night...my jazz bass recorder debut (comedy), dancing with Mr Lloyd, dancing to the band, Craigy P taking pictures of ducks, the amazing dancing trumpet section, and teaching Mr Sait how to line dance to Steps. Hmm, a lot of dancing featuring there! I can now see why everyone looks forward to this night so much: brilliant evening.

Hurrrrrrrrrrrrah!!!!!!!

Today I tried on ball dresses for the chaplaincy ball tomorrow. For the last 2 balls (Final Fling and Music Centre 05) I've been desperate to wear the red dress that I wore once, to MC Ball 03. Both times it has spectacularly failed to fasten up and I have been most upset. Today...fitted like a dream. In fact, slightly loose! The people who invented Weight Watchers should be elevated to the sainthood.

One slight drawback...my other 3 beautiful dresses are now either a bit too big or large enough to fit a small family. Error.

Also...I now have to iron the red one. Arse.

Girly Night Tonight!

Hurrah hurrah hurrah hurrah hurrah hurrah hurrah hurrah hurrah!!!!

Hope you like the colours, Juicy!

And only a half day at work - hurrah some more.

Big red suitcase

I've just bought a big red suitcase! It was from Debenhams and cost £50, reduced from £100! Bargain. I think it should last for years and is a good investment: plus it's red which is fab. I was tempted by the lurid pink but they only had them in small and they were slightly too bright even for me. Of course, I managed to drag one of the wheels through a patch of mud getting it home and then transfer the mud to my trousers carrying it up the stairs of my building, but never mind. Looking forward to tour now...

Also bought a lovely tshirt for £7 (another bargain) and a pretty shirt for work with slightly shiny bits on. I love shopping, even more so now I only get to do it once a month (soooo need to get paid more). I also love bank holidays! Hurrah. And I also love girly rock (have the Ny-Lon soundtrack on at the moment) and baked potatoes with prawns. Life is rather fab today.

Oboe reeds and washing machines don't mix

I just did a load of washing. While hanging it out I noticed there was a rather damp and mutilated oboe reed in the bottom of the basket. I think it's an old one that I put in my pocket after practising because there was no space for it in my case anymore and there was no bin in the room. Am I the first person to ever put a reed through the washing machine? If anyone else is contemplating it I'd say on balance it's not terribly healthy for the reed concerned: the tip has broken off and got all frayed, rendering it pretty much unplayable. Maybe this could be the strategy used by members of brasssoc if burning oboes doesn't work out!

Won't be doing that again...

Big Brother

Sweet lord, where do they find these weirdos?! Maybe if they put all the nutters like that in secure houses the rest of us could get on and live normal lives. You know I'll be watching it every night though...

Cocktails!

I thought I'd write down some of the lovely-sounding cocktails I read about yesterday. I got all these from the TGI Friday's website and have no idea about quantities of ingredients, but they all sound fab!

Barnamint Baileys - Baileys, mint liqueur, vanilla icecream, Oreo cookies.
Screaming Orgasm - vodka, Kahlua, Amaterro, Baileys. Apparently this is long and creamy!
FBI - Baileys, Kahlua, vodka, vanilla icecream. Stands for Frozen Black Irish.
Silver Mercedes - vodka, cranberry juice, orange sherbet, Champagne.

Anyone fancy a home cocktail-making session?!

The Monastery

Am watching The Monastery on BBC2. I would find it impossible to be a nun - I couldn't accept that praying all day was a better way of living life than falling in love and making the most of every opportunity I can, even though I am a Christian. I don't understand how anyone could do this - the cynical view would say they're all running away or have bad social skills, but I don't believe that, I think they genuinely feel called. It must be such a hard choice to make. The men in the experiment seem to be really benefiting though.

The other thing I have difficulty with is that they're so shut away in their monasteries. Surely it would be better to go out into the community and help people? Is praying for the world really as valuable as going out to trouble spots and working to help improve lives? I can certainly understand why people would feel called to do that.

Any thoughts?

Old man

Yesterday Owen and I were walking past Claycroft and I was holding Owen's arm. A random old man with facial hair walking the other way said, "Hold onto her son, she's a cracker!" I was highly amused and also quite pleased. :o) Just thought I'd share that with the world.

My friends

My friends are fab. I love knowing people who I can actually talk to and have mad fun evenings with! (Can you tell I was shy at school?!) I will miss you all when you have left...But hurrah, there are going to be lots of you around still so hopefully the fun will continue. Thankyou for all being so great! (Sob, cry, girly emotional business etc)

The importance of voting

I get so annoyed by people who decide not to vote. Both the "they're all rubbish" and the "I'm not interested" excuses are just a total cop-out. You're quite entitled to feel that no-one will do a good job, but surely you should pick the best of what's there to stop someone worse getting in, or stand yourself/form your own party as a better alternative. (I know this second option is rather extreme but it's surely better than not voting at all!) As for the not interested camp, I just have no respect for them whatsoever: politics affects everything from the amount of tax you pay to the way it's spent to house prices to the availability of abortions to the price of going to uni to public transport...I could go on for hours! I'm sure no-one would say they're not interested in any of this, therefore they should be making the effort to inform themselves about who represents their views best on these issues. One girl from work actually told me today that it didn't interest her at all, but she'd probably have views on it afterwards when they were messing it up! I could have screamed - you only have a right to complain afterwards if the party you voted for gets it wrong or breaks its promises, or if the party you voted for doesn't get in.

An interesting thought...should voting be compulsory? I strongly believe that it's the obligation of everyone who lives in a society that allows them to vote to do so, and that there can be no valid reason not to. If everyone was made to vote (don't ask me how this would work!) would we get a true picture of what people thought? I think there would have to be a "None of the above" option otherwise people would vote randomly, but at least it would be an accurate reflection of who feels unable to choose a party to represent them and who just hasn't previously been bothered. This would of course have to be coupled with a proper programme of political education in schools, so that people could learn about the views of all the parties and about the history of political representation both here and abroad. I'm sure if everyone was able to understand the joy of the black people of South Africa or the women of Britain at being able to vote for the first time they would make more effort.

This post is a bit of a departure from what I usually write about, but I just had to rant about this somewhere because I get so cross when intelligent people come up with rubbish excuses for not voting, or don't bother to inform themselves of the facts. Voting is your obligation to society and to the people of the world who have no voice. It's not too late to go online, read up on the policies of all the parties and make your mind up. Please vote tomorrow, make your voice heard and use the precious opportunity that you are so lucky to have.

Sunshine!

I love the sunshine! It makes me so happy. I just want to sing and dance and laugh and twirl about. "You're like candy in the sun..." Hurrah.

Girls Aloud

Does anyone else think Girls Aloud are really fab? Or is that just me?...

Hurrah for Saturdays. I love days when I don't have to do anything, but I still get lots done: I feel productive and happy, and I also have plenty of time to sit and play computer card games as well as being busy! Yay. I also love lie-ins, of which I don't get many these days. Tomorrow I have to get up to go to a rehearsal at 10 in Birmingham, which isn't too early but I have to factor in the trains. I hope this one goes better than last week's - although I should get enough sleep this time so I'm bound to at least feel better. (Last week I went to a rehearsal at 9.30 in Solihull, which meant getting up at 6 on Saturday morning after getting back from Prague and going to bed at half past midnight!)

Hmm, back to the card games methinks!

I'm going on holiday today!

Hurrah!

That is all.

Fish

Eeuw, the text editing bit has disappeared! Where is my pretty font and purple colour?!

Anyway, fish is yummy! I just had cod and potatoes and peas and it was v nice. Plus it's healthy. I am doing Weight Watchers and would definitely recommend it - have lost 10 pounds so far, hurrah.

Can you tell I'm a little short of things to blog about?! I'd really like to try to write something interesting but am lacking inspiration. I'm looking forward to only having a 2 day working week - it makes the minibreak (yay!) a double bonus. I may well have more to say when I come back from Prague so will stop now and write more then.

Byeeee!

I love...

being in a situation where I can throw dinner parties in my own home. I know they're not very glamorous and the food isn't Michelin standard, but they're homey and fun and make me v happy. Hurrah! Plus my mum rocks for giving me a lasagne recipe that works. Mmmm, very happy Sarah.

Going out tonight!

Hurrah! Am going out tonight and am currently dressed up and feeling v excited! And looking pretty fine I think... May report back later!

Bored

Bored bored bored I'm bored bored bored bored bored.

Grrr.
:o)

Hurrah for Bank Holidays!

Four days off work! Woohoo! It's funny, when I was a student I got used to four and five week holidays, but now I'm a sad working girl I get stupidly excited about having four days off in a row! Oh well. Today I woke up naturally at 8am, meaning I'd slept enough and had a whole day in front of me which is great. I went to Birmingham and failed to buy anything which was rubbish - I plan to try again in Coventry tomorrow though! I've also been to Tesco and bought all the ingredients for a spinach & ricotta lasagne, as well as two bottles of wine to take to the lovely Alicia's on Sunday. I've also listened to two CDs and played far too many games of internet Hearts! I'm slightly addicted to that game, it's a little worrying.

So all in all it's been a very nice day so far. I have had the thought that if I suddenly keeled over, no-one would find me for at least two days which is slightly concerning. I shall just have to concentrate very hard on not keeling over! :o)

Hmm, I think it's time to see if anyone else has blogged recently.

So, films then...

In no particular order... films I like.

The Sound of Music (for obvious reasons)
Apollo 13
Sleepless in Seattle
The Wedding Singer
The Truman Show
Love Actually
A Knight's Tale
Legally Blonde
Groundhog Day
50 First Dates
Chariots of Fire (fab)
Bridget Jones 1 & 2
Notting Hill
Shakespeare in Love
10 Things I Hate About You
Armageddon (yay)
Never Been Kissed
Clueless
A Muppet Christmas Carol (yay again)
Deep Impact
The Lion King
Aladdin
Beauty and the Beast

And if I had to pick one...I'd pick three, namely The Sound of Music, Chariots of Fire and Apollo 13.

Famous people I have fancied

Felt it was time for another list. So, here is one of famous people I have fancied. Note that's "have fancied", not "do fancy"...

Colin Firth (drool)
Hugh Grant
Josh Harnett
Ryan Philippe
David Beckham (when I was 13 and no-one else knew who he was and he had good hair)
Heath Ledger
Leo DiCaprio (I actually won a competition in Bliss magazine and got a free book of photos of him!)
Alexei Nemov (Russian gymnast blokey)
Paul Rudd
Michael Vartan (out of Never Been Kissed...which is a fab film. Ooh, must do a film list)
Andrew Lincoln

Actually this is a lot harder than I thought it would be! I had crushes on everyone when I was at school and have now forgotten them all. Hmm, will have to bring my old diary back from my parents' house and look at all the lists in it. Could get very embarrassing...

Oh yes, Ian Woan. He played for Nottingham Forest. I fancied him for about half an hour. He was a minger.

A very nice evening

Ooh scary, Google's gone green.

Am having my definition of a very nice evening indeed. I just cooked dinner but it mostly came out of a jar so it was easy and tasted nice, and we sat and ate it at the table with floating candles and music in the background. It's warm and cosy and lovely. Today was sunny and bright and felt like spring, and the other day I smelled cut grass which is just wonderful. I am feeling happy and positive and content! Hurrah.

Verdi...

...Rocks!!!!!

That is all.

Almost human...

Hurrah, I feel almost human again! Although I think I may well spend the whole day in my dressing gown. Have spent the morning reading blogs by random people I vaguely know, as well as those of lovely people who I actually know. Most fun.

Have been thinking about alcohol. Drinking it is fun at the time and being drunk is quite jolly, but I'm enjoying the part where things go fuzzy less and less. I think it's more fun to not get that bad. Plus hangovers just screw up your whole day which is not fun. This is therefore a request to people at large to stop me drinking so much! And this isn't even a "morning after" thing - I think I actually mean it.

Hmm. Not sure what else to write about really. So might stop. Sorry for the boring entry!

Urg.....

Arg I am HUNG OVER. I don't know why I always insist on drinking so much wine so fast! Although it was fun at the time... I just want to get up and get on with the day but I feel ill when I move. Meeeeeep.

More on love songs

Gosh it's a good job I haven't had any wine tonight - listing all those love songs has led to me playing some of the ones I downloaded in first year and has brought back many memories etc that would probably have led to me singing along drunkenly and sobbing if alcohol was involved! John Denver is so good...

I used to have some quality crying-to-music sessions in first year - far too many emotions going on! I've been feeling a bit weird lately actually: it's nearly the end of term 2 which means there's only one more term of having all my friends here before everyone disappears and life changes. I am definitely not a fan of change. I love my life at the moment and I'm not sure what it's going to be like in the future, so Leaving on a Jet Plane is quite a good representation of things. I feel like I don't want to waste any of this year because it will never be quite so easy again to see everyone and have a fabulous time. I've always wanted to do the whole girly nights thing and never really made good enough friends to be able to, and this year has been really great for finally doing that - I don't want everyone to disappear so quickly! Severe danger of great emotional outburst here...must stop! Apologies to any men reading this who really have no idea what I'm on about...I think it's definitely a girl thing. :o)

The best love songs in the whole world ever! (Volume 4.2)

So, it's Tuesday and it's my night off for the week! Hurrah. To be fair, I'll enjoy everything else I have to do this week, but it's nice to have one evening for just sitting around. I got a magazine through the door today (yay for subscriptions) and it's also Heat day, so I've been having a v nice time so far, despite the 2 chocolate squares which were certainly not within my Weight Watchers plan for the day!

I decided that waffling randomly about my diary may not be very interesting to anyone, so I'd do a random entry on love songs (insert flashing pink writing and little tweety birds here). I LOVE love songs. They are possibly the best thing ever! (for all of about 5 minutes until I think of something else that's the best thing ever...a very overused phrase for me). Of course the absolute best one is She by Elvis Costello, which is the song I'm having my first dance to at my wedding (must do a wedding entry at some point, have been obsessed for years...). But there are many other great songs out there so here is a list. I'm sure it's by no means complete and will have to be added to as I remember other fab ones that can't possibly be left out! Anyway, in the order they randomly occur to me, here goes...

She - Elvis Costello
The Way You Look Tonight - Tony Bennett
Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton
Truly Madly Deeply - Savage Garden
Kiss Me - Sixpence None The Richer
Thankyou For Loving Me - Bon Jovi
Always - Bon Jovi (again - power ballads rock!)
Up Where We Belong - Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warner
Your Song - Elton John
The Last Night of the World from Miss Saigon
I Don't Want to Miss a Thing - Aerosmith
The Young Ones - Cliff Richard!!!! (highly highly embarrassing but I like it)
Love Changes Everything - Michael Ball (again, highly embarrassing)
I'm Kissing You - Des'ree
Love Is In the Air - Cat Stevens
Unchained Melody - loads of people, but Robson and Jerome are the best!
Son of a Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield (fabulous song)
Uptown Girl - Billy Joel
Flying Without Wings - Westlife (a classic, no matter what anybody says!)
Come What May from Moulin Rouge
Don't Marry Her, Have Me - The Beautiful South (quirky, maybe not a normal love song but irresistably catchy)
Take My Breath Away - Berlin
You've Lost That Loving Feeling - The Righteous Brothers (fab)
When You Say Nothing At All - Ronan Keating
I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane - John Denver
Love Is All Around - Wet Wet Wet
Can't Help Falling in Love - Andy Williams
Can't Take My Eyes Off You - Andy Williams (fab sober, fabber drunk!)
You Were Always On My Mind - Elvis Presley (ah, the memories of Baileys-fuelled sobbing)
I Got You Babe - Sonny and Cher (the old ones are the best)
Flowers in the Window - Travis
A Whole New World from Aladdin (hurrah for Disney)
Words - Boyzone (if only for the teenage memories)

hmm, I've exhausted my Windows Media Player list now. But I think that's quite enough to be going on with! I'm sure there will be updates as I think of more absolute classics.

In case you hadn't guessed, I may well be the world's most hopeless romantic (and have quite appalling taste in music!). But I wouldn't want to be any other way! It seems to me that a world without romance would be a truly hopeless thing, but one with it provides endless possibilities, golden memories and a reason to look forward to every day. So I'm afraid I shall keep believing in love!

That's probably quite enough for this entry. Do remind me of any fab songs I may have forgotten...

Sunday afternoon...

Well, it's Sunday afternoon which is always a bit of a weird one. I never quite know what to do with myself. When I lived with my parents we always used to go for a walk which I whinged about, but now I'd quite like to do the same thing only there's nowhere to walk to in Coventry! (I know, I'm getting old - grey hairs and all.) That's one of the few things I don't like about Cov - the lack of countryside. My bedroom at my parents' house looks out onto fields and woods and you can just step out of the back gate and be in the countryside.

I've spent today watching Friends and playing computer games - quite sad but very relaxing. I've also been to Tesco (again) and phoned my parents. My brother is 18 next week and I've been trying to think of something to buy him - it has to be rowing related as he's mad about it. I'm now filling time before my quintet rehearsal at 3.30 - we're playing in the Wind Orch concert next week which could be interesting...

This is quite fun, writing stream of consciousness waffle! Not sure why anyone would ever want to read it, but I suppose it's always interesting getting an insight into someone's life. Or maybe we're all just bored!

Have to go back to work tomorrow - although I do get a lie-in, hurrah! I'm going to Leamington first to drop off my course handouts, and I don't have to be there until 9.15 so I get half an hour extra in bed. Of course everyone else I know will still be asleep when I leave the house, but never mind! It's the WO AGM in the evening which I'm quite looking forward to - I'm sad and enjoy AGMs. Won't be quite so much fun this year though as I don't get to count the votes!

Lalala. Gosh, the World of Lady Lloyd has been quite uneventful so far, hasn't it?! I'm sure things will get more exciting soon...maybe...

First post!

Well here's my first post of this new blog! I'm sitting on my sofa in Canley and I've just had dinner and drunk some white wine (which I love) and I now really want to go out and get drunk with the girlies. Unfortunately everyone else is really busy at the moment since it's nearly the end of term so I'll have to stay in and watch Saturday tv. I've had a good day today - done my washing and been to Tesco, but also had all my hair cut off (hurrah!) which looks and feels great, and been shopping to Coventry and bought 3 new tops for work and 1 for home. I love the weekend!

Don't have much else to talk about at the moment - think I'll go and explore more of the settings on this blog. May well return soon!