I have always been good at shopping. I am the person who finds amazing bargains in the sales, or who takes an item to the till to discover that it's suddenly half price and no-one's got round to re-labelling it yet. I am also the person who blags a 20% discount for some barely visible makeup marks on the inside of a shirt. However, yesterday I impressed even myself with my ability to bag a bargain.
It all started a couple of weeks ago when I went into Debenhams to browse through their Christmas party dresses. I was immediately confronted with a wealth of beautiful creations, all of which I could have bought instantly given the money and all of which cost £100. Depressed by my inability to afford them, I trudged back to work and lamented being poor. Ever since then I've been doing sums in my head to work out how I could afford to treat myself in time for the work Winter Ball, and had just about become convinced that with a 20% off voucher from a colleague and a bit of extra saving here and there, I might be able to not entirely bankrupt myself.
Yesterday, having returned to work feeling bunged up, snuffly and not at all disposed to go outside for the rest of the day, a colleague casually mentioned in passing that Debenhams were holding a Christmas Spectacular with at least 20% off all clothes. Ignoring the pleas from my pounding head that I remain seated and stay calm, I legged it into town at lunchtime, grabbed the five most beautiful dresses and had a trying on spree which left me hot, sweaty and feeling a lot more ill. The effort was worth it however, as I narrowed down my choices to two. Now I only needed to find these two in different sizes to work out which fitted best, and I was away.
Returning to the shop at 5pm, I settled upon my favourite dress: a gorgeous black number covered in huge purple circles, with quite an unusual shape and netting in the skirt (I love netting in the skirt!). Proceeding to the till in the knowledge that I was buying a £100 item for £80 which I still couldn't really afford, I had the first of my sudden brainwaves. "I know", I thought, "I have a Nectar card in my purse with lots of unused points on". At the till, a second brainwave hit. I could open a store card for this one purchase only, and save 10%! Discounts galore later, I left the shop with a beautiful £100 dress that had cost me precisely £60.21. Bargain.
And, to top it off, I've saved £15 already this week through being ill and not going out or catching any buses for three days. Total amount I have to find from December's budget for my £100 dress? £45. Plus, as a new storecard holder, I have just finished the rather wonderful mini box of Lily O'Briens chocolates that I received free with my purchase. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why girls love shopping.
Now I just need to decide what jewellery to wear with it...
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Things that have happened recently
I have been ill. This has caused me to miss a wedding and take two days off work. As of tomorrow I will no longer be ill but will still be snotty, coughy and disgusting.
I have finished re-reading the whole Harry Potter series. I completed the final book yesterday and the tears mixed with general snottiness and unstraightened hair were, I must assure you, an extremely attractive sight.
I have cooked a kick-arse spaghetti bolognaise.
I have had a lovely short haircut.
I have completely failed to blog.
I have been to Barcelona. I have seen the sights, walked for miles, eaten wonderful food, drunk delicious wine and had a lovely, relaxed, happy time which promised many more joyful holidays to come.
I have fallen in love.
I have finished re-reading the whole Harry Potter series. I completed the final book yesterday and the tears mixed with general snottiness and unstraightened hair were, I must assure you, an extremely attractive sight.
I have cooked a kick-arse spaghetti bolognaise.
I have had a lovely short haircut.
I have completely failed to blog.
I have been to Barcelona. I have seen the sights, walked for miles, eaten wonderful food, drunk delicious wine and had a lovely, relaxed, happy time which promised many more joyful holidays to come.
I have fallen in love.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Looking forward
So, my few weeks of madness have come to an end and I have a few days to take a breather and look forward. Two weeks ago I had a wonderful but very busy birthday, and last week I had a stressful time at work with two open days. My blogging therefore suffered under the onslaught of fun and tiredness. However, I'm now free to comment on some very happy thoughts that have been swirling round my head over the last couple of days.
Firstly - work. On Saturday I worked at my last ever open day, and now it's really starting to feel like I'm on the home straight. For the next couple of months we'll be concentrating on admissions processing, something which I enjoy and am good at, and at every meeting when we discuss future plans I'm finding that I'm no longer taking notes as we're discussing projects that I won't be there to work on. I have one more on campus event to organise, one off campus fair to attend and two Christmas parties to go to (tough job but someone's got to do it) and then I'm really out of there. It feels like a great weight is gradually being lifted, and I can see the finish line in sight. I can't wait to get there!
Secondly - holiday. For most of this year I've been so focused on getting to January and leaving my job that I've almost forgotten the reason why I'm resigning. The other day, however, I had one of those little moments of realisation when I remember that I am actually heading to the other side of the world for three months for the trip of a lifetime, and I had shivers up my spine. It's now less than three months away and I really need to start planning the last little bits and arranging my leaving parties - strangely I half thought I'd never reach this point and I can't believe it's nearly here!
Finally, and probably most importantly, my love life. Regular readers will know that I am a difficult person to please in this area. Over the last couple of years I've complained about being single and lonely yet I've whinged about all the men who have actually been on dates with me, and recently I've stressed verbally rather than in writing to several people about losing my freedom once I actually did find someone I wanted to see more than once. Now, however, after a very well timed intervention a few weeks ago by various people to stop me doing something very stupid, I am pleased to report that the complaining is over. For the moment, at least, ladies and gentlemen, I am happy. My boyfriend is definitely living up to his nickname - he does lovely things for me, he puts me first, and following a conversation a few weeks ago, I still have my free time to sit around and generally do nothing which I need having lived on my own for so long. What's more, I'm really starting to look forward to seeing him when we're apart and to daydream about things we could do together. He's always been lovely but I haven't always been sure that I wanted to be with him - but now all that's changed and I'm gradually starting to like the idea of seeing him more and more. It's rather a fabulous feeling to know that when my life gets turned upside down next year, and I come back in April to a completely new existence, MGL will be one of the continuous presences that I haven't lost. And he'll still be gorgeous.
Ain't life grand.
Firstly - work. On Saturday I worked at my last ever open day, and now it's really starting to feel like I'm on the home straight. For the next couple of months we'll be concentrating on admissions processing, something which I enjoy and am good at, and at every meeting when we discuss future plans I'm finding that I'm no longer taking notes as we're discussing projects that I won't be there to work on. I have one more on campus event to organise, one off campus fair to attend and two Christmas parties to go to (tough job but someone's got to do it) and then I'm really out of there. It feels like a great weight is gradually being lifted, and I can see the finish line in sight. I can't wait to get there!
Secondly - holiday. For most of this year I've been so focused on getting to January and leaving my job that I've almost forgotten the reason why I'm resigning. The other day, however, I had one of those little moments of realisation when I remember that I am actually heading to the other side of the world for three months for the trip of a lifetime, and I had shivers up my spine. It's now less than three months away and I really need to start planning the last little bits and arranging my leaving parties - strangely I half thought I'd never reach this point and I can't believe it's nearly here!
Finally, and probably most importantly, my love life. Regular readers will know that I am a difficult person to please in this area. Over the last couple of years I've complained about being single and lonely yet I've whinged about all the men who have actually been on dates with me, and recently I've stressed verbally rather than in writing to several people about losing my freedom once I actually did find someone I wanted to see more than once. Now, however, after a very well timed intervention a few weeks ago by various people to stop me doing something very stupid, I am pleased to report that the complaining is over. For the moment, at least, ladies and gentlemen, I am happy. My boyfriend is definitely living up to his nickname - he does lovely things for me, he puts me first, and following a conversation a few weeks ago, I still have my free time to sit around and generally do nothing which I need having lived on my own for so long. What's more, I'm really starting to look forward to seeing him when we're apart and to daydream about things we could do together. He's always been lovely but I haven't always been sure that I wanted to be with him - but now all that's changed and I'm gradually starting to like the idea of seeing him more and more. It's rather a fabulous feeling to know that when my life gets turned upside down next year, and I come back in April to a completely new existence, MGL will be one of the continuous presences that I haven't lost. And he'll still be gorgeous.
Ain't life grand.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Quick update on my life
Birthday - fabulous. Pink fizz, gorgeous food, muchos wine, fab friends, prezzies.
Day after birthday - three bagels, muchos chocolate, lovely lunchtime with MGL.
Birthday weekend at home - homemade food and drink, amazing meal out at very swanky restaurant (including brandy, limoncello and champagne cocktail!), Mahler 2 in Symphony Hall.
Work this week - immense stress. One open day today, another one on Saturday. Far too much to do and not enough time to do it in.
5pm this Saturday - my last ever open day over! Then off to MGL's parents - eek.
Normal service may be resumed when I finally stop...
Day after birthday - three bagels, muchos chocolate, lovely lunchtime with MGL.
Birthday weekend at home - homemade food and drink, amazing meal out at very swanky restaurant (including brandy, limoncello and champagne cocktail!), Mahler 2 in Symphony Hall.
Work this week - immense stress. One open day today, another one on Saturday. Far too much to do and not enough time to do it in.
5pm this Saturday - my last ever open day over! Then off to MGL's parents - eek.
Normal service may be resumed when I finally stop...
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Grinning madly and loving the world
I must apologise for not blogging much recently. I've felt that I haven't had anything interesting to say, which is odd because I usually blog about things that are of no interest to anyone, but there we go. However, I couldn't let this past weekend go by without a mention because I've had the most fantastic time!
Saturday didn't start particularly well as I had to work on an open day which entailed getting up at 6am, but when 4pm came I legged it as soon as I could back to our office and into MGL's waiting car to be whisked back home where I changed and finished packing. Then it was off to the station and onto a train to London! As soon as we pulled away from the station some yummy deli food from Sainsbury's was magicked out of a bag, and as I munched on quiche the Pimms appeared! I spent the next two hours happily quaffing from a camping mug and feeling very pleased with the world.
Once we arrived in Marylebone it was onto the tube, and after adjusting the route to take into account the Circle line closure, we arrived at Lancaster Gate for a short walk to a very nice hotel one street away from Kensington Gardens. Bags were thrown on the bed and then it was out the door and back to the station for a mad dash to Leicester Square, and during the train journey I was handed a birthday card containing two tickets to the 8.30 performance of Avenue Q! I couldn't think of a better present or anything that I'd have appreciated more.
A very brisk walk later, we arrived in our seats at the Noel Coward Theatre with five minutes to spare, and I had time to appreciate the grandeur of the theatre and the fact that we were bang in the middle of the row, six rows from the front in the stalls! Brilliant seats for a brilliant show which was hilarious, cleverly staged and performed by some really talented actors. It was MGL's first musical and only my second London show and we both really enjoyed it.
The show finished at 11 and we headed to the Tottenham Court Road for a drink and to find out the rugby score which was very exciting. After that we started walking in the direction of the station, and had such a good time chatting and seeing the sights that we carried on and ended up walking all the way back to the hotel. It was so lovely to walk in the dark through the lights and along the avenues, chatting and laughing.
This morning we headed out into a beautiful warm sunny autumn day (after brownies for breakfast!) and spent an hour walking round Kensington Gardens, kicking through the leaves. We ended up ambling down to the Diana Memorial Fountain (verdict: I have no idea how anyone could have thought it was safe for children to play in given the speed of the water over the smooth stones) and had a distant glimpse of the London Eye across the river.
We then had to check out, so we lugged our bags back to the tube and headed to South Kensington and the Natural History Museum. We finished our deli goodies and ate more brownies on the grass in front of the building, and then spent a couple of hours wandering around reliving our childhoods and overdosing on information boards. By 3pm we were completely knackered in both the brain and the feet department, so we made it back to Marylebone and collapsed onto the train where we dozed our way back to Leamington and finished the brownies. We got home at about 6pm and since then I've enjoyed giving my arms and feet a rest from all the walking with heavy bags!
I had such a wonderful time this weekend. I've been so busy this week with my brain constantly full of lists and things to do, and to put my time in someone else's hands for a change was such a release. MGL planned a fabulous birthday surprise for me and I could tell that so much thought had gone into it, from the musical soundtracks on the CD player in the car to the Pimms on the train. I feel so happy and relaxed this evening, and I can't wait for Tuesday when I turn 25 and celebrate with pink fizz, good food and ten of my lovely friends. Life at this precise moment is pretty damn good.
Saturday didn't start particularly well as I had to work on an open day which entailed getting up at 6am, but when 4pm came I legged it as soon as I could back to our office and into MGL's waiting car to be whisked back home where I changed and finished packing. Then it was off to the station and onto a train to London! As soon as we pulled away from the station some yummy deli food from Sainsbury's was magicked out of a bag, and as I munched on quiche the Pimms appeared! I spent the next two hours happily quaffing from a camping mug and feeling very pleased with the world.
Once we arrived in Marylebone it was onto the tube, and after adjusting the route to take into account the Circle line closure, we arrived at Lancaster Gate for a short walk to a very nice hotel one street away from Kensington Gardens. Bags were thrown on the bed and then it was out the door and back to the station for a mad dash to Leicester Square, and during the train journey I was handed a birthday card containing two tickets to the 8.30 performance of Avenue Q! I couldn't think of a better present or anything that I'd have appreciated more.
A very brisk walk later, we arrived in our seats at the Noel Coward Theatre with five minutes to spare, and I had time to appreciate the grandeur of the theatre and the fact that we were bang in the middle of the row, six rows from the front in the stalls! Brilliant seats for a brilliant show which was hilarious, cleverly staged and performed by some really talented actors. It was MGL's first musical and only my second London show and we both really enjoyed it.
The show finished at 11 and we headed to the Tottenham Court Road for a drink and to find out the rugby score which was very exciting. After that we started walking in the direction of the station, and had such a good time chatting and seeing the sights that we carried on and ended up walking all the way back to the hotel. It was so lovely to walk in the dark through the lights and along the avenues, chatting and laughing.
This morning we headed out into a beautiful warm sunny autumn day (after brownies for breakfast!) and spent an hour walking round Kensington Gardens, kicking through the leaves. We ended up ambling down to the Diana Memorial Fountain (verdict: I have no idea how anyone could have thought it was safe for children to play in given the speed of the water over the smooth stones) and had a distant glimpse of the London Eye across the river.
We then had to check out, so we lugged our bags back to the tube and headed to South Kensington and the Natural History Museum. We finished our deli goodies and ate more brownies on the grass in front of the building, and then spent a couple of hours wandering around reliving our childhoods and overdosing on information boards. By 3pm we were completely knackered in both the brain and the feet department, so we made it back to Marylebone and collapsed onto the train where we dozed our way back to Leamington and finished the brownies. We got home at about 6pm and since then I've enjoyed giving my arms and feet a rest from all the walking with heavy bags!
I had such a wonderful time this weekend. I've been so busy this week with my brain constantly full of lists and things to do, and to put my time in someone else's hands for a change was such a release. MGL planned a fabulous birthday surprise for me and I could tell that so much thought had gone into it, from the musical soundtracks on the CD player in the car to the Pimms on the train. I feel so happy and relaxed this evening, and I can't wait for Tuesday when I turn 25 and celebrate with pink fizz, good food and ten of my lovely friends. Life at this precise moment is pretty damn good.
Monday, October 01, 2007
Relief
So, after a rather horrible day during which I went all wobbly at my desk and had to avoid speaking to people for a bit because I thought I might cry (for highly random reasons!) I pitched up at the gym for my moment of truth. Having thought that it might be the icing on the cake of my bad day, I was really surprised and pleased to find that in the 8 months since February, during which I've been continually disappointed by my inability to eat healthily, I have in fact only put on 4 pounds and only 2 of those were of fat! This suggests to me that if I actually start eating properly and keep going to the gym as I have been all year, I can actually still lose some weight before I go away. I had a kickarse workout and walked home feeling on top of the world once again. Phew!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
The shadow of dooooooom
Today I was ambushed by one of the lovely ladies at the gym and made to agree to being weighed and measured on Monday evening. This will be an extremely depressing experience as I am the fattest I've been for two years. I believe that for the rest of this year I may have to re-grow some willpower.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Today, I have...
- Woken up with a quite frankly gorgeous man whose office is so close to my house that I could set the alarm for 8.15 which included ten minutes of waking up time (smug smug smug)
- Marvelled at the very special shapes my hair is able to form after just one night's sleep
- Read one and a half books - ok so they were only part of my great Harry Potter re-read mission but it still counts
- Cried twice (yes, it was over Harry Potter...and yes, it was the same bits that made me cry the first time...but in my defence, he had won the Quidditch cup! This is big stuff here people!)
- Played a bit of Mozart while watching people on the street outside
- Smothered some interestingly sparkly cream on my foot in an attempt to de-mingify it - who knew prescription medicine could be so pretty?!
- Eaten two extremely tasty sandwiches
- Craved Green and Black's Maya Gold but resisted buying any (hurrah!)
- Concluded that while Atonement may be beautifully shot and star the delicious James McAvoy, it's just a tiny bit too literary for my un-cultured mind
- Munched on free pic'n'mix (thanks Mark!)
- Pondered the rubbishness of post-midnight TV
- Calculated just how broke I'm going to be next week and drawn up a shopping list that relies heavily on the words "Tesco Value"
- Worried slightly for my personal safety after hearing about more of the vile things that some men in this world are capable of
- Spontaneously grinned while walking down the street while daydreaming about some of the lovely things that other men in this world are capable of!
More exciting activities to follow tomorrow. I expect the highlights to include the gym, Tesco and Harry Potter 4. Sometimes, in the middle of my busy life, days like this are just bliss.
- Marvelled at the very special shapes my hair is able to form after just one night's sleep
- Read one and a half books - ok so they were only part of my great Harry Potter re-read mission but it still counts
- Cried twice (yes, it was over Harry Potter...and yes, it was the same bits that made me cry the first time...but in my defence, he had won the Quidditch cup! This is big stuff here people!)
- Played a bit of Mozart while watching people on the street outside
- Smothered some interestingly sparkly cream on my foot in an attempt to de-mingify it - who knew prescription medicine could be so pretty?!
- Eaten two extremely tasty sandwiches
- Craved Green and Black's Maya Gold but resisted buying any (hurrah!)
- Concluded that while Atonement may be beautifully shot and star the delicious James McAvoy, it's just a tiny bit too literary for my un-cultured mind
- Munched on free pic'n'mix (thanks Mark!)
- Pondered the rubbishness of post-midnight TV
- Calculated just how broke I'm going to be next week and drawn up a shopping list that relies heavily on the words "Tesco Value"
- Worried slightly for my personal safety after hearing about more of the vile things that some men in this world are capable of
- Spontaneously grinned while walking down the street while daydreaming about some of the lovely things that other men in this world are capable of!
More exciting activities to follow tomorrow. I expect the highlights to include the gym, Tesco and Harry Potter 4. Sometimes, in the middle of my busy life, days like this are just bliss.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Another week off
I'm taking another of my random weeks of annual leave this week. I try to arrange these every two to three months to give myself some much-deserved lie-ins and to prevent me killing everyone I work with, and as usual this one is going very well. It started with a delicious dinner and a film at MGL's on Saturday night, and that was followed by the afore-mentioned wedding. Sunday was a day of rest (appropriately) before my mum arrived on Monday. We went to Charlecote Park and Stratford and had a jolly touristy time, before moving on to ASK in the evening for three very yummy and highly fattening courses. On Tuesday we drove to Solihull to help me find the school I have to visit in a couple of weeks' time, which was a comedy adventure all round as we tried to work out where to get off the A41 and which end of town we were aiming at. We were successful in the end and celebrated with hot chocolate at M&S and a delicious lunch at the Loch Fyne seafood restaurant in Knowle. I had a whole dish of mussels for my first course and very nice they were too. Mum left in the afternoon and MGL came round for dinner, a film and an epic Uno battle which I sadly lost. I seriously think that an all-night Uno tournament could be an amazing social event!
Today I've been busy doing chores and writing more of my guide to my holiday for parents, friends and general hangers on. It's 11 pages long so far! This evening MGL and I are going to Le Bistrot Pierre for their Dine with Wine evening - I have a two for one voucher so we're going to have three courses and three glasses of wine each for £25 in total. Bargain. Tomorrow is the cinema to see Atonement with Raquel, and then it's the weekend when for once I have nothing planned. I do however have two double dates arranged for the week after and the social whirlwind that is my life shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.
A final exciting point to mention - yesterday MGL asked me if I was free on any weekends near to my birthday, because he wants to take me away somewhere! I didn't actually think men like that were real. I really hope I never wake up from this particular dream - I could definitely get used to this!
Today I've been busy doing chores and writing more of my guide to my holiday for parents, friends and general hangers on. It's 11 pages long so far! This evening MGL and I are going to Le Bistrot Pierre for their Dine with Wine evening - I have a two for one voucher so we're going to have three courses and three glasses of wine each for £25 in total. Bargain. Tomorrow is the cinema to see Atonement with Raquel, and then it's the weekend when for once I have nothing planned. I do however have two double dates arranged for the week after and the social whirlwind that is my life shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.
A final exciting point to mention - yesterday MGL asked me if I was free on any weekends near to my birthday, because he wants to take me away somewhere! I didn't actually think men like that were real. I really hope I never wake up from this particular dream - I could definitely get used to this!
Monday, September 17, 2007
Huge respect
To my brother, who yesterday completed the Boston Rowing Marathon in a single scull to raise money for Cancer Research. 50k in a boat all on your own apparently results in a very sore arse and extreme tiredness, but with over £300 raised so far it's all worth it. Well done Simon!
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