Xmas meal

As I mentioned in my last post, it's was our office's Xmas meal last night. We went to Cafe Rouge in Sheffield and had the 3 course Christmas meal. This is what I had:

Starter:
Soupe D’Hiver
A rich, honey roast parsnip and sweet potato soup
Main:
Dinde Rôtie de Noël
Roast turkey with a caramelised onion, chestnut & sage stuffing served with bacon wrapped sausages, Winter vegetables and roast potatoes
Dessert:
Tartelette aux Cerises
Warm griotte cherry & almond tart served with crème fraîche

It was all very nice, and I would recommend the place. The service was good and the price was excellent value for money.

This year we took part in Secret Santa, we were all told to buy something amusing and silly with the budget of £2.50. Secret Santa bought me a childrens shape ball, which is a large ball with different shapes cut out of it and you have to slot the correct coloured shapes through the correct shape hole. This proved hours of fun when highly toxicated.

D-Day Part 2

As from the title, and for people who are familiar with my blog, D-Day stands for Driving test day. Yes today I sat my driving test for the 2nd time, and I passed, big cheer for me Yippee!!!! I'm very happy about it and with only 6 days left till Xmas its a great present. I only got 2 minors, which is really good and the instructor said it was a great drive. I think what made it better is that I knew what to expect and wasn't at nervous this time round.

I decided to book the whole day off work, so I can finish off my Xmas shopping, and also get ready for tonight, as it's my works Christmas meal and silly secret Santa exchange. I will tell you all about it later.

Holiday's are coming, holiday's are coming etc etc

Christmas is only just round the corner, Yippeee!! I love christmas, it is really the only time of year that I can be a kid again and resaonably get away with it.

From past experience I do tend to leave the t'old xmas pressie shopping till the last minute, but this year both myself and my partner have started early and have just about got all those all inportant presents, big pat on the back for me. But in every family there is the one person that is a knightmare when it comes to buying for, this person in my family is my Grandad, at least when my Nan was alive I could get ideas from her, but sadly now this is not the case and my mum is in the same boat as me, we both do not know what to buy him. Every year I seem to buy him the same things, Gilette razor blades and shaving stuff, now this is all and well for about 2 years running but when it is both xmas and b'day I can imagine that you get a bit bored with the same stuff. So if you have any ideas what to get a 76 year old male suggestions please.

My partner and I always have a limit on how much we are spending on each other and this year set that limit of £100. I have gone over by £31 and I think my partner has gone over quite a bit. But I find this annoying that now this makes me feel that I should be spending more, so that he has more presents. But then it makes me feel that he should have stuck to the orginal plan. Oh well it just means I get more pressies. Yeah!!! But this didn't take into account the dilema of the Xbox 360. My partner is a techie and loves his gadgets, this is an expensive hobby, but don't really mind too much as my hobbies are quite expensive in their own right. But on his xmas list was an Xbox 360. I debated this for some weeks and decided against it as we really couldn't afford it, but after some deliberation I crummbled under pressure, and off we went to our shopping centre and bought aformentioned xbox. This is all and well, but my partner then had to get it out of the box and set it all up, just to make sure it worked. I wanted to wrap it up for xmas, but there isn't really the point now as it is in pride of place next to the tv. So now the money spent on my partner has ballooned over the said amount of £100. But I don't expect him to spend a further £300 on me as we really can't afford that.

Angel's & Demons

Firstly for those who haven't a clue what I'm talking about I'll give a little background to this event. Me and my partner collect Bad Taste Bears, these are little bear figurines with a Bad Taste persona. We are both collector members and each year they have an event where other collectors can get together and socialise. This year as well as the yearly event BTB have decided to hold mini events which the Angel and Demons is the first one.

I didn't get my different coloured shoes but a nice pair of silver sandals and a silver bag so they matched.

The event was in Blackpool so we set off about 11:45 and got there just after 2pm we couldn't check in till 2 anyway so we got there just about right, apart from having a detour round Blackpool looking for the hotel as I had the postcode wrong for TomTom, we stopped and called in at the travel information place, where the lady wasn't really that helpful, she seem to assume that I knew where all the roads were. Oh well we got there in plenty of time, the event didn't start till 5pm. So having had a bit to eat and sorting out our costumes it was time to call a taxi and head off. The weather was really not nice, there was a drizzle of rain and the winds were gale force, I had a few incidents with my costume wings. But safely inside everything was fine.

The event was really good and we got to meet a few collectors along the way, didn't speak to half as many people as we would like, but oh well next time we might have more chance. The event consisted of a quiz, the blood brothers, Pete (the creator) Underhill's questions and answers speech, buffet and Disco oh and the fancy dress contest. Didn't win but never mind I thought my costume was cool.

But overall we both had a great time and can't wait for the next one.

Bonfire Knightmare

Well, I was really looking forward to Bonfire night, with all the hotdogs and jacket potatos to eat. But sadly I didn't get to go to my uncles as I was really ill on Friday night which left me bed bound on Saturday, and still not 100% on the Sunday/Monday. So I missed all the lovely food and smells, luckly the house over the carpark from us was having a bonfire and fireworks so I got to watch theirs instead all from the comfort of my bedroom. The joys of fireworks you can watch everyone elses.So alas I will have to wait for another year.

We are off to sunny Blackpool on Saturday for an Angel's and Demons evening at the Pleasure beach. Both my partner and I are collectors of the Bad Taste Bears and they have events for the members, the A&D is one of there events, but it looks like a good time will be had by all, oh and it's fancy dress, I have my costume just about sorted just need shoes, my costume is half angel and half demon so the shoes have to be one white and one red, hopefully I can pick up a cheap pair of white strappy shoes and paint one red.

To do well and not Mock!!

My BF has decided it's a good idea to read my blog, and to make fun of me of what i've wrote. He needs to be aware that it's not nice to be made fun of, and should remember to not bite off the hand that feeds him. So if you are reading this then I would strongly think about not mocking me or you could find yourself in very deep waters.

On a nicer note, its bonfire night this weekend, and we are going to my uncles for a bonfire party tomorrow night. This should be fun, as my uncle has a quite small garden with little room for setting fireworks off at the recommended distance away from spectators. I'm not keen on the whole firework thing, you see I am quite a jumpy person, and loud bangs make me jump, (which is something else by BF has a good laugh about) so I tend to stay indoors, but what I do like about Bonfire night is the food and the nice warmly smells. If I could have that without the loud bangs then I would be happy.

Mid 20's

I was looking at this blog today and thinking that a) it's been a while since my last post and b) I am now over the mid point in my twenties ( I had my 26th Birthday a month ago). To me this a great milestone, but also now puts my life in perspective.

When I was younger at the age of about 16 I used to say to myself that by the time that I was 26 I would like to be in a stable relationship possibly married with a child or one on the way, own my own house and have a respectable career. Well here's the reality, yes I am in a very stable relationship, with the possibility of a not too distant wedding, no children or even the possibility of one (not planning on any just yet), yes I do own my own home with aforementioned partner, and as for the respectable career, I would say it was rather respectable, still learning things and getting to grips with the whole job.

So in a nut shell i'm nearly there with what I espired to be when I was 16. But it's only been in the last 3 years that this has all come together and I still sometimes feel the urge to think back to what if i didn't go on that Flash course in May 2004 and didn't meet the man of my dreams, how different my life would be. But I know that it wouldn't be as nice as it is now.

So much for holidays

Well the week i'd given myself for destressing before the new job didn't quite go as planned, you see my partner was rushed into hospital on the Thursday evening with acute pains in his side, unfortunatly for him it was 3 hours later before they gave him any pain relief, by this time it was 3am myself and his parents were very tired. I sent them home to get some rest whilst i stayed with my BF. They eventually got him a bed Friday lunchtime on the spinal injuries ward, where all his notes and doctor he sees are there. They let him out the following Thursday with a nice stash of antibiotics which have been making his memory worse. Thankfully he is ok now.

The new job is going really well and the people are really friendly and nice.

The W word

Friday the 11th Aug: My last day working for the training provider, i am so relieved. Don't get me wrong i loved my job, it's the people i couldn't stand, some of them were good friends and i will try to keep in touch with them, but the others i'm certanly not going to miss. The company knew Head Office had people problems, and were trying to boost moral by weekly quizzes and get this a bowling trip, but as with everything that you try and change you soon get the same click bowling together and being on the same team and leaving others out. You might as well just chuck money down the drain.

All that is behind me now, as i look forward to new pastures on the Work front. I've given myself a week off to recharge my batteries, before the long slog up to xmas in a new job role. Wish me well.

D-Day

Well today was my D-Day, (Driving Test Day), everything was going really well, then... the examiner told me to turn right up this big hill, bear in mind i've never even been up this hill before, either as a passenger or a driver. So i was mainly focusing on getting up the hill, didn't expect there to be a blind sharpe bend at the top, put it this was i was going a bit fast and cliped the curb, whilst trying to get round the corner. Then meeting a road sweeper so had to brake for that. I knew at that point that i had failed and guess what that's what the examiner failed me on.

At the end he asked me if i had taken the test before, and i hadn't this was my first time and he was quite suprised as i only got 7 minors. But never the less he still failed me, then thought it would be a good idea to say if you had slowed down when approaching the bend i would have passed. Nothing like kicking a gal down.

After my test i asked my partner if he would drive up the aformentioned hill and he did the same as me, plus there wasn't even a slow down sign on the floor.

Oh well better luck next time.

On the Sabbath Day.....

We got burgled, just because we have a ground floor apartment does not mean that little thieves can steal my stuff. The most annoying thing is that we were in the apartment at the time. Thankfully we were both ok, and all they stole were my handbag and my ipod, but that’s not the principle, people should not steal or enter properties uninvited. So I had a great Sunday afternoon stopping all my cards and a visit from the local plod, apart from taking a statement they had time to decide which takeaway they were going to be visiting for their dinner, I’m so glad they are dedicated to their jobs!!!!

Still a week later and locks changed etc, I’m slowly getting my cards back, I hate it when you go into a shop or even walk down the street and see things that you really want to buy, but you can't coz you have no money, well not directly true you have the money but don't have access to it coz the bank hasn't sent you your card back yet. They tease you by sending the pin number but you have to wait the whole week till you get the card.

God (father-in-law to be) created shelves

Since my last entry the hole in the wall has now become a shelf, thanks to the wonderful job of my fiance and my father-in-law to be, we were going for the whole 3 shelf thing, but quite frankly after the performance with the first shelf the other two have been banished to the cupboard never to grace my walls again. A word of advice Do Not buy shelves from Argos.

Well that time has come around again, yes Big Brother has started in the UK, and there are the usual bunch of weird people in the world, but i still find myself getting up on a Satuday morning, switching the TV onto E4 and watching the housemates sleep. Why oh Why do i do this, i know they will be sleeping and i know that as soon as they wake up the sound will go to birds and trains, but i'm still sat there watching. Really i need to get out more!! and will somebody get Shabaz out of the house, i wish he would walk please please let him walk!!!