Ch ch changes

I've decided to leave Blogger and create my own blog in Drupal, well I say I've decided, I looked at my husbands blog and decided that I liked it better than mine. So I got him to create me a website where I can post my blog. So from now on my blog is going to be http://www.sarahbriggs.co.uk

I can't guarantee that I will update it regularly but you never know.

Bye Blogger, it's been nice having you for the past 7 years.

Cars and Cakes

Since my birthday the rest of 2010 has been a little uneventful, Christmas came and Christmas went. I received lovely presents including: Toy Story 1 2 & 3 on Blu-Ray, cake decorating ideas book, Outnumbered series 3, cake tins, star cupcake molds, 3 tier cooling racks, Radley Umbrella, Money, winter coat, chocolates, pasta set, Harry Potter & Deathly Hallows for xbox360, Stephen Fry’s autobiography and lots more. I spent Christmas morning opening pressies from my hubby and mine to him, which included a special surprise of a Magic Wand (the one that featured on Dragon’s Den) which he loved. We then went to my In-Laws to open more pressies and spend the day with family having a nice xmas dinner. Boxing day was spent visiting my parents and having another xmas dinner and opening more presents. The rest of the holiday was spent relaxing at home and new years was spent at home playing games and getting drunk with K’s friend Andy.

We are now into February and to be honest the last month or so has gone by in a blur. We got our new car at the end of January, again sticking with a Ford Focus (different colour) and it is very lush, even the radio speaks to you, which is very cool especially for hands free. I can now see out of the back window which is amazing, our last car had privacy windows and I hated them. It is very nice to drive and has parking sensors so no more accidentally crashing into walls, plus I’ve got better at parking.

I have decided that I need to brush up on my design skills so I’ve been following some photoshop tutorials in Photoshop Creative magazine, I’ve done 3 tutorials now and I think my first one is the best so far. I have also been baking, I’m getting rather good a cupcakes and I’m making my Nephews 7^th Birthday cake, which is going to be a Red Square Lego Brick. I’ve not worked with Fondant for a long time but I’m quite good with rolling out pastry so I don’t think it should cause too much of a problem.

Celebration

I wasn't expecting my next entry to be in 2011 but as you all know I'm rubbish at updating my blog. So I left off with telling you all about my birthday celebrations. After my trip to London my actual birthday was spent with my husband and family, we went to a local restaurant called Taybarns where you can eat whatever you want and however much you want. The choice is varied with something for everyone, which is why I like it there. Whether you want Fish, Pizza, Full roast, Chinese or BBQ they have everything not to mention a really nice salad bar and desserts, especially the profiteroles. Which is always a must have for the husband, my choice of dessert is usually hot with custard.

On the Friday night I went out in town with friends and a few work colleagues, cocktails in Olive to start then more cocktails in Vodka Revolution, a few drinks in Varsity then more drinks and dancing in Reflex (80's bar) a good night was had by all and no hangover the next morning. But I must confess that I don't get hangovers, ok I tell I lie I did have one once but that was after drinks lots of bottles of wine at a Christmas party and I was very very drunk.

To spin out my birthday a bit more on the Saturday night my husband and I went out for a meal to Frankie and Bennys with hubby's side of the family (my now in laws) this was also very nice and enjoyable. I really like F&B's especially their hawaiian pizza (ham and pineapple to normal people) and probably 9 times out of 10 that's what I usually choose, I have been known to have Lasagne, which is also very yummy but usually it's the Pizza.

In October for an extra birthday treat my work mate Karen and I went to Birmingham to Cadbury world, this was amazing. It was like we were in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the chocolate smelt and tasted fantastic. Even though we went the week before half term it was still relatively busy and it was a good job we had booked our tickets in advanced. There were a few school outings but they were all well behaved. When you first go in you get a free Curly Whirly and a packet of Cadbury Buttons, you then start the tour going through how the cocoa beans are produced and how Mr Cadbury started his own business and how it evolved. He initially went into the tea business before discovering that he could make more money from Chocolate, and I'm so glad he did, I'm not really a tea fan, more a coffee person and chocolate, see it's all in the bean.

You then get the opportunity to tour a little section of the factory where you get your next freebie, a bar of Dairy Milk. Now this bit of the factory tour is nicely sectioned off, you get the feel of what goes on in the mixing and the making of the chocolate but you only get to see a tiny little bit, this bit is when the dairy milk bar has been made and is going along one of about 15 conveyer belts to be wrapped and packed. But it is very interesting all the same and the smell of chocolate is sooooooo good. I think if I moved to Birmingham I would have to get a job there, I know what you are thinking, surely you would in time hate the taste and smell. Well you'd be wrong I could eat chocolate everyday, granted I'd be the size of a blue whale but at least I'd be happy.

Anyway moving on after the factory bit you get to be herded in to a little ride, imagine in Disneyland the "it's a small world" ride but instead of nice looking flowers etc you are greeted with weird looking cocoa beans dressed up doing various fun activities. I know this is the fun bit for the under 10's but these things are very disturbing, at one point I was rather scared. They have strange little faces and look almost "Mr Potato Head" like. You get to have your picture taken at the end of the ride for prosperity, that's if you succumb to their devilish prices. The ride travels at snail pace so I'm not quite sure why they thought that you would want to have your picture took at the end of the ride for, it's not like Alton Towers. But I'm sure there are parents from all over that have caved to their children's request and have got these pictures. After the ride you then walked back through the factory taking in the lovely smells again to the next part of the tour which was a series of rooms that depicted how the packaging and advertising of Cadbury products have changed over the years. This was very interesting and they had little interactive screens with quizzes that you could test your knowledge of tv adverts and when Cadbury chocolates were released etc.

The next part of the tour was in another building marked "Essence" this is where you watched another short film about how Mr Cadbury discovered the "glass and a half of milk in every pound of chocolate" and how the slogan and image has been used in marketing and advertising. After the short film we went into another room where you received a warm shot of melted chocolate, with a choice of topping. I went for rice crispies and it was very delicious.

Opposite Essence is Bournville world where there is a mini version of the Bournville village which Mr Cadbury built around the factory for all his workers and their families. There is more detail of one particular family and how they started working at the factory and how their family has grown and how to this day still live and work in Bournville. Also in this part of the factory it gives you an incite into how the hundreds are chocolate bars get packages and shipped out on large pallets. On the way back to the car we had to stop off at the Cadbury shop which was massive to buy more chocolate for ourselves plus friends and family. On the way home we stopped off at Nottingham retail park for dinner at F&B's. Yes you guessed it I had Pizza.

This was then the end of my 30th Birthday celebrations.