Day to day musings...

6 days and counting...

2012-07-22T20:36:00.002+01:00

Hard to believe... in 6 days I will start my first shift as an Olympic GamesMaker!!! For the uninitiated, GamesMakers are the volunteers helping out at the London2012 Olympics.

Considering I've wanted to do this ever since London won the bid 7 years ago, it feels like the last days are simply too much to bear. Having had training spread out over a few months, picking up my uniform and making contact with my future GamesMaker colleagues, it's now almost unbearable to sit and wait for another few days for the Games to start.

And whilst the media in the UK has been annoyingly negative (let's face it, are they ever anything but that???), it hasn't dampened my spirits or those of everyone else involved who have worked so hard to make this happen. I wish the UK would understand how to better take pride in themselves but they just can't. Nevermind, I'm here to make up for that :) I'm plenty proud of everything that has been achieved so far and whilst there are plenty of imperfections everywhere, these Games will KICK ASS!!!

Seeing as the weather is now 'supposedly' getting better, I believe we will be on for an amazing two weeks of Olympics and hopefully an even more amazing two weeks of Paralympics.

I will be based at Eton Dorney lake, which is where the Rowing and Canoe Sprint events are - having seen the venue only under a deluge of rain, I can't say anything much about it yet.

I'm hyper and so excited to get started already! I'm not sure whether I'll remember to post here and tell all about my adventures during the Games but I shall do my best to give a quick overview at some point. If all else fails, I shall report once it is all over.

In my heart of hearts, I have always waited for an opportunity to reclaim the most magical time of my life: Expo 2000. Without a doubt, that was the best time of my life and being part of the UK pavilion was the most rewarding and special thing I have ever done. Yes, the Olympics/Paralympics are only two weeks long each (Expo 2000 was almost 6 months) but I figure it has huge potential to become just as special. And even if it never reaches the love I've had for my time at Expo, I will always be able to say I've had the pleasure to be part of something so incredibly unique and special for the rest of my life. Not something many people can claim for sure.

Oh and if you have tickets for Eton Dorney - look for the maniacally grinning woman scanning your tickets or pointing you to your seat. It might be me! :D

Rock 'n' roll Beethoven!

2012-04-16T16:20:00.000+01:00

I read something here and it just made me smile... because I couldn't agree more!

"I wouldn't say Beethoven is rock 'n' roll, but there is a sort of similarity. It's not aristocratic music. It's very physical music. To play it and probably also to hear it. And I think that makes it a bit easier for an audience to appreciate. There's not this sort of very cultural snobby aspect, which you might have with someone like Mahler or Bruckner. I think with Beethoven it just goes straight into your gut, and I think that's the great thing of his music. It really is very physical music.

-- Pianist Ronald Brautigam"

The simple joys

2012-03-11T22:12:00.002+00:00

Seems that whenever I try hardest to make space in my head for some 'me time', I always fail. Forced relaxedness (is that even a word?) doesn't work. Planned relaxedness doesn't either.
So it is doubly joyous when such a relaxing day occurs out of the blue.

Today was just such a day. Helped by the fact that I currently suffer from tendonitis in my left wrist and have forbidden myself to spend any more time than absolutely necessary in front of the computer typing away, I was left with a whole Sunday to fill. Somehow I also allowed myself to ignore the mess in my apartment and kitchen and simply sat down to read.

Over the past few months, I have noticed that reading is something that just won't work for me if my brain is too full with other crap. It never used to be that way and I used to read books every day but over the past few years something changed and it became more taxing to read. I found my joy of reading again around Xmas time when I picked up and read through all the Harry Potter books. It opened me up to a new found appreciation for great stories and reminded me of my second greatest love after music - reading.

I started reading Harry Potter again shortly after finishing it last year. I was so used to having those characters in my life that finishing book 7 left me bereft, missing them, wanting their company again. So I started from scratch... but then the holidays were over and I was back to work, back to the usual grind and my brain just couldn't cope. I made it through the first three books again - this time over the span of two months.

Fast forward to today, when I simply picked up the fourth book this morning and read through it until I was finished. It was a beautiful day outside, sunny and really warm but it didn't matter. I saw no reason to force myself out when I had such an enchanting way of spending my day indoors.

And as I put the book away, getting ready to pick up the next one, the thought that often strikes me, struck me again - 'If everything in this world were to collapse and my way of life were to change forever, I would still, for all eternity have music and books.' It doesn't get simpler and more satisfying than that.

Repeating myself...!

2012-02-15T08:26:00.005+00:00

Let's see... in an attempt to beat the spamming asshole (who seems to have bookmarked this particular post), I have deleted the original January 19th post and reposting it now. Let's hope this'll be the end of it.
Having said that - a new Zumba insight can be added - I think Zumba has found an early grave. It's not nearly as much fun as I hoped it would be. If this changes, you'll be the first to know ;)

Location: Weybourne Gymnastics Club
Time: Zumba class time

The instructor asks the class "so what do you guys want to do, shall we just do Zumba or shall we do abs?"
I say "ZUMBA!"
Everyone else says "ABS!"
She asks for a show of hands "who wants to do just Zumba?" Ally and I wave our hands.
She asks for a show of hands "who wants to do Abs?" Everyone else in the class waves their hands.
She apologizes to Ally and me "sorry girls, most wants Abs".

Makes me wonder... if you want Abs exercises - WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING AT A ZUMBA CLASS??????????????????????????

Oh wait, I know! The deluded women on their 'New Year's resolution' kick think this will melt away their tummy fat magically. Dream on, deluded ones! It only happens if you put actual work in and not just by pretending.

Am considering giving the class a boot and finding another one. Though I would miss the cool, springy floor from the gymnastics club!!!

Spammer assholes

2012-02-11T07:06:00.000+00:00

Peeps... I've been targeted by some lowlife spammer asshole who keeps spamming my blog via the comment function so for the time being, I will have to moderate comments. This means your comments will now not appear instantly on my blog - they will first have to be approved by me.
Fear not, I shall do this as soon as someone other than spammer losers posts a comment :)
And who knows, once the little prick has moved on to some other blogger, I might not need to do that anymore...! Ah, in a perfect world......

The trouble with Christmas...

2011-12-26T10:45:00.000+00:00

...is that no matter where you go and what you do, you can't escape it. Set aside my Grinch-like attitude when it comes to this 'holiday'. Think about those people who have no reason whatsoever to celebrate and would like nothing more than the world to continue revolving and not stop in its tracks for a fat, bearded man dressed in red. People who have lost loved-ones, who have lost all they had, people who for whatever reason don't want to be forced into the ridiculously high-strung expectation of jollyness and joy that Christmas brings upon us all.
It's no secret that I don't enjoy Christmas and I don't feel sorry for myself because of it. The only thing that's good about it is giving and receiving presents, though that in itself is quite telling. I don't see peace and quiet in this period of time. All I see are crazed people running around like headless chickens, buying more presents, more food, more drink. Nothing peaceful about that.
But the worst thing about it all is that no matter how much you try to escape it, you can't. I have no beef with people who enjoy this crazy time but i DO have a problem with the simple fact that everyone is being force fed this mix of happyhappyhappy and hohoho, regardless of how hard this is on some people. Short of booking yourself onto a trip to a country where Christmas doesn't exist (and where, praytell might that be these days???), you are stuck. And even that trip would be a constant reminder of what you are trying to avoid.
Wouldn't it all be much nicer if Christmas could simply be celebrated with those you want to celebrate it with, indoors, privately, without the constant reminder in the shops and everywhere else about it 6 months in advance???
I, for one, would very much appreciate that. A pipe dream it may be but I will hang on to that thought until the very end. Because not everyone was made to enjoy Christmas and because we should respect that.

London 2012 is a GO!

2011-12-21T21:09:00.003+00:00

After having applied to be part of the volunteer work force at the London 2012 Olympics over a year ago, I was invited for an interview in August. I left it feeling confident and optimistic about my chances. I REALLY, REALLY wanted to do this, be part of something so special again. Echoes of Expo 2000 were reverberating all around me and the chance of having that kind of an experience again was something I have been chasing for the past 11 years.

250,000 people applied to volunteer. They narrowed them down to 125,000, all of whom were invited for interviews (including ickle me!). Out of those 125,000 they only needed 70,000.
I knew it would take a while to get the results of the interviews and today I received two separate emails - both congratulating me for being offered a role as a Games Maker (their name for the volunteers) at the Olympics AND Paralympics next year!!!

Can you say BEST.CHRISTMAS.PRESENT.EVER????? :)

I will be part of the Events Team and will be located at Eton Dorney. So I won't be in the midst of it in the Olympic village in London or anything but I will be helping out at Eton, where rowing and canoeing takes place! From what I understand so far, my role could include directing people to their seats, giving out information, handing out accreditation passes, scanning tickets and many more things.

There will be training provided at some point in the next year so I will learn more when the time comes.

For now, I will bask in the glory of knowing that I will be part of the Olympic Games - and how many people can actually say that???????

I am now truly looking forward to an awesome 2012 - I've got this feeling it will be MY YEAR.

A heartfelt gift

2011-12-12T22:42:00.000+00:00

There's nothing like giving someone a gift that you know truly touches their heart.
It's not hard, you just have to look closely, pay attention and most importantly, want to really GIVE. And it's never ever about money or value. It's about the thought you've put into the gift and the fact that you know exactly what it is that can put a smile on their face.

And nothing comes close to the feeling you get when you give from the heart. I have never been big on Christmas but every now and then, on a rare occasion, being able to gift something to someone that they really love, just reminds me of what I wish Christmas could be for me all the time.

Today was one of those days and it just made my entire Christmas. It's that simple :)

Flying high

2011-12-03T23:00:00.001+00:00

I have literally just returned from singing Mendelssohn's Elijah with my choir tonight.
I made a shitload of mistakes (BAD Maky) but even so, it was absofuckinglutely BRILLIANT!!!
Magnificent, even! I can't believe how well we pulled it off and how it all flowed.
The soloist singing the part of Elijah was unfrigginbelievable! When he opened his mouth during rehearsals everyone went 'whoooaaaaa'. Brilliant. The other soloists were good too, the orchestra did well and Ben seemed totally hyper at the end. If only I could've taken a picture of his face in the last few seconds of the piece - he looked high as a kite! LOLOL
Overall, a fantastic performance, if I may toot my own horn. After all that hard work it totally paid off. We were on FIRE! :)

'Nuff said. Tomorrow will be a different kind of concert which I'm sure will be so bad that I will completely forget to mention it. And it's probably best to leave things on a high note! Ha, see what I did there? High note? I'm so funny, I crack myself up! ;)

The joy of singing

2011-11-28T21:59:00.001+00:00

Every singer will tell you, there is something about letting your voice fly, making it produce sounds unlike others (good and bad!) that just embodies what singing is all about. I can think of multiple ways of describing that 'something'. Freedom, joy, elation, excitement, sorrow, sadness... well, I could go on and on but I won't bore you with my oh-so-fabulous use of English vocabulary ;)
I grew up with classical music around me, I grew to love it as I got older and eventually, after a long time, I simply gave in to what I knew was always the one thing that will always, always, ALWAYS make me happiest in this life. Singing classical music.
Don't get me wrong... I love writing and singing country music, it saved me many times over when I was a teenager, that's the music I CHOSE. But classical... well... it chose me.

Singing with the choir is a revelation - every time. I may not be up for it at each rehearsal, but overall, the joy of singing simply trumps all the other stuff.
And just for the record, since Ben took over conducting us, all that 'other stuff' doesn't much exist anymore. Gone is the boredom, the need to chat relentlessly. I look forward to rehearsals, love being in them and regret when leaving them. It helps that I think we 'click' with Ben. I get what he's trying to say, what he's trying to do. I enjoy working my butt off, going over the same stuff again over and over because that is the only way I can grow, the only way I can get better. I suppose it depends on whether you take singing seriously or not, and I do. Having someone in charge who pushes us and pushes us and pushes us some more is just what I needed. Kinda like my own personal little blessing! :)

It was the last rehearsal of Mendelssohn's Elijah tonight. The one before the concert on Saturday. As much as I grew up with classical music, choral works were not part of it. So every single piece we sing is new to me. That's like... discovering a gazillion fantastically awesome pieces of music each time we start a new term. I distinctly remember listening to Elijah before we started working on it and thinking 'It sounds nice' but nothing more. And boy, nice is the understatement of the millenium. It very much is a sublime work of art and quite frankly can rarely be appreciated fully unless you sit down with a score and a choir and go through it bit by bit.
And how I've loved discovering all the best bits of this piece... how frustrating to get so many things so wrong to start with but finally see it all slot into place, as it should be.
To say I'm excited to perform this doesn't even begin to describe it! Ben's precision, our hard work and Mendelssohn's stunning music will deliver a killer concert on Saturday.
And if I still have the energy to do so, I will be here to tell all about it after the concert. But just so you know, Saturday night I will be one happy soprano! :D

The suicidal fly

2011-11-14T22:19:00.001+00:00

And here I was, thinking I'd seen it all at choir rehearsals.
Guess I didn't.

In the midst of an exceptionally energetic/angry part of Mendelssohn's Elijah, a big, fat fly deigned to have a rest on my score. My hand movements to swat it away did nothing. It seemed to like that page. I then took to actually physically remove it (by smacking it off my score). Only to see it fly around somewhat drunkenly and land on that same page again.
The second smack finally did it - the fly went flying (haha) and I never saw it again. Only by that time, I had lost my place in the score, was in fits of laughter and useless for the rest of the next 2 minutes.

Note to all flies: If any such thing should happen during the concert in a few weeks, I shall simply smash my score shut. You WILL be dead. Tell your friends...

NaNoWriMo 2011

2011-10-31T22:53:00.002+00:00

Yes, it's here again.

November = NaNoWriMo = new novel.

Have I got the slightest clue as to what I will write this year? Not one bit.
Well, actually, that's not quite true. I wrote this 'introduction' chapter to a story four years ago, simply because it just came to me one day. But there never was anything linked to it, no particular plot or plot points or anything!!! I'd been sitting on it since, always wondering what to do with it, where to take it.

I've decided to attempt a full novel based on that introduction this year - for lack of any other ideas!

Doesn't exactly sound like a path to success, does it? Then again, I've had other ideas over the past 6 years (can you believe it, I wrote my first NaNo novel in 2005??????) which, with all the plot lines and ideas still came to nothing.

I suppose that's part of what's so cool about NaNoWriMo. You just don't know WHERE this month will take you. And I'm totally ready to embrace the craziness, write late into the night, fret about the 'daily' 1667 words necessary to finish and attend write-ins at the pub around the corner.

If nothing else, I will meet new characters - no matter what I write, they always show up and surprise the hell outta me. Because much as I think I control the story, the truth is, these characters control ME.

Writing ROCKS! :) Wish me luck!

Liberation

2011-10-16T15:30:00.002+01:00

Ever since I started the redecoration of my flat last year (yes, it's been over a year now, can you believe it???), I've slowly started letting go of things. When I mean letting go, I mean throw away/give away. And when I say things, I mean TONS of stuff I had amassed over the years that I never used!

The list is neverending... last year I went through my clothes ruthlessly. I now have very few clothes that I actually DO wear. Sure, there are some that simply have emotional value but those are just t-shirts which I have decided to turn into carrier bags. This way, I don't throw the t-shirt away and it gives me pleasure when I use it on my weekly shops!

I went through my books and have also ruthlessly donated all those that I knew I'd never read again. I still have a pile of books I haven't yet read and unless I actually LOVE them, once I've read them, they will go also.

I went through paperwork that had amassed over the years as well and simply shredded everything that's older than 3 years. Bills from my last place of residence seem rather ridiculous to keep!

I even went as far as sorting through my audio cassette tapes... yes, believe it or not, I had a box full of cassette tapes, probably around 100 of them. Going through them was (and still is) a LOT of work and involved listening to most of them to decide whether it's worth keeping them or not. And if they ARE worth keeping, I bought a little gizmo that plugs into my PC's USB port and into my walkman's headphones (yes, I STILL had my walkman and it works just as well as it did when I bought it in 1998! LOL) and I've started transforming them all into mp3 format. Each time I finish moving something from tape to mp3 I throw the tape away. All annoyance for having to go through this aside, it's a great walk down memory lane... when else do you really make time to go through old music you used to listen to???

The bathroom had to be sorted through as well and I kicked so many samples and old creams and gels and products and heaven knows what else!

The kitchen is what has been occupying me for the last few weeks. On a whim I decided to go through some of the cupboards where I kept my pots and pans and eliminated a good part of what I knew was stuff I'd never used/never will use.

Today, I'm back in the kitchen and attacking the gadgets. I love kitchen gadgets. I have a steamer, a slow cooker (never used, bought about two years ago), a wok, a bread maker, an ice cream machine, a food sealer (google if you don't know what that is), a George Foreman grill... well, the list goes on and on.
Today the wok goes, as does the George Foreman grill - I haven't used these in ages. And the slow cooker goes as well. It's still packed in its box, never having been used... how pathetic is that??? But the truth is, I know I will never use it so what's the point? Thankfully I remember buying it and it wasn't very expensive so that makes me feel a bit better!

Overall, this purging of things is extremely liberating... there is nothing like the feeling of going into an area of your home that isn't stuffed full of crap that is weighing you down. More and more I feel like I can breathe freely in this space. I try to follow the new rule: If you buy one thing, throw another one out.

Whether this is achievable long term is another question, of course ;) But I shall keep you updated!

My way or the Segway!

2011-10-15T20:56:00.002+01:00

Today was a balancing act... literally!!!
For my birthday, Ally and Julian got me a ''Go Ape Forest Segway' experience for an hour! I'd heard of the Segways from friends and colleagues who'd ridden them in California (along the beach... *sigh*) but never realized they could be driven on uneven terrain!

Just so you can see what this looks like, check out this video:

Let me tell you... it looks a LOT easier than it is! To start with, you have to find your balance on that thing which has NOTHING that grounds you. So the only way to make the Segway stop still is to be balanced and relaxed. Of course when you start, you're anything but!!!

Still, over the course of the next hour, I learned to relax and totally enjoy it. Little hills and tight curves just became a cool challenge! :) And when the hour was over, I was utterly disappointed and was left wanting more!!!

A nice pub lunch finished off a lovely day - thanks Ally and Julian for such a cool present! :)

P.S. I took my video camera to film along the way but you can't ride the Segway with one hand so no footage is available :(

OK, let's see...

2011-10-11T16:12:00.000+01:00

Well, I have been absent from this blog for quite a while, I know!
I always, constantly, pledge to be better at updating this but never manage to - well, let's see if this time it may actually happen! You'll ask: why should this be different than any of the other times she's promised to update this more often?

Well, as of Saturday, I have completely deleted my Facebook account. I could go into details and explain exactly why but the simple truth is, their new 'features' freaked the hell out of my privacy-protecting mind plus I realized that maybe being ever-connected isn't exactly the best part about life.
So, with plenty more time on my hands now, I suppose instead of writing status updates on Facebook, I shall try to keep this blog going more frequently. And with that, also, less wordy! You know how I love me some good ole, loooooong posts, but sometimes they're just not necessary.

So here goes... to a new bloglife! If all goes well, we'll be talking again soon! :)

Not a happy camper!

2011-01-11T00:14:00.003+00:00

What can I say... having a week off after New Year's made me feel spoiled.
Clearly someone in charge thought I needed to be brought back to earth pronto. Fear not, this happened within the first 20 minutes of my being back on the job today!

Aside from the fact that this whole 'transformation' business at work means changing everything (including moving managers around, splitting up teams and generally confusing the f*** out of everybody because nothing was thought through properly), I received an email from a colleague, who must've been CLEARLY bored out of his friggin mind.

He proceeded to present his new 'plans' of changing the seating in the office, to "change things up for 2011". This saw EVERYONE being moved about into different cubicles in the massive open plan area.
I, for one, like where I'm sitting. I'm facing a big wall of windows with a constant view of the sky and other outside goings on. I'm in closest vicinity to my four colleagues in my product team and I'm far enough away from the kitchen area to not be disturbed by the constant noise of the big screen TV having BBC News running non-stop. I have also spent a considerable amount of time cleaning my entire desk properly and keeping it clean, unlike all other male colleagues inhabiting all other desks. The thought of sitting at someone else's 'never been cleaned since the dark ages' desk, gives me the heebee-jeebies!!!!! You have NO idea what kind of disgustingtons I have for colleagues. Honest.

Thankfully, it seems nobody wants this change and whilst I have been the most vocal about it, others have also spoken out and I will keep my fingers crossed that nothing changes.

And just in case it does, I have already decided for myself that I won't bother going into the office anymore. If you're going to take away my manager, my team, my desk and my blue (or grey) sky - you can stick it where the sun don't shine. This is one game I'm not willing to play.

New Year, new.... nothing

2011-01-02T20:38:00.003+00:00

Well, another year's come and gone and I, for one, am rather glad to see the back of 2010.
On that note, though, I do want to highlight the good stuff that's happened in 2010, so as to make up for all the shit I've had to deal with.

I got involved with the "site events" team at work, which means I spend a few hours a month thinking up things people in our organization might like to do for an evening. Then I get to organizing it. Most of the time it's good fun and I get a kick out of seeing the joy on people's faces when the event rolls around.

I decided it was time to make this flat I've lived in for three years more of a home. Inspired by the amazing Young House Love blog, I set out to paint the living room, bedroom and hallway, as well as completely redecorate them. That meant throwing out lots of the crappy furniture that belonged to the owner, and buying new stuff, which I singlehandedly picked out. All courtesy of IKEA, of course :) And whilst the place is FAR from being finished, it already feels like much more of a home than it ever did before and I continue to work towards my vision of what it can be.

I continuously contributed a set amount of $100 each month to my new favorite charity, KIVA. On every 1st of each month, I lend 4 different people in need of a loan $25 each. They repay me whenever they can and I then reinvest the repayed money into yet another person looking to improve their lives. It is by far not a perfect situation as some of these people pay ridiculous amounts of interest for these loans. But then again, if it helps just one person, that will be worth it. And I will continue to support Kiva and give monthly and see the money I give being put to good use and make a difference in someone's life.

I have also spent many weekends continuing to volunteer at the Lightbox, getting joy out of seeing tons of exhibitions and meeting new cool people to work with. It's such a blessing to have such a cool place in my little town! :)

Then I was lucky enough to have my auntie visit from America, not just once, but twice in the past year. Having her around was a breath of fresh air and my admiration for this woman knows no bounds! We had a great time visiting Hampton Court Palace and just spending time together hanging out. It was short but sweet and I enjoyed it immensely.

Ally & Julian moved to a teeeeeeny tiiiiny little house, which neither of them enjoys but for me, this was good news. Because the house is about 15 minutes drive from me and it's just so much nicer to know my sister so close and not having to drive miles to get to and from her! So, yey for me! (not so yey for them).

And last but not least, possibly the best part of this year - my choir. After the dreadful experience we had with the last "new" conductor, I was ready to throw it all in. But then came Ben - young, enthusiastic, funny and extremely knowledgable. A guy that is supereasy to deal with, has a good sense of humour and has managed, within three short months, to capture the hearts of pretty much the entire choir. Our first concert with him was simply fabulous. Whether we sounded great or not, I can't say (though apparently, we did) - but the enjoyment factor was there from the very first rehearsal, to the very last note in the concert. Just goes to show once again how one person can make one hell of a difference!
If you're curious - catch a quick video of the rehearsal before the concert HERE . Handel bores me to tears most of the time, but Ben expects concentration and precision at every single note, which doesn't leave much time to fall asleep ;) My joy for singing is back and I singlehandedly owe it to Ben. Let's hope he sticks around for a looooong time!

And now, as 2011 rolls around, I have decided that it makes absolutely NO sense to make any new year's resolutions because, let's face it, I won't stick to them anyway.
Instead, I shall make a list of the things I would like to accomplish this year and see whether at one point or another, I can actually do this.

At the top of the list being - UPDATE BLOG MORE OFTEN. (I know, I know, you've heard it all before ;)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Snowy Woking

2010-12-21T19:01:00.005+00:00

It snowed like crazy here in Woking... on Saturday, that is. It has stopped since but the temperatures have stayed well below zero so frost is still around as is most of the snow.
I wandered off on Saturday afternoon after the snow had stopped falling. Much as I would've liked to go out and take pictures of the snow falling, I felt way too protective of my camera!

I decided to take my tripod with me, which I knew would give me the opportunity to take some really nice pictures but would also end up hindering me most of the time! In the end, it was a mixed bag and it helped and annoyed me all at once ;)
The best comment I received from a passing cyclist whilst I was trying to cross a snowy road with a fully extended tripod? 'Wow, I thought you were carrying skis!!!'
Nope, not this time, mate!

Anyway... I used three separate lenses though my favorite by far is the macro lens. For the uninitiated, it's the lens that takes gorgeous close-ups. And I love it, love it, love it! It's fiddly and you have to know exactly what you're doing but boy, does it take some nice pictures if you get it right!!!

Anyway... enjoy - these are the best from that two hour trip on Saturday! :)

Redecorating - part 1

2010-08-30T15:29:00.002+01:00

Well, the redecorating bug has bitten me. Badly! After hanging out on Young House Love's website for WEEKS (I am NOT kidding... and soooooo worth it!!!), I was itching to redo this space that I call my home.
Sadly, everything I did want to change here needed approval from my landlady so diplomatic maneuvers were required to make sure I was allowed to do some of the following things:

1. Get rid of old, disgustingly ugly bed and mattress (since I'm renting a furnished flat)
2. Get rid of old, even more disgustingly ugly sofa
3. Get rid of old, unusable shelving unit which was missing so many damn screws that putting a feather on it would've made it collapse
4. Get rid of massive and ugly wardrobe which was truly falling apart even without trying to move it out of the way
5. Paint the walls in the bedroom a lovely Dulux Light & Space 'Nordic Spa' green to freshen up the room and let more light in
6. Paint the hallway and living room a lovely Dulux Light & Space 'Desert Wind' cream color to lighten up the room
7. Paint the ceilings a bright white to make rooms look bigger (cause they desperately need it!!!!)
8. Put laminate floor and /or carpet down to replace the disgusting carpet that has been in here for at least 8 years, if not more - *shudder*

Overall, I got the OK for all of the above, with the landlady fronting the cost of the materials (for the painting) and the labor (for the laminating and carpeting and I'm so glad she wanted professionals to do it!).

So I roped in Ally and Julian to slave away with me at painting this place and we got pretty much most of it done on Saturday. You wouldn't think it's a big deal considering it's such a small space, but since the flat is full of my stuff/crap/furniture, it meant that everything had to be packed up and moved, then the painting could start and then you'd do the same thing all over again with the other rooms.

Two days later I was aching, blistered and pretty much unable to move without yelping in pain (that's old age, right there!!!). Still, the flat it painted, the horrid furniture pieces are gone and I am now waiting for the laminate floor men to come on Wednesday and start putting laminate down in the hallway and the living room. Carpet will be put down in the bedroom the week after so in approximately two weeks, I shall have an almost newly painted/decorated flat.

With all this change of course, comes the responsibility of buying a new bed, a new wardrobe, a new sofa, more storage space in the form of shelves or chests of drawers and many, many other things!!!

Needless to say, my imagination has run wild thanks to the YHL blog mentioned above, which is overflowing with ideas for literally anything you might want to know about decorating, as well as the new catalogues from IKEA (thank you, gods, for creating the most awesome furniture place in this galaxy!), Argos, M&S Home and Tesco Direct. I've been leafing through all of them, turning corners on the things that I either want to have or those that give me ideas of what I could make myself.

So far, I've actually managed to write everything in a little notebook, so as not to forget all my 'brilliant' ideas. The hard part comes next, whereby I really need to sort through these ideas, see which ones are feasible (I doubt my landlady will let me put too many picture hooks through her walls) and which ones are affordable. Because of course, I need to take things slow and not go out there and spend every dime I have!!!

So anyway... this is the first of many updates. I've made the conscious decision to take things slows when it comes to decorating, so a final result will be slow in coming as I will literally have to do things bit by bit. But at least that means I can keep getting excited about new products/ideas for a bit longer!

I have no before pictures (apart from the bed) because quite frankly, it was all so ugly, it doesn't bear thinking about. But I shall attempt to take as many pictures as possible of the new stuff. It's not easy since this is SUCH a dark place, but whatcha gonna do, eh???

So... stay tuned - I shall update this as soon as new stuff is happening! :-)

In case you ever wondered...

2010-06-19T12:15:00.002+01:00

... what boiling water looks like in a frying pan, please see below.

A phone conversation

2010-06-18T18:58:00.002+01:00

This is the 'play-by-play' of a phone conversation I just had with my sister (about the horrendously bad football game Germany delivered today):

Me: 'Yeah, that referee was such an asshole!!!'
Sister: 'I'm so glad I didn't see it... OH MY GOD, the BBC presenter is wearing my shirt!!!!'
Me: 'What???'
Sister: 'She's wearing my shirt!!!'
Me: 'What??????'
Sister: 'The shirt I bought at GAP! She's wearing the same shirt!'
Me: 'Ahm... ok.'

And here was me thinking this was something worth interrupting a football match post-mortem for!

A birthday...

2010-06-13T19:03:00.003+01:00

... happened yesterday and I took some pics of the lovely birthday girl (who also happens to be the best sister in the world!!!)

Don't you wish...

2010-06-10T22:18:00.005+01:00

... you had this amazing fruit salad I just made in front of you right now?
Well, you CAN'T HAVE IT! :P

Foxy!

2010-06-03T08:42:00.005+01:00

At 7.30 this morning I looked out my window onto the car park behind my building... and let's face it, on such a beautifully sunny day, how can you blame the fox sunning itself on the patch of grass in the car park??? (P.S. That's my car there on the left :-)

Please welcome...

2010-05-30T18:47:00.002+01:00

... the newest addition to my household, my new bag! Just bought this supercool looking shopper bag at the Lightbox and am LOVING it! Pay particular attention to the little monkey keychain - it's the cutest little thing! And it NEEDS A NAME! Can you help please?
(just FYI - Stitch is NOT an option!)