My New Year Project

In addition to the huge year ahead for me on a personal note..University exams and graduation..new job..(possibly)..lots to do..lots to look forward to.
I have a new project. Wedding Planner. 50-80 people. All the trimmings. Dresses, suits, church, reception..well behaved guests..the whole kit and caboodle.
Lists is what I need. Lists to remind me of what lists I have made..and post-it notes to remind me of where I have put the lists.
There'll be no big pinky meringue-y dresses..No 1 on the list..No karaoke..2nd on my list...third..no James Blunt first dance tunes either.
In fact...the first dance will interesting..because the bride and groom have been dancing together..metaphorically..for the last forty years. Forty years ago..to the very day of their new wedding....they wed in a small register office..for the entire sum of 25 old pounds..borrowed wedding dress..borrowed suit...sandwiches made by the mums...babychams bought by the dads..no real merriment involved..just a lot of "it'll never last" behind their hands.

There will be blog updates on how the planning is going throughout the next few months, But I intend to make my Mum and Dad's wedding a day they will never forget..for all the right reasons.

Listening to tons of stuff right now.

Jenny Lewis in particular
Elvis Costello
Lady Gaga..(music snobbery aside..I think she might make good pop songs)

A very Merry Christmas to you all..and a Happy, Peaceful and Wonderful New Year and Decade to you too !!

xx

New Decade?

I heard on a radio station this week that we are heading for a new decade..2010...beginning of a new decade...but is it?

2000 to 2009..thats ten years..a decade
but
wouldn't that mean we started at 0...the Year 0...I dont think so
and if we started at 1..which is where most of us begin...then 2011 is the first year of the decade

Please Help
Yours
Confused of Yorkshire

Blusher

I had a lecture today. An odd sort of lecture..in that..there are only three of us in the room...the Tutor..me and one other. So lecture might be a bit too strong a word for it. Its my favourite time of the day. We sit and discuss and chat..we completely lose the chalk and talk ethos of other lectures and everything taught and said in that cosy hour stays in...as opposed to coming out of the other ear.
We were all sat comfortably in a lovely new swish room and we began discussing the finer points of the Law...when I heard The Bitterest Pill by The Jam..it wasnt quite filling the room..but it was giving a pleasant background sound. I honestly thought they had piped music into the Uni lecture theatres..which is a novel idea..dont you think? The other two in the room had a bemused expression and as we moved into more hits by The Jam..it was becoming more of a puzzle.
And thats the point when my face became very very warm.....and reddish.I recalled I was listening to those exact songs last night..and discovered the music was coming from my schoolbag...my iphone in my schoolbag.
Sometimes I can be a very dumb bright person

Ice Ice Baby...

Brrrrr...freezing frosty morning yesterday
The first of many to come.

My black car was iced white..the thick kind..not the stuff you can just get in and let the heater and the wiper do the works
How I miss cassette tapes in the car
They scraped the ice away better than anything...better than Halfords Ice glove..better than the kitchen spatula..and as I found out yesterday...better than my Sainsburys Nectar Card.

Only Love....

Over several hours of the weekend..(I love Anytime TV)..I watched this film for the first time.
Honestly.. if you had asked me if I had already seen it back in the day, I would have probably said yes. But I hadn't, I may have confused the title with something else entirely. And it pretty much made my weekend.
Tough to pick a favourite scene, but this comes close.
A definite coolness about the film, without trying too hard. I think that may be a decent definition of cool. Not trying too hard. But there are very few of us who can actually get away with it. I tried...too hard.
Watching the film transported me way back to my first real dumping..I swear I can still feel how much that hurt. I can recall exactly what I was wearing that night....I can remember the days and nights I stayed in my room...headphoned up...tears streaming...Mint Juleps..telling me ..that only love can break my heart..and how I believed every word of that song.

A "Friendly" Interrogation

It's sad but I dont see my friends as often as I should..so this came by email..from one of them. I think we need to catch up soon if she has forgotten all this stuff about me


1. What time did you get up this morning?

7.15am..I have the second shower slot.

2. Diamonds or pearls?

Diamonds are my birthstone..I prefer simple jewellery so small diamonds are fine, Santa :)

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?

500 days of summer. Great soundtrack. Gentle flowing film and better than I thought it would be

4. What is your favorite TV show?

I dont watch very much TV..pushed..I would have to say....Megastructures

5. What do you usually have for breakfast?

I never eat breakfast..and I think its too late for me to change

6. What is your middle name?

Maria..thrown in to please a Catholic priest I suspect

7. What food do you dislike?

I dont eat meat or fish....and I hate jelly

8. What is your favorite CD at moment?

Michael Buble..sigh..sorry. But it soothes my aggressive driving style

9. Favorite Color?

Blue..it goes back to my schooldays of being in Blue house..named after Priestley.

10. Favorite sandwich?

Brie and Cranberry

11. What characteristic do you despise?

Arrogance..rudeness..and selfishness..I know thats three...often found together though :)

12. Favorite item of clothing?

warm socks

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?

a log cabin in Canada

14 . Favorite brand of clothing?

I love Matthew Williamson handbags

15. Where would you retire to?

I'm not going to retire..I plan to die at work. That'll teach 'em !

16.What was your most recent memorable birthday?

My Big 40..and a trip to Amsterdam with my girlfriends

17. What did you want to be when you were little?

A nurse..right up until the day I was due at Nursing College..aged 16

18. What are you listening to right now?

The hum of office electrical equipment

19. Do you wish on stars?

I appreciate them but ask them for nothing

20. Real hair color?

Cheeky !.Dark brown; same one I've always had--never been dyed.

21. Summer or winter?

Winter..dark nights and cold crisp mornings for me

22. How many towns have you lived in?

Three

23. Are you an Introvert or Extrovert?

Introvert...but with an extrovert screaming to get out

A Dipped Toe...

I haven't called in here for a while..and I have no real excuse...life is rushing by like a high speed train..my mind is working like an hour by hour planner. I can tell you exactly where I will be and what I will be doing at 3.36pm next Thursday or actually on any given day. On the bright side..I can still laugh. Sometimes a little hysterically..but its laughing all the same.

..and I plan to come back here too

Requesting Quiet

I have had things to say..I just haven't been in the right frame of mind for saying them out loud.

It's been a time for headphones...silence smothered by a huge deafening soundtrack..a little bit like a sticking plaster...covered over, but you can just still feel the sting.

Lost Prophets - Last Train Home.mp3
CocoRosie - Honey or Tar.mp3
Boy George And Culture Club - Time.mp3

Geeks 'R' Us

It's Uni time..time for me to sit in coffee bars with two of my favourite people in the world...we may even go to an odd lecture or two..if we have the caffeine level right.

An odd trio we are...a forty one year old with a mental age of thirty, a twenty seven year old with a mental age of fifty and a twenty year old who we have to drag through every semester, kicking and screaming.

Eggy, who is twenty, hates and loathes maths and anything scientific..he fell accidentally into being an engineer, lives with his mum, loves Gangsta rap and Ross Kemp..gets extremely nervous eating in front of girls..hence his nickname..the first time I met him he had egg all the way down the front of his shirt.

Jim, twenty seven...wears checked shirts..and is quite possibly a reincarnation of a seventy year old farmer..he likes the strangest array of music ever...keeps chickens and wants to meet Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

As I had my bath last night..my ipod on shuffle nearby...A Jim Reeves song played followed quickly by a Neil Diamond number..and I knew I would hear from Jim today..his email was waiting when I got into work.

ps I have a new pencil case

She's Leaving Home

I'm being outwardly brave, but I'm beginning to get that same strange feeling I had when my mother left me at school on my very first day. The dynamics of my life are shifting like quicksilver as they did back then. I knew then that there was nothing I could do to stop the winds of change gusting through..and once again...quietly..I might add..I am dealing with the unstoppable force.
As Billy said somewhere...she's leaving home.
She has plans and lists and new friends by the tenfold. I'm smiling and excited and very proud of her. She is buying pro-plus because freshers week is so full of things to do and because the "studential" website says she must. I'm paying for it and remembering how it just used to be Calpol and the occasional Vick's chest rub. I asked would she like to go away for Christmas as we do every year..she says no...she won't have been home for three months so she'd quite like to spend some time there. I whimpered slightly..covering it with a cough and blaming the swine flu.
And all the while..I can hear her high pitched childish voice singing in the primary school choir.."one more step along the world I go"