nora

Today is my last day at .

Tomorrow is a new day and a fresh start.

I have worked here for 5 years and 5 months. I have been presented with my flowers, collected my P45, handed back my iPhone 4S and will shortly leave my office and HP laptop behind me.

Where I will be going there will only be Blackberry's... and a different HP laptop.

Thank goodness I have a personal iPhone! I might have cracked if I didnt.

I start my new job 2nd of April. I will be working for a major pharma company and earn more money! Woo!

I will be living an hour and a half away from Dan, Ruth, JTA and Paul which is a lot closer than I currently am! I will also be living closer to Suz, Alec and only 40 minutes away from Bryn if Google maps is to be believed! Woo!

I will be leaving Simon and the cats behind me. Noooooo!!!!! Simon will be continuing his studies in Computer Game Design and we will be making a decision on future steps once his course is completed (in 2 years, 4 months and counting)

I will be moving in with a Footballers wife. What???! Yep, you heard me.

Hhehehehe.

If you want to know how I'm getting on I would really appreciate a call. I miss you all so much.

Liz
xxxx

Before we got Oliver, our third cat, I was pretty confident that I knew as much as I needed to understand to look after a cat, even a problematic cat.

In my lifetime I have known and helped look after 7 cats (excluding Oliver). Each has its own personality and I've usually had multiple cats at home.

I'm ashamed to admit that I'm struggling with Oliver. He is a very dominant 5 month old male Bengal. I dont mind his demanding shouts or how often he scratches me/ the wallpaper/ Simon (although Simon has admitted to being a bit scared of him in the mornings and gets very cross when Oliver knocks over the red wine on the carpet). No, the thing that keeps me awake at night worrying, is the continued tension between him and one of my established cats Boots who is a meak and mild quiet girl who hides whenever he is near.

Oliver has been with us for a month and although Boots no longer has little panics when he approaches, she is still quite scared and will run away from him, which only excites him to give chase. He currently doesnt seem to be responding to hisses/ fake cat bites and so we will now try water sprays.

I'm determined to train him. I just had a little moment of defeatism last night when he ran over my face as I lay on the setee and after driving a claw into my eye lid my face became quite bloodied. I now have a slight black eye.

It will be fine.

L
x

As increasingly many of my friends are moving away from Facebook, from choice or otherwise (Dan) and I had originally placed all the details of the event within Facebook Events, I should really include them somewhere that most people have access to without any issues.

Here are the details for those wishing to come who are not on Facebook.

I wont be sharing my mobile number or address here for obvious reasons. If anyone wants my address please text me and if you dont have my number please contact Simon or Dan Q or Bryn who definitely do, and are coming.

Everyone is invited.

Saturday, December 31, 2011 at 4:00pm until Sunday, January 1, 2012 at 10:00am.

Films are:

1. Toxic Avenger Directors cut part 1
2. Cannibal! The musical
3. Guest film!!! Chosen by a special guest

I've checked and Domino's Pizza is open to 11.00 that night so we will order from there and I have got a sponge ready!!!

Please can everyone try and bring a pillow and sleeping bag. We have a couple of spares and a couple of mattresses which people can use (2 doubles and a single) which will be on a first come first served basis. Please respond to this message if you want to reserve one!


xxx

I'm eating soup out of a polystrene container. Soup in one hand a coke can in the other. I am living life in the fast lane.

Sometimes it feels like there is not enough time in the day to eat properly and so everything I seem to eat at work comes from packets.

I try and make up for this in the evenings by cooking up a storm. Last night was rump steak (medium) cooked in Corbiere red wine (syrah and grenache), red onion, mushrooms, lemon tyme and yellow pepper served with baby new potatoes. I like cooking alot and i'm already thinking about how mashing up the sweet potatoes from a local farmer I bought over the weekend, to serve with the last of the steak tonight.

I also really like the feeling you get when a room is decorated. Simon and I have been working on and off on the living room since Febuary this year. It is now in it's final stages. We have had a wall plastered, a new archway erected, a new fireplace put in and a window replaced. Simon has fashioned some new sideboards and everything has been painted so we are now papering the walls. After that it is just the carpet to go in. Fingers crossed this will all be completed by the end of next week so that it will all be ready for our new years party!

Hope to see you all there! And if not in person, maybe we will skype you in for a new years hello if you are available.

Love and hugs and see you soon!

x

Yesterday I got married and I had a great time.

After having a leisurely breakfast with Bryn, Matt p and claire N (friend from work) joined us to walk around coventry's bombed out cathedral. Bryn took some photos and then we wandered around looking at the architecture in the cathedral quarter. We had a run through at the venue at 1pm to make sure the flower girl knew what to do and also to make sure dad and I knew what we were doing. Then we went back to the hotel we were all staying at to get ready. Claire and I drank champagne while Bryn and Matt kept us up to date with peoples arrival times. Kellie, the flower girl was getting dressed in my room while dan, Ruth and jta arrived. My mum later arrived with my dress and I was changed just in time for Bryn to come in and have a look.

I walked up the cobbled hill with my dad to the venue to be welcomed by our photographers. They took pictures as we walked the last few steps into the guildhall courtyard. Kellie's shout of 'lizzie's here' warned people of my arrival. Kellie did a great job throwing petals and loved all the attention as well as the dress my mum made for her.

After the ceremony, simon and I walked through a long tunnel of guests throwing confetti.

Last night I dreamed about working while on holiday. In my dream my line manager kept telling to stop working and have fun.
Well I'm not going to do any work today. Despite bryn's threats though, I'm not letting him confiscate my work phone.

I'm getting married at 3pm today. I had a nightmare day yesterday trying to get the very last things sorted; simon's dad crashed his car into the back of ours while we were taking the flowers and cake to the venue and the hotel complained of a power shortage and decided to move loads of my guests to another hotel the other side of the city without notifying anyone. My wonderful dad sorted that by throwing money at the situation, and making sure no-one from the wedding was moved.

I'm hoping today will be a better day.

The plan so far is to do some mat exercise, have a bath and then go for breakfast with my parents. I still haven't seen the finished dress, which my mum fished making yesterday, so I'll try that on (i have a back up dress just in case) with my French bridal cap, then try on my party dress for the evening. I have a hair apt at 12 but I'm not sure I will bother- I'll just have my hair down. I have a run through with the flower girl at 1pm and then I'll be on the champagne and getting ready. I'm planning on walking over to the venue at 2.50pm with my dad and some friends unless it rains. I'm hoping for a fun, and relaxing day.

Xxxx

Hi,

What have I been up to? Well I went on holiday last week. I spent my holiday based in a B&B, in beautiful and sunny Warwickshire. The lady who ran the B&B made us fresh bread each morning and offered us home made jam and marmalade. My wedding diet suffered as a result but I enjoyed every mouthful.

We went to the Stratford fringe festival and caught a one man version of Midsummers Night Dream (1 man, 17 parts, tap dancing, singing and juggling) which was spectacular. As you can imagine, he was pracitsing right up to the point the curtain went up. He must have been so nervous with every member of the audience outside the room waiting to be let in while her rehearsed.

We also saw many of Simons friends and family while we were down in the midlands.

We are now back in Macclesfield and looking forward to our next holiday which will be our honeymoon.

In other news, Simon might be starting a night course in computer games design. I guess I will soon be a computer games widow.

xxx

Hi Everyone!

I went down to Oxford yesterday to do some fieldwork. While I was there I stayed the night at Ruth, Paul, Dan & JTA's (no particular order). It was great to see them but I got a huge telling off for not blogging more so here are some random things that have happened recently.

I have the decorating bug:

After decorating the two bedrooms last year, Simon and I took a break from decorating and now we are up and running again. We started the study in January and after we install the radiator and shutters that room will be complete!! It may however turn into our new livingroom as we have moved everything in there to make room to start decorating the previous holder of that title. We have stripped the wallpaper off in the old living room so far. We hope to make more progress in the coming weeks, however first we need to decide on what we are going to replace the fireplace with.

Matt moves in:

Matt moved in a week ago while he looks for a place of his own. I will leave him to blog about that more, I just wanted to say that so far it is working really well. Matt and simon have alot in common, both having studied International Politics at Aber, and both having worked for the public sector. They even dress the same which has raised a few comments about the 'twins' when we are out.

Farmers Market (Local Produce for Local People):

On the first Sunday in every month The Dophin Inn pub on Black Road in Macclesfield is transformed into a farmers and local traders market. Meats, Cheeses, pies, Local Ales from Knutsford, Marmalades, Chocolates from Wilmslow.

I bought a 21 day hung rump steak bigger than my head for less than £10 there at the weekend. It will easily feed all 3 of us, as long as I can find something big enough to cook it in.

I also bought Chocolate from a man with a waxed moutashe and a top hat who described himself as an artisan. He offered me chocolate tasters made made from beans from all over the world. While tasting he told me about the flavours in the chocolate. There were no added flavourings I hasten to add. I bought 2 bars of Milk chocolate for £7 which have a Morello cherry and vanilla aftertaste (all natural). I'm already planning on getting a couple of bars of 85% made from the most expensive beans in the world. The chocolate has no bitter aftertaste. It is as creamy as the milk chocolate.

If you can find him look out for Origin Chocolates. Apparently he is on facebook but I can't seem to find him.

Kind regards,

Liz
xxx