Clare's back!!!

My ex ex flatmate (what's wrong with me - I can't seem to keep a flatmate!!) Clare, who went traveling around the world for six months (but then fell in love and stopped traveling to live and be in love in Australia) has come back to visit!!!! Yippee horray! And she brought her man with her for all of her friends to vet. As much as I want to say he's rubbish (as he's stolen my friend and kidnapped her a foriegn country), I can see why she's stayed: he's a lovely guy, funny and very good to her. We like him, he passes the test.
Tonight we went on our second double date at a Chinese restaurant near my flat for a scrummy meal!

Get into the swing of it!

Our staff Christmas party was a 60s, 70s or 80s fancy dress theme.

James joined in on the fun!

Kitty, me and Sarah (shame Sarah's platform shoes aren't in this picture - they rocked!)

Elvis (or Paul) made an appearance!

As did Mr T!!! (Or Tyrone)

A quick lunch

Today for lunch I went into Derby and met my friend, Grant, for a lunch. It's been at least 9 months since I last saw him. It was only a quick lunch near his work, but it was still good to catch up with him.

Grant only had an hour for lunch and I had my car booked in (around the corner) to get my car keys reprogrammed (the keys aren't de-imobilising the car anymore - grr!) so we both had to run. As I pulled in to the car garage in Derby I suddenly had a horrible feelin that I'd called a different grarage when I booked the car in ... Turns out I was right. Luckily the garage I booked it into could still fit mr in so I rushed back to Ilkeston (where I stay when I visit the midlands and where I booked my car in). Now I still and wait for my car... And making good use of my time, blog :-)

Happy Thanksgiving

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! As has become a yearly tradition, I came up to the midlands to spend a long weekend with my "adoptive" family. This year everyone gathered at the church building for a traditional turkey feast. Bar the nightmarish journey through London (I despise London traffic!!!) it was a really good day!

PS I was excited to rediscover my missing Thanksgiving shirt. I'm not a huge fan of it (it's a bit over the top design wise and it's far to baggy on me) but it just doesn't seem like Thanksgiving without an appearance from the shirt. I mist have worn it for 14/15 years by now!!

Catch up session

I met up with Hayley this evening for dinner in the city. It's crazy how fast time flies by without realising! It's been 2 months since I last saw Hayley, but I can't say I've had many spare moments in that time. I love Hayley, and our friendship. She always sets me straight, and tells me like it is. Love it! (and hate it - I can't get away with anything!)

I forgot to get my camera out to photograph our evening (rubbish!) but I did notice this sign while I was waiting for my train that made me chuckle! Who associates Burger King with first class food?!

A weekend in Leeds

This past weekend James and I went to Leeds to visit his grandmother. We left early early Saturday morning (5am!) which turned out to be a good thing as any earlier / later we would have been stuck in a pretty horrible traffic jam! We were extremely well fed, a scrummy late Saturday brunch fry up and a beef roast dinner Saturday night (oh my goodness, I think it's the best roast dinner I've had!) and as we were in the north, some good old fish and chips from the local (pictured above). I think I ate my month's worth of calorie intake in those 2 days!
This was the first time I've met James's gran and I must say she is a wonderful character, I had a most enjoyable weekend! Because we stopped by and said a quick hello to the Bullocks in Ilkeston (they were only 15 minutes off route) we ended up in some pretty nasty traffic Sunday night on the way home and got in quite late, but it was good to be able to see them as we were so close!

Good enough for a restaurant?

Tonight's meal (prepared by my own fair hands): chicken breast with garlic, mozzarella, and spinach wrapped in bacon on a bed of wilted spinach and mashed potatoes, topped with pan fried asparagus. Super yummy!! And can I just say that I was also impressed with the presentation!!

Ed fun

Tuesday night I went over to Ed's flat for dinner. Ed and I are really bad about having busy schedules and not meeting up, but every couple months we always manage to find time for some fun and chit chat. Ed cooked a yummy tofu stir fry (he's trying to be more green and become a vegetarian) and we had a good session of chewing the fat. I always have such a 'pick me up' from our meetings! A really good friend he is!

Remember remember the 5th of November

The 5th of November is Guy Fawkes night in England. (As I'm blogging from my phone with my right thumb, you'll have to google Guy Fawkes night if you aren't familiar with it!) It's a night of (well a fortnight really) firework displays and bonfires. I live in an area of London called Crystal Palace which always puts on a large firework display, buy in the 3 years of living here hadn't gone to it! Very poor, I know.
This year James and I decided to walk up to the park and watch them this year. It was pretty good. I'm a big fraidy cat when it comes to fireworks (see previous post on Meghan's leaving meal) but I do like to watch them from a safe distance. I was pleasantly surprised with myself that I didn't "jump" once from the noise, nor did I hide behind James (another of my classic moves!).

PS I have a picture of the 2 of us on bonfire night but it's on my camera and I'm on my iPhone, and I can only post one picture. I'll try to upload later.

Also, this blogging from phone gets painful on the thumb and wrist! Must remember to keep posts short!!!

A couples evening

Last night my ex ex ex flatmate, Lindsay, and her boyfriend, Adam, came over. I didn't realise how long it had been since we had all gotten together - far too long!! (At least 3 months!)

I left work a bit later than I intended (as per my norm), rushed to the grocery store and back home. James was waiting for me and I quickly put him to good use (he's an excellent helper!!). Thankfully Adam & Lindsay were also about 15 minutes late so dinner was done and the flat tidied up by the time they arrived.

Mexican hats (beefy yumminess as Lindsay described the dish) went down a treat and after a bit of chatting we broke out SkipBo (or SkipRope as James refers to it!). Adam and Lindsay had never played before but that didn't stop Adam from beating us all!

It was another fun and enjoyable night!!!

PS This is my first blog from iPhone with picture, from what I can tell the blogwritter doesn't cope with landscape pictures very well. Sorry! It also appears that I'm limited to one picture per post. And there's no spell check that I can see (as I'm a notoriously bad speller and I'm typing all this with my right thumb, this could be bad news!) On the up side, at least I blogged :-)

Bye Bye Meghan!

Meghan Left on Wednesday 4 November. Sad day, sad sad day. Yes I'm happy that I know her and that our lives crossed (I seriously think we're twins separated at birth ... by 9 years, different set of parents and 2 different continents ... but it could happen?!) but I'm super sad that she's not here anymore. It's just home when I go home to my flat now. It's empty and all lonely :-( My next flatmate (when I get one ... anyone need a room in London?) will have BIG shoes to fill!

I kept getting my camera out to take pictures and Meghan kept saying "No, use mine!". Now she's in South Africa with pictures and I don't have them. Grr! Still waiting for her to send them to me!

Meghan's last moments in the flat (yes, I'm in serious need of makeup! I wasn't well that day. Give me some slack!)

Meghan at the car, waving goodbye to our flat

We had a pretty fun trip to the airport. Meghan kept taking pictures (of EVERYTHING) and saying bye to EVERYTHING (bye street, bye shop, by buses, bye shop assistant ....) But we got some great photos and memories of the fun ride to the airport!


It took us 3 red light to take a photo (I was trying to drive through rush hour after all!)

At the airport, Meghan filling out her luggage tags

James had joined us to see Meghan off. We had a coffee before Meghan went through security. And took some more silly photos.

Silly photos were obviously a theme from the evening!

Then there was the obligatory good-bye photos

James with Megs

The group that all came together to send Meghan off: Kirsty, Meghan, Meg's Uncle Mark, James and me

I made Meghan guzzle the rest of her water so she could fill up her water bottle on the other side of security and not have to buy a bottle of water. A trick I picked up a few years ago. Problem was I made her do this while she was bursting for the loo!

Saying good-bye. Man I didn't want to let that girl go!

Meghan going through the security line

James has been an absolute star looking after me since Meghan left. I've been a bit mopey without my flatmate and he's been cheering me up. I miss her. Come back Meghan!

Meghan's Leaving! Sad times!!!

After 10 glorious months of having Meghan as a flatmate, she decided it was time to go back "home" to South Africa. Let me tell you - SHE IS MISSED! I am truly blessed to have her as a friend and to have had her as a flatmate!! SO Many great memories and chats and fun and adventure we shared!!

Tuesday night (3 November) she had a few friends over for a dinner. I say few. It started as 3 or 4 and ended up around 17. Lots of people love her and wanted to wish her well. It speaks volumes for the wonderful person she is!

We had Mexican hats! (A favourite of mine to serve when expecting lots of guests - easy and YUMMY!) Robin & Meghan

Robin, Meghan, back of some one's head - maybe Kirsty?, back of Mary B's head, and Stephanie


Kirsty, Robin, Meghan, Helen, Stephanie, and Xena

Xena, Mary B, Meghan, Mary H, Kirsty, Stephanie and Robin & Magda on the floor

Mary B & Mary H

Late into the evening (when most people had gone), James brought out some sparklers. What a great idea and SO much fun!!!

Helen pretending to be Harry Potter

James & Meghan

One of my favourite pictures of my flatmate and I!

Meghan torturing me with a sparkler - we were in a very small space and I was quite a scardy cat. I'm not too keen on fireworks (of any sort - they're pretty but the scare me) and I was petrified of getting burned. Meghan found this funny and thought she'd torture me. Oh the love.

Robin & Helen with the last 2 sparlers.

I thought it was a great night filled with laughter and fun. I hope it was a good send off for Meghan and a great "last night in England" for her!!

iPhone applications galore

I've had an iPhone since they came out in England, Christmas 2007, but I've never been crazy on the applications. Last week I went from having 6 extra applications (a few games) to having over 26 applications! I REALLY want to be able to upload pictures from my iPhone to my blog. So I downloaded a free version of a blog weitter and I'm giving it a go. I'm blogging from my phone - pretty cool!!!

As you might have noticed, I'm rarely home and when I am, the last thing I want to be doing is staring at a computer screen after a day at work staring at a computer screen! All being well, I'll be able to send short blogs while I'm out an about ... Here's hoping!

Another long absence

So I've had a busy and stressful couple months. Filled with joy and sadness. I'll try to catch up where I can. Lots of pictures to sort through! Sorry for the long gap!

Bringing a boy "home"

I've never really taken a man home to meet the family. I know it sounds odd but it's true.


11 September

James and I headed up to Derby (very much my second home) for the weekend. I'd say we were both pretty nervous - he meeting my "family" and me introducing him to everyone I call family up there.

This is actually taken after Sunday lunch

Friday night I took James to the restaurant in Castle Donnington that I worked at for years. Love that food! Then we headed to John and Patty's for the weekend.

Saturday I had my haircut (as per my typical routine when I go to Derby for the weekend). Like a trooper James waited in reception reading the Saturday papers (he's a big fan of reading the weekend newspapers).

A bit shorter than I'd planned - oops!

Then we met up with Patty & John, Susan, Ashley and their new addition Amilee for lunch. After lunch we headed across town to say hello to Ken. Saturday night we met up with some friends of mine (and former colleagues) for dinner before heading to a performance by a flying bands (very intriguing) int he city centre.

Sunday morning was church and then back to John and Patty's for lunch with Patty & John, Susan, Ashley and Amilee, Ken and John's mum, Joyce before heading back to London.

Think we did a lot, maybe met too many people? In hindsight so do I. I must say that James was a real trooper meeting so many people in different settings in such a short space of time. Hopefully it'll all be a bit easier next time for him now that he's met everyone :-)

Grandma Sprouse

Betty Sprouse 26 April 1934 - 9 August 2009

This summer was filled with ups and downs and lessons to be learned. One lesson that hit me hard was how precious time and family really are and how often we forget it!

My mom's mom was the grandma that every child wants, a true stereo-typical fussing, doubting, accepting, loving grandma that gave you sweeties when your parents said no :-) She was a vibrant character that I had my clashes with but I loved her to bits! She loved me unconditionally, she accepted me for who I was and was proud of me - flaws and all. She was always excited to hear from me and glowed with love and pride when she saw me.

Just before I went to camp this summer, my mom called and said that she's had a fall and wasn't doing well. I called her in the hospital and we had a good chat about this and that and joked that if she wanted more attention from me she needed fall and go into hospital, all she needed to do was call me. That was the last time I got to speak to her. Soon after I went to camp she was put on a ventilator and went rapidly down hill. Oh how I wanted to get to her before she passed. What I'd give to be able to change my summer and go out and visit her.
I was so busy at work. I was so stressed with my life and my problems. I was too busy doing stuff. I know you shouldn't live with what ifs - the past is the past and it can't be changed. But it doesn't change the pain and regret from not having more time with her.
The weekend she passed was hard for me in England being away from my family and trying to get enough work done so that I could make it to California for her memorial service. I do feel fortunate to have gone to California for a few days and spend the time with my family. I learned a lot about Grandma during those few days. I learned that a lot of my childhood memories came from experiences my mom had with her mom that she passed to my sister and I. I learned that a lot of the silly qualities in my mom that I tease her about (but secretly admire) she learned from her mother. I also learned that I'm not the only mischievous lady in my family ... I get it from my grandmother :-)
I'm SO very thankful that I was able to spend last Christmas with my grandma and family. I will cherish those memories forever. I am a very lucky person to have had my grandma in my life! I miss her everyday.

Ben & Jerry's concert

July 26th - Ben & Jerry's Concert

So my boyfriend is superb at not only knowing what's going on in the city, but also at getting tickets to take advantage of what's going on in the city. I've really been spoiled by all he's taken me to and shown me!

After I got back from camp (a yearly event in the summer) he took me to an outdoor Ben and Jerry's concert in Calpham Common (a fairly big park in south London). Music AND ice cream - can't get much better! Basically you go into the event area, queue up for a type of ice cream and while you're eating it get in a queue for a different type of ice cream. We tried 6 types of free ice cream before stopping. (There is a limit to how much a person can eat before inducing vomiting!)

I have to mention that I came back from camp with "suspected" swine flu (I say suspected as they were quarantining everyone with the symptoms and not testing for it). I felt really rough when I got back Saturday afternoon and was barely moving on Sunday. I'm really happy I went, but at the time I was really dragging!

James and I in one of the ice cream queues. (I've been told many times that I look weird in this picture, but I think I look pretty darn good for having piggy flu!)

Enjoying one of my ice creams (I think this was Baked Alaska)

A random Ben & Jerry's cow mascot that was wondering about

One of the flavours was caribean / Jamacian influenced and there was a stell band playing - very fun atmosphere there that day!

After gorging on ice cream we pitched up a picnic and tried to eat some sensible food while enjoying the concert

I couldn't resist taking a picture of the outdoor toilets (porta potty) - too funny!!!

Had a great afternoon ... then spent the next week confined to my room on house arrest till my piggy flu went :-(