wagwaan?

Christmas Eve

"T'was the night before Christmas..." - you all know the rest!  I'm just listening to Christmas music (Mariah Carey if you're interested) while I get the wrapping done. I had completely forgotten I hadn't done any of it, until earlier today. Silly me. 

Yesterday was so blustery and stormy and I got so completely soaking wet on the way back from the Christmas Community Coffee Morning (40 minutes waiting for a bus, no bus shelter, so much wind and R A I N) I had hoped I didn't need to go out today. Unfortunately, I realised this morning the poor cat was running low on both cat litter and food, so I dragged myself out again. Luckily, it was beautifully bright and sunny, although still cold, so it was much less of a chore.  I think I've got everything now. Well, if I haven't, it's too bad!

Earlier this evening we listened to the traditional Carols from Kings, I put my feet up under the blanket, and the house looked like this:

Every year we make snowflakes out of white paper - different sizes, every one different of course. I love sticking them to the window with Spray Mount (removable). 

Now I'm just waiting for Midnight Mass on TV. I don't have the energy to go to our church, but I think this will be a good alternative.

Well, from our home to yours, Merry Christmas!

1st Sunday of Advent

I can't quite believe it's nearly Christmas. I'm sure I'm not the only blogger going "where HAS the time gone?" but I didn't promise you originality now, did I? 

Life has so many twists and turns. I was feeling pretty rough back in June when I saw the rheumatologist and it was quite a tough few months after that. Luckily, I have been much better lately. I've been working on "Number One" as they say, and what with Tai Chi and other things I'm doing, I'm feeling more like me again. I have to say, I am truly blessed with the people and love I'm surrounded by. We've been back in the UK 15 years, and all of that time in the same area, even though we've moved a couple of times. When I walk around the hospital where I work, or around town, it's lovely to bump into people I know and have a quick chat. This is the longest stretch of time I've ever stayed in one place. Amazing, I know!

The photoshoots are going well, lots of lovely babies to ooh and ah over (and then hand back to their parents). Saving up for a new camera too, although at the moment I can only dream of a 5D... I can't quite believe it's a year since I took the newborn pictures of this little guy

I took the first birthday party pictures of him last week - he's still as gorgeous, with huuuuge blue eyes and nearly-there blond hair. As far as I can tell, he's always smiling too. 

So Christmas is in the air. I do like whipping out my iPhone and snapping away when I'm out and about, and although I don't spend much, I enjoy window shopping, checking out the ornaments and twinkle lights, which make everything so pretty:

(John Lewis)

(Liberty of London)

Talking of Liberty's, when I was there they were apparently filming. The show starts tomorrow, so keep a look out, you never know... you might see a middle-aged lady in a green coat looking hot and bothered. Yes, that would be me. Haha we shall see!

As for our cosy little home sweet home, Claire was really keen to get the decorations up early, and I admit I was feeling the urge too - so we got out the boxes of decorations and set the tree up. I decided to make a table display of some of the Santas we seem to have acquired, and took a quick snap

 

You can't see them all, but there are all sorts, including two different Pez dispensers, arranged around the middle Santa who was purchased recently from a Next discount shop, and whose reeds soak up and release the Christmassy perfume from the bottle below.  Last night, as I turned round at the bottom of the stairs, I realised I'd left the lights on...

It just looked so pretty and twinkly - I do love our home ;)

Perfection

I promised I'd take a pic of the flowers... so here it is. First off, a broad view, with sunflare, of the flowers and some of the cards I got.

For the record, I would like to apologise to anyone who hasn't had a proper (i.e. not virtual) birthday card from me recently. I used to be so good at planning and sending them, but Facebook and email have kind of put paid to that. However, receiving this lot has felt just fantastic and I really want to reciprocate. There: another resolution for 2013. 

This morning I took a close-up because they are just such perfect blooms, I wanted to share.

Aren't they gorgeous? Claire obviously picked the right florist. It just so happens, today's photo prompt was "perfect", so I Instagrammed the rose....

...which led to a flurry of "likes" on my account :)  And that's just with the iPhone. Maybe I should have pulled out the D-SLR?

Anyway, today is a lazy, stay-at-home today in preparation for tomorrow's little outing. More of which anon.  Happy Saturday!

The downside

Ok, so I've paid for the excitement of the past week by being rather unwell. It hasn't happened for a while, but every so often I get cocky and think I've got the tiredness licked, only for it to come back and hit me big time. I had to cancel last night's outing with my girlfriends to go to a long-awaited carol concert because I was desperate for my bed by about early evening. On top of that I had a bad tum. I slept for hours and still felt like I'd been hit by a truck this morning so I stayed in bed. Didn't get up till gone lunchtime. I hate when that happens. I feel like I've taken a step backwards, even though I know I'm a million times better than a year ago.

Claire declared it was time to watch White Christmas this afternoon, so we snuggled under blankets with the tree lights on and had a lovely time. I took this from my armchair...

 

Before I close, here's a picture I took yesterday, before I got sick. I had received the score for Carol of the Bells and needed to work out my Alto part. I have no instruments here but suddenly remembered the iMac comes with Garage Band. Oh wow! All I had to do was open it, select "piano" and try out the notes. And voilà. I even recorded it so I could have it to listen back. Brilliant invention!  In the end I didn't get to sing it today but I'm sure it will remain part of the repertoire.

 

Fantastic! And now for bed....

Cold!

Not that I'm complaining, because I love winter, but it really is freezing out there. Nice and seasonal, dontcha think?  I thought I'd upload a couple of pictures so you can see it really is beginning to look rather a lot like Christmas round these parts.

A view of our living room, from the hall

Much as I've always preferred having a real tree, we gave in to a fake tree years ago, mainly because the cats used to attack it and I hated having needles all over the house.  We do like to put Christmas music on as we are decorating the tree, although this year we watched The Santa Clause as we were doing it. A real classic in our house. 

I like this one of our front door. I left the milk bottle there on purpose to make it quintessentially British :)

Talking of all things festive, I definitely plan on going to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park soon - maybe at the weekend. I don't really want to go with all the crowds, but I'm not sure when I'll get another chance before Christmas. I hope if I go when it starts to get dark but not too late, then it won't be so bad.

So, what else is new around here? I'm enjoying work, although I'm glad I'm still only part-time because I still get rather exhausted when I do too much. I've got quite an active social life these days, which has to be a good thing. I volunteer and I go to crafting mornings with a bunch of ladies. I'm also meeting new guys and going out for dinner and stuff. I don't know if any of them will be the man of my dreams, but in the meantime I'm enjoying myself. I'm not a  young innocent and I know how to take care of myself - I don't know why my friends worry about me, but I'll take it as a compliment. They obviously care!

So that's enough for tonight. Time to go and snuggle up under the duvet. And maybe listen to the latest episode of The Archers... 

Saturday

No thoughts of a lie in today. I had to be up and at 'em, ready for a taxi at 7.45am to go to the hospital for the medical student exams. My lovely Dr C, although officially "retired", still runs the final exams for the students from St George's University (Grenada) twice a year. I'm usually a patient on the "history taking" station, which means the students have to come in and pretend they've been asked to see me by my GP, and then take what's called a "focused history". Basically they have to get me to tell them what's wrong with me and they have to make sure they ask the right questions so they work out my diagnosis and what treatment I'm going to get. Today I was a lady who has all the symptoms of diabetes, plus an added complication. The person I'm playing is based on me so it's not all pretend, but then Dr C gives me certain symptoms that I have to pretend to have. It's quite fun actually, and although the first time was nerve-wracking, many moons ago, it's just routine now.  We have refreshments and lunch, and now I live further away I get a taxi sent for me, so it's not too hard!  I think most of the students I saw today were pretty good. Some of them were desperately nervous, and one, an American, was really cocky and had a bit of an attitude. 

After the exams I met up with Claire for coffee and a spot of shopping, and although we had planned to decorate the tree tonight, we were a bit too tired so we'll do it tomorrow. After another photoshoot (yay! babies!) and before my "date", which had been brought forward to tonight but has been put back to tomorrow again. The vagaries of the dating game.

Another "corner of my home"... from the bargain bin at Dunelm Mill :) 

Busy!

I had the privilege yesterday of taking more newborn photos, and I should be taking more next week - there seems to be quite a baby boom locally! This means I have updated my website, www.jenrigg.com, and I have had lots more compliments. This baby was an absolute treasure and I fell a little bit in love. I probably say that every time, but I don't care. I just LOVE this job :)

Somehow, it's December tomorrow. I am not sure where the year has gone, really I'm not. It's quite scary isn't it how time flies the older you get? I have bought a few presents so far, and I was mighty peeved to get home tonight to find a card saying I'd missed the postman.  What with a few recent ups and downs in our lives, I haven't been concentrating on Christmas at all but now that time is really upon us I have had to get in the mood. Tomorrow we shall be putting the tree up, hopefully, because Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent and Claire is getting impatient (I say hopefully because I'm a surrogate patient for the med student final exams so I'll be out all day and might not be in the mood when I get home).  And to think I used to only put the tree up on Christmas Eve!

Earlier in the week my dear friend Stephie helped me go and collect a second-hand sofa from a colleague. It is a very good make but covered in a rather dreary loose cover, so we've lost that to reveal the cream coloured base, and we've chucked a red throw over it. It makes the house look more of a home...

Oh, and while we were out we stopped at Dunelm Mill, which is a haven for all things homely, and at good prices too. I treated myself to a new duvet cover, inspired by Pip Studio but for a fraction of the price. A real bargain.

 I thought I'd leave you with a profound thought - just in case you thought I was getting a bit too carried away with Christmas (haha!). I found this on Facebook and it really spoke to me. It's so true, from that famous philosopher Bob Marley...  You know how people always say "ooh you're so brave" when something momentous and difficult happens in your life?  I've always thought "I'm not brave, it's just the only thing to do". Seems I'm not alone :)

 

Where do I begin?

Well, it's Friday night and I actually have a minute to sit and update this here blog.  Things have been seriously busy these past few weeks as Claire and I have moved into our own little maisonette in a fancy part of town. The run up to the move was really tough as workmen had started doing up the house and there was dust EVERYwhere. Packing was horrendous. I really thought I didn't have that much cr*p as I dejunk quite regularly, but oh no, stuff was coming out of the woodwork.  I always prefer to pack myself, however tiring, because then I can work out what I really want to keep, what I want to chuck, what needs to go to the charity shop etc. And I can make sure that things get grouped together in boxes for each room. However, this time I was getting seriously stressed and kept saying that I never wanted to move house EVER AGAIN, EVER!

I didn't take any pictures of the process as it was too harrowing, but Claire did...

Anyway, the day of the move dawned, and workmen starting ripping out front and back doors and putting new ones in. The timing was a bit off because they were supposed to have finished before the removal men arrived.... In the end, the front door was just about in place in time. Yikes.

We are truly blessed to have wonderful friends (and family of course) and dear sweet S came to pick me up to go to the new place to let the removal men in. She then took me back to get Claire and the freaked out cat so we could bring him to our new home. I had made sure I packed the kettle and things for a cup of tea on arrival, but she very generously brought this amazing lemon drizzle cake too so we had that before she left us to it. And most grateful we were too!

Next day, more wonderful friends came to take us back to the old house to collect rubbish to take to the dump, and have more cups of tea. They also gave us their old microwave and new toaster as a housewarming gift. The aforementioned kettle was a gift from another friend... My sisters also came up trumps and their help was invaluable in securing the flat in the first place.  I hope I haven't forgotten anyone, because I am so deeply indebted to everyone who helped. I don't know what I have done to deserve such amazing friends.

Two days after the move, and still aching from the packing/unpacking, I started a new part-time job as Office Manager for an external quality assessment scheme at the hospital.  Labs have to be accredited and we are part of that process - it's too long and complicated to go into and you'll fall asleep if I try!  I am job sharing with a very lovely young girl, and the other people in the office all seem very pleasant too. The difficult part is accepting my limitations since the aneurysm. I am to all intents and purposes completely "back to normal", but this is a new normal. I don't have the capacity I used to have and my brain really did feel overloaded on Tuesday. I still have some memory issues and the face recognition thing really hasn't got much better at all, in that I recognise familiar faces but I am finding it pretty much impossible to remember the faces of people I have just met.  Luckily, I am more adept at recognising when I am getting tired and I take steps to limit my activity. I also recover quicker, thank goodness - no more ending up in bed for days at a time (fingers crossed!!).  I am mostly just very grateful that I'm still here, so not depressed by these changes, although I have the odd "moment".

Anyway, it's all positive and I'm just looking forward to the new adventure. I have been taking some phone pics for my "Project Life" so I thought I'd share a few.

Our new street and the road our street leads off:

 
As you can see, we had beautiful spring weather yesterday...

The cat has been out a couple of times, but mostly he's just happy to curl up indoors.
This is him wondering whether to brave it or stay in:

Flowers that got to our new place before we did! Thank you Mummy and Steph - 

Tried to make the living room feel homely the first day, with plants and photos:

The first morning I opened my window to listen to the birds singing madly
in the trees that we are surrounded by.
Such a difference from the old place!

Well, I'm going to try really hard to come and update more often. Have a lovely weekend!

 

Creature comforts

It arrived! Yesterday my Ikea armchair was delivered and it's wonderful. How excited am I to own some real grown up furniture? Sad really isn't it?!  It got me thinking, because actually, nearly all my furniture is second hand. Either it's been given to me or I got it from a charity shop at a bargain price, and although I really love that it's "pre-loved", it was time to buy something new. 

Recently, I had received a little bit of extra money and I could no longer stand the tatty old sofa whose cushions sank as soon as you sat on it. I hankered after a nice, clean, white sofa, but when I measured the one I wanted there was no way it would fit. Instead, I turned my attentions to the lovely curvy lines of the Ektorp armchair, and though I was tempted by the name Ektorp Jenny Lund for obvious reasons, I went with the ordinary Ektorp because it is wider and has a back cushion. Love at first sight.  

It arrived in the afternoon, in a flat pack box of all things (and there I was, wondering whether it would fit through the door because I hadn't measured because hey that's way too rational a thing to do when you are in love, right?). I waited until Claire got home from work and after watching our favourite new show, New Girl, we set to with the instructions and nuts and bolts and lo! there was a gleaming white armchair in my front room.  Claire eyed me jealously as I sank into it, with my feet up on the fuchsia pink John Lewis pouffe, my back supported by the very gorgeous Alvine flora cushion. Aah. Bliss. The cat thought so too.

(cue very bad iPhone pic to give you an idea...)

You know what? I am going to be out at a Trustees' AwayDay all day today and Claire reckons she is going to spend the day lounging in MY armchair. Kids. Huh.  :)

Here I am!

Why, hello!  Yes, it's me :)  I know I said this blog would get more interesting, but give me a break - life has a way of throwing you curve balls and I have had a huge one thrown my way. No matter, though: I am still here, and still on track to have an amazing 2012.  

First of all, I can't wait to get started with Project Life. I've been in love with this product since I first saw it, probably on Ali Edwards' blog, but it's been impossible to get here. I nearly ordered some through friends in the States but decided to wait a bit longer. Well now it's nearly here, according to the people in the know. Just in time for my birthday next month, I think, so it's going to be my birthday present to myself. And while I wait, I have downloaded some cards by Cathy Zielske and other clever designers, just so I can get started. Watch this space!

I have also been meaning to upload the Christmassy pictures and without further ado here is the one of Claire and the fève she got in our galette des rois. 

So cute!  The packs this year had those little Japanese dolls in them. Claire obviously wasn't feeling up to having her portrait done at that point, so we compromised a little....

Ok, working backwards (because that was on 12th Night), here is a picture of our mantle during the Christmas season. You might remember the NOEL tealight holders from my previous blog header. I have left the picture as it was SOOC because the colour makes it feel warm and cozy:

Over on the right, there, in front of the little Christmas tree, is a children's nativity set that I bought in Tiger. Love it! And the traditional paperchains from East of India are very cute too. 

I also realise I never took any pictures of my presents this year - except this one, that is. Claire bought it for me. Isn't it lovely?  And it goes just as well with the red colour scheme as it does with the pink. Very clever.

I have to be careful with this one, because Lyle thinks it's great fun to attack the buttons when he sees them.

And last but by no means least, this is what our front room looks like in the season. You probably know that we live in a Victorian terrace, and this type of house is usually long and thin... I took this from the dining room looking towards the front. Shame the blinds weren't down properly so you can see the garage's "MOT" sign opposite!  I love our little house. We might not have got around to decorating it, but it's cozy and warm and lovely, especially with twinkly lights and candles.

 That's it for today folks. I will try and get the blog updated more often, I really will. Cheerio for now!