Getting away

(from here via here)

We're heading north, we're taking the tent. We're keeping our fingers crossed for the weather and that the midges stay away.

We'll be spending time with family.

See you soon

DG & IB

Congratulations to aDizzyGirl who is marrying her Irish Boy today

(D from here via here, G from here, & from here, I from here via here and B from here via here)

The eyes have it (part 3)

Surgery..................................

It is something that both O and I have considered. At the moment neither of us can afford it. There is also the niggling doubt about risking a surgery that isn't truly necessary. Both of us are reasonably well accommodated through glasses or contact lenses. However on the other hand those contact lenses and glasses are very expensive, it wouldn't take many years of replacement glasses and monthly contact lens payments to recoup the cost of the surgery.

I've never done any proper research however I don't think I would be a suitable candidate at the moment. My eyes continue to get worse and I believe that they need to be stable for a reasonable amount of time before they would perform the procedure. 

I've heard varying reports about laser eye surgery. Gaynor's husband who bravely and very successfully had it done the week or so before their wedding. A colleague at work also recovered incredibly quickly and has never looked back since. However I've also heard some true horror stories which include absolute agony for weeks after the operation to a continued sensitivity to light months and months later.

So I wait and listen for peoples tales of success or failure and wonder whether I'd ever make that step.

part 1 and part 2

Italy: Day 2 Rome, Vatican

We'd planned on going to Castel Sant'Angelo but discovered it was closed on Mondays. There was an exhibition of highlights from the different regions of Italy so we spent some time trying to understand what was going on - all the descriptions were in Italian. Then we headed towards the Vatican and into Piazza San Pietro following the crowds. The queue into St Peter's was already stretched through the herding pens and across the Piazza, but we'd decided before we travelled that we weren't going in there.
I cannot recommend enough pre-booking your tickets to the Vatican museums. We'd booked our slot at 2pm - expecting to have been busy for the morning. All we had was an email so a little nervous we decided to figure out what we needed to do when our timeslot came. As we walked around the walls of the Vatican we quickly came across the other huge queue. Worried that we might need to wait in that queue we kept walking to the front and finally spotted someone who looked like they were in charge. He waved us towards the doors where we noticed a separate entrance. We went through the second door, passed our belongings through security and quickly got our tickets validated. It wasn't long after 12, which had been the first available slot we could have booked. So we thought we would head straight to the Sistine chapel in the hope that it might be a little quiet. HA!
The flow through the Vatican museums on the way to the Sistine chapel seems to be one way. However there were some diversions on the way to see other collections. We went for a couple of these diversions however soon learned that they were big loops that took you almost back to the beginning so you had to go through the same bit again. 
We learned as with lots of places that you have to time things just right. You need to get yourself between two tour groups. This doesn't give you a lot of time to stop, look and take pictures because you'll be caught and then have to wait for that group to pass you (and you'll end up with photos of their flags). We also learned to look instead of taking pictures - we still have a lot of photos. Several photos named Vatican floor 1, Vatican floor 2 etc. Vatican ceiling 1, Vatican ceiling 2 etc. 
We finally crammed our way into the Sistine chapel, which has to be the least peaceful religious building I've ever been in. As many people as possible are crammed in and the guards shout at people to move on and stop taking photos. I appreciate that huge amounts of money and man hours have been spent to revitalise the ceiling and restore it to it's former glory. But personally (just my opinion) I think the ceiling to too bright and new look, it just didn't look historical.
By this time we were starving so found somewhere outside to sit and eat the snacks we had with us. After looking at the various versions of the Pope mobile and seeing some of the other exhibitions we decided we'd had our fill of the Vatican and the crowds.


Images all by me or O

CP & CPOH

Today is a special day for a lovely lady who likes:

Wishing Zoe and CPOH a brilliant, fun and love filled day.

(1, 2, 3 via here, 4 via here) 

Jiggling in all the wrong places

I used to be a regular at a pilates class every Thursday evening. I still go but can no longer say I'm a regular or I'll get all sorts of abuse from my husband. I no longer go every week and it takes more and more moaning and nagging to get me off the sofa and into the car to class.

Last night I went along and for the second time my teacher had brought along new toys for us to try out - Flexi bars.

Apparently Coleen (link to the Sun newspaper so feel free not to click and just trust me on this) is all about the flexi bar!

A flexi bar is as it says a bar that is flexible but weighted at each end. You hold the bar in the middle and lift it whilst doing other pilates moves. The aim is to make the bar move and then to keep it moving. The vibrations through the movement of the bar tone up the muscles.

Vibrations = Jiggling

Jiggling in bits of me I'd rather be under the illusion are firm, pert and unjiggleable. Think I need to do some toning.

This is in no way a sponsored post unless someone wants to become my personal trainer - but I'm told they're not all they're cracked up to be either.

Why does it not surprise me that I've never done a post about exercise before - I'm too energy efficient.

Italy: Rome stereotypes

We'd been in Rome a day and a half and all of my Roman/Italian stereotypical expectations had been met.

• I'd seen nuns driving a van
• A priest on a moped
• A woman slap a man in the face in the middle of the street before they fell into a passionate embrace. (Ok, I might have made up the passionate embrace but the slap happened - they just continued to fight)
• A woman parking a car by battering her car into the surrounding cars. Forward bump, backwards bump, forward bump-scrape, backwards bump-scrape.

(I've never seen so many designer shops)

(photos by me on camera phone - still embracing the "effects")