Birthday Girls

(image via pinterest)

Cass, welcome to the birthday club. Seems to be ok so far.


It was only this morning that I put two and two together and realised it was Lisa Marie's birthday too. Somehow I'd managed to separate the two in my head.


Happy birthday to you both

Blog Birthday 2

(from pinterest but etsy originally)

I've made it through another year!

My sisters and my "real life" friends have moaned about not having the opportunity to make new friends. How it is hard to meet like minded people and start conversations with them.

Inside I'm screaming at them, start a blog, start a blog. You meet the most amazing people and if you are lucky they become truly wonderful friends.

A day at the Festival

It is August, which means that Edinburgh is a crazy town. The fringe festival is here for the month. There are pros and cons to festival time. The obvious pros being amazing shows in a small space in a short amount of time. The cons being the huge amount of people trying to get between venues, or get you into their venue and filling every restaurant and cafe.

Last Saturday we headed through to Edinburgh. We went to see some great shows and despite getting soaked to the skin we had a really good day.


Live at the Gilded Balloon Podcast
The podcast is an introduction to different comics/shows that are on at the festival. So this was a great way to see a lot. We got to see Hal Sparks, Tom Green, Dave Eastgate, Jason Cook, Kerry Godliman and Michael Winslow. It was interesting listening to the podcast once it was published. They cut out so much good stuff from the live show. Each day the acts are different so it can be a bit of a lottery. 
It was here that I had my celebrity spot of the day. David Bradley otherwise known as Argus Filch from Harry Potter sat behind me for the recording. He has a really loud laugh. (I'm 99% sure it was him however if he was reported to be else where last Saturday I might concede that he has a doppelganger).


Eric's Tales of the Sea - A Submariner's Yarn
This was my least favourite show of the day. Not because it was bad simply because all the other shows were really good. Eric stands on the stage and tells you stories of life beneath the sea. 


Lady Garden
This was a last minute decision. So last minute and given the queue at the box office they actually had to hold the start of the show for us. We went rushing into the venue and the lady at the door told me there were seats at the front or we could sit separately, so I headed for the front. Please note this is a bad idea when seeing any show at the Festival. The show was great, a series of sketches performed by 5 female comedians.


(SPOILER: the final sketch of the show required audience participation. O was pulled from his seat and forced to slow dance with one of the comedians. My husband is a very shy man, he was mortified! He wasn't the only one, 5 men were made to get on stage. I'm convinced he was targeted because he was the best looking man there. They had to go several rows back to find enough men so I'm not convinced he'd have been safe wherever we sat. I do feel bad though, I think he is still traumatised.)


David O'Doherty
This was my favourite show of the day. David O'Doherty is hilarious with his little piano, songs and educational highlights.


Jimeoin
Jimeoin inside the Spiegeltent was our last show of a long and wet day. We have seen Jimeoin on TV several times and thought he was great. His show was good but he had a lot to try and live up to after David O'Doherty. I also don't think he was on top form as he complained about being jet lagged. 
The spiegeltent is a stunning venue - if a little cold.


All in all a brilliant day!


If you're in Edinburgh I'd love to hear what you'd recommend. We're thinking of seeing more.

Random Birthday Thoughts

O spotted and removed 3 grey hairs from my head (that is a photo of them, which you could see much better before I compressed the file. Now it looks like a picture of my hand). Well to be honest he noticed more but I was fed up of having my hair pulled.

I removed the piercing bar from my belly button. It has been there since I was 18. It hasn't been on display for a long, long time. I didn't expect to miss it but I do strangely.

I fully expect that neither of these pieces of information will be of interest to you. Sorry.

Celebrations

(images by me or O)

So as you are aware last Wednesday was the big 30 for me. To celebrate (or commiserate) we had planned a break away. We headed to the Lake District, to the same area where we'd spent our minimoon. However first we went for lunch in Kendal (of mint cake fame), it was a beautiful day so I tested out my new camera (present from O and my parents). O had chosen a place for lunch, I was very impressed by, he doesn't usually plan that far in advance. We walked into the restaurant and I turned towards the bar to ask for a table for two, however O just pointed me into the next room. When I looked up I was staring at my parents. It took me a moment to put two and two together. You know that feeling when you see someone you know but not in the situation you were expecting to see them - yes that. My lovely husband had managed to keep a secret from me and had set up the whole surprise. We had a lovely meal at New Moon, a wander about Kendal and then said goodbye to my parents and headed to our hotel.


We were spending the night at Langdale, after we checked in we headed to the pool for a swim, sauna and to slowly poach in the jacuzzi. We underestimated our time slightly so were a little rushed getting ready for dinner, we then got lost on our way to the restaurant, which was a little stressful. It was sooooooooooooooo worth it though. We went back to the Drunken Duck which is where we had spent our minimoon. The food was delicious as we remembered. 


The next day I'd decided I wanted to tackle a fear of mine head on. On our minimoon we took a row boat out onto Coniston water and I had a panic attack, for absolutely no reason - I was not expecting it and it has irritated me ever since. I was determined that this time I would not have a freak out. So after another swim etc. we headed through the drizzle to Coniston. This time there was no freak out and no tears. There was rain and drizzle and a wet seat but some bursts of sunshine and warmth and a lovely time. 


Our journey home was made all the more lovely with a brief stop at Rebecca's home - we had cake.

My Spare Rantings 2

Dear Hoteliers,


Two beds pushed together does not make a king size bed. It does not make a romantic giant bed. It makes two beds pushed together. It means someone falls down the break or a young recently married couple sleep miles apart*.


Please sort it out.


Thank you


*p.s. and then when they get home to their standard double bed they both try to sleep star fish style and there isn't enough room. 


I think I've ranted about this before - Sorry.

Italy: Luca & Pisa

Our last day in Italy we went to Luca. We went to Luca mainly to get gelato. We wandered around the walls of this beautiful fortified town with friends. I'd really like to visit Luca again - mainly for the gelato.

Then we got the train to Pisa, we marched rather quickly from the train station to the leaning tower. Friends we were with climbed the tower, however we were worried we would run out of time. So we watched them climb as they stopped at different stages to wave at us. There isn't really anything else to see in Pisa so we trekked back to the station, on to the airport and waited for our flight to depart.

That was a very long and dull account of our few days in Italy. It feels like such a long time ago. I hope we will be visiting  Italy again.

You forgot?!

Our first anniversary fell on a Sunday and so I blamed there being no post delivery for the lack of cards. We opened the couple that had arrived the day before and received text messages from some friends and O's family.

There was no a whiff of a message or card from my family.

We went out for the day and I expected to come home to the answerphone full of messages from my family asking what we were doing to celebrate.........nothing.

I came home from work on Monday expecting cards thinking they'd just missed the Saturday post.........nothing (ok a bank statement).

MY FAMILY FORGOT OUR FIRST WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!

I sent a nudge, nudge email to my Mum and got a grovelling response. My nudge, nudge to #2 got a complete blank in response, she had no idea of the significance of the date. (#1 is in Spain on holiday, I'm letting her off)

What do you mean the date of the party of the decade is not etched into your brain forever? What do you mean you don't come over all emotional when that particular date is mentioned?

(Am I the only one that feels strange when people talk about events/meetings that happen to fall on my birthday? Yes, ok then.)

My Mum has asked how they will ever make it up to us. I floated the idea that they take us with them to the Caribbean later this year. Apparently forgetting your daughters first wedding anniversary does not mean you need to pay for her and her husband to tag along on your holiday. We're very disappointed.

Italy: Florence

Our friends had been living outside Florence for months and they didn't fancy seeing the sights yet again. So we explored on our own meeting later in the day to go for dinner. 

We went to the Boboli Gardens

We had lunch in the Bardini gardens overlooking Florence

Of course we went to the Duomo (although not inside)

Our photos could never do justice to how beautiful the Duomo is.

Just a few of the highlights of Florence.

Rawr

Happy Anniversary my Dinosaur

If you want to relive it all check out my recaps

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