A-Z of me

The lovely Diary Of a Lagos Mum and Mum2babyinsomniac have tagged me to take part in The Real Housewife of Suffolk County's A-Z of me meme.
So here goes......

ANORAK…Do you have a sad side?
Yes, I regularly reorganise the CDs A-Z and each case has to have it's CD in it.

BODY…What physical attribute would you most like to change?
I know I shouldn't say this but it would have to be the baby belly. I should embrace how my body has changed but I would love to be able to pick up all sorts of clothes and know that the extra band around my waist will not be an issue.

CELEBRITY…Which one would you most like to date and why? 
It has to be Brandon Flowers for the obvious reasons that he is beautiful and talented and I could live the rock and roll lifestyle!

DEBUT …Tell us about your first ever blog post. What made you start blogging?
My first blog post was rather dull and introduced myself to the world of blogging. I started blogging after linking to some via Twitter and thought it was something I would like to try - so glad I did!

ERROR …What’s been your biggest regret?
After my A-levels I had a year out and worked as an au-pair in Boston, USA. I always planned to go back and work there again and travel round America. Instead after university I did my PGCE and started teaching straight away. I wish I had saved some money and travelled again.

FUNNY – who’s making you laugh? I think Jack Dee is hilarious. I love his grumpy dead pan demeanour. Also it took a while but I also like Al Murray's Pub Landlord.

GRAND…If we gave you one right now what would you spend it on?
It would go towards a really nice cottage holiday for next summer either on the Cornish coast or in the Yorkshire Dales.

HOLIDAY… What’s your favourite destination?
I would have to say New England. It's such a beautiful part of America.

IRRITATE… What’s your most annoying habit?
Having to wash up straight after a meal. It just cannot wait!

JOKER…Whats your favourite joke {the one that makes you laugh everytime you hear it}? The joke that would always make me laugh was about superheros having sex but I cannot remember it. I do like simple jokes though - What did the fish say when it swum into a wall? "Dam"!

KENNEL… Do you have any pets?
No. But I would love to have chickens and my daughter is pushing for a hamster or guinea pigs. We may let her have guinea pigs next year. Possibly. If she behaves herself.

LOVE…Are you single, married, engaged, living with a long term partner?
I am married and have been for just over 7 years. We have been together for 11 years and met in Bath when I was studying for my PGCE - possibly the reason I never went travelling again then!

MEAL… Whats your ultimate starter, main and dessert?
Mmmmmm food! I love seafood so a great starter would be deep fried calamari. My main would be king prawns and octopus linguine in a garlic, cream and wine sauce. Then dessert? Mmm, I love the classic sticky toffee pudding!

NOW…If you could be anywhere right now where would you be and who with?
Right now I would like to be on the North Norfolk Coast, maybe Holkham or Wells beach, having had fish and chips out of the bag for lunch. My little family would be with me and we would all be having the best day!

OFF DUTY…What do you do in your spare time?
I would like to say knit, sew, run and read but I have not got back into them all yet so the reality is....blog, veg out on the sofa and watch mind numbing television! That's really bad actually.

PROUD MOMENTS …What are you most proud of?
A bit obvious but my children. I am proud of E as although she is so very shy she gets on with school and is starting to come out of her shell and be more positive about new things like learning to swim and starting Rainbows. I am proud of A's confidence and ability to chat to anyone and make people smile! My children are chalk and cheese but they make me so proud! 

QUEASY …What turns your stomach?
Offal. I love meat but I draw the line at the extra bits like liver, heart, tongue - bleurggh.

RELAX…How do you relax? 
Feet up with a cold pear cider and watch a chick flick.

SONG…Whats your favourite song of all time?
I like so many different types of music and it always depends on my mood as to what is my favourite song! However I absolutely love The Killers' For Reasons Unknown especially the live version when Brandon talks about the beautiful English girls - he's talking to me by the way!

TIME …If you could go back in time and relive it again, when would you choose?
The early days of my eldest when I got too stressed about unnecessary things and didn't realise at the time how simpler things could be. I blame the fact that somebody gave me Gina Ford's bloody stupid book and I got in a panic about things.

UNKNOWN…Tell us something about yourself that no one else knows? 
Everyone I know knows something different about me and if I could think about anything else then everybody would know!

VOCAL…. Who is your favourite artist?
Brandon Flowers / The Killers

WORK….. What is your dream job, and are you doing it now?
My dream job would be running a trendy bakery & coffee shop with branches in the big cities and on the coast. No I am obviously not doing that!!

XRAY…Any broken bones?
No, have only been in hospital to have babies.

YIKES…What’s been your most embarrassing moment? 
You know it sounds really dull but I haven't had any big embarrassing moments. I remember parking up once when I lived in Bath and getting the gears wrong and shooting into the parked car in front, no-one was around and no damage was done so I just ran into my house quickly!

ZOO…. If you were an animal, which one would you be?
I would be a hippopotamus so I could have saggy layers of skin and not be bothered about it!

I am now going to tag (you can get a blank template from here) -
@crankymonkeys
@chelleway
@thelovebump
@madamding
@writerdove

35 - Is it time for a midlife crisis yet?

Yesterday I turned 35.

I wasn't that impressed at turning 35 as I feel I have fully hit midlife.

I took a photo of myself with my camera phone - so not the most flattering photographic equipment - and there are extra lines and even more tired looking eyes. But I was hungover. No grey hairs though as I had poured a box of L'oreal over my head on Friday night.

The good thing about my birthday was it fell on the weekend so I had the excuse of two days to 'celebrate'.

On Saturday I had my first girly day out in Bath shopping and having lunch for nearly two years!!! (that's no. 54 crossed off my Day Zero Project list)

I spent my husband's money on some new clothes and bits and bobs.

 

 Fat Face & French Connection

J Jasper Conran @ Debenhams

 

George, M&S & New Look

 (I was clearly running out of money towards the end!)

Saturday night I went into the party town (?) of Melksham for a few pear ciders and a curry with my Melksham mummy friends (well two of them have gone posh on me and moved to Winsley and Cirencester but they courageously came back for my birthday). I forgot my camera so no piccies but we went to the scrummy Refa Tandoori - if you are ever in Melksham and in need of a curry that's the place to go, and it's bring your own too - always a bonus! (Girl's night out that's no. 55 crossed off my Day Zero Project list)

So Sunday was the official day of turning 35.

"E" crept into our bed at 6.30 but instead of asking for the television to go on she whispered, yes whispered, to her daddy, "Can I go in my room and draw some pictures?" Fantastic! Some extra peace in bed - for 20 minutes - until "A" came stamping through. Then it was, "Can we give mummy her cards and presents now?"

I had asked for a sewing machine so no big surprise when I opened my big pressie to find.....

.....a sewing machine! (No. 9 crossed off on my Day Zero Project list!)
The colour was a surprise though, shocking hot pink as they had sold out of the calm pale turquoise that would have matched my dining room better!

I also got a selection of fat quarters, a yummy baking book and a diary from "E" and "A" to keep track of my their hectic social life.

I think the husband was trying to fatten me up even more as I had the most delicious cooked breakfast:

I was taken out for lunch at The Tramshed, in Bath - again! - (Haddock, Frites and mushy minted peas - basically fish and chips with some weird green concoction that was supposedly peas but tarted up to sound better on the menu!).

Then for dinner he cooked Roast Beef with all the trimmings!

I am so glad he didn't make me a cake now as I would have exploded.

So Monday today and back to normality. No more weekends that are 100% mine for a while. Is it time for a midlife crisis yet? Well after all the food I am too stuffed to fit into a sports car and zoom off into the sunset so I think I'll stay here for now and maybe consider the crisis when I hit the big four-o!

Silent Sunday

The Gallery - Shoes

Over at The Gallery Tara has asked us to think about shoes. Now my shoe cupboard is just organised chaos and unfortunately does not possess a pair of gorgeous, spanking designer shoes that I would love to exhibit in this week's Gallery.

So I thought about the memories that some shoes hold for me.

My Wedding Shoes

Not designer but I love them for obvious reasons.

 

My daughter's first shoes

 

My son's first shoes

A bum shuffler, so proper shoes were not needed at first. He had these so he could shuffle around the garden without getting his socks filthy!

What shoes would you put in The Gallery?