Sorry for the blog silence over the last week! Nik always finds it funny when I "apologise to the fans" of my blog for not writing enough - he points out that I don't actually have fans (probably true). I can, however, now correct him that I DO have at least one fan as she actually phoned me this morning to complain about the lack of blog posts since last Wednesday! (OK she is my auntie, but still!) ;)
So here I am, back to fill you in on my not so interesting life in the past week and I will spend today finishing off some of my planned blog posts (honeymoon instalments, the 1st of
MY ACTUAL WEDDING REPORT and a few random reviews/recipes I want to write about!) I have also written a couple of things for
Any Other Wedding which will be appearing in Feb and March which I'm super excited about but also a little nervous as they are no-where near as good as the writing they have featured recently about much more interesting and hard hitting life issues. But anyway, I will of course link to them when they appear and hope that my little wedding ramblings are interesting for at least a few of their readers (they must think so or they wouldn't be using them at all I suppose).
I have been avoiding the laptop a little this week so I actually get some other stuff done - it's far too addictive to get clicking on other blogs and end up spending hours drifting in the internet reading amazing articles like
these,
these and
these (what? It's important to have nice nails!) This week I have been reading my blog list on my phone so I don't get tempted to keep clicking on more and more links but this means I am waaaay behind in commenting on articles that have inspired me to want to add my tuppence-worth so I will try and spend today doing that as well!
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| DIY Manicure last night using nail varnish from Secret Santa! |
So, what have I been up to since Wednesday when I
told you all possibly a little too much (I do like to be honest here at TOD) about me? Well, on Thursday I organised some prints for a workshop I attended on Saturday. I have decided to apply for a
PAGB award again after failing to get it last time. It's something which helps me to improve my photography, presentation and printing skills and the workshop is aimed at giving advice on how best to achieve an award by discussing the images and how they could perhaps be made a little better by cropping or slight edits. The last time I entered the adjudication, I attended two workshops and received some great advice on which of my images to use and was talked into trying for the Distinction rather than the Credit as they felt it would be more of a challenge for me. I received the same advice this time and although this means I will most likely fail again, I will learn more than if I just enter the Credit and come home with an award (also not a likelihood in my opinion, but I like a challenge!)
The next adjudication which has spaces available is in November so it will be a while before I can tell you if I am successful or not but it gives me plenty of time to select and work on my prints! I have to enter 15 prints and they are scored by 6 judges.
On Friday I finished my book which you may have noticed form the side-bar I have been reading for WEEKS now. I actually didn't start reading it until after Christmas as I had so much on before and from what I heard I would get sucked in and want to read it all the time (totally true!) so wouldn't get anything done! I am now reading the 2nd book but after my complaint this morning ;) I have put it down to catch up on blogging!
On Saturday night I was also out for
Sarah's 30th birthday!
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| Love the glasses Claire gave her! |
We had a fantastic night, starting off at her house with some bubbly (and last minute nail painting for me) before heading to Jamie's Italian for some cocktails followed by dinner. It was delicious and a really great atmosphere. I will do a separate blog post about the meal as it was very good and I have plenty of pictures!
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| Dinner at Jamie's |
After dinner, we headed round the corner to
The Corinthian for more cocktails (I highly recommend
The Club Cocktail) and some dancing. We somehow managed to get into the VIP area of the bar (one of Sarah's friend's had a VIP card) and I had a great time getting to know some of Sarah's other friends better.
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| VIP area at Corinthian |
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| Dancing |
Sunday was spent recovering.
I had Monday off as we were having a new computer system installed at work so I was good and did boring jobs - Tax Return, euch! I also had an extreme fail when trying to bake
this Nigella recipe for Guinness Gingerbread Cake I found on
The Baby Wife's blog. I always get nervous when using cups rather than weighing (do you fill to the brim or to where it says 1 cup?) I tried and failed miserably - turns out it was the butter! I used the 1 and 1/4 packs as stated (did think it was a bit much but this
is Nigella!) but when I tried again on Tuesday after googling and finding
this recipe in grams I should have used about half that! Oops! Tuesday's attempt was MUCH better although still a little stodgy but it tasted good, just not quite as successful as my
Chocolate Guinness Cake.
Tuesday evening was spent having a yummy Yo! Sushi dinner with Nik followed by The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo at the cinema. I was dying to see the film after finishing the book and really enjoyed it. I wasn't sure how they would deal with certain parts of the book but I think it was handled well, despite making for uncomfortable viewing at points (still not as uncomfortable as reading it - reading a description will always be more graphic for me than seeing it played out by actors). The only issue I had was with the person sat next to me! I have always wondered whether I would go to the cinema alone if no-one wanted or was available to join me to see a film I really want to see but I generally would just wait for the DVD to come out. I do like the drama of the big screen and surround sound but am equally happy to snuggle on the sofa to watch a film - I still get just as drawn in. So I admire the people who care enough to go alone - and it really isn't that big a deal as it's in the dark so you're not as conspicuous as, say, eating in a restaurant alone (something I did for the first time last year and felt quite liberated doing it and not worrying what the other diners thought).
However, I will NOT be sitting next to one of said alone people in the cinema again! Ever! I would have made Nik swap with me had I not worried about being obviously rude (wish I didn't care to be honest). The man sat to my left not only spent the entire film scratching himself ALL OVER but also proceeded to drink 3 cans of beer and eat a sandwich during the film! Really quite distracting and smelly! I was also worried I might catch fleas or scabies or something. I think I will stick to DVDs from now on, or wait longer after a film has been out so the place isn't jam packed!
As for last night, I enjoyed a lovely scented candle lit bath with my next Millennium book, a glass of wine and sweet chilli crisps since Nik was working late so I had some peace and quiet. Bliss.
Right, I better get on with some more writing and planning posts so I don't get any more complaints (Auntie A)! ;)
1 comment:
Yay for being back! I did the GGB over the weekend too - I used 3/4 of a block of butter (and 3/4's of a tin of syrup) and it was really nommy, but I have nothing to compare it too!
I've got an AOW piece coming up in Feb too! Eep! I always worry my writing isn't good enough (especially after this week!) either but the girls assure me it's fine!
xxx
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