A wee painting project

It has been raining and miserable today so I set Nik the challenge of sorting out his desk so we can build the new one tomorrow!!  We eventually chose a different one to those I posted before - Nik found us one in Ikea that we both love.  The best thing is, you can design your own from the range so if you want more drawers or 2 cupboards or just legs, you can!  We have chosen to have one set of drawers and one cupboard at each end...

So while he was sorting out his paperwork, I worked on the following little project with some old drawers and our grey testers!  Of which we ended up with 9!!!  Turns out that a lot of the pale greys we like were quite blueish in our back room.  It only has a corner window so we have looked at them in daylight and at night with the lights on so we get a proper idea of what it might look like.

It is between the middle one in the bottom row and the one to the left of it.

Nik's messy desk and the remaining vases & bits for sale

We're doing well with the de-cluttering and have already made a huge difference as you can see, we're slowly getting there...

So I carried on with my wee project using up some of the tester pots in the living room...

Old box drawers from Ikea - previously painted back in 2000 to go with my lilac bedroom
I did have a brown painted set from 2006 as well and have just re-done 2 for now.

2 contrasting tester pots.  The colours look a lot lighter in the living room.

Painted

Done :)

We're really pleased with the result - a new lease of life.

I might do the 3rd set in a darker shade.

Emotional Day

It's been an emotional day!

Nik called me his sunshine.  He usually has all kinds of completely random names for me (spider, biscuit, pinkletap!!) but this one truly made me smile.  I know, sick buckets everyone :P


I received an email back from a friend I thought I had scared off with one of my crazy, excitable, too long emails!  Relief!  (Sometimes I do get a bit carried away, it's always nice to be reassured that it's OK to be that excited and that I'm not mental, although she may have just been being polite!)

I cried a few times finishing this...

Excellent book, highly recommended

Laughed and cried watching this...

A day in the death of Joe Egg

Excellent play, also highly recommended!

And feel very excited about this decision...

Bone Marrow Donation

I'm no good at proper reviews, I'm not a proper writer, I just write what I think, but I know what I like and I particularly like books/films/plays that grab me and suck me right in so that I react in some way, especially stories that make me cry (for some reason).  I can tell the difference between bad acting and good acting, I'm just not good at writing about it.  I know it affects the story for me but if the story's good enough it won't ruin it entirely for me, although obviously I prefer it to be well acted.  (Nik and I'm sure many others would not agree with me, I think I'm just overly emotional and if the story gets me, that's it.)

I really enjoyed tonight's play, I wasn't expecting to, we just loved Miriam Marguiles ever since seeing her on Graham Norton (look it up on YouTube, she is SO funny!!) and Nik noticed she was in a play in Glasgow so we booked tickets.  I actually booked them and went along tonight having no idea what the play was about, I didn't read the website, just chose seats and paid.  Nik said it was a black comedy and reviews said it was actually quite depressing but good.  I would agree and am glad we went.  It's been SO long since I have been to the theatre.  I don't think I've EVER been with Nik before.  There's something about watching a story unfold from just a few feet away, I really want to try and go more often.

Regarding the Marrow decision, it's something I have been thinking about for a while, since Nik was involved in the charity as a student.  He helped out a lot with recruitment days, making signs for fundraisers, giving his time and counselling people.  So far, all I have done to help is make some cupcakes for one such fundraiser.  I discussed it with Nik, he's told me all about how it works but I've never quite gone that extra step and signed up.  The charity has set up the world's first stem cell donor register to save the lives of people with blood cancer.  Please see here for more details, but basically you can register as a potential bone marrow donor which could save someone's life.

As I said, I have previously thought about this, but the decision cannot be taken lightly.  It is a life long commitment to be on the register and you could be called on at any time in your life if you are a match for someone.  It also costs them over £100 to add you to the list so you need to be serious about it and ready to make that commitment.  Not only that but once you reach the critical stage if you are a match, the recipient will have had their immune system wiped out ready to receive the transplant so are extremely vulnerable, there's no backing out at the last minute, you need to be 100% sure you are willing to donate.  It's a very simple thing to do once you are sure, simply fill in a form,  provide a saliva sample through the post and that's it.  If you are a match, it is a little more complicated than just giving blood - all explained very well in this video...

So it may make you feel a bit rough, you might have to have a general anaesthetic, you need to give up a few days and have a few needles stuck in you, BUT you could potentially be saving someones LIFE!  I was finally given the extra motivation I needed to not be selfish and go ahead and make that commitment while reading the book above.  Leukaemia is not something I have personal or even second hand experience of.  What I do know of it is mostly from books, The Midwife's Confession and My Sister's Keeper, or TV or what Nik has told me.  I have decided donating my marrow is something I am willing and able to do and would mean so much more than a few cupcakes.  Plus from a purely selfish point of view, it would make me feel so good to be able to do this for someone AND it could be another tick on my life list - save someone's life.  How amazing would that be!? (Just to be clear - the saving of a life, not the tick - I'm not THAT selfish!)


Is anyone else on the register already or thinking of registering, or is this the first you've heard of it and now considering??

Off to bed now, if I can wind down from all that!  Glad I'm off tomorrow and feeling better so I can tackle the study with renewed vigour!

SAS Style Abseil

Another of my life list ticks, I abseiled off the Forth Rail Bridge for Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland in 2005.

We survived!

Honeymoon Pt 4 - Zanzibar, Ras Nungwi Part 1

Our next hotel was Ras Nungwi in the North of the island where we received a lovely bottle of chilled sparkling wine on arrival!  We planned to do 6 days of diving over our 8 day stay here and after drinking our fizz and having lunch overlooking the pool we went to check in at the dive center.

We ended up doing only 3 days of diving, the reasons for which I will explain...

Our first full day at the resort we booked to go on a diving trip to Tumbatu Island.  We had been told at the dive center that this was a great place to dive but required an early morning car trip to the other side of the island first to catch the boat from there.  We met the car at 8am and made our way to the other side only to have to hang about for half an hour before getting on the boat.  When we finally got on the boat it had started to rain and the sea was getting a lot more choppy.  We initially set off in the opposite direction to the dive sites, which we had been told were 1 hour away by boat, to collect more divers from another resort further up the coast.  We then made our way back towards Tumbatu in the pouring rain and very choppy conditions.  We were freezing cold and I was already feeling sea sick despite taking sea-sickness pills that morning.

It was a tad rainy and a wee bit rough out there!

Not enjoying our dive trip AT ALL!

Needless to say, we weren't enjoying ourselves!  When we arrived and started the dive we felt much better and warmer under the sea and I saw my first Leaf Scorpionfish but other than that it wasn't a particularly amazing dive.  Visibility was poor due to the weather conditions and we didn't see a huge amount of sea life.  The end of the dive did provide me with a great photo opportunity though as we found a Moray Eel having his teeth cleaned by a cleaner shrimp!  Between the 1st and 2nd dives we thought we would be given the lunch we had been told was included but we were given just a slice of watermelon.  As we were now tethered and the surge was still bad, I was feeling REALLY sick so I decided to go back into the water and just hang onto the rope attached to the boat to try and combat my sea sickness.  Unfortunately I made this move too late and ended up feeding the fish anyway!!

Moray Eel scale & polish!

Post-dive, at least the rain had stopped!

Our 2nd dive was a bit better than the first as we saw a bit more and then we made our way back to the main island, not before going past our beach to drop off the others again.  We finally made it back onto dry land expecting our transport back to our hotel which we again had to wait a while for.  We eventually made it back to Ras Nungwi at 4pm having had nothing to eat since 7am!  (Admittedly I wouldn't have kept it down anyway, but still...)  We both admitted that neither of us thought the diving was worth the boat trip out there and realised we'd been rather spoiled on our previous diving trips having had jettys to get onto the boats and dry areas to get out of the wind and rain while on the boat.  We immediately went to order lunch, before the bar closed to get ready for dinner, as we were both starving by now and decided we would take the next day off diving and just chill on the beach instead!

Yummy fruit for breakfast - I should point out this was pud after a lovely omelette, I'm not really that healthy!  ;)

LOVE hammocks!

My sexy hubby!

Complimentary fruit brought round the pool and beach areas at 11, yum!

We went along to a welcome meeting at the dive centre the next night and discussed doing some more local dives with the dive centre manager who said we could go out to some of the sites just 10 minutes away with him so we booked for the following day.

Ultimate List

I just noticed that the last bit of my list and my recent update was missing from my Life List Page.  I have no idea why this happened as I know it published correctly and I have managed to save it by finding a cached version via Google, (PHEW!!) I hadn't saved my recent updated list anywhere else as I thought it was safe so the whole post is now saved in a Word document and I decided to publish it as a normal post as well so here it is - in case you missed it before anyway!  ;)


So here it is, my list.  I have updated it and plan to keep doing so (although not in alphabetical order!)  (Green ones I had already done, red ones are ones I have done since I last updated it in 2005.) 

My Ultimate List...

Places...

q  Travel in Australia – by myself  

q  Visit Egypt – see the pyramids  

q  Visit Rio de Janeiro – see the carnival

q  Live in Australia

q  Go to Italy

q  See Niagra Falls

q  Visit the Cook Islands

q  Visit Malaysia

q  Go to Disney World, Florida

q  Go to California

q  Go to Germany and use the language I learned in school 

q  Go to Thailand

q  See the Grand Canyon

q  See Antelope Canyon, Arizona

q  Go to Vegas

q  Go on Safari in Africa 

q  Go shopping in New York

q  Go to San Francisco

q  Go to the Caribbean   

q  Go to a Greek Island   

q  Go to the Middle East  

q  Visit France   

q  Go to Spain   

q  Go to Canada  

q  Stay in Hollywood  

q  Shop in LA   

q  Walk along the Great Wall of China

q  Go to Japan

q  Go to Russia

q  Climb the Eiffel Tower  

q  Visit London

q  Travel cross country on a sleeper train (choose country)

q  Swim (or float) in the Dead Sea

q  Visit the Louvre

q  Visit all the continents (Europe, Americas, Australia, Africa, Asia, Antarctica.... )

q  Visit the Taj Mahal at sunrise/sunset

q  Go to Iceland

q  Go horse-riding in Ireland 

q  Go horse-riding in Argentina

q  Go to Vancouver

q  Go to Croatia

q  Go for a long weekend to Prague

q  Go to South Africa

q  Go on an all inclusive holiday 

q  Visit Melbourne

q  Go sailing around the Whitsunday Islands

q  Visit Fraser Island  

Activities...

q  Fly in a Hot-Air Balloon

q  Learn to Scuba Dive    

q  Dive on the Great Barrier Reef   

q  Dive in the Red Sea

q  Dive in the Maldives    

q  Dive in Tonga   

q  Dive in Mexico

q  Hang-glide

q  Learn to Ski

q  Go 4 wheel driving   

q  Abseil SAS style    

q  Abseil down a cliff

q  Go parasailing     

q  Go paint-balling    

q  Learn to Surf      

q  Surf in Hawaii

q  Water-ski    

q  Bungee-jump    

q  Gallop along a beach at sunset   

q  Horse ride on an American Ranch

q  Tandem sky-dive from 12,000 feet   

q  Sky-dive solo   

q  Freefall sky-dive solo

q  Learn to Sail   

q  Go jet-skiing    

q  Go kayaking with dolphins

q  Ride in a Helicopter

q  Go White-water Rafting

q  Go caving – see glow-worms

q  Swim with Hump-back Whales  

q  Learn to Snowboard

q  Swim with Dolphins

q  Go canoeing

q  Go body-boarding   

q  Go skim-boarding   

q  Learn to Roller-blade   

q  Ice-skate on a real Lake

q  Go on a huge roller-coaster – in the dark 

q  Go in a glass bottomed elevator  

q  Climb a mountain  

q  Go glacier climbing

q  Do a photography course  

q  Learn to ride a motor-bike

q  Ride pillion on a motor-bike   

q  Dive with sharks  

q  Ride a camel in the desert

q  See Stonehenge

q  Sleep in a haunted castle

q  Ride a quad-bike   

q  Wing-walk

q  Ride an elephant

q  Hike through a Rainforest  

q  Go camping  

Experiences...

q  Make ice-cream

q  Make bread

q  Brew my own beer

q  Cook a Thai curry from scratch

q  Grow herbs

q  Eat a Michelin star meal

q  Drink a good vintage wine

q  Fly first class

q  See a huge concert  

q  Drive a convertible with the top down and music blaring

q  Go on a cruise

q  Buy and decorate my own home 

q  Get married

q  Have a baby

q  Win a photography competition   

q  Make a ball dress    

q  Make a coat

q  Be in a studio audience

q  Donate blood

q  Visit a chocolate factory

q  See the Monarch Butterfly's Annual Migration in Mexico

q  Tour a vineyard   

q  Stay at the New York Plaza for a night

q  Visit a temple

q  Learn Sign Language   

q  See a fashion Show

q  Host a fancy posh dinner party

q  Own an amazing (if pointless) designer item

q  Spend Christmas on a beach

q  Buy my parents a surprise holiday

q  Sleep under the stars

q  Go skinny-dipping
q  Ask someone I just met on a date
q  Kiss someone in the rain
q  See the Aurora Borealis
q  Bartend for a summer   
q  Go to a music festival    
q  Shower under a waterfall
q  Send a message in a bottle
q  Plant a tree
q  Be someone’s mentor
q  Grow a garden
q  Experience weightlessness
q  Swim in a Gorge  
q  Swim under a waterfall
q  Learn to show-jump    
q  Ride on a powerboat   
q  Go clay-pigeon shooting   
q  Try archery
q  Go indoor rock climbing


I plan to keep updating this list, even with ridiculous things I may never do, but it's good to have dreams, even if they are unlikely!

So the latest list update - which in the interest of sharing these lists (and as Kathryn andMaggie say) may have a few stolen ideas on it along with some crazy ones and some I have already completed but still want to include on my list!  ;) ...

Dive in Indonesia

Make the most amazing cupcakes

Celebrate my Golden Anniversary

Save someone's life

Take an AMAZING underwater photo

Win an underwater photo competition

Learn to eat with chopsticks properly

Write a blog!

Build a tree house

Model in a studio

Fly a plane

Learn Floristry