‘Malaga, the Martini of the Sea ‘ – Raphael Perez Estrada
I’ve just returned from another fabulous weekend away with my friends in Malaga . I’m currently wet through after returning from a drizzly dog walk in the woods with Mollie , my only clean jeans are splattered in mud and I’m cold because basically it is cold; more October than June ! It’s not good to be home.
Take me back to the weekend … a white wash of sunshine, fun and friends.
I’ve been thinking about the past year and how surreal those past months all seem.
I’m thinking about life … and death. Especially death [ bear with me it gets lighter ] and how ‘weird’ it is to get your head around which may sound odd; but sometimes I have to remind myself that mums dead. I have such vivid dreams about her that some mornings I wake up and for a few minutes everything is like it was before. Momentarily my life’s complete again ; it’s more or less perfect.
Losing mum to cancer has had a strange effect on us all. While in the most part it’s been bloody shit it has also brought out a positive, determined side in us. A can we do more?… Can we help? …Can we raise awareness?
Having experienced first hand the scale of this awful disease, the helplessness that we felt , its compelled us to want to do something worth while; try to give back.
I’m considering taking up running [ yes you heard correctly – sofa monster might move yet!? ] so that I can participate in a sponsored run next year.
The BF and I are constantly thinking of hair brain schemes to help fund raise.
‘Wing walking‘ has been mentioned a few times but having Cataplexy I doubt it would even get past Health & Safety! Thanks to my ailment I have terrible balance generally … never mind while walking on a chuffing planes wing!
By a weird twist of fate an opportunity arose for my BF to help out at a local Cancer charity shop for the next couple of week-ends. It won’t bring mum back unfortunately BUT it will help raise money for research and maybe, just maybe it will go towards preventing somebody having to through what we have, as a family, in the future.
Every little helps …
It was his first day working there today , [no drunken Bank Holiday escapades for us] so I popped into see him earlier.
*Proud girlfriend moment* Continue reading
“We live in Sheffield, we write about things we see here. What else is there to write about“ – Alex Turner, Arctic Monkeys
It may seem strange to anybody looking in that I got invited to spend the night at St Paul’s, Mecure Hotel and Spa in Sheffield.
Why you may ask ?…
Well basically because I live in the steel city. Apart from a 2 year stint in Lincoln it’s always been home.
I did question why I’d been invited myself but as I often get asked where to stay in Sheffield AND as I am a massive advocate of the beautiful city I thought it was an ideal opportunity.
What better way to recommend a hotel than to have stayed there yourself .
What better way to promote a city than to see it through ‘first timers’ eyes…
So I said yes … if it was still ok with them then I’d love to take up their generous offer.
So that’s what I did last Friday night along with a group of bloggers from around the country. Continue reading
Its around this time of year that people start to ask me to compile my Christmas list.
I’m by no means a saint (far from it) but I always tell them that I’m not bothered; to buy me whatever and to not spend a fortune?
When I was a kid I would spend hours upon hours dribbling over toys from Kays catalogue making lists galore. Lists on top of lists. Now a days its not so important.
I’ve found recently that Christmas has been about a lot more than just pressies. Of course its always nice to unwrap something special but it’s not the be all and end all. Continue reading
I’ve been friends with Karen, like forever…
We met at nursery school when we were both 3 years old and we’ve been best of friends ever since.
That’s 42 fun-filled years!
Crikey.
On the French Exchange with school. [basically we lived with a French family for a week then they came over here and lived with us for a week ] I think we are about 14/15 years old … and below on the same holiday but this time on the beach.
Karen is on the right of the picture. I’m the one on the left that you could mistake for Kevin bloody Keegan. Look at my hair …
But look at those bikini bottoms, my love for leopard print started young. Continue reading