love love love (with a sprinkling of humiliation!!)

i am currently still in my pyjama's recovering from another week of work, and another super fun weekend of celebrations! admittedly i have had an alarming number of embarrassing moments over the past 7 days, including: 

• realising on the train that i was wearing odd shoes to work
  
• having my dress caught up in my tights whilst meandering thru paisley (cringe!)
  
• being approached by a sweet old lady to tell me that my dress was caught up, again, on the same day!!! (this time in my jacket- what is wrong with me!?!!)
• participating on the dance floor last nite in a burlesque performance with all the hens, only to realise that as i strutted and wiggled forward in a showgirl-style walk, no-one else was with me!!!! *mortified*

despite my shortcomings and humiliation we had a fabulous day yesterday at ruth and colin's wedding!! they are the cutest couple ever and everything was perfect, from the ceremony (where they each read out their own vows!!) to the meal to the evening reception!! so much fun! i met loads of lovely and amazing people and ruth looked absolutely gorgeous! unfortunately my preparation did not go quite so well as i had a complete wardrobe malfunction- the new dress i bought caused me great distress when the zip broke and 20 mins was spent trying to fix it, without success! so a last-minute outfit change was required leaving me rather flustered and enraged!! however, the rest of the day was wonderful, at the House for an Art Lover in Glasgow's Bellahouston Park.

the hen weekend last week was also outstanding!! the day began with a champagne breakfast

 before the 17 of us got the train to edinburgh where we had a lot of fun at a burlesque class!!

 i was slightly nervous about it but it was such a laugh- we learned a variety of moves and finally a dance routine where we totally outshone the pussycat dolls!! dinner and drinks the

n followed, with lots of amazin hen activities, pink fluffy feather boa's and hilarious photos!!

Travelocity!

Another new year, another new office, another experience as the new girl! my first day's commute did not come without a little trauma- being splashed by a lorry; dropping all 3 of my bags whilst rummaging for my purse, and for my finale, colliding with a girl who was rushing onto the train as i was getting off, only for her to throw her frothy coffee all down her front and scream profanities at me!!! luvly! welcome to paisley! admittedly, a daily hour long commute each way is not my ideal- perhaps i'v been spoiled by being able to walk everywhere in my previous job, but the joy at being able to leave lengthy public transport journeys behind after graduating uni did seem too good to be true!

so today i'm off to purchase a travel zonecard! i kinda like the idea of just flashing my card to gain access to various modes of transport! sadly the photo booth i went to for my ID pic just did not do me justice, ahem, and after ensuring i adhered to all the guidelines for passport photos had 3 rather unfortunate pictures to choose from! £3.50 not best spent! only to get home and have husband point out that i wasn't getting them taken for a passport and could have smiled normally without worrying about the guidelines!! ah!

climbing out of the box

today i had to attend a reflective practice workshop all morning with some of my work colleagues and we have been challenged to create a critical incident reflective piece which we have a month to work on, and then feed back to the group in January! we can do this however we like- journalling, peer discussion, poetry, drawing, singing, drama, etc, which is a refreshing change from the usual 'discuss in small groups and feedback on a flip chart'!

i found it hard to focus due to being officially on christmas hols as of 1pm- the excitement was almost too much- but i did find it fairly challenging. i do seem to have to spend a lot of time reflecting on my work as for the past 12 months i've been working toward completing my monthly training plan and various assignments for the VQ. perhaps i just wasn't focused enough today, but it did strike me that in the run up to Christmas this year i feel like i've not really paused to reflect much on the whole Christian side of it all, which is really the whole point.

(pause for thought)

actually, i think i have been reflecting on everything but not in what i would consider the conventional way of taking time out to ponder life, etc! i've been asking lots of questions. of life. of faith. of the Bible. of the difference between truth and fact. of relationships. of the meaning. of the plan. if there is a plan. and have been searching and reflecting thru music, and in the pub-which i seem to be frequenting rather more regularly these days- and thru reading, and basically thru being in relationships with a broad range of people, and absolutely loving it.

i guess i am getting out of a box i hadn't quite realised i was in.

festive cheer! but retail uncertainty!!

december has got to be the best month of the whole year!! we have just decorated the cutest christmas tree in the world, my amy grant christmas album is back in the player and i have just licked about 50 envelopes and have a weird taste in my mouth!! everything is just so jolly! i am also the most organised i have ever been and once i sort out one more christmas present i have officially finished my shopping!! buying presents for people is so fun, altho a fair challenge at times, especially when trying to think of what an 82 year old grandpa would appreciate that isn't really boring or sock-shaped!!

the social whirl has also now officially begun, with a variety of parties, lunches, cocktail evenings and dinner parties now the order of the day!! this brings with it the need for party outfits, so the search is now on for a cute, affordable, sparkly outfit!! however, having done some research into ethical shopping this year i am now left a bit unsure as to where is good to shop with regards to workers being paid a decent wage, etc!  the Lift the Label website has some useful information but really, i'd love to find, or even create, a comprehensive list of decent shops in Scotland which trade fairly and still sell cute stuff!! Shops including Primark were all over the news again last week as their worker's are paid as little as 7p per day, work 80 hour weeks and include children in the workforce, so despite their very non-descript ethical disclaimer which now adorns their stores, it is still no surprise that clothes that cost about £3 to buy are not made in  an ethical way!! however, they do claim that they are still providing employment and a wage for people who would otherwise be unemployed and not earning a living, which may be true. I just think that surely there must be a better way! 

X Factor feat. Britney!!

well i am currently enjoying a lazy afternoon, having left the boys at the pub to watch more football than is healthy for one day!! 

right, so last nite's X Factor was shaping up to be an exciting one, what with it being Britney Spears night but i was actually left fairly disappointed! amid much slagging from those around me, the final 5  

contestants belted out some Britney classics but for some reason  it just didn't seem to work!! JLS performing Baby One More Time was definitively lacking and came across as bland, despite the original clearly being a catchy masterpiece!! ;) and Diana didn't really get going til the end of the song!! 

it's probably due to Britney being so outstanding, no other artists quite measure up!!! however, after she came on the X Factor and mimed along to her latest hit Womanizer, i am now in the even trickier position of trying to convince husband that purchasing tickets for her 2009 European tour is a sound investment which will bring great joy and fulfill the top request on my Christmas wish list! sigh...

Death Cab at the Corn Exchange!

so, on Friday nite we road-tripped to the Edinburgh Corn Exchange where Death Cab for Cutie were bringing some Seattle-flavoured melodies! the evening kicked off with the successful selling of our spare ticket( i'm rather proud of this!!) and kay and i bumping into people we knew! weirdly, the guy she knew was someone i sang in a band with a few years ago!! very random!! altho i had never heard of the support, Rich pre-empted the 3/4 bearded Frightened Rabbit as a 'great Glasgow band' and their warm up set did prove this true!! quite upbeat songs that made you want to dance around the house and be productive- i liked them!! there was something slightly Glasvegas- sounding about them too(haha, probably the glasgow accent thing!)! altho i spent most of the nite not being able to see over tall people, we were perfectly positioned to see the reflection of the 2 guitarists in these weird panels on the ceiling!

DCFC kicked off with 'Bixby Canyon Bridge' and then performed an array of songs from Narrow Stairs, Plans and Transatlanticism! I was pleasantly surprised by this, i guess i was expecting them to really focus on their latest album, which i actually don't love as much as the others!  And as much as i love DCFC it was strange because i actually began feeling a bit bored about 2/3rd's of the way thru! perhaps it was the venue- last time we saw them was in the Barrowlands which is always great, but the Corn Exchange feels a bit like a school gym hall (when we saw the Fray there i was transported back to being surrounded by 16 year olds and half expected a school dance to begin!!), and i was more aware than usual of really sweaty guys standing way too close for comfort!!! or perhaps it's because Narrow Stairs is more mellow than their previous couple of albums- the songs haven't grabbed me as much! 

however, they played some of my favourite tracks which sounded great: 'Your New Twin sized bed',  'No sunlight' and 'You can do better than me'! The highlight was when they played ' I will follow you into the dark' - it almost got me all emotional! And we were all in agreement that their encore was fabulous and ended the nite on a definite high note! so altho the gig was quite different from their last one it was still a great evening that i wouldn't have missed!!

now, off to find out more about Frightened Rabbit...

a (very) little courtroom drama

i'v just started this blog about 6 times and my spelling is atrocious! examples are blob and bob instead of blog, spilling and speeling instead of spelling and don't even start me on atrocious!!! i blame it on the non-stop weekend of fun i just had, which included:

a gig on friday, some quality time with a fab friend, a whole day of celebrating another friend becoming a clever doctor (the PHD kind!), a tasty wheat free pizza, a hilarious dinner party and chat til 4am, followed by spending the whole of sunday in my pyjama's watching the x factor/ 24 and eating celebrations!!!

last week was spent popping in and out of court as i was cited for jury duty!! despite 

many attempts to warn me it was going to be dull and boring i remained optimistic and hopeful that it would be exciting, interesting and that i'd get picked! unfortunately, i did not come out the winner there! however, i did meet some interesting people and bumped into an old school mate as well! inside court was a fairly depressing chamber- dark wood panelling (with secret doors!), grey seating and lots of miserable people moaning about how inconvenient the whole thing was!

i decided to dress cheerfully and must admit that in all honesty, the most interesting thing about the week was my outfits!! my new favourite red tights are amazing and made of organic fairtrade fabric which keeps you nice and toasty! coloured tights and helping people- what a combination!

musings on today!

well, my irritating coughing and sneezing of last blog turned into a bit of a vicious chest infection resulting in a week off work and having to sleep upright so i can breathe without choking! not fun! however, after an emergency trip to the doctor i was given some nice strong antibiotics which finally seem to be doing the trick! hmm, altho havin researched this on the nhs website i'v been given the treatment for pneumonia rather than chest infection! anyway, i can now taste properly for the first time in about 5 days and am enjoying some sugary marshmallows and lemon zinger tea- zesty!!

despite being very bored this week and watching far too many episodes of One Tree Hill i have had a fairly pleasant afternoon sitting in bed and watching the world go by my window!! and there are a lot of interesting folk wandering around! here are some examples:

• a menancing looking girl with green hair, black leather jacket, nose rings and a surly expression!
• an old man with a big old beard on an old fold-up bicycle!
• a man out running wearing a luminous yellow waistcoat thing and woolly hat!
  
• a very well-dressed couple, the lady wearing an enormous fur coat, heavy dramatic make-up and with her hair in a giant bee hive! amazing!
• 2 teenage boys chasing and trying to hit each other with their school bags!

i also had a nice chat with angus, our postie, this morning, as we keep getting mail thu our door addressed to this flat but to a different name. he said i can write RTS (Return to sender!) on it, but often it just gets chucked out. however, it has made me curious about this person who is not getting their mail, and i wonder if i've ever been sent anything of significance which has never reached me!?

i've also just discovered a whole new way of editing my blogs which allow me to use rainbow colours for typing! while this has me momentarily excited, i wonder if it'll be harder to read!? feel free to feedback!

mad bongos 'n' that!

Today we took a wee wander down Ashton Lane, only to be greeted by the funky, rhythmic beats of Sambayabamba!! Oxjam had taken over the West end and the band had returned to raise funds for Oxfam by bringing a Latin flavour to another rainy afternoon in Glasgow!! they were fantastic and it was impossible not to shake it a little to their Brazilian- influenced tunes!! Vodkawodka were also hosting an afternoon of Scottish music to raise funds and there was, as usual, a great atmosphere down the Lane! so despite my incessant coughing and sneezing, it was a cheery wee afternoon!

6 uninteresting things about me...

i just realised i was tagged by Rich to play this fun game!! or rather, to make this uninteresting list! here goes...

1. every day i get home from work and watch friends, scrubs then hollyoaks
2. i, like rich, also love making lists! its kind of a thing
3. i spent the other nite dressed in a giant paper bag
4. when i was ten i had an operation which left a big scar on my back
5. i have intolerance's to wheat, dairy and caffeine
6. right now my fingers hurt from guitar playing

I tag... San, JJ, Simon- uh-oh, i have to stop at 3 due due to time constraints, but watch out, i'll get 3 more of u!!!

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