Russell Brand- Scandalous!

last sunday nite we ventured thru to Edinburgh to see Russell Brand's live show at the Playhouse! The place was full, the warm-up act distinctly average and then RB (as i will now refer to him for ease of typing!) walked out on stage and instantly his persona captured the attention of everyone in the theatre!! there really is quite a magical presence about him that draws you to him and holds you there! his show was hilariously, stomach-achingly funny- entitled 'Scandalous' a fair proportion of it was based on his recent escapades featured on the news and in various papers and magazines!! a self-confessed egotist he showed us all clips of himself on the news, delighted that he now had his 'brand new own show' at such prime time viewing!! admittedly i used to really dislike him, but after reading his Booky Wook and watching him some more on tv i have become rather fond of this crazy-haired, tight-jeaned, extremely intellectual comedian!! his use of the english language is quite something, he's clearly very intelligent and uses this to enhance his chat!!

the highlight of the evening (for me anyway!!) was right at the end of the nite when he came down to meet his fans in the foyer!! we hovered around with about a million others, nowhere near the door which he was due to exit! i managed to sneak into the inner foyer at the opposite corner of the room, and i could just see his hair above the crowd! however... he then made his way diagonally across the room, straight toward me, and then jumped up onto a counter-top directly in front of me!!! woooooohooooo!!! i was like, one person away from Russell Brand!!! he then started reaching down and shook my hand!! a girl then handed him a pen and asked him to sign her book, so i grabbed my ticket, yelled ' could u sign this please?!'. To which he looked down at me, said 'sure love', took my ticket and signed it!!!! score!!! so i am now the proud owner of a signed Russell Brand ticket, after having one of the funniest nights of my life!!! :)

snow snow snow!

today there is crazy snow again in glasgow!! i was travelling back thru from st andrews today and as we approached glasgow it was getting thicker and thicker! 

so tonite it was too snowy to resist and we went a wander at around half 10 to the park, which was totally jumping! there were literally hundreds of people, probably all students, out sledging, ski-ing and even snowboarding in kelvingrove park!! it was so pretty and we built a wee snowman with proper twig arms and a face!! he was very cute, i felt bad leaving him alone!! this is a picture of our car park at about 8pm tonite!

2009 hopes and plans!

boo, i have a virus! having not felt great for a couple of days i put it down to too much partying, and whilst this may be a factor i am now officially suffering from the sniffles, a temp, feeling sick and aching all over:( boo, rubbish! 

however, as it is now january and we are far away enough from new year to make actual goals and plans for this year! i always find making new years resolutions are a bit trivial and i always come up with a massive list of things which i a) never stick to, b) feel guilt and disappointment over when i cant keep to them! so, my actual hopes and plans for this year are:

• to complete the women's 10k race in may
  
• to stick in with learning guitar 
  
• to do some more travelling- some plans are already in place, but more on that later!
  
• to see Britney Spears live in concert!
  
• to then attend some way cooler gigs to redeem my reputation!!
• to visit some more of my friends in their new locations (Grenoble would be just lovely!)
• to become an aunt again (yes, this one is already on the cards!! congratulations brother and sis-in-law!!)
• to actually finish reading a christian book (i just cant ever seem to get to the end without getting distracted!!)
• to write, record and play some new songs! it's been way too long!
• to audition for the X Factor and meet Simon and Cheryl!!

so, those are my plans for now! they may change, they may be achieved, they may be abandoned but i am happy with them, today, at this moment!

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!