Mama needs a new pair of shoes

Last week, we had R's parents stay with us for a few nights. They do this every year, on their way home from France to Northern Ireland. They take the ferry over, stay with R's sister in the Isle of Wight, then with us in Brighton, then with his brother in London, and then make their way home. It's a nice little tradition.

On the Wednesday night, I made delicious leek and tattie soup, with homemade bread. YUM YUM YUM! I've really gotten into the habit of making soup from scratch and it's amazing. I followed up with chicken and bean soup on Friday when R was sick, too.

On Thursday, the parentals were super keen to do a pub quiz.

The one we normally do is on a Wednesday, at Zuma, so I went a-huntin' for a quiz on Thursday night. Hmmm, turns out there aren't many in Brighton. Luckily, I managed to find one in town, at a slightly shady looking pub, called the Chequers. We went for some greek food at a lovely restaurant called Estia, and then headed over about quarter to nine. Boy, has it heaving. We had to stand in the dark corner! It was actually really nice to branch out a bit and try a new quiz, just for a bit of change. We started off really well, with a perfect round, and kept doing good on each round. As he would mark about 2-3 rounds a time, you didn't actually know how well you were doing for big chunks at a time. We finally handed in our last 3 rounds, and were several points ahead at this point. But it was getting late, close to midnight, so we were tempted to head off. But the jackpot for the night was pretty big, as they do a roll over each week if it isn't won. So we decided to wait and see how we did.

Finally, we got our paper back, and we hadn't done that well. Made some silly mistakes. Oh well, we thought, it was a fun night. He started doing the scores, from lowest to highest, and turns out....we tied for first place! Holy moly!

So we had to do a tie breaker - the question was "In 1970, how many children in Britain were members of the Tufty club?"

???????????????????????????????

R and I just looked at each other and said WTF. But! R's parents are teachers! So J leaned over and said, "In 1970, EVERY child in Britain was a member of the Tufty club - your school was automatically registered. Put 3 million." Hmmm, sounds a bit off to me, but what do I know?

So we handed over our answer, and waited to see....and the answer was 2 million, with the other team guessing only 300,000! WOOOOT WOOOOOT!

thanks Tufty

But it doesn't end there. Once you finally win, you still have to go through the gauntlet of...the draw. So I stepped up, and looked at the three straws - one for a bottle of wine, one for a case of beer and one for the jackpot - which hadn't been won in a month. I decided to go with the left one, for our 2 lefties (R and his mom). Everyone around me was chanting WINE WINE WINE WINE. I looked and.....

we won the friggin money! £132! Yippee! I haven't won that much money....ever? Brilliant! R (too?) generously put £20 behind the bar for the quiz master and bar staff, and off we went. We've decided to put the money aside for Christmas funds this year, which is such a relief.

Zuma just doesn't seem as exciting now....

WTF post office?

Last week was my birthday, yippee! The big 25! So how excited was I when I came home on Friday afternoon and saw the postman had been by, and had a package for me! Even though it was addressed to K M----- rather than K S-----! As a recently married lady, I'm used to people assuming I've changed my name and using my husband's last name rather than mine. And I've changed my name in my head, anyway, just not on any important documents (can you tell where this is going?)

So on Monday, I grabbed my little red card, my ID, and a bill with mine and R's names on it, and went to work. At lunch, it was bucketing it down, but I was so excited for my birthday pressie, I trekked the mile to the depot to pick it up. I handed the man the aforementioned red card, ID and bill and said 'Can I please pick up my package?' The man looked very confused.

'This says K M----- but your ID says K S-----.'

'Ah yes, sir, I thought that might be a problem, as I'm recently married and often receive post in my husband's name. Luckily, I remembered to bring a bill with his name and our address!'

'But this says K M----- and your ID says K S-----.'

'Yes. I understand this. I am recently married and I haven't changed my name. But see this bill that shows a K S----- and a R M----- living at the same address, which matches the address on the package?'

'Don't you have ID that says K M-----?'

'No. Because my NAME is K S------.'

'I need ID that matches the package.'

'Yes, of course you do, BUT THAT'S NOT MY NAME SO I DON'T HAVE ID THAT SAYS IT. Please see, again, this bill, with a K and an M----- on it, at the same address.'

'Why don't you have ID with K M----?'

OH MY GOD. This went on for ages and ages. This old man could not fathom that a recently married woman might receive mail with a different last name, and REFUSED to hand over my birthday pressie. You see, they don't accept 'letter head' (funny, it looks like a BILL FOR MONEY to me), and as my ID didn't match the package, I was not getting nothing. A bill is good enough to open a bank account, but apparently isn't good enough for Royal Mail. Apparently, his job is to 'protect people's post', and insisted on redelivering the package.

'But I work. And won't be home. And will receive ANOTHER red card with K M----- on it. And I will have to come back to this depot to pick it up. And we will have this SAME IDIOTIC conversation again.'

So, he settled on sending it to my work address. Yes, you heard this right. He wouldn't GIVE me the package (to a possible thief) but he was willing to send it to a random address I gave him. So if I really had gone through this massive charade to pretend to be K M----- and steal her post, but luckily had this OBSTINATE man to protect it, I still would have succeeded in stealing her post.

COMPUTER SAYS NO.

The next day I hear Royal Mail is going on a pre-Christmas strike (way to get the people on your side!) and has lost their second largest customer, Amazon, in a £25mil contract. Are we starting the countdown to their demise? With service like this, I am not surprised. Again, WTF post office?

Winter Hat numbero uno

I did a nice and easy winter hat project last weekend, and I'm quite pleased with the results. I used the leftover wooly cream yarn from R's skull and cross bones jumper, so it's super warm, but it doesn't have much stretch to it. I like the little puffs on it, but I might try and make a simpler beret, or a nice beanie, as well. At the moment, I'm too skint to buy a new winter coat, so it looks like I'm stuck with my plain black pea coat. As long as I keep up with nice bright accessories, like hats, scarves, and gloves, it won't be too dull!

Terminator eyes will KILL YOU

R's Birthday

Man oh man have I been crap on the blogging front. I keep having ideas in my head about what I want to write about, and then keep telling myself 'Set some time aside to write, K!' But it never seems to happen.

Anyway, R's birthday was 5th September, the big 3-3! We had a nice little Saturday, heading off for lunch at Woodie's Diner for some good ole' fashioned American food and shakes (not really, they really just don't quite do it right here!). Then we headed into town, and I got stuff to make for dinner for him. I cooked the most delish cheese enchilads and the most AMAZING brownie cake I have ever tasted in all my 25 years on this Earth. Devine.




For birthday pressies this year, we've decided to be a bit more frugal and not spend more than £25. I went slightly overbudget, but well worth it, methinks!

Tiger slippers! How cute!
super stoked

I'm pretty proud of this! I made the whole thing in secret (and it took FOREVER) but it fits him so well! And it's super warm and soft and looks fab. I can't wait for it to get colder so he can start wearing it to work/uni. He'll be the most bad ass PhD student ever :)

The following weekend, we did a bowling birthday bonanza at Bloomsbury Lanes, an(other) American themed place, that has bowling lanes, karaoke and diner. We bowled for an hour, and then ate/drank ourselves silly. A good night out, even if the food wasn't great. Lots of photos, none of them good, so I won't bother posting. Low point of the evening? Aggressively grabbing the bacon beer (yes, bacon beer) from J, calling him a pussy for not drinking it, and downing it in one go. Yes, Uncle K made an appearance, and it was not pretty. At least I managed to avoid the tequila, unlike R.

After waking up feeling slightly worse for wear on Sunday, it turns out R's brother O got us tickets to see Everton (R's absolute favourite football team) play Fulham, whose grounds happen to be about 1/2 mile from theirs. Yippee! Even though Everton lost (boo), it was so great for R to finally get to see them play, after being a loyal supporter for so long.




Next is my birthday, on Wednesday. Shady Ninja will be here to share in the festivities, yay! I booked for Wed-Fri from work, so I have a 2-day work week, woot woot! Can't beat that.

PS - we're already looking into booking flights back to Ireland for Christmas. Can you believe it??? It's like the holidays are just around the corner (although, it's still too early to play Christmas music according to SOME people, bah humbug)

autumnal

After our camping trip a couple weekends ago, I was amazed to realise how quickly the seasons are changing. It seemed only yesterday the sun was only setting at 9.30. But in my guitar class the other day, I was shocked to have to turn the light on by 7.30.

Summer is by far my favourite time of year, but autumn does provide a lovely segue into winter. The end of summer always lead to the chain of holidays leading up to Christmas and I love it! It means you always have something to look forward in the not too distant future, and you don't really mind the drop in temperatures because it means Christmas is coming soon (and you get to wear cute jackets and boots!).

September always excites me because it means my birthday is coming up! (Big quarter century one this year *gulp*)



Then after my birthday, time to bring out the cobwebs and candy corn, because Halloween's just around the corner! We've already started thinking about our costumes this year!




After the candy slump, all of a sudden it's time to start planning your Thanksgiving meal! The past two years, I've cooked an entire meal for guests, including mashed potatoes, green beans, cornbread, cranberry sauce, stuffing and of course, the big bird!




After all this build up, we finally arrive to the biggest holiday of them all! Christmas! Now, my family is not religious at all, but Christmas has always been my fave holiday. I love decorating the tree, and attending carols, and dressing up for family dinners, and getting pressies for all my friends and families. Since I've met R, Christmas has been very different, and I actually love developing our own family traditions. By the time we have kids, I think it will be a nice blend of both our families :)




But before I get too far ahead of myself, I have this weekend to enjoy! As R's birthday was last week, and mine is the end of the month, we've planned a joint birthday bowling bonanza (where I will kick some ass) this Saturday at Bloomsbury Lanes, and I'm super excited. I even bought a new dress for the occasion! And in the immortal words of Bill Murray:

Sometimes a bowler just has to face the music.

1.5 years after my wedding...

and I still get it.

Yes. Wedding dress envy.

Don't get me wrong, I thought I looked absolutely lovely on my wedding day. But part of me still regrets getting pursuaded into getting a 'proper' dress, rather than following my instinct and getting a tea-length dress. I was told I couldn't show my tattoo, or it looked to informal, or I wouldn't look like a bride. Bullcrap. But then I found a long dress I loved, so I bought it, and didn't really think about it again.

But every once in awhile, I find dress and gasp and go THAT'S WHAT I SHOULD HAVE WORN!

This is the latest dress to bring out the green eyed monster:



Charlotte Balbier's Marilyn.

I especially love the little sleeves and lacey back bit. How cute would that have been with my red shoes and rose in my hair, with blond curls! Sigh. Even R said I would have looked amazing in it. I am so tempted to go to the shop in Brighton and try it on, just to see. That couldn't hurt, right? I know SUCH A BAD IDEA. Maybe for our 5 year anniversary? Nah, we're planning a Vegas shindig, with a leopard print dress :D



But then, looking back, I realise I looked pretty darn good on my wedding day!

walking with dinosaurs

Last Wednesday, I was booked for a surprise early birthday treat! I left work a bit early and met R at the train station, and we headed into London. I couldn't think for the life of me where we'd be going. We headed towards Wembley, and I realised he was taking me to Walking with Dinosaurs! (hint: the train was crawling with children)

My co-worker booked tickets for this MONTHS ago (again, for his children) for the show, which had sold out as it was only showing for a week at the O2. I was so sad, as I love dinos, and would have loved it. Luckily, due to popular demand they brought it back, at Wembley, and R got some tix for us!

Basically, it's a 'live' dinosaur show. So yes, they are animatronic, but they look amazing and life-like! Some of the smaller dinosaurs were actually sort of puppet suits for people (a bit like The Lion King), so they could race around the stage. It was also educational, and they had a 'paleontologist' do a narrative about the flora and fauna and life. It was so adorable to see kids so interested and amazed! There were so many gasps and giggles and just plain fun in the air.

Afterwards, I was treated to fine dining, and we had dins at McDonalds. With an 'I <3 :d="" a="" and="" birthday="" br="" dino="" dinos="" foam="" fun="" great="" head="" me="" more-than-a-month-early="" onan="" pressie="" shirt="">








PS man, if you ever want to steal cute kids, get yourself a dino head! We had so many kiddies staring at us in amazement and awe, and they loved trying it on. So cute!