The DG

Ok, so I will explain the whole DG thing.

When Mr & Mrs M first became friends with the McC's (neighbours in the UK and France!) there was much talk about how similar that I was with one of their daughters, Polly.

This included things like being mistaken walking down the street to the house and the parents on both sides getting confuddled as to which one of us was (slightly easier as Polly has been in Aus for the last year or so!). Another thing was the McC's going into our place in France and asking why there were pictures of Polly on our walls - Mrs M had to point out that it was me!

When this first started we both shyed away from meeting up for a while and after about 6mths, I think, we first met in a restaurant in France where we sat at the end of the table and drank a bottle of rose together. It was quite weird for us both and we both backed off from it but in November last year we went out for a drink in London and both realised it was like talking to ourselves in the mirror, we have so many similar gestures and life experiences it is genuinely spooky!





Since then we have spent more time together and she has very kindly agreed for me to stay with her for the foreseeable future when I get to Australia at the end of Feb.





For those that want to see it, this is us in Brisbane in October - after a few drinkages!

Bye bye 2010..bring on 2011

So I am now back from my holiday over Christmas which was fab.

I made it out on time on Christmas Eve and got up to Mum's place in St Gervais in time for a maHOOsive seafood platter dinner (somewhat of a tradition now) and then a bit too much wine whilst helping Mr M wrap the presents for Mrs M. Woke up a little later than planned on Christmas Day so only had time to open 1 present before heading into St G to get skis/boots etc in the hope that skiing would take place. Then straight up the mountain to have dinner with the DG and her family. See next blog for explanation of the DG. Lots of fun and laughter and yummy food (for most!) we headed on to the baby slope to check to see if I could ski and also for an easy start for my sSisters BF who had only attempted skiing a couple of times before.

The best present I could have had on Christmas this year came true and I was able to ski for the first time in about 4 years....for those that ski there is nothing like bouncing down the mountain and playing in the snow. Now I just have to get my groove back on and get the fitness up again for my return in Feb!

The rest of the holiday ticked on quite nicely and I got back to a lovely bunch of flowers and cards from J's family who had been staying in my house whilst I was away.

And now it is time for the safari new year! Pre-dinner drinks and starter at mine before heading over to H's for main course and desert prepared by K's lovely man. Can't wait...don't know where I will be next year so gotta make the most of this year! Starter is made and chilling in the fridge with the wine so we are good to go.

Its been a year of ups and downs but with so much change in 2011 who can't look forward...

Counting the days

So it is now the day before Christmas eve and I can't wait to have some time off. I am *hopefully* flying out tomorrow to Geneva to spend Christmas with Mr & Mrs M and even more hopefully will actually be able to ski this year!

It has been a good couple of years since I was last able to ski, I have had a stupid ankle thing (well not so stupid as it feels liek my ankle is going to break) but am really hoping that it was the boots rather than the leg. I will be absolutely gutted if I can't ski anymore as I love it (and the Apres!). Hire boots & skis this year to see if I can get it mastered and return to my former skiing ability!

The DG and her family are going to be there as well so I woujld imagine alcohol will be included at some point (have already been told that the beer is being kept cold in rpeparation for my arrival!). It is really nice to be able to spend some time with everyone before going to Oz as won't be able to do this for a while!

It has been a long year and I am very much looking forward to the exciting times to come in 2011...who knows what is going to happen? I have always been the planning ahead kind of person so I am quite enjoying the fact that I don't know what is going to happen once I get to Oz...the world is my lobster (as one of my lovely friends would say!). The plan as it stands is 12mths in Oz, and then to take a couple of months travelling back via New Zealand, Fiji, America and Canada before heading back to the UK in about April 2012 - hopefully with a clearer idea with what I want to do with my future!

There are a lot of hopes in this blog but answer me this....what is life without hope?

That was definitely a whoops weekend...

So Friday night was fun, works do...some surprises, others not so much of a surprise. Blenheim was beautiful, food was great and the company wasn't so bad :o) For everything that has lead me to making all the recent changes in my life and leave the current company I work for I am going to miss the fun times that I have had over the last 3.5 years. It was a lovely way to say goodbye to some of the guys who I might not see again before I leave. Had a bit of a fuzzy head on Sunday morning, well maybe banging headache is more appropriate so the normal trick...2 paracetamol, 1 pint of squash and go back to sleep...2 hrs later woke up feeling much better so got up and headed to London. I was super lucky as was able to leave just before the sonw started!

Once in London I met up with the DG for lunch which finished at about 11pm with me very drunk watching the strictly final before being a little unwell and heading to bed. I was meant to be meeting the lovely Fran as well but we have had to rain check due to the crappy weather. It was however a really lovely day and we ended up have a real giggle...bring on Brisbane!! Provisional plans in place and now the last big thing to sort out is my flight...

So with another fuzzy head on Sunday I braced myself for the pre-Christmas meal with "da family!". Was a lovely day although I think quite a few of us were a little bit jaded. Got a couple of pressies which is always nice and am now looking forward to proper Christmas in France...just have to get there...lets hope the stupid snow holds off so I can make it out on Friday.

Few more bits to do before Friday comes around and no SW tonight so have no idea of the impact my boozy weekend has had on the plan...not going to find out til after Christmas now!

Weekends a coming...

When I got back from Australia at the end of October I saw pictures of me in a bikini and decided things needed to change if I was going back for a year so I have joined Slimming World. ?The first week was good and lost 2lbs (yay!), 2nd week I "maintained" as they term it (basically didn't lose didn't gain) so I really want to get the weight loss kickstarted before going away for Xmas as need to have my head round it...this might not work as I have got a super busy weekend coming up and I am not sure the the SW diet is going to make it!

On Friday night, as previously mentioned, I have my works Xmas do. It will be a fine affair at Blenheim Palace - posh eh! - and I am 95% certain what I am going to wear so am on a headstart with that one. However they have the most lovely wine I have tasted which just can't be ruined by making it into a spritzer! I am pretty certain the food is going to be divine in all its fatty gorgeousness as well so I think I might have to count that as my whoops night!

On Saturday morning, once recovered from Friday, will be heading up to London to meet up with the lovely DG (I will explain this at some point!) for a catch up over lunch and to talk about next year (she lives in Brisbane and I will hopefully will be staying with her for a while whilst I settle in but that is all to be discussed!). This is again pretty certain to involve alcohol of some form or another! Then Sat evening I will be heading to Wimbledon to meet up with another lovely friend - Fran - for a pre-Xmas catch up...again probably involving dinner and wine! I am going to have to be very careful with what I am actually eating so that I can count the vino as "Syns" and limit the damage.

And finally on Sunday it is early Xmas meal with the family as my sister, her husband and their children are in the UK for Xmas this year so we won't get to see them on Xmas day :o(. This one hopefully shouldn't be too bad as I am guessing the idea of alcohol isn't going to sit very well and the food is Mum cooked so will be nice and healthy.

It will give me 2 days when I get back of basically eating nothing and doing a lot of praying to every entity that people believe in to hope that I have lost some weight this week.

I need everyone (or the 4/5 people that read this currently) to keep their fingers crossed for me and I will let you know next week how it went.

You would think I would know better by now.

So after a weekend of tidying, filing, sorting, charity giving and tipping my lovely friend text me to invite me to dinner last night.

It was lovely, 2 of my closest friends, roast dinner, X Factor final, Dirty Dancing and wine...what could be better! My body today however disagrees...not enough sleep + wine + school night = tired me and my head is slowly getting closer and closer to the desk at work :o(

You would think of the 30 years I have spent on this planet that I would know better than drinking on a school night but no, when the 4th bottle was opened (albeit kinda badly!) and I was still raring to go it all seemed like a brilliant plan (and was worth it) just wish that hangovers weren't the consequences of alcohol!

Anyway back to work and trying to put one foot in front of the other and look all professional and the like!

Re-inforcements came, they saw, we conquered the first room!

So Mrs M came down on Friday night, we went for dinner and to see the new Harry Potter movie. It was good, a few jumpy bits, one major fit of giggles in the middle for us both over nothing in particular and a generally enjoyable evening. We came home had a bit of a chat and came up with a plan for attacking my office/third bedroom/dumping ground for a hell of a lot of crap that I have kept since I moved in over 5 years ago!

Early start on Saturday and we commenced with the mass declutter....the whole room was emptied into my sitting room...didn't realise I had so much rubbish! We then started to go through all the stuff and decide what would be kept, what could be tipped and what was going to the charity shop. About five hours later and a tiny little strop on my part (got a bit overwhelmed by the whole boxing up life to head to another country thing!) we had broken the back of the room and it now is ready for people to stay over Xmas and also is nice and sorted for packing stuff up when it comes to the time to go.

Did have one slight problem though, my washing machine has decided to stop working...in the middle of a wash grrrrr. Not amused as had only got half my weekly washing done and so still have my colours that need to be sorted. Very luckily I managed to find a repair man that can come round tomorrow to fix it so hopefully all should be in working order again soon!

Anyway as thrilling as this is I am going off to continue the sorting of the house, 1 room down, 7 more to go (plus all the crap from room 1 that is now sitting in room 7!)

Here come the re-inforcements!!

So Mrs M is on her way to Buckingham tonight to help me start the mighty tidy/box up. We are of course going to go out for dinner and a movie first to motivate ourselves!!

Mr M is away for work otherwise he would have been roped in to help as well....I grow the weeds in my garden especially for him, honestly I do!

We are going to start on the house tomorrow morning after a hearty breakfast but there may need to be an emergency shopping trip depending on what I have in my wardrobe for next weeks Xmas works do...wasn't going to go but have been convinced with the lure of a taxi from/to home and the most yummy white wine....mmmmm Jules Taylor...if you can find it try it - sooooooo good!

(BTW Mrs M is my mum and Mr M my step dad!)

To do or not to do, that is the question!

I have now got the longest to do list for sorting out the house before I leave on my travels and I am not sure how I am going to do it!

I have broken it down room by room so that I can try and attack one room a night...might even start with the spare room tonight - it has the least to do and might give me the motivation to crack on!

I seem to be super organised in the idea of the great tidy/box up with lists and labels etc but the reality of it still escapes me. I don't actually have that much time - this weekend is the last one before Xmas that I have to make it presentable for people to stay over Xmas so might have to do a bit of cosmetic houseworkery this weekend and then really hit the ground running when I am home after Xmas with the family.

I think I might need to call in the re-inforcements....MUM!!!!

Background...

So, my first blog....what to say!

I am 30 years old and have spent the majority of my life either in education or work. Following a tough 18mths of general life stuff I finally went on my trip of a lifetime in October 2010 to Australia. I was there for just over three weeks and absolutely adored it, met some amazing people, did some things that were completely out of my comfort zone and for the first time in quite a while could genuinely say I was a happy bunny. When I got back to the UK this feeling lasted for approximately 48 hours and then real life kicked in and I knew that things had to change and in all honesty that it was time for me to do something a little bit drastic - well for me anyway!

So, having worked out that I could sort everything out in the UK and actually (in my sisters words) JFDI I applied for my working holiday visa in Australia. I had it approved after about 2 days and I resigned the morning I recived the email saying I could go. My last working day is on January 28th and now whilst I wind down in my job I have got to also start the process of packing up my house and preparing for leaving everything I know and heading back to the land down under. Well not quite everything as my lovely DG lives in Brisbane so there is a little bit of home over there already! Looking at heading over in March probably but the final date is yet to be set!

So this blog is going to basically be about my adventures over the next 12 months or so of getting ready to go, actually going and the things I get up to whilst I am away....think of it as an on-going postcard, I just hope you enjoy the read!

BFN

L