27th - A chance to catch my breath!

So, you're all updated up until Sunday now.

Monday was the bake off at work. I made a Chocolate Peanutbuttery affair of a cake. It didn't win any prizes, but we did raise a whopping £145 for Charity! We're still in partnership with the Children's Hospital - striving for our £25,000 target. It looks like we've hit the £8,000 mark, so I'm really pleased!!

I have attached various photos I have taken over the last few days. The snow has just started clearing now - so it's less treacherous - but it was an ice rink round St Paul's Monday night. We went to Vicar Mary's film night - watched "In Darkness." A pretty sad film, but it was an important story. Recommended!

After a lovely night Monday, work was good on Tuesday. I haven't been in a lot this month due to ALL OF THE FUN - so have had a lot to catch up on! Made some headway on the HUGE backlog though, and everyone is really pleased to have me back in the office (which is always nice ^_^). Last night, Tuesday, I had to go to bed when I got in... my glands are up and I've been pretty run down (probably due to running around like a blue arsed fly) so we had a night catching up on TV (Walking dead, Once Upon a Time, In the Flesh and Adventuretime) before an early one.

Today I have had a training sandwich! I got into work for 7:30 (normal time) and did an hours work on my Lean Sigma project. I am really excited about it! I then had a First Aid course between 9:00 - 3:30, before doing a bit more work on my project (whilst listening to Neil Gaimans - Neverwhere BBC 4 adaptation). I am now officially a trained Fire Warden, First Aider and on the way to being a Lean Sigma Greenbelt and (hopefully) BSI Auditor later this year.

Today's photo is a bit of a cheat - but I didn't want to use JUST JQ in the snow. I took this photo of the new library on Sunday. I am really excited about it opening in September! Keep an eye out - as I am sure they will do lots of amazing opening events (hopefully using their lovely amphitheater).

Thanks for staying patient with me - I have been away a lot recently, but I am still taking photos as much as I can (this weekend is a music festival - photo gold).

First in a fortnight!

Hi Y’all!

Well, life has been mental (as you can probably guess from the delay). The holiday was lovely. I have attached some photos below of where we stayed in Eqypt. The whole experience was stress free and brilliant! We got to the airport on the 11^th and got a bit worried at the airport as the luggage was 2.5kg over – but the kind lady at check in just let it on without any hassle. After we had gotten a coffee and I had done a quick Blog update – the gate was announced and it was time to board! Hardly even caught my breath!

The flight ended up taking off early – meaning we landed in Egypt 20 minutes before the scheduled time. I don’t know if you have ever flown into Sharm airport – but it feels like a cattle market. The Egyptians clearly have no concept of how to organise a queue and as such we bustled this way and that, eventually getting through passport control and luggage collection to be picked up by our transfer. Once we had gotten to the hotel, we dumped stuff in the room – got changed and grabbed some dinner. The “entertainment” was a fire show, which in principal – is a great idea. In practise, it was terrible with one of the staff members wandering off in a huff halfway through and shouting at everyone. It was pretty hilarious.

I woke up on my birthday to sunshine and warmth. The view from our room (as you can see below) was lovely. The sparkling red sea and the gardens of the hotel. I had pancakes and an omelette in the warmth for my breakfast before having a lovely nap in the sun (we were up at Egypt time 6:30am – which translates to our time – 04:30am) and followed it up with a lovely lunch by the pool. Table service and good food! In the evening, we had an “a la carte” meal by the pool (which was beautiful) and the staff bought me out a cake and sang happy birthday. I would have sung too – but they firstly sang in Arabic, followed by English, followed by Italian and then back to Arabic. When we got back to the room – the cleaners had made a lovely display on the bed and written happy birthday in petals – a great day!

The rest of the holiday was wonderful too. We snorkelled, swam, met lovely people, ate our body weight in delicious food and enjoyed beer and cocktails all week. The temperature got up to nearly 40 degrees, so it was warm and relaxing.

We got back on Monday 18^th to 1.5 degrees. A bit of a drop! It didn’t matter though, as we had done all the relaxing we could handle and were ready to get back to our own beds.

On the Tuesday, we had a day off (to catch up on chores) and I finally opened my birthday presents. I had some wonderful cards and presents and a really nice day with Dan. Caught up with Jo in the evening and realised how much I had missed my friends being away.

On the Wednesday and Thursday (20^th – 21^st) I started my Lean Practitioner course in Leamington Spa. Met people from all areas of my company and learned a lot! I’ve got to take on a huge project now – which is a bit scary – but I’m looking forward to the challenge. The venue was gorgeous (an old Georgian manor house) which is opposite a huge park. I have taken some pictures (below) of the folly and the rest of the park. I thoroughly recommend a walk around the park if you’re ever in the area!

On the Thursday (when I had gotten home), there was barely a chance to stop as I had time to shovel some stew down my neck and get changed before heading to a Flatpack Festival launch event. They had set up Great Western Arcade (a stunning old style shopping arcade in Birmingham - http://www.greatwesternarcade.co.uk/) as a cinema. On entrance, you were greeted with an array of delicious chocolates from a bespoke chocolatier and some sparkling wine (or orange juice/tea/coffee if you preferred). After taking a seat (and arranging the popcorn and postcards which were a gift to each person), blankets were handed out as the arcade is open to the elements and the snow had started. Flatpack and the Arcade had dug out some arcade footage of the arcade from the 70’s (on Super8!) and we had a good giggle at that before the main feature – Harold Lloyds “Safety last!” The live piano was stunning – it’s so funny that after a few minutes, you simply didn’t notice it was silent or in black and white and got into the spirit of the event.

Friday was my first day back in the office. After arranging the 181 emails – blugh- I sorted out some charity event emails out to my co-workers and organised my day. It flew by – and by 3:00pm, it was time to go home. Again – not much time to chill – as we were in the car and down to the Slade Rooms (at Wolverhampton’s Little Civic venue) to watch Richard Herring’s “Talking Cock” show. So, so funny! We had a brilliant time.

Had an early night following the show as Saturday was another big day. Got up reasonably early and had to do the weekly shop and a clean, before heading out to meet our friend Clare for lunch. We were meant to be going to the Coffin works for a tour, but due to the snow and bad weather – it was cancelled. We had a lovely lunch at “The Rose Villa Tavern” before going to meet my aunt and my friend Carolyn. We went to collect them from their hotel and walked them back to ours.

We were going to go out, but due to the weather – decided to whack on the heating and stay in for the evening. It was a good choice, as we got out to the board games and had a rousing game of cranium, a few drinks and a good natter (over a lovely Thai Green curry) with Caroline, Jo, Jon, Tom, Sue and Carolyn.

Sunday was an early Start (due to the weather, the girls wanted to head off at a reasonable time), and we met the rabble at their hotel before heading out for some breakfast. After a lovely “round up” chat, we said our goodbyes and trundled off to the Cinema to watch “Jack the giant slayer.” It’s a good little British family film with plenty of action, humour, SFX and suspense. A quick trip to Tesco followed (to grab the stuff we hadn’t got on Saturday) and then it was time to clean up from Saturday and start on some dinner. Roast duck accompanied by two weeks of TV shows we had missed (Community, Walking Dead, New Girl and Archer). After we were mostly caught up, I baked a cake for today’s charity event at work (an Easter themed “bake off”) before settling down with a glass of red wine and a good film. Was tucked up in bed for 11pm – totally tuckered out.

So that’s been my fortnight. Hopefully you can forgive me for the lack of updates – but as you can see – I haven’t been resting on my laurels!

Hope you’ve stayed warm, happy and healthy while I’ve been away and enjoy the photos.

Vicky

The day before my birthday..

Will have to do a full post next week - but haven't got access to internet from now until 19th - so these photos are a short summary of last week until next time... adios!

Tuesday 5th (the day after the weekend that was)

Brrrr! Early start (as normal) this morning. A lovely 1°C in Birmingham on the walk to work, but it’s nice to be back in the city. Definitely brighter in the mornings now so its feeling more like Springtime!

Just a brief note today as I am shattered! I’m going to be 28 next week, and as my Dad has often said – I feel like I need to slow down! I probably fit more into my time than I ever have done.

Today I have been confirming our trip to the two towers brewery (http://twotowersbrewery.co.uk/) on Friday with my parents and 16 of our nearest and dearest friends, confirming our trip to the underground Limestone canals (http://www.dudleycanaltrust.org.uk/tr-index.htm) on Saturday and trying to arrange birthday drinks for the weekend. Phew! Today I have also booked tickets to one of Flatpack Festivals opening events. It’s going to be a silent movie with piano accompaniment in the Great Western Arcade. It looks to be a blast and a one of a kind event. You can check it out here - http://www.flatpackfestival.org.uk/.

As well as all that, we’re getting all of documents ready for our holiday (which we definitely need after all of the activity at the moment). This week at work is a bit nuts as I have to fit 2 weeks of work into 1 week. It’s all good to have things planned – but it really does take its toll on my mental capacity to work!

Anyway, back to work for me! Should be able to do at least a couple of posts this week. Will try my best to stay on top of it – especially as I have so much good stuff planned that I would like to share with you all.

Catchup blog! Wednesday 27th - Monday 4th

Well, that WAS an eventful Wednesday to Monday!

My first photos (below) are from Wednesday 27^th Feb. The morning was a bit grotty and depressing, so I waited until the afternoon. It ended up being a good call as the sun started shining in the afternoon which made the world a bit brighter. Unfortunately, I cannot do a full picture of the church due to its size – so I have got the spire. Normal Wednesday evening practise was out of the window as it was time for a meeting of the JQNF! We discussed security in the quarter, events we want to put on and a possible urban “garden”/allotment scheme we would like to do. It’s always nice to see the group as it’s such a meeting of different specialities and interests. There are qualified planners (and those who are incredibly informed on the subject), marketing people, theatre folk, Councillors and the rest of us who have different jobs and interests. I think we complement each other well, as we really do cover all of the bases when it comes to social groups who live in the quarter. I look forward to our meetings (but have managed to squeeze out of taking away too many actions so far – just too darned busy!). 

Thursday was the day of Sci-fi Weekender. Had a lovely lie in (no normal 6:15 get up for us!) and then had to rush around to get the last minute bits done before lift-off (11:30). Of course, lift off ended up being later than envisaged – but we didn’t mind as we weren’t in any major hurry. Once the car was packed and everyone was in situ – we were off! It was a pretty long trip (over 3 hours), but we didn’t hit any major traffic. The roads through Snowdonia National Park ended up making the journey a bit more interesting for Dan and the countryside we passed through was breath-taking. We got to Hafan-Y-Mor Holiday Park in plenty of time to check in and get our stuff unpacked and organised before the evening events kicked off. I have added a bunch of photos below. They aren’t in any particular order, just a few of my favourites from the weekend.

There was so much going on from Thursday night to Sunday that it would take me forever to blog about them all.  Instead,  here’s a quick rundown of the “Best bits”:-

·         Brian Blessed being interviewed by Robert Rankin
·         Meeting Peter V Brett
·         Getting attacked by Pan, Daleks and Darth Vader at various points over the weekend
·         Dancing to Craig Charles’s amazing DJ set
·         Getting hammered with one of my favourite Comic artists ever
·         Listening to a panel on “the apocalypse; how is it going to happen?” and our fascination (as readers) with the end of the world
·         Professor Elemental (there IS always time for tea!)

I could go on… but I’m not going to. If you ever catch me – ask me about Glen Fabry and “the ducks,” still chuckling now!

Heading back to Birmingham on Sunday. The roads that were so much fun on Thursday when awake, excited and sober weren’t quite so appealing when hung-over, tired and suffering. Still, got back without too much drama and did our usual “last push” to get the shopping in, the washing on and the stuff unpacked. It’s always difficult to do – but so worth it when you wake up the next day and everything is in its correct place and no faffing to get everything done.

Monday (yesterday) was a lazy day. We definitely needed it! Had a good long lie in, plenty to eat and lots of fluids to hydrate our bodies as much as humanly possible. I didn’t think the weekend would be so wild – but it ended up being as bad (if not worse) than some of the music festivals we go to in terms of late nights and partying. Still, can’t complain. Got a lot of the calendar to look forward too (including my birthday – Yipppeee!). 2013 is shaping up to be extraordinary.