lionheartedgirl promises to let it shine :)

LittleBoots

Great news on the bike
Hope you are having a nice weekend xxx

lionheartedgirl

thanks Wordsmith, that's really kind. I really enjoy reading your diary too, you write very well and I am always in stitches at your animal tales! (I didn't laugh at poor Brian's surgery induced weightloss, ouch, although I do agree these things are for the best in terms of animals. My dog has none either and I always have a real laugh when he is trying to lick where they should be!)

I will wait until the bike is in my little grasp and then share the details. I am planning a big adventure with him already - Monte Carlo or bust. I am not sure if I will actually be brave enough to go through with it, but I have always wanted to go.

I have had a lovely day today. I decided my bank holiday would be a day of work yesterday, a day of making the effort family-wise today and a day of rest tomorrow. When I told my mum of my plan to visit my brother and his family, she decided to tag along too as she doesn't enjoy the drive. So we had a good chinwag all the way down and shared out the child entertainment duty

I hadn't seen my niece and nephew in almost 18 months. They live 70 miles away but my relationship with my brother is very difficult. That's not why I haven't seen the kids but with weekends of work it's hard to squeeze everyone in. my brother was out today but I spent a grand day digging holes and placing fluffy birds in the tree with my 4 year old nephew, and reading some children's poetry with my 7 year old niece. I had forgotten the joy and sophistication of some on-the-face-of-it very simple poems - and my niece's eyes lit up when she told me of Michael Rosen's visit to her school - I am a big fan too.

I got big unashamed cuddles from my nephew who was very sad when I said I had to go home. My niece is always a little more reserved on cuddles but I got lots from her too so this was an unexpected pleasure.

tonight I caved in and ordered Chinese :eek: I have NEVER done this on my own before. But it reminded me of a simple pleasure - the sound of my dog eating prawn crackers. He is an old boy now but can still move like lightning when he drops his cracker slightly out of reach of his paws! I know they hardly constitute nutritional pet food but it's a very rare thing for him.

Tomorrow I will have a little trip to town to return some shoes which just aren't quite right (ShoeGal they are reassuringly high and fabulous, just don't fit as well as I need them to). I have seen another fab pair to exchange them for, so I hope they have them in my local store. If not I will get them online. I need a few lightweight bits and basics for the impending trip to Italy too. I have a potential bride-to-be coming to listen to some music in the afternoon, and am then off to a long lost friend's to plan music for her wedding in a few weeks time.

Spoke to a very very good friend last night on FB - the one I spent new year with. I am seeing him next weekend for a good catch up about life the universe and everything. We are very, very close friends and in the past there was a lot more between us, and I am trying to work out whether this is something to be revisited. Both of us value our friendship above anything else and are thinking along similar lines I think. I don't want to jeopardise (sp?) this under any circumstances, so I need to make sure for both of us that we are not grasping at straws!

Best of all, my dog is here snoring (good) and farting (less so) away - if there is reincarnation, I am definitely hoping to return as a retired greyhound. You sleep all day and only get woken for food, cuddles or a walk - all nice things be you hound or human :T

Souk08

All sounding good and very positive lionheart.

choogirl

Hi Lionheartedgirl

Your comment about the pooch eating prawn crackers made me chuckle, a simple pleasure for him.

Your bike sounds fun, I've never been on a motorbike before. DH had one in his younger days but since we've had the kids he's been banned from owning one.

I love fabulously high shoes but don't wear them as much as I should, the office stairs aren't suitable for high heels and I could so easily make a right t*t out of myself by falling down them so just wear some low to medium heels for work.

Have a good week xx

lionheartedgirl

Afternoon all

Things are kind of whirring along with not much to report but I'm sure I will still find plenty to waffle on about.

It was payday yesterday mostly all accounted for already so nothing to report there. waiting for a few payments for harp gigs which will pay the final chunks on Italy. I'm not sure how much it will cost to eat etc over there but it should be fairly low cost as will be busy with harp most of the time.

I am doing ferocious battle with juggling cards again lately - am sick of it, hate it and how it makes me feel. But have to use these feelings to spur me on to get rid of them all.

I had a harp lesson last night - talked about all things harp and most things life (as the two are very much tangled together). My harp teacher agrees with my thoughts and plans, but also agrees no big decisions until after Italy as things may change after that who knows.

My bank holiday Monday was lovely - did some shopping, didn't go overboard but got some lovely things. I returned my shoes and found 2 pairs in M&S sale for less than the ones I had hoped to buy (which were rather extreme shall we say!) so was pleased with that. Best of all, having appropriate footwear to go with my long jeans and a couple of dresses means I have pretty much sorted my work wardrobe for the rest of the year. My approach to clothes shopping has changed drastically which is A Very Good Thing.

My friend's race team had another great result on Monday too, so was thrilled for him as he works unbelievably hard so completely deserves it. :j :beer:

Monday evening I went round to see a long lost friend whose wedding I am playing for in a couple of weeks. We keep in touch via FB/email but I hadn't seen her in 4 years. It was great to see her and her beautiful kids and lovely h2b (who I had met before). I wasn't going to stay for the evening do of the wedding as I literally won't know another soul apart from them, but they have promised many single men :eek: and begged me to as they are very short on friends who are actually going - most have cancelled with what sounds like very pithy reasons so I am cross on their behalf.

She is going to help me with a website :T - although given my harp plans for next year, I think/hope this will be more of a blog/diary set up as I am not going to go after too much wedding work next year.

Got a couple of things to tick off the list today which I have been putting off for months, but work is going OK and the dog is snoozing away so for now, life is good.

Monday I drove home from my friend's house and thought, I have done lots of nice things today, packed a lot in, but not felt remotely stressed. It had a good balance of things I love doing - shopping, keeping in touch with racing (just so it is still part of my life even if I can't do it at the moment), and seeing friends. :T

This week's target on the Back to Basics campaign is eating better. I mostly slept well and stayed off the alcohol, but having thought I ate OK, somehow 2 trips to the chippy and a chinese (although stretched this over 2 nights) and a pizza featured in the last week's food :eek: this is unbelievable for me, so must be sensible this week as I don't want all the Davina to be in vain!!

Wordsmith

All sounding good, lionheartedgirl! Just thought I'd pop in and offer my services as a wedding guest as I feel sorry for your friends not having many people going. Just to help out, you know.

Oh, goodness me! I just reread your post and saw that I had overlooked the "many single men" bit. Well I never.

I am all in favour of your website. Go for it.

LittleBoots

I'll come to the wedding too:rotfl:
Aww good post, great news on the upcoming website!

Souk08

Ace news lady XXX

lionheartedgirl

afternoon

I'm all at sixes and sevens this week as I have only had one work from home day and so am in the office today grumpy because it's not Friday yet :rotfl:

Watched the Apprentice last night but am grumpy about that too because I had to choose between that, half an hour of Corrie and the TT (bike racing) programme on ITV4 :mad: :rotfl: I'm ashamed about my choice really but I am addicted - can't even watch them on Iplayer as my broadband is atrocious!

had a meeting this morning at work so dressed up a bit for a boost - wore one of the tops I got in the sale from Oasis on Sunday. It's a bit flamboyant for me for work normally (although nothing compared to what some of our design/buying team wear!), but remembering the rules, I went with it and am glad I did. I didn't test it for sitting down before I went to work and it's a little flashy so I dare say the guy I work with is getting a bit of an eyeful

am trying to sort money for the new bike - was meant to be doing it on a Virgin balance/money transfer offer but I got it wrong and it was a balance only transfer. I think I can juggle it fine although there may be a couple of months' interest to suck up - I had wanted to hang on until the rest of the money came through from granny but decided just to go for it (habit of a lifetime).

It was going to be OK as my friend hadn't been in a rush to sell, but now he has seen something else he wants and doesn't want to miss out so am feeling the pressure a little. It's still worth it to me and I can't wait til it's all sorted.

I have been reading a couple of other diaries with lots of other ideas to borrow and am really feeling like a plan is coming together that I am happy with (need an A Team smiley rather than a Martin one here!) :T

had sensible tea last night which was lovely, and had nothing but sensible stuff in the house so didn't eat anything bad yesterday. All the Davina stuff is making me more hungry but it's also making me want to eat better so that's all good...until the pizza craving starts :rotfl:

food budget has gone much better this month - have overspent a little but pizza/wine runs to the supermarket have been drastically reduced and I have only caved twice in the month rather than 5-6 times as previous. I have noticed these are generally harp gig related so will be planning accordingly next time

blimey I can waffle can't I.... no one else to talk to at home apart from the dog though so there we are

burntfingers_2

:)Afternoon to you too....great news on the bike front...and what a great surprise about Mr P....whats the saying its not over until the fat lady sings....?!??!

Even if he doesn't materialise into something special at least you have come so very far forwards from where you were a few months ago....

Any decisions on the house front yet?

Hope you have a lovely weekend whatever you decide to do....