Happy Birthday to Roo!

It's Roobear's 14th Birthday today which makes her (in human years) 98 years old!

She deserves lots of spoiling today so we're going to have rice and chicken for dinner and then doggie cholcolate for pud.

It doesn't seem that long ago when I went to see her just hours after she was born in an outhouse of a local pub, the 11th daughter of Remie the beautiful pub dog.

Long Live my Bears!!!!

Morning after the night before....

I had to go and meet H the next day to return his credit cards and room key (though I think that was a bit late). He did manage to get into his room and looked surprisingly good the next day (unlike me I might add). He said his dinner suit was white with bear hair and he’d given up trying to shake it off, put it in a plastic bag and thought it best to just drop it off at the dry cleaners. He bought me a coffee at a place I know en route home and we had a giggle about the night before. He apologised for anything he might have said or done but was relieved that I didn’t think he had much to be bothered about. He loves my bears and it turns out he has a black Labrador called Poppy himself so he’s gone way up in my estimation. I think he might have given me a few “in roads” in our conversation that morning saying things like …
“I loved your house by the way, the rooms up in the roof space were lovely” which could have been a way for me to invite him back? And then when talking about our dogs (as we did for ages) he said
“It’s the total unconditional love you get from a dog isn’t it? I mean I’d like to think I’ll find a wife that is the same one day” to which I answered…
“Never gonna happen is it?”
“Well I can live in hope” … and I still didn’t pick up on any comeback from me… Oooh I hate hangovers!
Well we have a presentation coming up in March and he suggested that he’d get some of his other investors to come up to Leicester and we should all go out for a few drinks and a curry afterwards and write off the next day staying in the hotel where the presentation is. So I’ve booked a room! Also I’m organising a ski trip for my best mate and business partner Curly in April which he said he would like to take a look at the details for as it might be something he’s up for. All in all I think we get on ok, though I must admit I think he might be looking for a younger, slimmer model than myself. We’ll have to wait and see. Any helpful insights are more than welcome!

Epilogue

So much for Bridgit Jones and her singledom lifestyle...

I'm not exactly good at thinking of everyone else around me once I reach my alcohol saturation and tiredness point (AST). Thursday was no exception. I had got 3 house guests on Thursday night, a colleague (J) that I work alongside who stays at my house while he's in the country and a couple (M&M) who have been involved in the Bahamas project for some time.The idea that we'd invite some of our clients to this benefit bash seemed a great idea.

I'd been very organised and ordered a taxi back from LCFC (venue for the "do") at 12.45am, a journey of about 25 miles so a good idea to get that sorted out before starting on the champagne. I had also invited one of our investors as my guest and arranged to meet him at the venue at 6.30pm after giving him directions to his hotel and the venue. So far so good.... you might think.... well it all started very well. Champagne reception, my guest was there on time as arranged and mingling with the best of them. Then onto the main event where we had one of the best tables in the room next to the main man (Nico) right at the front of the room with the other 450 people filling up the rest of the room. We sat in our allocated positions around the table and my guest (H) asked where my partner was tonight?.... now let me tell you a little secret.... I invited H as I had an idea he was single, knew he was not married and to be honest he's not entirely unattractive... that and the fact that he's introduced quite a few investors so it was a politically good move...
I answered "I'm single, I don't have a partner. That's one of the reasons I invited you along as my guest." .... I know it was a bit of a risk but I thought it was worth a go.... "So shall we call this a date then?" came the reply.... Hooray for me I thought!

Now anyone who's read my rantings before will know I'm not averse to a few glasses of vino collapso and have been known to have a few too many on occassions, well let me tell you something... I'm an amateur! This H guy drank faster and faster as the night went on and even though I was trying to match every glass of wine I drank with a glass of water he was topping my glass up as soon as I took a sip. Don't get me wrong here I'm not saying that I was taking it easy, I most certainly was doing my bit for the table's consumption figures. We talked, we laughed, we drank and we danced. My "date" was being attentive and entertaining me with his tales of ski holidays gone by whilst making sure that no-ones glass was ever half empty. My house guests all seemingly having fun as well.

Now you remember how well organised I'd been with the taxi? Well the one thing I might not have explained that well is that once i reach that AST I go onto autopilot and make my way home so when I received a call from my taxi driver to say he was outside I did what I always do. Got my jacket on, said my taxi had arrived and made my way down to the car... along with H hot on my heels. I did apparrently wait for all of 5 minutes for the rest of my houseguests before telling my driver we could leave and asking him to send another car for the rest of my party. I even sent J a text to say I'd left and was sending him another car. It wasn't until half way down the M69 motorway that H asked me where abouts I was going "home" said I... "Is that anywhere near my hotel?" said H.... "no" was my reply. And the taxi went on.

20 minutes later I'm at my house with H making coffee and discussing what beautiful bears I have. 10 minutes later the rest of my houseguests arrive with J giving me daggers about leaving them behind but adding that he had explained to M&M that he was aware I'd just leave them behind in my current state as I'd done it on more than one occassion before (ooops! What sort of a hostess am I?) Luckily I think everyone seemed to see the funny side and the next thing I knew H was rolling around on the floor in his dinner suit and dickie bow with my two dogs falling all over him and covering the suit in their lovely pale labrador hair. The once black suit would never be the same again!

Coffee, brandy and more small talk later I went for the next stage of my hostess with the leastess routine and took myself off to bed without saying goodnight... only to find I was followed by a fur ball who alledgedly came up the stairs on all fours doing a bear impression. I thought it was best that I order him another taxi to take him back to Leicester (yes another 25 miles in a taxi) as this was not my idea of how a first date should end up. So another taxi turned up and H made his way back to his hotel room and I finally got myself to bed...4am!

When I woke at 6.30am I noticed a message on my mobile... "I'm missing some credit cards. Are they at your place? Sorry I just got back (mad taxi driver!)" After a little investigation I found 2 credit cards bearing H's name and a key card for a hotel room which I assumed he might have needed to get in. I sent a reply to give him the good news, drank a litre bottle of water and tried to go back to sleep, unsuccesfully. It seems that not only did I leave my guests at the party, I sent my "date" back to his hotel with no room key! He told me later that he had to blag his way back in after a harrowing journey with a nightmare driver by bribing the night porter, thank goodness he had some cash! Somehow I think I need to work on my people skills!!!

A better day

Sunday... a far nicer day. After my hangover from hell on Friday, which I might add was still with me at 7.20pm when I was forced to go out, have a couple (note the couple) of glasses of Stella and a curry, home by 11pm, Saturday was a steady day. It was LCFC against WBA (a team who I have an alliegence to due to freinds who I have in West Brom) though when we're in the same league the gloves are off. It was a good result for us 1-1 and I headed back to meet up with Mimi and Jon to watch the rugby.... not so good.... was happy to go home and forget about it.

So after an early night I feel refreshed again and am almost ready to relate some of the funny stories from Thursday night...

The Do

Well the "do" was great fun. We went to the champagne reception from 6.30-7.30 then to the main event at the Walkers Staduim. With a star studded guest list Nico had a full turnout and was really well supported.

Unfortunately the fizzy stuff did it's normal triick of making the rest of the wine seem quite calm in comparison and we were soon all quite squiffy. I didn't get many photos but the couple that are here are of me (pre-do) and Nico with Keri (teeny totty) and Sandra at our table.

We all had a lovely time and the band were fab (though I can't remember what they were called). I managed not to bid for anything in the auction... which is good for me as I've been known to part with some silly money for stuff at these things in the past. I think our table did have to pay some huge amount for a magnum of Champagne that we are now saving for when we get our planning permission agreed for Long Island.

For some reason I woke this morning to find that my purse was empty and there was a small man with a large hammer inside my head. It's now nearly 4pm and I'm still feeling very fragile.

I may blog again later but for now I must rest....zzzzzzzzzz

Thoughtful

Do you sometimes have weekends when you get the chance to think about your life and wonder how you could change/improve/adapt it somehow? Well I just had a bit of a weekend like that. I went to see my boys win 3-0 on Saturday which was great and then had to go pick up Curly who had been watching from a corporate box. When I got there there was a guy in the box who I recognised as someone I knew from years ago who was a friend of a friend. Anyway I phoned said friend the next day to say that I'd seen his mate at the footy and made comment about the fact that he'd lost an awful lot of weight and how well he was looking. Turns out the guy had lymphoma cancer 4 years ago, had to have massive chemotherapy, went off the rails, spent huge amounts of dosh etc thinking he was on his way out and then got the all clear.He now has diabetis as a result of the drugs he has to take. As you can imagine that kinda stopped me in my tracks a bit. There was me thinking "hasn't he done well to lose all that weight" and it wasn't like that at all. It sort of puts things into perspective a little. I mean we'd all like to lose a few pounds but that wouldn't be our preferred method for weight loss.

So that got me thinking about changes I'd like to make for myself without them being forced on me. I'd like to lose a few pounds so I've decided to cut out all the wheat products that I know are not suited to me and take a little more exercise. I'd like to have a bit more order in my house so I've decided to buy a wall unit or shelves to put my books and dvds on so they're not just piled up making me mad. I'd like to meet more single men so I've decided that me and Mimi should go out somewhere new every 2 weeks so that we have to mix with new people. They're little things but at least they're things I can do for myself.

Happy St Valentines Day!

Hopefully some of you will have had more exciting presents and cards than I did... not that I'm bitter... Oh no! My valentines prezzie was Nico getting his call up for the England World Cup side. He was on TV earlier and even managed to mention our Bahamas property projec, there's just no stopping the man. Roll on next Thursday and his first benefit night.

And me, I'm off to the valentines virtual dance with the rest of my blogger mates, I've been polishing my red patent stillies and have a bottle of Ponche to slip in the punch! Later I'll be watching the Brits with Mimi and scoffing my mexican fajitas to soak up the alcofrol!

Keep happy readers!

Wins all round

What a great weekend! LCFC won 2-0 away from home at Ipswich (first time since 1988)England won the rugby against Italy and then to put the cherry on the icing on the cake England beat the Ozzies down under to win the tri nations ODI tornament!

I'm going to raise a glass to Nico and the lads later this afternoon and probably have to have an early night, getting up at 3am to watch a cricket match takes its toll on a girl you know!

White Stuff!!!!!!

Yippee!!! The snow fell and it's all pretty and white outside.

My bears were bouncing around like puppies as we walked through the winter wonderland which we woke to this morning. Even Roobear was happy to go that little way further than on a normal morning. Booboo was in here element rushing around and burying her nose in the snow.

It's so much fun to see kids acting like kids for once, wrapped up in their warm clothes with hats and scarves on pulling sledges and carrying anything that they think they can sit on to slide down the nearest hill.

The pictures were taken on my morning bear walk along by the canal and through the woods... awwwww isn't it purdy?

Missed stuff

Last night after I'd been out for dinner with one of my new ski buddies in London to a place called Soho Spice (really nice food!) I decided that I might be pushing it to get back to my friend (P's) place to pick up my bags and then back to Euston by means of the tube so opted for a taxi. I gave my buddie a kiss goodnight and hopped in the cab and asked Mr Cabbie to take me to Upper Woburn Walk and then my phone rang. It was one of Curlys mates who wanted to talk to me about his 50th birthday party ski trip in April. After about 5 minutes the cabbie asked me if he should turn right or left... which is when I realised I had no idea where we were, in fact we were somewhere near Chelsea.... Nowhere near Euston or my friends house where all my bags were AGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!! "Woburn Place!! Near Tavistock Square, Hilton Euston!!!" I declared.
The cabbie, (red faced and apologetic) turned on his wheel and drove like the wind with me on the phone to P to ask her to bring my bags out to the road for as we passed. As we approached Tavistock Square I phoned P to tell her we were approaching, we rounded the corner of the square just as P dashed down Woburn Walk and threw my bags into the cab as we were passing at some miles per hour, we screamed into Euston and as I opened the door of the cab the cabbie was out of the drivers seat unloading the bags, I threw the driver a tenner (more than was deserved) ran up the escalator and just made my train... Good job really as it was the last train home!!!!

I threw myself down into my seat and asked for a large glass on vin rouge then had to keep myself awake so as not to miss my stop. There was quite a nice looking guy a couple of seats in front of me but for some reason I couldn't quite pick up the courage to move and say hi... sometimes my shyness is a bit debilitating (if that's the right word.. or indeed a word at all) so I had to make do with making jokes with the stewards.

My bears were very happy to see me home when I finally arrived at nearly midnight. One final glass of vino to round off the night then on with the heating (how cold is it?!!) and to bed!

How many things have you all nearly missed lately?

Talk soon peeps!

24 again...

So it was a draw for the foxes and a victory for the England boys at Twickers...



Another weekend goes by and I find myself sitting on my sofa with my bears at my feet thinking about next week and the things I have to acheive. Tomorrow I'm off to London, I will be staying with my friend in Bloomsbury tomorrow night and the bears will be abley looked after by a willing friend. I'm hoping I can catch up with a few of the people I met on holiday while I'm down there and have made tentative plans to do so.



Some of my closest friendships have been formed whilst on ski holidays. Whether it's the fact that there's a common interest or the fact that you spend time outside in the fresh air and then eat at the same table I don't know but it makes for a special bond. Again there is a food theme, its hard to fall out with anyone while breaking bread with them.


......
Must be Sunday night again it's Jack is back 24... how on earth does he stay alive and wouldn't it be great to have to talk to someone with that husky voice on the phone every day....Night night peeps :)