This is another Christmas post, how self-indulgent am I? This is more for the benefit of dear friends living abroad at the moment who are missing our very British Christmas and don't get to witness the extravagant re-telling of my thrilling anecdotes in the flesh. Haha. Flesh. Ha. Last night, my brother Jerome came home (ha, rhymes) from university and we merrily began the festive task of decorating the tree. It was a night of....well...there were ups and downs haha.
APOLOGIES in advance for the utter lack of correlation between story and pictures.
We dug out the boxes of decorations and realised the new box of fairy lights was missing. Searched all manner of secret hiding places but to no avail. They were nowhere to be found. Gone. Sucked into the black hole that is 92 Gloucester Road.
Went back to the cupboard - and now I must interrupt myself here and draw your attention to the fact that this cupboard is that cupboard everyone has where you're allowed to be a massive mess. Y'know, you quickly open the door, shove something in and slam it shut. Tape it back up. Reapply the restraints etc. So immediately, it didnt bode well that we were looking for strings of lights in said cupboard. So anyway, I spied a plug poking out of this mountain of accumulated crap and realised with dismay that they were last year's lights. My mother, in a fit of 'let's get Christmas out the way', had just bundled them into a ball and thrown them into the back.
So we drove to 24hr Tesco to buy new lights and LO! they'd run out. We bought a kilo of Quality Street and some champagne instead.
Yeah, this is a giraffe wearing a wreath, get over it.
At home, we found a bag of lights in the back of another cupboard that all worked apart from a section in the middle. Anyone care to explain how that is possible??? They were SO tangled, so Jerome spent ages unravelling them, only to realise they were so long, they stretched the length of the entire house. Infuriated by the ridiculousness of the situation, we forced them onto the tree and wound the rest round the whole sitting room.
Exhausted, we opened the box of decorations and found the new box of perfectly working lights sitting on top. Mocking us with their presence.
And then I made paper chains. And ate some doughnuts. And we watched Elf.
Glad tidings, and peace to all mankind! How are we all feeling about Chriiiiistmassss? Tis a mere twelve days away, I feel like I should be singing the Twelve Days of Christmas everyday. HA, at junior school, we once did this bizarre performance of a poem based on that song, about this woman's letters to the guy who is sending her eleven lords-a-leaping. The rents absolutely loved it, lols a-plenty.
I'm sitting writing this at 3.30 pm and it's pretty much pitch black outside. What is the deal with the weird darkness? I do not remember it being this dark last year! Sort it out, atmosphere. However, I very much approve of the crisp coldness we have been experiencing this week, gets me right in the festive mood. JJ and I watched Gavin and Stacey Christmas special last night and then I watched Elf. It. Was. Awesome. I must say though, I am thoroughly disapproving of this strange mix of hail and rain and thunderstorms that have been maurading about the west country today. This is not the festive chill that I desire. I had to bring the freaking wreath in off the front door because of the gales and driving rain!
ALSO, I did some Christmas posting today and it cost SIXTEEN POUNDS postage. That is 1600 pennies. MANY PENNIES. FU royal mail, don't you dare lose it.
Anyway, enough of that. ON WITH THE SHOW!!
ONE. I finished reading One Day ages ago and forgot to tell you how GOOD it was. You should definitely read it. It's not particularly challenging or intellectual, just a good old read. I'm trying very hard now to get into this:
but I am str-ugg-ling. It's so lame, the ones I've read before were great but this is proving more difficult to get into than a Terry's chocolate orange (I've never quite got a handle on the whole tap-and-unwrap fandango....) If anyone has any tips, book or Terry related, let me knowwww.
TWO.
This is almost too shameful to write and I am blushing from head to toe, cringing mightily, but....who watched the X Factor final? It was a ridiculous affair, dragged out over two whole nights, and the first night was so excessive that I was convinced I was about to learn who had won, only to be informed that I had to wait another whole day and then watch for TWO HOURS for something that took a mere few seconds. And everyone knew who was going to win. Anyhoo, I'm glad I watched because Coldplay were SO GOOD. I'm guessing most of you reading this watched it because it was compulsive Sunday night viewing but OH my days. The UV! The lights! The performing! The wristbands! THE WRISTBANDS!!! If you didn't watch it, thank goodness I was here to aid you. Watch it here NOW.
THREE. It seems a little bit naughty to give this a whole section to itself but it's been a really long time and anyone who knows me well knows how long I've been waiting for this.... Last week I interviewed for a Teaching Assistant job at a school in Swindon and I thought it went really badly and was really sad all day, but then they rang me in the afternoon and offered me the job! I couldn't BELIEVE it, I was so convinced I'd messed it all up. I went in this morning to sign myself up and prove that I'm not a murderer or pervert and that I'm healthy and won't die on the job. January 4th, here we COME. I also had my PGCE interview this week and it went well, thanks for all the messages and prayers! This has been a bit text heavy, sorry. Here's a picture of Pin as a reward.
FOUR. My amazingly clever brother Jerome managed to secure some incredible media coverage last week for his final year's exhibition, East Wing X, at the Courtauld Institute. GO HERE for a look at a lovely installation, a great picture of him and evidence that he is great. If you didn't see it in the last sentence, I was telling you to go HERE to see the great article. That was HERE, look HERE. That's right, well done.
FIVE. We put up some Christmas decorations this week but havent got the tree yet. I'm fuming, I want a tree all day every day for the whole of December. In readiness for said tree (haha tree is a funny word: "It was working until you showed up, you big tree"), here are some pictures of Christmas stuff. And trees. And a nice Christmassy snowy Abbey.
I have been feeling SUPER Christmassy this week; the weather being so delightfully arctic has definitely hurried this along. It's been a very exciting week, Matt and his brother Dan's clothing brand launched, I started my Christmas shopping, JJ bought a car that you wear and I met up with my uni friends. All in all, pretty brilliant.
So let's jump straight in!
ONE. I thought I'd share one of my favourite Christmas songs with you now that we're into December and it's legal to play such music. Just press play now and have it on in the background while you read the rest of this week's offering. I love this, but I also find it hilarious haha, especially when the drums come in, it's so military. Military Christmas haha.
TWO. Continuing the festive theme, I went to Bath last weekend with Matt (see last week's post!) and it was mental busy but I was so enthralled by the shop window displays, some of them are so beautiful. Anyway, I was thinking about Great Mate Katie who is stuck in silly old California (hell on earth, I hear....all that sun....) and missing the very British run up to Christmas. Sooo, I took some photos of the best Christmas displays so she doesn't feel too left out. And you can all look at them and enjoy them too, although you could just go to Bath and look at them with your own eyes. Which is your favourite one? Share.
THREE.
I posted a small announcement about this last week, a mini-post if you will. Matt and Dan launched their clothing brand, it's very exciting. They have 5 different designs, 1 specifically for girls, and they're very reasonably priced! Go and have a look, maybs get one for your sibling/spouse/lover/parent/teacher/driving instructor/I dunno. They're really great though and very exclusive. Not gonna bump into someone else wearing one. Unless you live in Malmesbury, then you might. But go and have a look anyway! http://greatest.bigcartel.com/
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOMAL PRICE - http://www.tomalprice.com/
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOMAL PRICE - http://www.tomalprice.com/
FOUR.
I mentioned above that I started Christmas shopping this week; I went to Bath (yes, that's the only place I ever go) with my dad to look for his present to me (eep!) and also to try to get some things for my brother and other people. It was SO fun, so Christmassy and pleasantly busy, as in....there were other people there doing their Christmas shopping too and it was very sociable, being all there together, buying things for friends. Fun! But it wasn't too busy that you just got really angry and ended up hating everyone around you. That happens to me a lot. And I get really hot in my coat coz it's cold outside but hot in the shops so you end up with a fever by the end. But that didn't happen. And I mainly began this ramble just so I could show you the funny thing I bought. My dad was a little incredulous as I handed over the funds. But it smells AMAZING and I keep walking past and it being all 'OOH! Christmas, hoorah'. I also found a book called Strictly English about correct language usage. I wannit.
That other decoration in the background is one I found outside by the bin last year, thus uncovering my mother's attempts to throw it away. It hangs all year round in the kitchen as her punishment.
Hello! How are we all? I have had such a productive week, it's a bit scary. I'm actually finding it hard to find interesting things to tell you all now that I'm a little bit busier. The weekend was reallyyy fun - I went to Bath with Matt on Saturday which was lovely apart from the rest of England seemed to have had the same idea. The crowds were insane. We went to the Christmas Market (another rookie mistake) and then went to Pizza Express haha. Sunday was also fun coz we led worship at the Abbey with Great Mate TomPrice and saw his Great Wife and my Great Mate Sarah. It was so lovely to see them and made me wish I could win the lottery and buy a massive house somewhere lush and then install all my friends in it. Tis a dream I share with many, alas that we do not have the funds to realise it.
Living with JJ is also providing super amounts of life-enjoyment. The other day we watched the whole last series of Gavin and Stacey and at the moment I'm waiting for her to get home so we can continue our Grey's Anatomy bonanza. I'm getting it through LoveFilm and the other day they sent me 2 discs and were like "wheyo! We're gonna send you two at a time now but not charge you any more money!". I don't understand but it means more Grey's all in one go. AND NOW....
ONE. CHRIS.T.MAS. Jerome and I have decided our Christmas plan for 2011 and now I know what we're doing and where we're going, I'm getting very excited and really looking forward to it. I was working in London yesterday and we met up for lunch and discussed what we were going to get people. Well....I say discussed....we mainly just made jokes about our parents haha. It was a hilarious rendezvous. Here are two funny pictures from last Christmas. I hope it's going to snow again but I'm sitting at home, mid-afternoon, with all the lights on coz it's so freaking dark, while it pours with rain and the weatherman cheerily tells me that it's going to be a "wet and windy December". F U weatherman.
AHAHAHAHA. Is this the best picture you've ever seen? I think so.
CHRISTMAS DAY WALK.
TWO. I was sitting at home alone last night like a massive loser and I watched THE WORST tv program ever ever ever. Did anyone else watch the Made In Chelsea end of season party? It was the weirdest, most pointless thing ever to grace my screen. I was like "wooo, more Made in Chelsea! Yeah!" and then it was them being interviewed about things from the series.....but....the series is supposed to show their actual lives....so they were just being interviewed about their actual lives..... And so it started with Hugo and Millie being asked about their relationship and why it ended and if it was ever good and stuff. SO BIZARRE. And oh yes, let's get Funda on to talk about why Caggie and Spencer haven't sexed yet. This isn't awkward or weird at all.
Anyhoo, I turned that nonsense off and then was like "what did people DO before tv?" and then remembered a distant memory of enjoying reading books. I have a huge stack of new ones I haven't read yet. Does anyone else do that? Just keep buying new books without reading the other ones? There is nothing more wonderful in the whole world than new books, they smell so freaking ace. And they sit there all like... "I'm gonna entertain you...what stories and scandals do I contain for your merriment?". So I started reading One Day. So far it is good. Except it has a picture from the film on the front, Anne Hathaway about to kiss someone and she's got her mouth really open. Sick.
THREE. Oh yeah, I suppose I could mention that I got an interview for PGCE. Except if I don't get on the course now, that'll be embarrassing. Everyone get your prayer boots on, kind of want to fully nail this or it's a lifetime of waitressing and missed opportunities for me. It's quite scary to think that if I do this course, in two years I'll be teaching children stuff. I'll be responsible for their brains and their ability to use an apostrophe and there their and they're. It's THE DREAM.
FIVE. There is going to be some exciting news announced in the next few days. It is not my news but it is great and will make your Christmas good. Keep your eyes on the skies. Well, don't actually keep your eyes on the skies coz the sky won't tell you anything but it rhymed in an appealing way. It's going to be very exciting and you will be happy. I am happy about it. Start guessing.
Until next time. Oh and also I'm going to be posting some pictures of nice shop window Christmas displays soon. Get ready for those. LOVE AND STUFF XXX
Readers! Bonjour! I'm running out of ways to greet you each week so am resorting to foreign languages. Apologies for how late this is but I have a great reason - I usually post on a Friday but I took loads of photos during the week to show you but couldn't get them on to my computer, blah blah blah, I'm here now and you are going to be overcome with emotion at the wondrous images I shall share with you.
The past week's been pretty busy, cleaning here, babysitting there, dashing up to London and back in one day, chilling out with JJ and all that jazz. This week's Top 5 actually incorporates a great deal of what I've done recently and so without further ado, settle in for a most enjoyable ride.
ONE. On Thursday I went with my mum to a meeting. Sounds lame but it was at the Ideal Home Show at Christmas, a massive Christmas exhibition at Earl's Court. We're doing a lot of work at the moment on the 2012 Ideal Home Show so we were super fortunate and got free tickets to the Christmas one (hello perks of the job). It was SO FLIPPING GREAT. We got there way early and walked all about and ooh-ed and aah-ed and I knocked over a wood reindeer by mistake. And we also bought a wreath haha. Then we had a meeting. At a champagne bar. With the wreath. It was the best meeting ever. I got so festive and came away so ready for it to be Christmas Day and then realised it's not even December yet and now I'm all worried that I'm going to peak too soon and by the time Christmas actually comes around, I'm going to be psyched for Easter. Anyway, here are the pictures I took. Prepare yourselves, you're going to be well jel, and you'll also find yourself feeling super-festive.
G-E-E-K
TWO.
I'm sure some of you have seen this week's wondrous additions to our family on Facebook. Hugh and my mother acquired two black kittens - they are so tiny and lovely. Their faces remind me of peas coz their eyes are all small and round haha. It was a brilliant afternoon when we went to collect them; they arrived in their little box from their cage, we signed for them, promised not to kill them and then ran off into the sunset. Also, my mother kept forgetting we had them in the back of the car and was driving like a maniac; they were literally flying about inside their box haha. They were called rubbish names at the centre, so the olds are changing them but they keep changing their minds, so at the moment, they're called The Black and The Brown, coz one is slightly brown haha.
Wrestling with the box haha
That's us, that's us, that's us, that's us!!
"Mummy, look excited!"
"Hugh, come over here and look excited"...... Hugh doesn't have much experience when it comes to having photos taken by me. My mother found this photo hilarious, braying with laughter in the foyer, tears pouring down her face hahahahaha.
Oh my days, here they come!
See, don't the eyes remind you of peas? Sort of?
THREE.
I've been doing some work this week for Malmesbury Abbey bookshop, trying to put together a list of new stock that is a bit more current and appeals more to da yoof. In doing so, I have discovered, and rediscovered, some incred music. The new Soul Survivor Live album looks really good, as does Worship Central, but here are two of my favourites that fall in the not-worship-music-but-still-appropriate-to-sell-in-church-and-not-offend-anyone too-many-people. I first saw The Civil Wars on Jools Holland and promptly forgot about them. I was reminded of them by Great Mate TomPrice as I messaged about for people's ideas. This song is amaze. Her dancing is VERY ANNOYING though. Try to look past it haha.
This next one is delicious, and it's also grand coz they're all married and made a video in the snow and it's sweet.
FOUR. I fear this is turning in to a rather cat-heavy post but I know that Pin has a great many supporters, admirers and well-wishers just dying to hear more of her antics. She has been very naughty this week. She eats all her food really quickly and then shouts at me all day for more, and regularly breaks into the other room where Lucy is eating and eats all her food too. This week she has discovered a new place to sit and has no regard for the repeated damage she is causing to the shape of the chair.
Yeah, this is happening.
I then discovered her at her favourite watering-hole, a repeated choice, despite the fresh bowl of water laid on for her daily.
Pin's mischief is also fully rubbing off on Lucy, who used to be mental when she was a kitten and now this mentalness manifests itself as bizarre episodes of hyperactivity, where she clings to the bottom of the sofa and pulls herself along, or wraps herself up in her own tail, or sinks her claws into the feet of innocent passers-by.
Or she does this.
FIVE.
Found this in the front of a book while I was doing work experience at Malmesbury School. Inside the front cover, on the label where you write your name and class, someone had tippexed out the "Year" heading and written "Gay percentage" and then ranked previous owners haha.
