Thursday 24 June 2010

Three Good Things In A Row

Hmmm, so I'm blogging again so soon, what could have happened that is so good and so blog-worthy?

- Footie
Well for a start, England are through to the last 16 in the World Cup!!! Hooray for Defoe our saviour! France and Italy are out and can you believe both finished last in their groups. Ooopsie.

-Guide Bookage!
My cool Dubrovnik Guide Book arrived today from Waterstone's! So, it being a nice day, I sat out in the garden and read it. The one excellent thing about it is that it is laid out in terms of itineraries, so you know how long it'll take and exactly where you need to go to get to somewhere and al of the POI along the way: good views/swimming holes/recommended places to eat/shops/bus stops etc. It also included a really good sized map that is separate and has all of the itineraries plotted out on it. Should be very useful!

-Holiday (and other) Shopping...
"That's a bit premature!" I hear you say! Well, yes it is, but when you have very limited funds to begin with, you have to buy things when they are cheapest and when you can get the best deal on them. So when I go to work over the weekend, I'll be buying my new camera, a new case (cos I've never really had one to go on my belt)and 3 floating shelves for my room when we finally get around to sorting it all out. We work at a different speed to the rest of the world, here in Hastings, you see. It's equal to one eighth of a snail's pace (lol)!

So that's my news. Oh, also, if we're talking about my room, the floorplan has been finalised!!!! Oooh I'm happy! The only potential cloud on the horizon is that England face Germany in their next World Cup match. Hmmmm.

As ever, I'll report back when there's news. Bye bye.

Wednesday 23 June 2010

June-atron!

Hello again, cyber friends!

This blog is for all of the other cool stuff that has happened or will happen in June, apart from Chris and Izzie's Wedding, which has a separate blog entry! Ok, so what has happened??

- Work!
So, beginning on June 7th, so the day after I got back from Soton, I began invigilating again. Not at Cantel, but at a school near to me in sunny Hastings called Helenswood. The first week was at the Lower School (Yrs 7-9) for their end of year tests - it was also a good way to integrate new and old team members etc. Now the GCSEs and A Levels have been in full swing and are actually beginning to wind down a little, but I've done some big and little exams, invigilated solo(!) (with 3 extra timers) and dealt with a girl who had to come out all together due to being sick!

In other work, I've been Argosing it. That's much the same as ever really. We have a sweep stake for the World Cup going on, and guess which team I picked out?? Ivory Coast! But anything can happen, as you'll see from my next point.....

- World Cup!
As anyone who hasn't been living in a cupboard for the past 10 days or so will know, England managed 2 draws (USA 1-1 and Algeria 0-0) so far. Now nothing but a win will do over Slovenia this afternoon (eeek!) but I will be in an exam, so don't tell me what happens! In other news, France is out (I think) and so is South Africa - the first host nation not to advance from the group stages. So we'll see, today is the decider for England. . . .

- Home Improvements
Well these have - albeit slower than the average snail - finally begun. On the flat-pack front, I now also have my wardrobe, just the bed and floating shelves to go! We're having to sort out the garage, shed, loft, spare room etc. This could be a long job.

- Holiday Plans :-)
So YEAH! Sarah, Tom and I have booked our (certain to be) epic trip to Dubrovnik for 14th-21st September. We're staying at Hotel Petka which is a stone's throw from the cruise ship port! We're looking forward to seeing and experiencing all that Croatia has to offer and spending some good times together too! Our flight leaves Gatwick at 5.55am, so we'll be up way before dawn for that, and we fly back to Stanstead - both with EasyJet.
The 'rents and I did a bootsale the other weekend and I made a good amount of money for the holiday fund. The £10 note I found on the floor in Sainsbury's also went in there! As I type, my Dubrovnik Guide Book (2010 ed) is on its way from Waterstone's. It only cost me £3.04 with Free Delivery and using my Waterstone's points, so bargain! Despite having resolved to save up for this trip, as I begin to think about it, a few things I want to buy have cropped up(!), so much for saving!!
There's this "WDW Memories" book I want for reading material, a silicone case and wall charger for my iPod, a new camera and a new roller holdall! Not much at all!

- Upcoming Events
Next weekend I go to London for the Keswick planning day, and by that time it'll only be a couple of weeks until actual Keswick! In the meantime, there's Argosing and invigilating to be done, all of which will help the Holiday and Home Improvement Funds!

- iTunes
So, Argos had this special offer that I couldn't resist. Buy 2 £15 iTunes vouchers for £20! With discount etc I got £30 worth of iTunes vouchers for £16! Now I have to decide what to spend it on... New tunes for all the travelling I'll be doing in the near future!

Right, so that's about it I think. I'll blog again as items of note occur, unlike Tom who never blogs at all!
Loveage!

Wednesday 9 June 2010

The Making of Chris and Izzie White

Hello.

So I promised to blog and then I kept putting it off, but that just leads to bad habits! I also couldn't be sure I'd remember everything, so I'm doing this separate to my "June-atron" blog. Here we go...

Ok, so the main event of this blog is that Izzie and Chris got married! But this also coincided with my first visit to Soton in nearly a year and my first visit to the mighty Playzone! On with the tale!

Train via Waterloo to Soton, met Tom at Waterloo. Ruth picked us up in her car(!) from the new, improved, shiny Southampton Airport Parkway and we headed straight off to Netley Beach via a Fish n Chip shop! We ate our dinner of various fish and chips on the grass over-looking the water, which was lovely, and then took a stroll along the little pebbley beach. There was a man water-skiing which was fun to watch, especially as he was towing someone on a rubber ring! We sat on the beach for a while and threw some stones - I once again proved that I am a weedy girl cos I can't reach the water with most stones I throw!

After the beach we hopped back in to the car and headed down the motorway to Portsmouth and to Playzone! We don't have any photos of there, cos there's nowhere safe to put a camera etc. But this is what happened...
Its basically like a big childrens play centre, with all of the typical features that I have no idea of the name of... Well massive slides for a start, split levels, rope bridges, rollers, the list goes on. We were there from 8pm til 11pm when they shut!
Basically, don't ever wear anything more than a vest top and shorts (and the obligatory socks!) there cos you get well hot with all of the running up and down and around the place! We also got through about 2 bottles of drink each!

The middle of Playzone is dominated by 2 massive slides; blue and red. The blue has a crest in the middle, but the red is just sheer drop and has two heights!! It took me at least 5mins to get up the courage to do the blue one, but afterwards I was hooked! As for the red one, it was my idea to actually try it, and I lead the way, but then I chickened out and had to go down with a someone I'd never met before holding my hand. Good times! I spent a lot of time on the blue slide, it was my fav, and at the end of it you crash in to massive foam blocks to stop you.
Tom and I also got in to trouble for climbing up the other slide. This one is very bumpy and you go down it on a sack, so its not that steep! We climbed up and then got told off, but our "punishment" was to put our socks back on and slide back down.

Basically we had lots of fun running around, taking turns in leading, climbing up and down, resting, drinking, observing our fellow patrons: one of which ripped his trousers open in a rather revealing place and others of which (girls) were falling out of their tops! All in all a very enjoyable evening and a great way to spend my first evening back in Soton with Gill and Gray.

On to the day of the wedding... Before that, a word about our sleeping arrangements: Tom was sleeping in Ruth's room @ No31 and Ruth and I were sleeping at No11 where Ruth's friends live (one of which, Helen, was away for the weekend and very kindly allowed us the use of her room!).
Ruth and I were up around 7am and headed straight up to No31. I showered and then got some food for our brekkie at One Stop. Meanwhile Ruth cooked some bacon and had her own shower. When we'd done that, we woke Tom and had bacon sarnies for brekkie. Tom then showered while I got dressed in my dress and did hair/make-up/handbag etc. Ruth very kindly drove us to the church and the service began at 12.30pm, before kick off we had a good chance to see and catch up with people which was very niceeee!

Service was lovely of course. The Church looked lovely too, I loved the flowers throughout. I also totally loved the purple/pink/silver theme that was everywhere inc invites, decorations, bridesmaids' dresses etc. Chris was wearing a purple tartan kilt and that looked very effective indeed against the rest of the coloured backdrop! Paul Alcock did the whole srvice and Andrew Page did the Address. It was really sweet to see bride and groom very emotional as they took their vows!
After the service, it was up to the top hall at ABC for a lovely cream tea, and a good old chat/chinwag etc with everybody you haven't seen for ages! Everything tasted amazing and it was a really nice part of the day!
Then it was over to the park accross the road for the wedding photos, before we headed to the Wedding Breakfast at Otterbourne Village Hall. Tom and I were lucky to get a lift from Hannah, so after the photos, we headed back to West Quay to the cars. Once we had made sure that Lydia had her boot down(!) we headed off.

The Wedding Breakfast and Reception were both at Otterbourne Village Hall, and we got there around 4pm, got glasses of bucks fizz and adjourned to the gardens for even more chatting etc and hearing all about the jobs that people have got now/their married lives together/other important news: Emma being pregnant and Rachel being poorly and not able to make it :-( More bucks fizz flowed - as did the conversation - as we waited to be called in to sit down to eat. This happened at 5pm and I have to say that the tables were decorated amazingly!! Lovely little trees with flowers in, set on a mirror plate, were in the middle. Around the outside of this were scattered hundreds of little gems in purple, pink and clear. The favours were tiny gift boxes of purple or silver, filled with heart-shaped jelly beans. Place cards, chair ribbons and the like, all fitted the theme!

We had a lovely wine selection on the table, as well as OJ and water, and the food was wonderful. Chicken in bacon, with a cheese sauce was the main course - followed by a choice for dessert of cheesecake or profiteroles! Awesome. Then there was tea/coffee and mints and then there were the speaches! Izzie's Dad went first, followed by the Best Man and then the Groom. Speaches are great, cos you really get to hear people speak from the heart on what is a very emotional day!
Lastly, the cake was cut! Again this was so cool - a work of art by a couple from ABC, as so much of the other work had been too. By this time, the rest of the people had arrived for the evening reception, so we headed back outside while the room was transformed in to the disco! Outside, we took it in turns to write in the Guest Book, which is an absolutely brilliant idea, and must have been wonderful for Izzie and Chris to read together! My own message of course, referenced Mandy's 21st, where I was rather a spare wheel, as sparks began to fly between the two of them!

Disco time followed, with all of the old favourites, and some more modern ones that fitted very well. The first dance was just great to see and then everyone got in on the act as more people arrived and the dancing got underway. Us Uni singles (mostly girls!) formed a big circle to dance in, which took up half the floor! We danced a lot, had a drink or two, had a laugh together and just enjoyed the company. Lastly, it came time for the happy couple to leave and we created a tunnel for them, armed with confetti and party poppers! They got in to a car full of balloons and headed off to honeymoon in Pembrookeshire. Phew what a tiring day, and that's just as a guest!

Ruth, being the star that she is, came to pick us up just after 11pm and we got back to Sirdar eventually (roadworks meant we took a major scenic route!) and fell in to bed. Before that though, I made myself sort out my clothes/bag/stuff so I wouldn't have to do it in the morning - as we were working on a tight schedule! So that brings me to the 3rd day of my whirlwind visit to Soton! Sunday. Right. Another early start for Ruth and I whilst Tom had a lie in. We headed off to the ABC 9.15 service with the girls from No11, this was great to be back in, seeing lots of people, hearing AP preaching etc.

Then it was back to No31 to get Tom up and I headed over to Mayfield to see Ellie! I was going to meet up with Harriet, but she was ill, so that was sad, but I suppose my schedule, to get to the airport etc was quite tight! So I had a lovely drink and a chat with Ellie and we chewed the general cud over job opportunities/the PGCE/future plans and all of our news. We had gorgeous sunshine - as we had had for the entire weekend thankfully - so we sat outside. Eliie then took me to the station, which was very nice of her, and I headed off home. Muchos :-(

There ended the weekend! It was very full, very fun and long overdue to be back in Soton and so I really enjoyed it and I wish Izzie and Chris all the best for their new life together.