A picture paints a thousand words..

...so it saves me having to type long blog posts....!

Eventually got round to uploading pictures from the past 4 months onto Flickr last week;

In August it was Peter and Joanne's wedding, and I was his Best Man.

I stayed at the Village Hotel with Peter and the two Ushers the night before the wedding. The reception was at North Shields Registry Office and then everyone headed back for a Garden Party at Joanne and Peter's house, where yes I had to make a speech!
The evening doo was then at Seaton Sluice club.

O'Brien Flickr Set and Slide Show.


Also took Abigail to SevenStories for the first time in August, and she loved it.
It was early on a Sunday morning and she basically had the run of the place.

Definitely somewhere we'll take her too more often and it's probably also somewhere relaxing to go when we've two children in tow...!

SevenStories Flickr Set and Slideshow.



In September it was Andrew (Maddy) and Sara's wedding, and I was an Usher.

The whole day was at Doxford Hall, which I have to say is one stunning place.

Maddison Wedding Flickr Set and Slideshow.


Then finally just to explain the last of the Flickr photos, I attended a charity day at The Races where I got to meet Alan Shearer and current Newcastle Goal Keeper Steve Harper.

On the subject of photographs, I recently came to the conclusion that it's time I moved on from Compact Digital Cameras to the real deal Digital SLR Camera format.
Sold my old one on good old eBay and the new one is due to arrive any day now, so expect a shed load more pics starting to appear on Flickr....! Could have waited for possible bargains in the sales but I need to make sure I'm familiar on how the thing works before baby no.2 arrives, and as you can see from the count down at the top of this page that's really not long at all now.
Jen is doing really, really well and she literally NEVER moans or complains during pregnancy. Don't get me wrong I know she's getting towards her limit now and is about ready to pop, but it has to be said that she's an amazing mother.
It's also a bit worrying that people are forever commenting that she suits being pregnant....!!!!

Past Halfway Already!

We went for the 20 weeks baby scan last week. Yep, that's 20 weeks already!!
I know I speak for Jen here too when I say that the whole pregnancy thing is obviously a lot more relaxed the second time around, but I seriously can't believe how quick it's going. Obviously not a bad thing like, because it means baba will soon be here.

Scan went really well. They normally only last about 15 minutes, but because there was a trainee guy there too it went for double the length of time which was a bonus for us.
Although we've chosen Wansbeck Hospital for the actual birth, you can literally be sent to any of the surrounding hospitals now for the routine scans. A lot of pregnant women around at the minute* so they're sharing the scan appointments around. I guess there's a lot of truth about how people are staying in more during the credit crunch!!

Time to Blog Off?

Another geeky post I'm afraid...! Just trying to decide whether to switch Blog host providers from here to HERE

At times this Country REALLY DOES SUCK!!!!

It's time for me to have another rant..!
Following on from my earlier post about Swine Flu and how I think it's being blown massively out of proportion by the press and the powers that be in this Country, I was disgusted to read one of the bits of advice on the National Childcare Trust's (NCT) website;
So they are reporting that the DoH advises people trying for a baby should wait until the Swine Flu situation calms down! You've probably heard about all the back tracking and re-wording which has taken place since this statement but I'm still astounded that it was even said..!

- Surely they must have realised how this would make recently pregnant women feel?!
- As for the reference to couples in the middle of IVF treatment, it's got to be one of the most stressing things to go through as it is, and thinking positive must be hard enough without having this doubt to consider.
- So a possible population dip and then the following population explosion when things calm down would be acceptable would it?! Where are we here - 1944 in the middle of World War II?!
- Given the plight of the Country now with an ever increasing Measles problem because of the supposed MMR advice, surely there should be greater controls on such press releases by now?!

The more this Swine Flu situation rolls on, the more and more despondent I get with the Country's approach to handling it!
I'll finish with this cartoon from the Daily Mail;

Another member to join the Cornell household

As most people will now know, and as briefly mentioned in an earlier post, Jen is pregnant again :o)
Our latest addition, still code named Button2 at the time of writing, is due around the 4th of January 2010. I say 'around' the 4th because we've had 2 scans (1 private and 1 NHS) and the predicated dates vary between the 4th and 6th of Jan. Also when we had the private scan they had the facility to do 4D images as well as the usual 2D. They're not that clear at this stage of the pregnancy but still interesting to see and extremely clever when you take into account how small baba is at this stage.

Jen's doing really well and touch wood no morning sickness this time either so far. Obviously there are days when she's absolutely shattered from running after Abigail etc but she never complains about it. Feel really sorry for her at the minute though because she's been suffering really bad with her hayfever. Normally a tablet tends to calm it down, but she doesn't have that option with being pregnant.

Timing wise Jen should start her maternity leave when she finishes work for Christmas so that works out quite nicely. And let's just say the usual question of "What we going to do for New Year", won't be getting asked in our house this year!!

There'll be 2 and a half years between Abigail and Button2 which is about what we'd always hoped for. Certainly different to the 8 years between me and my Brother! Abigail is fascinated with "Babas" and I can't wait to see her with a new baby in the house....

Majorca

Although I posted a couple of pics direct from my phone whilst we were holidaying in Magaluf, Majorca last month, I never actually got round to posting about the whole holiday...

Initially we weren't planning on having a holiday abroad this year for various reasons, but when Jen became pregnant we realised it's highly unlikely we'll get away next year so had a re-think.
After trauling what felt like every site on the web, we found one of the best ones to be sunshine.co.uk (part of Hayes travel). Found a bargain week in an aparthotel in Magaluf but the only thing we were wary about is some older holiday watchdog reviews which suggested it was rowdy from groups of lads etc. Researched it some more and it turned out it this indeed used to be the case when it was Fiesta Sahara, but the hotel had recently been renovated and relaunched as 'Fresh' Sahara. As part of this work they'd banned groups and one of the conditions to book was actually that a shild MUST be present on the booking - a clever touch I thought, and gave us a real peace of mind too. Ended up getting the holiday cheaper again by Thomson at Cramlington under cutting the web price.
We only had about 10 days notice from booking to departure, but Jen and I both got the time off without problems and we're not the type of people who get stressed about the whole packing thing anyway.

We flew in the evening, so it was near midnight local time when we arrived at the hotel but Abigail coped with the whole thing fine. As requested, our room was to the rear of the hotel away from the noise and at the end of a corridor. All of whioch was ideal for ensuring Abigail had undisturbed sleep. Like most bairns, she's good as gold as long as she gets her sleep!
The Hotel was ideal and as promised all guests were families.

Although the pool and surrounding facilities in our Hotel were really spot on, we actually spent nearly every day at the beach. We prefer being able to do our own thing down there rather than the whole screaming kids round the pool thing. And don't even get me started on how much the whole 'towel on sunbeds' thing does my flipping head in!!! - Blo*dy Saddo's!
Anyhoo, Abigail really loved the days at the beach. She was happy in the shade for hours playing in the sand. Late morning when she got tired one of us would take her for a walk in the buggy until she fell alseep, and she'd then kip in her buggy for up to two hours in the shade.

Again we reeped the benefits of the Waterbabies classes Abigail has attended nearly from birth! She was really confident in both the pool and the sea - water simply doesn't phase her. It's only when we see all of the other arm bands, floats, rings etc etc that we're aware how much we take her confidence for granted now. I've no doubt that it'll all be about water parks when we're next abroad!

Abigail was good as gold for the whole holiday. We didn't go out every evening, but when we did it was good being able to enjoy our meals as she was so well behaved. Having said all that, I'm soooo glad I took the portable DVD Player and a selection of her programs with us. It made the flight easier for us, and it really helped to entertain Abigial during the times we were in the room. Thank god for Peppa Pig!

At first Magaluf may seem like an odd choice for taking a young child but it actually worked out well; Because all of the 'young-uns' tend not to hit the bars/clubs until after midnight, it meant that everywhere was quiet when we were going out for our evening meal. And as they were then partying until after 6 in the morning, it meant we were hitting the beach when they were all in the land of nod! Yep I know, this all makes me sound old before my time - but I'm not ashamed to say those days are long gone!!
It was actually quite funny sitting in some of the beach bars about 2 in the afternoon with a pint and a salad watching the herds starting to trail down with their eyes half way down their face, trying to avoid the sun and pluck up the strength to face a breakfast. They literally never see the sun!

We did no shopping or trailing around crappy gift shops all stocking the same tat, what so ever. I LLLOOOVVVEE the fact that Jen hates shopping when she's abroad!
I can safely say the in terms of the price of the holiday and what we spent when we there, that we'll never manage a holiday that cheap again.

We had 1 day of cloud where the sun struggled to get out, but we were really lucky with the weather the rest of the time. It hovered around 30 degrees which was spot on when you had the slight breeze off the sea at the beach. Our hotel was literally a 500 yard walk straight along to the Beach, and we had all the shops and restaurants on the way there. In terms of convenience it's definitely somewhere I would go back to.

That's Abigail's second holiday abroad but given she's just turned 2 I guess chances are she probably won't remember either one so far, lol. Flickr Set here and slideshow below...

Oink!

Yep, as you might have gathered from the Twitter updates which run down the side of this page, or from my facebook updates, I've been floored with the infamous Swine Flu this week.

Note the lack of exclamation mark at the end of the last sentence. I've seriously had my eyes opened this week to the mass hysteria which seems to be circulating about what is at the end of the day JUST THE FLIPPING FLU!!!!!
Made up for the lack of exclamation marks there then.

Now lets start at the beginning; I was in Portugal last weekend on a Stag Doo (something which will I'll post about separately). Had a cracking weekend and actually felt quite well throughout, especially considering the amount of alcohol consumed! I kept myself right with at least 4 litres of water each day, Dave's Bananas (!)and not drinking alcohol during the day. Then on the flight home, about an hour outside of Newcastle I started to feel really ropey. I downed some more water (think I've been reading Meeshell's blog too much!) and just put it down to being over tired. Didn't feel much better by the time I arrived in the house, so after speaking to Jen for all of 20 minutes I turned in.

Now normally Jen doesn't work Mondays, but sods law this week we'd arranged that I'd have Abigail so Jen could attend a training course at work. Poor Abigail had to entertain herself for most of the day as I was still going downhill. We also had tickets on Monday for my old middle school to look round prior to them pulling it down (yet another blog post required for that). When Jen got in from work I foolishly made the decision that we would still go along, and I think it was that hour walking round which must have really finished me off. I came home literally feeling like death.

Early Monday evening I rang NHS Direct and was placed on hold for 20 minutes - 'high call volumes because of swine flu'!! Eventually spoke to an operator who noted down my details and symptoms before offering me no advice what so ever and saying a nurse would call me back. But of course 'all of the nurses are extremely busy at the minute so it would be several hours'! (I know they pay my wages and all that, but honestly sometimes I despair of them!)
Next morning arrived and still no phone call from NHS Direct. I felt worse again so rang the docs for an emergency appointment.

Arrived at docs at 10.20am on Tuesday thinking "for god's sake all I want is to see someone so they can assure me and my pregnant wife (oops, that'll be ANOTHER blog post then!) that I have not got swine flu". As I open the door to the waiting room, my eyes catch a sign that reads; 'If you think you may have Swine Flu, please immediately go home and call us for more information'.
ARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH, now by this point I was past caring, and marched in anyway. Yep in hindsight I completely realise what a selfish, pig headed (sic) move this was. Luckily the book in system at my docs is fully automated. You book yourself in on an arrival screen and don't need to approach reception. The second I did this, the screen then flashed up for me to immediately go through to the docs room. i.e. I thankfully didn't have to even sit down in the waiting room.
It was a lady doc as oppose to my regular GP. As soon as I said "Well I've been away for the weekend to Portugal..." in my sniffly, hoarse voice, I could see her facial expression change and she began to lean away from me. I asked if she was ok and she embarrassingly replied "I'm just wondering if I should go and get a mask". Now increasingly aware of my mistake in attending the docs in person, I hastily agreed that she should get a mask. She returned donning a gown, mask and gloves looking ready to remove my spleen!!
My symtoms all seemed to tick the boxes and when I eventually remembered to mention that Jen had taken my temp the night before and it was 39.4 degrees that seemed to be all the confirmation she needed.

Now up until this point you've probably gathered how ignorant I was to Swine Flu, and when she said that in her opinion I'd contracted it, I began to think "right, here comes the blood test, trip to Hospital, blah, blah". Like the majority of the general population I didn't realise that docs are making a 'Clinical Diagnosis' based on the symptoms the patient presents with. I guess it makes sense given the sheer number of blood tests which could be involved if it were done any other way. She said that a) the fact that I'd been out of the Country, and b) have a pre-existing medical condition (the auld arthur'), that I was to immediately start on a course of Tamiflu.
I was instructed to rest, drink plenty and isolate myself away in one bedroom of the house away from my pregnant wife and 2 year old daughter as they are both classed as high risk. Now I was really, really, really starting to feel like some sort of Leprosy victim!! Finally I had to find myself a 'Flu Buddy' as I could not pick up the Tamiflu myself, and arrange for them to pick it up at the 1 distribution centre for our area, in blo*dy Byker!!

So there you go, I arrived home at 11am on Tuesday with a clinical diagnosis of suspected swine flu. Now that's where the fun part starts (well not really)....
From those 6 words above in green, the majority of people seem to read / hear them and then output them as "HHHHOOOLLLLYYY SSSSHHHH****TTTT, REVE'S GOT SWINE FLU, AND THAT'S JUST LIKE THE BIGGEST THING EVER". It was nuts...!

Now I know it's mainly down to the way the press have reported the whole swine flu thing, making it sound like we're all doomed, but seriously, someone REALLY needs to get the message out there somehow that IT'S JUST FLU.

I won't deny it has completely floored me this week, but flu always does in my case. Some people will be unlucky and will suffer more than I have, but others I have no doubt will manage to shake it after a days rest. It isn't however going to help anyone fight it, if they are living in fear of something which they think is a lot worse than it is. That's the message I'm trying to get out of what is becoming the world's longest blog post here. I feel quite strongly about this having become aware of the amount of people who seemed to think I was one step away from meeting my maker this week. I know this isn't the world's most popular blog, but if you know anyone who's a bit panicky about the whole swine flu thing, please send them a link to this post you're reading.

On to some lighter stuff; So I duly locked myself into our bedroom (made sense given I'd slept there the night before) and Jen moved into the spare room. Jen's literally been calling me using the intercom facility on the house phones and txting me! The only times I've seen her was when she's brought food and drinks in, and until today, food has been the last thing I've wanted all week. Seriously wish the house extension had been finished so I could have made use of the en-suite rather than the family bathroom as that was in effect the only shared area.

After the docs I immediately txt the other 16 lads from the stag weekend to warn them, as I thought it was something I could have picked up on the plane. Rang the necessary family members and of course work to report myself as sick. Work advised that I had to stay away until I was 100% cured. The sickness self certification period has been extended from 3 days to 10 days during the Swine Flu outbreak, which I thought was a really good idea. (In case you missed that, that was me praising my employers in that last sentence!). Jen rang her work and was told to stay away for 7 days.
My Dad rang my Mam at work (she works in a care home), to explain the situation to her as I had been at their house the day before. As my Mam was on a training course he explained the situation to her boss. Her boss then immediately pulled my Mam out of the course saying something along the lines of; "I'm sorry Liz but your son Revell has been diagnosed with swine flu and as a precaution I'm going to have to send you home for 7 days". - Yep as you've probably guessed, she just heard the words swine flu like any Mother would and drove home with all sorts of images in her head of me in Hospital etc. Bless her.

Well it's now Friday evening and I've literally just polished off a geet big Ruby Murry complete with Chips and Nan! Apart from feeling still week as water and having a sore throat I reckon I'm just about back to normal. Weighed myself on Tuesday and also just before I ate tonight and thankfully I've only lost about 2lb this week. Sure I'll put that back on quick enough...especially once the alcohol starts again.
Came out of my bedroom quarantine at lunch time today, but still sitting across the room from Jen and sleeping in separate rooms for one more night. Abigail's been at Grandma's all day so also kept completely away from her, which brings me to my final point;

For me, I have to say the hardest part of this week by far has been not seeing the bairn. I've literally not been in the same room as her since first thing Tuesday morning. Being able to hear her downstairs playing with Jen and doing all the normal things has been really tough to miss out on. I know it's for Abigail's own good, but it's still been harder than I imagined.
Reckon I might end up with a week's worth of dirty nappies to change next week though.......!!

Giant Sandpit

Giant Sandpit
Originally uploaded by Beebop Alula

Been to the beach just about everyday - even when the weather's been
rubbish! Abigail loves playing with the sand, but like all kids she
can't grasp the need for wet sand to make sand castles.
In this photo she's swimming the turtle and fish moulds in a bucket of
water and thinks it brilliant! I'm lying cooking here trying
struggling to see my phone screen in the sun so apologies for typos.
We leave tomorrow night so it's that time where everyone drops the SPF
to some stupid number and goes for the final burn. Seriously us Brits
are so stupid!

(iPhone email)

View from my sunbed...

View from my sunbed...
Originally uploaded by Beebop Alula

...at 6pm on a Monday evening! Yep them's my feet.
It's all good. Abigail loves the pool nearly as much as we love the
weather.
This has been the first day at the pool because we've always headed to
the beach until now. Hotel's spot on, - proper family hotel smack bang
in the middle of Maguluf. They don't let people book unless they have
a child with them which is a really good idea considering some of the
hen and stag type hotels we've seen..and heard!
Tra for now.

(iPhone email)

Abigail's 2nd Birthday

I know every parent says it, but I seriously can't believe Aboo is 2 already (6th June)!
As expected she was completely spoiled rotten and showered with gifts on her Birthday. We got up early so she could open our presents, then my parents called in with their's before heading off to France for two weeks in their Mobile Home. Actually the first time it's been properly used - apart from our Seahouses trip of course!
In typical Abigail unpredictable fashion she then decided to make her usual afternoon kip a longer than usual one - on her Birthday of all days. When she eventually got up, I fitted her new child seat to my bike (present from my parents with a helmet) so we could quickly test ride it before heading up to Jen's parents for tea. She was again showered with gifts (sand and water table was the biggy of them), and then insisted on blowing the Birthday cake candles out a good half dozen times!
Dave, Michelle and Elise came to ours and stayed that night so it was SingStar a plenty.

On Sunday we headed to Whitehouse Farm (Photos here). Deliberately waited until the Sunday as it was when they were having one of their open days when you can groom/handle the animals and sit on the various farm machinery. Abigail lapped it up and thought she was great sitting on the huge Tractors etc. (She screams like a banshee at the noise when they're started up like!).

Went to meet Jen's parents for lunch after that and did the usual "make a pig of yourself on a Sunday" thing with Delaval Ice Cream etc!

I think after watching Peppa, George, Mammy Pig and Daddy Pig all go through their on screen Birthdays, Abigail actually knew what was going on for hers this year and what all the fuss was about!

Blog test from iPhone

Blog test from iPhone
Originally uploaded by Beebop Alula

Photo sent via email to blog from iPhone

More May Photos

We took Abigail to Saltwell Park on the last weekend of May. It was a roasting day and we wanted somewhere to just doss in the sun where she could run around.

Don't think I realised how big the place is. If you're willing to keep away from the kids play area it seems there always a quiet corner of the park to relax in. Also has a pets corner but I think birds bore Abigail to be honest!
Photo's Here.

May

I haven't been here since April, so I might as well try and cover May in one post...!

May was the start of what are going to be a very busy few months for us. All in a good way of course but I can't believe how much stuff is planned.
The beginning of the month started with Sam and Alan's wedding at the Holiday Inn. When I say wedding it certainly wasn't a run of the mill one; They'd got married a few weeks earlier in Vegas, in true Vegas style. The ceremony was streamed on the t'interwebs and it was quite bizarre being able to see it. This photo is just after the ceremony finished and they all waved to the camera.
Anyhoo, getting back to the home leg of their doo; it started with drinks at the Holiday Inn, then speeches, and then onto a formal blessing. Then came the food, Elvis tribute act, Poker Table and Wheel of Fortune! Yep it was bizarre, but it was also really, really good.
It was also the first time we'd been back to a doo at the Holiday Inn since our wedding there nearly 4 years ago. It was in the same room, but that's about where the similarities between the two end! Flickr photo set of their wedding is here.

Also went to see Girls Aloud last month at the Arena with Jen. Missed them the last twice they've been due to us having holidays booked.
I wasn't really sure what to expect to be honest after the recently dissapointing show by the Pussy Cat Dolls (photos on my Facebook somewhere). Girls Aloud though turned out to be really good.
The stage, songs, performance, atmosphere were all way better than PCD. Ours seats were dead centre and really close to the front so we had a cracking view of the show. Again the set is on flickr here

Next came the weekend at Haggerston Castle.
Altogether there was me, Jen, Abigail + Lee & Emma + Maddy, Sarah, Jess + Simon & Kirstine + Maff, Kelly & Anna + Jimmy & Family (sorry I'm rubbish with names). We had 3 caravans and it was a proper fun 4 days.
The whole idea was a cheap caravan holiday somewhere and given the Haven Park's are all basically the same anyway we thought it made sense just to go to Haggerston.
Kids all had a great time and the parents all lapped it up too. Within a day of being there you completely forgot that you were only like an hour from home. Yep photos here again.

Had a quiet week during the middle of the month, which wasn't a bad thing seeing as I was on call anyway. Then came Jen's 29th Birthday on the 22nd May (only 1 year away from the big '3' '0'!), which was also a bank holiday weekend. We were both at work on the 22nd so again it was a quiet one, then we went for an Indian's with Lee and Emma on the Saturday.

I think that's about everything worth mentioning here for the Month of May.

The house extension is still on-going. We've now had the plans back for the new kitchen which is quite exciting, although it'll be even better when the plans turn into reality!

June is looking like quite a good month but I'm not even going to commit to saying I'll post here again soon because I'm pretty useless with updates! JUNE: Take That (Jen), Abigail's Birthday, Boy Zone (Jen) and finally a week in Magaluff / Palma Nova which Jen booked last night after work - wahoo!

Highbrow Flickr

I think most people are aware that President Obama is on Twitter, but also found off Joi Ito today that there is an official White House Flickr stream...!

Flickr: The Official White House Photostream's Photostream

Have to say that's pretty cool.

Damn ISP's!!!

Straight to the point here...

PLEASE UPDATE YOUR BOOKMARKS / FAVOURITES WITH THIS ADDRESS:
http://thecornells.blogspot.com/

My Blog runs on Google's free Blogspot service. It's been on there since day one and I simply make use of web forwarding from my Internet Service Provider to forward thecornells.co.uk to the address above. This is all well and good until the web forwarding breaks down and you're left with a 'website currently unavailable' message, which has apparently been here for the last week or so.
This is no doubt more than a coincidence that the problems occur at the time that my domain is due for renewal! Anyway I've complained and they look to have re-instated the web forwarding but can I suggest you go straight to http://thecornells.blogspot.com/ from now on, as this will bypass the middle man.
Incidentally the reason I still use blogspot as oppose to one of the many other and often more advanced blog engines, is because I try to keep as much stuff 'Google' as I can. Cloud computing is great for someone like me moving between many different devices and OS's and touch wood I never have a problem with Google. My mail, calendar and contacts management is all out there somewhere and is easilly accessible on my PC, laptop, Mac, iPhone, Blackberry etc.

Sorry for the geeky tech post, but had to at least explain why the blog has been down for a week!

"Eeeeh it makes everyone look like miniture people!"

'Tilt Shift' photos are something that has fascinated me for a while now but they're something I'd never have the time to look into creating from scratch. It's a lot more technical than this, but in short it an effect which can make people / objects / landscapes etc in photos all look miniture, - like a little toy town if you like. Try Googling for examples or looking round Flickr.
Normally it's quite a lengthy process which also involves a decent spec camera for a start. However I came across a link to this site a few months ago; tiltshiftmaker.com/
Which allows you to have a go at it with your own photos in 3 easy steps.

Decided to try it with this photo I took a few years back at St James' Park when 'The Match' was being shown on Sky 1. Obviously the original is on the left, and the tilt shifted version on the right.

Click the photo to see the full original size.

This is example is no where near as effective as some of the ones kicking around the web but I was pleased for how long it took.
If you really want to be impressed check out this example of a Tilt Shift video;

Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

You constantly have to remind yourself that the video isn't just a load of toy people!

Summer at last

Taking Shape

Been a while since I posted anything so time for an update; The main reason for not posting is too much time on the PS3! I just find that most nights when we're not watching something on tv, and Jen is on her laptop I might as well take advantage of the PS3 time. Plus we've bought a new tv and games on it look really good.
We had a good Christmas and New Year and tried to make the most of it given that all three of us were ill at some point. December felt like a month spent in the Doctor's surgery!
Abigail was spoilt rotten with pressies at Xmas as expected, but she loves her new toys; Kitchen, Easel, Car, Dolls, Trampoline etc...and of course, not forgetting a Chef's outfit..!

We were at a friends wedding on New Year's eve which was something very different to normal but it was really good. It had a really homely atmosphere with roaring coal fires etc, and having all our friends there at Midnight was perfect.

Looking at 2009 it's already looking like it's going to be a very busy year; The house extension is still on-going, althought the external work is just about done with the roof tiles going on literally as I type this. We've then obviously got the job of the inside to do.
Already got 2 Weddings booked, which means there's the Hen and Stag doo's to go with them. Got a few weekends away sorted too, and then there's Jen Christmas from me in a few weeks - tickets to see the Dirty Dancing show in London.

Thought I'd finish with a video of Abigail pointing out the shapes her Mammy had drawn on her Easel;

and another of her identifying the animals;

and finally one of Abigail spotting the Colours;