Teegan

The sad news today is that our dog Teegan had to be put down. She was a fantastic dog and had a great life, living well into her teens, and we will all miss her loads. RIP Teegstar.x

Meeting Simon Cowell!

Last week was a pretty quiet one. I had a publicity meeting for my opera club to start preparing for our show this year - Oklahoma! It will be running from 21st - 25th October 2008, let me know if you fancy coming. I managed the gym, spin class and swiss ball so did OK exercise-wise. It was my sister-in-law Diane's birthday on Tuesday so I sent her a nice John Rocha top which will have to be saved for her post-pregnancy wear. I'm very excited now about becoming an auntie again although I'm much better with kids when they are toddlers rather than babies. My nephew Xander is at a great age just now especially when he tries to say things like triangle - tri-on-galong-galong-galong!!
Friday night was a quiet one, watching TV which was great. We had a traditional burns supper and recited my mum's brilliant Burns poem - she's very talented! On Saturday Ross and I went to our favourite bar Vroni's and decided to try the food. Normally we only go there to drink - they do the best cava and if we are feeling flush or celebrating something we will treat ourselves to a bottle of pink Laurent Perrier. Put it this way, we very rarely leave sober! Anyway, the food menu was basic but great for Saturday lunch. Mostly it's baked potatoes and paninis but I went for the most adventurous sounding dish - Indonesian prawn curry - and it was delicious and nicely washed down with a shared bottle of cava!
On Sunday I caught up with my friend Clare and went to the comedy club The Stand. Every time I go to The Stand I remember what a fun night it is, some of the comedians are great (and very brave!). The only downside was that it was a Sunday so I limited myself to one magners.
Monday was an exciting day as Donna and I had managed to blag tickets for the audience on the Britain's Got Talent auditions in Glasgow. We saw Amanda Holden, Piers Morgan, Simon Cowell, Ant & Dec and other famous faces so it was a laugh. Plus I shook Simon's hand and he called me 'Sweetheart'!!! That's my best claim to fame so far! Turns out Scotland has very little talent whatsoever but be sure to watch the show later this year and you might see us waving like loony's in the audience!

Statistically the most depressing day of the year

Today is officially the most 'depressing' day of the year so I read in the paper today. It is true that the weather is diabolical, my bank account is well and truly in the red, it's Monday morning and I'm tired... However I did have a great weekend and I am going on holiday 5 weeks on Friday so it's not all bad!!
On Friday night I went to Strata for a couple of drinks after work to say cheerio to Laura who I work with who is moving to London. I stuck to Magners as I knew it was going to be a long night so my usual bottle of wine wouldn't have helped! I wore my fabulous favourite shoes (see earlier post for photo!) and a new kimono style top I bought in the sales with a Christmas giftcard (thanks Donna!). Ross picked me up about 6.30 and we headed down to Prestwick for a dinner party at George and Gail's house (George works with Ross). Scott and his wife were also there and we all got the tour of their new house - pretty amazing! Anyway dinner was lovely and much alcohol was consumed before the Wii games and karaoke commenced. At 5am I decided I needed my bed because my dancing to Michael Jackson was becoming embarrassing!
The next day I slept lots on the couch before reviving myself and heading to a local curry house on Victoria Road to try it out. It certainly was authentic in that the decor hadn't been updated for several decades and there was a nice buzzy atmosphere. What wasn't so authentic was the Indian waiter's response when I asked about the Parsee dish, "Sorry, I've no idea - I prefer Chinese myself" !! I almost fell over laughing. After our curry we headed to Donna and Neil's to play Olympics on the Wii - again lots of fun although we left when it was becoming a bit too competitive about 2am!
Needless to say my arm is aching today.
On Sunday we went to Ross's mum and dad's for lunch in Gourock before heading back up to Glasgow for my friend Julie Fowlis's gig at the ABC. It was a total sell out and she was great. Seeing her name in lights above the door was brilliant, she is doing so well for herself.
Other news this weekend is that our friends Trevor and Steph have got engaged! They have a gorgeous wee girl who I'm sure will make a lovely flowergirl. Love must be in the air at the moment. Congratulations!

Broken bones and burlesque!

Sending get well soon messages to my granny who took a tumble on the ice at the weekend. She has broken her funny bone (ouch) so is in a stooky but she is being very upbeat about it and still plans to travel to New Zealand in March (not bad for 88!)
My fitness plans have started well in 2008 - I've been out jogging, spinning and swiss balling. Jogging is not a good idea when it is frosty so I may be giving that a miss for a while. Plus I forgot to cool down and stretch afterwards so my thighs were killing me all weekend! I really am out of practice with my running. There was a while when I was running at least 3 times a week (and I ran three 10ks in one year, beating my PB every time) but in the run up to the wedding I didn't have time and started going to the gym at lunchtimes instead.
Today I went to a dance taster session at Sloans. I say dance, but the actual title was 'burlesque' dancing! It was fun - lots of bumping and grinding with a little bit of peeling! I did get worried when she started demonstrating the nipple tassling but it was all very decent and humorous!

STILL no news on the house so we have given up hope and started searching the property market again with a vengeance.
Other news this week is that our wedding photo was in the Greenock Telegraph (only 5 months late!) and it timed in nicely with the 'showings of the wedding album' - everyone is very impressed with the unusual format, even my boss (although he was mainly impressed with the Tiffany earrings my sister bought me to wear on the day!)
Ross still isn't feeling great, which isn't good because we have a busy weekend planned - plus I am looking forward to taking him on at Wii boxing now that we have another nunchuk to play the game. We have been playing Brain Academy recently and I was gutted that Ross beat me first time - I was sure I was more intelligent than him ;o) I'll be working hard on improving my score so that I beat him next time!
Tonight is the opening of Celtic Connections - a festival of Scottish/Highland inspired music - so I'm looking forward to going to some of those gigs and seeing some friends play.
Finally, I am planning a girly night out on Sat 23 Feb - drinkies at mine first then hitting the streets of Glasgow for some cocktails and boogying. Let me know if you're up for it!

New baby!

Congratulations to my cousin Gemma who now lives in New Zealand who recently had a baby girl - Mollie Anne - isn't she gorgeous! xx

Well, it's been a quiet time since I last blogged - not much news to report at all in fact. Going back to work was a struggle but my first week back was only 2 days then the following week I spent 2 days up North doing monitoring visits so that also helped to break the week up.

On Saturday Ross and I decided to stay in at night to save some money. However we did still manage an afternoon showing of I am Legend at the Imax which was GREAT! The screen and the sound was amazing, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time!

On Sunday I drove my hire car up North and stayed in Golspie at my brothers with Carrie and Jeremy. I had a fish supper which I haven't had in years - it was so good!

In between meetings on Monday I managed a walk up the burn with my wee nephew Xander who is at a hilarious age! Here is a picture of us swimming recently -

At night we had some delicious Cockburns haggis - definitely the best in the country. Thankfully my mum left my hire car at the bottom of the hill that night because Tuesday was a really icy day. I slipped and slid my way down the hill on foot almost falling about a dozen times but made it in one piece. My dad came with me and he was just as bad although at least it took his mind off his sore tooth which was so badly infected his whole face was swollen and twisted - ouch. I headed straight back down the road with Carrie and Jeremy after my meetings and as I was determined to not have to put more petrol in the hire car I drove it on reserve tank all the way from Stirling! That night we caught up with Donna and Neil and the 6 of us had a lovely meal in Esca in Merchant City before a couple of drinks in Citation. I had to drag Ross and Jeremy off the Wii so that we could go to bed - particularly because I had to get up at 6am to drive them to the airport. Luckily there were no tearful goodbyes because we will be seeing them in exactly 7 weeks when we fly over!!

This weekend was another quiet one. Still no news on the house but we believe that we are not the highest bidder so have resigned ourselves to the fact that it's gone and we need to start looking again. On Saturday Ross and I walked into town and had a bite to eat in McSorleys which was great because a Ragtime jazz and blues band now play there on Saturday afternoons. Today Ross was meant to be going to the football but it's been cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch which is a shame because I was planning some girly time going to see the Kylie Exhibition at Kelvingrove.

I also took the opportunity to book some theatre/concert tickets this week including Wizard of Oz at the Kings, RSNO at the Royal Concert Hall, Julie Fowlis at the ABC and 42nd Street at Eastwood Theatre. In case you didn't know I am addicted to buying concert and theatre tickets!

Happy 2008!

Happy New Year everyone and all the best for 2008! I had a great time over the festivities although it was busy and I was sick some of the time which was rubbish. There are too many nights out and moments to mention but here are my highlights -
On 22 Dec we went to Ross's auntie and uncles for a pre-Christmas dinner and drinks but I was still feeling rubbish with the cold so decided to drive and drank non-alcoholic Bucks Fizz instead! It was good to catch up briefly with Ross's cousins round the toasty log fire! The next day we met with Ross's folks as it was his mum's birthday. We had a nice meal in The Restaurant and I got my nails done in preparation for the party season. Afterwards we headed straight to our pals Trevor and Steph's house for a few drinks and some of Trevor's amazing home made dips, mmm! Their baby Laci is the most well behaved baby I have ever seen, why aren't they all like that?
I was working on Christmas Eve although very little work was actually done and we were sent home early at 1pm after some bubbly. Ross picked me up before heading to Greenock to visit some more of the cousins. Later on we had a meal at the local pub and stayed there drinking until the wee small hours. On Christmas Day I woke up feeling fine apart from a small hangover. My cold has completely cleared so I was in great form opening all my presents with Ross's mum and dad. I got some lovely pressies including perfume, CDs, jewellery, smelly stuff, pamper voucher, gloves, scarfs, handbag and dollars to spend in the States! Ross was really chuffed with his Wii. So all was going well until I went for a bath - when I got out I came over all faint and felt sick and it was all downhill from there. I think I must've had a virus but I spent almost the whole day in bed and couldn't eat Christmas dinner :o(
So boxing day and the 27th were write-offs mostly spent in my jammys watching films or watching Ross make a fool of himself playing Wii! On the 28th I felt a bit better and ventured into town but was hugely disappointed with the clothes in the sales. Ross and I had lunch at Ichiban (noodles etc) but I didn't think it was nearly as nice as Wagamama. I was back to full form on the 29th so we met up with Donna and Neil for lunch at the Granary followed by far too much drink and hilarious games of tennis and bowling on the Wii. At 4am I had to drag the boys away from the television because I needed my bed!
On Sunday I packed my clothes for going up North and we went for dinner at a local Italian restaurant Roma Mia. It is one of my fave restaurants in Glasgow as it is very authentic and the service is brilliant. We had an early night because we had to get up at 6.30am to pick up my big sis Carrie and her husband Jeremy from the airport. They were over from Rhode Island for the bells so my sis and I had 3 and a half hours on the car journey to catch up on news before we arrived in Dingwall.
On Hogmanay we went to the Royal British Legion in Dingwall for a ceilidh. We had a really good night once we persuaded the old foggies to get up and dance. I can't believe people bought tickets to a ceilidh dance and then refused to get up and DANCE!

Two of the band members played at my wedding so it was good to catch up with them again. Ross's best man David and his girlfriend Abby also came up, bringing a massive crate of home made beers!
New Year's Day was our 'up North' equivalent of Christmas Day and I was delighted to be able to eat Christmas dinner for once! In fact, I made up for not eating it on the 25th and ate enough for two! Isn't bread sauce just the best thing ever??!!

Our wedding album was passed around numerous times during the day - we are really pleased with it. It was also nice to catch up with family and friends including my cousin from New Zealand. More Wii fun was had as well as the obligatory quiz which always ends up in arguments! My wee nephew Xander is now at a very cute age (just turned 2) so he was having lots of fun with his presents.
On 2nd Jan my dad surprised us with hospitality tickets for the Ross County game. We had a lovely 3 course meal and of course pies at half time! County thrashed Peterhead 5-1 so it was a good game.

It brought back memories of my days at County - selling pies and cheerleading! (although not at the same time!). Before we knew it we had to head back to Glasgow and we are now back to work already. The good thing is that I am working up North next week so I will get the chance to see Carrie and Jer before they head back to the States.
Nothing to report yet on the house we are interested in. Our offer is in so fingers crossed we are lucky when it goes to a closing date!
Other good news over the festivities is that my friends Zain and Isla and Lynsey and Frank are going to get hitched - congratulations to them both!
Phew - think that's all to report for now. Here's hoping that 2008 will bring as many happy memories as 2007, but it's gonna be a hard one to top! x