hooray!!!

sometime tomorrow i'll be over the mid-atlantic homeward bound. i am so very excited to see everyone, especially at christmastime.

i've been sitting in my office absolutely freezing today trying to get the last few bits and bobs done before heading to a meeting at 3:30 pm. i'm officially turning the out of office greeting on in 20 minutes time.

all the prep is done, apart from the packing, which some would argue is the most important. it'll be an adventure trying to cram in all of the christmas presents with my normal allotment of clothes, so there will definitely be some laundry in the offing when i'm home. watched it's a wonderful life last night so will just have to catch up on some christmas specials in canada.

i'm looking forward to snow, snow and more snow so hopefully it won't get too mild at the end of the week! it would be great to get some tobogganing and a couple snow fights in ;)

i'll be seeing most of my canadian readers very soon, but to everyone else have a very merry and happy christmas!

words to live by

...for at least the next week anyway. admittedly, i've been getting a bit worked up about getting things done before i fly home for christmas, about my boarded up window not being fixed and the general craziness that ensues at work before taking time off.

last night my friend jessica quite rightly said, whatever doesn't get done before you leave is simply going to disappear as soon as the plane takes off.

so that's the principle i'm going by now. it would be great to have the house spotless, but hey, it's not as if anyone is going to be there. it would be great to have all of the loose ends at work tied up, but nobody is going to be working over the holidays anyway. and all the baking for the weekend will get done.

a couple things have continually brought smiles and excitement:
- the vinyl cafe in podcast format meaning that i can listen to stuart mclean anytime of day or night
- humming the song "driving home for christmas" repeatedly
- watching national lampoons christmas vacation on sunday and thinking, wow...that's what this year is going to be like!
- the thought of meeting my niece amy for the first time
- snow for christmas

...although i just checked the 14 day trend on the weather network and apparently it's going to rain christmas day. drat. but it won't matter, cause i'll be at home.

it can only get better

...cause it can't get worse. it was a really bad week and i'm not going to say much about it other than the icing on the cake last night, which was waiting in the rain and cold and it taking 2 1/2 hours to get home from work. it usually takes me 40 minutes max door to door.

nevermind, that's all behind us and everything is coming up christmas. the gallery had their christmas shopping evening, which is always the signal of the festive season. the local primary school comes to sing christmas carols and i usually have my first mince pie of the season. the online advent calendars are in action, which are brilliant because we indulge in enough sweet things at this time of year.

*and* i've wrapped christmas presents, the christmas baking ingredients are all in the house waiting to be made into goodies, and it's only 12 days until i fly home!

hahaha....that just made me think of bob and doug's 12 days of christmas...woot!!!

glasgow girls

on one very rainy and windy day, janine, carole and i headed out to the burbs of glasgow to the *house for an art lover* designed by charles rennie mackintosh and margarent macdonald, but only built about 20 years ago. it was absolutely beautiful and a great little attraction. really lovely cafe.

in possible the prettiest setting was this glasswork in a fireplace. a couple was getting married that night at the venue and the room was all decked out. if i lived in glasgow, this is definitely where i would want to get hitched!

carole and janine looking as happy as they do in the food section at marks and spencers ;)

we three in our wee flat called *my place in glasgow*. fabulous accomodation and would definitely stay there again! we had a great time, but as usually time flew by and seemed much too short.

lost the plot

just a short post to say i've completely lost the plot and it feels like my head is barely above water....so sorry for lack of postings of late!

but...going to meet janine and carole in glasgow tonight for a mini-break (hooray!) so that should get me back on track.

and also, only 3 weeks till the flight home! aut loo-loo and u voodoo are looking forward to it ;)

and now...

...only 4 weeks till i fly home for christmas!!! sorry, *we* ;)

(p.s. happy birthday wendy!)

a few of the best worsts *ever*

nick and davoud were up in liverpool this past weekend and we experienced some fairly shocking things. friday night we stayed in and were joined by my friend jessica for some food and wine. and considering how much fun we had that night, we probably should have spent the rest of the weekend in the confines of my flat. except if we'd done that, i probably would have freaked out *monica* style at the mess ;)

i had to work on saturday, but we three we going to a gig at the academy that night. we went to eddie rockets for dinner - my new favourite place to eat in liverpool - before going to see sons & daughters, a scottish indie rock band. we got there early. i mean so early that there were only two other people at the bar. so we ordered a few pints that tasted slightly off and waited for the main attraction. whilst waiting we endured two of the *worst* live bands any of us had ever seen. absolutely shockingly bad. we got soaked leaving the venue and warmed ourselves up at the everyman bar before heading home for an early night.

on sunday we had a leisurely breakfast at green days cafe - mmm...fruit, honey, yoghurt and muesli.... - and wandered down to the tate liverpool for some culture. the turner prize has moved from london to liverpool for just this one year in the name of the capital of culture. and on top of that it was free! we weren't overly impressed with some of the works, but there were moments of brilliance that a couple artists were able to convey quite well. but the most interesting bit had to be the visitor comments wall.

we were feeling a bit peckish and dinner wasn't planned for another 4 hours, so we decided to make the short drive to woolton village to a highly reputed whisky bar called fargo. it's north dakota/prairie canada themed, but in a very classy way. there is even a life size polar bear behind velvet rope.

first thing i said was: where's all the whisky?

the selection was no better than any other bar i'd been into so we were immediately disappointed. the menu looked good though so we ordered some food. more disappointment with uncooked chicken and some prawns that may or may not have been cooked. after a little tiff with our slightly snotty waitress they agreed to knock it off the bill and we left quite promptly after finishing our drinks.

so fargo is now on the banned list.

the weekend was saved by jill scott who played an absolutely brilliant show in manchester on sunday night, but more on that later.

feelin' it

it doesn't feel like i've so much as come up for air in the past few weeks and i'm beginning to feel it. work has been rather insane and life just hasn't felt that restful. or maybe it never does and i'm just taking more notice of it!

davoud and i helped val and paul paint their new house over the weekend, but bowed out at around 2pm yesterday to try and get some errands done. as a little treat we went to this 50's diner in liverpool called eddie rocket's that i've *always* wanted to go to. it was awesome. milkshakes, burgers and a shared bowl of fries. not the healthiest lunch i'll grant you, but that place just makes you *feel* happy and about 16 years old.

i have another long week coming up and christmas shopping on the horizon for next monday. i'm going to try and get my tree this weekend so at least i can enjoy it for a month!

a bit of colour...

we didn't actually go see the louis bourgeois exhibition at the tate, but her sculpture maman was outside the tate modern. very, very cool.

davoud takin a rest near tower bridge

the obligatory tourist trap photo

on our lovely london balcony in some sunny and fairly warm weather

and by far my favourite photo! a priest in a hard hat on scaffolding outside a church by trafalgar square

...and

SIX WEEKS TILL I'M HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!

london town

davoud and i went to london over the weekend cause we like to be a bit cheesy sometimes - davoud more so than me;) - and it was our anniversary. we were staying at the hotel we both loved last year when we went down in december and were even upgraded this year to one of the top floor rooms...balcony and everything! it was sooo nice. they even bring fresh milk and ice at 5pm in case you want a late afternoon cuppa.

i was really keen to see the john everett millais exhibition at the tate britain as six of our works are on loan to them. it was absolutely brilliant and our paintings looked amazing. it's remarkable what paintings being at eye level with the right lighting can do. we walked down to tower bridge, took the boat to the tate, caught up with davoud's family friends, had some tasty sushi, and went to the national gallery.

the train back to coventry was a bit of a nightmare and i think i set some sort of record by taking six trains in four days...not including the tube.

city under siege

it was bonfire night last night...aka guy fawkes night. i decided to stay in and watch the fireworks from my window so i could keep an eye on the place. it's notorious for everyone buying up fireworks and having their own mini-displays from the time it gets dark to well into the night. from 6pm when i arrived home until i finally was trying to get to sleep, what sounded like air strikes and machine gunfire was going off around my house.

now, if it had just been this one night i would have been absolutely fine with it, but they start selling the fireworks about 3 weeks ahead of time meaning that yobs have been playing around with these things for ages. it does start to get on your nerves slightly.

so if i had dreams of war zones last night i wouldn't be surprised. and that probably wouldn't have been helped along by the fact that i watched blood diamond last night, which was brilliant. a really good film and i love jennifer connolly.

it's been lovely and sunny

...until this morning. but it has been quite a treat to have the weather getting colder and bright sunny days. i've been kicking the leaves in the street whilst walking around.

there was great disappointment on the weekend when davoud and i visited our favourite little village in the cotswolds: broadway. the many, many kitchen shops were still open for me to drool in and a new deli had opened up selling local produce, all varieties of jam and chutney, and serving very scrumptious sandwiches, but the things are now gone from swings n things!

you may remember a few videos appearing a bit more than a year ago and right after our road trip up north with nick that featured me going for it on this cool zip line thing they used to have in broadway. well it's gone now, probably thanks to the local councils health and safety officer. nevermind.

the kids are on school holidays (again) so it's been a busy week at work, but i don't mind getting my hands dusty with chalk pastels and covered in pencil shavings. beats sitting at my desk ;)

hooray!!!

9 minutes ago the bbc reported that the liverpool posties voted to go back to work tonight! yes, that's how obsessed i've been with the postal strike. so with any luck my cards and package will arrive before christmas ;) but i guess that means i'll have to stop ranting about it...

i'm also on day one of four days off after working nine days straight. a bit of a blessing really as just yesterday the industrial action of the pcs union - the gallery attendants at national museums liverpool - will be closing all of the art galleries on saturday. militant liverpool indeed.

going to laze around the house today calling plumbers to try and sort out the bathroom floor at davoud's house, which has been an ongoing saga for about 4 months. i also need to finish the sweater i starting knitting for my sean and christelle's daughter months ago. need to get it done so i can start on christmas presents!

went to see rufus wainwright and scott matthews at the liverpool philharmonic last night, which was good, but the gig the night before in manchester - my favourite band: broken social scene - was way too much fun. i love them, i really do.

get back to work ya posties!

so there has been a series of royal mail strikes over the past week. around the country posties went back to work on saturday after a deal was reached with the union, but in liverpool? oh no, not in liverpool the glorious land of industrial action.

the postal workers in liverpool are staging what the press is calling "wildcat" strikes meaning that the backlog is getting even bigger. i can't stand it, it's driving me mad. the likelihood of my stepmum's 60th birthday package getting to her on time is incredibly unlikely now despite me sending it a month in advance. my grandpa probably won't get his birthday card, nor will my grandma receive her get well card anytime soon.

but i'm also more concerned about the effect it's having on local businesses and hospitals unable to get letters to patients, bill payments to suppliers, and heaven forbid not receiving concert tickets in the post.

stop living up to your reputation to being lazy scousers who can't be bothered to work the hours you're being paid for and get back on the job.

ranty lauren done for the day and off to work day 6 of 9 days working straight. after that i'm going to start tackling the back log of mail sitting in the copperas hill sorting office.

3rd annual thanksgiving dinner

it was easier this year. i think i might be getting the hang of this whole turkey, gravy, two kinds of mash, carrots, parsnips and green beans feast. although it has to be said there was a serious lack of stuffing in this year's bird.

eleven of my nearest and dearest on this side of the pond devoured the spread and then went through the very pleasing round robin about what everyone was thankful for in the last year before anyone could have their dessert. it was interesting to note that this year most of my friends gave thanks for meeting the love of their life, moving house, advancing professionally or for good news about family health. the funniest moment had to be when peter - harriet's now fiancee - gave thanks first, for the internet, and second, for meeting someone who actually laughed at all his jokes and agreed to marry him. now everyone knows that they met through the guardian dating website so when harriet said, "but why are you thankful for the internet?" we all had a bit of a chuckle.

i had a really wretched day on friday due to a combination of work, my grandma going into hospital, and coming home from work at the end of the day to a very wet apartment because my idiotic neighbour who lives above me had fallen asleep whist running a bath causing gallons of water to flood their place and a good bucket full or two to seep into my apartment.

after my loooong weekend, i'm now buckling down to tackle working nine days straight. i just hope the weather becomes sunny so my spirits stay high!

....10 weeks till i come home for christmas!!!

even i have my limits

i'm usually a great advocate for public transport, support hikes in taxes for owning gas guzzling cars, and generally quite *green* when it comes to getting from point a to point b. but there are times when the commuter transport just doesn't do what it's supposed to.

i left work at 4:15 pm yesterday in order to get to a mobile phone shop so i could replace my charger that mysteriously died when davoud plugged his possessed phone into it on sunday. i had great intentions of catching the train at 4:25 pm, but this train was cancelled for no apparent reason and the next one wasn't for 20 minutes...then 23 minutes...then 18 minutes. needless to say i was a bit paranoid about not getting to the shop on time - which i did - as i wasn't going to be able to leave work early any other night this week and that would mean no mobile phone. we can see how attached i've become to the darn thing.

so fine, got my charger and made my way to the bus stop to make the last leg of my journey. i love the bus route to my house. it goes through the georgian quarter, past all of the old merchant houses on princes park road and croxteth drive, but some of the people who board this bus have no apparent respect for their fellow passengers.

this poor woman with a buggy was trying to get on the bus and *no one* was letting her get on! i was getting to the point where i was about to ask everyone where their unique british sense of the queuing system was, but she finally made it on.

another woman with a pram gets on after i've sat near the back and does this one able-bodied lady move so that the mother can sit down next to the pram? no, she just stays there desperately looking away.

last i checked, there were signs up without words...only pictures folks...so that people understood who got priority: the elderly, physically disabled, mothers and pregnant women. definitely one of my pet peeves.

normality

last week felt very *normal*. i didn't do anything special, but there were quite a few notable things...especially movies.

if you haven't done so yet, go and see a mighty heart the movie about daniel pearl, the american journalist who was kidnapped and killed in pakistan. it's extremely emotive and angelina jolie is nothing like she normally is.

and if you have an independent cinema nearby you *must* go see two days in paris. it is absolutely hilarious and perfect, tells all the bits about relationships that no one ever wants to see or talk about except for with their partner, and is an amazing directorial/writing debut for julie delphy whom i've loved for years for the before sunrise/sunset films.

i did do things other than sit in dark rooms and watch moving pictures though. went to a retirement party for one of the staff members at the gallery who worked here for 27 years - yes, longer than i've been alive - which was great fun. there was a wine club *meeting* on saturday night, this time choosing italy, so davoud and i made tiramisu for the occasion. can't remember the name of the winning wine, but i'll try and post it once the list is sent out to us.

on sunday we found ourselves in ikea because i was having the my-apartment-is-too-small-and-no-longer-functional-or-personal breakdown so invested in a bit more storage and some fabric for cushions and placemats.

looking forward to another normal week and thanksgiving dinner this coming weekend! get yer vegetable peelers at the ready...

my queen umbrella

about a month ago amidst the many rainfalls of summer i invested in a dome umbrella. one that covers virtually the entire top half of my body and is perfect for keeping me as dry as possible. it's clear plastic so i can see straight through it at any oncoming golf umbrellas taking up the sidewalk/pavement with only one person underneath (one of my personal pet peeves). there is a black trim around the bottom and the handle is shiny black plastic; quite classy really.

i like the fact that my umbrella is only big enough for one. i rarely walk down the street with anyone else - sad i know - so i feel like bubble boy when i'm parading around with my pretty parasol.

when i told my mum about this brolly, she exclaimed "you have an umbrella just like the queen?" well yes, i suppose i do. except i'm still not quite sure how the queen discerns facial features through it as she greets her well wishers because i probably wouldn't recognise my nearest and dearest coming towards me on the street walking around with this thing.

but it does make rainy days like this one so much more tolerable.

and appropriate that i'm using my queen umbrella on the day of a *minor* royal visit to the gallery. the duke of kent will be visiting us this afternoon, so i had to iron my clothes. i knew my grandma taught me how to curtsy all those years ago for a reason.

davoud's birthday

it was davoud's birthday on friday and for those of you who are curious, he was 29...just entered his thirtieth year! his mum and i pointed out to him sunday that he really should be wearing sunscreen as the sun will age you quicker ;) just teasin!

we had a party at the house on friday night to celebrate and there was quite the gang there. luckily it didn't rain so we were able to bring the bbq out, although i did make a couple salads and some healthy dips for those not wanting to indulge in meat. there were also two very lovely cakes if i do say so myself - a chocolate cheesecake and chocolate orange cake.

(the garden we worked so hard on in the spring)

val, paul and harriet even came down from liverpool. so val and paul slept in frank on the driveway and harriet slept in the newly decorated junk room that's not so junk filled any more. and poor nick slept on the sofa...

it didn't take too long to recover on saturday since i had a 4 hour nap, but i have officially lost my ability to drink like i used to. and i don't think this is such a bad thing. it means i'm a cheap date, but also that i'm not drinking nearly as much as i used to ;)