Archive | June 2011

A Sight For Sore Eyes

Have you ever wondered if anyone uses the St John’s Ambulance at big events? Well I did at Wimbledon this week. My eyes were hurting so much and my sight distorted so I was struggling to see the ball; a bit of a disadvantage when watching tennis! A lovely guy went through my symptoms, even with my blurred vision; I could tell he was fit. A lady then administered a saline wash. She asked if my mascara was waterproof and when I said no, she said well its not running, so I informed her it was Chanel and she said the girl knows what she is doing! Later that evening, I ended up at casualty as my eyes were even more painful. Someone at this hospital had a warped sense of humour; they had Holby City on in the waiting room, just what you want to be watching. I’m telling you though A&E can be quite entertaining and certainly a good place for people watching. When I was up there with my boyfriend at Christmas, there was a bloke who could only hop as he had injured his foot but still managed to hop outside about 5 times in 2 hours for cigarettes! There was the drunken girl who started off saying she hadn’t drunk anything and then each time a different person asked her, the amount of drinks increased. Then there was the guy dressed as a woman – even the lady on the tea bar couldn’t keep a straight face at that one! This time there was a drunk, abusive guy who was eventually arrested along with a guy who had hit his finger with a hammer and his family were frightening him with horror stories of what might happen and another guy clutching a rather private area!

Saturday brought a rather better reason to visit a hospital; my gorgeous new baby niece was born. My brother and his girlfriend are such proud parents. As I gave her a cuddle I marvelled at the small but perfectly formed finger nails. I wondered what she was dreaming about. The innocence of a new baby is so lovely, they don’t have a care in the world and everything is new and exciting. Children embrace change whilst adults resist it. As I tickled her tiny feet, I thought how much fun I would have buying her shoes. Talking of which, getting back to my toddler niece who already has a passion for shoes; my boyfriends sister tried to give me a pair of shoes for the new baby that her daughter had grown out of but she was having none of it; whether they fitted or not, there was no way she was going to be parted from her shoes. To be fair I can understand it, I wouldn’t want to part with any of my shoes; even the ones that cripple me!

Sunday’s heat meant a trip to a different kind of medical place; the vets. Poor old Rufus was not coping well at all with our newly found summer. Turns out he has a problem with his teeth too so he has got to go in for an operation on Wednesday. Fingers crossed he will survive the anaesthetic as the vet hardly put your mind at ease when he said it was very risky for rabbits to be anaesthetised.

This Thursday I will be revisiting the eye hospital and hopefully that will then draw a close to the frequent visits to hospitals and vets. After this week, I think I have seen enough for a very long time!

Broke and Home Alone!

Jun19

I checked my bank balance last Saturday and wished I hadn’t, it was not a pleasant surprise shall we say and still two weeks until payday! What made it even worse was that it was only that morning I had taken scissors to my credit card. It had been a necessary operation, not least to protect my relationship! (Note to self, sneak in last parcel very carefully and when wear the playsuit and/or wedges make sure at least £10 is knocked off their price!) Women have been doing this trick for years; men just don’t recognize good investments when they see them! A girl at work also suggested another good tip; when they say they haven’t seen an outfit before just say, ‘I’ve had it for ages, you mean you have never noticed me wearing it before?’ Trigger a guilt felt apology and your secret is safe. Why is it when you have no money it becomes even more of an urge to buy? Emails promising 20% off shoes and free delivery keep hitting my inbox. The latest addition of Glamour arrived and advertised a website called Vivien of Holloway which sells vintage clothes. I have already fallen in love with a 50’s style dress on there which could hopefully flatten even my curvaceous figure (as my boyfriend delicately puts it.) Asos is auctioning Cheryl Cole’s outfits and the biggest sale in the news at the moment is Marilyn Monroe’s iconic dress from the film ‘The Seven Year Itch’ which has sold at auction for $4.6 million. Its torture I tell you.

My boyfriend had to go away for this week to work. You would think that this would be a nice bit of space from each other but in reality it was horrible. Suddenly I had a whole house to rattle around in with only Rufus for company. Don’t get me wrong, I love Rufus to bits but he can’t protect me from would be burglars!

Burglars were the least of my worries it turns out. I had a very different kind of intruder to deal with, an unwelcome visit from a slug. There I was making my hot chocolate before bed in my pyjamas, not bothering to put the kitchen light on (I know old age is setting in, lol) and then I saw it out of the corner of my eye on the floor; it was mere luck I hadn’t inadvertently stepped on it. Panic rushed through me, I hate the slimy things and there was no boyfriend to call to deal with it. I grabbed the salt out of the cupboard and showered it with it. Mean I know but at least it stopped it in its silvery tracks. I then shoveled it outside and cleaned the floor. I half expected to come down to more in the morning but thankfully it seems to have been a lone ranger. I had to put the bins out myself too. Isn’t it funny how despite our feminism; there are still certain jobs we class as the mans? My boyfriend shares the cooking and the housework whilst I assist in the DIY, albeit usually getting more paint on myself than the walls! When it comes to the spider removal, the bins and other dirty jobs though we still call on the man! My boyfriend is my hero.

Absence definitely made the heart grow fonder in both our cases. We went out this Saturday evening with another couple to enjoy a meal at TGI Fridays and the next installment of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.’ The film was certainly not a let down, just as good as the other three in my opinion and Johnny Depp still looks just as sexy as Captain Jack Sparrow; we know we shouldn’t fancy someone dressed as a pirate but we cannot help ourselves.

Talking of our male hero’s, today is Fathers Day. What better time for us to celebrate the first man in our lives? My Dad was always able to wipe my tears away, fix my toys and make the world seem a better place. Even now I call on him for certain jobs, such as wallpapering and building a book case. He did kind of talk himself into these jobs though when he commented ‘that’s not difficult at all!’ My brother and I often refer to him as the oracle as he can generally answer any question or if he can’t, knows where to look for the answer. In recent years even Dad’s fashion has improved. I never thought I would see the day he wore a pair of jeans; this was the man who used to wear a shirt and tie to the beach! They do say that women look for a man with qualities like their father and men look for women with qualities like their mother. I’m not sure how true this is but I will say my boyfriend, like my Dad is pretty good with his DIY and not so hot on fashion, lol!

Anyway I will sign off here, Happy Fathers Day Dad.

Graduating in Heels

Jun5

Well it’s been an eventful couple of weeks. On Saturday I attended my graduation ceremony in Ely and the LK Bennett shoes had their first and most likely their last outing! They were very comfortable and I did feel wonderful in them but I was so worried about damaging them. Little did I realize that the powers at be would put the official car park in a field! Don’t they realize girls wear heels? I managed to find the most wonderful pair of cufflinks in the shape of high heeled shoes to wear with my smart white shirt too. My boyfriend asked what they were and when I said shoes, he said ‘of course, what else?’ So much planning and anticipation goes into this day and ultimately you have about one minute of fame which I barely remember as I was concentrating so much on not tripping over! It really was a wonderful celebration of the five years that I have studied through the Open University though. As I tossed my mortar board in the air at the end, I reflected on the achievement I had made.

Unfortunately my graduation clashed with my best friends hen weekend so last weekend I took her on a spa break as a surprise to make up for it. We had a wonderful pampered, girly weekend. We both had manicures and scalp massages. I must share with you one anecdote; at dinner we were looking through the photos from the day and we got to the pictures in the sauna. My friend said she looked sweaty and shiny and I pointed out to her that she was in a sauna; if she didn’t look sweaty there would have been something wrong with her! On the way home by train, as a nice end to the weekend, we were drinking Prosecco. Drinking that early in the day was not good, especially as I had to negotiate stairs in heels in order to change trains!

Now after a relaxing spa break, I got thinking about other pampering things I could indulge in. Despite loving my shoes, my feet have always been one of the most hated parts of my body. I am really tempted to try this new craze of a fish pedicure. Garra Rufa fish have no teeth. They originate from Turkey and suck away at the dead skin, leaving feet soft and regenerated. There have however been some questions over the possibility of them spreading infection so as yet I am still weighing up the options! Has anyone tried it?

I will leave you with a story of my niece who is not yet two. She regularly tries on my shoes and despite having a limited vocabulary at the moment, she has learnt the word ‘shoe’; evidently I am training her well! A girl is never too young to start her love affair with shoes. Maybe one day she will be graduating in a pair of shoes she too is frightened to damage!