This week I decided to finally give the fish pedicure a go and I am so pleased that I did.  As I walked in to the beautifully purple and black decorated salon called Tootsies in Kent and went up to the desk, I thought about backing out but no I was here now, I was going to at least try it.  The prices are £10 for 10 minutes, £15 for 20 minutes or £20 for 35 minutes.  You are also given a loyalty card which once you collect six stamps, entitles you to 10 minutes free.  In for a penny, in for a pound I thought so stuck myself down for 35 minutes.  You are asked to fill in a questionnaire listing any health problems and signing to say you have no open cuts or fungal infections on your feet.  You are then directed to a shower tray to rinse off your feet and are provided with a pair of sterile flip flops to wear.  I climbed up on to the seat above the tank which has an inbuilt state of the art water filtration system, took a deep breath and placed my feet in.  At first the sensation was extremely odd as the fish flocked around my feet but after about 5 minutes it became quite relaxing and felt much like having your feet in a vibrating foot spa.  The Garra Rufa fish which are native to Turkey nibble off any hard or dead skin.  They have no teeth so it doesn’t hurt; they just suck at the skin.  I think after 35 minutes with my feet, which an ex referred too as reptile feet due to their hard skin, the fish must have been full up for about a week!  My boyfriend even joked that when he walked past later they had a sign up saying closed as fish are full!  As you take your feet out of the tank, the fish just drop off.  The salon then gives you some moisturising collagen gel to finish off.  My feet felt so refreshed and smooth and soft.  I would definitely recommend the experience and go again myself.  In the future they will also be providing conventional pedicures including painting toe nails which may be nice to do after the fish.

http://www.tootsiespedispa.com/

Whilst I was having the fish pedicure, I flicked through some magazines and spotted a gorgeous pair of Jimmy Choo heels in lime green; a snip at £695, lol.  I rushed home to check our Euro Millions numbers, in the hope of going out and buying many pairs of Jimmy Choo’s for my newly smooth feet; but sadly of our 11 lines at work, we hadn’t won with any.

This week also saw my best friend who is getting married in 4 weeks and us 3 bridesmaids meeting up round at her house with the hairdresser, hoping to choose her style and ours.  I think we finally found a winner for her but I think us bridesmaids are still deciding.  What was very interesting was to watch the hairdresser curl my friends hair with GHD straightners, I have always wanted to be able to do this but never mastered it, perhaps because my straightners are Morphy Richards rather than GHD, but they look the same and would have cost nearly as much had it not been for the sale they were in.  Perhaps I will ask nicely for GHD’s for my upcoming birthday.

In case any of you are wondering, Rufus seems to be much better so fingers crossed we have seen the last of the vets for a while.

The rest of my Saturday was spent making my niece’s 2^nd birthday cake as it’s a joint celebration for her christening, birthday and brother’s birthday tomorrow.  I chose to do Hickory Dickory Dock.  It’s the most adventurous cake I have attempted so far.  I was quite pleased with the outcome although the kitchen was left looking like a snow storm had come down, with a dusting of icing sugar everywhere!  Talking of which I better go and clean it up.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

After assembling all the furniture from Ikea, I finally decided to unpack. This was exactly what I did at University, put off unpacking in an effort not to quite accept the change.  Was enjoying having my own space but missing home too.  We happened to pop into a pet shop one day on our travels as we often did and I fell in love with a rabbit that needed re-homing called Rufus.  I worked hard on persuading my boyfriend we should get him but he wasn’t giving in.  I felt if I had a rabbit to tie me to the place, it would stop me getting freaked and running home.  Anyway after watching the film Serendipity, an idea formed in my head, after all Serendipity means a fortunate accident!

On Thursday morning I said to my boyfriend, if Rufus is still at the pet shop at the end of today then I am meant to have him.  He agreed to my surprise, not that I left him a lot of room to manoeuvre!  When we arrived at the pet shop, I ran in, only to find that the enclosure Rufus had been in was now filled with new baby rabbits.  My heart sank and then thankfully we found him in a different cage in the adoption centre.  We got him home and my boyfriend lovingly put the hutch together.  Now we were a proper family!

Finally at almost 28 I have made the decision to leave home.  Many of you will think about time (not least my parents! Lol!)  University had been a holiday from home really as I only stuck it out 3 months at Newcastle and ended up doing an Open University degree later.  Therefore this was to be my first real break from home.  My parents hadn’t even as much as moved house during my lifetime so to me this was somewhat of a big deal.  Not only would I be leaving home but I would be living with a boyfriend for the first time and moving areas to be further fromLondon.  Would I actually manage it this time after numerous failed attempts; I think my family were placing their bets shall we say.  There had been the attempted house purchase with my ex some 7 years ago which my cold feet for had probably finished off the relationship.  Then even in this current relationship I had said I would move in Christmas 2009 but I had backed out for want of being engaged first.  Then we were halted again the Christmas just gone when a hospital trip meant that the decorating of the bedroom was not finished.  All of these of course had some how been used to create an obstacle to the leaving home. So now we are here and I needed to pack but I kept putting it off.  Suddenly watching daytime television was all important.  My parents were also losing my brother at the same time virtually and I think despite the problems we both cause at times, Mum was rather sad to see us go.  As I looked round my room, I wondered where I should start in packing up my life.  It’s amazing how much stuff you actually accumulate.  When you start to go through it, old memories are aroused and before you know it an hour of packing time has been wasted looking at photos of drunken nights out and reading letters.  How would my boyfriend react to my shoe collection?  Maybe I should leave some at home and introduce them gradually.  Was it appropriate to take my childhood doll?  Anyway eventually I managed to pack some bits; amazingly the drawers were still full despite a suitcase full of clothes.  When it was all done, I looked around with some sadness and realised this was it, I was to wave goodbye to my childhood once and for all.  As my boyfriend drove us away, tears pricked my eyes.  I knew it was stupid and I couldn’t expect him to understand.  I was looking forward to our future but was grieving for my past.