Mrs Slimmon's Day!

Yesterday was my lovely friend Helen/Broadie/Mrs Slimmon's birthday!

As Helen is a superb culinary whiz there were dessert themed toiletry gifts for her in my office - accompanied by several chocolate marshmallow teacakes!

 

In honour of the occassion you can view a selection of previous posts featuring the birthday gal here!

(Helen features in a lot more posts which would be visible if only I'd remember to add tags to my posts - yes, I tagged her in this one!)

Extremely Lovely Tuesday!

Well done Helen on your commendation - how extremely lovely!

I'm afraid that's all folks!

Ah, except to say please, please VOTE for Nelly (my friend's rabbit) in the Britain's Cutest Bunny on Facebook competition!  How can you possibly resist the 'extremely lovely' photo?!

.

Another Wonderful Wednesday!

Ah, back in the office and back to reality (sorry, did I use 'office' and 'reality' in the same sentence, my mistake!)

Wonderful was...............................................

hearing from someone who's been incommunicado for a few days
getting a lift home in the rain on the day I'd forgotten my coat (thanks Helen)
finally confirming a table for my birthday celebrations
Boss threatening to send me a sardine in the post (all will be revealed on 'Make the Impossible Possible Day')
roast day at work (yep, I'm really scraping the bottom of the barrel today)


Not so wonderful was.....................................

painful facebook posts (must stop my stalkerish behaviour)
the current sad circumstances of a very dear friend

(and yes, the more observant of you may have noticed I'm a couple of days behind in posting)

.

Lie on the Grass Day!

Ok, playing a little catch up again.

Thursday was supposed to be lie on the grass day, I was supposed to be off work and visiting the Great Yorkshire Show (surely there'd be plenty of opportunity to lie on the grass?!).  Unfortunately it turned out the people I do volunteer work for were oversubscibed and they didn't need me so, at the suggestion of Helen, Thursday off work was traded for Friday.

As the sun was making an appearance and I was feeling just a tad restless (for 'tad' read 'wanting to tear my own skin off') I suggested a trip to Knaresborough and we had a picnic at the castle and spent the afternoon reading mindless magazines, which was kind of relaxing in that it felt like I'd actually left the planet for a very long time by the time I'd flicked through 4 of them!

I wanted to make the word 'lie' on the grass with people but didn't feel up to convincing 9 strangers to go along with my craziness so settled for this instead..................

.

Don't Worry About Anything Day!

Well, Don't Worry About Anything Day - your timing is impeccable.

So................................

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha (and breath) hahahhahahahahhahahahahaha

Yeah, maybe if this had been Don't Worry About Absolutely Everything day I might have stood a fighting chance - as it was there was only room to worry about one all-consuming thing.

On the plus side (silver lining to every cloud right?), I managed one of the extras for this month - technically I wasn't 'out' but I did stay 'up' (and hanging out the bedroom window, which is kind of 'out') till it was properly dark - in fact I watched it turn all the way back to light again.  Which brings to mind a line I read once in an old Mills and Boon book (misspent youth - and by the way I totally blame Mills and Boon, Hans Christian Anderson and any and all other fairy tale spinners for the fact that, in the words of my good friend Helen (Broadie), all women are stupid) - 'even on the darkest night of your life you can always chase the dawn'.

Oh, and welcome to Trinidad and Tobago, of all the things to break through the numbness Billy Ocean's birth place as my latest reader was the most welcome.

.

Sensational Saturday!

On Saturday, courtesy of Mr Gordon Ramsey, we enjoyed a 'Sensational' southeast asian feast! 

To start, bon viveur Mrs Slimmon (aka Helen, aka Broadie) presented a pre-dinner drink of her own invention christened The Cambodian Cooler (lime, pineapple, soda water and gin - if you're going to give it a try.................royalties can be paid directly to Mrs Slimmon) accompanied with spiced cashew nuts.

As ever, Mrs Slimmon had dressed the table beautifully and I just had to get a picture of these fabulous chopstick holders and also the amazing panda picture which unfortunately is far too big to try and sneak into my handbag (ok, they're not great pictures)!

For the main we moved on to a delicious Khmer chicken, coconut, aubergine and pumpkin curry, this was followed by a dessert of refreshing lime posset with raspberries.  I know it's impossible to believe with a mouth this big, but once you factor in my natural clumsiness it's not actually that surprising that I managed to drop some of this down my front, this pronmted Mr Slimmon to comment that certain people would pay money to see that kind of thing - to which Mrs Slimmon responded that I was a dinner guest and not for sploshing entertainment!

Dinner was rounded off with fresh coffee and Harrogate brewed Sambucos - a sensational evening had by all!!

.

Enthusiasm Day

Today is Enthusiasm Day!

Yay!

Ok, so it didn't start out Yay at all, I really wasn't feeling it, but by lunchtime it was heading in the right direction and now (21:55) I can honestly say I feel positively aglow with enthusiam!

Mr Bewley - you gave me my first (and second) giggle of the day
Ray - you're a silver lining
Boss - well, what can I say (Boss made me keep yelling 'Yay' into the phone until he was convinced I was saying it like I meant it!) - thank you!
Helen (aka Broadie) - I was enthusiastic about Helen bringing in some of her Anglo Italian Trifle (YAY!), Helen forgot the trifle but offered me a babybel instead, this was then downgraded to a sorry looking banana when she admitted to eating the Babybel (but she ate it enthusiastically!)!
Rob - indirectly you've been responsible for hours of enthusiasm this evening!
Kevin - thank you for ensuring the day ended on an enthusiastic note!

Now off to bed for me and my enthusiasm :-)

Night night, sweet dreams!

.

Think About Lovely Things Day!

Today (actually by the time this posts it'll probably be yesterday -anyway, Friday 2 July) is Think About Lovely Things Day!

Today I was the gatherer of lovely thoughts - this was a good day!

The simplest way to do this is just to list everyone's lovely thoughts so here goes!

Mine - that I'm so lucky to have a small group of really, really good friends (you know who you are), having an amazing time with a chap who may possibly be pretty amazing himself (you also know who you are), seeing Bernie tonight (I hope you know who you are!), my Dad's back from France today (I hope I know who you are lol!), spending a few days with the mentally challenged one (everyone knows who you are!), Jimmy's improvement (aka Conehead), taking part in the midnight walk tomorrow (well, technically later today!)
Paul - living on Chatham Islands (google it - beautiful!)
Denis - a sunny Friday afternoon finish
Bryan - going on holiday in a week
Sarah - New Sony Ericsson Xperia and off work til Wednesday
Ray - I week until 3 weeks leave in Paris, lovely sunny day tomorrow, Brian may be back at work next week, going for tea break in 10 minutes (again, at the time of the gathering)
Elaine - Saturday tomorrow, the canaries have laid 2 eggs, Nelly settling in nicely



Just in case there's any confusion - this is Nelly (nothing to do with the canaries!)







Lyn - gets to Skype with her grandson, Jed, tonight!




Myles - 12.30 finish
Cathryn - going to Graveley's for her birthday tea tonight
Rob - the look of satisfaction on the face of the monkey driving a tank (don't ask!)
Bernie - looking forward to an evening with big sis (that's me!) and lots of wine
Broadie - having a good friend over for a meal and Anglo Italian trifle!!
John S - the weekend
Alan R - going on a bike ride this weekend, son finishing work experience (I'm sure Alan also meant to include getting home and trying his new VPN key lol!)
Keith - outdoor 'As You Like It' tomorrow and Alice's cake next week!

Lots of lovely thoughts! Now I'm going to go and work on my bucket list I think, see you tomorrow (Snoozy Saturday)!

Stroke a Kitten Day

Wednesday 19 May was Stroke a Kitten Day (puppies also acceptable!)

I thought it would probably not be a good idea to string kittens up on the hooks in the office so instead decided to take Robocat into work with me to substitute as the 'kitten'! Despite being mistaken for a dog on 4 occasions (I would say 2 is a good day for me lol) I think Robocat did an admirable job, as well as providing some amusement in various offices, particularly when wearing my bunny ear 'wings'!

Robocat's 'flight suit' and Paul Pickering stroking the kitten!




















I went to Broadie and Bill's for tea and introduced Robocat to Mindy the cat......

'Um, and what exactly is this supposed to be?'

'What are you staring at?'

'Let me tell you a secret.....'

Luckily Helen (aka Broadie!) was much more willing to particpate in the spirit of things!

Simple Pleasures Day

Thursday 13 May is Simple Pleasures Day!

There's nothing simple about my pleasures!

That said, I have taken pleasure in the simple things today;

Walking to work in the glorious sunshine at 7am this morning
Having a productive day at work
Receiving an unexpected card from a friend
Finally figuring something out after 15 months of trying to get it right
Arranging to spend some time with a friend I haven't had a proper catch up with in a while
Having a favourite childhood meal for dinner
Curling up on the sofa and watching a film with Rosie n Jim
Having a long hot soak in the bath with a large glass of red wine and a good book
Bed!

Ok, I haven't done the last 3 yet but that's the plan!

St George's Day

Friday 23 April was St George's Day


Ok, so I could go on and on about the history of St George's Day, real and mythical, but I won't! If you want to know more that's what Google and Wikipedia are for!

The best site I found for a, brief, overview was this one - it's an organisation campaigning for St George's day to be made a bank holiday, sounds like a plan to me!

http://www.stgeorgesholiday.com/st_george.asp

Thank you to Broadie (decoration supplier extraordinaire!) for supplying the office decorations!


Denis and Martin - they were dancing, really dancing, before I took the photo!









Office plant Bob hates to miss a celebration!

Pamper Yourself Day 1

Yay! So, Thursday 21 January was the first pamper yourself day (is it just me or would this be a better idea on a weekend??), as it was a working week day I took a few bits and pieces in to pamper myself with at my desk. The peel off face mask was a moderate success (note to self - never remove a peel off face mask without the use of a mirror, this will avoid you sitting at your desk looking like you've eaten cobwebs for breakfast (and mostly missed your mouth in the process)), the hand cream and white cotton moisturing gloves were much less problematic and strangely comforting at work?!

Than, as it was Thursday, it was off to line dancing with Broadie! I'm classing this as pampering myself because it's about 6 weeks since I last went and it always makes me feel good! And to top it all off I pampered myself with a chinese takeaway, smothered myself top to toe in super moisturising cream (and wore the special cotton gloves and socks) and went to bed!

Power Ballad Day!

Today is Power Ballad Day, being a little under-prepared (I need to start planning in advance for these days!) I decided to acknowledge and celebrate the day by using as many power ballad song titles and lyrics as possible in conversation etc throughout the day. This proved quite difficult as the continuing weather issues and resulting reduced workforce has impacted on the opportunity to have conversations, however this did provide opportunity to use 'With or without you', 'Here I go again on my own' and 'Alone'!

Boss made great effort (and kept me entertained) with his support of the occassion via telephone including some classic Chicago lyrics! 'Keeping the dream alive' came in useful on several occasions when dealing with ongoing, going nowhere tasks and John Parr's St Elmo's Fire (Man in motion) entertained Broadie and I on the way home! I did try but unfortunately couldn't fit in anything from Eye of the tiger though!

So, that was Power Ballad Day that was, 'If I could turn back time' (see what I did there?!) I'd be better prepared!

BTW - 'Who wants to live forever?' is NOT an appropriate comment for a Personal Safety meeting!