I think I've cottoned on to why I go for so long between writing entries - I don't have much time to post when things are interesting so when I do have time to post, there's that much to write about and, being the lazy sod I am, I end up putting it off. I do keep up with my Friends Page when I can but I often don't really comment a lot of the time because I can't think of anything constructive/useful/interesting to say at all or that hasn't already been said. I'm not trying to make excuses - I'm just generally crap at this I think.

Well, since I last posted my nephew has made his entrance into the world. He was born at the beginning of December in the early hours of the morning (of course) after 2 or 3 days of labour. 5 months on and he's really coming on well and such a cute little personality coming through. He babbles away in baby talk all the time and has the cutest, cheekiest little grin so there is no way he's going to be shy at all. He's starting teething in the last few weeks which has meant many disturbed nights for Big Sis and Brother-in-Law although it seems to be settling a bit now.

We now know what's wrong with our cat, Maisie, as well. It turns out she's highly allergic to dust mites. So allergic in fact that all the stuff you would normally do to try and reduce the level of dust mites would make no difference to her. The vet has put her on a course of immunotherapy to try and de-sensitise her. So far it seems to be working because she's not really over-grooming as badly anymore and hopefully it might stop. We've been trying to encourage her to go out more to give her a break from the allergens but she seems to be a fair-weather cat and with Scottish weather being what it is, we have our work cut out for us there.

I'm feeling extremely happy just now because I finally got hold of tickets to see Take That at Hampden Park next month! I could only afford the cheapest tickets available so the seats will probably be terrible (it's a stadium gig after all) but I don't care. It's been 14 years since I was last at one of their concerts and I can't wait!

There's loads more I could write about but but I feel this entry is already in danger of becoming a teal dear. I'll hopefully get round to touching on some of it in other entries.

Yes, I have quite a bit of TV to catch up on and a fair few books to read, not to mention the odd bit of housework but I've decided I'll post here instead ('cuz that's how I roll.....apparently).

Anyway, I had a fab birthday. I have lots of lovely new clothes, jewellery as well as some DVDs and the aforementioned books that are waiting to be read. The best part is that I've been aware of (via cleolinda's LJ) the Twilight phenomenon - and the amount of batshit crazy fanwank that has gone with it (sorry but there's no other way to descibe it). Having read cleolinda's recaps, I must admit that I have been kinda perversely interested in reading the books for myself. Well, Big Sis must have read my mind because one of the things she got me was the first book so I get my wish. She also got me the DVD of Secret Smile and I got the usual case of wine from Dad so there's the makings of a few great lazy weekends right there!

Last night was the IF.comedy awards at the Assembly Rooms, for which Ollie had managed to win two free tickets through his work. For those who might not know, these are awarded to comedy acts in the Edinburgh Fringe festival. They used to be known as the Perrier awards and there are two of them - the main award and a 'Best Newcomer' award. The awards had already been announced and given out so the evening consisted of the winners of the awards, plus a couple of the nominees doing a shortened version of their show. The nominees we saw were actually my favourites of the night. All four acts were very funny though and the compere was also pretty good so all in all, it was a great night out.

On the cat front, two weeks on and Maisie seems to be well settled in and perfectly happy around us - until yesterday. Ollie had the day off work yesterday so I made an appointment at the vet for Maisie to get her vaccinations and also get her chipped. She hates her carry box with a passion so putting her in there to take her to the vet made her very unhappy from the get go. She apparently didn't seem to notice the vaccination but definitely seemed to find the chipping more uncomfortable than they claim it should be. Cue Maisie being very unhappy, spending the entirety of last night hiding under the bed and not really letting us pet her at all. We seem to have been forgiven now though.

So just spent last night and tonight immersed in the finest cracktastic archaeological/treasure hunting themed viewing entertainment available. Ollie came in from work tonight having bought a few DVDs on his lunchbreak today, one of them being the second "National Treasure" film, which is always good a for a laugh so we sat down and watched it. It's a bit out there but that's why we love it.

The other bit of cracky, archaeological fun came from the finale of Bonekickers. There really is not enough *facepalm* and "WTF?" to go around, it was so delightfully silly with some bloody obvious and highly cheesy moments. Having said that, there were a couple of pretty good dramatic scenes showing a very different (yet just as awesome) side of our favourite character. We were laughing so much that Maisie decided she'd had enough at one point and hid out under our bed for a while to get away from the crazy humans.

Speaking of Maisie, I have a couple of pics of her taken on my phone. They're kinda blurry because she wouldn't stay still long enough and always moved just at the moment the picture was being taken. Nevertheless.....( here she is )

Cute isn't she? She's got some bald patches from where she's been pulling out her fur through stress from not being able to go out. She should hopefully stop once we're able to let her out but she's still doing it at the moment. It kinda makes me feel bad that we can't let her out just yet but she needs to get used to the idea of our flat as her home first. She seems happy enough with us though and she's not off her food or anything so I guess that's the main thing.

Anyway, getting tired and need to go to bed now. Night, night!

I've been talking to Ollie for ages about getting a cat. We can't get a dog because we're out at work all day but we both agreed a cat would be a better option for us because they're a lot more self-sufficient. As a surprise for my birthday, Ollie arranged for us to take in a cat. Her name is Maisie, she's 8 years old, black/dark brown and white and very cute. She is having to be re-homed because her owners recently moved but she's been very unhappy there because she hasn't been able to get outside as they live in a first floor flat that isn't a main door flat. She's alright about being on her own during the day and only likes to go out for a little while every few days or so so she's perfect for us.

The owners brought her 'round tonight and she semed to take to us and our place quite well so they were happpy for us to have her. We're all sorted with litter tray, a few toys and some food but we're gonna get a few more things (like a scratching post) after work tomorrow. I gave her a few treats and she came up for a bit of a cuddle earlier while I was watching TV but she's very forceful about letting you know when she's had enough attention but that might just be until she gets a bit more used to us.

In my defence, life kind got in the way. Since I last posted so much has happened so I guess I'll just give the main highlights

• I now have a hearing aid for my left ear because the hearing loss apparently got worse enough to warrant it;
• I had an amazing day as bridesmaid for Sis-in-Law (who made an absolutely stunning bride);
• My job extended at work to include a second director to be Secretary for which is certainly keeping me on my toes;
• I finished my HNC in Business at college, which I passed and got the certificate in the post today which made me kinda happy;
• Ollie and I are kinda skint after shelling out some serious money for some home improvements but it'll be worth it in the long run;
• Ollie and I had our first wedding anniversary last month and, unlike at the wedding,  I was actually able to enjoy the meal we went out for.

Onto more recent happenings - in the last couple of weeks or so, I have discovered the music of the Lord of the Rings musical and am currently in love with "Lothlorén" and "Now and For Always" - fantastic songs.   Carrying on the musicals theme, I'm off to see Mamma Mia at the cinema tomorrow night with a friend from work which I'm really looking forward to - I've never seen it on stage but I've heard it's brilliant and the film looks good from the clips I've seen.

The best and most exciting bit of news I'm saving 'til last though - I'M GONNA BE AN AUNTIE!!!!  Big Sis is about 18 weeks pregnant and the baby is due in December.  I think I'm almost as excited as she is, if that's even possible.  The whole family is totally ecstatic for her and we're all gonna spoil this baby rotten.  I could wibble on about this for ages but I'll spare you that.  I'll no doubt bore you all with stories when the wee one eventually makes their appearance.

Anyway, that's all for now.  Here's hoping I can start posting more regularly again  - but then I always say that don't I?

Went to see the matinee of Blood Brothers on Saturday and it was absolutely amazing. I keep forgetting how much I love that show. Keith Burns was the narrator again which makes it the 3rd time I've seen him in that role and, yet again, he was fantastic. Antony Costa (of 'Blue' fame) was playing Mickey which I was somewhat intrigued to see. His singing wasn't the best but he was a brilliant actor and his comic timing was spot on. The rest of the cast were all great too. The guy playing Eddie nailed the big romantic song, "Saying A Word", and the women playing Linda and Mrs Johnstone blew me away and were just heartbreaking to watch during the finale. I realise if you've never seen the show, this all means nothing to you but if you haven't seen it, go if you can! Seriously, it's the kind of show that people who hate musicals love despite themselves because it just draws you in.

The rest of the weekend was pretty fab too. Spent Friday night at the Theatre Royal bar celebrating a friend's birthday which was a fun night. After the matinee of Blood Brothers, I went to see Stardust with out0fcontrol, krystal_planet and a whole crowd of people. Fantastic film although I come from the angle of not having read the book so I had no preconceived ideas. I'll not spoil it for those still to see it but what I will say is that you'll probably never look at Robert De Niro in the same way again.

In other news, I finally got my Agenda for Change backpay. I'll admit it was slightly less than I was hoping I'd get but let's just say I can now finally get round to buying new glasses, treat myself to an iPod and still have plenty over to ensure I don't have to worry about Christmas shopping so....woo hoo!

I'm also off to Newcastle this weekend to visit Geordie Mate from Uni as it was her birthday recently so to celebrate, we're going to a Murder Mystery evening. I've never been to one before so I'm really looking forward to it. As it's the weekend before Hallowe'en, we've to go in fancy dress and I'm toying with the idea of going as Glinda (á la 'Popular' in Wicked) or getting a cheerleader outfit and a fake wooden stake and going as Buffy. Then again, I might just get a pirate wench costume.......

Well, I didn't get around to turning the wedding website into a gallery quite yet, mainly because the space I was given by Yahoo Geocities only holds a fraction of the photos (quelle surprise) and I've basically just been too lazy. I have some of the photos on my Facebook and Bebo pages although that set of photos is set to friends only because I wanted to be careful about copyright & stuff. So if you have an account on either of those sites and want to add me to have a look, you can find me by looking me up under my @yahoo.co.uk address (you can find the start of the address as the Yahoo ID listed on my profile).

Aside from that, what else is new? I don't think I mentioned it in the last post but on arriving back from honeymoon, Sis-in-Law announced she'd got engaged and is getting married on Good Friday next year. I've been asked to be a bridesmaid (or should I say Matron of Honour since I'm married) so hen-do planning is now underway and I have to keep up the good work I started at Scottish Slimmers to fit into a dress again. I'm so excited and pleased for her, her hubby to be is a really nice guy.

On the am-dram side of life, I'm not going to be in the Tempo production of Witches of Eastwick which I was really disappointed about because it seems like an amazing show to do. On the plus side though, not getting into that left me free to do the CreativeSpAce Robin Hood pantomime and I'm playing Maid Marion! We're using Gilbert and Sullivan songs so I'm getting to sing 'Three Little Maids' which is a fun song to do. I also get my first solo in a show, 'Alone and Yet Alive' (which has a high note very, very close to the top end of my range so that's a challenge).

Ollie and I also joined a choir recently which has been interesting to say the least. The people in the choir are lovely but I'm struggling a bit with the harmonies as the songs aren't notebashed thoroughly as I'm used to but I'm hoping it might actually help me in the end as I've always been a bit slow in picking up harmonies. At least I'm getting some sort of regular singing practice in.

Well, it's happened now. I'm officially a Mrs! For those who don't know, since I last posted I've had two amazing Hen "Do"s. The first was a very fun weekend in a hotel in Perth which involved a quiz on how well I knew Ollie, a couple of silly T-Shirts and deely-boppers, lots of alcohol and dancing. The second was a night out here in Edinburgh starting off with a meal at an Italian restaurant (with extremely flirtatious waiters and interestingly shaped garlic bread) and then on to a pub for drinking and dancing - all while wearing yet more silly deely-boppers.

The wedding day was fantastic. I could write bucket-loads on it but at the same time, I don't think I could adequately do it justice so I'll just give the main highlights. The ceremony was mostly incident free although Ollie and his best man bozobaggins arrived at the chapel just as my bridesmaids arrived, mere minutes ahead of me...oh and Ollie picked up both rings when it came to the exchanging of rings which caused a brief moment of amusement as I attempted to get the ring I was supposed to give him. The meal was good although I had virtually no appetite and picked at the roast beef and veg on my plate. The speeches were fantastic (especially considering how nervous my mum, my sister and Ollie were - you'd never have guessed it when they spoke). bozobaggins gave a brilliant best man's speech and also made good on his threat to use some rather embarrassing video footage he had of Ollie. The reception was great fun and I danced more that I thought I was going to be able to. The DJ seemed to have an interesting take on mixing the music but the dancefloor always had at least a few people on it. I was exhausted by the end of the night.

Once I've got all the photos they'll be going up on the wedding website but I have a few just as a taster for those who are interested....

( Going to the chapel....... )

I suffered so badly the next day with an upset stomach but it was over by the Monday for the flight out to Orlando. 10 days going 'round Disney and Universal Studios was so much fun and I even got up the courage to go on roller-coasters eventually (Revenge of the Mummy at Universal and Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom were the best!) and obviously, Pirates of the Carribean rocked too - now with added Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones! Star Wars weekend at MGM Studios was pretty cool. Jay Laga'aia gave a really witty, entertaining talk and Ollie got his picture taken with a Storm Trooper.

Anyway, I'm gonna go and fix up something to eat and get an early night as I'm not quite as over the jet-lag as I thought

Yup, by this time 9 weeks today Ollie and I will be married. The invitations are all out now so on that side of things I just need to keep track of the replies now. Ollie and I got the rings sorted out last weekend and I went out with Mum earlier this afternoon to do a bit of research on flowers and if I can use the florist we went to they should come in under budget - woo hoo!! Still got quite a few other things to organise but it's all coming together.

Not much else has been happening really. Work's actually going quite well at the moment. My appraisal earlier this week went really well. I'm also getting to act a secretary to one of the non-executive directors who's in part time which is good as it'll get me the experience I need to go for better paid positions when they come up without being majorly intense and stressful.

Well I'd better go and make a start on the curry I'm making for dinner - oh, and making truffles too (this may be important later on apparently).

Not long in from spending the afternoon with Big Sis just having lunch and catching up. As is usual, we wound up sharing a bottle of wine over lunch so I am slightly tipsy as wine tends to do that to me.

Well, since I last posted Ollie has got over his chest infection and is none the worse for wear although it took about 4 or 5 days for his temperature to get back to something resembling normal and he needed another course of antibiotics to get rid of it comepletely. He doesn't get ill often but when he does he doesn't do it by halves and I must admit, it did worry me slightly!

Apart from that not much else of note has happened 'cause I've been kept busy enough just doing the day to day stuff. I spent last Saturday afternoon catching up with the only friend from my WH Smith days that I've managed to keep in touch with. Her little boy is getting so big now and is quite a character. So cute but then, they all are when they're toddlers and you're not the one looking after them all day.

I'm all happy Doctor Who is back on TV - last night's episode was fab and from the trailers I've seen and info I've come across so far, this series is going to be fantastic. Slight problem in that the penultimate episode of this series is airing on the night of the wedding and the finale will be on while we're on honeymoon in Florida but hey, that's what the DVD-R is for.

Speaking of the wedding, the last lot of invitations are almost ready to go but I still need to get addresses for some people so I'd better make some calls tonight to get the ones I need. I've also now asked bozobaggins's daughter (aka LittlePrincess) to be a flowergirl and she's looking forward to it - admittedly that's mostly to do with the prospect of getting to wear a pretty dress for the day but she's excited nonetheless.

There's not really been all that much happening though so that's why it's been a couple of weeks or so. I'm kinda having to be nurse to Ollie at the moment because he's managed to catch a very nasty chest infection. He was really feverish last night (as in I hadn't seen fever so bad since Dad had pneumonia) and it was only at my insistance that he saw a doctor this morning as he kept saying it was "just a bug" - yeah right! The upshot is he's on anti-biotics which seem to be kicking in.

Anyway, prior to Ollie falling ill, he and I went out to see a local am-dram production of 'The Wizard of Oz' last Friday which was pretty good. We turned it into quite a night out with Mum, Step-dad, Big Sis, Mrs bozobaggins and others coming out with us. A good night was had by all. The cast were all good and the show went really well bar a few minor hitches which were covered up well. They also had local radio DJ/TV personality Grant Stott making a guest appearance as a narrator because it was a charity gala night. He was pretty funny and OK, I admit, I kinda fangirled at the fact he was holding a Grimmerie (the book about the musical of 'Wicked') as his prop reading book.....and I did it again when the Wicked Witch of the West was flying during the cyclone scene (although in my defense that part did look a bit like the staging for the end of 'Defying Gravity').

Speaking of funny and fangirling, this video of Terrence Mann performing 'The Rum Tum Tugger' from 'Cats' is fabulous and highly amusing! Very Tim Curry-esque.

In the world of wedding planning, we're just 94 days away from the big day (yes, I am now starting to count the time in days). The first wave of invitations went out earlier this week and should have arrived today. We decided to send them to everyone having to travel up from England first as flights and accommodation would obviously be a factor in whether they could make it or not. I'll send out the rest of the invitations in about 3 weeks' time and that part will be all over - just need to wait on the replies. Apparently there has been much planning of my hen weekend in Perth which I have obviously not been privy to. Eeep - what have I let myself in for? I know it won't be anything too bad but still, not knowing is making me a little nervous.

I need to get organised about my hen-do here in Edinburgh and soon but a meal and pub crawl shouldn't be too difficult to organise. denimtl, firelass, willowchrissy, out0fcontrol and cjstedham (if you're here at the time) - you're all invited to that by the way. It'll be on either the last Saturday in May or the first Saturday in June so just let me know when you can make it and what parts of the night you'd be up for (i.e. meal, pub crawl or both) so I can start planning.

I believe in the old saying "what's for you won't go by you" - that certain things are just fated to happen. It was something my Granny always used to say and I definitely think it's true.

Take my wedding dress for example, it's perfect for me and I love it but it was almost by chance I had gone to that shop on its sale weekend. I had seen the advert but I had honestly not really given it much attention and just glanced over it as I'd flicked through the free paper on the bus looking for the letters page. I'm bad at remembering things if they haven't been repeated to me and often but when Mum mentioned going out shopping for dresses I was able to tell her exactly which shop and where it was. In addition, that dress wouldn't have been left in the shop if it didn't sell in the sale - it would have been sent back to the supplier.

Meeting my fiancé Ollie is another example. We met because I managed to talk my friends into going to a pub we didn't normally go to on a night we wouldn't normally go out on and Ollie had gone expecting to meet up with a few friends who would usually have been there but they didn't turn up so he came over and asked if he could join us. The rest, as they say, is history.

Although I believe what's meant to happen will happen when it's the right time for it, that's not not to say that I don't get a little disappointed when I miss out on an something or something doesn't go the way I'd like. I do get disapointed at those times (on occasion quite bitterly so) but I also believe that if it's truly meant to happen then another opportunity will present itself at the right time or, if not, then it's left me able to take advantage of a bigger and better opportunity further down the line.

Something I heard on the news fairly recently was that when asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, most pre-school children replied that they wanted be a celebrity. Not surprising when you think how easy it seems to be in these days of instant celebrity - appear on Big Brother or X-Factor (possibly sacrificing your dignity along the way) and the whole country will know who you are and wind up gossipping about you by the office water cooler. Now I realise shows like X-Factor occasionally turn out some fairly decent talent but the UK being the way it is we also make the fatal mistake of devoting almost as much attention to the embarrassingly bad-yet-supremely-confident-in-their-ability types. Well, how else do you explain the Cheeky Girls?

Take Jade Goody for example - she has absolutely no talent to speak of, she's merely known for being on Big Brother and pretty much making a spectacle of herself, yet has had a large amount of media coverage and made huge amounts of money out of it. I wish kids could be made to realise that someone like that is hardly an ideal role model because in reality, they're a bit of a joke rather than taken seriously. I think it should also be made abundantly clear that for every person who manages to come by celebrity in one form or another, there are many more who've tried and failed. Not only that but as quickly as you can gain celebrity, you can also become old news and cast aside and without anything else to fall back on, you're pretty much screwed.

I may be coming across as a bit preachy and I'll hold my hand up and say I do watch reality TV and therefore shoulder some blame for perpetuating this but I think it is a bad thing when kids see someone like Jade Goody and actually think of her as someone with status to aspire to. I know most kids will eventually get more realistic ideas as they get older but sadly there are some who will still see such instant fame as an easy route to being set for life and just not bother pursuing anything else.

OK, that was a groan inducing attempt at a witty subject line but it does kind of sum up my attitude toward textspeak which is the topic of this week's therealljidol entry. I'm by no means perfect in the grammar stakes and frequently make typos but I do tend to get a bit snobby about textspeak. Misspelling because of dyslexia or some other learning difficulty is one thing but deliberate things like "c u l8r m8" being used to compose the entirety of a post really turns me off. It just really grates with me and, I'm almost ashamed to say, prejudices me against the person writing. In my opinion, there's no real need for it on the internet, particularly in a blog setting where it's not as if you have to be especially economical with the number of characters you use. If I type like that at all then you can bet that's me being ironic - cuz im liek so l33t!!!11one!!!!! You know, I probably can't even use it properly but then that might just be showing my age a little (and I'm not all that old).

Strangely enough, when used in moderation, things like *LOL* for 'laugh out loud' or smilies don't really bother me and I tend to use them myself. I think they can actually be useful because it can compensate for the fact you can't see the facial expression or body language that tells you whether a comment was meant seriously or just as a joke. It can allow a little more personality through and save someone from taking something completely the wrong way and perhaps worrying that they've caused offence. Acronyms tend not to bother me either because if you're referring to something with a long title quite a few times, it just makes sense to do that. Having said that, with each fandom having it's own glossary of references it can take a good few read-throughs sometimes to figure out what a person is talking about if you don't have that particular thinking cap on.

Language evolves and adapts but not necessarily for the better. To me textspeak is the linguistic equivalent of a Ned or Chav - brash, in your face and quite frankly irritating as hell most of the time!

I went and got my eyes tested this morning at Optical Express down at the Gyle since it had been just over a couple of years since I last had that done. It turns out that my eyes have got worse. Not all that badly (I think) but enough for me to need new lenses. The real kicker is to get the same type of lenses I have just now from Optical Express will set me back £199 - as long as I choose frames from their "special" (i.e. free) range which by and large are fine but still, I think my bank balance just about took heart failure and keeled over! I could go to Boots Opticians and get it for £110 plus the cost of the frames. This isn't too bad because they have fairly decent frames from about £30 to £50 so that would work out a bit cheaper. I'm also gonna check out Specsavers and 20/20 tomorrow when Ollie and I go into town just so I know all my options. I may also be able to get my work to give me £60 towards the cost as well since I can argue that needing to wear glasses constantly means I need them for VDU use.

While I was at the Gyle, the Southern Light Opera am-dram company were there performing songs to promote their production of The Wizard of Oz which is on in a couple of weeks. It looks quite good and it turns out I know the guy playing the Tin Man from my youth theatre days. I'll definitely be going along to see it and even Ollie's kinda tempted to go too.

Anyway, last night was quite good fun - Mrs bozobaggins, a couple of others and I descended on Mrs doctorsordid's place with wine (which we quite happily consumed), ordered in Chinese food (again, quite happily consumed) and had a very pleasant evening discussing life, the universe and everything (well, almost). I think this is something that could definitely be repeated on a semi-regular basis if free time allowed.

Somewhat sad news I got last night was that one of the puppies of the two yorkies I used to have is not at all well and it looks like she could be getting put to sleep soon. I say puppy but she's 15 and was bought by my best friend from high school. My friend really wanted a dog and chose that specific puppy because she was the one from that litter that I got to name. She's had a good long life for a Yorkie though and was always a very sociable little dog.

On a happier note, Ollie and I are going to get our wedding gift list set up at Debenhams tomorrow hopefully. I'm gonna have fun going 'round picking stuff out. We're ideally looking to get the flat done up as opposed to building up our collection of cutlery and crockery so I'll be mainly looking for items that will help with that.

Finally, no weekend entry would be complete without the requisite plea to vote for me over here at therealljidol if you have the time and inclination. It's open until 3pm EST (that's 8pm GMT) and you only need an LJ account to vote. This time there's immunity on offer although I have some major catching up on votes to do to even be in with a chance.

Well I'm gonna go - things to do and Take That are gonna be on the Dancing on Ice skate-off show in about half an hour's time. I know, I'm such a sad fangirl!

So, this week's LJ Idol topic is all about what I like best about where I live now and what I miss most about a place I've left behind.

At first glance there's not a lot to recommend where I live right now. It's in one of the rougher areas of the city where you need to be careful when you're out at night. The flat is also in need of some work being done to it in terms of re-decoration and general DIY. However, this little flat is mine and my fiancé's - we don't rent it, we've bought it almost 18 months ago now and therefore have made that all important first step onto the property ladder. That to me makes up for the downside of the dodgy neighbourhood. We've rented some nice flats in better locations but for me nothing beats the fact this is ours to do what we want with. We're hardly in a hurry to move again (despite the dubiousness of the area) so we've got all the time in the world to do the required DIY and decorating. We can literally make of it what we want.

I suppose the place I miss most is just a mere few minutes drive from where I am now - the home I grew up in. Unfortunately the fact I'm not on speaking terms with my stepmum means I'm not really welcome there which makes me sad because there are a lot of memories there for me. I spent a good 20 years or so of my life there and I think it's hard not to miss somewhere you lived for so long. I guess in a way I also miss how uncomplicated life was when I lived there - no responsibility for a mortgage, bills or getting things fixed when they broke. From my early teens I cleaned my room and did my own laundry and once I got a full-time job I had to pay a minimal amount of money for my keep but that was pretty much the extent of my responsibility.

Still, I'm happy where I am now and I wouldn't change it for the world.

I got my flowers at last and they're absolutely gorgeous. ( Look! )

They caused quite a stir in the office when they got delivered. Everyone agreed that while Ollie doesn't do this kind of thing often, when he does he definitely does a great job - but then I knew that already.

Anyway, I also wanted to do another bit of shameless plugging again and say please go and vote for me over here at therealljidol. Just if you have the inclination and the time between now and late Monday afternoon of course.

Okay so this post doesn't have much of a point but hey, such is life. I'd better go and get packed for the trip up to Ollie's parents tomorrow morning - 8.40am bus....on a Saturday! I don't get my lie in and this does not make me a happy bunny. I don't care if I can sleep on the bus (as pointed out by Ollie), it's not the same.

ETA: The pic of the flowers didn't look all that blurry before I uploaded it. I'm guessing Photobucket did something to the file - meh!

I've had a fairly busy week so far. I did get 'round to trying my dress on with the veil and tiara and well, wow! The tiara (picked out by my sis) was perfect and the whole outfit looks amazing. Suffice to say I'm incredibly chuffed.

I got roped into helping out on Front of House at 'Spend Spend Spend' (the Tempo show) on Sunday evening because Ollie had left it too late to warn them he wouldn't be there. It was actually pretty good though - I saw quite a few familiar faces and managed to catch up with people I hadn't seen since 'Jekyll & Hyde'. I also found out that the next show they'll be doing is 'The Full Monty' in the Fringe (which should be good fun to go and see) and then they're going to do 'Witches of Eastwick' this time next year which I am definitely auditioning to be in. So I sat in the auditorium on Sunday and then went back on Monday as a paying customer. The show is really good but there were some definite nerves on the Sunday which seemed to have disappeared on the Monday. Ollie hasn't been too impressed with what he's seen though but then, I'm generally more enthusiastic about these things anyway.

I had my ECG scan on Tuesday which I almost forgot about. It went pretty smoothly and the nurse said that there was nothing major showing up so by and large my heart's OK but the doctor I see at the Endocrine clinic will get the full report so no doubt I'll get to hear more soon.

Yesterday was a mix of great and frustrating. Ollie had arranged for flowers to be sent to me at work - forgetting I was due to be at college yesterday but it wasn't a problem, I just asked the women in the office to just accept them for me and I'd stop by to pick them up after college. So I have a good day at college and merrily head on down to the office looking forward to getting my flowers. I arrive about 4.15 and the flowers hadn't been delivered. I gave Ollie a quick call to let him know and he called the florists. They apparently couldn't give him an idea of the latest possible delivery time so I hung around in reception until just after 5 but nothing. What was worse I saw other people getting theirs. I spoke to the security guys who take over after 5pm and they said they'd accept them if they were delivered that evening. I dashed home and got ready to go out for a meal at our favourite Italian restaurant. The meal was fantastic but I felt so full afterwards that we just came straight home but had a very pleasant rest of the evening in.

Today, still no flowers and it transpires that it's most likely that they may have been misdelivered so I've given them the EXACT address (right down to which area I'm in) and they're sending a new bouquet out for delivery tomorrow. The good thing is they were very apologetic about it and have been helpful once we could get a hold of someone.

After much musing and deliberation, I've decided I'm gonna take a slightly less direct take on this because an entry about my fiancé would no doubt get nauseatingly gushy (hey, I'm trying to survive in this competition) and possibly be a little on the "too much information" side.

So, I'm going to write about the other great passion in my life, musical theatre. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but I can't get enough of it. My absolute favourite film when I was younger was 'Annie' - my sister and I just about wore out the videotape we had of it and could recite it word perfect. I discovered some other musical films as I got older (like "Grease" and "The Wizard of Oz") and loved them just as much. I can't exactly put my finger on what I liked about watching these movie musicals - perhaps it was simply because it combined acting and singing and looked so much fun. All I knew was that I really, really enjoyed watching it so I kept on doing just that. Then when I was in high school, about 13 or 14, I was taken to see my first professional production musical live on stage - Les Miserables. It completely blew me away. I think I went through the whole spectrum of emotion watching that show and couldn't speak for a good 15 minutes afterwards. Few other shows get that same kind of reaction but those that do, I never get tired of listening to the music or going to see it. I guess I've always been an enotional person and the scoring and songs in musicals just pander to that part of me

I also got involved in performing in musicals when I got to high school - at primary school it had just been little plays we had done. I wasn't the most popular person in my year but that didn't matter in rehearsals for some reason (or perhaps I'm looking back with slightly rose-tinted glasses on). It was a bit of escapism and a lot of fun. I'm still performing in amateur productions today. I just love being on stage and performing to a theatre full of people (but then that's probably just down to the fact I am somewhat of an attention seeker). I truly feel in my element on a stage and if I could do that for a living and be guaranteed work, I'd snap up the chance in a second.

For me, very few things can beat the feeling I get when the orchestra strikes up and the first bars of the overture play out. Whether I'm sitting in audience or waiting in the wings to go on, it never fails to give me chills and set my pulse going that little bit faster.

Been on a bit of a nostalgia trip recently thanks to Ollie giving me a new nickname. He's taken to calling me Mildred (as in The Worst Witch) which got me looking it up on YouTube since I don't have the video or anything anymore and sure enough, it was there. I used to watch it loads when I was younger. Tim Curry's "Anything Can Happen on Hallowe'en" number and a young Fairuza Balk do make it worth a look - it's so cheesy though and very 80s.

A not so fun nostalgia trip involved my previous post, the therealljidol entry. It turned out to be a little more difficult than I thought it would be. Re-living that night probably wasn't a healthy thing to do and it did leave me a bit down for a while but hey, a little catharsis is good for the soul.

On a completely unrelated note, I've also been adding some Amy Winehouse to my music collection. It's weird 'cause when I've seen her interviewed on TV she's quite frankly annoyed the crap out of me. She just comes across as really obnoxious but dammit, she does make good music. I love 'Rehab' and the other stuff I've got hold of is also pretty good.

Well, tomorrow I'm going to Mum's friend's place to try my dress on with some of the accessories that have been bought so far (as well as having Big Sis there in her bridesmaid's dress) just to get the overall effect. I'm really excited about it - I can only imagine what I'll be like in 18 weeks time. There will be photos taken so anyone who wants to see, if you e-mail me (ask for the address and ye shall receive) I'll give you a sneak peek.