Friday notes

Dear Old Man & Old Lady, 
It's been pretty sunny today, so I was feeling warm anyway, but seeing you two together warmed my heart too. Sorry if it was inappropriate of me to take a picture of the two of you, but you reminded me of my grandparents and that was precious.
Sincerely, 
A heart warmed passerbyer
PS. Were you not too hot in your jumper old man? Just wondering.

Dearest darlingest Momsie & Popsical, 
That's a reference to Wicked by the way. You know, the musical. Just letting you know that Ross & I booked tickets yesterday to go and see it in December, so that you can be adequately jealous. I know that you will be.
Lots of love, 
Your daughter that is not ashamed to rub my good fortune in your face

Dear late September weather, 
You have been so pleasant the last few days. You even encouraged me to take a walk today, and if you knew the size of the hill I have to climb to get to park, you would know how much of a big deal that is. Anyways, I'm grateful for your late visit. Stay a little longer if you like. You're definitely welcome.
Gratefully, 
A lightly sun kissed friend

Dear Greece, 
We will keep hold of your weather while you try to sort out your Euro crisis. We know, we know, we're doing you a favour - the sun would only distract you, and you have some important decisions to make. You can thank us later.
Good luck, 
A sunny England

Dear Annie, Katie, Grays, & Sally, 
I miss living with you, my friends. I wish that I could still call you my housies. Do any of you want to go to Red Hot Buffet next week, for a night of catching up and over eating? (Sounds like perfection, no?)
Kisses and hugs, 
Your nostalgic friend.
PS. CHLOE, this offer extends to you too!

Dear blog friends, 
Thank you for being here today (name that film)! I appreciate you very much.
Faithfully, 
B

xoxoxoxoxox

Hugs & kisses to all involved!

This is a story about a girl named Lucky

Yes, that is me quoting Britney.

Embrace it & love it.

Ross worked a long day yesterday.

Thirteen hours.

When he got home, he gave me a massive hug, kissed my forehead and then this is what went down.

Ross: "Let me just quickly get changed 

and then I'll come through and give you a massage."

Me: "Erm...you've just worked a thirteen hour day, 

it should be me giving you a massage."

Ross: "Ahh, I'm alright, 

but when I spoke to you on the phone earlier, 

you sounded sad, 

so I wanted to do something nice to make you happy."

This is why I'm Lucky. 

PS. Does it make me a bad wife if even after a 13 hour working day I let him give me a half an hour long massage?

Thank yous

Thank you to a pretty sweet first year of marriage. 

Don't worry, I'm not going to get all gushy, but basically its been a year of wishes, extreme joy and even more extreme love.

It's been a very happy year for us both.

Thank you for the lessons that I've learnt over this year.

Ross has learnt that if he restrains me (he can hold both my wrists with one hand and tickle me with the other) I will pretty instantly be full of rage.

I have learnt not to pretend to be moody, because pretty quickly my pretending turns into me being genuinely moody, and that's no fun for either of us.

Thank you to Preston Temple.

You are beautiful and so peaceful.

Thank you to chimichangas.

I tried you for the first time yesterday and you will now be more than welcome in my life.

Thank you to Harry Potter.

I grew up with your books and films and now that the very last film has come out, I feel like a chapter of my life has come to an end and I'm ready to be more grown up now.

(Also, the last film was saweet.)

Thank you to the rain. 

Most people are expecting summer right now and that means blue skies, the sun and warm temperatures.

But we're England, so it's raining.

But I love the summer rain.

Warm and fresh smelling.

Amour/Deteste

Yes, I am wearing my pretentious pants today and using French words in my regular everyday speech. 

C'est bon, non?

Today I'm hatin' on....

Aching feet,

whiney toddlers,

a slight altercation with the car

and strawberry juice on my white top.

It's not all bad though.

Today I'm loving...

coming home to the smell of jacket potatoes in the oven, 

affectionate toddlers, 

smoothies, 

helium balloons

and Harry Potter. Tomorrow. Midnight. BOOM.

Simples

Well, my last post was all about me moaning/complaining/being a professional negative Nancy.

Well, today was a much better day, so combat all of the negative energy I put out into the world, I'm going to counterbalance it with a little list of simple happys.

1. Blueberries that are perfectly chilled from the fridge.

2. Coming home from school today with five kiddie-made cards that all said "Mrs Kerr I love you." 

Or variations of that at least. 

One said I really like you and one said I like your hair. 

For me, that basically equates to love.

3. Walking around the park in the cool evening sun with lots of lovely sisters.

4. Chip shop chips with lots of vinegar.

5. Opening my lunch box at school and seeing that Ross has individually wrapped each half of my sandwich in more tin foil than I would ever think was necessary.

6. Having got the car back a day earlier than we first thought.

7. Tron. Ross is watching this film & LOVING it.

8. Almost being half way through my placement.

9. Wearing a dress and lipstick and feeling like a real lady.

10. The orchid that Ross bought for me.

Although, he says that the orchid is a representation of my love for him, so I feel kinda pressured not to let it die....

One Day

Midnight of last night saw me quietly crying into the darkness.

Just a few sneaky tears that silently rolled down my face whilst I laid in bed trying to get to sleep.

Nothing too dramatic.

And I was only crying because I'd just finished the book that I was reading.

It's called 'One Day'.

You've probably heard of it.

I always hate getting to the end of a book.

Most of the time I just want the stories to carry on forever.

So when I get to the end I always take a bit of a dive into melancholy.

And it didn't help that this book didn't have the happy ending that I'd really been hoping for.

Not really anyway.

So, as I laid quietly crying and listening to the stuffy breathing of Ross as he laid next to me, deeply asleep, I reached out for his hand, woke him up a little bit and made him make me a promise.

A promise that realistically he can never keep and one that he probably has no recollection of even making this morning, because he was pretty out of it, but nonetheless a promise was made.

And then I let him roll over and go back to sleep, whilst still lightly clutching his hand.

Then melancholy took a swift upturn to deep gratitude.

Gratitude for being alive, for having Ross, for us both being healthy, for our life circumstances and our future prospects and for just generally being happy with how things are going. 

I'd had the book One Day recommended to me by quite a few different people.

Three at least.

So I had high expectations for it.

To be honest, when I first started reading it I was a little bit let down.

As soon as the characters are introduced I straight away thought that I knew how the book would play out.

I thought that I had the ending pinned down pretty accurately, so I very nearly stopped reading.

I didn't.

And I'm glad I didn't, because it was the ending, which didn't turn out to be a cliched Disney happy ever after, that really got to me.

And any book that I get to the end of that makes me feel true and deep gratitude for life and more specifically a life with love, for me is worth it.

Merci

Thank you to this massive tree. I just love how huge it is. It makes me feel so small. It's a perspective giving tree. You know, Ghandi style "nearly everything you do is of no importance, but it's important that you do it." BOOM. Perspective. 


Thank you to dried cranberries. You have made plain old cereal a little bit a lot better this week, because there is nothing worse than plain, old cereal. 


Thank you to this four day weekend that's about to happen. I know, a little premature to thank it before it's even happened, but what will there not be to love about time spent with family, at the beach, in the countryside probably consuming massive amounts of ice cream and fish and chips? Nothing.


Thank you to the bright pink spray paint that has made some of my photo frames look absolutely rocking. 


Thank you to guacamole. That's all.


Thank you to my Mom & Dad for believing the story I told them about a swarm of butterflies that flew into my house and stole an Easter egg. I love that even though I'm grown you still play along with me.


Thank you to the woman at Asda on Monday that just packed all of my bags for me without me even asking. I was completely capable of doing it myself, but I was grateful anyway. 


Thank you to the glorious sunshine. You've made our April uncharacteristically warm and you even make been stuck in traffic more enjoyable. Seriously. Also, dearest sunshine, we all love and appreciate you very much, so please stay for a bit longer. Actually, please stay for a lot longer.

Sayin thank you

This photo has nothing to do with the post. I just like it. Kthanks.

♥ Thank you yesterday. You saw me hand in my assignment, which I am NOT sorry to see go and will NOT be missed, and you saw me do some pretty marvellous things in the kitchen. Thursday, you were good to me.

♥ Thank you to Adele. As in the singer. She is a soul mama. Set fire to the rain is my favourite song right now. I like to sing it as loud as I can and imagine that I sound like you. I don't, but it's fun. 

♥ Thank you to my new lipstick. You are the perfect casual shade of pink and go with everything. And even if you don't I'm going to wear you anyway.

♥ Thank you Ross. When I am full of self pity, you do things like this. Nothing makes me laugh more than when you your craziness takes dance form. You are da bomb. Diggity.  

♥ Thank you Chlo & Jar. We have spent so much time with you over the last few months. The boys play COD and we are best friends so we can just sit in silence and it's still nice.

 Thank you for always saying that everything that I make is delicious. It makes me feel like I'm good at something. 

♥ Thank you to the English countryside. You are so close by and natureish. I feel so lucky to be surrounded by so much green. 

♥ Thank you to Modern Family. You made me laugh a lot this week. 

♥ Thank you to my real life fam. I have so much love and happiness in my life because of you. Mom, Pops you are mainly crazy but I love you both a mazillion. 

Home slices

"Though we drifted apart, I still think of you as being right here. And although we have many new friends, it is our friendship that means the most to me."

Yesterday, these beauties came over to Leeds for une petite visit. It had been a while. Far too long in fact. But the thing is, with these girls I don't think any distance in time or space will ever matter. It's that kind of friendship. 

Me, Han & Soph were best friends pretty much from the moment that we met. I think that I was about ten years old. We were the private joke a minute, car wash ventures, shopping trips, sleepovers, code name givers, making up dance routines, smoothie making, boy obsessing best friends. You know the kind. 

Apart from the devastated journal writings of "I can't believe they've gone shopping together without me. I feel so left out." Which a few days later turned into "they were getting my birthday present and wanted to keep it a surprise!!" we were safe as house. (There's one of those private jokes I was talking about.)

Soph was the organised one that would plan what time we had to get up and schedule our time perfectly so that we were out the door when we needed to be. Because when your fourteen and your whole weekend revolves around going down Hillsborough, or to Meadowhall to buy a new top for the dance, having things perfectly timed is important! We would have never got anywhere without Soph writing down what time we would get up, how long it would take us to get dressed, how long it would take us to eat breakfast and all that jazz. Han was the complete opposite, and I fit** somewhere in the middle. 

We're all grown now, even though none of us feel like grown ups, and our friendship is different now. But yesterday, when we just sat in my living room and talked for a good few hours, it felt like although an awful lot had actually changed, nothing had changed at all. And that makes me happy. 

**I often think that the past participle of fit should be fat. As in "I definitely fat into this dress yesterday."

Boo turned woo

Sometimes, when you feel sick and a little bit sorry for yourself, 

when you've had a long day and 

feel like you haven't achieved anything over than managing to successfully breath 

and when you feel absolutely discouraged, 

you just need to take a minute, 

pull yourself together and 

remind yourself that things aren't so bad. 

For me, today was a day that was mostly full of self pity. 

But then I got home, took a nap, had a scrummy ummy umpkins dinner made for me, had a bath, ate a pop tart and had my hair played with 

and I felt much better.

Then I remembered that first that I got on my assignment last week 

(first first ever), 

the goodies that my fridge is now full of after my Mom & Dad came over, 

the kids at school saying how our project (the perfect pizza) 

was the best one they've ever done before because they get eat it afterwards,

 that my ironing basket is completely empty, 

and this poorly spelt sentence from a kid that cracked me up 

"one of my hobbies is insests and my favourites are aunts."

Then I realised that my day wasn't so bad, 

and that I actually have a pretty sweet life.

 It's all about the little things you know?

I'll Tell You What I Want....

What I really, really want.....

.....Are more days like today.

A cheeky lie in the morning with a big bowl of cereal. Time with friends, especially time spent in the Spice Girls exhibition sand then eating burgers. Taking lots of photos and drinking chocolate fudge brownie milkshakes. 

The start of a love story

It was about the time that this photo was taken. No, actually this is too early. 

This photo is more like the right kind of time frame. Apparently the time when I had no neck...but a half decent tan. It was about the time when I could still get on the bus for 40p with my student card and the time when the most that I had to worry about was what I was going to wear to the dance that weekend and how much petrol money I should give to the driver. It was about the time that I listened to Ashlee Simpson and Panic at the Disco on repeat whilst I got ready for school and Shakira - Hips Don't Lie was played constantly. It's about this time that my love story started. 




It was a Friday night and I was in Huddersfield at a dance with my friends. I was wearing dark jeans and a red chunky knit cardigan with a vintage style sparkling broach. I'd been dancing all night and generally been a silly teenage girl, obsessed with having perfectly glossed lips, having my equally perfectly glossed friends around me and whilst taking overly posed pictures of myself from an obscure above angle. I still cling to the fact that it's most flattering to have photos taken from above. But I digress. 


The dance had finished and everyone was milling around in the hall, everyone suddenly very aware of themselves now that the lights had been turned on. I don't recall exactly what I was doing right then, but I could hazard a guess that it involved my perfectly glossed friends and a group of boys. In fact I'm pretty sure that it did. That was standard procedure really. Then, a rather tall boy in a green stripy hoody came over, took my hand and said "Sorry, but will you just come over here for a second. You look exactly like my friend and I want to stand you next to her to show just how similar you look." So I went over to his group of friends. He pointed to a blonde haired girl. A girl that I looked absolutely nothing like. I looked at the boy, a little confused and feeling slightly nervous. He flashed a cheeky smile and said "well, actually, you don't look anything like her. You're much prettier. I just used that as an excuse to get you away from your friends so that I could talk to you." Smooth. Real smooth. He than proceeded to ask for my name, which I gave and then asked if I have a number to go with that name. I did. So I gave it to him. 


He told me his name that night, but I think for the next few days I just referred to him as the boy in the stripy green hoody. Original, I know. It didn't stick. But he still has the stripy green hoody. 

Whadda Gem

Mr. K is playing COD. If you know what COD is and if your woman and if your a women that knows what COD is not because you enjoy playing it yourself, but frequently you are a COD widow, then I salute you. I bow to you in fact. I am still learning how to be a gracious COD widow. 

Anyway, this is not what I wanted to talk about. 2010 has been good to me. It's been good to many. For me, 2010 has been a very good year. Very likeable, very enjoyable and very memorable. And seeing as we're now practically at the end of 2010, I thought I'd make a quick list of some of my most likeable, enjoyable and memorable times. Here we go.

/ Getting married

/ Seeing the colosseum with my very own eyes

/ Going to the temple for the first time

/ Opening predictions with my beloved housemates

/ Buying a sofa (not a big deal for many, but it was our very own sofa. The first thing we bought together)

/ CentreParcs with my family

/ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1

/ A Thousand Splendid Suns

/ The heat in Rome

/ The best lasagne I've ever eaten

/ The mafia lord in the white suit and crocodile shoes

/ Peter Kay

/ Mr. K's promotion

/ Lots of firsts

/ The X factor

/ The birth of this here blog

/ Fireflies playlist

/ The creation of my plan (not an evil plan, a lovely plan)
/ Seeing so many friends get married
/ Random trip to A Month of Sundaes
/ These photos/times....