A Matter of Choice

After promising to get back to blogging basics what better timing to join in with the Gallery for the first time in goodness knows how long, with the perfect prompt for the moment 'A younger me' Last week I had the surprise of my life when Aaron came home late Sunday night with my friend of 33 years!  I last saw her on my very short trip to England in February 2013 and the other time I went to the UK in August 2010. I constantly badger her to stay in contact via skype but hadn't thought for a second she would be able to actually come and visit, with family, work and voluntary commitments, plus the cost of flights, and the fact that she'd never traveled before, I always thought it was a far off possibility. Let me share with you, the younger 'us' From pre-school, to primary, secondary and then (briefly) college we did it all together. Five children between us, with her eldest and my youngest having almost a 17 year old age gap, makes no difference, a ...

Everyone who I have met since moving to Cyprus knows me as Leo's Mum, or Aaron's wife, or maybe they don't really know me as either, just that slightly mad blogger who's all over facebook! They  don't know the 'me' that my friends from the UK know, the one that could stay up past 10pm without falling asleep mid conversation, the one who could dance to something other than the Hokey Cokey or the theme tune to Thomas, the one that could drink a lot more than a couple of vodkas before falling over. I am more than just a Mum, in fact once upon a time I was a superhero!  (and a very slim one as well!) Once upon a time I used to go out at least twice a week, I used to love a good drink and could cope with the hangovers. I loved nothing more than a good party and lived for the weekends. I would dance until I could hardly walk, or stay up all night talking rubbish and playing silly games. I ate kebabs on park benches and had random conversations with peop...

Flashback Friday is now in the capable hands of Jenny and Lauren and for their first week they have given 'Sport'   as a theme.   Sport!!!  I must say I laughed when I saw it as I wondered for a while if I would have to skip their very first week.   Sport is not a word that has figured highly in my life, at school I would have done anything to skip PE lessons and I often felt sick just at the thought of them. I was flicking though my old photos looking for some inspiration and when I found it I can hardly believe it hadn't come to me straight away.   My life changed a lot due to sport and I nearly forgot!!! I'm not actually in this photo and not just because I was the one taking it! At secondary school when we were about 15 we had a term of Lacrosse lessons, taught to us by a very handsome and young American Lacrosse coach who was working in England for a year.  He was working for a local lacrosse club 'The Beckenham Beetles' and we were ...

'When I look back now, that summer seemed to last forever' I'm not talking about the ACTUAL summer of '69 you understand, that's a decade before my time but hopefully you got that from the first line! This week's Flashback theme is 'Summer' - I've looked through loads of photos from many years and could not decide on which to use. (you'd think I might have thought of that before I set the theme but you'd be wrong!) Summer's always seemed long as a child due to the long summer break from school ( I wonder how much different they will feel to Leo with 3 months off when he gets older as opposed to 6 weeks!) and  I don't remember the weather being that bad either!  I had photos in my head to use of my childhood summers - playing in the sprinkler and paddling pool or day trips to the beach but I just couldn't find what I wanted. Then the song popped into my head and I realised I wasn't looking for a photo taken in summer ...

Back in 1999 Aaron went to work in France for 6 months, he returned on my 22nd birthday with a special birthday present for me,  I had my very own personalised bottle of champagne from Reimes, the Champagne region of France. It was in a lovely gift box and came with two gorgeous champagne glasses. It was a lovely present and I put it away safely in its box only to get it out to show it off to people every now and again! I had it for several years before I even thought about drinking it, this wasn't a difficult thing to do as not only did I decide it had to be a very special occasion, I don't actually like champagne!   I will drink it at said special occasions but only if it is handed to me (well, it would be rude not to!) In 2003 Aaron and I brought our first house together, the first plan was to drink it the day we moved in, except everything was randomly packed in boxes so we ordered pizza and drank beer. We got engaged and didn't think about ...

I debated over what to use in this next post in my series of A to Z posts . Originally I thought 'D is for dogs', I've grown up with dogs in my life but have blogged about them before, both my own dog and those I grew up with  . It was a hen night, hence the flowers! So instead I'm going with another love of mine.... Dancing, oh and drinking as they go together oh so well. Not 'proper' dancing as in ballroom or ballet but real 'several beers later, singing your head off on the dance floor dancing' Back in the day when babysitters were not required and Aaron and I used to both go out, at the same time I was usually to be found on the dance floor while he propped up the bar. (He doesn't DO dancing  except  in fancy dress and then only once ) which was actually a great arrangement as it meant it was easy to get another drink :) I've had many many amazing nights out before Leo came along and it's probably the main thing I miss about ...

As you may have gathered from some of my previous blog posts,  here  and  here ,  I can often be persuaded to have a drink or three.  I'm not able to have the nights out that I once did, not until  the babysitters  m parents move over early next year anyway, but that won't stop me having a few festive drinks over the next couple of weeks. One of the items on my  101 list  is to fill my entire wine rack at least once! I hadn't  managed it in a year of living here as it holds 30 bottles! Until today that is..... We are finally full - yay! I don't think this will happen very often as that is quite a lot of alcohol to have, but maybe we'll make it a Christmas tradition. Should keep us going into the New Year anyway (if it doesn't I think we have bigger problems!) I'm pleased to find on offer the other day "Whisky Cream Liquer" (otherwise known as cheap Baileys!) 2.99 euros a bottle  - it's my no.1 Christmas drink. Also in there ar...

Ah, another year older... Two weeks ago I celebrated my 33rd birthday, even though a couple of months ago I had been convinced that I was coming up to my 32nd  (I blame being pregnant and not drinking on my 31st, I think maybe that meant it didn't count as a birthday!) I always like to celebrate a birthday in style....so along with a few friends we decided to go out on the town in Agia Napa. Being "Napa" we thought it would be fun to dress up just to help the celebrations along.  Three of the the party girls! We started off in a karaoke pub, Sam (the one in purple) is a HUGE karaoke fan and is a bloody good singer. I couldn't even tell you how many times she got up to sing, and that's through losing count as opposed to too much beer. I on the other hand would love karaoke if I could sing....or was quite drunk....... Sorry Mum, drinking pints again! Oops! I  ruined  sang "Like a Prayer" by Madonna. Spurred on by that succes...