|••• PeachyHollow •••| » self portrait

Are you a Costco member?

|•••Nin•••| — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:01:45 +0000

Why, yes I am. Here, let me show you my card…

Over the last few weeks it’s become our little weekend routine to lunch our way around the free samples at Costco and then head homeward with a $4.99 rotisserie chicken for supper. Yumm.

On the road yet again (Day 206)

|•••Nin•••| — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:33:30 +0000

(Backdated post)

But this time it was only a short trip down the road from our friends’ house to Calabasas. I was hoping we might spot a minor celeb or two (the likes of Denise Richards lives close by, as does Heather Locklear and other people with deliciously manucured hair) but alas that was not to be. But lunch was nice and I got to browse in the bookshop for a couple of hours and make a shopping list for Amazon.

Still on the road (Day 205)

|•••Nin•••| — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:27:49 +0000

(Backdated post)

We got there eventually, but it took twice as long as it should have done. It took just as long to get from San Diego to Los Angeles as it did to get from one side of LA to the other. Not a comfortable situation when you have the world’s smallest bladder and usually need to stop to spend a penny every 10 minutes

Day 163/365

|•••Nin•••| — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 03:59:10 +0000

Goodbye England

Day 162/365

|•••Nin•••| — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:49:44 +0000

We have our little routine. He jumps on my bed every morning and sleeps on my legs for a bit before we both get up and have breakfast. I’m going to miss it.

Day 161/365

|•••Nin•••| — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:43:37 +0000

The impact of being punched in the eye by a feline. I was grooming him on the breakast bar (one of his favourite vantage points), and he bit sucked my hand, so I bent down to his eye level to tell him “No babes, don’t do that!” and then he punched me. Straight in the eyeball.

Barnaby Jonathan loves getting groomed, but sometimes he gets a little over-excited and can’t contain it.

Day 159/365

|•••Nin•••| — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 05:15:54 +0000

It had to happen eventually. Today was part one of probably the best weekend of the year so far in terms of things going on. Once again it was time for my favourite charity sale in the whole wide world (it’s going to be hard to live without it every three weeks- how will I clothe myself or buy all my craft supplies?!). The usual little routine that we have is to go to the sale, and then to drive to the little town where DrMr and I got married and have lunch and browse around the shops. If we’re feeling decadent (which is usually each time we do this), we have chips for lunch from the fish and chip shop. Actually I lie, we’re boycotting the fish and chip shop in protest at their mean portion sizes, so we went to the “American Pizza and Fried Chicken” place instead (it’s not as bad as it sounds). So anyway, I took a nice photo of me eating a bag of chips (for sentimental purposes) and thought “ooh that’ll do for my 365“. BUT before I got the chance to download it to my computer, I reaslised TO MY HORROR that I had re-formatted the memory card, and taken more pictures over the top so I couldn’t even retrieve the file using one of those emergency help-I’ve-deleted-my-memory-card programs. UUUGH! It had to happen eventually, and hopefully I’ve learnt a lesson and won’t do it again.

So here’s a photo of a memory card instead. It’s actually not THE memory card as that was inside the camera so I could take the picture (obviously), but it’s my backup card instead.

Blame it on emigrating…so much on the brain that it’s beginning to resemble swiss cheese.

Catching up… Days 149-152/365

|•••Nin•••| — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:39:07 +0000

Day 149

On the RER in Paris on the way to day two at Versailles. Originally it was just a daytrip, but they closed the gardens due to bad weather and so we got complimentary tickets to come back. I’m so glad we did, the gardens and Marie Antoinette’s estate were a whole bazillion times even better than the house.

(And yes, that’s a glimpse of The Great Bag Purchase of 2008 from two days previously )

Day 150

Must. Have. Souvenir.

I’ll take this one please

Day 151

We were supposed to go home today, but HURRAH we’re STILL IN PARIS! Plus a chance to get to see some Pope action. After much walking between various street checkpoints we were *finally* allowed through the barriers to get a prime road-side position. People had come from all over France and the crowd was predominantly large groups of people accompanied by their local priests. We were right behind a group of girl guides and girl guides in groups are loud enough on their own, but girl guides in groups about to see the Pope are D.E.A.F.E.N.I.N.G.

Day 152

The fire in the Eurotunnel the day before had somewhat changed our plans. It’s just as well we’re Go With The Flow People as we changed them again this morning at 20 minutes notice. One minute we had train tickets to Calais and reservations on the Sea France ferry to Dover, and the next minute we had new boarding passes for the first Eurostar out of Paris since the accident. It was when we were on the train waiting to get clearance to enter the tunnel that I cancelled our ferry tickets. I’ve always been a last-minute person!

Catching up… Days 144-148/365

|•••Nin•••| — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:08:34 +0000

Day 144

Did I mention I have a lot of hair? It’s very fine, but there’s LOTS of it, so much so that hair salons always request that “next time could I PURLEASE mention it so that I can be scheduled for extra time?” After I shampoo and condition I usually let it dry on its own as fine hair is particularly susceptible to drying out easily and going into a frizzy flyaway mess. If I wash it in the early morning, it’s usually in the final stages of being dry by about 2 or 3 pm in the afternoon. Yes, washing and drying my hair is quite an undertaking and it’s usually planned *well* in advance.

Day 145

A sneaky shot taken in the loo during my sister’s wedding reception last Saturday. I was a bridesmaid and had a nice lady from M•A•C do my makeup and I did my hair myself, which is why by this late hour my face was still intact yet my hair looked like I’d been dragged through a bush backwards. I don’t usually wear this much eye (or brow) makeup but it was something that I was assured would look better in the formal photographs. I wish I had a picture of the back of my hair as I was surprisingly pleased with how it turned out- I did a french braid ‘chignon’, i.e. a french braid with the bottom bit tucked up behind and underneath the braid on the back of my head, and I had little red roses at the junctions between the different bits of hair in the braid (you follow??!). I’m sure there’s a photo somewhere, at least I hope there is. I’d lost sleep over what to do with my hair as it’s so difficult to manage…

Day 146

Far too early in the morning after the night before, but we’re on our way to Paris!

Day 147

We’re here!! A late afternoon break at Les Deux Magots in Saint Germain des Prés, one of the prettiest pavement cafés in Paris. And a glass of wine and crackers to celebrate a brand new bag purchase

Day 148

In the Hall of Mirrors, one of the grandest rooms at the handsome Palace of Versailles just outside Paris (the chateau where Marie Antoinette resided and where the Treaty ending the First World War was signed). The palace was absolutely stunning except our visit coincided with displays of modern art which replaced a lot of the beautiful antique furniture. In one of the rooms a giant priceless antique chandelier had been removed and in its place was hung a large inflatable lobster suspended from the ceiling by a bright red plastic chain. Nice. In the courtyard out front was an enormous representation of a miscellaneous balloon sculpture that resembled a dog turd. Even Nicer. I’ve never really been a fan of modern art but this took the biscuit.

Day 138/365

|•••Nin•••| — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 19:36:05 +0000

Barnaby Jonathan is a very sweet and gentle cat, loyal to a fault and always willing to exchange tickles for nice big feline hugs. When we’ve been out for the day, he always runs to meet us, and he is at his most content when he’s curled up on somebody’s knee. Here I am attempting to plant a nice little kiss on the end of his dear little nose. Nine times out of ten he will give a nice big kitty kiss right back, but then there’s the occasional moment when he’s a bit michievous. After eighteen years I should have known what he’d do from the look on his face….

Day 134/365

|•••Nin•••| — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:49:04 +0000

I am the unintentional tech support engineer in the house and there was a brief moment tonight where I thought my head might explode. There was actually nothing wrong with any of the laptops as usual, just a repeated case of user(s) error(s). Explaining the problem is sometimes harder work than fixing the computer when something actually *does* go wrong. I went to bed not long after this, it seemed like the best option.

Day 133/365

|•••Nin•••| — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:46:48 +0000

Fresh faced and ready for bed.

Day 125/365

|•••Nin•••| — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:31:48 +0000

(an absolutely positively horrible picture of me, I’m all nose and re-wine-stained teeth, but ho well…)

Three friends who use to work together. Three friends who will all be emigrating to their respective countries within three weeks of each other!

We all met in town for a little farewell lunch

Day 122/365

|•••Nin•••| — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:50:02 +0000

Another busy day. A representative from the overseas removal company came to measure up this afternoon, so the morning was spent busily clearing yet more things. The big tartan laundry bag next to me contains all the things that are *not* going to be shipped. Everything else is going (except furniture). It looks like I’ll be able to get everything into about 200 cubic feet which is kind of what I expected. And then there was all my paperwork to sort out for tomorrow, and research to try to find out exactly what is about to happen.

Overall tiring and stressful and I felt a bit worn afterwards. Like the picture

Day 114/365

|•••Nin•••| — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:58:42 +0000

This is what I wiped from my face after having spent 12 hours in central London. I love the place dearly and am so grateful to have been able to have lived and worked there for a good few years during my twenties, but in these days I much prefer to breathe in the fresh, clean air of the countryside. And my skin appreciates it too. And my hair. And underneath my fingernails…