39 Sleeps....

until I, yours truly, will be at the home of Downton Abbey (aka Highclere Castle!)

*S-Q-U-E-A-K*

Words don't exist for how ridiculously excited I am. The countdown is on people!

Five more sleeps..

until Brad Paisley rocks the 02 in London .... *squeak*
I absolutely cannot wait and will be there with bestie enjoying everything the H20 II tour has to offer.

Still no word on the support act but have glimpsed a possible set-list from Setlist.FM and I LOVE IT!

This is the perfect remedy to all the malaise of recent! Paisley Party! Here I come!

Power of Rick Astley

This is brilliant.... 'nough said!

Spot the Difference

Warning ... it is extremely difficult!

Pièce de Résistance of Royal Wedding memorabilia

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the pièce de résistance of Royal Wedding memorabilia ... the Catherine and William Deely Bopper.

* muffled excited squeal of joy *




'Nough said!

Blood Nuisance

Terror threat (a.k.a. Bloody nuisance)

By John Cleese

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have therefore raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved". Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross". The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to "A Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

The Scots have raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get the Bastards". They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide". The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender". The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralysing the country's military capability.

Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing". Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides".

The Germans have increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs". They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbour" and "Lose".

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Australia , meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be alright, Mate". Two more escalation levels remain: "Crikey! I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend!" and "The barbie is cancelled". So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level.

Royal Wedding in the Internet Age

Sorry but if you have any sense of whimsy about you, you simply have to love Royal Weddings in this new techno cyber age.



Picture says it all. I am still guffawing. Rule Britannia!

I Got a Feeling ... Woo Hooo

The Black Eye Peas' "I Got a Feeling" is stuck in my head which is actually quite perfect. It's the ideal happy-woo-hoo-smiley-life-is-good song. And friends, life is good. I've finished work, leaving a clean and tidy desk and have eleven glorious, wonderful and if I do say so myself, well-deserved days off work. Woo hoo!

To kick start the festivities, I've put up my bunting. After pondering, umming, ahhing and one precarious moment of having three quarters of my body leaning out of the window, I decided to display my bunting on the INSIDE. (Note to self, buy a large ladder for future celebatory events).

It's my small nod to my adopted country. A way of saying I'm happy to be here and celebrating St George's Day (which also happens to be my birthday!) and marking the Royal Wedding.



Here's to a really amazing Easter for us all. I hope there are countless moments that make you smile.

Liberty loves William and Catherine

Saw this on the Liberty website and loved it. How can this fail to make you smile?

Lisa Williams ........ Messages from the BEYOND!

Tonight Mum and I are going to see Lisa Williams at the Lyric Theatre, The Lowry in Manchester for her show Messages from Beyond. I really like her TV shows and I think this is her first UK tour so it's going to be an interesting night.

Ohhh it's finally here

The latest from Dan Brown arrived today! I've already started reading it .... and I love how it's set in Washington DC. Squeallllllllllll!

Clipper!

Me (with Australian flag), Mum (with Finnish flag), my aunt Christine (with Union Jack & St George's Cross)

My Aunt Christine, Mum and Dad (Dad in his Australian Rugby Shirt) all holding the Australian Flag.

The Red Arrows - Spectacular!
The Hull and Humber Yacht

The Australian Yacht in the middle

Today was the start of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race (leaving from Hull). Oh it was a FANTASTIC day. Perfect for sailing - all nice and blustery! And I think we had nearly all the Yachts covered between my Aunt, Mum, Dad and me (as we had the Finnish, Australian and English flags!) LOL!

It was fantastic and an amazing turnout - about 100,000 they thought. A really nice atmosphere too. The Red Arrow display was absolutely out of this world and lasted for ages too (we're so used to them doing a fly-by as they train up the Humber, it was nice to see them do so many tricks etc).

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC! Can't wait to see all the boats back in ten months! (By the way ONLY the Skipper on each Yacht has any sailing experience ... the rest are complete novices!)

Reliving the 80s

Tonight I relived my teen years and watch "Sixteen Candles". I LOVED this movie as a teenager and I haven't watched it in decades but I loved re-watching it. The quintessential teenager / 80s movie!

Pinki Binki!

A few weeks ago now Binki (my Mum's bichon frise)'s groomer Sam asked if she could dye Binki pink for a Dog Show she was having and to raise money for an Animal Charity. She had asked last year and Mum had said no so she relented this year and Binki came out so pinky and CUTE! These pictures don't even capture how bright pink she was. The dye is of course, completely harmless to Binki and she was in the newspaper and managed to raise some money.

The Dog Show was on Sunday and Mum, Binki and I went and had a craft stall selling our ceramics (with pet theme) and it was a fun day ... and Miss Pinky Binki was definitely the star of the show!

Walking with Dinosaurs - the Arena Spectacular

On Saturday night, Mum, Dad and I went to see Walking with Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular at Sheffield Arena and it was, in a word, SPECTACULAR!

The audience was filled with kids, families and adults alike and there was something for everyone. It was so much fun!

I thought it would be quite a static show but it was absolutely fantastic and I can't recommend it enough. The show is travelling the world and if it comes to your neck of the woods, I would recommend going.

The pictures I posted aren't the ones I took (I've yet to download them) but are from the internet and show the scale. You can't get it from the pictures but each dinosaur was awesome! Quite realistic!

Seriously cute!

FANGtastic Drink

I love this vitamin water - and not just because it reminds me of True Blood! LOL! Yum!

The fabulous Perpetuum Jazzile

This is a YouTube clip of Perpetuum Jazzile using there hands to stimulate storm before singing .... and it really is FAB!

What a Cake!

My friend Liv sent me a link to the blog showing this Elvis cake..... IT IS AWESOME and I soooooo want it!

From the blog:

Each tier was decorated after an Elvis movie or song. The top tier is Love Me Tender and Vivi Las Vegas. The middle tier is Elvis' top ten albums and the bottom tier is Blue Hawaii.

Blog link: http://cakesbyjyl.blogspot.com/2008/08/elvis.html

Sharpener anyone??

My new pencil pot for my desk at work - a giant pencil sharpener. Isn't it adorable?!!! So cute! I got one for my Dad too as part of his Father's Day gift.