We wish you a Merry Christmas ...

Christmas Lizzie pops up again to wish all 2 of you who read this (and your families of course) a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

This festive season is exhausting but every year I wish I'd thrown myself into it that little bit more ... but I guess that leaves room for improvement next year.

But for now I'm looking forward to some time alone ... I'll get the train up this afternoon after a few champagnes at work, run to Tesco Metro before it shuts to buy myself some treats, then go home, check out the car and start putting up the fairy lights. With a bit of luck the DVD player will work so I'll settle down with a bottle of cheap sparkling wine, some smoked salmon and 'It's a Wonderful Life' before crawling into bed before Santa comes.

It's going to be a weird Christmas Day this year. I'm back to the Henthorns so it's just like old times in some ways, but this year it'll just be Jennie, John, Rob & I for Christmas dinner. I'll go over early morning to see Nick & Vic before they head to her Mum's place and then I'll talk to Mum & Dad (because I don't have a phone in my house!). We're heading the Linda & Geoff's for drinks and then dinner in the very late afternoon. It'll be lovely and I really am one of the family, but I'll still feel a bit like an orphan!

Then over the next few days I'll catch up with Auntie Margaret & Pauline, drive across to Darlington to see Nick & Cat, hopefully drop in to see Nick & Vic in Leeds and with a bit of luck get in some post-Christmas shopping as well!!

But I always enjoy a bit of peace and quiet over Christmas ... waking up early and wandering around the garden with a cup of tea in my pjs, walking to the crem and seeing everyone else amidst their Christmas morning ritual of visiting loved ones who are no longer with us, going home and cranking up the carols while I get ready, driving down the empty roads to Augton ... and then all the chaos kicks in!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Snotmas

I've been rather sick the past week. Partly self-induced, but largely thanks to everyone I know being sick the week before ...

Things are getting better now, but I'm looking forward to a few proper days off come Wednesday afternoon ...

Amidst the hallucinations, the hot sweats and the ridiculous lack of appetite was the incredibly fabulous bright light of Gav & Scott's wedding.

I'll post again once all the photos are in, but Christmas will never be the same again ...

A Ruse (& Co.) Family Christmas

While we were all in town we decided to celebrate the day after the night before with Christmas lunch at the Princess Victoria.

Secret Santa only proved that some of us have known each other a little too long ...

A lazy afternoon of photos, crackers (Thanks Bry!), good food, giggles and a lot less alcohol than the night before!

Spice up your life!

Dunkie-babes celebrated his favourite film ever and held a Spiceworld party - fancy dress of course, with the theme being 'spice'.

Lots of drinks, lots of costume swapping, lots of friends ... what more could you want?!

Thanksgiving

I'm the first person to latch on to any traditional celebration, regardless of it's relevance to my life/beliefs/culture. Part of it is about experiencing other cultures and traditions and the other is just a good excuse to celebrate something ... anything ...

So, while I won't be cooking a turkey this Thanksgiving I may just make some time to whip up a sweet potato or pumpkin pie ... and I'll take the opportunity to be thankful for the many blessings of my life ...

I have a morning trawl through a number of blogs and came across this great post on Jason Mraz's (about an article by Kim Painter) the other day.

So, showing gratitude doesn't just give you the warm fuzzies ... it could be good for your health too!

I've got so many things to be thankful for in my life that spending a little time each day making an effort to appreciate them shouldn't be a struggle.

Thank you for reading ;)

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Grandpa would have been 95 today.

I'm looking forward to a walk through the crem and a chat with him next weekend. I know time heals ... but sometimes you just need quite a lot of time.

I miss him terribly.

Four years and counting!

A little hard to believe that I left Sydney 4 years ago!

Unsurprisingly, a lot has happened ... I've been a lot of places, lived in a few homes, met a lot of people, had a couple of jobs and spent a lot of time wondering what I'm going to do next!

Best thing has been the freedom - the constant feeling that I could just uproot and go wherever I felt. Keeping that under control has been difficult from time to time, but I've tried to take the sensible route.

Hardest thing has been being away from friends and family.

I've been very lucky to have Mum over for at least a couple of months every year I've been here ... and even luckier that Dad has been able to come over too more often than not. The future is looking a little bleaker in the knowledge that I won't be able to see them nearly as regularly from now on.

I've really regretted not staying in touch with people as well as I should. While it is a two way street, I know I've been a little difficult to stay in touch with this past year.

Highlights ...
2004 - working in a factory in North-West England. A proper white Christmas.
2005 - LA generally. Driving down Highway on my one woman road-trip. Discovering Fioli. Joining C&P.
2006 - Learning to really travel.
2007 - Realising that my work was truly valued. Getting a self-created promotion!
2008 - Spending time with Mum & Dad in Northern England. Santorini - learning to love a summer holiday. Becoming a wedding expert!

Lowlights ...
2004 - you know, I can't think of any.
2005 - Leaving LA. Flathunting in London.
2006 - Realising that not everyone can stay in London forever.
2007 - Having to say no to a wedding invitation for the first time. Leaving Australia without knowing when I was likely to be back.
2008 - Losing Grandpa. Not being able to be with friends when they need me. Watching Hannah grow up on the other side of the world.

Favourite places ...
2004 - Didn't really venture out of St Helens!!
2005 - Santa Monica. Fioli. NYC.
2006 - Prague
2007 - Oslo
2008 - Santorini

Who knows what the future holds ... I'll just sit tight and wait for the time being to see what 2009 brings!

York-tastic!

Great weekend in York with Adele, Bakes, Bry, Cat, Lee and Nick, to celebrate Nick & Lee's birthdays.

We started on Friday night with an amazing meal at Melton's Too - enormous servings of locally sourced food makes everyone happy!

Saturday saw us head for breakfast/morning tea at the famous Betty's Tea Rooms ... and so the down hill slide began ... Upon discovering that the Moet was "a bargain" we indulged in a bottle ...

Then we walked the city walls, pausing midway for another bottle of champagne ...

Those who'd been to the city less than 3 times then took a look around the Minster and climbed the tower for views over the city.

York we ended up at the bar Cat, Nick & Laura had just met andThen, feeling energetic, we decided that some retail therapy was in order before heading to meet up with Cat, Nick & Laura for a pre-dinner drink. After a brief trawl through the stinking bars of where we had booked for dinner.

Time for ... champagne! Then we moved to our table for a couple of bottle of Pink Prosecco (the low point of our 'champagne' day). From there the pizza, wine and champagne flowed freely, with Laura's fiance Rich making a guest appearance with a bottle of Veuve (and Nick & Cat looked very sad when it was all gone)!

After a long night for some, the more touristy types emerged the next day to explore the JORVIK Museum, which was not entirely hangover friendly! Some more retail therapy and then to the Masons Arms for an enormous (but below average) roast dinner. A compulsory visit to the fudge shop followed and then we said farewell to Nick and Cat before heading straight back to the bar from the night before! We sat in the sun for a bit before giving into temptation and heading back to the bar. They'd restocked the fridge after the evening before but unfortunately we just weren't up to the challenge, so beer and cider it was ...

Then back in a cab, picked up our bags, onto the train (and a brief goodbye to Lee who was being a 1st class snob!) and home sweet home ...

The Big 0-1!!!

That's right ... Miss Hannah Beth Patten is 1!!!

Hard to believe a year's gone by since I got that rather exhausted phone call from Ern. Which means it's been over 11 months since the gorgeous Miss Patten came to visit Ulolo Avenue and send my parents clucky!

In some ways it's been a very long year but now things are starting to look up again. 3 weddings, 1 ceilidh, 4 babies, only one pregnancy that I know about down and only a civil ceremony (and Christmas!) to go!

Can't quite believe Hannah been around long enough for me to get through all of that ... but I've watched her grow (albeit virtually, through my daily blog checking) so much over the past 12 months it seems only fair that she has a big party to celebrate (Not that I got an invitation ...!!).

So ... Happy Birthday Hannah! May you enjoy chocolate on your face for many, many years to come!

Condensation

Grandpa's house went on the market in late March.


Went to Barca with the folks in mid April.



Then the parentals decided that being in the same country as me for 9 out of 12 months was more than enough and headed back to Oz.

Got another new flatmate at the beginning of May.

Lost two of my four team secretaries. And no, I didn't actually misplace them. And no, they didn't leave because of me. Or so they say.

Had a girls weekend in Belfast in mid-May.



Had a mammoth late-May long weekend which started with the Chelsea Flower Show ... (look closely for Jamie Durie posing casually...)



... went via Eurovision at Chez Gibson-Budge in Darlington ...



... and ended in glorious St Helens.


Saw Pete Murray ... had to go through a metal detector to get into Brixton and got waved through security BECAUSE I had a bag (?!)


Squeezed in Supper Club 7 ...




...Got two new team secretaries.

(Haven't talked them into a photo yet)

Learnt how to run away with the circus at Jamie's Hens Day (Take 1)



And then ...

Jack, Siggy & Ande came to town and I got really excited and we had little bits of fun because I was working and couldn't take time off and we went out for dinner with really crap service and then we went for a posh Afternoon Tea (Jamie's Hens Day Take 2) with more crap service and then we got on a plane and it was delayed for two hours and I fell asleep and then I woke up and then we took off and we were on our way to Santorini!!!

Oh, and in the middle of those last 4 days I went up to Glasgow for the night for Karen's fabulous Cockadoodledoo!