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oh. my. gosh.
last night was my leaving do from work.... it was a very, very good night. but i am so hung over that i can't close my eyes for too long or i get the spins. i haven't had alcohol since i turned 30, three years ago - so last night was a bit of a shock to the old system.
here are the pics from last night - please note that i look silly in most of them.
missed milestone
hey - on the 23rd of this month, i totally forgot to celebrate or even mention my site's two year blogaversary! you can read my first post, if you're so inclined, in the archive.
another odd note - i came back to work after having mary catherine on april 1st. two years later, april 1st is my last day. do time, dates and numbers ever repeat in your life? because they sure do in mine. example: march 24th, date i met andrew in person, date we made mary catherine at disneyland paris. another: july 26th, date i moved from DC, date i married andrew. all in different years, of course.
while you're busy thinking that i'm a little strange for bringing that up or even noticing that - you can also chew on the fact that i think of the months as a circle and sequential numbers in a straight line and certain numbers in colours. apparently, there's a term for that, believe it or not - synaesthesia.
back in the saddle
back from our easter holiday up north.. i feel like we've seen most of the country on our travels. a's parents live in a fabulous part of the world and i love being there. as we live in a concrete jungle, it's just so nice to be where there's nothing but fields and sky. glorious. even in the rain.
which there was a lot of.
it's the start of my last week at work. feels weird. we leave for america a week from yesterday and it's like a lot has to happen before we go. a bit mind-spinning, really. more later.
click here for photos from the weekend.
Easter
Tonight at the end of the easter vigil mass, my child raised her arm up high and loudly exclaimed, 'votes for women!!' Ala Mrs Banks from Mary Poppins.... That and e-i-e-i-o in the middle of the Lord's prayer really made me smile. My little farm loving Suffragette!!
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images..
the nominees have been posted for the 2005 photobloggies. i highly encourage you to have a click around, there's some amazing shots there. i'm going to go snapping today at lunchtime, i think (to keep myself away from the apple store).. will see what i can find.
UPDATE: this is what i did at lunch today. click for slide show.
green and grey
my good mate at work, zoe, just got a brand-spanking-new ibook. i am positively green with envy. she's asked me to go to the apple store with her at lunch to check out bags. i can't go! i am too afraid that i will just run in there with my credit card held high, screaming to purchase the new 12" powerbook that i've got my lusty eye on.
i know i just got a new ipod shuffle and a new blackberry.. (both of which are most excellent but um. well. yeah. see, my current powerbook is five years old and the screen is starting to dim and it's... hell. it's running perfectly fine, dammit. is it wrong to hope for things to break?
on another note - my house is a wreck, my cousins are coming to visit tomorrow and will be staying in our humble house that's not quite up to guest standards at the moment, we're leaving for northumberland tomorrow evening, haven't even THOUGHT about packing or planned anything, my new dental work feels weird and still hurts and i'm just.... just... well, more than slightly out of sorts.
i'll spare you any other details.
fab news
andrew's contract has been extended at work! we are not staring
unemployment in the face any longer! seriously, this is fantastic
news...
i can't feel my face, can you?
oh my goodness. 35 minutes from start to finish, four shots, two fillings and one bite guard impression later...
the dentist i registered with when we moved to the area.. he seemed nice enough last week when i went in and had xrays and an exam. today he was like a drill toting, evil man on a mission. now, i know i'm a ch-ch-chicken when it comes to dentists and all things involving pain. but this guy's chairside manner could really use some work.
me: 'i'm really sorry - but i'm terribly afraid of needles in my mouth'
him: 'that's the colonial in you'
me: 'no really, before you stick that very large needle in my gum, do you have any of that nice numbing gel?'
him: 'yes, we usually use it for children, but i suppose we could use it on an american as well'
see where this is going? i know i sorta give up any right to be defensive about america in large amounts since i'm an expat ... BUT. don't pull that crap on me when i'm staring down the barrel of a really freaking big needle. stupid dentist. times like that i want to claim to be canadian. (insert bad bob & soud mackenzie joke here, eh)
so i'm home- totally feeling sorry for myself. how i can be in pain and numb at the same time is beyond me. i can't feel my face and yet i ache. not so nice. i go back next week to have my bite guard fitted. anyone know any good anti-dentist remarks?
mundee
after such a great weekend, the fact that i have to go to the dentist today is like running head-first into a brick wall. ka-bam!
i have to have two fillings done, one to replace an old one and one to stop me from grinding my way to the root of another tooth. i detest having other people's hands in my mouth and the sound/feel of metal on my teeth. so at 4pm today - please note that i'll be in my own personal hell.
i also have to have my impressions made for my bite guard or 'passion enhancer' as i'm calling it. now i'm a girl with a very high gag-reflex so it's quite possible that i will vomit on the dental assistant. pity him/her, please.
on the geeky plus side, at least i'll have my crackberry with me and can blog/email about the torture as it happens. from the front line, so to speak. are you lucky? of course you are.
more later.
Most excellent day
Hello from central london.. We came in on the tube to go to the BFI IMAX to see the movie robots. Mary catherine's been to the movies before - but not one that's 5 stories tall! She loved it and it's a cute flick, so we all enjoyed it. Afterwards we didn't feel like going home, so we've just been wandering on the south bank of the thames. Had lunch in a nice enough pub where mc ate her own weight in mash with a few bites of sausage... Andrew and I both had pie - pretty tasty, although we're were so hungry anything would've been stellar. Now I'm writing from the turbine hall at the tate modern while mc has a nap and andrew takes some photos. For the first time in a LONG time I am enjoying living in london. Go figure.
Oooooh
Henceforth and thuswith my first blackberry post!
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things to come
i am posting via email for the first time. expanding the nerdiness a bit, if you will. i'm doing it mainly to see how things go because i've just ordered my blackberry! it's all very exciting. i'm trying hard not to clench my jaw & teeth today. but with gibson on my left, a child who would only wear her pajamas to school today and fabulous weather that i can only stare longingly at from my window... well - it's a lofty goal. more later..
the cause of the pain.
get this.
i do not have a sinus infection.
nor an abscessed tooth.
no - all my pain (that just happened to coincide with a cold) is from bruxism. while i normally try and stay away from most 'isms' - this is one i am stuck with. i am so good at this one that i'm wearing my teeth down to the pulp in some places. the dentist today told me that i have the teeth of a 50 year old, because they're damaged from grinding and clenching.
go figure - bruxism is directly related to stress. whilst i think i can be a stressed person, apparently i'm a very stressed person and am damaging my jaw and mouth as a direct result. how freaky is that. the pain i had over the weekend was a muscle spasm - which explains why it was never really in the same place.
i'm totally weirded out. i go on monday to have a guard made to chew through instead of my molars at night. i'm also supposed to learn how to relax. thinking about figuring that one out and the news that i have 'old teeth' is ... wait for it... stressful!
nice one.
i think i've pretty much decided to get a blackberry. the idea of always having my email with me gives me a major geeky tingle. hmm... decisions, decisions.
i'm feeling about 87% better than i did on sunday. so a definite upswing in that department. i'm still taking the antibiotics and painkillers, but slept last night unmedicated. defo progress.
if you're a flickr or gizmodo fan, you probably already know about the 'what's in your bag' picture set .. for something slightly geeky, it's actually pretty interesting and entertaining. i think i'm nosy.
i want to shoot the whole day..... down.
gosh bless augmentin (amoxicillin) and codrydamol because i'm feeling about 60% better than i was yesterday. still painful, but i can actually carry on a conversation whereas yesterday morning i was only able to wallow in my misery.
i did miss a farewell dinner for all my wonderful friends who are moving away... i felt badly about skipping it, but i was in no shape to be good company. sarah, mei and duaa - i wish you all the very best in your new homes and please make sure to come back and visit often. you will be greatly missed.
yes, that's right. i have had four friends move out of the area in the space of two months. how much does that totally suck? thank goodness cathy is still here or i'd cry. seriously. big fat sloppy wet tears. not so nice.
on another note - we've decided to put mc on the waiting list for the montessori school. SO exciting. as for my internal (well, not so internal now that i've moaned to anyone who'd listen about it) debate about paying for a private school which would use the funds to put baby number two into care when it was time for me to go back to work .... well, we've had a talk about it and have decided to cross that bridge when and if we get to it. it doesn't make sense to worry about it now and miss getting mc into a good school. who knows where life will take us and if baby number two comes along - we'll see where we are at that time and evaluate. so there.
but yes - montessori school. very exciting! i mean, we still have to look at the catholic school down the road, but still.. i'm stoked.
pain...
man oh man.. i either have an abscessed tooth or a sinus infection apparently. i am in so much pain - it's unbelieveable. it started thursday mid-afternoon and has gotten to the point where sleeping is pretty much impossible because i feel like my face is going to fall off. so i called nhs direct and they sent me to a walk-in centre where the doctor couldn't really tell me much. he put me on anti-biotics and gave me a stronger pain reliever and said to follow up with a dentist if things didn't improve.
so i'm waiting for things to improve. they can not get any worse, that's for sure.
on another note - andrew just plugged in the eye toy for the PS2 and he and mary catherine are having fun watching themselves on the telly. like nerdy father like dorky daughter. boy, i love them.
act of kindness leading to a whole new level of geekdom
today - someone did something really cool. i won't gush about it, because it might be a bit odd in 'real life.' suffice it to say that i now proudly own a 1 gig ipod shuffle that kicks butt and it was above and beyond.
the shuffle rocks my socks. big time. so tiny yet so capable. it'll be super handy on my new commute - i'll probably look less dorky wearing it on the way to the wharf than i do now wearing it around the house in my jim jams.
so to whom it may concern - a great big public thank you... so funny - when we were talking about his first trip to the apple store, he said, 'the place was packed and there were cool people there' ... well DUH. i don't hang with dorks, you know..
we've been watching jamie's school dinners on channel 4 for three weeks now. i really applaud what he's trying to do to change the british school dinner 'system' and get kids eating better. and i REALLY hope he is successful by the time mary catherine goes to school - because .. ick! 37p per child per day to make a nutritous meal? no wonder they're feeding them such crap. please - sign the petition and make a difference.
what does it mean when your two year-old looks over at you during your morning commute and says, 'mommy i don't need any watermelon'...? more later..
he's cute AND talented..
not sure if you know - but andrew's set up a photo blog, since he got his new fancy camera. please join me in encouraging him to use it as i think he's a pretty talented fella. his site is here. atlas digital. there's also a permanent link to it over on the left sidebar. i love his current picture.
if photography puts the jam in your doughnut, defo check out photoblogs.org for some excellent blogs. more later...
on saturday we went to wakefield to meet the newest member of our family. on the way up, mary catherine kept telling me that she wanted to hold the baby. so we let her.
she was very, VERY good around philippa and it sort of made me think that i wouldn't have to worry about her around a new baby, if we ever decided to have one.
but honestly, i am not sure we ever would. i'm very conflicted about it and even though there is absolutely NO reason to worry about it at the present time - i found myself really questionning things when i was sitting and holding philippa. do i want another child? and the answer is honestly, that i have no idea. not a clue.
i just can't decide if i'm confused about it or ambivalent. weird.
new pictures are up on flickr.
happy mother's day
i'm writing to you from the comfort of my warm and snuggly bed where i am currently enjoying a most wonderful mother's day present. i've been given a lovely card by my daughter, who brought it to me saying, 'happy mother's day, i made you a card with colours, i help you open it.' she proceeded to climb into bed with me, open my card on her lap and say. 'dear mommy, happy mother's day.' yes - that's right. my child can READ. :)
she then sent daddy to the kitchen for bowls of cereal and we ate like queens in the big bed. then they both abandoned me in favour of mulan and it's been lovely just lying here, reading a book. it's a nice day to be a mother.
on friday, mary catherine looked at me and touched my nose and said 'you have polka dots.' she, of course, was referring to the two small (i thought they were small) pimples i had on my nose. nice one. happy mother's day to all celebrating today!
i can think of very little that's particularly interesting today, i'm afraid. i could tell you that it was like living in a snow globe this morning on the way to work. however, now it's blue skies but still very cold. i was hoping for a snow day. yeah - like that ever happens in the real london. (if you watch british romcom movies, though - it's always snowy and very, very clean)
mary catherine came home with someone else's big girl pants from school the other day. is it wrong to covet them? because they are great - silver and sparkly and very worth having. real party pants.
my colleague gibson would like me to mention him on my site today. he's single and if you're interested (i'm being totally serious) drop me a line.
blame it on eddie murphy - my girl wants to potty all the time!
i had a sneaking suspicion when mary catherine came home wearing the same outfit she went to school in.... yes, that's right! no accidents at nursery yesterday (except, apparently, for one code brown). i'm so proud!
this morning in the car, mary catherine was showing her baby (appropriately named 'baby') everything on our journey. so baby got to see the farm we pass, and the ambulances in their garage, and the hospital and the people going by and the cars and the 'taxi-cars' and buses and even an airplane! when baby successfully waved at the farm, mary catherine kissed her on the head and said, 'well done, baby.' i think we're raising her right.
this weekend we're off to see new cousin philippa and on sunday it's mother's day. i wonder what lies in store for me, A MOTHER? (are you getting the hints yet, dear?)
I'm so excited - we're going to the new Cath Kidston store in Covent Garden tomorrow evening! I have to say that I am absolutely hooked on everything she makes.
I'm currently storming the internet looking for the perfect new 'take to work' bag. So far, Radley has really taken my fancy. Man, I love internet window shopping!
the big secret is out..
today i resigned from my job... i've got a new one that starts mid-april. THAT'S the big secret. and for all of you who thought it might be that i was pregnant (!) i'm sorry to disappoint! more later...
oh - you'll note no google ads. apparently they've disabled my account. i'm looking into it.
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