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I had a good day today

Went for a wander into Geneva city centre this afternoon, mostly 'cos we were looking for the place where Jamie is going to a birthday party next Wednesday but also because it was a beautiful day.

I took lots of piccies - natch

I'm off to bed

Maybe next year

... I'm ready for the Bloscars

Any ideas what this is?

From here

1. Have you ever successfully played a prank on anyone?
Nope, I'm not that mean

2. Has anyone ever successfully played a prank on you?
Many a time, I'm far too naive

3. Do you think they moon landings were faked?
I hope not...

4. What the best April Fools day prank you've heard of?
The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest one, I love that Switzerland was deemed exotic enough for this kind of prank back in 1957!

5. Complete this sentence: "Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice..."
Shame on me, fool me thrice, shame on me... you get the idea

Hubby got his promotion today, it'll start next week!

For the Bloscars are coming up fast!

Let's face it, the Oscar dresses this year were pretty much terrible, it's not going to take much to beat them

How about this one?

Or this one?

Or this one?

And then there are the shoes, the jewellery...

P.S. Vote for me, you know you want to

Six names you go by
Sarah
Mrs Minchin
Sare
Mum
Sweetie (only when he wants something of course)
Big sprog - my sister calls me that, I call her little sprog

Three things you are wearing right now
Cream jumper
White vest top
Jeans

Two things you want very badly at the moment
Pancakes
Another day off work

Two things you did last night
Watched TV
Surfed the net

Three favourite beverages
Diet Coke
Pink champagne
Mojitos

Two things you ate today
Weetabix with yoghurt, honey and raisins
Cheese on toast

Two people you last talked to on the phone
Mike
My Mum

Two things you are going to do tomorrow
Work - booooo
Come home at lunch-time - hurrah for half-day Wednesdays

Two things you are not good at
Taking criticism
Small talk

Had another busy weekend

Went to IKEA yesterday, lots of research for the house - I'm really getting an idea of what I want in various rooms

Today it's been Church and then working this afternoon, it's been snowing hard outside but thankfully it's all gone now

I've been thinking about decor for our en-suite bathroom, I want to get some colour in there. I read an article somewhere about using wallpaper with a glass splash-back so I've been doing some online research for wallpaper.

The one which is my new background is my current favourite - it's from Cole & son. I thought I'd try it out on here to so how I feel about it

And now it's Sunday evening and there's another busy week to come... *bugger*

From here

1. In 1935 Caroline Mikkelsen was the first women to set foot in Antarctica. Where is the one place in the world you'd like to visit?
I've always wanted to visit Vancouver

2. February 20th is the birthday of Ivana Trump. Would you marry someone just to get (or help someone else to get) a passport like Ivana did?
Nope, never. Marriage is about love, that's it.

3. On February 20th 2005 the world said good bye to actress Sandra Dee. In the movie of your life who would play you?
Liv Tyler

4. February 20th is also the birthday of Leonore Cohn Rosenstiel Annenberg, American billionaire and former Chief of Protocol of the U.S. If money was no object what one item would you buy?
Shoes, shoes, shoes

5. Complete this sentence: "I think the best female role-model of all time is..."
Marie Curie, scientific pioneer

Do anything nice?

I did this:

Tuesdays suck

'Tis all

We decided to make the most of the sunny weather and it being the last day of half-term, don't mention that though and headed off to our plot

The boys amused themselves playing rugby - and why not, they could play for 3 of the 6 nations with their genetic make-up

And I pootled around taking various snaps

Now we're watching the rugby *come on Ireland* while listening to the sizzling coming from the oven - yum, roast chicken tonight

From here

Making the most of our kid-free state (they're with their grandparents for the weekend), we headed off to Annemasse to do lots of research for our house

Found lots of things we liked like this kitchen, this kitchen (go to p6 in the online catalogue), this bath, this shower cubicle with this shower-head... I could go on all day

*aubergine kitchens? Yum!*

We drove back again looking warily at a large cloud sitting on the hills, sure enough it was a white-out around here... fortunately it hasn't settled much.

Not many plans for tonight, we're going to have fondue and watch some TV

Sorry I've kept you waiting, I've been a busy girl

Anyway, here's us all dolled up last night, ready to head down into the town and this place

(Scuse the weird angle, we were running late and I couldn't be arsed messing around with the tripod so this was taken with the camera on the dining table)

Fashion notes - as you can see, the weather dictated the addition of boots rather than shoes and I changed the necklace for my favourite brooch. I also listened to you lovely ladies and chose more sheer tights

As for the meal itself, here's the menu (with prices removed to avoid heart attacks)

There were lots of courses, each served with its own wine as chosen by the restaurant's sommelier (wine expert). I wish I'd been able to take photos because the presentation was amazing!

Anyway, first there was foie gras *yummy* served with the most delicious chestnut bread, totally melt in the mouth. I love foie gras so this was always going to go well with me!

After that there were scallops, now I'm not the biggest seafood fan but these were incredible. Very light and tasty, I may actually be converted

Then there was some kind of fish (What is 'bar' in English? Who knows!) which had a lovely crsipy skin. Officially yum.

Next there was duck, 'canette' means that it was a girly-duck and very tasty she was too. I love duck and this was just right, not too rare but not cooked into oblivion either.

By this point I truly thought I couldn't eat anything else... but then there were the desserts. We each had a large plate and on it there were several little dishes and glasses, each with a different dessert. There was something chocolately, a little creme brulee, fruit in a pina colada sauce and some little fruit sorbets. Delicious

All in all, it was the most expensive meal of my life - don't ask, you really don't want to know - but it was also the most delicious. The restaurant truly deserves its reputation even if the decor was a little disappointing...

I was so stuffed still this morning that it took me a long time to get hungry again

Red Dwarf stars Rimmer (Chris Barrie), Kryten (Robert Llewellyn), Lister (Craig Charles) and Cat (Danny John-Jules) visit the set of ITV soap Coronation Street as part of a two-part Easter weekend special. Red Dwarf: Back to Earth will be broadcast on digital channel Dave on 10 April.

From here (click on 'The Big Picture' on RHS)

Have a great day!

I've been messing around with various wardrobe options for our very posh meal out tomorrow

Decided on one dress but it needed new accessories, the last time I wore it was for a meal one Summer where the temperature was about 35C in the restaurant!

This is the end result... Rhys took the photo... add effort with hair and make-up... and with the dress not kinking up strangely at the front ... be kind

Now I just need to source some grey nail varnish

Hubby's announced he's taking me here tomorrow for our not-quite-valentines-but-close-enough-and-a-helluva-lot-cheaper-than-going-on-the-day-itself meal.

Damn it's posh!

In other news, it snowed Tuesday night, melted during the day yesterday and is now snowing again I wish the weather would make up its mind!

Took the kids to see Bolt yesterday (or Volt as it's called around here). I rather liked it although it was a bit scary in parts for Jamie.

Of course now I need a hamster called Rhino

Haven't known what to blog today

There's so much back-biting and sniping going on and it's bringing everyone down

I feel like having a big party instead! Time for some fun around here

Let's see...

Some ABBA

Some Take That

And the B52s

Well, I feel better at the very least!

*skips off to bed*

I hoovered

I did a load of washing

I twittered (a lot)

I wrote 6 reports... only 5 left to go

Time to collapse in front of the TV 'cos I'm knackered, hubby's grumpy and needs some TLC and, well, I'm the one to give it

Having a busy day?

From here

*tee hee*

We meandered along to the Botanical Gardens in Geneva this afternoon. The light was pretty cruddy but I still managed to get some good shots with my fab new camera.

(As you can see, I'm in a b&w mood today)

To see the rest go to my flickr page here
And if you want to buy any of my shots (yup, shameless self-publicity) then go to my RedBubble page here

Hubby earns himself some more brownie points with this one

*yum*

Using the 'replace all' function on Word to change term to semester on the newly-structured reports is not necessarily a good thing

Thankfully, spellcheck found the word 'desemesterined'

Shoulda been 'determined', see?

From here

1. Have you kept your new year's resolutions?
Well, the only resolution I made was to tell my kids everyday that I love them 'cos I know I've been too harsh with them in the past... I've tried hard to keep to this but
it's not always happened *slaps wrists*

2. Has 2009 been a better year so far than 2008?
It's only a month and a bit old so hard to tell!

3. Name one big thing you plan to do in the rest of 2009.
Build our house at last

4. Do you think the credit crunch will affect you more in 2009?
Damn, I hope not. All the hassle getting a mortgage, don't think it could get too much worse in that situation.

5. If money were no object, what would you like to do in 2009?
Travel, travel, travel

Let's face it, doesn't take much to be better than last Friday (3am - dealing with crap, 10am - dealing with puke, 5pm - dealing with pee)

But coming home to these helps even if they are a week late

*damn, I love my new camera*

As does being on half-term for the next week (even if I have reports to write)

Y'know, I've written loads of posts over the last few days but haven't pressed that magical 'Save' button 'cos I've been telling myself "You won't win a Bloscar with that drivel". It's taken me long enough to figure out that making the final 5 for 2 of those awards in success enough for me

Sometimes I just wanna smack myself round the chops

I love Friday, we're going to catch up on our TV with a bottle of wine and a pack of Pringles, glamorous it ain't but I don't care

I hate writing reports
I hate writing reports
I hate writing reports
I hate writing reports
I hate writing reports
I hate writing reports
I hate writing reports
I hate writing reports
I hate writing reports
I hate writing reports

Makes me laugh that this kind of thing is available...

... bet they don't ask you to write reports as part of the game

Dad's just sent me a whole batch of piccies from the weekend

A group shot of all of the family, it's not often we're all in the same place!

A standard shot of me and my new toy

And this fab one of me taken by Jamie - looks like he's getting some of the heriditary photographic skills

Time to eat some more choccy...

There aren't enough hours in the day at the moment, I need a weekend to get over my weekend!

Talking of the weekend, it was great fun (even if completely crazy and totally exhausting). We totally surprised Mum turning up on Saturday afternoon and she was thrilled to see us

It was great seeing loads of family and friends and sharing my birthday with them all.

And I got my lovely new camera Here are some of the piccies I took while playing around with it this weekend...

... I have loads to learn and no time to spend on it, things are mental with work right now I'm monstrously behind with my report-writing Oh okay, I haven't started them yet

Oh and thank you xbillions for my 2 Bloscar nominations Vote for ME!

Happy Birthday my dear blog-twin!

Yup, we were born on the same day back in, erm, 1980-something *snigger*

Hope your birthday has been more restful than mine