taking a weekend off...

work has been busy; the nights have been getting dark early...  I have been putting my pyjamas & furry slipper boots on when I get home, then curling up on the settee in front of Stargate Series one after my boyfriend makes dinner.

I've not been un-sociable as such, I just haven't had the energy or the will to do anything over the last couple months...

week days are spent slaving over an iMac, beautiful though it is; week nights are spent chilling in front of the TV or playing games on the iPad; whilst weekends have been spent doing all those things I should have done through the week but have just been too lazy to bother...  I would NOT win Housewife of the Year!!! :)

so when this last weekend came round I was looking forward to two things: the clocks going back so I get my extra hour in bed & the weekend Foundation Workshop in Holistic Massage with Rosslyn Alternatives.

I had a great time, met some lovely ladies & spent the weekend learning how to massage properly, lots of different techniques & managed to massage someone to sleep!!!

For more stories on my massage journey see This is me... Learning to be a massage therapist

we're gonna party like it's 1998... or are we?

Image from youcantgettherefromhere-theresa.blogspot.com

on a recent catch-up with a uni friend we decided (a few pints in I might add!) that organising a reunion would be a really great idea...


in 2014 it will be a whole decade since our class graduated!  what a mile stone!  10 years...  10 years folks!!!  by then I will be in my mid thirties...  to be totally honest, I'm not really digging this being 30 thing, so being in my mid thirties is surely not going to be any better???


I know, we'll all be 10 years older by then...  but this doesn't offer me any comfort...  but I best not get distracted from the topic at hand...  I am very easily distracted ;)


yes, so, the reunion...  having already discussed the concept over the first few drinks we then set about desperately trying to recall the names of all 70 odd of us who started in first year.  ...plus all the folk who joined the class over the five long years we were at uni.  


at this point a bit of background may be useful to the story...  architecture school is a special place...  I'm not sure if our class was the exception or the rule.  folk dropped out of our first year at an alarming rate, add in a few who didn't make it to second year with us & in 12 months we had gone from a class of 70 odd to 30 odd...  quite the kill rate, I'm sure you'll agree ;)  we then spent the next 4 years picking up strays from other years or losing them to other career paths or other countries...


so, back to the early onset of senile dementia for both me & the head (an affectionate nickname my friend picked up during those now fuzzy days of youth!)...


now I am armed with a half completed list of names & substantially fewer contact details...  I think I may have to go back to facebook & start friending everyone...  in an attempt to save us some work I contacted the architecture school, but unfortunately they have no information on file from that far back...  next stop the alumni office to see if they can help...


but the big question, the question we maybe should have considered before we spent a whole evening racking our brains for names from the past, is whether anyone will actually want to come?


watch this space :)

10 things...

I've been invited by the lovely Cheryl @ numberfive to share 10 things about myself...  10 things that most folk don't know...  10 things that most folk may be surprised to hear if I told them...  


well, here goes...


1 - I love shoes
well, trainers in particular, but shoes in general!  I have a modest shoe collection, well I think it's modest - my boyfriend would beg to differ...  I have, all told, around 40 odd pairs of shoes, trainers, flip flops, boots...  (thats if you count all the pairs in our flat & those still taking up vital storage space in my parents house despite the fact I left home 13 years ago!).
My latest purchase, well actually purchased by my generous boyfriend - who for all his moaning about it does actually on occasion fund this footwear addiction - are a beautiful, gorgeous, delightful, limited edition pair of bright pink, patent doctor martens!  I'm in love!


2 - I hate cheese
I hate cheese, all cheeses, be they un-naturally orange coloured cheddar or those really smelly ones that have veins of mould running through them...  I have tried cheese a few times, usually when fuelled by alcohol & under the insistance of all my cheese loving freaks, sorry friends!  but these tastings always produce the same reaction - one of revulsion...


3 -  I am an amateur egyptian bellydancer & drummer
inspired by a uni friend, many years ago, I took up belly dancing when I moved to the capital in 2005.  I loved it!  I quickly became hooked & started doing classes in egyptian drumming too with Hilary Thacker.  I even ventured into the Tunisian sahara in 2008 for a drumming workshop holiday - it was truly one of the best experiences of my life...


4 - I am an only child
I know what you're thinking - she's gonna be really weird, have social issues, not be good at interacting with folk, have been spoiled to within an inch of her life as a child...
well, actually - no :)  I'm quite normal really, well as normal as normal can be...  & thats not just my own biased opinion - most folk are quite surprised how social & grounded I am when it is revealed that I am minus any siblings!


5 - I don't know what I want to do with my life...
by day I am an architect.  It took me 8 years of study & hard work to qualify.  it's all I ever wanted to do.  
...but 5 years after making my dream a reality I'm left wondering if I have spent all this time & money wisely...  I no longer love my job, I just get on with it...  and there in lies the issue, for you see, to be a truly good architect it must be your life not just a job...  
I don't know exactly when it stopped being a passion & started being the daily grind but now it has I feel I must address this issue...  
I must answer that ever present & weighty question - what do I want to do with my life?


6 - I don't drink tea or coffee  (yes, you did read that correctly!)
I never have & I seriously doubt I ever will either...  I have tasted both & like my dabble with all things cheesey my only reaction is one of dislike...


7 - I like doing scary stuff for charity
Thanks to a crazy friend from school (we've known each other since we were 6!) I have over the last few years been talked into doing crazy stuff for charity - in 2007 I did a tandem skydive to raise money for Cancer Backup (now part of Macmillan Cancer Support) & in 2010 we did an SAS style 160ft abseil from the Forth Rail Bridge to raise money for Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland.  Next on the list are white water rafting & a 20ft walk over hot coals...  I'll keep you posted...


8 - My boobs get in the way
I'm well endowed in the boob department, theres just no getting away from it...  though I've had years to get used to it (I developed at 10) - years of practice coping with the staring, the conversations directed at them & not my face, the not being able to wear pretty, backless tops...  I know it's been a while since they've been in fashion but I'm still a little bitter...
but the major problem is not the size, the shape, the droopyness (which has been inevitable since puberty despite not being over 40 & not having borne any children yet), or the need for expensive bras with lots of scaffolding...  
it's that simple things - like crossing or moving your arms that are difficult - they are impeded by the projection of these monsters! ;)  
also, eating without spilling on yourself or ending up with half your meal inside your bra is something I haven't managed since before puberty took hold...  


9 - I am a geek
I love sci-fi films, in particular zombie films!  My all time favourite films (they just happen to be zombie films) are - 'Shaun of the Dead' & 'Zombieland'!  (although I have to say I have a passionate dislike for star wars...)  
I am totally hooked on the 'Trueblood' TV series (though at times it is reminiscent of channel 5 soft porn) & I love reading books featuring zombies, vampires & werewolves, especially zombies!


10 - I hate it when the film is different from the book
I know, I know...  it's artistic licence - that move from book to screenplay...  the finer points of the book don't always work when adapted for the big or small screen...
but seriously, what is with the major deviations from the plot of the book???
the latest series of 'Trueblood' is a perfect example...  I have read all the books.  I have overlooked the plot & character changes as I can appreciate it makes for better telly.  But now they are just blantantly making stuff up!  ...& it's not even good...

Renter vs. Owner... a fight, but one without a winner!

Its been a while, I know...

you might have been thinking that I had already run out of things to moan about...

well, you're wrong!!! the last few months have just provided me with many & more varied topics to add to the list...

first on that long list is: renter vs. owner...


I'm a renter...  I have been since I left home & went to uni 13 years ago...  though those first tentative years were spent in halls - which is the renting equivalent of having stabilisers on your bike!

I see no shame in still being a renter...  I'm 30 & a half years old & I still have not got myself a mortgage - I want to shout it from the top of Calton Hill & damn those disapproving looks from 'proper' grown ups!

There are, as with anything, pros & cons to renting...

Some of the pros - you're not tied into a mortgage for the new 20/30 odd years of your life; you can decide to move without being subject to the rise & fall (but mostly fall these days) of the housing market; you are not responsible for the maintenance & up keep of the building in which you live or the appliances/ finishes within said building (unless they belong to you or you have been stupid enough to break something & own up!)...

Some of the cons - your home is not your home, it belongs to someone else; you have to ask permission of said landlord if you want to paint the walls; you are totally reliant on your (hopefully) delightful landlord to get your boiler fixed when it's been declared unsafe for use while you are suffering from a cold in the middle of the worst UK winter in recent history & not leaving you with no heating or hot water for 4 days...

Now down to the real reason I bring up the topic of renter vs. owner...

My boyfriend & I live in a block of flats in Leith, which was built during the property boom.  Not long after the first few flats had been sold the wonderful credit driven economy that my generation had come to know as ours imploded & the housing market crashed...

3 years on & most of the flats in our block have still never been sold, they are rented, in most cases by very nice people who can close doors behind them...  I can't comment on the rest, so I can't pin the blame on anyone in particular...  but seriously people, how hard is it to close a door behind you???

That's the real problem you see, the front door keeps being left open...  and since the door is being left open some of the lovely people of Leith have been coming in & stealing stuff...  first to be targeted were the bikes...  luckily my bike was left behind but my boyfriends bike didn't fair so well.  Although the bike was left where it was tied up, the rather clumsy thieves decided to kick the back wheel in since having a go at the combination lock didn't result in a free bike!

So, thats my moan this week folks...  renters, why don't they care?  surely there is no difference between being a renter or an owner because in the end it's still your stuff that's being stolen...