so apparently my forehead was too close to the top of the page for those picky people at the passport office.  Hmm, looks like theres space enough for me, but seemingly a few millimetres of ginger barnett could make the difference between a safer United Kingdom and an illiegal immigant frenzy.  

So I had to re-do the pictures. 

Whilst being very blotchy.  

.... Not impressed.

Luckily my face isn't usually massively impacted, so with a D-list celebrity dose of foundation firmly planted on my visage I trekked over to Morrisons to redo said picture.  I look pretty much the same, yet less impressed with life.  Hey ho, I will remember the day the photo got taken fo rthe next 10 years anyway.

really really sore hands now.  pants pants pants

Blotchy

Can't remember last time I got blotchy, Paul insists he's never seen it so it can't be for a few years.  As per usuual , I;ve not idea what caused it, only that whilst sat in the cinema last night (Slumdog Millionaire - great film) I started to feel a little itchy and had that doomed feeling.  sure enough, on greater inspection at home the blotches had started and by this morning I was well and truly covered in red wheals all over.  I'm doped up on anti-histamene and feeling sorry for myself.  Still it usually only lasts a couple of days....

 I got 98 emails at work today.  If I discard 10 of those which I could have replied immediately with a "yes", "no" or "sod off" comment, 8 or so were immediately deleted as pointless, but the remainder all required work, effort and reponses.  Thats about 80 emails, thats 1 every six minutes.

bloody ridiculous.

this time last year...

I had pretty much dreaded this month, January is never a particularly positive month, despite all the declarations of new starts, good intentions and resolutions etc.  But even worse was the knowledge that January 2008 was pretty much the best month of my life so far, in that it was carefree, fun and spent in New Zealand!  Comparing that to the humdrum January of 2009 was never going to be easy.  That said, it's not been as hard as I'd anticipated.  I'd had visions of sitting at my desk all month thinking "this time last month....." but actually I've been too busy to think about anything other than work whilst at work, and the moments of recollection have been positive, simply remembering what a great time we had and appreciating the fact that we had the chance to do something so wonderful.

So, on that note I take the opportunity to indulge myself a little this evening, remembering back to this day last year where we were on Day 1 of the 3 day Routeburn crossing.  This 32K tramp over 3 days was a big challenge for me, mentally as well as physically.  I don't do walking, and carrying a rucksack full of my gear was far too reminiscent of my Duke of Edinburgh days to be a pleasant option.  But in reality it was a brilliant experience, knackering but exhilarating with stunning scenery, killer inclines, good company, and in all a real memory to treasure.  The views genuinely took my breath away and to be so far away from the real world made the experience really special.  I was so proud of myself at the end, and still can't quite believe that Paul persuaded me to do it.  In fact, one day I'd like to go back and do a few more of the Great Walks - just don't tell Paul.  

 

photo-phobia

Ah the curse of marriage - not the being married bit I hasten to add, but the need to change your name on every bit of documentation etc etc. I know I know I could keep my old name, but I'm not that way inclined and, frankly, I think it would be more hassle to spend the next 30 years explaining that I'm NOT Mrs Ellis. So, that said, I've covered most bases but needed to find a suitable gap in my travelling window to change the old passport details. And this is it, i think I need to go over to the US first week of march so I have a month in which to get my passport to the lovely people in Cardiff, or wherever it is, and hope they pull their finger out and get it sorted asap. The bad bit is needing a new photo. One that will haunt me for the next 10 years every time I travel - creating hilarity with my husband and probably the lady at the check in desk too. So I thought I'd share that pleasure with those of you in Blog-world too.... enjoy .......

Politics at work

I don't like to blog about the job, given that I'm in HR and am well aware of the implications of dissing your company online .  That said, life in my job is 85% good,  I love being back in the company, like the challenges and like the people I manage and work closely with - however the experience of being "bought" by another company, and being shoe-horned into their culture, organisational structure (and I use the world "structure" loosely) and basically having my original remit completely rehashed is starting to hack me off.  I guess 15% annoyed is a pretty good percentage, and its certainly not putting me off the place, but I do despair of the politics that I seem to have been parachuted into.  I'm not a political manoevering kind of person. I just get on with the job and I'm damn well not going to change either.  just wish some others were the same.  hey ho, at least its friday adn I have a curry and glass of wine waiting for me to finish this blogpost - cheers Husband!

Oh boy I sooooo want one of these, after playing with one last night,  It;s brilliant, and my geography is completely pants.  I have employees all over Europe, Africa and the various countries which used to make up the USSR so my crap geographical knowledge is so bad it's actually seriously embarrassing.  I have a map on my wall and one on my desk so that when a manager calls about an employee in Gabon or Cabinda I can at least try and work out which continent it is on,  But if I had one of these globes I might actually learn stuff.  How cool would that be.  What do you think my chances are for getting it on expenses.....?

Work christmas do went well, Hatherley manor hotel actually looked very nice once all the tables and decorations were laid out.  We looked at it for our wedding last year and, whsilt it was nice, we felt it lacked a little character, especially for the ceremony/photos, but the room for the main reception would have been lovely.  Glad we went where we did.

Anyway, the night was pretty successful, I drank but didn't get too drunk and managed to maintain my composure!  Band was excellent so did a bit of dancing and then piled home about half twelve.

It's 10.48 and I am still in bed, can't remember when I had such a ridiculously-long lie in but its great, only slight concern is that, probably due to all the shouting, I have a really sore throat, and you know what that usually leads to with me...... voice-loss central.  So I have been gargling with soluble asprin, and trying to get Paul to name that song.  He's not as enthusiastic as he should be.

work party tonight, late Christmas one.  I WILL NOT GET DRUNK.  can't have another Sunday like last week, too much to do.  One benefit from last weekend was it inspired me to clean that toilet. Nothing like looking at the thing in close quarters to make you realised some scrubbing is required!

In other news, this has been a week of Vet's visits.  We took Millie and Jess last Saturday for a check up, with the usual double action miaowing all the way there and back.  Both were pretty much fine but Jess has 2 teeth that had rotted so we needed to take her back in to get that fixed - Cue guilty parent syndrome where you wonder how long she had had this and feel terrible that you didn't notice before.  So Monday night was "find the litter tray in the roof" and "hide the food" antics, in an attempt to prepare her for the anaesthetic.  Millie was the most interested in the litter tray so that wasn't a success and both were apoplectic with hunger by the morning, practically marching the bedroom with "feed me" placards .  Paul took Jess in the morning and I moped about at work worrying about her until getting the call that all had gone well and she could be picked up at 5pm.

She returned home and was OK, though very shaky and bemused.  Not at all happy and kept trying to run away from either of us but struggled to get her legs to do what they were told.  She needed soft food so again, Millie won out as a side product and the both of them have had a great time over the last few days eating Salmon Sheba (god that stuff stinks).

By the next day Jess was back to her usual self and the op seems to have been a success, although I have to take her back in a hour or so for a check up which is NOT going to go down well....

My guilt was eased by buying Jess a cute basket and heated pad which goes in it.  In typical Jess style she steadfastly refused to use it at first, then started to, but only when we were out of the room (leaping out of it as soon as we appeared, with a nonchalance of "me? in the basket?  don't be so stupid!).  but shes getting the hang of it and seems to now be quite taken with it.  But the guilt factor is catching so now I have to buy one for Millie so it doesn't look like I am favouring Jess.  I want to get one of those ones that hangs off the radiator which I think Millie would love.  Paul thinks that she'd pull the radiator off the wall.. Cheeky sod.

I'm hanging...

and thats not from a tree.  went to sax's 30th last night at this place and am suffering big time today.  I have to say the place itself is absolutely gorgeous, a lovely old house with a modern bit attached with lovely pool, gym and treatment rooms. Only problem was that the pool was closed for maintenance (they had told sax this - but only after she'd organised the party there), the outdoor hot tub closed at 4pm so I couldn't use it and my treatment booking had been "lost" in a computer glitch.  They did squeeze me in a small facial which i have to say was lovely, and due to the pool closure we got a room for the night at a damn good price - so in all a good experience.  The room for the party was a perfect size and setting, and the outside area really was lovely.  There was WAY too much wine consumed and I have spent the best part of the day lying on the sofa or going abck to bed.  It's 6.30pm and I'm starting to feel human again.  Ouch

wedding talk

spent the evening with friends catching up on the gossip,  Listening to Emma talk about her wedding plans I would have thought i'd be slightly missing all our pre-wedding excitement.  But I'm not really. I enjoyed arranging it, but glad my life is about other stuff now.  We have other topics to argue about!

nearly lost my engagement ring.  It's so cold my hands have shrunk and it must have slipped off whilst I rummaged in my handbag earlier.  When I realised I only had my wedding ring on I felt sick to the bottom of my stomach.  Luckily I found it fairly quickly.

Whew

ooo looooook, I'm famous. (well not really)

be warned

Beware the dangers of taking your husband's surname. Should have checked the net first....

One good thing about working between christmas and new year is the fact that I don't think I'll be hit by the big post-christmas blues that often hits after 2 weeks off. I was worried that it would be tough after Xmas because I would be remembering the wonderful month we had last year in New Zealand, but so far its just been good memories and not too depressing. After such a busy and positive year it would be hard to look back and be miserable about it. It is strange to think that a year ago we were here abseiling 100 metres down into a cave. Fantastic!

happy new year!

Wow, first sober new year since I realised how much fun alcohol can be! I enjoyed it in a strangely sober way! Work was fine, felt much better although didn't each much and stomach still ached from cramping all night, but was a whole lot better than the day before. We headed over to Dave and Eleanors early evening and had a nice meal, caught up on the gossip and put the world to rights.

There was a lot of champagne flowing due to Eleanor's news of being pregnant. I'd offered to drive as I still don't really feel up to alcohol so Paul made the most of it!

He's feeling a little tender now, as I am sure is most of the adult population. I feel quite smug!
We're off to the races this afternoon, it's damn cold!