New Beginnings in Lisa Land

Quarter-of-a-Century-Crisis

2007-02-27T06:46:00.000+01:00

Well, that's it. I've hit 25 and I actually do feel old.
I'm thinking about how I need to be going to the gym (once I can actually walk again) and taking more care of my body, watch what I'm eating etc. I'm also thinking I might get a haircut (and yes Tom, you made me think of it even more) and change a few things here and there.

I've got 'flu at the minute and feel pretty rough. Being sick on your birthday sucks. I hate missing work too (yes, some of us love our jobs), but when the main part of your job involves talking all day...and on top of feeling rotten you have no voice...well, makes the job impossible!

I've got my MRI tomorrow night...Woohooo Finally! Been waiting long enough for it! Hopefully this will start the ball rolling and *something* will finally be done with my knee.

Lots of things happened in the past year of my life.
- We got married
- We went on Honeymoon
- We bought (and decorated) our first home
- We had a song written for us
- Friends had babies
- Friends got engaged
- I was sick / stressed for too long
- I had the worst landlords possible!
- I've grown up a fair bit
...loads more things, but just a little boring for a blog.

So what do I see over this coming year?
- More Uni - good grades?!?
- Progressing in work to being a Senior&able to deal with more
- Developing relationship further with Tristan
- Getting more involved in something at Church
- Possible haircut&lifestyle change
- More focus on learning Spanish
- Trip to Spain in Summer???????????
- Going to see the in-laws in America
- Going surfing
- Going to London for dinner&theatre
- Bro-in-law is graduating - fast jet???
- Driving Test!!!!!!!
- Who knows!!

La La La

2007-01-04T14:44:00.000+01:00

Life is gooooooood.
Life is stressful too though - stupid uni work. bah!
But life is goooooooood.
God is gooooooood.

I love my job. Woohooo. I am so lucky.
I have the most amazing man in the world.
He's incredible.
Blah-de-blah-de-blah.

I am Raymond...Hear me Roarrrrrrrrr

Question for Lozza

2006-11-06T17:27:00.000+01:00

Last night at church I was sitting opposite Loz. I couldn't help but admire her necklace.
I just wanted to ask ya Loz, Was it ivory??? Where did you buy it???

Brrrrrrrrr

2006-11-02T16:48:00.000+01:00

It Is Cold.
I Am Cold.
I Don't Like The Cold.

Nuff Said.

Busy Busy Busy

2006-10-25T14:26:00.000+01:00

Life is very busy. But I guess that's a good thing. I mean, I like the fact that I'm able to cope with being busy :) I've got uni, work and other committments. It's a busy little life. But it's a good little life. Just gotta make sure I take it steady.

Today I had no uni. Lecture and Tutorial were cancelled. I had 1 lecture this morning that I decided not to go to. All he does is read straight through the lecture notes anyway. I'd have to have walked for about 30mins in the cold and wet to get the bus to uni and then on the way home again. I didn't fancy getting cold and wet and having to walk for ages just to go to uni for 1hr.

SO I've decided to have a fairly productive day.
I went through the notes that we should have done this morning in both lectures and tutorials. Then I got some washing done while I had some lunch and watched Neighbours and Doctors.
Once Doctors is over, I'm gonna get some housework done so my most brilliant and amazing hubsband can come home to a clean house.

Got home group tonight. Another little trip to Wales. And another night out.

Last night we were out at a Leaving Do with some of the guys from the Tristan's old work. Definately a good night. Not sure how we managed to get through all the food on the tables (Mmm...Mexican), there was SOOOO much of it!!!

Rrrrrrrrrrright. Must head. Gotta get this place sorted!!

I would blog but...

2006-09-12T20:32:00.000+01:00

I've been working fulltime and I'm knackered when I get home

I've got a husband and a house to attend to

I've had work to do from training

I've needed to just chill and relax

And the reason I'm not blogging it tonight ... I've got an insurance exam tomorrow which I need to revise for and my computer is being annoying and won't let me open windows I need to open.

I'll blog when I get time...

New Post Coming Soon...

2006-09-03T12:02:00.000+01:00

... lots of people who read this have asked me how the wedding was and how I felt throughout the day. Tomorrow evening I'm planning on blogging about it (or within a few days anyway).

Coming soon .... Episode 1-7-06 "The Wedding" ... Watch this space.

I love my husband!

2006-08-31T10:29:00.000+01:00

Nuff said.

Thank you God for giving me a man like Tristan. I am so blessed.

Kitten

2006-08-27T11:48:00.000+01:00

I want a kitten!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyone know of any little kittens needing a home?????

Told Off

2006-08-25T09:08:00.000+01:00

I just got told off for not playing The Smile Game.
We'll MAYBE do it later ... no promises. We'll see.

I think people should play it who don't know any of the people in the pics. Just guess at names, see how many you may possibly get right just from randomly guessing names :)

There is an annoying bell ringing somewhere ... like an alarm going off. Sssshhhhh!!! I'm trying to be busy and important and it's just getting on my nerves!

Stuff and Things

2006-08-25T08:32:00.000+01:00

Today I've come to work with my husband. I'm sitting in Bruce's office (his boss) and am supposed to do some work. Bah! I don't like work.
So why have I come to work with my husband??? No, this is not a regular occurance, it's just that we're heading off to Cambridge for the weekend once he's finished work and it makes more sense for me to come in to work with him rather than him have to go home and pick me up and then go. Cos like, that would just be a waste of time.

I'm quite looking forward to this weekend. It will be nice to get out of Bristol and just chill for a bit (although I do have loads of work I need to be doing). Owen and 2 friends, Tom&Lisa, will be there for a bit too, so that should be kewl. Unfortunately, there's no double bed for us, so for the 1st time since we got married, we'll have to sleep in separate beds. I know it sounds silly, but i'll miss being able to snuggle up to my man before we fall asleep and I'll miss him being beside me if I waken in the night.

On Tuesday I was majorly stressing about something. It was something very important, but stressing didn't help. I was chatting to Loz about it online and she said she'd pray for me (ta!!). She sent me a txt later on that evening to see how it had gone, and my phone battery promptly died so I never replied. Soweeeee. So then I got a call the next day to see if I was ok cos I'd not replied :) It made me feel happy. Thanks Loz :)

I've got so much work to do for uni still. It sucks. I hate it. Grrrrr. Stupid not being well when I should have done them before. Grrrrrr. Just means I've got loads now. D'oh!
Hopefully I'll be disciplined enough to get lots done while we're in Cambridge ... Tris, please make me do work, even if I'm being stubborn and tell you I don't want to or just give you the evil scowel. Please!!! I need to work.

I start my new job September 4th. I'm a little bit scared about it, there is going to be soooo much to learn and I'm a little bit worried I won't cope with it. I guess most ppl feel that going into a new job. Still, it's in an area I've wanted to work for a while. I'm going to be working in a call centre for a holiday company. I've wanted to work in travel for a good while now. It's a step up from where I was working. Better pay, better incentives and the possibility to actually progress in the company. I start fulltime for training, but that lasts 2.5weeks and then it will be part-time hours. It means after training I'll be back to working Saturdays, so I'll be back to never seeing my husband, lol. But it's a new challenge, so I guess in a way I'm really looking forward to it.

It's kinda worked out really well. God has been fantastic. The job came up at the perfect time. I started looking on the Tuesday afternoon, came across an ad for an information evening for the new place that night, went to that, got called back for an interview on the Thursday morning, then the next Thursday had a call to say I had a job. There were a few other things going on with my old work which made it even more amazing to see God's timing and how he intervened in a few areas. But, I start work when my coursework is due to be handed in (works out really well cos then I'm not working when I should be doing uni work) and the training is fulltime until I'm starting back to uni, which means I get the training in before I start back, plus the chance to earn extra money, cos the training is paid.

Right, it's coming up to 9 o'clock and we're outta here just after 11 or so. I guess I better get my ass in gear and start doing something productive, rather than blogging!!!!!!!
We've got the last episode of Dr Who to watch when we get to Cambridge - we didn't get to see it cos we were on honeymoon, so Tris got his mum to tape it. Wooohooo!!! Not that I can actually really remember what the last one we saw was about, but I remember we watched it on Teleport replay at about 11pm on the night before we were going on honeymoon, we'd got back from Cardiff that evening and hadn't even packed for Fuerteventura, but we had to make sure we got to watch Dr Who!!!!

Anyways....gotta fly. Have a fun bankhol weekend every1 :)

God is Goooood

2006-08-18T11:38:00.000+01:00

If you've read Tristan's blog, you'll see he's said there's loads of ways God has been soo incredibly good to us. Yesterday he proved to us again how incredible he really can be. September 4th I should be starting a new job .... Thank you God!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Loz

2006-08-17T09:32:00.000+01:00

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to Lozza
Happy Birthday to you

Hope you have a great day!!!!

Today

2006-08-16T12:33:00.000+01:00

Today I mostly feel like: crawling into a deep hole or dark cave and hiding away.

A short word from Mrs T

2006-08-14T11:46:00.000+01:00

I like Jammie Dodgers. Yum Yum.

We're starting to get this place into order. Still loads to do though. It just takes so much time to sort through everything and decide what to do with it and where to find it a home.
We should have a table&chairs early next month and we should have our sofas in a week or so. Yay!!!!

It's grey and overcast today, I don't like the weather at the minute. It's yucky. I'd like to see some sunshine again.

I went for a job interview last week. I think i'd really enjoy the job, it's a better job than I've got at the minute, better prospects and better pay. I'd also not be on my feet all the time, which would be good. Id' really like the job. We'll see what happens. I guess we just gotta trust God that if it's the right job for me, that I'll get it.

I'm working on uni stuff at the minute, it's hard work. I just don't feel like doing it, I'm finding it very difficult to motivate myself and then to keep motivated. I'm feeling really tired at the minute, I have a sleep most days at some point. Sleepy lis.

I'm really looking forward to getting this place properly sorted out so that it's a proper home. Like I said, we're waiting on the table&chairs and the sofas to arrive, but we're also waiting for a few more things. So it will just be so great when it all comes together. It's a bit frustrating at the minute, I'm just really craving having this place just how we want it. Hurry up stuff!!!!!!! It's my 1st house...I wanna be houseproud. lol.

We got Sky on Friday. Only problem is that there's always something on!!!!!!!!!! Arghhhh!!!!!
Still, we've got sky movies free for 6months so we'll get to see lots of films and if we miss them...well, it's sky, they'll be on again in a day or too!!!

Right, well, I'm off to think about doing some more work. D'oh!!!
Hope every1 is having a nice summer!!!!

Sooo......

2006-06-28T10:37:00.000+01:00

.....I'm getting married in 3days.
How weird is that?!? Me. Married. Crazy!! Who'd have thought!! Am I nuts??

The nerves are starting to really play up, we've got an incredibly busy next 2days (Thursday and Friday) and pretty much no time to ourselves now til our wedding night. Eek. We'll be together like, but we'll be busy doing stuff. I'll need lots of cuddles :)

It all feels rather surreal. I can't quite believe I'm getting married. It's really weird to think that this time 3days I'll be getting ready for the wedding. I know I love Tristan and that we wanna spend our lives together, but it just feels soooo odd!!!! Totally surreal. Am I just being crazy or have other people gone through this?? It's not that I've got cold feet, cos I know I wanna marry Trist ... but there's just 'something'. Crazyness.

Busy few days ahead. Fun, fun, fun. My parents arrive tomorrow. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Will this be my last blog as an unmarried woman?????????????????

Lonely

2006-06-22T21:51:00.000+01:00

I'm bored and I'm lonely.
Nuff said.

Arrggh it's back again

2006-05-19T00:26:00.000+01:00

I hate it, Big Brother, I really do.
We decided to watch the first one, it's always fairly interesting to see what kinda characters they have going into the house each year. What this year holds, I dunno, I worry, but I don't really plan to watch it. I'm guessing, since nearly all of them mentioned nakedness in their little bit before they entered the house ... well, perhaps there might just be some nakedness.

I've just found myself getting drawn in to something about old big brother's and the relationships between people. Each year it's got deeper and darker. But looking back on it, there's been so much hurt from 'encounters', I feel sorry for a lot of them.

Why is there now nothing but big brother on tv. I don't really wanna watch it. I really don't. But when there's nothing else on .... the sound of silence and birds ain't so bad. They're hardly saying a sentence without being 'birded over', so it's not so bad.

Perhaps I should just go to sleep. I'm totally knackered but for some reason I can't quite wind down properly, even despite 3 cups of peppermint tea. My brain isn't quite working but doesn't wanna stop being a bit too active. Argh!! Grr!!

On a happier note, I passed my exam today :) Woohoo! I really dunno what kinda mark I'll have got, but I know I've passed it, and at the minute that's really all I care about.

Tris and I are going back to the apartment tomorrow :) Very exciting. Nick is coming with us to have a look and make a nice list of all the work we're looking him to do. We're kinda hoping our mortgage offer comes through tomorrow (yeah, we still don't actually know for sure if we've got the apartment), we're trusting God that things will work out fine.
Got to take some more measurements which we didn't get to take on Tuesday and see if we can get a better idea of where we could put furniture (when we've measured where the window is in the wall etc.). It's really exciting.

I'm planning on trying my best to get up to the church tomorrow night equipped with my camera. We've gotta get some good pics for the website (it will appear sometime, like when we've not got a wedding to plan!!), so I might be dodging around trying to get some good photos.
I'm gonna rest up til we're goin up the apartment and hopefully I'll be strong enough :D

Woohooooo!!!

So I went to the Dr's today...

2006-05-16T19:56:00.000+01:00

So I went to the Dr's today
He told me I was psychologically ill
Asked if I'd thought about anti-depressants
Told me I needed to keep busy

Told me if I was busy I wouldn't be ill
Basically accused me of making up that I had a life
Said I needed to get out more
Tried to get inside my head

Told me I was under pressure to achieve
Hinted I was taking an easy way out
Saying my results suffer cos of my ME
That it makes life easier and I don't feel so bad when I underachieve

Asked a lot of questions about my life
Like he was trying to catch me out
Told me I was trying to secondguess him
To see if he believed in ME or not

I told him I'd had 12 years of this
Of some being supportive and some disbelieving
He told me 12 years was a long time
And again told me I needed a busier life

He asked how it had affected my life
I said I refused to give in
I may be behind but I'll get my degree
He doubted my determination

We talked about tests I'd had done in the past
I said many times they'd bled me dry
He offered me Anti-depressants again
Told me it would take it all away

Told me I needed a tetanus jab
Said I could have one today
I said it should probably wait til I felt better
He said I was hinting at it being a physical illness again.

I said I could understand it being psychological
If the only symptoms were headaches and nausea
But constant aching, weakess, fatigue etc.
How could that all be explained.

In future I'm sticking with my Dr
He wasn't in today so I couldn't see him
At least he know's it's a real illness
I feel defeated, I wish I'd not gone at all.

On a somewhat brighter note, I handed in some coursework today. Yay me.

I am making lunch

2006-05-15T13:08:00.000+01:00

Yum Yum Yum. I am making lunch. I am having chips and chicken nuggets. Not to worry, I'll have veg tonight. Right now I just want to eat something that will be easy to eat while I'm trying to work.

I've got an exam on Thursday, I'm hoping by the time it comes around I'll have a good idea of what I'm doing. It's all maths which is usually fine, it's just taking longer than normal to get into my head at the minute. The calculations are fine, it's just remember when, where and why we use whatever calculation at whatever time.

I'm finally finishing off a piece of coursework, should have it totally finished within a few hours. It will be printed out soon but then I've got to do a fair few drawings. It's rather boring though. I mean, do I really care about this????:

Due to the clay-like soil, the ground floor is a pre-cast suspended
concrete floor. This provides load-bearing capacity for the structure.
The floors are created from a series of ‘T’ beams, 150mm thick, with
concrete infill.
The upper floor is constructed from a series of timber joists, supported by
galvanised steal hangers, covered with timber floorboards. The joists are fixed at
400mm centres and are built into the internal leaf.

Blah blah blah blah blah!! How boring can it all be?!?!?!?!?!?
Tris and I might get in to see our apartment tomorrow. Tis very exciting. We've not been able to get in to see it yet since there's been too much construction going on, but most of the insides of the apartments appear to be sorted now and the communal areas are now constructed (like doorways, stairwells etc.), they've started the landscaping of the area aswell, which looks quite cool. Once that's all sorted and inspected then we can complete (we've still gotta get the contracts exchanged though!!). It's really exciting!!! Like I say, hopefully we'll be able to get in tomorrow afternoon. I'll be taking my camera and trying to find a tapemeasure to take with us too. There's windows to measure for blinds/curtains and space for the washer/dryer and fridge to measure.
We've still lots to do once we complete. We will have to get carpets and get them fitted, get some bathroom flooring for the bathroom and en-suite, kit the place out with furniture etc. and sort blinds, curtains and lighting and do a tiny bit of painting. Lots to do, lots of fun!!!
Oooh...lunch is ready!! Yum Yum!

Revision Bites

2006-05-13T13:39:00.000+01:00

Nuff Said.

It truely is summer!!

2006-05-12T12:35:00.000+01:00

The air is fresh and warm, the sun is shining and I'm listening to my Ash 'Free All Angels' album which makes me think back a few years to when this album came out and we used to listen to it all the time.

A group of about 20 of us would do everything together. This album makes me think mostly of being in the car on the way to the beach and then of being on the beach with the music playing. Sunshine, sea air, friends and bbq. It can't get any better than that.

Yeah sure, sand gets EVERYWHERE but nothing beats a good day at the beach.

Duh!!

2006-05-12T00:38:00.000+01:00

I'm REALLY tired but I can't sleep!

Now really, what's the sense in that?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

People need to blog!!

2006-05-11T15:26:00.001+01:00

What is it these days, no one blogs very much. Come on ppl!! I need something interesting to read.

It's such a beautiful day :) I want to be outside in the sunshine, but feeling sicky and being in sunshine doesn't seem to mix well for me today. Sometimes it can make me feel a lot lot better.

Homegroup last night was good. Lots of good food, very nice. 2 types of chilli and rice and loads of dessert stuff. Mmm. Was nice.

I didn't do my exam on Monday :( Decided that if I'd done it, I'd have been totally wiped out and wouldn't have been able to get other stuff done this week. As it is, my brain feels like cotton wool and my concentration is at a pretty low level. I hate being sick. I've had more than enough of it now, why won't it go away????????????

I know there's people out there who are sick with waaaaay more serious stuff, but ME is just a pain. It's so frustrating, especially having to explain it to almost everyone and with a lot of people thinking it just doesn't exist and I'm making it up. Yes, of course, I've been making something up for this past 12yrs or so, indeed. I enjoy the frustration of not being able to do things for myself, the depression that leads to, the constant pain in my body, the nausea, the headaches, the fact I've had to drop out of uni before, the fact that I'm going to be 26 before I graduate. Of course I'm just making it up cos I'm lazy. Grrrrr!!!

Now that I'm feeling a little better and not sleeping all the time, it's frustrating me even more. I've got an exam on Thursday which I know I can pass, if only my brain will do what it's been designed to do and remember things. Thank you God for Tristan, he's been amazing. It can't be easy on him to have to look after me and I know I've worried him on a couple of occasions when I've been really bad. He helped put gobbledygook written by my lecturer into english that my brain could eventually understand. He's fantastic and amazing and I'm the luckiest person alive to be with him (or so I think).

Well ... back to the grindstone ... Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine :)

Bah!!

2006-05-07T11:05:00.000+01:00

I've got my first exam tomorrow. I DO NOT feel up to doing exams. Stupid exams. I just feel so sick!!
I'm sitting here listening to Pachelbel's Canon in D Major. Nice and relaxing. Music can very much dictate my mood and also, depending on how I feel, I'll want to listen to different types of music.
One of my favourite 'relaxing' albums would have to be Phil Coulter: Classic Tranquility. This can always calm me down and have me thinking more rationally.

Just had a shower. I like feeling clean. Watching 'Father of the Bride' now.

Random post this is! lol. Ah well.
Hasta luego!

Men...

2006-05-04T19:07:00.000+01:00

... someone remind me why they're here.

Happy Lis

2006-05-03T14:56:00.000+01:00

I've just looked through my Uganda pics (can you tell? lol) and I've realised that I look happy in them all, except the ones just before I left there. Uganda was true happiness. I'm guessing my wedding photos will show the same kinda happiness cos I know that Tris makes me truely happy.
Smiley, happy, tanned lis. Lisa who had friends, who had a kitten, who felt so close to God. Happy lis. Not sick lisa.

I'm so fed up of feeling ill. There's so much I should be doing. I've got an exam next week, one the week after and my final one the week after that. I've also got coursework to do. But I just can't do it. My brain doesn't want to think. I can't concentrate. I feel so sick.
I'm going back to see the Dr this afternoon. I've not been at work for a while now and there's no way I'm strong enough yet to go back, so I've to get another note. If I went back now, I'd be flat on my back again, unable to move. I also want to chat with him about treatments which might be of some good to me.
I just don't wanna be sick anymore. I wanna be happy lis.

It's a bright, sunshiney day. I should be happy!!!

Patience Pays Off

2006-05-03T14:25:00.000+01:00

It took a couple of hours sitting by the lakeside, taking photos of lots of different birds and flowers. I got lots of blurry pics of kingfishers and weaver birds, but this is by far the best. A couple of people have said, if I touched up the colour, I could sell this, not for loads of money, but for a little bit.
Pictures of weaver birds hanging upside down in their natural habitat are fairly common, however, it's the fact the wings are out and so clear that gives it its individuality :)
Anyways, I like it :)

Africa

2006-05-03T14:18:00.000+01:00

I love this. It's currently the photo I'm using as my desktop wallpaper. This was done by Sally, who was on the Mbale Uganda team whilst I was in Mityana. She did Africa, I made one of Uganda. It was gorgeous. Mine was reds, oranges and yellows and funnily enough, the shape of Uganda.
Unfortunately, someone stole my bag on the plane which had a notebook I'd made whilst I was out there. It had messages from all my friends etc. along with pictures we'd drawn, newspaper articles, and little things from Uganda, like water bottle labels, different food labels etc. I wish I still had it :(

Thanks Tom

2006-05-01T03:34:00.000+01:00

Did you want me to have a completely sleepless night?!?!?!
Please people, don't send me links to Uganda stuff at night!! I'll just end up sitting getting really engrossed and then not being able to sleep due to thinkin all about Uganda and all my little kidletts and friends.

Still, I'm trying to get hold of a cd about the situation in Northern Uganda. A friend who was on an Oasis team to Kampala the year before I was in Mityana has formed a charity to help with rescued and escaped child soldiers in Northern Uganda. I've also mentioned Kate's charity, Esuubi Trust. C by D guys. this is where you guys can get the sponorship forms from.

Anyways, I've been trying to get my hands on the cd for quite a while, since a few friends in America told me about it when it came out. Since Tom reminded me of it tonight, I decided to do a google search and came across a link to it on abaana, a Northern Ireland charity for kids in Uganda (Abaana means 'children' in luganda). On that I found a link to a band website, Numinous, turns out I went to school with a bloke in the band. He's got some kinda link to 'Invisible Children' so I've e-mailed him to see if he knows where I can get hold of the dvd.
Small world though!!

How about a future Curious by Design cd helps to raise money to do some work out in Uganda and we get a team together and go out there. I've still got a fair few contacts out there and I know where we could do some work. There's also a fair bit of interest from people who'd like to go out / go back out to Uganda for a bit. Tris NEEDS to get out there to find where my heart truely lies.

Anyways Tom, thanks. lol. Now I'm just gonna have to try all the harder to get to sleep :p
P.S I've posted on the band website :)

Umm ... Something ???

2006-05-01T01:53:00.000+01:00

Should I be in bed?? Well, yes I should, but my mind is being rather too active for me to sleep, so perhaps if I waffle on about rubbish here for a bit, I might be able to sleep.

Managed to get to the prayer breaky on Saturday morning. Was good. I like places with food!!! The subject was the devil and it was all rather interesting. We chatted about the different types of attack we can all face at times. Was interesting though, we worked out that whilst we know all the ways we can be attacked, we tend not to realise when we are!!
Maz mentioned a book which Tris apparantly has living in the shed somewhere, can't think of what it's called just now, but I know I wanna read it!!! Sounded interesting.

I've just started reading 'The Screwtape Letters', I'm just starting to get into it, but it's very interesting, makes ya think for sure!! What's being said is very relevant and hits hard, it's just highlighting a lot of the influences the devil has trying to turn us from God. It's fairly hard going to start with though, the book refers to hell as being 'at home with our father' and God is 'The Enemy' and just stuff like that, it's all reversed from the way I'd normally be reading things, guess it means I've really got to concentrate on it though!!!

Something on tv there just caught my eye. Something about a day at a spa with massage, sauna, use of gym and pools etc. Mmm, nice. I'd just really like a good massage!!!

Not sure what I'll be doing tomorrow, depending on the weather some of us are planning to head out to Blaise Castle for a bit.

Anyone got any good tips for relaxation??? It's a major flaw of mine, I've never really been able to relax unless I'm on holiday and don't have to deal with anything. Tris is great cos he knows that rubbing my shoulders or feet helps me a lot and I love having someone working with my hair, very relaxing. But I tend to keep most things inside and refuse to deal with them until my whole world comes crashing down around me, so poor Tris has to put up with stressed out lis or occasionally, heap of mess lis. I know I need to learn to deal with things better and not let them eat away at me, and I'm trying to!! But I still need to learn to relax!! So please, any tips, most appreciated.

Grrrr @ this world!! Seems like every channel at the minute has something on about people having makeovers etc. who end up looking, in my opinon, worse and more fake after!! It's just annoying. Feels like I can't turn on the tv or lift up a magazine or read ANYTHING on wedding websites without being 'attacked' in a way and made to feel I'm not good enough cos I don't look 'perfect'. Grr, stupid things.

Right, I think I'm off to bed. I'll read my book for a bit to wind down and hopefully get some good sleep. Night Night!!

Did I do this before??????? I dunno

2006-04-27T15:05:00.000+01:00

Your #1 Match: ISFJ

The Nurturer
You have a strong need to belong, and you very loyal.A good listener, you excell at helping others in practical ways.In your spare time, you enjoy engaging your senses through art, cooking, and music.You find it easy to be devoted to one person, who you do special things for.
You would make a good interior designer, chef, or child psychologist.

Your #2 Match: INFJ

The Protector
You live your life with integrity, originality, vision, and creativity.Independent and stubborn, you rarely stray from your vision - no matter what it is.You are an excellent listener, with almost infinite patience.You have complex, deep feelings, and you take great care to express them.
You would make a great photographer, alternative medicine guru, or teacher.

Your #3 Match: ISFP

The Artist
You are a gifted artist or musician (though your talents may be dormant right now).You enjoy spending your free time in nature, and you are good with animals and children.Simply put, you enjoy bueaty in all its forms and live for the simple pleasures in life.Gentle, sensitive, and compassionate - you are good at recognizing people's unspoken needs.
You would make a good veterinarian, pediatrician, or composer.

Your #4 Match: ISTJ

The Duty Fulfiller
You are responsible, reliable, and hardworking - you get the job done.You prefer productive hobbies, like woodworking or knittings.Quiet and serious, you are well prepared for whatever life hands you.Conservative and down-to-earth, you hardly ever do anything crazy.
You would make a great business executive, accountant, or lawyer.

Your #5 Match: ESFJ

The Caregiver
You are sympathetic and caring, putting friends and family first.A creature of habit, you prefer routines and have trouble with change.You love being in groups - whether you're helping people or working on a project.You are good at listening, laughing, and bringing out the best in people.
You would make a great nurse, social worker, or teacher.

What's" Your Personality Type?

Eli - Valleys

2006-04-25T13:11:00.000+01:00

Lying at the bottom,
I can clearly see the top.
Pressed against this firm foundation,
I count none of this as lost.
And as I struggle up this mountain,
with every bloody knee.
You know I'm often proned to stumble,
but it's this rock that catches me.

And it's this rock that tells me,
that's what valleys are for.
It's from here that we measure,
just how far we must go.
You don't know how tall
you stand until you fall.

Mountains cast a shadow,
at times it's hard to tell.
Will the darkness overtake you,
will you suceed or fail.
Though I've climbed a hundred mountains,
and stood up on their peaks.
I still draw my greatest comfort
from the rock lies beneath.

And it's this rock that tells me,
that's what valleys are for.
It's from here that we measure,
just how far we must go.
And it's this rock that tells me,
that's what valleys are for.
It's from here that we measure,
just how far we must go.

Cause you don't know how tall
you stand until you fall,
that's what valleys are for.

Messed up in the head

2006-04-24T01:28:00.000+01:00

Sometimes I wish that I had no committments, nothing to tie me down, nothing keeping me in the one place for longer than I wanted to be there. There's so many things I'd do with my life if only I had the time etc. to do them.

For a start, I've always wanted to go off to Spain, to a language school and study Spanish there for a year. If I could go now, I would go. I think it would be incredible. I love languages, wherever I go, I try to learn some of the language. Spanish is my passion though. Who knows why. Over this past 4years or so I've accumulated so many 'spanish study holidays', 'language courses abroad', 'don quijote' etc. course books. I've picked out the different locations in Spain I'd like to study spanish and I've priced the courses alongside accommodation for 36weeks. 4hours of Spanish, 5 days a week for 36 weeks, living in Spain ... more than enough to give me an excellent grasp of the language. Might sound boring to some, but I think it would be incredible. All that sunshine, good food and Spanish lifestyle too. It would be a dream come true.
Don't see it happening now though. Marriage is about compromises (is it really bad I couldn't think of the word there but knew where it was in a friends episode so I looked up the script to find the word?!?!) and making sacrifices. I don't see Tris wanting to move out to Spain so I could do the language course! Guess it's just a dream that I'll have to let die.

This past number of years I've wanted to work on a campsite as a kids rep. I applied and was accepted. In 2004 my parents wouldn't let me go. I'd also really wanted to go back to Uganda that summer (I'd come home in April 2004), but they wouldn't let me go back either. I had no job at home and no one would employ me. I was angry, frustrated and I hated the UK for not being Uganda. And my parents were on my back about not having a job. McDonalds turned me down ... THAT was hard to accept.
I've been reading through an old journal lately and I've realised how low I was at that point in my life. I just wanted to get away from home, away from my parents and get back to some sunshine. Having been away at uni the year before and then not seeing my parents for 6months while I was in Uganda, it was tough to be stuck at home, not having any independance from them.

Last March they contacted me, asking if I was interested in working for them again. Course I was!!! May-September at a campsite in Southern Frace or Spain?!?! Who wouldn't be!! So why didn't I go??? I couldn't leave Tristan and he didn't want me to go. I'd have missed him too much and I don't think we'd have been strong enough then to deal with everything that would have meant for us. Instead I stayed in Bristol, got myself a job (supposedly for the summer), which ended a few weeks later when they decided they didn't need me anymore. And once again I was made to feel like I was totally worthless. For July and August I wished I'd gone away. I did get to go on the youth holiday for a bit and I got to go to Soul Survivor for a few days and work for Oasis (who I went to Uganda with), so it wasn't all bad.

Sometimes I kick myself though. I know now that it's yet another dream that's been thrown out the window. Yeah, I've got my man and I'm so thankful to God for him, but part of me feels like I've missed out on something, I'm hoping that someday I'll get over it and it won't eat away at me like it does now.

I'd love to travel the world, at my own pace, working my way around, sightseeing and finding out about different cultures, getting temp work where I could if I wanted to stay around for a bit. Being married, working and having a mortgage kinda puts a stop to that one. Too many committments.
It's the same for Uganda. I'd love to go back out there, to Mityana, and do some more work. I'd like to set up a self-contained 'village' for kids. Somewhere with a well for clean drinking water rather than walking miles a few times each day to collect water. Somewhere we could grow most of our own food. I could have a few teachers working with me, educate the kids and have a Dr there to treat injuries / illnesses (people only really go to the hospital there to die, terrible place!). I think it would be incredible.

If I could just get up now and go, I'd go. Anywhere warm. I know i'd be healthier. I'm so fedup of being ill. I'm fedup of having so much to do and not having the time to do it in. I'm fedup of it being cold and wet. I need sunshine! Sunshine makes me smile. A tan makes me feel more human than beast.
More than anything, I'm frustrated as a watch so many dreams I've had for my life wash away out of reach. I know I'm getting married and moving on to a new chapter in life, but sometimes there's things that are hard to let go of.

My wedding dress came in, I'm going tomorrow afternoon to try it on. I should be happy and excited. Why am I not?? I guess it's just yet another thing that needs doing. Maybe when I'm there I'll feel different.

What's wrong with me?? I've got an incredible man, we're getting married in just under 10 weeks from now and yet I'm longing for what can't be. Tris my love, I need you to show me you love me more than ever just now.
I need an outlet for this. I need to stop sounding like I'm complaining.

I need a hug.

Unexpected Visitor

2006-04-22T01:13:00.000+01:00

Loz came round for a bit tonight.

She's kewl.

Thanks - you made me smile.

Fat Lip

2006-04-21T01:18:00.000+01:00

Picture this.
I'm lying in bed, propped up against my pillow (trust me, it's not bad), duvet half way up my stomach, laptop on top of the duvet.

I start to feel a little cold so I think covering up a little more with the duvet might help. So I pull on the duvet.

Did it move? No! Instead, I smacked myself in the mouth. I can taste blood. I can feel it swelling as I type.

OUCH!

Note to self: Remember, lift the laptop off the duvet before trying to snuggle further under it!

7 Things of 10 Things (in no particular order)

2006-04-20T02:10:00.000+01:00

10 Things I miss about Dundee

1. My room
2. The most beautiful uni ever
3. Walking to uni on a crisp, clear day
4. The river tay
5. Sitting on a comfy seat in starbucks with a book for hours
6. The funky little shops along the road to uni
7. The all-night bakery (steak baguette at 4am!!!) after a night in the union
8. David and all our latenite convos with coffee and chocolate
9. Catching a train to Glasgow, seein my cuz n spendin the day in a great city
10. Driving over the bridge to St Andrews and walking on the beach / pier
jumping into freezing cold water!

10 Things I miss about Uganda

1. The people, their timekeeping & their faith in God
2. Feeling God so close & being completely reliant on Him
3. The sunshine
4. Foooooooooood!!
5. The beauty of the red dust and green trees
6. Sitting on our roof with friends
7. Sitting up at night with Kate, drinking tea, chatting & releasing stress
8. The smell of Africa
9. All the kids
10. The market - sights, sounds and smells

10 Things I miss about Home

1. Stars
2. Green fields & spring time with all the lambs
3. The seaside
4. My Granny
5. Not having annoying housemates
6. Having my own room, as I want it, decorated as I like it
7. Friendly people
8. The smell of country air
9. Having the living room to myself or bringing friends home & taking over
10. Old friendships

10 Things I like about Bristol

1. Tristan is here
2. First time of not feeling like a complete outsider at church
3. Driving past the riverside in town at night with all the lights
4. Making new friendships
5. Park Street and its funky shops
6. It's generally warmer than Northern Ireland
7. Being within walking distance of civilisation
8. Being more independant than I could ever be at home
9. Frenchay Village and Frenchay Common
10. Being able to go to the pub with friends without everyone around us being wasted

10 reasons I wanna move to Spain

1. The sun shines more there and it's a lot warmer which makes me happy
2. I wanna live close to the beach
3. I love the language
4. A siesta in the afternoon! Need I say more!!
5. The lifestyle ... eating al fresco, going for walks at night
6. Tapas
7. I've wanted to since I was about 11
8. There's so few youth works and so many unsaved youth!
9. I look better with a bit of a tan
10. I want my kids to grow up with fresh air, sunshine, great food and the
ability to speak two languages fluently

10 goals I have

1. To marry the man I love in just over 10 weeks time
2. To complete 2nd yr of uni (&subsequent years)
3. To find some kind of purpose for my life and somewhere I belong
4. To become fluent in Spanish & spend a significant time out there
5. To travel, spending long enough in places to learn their true culture
6. To promote the work of Esuubi Trust
7. To know my bible better
8. To be worth something to people
9. To work more with little kids again
10. To stop pushing everyone away cos I'm scared of getting hurt and to
develop lasting friendships

10 Things I need from God

1. Help in loving Tris even when I wanna kill him
2. Determination
3. Peace & Patience
4. Forgiveness: to get over things in my past and forgive people who have
majorly screwed me up over the years and those who still are.
5. Him to show me whether I have any gifts or any purpose in life
6. Strength
7. Strengthened faith
8. Self confidence/esteem
9. The desires to do whatever it is he wants me to do
10. A way to express how I feel sometimes

Wedding Stuff & Stuff

2006-04-19T00:59:00.000+01:00

Hello World.

I'm getting my hair done tomorrow. Let's hope it turns out ok this time. Gotta get it sorted in time for the wedding. Not sure what I'm doing with it yet on the wedding day (10weeks and 3days away), but I'm gonna have a chat with someone next week about it and see what they suggest. Think Loz and I are gonna book a trial at the hair place in a bit to see what they say too.
Hoping I can cope with tomorrow. I'm not too well at the minute and I've basically just been sleeping or lying around and falling asleep. The Dr has told me off and signed me off work for 2weeks and told me I'm not to get stressed or do too much. Not likely to happen, is it. I've still got coursework to do, exams are next month, there's the mortgage stuff and the wedding planning. Argh!!! Still, hopefully I'll be able to attempt some coursework before the weekend.

Tris and I have finalised the menu for the wedding and have the invites nearly sorted. We know they should have been out, but it just didn't happen. Anyway, most people know when it is. We've got the menu to put into it and the wedding gift list info (hint hint ... 2 things have been bought so far from our argos list - some plates, cups and bowls, and a clock, and the 2 off our debenhams list we bought ourselves!! and whilst we're very greatful for these, they'll not fill a house :) lol). We've also had money and a honeymoon booked, so it's not all bad.

Anyway, enough ranting. God will provide.

Things are moving along slowly with the wedding planning. We've gotta get these invites sent. Once that's done, we can move on with other stuff. I've ordered my shoes and some other stuff for the wedding, which were playing on my mind, and I've been very daring and bought some new clothes for our honeymoon, a little dress and skirt and a few new tops and bikinis. I'll get some more stuff too, I'm looking forward to getting away. I do plan on getting a suntan though!!! Corralejo is a nice place, we can go out for dinner and then have a bit of a walk around the town, have a few drinks here and there and then head back to our apartment. I loved it last time I was there with my cousin. This time will be even better, Tris and I will be together, just married :)

Gotta speak to the florist (gotta take pics of the church first) and get her advice on what's needed.
Gotta decide on a place for wedding photos to be taken (any suggestions??).
Gotta decide on music for the wedding.
Gotta make the order of services.
Gotta write and send a couple of thankyou cards.
Gotta get these invites sent out.
Gotta draw up a seating plan of tables, then add ppl as they reply.
Gotta make sure Loz and Kate buy shoes.
Gotta book a hotel room for the night before.
And so much more....

This is such a boring blog. I really need to sleep. Night Night.

Being Sick

2006-04-18T12:15:00.000+01:00

I don't like it.

End of.

Apparantly this is my ideal man

2006-04-13T01:24:00.000+01:00

There's no such thing as too much wining and dining! You're a soft touch for the Romantic. A bouquet of flowers...a nice dinner...a bit of music - it all suits you down to the ground! Your sort places his woman on a pedestal and treats her like a princess. That's precisely what you crave. Whether you need it or not, you like the reassurance that a romantic man provides. With him, you never feel taken for granted. You don't fall for the bad lad act - in fact, you're put off by a man who's not in touch with his feminine side. The sensitive male who properly courts a woman will steal your heart every time. A bit traditional? Well, yes. A bit old-fashioned? Perhaps. But did a bit of extra doting ever hurt anyone? Absolutely not.

Copied from Jen

2006-04-10T13:42:00.000+01:00

1. WHAT IS YOUR MIDDLE NAME?
Caroline

2. WHAT COLOUR UNDERWEAR ARE YOU WEARING?
Purple!

3. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Cars going past and the sound of the computer

4. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
toast with raspberry jam

5. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOUR WOULD YOU BE?
White: Ordinarily it's hard to see but in the right situation (on black paper) it shines brighter than any other. It's not used very often ... I don't like to be used.

6. HOW IS THE WEATHER RIGHT NOW?
Happy bright and sunny day. Makes me smile!!

7. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
Umm...my mum I think. Well, if talking means listening to her yelling, then yeah, my mum. If you mean talked to ... probably Tris.

8. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Eyes. Always the eyes. Then the smile. Helps if he's got a cute butt too.

9. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT YOU THIS?
I stole it! But she's pretty kewl.

10. HOW ARE YOU TODAY?
Stressing over coursework, but it's bright and sunny and the air is fresh so it's all goooooood.

12. FAVOURITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK?
Dunno

13. FAVOURITE SPORT?
Hockey: I feel invigorated after I've been running around in the cold and wet for a few hours.

14. HAIR COLOUR?
Browny-blondey

15. EYE COLOUR?
Blue

16. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
Sometimes - I should wear them more often

17. FAVOURITE MONTH?
April - it's getting warmer but the air is still fresh and crisp and clean

18. FAVOURITE FOOD?
Fooooooooooood! Depends on how I'm feeling.

20. ARE YOU TOO SHY TO ASK SOMEONE OUT?
Yes!! I'm incredibly shy a lot of the time. Plus...I like the men to do the asking.

21. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Summer!!! Sunshine is great!! Winter is only good when there's loads of snow. I love snow.

22. HUGS OR KISSES?
Kiddles.

23. RELATIONSHIPS OR ONE NIGHT STANDS -
Relationship. I agree with Jen, who wouldn't want this!!

24. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA?
Chocolate

25. DO YOU WANT YOUR FRIENDS TO WRITE BACK
Yeah, why not.

26. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO BLOG THIS
Loz

27. WHO IS LEAST LIKELY TO BLOG THIS
Tristan

29. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?
"The Construction of Houses" and "Town and Country Planning in the UK" **yawn**

30. WHAT DID YOU DO LAST NIGHT?
Same thing I'd been doing all day ... Coursework

31. LAST PLACE YOU WENT ON HOLIDAY?
Northern Ireland and Cambridge don't count. I guess youth holiday in North Devon

32. FAVOURITE SMELLS?
Africa
Clean men wearing Hugo Boss/Dark Blue
Freshly baked bread
Snow
Freshly washed bedsheets that have been hung outside to dry.

33. WHO/WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
Tristan
My Gran - she's my hero really. I'll always look up to her

34. BUTTERED, PLAIN, OR SALTED POPCORN?
Er...sweet??

35. FAVOURITE CAR?
I'd love a peugeot 206, Audi TT Roadster is soooooo sexy

36. FAVOURITE FLOWER?
Sunflower - they're such happy smiley flowers!
Daisy - pretty
Single Red or White rose

37. HOW MANY KEYS ON YOUR KEY RING?
too many

38. CAN YOU JUGGLE
If you mean throw things on the floor, then yes.

39. RED OR WHITE WINE?
Red, or Rose.

40. WHAT DID YOU DO FOR YOUR LAST BIRTHDAY?
Worked all day and Tris made me dinner (with Ugandan food!!) and a cake and then we had champagne and strawberries.

41. WHAT IS YOUR STAR SIGN?
Pisces

42.DO YOU OWN A DONOR CARD?
Nope

43. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE UP?
I wonder how much longer I can stay in bed before I HAVE to get up

44. EVER BEEN IN LOVE?
Yeah. Once before and Now

45. WHERE IS THE BEST PLACE FOR A HONEYMOON?
I'd love to go to the Maldives or St Lucia, but that's just unreasonably priced. We're going to Fuerteventura and I can't wait! I love Spain and Fuerteventura is fantastic.

2006-04-09T02:53:00.000+01:00

02:52 update: Still awake and stressing.
Please God let me get some good sleep.

Confusion

2006-04-09T01:50:00.000+01:00

I should be asleep, really I should. I wanna be able to get up and go to church in the morning. I'm just stressing a bit too much to sleep.

I've got so much uni work to do, it's scary. Feels like there's so much else to do aswell and I'm now stressing so much that nothing is really being done properly. Uni lecturers are being as helpful as ever ... that being, totally useless.
There's 2 pieces of coursework I have which are rather similar. Both involve surveying a property. Basically, I've asked my lecturers to give a little guidance ... but neither seems able to let me know if I can use the same property, therefore using a lot of the same info in both projects. I guess i'll just have to go for it, I mean, both of them mention surveying your own house if possible. Tis crazy. All my lecturers seem able to say is that both are very different pieces of work in the detail they ask for, which is fair enough, but there's enough of a similarity to mean I'm repeating myself over and over.
I've also got economics coursework to do, which I hate. Stupid subject, really is. Don't see why I've gotta pass it, grr. Hate it, don't get it at all, even had to buy an economics dictionary to help me get by.

Coursework to complete by May 2nd: 5 pieces
Exams in May (8th, 18th and 23rd): 3

Please God help me get through this!!!! I can't do it alone.

I'm sooooooo tired and I'd a nice relaxing night with ppl round Loz's house. I should be asleep now, but part of me is saying I've gotta work. No ... sleep is more important, is it not? I don't know anymore!!

I'm gonna have to just really REALLY get stuck into work and not lift my head outta my books for anything, well, apart from the days I've gotta be in work. Hmm, wonder if I can change my Thursday hours so I'm working 9-1 rather than 1:30-5:30. Gotta work out which days I can work around my exams too cos I gotta make up my 20hrs per week, can't take any holiday cos taking most of it in July for honeymoon. I don't think I'm cut out for this work lark along with uni and stuff. I guess next year it should be less stressful as I'll be more used to working and I'll just have uni and not a whole load of other planning. Although, uni will take more work etc. next year, argh! Life is always complicated, isn't it.

Note to self: You need to become more disciplined. Get your head in your books and don't take it out til you can write everything you need to about the topic.

Feeling at this moment in time: I'm so screwed.
General feeling overall: I've got the time to finish the work if I just put my mind to it!

What am I gonna do now? : Sleep!!

A post for today

2006-04-07T13:03:00.000+01:00

Hello again blog world.
Found out a few days ago a friend of mine from school (who will hopefully be coming to the wedding) has a blog now too.

Tris and I have been rather lucky lately, financially that is, in the way of food. First, we were round at Adam's for a meal with him and Penny, then last weekend my parents were over and they took us for dinner on the Friday and Saturday night. This week we've been to Adam's again (chocolate fountain again!!!) and last night, Tris and I were round for dinner with Jamie and Shaneen.

Was a good night. Some gooood food, chicken fajitas, potato wedges and tacos!! I'd made a cake so we had chocolate cake and icecream to finish. Gooood food indeed.
Ended up playing Bristol monopoly. They really should have considered different positions for things on the board, some seemed just ridiculous. We drove home past what we hope is gonna be our new house and I realised it's actually just around the corner from where Jamie and Shaneen live really. Bristol is getting smaller, finally. I'm learning my way around.

Cards for our joint bank account arrived today, seems funny really, I'm sure I'll get used to it. Feels kinda grown up! We also got our mortgage valuation report through, tis good, they've said it's worth what it's being sold at :) woohooo! So at least we know the mortgage company thinks it's worth giving us a mortgage for, now all we gotta do is get them to give it to us!!
All in good time.

I'm hungry now so think I might go eat some cake. Mmm....cake.

Missing

2006-04-07T01:08:00.000+01:00

Just came across a photo of Uganda. Red earth, green trees and blue sky.

I wanna be there. I was surreal. I miss it so much.

Please God, take me back.

Uganda Again

2006-03-30T10:28:00.000+01:00

Some of you who know me, or who have been reading my blog for some time will know that something I am incredibly passionate about is Africa, Uganda in particular.

When I was 13 the African Children's Choir came to my church, we had 3 of the boys to stay with us that night. They were fantastic. They were incredibly happy looking kids, but as they sang, they told stories through their music and some of them told of how they had lived before joining the choir and being sponsored. It really stuck with me. I knew that some day I wanted to go to Africa and see this all for myself.

In September 2003 I got my dream as I flew out to Uganda to work for 6 months with Oasis Trust. We had an amazing time!! It was heartbreaking when the 6 months had flown by and it was time to come home again. In all honesty, I never truely came home, I left my heart there. Some day ... I'll return. It truely is the most beautiful land God ever created.

One of my bridesmaids (Kate) was on my team in Uganda and has set up a charity to get sponsorship for some of the kids we worked with out there. Take a look.

My heart

Past post about Uganda for anyone who is interested

Funky

2006-03-27T14:01:00.000+01:00

We got a wedding present in the post. Wedding lists are great!!

Chocolate Fountains

2006-03-25T01:27:00.000+01:00

Ah ... the sticky, gooey, yummy, messy contraption :) Tastes good!!

Dinner tonight with Adam and Penny was nice. Good food, company wasn't bad, hehe. Adam's little neice joined us for a few minutes and I got insight into Adam in the future if he ever has kids ... holding them at arms length!! She's only little, what's she gonna do to ya!?!?! She is gorgeous though!! Man, I'm sooooo broody these days. Seems like everyone is having babies ... I want one!!!

Chocolate fountain was full of sticky gooey yummyness, with marshmallows, strawberries, peach slices and mini doughnuts. Very tasty. Very messy. A nightmare to clean!!!

I've got the joys of work tomorrow, fun, fun, fun. I'm over my points target for this month, so anything I get until the end of the month is just more money on top of my bonus. Not bad ... we need it at the minute!! Saturday tends to be busy though, lots of people in asking lots of questions. Guess I should head to bed so that I get some sleep before I've gotta get up and go to work.

Goodnight world. Have a good day tomorrow people.
My hands still smell like melted chocolate.

A nice day

2006-03-24T15:15:00.000+01:00

Ah ... today has been nice and relaxing.
I woke up to a txt from my adorable man, got up, had breakfast, have been watching tv and have just updated our wedding list.

Tris and I added more stuff to our Argos list last night. I've just had a look at it online ... lots of money :s Scary.
We feel really bad that we've put some things worth lots of money on it, but I keep being told by people that we should do it and some people will club together to get us things. It still feels really wrong though!!

It's nice to have a day where I know I don't have to rush out to uni or to work. A little tempted to go and have a nice hot bath actually, although it would take an hour or so to run to any decent depth. Perhaps just a hot shower.

We've got dinner tonight with Adam and Penny. Looking forward to some yummy food ... and making use of a Christmas present ... Chocolate fountain for dessert!!
I'm really looking forward to having our own place and being able to have friends around for dinner and just having our own space. Ahh ... so nice.

Ah ... hot shower here I come!!

Blah Blah Blah

2006-03-23T01:04:00.000+01:00

Tonight was good. We had homegroup and we're looking at James. It's fairly deep, but tonight was really interesting, I love James so I think I'll really enjoy going through it. I like James 1v2-4, I've had it underlined in my bible for some time now, I underlined it along with Romans 5v3-5 and others like it about perservering during hard times when I split up with someone I was totally crazy about. It cut me to shreds, took me a year to get over him, never thought I'd find anyone like him. He hurt me so bad! Turns out I didn't really want anyone much like him, I found my man and I couldn't be happier with anyone else.
But those verses comfort me and I can draw strength from them when times are tough. Perhaps I should have a flick through my bible (which I've just reaslised is on the floor of Tristan's car) and see what all I've underlined with that in mind at the minute.

Going though a really, REALLY tough time with my housemates at the moment. Tris keeps reminding me that they've still a lot of growing up to do, they're only 20, but living away from home, thinking they're oh so grown up. It's just getting really hard to be there, I dread going home, that's not how it should be. I need somewhere I can relax and wind down. With the wedding stuff and this house stuff (please God let this work out!!!), with uni and with work, I just need to be able to come home and not have the stress of accusations from housemates or just stress of them just being unreasonable.

Homegroup tonight was good in that I was able to relax a bit. We had our bible study and discussion, but we also had time just to chat about different things, it was good. I laughed a fair bit too, always good.

I missed the leadership training stuff at church last night, sounds like I missed a good night. I was waaaaay too tired though. Tris picked me up from work and made dinner, I fell asleep. It took me ages this morning to work out that I had eaten. I fell asleep just after he left me to go up church and didn't get out of bed til after 11. I got about 16hours of much needed sleep. I never really sleep well, I tend to get the odd few hours a night, but it's hard for me to get to sleep and once I am, I waken a few times in the night and then can't get back to sleep. But last night, I woke maybe 3 times in that, and went right back to sleep. I felt so much better today for it.

Anyways, this is really boring.
I should go try to get some sleep. Goodnight all.

PS: Tris and I have one wedding list set up with Debenhams at the minute and we should finish our Argos one tomorrow. For anyone who is interested, the Debenhams wedding list number is: 55120 and the Argos list number is: 399087

I've got comments!!

2006-03-05T23:17:00.000+01:00

So we went out for lunch with ppl today and I got asked why I'd turned off the comments on my blog. D'oh!! No I haven't, but apparantly blogger had decided to mess things up meaning that it saved all the comments, but didn't post them, but also didn't e-mail me to say that there had been comments, so there I thought there was no one reading / commenting on my blog. I actually felt really depressed about it, I thought no one cared.

It's all sorted now though, so thanks ppl for reading my blog and for commenting.
Jen ... if you want us to come cook sometime, I'm sure we could arrange it.

I guess I might keep blogging then, I was thinking of not bothering again cos no one was reading it or leaving me any comments. Although I'll have to get Tristan back into commenting on it, he should do. Bad boy.

Hasta luego ppl...

The advanced degree i should get is...

2006-03-02T11:45:00.000+01:00

You Should Get a MD (Doctor of Medicine)

You're both compassionate and brilliant - a rare combination.
You were born to be a doctor.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

Does my birth date define me??

2006-03-02T03:09:00.000+01:00

Your Birthdate: February 25

You excel at anything difficult or high tech.
In other words, you're a total (brilliant) geek.
It's difficult for you to find people worth spending time with.
Which is probably why you'll take over the world with your evil robots!

Your strength: Your unfailing logic

Your weakness: Loving machines more than people

Your power color: Tan

Your power symbol: Pi

Your power month: July

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Just a thought ...

2006-02-28T22:36:00.000+01:00

I've spoken to a fair number of mortgage advisors etc. over this past 2 weeks or so. One of their first questions seems to be 'What is making you want to buy now?' (I guess some people might mention interest rates etc. and they wanna see the reasons people are buying). When they've been trying to work out what sort of amount we could afford to borrow, they ask about current outgoings etc. They also ask for a current address. Their next question is 'and how long have you and Tristan been living there?'. Not one of them has asked if we are living together or separately. I guess they think that cos we're getting married, we must be living together. When I've said we're living separately, some of the more friendly and talkative people have appeared surprised and a couple have even said things like 'so you won't have lived together before you get married??? Oh, I couldn't do that' or something to that affect.
Friends of mine have told me we're crazy for not living together first, cos what happens if we drive eachother crazy. lol, we already drive eachother nuts half time, but that's a relationship is it not?!?!?

But still, why is it now looked upon as weird and un-natural not to live with someone before you get married??? A guy in work has given Tris and I a maximum of 3yrs before we are divorced cos we haven't lived together before getting married. Apparantly you can't possibly know someone well enough to marry them unless you've been living with them for a few years first ... to me that's just a cop-out; an easy way out if you hit a bad patch in the relationship, it's much easier to walk away and no focus on working through it.

I wonder how many people have missed out on the real happiness and security of a relationship with their 'perfect' man or woman cos they've given up at the first sign of a struggle.

Apparantly men and woman both change as soon as they're married anyways, so what's the point in living with someone first if they're just gonna change anyway.

Personally, I'm quite looking forward to getting married and moving in somewhere with Tristan. I'm not looking forward to having to pick up his underwear from the floor from where he's stepped out of it, or always finding the toilet seat up, or picking his clothes up after him ... he'll just have to learn, hehe.
I'm looking forward to getting to know him more intimately, which only comes with living together, sharing our lives more fully together. I guess the sex part will be just about bearable too (hehe ;) lol)

Let's face it ... I'm looking forward to being Mrs T.

Prayers Accepted

2006-02-28T18:52:00.000+01:00

If anyone should feel like praying for us at this point it would really be appreciated. As I've said, we're looking at getting a place to live and there's something of a possibility which we're looking into.

We'd actually really like this place, but it has to be what God wants for us. So if you could pray that if we're meant to get it, we will and if we don't, we'll be able to deal with it and God will provide another way.

Thanks :)

Thank you and Grr!!!

2006-02-27T13:33:00.000+01:00

Hello again blogging world.

My birthday turned out very nicely indeed. Work was long and tiring and I'd not had much sleep the night before, but when I got home, Tristan was full of surprises.
Bless him, he'd gone to so much trouble. He'd baked me a cake, he'd cooked me chilli (fantastic receipe) and he'd made full use of friendly Ugandan (aka Maria) to go and buy some matooke, a staple food from Uganda, something I loved in Uganda and haven't had in sooo long. Bless him!! He really is fantastic. That reminds me, I need some cake my love!!

Tris and I are looking to buy a house. Despite a decent yearly income, there's very litte hope of us being able to afford anything in Bristol, but with me being at uni and both of us working in Bristol, it's not really a viable option to move elsewhere, we'd be spending waaay too much travelling and with travelling time, we'd never get to see eachother. Also, with no parking at his new office building, Tris has been cycling to work and back and he's going through half the petrol per month he used to.

So we've been looking into shared ownership. It's not exactly ideal, we'd be spending the same amount as we would on a full mortgage, but we'd only own 50% and would be paying rent on what we didn't own. I've been asking for details to be sent on a particular new development and yesterday Tristan and I went to view the show home at the apartments. No idea how the shared-ownership apartments compare as they haven't got round to sending the info yet (grrr grrrr grrrrrrrr!!!) despite having promised a couple of times to put the info in the post that day. Now they've promised it should be with us by Wednesday ... here's hoping.
The apartment we saw yesterday was gorgeous ... amazing ... fantastic. Loved it. However, it seems impossible to figure out anything about the shared ownership from them, or the shared ownership people and there are loads of different little apartments so I've really no idea what's left.

Argh, it's all just so confusing!!! I just want to know that we've got somewhere. Not having the easiest time living in my house at the minute, you really could cut the air with a knife .. it's a bit of a nightmare.

Lets hope we get the info through in this next few days or I WILL actually go nuts!!! Plus, with all these 0870 and 0845 numbers I've had to call to speak to people about mortgages, Bristol city council, new home developments etc. my phone bill is gonna be huge!!! Grr!!!

Ooh...just had a call from a nice mortgage company, nice people, very helpful, also gave a little ray of hope ... woohoo. Please God let us get something.

Birthday Girl

2006-02-24T17:35:00.000+01:00

It's my birthday tomorrow. I'll be 24.
Another year older. Ah well.

Happy Birthday to me.

The 4 thing

2006-02-20T14:11:00.000+01:00

Four Jobs I have ever had in my life:

1. Nursery Assistant at a Daynursery
2. Working for an Estage Agency
3. Christmas Temp for H Samuel
4. Retail Sales for T-Mobile (current job)

Four Movies I can watch over and over:

1. La Vita è bella
2. A walk to remember
3. Dirty Dancing
4. Bridget Jones

Four Places I have lived:

1. Northern Ireland
2. Dundee
3. Uganda
4. Bristol

Four TV Shows I love to watch:

1. Friends
2. 24
3. Desperate Housewives
4. Will & Grace

Four places I have been on vacation:

1. Canary Islands (various)
2. Florida
3. Cyprus
4. New York

Four websites I visit daily:

1. blogger.com
2. bbc.co.uk
3. rightmove.co.uk (well, we need a house)
4. FBE Web (my lectures put all our course stuff on here)

Four of my favourite foods:

1. Honey Chilli Chicken (has to be homemade)
2. Mexican fajitas with Tortilla chips&Salsa
3. crisps
4. Homemade chilli with fresh crusty bread

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. Spain
2. Bed
3. Starbucks
4. Anywhere but here

Four people I am tagging:

1. Tristan (funnily enough)
2. Tom (just cos)
3. Jenny Stone (because i say so)
4. Timmay (cos he likes to blog pointless stuff)

Some good stuff

2006-02-12T22:52:00.000+01:00

I know i'm biased with Tris being the bassist, but I love it when the Curious by Design lead worship in church. It's so much easier to get into worship when the people leading are comfortable working with eachother and they follow eachother properly so everything just flows. Tonight would have to be one of the best, if not the best, that I've heard them. But sshhh ... don't tell them that, they'll begin to think they're good or something, hehehee.

But seriously guys ... keep at it, you're getting so much better!! Sounding really good.

Mmm...Sleep

2006-02-10T17:04:00.000+01:00

I am bad, I was meant to go into uni today for a tutorial. It's only 1hour though, so it's a waste of my morning and I rarely go. Bad lisa.
Anyways, I managed to sleep til about 9am when I was rudely awoken by my housemate and her boyfriend having a bit of a domestic, they do spend a lot of time yelling at eachother. Silly people. Then I fell back to sleep for another 20-30mins, mmm, sleep.

Today has been rather relaxing. When I did finally get up, I'd received a lovely big parcel in the post, a Spanish course which I've been wanting for a number of years and finally decided to get. Yeah sure, it cost more than I really wanted to pay for it, but it will be worth it. I've spent about an hour today working through the easy stuff, realising I do know more Spanish than I thought I did. By the time we go on our honeymoon, I'd like to be able to speak and understand a fair amount of Spanish. It's not really the vocab I struggle with, it's the tenses!! I hated them in Latin (yes, I had to do latin in school and I actually really enjoyed it!) and I hated them even more in French. Now I just don't quite understand them in Spanish.

Took a little walk up to Staple Hill to meet Loz for lunch and go in search of a kettle ... some places need to sell kettles of decent size, others need to realise that charging 4x the amount the kettle costs elsewhere is just plain stupid. Nice lunch though, massive bacon bap ... mmmm.

Haven't done much since I came home ... Fridays seem to be my day for relaxing. Not what they're meant to be though. I made a little timetable a couple of weeks ago splitting my time at work, uni, sleep time, study time and relaxy time. Friday afternoons I'm meant to be studying ... bad lisa. But it's been really nice just to relax and chill out. Just sitting now writing this and listenin to 'Curious by Design' playing rather loudly in my ears. I'm also home alone, which I like. There's a lot of tension in my house at the minute between housemates, so I'm quite glad not to be around too much, at times you could cut the air with a knife.

I've decided to start setting myself weekly, monthly and half yearly goals. Some things are things I've battled with for quite a while, others are little things that I'd just like to achieve. Some are very personal, others are a little more 'superficial' e.g.

- start bass lessons properly with Tristan (and get the hang of music theory!!)
- start driving again
- get the hang on PA stuff so I can help Tris
- plan this wedding!
- get married
- find somewhere for Tris and I to live once we're married
- take a little holiday (not honeymoon) in Spain (mainland) to try and help tris fall in love with Spain and wanna move out there (hehe)
- work out where God wants me in church, in life and in the future (if he decides to tell me, which would be nice).

I'm gonna write them down and stick them to my noticeboard. I might copy VJ and give myself little stars once I've achieved something and once I've got a certain number of stars I can reward myself with something ... I'm just like a little kid really, it takes a lot of motivation for me to do something.

I must print out my little timetable and stick it up on my wall, that way I might actually stick to it. I'm useless really!

Youth tonight ... hopefully I'm nice and awake for it tonight, I haven't been for this past while, I've been really struggling with everything really. I think I've got too much to focus on which means nothing is getting the amount of attention it deserves. Even God. Very bad Lisa.

Think I'll go see what food I can dig out from the back of my cupboard (which hasn't got some weird fungus growing on it) and make something to eat. I've been told lately by a number of people I've lost weight. I don't see it, and my clothes don't feel any different, but maybe with starting back to uni and working and trying to plan a wedding and not sleeping too well, maybe I'm loosing a little weight. I weighed myself and I've lost a little, not much though. Silly people, making me worry. I can't lose anymore weight or I won't fit into my wedding dress!!! Whoops!! I think I might just have to start eating more ... mmm ... food!!!

Now I'm rambling so I must go ... hasta luego!

Wedding Preparations

2006-02-02T12:18:00.000+01:00

ok...so I haven't blogged in a while, so now I'm going to bore you with wedding stuff. We're getting married 5months yesterday, freaky! Am I scared?? Not yet. I'm really looking forward to it, I love Tristan, I want to be with him, I want to be all I can be for him. I want to be his wife. I guess maybe the day before I might be a little scared, but for now, it's excitement and nervous anticipation.

We're heading over to see my parents tonight for the weekend, they don't know Tris too well and there's other family that want to meet him before the wedding. It also gives us time to make (yes make...don't ask why, it seemed like a good idea at the time) our wedding invitations as the card etc. is over there.

Yesterday was a very kinda wedding-focused day.
Loz picked me up (after a nice lie in) and we went into town. After a quick coffee (cos we were early) we headed off to the dress shop where poor loz got left in just her underwear and coat, literally freezing her ass off, waiting to be measured. It was really funny looking though!! If I had to suffer it ... my bridesmaids can suffer it too!!! Apparantly the reason we had to wait so long was because there was some random woman in the shop having a photo shoot, running around in a *huge* wedding dress.

After that, we met Tris to get him sorted out for his suit. Got him to try it on, he looks sooo cute ... would look even better if he could get a hat to fit!!!
After lunch Loz and I took up root in starbucks and just sat there chatting for a fair while. Was good to chat about stuff.

Tris and I met with the cake-making-lady and decided on style and type of cake ... we also got to try some, mmm!!! We also went to see a wedding photographer, he appears to be a really nice guy, so we booked him, we both really like his style of photos.

Don't think there's all that much left to do with wedding organisation.
Make and send out invitations
Book cars
Decide on disco person
Get a house (oh...that's a rather big thing)
Order the bridesmaids dresses (dresses now picked!!)
Order suits for the men
Decide on order of service and talk things through at church
Get flowers
Make the wedding list (at the end of this month)

I'm sure there's a few things there I've forgotten, but basically, we've covered most of what we have to do. But for now, I've got to shower and get ready for work!

Colour of my Heart

2006-01-27T01:29:00.000+01:00

You scored as Red Heart. Your heart is red. You're a very passionate person, and probably very romantic too. Life is a drama and you are the main role. Be careful not to outshine the other people though; you are not the only person in the world.

Red Heart

75%

Blue Heart

75%

Pink Heart

69%

White Heart

56%

Black Heart

25%

What colour is your heart?
created with QuizFarm.com

Times change!

2006-01-07T22:06:00.000+01:00

Well, Tris has gone out to the Sandringham, leaving me here to get some more coursework done. First things first though, I decided that after a long day at work, I'd best check my e-mail. I'd e-mailed a few wedding photographers yesterday so needed to see if we'd had any reply.

An old friend from school who I haven't spoken to in about 8months signed into msn. After chatting to her for a bit, I was feeling a bit nostalgic, so I had a look at my school website. I then decided to do a google search to see if there were any people from my old school mentioned on there. Stumbled across a website for 2 of the guys from my year ... they're writing what sounds like fairly decent music. I also happened to notice that Jamie was a male model (not surprising really, he was gorgeous at school!) ... and is Keira Knightly's ex!!!

Now instead of doing work I'm going to be sitting here typing names of old friends into google to see what they're up to now.

Bad me. I should work! Bad!!

Mmmm....food!

2006-01-06T00:59:00.000+01:00

Went for dinner tonight with Adam and Penny.
Good night, great food ... I do love mexican though!

Anyway, Adam asked Tris how the wedding plans were going, so tris filled him in with all the details. Here's part of the conversation:

Tris We booked the honeymoon yesterday
Adam Oh cool, sounds good
Adam Who'se going? .................. *realisation dawns on his face*
Lisa I will come home with a tan.

Ok, maybe it's not that funny, but it was funny at the time!!

Car-time convo

2006-01-03T22:23:00.000+01:00

As we were driving back from ASDA tonight (feeling rather proud of ourselves for having budgeted so well and having made a list etc. before we left), Tristan decided I was like a F1 car.

Reason for this??? Is it an insult? Does he think that I look like one? That I'm short and fat? That I crash a lot? That I'm driven by men?

Or was it that as we were driving, I was making strange car noises? Ah ... perhaps that's what it was. Apparantly I make a good F1 car, I think I sound better as a motorbike.

We have some rather random conversations as we drive along ... and at most other times too :D

24 Update: Currently watching season 3, episode 10 (10:23:44)

Yes, I'm still here!

2006-01-01T12:30:00.000+01:00

Hello blog world. It has been a rather long time, hasn't it.
So what has changed since I last posted???

Well, my Christmas job was great, I loved it. It went really well, I think I did really well at it too. I know I can go back there at some point if I wanted to.
I've just started my new job, at the minute it seems kinda complicated in ways, and it's not so easy to just get thrown in at the deep end and fend for myself ... this time I really need to know what I'm talking about. Still, I'm sure I'll catch on pretty soon, I've learnt a lot on 2days of working there.

Other news ... um, my parents moved house (nice house!!), I'm getting a new bed and bedroom furniture too. Um, Christmas and New Year both happened .... oh yeah, and it's exactly 6 months today til Tris and I get married!!! Woohoo!!

Tris and I are a few episodes away from finishing season 2 of 24, we have season 3 (actually 2 boxsets cos Owen and I both bought him one for Christmas ... anyone wanna buy one??) and season 4 to watch too. Woohoo.

Tristan has gone to watch the church footie match. I've got uni work to do (you wouldn't think so with my blogging, would you!), so I've stayed at home. I have seen him this morning though, and he made me a lovely cup of coffee.
We found out last night that the gas in my house is costing about £1 per hr of heating being on (and not even that high a temperature!), there's something wrong there!!

Anyways, off to do some uni work. Happy New Year everyone :)

Addicted

2005-11-21T21:46:00.000+01:00

Well, I know I've not blogged in ages, but I thought I'd write a lil one just to say I won't be blogging for ages!!

Rather busy these days, so much to do...also Tris and I have become rather addicted to 24. We started watching it a few days ago and have watched just over half of the first series.....fiting in an episode here and there is becoming a bit of a habit. Ah well, it's all good innit.

Starting work tomorrow, a lil bit nervous I must admit. It's only temporary, until just before Christmas, but it's money and experience much needed (thank you God!!). I start working for T-Mobile in the new year I think too (again, thank you God!), which should be great, quite looking forward to that, but then again, I was looking forward to the H Samuel job too ... think it's just 'night-before' nerves.

I finally have internet at home, but until I manage to get my hands on a router, we can't go wireless, grr!! A lil bit annoying as it feels like it's been forever since I've had to connect my computer to something!! Looking forward to being able to sit on my bed again and do some work.

Anyways, I'm up Tristan's house at the minute and there's loads of washing in here that's nearly dry so I think I'll go see what is and what isn't and sort it all out a bit for when he gets home from worship practice....after which we plan to fit in an episode or two of 24 :)

I need to blog!!!

2005-10-21T23:36:00.000+01:00

Well, my computer died and got picked up by a man in a white van and parcelled up. It then went on holiday to Germany for a few days and has since arrived home safe and well and its system feeling all nice and restored.

I now need to blog some.I will blog next week sometime. I don't have any internet access at home tho, nightmare.

2005-10-21T23:26:00.000+01:00

Your Blogging Type is Confident and Insightful

You've got a ton of brain power, and you leverage it into brilliant blog.
Both creative and logical, you come up with amazing ideas and insights.
A total perfectionist, you find yourself revising and rewriting posts a lot of the time.
You blog for yourself - and you don't care how popular (or unpopular) your blog is!

What's Your Blogging Personality?

An update

2005-09-23T16:55:00.000+01:00

Just for Loz ..... Hi :)

Back from the Youth holiday and still alive!!!!

2005-09-05T10:24:00.000+01:00

Well .... I've just been on my first ever youth holiday :) And I came back ... Alive!!!

It was great. It was good to get to know some of the youth, and youth leaders a bit better. It was also interesting falling asleep each night listening to Sam chatting away to Naomi in the next room to me ... I could hear EVERYTHING through that wall!!

Unfortunately, I had to go home on the Wednesday as I had exams on the Thursday and Friday. But Adam was going back up to Bristol then too and he gave me a lift. It's the most amount of time I've ever spent alone with Adam, turns out he's alright though ;)
I spent the next couple of days revising ... a lot. In that, I really got no sleep whatsoever. Oops. I felt well rough after and all I wanted to do was sleep. But instead, I had to go and try and be all sweet and the adorable girlfriend ... so I decided to travel back down to Croyde and spend the last night of the youth holiday there.
Unfortunately, it didn't all go to plan. Instead of only taking a few hours to get there, through one delay or another, it took half the day. By that point, there wasn't another bus from Barnstaple to Croyde until late in the evening!! So instead of randomly turning up at his caravan or appearing at the beach ... poor Tris got a phonecall from Barnstaple with me saying I was now stuck there. Still, I think he was happy enough to see me, but man! I was so annoyed and disappointed that it hadn't gone to plan.

(will update later, I've got work to do now).

I have no internet access!!!

2005-08-24T23:56:00.000+01:00

I cannot blog, I cannot check e-mails and I cannot chat online to people. Where is my life??? hehe. I have no internet access at my house and that is for an indefinate time ... Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!! (In Darth Vader voice).

Thankfully I have Tristan ... I've come up to church with him whilst he yells at the computer ... er ... I mean ... tries to fix it .... and I can check my e-mail!!

I like living close to him :D

Moving Day

2005-08-20T11:23:00.000+01:00

Not sure when I'll next get to blog.
I'm moving out this morning and into my new place, which has no internet access *tears*. Not sure what I'll do without blogs to read!!!!!

Need to get my stuff packed up now and into Phil's car. There's not much here, most of it is in Tristan's shed. But we're taking what I have here to my new house then we're going to Tristan's and getting my stuff packed into both cars and driving the 60 seconds down the road til we get to my new place and then unpacking the cars. Sounds like a plan to me.

An even better plan, is I'm going to grab some teabags and a drop of milk (I know one of my housemates is living there at the minute but there might not be any milk) and a little sugar for Tris and going to stick the kettle on when we get there. Mmm ... hot drinks for when the cars are unpacked :D

Well, I've just got up and made Phil a cup of tea (normally he does it for me) and myself a cup of coffee, so I'm gonna go drink that and get packin!!

Moving back into woodies has made me realise how much this place feels like home to me. Leaving is very hard!! Off to a new and exciting life though ..... and just a few minutes walk from my man!!! And as some wise person just told me "the thing is home is where the heart is and I am guessing the nearer your heart is to Tristan that's the best place for home.." .... thanks :D

The quiz

2005-08-20T11:21:00.000+01:00

1. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING? "The counstruction of Houses" Not that I’m interested, just that I have to.

2. WHAT TIME IS IT NOW? 11:41am

3. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE MAT? Um … I either use my touch pad or my optical mouse. Don’t need a mousemat.

4. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE BOARD GAME? Monopoly / Sequence

5. FAVOURITE MAGAZINE: - Ummm….

6. BABIES? I love them!!! Want some of them someday.

7. FAVORITE SOUND? Tristan

8. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD? Having your heart ripped out and tramped on.

9. FIRST THING YOU THINK OF IN THE MORNING? Nagh! Where’s that horrible sound coming from?? Ah, it’s my phone!! Shut up, shut up!!!

10. HOW MANY RINGS BEFORE YOU ANSWER THE PHONE? Depends on who it is. If I wanna talk to them, as soon as possible, if it’s someone I’m not sure of or don’t really wanna chat, it normally takes a while to prepare myself.

11. FUTURE CHILD'S NAME? I don’t know. I always liked Joshua, but it’s so common now. I tend to like names like Aaron, Catriona – names with gaelic influence. I also like James and Scott.

12. FAVOURITE COLOUR? Uhm...purple/blue

13. WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT IN YOUR LIFE? God.

14. FAVOURITE FOOD? Mmm … food. I like food

15. If you could PLAY AN INSTRUMENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE? I wanna be able to play bass well.

16. DO YOU LIKE TO DRIVE FAST? Nope

17. SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? Occasionally when I’m lonely or upset. I plan to when I’m married … Oh no wait, that’s not a stuffed animal, that’s Tristan.

18. STORMS - COOL OR SCARY? Amazing to watch, a little bit scary to be out in.

19. WHAT TYPE WAS YOUR FIRST CAR? A toy one

20. PERSON FROM YOUR PAST YOU WISH YOU COULD GO BACK AND TALK TO: My Granda, my mums dad who died when I was 9. He had so much faith in me that I would really make something of myself, I just wish I could know him.

21. FAVOURITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK? Guinness

22. WHAT'S IN THE BOOT OF YOUR CAR? Er … I have neither car nor car boot. I do have a boot tho, it probably has a sock in it.

23. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB YOU WANTED WHAT WOULD IT BE? Ooooh, that’s a tricky one. I dunno.

24. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Tris … cos he sent it

25. EVER BEEN IN LOVE? I am now

26. FAVOURITE BAND OR SINGER? Difficult – I hate these questions. My taste in music varies greatly with how I’m feeling. It’s impossible to say.

27. IS THE GLASS HALF EMPTY OR HALF FULL? There’s a glass???

28. FAVOURITE MOVIE? Absolute favourite: ‘La vita e bella’, after that, depends wot I’m in the mood for.

29. DO YOU TYPE WITH YOUR FINGERS ON THE RIGHT KEYS? Mostly; I think.

30. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED? Currently – a lot of stuff. However, it’s not my bed and not my stuff. I don’t have a bed yet.

31. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE NUMBER? Do I have to have one? I dunno, 3, 7 ???

32. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SPORT TO WATCH? Footie, Tennis – I even got a little into the cricket the other day :s

33. SAY AT LEAST ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS E-MAIL.
I love him, he’s an incredible man, so much more than I could ever have dreamed of.

34. BUILD A HOUSE ANYWHERE WHERE WOULD IT BE? Anywhere with Tris

35. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING? Bench trousers.

36. BEACH, MOUNTAINS, CITY? They all have their places. I’m not a city girl. Mountains can be so beautiful, but a nice beach is the best!

37. IF YOU HAD TO NAME A PERSON THAT YOU KNOW NOW WHO YOU WOULD MOST LIKE TO
MARRY, WHO WOULD IT BE? Tristan of course!!

38. COMEDY OR HORROR? Depends on what mood I'm in...mostly comedy

39. FAVOURITE PHYSICAL FEATURE OF THE OPPOSITE SEX? Eyes and smile.

40. FAVOURITE TIME OF DAY? Whenever I can just be with my man.

41. THE LAST CD YOU BOUGHT? I got a free delirious one at Soul Survivor.

42. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO BE MASSAGED? Mm….Massage. I love being massaged. Depends on where feels most tense.

43. WHAT'S MOST IMPORTANT, STRONG IN MIND OR STRONG IN BODY? Mind

44. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING? Depends on whether or not I set my alarm and what I have to get up for.

45. FAVOURITE KITCHEN ITEM? Can’t beat a sharp knife, makes cooking so much easier.

46. WHAT MAKES YOU REALLY ANGRY? Injustice

47. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SPORTS CAR OR 4X4? Sporty!

48. DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE AFTERLIFE? yes … if I don’t, then my whole life is a lie.

49. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SEASON? Summer!! Although I love it when it snows in winter (NI has cold winters normally with a few feet of snow)

50. IF YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPER POWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE? To be able to know all my uni stuff without having to learn it.

51. IF YOU HAVE A TATTOO, WHAT IS IT? Nope. No tattoo.

52. CAN YOU JUGGLE? Kindof

53. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE DAY? Depends.

54. WHICH DO YOU PREFER SUSHI OR HAMBURGER? hamburger

55. FROM THE PEOPLE YOU WILL EMAIL THIS TO, WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
It's on a blog ... not an e-mail

56. WHO DID YOU RECEIVE THIS FROM? Tristan.

Forgotten info

2005-08-20T11:19:00.000+01:00

I forgot to mention ... this summer I also met Emma. How could I ever have forgotten. I'm sure I've done other stuff too .... just can't really think.

A post! A post!

2005-08-18T21:15:00.000+01:00

Well, I decided to blog.
I've not been at all motivated to blog lately, I guess I've been feeling kinda 'outta it' for a bit. Maybe it's with everything that's going on around me at the minute in my little world. There have been / are going to be a lot of changes in a short space of time; some of which I can take in my stride and realise they're all part of life, even look forward to them (like moving into my new house this coming weekend), others run a lot deeper and take a lot of mental energy to work through, some of the time I don't even wanna work through them.
Tristan is fantastic though, I don't know where I'd be without him.

So ... what all has been happening since I last blogged????????
Well, I packed up my room and moved out of the only place in England I'd ever known as home. I think I'd been preparing myself for long enough that it didn't really come as too much of a shock and wasn't too hard to deal with. Also, I had a nice house to stay at and cute cats to look after for a while. Walking back into my room just before leaving was the hardest. It wasn't my room any longer, it was sooo empty, everything that made it my room was packed into boxes and being stored in Tristan's shed.

I then ended up going to Soul Survivor and working the Oasis stand :) I went to Uganda nearly 2years ago now with Oasis and working the stand was a great way to get to talk more about what all we did there etc. I am fairly passionate about Africa, Uganda in particular, just ask Tris, poor bloke has to put up with it.
I'd pretty much had the choice of Soul Survivor or Youth Hol. I couldn't afford both, so I choose youth holiday cos, well, I think it's the right choice. But then God provided a way for me to go to both :) It was hard work ... or rather, just long and tedious work, but as Tris kept reminding me, I was earning my right to be there, and as I kept reminding myself, I was, in an odd way, serving God. It was great to get lots of little visits from people though ... very much appreciated!!
Got an e-mail from Oasis yesterday asking if I'd be interested in working Greenbelt for them next weekend ... if I wasn't going on the youth holiday, I'd have done it!! But they are keeping me in mind for anything else that comes up in the future :) I'm pretty happy about that ... I like 'working' for them. They're also trying to get me to go back to Uganda on a professional placement (anything really from 6mths-2yrs+) once I've finished uni. It is something I would love to do, but we gotta leave things in God's hands.

At Soul Survivor met some pretty decent guys. They have a website and are a fairly new, expanding business with some kewl ideas. They have funky clothing too. I was eyeing up a particular top the whole time (as their stand was a few down from the Oasis stand on the opposite side) and, thanks to my amazingly wonderful man, I am now the proud owner of said top!!! He managed to surprise me yet again!! In buying the top without me noticing and getting someone else to carry it back to the car so I wouldn't know about it!!

I'm back at woodies now (since Sunday) until Saturday when I move into my new house. I'm quite looking forward to it. It is a little bit daunting as I don't know the 3 girls or the bloke I'm moving in with, but my room is nice and the house is great, and I'll finally be settled again rather than moving from place to place and living out of boxes / a rucsack.
It's great being back at woodies, it does feel like home here, and I know I can come back any time I want or need to. I'm not sleeping in my old room though, that would just be too weird. There aren't many people about, Annabelle left to go back to LA the other day, which leaves Hans, Sarah, Phil, Vera and I here. Hans is never about, Sarah is mostly in her room and Vera is busy / trying to get ready to go home (Italy) on Monday. Phil and I just chill and drink copious amounts of caffine and talk stupid stuff at eachother.
Phil is cool. He's a teacher in lebanon, staying here over the summer. He's old though, hehe, 28, ouch!! But he makes a good cup of coffee ... even delivers one to me in the mornings, drinks as many cups a day as I do, and gives a really good massage ... not quite so good as Keith though (one of my best friends at home).

I've got to go home (as in, where my parents live) soon. They're putting the house on the market, so naturally I gotta throw out some junk and pack other stuff into boxes. I'll also have to go over when they move to their new place so I can see what the house is like and get stuff into my own room. There's so much I want / need to bring (unless I want it thrown out) back with me. But I've only got a 20kg baggage allowance!! It could be a very, VERY expensive trip to the post office!!!

Well, Tris is out with Owen (his brother) at the minute, celebrating Owen's 'A' level results. But he's heading over here after, so I'm looking forward to that. Got to cook him a nice meal last night. I love to cook, although I do tend to get really stressed when I'm cooking for others, but it turned out well .... mmmm, tasty.

Guess I should go and do a few things I need to do ... including phone the 'rents. See blogging world ... I blogged!!!

2005-07-23T13:01:00.000+01:00

How cute is my man!!!! I got a photo msg from him earlier with this pic. He scrubs up pretty well I think :)

It's so true!!!

2005-07-22T15:36:00.000+01:00

You Should Learn Spanish

For you, learning a language is about career advancement and communication.
Knowing Spanish will bring you tons of possiblities for jobs and travel. Bárbaro!

What Language Should You Learn?

I'd love to live and work in Spain, at least for a few years. It's always been a dream of mine. Then I go fall in love with someone who has never even been to Spain! Grr!!!
I've always had an interest in the country, the culture and the language. The food is great (the Costa Blanca has some of the best and freshest fruit available!!) and the weather is amazing!! I wanna go!!!

2005-07-21T18:16:00.000+01:00

You are elegant, withdrawn, and brilliant.
Your mind is a weapon, able to solve any puzzle.
You are also great at poking holes in arguments and common beliefs.

For you, comfort and calm are very important.
You tend to thrive on your own and shrug off most affection.
You prefer to protect your emotions and stay strong.

The World's Shortest Personality Test

2005-07-21T17:30:00.000+01:00

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to obedience and warmth.

In love, you feel the most alive when your partner is patient and never willing to give up on you.

You'd like to your lover to think you are loyal and faithful... that you'll never change.

You would be forced to break up with someone who was arrogant, acting like the dictator of your life.

Your ideal relationship is open. Both of you can talk about everything... no secrets.

Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment.

You think of marriage as something precious. You'll treasure marriage and treat it as sacred.

In this moment, you think of love as commitment. Love only works when both people are totally devoted.

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

2005-07-21T17:19:00.000+01:00

Your Hidden Talent

You are both very knowledgeable and creative.
You tend to be full of new ideas and potential - big potential.
Ideas like yours could change the world, if you build them.
As long as you don't stop working on your dreams, you'll get there.

What's Your Hidden Talent?

Apparantly...........

2005-07-21T17:16:00.000+01:00

Part Shy Kisser

You *do* love to kiss, once your comfortable with it
And that means knowing the person you're kissing pretty well
You usually don't make the first move when it comes to making out
But you've got plenty of intensity in return

Part Expert Kisser

You're a kissing pro, but it's all about quality and not quantity
You've perfected your kissing technique and can knock anyone's socks off
And you're adaptable, giving each partner what they crave
When it comes down to it, your kisses are truly unforgettable

What Kind of Kisser Are You?

Hello again world

2005-07-21T15:59:00.000+01:00

I have nothing interesting to say.
Perhaps you would like to know what I am eating??? Well, I decided to throw a few things together. I made some spaghetti and some kidney beans. I also cut up some bacon and put it in the pan, then put some chopped tomato, some dolmio spaghetti sauce and some pepper, ginger and chilli powder in it. It tastes surprisingly good. Yum yum.
Perhaps I should be eating it, rather than blogging about it.

I'm bored. I should be working, but I made the mistake of coming downstairs and Phil is watching the cricket and keeps making me cups of coffee.

I have a job interview next Tueday ... guess it depends how flexible they are on the hours they want covered really. We'll see..........

FYI

2005-07-19T02:15:00.000+01:00

For the 10 thousand people who have asked me in this past year if I'm American ... No, I am not.

For the people who tell me (in mock horror) that I am as weird and insane as Tristan ... Yes, that I am ... Don't look so surprised ... if we weren't as odd as eachother, we'd never be able to cope in this relationship!!
God created us weird and insane for eachother ... how cute is that!!

For all the people who tell me I have the same love for food as my man, again, this is true ... I love my food. I just tend to eat less of it and eat it slower than Tristan :)

For everyone who tells me how cute we are together, thank you, it makes me smile on the inside. And for those of you who don't ... why not?????

And for Tristan: Every day I'm with you I love you a little more than I did the day before. Thank you for being you.

I have a house!!!!!!

2005-07-18T15:11:00.000+01:00

So....Now I have somewhere to live. Yay!!!!
Tris and I had seen a few places (I liked to have my man with me when looking round places, I trust his judgement and I know he's going to be there a lot of the time, so his views are important to me), but as soon as we walked into this place, it was different, and the room, it's about the same size as mine is currently. And it's a really nice place. The only down side is that there's no garden to sit out in :(

I have done nothing productive today whatsoever. Silly me. I decided I don't want to have to pack up everything. So I'm procrastinating. It can find its own way to my new place.

I'm so glad I'm moving out. The new housemates are doing my head in.

A thought in my head

2005-07-13T02:48:00.000+01:00

Well, it's like chocolate. A very good bar of chocolate.
Half the bar is well and good for a while, but then you begin to want more of the bar and more ... you want the whole lot.
But sometimes you can't have the whole lot and you begin to wish you'd never even tasted chocolate in the first place and you wonder if you could go off chocolate and not have any anymore, even for a while, just to see how it goes. Then maybe the cravings would stop. Then maybe you wouldn't feel so unsatisfied by only part of the bar, maybe you wouldn't feel the need for it all. Maybe you wouln't feel the need for any of it at all. Is that a good thing? I don't know. I guess I'm just too confused rigt now to think straight.

Away Away Away

2005-07-12T17:14:00.000+01:00

Ya know, I'd just really, really like to get away for a few days ... go somewhere. I dunno where, somewhere. I'd just like to go somewhere. Just go. I dunno where. I just wanna get away for a few days. I'd LOVE to go camping. Would be so good.
Really wanna go :(

It's been hot and sticky at night, I've been finding it hard to sleep and I don't think I'm the only one who has been having probs sleeping!!
I had been planning on cleaning my room properly today, but it's soooo hot in here (well, I suppose I do live in the rafters, hehe) and lying in front of the tv with a few housemates and eating icepops seems more like it :) I haven't been wasting the day though, I've been enquiring about more properties and I've been finding out about job stuff.

Oooh, I want to go away! Grrrrrrr!

I was watching tv there and there was a boat, sailing the ocean. I'd soooo love to do that for a year. Just get a boat and go sailing (yes I realise it takes a lot of money!!). I just think it would be great to be able to do that.
As I was growing up, I knew a number of people with boats. It would be so great to have a boat and be able to go away for a weekend and go sailing, healthy way to live :D

Anyway, I should go and um, I dunno. Eat more icepops perhaps. Mmm ... ice!!!!

Strange-ness

2005-07-09T18:46:00.000+01:00

Well, I'm sitting in Tristan's house just now. He's basically packed everything and taken it over to where he's going to be living for this next month. There's only one more trip to do (I'd have gone, but the bed was too big and my seat (yes, it's MY seat) had to be put down so the boot would close) and then he will have all moved out.

I'm disliking this whole moving thing.
I've lived in the same house all my life. I lived in halls at uni in Dundee for a year and leaving there was really hard, my room was my life there, it was the only place I felt safe. It was hard to leave.
Leaving Uganda was a nightmare. I loved our house and at the same time I had to leave all my friends, the girls I'd been working, eating, socialising and living with for 6months and the country I had fallen in love with. It tore my heart out ... I guess that's why I left my heart there.
I'm moving out of Woodies at the end of this month too. I currently don't have another room to move into, as the girls I'd be moving in with want us all to meet up first and they don't appear to have much time or any motivation to meet up.

I'm going to miss this place and I've only been coming here for this past 4 months. My parents contacted me the other day to say that they're more than likely selling the house. So all I've gone through this past week with Tris, trying to help him pack up his room etc. I'm going to have to go and do myself at home, and I won't even have Tris there to help me. It's going to be a nightmare. I've 23 years of memories in that house ... and a lot of stuff to pack up. We'll see how it goes. Not sure what I'll do with my stuff. I guess I'll just box it and leave it to my 'rents to sort out when they move somewhere else. Maybe I could take a bit of time off uni when they decide to move and move my stuff into my new room. We'll see. Not sure when it will happen, so trying not to think too much about it just now.

Dreading moving out of woodies though ... it's gonna be really hard to do and I'm trying not to stress over the fact I'm moving out at the end of July and, as of yet, have nowhere to live. Oops.

Well, Tris should be back soon (why isn't he???????) and Owen has just come in so I think I'll split now and make sure I'm ready to help Tris move the last lot of stuff and go see his new room (for a month) and see if I can be any help in sorting stuff out with him. Fun, Fun, Fun.

Oh ... I'm going to miss the cat. Evil or not (in that she terrorized a mouse and that she has attacked me whilst I've been stroking her and she's gone from being cute to being evil in the blink of an eye, or that yesterday I was trying to rescue a frog (which kept coming back for more, stupid frog) and she attacked me in the process), I've got a real soft spot for her. She can be really adorable, and she's a gorgeous looking cat.

Tris ... can I keep the cat??????????????????/

Blog

2005-07-04T15:05:00.000+01:00

I have blogged.
Tristan please blog.

I've got nothing to say other than get pissed off about stuff, and I don't wanna do that cos it's no fun for anyone to read.
I've got a great man who is being absolutely wonderfully amazing and supporting me and I love him so so much for it. He's great.

Screw the world

2005-07-01T12:31:00.000+01:00

As above ... I just don't care anymore.

Just for you Maria

2005-06-30T14:14:00.000+01:00

http://www.jesusfilm.org/languages/

I'm also listening online to Radio Simba, Ffe Mmwe - Mmwe Ffe! and chatting with a few friends in kampala on msn.

I am so loved

2005-06-30T12:14:00.000+01:00

Today, I feel so incredibly loved.

You know you are loved when someone does something incredibly selfless just for you. Last night, my man did something incredible for me and gave me a small insight into just how much I am loved.

Thank you Tristan, I love you.

Not enough stuff

2005-06-29T10:49:00.000+01:00

If you read Tristan's blog yesterday you'll probably have seen Lauren's comment about 'and stuff'.

Tristan and I both enjoy the 'and stuff' part of our relationship. (Maria on the other hand possibly never will enjoy the 'and stuff' part of any relationship she's in!). The 'and stuff' stuff is great. I mean, I was never really a fan, until Tris that is. Now it just feels right and good and mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm :)

However, I have a complaint ..... last night .... not enough 'and stuff' stuff!!!!
I guess though, we did go for dinner, and I did get taught bass and chatted with Tristan's mum for a bit. But still, not enuf 'and stuff' stuff.

Please can we get some more in tonight??????????
I love you Tristan!

Oooh...I should work and stop blogging. Bad me!

It's an update!!!!!

2005-06-24T13:30:00.000+01:00

To save an all-out war between Tris and Tom through comments on my last post, I've decided to blog. I can't say it's a quiet morning as there are lots of phonecalls, but at the same time, there are a few of us in and it doesn't appear that I am quite so busy. In fact, at times, my mind is wandering.

I have been fairly busy since I've started working. My last proper post was ages ago. But I'm not even going to begin to try and figure out all that's happened and write about it.

So, work is going ok. I'm getting more used to getting up in the mornings. The wakening up is the hardest part. Once I'm up, I'm alright. And once I've got into work and been handed a cup of coffee, I'm grand. It's still very long hours, but I finish at 5 today, yay! And hopefully I'll take a lunch break today, so should only end up working about 8hours. Not so bad at all :)
Youth tonight .... I'm not so keen on the younger youth, although they do come out with some funny statements sometimes ... a few of them even asked me last week if my name was Tristan. hehe. And then there's the kid who, every time she sees me, she asks 'why? why? why?' and her reply to anything I say is 'why?', so I just started saying it back to her ... that soon shut her up, hehe.

I got to play bass last night. Unfortunately, I've been too tired lately to practice much and through one thing or another, Tris hasn't been able to sit down and teach me anything, and when he's tried to, I've been too tired to be receptive.

See, thing is, I've got major issues with me learning anything. I've always been a fairly quick learner, but have also been told for most of my life that I'm stupid and not able to do anything right. I also get very, very annoyed at myself when i get something wrong. I put so much pressure on myself, and it's only natural that learning means I won't get it right first time, but I still put so much pressure on myself that I can't relax and I get all worked up when I do make a mistake.
I think Tris has seen a whole different side to me through trying to teach me bass, and I don't think he likes it too much. Tris ... I'm sorry, I don't mean to be so annoying. Please keep trying with me, maybe then you'll break through and will get me through feeling hopeless and useless.
Thing is, I love playing bass. And, in a way, I think it comes fairly easily (I say fairly, I don't mean it is easy!!!!) to me. But that's only after I stop procrastinating and actually get on with learning it!!!!!!

Not sure what all I'll be doing in work today. It's nearly 11am already! I've been here about 2.5hrs already. Woohoo.

Oh .... I do have news. I am moving out. I am leaving Woodies. It's not that I don't like it there ... in many ways I'll miss it loads. But at the same time, I kinda think it's time to move on. I've got itchy feet. I don't like staying in any one place for too long. And it's a well-known fact that God brings people to woodies when they need it and keeps them there for as long as is necessary. I have learnt so much through living there this past year. God has changed me loads.
I will miss it loads, and a few of the people who are staying on, but I am happy enough to move out. It's into a house, a real house, with windows and doors and a bath and a garden!! Woohooo!!!! The rent is half of what I'd be paying living at Woodies.
It's going to be a major challenge though, living with 3 females (argh!!! I need male influence or I'll go nuts!!) and they're not Christians. I think I need the challenge though, but I'm also very conscious that it's going to be hard living with 3 people who don't have the same values or same drive in life as I do. I mean, I'm sure they're all lovely, but God is the most important person in my life...but not in theirs. Maybe God can use me to change that :)

Right, It's now half past 12 and I've been fairly busy. I've had a few hard calls this morning and a few calls where I've been told life stories and why they are looking to relocate etc. It's quite nice to have semi-normal conversations! One of them reminded me of talking to my Granny ... and I love talking to her, cos she's the best :)

Right, I best go and get some more work done :)
Til next time ......................................

Dialing..........

2005-06-14T21:03:00.000+01:00

...Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep ....

"Hi you're through to Lisa, I'm either away from my desk or on the phone at the moment, so if you leave me a message I'll get back to you."

Staying in Bristol

2005-06-08T13:22:00.000+01:00

Well ... first of all ... thanks to everyone who prayed for me about my interview. I got a job. It's soooo full on ... 8:30 - 6:30 Mon - Fri + any Saturdays I might wanna work ... Although they say I could finish early Fridays if I was busy Fri evenings. Then they'll sort me out with part time work when I start back to uni. It's gonna be loads of hard work, but should be great :)

So happy days. I get to stay in Bristol this summer with my man :)
And I get to get experience and I get to make money ... which the silly tax man will like a lot.

Also the option of moving out may be slightly more possible. Still waiting to hear more on that.

Now I get to get cuddles from my man! Yay!!!!

Hey-lo world

2005-06-07T15:09:00.000+01:00

Why do some websites contain too much info?? There's no way at all that I'll ever be able to learn all the info about the company for tomorrow.

My fingers are starting to hurt. I've been sitting playing bass for a bit ... just doing some scales trying to strengthen my fingers. Tristan would you like to teach me some interesting scale stuff??????? Teaching me some more interesting stuff ... would definately be appreciated :p

I'm hungry. But I have no food in. Whoops. I really should have gone and got some food. Meh! I guess there's time for that.

I'm feeling the urge (and trying to ignore it) to look up more property online. I want my own place!!! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I guess I should get back to becoming an expert for my interview tomorrow.

An ok weekend etc. etc.

2005-06-07T02:27:00.000+01:00

Well, I'm about to go to bed, but I thought I'd write a little update for all my loyal readers (not that I have many ... but hey).

I'm back from Northern Ireland, with a stronger NI accent. I had an ok weekend and I think Tristan did too. Tried to keep it nice and relaxing for him. Was good to sleep in my own bed for a few nights (my bed in bristol just doesn't compare) and was nice to have more than one room to sit in etc. Was also good to see lots of green fields and lots of animals ... and get loads of fresh air. Mmmm .... fresh air gooooood.

Tristan gave me something to think about tonight which is an incredibly scary thought but at the same time really challenging and interesting. Think it's a little outta my league though.

Tomorrow I gotta get some stuff done.
I've an interview Wednesday morning (prayers REALI needed) for a job with the people I would most like to work for. So I've been doing some background reading on the company and need to spend some time tomorrow making sure I know what I'm talking about. I'd really, really like a job with them, I could actually see a future in working for them.
Apart from that, I need to go shopping as I've no food in my cupboard. I'd like it to be dry too so that I could just take a book and go for a walk somewhere and sit in the fresh air and read my book. Or even print out info about the company and take it and read up on it outside. Not entirely sure where I'd wanna go to, but we'll see. Then I think it's cinema in the evening to see Star Wars again ... Sooooo good!!! We watched 1 and 2 the Saturday before we saw 3, and in this past week, Tris and I managed to watch 4, 5 and 6. Would be good to see 3 again. I'm still thinking it's the best.

This weekend has made me think a lot more about going part time for my last year of uni (making it 2 years rather than one) and working at the same time. Just various things my parents said this past while and especially this weekend. It would mean I would be responsible for myself, I'd be able to save and I'd be able to pay rent etc. and I'd have a much better grasp of my degree.
I'm 23, I shouldn't still be at uni, I should be out in the working world. And for various reasons, it makes me feel really, really bad that I'm not.

Right, on that note. I'm off to try and get some sleep and try not to feel so guilty that I'm still at student.
Good night.

The forgotten Hoodie

2005-06-03T15:24:00.000+01:00

A little tip for you all: When you go and wash clothes that you are planning to wear over the weekend, make sure you take all the clothes for washing, rather than leaving a hoodie behind. Now I have to go and spend money on washing a stupid hoodie. I am a muppet. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I think I'm more scared than Tristan

2005-06-03T14:20:00.000+01:00

So ... the time has arrived. If you've read Tristan's blog you'll know that we're heading to Northern Ireland tonight.

So why am I more scared than Tristan?? Well ... they're my parents!! I know what they're like and I'm the one who will have to listen to them if there's something they decide they don't like about him. Not really sure what that could be, cos I think he's pretty amazing. But still ... I guess that's what I worry about most. I also don't want him to be bored and I don't want to have to spend too much time with the 'rents.

Strangest thing happened earlier.
I went to the laundrette cos I needed to do washing. I put my clothes in the machine and wandered off in search of food. When I came back, someone I knew from home, who I hadnt seen since summer 2years ago was sitting there talking to someone else from Northern Ireland. Was good to talk to her :) She's about Bristol for a while yet, so we might meet up sometime :) Would be good.

I'm eating a bacon, lettuce and tomato baguette from Caffe Gusto. It's really good :) They put LOADS of filling it it. Mmmm .... foooooooood! I think I might have a little nap after I eat it. Quite sleepy, was up stoopidly early this morning.

I promised myself I would give myself a break from playing bass (as a result of blisters which need to get better before I should play again), but I've already failed. First thing I did this morning after my shower was play bass. And I'm about to pick it up and play it some more. Grrrr. I think I've got an addiction. It's just that it's really, well, it's relaxing to play.

Ok. Food, bass, nap. I feel rough. Grrr. I should feel better after my nap. Then I need to pack and then I need to tidy my room. Everything I'm taking home with me is all lovely and fresh and clean. MMmmmmm ... clean .....

Well, I'm off now. Hoping this weekend goes well. Rather apprehensive.