New Year's Resolutions

1. Get and stay fit - I'm a member of a very expensive gym and need to justify the cost, this also has the side effect of looking rather hot (a new wardrobe being needed is also a benefit). My aim is to go 3 times a week and keep updating my routine every 2 months.

2. Listen to more music - My lovely boyfriend (of one year) pointed out the other day that he didn't know which music I liked as I listen to the radio all the time. This highlights the fact that I may not have listened to a CD in over a year, nevermind bought anything. So, I intend on updating my CDs regularly and changing the CDs in my car every month. I also want to update my mp3 player so I actually use it.

3. Say "Yes" more - at home, to friends and at work. I think my work attitude can improve by being more positive and more helpful, by saying "Yes" more at work I can help my company do more and also improve relations with colleagues. I would like to stay in touch with more friends, I live far away from most of them and want to start saying "Yes" more to invitations and also inviting more to stay with me. I'm sure Pete will appreciate me saying "Yes" more at home - nuff said.

I've kept these small and quite achievable so I can keep them. Small changes and all that! I'll keep you updated on my progress through 2009.

Girlie Stuff

It’s such a faff being a girl sometimes. I can’t just pick up any old face wash … is it right for my skin type? My age? Does it contain nuts or other nasty stuff? Will it dry my skin out, make it wrinkly or smell horrid. There are many things to consider.

About 5 years ago I thought I struck gold with the Dermalogica range, I was renting a flat above a beauty salon and they did great facials which I treated myself to regularly. I spent a small fortune on cleanser, toner, moisturiser, clay wash, face masks, eye creams and my skin looked wonderful. Then about 6 months ago I got itchy feet and started trying straying to other brands, but the moisturisers made my face shiny, the cleansers didn’t clean my face right and I started breaking out in spots.

I’m still bored with Dermalogica but I wanted to find a new range which suited me, so yesterday armed with my Body Shop loyalty card I surprised myself by finding they did quite good stuff. It was all laid out according to skin type, so I zoomed in on the oily/combination whilst lingering slightly next to the mature section (maybe I’m not ready for that yet). The range is based on seaweed and deep cleansing, it’s really nice! The cleanser is a gel wash which lathers nicely and smells fresh, it left my skin feeling clean but not dried out. The night cream wasn’t as thick as I hoped and did leave my skin feeling thirsty but the day moisturiser was light and we’ll see if it keeps my mid-afternoon shine at bay. The range does other stuff like pore-reducing gels, toners and face masks but I’m going to see if it proves itself first before investing more. All in all, I’m impressed with the Body Shops range, it’s leaning more towards the beauty market whilst still keeping the fruity shower gels and gift baskets a plenty.

Gym, Weddings and Cars

Wow, is it really a month since I posted on here? Slap hands.

So, what have I been up to? Well, the fitness thing is going slowly, I've had another routine review and my instructor has upped all my bits (so to speak) so that's good. And the big news is, my sister got married at the weekend! It was a lovely do, flippin cold while the photographer was doing his business but all the Christmas lights were on in town and it was very festive. She's now in Scotland with her new hubby, lord knows why as it'll be even more cold up there. So, I'm very happy that she's happy and I'm looking forwards to Christmas with my new brother-in-law.

Pete also was dragged along to the wedding and he didn't do too badly. He survived being grilled by my Aunties who single-handedly worked out our living and financial arrangements, he didn't hit my Dad when he drunkenly dropped Pete's camera, he smiled for all the photos (well, most of them), put up with me sticking glittery stars on his face all night (it seemed like such a good idea at the time) and also danced for at least 2 songs! Well done Pete, I'll turn you into a family-loving bloke in no time.

Other news, my mortgage has been reduced by 2% which means I should reach my saving goal (3 months salary) earlier than expected and be able to afford a new car in the New Year. I've had my current car for 6 years and it's getting on a bit so I thought it was time to treat myself. After looking around for deals (which aren't great) I've reduced the shortlist to 2 cars, a new Seat Ibiza (upgraded version of my current car) or a slightly used Ford Focus. It all depends on the finance deals available so I'll keep you updated on that one.

Getting Fit?

I've started trying to get fit. After being a member of Pulse 8 for almost a year and only managing to get there a couple of times a week with no real effect, I'm making a conscious effort to change my lifestyle for the better.

I've got a new gym routine and asked the instructor to make it quite challenging otherwise I'll get bored. I've been following it for a week now (been 4 times) and I can definately notice the difference already. Some of the machines are getting easier, for example, I do 15 minutes uphill walking at quite a brisk pace of 6kmph, today I managed to keep it at 6kmph for almost 9 minutes. My aim is to do the full 15 minutes by the end of next week as that's when I have to add to the incline and the speed.

My motivation? It's a combination of getting older and realising that being fit would be quite beneficial. I've started to notice the odd creak which is freaking me out as I didn't think I was that old (only 30). Also, it's a shift from the perpetual diet I seem to be on. Instead of watching what I eat and getting huge guilt trips when I fall off the dieting wagon, I'm trying to eat sensibly but my focus is now on fitness and not reducing my ass size. I'm hoping that that will be a side-effect but it's not the be all and end all. I've been a curvy lady for most of my adult life and I've finally worked out that I should accept it and enjoy it instead of wasting years planning for when I'm a size 10 (so not ever going to happen). Also, my lovely boyfriend Pete is a kind of fitness freak and started training seriously when he was 30, 2 years later he's very fit and actually enjoys knackering himself.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Back to Civilisation!

I'm back! Devon was fab, we were really lucky with the weather and only had one rainy day in seven. The cottage was so cute, very small (lounge, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom) but it had a little loft over the lounge which Pete made into his den. We had to cook on a oil burning aga which had no temperature control (the oven went up to 300 degrees and stayed there), it also heated the water and sounded like it was going to blow up whenever it turned itself on. The cottage was right next to a mill stream which was rather relaxing after we got used to the constant sound of trickling water.

We did loads of stuff, Eden project, walking on Dartmoor, trip to the beach at Dartmouth and a gentle meander around Totnes. Most afternoons we got back to the cottage and settled down with copious cups of tea and good books, when we'd read those we both started on the games (on DS and PSP). Evenings were spent cooking food and playing board games. I think Pete will agree that I totally whooped his ass on most games, which meant we had to keep playing until he won!

So now we're back, Pete wanted to get back and see how his bathroom was progressing (pretty good actually) and I wanted to see my little puddy cat but she still hasn't come home!

All in all a very good break, tomorrow I'm off to Nottingham for my sister's hen weekend - it's all go here.

Holidays here I come ....

Last day of work today for 11 days, yay!

Tomorrow I'm off to Thorpe Park to scare myself silly on all the rides, then on Saturday we're driving down to Devon for a week. We've rented a little cottage in the middle of nowhere and we're going to relax, go to Eden, go for walks and cook nice food.

It's ages since I've had a proper break and this is only the second holiday with Pete (first was a long weekend in Jersey in May). It's really nice to have someone to share stuff like this with, I've been single for far too long!

I'm really going to enjoy the next week and will probably start planning the next holiday very soon.

Being 2-timed?

Nah, not by Pete but I'm being cheated on by Lily!

My neighbour at 68 called round the other night (woke Pete up from his "I'm too knackered to go running" snooze) and said my cat had taken up residence. He just wanted to check I existed and she wasn't home alone, bless. So Lily has taken offence at my having to work in an office and not at home like usual and has defected to a populated home.

I'm not offended .... honest! Well, actually I am. I feed her, tickle her belly, pay her huge vet bills, allow her to sleep in the middle of the bed, buy her toys and beds she doesn't use and she does this in return!

Hurrumph.

So, I got home tonight at 8pm (stupid traffic), wet and windy and Lily wasn't in sight. She's not likely to be outside in this weather, me thinks, so I popped round to her new pad and hey presto she was there. The bloke (didn't catch his name) showed me in and Lily was sprawled on his sofa. I think he assumed I was there to take her home, I wasn't, I just wanted to introduce myself. But he handed her over anyway.

At least I know where to find her.

Why can't I have a normal cat?

Lily's blood tests are back from the vets - the news is not good. Rewind to Christmas when I first got her from Cats Protection, she had some injuries which I was told were from fighting while she was a stray, two nasty looking sores, one on her neck and one on her belly. So she was back and forwards to the vets for the first few weeks having antibiotics and trying a collar on her to stop her licking them. They took ages to heal but finally she started looking like a normal cat after about 2 months.

Then I noticed she was grooming her belly quite a lot, so I had a peek and she had another sore. It looked like she'd licked so much that the hair had gone and she was licking herself raw. Back to the vets she goes, more antibiotics and a steroid jab (which she was a complete wuss about). This did the trick, she stopped licking it and it healed nicely. Cue another month or so of normal cat.

Then she did it again and again. After the third steroid jab in so many months I asked the vet to do some more tests, we'd previously talked about what could be causing it and I'd changed washing powder and stopped using Fabreeze but nothing seemed to help. So, this time he took some blood (which Lily did NOT like) and now the results are back. In the meantime she was put onto a hypo-allergenic diet (which she loves - weird cat) to see if that helped.

The results ... she's allergic to pretty much everything, indoor stuff (dust mites etc) and outdoor stuff (pollen, grasses etc). Next step is to have more blood tests and narrow down what exactly she's allergic to and then vaccinate (yes, I know, I didn't know you could vaccinate against allergies) against them. This works in 60% of cases provided we find out what she's allergic to. The diet seems to be working too as she's still got a little sore on her belly but it's going away slowly, very slowly.

Bad news: It's all going to be very expensive, it might not work, means more tests and more injections.

Good news: She's insured so it's not my money, she might actually be a normal cat at some point soon.

I never thought, when I got her, that I would end up going to this much trouble to stop her licking herself raw. But she's so little and wee and quite cute really, plus she's a bit dopey to be doing this in the first place. Cats are a lot of work, but she's very purry.

Good Days and Bad

Why is it that we get good days and bad? How can our perception of life change so dramatically day to day?

Yesterday, I had a mound of work which needed to be done, had to travel into London (which I hate) to do it, had to deal with stupid customers (which I think is the Project Managers job), got home really late and was generally knackered. But even on the train into London in the morning, I'd decided that it was going to be a bad day. Nothing was going right, I couldn't seem to motivate myself to do anything from exercise to cook! Generally, I had a bit of a mare.

Yet today, the sun is shining, I got loads of work done yesterday which means I have time to faff about and write this. Stupid customers are still annoying me but I can cope, everything is rosey. This new outlook might have something to do with going on holiday to sunny Spain for a long weekend with my gorgeous boyfriend, he's a clever thing and got an award at work for an all expenses paid trip. The relaxing and pampering starts tonight with a long shower, de-fuzz and nail polish and an evening of packing and cleaning (ok, maybe the last bit isn't so relaxing).

Cerebellar Hypoplasia

How cute is this kitty!

Final Fantasy Geek!

I love Final Fantasy! I've completed FFX twice on PS2, FFX2 on PS3, FFIII on DS and I'm currently battling through FF Ring of Fates on DS with FFXII waiting in the (revenant) wings.

The next FF installment on DS is FFIV which is due for release next week 5th September 2008. I really should finish the two games I have waiting before buying a third which means my evenings this week will be mostly spent furtively playing on my DS.

I'm not sure exactly why I enjoy FF games so much, it could be the great story lines, easy play-ability, engaging side-quests or the fact that most of them aren't real time battles so it gives me time to think about things and not get flustered.

Fancy a massage?

After spending a luxurious 3 days at Ragdale Hall Spa, I've decided to learn body massage. Every year after coming back from the spa I'm bitterly disappointed with the massage I got, usually because they're too soft. I have a desk job so hold a lot of tension in my back and shoulders and should get massages more regularly than once a year, but every salon I try it's the same - wishy, washy, plinky, plonky, pants.

So, I've found a local evening course which will give me a glimpse into what it'll actually be like, then I'll decide whether or not to do a proper course. TVU do an evening course at Reading for 1 year which gives you a Swedish Massage qualification. It's £880 and means I'll be commited to turn up, do 2 hours of practise massage and 3 hours of study each week.

I really fancy the idea of having a proper hobby and possibly turning it into a part-time money spinner too. After the basic course I can go on to specialise in Sports massage if I fancy - sky's the limit.

Climbing Cat

I'm so pleased that Lily has decided to climb on my furniture - No, really!!

I put up some book cases and hope to eventually put a wall mounted hammock above one to replace the ugly cat tree Lily currently sleeps in. My boyfriend and I put up the adjoining shelves at the weekend so Lily could reach the top of the book cases, but she didn't seem overly eager to explore. So, today I tempted her with her favourite treats and she leapt up to the top of one, then seemed to get the right idea and investigated the other book case.

I went to the office quickly (I mostly work from home) and expected her to be curled up on top of one but she wasn't. She was back in her old hammock at the top of the cat tree. Oh well, as soon as I've put the hammock up I can remove the cat tree and I'll have my lounge back again!

Mixed Blessings

I have Sky+, it's a mixed blessing. I don't have to watch drivel cos I have all my favourite programs recorded, this doesn't mean I don't watch drivel - of course I'm going to, I have hundreds of channels which show drivel 24/7. I also love the pause and rewind facility, it means I can break off to make tea or answer the phone and not miss stuff. I didn't realise how much I use this until I was at my boyfriend's house and I wanted to rewind something.

I've been having trouble with Sky for a few months, and today I've finally got round to phoning them and getting an engineer out (previously they've just fixed stuff over the phone). So on Friday I should have a fully functional Sky+ box, fingers crossed.

Me

I was told by someone wise that to become a true geek I need to have a blog.

Over the past few years I have been slowly accepting my geekness, coming from a family of non-geeks who still don't fully accept me, this was hard. My first experience of the joys of geek was when I was about 9 or 10, we got our first computer (Spectrum ZX, very small keyboard with rubber keys) and a manual which detailed programs I could type myself. After diligently typing in the 100 or so lines of code, I ran the program and the screen changed colour, or something equally impressive. I didn't know it then, but that set me on the road I now travel.

I now work as a computer programmer, have completed two Final Fantasy games, play DnD (also own my own dice) and am also being introduced to non-mainstream board games by my extremely geeky boyfriend. I quite like being geeky, I might just stay this way.

Lily

Lily is my cat, I picked her up from the Cats Protection League in December 2007. As she's a rescue cat no one knows her real age, but I was told she was about 1 year old when I got her. She was found as a pregnant stray and CP found homes for all her kittens.

Lily has a huge personality, I thought cats were just selfish, arrogant things, which liked you when they wanted feeding and ignored you the rest of the time. That's true some of the time, but the rest of the time she's lovely.

Lily spends most of her day sleeping in her hammock. When I first got her I went mad a bought lots of cat-related stuff which I've never used and mostly don't like, one of these purchases is the cat tree. It's a huge 6 foot thing with scratching posts and 3 different levels including one cubby hole and a hammock at the top. The whole thing is very unstable and rocks everytime Lily moves but she seems to like it. As it's the only place she sleeps (the highest point in my flat she can access) I feel mean putting it away without replacing it with another sleeping place. So I bought some book cases from Ikea and a new wall hammock and plan on setting her up in that using shelves as stairs so she can get up to it. Am I obsessed? Probably.

5 things you should know about Lily:

1. Lily wakes me up every morning by running upstairs as soon as my alarm goes off and sitting on my chest staring at me until I move.


2. Lily is a complete attention whore, she is a regular at the pub next door. I often get talking to people in the carpark when Lily greets me, "Oh she's your cat, she's in the pub all the time". I'm just waiting for her to start coming home drunk with her new mates and have a party while I'm out.

3. Every time Lily comes in from outside, she sits and stares at me until I acknowledge her. If I'm not quick enough, she meows at me and will eventually jump on top of me to get my attention. I often ignore her on purpose to see who can win this battle of wits - I lose ALL the time.

4. Lily is quite shy with new people in the flat, unless they have dangly laces or straps. The first time my boyfriend came round she got very excited by the straps on his rucksack.

5. If Lily decides to sleep on my bed at night, she will sleep in the middle or in the most obstructive place she can, just to prove she can.