Budapest Trip

Hello, see how diligent I'm being I'm already writing about my Budapest trip. Ok so it was over a week ago... but at least I'm going it before I forget all about it!

Anyway I caught the train down to London on Thursday night. But the end of the 2 hour train trip it was blatantly obvious that I was coming down with something. Luckily Kings Cross station is complete with a pharmacy so I went straight there and bought some lemsip cold and flu and some strepsils and they did a fine job all weekend!

Sarah and I had a not too late night and got up bright and early to catch the plane to Budapest. The plane was delayed slightly but all came through in the end and we made our connecting flight and arrived safe and sound in Budapest. Driving into a town from the airport is always interesting as you often get to see the worst parts of a city which I think was sort of true in this case.

Our four star hotel was lovely a nice smart though quite small room. So after dropping off our bags we headed out to explore. It was about 3.30 at this time and already starting to get dark. We were staying very near the river and so walked across the bridge to see this amazing cave Church. It was a Church built in a series of caves, with some external structures also built on. An order of Monks live there too. We had a look around there, there was a small portion of the caves open to the public. We then poked our head in the famous Gellert Baths and Hotel just across the road.

Pretty much dark by now we walked back across the bridge and walked along the river looking at the beautiful Christmas Lights and buildings. Heading back inland we stumbled on a lovely Christmas Childrens market in front of the large St Stephen's basilica. There were a couple of stalls with things that looked like the children had made, and even better they were giving away free raisin bread, roasted chestnuts and mulled wine. Which was a bonus as Sarah and I had been planning to find somewhere to buy some!

Then came the real thing... I'm addicted to markets... I love them! And Budapest has a great Christmas market. It was great! Lots of stalls of Christmas things, and pottery and porcelain, amazing food, and all kinds of other random stalls. Sarah and I began our weekend theme of having authentic Hungarian cuisine. We were brave and had cabbage rolls! Which were nice, the sauce was really delicious actually. It rained a little at this point, the only rain of the whole trip (despite forecasts to the contrary) and the rain wasn't too bad really.

After the markets we went to the first cake shop, Budapest is famous for cake shops. They had tons of beautifully presented layered torts. All looked so pretty and so yummy! So after much deliberation we both managed to choose a cake and they were delicious! We then found our way back to the hotel through lovely streets lit up with Christmas decorations.

Day 2

We had our free hotel breakfast, and I had quite a lot of it actually (it was yummy, muesli, cold meats, eggs, sausages, fresh bread and pastries). Then we began our mega walking day with a walk up a hill to see a beautiful peace monument. There were very good views of the city, it was quite misty unfortunately but this made it all the more romantic really. We continued heading up (or was it down the river) to the castle and national gallery which was in the old palace. We caught a little short gondola type train up the hill.

Up the top of the hill we came at just perfect time to see the changing of the guard. Quite an interesting display, a very precise choreography - an almost dance like march. We walked around the buildings and looked at the statues up there. Such a nice view from up there too! Oh it was up here I went to the most amazing toilet. As with a few of the loos around the place you had to pay (100 forints - about 30p, or 90NZc) and the lady who took care of it had such a set up in there! Pictures all over the walls, a heater, a couch, stickers on the mirror... it was so funny! I wish I'd got a photo!

Sarah and I then visited the fisherman's bastion which was a fantastic structure, check out our photos on bebo these ones I found on the web. It's hard to explain was it was exactly, oh hang, I'll be good and look it up. Ok here goes: The Halászbástya or Fisherman's Bastion is a terrace in new-Gothic and neo-Romanesque style situated on the Buda bank of the Danube, on the Castle hill in Budapest, around Matthias Church. It was built about the turn of the century (last century that is).





We then went to Matthias Church which was a lovely Church. Quite different looking inside to many I've seen already. There was a tiny museum section in it too where to my disgust there was a human foot! And a scull on display. The foot was particularly bad as it seemed to be still decaying, well it was pretty much decayed but it wasn't just skeleton if you know what I mean. I just found out for those who actually like facts that the Church was named after the greatest Hungarian King, Matthias Corvinus. Sorry despite looking it up I can't see whose foot it was.

Ok I'm going to move this along a bit faster. We had the best cakes ever at the most famous (or was it the oldest) cake shop in Budapest. They were delicious, but surprisingly even more impressive was the hot chocolate I had! It was so rich! Anyway then walked back along the river and quickly stopped in at the hotel to pick up togs to go to spa! The spas were stressful initially it took so long to get someone to tell us which kind of tickets to buy, and for someone to sell them, then to find a place to get changed. But once we were in Sarah and I had a lovely relaxing hour and a half or so.

Saturday night we went out in search of a good Hungarian restaurant and found a lovely one. It had such character and the food was good too! Especially these paprika bread rolls which I couldn't get enough of! Sarah had paprika chicken and I had goulash... yum! That left us too full for desert so we hit the streets to walk it off and search for bars.

The first bar we found was ok, the next one lovely! But we thought we could do better well at least find one we liked as much, the one we headed for was closed. However almost back at the hotel we found another one which was really funny. There were huge tubs, well almost buckets of roasted peanuts still in shells on each table. The floor was littered with shells! It was amazing - I've never seen so many peanuts in one place (I've also never had peanuts in shells that weren't raw before!). So that was a nice place to end a good night, me munching through the peanuts and Sarah playing with the candles.

Day 3

Our tie up ends day. We made it all the way along the river to see parliament finally. It was an impressive building, we didn't go in or do a tour however. But there was a small market outside and I finally tried some roasted chestnuts! I didn't love them but they were ok, nice to keep hands warm anyway. They tasted surprisingly like potatoes. We stopped into St Stephen's basilica on the way to the Christmas Market and popped our head in. It was a lovely Church too.

Back at the markets we finally got to try Kürtöskalács (this translate to chimney cake) which were delicious sweet things... sort of like donuts but not fried at all, instead dough wrapped around a pole then cooked while the pole rotated and glazed with sugar. It was at this point we totally lost track of time (but not so badly that we were running late). But we got a waggle on and headed back to our hotel to catch the taxi back to the plane station.



The trip to the airport was interesting (the taxi driver was a lovely old man who offered us some strepsils and called them lollies, and was a slightly scary driver, especially when his cab just stopped and he didn't know why). We got there safe and sound to find out soon after our flight had been canceled. This turned out not to be a problem at all though as they put us on different flights that got us back to London at almost the same time, plus we got a free meal out of it!

Anyway that was my trip to Budapest! Now I'm all up to date. With my international travel at least.

:)
Mindy

Rome Blog

Hello,

Ok now I'm ready to talk about my trip to Rome. It started off with a very early (3.45am) morning for me and Darren before heading down to East Midlands airport. We arrived in Rome at 10am local time and it was immediately obvious we were missing a vital accessory for this trip... sunglasses! We haven't really needed them here in the UK (surprise surprise!) but it was so bright in Rome! Once we'd caught the bus into town we picked some up for a street vendor.

Me having to eat every few hours otherwise I nearly die (did I ever mention I exaggerate) we went to a McDonalds like pizza chain for lunch. I ordered by number and Darren got a huge slice of pizza with fries, and I got a huge slice of pizza with mozzarella balls... which were delicious! I love mozzarella now! We found our b&b with not too much difficulty and it was lovely. The guy who ran it was so friendly and gave us lots of good local information which was so incredibly helpful!

The first afternoon we spend wandering around the streets by the Colosseum and Roman Forum ruins. They were about 10 minutes walk from our B&B. It was astounding just how much stuff there was to see all in one area. Just block after block of ruins... and every block you wandered around in town you'd come across a beautiful old building, or square, or monument. The whole place was so beautiful. But also a bit dirtier than normal. Like the parks weren't as nicely tended, grass gone to dirt etc, and pavements littered with dog waste!

We stopped and got a drink and a pastry which was yummy... pointing proved useful for ordering things! Then Darren got us lost which was funny as! Anyway we arrived back at the b&b and sort of collapsed. Then me being me, hunger got the better of me and dragged Darren out for pizza! It was funny we walked around for ages before finding somewhere I was brave enough to try and order it. It was weird as you didn't know how much it was going to cost as they just cut a slab and weighed it, and the cost was based on weight.

Day 2

Well we got up nice and early for our b&b breakfast then down to the Colosseum. We had got there quite early so the queues weren't bad at all, then we had a good long look around. It was pretty cool. Way bigger and way more... umm... technical than I thought! I had thought it was just a big round set of walls! But there's tons more to it than that, a whole underground system which Darren explained was used for trap doors etc. And pulley systems to get the animals up to ground level etc. Anyway it was pretty awesome. We spent a wee while at the Colosseum just watching the gladiators con people into giving them huge amounts of money to get their photo taken with them. We watched one guy get what must have been over 100 euros for one photo with a bunch of Japanese tourists! Anyway Darren decided it would be funny to see what they'd do it we didn't pay. We found out they chase you and then watch over your shoulder forcing you to delete the photos off your camera!

Next we went to the Palentine. This was my second favourite part of the trip. It was a huge mass of ruins, with ancient gardens and things all around. It was on top of a big hill. And the sun was out and compared to the bustle of tourists around the Colosseum this just felt away from everything, and it was so nice and peaceful, and imagining what the buildings must have been like was just breath-taking. From the Palentine it was onto wandering around the ruins of the Roman Forum. This was also very cool, very typical ruins with beautiful columns and lots of tourists again.

We then wandering in towards the Pantheon where it started raining. It was amazing, as soon as the rain drops came down out popped all these guys selling umbrellas (expensive too!). The Pantheon was great, a very busy tourist square though, it was absolutely packed with tourists.

We walked back to the B&B the long way and spent quite some time looking in some cool shops. And past a beautiful big Church, which I can't be bothered checking the name of sorry! Haha. Then we had pizza for tea (surprise surprise!).

Day 3

Today was the big one... the Vatican Museums. Darren and I decided to walk it, even though it was quite a long way away. It was a good walk though. I think it took us 45 minutes to get there. St Peter's Basilica Square was amazing. We found our way round to the queue for the museums, it was already around the block. This was at 9.25 still 40 minutes before the place opened! Whilst in the queue someone came round offering a tour of the place. We had already considered doing a tour so we decided to do it. I was very nervous leaving our place in the queue to follow the lady round the side streets to the tour office. But it was all legit and I needn't have worried, once all set up with headsets we got back in the queue (somehow jumping a large portion of it) then only had a 10 minute wait before we got through the doors. (Well through the gates then the metal detectors) Haha.

The tour guide was fantastic! He was an Italian called Massimo but spoke excellent English (albiet with an American accent), he also did art restoration as his other job and painting as a hobby so he had a fantastic knowledge off all the sculptures in the museum and the paintings... and of course the frescoes in the Sistene Chapel. The museums were amazing, my words won't really do them justice, just rooms and rooms fulls of beautiful sculptures, tapestries with 24 carat gold threaded through then, amazing paintings.

The highlight of the whole trip for me though was St Peters Basilica. Being the least religious person in my family, and often feeling a bit uncomfortable in Churches this came as a huge surprise. The place was just phenomenal! The scale of it - it was absolutely huge! And entirely made of marble. And there were amazing things in it, like dead popes in open coffins, and apparently Veronica's veil, and the spear head that speared Jesus. And amazing mosaics which were replicas of Raphael paintings. I wanna go back!

After that we took the afternoon easy. We had spent about 3 and a half hours wandering around the Vatican. We just walked back to the B&B getting some lunch on the way. We also walked past the triple fountain thingee on the way (sorry I'm tired and can't be bothered looking things up) it was where Saint Peter (or was it Paul) was beheaded and his head bounced three times and at each place a fount popped up and now there's a beautiful (huge) fountain there.

Very exhausted by now we half heartedly looked around for souvenirs and picked up some nice prints and Darren got a cool gladiator model.

Then it was back home to lay down again. I popped out again that night to explore a little bit myself and found a shop that sold really cool beads so I bought some of those to make a necklace to remember my trip to Rome!

Then we went to sleep and got up early and caught the bus then plane home again!

And that was our trip to Rome!

xxx

Xmas Season

Tis the season to be too tired to write proper blogs or accounts of trips to Rome and Budapest. I'm sorry. I will get to it, maybe tonight?? Last night we had our work Christmas meal for Jade. It was actually really lovely. I wasn't too sure as I don't know all the people who work at Jade over here so didn't know what it would be like. I should have based it on my experience of Jade employees in general as the ones I hadn't previously met were all lovely people.

We caught the train up to Leeds, we actually missed out intended train but they come pretty regularly so it didn't matter too much. Then saw Leeds for the first time. Well saw everything in the 1km between the train station and the dinner location hehe. But Leeds looks lovely. Pretty large. You can get a good idea of how big a city is by the size of it's train station and Leeds is pretty big. I knew that I guess, I should look up how big exactly but I can't be bothered right now. Sorry!

Anyway we ended up getting our meals at 9.45 which was very late for me! Consequently it was a bit of a rush to get the last train back at 10.40 but we made it :) It was weird catching a late night train like that, quite empty very different from the normal day time business.

I guess I should say as well that Budapest was brilliant. Sarah was such a lovely travel partner... thanks Sarah! And I would definitely recommend the city as a place to go visit! Here's my bebo photos, just poached from Sarah's bebo: Budapest Photos

Love
Mindy

Rome

Rome was AMAZING! Sorry I haven't had time to write a proper blog but did manage to sneak a few pictures up to my bebo site so have a look if you're interested: Rome photos!

Off to London tonight then Budapest tomorrow!

Rome Tomorrow

Guess where I am?

Come on, guess...

Oh ok I'll tell you, I'm at Tamworth, actually now I'm not now I'm somewhere else. I am infact on a train back home on the way the Doncaster writing my Friday blog and watching Scrubs. Do I feel cool. Yes, yes I do. Why I'm not exactly sure but still. It's just cool that I'm using the trip to watch my show!

So in about an hour and a half I'll be back in Doncaster, my plans for the afternoon are to say hello to Darren and then maybe walking down to my outlet mall and buying these really cheap good shoes I saw last weekend, I need some new walking shoes for Rome, as my running shoes are really wearing out.

Well I'm glad I went to Milton Keynes as the World Vision people I work with were so lovely and it was great to meet them, and probably good for them to meet me too, though I am so glad to be going home. And I managed to see almost none of Milton Keynes which is very lazy of me, though I did like the pub we went to last night for dinner. Trisha ordered pheasant and gave me a mouthful to try so I got to try pheasant for the first time... it was interesting but I wouldn't say my favourite. I also had a delicious white chocolate raspberry tart for desert which was delicious!

I'm excited about eating in Rome! Though I'm a little concerned understandably about eating too much. Any my blog will have a break for a few days while in Rome, because I'll be doing what the Romans do. Hahah. Get it? But I promise to write a big update when I get back and no doubt Darren will take about 500 photos!

Have a good week everyone!

Love,
Mindy

The Pudding Club

Well I went out for a lovely dinner tonight with the people from work here (who are also lovely) but that's not what this post is about. This post is about something Trisha told me at dinner.

Sorry the details are sketchy, I'll probably do some research on this for the future but don't have time right now. Anyway there is this restaurant somewhere here in the UK, Cotswold I think. And once a month or something like that they have something called the pudding club. You pay a set price and have a small dinner - you choose one of three option - then then they bring out the puddings! There is about seven, each is presented and has it's own special introduction describing it then the idea is you try a portion of each pudding at a time. The catch is though that you can't go back up if you still have something left in your bowl. You can see then that you'd need a smart strategy to make it through all the deserts! If you don't have the one you like the most early on, you might not have room for it at the end, but then if you have it first you've already had the best! The trick would be to have as tiny a portions as possible I think to get through them all then go back for more of the ones you really like. Obviously it would all depends on your stomach capacity too!

I love puddings these days! When I was younger I didn't have as much of a sweet tooth but I've definitely developed one!

Love Mindy

Better Mood

Hello!

I didn't have a very good day today... but despite that I'm in a much better mood tonight that I was yesterday. Though I'm starting to get tired, I stayed up late last night watching Scrubs. Scrubs is awesome!

Despite having a good day I still can't think of things to say.

I could write a list of things I want for Christmas... but there's not really anything (apart from gold earrings, and also an iron). Maybe I should just buy myself the iron. Don't get me wrong I'm not going to start ironing my clothes, so don't worry about that, but I do need it to iron my jersey when I finish knitting it! I should be there soon, I've finished another sleeve... well the first sleeve.

With everyone coming for Christmas I'm thinking about what food to cook, mostly for desert as dinner will just be normal stuff like meat, veges, tatoes, etc. And as everyone will be there I know they won't be expecting me to do anything but I'm so excited about it I just want to! I love cooking and stuff, and provided I have time I'll probably make stuff for desert. I think I'll make a pavlova, I've never made one before but I should be able to, or I might make merienges as I've never made them either and I haven't had them for such a long time! Also I'm very tempted to make the apple cake thing we had at our gym party the other week, I've got the recipe. Hehe might be a good idea to do a trial run with a compulsory taste test!

Well done to everyone who's taken part in Movember! I'm sure you all had awesome mos. And to those at Jade have a fun time at the Movember bbq on Friday! Darren didn't grow a mo but a whole beard! I loved it, I'm a facial hair fan. I think he quite liked not shaving too, but it's funny because facial hair is even less common in Doncaster than in Christchurch, when we were out on Saturday night I did not see one man with any facial hair and I was really paying attention.

Well two nights in Milton Keynes, one night in Doncaster then three nights in Rome!

I can't wait for Christmas! It's almost very nearly December! Woo! Hey I should buy an advent calendar!

Love
Mindy

Boring Post

Ok sitting in my hotel again.

Today at work was ok. Not much to report there.

And since there's nothing else in my life at the moment then that's it.

Ok I'll try and think of something else to say. Oh yeah I thought of something, I saw something really cool today and I want one! Though I don't really need one! What it was was a little rear view mirror on someone's monitor - such a good idea so you can see who is coming up behind you or who is looking at your screen!

Man I used way too many exclamation marks in that paragraph.

I miss everyone at the moment quite a lot. I miss the people in my life in Christchurh - I think when we first moved away people tried to keep in touch more but now they're used to us not being there so it's phased out a bit, which I suppose is understandable. But it's hard to feel like they just don't care anymore when I'm still thinking about them just as much as ever.

Ok I'm going to stop moping now and watch another episode of Scrubs.

Away for the week

Dear World,

Well I'm sitting here in my holiday inn express hotel room in Milton Keynes settling in for the night. I'm doing two things that I haven't really done before. One is drinking a cup of tea, and two is watching Coronation Street. Ok sorry I changed channel I decided I still don't really want to get into Coronation Street, but I've still got my tea! Instead I'm watching one of the many quiz shows on TV here. They're good though, they actually have what I classify as intelligent questions. Intelligent questions are ones where I can answer or guess about a fifth correctly.

Today I got and packed and was at the train station (courtesy of my love) waiting for my train at 7.40. I had to get three trains to get here, I feel like I've tripped over the country! My first train went to Sheffield first which feels like back tracking when going South, though it's not really! I went to Derby first then Birmingham then here Milton Keynes. This is my first business trip that I've done completely on my own bat so I feel quite grown up hehe... though I guess I was in Melbourne myself... though I didn't book any of that. Also in Melbourne I had a kitchen and didn't have to eat in a restaurant by myself this time I do. I managed ok today but that waits (for someone to take your order, bring your order, take your plate, bring the bill, bring your change) are more annoying when you're by yourself. Tomorrow I might take a book which I haven't seen anyone else do, but I don't really care!

Oooh yay! The university challenge is on. Now these questions are more than intelligent I can only ever answer like one! The program I was watching before I found out was called Mastermind if you're interested.

I must have someone else to talk about. I had lamb steak for tea. It was weird, it was apparently grilled but it was the same colour all the way through so I think it was pre-cooked. Which I don't mind as I'm not fussy about food, it was just weird as I only ever normally have roast lamb. I then had a chocolate popcorn cheesecake for desert, I don't think I should have desert again, just have it as a treat for the first night.

Ok well sorry that was boring. I'm bored though so it was fitting.

Oh wait I thought of something, Darren and I watched Apocalypto last night and I quite liked it - it wasn't phenomenal but was enjoyable! It had subtitles but there wasn't a huge amount of talking, and that actually worked out ok as our sound got out of sync with the picture during the film.

Ok goodnight (don't be confused by the time, I'm writing this offline and will be posting it when I get to work in the morning!).

Love from Mindy

ps Miss you Darren!

Christmas Tree!

Hello Everyone,

Well two things. Firstly I put up our Christmas tree last night, then put all the presents round underneath it! Aren't we spoiled with all the things we've been sent! The three large cardboard boxes the tree is sitting on is what they were sent in!



Secondly as mentioned yesterday Darren and I went out for dinner. Dinner was lovely. The even better thing was going out afterwards! We went to dinner at 6pm then finished up just after 7pm, and went out to a pub which was already filled with people! By about 7.30 they turned the music on, 8pm we went to a different pub which was almost packed by the time we left there at 9pm. We then went to a couple more bars all were totally full! People dancing and everything. By 11 we'd been out for 4 hours, had a few drinks, had a bit of a boogie, seen girls in all the different costumes you could imagine, police, nurses, devils, prisoners (they seem to like dressing up over here!) and went home and were in bed by 11.30 :) So great for oldies like us - a full night out without having to have a late night. It was just amazing how quickly things got going in town and how many people were out!

Other observations: the guys didn't really dress up much at all, but the girls dressed up all the way. I mean parades of teeny tiny party frocks! And have I mentioned how cold it is outside these girls didn't have coats! I can't believe how hard core that is! Um drinks were not that expensive at all, neither was the taxi. Hmmm what else... oh yeah guys are weird. Darren and I were totally indulging in people watching, and he was commenting on some hot girls who were apparently the hottest ones in the bar. Talking to him later he didn't like their makeup thought it was all wrong, didn't like their dresses... but still they were the hottest! Weird eh? Makes you realise all that dressing up and making up girls do for guys probably is totally unnecessary!

Off to Milton Keynes tomorrow... it will be good to meet the World Vision people but it'll be a bit lonely having a week in a hotel by myself! But then when I get back it's Rome here we come!

Love
Mindy

Vacuum

Well today I vacuumed. It may not immediately be obvious why this is blog worthy news, so I'll explain. I have no vacuumed since we've moved into our apartment! Yes that's right. Sad I know. But a vacuum cleaner was last on our priority of things to buy... in fact we still haven't bought one. Someone in our building threw one away so I nicked it out of the garbage - what can I say it was perfectly fine, just missing the floor piece. Today I bit the bullet and bought a new floor piece. So I can conclude we hopefully have less carpet mites than we did yesterday, and the apartment looks much nicer and tidier too!

In other news Darren and I went out for a lovely Italian meal.

Ok bed time now.

Good night!

In Bed Early

Well it's not even 8pm and I'm in bed already. All tucked um with a hottie and my pjs and also my jersey. The reason... our boiler is broken again! This means no hot water and no heating. This is particularly wonderful on a night where it's below freezing outside!

Otherwise I'm good. It's the weekend, we're finally going out tomorrow night to experience Doncaster's nightlife! This time we're not missing it as we've got reservations for dinner though given the temperature I'll have to make sure I take a jacket. Though actually tomorrow it's going to rain and it's not as cold in the rain.

I don't really have much news. We booked out hotel for Rome, got a pretty good deal actually I think. I'm getting even more excited now. It's going to be a lonely week away for work but at least Rome to look forward to at the end! And then Budapest the weekend after woo!

I'm watching the 5th season of scrubs now, so funny.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Back Again!

Hello!

I went away for two days. Well I didn't write, did ya notice? I know some of you did (hi Susannah!).

Today was notable for two reasons.

1) I got to use my umbrella for a second time.
2) Actually just the umbrella thing, but it didn't feel right saying it was notable for only one reason.

I really love porridge. Haha trying to write love made me realise my v key was stuck down, it's fixed now so I'm lucky I decided to write that. Even though it wasn't a very profound thing to write, and indeed is something I've written many times before!

Darren and I have been watching Lexx which is a weird sci fi from the late 1990s. It's funny because I didn't know anything about it, but Darren used to watch it on TV. I was saying to him it's quite odd for a sci fi hi explicitly sexual it was, (this was something I'd read about it, and noticed myself in the first episode) and he denied that. Then we watched it some more and there was full female nudity! He was shocked and realised that a lot of that stuff must have been edited out for tv. Anyway it's very bizarre, so if you like bizarre weird sci fi you might like it. Or if you like nude females.

Tonight we are hopefully watching the second feature of the Tarantino-Rodriguez double feature Grindhouse. We watched Death Proof and I loved it, tonight it Planet Terror.

Ok goodbye!
Mindy

Race Results

Well I did the run in 51 minutes 43 seconds. A personal best, but I think that I should keep doing them so I can get faster and faster and faster. I wonder if I can ever do it in 45 minutes. Maybe. Hmm the woman who got 8th in our group did it in that time so that's pretty good but probably achievable. I've been running tons better over here, no hip pain hardly.

Anyway today was a lazy day though very busy as work, a couple of big problems that I happily dealt with. I love it when things go wrong and things need doing quickly. I love working reactively, I love the pressure and find it more interesting as there's normally something very strange going on if bugs get all the way to the user without being detected. So yeah I like fixing urgent things.

I also love porridge, I'm having it for desert.

Sorry this isn't very long I have to go and watch Grey's Anatomy now.

:)
Mindy

Race Day!

Hey hey hey!

Today was race day. It was a bit sad doing a race without supporters (Dad is the best cheerleader - he makes sure he knows the course and will pop up several times to cheer you on), but regardless it was fun. Though huge thanks to Darren for driving me out on such a horrible day and missing out from meeting up with Jeremy on xbox. Thanks hun! But like I said I said it was fun! Eventually. Did I mention we haven't had much rain here, until today that is!



Everyday last week was sunny, or at least had no rain, then of course look at the horrible grey picture for race day! As an aside I can really see how things flood badly here, it only started raining in the middle of last night, and all through the race course were huge puddles!

Anyway not only was it raining, but freezing cold. When I got out of the car ten minutes before the race (leaving it to the last possible minute) I have never been as cold before in my life. Well ok I'm sure I have, but that's the kind of thing that's hard to measure. The wind was bitingly cold. I had a t-shirt on and at the last minute decided on a long sleeved top underneath, I was very glad I did!

Anyway the run itself was brilliant. It was so cool, first you ran through the little town streets then the rest of it was nice wee country lanes. The really weird thing was it was a 10km race, so logically you'd assume you may have markers every kilometer or maybe every 2 km. Not so, the race had markers each mile! Luckily I knew about this before hand. I still thought it was funny. It does make sense though as a lot of runners would only be used to thinking and timing themselves in miles over here.

There were also 3 nice wee hills in the race. Having only ever done events in Christchurch before (which is flat!) I wasn't expecting that, and it was hard! But fun! I should try and add some hills into my training.

Now it's back to a warm home (and bath) a yummy lunch of nachos and an afternoon veg-ing out.

Hope everyone else had a nice weekend!

:)
Mindy

New Boots

Don't you just love new boots. I bought some today and I'm in love. They're special ultra comfort ones, and I thought yeah right, but they really are comfortable. 10cm comfortable heels who would've thought.

Today was also second Christmas Cake day. I am happy to report that it is safely wrapped in a tea towel all in one piece cooling. And the first Christmas cake is almost gone now! I love fruit cake, we should have it all year round!

Um not much else to report, I'm excited about my run tomorrow, I'll be letting everyone know how it goes.

Love
Mindy

Friday!

Yay it's Friday. And it's not sad at all that I'm home on a Friday night writing to a blog. I work hard all week, I'm exhausted by Friday! We had an issue at work that I had to deal with today so that was not the most relaxing Friday.

Also there's a big charity event over here at the moment to raise money for children, by the BBC. Part of it is our gym had a challenge to do 160km in the first 16 days of November - running, swimming, biking, whatever, I didn't do it but today at the gynm we went to support the people finishing, and our gym instructor Mark made a delicious cake for the occasion! It was so delicious - I'm going to make one soon, it was called Bustrengo. I've looked into it and it's a recipe from San Marino. Really nice.

Ok that's all, it is Friday night afterall!

Love
Mindy

Scarf Finished!

Hello!

I decided last week I needed a scarf because it was so cold walking to work. So I got online and ordered some wool, it arrived on Saturday and so I started knitting! Now my scarf is totally finished and I wore it to work today. I love the pattern a lot, and I absolutely loved the wool, it was so fun to knit with (it was Debbie Bliss Soho), but I'm not sure I like the colours. The colours look fantastic together as you can see them mixed up in the tassles, they all go well, but I'm not sure how well the blocks of colour go together. None the less it still looks quite good on, and it's nice and warm so overall I'm happy with it. Did I mention I absolutely loved the wool!

Not that many of my readers knit, but if they do here's a link to the pattern: Noro Scarf



In other news... actually I have no other news. Oh yeah I'm making a second Christmas Cake. I'm going to eat the first. Hehe! And it's show day tomorrow so it feels like it should be a weekend tomorrow but it's not for me! But I like work anyway so I don't mind going tomorrow. If I didn't go I wouldn't get to see all my nice workmates, and it's going to be fun at the gym tomorrow - there's going to be a wee celebration as some work people are finishing up a 16 day exercise related fundraising thing.

Ok bye!

Love
Mindy

About Me Version 2

I was looking through my old blogs and I wrote 50 interesting facts about myself in August 2005. How times have changed. I'll write the same facts though make them true now and then below that paste the original facts then people can spot the difference!

November 2007:

1. I am left-handed
2. I have a birthmark the shape of Spain on my back
3. My natural hair colour is medium-brown
4. I studied Law for two years before deciding I wanted to do Computer Science
5. I have over 100 CDs but have bought less than 10 in the past three years
6. I can do this really cool thing with my tongue, but I can't explain it. It's like rolling it but better!
7. I have never been to hospital as a patient
8. I adore Andrew Lloyd Weber musicals
9. I have only had two boyfriends
10. I have kissed about 30 people
11. I have kissed a girl
12. I am allergic to some cats, but not others
13. I skipped a year at primary school
14. I have my full driver's licence!
15. I have lived most of my life in Christchurch New Zealand, but now live in Doncaster, United Kingdom
16. I have never cheated in my life (except maybe in card games with my sisters).
17. I never got a detention in my life.
18. I never bunked school
19. My family is very close, and so is my extended family (they almost all live in Chch and my cousins Kirsty and Andrew are two of my best friends)
20. I LOVE cornflakes.
21. I LOVE porridge
22. I could eat breakfast foods all day.
23. I go to the gym or go for a run every single weekday at lunchtime with some workmates.
24. I own 4 guitars (I play piano and guitar).
25. I didn't get my ears pierced until I turned 22.
26. 2007 has been the best year of my life.
27. When I was 15 my penfriend in Ghana proposed to me (I turned him down).
28. I can waterski on one ski but I can't wake board (yet!).
29. I still count my high school friends amongst my best friends and I'm in contact with almost all of them (8 years on!)
30. Every morning I watch Everybody love Raymond because I don't like watching news in the morning and that's the only thing that's on.
31. I love dressing up.
32. I love wearing pjs all day.
33. My little sister Amy has a scar on her back from when I pushed her off the bed and she fell onto a stereo.
34. I have one scar on my leg that I got from a burn caused from sap of a giant hogweed reacting with uv ray
35. I am addicted to diet coke and coke zero and trying to cut down
36. I like peas, but they're not my favourite vegetable
37. I do like apples! But I like them more when they are cut up.
38. I have never played a game of netball in my life (and don't ever plan to).
39. When I was little I wanted to be a mermaid.
40. I wrote in a diary every single night for about 6 or 7 years.
41. I love the movie Desperado.
42. I try to go to bed around 9.30pm Sunday through Thursday.
43. I hate hidden tracks on albums.
44. I have all the Flying Circus (Monty Python) episodes on DVD.
45. I am the eldest of all my cousins on my Mum's side.
46. The most expensive thing I own is my engagement ring.
47. When I was little I was so scared of burglars that I couldn't close my own curtains after dark.
48. I am over my fear of aliens (when I saw Signs I had my eyes closed for most of the movie, and my fingers in my ears).
49. I often love movies that other people think are crap (eg From Hell)

And finally....

50. I have over 30 pairs of shoes

August 2005:

1. I am left-handed
2. I have a birthmark the shape of Spain on my back
3. My natural hair colour is medium-brown
4. I studied Law for two years before deciding I wanted to do Computer Science
5. I have over 100 CDs but haven't bought any in the past 8 months
6. I can do this really cool thing with my tongue, but I can't explain it. It's like rolling it but better!
7. I have never been to hospital as a patient
8. I adore Andrew Lloyd Weber musicals
9. I have only had two boyfriends
10. I have kissed about 30 people
11. I have never kissed a girl
12. I am allergic to some cats, but not others
13. I skipped a year at primary school
14. I only have my restricted drivers license (I have had it for over 3 years now!)
15. I have lived my whole life in Christchurch
16. I have never cheated in my life (except maybe in card games with my sisters).
17. I never got a detention in my life.
18. I never bunked school.
19. My family is very close, and so is my extended family (they almost all live in Chch, and I flat with my two wonderful cousins Kirsty and Andrew)
20. I LOVE cornflakes.
21. I also love porridge.
22. I could eat breakfast foods all day.
23. I try to go to the gym every morning, in reality I end up going about three mornings a week.
24. I own 4 guitars (I play piano and guitar).
25. I didn't get my ears pierced until I turned 22.
26. 2005 has been the best year of my life.
27. When I was 15 my penfriend in Ghana proposed to me (I turned him down).
28. I can waterski on one ski but I can't wake board (yet!).
29. I still count my high school friends amongst my best friends and I'm in contact with almost all of them (6 years on!)
30. Every morning I watch the Wild Thornberries because I love it.
31. I love dressing up.
32. I love wearing pjs all day.
33. My little sister Amy has a scar on her back from when I pushed her off the bed and she fell onto a stereo.
34. I have no scars.
35. I am addicted to diet coke and trying to cut down.
36. I hate peas! But I don't really mind the taste of them.
37. I also hate apples... I just don't like them!
38. I have never played a game of netball in my life (and don't ever plan to).
39. When I was little I wanted to be a mermaid.
40. I wrote in a diary every single night for about 6 or 7 years.
41. I love the movie Desperado.
42. I try to go to bed around 9.30pm Sunday through Thursday.
43. I hate hidden tracks on albums.
44. I have all the Flying Circus (Monty Python) episodes on DVD.
45. I am the eldest of all my cousins on my Mum's side.
46. The most expensive thing I own is my Ovation Guitar.
47. When I was little I was so scared of burglars that I couldn't close my own curtains after dark.
48. I am getting over a fear of aliens (when I saw Signs I had my eyes closed for most of the movie, and my fingers in my ears).
49. I often love movies that other people think are crap (eg From Hell)

And finally....

50. I have over 17 pairs of shoes

Joke

Ok ok sorry I forgot to write and don't have time, but so you're not too disappointed here's a joke:

A certain old cat had made his home in the alley behind Gabe's bar for some time, subsisting on scraps and occasional handouts from the bartender. One evening, emboldened by hunger, the feline attempted to follow Gabe through the back door. Regrettably, only the his body had made it through when Gabe slammed the door, severing the cat's tail at its base. This proved too much for the old creature, who looked sadly at Gabe and expired on the spot.
Gabe put the carcass back out in the alley and went back to business. The mandatory closing time arrived and Gabe was in the process of locking up after the last customers had gone. Approaching the back door he was startled to see an apparition of the old cat mournfully holding its severed tail out, silently pleading for Gabe to put the tail back on its corpse so at it could go on to the kitty afterworld complete. Gabe shook his had sadly and said to the ghost: "I can't. You know the law: I can't retail spirits after 2:00 AM."

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