Nicer in Nice

A-Z innit

2012-02-08T14:01:00.001+01:00

I stole this from Sarah who herself stole it from Sara who stole it from K who stole it from one Ms. Jive Turkey.

A. Age: 32 currently but will soon be 33!

B. Bed size: Normal queen size bed because our bedroom is so small. Next we move, then it will be the biggest frickin' bed that France has to offer!

C. Chore that you hate: Changing the litter tray because well it's icky and takes forever

D. Dogs: None of my own sadly. But my husband's parents have 5 so I feel like I at least have a share in a dog through marriage!

E. Essential start to your day: Tea, a bowl of porridge and catching up on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram on my phone

F. Favorite color: Red

G. Gold or silver: Both and sometimes together

H. Height: 5' 6".

I. Instruments that you play: Well I had violin, piano and recorder lessons growing up so I guess if there was some kind of instrument emergency and nobody else was available I could step in and do a decent job of Twinkle Twinkle or Chopsticks!

J. Job title: Purchasing Manager.

K. Kids: None.

L. Live: South of France.

M. Mother's name: Fiona

N. Nicknames: Jo, Fountain, Box of Presence.

O. Overnight hospital stays: None thank goodness

P. Pet peeves: Umm, people who cut me up on the road, badly dubbed American/UK TV series on French TV, people who don't recycle at work even tho' the 2 bins are right next to each other, people who don't let passengers off the train before getting on themselves and the beat goes on....

Q. Quote from a movie: "If you ain't first, you're last".

R: Right or left handed: Right.

S: Siblings: 1 brother and 1 brother-in-law.

T: Travel favorite: "I like to be in America, okay by me in America..." New York and Vegas are personal faves.

U. Underwear: Cute, pretty colours, boy shorts

V. Vegetable(s) you hate: Brussels sprouts and parsnips- puke!

W. What makes you run late: Spending too much time on the internet, getting ready to go out.

X. X-rays you've had: Neck when I had whiplash, teeth for my braces and shoulder when I broke my collar bone.

Y. Yummy food that you make: Taco soup, tuna pasta bake, pork with apple and mustard, carrot cake, muffins....

Z. Zoo animal: Elephants FTW!

One night in Paris

2012-02-07T13:10:00.001+01:00

Last weekend, we left the sunshine of the Cote d'Azur behind and flew up to Paris for a quick overnight trip. For Christmas, I had managed to snag D tickets to see one of his favourite TV shows being filmed and as the taping finished around midnight on Sunday evening, we decided to make a weekend out of it and take Monday off too.
The weather in Nice had taken a turn for the worse when we left and we had a couple of days of rain and cold last week, but I was definitely not prepared for the freezing temperatures we were greeted with in Paris, as we stepped out of the airport at 9.30am it was 0°c and things went downhill from there culminating in a very chilly -5°c. Having been used to a balmy 18°c in January back in Nice, we were absolutely freezing walking around the city, but we manned it out long enough to visit the Eiffel Tower and take some photos of France's Iron Lady before finding the nearest brasserie and ordering copious amounts of chocolat chaud and Nutella crepes to warm up again.

(The red blur in the bottom left hand corner is a bit of my coat I think!)

We also managed to indulge in 2 visits to Starbucks in a period of 24 hours thereby allowing me to get my tea and pumpkin muffin fix which will hopefully keep me going until my next trip back to the UK. Say what you will about Starbucks but when you're in need of a piping hot drink and a quick sugar fix, it is definitely the way forward especially as I am the only tea drinker in a country of coffee lovers so my visits to more traditional French cafés are usually limited to hot chocolate or soft drinks. Plus the branch on the Champs Elysées had a very cool poster in the entrance hall which I am currently trying to work out how to recreate for our flat although perhaps minus the whole Levis website advert. Looks like I need to get on to Pinterest and look for some ideas asap!

Looking back 2011

2012-01-02T12:16:00.002+01:00

Hi there! So yes I'm still alive and well, but I just haven't been around here for a while as you might have noticed..... No big reason, to be honest I have just been enjoying the first few months of newlywed life and catching up with family and friends recently.
But it's a new day and a new year and one of my resolutions is to get the blog up and running again, so I thought I'd start off by looking back at 2011 a little bit.

Looking Back 2011 Version

An end of year round up taken from Slynnro and many many other blogs.

In case you want to compare, here is a link to last years round up and also the 2009 version

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?

I got married! Twice in fact as French law requires a legal marriage at the Town Hall before you can have a church wedding so we did both.
I also (finally!) passed my driving test first time and bought my first car

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Well as they mostly involved spending less money and doing more sport, I would say 50-50 for this year. I did a pretty good job on the sports thing, I've been running and swimming all year and am aiming to keep it up this year too. However on the money side of things, well having a wedding is expensive yo! and even though we did as much as we could ourselves we still ended up spending a lot, so 2012 will be all about saving, saving, saving!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes, one of my Nice friends had a beautiful baby boy, a friend from university also had a gorgeous little boy and there are more babies on the way in the next couple of months!

4. Did anyone close to you die? 

Not this year thank God.

5. What countries did you visit?

Italy for a mini-moon in Rome and England more times than I can count,

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?

Exactly the same as last year as this got pushed back by the wedding extravaganza-I would like to finally rip out the kitchen in our flat and redo it, and then paint the rest of the flat

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

5th September- Our civil wedding in Nice
6th September- Taking my driving test
7th September- Finding out I'd passed my driving test
10th September- Our wedding day!
(Yeah that one week in September was a whole bunch of crazy......)

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?  

I think planning the wedding and managing to get pretty much all of our friends and family together in Nice to celebrate with us is the one I'm proudest of. And then passing my driving test first time was a big one for me personally too

9. What was your biggest failure?

Exactly the same as the last two years: Not finding time to do everything I wanted to. Mainly because I waste too much time on the internet. And not saving as much money as I would have liked

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Ummmm not that I can think of bar a few common colds- thankfully!

11. What was the best thing you bought?

My wedding dress

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

My husband- I definitely couldn't have got through this year without him. My parents for going above and beyond as always and my brother too. My in-laws for helping us out immeasurably during the wedding planning stage.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Nobody I know personally, but globally there were a few

14. Where did most of your money go?

The wedding
Driving Lessons
My car

15. What did you get really excited about?

The wedding! And the whole week of fun that came with it
The babies who arrived during the year
Planning our honeymoon for 2012
Our first Christmas together in England

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?

Right Round by Flo-rida and Don't Stop Me Now by Queen

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: 

(a) happier or sadder? Happier I think
(b) thinner or fatter? A bit thinner than last year thanks to all the running and swimming
(c) richer or poorer? About the same I think

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Travelling, writing letters, reading

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Worrying, procrastinating, and wasting time on the internet

20. How did you spend Christmas?

In England with Didier and my family. It was legend......wait for it...ary!

21. Did you fall in love in 2011?

I renewed my ongoing love affair with my husband....

22. What was your favorite TV program?

Downton Abbey for the win!

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Not really no.

24. What was the best book you read?

I read so many books this year but the ones that stick out are 'Room' by Emma Donoghue and Rob Lowe's "Stories I only tell my friends"

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? 

Otter Petter's album "Nice Night for a Knife Fight"- added bonus the drummer is my girl Leah's beau!

26. What did you want and get?  

A Kindle for Christmas from my parents- so excited to start stocking it up with books!
A driving licence!

27. What did you want and not get? 

The only thing I wanted and didn't get this year is the Shark Steam Mop for the kitchen, but that's only because I haven't got round to ordering it yet so I'm a lucky duck!

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

Ummmmm, pass. I think I only went to the cinema twice this year and one of those times was to see The Hangover 2.......

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I was 32 and had lunch on the Promenade des Anglais with Didier then drinks with friends at the Cafe des Fleurs

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?  

Finishing the apartment. We did make quite a lot of progress, but it's tiny so it really should be done by now!

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011? 

A big white satin dress and red sequinned high heels ;0)

32. What kept you sane?

My friends, my family, my husband and the internet

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Nobody really although Clooney continues to age like a fine wine

34. What political issue stirred you the most? 

The uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East

35. Who did you miss?  

Everyone I don't get to see regularly- my friends and family all over the world although this year was a great year for catching up with the wedding in September

36. Who was the best new person you met? 

Ummmm pass!

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.  

Enjoy the small things

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

"So I've had the time of my life, and I owe it all to you....."

Wedding (Photo) Friday

2011-09-30T13:22:00.000+02:00

I still haven't had time to write up our wedding, heck I haven't even had time to write about my 2 hen nights yet and they happened about 2 months ago now, but things have been so crazy in the lead up/after mouth of the wedding that I just don't seem to have any time to write it all down. I mean seriously, who knew weddings were this much work? (I'm going to hazard a guess and say everybody. Everybody knew except me!).

So to keep you going for a while here are some of my favourite wedding photos from the big day,all photos were taken by one of Didier's uncles and he has perfectly captured how the whole thing went down- Enjoy!

On the church steps

Showing off my shoes!

Posing!

At the reception

Homemade (by my Mum) raspberry and white chocolate cookie favours

At dinner- Top Table

All the kissing!

Cutting the French wedding cake

In mid air (There was so much dancing)

Dancing and singing apparently!

More to come......

With this ring, I thee wed.....

2011-09-20T13:28:00.001+02:00

We did it!
10/09/11

Nice, France

Elsewhere....

2011-08-04T13:23:00.004+02:00

Today I'm interrupting my extremely irregularly scheduled blogging to bring you something a bit different....
I don't know if you've noticed or not, but I recently added a new link to the Cote d'Azur Links on the right hand side of the blog to connect you directly to some new friends at Expat Focus

This came about after I was contacted by a very nice lady over at the at the Expat France website who got in touch to let me know that Nicer in Nice had recently been awarded an Expat Focus Recommended Website Award (my first ever blog award and yes of course I put it up on the blog immediately, I'm all about the trophies!)
She explained that the awards are given to bloggers who discuss ex-pat life and experiences of living abroad, which I suppose I do amongst various other things but weirdly enough I never really considered myself to be an ex-pat blogger until I got her email, despite you know, the whole living-in-another-country thing.

She also let me know that the Expat France website is now linking to Nicer in Nice on their website (Hello any new readers out there) and asked me if I would consider being interviewed for one of their ex-pat profiles. Well, I think you probably know by now that I can never resist an opportunity to talk about myself (see exhibit 1: this blog) so I said yes and got down to the tricky business of being interviewed. (Turns out that talking about myself nonstop is actually much harder than I had ever thought possible)

And as of today my interview has been published so if you fancy checking it out and learning a bit more about me and why I chose to live in France and the ups and downs of living on the French Riviera, well then, please be my guest and click right on over: http://www.expatfocus.com/expatriate-france-experiences-nice-vicki-riley

And if you would prefer to hear about my hen night last weekend which involved glitter, drag queens, cupcakes, champagne and burlesque dancers, well stick around because as soon as I get the pink feathers out of my hair and the photos uploaded I will be telling you all about it!

30 for 30: 15 things about you

2011-07-15T22:52:00.011+02:00

Ok it's time to get cracking on number 10 of the 30 for 30 questions and this one is actually a 15 parter. So without any further ado lets jump right in with 15 facts about me you might not know.

1) I am English but have now lived in France for 12 years, almost as long as I lived in England.

2) I have never drunk a cup of coffee in my life. I hate the smell and the taste of coffee, it's tea for me all the way!

3) I've had about 20 jobs in my life including wine waitress, translator, sewing shop assistant and bar manager.

4) I love beer- lager, bitter, Guinness, you name it, I'll drink it!

5) I've not yet met a cheese I didn't like.

6) As a child one of my first words was "antimacassar". Yeah, I was a geek from an early age.

7) I love animals, especially dogs and cats. When we get a bigger apartment with a garden, we will have a dog and I can't wait!

8) I am not vegetarian but I rarely eat meat. I just don't like the taste of most red meat.

9) I drink a lot of tea. Like a whole lot. Usually about 6 cups a day, and more in the winter. I just can't get enough!

10) I drive a scooter every day. It's fun but cold in winter hence all the warning cups of tea!

11) I hate ice-cream, all ice-cream. Don't bother asking me to try your favourite "because I'll love it" because I promise I already have and I won't. Oddly enough people are always really upset about me not liking ice-cream, as if it was a personal affront rather than personal taste.

12) I love to swim. I'm never happier then when I'm in the water, either sea, pool or bath tub!

13) I read very quickly. So quickly that I was continuously tested at school because the teachers thought I was skimming the books without understanding. I never failed a test though as it's genetic, I got it from my mother who also reads quickly.

14) I cry in films and tv shows all the time. The opening scene of Love Actually gets me every time.

15) I grew up in Shakespeare's own county, beautiful green leafy Warwickshire. And I miss it a lot. Going home to England is like recharging my batteries.

So there you have it, thanks for playing along and if you want to check out some other 30 for 30 posts these lovely bloggers are all taking part as well: Home Sweet Sarah , Sensibly Sassy, Barbetti, Ready for 30, Maura Lessa, My Grand Illusions and Just Expressive

Friday Night Lights

2011-07-15T22:22:00.002+02:00

It's finally Friday evening and after what seems like an interminable work week, it is now offically time for me to relax, kick back and enjoy some couch time. I went for a run as soon as I got in this evening (still working on that pre-wedding weight loss) and now I'm sitting on the sofa with the cat to keep me company, the doors to the balcony are wide open with a breeze coming in, and I've got a Mars Bar and an icy cold beer to look forward to. Now the only difficult decision I have to make is whether to watch a Sex and the City rerun or some episodes of Law and Order SVU ( yeah I love me some SVU)....decisions, decisions. Friday night, it is on, let's do this thing up right. Happy Friday folks!

Happy Bastille Day

2011-07-14T22:33:00.003+02:00

It's the 14th July and as I write this there are fireworks going off outside my windows and people all over France are celebrating the end of the French monarchy and the rise of the sans-culottes. This year I'm not out celebrating on the beach as usual as it's been a busy week and it's a school night tonight. However that hasn't stopped me from watching the pyrotechnical display from my balcony and raising a cold beer to Bastille Day- cheers!

I am from

2011-06-24T14:54:00.005+02:00

I am from blue and yellow roller-skates and Cinderella's Coach Christmas tree lights, from a blue and black bottle of Rive Gauche and a red Citroen BX, from playing Tetris on the Gameboy and swimming in the icy cold Abbey Fields outdoor pool, from watching Rentaghost and playing house in the porch. From Mummy-made-yous and being on the beach in wellies and anoraks, from playing French cricket and eating dippy teas.

I am from the first house without stairs I'd ever seen and the real fire in Nana's cottage, from the summer BBQs in the garden and sometimes in the garage and the trips to the library every Saturday, and the yellow phone with the 'this line is not secure' sticker, and feeding the bullocks with grass over the back fence in the garden.

I am from the gorse bush in the Batch Valley and the poppies we always look for from the car windows, from the sticks of rock we never managed to finish and the trips to National Trust houses for tea on the lawn and the little house with the child-sized chairs and red velvet settee.

I am from the 20p for the first one to see the sea, the leaning forward when the car goes uphill and the leaning back when it goes downhill. From the first present opened on Christmas Eve and the last present under our pillows on Christmas Day.

I am from Rileys and Jacksons, and Goughs and Russells, kind, loving and talkative people with a tendency to exaggerative and who love to tease and laugh, with a history of working in banks and owning pubs

I am from Nana and Grandad, Grammy and Grandpa, GG, Timmy, Honey and Kojack.

From the because I said so, and the you'll go deaf if you leave the house with wet hair, and breakfast is the most important meal of the day and the always go to the loo before you leave the house and you say that now, there's no proof and love you lots.

I am from the waxed wooden pews of St Nicholas church and from the hidden choir stalls, from the red choir robes and Friday night rehearsals with old smelling hymn books. I am from horse riding every Saturday, ballet with Miss Sharon, karate with Chris and maypole dancing at Kenilworth Castle.

I'm from Thorns First School and St Joseph's Convent School. I am from Warwickshire, from Shakespeare's birthplace, from Queen Elizabeth I's gold chalice and from holidays in the hills of Shropshire. I am from the cassette tapes of musicals played on car journeys and being first to check the post after going away on holiday.

I'm from homemade pizzas and stuffed marrows, from trips to Mcdonalds and pints of Guinness, from Tetley tea and chocolate cake, from coffee cakes and marble cakes, from cake with white icing and cherries and scones with raspberry jam.

I am from the time Paddington got lost on the beach and was returned on the last day of our holiday and from Chris throwing himself into the brook with the stone in his hand. From being chased across the paddock by the bulls and opening up the doughnuts to put extra jam inside. I am from the snake in the greenhouse and the 6 foot drop, from the wrapped up labrador statue on Christmas day and from my mother's university degree graduation ceremony.

I am from being in hospital for Christmas and birthdays and the summer holidays and having to be careful with hugs because you might knock the tubes and long corridors with squeaky floors leading to Whittaker Ward. I am from 'Cup of tea?' and Mercedes our favourite nurse and being picked up by Nana and Grammy and not being able to eat my sausage and mash and tomatoes for tears one lunchtime.

I am from the Fred Bassett photo albums and the yellowing pages cut out of the Kenilworth Weekly News. I am from the cine-films in the garage and the framed school pictures on the walls. I am from videos of school concerts and plays, from all of this and much much more.

This post was inspired by the great Ali Martell's 'I am From' and if you want to make your own, there is a great template here. I absolutely love this idea and had so much fun remembering all those little things from my childhood that made me who I am today.

Going to the chapel

2011-06-02T18:39:00.000+02:00

Last Friday, we went to England for a few days for the first wedding in my family since the bride's own parents got married way back when. My cousin married her Italian sweetheart in London in front of her friends and family, and Didier and I were there to share in their joy, dance til the wee small hours and lets be honest, to take notes for our own upcoming wedding. Oh yes that's right, you might have forgotten since I haven't mentioned it for a while, but come September, it will be my turn to walk down the aisle in front of my own friends and family and boy do we have a lot left to do before then!

When we initially got engaged in New York last October we ummed and ah-ed about when to get married. We both wanted to get married this year as lets face it, we've been together forever anyway so it was about time to make things legal and get those rings on our fingers. Naively I assumed a wedding was something that could be planned pretty quickly and with a minimum of fuss, but as it turns out, and as I'm sure every bride who's gone before me knows, it is actually one of the most complicated and stressful things I've ever done in my life and lets not forget I live in France, the country that invented red tape!

We've now settled for a date in September on the basis that it will hopefully still be sunny in Nice by then but not so hot the English side melt away, and perhaps it will be a little cheaper than a traditional high summer wedding, because boy is wedding planning expensive! As soon as you utter the 'W' word (or the 'M' word in Nice) you open yourself up to a whole world of expense, the likes of which you've previously reserved in your mind for buying a yacht or spending a summer in St Tropez with P Diddy and Joan Collins. Wedding dresses go for up to 10 000 Euros a pop and once you've got the dress you mustn't forget the veil, the shoes, the bag and all the other stuff that no bride can live without. (Please be assured that I will not be spending 10 000 Euros, or indeed any amount of Euros in the thousands on my dress, because quite simply I need that money for my future yacht)

We've decided to do as much of the organizing and planning as we can ourselves and we have had lots of offers of help from kind friends and family so hopefully it will be a team effort to get us ready for the big day. The church is booked and we've managed to find ourselves a place to hold the reception, but that's about it for the minute, so it looks like I'll be spending the next 3 months planning, reserving and wishin' and hopin'! Keep your fingers crossed for me, because the way things are going I'll be walking down the aisle in shorts and flip flops and the guests will be feasting on pizza and beer afterwards, although now I come to think of it, that does sound like a pretty awesome bash.......

You on fire.. Thats how ya know you're on a roll

2011-05-25T14:12:00.000+02:00

Yesterday started off as a pretty normal day. I got up, went to work, and met friends for lunch at 13h. I was back in the office by 14h, and had just started to attack the pile of work left on my desk, when I heard a bang. A proper, loud, could-be-a-bomb-type bang. I jumped up from my desk and ran to the window in my office which overlooks the port of Monaco which is currently overrun with barriers, tyres and viewing stands ready for Sunday's Grand Prix.

I stood at the window and watched in horror as a truck parked in the middle of a traffic roundabout caught fire in the middle of a heavy traffic/pedestrian area of the port. I yelled for my office mate to come and look and together we watched in silence as the truck burned, the fuel tank caught and petrol on the road started to flame.

Then there were 4 more loud bangs which we realized were the 4 tyres on the truck exploding with the heat. It was a scary experience, made even more so by the way the petrol leaking from the truck's tank was heading towards a restaurant just behind the roundabout. The air all around the truck was choked with thick, black smoke and people were desperately trying to pull u-turns to go back up the road by my office and avoid driving into the middle of the fire.

After what felt like an eternity but was actually only about 10 minutes the Fire Brigade arrived and swung into action with hoses and foam and within minutes they put the fire out, leaving only the smoldering carcass of the truck in the middle of the street. Because of the heat, the metal truck bed had sunk into the freshly laid Grand Prix perfect tarmac so for the next couple of hours, they battled to free the truck and clear the area.

And then, within minutes of the truck being winched away to wherever it is dead trucks go to, a road team came in, dug up the fire-scarred road surface and starting laying down fresh smooth black tarmac. By 18h that same evening when I drove past the area, unless you had stood in your office window with your heart pounding, watching that truck explode, you wouldn't have known anything had ever happened. Unless of course, during all the excitement you had managed to whip out your phone and fire off a couple of photos for your blog......

I found out afterwards that nobody was hurt during the fire, the driver managed to escape as the truck blew and it was apparently started by an electrical generator being used in the back of the truck. Just another normal day in the office then!

Weekend photo call courtesy of Instagram

2011-05-24T14:02:00.001+02:00

So the weekend just gone looked a little something like this.....

On Friday night, I made some Niçois farcis or stuffed vegetables for dinner and we ate them while watching a Will Ferrell film. "When in Rome......"

On Saturday morning I got my hair done by the wonderful Yann at my favourite salon. Those curls held up to being shoved in and out of a scooter helmet and a hot shower and lasted well until Sunday evening's run. Yann for the win!

(Not pictured, the lovely birthday party we went to which started with champagne and ended with both cake and more champagne. My very favourite kind of evening.)

On Sunday I fled the apartment, stopping only to grab a book and an old bedspread, and I hightailed it to the local park while Didier settled in to watch the Spanish Grand Prix at home.

This was the view from under my tree in the park. I doubt there was as much sunlight to be found watching the Grand Prix, therefore I definitely made the right decision.

On Sunday evening we went for a run along the Promenade des Anglais, which you can see illuminated above in this fuzzy Instagram shot. It was hot and busy out there and I wasn't really feeling the burn, but it was nice to be outside by the beach so it's all good.

And then we came home and I picked my first ever homegrown raspberries from the plant we bought last year. They were delicious and I am now trying to work out how I can fill the balcony with raspberry bushes and eat them all year round.

So that was my weekend, how was yours?

30 for 30: Something that makes you sad

2011-05-10T13:15:00.000+02:00

How is it possible that I'm only up to 9 out of a total 30 posts for this 30 for 30 melarky? I feel like I've been blogging these topics forever, but apparently not as I'm not even a third of the way through yet, so I guess I will just soldier on with today's hot topic: Something that makes you sad.

Well there are lots of things that make me sad in the world on a daily basis, the idea of babies dying of hunger, or children being abused, or animals being mistreated all make me very sad indeed as they do most rational people I imagine. But I'm guessing this one is supposed to be a bit more specific to me personally so if we bring it down to me being sad on a personal level, I think the one thing that is pretty much guaranteed to always get me down is living so far away from my family and friends from home and not being able to see them whenever I want.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of advantages to living in the South of France, and I am totally aware of how lucky I am to be living in one of the world's top tourist destinations with all the opportunities and advantages it affords me. But sometimes, I just want to see my Mum or hang out with my best friend from school and instead of just jumping in the car or on a train, I have to book time off work, find reasonably priced flights and plan my visits out in advance to fit in with everyone's time table. And it makes me sad that I can't just pick up the phone and ask my Dad if he wants to have lunch with me today, or arrange to have a drink with my brother this evening because I feel like it. It's not a huge world issue, but it's a big issue in my little world and something I just have to accept and get on with until I can persuade my entire immediate family and circle of friends from the UK to sell their houses and move to Nice forever.....

So there you have it, thanks for playing along and if you want to check out some other 30 for 30 posts these lovely bloggers are all taking part as well: Home Sweet Sarah , Sensibly Sassy, Barbetti, Ready for 30, Maura Lessa, My Grand Illusions and Just Expressive

"I serve at the pleasure of the President"

2011-05-09T14:36:00.002+02:00

Something I don't seem to have talked about much recently here, is my love for television. Or more specifically, certain television programmes. I've always been a fan of American TV series, both comedy and drama and as living in France often means missing out on the latest shows or having to play catch up with older seasons, I tend to collect the series I really love on dvd. Over the years I have lost my heart to the trials and tribulations of the hard-working doctors in 'ER', everybody's favourite New York based 'Friends' and crime busting duo Stabler-Benson from 'Law & Order-SVU'. But as far as American television goes, no scratch that, as far as television goes full stop, I cannot think of any series that was better written, better acted and better loved, at least by me, than 'The West Wing'.

I was introduced to 'The West Wing' by a friend who had received a couple of seasons on dvd for Christmas. She lent me season 1 to watch one day while I was waiting for the next season of ER to arrive from Amazon and from the moment the music swelled, the opening credits rolled and I saw that 2 of my all time favourite actors, Allison Janney and Rob Lowe starred in the show, I was hooked. I watched the whole of series 1 in a weekend and when I got to the nail-biting finale episode around 22.30 on Sunday evening, I couldn't stop myself, I had to find out what happened and ended up ringing the same friend and demanding that she let me come over and borrow the 2nd season right! now! (To her credit she did, and the feeling of relief I felt when I finally had it in my hot little hands was akin to getting my A-level results or my university degree and that is not a word of a lie.)

I borrowed season after season from my friend and watched it in chunks of 2,3 or sometimes 4 episodes in a row, cheering on Zoey and Charlie's romance, swooning over Sam Seaborne, laughing as CJ sang "The Jackal" and weeping when Leo's own season finale came far too soon. Eventually I came to the end of the 7th and last season and sat silently in my living room as the credits rolled for the last time on the Bartlett administration. When I realized there would never be any more new episodes for me to watch, I felt like I'd lost someone close to me, but happily through the magic of modern technology and for the modest sum of 45€- (possibly the best money I've ever spent) I bought myself the complete box set of the show and settled down to re watching my favourite episodes.

And since the series ended of course the actors have moved on to other projects and by some good luck and being at the right place at the right time, I've had the opportunity to meet a couple of them and tell them how much I loved the show. I was lucky enough to meet Allison Janney very briefly in New York after she performed in 9-5 the musical and I'm happy to say she was just as funny and charismatic in real life as she was as CJ Cregg in the show. And then on Saturday evening, this happened:

I met Richard Schiff, aka Toby Ziegler the White House Communications Director aka the man who didn't know that babies came with hats.

He has been starring in a play at the Menier Chocolate Factory for the last few weeks in London and along with my equally obsessed West Wing friend Julie, I went to see both the play and the man this weekend. The theatre itself is absolutely tiny and we had great seats, practically on the stage itself so we were up close and personal as he played the role of Bebe the legendary Broadway composer in the Jack Rosenthal play 'Smash' And after the show finished and practically everyone had left the theatre we hung out in the tiny bar for a bit. As we stood chatting, Richard Schiff walked in with a beer in one hand, a cigarette in the other and made our whole evening with his charm and willingness to sign our programmes and pose for a photo with each of us. He was as expected, very witty and far smilier in real life than the rather morose Mr Ziegler ever was on-screen and it took everything in me to remember to call him Richard and not Toby, but I managed it. Consider my day absolutely made.

The ants are marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah!

2011-05-04T14:00:00.000+02:00

Except in this case there is definitely no hurrah, as since last Wednesday the ants have been marching not only two by two, but also into my apartment via the balcony. It started innocently enough, I got up last Wednesday morning, went into the kitchen to make my breakfast and out of the corner of my eye, noticed a little black dot crawling on the white floor. Now as our apartment is surrounded by gardens and trees, creepy crawlies are not that unusual inside, especially as I like to leave the windows open while I'm at work, so I thought nothing of it, squished it with some kitchen roll and carried on drinking my tea. But then as I wandered over to sit on the sofa and check Twitter, I suddenly realized that there wasn't just one little ant roaming around the kitchen, but dozens of them roaming around the living room, hallway and balcony too.

I had a 25 second freak out whilst standing still in the middle of the room, and then put down my tea, picked up a broom and started to kick some serious ant ass. 45 minutes later, all visible ants were dead and gone having been sucked into the hoover, but as you may know from past experience, those little suckers are nothing if not wily and I knew it wouldn't be long before they came back in droves. So off to the supermarket I went, to get ant sprays, gels and anything else that looked like it would keep them out of my living room. Of course, because of having a cat I couldn't get the really effective, toxic stuff with the little ant skulls and crossbones on the bottle, but I did manage to find some 100% natural sprays, which would just leave the cat feeling a little bit queasy if he managed to get into it, rather than say killing him instantly, as some of the more powerful sprays threatened.

Once I got home again, I killed off any strays who had come back to hang out whilst I was gone, then started a regime of cleaning, spraying and more spraying both inside and out. I also googled 'ant invasion' (I'm sure there is some 70s schlocky horror film by the same name, I remember watching it on late night TV once) and added lemon slices and Cinnamon powder to my arsenal, as the internet swears that ants hate both things with a passion.

Since then, I've been renewing my lemon slices around the strategic areas, brushing Cinnamon powder into the cracks in the walls and spraying the hell out of anything that moves on the balcony. I also spent Sunday afternoon in shorts, wellies and rubber gloves, cleaning all the random crap out from under the wooden balcony slats in the hope of finding and destroying the ant nest. It was about 30°c this weekend and by the time I finished I was sweaty, messy and dirty but I think I got rid of all the accumulated earth, leaves and general mulch so hopefully the ants will consider moving house and taking up residence in someone else's apartment soon. I don't know about you, but I very much preferred these particular formicidae when they were voiced by Woody Allen and looking for love rather than running around inside my apartment.

Fingers crossed they'll get the hint soon and hit the road, because I don't know if my lemon tree can provide enough lemons to keep chasing them out all summer long!

30 for 30: Last item you purchased

2011-04-19T13:40:00.000+02:00

Next up in the series of 30 questions is today's goodie: Last item you purchased.

This one definitely appeals to my inner shopaholic but disappointingly as I didn't go anywhere today, the last thing I actually purchased was some grocery shopping at the supermarket last night. And it wasn't even one of those supermarket trips where you get sucked into trying some new fancy shampoo or buying a dvd because it's on special offer and so have some fun things tucked into your basket when you arrive at the checkout, it was just a straight up veggies, hummus, bread and kitchen roll shop.

But if we bend the rules slightly, the last fun thing I purchased was from my lovely friends over at Groupon. I took advantage of their 70% off promo offer and bought a photo book for which I have a wedding related plan.... And as I got it for a mere 9€ instead of 35€, it was definitely a sweet deal, there is literally nothing I like more than a bargain

So there you have it, thanks for playing along and if you want to check out some other 30 for 30 posts these lovely bloggers are all taking part as well: Home Sweet Sarah , Sensibly Sassy, Barbetti, Ready for 30, Maura Lessa, My Grand Illusions and Just Expressive

"The more I see of man, the more I like dogs"

2011-04-15T13:30:00.001+02:00

Hey, remember that time when I had to pull over because there was a dog running all over the road on my drive to work? Well whaddyaknow, it happened again!

I was driving home from work on my scooter this week and as I arrived in Villefranche, the next town along from Nice, I suddenly had to do an emergency stop because there was a little dog running back and forwards on the road in front of me.
At first I thought it was with some people who were a little bit higher up the road and they were waiting for him, but once he'd jumped back onto the pavement, and I drove off I started to have a bad feeling about the whole thing. I drove on through the town for about 1Km, but the idea that he might have been lost/abandoned had taken hold of me and no puppies are getting run over on my watch if I can help it, so I did a U- turn at the nearest traffic lights and went back to check.

Sure enough, when I went back he was still in the middle of the road with cars all round him, swerving to avoid hitting the poor little pup, but there was nowhere for me to pull over safely and park so I did another about turn, managed to park the scooter on the opposite pavement and went to grab the dog from the middle of all the cars.
As I got close enough to catch him, he ran towards a gate set in the wall on the other side of the road and started barking his little puppy head off, so I rang the doorbell but there was no reply. From the way he was barking I was pretty sure that it must be the right door so I left my finger on the bell for a good couple of minutes and eventually a man opened the gate and the dog ran inside like a bat out of hell.

I checked with the guy that it was in fact his dog (it was) and he thanked me profusely for bringing him back, but as I turned to go he said to me "You know he likes to run off, he's pretty used to the road" which just about left me speechless.
From first hand experience, I can tell you this dog was not used to the road, because I wasn't the only one who'd had to do an emergency stop to avoid hitting him, and as the gate and house itself were set right on the main road, there is no way in hell a dog, any dog, loose on the road could be anything but dangerous. As the joke goes, properly trained, a man can be dog's best friend, and I just hope this particular dog's best friend wises up and keeps him inside the garden in the future, because frankly I don't think I can take any more canine near misses on my commute to and from work!

Skies on fire

2011-04-06T14:10:00.001+02:00

Hey you look in the sky, skies on fire

Look in the sky, flames burn higher,

Skies on fire,

Flames get higher,
Skies on fire,
I know you and you know me,
Tell me what is it you want to be,
Flames burn higher,

Skies on fire

AC/DC- Black Ice

Taken from our balcony on Saturday evening. Alternative title: Damn, I love Nice!

Cheat

2011-03-22T20:42:00.001+01:00

It has been brought to my attention by a blog reader who shall remain nameless, that the photo I posted of myself with no make-up last week, was cheating. Now I fully admit that it was slightly retouched using the magic of the Instagram iPhone app, but the only thing I altered was the photo filter, not me or my unmade-up face! However in the interests of full disclosure, I thought it was for the best to put up another photo, this one was taken in New York last year after a day spent walking round Central Park in -3°C, so any make-up I started off with had long since worn off!

Once again, feel free to enjoy my pasty white English skin in all its glory, my natural colouring is white, which changes to red in the sunshine and then off-white afterwards and I don't think there's a brand of make-up that's been invented to deal with that, so for now I will carry on with the au natural look!

NB That giant strawberry margarita was the most delicious drink in the whole of New York City, and I would sell my cat right now for another one. (Not really Max, but don't tempt me!)

30 for 30 The talent you wish you had/ A photo of you without makeup

2011-03-16T13:12:00.000+01:00

Alright, to get back on track with the 30 for 30 posts which I have abandoned somewhat recently, I thought I'd get a couple out of the way at the same time again (30 posts on random topics is a lot more work than I'd originally anticipated!)

To start the ball rolling- The talent you wish you had

Well this one was very easy for me. The one talent I wish I had, and have always wished I had, is to be able to dance. Without a shadow of a doubt, I am the world's worst dancer. I have absolutely no rhythm and even less coordination which means I always end up dancing like somebody's drunk dad at a wedding, even though in my head I'm Sarah Johnson from 'Save the Last Dance' (surely everybody's favourite dance film reference?) headscarf and all.

I took ballet classes for about 5 years when I was younger, and have the clearest memory of being on-stage aged about 7 years old as a cygnet in Swan Lake, and not knowing what the hell I was doing, or which way I was supposed to go. So yeah, this white girl can't dance but she sure would love to be able to!
(And in a related aside, my dancing "skills" are so bad, we're considering doing the Pulp Fiction dance-off jive for the first dance at our wedding in September, just because it involves standing still and doing some cool moves like the snorkel, and the back stroke rather than any actual choreography!)

And secondly- A photo of you without make-up

I guess this one is supposed to strike fear into the hearts of bloggers everywhere, but to be honest, you'd probably be hard pressed to tell the difference between a photo of me with or without make up. I don't really wear that much make up, I guess I'm too lazy to spend hours putting it on and then reapplying it throughout the day. At most I will wear some bare mineral foundation, mascara and a lip slick, so I'm not really on the shortlist to be Sephora's best customer.
Here is an old photo I found on my computer, with my pale English skin and lack of lipstick/eye make up in all it's unmade up glory

I'm ready for my closeup Mr Demille

2011-03-09T14:29:00.001+01:00

What I've been doing recently, a round up in the form of blurry iphone photos:

Enjoying the last of the snow up in the mountains

Skiing in over-sized sunglasses

Celebrating my birthday in the sunshine with a delicious crepe

And then having drinks with friends and being spoiled with lots of lovely presents

Finding new uses for birthday presents at home

Trying out wedding caterers for September

Finding time for tea and a book

Being given flowers for International Women's Day

Trying out Metalia's super easy updo

Making pancakes for the first time ever

Pancake tossing on Shrove Tuesday

(Yes I pretty much only wear Old Navy pyjama pants when I'm at home)

So that's me, what have you been up to?

Something for the weekend

2011-02-22T14:01:00.002+01:00

This weekend, I went back to England for a few days. It was ostensibly to celebrate my brother's 30th birthday (which is in fact today, happy birthday buddy!) although I also managed to squeeze in a lovely afternoon with my best friend from school and her adorable brand new baby, a quick glass of wine in Soho with 2 lovely ex-Nice chums and visits to all the bridal shops in our area to try on dresses with my mother in attendance. It was hectic, but I had a fantastic time and catching up with so many people in such a short space of time is always fun.

On Friday, my Dad and I decided to take a break from the wedding dress shopping and head over to the enormous Ikea superstore which is about 15 minutes drive away from the house. Now I know that there are 2 kinds of people in the world, those who love Ikea and those who hate it, and I don't know about you, but I am most definitely a lover. The amazing array of products, the incredible choice of colours/fabrics/styles, the cheap prices and the Swedish meatballs are all reasons why I would happily live inside one of the stores if the nice Swedish owners would just let me.

However, there is one problem with Ikea. I don't know why it happens but happen it does, every single time I go there with Didier, we end up having a fight. And not just a discreet little fight, oh no, I once wept, full-on messy, noisy weeping in the middle of the warehouse bit, after an extremely frustrating 3 hours going round and round the sofa section. And the reason I wept? Because Didier was sucking all the fun out of the Ikea visit for me, waaaaaaaaaaah. Holly over at Nothing But Bonfires has a whole post dedicated to Ikea fights between couples here and judging by the comments on it, we are definitely not alone.

But, the wonderful thing about going to Ikea with your parents, is that suddenly the pressure/stress that causes these Ikea fights with your significant other is completely removed. Instead of fighting over whether you pick the brown or cream Poang for your living room, and why you need to buy 25€ worth of Glimma candles every. single. visit. you are free to skip around the shop, playing with the miniature kitchens, testing out all the sofas and pretending you live in one of the mini apartments they have set up. I had so much fun there with my Dad that we ended up calling my Mother who was at home and made her drive over to meet us in the cafeteria for lunch and more furniture shop high jinks. And when "somebody" suggested I entered the children's department via the children's size 'Smaland' door, well who was I to argue?

After a quick pit stop for the obligatory plate of meatballs and lingenberry sauce, we were off back into the warehouse to try on lampshades as hats, stretch out on the furry sheepskin rugs and run around with plastic wastepaper bins over our heads pretending to be robots (ok well maybe that last one was just me...) It was fun, no one cried and nobody fought. And we bought a whole bunch of cute stuff for not very much money. So the moral of the story is, from now on whenever we need some Swedish furniture, I'm going to pay for my parents to fly over to Nice and pick it up with me, leaving Didier safely at home. It may be a slightly expensive solution, but it will be oh so worth it for the peace of mind and never again being stared at by 6 Ikea assistants dressed in yellow and blue baseball caps, as I wipe away my tears with a handy Fredlig

Cheers!

30 for 30: The meaning behind your blog name

2011-02-16T12:42:00.001+01:00

The meaning behind your blog name.
Well to be perfectly honest, there isn't really a meaning as such to 'Nicer in Nice'. It is actually a line from a song also entitled 'Nicer in Nice' from the musical 'The Boy Friend' written by Sandy Wilson in 1954.
When I was 17 my school put on a performance of the musical, and I played the role of Hortense the French maid at Mme Dubbonet's School for Young Ladies in the South of France who sings about how life is 'So much nicer in Nice'.
Here is a video of the song for you, please note it is not a video of my performance and is actually sung by the supremely talented Swedish musical star Jasna Ivir. Also, I went to an all girls convent school, so there was a definite shortage of men in bathing suits in our production as you can probably imagine.

When I finally got round to starting my own blog back in 2008, I was casting about for a name and after my initial effort 'Home thoughts from a broad' which lasted about 2 months and mostly entailed me ranting about tourists on the train to work, I decided to delete the whole blog, start over fresh and Nicer in Nice was born. As I may have mentioned once or twice, I love musicals, I love Nice and as all I basically write about are one or the other, it seemed like the way to go.

So there you have it, thanks for playing along and if you want to check out some other 30 for 30 posts these lovely bloggers are all taking part as well: Home Sweet Sarah , Sensibly Sassy, Barbetti, Ready for 30, Maura Lessa, My Grand Illusions and Just Expressive

My funny Valentine

2011-02-15T13:03:00.002+01:00

I'm not a great fan of Valentine's day. I think I've probably said this before here on the blog, but I just can't get behind a holiday invented to sell greetings cards and chocolates to the masses. I don't really like the 'organized fun' element to the whole thing and I find it all a bit much.

I don't think I've/we've ever been to a restaurant for a special Valentine's day meal (except for an emergency post hang-over Mcdonalds meal a couple of years back when Didier sweetly bent an extra long French fry into a heart shape for me) and I don't think there's anything particularly romantic about buying flowers for your loved one because society decrees you should. I would much rather get a bunch of daisies on a random Wednesday in May just because, than an over-priced bouquet of roses he probably bought at the last minute anyway as my fiancé is not known for remembering key events (cf: our anniversary)

Yesterday was no real exception to the low-key Valentine's day rule, but I did both give and receive a card, and I was also given a lovely bottle of pink champagne (ah yes, the key to this girls heart is most definitely alcohol) And I also cutsied up our Monday night Thai curry by using my new heart shape cake molds for the accompanying rice which got a thumbs up from my Valentine as seen below. And then card exchange and meal over, we settled back onto the sofa in our pyjamas to snuggle with the cats and to watch the latest episode of Top Chef. And that my friends, is just about all the love I'll ever need right there.

Spring has, well you know the rest

2011-02-09T14:26:00.002+01:00

One of the ways I can always tell that the promise of Spring on the Riviera is not too far away is this. The "this" in question is the mimosa tree in my downstairs neighbours garden, and as soon as grey December has come and gone, and the winter sunshine is back for good, it blooms and blooms until about now, when it is bursting with flowers and smells absolutely delicious. The weather has been very good around these parts recently (if you're reading this from under a blanket of snow still, I apologize) and this weekend it was hot and sunny in Nice. It was so hot and sunny in fact that I ended up walking around town in a t-shirt on the first weekend of February, and some ~~foolhardy~~ braver friends went to the beach just down the road in Villefranche to play in the sand in bathing costumes and flip flops.

Of course we're not yet officially into Spring, the ski season is still going strong here in the South and colder temperatures have been forecast for the weekend ahead, but it's always nice to get a brief taster of what is to come in the next few weeks. I'm already itching to start spring cleaning the flat and to organize, tidy and throw things away (3 of my greatest passions) and just this weekend we gave the walls a fresh coat of paint to make things gleam. I've been thinking about our upcoming wedding too which is now just 7 short months away (typing that out almost gave me a panic attack at my desk) and planning out little details in my head, all of which (hopefully!) take place bathed in glorious Niçois sunshine. And then coming up next week, is one of the biggest events of the year in Nice, the 2011 Carnival and as of the 18th February, for 2 weeks the streets of Nice will be filled with floats, masqueraders, fireworks and the infamous flower battles when tens of thousands of flowers are thrown off the floats into the audience along the Promenade des Anglais. Spring if not yet officially sprung, is just around the corner......

30 for 30: Something you refuse to do & Last book you read

2011-01-31T14:18:00.000+01:00

So we're back to the 30 for 30 posts again, and as it's been a little while since I did any, I thought I'd go crazy and get 2 out of the way in one post. After all, I am nothing if not a multi-tasker. So without further ado lets get cracking with n°3:

Something you refuse to do:

Well, I had to think long and hard about this one. Generally speaking I'm quite a laid back person and most of the time I'm willing to give anything a try as long as it's not illegal, life threatening or just plain stupid, after all I'm not in my 20s anymore so lets face it those days are long gone. But after a bit of soul searching, the 2 things I came up with are:
1) Bungee Jumping
2) Drink coffee

Bungee jumping is pretty self explanatory I think. I don't mind heights and have been para-sailing a couple of times, but there's just something about the idea of being tied to a piece of elastic and then forced to jump off a bridge or a cliff or whatever, that freaks. me. out. I think it stems back to when I was younger and I used to work at a big Agricultural Show every summer. One of the attractions at the show was a bungee jump which was set up right opposite the pavilion where I worked, so for 5 days I used to watch people being taken up a crane, tied to the bungee cord, step out onto a platform and then step off into thin air, screaming all the way down. One day a girl of about 17 went up to the top, got into the harness and then changed her mind at the last minute. She started screaming and shaking and people all over the show-ground stopped to watch. The bungee guy at the top of the crane managed to calm her down, and told her to stand on the platform while he opened the gates. (Presumably the idea being that if she could manage that, she could manage the jump) Once he opened the gates, she started to freak out again, and was screaming at the top of her voice, until eventually he just leaned over and pushed her off the platform. I'm not kidding, I heard about 150 people gasp out loud when he did it and since that day, enforced or not, bungee jumping is just something I refuse to do. (Also, have you ever seen one of those bungee jumping videos they take of you on the way down? Ridiculous slack mouthed screaming and eyes full of terror? Which I have to pay for? Umm, yeah no thanks!)

Coffee. No big mystery here, I have never watched anybody force somebody else to drink coffee whilst screaming and shaking (well maybe at university a couple of times during Operation: Quick, sober up, your parents are here! but that's beside the point) Nope, I just plain don't like coffee in any shape or form so therefore I refuse to drink it. Easy as.

And moving swiftly on to n°4:

The last book you read:

The last book I read was a library book I started on the train ride to work this morning: 'The Risk of Darkness' by Susan Hill. It's a murder mystery/detective novel which is part of the Simon Serrailler series and it's pretty good so far. In fact I'm enjoying it so much I may forgive Miss Hill for her dreadful novel 'I'm the King of the Castle' which I was forced to read aged 15 as part of my GCSE coursework and which despite being called "a brilliant tour de force" by The Guardian , absolutely traumatized me with its description of one child bullying another much weaker child with dead birds and other terrors. I just looked it up on Google to describe it to you here, and just seeing the characters names written down reminded me of how much I hated that book and Hooper the bully.

So there we go, thanks for playing along and if you want to check out some other 30 for 30 posts these lovely bloggers are all taking part as well: Home Sweet Sarah , Sensibly Sassy, Barbetti, Ready for 30, Maura Lessa, My Grand Illusions and Just Expressive

Dawning of the age of Aquarius/ Let the sunshine in

2011-01-18T14:14:00.002+01:00

For the last couple of weeks the weather has been pretty lousy down here in the South of France. Not New York-style lousy with ice storms and 6 feet of snow, but very unseasonal for this part of the world. We've had whole weeks of rain, grey skies, fog and cold, weather which I can get pretty much everyday in England if I so desire, but is not something I'm looking for this close to the Mediterranean. The local news is predicting that more cold is on the way and we might even get some snow on the Riviera this weekend, but for a few hours last Saturday, the sky brightened, the sun came out and I remembered why it is I live here again. And then I ran out onto the balcony to take a photo for you. Here you go, now you can't say I never give you anything, can you Internet?

30 for 30: The best part of your day

2011-01-17T12:55:00.000+01:00

The best part of my day is something I thought about quite a lot before answering. Generally speaking I'm a night owl rather than a morning person, I love to stay up late watching tv, hate getting up early and would happily lie in bed until 11am every day if I didn't have to go to work and you know, pay for stuff. However, I do enjoy the 30 minutes when I finally drag myself out of bed, make my breakfast and sit down to eat it, while checking Twitter, Facebook and my emails before work (yeah, I know, I'm a social media junkie don't judge, I just can't give it up).

But my truly favourite part of the day is dusk, when the sky is rose pink just before the sun goes down, it's almost time to leave work and head for home and there is the promise of Happy Hour drinks ahead before dinner and a couple of hours spent relaxing before bed. I leave the office before Didier does in the evening, and once I actually get home I have an hour or so to get things done: gym, shopping, laundry whatever, so we can hang out with each other once he finishes work. But just before real life and the washing machine kick in, there's always the end of the afternoon and the beginning of the evening to enjoy.
That part of the day right there makes getting up and spending 8 hours in front of a computer screen all worthwhile.

30 for 30: My Work Space

2011-01-14T14:34:00.005+01:00

My work space. Well for the last 8 years, I shared a large open-plan office with about 8 of my colleagues. We briefly put screens up to create little cubicles for ourselves but that only lasted a couple of months so it's been open-plan all the way for me since then.

However in a work shuffle about 3 months ago, I moved into a much smaller 2 person office. It's been strange going from working in a large group and conditioning myself to ignore all the noise, chatter and occasional ball game to working one on one with somebody new but I'm slowly getting used to it.

The advantages are the beautiful view out of the new office onto the port below, and that my colleague works different hours to me so I am on my own for a couple of hours a day.

I'm not going to lie to you though, every morning when I arrive at work, I still turn right to go down the steps to my old desk, rather than straight ahead to my new one. I guess I'll get there in the end.

View from the new office

30 for 30

2011-01-14T14:21:00.002+01:00

2011- It's a new year and there are new resolutions to be made, so inspired by Sarah over at Sensibly Sassy I thought I would carry out a little blog experiment to get the creativity flowing.
I'm going to base the next 30 posts on her list of 30 topics to write about in 30 days. Ideally this would be one post a day over a whole month but as I've missed the first couple of weeks of January already, I think we'll just go with 30 in 30.
Here's the full list of topics to come over the next 30 days:

Your work space.
The best part of your day.
Something you refuse to do.
Last book you read.
Meaning behind your blog name.
Talent you wish you had.
A photo of you without makeup.
Last item you purchased.
Something that makes you sad.
15 Facts about you.
Your favorite thing right now.
Best Christmas present you ever got.
Your favorite teacher.
Something you’re thankful for.
A photo from your childhood.
Something you crave.
Your worst hair moment (if you skip this one, it’s totally cool).
Favorite smells.
Last time you cried.
Last time you had to apologize to someone.
Something that scares you.
Something that really bugs you.
What you dislike most about your appearance.
Celebrity crush.
A trait you deplore in others.
A photo taken 10 years ago.
First book/movie/song that moved you.
What turns you off?
The story behind one of your scars.
This one was left blank so I guess I'm on my own here....

It feels good to have a project to start the new blog year off with and I'm really looking forward to checking off all 30 posts next month, so I'd better get to work and get the first one done....

Never too young

2011-01-05T13:56:00.000+01:00

Well it's official. 2011 is the year of me getting older. In a couple of months it will be my birthday again and I will hit 32 which is when it all starts going downhill, as I've been reliably informed by the Internet, most women's magazines and a couple of slightly older friends.
But if you think I'm going to take this lying down, then I'm afraid you're very much mistaken, so without further ado may I present to you, Exhibit A, purchased at Sephora during my lunch-break:

In case you can't read it due to the shine coming off the box, it says 'first wrinkles recovery night care'

I know, really I know. But look! It was in the sale, and I saved myself a whole 14€ whilst also repairing the damage age has inflicted on my face, so surely that counts for something?

I hereby declare 2011 to be the year of looking younger, feeling healthier and eating better. So far I have the wrinkle cream, a sadly under-used gym membership and a menu planner for my kitchen as the weapons in my arsenal, so now it looks like I just need some motivation, and the idea of wearing a big white dress in front of everybody I know in about 9 months time will do nicely. New Years resolutions ahoy, meet me back here in 12 months to see how it all goes......

Looking Back 2010 Version

2010-12-30T13:12:00.003+01:00

An end of year round up taken from http://www.slynnro.blogspot.com/ and many many other blogs.
In case you want to compare, here is a link to last years round up

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?
I got engaged!

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Well as they mostly involved spending less money and doing more sport, I would say 50-50 for this year. I started off very strongly but tailed off towards the end of the year. I will try again for 2011 though!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, one of my Nice friends had a beautiful baby boy as did my friend from University. 2 friends from work had babies and my best friend from school had a beautiful baby girl on Boxing day!

4. Did anyone close to you die? 
Not this year thank God.

5. What countries did you visit?
Austria, Italy, America twice and England more times than I can count,

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
I would like to finally rip out the kitchen in our flat and redo it, and then paint the rest of the flat

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
12th October when we got engaged at the top of the Empire State Building

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?  
Workwise I was promoted again and now have more responsibility and a different job title

9. What was your biggest failure?
Exactly the same as last year: Not finding time to do everything I wanted to. Mainly because I waste too much time on the internet. And not saving as much money as I would have liked

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
A minor accident on the scooter which resulted in whiplash, and a ride on an inflatable sofa towed by a speed boat which also resulted in whiplash!

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Well, not a thing as such, but the hotels while we were in America, especially the Luxor in Vegas

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My boyfriends. He has the patience of a small saint. My parents for going above and beyond as always and my brother too.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Nobody I know personally, but globally there were a few

14. Where did most of your money go?
Exactly the same as last year: Shopping, plane tickets and food

15. What did you get really excited about?
The weeks skiing we had with my best friend from school and her husband plus mutual friends.All the weddings I went to
The babies who arrived during the year
Our holiday in America
Getting engaged

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?
For me it's Dynamite by Taio Cruz, I heard it everywhere!

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: 
(a) happier or sadder? Happier I think
(b) thinner or fatter? A wee bit fatter again, oops!
(c) richer or poorer? A smidgeon richer but not much.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Travelling, spending time with my family and friends, writing letters

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Worrying, procrastinating, and wasting time on the internet

20. How did you spend Christmas?
With my family in the UK, it was our first white Christmas in forever!

21. Did you fall in love in 2010?
Not unless you count my deep and on-going love affair with Las Vegas

22. What was your favorite TV program?
I can't deny it, my Guidos and Guidettes from the Jersey Shore

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Not really no.

24. What was the best book you read?
I really enjoyed "The Help" which was recommended by everybody on the internet and Kristin Chenoweth's autobiography "A little bit Wicked"

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? 
I didn't really discover any new music, but I did like a lot of the folk recommendations from Luke at
Shut the Folk Up

26. What did you want and get?  
New ski boots which I got for Christmas, hooray! The new Jamie Olivier book which, ditto!

27. What did you want and not get? 
I don't think there's anything I really wanted which I didn't get, either from other people or bought by myself, so I'm a lucky duck.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Date Night with Tina Fey and Steve Carell. It made me laugh out loud on the plane to New York

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 31 and I had lunch with my parents and Didier, then afternoon tea with my friends before going home for presents.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?  
Finishing the apartment. We did make quite a lot of progress, but it's tiny so it really should be done by now!

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010? 
Lots of dresses, boots and leggings again, same as last year

32. What kept you sane?
My friends, my family, my boyfriend and the internet
  
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Nobody really, although I am pleased to hear Ryan Reynolds is back on the market (although I'm not of course)

34. What political issue stirred you the most? 
The student protests in the UK over the rise in education fees

35. Who did you miss?  
Everyone I don't get to see regularly,my friends and family all over the world

36. Who was the best new person you met? 
I finally got to meet up with Julie my internet friend and we had a couple of hilarious weekends in London which were a lot of fun despite Stephanie J Block ditching us! Hopefully next year I will get to meet Tina too and complete the matching set! :0)
Also my Canadian friends who came to live in Nice for 6 months before heading to Paris. We had some fun times.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.  
Life really is too short, so just do whatever makes you happy

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test and don't ask why
It's not a question but a lesson learned in time
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life

"I have always relied on the kindness of strangers"

2010-12-29T12:50:00.001+01:00

Despite all the problems and the warnings not to try and attempt to fly to the UK last week because of the snow, I'm very happy to report that I made it to England for Christmas and back to France for work yesterday morning.
I was scheduled to fly out of Nice on Thursday at about lunchtime but when I logged onto the BA website early on Thursday morning, I saw my plane had already been delayed by 3 hours. I kept checking it until eventually it was announced with a 4 hour delay, but hey at least it wasn't cancelled, right? I headed to the airport as planned, made my way through security and found a nice comfortable seat in the departure lounge which looked a little something like this:

I entertained myself for a couple of hours with Angry Birds and Twitter, but as I sat there, they pushed back the flight by another hour which meant we weren't leaving until 5.45. It was at this point, I noticed there was another BA flight to London scheduled to leave at 4.30 which looked to be on time, so I decided to go over to the gate and ask the BA people if there was any chance I could swap flights and leave on that plane instead. I went over and explained my predicament and how long I'd been waiting, and the lady went off to check with her supervisor whilst I held my breath. After a few minutes, she came back and said that as it was Christmas and she wanted me to get home, I could swap flights and leave on the on-time flight to Heathrow which was leaving 2 hours earlier than my by now ridiculously late flight to London City. I couldn't thank her enough as she handed over my new boarding pass, and as I boarded the plane about 30 minutes later, I could hardly contain my excitement.

The flight arrived on time and I left Heathrow on the almost completely empty Heathrow Express train into central London. It was bitterly cold, about -1°c when I arrived which was a complete shock to the system after leaving a balmy 15°c behind in Nice, but I was well wrapped up and ready to fight my way through the Christmas crowds on the tube. As it turned out, I didn't have to fight my way through anything as the tubes were almost deserted, and within 15 minutes I was at Euston ready to get on a train home.However as I walked up the escalator into the main concourse at Euston, I realized something was very wrong. The concourse area was absolutely jam packed full of people and all the boards were showing delays, no trains were coming in or out at all. I decided to get a cup of tea to warm me up, and as I did a second Christmas miracle happened. The coffee shop was right next to platform 3, and as I handed over my money, there was an announcement saying the first train to Birmingham would be leaving from Platform 3 in 10 minutes. This was my train, so I grabbed all my bags, jammed a lid on my tea and ran down the stairs to the platform to get on the train.
Because I had a little bit of a head start on everybody else, I managed to jump on-board and even find a seat, but I hadn't noticed I was in First Class, and I only had an Second Class ticket. I perched on the arm of the seat along with another girl who also had a Second Class ticket and we waited as people filled up the corridor outside the carriage. About 5 minutes later, a Virgin Rail lady came round and we started getting their tickets out thinking she wanted to check them, but instead she asked why nobody was sitting down in the seats. We explained we didn't have First Class tickets and she immediately told us not to be so silly, to sit down and then went to get all the people standing in the corridors, shouting "It's Christmas, everybody come in and sit down". After hearing horror stories from the British press about travel disasters and delays for the last week or so, I don't think anybody could believe it at first, but she absolutely made the journey home for everybody who had the good fortune to be in her carriage.

An hour later, and about 4 hours later than originally planned, I arrived in Warwickshire and my Dad met me at the station to whisk me home to the beautifully decorated house, and tea and Christmas cake with the whole family. It had been a very long day over all with about 8 hours of travelling but I was finally home.
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your friends and families, your days were merry and bright and your Christmas was white.

Driving home for Christmas

2010-12-21T13:47:00.001+01:00

Well, at the rate things are going, I might as well drive home for Christmas in England from the South of France because flying over will probably take me just as long. You may have heard about the ridiculous amounts of snow falling in the UK at the moment, and the problems with all the major airports and flights both in and out of the UK being cancelled willy-nilly. I am supposed to fly into London on Thursday but at the moment things are not looking good. Fresh snowfalls mean planes are grounded, runways are covered and flights and passengers are backed up all over the place which means the chances of me getting on board a flight that actually takes off are slim to, well lets just say my mother will be crying if I'm not there on the 25th.

The irony is, over here on the Riviera we haven't seen so much as a flake of snow this year and although it's raining today, yesterday it was blue skies and sunshine as far as the eye could see. As much as I love the Cote d'Azur, I desperately want to get home to my family for this, my favourite time of the year and all the little traditions that make Christmas special. My mother has already iced the 3 different Christmas cakes my brother and I require (one "traditional" fruit-cake for him, one chocolate Yule log for me, and one sponge cake decorated with snowmen for us both) the mince pies are ready and waiting and the stockings are carefully folded in tissue paper awaiting the 24th and the arrival of Father Christmas.

As for me, my presents are already wrapped and my suitcase will be full by this time tomorrow, so all that's left to do is to hope and wish for a little Christmas miracle to get me home in time to celebrate. Please keep your fingers crossed for me and I hope that wherever you are, you manage to celebrate with the ones you love.

Small Pleasures

2010-12-15T14:06:00.000+01:00

Sometimes it's all about the little things. Like a Christmas polar bear ice cube in your glass of rosé at the end of the day.

Cheers!

The magic numbers

2010-12-13T14:55:00.001+01:00

I don't know about you, but it seems to me that in the 3 weeks before Christmas, life somehow seems to speed up and events seem to multiply and rather than having all the time in the world to prepare for the holidays, I end up in a race against time to get everything done.
The last couple of weeks have been a little bit crazy and we've been running around all over the place, but in the midst of all the Christmas shopping, organization of travel plans and other stuff, we've also caught up friends, had a lot of fun and drunk copious amounts of red wine so all in all things have been pretty good.

Here's a quick round up of recent activities in number form to keep it short and sweet.

50- the number of Christmas cards currently winging their way across the Atlantic courtesy of my friends over at Shutterfly for me to send out this week

30- the number of Euros we won at our latest attempt at the pub quiz last week. This time we played with Didier's brother and cousin and between us managed a very respectable 3rd place and a 30€ bar tab to spend this week-score!

2- the number of my favourite people who flew over to Nice from London to celebrate our engagement with us last weekend

10- the number of bottles of red wine we managed to polish off between the 4 of us in 24 hours

1- the number of Aquariums we visited while they were staying. We spent a rainy cold Sunday in Monaco's fish museum and let me tell you they had me at the words 'Baby clown fish'

3- the number of Christmas films I watched last week. So far, I've managed to cross "Elf", "Nativity" and "4 Christmases" off my festive viewing list, this week it's time for "Love Actually"

5- the number of times I have cried whilst watching this T-Mobile Welcome Back advert

I can't help it, there's just something about the little girl with braces at the end of the video, plus I'm flying home for Christmas via Heathrow this year and I'm secretly hoping all the actors will be waiting for me

2- the number of Christmas parties I have coming up this week. Bring on your mulled wine and your festive cheer I say, I am ready to party!

25+- the number of times I have had to remove the cats from the fairy lights, tinsel or Christmas tree itself since I put it up in the living room

2- the number of massages we had last week. We had a couple of those Wonderbox kits to use up before Christmas, so last week D and I made the most of the bank holiday and booked ourselves in for a massage. Mine was so relaxing I ended up falling asleep on the table and I have already put in a request to Father Christmas for another one soon

1-the number of articles I have written and had published for a local lifestyle magazine FR2Day this month. If you want to check out my festive guide to going out in Nice at Christmas just click on through right here

0- the number of snowflakes I have seen so far this winter. But according to the forecast it's going to snow in Nice later this week, so I've got my fingers crossed for some white stuff this weekend

2- the number of Random Acts of Kindness I've carried out so far this month as part of the Bye Bye Pie blog scheme. Blog author June, has paired up all her readers who wanted to join in the fun and we have until the end of the month to carry out as many RAoK as possible and then report back to our partners. My partner and I are doing pretty well so far, but there is definitely more good cheer to be spread about this Christmas

Don't forget, the best way to spread Christmas Cheer, is singing loud for all to hear!

With flowers in my hair

2010-12-01T14:01:00.002+01:00

After waving goodbye to Las Vegas and the 35°c heat we had been enjoying, it was time to go onward and upward to San Francisco care of our friends at Virgin America. We landed amongst the rolling fog of the Bay Area, picked up our rental car (which should have been a Ford Focus but they upgraded us to a convertible Mustang and who are we to refuse that?) and headed into town to explore the City.
If you take a look at my links section on the right hand side of the blog, a large proportion of the blogs I read regularly are written by people who live in and around the San Francisco area, and although I'd never been to the city before, as we were driving around I felt like I knew exactly where I was, thanks to spotting familiar sounding places and road names.

The first evening we spent enjoying the free wine tasting in our hotel lobby, before braving the cold and wandering around Union Square, doing a little shopping and eating some delicious sushi. The next day, our first full day in San Francisco we had lots to do so we were up and at 'em early ready for a long day of walking up and down the many hills. Before we left France, I had sent one of my favourite San Francisco bloggers a quick email asking if by any chance she was going to be around the week we were in town. I figured it was a bit of a long shot as Kristin is a travel writer and spends most of her time on the road when she's not writing her blog but the stars aligned in our favour and we managed to meet up with both her and the latest addition to her family, Miss Ella who is even more adorable in real life than she appears in the photos.

All layered-up for brunch with the Luna ladies

Those cupcakes were sensational, one red velvet, the other mint chocolate chip. Thanks Kristin!

After a lovely brunch in the sunshine with Kristin and Ella ,and a visit to San Francisco's best cupcake shop for dessert, we walked down to Fisherman's Wharf, checked out the now famous and more than a little bit smelly sea-lions, got our tickets for Alcatraz and had the first of many meals at In and Out Burger, as recommended by everybody in the entire world who has ever been to California. Then we hopped on a cable car from the terminal in Ghiardelli Square all the way up to the terminal on Powell Street onwards to dinner, drinks and bed!

Our second day started with a drive through the patchouli scented streets of Haight and Ashbury to the Golden Gate Park and then down to the sea front for some beachside photo opportunities with the Golden Gate Bridge.

The weather very kindly obliged us by clearing away the early morning fog so that by lunchtime we were driving along the Great Highway with the top down on the Mustang in glorious sunshine ready for our short trip out to Alcatraz Island. Now for no good reason I have been fascinated by Alcatraz for as long as I can remember, so actually going to visit 'The Rock' had me as excited as a kid on her first trip to Disneyland and by the time the boat docked and we were let off to explore the prison and the surroundings, I was almost beside myself.

You can't see very well, but I was really really excited here!

We took an audio tour around the prison narrated by former prisoners, and spent so long there we almost missed the last boat back to San Francisco and had to be hurried out of the shop by the worried officials. It was one of the best things we did all holiday and I can highly recommend it if you are in the area as we learnt so much about the island, the fortress that preceded the prison, the prison itself and the almost mythical status it has taken on in popular culture. Oh and of course, we recreated key scenes from my all-time favourite Alcatraz-based film, The Rock with Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery. Would you have expected anything less from me?

Poor quality Photoshop: Windows Paint. Excellent posing skills: my own

Our two days in North California went by in a flash and we didn't have enough time to do even a third of all the things I'd planned, but as the man says, I left my heart in San Francisco and we will definitely be back again soon, this time with flowers in our hair!

Teaser

2010-11-30T14:22:00.001+01:00

I know, I know, I still haven't finished banging on about my holidays. And I still have hundreds of photos to upload and sort out before I can do that. After New York and Las Vegas came San Francisco and Los Angeles complete with brunch with one of my favourite bloggers, a long-awaited trip to Alcatraz, 2 celebrity sightings plus 1 celebrity stalking and dolphins. Watch this space....

Holiday (cards) are coming, holiday (cards) are coming....

2010-11-26T14:21:00.000+01:00

I think it will come as no surprise to you if you've ever read my blog that I love photos. My photos and indeed my camera are certainly not the best and I could probably win a "fuzziest photo" competition with some of my recent masterpieces, but no matter, I love to take photos. Within the course of a year, like most people these days I probably take several hundred shots, and every now and again I motivate myself to organize them, print off my favourites and make cards and books out of the very best ones.

With Christmas just around the corner, the lovely people over at Shutterfly have come up with an even better use of all those hilarious, silly and sentimental photos we've all been taking in 2010 and have come up with an amazing array of Christmas and holiday cards. They have everything from traditional Christmas designs all jazzed up with your best photos, to fun holiday cards for everyone whether they celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or just really really like photo cards.

I've been playing around with a few designs for myself and here are a couple I came up with really quickly using the super easy Shutterfly uploading process, I think the last one is my favourite so far, but there's still 4 weeks to go until Christmas, so I might change my mind again:

And as if the cute cards weren't enough, Shutterfly is also offering some pretty sweet calendars which I've ordered a couple of times as Christmas presents in the past and which have always been a huge success. There's just something about 12 photos of children, grandchildren, and in our case Didier's car which make people treasure a personalized calendar gift and uploading them and buying them is all done on-line, not in the middle of the crazed Christmas shopping hordes so it's a win-win situation all round!

In the interests of full disclosure and because at Christmas you tell the truth, as a thank you for promoting them Shutterfly are giving me 50 Christmas cards of my very own and the best bit is, if you have a blog they'll send them to you too, check out the promo here

Time to put Elf on tv, make some hot chocolate and get creative on the Shutterfly website my friends!

Scenes de Menage

2010-11-25T12:51:00.001+01:00

This is an actual recreation of a real life event that happened recently in our apartment.

It was about 19.30 on a Tuesday evening and I was sitting at home, sipping a cup of tea and watching ~~a very important and educational documentary~~, Eastenders, when my phone rang. It was Didier calling to say he was leaving work now and planned on stopping at the supermarket on the way home, did we need anything in particular?
I jumped up and did a quick tour of the cupboards and fridge while I was on the phone with him, asking
"Could you please buy some bread, some milk and some vegetables?" He replied "What kind of veggies" and I answered, "Anything you like except carrots.". He then queried: "No carrots? What's wrong with carrots? Why don't you want any carrots? I love carrots and all carrot related products". To which I calmly replied "Yes darling, I know you do and I love carrots too, after all who doesn't love a vegetable that helps you see in the dark, but as it happens I bought a 2kg bag of carrots just yesterday, so I have all our carrot needs covered for the next few days". We hung up and I went back to my favourite position on the sofa with giant mug of tea, TV remote control and cat on my lap.

About an hour later, our intrepid supermarket warrior arrives home and hands over the shopping bags for me to put away. As I open the second bag I casually ask him where the veggies are. "Right here" he replied and handed over another bag, which I open and find empty save for an enormous (and I think we can all see where this is going...) 5kg bag of carrots. My jaw dropped and I had a little nuclear meltdown in the middle of the kitchen screaming "Is this supposed to be funny? Where are the vegetables?" until I realized he was looking at me in genuine confusion and not his usual "gotcha" face. It turns out that he had selectively listened to our phone conversation and despite my explication as to why we didn't need any, the only key words he had retained were "need" and "carrots" and so this is what he had bought and very proud of his giant sack of carrots he was too. Words fail me, but I can only be grateful that he is not alone in this, as when I recounted the story to a friend recently she said her husband had done exactly the same thing with toilet rolls, which although ultimately useful, are not the easiest things to store in a small apartment.

And that as they say in Hollywood, is a wrap, except for the part where I've made 2 carrot cakes, grated carrot salad, carrot and chicken pot pie and a carrot and pumpkin soup so far already this week and if I can't see in the dark very soon, somebody round here is going to be in very big trouble!

Viva Las Vegas

2010-11-24T14:36:00.001+01:00

What with getting engaged in New York and all, I'd kind of already forgotten about the rest of the holiday we had planned- 2 weeks in California and Las Vegas, but as we boarded our Virgin flight from JFK to McCarran Airport, Nevada I began to get excited. Not only were we on what looked suspiciously like the party flight (there were girls in feather boas and guys all blinged out with giant medallions everywhere) I also had an uninterrupted 6 hour stretch to catch up on The Real Housewives of Atlanta, DC, LA and who knows where else when I realized the tv was free to watch on our Virgin America flight. As the captain switched off the seatbelt sign, I slipped my earphones on and settled back to lose myself in Bravo's finest programming. 6 hours later, we arrived in Sin City and prepared to party, until within 5 minutes of leaving the airport I was hit by the worst migraine I've had for some time and ended up spending the first afternoon and evening in bed in the Luxor Hotel, damp flannel on my eyes, paracetamol on the bedside table and pillow over my head. Never let it be said I don't know how to party with the best of them!

Luckily after about 15 hours of sleep I was feeling much better and was ready to hit the strip, win some money, lay out by the pool and drink some giant Margaritas for the rest of our time in Vegas, and that is pretty much exactly what we did give or take a few hours off for shopping. We'd planned 4 days in Vegas in our road-trip itinerary and while I know Las Vegas is the Marmite of towns, you either love it or you hate it, Didier and I definitely fall into the love category and as always when the time came to leave, we wished we could have stayed for longer. But for 4 blissful, uninterrupted days, our timetables looked a little bit like this:

Drinking. This was actually an empty prop glass from the restaurant, but don't worry I made good on my promise to drink as many free margaritas and Coronas as I could all over Vegas. (I say free, but as we tipped our waitress and fed dollars into slot machines every time we fancied a drink, I think Vegas won overall)

Desperately seeking Elvis wherever we went. Warning: this is not Elvis, this appears to be an impersonator who started his career in working mens clubs. Also this photo was taken in the Hooters Casino which can be summed up more than adequately by the word 'blerg'. I am all for some half-naked ladies in Vegas and I applaud the gals efforts to squeeze into those tiny orange shorts, but every single thing in that casino was sticky, smoky, smelly and a dubious shade of beige including most, if not all the customers. Needless to say we didn't stay for a drink.

Lazing by the hotel pool, reading trashy magazines and sipping icy-cold drinks

It was always empty in the mornings as everyone else slept off their Vegas hangovers so we made the most of it before heading off to check out the casinos.

Making new friends around town. This was taken in Fremont Street, which is promoted as 'The Real Las Vegas' as if the rest of the strip was somehow unreal.

Meeting up with some old and beloved friends. The stormtrooper guy was so into his job, and Didier clearly is a little less enthusiastic despite his undying love for all that is Star-wars

Enjoying the crazy hotel themes, this is Venice complete with real gondoliers. We didn't partake but we did visit the lions in MGMS complete with 5 day old lion cubs, and the pirates over in Treasure Island.

Making yet more new friends, and can I just say, these are the ladies and gentlemen of the Treasure Island Pirate show and how creepy is that guy in the red gimp mask on the right? Since when did pirates wear feathered gimp masks I'd like to know Las Vegas?

Winning on the slot machines. In reality only Didier won for the entire 4 days. On this machine he played a $1 and won $7 back which is a pretty nice return. Oh actually wait, I did win on the very last day, on the machines in the airport departure lounge. And Didier had to physically pull me off the winning machine and put me on the plane to San Francisco- fun times!

Marveling that the good people of Las Vegas hadn't built themselves an even bigger and better Eiffel tower than the original. And then noticing you could order a Margarita in an Eiffel Tower shaped glass FTW!

We had ourselves a very good time indeed and I would tell you more, only of course as you know, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. However I will tell you this, ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has most definitely left the building.

Putting a ring on it

2010-11-16T14:06:00.000+01:00

So, where were we? Oh that's right, I was on holiday and got engaged while I was away, came back and announced it on the blog, then went awol again. I guess it's probably about time I tell you the whole story....

We had just arrived in New York last month on our way to 2 weeks holiday in California, but we had a couple of days to spend in my favourite city in the world first. I've been lucky enough to go to New York several times, but Didier had only been once and hadn't really seen any of the tourist hot-spots so we planned to cram in as much as we could into our 2 day stay. On the plane over, between glasses of champagne, surprisingly edible food and cheesy rom-coms, we'd worked out a plan of action to see and do as much as humanly possible and top of our list were the Statue of Liberty, Times Square-Broadway and the Empire State Building. We arrived on a Monday afternoon and spent that evening exploring Little Italy and Chinatown and drinking a couple of pints of my new favourite Brooklyn beer, before jet lag made us her bitch and we fell into bed at the hotel to pass out within seconds.

The next day was our only full day/night in town, so it was time to put our sightseeing plan into action. We started off in Soho, spending the morning walking around and checking out some of the shops before we hopped onto the subway and rode uptown to Penn Station. After we fought our way through the crowds at Penn, we checked the times for the last trip to the top at the Empire State Building as we especially wanted to go up at night to see the city spread out before us as sparkly and pretty as the jewelery spread out in the Tiffany's window on 5th Avenue. Then we walked all the way up 5th Avenue to the Rockefeller Centre and onto Central Park, looped through the lower end of the park into Columbus Circle before walking all the way back down Broadway to end up in the heart of New York, Times Square. We sat down on Jay-Z's steps and I sung Empire State of Mind to Didier until he finally threatened to jump on the next plane home, so I stopped and we walked around taking photos and people watching in what always feels to me, like the busiest place in the world.

After a great dinner and some even better cocktails, we made our way slowly back to the Empire State Building and made our way up the escalators to the ticket booth. We bought our tickets and wound through the almost empty corridors to the security check. Now this is the point where if I had a suspicious mind, I would have been put on my guard because as we took off coats and scarves to go through the x-ray machine, Didier started complaining about how annoying it was to go through security again. But as it was, I was one strawberry margarita up, and couldn't understand why he was annoyed. I just assumed he wanted to get to the top as quickly as possible and ignored him, whereas in actuality he was worried about the ring he had hidden in his jacket setting off the metal detector. Luckily he made it through without being put in an extremely awkward position: ("and what is this ring in your pocket Sir?") and we hopped into the first of 2 lifts that take you up to the viewing deck. Once we arrived at the top, we immediately went outside into the cold night air to check out the view. It had been a lovely day, but 86 floors up at night, it was almost breathtakingly cold and we huddled into our coats as we made our way round, stopping to take photos of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Chrysler Building with all the other tourists.

We took our time, wandering around and marveling at how beautiful Manhattan looks at night until finally it became a little bit too cold, and I started to walk towards the door that takes you back inside. And just then, Didier grabbed my arm and pulled me into the corner overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge, and I still thought nothing of it, until he said he wanted to ask me something. And as one half of my brain was thinking, "I bet he wants to know if we can get a taxi back to the hotel instead of walking", the other half registered the look on his face and watched him ask me if I wanted to marry him as if I was in dream. I almost couldn't believe it and I think the first thing I said was "really?" but luckily for him the second thing I said was "yes" and all of a sudden he pulled out the ring he had bought and chosen in France and brought all the way across the Atlantic with him for just this moment. And it was beautiful, and it (almost) fit, and it was New York and it was him and it was a complete surprise and so I cried. We stayed outside on the top of the Empire State Building, talking and laughing until we remembered to ask someone to take a photo of us for posterity and more importantly for our parents and even though I was having the worst hair day ever in the history of my hair, I absolutely love this photo because we were for just those few minutes, the happiest people in New York City.

In Memory

2010-11-11T14:32:00.004+01:00

Today is Remembrance Day.

Today I remember my Grandfathers who both fought in the Second World War, one in the skies and the other at sea.

Today I remember my Great Grandfather who was gassed in the First World War, but came home to start a family.

Today I remember my Great Aunt Eve's fiancé killed in the First World War, she lived to be in her 80s but never married.

Today I remember all of the men and women who sacrificed themselves to give generations to come the freedom to live in peace.

Today I remember them.

From For The Fallen by Laurence Binyon

..They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;

They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,

Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

Remember, remember....

2010-11-06T23:13:00.001+01:00

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I see no reason why the gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot

Yesterday was the 5th November, a date which if you are reading this anywhere other than the UK may have been just another Friday, but which English people have celebrated for the past 415 years as 'Guy Fawkes Night' or more usually 'Bonfire Night'.
Historically, the celebrations mark the anniversary of the failed Gunpowder Plot of 5 November 1605, a sort of English thanksgiving to mark the fact that King James I was not blown up by Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators. As Halloween was not really a big deal in the UK when I was growing up, the 5th November was always something to look forward to, and we nearly always celebrated the evening with friends and family.

Some years we would have a bonfire in our garden, put jacket potatoes in the embers to cook for dinner and drink mulled wine and cider before my Dad and assorted uncles and friends lit the firework display which usually included at least one sky rocket jammed inside an empty milkbottle (We would also have to sedate the dog every year as the noise of the fireworks made him crazy, but happily once he was all doped up, you could have staged a Civil War reenactment in front of him and gotten no reaction whatsoever) Other years we would head down to Kenilworth Castle, also home to the infamous Boxing Day duck race, wrapped up in layers of gloves, scarves and hats without forgetting the all important welly boots and push our way through the crowds to stand close to the gigantic bonfire in the grounds and to ooh and aah over the professional firework display.

Now traditionally my family and I do not fare well with fireworks. I once managed to set myself on fire whilst waving a sparkler in the grounds of the castle, and ended up with a nasty singe and a hole in my stripy woollen mittens. (I also showed a worryingly nonchalant attitude to being set on fire, rather than try and put myself out, I waved my mitten around and shouted 'Ooh, ooh', thereby feeding the flames and forcing my Dad to run over and extinguish my burning self with his flame proof leather gloves)
In a similar vein, my Mother was once chased around our garden by an errant Catherine Wheel which managed to roll off the nail it had been hung on and follow her up and down the lawn whilst emitting some quite impressive sparks. Once again my Dad came to the rescue, probably whilst wearing those same leather gloves and Mum was saved from the same fate as poor St Catherine

For the past few years I have been in France for the 5th November where of course there are no festivities whatsoever as their firework based celebrations tend to be in honour of killing off their Royal Family rather than saving it, but I love to check the English papers to see which celebrity has the dubious honour of being burnt in effigy at the various official bonfires around the UK. This years winner was shamed football player Wayne Rooney, but past incarnations have included Russell Brand, Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Osama Bin Laden and 'glamour' model Katie Price.

So tonight, although I am far from all the celebrations, I ate some bangers and mash for dinner, drank a pint of cider (no mulled wine available sadly) and wrapped up warm in my scarf and gloves on my way out the door to see if I could find a pack of sparklers anywhere in the South of France.
Happy Bonfire Night to you all, stand well back and remember to never go back to a lit firework.

Checking in

2010-11-03T14:07:00.000+01:00

Hey there!
I was away for a while, did you miss me? Or much like my cat as I left the apartment at some insane time 3 weeks ago to head to the airport in the early morning rain, did you simply not even notice I was gone?
(To be fair, he was in very good hands as he had my parents looking after him for 2 weeks straight and was thoroughly spoiled with tuna, cuddles and toy fish playtime. Come to think of it, perhaps I should have left them in charge of the blog too?)

We were on holiday for the first time in ages and we spent 15 days in America, enjoying the love of 3 out of the 51 states and eating the heck out of In and Out Burger all over California. It was a great trip for several reasons and I have so many things to post about, we should still be talking about it come Christmas time, but as I haven't posted anything in so long, here is a list of holiday highlights to whet your appetite and (hopefully!) keep you coming back for the stories behind them.

1) We got engaged! I am now the future Mrs somebody which is just plain madness.
2) We saw 3 dolphins in the Pacific, swimming just off the coast of Santa Barbara!
3) We went to Alcatraz aka The Rock aka the setting for the best Nicholas Cage/Sean Connery film of all time
4) I got to meet up with the lovely Kristin from Camels and Chocolate for brunch in San Francisco
5) We won in Vegas on the slots

So much to say but so little time to write at the moment as I try and catch up with all the things that have been left undone for the last 3 weeks. Meet you back here as soon as I get them all done to talk holidays, engagements and dolphin sightings galore!

The one in which we didn't suck

2010-10-04T12:39:00.000+02:00

Last week Didier and I, prompted by some friends who had never played before, renewed our ongoing love-affair with our local pub quiz. For a while there we were going every week and more often than not coming away with a prize which may explain our eagerness to return. This particular pub quiz gives away vouchers to be used in the bar as prizes, so if we can have a fun night out with some friends, some beers, some food and a nice voucher to cover the tab at the end of the night, you can bet your bottom dollar we're interested.

Last weeks quiz started off in an especially awesome fashion, as the first round involved 10 photos of different sharks and asked us to name as many as we could. I'm not sure the judges allowed our freestyle interpretations of the "official" shark names, especially our offering of 'ninja shark' for one of the creepy dead-eyed giant fish, but we did manage to get something down on paper for all of the 10 sharks.

The subsequent rounds included general knowledge (heavily skewed towards sciencey-stuff to my non-sciency eyes) current events (of which I was the champion thanks to all my *ahem* research on the internet at lunchtimes and yes reading Perez Hilton totally counts!), music of which I knew 1/10 songs and only that because it was Mr Jones by Counting Crows, thank you early 90s teen angst, and film which we were really really good at. I mean really good, we got 10/10 including the obligatory obscure black and white 1930s film. Go team!

And somehow at the end of the quiz, after the judges tallied up the scores, we managed to find ourselves in the top 3 teams, tied for 2nd/3rd place with a group of French boys. We sent our team captain off to defend our honour in the all important tie-break situation, and after a bare-knuckle fight to the death, we ended up with a very respectable 3rd place and 30 Euros richer to spend in the bar.

After some high-fives all round, we celebrated our victory with the food of champions, nachos, skins and beer and debated entering the quiz again next week. Then we high-fived ourselves again for coming up with the best shark name ever. If the ninja shark hasn't made an appearance on Wikipedia by the end of this week, you can colour me disappointed.

Bear with me...

2010-09-21T14:01:00.001+02:00

This weekend on my way home from an epic weekend in London wherein I saw 3 different groups of friends, ate homemade macaroni and cheese, curry, Burger King and steak pie with mash, played with 3 adorable cats, speed shopped my way around Woking and attended the beautiful wedding of 2 of my favourite people in the entire world, I had a 4 hour wait at Heathrow's Terminal 5.

For the first couple of hours I spent my time slumped in a chair, chugging water from a litre bottle and desperately fighting a dirty post-wedding hangover. I would blame the red wine at 2am, but I'm not entirely convinced that the impromptu sing-a-long of show-tunes around the piano at 3 am in the lobby of the hotel didn't have something to do with it.

However, after a pack of cheddar slices, a packet of Hula Hoops, a Jaffa Cake muffin, some pineapple chunks, Heat magazine and painkillers from one of the 85 Boots shops in T5, I started to feel more human again and decided to leave the safety of my chair and explore the terminal. (Interesting aside, although pineapple chunks come with pineapple juice ie a liquid, there is no restriction on bringing them through airport security, as long as you don't mind them going through the x-ray machine. I didn't, obvs as I was in no fit state to mind about anything much as I went through and happily they didn't taste any different afterwards.)

Well, all I can say is that BA and Heathrow airport must assume that all BA travelers leaving from T5 are simultaneously extremely wealthy and hungry for haute cuisine as I've never seen so many fancy designer shops and fancy designer restaurants in my life! There are a couple of concessions to the masses with a branch of WH Smiths and the afore-mentioned 85 Boots shops, but aside from these middle class stalwarts, it's designer as far as the eye can see. I wandered in and out of Harrods, Paul Smith, Gucci, Dior, Tiffany and Co, Chanel etc. lamenting my hungover state and my obvious lack of wealth. And then I wandered up and down past Gordon Ramsey's latest plane-side restaurant, a plethora of sushi bars, Prêt à Mangers, and several other gastro-pubs where people were quaffing wine and showing off their new designer carrier bags. It was a good thing the hangover was almost gone because the closest thing I could find to greasy comfort food was a designer burger from Mr Ramsey and I think we all know that a couple of saffron sticks and some organic chard on free-range Kobe slices of beef, do not a hangover cure make.

But then, in the middle of the terminal's duty free shop, something brightly coloured caught my eye and I scooted inside to see if the pile of soft furry red and blue items could possibly be what I thought it was.
And I was right. There in the middle of the shop on a 3 tiered shelf were more Paddington Bears than I've ever seen in my life. Now, Paddington and I have a long history together going back approximately 31 years and some small change, and one of my most treasured possessions is my original, fur-rubbed-off-with-love à la Velveteen Rabbit, Paddington Bear. I now have a smaller, newer version I keep with me in France but the original resides in splendor in my childhood bedroom, and the first thing I do when I go home to visit my parents is check to make sure he's still there and still as cuddly as ever. So the welcome sight of a tower of soft furry Paddingtons in the middle of T5, waiting for their own small owners to claim them and love them for the next 31 years was enough to chase away the last remnants of the hangover and put a smile on my face for the rest of the day.

(The fact that my flight left ahead of schedule and I was given one of those fancy extra leg-room seats sure didn't hurt either, but mainly it was all about the bear.)

Home alone

2010-09-10T23:14:00.002+02:00

Right now I'm home alone. Didier is off visiting his parents and I am in complete control of the remote for the evening.
And how you may ask did I decide to spend this rare Friday night on my own? Did I dress up in my best clothes, pop on my highest heels and go out for a night on the town with m'ladies? Or perhaps did I call the girls over and host a fabulous dinner party complete with Mexican food and Corona? Go to see the latest arthouse French film at the pretentious cinema that doesn't sell popcorn by my house?

So no, none of the above. I came home, put on my sweat pants, ate some hummus standing up at the kitchen counter, raided the cupboards for left over chocolate and then hopped into bed with Season 2 of Sex and the City. My 21 year self despises me right now but my 31 year old self is high fiving me and fighting over the generic supermarket chocolate bars I found in the cupboard.
Happy weekend folks!

Poorly-sick

2010-08-31T12:34:00.008+02:00

So last Thursday night around 3am, my body apparently decided I was doing too much and decided to punish me by inflicting a dirty summer cold on me. I went to bed, full of beans and healthy as a Labrador puppy, and woke up in the middle of the night, nose streaming, eyes stinging and throat being sandpapered down by tiny elves who were using glass shards to get the job done. (Well, that's what it felt like anyway)

I had a full weekend of shopping, wining and dining planned so I battled on but at the sight of me sitting at my desk surrounded by tissues and Lemsips, my colleagues kindly but firmly requested that I not contaminate them all at the Friday night dinner we had planned, so I dragged my wobbly legs home to bed and missed out on all the fun. I did however watch about 8 episodes back to back of Sex and the City from the comfort of my bed, so the evening wasn't a total wash-out.

Over the weekend I dosed myself up on the good drugs, the kind I bring back from Boots in the UK to get rid of the cotton wool-head feelings and I managed to go shopping and out for a lovely dinner at my friend and sometimes blog commenter Maura's house which made me feel a lot better. And now it's 5 days after this dirty cold started and like an 80's Sylvester Stallone movie it seems to have come back with a vengeance. I've also managed to unwittingly pass it on to at least 2 other people at work so I am not at the top of anyone's Christmas card list at the moment.

If anybody needs me, I'll be the one coughing away in the corner of the room, crossing my fingers that this means I'm getting my Winter illnesses out of the way now, and I'll be healthy as can be come the colder weather.....

(NB remind me to look this post up 2 months from now when I'm inevitably moaning about being ill again, we all know it's going to happen.)

Lazing on a sunny afternoon....

2010-08-24T13:07:00.003+02:00

This is how the cat and I spent all day Sunday. The hen night was epic and a fabulous time was had by all, but Sunday was a day for recovery and lying around in the sunshine nursing sore muscles after all our wild adventures. Only 2 weeks to go until the corresponding wedding, and I can't wait!

Round-up (warning shark photo ahead, for those who don't like that sort of thing)

2010-08-19T13:31:00.012+02:00

Well it's been quite a dramatic week here so far and we're only Thursday. Events here in Nice since the weekend have included: a so-called shark sighting in the Mediterranean with beaches being closed all along the Cote d'Azur, a most dramatic falling-over mid-shopping trip, an epic Wii bowling battle and a hell of a lot of organizing for an up-coming hen night this weekend.

First up the shark sighting., it was quite the local drama for a few days, when on Monday witnesses began calling the local fire department to report sightings of a 2 foot long shark in the Med. (I have no idea why the fire department is in charge of shark sightings either, it all seems very odd but there you have it) Within a couple of hours, the local authorities had closed all the beaches in 3 towns just outside Nice and Jaws jokes were popping up all over Facebook and Twitter. By Tuesday however, it was back to business as usual, the beaches were up and running and it turned out the scary killer shark was in fact a 2 foot long female dolphin who had come inland to give birth. Sadly she died during the birth, which makes her the 3rd dead dolphin to be washed up in the area this week. Not a good week for dolphins on the Cote d'Azur although it still begs the question, how the so-called eye witnesses could possibly have mistaken this:

With this:

Jaws and Flipper. Not all that similar to my way of thinking, but at least we got 3 days worth of newspaper coverage and a mention on the national news out of it!

Anyway, while all the shark/dolphin drama was going on just outside of Nice, back in Nice itself I was busy proving once again that I shouldn't be allowed out alone. I had the day off on Monday and after a boring appointment at the bank in the morning, I decided to spend a little time looking for shoes for an upcoming friend's wedding. I happily mooched about Nice checking out various different shops, and all of a sudden as I crossed a road between 2 parked cars (sorry Tufty and Policeman Badger, I know better than that really) I felt myself fall. It was one of those falls when you don't realize it's coming and have absolutely no time to prepare for it, so I went from happily thinking about some lovely purple high heels, to sprawled out in the road face-down in seconds. My sunglasses flew off, my bag burst open and when I got up I realized I'd ripped my trousers and was dripping blood all over the place from a cut on my knee, so I called it a day shopping-wise and hurried home to put ice and Savlon on my cuts and scrapes. I also called my Dad so he could make it all better, because although technically I may be 31 years old, who doesn't need a cut knee making better by their Dad?

I've also been dipping my toe into the shallow end of fake tanning once again in an effort to no longer be the whitest girl in the world. I had a tanning "incident" recently when I made a by-the-till purchase of some L'Oreal Spraytan because it looked easy to use. I sprayed my legs a couple of days before (another) wedding we were going to and ended up looking like an oompa loompa with horrible, bright orange streaky legs and knees for 10 days and having to wear a floor length dress to the afore mentioned wedding. However, I've learned from my mistakes and have been trying out a Sephora gradual tanning cream this week which builds up a mostly natural looking tan over a few days. And also smells quite nice which is a big point in its favour. Fingers crossed that by Saturday I will be as tanned and healthy looking as if I'd spent the last week on a shark-infested beach and not in front of my computer at work.

Other than these adventures, I've been spending my time sending and receiving quite literally hundreds of emails regarding this weekend's Hen Night extravaganza. 1 day, 8 girls, several activities and unlimited amounts of alcohol requires a military-like precision to detail and the organization has completely taken over my free time. However once the bride to be arrives at the first mystery location and hopefully has the time of her life, it will all be worth it.

So there you have it, that's been my week so far, I wonder what this weekend will bring.....

Shake it up baby, twist and shout

2010-08-11T13:18:00.003+02:00

Well this is awkward. I managed to get whiplash this weekend, in what is quite possibly the most ridiculous way ever.
Wikipedia tells us that most whiplash cases occur as a result of car accidents, with roller coaster rides coming in a close second. Well car accidents and roller coasters are all well and fine for most people but me, I like to do things differently.

Last Friday, Didier and I took the day off work and met up with some friends down at the beach. We'd been wanting to have a go at some of the water sports beach-side in Nice for a while now and this was the perfect opportunity. Originally we'd planned to have a go on the banana ride, which is pretty much exactly as it sounds, a giant inflatable banana you sit on and get dragged around on behind a speedboat. But then, when we got to the beach, we saw they had a new ride which looked exactly like a giant sofa for 4 people behind a speedboat and we decided it was the way forward.

We strapped on our life jackets and hopped on board the sofa, girls in the middle, boys on the outside and got ready to go. At first it seemed a bit slow, and we wondered if we'd made the wrong choice, but after a couple of minutes the speed boat roared off and the 4 of us clung on to the sofa handles for dear life. For 15 minutes the boat dragged us up and down the Mediterranean, up, over and under waves until our hands were sore from clinging to the rope handles. It was hilarious, and we screamed and laughed every time we bumped over a wave or span round a corner, but somehow in the middle of all the bumping up and down, I managed to jar my neck and by the time we got back to the shore, I was already sore and my neck was stiffening up.

A couple of post-sofa beers later and I'd managed to forget about it for a while, but the next morning when I woke up the whiplash hit me with a bang, and I couldn't move the right hand side of my neck and shoulders for a couple of hours. I checked in with my local GP Dr Google and it turns out that most whiplash symptoms wear off on their own after a couple of days, so I didn't bother to do anything about it, apart from treating my shoulder and neck to a large dose of tea and trashy tv which seems to have done the trick now as I'm almost back up to full neck rotation and pain free shoulders again .

So there you have it, the tale of how I managed to get whiplash on an inflatable sofa, behind a speed boat in the middle of the sea, one to file away in my 'ridiculous ways I've hurt myself' folder I think. Next time I'm totally going on the inflatable banana!

It's been a bad day, please don't take my picture

2010-08-04T12:24:00.004+02:00

Yesterday was a bad day. A combination of several things coming to a head at the same time meant that I spent my afternoon veering from angry to annoyed to sad, then back to angry again all while sitting at my desk desperately searching for solutions to problems that I had no control over.

In the grand scheme of things it was nothing too disastrous but still, I drove home from work feeling absolutely miserable.

When I got home, instead of going to the gym and cleaning out the box of stuff sitting in our cellar for the last I don't know how long as I'd planned, I moped around, made myself some toast and watched some crappy TV whilst surfing the web. And then I suddenly remembered I had the remains of a bottle of pink champagne sitting in the fridge and decided to pour myself a glass to see if it would cheer me up. And miraculously it did. The black cloud sitting on my shoulder lifted and I spent the rest of the evening watching The West Wing and sorting out my over-crowded wardrobe (don't judge, tidying up/organizing things makes me happy!)

And then I broke the champagne flute as I put it in the sink to wash up. And just like that I was back to the beginning all over again.

Fun with my phone

2010-07-29T14:00:00.005+02:00

Since I got my iPhone back around Christmas time (yeah, I know best Christmas present ever!) I have been obsessed with taking photos. On a daily basis I probably take about 5 photos, usually of the most mundane things, just because I can. Before the iPhone came along, I didn't really like lugging my "real" camera around in my bag in case it got lost or stolen, but this meant I missed out on tons of fun photo opportunities.

Well, with the iPhone now omnipresent in my life, I have managed to capture lots of silly or sweet snippets of our everyday life in Nice over the last few months (plus about 1000 photos of my cats being cute or stupid on an regular basis) Today I decided to step it up a notch and courtesy of iTunes (this post is starting to sound as if I'm sponsored by Apple when I'm really not. But I wouldn't mind if they did want to sponsor me, hey Steve Jobs!) I purchased a new app called Hipstamatic. I'd been hearing good things about it all over the internet and having seen some amazing photos on Flickr that in no way looked as if they were taken by a mere mobile phone, I decided to take the plunge. And boy am I glad I did. This little app makes everything look amazing, and although I'm using the basic package at the moment, I foresee that I will rapidly be upgrading with one of their Hipstapacks which offer different lenses, flashes and films to play around with.

Suddenly even my most mundane photos look like masterpieces and it looks like I will be taking even more daily photos now I have this little beauty to play with. Who knew you could have this much fun for £1.29?

A test Hipstamatic photo of my office I took at lunchtime. Believe me, it has made the 1960's building look way cooler than it actually is!

Friday Favourites

2010-07-23T12:53:00.006+02:00

In which I reveal my favourite blog post this week:

I know that probably everybody in the blogging world and beyond reads Dooce already, and that Heather is undeniably the most famous blogger out there, but just in case you haven't read her latest post, run, don't walk to read it right now.

Here, I'll even make it easier for you, just click on this handy little link right here: http://www.dooce.com/2010/07/21/susan

Her latest post 'Susan' involves a tale (tail?) of bobcats, birthdays, and wilde beasts so crazy that if there was no photo evidence you might think she was making it up. But she isn't. And there's a happy ending. So, what are you waiting for, go read it!

Happy weekend!

2010-07-14T13:10:00.005+02:00

Happy Bastille Day from Nice!

We celebrated the French revolution last night with an evening beach picnic to watch the (early) firework show and we raised a glass to the sans-culottes who liberated France from the absolute monarchy 221 years ago today. And then just to even things up, we also ate cake.

Make-over

2010-07-06T14:40:00.003+02:00

You may have noticed a few changes here at Nicer in Nice today. I decided that after 2 years it was time to give the blog a little make-over and freshen it up for the summer.
Luckily Blogger has recently added a new layout feature which saved me the trouble of trying to design my own template and in just a few clicks of the mouse, I was able to tart the whole thing up a bit, adding the new palm tree background.

Palm trees are an on-going feature in my life since I moved to Nice. Every flat I have ever lived in over here has had palm trees growing nearby and since we bought our own place a couple of years ago, the view I wake up to every morning has a huge palm tree front and centre. I grew up in the very middle of England where the only palm trees grow in tropical hothouses,and as such I consider the palm tree to be more than anything else, a symbol of the Mediterranean and life in the South of France, so it was high time the blog reflected that.

I hope you like the new look, any comments or feedback will be very welcome. Enjoy!

She's got Bette Davis eyes...

2010-07-06T12:22:00.005+02:00

Well if by Bette Davis eyes, the songwriter meant one huge over-dilated pupil, then yep I've got 'em!

I had a bit of an incident last night. To be precise, I had a medical incident, which ended up with one of my pupils being dilated to roughly the size of my head. As you can imagine, it was fun times all round.

It all started on Sunday when I was at the beach. Even with my sunglasses on, I kept seeing 'floaters' in my line of vision (little specks that swim about in my eyes), and although this is nothing unusual in itself as I'm pretty used to seeing them, there was one floater that was bigger than usual and more of a brown colour than the little black dots I generally see. I forgot all about it on Sunday evening, went to bed and woke up yesterday to discover the floater was back, bigger and better than ever.

I went to work as normal and tried to ignore the brown speck swimming about on my computer screen, but by early afternoon it was annoying me enough that I decided to carry out a quick check to make sure it was nothing out of the ordinary. I turned to everyone's favourite GP, Dr Google and searched for "brown specks in the eye". And to my consternation discovered that Dr Google and all his colleagues the search results, were pretty unanimous about it: brown specks in the eye are one of the first signs of a detached retina. I googled detached retina and discovered that it was a) not very pleasant and b) required a trip to the doctor ASAP so I decided to make a preemptive strike and called my optician. They agreed with Dr Google that brown specks are not good and asked me to come in to have it checked out by my regular eye doctor.

So off I went and luckily they managed to squeeze me in pretty much as soon as I arrived. Unbeknownst to me, the doctor had already flagged me as a high risk for detached retina on a previous visit, as it seems the more short-sighted you are, the more chance you have of a retina tearing or stretching. As my eyesight is usually defined as 'mole-like' (seriously, I challenge you to find somebody with worse eyesight than me. I've never met anybody who has a stronger prescription than I do!) the nurse rushed me off to give me eye-drops to dilate my pupil enough for the doctor to thoroughly check my eye.

I don't know if you've ever had your pupils dilated by the doctor but it is a strange experience. You can still see, but the vision is blurry and direct light makes it impossible to drive, read, and pretty much do anything else. I sat in the waiting room checking the dilation in my hand mirror and entertaining myself by taking photos of my crazy eye with my phone to send to people while I waited. Eventually my pupil reached maximum dilation or the Keith Richards look as I like to call it and the doctor called me in to examine my eye. Happily, after an extremely thorough examination, he discovered my retina wasn't torn and everything was still in place so the mysterious brown floater was just a floater which although annoying will eventually disappear by itself. To say I was relieved is an understatement as during my googling I'd seen that a detached retina has to be treated by laser surgery which is the last thing I wanted to find myself doing on a Monday evening.

The doctor then made another appointment for me next week (when we get to dilate both eyes at the same time, just to make sure there are no changes, hurrah!) and sent me and my one over sized pupil home, where I spent the evening wearing my prescription sunglasses inside to avoid the light while I waited for my pupil to go back to normal. Oh and photoshopping this photo so you could see for yourselves the size of my mutant pupil without having to look at the hideous bags under my eyes:

This is about 3/4 of the way through the dilation process.

So there you have it, that was my Monday evening, which was a little bit more eventful than the night of watching TV and eating hummus that I'd originally planned, but all's well that ends well and I'm happy to report that this morning I once again have 2 perfectly normal sized pupils and 2 very much still attached retinas. It's the little things isn't it.

To whom it may concern...

2010-06-30T12:51:00.005+02:00

Dear Cat,

It has come to my attention that we need to have a chat. You remember me right? I'm the tall person who scoops the fish-flavoured Friskies into your stylish Ikea bowl twice a day. Nope not ringing any bells? I'm also the person who paid extortionate amounts of money to have a Furminator shipped over from England so you wouldn't keep getting fur balls. Oh and you might also have seen me in my role as the one who cleans and polishes your litter tray every week to keep it sweet smelling and clean enough to eat off (eww please don't actually eat off it, eww)

Now I can't deny that over the years we've had some good times. We've snuggled on the couch together, shared afternoon naps in bed, and you've warmed my feet up many a time during the winter cold spells. And I've put up with your incessant need for attention (Oh yes, a Siamese cat is not like a normal cat and will not be fobbed off with a 2 minute stroke), your scratching just every piece of furniture I own and the infamous "cat nip" overdose when you were high for about 2 days straight. I've also lovingly taken you to the vet to keep you healthy despite your yowling and scratching on the way there and back and by the way you still owe me a new t-shirt after last years visit.

I know your public persona is a cute fluffy little thing who wouldn't harm a fly (a lizard maybe but flies are pretty safe) and who plays up your cutesy side for the camera: please see People's exhibit 1:

But you don't fool me. I know that secretly you are plotting to destroy me and last night's shenanigans were all part of your cunning plan. Because I can't see any other reason why you would feel the need to run from the living room to the bedroom at 3am with the express purpose of vomiting all over my bed, I really can't. And let me tell you Cat that waking up to find yourself lying under a sheet covered in cat vomit is not the nicest thing in the world. No Sirree. So be careful buddy because I'm on to you and your plan for my downfall. I've seen your real face and it ain't pretty: People's exhibit 2

It's on! Don't mess with me again Cat, or I will bring in the big guns. Yep, that's right I'm talking about Man's Best Friend, and your biggest enemy; the neighbour's dog. Consider yourself warned. Now I've got to go and stick the sheets in the washing machine so we'll talk about this more tonight.

Yours sincerely

Your owner*

(*The person you vomited on)

Vote for me! (please!)

2010-06-29T12:51:00.002+02:00

Yes I'm still alive. I've been away from the blog for quite a while I know, but I've been experiencing a bit of writers block, which combined with an over active social life means I haven't had much to say recently. Or rather I have, but I just haven't found the words to say it. But anyway hopefully the hiatus is over and in the immortal words of Take That: 'I'm back for good'. And not only am I back, I'm back with a favour to ask you!

I recently saw a tweet from the lovely Kristin who writes the brilliant travel blog Camels and Chocolate about a competition organised by Radisson Blu hotels. The premise is simple, to enter all you have to do is say why you deserve to win the prize. And what a prize it is, 365 nights in any Radisson Blu hotel worldwide, with 5 years to claim your stays. And the best bit is that you can not only take friends and family with you, you can also gift your stays to them too, which is a nice way of giving back a little something. The winner will be the person with the most votes on the 24th July 2010 and you can bet your bottom dollar, I'm hoping it will be me.

So here is the shameless begging part of this post, I need as many votes as I can get and I'd love it if you'd vote for me. Part of my competition entry was promising to blog about each and every hotel stay if by any chance I do win the competition so it would mean a lot more posts on this blog than we're all used to at the moment, but I'm willing to take one for the team!

Voting is easy, no registration is required, you just click on the link and vote for me. You can vote once a day for any candidate and every single day up until the 24th July. You never know, with the awesome power of the blogging world behind me, I might just pull it off!

To vote for me just click this link and in exchange receive my undying gratitude:

http://www.greatestholiday.radissonblu.com/victoria-riley/907135/

And of course if you would like me to vote for you, just leave a comment with the link to your entry, it's share and share alike all the way here at Nicer in Nice!

Cheers guys!

Kiss my ass, Josh Groban! I'm an internationally-ranked cheerleading coach!

2010-06-09T12:22:00.004+02:00

I don't know if you have been watching the new tv series Glee or if it has completely passed you by so far. For those who haven't yet seen it yet (NB French tv, feel free to start showing it any time soon) the undisputed star of this High School Musical meets Hairspray meets Buffy type series is the schools cheer- leading coach, Ms Sue Sylvester. Her one-liners are the stuff of legend and her Vogue performance in the Madonna inspired episode was nothing short of epic. In short, Jane Lynch the actress who plays her is a comic genius and Ms Sylvester and her tracksuits rule the William McKinley High School.

Yesterday, while I was checking out the upcoming events in Monaco, I discovered that Jane Lynch was scheduled to make an appearance during the TV Festival in Monaco this week, an event that takes place a mere 5 minutes from my office so I decided to head over there after work and check it out. When I arrived, I initally thought I'd missed the whole thing as there was nobody to be seen outside the conference hall where the awards are held, but after a few minutes a clutch of girls appeared holding crumpled Glee posters so I knew I was in the right place.

I waited for about 5 minutes, updating my fellow Glee fans on Twitter as to what was going on and then all of a sudden a mini van with blacked out windows drew up to the still empty red carpet and out stepped Sue S herself with a small entourage looking quite surprised that anybody was waiting for her at all. (She was however not wearing a tracksuit, which was ever so slightly disconcerting.)

She signed a couple of autographs for the people nearest the red carpet and posed for an official photo before disappearing up the steps into the conference hall to do her official promotion stuff for the evening. Annoyingly I was on the wrong side of the red carpet, but I did manage to snap a couple of photos as she met the Monaco Gleeks (Pretty much like regular Gleeks but with fancier clothes and handbags, I seriously saw 13 year olds carrying Dior bags!)

And then, 5 minutes after I'd arrived it was all over and done with and I headed off home clutching the photo evidence of my Ms Lynch encounter and my brush with cheer-leading fame.

"I realize my cultural ascendance only serves to illuminate your own banality. But, face it, I'm legend. It's happened."

Give me a reason to love you

2010-05-21T12:43:00.003+02:00

Out in a bar the other day, somebody asked me why I chose to live in Nice and why I've stayed here for so long (10 years this year- class off '99 represent!)

I went through my usual spiel of why I love living here, the weather, the beach right on my doorstep, the people, the food etc etc and then I came home, stood on my balcony and realized that in the future, I should just print off this photo and hand it to anybody that asks.
Palm trees, the port and a beautiful sunset, these are the reasons I choose to live here:

(Oh and easy access to all that delicious cheese doesn't hurt either)

When in Vienna.....eat Strudel and drink beer!

2010-05-18T12:16:00.003+02:00

Last weekend Didier and I flew from Nice to Vienna with my new favourite airline Nikki Air. It was my parent's 35th wedding anniversary and my Dad the master surprise arranger of our family had managed to organize a double whammy. He told my Mum to pack her passport and whisked her off to Heathrow for a flight to Vienna. She didn't know where they were heading until it came to check-in and as she has always wanted to see the Spanish Riding School in Vienna she was suitably impressed with Dad's weekend away. She phoned me around lunchtime, very excited to tell me where she was and what they would be doing over the next couple of days, which as it happened was exactly what I would be doing too, as at the time of the call Didier and I were sitting in Nice airport, Cannes celebrity spotting and waiting for our flight to join them. And at roughly the same time my brother and his girlfriend were sitting at Heathrow also waiting for a flight over to Vienna.

Despite the potential for several Carry-On film style mix ups, somehow, miraculously we all managed to make it to the hotel and surprise my Mum in such a way that hasn't been seen in our family since the great 50th Birthday Surprise here in Monaco a few years back. Tears were shed, belated birthday presents were exchanged and all 6 of us set off for dinner in an amazing Viennese Beer Cellar where we proceeded to eat schnitzel, and drink 12% beer, schnapps and anything else that came our way. My brother and I also managed to whip out a little surprise of our own by giving our parents a bag of Swedish candy from Ikea and a card that entitled them to a holiday in Sweden later on this year, for once we even pulled one over my Dad who had no idea that little present was coming.

The next day we all went to see the Spanish Riding School which was truly amazing, riding at its very best with horses who are so well trained that you cannot see any effort on the rider's part at all to make them leap in the air at any given moment. Once the display was over we made our way to the centre's in-house café and enjoyed lashings of hot chocolate and strudel, just like in The Sound of Music, and you'd better believe it when I say that schnitzel with noodles, and crisp apple strudel are definitely two of my favourite things!

A few hours later Didier and I made our way back to the airport to set off back to Nice to allow him to watch the Monaco Grand Prix we'd taped that day, and to allow me to recover from all the schnitzel and strudels I consumed in 24 hours. The whole family made it back safe and sound to our various different destinations and the threatened ash cloud didn't stop play. It was a lovely weekend and now the only thing left to do is to plan the next extravaganza for their next big anniversary, which I hear is the Ruby Anniversary. Perhaps I should start looking into flights to Burma for the 6 of us.

Nissa la Bella

2010-05-06T12:58:00.004+02:00

Last weekend while I was out and about in Nice, and heading to the Cours Saleya for a cheeky drink with friends, I noticed this poster on a wall in the flower market. It was originally painted about 40 years ago and recently the local council has been refurbishing tattered and faded maps and posters all over town and this is the result. I love the map of the baie des anges and the incredible detail the artist has painted in (tiny planes and boats in the harbour!) And I love even more that you can see roughly the area where I live. I'm hoping to stumble across more hidden treasures like this next time I'm in town and I will be sure to take photos because who knows how long they'll last before fading in the sunlight or being washed away by rain. Sometimes you just need to stop and take pleasure in the small things.

Eyjafjallajoekull or how I was grounded by volcanic ash

2010-04-27T12:32:00.006+02:00

Along with thousands of others all over the world, I got ashed by Iceland last week. There I was, happily flying off to England for a few days to catch up with my parents, see a show at the Royal Albert Hall, and then attend a university reunion in my old hometown of Nottingham. It was going to be a jam packed 4 days culminating in a late flight home on Sunday evening, ready for work on Monday morning. However, the best laid plans of mice and men etc, and come Sunday instead of flying home, I found myself on a train from Nottingham to my parent's house, no flight and no visible way of getting back to France.

Initially I had laughed off the idea of my flight being cancelled. The volcano erupted on Wednesday and I wasn't flying out until Sunday, plenty of time for the cloud of ash to disperse itself quietly and for normal service to resume, right? However, as it got nearer and nearer to Sunday and the volcano continued to erupt and UK (and most of Europe's) airspace remained closed, I realized that something had to give, and that something was my return to Nice.

I was one of the lucky ones. I was in the UK, and only an hour away from my parent's house where there is always a bed for the night, endless cups of tea, an extremely well-stocked fridge and free WiFi for all. Watching the news each day to see if there were any flight updates, I saw families with babies, elderly relatives and pets stranded all over the world and desperate to get home by any means. I didn't have to sleep at an airport, or pay an extortionate sum of money to get to Calais by taxi, or even fork out for a hotel/meals/clothes/toiletries. I really was one of the lucky ones.

I ended up staying at home in England for a full 5 days longer than planned, eventually getting a flight home to Nice on Friday morning. And contrary to all expectations, it turned out to be one of the best flights I've ever taken, I was given a wing seat with extra legroom, we left on time and arrived early and my bag was the 3rd one on the carousel. All in all, I felt like the universe was showing me a little love after grounding me in the UK for so long. I also got to catch up with my brother, my granny, an uncle and aunt who were over visiting and an old school friend I haven't seen in 12 years, plus her adorable children. And more importantly than all of that, I also got to watch my first ever episode of Glee on E4! Sue Sylvester FTW!

So it seems that every (ash) cloud has a silver lining after all!

Hoppy Easter!

2010-04-02T14:19:00.002+02:00

A very happy Easter weekend from me and the hundreds upon hundreds of Lindt bunnies I found in the supermarket at lunchtime.

Hair today and gone tomorrow

2010-03-31T12:51:00.006+02:00

You guys, I completely forgot to tell you that I finally got my hair cut this week. I haven't had it cut in so long that I'm actually embarrassed to tell you when it was *cough, November, cough* and for the last couple of months I've gone round looking like a reject from the Hair tribe, all shaggy, snaggy and looooong! The layers had grown out to the point where it looked like 80s feathering was back in style and my swoopy fringe was so long it tied back in a ponytail. In short it did not look good.

Now the main reason I've been putting off going to get it cut is that just before Christmas I decided my blonde highlights were too light for the winter season and I dyed my hair chocolate brown with one of those home hair-dye kits. Now this was all fine and well and I enjoyed flaunting my new brunette locks for a couple of months, but my hairdresser Yann does not approve of home colouring (probably quite rightly so) and I knew I was going to be opening up a can of whup-ass by walking in with brown hair after he'd spent so long getting the caramel highlights just right last visit.

Well it turns out I was right, I did get a light telling off from the afore mentioned Yann and had to promise never to do it again, but luckily he still cut my hair exactly as I wanted (which is a rare and beautiful thing to find in a hairdresser in Nice let me tell you!) and I still got some of the yummy Italian biscuits they have for the customers so all is well.

And so without further ado, I now give you a sneak peek of my new hair:

As I could have predicted, it looked like this for the first day after I got home and ever since it has been a constant struggle to recreate the perfectly smooth fringe and lovely layers. But whatever, I no longer look like a hippy so all's well that ends well.

If you tolerate this, then your children will be next

2010-03-30T12:42:00.005+02:00

So last month I finally kicked my ass off the couch, into gear and for the second time in my life joined a gym. Well the third time really if you count the rowing club in Monaco too, but I stopped going there a while back when the lack of air con, and the very limited opening hours all became too much to bear.
Since I joined the new gym which is near my house in Nice, very fancy, and open 7 days a week (score!) I've been heading down there 2-3 times a week to get my work out on, and it has come to my attention that some people just do not have the gym etiquette going on. There are certain things about working out that I just assumed everybody knew and got on with quietly, but it turns out that oh no, I was wrong and some people are just free wheeling their way around the etiquette stuff.
Without further ado I give you the examples I've seen recently:

1) (And this is probably the greatest breach of etiquette in my eyes) Not wiping down the equipment after you've used it. Dudes you are sweating all over these machines, and nobody else wants to stick their hands on the handles, seat, whatever after that. The paper towels and disinfectant spray are right next to the machines, it takes 20 seconds max to wipe it off, come on now!

2) And speaking of the disinfectant spray, umm you're not supposed to hide it. Seriously, the girl next to me on the treadmill yesterday, took the spray and hid it behind a lamp everytime she used it. I'm not sure why, I don't know if she was hoping no one would notice and she could take it home with her afterwards or something, but either way it was weird.

3) Hanging out in the changing rooms fully dressed, just to chat on your phone. There are only 4 changing rooms and you could just as easily have your conversation outside in the main gym area without creating a backlog of people waiting to get changed.

4) Leaving the showers full of scuzzy soapy scum and much, much worse your scanky, straggly hair! A quick rinse down at the end and the shower looks like new, why would you not bother doing this?

5) If a person is exercising with headphones on, I take it as a hint they don't want to indulge in a chat as they run/row/lift weights whatever next to me. You apparently see it as a sign that they want to chat and despite several hints keep on trying to hold a conversation about your child/dog/operation whatever. This is not so.

6) Children. I have no objection whatsoever to you bringing your kids to the gym with you. I absolutely realize that sometimes it's not possible to leave them at home. But if you do bring them, at least bring something to occupy them while you're working out. Because when you don't, they jump on and off the machines, spray the disinfectant all over themselves and everybody else and toss peoples bags and coats around in an effort to entertain themselves. It's not their fault they're bored, it's yours! At least bring a book to keep them busy please!

Le sigh. Exercising might be good for my heart rate but it is clearly bad for my mental health!

Cosy

2010-03-12T14:07:00.004+01:00

This is how I found my cats last night when I got home from work. Normally when I come in, they're waiting for me behind the front door desperate for food and strokes, but with the cold snap we've been having lately, waiting up for me has been abandoned for warmer pastimes. They were just as cosy as can be and snuggled up together for the rest of the evening until the witching hour arrived and they ran round the apartment fighting with each other and doing the thundering herd of kitties dance. A cats life indeed.

Time goes by

2010-03-11T13:00:00.004+01:00

Wow February went by in a flash. I don't know if it's just me or if everyone feels the same but I'm pretty sure I looked up a couple of days after Christmas, blinked and we were already in March without me noticing.
I was away almost every weekend in February which explains why posting has been somewhat light around these parts for a while and I have had far too many adventures to go into much detail here so I thought I'd do you a quick recap instead of the last 4 weeks. Here goes nothing:

2: Number of continents visited in February

-7: Average temperature in New York whilst I was there in February

2: Shows seen on Broadway: Hair and Next to Normal- both amazing!

1: Broadway stage danced and sung on by me. Hair party rocks!

2: Number of birthdays celebrated- mine and my brothers which are roughly 2 weeks apart

0: Number of limbs broken during a long weekend in the mountains skiing with friends

100000000: Calories consumed mostly through cheese in said long weekend in the mountains

4: flights to and from London in the last month

1: West End show seen (Chicago and it was excellent)

1: Non West End show seen (Silence! the musical version of Silence of the lambs= hilarious!)

4: Grasshoppers drunk by me and my friend Julie in honour of our favourite actress in London

4: Drunken attempts at taking auto photos of ourselves outside Wicked by Julie and me

0: Babies pushed out on my birthday as promised by my heavily pregnant friend

1: Carnival visited in Nice

1: Visit from my parents during the coldest, cloudiest week ever in Nice

7: Number of cakes consumed by me over my birthday weekend

0: Vegetables and fruit consumed by me over my birthday weekend

5: Friends from the UK I managed to catch up with last month

Right, so that's us all caught up, I'll try and get things back to normal round here very soon, or at least next to normal at any rate.

S'now joke!

2010-02-25T13:27:00.005+01:00

This weekend we had 4 friends over from England to visit us. My best friend from school who I've known since I was 9, plus her awesome husband and 2 other lovely UK friends. We had an enormous and quite delicious meal in Nice on the Friday evening, then we packed up the car and headed up to the mountains for 3 days of skiing, snowboarding, sledging, drinking and eating with our little posse.

Once we arrived in the ski station which is about 1.30h from Nice, we split up the rooms into boys/girls camps (the girls room had the alcohol and the boys had the Deep Heat, it seemed only fair)and headed out into the fresh snow to get our powder on. It has been snowing pretty much non-stop round here for the last couple of weeks so there was a huge amount of snow, almost 220cm at the top of the mountains and for 3 days we hit piste after piste, skiing mogul fields and even getting in some off-piste action for the braver members of our group.

When evening rolled around and it was time to leave the slopes, we were always tired and hungry so headed back to the hotel for huge portions of food and lots of après-ski drinks (well you've got to make up the calories somewhere!) We had an amazing 3 days and some of the best skiing I've ever done, but the piece de resistance of the weekend was without question the 2010 Winter Sledge Race Olympics.

After some gentle (ahem) persuasion on my part, on Sunday evening we hired 3 sledges and headed up onto the abandoned pistes to get in some sledging action. Anybody thinking that sledging is just for kids has clearly never hung out with me and my friends because we turned those sledges into speed demon racing machines. It turns out that 2 people per sledge is not a very good idea as the extra weight means high speeds and no means of stopping at the end of the piste, so after a trial run which ended in spills and thrills we stuck to solo races. Even with just 1 person per sledge, we were coming down the hills so fast snow and ice was flying all over the place and people all around us were ducking for cover. It was the funniest 2 hours I've ever spent in the snow and the subsequent bruises and aches and pains mean nothing compared to the sweet feeling of victory as your sledge flies past the makeshift finishing post before the others. (NB this only happened to me once as I was the queen of the crash and burn during the competition. Official verdict: starts well but lacks concentration to finish)

I am black and blue from falling out of my sledge every time it hit a snow speed bump and I have pretty much no voice left from shrieking with laughter every time I watched one of the boys spin out of control or one of the girls bail out just before they hit a tree. It was so much fun that we have decided to make this an annual event and diaries are already being cleared for 2011's tournament. This years Vancouver Winter Olympics ain't got nothing on us baby that's for damn sure!

Starting well.....

Aaaaand crash and burn!

A day (or 3) late and a dollar short

2010-02-17T12:49:00.003+01:00

Whoops. In all the excitement of posting my carnival photo of a giant frog wearing a crown earlier this week, I completely forgot Sunday's other big event which was of course Valentine's Day.

As a general rule I am not a fan of Valentine's Day, or 'Forced and artificial display of love' Day as it's also known round these parts. I would much rather get flowers or a nice card from my loved one on a random Wednesday in November just because, than get one of those sugary sappy "To my valentine' cards on the big day itself.

But having said all that, I very much enjoyed my gift from Didier this year which happened to be a beautiful new pair of earrings which go with everything and are sparkly, 2 things I always look for in jewelery. I had told him not to buy me anything at all as I really and truly wasn't bothered about a gift, but my happy dance round the bathroom and subsequent iPhone photos of my lovely earrings showed him just how much I liked them.

And just when I thought the boy had finished, he pulled out another little gift, this time a red rose plant which has taken up residence in the kitchen and which since Sunday has become the cat's new favourite thing. Every time I turn around the damn cat is all over the plant, sticking its nose in the soil and gently pawing at the flowers to make the petals fall off, so I guess Valentine's Day is not just for lovers, but for small furry pets too. Like I said, I'm not a fan of Valentine's Day but I am a fan of anything that encourages more love in the world and as the lady said:

"What the world really needs is more love and less paper work."

(Pearl Bailey)

Frog Prince

2010-02-15T13:54:00.002+01:00

The Carnival has started in Nice! And while it's not on the scale of carnivals in say Venice or Rio or even Notting Hill, it's still a pretty fun week filled with floats, parades, glitter, silly string and children dressed up as Disney characters.

Yesterday was the first big parade and we headed on over to the Promenade des Anglais to watch the floats go by. This one was my favourite, the theme this year is ecology and the green planet and this little guy is the carnival mascot. Plus, I mean come on, who doesn't like a frog wearing a crown? People who are dead inside, that's who!

Happy Mardi Gras people!

Extremes

2010-02-01T14:14:00.005+01:00

One of the things that is often said about the Cote d'Azur in brochures and on websites to sell it to potential tourists is that it's the region of France that has everything. And that you can go skiing in the morning and go to the beach in the afternoon. And although this is undeniably true, with the closest ski resorts just 1.30h away from Nice and the beaches, well pretty much everywhere, never has it been more true than yesterday.

I woke up at 9.30 to see something swooping past the bedroom window. In my Sunday morning sleepy state I couldn't work out what it was at first and then I suddenly realized it was snowing. And quite hard.

I got up and was lounging around the house with the cats catching up on gossip magazines and Mad Man, when I noticed that not only had the snow stopped, it was looking suspiciously bright and blue skied over the bay. And it carried on getting sunnier and sunnier until by the afternoon it was like a full blown Spring day. So we went outside and rode our bikes on the Promenade des Anglais amongst the throngs of Niçois enjoying the sunshine. From snow to sunshine within the space of a few hours, just another average day on the Cote d'Azur.

Snap Happy

2010-01-28T13:52:00.006+01:00

A few months ago my Dad undertook a huge project. Our family is what you might call 'camera happy' and between both sets of my grandparents, my parents, and assorted aunts, uncles and cousins we have like most families, an enormous amount of photographs. In the early days my grandparents and my parents paid professional photographers to take photos of special occasions, Christmas, weddings, graduations, etc. and we now have a huge collection of posed family portraits dating back to the 1920s and 30s. We also have drawers and drawers full of Kodak snapshots, and albums full of carefully chosen favourites with hand written commentaries which have lost little of their meaning over the years such as 'Puppy 1978' and 'Shropshire Jubilee Weekend'.

There are so many photos, and behind each photo is a story and a memory that it seems a shame to leave them in albums and drawers where they are rarely seen, if at all, so my Dad has started to scan them onto his computer to create a more permanent home for them and so he can easily share them with the rest of the family.As he uploads the different photos, he sends me a couple by email each day, and opening the emails is like opening a little present each morning. Many of the photos I've never seen before because they were taken by various family members and back in the days before digital cameras made sharing images so easy. It is so exciting to open an attachment and see my 4th birthday party and my My Little Pony cake in all its glory, or to look at a photo of my parents when they were younger than I am now and already had 2 small children. I love looking at these snippets of our family history and the hundreds of picnics, birthdays, Easter Sundays, holidays, school plays, snow days and completely normal days we've managed to capture on film.

Once this stage of the project is complete, which may take some time as there are so many, my Dad is going to send off all our old video cassettes full of home videos and cine-films to a specialist company who will clean them up and transfer them onto dvds. This is doubly exciting to me as I haven't seen the cine-films since the days when we used to rig up the projector and a white sheet to watch the jerky, scratchy images of our smaller selves on screen.

These days I've inherited the family love of taking photographs and I take pictures of anything and everything in our day to day life. I don't think you can ever have too many photos of people, places and things you love and good, bad or ugly I upload them all every week to create my own digital photo library and to make my own memories.

"To take photographs is to hold one's breath when all faculties converge in the face of fleeting reality. It is at that moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy"

Author: Henri Cartier-Bresson

Maintenance

2010-01-26T14:05:00.004+01:00

So far this week I've been to see my doctor and my dentist and I also have an appointment to see my optician. I plan on booking a hairdresser's appointment tomorrow and I spent this weekend giving myself a manicure/pedicure, clearing out my old clothes and sorting through boxes of books to decide which ones I could give away (I don't give books away lightly, I'm the sort of person that hangs on to them forever)

I know we're barely into the new year and judging by the rain and cold this week, Spring is a long way off but I've got a huge urge to spring clean my life at the moment. I want to get all the stuff I normally put off done and dusted so I don't have to worry about it anymore and I don't need to keep writing myself reminders in my planner.

This weekend I found a new gym in my area which is open 7/7 and until 23h in the evening, perfect for me as I don't usually get home until 19h-19.30h in the evenings and the other gyms are shutting up shop by then (French opening hours are nothing like English opening hours. Even the biggest supermarkets shut at 21h and pretty much nothing is open on a Sunday. The idea of a 24hour supermarket is so far off that I would bet we're driving hovering space cars before it arrives in France) I'm going to double last years efforts and try and get down there at least twice a week especially as quite a few friends have joined so at least I can beat the mind numbing boredom of running on a treadmill with a little bit of gossip as well.

Apart from that, there's nothing much to report around here at the moment. February is going to be a crazy busy month so I'm making the most of the relative calm of January before the madness starts. And of course I'm mourning the end of MTV's best reality tv show evah, the awesome Jersey Shore. If you haven't started watching this train wreck of Juice heads and Guidettes strutting their stuff on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, run don't walk to the MTV website to catch up. It's like The Hills would be if somebody spiked the Koolaid and Lauren Conrad knew how to punch a bitch out. You'll thank me for it, you really will.

GTL baby!

The reckoning

2010-01-19T13:33:00.005+01:00

Around about this time last year, I wrote a list of my New Year's resolutions on the blog, in the vain hope that by actually writing them down and publishing them for all the world to see, I would somehow force myself magically stick to them unlike most years. Generally speaking, when it comes to New Year resolutions I like to start out with a flourish and finish with a whimper, most of them being forgotten by the 1st February each year.

So how did I do in 2009? Let's see:

1) Sport.
Hmmm, well. I did make an effort to do more sport last year. I started off well with a subscription to the pool in Monaco and for a few months I went twice a week. However, and this will come in no way as a shock if you know me, I didn't take up running in any way, shape or form apart from my yearly effort for the Monaco No Finish Line. So I give myself half a point for this one, I did try but could have done a lot more if I hadn't got involved in Happy Hour drinking and tv. Must try harder in 2010

2) Cooking
Oh cookery, you are the bane of my life. I want to like you, I know I should like you but when it comes down to it it's just so much easier to dial for a pizza which will be delivered hot and delicious to my front door in 30 minutes than it is to faff around with pots and pans and herbs etc. But I did make much more of an effort in 2009 than I ever have done . I found recipes on the internet, went to the Chinese and Indian supermarkets for exotic and unpronounceable ingredients and generally made sure that our diet was more 1/3 cheese to 2/3 fruit and vegetables than usual. So I award myself a point for this one and a little pat on the back.

3) Apartment.

The apartment I think counts as a point too. We didn't do a huge amount in 2009 due to time constraints but the highlights included finally getting a door, mirror and cabinet for the bathroom, having new windows put in, buying a new couch and dining table and planning how the kitchen will look when we rip it out this year. There is still cat hair floating around unfortunately, but buying a dust buster at Ikea has helped with that a lot and I have been researching ways to shave a cat on the internet (just kidding Max, just kidding although wake me up again at 3am and it will become a very real possibility!) There are also still boxes to be unpacked but as we're ripping out the kitchen soon, they can stay unpacked for now.

4) Travel

Hooray for travel, finally we get to the fun part of the resolutions! 2009 was a good year for travel, Didier and I went to Spain for the first time ever, and spent a weekend in Palma de Mallorca, I went to NYC twice, Switzerland and England many many times. 2010 is also shaping up to be a great year travel wise with plans in the works for a road trip around California in November and a birthday weekend in Rome not too far away. I award myself a point for this and am happy to say we had fun keeping this resolution!

5) Relationship

Well this one was a pretty fun resolution to carry out too. Didier and I spent a lot more time doing things together this year and we both got to introduce the other to some of our favourite activities without anyone being killed or even maimed. I worked on showing my gratitude for everything he does for me a bit more and he worked on buying me a 6 pack of Corona every now and again- everyone's a winner! 1 point for us

Well that seems to be about everything, I think we've wrapped this mother up nicely and it's time to..... ahem alright alright there was a 6th resolution. But I was trying to gloss over it as this one was a total fail:

6) Driving Licence

I do not have a driving licence as promised, in fact I don't even have a provisional licence. Despite all my big talk, I didn't get round to signing up at the driving school in 2009, no lessons were taken and I am still licence-less and rocking the 50cc Vespa. So a big fat zero points for this little resolution, but I'm staying optimistic for Drive-a-palooza 2010 and besides if I'd managed to stick to all the resolutions I'd have nothing to do this year!

And that really is it for 2009's resolutions, I think I did ok even though there are definitely areas I need to work on for this year. Despite the general consensus that 2009 was a terrible year, I had a pretty good year overall and I am keeping my fingers crossed for 2010. Here's hoping it's a great year for us all!

Looking Back

2010-01-05T19:43:00.004+01:00

An end of year round up taken from http://www.slynnro.blogspot.com/ and many many other blogs.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
I turned 30! And I went to Spain for the first time ever.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
More or less I think. I listed them here last year and I'll do a review soon to see how it went. I can say I didn't do anywhere near as much sport as I would have liked to!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, my friend Mira had a beautiful baby girl and I have 4 more babies to look forward to this year (none of them mine!)

4. Did anyone close to you die? 
2 of my neighbours from where I grew up died which was sad

5. What countries did you visit?
America twice, England more times than I can count, Mallorca and Switzerland

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
I would like to finally finish doing up our apartment and unpack the last of the boxes

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
My 30th birthday in March. It was an amazing weekend with my family and friends from England and Norway all together in Nice and I had the best time ever.
Also the 4th June when I was a bridesmaid and witness for my best friend as she married her soulmate.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?  
Workwise I was promoted and now have more responsibility and a little more money.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not finding time to do everything I wanted to. Mainly because I waste too much time on the internet. And not saving as much money as I would have liked

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Very luckily nothing more serious than a cold

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A plane ticket to NYC in September, something I ummed and ahhed over, but was so worth it in the end

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My boyfriends. He has the patience of a small saint

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Jordan and Peter. Ughhh think of the poor children  

14. Where did most of your money go?
Shopping, plane tickets and food

15. What did you get really excited about?
My birthday and all the lovely people that flew over/came out for it. The 3 weddings we went to, all of which were amazing. The trip to NYC with m'ladies. The return trip to NYC to see the closing performance of 9-5 the Musical. My Dad coming out of hospital in time for Christmas.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
Ummm, this is a hard one but I think Lady Gaga Poker Face as we always seem to end up dancing to it!

.17. Compared to this time last year, are you: 
(a) happier or sadder? Happier I think
(b) thinner or fatter? A wee bit fatter, oops!
(c) richer or poorer? A smidgeon richer but not much.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Travelling

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Worrying, procrastinating, and wasting time

20. How did you spend Christmas?
With my family in the UK

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
With the same person I have been for the last 6 years

22. What was your favorite TV program?
30 Rock. It literally rocked my world. And rewatching the entire series of the West Wing was amazing

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I don't hate anyone, but I am no longer close with someone I used to be good friends with

24. What was the best book you read?
I read tons and tons of books this year, but I can't name the best one. I really enjoyed "The Mitfords 'Correspondance between Sisters'" by Charlotte Mosley  

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? 
I'm sticking to my musical loving roots and saying 'This Place I Know' by Stephanie J Block

26. What did you want and get?  
My iPhone. Best Christmas present ever! And a bike which was a totally lovely surprise!

27. What did you want and not get? 
Ummm, I can't think of anything which means I'm a very lucky girl

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Away We Go by Sam Mendes. I loved, loved, loved it!

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 30 (as I may have mentioned!) and I spent the weekend eating, drinking and wearing silly hats with all the people I love best

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?  
Umm, having my new kitchen finished would have been nice but I'll settle for 2010

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? 
I think I finally found the style that suits me best and it involves lots of dresses, boots and leggings

32. What kept you sane?
My friends, my family, my boyfriend and the internet
  
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Ummm, I can't think of anyone in particular apart from George Clooney of course

34. What political issue stirred you the most? 
The healthcare reform in the USA, the racial tension in France and the Expenses scandal in the UK

35. Who did you miss?  
Everyone I don't get to see regularly, but 2009 was a really good year for catching up with my friends and family

36. Who was the best new person you met? 
Well technically I haven't met them yet but my 2 9-5 friends who are completely awesome, who sent me dvds, playbills, and encouragement, and who cracked me up all the time on Twitter and Facebook!

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.  
Getting older is actually really really great, and taking advantage of any and all opportunities can lead to even greater opportunities

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year
I'm gonna shine like the sun!

Happy Holidays

2009-12-29T14:02:00.003+01:00

From my family to yours. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones, full of chocolate, turkey, champagne and family Scrabble tournaments! See you in the New Year!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

2009-12-21T12:28:00.006+01:00

This weekend for the first time in about 22 years, it snowed in Nice. Actually that's not technically true as in the 10 years I've lived here, I've seen it snow twice before but it's never settled so that clearly doesn't count.It started snowing on Friday evening as Didier and I were in town for the world's most painful massages (seriously, I have bruises!) and then dinner in our favourite pizza place.

Everybody was laughing and joking in the restaurant saying it wouldn't settle and it would all be gone within the hour, but it actually carried on snowing all night and the next morning we woke up to a winter wonderland. Snowy rooftops, snowy balcony and snow on the mountains behind Nice. Even my scooter was covered in snow.

I know some people don't like the white stuff that much, but I totally love it. Hearing my parents utter the magical words 'it's snowing' when I was younger signaled a day of snowballing, snowman building, sledging and then trudging home for hot chocolate while damp gloves and hats quietly steamed on the kitchen radiator.

Saturday I went out and about in my snow boots taking photos of all the familar surroundings covered in snow and introducing the cats to this strange white frosty stuff (verdict: no thanks, we'd rather curl up on the radiator!) In the afternoon I snuggled down on the sofa with a blanket and watched one of my favourite Christmas films 'Trapped in Paradise' (if you've never seen it, go rent it right now!) with copious mugs of tea. All in all a perfect winter's day

By this morning most of the snow had melted and it was business as usual in Nice with bright wintery Cote d'Azur sunshine but I thoroughly enjoy

ed the winter wonderland while it lasted, and now I can't wait to get up into the mountains to make the most of all the fresh powdery snow by skiing the hell out of it!

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches

2009-12-14T12:50:00.005+01:00

Christmas is all around

2009-12-13T21:59:00.003+01:00

You may have noticed I've been having a bit of a blog hiatus recently. My Dad has been in hospital for the last couple of weeks and I've been back and forth to the UK to help out.
Inbetween the flights and dealing with all the inevitable issues a hospital visit brings, I've been doing my best to get ready for Christmas too, I decorated the balcony with lights back in November and we put our tree up last week. I am a HUGE Christmas fan, it's my favourite time of the year and I love all the assorted traditions and trimmings that go with the season.

This afternoon I met some friends for drinks in Nice then went to the shops with Didier to get some present shopping done. On the way home we walked through the Christmas village in Place Massena and watched people drinking mulled wine and others ice skating illuminated by the glow of the Christmas decorations. Then we came home, cracked open a bottle of wine, ordered pizza and started to watch Love Actually on tv. There are still hundreds of things to be done before Christmas arrives, including most importantly getting my Dad fit and well for the festivities but for this evening at least, it's nice to feel that Christmas really is all around.

Thankful

2009-11-27T14:19:00.002+01:00

I am not American, but this Thanksgiving season I am thankful that two of my very favourite groups of people in the entire world teamed up together and brought us the greatness that is this video. Queen + The Muppets = Awesome!
If you are American, I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving with your friends and family, and if you're not, I hope you had a very happy Thursday! Enjoy!

One for the boys

2009-11-20T13:32:00.004+01:00

Yesterday was a national holiday in Monaco (The Fete du Prince) and as a result, we all had the day off work. To help the Price celebrate his birthday, we had a nice long lie-in, then pottered around the house doing some DIY until the afternoon when we headed out to look at kitchen shops (I know, I know, you can almost feel the glamour of life on the French Riviera coming off the page as you read this!)

Kitchen shopping all done, Didier dropped me off in Nice to get a head start on my Christmas shopping and as I was walking through town I suddenly noticed a lot of people gathered in an open air car park. As I got nearer, I heard music and saw lights so I went over to investigate. It turns out that the car park had been turned into a display ring by the Citroen >Total World Rally Team, and noneother than 6 time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb was driving his car around, showing the crowd some of his party tricks.

For once, I had my camera on me so I managed to get a couple of videos of him as he whizzed by me all smoke and exhaust fumes. Stupidly I managed to turn the sound off in the first one, so you"ll have to take my word for it when I say it was very very loud. Once the rally display was over I headed to the shops where I accidentally bought myself a new winter coat (well it was on sale so it would have been a shame not to!) and some Christmas goodies before going home to drink tea and watch more 30 Rock episodes (I am obsessed with Liz Lemon, I want to be her!)

and if that isn't the best use of a day off work, well I don't know what is!