30th April 2012

After the hi-jinx of the past couple of days, Paul and I took the day off to recover!

Was was extra nice was that the cats quite fancied a cuddle too! I'd even go so far as to say with each other!

Yet another exciting dinner ahead! After the success of 'Roast-In-A-Bowl' a few weeks back, it was time for a reprise...

Stuffing base, with roasted root veg mash, topped with veg, pork, gravy & apple sauce. MANIFIQUE!
Washed down with a glass of champagne from the bottle my boss gave me a few weeks ago...
Awesome!

29th April 2012

Happy Birthday to me!

Today I turned 29!

Here's some egocentric Cagga picture spam! *advanced warning - this is a complete picture spam entry!*

Me at approximately 7 months old. CHUNK! :D

This was taken on my 18th birthday. I was in a show, Grease, as Patty Simcox. Interesting (or not) the girl who played Sandy is now starring in the West End production of Ghost: The Musical. Siobhan Dillon. She was always amazingly talented!

My 21st Birthday, with the wonderful Lee, who is the guitarist in a band called Sound of Guns. They are pretty damn awesome, and I think you should all go take a listen and buy an album or two.

Drinking flaming sambuca on my 24th birthday. It was awesome!

25th Birthday. I blame Chris Bennett for EVERYTHING in this picture!

Me and Lucy on my 26th birthday.

While the world was gripped with Royal Wedding fever, glued to their tv, supping pimms and eating cucumber sandwiches; Paul and I were hiking in the Peak District. It was fab!

 ...I didn't take a picture of me today. Ah well. No big loss there!



 Back to the day!


We got a fairly early train back from Manchester, which was packed, then went straight back to bed...naturally with the presents I had to open, which are as follows:

Paul got me a new work bag, big enough for A4 folders inside...meaning I take take my wedding file everywhere I go! #Bridezilla

My new (and yes, it's been worn!) Sunnydale High T Shirt!

Bottle of Tru Blood, which is currently in the fridge, awaiting consumption. I think it might go well with vodka!

A Firefly/Serenity t shirt from Qwertee. I love it and was gutted I missed it! So glad Drew didn't!

I know you all must be wondering what the gifts were that work got me. Other than the flowers, that is. Prepare to be amazed...

A bottle of rose. Crisp and fruity? More like a kids drink! Obviously it's not. Sweet as anything!

A one-cup teapot. With kitties on it! Cute!

A BOX OF MALTESERS AND A BOX OF TEA BAGS. Hmph.

...and the 'best' bit:

A wedding planner. Which, by the looks of things, was written for a 12 year old. Seriously.

Here's a page for example. I haven't been so patronised and offended by typed text since I read Twilight.

 Moving on.

After Paul had a nap, we got ready and braved the rain to head out to Lark Lane, where we met Chris (@thiscrs on twitter) and Jacqui (@JacquiChan88) for a few!

This isn't all of it. Not by any means...

See Chris's blog post of the day here, including a picture of me taking this picture!

Of course, meeting Chris can only mean one thing: the return of the birthday bag! :-)

The Birthday Bag started about 4 years ago, when Chris met me at the pub for birthday drinks (sense a theme here?!) and in it was my birthday present, and dressing up items. Said items didn't all get used...so instead of throwing it away etc, I added more and brought it along to his birthday bash in the December. Said bag returned to me the following April...and a tradition was born! I'm sure you will see this bag again!

There were also gifts! :D

If there was ever anything you need to know about Jacqui - she likes a gin! I got extra special gin!

It came complete with a special seal, which reads: 'To be opened in an emergency (or when it's gin-o'clock!)'

Chris got me this most excellent present...and it's only half of it! I can't wait to see the second half!

After one or two beers, great and funny conversation, and a promise to go to at least one theme park this year, Paul and I made our way into town for dinner at Jamie's Italian.

The service was fab. The prosecco was fab. The starter and pudding...fab. The main courses...blah. Serious blah.

Italian nachos (top) and Crispy stuffed rice balls. Delicious. As you can tell by most of it being eaten!

My main: FLASH-GRILLED FEATHER STEAK     British beef pounded with sage & prosciutto, served with spicy tomato salsa *picture stolen from Paul's colleague Ian, who had the same thing the following day...I didn't take a picture of mine. Thanks, Ian!*

 My main was ok. Nothing to write home about. Paul had Braised British shin of beef, cooked overnight with sweet, sticky onions & balsamic vinegar, served with oozy Parmesan polenta. Yeah. Oozy is a good word. Big pile o'tasteless schmush is another accurate description!

Pudding!
AMALFI LEMON CURD SLICE Smooth lemon curd with toasted pistachios & crushed berries

We probably won't return. Even though Paul's pudding of Sicilian Cheesecake was free! And very nice!

After that, we came home and fell asleep! Because I'm all old and stuff now! :-)

28th April 2012

Happy Birthday to my cousin Luke and my Auntie Catherine!

28th April marks the beginning of a weekend that will go down in history as the most awesome weekend ever! That's right: BW2K12! (Birthday Weekend 2012...but, you know...cooler!)

As it's my birthday tomorrow (if you hadn't already guessed) we thought we would have a special afternoon before going for the most exciting evening in a long time!

Early lunch in style! Home made 'Nando's' style chicken, salad, savory rice & coleslaw is great. But when combined with Bucks Fizz it becomes AWESOME! :-)
 

I don't always eat off the cat mat. Promise. Although Maia does see all my food as her food...

Then some relaxing for a little while, then we had to shower and get ready for our little trip to Manchester!

Paul, clearly bored on the train!

Me, incredibly excitable on the train!

After a little bit of shopping, we then went to meet up with some friends of old (who could not be named for legal and political reasons...rest assured, they're quite a big deal) for a Thai feast at Chaophraya. There may have been enough food on our table for 5 to feed twice as many of us! It was delish!

Then onto the cinema!

Prior to us coming to Manchester I was running around like a fool to find our 3D glasses. We're not the biggest 3D fans, so I only had a vague memory of where to find them!

So handsome!

 ANYWAY! After being OUTRAGED that the Odeon cinema in The Printworks no longer has a bar, we went to our screen and took our seats. Then we got accused of sitting in the wrong seats! We stayed calm and stood our ground. Which we were right to do as THEY WERE OUR SEATS! The dumbasses who were accusing us had bought tickets online, come and collected them, got let into the screen and come to sit down...only to find that their tickets were for tomorrow.

*snigger*

What were we watching? Only THE AVENGERS! Or Marvel's Avengers Assemble or whatever the flip they want us in the UK to call it!

It was awesome! Smiled most of the way through it!

We had to fill in a questionnaire about the film...why we were there and what we thought etc. Have never had to do that before. We probably were not the right people to do it either...I might have added one or two boxes of my own to tick! :-)

After the movie, we went for another quick drink, then back to our respective houses.

A fantastic evening. Thank you to Paul - my lovely fiancé, Ash, Drew and Corinne for coming along and making it so wonderful! See you all in December for The Hobbit, yeah?

Once back home, we saw my birthday in with a glass of red and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt 1 on tv. Whoop!