"Ken Lee" - Bulgarian Pop Idol

This cracked me up... this woman thinks she is singing it in English! ;-)

Mad March Hairs!

Some of the photographs of my busy busy busy Mad March!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hayleysbrown/collections/72157604324900894/

And the Wheels Keep Turning...

Had a very very busy weekend - seemed to cover alot of miles in my little Pussy Wagon ;-)

On Friday, had a rather splendid day in London at work (for some reason, it was just a nice day in the tower), and in the evening went back with John to his rather splendid home in Bexley (out towards the Dartford Crossing in Kent?). John and Rich live in a lovely detached 4 bedroom house, which is beautifully co-ordinated throughout in tasteful shades of cream and brown and silver and mucho glass and crystals etc.. very very nice. We went to a really nice Indian restaurant in Bexley village, and ate a whole pile of food - more than I can ever remember ordering for three people! Delicious! On the Saturday, John and I went for a lovely walk around some woodland in Bexley (Joyden's Wood I think), and then for a walk along the river Cray. We finished off with a rather delicious lunch in an Italian Deli (Chicken and Pepper Salad for me, and Lasagne for John). Back at John's, we had a go on his Wii (the boxing match almost killed me!)... and then I headed back. Lovely!

Saturday night I cooked for Mark and his Dad (a rather delicious Veggie Shepherd's pie, which I was too full to eat!). On Sunday, the clocks had gone forwards over night and I rather foolishly decided to get up with Mark at 6am (which was *really* 5am, by my body clock!). It was worth it though, as I managed to make the most of my day. I drove over to Norwich and visited Jane and Jamie and little Benjamin for breakfast (I took lots of fruit, in part to appease my guilt over eating too much the previous two days!), but also to save Jane the job. Parenthood really really suits them - little Ben is adorable, and they seem really happy. Jane has been mingling with some local mothers and seems to be really enjoying this new aspect to her life.



I left them at about 11am to go and meet Nicki in the City for a bit. A bizarre coincidental meeting with Janine and Simon occurred in H&M - very surreal, they looked up at the escalator as I came down it and we all literally did a double-take! Isn't life weird like that sometimes? Anyway... Janine seemed well (had a bit of a crick in her neck), and was going to an interview today as a 'community health officer' or something? Anyway... it sounds like a great opportunity for her, and I hope she gets it. After a quick dash around the shops, I went back to Nicki's for Sunday lunch. She and Carlos excelled themselves and cooked a delicious meal - slow roast lamb, and all the trimmings, followed by a gorgeous Tiramisu made by Nicki's fair hands... lovely.

In the evening I went home, cleaned my car and Mark's Dad turned up for an hour or so. We got an early night as Mark had had a bad day at work and was tired.

Gow another busy week lined up... sigh! Tonight I am going to the gym with Lynn, and then heading straight over to Sophie's for dinner and chat. Tomorrow I have football... and am hoping at some point to see Mark alone!

Anyway... onwards and upwards!
Lots of love to you all
Hayley
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A Few More of My Favourite Things...

Just a little Easter update for you all. Had some good news on my return from the Easter break - my old University friends Diane and Edwin had a new addition to their family a couple of weeks back - a gorgeous little brother for Grace, beautifully named "Henry Ellis Dyke" (not that I am biased about the name Henry at all! ;-) Congratulations to all of you - I couldn't be more pleased (and you can see from this picture that little Grace is looking pretty chuffed too!).

 

I also want to extend big Easter greetings to little Helena and her gorgeous cousins (and of course to the rest of the Bris-vegas crew) - LOVED the Easter picture, Lena.

Also, a big shout out to little Eloise (Jean and Damon's little girl, who is now a rather gorgeous blonde 2 year old)...

And little Benjamin (Jane and Jamie's little one)... who I am looking forward to having breakfast with on Sunday.

And last, but by no means least... Adele and Jamie's little girl Ella... hope you are feeling better this week my flame haired lovely!

You are all gorgeous, and I love keeping up with all of you...

Lots of love
Aunty Poo Poo
xxx

Glædelig Påske! Kylle Kylle!!!

The first bit is "Happy Easter" in Danish... the second bit (my fave) is apparently how one would "beckon over a chicken"... "Kylle Kylle...". There are even beers (pictured here) that are named after this bizarre chicken call. I will remember it next time I want to beckon over a Danish chicken! ;-)

I had a lovely weekend in Denmark visiting Sofie and Jean. I had to get up at silly o'clock on Good Friday morning (torrential rain, and freezing wind in the UK that morning - lovely for a drive down the M11 at 4:00 am...), but it was rather nice as arrived in Copenhagen nice and early in the morning. Sofie took me straight from the airport to a rather splendid brunch in a restaurant on the "wrong side of town", just behind the main train station. It kind of reminded me of Soho in London, a down beat but terribly fashionable area. The brunch was delicious as ever... and way way way too big. It makes the English breakfast look like a small starter, and is way more beautiful to look at! We caught up with each other for a couple of hours, got given some dead tulips by an Arab flower seller, and made our way back to Sofie's cosy flat by way of the off licence and bakers...

Good Friday evening was spent eating "Boller I Karry" with Sofie and Jean (the Danish meatballs in curry sauce that I love so much), drinking Kylle Kylle beer and Red Wine, eating Haribo sweeties, and watching the Danish (yet strangely understandable) X-Factor, followed by American Pop Idol - which in some ways was less understandable. I have decided that when slightly tipsy, I can understand more Danish than American. Perhaps there is Viking in my East Anglian blood after all! ;-)

On the Saturday, it snowed a little in the morning (nothing like the snow that Mark witnessed in Cambridge on Saturday and Sunday), and Sofie and I headed out to an out of town shopping centre called "Fields" (the Danish equivalent of Blue Water or Lakeside). This was great fun. We ate nachos in the food hall, and generally spent the entire day going from shop to shop, disagreeing mainly on clothes... apparently I favoured the "Russian Prostitute" looks (news to me!), and I thought that Sofie was in danger of reaching middle age before her time. I think that we managed to meet in the middle a handful of times, and I managed to buy a very Danish scarf that I was rather taken with and some lovely Pilgrim jewellery (a gorgeous coral coloured necklace and some earrings that Sofie managed to get me for free). Sofie also bought me a rather gorgeous blue and white plate for our Welsh Dresser - since this is going to be our new collection.

On Saturday evening, Jean took the three of us out for a wonderful and very 'posh' Italian meal at the Ristorante Firenze. I thought it was glorious, yet Jean and Sofie found it to be sub-standard to their usual Italian restaurant, which was closed for the Easter period. I had a delicious sausage and spinach ravioli to start, followed by a gorgeous roast rack of lamb with nice veggies, and delicious ice cream. All washed down by a good quality bottle of wine between the three of us, and a small glass of delicious dessert wine. Very civilised! However... rather lamely, none of us could move after the meal - and we abandoned a night of pubbing and clubbing in favour of going home, drinking a nice cup of tea and getting in bed with the cats... ahhhhh... its so nice to get old! ;-)

On the Sunday, Sofie and I got the bus across town to try and snaffle out a flea market - taking in a rather large brunch on the way. The flea market was fascinating (in an old warehouse) - I love seeing the history of another country laid bare! Its always so different to our own - even if that difference is quite subtle. We tried to pop in to see Sanne and Sebastian, but unfortunately she was out - would have loved to see what little Sebastian is like, since his imminent arrival was discovered when Sofie and Sanne came to visit me in Norwich more than two years ago now. Sofie and I then took a tube down to the harbour, and had delicious apple cake and hot chocolate in one of the eateries there... and then we made our way home for one last glass of wine and one last serving of meatballs (the leftovers from Friday). As usual, I was sad to be going home when they dropped me at the airport :-( and even sadder when I got home to the freezing cold UK weather that I had dressed for in Denmark!

Bank Holiday Monday seemed to come and go very fast. I did some cleaning in the morning and caught up with John (Mark was working all weekend - and in fact his Dad had stayed the entire time, spending time with Mark in the evenings). At lunch I headed over to the footie ground and worked the turnstiles until half time. Poor footballers had to play in snow storms - not pleasant, although we managed to get yet another draw out of it. After wards we had a couple of drinks in the bar, a couple in the Railway Vue pub, and then a couple more at home while I cooked Lentil Dahl for dinner. Paul and Alison popped in to watch a Cambridge Utd match on our Setanta Sports box, and John stayed the night. I didn't feel well, but put it down to too much beer/wine.

The next day I felt worse. My head was splitting all day, and found it difficult to be even vaguely pleasant to anyone. I ended up going to bed very early and watching a DVD ("Walk the Line" - fabulous!). As it has turned out, I was fighting a virus. I now have a rather beautiful rash, which is apparently a sign that the virus is in its last throes... lets hope I feel better for the weekend! Last night we went to the pub quiz with Lynn and John, and managed a rather splendid 26 and a half points out of appx. 40... which is really good for Mark and I, but a bit more disappointing for our Quiz experts Lynn and John! Heh...

I have a busy weekend lined up as ever! Mark is working again unfortunately (although he will start to come round to his off times soon), and I am heading to London tomorrow to work - with the intention of staying at John and Rich's house in Bexley for the night, and for the day on Saturday. Am really looking forward to it - a long held plan that keeps getting cancelled for one reason or another! On Sunday, I am planning breakfast with Jane and Jamie and little Benjamin, and then lunch with Nikki and Carlos - and I get to see their new 'bling' kitchen! Should all be good...

Anyway. Hope you are all well and had a good Easter,
Lots of love to you all
Hayls
xxxx

Kelp Help

Ok ok... so I am grasping at straws here! Apparently, Kelp is the answer to all my problems. My sluggish metabolism... my lack of hair growth... all will be solved in a matter of weeks with the addition of kelp tablets in my daily routine. Expect me to be a size 8 with hair down to my ankles (or just ON my ankles?) by the end of the month! Watch this space...

(Apparently a lack of iodine can slow your metabolic rate - and Kelp can sort it out!).

Yours, forever hopeful
Hayls
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Twin Peaks

Forgot to mention that my very very very good friend Jen is having twins (if I haven't mentioned it before!). I must confess to being slightly jealous - for me this would mean an instant family all in one hit! Although, having witnessed my sister giving birth, I am not sure of the logistics of "spitting" out two... what if they both made a dash for the entrance at the same time?!? ... heh - sorry Jen. ;-)

Check out her daughter's blog for some amazing pictures of the babies in utero... its amazing that Helena can write so eloquently at her age! ;-)
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Step Back in Time...

Well. Its been a bloody busy couple of weeks - what with football, netball, the gym and various parties etc... Perhaps a little run down of the kind of stuff I have been up to might be in order!

Not this last weekend, but the one before I attended a party for an old friend of mine close to Cheam in Surrey. I haven't been to the area for some years (freaky in itself), but I also haven't seen the friend in question for a long long time - we lost regular contact around six or seven years ago. Bizarre considering that she was my bridesmaid, and I was hers circa 1999-2000. Anyway... Sarah (for that is who it is) has had triplets in the meantime - gorgeous kids. Was lovely to see them all, and I really enjoyed the party itself - it was a surprise party, and I was invited by her husband. I must confess that I was extremely nervous beforehand that I would be an unwelcome guest, which didn't appear to be the case!

Anyway... another big nod to my past. I sold dear Jarvis, my little red Fiat Seicento, last week! Sniff.... bless him. I was actually quite perturbed when he drew out of the drive with his new owner - a little Vietnamese guy, who seemed entirely pleasant and even felt guilty about taking my little Jarvis away. I have alot of memories surrounding that car, not least mine and Sofie's trip to Wales in him, my trip to France in him with an unspeakable man, the time I almost killed Jen in him en route to Norwich (shudder), and the time I left the window open by mistake in winter and filled him with snow (again, poor Jen got the brunt of this)! ;-) He has actually been replaced with a rather beautiful blue "Kia Picanto GLAMOUR", so that kind of makes up for it... or "Glamour Puss" as she is more commonly known. God - another lesson - don't name inanimate objects, it causes heartache when you have to get rid of them! ;-)

Football has been keeping me busy in the last couple of weeks - doing some stuff for a testimonial match for one of the players (Neil Kennedy, or Kendo). I have been designing the invites and posters etc... and been trying to drum up support for the match in the locality. I am quite the PR agent these days! ;-)

This last weekend was rather lovely actually. My Sister, my parents and the boys were in Centre Parcs for the weekend - just down the road in Thetford Forest. Also, it was Mark's birthday on Saturday. Unfortunately, Mark worked most of the weekend (well, he did take Saturday afternoon off to watch the mighty Histon FC), but it was nice that I was able to go and join my family for a couple of days of fun in the forest as Tracy managed to get me two day passes. The park is great! Fabulous water slides and pools - how many times did I go down the White Water Rapids with Henry and Tracy?! We also did some bowling (I was my usual crap standard), ate some nice meals out and generally watched the kids enjoy themselves on various play parks etc... It was lovely that Tracy managed to treat Mum and Dad to that weekend away - a real tonic for them all. I can't recommend it enough for families - we barely scratched the surface in terms of the number of activities you could do there!

I went home Saturday night to cook a birthday dinner for Mark and his Dad (lentil dhal was Mark's choice!), which went rather well. I bought Mark a tele-converter for his camera (??!!)... which he seemed rather delighted with, and I got him a couple of sports photography books to help him with his new career as the photographer for the footie club... Lord Snowdon eat your heart out ;-) Yet again, Mark's birthday was another milestone for the family, so we didn't over celebrate. His Dad has not seemed so good in the last couple of weeks, which has been a big cause for concern. Perhaps some counselling might be in order.

The kitchen is ALMOST getting there... we are just waiting on some granite work surfaces to be fitted by our Estonian friends, and Mark has to do the tiling once that is in place. We bought a gorgeous antique welsh dresser off Ebay last week (this was the picture from Ebay), and had it delivered. An absolute steal at £200. It really sets off the kitchen! When it is finished I will take some photographs and stick them on Flickr. I am still getting used to having so many cupboards at my disposal. I must say though that I am wondering how I EVER did without a dishwasher?!!

I am looking forward to this coming weekend very much. Am heading out to Copenhagen for the weekend. Looking forward to a good catch up with Sofie and Jean - and REALLY looking forward to the meatballs she will no doubt cook me. YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...... I was supposed to be seeing CUD on Thursday night (HOW much did I LOVE them in the early 90s!), but considering that my flight is at about 6am on Friday, I think that an early night might be in order. How very adult of me! ;-) It might have been good to see if Youngblood was there with his red flares on and various pieces of string tied in his hair (an old friend from University/Stuart days, who was Cud-bonkers!).

Anyway... speak soon. I might have some piccies in the next couple of weeks that I have taken just recently.

Much love
Hayls
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