Duracell bunny day

Some days I wake up in the morning and it seems a huge effort just to get out of bed. Doing the simplest of household chores feels like a titanic struggle and all I want to do is curl up under the duvet and sleep. Other days, I wake up feeling like the Duracell bunny on speed. The mammoth list of tasks on the to-do list is surprisingly achievable, the flat is amazingly clean and tidy and the mountain of work is reduced to a molehill in no time at all. Why can’t every day be a Duracell bunny day?

Triumphs and taps

We seem to be having a bit of a lucky streak in the pub quiz over the last few weeks – winning the quiz again tonight for the third time in four weeks (without a tie-break this time which was even better!) Michael also won £10 in the raffle after the quiz so a good night all in all. It was also tap night - slowly, but surely the routines are coming together which is just as well as we have been told that our exam will be on 22nd November. Hopefully I’ll get to grips with the routines by then!

Lessons from marriage

Things I have learnt about marriage:

1) Changing your name does not mean you are no longer part of your own family and have instead become assimilated into your spouse’s family like being assimilated into the Borg collective.

2) Any implied comparison between your in-laws and the Borg collective is unlikely to improve your relationship with them and may offend your spouse.

3) Marriage requires give and take. Some days you will feel like you are doing all the giving and will be afflicted with amnesia regarding any times when you have taken. Your spouse will remind you of them.

Lindsay & Dave's wedding

It was almost like having two weddings in a day. A register office ceremony, followed by lunch; then a church blessing and the reception. I felt like a Disney princess in my pretty bridesmaid dress (possibly the nicest bridesmaid dress I have ever had apart from the ones my mum made!). Lindsay and Dave looked blissfully happy, the sun shone and it was just beautiful. There were a few extra nice touches – the build-a-bear workshop for the children at the reception and the bride’s first dance with her dad before she danced for the first time with her new husband.

Wedding mornings

My friend Lindsay is getting married today and I will be one of her bridesmaids which I’m feeling very excited about. The last time I was a bridesmaid was two months before my own wedding and in all the excitement of getting ready, I couldn’t help thinking that soon it would be me getting married. Today I am once again remembering my own wedding morning, the excitement and joy of it all. It looks set to be a beautiful day and I hope Lindsay and Dave’s day will be every bit as wonderful for them as ours was for us.

Thoughts from a teashop

Eating breakfast in a teashop with jazz quietly playing in the background and watching the world go by. It somehow seems less hurried than usual, until an irate driver beeps his horn and the illusion of serenity is suddenly shattered. The world is a good place today – or at least my world is! This hasn’t always been the case lately – I’ve been riding the emotional rollercoaster again. In my world today, there is no Ms Hyde, no angst, no frustrations – just peace and serenity, calmness and contentedness. In the stillness, I find myself again and know that I am loved.

Changing seasons

The summer has slipped into autumn, and with the changing season comes the expectation of changes elsewhere in my little world following some rather interesting discussions at work. Like most people, I don’t always like change – it’s much more comfortable sometimes for things to stay as they are – even when things are not quite how you would like them to be in an ideal world, at least you know where you are with them. Things at work seem set to be rather interesting over the next few months, which is a little unsettling but quite exciting at the same time!

The battle between Jekyll and Hyde

I feel like I have been battling Ms Hyde a little more frequently of late. Sometimes I can tell that there is a fight brewing; other times it seems that she sneaks up on me almost before I’ve realised it. I’m learning to recognise some of the triggers but even being aware of them doesn’t always seem to prevent the black mood descending. I keep reminding myself that the emotional rollercoaster always comes to an end eventually and at some point my emotions will get back on an even keel – fingers crossed that they do so sooner rather than later!

Eroding consumer satisfaction

On the whole, the suppliers I used for my wedding were really good, really helped and generally bent over backwards in the run-up to the wedding. Unfortunately, a couple of them were unable to provide goods or services that had previously been agreed and was told they would refund me the cost of these. More than two months after the wedding, I am still chasing them. Their service was excellent otherwise, but despite appearing to be very happy to agree a refund when asked, their evasiveness now on providing it has completely eroded my positive opinions of their customer service.

Missing the muse

There are people who just seem to have been born with the gift of being able to write and make it interesting and witty – even their Facebook and Twitter updates are always worth reading. Then there are those of us who want to write, but the muse moved out long ago. The novel stalls a few chapters in and seems immune to attempts at kick-starting it and sometimes even writing just 100 words seems an impossible task. Making myself write regularly is good discipline though so I keep persevering, but wonder sometimes if I ever actually write anything worth reading?