He's electric...

Himself is playing at the Electric Picnic, on all the three nights. Tonight is night two.

I'm working all weekend, selling litres and litres of vodka to the happy people in their wellies.

I still get most of the festival athmosphere, though:

*I see drunk people,
*I stay up most of the night, wake up at funny times when my man finally gets home (so my sleeping patterns get fecked up, which usually happens at festivals)
* I'm surrounded by mud (which Himself brings in in his boots, although thankfully I don't have to walk knee-deep in it)
* I'm so tired in the mornings I feel hungover (without the drinking part, so it comes cheap as well!)
* I eat food only slightly less dodgy than your usual festival-meals (couldn't be bothered cooking for one, and don't really have the time either what with all the thirsty people)

So as you can see, you can get all the benefits of the festivals without even going...
(says Laura, as she eats a slice of cold pizza)

...

So much has happened since the last post... Where to start?

The biggest news is that Junior and his lovely girlfriend had their baby a few weeks ago. A lovely little boy, who is possibly the cutest baby I've seen. Everyone is excited and delighted and all those other things you are when something like this happens.

I finally went to red my e-mails after a loooong time, and there was another nice surprise:
My friend in Finland had sent me a post with the latest news and a couple of lovely pics of her and the baby-belly. Awww... :)

And then there's me. I haven't been doing much lately; just going to work, coming home and going to work in the other place, and then sleeping.
The woman I've been taking care of was taken to the hospital, and I'm going to have a meeting with her sister to discuss possibly going in as more of a full-time carer. We'll see.

Oh, and I'm loving Options hot chocolate at the moment. :) (under 40 calories per portion= great!)

Discovering Ireland (Finally!)

Himself passed his driving test a little while ago and we've been unstoppable since.
I haven't seen much in the past three years, partly because of laziness and "I'll get to see these places eventually"-attitude, partly because of bad public transport.
Now I'm enjoying every moment of it.

On Sunday we decided to go for a drive. It was a strange, rainy day, and nearly nothing was open (as it goes on Sundays), so a little spin was the best way to kill some time.
Himself wanted to show me all the places he goes to with the army, so that I could finally get pictures to go with the stories.
So off we went.

The first stop was Curragh, or "The Red-Brick Desert". It's like an army town, with -you guessed it- red-brick buildings. But before we got there, I saw a very strange sight. "What? How? Himself, slow down!!!"
While digging my camera out of my bag, I kept staring at the sheep. The thing is, for some reason there was no fences, no gates, nothing at all to keep the sheep in. They were happily walking around, free. That's something I hadn't seen before.
Just for the record: I was impressed with the town as well, but didn't want to take too many pics in there, just to be on the safe side.

After that we went to see the place Himself goes to when there's camps or suchlike. We drove up to a place called Cemetary Hill, where we admired the view and said 'hi' to a few more sheep.

Hollywood, Co. Wicklow -style. :)

Went up to the mountains as well. I think the place was called The Wicklow Gap. It was a strange feeling, climbing up towards the clouds. The radio signal went, the fog surrounded us and it felt like we had left the country altogether.
Laala likes the mountains. :)
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Monday we went to Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, to do some shopping.
Happy days.
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I've also been going to the gym for four weeks now. If you told me last year, that I'd start doing that and enjoying it, I wouldn't have believed you. (Also lost about 8 pounds so far, which is a huge plus. Or at least a very positive minus. :) )

And this is how it starts...

Someone had left this plant and moved on.
It was looking fairly rough when we moved in, and I had no plans to do anything about it.
So I pretty much ignored the poor thing for the first few days.

Then the falling leaves and parts turning from green to unhealthy-looking brown melted my heart, and I gave it a pint of water.
Then I started turning it around, so that all the branches would get some of the rare sunlight.
Now I say a few affectionate words to it every time I go to my balcony, and ask if she needs a drink.

I suppose I should've known this was going to happen...

We went into town today, just to buy a few bits and bobs for the flat; clothespegs, ironing board, and similar very rock'n'roll stuff.
Decided to have a look around the poundshop, and found little flowerpots and little growing-kits for different herbs and flowers. I picked up the sunflower one, and as soon as Himself went to meet up with the band he's teching for tonight, I dug out my gardening gloves (which I got for Christmas two years ago, and thought I'd never use) and planted the little ones.

Then I sat down beside them and gave them a talk.

So here we are now.
I'm surprised enough about the fact that I wanted to plant something, never mind the talking part.
The nestmaking-mode is on; I'll better take advantage of it and do some more organizing and laundry.
If you don't hear from me soon, I'll either be staring at my flowerpots, hoping to see some signs of life, or I have fallen into the washing machine! :)

Photo-tag

I was tagged by Alex.
The rules are as follows:
-Open your first photo folder
-Take the 10th picture
-Post that picture and it's story to your blog
-Tag 5 friends

Picasa shows folders from the newest to the oldest (I know you know, but explained it all the same. Ha.), but I assumed it wasn't supposed to be like that. So here's the 10th picture of my oldest and therefore the first folder.

I think I only got my old camera a little while before this picture was taken. So I was taking pictures of anything and everything.
I was in guideschool, and we had to do all sorts of things on top of the normal studies. One assignment was to make up a little play for a group of veterans who regularly stayed at the campus. We needed to include music, dance and some interactive bits.

So we decided to make a "Trip around the world". I think we "went" to China, Italy, somewhere in Africa and finally back home to Finland.
This picture is taken during the preparations. One of the tribemembers is admiring her lovely, freshly painted face. You can also see one of the very stylish skirts* at the background.

*A few binliners were harmed during the making of this play.
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I'm not going to tag anyone, because I'm in no mood for complaints.
So take it and enjoy. Or don't. :)

Five more minutes...

There hasn't been much time to recover from all the moving -stuff. I've been doing more here, than I've done in months, which is great. My body wakes me up at around ten the latest, so I get to enjoy the light. But I think I shoud've had at least one big sleep-in after all this. And looks like it's finally starting to show.

I got up extra early today, to go to the other workplace. I had arranged to go to the clinic with my new boss, wait for her and make sure she gets home safely. We announced our arrival and sat down in the waiting room. Soon the nurse came in, all sunny and friendly, and I was introduced to save confusion. I look up from under my hat (OK, so I didn't brush it in order to get five more minutes of sleep, sorry!) and the nurse looks at me in horror.

"Gosh, are you OK? You're looking so teary-eyed. Are you worried or something?"
I said something about tiredness, she looked like she doesn't believe me, but took my boss with her anyway. I quickly occupied myself with a magazine from last October, just in case she'd decide to come back and hand me leaflets for support-groups for carers or suchlike. Bless her.

We had a laugh about it afterwards while waiting for the taxi.
But I might just organize myself a little pampering night in tonight, just to be on the safe side... And while I couldn't be bothered with make-up in the morning, I might just brush my hair tomorrow before our next adventure!

Home sweet home

We have pretty much settled in and the place is starting to feel like home.
I spent the first few days cleaning; First in the old flat, then in here and after that I went and cleaned up at the other workplace.
While scrubbing the cupboards here I thought about the big questions of life, like:

-Why would someone buy lots of little glasstables which aren't actually tables at all, but 'candleholders' ?
- Does anyone actually own that many candles?
-Who took the pairs of most of my socks during the move? Did the little guy who steals them from the washing machine expand their business to cover moves as well, or is it someone else?
-Why would anyone think the next person moving in is going to want their empty jars and bottlecap-collection?

I still haven't found the answers.
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Remember when I said we got a bit of sunshine?
Well, that little bit lasted for a week. So we've been basically living in the balcony.
The shops were sold out of charcoal and cheap sunblock, and there were thousands of barbeques across the country.
We had a little BBQ on Tuesday instead of a traditional housewarming.
Then on Friday we were invited over to AG's house for another one.
(Two BBQs in a week is quite wimpy; some dude we met said he had attended 5 during the sunny stretch)

Yummy... :)


I've also done something I never thought I'd do:
I've gone to the gym twice. My arms ache, my abs ache, my legs are stiff... but I feel so happy!
Now if I could just manage to keep the motivation up...

Sneak preview

As you can see, we are finally having a bit of sunshine!
I take it as a good omen, since today is also the day our move really started. We got the keys, and went to check the place out without the running commentary of the estate agent.

And I've already told Himself I'm taking over this balcony. The little corner with a bit of light is so going to be my territory!
My mind is already flying into plans of barbeques and nursing the little rosebush back into health. But we're not quite there yet. So I better go and continue packing. I'm hoping to be off from work tomorrow, so that we'd get everything done...

We're both tired, but the general mood is good. Himself is cooking and singing, and I might just let out the little tune that is playing in my head as well... "Lovely day, lovely day..."

My week in pictures

I hope you understand why I've been pretty much out of bloggy-action in the past few days...

I found a dress to wear to the thingy on Monday.
My facial expression wasn't very ladylike, so I left the whole thing out.
Handy that...

The county organized a civic function in honour of the Blizzards, for their work in music and carrying the county's name around Ireland and abroad... (I was thinking aloud, and Himself's comment was: "Straight to Hell?") They got scrolls and pats on the back, we got free glasses of wine and some cheese on sticks. Hooray! And, of course, we got to witness a bit of history in the making.

And once we recovered from that, it was back to business. Mainly packing. The lady in the charity shop was very happy to see me arrive with the two bags above. I think I'm her new best friend... :D

Most of my life in seven boxes.
My drums look like a giant cake, stacked up like that... Mmmm, cake...
Sorry about that, packing makes me hungry. I better have some dinner, before I run into the corner and start nibbling the drumskins.
See you later! (The next time I might be writing from the new HQ)

I'm no Cinderella...

Got my eyes tested yesterday! And I'm getting glasses for reading and other similar activities. I'm not surprised, because I used to wear a pair before. I'm, in fact, quite happy.
They told me I could pick them up today, so I woke up extra early (9.20 am, my personal record lately...). And they told me they had to order something in and it would take a few days. Boohoo.

We visited Himself's parents yesterday and exchanged travel stories. I think I'm starting to learn how to deal with my mother-in-law-to-(hopefully)-be... Yippee! :)

I should start packing, since I have all this extra time in my hands... On the other hand I should really find a dress for tonight. What do you wear to a "civic function"? Argh... With my today's luck in all things glassy, I'll steer away from the glass slipper option anyway. Any other tips and suggestions will be welcomed!

Patter of little paws

I've been babysitting two quite hairy babies since Tuesday. Himself's parents are away, and our help was needed with the dogs. Today is the last day, and I don't want to leave the dogs!

The newer addition to the family just landed on their doorstep one day over two years ago and stayed. We all believe he must've been treated badly in his previous home. Poor fella is scared of lights, noises and isn't too fond of strangers either. For some reason he liked me straight away, and we've been great buddies ever since.

I started teaching him all the tricks in Finnish a little while ago, and he already knows that istu means "sit", maahan means "down" and he also shakes my hand when I say either Hei! (Hi!) or tassu (paw). I was talking to my dad and laughed, that the dog is the only person who understands me. In all fairness though, I sometimes use little bits of bread or other treats when teaching the dog, and Himself gets nothing (except for praise) when he learns a new word... So I can't really blame him.

Maybe I'll make some lasagne for the next teaching sesson.
Have to go and have breakfast. And talk to the doggies.
(Also have to pay the rent, try to get hold of the estate agent, sign the new contract and do another ten or so washes... But don't want to think about it. :) )

Under pressure

We decided to take the apartment on the quieter, more secure area.
(Somehow seeing broken windows while viewing a place isn't the kind of thing that makes you want to move.)

Himself is doing army-things at the moment, so it has been my job to organize everything. I've managed to get references from work and printed out a bank statement, got our passports copied and paid the deposit. I met up with the estate agent who deals with our current place, found out about getting back this deposit and called the electricity company about a strange bill and also moving our account to the new address.

Lin wrote about banks gone bad; my experience with the electricity place was nearly as horrible. I found the bill, dialed the number. Instead of a person, I got hold of a machine.
"Please enter your account number". Ok, that was handy enough.
"Your account number is xxxxxxx." Thanks, I know. "Please dial 1, if this is correct."
At this point I'm getting worried, that my credit is about to go, so I'm delighted to hear the machine tell me: "I will connect you to someone who will help you" , which, of course, they don't do.

I had to go through thousands of options and press one so many times, that the number on the button faded a little. And when I was about to explode, the machine very politely tells me:
"You are being connected. Please note that this call may be recorded for customer service training purposes." Customer service? Really?

Firstly, I listened to the machine 99% of the call's duration. I don't concider that customer service.
And secondly, I think it has nothing to do with customer service training. I think the mention of recording is there to stop people like me saying things they might regret, in their rage caused by "Please push one if you ever want to get the chance to talk to one of our real, live employees".

Had to get that out of my system. This is why I usually make Himself do these things.
Next time no excuse is going to work.
I can just imagine the conversation:

Himself: "But I have to make sure these people can swim before we bring them to the lake!"
Me: "They'll be grand, just call the damn agent!"

Ok, so maybe I just have to deal with the next two weeks by myself.
Thankfully I don't think there's any more phone calls to be made. The rest I can manage. :)

Finally, maybe, hopefully

A while ago I wrote about wanting to move, and I think the time has finally come.
We've been looking at ads for flats for a few days, and viewed two of them over the weekend. They were both two-bedroom places, and both lovely. But I think we've made a decision.
And I think the place is pretty much ours; all we have to do now is to get the chance to ask a few questions and sign the rental agreement.

...And talk to our current landlord/agency. Not looking forward to that, but it has to be done.

I hope everything goes well, I'm just so excited about the thought of having more space. Obstacle courses are fun, but the novelty wears off if you have to complete one every time you want to plug in your computer or simply go and sit down on an armchair.

I'm trying not to get too excited though, since my experiences with agencies haven't been the best in here. But I woke up this morning from a dream about lovely apartments and my brain was in an overdrive staright away... "What do I need to do first when we move? Clean up the balconies... oh, I'd love to plant some parsley...have to figure out where to put the drums..."

I'm hopeless.
We'll see how it goes. And I'll try to keep my head firmly focused on todays meal, finding dry socks (it was raining the whole day yesterday = about a hundred sock-changes) and going to work.

Milan, part 3 (The food, finally! :) )

Simply: The food was amazing!
I thought I'd had good pizza and pasta before, but I was wrong.


We found this nice little place called The Kitchen. And went there twice. The service was good, food was out of this world and quite inexpensive.

The picture isn't the best, because I was too hungry to concentrate on photography, but that's my new favourite thing; Pizza Rucola. It'll definitely be part of my last meal, when the time comes!

I get a little hungry just thinking about it, so let's move on...







Himself's calzone. He looked pretty happy eating it, so I'll assume it was nice as well.

It might be a while until we have pizza in Ireland. The problem is, that we're not allowed to have wood-burning ovens here. So even a good pizza is always missing that little something.

The pastas were lovely as well. The whole trip really inspired me with cooking. All the fresh ingredients, the simplicity of the dishes and the tastes...
Himself is now fighting a one-man-battle against badly cooked pasta, trying to figure out the best times, temperatures and that extra little bit of love that are needed for the perfect texture.



The ice cream was everywhere. You could be sure to find a ice cream shop in any street and the selection was just mind-boggling; The usual chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, banana, and then everything from tiramisu to green apple and pineapple.

And man, do they like their ice cream! It seemed to be mostly grown-ups who were enjoying these treats, and the shops stayed open until late.

So a nice cone of your fave flavours is a must. :)









And finally: The Bread.

Yes, I am one of those freaky people, who absolutely adore bread.
Little slices of pizzabase for starters, with rucola and cherrytomatoes, dosed with olive oil.
Gorgeous, chewy sourbread to eat with the pastas and use for mopping up the sauce...

Give me any bread, I'll eat it. :)

So now you understand why I had to take a picture of this little display.

Milan, part 2

On the next day we walked to the main cathedral, Il Duomo.
I didn't have my long-sleeved shirt with me, so we ended up walking around it and admiring the beautiful buildingwork.
The pictures really don't do it justice, it really is an amazing place.

Il Duomo

We had some lunch and went to the Natural History Museum, which we had spotted earlier. Spent a good while looking at stuffed animals, sea-creatures and dinosaur bones. And it was only 1,50 with a student card.

Natural History Museum

On Sunday we armed ourselves with lots of clothes and took a different route towards the Cathedral.
This time we actually got in, had a look around and saw a bit of mass. Even I was nearly moved to tears.

We ended up in a pretty square, but thought it was just another square. Then we turned our heads, noticed a building on our right and I focused my eyes on a poster that said something about opera. Our thoughts got confirmation when two Italian ladies asked Himself to take a picture of them in front of.... La Scala!

We were delighted to see a sign saying "Theatre Museum". And in we went.
It was filled with deathmasks, paintings, stage jewellery and all sorts of interesting bits and bobs.
My favourites were a portrait of Pavlova and Pavarotti's stage costume from the eighties.

La Scala

Himself had noticed a place called Forza on the map, so we decided to try and find it. We knew it was a castle, but didn't quite know what to expect. We fortified ourselves with a doughnut from a street-vendor's stall and soon saw the main tower in the distance.
We had had quite enough of museums for the day, so we just walked into the inner yard of the castle and walked around it. Then we copied the locals and chilled out sitting on the grass for a while, watching the lizzards which were the castle's only occupants these days. Them, and cats. (Lin: One of the cats instantly reminded me of Hobbes. But don't tell that to him, or he'll want a castle built around his kitty-basket as well...)

Forza

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Yesterday I spent four hours at work cleaning fridges. Oh, to be a lizzard in Forza...

Milano, part 1

I have to do this in parts, partly because trying to put up more than four pictures at a time would be too much for my modem, partly because there was so much to see, I have to go to work soon and won't have time to write about it now. But I'm back and it's all back to normal. I was working yesterday, working in the other place this morning and going again.
---------------------------------

Everything went smoothly. Himself's dad drove us to the airport in the morning. We thought we were going to be late, when we saw the line of people in front of us, but were just fine in the end. The flight was in Milan early, we got a bus to the centre as soon as we got out of the airport and the sun was shining even though it wasn't even noon. Lovely.

Himself posing in front of the Central Station

We nearly strained our necks during the journey, looking at all the buildings. We got our first display of Italian hospitality as soon as we hopped of the bus; this fella helping people with their luggage stopped what he was doing and guided us all the way to the tourist information. He even greeted us by name when he passed us later on. I was delighted, because Italians pronounce my name the same way we do in Finnish. (Irish people just can't do it, so I don't hear my name "right" that often, it really was a treat)

The entrance hall to the Central Station

Ok, so there's a lot of pictures of the station. But it's a good example of the architecture in the city: Huge, impressive and beautiful. And a handy landmark, because you can see it from most streets.

We headed to the info point, got a map and made our way to the hostel. The receptionist was really nice, and let us book in early. Hotel Arno is the name of the place, in case you're ever going to Milan and are happy with "cheap and cheerful" accommodation. (Try to arrive during the day, if you want a really warm welcome; The night porter was a bit on the dry side...)

This is the ceiling above the platforms

We changed our clothes, slipped on some flipflops and went exploring. We didn't get too far on the first day, just walked around and took in the views and got familiar with our surroundings.

A "little" statue on top of the station

I have to go and get ready for work, but I'll continue this in a while.

3...,2...,1... GO!

So I found my bag today. I also had to wake up early and meet with the evil people in the welfare office. And go to my workplace to drop off forms. And make dinner, charge batteries, work and pack.

And none of this dampens my mood because I'm SO EXCITED!!! Even my computer was in a good mood today, and decided to work while I printed out our boarding passes. Well, after the fifth try. But it did. It's a miracle! Good old computer must be happy to have a few days off. Probably planning a party with Himself's laptop and too preoccupied to annoy me. Either way; Happy days!

I'm waiting for Himself to come home from the end-of-year concert thingy. And then we're off to the capital. And later on in the morning into the airport. Meeting up with JC's mate and possibly having a breakfast date before the flights.

I didn't pack much, but I have my camera. So I'll be busy taking pictures for the next few days.
I'll see you on Tuesday! :)

Can't wait....

My internet connection is giving me a headache.
Now I don't seem to be able to comment on blogs with pop-up comment boxes. My modem looks at me, gives me an evil grin and goes on holidays. Disconnecting, re-connecting, shouting and crying have all been tried, and all the methods have failed. Blaah.
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I had my first day in my second job yesterday. I got a call, happened to be off and went in. Worked for a few hours; Did the shopping, cleaned the kitchen and the bathroom. It was great, the time flew and she asked me to come in again next week. And I got a big hug as I was leaving. :)
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We went to Longford yesterday. JC's friend is over from England, and we got invited for a little spin. Had the worst indian in my life, but got to add a new town into my map. Great! :)
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Last but not least:
I'm getting so excited about going to Milan!!!
I actually find it hard to get to sleep, because I keep thinking about the architecture and the food. Mainly the food... :D

There's so much to do... I haven't even decided what I'm going to pack and I need to find something to pack it into. I still have tomorrow, so no stress.
It's going to be our first proper trip together. We've been to Finland twice, but that doesn't count because it's my homeplace. And we were in England once, but Himself has been in there so many times it wasn't really exciting for him. This is going to be the first time in Italy for both of us.

I wish it was Friday already!

Superstating

Have you seen P.S. I love you? I (unfortunately) have.
I loved the book, read it in two languages, about 50 times and cried a little bit every time.
We went to the cinema (a good while ago now) and Himself packed his pockets full of tissues (for me, not him).
In we went and--- NOT ONE TEAR!
Instead I felt cheated; The movie didn't have much to do with the book. The location had been changed, the characters were as deep as a puddle on the pavement and your man couldn't do an Irish accent (and him being Scottish and all...)
The thing I found really funny, though, was the way they showed Ireland as countryside, green hills and not a town in sight. I was actually expecting a leprechaun to pop up and do a jig.
Anyway. There was a pub in the movie called Whelan's. And of course the moviemakers decided to relocate it to the sticks.
The pub is alive and well, but is actually in the middle of Dublin. Which is a city. So no sheep grazing outside the main entrance or old men in wellies sipping their pints of Guinness.

Ok, this does have a point.
Saturday was my first time in Whelan's.
I usually try to stay out of Dublin, as the place stresses me out and makes me extremely grumpy. And I wasn't supposed to go this time either, nope. I was planning to stay comfily in my hometown, and go see The Aftermath singlelaunch. I even had my nice invite and everything. But it wasn't meant to be.
So I gave my ticket to my bosses kids and off we went, me and the other Laura.

This was the support band, Hogan. Absolutely brilliant band, great energy and Mark is turning into one of my favourite frontmen in the country. He reminds me an awful lot of Dave of the Dave's radio fame. Hmmm... Anyway, extra points from the drummer, who is just something else. (Himself hates his hat, but agrees on the skills department)

And here's Superstate again. The engagement of the bassplayer was the main topic of conversations that night.

And here's Himself, who was the guitar tech on the night, sang backing vocals and played keyboards on a few songs. What can't he do?

It was sooooo good to get home on Sunday and have a proper cup of tea. It might be a good while until I try hanging out in the capital again....

Oh yeah, the boy can play...

Guess who was playing in the pub next door last night?

Do you recognize the fella on the left?
...If you don't, not to worry.

Himself picked me up from work last night
and told me JC (The gentleman in a very stripy shirt) had a little job for me.
He had somehow managed to get hold of John Illsley, and got him to play
last night's gig with him and Greg.
Before last night name Illsley wouldn't had said anything to me,
now I know he is the former bassplayer of Dire Straits.
You learn something new every day. :)

Himself got to play a song as well.
Sultans of Swing, indeed.

One of the more interesting nights...

More work? Thanks!

I had what's possibly the nicest job interview in my life yesterday.

I was at work when my phone rang and since there wasn't any customers, I answered. It was Himself's friend, who was asking if I could call in and talk to her mother about doing some housework for her aunt and keeping her company a few hours a week.

So I asked my boss if I could leave on time and was picked up from work by The Big Man.
I was a bit nervous, and thankful that I was wearing semi-smart clothes. Landed in, sat down and just chatted away. And it looks like I'll be taking on a second job in a few weeks time.
We agreed to see how we get on, before setting any particular days or hours. I'm actually quite excited...

Happy days. :)

Nature's fashion show, Spring/Summer 09

So my computer wasn't up to the whole blogging thing yesterday. We'll try again and see what happens.

The last two days have been miserable weatherwise; constant rain and hailstones.
The hailstones started the car alarms, surprised people who tried to go for walks and nearly destroyed the cherryblossoms. Thankfully I captured those beauties a few days before.

I think the Japanese are right to celebrate the cherryblossoms. If the trees dressed in their pink finery won't put you in good mood, what will? :) I've been wandering around the town in pure amazement for the past few weeks; Everything has been transformed by flowers and leaves.

This is what I see when I walk out of the door and take a few steps onto the street. The church is the quietest of our neighbours.

The church is a lovely building, but the tree really steals the show at the moment.

I was on some Finnish current affairs site yesterday, and learnt that I'm apparently poor according to some big, important man. But if I have the view of the cherry trees outside my front door, how could anyone think my life is lacking something?

Now there's a thought. :)

Himself made me a cup of coffee and I have a Scrabble move to make before getting ready for work.
I'll see you later!

Tagged, and loving it!

I have been tagged for the first time in blog-landia! I was actually so excited I couldn't even start writing straight away. The lovely person who surprised me with this was Alex. (I'm really hoping the link comes up...)

So I'm now supposed to reveal thirteen things people might not know about me. And I'm finding this quite difficult. Let's try.

1. Most people know how much I like monkeys. What most people don't know, is that I write children's poems about them. It started on a night out, when such thing was needed, and I've continued it ever since.

2. I don't like crowds, and sometimes even panic if I can't move freely. Not being able to get out of a venue makes me break into cold sweat (on a bad day). You wouldn't think that when you see me at gigs.

3. I don't like eating in front of people I don't know well.

4. I insert my nickname for Himself into existing songs, make up silly dances and do stand-up comedy for my one man audience when we're alone. He secretly likes it. :D

5. I often skip and jump in supermarket aisles like a misbehaving child. It's embarrasing for people who go foodshopping with me, but I don't really care.

6. I'm not very ambitious when it comes to work; I don't dream of getting into high position or earning lots of money. I'm quite happy doing what I do most of the time.

7. I don't like the singing voice of a certain person, but go to the gigs anyway.

8. I spend A LOT of time playing Scrabble and other wordgames online, even though I'm not very good at them. I also get a kick out of learning a new word. Yes, one could say I'm a little nerdy. And quite a happy one at that.

9. ...On the other hand I get VERY upset if I don't find the words to say what I want to, especially if someone starts laughing... And I mean ridiculously upset!

10. I used to have not one, but three imaginary friends when I was small. At the same time. :) My mom used to think I was talking to myself.

11. The imaginary friends left years ago. (Or that's what I tell you...) If you see me talking to myself nowadays, it'll actually be just that; me talking to myself.

12. I still love stickers. I buy them and stick them into my calendar. Especially if I've been good. :D (I used to be a nanny, the sticker reward -system stuck. Pardon the pun.)

13. Someone started to talk to me about pirate ships in a pub, and I thought it was one the most interesting conversations of the whole night. I also thought it was perfectly normal and socially acceptable. On the other hand I don't really like the whole "nice weather we're having" -thing. (Although I know it has to be done occasionally)

So there we are.
A little bit of random and honestly, quite useless information about me.

I'd like to tag
Yaya
and
Kel
and see what happens. :)

Music WAGging

Myself and The Other Laura went to see our boys play on Thursday.
The venue was a small pub this time, so it was all nice and intimate.

I love this pic of the two of them;
You can see the hint of laughter in her face.

And this is Himself,
playing bass for a change.
Awwww...

Movienight in pics as the last service from my old companion

Turns out my old camera works occasionally, whenever it feels like it. What a diva.
You have to take out the battery, the card and blow into them.
Then Lady Casio works for about 10 minutes/5 pics.
Anyone else with experiences of windpowered cameras?

Himself remembered he had forgotten the DVD at the gate of Big Man's house.
Thankfully the drinking hadn't started yet, and the boys drove to get it.
As you can see, some drinking might've been done afterwards...

After the movie, and a few beverages, The Other Laura
(Yes, that's my name, by the way. Laura. Nice to meet you, finally! :))
dug out a scrabble board. The boys were fit to sleep at this stage.
As you can probably judge by the words, we should've probably
left the game to another day... It was fun though!


Oh, I bought a new camera today... Can't wait to play with my new toy! :)