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! :)

Happiness is...swings and cherrytrees

Yesterday turned out to be lovely. I talked to my Dad and got to let out some steam, which was needed.

Himself got home, we had dinner and then got a phone call from JC who asked us to go look for their bassplayer, whose phone had died. So off we went and searched half of the pubs in town. It was the boys themselves who finally located the missing man. It was a good excuse to walk around town and enjoy the sunshine, nevertheless.

We had 99s (I won a small battle against the evil old woman in the shop and got her to put sprinkles on mine. Heehee...) and went to the swings in the park.
Caught the last rays with a pint, sitting outside the hotel.

When it cooled down, we went for a long walk and talked absolute shite for the full hour. I love our little walks, when no-one sees us and we can be as silly as we want to be. Oh, and yesterday was also the second time Himself gave me flowers! He gave me a little cherryblossom when we passed this amazing tree in full bloom. I love wild flowers, not big into shopbought ones, so that really melted my heart. He is a sweetheart, isn't he? :)

So yeah, all's well, and will quite possibly be even better after we eat. We were looking at cameras earlier today, and will probably go and buy one. So hopefully I'll be able to take pics again soon!!! Yippee!!! :)

Tonight we're going to have a movie date with The Big Man and his better half. They're going to Australia soon, and The BM hasn't seen Wolf Creek yet. And surely you can't go to Oz without seeing that and being absolutely terrified? It'll be fun. :)

"One planning permission for our future, please!"

This is the last week of lectures for the better half. And it makes me think what is going to happen next.

Are we going to go back to the days when he had no structure to his days and planning anything was a nightmare? Is it going to be calls about gigs in the middle of a dinner? Struggling to pay the rent?

OR

Is he going to put his tribute band idea into action and start practising? Get a job and start working towards the things we've been talking about?

I've been asking him, and he doesn't seem to be ready to answer yet. So I'll just leave him be and wait and see. In any case, I'd rather see him doing random jobs he wants to do, than working in a supermarket and hating every day of it.

He probably thinks I'm silly. I can't help it, I kinda want to plan the bigger things even just a little bit in advance. And I can't plan if he doesn't, so...

Enough of this! I'll put on some tunes and start cooking.

Soup with shooting stars (and targets)

The reason I haven't been writing in the last little while, is my re-warmed affair, which has finally gotten out of hand. Completely.

I can't stop thinking about my new old love, and find myself wanting to spend every moment of the day with them. I can't concentrate at work, find it hard to fall asleep and walk around with a goofy grin on my face. I think it's love.

Himself is getting sick of listening to me, even though he is nice enough to pretend he doesn't mind. And in a way he's happy because I'm happy again. And at this stage I should probably say, that I'm not getting hot and heavy with some fella I found last weekend. (Himself is a patient man, but not quite that understanding!)
I'm talking about the oldest love of my life: Cooking and baking.

I'm buying new cookbooks, re-reading old ones and changing old recipes to suit my mood. I usually have at least one recipebook with me at work, and I keep making menus for the weeks to come. Yesterday I started baking as soon as I got up. And was a few minutes late from work, because I had to wait for the last buns to come out. Handily enough, I could bribe my boss with homebaked apple pie. :)

I'm trying to balance it out by reading Ann Rule's crime files. It's not working that well, really.
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On Friday we went to see a new local band, who released their first single. Luckily I didn't have to pay for the ticket, as they were fairly average. And we're betting they're probably going to be huge and sell at least gold.
(My theory is, that to become a hit you have to either
a) Make up a name no-one understands/is able to pronounce
or
b) walk around in your underwear/as little clothing as possible
The band mentioned have both things sorted; Definitely hit material!)
--------------------

Himself was shooting on Saturday and came second in the competition! Their team won! I'm always so proud when he does well in those things. I told him there's no coming home without medals of some sort, and he brought back two.
-------------------
I better go and finish making the soup (leek & chickpea, Jamie Oliver's recipe)
Yep, I think I have a new addiction....

The "High on chocolate" -post...

Ok, I have to confess and get it out of the way: I smoked on Sunday. It was a stupid thing to do, after a week without any. I'm quite disappointed in myself. :(
But I'm back to being good and learnt something from it.
---------------

We had our Easter egg hunt yesterday. All that was left in the shops was a bag of tiny Kinder Bueno ones, so that's what I got. Himself very patiently hid nine of them all over the flat; on top of lights, into my make-up basket, into trinket boxes and into the jar of pens. Meanwhile I was laying on the sofa, under the blanket with my eyes and ears covered so that I wouldn't get any clues.
Himself followed me during the search and laughed at me most of the time. Can't blame him, I'd say it was some sight; Me climbing on top of things, jumping up and down to check the tops of the doorframes and lifting and moving every single thing on the tables and windowsills.
I found all of them. Just ate the last two with my tea a while ago.
I think that will turn into a tradition. And next year I'll try to remember to buy the eggs on time.
----------------

We've been watching 80s movies lately. A friend of ours was shocked because I hadn't been educated in the area of 80s films and brought over a huge pile of them. Yesterday we watched Ferris Bueller's day off and Money Pit. And there's still a few to go... And yes, I have to watch them all. Knowing this particular person, there's going to be a pop quiz when we return the DVDs. :)

In search of Easter traditions

I just realised, that we don't have any Easter traditions.

I don't think my family used to do anything special, and Himself's family definitely don't make a big deal of it. But all of a sudden the pictures of lovely lamb dinners made me want to start a new tradition.

Yesterday I tried to tell Himself (half jokingly) that we should think about his soul and not have a drink on Good Friday. His answer was: " I think my soul is pretty much f***ed, living in sin with a protestant." So we called a few friends and had a few cans.

I think we need to go with something non-religious, informal and different with this tradition thing, like...
...Annual Easter egg hunt. Himself can hide the eggs and I'll do the searching and eating part.

Right,I'm off to the supermarket to check the egg situation! Have a happy Easter!

...You know how hard it can be...

Two days of smoke-free life. Cold turkey -style. Not nice.
It's horrible, because I know how bad ciggies are for me. It's like saying goodbye to an old friend, who's been stabbing you into the back. Bad for you, but something you've gotten used to.

I've a headache and a case of annoyance. Which is better for me than the other option, I know.
An interview of John Lennon is playing in the background (I only realised that now, that's where my sub-conscious got the title from). Yoko's comments from the side aren't really helping my mood.

Sorry about this. I'd say the extra-grumpiness will pass soon enough. :)

------------------------
Oh, I love being able to use the oven again. We had "Italian-style Meatloaf" for dinner today. I'm having so much fun trying new recipes and Himself seems to enjoy the outcome.
I was happy, because we didn't need to shop in the supermarket today. Every part of the dinner was fresh and locally produced.
Am I the only one who gets excited about little veggie-shops? :D

Lazy day & movie night

Was feeling a bit sick yesterday, so we're going to take it easy today.
We were planning to have a "movie day", starting first thing in the morning, but there has been a good few visitors today.

Rented out Stepbrothers, Zack & Miri make a p***o and Baby Mama. Fairly harmless stuff, which is just what's needed on a day like this (it's raining, windy and grey, for a change...) Can't wait to get the duvet, some snacks and turn off the lights. And I have a feeling I'll be back to the videostore before it closes, to get Madagascar 2. :)
------------------
I've gotten into baking again, now that the oven is working.
Made a little tea bread (not sure what it's actual name is in English) today, with grated carrot and cheese in the dough. 21 mins, including the baking and eating time. Quick and simple. :)
-----------------
Haven't been good with smoking lately. (I know, bad me...) So I'm going to try quitting again. (No ciggies yet today) The patches made me sick, so couldn't wear them while working. Does anyone have any good tips?

Laala's urban sports (part one) and other stories.

Even the pub next door settled down before me last night, and I wasn't even drinking...

Himself was sitting in on bass with the lads, doing some benefit gig he had forgotten about. He got a call right after I went to work, asking if he was ok for the night. Talk about organized; he had forgotten to put it in his calendar.

So he dropped in and made sure I had my keys and off he went. They left so early we thought it would be an early gig, but I got a text saying they'd be on at 12. Yippee...
I got home after half ten, dropped my bag on the floor and tried to switch on the lights. To find the bulb was still gone. So I sat in the semi-darkness for a few hours with my laptop. Until I finally got so bored, that I decided to risk my wellbeing by walking through the dodgiest neighbourhood in town at 2 in the morning just to get a bottle of Seven-Up from a 24-hour-garage. Every girl needs a hobby, and that's as close to extreme sports I'll ever get.

Got home, sat in the semi-darkness again for a while. Thankfully I had a book to keep me company. (Isabel Wolff's Rescuing Rose)
At half three I got a bit worried and called the better half. He said they'd be leaving soon.
And they got home a bit before five this morning.
I got the full story, with crazy organizers, drunken bikers and the gardai (the cops) arriving to tell the pub to close (way after the closing time, of course). Sounds like their evening was a tad more eventful than mine. All I saw during my walk was a few drunks heading home and young love outside the nightclubs. Oh well...
---------
Himself had a driving lesson again this morning. Mandolin man stayed over, and brought his band's newest album with him. We had a listen to it while Himself was learning the rules of the road. It's always nice to hear new music, and I can't wait for the album to actually come out. I think everyone could do with a bit of Proper order... :)
--------
It's tea time in our household again. Good night!

Dream competitions and slowly starting Saturdays

I must say this is one of the nicer mornings.
We slept for ten hours, woke up refreshed and for once it wasn't raining outside.
When we get the chance to wake up at the same time, we usually exchange dreams. I was preggers in my dream (I have those dreams quite often), so Himself wins the Strangest Dream category. He dreamt that Mark Chapman was after him and his family.

I enjoyed Himself's guitar playing with my morning tea. Then he lost his audience to the world of Blogger and started reading a book about Beatles' gear, while listening to... The Beatles. I wonder if that does any good to the Chapman -dreams?

There's some gigs going in a newly re-opened pub in town. I was way too tired go out yesterday, but thankfully it looks like the lads are getting more work in there. I'll be a good girlfriend the next time...
I read this book called The WAG's diary by Alison Kervin a while ago, and it actually popped into my head last night as I was waiting for my better half to come home. I think someone should write a guidebook to the girlfriends of musicians as well...

Anyway, I better go and get some veggies for the curry.
Can't wait for my day off on Tuesday!

Party's over

And I can finally tell you what the present was.

I gave Himself three envelopes. The ugly, big, brown ones.
The first one said " Happy birthday! Buy yourself something nice and fashionable with this. You're gonna need your fashion sense..." Inside was a giftcard for Penneys. The look on his face; the poor man thought that was it. He composed himself and thanked me very kindly.
Then I asked him, if I should give him the rest of the gift as well, or should we just leave it until later.

He wanted his present, so I handed over envelope number 2. It said something like:
"Does 'Orio al Serio' mean anything to you? No?
How about 'Bergamo'? Not really?
It's ok. That's why I got these from a bit closer to the good old 'Il Duomo'!
In one of the most beautiful cities in... (to be continued...)
Did you guess already?"
This one held the booking papers for a hostel.

Envelope no. 3 said:
"...ITALY!"
"We're going to ________ on the _th of may.
(Can't reveal this kind of info on the envelope)
Oh, and I suppose you're going to need these as well..."
As you probably guessed, these were the plane tickets to Milan.
MILAN! :)

I knew Himself had wanted to go to Italy for ages. He's telling everyone and whispering "Milan..." to himself, so I think he liked the surprise.
A few mates called in yesterday. I made a cake, which went down well. Then we went out and had a good night.
I'm tired. Working in half an hour. Aargh.