This is what happens when you try and get a ‘nice’ photo of your 4 year old heading off to his first day in reception!
Happily, he did go on to smile nicely for me – you can see the ‘good’ photo here!
Right place, right time
Around this time every year I find myself thinking about the summer of 2003. I had just graduated from Swansea Uni and me and my best friend had decided to stay here for a year, see what jobs we could find and generally see what the next year brought us.
Finding ourselves in quite urgent need of work, we both headed to the temp agencies in town and signed up. The first job that came up was a temp job with Lloyds bank. They were taking on a ton of young people to process all the applications for student bank accounts that were coming in over the summer, and we were among the lucky ones selected to be part of the fun!
The job actually wasn’t that bad, and we met a great group of people that really helped ease us into life outside of University. And among that group of people, who I met on my very first day in that job, was my future husband.
It took about 3 months, my break-up with my uni boyfriend (his doing, not mine, and by text by the way, very classy!) and talk of me and Jo moving to London for Steve and I to start going out. A few months after that we were living together.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
I really do believe that things happen for a reason, and that people come into our lives at the right moment. It never crossed my mind when I walked into that temp job 12 years ago that I would meet my future husband that day. That the man I would have children with, and spend my life with, would be in that room. That my whole life would never be the same.
But I tell you what, I’m damn glad I took that job!
Have you had a moment in your life where you’ve ended up at the right place, at the right time? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
Someone still needs a nap every day (Wicked Wednesdays)
I looked after my friend’s two kids yesterday, which meant my house was that little bit busier and louder than normal. So Nerys didn’t have a nap at around midday like she normally would. I naively thought she might be able to last till bedtime, but about 2 minutes after sitting down with her dinner she just lay down on the living room floor and went to sleep.
So apparently she really does still need a nap every day!
Not so worried second time around (Wicked Wednesdays)
I never thought I was one of those people who was really bothered by mess, but when Rhys was a toddler I was a bit, well, precious, about him getting wet and mucky.
Second time around though I’m feeling a little more relaxed about it all. So when Nerys climbed up on the Logan stone at the middle of the Gorsedd stones in Singleton Park and got straight down on her knees to splash her hands in the puddles up there, well, I just laughed!
I can see clearly now Lorraine has gone (and my other favourite alternative song lyrics!)
I spent a fair bit of time on netflix while I was breastfeeding Nerys, and after exhausting several series I moved on to trying to find films to watch. One that I came across, that I’d never heard of before, that I actually really enjoyed was ‘I give it a year’. Have you seen it? I really wasn’t expecting that much from it, but found myself laughing out loud several times and have gone back and watched it again recently.
One of the things that really tickled me was the fact that the main female character, Nat, sings the wrong lyrics to songs and it drives her husband absolutely mad. I know that I’ll often sing the wrong words to songs, either intentionally or because I don’t know what the actual words are! My family always sing this version of ‘I can see clearly now the rain has gone’ and it makes me laugh every time!
So, in case you ever get bored with singing the right words all the time, here are my top five misheard/alternative lyrics:“I’m Chris de Burgh and I like it”
I really don’t know if I heard this somewhere or made it up myself, but I always find myself singing these words instead of “I kissed a girl and I liked it”
I really don’t know if I heard this somewhere or made it up myself, but I always find myself singing these words instead of “I kissed a girl and I liked it”
“I travel the world in generic jeans”
This is one from “I give it a year”, when she’s singing along to ‘Sweet dreams are made of this’.
“Gotta love those Starbucks lovers”
I really didn’t ‘get’ this part of Taylor Swift’s song ‘Blank space’, until I read a post that informed me she was actually singing “Got a long list of ex-lovers”! And as it turns out I wasn’t even mishearing it the same way as other people!
“You wash your hair with my shampoo, that’s why I hide it from you”
This one is a real oldy, but I still sing it quite a bit. It was played on Capital radio back in the 90s, and was a parody of “Sweetest taboo”. Love it.
“Here we are now, in containers”
One more from “I give it a year”, this is what Nat sings instead of ‘here we are now, entertain us’. I think I prefer her version!
What song lyrics do you get wrong? I’d love to hear some more!
Why I’m doing the race for life
For years I was really lucky. My life was pretty much untouched by cancer. I knew about it, but it wasn’t something that had really entered my world.
Then slowly, it started to creep in.
Parents lost friends, and friends lost parents.
There have been times where it felt like one report of cancer after another was coming in.
And yet still, so far, I know I’m really one of the lucky ones. My immediate family is still standing.
But the odds are against all of us. It feels like it’s only a matter of time before it worms it’s way further into my life. So I’m doing what little I can for now. I’m running the race for life this weekend, aiming to raise whatever I can to make even a tiny difference.
Along with my sister, my niece and women from all over Swansea I race for life.
I race for everyone we’ve lost.
I race for those who have fought and won.
I race for those who are still fighting.
And ultimately I race for the hope that, one day, we won’t have to fight any more.
If you’re living with cancer and need something to give you a little lift, then you should have a look at the Ellie’s Friends website. They are an amazing initiative, offering free and reduced services to people living with cancer. I’m really proud to be working with them, offering my portrait photography services to people in Swansea.
The love/hate blogger challenge
The lovely Becky from Cuddle Fairy recently nominated me for the love/hate blogger challenge. The challenge is nice and simple; write 10 things you love and 10 things you hate.
It’s a bit like the liebster award in that it’s a chance for our readers to get to know us a bit better and for us bloggers to get to know each other better too.
So, here we go!
10 things I love
1) Chocolate. Milk, white, dark – it’s all good!
2) The first cup of coffee in the morning.
3) The sound of a good storm outside when I’m safe and warm in bed.
4) My husband and my children.
5) My family.
6) Watching my children grow and develop.
7) Photography.
8) The smell of a roast dinner cooking. It reminds me of home.
9) Getting into a bed made up with fresh, clean bedding.
10) Love. As cheesy as that might sound. I just love love.
10 things I hate
1) Rice pudding. It goes back to being made it eat it primary school. I still can’t bear the thought of tasting it.
2) When my fingernails get too long. Puts me in a really weird, bad mood until I can cut them!
3) Mr Bean.
4) The fact that I sat all the way through Das Boot and it ended the way it did!
5) Bullies. Especially adult bullies who really should know better.
6) Spiders.
7) Being woken up from a dream. It leaves me in a weird, spaced-out mood all day.
8) That my husband said all along that ‘How I met your mother’ would end the way it did. I can’t believe he was right!
9) The fact that my laundry basket is only ever empty for about five minutes before it starts to fill up again.
10) Being sick.
Looking at those, they’re quite random lists, and I’m pleasantly surprised about that fact that I found it much harder to come with ten things I hate than things I love!
I’m not nominating anyone in particular, because I have no idea who’s already done this challenge! So if you’re reading this and fancy giving it a go – consider yourself nominated!
