... Strictly Come Dancing Live!

On Saturday night Phil took me to see my favourite TV show live. He bought me tickets for Christmas and I have been very excited waiting to go. The show was absolutely fab, just like to the TV show. There were nine celebraties and pro dancers, each competing for the glitter ball trophy. Each dancer did a latin and a ballroom dance, scored by the judges and then the audience got to phone in and vote. As much as I love Darren Gough, on the night I wanted Louisa Litton to win. Goughy won so I wasn't too disappointed. We had a brill night and even though it felt like we were on a Saga holiday, I still want to go next year!

... a weekend with Julie, Sarah and John

Three of my friends came over this weekend from Belfast to visit Phil and I. Sarah and Julie are friends that I have know since I was 15 and are very loved and valued. It was wonderful to have them over to our house for a whole weekend, instead of our usual evening visits to their houses when we're in Belfast seeing my parents. We had a wonderful weekend walking, chatting, playing cards and generally having a good laugh. Thanks guys for making it a special weekend for me.

... Christmas Part II

A few weekends ago Phil and I went over to Belfast to have Christmas with my parents. You might be wondering why we would have Christmas in the middle of January, but this year my parents were in Uganda visiting Jill (my sister) over new year so we didn't get a chance to see them. It was lovely to go 'home' and catch up with Mum and Dad and hear about their travels. We also had a chance to catch up with a few friends which was great.

.... some sorting and tidying

Apart from feeling miserable with the cold, it has been lovely to have a whole week at home. Phil and I have worked fairly hard this week trying to unpack boxes that haven't been opened since we packed them 2.5 years ago in Dundee and generally sorting things out in the house. It has been lovely to be at home whilst on holiday (we're normally off seeing family or friends). Today we went to look for a new mattress in the sales and came home with a new KING SIZE bed and mattress. This is very exciting since the bed we have had for the last 4.5 years of our married life has been third hand. We can now finally get rid of the spare room double bed that I dislike, alot.

We also had some wonderful news this week when my sister-in-law gave birth to her third child. Samuel Brumby Paterson, arrived safely on the 3rd January weighting 10lbs. After two little nieces it is nice to now have a little nephew to spoil rotten!!

... Christmas and New Year

They both seem to have passed in such a blur. The delight at having finished work on the last Friday was amazing and the knowledge that I had 2 whole weeks off work was wonderful. Phil and I headed off to London for Christmas and had a really great time with the whole Brumby/Paterson family. It was lovely just to chat, chill out, and relax with family. Normally we alternate Christmas and New Year with our families, but this year my parents were heading to Uganda to see my sister Jill for New Year so we came home and crashed. We had wonderful plans to go to Glasgow or Whitby but I was stuck down by this wonderful throat infection/flu/cold/constant headache that left me sleeping on the sofa for days. I dragged myself out on New Years eve, having convinced myself I was better and went to the Church Party and then a party with some friends from Church, but the next day I was wiped out again. All I can say is I'm glad I'm not back at work this week!!!

Hope you all had a good Christmas and a Happy New Year.

... Christmas at the office

Christmas is always an exciting time of the year in our office as everyone competes to get the best present from the contractor/QS/engineer, so you can imagine my disappointment/excitement when instead of the usual bottle of champagne or expensive bottle of wine I received this...


The disappointment at receiving a Ram Rocket soon disappeared when I realised it could be a powerful weapon when used against Phil.

So it's Christmas time and the pressies are wrapped and we're ready for a fun filled family Christmas. I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and New Year

... a visit from the in-laws

A few weekends ago we had a wonderful visit from Ali, Michael, Lottie and Hannah. After their last visit we new what to expect so all child unfriendly objects were moved out of reach and sleep was off the agenda. We had a great weekend with Lottie entertaining us from the very start. It's great to have her running round our house and chatting non-stop. We had endless hours of interesting conversations. It's always so much fin to have the Patersons to visit and we are all excited about the arrival of baby 3 in January.

Last weekend Phil and I had our first weekend alone for about 6 weeks. We were so excited that we decided to go to IKEA, I know we're mad. It wasn't as bad as we expected and we got the bookcase for the kitchen that we had hoped for. We crashed out on Saturday night and watched a movie snuggled up under a blanket on the sofa.

We are now getting excited about Christmas and starting to think about what pressies to buy and formulating plans for New Year.

... a wedding and a wee trip up north

Phil and I went to a wonderful wedding a few weekends ago of Phil's old Dundee flat mate, Stuart and his fiance Sharon. Since the wedding was in November we were worried about the weather, but it was a wonderful day. Loads of our friends from Uni were there so it was great catching up with them and some folk who we haven't seen since uni days. I wore, for the first time ever, killer heels and managed to walk on them for most of the day. I'm afraid that by the time of the evening doo I was barefoot.

We spent the rest of the weekend with family and visiting my nanny who is very poorly in hospital. Then on Sunday night we headed up to Portstewart (North Coast of Norn Iron). It was so lovely to get away from digital TV, computers and all the hustle and bustle of life. We had a long walk on the Strand followed by dinner out in my favourite place to eat, The Ramore Wine Bar. My friend Sarah joined us for a few days and we had a great time catching up, shopping and playing Uno far too late at night.

A wonderful time in Northern Ireland was had by all.

... a visit from the parents and an MBE party!

It's not very often that I can say that my parents are coming for dinner. But last week they were on route to Lanzarote with 2 friends and had a stop over in Manchester. It was really lovely to see them and Dad really liked seeing the new house. We had a few hours of fun teaching the oldies how to play on the Wii!! Sadly they had to leave at 6.00 the next morning to get their flight but it was worth the early morning to see them.

Last weekend we headed down to London for Phil's Uncle Johnny's MBE party. He was awarded an MBE for services to Sri Lanka, were he works as a Church of Scotland minister. Johnny and his wife Patrica where involved in relief work after the tsunami, which by Gods grace they narrowly escaped getting caught in. The party was great, it was so lovely to catch up with family away from the usual weddings.

The rest of the weekend we just spent time with the Brumby/Paterson family at Ali and Michael's. We had lots of fun with Lottie and Hannah who are now getting so big. Lottie is chatting away and is very cute when she's calls me Auntie Hewen :)

Although we weren't there for Halloween I had to add these photos of them before they went to the Church Pumpkin party.


Lottie as a scary Lion


Lottie and Hannah (Hannah is a pumpkin!)

... a weekend with a good friend

What a wonderful surprise when my very good friend Sarah phoned me on Wednesday morning to say that her husband John was coming over to Manchester for a conference and could she come to see us for the weekend. The answer was YES!! We love having friends to visit but sadly our friends from Belfast don't often get a chance to come over and since we try to see them when we are home, they feel less of a rush to come.

I picked Sarah up on Friday night from the airport and we just crashed out in the house and chatted into the wee hours of the morning. Sat was a very lazy day for Sarah. Phil and I went to the Ordination of Gary Aston (our new Assistant Pastor) in the afternoon.

Saturday night was of course wet aside for the rugby. Phil had arranged last week for his brother and friend to come round so Sarah and I just slotted into their plans. Whilst we were waiting for them to arrive Sarah produced a wonderful gift for each of us. I think I loved it more than Phil, but he was still very happy with the pressie. 2 IRELAND RUGBY TOPS!! Phil then felt he had to wear it to watch England and subsequently feels he was the sole reason that England lost, I don't think he'll be doing that again!

Sadly Sarah had to leave again on Sunday but it was a really special weekend and I'm hoping her and John will come to visit again soon.

...need some more sleep

I only seem to write this when I've done something interesting at the weekend (since I apparently don't do anything interesting during the week) but today I thought I'd step outside the norm. I didn't do anything 'interesting' this weekend but I did have a great weekend. We had a wonderfully busy weekend at Church, handing out the notices, meeting more new people, looking after lovely kids in creche and after the evening service having the YP round to our house. We had the opportunity to share our testimony with the YP which although this was scary it was actually really helpful (well for us anyway).

Work as usual has been mad busy this week and it seems to be getting busier as the weeks continue. Lets hope we organize ourselves soon and book some time off work. I feel tired all the time. Although I'm loving work at the moment some times I have to remind myself that I'm an Architect cause what I do each day is more in line with a counsellor/people manager, but it's fun so I shouldn't complain (not that I was)

I'm looking forward to this weekend because I'm going to the Northern Women's Convention in Manchester with a group of ladies from the Church.

...like to visit friends

Last Saturday we finally got round to catching up with our friends Dave and Sarah Woollin and their two boys. We had a wonderful day our in Baildon (the other side of Bradford). It's always great to Dave and Sarah, I really value Sarah's friendship and our chats about life, church and everything else.




We spent the morning playing with the boys in the house and then in the afternoon they took us Howath to see their Church. I didn't realise that this was where the Bronte sisters grew up and based many of their books. The main street in the village is full of quaint little shops where Phil bought some smelly cheese.

...whitby fish and chips

Phil and I have just returned from a long overdue trip to Whitby. We had a really wonderful weekend with Jean. Whitby is just one of those really special places for so many reasons. I love going for long walks on the beach listening to all the stories of Phil's childhood and wandering through the cobbled streets picking up quirky bargains. But best of all is when we get the chance to go out for tea to Trenchers (Whitby's famous fish and chip restaurant) followed by a walk along the peer.

Sunday at Whitby Evangelical Church was followed by a lovely lunch at the McGowan's. Thank you for a great afternoon, we always love spending time with your family.

Now we're home and back to the real world and work. Lets hope its a stress free week!

... gardening

Just a quick message to say I'm still here, I'm just too lazy to write and too tired. Anyway, we have had a great few weekends in the garden cutting the hedge and power hosing the decking.



Last weekend we were in Belfast for the weekend, Phil had a stag weekend and I had a girlie weekend. I had so much fun catching up with my mum and dad and friends. I don't think I've had a weekend on my own in N.Iron since I got married so it was really special (I missed Phil a little!).

I had some mum and daughter time on sat morning which was fab, although I was a little tired after chatting to Sarah into the wee hours of the morning (but it was worth it). Then in the afternoon Jenny picked me up and we went to see our friend Carole and her very precious little twin boys. It was so wonderful to meet Andrew and Stephen who are very cute and small, they actually made me sad to not live closer!!


Me and Stephen


Carole and Andrew


Family Grattan (Simon, Carole, Andrew and Stephen)

Sat night I spent some time with Stephen and Kate, it was great to see their house finally and to eat all their sorbet! Sarah and John were also there, just like the old times, sort of!! :)

So as you can see I had a fab weekend without Phil, although I wouldn't like to do it too often, it was lovely to be able to see all my girlie's without worrying if Phil was bored.

Work is just mad busy at the moment which is part of the reason for lack of blogs as I'm so tired I can't face looking at the computer again, but I'm really enjoying work which is great and project is fab!

Of to Whitby this weekend for some fish and chips at Trenches, can't wait :)

... a few days of unpacking a visit from the in laws

When we got back from our hols we thought that whole week at home unpacking and sorting out the house was just what we needed. However that didn't happen and Phil's sister asked if she could stop at ours for the weekend on her way to Whitby. Of course we were delighted at the thought of Ali, Michael, Lottie and Hannah coming to visit but the house was in no fit state for visitors let alone two little people who like to explore. So three days of mad wardrobe, shelves, chest of drawers building ensued, closely followed by huge amounts of boxes getting unpacked and finally a top to bottom tidy and clean. We were still cleaning as they pulled into the driveway but I don't think they noticed.

We had a wonderful long weekend with them all and I think they loved the house and where we are now living. Lottie and Hannah provided hours of entertainment with a visit to Funsters, a trip to the farm in the rain, playing hide and seek, making drinks with Party Penguin (a variation on Mr Frosty) and watching Peppa Pig lots.

Ali left with the girls on Monday morning to drive to Whitby and when Phil and I got home to the house it felt so empty and quiet. Thanks guys for coming to visit it was really great to have you in our house and thanks again for the amazing flowers.

Now we are back to work. I can't believe its nearly two weeks. Work is hectic but good and I'm loving the project I'm working but sadly it means that blogging has taken a back seat cause I'm usually so tired by the time I get home. But I will try my best to keep posting at least once a week.

Before I go, a big thank you to Lorraine and Pete for having us round on Sunday night, it's really great getting to know people better in the Church and we really feel at home in Sandbach and WHBC. I'll have to dust off my recipe books and have all the people round for lunch/dinner who have been kind enough to invite us.

... cruising the Med

Sorry for the delay in blogging, no real reason why I haven't caught up on it this week but here we go!

We had a wonderful week on holiday cruising the Med. We booked a last minute cheepy and hoped that this holiday would be much better than last years disastrous trip to Egypt. We flew from Manchester to Majorca, then boarded the Cruise ship in Palma. I'll not bore you with the details of the ship but it was huge and had everything on it that you would expect in any hotel. After a day at sea we stopped at Corsica. Next was Rome, which was the most amazing city I have ever been too and can't wait to go back. We only had a day in each port so that meant we did Rome in a day. We filled that day and went to the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Colosseum, Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Square. After all that we even had time for a quick coffee and an ice cream. Next stop was Portofino, North Italy. This is a lovely little harbour for the rich and famous as we discovered after having two cappuccino's which came to a grand total of £8!! Phil says when we are rich (like that'll ever happen :) he'll buy me a yacht and we can sail here! Next stop was Nice and we decided to take the train to Monte Carlo. More rich people and more yachts!! But we saw the Grand Casino (although only from the back cause we are both so daft that we didn't realise we were on the wrong side of the building until later that night when someone else was taking about all the cool cars out the front...there were no cars on the side of the building we were looking at). We also saw the Hotel de Paris (again from the back) and then we climbed all the way up to the Palace and the Cathedral where Princess Grace got married. Next stop was Menorca, not a huge amount to see here but this was by far the most stunning natural harbour we had ever seen. It was an amazing site sailing out of this small harbour on a ridiculously large cruise ship. Then Back to Palma the next day to fly home.

That was a bit of a whistle stop tour of our hols but it was one of the best ones we've ever had. I'll try and post photos soon.

...Alton Towers

I had a wonderful weekend with my siblings. Neil and Michael arrived on Friday night and we all crashed out after a long week and had a catch up. We got up early on Saturday morning and headed off to Alton Towers. It was a wonderfully sunny day and we all had a brilliant time. It was sad on Sunday to say goodbye to my sister Jill who leaves next Sunday for a year in Kiwoko, Uganda. I wish her all the best for her year and hope it is a wonderful learning experience for her.

Phil and I are now recovering and getting ready for our two weeks off work. We have book a cruise round the Med and can't wait to get away to some sunny climates and catch up on some sleep and I'm looking forward to getting stuck in to some serious reading. We haven't decided what to do with our second week off yet. We may spend it unpacking the last few remaining boxes and building the last few bits of furniture. But who knows we might get bored at home and take off for a few days. I'll keep you posted.

...enjoy having family to stay

I had a wonderful weekend in Glasgow with Cheryl and we even managed to fit in a quick visit to Dundee where we met up with my old boss and his family for coffee. It was really great to see them all and to catch up on there news. We also tried to meet up with Michael (my baby bro) but he was working and didn't answer his phone :( Never mind he's coming to visit me this weekend.

Jill (my ickle sis) has been staying with us this week and it's been really great to see her and spend time with her before she heads off to Africa in a few weeks. Michael and Neil and Neils girlfriend Maria all arrive tonight and we are planning to have a fun weekend with a visit to Alton Towers, lots of playing on the Wii and a compulsory game of Cranium. It'll be fab to see them all and have them all in my house for the first time, lets hope the weather is favourable!!

...too much

Our mad few months have continued. My mum came to visit a few weekends ago and we had a lovely time enjoying the one day of sunshine we have had all summer and watching the Wimbledon Finals. Thanks mum for coming over, we were just sad dad couldn't make it too.

During the week I went to Ikea and finally ordered our wardrobes. They arrived last Friday and have now taken over the kitchen waiting for Phil to build them. But Phil has not built and installed the new bathroom cabinet, which looks fab :)

Last weekend we had a lovely weekend in London for Esther Norris's wedding and Ali's birthday. London trips are always good fun and we had a great time playing with the girls and catching up with family. Thanks Ali and Michael for putting us all up.

This week has been fairly normal, just very busy at work, but I'm really enjoying it so that helps. I went to the final book club for the year last night. We had lots of food and some really great chat. It was wonderfully insightful to hear what everyones idea of Adventure is after reading 'Up the Yukon without a paddle'. Thanks Ione, I can't wait for next year.

This weekend I'm off to see my good friend Cheryl in Glasgow. I can't wait to take her dogs for long walks so that we can natter away and catch up on each others mad lives.

Only a few more weeks of madness to go and then we are off on holiday. Hopefully by the end of Sept life will have slowed down a little. But who knows!!

....IKEA again!!

We thought that since yesterday was our first free Saturday in weeks we should really get on with furnishing the house. Having failed to get the wardrobes we wanted on our last trip to IKEA we thought that we would try again. So having checked that they had them in stock we headed off to Manchester IKEA. It was a bit of a struggle to find but we did eventually and as we walked round we picked up some other bits and pieces that we needed. When we finally got the wardrobe section we double checked what we wanted and went over to order it.....only to be told the last of them had been sold that morning!! AAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!! How frustrating.

Never mind we had a fun day out, had a bite to eat in Chiquita and went to look at garden furniture. Not sure why since we don't really have the weather to use it. Needless to say we didn't buy any and went home rather disappointed with our lack of purchases.

But we had a nice Saturday night crashing out with a fish supper and can of diet coke. Church this morning was excellent with a super message that I'm sure was written with me in mind! We feel really at home in the Church and all the people are so welcoming and constantly inviting us out for lunch and tea. We are looking forward to getting our new dining table and chairs so that we can return the favour. Now I'm just relaxing on this first quiet Sunday in weeks preparing myself for another busy week ahead. The good news is my Mum's coming on Thursday to stay for the weekend so I'm looking forward to showing her round our new pad and the local area.