Flat warming/Picnic in the park

Finally Rich and I managed to get round to organising a bit of a flat warming - only a month late! People came from far and near to gather at our little flat and have a nosy round - and all of them said nice things. After everyone had arrived at the flat and been taken on the tour we upped and went out to our local park for a picnic.

The weather was pretty perfect for a day out - nice and sunny but not too hot. Duncan brought round a rounders bat and ball so we grouped ourselves into teams and had a go at playing. I gathered my selected favourites into the 'Winning team' and then we proceeded to get beaten :( For the second game I seemed to be in a much stronger team - but for some reason lost again! Perhaps it had something to do with me? - Nah!

A good time seemed to be had by all - even though a number of the people how attended seem to still be very stiff and sore a few days later...

Photos can be found here

SO much trouble!

I have just discovered (to my shock and horror) that Rich has been telling amusing stories about things that I have said to him while in our flat. If I had realised on moving in with him that my conversations were going to be relayed to the rest of his team over morning tea I might have thought twice about the whole thing. Too late now though - all that I can do about it is to retaliate in kind and properly fill the daftness of Rich page as a kind of revenge.

No more Miss nice Jess.

18 month anniversary

Rich and I decided to spend the day at Brighton to celebrate our 18 month anniversary. We started out by having a go on a carousel on the beach - and the horse that we rode was called Sean! (This will probably only be funny to Karen). Next I wanted to beat Rich at crazy golf as the last time that we played he thrashed me - but sadly he decided to win again :( So mean.

Rich and I then went to say 'hello' to the sea, which as I don't really swim involved paddling for a bit. Refreshed from this we decided to have a look at the rides on the pier but were too scared of the new one to have a go. The tasty fish and chip restaurant then enticed us inside where we were served by some friendly waitresses (all who looked to slim to be working around fish and chips all day).

After food Rich and I wandered further down the pier where we found another crazy golf! It was much better than the first one and I played fantastically - however not well enough as this time Rich and my scores were tied exactly. Next time I will be the victor though! We then trundled our way back towards the station - where we saw a strange doughnut type sculpture...

Photos can be found in the photo gallery here

Family visit

Liz and Myfanywy decided to come over to stay over at our flat this evening as they were off to Kent to see Thea, Marcus and Katie the next day. Alex also decided to pop in and see the new flat while also saying belated happy birthdays to us all (he also brought presents and so was welcomed by all).

Myfanywy has gotten so big now - but she is as sweet as ever. She is so energetic though - look at her bouncing on our spare bed, I was tired out much quicker than she was (oops - I meant I was tired out just watching...)

My Birthday

Finally I am two years older than my little sister! (My gloating about being older really isn't going to be able to continue for much longer).

After another hard day at work I returned home to open my many presents and cards from my friends and family - lot's of nice pretty things. My favourite present has to be the Playstation 2 game - 'Dragon Quest' that I have been lusting after for some time now. This is very closely followed by a fantastic new bedside clock that Rich bought me which has a night light Winnie the Pooh and Piglet on the top - photos will be making an appearance very soon.

Rich then proceeded to slave away in the kitchen cooking for me my favourite meal that my mum used to make called chicken paella. He also did some very tasty homemade profiteroles for dessert, soooo yummy.

A quick game of Risk...

Rich and I invited Steve and Matt around for dinner and drinks tonight as we wanted the chance to show off our flat properly (it's almost finished now - with only me having a couple more boxes to unpack). Rich and I cooked a small feast of chinese food for them - with a dim sum starter, crispy chilli beef and chicken in yellow bean sauce for the main. Steve also brought round a very tasty lemon cheese cake that he had made - yum.

After filling ourselves to the brim with food we decided to play Rich's new game, called Risk. Rich and Steve had played this before and so knew all about the different strategies, whereas Matt and I were new to the game. The game was a long one, we had been playing it for a good few hours before deciding to finish and count up territories to see who had won, if we hadn't then the game could quite easily have gone on for another couple of hours. The overall winner was surprisingly me - but more due to the fact that I let the guys have lots of battles while I quietly took over lots of terratories.

Katie comes to visit

Thea and Marcus came round with Katie today, all the way from Kent! Katie is so pretty - she has her dad's nose, dark baby hair and pretty dark blue eyes. Thea let me hold her for a little while, which I found quite difficult as she didn't really want to stay still.

Thea is doing fantastically well with being a new mum, she knows exactly what to do - where as I would probably make a complete mess of it! Thanks for bring Katie round to meet us - I promise to try and get her blanket finished soon.

I've now added a couple more photos to my Baby Katie page here.

Hi-yah!

After a 'break' of more than 5 years I have decided to try doing Taekwondo again. I used to do Karate when I was but a wee lass, a whole troupe of us Rundles (My dad and us 4 kids) would all go down to our local club a couple of times a week. The competitions were great fun as it became a whole family outing, Liz managed to get tons of trophies and so did my brother Alex, however I only ever managed to get one :(

I had more success with the Taekwondo that I did while I was at University. I only got up to green belt (which is the fourth grade of out of the ten before black), but I did get a medal for each of the competitions that I took part in, 2 bronze and 1 gold! Hopefully I can do a bit better with my new Taekwondo club and get a bit further along... however I will probably get covered with bruises again. My focus is that I have to catch up with Rich who is currently a grade ahead of me and will be grading again in two months time - wish me luck!

My first filling

Rich and I went off to visit the dentist this evening as I was due a check up and Rich had tooth ache. However, instead of Rich needing another filling I got one! The dentist thought that as it was a small filling it wouldn't need any anisetic, so she just drilled right in - ouch! Wasn't too bad though - and it has stopped aching now.

Maybe I should cut down the sugar in my tea again and just have half a spoonful... nah.

Hello baby Katie!

My sister Thea has just given birth to her daughter Katie Jane Whalley. Katie was born at 11:42pm and weighs 8lb 6.5oz.

I'm so excited - and I can't wait to meet her! Till then Rich and I send all our love to Katie and her new mum Thea.

More photos can be seen here.

James' Barbecue

Today Rich and I enjoyed a fine barbecue/pizza party at a friends house. James does some delicious homemade pizzas in his rather dangerous looking pizza oven. There was also much barbecuing fun - for a short while I was left in charge and the result was as expected some rather burnt sausages.

After eating more food than was sensible there was out door badminton for us sporty types, and a black & white TV for those obsessed with the football world cup.

Photos from the barbecue can be found here (these belong to James Rice - we never got around to putting our own photos up)