celebrations

Our weekend celebrating in Dublin

- TracyB 2 Comments

In April this year my eldest son turned 21 and it was also our 25th wedding anniversary. Instead of having a big family party for both ( which my son would have hated, and my husband would have hated) we decided to do a shared celebration with just us four. I’m not being funny but with the amount you spend on a party ( with food, drink and decorations etc) we have always been the type to put the money to a better use ( for us anyway) to go somewhere and have an experience instead. The amount of effort involved with food alone would put me under pressure illness wise and by the time I would have done all the organising for it I would probably be too exhausted to actually enjoy it! Anyway, we decided before Christmas that  a weekend in Dublin was our plan and so we all had something to look forward to.

I’ve been to Dublin many years ago with a group of friends and had a great time, but as I’m from Belfast myself it’s always been a place I wanted to take my boys and we agreed we would wait until they were old enough to drink legally! So we decided we would combine the celebrations and take ourselves away for a long weekend there as a family. We were actually looking forward to going away with our boys who are now 21 and 18 years old, it’s a whole other experience when they are this age. Less arguing, less faffing, less stress, more fun, more easy going and well, more enjoyable!

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Things I’ve learned after 25 years on our silver wedding anniversary

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Things I’ve learned after 25 years on our silver wedding anniversary

This week the 23rd April 2019 marked our silver wedding anniversary. 25 years of marriage and still here to tell the tale of what I’ve learned during that time.

I know its totally cliched but I really do not know where the time has gone. I mean 25 years sounds a long time and we have done lots in that time. But it does feel as though it has shot past us in the blink of an eye.

Silver wedding anniversay
This is us taken recently on our trip to Dublin

 

So how did we celebrate and mark this momentous occasion. Well our eldest also turned 21 recently, so we decided a little while ago that we would combine the 2 occasions and have a family trip away in Dublin. Somewhere we all have wanted to visit but I really wanted the boys to be of legal drinking age before we went. That way we could all participate in all the typical touristy things.

We chose to do this instead of having parties. As we have rarely been able to afford to take the boys on holidays while they were growing up, we thought this would be money well spent as an experience rather than a party.

Therefore, the actual day of our silver wedding anniversary was a quiet, chilled affair. My youngest was at school all day and then went to work and my eldest was revising for his impending exams for uni. So we knew we had the day to ourselves.

So what did we do? We booked into the Flashback cinema to see The Wizard of Oz on the big screen! Its one of our all time favourite classic films. I bet you wasn’t expecting that little bundle of excitement.

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The inevitable Christmas overwhelm

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As I sit here writing this I am still  feeling the affects of drinking way too many cocktails at a Christmas party last night, and I am watching White Christmas for the very first time!

 

It’s the ultimate Christmas cliche isn’t it? Christmas parties, festive hangovers and idyllic lazy afternoons watching Christmas films and feeling like its just ‘the most wonderful time of the year’. However, what you don’t see is the inevitable Christmas overwhelm that I have now come to expect every year. My husband loves Christmas and says it’s his favourite time (and day) of the year………………..well I mean you would wouldn’t  you if you if it literally landed on your lap with virtually no effort whatsoever! That’s how it is most years, I sort ALL the presents (even for all his side of the family), I sort everything we get for our boys, I organise all of the food and treats………Oh and then I obviously cook dinner most years ( although thankfully I am not this year as we are at the in laws on the day). That generally leads to an annual Christmas meltdown for me at some point, normally fairly close to the big day, when I realise I haven’t got everything I need, haven’t wrapped anything and realise I haven’t got something we need for the actual dinner. Anyway you get the general picture.

Yet on good ‘ol social media everyone is literally Christmassing the shit out of life, putting their decs up as early as possible, having all their pressies wrapped by December 1st and their food order slot booked, and so can sit smugly back and take time for themselves to get their Christmas nails done, order their party dresses enjoy the wonderful festive season in all it’s glory.

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It’s been a while!

- TracyB 2 Comments

Well it’s certainly been a while since I have been on here!

It’s not like there hasn’t been anything going on for me to write about it’s more like I haven’t had the urge to write, but lately that has been changing. So rather than bore you will loads of catch up posts I thought I would do a quick run through everything that has been going on.

So this year I have had more hospital imput for my M.E/ Fibromyalgia than I have over the last 8 years since being diagnosed. Finally I managed to get physio treatment for the Carpel Tunnel in my left hand which has helped ease some of the numbness at least. I have also been referred onto a pain management course due to start late September for 7 weeks and I hope that helps me with at least pacing any activity I do ( I am absolutely rubbish at saying ‘No’ to anyone and generally end up overdoing things and then crashing afterwards!). The course will run me up to almost Christmas when I have been told I may get referred onto an exercise class suitable to help with my illness.

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My Slimming World update Week 29-31

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Last time I updated you I was very, very close to my target. Well guess what? I only went and bloody done it!

target-certificate

Yes, I reached my new target of 9stone with the fabulous help of Slimming world. I have taken to this plan like a duck to water when I joined back in August last year. As I have mentioned before ( or maybe not!) I do not have the busiest of social life thanks to my ME and Fibromyalgia. It means I am not out surrounded by temptation every weekend, which has obviously been a good thing for me, however, it has also meant my weight loss has been a slow but steady journey due to the fact i cannot conventionally exercise.

But it’s true that slow and steady wins the race in my case.

I have just today got all my summer clothes out ( wishful thinking on my part maybe!) and while sorting out my wardrobe I realise that actually not a lot fits me anymore. Now don’t get me wrong, I am in no way complaining, it’s a great problem to have.

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Yes I am still here!

- TracyB 2 Comments

You may have thought I had given up on my little blog it has been so long since I have posted on here, but no, I am still here I have just been having a little break.

It’s not that I haven’t had anything to write about, there have been loads going on in the past few months in my little corner of the world, it is just the fact that I haven’t had the inclination to put it all on here, call it lack of blogging mojo but I have had a total break from my site although I have been active on my social media sites. Last night, however, I attended a lovely event down in Kent which got me back in touch with the blogging community. It was fun, it was nice to meet new people and get a bit of that missing blogging mojo back.

So, what has been happening while I have been away (and I do not mean the obvious political stuff that is all over social media at the minute). In my little bubble, I haven’t been active on here since attending a review for a local spa, which I have now joined myself and try and go there at least twice a week. I cannot tell you how relaxing it is using the heat rooms ( sauna and steam) there and how lovely that has been for my poor M.E/Fibro muscular pain.

There’s been 18th birthday celebrations for my eldest ( in April) before all the madness of his A level exams recently.

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Preparing your Home for Christmas Entertaining

- TracyB Leave a comment

 

 

Christmas_tree_bauble for Ida article

The festive season is always a very exciting one and many people look forward to being able to spend quality time with friends and family over this period. This is a time of year when we tend to go out more than usual with everything from office parties through to family meals out, nights out with friends, and other festive activities to enjoy.

 

This is also a time of year when we often tend to have guests over far more than usual, whether it is for a fabulous and fun-filled Christmas dinner or simply tor a few drinks and to exchange gifts and cards. With this in mind, it is important to ensure that you are fully prepared by getting your home ready for the Christmas period and for entertaining your guests.

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The Ideal Home Show at Christmas in London

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This I am very excited about and thankfully only have a week to wait. This years Ideal Home Show at Christmas will be taking place at Olympia London for the first time ever. The UK’s biggest Christmas exhibition will be open from the 25th – 29th of November to provide everything you could possibly need in the run up to the festive season, from over 600 exhibitors showcasing top Christmas shopping inspiration, a plethora of celebrity appearances and a Christmas bandstand hosting live entertainment……………c’mon you Christmas lovers what more could you need?
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Who doesn’t love an Afternoon Tea?

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I recently had the pleasure of reviewing the afternoon tea that is available at the Tudor Park Marriott Country Club near Bearsted.

To be perfectly honest I did have a pre conception of what a Marriott hotel would offer as there is one local to me in Bexleyheath, which seems business orientated and built for that purpose in that particular are. However, at the Tudor Park I couldn’t have been more pleasantly surprised. The entrance alone did not look like a standard hotel front and was very welcoming.

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This particular hotel and country club has a comforting feel to it even though the reception is open, spacious, minimalist and bright. It has several different bar areas, a swimming pool, a spa, a golf shop ( with golf professionals on hand for lessons) and an 18 hole golf course. Amazingly, you do feel like you are deep in the countryside even though in reality you are literally just off the M20.

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The younger generation do not have the monopoly on disrespect!

- TracyB 2 Comments

Today I had an experience that literally shouted WTAF in my head and left me quite disgusted.

I was in good old Primarni having a nosey when they announced that they would be having a 2 minute silence for the VE Day memorial. Then two workers who looked early 20’s had a discussion what it was for, ‘something to do with the war- I dunno’. I’m not going to lump all of this age group and younger into a generalization but there are some who would think this is a typical response from ‘the younger generation’. However, this was not the shocker of the afternoon.

A few minutes later the 2 minute silence was announced and started, we all stopped in our tracks and the whole shop went silent and even those very few who still wandered originally then stopped too when they realised. Then came the shocker……….

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