LuBling

The gods of bling have clearly been smiling on me as I recently got to select a piece from the LuShae Jewelry collection and all I needed to do was tell you what I think of it. Now you might think that a freebie may colour my objectivity but I think that would be doing you, me and the seller a disservice. Thankfully, it's not an issue though as I can tell you that I am one happy bunny. I love the piece I chose and I found the whole experience of dealing with LuShae to be pleasant.

White Gold Rhodium Bonded Wreath Pendant with Pave Ruby and Emerald CZ in Silvertone

LuShae offer a wide choice of lovely jewellery pieces, including rings, earrings and pendants. The photographs here are of the piece I chose which is the wreath pendant. It wasn't easy choosing a piece as there were so many pendants to choose from that caught my eye. In the end I chose the wreath pendant as the simple circular design gave it a classic look, that although inspired by Christmas, made it a year round winner for me.


The photographs here are of the actual piece I received. Considering it had come from the other side of the planet, delivery was quite swift and it came well packaged and protected. The pendant came in a lovely blue and cream presentation box which pleased me as I hate it when a lovely piece of jewellery is presented in a cheap box. Luckily LuShae don't cut corners here.

I was very pleased with the pendant itself and have been wearing it for a couple of weeks or so now and so far it has received many compliments. It lives up to the quality promised and quite frankly the only niggle I have is that the Emerald and Ruby CZ really doesn't show up as well as it does in the picture on the website which was a little disappointing. That said this is still a great piece and one I will be wearing for quite a while. It's nice when you can safely recommend a company based on quality service and product.

Life in The Office

Ricky Gervais as David Brent - The Office (UK)

I have been so busy and this is a trend that is likely to continue for the next 3-4 weeks. Oh, work has been busy and the chores at home never seem to end but that is not it. I recently passed the first stage of a lengthy and competitive promotion process. Stage one down, two more to go! The next stage is in 3-4 weeks or so (depending on the slot I am given) and takes the form of two written exercises based on work type scenarios. The final stage is in September and is an assessment centre with written exercises and role play situations.

The whole process is very competitive with around 800 candidates all after around 170 promotion 'tickets'. These are a bit like Willy Wonka's golden tickets as they permit those that have them to apply for posts at the next level. So I suppose there is a further stage after the whole assessment process as you have to apply for posts and pass interview to get a post!

I am being very realistic about the whole thing. Very few people pass first time but on the whole I feel I am in a win-win situation. If I an unsuccessful at either of the next two stages then I am given feedback to help me address areas I am less strong in and I can always try again next time round. There are very few opportunities for such detailed feedback so I feel I even win if I lose in a way. It's not often that happens!

Anyway, for now I am chuffed that I passed the first stage as quite a few people didn't. I had a small celebration at home with a bottle of Champagne (it is so important to celebrate the successes along the way). Wish me luck for stage two and please understand if my blogging is erratic. It's all a bit like preparing for exams!

Snow Business

Frozen Britain taken by Nasa's Terra satellite on 7 January 2010

Snow is not a usual feature of Britain's winters. Sure, it can be found in the Highlands of Scotland and on the peaks in Wales and Northern England, and we have the occasional flurry which may hang around for a day or two, but nothing like this. This is snow that means business. It's several inches thick and it's here to stay at least for the time being. The big kid in me loves the snow even if it made it a little more inconvenient to go to work at first. What I can't stand is the perpetual whining from the majority of my fellow countrymen. I continually hear the chorus of 'Someone should do something about this'. Indeed, the Government should legislate against winter and ban the snow, except in areas where it is pretty and can be used to make snowmen, no?

Tintern in the snow

The shelves in many supermarkets have been stripped bare from panic buyers. There is no salt or kitty litter to be had as people are using to grit their paths, something they say, the council should be responsible for. The call for more cat litter and salt is putting additional demands on an already strained supply chain trying to cope with the panic buying of food. Hello?! Your home is your own responsibility and if we all go out there are cleared our drives and the path in front of our homes then these would be clear! This is all symptomatic of how the welfare state has enfeebled the country. Meanwhile, the same people whining about not being able to go to work are outside playing in the snow and building snowmen rather than going to work. If you travel a few miles to a hill to slide down it on a tea tray then you sure as hell can get to work. Not exactly the blitz spirit that our grandparents would recognise.

Tintern Abbey

Having been in work all week, I took the weekend as an opportunity to go out and see the snow and get some fresh (and freezing) air. I ventured over to Tintern to photograph the Abbey in the snow. The clouds were threatening more snow, but the sun kept breaking through to reveal a blue sky and make the snow glisten.


After a while my hands were so cold that I needed to get warm. We decided to retire to a local hostelry to thaw out and for sustenance. The Anchor, was beautifully warm and cosy inside. I had the most delicious burger I have ever tasted and soon felt the feeling come back to my numb fingers and cold cheeks.


Tintern is among the earliest of Cistercian settlements in Wales and was founded in 1131 by monks sent directly from Normandy at the behest of Walter fitz Richard de Clare, the Earl of Chepstow, on the banks of the river Wye. Tintern, as with all monastic institutions, was suppressed by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, between 1536/9. The nearby Anchor Inn was probably the abbey's watergate and a 13th century arch links it with the slipway.


The Abbey is situated on the River Wye in Monmouthshire and the ruins have inspired the Wordsworth poem "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey" and Tennysons's poem "Tears, Idle Tears" and more than one painting by Turner. It also featured in Prince of Thieves and in the video for Iron Maiden's "Can I Play With Madness".


Once we had warmed up,we ventured out again and walked along the river before heading back along the main road towards the Abbey again and the warmth of the car. It was cold, but beautiful and although we saw a few other stalwart souls, the place was quiet and still in the blanket of snow.

The Boys

Max and Sam are now nine months old and as you can see from the photos, they have grown somewhat. When they are fully grown (they grow up to two years in age) they will be between 12-20lbs in weight so they still have some growing to do.

Sam

The older they get, the more their personalities develop. Sammy is still the more reserved of the two, suspicious of visitors, sometimes moody and often tells me off when I stop him doing something or make him do something he doesn't want to. He is however, very sweet, loves his chin being tickled and the one more likely to keep a close eye on me. He loves being picked up for cuddles and nestles his head into my shoulder. When he plays with Max, he is the rougher of the too and when he plays with me he loves to jump in the air and catch things.

Max

Max is the bigger of the pair and a lovable rogue. He has a cheeky streak a mile wide and is a wide open book. He has the loudest purr and bestows it on me liberally. He loves having his tummy rubbed and likes to chase things across the ground. He will do anything for a treat and will shake paws, beg and sit on command (as will Sam) and also likes to give me 'kisses' which basically means I get a wet nose.

My boys are growing up, but they are growing into beautiful cats don't you think?

Health, Wealth and Happiness

Where did the year go? Did someone shorten it by several months when I wasn't looking? As ever time has whooshed by and here we are at the cusp of another new year and I wonder what this new one has in store for me.

2009 sure has been one hell of a mixed bag (I've made some links in bold to relevant past posts). I started the year with surgery to remove my thyroid tumour which thankfully turned out to be benign. Over the course of the year the scar across my throat has faded so that it is barely noticeable which is a far cry from the Frankenstein-like staples I was sporting for a week or so after surgery. Afterwards my poor half a thyroid couldn't cope very well and I spent the next six months in a kind of torpor with my main goal in life being to just stay awake. Lord knows how I made it through those following months (for all I know I probably hibernated) but now I can stay awake thanks to some little white tablets.

In April I visited the wonderful and vibrant city of Barcelona and met up with an old blog friend, Mar, who turned out to be as lovely and fabulous as her writing leads you to believe. Soon after I returned from this trip however, my dear old cat, Bob became ill and died. I was bereft and miss him still. May also marked my graduation ceremony for my MBA, the culmination of five years study and I had a wonderful day. I also decided that something in my life was missing and went to meet a tiny young kitten called Max who sat in the palm of my hand and went to sleep. From that moment he was mine and later on I would decide to adopt his brother too. June saw me reach four decades. Nuff said.

Max and Sam came to live with me in July and have caused mischief and mayhem ever since. I cannot believe how tiny they used to be compared to the big fluffy kitties they have become. I will post some more pics of them soon. It was also around this time that I started to feel more myself again and I have been playing catch up on the year ever since, having a clear up and a clear out that was long overdue.

In November I visited San Francisco (post with pics coming soon) and had a great time and then there was the rush to Christmas. Oh yeah, I was also made surplus in my old team and so had to find a new job and luckily did that in under a month. I'm still finding my feet but I think this post will be good for me.

Sure there was other stuff and hubbub but those were the highlights. I know that life is full of ups and downs and so I know 2010 will be filled with these, but I hope for less of a roller coaster ride and more ups than downs for 2010. I wish the same for you and hope that the new year brings you health, wealth and happiness. Thank you for visiting me (all except my malicious 'anonymous' visitor) and for your continued support.

Happy New Year!