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Tuesday 16 November 2010

2010: November, December & a Happy New Year!

So, after tidying up and signing off the flat it was mid November and time to sign over another building!
Slowly but surely I was getting rid of my big bunch of jailer keys!
16th November was completion day and all of the legal bits of papers were in place. I paid a stupid lot of money to get it gone out of my hair but by 1pm it was transferred and done - 577 Mansfield Road was now the problem of Courtnaey Investments Limited! In the evening I *celebrated* (hmmmmmmmm) by attending week 7 of the badly taught web design course I signed up for (ncn part-time - never EVER again!!!)

Over the following weeks I worked at the Limehouse Cafe and for Raphael. I signed up to the dentist (after 8 years since my last visit!? Eeeeek!), and on 25th November it was my sister's birthday, so I took her, Dave and me to Manchester to see Underworld!

We went here for breakfast!
Then it started to snow!
So I thought it was probably time to decorate!
maybe a little bit early...



..but then it was my first Christmas..
...and it did make it feel VERY cosy!
I spent time with Mike (whilst he and pixie sang carols...)
it snowed A LOT!

we visited Sheffield
AND it was Mike's birthday!!!
I baked a stollen..
steamed a pudding..
made some chestnut and chocolate cream cookies...
and baked some bread!
I was very happy in my Christmas kitchen...
...and super happy to be in my new home! I was so very proud in fact that I took this great picture, looking through the kitchen window to the lounge/diner - I love the twinkling of all the pretty lights and the layers created by the reflections in the glass!
24th December 2010
it's Christmas Eve and Mike brings round Pixie cat! She really doesn't like it though so we take her back home :(
Christamas eve is Mike's specialty! 

With honey roast ham, dauphinoise potatoes, Brussels sprout cheesecake, spiced red cabbage and mulled wine trifle - I'm in total festive yum yum heaven!

25th December 2010: Merry Christmas! 

We have champagne for breakfast, with smoked salmon benedict and spinach

and for lunch we had this beautiful bird!
 I speak to my sister and brother over skype
whilst in Australia mum and dad disappear!
Ben, Claire and Robert pop round
we munch on leftovers and drink port till the early hours
29th December 2010: Tilly Baggaley is born!7lb 12oz

31st December 2010
As may become tradition at the end of the year, we went to the cinema! It was great actually - really quiet! We saw Tron Legacy, in screen 3 of Broadway
 Here is Pixie watching the original Tron the night before! (it's playing behind her but you can see her watching it in the mirror opposite! And I like the way I've given her Tron eyes with the flash!)

We ate a delectible mezze on the cusp of 2011 and set off a paper lantern into the night sky
So that was 2010, phew! What a bucket load of stuff!
Onwards then to the beginning of another adventure...

Wednesday 3 November 2010

to say hello you have to say goodbye...

A week later, after moving in, attending The Art of Influencing Change conference and meeting Paty I hire another van and clear out Ripple of all its belongings...


I spend some time saying goodbye

remembering the day we opened and how I sat right here the night before...

remembering how many parties there had been and how the last night was just perfect...
how this used to be so full of food! how I used to rush about to cook and serve it all on a thursday, on a friday on a saturday on a sunday...even on a freaky kind of tuesday night!
how this was my window to the outside world for a while....
the pretty pink wall and funky wallpaper...
the number of times I had sat here looking out!

It all got a bit much so I had a little cry....
Then, if that wasn't enough goodbyes, it was bye bye to the flat! My home that had been like a secret place of solitude (although it was above a roundabout and next to a hospital!?) I lived there for 4 years and moved in with nothing! No wonder I had so much stuff when I moved out! There was all this space that I filled....
the MASSIVE lounge
with that beautiful bay window...
that yellow staircase UP to my bedroom!
which was again massive
and had a walk in wardrobe!!! (no wonder I have so many clothes!!)
that hallway that I often walked through in the dark...
Hannah's room which became the Ripple junk room!
that kitchen which was nice but ended up WAY TOO SMALL!
the back yard....
and those steps!
AND the summer patio!