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...

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!

moving house!

During the summer after Ripple closed I decided that with this 'new life' of mine it was probably time for a new place to live! I did some hunting and found a few places but fell in love with one in particular. So, after a fairly quick turnaround of paper exchanges and money being paid, I moved into my very own house on 29th October 2010!

Here is a very happy me!

living room from dining room - look at all that lovely light!

dining room from living room - look at all that lovely space!!!

kitchen, lovely kitchen, all wooden and spacious - hip hippity hooray!

what's down here....

....that'll be a MASSIVE...

...TWO BAY cellar! And with a coal shoot - lovely lovely lovely!!!

from kitchen to garden - check out that view!

I'm going to enjoy cooking in here....

hallway - lovely tiles!!

stupendously HUGE bathroom with a lovely bath and...

...check out the size of that shower!!!

spare room

nice size

master bedroom with lovely floorboards!

stairs to...THIRD FLOOR!

there's a boiler in here and LOADS of storage space

last set of steps to...

...the top floor bedroom - aka my STUDIO SPACE!

So after 1 day and 5 van loads later...the house started looking a bit of a mess!

dining room - living room!

breakout panda!

um, the living room?!

and that beautiful spacious kitchen...

...full of STUFF!

we couldn't move!

arrrgghh!

but at least mike found the teabags!

MORE stuff....really?

I don't know where I put it all in my 2 bed flat!!!

The lovely Ben and Claire who helped move some monstrous bits of furniture - definitely worked for those pints!

So that was night 1, with 2-4-1 pizzas and a bottle of champagne! Slept at Mike's due to dismantled bed and grabbed a bacon sarnie in the morning on the way over.

Saw this 'display' in the cob shop and quite liked it!

Day 2 was unpack, last trip to Lincolnshire and phillysteak sandwich from OK diner!

Mr Mike my very own Mr Fix it!

Look how much space there is! It's a whole other room!

Starting to look creative!

Hello pretty peacock!

Getting there...at least I can sleep here tonight!

Now THAT'S better!

He's just gotta 'fix things' does Mike...

...very much appreciated though, look how tidy this is now!? Think we should treat ourselves to a little deli lunch. It's only down the road. yum yum yum, what shall we have? a chorizo & jarlsberg and a garlic sausage & mustard sandwich please!

And by the evening....it looks like I've lived here forever!! Ahhhhhhhh.

Tesco (round the corner) pizza for dinner and some Becks - lovely! Night Night X x

Good morning new home! I'm very excited to be living in you!!

Mike having a well deserved REST whilst I make a lovely fry up with the help of the Butcher from the bottom of my road!

Lobster for tea? well, i have just moved haven't I!?

How great does this look!!!

Now that's one happy kitchen!

I'm going to decorate this with Mucha in mind...

all thanks to that AMAZING mirror my parents left behind

All in all I drove 820 miles and unload 7 vans worth of stuff during my move!!! I definitely won't be doing that again for a very VERY long time indeed!!!