Girly friends

I have a special place in my heart for my girly friends, mainly because there are so few of them. I'm just one of those people who's always found guys easier to get on with. No drama, no bitching, just a bunch of blokes and me sitting around watching Power Rangers all day without a trace of shame (ok, maybe a bit...)

Unfortunately, this means that there are some aspects of being a woman of which I remain woefully ignorant. Every now and then someone will take me in hand and show me how to put on makeup (still not sure how to pick a foundation), or what shape of dress looks good on me (where the heck are you supposed to buy them?), but the rest of the time I'm left floundering in a sea of ignorance, making it up as I go along.

Now some of you will have noticed that I recently got my hair sorted out, and thank you everyone who's said it looks nice. But the sad fact is that once I've washed to salon product out of it, it just goes in the same scraggy ponytail again. I have no idea whatsoever what to do with it.

Any suggestions? I mean, now that my readerbase has expanded a bit, I'm hoping that some of you can tell me what to do with it. Tips, hints, pictures, anything!

And for those of you (us) who've found this post a bit too feminine for your liking (although what did you expect from a blog that looks like it was farted out by a unicorn?), I give you the Interesting Thing Of The Day: The Art of Manliness. This blog is devoted to how to be a proper man. Since western culture lacks a rite of passage (I mean, let me know if I'm wrong, but when did you last see a young lad spear a boar?), these things need to be taught. As usual, the link's going up on the left.

Big ones

I was walking down the road on my way to buy some pillows and stuff for my new bed, when a slightly tubby thirty-something builder man got out of his van and shouted to his slightly tubby builder-pal "Hey, tell her what you said earlier. Tell her what you said about breasts!"

I ignored him and walked ahead, looking like I wasn't at all bothered while secretly wondering what he had said about breasts, and what I should have said in response. I assure you, in my head, I was post-hilarious.

In the shop, I bought bedding and such, having discovered that double beds aren't double the size of single beds OR big enough for two people. Well I mean really.

On the way home, I turned the corner onto my street and once again encountered builder man, who, as he passed me, said in happy Welsh tones, "BIG ones."

Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, 'Anna, how did you stop yourself from pouncing and making sweet sweet love to him right there on the pavement?'

I don't know, guys... I just don't know.

Life, love, laughter and the lurgy

Well well well. Three holes in the ground.

It's been a fairly busy few days; I went up to Cardiff again. It felt like forever since we'd seen each other, so it was wonderful to be back in his arms. Unfortunately, he got ill a day or so in. A poorly tummy, so no close cuddles, and a split lip, so no kisses... but there are a million ways of telling someone you love them (here I reluctantly include tickle attacks *grumpy face*).

I travelled up on Thursday (having completed an essay a day early to do so - unprecedented!), met Gav with some sushi, and left him to work. He came home for a bit and went out for some music-related fun while I went for a walk around the lake while the sun set. It was absolutely beautiful! I've got some photos up on my Flickr (see the link on the left).





We went to the wedding of an old friend of his, which was great. I like his mates. We left the reception early because Gav was ill (I accidentally wandered off with Rem's camera in my bag, had to go back!), in fact I got pretty worried about him the next day. Y'see last time he had stomach cramps this bad it was when I was first getting to know him. It caused him absolute agony, so I was stressing out flapping my little hands and making high pitched noises and generally being of no use whatsoever! At least this time I could do something.

When we got back to Cardiff, I tried to help him out by going shopping and cleaning up a bit. We went round to Ben's on Monday, there was music and food and a gorgeous cat. I drank enough (not much, I never drink very much) to become fascinated with spinning a yellow badge... badges are ace. Can't think of many things more fun, except maybe balloons!

There was absolutely beautiful sunshine today, which made the parting a little easier. It's mad how reluctant I was to leave. The sooner I move to Cardiff the better!

All is not lost!

I am OVERJOYED today to discover that, due to the writers' strike, I have not missed any episodes of Lost.
It's almost as if they knew...

It's been a great day for me! After an early start, I wandered around town with Tom buying sushi and stuff to design my own t-shirts. I've made mine and it's alright, I might put up a picture soon, but I'm very low on ideas for Tom's. So far I've considered drawing a dancing banana with the words "potassium funk"... but I only have purple and black fabric pens, so maybe not!

Anyway, aside from that, there's nothing left to do but introduce you all to this blog's hyperactive little sister, thiefree.tumblr.com. Visit it and follow a random link, I hope you'll like what you find!

Paris etc

I flew!
From above, France is much neater than England. Going up and coming down was exciting; inbetween that, it felt like my head was being squeezed through a cardboard tube, so I fell asleep.

The apartment was LOVELY. Very small, but very nice, and with a beautiful view! We spent a lot of time in there watching films.

We also walked about a lot, visiting various tourist attractions. We went up the Eiffel Tower more or less on a whim, resulting in two very chilly silly billies. We also saw the Arc de Triumph, the pillar at the Bastille, etc etc.

Films we saw:
The Devil Wears Prada (rubbish, read the book instead) **
Be Kind Rewind (good, nothing special) ***
Juno (very happy; yay!) ****
Chocolat (love it) ****
Silence of the Lambs (classic, pretty enjoyable, plus we got a story about it from the man in the video shop) ****
Black Sheep (possibly the funniest zombie sheep film of the year, enjoyable) ***
Have I forgotten any, Gav?

We ate mostly bread and cheese. 75% healthy, very good.

The journey back took sooo long, I began to get really edgy about going home. Another 3 or more hour journey would have killed me, and I was so tired already from getting up at 6.30am that I started to get all teary. Stupid female hormones, I swear I'm logical really. So Gav, bless him with many blessings, took pity on me and took me in for the night. It was SO good to have a bit of a rest before starting the journey home.

So now I'm with my family, yay! And also boo! Because much as I love them, my health rating has plummeted to 25%. Accursed easter eggs. Mm, if only I could say no...

It's been so wonderful, wandering around my beloved island listening to birds singing and enjoying the sunshine and making friends with the random kitties I find. I'm trying to catch up with whoever's still around, which sadly isn't many of them, but yay! for that.

Photos of my Paris trip are available here (flickr) and here (facebook).

In honour of how beautifully sunny it's been lately, I've bought a dress! Lookit!



And cool new shoes, lookit lookit!



I'll answer your wonderful questions in another post.