Wordless Wednesday

(Chick's, not mine...obviously!!!)

Smitten by Britain

I'm not here today as I'm Guest Blogging over at Smitten by Britain. I'll be having a regular column over there talking about the East Midlands.  Come by and say Hi and maybe leave me a comment over there:

http://www.smittenbybritain.com/

CyberMummy Meet & Greet

I’m sure I’ve spoken about this before but this weekend the event that is CyberMummy has finally come around.  For those of you that don’t know, it’s a blogging conference and basically an English version of BlogHer. 

I’ve noticed around the English Blogosphere that lots of the lovely Ladies that are going to CyberMummy have been doing a meet and greet, that is the brilliant idea of Carly at Mummys Shoes.  I’m really looking forward to it but at the same time sooooo petrified to meet people that I kinda consider to be friends.  What if they don’t like me?  What if I say something stupid? What if absolutely no-one has ever heard of my blog?????  What the heck am I going to wear?  When did I become so dramatic and such a worrier???

Anyways as most of you know, I look like this:

This is my info:

Name:   Emma Brooks

Blog:   This one

Twitter ID:   @emmylouvic

Height:   5ft 11inches unless I wear heels and then I’ll be 6’ 2” at least!!!  Yikes!!! (After reading all the other links on Carly’s post and seeing that you are all mainly under 5’ 7” I can say that I probably won’t be wearing heels ‘cos I’ll feel like Alice in Wonderland after too much growing potion!!!)

Hair:   Shoulder length, brown with a couple of grey streaks!!

Eyes:   Blue.

Likes:   my daughter, krispy kreme, reading, chocolate, vodka, blogging, taking pictures, SHOES, expensive shoes, handbags, London, heavy metal, Glee, Greys Anatomy, running, ice cream,

Most likely to say:

‘Cool’

 ‘Awesome’

 ‘How much? For one glass? Where I come from you can get a whole bottle for that’!!!!!

'Can I use my card? I didn’t get chance to go to the cash machine'!!!

'My shoes? Yes they are beautiful aren’t they?  They are Vivienne Westwood/LK Bennet!  Uncomfortable? Yes, but just stroke them and feel the fabulousness’

Will be wearing: Something black, jeans and flip flops in the day and then hopefully amazing shoes for the bar in the evening!!

Ways to be my best friend forever: Buy me vodka, tell me that I look great, hold my hand when I look very nervous, tell me that you’ve vaguely heard of my blog!!!

What NOT to do: Dare me to dance on the tables or get my boobs out or kiss inappropriate men at the bar!!!!  What?…..I’m single and child free in London!!!

Will be the person at Cybermummy most likely to: Drink too much and make a complete arse of herself!

I think that’s about all!!  For those of you that are going I’ll see you on Saturday.  For those that aren’t I’m sure that I’ll be blogging about it for the whole of next week!!!   Yay!!!

The World Cup and Football from a woman's viewpoint!!!!

OMG!  Where to begin?  Maybe I’ll just go for being hated and put it out there straight away that the England Team were unbelievably sh*t!  If you disagree that’s fine, but are you being honest with yourself?

I’m an England fan through and through but there is no excuse for the way that we played.  Ok so we played 38 games in the premiership alone.  I don’t give a damn that the Germans played 4 games less.  We were rubbish. My ‘professional’ opinion is that Capello needs sacking and we need to put Beckham in charge.  He had more passion than the rest of the Team put together and he also needs to teach the rest of the Team the National Anthem.  How disrespectful to be so eager to play for your Country and then be silent when it’s time to sing it loud. (BTW this goes for all the Teams.....come along the USA even I know your National Anthem!!!)

With that out of the way the problem that I’d like to address is men’s attitude to women being interested in the football.  In my Twitter and Facebook feed there was plenty of trash talking. Between us I was already upset about the attitude but the feed that set me off was that of my ex (ex-ex-ex) boyfriend.  I’m sure he’s not aware that I stalk occasionally stop by his Facebook page but his feed went something like this (names have been changed to protect the innocent.....grammar hasn’t because.....obviously...duh.....what a dumbass!!!):

Mr Ex: Can someone please explain to me why I've just watched a load of women giving it large about England, they don't even understand the offside rule ffs! Erm they give out loads of grief when you go to watch you're club side, as well, might have something to do with the time off work. Hypocrites. Lol

 

And one of Mr Exes friends:  i agree, Mr. Ex, they are all into now, but you wont see any of em at there local lower league team playing away on a wet tuesday nite!!!!!!

Well excuse me Mr. Sexist but I’d like to set a few things straight!  I don’t pretend to know everything about football but I do know what the offside rule means. 

I have been a Leicester fan for many years and so am used to watching really bad football that has you biting your nails for at least twenty minutes a game and praying that this will be the time that you aren’t let down but you go ahead and pay through the nose every week because you are a fan. (For the Americans amongst you, it’s like being a Red Sox fan.....plenty of passion and not a win in sight!!!!)

The reason I stopped going every week is because:

a) it costs around £35 per person per match. When it was just me that was cool and I could afford a Season ticket at £600 a year.  However at £35 a match for me and another £10 for Chick as well as the car parking and food and programme, it’s just out of my reach to go to every home match 

b) In the week we wouldn’t get home until 11pm at least and Chick needs to go to school 

c) I couldn’t possibly go to any away matches for the above reasons!!!!

I’m aware that I’m reacting like a child to his off the cuff criticism (that isn’t aimed at me) but I feel that it’s unnecessary and the feminist in me should come out fighting!!!!  So I’ll lay down a challenge......

Dear Mr. Ex

Why don’t you come and look after my daughter for every Leicester home game? That way you will find me there on every Tuesday or Wednesday night screaming on my home team!!!

My absence from the football has nothing to do with the rain/cold weather and more to do with the expense, child care and week days. Therefore this is absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I don’t understand or care about football......please tell your friends that they are narrow minded idiots....mmmm ‘kay thanks!!

Love Me!

Letters of Intent

Having one of those days, moths, years?  Want to sound off about the things or people that annoy you? Then grab a button from Julie over at Foursons and write your very own Letter of Intent.
Please note that if you are offended by bad language you shouldn't carry on past Letter 4!!!!

Dear Family and Friends
Thank you for buying me such lovely cards and presents for my birthday, even after my insistence that I'm not celebrating anymore now that I'm 29!!!  You rock and I love you all and am truly very grateful for each and every one of you.
LoveThe Soppy Girl who's pretending she's 29!!!!
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Dear Nick
Thank you so much for offering to give me the money to go and see Bon Jovi for a third and final time!  You are not so bad for an annoying Little Brother ;-)
Love Me xx------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Jon Bon Jovi
I take back everything I said in my last Letter of Intent.  You are still quite hot and I wouldn't kick you out of bed for eating biscuits!!!
LoveThe woman who really needs to get a grip!!!
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Dear Chick
I love you more than life itself but you have to start sleeping at night.  If you can't go to sleep you have to learn to lay there quietly and stop waking me up every 5 minutes.  I'm not sure how many more sleepless nights I can take.
Love The extremely grumpy woman that you have to live with!
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Dear Transport for London
I HATE YOU WITH A PASSION!  
Seriously!  It's bad enough that every weekend when I'm in London most of the tubes aren't working and I have to catch a bus with the common people!  This is not a fun experience and I don't enjoy it one single bit! It's also really annoying that each journey takes twice as long as it should, due to said bus service.
A couple of weeks ago, I happened to have the misfortune of driving in your beautiful City.  It took me two hours to drive approximately 7 miles to collect my daughter.  I'm sure you'll agree that this is ever so slightly frustrating.  However as I collected the daughter and tried to leave your beautiful City we got caught in yet another traffic jam...this time due to a bridge being closed.  I may have inched forward and made it through the traffic lights whereupon I got stuck behind another car and didn't make it fully across the lights.
Now I understand that this is a Red Route (no stopping zone for you out of towners) but I wasn't actually in the way, even though my two back tyres were in the yellow box.  Anywhere else in the UK this is just called bad driving or is understandable but apparently in London it's completely illegal!
Imagine my joy when on my birthday I received a delightful letter from yourselves, informing me that I had been photographed by one of your Camera Operators and am being charged £120 for the privilege.  
£120.....you are having a FUCKING laugh!  120 of my hard earned English Pounds will have to spent on a FUCKING driving violation.  
I seriously hope that when I pay the £120 on my card it causes a virus to enter your computer system and die!!!
LoveThe woman who has been saying fuck an awful lot this week!!
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Dear Camera Operator who works for Transport for London
Get a proper job, Dickhead!
LoveThe woman who will be cursing you to hell for at least the foreseeable future!

(Not so) Wordless Wednesday

It's official....I am now old.  I will only admit to it on this one day and ever after shall remain at 29!!!!! This month there is no Secret Post Club as the lovely Heather has been on holiday. In lieu of this and the fact that I'm a complete lay ass (who is busy watching a never ending Wimbledon match) I thought I'd share some of my Birthday presents instead!!!

As the world and his wife knows by now I had some amazing Bon Jovi tickets and I promise not to torture you all with more pictures.  I also had these arrive at work yesterday:

Sooooo beautiful and only just able to fit them into the frame of the camera! Surprisingly most of my cards were pictures of shoes or alcohol related.....it seems my friends know me well!  One of the most apt cards was from Nelly:

Although I do like to think that I'm not quite that scary looking!!!  Today I got home from work and I had a lovely note saying that my neighbour had taken a parcel in for me which was also from Nelly and look at the goodies that were inside it:

Very excited to start reading and also to explore my Writer's Toolbox in detail.  I also got to have a little party with Sarah and El and the girls.  They bought me tickets to see Comedian Ross Noble and baked me a cake!!!

I lost my mojo, visited some tourist attractions and re-discovered my Bon Jovi love! Oh yeah and it's my birthday!!!!!!

Aahh my poor abandoned readers, I apologise for my absence.  Did you miss me??  It's appears that for a while there I lost my blogging mojo, I'm not sure if it's returned for good but I'm writing today at least!  I also am not sure what to blame it on....Laziness maybe, the blankness in my head or just good old fashioned life getting in the way!!!  Anyways whilst I haven't been blogging I've been doing the following:

Getting frustrated by drivers in Derbyshire.  Obviously not my fault that I waited until deadline day which happened to be a sunny Saturday when the Tourists were out in force.  Also wanting to run cyclists over.....all day I was chanting to myself........ 'they are the devils work but are not to be used for target practice'!!!!  Aaaarrrggghhhh even more annoying when you are on a very narrow road and they are taking up all the room! I was in Derbyshire taking pictures for a new column that I'm working on:

This is the beautiful and amazing Chatsworth House.  I also found myself on a little side trip to Sherwood Forest which I'm writing a completely unrelated article about.  Imagine my fury after the Derbyshire drivers/cyclists when I discovered that apparently Nottinghamshire thinks Tourists don't need signposts!!!!  I could see that I was in the Forest (big trees surrounding me and all that!!) but I wanted to be in a specific place. The woman at the desk was most helpful and suggested that I should've left the motorway at a different junction where there were signposts!!!  My article strangely enough may reflect a little teeny bit of my anger!!!  I did however get to see a 1,000 year old oak tree which was kinda cool:

I also found myself back in London to watch the awesome and mighty fine Bon Jovi!  Our seats this time though were only 5 rows back from the side of the stage which was amazing!  Jon was almost close enough to touch.  Richie Sambora (who some of you may know as my future husband!!) was unfortunately on the other side of the stage so he didn't get to see me or my wonderful t-shirt (on it's second outing in just over a week!):

When we got to London, I got the camera out to take some cheesy 'woo hoo....look at me at Bon Jovi again' pictures and I realised that my memory card was still in my laptop (3 hours away at home!!) so I made El take lots of pictures.  This is how close we were:

Sadly, Richie was just out of reach:

Tomorrow I won't be posting as it's a very sad day for me.  I going to be this old:

So will mainly be crying into my beer and wondering how the hell I got to be 34 when actually in my head I'm only 26!!!!! I may enjoy a present or two though and I'm sending lots of happy thoughts to the Birthday Fairy letting her know that tickets for the Bon Jovi finale show on Saturday would be one of the most fabulous things ever ;-)

Wordless Wednesday - The Bon Jovi Version!!!

Trooping the Colour

This post marks me out as my usual geeky self but I don't really care!!!  As you know at the weekend I was down in London to see the awesome, greatness that is Bon Jovi.  However on Saturday it was the 'Official' Birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.  Now I'm not really a Royalist but I do love me some Pomp and Ceremony like any good British Girl.  The exact timing of everything and the regimentation amazes me and I love the fly past because I'm a bit of a plane geek!!!  All my pictures of the planes were terrible but this is the Troops marching past the Palace:

The origins of the Trooping of the Colour date back to the time of Charles II in the 17th Century when the colours of the Regiment were used as a rallying point in battle.  The first traceable mention of using the Trooping of the Colour for a Kings birthday celebration is back in 1748 and after King George III became King in 1760 it was ordered that parades should mark the Kings birthday.  With a few notable exception during the Two World Wars it has been an annual event:

Over 1400 officers and men are on parade, together with two hundred horses; over four hundred musicians from ten bands and corps of drums march and play as one. As the clock strikes 11am the Royal Procession arrives in Horseguards Parade for the Queen to take the salute.  They then march back along the Mall to Buckingham Palace where a fly past marks the end of the ceremony.  


If ever you get chance to attend, I truly recommend it!  We din't get to go to the actual trooping at Horse Guards Parade, as it is always tickets only, but we did get a good spot on the Mall and then outside Buckingham Palace where we got chance to wave at Lizzie and shout Happy Birthday whilst they were waiting for the flypast!!!

Happy 84th Birthday Lizzie!!!!

A Sunday Picture Post

I've just arrived home from one of the best weekend's ever and thought that I would share some pictures with you before I start to visit the 67 wonderful people who left me comments from SITS Pot Luck Friday.  We've been to London to see Bon Jovi and decided to make a weekend of it by doing some touristy stuff too......we even got to see the Queen!!!!

At the moment there is an exhibition/conservation campaign going on through the streets of London called the Elephant Parade. The aim is to raise £2 million for the Asian Elephants as well as to help 20 British Charities. There are 250 brightly coloured and painted Elephants in completely random places all over Town, each decorated by a different artists and celebrities including Sir Terence Conran and Tommy Hilfiger. We didn't manage to see all of them but here are a few of them:

Almost Wordless Wednesday

The weather is awful today, the rain hasn't stopped in hours and I'm in need of some sunshine in my life so I thought that I would share some of our Australia pictures:

Letters of Intent

Has life been getting on your nerves? Have something that you want to say but can’t say it out loud? Feel free to write you own letter of Intent and link up with Julie over at Foursons!


Dear Parents at the Outdoor Pool

You know that we all like to enjoy the pool and that we don’t get to go very often because the weather is normally rubbish?? Well I love being at the pool with my daughter but what I don’t enjoy are your kids! They are rude and splashy and run across MY towels and you don’t care!!

Well here’s an idea........put down your book/cell phone/trashy magazine and watch your kids, it’s not the lifeguards fault when they almost drown!! Put sunscreen on the kids and maybe yourself....red is not an attractive skin colour and skin cancer will not be fun!

Love
The very unimpressed woman with the boobs that wouldn’t stay in her suit!!!

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Dear Jon Bon Jovi

I have personally contributed a lot of money to your fortune over several years and I am coming to see you twice in the next few weeks. I have a plea for you....shut the f**k up about how hard it is to play music for 20 nights in a row. I’m guessing you had the choice about if you wanted to do it or not and you took the money and ran? I’m sure when I’m paying £60 a ticket for really, really bad seats because I couldn’t afford the front row at £500 a seat, you can deal with the inconvenience of living in the sodding Ritz with your family for 3 weeks.

Love the girl who used to adore you!!!

p.s Hairy and sweaty suited you much better then thin and short-haired!

p.p.s Stop getting old...it’s not cool and makes me feel ancient.........just stop ok!!!

p.p.p.s A press pass would REALLY make up for some of the disappointment xxx

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Dear Ritchie Sambora

I’ve really gone off Jon in recent years and think that you’ve aged much, much better...you free for erm.....some fun and stuff????

Love
Jon’s –ex!!!

p.s I’ll be the curvy girl in the Mrs. Sambora t-shirt in row 501 next Friday ;-)

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Dear Chick

I love you beyond belief but if you could go sleep just once without argument I’d really appreciate it!

Love
The woman who will stop your pocket money if you don’t stop arguing!!!!


*I know I'm supposed to link this up on a Friday but I forgot with the excitement of the sun actually shining in England!!! ;-)

Fun in the Sun

This week in the UK is the kids half term and so they've had no school and I got to have a couple of days off work....woo hoo!!!  As you know yesterday I went shopping with my Mum and bought all Chick's bridesmaid stuff which is absolutely beautiful!  I'm very excited for the wedding as everyone's outfits are awesome apart from mine of course because I have nothing to wear!! I looked yesterday in a whole host of shops and nada! Maybe they should have a naked wedding, I'd be alright then!!!

Today I took Chick and the Punk to a local place called Snibston Discovery Centre.  It's on the site of a former colliery and is a combination of museum, science experiments, fashion gallery and general awesomeness for the kids.  What I love most about it is that the kids can touch all the exhibits and there is plenty of space for running around.  Obviously I took lots of pictures. This is Chick and The Punk with an old friend of mine ;-)

Shoes.....I can always find shoes!!!

It was such a beautiful day that we spent a lot of the time outdoors:

By the afternoon it got soooooo hot that we de-camped to the outdoor pool!  It's very rare that we get to visit as the weather is England is normally crap and the Lido only opens for about 8 weeks a year!!  No way in hell I'm showing you a pic of me in my swimsuit but the girls are pretty cute:

It was lovely to be able to hang out at the pool and do nothing but sit and watch the girls having fun, pretty much like being on a proper holiday!  Fingers crossed that the weather is still as fabulous tomorrow so that we can go and do it all over again!!!

Almost Wordless Wednesday (on a Thursday!!!)

So I appear to have lost yesterday and completely missed posting which I put down to the fact that I was sick!  Today has been an awesome day as I got to meet up with the Ladies of my family for a shopping trip to buy lovely clothes for my Mum's Wedding!!!  We mainly bought stuff for Chick and I came home empty handed......booooo!!! This is me with three generations of my family:

Don't tell anyone but I baked......kinda!!!!

As most of you know I use the kitchen mainly for storage and cook as rarely as I can possibly get away with!! However, after some bitching and moaning about my lack of cooking skills from various people that I love, Chick decided that we had to christen the kitchen and seeing as it was her idea she got to do all the work:

She obviously is working really hard here, huh?

She reckons this is the best part about baking!!  This is our effort at icing the cupcakes:

I'm not entirely sure what went wrong with the icing but suffice to say not only did it not hold its self up it was a complete drippy mess and my trying to improve it only made it much, much more disgusting!!!!  In the end though we improvised and ended up with something looking like this:

This is a proud Chick holding her plate of amazingness:

We might not be able to cook for toffee but she's gorgeous and how fab does our new kitchen look?????  The cooking activity in the Brooks household for 2010 is now complete!!!!