More December activites.......

We had our work Christmas party on Friday 7th Dec. It was nice, not a big one just good fun not having to organise anything, just turn up.

Saturday 8th Indoor softball - we finished the indoor season 2nd which was great. We are going into the Comp level next year so that will be interesting.

Monday 10th Girls Chrissy Dinner - the girls and I had our usual dinner together, crackers popping, secret santas and lots of food & drink. It was great to have Charlene back who arrived back in the country on the Sunday!

Tuesday 11th Murder Mystery Dinner - one of my bosses was leaving to go back to Australia so they organised a farewell dinner and it was a murder mystery night. I was a bathroom designer and by the way not the killer! It was a really fun night but we didnt' get the write answer.


Wednesday 12th Top Hat - 20 of us went to see the musical Top Hat. We had seats 4 rows from the front AMAZING. The music was brilliant and I couldn't stop humming it after. i really wish I could sing (well).

Christmas Wreath making

Managed to convince the Guvnors Club to help fund a Christmas wreath making event here in the office. On Thursday 6th Dec 7 of us got together with a trained professional and made ourselves some wreaths! It was actually a lot of fun for a low cost and we had some  nibbles as well. I have my wreath up on my lounge door inside so I can see everytime I walk past.

The green leaves were already on the wreath, we just had to do the decorating.

International Day for Persons with a Disability

Once the ball was over there was no rest, as we had our event for International Day for Persons with a Disability on the Monday. This was our second year of running this event and it went nice and smooth. We had four charities come:


Be onsite
Deafness Research
Dogs for the Disabled
Action for Blind

  
They set up in their areas and we were ready for the first wave of employees to turn up and experience different types of abilities. Everyone also got a goody bag & lunch which was a winner. I think the main draw were the dogs, especially the puppy who was only 6 months old, so cute. We had a couple of speakers Sgt Allan Jackson and Danny Crates. Both were extemely touching, motivating and very inspirational. Hopefully this event helped raise people awareness or change their perception of disability in the workplace. Not sure what we are going to do next year though.

Charity Ball

Again I organised our Guvnors Charity Ball at the Hilton Park Lane. This year we went with a wild wild west theme. The girls and I got there early to help set up but most of it had already been done so we were ready to head to the complimentary room to get ready. The first room they had for me was on a smoking floor, you know how i feel about smoking (RANK) so then Steve said leave it with me. 10 mins later he said alright I have another room for you. We get in the elevator and he takes me to the top floor! Yep he gave us the Presidential Suite. It was humungous! I couldnt' stop laughing, couldn't believe it. It had an east & west wing. The girls and i were so excited.

So after our thrill of getting ready in the suite it was time to head down to the event. The evening went well, champagne reception, starters then we had the heads & tails game. Basically i had to flip a coin (in front of everyone) and the MC (Dave Sharpe) shouted it out and if I called heads and thats what you had chosen you got to stay standing. It got down to two with the winner gettting £1000. it was all fun and games till I got off the dancefloor and Claire at my table said she could see my knickers thru my dress when the spotlight was on me! Whoops I had worn my new stripey undies. Oh well it was a laugh anyway.

We had three acts, Calamity Jane - the name says it all, she was pants. Bruce Airhead - i missed it as I was in the toilet. And Incognito - AMAZING. they were a surprise act, that came on and sung opera. they pulled the crowd back and had them all up and dancing.

Then my responsibilities ended and it was time to hit the dancefloor. Time seemed to fly by and suddenly it was 2am, we went up to the suite and had a few more drinks then it was time to go to bed. Unfortunately I woke up at 8am after only a few hours sleep and was really pretty rotten so decided to forgo breakfast and headed home to curl up in my own bed with noone kicking me out at 11am.

A great night, everyone enjoyed it and we managed to raise £40,000 for the two charities.

Food....mmmmmmmmm

As you might know I've submitted my application for the Great British Bake Off season 4. There was no end date on the application form so unsure as to when we will find out if I've made it. But I'm doing a lot of practicing.

I tried making sausage rolls. I made the puff pastry from scratch - it was super hard and seemed to take forever. The recipe called for sausage meat and I assumed that was just mince, turns out I'm wrong! Oh well. I made an onion chutney that went in the sausage roll so the mince wasn't too dry. Not bad for a first attempt.

I've also had to make a treacle tart. I think the filling was a bit too lemony but the lattice work on top turned out nice!

November......what a month

I've been so busy this month I seem to have missed updating my blog. But I'm back now (hopefully).

2nd November - James Bond 007 - Skyfall
A bunch of us went and saw the much talked about movie. I really liked it and thought Daniel Craig looked amazing as usual. Two thumbs up

3rd November - Thorpe Park
Louisa, Danielle, Richard, Steve & I went to one of the theme parks in the UK. It was wicked, had a brilliant day. Reminded me of when mum & dad used to take us to Australia's Wonderland. The rides were super fast and scary and we managed to get around to all the ones we wanted. Although stupidly we went on a water ride and we got soaked (whoops). We got there about 11amish and didn't leave until 10pmish it was a massive day. Also got a ride home in Steve's new car, fancy.

6th November - Dad's birthday

10th November - Softball

16th November - Dancing at Roadhouse
Natasha, Natalie & I met up and had a few too many during happy hour but had a bit of a giggle. Didn't stay long but it was fun anyway.

15th November - Mum's birthday

17th November - Australia vs England - Rugby at Twickenham Stadium
Helen & I got tickets to watch the game, it was AMAZING! And of course Australia won! Whoo hoo








19th November - Jen's birthday
So noticed in my diary that someone had written their birthday! I made chocolate cupcakes, put some sprinkles on it and took it downstairs to her desk only to find out she had the week off! Can you believe it!!! Jen's team was excited though as they got to eat the cupcakes! Oh well better luck next year.

21st November - Bingo
Angela, Sophie & I decided to hit the bingo hall in Stratford. It was hilarious. The food was cheap and cheerful, lots of people there taking it very seriously. We each bought a dabber (mine is red) and went dabtastic. So much fun we registered as members and are going back in January for another session. Angela even won £6 which has now been put into our kitty winnings.



24th November - Softball

26th November - Twilight
Possibly one of the worst movies we have seen this year. All 10 of us met up to see the last installment. Oh well they gave it a shot.

28th November - Team dinner - Burger & Lobster
My team and I headed to the local restaurant for dinner and the choices were Burger...... or Lobster...... It was really nice. I went for the lobster and it was fun to have to crack the shells to get our dinner. They did supply us all with bibs to ensure we stayed clean. The waitress even told me that there were 1300 lobsters delivered each week and they were kept in a tank underneath the restaurant.

29th November - Movember bake sale
The boys in the office have been busy growing facial hair this month so a bunch of us at work got together and baked up a storm. There were brownies, sticky toffee cake, apple flan, muffins, cupcakes, banana choc chip cake and more. We set it out all at midday and by 1pm it was gone!!! We managed to raise £253............ what a fantastic result.

30th November - Wildlife Photographer of the Year / Mum & Dad met in 1968
The girls and I headed to the exhibition at the Natural History Museum. Each year it seems to get better and the photos submitted are stunning. It was inspiring to walk around and read about each photo, where it was taken, who took it. I wouldn't mind the skills or the camera to be able to do that too.

Chelsea Buns

Super tasty! I am extremely proud of myself they turned out unreal!