Happiness

I have been tagged by three lovely bloggers, Chic Mama, Tiddlyompompom and Beth at My Good Life, with the Happy 101 meme.

After my last post I definitely wanted to write about something positive and upbeat. I love to be happy and to laugh so this seemed a perfect way to count my blessings.

The rules:

List ten things that make you happy, then pass the award on to ten other bloggers.

Ten things that make me happy:

1) Nap time - although Presley has pretty much dropped his daytime nap, there are still days - like today - when I get some 'me' time. I take it when I can these days!

2) Friends - there is nothing like spending time with a good friend, someone who knows you inside out and never judges you. You can see each other every day and never run out of things to say or you can see each other once a year and simply pick up where you left off. A good friend will be honest with you but will always consider your feelings. 

3) Shopping - Before Children I went shopping a lot. I bought clothes, shoes, bags, jewellery, make-up etc. Nowadays I buy children's clothes and shoes and rarely anything for myself. On Saturday I went to the Trafford Centre with my best friend. We spent the day shopping, just the two of us. Heaven!

4) My new maxi dress - I normally live in jeans and linen trousers, but this caught my eye in Debenhams on Saturday: 

It makes me happy because it's colourful, it fits, it didn't break the bank and I found a cardigan to go with it.

5) Christopher Guest films - Spinal Tap (obviously), Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman and A Mighty Wind are all hilarious and make me laugh out loud every time I see them.

6) Eating - I'll never be skinny, I like food too much. After working my way through the menu of our favourite Indian takeaway I finally found my favourite curry, a chicken tikka Afghani special. This made me happy.

7) Kisses and cuddles - especially from Andy, Presley and Cash. 'Nuff said.

8) Writing - more than twenty years after leaving school I've picked up a pen again and started writing. I'm enjoying it. Who knows, I may even be quite good at it? I always maintained I wasn't creative, I'm revising my opinion right about now!

9) Blogging - or more specifically, bloggers. I love the fact that I've found a group of online friends, some of whom have become real life friends, that are easy to get on with. We have so much in common. Although blogging is 'only' a hobby I get so much out of it. I'm over-excited about going to Cybermummy and am looking forward to putting even more faces to headers!

10) Booths' Tea Room - for those not familiar with Booths, it is a wonderful local supermarket. Our nearest Booths has a tea room. I take the boys once a week or once a fortnight. I like the fact that they give you a number to put on your table when you order, they then bring your food and drinks over to your table. This is perfect if you have two toddlers with you. Other tea rooms please take note, it is impossible to carry a tray of hot drinks and push a pushchair at the same time. The boys and I share four slices doorsteps of toast and butter (79p). They have the middle and I have the crusts. I have three cups of tea from a proper teapot (99p) and then pour the remaining milk into my cup so the boys can have a 'milky tea'. How civilised!

So there we go, ten things that make me happy.

I'm going to tag:
Muddling Along Mummy
Yummy Mummy No1
Christine at Thinly Spread
Susie at New Day New Lesson (just to see if she can think of even more happy things)!

If you would also like to have a go at this one, please let me know and I'll add you to the list.

Happiness

The Favourite Photo Meme

Memes are like buses. You wait for ages to be tagged and then you get tagged three times!

Thank you notSupermum, Geekymummy and New Mummy.

I have so many favourite photographs, it's almost impossible to choose one. I don't post identifiable photos of my children online, so I had to eliminate a fair few on that basis. Even so I still have so many favourites

I've just spent a wonderful half hour searching through 'my pictures' . I had two photos in mind that I wanted to use and here they are.

The first is me with a two week old Presley. I love the way we are looking at each other.

The second is of me with Cash, again at two weeks. I love babies when they are still curled up, like tiny frogs.

Broody? Me? Yep. I mean, look at them, they're so tiny and snuggly!

I'm not sure if there's anyone left to tag. If you would like to join in, and you would like me to tag you, let me know.

Consider yourselves tagged:

MumsRock

Plan B

Looking forward to seeing your photos.

The Favourite Photo Meme

Baby Baby Review of the Year

It's that time of year again. The five days between Christmas and New Year, Twixtmas as it is now known.

It's the time of year we reflect on the previous 12 months. I don't know about you but hasn't 2009 flown by? I know, we say it every year!

Thanks to the lovely Sam from Mum's The Boss who has tagged me with the High-5 Meme.

The rules are to thank the person who tagged you, list your top 5 highlights from 2009 and then tag 5 more bloggers to do the same.

Off we go...

1 - Getting Online

2009 was the year I joined the modern world. I joined Twitter in February and have made some wonderful friends, some of whom I now know in real life. I totally 'got' Twitter straight away, I still don't really 'get' Facebook in the same way. Joining Twitter was key to me finding the Preston Writing Network (now The Lancashire Writing Hub), The Continental pub and arts space and starting Baby Baby.

2 - Starting to Write

In January I wrote and recorded a song called 'Meteoric' (with Andy's help on the recording side, oh and he played all the instruments for me, but I wrote the words and the melody)! This was the first song I had written since I left school. I wrote another four songs this year, two are duets with Andy. This was a great way for us to spend time together.

In May I started this blog. I re-discovered a love of writing that I hadn't known since school. I've enjoyed being part of the blogging community and again have made many friends.

In July I had a go at creative writing. I started with a 1600 word short story, written in just 2 hours. I joined a local creative writing group and have now written many pieces, including some creative non-fiction. I've had one story published online, I got totally over-excited when I got the email telling me I was successful!

In November I started a creative writing course that I loved.

Last week I started writing my novel. I'm still in shock that I had an idea for a book and started writing!

3 - Performing Live

Andy and I are now regulars at open mic music nights in Preston (baby sitters permitting). Andy almost always writes new material for each gig. Together we have performed my songs, duets and one cover. People clapped, I shook, but the buzz from singing live stayed with me for days! I'm tremendously proud of the way Andy had developed as a live performer this year.

I also read a short story at a live literature night. Again, this was nerve-wracking but exciting too, especially when several people came up to me afterwards with positive feedback and encouragement.

4 - The Breast Cancer Care Fashion Show

My best friend Amanda, a breast cancer survivor, was one of the catwalk models at the 2009 Breast Cancer Care Fashion Show. Amanda looked gorgeous. I cried buckets. We got dressed up, got drunk, spotted celebs and all for a great cause.

5 - Going to Number 10 Downing Street

This was another night to remember. My Twitter friend, Sarah Brown, invited me to a party at her house. This was not just any old house party. It was The Downing Tweet Christmas Party in support of a Million Mums. I got dressed up, got drunk (again), chatted to celebs and all for another great cause. This really was the opportunity of a lifetime, and all because of Twitter!

That's my top five highlights of 2009. Obviously being a wife and mother has been amazing all year and raising two small boys has been hard work all year too, but I wouldn't swap my life for anyone's.

There was one low point in 2009, losing our lovely old cat in July.

Otherwise this has been an amazing year for me.

I'm going to tag the following fabulous five:

The Mad House

A Place of my own

A Mothers Ramblings

Hot Cross Mum

Rosie Scribble

Apologies if you have already been tagged! I look forward to reading your High-5's.

Baby Baby Review of the Year