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Hello…it’s Me! Tardy Mizzog!

~ lorz83 ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been a complete Mizzog and extremely tardy of late with updating my blog, so I figured given I’ve got a spare few minutes I’d try and write a post.

So what updates do I have since I last wrote; there’s holidays (or lack of) I’ve had a birthday (that’s right 21 again!) as has my sister, games are continually being played, there have been engagements (No not me, sadly my ring finger is still very much bare and lacking a sparkly diamond) babies and weddings, party planning, PT sessions and fun with friends.

Well my last post was leading up to my much anticipated holiday to Florence, and for those of you who haven’t seen me in a while, you may perhaps have thought I’d been wooed by some gorgeous Italian and had re-located (believe me I’m not adverse to such scenario) but unfortunately that’s not the case as for such a thing to have happened I would actually have had to of made it to Italy! Let me, in brief, fill you all in…..

I spent the Saturday ironing all my holiday outfits, matching up shoes, handbag and jewellery and packed my suitcase. I picked up a new mini camera to capture all our exciting holiday memories and got my passport, tickets, euros, numerous pairs of sunglasses, magazines and clear plastic bag full of lipsticks, perfumes and anything else that is 50ml and may or may not be perceived as a liquid (after all these years and numerous flights I’m still clueless with regards to what is and isn’t allowed in hand luggage!) together and packed my large handbag for the cabin.  In the evening I got my nail kit out, its standard practice to have gorgeous nails when you go away – I opted for Pink Hibis-Kiss, vibrant and bright which I thought the Italians would appreciate.  Sunday morning, was like Christmas, I was soooooo excited. I love my holidays and this was going to be my first holiday with just my sister since we went away to New York in 2007. Around lunchtime we made our way to Gatwick. The journey was stress free and we were parked and in the terminal building a little earlier that anticipated. We checked in and were told there was a slight delay, only an hour and 15 minutes, not a big deal but a little annoying. Security was a breeze, so we had plenty of time to have a leisurely meal and mooch around duty-free. I always find time flies when you’re at the airport, the excitement of the adventures to come probably has something to do with it. Time was getting on so we thought we should check to see if our gate had been announced; you know that it will be a gate that’s at least a 30 minute walk away, it always is, well not this time! We looked at the board and instead of a gate number we saw “Go to Information Desk” Now I’m not a frequent flyer, but I do go on at least a couple of flights a year and I have never seen a gate called ‘Information Desk’! I didn’t even know where the sodding desk was! Well along with 228 fellow passengers we found the Information Desk and after watching the lady sat behind said desk actually run (she could give Usain Bolt a run for his money) we waited for 30 minutes to be officially told our BA flight being operated by Mickey Mouse Airlines Aka Vueling had been cancelled. The bosses opted to send a child into be slaughtered, shaking holding an email printed off in landscape format (this angered me from the get go) read out the ‘Not Option’ options; these included flights to Barcelona (yep last time I was there Barca was definitely in Spain, not Italy) or taking a flight free of charge at any point over the next 7days! I’m not sure how airlines operate with regards to annual leave, but in general people don’t just wake up one morning, drive to the airport, jump on a plane and go on holiday for a week! Idiots! Before any of these ‘Not Options’ could (not) be considered, we had to be ‘decommissioned’ which entailed queuing at passport control, then making our way to luggage reclaim, through arrivals and then back to Departures – If nothing else we had a lovely tour of Gatwick North Terminal. After hours getting nowhere, quite literally, we left the airport upset and deflated (the closest we got to Italy was the Florence Fizz we had in Jamie’s Italian!)

Since arriving back from our Non-Holiday, I have had to endure the most shocking customer service from British Airways – It’s been appalling and after being told on countless occasions I am still awaiting my refund! The hotel was non-refundable, however again after numerous emails they agreed to let us transfer our dates so we are now re-booked to go to Florence in September!! I’m really not sure I’ll last another 7 weeks without a holiday so I’m seriously considering a last minute deal (my suitcase is still packed after all as it my hand luggage bag) I imagine a holiday to Turkey would cost next to nothing and I’ve always had an amazing time when I’ve stayed in Kalkan; in fact i’ve got a photo of Kaputaş beach pinned up at my desk that I often look at when I want to zone out for a few minutes and go to a peaceful, tranquil, happy place.

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So that’s my holiday debacle in short, I’d like to add that non-holiday blues are twice as bad as my usual holiday blues so I was rather intolerable.

It was my birthday at the beginning of July and I had a lovely day with my sister in sunny Portsmouth. We arrived at lunch time so our first stop was Giraffe for a bite to eat (and a cheeky G&T of course) we then went up the Spinnaker Tower to see the views across the Solent and saw Sir Ben Ainsley out practicing for the Americas Cup. This was followed by a little look around Gunwharf. We made our way back to Newbury and went for dinner with Mother at Mio Fiore – Amazing food, however I wasn’t impressed with the full glass of Prosecco being thrown all over me, drenching my top and making my arm smell like a vineyard! I’ve been 33 for a few weeks now, I’m not sure I’m really loving it if I’m honest, I don’t think its a number a particularly like, but I’m hoping I can make it a good year.

Talking of birthdays, it was my little sisters 30th yesterday – Eek!! Mum and I treated her to a girlie weekend in London – We took the train to Paddington Saturday morning and arrived at The Sanderson around 1pm and fortunately our room was ready so we checked in, dropped our luggage in the gorgeous room and then headed out to grab some lunch. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch, before heading back to the hotel to drink Champagne and get ready for our evening in the West End. We’d booked tickets to see Disney’s Aladdin – It was amazing, loved it! The show finished around 10:15pm and we made our way back to the hotel bar. The Long Bar at The Sanderson is really popular so it was packed when we arrived back, so we opted to go up to our room for a bit and ordered some room service as although we weren’t starving we thought we ought to have a bite to eat before heading down to the bar for cocktails. After we’d munched our food my sister wasn’t really up for going to the bar, she was ready for bed (turning 30 takes it out of you!) but Mum was up for a drink or two, so we went back down to the bar and had a couple of amazing cocktails! We stayed in the bar until 1:15am before retiring back to the room. Before hitting my pillow I put some banners up and sprinkled ’30’ confetti all ready for my Sis to wake up to. Yesterday morning, I was the one faffing around taking an age to get ready, once I had sorted myself out we found this cute coffee shop called TAP Coffee and had a late breakfast and then we went for a little look around the shops on Oxford St before heading back to the hotel for afternoon tea. I’d booked us in for The Mad Hatters Tea Party afternoon tea (at The Sanderson) and it was AMAZING!! I’ve never eaten so much and felt so full in all my life! I don’t think my photo’s can even do the cakes justice – They were stunning and utterly delicious. With full tummies we made our way back to Paddington and caught the train to Newbury and to my Dads. We had yet more Champagne and my sister opened up her present, which annoyingly she loves (I was hoping she’d hate it and I’d keep it!) We then ate more food as Dad treated us to dinner, I felt like I was going to pop, it was like an endless day of food and cups of tea!! All in all I had a fab weekend, and I hope my not so little sister loved it too!

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Not only have I been busy organising my sisters birthday to make it as special as possible, I have also got my party planner head on ready for this years work Christmas Party (I know you’re all groaning at the mention of Christmas, but venues get booked up in January/February for parties so really and truly I’m late with my planning). Venues have been provisionally booked, entertainment have been contacted and room and table dressing has been discussed – It’s all very exciting!

My tardiness hasn’t been exclusive to my blog writing, I’ve also been royally rubbish with my gym visits over the past month or so too! I have been, and a few weeks ago now my friend and I actually joined each other for our PT sessions; Phil tried to kill us on the Monday and Sam tried to finish the job Wednesday. Neither succeeded and I even managed to do my first Body Combat class on the Saturday! I found the joint PT sessions to be really motivating, working alongside Charlotte gave a slight competitive edge to the workouts but also we worked as a team to help motivate each other. I need motivating, I’ve really lost my love for the gym of late, my non-holiday blues hasn’t helped. I need to find my A game as Phil is always telling me – If anyone happens to find it before me, please let me know! I’ve done a couple more Spin classes, I feel like I’m dying after each one. The last one I went to I was sat next to an old work colleague from my days at Hitachi, so it was nice to have a bit of a catch up (not so nice that after years she had to see me looking a sweating disgusting mess!)

In summary over the past month or so, I’m a year older (as is my sister) I haven’t been to Italy (I have however been to a few Italian Restaurants and I have spent time with The Italian) I’ve drunk lots of Gin, Champagne, Prosecco and fancy cocktails; I’ve been to the gym but not as often as I should have (Bad Laura)…… and I’m debating whether or not I should start a new game or press play to resume one that has been on pause!

I think I’ve typed enough nonsense for now and I’ll try not to leave it months again before posting again, unless of course I treat myself to a Turkish delight and a last minute holiday in the next few days, I will write a post again next week.

Until then

L x

RIP Winston

~ lorz83 ~ Leave a comment

Oh Hi! Yes, I am still alive! Apologies for the complete lack of GGGoL posts over the past few weeks, last night was the first time I’ve had really to write my blog (now I’ll struggle to remember what I’ve been up to – Old age and all)

Now do you recall I mentioned my car failed its MOT and was booked in at the garage? Well sadly Winston didn’t make it, his life support was switched off on Saturday 14th May, aged 10 years. We had some good times together, lots of fun journeys, my first trip to Cornwall, numerous drives to airports for my many holidays, lots of visits to Silverstone for the Motogp (my parking permit was still stuck on the windscreen). As one life ends another begins and I’m pleased to announce the safe arrival of my shinny Night Blue new Golf. He (yes my car is male) hasn’t officially been named yet, but I’m leaning towards Boris.

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What else have I been up to over the past few weeks. Well I’ve been rather naughty and I’ve been shopping (more than once) buying new outfits for my holibobs and I think I’m just about kitted out, I’ve got some new pairs of shorts, playsuit, shirt, vest top, dresses. I like to look stylish when I’m on holiday – Look good, feel good, and I am going away with my gorgeous little sister so I need all the help I can get from my outfits.  I’ve also bought a few new pieces for work (I’m telling you this gym malarkey is costing me a blimin’ fortune). Last Monday I debuted a gorgeous new H&M dress to co-inside with my first drive to the office in my new brum. I love new things.

So Florence is less than 4 weeks away now and I’m sooooo excited!! I’m usually really good at planning and organising holiday things (I’ve been on quite a few solo vacations over the past couple of years) but I think I’m almost too excited that I just haven’t been able to plan – Anything! So my usually not so organised sister has taken control and we have a vintage Fiat 500 self drive Tuscan wine experience booked – Perfect! We have a rough idea of what we want to see and do so things are coming together. I have also been informed that we will be eating at least one gelato a day, and will be eating the Italian way with our antipasto followed by primo, then secondo finished with dolce, all washed down with copious amounts of Prosecco and Chianti – I seriously can not wait; although I’m not looking forward to coming back the size of a casa.

Now, gym. I have been going, perhaps not as often as I should or I planned to this month and I do seem to have lost my gym mojo a bit; which is actually really sodding annoying! I’ve been having my usual PT’s with Phil and I’ve been working out with my fellow Moany Bitch, we’ve been to a couple more Spin classes, and I’ve been attending the Healthy Weight Programme (we did a core workout session last week – I feel like I should have abs like old school Peter Andre). At the moment I feel like I’m actually becoming less fit and fatter, although I know this isn’t the case when the clothes I’ve been buying are smaller than I used to wear (I even had to treat myself to a new pink VS Sports Bra on Saturday due to my shrinking bust!) It was lush shopping with my friend Saturday and being able to pick up smaller clothes off the rails, try them on in the changing room and for them to fit my body perfectly and flatter my ever changing shape. I think I might need to channel those feelings when I’m having my fat days at the gym, to encourage me to work my Kim K that bit harder – Bring the A game as Phil is forever telling me to do.

Dates! Now the cute Italian went home for a week at the beginning of the month, he’s back but we haven’t had a chance to see each other yet, we’ve been messaging and I might be seeing him Sunday.  I had been hoping I’d have another date lined up with someone else, but I’m obviously not in favour at moment – silence speaks volumes right!

It’s bank holiday weekend approaching and so far the only date I have set in in stone is catching up with one of my closest friends on Friday with her new bubba; well she’s five months old, but I haven’t met her yet. I’m so looking forward to snatching some cuddles. Other than that, I will naturally spend time with my mum and sister; we’ll probably go on another afternoon stroll ( we went to Snelsmore again weekend before last – No bog issues this time!).

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I think that’s me done for another week. Who knows when I’ll type again, I’m just so shoddy at the moment aren’t I? Shocking!

Enjoy the rest of your week and the bank holiday weekend (I do appreciate those few Mondays that I actually don’t hate and kinda love).

L x

No Ed, my legs don’t work like the used to before!

~ lorz83 ~ Leave a comment

So here we are again another week has come and gone and I survived PT last Monday and my second Spin class yesterday – Yay me!

Last time you may recall I said that Phil had a HIIT workout planned for me. Well a HIIT session did take place, moany bitch Laura was on form, constantly whinging as Phil attempted to kill me. He has this obsession with making me run on the treadmill without turning it on! It’s just ridiculous – The belt is not long enough for starters for my legs to get up any form of speed and 45 seconds is too long to attempt it; 45 seconds honestly feels like 5 minutes. I was a sweaty disgusting mess by the end of my hour. Numerous expletives were used and I felt half dead, as luck would have it Phil will not be charged with manslaughter as I did survive and surprisingly I didn’t ache on Tuesday – Bonus. I did however suffer a broken nail, which I wasn’t best pleased with.

My PT started an hour later last week, so to kill a bit of time, I did what I do best and hit the shops for a spot of retail therapy. I thought I’d start having a little look around for holiday clothes (only 6 1/2 of weeks to go) and I left Next with two new pairs of shorts and a vest top. The shorts are actually already a little on the big size; I mentioned this to Phil

Me – I’ve bought some shorts ready for holiday, they’re a size 14 and they are already feeling a little loose – They’ll be ok for Florence though, I mean I probably wont lose any more weight before I go will I?

Phil – Well if you carry on the way you’re going and keep up with your gym visits, then yes, you could quite possibly drop a dress size.

Me – But I’ve NEVER been a size 12!

Phil – Well if you keep it up you might well be.

Me – Hmmm well perhaps I’ll keep hold of my new shorts for a few more weeks, I’ve got 28 days after all, but then maybe I’ll change them for a smaller size – Eek!!!

Now don’t get me wrong I’m loving the fact that my body is starting to change and take shape, and I love to shop, but the thought of having to buy a whole new wardrobe is actually a little daunting and stressful (not to mention expensive). With the weight and inch loss my feet do not want to be out done by and also appear to be shrinking. I normally wear a size 5, Monday evening I tried on a pair of 4 1/2 shoes in Next and they were a little big! So not only will I need to buy new work attire, casual and going out clothes, it looks like I’ll be needing a mass of new shoes too! I suppose on positive with the shoes is I’ll be able to buy from the kids range and save a few pennies on VAT.

Tuesday I went to the gym and did a sesh on the trusty bike – I lasted an hour and leisurely cycled just under 23km. Wednesday was my usual rest day, no gym, I did however get a bit of a lecture from my sister re dating. We’ve decided to agree to disagree.  Thursday was the third HWP class where we discussed emotional eating. When I think of emotional eating I feel like this is done when we are feel down and low, but of course that’s not always the case as when we are happy we also find ourselves eating (and drinking) perhaps in excess.

After the previous Fridays food and drink downfall, I had intending on being good, I failed. Friday lunch I went to the pub and had a scrummy goats cheese roll with chips and a cheeky glass of wine. Then my sister asked if I’d like to go round hers for a naughty dinner, so I ended up having a chicken korma – Massive OOPS! I did however go to the gym before consuming the curry so hopefully I’d burnt of a mouthful or two before I started eating.

Saturday my car was in the garage for its MOT – It’s failed. This lead to a rather angry, annoyed Laura who subsequently had a lazy day dossing around the house.   I caught up on some programmes recorded, which was good as I needed to free some space in preparation for this weeks MotoGP in Le Mans.

On Sunday we had another girlie Mummy and daughter afternoon stroll. We went to Snelsmore Common this week. Again another beautiful spot right on my doorstep that I’ve only been two a few times before (I was put off going there as a child as there are snakes slivering around up there). There are pathways to follow, which we used for most of our walk, but we did go off track slightly, which wasn’t the best idea for my sister who was wearing some white converses (these ended up very muddy as we trekked through some bogs)

Sunday evening I had another date with the cute Italian. We had a lovely dinner and then went back to his to watch a film – Overall an enjoyable night and end to a fab day.

Yesterday was Bank Holiday Monday so I didn’t have a PT session booked in with Phil. Knowing this you may be impressed to read that I went to my second Spin class! I didn’t get in from my date till gone 1am and when I got home I had a cup of tea for bed, so it was probably around 2am before I went to sleep. I’d set my alarm for 8am but actually woke up around 7:30am. I got up, had some breakfast (something I rarely do) and got dressed in my gym clothes ready for the 9:30am class. I went with my new gym buddy, fellow HWP attendee and moany bitch and we sat at the back of the room like naughty school girls. We didn’t however go unnoticed as Sam (who took the class) is my friends Personal Trainer, plus there were only 7 of us in the class. So normally my moany on a Monday is reserved for Phil, but yesterday Phil was off the hook and Sam witnessed my moody ‘Are you kidding me’ face as he kept telling us to increase the resistance. One of the tracks played was Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud – Jeez it’s no wonder Ed’s a millionaire, that song goes on for flippin’ ever! “When your legs don’t work like they used to before” No they don’t, they don’t work because Sam is outright mean (not a one off, he’s always mean apparently) and Mr Sheeran composes songs that last about 10 minutes!

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*disclaimer -Sam is not female, but this pic best represented me at the end of his torturous class yesterday*

So that’s me done, another week (and a bit) covered. Not sure what this week has lined up for me as yet (car’s going to the garage again tomorrow, so I’ll probably be angry at some point). Gym visit done tonight, night off tomorrow. I have decided that May is going to be my month for upping my game again at the gym and working hard to ‘Love Me’ before Florence, so be prepared for whingey Laura!  No dates set up as yet (the Italian is back home for a week, so won’t be seeing him). No other dinner dates planned that I’m aware of, so my next blog might be a little dull (my life is rather Eastenders though so I’m certain that won’t be the case)

Hope you all have a fantabulous week.

L x

HWP – Week’s 2 & 3

~ lorz83 ~ Leave a comment

Week 2

The Healthy Weight Programme kicked off properly on the 21st April, where fellow group members and I met with Kim and Helen for the first food club and second gym class. Due to other commitments only half of us made the session, but for those of us who did attend promising results are already being seen (on the scales at least) with a total weight loss of 11kg between 5 of us – Pretty impressive wouldn’t you say.

The first food class looked at portion control. We discussed our eating habits and portion sizes, looked at why we might eat more than we need to and what we can do to reduce the amount of food we consume. I guess it would be easy to think that simply eating smaller food portions will help with weight loss, however this isn’t necessarily the case as you need to be eating the right foods in the correct ratio. So we will all be trying to follow the 50/25/25 rule going forward – 50% of plate is for Vegetables (above ground) 25% is Protein and the other 25% Grains.

Following on from the food class, Helen set us a core muscle 30 minute workout. Now I’m not entirely sure I have any core muscles (my neck seemed to ache more than my tummy) but I did, along with the other ladies manage to complete the tasks set. As if this 30 minute session wasn’t enough for my poor old body to take, three of us foolishly followed Helen down stairs for a Spin class (what I thought would be my first and last)

Week 3

Last Thursday, Week 3, we discussed emotional eating, which affects all of us. I tend to think that emotional eating relates to feeling down, stressed perhaps; but it can of course be the complete opposite (who doesn’t enjoy going out for a slap up meal to celebrate a birthday, or another ‘happy’ event). There’s a biscuit lover amongst the group and she said that boredom is a trigger for her, so boredom leads to Bourbons – ‘Boredbons’.

Kim gave us all a sample weekly meal plan for us to use for guidance. I know that I’m still struggling with breakfasts as I faff around so much in the morning getting ready (hard to believe but some work does have to go into this youthful face of mine before I leave the house). I have been blitzing up smoothies and adding protein powder as recommended by Kim, it has been turning my smoothies a weird shade of green (looks like something Slimer’s left behind – hmmm appetising!)

Helen was of on her hollibobs so Emma looked after us and put us through our paces for the workout. I foolishly said that the kettlebell we were using to squat with was light so Emma kindly got me (just me – I’m Special) a heavier weight to use.

There was no change for me at weigh-in this week, but I really wasn’t expecting there to be as I’d been out the Friday before and I ate and drank lots (massive oops) so to stay the same I was actually really pleased. Lets see what Week 4 has install for us all – Eek!

L x

3, lost count & zilch.

~ lorz83 ~ Leave a comment

I can’t believe how quickly last week flew! Seven days pasted in a flash. So what did last week see me getting up to? Well standard Monday – Starts with me as always being all Boomtown Rats asking the question “Tell me why I don’t like Mondays?” Once I’ve got halfway through the day my mardiness is at a high but stable level and I then have to try and psych myself up for PT. So I must admit I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Phil as I thought I would get told off for not going to the gym and for not doing that leg paralysing workout sheet he gave me the week before. To be honest I don’t think he was impressed with my lack of gym visits however I couldn’t walk; a simple visit to the toilet felt like it took about hour round trip, so there wasn’t much I could do really. Monday he went easy on me, thank god. But I’ve been told I need to bring my A Game this week – Eugh! This week Phil has told me we’ll be doing a HIIT session, now I’ve told him its more likely to be a LIIT or MIIT – I’ll fill you in next week (if I survive).

Tuesday evening I met up with my new gym buddy and fellow HWP member and we did our own little circuit sesh. We established that we are both moany bitches in our PT sessions, but apparently this isn’t reserved solely for our trainers, as we also bitched and moaned to ourselves doing the exercises we’d chosen and set up – Go figure. Wednesday as you know is my evening away from the gym. Thursday was the second HWP. Only half the group could attend this week, but we’re off to a promising start with a total of 11kg lost between the 5 of us there for weigh in. The food class covered portion control and the gym class this week worked on our core muscles. After the 30 minute gym class Helen was taking a Spin class and somehow managed to persuade 3 of us to join her. Well that may well be my first and last Spin class! It’s hard work and I was a sweaty mess at the end of the 45 minutes. I am however amazed that my legs did not ache at all post workout. I was convinced that I’d need a scooter to get around Friday/Saturday, but no, my legs completely surprised me and caused me no issues what so ever. Amazing! So perhaps I need to give Spin a second chance.

There was no gym Friday night (sorry Phil) because I had a dinner date with one of my besties for a very long overdue catch up and gossip. Now I had intended to be good and sensible and not actually drink lots (I’ll admit now that I also had a cheeky Pinot a lunch) but some evenings don’t go to plan and a number of cocktails were consumed – Oops! How do you go from classy civilised Cosmopolitans and Espresso Martini’s to copious messy cheap Hubba Bubba cocktails?? The evening goes from Sex and the City to Towie in a clink of a plastic glass. Oh dear. This being said I did as always have a fabulous evening – Thanks Chick – Mwah x

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Thankfully I had foreseen that Friday night could get a little messy and I’d pre-empted a Saturday morning hangover and so took some Ibuprofen at the start of the evening. I got to my sisters (my night out crash pad) around 3am was asleep by around 3:30am and alive and kicking at 8:30am Saturday morning. Impressive given the nasty cocktails we’d been drinking. Now although I was feeling fine, I still opted to have a lazy Saturday spending half the day with my sister before heading home. Sometimes a chilled out weekend is required (I am getting old after all).

Yesterday I had a lush day with my sister and mum and we went for a walk / hill climb at Beacon Hill. This place has been on our doorstep all these years, but it was actually the first time we’ve ever been there. Gorgeous views of the Berkshire and Hampshire countryside and Highclere Castle aka Downton Abbey. After our trek we headed back to my sisters for a scrummy roast dinner. Yummy. After dinner I headed home to watch the MotoGP race which saw my Yamaha boys clinching the first and second step of the podium – Yay. So the weekend concluded on a high just as it had started on Friday evening.

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Sadly there have been no dates this week and subsequently no board games played. A potential date with the cute Italian may be on the cards for Sunday, but nothing is set in stone just yet. I will of course keep you posted.

Hope you all have a fantabulous week.

L x