Had a lovely birthday yesterday. Went out with friends last night to as place called The Caldwell at Talke lights. If you go in the week a carvery meal costs an impressive £3.50! Although a vegetarian option is £5.99. How a frozen vegi type pastie costs more than a joint of meat is beyond me (BUT THE ROASTED RED PEPPER PARCEL WAS VERY NICE!). But we all put the bill together and all ended up paying around £4.00 each.

Had some great gifts, most of which require me sitting in front of the TV for more hours!

The heart thief...

Last Christmas I bought my Friend Kay "The Book Thief" on audio, with a bonus pack of tissues! I borrowed it from fellow blogger Ione ages ago and was totally blown away.

For those who haven't read (or indeed heard it). It's a tale set in Hitler Germany and narrated by Death. Believe me when I tell you it's an amazing read. I admit, I cried like a baby at the end. So I was really glad that Kay absolutely LOVED it. She apparently was a complete mess by the end of the book, so those tissues came in handy.

It's a book that needs discussing and we did for quite a long time. She loved Rudy and was in floods when his fate was reveled.

She informed me that a film is in the works! A film company has bought the rights to it. No too sure how that would work, but it will be interesting to see.

Guess where...

Our "mystery weekend of fun" was great. Ian had no idea where he was going.



That was until the conducter said "oh you going to...." D'oh! The weather was fantastic!

Anyway from the pics can you guess where we ended up...



The view from our hotel....


Our hotel was in a great setting...







The shot to give the game away?

Let freedom ring...

Finally managing to start sort my pics pout from last weekend, welcome to catch up part 1!

Martina McBride was amazing at the Indigo last Friday! She's always been someone Id love to see live and she didn't disappoint!

The venue was suitably small, but not too small. Holding around 2500 people I managed to get very near the front, dead centre. Her voice was amazing and she genuinely seemed touched by the response. There was even a promise not to leave it so long, it was 15 years since she was last in the country so fingers crossed.


I finally managed to see one of my all time favorite songs live. It totally rocked the venue. Independence Day is quite an emotional song. The lyrics are powerful especially when you hear them with the video, unfortunately the video is no longer on you tube due to all the record company's playing funny buggers! So this live version will have to do.

Weekend of mystery...

The last few weeks haven't been the best. For various reasons. So I'm looking forward to the weekend. Off to see Martina Mcbride in London of Friday, on my own, but still!

Then Saturday we are off on Ian's "weekend of mystery fun". None of us could decide in April what to get him for his birthday. So we all chipped in and paid for a train ticket a hotel and a evening meal in a mystery location. Hpe the rains stays away.

(location will be revealed at a later date....just in case)

Hoping to upload some of my Italy pics on the way down to London.

Too much of a harry?

Got to see the latest Harry Potter film last night. I enjoyed it although not the most action packed of the series. There were a few good action scenes and some genuine tense ones. There was more story to be told, although I did feel it was rushed and seemed to miss out loads. The revelation regarding who the Half Blood Prince was seemed to be just thrown away. If memory serves the book went into why the person was called THBP, although I could be wrong. I read the book ages ago.

The Death eater attacks at the very start were amazing to see, but again these felt rushed and lacked the power they had in the book. The comedy torch's were great. Loved all the love potion confusion with Ron. He played these scenes brilliantly. All the young cast have really grown into their roles. Daniel Radcliff seems more at home with Harry in each film. I still find it difficult to watch him in the films 1 and 2.

Just back from Birmingham. It was my Aunties 70th birthday. She expected a quiet BBQ, but instead got a pub full of family and friends shouting surprise. She was totally blown away.