Life is busy. And cold!

I have been mostly absent from the internet world for such a long time now I've forgotten what I've actually been doing instead of updating here.

• I can tell you that I've have a blasted cough for nearly three months now, but only just got a doctor, so am planning on getting checked out soon... ish. Oh and I've had two icky viral/bacterial infections in the past month alone. BOO!
  
• I can also tell you that I've had a string of really late nights, mostly because of parent and staff meetings at work. This inevitably led to a 12.5 hour marathon of sleep on Friday night, which also led to a FANTASTICALLY great mood yesterday and found me ironing for several hours while singing and dancing along to my iPod.
  
• Our floor shall be finished TODAY and when it's done I will show you pictures as promised ;)
• I've been walking to and from all train stations since my poor bike was stolen back at the beginning of the month. This seems to have helped in the weightloss department and I'm now more than half way to my goal (42lbs down people :D )
• My beloved mother is coming to visit for the few days I have off work, from Friday until the following wednesday, which is my birthday.
  
• I'm not looking forward to being 26.
• It's started to snow. This is ok from the point of view that I bought a cheap, yet functional waterproof winter coat on wednesday, but not ok from the point of view that it's already started to screw with the trains :(
  

When you combine my busy DIY weekend schedule, my constant illness, my lack of sleep, the extended working hours and overall cold and tiredness, I'm hoping you can understand and forgive my general lack of presence and activity both here and in letter form.

We're hoping to get most of our 'flat stuff' finished today, which should be a welcomed load off my shoulders and will hopefully induce better and longer sleep, so I can get more done on my commute :)

I'm SO looking forward to my 5 days off work, you have no idea ;)

I hope you're enjoying a great weekend my lovelies! xx

Novara - Milano - Novara

It's seriously windy here today. The curtain on our kitchen balcony keeps trying to free itself. I would tie it back, but then I would have to contend with the fierce midday sun (that being the point of the curtain to start with.. blocking out the sun). Anyway, lots, lots, LOTS has been going on.

I bought my annual train pass which cost a mere 570E!!! That's 47.5 a month - flippin bargainous!

We also bought a floor. Yep, a FLOOR. I don't know if you remember our hideous floor tiles in the living area? (if not, scroll down for a peek) Well, we went and bought some laminate to cover it all up. Yes, it's going to mean planing/sanding the bottom of the front and balcony doors down, and in all honesty, I think it's a hassle, but the floor is really nice! It's not your average beech or birch laminate that looks exactly like what it is... laminate. It's matte and greyish in tone, Rustic Pine I believe it's called. It cost a small fortune, but no more than a couple of huge rugs would have. Bring on the new flooring!

I went to work today to sign my official contract and met most of the other teachers in our school, they are all really lovely (2 Italian, 2 American 1 Scottish). Two of them worked there last year and the other three are new. It's all exciting and scary and I'm back tomorrow for training. Eep!

I still have a lot to do here in the house. We have a family friend (who is an artist out of work at the moment) coming to stay with us from Tuesday evening and he's going to paint our flat. Before he gets here, we need to remove all the nails in the walls and fill the holes (seriously, there are at least 50 nails in the walls here), we also need to dismantle all the empty boxes and put them in the cantina, and we need to tackle anything that hasn't been put away and some stuff that has been put away, so that it's as empty as possible for ease of painting. Hey, this time next week we should have colour :D

Also, this time next week is the first day of term and hopefully I will have overcome my nervousness by now!

Anyhoo, I must get on, I am off to Cameri in a bit to pack up the last of the stuff (which is all bits and bobs, sigh) and give the place a quick clean. And then to tackle the new sound. YAWN. It's never ending!

DIY

When I bought work clothes for when I was at the ISL I spotted this t-shirt in the mens section of H&M, I knew my bf would like it, and seeing as it was only 4.95 Euro, I thought I'd take a chance.

As it happens, he did love it, but as it was a cheapy there was a slight defect in the shoulder seam that he just couldn't live with. As I loved it too, I got to keep it and happily chopped away and wore it on the plane last week. I <3 it loads!

Sorry for the terribly MySpace pics but the full length ones I took looked horrid. I hope you get a decent idea of what it's like. A bargain if you ask me ;)

DIY

I actually made these a couple of weeks ago, the pictures are about a week old and I took a huge bunch, but only a couple came out ok. It doesn't help that I don't like pictures of myself, especially self portraits... but shyness aside, I really love these earrings and wanted to show them off, so here goes!

My mum gave me a big bag of buttons to play with (well, mostly to steal the little resealable bags from) and I found this pair, which immediately screamed EARRINGS!!! to me, so I fulfilled their destiny and created this gorgeous pair. I can't wear them with my hair down though, it doesn't do them (or me) justice.

This gives you some idea of what they look like on... and also shows my face to the world of blogger. (I wish I'd put somethingon my lips, I look deathly!)

And another for you all. I love quiffs and through the course of the day my fringe will most likely end up looking like this!

Just incase you weren't sure, I love me earrings :D

I hope I haven't scared you off too much internet!