Clearing My Head ...!

Bonjour!

I'm working quite a bit of overtime at the moment.  The extra dosh will obviously be appreciated (wait until you see my current wish list!) but also as my job role has changed over the last few months it's better from a training point of view as I'm performing new case types, system routines, calculations and learning about new procedures.  I've done this type of work before I had my children but not since returning from maternity leave (many moons ago!) so the knowledge of certain things takes a back seat and you do forget that you were ever any good at it - you lose your confidence to some degree and it was all rather daunting at first.  Anyway - I'm back in the thick of it now, albeit with a much older brain!  I have to say I leave the office feeling slightly spaced out - from all the stuff that's been rammed into my head and also probably due to the re-cycled air that we're all breathing in!

The only way I can clear my mush is by going down to the gym in the evening (after the kids have been fed and various chores completed!) and blasting something like this out on my IPod ...

Chase and Status - Count On Me ...

Only released last year but it 'had me' from the start ...

This tune is so like the 90s dance music that will always have a place in my heart - probably why it appeals to me so much!  Get on the cross trainer with this one and build up the pace with the crescendo ... it takes me to a different place ... away from those rubbish work type things! In my head I'm now on the dance floor throwing some serious shapes - job done!

It's funny ... my hubby does the morning exercise thing before work and then has a couple of drinks in the evening to wind down but my way is evening gym with loud  'in yer face' music.  Of course I return home ravenous and with a tired body but my head is so much clearer!

Do you like to exercise am or pm? What's your way of winding down after a hectic day?

Jen x

Cigarettes and Alcohol ... !

Bonjour!

I haven't done a music post for a while but the hubby recently reminded me that it was 20 years (at the end of August) since Oasis released Definitely Maybe - and it got the musical cogs going!  20 years though ...!  Where has the time gone ...?!

Cigarettes and Alcohol is my favourite tune from the album ... it's laid back, raw and earthy and reminds me of many a night out back in the 90s, staggering around on a smoke filled dance floor ... bet we've all done that at some stage or other ... well  ... the older ones will remember the smoke at any rate!

Remember the Blur/Oasis thing back then?  The hubby and I were always on the Oasis side - just appealed to our taste in music and only Song 2 later on from Blur came anywhere close (for us anyway!) to hitting the spot!

I do miss those hazy days of cigarettes and alcohol sometimes! Which tune brings back hazy memories (of staggering around) for you? And which side did you sway towards - Blur or Oasis?

Jen x

Happy Anniversary!!

Bonjour!

So ... this weekend the hubby and I celebrate our 17th anniversary - 17 years of wedded bliss!

Don't worry - this post isn't going to be all mushy - I don't do full on mush ... but ... you know those butterflies that you get in your tummy when you first meet 'the one' - well I can't say it's a full blown 'big mother' butterfly these days but there's still a bit of a mini-moth type thing fluttering around in there when I hear his voice. We discussed this at work the other week and the majority of the girls knew where I was coming from - although one friend categorically stated not and had us in stitches!  Remember that scene from Friends where they talk about 'finding your lobster' - well I guess he's my lobster - despite the fact that he never fails to leave his 'newly removed' whiffy socks on the front room rug every evening and his post workout gym clothes smell like battery acid ... love eh!!

He reckons this is one of our tracks from when we first met in 1992/1993 ...

Bizarre Inc - I'm Gonna Get You

Yes ... I remember bopping away (in my 90s clubbing gear - some of which I still have and must share with you at some stage for a laugh!) to this many a time ... a time when we both had substantially more energy and hair ...! Happy Anniversary Mr G!

Do you still get moths or even butterflies when you see/hear your OH?  What's your tune from when you first met?

Jen x

N-Trance - Set You Free!

Happy Friday!

If you happened to read last Friday's music offering (from our lass Nina!) you'd have seen that I just wanted a quiet night of chilling (also known as chillin'?).  I decided to exercise the old vocal chords to some laid back tunes whilst I chopped onions for dinner (as you do).  Started off with a couple of ballads from Plan B, the Sugababes and Gladys Knight and the Pips. The tempo gradually seemed to pick as I was browning my mince and frying the onions and garlic. A little later on, whilst the bolognaise was simmering, (the hubby had had a couple of beers due to a hectic work week and needed to let his hair down - obviously not literally) - we somehow ended up on a wave of 90s dance music including Josh Wink - Higher State of Consciousness, Felix - Don't You Want Me and this one...

N-Trance - Set You Free!

Obviously a bit of impromptu shape throwing occurred in the kitchen (as you do!).  My children were completely mortified to see Mum and Dad bobbing about in no uncertain fashion and begged us to resume 'normal parental activity' of serving dinner, no dancing/singing/arm waving allowed.  Clearly these actions should only be restricted to 'young/younger people'! (I did get the impression that they were slightly more embarrassed of Dad than Mum!).

Funny how your kids only see you in a certain light and the notion that you were once young and carefree/less doesn't seem to register! No point telling them that - yes I did actually wear a silver A-line skirt and black lace up boots just like the girl in  the video (with pigtails too just for the record!) - ahh the 90s!!

Right - no dancing planned for tonight - I have a headache plus don't think the kids could take two weeks in a row - bless em!  I'm off to have a cuppa and choc chip muffin together with a couple of paracetamol - go me!  Much more fitting for a mum/older person?!

Will you be throwing any shapes in your kitchen tonight?

Jen x

* I should point out that I'm not actually that old! *