Just a few musings for a Saturday morning

Good morning! Right now i'm lying in bed...it's great! Most mornings when i have to go to work i'm up at 7...i don't like that much! So it's nice to just chill under the covers once in a while! Isn't it really funny how when you're a kid it's like world war 3 trying to get you to go to bed? I remember my mum and dad constantly joining forces to escort my brother and I to bed, Sunday nights were the worst...there was always that horrible feeling of having to go back to school in the morning! Oh how things change...i find now that most days, bed is what i look forward to. Not that i'm lazy, i just like sleeping! I actually think im getting old before my time...i love nothing more than staying at home, watching tv with my mum and dad, or Scott, with a nice cup of tea and a wee biscuit, then bed! I never used to like doing that, when i was a bit younger i was NEVER in the house, i was always out and about with friends and mum used to joke that she forgot what i looked like!

I think it all changed for me during my 3rd year at university. I studied french, spanish and european studies up in good old Coleraine uni, and as part of my course, my 3rd year was spent living in France for 4 months in a tiny town called Pau (pronounced like the littlest tellytubby!) and then 4 months in Spain in the city of Granada. I was out with my good friend Kathryn the other night having a wee coffee in Starbucks and we got talking about our year abroad. I love being at home, i love everything about Northern Ireland, and i mean everything, no matter where i will go in life, whether i live in a different country, i will always return to Northern Ireland. It will always be home for me. I have done my fair share of travel in my life, but everything i love is in Northern Ireland. Anyway, living away for that year really made me realise the importance of family. When i was away, my mum and dad helped me out so much.

I remember one particular day in Spain very well. Kathryn and i had made one of our very frequent trips to the supermarket. I remember i was having a particularly hard day with missing home. I went to take out some cash from the autobank so i put my card in...nothing. Nothing came up on the screen and i pressed all kinds of buttons trying to get my card back...nothing. It had eaten my card, it was lost. Well right there in the middle of the supermarket i burst into tears. Kathryn stood trying to calm me down but nothing was working! We tried everthing, we went to the actual bank building to see if they had anyway of getting my card back but they ended up confusing me more...no was the answer but they didnt just say that!! haha Anyway, mym mum drove up to my friend Kathryn's house to give her mum some money to put in her account so she could take it out for me, then my mum had to drive back to my bank in Moira and sort out a new card for me then have it posted out. It was so much hassle for something ehich to them probably seemed quite funny. But my point is, my mum did that for me without so much as a roll of the eye or any complaint.

This is why i like being at home so much...i love my mum, my dad and my brother so much, and lots of things in the past year or so have happened which really makes me think about how precious our time here is.

Anyway, i have the Unganda auction fundraiser tonight. I'm on the waitressing team. Its going to be a really good night i think!

God Bless x

Prison Break

I think I did something incredibly stupid today...I went and bought the complete first season of Prison Break. I'm sick of sitting in on conversations about all these box sets, 24, Prison Break, Heroes....I have never watched any of them...I have no flippin idea what you people are all on about! I just laugh along and pretend I know (unfortunately this doesn't just apply to tv) But now, I plan to be totally addicted and at last I shall be able to join in on the Prison Break banter!

The day we met Foy

So Laura and I took a trip to Kent on 29th February to visit our friend Dannii who teaches there. It was alot of fun and really good for the 3 of us to be together for a relaxing weekend.

Anyway, Laura and I are sitting in the airport drinking our Starbucks when the final call notice came up on the screen. So there we are rushing over to our gate, balancing coffee in one hand and bags in the other, when out of the corner of my eye I notice a certain Northern Irish hat-wearing singer. It was Foy Vance! I go into 12 year old girl excitement mode and text Scott to tell him (we are both big fans) He texts back to say he wants an autograph and me being the amazing girlfriend that I am, decided that I won't rest until I get it! He is on our flight so when the boarding call goes out for our group, Laura and I linger a bit so we can get in the queue behind him...how primary school...but some Chinese guy managed to get in there before us (we don't think he appreciated the two of us leaning over him the whole time trying to see what Foy is reading!!) We get past the boarding pass collector woman (that is their official title) and we race down the stairs so we can catch him for a quick autograph and a photo before we get on the plane. Now, picture the scene, it's raining, its beyond windy and Laura and I are racing up behind him, still balancing the bags and the coffee, i drop my phone and it goes flying, i then kick my phone which makes it fly even further! If only Foy was aware of the fuss that was happening behind him! We catch him up anyway and in an EXTREMELY out of breath voicxe i declare my undying love for him (well not quite!) and i ask for an autograph. He is touched but he said could we do it when we got to London out of the rain! We get on the plane and Laura and I try to get sitting beside him, but then we realise that the poor guy couldn't handle that so we leave it!! Anyway, we arrive in London and we are wainting for our bags when along comes Foy to sign a little autograph for Scotty (including a kiss at the end of it!) He stood and talked to us for 5-10 minutes and is such a down to earth lovely guy! So that is my little bit of excitement for my blog. I realise that its very long and probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense! Oh, and just to finish...i got the photos to prove it.......

Lent

So this year for the second year in a row i decided, like a right eejit, to go off all chocolate, crisps, sweet things (basically anything nice!) for Lent. Now, last year it was easy, i was tempted a few times (but hey, so was Jesus!) but i successfully managed it and to top it all off i lost over half a stone in weight. I suppose you could say this was my main motivation for doing it again this year. It hasnt worked. I'm still the same weight i was when i started. But the main thing is, i have again successfully completed lent (well it ends on Sunday, so there's time yet i suppose!)
I find it really interesting to hear what people have decided to deprive themselves of, the reason i chose these things is because i am actually addicted to them, so for me going without them for 40 days is a big achievement! Remind me not to do it next year though!
Just to end...my crazy mum ordered an easter egg from Hotel Chocolat at 48 quid! it's gonna be worth every penny on Sunday!!

Aaron.

I have just finished watching Insight on UTV. It was about violence on the streets of Belfast. Early in the morning of 15th Feb 2008, after a Valentine's night out, my friend Aaron Montgomery was killed outside Skye nightclub after being punched in the head. Watching the programme, which featured an interview with Aaron's brother Adam, brought back the reality of it all. I went to school and i went through university with Aaron, and hearing of his death that Friday morning brought me to my knees with shock. You just never think anything like that is going to happen to someone you know. I heard the story on the radio that morning as i was driving to work, the reason it stuck in my head was because they said that a 23 year old man had been killed...i remember thinking "wow i'm 23, that's terrible", but regretfully, like many stories on the news, i forgot about it. Until i recieved that phonecall from my friend Kathryn. The programme featured a close up of some flowers and a card that we left outside the nightclub the day after Aron's death. What bothers me now though, is that many other people watching that programme tonight, will watch it then completely forget about it. But Araon was my friend, he was a friend to many others, he was a Son, and he was a Brother. We will never forget about him.

Footprints in the Sand?

I have decided to name my blog "Footprints in the Sand". Leona Lewis has released a song for Sport Relief with the same name. It is my favourite poem/story ever and as a christian, i think it pretty much sums up what a relationship with God is all about...

One night a man had a dream.
He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Scenes from his life flashed across the skyand he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,one belonging to him and the other to the Lord.
When the last scene of his life had flashed before him,he recalled that at the lowest and saddest times of his lifethere was only one set of footprints.
Dismayed, he asked, "Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you,you'd walk with me all the way.I don't understand why, when I needed you most,you would leave me."
The Lord replied, "My precious child.I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and sufferingwhen you saw only one set of footprints...
That was when I carried you."

My first post

Ok so Scott got himself a blog, and i thought that if i'm going to keeop up with the "cool" people, i better do one too! I have always been more of a reader of blogs than a writer, but hopefully i can get into the swing of things and blog quite regularly! The posts propbably won't be that interesting, given that i have a very random little mind, but i hope to write about whatever may be going on in my life be it major or not so major! I'm going to go and try to figure all this out now, so, see ya!!