2012

January

To beat the winter blues, Team Glasgow kicked off the new year with a Swap Shop in aid of the CF Trust Holiday fund.  Although not as busy as we hoped, combined with a raffle and donations we still raised £760 which we were delighted with!

February

I don't have any pictures from February but I was clearly too busy relaxing at my spa break with mum.  We had a lovely 2 nights at Stobo Castle.  Team Glasgow were also on top form, booking a venue and creating a ticket site for the Hollywood Ball.    We then hounded people from February to August to buy tickets ;-)

March

 

Had a fab trip down to my cousin Kelly Ann's for Alana's Christening and completely fell in love with both Alana and wee Jake, who was super cute with his little doctors set!    I started Pilates classes with my friend Lucie, did some transplant awareness talks at George Heriot school and we had a mad weekend of gardening where I painted everything in site and Andrew built a wall.  Little did we know that the sunshine that weekend was it for the Summer!


April



My 33rd birthday and 4th transplant anniversary all in the same month!  Mum excelled herself with the 'owl cake' so I have high hopes for this year....  Also had my annual review at CF clinic with great results, spoke at an NHSBT conference for medical staff and went to see Derren Brown, which was amazing.   Also squeezed in was a quick trip to London and back for the 2nd day of the LLTGL advocate weekend.  Wow, it was a tiring month but amazing that I could do all this and still be smiling and healthy!


May

We had a fantastic holiday in Paris, with beautiful weather and lots of wandering around the pretty streets.  We decorated and signed a padlock with our names and date and hung it on the bridge, throwing the key into the water.  We also had the Butterfly Trust Memory day this month, which mum worked really hard to help organise.  I made butterfly keyrings for each family who had lost someone as a small token.

June

My lovely cousin (more like a sister) Sarah's wedding!  It was a lovely day and Sarah looked amazing!!  I made butterfly magnets as favours and we named the tables after British Butterflies.  I gave Sarah a locket with a picture of Frances Ann which she wore on the day, so we could both feel she was close to us on such a special occasion.

July

It's Where's Wally and Where's Wenda  ;-)  Andrew still hasn't quite forgiven me for this fancy dress outfit haha.  Team Glasgow started the big run up to the ball, collecting prizes, starting the big hamper raffle and organising details with the venue.    We made some money prior to the ball - I painted and sold miniature hollywood star paintings and mum made 300 bars of her famous tablet making us £300 to add to the total!

 August







A very busy month!!  Myself and Victoria ran an organ donor desk at Anders football tournament and made ourselves useful by serving fruit to all the boys!  Of course we had the amazing ball - hard work indeed but so worth it when we topped the £9,000 in aid of the CF patient fund at our local CF unit.  We were so pleased and the evening went just as planned, if not better :-)  It was also mum and dads Ruby wedding anniversary and our 8th wedding anniversary.   A busy but happy month!

September



I always find September a difficult month because of both Frances Ann's anniversary and birthday.  It was very apt therefore that on her birthday I was running an organ donor desk with Team Glasgow at the Freshers Fayre.  I felt as if this was a great way to remember Fran and hopefully make a difference to others in this situation.  There were also lots of fun times this month - the hen weekend with Nicola in London and Grant and Victoria's wedding in the borders.   I was also really pleased to have a letter published in the BMJ :-)

October

This was another lovely month!  We celebrated Nicola and Simon's wedding - a lovely day in Millport and Largs!  We also had a weekend away with Claire and Giuseppe in Copenhagen and had a fab time and a great laugh.  I especially enjoyed drawing a picture of us with crayons and putting it with the kids pictures in a cafe ;-)  It was Anne and Johns Ruby wedding in October so we celebrated with a champagne lunch.

November

Cape Verde - amazing!  We relaxed and relaxed some more.....what else can I say?!


December

Well as usual, we had a lovely Christmas and enjoyed lots of buzz in the lead up to the big day.  I had my annual review at work and was delighted with the colleague and patient feedback I had received....at least I feel as if I am doing something right at work!  We had a great time visiting some friends last week and look forward to our new year celebrations.

So here we are at the end of another year and when I look back over the past 12 months, I am reminded of what a fantastic family I have and what an amazing group of friends, and of course the best husband ever.  I realise how lucky I am to be able to live my life to the full and will always strive to make the best of life.  I will of course be thinking of my donor and her family tonight as we end another year and welcome a new one, full of promise and hope.

Wishing all my friends and family a very happy new year and a 2013 full of laughter and joy!

 Christmas!

We have had a lovely (and very busy) festive week!   We arrived at mum and dads last weekend so I had the whole of Christmas eve to run around getting excited ;-)  I met up with my friends on Christmas eve morning then got increasingly excited as the day went on!  We went to the vigil Mass then watched Muppet Christmas Carol (still by far my favourite Christmas film) then off to bed ready for Santa.

I have to admit to waking Andrew at 6.20am to open our stockings, then after waking mum and dad with 'morning has broken' on the keyboard, I had them up at 6.40am.  Oops!!   As usual I was utterly and completely spoilt, with mum choosing lots of lovely clothes for me...and a lovely little red riding hood duffle coat :-)   Myself and Andrew had decided to get ourselves an SLR camera as a joint present but we kept it until Christmas day so it was like the paparazzi when we were opening presents and Andrew kept clicking away..!  He had also chosen me other surprise presents including a really lovely leather bag with an owl and butterfly design...two of my favourite things ;-)    Mum and dad were really pleased with their presents and especially liked the 2013 Seb calendar.  Uncle Hugh then arrived and we had a lovely meal, opened my handmade crackers with selected jokes for each person,  and then ate my favourite pudding!  

 On Boxing day we went down to Anne and Johns as usual, for our Christmas dinner no 2!  Great to see everyone and just had a nice chilled time.  Anne always puts extra little presents on the table so I got some fab mavala nail polishes!  We all got into our jammies to watch TV...apart from John who refused to put on his superman pj's hahahahaha!

We were then visiting some friends in Manchester friday and saturday and had a lovely time before heading back to mum and dads!  We now have three days of new year celebrations ahead with Anne and John coming tomorrow for Hogmanay and New Year and a big family get together on the 2nd.  Then back to work on Thursday.  Work?  What's that?!!

3 sleeps!!!

I can't believe it's nearly Christmas - how did that happen?!  I am however all organised now - decorated, presents wrapped, work finished and ready to start my holidays at home tomorrow :-)

It's been a busy few weeks with some festive events.  First weekend I had a Christmas party with the old age psychiatry team (where I am covering one day a week at the moment).  The least said about that night out the better.....it was a late one, I had sore legs from dancing but it was good fun.  The following weekend was my current work places night out.  It was a Hollywood Glamour theme so I at least had a chance to wear my ball dress again.  A great night although I left a bit earlier, since I was still recovering from the weekend before haha.   I also managed a wee dinner with friends and mince pie and mulled wine with an other friend.  Not bad going really :) 

In the middle of all the festivities I had my enhanced appraisal at work, which is an annual review which is required for revalidation.   This year I had to get patient and colleague feedback as part of the assessment.  I was delighted with the feedback from both sides and it has reassured me that I must at least be doing something right!  

As always, Christmas brings back a lot of memories, especially when we are decorating the tree.  I had some lovely new additions to my tree with decorations from Paris and Copenhagen....and Andrew got me a glittery owl.  You can't go wrong with a glittery owl ;-)

I do always think about both Frances Ann and Claire, as well as my grandparents, at this time.  I noticed it is the 20th anniversary of the film The Muppet Christmas Carol this year.   Fran bought me this video (not dvd!) 20 years ago from her own pocket money - so she would have been 7 at the time.  She was so pleased with herself :-)  We watched it every Christmas Eve thereafter.  We actually haven't watched it since we lost Fran but I think it might have to come out of the cupboard at some point over these holidays as I think she would think it was about time! 

After an excellent review at transplant clinic this month, it just reminds me again how lucky I am to be here and be so healthy.   I think at Christmas this always seems more poignant and it certainly is the time to rejoice in my 2nd chance and to spend time with all the people who matter the most to me - my family and friends.

A Merry Christmas to us all.  And God bless us, every one!   :-) 

Mammoth Catch Up!

We have been on holiday for 2 weeks - back last weekend, so my blog has been sorely neglected.  I think it might make more sense to work backwards with my news :-)

Newcastle

I had my 6 month review at transplant clinic today and had some top marks again!  My lung function was exactly the same as the last review - 2.9L (109%) - and I can't ask for any better :-)  My BP, weight, oxygen levels etc were all stable....boring is what we want!   I have to go back in another 6 months and it is so nice to have a clean bill of health in the run up to Christmas!   On the way down to Newcastle we stopped at the Metro centre for a couple of hours as I am rather behind with my Christmas shopping which is not like me - I will have caught up in no time though!

9-5 - The Musical

We went to see 9-5 the musical in Edinburgh at the weekend!  It was a great show and I really enjoyed it.  Apart from the song working 9-5, I didn't really know the soundtrack but it was quite catchy and the show itself was very funny.   I have such good associations with that song because of it being the ring tone when I got my transplant call.

Cape Verde

So for 2 weeks of November we were sunning ourselves in Cape Verde, sipping pina colada and relaxing.  The Cape Verde islands are off the coast of central Africa, south of canary islands, and are just becoming quite a popular tourist destination - especially if you are seeking some winter sun.   We were on Boa Vista, where Thomsons fly to direct from Glasgow.   The island is volcanic, very barren and there is nothing really on the island, other than some small villages and the two large resorts.  The whole coast of the island is set for development so it was nice to get to see the island before it becomes much more developed.   We stayed in a nice resort, which was all inclusive -although you wouldn't really be leaving the resort anyway as there is nowhere to go exploring.   We did go on an organised tour with Giggling Gecko  - a tour company set up by a Scottish couple who moved out there this year.   This was an excellent day - they took about 12 of us out in four wheel drives to explore the island.   There are not really any proper roads on the island so it's pretty rough terrain!  We went to see a couple of beautiful unspoilt beaches, where we were the only people on them.  We also saw the sand dunes on the island, with sand blown in from the Sahara.  We had lunch at an eco lodge in the middle of no where with the most stunning view, and then finished off having a drink in a lovely beach bar as the sun went down.   It was a great day and the best way to see some of the island.

We really did do nothing but relax - I read about 13 books (had to swap kindles with Andrew because I ran out haha), we ate lots and relaxed in the shade.  The temp was high 20's-30c, with a nice breeze - so you could lie in the shade and just feel comfortable.  The pool was a bit cold for me but Andrew had a swim and we both paddled in the sea but it was very rough.   There were 3 people in the hotel with broken arms/dislocated shoulders from being in the sea!  It's a shame because the water was warm but the waves were just too strong.   The beach was lovely to wander along though and I was happy just to get my feet wet!


Some pics from cape verde:

Big waves!

One of the lovely unspoilt beaches on the tour:

The eco lodge where we had lunch

The view from beach bar

 Sunrise at hotel beach

There were 2 dogs in the hotel who I made friends with!

It was then back to reality with a bump when we went from 30c to 0c when we landed at Glasgow!  Back to hats and scarves but at least we are now in the Christmas season so I can start getting excited about that instead :-)

am still working the extra day at work and I have a few Christmas parties coming up over the next few weeks so the busy period continues ....but all good fun :)