Big, Blonde and Beautiful..

Well OK, not blonde, and not beautiful, but big......Just been to see Hairspray and have to say it was fabulous. I saw it on Broadway for my birthday a couple of years ago and was amazed,I had never seen the original film, and after seeing the show on Broadway had rushed onto EBay and bought it, and was sorely disappointed as it wasn't a musical, and honestly if I had seen the original film before I got to Broadway I would never have picked that show to go and see, so if you were less than impressed by the original film I urge you to go and see the new one. The casting was brilliant, the songs catchy to say the least and by the time I left the cinema my cheeks hurt from smiling...well that and biting my tongue so I wouldn't sing along to all the songs (well I was under threat of severe and painful death from Sarah and Moyna if I did!)Anyway Big, Blonde and Beautiful has one of my favourite song lyrics of all time....being a little buxom myself....and it is (I may be paraphrasing here) " Who wants a twig when you can have the whole damn tree?"

Other than that just been extremely busy at work, and playing with Sky +, Drama group did get together last night for a end of season meal, and a discussion over what to do next, not sure anything was decided.

My Brother, Sister-in-Law and Cara are down this weekend so I can't wait....The Dora the Explorer quilt has been washed and ironed ready, I have petit filous in the fridge to make her bones grow strongerer, and the fact that I get the sofa to sleep on is a small price to pay for a family weekend.

So just to reiterate, if the weather is getting you down....(I swear I could grow rice in my front lawn now it's under water) then go and see Hairspray, you'll come out smiling I bet ya!

OOOoo and all you Jeni Barnett fans don't forget her new slot on LBC Radio on Saturday six til eight (pm)

Lots of love
Marmite Girl xx

Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Rubeeeee

It's funny, I'm fine leaving Ruby if I am on holidays or away from home, but I hate being in the house without her. Ruby however has been having a great time at my Mum & Dad's, she gets ruined, she gets twice as many treats. I had left her at my Mum & Dad's as I away seeing Barbra Streisand, then I stayed with my friend Emma and her Mum & Dad on the Friday night (and I remembered to give Emma the keys to her flat back), and as I was doing Canterbury Tales on the Saturday it wouldn't have been fair to have her at home on her own, so it meant Thursday and Saturday night at home without Ruby, it was weird. I have her back now so normal service has resumed.

Canterbury Tales went well, thankfully Julie had booked a hall rather than us doing it in her garden which was the original plan, and over £1,200 was raised for Helen House in Oxford which is a hospice for children, so I was glad about that.

I now have so much housework, and ironing to catch up with I am ashamed to let anyone in, my house looks like Miss Haversham's! I blame Sky plus I always seem to have something to watch now, so spend less time doing the jobs I should, not that I am a telly addict, but I can now squeeze about five days worth of recorded stuff, into the three spare evenings I have.

I'm just watching the Victoria Beckham thingy (I know I recorded it) and she is surprisingly funny, I loved it when she dressed a blow up doll as herself to fool the paparazzi so she could go shopping, faabulous idea dahling.

Well that's it from me, I'm off to sort out out the recycling.
Keep smiling
Marmite Girl xx

Memories, like the corners of my mind....

Well, I know the press will probably giver her a hard time over the autocue (but to be fair she is 65, and a lot of 65 years olds can't remember where they left their glasses let alone an hour and a half of songs and talk - so give her a break), and the choice of songs, but when you have been recording for over 40 years there are a lot of songs to choose from and you'll never please everyone! Personally I thought Barbra Streisand was worth every penny, sure some of the talk was scripted, and she did sound a little hoarse in places (probably two months of singing would do that you) but the magic was there, the hairs on my arms and neck spent the night standing to attention, she was brilliant and I had the best time. If I could, I would have bought another ticket to see the Sunday show, but I do have to work for a living! Although I swear I have something written on my head that says "Idiots come and sit next to me" - it happened at the Dolly Parton concert someone was actually having a full blown conversation on the phone, it happened last night two idiots with a bag of chips sat next to me talked through half the concert, I did tell them to shut up, as did the man in front, but they were three sheets to the wind and it fell on deaf ears, until Barbra sang "Smile though your heart is aching" and then the woman started that drunk I love everyone crying, by then I wanted to poke them in the eyes with hot needles! It didn't spoil my night though, I was in awe the whole time, and the memory of that night will stay with me always. I did find out Lord Lloyd Webber was in the audience but couldn't get close enough to give him a quick blast of "Think of Me" so it's back to the day job.

Stayed at my friends flat in London and drove back today, thankfully the sun is out so I am dead heading the flowers and catching up on the washing. Got rehearsal later, we are doing a version of Canterbury Tales on Saturday for charity, it's to raise money for Helen House in Oxford, so it's a great cause, it was to be held in my friend Julie's garden but as the weather has been so bad she has booked a hall now instead.

Well gotta shoot off, I need to cut out a chicken mask for the "Nun's Priests Tale" if ever I did get famous and someone asked me the strangest thing I have ever done, it would be this..... doing the "Macarena" in a chicken costume ......told you it was a "VERSION" of Canterbury Tales!

Keep Smiling
Marmite Girl xx

Remember I said....

Remember back in one of my blogs on my trip to Bruges I said if ever I saw the Hairy Bikers I was going to kiss them for recommending Den Dyvers restaurant? well look what happened yesterday! I did see the Hairy Bikers and I did kiss them, and I have to say they are genuinely the nicest, most down to earth guys you could ever wish to meet, we chatted for ages.

We had a lovely time at the Food Festival in Cardiff, Moyna, Sarah, CJ and me went, I was so glad the weather was better yesterday, we had glorious sunshine all day, the food tents were amazing, the live music was great, there was a really great atmosphere and a heck of a lot of people which is great for the small producers. By the time I made it over to the Farmers Market everything had sold out much to my disappointment, but I did get some rather gorgeous lemon infused olive oil which is fantastic over a salad. We met up with my Brother, Sister-in-Law and gorgeous Niece who was completely unfazed by all crowds and had a whale of a time, we took her on the Ferris wheel, but she wasn't too sure about that, but she loved running around and being in the park.

So today the weather is back to being lousy, I'm sitting at home sweltering, as I need the radiators on to dry my clothes for work tomorrow. Just off to the folks now to do the Sunday Roast for the family, still not salad weather. I swear I'm eating more because the weather is so bad, I don't know how Jeni Barnett is still sticking to her raw food diet in this, I can't get enough mashed potato and comfort food at the moment.

Then I need to keep everything crossed that my Barbra Streisand tickets turn up, as the concert is wednesday and still no sign........flamin postal strikes.

Keep Smiling
Marmite Girl xx

I'll never get to used to......

Eating in restaurants on my own, just did a business trip to Hull, which was a heck of a drive, six hours! and I don't mind the driving, I love the meetings, staying away from home is fine, but the eating on your own is awful, you keep getting " awww bless" looks, I kept my suit on so people knew I was on business but still the sympathetic eyes! Not sure the best corporate gift to give to my Customer in Hull (where all the awful floods are) was an umbrella!

Ruby goes to the groomer today and then to V.E.T. for her booster so I have had to get choccie drops in, so by the end of the day she will still love me!

I am now the proud new owner of an LCD TV and Sky+ which I love, how did I ever manage without it? those annoying phone calls in the middle of your favourite programme, not a problem anymore, trying to find a five year old child to programme my video, not needed, it's brilliant!

I don't know about everyone else, but this weather is starting to get me down, I noticed today that sunscreen is all half price in our local supermarket, I wonder why! I wanted to do much in the garden, but it never stops, the plants I do have look all soggy and sorry for themselves. I'm also fed up of having to put the radiators on to dry the washing!

Looking forward to the weekend though being a foodie, there is a huge food and drink festival this weekend in Cardiff, so me and all the girls are going for a look (and hopefully a taste) I spent a fortune last year, mostly on things I will never use, although the black cherry liquer I got is amazing for making black forest trifle.

Oh well best get Ruby to the V.E.T.
Keep smiling
Marmite Girl xx

Accidental Road Rage....

So I was driving home from work yesterday, going around a roundabout when some idiot beeped me, so without thinking I held up my fingers to show there were TWO lanes ....of course then he flipped me the bird, in retrospect I guess holding up two fingers and shouting TWO lanes probably did look like road rage but it wasn't honestly.........

One of my friends this week asked me if I could choose only one book, one DVD and one CD to have which would they be, and I have to say I have had real trouble choosing. I suppose you are expected to say things like War & Peace or Catch 22 or some documentary type film that made a huge differrence but hey I'm going for pure entertainment! I had trouble deciding between a "real" book and a cookery book as I love reading recipes, but I guess the book would be The Final Confession of Mabel Stark, the DVD gave me a bit of trouble, but there is one film I always watch if it's on, even though I have seen it many times and that is Divine secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, the CD gave me the most trouble, I love a bit of Rachmaninoff, and a bit of snow patrol, and then there's Barbra Streisand (I'm off to see her on the 18th I'm excited my bank account isn't!) but in the end I picked a compilation of Broadway songs so I could sing a long, not sure what it says about me, but it's really tough to just choose one of each!

I have my Niece this weekend and as the sun is finally out took a trip to Cardiff Bay to see the boats, and we met my friend Teresa for coffee, can't remember if I had a cappuccino or mochaccino or al paccino but it was lovely, Cara was the entertainment though, her Mum & Dad teach her all the clever things like numbers and colours, so far I have taught her "take a bow", "jazz hands" "work it" (she puts her hands up to her cheeks and looks so cute!) and if you say "what do you think of the show" she shouts RUBBISH! There were some builders doing a bit of drilling next to the coffee shop as we were sitting outside, so Cara said to me "they are noisy" I said yes, so at the top of her voice she shouted "QUIET" everyone laughed, I told you she was smart for 17 months!! She is busy terrorising Ruby who gives me a do I have to put up with this? look.

Well best get on I actually need to water my plants this evening....who would have thought it????

Keep smiling
Marmite Girl xx

Boo......

Well we didn't win, England did, but we had the best weekend!

We turned up Friday and did have quite a few technical problems, but going on about that will sound like sour grapes so there's no point. We gave a great performance, and didn't let Wales down, the Adjudicator didn't like the set, but did like the acting and direction. After the play we went back to the party that had been arranged at the hotel, it wasn't bad they had arranged for a "barn dance" type thing, but few people danced, that finished at 1am, and that's were the party really started we drank lots and sang even more, mostly the old Welsh Favourites and whatever we could think of, a couple of the organisers of the festival stayed up too, I got to bed at 3.30am.

The next morning we had to meet the Mayor at 11am, I was so hungover I had to get ready in stages, I washed then had a lie down, I put my make up on....then had a lie down....I got dressed ...then had a lie down, I didn't make breakfast at all, and proclaimed that if anyone saw me drinking ANYTHING other than coke, they could shoot me! We got to the arts complex where the meeting was to take place, it was hotter than the Serengeti, and of course we were all dressed up, they offered us coffee (which helped enormously with the sweating NOT!) The Mayor arrived and we had to exchange gifts that had been given to us by our respective local councils. This is where it got embarrassing, our local Council had given us a crystal clock for the Mayor.....which didn't work, and these awful flag type pennant things for the other three teams, we were ashamed to give them out, especially when we had huge boxes of stuff from the other teams, Irish whiskey, Scottish whiskey with glasses and a water jug, and lovely things that all came from Tamworth from the English team. In fact we were SO ashamed we went out and bought each team a bottle of champagne and gave it to them in the evening. After all my no more drinking, after meeting the Mayor we went to the pub and I tried a hair of the dog, well half a lager anyway which did cure me, in fact it cured me enough to have a bottle of champagne ourselves at lunch. We did a bit of shopping and I must say Solihull is a really nice town with really good shopping.

At 5.30pm we were invited to Jon's parents room (Jon's parents are Players Theatres biggest groupies)for drinks and nibbles before going to the theatre for the remaining two plays. We went to the theatre watched the entries from Ireland and Scotland listened to the adjudicator, who made me laugh when one thing he criticised was the fact that Ireland had a dripping tap in their play as a sound effect, and he said the drips were too close together!!! As I said England won, and while we were disappointed the thing about the festival is that it didn't last long. We went back to the hotel and partied hard, tonights entertainment was a folk group, it wasn't good, it just wasn't the kind of music to get a party going, but it was one of those situations that turned out to be really funny, especially as the one lady (who looked like Morticia Adams) put some wooden thing with a dancing man on it between her legs, and slapped it back and forth in time to the music!!! Moyna reckoned you couldn't get those in Ann Summers!!!!! England went home and the Celts started singing, Wales first, then Scotland would do a number then Ireland, slowly Ireland left then Scotland and by 3am it was just Wales.....there's stamina in Welsh Wales! I think we got to bed at around 5am, but as I stuck to vodka all night, no hangover the next day and I made it to breakfast!

All in all it was a brilliant weekend, I still get a bit fed up that it's not televised, if it was a British Final of anything sporty it would have coverage, but Amateur Theatre....no chance, not even a newspaper article.

Here's to next year, the finals are being hosted by Wales and will be held in Swansea.

Bit tired this week mind you!!
Keep smiling
Marmite Girl xx