When Frog looked like this, I remember gazing down at her wondering what type of person she would become.
The entertainer
17 Monday Sep 2012
Posted in Play
Tag Archives: dancing
On choosing a first dance
19 Friday Aug 2011
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dancing, fame, first dance, Gary Barlow, Lady In Red, Louis Spence, marriage, Take That, This Morning, weddings
Everyone has an opinion about weddings. The “right” way to do them, the “wrong” way, what’s symbolic and what’s just plain tacky. A bit like parenting, weddings can divide and bring together.
And that is exactly why we’ve had such trouble choosing our first dance.
We’re not particularly traditional people. We did everything the wrong way round to start with, having a baby first and all. And we’re not getting married in a church. So I was all for ditching the first dance altogether. But then I realised the endless possibilities. Continue reading »
I thought I’d grown up, but it turns out I haven’t
18 Monday Jul 2011
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My face hurts from laughing.
It’s been one of those weekends where you look around at all your friends and family and realise how lucky you are. It’s also been one of those weekends when you realise you may be a mum now, but you’re really still just a big kid.
It was my hen do, you see. Continue reading »
Soundtrack of my life
23 Wednesday Feb 2011
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The heroine herself
If you’ve seen last week’s Listography post, you’ll realise I have rubbish taste in films. And here’s the thing: my taste in music is no better.
I have tried and failed to like “cool” music. I went through the gig phase at university. I rather got into The Libertines at one stage. I even copied my (much cooler) best friend’s Doves CD. But, if I’m totally honest, I’m not really that bothered by it all.
So that’s why I’ve decided to be totally honest when replying to Ipswich Mummy’s (Him, Me and Three) Soundtrack of My Life post. I am a mum now, so I can embrace my totally crap taste in music. Isn’t that what parents are for – to humiliate and embarrass their offspring? Well, that’s what my mum always told me anyway….
- Bonnie Tyler – Total Eclipse of the HeartThis memory goes far back. It’s behind singing in the bath to Kylie’s I Should Be So Lucky (aged 3) but before crying at my love for Take That when they were on Going Live (aged 10).
I am sitting in the back of my uncle’s car, by a rainy beach in North Wales. My cool older cousin has allowed me to stay in the car with her and her best friend while we listen to Bonnie Tyler. We have a new favourite song: Total Eclipse of the Heart. Or rather, they have a new favourite song. I just like it because my cousin likes it and anything she likes, I do too. We are learning the words to this amazing new song. Every time Bonnie warbles out a line, we have to pause the cassette in the tape deck and write it down, before repeating it. By the end of that holiday in North Wales I knew all the words and had my own copy of Bonnie Tyler’s album on cassette. I still know all the words and am happy to sing them for you, providing you give me a cheap Karaoke mic and a couple of Sambucca’s.
- Take That – PrayPossibly my favourite Take That song, like, ever. TT (as us fans like to refer to them) were the first band I saw live. Aged 9, I spent an entire week deciding what to wear and made my mum take me to Tammy Girl to get a new pair of jeans for the occasion. I went with my aunty and her husband. It was the Everything Changes Tour. Mark sang Babe in a big woolly jumper. The boys did the most amazing dance to Pray. I was allowed to stand on a chair and copy the older girls screaming (at the time, I’m not sure I was fully aware why they were screaming, but I’ve always liked noise and I didn’t want to be outdone). Brilliant.
- Eiffel 65 – Blue.I KNOW! But I said I was going to be honest…this was a summer holiday anthem when I was about 15. We went camping to France and I was among a gang of teenagers roaming the campsite being generally annoying. We thought we were so cool, making up a “big fish, little fish, cardboard box” style routine to this song. I taught the dance to my friends when I got home. We still know it now and have cleared dance-floors with it in the past. I can teach it to you too, if you like.
- DJ Sammy – Heaven.Again, I KNOW! Truly truly awful song. But I love it! Because it reminds me of my first year at university. I have met my future best friend and dance-floor partner. We are bonding over shots of Tequila and cheap wine. We are rocking the early Girls Aloud tassly belt and pointy boots combo. This is before GHDs so the hair is big. This song comes on and that’s it: mad scramble to the dance-floor and God help anyone who gets in our way. I’m not sure she’d admit to it now, but my (much cooler) best friend loved this song just as much as I did. Either that or she was humouring me.
- Kent – 747.Yep, I hadn’t heard of them either. This was the song the (self-proclaimed) Northern Love Machine tried to woo me with. It must have worked, because two and a half years later we have a seven month old baby. And the cycle of humiliation and bad taste in music continues…
If you join in please post a link in the comments box below. For those that are tagged, I won’t be offended if you choose not to take part.
I tag:
Listography: Perfect Day
22 Tuesday Feb 2011
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Since having a baby, I’ve taken to daydreaming. This is partly because I spend my days in a half-awake / half-asleep state. And partly because, when you have a baby, there are many things you can no longer do. Not without at least two months planning anyway.
The lovely Kate Takes 5 appears to also enjoy a good daydream. In this week’s Listography, she is challenging other bloggers to list the 5 ingredients to their perfect day. Brilliant. I can give my imagination free-reign to daydream away. Because, let’s face it, the chances of any of these actually happening are slim to none at the moment….
1. An unbroken night’s sleep, followed by a lie-in.
OK, so this is technically two things and I am probably cheating here, but they both involve sleep so I think it should be allowed. Sleep is a much under-rated and unappreciated thing when you don’t have a baby. I hold fond memories of the days I could laze in bed until I felt like getting up. One last thing, I want my lie-in to involve being brought a cup of tea in bed.
2. Someone else to cook me a scrumptious breakfast of Eggs Benedict…and to clear up afterwards.
Food always tastes better when it’s cooked by someone else. It also tastes better when you don’t have to share it with your (BLW) baby and don’t have to scrape it off the walls afterwards.
3. Swimming with my baby
I’m not going to go all mushy here. But I bloody love going swimming with Frog. She loves it and it is brilliant fun. So, on my perfect day, once the nanny has got Frog up and given her breakfast, I am happy for her to be handed to me for a swim. As long as I can hand her back afterwards so I can have a jacuzzi and go in the steam room.
4. A meal out with the (self-proclaimed) Northern Love Machine
It doesn’t have to be anywhere particularly fancy. But it does have to be just the two of us and involve lots of wine and some tasty food. I’m not fussy about what sort of food. As long as there’s plenty of it, with gallons of wine, I don’t care.
5. Sambucca and dancing
I realise I am now sounding like a bit of a boozer, but in my pre-baby days, a night out wasn’t a night out unless Sambucca was involved at some point. I expect I would only have to sniff the stuff now and I would be on the floor. But I’d like to give it a go. It would help with the dancing to come later on, with all my mates. Not fussy about the music, but it would help if 99 Red Balloons was in there somewhere.