Am too old...

for this level of activity.

Wednesday night I was treated to my new hair hat by my lovely Girls for my birthday. The husband of the uber-stylish-even-in-pregnancy Mrs Darling, is an amazing hair dresser - and I went for a proper big old chop, loosing 20 inches and gaining the kind of access to the back of my neck I haven't had in over 10 years. Totally liberating and totally fabulous.

Thursday night I went to Union Club with my always-good-value-for-money author friends for more gin than is wise on a school night. And the hangover started before we'd even ordered that last round....

Friday we had cupcakes and chitter chatter in the office with the adorable and hysterical Adriana. With gossip from the previous nights SATC 2 red carpet, and updates on the super new Valentine stories, it was my most favourite way to spend a couple of hours at 2Two2.

Friday night we splashed out on 6 seats in the Scene section of the newly opened Vue cinema in Westfield for THE movie event of the year. And despite all the shitty reviews from the shriveled old crone critics who just don't GET the phenomenon that is SATC, I enjoyed every last second of it. There were laughs a plenty, fashion overload, girl talk, bonding, love and friendship - exactly what SATC is all about, and if you don't get it, just fuck off, don't watch it, and don't try and ruin it for those of us that do.

Yesterday was then another early start for my Birthday Lunch Club with The Girls. The secrecy wrapped around this day was a shocker with all manner of red herrings and half truths floating about to throw me off the scent. We started off with croissants and frappacino at Victoria station, a fast train to the beautiful seaside town of Whitstable in Kent - complete with a pass the parcel, for a mooch and meander around the twee boutiques and galleries, and the most amazing lunch at Whitstable Oyster Fishery Co on the seafront. Over 10 years ago an ex introduced me to both the town and the restaurant, and I've banged on about the most perfectly simple meal of grilled mackerel and apple sauce time and time again - and 10 years on it's still as fantastic as it was all those years ago. I was also treated to a platter of the famous Whistable Oysters, a never ending flow of rose prosecco....and even a party bag!




There is nothing better than quaffing champagne on a train coming home, picking up nibbles and munchies, and retiring to Lorrie's for a marathon SATC and Britain's Got Talent TV night, the perfect end to a perfect day. Thanks Girls - you all did me proud!

Then today, with a hangover from hell and exhausted from all the hoopla, I dusted, and tidied, and changed the bed, and cleaned the kitchen, and then we opened the paint - and started redecorating the bathroom. We are a few coats away from finishing, but it's looking clean, fresh and bright - and even in my weary state I'm glad we did it today - cause that means tomorrow he might let me lie in!

Big Tom, ex-FD of The Big W turned me on to Adriana Trigiani, after recommending either Lucia, Lucia or Rococo (my memory fails me) one fag break 6 years ago – and over the years I’ve gobbled up the backlist, including the fabulous Big Stone Gap series…

Adriana has romance cursing through her veins. She is a natural storyteller, and weaves passion and humour magically together to create the kind of women's fiction that should hit the top of the charts time after time.

Her new trilogy began with Very Valentine which New Work published in May last year, introducing us to a fabulous new Italian American character Valentine Roncalli, and her family business – the Angelini Shoe Company.

I really enjoyed it and so did the press!

'Charming, charismatic and addictive, this tale of love, life and shoes is an absolute treat' Company
'A gorgeous piece of escapism … with plenty of the warm, earthy humour that is this author's calling-card' The Times
'This hymn to Italian New York is a treat' Elle
'Charming … Romance, families, careers and relationships are all intertwined in this captivating adventure' Closer
'A funny, heart-warming tale of a woman looking for love, family harmony and the perfect shoe' Heat

I read the next in the series, Encore Valentine on Sunday.

Oh what hopeless romantics Adriana and Valentine are... but how refreshing to read a story that makes no excuses for wanting to believe in, and in fact, revelling in the power of love - even Old Gram Teodora gets married at 80!

Am really excited that Adriana is making another trip to S&S Towers @ Two2Two on Friday for a picnic (following her attendance at the SATC 2 premier on Thursday night - Michael Patrick King is her lodger!!) - hopefully some of her belief can rub off on this cold hard cynic!

Summer Reading has begun – finally - and I read After The Party on Saturday, sat on my stoop, in the sun; me and my shoulder.

Reading anything (shopping list, doodles, random to-do notes) by Lisa would be a dream. She is an awesome writer, creates characters you care about, and writes the kind of things that happen to normal people… perfect.

In After the Party Lisa has bought back Jem and Ralph – who have been together 11 years now, have two kids and a house- but are loosing that special something that made them so right together. In a twist I don’t think I’ve ever read before in a “chick lit” title, Ralph finds a way to move forwards, but Jem is stuck where many mothers I know have found themselves – between the man they love and the life they miss before the world of responsibility fell cleanly on their shoulders.

With just enough unexpected twists and turns to ramp up the eager page turning, After the Party hits all the right notes with love, longing, lust and life and just the right ending to not make you feel like a complete wimp when you find yourself in tears.

Put Your Hands Up

If you know me from facebook – you will know of The Shoulder. You will know that I finally got a diagnosis for the agonising pain that has been haunting me for over a year – involving the words inflamed fluid sac, three ruptured tendons, calcium build up, trapped nerve and the need for a bone shaving operation.

You will also know that I had a cortisone injection on Wednesday. A procedure that involved a double dose of anaesthetic, followed by 40 minutes of what can only be described as “jiggling” of a needle the size of a bic biro pen deep within the calcium to dislodge it, finished off with the actual pain relief injection into those tendons…

You will know of the tears, the nervous laughing, the nausea and of course, the following 48 hours of a whole new world of pain.

But, what you might not know is that today, for the first day in give or take 18 months I am pain free. I don’t feel like I have a ten ton weight hanging off my arm. I don’t feel a constant nagging aching deep bone pain that affects how I move, how I feel, how I sleep. Or not as the case has been for some time.

You will also not know that I can now, tentatively and with a slight wince, raise my arm to the side and rotate my shoulder to point to the sky. I’m not swinging from the chandeliers; I’m not reaching for things off the top shelf. And I still can’t do up my own bra, but fuck me sideways this feels good. I am looking forward to going to bed and being able to pick my position to sleep based on nothing more than whim. Not because to sleep on my right side does something weird and compressing to the fluid sac that makes me cry after about 4 seconds. Not because to sleep on my back, hoists the shoulder up to my ears, which tugs at the ruptured tendons and makes me cry after about 7 seconds. And to sleep on my left makes my shoulder droop down and back, and literally makes the calcium grate on the bone and makes me cry after about 11 seconds….

I might just sleep on my front just for the sheer hell of it...

Look What They've Done

Have just noticed, that the beautiful Inn on the Green, that he and I got married in last May has undergone a bit of a refurb - and has turned into Sanctum on the Green - equally beautiful, but now also, very very fancy pants....Maybe if I'm a good girl, He will take me for tea and a romp one night...

In a New York state of mind....

To celebrate our very first wedding anniversary, we took ourselves off to NY for a week....what an amazing place - so very tall, so very busy, so very fabulous, so many trainers and cupcakes to buy!!

I took one or two (ok 347) snaps.

Here are a few of my favourites.














(This is the actual view from our bed!)