Raindrops and Roses

Update...

2009-01-12T13:36:00.000-08:00

I have not blogged in the longest time....and probably won't for a while again, I'm hopeless. I spend my whole time writing silly notes/lists to myself but when it comes to blogging I'm a bit laxidasical (real word??) . Anyway, I'm living a funny kind of life at the moment, I'm all wrapped up in my job but when I go home at night there's this little thing called a "wedding" demanding my attention! And you know what? Just between you and I...I'm enjoying it! The girl who didn't know what a chair cover was, didn't know the difference between A-line and empire line, has suddenly become a walking-talking wedding guru. Still, I have little interest in flower arrangements and couldn't care less what wine we drink at the reception...but, all the same, I have become somewhat girlie and have been loving every minute of it. Can't wait to have all my family and friends share our special day with us, particuarly my wee princesse and her FP who live ever so far away!

The best bit though...I get to marry Venzo at the end of it all!! Being his wife excites me way more than the whole wedding itself, I'm so lucky to have found him (and he is to have found me of course ;) ). Anway, enough of the cheesiness, just thought I would let anyone who still pops on here know what I was up to!

Love n Hugs,

Zannie x x x

Platinum Paws

2008-03-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

I'm ridiculously, insanely busy at the moment so free time has been spent with Venzo or sleeping! As a result, my poor wee blog has suffered. Be assured though people, I'm still alive! Anyway, while I'm here explaining myself I may as well plug the reason I'm so busy....

www.platinumpaws.co.uk

Pet lovers, get shopping and spread the word!

x x x

Angels and Poles

2008-01-10T03:12:00.000-08:00

Having had a fantastic Christmas and New Year (although ended up working somewhat more than planned, but hey, that's self-employment for you!), it's now back to the grindstone. Lata and I are hoping that 2008 is the year for us - business plans are going full steam ahead, so hopefully within a few months we'll have our online shop up and running! As I've learned in the last year and a half of self-employment though, hurdles are thrown at you every step of the way. It's really just a case of pushing through problems though, even when things seem hopeless. Also, as well as the problems, there's the little things I call my "angel moments", when something comes along which makes things a bit easier. Angel moments can be a new booking, a supportive chat or just a new perspective on things, but they really do save the day when you feel like giving up.

Went back to my pole dancing class last night, such fun! Got a whole new set of moves to work on, and boy do they need work! Arrived home with a massive bruise on my foot where I'd banged it off the metal trying to jump up. Venzo keeps enquiring as to when I'm going to showcase my new found skills. He's in for a long wait. At the moment I feel about as sexy as a baby elephant as I clunk round the bloomin' thing! I don't think I could ever actually dance in a club, the presence of men would freak me out, but the classes are just full of women having a laugh and getting fit so would highly recommend it to anyone out there looking for a fun way to tone up!

Anyway, I'm currently wasting my day off by staring at computer screen when I could be doing exciting things like cleaning, going to the bank & doing paperwork...hmm, perhaps I'll spend just a little longer reading blogs...

x

Merry Christmas

2007-12-22T09:16:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if anyone actually reads this blog. However, I shall presume that they do and wish you all a merry Christmas. I cannot wait. I have a few days off for the first time in what seems like forever! Going to spend lots of time with my family, friends and Venzo, snuggled up infront of the fire! Christmas day itself shall be fun, my favourite part of the day being when my sisters and I send Dad downstairs, "to check if Santa's been" (somewhat odd when we're aged 14, 15 and 21 but exciting all the same)! Truely though, as cheesy as it sounds, my main Christmas wish would be that all the people I love are happy, at the end of the day, that's all that matters. Too many people get caught up in the commercialism of Christmas, which, although fun, shouldn't be what's it's all about. Whether religious or not, we should remember that Christmas is about spending time with the people we care about, recharging our batteries and giving what we can to others; not fighting for bargains in the shops, whinging about presents and general bah-humbugging!

Love, Joy and Mince Pies to all,

Zannie x x x

Written in the stars...

2007-12-09T14:07:00.000-08:00

Sooo, Sunday night and I've returned to my blog. Weekend was sad and lovely all at once but I don't feel like going into the ins and outs of it.

A fresh week of business is about to commence, looking forward to it and nervous at the same time. Have a few things to sort out with a couple of difficult customers. Being one of the least confrontational people on the planet (although I'm getting better) this is one aspect of business I'm not overly keen on. However, I'm learning day by day to stand up for myself and not let people away with any nonsense. Thankfully Lata is at the opposite end of the scale, so we work well together, she encourages me to be a little more feisty when it's required and I have a calming effect on her zealous approach!

I'm not sure whether I go for the whole zodiac sign thing, but when contemplating my approach to life I decided to google my star sign Libra. The results were surprising and summed me up to a tee!

GOOD POINTS:
The Libra person is co-operative, diplomatic, open-minded, urbane, fair, partnership-oriented, avoids conflict, easy-going, even-tempered, refined, balanced, graceful, artistic, home-body, charming, debative, flexible, sensual, idealistic, equalitarian and sociable. They also seem to have a great chance at making vast amounts of wealth and fortune.

NOT SO GOOD:
They can sometimes also rationalise, be easily deterred, indecisive, lazy, changeable, gullible, easily influenced, flirtatious, conceited, perfectionist, aloof, mildly vengeful, can't say no, quarrelsome, over-seriousness, cold, self-indulgent, cruel, jealous

I would hope from the list of negative aspects I honestly try not to be cruel and I don't consider myself to be particularly lazy, however, many of them strike a cord. In particular, the indecisiveness and the perfectionism which is definitely more of a negative aspect than a positive. I've lost count of the times I've been called "miss priss" and "pernickity" by my mother (who, I hasten to add, is somewhat guilty of the exact same crime! Having the same birthday as each other, we have the same star sign and similar characters. Mind you, she has "the gift of the gab", whereas I can be a bit shy with new people), and have frustrated people around me by failing to move on to the next project or go somewhere because I'm fussing about something not being "quite right" - this includes everything from how the bed's made to book keeping for work.

The typical likes and dislikes of a Libran are as below and are pretty accurate:

Likes: fairness, equality, home, stability, happiness, justice, saying yes, gentleness, sharing, the "finer" things in life

Dislikes: drama, yelling, being ignored, judgmental people/being judged, saying no, injustice, violence, bad manners

I did think though - who doesn't like happiness?!

Soo, having delved a little into the stars I'm still not sure where it's all a load of codswallop or not, I must say though, some of it bears an uncanny resemblance to me -but is this just coincidence?

Princesse, and anyone else that's reading, why don't you have a look into your star sign and see if you feel it matches up to the real you? Look forward to the conclusions....

x x x

Grandad

2007-12-03T08:49:00.001-08:00

My poor Venzo's grandad has died. He'd been ill for a long time though and in some ways it's good he's at peace. If you believe in Heaven, I do anyway, he's healthy and happy with his wife again now. However, it's sad for all his family who had to watch him struggle with alzheimer's all these years and have now lost him to it. So to all you fellow bloggers, I'd ask you to please keep them all in your thoughts/prayers/whatever you believe in.

That is all.

x x x

Happy December!

2007-12-01T08:15:00.000-08:00

It's Saturday 1st December, 4.15pm, icy rain is hitting the window and it's already dark outside. Winter and I have a love/hate relationship.

Bad things about winter:

-Being freezing 24/7. I think I must infact be a cold blooded reptile (although I don't have scales yet), I operate on a completely different temperature scale to the rest of the world! When normal people are over-heating, I'm contented, when normal people are contented, I'm shivering and when normal people shiver I'm in a semi-comatose state where I can't function and just want to curl up (I hear this is similar to what happens if you have hypothermia!). There's no medical explanation for this, I'm not lacking iron and I'm not underweight, so why? I personally have no idea, what I do know though is that I hate wintery weather.

-Darkness. The past couple of years this has not been such a problem for me as I work outside a lot of the time and see what daylight there is. However, I used to detest it when I went into work and it was dark and came out and it was dark again.

- Ice. Terrifying when driving and even more so when teetering around in three inch heels!

Good things about Winter:

-Snuggling. There's nothing quite like a winters night, snuggled up in a blanket with Venzo, watching some film I've seen a million times before and singing along to all the songs. (*cough* Dirty Dancing). While this is going on, Venzo charmingly feigns interest and even, on the odd occassion, joins in with my out of tune singing!)

-Christmas. The older I get, the more childlike I seem to become at Christmas. My two younger sisters are at that awkward teenage stage where you can rarely get more than a grunt out of them, and anything remotely fun is considered "soooo uncool". I would HATE to be that age again! Now that I'm in my twenties and my life no longer revolves around what is "cool" and "uncool", I can relish in the Chrsitmas spirit and wake my entire family up at 7am, before sending dad downstairs to "check if Santa's been"!

- Scarves. I love them. Brighten up any outfit and on those cold horrid days, a scarf wrapped round your neck can make it all seem better! Unfortunately, scarves (excpet the skinny silky kind) are not really deemed appropriate in July, and let's face it, they're not really necessary then either. I therefore look forward to October for the simple reason that my pink polka dot scarf can make a comeback!

Right, better go, Venzo is coming over soon for some of the above mentioned snuggling, and my hair currently looks like I fell in a chip pan (a switched off one of course, had I fallen in a hot one, I would have a lot more to worry about than my hair!)

x x x

Rain Cloud

2007-11-27T08:36:00.000-08:00

Why is it that bad things always seems to happen all at once? Is it because the first bad thing makes you feel a bit down, so that things that follow seem worse than they are? Or does bad luck really just land on you for a few days?

Our best customer cancelled this week. Not because of any problems with our service, but because she's ill with MS and felt she had to give her two small dogs up. It came as a great surprise to Lata and I, although we knew she was unwell, we didn't realise the dogs were becoming a major burden. In fact, it's often said that animals can be extremely therapeutic in times of both emotional and physical distress. I believe this is true, having been comforted many times by the snuggle of a pet. Anyway, I'm straying from the point, which is that we have lost a major source of income. This would not be a huge problem if we weren't trying to pay off the new van we've just bought and if it wasn't so close to Christmas.

Having received this bad news first thing Monday morning, Lata and I then took a group of five dogs out to the country for a walk. One of them disappeared. Now don't get me wrong, when you take dogs out a walk, they do occasionally wander off, but have usually caught up with you again in five minutes. This one, Alfie, took off after a squirrel and was no where to be seen for over half an hour. Just as we were starting to panic a little, he came trotting along the path towards us, tail wagging, delighted to be reunited with us after a vigorous chase! However, what Alfie couldn't comprehend was why we were cross at him. When you look at it from his point of view I suppose you can understand it a little better, he'd had a delightful walk involving squirrels (his favourite thing to chase!) and had now met up with his human companions who were going to escort him home for a well earned nap! We, however, were already late due to cancellation and were now going to spend the rest of the day trying to catch up the time, which meant missing lunch -not a popular option!

After the morning's fiasco things seemed to pick up around midday. For around ten minutes. The rest of the afternoon consisted of my foot getting sorer and sorer due to inflamed tendons, Lata having bad news about the state of her car, which is in for repair, someone setting fireworks off in the park near the dogs which sent them all berserk and the windscreen getting a chip in it. By the time the pad fell off the break pedal of the van, it seemed like the worst thing that could possibly happen to us!

It's not all doom and gloom though, the little rain cloud that seems to be hovering above our poor business's head showed some sign of shifting this afternoon when the phone rang regarding a booking, the people haven't phoned back yet though. Fingers crossed.

In my personal life everything is hunky dory, let's hope it stays that way, at least until the business sorts itself out! X X X

Alligators

2007-11-17T03:24:00.000-08:00

Goodness! Where is November going??? Life is rushing by me at a scary rate at the moment, I want it to slow down a smidgen! Mum says the older you get, the quicker time passes, if this is true, my days will literally be a blur before long!

So Princesse, you want to know about the contents of my bag eh? It's a dark and frightening place, but if you're truly brave enough, I shall continue....

Unfortuately, (or perhaps fortunately) I can't get new pictures on to my computer at the moment, which means the bag can't be seen. The power of words will just have to do.

The outside of my day to day bag (although I do have many many beautiful bags in my cupboard, but tend to stick to the same one a lot of the time) is fairly inconspicuous. I bought it in the Gap sale a few years ago for about £15. Like Princesse's bag, it is somewhat oversized to hold all my 'gumph', as Venzo calls it! Anyway, the outside of the bag is not where the alligators lurk. Deep in the dark recesses of my bag, I'm completely convinced there are alligators lying in wait for a finger sized snack. Baby alligators of course, but alligators all the same. You see, the bottom of my bag has not been seen in such a long time, that it is entirely possible there are creatures living in it. Like an onion, my bag has layers. The bottom layer consists of small dog biscuits (correct guess Princesse!), uneaten nutri-grain bars (in the wrapper of course, I'm not THAT gross!), several earrings missing their other half and don't forget about the alligators. As you move up the bag a bit you'll find a collection of make up, not things that I actually use, I keep all that very neatly in a little pink Radley make up pouch on my dresser. In the same layer you will find things that Venzo has given me to carry for him, usually glasses (often surface from the bag having been chewed by the alligators) and hankies. The upper layers of my bag consists of a scarf ( I have an addiction to scarves and rarely leave the house without one between September and April!), an umbrella (see Princesse's description of Scottish weather), my purse and my precious phone, without which, I feel naked!. On occasion there are added extras, a book or hairbrush for example. I'm currently rifling through my alligator pit as we speak, going deeper than I normally would, risking life and limb for the sake of journalistic accuracy. I've found a tin of soup. Heinz spring vegetable. How odd. Oh well, the alligators are in for a feast tonight.

x x x

Pole Dancing?

2007-11-07T09:13:00.000-08:00

Lata and I come up with some bizarre ideas while we're trampling round the countryside. Today we decided we wanted to do some sort of evening class (god knows when we're fitting this in!) and we decided that some form of exercise is never a bad thing. But what to do? Lata had noticed an advert for a new dance studio in Glasgow, except it wasn't any old dancing - it's pole dancing!! Normally I would wrinkle up my nose and mutter some feminist comment under my breath, however, this place actually looks quite fun! Worried about the seedy factor, I investigated a bit further and loads of reputable sources said that pole dancing is proving to be one of the best forms of working out, providing amazing fitness benefits for everyone including increased co-ordination and flexibility, improved cardiovascular performance, muscle definition and core muscle strength.

The main focus at the place Lata and I have discovered is getting fit, concentrating on actual repetitive moves and floor work that are put into a routine to provide maximum cardiovascular work outs. There are no "lap dance" warm-ups and no dance routines either, this is 100% exercise every session so there is no need to feel uncomfortable in front of fellow class mates.

Will I actually go along? Who knows! I find the thought of being a pole dancer a bit gross, sweaty old men leaching over you? Ick! However, exercising and dancing with my friends and some other ladies sounds a bit of a laugh as long as it's not pervy like the website promises!

x x x

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T10:13:00.000-07:00

I got a skirt (see previous blog if confused)! It's not beautiful but will do. It's from the petite section in Next if any of the shorties among us are interested(I ignored the "For Women Under 5ft3"" sign). The graduation is looming ever closer and...I have a massive spot on my chin. Pictures will be fun! Ah well, there's worse things in life than "pimple of the chin".

Lata and I have been looking at flat's on the internet this week, whether or not we can actually afford one is another question, but still, tis fun to have a peek and see what's about.

Halloween is upon us once again and I'm slightly disappointed not to be going out - it's the first time in years that I haven't got dressed in a ridiculously teeny outfit that I would never usually have the guts to wear and got on board a bus armed with my best buddies and bottle of Bacardi! I should mention here that it wasn't any old bus that we ambushed, the law school used to organise a Halloween bus/pub crawl. It always ended in absolute carnage and a terrible hangover, but the memories were worth the pain! This Halloween is being celebrated with a night on the sofa with Venzo, got work tomorrow you see. Ahhh, I'm becoming awfully tame in my old age...flats and nights in? What's my life coming to? You know what? I don't actually know, and I like that fact! What's in store is somewhat of a puzzle to me, but it's fun solving it! Anyway, I'm sure my acquaintance with a bottle of vino and a dance floor ain't gone completely!

The problem with skirts...

2007-10-29T09:00:00.001-07:00

Reading over my last two blogs, I realised I type almost as fast as I often move from day to day - without a breath! Going to make a definite effort to insert commas where required - bad grammer sucks.

Can't really write much at the moment, got to go scrub up before I go shopping. Looking after animals all day doesn't really lend itself to popping out somewhere straight from work, unless you enjoy shopping with mud on your trousers and smelling of Eau de Puppy!

Going shopping tonight to try and find a skirt for my graduation (eek! can't believe I'm going to have LLB after my name!). I do not enjoy skirt shopping. You see, I'm 5ft 4" and a wee bit, easy you might think, pretty average height, but nooo...officey type skirts in the normal range seem to be aimed at people over a minimum of 5ft 6"; ones which are meant to end at the knee are nearly at my ankles and no point even considering full length ones, they trail along the ground like some sort of hideous black wedding dress! So off to the petite section I go - except, there's usually a big sign saying "for women 5ft 3" and under". That's not me! Where oh where do I get a skirt then???? I shall report back on my progress after this evening's trip! x x x

Sniffles and Snuggles

2007-10-26T07:13:00.000-07:00

3.15pm on a Friday afternoon - The ideal time for blog number two methinks.

I've had the cold this week which has turned me into somewhat of a whining monster. Venzo has been rather lovely though and has not complained about the sight of me in my oversized fluffy Winnie the Pooh pyjamas and a scarf wrapped round my neck (as if that's actually going to make any difference at all! Makes me feel warm and snuggly though!). Fortunately the nasty disease seems to be abating and with it my massive amounts of self-pity!

Has been a fairly smooth week at work. Only problem was caused by an over enthusiastic chocolate Labrador who decide he was big and brave enough to explore the countryside minus Lata and I. Several phone calls to his owners and questions to passers by later he appeared from a field of cattle, smeared in something disgusting and green but with a huge grin and a wagging tail. His delight at being reunited with us made it extremely difficult to be cross at him, but nevertheless, something will have to be done about him. People complain when dogs roam about on their own and it doesn't look great for the business when Lata and I are running around the moors looking for a mutt that's supposed to be in our care! Recall training and a strong lead are next weeks aims I think...

Got a busy wee weekend coming up, off to my friend's gig tonight and then tomorrow I have a bit of work to do before venturing to the other side of Scotland with Venzo for a night at the theatre and a stay in a fancy hotel! Looking forward to it a lot, has been a while since we got any time completely to ourselves, much as I love my family, they're rather intrusive! Hopefully Lata and I will get our own wee place soon though! Having a base for the business would be great and the independence would be exciting!

Forgot to mention in my last post that I have a brand new baby boy cousin who was born on my birthday at the start of the week, he's teensy and mega cute. Was slightly disturbed to realise that I'll be 42 when he turns 21! I thought the age gap of 18 years was a lot when my other cousin Cera was born a few years ago - seems no time though. Poor wee soul is a bit baffled by the arrival of her little brother. Holding a tiny baby for the first time is amazing, can't even imagine what it would be like if it was your own. Probably won't find out for another few years yet but it's definitely something I would want to experience if I was lucky enough to be able to. Looking at 2 year old Cera and her baby brother this week made me wonder why people say "aww, if only you could keep them newborn forever". Why would you want to do that? Watching them change and grow up into little people is fantastic! It's difficult wondering how the big scary world out there will treat them, but there's so much good out there as well, that to keep them tiny and incapable of experiencing life would be an injustice (although they are awfully awfully cute when they're tiny! Maybe that's the reason people say it and I'm just looking into it too much!).

Cera and I over two years ago...
With her new baby brother on my birthday...
My stomach is starting to demand food as I was so busy at work I never got lunch, better go sort it out!

x x x

First Blog!

2007-10-23T14:47:00.001-07:00

Sooo, I was introduced to the world of blogging this evening by my dear friend Princesse. I had a wee look over her blog and thought it was beautiful, you have a lovely style of writing my pretty one (I'm so glad you're feeling a bit better!).

Now to introduce myself...I'm Zannie, just turned 21 years old. I live in (not so) sunny Scotland with my family and run my own pet care business which provides me with vast amounts of stress, joy and hilarity! I love a boy. For the purposes of this blogging malarky we'll call him Venzo. We've been together nearly five years now and although it took me a while before our relationship began to realise what I was feeling, I know now that we were made for each other. How do I know this you might ask? It's difficult to explain, the only way I really know how is to say that we just "fit". When he holds me it's like a jigsaw clicking into place and when I'm apart from him, no matter how much I'm enjoying myself, it always feels like there's something missing. The only time this feeling leaves me is when we're together. So yeah, that all sounds a little cheesy, infact, it's like a big stinking slice of gorgonzola but hey, it's how it is.

Before setting up my business with my friend Lata, I was doing a law degree. To this day I'm not entirely sure how I ended up in law school, good results at high school made it seem like the next logical step I suppose. I got through the degree, although the last year nearly killed me. Trying to run a new business and finish a law degree at the same time ain't no easy game. However, I made it, mostly thanks to the support provided by my family, Venzo and Lata! Although I'm glad I did the degree, the legal world isn't something I want to be part of. There are areas of it I feel passionately about, but I don't want to earn a living from it. I want to be in charge of my own life, and for me, that means self-employment. Having my own business is a daunting challenge, I have days where I just want to give it all up and go for the financial security of a 9 to 5 job...but then the phone rings, a customer tells us how fantastic we are or Lata and I come up with a new idea and I'm bitten by the business bug again! It scares me, because I want a nice house, few kids, nice car and to go buy my dinner in M&S without looking at the price tags too closely. With self-employment there's no guarantee I'll get that. However, it's the fear that drives me on to do well, without it, the business would not have developed past it's first day of feeding someone's bunny when they went on holiday!

Staring at this screen, my eyes are getting heavy and my bed looks evermore appealing...I'm going to climb into it, give Venzo a phone (we always talk before bed), shut my eyes and see what tomorrow brings...

Goodnight x x x