WoohoO!!! I am going on holiday to Spain! How exciting. I've never been to Spain and I'll probably melt but it's going to be brilliant. My friend from school who I met up with over Xmas (after just over 9 years) has asked me if I want to go with her to her villa. It's here - El Puerto de Santa Maria. We're going on 10th July for a week. I came in this morning and got the week off work and luckily Ryanair fly there so it's going to be really cheap. We're gonna hire a car for a week and apart from food that's about all it should cost us. Suzanne might be flying out to join us at some point too. I cannot wait. I think the flight is at least 3 hours cos it's in southern Spain which means it is going to be boiling! I'm hot enough as it is, why am I subjecting myself to Spain. It's a different kind of heat isn't it? I vaguely remember from going to Tenerife 10 years ago... and there'll be a lovely cooling swimming pool for me to dive into in case it gets too hot. There is a really cool bikini in Warehouse that I am going to get. It's pink and has other colours on too. And there's not very much of it. It's kind of one of those ones which has two triangles as the top so I'm not going to do any running or any sudden movements which might cause anything to dislodge!

I think I am minutes away from ordering my shiny new computer. I must make sure I do it before I leave tonight or it'll be another week gone by before I know it. I am fully booked up this week and for most of next week which isn't good for flathunting. I've opened my search area and it now includes Stoke Newington seeing that so many people I know live there and there are some really nice parts. Ben Folds tonight and tomorrow, Have I Got News For You? on Thursday - where I shall be a guest and get to go into the green room - then Spank (you love it) on Friday. Very exciting indeed. Then next week, possibly Kitson on Monday, dancing on Tuesday, Royal Academy of Arts summer party on Wednesday and I am going on a management course on Thursday. Check me out - climbing up the management ladder. I reckon my goal is head of production before I'm 30 - or while I'm 30. We'll see... So let's get the official count down going on the blog for my summer holiday.

I've just spent the last hour watching a documentary on Five, crying the whole way through. It was one of the most moving programmes I've seen in a while, not that I see that much telly these days. It was about a two year old boy who weighs 6 stone and is continually growing at a very increased rate. I'd love it if we made a programme that emotionally engaging that benefits everyone involved.

Archie: The Six Stone Baby

I've spent the weekend at Pop's by accident. I left the house Saturday lunchtime with my beach stuff, headed for Bromley South to get the train to Bromley but all the trains were screwed due to a previously broken down freight train. Kathryn was already on her way but from Waterloo so her train wasn't affected. I waited about an hour in all and called it a day. Managed to get into London and headed for Pop's house where we spent the afternoon with her Aussie mate Will, drinking Pimms and lemonade and gin and tonics. Then I got a text from Suz asking me round for dinner so I headed over to hers and then back to Pop's cos she was staying in and we were off to Mark and Jason's the next day for a BBQ. There was talk of dancing but it never quite came into fruition.

I am back home and exhausted now. Especially after an hour of crying. Back to work tomorrow and then off to see Ben Folds which I am really looking forward too. BB is on now... will try to post more tomorrow.

At this precise moment, I'm not sure if I could physiologically be any hotter. Its 28 degrees in London and probably hotter at street level and I am melting. Way hotter than yesterday. Was thinking of going to Broadstairs or somewhere with a beach tomorrow but I'm not sure I have got the energy. I also want to go to Ikea but that might be even worse though maybe not if everyone heads for the coast. I am sitting at my desk drinking rose wine and eating chargrilled Doritos praying for a breeze to come through the window. I stayed at Pop's last night so I had no other choice but to wear my jeans, which is not a sensible choice of clothing for this ridiculous weather. Anyway, I am off home straight after work to unpack, tidy up and lay down and watch all the idiots go into the BB house. Should be a beautiful weekend and a bank holiday weekend too! Hooray!

Wowsers it's hot today. Popped over to Soho Sq to meet H for lunch and we sat on the grass in the sun. Rather out of character, I am wearing yellow and green today so I am attracting London's population of bumble bees and other insects, thinking I am a beautiful pollenating flower. But I'm not. Still recovering from holiday at the moment. Haven't had a chance to sleep it off just yet. Planning on going home after work tomorrow night to see the next batch of pointless celebrities enter the BB house - not that I'll get a chance to watch any of the coverage except when I get home in time to watch them sleeping, but I think that's probably a good thing. I think I will go to bed earlyish on Friday and then have a lay in on Saturday and start unpacking. I am also planning a trip to Ikea on Saturday which I am v much looking forward to.
Really busy next week so I am wondering when the hell I am going to be able to start up the flat hunt again. Will probably try to unpack and trawl the internet on Friday night and do a bit of a search Saturday and Sunday.. more likely Sunday. Ooh and Monday cos I've just remembered it is a bank holiday weekend - get in!

Two posts in one day, that is unprecedented. I am going to buy my emac when I get back from my holiday. Here is the one I am getting... It is lovely. I am getting one with wireless internet and bluetooth. Which is doubly exciting.

I am bored. I have worked hard all day long. Off to a radio recording tonight - Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive - then off to Bank for Nalini's birthday drinks. I took a shine to one of her mates when we went out at the weekend so I am hoping he might be there - he said he was going to be... we'll see. Last day at work before hols tomorrow and tomorow night I am going to see Dan Clark and Adam G Goodwin - get in!! So this leaves me a negligible amount of time to pack. Much like when me and Sharon went on our jaunt round France. Ho hum. Off now.

Been very busy flat hunting and working too hard recently. I negotiated my pay rise on Friday so I can now afford to move out, which is great news. Got more than I thought I'd get but still not getting paid quite as much as I really should for what I do but still, I love working here so I am prepared to let that go til we start raking it in!

Some of my dreams have come true recently. The other week I bought pilot DVDs of The Mary Whitehouse Experience - both series and the pilot - from ebay and it was about £13. Bargain. And today 5 CD-Rs of Fist of Fun series 1 & 2 and TMWRNJ series 1 & 2 arrived and I am watching and listening to them on my mac as I work. Now I'm just waiting for The Hollow Men DVD to be hand delivered...

Going away on Thursday and I am very excited. Flat-wise I am still at square one but I am getting quite good at making quick decisions about flats when I walk into them and also about the people who already live there. To be honest it's making me wish I had someone to buy a flat with but at the moment I'm not sure who that might be... So I am momentarily giving up til I get back which means I might get some work done for a change!

I am listening to Stewart Lee's true fables at the moment - and I love it. There are two very exciting people coming into the office tomorrow. But I can't tell you who they are. I might try and blog when I'm away - then again I might just sit and relax and forget like I have for the past month or two. I am also pleased to report that me and Kathryn have made an agreement not to go to any museums or galleries when we are away... aah, we are so cultured.

Baby boom

Elsa Marie Lay was born a 1:42am on 2 May 2005 - 8lb 12 oz.
Maisy Emily Nicholson was born at 5:27pm on 22 April 2005 - 8lb 9oz.

I am beginning to wish I hadn't agreed to be a bridesmaid for my brother and his fiance. In fact I am on the verge of telling them to find someone else who can fit into my dress. I really am getting thoroughly pissed off with it. I was called last night and told that we are having our hair done and for a trial run and then the real thing it is going to cost £50. Which I have to pay. I think not. I think its safe to write this here cos none of my family read it and even so it'd teach my brother for being such a spineless git. My brother has offered to split it with me but even then it's to keep his fiance happy more than me... and at the end of his emailed offer he wrote DON'T TELL ANYONE! How under the thumb is he?! Unbelievable. I am not looking forward to this damn wedding at all. I'd rather sit in the church with everyone else and wear what I like with my hair however I like it... plus the fact that I am going to have to sit with the bridesmaids at the meal (all of whom are nice but are not my kind of people at all - they are the types who all just want to get married and settle down and don't seem to know how to have fun). I have already agreed to pay £120 for the hotel for the night of their wedding so we can all have breakfast together (how unoriginal) and another £50 is really taking the piss - god knows what's still to come. But let's put this in perspective, I earn less than £20k whereas my brother and Sam earn a combined wage of £80k. It is possibly going to be one of the most unenjoyable days of my life! I have offered a compromise though so let's see how that goes.

As for the hen weekend, I have officially dropped out. It's £120 to fly up (we could get there for so much cheaper on easyjet but I'm not flying up on my own) and the hotel is £128 for 2 nights - EACH!? How on earth has this been organised?! There is another hen event which is at very expensive health farm but that is costing over £200 as well - its for 2 nights but it's during the week which is slightly stupid cos my mum is a teacher so can't take time off work... unless that's why she's planned it. I said I'd try to go for one treatment for the day but you have to pay the rate for the whole day so I'll be missing that too. This is very much going to be a wedding for his fiance's family rather than mine. God forbid she ever left my brother, he's got no mates, no life and no spine of his own. I'm sure I'll be deleting this in a few days once I've calmed down. And relax. My wedding should it ever happen, will be way cooler and 100% hassle free. Las Vegas, no family, few friends, no bridesmaid... bliss.

Steve and Sue's wedding on the other hand is going to be absolutely bloody brilliant. Shame its not after my brother's rather than before my brother's so then I could have something to look forward to rather than already having had the brilliant wedding so my brother's will seem even worse.

Ooh, my brother just called - seems he's been speaking to his fiance. He's asked me over tonight and then mentioned hair styles so I might give that one a miss. I have told him that I am going to point-blank refuse to have all of my hair up unless we're wearing shawls... Oh does it really matter to her what 600 strands of someone else's hair are doing on her wedding day!? If things carry on like this I shall be sending the outfit back. I wish I didn't have to go - shame they changed it from Perrier night, then I would have had a better excuse. I know this all sounds terrible but I'm just so unlike my brother and his girlfriend that when they try to suck me into their world they get quite an extreme reaction. It's put me in a bit of a bad mood now. Something that will cheer me up is the thought of something I did on Friday....

I booked more tickets to see A-ha in December. But this time in Nottingham and this time 5 ROWS FROM THE FRONT!! I am going to be within spitting distance of the gorgeous hunk of man himself, I am *so* excited. I um-ed and er-ed for a bit and then decided that they wouldn't be back in the UK for ages, I can spend the weekend in Nottingham and it was *5 ROWS FROM THE FRONT* - oh yes!!