Christmas Shopping, the parental way

So it is barely 10 days until the big event and currently I'm sitting pretty as I've nearly completed all the present shopping. I do however reek of cheese. Today we received a very lovely gift from a supplier at work consisting of Prosecco, Chutney, Crackers and the stinkiest French cheese that you could possibly imagine. While managing to offload the cheese but hang onto the Prosecco (win!!) I received a helpful email from my Mother about some Christmas gift suggestions for her and me Dad. Or at least it was helpful until I read it...

It started innocently enough with a standard (if slightly boring selection of gifts) of slippers, socks and similar until the fifth bullet point "CD (have to get back to you on name)". Now while I'm all up for a treasure hunt challenge to find the perfect gift when out shopping  and despite the fact that when given a hint I do feel find it necessary to follow it for fear of disappointing the potential recipient I am not a mind reader (contrary to popular belief). But even with my massive powers of deduction (Sherlock Holmes has nothing on me) the limited information on this suggestion means it needs shelving for now. So with further information hopefully looming on the CD I moved on.

So next on the list were more standard Christmas items perfect for the father figure in your life (jogging bottoms, hankies, socks.....my family really aren't as boring as these gift ideas suggest I promise) and I find this suggestion lurking mid way on the page "DVD - something funny (can't think of his name but they're advertising it on the TV)" So this could range from box sets to Sex and The City????

So lets recap after socks and slippers I'm hunting around in the high street for a CD artist unknown (male/female/band/Mr Blobby??) and a DVD being advertised on the TV - at Christmas - that narrows it down then!

My only conclusion is that it would appear thinking of your own Christmas list is just as difficult and stressful as thinking of what to buy other people...unless you decide to leave hints instead of clues. In which case the obligatory toiletries and chocolates come out to play. Well it may help disguise the Eau Du Fromage at any case!

Cornish Shenanigans

So this weekend we have travelled down to Cornwall to spend some time with Mr P's lovely family plus tick off a few to do's while we are at it. Included in our action plan was:

1. Go to Launceston for late night shopping on Friday night (real reindeer yes please)
2. Go christmas shopping in Truro for the day on Saturday (and try to prevent Mr P freaking out in the busy shops)
3. Do a tour of the Launceston and the village's Christmas lights to really get in the festive mood (love all the lights even if the electric bill in this area must be triple the national average)

So how are we doing against the list....

1. Launceston's late night shopping evening was just lovely - real reindeer who were miniature sized, similar to a Shetland pony and very good natured, so cute. There were Carol singers outside the church, brass bands playing and the smells of hot cider and Christmas cake mmmm. Now as this is Mr P's home town it did mean we did the "local boy moved away and back for the weekend" shuffle where you bump into so many people you know that it takes an hour to get 3 shops down the high street but seeing so many people out supporting local retailers and getting into the spirit of Christmas has meant I'm now feeling proper christmassy - be warned expect lots of Maria Carey and Elf at home from now on!!

2. Having never been to Truro I had no idea what to expect of this Cornish town with the famous cathedral but now having spent the day there I can whole heartedly recommend it as a shopping destination. Packed full of beautiful independent shops as well as all your core high street essentials (Debenhams, Marks and Spencers etc) it was a lovely day out. And clearly not just for the ladies as the anti shopping hero Mr P even managed to last the whole day - albeit solely fuelled by the lure of a Burger King lunch (I have no idea what the appeal of BK is to Mr P other than we do not have one in our hometown but the level of excitement generated by spotting the illuminated glow of the logo really is unfathomable. Since I started dating Mr P any day trip out always seems to involve an XL Bacon Double Cheeseburger for him - including Detroit airport, Sharm El Sheik airport, Exeter, London, Truro, Yeovil......can you see a pattern?)

3. Christmas lights around the villages and Launceston town are just gorgeous this year and visiting Mr P's family also means we get to see their house lights with waving santas, sleighs, snowmen and the most lush blue icicle lights - despite my begging no chance of us having any of those at home so it's lovely to come and make the most of the christmas season somewhere so festive...

As for tomorrow no plans yet but I'm sure our Cornish weekend away will continue with a seasonal theme.....much to Mr P's joy (just call him Scrooge hehe)


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iPad's First Day Out - The Verdict

So after an incredibly long day yesterday travelling to and from Kent I certainly got plenty of time to play with my new toy and here is the no holds barred verdict.




1. How's the juice?
Amazingly despite watching a full length movie, spending several hours typing notes, surfing the Internet and even writing the blog post not even half the battery was used up - shocking seeing as the iPhone needed charging halfway through the day. Big tick for the iPad on longevity

2. Apps...the good, the bad and the ugly?
Most successful apps of the day have to be VLC for watching a movie on the train on the way home, Cut The Rope for pure fun factor, Solitaire for a less taxing gameplay and I thoroughly enjoyed reading Project the new Richard Branson iPad magazine. Admittedly I am probably not it's direct target market as it appears to be more aimed at boys who love their gadgets rather than girlies that adore handbags however I loved the video angle, the Wired-esque story snippets and putting Jeff Bridges on the cover - genius. It may take FOREVER to download it but I think it is well worth it

3. iPad verses the Laptop - did it cope?
Normally on the epic Kent trips I cart around my very lovely but blooming heavy HP laptop. This way I have email, spreadsheets, lotus budgets and artwork all to hand. However this time I thought I'd give the iPad a go. See if it could cope being the all encompassing business tool that I needed. Again a resounding yes...email was easy as anything to access, the spreadsheets I needed were accessible although I think to be able to manipulate them I will need to cough up for the Numbers app but in terms of just viewing numbers and data absolutely fine. But the best thing was viewing the artwork on this gorgeous giant screen - amazeaballs. Clear and easy to view adverts, zoom in and out on the small print and made approving artwork a breeze.

4. List-tastic
I love lists (have I mentioned this before???) and the iPad offers a listaholic plenty of options, there is the in-house Notes function which just looks gorgeous and offers multiple lists and shortlists all in one place:




But in addition to this you can download hundreds of apps to help organise your life from To Do lists to note taking apps. My only problem is finding one I love enough to stick with forsaking all others and not keep on being a list app whore. While the iPad will never replace my filofax as you just can't beat using Pen and Paper sometimes but the iPad is certainly a strong addition to my organisational toolkit

5. Finally of course seeing as it is just so easy and gorgeous it has to be the BlogPress app leaving me no reasons not to blog more frequently and that alone surely justifies the spend on the iPad...so watch out readers lots more to come from Loulou x




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iPad's First Day Out

So today is iPad's first day out on a proper work/travelling expedition. We are on our way to Kent for a meeting so spending 5 hours on a train there and then another 5 hours home again should be a really good test of a) the iPad and it's battery life but also b) my selection of Apps and how well they can stand up to entertaining such a long journey.

Currently loaded and available for use are:

1- Project Magazine. I've not had a chance to properly look through and read this new ipad only magazine by Richard Branson so am looking forward to starting it post my first coffee of the day

2- Eureka Magazine. Similarly to Project I've downloaded but not properly yet read the iPad version of Eureka - a science supplement that comes with the Times newspaper

3- Cut The Rope. Having completed the Lite version after Mr P downloaded it I'm going to give the full version a bash and see how long it takes before I get so annoyed I can't complete it that I give up!!

4- Christmas Presents App. Aiming to be fully organised this year I have a new app to record all the ideas/purchases for people for Christmas (this works alongside my Dodo Pad Christmas binder that I bought in the summer. Well I do love my lists!!)

5- Notes. A standard app but one at works so well for a list maniac like myself. Currently included in the list of lists are an order for the chinese takeaway we had on Monday, a list of presents I've bought but not yet decided who they are going to, a to do list for work, a to do list for home, a supermarket list for when I finally get to Tesco and my christmas wish list for my Mum

6- VLC. This app is designed so I can watch movies on the iPad that have not come directly via iTunes - exciting now I can watch movies on the go

So here we go.....


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Location:Trains all over the south

iPad.......the final!

So after many months of deliberations and trying to justify whether an iPad was an essential or excessive purchase I've only gone and bloody done it!! I finally succumbed and bought myself an iPad, upon which I am currently typing this blogpost no less.

My reasons for suddenly being able to hand over that fat wedge of cash for a non essential technical device after so many months spent debating the purchase? Ultimately it came down to 3 things:

1. Work - with so many magazines now offering iPad editions, apps and downloads specifically for the iPad being able to keep track of who/what/why becomes increasingly difficult when you can't see the pricing/interface/quality - this was only emphasised further by e release of Richard Branson's latest foray into publishing "Project" an iPad only magazine released this week(more on that later!!) And the news that publishers can now include iPad subscriptions into their ABC circulation figures makes the iPad versions even more important an element in my job!

2. A bad day - as lame as that sounds and while I had almost made that final decision it was a spectacularly bad customer experience in a certain high street opticians this week while I was attempting to spend the best part of £250 on some new glasses - I failed in this task due to the incompetence and rudenesss of said staff - that made me think sack it let's invest that money in an item I really do want and treat myself I can downsize the glasses spend to help pay for it!!

3. Short term living - it has been a strange few weeks with the loss of people close to so many and again making you rethink what is important and precious. Now while my family, Mr P and my friends come top of that list I did start to wonder what exactly I was waiting for regarding my iPad purchase. I mean having savings is very important but currently they are not making a huge amount of interest and let's face it with my family history I'm not likely to reach a particulary ripe old age so saving my fun times until retirement is a very lame plan.

So to hell with caution and reserve and hello to the Apple shop. And probably the easiest sale anyone has ever made on a £500 item! Me "Hello I would like to buy the 32g wifi only iPad please and a case" Salesman "um ok do you want to see what it can do" Me "No ta just bung it in the bag and let's go!"

So I have the shiny new iPad what have I done with it so far? Not a lot. Lots of web browsing (awesome it's just so quick to turn on, light to use and the screen is just amazing) downloaded a few magazine apps (omg they take forever to download with all their fancy video and graphical content - Eureka/Projet/Wired yes I mean you!!) and started to make lists and notes on things - mostly shopping things that I would want for Christmas but honestly I am trying to use it for good!!

So many more posts and reviews to come no doubt...but first surely there is a blogger app so that posting becomes even easier??

Happy doing nothing....

Currently it is 3.36pm on a Sunday afternoon and so far I have watched last night's X Factor while Mr P was still in bed (saying he is not a fan is an understatement and frankly there is enough whingeing and bitching between the judges to keep me entertained without adding in his twopenneth as well), watched the Grand Prix while squealing behind a cushion ( - so close and yet so far for Lewis) oh and put 2 loads of washing on, but generally that it is it.....and that's just how I like it frankly. Well it is Sunday after all!

Yesterday I read an article by Amy Molloy in this week's Grazia about people suffering in the "Burnout Generation" Molloy describes how she is one of a generation of mid twenties over achievers who are struggling to be able to down tools and just relax doing nothing - not something clearly I struggle with - apparently with all the stress and distractions of work/looming redundancy/debt alongside twitter, facebook, urban family demands as well as the real family it appears there is a whole generation of people so focused on building their career and packing every moment of their day full of experiences so as not to miss out on "opportunities" they are completely missing the joy of just being in the moment. It would appear that these Burnouts push themselves so hard to be the indispensable one at work, the friend that everyone turns to and as well as being the perfect son/daughter/boyfriend/wife etc that they completely miss out on all the small pleasures that life can offer up.

Now while I can relate to the manic lifestyle described by Molloy in this article as being indicative of my late twenties where working for a large retailer as a Marketing Manager I seemed to work very long hours, weekends and holidays and yet never really seemed to achieve anything. Looking back I can see now I was working not just to do the job/further my career etc but more working so hard as an escape to avoid facing the reality of being unhappy at home. And working in retail certainly offers an escape route as even the most family of events, Christmas, is the busiest time of year - gearing up for the boxing day sale...no rest for the marketing team then!

Fast forward 3 Christmases and I still work in marketing but only a 4.5 day week and instead of living to work it is working to live - and some of my happiest times are now just being able to enjoy the simplest things like sitting on Mr P's couch reading a good book (or a trashy magazine) while he zooms around playing cars on the PS3 (no I don't want to play and yes the graphics are fantastic) but the true pleasure is just being there in the moment, a snapshot of contentment and ease at just being ourselves but coexisting happily in the same space.

Admittedly the view isn't quite as awesome as the Colorado River from Plateau Point in the Grand Canyon but it is the same sense of contentment I feel looking over as he wins another race just without the exhausting walk back up the Canyon to look forward to.

An afternoon jaunt at the Grand Canyon.....

So midway through our trip to Vegas we spent the weekend at the Xanterra Lodge on the edge of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon - a national park. Anyone who has been to the Grand Canyon will know the awe and beauty of the place which simply can't be described so I shan't even try however as they say a picture speaks a 1000 words.....

However what I can tell you all about is our adventure trekking down into the Canyon and the near death experience of getting back out!!

We arrived on Saturday afternoon and had a little amble around the top of the Canyon which is where this photo is from and we walked around looking for a good vantage point to watch the sunset, which was just stunning and causes all the rocks to change colours and hues continually as the sun drops lower and lower into the sky one of my best memories of the entire holiday (if you ignore all the other annoying tourists who were there - did they not know that we were claiming that spot of ground to watch so rude!!)

So while padding around we popped into one of the many gift stores and picked up a trekking leaflet and lots of information on the different trails that people can do. I also picked up the book "Death in the Canyon" and used it as the guide of what not to do. It would appear that most of the deaths in the Canyon are from 3 main reasons - not weather or rockfalls or even the local wildlife the main reasons are:

1. Photography - taking too many steps backward to get a good photo - I mean seriously you are on the edge of a cliff face and yet people loose all sense of danger in pursuit of the perfect landscape photo

2. Tomfoolery - again it is a cliff face made of rock and therefore crumbly but this doesn't seem to deter people leaping from rock to rock to show off and then slipping and tumbling

3. Stupidity - trekking up and down the Canyon takes a long time and involves using a lot of energy. Seemingly fit people have perished by simply not thinking it through and not taking enough water and provisions with them - something easily avoided by reading up on the do's and don'ts!!

So having read the book and the trail leaflet and deciding that the Bright Angel Trail was for us we figured we would see how far we could get - after a quick pop to the general store for the following key essentials:

1. Water - 2 half litre bottles each (knowing that there are drinking water taps on the Bright Angel trail meant we could refill these on the route)
2. Salty snacks - pretzels, nuts and Reese's pieces covering salt, carbs and chocolate wayhey
3. Gatorade - packed full of essential electrolytes we would need to get back up the hill
4. Torch - just in case it got dark
5. Hats - keep the sun off and heat in - being bargain hunters we managed to get 2 Grand Canyon baseball caps for $10 bargain and we looked v cute in our matching headgear honest!!

And then it was time to set off, we left about 11.15am quite late it would appear as we passed so many people already on the way back up and frankly looking like death (it was the midday heat we figured as the walk down was deceptively easy we bounced down the hill at quite a speed). Walking down you get to see so much of the Canyon although I wasn't allowed to stop and look as Mr P said you can look at the view on the way back up you'll need the rest - charming!! So after reaching Indian Garden where we thought we would turn around to come back up we got chatting to another walker and realised it would only be a 20min flat walk to get to Plateau Point and a view of the Colorado River - stunning view and well worth the extra walk or so we thought at that point - of course it had all been downhill!! But to of gone all that way and not seen the river would have been a travesty.

So the long trek back up begins and oh Boy its long. They say it will take twice as long to walk back up as it does to walk down and as we left Plateau Point at 2.45 that meant using the maths it took us 3.5 hours to get down it would take 7 hours to get back up - and we'd arrive at gone 9pm!!! Eesh. So it was hotfooting it time and power walk the cliff side.

And it was hard going I really struggled the first 2 segments of the walk up with the lovely Mr P cheering me on we finally get to the last rest stop where we only had about 1.5 miles to go and had made amazing time as it was only about 5.30 and got chatting to 2 other guys who had been trekking from 6am that morning as they had walked from the North Rim (now that is a long long long walk) and here I got my second wind ready to bounce up the rest of the trail with the end in sight. However Mr P having for so long been our cheerleader crashed and burned so it was left up to me to be chief motivator for the last stretch. Following the chaps from earlier (a shiny yellow mac became my guiding light to follow) we ploughed on one foot in front of the other and then  torchlight with one foot in front of the other until joy of joys we turned a corner and there were LIGHTS we had reached the top and could see lodge lights and it was only 7pm so we did the entire 12miles in less than 8 hours not bad for two unfit novice walkers (no sticks or waterproofs which posed issues when it started raining halfway up) and all thanks to the Gatorade.

I would go back in a heartbeat though and next time I want to hike all the way down to the river and camp down there - just as soon as they get a lift in to take us back up to the top!!