Scuba Diving

I have just got back from a week in Lanzarote. It was a great holiday and I had fun in the sun. One of the things I did while there was go Scuba Diving. It was amazing! We went to about 6 metres in depth and saw a lot of fish. It was amazing to be in the sea amongst the fish. I felt like we were miles out but when we came back to the shore and looked out to the rocks where we had been I was shocked to see that we really hadn't gone that far at all. It has made me want to do the PADI course which would mean I would then be qualified to go out diving when I liked. The course costs quite a lot of money but I think it would be really worth it. You can do the course anywhere in the world and I think it would be great to do it somewhere with exotic sea creatures rather than in England. That's something that I will be adding to my list! I did take a waterproof camera with me and I took some photos while diving so once they have been developed I will put some of them on here!

The Delia Smith Experience!

It was my Dad's 60th birthday on Sunday so at the weekend we had a bit of a family get together to celebrate. I left work at midday on Friday and made my way through the snow and ice to get to Gorleston in Norfolk. Was a bit of a trek cross country in the snow but I managed it.

On Saturday my sister and brother-in-law and myself met up with my brother and his wife and of course my dad too in a pub in Norwich for some lunch. Following lunch we walked to the football ground to watch Norwich vs Huddersfield with some friends. For those of you who aren't familiar with English Football or indeed Norwich City football team then you may not know that Delia Smith is the director of the club! We had really good seats and were sitting opposite the dug outs (is that what they're called?!) and spotted Delia cheering on Norwich! To be honest the first half of the match was awful! It was very very cold and Huddersfield were all over us. At half time, with a goalless, we were all saying that we didin't think Norwich were going to win.

We had paid a bit extra for our tickets so that we could put a happy birthday message into the programme with a photo of dad. It was a photo from when he was about 2! He looked very cute and actually very much like my nephew. What was a surprise though was when it got to half time the message and photo also came up on the score board! It was sooooo funny seeing a pic of my dad scrolling down the score board. I think dad liked it all and it was all a surprise for him so that was good.

I think Paul Lambert, Norwich's manager, must have been giving the team a bit of his mind during half time as when they came back on the pitch they seemed to be on top form. The goals didn't stop coming! In the end the score was 3-0 which made the minus 3 celcius temperature we'd sat through to watch the game all worth it!

After the match we had booked a table at Delia's restaurant for the early bird deal! She has her one and only (I think!) restaurant at the football ground and runs a meal deal for post football. When we began to thaw out though from the cold I think we all went into shock and we could begin to actually feel how cold we really were! It started hurting loads!! Once we had thawed out we had a great time. Towards the end of the meal the evening punters began arriving and you could tell the difference between the post football crowd and them as we all had jeans and jumpers and jumpers and more jumpers on and scarves and hats and looking plain scruffy whereas they all had suits on and looking very posh! The restaurant were really good though and we didn't feel at all rushed to finish our meals and get out!

The highlight was when we were all at the reception area putting our coats and hats back on and in walked Delia herself! We didn't really expect to see her there but she must have been staying in Norwich that evening. It would've been better if she had have walked out of the kitchen rather than in from outside! Anyway it was a nice evening with gorgeous food and definitely worth going.Of course it also ticks off one of my tasks!

Chunkster Reading Challenge

I have added this to here because I have to have a blog to post for it and I don't want it to be part of my 30 B4 30 challenge so it's going to become part of this challenge instead! The details are as follows and I will be taking part as Mor-book-ly Obese:

February 1, 2010 - January 31, 2011

Many thanks to Dana who has hosted this challenge for the past couple of years and has generously handed over the reins to me in 2010. I am keeping most of Dana's rules and definitions...Why? Because why fix something that isn't broken?!??!

Definition of a Chunkster:
A chunkster is 450 pages or more of ADULT literature (fiction or nonfiction) ... A chunkster should be a challenge.

If you read large type books your book will need to be 525 pages or more ... The average large type book is 10-15% longer or more so I think that was a fair estimate.The Rules:

No Audio books in the chunkster. It just doesn't seem right. Words on paper for this one folks.
No e-Books allowed - we are reading traditional, fat books for this challenge.
Short Stories and Essay collections will not be counted.
Books may crossover with other challenges
Anyone may join. If you don't have a blog, just leave me a comment on this post with your progress (and to let me know you are playing)
You don't need to list your books ahead of time.

Once you pick a level, that's it...you're committed to that level!You must pick a level of participation (thanks again to Dana for the humor in these categories!):

The Chubby Chunkster - this option is for the reader who has a couple of large tomes on their TBR list, but really doesn't want to commit to much more than that. 3 books is all you need to finish this challenge.

Do These Books Make my Butt Look Big? - this option is for the slightly heavier reader who wants to commit to 4 Chunksters over the next twelve months.

Mor-book-ly Obese - This is for the truly out of control chunkster. For this level of challenge you must commit to 6 or more chunksters OR three tomes of 750 pages or more. You know you want to.....go on and give in to your cravings.Some Other Questions you Might Have:

To review or not to review, that is the quesion...Reviews are not mandatory, but they are strongly encouraged. I will be putting up a Mr. Linky at the beginning of the challenge for links to your reviews. I will also be posting a Mr. Linky for wrap up posts at the end of the challenge.

Will there be prizes? Perhaps. I am still thinking on this...but I may consider some bookish giveaways as the challenge progresses! If I were you, I would subscribe to this blog just in case I announce something important.

Is there anything else we need to know? Um, not that I can think of right now. But, lately I have been into being flexible. And I may decide to add some fun stuff to this blog, or even have a guest poster or two. Check back in occasionally (or subscribe to the feed) just in case!