Beautiful

Dear all,

I had a lovely lovely lovely weekend:).

On Friday it was the (for me much-dreaded) office party. It started at 5pm, when work finished at 4pm, so Claire gave me a tour of Greenock first. That was, well... You can imagine. It was definitely not as bad as I imagined, but still not great. The views over the river though are lovely, and it make you think that if you have to live in a horrible high-rise flat, then at least you have a great view to wake up to in the morning. At 5pm we went to Text, a local pub. Had a few beers and a nice chat with some colleagues, and a buffet which was not great, and I went home (party-pooper that I am!) at 8.40 to catch the train home. Poor, I know. It was nice for a bit, but I just didn't fancy getting drunk there... Went to the Uber Lounge in Glasgow, where I had a Cola because I was shattered and we went home with the last underground.

On Saturday evening we met Derek's parents and sister. His dad had brought a bottle of rum and coke, so we had a big (and if Billy pours it that means HUGE) rum&coke and then also a glass of pink champagne, as it was their 28th wedding anniversary. We went to No.16 for dinner. My main of venison was delicious and I also especially loved the bread (with goats cheese and rosemary, mmmmm). Of course Billy splashed out on some lovely wine too. If you've not been to No.16: goooo, especially if you have some special occasion. After that Derek's parents went home and Derek, Katie and me went to Cammy's birthday party. I really wasn't up for it, but I did not want to spoil the fun, so I went along. It's silly, because it then always takes me ages to start enjoying myself. Was disappointed in myself for being such a mope. We went to this ship, the Renfrewshire ferry, which was host to a Las Vegas themed party. Lots of people were dressed up in 40's style, which was really cool, and the music was also 40's-60's. In the end we danced our ass off and I actually really liked it:)! Maybe we'll go back sometime. Only negative: turns out my lovely wedge boots are broken, or at least one of them:(... I noticed yesterday. Thankfully I managed to find the receipt, and I'll definitely take them back. I mean they're a bit more than 2 months old and I only wear them at weekends! Keep you updated on whether I get new ones!

On Sunday we managed to get up before 12 (which for us, especially after a night out, is quite an achievement!) and we went for a fry-up (HEALTHY LIVING!). Of course this was a disappointment... The egg was scrambled rather than sunny side up (my favourite!), the sausage tasted like it contained about 1% meat and there was no fruit or black pudding, the orange juice wasn't real juice... POOR! Next time we'll just make our own, or as Derek suggested start our own all-day breakfast place;). After breakfast we took the car and drove to Loch Lomond. It was such a gloriously beautiful day:). Went for a long drive, stopped for a wee walk and went to the local, slightly shabby looking, tea room for a tea with the most delicious scones ever (honestly, if you ever get to Tarbet, go to the wee tea room behind the Tarbet Hotel: mmmmm). It was just lovely! Got home by about 6pm, had some dinner and went to bed early:). Shame I had to leave the sleeping beauty behind this morning...

On Wednesday Derek & me celebrate our two year anniversary:)! Think the plan is, despite my skintness, to go the Firebird, where we went for our first date, for a meal and a few drinks:). Or maybe we'll do something different... We just loooooovvvveee going for dinner:)!

Hope you all had a good weekend too! And if you're in the Netherlands, or the North of Scotland or indeed anywhere else where there's snow: drive carefully and enjoy it!

Love,