An entry at last!
Christmas has come so quickly this year. I have bought most of my Christmas presents now which I mainly bought online. The city centre is just full of crazy people panicking over what they should their loved ones and I really can't be bothered with the hysteria. I'm getting Darren a stocking this year as he told me that he's never ever had one. It was impossible to find a normal sized stocking so he'll be getting a large one which I 'm sure he'll complain about :)
It's the Blyth's Christmas Do tomorrow night and we're going to a Mexican on Portland Street. I just hope Denise will keep her big mouth shut this year and not come out with any racist remarks like she did last year. Sophie suggested meeting up with her after the meal but I'm not sure if she's going to turn up. She said she doesn't finish work until 8pm so it would really be too late to come into town and meet up. I don't think I'll be out late anyway so it may be a waste of time for her to come in.
Darren had his Christmas do on Saturday night which I think it's a strange day to have a work's do on. I just stayed at home and watched Match of the Day and was bored to death. Darren got me a while ago a MySpace account and I started to update that on Saturday but I don't really like it. To be honest I think MySpace is a bit rubbish unless you have a specific purpose for it like hosting a video on it. There's also a lot of slags on there who really need to get a life and need to put some bloody clothes on.
I'm waiting for this DHL man to turn up with a parcel and also I've got another builder supposed to be coming round this morning to finsih off the work on the new skylight. So there's no point working on this new commission as I know as soon as I start I'll be interrupted. I made a load of Christmas cards recently for trade and this one place said they would take my cards. So when I turned up with a bag full of designs to take an order, they said they don't sell Christmas cards in the shop. I was really pissed off and felt I done a load of work for no reason. Fortunately my mum took a load with her into work and she managed to sell all of them. Darren has also done the same but I gave him fewer cards as most of the people in his firm are either Muslim or Sikh. He's managed to sell some anyway.
I've been applying for a few part-time jobs recently but I haven't had any luck with them. I wish I was able to paint full time. But I do need something that will pay better and is a bit more creative. Anyway Arley Hall have sent me an application form for a stall at their 2007 garden show and I'll be doing that. They did also send me for another show that is a month earler but I'm not sure if I'll do that one yet. Also I'm going to have a go at the Jerwood Drawing competition. I haven't a clue what I'm going to draw for it.
For my 25th birthday Darren and I went to Paris for a few days and we had such a nice time. This time we stayed in my dad's flat on Rue de Commerce which is a lovely area. It's definitely more area where the locals live and very few tourists. But my dad has everything on his doorstep. Right below the flat is an enourmous pharmacy and the range of food shops is amazing such as bakeries, butchers, fishmongers, fromagerie and greengrocers. There are also lots of individual clothes shops and shoe shops that cater for everyone's budget as well as lots of restaurants and bars. It's a really great area to live in. My dad's flat is quite large for Parisian standards too.
We went to the Opera House, the old one, as we both hadn't been there before and I think that was one of my favourite visits on that trip. It's such an amazing building. I loved the Marc Chagall ceiling and the little library that contained old music manuscripts that were used for ballet performances hundreds of years ago and there were these little miniture sets that would have been ideas for the actual stage sets.
We did a lot of walking too. I think it was on our first day we decided to walk all the way down the Seine from my dad's falt in Commerce and all the way down to Notre Dame. That was a great walk because we saw so much of Paris that we would have missed if we had taken the metro. We walked passed the Grand Palais and opposite was the Petit Palais where there was a Rambrandt etching exhibition. That was excellent and there were so many etchings to see. Some were of the same scene but each etching showed a progression of the drawing where he had added more detail to the image.
On part of the Seine there are a row of shops that goes Garden shop, pet shop, garden shop, pet shop and it continues in that sequence for a couple of blocks. In the pet shops they were mainly selling little yappy dogs, cats, mice, gerbils and guinea pigs.
By early evening we got to Notre Dame and then we walked on to find this old bookshop which I think was called the Shakespere. Or something like that anyway. That was a nice little bookshop and there were bookshelves that reaches the ceiling and there were all sorts of genre. We also stopped by at an artshop and I wish Blyth's would looked just a smart as this one did. For a start they had proper shelving.
I can't remember which day we visited the Orangerie but I hadn't been there before and that was nice museum. Lat time I wanted to go inside the Orabgerie the French were doing some building work so we weren't able to go inside it. It was good they allowed photography inside the museum but of course without a flash. I managed to take a couple although some came out blurry.
We had a look around the main department stalls but I suppose department stalls are pretty much like the others in the world, full of clothes that are very expensive and made out of naff materials. I think we were going to go back to Galerie Lafayette to see all the Christmas decorations lit up at night but I think we forgot about it. Insde Galerie Lafayette there's this huge Christmas tree and I think Darren had read it somewhere in the guide books that it was the largest indoor Christmas tree in the world.
We also did this crazy long walk from the Champs d'Elysee and we walked all the way down to La Defence. I think it took us about 2 hours to do. La Defence was like another world and completely different to the rest of Paris. It's like the new bit all around the Salford Quays with brand new offices. We saw my dad's building which wasn't hard to miss. It had Technip written in large letters at the top. It's quite close to the Grand Arche too. We were knackered when we finally got the the Arche.
It's the Blyth's Christmas Do tomorrow night and we're going to a Mexican on Portland Street. I just hope Denise will keep her big mouth shut this year and not come out with any racist remarks like she did last year. Sophie suggested meeting up with her after the meal but I'm not sure if she's going to turn up. She said she doesn't finish work until 8pm so it would really be too late to come into town and meet up. I don't think I'll be out late anyway so it may be a waste of time for her to come in.
Darren had his Christmas do on Saturday night which I think it's a strange day to have a work's do on. I just stayed at home and watched Match of the Day and was bored to death. Darren got me a while ago a MySpace account and I started to update that on Saturday but I don't really like it. To be honest I think MySpace is a bit rubbish unless you have a specific purpose for it like hosting a video on it. There's also a lot of slags on there who really need to get a life and need to put some bloody clothes on.
I'm waiting for this DHL man to turn up with a parcel and also I've got another builder supposed to be coming round this morning to finsih off the work on the new skylight. So there's no point working on this new commission as I know as soon as I start I'll be interrupted. I made a load of Christmas cards recently for trade and this one place said they would take my cards. So when I turned up with a bag full of designs to take an order, they said they don't sell Christmas cards in the shop. I was really pissed off and felt I done a load of work for no reason. Fortunately my mum took a load with her into work and she managed to sell all of them. Darren has also done the same but I gave him fewer cards as most of the people in his firm are either Muslim or Sikh. He's managed to sell some anyway.
I've been applying for a few part-time jobs recently but I haven't had any luck with them. I wish I was able to paint full time. But I do need something that will pay better and is a bit more creative. Anyway Arley Hall have sent me an application form for a stall at their 2007 garden show and I'll be doing that. They did also send me for another show that is a month earler but I'm not sure if I'll do that one yet. Also I'm going to have a go at the Jerwood Drawing competition. I haven't a clue what I'm going to draw for it.
For my 25th birthday Darren and I went to Paris for a few days and we had such a nice time. This time we stayed in my dad's flat on Rue de Commerce which is a lovely area. It's definitely more area where the locals live and very few tourists. But my dad has everything on his doorstep. Right below the flat is an enourmous pharmacy and the range of food shops is amazing such as bakeries, butchers, fishmongers, fromagerie and greengrocers. There are also lots of individual clothes shops and shoe shops that cater for everyone's budget as well as lots of restaurants and bars. It's a really great area to live in. My dad's flat is quite large for Parisian standards too.
We went to the Opera House, the old one, as we both hadn't been there before and I think that was one of my favourite visits on that trip. It's such an amazing building. I loved the Marc Chagall ceiling and the little library that contained old music manuscripts that were used for ballet performances hundreds of years ago and there were these little miniture sets that would have been ideas for the actual stage sets.
We did a lot of walking too. I think it was on our first day we decided to walk all the way down the Seine from my dad's falt in Commerce and all the way down to Notre Dame. That was a great walk because we saw so much of Paris that we would have missed if we had taken the metro. We walked passed the Grand Palais and opposite was the Petit Palais where there was a Rambrandt etching exhibition. That was excellent and there were so many etchings to see. Some were of the same scene but each etching showed a progression of the drawing where he had added more detail to the image.
On part of the Seine there are a row of shops that goes Garden shop, pet shop, garden shop, pet shop and it continues in that sequence for a couple of blocks. In the pet shops they were mainly selling little yappy dogs, cats, mice, gerbils and guinea pigs.
By early evening we got to Notre Dame and then we walked on to find this old bookshop which I think was called the Shakespere. Or something like that anyway. That was a nice little bookshop and there were bookshelves that reaches the ceiling and there were all sorts of genre. We also stopped by at an artshop and I wish Blyth's would looked just a smart as this one did. For a start they had proper shelving.
I can't remember which day we visited the Orangerie but I hadn't been there before and that was nice museum. Lat time I wanted to go inside the Orabgerie the French were doing some building work so we weren't able to go inside it. It was good they allowed photography inside the museum but of course without a flash. I managed to take a couple although some came out blurry.
We had a look around the main department stalls but I suppose department stalls are pretty much like the others in the world, full of clothes that are very expensive and made out of naff materials. I think we were going to go back to Galerie Lafayette to see all the Christmas decorations lit up at night but I think we forgot about it. Insde Galerie Lafayette there's this huge Christmas tree and I think Darren had read it somewhere in the guide books that it was the largest indoor Christmas tree in the world.
We also did this crazy long walk from the Champs d'Elysee and we walked all the way down to La Defence. I think it took us about 2 hours to do. La Defence was like another world and completely different to the rest of Paris. It's like the new bit all around the Salford Quays with brand new offices. We saw my dad's building which wasn't hard to miss. It had Technip written in large letters at the top. It's quite close to the Grand Arche too. We were knackered when we finally got the the Arche.