Summer updates

I am so rubbish. I created this months ago and meant to keep it up to date but have failed. So now I will pick some of the highlights of the summer (well at least since the time I created this site and thought 'I should get this in my blog page') and report on them:

• My anniversary present was tickets to Coldplay. (Tickets are paper so it was the right gift for the year if you follow those things.) The concert was in June and was really good, although it thundered, lightninged, and poured with rain during Interpol who played before them, and then did the same for a short time during their performance. I lost John when he went to the bathroom and didn't come back to the right spot, and after a good 40 minutes I managed to finally see his hat which he was holding in the air about 30 feet in front of me and to the side. In addition to the rain (and probably because of) the power was out at the train station on the way home, and in the same station a fire broke out between the tracks. It was put out but seemed a couple of strange occurances. Despite all this choas (and I haven't mentioned the nightmare train journeys there and back) it was a really good show and I'm so glad I got to see Coldplay finally!
• For my birthday John paid for a riding clinic I wanted to go to, and that took place one weekend in June. The clinic was in a really beautiful part of the country called the Cotswolds. The scenery was idealic, and the house and stables were made of stone which was really pretty. It was actually not very much actual riding, a total of 3 hours on a horse total, so I was a little disappointed with that, but obviously by observing the others I was able to learn. What I liked most was just talking with everyone about their horses and asking tons of questions. Everyone but me had horses, and since I want to have one someday I was really pleased to be able to ask loads of (probably stupid!) questions to people who had the experience. The instructors were really nice people and I enjoyed spending time with them.
• The first weekend in July we went to Vienna. We were there for four days -- the first two were rainy and overcast and the last two were sunny and hot. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the famous Spanish Riding School is located in Vienna (call me stupid, but I had always assumed it was in Spain). We took a guided tour through the school and even got to go in the stables and see some of the horses. We arrived on 1 July and that proved to be the wrong time to go as the performances for the Spanish Riding School, the famous Vienna Opera House, and the Vienna Boys Choir all ended on 30 June for 2 months. Even a restaurant we ate in was closing the following day for holidays. Other things we did were go to the cemetery where Beethoven, Brahms, Strauss, and other famous composers are buried, played around in a cool interactive music museum, went to the opera house, toured a couple of churches, went to a palace, and of course ate and drank our way through the city. Pictures --> http://www.ofoto.co.uk/I.jsp?c=e6cd4ld.195f3vch&x=1&y=xz99q8
• I went to the REM concert in Hyde Park on July 16. A friend of mine from work was also there, and we were talking about it the Monday following. There are 2 sections at concerts at Hyde Park: 'Gold Circle' and General. My tickets were Gold Circle which is an area close to the stage that is not too crowded. The general starts behind the gold circle and is cheaper and is where there are huge numbers of people. So where we were standing ended up being right in front of the tent where REM's friends and family were, the VIP section. Towards the end of the show Michael Stipe even thanked his friends/family in that tent. I noticed there was an elevated tent behind us with people who had backstage passes but didn't really think much of it. Turns out the tent was erected right before the show and it happened to be right in front of my friend from work. Who then saw Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin go in there!!!!!! And I didn't pay enough bloody attention to notice they were 10 feet behind me!!! I could see perfectly everyone who was in there when I did glance back and I'm not kidding it was spitting distance from where I was standing. I was so gutted......
• Last weekend Anita and Rich had a Hawaiian party which was a lot of fun. It was a Hawaiian theme, but due to the rain the only thing Hawaiian was our outfits (others more than mine, admittedly) and the decorations. The last picture will keep you guessing, but in Rich's defense I will just say he was innocently trying to play a game of Twister when someone discovered there were ice cubes around. Pictures --> http://www.ofoto.co.uk/I.jsp?c=e6cd4ld.vay134p&x=1&y=icvfm6
• The other exciting things that are going on is that my friends Michelle and Stephanie are both pregnant and about the same amount along. It has been very exciting hearing the updates and seeing the sonograms. I'm just waiting to see pics of those growing bellies now! And another friend Emily is engaged and is getting married in Florida next May. I've never been to a beach wedding so am very excited for that to come around. And of course Faith gets married in next month which is also exciting!