Pretty As A Picture

Hello, 

After missing the turning twice already, Mr. Warehouse and I pulled into the driveway of the photographers studio once more and the gates opened, I wondered as to where that ponsy family went and how their wonderful Swarovski encrusted lives had got to. Nevertheless as Mr. Warehouse anxiously waffled on about what our budget was for photos was and if we needed a safe word for when we were in the viewing room (Anyone would have thought we were arranging some sort of BDSM relationship with our slightly-camp photographer) I parked my little Vivienne and took the short gravel path to the studio's. 

Sitting down in the viewing room I got ready for the hard sell and eye-watering prices. Watching the initial video of our little pooch and us. Music with an upbeat tempo and the seventy or so images that were taken during our shoot. Settling into the comfy sofa's with our lattes and cappuccino's the video ended and Mr. Warehouse and I were left to whittle down the photo's into the yes, no and maybe piles. Nearly forty-minutes in and we had binned more than half and were left with sixteen images we were struggling to pick off. With Mr. Warehouse looking to me for my advice I simply didn't know what to say and maybe a safe word at this point would have been a good thing. 

Silence breaking we listened to the photographer as he asked us what our budget was. We had not even really planned to be asked such a question and as silly as that sounds we really hadn't thought about how much we had or wanted to spend. I responded with a polite but reasonable offer of up to £400.00 since it was on the run up to Christmas and all that it brings we wouldn't be able to stretch much farther than that. In all fairness if I could get a package for half of that then I would be walking out of those doors a happy lady, but I had to remember that for me it was just flicking through pictures of Golden Labrador Retrievers but for Mr. Warehouse that was his baby. His furry, excitable, traffic-detesting, tennis-ball loving, scratch-my-bum-please and constantly hungry baby. 

Since the moment the bundle of fur arrived they were inseparable, firstly being bought by his brother but being unable to keep her in his rented accommodation he palmed the pup off to his mom and teenage brother, the pre-teen Mr. Warehouse. Plonking this little Andrex-puppy-lookalike down into his lap, Mr. Warehouse raised her through puppy-hood to an adult and what I can only describe as the most happy-go-lucky dog I think I have ever met and that not to mention her perfect temperament and ability to respond brilliantly to any situation be it children, fireworks, loud noise's, different transportation and new places. She is the best step-pooch I could have ever asked for and for the majority of the time she is very well behaved apart from maybe that time she stole my pizza slice. Oh and that time she got tangled up in the doggy-boot protector whilst I'm hitting seventy on the motorway when I look in my rear-view mirror only to see her swaddled like a newborn. Or that time she tried to steal the KFC from the builders in York. Yes.  Other than these moments she was a very good dog. 

So now was crunch time. Money. I feel that its a dirty subject to talk about and in all fairness I think rather vulgar in any situation to discuss finances or wealth or money.  Now its not like I own a yacht in the South of France, but equally I and not rummaging thought the bins to find something remotely edible to have for dinner. I am a JAM - Just About Managing. I have enough money to spend it on nice things for me and other people, but also enough to go out to dinner once a week or just go for a drive because I'm bored. I think sometimes money is a subject left to those in jobs whereby it is necessary and for me that is not the case. 

Anyways, there we were in the photographer viewing room looking at sixteen beautifully remastered images of Mr. Warehouse, the dog and I, with some of the snaps just her by herself. Looking at one another again in a hope some money might just fall out of the sky at this point in time, the photographer broke the ice by stating that he could do us a deal with the sixteen images on screen and the full feature-length video included for £300.00. Totting it up in my headed it worked out to be a good deal, and so it should be - We had to be mucked about for some wanky posho's to have their snotty brats photographed. I mean in all fairness there wasn't much cheaper we could get it for with the video being £100.00 alone and the photo's including copyright laws were working out to be about £12.50 each I thought it was a cracking deal. 

Shaking on it, Mr. Warehouse pulled out his card and we paid in full, leaving very happy customers and even more anxious and buzzing to see the results. I felt like new parents and that we had all this news and photos to show off to everyone and I just couldn't wait. Late last week they arrived and I am overjoyed with the prints and images. The video is just as good as Mr. Warehouse and I remember it and I am pleased we will soon have some wonderful prints and canvases to adorn our walls with. I don't have any reason to use the photographer any time soon unfortunately but certainly when life's big events conclude I will think of no-where else but his studios and lens. Maybe now I can have my own photogenic pup!?

'Til next time, Love A.Lou xx

A Completed Puzzle

Bloggers Note: I have recently decided to start a thing going whereby if you yourself have a 'Trial or Tribulation' that I can help with then feel free to drop me a free and fully confidential message by popping it on a mini form in the right-hand sidebar or email me at: Abbbey4@gmail.com :) xx

 Evening All, 

So this week I have indulged a little in some social activities and spending some time catching up with dear friends and loved ones. Friday evening I had an unexpected invitation to a comedy night thing with Miss Tweedle-Dee and her family. The genius that she is bought them all a ticket to a comedy show on the same night at a local venue back home in South Bedfordshire. The clever little bunny even bought an extra ticket so she could bring someone else along to endure her families company. However it was somewhat on the contrary for me as we have been friends for more than a decade I know her family pretty well and as a result get along with them like I would my own family. 

As I approached our local bar, I could see that Miss Tweedle-Dee had already had enough and wanted her bed and this was fully authenticated by her posture in telling of her long journey home from work on public transport. If I was honest, despite being really up for a good giggle I would have been quite happy to grab a kebab on the way home to watch a scary film. But Miss Tweedle-Dee and I couldn't back out now and so we all started to head over to the theatre, her slightly boozed up family staggering behind. Sitting in our seats waiting for the show to start we fretted how Nanny Tweedle-Dee would get down the umpteen stairs that descended into the busy room. Giggling and making jokes even before the professionals had come on stage I was glad to be spending time with Miss Tweedle-Dee as it was uncommon the her and myself spent QT alone time. 

Sinking into bed beside her that night I resumed natural position of big spoon whilst she cried about a cruise she wasn't on being little spoon. I couldn't help but wonder as she wailed away why anyone would want to spend nearly two-grand on a four day cruise in the middle of a scary deep body of water surrounded by screaming adolescents, two Canadian twin lesbians and a flaming haired ginger lass from Paramore. How anyone could justify that money in any sense for anything other than something critical is beyond me. Despite this I comforted my friend and consoled her until I fell asleep.

Saturday was spent with my Dad and his Girlfriend when we trawled the shops looking for more stuff for the flat and then topping it all off by a pub lunch in summery weather by a lake. After dropping me back home and before leaving Dad and the girlfriend came up to the flat to see what it was all about. Blown away by my hard work and my home-making skills they were shocked into near silence. The Girlfriend was very impressed and I felt that as I showed her around my little abode it only made our bond even closer than before. Taking me to one side and peering out from my huge rooftop skylight she said that this was perfect and would be an ideal set up for myself and a another. I knew what she was getting at and with some things preying heavy on my mind the thought pleasantly crossed through my head making an imprint I can still envision as I sit here at my little dining table and write to you all now.

You see over the past week or so I have had some reflection and I came to the conclusion that for some very special reasons life has improved in recent months and I am now happier than I could have ever imagined only a few years ago. I never thought that life could ever be this good as what it is now. Life is perfect. Everything has slotted into place and I am feeling myself slowly become an even more wonderful person because of it all. I have finally got life on track; Employment that is set to last at least a year and probably more with opportunities to travel the world and learn new things. Something I can see myself doing for many years to come and may finally be a calling in life for me. I would like to think that my work colleagues would be people I would cherish for years to come and share all the daily formalities that life shall bring. 

I have my little home now that is perfect for me and I am sure will bore many memories for me in the long years to come in which I plan to dwell in it. My father and his girlfriend whom over the past couple of years I have felt has been there for me more than ever and has made more of an effort in getting to know me and bond with me than my real mother ever had in the seventeen years I cohabited with her and the family before divorce tore us apart. The Girlfriend now is such a mammoth part of my life that I can't ever see her not being in it. She really is the mother-figured I never had and someone I know I can rely upon and talk to about anything and everything. 

And last but not least, I also have friends that only god (if he existed) could bless me with. We have like all of us had our ups and downs, some more than most but what I really love about my little entourage is that they will always find a way to make light of a situation - Even if that is the fact that your standing in the middle of a Spanish super-mall having a temper tantrum because no-one wants to come and see a pretty bag with you regardless of just spending nigh-on seven hours looking at make-up that even the locals don't buy. I wouldn't want to spend my most embarrassing moments being sick, panicking about pregnancies, wolf-whistling at men on the motorway or falling over in chicken shops and getting stuck behind bins with any other people. Without their love and support over the years I don't know where I would be. 

So now I brace myself for I feel that something spectacular may just be on the horizon ... 

'Til next time, Love A.Lou xx