The premier is approaching

Time to kick off 2011 golf season. The stake is high. Everything from a cup of coffee to a bottle of wine and even dinner can be won with the right performance at the right hole. Competitive? Not really. We are just focused.

Charge-out rates

Out of today's nine hours of chargeable time, it wasn't the eight hours I charged £x,000 for that I enjoyed the most. No, it was the hour I was paid £x0 for. It has been said before. Money is not the path to joie de vivre.

Treat

Luxury on a Sunday evening is to curl up on a couch and press play, knowing that you won't be disppointed. The quality assured title couldn't be more romantic: 'I Am Love'.

High heels continued

Oh yes, the heels were high. So was the spirit and the quality of wine (Chablis of course). Some walking down memory lane, but even more of what is here and now. We covered everything from cancer to little boys' pride of their private parts. So seriousness and sadness mixed with laughter. Just like life really.

I looked around the table and could honestly say that I'm so proud of all my friends. They are really something!

...still haven't found what I'm looking for...

This is also a meeting. Me writing this, for you to read it. I don't know what you are looking for. And I don't know what the meaning is. But there is one. I was reminded today. And whatever the meaning is, whatever you find, you can be sure someone will be there to say "I told you so". Everything is exactly the way it should be right now.

High heels and cocktails

That't the theme for tonight. Six girls out in town. Meeting up in an hour and half. So far zero cancellations. All children and babies must be healthy and well behaved. That goes for the staying-in husbands as well. To be continued.

What's your fear behaviour?

I didn't kill a mouse today. I carried the poor little thing from the staircase, where he had tried to escape but realised there were no place to hide, to the garden. I thought his heart had stopped by fear when he didn't move as I put him down. A couple of minutes later he was gone. I guess he was using the strategy "if I don't move she won't notice me". The same strategy children use when they think the duvet will protect them from the evil hidden in the darkness of the night.

I still kept the mousetraps in my bedroom. I just hope I won't need to empty them from anything.

Things you can do when self employed

Go to the country house in the middle of the week.

A typical day

Instruct a yoga session in the morning, get changed quickly to grab breakfast with a friend who unannounced surprises me with his appearance in the early morning class.

Rush to make it in time to the first morning meeting starting at 9 am.

A day that continues with more meetings in all shapes and forms: meeting with potential supplier, telephone meeting with team member, lunch meeting with boss, virtual meeting with business partner.

The day culminates in the annual general meeting dinner where I asked for a strategic place next to a senior communication expert to benefit from his sound advice in a disguised meeting.

Did I miss a meeting somewhere?

App testing

5.32 km. 9:32 minutes/km. 323 calories. The pedometer is out of business and replaced by apps like this one. Features include encouraging vocal updates throughout the walk and the possibility to send an automatic update to friends and family. I'm most sceptical to the calorie count though as I don't think they have made allowance for strong and weak gravitational force days...

Gravitational force and celery

Some days I think the gravitational force is stronger than other days. As a consequence the body is heavier and running is much harder. A distance that is normally easy-peasy becomes a real challenge. This must mean that the number of calories burned are much higher on these days than on weak gravitational force days... Yes, that is most certainly the case. In summary I figure that today's calorie deposit minus the withdrawal is negative. It's like eating celery.

A view for the soul

A Thursday in May

Healthy salad for lunch and hot dog with mash and prawns in mayonnaise for dinner. Yoga in the morning and champagne in the evening. Life is all about contrasts. And relationships and friendships. Today's friendship bonus was having Cool P as my plus one to lavish drink do.

Friendship anchor

The whole morning we sat in Beautiful J's kitchen and talked. Months of catching up. Even if the occasion was driven by sad news it was lovely to be in a trio from the past. There is something with old friendship that can't be recreated in any other relationship. Sharing a history, knowing the families, growing up together, experiencing being teenagers together to then develop into adults. It's like having an anchor that is always there, no matter how long the buoy line is.

Wise man talking

A nice reminder after a fifteen hour workday with six hours travel time:

"This too shall pass."

Buddha

Food at sea

Getting ready for brunch at sea, equipped with the one marine piece of fashion that I posess. Marketed as a gentle cruise with a Sunday brunch. Host has probably not ordered the weather: wind, rain and cold. Typical May weather when you are the slightest dependant on a sunny day for full enjoyment.

Christenings seem to be the place to party these days

Under loud protests baby Tom got his name, blessed and observed by family and friends. Two sweaty parents gladly left the church and invited the party to a spectacular lunch including champagne, wine and strawberry panna cotta. A reunion of a dear group of friends who used to work together and party together. A flashback from our twenties. I left the day with two missions: one to organise a girls' night out with high heels and cocktails and one to organise an after work get together where the male party would also be welcome.

The late afternoon continued with an early evening out with Adorable and Cool P plus one. The conversation somehow led us into body hair and waxing. Again. Cool P's plus one had interesting facts to share, so we could elaborate a bit further on a topic which should otherwise be exhausted by now.

She has done it again

To add some glamour to the day, the latest Kate-cover.

The iPhone and the four and half year old

When it's not the doll house it's the iPhone. It took fortytwo pictures to negotiate back the phone.

My house from the 70ies

A little treasure found by my mum to the delight of my youngest niece. She quickly put all the furniture in place and decided that the dad needed to lie on the couch.

Friday 13th

I seem to have survived the day with the worst reputation without any major incidents. But one thing does make me wonder: A missing blog post from yesterday. It has disappeared in silence. OK, may be it wasn't the most interesting of posts, but still... Is there a spoke editor somewhere who figured out my password? Is this a technology failure and if so, is it caused by Blogger or the user...? Unanswered question that I've decided to leave be.

Today there is two of them

"Let's have a meeting without any preconceptions!"

The one sentence that I'm allergic to right now. I don't know how many of these meetings I have had where two people are looking expectantly at each other, evaluating the situation in hope that there may be some gold hidden somewhere. We just need to find the pathway to it.

Why not say it as it is: Do you have any projects or clients where we can both benefit from cooperating?
My answer right now: No, I'm afraid not.

A new family member

Today's highlight was to feel the grip of my newborn nephew's little hand around my finger. Fourteen hours old and he knew exactly how to say hello to his auntie. He went straight into my heart.

Having a large life?

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.

Anais Nin

Spending the day with the youngest goddauhgter

Tea over champagne?

Princess cake and champagne to celebrate a dear colleague who just turned forty. Nice bar, nice crowd, light hearted socialising. But the highlight of the evening was to drop by Beautiful J on the way home. To have my lovely friend just around the corner, with a door that is always open. Hot cup of tea, fresh blueberries and conversations that matter.

The proof that anything is possible

You can now check in your leaven ("surdeg") at a bakery who promises to feed it and look after it while you are away on holiday. Really, if you can make business out of this there is so much more that can be done. I'm impressed!

On unsunny days

Scatty days. Both by rain and meetings. A disruptive existence where the possibility of enjoying the spring and a nice work flow seems far away. A longing for something substantial, something tangible, not just the dream of what could be... And then it continues. But the sun is behind the clouds and anything can happen. It's amazing what influence the sun has over human beings.

This is what the world is reading

Catching up on the last couple of days' newspapers, the headings are remarkably different. Catherine and William kissing on one frontpage Vs a a grim picture of bin Ladin with the heading 'He is dead' on another...

We were there!

Only ten minutes walk from where it all happened. We figured we spotted the airplanes before the bride and groom did!

Learning new words

Fascinator. All these years I have been oblivious to this little word that you clearly need to know to appreciate the fashion reviews from the royal wedding. Some prettier than others, but many of them plain ugly. I guess I never had to say "I love your fascinator" to anyone. But now I can!