The Alice

You can see my most recent post now on mumplusone, where I write about my birth plans and baby being breech.

I’m leaving work a week today.

I’m looking forward to leaving for all the practical reasons; the commute, the mental energy I’d rather use on packing the house up for our move, the option to lie in if I’m awake all night with Braxton Hicks. Otherwise I’m pretty scared.

Mostly I will miss the people I work with, we have a lot of fun together and I genuinely like coming into the office every day. But I’ll also really miss the cool stuff we get sent on a daily basis.

I’ve worked on projects with G -shock for two years and was always kind of sore that I was never able to get my hands on of their watches: I went through two Baby G’s (remember them?) between the ages of 14 and 18 – you were a nobody at my school unless you wore one of those bad boys on your wrist.

Imagine my delight when a box full of grown-up G-Shock watches arrived at the office; in all colours of the rainbow, I managed to get my hands on a bright red one.

I felt sixteen again. I really love chunky watches – perhaps because they make my swollen hands look smaller? Dainty timepieces are lost on me and this watch really stands out. It’s brilliant.

It’s waterproof so will be great during labour…

There will be a Casio G-Shock watch shop/underground hub of creativity opening on 24th June at the Old Truman Brewery, hosting installations from emerging artists and designers as well as displaying their product offerings. Very East London. Having attended their artistic endeavors previously I can highly recommend a visit, though of course I will be in Nottingham resting my cankles so won’t be there myself.

You can find out more on their website.

I MISS BOOZE.

There, I said it.

I didn’t drink at all in the first four months of pregnancy and I have been indulging in the odd beer or glass of wine since, but apart from that I’ve been teetotal. No cocktails, no spirits, no fun.

I have a 2000 vintage bottle of Dom Perignon that will get necked as soon as baby is born (best wedding gift ever), and in addition to that I am thoroughly looking forward to drinking a massive amount of Pimms this summer.

Kopparberg cider was served at a work party I went to recently. As a rule I don’t really drink cider (maybe the odd Magners) because it makes me cry, but Kopparberg is gorgeous. It tastes like a cross between fruit juice and cider and comes in five flavours, my favourite being Strawberry and Lime. There’s even an alcohol-free version for boring pregnant people like me.

I’ve been working on a Kopparberg campaign recently, The Kopparberg Klash, discovering the next wave of young people before the mainstream beckons and the commercial world takes over. Looking for the next biggest thing in Film, Fashion, Music and Photography, the competition is the ideal opportunity for the best new bands, stylists, photographers and filmmakers to show their skills to a group of like-minded people and win some fabulous prizes. You can see a slightly more eloquent blog post my colleague wrote about this here – but it’s been great to work with such a great initiative (and drink!). I can’t wait for the time when I can drink more than half a pint of it.

I am about as creative as something… ummm, really uncreative… so I will be sitting back and watching the entries roll in rather than partaking. Somehow I don’t think a photo of my pregnant belly will be winning any prizes soon.

Photo credit: Kopparberg

ICE!

I’m just going to my office’s local pub to request another pint. I can’t crunch enough of the stuff…

You’re watching a harbour sunset with a beer, chatting to your family and enjoying the view. A fisherman walks past with a bucket full of freshly caught tuna. What do you do?

You buy one and gut it of course. But not before kissing it, duh:

(I would love to be a fly-on-the-wall inside his brain for even just a day).

Why choose to go on a flotilla holiday if you have no idea how to sail a yacht?

This lunchtime we were mostly entertained by the amateur sailors who had got their anchors crossed. A bit mean, but a lot of fun.

I am SO glad I didn’t buy a special maternity bikini or swimsuit. My 2 do the job of showing off the alien belly nicely:

Note the laptop in the background: this week will be filled with more work than sun

In contrast to most people in the UK, who are delighted to hear the news we are having a girl, over here the reaction is ‘oh dear’ or ‘better luck next time’. Apparently it’s much better luck if your first child is a boy.

But when we’re surrounded by this, it doesn’t even matter:

My SPD has become so much better since I got my work to buy me a laptop-elevator thingy and keyboard/mouse set. I enjoy sitting at my desk once again! (almost…)

I’ve never taken part in Sticky Fingers’ weekly Gallery feature, but this week (Week 9) I felt I had something to contribute.

Back when we lived in Nottingham and we had a lot of spare time, I used to be really into my photography. I’d spend hours and hours on Flickr and probably bored everyone to tears with photos of the dog (the only willing subject I’ve ever known). I want to get back into it with the arrival of summer and the baby, and will make sure my camera is a permanent nappy bag fixture. I’m going to attempt to do every single Gallery prompt from now on to get this resolution kick-started.

This week’s Gallery theme is ‘Portraits’, and Will took one of me this morning for a work project. It was snapped in our bedroom with the sun streaming through the curtains – despite my cold I think I look healthy and happy. It’s rare I like a photo of myself this much so I wanted to show it off:

Very Terry Richardson, don’t you think?