Some more Mozart's Girl...

I'm so thrilled & touched that my blog-friend Blair has passed this Kreativ Blogger award on to me! I find these awards quite difficult, as I always want to pass them on to people who already have them! So if I don't pass this one on to you, please be assured that it's not because I don't think you deserve it....just that I'm trying to spread the love around a bit in this beloved blog-world of ours! But my recipients are very special to me & I'm so glad to be able to recognise them in this way!

First, I have to reveal 7 things about myself that you probably don't know.....this actually kept me awake last night,as I was trying to think of suitable confidences that would also hopefully be interesting! It turned out to be 8! Here goes...

1. Although I've been to Austria (mainly Salzburg!) nearly 30 times, I'm very ashamed to say that I hardly speak any German at all - something I hope to correct this year! But I can speak quite good French, Spanish & Italian so I am not too bad a Citizen of Europe!

2. I have a totally irrational fear of men in monkey suits! I adore real primates, no trouble with them at all. But fake gorillas make me freak out & I even find it difficult to watch Planet of the Apes! I totally embarrassed myself once, while I was cheffing at my first restaurant job when a 'kissogram' gorilla decided it would be funny to take a detour through the kitchen! Let's just say that they had to remove the kitchen knives from my view!

3. I had a minor heart attack just over 3 years ago. I have an inherited heart disease (Familial Hypercholesterolaemia to be exact!) and my Dad had a much more serious coronary at 39 too (but he's now 73 & fine!) so it was always on the cards really. I look on it as a weird sort of blessing, as it made me take my health much more seriously & get myself checked regularly. I wouldn't recommend it though, as a wake up call!!

4. For over 12 years now, I've been a nude model for a life-drawing class. I was absolutely terrified the first time I walked out & dropped my gown! But when I realised that I was no more to the students than a curvy bowl of fruit, I lost the fear. It's still a bit bizarre if I think about it too much, but I really love doing it  and helping people create beautiful works of art!

5. I have been married before, very disastrously & very young! I don't regret it at all, because I wouldn't be where & who I am now without that experience. But I went through many dark times and it's made me feel even more lucky & grateful that Paul & I found each other. To paraphrase a line from one of my favourite movies 'Shadowlands' - "the pain then is part of the happiness now"

6. I cannot stand beer in any form, it is just disgusting to me. I mainly drink very dry white wine, but I enjoy a gin & tonic sometimes and I LOVE a good cocktail (not the creamy ones, yuck!) preferably an icy Margarita with a salty rim to the glass...I don't drink alcohol during the week though, except on holiday!

7. I - in common with my darling sister Esther - am seriously affected by good movies. So much so that I take some of my mannerisms from movie characters & even imagine I am them in certain circumstances! For instance, I always peel my oranges like Meryl Streep does in 'Falling in Love' & when I saw Atonement (the first time....) I was so upset by it that I couldn't bear anyone to talk to me for about 2 hours as I felt so raw! Paul & I adore 'Brief Encounter' too and often use quotes from it in our real life...he will often say 'have it your own way, old girl' when I'm sure I'm right about something, for example....weird? Probably - but I think that's what the movies were made for!

8. Not being able to have children (so far....but I'm 43 now so...) is the greatest tragedy of my life and I'll never really get over it I know. I have to grit my teeth when people I don't know assume I'm a career woman who didn't want them. I never,ever thought that I would be in this position. BUT - I love my life, I try never to live with regret or bitterness as I believe it eats away at you, and I am so lucky to have love in all it's forms around me. I am also able to do many things that having children would have made difficult - travelling, going out to dinner or a movie on a whim, no babysitter to arrange. And we have Alice and I am so blessed to have a niece and nephews who are as near to mine as anything can be, and sisters generous enough to share their children's lives with me in every way. But no one will ever call me Mummy, and I have to somehow come to terms with that.

So there you have it! More of me than you had before - I've tried to hit a balance between serious & light and hope I've succeeded!

And the recipients of my Kreativ Blogger Award are wonderful writers who cheer my day and make me think in a different way....always a good thing!

Ce from Half Sweet Half Salty
Morwenna from Bluebells & Butterflies
Silke from Metamorphosis
Marta from m.writes
Guillaume from Vraie Fiction
&
Jaz from October Farm

Have a wonderful & happy weekend everyone! xox