b is for birthday. revisited ii.

As already announced last year, here it is.

This is a big 'un. The big Four O. Woo hoo.

painting the town orange

Orange, orange, orange is the colour. Hip hip hip... hoera!
 It's Koninginnedag here today and I'll be off shortly to join the madness. From atop a boat.

long time no ninja. but hey... holidays. yay.

Long time, no ninja indeed. But here I am. Ta-da.
Tired, sleepy and potentially snow-bound but here. Ta-da (again.)


I have been out and about quite a bit these last few weeks. Home and away. Even though it has all been lovely, I am sort of still catching up with my ninja shadow (which keeps scurrying away from me and being all over the place these days.) All is well, just a bit tired. Good tired, though. "¡Hola!"

Right, I'm supposed to be flying shortly. However, we have been covered in snow here for a couple of days, which somehow messes up with the trains no end. Flights too but I'm more confident on that one (yesterday's massive snow storm is over.) I have checked and nearly all flights to the UK, Ireland, parts of France and Germany have been cancelled. The sun is shining here so I reckon the problem is at their end. Let's cross fingers and toes Barcelona is lovely and sunny and landable. Then again, Spanish air controllers have been on and off strike the last few weeks. One just cannot win, can one? Fingers and toes crossed again. La ninja against the elements (and we are not very good at that, think Spanish Armada) and the pissed-off air controller guild.


This boring weather-related-travelling-paranoia has been triggered by recent experiences. I was in Paris last week for a two-day school trip and we were caught in the worst slushy snow storm in the universe (boots and three pairs of socks wet... that sort of slushy.) Apart from cold, wet and miserable (Eiffel Tower partly closed due to mist, hail, snow, slush, strong wind... you name it), traffic was a nightmare. We managed to pull into Amsterdam at 4:30am on a cold Thursday morning. Lovely.

Two weekends before that, I was in Sheffield visiting friends. I was lucky to only have suffered a couple of hours delay on the way back. However, it was the start of the messy weather, really.
The views from the plane on the way there were really really lovely. It had just started snowing in The Netherlands, but the UK was already under a good blanket of the white stuff.

In between all that, another weekend of suffering cold, wet slushy snow being stuck in the middle of nowhere, while going to visit family in Holland went by. So, last weekend was mostly spent watching films indoors. I watched old stuff (The Big Sleep), lots of Green Wing extravaganza and ate popcorn.Bliss. Indoors. Warm. Pyjamas. Blisssssssss.

Now I'm off to sunnier parts again and have decided to spend New Year's Eve in an even colder city than da Dam. So... Let the travel begin. Again.
Good luck to all of those (potentially) stranded around the Xmas hols. All the best. Keep smiling and stay warm. I am trying. Hard.

Merry everything, ninja readers (whoever and wherever you are, and whichever your reasons to read this stuff and watch these pictures are... Much appreciated, honestly.) Have a good 'un, all of you.

b is for b-day. revisited.

I reckon I'm just going to keep posting this one every year on my birthday. Why not, ei?

a year? woo hoo!

And, after such a promising title, I'm afraid the entry that follows is rather crappy.
However, I didn't want to let the cornerviewersary go without a peep. So, there, peeeeeeeeep!

So, yup, late and poor post. However, I did raise my (plastic cup) beer on Tues-Wed night (previous post) to Jane and her world-renowned cv (cheers, me dear!) and I now give you feet. Tra la la la. If that isn't a mad celebration... Well, I don't know what is.

Oh yeah, instead of re-posting, just get your derrières over here and check for yourselves all the nonsense, fun and games that has been taking place at la ninja's cv since last July. And speaking of bottoms, the sun's shining (and has been for a few days, ha-lle-lu-jah) so watch this space for more neighbourhood strip (yet not tease) shenanigans.

wtf revisited

Exactly a year ago (nearly to the day; I found the below waiting for me two w-ends ago) I wrote this here post and, as I cannot be arsed to re-write it this year, please just click on the link and read for yourselves.

This time the culprits are not L & A, but C & D (and a very cute baby boy.) Also, the Xssy card (funny Purple Ronnie one, btw) did not make it here late all the way from Sheffers, it was York this time. But hey, same meat, different gravy, if you ask me. And... still Yorkshire, now I think of it.

Credit crunch, credit smunch. Still.

On another note, I got fan-fucking-tastic mail all the way from Kansas today. More soon. Watch this space.

jingle all the way

Have a lovely 'un everybody.
Jingle aaaaaaaaaaaall the way.
All the way to Lumpa Land (or wherever you're headed to.)

This one’s for A, la de Cái, que pasito a pasito ya me camina mejó.
Note: Very scary (in retrospect) Spanish ad from when I was very little.

hip hip hooray!

le perm

I saw this card a couple of months ago and immediately thought of L, a friend who lives and works between France and the Basque Country (and the rest of the globe, as a matter of fact!) and who sports a head full of mad curls! Naturally, I had to buy it for her. No other reason, just as a mad curl tribute.

She has often related to me (in that fabulously dramatic manner only she can master) that whenever she goes to the hairdresser's in her home town, they're always amazed at how much crap her hair can take year in, year out and astonished at the fact she hasn't lost her mane yet. I, for one, think it's marvellous she is not bald (but, apparently, what you have to do to your hair should you want pretty ringlets is well aggressive). Anyway... apart from the hair torture (and the fag-in-hand pose now I think of it) nothing else about the lady on this card looks remotely like the real slim and slender, always-on-the-go, fashionable, sassy L.

So, basically, after all this time I seem to have gotten my act together and the card's getting out of the door and in the post first thing tomorrow morning. She's going to love it... not! ;)

¡Kaixo, bihotza! ¡Aupa esos rizos!

from my kitchen to yours

Rubbish as I am at this sort of things sometimes, I forgot to wish a colleague good luck before she went to hospital. The day after, when I realised it was d-day (appropriate, right?) and that I wouldn't see her for a bit, I decided I'd send her a text. Later I thought she'd probably be totally spaced-out (yes, I think too much) and didn't want her to feel obliged to reply.

Incidentally, she had joked I had to blog daily for her entertainment during her home-bound recovery (no pressure, like!) so it struck me that the best way to say "Ciao girlie, I hope (I'm sure) it all went well" would be a silly post.

So there: a silly post featuring a random still life; from my kitchen to yours! I'd actually been wanting to test whether a picture taken from a particular angle could make the simple reality of, say, the dishes after breakfast look good. I think it kind of does, washing-up liquid bubbles and all. From gritty to quasi-pretty!

Hugs dear, I hope you're on the mend! x

Oh yeah, should you be a V-day fan (I'm not), I've just realised you can always imagine those scissors are a heart of sorts and, hey presto, here's your theme post of the day! ;)

fingers crossed...

This is the b-day card (of sorts) I've just posted for a good friend back home. I'm a sucker for these quasi-retro prints!

She's moved house recently and I didn't have her new address so I looked her up on the white pages but, just in case, decided to give google maps a go too. (Yes, people at google, free advertising, not that you need any!!! Am I getting any free gadgets/widgets/whatever you call 'em in exchange? Nah, didn't think so!) Anyway, the swimming pool I saw on the satellite image looked familiar (I've only been in their new apartment once and yes, they have a swimming pool where they live! Some people, I know!) so... fingers crossed this is getting to the right place and on time (but in case it doesn't: "Moltes felicitats, reina!")

It's freezing cold out there, by the way. Just went out to do a couple of errands and post the card but no-one's getting me out of the house again today, I will resist any advances! (Unless, of course, they forcibly hoist me out with the help of a crane, that could possibly work...)

Note: Postcard by bizarrverlag.com

sweets for my sweets...

A couple of piccies of the biscuits I (me, me, little me!!) made for a friend on her b-day in December! It was my first time ever making biccies but I think she liked them (even though they were far from perfect, I sort of wrecked half of them (of the ones that weren't already too burnt, that is) on the way there on the bike, and I was pretty late for our lunch date! Oh yeah, I also ended up covered in flour, the kitchen looked like a disaster area and I probably hadn't sworn that much in days, and I am pretty consistent at that!) Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.... Okay, not quite your Domestic Goddess yet, Nige, but beware of la ninja!!! :)

A few days later, another December b-day celebration (I hadn't made anyone blow candle(s) on a cake for ages!) with another lovely friend. It was defo a sweet month, this last December!

This is also one (too) sweet post, but hey, I reckon it's the influence of all this food-blogging lark, I blame you all!

wtf???

Right... I know there seems to be a credit crisis going on, I know the pound's plummeting, I know I live abroad (in the Eurozone), that much I know. But, seriously, people (and I'm naming no names here, L and A), please stick enough bloody stamps on your Xmas cards!!!
Credit crunch, credit smunch!

Note: All characters depicted in this post are fictional. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Not.