let's go back to the start part 2

I woke up the next day with a throbbing head. I had drunk too much the night before and as I lay in bed with the room spinning memories of my brother shouting " Get that chef off my sister" were returning to me. Oh dear goodness. 

I did not think"Oh dear goodness" because of Craig, no I thought this because of the torrent of abuse I knew I was going to experience the ext time I was working. Having a public snog at the staff party = bad idea.

But then I remembered he was going to text me, and I perked up a bit. I checked my phone and- nothing. But after all it was only 11am. I went for a life-saving bacon roll.

The day went on and I had to go into university (this proved a struggle due to my hang over) and then I headed home and had my dinner. Through all of this my phone remained silent. I gave up hope. He wasn't texting me. I was just going to have to avoid the kitchen for the rest of my time waitressing. Or maybe even change jobs. . .

But then, later that night. My phone beeped. It was Craig.

Now as I have discovered during our time together, Craig is the most unenthusiastic texter in the world. You are lucky to get one word and he does not do kisses.

So I got the first text which said something like "Hi. Hows you?" His enthusiasm was overwhelming.

Anyway, I replied and then we texted each other for about a week. In this time I returned to work and survived my first trip into the kitchen- although I seem to remember getting a round of applause and many, many jokes made. But I survived. Throughout our texting we had lots of chats but he never actually asked me to go out on a date. Until finally he asked and we arranged to meet that Friday for dinner.

I was late. Now I am not normally late- but on this occassion I was. So when I got off the bus I could see Craig pacing outside HMV clearly thinking he had been stood up. So we went for a few drinks first, then went to a restaurant for dinner and I drank red wine with him. I didn't have the heart to admit that  never drank red wine and the result was that I ended up very merry. I also had an ordering disaster and managed to get tagliatelle on the fist date- oh dear.

Later on in the evening it was drizzling and as Craig waited for a taxi with me he looked at my hair (which goes a bit mad in the rain) and said you know who you look like? I was excited- he is going to say something that is a massive compliment. I waited and he said... "You know that rat from ratatouille?"

WOW. He must be the only man on earth who thinks that comparing a girl to a rat on the first date is a good idea!! Bud despite this, I was smitten and was already looking forward to our second date. I just hoped it wouldn't take Craig a week to ask me again....

Kisses

Fi

xxxxxx

let's go back to the start

So, in my recent posts I have told you about how I have just bought my first flat with the lovely Craig. Now I realise that my blog has focused more on what has been happening now and not so much on any history and so I thought I would take it back a bit for you and tell you the story of Craig and I, how we met and how, four years later we are moving in.

So first off, how Craig and I met.

As you might be aware, during university and when I was a senior in secondary school I waitressed part-time. My first ever waitressing job was in a fancy hotel. It was in this hotel that cakegate happened- the time I dropped the birthday cake which I talk about in a previous post.

Anyway, working as a waitress you meet many interesting people including chefs. Now the first time you enter the kitchen it is quite scary. It is loud, hot and often seemingly chaotic. It took me a long time to get comfortable around the chefs in my first job. They can be nice as pie one minute then screaming at you the next.

So I was a little shy around the chefs at first but gradually I got comfortable and started to have banter and made some good friends. So I worked at my first job for many years and after a year a new chef started. He was lovely- quite quiet but I found him easy to talk to. Now on one night out I ended up chatting to him for ages in the casino about how I was off men (this was just at the start of my first year of uni). You need to remember this chat because I will bring it up again later on.

Anyway so the new chef- who in case you haven't guessed is Craig- became good friends with my brother who also worked at the hotel. We went out in a group a few times and became good friends. Then in January 2008 Craig took 6 weeks off work to have surgery on his knee and I missed him at work. Then in February it was the staff Christmas party. This was always a messy event. So we got all dressed up and headed off to a hotel for a night of drinking and more drinking.

To my surprise Craig was there. I hadn't thought he would make it because of his knee, but he did. So after the meal we ended up at the bar doing shots of tequila (I think) and then we started talking and we continued talking all night.

We ended up in Espionage and we were at the bar- he turned to me and asked me what I wanted to drink and I planted one on his lips. Oh yes our first kiss was very classy and was in Espionage. Then we continued to have a wee kiss- one of my coworkers sat next to us shouting "SNOGGERFACES!"

Ultimately we ended up in a kebab shop still kissing when my brother came in and said: "Ahhhh why is that chef kissing my sister?!" We headed home- Craig wouldn't give me his jacket even though I was freezing, I have since trained him better and I get the jacket everytime- and just before I got in a taxi I grabbed his phone and typed my number in and told him to text me the next day and I headed home with a grin on my face. All I had to do was hope he got in touch. . .

That's all for now,

Kisses

Fi

xxxxxxx

Buying a flat part 2

So in my last post I told you about searching for a flat. It was too long (that's what she said) so I am going to now continue the tale of buying a flat. And you will find out if we found the right one....

So buying a property is a very long process. You spend time trawling through properties for sale on line- I have no idea how people found homes pre Internet!!- you decide which ones tick your boxes. Location, size, cost and you will always have priorities for what you want.

Now location-wise we wanted city centre-ish, for size we were pretty much looking at anything, cost was as much as we could afford the mortgage and still have fun (so not much) and then there was our priorities. 


Now I know you are thinking I bet you two are a well oiled machine and you think with one mind, so you have the same priorities- WRONG! Craig, due to his profession was fussy about the kitchen and I wanted a reasonable size bedroom (nothing to do with my profession) and living room. Both of us wanted lots of storage. So basically instead of having one room we wanted a certain way we had ideas on how we wanted the whole flat to be. Now we just had to find it.

So I looked at the pretty flat pictures and then Craig looked at the home report and the conversations went like this: "Craig, i really like this one. Look how pretty it is.""Yes it is nice but it has wood boring insects so it's a no."
"We could keep them as pets?"
"No"
"Maybe if we ask them nicely they wont bore the wood once we move in."
"No"

Or they went

"Oooh look at this one, it is really nice and that room is purple"

"yes that room is purple but it is damp"
"Could we not just dry it with a hairdryer?"
"No"
"YOU RUIN ALL MY FUN!!"...

And so it continued. We went and saw a few flats. Some with kitchens so small we couldn't both get in them, others with big kitchens but a bedroom you couldn't get a double bed in (and despite my father's suggestions we are not getting bunk beds...)

One of my favourite ones I found was a 2 bedroom flat in a very nice part of town and it was in our budget. This never happens. So I called Craig and was like Ahhhh we need to go see it. After telling him about it he was like-  it must be too good to be true. I said:"no it isn't Mr grumpy."

Then I opened the floor plan and according to the layout the only way you could get into the living room was through the bathroom.This caused me great hilarity. Could you imagine? 
I am having a bath and Craig is in the living room and then he knocks on the door "Babe I need out the living room." Then I am like "No sorry having a bath," and he is stuck . Mwahahahaha!

I decided this must be a mistake by the solicitors so I called them to find out. Trying to hold back giggles I said, "Hi I am looking to enquire about flat xxx" and the woman went "oh Sorry I am afraid there is already an offer in on it" and hung up. SO I WILL NEVER KNOW! 
Ahh. . .I might pop round to the new owners and be like- can I use your toilet please?

But  after a number of viewings and considering all the options we have found the one. Yes, we have found a flat. It is beautiful and cute and now we are just waiting on everything to get sorted out. 

We are both very excited and now that we have chosen a flat comes the hard bit- agreeing on decorating. Has anyone got any purple paint?

Kisses 

Fi 

xxxxxx