Reflections on 2010

Reflections on some notable highlights of j4l events 2010


Its been another fun packed year for j4l; and for me as the founder of the site I have met some wonderful and interesting women over the last year. Its great to see that we now have over 100 members now actively using the site facilities.


I realise how fulfilling my role is, when I see members enjoying and establishing friendships and personal growths. Even a few romances!!




The year seems to have flown by so quickly since our first cottage weekend back in Feb 2010.

We have seen a good attendance at the monthly meals and  have all  become gastronomic experts lol!  Its been a great way to get to know people in a relaxed setting. I hope you all feel the same?


Sitting here now with the snow and the cold, makes me reflect upon the red hot day in the summer at Himley Hall.  Having the sunrays beating down and enjoying our picnics whilst watching some of the j4l members sailing on the beginners course was a really enjoyable experience and a chance for us all to work on our suntans and amazingly no one capsized!! 


Packed in throughout the year were:

• Come dine with me meals;

       Special congratulations to Rach for achieving her very first dinner party  and to say you have              
       never cooked before you certainly have a great flair. We look forward to your next one.

• golf days - from beginners to single figure players all joined in;
• horse show of the year;
• Blackpool weekend;
• jewellery parties;
• Wimbledon;
• Bewdley rowing regatta;
• self defense classes - run by a third dan member of j4l;
• tennis and racketball days with our own resident national champion; and 
• live gigs special thanks to Roz for an excellent Annie Lennox tribute. We will see you in February.

Here are just a few pictures of some of the year's events.

One of the most memorable times of the year was the murder mystery weekend back in October. Everyone made their character come alive with a special twist of drama, flair and imagination.

So all that is left for me to say is a big thank you to each and everyone who makes this site a success, without you and your commitments j4l would not be the site it is today.

Hoping you have happy holiday's and festivities.

See you in the chat room over Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.

EURYTHMIX TRIBUTE NIGHT

Well all,

The Eurythmix tribute band will be  playing on the 5th Febuary 2011 at the


The Tardebigge Venue
Hewell Lane 
Tardebigge, Redditch
B97 6QL

Come on lets get a crowd going again to this fantastic night. See the site for details.

Christmas Meal

Well. What a lovely turn out for a christmas gathering at Harry's. 11 in total and what a fabulous night, it was great to see you all and Welcome to Lynn & Wendy new members of the site. Fun & laughter was had by all and the Indian food was lovely as always.

See you all for the drinks night on the 3rd January  at the Lytellton Arms. Please see the site for more details.

WALES OCT 2010 MURDER MYSTERY WEEKEND

Bumps and noises approached the cottage when night fell, pumpkins were lit to keep the ghouls at bay... The sea storm was bashing against the cliffs. Squeals could be heard echoing around us, Little did we know that when we entered Hotel Paradiso our fears would heighten and the noises would become louder, our teeth would be chattering and kneees knocking.  None of us would be safe from the murdererrrrrrrrrr.
The Table was set for the spooky things too come!!!!!!

The Butler slowly went over the table setting to make sure all was well.....

Finally the scene was set as the time was fast approaching for the unsuspecting guests to arrive.

A nice glass of Bubbly should steady their nerves.....

Chocolate Bertrand looks very relaxed after a glass or two of the fine bubbly.....

"what was that" quick lets go and check on the others and see if they are all still feeling relaxed on this weird and knee trembling adventure......

Little Fitz hears a noise and jumps to his feet ahhh nothing to worry about its only my puppet Ziggy.....

How are the othersssssssssssss!!!!!!

Marchioness Duchamp must have heard something, she is out of her seat as fast as a poltergeist ahhh no sorry my mistake she has just ran out of fine wine and is after a refill off Mike Bison, she swoons over his muscles......

ahh here he is in the middle of the ladies of the night........ Yep you guessed he is a right thug, as rough as they come and as ignorant.....big drinker tooo by the looks of it..... Well if there are any strange scary moments i hope the ladies are not putting all their faith into Mike saving them.......And i mean what's a Dame doing sitting at the side of him, surely this is lowering her status, unless she likes a bit of rough and tumble........ to the right little innocent looking Maria Von Snapps.....Poor woman she doesnt stand a chance of fighting off Mike Bison if he drinks anymore and decides to make a pass.....Ahhh but wait here comes a true gentleman its Dr Sigmund Freud, he will save the ladies from this creature....Such a fine gentleman....

What is he contemplating Here???????? After all anyone would think their has been some Ghastly Murder!!!!!!!!!!

Chocolate Bertrand is astonished after all the Host Billy Bonka it seems has been Murdered!!!!!!!

The guests are terrified what has happened to Billy Bonka and are we all safe here at the so called Hotel Paradiso

Dame Barbara Carthorse in a panic runs for the Butler to keep her safe, MIke Bison is no where to be seen

Little Fitz has not got a clue what has happened, he lives in his own little world with Ziggy his friendly Puppet.............................

Maria Von Snapps is not amused and is pondering, Why the hell did i agree to come to this Spooky Hotel in the first place????????

Dr Doris Johnson sits there on hearing the news Smirking.........side ways glancing at the others, coming across very calm and collect.....but wait whats that knocking i can hear,,,,its her kneees mwahhhh.....

the characters are set and the scene is unfolding and the photo's are getting blurry as there has been too much fine wine consumed.......So lets look at who it could have been!!!!

Dame barbara Carthorse and Dr doris Johnson are trying to look busy so it couldnt have been them.....

Maria von snapps looks up astounded that anyone could think it was sweet little innocent.....

Dame Barbara Carthorse says she is too much of a Dame to do anything so outrageous as Murder....

Yet again Dr Doris Johnson Proclaims her innocence

Dr Sigmund Freud smirks at the lunacy of people thinking it could be him...

Mike Bison sits looking at his fists concentrating on his upcoming fight....

impossibla it was not i

and so the characters proclaim their innocence it is up to you to find out who dunnit!!!!

and so the Butler looks on and wonders who dunnit!!!!!

until the next time ...........What will become of the characters and still further who did actually do it......

MEAL OUT AT THAI DUSIT KINGSWINFORD

Well its that time of the month again, for our monthly meal out, im looking forward to meeting up with you all and having a good chin wag.
I know alot of you are getting excited about the murder mystery cottage weekend, and your all throwing yourselves into getting your characters costumes.(not long now ladies) Funny dickie bows, grand Tiaras and so forth. So i will see you all on the 11th September and get ready for the next lot of photo's of the evening.

I will also update you all on how my Reiki course went and will be looking for volunteers to practice on.

Katrina

Well we had a nice turn out of ladies for the meal, sorry i was not fully with you ladies, but you know how it is when you have been doing spiritual things all day. Im enjoying floating on my cloud.

Has you can see another good night had by all. some liked it at the Thai dusit and others did not, i have been to better Thai restaurants. so will keep you informed of the next adventure.

Oh yes its Carol's curry night......

reiki training

Well finally i have done it...... I have enrolled on the first step of learning Reiki.  I'm so excited i could burst. Form an orderly queue please for the practice sessions.

Start the 11th September so i will keep you updated with my step by step feelings on working towards becoming a master......

Well what can i say apart from had a fabulous time learning, my master opened me up to the 4 attunements over the weekends course.

I had a Reiki treatment and fell a sleep but hey it aligned my mind, body & spirit.

So the first day, we sat and talked about how Reiki came about. Then we practiced opening up the chakras through touch healing.

I was so tired after the first day and it was the group meal out, well i was away with the fairies, i was so relaxed i couldn't converse lol.

Roll on tom......

Well 2nd day was even more indepth and we did hands on heaing for most of the day and some meditation.

I am now a fully fledged Reiki level one yipeeeeeeeeeee

need 9 subjects and to do loads of self reiki....

picnic & sailing day at Himley

Well, the picnic is packed, chairs and blanket. Rain coats ohhhh noooo let the sun shine please.

Dog is getting excited just waiting for the gang to arrive. I will update you on the fun and antics later and maybe some good photo's..............

Well the sailing went well no mishaps and plenty of fun fun fun... and water.....

Sue, Al & jax loved it. Shame i couldn't have a go, its like being  a kid with a toy that you cannot play with... But  i had fun with the camera.
We all had our picnics communal style, all bags emptied and food thrown into the centre for sharing, not literally i mention to add.
We had a lovely turn out 8 initially and then we had another 2 come along as they were friends of Wendy's.

Oh my The dogs loved it, Alfie was a little too over excited at first and Ruby was loving jumping on Alfie and saying hello as she had not seen him for a while, bless. Then Shaney a newcomer turned up, with Jen and Sue and the 3 dogs were well behaved for the rest of the day.

Characters were dished out for the October Murder mystery weekend, after all they have to prepare. Mary squealed with delight as she has to wear a ball gown and tiara and other lavish things, Carol asked if their were any Tart parts, bless her mmm let me think NOOOOOOO lol.

Al said that  her character  was the most unusual attire as she would have to get a dickie bow ANYYYYY one have one please OHHHH and a ventriloquist dummy if you have one laying around somewhere.
Not too hard a shop for ya then Al hey........

We sunbathed all afternoon having a good natter and a few giggles, chilling by the lake, How else are you going to spend a sunday i ask?

Till the next time ladies

See ya Sat night for more chatter and laughs...

Oh yes and dont forget Sue We now have the photo's to show that you need to smile more bless he he

photos will be added later mwahhhhhh

MONTHLY MEAL

What a fantastic time we all had on the 7th August meal at the Rainbow Palace in Lye. 15 of us in total and it was great to meet up with some of the newbies .

I had a fabulous time meeting  up with other women who are looking to extend their social circle.  We all arrived for 7.30pm and were seated on a long table, thats the trouble when there are so many of you. No room on the round tables which i love as they have a giant lazy susie on them, but hey ho.

Sam and Claire arrive and Sam has brought her camera, fantastic and ohhh!!!!! flash just gone off in my eyes, yep i will take that as she has began her torrent of happy flashing. I so look forward to seeing those when there ready. Memories of a fabulous night and fabulous company.

And so the adventure began, how to get round chatting to all the women that were in attendance????? And so a plan was devised, ahh Sarah who was seated next to me  has just gotten up from her seat to go to the other side of the table for a natter, and im off jumping into the seat. Move one accomplished.
The starters arrived which looked devine.

Starters eaten round two........
Whats that i see out of the corner of my eye......Sue has just gotten up to chat to some one and im off  second move of the evening, done accomplished and im loving having the opportunity to chat to every one.
By this stage i am now in the middle of the table and i have managed to talk to nearly all of the people. Still no sign of the main course but luckily we are all enjoying having a chat that we barely notice!!!! until you feel that little nagging in your stomach and it progresses to a shouting match squealing at you, come on where's the food. How much longer have i got to wait?????? Well we are all still nattering our selves senseless or is that the swooning through lack of food.

Wait wait!!!!!!!ahhhhhhhhhhhhh here it is, well half of the peoples, they apologise and say they cook it fresh and they are trying to get them all out as fast as they can. Its 9pm by now and we are now focused on food and our stomachs yell at us.

The food was fantastic really tasty so well worth the wait. No one seemed to mind as we were all having such a lovely time. The Rice came in giant bowls that i thought were for 4 people, turns out NO its just for 2!!!!! oh my i will never eat all this no matter how hungry i am.

So the challenge begins at first unnoticed, but then we see Alison and Rach eating away looking at their stomachs, then back to the rice bowls which are still half full and their little  cheeks like Hamsters. Finally ta da!!!!!!! it has vanished.... A work out on the Hamster wheel me thinks lol. Well done you two.....

 The chatter continued none stop......and wait another seat becomes available, Carol has just gone to the loo, ahhhhhh my next move is with in sights, as she passes me i jump up and manage to get across to talk to the others that i had not managed to get too. Mission accomplished..... Ahhh time for a rest me thinks lol...I especially had fun playing musical chairs gabbing my way around the table, as others followed suit.



And so comes a draw to another great evening out, bring on the next chapter roll on the 11th September. This time we are trying out the Thai Dusit in Kingswinford.

MMMMM a once a month sunday lunch may also go down a treat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So keep checking in for the next exciting chapter........


looking forward to seeing the pictures Sam.

Katrina