Elvis at the Bridgewater Hall #elvislives #graceland

My expectations where totally fulfilled!
What a gig!
Two things ....  Firstly,  it was quite surreal with the life size Elvis on stage.  He really looked there!
The performance was set around one of his concerts but the Bridgewater stage also had a live band and backing singers. The hologram image and the live combination were a fantastic success.
More goose bumps for me :-)
The place was up and rocking - literally.  From what I could see there wasn't a bum-on-seat (I think there were on the seats behind me but I didn't want scowling faces spoiling my fun).
The acoustics where fantastic - I could feel his voice in my fillings!
There were plenty of Elvis look alikes gliding around the place posing and pointing at cameras.  Unfortunately by then, the battery on my phone was as flat as a Frisbee so no souvenirs to share I'm afraid. 

This show is well recommended to all. Such a great night.  Go see it if you get a chance!!

Oh, the second thing...
the in-your-face closeups just helped to remind what an absolutely sexy, beautifully handsome man Elvis was.
No bias.
*Swoons

From 'One Night of Elvis' tribute to the real McCoy #elvislives

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of witnessing the closest thing to Elvis in the hip wiggling form of Lee Memphis King.
What a night!
I was neatly placed right in the middle of the front row of the circle at the Palace theatre, Manchester.  When he walked on stage in those '68 Special black leathers, I must have looked similar to a goggle-eyed frog!  Never seen anything like it in my life (except on YouTube)!!  The first half was a mirror image of the original show - Baby, what you want me to do, Hound Dog, Heartbreak Hotel,  jamming sessions the lot! 
And to finish the first half of the performance ... OMG!  My favourite of all... 'If I can Dream' complete with crisp white suit & red neck tie!
Well, I almost fainted...*sighs
The second half was a whole white suited Vegas affair reenacted - CC Rider, Poke Salad Annie, Moody Blue, American Trilogy and more.  The guy sounds, looks and moves like the King.  Absolutely bloody awesome!
I was emotionally drained by the end of the night but walked out of there grinning like I'd had a spangly new set of Hollywood smile dentures fitted. 
(I was a little perplexed on the way out when I overheard a couple of women.
"It's a shame he didn't sing any new stuff...." Hmmm, not quite sure what they meant by that but I'm pretty certain Elvis hasn't released a new album for quite some time.).

Still, only four days to go until I'm at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester to see Elvis for real. - well, as a hologram actually.
I understand that the accoustics in this place are absolutely fantastic. 

I've never been to a concert where the act isn't actually there before so will let you know ...

We are all work in Progress! #Innerstrenth #affirmations

Each one of us is splendidly unique! 

We may not realise it but we all have special gifts and abilities that noone else can match. 
All we need to is hone in on what we truly wish for and use every talent to the full.

When you get that gut feeling (and I don't mean the kind that you get when you fancy a really juicy, blue (my preference) 12oz t-bone steak oozing with garlic butter and creamed mushrooms), don't fight it just go with the flow.  You will be surprised at what magic will unfold. 

Trust your inner strength - it won't let you down and wins everytime.

Just a thought ...

"It's only a f*#@ing cat!" #wlf #pawcircle

This weekend I was in bits.
My little friend, Horatio (@Hszmidmeister), was in a bad way again ... and I had no idea what was wrong and what to do.

For the second time in less than a year, I have been living on a wire going backwards and forwards to the vet not knowing if I might be coming home on my own.
The early prognosis had been really, REALLY bad.


That's when someone said the above words to me - see title. 

It made me think ...
Why AM I making such a big fuss?
Ok, let's see ... My mum passed away in 2000, dad in 2003 (I'm not in any way trivialising their deaths - I miss both of them dearly!).
My always 'busy', international-sister-of-mystery is currently in Rome trying to seek an audience with the Pope. 
My beautiful niece, Desi Muppet, is in Sydney, Australia, being ecstatically happy. 
And my lovely, challenging nephew, David, is confused and in love in Manchester. 
They've all got their own lives to lead.
When H first stalked onto the scene, I managed to ignore him for four months before I caved in.
He takes great pleasure in farting in my face while I'm asleep, leaving fur circles all over my clothes, waking me up at 3am so I can listen to sleep deprived Nightingales while scratching furiously at the window.

Life could be so much quieter, simpler so why do I put up with all this?....

In short, he makes me smile.

So, he may only be a "f*#@ing cat", but he's my little best buddy in the world and I can't wait for him to get well and start being a pain in the arse once more.

Written with love by @Hszmidmeister's humble servant, Kiki Mitt x

Nightime & confused

I'm still in the process of getting used to Horatio with no tail. 
He cuddles up next to me and we snuggle while we sleep :-)
Unfortunately,
while in la la land, things don't quite seem as they are.
Last night, I was stroking his head and about to plant a kiss
when I felt something was wrong and panicked!!!
'What's happened to your eye, H?'

It wasn't his eye
and
I had a very close call
but
all was well
G'nte all x 

Just like buses! Bloody hell!!

After all this time,
two RELIANT ROBINS! in two days :-)
This one - darker green and not quite so shiny - glided around the corner of Princess Parkway like a piece of silk.
The ballast provided by a rather handsome hound that was seated in the back seat on the passenger side. 
Perfect balance & beautifully done!
Respect 

Awesome sight today

The T-junction in Cheadle village High Street will never seem the same again ...
All I could see was a light green flash!
It must have been the fastest Reliant Robin ever created!!
Rocket propelled even!  Wow!
I swear it took that corner on two of it's wheels - the driver leaning inward just to make sure that it made the bend - and off down Manchester Road like shit off a shovel. 

Total respect *bows in humility*

Elvis lives!

It's been a funny week. 
One chap walked out of work who has been there for years. 
Had enough.  Fair play to him he's got the balls to do it.
Meanwhile, here...
next door really do need to get a bit more thoughtful! 
My lie in was scuppered by the rampant fkn woodpecker that was hammering against the bedroom wall for bleeding hours.  You know, I'm not a prude and it's all normal and stuff ...
BUT FFS!  GIVE ME SOME PEACE AT THE FKN WEEKEND AND PULL THE BED AWAY FROM THE FKN WALL!!!
I did actually mention this LOUDLY in the morning to my friend that was staying over and it's been quiet since so maybe they heard me.
Not a bad thing.
Another Elvis anniversary.  Thirty six years ... wish that he hadn't been taken advantage of during his lifetime.  Nice guy wasted.
I'm still walking to work and get a buzz out of it to be truthful... except all the road kill creatures that I encounter on the way which is a little distressing. 
Still,
it's been a relatively eventful weekend ... but that's for another time.
Gnte all x

In a few nutshells ;;;

It's been a while ....
Since I last spoke a few things have happened.


1.  My handsome Horatio was hit by a car in May.  Very bad time :-(   He used up one of his lives and lost his tail.   But all is well now and he's back on four wheel drive with a bit of a wobble.  He doesn't really feel comfortable going outside now without my company which is fine by me to be truthful.  .

2.  Was delirious in the heat wave and had all my hair shaved off.   Quite a humbling experience - felt (and still do) totally exposed.  Got a few quid in for Christie's tho which was fantastic.  My hair, however, was wasted.  I didn't realise that it needs to be put in a plait.  Still, I'll know for next time - and I will do it again and hopefully make shit loads more money for charity.

3.  I now walk .... a lot.  This is now my new keep fit regime.  So work, is five miles away & I do this daily by foot.   
My theory was that... if I walk fifty miles a week then surely to hell I can eat what I want. 
Unfortunately,  this is not the case and my cholesterol is shit higher than it has been before :-(
Still,
I love cheese all the goodies that belly pork & roast chicken brings.  I suppose you have to think of it in this way...If you're going to die might as well die happy. 

Signing off now & hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday. 

TTfn,
KikiMitt x

Holistics made simple

Things are a-changing & I'll be bringing all my information up to date shortly, in the meantime, this is one of the first pieces I had published on the net a few years ago.
I just wanted to bring home the importance of  'you time' without it sounding impossible to achieve.

Enjoy...

Pause for Thought - Meditation?  Wassat then...?

IT'S such a highly pressurised world that we live in these days that it's not surprising that burn-out in people is such a regular occurrence. There is a constant bombardment of what we can and cannot do, targets to hit and almost super human abilities are needed to multi-task on a massive scale.
Most magazines have articles about stress management of one sort of another. You know the sort of thing: watch what you eat, don't drink alcohol - drink plenty of water instead, exercise regularly and meditate.
The first four are, with a little self control, relatively easy to implement and are mainly common sense.
But what exactly is meditation?
Most of us usually think it's about sitting cross legged, either murmuring 'ohmmm' or in total silence for long periods of time, and we are supposed to feel inspired and/or relaxed at the end of our session.
Now, I've tried that and it really doesn't rock my boat. I'm sure that there are a lot of people that think likewise.
It's ok being righteous about sitting in tranquillity, doing nothing, thinking nothing and feeling great afterwards but it is actually truly difficult without a lot of practice unless you're a natural guru.
You light your candles, burn incense and sit down in a quiet room with all good intentions but,as soon as your thoughts go into the blackness, it's your mind's turn to really start putting a spanner in the works; within the first few nano-seconds of your eyes closing, a myriad of random ideas start popping in your head for no apparent reason and they are ones that you wouldn't normally have blinked about:
'What time did I start this?'
'Did I remember to let the cat in?'
'Is loo paper on the shopping list?'
And then you spend the next few counter seconds thinking, 'Oh, oh! This isn't right. I should be thinking of nothing!' ... And then you spend the next few minutes trying to get back into the blackness again. And it carries on for most of the time that you've delegated to you.
Where is the relaxation in that?
On the other hand, if you look up the actual meaning of the word in the Oxford English dictionary, it describes meditation as 'a discourse expressing considered thought on a subject'.
Now that takes it to a different angle.
I contacted Joanne Tinsley, holistic tutor, Reiki master and co-founder of  The Full Spectrum Centre based in Cheshire, so she could help shed some light on the general concept of meditation. In her karmic wisdom, she has another name for it which she feels may be more appropriate ... and that is 'mindfulness'.
The Full Spectrum Centre runs courses for various holistic therapies from crystal healing to Reiki all of which involve mindfulness at some stage to help calm the mind and recharge the body whilst learning how to heal. The only chanting that Joanne uses on occasion is 'Om Mani Padme Hum' which is an ancient Tibetan mantra. Other than that, she mainly teaches from a portfolio of visual images that she describes to her students while they have their eyes closed.
To visualise 'nothing' is a tough thing to do, but to visualise a moving scene, much like a film, opens many options. Joanne took me through a beautiful meditation inspired by angels.
I closed my eyes...
It began with a cliff walk and carried on down to a cave where I had to visualise various energies and colours of the chakra spectrum . It was a beautiful walk-through.
The images - and nothing that shouldn't have been there during that half hour - simply appeared in my head. I came out of it all feeling relaxed and a little bit sleepy - my muscles not quite as tense and twisted as they had been before.
And then, Joanne dropped a bombshell ... it really doesn't matter what form it takes, meditation is whatever makes YOU feel good!
" ... to some it would be listening to heavy metal at full volume," she said.
So my work colleague who goes for an 8 mile run in the evening is meditating her own way, as is another who can think of nothing better than ironing in front of the television ... as are the nightly Wii monsters! They are focusing on their own subject with full concentration.
THAT is what it's all about! Do whatever gives YOU a buzz!!
So, I think I'll just go home, dive in a nice, hot bath with lots of bubbles, a large glass of chilled wine and get those good vibrations circulating.