Olympic Torch

This weekend the Olympic Torch passed through Southampton! Tony had plans to go and watch Saints play at home with his Dad, Gemma our sister and her other half Steeeve; the torch even passed through the stadium (see pics below)! William and I spent most of the day lounging around having a duvet day watching his films - or MY PROGRAMMMMMMES as he likes to demand all of the time. Love him. 

It was pretty cool watching Casper the friendly ghost after all of these years though, I must admit!

Even though it was raining, yep still raining here in blighty - what Summer?! William and I headed over to West Quay to go and see the torch run by. I honestly thought that I had left it too late and we were going to miss it but we managed to get to central Southampton from ours within 15 minutes, park and get a reasonable spot... result! I'm glad we got to see it even if it was for a few minutes as when is this going to happen again? 

William was more interested in the policemen and their flashy motorbikes but we both had a great time and I hope that he will remember bits of it when we show him the photographs when he is older. All of the excitement was followed by a toastie and a cupcake at Costa... yum!

William's trip to Jamaica - April 2012

Who would have thought that I'd manage two posts in less than 24 hours? Well, I thought that I would share with you a lovely video that one of my best friends created for William following our trip to Jamaica in April. I promise I'll do a proper wedding post soon, but for the time being, here is William's trip to Jamaica...

William's Trip to Jamaica - April 2012 from Jessica Sainsbury on Vimeo.

Team HHR

I love where I work. there, I said it.

I love my colleagues (more on them in a mo), I love the location of our workplace (despite the fact that every morning on the way from your car to your desk you have to dodge 20 plus slugs and snails), and I love what we do.

Who would have thought that a normal 9-5 desk job would give somebody that satisfaction?! I'm obviously SUCH a jobsworth! Gawd.

I'm not sure exactly how much I should be writing on my own personal blog, considering that we get people to pay us to draw up policies etc. to get their employees not to write about the Company they work for; but as this is a generally cheerful post, I shall carry on. This post may well not be here in a few weeks if I've been given a slapped wrist - only time will tell!

Obviously, the above pictures were not taken at work, but on what we like to call a 'HHR Social'... We try our hardest every once in a while to get together and get drunk. Sorry, I mean get together out of the workplace. No, no - I do mean get drunk! Us Handover HR gals like the odd cocktail! Our last HHR Social was at a cheese & wine tasting event courtesy of one of our clients, followed by a few cheeky cocktails at Turtle Bay in Southampton. LUSH! We all had a merry time and said goodbye and good luck to our Donna (as she is moving on to bigger and better things - selfish cow... joking!). We will miss you Slade, but we all know you'll be out on the socials :) In fact you are currently writing on your status about arranging a catch up. Love your work.

I'm sure most of you reading this know where I work, but in case you don't it's at an Outsourcing Human Resources Company based in Bishop's Waltham, Hampshire. We are based from an old water mill and are EXTREMELY busy but generally have a good time. I like to think of us as an elite HR Department due to the sheer volume and variety of work that we do every day. Yes, I did blow our own trumpet a little but it needs to be done every once in a while. We have a cushty team, we know what we're doing; so if you do have any outsourcing or consultancy needs in regards to HR send 'em our way. (Boss, if this generates any sales... cake please!)

I think that's enough info for now, I do want to keep you all interested. If you want to know more, you can find us here .  Yes, the team pictures need updating... HHR naked calendar anyone?

seashell

this time last week we celebrated one of our best friends' birthday.

michelle; once known as seashell to william, a nickname which has stuck with me and probably will do for years to come, hit the big three-oh!

we decided to pop round to wish michelle a happy birthday on the day itself, to drop off her present (mini vineyard) and share a scrummy cake. 

it may have not been homemade but the box was personalised! 

 

the celebrations continued on saturday with a party at the cob and pen in fareham and it was great to see everyone.

 

michelle is a wonderful person and we feel very lucky to be her friends. tony has known her since they were tiny tots, and although i have only known her for 5 (?!) or so years, i am certain that i will still know and love her when i am old and covered in wrinkles! we hope that you had a great 30th birthday seashell!

lots of love & cuddles, team s

xx

 

happy father's day, pa

happy father's day, pa. i know that we aren't ones for sharing our feelings often or out loud, unless we have the rum in us of course (!), but i truly do love you. you may have recently 'given me away' but i will always be your little girl and look to you for guidance. i hope that you've had a great father's day, even if mum has had you working your bum off at aab :)  

cold, windy, naked bike riding

on friday we participated in our first ever world naked bike ride in southampton. please be warned that this post contains nudity!

a little background details on wnbr... since 2004, every year in cities all over the world, people have been getting their kit off and going for an organised ride to demonstrate the vulnerability of cyclists and to protest against 'car culture'. whilst we were honestly mainly there for an aab promo, 100+ cyclists riding around southampton either completely starkers or very nearly so does make you aware of those bloody cyclists on the road. it also made me realise how easy it is to get around town on a bike, we need to do this more!

there was a little bit of time before we went on the ride which involved having to get ride of the childish giggle fits at naked men bending over in front of us and other naked men asking to take our pictures (mainly asking pippa and i, ahem). 

the ride went from the common (highfield road), through portswood, through oxford street, up to the high street and then back to the common. the atmosphere was mainly positive from the public and it was really good fun!

representing all aboard bikes was myself, pippa, stu & maria, joe, mum & ian. we had our two helpful van drivers (dad & tony) too! thank you very much to everyone for braving the cold, windy weather - it was a giggle! stu was the only one of our group brave enough to get his bits and bobs out, it was however a good effort all around. next year... strategic bodypaint!

oh, and pippa & i made the local paper...

barnaby the bear

we have had a new addition to the sainsbury household over the last week or so. and no, don't get too excited... we are not expecting mini-me number two!

barnaby the bear has been kipping round ours!

and who is barnaby i hear you ask? barnaby bear belongs to alphabets pre-school. he likes to visit each child's home and go on lots of fun trips with the children. from what i have read in his book he has been to a lot of great places. you can imagine my surprise when i picked william up and found out that barnaby was also coming to stay!

william had barnaby bear to stay over the queen's diamond jubilee so he went with us to visit the three queens when we went to mayflower park.

 

as it was half term, he went to visit grandma cats with william and they had lots of fun at the park.

barnaby bear is now back in his rucksack with his book full of adventures ready to go back to alphabets. william's first 'home project' done and dusted!