Going giggin'

Went to visit the gig venue for the first time today. I'm hosting my night at The Old Queen's Head in Angel, a brilliant little pub stuffed full of squashy armchairs and decked out with faux antiques and a great sound system. Liam, the event organiser there, showed me the top floor, where my three bands and the DJs will take to the stage. It's a great venue and can hold 150 people, so hopefully we'll be able to fill the place for Macmillan on 25 August. Well be publicising it soon, so look out for the posters soon.

One last bit of news, the third band has been confirmed- Zoo for You http://www.myspace.com/zooforyou - some local lads from my hometown - cheers guys and a big thanks to Jack Joslin, their manager and all round fab guy who's been helping me out with all this gig stuff.

1 week to go

The passport has finally arrived, my ridiculously pricey travel insurance is booked and my lovely parents have sent the last of my trekking stuff from home so it looks as though I'm good to go a week tomorrow. There's the small matter of a huge lack of training, but I'm bound to get a few good walks in this weekend and the boots are as worn in as they will ever be. I have bought Superdrug out of blister plasters.  I'm starting to get very nervous; about the walking, lack of showers and most of all 6 nights in a tent with a stranger, but it's a excited nervous.

When it comes to fundraising, things are also moving along nicely. I took my friend Ana, a fabulous graphic designer, for coffee today to discuss the posters and leaflets that she has generously offered to make up for my music gig. The date is set - 25 August 2009 and I am just finalising the details with the venue before I head off to Iceland. I'll pop the poster on here as soon as it's done so you can take a look. Lots to do, lots to do. 

PS: Just a quick thank you to everyone that's helped me raise almost £2000 already... it's an amazing amount and amazingly generous of you all. I know I work at Macmillan so you might thing there's a tiny bit of bias, but working there really does give me an opportunity to see everything that they do and they really are a fantastic charity, that are doing amazing work to support the two million people living with cancer in the UK  and their families. So, if you've actually managed to keep reading this blog for this long and haven't died of boredom yet, and you're feeling like doing your annual charitable goodness, the sponsorship link is on the right!

Exhausted

I am suffering from a particularly strenuous weekend, in which I walked for miles, played tennis, ran, then walked the length of North London. This is about ten times the usual amount of exercise I do and resulted in severe dehydration and a sleepless night (the drama queen emerges!) The worrying thing is that this was only two days... and Iceland will be 6. Best get back on it then.

Beg, borrow or steal

Now some who know me well, would say I'm a pretty organised person, the type who likes to plan every detail of their holidays four months in advance or make sure they get friends to save the date for a party 4 weeks before it actually happens. Yes, it's more fun to live life on the edge, but I can't help it if I enjoy the anticipation of an event just as much as the event itself.

So when I realised the trek was just three weeks away and I hadn't even looked at the recommended packing list I had the mildest of panic attacks. I don't have ANYTHING I need.. not a thing. Well I have a sleeping bag, but the lining has been ripped to shreds, and a camping mat but it's hardly the Thermo-moulding one I was recommended (Lidl's own was such a bargain!)

And it's not just the gear I'm missing... I haven't done a shred of exercise since my 10k three weeks ago and have just found out that my annual travel insurance (smugly bought a week ago to supposedly save money) doesn't cover me for a week's intense trekking. What has happened to the girl my friends used to call Monica Gellar?!

I have no one to blame for this lack of preparation but myself, as I have been preoccupied by a trip to Glastonbury and my 26th birthday, (which stretched into a week long celebration as these things tend to do.) So now it's time to knuckle down and sort my life out... I'm off to Kathmandu - (the trekking shop not the place - that would just add to my travelling traumas) to purchase all the essentials and beg, borrow or steal the rest. As my friend Lorenzo told me today (as he fished for a mention on my blog!) I have to stop partying and start training, so it's a run home for me tonight and a night spent organising - (now where's that color-coded filing system?)