I'm Back Folks!!!!!!!!

Are you dreaming? NO. Are you hallucinating? NO. What you are seeing is really there on your screen - an update on Sandra's blog at long last :-)
After much nagging, cajoling, pleading & begging from my readers I have decided that today I will attempt to bring everything up to date. This is quite a mammoth task as my last entry was January 2008 so I have 8/9 months to catch up on. I'll give a summery of events over that time to bring us to the present day & then try to keep things up to date. So here goes:

WORK 2008
The company I worked for last year had lost one of the tour operator contracts due to a merger & so could not employ 2 of us in the office full time. I was asked if I might be interested in working at the hotel that the same family owned. So this is what I did. The hotel is The Bay which is in Vassilikos, a lovely part of the island but it did mean my journey to work & back was further than I would have wished - approx 17 km each way. I worked 9am - 2pm in the hotel's mini market & then 2 - 5pm in the accounts office. I have been working 7 days a week with just 2 Sundays off per month. It's been hard work & I am really looking forward now to finishing. I have decided to finish on 30th September even though they wanted me to stay for a further week or two. Today is actually my Sunday off & as I write this I only have 2 more days to work which is a great feeling.
MY OWN BUSINESS VENTURE
I have also taken the plunge & officially set up my own photography related business here. I am offering my services as a photographer & also transferring digital photos onto stretched canvas. I decided to do things 'officially' from the start & employed the services of an English speaking accountant who registered me with the relevant authorities here ie. tax & chamber of commerce.
My business is called 'Blue Phoenix' (many of you also will know the significance that the legendary phoenix bird holds for me) I've not included the word 'photography' in the business name as I have possible future plans to add different services under the same business - more about that maybe later. It's very early days & I don't expect to be inundated with work but it may just bring me a little extra income. My view is that if I hadn't taken the plunge I would always be thinking 'what if' I've had leaflets printed & have them displayed in a few places & have secured a little work. I may try later to reproduce my leaflet on my blog so you can see it.
So I think you can see I have been quite busy.
RELATIONSHIP
I mentioned briefly in an earlier blog entry that I was in a relationship. I am happy to say that I still am & it has now been almost 10 months that Anestis & me have been together. I am very happy with this aspect of my life & I may post a photo or two on my blog later.
MY HOUSE BUILD
At last my house has been started. I think I had mentioned that there had been long delays in the Zakynthos planning application office so the builder did not receive the official permission until last month. The foundations are now laid & the steel re-enforced columns started. I have started to take a series of photos so I will post some on here later so you can follow the progress. The first 2 houses on the site are about ready for handover to their owners any day now - they are my 2 neighbouring houses & I believe they are both English owned though the owners will not be all year round residents. This links with my next business project as I am looking to offer property management services to other house owners on the same site as my house (there will be 15 houses in total) I may be the only all year round resident. Time will tell if there is any interest in this. When my neighbours house was being built I went & had a walk around inside to get a feel for it as it is exactly the same layout as mine will be. I am getting quite excited about my new house now that I can actually see it for real.
WELCOME VISITORS
My sister, Anne, had a rather BIG birthday in May this year & decided she wanted to celebrate it in Zakynthos, much to my delight as this was to be her first visit since I moved out here. For this BIG birthday she also had a big entourage of people who came with her to join the celebrations. My daughter, Rachel, who lives in England also came & this was the icing on the cake for me as I had not seen her since I left England almost 2 years earlier. Also my best friends Jan, Rich & Denny arranged to come at the same time as they all know my sister. Rachel & Jan both stayed at my house. I think at the last count there were 13 people in total made up of friends & relatives. Their visit also coincided with the opening night of my boyfriends bar in Tsilivi so I arranged transport for us all to go up there & I must say we had a most fantastic night with so many laughs. At one time Anne, Rachel & me were up on the bar dancing but the biggest laugh had to be watching Anne (after a bit of alcoholic lubrication) attempting to pole dance around the bars wooden pillars (in fact it wasn't only Anne as I admit I was also guilty of this sight for sore eyes) Anne was so funny as she spent more time on the floor than around the pole much to the wonderful embarrassment of her son Ryan. I think I will have to post a few photos from that night later too. On another night we also had a great time singing karaoke. It was just a brilliant week spent with people who mean such a lot to me.
MY BIG RECENT SURPRISE
My daughter, Justine, did in fact eventually get her Australian visa. In February she left Zakynthos with her half brother, Simon, to take up residence in Sydney. I have moved into her apartment now which is just next to my old house, this is just until my new house is finished. I have really missed Justine being here. We've been able to stay in contact through MSN &, with the use of a webcam, also been able to see each other from time to time.
Then last Sunday she turned up back on Zakynthos unannounced. She had been in touch with Anestis & told him she was planning to come for a visit & surprise me. They got it all worked out between them. Anestis had told me I needed to get a day off as he had cousins visiting & wanted me to be able to pick them up from the airport. I was at home after being told there had been flight delays etc etc (which in fact there had been) I was later called downstairs by my landlady, & her daughter who was here for a holiday & her niece. I wondered what was going on & I was told to close my eyes. When I opened them Justine had got out of the car & was there in front of me. I was so excited I just screamed (apparently for several minutes) & hugged her. I couldn't believe she was there. It turned out that everyone knew about it except for me. It was such a wonderful surprise. Justine has about 17 days here (dependent on her flights back) which means that because I am finishing work on 30th Sept we will still have a full week together after work finishes. I am hoping we get some good weather so we can maybe get some relaxed beach time together - the weather has already started to become a bit unsettled with a few storms & some cloudy days.
Phewwww I think that has brought you up to date with most things. I will hopefully post a few photos in a few days time from some of the things I have mentioned in this post.