things...

Hello again, if there's anybody out there still!
I didn't mean to take a break but this is some of the stuff I've been up to lately...

* firstly I went on a mystery weekend to a place I've never been before. I ended up in Chester which was rather lovely and had the most fantastic time, mainly because of the lovely group of people I went with. I don't think I've laughed that much in a long time!!
* then I managed to get the most awful cold and sore throat and spent a week in bed. I went back to work yesterday only to feel so terrible that my boss was going to send me home again! Been to the GP today and now have the rest of his week off. I'm actually sitting in bed typing this on my iphone lol!
* still even good stuff still happens and I managed to win a hardback farrow & ball design book in a giveaway across at Lobster and Swan yay! Go and check out her blog it really is lovely...
* so hopefully I'll be feeling back to normal soon and in the meantime I can dream about escaping into the great outdoors again!

** oh and I have some lovely news that I'll share in my next post!!

dreaming...

Firstly, I want to say thank you for all your lovely comments about my first tentative steps into the world of photography... Sometimes you just need a little reassurance that you're not completely crazy in wanting to follow your dreams...

This week I feel as if a lot of things have started falling into place. Maybe there's something in the air but I feel as if things are starting to shift and changes are afoot...

Other things this week in no particular order...
* Last night I went to a gig to see Marina and the Diamonds. She was fantastic... check out this link
* I can't believe that there are only 7 weeks and a day until Christmas... really how did that happen?
* This weekend I'm off on a mystery coach trip! Crazy, yes, cheesy yes but something I always wanted to do! I have no idea where I'll end up but it should be funny and there's 14 of us going... I'll let you know where I end up!!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend whatever you get up to...

mid week snippets...

:: New buds on trees in glimmering light
:: Home made soup from this amazing blog
:: Afternoon light on a journey home

I love this time of year when everything starts to wake up again...

so i should have stayed in bed...

So I had a lovely weekend. I chilled out and listened to this new cd that has just come out, pottered about, read through an old cookbook for inspiration and had a nice meal on Sunday.



Today is a different matter, I knew when the alarm went off this morning I should have rolled over and gone back to sleep. Firstly we had snowy and icy weather which meant it took me two hours to get to work, an extra half an hour. Then because I was in a rush, I ran down the escalator for my metro, only to slip on the last flat bit and fall over. I scraped my hand and knee and there's a bit of swelling, though possibly my pride was the worst thing hit! Then this afternoon I managed to cut open my knuckle on a tin can that I was kindly washing out for someone else at work - grrr.
So I went home tonight, decidedly more battered and bruised than I started out this morning...


Tonight I'm going to take it easy and do nothing - well nothing that might involve any clumsy behaviour on my part; I have an ice pack, a magazine and the new Toast catalogue...Tomorrow is another day, right?

love and doughnuts...

I'm back after a wonderful couple of days in Manchester to celebrate our wedding anniversary.


The hotel was fantastic and we chilled out; enjoyed cocktails and some lovely meals out. However the highpoint had to be the afternoon of our anniversary when we celebrated with a bottle of champagne and Krispy Kreme doughnuts, (which are impossible to find in the North of England) because it's the simple things that count when you're in love - right?

Oh and if you read my previous post, I did get to go to this exhibition!

love is in the air...

Happy Valentines Day!

It's my wedding anniversary on Tuesday, so we're off to Manchester tomorrow for a couple of days for a city break and I'm really looking forward to it.

I really want to see this exhibition Walls Are Talking while I'm there which is an exhibition of artists wallpapers, including people like Andy Wahol and Damien Hirst. I'm still trying to work out how to sell this to my o/h. He likes art and galleries but an exhibition of wallpaper - mmmm (lol!)

I'll be back on Wednesday with lots of photos, so until then - have a lovely beginning of the week!

grey and rainy...

Today is grey, rainy and uninspiring but at least we're at the weekend again! Sometimes it feels as if I have so little time during the week that it passes in a blur but it's always nice to get to this point. The point where you have two whole days stretching in front of you...

Tomorrow I'm off to see this production of The Nutcracker which I'm really looking forward to, especially as it seems to be a contemporary take on the tale.

After that, no plans really, just a little crafting and catching up - I can't wait!
What are you up to this weekend?

the heart of the great alone...

I meant to blog about this earlier, as I went to Edinburgh at the weekend for the day. Looking for something to do while I was there - (other than shopping and eating), I came across this exhibition.





The exhibition is about Scott, Shackleton and Antarctic Photography. The above images are by Herbert Ponting. I thought this exhibition might be interesting as I have a love of photography but it was awe inspiring, in fact maybe one of the best exibitions I have ever been to. The photography itself was amazing and considering the photos were taken 100 years ago they had a real contemporary feel to them. I urge you to follow the above link where you can visit the e gallery and see for yourselves...

sunflower magic...

More pretty light in my garden this weekend. My sunflower appears to have lots of tiny sunflower buds on it which is strange - I've never seen that before...


Am off to London tomorrow, very very early, (eek!) and back late in the evening but sadly it's for work, so no shopping related opportunities boo hiss!

hello again...

So here I am, back from the land of chocolates. We had a great time, though it passed too quickly. In truth I didn't indulge too much, though it would have been so easy as there are so many yummy looking things to eat!


I did actually eat this cake!


After being in Belgium I feel inspired to start baking delicious looking cakes...



The weather was gorgeous, the hotel fantastic and we managed to do some touristy things like eating Belgium waffles and visiting the Grand Place. So all in all a lovely trip!

So here I am back home again and before I forget, I said I would pick a comment from this post to do a little giveaway of the Zine from Sprouthead and some other bits and pieces. So without further ado the name I picked, (using a very scientific method of giving you all a number!) was number 8 which is the lovely Catherine. {Catherine if you email me your address I'll make sure a little package wings its way to you...}

celebrations and packing...

Today is M's Birthday and so we are spending the day partly doing lovely things and partly rushing around like mad people, as we are off to Belgium tomorrow to have a few days enjoying a city break, (also combined with helping a relative move from Belgium to London - we are helping to bring some boxes back).




As we are super busy today we will be continuing the birthday fun over the next few days - after all as the land of chocolate beckons, it would be rude not to partake don't you think?!

I'll be away until about Friday next week but have {fingers crossed} scheduled a post for Saturday which will have a give away of sorts! I'll see you when I get back as I don't think I'll have time to go online, as I'll be too busy sampling the chocolates! ;)

secret gardens and boats shaped like swans...

We had a lovely few days away visiting relatives down South. The sun shone, which made a nice change! My sister in law has a gorgeous garden which is really large but my favourite part reminds me of a secret garden, as you have to go through a lovely iron gate with an old fashioned bell at the side to get in.


The garden itself is so lovely, (my photo doesn't do it justice) with trees and flowers, all surrounded by an old brick wall. (My photo only shows the path down the middle of the garden but there is a path each side also.) At the very bottom it opens up into an arboretum. It's such a lovely place to wander around especially in the sun, almost like being in a story book, miles away from the real world!



Yesterday I was back home again and so went to see my sister and my lovely nieces who are 13rs and nearly 15years. Our day involved a walk in the park, a trip on a boating lake, (in a boat that was shaped like a swan!) followed by an ice cream. Then back home to theirs to play on this . Ok I confess I must be the only person in the world who hadn't played on this until yesterday - but seriously how much fun?!! Obviously helped by the fact that I managed to increase my fitness age by twenty years in the space of an hour, so I felt like i'd achieved something,(not to mention the indignity of starting with a fitness level 8 years older than I am!!) and I managed to top the leader board in a couple of things!!


I had such a lovely day full of laughter and fun and the best bit, is that I came away with these books, (thanks to my lovely niece, who has promised to give me the 4th one also!). I hear they are a little bit addictive...

this week...

There's been lots going on. Sparky went back to the vet and all is well. The vet thinks the problem with his knee joint must have come from trauma, rather than an infection. It's possible that when he was romping through the heather he ran into a rock and as he is so hardy he probably wouldn't have yelped much. So good news. He still has to go easy for the next couple of weeks when walking but he's a happy dog!



The other thing that happened this week, is that we had a viewer come to look at our house on Thursday evening, so cue lots of tidying up! It's not that we're super untidy just that we have lots of things - books, notebooks, pens, sewing stuff etc just all the things I'm using at any one time which all needed putting away!



We still haven't heard the outcome yet(and as it's a bank holiday weekend we'll probably not hear anything until next week)but on the plus side, everything is nice and tidy!

It's also rained a lot this week and one day we even had hailstones but the good side is that all the rain is good for the garden! I got some lovely lilacs from a place not far from where I live which at one time would have been a little house with a tiny garden but is now just a wild patch with no sign anyone even had a dwelling there. Funny how the reminders of the past are there in the planting...


Hope you're all having a lovely weekend, we're off to see relatives for a couple of days tomorrow. No internet access sadly but I'm taking my embroidery and my camera and apparently it's 25 celcius down there, (only 15 C here!)so I'm looking forward to some sun!!

packing...

Just a quick hello tonight as I'm busy packing to go away on a conference with work tomorrow. Unfortunately it's held on the other side of the country, so I have to fly as it only takes an hour, instead of about 7 hours. My flight leaves at 7.30am, which means I have to be at the airport at 6.30am, which means I have to leave the house at 5.40am at the very latest, which means I have to get up at...no I'm gonna stop there as it's too depressing especially as my conference doesn't start until 12.30pm, yep and I'm gonna be there at about 9am because there isn't a later flight, grrrrrrr!



The other bad thing is that I'm only away for a night so am just taking cabin luggage, so there's no space for my beloved camera to fit - double ggggrrrrr!



Check out my crazy wash bag though, I was searching like mad for a new one, (as my old one is just about dead and falling apart)and couldn't find anything that was just a plain washbag shape big enough to fit in everything. Later after coming up with zilch I went to Borders Books where they have a Paperchase and I came across this crazy bag! I guess I won't manage to leave it behind in some hotel room! Quite why they were selling wash bags is anyone's business but the size is right!

Hope you've all had a nice Monday, I'm off to bed soon lol - see you all when I get back!