November...

...started and ended with a wedding.

...was rainy.

...meant time spent with friends.

...brought adventures - like this one.

...got me excited about Christmas and shopping and buying gifts.

...saw me wearing my new boots almost every day.

...introduced me to new ideas and plans for the future.


November was GOOD. So I'm off to enjoy the last few hours of it with T. See you all in December.

A Happy List

~ A weekend with my parents and sisters starting tonight. ~

~ Wearing boots and jeans. ~

~ Lunchtime walks and eating outside, even when it's cold. ~

~ Christmas shopping and planning. ~


~ Black and white. ~

Boys and Girls are Different

A couple of weeks ago my husband went shopping on one of his lunch breaks. Can you guess the five items he returned home with?

No? Well neither could I. We spent the last hour of his work day with me playing twenty questions about these mysterious items. And (sounding slightly gameshow-esque), here they are...

1. A tacky (Tescos) tool belt found in a charity shop.
2. Some beef stew with dumpings - in a packet.
3. "Light load towels" - a pack of three tiny towels for hiking. Pretty useful. The catch? "To expand, drop in water." That's right, you have to soak these towels and then allow them to dry before you can use them.
4. Chlorine. Ok, chlorine tablets - for purifying water.
5. Neutralising tablets. To take away that nasty chlorine taste.

[It might sound like we're preparing for World War III (and some DIY) but T was actually on the hunt for birthday presents for his Dad and prizes for a tournament based on the 20Twenty series world cup coming up. So he's not crazy really.]

Wednesday Weekend

Wednesday is my mid-week weekend. I have no Besom and no playgroup so it's really a day to catch up on jobs, baking, card making, seeing people, shopping and whatever else needs doing. This week my Wednesday has been very productive and these are my highlights (leaving out all the boring jobs)...

A lovely wander around the sunny streets of my little town. Some charity shop browsing which resulted in these from the Oxfam shop...


Baking - the recipe for these chocolate chip muffins is here and although we haven't tried any yet they definitely smell good...


Edit: half an hour later, we have tried them and they are good!

I just realised the last highlight is a secret for now. It involved something I love doing but I'll fill you in later so I don't give the game away.

Edit (23/03/2009): I also made a mother's day card and sent my mummy a parcel in the post. I love surprise parcels, they're so exciting.

A Lovely Day

Yesterday was A Lovely Day. On Wednesday Shiv and I ended up at our separate computers online at the same time. She was revising for an exam on Thursday morning and mentioned that she was going to check out the crazy-big new shopping centre in London. After some oohing over how crazy-big Westfield actually is she sent "You should come!"

Good point. So I did.

Westfield is a pretty shopping centre, partly because its so new and shiny. It has also been designed very nicely - seats everywhere, lots of light, flowers and plants. It has a nice balance of high street shops and overpriced designer boutiques, and plenty of space in the eating area. We only had to queue in one shop and it wasn't crowded.

But it wasn't really about the shopping anyway, it was about the catching up. Which as always was lovely. One of the highlights of the day (along with the Chocolate Cafe) was our encounter with Salon Man who decided to try and offer us an exciting package deal.

"Only £49 each for haircut, manicure..." (I'll admit at this point I zoned out for a while, not knowing or caring what half the words meant) "...and an A4 portrait of yourself for only £25." He looked so sure we'd jump at the chance.

"Um...no, that's ok thanks." We try to move away.

"Ok, I'll do you a deal - both of you for £50!" That was a sharp price drop.

"Really, no thanks."

"What's holding you back?" He is genuinely baffled.

How do we explain? We exchange glances, not wanting to offend this very friendly man who really is only trying to do his job. "I don't think we really care that much."

Salon Man is still confused ("Aww, I can't believe that!") but lets us go and luckily we restrained the giggles until we're round the corner. Why is it so hard to believe? I find getting my hair cut insanely dull and only get it done twice a year (at a push) so the idea of a whole day of being fussed over (let alone paying for it) seems like a pretty poor deal. Anyway, after the excitement of all that we had some very excellent chocolatey drinks in the Chocolate Cafe (almost worth a visit to Westfield by itself) before more browsing and coming home. A very Lovely Day.


Oh and she aced the exam...

*Shiv - after our discussion yesterday feel free to come up with a Blog Name for yourself if you want one...I didn't think you'd appreciate The Accountant.