Suitable clothing

Last week, my daughter and I spent the whole of our day off clearing out her bedroom. And I mean clearing out. Every drawer was emptied, every basket cleared of contents which were then re-folded neatly, every hanger taken out the wardrobe, all garments on the floor put out to wash etc etc. It took all day but at the end of it she had a tidy bedroom, the charity shop had two bin liners full of unwanted clothes and the wheelie bin had 5 bags of rubbish squidged down inside it. And I got a new suit. It was obviously her 'interview suit' from after she graduated from university and it had been folded up and stuffed in a storage box under her bed. I rescued it from the charity bag as it was a size ten and from the Petite range at Next. Clearly calling out for me to wear it!
Today I wore it to work. Felt really smart, in my fitted jacket, pencil skirt with a little kick panel at the back, wore it with a smart polka dot blouse with tiny ruffles down the front. Such smartness deserved a bit more effort with the mascara and a darker lippy.
The whole office is now convinced that I was off to an interview after work! Do I normally look so scruffy that turning up in a smart suit could only mean one thing? Still, doesn't hurt to keep them guessing eh?!

Ikea Man

It's not often the man himself gets a whole scrap page of his own but I thought this photo warranted it!


We're not great 'flat pack' people. We haven't been to Ikea since 2007. But a storage unit was needed in the spare bedroom. Apparently, someone has been buying lots of 'stuff' that is spilling out of the study. I don't know what he's talking about! So a trip to the motherland of all that is packed flatly was in order. Now, that has to be something worth scrapbooking!

Hooked

Am I the only person in the country who hadn't been watching this? I discovered Grey's Anatomy at Christmas. Whenever I had lunch in the staff room, people would be talking about it so I added it to my list when I wrote to Father Christmas. I must have been a good girl because he gave me series one box set. I sat down, watched one episode and was hooked!
Then trailers started appearing on tv for the new series and I realised I had an awful lot of catching up to do before I could start watching that. Fortunately, I put a request out via the school email system and discovered that a member of our art dept is a huge fan and has all the other box sets! Woohoo! I just finished series two and today she delivered series three and four. No need to ask what I will be doing over half term ;-)
I am recording series six to watch when I have caught up but it is awful trying not to hear people discussing it. When a trailer comes on the tv I have to quickly find the remote to change channels as I don't want to have the story lines spoiled. I already heard that one of the interns dies this series and dread to think who it may be.
If you know, please DON'T tell me!!!

Tourist

So anyway, it's Friday afternoon, I am sitting on the 15.39 train to London Liverpool Street, listening to my fellow passengers chatting and I suddenly realised that I was the only British person in the compartment! Granted, the train I was on originates from Stansted Airport so it's often packed with people who have just arrived from a flight! But it got me thinking that because we live a shortish (37 minute) train journey from London, we take it for granted and don't really make a big thing about the sights and sounds we see when we get up there. So when I got off the train and started my walk towards my husband's office, I thought I would play at being a tourist and take a few snaps of my own. So, here is Tower Bridge, looking lovely in the late afternoon winter sunshine. I took this as I was walking across London Bridge. After I crossed the Thames, I walked down the ziggy zaggy steps that lead down to the embankment and looking back across where I had just walked I took a photo of this view. London Bridge, with the dome of St Paul's Cathedral in the distance. Photo taken, I continued walking beside the river, and when I saw this, I knew I was nearly there. This is what my husband sees if he looks out the office window. The HMS Belfast, with Tower Bridge in the background. So folks, that is my very short guided tour of the walk from London Liverpool Street to Hays Galleria. Then of course I met up with my husband, we caught the Jubilee Line underground to the O2 arena and here is the scrap-able photo of me about to go in to see Strictly Come Dancing on Tour!
It was an amazing show and I enjoyed it so much. But that is officially the end of my Christmas presents now!

Glitterballs

Ok, it didn't take much to guess that my three clues added up to the Strictly Come Dancing Tour.
I'm not normally a fan of ballroom dancing, and I certainly can't do it myself but I just love this programme. I prefer the up tempo dances to the waltzes but have to admire the beauty of it all and love to see how the celebrities improve from week to week. The highlight of the whole Strictly seasons has to be John Sargeant dragging his poor partner like a sack of potatoes in the Paso Doble. Makes me laugh out loud whenever I see a clip of it! What he lacked in style he made up for in enthusiasm!

My tickets were part of my Christmas present and whilst my husband doesn't share my love of SCD, he is bravely coming with me. I suspect that in return I may have to accompany him to a concert of some obscure guitarist later in the year!
It's my first visit to the O2 arena too so watch out for some photos and a layout in the very near future.

Friday Night's Alright for ...

I'm so excited! On Friday night I'm going up to London after work to meet my husband at his offices, then we're getting the train to here:And there will be lots of these: And something nice to look at: Strictly no other clues ....

Rabbit

Ladies, I would like to introduce you to a rather elderly gentleman called Rabbit.
Rabbit is probably about 43 years old now which is REALLY old in rabbit years. Rabbit was hand stitched by a little red headed girl called Deborah when she was in primary school in about 1967. Rabbit's main purpose in life was to keep Deborah's boiled egg warm at breakfast time. These were the days when runny eggs and dippy soldiers were an everyday meal to start the day on. Deborah liked to cut the top off her boiled egg really carefully, eat it very neatly and then turn it upside down in her egg cup so the broken part was hidden and pretend to her mum that she couldn't break into the shell. Oh how her mum was surprised when she broke into the egg shell and find it empty! And no matter how often Deborah played this trick, her mum still found it funny.
Rabbit was probably the first bit of 'proper' sewing that Deborah did. and you can see how lovingly and carefully those little 9 year old fingers did the blanket stitching around the edge to hold the pieces of felt together. Rabbit seems to have lost half of his bow tie and I suspect that happened while he was hidden away in a box of momentos in our loft.
Rabbit is probably very proud to know that he was the first in a very long line of sewing projects that I have done over the years (I used to make almost all my own clothes!) who'd have thought I would have gone from that to A level needlework before I finished my school days?!