Out of Sync

I'm a little bit out of sync with my days at the moment for various reasons.

Take last Friday and the Chinese new year.

We would normally have Chinese food to celebrate, but I was out for a meal with 3 of my old school friends.

One was 50 in December and another reaches 50 next Monday.

Me and my other friend both have our birthday in July so we've still got a few months of our forties to go!

 This meant celebrating the year of the dog had to be put on hold until Sunday when along with the Chinese food I opened this mini bottle as it was drink wine day.

Normally I would go for a glass of red but this was given to me at Christmas and had been chilling in the fridge since then and I thought I should probably get on and drink it.

Saturday was Random At of Kindness Day.
My plan had been to buy a box of chocolates and present them to a shop assistant whilst I was out shopping in town for T and S's birthday gifts, but I completely forgot!
I was so absorbed in ticking things off my list, not to mention getting sidetracked when I spotted a couple of gifts for friends with birthdays later in the year, that it wasn't until I was on the bus home that I remembered.
So annoyed.
I will just have to make sure I do it next year.

Today is the anniversary of the formation of the Women's Institute.
The WI always conjures up images of home made cakes and preserves and so I planned to have scones and jam for my lunch.
That was before I made an appointment for the dentist.
With a numb mouth until late afternoon I wasn't really able to eat so I'll be having them tomorrow instead.

So with no photos to share from the past couple of days here is a random photo of my new PJs.
Soft, snuggly and wearing them makes me feel like a fluffy marshmallow.

Stick or Twist

Well it's Wednesday already.

How did that happen.

I'm sure someone keeps pressing the fast forward button.

I mean it's October.

Already.

So how have my activities been going on this week?

I gave myself Monday off.

Pre children my friend T and I would spend time together to catch up on news and quite often combine this with a day out.

Now our children are older she said we should try and reinstate these days out every so often.

Monday was our first outing.

We took ourselves off to Portchester Castle for the day.

Ideally I wanted to do a proper post about our visit  (I still hope to get one written) but for now here is T being much more adventurous than me and investigating the stone spiral staircase.

Tuesday was Chubby Checker's birthday. 
His most well known song has got to be The Twist.
The first thing I think of when hearing the word twist, apart from that dance, is playing pontoon, as in Stick or Twist?
So yesterday evening me, G and S sat down at the dining table and played this easy and fun card game.

We're back to a food related day for today.
Taco Day to be precise.
I went out to buy some taco shells last night but the shop I went to didn't have them. Instead I bought a pack of tortilla wraps and did this to make my own.
Served with salad and rice it was a quick and easy meal which is my favourite kind.

12 Days of Christmas Swap

For the 3rd year in a row my very good blog friend Jo at Through the Keyhole and I have exchanged a 12 Days of Christmas swap.

One gift per day is opened starting on 25th December and finishing on 5th January.

I like to save mine until mid evening when all jobs are done and it's time to sit down and relax, hence a lot of my photos are taken when the light isn't great.

Let's start at the very beginning.

What an appropriate book for our swap this is!

I started reading it on Boxing day and finished last night.

A very light and lovely Christmas read, I would certainly recommend it.

Day 2 was a scalloped edged egg cup complete with a chicken shaped cover. I love a boiled egg with soldiers and so my new egg cup will be well used.

Who doesn't love cute stationery and sets of notelets don't get much cuter than these two little girls in their red head gear.

I have failed miserably for being able to share day 4's glittery silvery tealight holder.

It was on the mantelpiece until I packed all the Christmas decorations away and is now nestled in tissue paper up in the loft. I'm hoping Jo has been as organised as she normally is and has a photo of it I can link to.

Item number 5 is a very handy magnetic notepad which is now on the front of the freezer, on hand for jotting down grocery items I need as and when they occur to me.

No swap is complete without chocolate and day 6 was a great day when I opened a package containing 2 of my most favourite bags of festive edible treats.

Day 7 made me smile for two reasons. One was the red polka dot pen, Jo knows me and polka dot obsession very well. The second reason was I bought this exact same notebook for my sister back in November. All I can say is great minds think alike!

Number 8 is a shimmery butterfly coaster. Jo told me she bought this whilst she was on holiday and it really does echo the sights and colours of summer. Initially I put this next to my bed but now I've decided I will take it into work to have on my desk.

Back to the chocolate again on day 9. Cadbury's dairy milk, need I say more.

I can't wait to use these paper straws and ice cream tubs from day 10. These have given me a plan for a little Sunday afternoon high tea in the near future.

My feet will be so oh cosy thanks to my gift on day 11. You can never own too many pairs of snuggly socks and if they are decorated with snowflakes then that's even better.

My final gift on day 12 was another polka dot item. Some mugs are just comforting to hold and this is definitely one of those. I absolutely love it. 
T was very proud of the fact he bought all of his own Christmas presents this year. He was very generous, so much so that he bought a Tassimo coffee machine as a gift for our family. At some point over the weekend I shall be enjoying a caramel macchiato in this cup and considering myself very blessed indeed.

Thank you Jo for all of my presents, I love each and everyone.

Kindness

One evening last week I came home from work after a really rotten day.

When you work in a doctor's surgery you don't always see the best from people.

Sometimes they come in and they anxious about their, or a loved ones, health and they can be a bit short with you because their minds are occupied with concern.

You don't take it personally, some people are dealing with a lot.

But some people think the way to get things done is to bully you and this was the very unpleasant behaviour I had been subject to that day.

I couldn't wait to get home and shrug of the way I was feeling.

Once home there was something which turned my day around in an instant.

Inside a little padded envelope was a little box and inside the little box was the cutest little brooch.

Not just any brooch.

A brooch which had been made just for me.

Someone had taken the time to make me something they knew I would love.

That someone is Kezzie.

If you aren't familiar with Kezzie's blog then please do pop over and have a browse, you'll be dazzled by her extensive range of brooches and hats, her outfit combos with an inspired hint of Doctor Who about them, her enthusiasm for being a music teacher and her zest for grabbing any and every opportunity which comes her way.

Thank you Kezzie. I absolutely love my cherry decorated teacup and saucer, it's perfect.

Time to Meet

Yesterday was a real treat of a day.

One that was possible because of the wonderful world of blogging.

I have been reading and enjoying Penny's  blog for years. We live fairly close to each other and kept saying we should arrange to meet up.

Then a couple of weeks ago she wrote a post about being busy readying herself for a special event.

Penny is co-manageress of her local charity shop and they were taking over the community centre for a day to hold a Here Comes Summer sale.

Well the lure of a long awaited meet up combined with day out and a rummage was too good to miss.

Me, G and S met Penny at the community centre where after a browse around the sale (and a purchase was made) we were able to sit and chat a while.

Penny was so welcoming and friendly and completely lovely.

Like good bloogers we had G take our photo together at the community centre, Penny looked fabulous in both and I looked well, quite frankly, hideous. 

Thankfully we saw each other again later in the afternoon in the charity shop, where we also got to meet Penny's daughter Jess, and she took another much nicer photo.

The charity shop is a real little treasure trove full of all sorts of goodies and all three of us left with something. G with more vinyl, S with 3 books and me with a lavender scented heart to add to my sister's birthday gift.

The community centre is only a short walk away from the shore so that's where we headed next. By now it was nearing lunchtime and so the  Needles Eye Cafe was our next stop. Here S discovered cheesy chips for the first time, we shared a bowl between the three of us. A welcome addition to our very tasty baguettes.

Yesterday's wasn't filled with blue skies as you can see, there was a blustery breeze as we walked along the front

but we could still make out the Needles over at the Isle of Wight.

Although this version of the Needles in one of the shop windows was much clearer!

S kept busy clambering over the rocks where possible and practising some shot put moves with another much smaller one.

After we had waved cheerio to Penny and Jess we made our way to Lymington.

G was looking forward to visiting a vinyl shop he had heard about but was dismayed to find it closed.

However there was a branch of Oxfam and in there he found a copy of  an album he had been wanting. The strange thing about that is that the sleeve inside belonged to another album.

An album he owned already but which was missing this original sleeve.

He was really chuffed with that find.

We all liked the window of the Marie Curie shop. The mannequin was clothed in a dress made from an old map

and hanging up next to it was a swimsuit. Again made from a map with added floral decoration.

People of a certain age may know who I am talking about when I say this bird sculpture we saw reminded us of Professor Yaffle.

We did our day trip by public transport. One bus and three trains each way. It does sound a bit convoluted but it was incredibly straightforward. 
There was much more to see in Lymington and we plan to go back in the summer, on a day when the record shop is open.

We had a great day out exploring somewhere new and meeting up with Penny was the cherry on the top.
We hope to meet up again at some point, this time in Southampton for a perusal of the art gallery or maybe the Sea City museum. 
Thank you Penny for meeting up, it was a treat to meet you, and for introducing us to where you live.

Blogging is Good

When I first stumbled into the world of blogging I could never have envisaged how many wonderful people it would bring into our lives.

This weekend we got to spend time with some of those wonderful people.

And it was good.

Very, very good indeed.

Blog Friends

All last week the excitement levels at home were building by the day as we edged nearer to Saturday. The reason being I was going to be meeting up in town with two very lovely people, Clare from Summerfete and Diane from Heartshaped.
Clare and I have met up a couple of times in the past for tea, crochet lessons and charity shop browsing, but it was our first date with Diane who had managed to wangle a weekend away with the footballs fans in her family.

Here is Clare with T and S. She very kindly bought them a big bag of mini eggs each and instantly beame their new best friend. Although S did alternate her affections between Diane and Clare depending on whose hand she was holding at the time!

Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of us all together on my camera, you'll have to pop over to Diane's to see that, but this is Diane giving S instructions on how to fly with your coat on a windy day!

My camera stayed in my bag for most of the day, although I did manage to snap something for the scavenger hunt in John Lewis quite late in the day.

We played tourist in your own city (something Diane is exceptionally good at) taking in lots of the historic parts of the City and for the first time ever I walked over this foot bridge and got close up to John Le Fleming, a 14th Century mayor of Southampton, who has been in situ for 20 years!

We walked and talked and ate lunch and talked, we walked and talked some more and then had tea and talked and finally walked and talked round the shopping centre before it was time to say our goodbyes.

A huge thank you to both of my wonderful blog friends for a fabulous day out.

Not forgetting another huge thank you for your gifts.

The prettiest piece of patchwork from Clare, all handsewn

and these were just some of the gifts from Diane.

Talented, generous and brilliant blog friends.