A really great long weekend

My weekend began on Thursday when I travelled with some lovely girls from Church to Watford for Naturally Supernatural, I wasn't keen on going initially, it has been a long time since I have been to a large Christian gathering but somehow the girls coerced, cagouled, persuaded, encouraged me to go.  I was really worried, but I am so glad I went because I had a really amazing (and emotional) time.  I am feeling really fired as a Christian now and positive about the future.
Then on Friday we had the lovely Matt and Elora over to stay for the rest of the weekend. She really appreciated my fawn bookends, I knew she would!  We went out for dinner and drinks on Friday and went to my favourite cocktail bar in town called The mix.  I really love the styling inside, it feels very girls and Sex-And-The-City-ish, I tried to take some photos but obviously it was dark and I didn't have my good camera, here is an idea of what it was like:

See that drink I am having...here is a close up:

And look what it's called!!

On Saturday we went to Oxford and visited the Pitt Rivers Museum, I have been there lots of times before when I was at Uni, but it is always worth going again because I have seen something new each and every time I have visited.  I would love to go again with my sketchbook and do some drawing of the artefacts that were in the museum, there is some really incredible things including a bottle apparently containing a witch, a huge to totem pole, shrunken heads and nose flutes!  Here are some photos from the natural history bit, sadly it was too dark in the Pitt Rivers museum to take photos.  

Also went to the Cath Kidston shop and bought this:

All in all a really excellent weekend, and the end to a really wonderful week off from school. I can't say I am thrilled about going back but at least I feel rested.  

Embarrassing things I have done Part 1

Before I begin my story let me remind you of that famous phrase "when in Rome (do as the Roman's do)"  made famous by the film of the same name, but originally inspired by St. Ambrose who said it (or something like it) after a trip to Rome in 387 A.D.  It means that when you are in a place you should try to do as they do so as not to stick out like a tourist.  Remember this phrase as it is intrinsic to the calamity the concludes my first embarrassing story.


I have just watched the lovely film Letters To Juliet, which if filmed in the beautiful country of Italy, it brought back happy memories from my honeymoon back in July 2009, the best and happiest holiday of my life where my new husband and I travelled round Italy from Venice, through Florence and the surrounding cities through to Rome.  On arrival in Rome we travelled to our self catering apartment and were let in by the owner, after handing over our money my husband shook hands with the man, and I, for some peculiar reason which I can only attribute to being overcome by the heat and wanting to feel a bit European, went in for a kiss, and said proudly "When in Spain!".


What a tool!  It wasn't till after he had left that I turned to my new husband and said to him "did I say When in Spain? I meant to say When in Rome!"

Woodland walk

Hubby and I are members of the Wildlife Trust, and as such we receive information about nature reserves in our area.  We hadn't been to any yet so decided to give one a go.  We went for Moor Copse towards Pangbourne. We did a lovely mile and a half walk through fields, woodland and along part of the river Pang which is apparently where the author of Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame got his ideas.  At this time of year Moor Copse is famed for it's Catkins, so we enjoyed looking at them, amongst other things:

We will hopefully visit some more of the Wildlife Trust's nature reserves because, apart from the motorway noise, this one was lovely.  There was a quote from Wind in the Willows on one of the information boards, it is so poetic, it read:

"Never in his life had he seen a river before - this sleek, sinuous, full-bodied animal, chasing and chuckling, gripping things with a gurgle and leaving them with a laugh, to fling itself on fresh playmates that shook themselves free, and were caught and held again.  All was a-shake and a-shiver - glints and gleams and sparkles, rustle and swirl, chatter and bubble."

A year in review

I started this blog about a year ago today and it really has changed my life. I do not know where I would be without blogging, it has opened up another world to me and made me feel part of something where before I felt so alone. No longer do I feel like some loony sitting at home making things and thinking, fantasising about the future, photographing my life and wanting to share my art and creativity with the world, I now know that I am part of something huge, I am not a complete weirdo alone in my little house, but am doing what hundreds, nay, thousands of women are doing all over the world.  I cannot wait to see what 2011 brings me, if it changes me as much as 2010 then I am expecting for big things. I cannot thank you all enough for reading my blog, leaving your lovely comments and making me feel special and noticed every single day.  I am really looking forward to continuing to share my life with you all through the coming year.  Please enjoy looking at these photos of the past year as a review of 2010:

Weekend in Wales with family and friends of old, it was amazing and I felt happy,

 Lots of snow, three days off school!

 Thoughtful valentines presents from lovely hubby, our first Valentines day as husband and wife,

A week in Germany visiting friends, more snow!

Finally spring arrives, start coming out of winter hibernation,

Another trip to Wales, mysterious fog on the beach, beautiful weather, felt alive,

My 27th birthday, feel so different to when I was 24, the world is starting to make sense, I am beginning to know myself,

My sister's amazing fashion show, so proud of her,

Armed Forces day in Reading, enjoyed the Vera Lynn tribute act,

School trip to St Ives, my first residential, felt very inspired by the art,

My lovely nephew is starting to seem life a real little person, 

First of two hen do's, this one in Cornwall, had a great time, met new people,

Holiday in Cornwall, feel so draw to this part of the country, had a wonderful time, wine tasting, bike rides, National Trust properties,

 Second hen do, this one in Birmingham, 

Paul's Dad's 60th birthday party,

Sarah's beautiful wedding, perfect end to the summer,

Milo's first birthday,

Trip to Wales to stay with Uni friends, a real reunion,

Christmas 2010, fun times in Wales and then with Paul's family,

What will 2011 bring? I can't wait to find out, thankyou all for sharing this journey with me so far.

A very merry Christmas

Hi everyone,

I hope you have all had a peaceful and cheery Christmas.  I had a lovely time with my husband and my family in beautiful Wales.  The snow was still sparkling on the ground and the log burning fire was crackling away in the living room, we had a real giggle for the three days we were there.  Here are some photos to take you through our Christmas weekend:

My sister and I had the absolute privilege of decorating the Christmas tree.  For our family this is really something because in the past my mum has ALWAYS put the lights and the tinsel on the tree before letting us kids hand the decoration, but this year we had full responsibility of both tree lights and tinsel and I think we did an excellent job even if I do say so myself.

Paul took this one:

Vintage glass baubles n everything

We opened our Christmas presents after going to Church.  I got this lovely scarf knitted by my sister. 

I also got a lovely woolly brown cardigan from mum and dad, a vampire weekend and Mumford and Sons album from my sister. My lovely husband was the best, he got me the fabulous Lisa Stickley ceramic cottage bread bin that I have been drooling over for months and a keep calm and carry on poster that I have been wanting.  I will take some photos of them at some point to show you.

After opening presents and eating out pot noodles (family tradition) we all went off my my Grandpa's house.

It was mightily, beautifully snowy, just like Christmas should be,

At my Grandpa's we completed a Christmas quiz in the newspaper and looked through old photos, here is one of my Grandma looking so glamorous, yes this was MY grandma!!  Hoe beautiful was she?!

Then it was back home for Christmas dinner, turkey with all the trimmings, crackers, hats, and bubbly:

After stuffing our faces with Christmas dinner, we played the board game that I bought for Paul, it's called Go Green and is a self-sufficiency and green living board game!! What could be better? Who knew that such a game had been invented, absolutely worth every penny of the extortionate price of £25.00 that I paid for it!?  Anyway it was highly amusing, especially when Paul and I had to miss a go because we were constipated!

We enjoyed a mug of mulled wine whilst we were playing made by my brother and his lovely new German girlfriend,

I found the whole thing highly amusing, made even more so by the bubbly and mulled wine, a very very enjoyable day for all.

Sorry for the mass of photos, there was more!!  Will share some more photos in the next couple of days of presents etc, right now I am stuffing myself with chocolate and generally revelling in the full up-ness of post Christmas gorging, plus enjoying reading the books I got.  I made and Amazon wish list this year, and it was the best thing I ever did, I have been bought so many of the things that i really wanted, which is excellent. I hope you are all happy and having a wonderful Christmas, I am already planning new years resolutions, lists and schemes for the new year which I will share with you all soon.

Love, love, love

xxx