While the Sun Smiles, Stick Around and Laugh a While.

What a most excellent week off work it's been, I was more than ready for some time off and I feel I have certainly got the most out of it.
Rather than just pootling round at home as was originally planned, I have ended up with something to do on pretty much every day.

Monday my Mother came over. She has a posh dinner to go to today and needed a top to wear, nothing like leaving it to the last minute to add an air of desperation to your shopping trip!

My Mum is a challenging person to buy clothes with, and for, so it was never going to be an easy day. Without going into all the gory details, 4 hours later we did return with a suitable top and once she had left I took some aspirin and collapsed in a heap, my work done.

We did go into every chazza we came too because my Mum loves to browse charity shops but my Dad (much like Himself) hates them with a passion so she doesn't get to go in them too often!

I didn't buy much, just a chunky white bead necklace and this shirt and bag.

I bought the bag with my friend Kay in mind, I know she will love it.

Tuesday was my no plans day so I alternated doing nothing at all cos it was too hot, with doing manic bouts of housework.
I finally got round to hanging the new lampshade I bought for £2 in a chazza a few months ago, I  promptly broke it but put it up anyway with gaffa tape. Himself came home, examined the join and said "you really are all about the gaffa tape aren't you?"
 I do use it a LOT to fix things it has to be said.

No one would ever know it's being held on by tape......

I also finally framed my tea print which has been waiting since Easter when I bought the frame.

I didn't get around to framing my match labels, I've only had that frame and mount for about 2 years now *cough*.
I did clean the thick dust off said frame and lay them out in an order I like so it's a start right?

I might get Himself on the case, he's far better at lining up and measuring so things are exact.

Talking of Himself, he had managed to win 2 tickets to the press screening of 'Guardians of the Galaxy' in Leicester Square.

So after a lazy morning I met him at the station to head off to London. Unlike Himself who was very, very excited to see the film, I wasn't expecting great things, I have seen the trailer if nothing else, which did the film no favours at all.

 I'm happy to say I was proved very wrong. It's a great action film with lots of laugh out loud humour and one liners which is very unusual for a Marvel superhero film.

I can't remember the last time I have been to the cinema where the audience burst into spontaneous applause and cheering at the end, but they did and it was well deserved.

I did love how a representative from Disney came on at the start and introduced the film and made us all swear not to tweet, blog or otherwise until the film had had it's official premier the next night. How important did we feel? We were both good and didn't say anything.

We grabbed some chips after the film as neither of us had eaten yet and took a gentle stroll towards Oxford Street. Who should I bump into on Regent Street but Sara from Hello The Mushroom
What are the chances of that? It was lovely to see her and have a quick catch up.

Himself and I then went for a quick beer before heading home on the slowest train known to man, seriously I think I could have walked home faster. A 40 minute journey took just under 2 hours.

I finally gave my Hell Bunny apple dress an outing and yes I am as hot, bothered and tired as I look in this picture.

Thursday I was up and off to London again for the Glamour of Italian Fashion exhibition at the V&A.

For an exhibition that says 'strictly no photography' having just done a quick image search there are a lot of pictures online if you want to check the frocks out.
My conclusion is that from 1945 to 1980 Italian fashion was lovely, from 1980 - 2000 it was hideous and from 2000 onwards it got lovely again! 

I bought this dress on Monday when out with my Ma it was £19 in the sales and I decided it was perfect for looking at Italian fashion.
As I walked past a busker down the subway to the V&A he started playing 'Great Balls of Fire' which amused me mightily.

Striking a pose.

Would you believe having bumped into Sara the day before this time I happened to bump into my friends Melissa and Dan on the underground, how weird is that?

Once home and re-hydrated and showered, Himself and I went out to take a walk to visit the power station. At 3am on Sunday morning the cooling towers are going to be blown up.

I'm very sad that the towers are going to be demolished, I wish they would leave even just one. They are such a landmark in Oxfordshire and have been here for 40 years. It's going to take 30 seconds to demolish them and 3 years to clear the site which then can't be built on for 75 years!

As Himself works nearby he knows you can brazenly ignore the 'Private Property - Trespassers will be prosecuted' signs and walk right up to the boundary.

Weirdly right next to the power station was an orchard.

Radioactive plums anyone?

Today I trotted off into Oxford for a lunch date with Jenny and Soo. We had a lovely leisurely feed in Bill's and caught up on each others news. What a wonderful way to end a great week.

Too Darn Hot.

Whilst I'll be the first to agree a bit of sunshine is a wonderous thing, I do not do well in heat.
 I have been really struggling this week, especially as our office has no air con, you try and be bright, efficient and capable when you work in an office with no windows and it's topping 30 degrees inside most days!
Consequently I have been grumpy and whiny and basically a bit pathetic this week.

I did have Thursday off, because ever since I turned 40 I have flatly refused to work on my birthday any more. Instead I had a lovely lie-in and then went out for brunch with my parents at the Waterfront Cafe in nearby Benson.

Eggs Royale seemed fitting for a birthday feast and bloody delicious they were too.

From here we went to a garden centre where I showed I am now truly middle aged by spending some of my birthday money on plants!

(seen here waiting to be re-potted.)

I wore a red and white gingham sundress with a mix of vintage and modern accessories and took a very civilized afternoon siesta (with Captain Americat and Winston keeping guard.)

This was followed by dinner, prosecco and Death on the Nile = Brilliant birthday all round. 

I was back to work the next day (boo) but then it was the weekend (huzzah) and a Cotswold Vintage Afternoon Tea with Soo and Melissa.

 More prosecco and chocolate caramel peanut butter cake. Bliss.

We waddled back to Soo's house to drink more wine and enjoy a cracking thunder storm

which managed to break the heat for ooh at least half an hour.

There was a gorgeous sunset on the way home which partly made up for the fact I was sweating like a beast walking up the hill to my house.

I got in, drank yet more wine and went old school by watching the first series of Hustle before bed.

Today I had a late breakfast, gardened, spoke on the phone to my Bestie Jenny and relaxed happy in the knowledge I am off work next week.

I'll leave you with some random birthday picks.

Birthday sunflower

Purple polka dot vintage frock treat to myself.

top three birthday gifts from Himself, Himself and Soo respectively.

I feel very blessed.

The Rattle and Hum.

I may be feeling just the tiniest bit delicate this morning. Aren't the best kind of nights the ones that just evolve spontaneously?

I popped out after work to have a quick drink with some very old friends Sharon and Simon. Back more years than I care to remember we all used to work together.

 I'd been working at the library a few years when Sharon joined my department, we were put to work together on her first day and soon became fast friends.We were both art students, both a bit shy and both had a very silly sense of humour!
 A little while later Simon joined the department and love blossomed, that might have been me sidelined but thankfully we just started hanging out as three instead of two.
I was incredibly proud to be asked to be Sharon's maid of honour when they got married, especially as they had a very small and intimate wedding with just family and a couple of close friends.

As is inevitable, life takes over and you don't get to see friends as often as you would like, not because you don't want to, but just 'because'. Whenever our paths did cross it was lovely to catch up but with us all changing jobs that got less and less often.

At Murray's funeral we were a bit shocked to realise just exactly how long it had been since we last got together so made plans to have a proper get together.
Last night was going to be an interim catch up just for a couple of hours after work with plans for a longer one at a later date.

We met in the pub at 4.30pm and I finally rolled home just before 11pm!

I was a bit worried once we had done some reminiscing there might not be anything left to talk about but I couldn't have been more wrong. Conversation flowed (as did the wine!) and it was just a fantastic evening. 

Walking home from the station I was plugged into my I-Pod when U2 - With or Without You came on.
Now if there was ever a Venn Diagram drawn of my family's musical taste the only 2 bands that would be in the overlap of all the circles would be U2 and Nirvana. The two bands guaranteed to get us all up and singing, possibly dancing too, are U2 and Nirvana.
(By the way I don't count my Dad in this Venn Diagram because he only listens to classical music.)
In fact I would say my Mum is the biggest U2 fan but I digress.
The reason I mention this is because as sure as the sun rises in the sky, if my sister and I are in the same room as each other when drunk we will spontaneously burst into U2 song.

Our favourite party piece is With or Without You. Of course we think we are fricking awesome with harmonies and everything, but in the cold light of day I suspect we are probably more like a couple of cats having their tails pulled!   
So strolling up the hill to home last night singing along, I was instantly reminded of one particular incident when we had been out on a pub crawl round Margate and Broadstairs with Himself. Now the full facts of the night are a bit hazy, it's possible it's the same night my sister got pee on her velvet boot but it's possibly not.
All I do recall is half lying half sitting on the platform at Margate station with my sister and treating the other travellers to our full U2 repetoire.
At this time the romance between Himself and I was a very baby brand new shiny thing, a saner man might have fled in horror, but clearly Himself is made of sterner stuff for he took it all in his stride and just scooped us up and carted us home. This especially as he is not and never has been a U2 fan.

Anyway enough of this, would you like to see some shopping?

You know the drill by now. Me selling on Ebay means me buying on Ebay. I scored these two frocks for 4.99 and £3.99 respectively

I suspect the teapot one will have to be a tunic top on me, it is somewhat short!

Whilst in WHSmith which houses the post office I spotted this bag reduced to £2. It was very, very dirty which was why it was reduced, but I decided it was so cute I would take a punt on sticking it in the washing machine with a liberal dose of Vanish stain remover.

It came up pretty much spotless so that was a great result. I have had so many compliments on it, clearly Mr Happy has many fans.

I also needed some more black socks but couldn't resist these 2 pairs at a £1 each in the sales.

I also bought myself a little plant, it was so pretty and being sold for charity so even more justified.

It brightens my kitchen perfectly. Finally this week I found a cheats recipe for salted caramel ice cream.

YUM! just don't ask about the calorie count..............

Old Shoes, New Shoes and a Little Zip Drama.

Here I am sitting quietly on a Sunday morning with the washing machine churning away, drinking tea and having a bit of me time before the Kraken wakes.

I might go out and cut the other hedge today or I might just sit in doing bugger all, the options are endless. I love Sundays!

Last Sunday as the weather was a bit iffy, and we had a house inspection on the following Tuesday, I decided to put away the clothes mountain that lives on my side of the bedroom floor. This ended up with me taking everything out of 2 drawers of my dressing table and having a bit of a sort out. Quite satisfying as it turns out, I ended up charity bagging some stuff, listing some on Ebay and generally making room to put other things, that have always lived on the floor due to lack of drawer space, away.
I also created an alarming pile of ironing but there always has to be one drawback!

It was also fortuitous as I had recently bought a pair of cropped trousers for work in the BHS closing down sale and hadn't been able to wear them as I couldn't find anything to wear with them. The are very patterned you see.

(Currently hanging to dry and very creased but this gives you an idea.) Anyways I found 2 plain black tops I had forgotten about that were perfect. I wore one of them to work on Friday.

I bought it in a charity shop and have learned another valuable lesson. Don't just think 'oh that looks nice I'll buy it'

If it has a zip check it actually works!

See this top has, or should I say 'had' a side zip, the full length of the side which is quite unusual. As I can get the top on and off without the use of the zip I just pulled it on and went to work.

A few hours later we were sitting in the sun with a cup of tea when I felt a popping feeling under my arm. "Bollocks" said I " That was my zip going". I dashed back inside and took the top off in the ladies to see if I could pull the zip down and re-zip it up. This was where I discovered there were actually some teeth missing on the zip around the bust area and it had clearly been a bit buggered all along, probably why it had ended up in a charity shop in the first place!

To set the scene this was 11am and I had to go on a course at 12 noon that involved me sitting in, and perhaps presenting to, a room full of people!?!!

SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!

First stop reception and asked if they had any safety pins, one raid of the first aid kit later and at least I was no longer showing all I had to the world.
This was followed by a manic dash into Oxford city centre, one and only stop H&M as the first clothes shop I came to, to find something, anything, that I could wear instead.

Someone was smiling down on me, because not only did I find 2 black tops in my size that would probably do, both were in the sale for £7. As I didn't have time to try them on I bought both to be on the safe side, turns out when scanned through the till one was now only £4 and thankfully that was the one that fitted like a dream.
By 11.40am I was back at my desk properly attired and sweating like a beast. Good job I always have a spare deodorant in my desk drawer, shame I don't have a spare top too!

As it turns out I did have to stand up in front of everyone and talk so I'm glad I didn't just risk the safety pin look, it's nerve wracking enough being put on the spot let only having it happen when you are bursting out of your clothes. Eee the drama.

Dodgy zip removed and top waiting to be stitched up.

On to happier things, shoes.

This week I had to throw out 2 pairs of summer ballet type pumps as they had reached the end of their life, which I always hate doing. At least I do throw them out these days once upon a time I would have just kept them anyway, mad woman that I am. Whilst rummaging round  my shoe shelves I found these.

I bought them about 18 months ago and somehow they had ended up at the bottom/back of the shelf and I haven't worn them since. I put them on with my patterned trousers (above) perfect! Now that I have re-found them they are going to get much wear I can tell you.

I also ended up buying a pair of shoes in the sales this week. I was looking for some new jeans which I didn't find but got drawn towards these shoes instead.

They reminded me of the ones I used to wear when I was little and as they were reduced to £18 and called 'Margate' it had to be done. Question is do I get myself some knee high white socks to go with them hehe.

Other than that I have refused to go to the cinema with Himself to see 'Walking on Sunshine', I believe my exact words when asked were 'over my cold dead body'. Turns out I was right and it was every bit as appalling as it looked.

I have also tried out some new nail polish

and taken some pictures of the amazing evening skies we have been having.

We also started watch Game of Thrones. Now I know we are way behind everyone else, 4 seasons to be precise, but we don't have satellite t.v and it never really appealed to either of us anyway. However Himself was bought a box set of the first 2 seasons so we thought we'd give it a go.

It's not a good start when everyone who has watched it tells you you need to give it 'at least' 4 episodes to get going, that is at lot of hours of t.v for something to get going!
 So we are up to episode 6, at first I liked it now I am rather bored if I'm honest, I will keep with it a bit longer though.

One thing I will say. As a feminist, and yes I am a feminist, not a rabid, bra burning, all men are bastards feminist, but one never the less. This programme really pushes my buttons in it's portrayal of women.
With the sole exception of the character of Lady Stark. They are either, scheming evil bitches, scheming demented still breast feeding your grown-up son whilst sitting on your throne nutjobs, vacant airheads or whores.
Oh yes there are lots, and lots, and lots of prostitutes, all walking round with their breasts on show.

As for the sex which there is also a fair bit of, so far it has all been from behind with the woman on her knees being held down whilst it takes place. This is the same for ladies of the night and queens alike, all treated in the same derogatory, piece of meat to be 'used' at will way.
I'll give it some more episodes but I doubt that is going to to change or improve, I really am struggling to see what everybody loves about it. Maybe when the dragons arrive?