Flaming June and It's Purchases.

Another month has been and gone and I haven't managed to blog at all...again.

Same reasons as last month on the whole and just super busy at work mainly, my line manager has been away for 3 weeks and I have been covering for her. So yes I've been manic busy and just a wee bit stressed with it all.

It hasn't been all work and no play though. I've managed to get out and about every now and then. A trip to the cinema, dinner with friends a couple of times, a baking hot Father's day barbecue at my Brother's house which Dad loved, and a day out in Bath with my Ma.
I found out by chance towards the end of last year that my Mum had never actually been to Bath, she had only ever driven through it. We had hoped to go before Christmas but that fell through and the trip somehow got forgotten, until now that is.  

We had a lovely day, it started of grey and drizzling

but the sun soon broke through to the point I ended up getting a bit burnt.

We just mooched about with no set plans. We decided to go into the Abbey which was actually the first time I have been in there too.

It was very beautiful and had a gorgeous embroidery exhibition on inspired by pages of a medieval illuminated manuscript.
The only down side was an opera type singer who was 'practicing' the whole time we were there, dear god she was bloody awful, I think my ears were bleeding by the time I left.

We had lunch and a look at the Assembly Rooms.

I do love the chandeliers there.

I made a couple of purchases. This gorgeous fish tealight holder that looks so pretty with a candle in it, without one it looks plain blue, but put a tealight in it and the magic happens.

A brooch at the indoor market

I know it's not quite the right time of year for snowflakes but still, it was too pretty to leave.

I also bought this lovely Murano Glass pendent in a little shop on Pultney Bridge.

All in all a fab day even if I did walk my poor Mum's feet off apparently!

I hope you are sitting down reading this because amazingly enough Himself and I also had a mini holiday!!
A while back Himself, who is not one for travelling or trips away, made interested noises about Cornwall.
Well you didn't have to say it twice, I had a B&B and train tickets booked before he could change his mind.

We went to Penzance for a long weekend and I shall dedicate my next pots to our time there.

I'm going to finish up with my June purchases, sit tight there are a few. As ever when I am feeling stressed I shop. Thankfully all the frocks were sale items.

Three lovely Vodoo Vixen dresses. The top two are freshly ironed, I had to wash them straight away because they both smelt a bit weird.
The red floral dress I ended up sizing up with because my size was sold out. I loved the dress so much and it was a great price so I bought it anyway and figured if it's too massive I will prevail upon my Mother and her amazing skills to take it in.

I also sized up on this Hell Bunny dress.

I have been stalking it ever since it was announced, but my size has been sold out consistently since day one.
Eventually it went into the sales so I knew my size would never come back into stock. I just bought the next size up at sale price and figured I could do something with it. I have to say it's actually been nice to wear it in this super hot weather because it is too big so it is loose and cool. I will wear it with a belt otherwise though.

As we are on the subject of novelty prints I almost bought this dress a while ago but even I, the consummate lover of novelty prints, took a step back because it may just be a novelty print too far.

Then it got reduced again so I thought sod it and hit 'buy'. It's actually a much deeper turquoise than it looks in this picture and I'm not quite sure where or when I shall wear it!

I bought this embroidered tunic top for £2 in a sale at my Dad's care home.

and the pirate t-shirt at the same time as the Hell Bunny dress. As you know I like to wear quirky and different exercise gear (when I actually get off my fat arse to exercise that is) and this pirate fits the bill perfectly.

Finally I have one handbag purchase. It was listed as a yellow handbag, a colour which I have taken a fancy to owning.

When it arrived it's very much more tan than yellow as you can see from above it seems ti photograph light. I don't mind it's still lovely and a great addition to the collection.

I shall attempt to post more regularly from now on, honest.

Ne'er Cast A Clout til May be Out

Well in my case a blog post. May came and went in a mad whirl of stresses at work, and horrors in the world outside of it, a sobering month indeed.

Even the weather didn't seem to know what to do and we went from waking up to a ground frost to nearly 30 degrees all in the same week!?!
This meant starting the week with the winter weight duvet and ending it going out and buying a new summer weight one because I could NOT find ours anywhere!
Ironic because this house has no storage and as Himself pointed out we moved in August so must have had it on the bed at the time we moved.....
Anyway Argos had a deal on and we now have one of those 3 in 1 duvets, a 4.5 tog and a 9 tog that can be clipped together to make a 13.5.
Of course I found our original summer duvet 2 days later as you do, it was in with the towels, no I have no idea why either.  

The last Bank Holiday weekend started with the annual work clothes buying trip for Himself, an event always fraught with danger as it combines two of his most hated things, Shopping and People. Thankfully it passed with only one small incident. Trousers, shirts and sundries were purchased, trainers were not (my birthday present to Him).
I've learnt to read the signs and quickly realised limits had been reached so whisked us out of Sports Direct and into Wetherspoons where beer, wine & bowls of chips worked their restorative magic.

The next day instead of going for a walk we met my Mum at Dad's care home with ice creams and Star Wars Rogue One both of which Dad thoroughly enjoyed. We were back there on the Monday as it was my brother's birthday so we all coincided there for a glass of something.

It was also the weekend that we found we had a leak in the kitchen. Thankfully this turned out to be one of the washing machine pipes I was worried they were going to have to try and get behind the cupboards under the sink. For some reason I found the whole thing extremely stressful, just where I'm at mentally at the moment I think.

I had my hair cut and coloured which was slightly unnerving as the Sister in Law is currently suffering from vertigo! She was telling me all about how ill she had been, how dizzy she feels and how she often can't see straight all whilst weilding her hairdressers scissors! It's maybe a tad shorter than I had expected but otherwise pretty damn good considering the circumstances.

We went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean film. I really enjoyed it, Himself didn't and actually fell asleep! Oh well.

 Soo came over for a catch up last Saturday. It's been an age since we have been out, well it felt like it anyway. We just mooched into town and had some lunch out. The Chazzas were absolutely rubbish which seems to be the way at the moment. I bought a scarf and that was it.

May purchases;
Some black wide leg exercise pants and a navy and red cherry print vest top from Sainsbury's when they had their 25% clothing sale on. I have the trousers already in grey and love them. Not that we have been able to get to the park much with all the rain we have been having. the downside of exercising outside.
Whilst on the work clothes purchasing trip. I bought 2 pairs of black capri pants, one casual look pair and one more smart for work. Two gypsy tops one black embroidered and one red & white gingham as well as a checked shirt.
I couldn't be arsed to queue up and use the fitting room so of course I got home to find trousers that were meant to be the same size, were actually one pair slightly too big, and one pair I could barely fasten. *sigh* They got returned along with the black gypsy top which was way too short on me.
I also bought a pair of sliver loafers reduced to £5

They stayed :)

I did a bit of online frock buying via some of those 'it's a bank holiday have some money off' emails.

A Dancing Days floral dress, which is very loud but I love it.

Now you know me and a novelty print, I very rarely say no. I couldn't resist this one even though as Himself quite rightly pointed out the colour is far too light for me.

But lobsters and prawns and fishies, what's not to like??

It looks fine with a stronger coloured cardigan so it's staying.

This black and white summer dress was a charity shop purchase for £3 earlier in the month.

Talking of earlier purchases. Remember the Voodoo Vixen frock I stalked for months on end until it went into the sales?

well I finally wore it and lets just say good grief the sleeves.......Clearly my dress had gained a lot of extra love in the sleeve department than the one in the picture here.

on me it was more like

I kid you not!

This is where having a seamstress for a Mother is a marvelous thing. She tutted and exclaimed, removed the sleeves, took some of the extra fabric out, pinned them back in made me try it on, adjusted them a bit and returned it to me with the cute little cap sleeves I was expecting in the first place.What a star.

Finally I broke the bag buying drought with this 1970's moss green Clarks number. It's in great condition but smells terrible so is currently airing outside before I try a good clean and some bicarb in it.

Finally whilst Himself was looking at stuff in H&M I browsed their mini homewares section and just had to buy this lion juice glass to go with the Tropicana one we already have.

Right I'm off to sort out my shoes to make room for my new ones. It has to be said I do have a bit of a thing for sparkly shoes, a pair for every day of the week it seems.

Spring Greens and Baby Birds.

Bearing in mind we are super busy at work it seems odd to say I have just had a couple of days off, but it was kind of now or never and I have also had a less than gentle reminder I still have two thirds of my leave to take before September so how about I get on and book some hmm?
To be honest it's a combination of having slightly more holiday and a completely different leave year to Himself and also the fact that I thought I would need time to move again.
As it goes our landlord hasn't got round to filing his planning application yet and offered us this place for another year. We both admitted we couldn't face having to move again this year so we said yes. We haven't exactly got on with our downsizing so it's no bad thing really!
It does mean I have 2 weeks in hand and I don't really know what to do with it. We can't afford a holiday so I'm kind of stumped .
Mostly though I need to keep busy, it takes my mid of stuff so I keep on working, but I'm also aware of how horribly tired I am. There are worse problems to have.

I did a bit more tidying in the garden. My Mum is of the opinion 'Why bother?' but as you know I love gardening, it's how I relax and unwind, also the landlord did ask would we mind trying to keep on top of the wilderness so I feel I'm kind of doing that and a bit more. On the one hand I find it hard as a keen gardener to have such a an overgrown mess but on the other the wildlife it brings is an absolute joy.

Red Kite watching what I'm up too.

The bit that still needs tackling.....
Believe it or not there is a veggie  patch under there.

The bit that has been tamed.

The path and round stone edging was a surprise, it's fascinating to see the bones of what was once there, sort of garden archaeology. If it were down to me there would be more flowerbeds but hey it's not.

I absolutely love the bird life, it's such a lovely way to start the day sipping tea and watching them busy on the feeders. I have a robin with no tail (who is so damn friendly I'm not surprised he has no tail!) There have ben baby starlings an baby robin and this week 2 baby goldfinches. They are teeny tiny and so, so, SO cute

Himself has named them Harry and Barry, they may not have figured out how the bird feeders work yet but they have figured out if they sit underneath enough food will get dropped for them to get their fill. They are not stupid these two.

In other news we haven't been able to get to the park much due to other commitments and the weather ,but we are still getting out for a walk when we can. We have discovered we are about a really pretty 20 minute walk from a great pub so I foresee a lot of summer evening walks in that direction!

This is an old railway line that is now a cycle way & footpath.

I took this picture on a walk to christen my new flask, As I mentioned before Himself has a theory that I have a 10 mile limit before I get grouchy, I however have a theory that I have a 10 mile 'I need a cup of tea' mark so decided to invest in a new flask to test whose theory was right!

Being out in the air does my soul good. Last year when all the shit hit I would get this feeling like I couldn't quite breathe inside, I'd just have to get out and walk, even when it was blowing a hoolie. I need to make more time for walking.

It's not just work that has been busy. May is the big birthday month between friends and family they cover 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 22nd & 29th, as you can imagine it's a bit ouchy on the pocket and tough on the waistband and liver.

Himself's Dad is the 9th so we whizzed down to Margate last weekend to catch up and go out for dinner and a few drinks.

Though, hand on heart I am absolutely thrilled with how the town is regenerating after years of decay.
There does come a time, and in my case it was about midnight last Saturday, when you look around and find yourself stood, trying to get a drink, in trendily wood clad micro brewery, amongst a crowd of braying, bearded & man bunned DFL hipsters, whilst a guy with headphones and a laptop who thinks he's a hip DJ but is actually a prat, plays Jive Bunny (I kid you not) and you just have to wonder what the hell has happened to the town you loved.

I am getting too old for this shit.

Luckily we got to spend quality time with friends and family as well. We also had a couple of excursions to the cinema, I'm sure you have come to expect nothing less.

Guardians of the Galaxy 2

Which I loved, though not as much as the first one. Baby Groot stole every scene he was in.

Their Finest

Which was a surprise. For some reason the trailer had made me think it was a lighthearted comedy, it's absolutely not. Apart from Bill Nighy playing himself (as he seems to do in everything these days) which irritated Himself no end and Gemma Arterton's ever roaming Welsh accent we both enjoyed it. Sam Clafin is superb as always.

Mindhorn

Which was extremely silly and didn't amuse me as much as it did Himself.  

We have tickets for the new Pirates of the Caribbean which I'm excited about, it will probably be shit but I don't care I love those films.
I did also see a trailer that sent a chill of horror down my spine. For some reason they have decided to do a remake of Daphne Du Maurier's book My Cousin Rachel. This fills me with despair why oh why do they feel the need??

If you haven't head it, I highly recommend the audio book read by Michael Maloney, or if you can possibly find it, the one read by Richard Burton, they are both superb. Whatever you do, do not listen to the one read by Mel Gibson!!
(The perks of working at a copyright library back in the day meant I got to plunder their vast audio book collection!)

I shall leave you with my solitary frock purchase since Easter. Not a single handbag either. I had hoped I might find a gem in New York but we didn't manage to make it to the flea market we had hoped to go too, so other than a couple of t-shirts from Uni-glo, smellies from Bath & Body Works and gifts I came home empty handed.

I bought this frock when I was browsing the Attitude sale page for stuff for Nephew Number One.

Apologies it's fresh from the wash and in need of an iron!

*DFL = Down From London

In Art Deco Heaven

Well I didn't think it would take me quite this long to post about New York! Life since I have been back has been absolutely mental, but more of that another time!

New York was all I hoped it would be, it's been over 25 years since I was last there and since then my passion for Art Deco has grown 10 fold. This time I spent pretty much the whole time I was outside looking up, mostly with the slack jaw of awe, at this amazing city. It's going to be damn hard to narrow my choice of pictures down......

We arrived and proceeded to take 2 hours to clear security!?! dear lord JFK is a shit airport. They had 2 desks open at passport control, 2 freaking desks!! The queue was endless as you can imagine. This after having to have my hands and the laptop work had loaned me swabbed at Heathrow as well as the usual luggage and body scans.
Coming home was no better, chaotic systems and deeply obnoxious staff did not make that an any more pleasant experience. JFK flagship airport it is not!
I learnt that jumpers with lurex metal thread in them send the full body scanner into meltdown and lead to a full body search, won't make that mistake again! It was quite amusing to see the picture of myself standing arms up, legs akimbo with my whole upper body lit up like a Christmas tree lol.

The hotel, when we finally got there, was in the garment district and terrible chi-chi industrial chic darling. Not my cup of tea if I'm honest, too stark and far too up it's own arse. I  didn't feel particularly relaxed, mind that might just have been the 24 hour jazz, god I hate modern jazz.

I had travelled with my colleague Charlotte and we went straight out for a walk as soon as we had checked in and dumped our bags, first on my to see list was the Chrysler Building

we walked until we got hungry, me taking 15 million pictures, and walked some more until we found somewhere we thought looked good to eat. Then back to the hotel for a shower and bed.

The one crap thing about my room was the shower, no power there what so ever sadly, maybe it was deliberate, having a gentle trickle, maybe it's meant to be more relaxing or something. Personally I prefer a shower with some oomph.
New York also has soft water, Oxfordshire does not. I put my usual generous squish of shampoo on my head and genuinely started to panic that I would end up in there all night as it would just not wash out. Lesson learned and after that I was a lot more economical with the shampoo!

Next day we had a full day left to our own devices so we decided to just walk as this is pretty much the best way to see the city.

Look at all those yellow cabs, could you get any more New York?

We started with the High Line which is the old rail line to the meat packing district. It has been planted up and turned into a walkway.

It gives you some great views.

I just loved all the outside staircases they just shout New York to me.

I think we got in a good mix of the classic touristy stuff like the Empire State Building and the Flatiron Building

and some more off the beaten track areas.

We even chanced upon a farmer's market which was fun to amble about. Of course it was grey and freezing cold all day, bah.

Next day up bright and early, suited and booted for work, it was what I was there for after all!

None too shabby a place to work if you have too.

The first day was not so busy and went very well.

I also managed to make a trip to Bath & Body Works, a place I love, as there was one about 10 minutes from the office. I had a blissful half hour smelling new smells and stocking up.

That evening I had arranged to meet up with an old friend Shannon who lives in New York. We went for dinner in a teeny tiny little Italian place, ate huge bowls of pasta and talked and talked. She recommended going to see the Morgan Museum & Library which has free entry on Friday evenings. I had another friend Jennifer coming to stay with me Friday & Saturday night but she was up for it too so we added it to the itinerary.

Second day of work was also great, bloody busy and we didn't get out until 6pm, so a quick zip back to the hotel to hook up with Jennifer, change and then out to the museum. It's a beautiful place. Weirdly, even though it's been 6 years since I worked at the Bodleian it still feels like a bit of a bus man's holiday to look at old manuscripts!

We mooched in the shop and then grabbed some dinner. Jennifer and I reminisced and entertained Charlotte with some of our escapades. We have known each other for almost 30 years and used to travel a lot together, so there a many stories to tell that's for sure.

Saturday Jennifer had kindly got us tickets from the water taxi through her friend. It was grey, freezing cold and pretty soon the rain came and didn't go for the rest of the day, but other than not walking the Brooklyn Bridge because it was hammering down at that point we did the whole excursion anyway. If you stay on the boat it's a 90 minute round trip but you can hop on & hop off at various points which is what we did.

It's a great way to see the city from a different side so to speak. First stop was the 9/11 memorial and the church of St Paul's which amazingly suffered only one cracked pane of glass and became such a symbol of hope and place of sanctuary in all the difficult months that followed the tragedy.

I must confess the incredible feeling of peace you find at the memorial is not what I thought you would feel. It is so busy there now and also such a recent and shocking event but there is such a feeling of serenity at the pools.It's not normally the kind of thing I would think of visiting because I would expect it to be morbid and sad but I'm glad I did.

 Of course I braved the rain and the choppy waters to takes some pictures of the Statue of Liberty!

Once back on dry land we grabbed a late lunch at Macy's and did a little shopping as you do.

Charlotte headed off to change, she had a ticket for the opera, Jennifer and I headed to Time Square to wander about and grab some amazing pizza at another place that had been recommended to us John's Pizza, it was well worth the wait. delicious.

Sunday we had to be up and check out. Typically the weather turned and it was absolutely glorious so we sat out in Bryant Park with our breakfast before walking to the Rockefella Centre. We scooted back to the hotel to check out and see Jennifer into a taxi to the bus station. Charlotte and I then decided to leave our cases and go to Central Park as we were going to be sitting on our arses for many hours on the plane home so a walk seemed a good idea.

It was glorious.

Full of people enjoying the sunshine and yet you could still find quite spots, we even did a bit of bird spotting

Amazing what you see!

Finally it was time to head back, collect our bags and take a white knuckle taxi ride back to the airport. Sometimes my job is pretty damn great.