Yearly Archives

2016

Painting my gong copper

October 27, 2016

You probably won’t find another blog post with the same title as this one! But that’s literally what this post is about. I have childhood memories of a place called Foxlease in the New Forest where we’d sometimes have a little holiday. It was something to do with the fact that my Mum was a Guide leader. Anyway, it was a big old stately home and they had a huge dinner gong to tell everyone staying there that dinner was ready. Every evening they would take in turns letting the kids bang the gong. It never was my turn….

Should I do NaNoWriMo?

October 26, 2016

If you have no clue what I’m talking about and wondering What is NaNoWriMo? Then here’s a quick answer: it’s short for National Novel Writing Month. In November writers all round the world get their pens and keyboards at the ready and try to write 50,000 words. There’s a website for support and to help track your word count, and little groups get together in real life for writing sessions. Now that November is approaching fast, I’m wondering if I should get with the programme….

Oxford Botanic Gardens – The story of the photographs

October 25, 2016

This should really be part of my Three Days in Oxford series, but I took so many photos at the Oxford Botanic gardens, that I decided to give them a post of their own. Just to quickly fill you in, I had a lovely trip away on my own back in April, and I’m only just catching up on the blog about it now….

Weekly Wardrobe – Off to a Faery Fayre

October 24, 2016

The right level of fairyish-ness had to be achieved for visiting the Avalon Faery Fayre yesterday. I don’t want to be boring and not look remotely dressed for the occasion, but nor do I want to go all out fairy, like I would for a festival. I think I got the tone right, and when I bought the headdress moments after arriving there, my look was complete!….

The delights of the Avalon Faery Fayre in Glastonbury

October 23, 2016

It’s that time of year again! On a spring and autumn weekend, Glastonbury Town Hall is host to one of the most creative and inspiring shopping experiences I ever go to! The term ‘craft fair’ doesn’t quite do it justice, even though most (if not all) of the items for sale are hand-crafted by the stall owner, they are of exceptional quality and never the sort of thing you can find on your usual High Street….

Bedroom renovating part 1 – Making a reclaimed rustic wooden headboard

October 22, 2016

I watched back the September Favourites You Tube video I made, and I don’t think my tone of voice was sarcastic enough when I said that next time I’d be in the bedroom with a white headboard with fairy-lights and a vase of flowers and candle in the background! (This seems to be the setting of 99% of monthly favourites You Tube videos.) When I made that video we had no headboard at all; flaky plaster; holes in the ceiling and a lot of mess. Last weekend though, we got busy in the bedroom(!)…..

Visiting Bath Fashion Museum

October 21, 2016

The good thing about Blogtober is that I’m managing to fit in articles that I’ve had in mind to write for quite some time. This is about my visit to the Bath Fashion Museum, which although doesn’t feel like very long ago, was actually in April! It was during Bath Fashion Week and I wanted to make the most of my day-trip, and as I was going to a talk by Livia Firth in the same building, I thought I’d quite like to have a look round the new exhibition called A History of Fashion in 100 Objects….

What it’s like to be an Introvert

October 20, 2016

Move over anxiety; being an introvert is the new fashionable difficulty! I am of course, being slightly tongue-in-cheek, but I when I recently started getting into You Tube, I couldn’t believe how many people are giving their videos titles such as, ‘Coping with anxiety,’ and ‘My depression story.’ I couldn’t help but be a little cynical. Could this many people really be dealing with mental health issues, or has it just become a little fashionable? Then I considered two things…..

The most interesting Handmade adult Halloween Costumes

October 19, 2016

Across the pond they dress up as anything and everything for their Halloween costumes- the sexier the better; however over here we tend to stick to traditional spooky themes. So our choices are more-or-less limited to ghosts, witches, zombies and vampires, but I’ve been searching Etsy UK for outfit ideas that will leave the other guests at the Halloween party envious of how good you look!….

How to host an afternoon tea party

October 18, 2016

Yes I know it’s not exactly the weather for this in the garden any more, but it can still be done inside! My daughter didn’t want to go out on the piss for her eighteenth birthday last month – partly because she’s the first of her friends to turn legal in pubs, so it wouldn’t be much fun getting drunk on her own – and partly because that’s not really her sort of thing anyway. For now at least! So it was her idea to have afternoon tea in the garden with a nod to an Alice in Wonderland theme….

Weekly Wardrobe – layering for a walk at sunset

October 17, 2016

Chris was dealing with quickly changing light conditions when we went outside to take these photos; so you’ve got quite a mix of pictures this week from daylight to moonrise! It’s that time of year when you think you’ve got plenty of time and the next minute you know, it’s pitch black. Anyway, here I am taking a dress I wore in summer and layering it with a cosy cardigan and warm shawl for autumn…

Joe Browns favourites from the new catalogue

October 16, 2016

The latest Joe Browns catalogue popped through my letterbox yesterday and I was excited to see their latest clothing for sale. By the way, this post isn’t sponsored or paid for by Joe Browns, I’m just a big fan of their clothes – they have quirky unusual styles that are very wearable and more than any other brand, my wardrobe is filled with items from this catalogue. If you like brightly coloured prints, then this is definitely the company for you, but if you’re more like me and prefer plain or subtle designs, then there is still plenty to choose from. Here are some of my favourites…..