Feeling Blue ... And Pink And Green And Yellow!

What to do when you're feeling a little blue because it won't stop raining, the house is a tip and your littlest brother (middle) has jetted off for a new life in Australia?

A little colour retail therapy, that's what!

Softest rosy pjs ...

More eye candy for the arm ...

Matryoshkas made for crochet needles ...

Total price = £11.00.

Cup of tea in a spotty cup ...

and random crochet brights ...

Aaah, that's better.

Have a happy weekend!

Hx

Yoohoo! I'm Back! (Part 2)

... continued from previous post ...

(My two blondies and my 4 year old nephew.)

(Last but by no means least, the beautiful bride and groom.)

I wish them all the happiness in the world.  They were made for each other.

We came home via Brussels where we stayed for a couple of days and it was my most favourite city of the whole trip!

Moules et frites and ice cold wine in streetside cafes surrounded by beautiful buildings, people-watching, street artists and handmade chocolate sellers as far as the eye can see ...

My idea of bliss!

So dear friends, that was a condensed version of our holiday!

I've been picking my way through the latest blog postings to catch up on your doings - it's been like having a delicious book to read!

I'll leave you with a couple of piccies of my mini-me blondie daughter which made me chuckle - check out the Cath Kidston! ...

Speak soon.

Hx

Yoohoo! I'm Back! (Part 1)

Hey there!

How are you all?

Well, 2000 miles, 3 countries, 5 different hotels and 350 photos later, we're back!  Tee hee, don't worry, I've not included them all; I've diarised our trip using just a few of my favourites!

The journey ...

We took a train to St Pancras, the Eurostar to Brussels and then hired a car.

We spent a day in Berlin which, frankly, isn't anywhere near long enough to visit all the landmarks.  As our hotel was situated in the Tiergarten area (German for 'animal garden'), our first stop was only a short walk away - Berlin Zoo, which is one of the most popular in the world ...

(Tiergarten)

Berlin is a fascinating city.  If you get the chance to go, do take it.  It is steeped in history, particularly 20th century, and you can't help but get swept up by it all.  Our whistle-stop visit included the Reichstag, the German parliamentary building ...

The Brandenburg Gate ...

(The first picture shows the Brandenburg Gate in 1989 with East German soldiers on the Berlin Wall.)

(Poignant memorial to those who lost their lives attempting to climb over the Berlin Wall.)

Next stop was Poland, or Wloclawek to be precise.  The reason for our trip, of course, was to attend my little brother's wedding to his Polish girlfriend.  The general standard of living seems very low in the parts of Poland we saw.  The buildings look neglected, people tend to live in ugly high rise apartments and most of the roads are in a terrible condition.  We must have passed a dozen 'ladies of the night' sitting, smoking at the roadsides in broad daylight!  I think there is a lot of EU funding money being spent on the main road network though as we got held up in so many roadworks.

(These pictures were all taken within a stone's throw of our hotel.)

There were pockets of prettiness though and our destination, the Hotel Aleksander, was one ...

The wedding was simply gorgeous.  There were about 50 guests (mostly English).  It was a short Catholic service followed by a reception at the hotel.

The whole thing was wonderful but quite emotional; the newlyweds are emigrating to Australia this week. :-(

My brother is ten years younger than me; he is the youngest of the four of us and I am the eldest.  He's always been a baby to me and I shall miss him terribly.

(Me with my 'little' brother, the groom!)

(My lovely little family.)

Blogger is not letting me load any more photos, maybe it has reached saturation point!  I shall continue in another post ... x

See You Soon x

Good morning sweet people.  Are you well?

A very half-hearted bee fell to the ground near my foot.  It lay there for a minute.  Knackered?  Contemplating what to do next?  It took a few slow steps then stopped again.  Mustering up the energy and enthusiasm from somewhere, it suddenly took off and flew to a nearby flower.  A small flurry of buzzing and bee-type activity ensued and then it fell back down to the ground.  It lay there for a minute.  Knackered?  Contemplating what to do next?

I daresay this pattern would have continued for a while but I got bored watching and went back inside with my cup of tea but not without realising that I feel a little like that bee at the moment!  Small flurries of activity interspersed with lots of sitting down, knackered and contemplating what to do next!

This really won't do as we are heading off to Poland for my little brother's wedding in a few days!

We're driving most of the way, stopping for a couple of days in Brussels and then Berlin.  Oh yes, this is a holiday with a difference for us.  We are normally to be found stretched out on a Spanish beach, liquid refreshment and trashy novel to hand.

So am I rushing around, washing, ironing, bleaching u-bends and winding down the food stores?  Am I heck!  I'm saving all that for the day before we leave!

I always, always come home from a holiday with a renewed determination to be more organised, finish works in progress and start a hundred more!  Despite not actually having gone yet, I've already started a new project list!

So I shall be back in a couple of weeks dear friends, refreshed, a little more worldly wise and full of tales of the wedding.  'Til then, I wish you long days of sunshine and moments to treasure.

Hxxx

Just Add Flowers ...

Good morning.  Hope you're all well.

How strange it is getting used to this summer holidays business.  It's taken me a few days to stop clock-watching and settle into it.  The weather doesn't help.  Blondie son had one of his friends here for the day yesterday - there's really very little for them to do when the weather is foul.  We ended up going swimming.  Trust me, if I'd not instigated that little venture out, they would have happily spent hours in front of the Xbox while the wind rattled the windows.  Ah me ... in my day ...

In fact, it's been so blustery here, look ...

Even my poor windmill hasn't coped!  The red petal has completely disappeared.  Taken away on a particularly strong gust to distant climes, never to be seen again.

Unless of course Bertie ate it?!

I do hope the weather improves for the weekend.  I'm helping host a street barbeque (inspired by an Eden Project initiative) on Sunday.  :-{

Anyway, I wanted to show you my cute new Noa Noa bag.  Remember, my brother's wedding in a fortnight?  Well, it's first outing will be then but afterwards I shall use it every day.

It's just gorgeous, with a dear drawstring lining too.  However, I had to add a little floral flourish ...

Aah, that's better.

Bertie kept positioning himself in front of the camera as I was taking these pictures so gratuitous spaniel shot if you don't mind ...

Talking of adding flowers, Handsome Hubby went to the British Grand Prix on Sunday and came back with this coolbag.  He'd been given it packed full of picnicky lunch bits as part of a 'hospitality thing' ...

Very uninspiring huh?  A few minutes, a quick wipe with Dettol All In 1 and a dozen or so pink decals later ...

Vast improvement!

My interest in my jools has re-emerged and I spent a lazy afternoon wire wrapping some freshwater pearls ...

I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but these are wonderfully juicy pearls.  They're so lush, I just love them.  I've since starting knotting them, with tiny silver charms, onto a length of grey silk ribbon.  I have a dark grey strapless sun top that I'm loving wearing at the moment which will look great with my new creation!

Ooh, I must just tell you about Saturday.  About a dozen houses on one road near us, all had a garage sale.  How great is that for an idea?  People were selling all their unwanted items from large items of furniture to books and bric a brac.  We spent a lovely hour or two pottering from front garden to front garden and browsing in the sunshine.  I bought a large pine dresser top/shelf unit for £10 which I'm going to sand and paint!  We have so much clutter we could sell; it definitely started my cogs whirring so I'm going to arrange a 'Garage Sale Sunday' in August and rope in as many neighbours as I can.  I've already got three signed up!!!

On a final note, this made me smile so I thought I'd share it with you ...

Take care all.

Hx

How Clever Am I?

Wednesday afternoon was possibly, nay definitely, the proudest afternoon of my life so far!

Blondie son was presented with his Academic Scholarship award at the school's annual Speech Day.

That is why I have been so excited of late!

However, unbeknown to us until the actual event, both of our blondies also won Outstanding Academic Achievement awards!  Only three such awards are presented per year group.

Dear reader, I don't mind telling you that Handsome Hubby and I were both puffed up to twice our normal size and in tears.

It's been an emotionally draining week as Blondie son has now completed Junior School and starts at Senior School in September.

We now have two months of school holidays.  I daresay I shall want to wring their necks after a couple of weeks of bickering and "I'm bored"s but, for now, I'm still congratulating myself for making two such beautiful and incredibly clever babies.

Hx

Bertie ... The Second Attempt!

Ooh, I did relish letting off steam in my last post and thoroughly enjoyed reading your comments :-D!  All I'll say for now is that a very plain and pitiful woman at school has decided to show her true colours (predominantly green).  She rounded on me unprovoked and I think, was quite unprepared for my backlash.  Anyway, all will become apparent a little later this week.  Needless to say, I don't give a s*** about her and I'm so excited about Wednesday I could jump up and down and screech with joy!!! ;-)

I heartily recommend having a chunter on your blog!  Seriously, normally I would have gone to bed all churned up and livid but by letting it out on my blog I got closure!  It was brilliant!!!

Back to today, I was kicking my heels a bit so Blondie daughter and I decided to have a lovely painty afternoon ...

I had another go at painting Bertie, this time from a photograph ...

Remember, keep it loose and free ...

So I did.  Room for a little improvement but I'm so much happier with this one.

Blondie daughter had a go too ...

Pretty damn good for an 8 year old I say!

Enjoy your weekend lovelies.

Hx