April in Instagram

So what have I been doing lately apart from being over-emotional, as testified by my last blog post?

Office playtime My office is kind of cool. We have a meeting room with lots of cool stuff to play with including some Play Doh. Now I can make stuff in the middle of meetings. I am concentrating I swear, Making caterpillars helps me focus.

Tequila time The beginning of the Easter weekend kicked off with a trip round to a colleague's house. I came in from work on Thursday, slapped some lippy on and...got so so drunk. Horrifyingly drunk. This is what happens when you drink at home and you're in control of pouring your own drinks and in charge of several bottles of tequila.

Birthday time Two days after Tequila Night it was my birthday. 32. Ugh. No thanks. I travelled back to Hull for the weekend, still suffering from the Tequila Night Hangover. A quick nap on the sofa at Mum's when I arrived and I woke up to this little Fred face looking at me. Pretty sure he was judging me.

Fred and Lily time I ended up penned in by these guys on the sofa one night. Best night of my life.

Chandelier time I had a meeting for work at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole. It has some amazing chandeliers in the meeting rooms and my favourite thing is taking photographs of them.

Rowan time I love this dog. She is my best friend. I can't get enough of taking photos of her face, although why she looks so sad all the time I'll never know.

Gerbil time Gerbil playtime has been happening. I still can't take my eyes off it for more than a second. If I do then when I look back I will see a scene similar to this. Tyrion Lannister is always on a mission to escape.

Crochet time I've been undertaking some major crochet time recently for a pretty hefty commission for a child's nursery with a bird theme.

London time I was down at the Business Design Centre down in London for a meeting for work which has lots of cool artwork on the walls like the one pictured.

Picnic time A few of us got over excited at the sight of the sunshine and headed down to a local park for a picnic. It was a really brilliant afternoon, looking forward to lots more as the weather improves

Bradgate Park time Following on from the Bradgate Park - Winter Edition, Janet and I ventured to Bradgate Park for the Spring Edition. Blog post to come eventually. 

Lille time Blog post also incoming on this one. I had just over 24 hours in Lille on a trip with work. I declared Lille a thoroughly Instagrammable city. Hopefully a blog post will be incoming on this one too. 

Now just to write blog posts about it instead of putting photos on Instagram...

Follow me on Instagram here

Discovering Instagram...

I do enjoy being extraordinarily late to a party you know.

For years and years I have resisted the lure of the iPhone. Mainly because I'm the only person on the planet who doesn't find Apple technology intuitive to use at all, and also because there was a little bit of the twat in me who wanted to be a bit different.

I caved.

When it came to upgrading I didn't like any of the Android offerings so I decided to take the plunge. I still don't find the technology intuitive but the good thing is that in this day and age you're never more than 2 foot away from someone who can show you how to use an iPhone.

One of the first things downloaded on to my phone?

Instagram.

I've had a Windows Phone for 2 years and I have been one of their biggest supporters for a really long time. Or I've tried to be. But the total lack of access to Apps was just slowly killing me. And especially killing me was the fact that I couldn't get on Instagram - I was stood with my nose pressed up against the glass watching everyone else have fun with their selfies and their filters whilst I stood out in the cold.

The forward facing camera is also a new revelation in my life. My old phone didn't have one, selfies were either an impossibility or an extreme pain in the backside involving a lot of guess work and a steady hand. I always thought I wasn't really a selfie person but the sheer number of photos of my face in the below collage seems to indicate that I was just looking for the right means...

1: My first Instagram photo. A family portrait of me and the gerbils. Thank goodness for the forward facing camera or this photo would have been too difficult to capture.

2: Telecons that go on for 2 hours should be banned

3: But tea and knock-off jelly beans can make everything feel better

4: Me and my bestie, Rowan. I love that face so much, I can't believe she is 9 already

5: Some people are culture vultures, I just have culture gerbils. Here is Tyrion Lannister catching up on some reading. (Yes he did later start to eat the book)

6: My first food photo on Instagram. A killer bacon sandwich with spare sausage to help chase away a Saturday hangover.

7: I've been crocheting - what's it going to be, and more importantly, who is it for? All will be revealed.

8: I got my paintbrushes out and started making over a pretty boring side table. And nearly killed myself with paint fumes in the meantime. Why is DIY never straightforward for me?

9: I am determined to get myself back into running. I am. It has been a bit faltering this year but I took myself  out after work for a little 3km stumble and it wasn't all bad. Did I run the whole thing? No I didn't. Do I care? No, for the first time ever I genuinely don't. This revelation needed to be recorded.

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Do you like photos and vidoes of gerbils? If so do feel free to give me a follow @Shippers1983

Photo an Hour l 21st February

I should have been in Manchester this weekend, after my last weekend was cancelled. This weekend got cancelled as well. Need to cut these flaky people out of my life really don't I?

Anyway. No plans. Nothing happening. Yet another Photo an Hour date came round and I had a day of nothingness ahead of me. These Photo an Hour posts that I'm taking part in seem to serve the purpose of highlighting how crap my life is...

This was Saturday 21st February...

9am Slow start to the day as it was a late night the day before. Got up and made myself a cup of tea and retreated back to my lair to watch Goldfrapp videos on You Tube. For absolutely no reason.

10am It's not a weekend unless bacon is involved somewhere, at some point. This might be the finest bacon sandwich I've ever made myself, I got the perfect crispiness.

11am Decided to get up and get dressed but was faced with the everlasting problem of a wardrobe full of clothes and nothing to wear. My plan was to head straight out but got waylaid by a lengthy phone call with my Mum and the weather going absolutely batshit crazy - hailing with blue skies? What?

12pm Suddenly remembered that I needed to send off a package to a friend. I finally managed to crochet one hundred hearts for my friend's wedding and needed to send them off to her. Made use of my washi tape stash - everyone loves pretty post, right?

1pm Finally made it into town and to the Farmer's Market which takes place just beside the ruins of the castle. Thankfully the weather seemed to have calmed down and I did a big race around, ticking off everything that I wanted to get done in record time.

2pm Back home and noticed the rather lovely shadow being cast in my bedroom

3pm Turns out one of my headlights has gone out so I ventured out to Halfords to buy a bulb and get it fitted. Yeah you can fit them yourself but for the stress of it I'd rather just pay £7 and get it sorted thanks. Also, trying to take a surreptitious photo of someone fitting your new headlight is really hard.

4pm Time for a cup of tea and crochet time. Already got another couple of things waiting on my order book so time to get knuckled down. Care to venture a guess as to what it's going to be?

5pm More tea needed. This time accompanied by a beast of a doughnut that I bought earlier in the day at the Farmer's Market.

6pm Went to my sister's for dinner which means lots of time with my favourites - Rosie was in the middle of taking all her toys out of her toybox and sitting down surrounded by them.

7pm Whenever Blinky behaves like a normal cat it freaks us all out a little bit. Nobody really knew what to do when she jumped up on my sister's chair at the dining table - and certainly nobody wanted to risk moving her, you can never be sure when she will strike...

8pm TV watching with my bestie, Rowan. I actually think that if I could take Rowan home with me all the time then I wouldn't miss having a man in the house at all - I'd just hug her all night and it would be brilliant.

9pm On the way back home I figured it was essential to go to the 24 hour Tesco and stock up on crisps and booze for the rest of the evening. Late night shopping is my all time favourite - it's so empty you feel like you're doing something you shouldn't be doing.

10pm 30 Rock time. It arrived this week and I've been dying to watch it, perfect Saturday night TV.

11pm Still there, watching 30 Rock. Where I remained until much much later on. I think I watched eight episodes in a row which may be considered overkill by some people.

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So I don't know, I'm torn between thinking "Hey I did do some stuff, even though I had nothing really planned" and thinking "Well. This highlights how empty my life is doesn't it?"

Only time will tell...

Thanks as always to Jane and Louisa for hosting. Check in with them for March's Photo an Hour date and don't forget to join in on Twitter and Instagram using #PhotoAnHour

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2015 Photo an Hour Posts
January

Betwixtmas 2014

Apparently we call the period between Christmas and New Year, Betwixtmas. I heard it on Radio 1 the other day and I liked it. I can be down with the kids.

Betwixtmas for me started off with some fairly major snow late on Boxing Day night. Not a big deal in itself, and quite exciting for most people, but a bit nervewracking for me as the next day I had to drive to Hull. I haven't driven in the snow/ice before and I would also have with me my Mum aka the World's Worst Passenger.

But we made it to Hull which was good because we had to break these two people out of cat prison aka the cattery.

Betwixtmas is a time for many a Fred and Lily photo to be taken. Pay special attention to the top right photo - Lily was nicely asleep on my knee for ages and when Fred saw this he immediately had to come and sit even closer to me because he is a big fat jealous ginger boy.

Betwixtmas was a time for catching up with friends. Catching up with them from 2pm until gone midnight to be precise. Messy. Although the next morning I discovered that I'd had a very productive shopping trip at Sainsburys. Oh and I took the funniest selfie with Lily ever - why does she look so horrified? Because I chased her all around the kitchen grabbing at her to take that photo...

Betwixtmas is also a time for me to dogsit for a day. Which just involves lying on the sofa watching TV with this pair of idiots. I don't know why they always look so sad in photos, I swear to god they're really happy dogs normally.

Betwixtmas is a time for crocheting things that have no purpose and are for you and you alone. I got Kerry Lord's book for Christmas along with some lovely fancy Tofts Alpaca wool (which is eye wateringly expensive when you're used to buying Stylecraft)

Betwixtmas is a time for sitting on your behind, drinking hot chocolate and reading massive 900 page tomes.

Betwixtmas is a time for starting to get organised and fill your fridge up after you have eaten it bare. Before I went shopping I swear to god all I had in my fridge was a bottle of cider, gherkins, Flora and an out of date yoghurt. I love a bit of batch cooking although it drives me mental that I don't have more space in my freezer. Jamie Oliver's basic stew recipe is a winner every time.

Betwixtmas is a time for surprise presents out of the blue from Apple. I have been the proud owner of a first generation iPod Nano for the last 9 years or so. You might not remember first generation iPods, I think they stopped making them a bazillion years ago.

Anyway the battery on mine gradually just got rubbish and wouldn't retain charge. I put out a random tweet saying I felt sad that my iPod's time had come, and a stranger replied pointing me in the direction of Apple's First Generation iPod Replacement Program. I was absolutely convinced it was a scam that was going to steal everything from me but it turns out it was actually true.

I sent my iPod Nano off and Betwixtmas delivered a brand new, latest, 16BG, iPod Nano. I could not believe it. Finally being cheap and not buying the latest model of anything pays off...



Christmas 2014 could suck it but Betwixtmas 2014 I could get on board with.

Photo an Hour l 14th December

Pitifully late with this month's Photo an Hour post. After being ill in Marrakech and then off work for a week, I've been having problems getting my act together and actually caring about doing anything. To be honest I'm giving myself a gold star for actually taking these photos.

This was Sunday 14th December...

10am - Late start for me, still in recovery mode after the kidney infection. Felt bad that the gerbils hadn't had a lot of exercise with me being away and being sick so I set up a mega cage extension into their playpen so they could come and play as they chose. They absolutely loved it and ended up being in there until about 2pm.

11am - Got around to finishing a book. This guy is a bit of a Marmite author, people seem to really like him or have a very visceral reaction to his books. I like him - his books are silly and easy to read and sometimes that is what you need. I wonder about his shelf life though, this book was very similar to his last one...

12pm - My guilty pleasure is absolutely, totally crap made-for-TV Christmas films. I'm not talking Elf, Polar Express, The Holiday, Love Actually here. I'm talking the kind of films you have never heard of, featuring actors you have never heard of with plotlines which are inconceivably easy to work out. I can't get enough of them.

1pm - Finally getting around to blogging, something which I have been completely remiss at lately.

2pm - In previous years I've been pretty good at making most of my Christmas cards. Not this year. I've been low on festive cheer but I gave myself a kick up the bum to make some cute crocheted Christmas tree cards to be given to the people I really like.

3pm - Round at my sister's so I got to see this little squishy face.

4pm - The downside of your sister being the boss? You get to spend a couple of hours of your Sunday sorting out vouchers to give people for a Christmas bonus. Yaaaaaaaay.

5pm - You can't tell from this picture but Rowan was literally sat on me, pushing me right against the arm of the sofa. She has absolutely no sense of personal space and I wouldn't have it any other way.

6pm - I stayed on at my sister's after dinner to help her with the Christmas tree. Having two teenage sons means that decorating the tree is kind of a lonely business for her. I on the other hand will leap at the opportunity to decorate a tree. Any tree.

7pm - And we didn't do too badly if I say so myself. Good bauble placement - I can't be doing with a sparsely decorated tree. And good distribution of lights. The more lights the merrier I say.

8pm - Back home where the washing up from the past *cough* days was awaiting me. It's pretty easy to let the washing up pile up when you're living on your own - you just keep taking plates out of the drawers until there aren't any left, or until there is no more workspace left to stack the dirty dishes. I know. I'm a terrible person.

9pm - In bed with a cup of tea and getting the last of my Christmas shopping done.

10pm - Ever late to a bandwagon. About 4 billion years ago, American Girl and Boy bought me Series 1 & 2 of 30 Rock. I loved it but just never got around to buying any more series. Over the past couple of weeks I rediscovered the box sets I did have and had to immediately buy Series 3 which is oh my goodness even funnier than the first two series. I've already order Series 4. Tune in next week for me discovering shows that everyone raved about 10 years previously...

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I feel like I can't thank Jane enough for hosting this year's Photo an Hour series. It's been surprisingly good fun and has got me blogging when I couldn't find anything else to blog about.

Louisa is taking up the Photo an Hour mantle for 2015 and has chosen the first date - Saturday 17 January - so get her blog bookmarked, get the date in your diary and get joining in. I love having a good old nosy at what people do during their weekends.

Life lately

Time marches on regardless of whether you want it to or not and for the most part Tuesdays are now just Tuesdays (for the most part anyway).

I took everyone's advice and tried to keep busy and it's been great, although part of me wonders whether the keeping busy is just a way of keeping your thoughts at bay. This weekend was the first one in a few where there was nothing planned and as soon as Friday morning hit I started to feel a little sad at the thought of an endless weekend stretched out ahead of me with no-one to have fun with.

I have entertained myself over the past few weeks as much as possible though and the time feels ripe for a life lately mega photo round up kind of post.

So life lately has consisted of:

1. Gerbils

These guys need a post all of their own really and they will get one in time. In the meantime however enjoy a small round up of recent photos due to me celebrating one whole year of gerbil ownership. I called it my Gerbilversary,

(Form an orderly queue gentleman)

2. Rabbit

I live very close to someone from work and have become the official go-to person for rabbit-sitting duties when the family all goes on holiday. I don't mind as a) it's only across the road b) the rabbit is actually pretty cute, (and that's coming from someone who is a little bit afraid of rabbits. Yes really.) and c) I get wine for doing it. I like anything that involves me getting wine.

3. Dogs

No explanation for this one really. Just....dogs. My sister has been ensuring that I occasionally get a decent meal in me - I still haven't quite got to grips with cooking for one, not in that I can't do it, I just cannot be arsed to do it. Anyway good meal also equals Rowan and Rosie, always the antidote to any sad feelings

4. Crochet

Obviously. When in doubt, turn to your hook. Above is the output over September/October. I'm particularly proud of the tractor (pleeeeeease tell me you knew it was a tractor) as that is officially the first thing that I've made where I've worked out the pattern myself. I looked around for various patterns but they were all either not what I was after or were too small so I took the picture of one and just set to work. You can't really get the sense of scale here but he was about 30cm tall so fairly big.

The penguin has winged his way to Hull to live, maybe he'll get to see the Gentoo Penguins at The Deep, who knows.

Anyway, you get the picture. I'm also currently working on a wreath inspired by the Attic24 wreaths that Lucy has created. Mine will be a little less CROCHET IN YOUR FACE as the ones that Lucy has produced and it is very very very exciting.

5. Spending

Now that my flat is just that, mine, I've been keen to make it a proper little home for me. That includes acccessorizing it up the wazoo with interiors. After blogging back in May about my desire to have a flat that looks a little less like a student flat and a little more like a grown-up flat I have been trying to put my grey and yellow theme into action and I finally feel a little bit as if it's coming together.

I couldn't resist this cushion from John Lewis Home and although he's more than I would ever normally pay for a cushion I had a £25 gift voucher and a hangover which gave me good enough reason to get my wallet out.

6. Pumpkin

I just wanted an excuse to show you a picture of the pumpkin I carved. This isn't really something that's been helping me over my break up, but it did keep me occupied for about 40 minutes and I was very pleased with it as I didn't go for a fancy stencil *cough cheat cough* and I only had use of a kitchen knife to hack away at him.


But the biggest news of all is.....

*Drumroll*

7. Car!!!!*

That's right. I finally finally finally own a car at the ripe old age of 31. A Ka to be more specific. This is so major I cannot even put into words how brilliant it is. But I hope to try because, although it might sound daft to you, it is a really significant life event for me.

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So. That's me. What have I missed?




*Unfortunately car does not really have a moustache

Happenings of Late

When you've been absent for a wee while it's always worth doing one of these little posts just to get you back in to the swing of things. It's a way of ordering my thoughts and reminding myself that there's a reason I haven't been sat in front of the computer very much.

So what have I been up to?

Sticking my Panini stickers into my sticker album. This is the coolest thing I've done in ages. Really, if you think about it, these albums are for adults and not kids, we're the only people who have the disposable income to buy the frigging stickers.

I'm currently 91 stickers away from completion and my obsession is well and truly underway. I have currently managed to finish four teams - Ivory Coast, Japan, Greece and Bosnia & Herzegovina. The excitement this causes me know no bounds.

Booking flights over to France for a long weekend in September to see my Dad and his wife at their house in France. They've been out there since the end of March so I haven't seen them for an incredibly long time.

Crocheting the last few bits that were remaining on my order book at work. I have officially shut the doors. As I mentioned in this post, it was starting to become a bit of a chore so I decided it was time to down my hook and only pick it up for selfish reasons for a little while.

Watching the World Cup. All of the World Cup. I can't really complain. Most of the time I have control of our remote and The Person happily watches whatever is on but every couple of years, when there is a major football tournament, I have to concede the TV to him as match after match after match is on. I mean I don't really mind football but three matches a day is starting to feel like a chore.

Repeating to myself about the above - "It's only really bad for a couple of weeks, it's only really bad for a couple of weeks"...

Painting my table as part of my grand plans to bring a bit of cohesion to our living situation as I mentioned in this post. I've been a very good girl and am priming it before beginning to paint it, something very out of the ordinary for me because I kind of like to throw myself into projects like this at times.

Walking the mad dogs when my sister and everyone in her house was struck down with the lurgy. It was a beautiful day and I took the dogs for a walk in a nearby hill with grasses that were about thigh high. What an idiot. I spent the remaining mile or so of the walk sneezing constantly and had to mainline anti-histamines when I returned the dogs.

Making ridiculous photos of my gerbils using PicMonkey because clearly I have far too much time on my hands...

Getting excited that in less than a week I'll be seeing Heather as I take a little trip over to her neck of the woods for a belated anniversary trip with The Person (postponed due to the fact that the original weekend we were going away coincided with England's first World Cup match. Why yes, yes I am a good girlfriend.)

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And I think that is a pretty good round-up.

Now I shall leave. These football matches don't watch themselves you know.

May Project 365 Round-Up

"Woah. What's going on here then? You can't post a round up of May's Project 365 photos before May's even finished!"

Well yes I bloody can. It's my blog and I'll do what I want to. Especially when I have blogged every. single. day in May and am feeling fatigued and need an easy post.

If today and tomorrow's photos are really amazing, I'll give them a post all of their own, I promise.

May

Clockwise L-R: Blackpool baby yeah; Rosie on a wall; crocheted elephant; Coke bottle with my name on it; Lily cat; Hull 10km that wasn't

26th May - Oh I do like to be beside the seaside! Especially when it involves eating fish and chips, gawping at people, getting accidentally burned, freezing my feet in the Irish Sea and drinking a bucket of gin. Read all about it here.

1st May - Rosie is a funny old one. She doesn't really enjoy being on four legs you know. She can always be found up on her hind legs at the kitchen counters, up on her hind legs asking for a hug, and here, up on her hind legs on the wall that overlooks the castle when I took her for a walk.

13th May - I crocheted an elephant everyone! Aren't I a clever monkey. Not the people who wrote the pattern they're not clever at all, but I am the clever one for following it correctly and producing an elephant. That doesn't stand....but let's not dwell on that.

8th May - "Oooh look at me, I'm all sneery and so sick of seeing Coke bottles with people's names on them" - is something you will hear me say never. I think it was a great idea and it makes me smile and I don't even feel bad about it. Instead I feel bad for the souls who cannot find the joy in anything in life. The one drawback to Coca Cola's idea? People like me who are a bit weird and now can't buy the bottle unless it has either my name on it or someone who is connected to me's name on it. I don't want to drink Amy's bottle of Coke, that's just weird.

18th May - It is hard to get a photo of Lily where she doesn't look either deranged, massively overweight or as if she's descended from bats. It turns out the secret is to take a picture of only head, from side on so you can't see the size of her ears or her crazed eyes. I like to think this is how they take pictures of Kate Moss too - I bet she looks deranged from certain angles too.

19th May - How could I not include this photo? Let us all revel in the delight that was the Hull 10km that actually wasn't a 10km. I've pretty much given up complaining about it now, mostly because I've run out of people that haven't heard the story. However this t-shirt is wonderful - it's a good size it's a nice colour and doesn't make me feel all gross when I run. I'll take my good t-shirt with lies written all over it and go and run a 10km somewhere else thank you very much.

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This is quite the achievement. Not only have I got to the end of May and managed to blog every day - I've also managed to make it 5 months taking photos every day when I actually haven't got a life at the moment. 

High five!

All Project 365 photos can be found here on Flickr. Don't let the new layout throw you out and give you a headache like it did to me.

Unconditional love - BEDM Day 7

I can't tell a lie, I'm never really sure what to say to people who say that they've never had a pet before.

There are a myriad of reasons why some people haven't experienced pet ownership - allergies, parents not wanting them, being out of the house all day, living somewhere that doesn't allow them, just not liking animals (those people? Those people I judge) - and they're all valid reasons but I just feel like I wouldn't be able to connect with them on some level.

They just haven't experienced the utter joy and misery of pet ownership and all that comes with it. 

When you have a pet in your life, they are your life to some extent. Most of the conversations that Mum and I have are based around Fred and Lily in some way and when people have dogs the extent to which they take over your life becomes even greater.

Now you know my first love is for cats, but I wouldn't be foolish enough to pretend that they're aloof beings you deign to have you in their life. Dogs on the other hand have an unconditional love which is enough to stop you in your tracks.

Living with Rowan and Rosie has opened my eyes to a new kind of pet ownership. One which doesn't involve gingerly trying to get into bed so as to not disturb the cat on it...

A sight which simultaneously fills my heart with joy and dread...

...and doesn't involve waking up on Saturday morning wearing Blinky as a gauntlet around my arm - the result of some unknown misdemeanour that I committed whilst unconscious.

Take Friday night for instance.

My sister and brother-in-law went out for a dinner about 7.30pm leaving me at home on babysitting duty. In the past this would have involved me and the boy hanging out, playing, watching a film, reading a book to them in bed, but now involves me sitting downstairs, bored out of my mind whilst they boys sit upstairs playing Skyrim.

It turned out that there was a little one to look after though and this baby came in the form of Rosie - the youngest Irish Setter.

She was very unhappy that they had gone out and left her all alone and she spent up until about 9.30pm standing on the sofa, looking out of the window for them. 

It  was a little bit heartbreaking really and definitely in sharp contrast to cats - who, whilst may be a little subdued when their owner leaves home, certainly don't pine away for the evening, waiting for them to come back.

When she eventually gave up looking out of the window for them she wandered over to me. She's not a massively cuddly dog and will happily sleep at your feet, but isn't fussed about being on the sofa with you. On Friday night I think she needed some comfort though and she not only climbed on to the sofa, but went so far as to climb behind me and lie behind me, across the top of the cushions.

Her face was so full of sadness that I had to take this photo...

Apologies for my face

Now I know I'm doing that anthropomorphic thing and that she isn't really looking sad, that's just her face, but....come on....look at it. Couple it with the behaviour and how can you say she's not sad?

That kind of love just doesn't come along often and for that reason I'm glad to have experienced pet ownership.

(I'm not saying cats don't love us - they totally do - they just do it in a very different, less obvious way. Which I'm aware makes me sound like a woman with a mean boyfriend..."He does love me really, I swear it.")

Bank Holiday - BEDM Day 6

I love May. Two Bank Holidays - what lucky ducks we are.

I had made plans to spend this Bank Holiday up at my sister's and the 2nd down in Preston with The Person although this plan has been slightly ruined due to the fact that The Person's work doesn't let him have the 2nd Bank Holiday in May off, instead giving them two in August.

Idiots.

Anyhoo. This Bank Holiday saw me in my adopted home town, ready to see what delights it had to offer me.

Here's how it went down;

Saturday

My new zebra friend; getting to grips with the Kitchen Aid; Raspberry Bakewell cake; Hull City get promoted to the Premiership; going swimming; BBQ time is here

Saturday was a busy old day for me. I got up early doors to make my way to the gym to go swimming for the first time in absolutely years. I used to love swimming and haven't been in so long, truth to tell I was kind of worried that I'd flounder and drown ungracefully in the pool but I actually managed much better than I expected and I'm definitely going to be making the effort to go again.

I spent most of the day crocheting. Hot on the heels of my crocheted zebra comes....another zebra. I haven't gone totally mad though. This little zebra is going to earn me some money. I was showing someone pictures of the other zebra and they asked if I'd make one for them to give as a present for a new baby that's arrived. Boom. Hurray for amigurumi being so damn quick to make up that I basically managed to do the whole thing in one day. 

It's a good thing I had something to keep me occupied as I was also watching the Hull City vs Cardiff game which would be the match which would determine whether Hull were automatically promoted to the Premiership or forced into the play-offs. I won't go into it but my god it was the most stressful game of football I've ever watched. I actually missed one of the goals due to the fact that I was stood in the kitchen with the fridge door open cutting cheese off the block and shoving it in my mouth. It's how I deal with stress.

I also helped my sister and brother-in-law put together the Mac Daddy of BBQs - probably the less said about the anguish that went into building this thing from a flatpack the better, but it's safe to say we all bear the mental scars.

Sunday

Today's biggest event? Attempting to go out for a long run. It wasn't my greatest success as you can read about in yesterday's post and it's annoying because when I feel like a run hasn't gone that well it just makes me mad for the rest of the day. I'm just a silly person like that.

One thing I do like about my long runs though is that I have decided to reward myself with a post-run smoothie - something to look forward to you know?

I got a recipe for one from a running website but I have been forced to bastardise adapt it so much that it bears little resemblance to the original. The oats are supposed to be wheatgerm. I don't even know what that is, which is a hindrance when you're looking for is in Tesco. There's supposed to be natural yoghurt in there too but I didn't have any so slapped a normal yoghurt in there as a replacement. Who cares? It tastes amazing and the addition of the oats means that it really fills you up.

The rest of the day was filled with total and utter sloth. Beautiful weather, plus the knowledge that there was no work tomorrow meant that I felt free to lie back in the garden alternating between reading and sleeping as the mood took me.

Reading with the blue skies; dandelions, I don't care if they're weeds, they're colour and therefore pretty; Rosie shows me how to properly laze on the Bank Holiday; Blinky uses my bedroom window as another door and heads out over the roof on important cat business; plane returning/leaving from East Midlands Airport; Blinky back from her important cat business.

Monday

My sister and I took to Calke Abbey a National Trust property which is just down the road from us. Our mission was to go to a craft fair which was being held there over the Bank Holiday weekend - craft fair? You mean something potentially interesting happening around here? Yes please.

We went and I spent money. I could have spent a lot more money. But you know what? That's all fodder for another blog post I think.

After wandering round the fair we had a sit down and enjoyed a wonderful past-time of enjoying the sun and passing judgement on what people were wearing in the sun.
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As close to fashion blogging as I will come now - shoes from M&S (I know right?!); jeans from New Look; people's legs from Other People

I also forgot the word "Weather-vane" and called it a "Wind charm" instead. Not a high point.

Then it was home, to enjoy yet more sunshine. Only for a little bit though. I'm quite the pale Janet and my skin basically bursts into flames when it comes into contact with UV rays. I wasn't alone though. You never are in a house of dogs. Rowan kept me company and I finished Capital by John Lanchester. Should you read it? Why yes, yes you should.

And I'm still here now. Sat in the garden, enjoying the beautiful weather as I know I should be. Although, if I was going to be pernickety I'd say that actually when you're in the shade it's pretty windy and not that warm. Also I can't really see my screen that well so I apologise for any spelling mistakes or garish errors but I'm British - the sun is shining so I'm sitting outside whether it's practical or not.

Bring it second May Bank Holiday - the bar has been raised...

Easter 2013

I feel it only fair to warn you that this post contains photos of flowers.

I know. I've become that which I rage against.

I'm still having an internal battle as to what I want this blog to be. I'm a person who actually quite enjoys a label and I find it difficult that I don't have an identifiable "thing" but at the same time I also quite enjoy just talking about a load of old bollocks and committing events to the everlasting memory that is the interwebs.

Easter wasn't just about taking part in the Easter Read-a-thon I'll have you know. I was busy doing all kinds of things apart from taking photos of me reading books and giving blood. This was a family weekend, with my Mum and The Person coming over to stay at my sister's for the Easter weekend.

It was also a kind of pre-birthday celebration for most of the people in the house. As I've mentioned in blog posts gone past there are a lot of birthdays in the last weeks of March/first week of April. Easter Monday was my nephew's birthday, the 4th is my and my brother-in-law's birthday and the 5th is my other nephew's birthday. Quite the birthday week.

My sister and all her lot are in Center Parcs this week (damn them!) and I will be with The Person on my birthday so this was a chance to have a little pre-birthday excitement.

This meant that I was allowed to do one of my favourite things ever - open presents early. Hurrah!

My Mum, sister, brother-in-law, brother and sister-in-law had all clubbed together to get me a present and I was allowed to open it up on Saturday night. I was beside myself to discover that it was my most coveted precious of all time. A Cambridge Satchel Company satchel, in my most beloved green with my initials embossed on it.

 Please note I am following one of my Fashion Blogger rules: Don't look directly at the camera. I'm learning!

I have squealed and stuck my head in it and breathed in deeply and generally been in a trance with it ever since. I love it I love it I love it. Although I feel that now I own one I need to seriously think about becoming a Fashion Blogger.

Just kidding.

I would show you better pictures of it but I don't have any so you'll just have to deal with it.

It was a weekend of not a great deal though - a couple of dog walks - which aren't the most stressless of activities given that neither dog is particularly good on a lead (totally my family's fault, they haven't made the effort with training them) - some wandering into the town centre, an awful lot of eating and just having some generally good times.

The collage below nicely sums it up - dogs, food, presents, flowers, nature. BOOM.

Easter L-R: Rosie looking longingly outside; birthday bruschetta; PRESENTS; birthday pavlova; flower alert; Nigella's Spring Chicken; Duck spotting on our Easter Sunday walk; pretty stream; Rowan having a paddle.

And finally I will leave you with this photo of Blinky.

This is not a photo where I just happen to have captured her and she looks like she's pulling an angry face, this is just how she looks all of the time. See what I'm up against?

And yes this post is late. But I think we know by know that they're always late when it comes to me. Please, feel free to re-live your own Easter.

Crazy Cat Lady Part 24: I can like dogs too.

Although I do have to deal with the daily pain of living with a cat that doesn't return my love, there is something that pretty much makes up for it.

In fact, there's two somethings.

Everyone meet, Rowan,

and Rosie.

In case you're not up to scratch on your dog breeds, Rowan & Rosie are Irish Setters, a slightly more mad breed when it comes to dogs.

Rowan is getting on a wee bit now, she's a stately lady and quite happy to sleep most of the day. She is also my bezzie. I was around at my sister's quite a bit when they first got Rowan, (in fact I was there the day she was brought home) so she knows me of old. She's always got extra excited when I come to visit and now  that I live here, I'm not going to lie, she pretty much loves it a lot.

She likes to be with me as much as possible, which is lovely, especially coming as a direct contrast to Blinky's deliberate aloofness to my general presence. And whereas Blinky only deigns to come on my bed when she thinks I'm asleep, Rowan will take any chance she can take to lie on it. Which would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that I live in the box room, with a single bed, and she is kind of a massive dog.

I'm too much of a softy though and rather than kick her off, I try and fit myself around her somehow which can lead to situations like this photo - which I took at 4.20am one day the other week...

For those who wanted to know, I fit in on my side along the wall

I try to not let it happen too often, although I can sleep anywhere and anyhow it doesn't make for an amazing night's sleep - but all too often I wake up with an extra body in the bed, with my arm around her and her head on my pillow.

Rosie is still a puppy. And oh how she is a puppy. She is a one puppy destroying machine. She will chew and eat anything and everything left within reach - which, even when you're a puppy - is pretty high up for an Irish Setter. She has plenty of toys, she has all the toys in the world, and these are all destroyed too - many a time you come downstairs to a room filled with toy stuffing whilst Rosie chews and bites and guts her latest toy. 

She also likes plastic bottles, cans and the other day ate a tube of lip gloss.

In short, she's fairly stupid, as the picture below demonstrates...

Her one enjoyment in life is tormenting Rowan senseless. She may be a puppy but she is Little Miss Dominant and although we do our best to leave them to it, sometimes you have to intervene just to give Rowan a moment's peace.

There is something rather wonderful about being greeted as warmly as Rowan and Rosie do whenever I come in from work/walk down the stairs/come out of the toilet and although I still love cats for their true independence it's nice to have the best of both worlds.