The rainbow ark of gratitude returns

When you creep into church late, a rainbow, bright outfit is probably not the best attire in which to be subtle.  And in case the people in front of you didn't notice your rather clumsy entrance, they'll certainly notice you when your voice is louder than most of the congregation in your vacinity behind them!

Even though it was noticeably cooler today (thank the Lord- I was SO grateful to be able to sleep last night. I was having weird pulsing pains behind my left eye, I think due to lack of sleep!), I still wanted to embrace the summer vibe so it was time to get out one of my favourite (and Vix's favourite!) charity-shopped items- the M&S madras-check dress and to try and wear it with yet more different items.  Today I tucked and folded the bodice into the skirt to wear it as a skirt and teamed with a Select top I have had since the summer of 2000 when I lived the summer in Dalston, Hackney London- hard to see here but it has rainbow beads sewn to the top and a rather lurid Fat Face cardie oh and one of my trusty wired headbands!

(Click here on the rainbow label to see the other times I've worn it...)
I am grateful for many things this week:

1.  For the good night's sleep I enjoyed last night.
2. For the sermon today, reminding me of the Great commission- and knowing that God said, "Surely I am with you until the very end of time. Yes, he's here, even now when I am typing reports! Am getting there...
3.  For cake and tea! I went round to get some cakes from the COOP (got 5 donuts, a whole carrot cake and 5 triple chocolate Thorntons cakes all for £3.20 in total!) and we invited our friend round for tea and cake as a break from our reports. I used my lovely silver cake stand,we drank tea and sat round the table and had a jolly catch-up!
3. For the friendships we have: we went to a friend's engagement and house-warming last night. I am often quite shy around this particular friend and his friends but last night I was really at ease and had lots of lovely chats with great people.
4. For my teaching ob going so well!
5. For companionship.  CBC and I are united in report misery.  Somehow makes it better listening to Bill Evans jazz, hearing the ostinato typing of your partner in crime opposite you!
6. For the sunshine this week- though sleep has been a little lacking, smiles have not been!
7. For your continual friendship, support and empathy! I will never take it for granted.
8.  For managing to catch trains
9. For the Staff winning the pupils v staff netball match on Friday! Got to ensure their continual humility ;-)
10.  For my sister getting a place on the PGCE course she wanted. She needs a bit of encouragement that she is good!!!

What I am not grateful for is my age-old misconception that Father's day is on the 18th June!  Why oh why do I think EVERY year that it is on the 18th!!!! Cue frantic making of card for Dad and grovelling messages and posting!

xxx




Linking up to

What I wore to church with Carolyn at Perspective

Creative Mondays with Claire Justine

Patti's Visible Monday

The sun has got his hat on. Hip hip hip hooray!

Happy Monday to you, near and far!!!
I am happy that it is Monday- I like them- they're a good day. And it's amazing how perspectives change, based on circumstances and people.  Last year at school, I used to DREAD Mondays!!! We had a dreadful set of Year 6 children.  On their own, each of them was likable and had good qualities and you would enjoy speaking to them or helping them. BUT, the collective was SUCH a bad mix! They egged each other on and really wanted to be the comedian, to the detriment of their work.  In 2 words, they were HARD. WORK.  It took so long to get them settled and then they were always messing around as soon as they got a moment. In music, a lot is dependent on self-discipline, which was something many lacked.  They were always a tiny bit difficult but they got progressively worse the higher up they got. There were some lovely kids in there who WERE self-motivated and hard-workers and I felt for them on many occasions  I miss those.    But I don't miss the collective.  This year's lot, once upon a time in Year 1, were the classes I DREADED the most.  They were so annoying and bickery but somehow, they've matured and each and everyone of them seems to really enjoy and get on well in music.  They are INTERESTED in what I teach them and want to know more, they are self-motivated and you can have a joke with them and know it makes them enjoy the lesson more but they won't take it too far.  Indeed, I was observed teaching one of these classes last term and one of the positives she cited was the humorous rapport I had with them (incidently, I did get a 1!!!).  So alot can change in a year!  Tomorrow, they are starting a unit of work about 'The Market and the Shrove tide fair' with a focus on street cries and then Petrouska.  I love this unit and hope they enjoy it too!

I like my reception classes too and then we have swing dancing in the evening, so I am looking forward to Monday all the more!

Monday is also incidently, Inspiration Monday with the Twobirds.  We were treated to this sweet outfit worn by a girlfriend of Jake Gyllenhal (not exactly sure who he is either but I don't have TV or go to films much!).  I'm not really a fan of leather jackets (on me) but I do like floral dresses and boots. So here's my take on it.



The dress is from Mango via ASOS, jacket is New Look, necklace- Blogswap gift from Helen at Positive Fridays, Boots- Ralph Lauren via TK Maxx. The brightness has totally washed out the true colours- the jacket and dress are much darker than they appear.
Of course, I had to add a hat! It's sunny and bright and thus the straw hats want to come out to play! Believe it or not, this hat is the ONLY non-food/drink, travel, accommodation sightseeing purchase I made during my 16 day honeymoon!!! I found it in C&A in Visp for 5 euros whilst waiting for a train and since mine had gone decidedly floppy and lank after being caught in the rain, I decided to splurge!

FYI, don't think I've ever worn knee-high boots with bare legs before.  It felt quite weird but I quite liked it!

After church today (Sunday), I headed over to CBC's old housemate's house and he drove us to Finchingfield to meet CBC who had cycled there (a long way!) at the Blue Egg, a really nice cafe/restaurant there. They do amazing quiches, cake and lunches and everything is homemade!!!  I had a very nice slice of Vegetarian quiche with red coleslaw and salad and a slice of lemon drizzle. It was SO windy outside that the salad leaves were flying away!  Right by where we were sitting was fern with all these little birds in (chaffinches???) chirruping away and swooping down to catch flying crumbs.  They were very plump so have obviously found a good location to live.  On the return journey, CBC and his bike snuck into the car and we made our way home.  Back there, we went to investigate the table parasol for our patio table and I got a horrid shock when the most enormous black and yellow spider crawled out- it was enormous!!! CBC, who took the outfit shots above for me after Spider-Gate asked if he could take the shots at that point when I was squealing and shaking the umbrella, trying to persuade the big arachnid to nick off into the lawn!

Finally, we sat down and drank Lady Grey tea whilst eating a fairy cake (Alex- proper name, I remember!) each from the Guides at church! I read a little Harry Potter whilst enjoying the combination of tea, cake and sunshine. Just as I sat down, a very noisy Chaffinch entered the garden and began a very merry and long song!
Hope your Sunday was enjoyable too!

xx

Linking to
What I wore to church, Sunday with Carolyn
and Inspiration Monday with the Two Birds

Magpie Saturday: Two for joy

So, I really alluded to having found a few items when charity-shopping including my lovely Monsoon black swing coat with red piping.  Several people said they'd like to see what I got.  SO I finally took some photos. AND, naughtily, I happened to be taking a big bag of stuff to our local high street charity shops yesterday so ended up buying a few items which I had had on my charity shop wishlist! Result.

Last week, I found:

• The black and red coat Monsoon coat as mentioned:

• A gorgeous grey lace-trimmed, short-sleeved top.  I loved the delicate lace pattern and well worth it.
• A cute little black, grey and blue wool skirt.  Fun for school or play.
• I have read most of Alexandra Potter's books (first read- Me and Mr Darcy- you can see why I first starting reading her) and so I was pleasantly surprised to find You're the one I don't want.

This week, I had a couple of items I wanted:

• I mentioned to the lovely Curtise, whose blog I have recently discovered and started following most ardently, that I have been trying to give my hats a little makeover, by adding brooches or pins to give them a bit of fun.  Curtise had featured two lovely berets with pretty embellishments on them and I thought how I'd like a rhinestone bow brooch to add to my berets.  Imagine, my delight when in one of the shops, I found a really pretty, brand-new one and also a gorgeous blue, aurora borealis style circle brooch which will look cute, hopefully.  There were a few other nice brooches, but I just stuck to the two.
• As you can see, I also found a gorgeous pair of diamante earrings.  I presume they are at least 20 years old, due to the screw-function for the earring, but I may be wrong. Vix (fount of all dating vintage knowledge), any suggestions?

• You know I love my hats and in particular, berets. I have been wishing I had bought a grey beret a while ago, when I had bought my black one in H&M, so happily found one for £2.  I love little belts too, and so seeing this rainbow glittery belt for 25p was a non-brainer.  Hope it fits me and isn't just for 12-year old girls given the label!

Then two books that pleased me:

• In a previous charity-shop, look what I found post, I mentioned buying Checkmate by Malorie Blackman. Double Cross is the next book in the series which I wanted. Also a book by Beverly Naidoo who wrote Journey to Jo'burg.   I loved studying this book in Year 7, so I am interested to read it but the main reason I bought it was for my year 6 work colleague who is studying Journey to Jo'burg with her kids so I know she'd really like to read this book and perhaps the kids too.

• The final item, was this little black shift dress.  Recently, I asked advice for how to wear my Orla Keilly x Uniglo shirt and Ang and Sophie suggested wearing it under 60's style v-neck dress or pinafore, respectively.  I didn't quite find either of those, but this little black shift made me think of both of their ideas. I wore it for church today with my Orla Keilly heat-tech turtle neck, navy-blue ancient school tights (yep, my mum bought these for me when I was 15!!!), and accessories to try and achieve a vaguely-tenuous 60's look that Ang suggested. It was glorious walking to church in the sunshine and I even took off my Monsoon coat and just wore the above,it was so pleasant.  Thank God for a bit of sunshine!

Didn't I do well!!!!
Have you found any charity-shop bargains recently? I love reading posts like that, so share if you do.  And if you like reading them, head across to Magpie Monday with Liz Burton as everyone is linking up posts like these!

Linking to:


Magpie Monday

What I wore to church