Wonder

Beauty, strength, majesty, kindness, incredible bravery, the sight of something new, something blessed, witnessing some incredible act of overcoming the odds, seeing something you have never experienced, being in awe of that which is other, which is beyond comprehension.  All of these are prompt me to feel wonder. 

It is amazing to be able to see something with new eyes each and every day, be it old or new, but to perceive that which is special, glorious or so humble, that it causes your heart to soar with sheer amazement. 

So many days, I stop and look, walk and see the wonders of this Earth around me and what it holds.  And as I write that, it makes me forget the feelings of despair and misery in the world around me that one can be prompted to.  A good healthy dose of wonder will set you on the positive path and wash away those negative feelings. 

Let's be like a child and embrace seeing everything with wonder and joy.  Three things that still cause me to wonder:

How beautiful and unique the seasons are.  This cold and wintery place I am finding myself in has so much to delight.  I immediately think of snow.  Snow may prompt me to think of my broken wrists in previous years.  But it can also create wonder at how many unique formations are buried and crammed next to each other- each snowflake, a work of art by the hands of The Great Artist.

What, I wonder, will I wonder at next? What a delight, it is to think about!

I am taking part in Five Minute Friday (Thanks to Rach for sharing this lovely idea, which I knew I'd love to join in with) , a weekly blogging group who take a topic and write about it for 5 minutes just writing for 5 minutes flat.  In the words of Blog creator, Lisa-Jo Baker:
"No extreme editing; no worrying about perfect grammar, font, or punctuation.
Unscripted. Unedited. Real."

What do you think of wonder?

Whitby Jet, Emerald city

 It's funny how one article can be someone's ideal and another's disaster.  My Mum was bought a gorgeous Whitby jet necklace and earrings when she left a job.  The set remained in a drawer for years unworn, as it wasn't her.  Fast forward several years to the first time I went to Whitby. I waxed lyrical to her about how I wish I had bought a Whitby jet necklace and she produced the set and gave them to me.  The necklace was my ideal- small, elegant and fairly simple, a small but sparkling bow.  I've in the meantime, lost one gem from it (it is unnoticable) - realistically, can I get it reset anywhere local or am I going to have to wait until I return to Whitby?)




I went out for dinner with two friends on Friday night.  I wore it in a jet and emerald outfit for the dinner with my friends- I wanted to contrast that dark sparkle of the Whitby jet with a vibrant, more in your face emerald.  (If you squint hard enough you can also see my engagement ring on my finger!)
 

I wore a thrifted Ted Baker aged 14-15 skirt (check the teenage section!) and my old trusty repro jet headband contrasting with a Forever 21 emerald ruffly top, thrifted emerald satchel and bracelets (one thrifted- others gifts)



Another lost gem which I thought reflected that midnight sparkle of  the jet was found in these glittery black tights which have hovered in the tights-hoard (hands up who's got one! Who knew I was a tights hoarder?  I was in denial till recently!)  Put together with comfortable looking black Primark glittery-block heeled ballet pumps.  Don't be fooled by their innocent facade, the wretched things really hurt!!!!



I had a lovely catch-up with the girls despite having to really try hard not to speak loudly!  One of them is also getting married, though she has decided on a date (April) and is getting married in a Kentish church and nearby castle!  How did YOU start planning your wedding (if you, the dear reader are married), honestly, I don't know how to start and I am putting it off because it seems really arduous! I really want to get married SOON but somehow panic at that not being possible with all the planning and financial constraints means I somehow avoid the subject!

I just returned from my home-group from church's weekly meeting. Was a great meeting with lots to think about.  Another thing we decided on was we're going to make Christmas food bags for some local hostels that have opened and yours truly has the fun task of getting the congregation involved on Sunday!  It all starts with my buying large quantities of gift bags and giving them out...!

How are you?

Mice-cream for anyone?

Hello! Sorry, am falling back on a draft I've had lurking for a while.  I started to feel ill after school yesterday and then was indeed sick when I got to CBC's house,having called him from the wait at the changing startion for my train to sob miserably down the phone that I felt awful!  I'm feeling a little fragile now, but at least the nausea has gone.

 You've probably realised by now that I have a really childish sense of humour!  I find the most banal things highly amusing!  You may remember we went out for a meal to celebrate my little sister's graduation a while back.  Well, what I TOTALLY forgot about was the hilarious menu which was full of typos and grammatical discrepancies.  Now, I now that I am quite lax in checking my own, so I am not criticising, however, I fed on the following light supper of mistakes all night!

Hope it makes you smile too!

Ok, so the slaw might not be a typo, but still...  Check out the pew lentils down the bottom. Very churchy don't you think?





Onion rigs????



Honeycomb ream?  Somebody's been watching TOWIE.  Brandy mouse? How comes Royal Hill has no capitals?

 In all fairness, the hotel was lovely, the food was really delicious and there were HUGE portions!

The colours of swirling leaves

Apparently, this is post number 750! (There are a few unpublished ones lurking in there of course!) Yay me!  I like reaching a milestone...

Anyway, thanks to Sophie and Mel for sharing ideas of how to upload photos to the blog avoiding my limit!  Yay Sophie, I used your way!  Many thanks!

I wore this cosy outfit on Friday to school (together with burgundy duffle coat to complete the Autumn pallette).  It features my only thrifted pair of shoes.  I find it hard to find size 8 shoes and any I have found usually ended up hurting my feet so they didn't stay long!  This pair of brown suede boots were a particular happy find a couple of years ago when I wanted boots like this from M&S that cost £30.  These were £3.  If you are wondering why I didn't wear these on Monday when I bemoaned lack of boots well, one of them went missing for a LONG time and I found it mid-week in a bag on er- my spare bed!  The skirt is also a thrift (Jigsaw) as is the green satchelly-type bag!  I spent most of my trip in Florence looking for a green leather one but scuttling away at the prices so it was fortunate I found one in a charity shop last week!

Also featuring an orange hat! (hmmmm, one doesn't combine those two words together very often in life!) Not thrifted sadly but ahem, something that also found its way into the shopping basket when I bought a small suitcase recently for Florence from the wonderful TK Maxx.  The cardie is from Max C.  I like it- it combines several of my favourite things- it looks a bit nautical in the neck shape, it's brightly coloured and it has a vintage look to it!  The necklace was a Christmas present two years ago which SHOCKINGLY, I have not worn!!!  Anything that has its own box tends to sit in a drawer, forgotten about!










Today is called 'Christ the King' Sunday- the Sunday before Advent is called that.  I am looking forward to taking part in Floss's A Pause for Advent  over the next month.  I adore Advent, such a sense of excitement.  Do join in if you can!

Voice is slowly but slowly improving! I can sing quietly, even if I know I shouldn't be!!! (Professional singer friend told me off for singing when my voice was like this last year and I now know the warning signs.  It's impossible with my job not to though.  I also feel like some neurotic primadonna...) I have two hours until the practice for Evensong tonight. 
xx

Photo storage?

Hey there!  Can I ask any of you! I can't seem to actually upload ANY photos to Blogger!  Before, it said I could do it if they were below a certain size and so when I just posted unedited photos it let them go up!  Now it won't let me post ANY photos saying I am over my 1Gb limit!  Have any of you bought the storage plan at all!  A few people have said in the past that they paid £5 for storage but now the storage plan seems to be $2.50 a month. Alternatively, you can upgrade to Google+ but it seems to be a bit like Facebook which I don't really want (someone talked about it as a rival to Facebook) because I really don't want a social network thingie like that, not least because of School etc! Has anyone done of these options?  What have you others done?  Has anyone done this recently please?  I would be grateful for advice because I really don't understand the Google instructions and messages that they send me to!  I really wish there was a PERSON I could speak to when I don't understand Google things! 
Anyway, please help! Any advice in idiot-proof words would be muchly appreciated!

My day was lovely!  The wedding was really lovely.  The bride looked absolutely beautiful- she wore a lovely lace dress- the top was like Kate Middleton- a lace v-neck over a bodiced dress but the whole thing was lace.  She wore burgundy shoes and a cross necklace- simple but beautiful and elegant!  The service was a real blessing.  Every one of her five children did a reading- 1 Corinthians 13:1-13- shared between 2, Psalm 27, Isaiah 54:11-17, Jeremiah 29:11.  We sangs The Lord's my shepherd (Stuart Townend), In Christ alone, Love divine, He who would valiant be.   The message by the pastor was simple and lovely, they went back down the aisle to 20th Century Boy by T-rex the reception chilled, and a nice time.  My voice, well, I shouldn't have been singing, it was on the brink, but at least I sort of sang even though it cut out on anything above a B so at least it returned for a bit.  I will try my best tomorrow!  I do keep thinking about those possible nodules on my vocal chords though.  Hoping and praying I haven't damaged them...

Hope you are well xx



I'd share photos but I can't so

Friday letters

Dear blog-friends (I could call you readers or followers as some do, but you are not that, you are blog-friends), Thank you for your congratulations, kind comments and excited exclamations regarding my announcement. I am excited too and I was happy to share it with you!
Dear Floss,
I think your advent post idea sounds really delightful!  Thank you for having such lovely ideas for blog posts!

Dear Louise,
Please see below.  This should answer your questions! I love your blog posts about your walks! I feel like I am somewhat there!

Dear Self,
Get over this irrational fear that rings may get stuck on your finger and not come off.  It will come off if it went on and if it gets stuck, well you know where the nearest hospital is and even if you fear it being cut off, well it's not going to kill you! Wear your ring or CBC may think you don't love him!

Dear Stupid left hand ring finger middle knuckle,
Why, why why are you so lumpy and dry? Why can't you be good and flat like the right hand?

Dear V, bride tomorrow,
I am so so happy you found someone dear who you love.  You have done an incredible job surviving all these years that have been so so so hard for you, raising your children, to be such amazing individuals, managing to survive all the difficulties and your faith has seen you through. God bless your life together.
Dear Voice,
Please, please please come back!  Seriously, you are needed for tomrrow's wedding and for Sunday's Centenary service at church.  Your truancy is getting serious now! (Please dear vocal chords, don't have any nodules of polyps on you.  I know you get bruised and knackered at school but I need you!)

Dear CBC,
It's been a long week!  I hope we get to see each other with so much going on! To quote your own, long ago said words, it would be nice to have a hug in 'my hour of croak'


For more Friday letters, go to : http://www.adventuresofnewlyweds.com/

I said yes.

I saw this painting for Style Imitating Art with Jess of Animated Cardigan.  It is entitled The Great War by Rene Magritte.  Tempting as it was to recreate the actual picture, I decided to go with a modern twist on it.  One of my favourite bloggers, Lauren at Someonelikeyou, is so good at wearing nude shades in the winter months and making them like they are meant to be together, pairing them with white tights and other lovely accessories.  I did ask her if I coul post a picture of one of her outfits but I guess she's busy, so no piccie right now!

This dress was my costume for the Ball in the Sound of Music (ASOS Salon) and I have only worn it in the summer so I wanted to see if I could put it with tights and shoes for the winter to have a go at doing 'nudes and whites in the winter', it's too pretty to leave languishing in a cupboard and because of the material, I don't really want to wear it on a sweltering hot day.  I'll add a cardie at some point.  Worn with my Grandmother's locket and silver sequin ballet pumps.

Oh, not to keep you in suspense but It seems a fitting outfit for my announcement.  I've been hiding a little secret for the past couple of weeks

CBC asked me a certain question in Florence and I said yes!

(this is what I intended to wear for our little celebration party a week ago until it rained!!)

Linking to Lakota's Tah Dah Tuesday!

Add your cat hat and all will be well.

As previously mentioned, I was feeling rather lacksidaisical in a blogging sense and when I looked and saw the warm orangey-coloured boots of Inspiration Monday  (which I don't have- all boots need mending except for the sheepskin ones!) with the lovely Two birds, I decided to give it a miss. I was getting that 'Oh goodness, WHY oh why am I posting pictures of what I am wearing on the internet- my clothes are boring and uninspiring and nobody really cares!' feeling but when I woke up, I thought, what the heck, inspiration is supposed to provide us with what is missing when we are feeling listless so I went ahead and did an interpretation of it! I really rather like this Jenna Dewan-Tatum outfit (not sure who she is).

Stripy top is Emma Watson for People-Tree, Duffle cable cardie from Kush, Necklace- Fairtrade Christmas pressie from J and WOMOTM, Earrings- Secret Santa, Green cords- Thrifted, brogues- Peacocks.

Sorry for the mess of stuff around me.  Mind you, it's better than the landing which the three burly firemen who were just at my house fitting my new smoke-alarm had to contend with (cringe!) How exciting, I had a fire-engine parked outside my house and all!  They arrived early- and as I sauntered down my road chatting to my godmother and her husband, I panicked to see the big red fire engine outside my little house.  I squeaked goodbye and ran down the road with my trolley-bag clattering away!

 It's more me with the hat and I feel instantly better behatted!!  I noticed Char wearing this same hat on a recent post! Cannee be doing without a hat at the moment!  You can't see but one of the pom-poms on my cardie has lost much of its fullness and looks like it's been to Weight-watchers compared to its plump counterpart!

Meow!

Amusing graffiti

Hey there,

I don't know why I am so lacklustre but not feeling so inspired bloggywise.  I still have a post to do on Florence but I keep putting off because of sifting through hundreds of photos but here I thought I'd post some amusing graffiti I saw in Florence.  I saw quite a few of these- they're pretty keen on it there.  This is the type I like- it's witty and clever like the Spitalfields graffiti- I wonder what other variations you could make on this?  Turn it into a swing?

Enjoy.



No plank-
carrying here



Use mirror



I never saw the sign



Friday letters 4

Dear 77 people on my followers list,
I appreciate you- thank you, new and old (Hello Harlow vintage!!!).  But don't be shy, come and say HI!  I promise to say Hi back!

Dear Postal delivery office,
Why oh why wont you open till 8 EVERY night? It would provide more jobs for people and help me to not have to be tempted by shops on a Saturday when I have to trek to town to pick a parcel up!

Dear women of combined churches centenary choir,
Really me as ONE alto versus 14 sopranos???? (FYI soprano: high voice part, sings the tune.  Alto: low voice part: sings a counter-melody) Isthat fair???? I have a soprano voice but I made the sacrifice!!!!

Dear Altos who haven't come to rehearsal yet,
Get theee hither forthwith! (It's almost Christmas.  'Hither' is therefore a legitimate word to use in common parlance!)

Dear bloggers,
How come so many of you have been rather sparse in your posting this week?  Some of you who ALWAYS blog missed a day or too together!  Why?!

Dear Miss Simmonds Says!
Yay!!!! Another hat fanatic!!!!!!


Dear colds, flu-bugs, nasty lurgies and other wild beasties,
YOU are not welcome here.  Do you hear me?  You are ugly and your mother smells of elderberries so spack off!*

Dear Chris of the Chrlog,
Tee hee, I do hope you join in this week! I look forward to more text-speech Friday letters!

Dear Commenters on the Tom Baker post,
HA!!! You fell for my hypnotism!!!!! Honestly  I opened my e-mail inbox and it was all KezzieAG comments! Hmmmm, let's try this again.  Look into my eyes..... You are feeling sleepy.... now send me all your worldly goods!

*(a phrase coined by  Tom Baker in Destiny of the Daleks. Did you see my Tom Baker inspiration outfit here? I do hope so!)

For more Friday letters go to Adventures of newly weds

Style Inspiration: Tom Baker (Doctor Who)

Hello there! Continuing with the lovely Mel at Folly Bird blog's Doctor Who style inspiration, I thought I'd try my hand at the most iconic of all the Doctor WHo costumes! In my mind anyway. You wear ONE long stripy scarf and everyone thinks of him instantly!  TOM Baker, the voice of Little Britain, Puddleglum in the BBC adaptation of The Silver Chair and er- some sort of evil wizard in one of the Sinbad films (they creep me out!  They're like  nasty Indonesian horror serials that always seemed to be on when I rarely watched TV in Indonesia featuring vampiric character- urgh, can't abide with vampire thingies!)

The key features of his look I see as:

• Three quarter length Frock-coat:  IN a range of Autumnal colours: tweed, red, brown
• THE stripy scarf (did you know, he wore a variety of different patterned ones as well as a different red shade one!)
• Waistcoat
• Cream shirt with lapels out!
• Tweedy trousers
• Brogue style shoes (actually I am just guessing this one!  Brogues seem appropriate!)

And....................


DA NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Do you like the attempt at Tom Baker boggly eyes (he has REALLY boggly eyes.  I sometimes wonder if they would pop out!) in the right-hand shot?

So....the outfit:
Yes, in case you are wondering, the scarf IS 10-foot long!  It is one of the best Christmas presents I ever received.  A dear family friend, in fact the one who supervised and almost lynched me making my dalek costume, made it for me when I was about 15, knowing how much I adored Doctor Who. It must have taken her hours- it's really wide as well. At the time, I remember thinking, "OH NO, it's not the correct colours- there's too much pink!" but now, it's good to be different!


The coat is from the Petite Range at Debenhams- despite being 5ft 8" plus, I have realllllly narrow shoulders and so many coats look ridiculous on me because they swamp me! It's actually dark but vivid purple but the horrid inside light renders it dull and generic!

Thought I'd give you a look under the coat (ooo-er!) featuring Per Una floral cream shirt, La Redoute waistcoat, thrifted Next tailored trousers and tan brogues.

 I did feel a bit like Sue Perkins in this get-up and felt rather smart at school! Once again, my deputy called me Diane Keaton in this outfit- I indignantly retorted, "NOOOOOOO, TOM BAKER!!!!!!!"

 Oh and thought I'd wear some pocket watch type jewelley (Both Alice in Wonderland- both from Asos, one Tom Binns at Disney) since Tom Baker spent a lot of time hunting for the key to time (which looked like bits of quartz crystal in geometric formations, not like a pocket watch incidently).  I'm saving my real pocket watch for when I tackle my beloved Paul McGann!

So, what do you reckon?  Would YOU have guessed who I was channelling with this outfit?

Don't forget to pay Mel a visit, though she hasn't tackled Tom's outfit yet, she WAS practising her boggly-eyed stare here when wearing her Jon Pertwee outfit!

"Loook into my eyeeeeeeeeeeeeees, you are feeling sleeeeeeeeeeeepy.  Now, leave me lots of comments!"

Previous Doctor Who style inspiration outfits:

 William Hartnell - Doctor No. 1

There's a zoo in my luggage!!!!!

From top left:  Unicorn jumper, Bike jumper, Christmas kitten, penguin, fox, owls, penguin, rabbit in hat, glittery robin
Source:  www.asos.co.uk



Mustard pawprints, racoon, People tree hedgehog hat, cat watch, bird shoes, fairisle heart jumper, Midi bird dress, collared bird dress, squirrel blouse
Source: www.asos.co.uk



Hello there.  Thanks for the well wishes and kind comments.  I haven't been feeling too well today- I had a splitting headache which lasted well into the evening which is finally starting to recede and a really sore-throat which felt like it was burning when I spoke.  Pints of ribena, honey, lemon and such later, I am starting to feel an improvement.

The other day, I was having a look at ASOS (not buying anything now, willpower had a surge of energy, but it's one of the few online places I have bought from regularly and consistently over the years) and I had a look at some of the cuteness in animal themed items. 

I love my Joy Louche cat jumper worn here and I thought I'd look at what other cuteness is out there!

I know that many of you are fans of the Wardrobe zoo so hope you might see something you hadn't spotted.  I particularly love the rabbit in hat jumper and the robin one, plus the racoon is pretty sweet! I think the bird print black dress is lovely with its collar too!

Source: www.asos.co.uk

Plus, I really like these dip-dyed jumpers, they are so pretty and feminine and the cosy Peter Pan collar jumper.  Not so sure about that last owl though- he looks reallllllllllly cross!!!

Just type in the type of animal sort in www.asos.co.uk and you'll be able to find it super quick!

How are you anyway?

x

Images all from www.asos.co.uk

All things red

Jewellery red:

 Hello there!   Sorry, I have felt a little lacklustre and not much to say in a blogging sense.  Well, I have got stuff to say, but lack the energy!  I made some poppy earrings to wear this weekend. Made out of mere scraps of felt and some black buttons on either side.  They certainly look 'home-made' so these wont be featuring in an Etsy-shop near you!

Hat red:

Here I wore them on Monday with red beret!

Outfit red: (er, not so much!)

Saturday, I wore these ancient Falmer jeans that actually came with four poppies on them (they pop on and off!) Sadly I've lost one!  Worn with red-edged converse!

Here was a simple outfit with touches of red.  I found this Collectif sailor top in a charity shop a while ago for £3 after really liking the exact same top for £20 in Collectif a week earlier in Spitalfields and wishing I'd bought it! Can't believe I forgot to put the red hat on I'd been wearing out all day! A different one!

Blog red:

The lovely Lauren of Someone like you is celebrating her 3rd anniversary of her blog- check out the pretty red dress someone sent her!

Creative red:

Beautiful displays by the talented Sonja at church on Sunday.  That amazing lady makes so so much out of so little and she is so humble.  She even composed Christmas songs of praise whilst being a PoW in Malaysia as a young child.  The kids focus talk had a really important, simple point, "Loving our neighbours as ourself".  If we all did that, there would be no war. 

Nature's red:

Look what you gain as a reward when you actually get out of bed at 7am instead of panickingly leaping out of bed at 7.35!

Poetry red:

A Poppy haiku

Red Poppy stands tall,

Reminding of sacrifice

Sign of Peace to come.

***

Linking to Lakota's Tah Dah Tuesday.

and Annie the Felt Fairy's Make a month 2012

11 things

I meant to post yesterday but we had a little party and I was helping CBC tidy his house.

The lovely Angela at Tracing Rainbows did a taggie thing and I thought it would be fun to join in. I wont tag anyone because I know we're all busy, but if you do decide to do it, drop me a comment and I will come and read:

Eleven Questions to answer


1.What was your favourite sweet as a child?

There were many but the ones I always remember feeling excited over were those pink foam shrimps and those gummy bears, the slightly hard ones that were penny sweets.  I have a lasting childhood memory of buying 40 pence worth of these whilst watching The Box of delights one Christmas!
2.Historical novel, romantic fiction, or detective story?

Mmmm, I'd probably say Detective novel but usually historical or days gone by setting, not the modern blood, guts and gore sort.  I do like a nice chaste historical romance!
3.Where in the world is your heart ‘at home’?
Well, home where I live in Essex but in the Chilterns, there is a certain Hill that I heart belongs to.
4.Nigella, Delia, Jamie, or HFW [or another?]
I don't really watch cookery programmes but I have all Delia's cookery course books- my Mum went to a signing by her when I was about 6 weeks old, taking me with her and Delia commented on what a small baby I was!
5.What is your favourite season of the year? Why?
I love August, it's sunny and I am on holiday! Also really like early April as the weather is usually surprising you with how beautiful Spring is!
6.What was your first car?
I've never owned a car or had a driving lesson but the first car I remember my Mum owning was a pale blue Morris Minor.

7.Which aspect of housework do you find most difficult?
HATE washing floors!

8.At this very minute, where are your house keys?
They are in my handbag, slung on the floor
9.What is your favourite ‘Christmas’ food?
Mmmm, turkey and those pigs in blankets! I detest all sweet Christmas fare!
10.Who is your favourite cartoon character?
Well, I will always have a soft spot for Princess Kneessaa from the Ewoks cartoon of the 80's!

11.What colour is the chair you are sitting on right now? Wooden foldup chair in a sort of stripped pine colour with a floral cushion on it.   You can answer Angela's questions if you'd like, I like those questions and I am nosy to compare answers with you!

Ciao bella!
.

Friday letters 3



An outfit for Remembrance.

 Dear Soldiers and veterans of the two world wars and subsequent crises,
I appreciate your efforts and sacrifice.  Even when there are no more veterans- we will remember and try to ensure it doesn't happen again. We will remember.

Dear Choir,
You are fabulous!  I grow more and more impressed with how you cope with what I throw at you- I am so excited that more and more of you are coming forward to join and you've stuck with it! Hurrah for the latin!

Dear CBC,
You need regular sleep patterns, seriously!

Dear J and WOTOTM,
I really hope we can see you soon, it's been too long.  Thank you for the sweetest of texts!

Dear Willpower,
Did you not get my last message?  You're hopeless!  Get ON with it!!!!

Dear Chris of the Chrlog,
Come on entertain me, I miss your school boy humour!!! Loved the last one!

Dear Sophie,
Grovel grovel grovel, sorry for lack of letter and lack of Scavenger hunt!

Dear Twobirds and Adam,
How have you never seen Doctor WHo?!?!?!?! I am amazed!!! Go and watch it now!  (please?  If you want to?!)

Dear Clo-clo,
We need to meet asap!  And you need to leave me a comment- no Smartphone excuse!!!

Dear Nora Bird,
See the pictures above- you're not the only one who wore creased clothes!  My skirt creased after sitting down! And I wore my infinity-scarf inside out so the robins looked anaemic!! Doh!

Go to Adventures of Newly Weds for more letters!

William Hartnell Style inspiration

You know you read a blog and think that the person is really cool and wish you knew them in real life?!  Meet Melanie, Mel, AKA The Folly Bird, who can be found here who decided to take inspiration from the various Doctor Whos through time to inspire her outfits!  I instantly adored the sound of this idea, so asked her if I could join in- she said yes! I've been mulling it over for a while and after seeing her brilliant Pat Troughton outfit yesterday, thought I'd give it a try today. I've been a big fan of Doctor Who since I was a teenager so it's inevitable that I'd love it!  But you could probably tell that from the Dalek outfit!

I decided I wanted to try William Hartnell first (same as Melanie) as this seemed the easiest! Here's Melanie's one 

Photo borrowed from Mel at the Follybird blog

 Immediately, what is noticeable to me, as to Mel is the obvious pussy-bow blouse idea- dark jacket, generally quite sombre colours!

 William Hartnell was renowned for his Doctor's lapel-grabbing, hence the above gesture.

I went for:
French Connection Pussy bow blouse badly in need of an iron (thrifted)
Gap navy velvet jacket (thrifted)
Black cordhuroy skirt (M&S)
Black heeled shoes (eYe boutique)

It seemed quite strange wearing a jacket for school- it seemed uber smart (as staff members commented!) but as it is velvet, it was more comfortable to wear

Couldn't resist putting my cookie jar in the shot!

And a touch of sparkle in the jet-repro headband.

I hope your day was fabulous!  Mine was fine, though a little tiresome.  I put my football training into practice with year 6 this afternoon and began to prepare my drumming army for the Christmas service at school- we've doing a massive arrangement of I saw three ships come sailing in with drum procession, recorder harmony and each class having a solo!  It's fun processing around the hall whilst making a huge racket!

Tomorrow afternoon spells more fun for Year 4- we're going to be Tudor minstrels and troubadors visiting all the classrooms around the school to sing Hey Ho Nobody at home in hope that they give us money (fake Tudor coins!) and food (grapes!) whilst waving banners and scarves and playing tambours and recorders for drones! I love bringing chaos to the school!

Live life to the full! (and 10 thanks)



Sunset in Florence.  I didn't manage to complete the Scavenger hunt in time for Sophie's Scavenger hunt, but thought I'd share this one.

 Did you read the Metro today.  Apparently there was an article about children who live in a remote area who, in order to get to school, have to climb a tight-rope walk style rope bridge in order to reach their school.  One false move and they will fall to their peril.  Yet they face the challenge daily, not even batting an eyelid, with alacrity even. It is their life and they accept the challenge and continue to strive to get where they need to.  They want to live their life to the full.

How can I live my life to the full?  This doesn't mean busying myself with all sorts of busyness and activities, but looking for what is the right way to live my life.  For me, it is important, that as a Christian, I try to live life, accepting that it IS hard, and it IS tiring and difficult and messy, and yet facing it, trying to be loving, trying to show the love that my Lord has for me and living the way he wants me to live my life.  I am not doing a very good job of that.  Yet, I will not give up, I know that what it is that God wants and I know that if I did things his way, I'd probably be living it life to the full and I want some of that action!  For when I put my mind looking at it in God's way, I should read his word and see it really is living life to the full- I attain a mere 10th of what I could be and what I do live is   Now that, if you are not a Christian, you may think big-deal.  That's fine.  But when I actually look at how God wants me to live my life in the Bible, when I read it, think on the words within, it really is simple.  It is different from the way the world looks at how to live our life and what it tells us should be the way to live our life.  I just wanted to put my stream of consciousness here- I felt because I've said it here, I think about it- it's weird, sharing it with other people makes me think about it more!  I just wanted to put this out there, I felt compelled to write it, does it make any sense or am I waffling?

This leads nicely onto one of my favourite things, finding things I am thankful for:

1.  My CBC- I am smiling and remembering Florence! (Not the Canadian version of the BBC Emily ;-)  )
2.  The joy of knowing that though you made have done something 6 times before, and felt it was hard work, you wondered why you were doing it- the 7th and 8th times can be brilliant!  Case in point- teaching recorder to year 3 for a year:  This is the 4th time I've done it and it's fab this year- it really is.  Same with orchestra- sooo much better!
3.  The beauty of messages- a few words from someone who knows you, in a text, can make your heart soar and be so thankful! 
4.  I am thankful for last night's hot water bottle.  Not only did it keep my feet warm, bbut byy leaking and leaving me with a damp puddle under my feet, it also woke me up when my alarm clock failed!
5. For my little sister managing to get a Christmas job- she's very happy!
6. For the beauty of enthusiasm!  You'd think teaching 9 year olds about Medieval plainchant in Latin, it might turn them off a bit- not a bit of it- I distinctly heard "Yesssssssssss!" from some of the boys in choir when they heard we were singing a song in Latin (Gaudete FYI) after we'd listened to some in our prior music lesson!
7. For the joy that your own joy can bring to other people when you share it!
8. For my church friends- I cannot say how much I love them dearly! All ages, it matters not!
9.  For YOU- it's like coming home to an unexpected parcel finding your kind comments!
10.  For the inventor of the Duvet. Mr Duvet, whereever you are, thank you!

What are you thankful for?

The blogger who came in from the cold

 Hello, better late than never, I am posting my Inspiration Monday with Megan and Nora at the Two birds boutique outfit.  It was this nice cosy outfit from someone pretty.   I did look in despair at my heaving wardrobes/boxes/drawers and contemplated my cricket jumper but instead I took my inspiration from Nora's lovely grey version of this inspiration.  (curses to grainy indoor shots- urgh, daylight shortening!)
All the garments are pretty old, especially the grey trousers which I've had since I visited Kings Lyn in 2001!!!

Please note, the gloves and hat were not worn in this shot for style sake but for the pure fact I am freeeeeeezing!  My house has no central heating and is a veritable ice-box right now! If you want to know what I am looking like whilst typing this post, then scrolll to the bottom of the post!!

 Fat lot of good this pretty infinity (with birds or feathers?) scarf is- bring back the cashmere!!!

 Tuesday is also a fun Tah Dah! linkie day with Lakota and now WOMOTM has celebrated his birthday (Happy Birthday today WOMOTM!) and opened his card, I can post it here.
He's an aamazing photographer and so I made use of the fun camera paper that came with my favourite craft magazine, Papercraft Inspirations.

I also made my little niece a birthday card for the end of the month.  She adores aeroplanes and so I made this to accompany the coolest ever book- the Wind-up plane book (it has a track inside it so the toyplane will zoom around the book!)  She recently went on her first plane which is nice she had a treat as she is currently suffering the most horrendous bout of tonsilitis and hasn't eaten for almost a week, poor love.

I adapted a design from the aforementioned Papercraft Inspirations magazine for her.  I hope she likes it!

Oh, I promised to show you what I am currently doing to combat the cold (purely for a bit of light humour, I'm not saying you should dress like this!!!).  Yep, I added another jumper, cashmere scarf, slippers and like a Victorian gentleman, wearing my dressing gown over my clothes!!!  Oh and that red thing I am clutching is a microwaveable cherry-stone pillow! It is warm. I'm still cold ;-)

I had ridiculous amounts of fun this morning teaching Year 1 to play In and out the dusty blue bells  in their music lesson this morning.  Hands up who played this?  We also discussed the tempo and instrumentation of the March of the tin soldiers from the Nutcracker suite just in case you think I was having too much fun!