And on that BOMBSHELL...

It's rare I don't kick off with a random quote, but as yesterday was the great Bombshell Meetup, I thought I'd change things up a bit in here!

So yes, yesterday dawned bright and sunny and I was all psyched (and a little nervous) to be heading down to London to meet up with some beautiful fellow sewists. When I concocted this plan a while back, I had thought of sewing something new for the occasion but life and my lameness got in the way. Still, it was no hardship to give Chantilly a bit of love. Nic thought it best to get a picture of my outfit BEFORE it was besmirched by train travel or numerous cocktails (and he was right - I ended up getting pistachio macaron on my dress on the way home. Roisin: Keeping it classy since 1982)

My lovely Chantilly dress, with a petticoat and Irregular Choice No Place Like Home shoes

The train journey down was grand - well, I was a bit grumpy owing to having forgotten to bring a snack. So I took my rage out on some unruly youths who tried to cut in on me in the queue in the station. Little brats! Apart from that, I made it to London without incident and after a delicious lunch in Paul and a quick browse around the shops, I headed over the river to the BFI to meet the girls. Well, I had to stop to take a photo of this amazing view:

London from the Jubilee Bridge

At the BFI I was joined by the other ladies and, after a bit of back and forth, we managed to get settled into a booth. Armed with a cocktail menu and a lovely, handsome, attentive waiter, we were all set.

The Bombshells, from left to right - Suzy, Karen, Jane, me, Amy and Alana

I can't begin to tell you how much fun I had. I'd met Karen and Amy both before, but it honestly felt like I'd known everyone for far longer. Maybe it was the tongue-loosening nature of the cocktails, but I don't think it was just that. I felt like I knew these women - I knew their stories, how they expressed themselves. Seeing Jane's beautiful Oolong dress was like seeing a friend too - I followed her progress in making this on her blog! That's one of the marvels of the internet, I suppose. Yesterday was so much more than a bunch of strangers with sewing machines in common - it was a meeting of minds, friends and dresses. It was AWESOME.

Me with Amy and Alana

Karen with one of her cocktails - this one was called the South Bank, and it looked immense.

I was a bit nervous about my choice of venue - especially as I had forgotten that there are two bars at the BFI, but it was brilliant. For one thing, it's a really cool place. I love the BFI (can't wait to go there for Cagney and Lacey at the end of November) The cocktails were absolutely delicious. I had two of these:

This one is called a Carol Channing - it was champagne and framboise, with a raspberry floating on top. Truly delicious

and one of these

I can't remember what this one was called but it had St. Germain, Creme de Violette and Champagne, with a cape gooseberry on top. I should have had two of these. I'll have another when I go back in November.

I also had a gin and tonic, and some chips. As I mentioned before, the service was fabulous and we were so well looked after. I couldn't have asked for better. Eventually it was time to part ways and wend our respective ways home. Not before we got some photos of the Bombshells themselves, though.

Suzy and Karen

Seeing these dresses in person made me think I should get my finger out and sign up to the course. Sure, they're not everyday dresses but they looked fabulous. And wearable, too! Suzy and Karen are absolute stars to have made these, and to have made yesterday possible. They were starting to feel a bit dazzled by the flashes by the time we were finished photographing them, but I think they both look every inch the Hollywood starlets here!

By a strange coincidence, Amy and I were both wearing our Ruby Slippers, so when we spotted this poster on our way out we had to pose in front of it:

I didn't get back to Leamington until after 11 (which put paid to my plans to go to the pub - probably just as well, really) because of engineering work, cancelled trains and such. Luckily I was drunk enough to take this in my stride, although by the time I got off the rail replacement bus in Leamington I had sobered up a fair bit!

I have to say a massive thanks to Suzy, Karen, Jane, Amy and Alana for coming along yesterday and making it so much fun. I confess - part of me worried I'd be sitting on my own in the BFI with a pitcher of cocktails for one - but I needn't have. I just can't wait now to do it again!

Right, I'm off now for part 2 of my weekend adventures. Nic and I are off to Stratford to see The Divine Comedy at the RSC. I'll see you all later!

Hit him, Frank! I'll hit him for ye!

Evening my loves! It's cold and dismal here in Leamington today, I've been working from home and it is SO GLOOMY. Luckily for me, Nic has been keeping me cheery with cups of tea and blankets and hot water bottles, so it's all good. Also, today was the first day I've been able to work from home since we moved into our new jobs, and for the first time ever working from home I haven't wanted to throw the work IT equipment out of the window. I value any such small victory over technology, so I'm quite happy about that. It's all about taking the wins where you can find them, isn't it?

This week has been SO busy at work and by the time it got to yesterday afternoon it already felt like this week had been about three weeks long. I had two big and important meetings and getting ready for them was seriously time consuming. It didn't help that all the printers broke and by the time they were fixed we'd run out of paper - yes, it's been one of those weeks. Still, it's all good really, and I have a short week next week. Trying to stay positive about work is important right now.

When I got home last night it was at least to some nice post - a dress I'd bought on ebay and a lovely, gorgeous letter from one of my dearest friends. I'm hopefully going to be seeing that friend this weekend, all being well, and I wore the new dress today.

Fever Menorca dress and Irregular Choice Little Miss Oh shoes

I like this dress - it's a size bigger than I would normally wear, so it's a bit boxy around the top, but it's really comfortable and I like the print - it's I can see this becoming a good working from home dress. The photo looks a bit blurred, but it's not that it's out of focus - it was the rain. We had no real need to leave the house today but I felt like I needed to get some natural light. I love our little flat but on a gloomy day, it feels really gloomy. So Nic and I went out for a walk in the rain, and coffee and a chocolate brownie. The combination of sugar and caffeine made even the rain seem charming.

Anyway, that's all I have to share today, so I'm off for an exciting evening of cooking, ironing, and maybe watching Star Trek IV. I know. Don't be too jealous. I'm just resting up for the exciting weekend I have ahead of me. In the meantime, I'm going to leave you with something that made me laugh til I cried:

I give this four Maurice McDaids! Bon appetit!

I knew a woman once, but she died soon afterwards.

Today's post is just some thoughts, because not a lot has been happening since I last wrote. Nic and I were still keeping a fairly low profile over the weekend, because he is still feeling quite under the weather. On Saturday evening I made a chckipea curry, got a bit tipsy on Sauvignon Blanc and watched The 39 Steps (the Hitchcock film, rather than the TV adapatation starring Rupert Penry-Jones from a few years ago. Although, I do remember that one as being quite good and obviously old Henry Penry is a very enjoyable man to watch)

It's been a few years since I've seen the film and I'd sort of forgotten how exciting it is - especially once Hannay has fled to Scotland. Also, John Laurie is so excellent as the crofter and he really reminded me of a certain Dapper Chap of my acquaintance.

John Laurie

On Sunday, Nic and I had a browse around the market that's held on the parade. It seems to have become a Leamington tradition that this is held every Sunday (or nearly enough) between October and Christmas. At the moment there are quite a random assortment of stalls selling random things (like one selling t-shirts with unfunny, sexist slogans on, and another selling dusters and walking stick tips) I would imagine that it'll get more festive as Christmas approaches and in the meantime it's just nice to have a wander around it. I decided that as it was mild, I'd multitask (heh) and save another pair of shoes. This time it was the turn of these green heeled Oxfords by Andre:

These are sort of wardrobe orphans because they're not that easy to wear. They're comfortable and everything, but the high vamp means they're more boots than shoes and I'm not sure about how they look with dresses, which obviously is a bit problematic. I decided to team them with one of my green dresses, the lovely Rita dress by Bettie Page:

Bettie Page Rita dress and Andre Oxfords

I love love LOVE this dress (this picture of me, goofy as all get out, doesn't do this dress justice AT ALL) but I have to confess that I'm not at all sure what I think of it with the shoes. Still, I'm glad I saved them because they are adorable and they hold lots of happy memories for me because I bought them in Paris. I know, blogger cliche they're so OMGFRENCH, but whatever. I love them because they were serendipitous - much like my red cowboy boots - I suddenly decided I wanted some heeled Oxfords and within days these popped up. I'm just going to have to figure out other ways to wear them because I do like them. Also, I don't have any other green shoes so they do fill a wardrobe gap.

Denise and I had planned to spend the afternoon sewing, but tea drinking and chatting got in the way of that somewhat. Still, that suited me just fine because a totally lazy Sunday was really what I wanted. My sewing productivity has taken a bit of a nosedive since the weather turned cold, but that's fine. My almost finished Peony dress is staring at me reproachfully from my sewing corner, but she's just going to have to wait. On Sunday all I wanted to do was eat chocolate biscuits and gossip, and that's what I did.

I have a week of meetings and proofreading ahead of me, but I'm super excited about the weekend and the Bombshell Dress meetup. I need to figure out what I'm wearing, and also what cocktails I'm going to be drinking, but these are mere details. Lots of lovely ladies will be joining me, and if you feel like coming along drop me an email or leave me a comment. The more the merrier!

Dangerous, tacky, sharks, haunted. No.

Evening all, happy weekend! After a very busy week, I'm making the most of not having much planned for this weekend. Nic and I have been having a lovely, lazy day and tonight we're going to watch The 39 Steps with a curry and a bottle of wine. Robert Donat and Sauvignon Blanc - a good combination, as far as I'm concerned.

As I say, this week has been really busy and poor old Nic has been suffering with a cold. He's feeling more himself now, but he's still sniffling and sneezing. I have to confess that the sudden drop in temperature and Nic's cold made us both a bit grumpy this week and it was a bit of a struggle for me to want to leave the house and do anything. What did finally drive me out of the flat was the fact that I'm too tight to put the heating on yet, so almost anywhere was warmer than Clackett Towers this week! I'm still determined not to put the heating on until at least November. I know that sounds a bit foolhardy but we have electric storage heaters and they're expensive, and they're a bit all or nothing - so it's not even like we could have them on just to take the chill out of the air. It's heat or no heat. It's really the only complaint I have about our flat - it's so cold in here in the winter! Well, that and the noisy bastard who lives in the flat below us. But that's a story for another day.

My week started to pick up a bit by Thursday when I was working in our office in London. Although I was pretty grumpy about having to get up early, by the time I got into London the sun was shining and it was an absolutely beautiful day. The office is in Westminster and from my desk I had an amazing view of both Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament - which was pretty special on such a gorgeous day. My work day went well (well, ish - some bitch stole my meeting room booking) and before I took the train home, I had time to do a wee bit of shopping at Fever and also at 52 Greek Street. Nic and I had dinner and a few drinks with Lauren, which was the perfect way to end a really fun day. It was much needed because Friday in the office was pretty stressful and very busy. Relaxation was the order of the evening when I got home, and I spent last night with chips, a bottle of cava, a blanket, Nic, and a DVD of Space Cowboys. Yeah. It was excellent.

Similarly nothing exciting to report about today except that the sun was shining and I wore a pretty frock when Nic and I went out for a walk in town and to do the shopping:

Emily and Fin Lizzie dress, Irregular Choice Mermaid shoes and cardigan from H&M

PIGEON TOES! I'm not actually pigeon-toed, not sure what was going on here! I bought this dress from 52 Greek Street on Thursday. I've had my eye on it for aaaaaages and have been waiting to spot it in my size on sale somewhere, and 52 Greek Street kindly obliged yesterday. It's obviously not exactly winter-appropriate, but it was mild enough today to get away with it. The print is quite 80s, but I like it, and I love the shape of the dress - it has these super-flattering little pleats on the hips. Lovely.

Close-up of the print.

I've got a bit behind with outfit shots recently, which is a shame because I have some really lovely frocks to parade around in. I'm sure I'll get caught up somehow, but in the meantime here's a little sneak preview for you all:

Lots of navy and pink in here...Cute as a button

Finally, before I sign off I'd just like to remind anyone who fancies joining me and Karen in raising a glass or two at our Bombshell Meetup this coming Saturday (29th October) drop me a line at thestreak@gmail.com It's going to be fun, and there will be cocktails and maybe chip sandwiches too. I like to keep it classy, don't you know.

Darling, you don't need mystery. You have something more alluring.... Me.

I saw this post this morning over at Retro Chick and it's been popping up around some of the other blogs I read. Like Ms Chick, I used to love doing these memes in emails and on my long-defunct MySpace blog so I thought what the hey, I'll go old-school and fill one out now. It'll be back to regularly scheduled blogging at some point in the near future I'm sure! Like Retro Chick, I do like getting these little snippets of information about people. You could call it nosy, I call it HUMAN INTEREST, yeah? So feel free to join in and link in the comments or whatever. I will go and read because I'm nosy like that.

A - Age - 29. This feels a funny age, I felt the same way about 23 - like it's not really a proper age to be.

B- Bed size - Just your standard double bed. It's a nice comfy bed though, and I wish I was there now.


C - Chore you hate - Loads! I would be such a slatternly housekeeper if I didn't hate mess. The two chores I hate the most are washing up and taking out the rubbish. Luckily Nic is very understanding and he does these, and in return I take care of the laundry and the hoovering.

D - Dogs - I love dogs, but I don't think I will ever have one. Too much responsibility and also I don't think I could justify constantly buying meat (I'm a vegetarian). That said, I do enjoy the company of my parents' dogs and other doggies too, and in an alternative universe I would have a daschund, and I would know how to spell daschund without having to look it up.

E - Essential start to your day - a shower. I don't feel quite human until I've had a shower and done something with my hair, mainly because my bed-head would make Beaker jealous.

F - Favourite colour - this one is too hard! Probably red, though.

G - Gold or Silver - Silver, every time.

H - Height - small. I am 5' 1". I wear heels a lot. I quite like being short, though. It don't bother me none.

I - Instruments you play - None. I am totally unmusical. I can't even sing. I would quite like to buy a xylophone, though. I never took it seriously as an instrument until I started listening to jazz, and realised that it's an excellent instrument. Actually, I suppose it's a vibraphone that is more commonly used in jazz but I could learn to play both. In that alternative reality where I have a daschund, I would also play the double bass. I think double bass players are sexy.

J - Job title - I don't have a job title at the moment, or a job description. I am a civil servant, though.

K - Kids - No. I don't think this is for me. I might feel differently at some point in the future, but right now I don't want to have children.

L - Live - Lovely Leamington Spa. I'm planning a post elaborating on why Leamington is a good place to live. There will be a long paragraph about the Somerville Arms in there.

M - Mother's name - Stephanie, and also Debbie (don't ask)

N - Nicknames - Detective Chief Inspector Mouse. Puppington-Smythe. Maybe a few other that I don't know, but that's fine.

O - Overnight hospital stays - Luckily, none.

P - Pet Peeves - too many to list! Seriously, we could be all day if I tried to list them all. Probably the catch-all is rudeness. I'm always tweeting about people behaving badly on my commute, and rudeness is the problem. I also really hate when people who are paid to write either don't know how to write accurately, or don't have enough respect for their readers to proof-read their work. That's rude too. Also, grammar is NOT THAT HARD.

Q: Quote from a movie - Hhmm. I'm not sure about from a movie, but regular readers of my blog will know that my post titles are usually quotes from something or other, usually television. But I will give you one of my favourite quotes from a film, this time from After The Thin Man:


Nick: Have you made any New Year's Resolutions?Nora: Not yet. Any complaints or suggestions?
Nick: A few.
Nora: Which?
Nick: Complaints.
Nora: All right. Shoot.
Nick: Well, you don't scold, you don't nag, and you look far too pretty in the mornings.
Nora: All right. I'll remember. Must scold, must nag, mustn't look too pretty in the mornings.

R - Right or left-handed - Right-handed.

S - Siblings - scads of them. A brother and two sisters.

T - Time you wake up - Usually around a quarter to seven, then I get up around ten past.

U - Underwear - well, quite.

V - Vegetable you hate - Hate is a strong word but I do NOT like peppers. Yuck.

W - What makes you run late? - I always try to be punctual and I usually am so if I'm late it's because of the suckiness of cross-country trains.

X - X-Rays you have had - Just one, on my teeth, years ago.

Y - Yummy food that you make - I am good at making veggie chilli. Yum! I also make very tasty roast potatoes.

Z - Zoo animal - Giraffes. Always the giraffes. They're fundamentally ridiculous, and I like that about them.

I have a lot of work to do this afternoon. Those mines aren't going to sweep themselves.

Evening all, happy weekend! I hope you've all been having a good one. I have had a good weekend - the weather has been beautiful and I've been doing lots of fun, restful, weekendy things. It's good because last week was a little bit on the stressful side of things. Well, not exactly stressful but it was certainly not my best week. The transition into the civil service is not easy on my team and my usually quite upbeat colleagues are clearly feeling the strain. Everyone is too stressed to even comfort eat, which is very telling. When the closure of our organisation was announced last May, there were cakes everywhere but this feels sort of different. It's small potatoes as far as problems go, I know, but it's been a tough week. Added to that I've been feeling restless. I always feel this way after I've had some time away - that it's so nice not to have to engage with my everyday life, it's really hard to get back into it. All week I felt that I needed a really good cry, and thankfully the very sad final episode of Treme's first season obliged. I don't want to inadvertently spoil anyone, but something very sad happens and I felt better after having a good old cry over it.

Thankfully the rest of my week picked up a bit after that. On Thursday Nic and I went to meet Kate and Evelina for a coffee after work, followed by a drink with Lysy and The Scientist. You shouldn't underestimate the healing power of friends and wine!

I was in the office on Friday. I usually work from home but until the new IT systems are ironed out I'm office bound on the Friday and it sort of sucks. It could have been worse, though, and as the sun was shining when I got back into Leamington, Nic met me at the station and we went for a walk in the park.

Ponte dress from Dorothy Perkins and Converse trainers

Fridays in the office are a bit more casual, hence the trainers. It was a bit warm for tights, but the stupid trainers always rub if I don't. I'm pretty pleased with this dress - it was an impulse buy from the sale rail and, happily, it rang through £3 cheaper than the ticket price. It's comfortable and has sleeves, but I think the contrast between the cream of the yoke and my actual skin looks a bit strange. Still, I'll take it for a comfortable work frock - it looks good with heels, too.

The flat was in a total mess after a busy week, so Nic and I spent Saturday morning cleaning before heading out into the sunshine to walk to Warwick. It was such a beautiful day and we took a detour on our walk and ambled along enjoying ourselves. We were even able to have our lunch outside, in the churchyard at St. Nicholas Church. I had a wee gift to pick up, and we wandered around the town centre looking in the charity shops. The fair was on, which made Warwick a totally different place to normal - but it was a good day out all the same.

St Nicholas Churchyard

The walkway behind St Mary's Church - wearing my River Island apple dress and Swedish Hasbeens

Outside St John's House, we're going to go back soon to properly explore this lovely building

Saturday evening I cracked open the bottle of champagne D gave me for my birthday, and Nic and I watched some Cagney and Lacey, and enjoyed the happy tiredness you get after a long walk in the sunshine.

Today has been very quiet - nothing more exciting than coffee and cake with friends and a bit of writing, and fairly soon we're off to the pub for some live music.

Fever Cezanne side lace dress and Vivienne Westwood for Melissa Lady Dragon shoes

I can't remember if I have saved these shoes or not, but although I have worn them I'm not sure I have. So now they're definitely saved, and that's a good thing. I'm feeling a bit short on words this evening, so I'm going to sign off here and go to the pub. Have a good evening, my lovelies x

There's nothing like starch, you know, when you're depressed.

Good Monday to you all my dears! I had an unexpectedly busy week last week - I spent much of the week in a spin, trying to figure out what on earth was going on. The bit of the NDPB I worked for transferred into a new executive agency last Monday. The change in my job should be minimal - I am coming to work in the same building, working with the same team and doing roughly the same thing - but last week was still a steep learning curve as we all struggled to get to grips with life inside the Civil Service. It was a strange week, with all of the stressful things about starting a new job like new systems and new rules, without any of the fun stuff like new people or a new commute. We had a little party at the end of the work day on Monday and never has a glass of lukewarm wine been more welcome. Most of last week at work was like struggling through treacle as everything that I knew how to do was taking twice or three times as long. I complained LOTS last week so I'm not going to moan about it now, especially as I am feeling much more settled in. I do have lots of interesting things coming up in work over the next few months as well, so while I don't believe for a second that my days of standing next to the photocopier for hours on end are over, at least there are some other interesting things happening too.

For most of last week I wanted to come home and hide away in bed when work finished, but I forced myself to be more sociable than that because it does me good. On Tuesday night, Nic and I went to see Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy with our friend Greg. I have to say, it was the nicest cinema experience I've had since we went to see Pat and Mike in the NFT about two years ago. Apart from the fact that the cinema was freezing (it always is, though) it was lovely - there was hardly anyone there so no talking, no texting, no kicking the back of my chair. I loved the film as well. I'm sure anything I say about it is probably pretty redundant, but I loved how it looked - everything looked so drab and tobacco stained and the scenes in Budapest looked just like how TV at that time looked, if that makes sense. I'm a big fan of Gary Oldman generally and his performance was so quiet, I found it really compelling. Greg said what he liked about the film was how shit it made the 70s look, and I found that appealing as well. Normally I really suck at following just what the hell is going on in spy films, but I did manage to follow this one and even to work out who the mole was so I felt pleasantly smug as we left the cinema. You can't beat that for £4.90!

Wednesday was possibly the worst day at work last week, mainly because of a mind-numbingly tedious all day meeting. By the time I left work I was thoroughly hacked off, and discovering that I'd forgotten my keys and was, therefore, locked out of the flat was just the cherry on the sundae. Dinner and the walk down to Sew Make Believe ironed out some of the rage and any remaining was killed completely by the book club meeting, which Kate blogged about here. It was excellent to spend the evening in the company of like-minded women and the discussion about the book (Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes) was intelligent and interesting.

After that it was a downhill coast into the weekend. Lovely Hannah was celebrating submitting her PhD thesis so on Friday night we went along to the New Inn to celebrate with her. The company was excellent, and it was brilliant to finish off a crappy working week with lots of gin, but I really dislike the New Inn. It has some merit on a nice day as the garden is lovely, but inside the pub is poorly laid out, and I think Tubbs and Edward would be more welcoming to non-regulars. I got chatting to a man at the bar who had a really cute springer spaniel puppy (which chewed holes in my umbrella! but never mind) and he thought it was appropriate to compliment me by rating my attractiveness. I scored two extra points for my Irish accent, apparently. Yeah, that's the kind of pub it is. Poor Nic found himself in an argument with another patron over which film was 'gayer' - Footloose or The Wild Bunch. I think it'll be a while before I go back, which is a shame because otherwise we had a good night.

I was pleasantly (very pleasantly) surprised to wake up hangover-free on Saturday morning. I had to abandon my plan to go fabric shopping in Birmingham because - well, October is going to be an expensive month. Instead Nic and I took ourselves into town for a wander around, some grocery shopping and a little browse in the charity shops. I thought I'd give one of the dresses I bought in Northern Ireland a spin:

Floral dress and black cardigan both from Dorothy Perkins, and Irregular Choice Little Miss Oh shoes

This is a nice wee dress and it was a bargainous £12 in the sale. The colour combinations are a bit random - there's some highlighter orange in there, and also it falls just too far above the knee for it to be wearable on a windy day. I quite liked how it looked with these blue tights, even if I am a bit sad that we're now into tights weather. This was a nice, comfortable outfit to wear to run around town and do errands before getting changed into my party frock for Louise's birthday party that night.

Nic and I weren't able to stay out too late at the party as we were getting the bus there and back, but we were there for long enough to have a few drinks, a dance, and a lot of fun. The birthday girl had made her own frock and she looked fabulous:

Louise in her handmade fineryCutting a rug

I wore my lovely Vivien of Holloway Anchors Away dress, and it was lots of fun to twirl around the dancefloor in it. I do have a few photos of me and Nic but you're going to have to excuse the gin face in these! The flash is NOT MY FRIEND.

Doesn't Nic look handsome? Also: GIN FACEI pinched this one from Louise's blog because it's better than the group shots I got - here with Louise and Caroline

Getting home nice and early had one major advantage - I was able to finish my book in bed with a cup of tea. How rock and roll am I?! It did mean that I was sunny and chirpy on Sunday and able to enjoy the warm day and save a pair of shoes:

Fever Naruto dress and yellow wedges from Internacionale

The Sunday markets have started in Leamington - they run most Sundays from October until Christmas and it's nice to wander up the Parade browsing around the stalls. The shoes my sisters bought me for my birthday were reasonably comfortable for this. I mean, you wouldn't want to walk long distances in them but I think they held up well, and they're so unusual!

I'm calling these saved in my Shoe Challenge. I'm not sure if I'll get the chance to wear them again before the challenge ends on 14th February!

The rest of this week is going to be busy. I'm going out on a school visit tomorrow, and then I've got workshops for the rest of the week, and in the evening I'm going to be busily sewing away - making myself a Colette Patterns Peony dress. Possibly two - I might get a bit of a production line going on as I have two lovely lengths of fabric to make this frock in, and I don't know where to start! With that in mind, I'd best get started. I've got some tracing to do, especially if I want to wear either frock to meet some of my idols in November. Yes, some exciting times coming up! So it's off to work with me...

Yeah! And when they do we say that wolves did it! It happened in Australia!

Hello strangers! Did you all miss me? Oh well, never mind, I'm back from my holibobs now. I've had such a lovely week that even this Sunday evening feels holiday-ish rather than Sunday evening-ish. Nic has just cooked me a delicious dinner and we've got the windows wide open to enjoy the unseasonably warm breeze. Life feels very good right now!

I had an absolutely super birthday, I have to say. I've been totally spoiled. On Friday afternoon I dashed out of work to get home to ready the flat for my birthday party. I don't normally work in the office on a Friday and the day itself was quite stressful, but once we'd got home and the flat was tidied all the stress of the day was forgotten. I didn't get any photos from the party itself but it was lovely, and of course it was really fun to get dressed up and raise a few glasses with my friends. Lysy baked me my favourite cake - Victoria sponge - and many people came bearing champagne and cava so our fridge is well stocked for the next wee while. I had to be conservative with my boozing, however, as we had to be up bright and early the following day for our flight back to Ireland. My friend DS was staying with us, and after a delicious breakfast in Bread & Co he kindly took us to the airport. The flight and everything was fine, and it was really good to get home to my family. The week at home could have been a bit of a disaster due to something unexpected and difficult that my parents were dealing with, but actually everything was fine.

I woke up on Sunday morning to Nic singing me happy birthday and giving me my birthday presents - a gorgeous navy dress (photos to follow at a later date) and tickets to see The Divine Comedy in Stratford at the end of October! Shortly after this my mum knocked on my door and I went down to the kitchen for breakfast and more presents - gorgeous mustard platforms and a bag from my sisters and perfume and a cardigan from my parents, plus a little trip to Dublin at the end of the week! Spoiling like this is dangerous, I could get used to it. It was drizzly and wet so in lieu of a day out my sister took us all to a local shopping centre where I spent some birthday money on some dresses (I know, what a surprise) It was a very satisfying way to spend my birthday. The rest of the week was quiet and Nic and I spent it mainly around the house reading and watching trashy TV with my mum. Fine holiday fare. I won't bore you by telling you about all of it, but I will instead bore you with some photos:
As the sun came out, I was able to have breakfast by the pond - a nice treat for September. The garden was looking good and we were able to have sweet apples from the tree and plums as well - although picking the plums left me with a caterpillar on my neck, which was less than desirable.

On Wednesday it was gorgeous so we headed down to Dungannon Park with Colleen and one of the dogs. Dungannon park is beautiful, and we took the long walk - right around the lake and up to Top Field, past the Moygashel linen factory buildings.

Dungannon lake

Nic on the bridge at Mill Race

Colleen and Minnie exploring the riverbank by the waterfall

The waterfall - it sounds very dramatic when you're next to it!

On Thursday we visited my grandma and had a delicious takeaway from Indian Spice, and then we were up bright and early on Friday for the drive down to Dublin. Both of the dogs were sad to see us go:

Daddy and MinniePoor old Paddy, he's the gentlest dog you could hope to meet but the lift definitely doesn't go the whole way to the top!

It's been a few years now since I've spent any time in Dublin and Nic and I were both very excited. We checked into our hotel, The Pearse Hotel and were greeted by this cute little message:It was pretty surreal, actually - there was this and Vivaldi's The Four Seasons playing somewhere, but it was a lovely room. We got settled in and then headed into the city centre for a roam around. We started off at Grafton Street, and were immediately buttonholed by this sweet but eccentic busker, whose name was Conor:

He was sweet, though. He called me a princess and took this photo of our little party:Nic with some Muldoons

I was snapped with one of Dublin's most famous ladies, Miss Molly Malone:She looks good, doesn't she? With a decolletage like that, it's no wonder she was immortalised in song.

It looks nice and sunny in those photos, doesn't it? Well it started to rain shortly after that and it did not stop. It was still raining when we left Dublin the following day. After a wander round Grafton Street we headed up Wicklow Street and into the Secret Book and Record Store. I didn't buy anything but I was ridiculously pleased to see a bookseller behind the counter that I recognised from Armchair Books in Edinburgh. Maybe the world of second hand books is a small one! In any case, the two bookshops I mentioned are two of the finest I've had the joy to frequent, so it was nice to find a connection between them. From there we headed up to the George's Street arcade and the nearby vintage shop Harlequin - both favourite haunts of mine duing teenaged visits to Dublin. The arcade itself is a beautiful Victorian covered market and it's home to independent shops and stalls selling all sorts of treasures:

A poor camera phone shot of the market interiorNic browsing for records

One of the shops is Retro, another favourite of mine from my teenage days - then I was interested in the velvet and hairdyes, now it was the Bettie Page and Stop Staring dresses. Poor Daddy spent half an hour trailing round after me while I sighed over the nice dresses I couldn't afford - lucky man! After a very wet walk back to the hotel we were off out again, this time to Temple Bar for dinner in The Alamo - the same Mexican restaurant my parents took me to on my birthday last year. If you're in the Temple Bar area, I can't recommend The Alamo highly enough. The food is so good and so is the atmosphere - and I am very tickled by the fact that along with all of the amazing Mexican food, you can also order Irish Stew. We went for a few drinks afterwards and had a late night, so a cooked breakfast was very much in order the following morning in the hotel. The rain had continued, so we were forced indoors and visited the Powerscourt Town House on South William Street. This is one of my favourite places in Dublin, not necessarily for the shopping but just for the building itself, which is incredible:

Drawing of the front of the buildingHow many shopping centres have chandeliers?Powerscourt

Powerscourt is a Georgian townhouse, formerly home to Viscount Powerscourt. The courtyard was glazed over and now the house is home to elegant shops and bars. It's just a really cool place to visit, even if you'd need to be independently wealthy to be able to afford to buy anything in here! Before Nic and I got on our flight back to Birmingham, we headed out along the coast to Malahide and Howth to get a bit of (cold, wet) sea air. It was delightful, and I really didn't want to leave. It was a delightful week at home.

Landing in Birmingham to beautiful sunshine was no hardship and today I rounded off the holiday with a picnic in the park. It was nice to dig out the sunglasses once again!

Emily and Fin Ella dress and Topshop sandals

I shall leave you here with a few last photos of my week, and I'll see you all in a few days.

Victoria Beckham dress in the window of Brown Thomas on Grafton Street

Nic enjoying a brandy and ginger in one of Dublin's many pubsThe rain forced us to to shelter in the Ilac Centre off Henry Street. It's a bit grim in there, but I was tickled by this vending machine. I've never seen a burger vending machine before and I do not fancy a burger from a vending machine. I did like how the machine looked, though.I loved this mobile in The Winding Stair, made from books and a teaset.