I've finally stopped crying but that's only because I started vomiting.

It's Friday, and it's been quite a week. It feels like last weekend was ages ago, but I suppose that's what going back to work will do for you. It's been fine, even the getting up in the morning has been all right, but work-wise this week has been tedium to the max, because I've mainly been proof-reading. I very much admire anyone who can do it as a job, because at the end of my first day of it I was ready to...well, I was going to say something extreme like 'stab myself in the eye with my pen' but that's a lie, it wasn't as bad as all that. You get the picture, though.

I've been leaving the house in the dark and getting home in the dark, so I don't have any outfit shots for you from this week. I'm working from home today, though so here y'all are:

Fever Pansy spot dress, Bettie Page belt and Irregular Choice Hermia wedges

I don't like this picture, but it's so murky outside that I'm afraid this is the best of a bad bunch! I do like what I'm wearing, however. This dress fitted perfectly when I bought it in March or April of last year but when I was unwell I lost weight and I hadn't really been happy with how it looked since. This morning I paired it with the white patent belt that came with a Bettie Page dress and (you won't be surprised to learn) the Tara Starlet petticoat. I was so happy with how it looked I added my Hermia wedges to keep the whole thing monochrome:

Irregular Choice Hermia wedges

The petticoat works especially well because it brings the skirt to a more flattering length on me. I tell you, that was one of the best £9 I ever spent!

I will be accessorising this outfit with my glasses later on as Nic and I are off to the cinema this afternoon. Its convenient location around the corner from our house and the fact that I am working from home mean that we can go to an early screening and hopefully have the place to ourselves! We're away to see The King's Speech, partly because the reviews have been so mixed and largely because I have been reading rather a lot recently about this era so it appealed to me. I'm reserving judgment because I get the feeling it probably won't be very good, but I've enjoyed my last few outings to the cinema so I'll still enjoy the experience I'm sure.

I'll keep this short and sweet as my lunch is calling to me. Enjoy your Friday, my dears and I'll be checking in again over the weekend so come back soon!

You can't be a successful dictator and design women's underclothing. One or the other. Not both.

You guys, I have found fame at last. This week has been very exciting because, not only has my photo been on the Hagan's website but Nic and I were also in the local paper! My sister emailed me the photo, I'm not sure which paper but I think it might have been the Tyrone Times. Finally, my star quality has been realised!

Nic and I in Hagan's on New Year's Eve

From the Hagan's website. This is me with my sister and my cousin. I am really pleased that the Hagan's watermark has a Santa hat on it. That is attention to detail, people!

Well, I'm back to work tomorrow. That fact isn't sucking as much as it might (although, you know, I will probably feel differently when my alarm goes off tomorrow morning and I have to get up in the dark. But still.) This is mainly because my holiday has been long and relaxing, and Nic and I have just spent a really pleasant weekend. It was murky outside and I was too gosh-darned lazy to have my planned day out on Saturday but that was okay. I stayed in my pyjamas until a disgraceful hour crocheting, drinking coffee and watching DVDs before getting dressed to go out for a stroll around Leamington with Nic. We had a few errands to run, and wanted to take a turn around the bottom of town. I was still feeling excited enough about my petticoat to want to build another outfit around it, so I wore this:

Fever Daydreamer dress and Firetrap Desire shoes

I bought this dress last year on ebay but have only worn it a few times. Caroline has it too, and she commented that she thought it needed an underskirt to balance it out. She's totally right, and I think the way the skirt hangs was one of the reasons why I didn't wear it very often. You can see it on Caroline here if you'd like further proof that it looks good with an underskirt! I shall be wearing this more often, because I felt nice and princessy all day. I accessorised the dress with the beautiful necklace Kate and Rich gave me for my birthday, and the pretty Benefit lipstick I won in Emma's giveaway at Ol' Green Eyes:

I've been experimenting with velcro rollers to give my hair a bit of volume. I quite like it like this.

I got a bit of crafting done on Saturday afternoon while Nic did the washing up, and we had a really fun evening. I made curry, and then we watched one of my Christmas presents with a big bowl of home made popcorn and some gin and tonic. Nic gave me DVDs of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and Bad Day at Black Rock because I love Spencer Tracy. Last night we watched Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. I won't talk too much about it, because Nic is planning to write about it over on Squeezegut Alley so instead here's a picture of one of my favourite actors:

Lovely old Spencer Tracy.

Today was bright and sunny and the perfect day for a good old ramble around Leamington. I enjoy walking through the residential parts of town and looking at the variety of architecture. The sunshine meant that the town was full of smiling people, and I felt an enormous sense of well-being and optimism. It's amazing what a bit of sunshine can do for you! We walked along to one of Leamington's hidden treasures, Lansdowne Circus. It's a beautiful little hidden close of pretty houses, with a secret garden in the middle:

The secret garden

Nic was doing some research for something he's writing, and I thought I'd take advantage of the sunshine and the pretty surroundings to get an outfit shot in natural light.

It's that coat again....

Today I wore one of the Fever dresses I bought in the Brandalley sale. The other one is on its way (they were awaiting stock, apparently) so you'll see that in due course. I was very, very pleased with the ridiculous bargain I got on these dresses. One was £13 and the other £11 and they are both still on sale at full price in some stores. On top of this, Brandalley have sent me a £10 voucher so essentially I got these dresses for £7 each. Sweet!

Fever Botanics lace dress, red cardigan from Marks and Spencer and Bertie Sardinia shoes

It was cold enough to merit a cardigan, and also I'm not totally sure about the sleeves on this dress. I might remove them so it looks more like a shift dress, what do you think?

I accessorised the dress with the beautiful necklace I won in Emma's competition:

I was also ridiculously tickled by the fact that the print has red and fuschia in it, so when it's warm enough I'll be able to wear this frock with my Lady Dragon shoes. I am so easily amused, it's not even funny. Anyhow, the walk through town was invigorating and interesting. When we got back I did some chores and got down to some more crafting. I haven't made new year's resolutions as such, but I have decided that there are lots of crafty projects I want to work on this year. One of them is underway - a stash-busting granny square blanket to get my crochet eye in again. I have a list of projects I want to make as well, starting with making another version of the Colette Ceylon dress in red as well as another Simplicity 2591. I'd also like to venture into making some clothes for Nic, and have my eye on the new Colette pattern for men - the Negroni shirt. I'm going to be saving money and staying in, so I may as well use the time to do some sewing! I'd also like to do a bit of stash-busting and find a use for some very interesting patterned cotton. So I'd expect to hear a bit more about sewing round here in 2011.

The other not-quite-resolution I've made for 2011 is to have lots of fun. That might sound a bit generic, but I lost too much of 2010 to not having fun, and I don't want that to happen again. I'm making a conscious effort to make sure to enjoy life. So, with that in mind I'm away to cuddle Nic and watch The Fugitive. Because what's more fun than Harrison Ford jumping off a reservoir? Harrison Ford jumping off a reservoir with a gin and tonic, that's what. Until next time, my friends. Goodnight!

Yeah, but that was when your biggest problem was a shit pun in a newspaper and a face like Dot Cotton licking piss off a nettle.

Happy Friday everyone! I'm having an unearned lazy Friday, and enjoying my last official day of holiday before going back to work next week. Yes, I know I still have the weekend to go but a day off only counts as a day off if other people are in work. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. I'm afraid I haven't been doing anything terribly exciting today because January is going to be the month of not doing very much, but all the same I feel compelled to share that with you all. That's the beauty of having a blog, I suppose!

I dragged myself out of bed a little earlier than my holiday norm this morning as I'd made plans to call round to see my friend L. When she was moving house last year my dad helped her to sort out a problem with arranging buildings insurance (Super Daddy to the rescue!) so I was really looking forward to seeing the place now she and her family have settled in. We had a lovely morning with tea, cake, and playing with her little boy and his Playmobil castle. I've talked here before about my ambivalence towards the thought of having children and that hasn't really changed. I still don't know if it's something I will ever want, but spending time with L definitely makes me think that it might be something I want at some point because her children are lovely, and she is really cool and interesting. Anyway, it was a terrific morning and I thoroughly enjoyed getting out for a bit of a walk and a bit of socialising.

When I left L's, I took myself off to the library to meet Nic. He was there doing a little bit of research for a bit of writing he wants to do. I had a quick browse around the shelves but the heat in the library was stifling so I couldn't really concentrate. Also, once I realised they didn't have the book I wanted (that new Philip Roth book. I can take him or leave him, but I think the context of the Polio epidemics is interesting) I lost interest. Luckily, Nic was finished so we were able to go and do the day's most exciting task....PAYING THE COUNCIL TAX. That's right, folks. The glamour never stops round here!

Well, that's a bit unfair actually because I think I do manage to get a bit of glamour into my everyday life. Next stop after the Post Office was the Arboretum in Jephson Gardens so we could get in some outfit shots before the light faded completely! Getting outfit shots should be a little bit easier now since my little sister donated her old digital camera. Her boyfriend bought her a snazzy pink one for Christmas, so she gave me her old one. It's good, although it did take me a while to figure out how to make it work with my little mac. Anyway, on to the outfit! As promised yesterday, here is the item I've been waiting since before Christmas for:

Fever Denver coat, KG Camara shoes and Joules Duncombe bag (of course!)

Yes, it's a coat! Probably a totally unnecessary coat as I have a fair few already. Still, I was very excited to see this little baby turn up on ebay. It's a few seasons old now, but this one is in good condition. On my first visit to the Fever shop a few years ago they were selling this coat at the ridiculously reduced price of £29 (from £120!) and I stupidly didn't buy one. I had reasons that seemed Very Important at the time, but I regretted it ever after because those reasons? They were STUPID. This one was the first one I have seen on ebay in my size. And she is finally mine, after the stupid snow meant I had to wait over a month for Royal Mail to get it the 100 odd miles from London to Leamington Spa.

I am happier than I look here...just trying not to blink. So look instead at the pretty corsage.

One of the things I really like about this coat is it's long. All my other coats finish just below my bum, so it's nice to have a long coat with a full skirt. It looks pretty nice from the back as well, I think:

Princess seams and a full skirt

I'm not ashamed to say I planned my outfit today around my other long-awaited item of post. Waaaay back at the start of December I bought a Tara Starlet petticoat from ebay with the intention of wearing it underneath that lovely Vivien of Holloway number. It was a bargainous £9 and I'm enjoying figuring out what else it'll go with in my wardrobe, like this:

Vintage dress, Marks and Spencers patent belt and Tara Starlet petticoat

I love this dress. I know everyone, everywhere, is describing every single dress as 'very Mad Men' but I think it's almost fair here. I think of this dress as my Peggy Olson dress, it's something I can imagine her in. I love the way the skirt drapes without the petticoat underneath it, and I think it looks subtly different with the skirt underneath it. Of course, it also gives me the chance to goof around like so:

Maybe I will grow up, one day....

The Arboretum is a good place for photos. I like the greenery and it's warm enough to be able to take off coats and cardigans but still get natural light! I'm lucky to have such a patient and tolerant photographer to trail around after me and indulge me

My photographer, the lovely Nic

The rest of the afternoon has been uneventful. Nic and I came home, had lunch and tidied up, and then it was time for some afternoon tea:

Afternoon tea with Hornsea

Louise gave me a sweet surprise before Christmas - a gift of a Hornsea creamer in the Saffron pattern, which she'd thoughtfully filled with peppermint creams so I thought I'd give it its first outing.

Hornsea Saffron creamer

Peppermint creams in one of my pieces of Heirloom

I've been collecting the Heirloom pattern, but now have two pieces of Saffron thanks to Louise. To eat we had the peppermint creams and some delicious banana and ginger cake, courtesy of Lysy. Now Nic is reading in the corner, listening to Charles Mingus and awaiting his turn on the computer so I shall sign off. We're off out tomorrow, weather permitting, so I may have something more interesting to share with you all then. Have a wonderful Friday evening, my dears.

Have a nice time in Leamington Spa. I hear it's got the best Lidl in the West Midlands.

So, Nic and I are back in Leamington again, and those annoying neighbours downstairs seem to have decided to greet us by playing stupid thumpy music very loudly once again. I'm giving them half an hour, then I'm putting on my Mike Post TV themes CD on loudly and going out. Passive aggressive, isn't it?!

Seriously though, apart from that it is nice to be back. Our flight back yesterday had none of the drama of my flight home before Christmas and I liked it that way. It is good that it was painless, because it does take most of the day which always seems a shame. When we got back to Leamington it was dark and drizzly, and we had to go to Tesco. Back to reality with a bump after a fortnight of being cooked for and pampered! Still, it was nice to get back to our flat and I even had some belated Christmas presents to open. Nic's brother and his parents had both sent presents with him for me, and they were beautiful. Nic's brother bought me Series 3 of The Thick of It, which made me very happy indeed (and totally reignited my crush on Peter Capaldi!) and Nic's parents spoiled me with a pretty printed shoe bag and a beautiful hardback copy of Mrs Miniver by Jan Struthers. I also had some long awaited post to finally open, starting with a parcel from Emma of Ol Green Eyes. She ran a competition on her blog before Christmas, and I was lucky enough to win, and opening the parcel was like getting another present! I don't have a photo of one of the gifts - a bag of maltesers - because Nic and I tore through them with our 'getting home at last' cups of tea! The other items were some lovely bits of makeup:

Maybelline Line Definer liquid eyeliner, Benefit 'Wild Card' Full Finish lipstick, some false eyelashes, Catrice nail lacquer (and a random bottle of my own Barry M nail varnish that got mixed up into it when I took this photo)

A beautiful jewellery box heart pendant from Accessorize

I'm very grateful to Emma for running such a lovely blog giveaway and, I have to say, she's inspired me to do one of my own in the coming weeks. I just need to gather up some treats!

Nic and I were both pretty lame-o and flaked out almost totally after having our dinner. As I had given Nic the complete Laurel and Hardy boxed set for Christmas we thought it would be fun to watch one of the films and settled down to watch Sons of the Desert, which I hadn't seen before. I'm still feeling a bit under the weather so it was really good to snuggle under a blanket and watch a funny film - however, every time I tried to laugh (frequently, it was a funny film) it turned into a coughing fit. Still, it was worth it, the film is very funny.

I have to hand it to you, Ollie... for the meticulous care with which you have executed your finely formulated machinations in extricating us from this devastating dilemma.

We got up early this morning to do a bit of tidying around the flat before going out to collect more late post from the sorting office and to do the grocery shopping. It's still pretty cold in Leamington, but it's positively tropical compared to the temperatures we were enjoying in Dungannon so I felt brave enough to forgo the opaque tights. I wore another one of the parcels I unwrapped last night, a Fever dress I bought on ebay before Christmas:

Fever Java dress and Irregular Choice Flick Flack shoes

This dress was a total impulse buy one evening when I was watching something else I was bidding on, but I'm glad I bought it. Admittedly it'll need a slip underneath it to make it office-appropriate, but I really like the colours and I've felt so floaty all day in it! I like the back view as well.

I also felt it was time to give my new Flick Flacks an outing. They don't strictly match this frock, although they both have red and green in them. I'm calling this one for the shoe challenge anyway!

new Flick Flack shoes

I gave the Benefit 'Wild Card' lipstick a spin, and accessorised the dress with this cute wee owl ring I bought the other day in H&M. At first I thought the lipstick might be a shade dark for me, but I like it quite a lot. I'll never be someone who wears lipstick every day, but it's nice to wear it from time to time.

I actually also bought some owl earrings, but they're too wee to photograph well

I also decided to give my new nail varnish a go. The colour is called The Devil Wears Red, and it's a very pretty blood red colour

The devil wears red

On our way to the sorting office, we noticed something very strange in Jephson Gardens

Strange snow formations

Isn't this strange? From a distance it looked plastic, like the council had put up some sort of 'winter wonderland' type thing, but it is really ice. The pond is frozen over, and I think this strange formation of ice is formed from the frozen fountains in the pond, but they do look like sculptures of some sort. It seemed even odder because all of the snow has melted away, so it's quite incongruous. Anyhow, we dandered through the park and over the river to the post office and I picked up the parcels I've been waiting on for a month. It was good to finally get my paws on them! One was the long-awaited Tara Starlet petticoat, and the other was something very pretty. You'll see a photo when I wear it tomorrow, but I will give you a little sneak preview:

a corsage...can you tell what it is yet?

The rest of the afternoon has been very relaxed. I had no real desire to stay in town for very long so after doing the shopping we came home and have been making the most of the free afternoon ever since. No plans for this evening past a film and dinner, and then tomorrow I'm off to see my friend L for cake and jigsaws. To be honest, at the moment I'm still feeling in hibernation mode and I'm quite enjoying just holing up in the flat with Nic, some tea and DVDs. Maybe going back to work next week will make me feel a bit more sociable but right now I'm away to make a cup of tea and have a read of my book. Until tomorrow, my dears!

I can't believe my ears. Did we just break a story that wasn't 'The Ipswich manager's just got sacked'?

Right, so I did actually spend some time writing a 'review of the year' type blog post in my notebook on the day I flew home for Christmas but, well, I've decided not to bother with it. 2010 was pretty sucky for many reasons, and I focused on that a fair bit but I think that was at least partly because I was stressed about the possibility of my flight getting cancelled. There were lots of good things too about 2010. I think I can best sum up the highs and lows in the form of a list:

2010 +/-
+ New job, pay rise, working with interesting people
- New government closing my workplace, lots of stress, a buttload of commuting
+ It looks like my job may be moved to a new organisation, so no need to sign on just yet
+ Nic is lovely and we had many many wonderful adventures together
- The aforementioned work stress combined with family troubles meant I had a rough few months
- Real friendship heartache, being bitched about and lied about by hypocrites
+ I met some fantastic people by joining Sew Make Believe and meeting Louise
+ I learned how to sew!
- My extended family are buttheads
+ My immediate family are lovely
So, that's 2010. On balance there were more pluses than minuses, so I can go into 2011 feeling positive, I think!

Since I last blogged about a week ago, I've been joined at home by Nic. Luckily all of the inconvenient snow melted away in time for him to be able to fly into Dublin last week and since he's been here in Northern Ireland with me we've been having a grand time. Well, mainly a very lazy time but that's what holidays are all about. The horrible stinky cold I picked up on my way home has been doing the rounds of my family and I have been also finding it very difficult to shake off so we've mainly just been lazing around at home watching rubbish TV and hanging out with my family. It's been bliss!
For the first time in about 10 years I went out on New Year's Eve. It was an opportunity to go out with all of my siblings, which is always good fun. We were joined by my cousin Kim, and it was also her birthday, so we felt very celebratory indeed! Despite not having the petticoat to wear underneath it (yeah, thanks Royal Mail) I was very excited to wear the beautiful Vivien of Holloway dress Nic had bought me for Christmas, and we all headed out to the always reliable Hagan's Bar in Dungannon:

My siblings are so gorgeous, sometimes I think my parents found me under the gooseberry bush!

Hagan's was very busy, although not as busy as I've seen it on other occasions. They were giving out free champagne and we bagged a table next to one of the bars so, drinks-wise we were all set. We were joined by my sister's other halves and assorted friends, and we were quite the merry crew. On what could be a very stressful evening, we did manage to have a lot of fun.

Me, enjoying the free champagneWith Nic, who was looking very handsome...
And he enjoyed the Guinness. Well, he was in Ireland!
Kim and Stacey had a good time

We all enjoyed the free masks

I'm pretty lame, and I'm not used to being somewhere so crowded and loud, so I have a shameful confession to make. Despite not drinking over-much (well, not really any more than on an average night in the Somerville) I was sick! Yes, I was that classy, boking in a bin in the toilets of Hagan's. It was not the most glamorous end to the evening, and certainly not how I wanted to start 2011! Still, it could have been a lot worse. I didn't get any boke on my dress.

We were all feeling somewhat delicate on New Year's Day. Poor Kelly had to work, but the rest of us were able to have a long lie in and a lazy afternoon. Thankfully neither Nic nor I were hungover, just tired. In the afternoon we went to see my grandma and aunt, before coming home and settling down to watch the Father Ted night on Channel 4. It was very exciting to see Neil Hannon talking about composing the music for the show, and even better to watch my daddy wiping away tears of laughter while watching the writers' favourite episode, Kicking Bishop Brennan Up The Arse. We managed to rouse ourselves on Sunday, however, and decided to get out of the house and go for a day out.

Ever since Nic and I have been together, I have been telling him he should see the Giant's Causeway so we decided to head up there. After paying the extortionate 'parking' fee of £6 (yeah, screw you too National Trust) we went for some lunch in the Causeway hotel. The food was good, and the people who served us were very nice but the hotel is a bit of a dump and very weirdly organised. We needed to get a fellow patron to explain how we could place an order for food! I was feeling a bit grumpy, and rather guilty for dragging my parents and Nic out but luckily the Giant's Causeway itself more than made up for any other shortcomings of the day. I hadn't been since I was in secondary school so didn't quite remember how beautiful it is.

The coastline from the top of the cliff path

It was pretty cold, and we were expecting the causeway to be deserted but there were loads of people there. And it turned out to be a really good day to see it, because it was windy and dramatic:

We thoroughly enjoyed scrambling about and climbing all over the rocks. So of course, I took lots of photos. So did Nic, so at some point in the next few days you can read about it and see his photos at Squeezegut Alley, probably!

How much do I love this picture of Nic and my daddy on the rocks?!

Nic and I, taken by daddy from on a great height! My mum was very cold!

We had a lot of fun, and I can certainly recommend visiting the Giant's Causeway, if only to see the bizarre artist's rendering of what Finn McCool looked like! Of course, there were some silly tourists who were underwhelmed by it ("I thought it would be bigger! What's so giant about this?") but it was excellent. It was dark as we were leaving, so unfortunately we didn't make it round the coast to Dunluce Castle, but that will be an adventure for another day! On our way home we stopped in Maghera for a coffee in the lovely Walsh's Hotel before getting home to eat pizza in pyjamas and watch a film. It was blissful!

Today Nic and I headed into town for a coffee and a wander around. Dungannon is actually pretty good for shopping - while there are some of the bigger high street shops, there are also a fair few independent shops selling smaller labels. Last week I bought an Emily and Fin dress from Aurora and today I bought some Irregular Choice shoes from Solo (which sadly doesn't have a website, but it's on Scotch Street. Just past the Presbyterian Church)

Shoes number 36: Irregular Choice Flick Flack shoes: red and metallicYes, more Flick Flack shoes! I might employ the old 'one in, one out' here and give my black Flick Flack shoes to my sisters. I bought them this time last year, before I realised I need to buy a size smaller in Irregular Choice shoes so they are a wee bit too big, and I could do with the room in my wardrobe. Anyway, it's another pair to add to the Ruby Shoesday rotation (although I'm not sure if anyone is still doing that?!) and they were even more reduced than the price sticker suggested so: yes!

We've got one more full day here in Northern Ireland before heading back to Leamington. I booked the rest of this week off work so I could have a nice long time at home, so my back-to-work pain is not going to kick in until Sunday, which is nice! I'll catch you all when I'm back in Leamington, blogging on my own computer. I'm looking forward to that because trying to write a blog on my dad's Windows 7 laptop is a ballache. Seriously.

One last thing I didn't add to my list of pluses for 2010 is this blog. It's caused me some minor stresses at times, but mainly it's been brilliant. I've met some fabulous people through it, people who have become real friends and I've made contact with some other wonderful people out there. It's helped me to have fun with my style, to form a good relationship with my body and, you know, it's really good to know that there are some amazing people out there listening to me. Thank you to all of my lovely readers - I hope 2011 has lots of fun in store for us!

I revealed too much too soon. I was emotionally slutty.

So, after my last blog I went into extreme worrying mode. The weather seemed to get worse - especially in Dublin - and I was convinced my flight home would be cancelled and that I faced the prospect of spending Christmas away from my family. Luckily for me I had a good back up plan, and would have been able to spend Christmas with Nic and his family in Kent. But, in the event, my flight managed to squeeze into Dublin on Wednesday. Only just, it seems - the airport was closed the entire day before and for most of Thursday and Friday as well. I won't bore you with all of the details of my journey but I did spend a miserable two hours of it sitting in the middle of a row on a Ryanair plane, waiting for air traffic control in Dublin to give us a landing slot while an absolutely awful brat screamed and roared and kicked my seat. Ugh. Still, it was definitely all worth it when I got off the plane and was greeted in the airport by my lovely parents.

I've had a stinking cold all week (I caught it on the plane. I could actually feel myself getting ill while I was sitting there) and right now I have a red nose and a pale face - I look less than delightful, so no outfit shots. However, I am starting to feel better and my photographer arrives with us tomorrow, so I might be able to rectify that during the rest of the week. I do feel really rough, though. I know it's only a cold, and I shouldn't be so lame, but my sinuses are giving me real gip. I'll play one more tune on my sad violin and tell you that I couldn't go out with my brother and sisters tonight because I'm too ill, and then I really will stop whinging!
I really don't have anything to moan about. I feel so lucky to have made it home, and so far it's been wonderful even with a cold. We had a bit of a drama on Christmas morning when our oven broke, but my mum took the turkey to my grandma's house to cook it there and luckily enough the hob was working so we were able to cook everything else. It was lovely being with all of my siblings, and though I spent the day just lounging around and reading my book, it was perfect.

When I got home the weather was astonishingly cold. Our 'severe weather' in the midlands had done nothing to prepare me for the temperatures here. On the 23rd and 24th the temperature had reached -15 by about six in the evening! It has warmed up dramatically now, and it's raining heavily and all of the snow has disappeared but it was beautiful when it lasted. I'll leave you with a few photos I took of my snowy home, and I'll be back later in the week

The pond is completely frozen over. However, I did not take accept my dad's invitation to go for a walk across it.

No breakfast by the pond this time

The Copper Beeches look beautiful with frozen leaves

Snow and sky

And a few non-snow pictures. My sister and her fiance had a wedding to attend on the 23rd - so they're providing the outfit shots this time!

Kelly, looking very festive in her Fever Loire dressKelly and M