Sunday 27 January 2013

♥ 52 Weeks of Happy (4/52) ♥

This week has been a really quiet week.  Just a plodding along week.  No exciting adventures. 

Still working from home because BT still haven't connected the phone/broadband at our new office. I'm quite liking the fact that we don't have the commute to do especially in this wintery weather.  We haven't had much snow, just a light covering, so there was no disruption to school and MissG was able to go in and do her four GCSE exams this week - I'm sure she was praying for heavy snow!


1.  The cheap bird feeder that I bought (for only £7.99 cheep-cheep!) has gone down a treat with the birds.  MrG put out water, seed, nuts and fat-balls and it has drawn so many birds to our garden - blue tits, coal tits, long-tailed tits, a robin and a wren (I love to see a wren).  I also threw half a crusty cob out onto the lawn and it has attracted a thrush (or two) and the loaf has been hollowed out within a couple of days (we haven't had a thrush in our garden before).  On Wednesday morning we were fascinated to see a tiny, little mouse sitting in the seed tray having it's breakfast.


2.  I have been doing a little crafting this week - making a couple of birthday cards.  As I mentioned before, my sister and I got a Cuttlebug for Christmas and we've bought lots of embossing/cutting folders, card, ribbon, and little embellishments.  We have set ourselves a challenge to make all our own cards this year.  So far, I have made 3 Happy New Year cards, 1 thank you card and 2 birthday cards.  It's not saving us any money as we're spending more on buying the materials but we are both enjoying ourselves!


3.  My lovely new box files arrived this week (to store my card making materials).  I ordered them in the Cath Kidston sale.  I love this design.

4.  No photo to add - sorry, I'm a bit camera shy!  My fourth 'happy' moment this week was a long overdue visit to the hairdresser.  It's not unusual for me to wait until I get to the 'desperate' stage before making an appointment but then my hairdresser had to cancel a couple of appointments because she was ill so I was well and truly desperate by the time I got there.  I have long hair and was going to get it cut quite a bit shorter (a new look for the New Year) but I chickened out at the last minute and ended up with a good trim.  I was very pleased with it though as she chopped off all the split ends and straightened it so it looked very sleek and lovely - I can never quite achieve that look at home.  If I do have a 'good' photo taken (improbable) then I will post it!

Hope you had a good week too x





Sunday 20 January 2013

♥ 52 Weeks of Happy (3/52) ♥



I finally got my new boots - just in time for the snow! I know this isn't really news worthy but it made me happy.  I spotted them in the Next catalogue about six weeks ago and have been waiting for my size to come into stock.


Did you get snow this week?  The weather man forecast snow and indeed we did get some, but not nearly as much as we thought.  Not nearly enough to go sledging or make a snowman.


On Monday I drove to the coast and there was no snow at all.  The sun was shining, the sea was in and the colourful boats looked so cheery.



Mmm look at that mocha - it tasted so good.  I had to go to collect some things from our new office on Wednesday and as it was my sisters day off we had an impromptu day out.  It was lovely to meet up but it was soooo cold.  My new car displays the outside temperature and it was minus 1. 5 when I left home, it dropped to minus 3 on my journey up the M6 and I don't think it got much above 1 degree all day.  We really needed that mocha!






Sunday 13 January 2013

♥ 52 Weeks of Happy (2/52) ♥

I've been feeling pretty positive this week (long may it last) and have had my share of happy moments.  Here are just four of them!

Tea and Toasted Teacakes

You may (or may not) remember that before Christmas I mentioned that we have BIG plans for this year.  

We currently live on the border of Cumbria and Lancashire and we are hoping to move forty miles further up to into Cumbria to the market town of Penrith.  MrG and I have been down here for about 22 years and have lived in this house for the last 15 but have always fancied moving back up towards Carlisle, where we met at art college.   The reason we haven't made the move before now is that the children are settled in school and we don't want to move them before their final exams.  Well, this year they will both be taking their exams, SonG is taking his A'levels and MissG her GCSE's, so it seems an ideal time to put our plans into motion.  On Christmas Eve we took our first step and signed the lease for a property in Penrith and over the Christmas holidays we moved our business up there.  We are hoping to sell our house and buy a new one in Penrith later this year.  We're not sure about the timing though, when do we put our house on the market if we don't want to go until July/August?  

Anyway, back to the photo above.  They say that each cloud has a silver lining.  The cloud is - although we have moved into our office, have paid our rent, paid the insurance and all the other bills we can't actually work there until BT connect us as we need a broadband connection - this is not going to happen until 1st February!  The silver lining is - MrG and I are working from home so there's no commuting and worrying about the icy roads and... we get to have leisurely breakfasts in our cosy kitchen!

Cinema in Carlisle

Many years ago (about 6 I think) I had to organise a seminar in London as part of my job and a perk for me was while I was there I was treated to a theatre show of my choice.  I chose Les Miserables and enjoyed it so much that I have yearned to go back to see it again.  So now that the movie has been released I just had to go check it out for myself.  I was up in Carlisle visiting family this weekend so went to see it with my sister.  Have you seen it?  I thought it was really good but the singing was quite distracting at times and nowhere near as good as the live shows.  I did enjoy it though and will probably go again at the weekend with MissG.

My New Car

Another reason for my trip to Carlisle was to collect my new car.  I'm a happy bunny!

Italian Ice Cream

I took my Dad, sister and niece for a drive to test my new car out on quieter roads before I had to drive home down the M6.  We went up over the border into Scotland to Langholm and visited the most fabulous Italian ice cream shop - a delicious treat even in January!

Sunday 6 January 2013

♥ 52 Weeks of Happy (1/52) ♥

the happiest people don't have the best of everything 

- they just make the best of everything


As it's the first week in January I have decided to join '52 weeks of happy' to record four things per week that have made me happy.  

The idea originated with Jen at Little Birdie but there are many others taking part including Gillian at Tales From A Happy House and Heather at Little Tin Bird.

After losing my Mum in January I really struggled to get through 2012.  I went through the motions of living but I just couldn't feel the joy.  

I'm really going to try to take a more positive outlook this year - I need to enjoy the little happy moments and hopefully 2013 will be a much happier year.

So here goes... my four happy moments of week one


a bottle of Champers on New Years Eve with a Chinese takeaway


a few hours lounging on the chaise longue with my tapestry


hitting the January sales with MissG


a country walk with MrG - and the sun was shining!