Yep, I’ve gone and got myself a hair cut. My fringe was driving me nuts. It grows like a weed and will no doubt need cutting again in about 2 weeks, but for now it’s looking just the way I like it. I had to grow my hair insanely long for the wedding because the hair style I needed, plus my rubbish fine hair, meant as much length as possible was a must. Then a week after we got back from our honeymoon I had 6 inches lopped off. Oh the joy. Since then it’s already grown two inches and I wanted it even shorter than before. I’m working my way up to maybe shoulder length, but that will have to be done bit by bit. Way too scary in one chop me thinks.

We’re having a pretty perfect rainy September evening. B watching Sunday night’s American football and me knitting. Throw in some yummy food and a toasty blanket and it’s hard to beat.

A few weeks ago I briefly mentioned B’s sciatica and what a bitch it is. He hurt his back a couple of years ago playing football and it’s basically been screwed ever since. It’s a horrible thing. He past his driving test about two weeks before he hurt himself and has driven once since because his legs go numb and it’s just plain unsafe. Car journeys properly suck for him and he feels bad that I’m the one driving long distances. That he can’t help me out. That really doesn’t bother me, but seeing him in so much pain really does.

Maybe it’s the killer 6 hour car journey three weeks ago that has re-aggravated it or maybe it’s the colder weather affecting his bones, but the last few days have been pretty hellish for him. Days are spent walking around his office trying to stretch out his lower back, evenings doing crazy yoga style moves on one of those massive gym balls and nights twisting and turning to get comfortable. He’s a pretty tired husband right now. And I feel so bad for him.

He had a course of electroacupuncture which was awesome and really helped the pain for a long time. Plus it didn’t involve lots of medication which is something we were both pleased about. We’re not big pill-poppers in our house. Now the pain’s back we’re waiting for B’s free private healthcare to kick in mid-December so he can get another course. B thinks a new mattress might be needed too. And we’re going to talk to a chiropractor too who might be able to help realigning his spine. The doctor’s even talked about some pretty scary surgery as an option. We both agree...no way Hosè.

Hopefully B will get a better night’s sleep tonight. But if anyone can recommend a natural remedy that might be helpful, that would be a wonderfully lovely. I just want him to feel better.

ps. what picture do you include when you write a post of back pain? B suggested his back, but then messed around while finishing cooking dinner hence this beautiful picture. Dinner was one of our favourites though. Garlic chilli pasta & bread courtesy of Bill Granger. I'll post the recipe soon.

Thank you for all the sweet comments on Friday’s post. What a lovely supportive bunch of bloggers you are.

My weekend of planning went rather well and I’m feeling really positive about what the future may hold. I have set myself some deadlines, some challenges and a few tasks so the next few months promise to be nice and busy. My plan for knitting Christmas presents is providing the ideal opportunity to try out some new ideas too and they’re coming along rather nicely. I’ll post some pictures in a few weeks when I have a good collection together.

All in all the weekend was pretty busy. I sorted out a lot of stuff. A LOT. My wardrobe was given a good clearout, as were my drawers, jewellery box and shoe collection. Even my basket of fabric was cleared out. Some pretty cool vintage costume jewellery I’ve collected was sold to my favourite store in the world, Sassy & Boo, this morning and I’ve made about twice what I hoped which is completely amazing. If you’re ever in Bath, this shop is a must. The lady who owns it is awesome and the stock is unbeatable. There’s also a mass of stuff on eBay so fingers crossed I’ll make a bit more cash. I’m certainly loving all the extra space I’ve created. If you’re interested in taking a look please do. I ship worldwide and would love for my favourite bits to go to a good home.

Especially this amazing bag. It’s a piece of art. It dates from the 1920s and is in such amazingly perfect condition. I bought it for a tidy sum a couple of years ago, but it’s been wrapped in tissue paper for too long and needs to belong to a lady who’ll take it out on the town. It’s kinda breaking my heart to let it go, but there are more important things for me to consider at the moment than fancy clutch bags. So I’m making the sacrifice. Au Revoir beautiful friend.

When we got married in May, B and I got each other some pretty cool wedding presents. My most favourite thing from B was this little heart. B got an i-touch. Man, was he ever desperate for one.

I also gave him a notebook. Somewhere we could write our hopes and dreams down, somewhere to plan our next adventures. On our honeymoon we spent a rainy day writing things in this notebook. Stuff we wanted to do over the next year. One of which I hope to be blogging about soon.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been thinking specifically about where I want to be heading career wise. I know that in a couple of years this will be on hold so I want to make the most of the next twelve months. Get myself into a position where I’m doing something I truly love. I enjoy my job, but I find myself less interested than I thought I would be when I was studying to become a journalist. What I dream of is being my own boss. Spending every day crafting the things I love to craft. I am determined to make this dream a reality, just like this cool chick. And B thinks I should do it. Live the dream. I’m not quitting my day job or anything like that. But maybe when the time comes, going back to work won’t be necessary.

I work well to deadlines so this weekend I’m setting myself a task. Devise a little business plan. Figure out what I want to be creating, the vibe I want to follow and how realistically I can make this all happen. I’m with that most awesome of bloggers, my mate Jaclyn. Just Do It.

Me, my Nan, the Birthday Girl and my Sis

The nose is feeling much better thank you. And I woke up to find it only a bit red and a teeny bit swollen, so nothing that anyone but me will notice. Your lovely comments made me not feel quite as silly about it – apparently there’s quite a few clumsy bloggers out there! A comforting fact.

Last night was very fun. 28 in a pub that doesn’t take reservations could have been tricky, but eventually we took over a whole section of the pub and entertained everyone with a very loud rendition of Happy Birthday when my cousin Fran’s cake was bought out. Me, B, my Sis and her guy took one table and lots of food was consumed. We also created some pretty funky-looking facial disguises from the green foil off a beer bottle, to help pass the time while we waited hungrily for our food to arrive. Because that’s the kinda cool gals we are.

I’m known to be a bit of a klutz round these parts. My husband would say a complete and utter klutz. I honestly don’t know how I do it. I mis-judge door frames on a regular basis and smash my shoulder/arm/hand into the wall. Maybe my face a couple of times (don’t laugh). B says that when he’s getting ready for work in the morning and hears me in the kitchen chopping veggies for our lunchtime salads, he waits with baited breath for me to scream and run into him with bloody fingers. Or no fingers. Yeah, I cut myself on a regular basis too. B maintains that my clumsiness is a direct result of my need to get things done insanely quickly. That the saying “more haste, less speed” appears to be my motto. AKA: in my rushing to get things done quickly I actually take longer because I do things like pull the bathroom door over toes and rip them to shreds and then have to clear up the mess before I can do anything else. My toes are still healing from that atrocity.

Well today, I’ve gone and clonked myself in the face. Again. This time though using the phone at work, which is something new. I span my chair round to answer my phone and as I was still spinning when I picked it up, it smacked me on the nose instead of safely finding its way to my ear. (I can hear you laughing again.) Currently my nose is throbbing. And is bright red. Rudolph, eat your heart out. Every time I smile it hurts even more. In fact it’s started to hurt when I just inhale through my nose. That ain’t good. And to top it all we have a big family meal tonight to celebrate my cousin’s 21^st birthday. I’m hoping my nose doesn’t swell and need a chair of it’s own by the time we get to the pub….

We love a good pair of socks in our house. I mean, really, is there anything nicer than a new pair? This picture pretty much represents our weekend, when lots of slouching was involved. I did finish the scarf I was knitting for my grandma for Christmas though and we sprayed all the silver frames that we used at our wedding black and are finally deciding which of our wedding pictures we want to frame. Too many to choose from and it seems ever so narcissistic to have 25 pictures of us around such a small flat. We’ve narrowed it down to about 7. Or possibly 10. I also worked for a few hours at a modelling competition/fashion show that our publishing house was hosting and have now managed to accrue enough days in lieu to have the days in between Christmas and New Year off. How very blissful.

Last night mine and B's Mum’s came round for dinner and B pulled some damn tasty food out of that ever so clever bag of his. Annoyingly I was so excited about it all I forgot to photograph the lemon chicken on roasted new potatoes, red onion and red pepper. It was even more yummy than it sounds. I did manage a few pictures of the strawberry and apple crumble he made though, so look out for that recipe later this week. Pudding is a rare treat in our house, so this was very exciting. Is there anything more autumnal than a big bowl of crumble and custard? And there’s enough left over for us to have a mini bowl each tonight too. Bring on dinner time I say.

The city we live in is an awesome place. Filled with insanely cool boutiques down cobbled side streets. One of our favourite tiny shopping streets is Margaret Buildings, about 30 seconds away from our flat. There's a tasty Italian bistro, a couple of fancy clothes stores, a shop packed with very sparkly vintage jewellery and a launderette. Wait, scrap that last one, it doesn't really sell the place, does it? Plus a new vintage store is in the midst of opening.

Ben and I walk down this little street a least once a week. Annoyingly it's always after closing time. There's been one shop in particular i've been dying to pop into ever since it opened and that's Hansel und Gretel. Selling authentic alpine pieces, this is a shop that rocks and after I managed to finish work a bit early this afternoon I knew exactly where I was heading.

Firstly it has an all-year-round Christmas section downstairs. So that instantly won me over. And a strudel bar. Cool, eh. Plus it sells the softest Alpaca wool in the most fantastic colours and some pretty fancy knitting needles too. Oh man. This is the perfect shop for me and my new favourite. I bought my grandparents this insane decoration depicting the nativity as part of their Christmas present and a crazy vintage 1950s car decoration for my Dad, who used to own one just like it. An actual full-size one I mean. And I got another little anniversary present for B. I love how unique everything was, how amazing this shop looks inside and how darn reasonable it is to boot.

Then I headed to our favourite local deli for a couple of slices of yummy ham, a mini ham and chicken pie (B loves those pies) and a bottle of vintage cider for that coolio husband of mine. Some goodly Friday finds me thinks.

Hope you manage to get your hands on some equally tasty treats this weekend lovely people xxx

Oh my, I do love it when you pop into a charity shop and come out with some genius pieces at bargain prices. I was drawn in by a vintage clothes horse in the window but nearly choked on my chewing gum when they told me how much it was. Expensive isn't the word. I hate how some of these charity shops have gotten so bloomin' pricey!

Anyway, it all turned out OK because I got this amazing jug (i'm thinking with flowers in), this too cute little pot (I have a bit of a thing for little pots) and this really beautiful vintage silk shirt that's a fab misty grey colour. The photo doesn't do it any justice. All for a whopping £5.99. Awesome.

That insanely awesome, mega cool guy of mine is home. He's doing some crazy yoga positions as we speak to try and ease the pain a 6 hour car journey does to his screwed lower back (Sciatica's a bitch!) He was greeted with plenty of hugs and kisses. Our flat is home again now he's back.

While B’s been away I’ve been getting his anniversary present sorted. I’m not sure how we’ll celebrate the anniversary of us getting together from next year onwards now we’re married but we’re ‘give presents and celebrate whenever possible’ kinda people, so we’ll probably do the same as always! This October we’ve been together for TEN YEARS. Oh yeah, it’s a big one. So I’ve got two awesome presents lined up.

Now it’s back to some knitting. I’ve had a couple of days break, what with occupying myself while B was away with a trip to my Mum’s on Monday night to watch TV and generally catch up on some gossip and then a slumber party with my Sis last night, complete with pizza, chocolate and a copy of Knocked Up in true girly style. But I did finish the other booties and bobble hat I have been working on. How very snugly it all looks.

By the way - did anyone watch Cherrie has a Baby on Monday night, BBC Three? If you can, you should. It was so good. Firstly I freakin love Cherrie Healey. She cracks me up. Plus she rocks shiny leggings like i've never seen. And she's 8 months pregnant while she's wearing them. As someone who may be thinking about babies next year, this program was a real insight and followed Cherrie through in teh last 7 weeks of her pregnancy as she visits 7 other expectant mums, aging from 15 to 46, as she works out what the best age is to have your first child. Next week it's Cherrie gets Married. Genius.

I've come up with a name for my recipe posts. Food That Makes Girls Happy. Because that's what the boy cooks me everyday. So...

THE RECIPE: Mushroom Risotto

1. Soak half a tbsp on dried Porcini mushrooms for 10 minutes
2. Fry one small, chopped white onion with a crushed glove of garlic for 2-3 minutes until soft
3. Add 110g of Chestnut mushrooms and fry for a further 2-3 minutes
4. Stir in 175g of Arborio rice
5. Add 75ml of white wine
6. Make up 600ml of vegetable stock and add to the saucepan a ladle at a time, until soaked in
7. Drain and add the chopped Porcinis, some chopped fresh basil and 15g of butter to the mix.
8. Eat up folks!

So here I am. On my lonesome now B has ventured off on a work-related trip. This morning I got in lots of extra hugs and kisses before I had to let him go and I’m not afraid to say I was pretty sad about it. You see, we’re never apart. Ever. The longest we’ve ever been away from each other was a week about 3 months after we started going out, when B went to visit his grandparents over Christmas. That was nearly 10 years ago and when he got back he told me he loved me for the first time. Oh yeah. I’ll never forget that moment.

I stuck to my vow and gave B as many squeezes as possible over the weekend. The peace was momentarily disrupted (in the best way) thanks to a full on crafting session on Saturday with our nephews, where paper plate animals were the project of the week. Ty soon decided we should be aiming for a whole zoo, so we cracked on with it and ended up with sheep, lions, birds, monkeys, an octopus and rabbits. Oh and an owl and plenty of fish. A good time was had by all. Plus we got the first foot photo of me, B and the boys. They’re normally too wriggly to partake, but they were amused by the randomness this time, so we got a good one.

Sunday we went on a walk in the autumn sun. It was a beautiful afternoon and we found a bench in the perfect spot where the warmth shone through the brown leaves right onto our heads. Every bench in the park has one of these little plaques on. Some say the most simple, yet most lovely things. Like this little bench. Now, hurry back B.

I know. A Christmas image. In September. You must be thinking i'm nuts right. But here's something you need to know about me. I. Love. Christmas. And after a Christmas sales day at work today, complete with Christmas tunes and crackers, I'm feeling the Christmas vibes. Once B's birthday has come and gone I am in full Christmas swing, but that's not for another month. Darn it.

So back to sane talk. The knitting frenzy continued last night and the matching bobble hat that goes with my cream and white striped booties is coming along pretty darn well. My best mate is catching me up on all this knitting lark and fun knitting-related things may be happening in the future so I am totally hyped about picking up my needles and coming up with some new creations. And your lovely comments are only fuelling my excitement about it all, so thank you all. You lovely inspirational people you.

So what will your weekend adventures be? We don't have much planned, but fun random things ensue when that's the case, so who knows. Plus my beautiful boy has to go away with work for three days on Monday so i'm going to be squeezin' and kissin' my guy more than ever to make up for his forthcoming absence. Oh how I hate it when he's not here. I go a little nuts and forget how to do things without him by my side.

Finally can I just say how crazily excited I get when I get a comment from each of my awesome blogger buddies. This week has been amazing. I've had some such lovely comments and have been lucky enough to find some awesome blogs thanks to you saying hello. I emailed my husband yesterday at work when I realised that my last post had more than 10 comments. Not many to some, I know, but for a newbie like me it's a big thing and made me very happy. Maybe I'm lame. Who cares. I hope you all have a rockin' weekend filled with total awesomeness! x

IMAGE FROM HERE.

It’s Manic Wednesday again (where did that week go?) but I had a little time so thought I’d do a knitting update. I finished this pink cardigan. Well, mostly. I practically got to the end and decided I didn’t like the pattern, so made the decision to not waste any more wool and stop. I got to practice lots of different techniques which was really handy, but I just wasn’t loving the design so I decided to move onto something I loved.

And in the last week I have become knitting obsessed. I’ve even started on numerous Christmas presents. One for my Sis is coming along and I’m about to start on some pretty cool stripy scarves for my nephews. But most of all I’m particularly pleased with my little baby booty design. I’ve adapted a pattern in the book I’m using and luckily have three babies to knit for. B’s brother’s little boy is due to hatch in the next two weeks, my best mate’s at the beginning of January and my cousin’s the beginning of February. So I figured I better get on with it.

So, here they are. The teeniest of booties. Very warm and snugly for the winter, don’t you think. And I’ve started on some for my cousin too, in white and cream stripes. Pretty subtle but I know they’ll love them. I love that I can whip one up in about an hour and B’s very impressed at how neat I am. Got to stop typing now so I can go knit. See? Obsessed.

Today at work I overheard a conversation that kinda got me grumpy. It was between two middle-age ladies about how rubbish all men were. Not some men or their men, but all men. They moaned about how men never do anything, can’t be relied on or trusted and are just waiting to screw you over. I wanted to stand up and say “hey there! My man happens to be pretty awesome thank you very much.” And I’m sure you all think the same about yours.

Is this an age thing, a generation thing? Or have these two ladies been hurt and maybe find it hard to forgive men in general?

I’ve spent ages looking through the Pacing the Panic Room archives looking for a post Ryan did on this very subject a while back. I remember reading it and really feeling bad for the good guys who are working hard and loving lots and just get lumped in with the idiots. It’s cool reading a guy’s blog and I love Ryan’s space; it’s something a bit different and is intriguing to see the world through his eyes. Plus the dude knows how to write with passion.

“There is so much talk about this new modern man lately, and how great it is that they love their kids, and don't treat their wives like assholes, and the whole thing is annoying to me. Fathers love their children. They love their wives. It isn't a revolution…There have always been brilliant women, there have always been caring husbands and fathers. (My kids) will grow up and have both a brilliant strong woman in their life, and a dad that cherishes his family and fights time to be with them as much as possible. So the cycle will go on, just like it always has.”

So here’s a shout out to all the boys out there who rock. Who love their ladies and aren’t afraid to show it. Who take joy in making a house a home and cook and clean as much as the girls. Who are crazy fun to be with and who provide a nice buff shoulder to lean on, without even a hint that it’s needed. Who are just downright awesome.

ps. The Good Guys. A picture of my rockin' boy and some of his rockin' mates on the stag night!

pps. Thank you all so much for your lovely comments about our wedding album. We adore it and I think that since last night we’ve looked at it about 11 times! And Dawn, you should definitely design your album soon…Christmas present idea for hubby dearest maybe?! xx

After a pretty darn lazy weekend, it has been a crazy day at work. But when our wedding album arrived this morning, you can imagine how bloomin’ excited and distracted I was. I emailed B and said I’d try by hardest not to open it until he got home, but all I needed was his “open it at lunch if you’d like – you worked really hard on it, so I don’t mind!” comment to give in. The package was ripped open and my nerves were laid to rest when I saw how awesome, how seriously awesome it looks. It was a lot, A LOT, of work but man oh man, it was totally worth it. This is something we’ll cherish forever and sit with our children and their children looking at forever more. When we’re old and grey and can barely remember our names, we can look through our album and we’ll be right back there. On the best day ever. When I married my favourite person in the world.

So today has been a mixed bag of things really. Firstly I weighed myself and have lost another pound. Yey me! Next I had the dreaded meeting.

I’ve been put forward for a salary increase. Slightly less than I had hoped, but not too bad. Like B said, working at I job I like with people that I have fun with and being happy while I work seriously trumps a few extra pounds a month. Downside? My increase has been put forward with the business plan and they won’t be able to confirm it’s all gone through until 16^th September. So another two week wait is ahead of me. My boss is pretty hopeful it’ll all go through OK, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed too. The more I think about it the happier I am so I’m hoping I’m not setting myself up for a fall in two weeks.

Next? I had an email today letting me know our wedding album is in the post. On its way. This is super duper exciting news. We cannot wait for it to arrive and spend the evening curled up flicking through the pages seeing lots of smiling faces all having the coolest day ever.

And finally. Well, it’s Friday. I mean is there anything better than the feeling a Friday evening gives you? Knowing the weekend’s spread out before you and who knows what it could hold. Two whole days before heading back to work. Two whole days with B. Oh yeah. That’s a lovely warm feeling inside right there.

I've bought some more wool to start on the mammoth Christmas gift list I've put together and plan on spending the weekend knitting up a storm!

Today I'm feeling kinda weird. I've just moved desks at work (a major shake up in the office that involves getting rid of unused desks) and am now on the other side of the room to my favourite work buddie. Which sucks. The last few days have been too busy to notice, but as deadline has passed, today was a little quieter and it made me feel pretty sad not to have her hilarious stories to listen to.

Plus I have a seriously important meeting at work tomorrow with my boss. A salary related meeting that i've been waiting for and hanging hopes on. It will make a massive difference to our lives, whatever the outcome. Fingers crossed it's more money, quicker saving/clearing debt and a better glimpse into what the next couple of years will hold. However it may mean job hunting. Yuck. And I love my job, so it'll basically be poo if I have to move because of money. But i'm fed up of masses of work and responsibility and only pennies in return. I know, I should be grateful I have a job, right? Considering the world we currently live in? But I'm having a blue day and feel sorry for myself. Hurry home B. I need hugs.

This picture makes me smile. It's from last summer at my Grandparent's house in Cornwall. B playing dress up with my nephews. They're rockin' those Victorian hats, I know. Isn't their summer house the most darling thing by the way? xx

*

Man, oh man! Wednesday evenings are crazy. I get home from work, finish the shopping list, head out to the supermarket picking up my sis on the way, shop, drop off sis, head home, unpack the shopping, put the bins and recycling out and do any must-be-done washing up (i'm of the 'wash before you use' school of washing up, as opposed to the 'wash after use' school - i'd rather sit with my B rubbing my full tummy after a hearty meal!). And that's all before B gets home from football training at about 9.15pm so that I can put dinner on while he's in the shower and I don't have to do anything but eat and doss with him after that. Phew. Just finished it all with time to blog before he gets back. Come on Domestic Goddess!

On a totally unrelated note, happy happy birthday to beautiful Emma. My best buddie, soon-to-be mama and all round totally awesome girl. We love you lots xxx