*

This week has been a manic and stressful week. Work over the last couple of days has been pretty horrendous, so the arrival of the weekend is very welcome. It has meant that the little things making me smile have been more important than normal.

Things to smile about this week:

1. Finishing the first item for my shop. It’s a long way off launching (I’m thinking mid-January at this point) but this week I knitted and tweaked an idea I’ve been developing, into an item that will actually be for sale. I’m more than pleased with it and everyone I’ve showed it to loves it too. Tomorrow I’m working on another idea and I’m hoping that by Sunday night that one’s also been perfected. Our living room is currently covered in wool, as you can imagine. But look at the pretty colours.

2. Re-discovering this photograph. I’d been worrying about where it got to and then found it in a stack of other random pictures. It’s now framed and settled on a shelf. It’s one of my most favourite things. The only picture I have of me and both my parents from when I was small. It was taken at my first birthday. My parents divorced when I was 4 and this appears to be the only picture that survived with both of them in. It had been glued into my Baby Book and so slipped through the net. It’s both the happiest and saddest picture. Such a lovely time with both my parents and so much fun ahead, but the fact I only have one snapshot in the world of the three of us together is heartbreaking.

3. Birthdays and an excuse to go out to eat. We don’t often eat out at the moment, what with being good little savers, but birthdays offer the perfect excuse. It’s my sister’s boyfriend’s birthday today and some tasty food is a-calling. Happy Birthday to the awesome Andy. You rock.

4. The crazy wind. Yesterday morning I walked out of our front door to a blanket of leaves. No pavement in sight. The wind had been a bit mental on Wednesday night and blown off almost every leaf from the trees in front of our house. It was the prettiest sight and made walking to work like walking through a forest.

5. Being asked to take part in Natalie’s Friday Favourites and choose five of my most favourite things in the world. Pop over and check it out.