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