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Today our house looks like the Post Office sorting headquarters. There are parcels everywhere thanks to a rather successful batch of sales on eBay. I'm really rather chuffed at how much I've made just by selling some a few bits and bobs I haven't worn in a while.

The prettiest package by far however is a little gift heading Down Under to Jaclyn. This is a little glimpse of something I've knitted for you chica. Something stripy with a hint of the Parisians. I hope you like it. Oh, and there's something tasty and rather British in there too, as promised! I just hope it travels OK...

The weekend was a bit of a mixed bag of tricks. Saturday was packed with family parties so lots of fun and lots of yummy food. And there was a chocolate fountain. With strawberries, marshmallows and mini-doughnuts to dunk. Doesn’t get much better than that in my books.

But Sunday was a bit of a bummer. B and I had planned on going to Glastonbury Festival next year and we’d persuaded my sis and her guy to head along too. Yesterday morning we were all on the phone for around 5 hours. Yep. FIVE HOURS. And online. All in vain. We got zilcho on the ticket front. As you can imagine it was disappointmentsville in our house. So to cheer us all up we headed to my sister’s, ate pizza, ate more chocolate (whoops) and watched a movie.

Now we're thinking what to do instead. We've heard Bestival is pretty good, so maybe we'll head there. But missing out on Glasto is just a bit sucky and we're all feeling rather sorry for ourselves. Hence the hoard of chocolaty goodness. If only I could exercise some self-control like the super cool Anna over at Rummey Bears. She's my new hero.

Over the last couple of days a few fun packages have been arriving at our front door.

The first was a big box from eBay packed with Christmas goodies for B. I know, organised right? In fact he's now got a whole stash of Christmas gifts buried in the wardrobe. Don't peak now B! A little gift for myself may have also sneaked in too. This beautiful tapestry knitting bag is exactly what I've been looking for. I love it lots. And so do my knitting needles.

I also got a package from the super duper Jaclyn and my first ever copy of Frankie. Ever since she offered to send me over a copy I've been waiting excitedly and when it arrived I happily read it from cover to cover. OK. So maybe I flicked through and looked at all the pretty pictures first, like a 6 year old.

I love this magazine. The clothes were quirky, the writing cool and the mix of features really entertaining. Huh, kinda like Jaclyn’s blog actually. My awesome mate wrote a really lovely and too true post about how bloomin’ nice it is to make such good blogging buds and how despite the miles between us, you can really connect with someone and feel like you’ve known them for years. So thank you chuck for this most fun of parcels. And for being such a downright stinkin’ cool blogger buddie. You pretty much rock and (once it’s finished) there’s a parcel heading down under with your name on it.

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.