Having a lemsip duvet day...

Where do those little bugs come from? You can't see them and you don't know that one has got you until the symptoms strike! I got up yesterday morning and it was just a tickly sore throat. Within an hour I was coughing and that's when I knew I wasn't right. I managed to work until 3pm then decided I was no good to anyone so drove home for an evening with a box of lemsip. I couldn't speak, couldn't think and ached intermittently which was slightly unnerving. Lisa reminded me I should get a thermometer so I've been out to get one today just to make sure I've just got ordinary flu and not any other strain of animal flu. No temperature so I must be ok, hurrah! I'm just waiting now for lemsip to wave it's magic wand and make me better again ;-( x

Muffin magic...

What's better than a homemade muffin? A raspberry and white chocolate one.. yum!!

My feet are aching... !

We left the apartment at 10am & returned at 6! We've had a fab day! We've done over 12,000 steps & how do I know that? Ginger has a nintendo stepper & I want one! We went to the farmers market first thing to get supplies for tea. The met delicious baked ham, asparagus quiche & homemade scotch eggs. There were some lovely Scottish touches including local cheeses, Aberdeen Angus steak & porridge stands. We've done a bit of shopping, the girls went up one of the towers & spied me disappearing into Top Shop! Quite funny really. It was pouring with rain & I needed to find shelter, a good excuse anyway! We had a wonderful afternoon tea at Eteaket. Scones, clotted cream, jam & so many varieties of tea. All delivered on a 3-tiered china tea thingummy! We dragged ourselves back & are watching Strictly... Who's going out tonIght?! X

Edinburgh Rocks!

Jen knows all the best places! It would have been rude to stay in on a Friday night so we headed for cocktails. The first was scored a disappointing 3 out of 10 with very sub standard cocktails, Jo said she had a mouldy raspberry in hers! Didn't stop her getting to the bottom tho! Next bar was supremely better & I happily swopped my prossecco for her apple, cinnamon & cream martini, yummy! It was one of those moments when you can't resist cleaning the glass with your little finger, who me, mmm! So round 3 & I had to have another because I just wasn't sure how much I liked it! Next bar was a cosy, funky, dancing bar which was my favourite - time for a glass of water! We all got home to bed by 1 tho someone a bit worse for wear!

Just had a haggis moment!

We've just been Into a Scottish eatery to sample the local fare. I'd try anything off the menu as long as it came with whiskey gravy, yum! I didn't know you could have veggie haggis until today. No idea what it as made of but it tasted yummy on a bed of mash & turnips. Had to follow that with crannach which is porridge, cream, raspberries & guess what... Whiskey! It did feel as if I was following lunch with breakfast & the oaty texture is a bit weird but it tasted yummy! Just got to the apartment which is on the Royal Mile so the girls are deciding what adventures we can go n whilst were here. So far, it's all ghost tours, underground tunnels with lots of stairs & graveyard tours! Me thinks not! Drizzling here so were doing people watching & someone will be nominated to pop over the road in a minute to visit Oddbins!

Just 'ONE' spa is all you need...

Elegant, yet welcoming, peaceful, yet with a gentle buzz, here's the waiting area for the spa treatments. And when you've done, you can lie in a lovely room to rest and remember how it feels to be unstressed, calm and chilled, mmm.
Isn't this the most awesome pool every?! Stainless steel, roof top jacuzzi - it's worth getting up at 4am to be able to have an experience like this. I think it would be fabulous in the evening when it's snowing and chilly outside but beautifully hot inside. It's definitely the best pool I've ever been to. Even having to wade through the main pool and through the flappy plastic bits, you know like you used to get in Quicksave between the proper shop and the chill area, didn't put me off. Once you get outside the view is amazing and it just feels incredible to be in a hot tub on the roof. Truely 'One' of the best experiences ever ;-)



I've spent the morning at One-Spa in Edinburgh & I can thoroughly recommend it - it's amazing!! The stainless steel roof top jacuzzi pool that's heated to 37 degrees is... Awesome! Everyone is friendly & helpful, even my 4am start seems a distant memory. Every girl should be pampered & I feel thoroughly chilled & a tad sleepy now it's all over. Ginger & the girls are heading over to find me so I don't get lost trying to find the apartment we've rented for the weekend. I'm just relaxing with my beery juice smoothie which I'd have to admit, resembles a glass of liquid mud, mmm, nice!

Why aren't they still in bed?!

What's the matter with everyone? Can't they sleep?! I thought, a quiet start this morning at the airport, but no! It's not even 6am & the place is heaving with people! I know half term begins today & there's a recession which must explain why the cheap flight destinations are packed with holidaymakers. It feels like August Bank holiday here!

Me and the little ones..

They made me feel so welcome. I got to read a bedtime story, play with plastic pets and they had hidden fuzzy felts under my bed ;-) lovely kiddies ;-)

More appeele-ing than apple crumble.. !

It appears I've lost my little vibrations, mais oui! I'm missing all my texts and calls because my trusty mob has no vibrations left in it. No way to fix it either! How's that for a greener planet, I just trade it in or use it broken. I was however very impressed with everyone in the apple store. They were all very friendly and helpful without doing that big sell that you so often get in mobile phone shops. I'm a mac girl so the apple store has always looked appeale-ing and I can't believe it's taken me until now to step inside.

We know how to pose..

My travelling craftspace...

One metre of craftspace and I'm suddenly transported into a place where glue and paper are the currency and anything is possible. Ideas bounce around the room like those coloured balls on the lottery and there's always a friend on hand to lend me the right shaped punch, ribbon that matches perfectly or offer a few words of encouragement.
Here are just a few of my favourite things..
Crafters are a tidy bunch.. not! You can't have creativity without confusion and some of us are more confused than others! At this time in the morning then it's a room filled with potential...

Appreciating the simple life...

Just good friends and crafting, what else could I possible need? Went to bed at 2:30am just because I thought I should. I tossed and turned for a while thinking I was going to fall out of bed. I'm sure the bed doesn't slope to one side but at that time in the morning it's so much harder to rationalise about it. I did wake up with a jolt this morning, leapt out of bed, played the 'guess if there's someone in the shower' game before I remembered that breakfast wasn't going to be until 9am, phew..

Little crimbo boxes..

I taught a 'crimbo class' today where I showed the girls how to make these gorgeous crimbo boxes. Fun to make, they are really easy and quick to do. You can make a small gift box, a sweetie pack and a tiny sweetie favour to hang on the xmas tree out of one sheet of 12x12 patterned cardstock. I took this photo to show off the lovely Shirley, who for some bizarre reason, had decided to hang all of them from her delicate little nose ;-)

More dates and no coconut... !

It started as a Christmas countdown and ended up as a birthday 'dates' calendar. I rarely follow a class kit. If I can see how something is going to turn out, I want to conjour up my own creation, woo hoo, what a surprise! Now I want a zutter, what's that I hear you say? It's a big punch that allows you to punch holes in very thick card so you can thread spiral wire through them to make a book. Ginger did notice that I'd put October at the front and not January, doh, but it's October today... so it's all quite logical to me.

Steppin' up..

Here's Ginger and Gwyneth doing their steppin' exercises this morning.

Prosecco won tonight..

And beat the Clifton Sausage without breaking into a sweat! Prosecco was a cheeky, little number with enough fizz to add sparkle to the dullest, dreariest of evenings. One for the great restaurant guide I may write one day. I'd arranged to meet my good friend Amanda after work. The problem is I can never remember where I left Clifton. I know round about where it is but never visit regularly enough to know exactly how to get there. It appears Amanda was as confused as I am. It's a wonder we both found each other but find each other we did and trotted happily along to Prosecco's for an Italian taste-bud-tingling adventure. We certainly weren't disappointed. The food was delicious, so much so that we didn't even realise that there was no one else in the restaurant. It's not that the food is bad either, we were there just after 6pm so the real devotees were arriving as we left at 8pm. I had the roasted figs with dolcelatte and parma ham to start. The figs were warm and very ripe. The parma ham was very thin, sweet and delicious. And the dolcelatte just added that bit of perkiness to the dish. This appetizer left me craving for my main course which was pappardelle with shredded roast duck in thyme sauce. I was looking forward to this dish which it turns out, is more like a flavoursome meat sauce on pasta and tasted delicious. A much better alternative to Bolognese! Amanda had the crab ravioli in saffron sauce, which was also yummy. I had room for desert of a white chocolate slightly frozen, creamy mousse thing with a lovely sauce, followed of course by a cappuccino.. now all I want is to go to Venice.. ;-)

J j j james.. the new bond 008 ;-)

Oh how could a girl resist?! Good looking, charming, intelligent, fit, good looking (did I say that already) and hot doesn't even come close to describe his... cooking, of course! The good news is that James Martin is officially a dish. The kind you might want 'for one'. Over six foot tall, this guy is not a plate for sharing. Cheltenham town hall was packed for this Literary Festival 'chat with James' and he was every bit as charming as he looks! He swooned his way through the interview, chatted easily about his life in Yorkshire and how he became so interested and passionate about food. He's not afraid to cook with butter, didn't get on the health kick band waggon and just entertained us with his anecdotes and some simple recipes. Pity he wasn't up for auction, he could come and cook for me any day!

Grasshopper on tour.. !

Okay, this might not look like a global experience but that's where you're wrong! I am a global commodity, oh so true, and as such, this yummy pot of porridge is sitting on my well travelled laptop enjoying the view of my rather untidy desk. I could have staged this but it was much easier and less obvious to those around me to just get snap happy.

So, it's a date for my next grasshopper adventure! Not the kind of date you'd expect me to be on, but one of those squishy kind that I'm not that fond of. I'm willing to give it a go though, for two reasons. Firstly, I love coconut and are willing to overlook any undesirables to sample the infamous coconut porridge. Secondly, I realised a while ago that my most favourite veggie indian take-away does in fact, have dates in it! It's surprising how a creamy, coconut sauce can dramatically change the flavour of the humble date. So, although it's not date Monday tomorrow, I'm looking forward to a fruit & nut adventure for my breakfast.

I've found a new BF

No nasties in this little beauty, just oats, skimmed milk powder, raisins, cane sugar and cinnamon making it a delicious pot of grasshopper goodness. Liz had some when I visited her in London and it was the perfect, easy breakfast. Past experience with teenage kids has taught me to give anything that comes in a pot that you add water too, a very wide berth. The shelves of pot-noodles, pot-doodles, pot-poison-me with e-numbers has always been an aisle to avoid. The hallucinogenic, vivid packaging is a give-away as to what's inside.
My new BF, grasshopper porridge, is 'tastefully' packaged and makes you feel there's only something really good for you inside. These little porridge pots are made by a small company, in fact two sisters who used to pot up their own mix of oats because they couldn't find anything good and convenient to eat. One sister in Cornwall wanted something to eat after a chilly morning's sailing. The other sister in London wanted something hot to eat without frequenting a chain of shops whose name ends in 'bucks'. Three years on and they have a proper little company and it's what they both do full time.
And their little website is fun, featuring pics of their little pots on adventures all around the world. Must dash, I have to hop along to Waitrose to seek out these little pots of organic sunshine.

Just sometimes...

My brain is like a doughnut! Sweet and full of zing-tingling, calorie-laden energy with either a hole or hot air in the middle! I've been away for two days and have forgotton how to prioritise. For instance, I forgot when I left my car at the station that I needed to call to pay for my parking, doh. How stupid did I feel when I realised. I do remember the thought passing fleetingly through my head... and then it had gone again. I only remembered a day late when I was chatting to a couple of lovely ladies over a coffee. Doesn't the thought of a big, fat fine make that thought zing to the top of the priorities list in my brain? Quite clearly, it does not!
I got off the train last night at some ridiculous hour and the first thing I saw was a low loader. And no, it wasn't parked because the head lights were beaming across the car park and the engine was running. I'd already started to think about what I was going to say as I tripped across the car park, still I might add in the wrong shoes (I want to know who shrunk them whilst I was away?!) as I got alongside. Phew.. big phew.. and double big phew! It wasn't my car but a rusty old trailer that he was strapping onto the back. Not out of the woods yet I thought but over the first hurdle. So I began the walk of wonder, surreptitiously strolling across the car park towards my car. It was like the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Three weary commuters making a bee line for our cars and little me wondering if I was going to be the one with a golden ticket! Thankfully, the guy in front found his car before me so we didn't have to share the experience. And when I reached my car, checking quickly that no bits of paper were tucked under my windscreen, I breathed a big, fat sigh of relief. I can't quite believe I may have been rescued by the sensible parking police. After all, I did call and pay for 2 days parking as soon as I realised. It just wasn't the same 2 days that I was there! They say it's the thought that counts and I'm thinking nice, happy parking thoughts at the moment.. ;-)

I love my life.. and Dave, so it seems..

Yes, I know I've said that before but hey, it's true. No matter how much my feet might ache tonight, I've had a lovely week so far and that's all that matters. I was on Ginger-time all weekend and that was great. Closely followed by some London-time, which is always different, exciting, tiring and surprising. It was pouring with rain when I left home yesterday evening, bound for Art London VIP evening preview. First impressions were good, very nice venue at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, though it was such a pity that it was raining. It would have been great to see the sculptures dotted about in the gardens and I just had to settle for a glimpse as I rushed from the taxi to the entrance under my umbrella. The taxi ride was as eventful as ever. I do find taxi drivers see so much of life that they are interesting to chat to. My chappie was full of stories of politicians who are not as discreet as they should be, enough said! Anyway back to the fair and my artistic wander.
First of all, it seemed odd not to have a catalogue to find my way around. It's a bit of a maze trying to find my favourite galleries but challenge for today was to go hunting so I took my glass of champers and weaved my way around the stands. Lots to see, lots of visitors so lots of weaving to be done!
A visit to an exhibition wouldn't be complete without catching up with the lovely Richard from Mauger Modern (nice legs, btw!) and I managed to seek him out, no problem. I saw a preview of 'There's Still Life' when I visited his gallery in Bath a couple of weeks ago. I do love the Dave White (of sneaker art fame) Pop Art pieces, having seen some of his work at Scope earlier in the year. They are very striking and the paint has the quality of whipped cream, which makes these glamour pics all the more appealing! I love the thickness of the paint and the raw, energy of these happy pieces.
I also managed to find Nick from the Woolff Gallery and it was so lovely to see the girls, Susila and Grace too. I haven't seen Grace since last year and she remembered me! Nick had managed to get hold of a Zac Freeman - OMG, what a brilliant piece of art that is. I should have taken a pic (doh!) but I got so excited about all the art that I forgot which is why I've found 'Dave' off the artist's website to illustrate what I'm going on about.

All Zac's pieces are created using found objects. I've seen the portraits online and they all look dynamic, sharp, monochrome with great texture. It's only when you get close that you notice a phone, buttons, bits of video and realise that the portrait is made up of pieces of junk. I think they're amazing and I'd have to sell a chunk of my house to own one. Having said that, they must take him a long while to create so perhaps I should just start saving right now! I think I'm in love with 'Dave'.. ! Other notable favourite was the Tatler stand. Celebrating it's 300th anniversary, there was a brilliant display of covers from the year 1709 to the present day. I was surprised that Diana didn't make it onto the wall of fame especially as the infamous 'Miss Piggy' did!

Today is SOW

If you have 'inbox-envy' please think again. It may look as if you're a popular person if you receive a lot of emails every day. It may even make you feel important. My 'inbox is brimming over with mail which suggests I'm a little of both! But this is just a half truth. Here's what I really think...

The rotton spam is removed automatically so I'm going to ignore that chunk. If I remove the mails that are not from real people, & by that I mean the computer generated ones such as newsletters, that's another big chunk. Then take out the ones from within the building at work who are either copying me in or have lost their legs. That leaves me with the really useful ones that have information in that I want to act on and stuff for sharing. There are a few hidden gems from external clients, which is where new business may come from & that just leaves one from my mom!

So I'm left wondering, how do we manage our 'inbox. It wasn't a subject on the national curriculum when I was at school because the only teccie bit of kit was the less than impressive slide rule! Is someone now going to invent a whizzy email priorities system so we don't have to work it out for ourselves? It's a serious question because as our inboxes get fuller, does production increase or decrease? I have an organized mind so I'm more than capable of working out what is important & what is not. I'm also very good at standing back & not getting sucked into cyberspace. I acknowledge how important emails are for communication but unlike letters that didn't shout 'open me'.. emails have a habit of willing you to open them! I remember a time when we didn't have an email address. Now everyone has a website, more than one email account and there is no escape. We're available 24/7 on our phones which means we have to be even more diligent about maintaining a balance between drowning in emails and keeping in touch.

I believe we all have a capacity, an internal counter, a measure that is called 'moderation' (a family thing!). We can only cope with a certain number of anything. You don't need me to tell you what happens when you scoff too many doughnuts! I believe we're reaching our inner capacity where the internet is concerned. It's such a useful resource when used wisely but we do need an idiot's guide. How many times you have wanted to go out, looked for somewhere to go and 2 hours later decided there's no time left?! I'm looking forward to the next generation of emails and internet ;-) We don't want to get to a point where we fear our inboxes because they have taken over our lives. With twitter, websites, texting, facebook, email accounts and more 'apps' than you can shake a cyber stick at, we have to become more cyber-savvy.

It's so exciting that there is always something new but let's not forget making time for real friends, real conversation and real life. Remember, cyberspace should enhance our daily lives and experiences because as the best tool ever invented, it's got such great potential. But... and there's always a but.. it's also worth remembering that it's a money making machine. Even less than cynical little me knows that big brother is closer now than he's ever been. It's likely he's already here and able to watch every move we make. That's the flip side of this communication hungry, cappuccino indulged, cyber world. There is a flip side to everything in this world. We just have to ensure that we benefit from the fluffy, bubbly bit on the top of the cappuccino rather than drowning in the dark, molten layer that is hidden beneath! YOU have been warned.. !

ps and if you were wondering what SOW refers to, it's switch off wednesday! Yeah, dream on.. though, perhaps a switch off during certain hours will happen in the future...?

Deli-licious day out!

Today was just too nice to stay in all day long so at lunchtime, we ventured into Tetbury for a visit to my most favourite deli. Unfortunately, they mixed up the orders but it turned out okay in the end - I just ate Ginger's pasta dish and she had my butterfly garlic prawns. I do love that place - the olives are to die for and I just want to work my way along the shelves, trying out all the different ingredients. Ginger was on a mission to get the best mushroom pic and I think she must have inhaled a magic one judging by her entertaining moves in the deli. We always have great fun when Ginger comes to stay. I get to stop doing whatever else I might be doing and just craft and Ginger... well, Ginger gets to see me ;-) We've stuck, stamped, sprayed, inked, coloured in, glittered, stickled, gemmed up and thoroughly enjoyed our long weekend of crafting. I've had a tidy up and sorted out some old stuff to share between Ginger, who has taken some for her crop class and the brownies, who will benefit from the rest. I've made lots of Christmas cards and have another beautiful Basic Grey kit so I can make more. I've started another project for a special friend and made a card for Jeremy for his birthday. It's been fab.. ;-)

Someone's a star...

Men's cards are always tricky, that's when you need a friend like Ginger on hand to give you some useful advice. A couple of packs of Tinkering Ink papers, one star, one gridlines, some wonderful clear star and word stamps, inks and hey presto, I have a fabulous birthday card to send to Jeremy!

It's about the view... it's not all about YOU!

Famous words from someone sitting not very far away to me ;-) Though she was referring to herself at the time. We went for a walk today to take a photograph of the view of where I live, from up the hill. Trouble was, the leaves are still stuck to the trees so we couldn't even see the Mill, let alone where I live. It was a good walk though and gave us an appetite for supper. Another glass of fizz, finished off the bottle from last night, and baked a Vacherin Mont d'Or, bought from my new favourite deli in Tetbury. This is a special cheese only available mid Sept to March. It's made using winter milk from cows brought down from their pastures and it comes wrapped in a circle of birch strip, and enclosed in a pine box. Yummy..

Don't you wish..

It might be the start of October but it's time to start making my Christmas cards! I'm covered in glitter glue and I'm still on a roll! The challenge was to create as many cards a possible using my Stampin' Up kit and yippee - I've made 32 cards and am still counting! Ginger says I'm a star, but that could be because I just found a tiny clear stamp she's been looking for - and it's a star, he he ;-)

A Strictly Yummy Bouquet...

Ginger is here! She never comes empty handed so I have a bouquet, bottle of Lanson Rose Champagne and some Green & Blacks Butterscotch choccie.. that girl knows me so well! What I want to know is do these cabbages count as one of my 5 a day ;-) ?! Ginger was working yesterday so I had a very lazy day. I cooked a yummy dinner of organic, free-range chicken with leeks accompanied by Jamie Oliver's roast potatoes with butternut squash and his magic ingredient - balsamic vinegar. It was absolutely yummy and very moorish all washed down with pink fizz. Saturday night's are 'Strictly' nights so we watched the dancing then did some Strictly crafting until 1am. 24 Christmas cards later.. woo hoo.. it's time to eat again ;-)