Bunting, Bunting, Everywhere!

I am sure I have never seen so much bunting!

It's not very often we British feel so patriotic, is it?

I've got my handmade crochet bunting up in the front window (from Making Magazine):

and I have been watching all the boats go up the Thames on the tv.

Yesterday, I made quite a lot of cakes for the Senior Citizens Tea Party -

I think they enjoyed their little cake fest.

We also went to Cadhay Fair near Ottery St Mary.  It was lovely and we had a gorgeous cream tea in a quintessential English garden.

The weather just about held out, with a little drizzle as we were leaving.

I hope you're all having a memorable weekend and let's hope we've got some better weather tomorrow!

Review of Birthday Goodies

Just a few lovelies to show you from Scary's birthday presents.

Shall I start with the boring card?

A couple of little tea light holders.

I did try and get her a decorative bird cage but they were all too expensive for my pocket!

A pretty photo frame in her favourite colours.  Cheap and cheerful from Store 21.

A cutie umbrella, cos you know what English weather is like!

Scary loves peacocks so she had several things along those lines; including a notebook and a hair clip.

A hair band and tie that I crocheted in her current fave colour.

A cute little box and necklace from a charity shop.

Another little sweet box from another charity shop (good job she doesn't mind) to fit in with existing pots.

And I managed to fill it with charity shop and boot sale finds, running with the butterfly theme.

Yes, she did get a bit of money as well!  Along with a guitar; no picture, sorry.

And The Runner gets in on the making act as well.  He made this necklace for her.

Many other bits and pieces, too numerous to photograph, but these were my favourites, along with The Bag, of course, which seemed to take so long to make.

No, not that one!  The real sized one!

Oh, I almost forgot the slippers I bought for her (she suffers with cold feet, poor baby).

And Starfish gave her something she's been wanting with a passion for some time.

Shame he's not real!  Starfish and I went into the shop and said "we want Matt Smith please".  "Oh yes", the lady said.  "We've got one out the back."  Imagine our surprise if she'd come back with a real one! 

Well, if you've made it this far, I think you deserve a slice of cake!

Happy Birthday Scary

Here is The Bag, finished at last!

Start of Birthday Celebrations

We started the birthday celebrations today (after I'd tidied up from yesterday of course).  A bit early as the first birthday isn't until 3rd September but we do like to spread it out.

It started with Pizza Hut (the girls' favourite, but not necessarily mine).  I got into trouble because I had pasta!  I don't think men understand why you would go somewhere you don't especially like, just because everyone else likes it!  As usual, we couldn't get through the meal without Scary and the Runner having a highbrow scientific discussion/argument/heated debate.  Tonight it was the possibility of travelling at the speed of light and some newly discovered planet and it's composition.  May I remind you that this is in Pizza Hut.  Not sure what the next table thought about our conversation but they were remarkably quiet!  At least I managed to surreptitiously tip the waitress whilst Scary distracted the Runner by asking him about thermo dynamics.

Then we went to see the Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  Again, not what I would have chosen, but it's only me that fancies Daniel Craig in this house.  It wasn't too bad, actually.  I thought it was going to be dreadful and took my MP3 just in case I couldn't stand it, but it was very well made and a reasonable story.  Scary spent most of the time crying about how they treated the chimps though.

Oh well, back to the grindstone tomorrow.  More students arriving tomorrow night and not a bathroom cleaned, nor any beds ready!

Wedding Photos

Well, I started uploading these photos on 22nd June and here I am just looking at them now.

Has anyone else been having problems with Blogger?  I keep getting an Error 503 message when I try to sign in.

Anyway, back to the original purpose of this post.  My friend's wedding.

This was her wedding dress:

Yes, I know about the green!

And her chief bridesmaid (her daughter):

Her hair looked lovely:

and the reception was held in the beautiful village of Gittisham:

All in all, a lovely day was had and it already seems such a long time ago!

We are in the midst of many foreign students staying (Spanish one gone today, French one with us, Swiss one coming tomorrow) and preparing to have a lemonade stall at Charter Day next weekend to raise some more funds for Scary's trip to India.

'They' say the weather is turning nasty later, so I better get down town to buy some sausages.  I thought I would do big yorkshire puddings and fill them with onion gravy and sausages tonight.  A few new potatoes and yellow courgettes from the garden and I think we're set!

Harry Potter tomorrow!  Woo Hoo!  We're taking bets on whether Starfish is going to cry!

This Weekend I Have Mostly Been ...

doing wedding-y things!

A lovely friend of mine and her long-time partner decided to tie the knot on Saturday, so consequently last week was taken up with frantically trying to finalise outfits for my two girls (no, didn't have time to even think about mine!) and helping out with the food.

So I have been making lemonade for the wedding welcoming non-alcoholic alternative drink ...

making blinis (well, little savoury pancakes, not sure they were bona fide blinis) to be topped with cream cheese and smoked salmon for hors d'oeuvres,

scrubbing the living room carpet because Tall Boyfriend wasted a whole mug of tea on it,

batch baking lasagne for the freezer because I had a job lot of veg that needed using up,





painting nails,

and customising charity shops finds for my girls.  Photos to come soon on that last one!

And it's even taken me until Wednesday to get the blog post done!!

Hey Ho!



Celebrating May Day

If you ever get the chance to visit Kingsbury May Festival (in Kingsbury Episcopy near Martock in Somerset) do go because I think it is one of the best May Day celebrations around.

Scary lived up to her name.

Lots of lovely things to see,

and do:

Hope you all had a lovely May Day!

Happy New Year!

Wishing all my Bloggy Friends a very Happy and Creative New Year!

Lots of love
Ellouise