Get up and Rock me Amadeus!

Despite this being a fairly laid back week (well for me at least), it's been one where annoyingly expensive little things have gone wrong.

Usually on a Wednesday evening, if I'm not going to Orange Wednesdays, I'll take mum shopping. This week however hubby was so late coming out of work that we rearranged it for the Thursday... so Wednesday I just spent the evening pottering around the house. Indeed, what does a girl do when left to her own devices? I ate one of my favourite dishes that hubby doesn't like, linguine with pesto, and watched "The Hills", not a programme I usually follow but sometimes you can't beat a bit of crap American TV.

Thursday, following his conference, hubby collected me from work on time but as he pulled up I could hear that the car was not well. We inspected the tyres only to find a massive bolt embedded in the drivers' side tyre... how annoying. Hubby had yet to finish work, and so brought me along to his new offices. Knowing that I had been dying to see inside because of my geekish interest in buildings, he got security to sign me in and I got to meet some of his team, which was really nice. The building itself is fabulous, although being BREEAM excellent and with natural ventilation I'll be interested to see how the building performs in the summer... lets just say it seemed particularly well insulated to me. After spending some time in the tyre shop, it was evident that mum wouldn't be getting any shopping tonight either. It was payday though, and I was starving, so we bought a delicious curry and vegetated in front of the TV.

Friday morning my hairdryer broke. I had wet hair and looked disbelievingly into the trigger of the blow dryer as it chugged and spluttered and promptly expired. Marvellous! I covered up with a hat, but then we were stuck in Mini for over an hour waiting for them to fit our new tyre. By the time I got to work and took my hat off, my hair was hat shape. Greatly amusing to some of my colleagues, but not so much to me. Finally, after work, I got round to taking my mum for some shopping and didn't get home until after 10pm. What a long day.

I was really pleased that the week was over, and thankfully had managed to book a couple of the last remaining tickets for the Loft Theatre's production of Amadeus. During the day we visited the inlaws since it was hubby's uncles 70th birthday. We had bought him a DAB radio and hubby and he sat for ages figuring out how to store channels (boys and their toys) before said uncle went out to the football match. Taking a detour through Elliots for some new windscreen wipers, and Morrisons for the ingredients I needed to finish off the birthday cake (a vanilla layer cake from the Primrose Bakery Cookbook) we got home with just enough time for me to bath, eat and get ready to go out. I decided to wear the red polka dot dress which I had not worn since my graduation. It's such a fine material though that I had to layer up underneath it with a full slip and a camisole, and I was just about warm enough to go to the theatre. I love this dress but the cold weather has put me off wearing it as much as I should have done.
(Boots - Duo Boots: Tights - Primark: Dress - The Owl and Pussycat (whitby): Glasses - Missoni)

Hubby wasn't coming to the show since Amadeus isn't really his cup of tea, so I went with mum. Leamington was bitterly cold, but we arrived particularly early, parked up and got a drink in the theatre bar. It was almost a full house, and was certainly the fullest I had ever seen it. The play was fantastic though... a life story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart through the eyes of the composer Sallieri, his arch rival (unbeknownst to him). It's a fascinating tale and if you have never seen the film I'd really recommend it. I wondered how they would make it work for the stage, but they did and whilst it was particularly long, it wasn't a bit boring. Even better was that I was stopped by one of the patrons and told how wonderful my dress was, that's always a confidence boost isn't it?

This morning, I was up bright and early to finish the birthday cake and get ready to go out for lunch to the Nursery Tavern with hubby, the inlaws, and the step-children. Mum had been meant to come too, but the uncomfortable seats at the theatre gave her such a bad back that she had to cancel. Anyway, I thought I'd wear something a little more laid back today, so I took the opportunity to wear the mini skirt I had bought at Tesco when I went shopping. I've been after one of these jersey skirts for some time now, and I really like the stud detail on this... it's a bit of a departure from my usual fashion style but I thought I'd experiment and actually quite liked it.

(Boots - Duo Boots: Tights - Pamela Mann: Skirt - Florence and Fred: T-shirt - Was Hubbys': Belt - Gift: Denim Jacket - Gap: Glasses Missoni: Handbag - Jones the bootmaker: Beret - Miss Selfridge)

Lunch was enjoyed by all... and the cake went down a treat, particularly as the lunches at the Nursery Tavern are always so huge. Afterwards, we dropped the step-children home, dropped some things off at my mums house that I had forgotten to bring yesterday, and then set home for the warmth. I can't believe how cold it is again today. Will we ever get a spring I wonder?(Trainers - Adidas: Cargo Pants - ?: T-Shirt - Pogues Concert: Leather Jacket - Vintage: Leather Hat - Jill Corbett)

Please Sponsor Us!

Hi Folks,

Well, on this post I'm afraid I'm looking for a little support from all my readers. On 27th June, I, along with 3 other girls that I work with will be running the race for life in Stratford. It's a 5km run (believe me, when you are as unfit as I am that's like a marathon) and ALL money raised goes to Cancer Research, which is a wonderful charity which uses the money to research cures and treatments for cancer. I'm sure that we have all known someone in our lives who has suffered from this dreadful disease, and this is your opportunity to show your support for the work that goes towards beating it. Our fund raising target is £400, and every penny and every pound helps us reach that target, so please whether you are pledging £1 or £100 please please click on the widget below and donate your cash to support our run in the race for life 2010.

I Invite you .....

Readers, I have been meaning to do this for a long time but haven't got round to it before. I am a member of a website called Cocosa. This website hosts daily sales of expensive fashion lines, but at hugely cut prices. For example they currently have a Nougat London sale running where you can get £195 dresses for £65; Luella shades £55 instead of £165 and so on. It's ever changing and they will email you every day to tell you what sales are coming up (I think you get about one email a day from them, no more). Future sales include Vera Wang Lavender, and Kenneth Jay Lane etc. The catch is you can ONLY join this website by invite of someone who is already a member. So, ladies (and gents) click on the link below and that will take you to sign up with Cocosa under my invite:

Take me to Cocosa

Enjoy... and don't melt the credit card too quickly.

A Series of Random Events

What a day! Today was always meant to be pretty laid back, quiet, chilled... however you want to put it , it's not quite how it panned out. It's been a pretty tough week. Certainly for hubby who has had a massive workload; then there has been more snow to contend with and the usual grind of day to day life. Awaiting payday (which seems to be taking a very longtime to come round) and feeling a little sleep deprived we planned to keep the weekend quiet. We'd booked in a few house viewings for my mum since she's trying to move closer to us... and pretty much planned to do that and not much else... how wrong could we be?

We were up early in the morning, purposely, in order to go visit the inlaws who were extremely proud of some new windows they've had fitted. I should think so too, the workmen have done a great job and it really makes the house look better. Leaving here we went to collect mum and Bailey, dropped Bailey off here to play with/ torment Pru and Alfie and then set off for our first viewing. There were 3 viewings in the diary, all fairly close to us. Well certainly closer than mum lives now. The first viewing went well, alas it was just a little too far from us. The second was nice, but there was just something missing... but the third property my mum really fell for and it was easy to see why. After a brief wander around the area, post viewing, we set off to Morrisons for a cappuccino and some groceries while mum waxed lyrical about the 3rd viewing, and hubby looked distinctly smug, him having found the property on rightmove.

Having done some shopping, we had to nip quickly into B&Q to get some odds and ends for a little DIY job... when who should we run into but some relatives. Now, I didn't really go into this when it happened, but one of the said relatives has recently acted particularly dishonorable towards my mum and so to say there was an atmosphere on running into them in the shop may be underestimating it. Hats off, however, to my mum who managed to put across her disdain without appearing anything less than a lady... I was quite proud seeing as mum ordinarily has a temper on her! She did a grand job of cold shoulder I thought!

We set off back home for a nice relaxing meal of pizza and chips. You can't beat a bit of junk on a lazy weekend. After that, it wasn't long before mum wanted to go home with Bailey since the night was pressing on and she had things to do. So, anyway, I loaded hubby, Bailey and mum into the car and we set off. Now, we live on a very busy main road and on the route towards the city centre is a major crossroads, ordinarily controlled with traffic lights. As I approached the lights, wanting to turn right, I noticed a sign up that the lights were out of order. The crossroads looked, well, a bit risky. Tentatively I eased my way out into the box junction, cautious of being in such a vulnerable position, but I could see a break in the flow of traffic coming up that would allow me to make my manoeuvre... I sat patiently when all of a sudden BANG! What on earth was that? Have I been hit? I didn't feel anything! I looked to my right out of my window just in time to see a red metro spinning in the road... and spinning towards my mini... glass and fluid were flying off and I could see smoke from somewhere... I was sure the car was going to spin right into me but there was no movement I could make to escape the impending danger! The car stopped about 1 metre away from mine... the flow of traffic stopped momentarily and I pulled into the road I wanted to, driving up a few yards before pulling over the kerb, and activating my hazard lights while mum jumped out and let hubby out of the back of the car. He turned back towards the red car that had been impacted badly by a silver car coming through the junction and jogged back to the metro, and it's dazed and confused passenger. Now at this point I hadn't managed to get out of our car yet, so hubby relayed to me what he did. The car was oozing fluids all over the road... flammable and with the possibility it could go up at any time. The driver (a young girl) sat in her seat screaming, obviously in shock from the experience, hubby pulled open the door, leaned in to undo her seat belt and pulled her out. By this time I was out of my car... I jogged back to the damaged car, carefully negotiating the traffic which was still going (albeit slower as they were rubbernecking) and to hubby trying to console the crying girl. I put my arm around her shoulder and my main concern was getting her away from the car (which I perceived to be dangerous) and also, out of the middle of the road. The driver of the other car came along and wanted to push the metro out of the road, but I ordered him not to until the services arrived. Thankfully, on my way back to the pavement with the distraught girl the paramedics showed up. I went back to my own car, relaying to mum what had happened, and pulled the car safely into a side street before running back to the scene and to where hubby was now stood outside an ambulance where the girl was. We waited until her mum came (who thanked us for helping) before I left to drop my own mum home. Hubby decided to walk home as soon as he was no longer needed.

So, there you have it, on a day that was meant to be quiet mum found a house she likes, we ran into some less than adored relatives, and hubby became a hero!

Great Combinations

As you know, I'm not in the habit of posting my daily outfit on my blog. I absolutely love other people's blogs that do that, I'm really nosey and just love to see, and to take inspiration, from fashion bloggers who use that method. In fact I would even go as far as to say that over recent months my interest in such blogs has encouraged me to look at my wardrobe in an entirely different way. I don't however feel I am creative enough to come up with a truly unique outfit each and every day. Nonetheless, the outfit which I wore today received a great many complimentary comments from my work colleagues, and for that reason I thought I would share it with the blogiverse!
(Boots - Duo Boots; Tights - Primark; Dress - Monsoon; Blazer - Betty Jackson; Polo Neck - Oasis; Belt - Gift)

On a related fashion note, for those of you who are interested in fashion and live in or near Coventry you may want to check out the sport V fashion exhibition which is running at the Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry. It's a V&A visiting exhibition, and I certainly intend to while away a Sunday afternoon in the near future checking it out.

Meanwhile I've been listing things on eBay again since it's free posting day.

Living Dead in Dallas - Charlaine Harris

Ok, it's official, I am now addicted to the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. So much so that I have literally today finished novel number 2 (after only a few days reading) and gone straight on eBay to order novel number 3. Is it because of the edge of the seat action? Is it because of the fantasy? Or is it because of my crush on Bill Compton? Who knows? Either way I am loving them.

You will remember that I likened the first novel to an erotic point horror? Well, I'm pleased to say that the second novel moved away from that quite a bit and became more of a detective type story. That's not to say that the book wasn't littered with naughty bits, it was, but Sookie (the lead character) appears in this novel to have found a bit more character. Certainly more so than she did in the first one. She travels off to Dallas with beau Bill Compton to help solve the mystery of a missing vampire in the Dallas nest using her telepathic abilities. Once again she ends up getting brutally beaten up and having some real eye opening moments. On returning to Bon Temps there is even more wierdness and supernatural happenings which leads to a very interesting ending. What I would say about these books is they are extremely far fetched. You need to understand that with vampires, werewolves and ancient mythological creatures stalking the woods of deep Southern America, these novels are absolute fantasy and if you can't deal with that much imagination then I recommend that you don't start to read these novels. I myself do find some of it far fetched, but having read the second novel am now in too deep, and hang on the edge of Sookie and Bill's hot and cold relationship as much as I do the action. It's a light and easy read and I can't wait for the next one.

Something these books have made me realise is that my crush isn't on Stephen Moyer, the extremely hot actor that plays Bill in the HBO series (albeit I still think he's a dish), but actually it is on the character of Bill Compton. He's an old fashioned, strong type with a certain air of danger about him that is just drool worthy!

Anyway, enough of that, I hope I've inspired some of you to try the book.

Cupid, Draw Back Your Bow........

I've had a wonderful Valentines day. I just wanted to share that, it's been so good!

Hubby and I had planned to go to the Peak District today and do the Bakewell to Ashbourne walk, followed by a nice meal in a pub. Making reference to the doom mongers that are the met office, we decided against it late lastnight, and thought we would just make a decision as to how to spend our Valentines day, today. Hubby woke up fairly early, and being the light sleeper that I am I was awake shortly after. We exchanged our gifts in bed. For hubby, I had made the following bookmark from blue satin, cross stitching our surname onto it and making the tassle from embroidery thread. I have to say, making this from scratch was quite fiddly, and I hadn't expected it to be so when I started, nonetheless he loves it and it's gone straight into his Steig Larsson.

I also bought him a fabulous Duffer of St George T-shirt from Debenahams and was really relieved when he revealed that he loves it. Even after being married for almost 2 years, and dating for a long time before that I'm never confident that he's going to like my choice in clothes for him. He really does like that though. Of course, there was also some choccy in the gift bag too.
For me, hubby had bought the delightful Paper Plane bag that I had put my eye on a few weeks back. I was overjoyed and immediately unpacked the handbag I was using and transferred all of my stuff into the new one. That brings my handbag tally up to about 15 now, so perhaps I should lighten up on the handbags... anyway, it's so fab and I couldn't wait to wear it out as you can see from the photograph below.

(Cloche hat - Marks and Spencer;
Sunglasses - Gucci;
Green silk scarf - Burberry;
Red Coat - Fever;
Bag - Disaster Designs;
Skirt - Swap;

Tights - Primark;
Boots - Duo Boots)

Opening the curtains to reveal what was a glorious sunny day, we made the decision to go to Stratford Upon Avon for the day. I love Stratford, it's only about a half hour drive for us and during the summer I spend a lot of weekends there. We had a hearty breakfast and decided to dress up nice since it is Valentines Day and sunny to boot. Then we set off for our day out.


Hubby and I by the river in our Sunday best

We arrived by noon and having parked the car and crossed the river we decided to nip into Carluccios and book a table for post shopping food. We set off on our travels and were delighted to see signs pointing to a leather jacket sale at buy one get one free. Hubby's a real leather jacket fiend and so we opted to take a look. It was here in the Shakespeare hotel that we came across the most bizarre business man we have ever encountered. This man, obviously the owner of the leather jacket enterprise, couldn't wait to tell us he had owned 3 premiership football clubs (as if that would impress us) and that he drove a Bentley. While hubby donned a lovely leather flying jacket he rambled on and on and on..... and on about how rich he was, how great his leather jackets were, how he owned this that and the other and blah blah blah. Due to the fact that he did actually have some nice leather jackets hubby asked for a business card... this was the bit where we got completely dumbfounded. The guy offered to sell us his business card since it was accented in real platinum (!) £400 and we could indeed take a business card. Speechless; I think that is an apt word to describe both hubby and I (and believe me hubby is rarely speechless). It was at this point we slowly retreated out of the door and away from the crazy man!

More fruitful was our trip to the Antiques Centre where there is a lovely new stall manned by a lovely Chinese man. He was happy to talk me through all of the Chinese pottery, telling me what bits were from which era which I found extremely interesting. Then he moved on to tell us all about his cabinet full of jade charms. These were fascinating. I know that Jade is much revered in China as being very lucky and imbuing the wearer with peace and happiness, what I didn't know was the vast array of different types of jade. I came away with a purple jade cockerel (because I am year of the cockerel) and a dark green lady Buddha, which I've never heard of before but is very lovely. Hubby came away with a dark green Buddha too. I thought after this we would while away a couple of hours peacefully before dinner, however while browsing in the bookshop to try and check out some more of the True Blood novels, hubby realised that I had left his mobile phone in the car in clear view of anyone who chose to look. Not good. We suddenly put the books back that we were looking at and charged out of the shop as if there were a fire, to run across town, back to the car for the phone. Thankfully none of the windows had been smashed and the phone was still where I left it... ooops!


Action shot: Hubby coming back from the car where I had left the phone... oops!

Our final dash for the shops was particularly fruitful. We'd looked in Laura Ashley, where the remainder of the sale clothes were either too big or too small for me, when we popped along to Aspire. I love this shop, it's so girly and sells such wonderful things, including the amazing Fever line which I was recently introduced to by fellow blogger, Roisin. So, imagine my joy when I found a whole rail (or more accurately hubby found a whole rail) of reduced fever dresses. I tried on several of them since they were too much of a bargain to ignore. In the end though I plumped for a beautiful white summer dress called the watery dress, it's all Monetesque colours, with shoestring straps and will be so wearable in the summer... and possibly in the winter with the right winterproofing.

Finally we settled down to our table at Carluccios. Hubby had a beautiful lasagne, while I opted for delicious ravioli... can't you tell the difference between fresh and dried pasta? It was gorgeous and hubby and I giggled like a pair of lovesick school kids through the majority of our meal.

We're home now, and warm since the temperature still managed to drop by about 4.30pm. We've had a delightful Valentines day and I hope that all of you guys have too.

My dapper looking hubby by the river.

Madness... madness they call it madness

Well, having finally finished the PRINCE2 course, and having taken the exam I decided to go out on Friday night. There was a Madness tribute band on at the Ricoh casino, so I went there with mum. I really regret not having taken a picture of my outfit because I took inspiration from what I wore today and her lace themed week and decided to wear my vintage black lace dress with a pair of yellow opaque tights worn under a pair of black lace tights and purple shoobs. I never wear yellow, against my off olive skin it looks appalling, but actually far away from my face and under lacey tights I thought it looked great, and hence I'm gutted I didn't take a photograph. Anyway, onto the show... Ultimate madness were absolutely fantastic. Seriously, you would have thought it was Suggs on the stage, and the musicians were so realistic. The dance routines were accurate and they really had a knack for getting the crowd going. Despite my huge heels, I had a right old boogie. I did the usual thing I do to Ska music and jumped around like a crazy lady, thankfully mum did too which was great to see after such a long time. I hope that band come back to the Ricoh again so that I can take Hubby to see them, he'd love it. Alas, my knee has paid the price of me jumping around like a crazy lady, it really hurt today.

Today wasn't too exciting. I'm awaiting payday, so the extent of my day was going into town to find some black dylon to try and rejuvenate an old black cardy. Once home, we went to visit the inlaws later this evening, usually we do it in the morning but because I was out lastnight we left it until later. Then this evening I spent finishing off hubby's Valentines present, which I'll reveal to you all soon.

On a side note, a little bird tells me that some of the aid workers in Haiti are keeping an eye on my blog, including my best friend's husband. I just want to give a shout out to you guys for the amazing work you are doing, and here's a little something to make you chuckle... you probably need it with all the hard work you are doing!

The Wolfman

We went to see The Wolfman on Wednesday when it was released in the UK, but because I've been on a stinking PRINCE2 course for the past 3 days I haven't been able to tell you all about it.


In short, I loved this film. If you know the old wolfman, the black and white one with Lon Cheney Jnr then you will be pleased to know that this film is fairly loyal to it. Obviously they use special effects, but not to the extent that everything is completely unrealistic. The film has a great cast including Anthony Hopkins and Benico Del Torro, and the pace of the film is great. It's just under 2 hours which I think is an ideal film length, and action packed... and yes it is a little sad at the end, but not all out blubbing sad. I would really recommend that you go and see this film, it's fabulous.


Just one question though, how come despite the fact that in turning to a wolf the wolfman tears all his clothes... apart from the bum of his trousers?? One of life's mysteries... go see it!

Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris

For those of you who followed the series; True Blood (the one with vampire Bill who I have a serious crush on), this book is the first of the books which the series was based on. Actually, the book is quite true to the series, and the entire first book is the entire first TV series if that makes sense.

I liked this book; it was an easy read so if you are expecting something worthy of literary prizes then don't read it, but if you just want something to read bits of whenever you have a spare minute then this could be it. The best thing I can liken it to is a cross between the point horror books I used to read as a teenager, and an erotic novel (which I've never read, but I expect some parts are a little similar).

The book introduces the lead character, Sookie Stackhouse, and charts her strange love life as she falls for a stranger in town 'Vampire Bill'. At the time, there is a murderer in the small deep south town of Bon Temps targeting women who date vampires (known as fangbangers), and who is targeting Sookie, who only has Bill to protect her... Will she escape the Bon Temps murderer? It's all a bit light horror really and if you enjoyed the series I guarantee you will like the novel. If light reading, horror or a bit of nookie are of no interest to you at all then I really would not read this book... I am now on another of the Charlaine Harris series so expect a review on that soon.

Photo Group

I'm just back from photo group, where hubby and I haven't been for a rather long time. In our absence the whole layout of the group has changed, but we had a good discussion about fashion photography, models and their role in presenting fashion, and the anti-fashion world portrayed by photographers such as Corinne Day. It made me think actually about some possible shoots. I took some great images last year of my fashionista friend and I personally think they are some of the best images I've ever done (see below);

but perhaps I should look at the boundaries of fashion photography and take the pretty girl out of the equation... hmm watch this space.

Funnily enough, the debate on conversation took a lively turn in the direction of shoes and psychology, and suddenly my trusty Dr. Martens were under the spotlight as our gallery owner friend dissected the history of their development into a fashion item... fortunately I know adequate information about the history of the DM to hold my own in such a debate, but I hadn't realised that so many people were obsessed with what people wear on their feet. Not that I think this is wrong, I think it's fabulous that so many people are taking note of my footwear. Anyway, tonight I made a pledge to wear a different pair of shoes to every subsequent photo group; that should scupper their shoe psychology since I have so many different styles my diverse collection will probably suggest I'm bipolar or something.

Finally, I wanted to show you the fabulous Gilet that I bought from the secondhand shop a couple of weeks ago. Call me crazy since it's cold outside and I have no sleeves in my coat, but hubby obligingly kept me warm driving door to door... even if he did say that I look like I'm going to a 1970s feminist action group!

Gilet - Second hand shop; T-shirt - Marks & Spencers; Jeans - Thomas Burberry; Boots - Dr Martens; Bag - Paperchase mag bag;

Christian Rock and Kinky Boots

As promised folks, a lengthier blog post, see I told you I wasn't being lazy.

Thursday, I was out shopping (food shopping) with my mum when hubby called me to let me know that the boots I had ordered from duo had arrived. I was filled with excitement since I have been looking for a suitable pair of boots for the entire winter season. My criteria was that they were brown, leather, flat or very low heels, good quality and could be re-soled and heeled and worn for all occasions. These boots definitely fit the criteria and I've worn them lots already, I have seriously never had a boot that is so instantly comfortable and such a perfect fit. What do you think?

(I've also shown them with the outfit I wore lastnight: Dress - Evie, Cardigan - Betty Jackson, Tights - Primark, Boots - Duo Boots, Jewellery - Vintage, Brooch - Cath Kidston)

Metz boots by Duoboots.com

Friday evening I just spent my time winding down, using my favourite Lush bubble bar again and vegetating in front of the box with hubby.

Saturday morning, we visited the inlaws for tea and biscuits, and to catch up since it had been a while. Following that, I dropped my step-daughter in town where she was very pleased to be wearing a denim jacket she had picked up at the charity shop (I knew hubby and I would be an influence lol). Then I dropped hubby and step-son home to watch the rugby, while I set off to collect mum. After a brief stint at the graveyard (which made me very glad I had my old suede boots on and not my new ones) we set off to a factory outlet we had been told of in Tile Hill which sells end of range/ shop soiled/ factory second shoes by manufacturers such as Irregular Choice and Jones the Bootmaker. Boss Shoes wasn't the easiest place to find, especially as I don't know Tile Hill. Anyway, on arrival I found the most glorious pair of Hunter Wellies in fuchsia pink at... £30!!! Can you believe it! Despite this galactic bargain, I didn't buy them since I've already spent out on shoes and boots this month. Mum tried some delightful Irregular Choice cat boots on, but alas they didn't fit properly. I think this place is one of those where you have to visit regular to find what you are looking for, but now we know it is there, I think we will visit often.

After the shoe shop, we head to Earlsdon for a sandwich and a coffee at the cottage, before a quick look in the second hand shop where I managed to get a book I had wanted for some time, White Teeth by Zadie Smith, as well as the next book in the series that hubby is reading by Stieg Larsson! One more burst of shopping in central6 saw me with another new dress which is very cute in grey and blue satin, and a wishlist of things I want from Next!

Once I had dropped mum home it was a bit of a mad dash to get ready for hubby and I to go out for the evening. We decided to go to Taylor John's House not because of its lovely location in the Canal Basin, nor because we could actually walk to it from our house, but because it's one of the few venues in Coventry that has some decent live music on! I of course wore my new boots, along with my new dress and a blue Betty Jackson cardigan since frankly it was freezing out, while hubby looked as smart as ever in his jeans and smart jacket! The walk there was cold, but bearable and when we arrived we were undoubtedly overdressed. That didn't bother us though. The evening hosted a variety of rock bands... and not the light fluffy rock of Bon Jovi and co, but hardcore Marilyn Manson shouting down the mic ROCK! Notice our surprise then at the pattern that emerged with each band... between songs they were all praising Jesus. Now, we are practising Christians, but this was new to us. Seriously, these guys were living the Rock lifestyle and weren't what you expect to see sat next to you on a Sunday morning, the mosh pit was wild and yet as we found out from the bar staff later, this was Christian rock night! It was actually pretty ace! After a fair few India pale ales, I even found myself bouncing around a fair deal, it was a really good night. Needless to say we didn't walk home but at around 12pm promptly hailed a taxi to take us back through the cold streets of Coventry, and home to our nice warm bed.

L-R: 1. Handsome hubby; 2. Hubby and me; 3. Me in my Fever Kensington coat.

Today, we have been nursing headaches... possibly as much from the very loud music (I'm getting so old) as from the ale, but we both agree that it was an excellent weekend!

The Kitchen - Before and After

I bet you all think that I've been really lazy with my blog posting this week, well I can assure you that isn't true, I have actually been busy. Largely I have been busy cleaning up after workmen and scrubbing the bathroom, but busy nonetheless (oh the glamour of it). Anyway, this is a short blog post just to show you the before and after pictures of my (now) glorious kitchen. As you can see it was a bit of a pit, and it had been water damaged from our pre-Christmas leak, now it is a symphony in monotone! Ta Da!

(Admittedly the before shot (left) is messy too, but that was because I hadn't gotten round to clearing it out before the builders were coming)

Benefit for Haiti

As promised I went to the benefit for Haiti lastnight at the Coventry S Q Club. I did finally decide on an outfit, I opted to winterproof the new dress that mum bought for me from Topshop the other weekend by putting a red top underneath it and some purple tights, fastened in the middle with an elasticated belt and coupled with clunky jewellery and my boots I was pleased with the overall effect.

The benefit was really good. We've never been to the SQ club before, I think it's something to do with the university, but when we got in there was a good mix in terms of the crowd, and even Lady Godiva (Pru Poretta) was there introducing the acts. The acts were largely amateur, but you would never have guessed as there was some great talent! Peter and I got up for some impromptu Salsa lessons, which we made a complete hash of and I spent much of my time on the dancefloor laughing, and the evening was topped off with a fabulous Gospel Choir! On top of that we bought some sandwiches, and I bought some fresh lavender which I'm going to use to make little sleep cushions for me and mum, I love the smell of lavender. I don't usually go out on a school night, and in all fairness there isn't usually a great deal going on of a Sunday evening, but lastnight was great, I'm so glad we went, and it was all the better knowing that all the money will go to Haiti!