- Getting a big haul of furry fabric remnants for £2.20.
- Attending two events for work.
- Feeling like my lips were on fire from Steve’s homemade chilli pizza! Yum!
- Regretting telling my yoga teacher that I have really stiff hips; we spent an hour attempting to stretch our legs out at silly angles.
- Not quite so crushing a pub quiz defeat as usual. I mean, we were still in the bottom three, but everyone else had such terrible scores this week that we weren’t trailing by much…
- Being appalled by the characters in Something Borrowed. Lola and I ranted all the way back to my front door.
- Watching Polly attempt to chase two shoelaces, her own tail and cram herself down the back of the armchair all at the same time. She fell on the floor twice.
- Putting pyjamas on the moment I got home on Thursday – it was my one bit of free time this week and I did as little as I possibly could.
- A crazy busy weekend – but more on that to follow in seperate posts! It has been (and promises to continue being) an awful lot of fun.
Category Archives: The Week I’ve Had
The Week I’ve Had (15th May 2011)
The Week I’ve Had (8th May 2011)
- Finally watching Sunset Boulevard (and loving it).
- Catching Polly and Steve’s Rancor having a Who’s Creepier? contest.
- Doing actual routines on the Wii Zumba game instead of just tutorials. So… unfit… *collapses*
- Hobbling out of my yoga class. So… unfit… *wobbles*
- Remembering all the words to Everything About You by Ugly Kid Joe (and singing them at top volume at work).
- Watching Water for Elephants.
- Wanting an elephant of my own.
- Not wanting to go to this party:
- Just liking how the light was catching here:
- Eating ice cream.
- Wearing woolly gloves.
- Voting.
- Visiting friends who fed us lovely pumpkin enchiladas.
- Seeing Robert the Bruce arrive in town on the back of a lorry.
- An impromptu Friday night spent wining and dining and watching One Man Star Wars.
- Taking Steve’s folks for Sunday dinner.
The Week I’ve Had (1st May 2011)
- Reading Tina Fey’s autobiography. I admire Tina Fey so much that I even got a little bit excited when she said she couldn’t drive – “Hey! Me, too! We could be such good friends!“
- Going back to lunchtime yoga classes after three weeks off. Aaaaaaaah, so nice to replace all the bad aches and pains with good ones!
- Tuesday evening: exploding light bulbs; cat poop excitement; a thorough beating at the pub quiz. Oof.
- Receiving this fab 1971 dress pattern creation kit. I don’t even care if I never use it.
- Holding hands with the cat.
- Chilli, wine and Strange Days.
- Pay day! But every penny’s already allocated. Boo! Cheapo May it is, then.
- Not needing to watch the Royal Wedding because my Facebook news feed was providing such comprehensive coverage (but still flicking it on now and then to check out the frocks).
- Heading to the pub with girls from work.
The Week I’ve Had (24th April 2011)
- Taking Steve to Wagamama for the first time. Here’s his jasmine flowering tea:
- Helping Polly open her first ever bit of mail.
- Admiring our new ornament.
(I’ll calm down on the cat stuff soon – promise!) - Going to the theatre.
- Finding our first dance class was cancelled so going for tapas and wine instead.
- Getting to sit in a bookcase at the tapas place.
- Putting my spare memory card in my camera and finding this:
I remember taking it – it’s Steve and his globe – but I can’t remember why. - Celebrating Al and El‘s fifteenth anniversary of dating with a 90s night in the pub.
- Trying (and failing) to stave off our hangovers with icy cold fruit drinks at Tinderbox.
- Reading Room by Emma Donoghue which sounded worthy and irritating but was actually rather wonderful.
The Week I’ve Had (17th April 2011)
- Lots of playing with Polly who has properly adopted us now. Lots of playing. Every chance she gets.
- Finally finishing Fingersmith. By “finally” I mean it’s taken about two weeks which is forever in my reading world. I’m still not sure if I liked it or not.
- Receiving two parcels of awesome fabric in one day. Parcels of awesome fabric are the way to go, aspiring gift givers (hint hint).
- Coming third last in the pub quiz this week. Third last. Out of nine. *looks smug*
- Having a stinking rotten day on Wednesday but getting home to find Steve had bought me gingerbread flavoured fake-Baileys. Yay!
- Feeling a bit poorly but being looked after by the cat.
- Loving the bright colours inside the photocopier at work.
Getting some fresh air on Friday lunchtime.
- Finding boxes of sewing patterns in a charity shop. Alas, all but one were either hideous 80s styles or for children. But that one exception was worth it. One day I’ll be up to making a fitted, floaty blouse!
- Benefiting from Steve’s latest cookbook purchase.
- Enjoying a really quiet weekend to myself.
The Week I’ve Had (10th April 2011)
- Giving my sewing machine a thorough clean.
- Being unexpectedly offered the beautiful Polly on Tuesday morning.
- Waiting impatiently for eight o’clock on Tuesday when we could go and pick her up!
- Resisting the urge to drag her out from under the sofa and forcibly cuddle her (but being thrilled when she started letting us pass her biscuits and rub her ears from a safe distance).
- Watching The Big Lebowski and drinking white russians.
- Not being able to stop grinning when Polly finally emerged and started rushing back and forth between Steve and me, rolling on her back and demanding attention.
- Grinning some more when she started squirming her way through the sofa cushions to see me when I got home from work.
- Not doing much non-cat-related stuff at all due to the overwhelming need to sit in my flat and gaze at her. I’ve come over all crazy cat lady.
- My mum coming to stay on Saturday – this involved two lunches out and dinner at a pizza place.
- Trying not to gloat about my Scrabble score.
- Finding this book in TK Maxx – it’s nothing but book covers from the past eighty years and I spent an hour gazing at the pictures when I got it home.
The Week I’ve Had (3rd April 2011)
So here’s how I spent my week off work:
- Edinburgh with Kirsten.
- A killer yoga class. Ouch!
- But it was made less painful by the coffee and cakes which I enjoyed with Sue afterwards.
- An unplanned pub dinner with Steve.
- Coming second last in the pub quiz for the fourth week running. We know our place!
- Paying sooooooo many bills.
- Roping Steve into helping clean the kitchen. Here he is emptying out the booze shelf:
Such joy! - An unplanned Beautiful Mountain lunch with Steve.
- Never Let Me Go.
- A pub dinner with Kirsty.
- Hairspray at the theatre complete with strawberry ice cream, the cast being rushed off the stage unexpectedly and Micky Dolenz having a laughing fit.
- Tea and cakes with Karen.
- My final beginners’ sewing class. Here are the cushion cover and skirt I made:
The skirt is not a style I would have chosen but I’m so pleased with how well it turned out and I’m much more confident with my machine now. I’m probably going to sign up for the advanced class, too, as it teaches us how to use patterns.
(oh, yeah, and picture credit to Steve) - Celebrating Sue’s birthday.
- Admiring Steve’s increasingly pretty cactus baby.
- Stocking up on DVDs.
- Traipsing all over town in search of a size eight drill bit.
- An afternoon visit from a Simon seeking tea.
- Wondering why my hand wouldn’t stop twitching for hours on Friday.
- Baking white russian cupcakes with Steve. We had excess icing so we also topped some chocolate digestives.
- Drinking improvised spiced pear mojitos.
- Celebrating Elinor‘s birthday with a pub lunch which turned into a full day of nattering.
- Dancing the night away.
- Thinking about all of the above and buying a zumba game for the Wii. It has not come out of its packet yet.
- Gearing up to hang a curtain rail with a very fuzzy head (and a drill)…
How has everybody else’s week been?
2011: Part One
Here we are: April. A quarter of the way through the year already.
I didn’t have any clear vision for 2011; I was (and still am) really happy with my life/Steve/friends/job/home. But there were a few things I wanted to try to do this year and I thought now might be a good time to see how I’m getting along with those.
My few things were:
- Go back to yoga.
- Dance more.
- Cook a little more and a little better.
- The same goes for crafting.
- Practise photographing people.
- And spend a couple of weekends away.
So how am I doing?
Yoga: Success! A colleague and I have been going to lunchtime classes (almost) every week. The lunchtime thing is really working for me – it makes it harder to talk myself out of it (“I’ve just got home and it’s raining and there’s a good film on TV…” etc) and I love going back to work feeling all stretched out and relaxed.
Dancing: There is a class Steve and I are planning to try but it clashed with sewing – that ended yesterday so I think it’s time we got shimmying.
Cooking: This has been a complete failure. I could count on my fingers the number of times I’ve cooked this year (not counting heating up soup in the microwave). Steve started to get really into cooking round about New Year and who am I to discourage him? I do sometimes feel a bit guilty about the amount of cooking he does compared to me – I find myself loitering behind him in the kitchen, jiggling up and down on my toes, singing weird made-up songs about him, faking an interest in helping and just generally getting in the way – but he assures me he, “likes making sure we eat enough vegetables.” Fair enough.
Crafting: I think the sewing class makes this a success. I have a cushion! And a skirt! I’ve also reorganised all of the drawers of crafty stuff in the living room so that they actually open and things can be found fairly easily…
Photographing People: No…
Weekends Away: Yes. I’ve already had a weekend in Glasgow with Steve, a day in Glasgow with Lola and a day in Edinburgh with Kirsten and I/we have loads of fun plans to get out and about this coming year.
I’ve said it before, but I don’t think it’s realistic to decide to overhaul your life on the first of January. It’s a dark, dreich, demotivating time of year when it’s hard to put down the hot chocolate and dig out the Wii Fit; swearing to stop all of your bad behaviour and become a new, more perfect you overnight is – as far as I can see – setting yourself up for failure. I much prefer to have a list of things I intend to get around to over the coming months, to work them in to (or out of) my life gradually; I also like to reassess them once a quarter to see if they still hold true.
So, going forward with 2011, my resolutions are more:
- Keep up the yoga.
- Go dancing.
- Dig out the aforementioned Wii Fit.
More cooking.More crafting.I’m going to modify this to “more sewing” because, right now, I’m more focused on that than on simply making things.- Practice photographing people.
What about you? How are your New Year’s Resolutions coming along? Is there anything else you’d like to aim for this year?
The Week I’ve Had (27th March 2011)
- Loving the sunshine on Monday!
- Even going so far as to turn off the heating.
- Realising that this was overly optimistic and turning the heating back on.
- Enjoying Chalet Girl (and coveting all of the 70s tiles and wallpaper in Kim and her dad’s house).
- Being freaked out by the strange lady rubbing herself against me at the pedestrian crossing on Thursday morning and muttering, “Mon Dieu!”
- Eating a doughnut shaped like a man. My colleagues know how I like an anthropomorphised cake.
- Painting furniture whilst singing along to Bagsy Me by The Wannadies. The poor neighbours; I still know every word.
- Lunching with Lola.
- Being woken on Sunday morning by singing outside our top floor bedroom window. Right outside our top floor bedroom window. The chimney has finally been repointed and every loose slate replaced.
The Week I’ve Had (20th March 2011)
- Eye streaming migraine from lunchtime Sunday through to half past four on Monday.
- Surviving on jelly and gingerbread men because that’s all I can eat when my head aches.
- But, on the bright side: getting home to find that the plasterer had done the priming for us. Yay!
- Obsessing over Sew Retro. One of these days, I’ll be on there I tell you.
- Briefly considering a “What’s in my Bag?” style post but realising that instead of the traditional pretty notebook and brightly coloured iPod, mine would include:
- A bus pass which expired in August.
- A burst tube of lip salve.
- The wrapper from a ball of wool.
- A 70s badge stating, “Books Ahoy!”
- A pamphlet about posh hotels.
- Assuring a workmate, “It’s okay – it’s fine – don’t worry…” as I puffed up purple and she hurriedly washed off her perfume.
- Being taken to Wagamama for the first time (thanks Lola!).
- Watching No Strings Attached.
- Wondering how to eat this weird marshmallow lollipop thing I got free from Starbucks.
The answer: carefully. - Another migraine kicking in on Friday. So unimpressed with my body this week.
- Steve buying me a book of crochet finger puppet patterns to make me feel better. Sweet!
- Faffing around with a new blog layout.
- This evening, we’re planning to see The Adjustment Bureau.
Why the Home Blitz Hasn’t Happened Yet
So much for cracking on with the big home tidy up! Most of the flat is in disarray as we wait to paint the newly plastered wall and for the carpet cleaner to come and remove all the soot. There are piles of books and displaced furniture scattered through three of the rooms. And as for the bits which I can get at right now, well, they’ve taken second place to sitting around feeling a little bit rotten for most of the week!
The Week I’ve Had (13th March 2011)
- Taking Monday off work for practical, home-related reasons.
- Chucking out loads of rubbish.
- Finally finding the right sized pad for this Monopoly house cushion cover.
Actually, I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be Monopoly houses but that’s what it makes me think of. - Buying a curtain rail. One of these days, we might even find ourselves with curtains.
- Dragging furniture about.
- Hanging prints.
- Trailing around posh hotels for work (and wanting a weekend away as a result).
- Smelling of yoga mat. Blech!
- Coming eighth out of ten in a pub quiz. *looks proud*
- Loving this post from Lara which reveals the truth about her unmade bed (and perfect life anxieties).
- On a related note, I fancy this book.
- Being hugely impressed by Steve’s homemade pizzas/jumbo bruschettas.
- Being blinded by the sun on Thursday morning.
- Joyfully sifting through fabric remants at the Creative Waste Exchange.
- Freezing.
- Assuming the plasterer was being melodramatic when he called to apologise about the carpet and to promise free professional cleaning.
Getting home to discover he was not! Actually, it doesn’t look that bad in this picture but I can assure you it is (I can also assure you the wonky looking wall is just my photography; they’ve done a very good job – final skim on Monday). - Cleaning and cleaning and cleaning up 200 year old dust and soot. Note the exhausted vacuum cleaner (above).
- Running the air purifier A LOT. Not that it seems to suck in much dirt, but the whole mini-disco coloured lights thing it does is kind of cool.
- Going to the Art Gallery to see exhibitions of work by Diane Arbus and by local freelance artist James Hayden Fettes who did illustrations for local fashion stores in the 1940s and 50s – lovely.
- Buying our last ever bottle of wine from our friendly neighbourhood Oddbins; it closed yesterday.
- Enjoying Sunday brunch with friends.
The Week I’ve Had (6th March 2011)
- An unplanned pub dinner with Steve.
- A pretty book splurge on Fabric Remix, The Crafty Minx and Eat Me!
- Trying to sing along to the Japanese subtitles on Neon Genesis Evangelion.
- Receiving not the two Zara Illustrates prints I had ordered but the two Zara Illustrates prints I had ordered plus a third one free!
- Getting an 80% positive response from our neighbours about the chimney repairs (which means we can go ahead and have them done).
- Making a cushion cover in my sewing class. Check out that concealed zip. Yeah!
- Sorting myself out with some annual leave.
- Eating hot cross buns.
- Loving Charlotte’s ideas for making the world a nicer place.
- Booking a plasterer.
- Being wowed by Jonathan’s exhibition launch. I so want him to do a print of Steve and/or me.
- Enjoying a fun, drunken dinner at the Athanaeum with some friends.
- Clutching my head a lot the morning after.
- Steve’s baby cactus bursting into flower!
- And today the plan is to track down stone circles, eat in some out of town pub or other and squeeze in a cinema double bill (I Am Number Four and Unknown most likely). Happy Sunday everybody!
The Week I’ve Had (27th February 2011)
Glittery meringues brought home from our weekend in Glasgow.
Lots of fancy cooking by Chef Steve.
Saturday randoms:
And Steve’s baby cactus got its first pimples:
The Week I’ve Had (20th February 2011)
In order of likelihood of them reading this: It’s Kirsty’s birthday today! And my mum’s! Happy birthday to them!
As you may already know, I’m not here right now. I’m elsewhere. But I’ve scheduled a picture of some 3D glasses lounging in the rain on Monday morning:
Don’t say I’m not good to you!
The Week I’ve Had (13th February 2011)
My “The Week I’ve Had” posts are taking a bit of a back seat to Three Things February, but I don’t want to completely ditch them for the month… so here’s the teeny tiny birthday card I made for our friend Pauline. I designed these songbirds about six months ago and can churn them out in five minutes (stick old sheet music to cardboard, fold, draw outline, cut out) but they do kind of make me smile each time I make one. I think I’ll call this one William.
I have a drizzly but busy day ahead of me, but will be back later with the three things which most made me smile. Happy Sunday, everyone!
The Week I’ve Had (6th February 2011)
There was the most beautiful sunrise on Monday morning. St Nicholas House is usually such an eyesore, but it was almost pretty lit up all pink and orange like this.
Actually, it’s a shame I didn’t start Three Things February on Monday because I had plenty of good things to choose from: that sunrise; my Funnelcloud print arriving (see picture below); people holding doors for me at lunchtime; what may have been the aurora borealis in the afternoon (but the clouds were so tiny and speedy my colleague and I weren’t sure); Steve being home before me for a change; dinner out; and going to see Black Swan.
I need to buy a frame and decide where to put this!
A lot of the week was pretty dreich:
I like the little upside down clock towers in all the raindrops, though!
The Week I’ve Had (30th January 2011)
Slàinte mhath! Steve, MR Willox and I celebrated Burns Night with haggis, whisky and the traditional Toast to the Lassies (as the only lassie present, I insisted).
Lunch with Karen at Provost Skene’s House. I asked my friend Pauline about the creepy face on the corner of the house (she tends to know about this stuff – or at least know where to find out), and the three stories she’s heard are these:
- It’s Baillie Alexander Ragg, a magistrate of the City. The house was on the corner of Broad Street and Ragg’s Lane (now long gone). There are some very similar faces on the old well by the Castlegate which are also believed to be him.
- It’s Homer and was put there to advertise the bookseller who owned the building.
- George Russel, a sculptor living at no 35, had a grudge against a neighbouring ironmonger, Alexander Stephen, and to spite him modelled a likeness of the tradesman showing his most irate, unhappy face. The caricature was then put in a prominent position designed to infuriate Stephen every time he passed Ragg’s Lane.
She got the details from this book.
I crocheted a flower! So pleased with myself!
I just liked the light on Friday afternoon.
Walking home from Sunday brunch at Papagallo’s, we spotted Santa stuck in an empty shop. Further down the street – much more excitingly – shiny reflective things. Ooh!
The Week I’ve Had (23rd January 2011)
A busy few weeks have caught up with me; I was shattered at work on Monday. Luckily, I had a gingerbread man and a nice cup of tea to get me through it.
It’s been a chilly but otherwise lovely week – bright blue skies; little fluffy clouds; gorgeous sunsets. This is Wednesday’s, taken through the window at work (hence the pale line across it – darn reflections!).
I first saw these illustrated scaffolding covers in Edinburgh a year or so ago – I love them! This one’s over an old theatre in Aberdeen which is finally being restored after decades of sitting empty.
I spotted this heart on the way to work on Friday. I know it’s from one of those pairs of jeans which anyone who’s hit puberty can’t get past their ankles, but by itself I found it quite distressing.
On Saturday, Lola and I went to a crochet, knitting and sewing class at The Life Craft in Glasgow which was heaps of fun – crochet is my new [temporary] favourite craft. There are at least two posts’ worth of Glasgow/travelling photos to share with you this coming week but, in the meantime, here are our winter woollies on the train and Lola hard at work:
And today, The Green Hornet and veggie haggis. Happy Sunday everyone!
The Week I’ve Had (16th January 2011)
Here’s the obligatory shot of Lola and me at our exhibition launch – it was a great night with a good turn out and more than sufficient compliments!
(photo by Kirsty W – thanks Kirsty!)
The show runs until 26th February so if you’re in Aberdeen city centre pop by Kilau on Little Belmont Street and take a look.
One I shot whilst waiting for Fi on Monday:
And one taken in Ma Cameron’s whilst we ate, drank and gossiped (well, actually, whilst Fi was at the bar buying me more wine *hic*):
A bit of mending:
On Friday night, Steve and I went to get Chinese; my camera came along for the walk:
Amused by the randomly scrawled “cock”; curious about when and why chalk became the grafitti media of choice.
Sarah Rooftops 