My foray into Events Management

Whilst I'm super proud of all this so far, I never intend to do anything like this ever again.
It is genuinely exhausting.
I'm really excited as there will be loads of STEM activities and workshops and fancy people coming to judge and all the schools locally are going to put forward teams to compete.
Either way all our students will get their Bronze CREST awards- so they'll all be winners!
I just want all the planning to be done already so that we can just have a nice day!

Walk to Sevington Windmill

On monday Tats, Vicky, Sophie, Jenni and I took the brownies on a walk as part of their out and about badge.
We walked 2 miles to Stevington windmill- which they managed really quickly- and we had a sit about and a chat and some snacks.
Then suddenly it was pitch black.
Honestly, I'd forgotten how quickly it gets dark at this time of year. We'd told the girls to bring torches and I'd bought a load of glow sticks from pound land, So it wasn't a nightmare.
They really loved walking in the dark- telling spooky stories and blinding each other with torches.
There was a fair bit of screaming and one of the girls decided that canada geese only speak french so every time we saw a flock of them we had to shout "Bonjour".
Not that we saw too many in the dark!

Anyway, we had a lovely time as the photos suggest:

When was set off it was dusky and warm- It was really pretty!

And sunset by the time we reached the windmillll.

And then we had to have glowsticks! :D

I accidentally wore my glow stick round sainsburys afterwards too.
People must have thought I had some terribly exciting ravery life style. Sadly I do not.

London: Stratford, Greenwitch and The hummingbird bakery... and the very long walk

Today I headed into london to scout out where I'll need to go with work the week after next- So we went to Stratford for starters.
The International Quarter in behind westfiled shopping centre- and it's where the london colour run was held- all round the olympic park!

This looks like amazing fun!
Ray wanted us to sign up for one in Oxford but as today is John's 40th Birthday we have postponed for another year!

After our scouting mission, we took the docklands railway to Greenwich- to see the observatory and the Greenwich meridian line- I watched an episode of coast about them so I've really wanted to see them for myself for ages!
It's £8 to look round the observatory-which is really good value- but as the weather was so good we decided to leave it for now- That can be a winter activity!

We also had mexican and cocktails for lunch :D
Yummy!

We also went to see the Cutty Sark tea clipper

And then walked along the thames path to see the statue of "Peter the great" because we'd never heard of him and wahted to know what he did.
Now we want to know who his minion is and if the sculptor was tim burton!
They look very corpse bride, no?

We followed the path for ages looking at the views and different neighbourhoods- We ended up walking 5 miles along the thames path before we walked into deptford and picked up the london overground.
Lots of exercise.

We decided we deserved cake so went to Oxford street in search of the humming bird bakery.
I haven't been there for years!
We got our cakes to take away and ate them on a step near oxford street.

We also found this awesome shop just off dean street:

Then we went for tea in M&S on Oxford street before we took the train home.
I'm exhausted, but I did have a very good day.

Michelle and Aaron's Engagement party

Michele has been waiting for Aaron to pop the question for almost a year and a half - and not in the "traditional" sense of just asking and hinting- Aaron bought her engagement ring almost 2 years ago, on their credit card- for insurance- He then filed the statement and continued his life as usual. Michelle later on has a faulty appliance and wants to check where it came from- she's looking through the credit card statements and there she sees his expenditure, at THE store for the price of THE perfect ring.

She couldn't say anything to Aaron because he was obviously planning a surprise and she wasn't supposed to know.
So every weekend away or day out there would be a "Maybe today" text. Followed by a "not today" text.
I don't know how she didn't give herself away!

He finally asked her at the petting zoo, in front of the meercats.
Obviously, she said yes!

To celebrate their finally getting engaged they hired the coach house private bar at the Ship pub- Which is excellent and has Midori.
And her mum made the most amazing engagement cake. I did ask if her mum would make the wedding cake but apparently they've set their sights on a wedding in Malta, and customs don't allow the import of home made cakes.
Which is a real shame from where I'm standing.

Charity shop shopping

I love to go charity shop shopping- I don't buy very much, but what I do buy I tend to wear to death. When I first started charity shop shopping- when I worked in Oxford as a teenager- you could get genuine vintage, furs, pocket watches and designer labels for under £20- Quite often I now find that the items in the charity shop are more expensive second hand then new! Today I saw a dress from store 21 which still had it's tag- the tag said £4 i the sale but the tag from the charity shop said £7!
And I haven't seen any genuine vintage (60s or older) for years.
Sometimes there is a "vintage section" with some retro (70s, 80s,90s) clothes and some reproduction vintage selling at an extortionate price. Avoid this section. It smells and nothing good will come of it.

Some charity shops are much worse for expensive pricing than others - I find Age concern and The british heart foundation here to be much more expensive than the RSPCA, Oxfam, The Children's charity, Cancer research or sally army shops, So I rarely buy anything from them- I give money to charity every month and I give up my time to volunteer every week- I see sales in a charity shop as a bonus for that charity and if it's a rip off I'm not going to shop there!
I do think sometimes the people who run the shop just don't recognise the labels- or have never been in primark/new look/ F&F at tesco so they just don't realise how cheap those clothes are new.

My rules for second hand shopping are as follows:

1) Decide what you're looking for before you head out- today it was tunic tops, and a cream cable knit cardigan (Which I've been keeping an eye out for for ages!)

2) Never spend more than £5 on any item- It's second hand. It will have flaws. (The only exception is brand new items with tags, or coats- where I will part with up to £10 depending on the brand and I will only buy if they fit really well- so no changing room = no sale)

3) Only buy the same or better brands than you would usually- I don't shop in primark because the quality is poor and the sizing is weird, I don't buy second had supermarket fashions- I look for labels like Next, Topshop, Designers at Debenhams, Whistles, Coast etc and I won't buy it if there are any flaws (I will make an exception for things which I know will wash out- e.g white deodorant marks- but  make up stains and holes I do not do).

4) No bric-a-brac and no tat. You don't need an evening gown/ wedding dress/ fancy dress pirate costume/ teapot that looks like a thatched cottage/ smash hits from the 90s CD. Only buy things you need, or can use (Bedsheets to use as fabric for dressmaking- for example)

Keeping to these rules means you won't end up out of pocket if you wash it once and it falls to bits or shrinks or something, And you end up with a wardrobe full of good quality clothes- it also provides a quick fashion fix.
I spend a fiver, I get a new dress.

I am trying to implement a one in one out rule with my wardrobe too- that way it won't end up full of clutter or clothes which I don't wear/ don't like/ are scruffy/ don't fit.
I've also taken a leaf out of Kirstie's book and put my summer clothes into a storage box to make room with my cold weather clothes, so that when spring rolls around it'll feel like I have a whole new set of clothes to enjoy!

Anyway, Todays finds:
A black tunic top from topshop, A black 50s inspired dress from Next, A flippy dress with a lacy collar from generation and my cable knit cardigan (Booo primark, but it was £2). All for under £20.

So, I have a new outfit to wear to Michelle and Aarons Engagement party this evening.
:)
And one for London, and one left over for another occasion.

To be honest, I was only supposed to go into town to buy glow sticks for Brownies on Monday, but I needed a bit of cheering up so I thought some retail therapy would probably do the trick! And it has. I do love a good rummage.

I woke up at about 5:30 this morning after having a horribly vivid dream that one of my closest friends had died. It took me a few seconds after walking up to realise that it was only a dream. I still had a good cry though.
Eugh, brain! What kind of dream is that?!
Thank god it was only a dream.
It's put me in an odd mood all day- not a "bad" mood as such but my temper is short because I'm tired and I have a creeping sense of guilt that I don't make enough time for people.
I will try harder. I will get in touch with people more and make use of my unlimited texts and calls- I don't even have the excuse of expense or lack of credit. It is genuine thoughtlessness on my part. I might not be able to see my friends as often as I'd like but I should be better at keeping up with them and their news.

HokuHoku

This week has been pretty insane- I'm not sure I've even had time to breathe or eat most days! Today is officially "hump day" I'm half way to my week off- and I'm really going to be needing it.

We had originally planned to go out for Tat's Birthday on Thursday- but I was crazy with work and she ended up babysitting for her sister, so we re-arranged for Friday.

(It's just as well really, Thursday was truly bonkers. I had stayed an hour after work to run a STEM activity with my colleague Abdul- we did screaming jelly babies and the sugar snake - I was ready to call it a night as I had a meeting with some charitable trusts to secure a place on research program with them, but as we'd finished early he decided to have some extra explosions- they were brilliant- but it's very difficult to hold a sensible business meeting when your room is full of purple smoke and your desk is covered in the remains of jelly babies you've been blowing up for the last hour- They did email me back today and say how lovely it was to be "in the thick of it" and that their suit jackets still smelled "like candy floss"- After all that I just wanted to go home and sleep... or cry)

Today I stayed late to make smoke bombs. That completed, I picked Tats up and we headed back to mine for a quick cuppa before going out for dinner.

We went to hokuhoku japanese restaurant which is about 8 minutes walk from my front door- and I never even knew it was there!

Tats is really up there on all things japanese- she studied japanese language and culture at uni in London- so whilst we were waiting for dinner I made her translate all the posters on the walls. One of them said they sold squid balls. They did not.

Still a very cool looking poster.

Tats had a Katsu dish and pronounced it to be excellent - she's travelled round japan before so I'll trust her judgement.

I had yakisoba with chicken and cabbage, and I ordered a side plate of japanese dumplings (Gyoza) because I've never had them before.

Both were really yummy.

The portions were so generous that I didn't even have room for a wasabi and chocolate brownie- but I really wanted to try it!

We went for a walk round the park after dinner to try and de-foodbaby. It didn't work brilliantly but the park looks pretty amazing at the moment with all the trees changing colour!

Ollerton & my crafty day with Jen

I got up earlier than I had planned today- I set my work alarm instead of my weekend one, so I did get to watch the sun rise but I didn't get the extra few hours in bed.
Waiting for Traff's return before I drove to Jen's I was mooching on buzzfed and saw an article of "british" things- about half way down there was a giff showing someone making tea with the milk in the cup first.
I scrolled down to the comments and there was a full on argument about when milk should go in the cup.
That has made my day.
Very british.
The conclusion was that in a mug with a teabag, Milk in last as tea brews between 90-100 degrees. in a pot with mugs, milk last, in a pot with best or vintage china, milk first to prevent cracking the fine china.

The drive to Jen's was really good- Sunday morning driving is officially rather good!
When I arrived Jen had made rose biscuits with orange cream to impress me with (She took part in a bake off competition at a food fair on saturday- she now has biscuit madness but she is really rather good!)

After elevenses we did some crafting- Jen was working on a rug made of could up plaits of fabric sewn together- I might remodel my rag rug in the same way.
I did a bit more crocheting- I have 9 1/3 african roses made- only 90 2/3 left to make so that my textiles project is finished.

After lunch we went for a walk around the woods- It was a bit cooler today but still really sunny. Lovely autumn weather for a walk!
We did have to dodge the falling conkers though.

I had a lovely day and a good old catch up. :D

Home made Xmas challenge update

I am finished!
:D
All of the 26 people on my xmas challenge list will get their home-made goodies on the 25th December!

I also have to admit that I sold out too- Yes, I did make all the presents I had planned to- and then I looked at them all and started to stress that it didn't look like "enough".
So, Despite this going against everything I was so determined I would stand for, Today I added to each of my presents- Costing me a total of £70- So all in all I don't think I can be accused of selling out in a big way.
I also made a point of only buying hand made or fair trade items.
So I did stick to my original principles sort of.
I still have my baccardi to portion up and my jar collection is ready and waiting for xmas biscuits so perhaps I was a little hasty in deciding that my recipients might be disappointed.

I don't think the majority of the population has any idea about the cost of wool or fabric- so a present which has cost a small fortune to make, in the end can look quite stingey.
That is something I will need to bare in mind when I start this all again for next year. I will need to plan better and be firm with myself that each person gets one present only! Otherwise it can feel like you're on a textile based treadmill.

I am relived to have finished early. I was worried I'd be still working on projects whilst despertely trying to post them off at the start of December. I'm collecting show boxes and plan to deco-patch them to keep my presents safe as they make their way through the postal system.
Otherwise, I did buy a stamper in germany- so along with my tree and dinosaur stampers I think I could have a go at making my own wrapping paper.
That would be pretty cool.

I've really enjoyed this challenge- I've learned loads of new things:
Dress making
Pattern cutting
Clay pottery
Silk painting
Soap making
Candle making
Bath bomb making
Crochet
Knitting
Alcohol infusions
baking
And now I'm starting to learn to crochet from a pattern too!

This has been a great experience and as far as my new years resolution went- which was to learn more crafty skills- I can say for sure that I have met it.

I will post photos of my xmas challenge presents once they are wrapped in my home made wrappings- and after xmas I'll post a photo of all the things I have made this year, obviously I can post pictures of the biscuits and baccardi sooner.

So, what remains now is to start to think about what my theme for next year will be!
I plan to concentrate on just one skill for my xmas challenge next year- rather than having millions of different things on the go at the same time (unless people ask me to make something specific)... which turned out to be both stressful and mindboggling at times.

I will keep this up- I stand by what I said in December- We're too materialistic and we don't need half of the things we are given over the festive season.
I think it would be far more positive and less wasteful if people really thought about the gifts they were giving, how much they're spending, and if what they're giving is actually going to be appreciated- is it useful? Is it tasteful (for the recipient)?
Everyone receives presents which we know were a panic buy 3-for-2 in boots or wherever over xmas. Usually containing products we'll never use, and even so it's cost the giver somewhere in the region of a tenner.
Surely a decent conditioner or something mundane like socks or pants or teabags would have been a better use of money, and at least appreciated if the giver knows the recipient well enough to know what kinds of things they use at home?
Or just a nice card?-If someone knows you that little, maybe you shouldn't be exchanging gifts at all! saving that person from a mad dash around boots with arms full of box sets and quite a few tenners.

I only give presents to very close friends and family. It's supposed to be a token of appreciation for that person and the effort they make to keep me sane and get me out of my house every now and again- I want them to know that I'm grateful and honoured that they keep me in their lives despite the fact that I couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery and I never arrive less that 15 minutes late- I'm sure they must see past all that for my more elusive, redeeming qualities.
Therefore, the fact that I have spent hours picking out materials and working on items for them over the last 9 months should help signify how important they are to me.
There will be no box sets from boots. Or any other outlet.

Misty mornings, Paddle Boarding and Custard

I love autumn- All the crunchy leaves and misty mornings! yay!
They remind me of walking to school as a child- In my memory it was foggy far more often than it can possibly have been!
I still get excited towards the end of august when the temperature drops. I do like summer, but my irish (Read "red") complexion is ready for a break from it's 4 months of sunburn.
I'll be honest, driving in fog is not my forte- but I do now know how to turn on my fog lights!
:D
This was the fogginess at work earlier this week:

On Wednesday Karl W, Karl S and I went Paddle boarding (And the lake was misty!)
It was so relaxing to be out on the lake, I've really missed it!
I made a mistake by going to the osteopath before going paddling on such a windy day- they always warn you to take it easy afterwards but my god does my back hurt now :(

After paddling Karl S and I went to the White horse for dinner- We had mains and pudding and Karl drowned his chocolate cake in custard.
Even the waitress was laughing at him.

On Thursday I had a crazy day at work and got home at 6:30pm. if only my overtime was paid! It wasn't all bad though- I did get to go Pond dipping in the name of conservation and I did find a newt at the stage of development where the gills are external to the body- like a lions mane of tendrilly gills! Unfortunately I did not take my camera out as I'd decided it was too take in the year to catch anything cool looking- Also found Mayfly larve, Dragonfly Larve and toadpoles- Although it's been the kind of week where if I had remembered my camera we'd only have found sludge on the bottom of the pond.
We could do with some rain really- the water level is looking quite low.
Easy pickings for hungry birds!
I treated my self to a "take away" pizza from the corner shop and some Halloween themed Viennese whirls.
followed by catching up the bake off episode I missed by being out eating custard.

On friday evening all I was fit to do was watch Rango on Netflix- and even then I fell asleep and missed then end!
:(
I'll have to try again another day!

Donna's Hen do

I had a crazy evening- I went straight from Work to my house with Jenni- I got changed into my going out clothes for the evening whilst she tried to get no-legs to nibble her fingers (He did not oblige) Then we went to Priory Marina for tea and ice cream sundaes.

We met with Karl, Mark, Suzi and Michelle and had a really god catch up for almost 2 hours- looks like everyone had a gruelling first 2 weeks back! We all deserved our lemon curd ice cream sundaes.

We also had an engagement announcement- but more on that when it’s a bit more public.

I knew that Donna’s Hen do was at Fratelli’s- I assumed that it was in a nearby village.

I asked Mark and he said there was a Fratelli’s in Amptill. I was all set to merrily drive off to Amptill when Karl googled it and was like “Oh, there seems to be one in the middle of nowhere too.. but surely it won’t be there?”

So I text Donna.

Middle of nowhere it is!

Cue petrol light.

The Satnav did manage to find it but I only recognised the place because the nice man in the petrol station had described it as a “Half pub half restaurant after a sharp right turn in the middle of the countryside- you can’t miss it”.

By the time I’d arrived quite a few people were already there- including some of Traff’s old work colleagues- Yvette and Rowena- So I spent most of the evening chatting with them.

He had drinks in the bar and everyone had a chat and got to know each other  whilst  we waited for any stragglers (Or people who went to the wrong Fratellis…Donna was laughing at me, but I wasn’t the only one!)

The service was pretty relaxed but everyone was too busy chatting to care- Yvette and Rowena kept me entertained with tales from work.

 

We had dinner in the function room- It was massive- all white tablecloths and chandeliers – It looked more like a country club wedding venue than a restaurant- very swanky for £20 per head for 3 courses!

We had dinner in the function room- It was massive- all white tablecloths and chandeliers – It looked more like a country club wedding venue than a restaurant- very swanky for £20 per head for 3 courses!
I did lots of very enthusiastic dancing and arm waving, and danced with everyone at the hen do and probably quite a few people who were attending other events.

The food was really good- not very big portions but really good food- I had a bit of a bruchetta nightmare with my starter- I tried to eat it with a knife and fork but when I tried to cut it with the knife all the toppings flew everywhere… In the end I gave up and discretely ate it with my fingers. For mains I had roasted veg layered with aubergine- and pudding was Malteaser cheese cake- it was brilliant.

Once coffee was served there was a disco! I love a cheesy disco! Lots of 70s and 80s classics- including “it’s raining men” , “Grease” and of course “The YMCA”

Rowena caused a bit of a drama as she left suddenly after saying she felt unwell and not saying goodbye to Donna or to anyone else so everyone spent a while looking for her- At the end of the meal it turned out she hadn’t paid for her meal or her bar tab! It must have been an emergency and I’m sure she’ll sort it all out with Donna at a later date- but it did cause rather a stir for a while and not really in a good way :S

At about 11:30 Yvette said she was calling it a night- As she was going back the same way as me but had planned to get a taxi I offered her a lift instead.

We went to get into the car and it was blocked by a delivery of kegs of beer-The men delivering the beer were very obliging and moved the van saying they’d do “Anything for two beautiful ladies” The proceeded to help us into the car whilst telling us how sexy we were- and “helped” us to reverse out. It was all a bit much but it’s been ages since I got chatted up- Seriously or Sarcastically- so I’ll take that as a win!

Yvette lives in an area of town I’d never been to before and the sat nav refused to acknowledge it’s existence, which was incredibly unhelpful. Yvette tried to help and managed to direct us onto the M1.

We did eventually get to her house but honestly I think it was sheer luck. Neither of us could read any road signs for laughing too much.

When I got in I gave Traff a ring as he was on nights, but I’d lost most of my voice so he couldn’t really understand what I was saying.

I was supposed to be making crochet moustaches with Tats on Saturday- but she has been called upon for babysitting for her sister, so I will just have to find something productive to do with myself  in the daytime.

Maybe I’ll work on my Textiles project.

As it is I’ve lost so much of my voice now that when I speak I sound like the noise it used to make when you connected the computer to dial up Internet.

So it’s probably just as well we’re not crocheting.

Work, leaves, Pasta and The Bake off

Today at work we found some Chemicals that are younger than me- Only by 3
 days mind- but still younger!

I am no-longer officially they youngest in my department. This carbon power is.
Maybe I'll carry it in my pocket and differ to it whenever anyone reminds me of my age.

That said, I'm still feeling old today- I had a bit of a google doc related nightmare- I got sent a word document as an email attachment and opened it on google docs.. and now somehow all 4 pages of text and on one page.
That can be a job for IT tomorrow.
"My email account ate this form for RAL- can you make it better please because I know from the email that I was supposed to return it filled in yesterday, but it's sort of filled itself in... with itself?"

I'm still totally snotfaced and by the end of the day I was out of lemsips- I spent a portion of the morning making important phone calls- I'm so bunged up that half the companies I called thought I was phoning from abroad!
Ah well, it made me laugh.
I was supposed to go paddle boarding but I don't think a dip in the lake will improve my current situation.
Instead I went to Wilkos for more of their excellent super strength lemsip stuff (It's like £1.50 for 10 and they really do work like a dream!) and as a reward for doing all that walking whilst feeling rubbish I promised myself a M&S Pasta pot for dinner- My favourite ever since my work experience at M&S in 2002 is the pesto, spinach and pine nut pasta bows.
There cannot be a better dinner than pasta and pesto.
So, I finished my shopping, headed to M&S got to the sandwich section and there was nothing there. the snacky sandwich lunchtime shelves were empty. I was gutted as I am poorly and deserve to eat my favourite foods (I don't think I can blame this weight gain on the spade..) but went in search of a pizza instead- Lo and behold what should be in the pizza fridge but the very pasta salad I was after.
:D
Usually I avoid "put backs" but today I feel sure it was divine intervention.
I even found some autumnal leaves to rustle through on the way home!

The next issue really was that my nose is so bunged up the choice is "starve or suffocate". I'm really not a "starve" kind of gal.

I'm super excited for the bake off, but gutted that Norman has gone as he was always my fav- Chetna for the win now please!

Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and S. Gloucestershire... & Bri's Baby shower

It's been a crazy weekend!
On Friday I went from work to my sister's house- I hadn't seen her since Berlin and I wanted to find out about her Birthday and her University exam results- So we had a good catch up for a few hours, and she provided cupcakes.
I'm really chuffed as she's booked for us to go to Harry potter world on the 31st October (When it's Death eater week.. not that I've looked or am excited or anything- I'll be unbearable by halloween!)

I went to Abi's in the evening as she's back in Oxfordshire having started a new job at Oxford uni- I haven't stayed over at Abi's family home since I was at Secondary school- It was like being a really tall teenager- not helped because I forgot my toothbrush and her mum had to give me a new one.
She was laughing at me, saying I'd been just as useless with my belongings 12 years ago too.
I have no changed!
:)
It was brilliant to catch up though- Whilst Abi was in Durham we only saw each other once every 9 months to a year- but now she's closer hopefully I'll see her a bit more- I'd like to see more of all my Oxfordshire based friends if I'm honest I don't know why I'm so awful at arranging things as it's really not all that far!
I promise to be better!
On Saturday we had croissants for breakfast with home made jam! Abi's nan made the jam, and it was awesome- and spent ages putting the world to rights.

In the afternoon Abi and her mum headed off to the animal sanctuary (To adopt a dog, it later transpired) and I went to meet up with Sophie- Also at her Childhood home as she was dog sitting for her parents.
It's been a bit of a nostalgic weekend!
We had a really good catch up and Sophie made yummy cupcakes too.
:)

On Saturday night I stayed over at my parent's in Chippenham- the main reason for all of my roadtripping was to be in Clevedon on Sunday for Bri's surprise baby shower- my parents live 40 minutes from Bri's so that was prefect- and they do make a good gin and ice tea cocktail.

We met at the Tescos in Clevedon so that we would all arrive together and Surprise her properly- Whilst Chaz got the lat minute bits from Tesco Alice demonstrated her driving skills!

We also brought the Baby cake that Chaz, Sah and I made when I was staying at her's before James and Lis's wedding.
Chaz made curry for everyone for dinner and Beca made cupcakes for afters- all of which were delicious!
Sah said that our group meetings seem to bring on Labour- Her Labour started when we were in Buffalo bar in Cardiff having a pre-xmas drink and dinner with everyone from uni, Although as yet, no baby!
It was a lovely afternoon - It was brilliant to see everyone and catch up- and Bri was really pleased too as she had not expected it at all.

I left about 4 planning to be home by 9- And was doing really well until I managed to join the M4 towards Cardiff and add 30 minutes to my drive!
Argh
I deffo don't live there anymore!
By the time I'd got close to my parents it was 6pm and I was hungry- I thought I'd stop off at the 50s style diner on the A420- And it was CLOSED! "Unforseen circumstances" Bah.
I didn't find another pub that was serving food and by the time I'd got to the M40 by little chef I only had an hour to go so I just manned up a bit.
Other than being starving hungry, the drive was really nice- the roads were quiet so I got to take in the views of Oxford from the A420 and the changing leaves in the countryside- I always think Oxfordshire is very beautiful.
It's getting to be autumn now- The shadows are long in the evening and the light is all yellowy- This is my favourite time of year- in the evenings- My minolta camera catches the yellowy light prefectly. My favourite photo I've ever taken of Traff was at a wedding in Leicester, outside in a field with the shaddows all long and the light all yellow.
Perhaps I need to do some more photography.

Future library project- Interview with Margaret Atwood (I'm pleased she was selected as she's one of my favourite writers)

It's only been a year since a Margaret Atwood released her book "MaddAddam," and she's already busy preparing her next work. But if you want to read this, which I'm sure you do, you better start taking very, very good care of yourself.

The unread, unpublished manuscript Atwood is currently working on will not be unveiled for another 100 years as part of the Future Library project. Created by Scottish artist Katie Paterson, the Future Library is a public art project that will result in a huge anthology of written work published in 2114.

As part of the project, 1,000 trees have been planted in a forest just outside of Oslo, Norway. The paper from these trees will be used to print the anthology in 100 years. Every year, the Future Library will commission a new written work from an author for the collection. Atwood, legendary author of such books as "The Handmaid's Tale" and the Booker Prize-winning "The Blind Assassin," was recently announced as the first author to be a part of the project.

"I think it goes right back to that phase of our childhood when we used to bury little things in the backyard, hoping that someone would dig them up, long in the future, and say, 'How interesting, this rusty old piece of tin, this little sack of marbles is. I wonder who put it there,'" Atwood told The Guardian.

In this age of digitization we live in now where print books are increasingly becoming ancient history, it's interesting that a project such as this intended to be enjoyed in the future would choose such a seemingly antiquated way of preservation. Will people know what paper is in 100 years? Will the technology to print on paper even exist?

The Future Library's trust, made up of library experts, has thought of that. The authors' works will be kept in a special room at the Deichmanske public library opening in 2018, which will also include a printing press to ensure the project is able to follow through with its objective and print the works on paper in the future.

It'll be interesting to see what works from this collection resonate with people 100 years from now and why. On one hand, literature can reveal so much about the time it was written, from the style to the language to the subject matter. But as we all know, a great story always withstands the test of time.

How to make a painted fabric cushion cover- From Etsy

The freehand painted pillow can be completed in less than an hour, while the stamping technique may set you back about two-and-a-half hours of primarily easy repetition. This project will create two 18” x 18” pillows. Adjust the measurements accordingly for other sized pillows.

You will need:
Two 22” x 54” strips of white cotton canvas fabric
Multi-surface or fabric craft paints in black, teal, bright pink, yellow, and dusty pink
Paint brushes
Adhesive-backed craft foam
Blank wooden circles
Scissors
Iron
White thread
Sewing Machine
Ruler or Measuring Tape
Pins

Step 1: Use wide, flat brushes to create a brushstroke pattern. I painted quick, imperfect Vs around a center point to create bursts. Begin with quite a bit of paint on the brush, painting until the brush is nearly dry. Don’t overthink it – messy can be good for this technique.

For a little contrast to the messiness of the bursts, I added in circles of black dots by creating a ring of dots with a pointed-tip paintbrush and then filling more dots in.

Step 2: Make custom stamps by cutting out shapes of your choosing from the adhesive-backed foam. I made five different irregular circle shapes – one for each of my paint colors. Remove the paper backing and stick to a blank wooden circle.

Step 3: Apply paint to a stamp using a paintbrush and stamp onto the fabric. I created a grid pattern with my irregular circles, using the edge of the wooden circles as a guide to evenly space my stamps. Put on your favorite TV series because, while this may be super easy, it can be a little time consuming.

Step 4: Once the paint has dried, trim each fabric strip down to 19” x 46.”

Step 5: Fold ½” of fabric over twice on each of the 19” edges, then press into place with a hot iron.

Step 6: Sew each of the folded ends about ¼” from the edge.

Step 7: Fold each of the sewn ends towards the center with painted side of the fabric facing inward so that each end is overlapping by 8” and the total pillow cover is just less than 18” wide. Press and pin into place.

Step 8: Sew the top and bottom edges into place about ½” from the edge. Finish the seams with a zig-zag stitch, serger, or pinking sheers (optional).

Step 9: Turn right side out, press, and finish with an 18” x 18” pillow insert.