balance...

(Image stoplovingme)

There is so much good stuff all around me at the moment. Excellent stuff behind me, grand stuff ahead of me, exciting opportunities a little after that and also a little stress bubbling somewhere down there to the right. And it’s all brilliant (well, apart from the stress), but sometimes I wish I could stretch my arms out and gather it all up, all the disparate parts, and put it neatly into a box. Yes. I do.

Sometimes balance eludes me. Oh well,  heres wishing you a lovely sun soaked weekend, cherries.


Hannah


P.s, Thanks for the hen suggestions, my mind is a- whirring!


P.p.s, Womad was brilliant. Proper post will follow once we’ve got the photo’s printed.

p.p.ps. Your all very nice. Thats all.

make do and mend; Spray painted shoes...

I bought these sandals two years ago. They have been heavily used and are sadly on their last legs. The straps have sagged, the gold is flaking and they are pretty scuffed too. But my 'make do and mend summer' prohibits me from buying anything new so I had to get a bit creative. With grey spray paint...

\

Good as new!

First I sanded the straps (using a nail file; classy) then stuffed them with newspaper, being careful to cover the sole. Then sprayed them with plasticote spray paint. About three coats in the end. Voila. I will spray a 'fixer' on them one day but actually they have stood up pretty well.



I can't take credit for this idea,  ray  referred me to the Grossgrainfabulous blog as she knew i'd like it. Which I do.

My tootsies are now looking significasntly smarter too. Party.

Top secret favour...

Image credit

I have the pleasure of organising not one but two hen do's, for two particularly charming and lovely hens. I have been cackling to myself whilst concocting wild, wonderful and wicked ideas but just to make sure i've covered everything I was wondering if I could pick your brain too? 

Have you attended or heard of any lovely hen day or night activities? Both are London based. All ideas welcome; games, quizzes, special presents, activities etc. The aim is to have a good balance between lovey dovey tear jerking stuff, and hilarious and completely inappropriate, pants wettingly funny stuff. Not too pricey. Not too cheap. Not too tacky but not too sophisticated either.  

I wait with baited breath...

Please EMAIL your ideas to me (email address to your right) as both hens read my blog. That part is SUPER important. they are both hard core detectives when it comes to secrets, kay?

Thanks chickens! 

x

P.s  I am totally going to Womad festival, Hurray! Still not completely better but armed with a range of prescription drugs I will conquer it! Pictures aplenty will follow, i'm sure. 

The Summer make do and mend.... details

Now that the summer is already half over, details of my ‘make do and mend’ summer probably aren’t quite worth what they would have been a sometime in early June. But hey ho. For those of you who may appreciate a refresher, I announced that I have imposed on myself a ‘no spend’ experiment and you asked for more details. So here goes.

The reasons for our no spend summer are because A) we are poor, B) we are saving for something super exciting and C) as an anti- consumer ethical experiment. It was about living well, better than before even, and looking smokin too. So:


• I am not buying any clothing or accessories between May and September. This includes all clothes, coats, shoes, underwear, bags etc. So far, so good. (Bar a couple of shirts from Deptford market for 50p each, but I am re-selling these!)




• I am buying toiletries when I need them though which includes my dwindling make- up. (If you wanted to be really hard core you could stop spending all together. But I...don’t.). I’m only buying basics though, no treaty cosmetics or toiletries. (ie no extra nice body lotions, posh bath bubbles, additional cleansers- you know what I mean)

• Other areas of expenditure, like nights out, household expenses and food shopping are being treated very thriftily due to our budget (apart from our anniversary weekend!) So we are using half of what we  normally allocate and cutting out the luxuries.

A few people asked about only buying second hand, (maybe apart from pants). I basically did this before June and wil probably go back to it after September, and I encourage everyone to consider it. Buying second hard is an ace way of recycling clothes and reducing the carbon footprint of your wardrobe. But if I restricted myself to only buying old stuff I know that I would find it very easy to overspend on gorgeous vintage house wares and clothes. I also think its important to support some of the up and coming ethical clothing designers.

My lofty conclusions so far are thus; I think its good to spend more money on fewer clothes. Its good to re-appreciate the clothes we already have. I think its good to show some restraint. To put more thought into the things we buy. To buy beautiful, well designed clothing that pays everyone in the supply chain fairly.  And buy less mass produced high street crap.

So far it has been refreshingly easy. We are living well. I am wearing clothes I wouldn’t normally but I’m feeling good. I have repaired. I have made. I have made do.

The images are snapshots of my wardrobe. It was an exersize in trying to look at the clothes I own in a new light, and re-appreciate them. It worked, sort of....




Slightly alarmingly I am beginning to actively dislike companies like Topshop and the other high street retailers (I know that some of my Topshop loving friends just fell on the floor.) Topshop and many of the high street retail chains don’t do enough to prevent horrible labour practices in their supply chains. And aside from the ethical issues Topshop gives me a giant headache within 5 minutes, its always boiling hot, they steal designs from new designers and fashion graduates, their vintage is completely over priced and I know if I buy a dress from Topshop I will see 20 other girls wearing it quicker than you can say 'corporate bastards'.




Bah.


Ok. Rant over. Sorry.




Does that answer your questions about the Summer make do and mend? Do you have anymore?


And how about you? Are you high street addicted? Charity shop lover? Vintage vixen, or none of the above? Do tell...


x


(I've been sick with a gastric tummy thingy, but I Just found out a friend has bagged us free tickets to Womad festival this weekend. MAJOR SCORE, but cross your fingers with me that my tummy gets better by tomorrow, kay? Are they crossed? And just in case you were wondering, I didn't write this post today. I'm not quite up to it. Ive been writing it for weeks and just tidied it up and posted it today. Also, my post about marriage and weddings is coming up. Promise.  Jeez, shut up woman...)

5 years...

This past weekend marked 5 whole years since my mister and I got married. 5 years of being Mister and Missus!

5 years of pissing ourselves laughing, of working through the deep shit, of talking it out out, of not quite beleiving our luck. 5 spelndid years.

Cor blimey!

5 whole years is a momentous anniversary, no? Never ones to shy away from an opportunity to celebrate with bells and whistles, we embarked on a 3 day extravaganza.

Afternoon tea at the Kensington orangery, with a perfect almond tart and assam tea, followed by a stroll round the gardens. My misters first visit to the Natural History Museum, gawping at the beasties. Watching brilliant bands at Lovebox festival, and dancing our asses off. Home cooked breakfasts. Going on long walks for long talks and pub dinners....

he'd never seen the whale before!

It was pretty great. One of those weekends that fills you up and keeps you full up for the week.( my favourite kind).

I've been thinking alot about marriage and and the last 5 years and weddings and stuff, and have written another post containing some rambling thoughts. So watch this space, as they say.

x

Hello...

The sunshine held some of my words for a while while. It was handy I guess, as I got on with other important stuff. Like writing for other places, and crafting, and watching The Good Life and Doctor Who, and rockin to Queens of the Stoneage. But I'm back now. I missed you. It's true.

One of the things I was working on was an article for Amelia's magazine. It's been a long time coming but sometimes words just don't cooperate you know?

I used Twitter to invite illustrators to contribute and was retweeted a load of times. This resulted in an overwhelming response; I ended up with 6 images, and they are spelendid. I feel quite privaleged to be choosing and comissioning these brilliant artists.

Anyway. Gush over.


Here are a couple.

By Michelle Urvall Nyren

By Natasha Thompson

See the rest of them here ...

uh oh

It seems the sunshine has stolen my words.
But I don't mind.  No, its been looking after them. Babysitting.

Me and Hilly Fields park. And some trees. And a field. And some berries. And some grass. 

I like these things.